Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the third and final 2016 presidential campaign debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, October 19, 2016. [Photo/IC]

NO HANDSHAKE

Clinton and Trump walked straight to their podiums when they were introduced at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, once again forgoing the traditional handshake as they did at the second debate last week in St. Louis, Missouri.

The debate gave Trump, making his first run for elected office, perhaps his best remaining chance to sway the dwindling number of Americans who are still undecided about their vote.

Clinton, a former secretary of state, US senator and first lady, leads in national polls and in most of the battleground states where the election will likely be decided. The debate was her opportunity to make a closing argument on why she is best suited to succeed Obama.

Clinton has struggled to get past concerns about transparency raised over her use of a private email server for work communication while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

EXCHANGE OF ACCUSATIONS

The two candidates clashed over accusations that Clinton as US secretary of state from 2009 to 20013 did favors for high-dollar donors to her family's Clinton Foundation. Asked about a potential conflict of interest, she said she acted "in furtherance of our country's values and interests."

She and Trump talked over each other, Clinton defending her ties to the foundation, saying "there is no evidence" of a conflict, while Trump said the foundation should return millions of dollars to countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar who treat gay people harshly.

"It's a criminal enterprise," Trump said.

Clinton said she would be happy to compare the Clinton Foundation to Trump's charitable Trump Foundation, which among its activities was to buy "a six-foot statue of Donald."