Others after combative debate with Clinton

Donald Trump blamed the moderator, a bad microphone and anyone but himself Tuesday after he was forced onto defence by Hillary Clinton’s cascade of critiques about his taxes, honesty and character in the first presidential debate.

The Republican nominee plunged into re-litigating some of Clinton’s most damaging attacks, even when the explanations seemed only to further damage his image among the voters he needs to win.

b.rushing off Clinton’s debate claim he’d once shamed a former Miss Universe winner for her weight, Trump dug deeper the next morning.

“She gained a massive amount of weight. It was a real problem. We had a real problem,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” about the 1996 winner of the pageant he once owned.

Clinton, meanwhile, was in a celebratory mood, telling reporters on her campaign plane she had a “great, great time” and was “thrilled” by how it went. She accused Trump of making “demonstrably untrue” claims in the debate and mocked him for floating the possibility debate organizers had set him up by lowering the volume on his “terrible” microphone so he was quieter than Clinton.

“Anybody who’s complaining about the microphone is not having a good night,” Clinton said.

Both campaigns knew the highly anticipated first debate could mark a turning point six weeks before Election Day, but it was unclear if either candidate would reap significant gains. Trump and Clinton are locked in an exceedingly close race and competing vigorously to win over undecided voters.