Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton finally went head to head live Monday night and those expecting fireworks were not disappointed.

The two candidates for president traded barbs, interrupted each other, trotted out their greatest hits of attacks and inspired cheers and laughter from the crowd, despite moderator Lester Holt's repeated pleas for the crowd to remain quiet.

Holt, a first-time moderator, broke up the debate into three parts:

  • America's Direction
  • Achieving Prosperity
  • Securing America

He said at the end of the debate that he was not able to get to everything, which he had suspected. There were times when heated debate ran over on time.

The candidles tangled over several issues, including crime, taxes, trade agreements and foreign policy.

Television analysts are expecting a huge night ratings-wise. The New York Times estimated viewership could reach around 100 million, making it the most-watched debate of all time, and one of the most watched programs of all-time, overall.

If those numbers pan out, the debate could be a major boon in the polls to either candidate.

The race remains a tight one. According to the latest polling average by Real Clear Politics, Clinton is up just 2.3 percent in the national polls, with most polls giving Clinton a 1 to 7 point lead over Trump in a head-to-head matchup.

However, both candidates are also dealing with high negative ratings.  

In a four-way race with Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Clinton's lead tightens in most of the polls.

Neither Johnson nor Stein garnered enough in the polls to be invited to the first debate, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Latest Updates

10:37 p.m.

Final question: Will you accept the outcome of the election?

Clinton says she supports democracy, and she will support the outcome of this election. "[This election is] not about us, it's about you."

Trump, while saying he does not think Clinton will be a good choice for president, he will absolutely support the outcome.

10:35 p.m.

Trump is asked about his comment that Clinton having "the presidential look." Trump says he had actually talked about stamina, and he doesn't think Clinton has the stamina.

Clinton says when he travels to 112 countries or even handled an 11-hour Congressional hearing, he can talk to her about stamina.

Trump says she has experience, but it's bad experience. "We can't handle another four years of her experience."

Clinton responds by talking about statements Trump has made about women. He says they are not true. Trump says it's not nice, all the millions of dollars spent on negative ads against him.

10:30 p.m.

Clinton says we need to be more precise about how we talk about foreign policy issues. She says countries are nervous about our mutual defense agreements if there is a Trump presidency.

Trump says we cannot be the policeman of the world, and we can't afford to be so.

10:25 p.m.

Clinton says she, President Obama and her successor John Kerry got Iran to the table. Says that is called diplomacy.

Clinton says someone who can be baited with a tweet should not be given nuclear codes. Trump says that line is getting old. Clinton says it's a good one. Trump says it's not.

Trump says nuclear weapons are the biggest problem facing the world, not climate change.

10:20 p.m.

Trump says he thinks NATO needs to get involved in the Middle East. Says his comments on NATO led to changes.

Trump once again insists he did not support the Iraq War. Blames Clinton feeding information to the media. Says Sean Hannity used to get into fights with Trump, because Hannity supported the war and Trump did not.

10:15 p.m.

Holt asks how would the candidates stop homegrown terrorism.

Trump says Obama, Clinton created vaccuum in Iraq that allowed ISIS. Trump says that the U.S. should have taken the oil in Iraq.

Clinton says Trump supported the Iraq War (Trump says wrong). Clinton says George W. Bush signed the agreement with Iraq on troop removal, not Obama.

Clinton says we've got to do everything we can to vaccuum up intelligence. She says that involves working with allies. Clinton says that includes working with NATO, working with Muslim allies. Chides Trump for his remarks regarding both.  

10:10 p.m.

Next question is on cyber attacks. Clinton says Russia is one of the countries engaging in cyber attacks, mentions Trump's praise of Putin.

Clinton says we need to make it clear that the U.S. will not let "state actors" attack our information. "The Russians need to understand that. I think they treat it almost like probing."

Trump says he has been endorsed by over 80 admirals with more coming. He says he was endorsed by ICE, which has never been done before.

If Trump means ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a government agency is not allowed to endorse a presidential candidate.

Debate fact-checking by Politifact

Live Blog Presidential Debate: LIVE Fact-checks from Politifact

Previous Updates

10:03 p.m.

Regarding President Obama's birth certificate, Trump repeats that Clinton started the birther controversy. Trump says he got President Obama to produce his birth certificate. Holt questions why he continued to bring it up even after Obama produced his birth certificate. Trump said he pressed it because no one was doing anything about it.

Trump says he has been making important strides with the black community and he could see it was important to them.

Clinton says Trump has a long record of racism. Talks about Trump's conflict with housing discrimination against blacks in the 70s.

Trump says Clinton was very disrespectful of Obama in the 2008 debates. Calls her "holier than thou."

10 p.m.

Trump says the inner cities and minorities have been used and abused by politicians and Democrats. He quips that he has been in inner city communities, Clinton stayed home.

Clinton says she did stay home. To prepare for the debate, and to be president.

9:55 p.m.

Holt asks Clinton if she thinks the police are implicitly biased. She says implicit bias is a problem for everyone not just the police.

9:45 p.m.

Holt moves on to question about race relations, including police shootings. Clinton goes first.

Clinton says we have to restore trust between communities and police. We have to make sure our police are trained with the best techniques. Everyone should respect the law and be respected by the law. She calls for criminal justice reform. She also says we have to tackle the plague of gun violence.

Trump says we need law and order. "We need to law and order, and if we don't have it, we're not going to have a country." Mentions he got the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police. "Our inner cities, African-Americans and Hispanics, are living in Hell."

Trump says almost 4,000 have been killed in Chicago since Barack Obama has become president. Talks about stop and frisk.

Holt says stop and frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York because it profiled Blacks and Hispanics. Trump says that's not true, the mayor chose not to pursue it.

9:40 p.m.

Trump says it's time someone who knows about money run the country. He says the country is in debt and we have become like a third world country. Blames politicians like Clinton.

Clinton quipped that maybe if Trump actually paid taxes (referring to previous comment on reports that there are years where Trump paid no income taxes), we'd have money. Trump says that would have been squandered too.

Clinton talks about the fact that there are businesses claim he has refused to pay them for work. He said maybe it's because he didn't like their work. She also says Trump has declared business bankruptcy six times.

Trump says he has taken advantage of the laws of the country four times. He has used this statement before with regards to bankruptcy.

9:35 p.m.

Clinton says there could be several reasons Trump doesn't release his returns, and there is something he's hiding. She says most presidential candidates over the last 40 years have released their returns.

Clinton says she has made a mistake using a private email account. Trump says that was more than a mistake, that was done purposely. He says she had her staff plead the Fifth Amendment, and this country thinks it's disgraceful.

9:30 p.m.

Trump goes after the Federal Reserve, accusing them of being political in not raising interest rates. He says the minute President Obama leaves, bad things will happen in this country.

Holt asks Trump about releasing his tax returns. Trump says he is under audit by the IRS and he will release his taxes. Tells people to look at his Federal Elections Commission files.

Holt says the IRS has said he is completely free to release his returns.

Trump says he will release his tax returns when Clinton releases her 33,000 emails.

9:28 p.m.

Clinton: I have a feeling that by the end of the evening I'm going to be blamed for everything that has happened in this country." Trump: "Why not?"

Clinton goes on to talk about the economy. She says broad-based, inclusive growth is what we need in this country, not more "trickle down" policies.

9:25 p.m.

Clinton, Trump both tout their sites for fact checking. Trump says Clinton has her plan for ISIS all on the site. "No wonder you have been fighting ISIS your entire adult life."

9:24 p.m.

Trump continues to interrupt Clinton as she was speaking. On TPP, Trump says Clinton only decided against it because he came out against it. Clinton quips, "Well I know you live in your own reality, Donald."

9:20 p.m.

Trump says he's all for clean energy but America's energy policies are a disaster. "Our country is losing so much in terms of energy, in terms of paying off our debt."

9:16 p.m.

Clinton blames 2008 recession on tax cutting and housing bubble. Says Trump rooted for the housing bubble because he could make money. Trump interrupts, "that's called business, by the way." Clinton says the best way to have a much better country is to go back to the policies that worked.  

9:15 p.m.

How do you bring back the jobs? Trump: Don't let them leave. If they leave, their products will be taxed in order to be sold in America.  

9:12 p.m.

Clinton likens Trump's tax cuts to more trickle down economics that don't help the economy. Says she and Trump have different ideas about economy.

9:07 p.m.

First question goes to Clinton: What makes you a better candidate to put money in the pockets of more Americans?

Clinton says she wants more help for manufacturing, clean energy, small businesses. Talks about raising the minimum wage, equal pay for men and women. She also talks about paid family leave.  

Trump says jobs are fleeing to other countries. "We are losing our good jobs, so many of them."

Regarding child care, Trump says he and Clinton agree on that, though they may disagree on how to do it.

Trump wants to reduce taxes to bring jobs back.

9:05 p.m.

The debate is getting underway now. Moderator Lester Holt of NBC is moderating. He says the questions are his own and the candidates were not informed of them.

8:40 p.m.

Also seen at Hofstra for the debate: Trump supporter and boxing promoter Don King, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio.  

8:30 p.m.

Clinton running mate Tim Kaine has taken the stage in Orlando at a debate watch party sponsored by the campaign and by Human Rights Campaign.

8:15 p.m.

Google Trends is talking about the top trending issues and questions via its @Googletrends Twitter account. These are things people have Googled before the debate.

Among the top trending questions on Hillary Clinton:

  1. What must Trump and Clinton do to win the night?
  2. Why should Hillary not be president?
  3. What time is the Clinton Trump debate?
  4. How tall is Hillary Clinton?
  5. How many debates are there between Clinton and Trump?

Among the top trending questions on Donald Trump:

  1. Why should Donald Trump not be president?
  2. What time is the Clinton Trump debate?
  3. How many debates are there between Clinton and Trump?
  4. Who will win the debate between Hillary and Trump?
  5. Is Donald Trump a Republican?

7:50 p.m.

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and running mate Bill Weld held a Facebook Live event ahead of the debate.

7:20 p.m.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein and her running mate were escorted from Hofstra tonight. Stein was on campus for an interview before she was asked to leave.

She is taking part in rallies outside the campus, demanding that the debates be opened for all candidates.

7:15 p.m.

Clinton running mate Tim Kaine is watching the debate from downtown Orlando.

Kaine is joining a Clinton watch party on Church Street. He'll be joined by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and astronaut Mark Kelly.

The three made a stop at the Pulse nightclub memorial earlier in the day.

Before that, Kaine held a rally in Lakeland.

7:10 p.m.

7 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has invited close supporters, her daughter and Mark Cuban to the debate tonight.

Among the supporters is Anastasia Somoza, a young woman with cerebral palsy who introduced Clinton during her stop in Orlando last week.

Cuban is a perennial Trump antagonist, businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner.

Clinton's husband is also expected to be at the debate, but it's not known whether he will watch it in the audience.

Trump, meanwhile, has invited Mark Geist, a survivor of the Benghazi attack. Geist spoke in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention.

Running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is also attending the debate and will act as a surrogate for Trump.

Information from the Associated Press and CNN was used in this report.