let's get right to jon karl. he's in the spin room ni about. jon? >> reporter: david, for donald trump tonight, the stakes couldn't be any higher. if he doesn't turn things around, he is on the verge of not just losing, but losing big. first, hillary clinton is leading in virtually all of the battleground states, solidifying her lead in states like virginia, pennsylvania and florida. and take a look at this. she's even gaining ground in such republican strongholds as arizona, georgia and texas. those are states that haven't generation. if she can win even one of those states, we could see a landslide on november 8th. david? >> donald trump setting out to change that tonight. jon karl, thank you. >>> keep it right here on abc for tonight's debate just a short time from now. i'll be joining george and our powerhouse political team, 9:00 p.m. eastern here. the final showdown between clinton and trump. >>> in the meantime, we the turn the other news tonight, and a massive gas exmraegs. neighbors and witnesses smelled gas, and then this. several of those

jon karl will put them under the microscope. jon karl will put the microscope. how do the how do the now that karen's taking osteo bi-flex, she's noticing a real difference in her joint comfort... "she's single." ...and high levels of humiliation in her daughter. in just 7 days, your joint comfort can be your kid's discomfort. osteo bi-flex. made to move. you're acting so funny, what's wrong, billy? i don't think so. contract the rainbow! taste the rainbow! >>> we're back now with our debate fact check. both candidates accusing each other of lying multiple times. abc's jon karl is back. you were there at the debate hall. you are here. okay. do your thing. >> no shortage of things to fact-check. let's begin with the question of hillary clinton's e-mails. extraordinary accusation. >> there has never been anything like this where e-mail, and you get a subpoena, you get a subpoena, and after getting the subpoena, you delete 33,000 e-mails. >> well, we rated that mostly true. in fact, hillary clinton did or -- 33,000 of her e-mails were deleted just a week after she

so let's start with jon karl flying here to kick off our coverage. good morning, jon. >> robin, even for this campaign, last night's debate represented a new low. this was the nastiest, meanest, most personal presidential debate we have ever seen. >> reporter: even before the first words were spoken, that non-handshake made history. the first time that's happened in a presidential debate. from there, it got ugly. that's rocked the trump campaign. >> you bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. do you understand that? >> no, i didn't say that at all. i don't think you understood what was said. this was locker room talk. i'm not proud of it. i apologized to my family. i apologized to the american people. certainly i'm not proud of it. >> reporter: clinton speaking out on the tape for the first time. >> he has said that the video doesn't represent who he is, but i think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is. >> it's just words, folks. it's just words. >> reporter: and after days of buildup, trump went there. dredgi

jon karl? >> that was an extraordinary moment. the peaceful transition of power following a democratic election is the ultimate american tradition, george. for donald trump to say that he would be unwilling to commit to accepting the results of the election was truly not just the moment of this the moment of this election. >> and david muir, hillary clinton seemed prepared for it. >> you heard donald trump in recent days saying, taking five days off to prep for the debate. he said she must be sleeping, must be lying down, resting. well, it was clear tonight, hillary clinton came armed and ready to go. and in fact, on this notion of being rigged, she had a very careful argument. she said that back during the primary, he said that iowa was rigged, judgments against trump university, that was rigged. and that even when he didn't win a series of emmys for the it drew applause. some laughter in that hall. but she said, you know, this would be funny if it won't horrifying. chef was ready for that. >> and matthew dowd, this comes after m

jon karl, thanks very much for that update.ll have more of this on our roundtable and up next martha raddatz from the front lines of the battle for mosul, the last isis stronghold in iraq. do i look smarter? yeah, a little. lines of the battle for mosul, the last isis stronghold in iraq. esearch. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know. okay. uh, do you get your fees back if you're not happy? (dad laughs) wow, you're laughing. that's not the way the world works. well, the world's changing. are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management, at charles schwab. i thodid the ancestrydna toian. find out i'm only 16% italian. so i went onto ancestry, soon learned that one of our ancestors was eastern european. this is my ancestor who i didn't know about. safety doesn't come in a box. it's not a banner that goes on a wall. it's not something you do now and then. or when it's convenient. it's using state-of-the-art simulators to better prepare for any situation. it

. >>> plus, jon karl takes us inside the battle for the control of congress and martha raddatz on the ground in iraq with secretary of defense ash carter. >>> coming up on "this week," we will have the latest on this massive ground battle to retake mosul. join us to tell us about the progress. >> announcer: "this week with george stephanopoulos" brought to you by voya financial. hey, jesse. who are you? i'm vern, the orange money retirement rabbit from voya. vern from voya? yep, vern from voya. why are you orange? that's a little weird. really? that's the weird part in this scenario? look, orange money represents the money you put away for retirement. so, why are you orange? funny. see how voya can help you get organized at voya.com. yeah, so mom's got this cold. hashtag "stuffy nose." hashtag "no sleep." i got it. hashtag "mouthbreather." yep. we've got a mouthbreather. well, just put on a breathe right strip and ... pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone. shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. breathe right. ? before it became a medicine

we want to bring in abc chief white house correspondent jon karl, jon, good morning to you. thanks for joining us and, jon, we are ten days out. can you believe it, 18 million have voted. does this shake up the race or have people already made up their minds? that people would vote for him even if he shot somebody on fifth avenue. right now there are hillary clinton supporters who against donald trump would vote for her even if comey did lock her up. i mean, this race is very much set. you have very few undecided voters left. i think one thing this does, though, is it puts a little bit of a bounce in donald trump's step. you saw that, you saw in our tracking poll, even before this news broke, republicans starting to get a little bit more enthusiastic about the race. starting to become more likely to vote, that is what is behind the narrowing. it isn't that she last come down or really that he has gone up in terms of support. it's that his supporters are now more likely to go to the polls. this will energize them a little more and i imagine will tighten the race a bit. >> how

jon karl who is also in st. louis, the scene of tonight's debate. jon we have republicans calling for trump to get out. anchance you think he'll do that and what happens if he does? is there a plan in place to deal with this kind of scenario? >> reporter: well, trump has been adamant and the people around him have been adamant there is no way he is going to drop out of this race. that said, dan, i mean, anybody's guess. the fact that it's even discussed as a possibility in october that the republican nominee could be dropping out is absolutely incredible. but no indication from the campaign itself that is even under consideration with trump's inner circle. as for what would happen, dan, it would be a complete disaster because, you know, the republican party could in theory come together. there's 168 members of the republican national committee. here's the problem. in a dozen states people have already started voting. and in many other states absentee ballots have started going out having donald trump's name on it. there's no mechanism for dealing wit

[from jon karl piece - 2016/07/20 the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them." since speech-gate tuner 4 cnn anderson cooper @ 20;10;10;07 people will want to go against him. but my husband is real. he's raw. he tells it as it is. ==end pkg== suggested tag info: and for that 2005 tape that went viral, melania says trump said those words because he was "egged on" by billy bush and what her husband said doesn't inappropriate, it's not acceptable, and i was surprised it was only a mike. on? mt: yes." ac: in him and giving phone numbers right now.... donald trump's son... including donald trump's son... is no stranger ... jokes"... but this time ... he's taking it to a new level. what he said ...about a mass shooting. plus....allegations of quid-pro-quo...taking center stage on the campaign trail. and as we head to break ... taking a live look at the thomas and mack center where everything is in place ... for the final presidential faceoff tomorrow night! filed....on behalf of the families affected by the flint water crisis! plus...a private recording ... of congres

jon karl in the hall tonight. jon, clinton's momentum fueled by that debate. trump's reaction in the days that followed. and the tax for nearly two decades. that really puts pressure on mike pence tonight to stop the bleeding. >> it sure does, george. these are the two most overshadowed vice presidential candidates of the modern era. when they step out on that stage, they will be meeting each other for the very first time. but the pressure is on mike pence. he is the one that needs to change the dynamic. the momentum is with hillary clinton, trump is down, hurt by that last debate. to change that dynamic by getting his campaign back on track. >> cecilia vega covers the clinton campaign for us, also in the hall. we expect a pretty aggressive tim kaine tonight. >> exactly, george. and we expect him to come out swinging, taking on mike pence by taking on donald trump from those 3:00 a.m. tweets to his comments about women, but perhaps his most important job tonight, to not mess up. this waive of momentum that hillary clinton has been riding since that last debate

let's start with jon karl. >> for this campaign, last night's debate represented a new low. this was the nastiest, meanest, most personal presidential debate we have ever seen. even before the first words were history. from there, it got ugly. over the video. >> you bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. do you understand that? >> no, i didn't say that at all. i don't think you understood what was said. this was locker room talk. i'm not proud of it. i apologized to my family. i apologized to the person people. certainly i'm not proud of it. >> reporter: clinton speaking out on the tape for the first time. >> he has said the video doesn't represent who he is. but i think it's clear exactly who he is. >> it's just words, folks. it's just words. >> reporter: and after days of buildup, trump went there. drening up bill clinton's sex scandals. inviting clinton's accusers to sit in the front row. >> you can say it any way you want to say it. bill clinton was abusive to women. hillary clinton attacked those same women. >> when i hear something like all. when they go low,