--- title: Presidential Debate: Transcript of Hofstra Clinton Trump description: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squared off at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday for the first of three presidential debates. canonical: https://time.com/4508768/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-27T04:10:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:34.549Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read a Transcript of the First Presidential Debate og:description: The full text of the Clinton-Trump debate at Hofstra. og:url: https://time.com/4508768/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe0dffdf2f790b37/6988a79a8e060157544679df/gettyimages-610588192-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: The set of the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read a Transcript of the First Presidential Debate twitter:description: The full text of the Clinton-Trump debate at Hofstra. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe0dffdf2f790b37/6988a79a8e060157544679df/gettyimages-610588192-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read a Transcript of the First Presidential Debate Between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 27, 2016 4:10 AM UTC  The set of the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. The set of the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. Drew Angerer—2016 Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 27, 2016 4:10 AM UTC Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump [squared off at Hofstra University](http://time.com/4508703/presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-hofstra-long-island/?xid=homepage) in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday for the first of three presidential debates. Here is a full transcript of the debate, which was moderated by NBC _Nightly News_ anchor Lester Holt. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4508768/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4508768/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-transcript/"},"headline":"Read a Transcript of the First Presidential Debate Between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-09-27T04:10:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:34.549Z","description":"Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squared off at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday for the first of three presidential debates.","url":"https://time.com/4508768/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-transcript/","keywords":["Debates","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Donald Trump","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe0dffdf2f790b37/6988a79a8e060157544679df/gettyimages-610588192-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe0dffdf2f790b37/6988a79a8e060157544679df/gettyimages-610588192-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The set of the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York.","caption":"The set of the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York.","creditText":"Drew Angerer—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4508768/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-transcript/","name":"Read a Transcript of the First Presidential Debate Between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump"}}]}] ```