HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Hillary Clinton emphatically accused Donald Trump of purposely keeping his personal tax returns and business dealings secret from voters, declaring during Monday night's presidential debate, "There's something he's hiding."
Trump aggressively tried to turn the openness questions around on Clinton, who is seen by many voters as secretive. Trump said he would release his tax information when she produces more than 30,000 emails that were deleted from the personal internet server she used as secretary of state.
The Republican has repeatedly said he can't release his taxes because he is under a routine audit. Tax experts have said there is no reason the businessman cannot not make his tax records public during an audit.
Clinton was contrite in addressing her controversial email use, saying simply that it was a "mistake." She notably did not fall back on many of the excuses she has often used for failing to use a government email during her four years as secretary of state.
"If I had to do it over again, I would obviously do it differently," she said.
Trump countered, "That was more than a mistake."
The 90-minute televised debate came six weeks before Election Day and with early voting already getting underway in some states. Despite Clinton's advantages, including a sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation and a favorable electoral map, the race is exceedingly close.
The candidates also tangled over trade, taxes and how to bring good-paying jobs back to the United States.
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Democrat Clinton said her Republican rival was promoting a "Trumped-up" version of trickle-down economics — a philosophy focused on tax cuts for the wealthy. She called for increasing the federal minimum wage, spending more on infrastructure projects and guaranteeing equal pay for women.
Trump panned policies that he said have led to American jobs being moved overseas, in part because of international trade agreements that Clinton has supported. He pushed Clinton aggressively on her past support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact while she was serving in the Obama administration. She's since said she opposes the sweeping deal in its final form.
"You called it the gold standard of trade deals," Trump said. "If you did win, you would approve that."
Disputing his version of events, Clinton said, "I know you live in your reality."
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.