Donald Trump claims he had 'defective microphone' during debate

'Was that on purpose? I had a mic that wasn't working properly'

Donald Trump has suggested the microphone he used in the first presidential debate was “defective”.

Following a poorly received performance at Hofstra University, reporters asked Mr Trump what he thought of moderator Lester Holt - the NBC journalist who was widely accused of going AWOL during the debate.

While Mr Trump said he thought Mr Holt “was fine”, he immediately went on to complain about the quality of the audio equipment.

“They gave me a defective mic,” Mr Trump told a group of journalists.

"Did you notice that? My mic was defective within the room."

He suggested it may have been done deliberately.

"I wonder,” Mr Trump said, “was that on purpose? Was that on purpose? I had a mic that wasn't working properly.

“But overall, I thought it was great. And if you look at the polls, they’re though the roof.”

However, Mr Trump’s microphone was good enough to pick up the sound of him sniffing repeatedly, leading to ridicule on social media, where the hash tag #Trumpsniffle was widely used.

A campaign aide said Mr Trump did not have a cold. Some people seized on the sniffling to hit back at Trump over his repeated attacks on the health and stamina of Ms Clinton, who had pneumonia earlier this month.

"I am worried about Donald Trump's health - are the sniffles symptoms of something more serious?" said Twitter user Scott Charton.

Viewers made few comments about the quality of sound during the debate. Mr Trump also interrupted Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton more than 50 times over the course of the evening.

Ms Clinton is widely perceived to have been the superior performer in the debate, while many commentators believed Mr Trump had not prepared enough.