KEY QUOTES FROM THE FIRST CLINTON-TRUMP DEBATE

WASHINGTON: Democrat Hillary Clinton and her Republican White House rival Donald Trump went head-to-head on Monday night in a prime-time duel in front of tens of millions of American voters.

Here is a selection of key quotes from the first of three debates leading up to the November 8 election:

“I said she doesn’t have the stamina. And I don’t believe she does have the stamina. To be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina” – Trump “Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a ceasefire, a release of dissidents… or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina” – Clinton

“Let me tell you, Hillary has experience. But it’s bad, bad experience” – Trump “I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. And I think that’s a good thing” – Clinton

“I know you live in your own reality, but those are not the facts,” Clinton said, after Trump took her to task over her support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. “He tried to put the whole racist birther lie to bed. But it can’t be dismissed that easily. He has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen” – Clinton, referring to Trump’s longtime support of the “birther” movement questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship.

“I have no reason to believe that he’s ever going to release his tax returns, because there’s something he’s hiding” – Clinton

“I will release my tax returns against my lawyer’s wishes when she releases her 33,000 e-mails that have been deleted” – Trump

“The kind of plan that Donald has put forth would be trickle-down economics all over again. In fact, it would be the most extreme version, the biggest tax cuts for the top percent of the people in this country than we’ve ever had. I call it trumped up trickle-down” – Clinton

“Typical politician. All talk, no action. Sounds good, doesn’t work. Never going to happen” – Trump, rubbishing his rival’s economic plans.