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Clinton, Trump Debate at 9PM Monday on CNN; Poll: Clinton, Trump Virtually Tide Going Into Debate; Clinton Prepares for "Multiple Versions" of Trump; Protesters Gather in Front of Charlotte Stadium; Questions Remain After Charlotte Police Video Released; Israeli PM Netanyahu Meets With Clinton, Trump Today; Clinton, Trump to Debate Monday; Fact-Checking the Candidates; Star Miami Marlins Pitcher Killed in Boat Crash. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 25, 2016 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:10] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: The calm before the storm, there it is right there. Hofstra University, the debate hall and you can hear -- here's the crowd forming as well. In just 31 hours, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will approach those podiums for their very first debate of the 2016 Election.

Hello, everyone and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield live at Hofstra University. So the countdown is on. And as if the stakes weren't high enough, a new ABC, "Washington Post" poll shows Clinton and Trump in a virtual dead heat. Clinton with only a 2-point lead among likely voters over the next three hours, we will talk about the candidates' preparedness and the three main topics they will debate.

NBC moderator Lester Holt will be questioning Trump and Clinton about, "America's Direction, Achieving Prosperity and Securing America". Both candidates are off the campaign trail today but have separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Here is Netanyahu arriving at Trump's Tower this morning where we're told they met for 90 minutes. And aside from her pre-planned meeting with Netanyahu, Clinton has hunkered down at a hotel near her home in Chappaqua, New York where she was seen working until the late hours last night. And sources close to the campaign say Clinton has been sparring with multiple stand-in for Trump. She was also combing through briefing books about his policies and personalities.

Meanwhile, Trump says he doesn't want to "over prepare". He held a rally in Roanoke, Virginia last night, mostly ripping Clinton's running mate, Senator Tim Kaine who represents Virginia.

All right. But it's Trump's Twitter feed that is giving us the most insight to what he may do at Monday's debate after Clinton supporter, Mark Cuban, taunted that he would be in the front row as one of her guests. Trump tweeted this, "If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him." Gennifer Flowers, who infamously had an affair with then Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, then told "The New York Times" that she would indeed attend the debate. My colleague Jake Tapper asked Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway if these are the types of head games Clinton can expect from Trump.

(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Can you confirm if Gennifer Flowers is going to be at the debate as a guest of Mr. Trump?

KELLYANE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: No, I cannot confirm that and I can't believe how easily baited the Clinton campaign was. Basically, Mr. Trump was saying; Look, if Mark Cuban is going to send out these texts that say the humbling at Hofstra and this is his big down fall, then Mr. Trump was putting them on notice that we could certainly invite guests that may get into the head of Hillary Clinton. But we have not invited her formally and we don't expect her to be there as a guest of the Trump campaign.

I did think it was really odd just one day after Hillary Clinton was rebuffed by a Democratic Mayor of Charlotte to please not come to Charlotte, not of her resources and not come at this time. Then they exercised poor judgment the very next day by putting out a statement by the Clinton campaign about Gennifer Flowers and what this meant with Donald Trump that it shows he's easily provoked, no. The easily provoked people here were the Clinton campaign. So very poor judgment.

But look, we're going to talk about the issues that face America, that's what the debate is. I can understand why Hillary Clinton wants a billionaire in the front row, that just another Monday night for her. But we're taking the case directly to the American people tomorrow night.

TAPPER: This is a point of fact, I think both Trump and Clinton were talking about visiting Charlotte and the mayor said that they didn't have the resources for either one to visit. But I think it's curious and probably a lot of viewers are wondering, you think that what's odd is the Clinton campaign's reaction to Donald Trump tweeting about somebody that her husband had an affair with decades ago, not the fact that Donald Trump tweeted something about someone -- the nominee's husband had an affair with decades ago?

CONWAY: It seems odd that they would give it life and breath since you just said three times in a row that Governor Clinton had an affair with her. I didn't say it but now a lot of Americans who didn't know who Gennifer Flowers was.

TAPPER: But Donald Trump gave it light, did he not? Donald Trump gave it light. He's the one that brought that up.

CONWAY: No. He basically -- no. And they could have left it at that. What he said was if she's going to do this as a way to bait him then perhaps -- it was what's in his tweet, perhaps, he will invite Gennifer Flowers there and have her sit in the front row.

But, you know, I also just want to say, Jake, this year's particular presidential debates are incredibly important so that we can hear the visions of these two candidates. Donald Trump is out on the stump every single day. He was in Roanoke last night. He was in four or five swing states just this week giving policy addresses, talking about issues. Hillary Clinton is running negative ads against him. You know what should be fact-checked, Hillary Clinton's campaign two weeks ago saying she was going to become more uplifting and optimistic and aspirational. Where has that gone?

It's negative ad after negative ad. It's negative pieces of mail, phone calls, get out the vote programs. We're just not going to do that. We're taking our case directly to the American people tomorrow in this debate. And may I add, every single day out in the stump.

TAPPER: But Kellyanne, it's hard to argue that Donald Trump hasn't been negative about Hillary Clinton. I want to ask you in fact, is he planning on bringing up Bill Clinton's marital infidelity during the debate itself? This is something he has discussed on Fox News Channel and another places. It's something that he's talked about in speeches.

CONWAY: Mr. Trump will answer the questions as they are asked by Lester Holt, the moderator and he has a right to defend himself against anything that Secretary Clinton may say in response. There's no plan to do that. I'm not going to reveal what we've been doing in our debate conversations but the fact is that he has every right to defend himself. You know, he's always constantly attacked. And then the moment he counter punches and then people are just shocked that he would do that, he would try to defend himself. But he will answer the questions asked.

We certainly hope that the questions go to policy, answer the questions that the American people have. They deserve and expect these candidates to be talking about the issues. ABC, "Washington Post" came out with a poll overnight, Jake, that shows the issues that motivate Americans. They want these candidates to talk about the economy, terrorism, healthcare, immigration, national security. And so Mr. Trump is ready to have that conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So will Trump use Bill Clinton's extra marital affairs as fodder for tomorrow night? Is the Clinton campaign prepared for such a thing? Jake Tapper asked the Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In the mock debates, are you preparing for anything? Are you preparing for the Gennifer Flowers of the world to be invoked?

ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, Jake, as you would appreciate, nobody knows which Donald Trump is going to show up to this debate and in fact his erratic temperament has been a subject of quite a bit a discussion in the debate. And I would argue that's why he's not fit and prepared to be president.

But look, big picture, this debate is an opportunity for the American people to look at these two candidates and see which one of them is ready to be our next president and commander-in-chief. And I think the fact that Donald Trump is spending the hours before this debate on this sort of thing is indicative of the kind of leader he would be and the kind of president he would be. And so I think it's a warning sign before the debate has even started about Donald Trump's lack of fitness, his bullying tactics that make him unfit to be president.

TAPPER: Former Obama adviser David Axelrod who wants Hillary Clinton to win is concerned that if Hillary Clinton spends a lot of tomorrow night attacking Trump, that might not be enough for her to win the race. He told the "Washington Post", "If Trump finds a way to normalize himself, it can be a trap door."

Going into this debate, do you think it's more important for Hillary Clinton to sell her own vision or to paint Donald Trump as a threat which could in doing so feed into her issues with likability and trust worthiness and honesty, et cetera?

MOOK: Well, Jake, I'm really glad you asked this question because I think this is really the heart of the matter. Every time that Hillary has had an unfiltered opportunity to talk to the American people about not just what she's going to do to make their lives better, the specific plans and policies that she has but also how her entire life and this campaign is part of a mission to help kids and families, she's done better.And so we're really excited to have that opportunity.

And to your point, I'm very concerned that Donald Trump will be graded on a curve just because he doesn't fly off the handle in the middle of this debate does not mean that he's prepared to be president of the United States. He needs to have a coherent answers to the questions, he needs to demonstrate a command of the issues and he needs to roll out specific plans about how he's going to make life better for Americans.

I was a little surprised to hear Kellyanne imply that he has those plans. We haven't seen them. He has a secret plan to defeat ISIS, he won't tell anybody what it is. He says he knows more about ISIS than the generals. That's not a specific plan. And that's not being transparent with the American people about what those plans are. So we hope that will come out at this debate and we absolutely want this to be an opportunity for Hillary to deliver her message directly so the people can understand she's fighting on their side.

TAPPER: Does secretary Clinton have anyone in her orbit who could be brutally honest and frank with her? I ask that because it seems like based on a lot of the information we've gotten about her e-mails and the like that she might not have people like that and in debate prep, it would be very important for somebody to really be able to go after her to prepare her for a debate and I don't know that she has anybody like that in her orbit.

MOOK: Well, she absolutely does, Jake. Anybody who has worked for Secretary Clinton, first of all, knows that she surrounds herself with experts on every matter that she looks into. She just did a call earlier this week after the events in New York with her national security team. But she also likes a spirited debate and spirited discussion. And the people that she brings closest to her are the ones that challenge her thinking and push her. This preparation process has been very rigorous.

But again, she released plans -- I mentioned on ISIS, she released that ten months ago. And that was the product of rigorous debate and discussion with experts. She's continuing to update that as I said as that situation evolves. That's who Hillary Clinton is. Donald Trump has not released specific plans and unless he does that, and unless he tells the truth during this debate, unless he shows his ability to conduct himself without lying constantly, he's not getting a passing grade on this debate and he's not ready to be president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So much to talk about here. Joining me right now here at Hofstra University is Republican Congressman Peter King. He has endorsed Donald Trump.

All right, Congressman, good to see you. You just heard Kellyanne Conway, you also heard Robby Mook. And as it pertains to this whole invitation of Gennifer Flowers, is it your gut feeling that Donald Trump is going to go in that direction in order to try and throw Hillary Clinton's game?

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: No, I don't think so at all. The only time he's brought up Gennifer Flowers on the campaign is when early on that Hillary Clinton was attacking him for his treatment of women and he just thought he would put that in the way Hillary Clinton treated women during the whole Bill Clinton --

WHITFIELD: Why would he tweet something like that?

KING: I think he doesn't like Mark Cuban and he thought he just throw something back and also to get into her head if she is, the day before the biggest fight of her life and she's worried about Gennifer Flowers so I think Donald Trump has already succeeded. But no, he's going to be very serious tomorrow night.

WHITFIELD: You heard Robby Mook there who said it's time for Donald Trump to start talking policy. He says he doesn't want to over prepare. He wants to be himself. Which Donald Trump do you think is going to show up at this debate?

KING: I think you will see Donald Trump who is prepared with facts and figures but also is going to be spontaneous. That's why in my understanding, he's not rehearsing actually you're having going up against imitation of Hillary. Basically he wants to be spontaneous, have enough facts and figures. And he knows where he wants to take the country and I think they're also going to try to have that, he will be ready for any one liners that she throws at him then he will be able to pivot back and forth on her defense.

WHITFIELD: We've heard some details about how Hillary Clinton has been preparing this weekend, being in a hotel with a number of adviser until the wee hours of the evening, reading over policy books, doing mock debates, preparing for this debate in any direction, a stand-in for this kind of potential one liners from Donald Trump. You don't believe he's doing any of that or anything close to that?

KING: I'm virtually certain. My understanding is there's no stand- in, there's none of that. There's no podiums, there's nothing that he's rehearsing. What he's doing is going over different issues, going over how he can respond to certain charges against him. Now we can make, present his case, but not any type of formal rehearsal, no. That's not his style. He's going to be (discerning) his best lines. When he's off the cuff, like for instance, when Vincente Fox made the remark about the Trump in Mexico, he goes after the wall just from 10 feet higher. You know, it's good over the shoulder remarks.

WHITFIELD: In your view, you believe that Donald Trump can potentially gain support. What are worries about how he could potentially lose support by way of his debate performance?

KING Yes, I think it's all up to him tomorrow night. I don't think Hillary Clinton can do anything to take away 25 years of unfavorables, whether the fair or not, that's reality, 25 percent -- I mean, it's 25 years, many people just don't trust her.

Donald Trump is questioned about his judgment.

WHITFIELD: But they both are kind of neck in neck in the category of trust.

KING: Except that his though are based on how he's going to conduct himself, how much judgment he has, how was demeanor is going to be? He can change that in --

WHITFIELD: And that's the part that people are, you know, least trustworthy about him.

KING: Well, there's going to be 100 million people watching the debate tonight. These are the two people, very controversial but Donald Trump is the one who has the chance to turn it around. I would rather be in Donald Trump's shoes than Hillary Clinton's tomorrow night even if I were not the Trump only because, I'm saying, he has the chance to turn -- I don't know what she can do to turn in around.

WHITFIELD: And what do you mean in terms of he has the chance of turning it around? In what way? I mean what would he have to deliver, what would he have to exhibit that he hasn't already?

KING: I would say similar to Reagan. In 1980, people don't know whether or not Donald Trump has a demeanor, has the sense of judgment to be president whether or not he does have vision for America. That he can do in 90 minutes. She cannot cause people to trust her now if they haven't trusted her after 25 years.

WHITFIELD: And as it pertains to public service, her record has been out there for 40 years of her public service. He has been in the public eye. I know you made comparisons about her public image versus his public image. But because he has been rather gregarious, you know, bombastic businessman, are they not on equal footing in terms of public perception as public figures? KING: No. Because we know what she would be as a public figure, as a governmental figure. Donald Trump, we don't know how he will be governmentally, that's what he can show tomorrow. I think he will do an excellent job.

WHITFIELD: All right, Congressman Peter King. Thank you so much.

KING: Fredricka, good to see you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Of course, you can see the first presidential debate right here on CNN tomorrow 9:00 Eastern time. Our coverage begins at 4:00 Eastern and we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield live at Hofstra University, scene of tomorrow night's presidential debate.

Meantime, attention is also on North Carolina. Anger at the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott is spilling into the streets again today in Charlotte. Protesters gathering outside of a Bank of America stadium there, locking arms and chanting just before the start of the Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings' game. CNN's Nick Valencia is at that protest and joining me now live. So, Nick, explain. What is happening there?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well demonstrations have continued here on the streets of Charlotte for the sixth straight day since the shooting death of Keith Scott in Tuesday afternoon. Just is the last few minutes here, the riot police have shown up to establish a perimeter. You see, this is the front line. People here are standing their ground. It is a diverse crowd here, young and old, black and white.

The message up into this point has been -- if you want to walk with me here, Jay, we will check out the crowd a little bit. The message up into this point has been demanding the police tapes after that happened yesterday afternoon. The protests continued largely peaceful. Although, you know, the confrontations, people are still saying police murder lives, they're still trying to say that there's no justice for the black community here.

I was talking to a demonstrator earlier and there seems to be a really big lack of trust here with the police department. Individuals despite what the chief has said that Keith Scott was armed at the time of the shooting, they just don't believe him. They believe that the individual was unarmed. That message has taken hold here even after the release of the tapes. People, here in this crowd, were telling me that they just believe the police planted the gun, that they don't believe the facts being released by the police department. It is a really intense split here in the community even though those police tapes were released, Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Valencia, we will check back with you. Thank you so much. All right. Those protests come after days of public outcry for

Charlotte Police to release their videos of the officer's deadly encounter with Keith Lamont Scott, only two of the police videos have been made public and they do little to answer some of the most significant question surrounding that shooting. CNN's Brynn Gingras takes a look at the newly released tapes and what they do and do not reveal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAKEYIA SCOTT, KEITH SCOTT'S WIFE: He doesn't have a gun.

BRYNN GINGRAS, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The tapes became public one day after a video recorded by Keith Scott's widow was released publicly. Her video shows the moments leading up to the killing of her husband by a Charlotte police officer.

SCOTT: Don't shoot him.

GINGRAS: The dash cam video provided by the police department Saturday shows a patrol car approaching the scene where one plain clothes officer with his weapon drawn on Scott is visible. Moments later, a uniformed officer joins the first officer's position behind the truck.

Someone shouts, drop the gun several times before Scott exists his SUV. While walking backwards, Scott is shot at four times by officer Brentley Vinson who is off camera throughout both videos.

JUSTIN BAMBERG, FAMILY ATTORNEY: What we see when we looked at this dashcam video is Mr. Scott steps out of the vehicle. He doesn't appear to be acting aggressive towards any of the law enforcement officers on the scene. He doesn't appear to be making gestures or motions as though he's arguing with anybody. He doesn't lunge at the officers. It appears he has his hands by his side. again, there is no definitive evidence in this video as to whether or not there is an object in his hand. And if there is, what that object is.

GINGRAS: Meanwhile, the body camera video worn by a uniformed police officer shows that man running up towards the encounter. The officer moves beside a white truck and pauses next to a plain clothes officer before running around to his left to the other side of the vehicles. As the officer passes a gap between cars, Scott is visibility with his right arm by his side. The next time Scott is seen, he's lying on the ground with five officers converging on him.

Neither video appears to show Scott pointing a gun at police officers and neither seems to answer some of the most significant questions in the shooting. Police say the released videos are just sampling of the evidence which will show the shooting was justified.

KEER PUTNEY, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE CHIEF: I stand behind my truth. People can interpret anything they want based on one piece of evidence and I can tell you, I suspect they will based on the video footage. But what I say is, you have to put all pieces together. We interviewed a lot of people. We've interviewed all of our officers involved and the consistent themes were the facts. And that's what I stand behind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Brynn Gingras reporting. We will have much more live from Hofstra University, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to Hofstra University in New York. A look now inside the debate hall where crews are getting ready for tomorrow night's first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the fine tuning under way.

Meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with Hillary Clinton this afternoon in New York. And this morning, he met with Donald Trump. The two talked for about an hour and a half at Trump tower. The meetings come on the eve of this high stakes first presidential debate. Let's talk about all of this and the dynamics. Joining me right now to discuss, Ron Brownstein, who is a CNN senior political analyst. CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston and CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly. All right, good to see all of you.

All right. So Phil, let me begin with you. This meeting between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu taking place at Trump Tower, on his turf this morning, what was that all about?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know, 90-minute meeting, this is important kind of in a broader scheme of things for Donald Trump, the effort particularly going into this phase, be able to show that he is of the world leadership stage, he's ready for that stage.

Now this meeting according to (Rita) provided the Trump campaign, they talked about military assistance, they talked about the importance of the relationship between the two countries as we've long known. And they also talked about the border fence that Israel has focused on and Donald Trump regularly references on the campaign trail kind of a nod to Trump's wall, if you will. But I do think kind of the point of this meeting and Benjamin Netanyahu as you know will meet with Hillary Clinton as well but is for Donald Trump to be able to show that despite what Hillary Clinton and his detractors say, he's ready to be on the world stage and meet with people like Bibi Netanyahu.

[14:30:12] WHITFIELD: And Maeve, you know, Hillary Clinton has already made it clear through her experience and then reiterating that she knows what it is to be on the world stage, meet with country leaders. Why then she need to initiate -- take the invitation and run with it by meeting with him today?

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I mean, certainly she has to show the relationships that she's built over her entire tenure as secretary of state. And it's funny actually because Netanyahu did play a sort of funny role in the Romney race in 2012, getting a little bit more involved there because of his tensions with Obama. So I think for Hillary Clinton, you know, this is just one in many of

a series of meetings to show her command of the world stage. And she's really -- that's going to be her challenge tomorrow night is to really show that in those two-minute sound bites onset against Donald Trump, really press him on his knowledge and show she has a greater depth of knowledge of a lot of these world affairs that they'll be talking about.

WHITFIELD: And most voters are convinced of that because they can look at the track record. He is a businessman. Yes, he's done international business dealings but she's been in public service. So as it pertains to this type of kind of meeting today, Ron.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

WHITFIELD: You know, on the eve of the debate, is this a potential distraction for both of them or do they both need to display this kind of meeting to help set the tone ahead of the debate?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, it's a statement about the remarkable role Israel plays in American politics and foreign policy that both presidential candidates on the day before meeting of this magnitude would meet with Benjamin Netanyahu whose strained relations go back way before Barack Obama to Bill Clinton.

RESTON: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: Where they had a famously, you know, who's the blank super power here, Bill Clinton supposedly once said after a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. But, look, Hillary's advantage on qualifications is her single most consistent advantage in polls. I mean, you asked people, is she qualified to be president, roughly 60 percent say, in the ABC-"Washington Post" poll today. Roughly 57 percent said no about Donald Trump. That is her biggest advantage. The biggest advantage he has is he's seen as more likely to bring change. So I think you're going to see -- I think one thing Democrats are really looking for tomorrow is for her to try to reinforce that qualifications edge because as I say, it is the most consistent benefit she has in polling right now.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: But then your -- go ahead.

RESTON: And I mean, that is how she's preparing, you know, in such a different way than Donald Trump but really having those points down and being ready to press him on his knowledge and really expose what she sees as sort of the deficiencies in his world view and his understanding of it. And I think that will be so fascinating to watch tomorrow night, whereas Donald Trump is just kind of having these meetings with his advisers to kind of formulate his positions and talk through issues. And it will just be a really fascinating study in contrast.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: But then, Ron, you say even with those advantages, she is losing support particularly among a certain demographic.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes. Among millennials. I mean, she's -- I mean, you think about the Obama coalition from 2012 and 2008. A winning coalition. Three big components. College educated white volunteers especially women. She's doing at least as well as he did with them. But if you look at minority voters and especially millennial voters, and where they overlap among younger millennials, Donald Trump has miserable numbers with those groups, but despite that Clinton is seeing substantial defection to Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.

And the best shorthand for that is that roughly 75 percent of millennials say they have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. And consistently she's winning only about 45 percent of them in polls and that's because there's a disproportionate spill over to those third parties. That has to be one of the top priorities in this debate.

RESTON: And that's what the --

BROWNSTEIN: To capture and to reengage millennials who are often showing less interest --

RESTON: And her campaign is laser focused on that, sending out surrogates, telling millennials that, you know, a vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein is essentially a vote for Trump. Whether they make that argument in a compelling way, we'll be -- we'll have to see.

BROWNSTEIN: She needs a positive argument, too.

WHITFIELD: And so we're Donald Trump -- I mean, you've been -- you've spent enough time, you know, at the number of the rallies.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: He was at a rally last night as opposed to Hillary Clinton, you know, hunkered down in a hotel, preparing, going over notes and mock debates, his comfort zone is with a big audience. It is likely that he might use that same technique even in a debate hall, perhaps because it's where he's comfortable or maybe to distract his opponent?

MATTINGLY: Are you saying that there could be mind games?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: In some ways, shape or form. Have we seen any of that over the --

WHITFIELD: You've gotten into his mind.

MATTINGLY: What you're seeing in the lead-up to this by each candidate is what they are comfortable with, and Hillary Clinton, as everybody knows over-prepares to the nth degree. Donald Trump has a different way of doing things. And I think his campaign and why his team, his current team, the third iteration or fourth iteration, whichever we're on right now, is they're letting him do what he feels like he needs to do, what he's most comfortable with to get him to that point.

Now there's more preparation going on behind the scenes than they are letting on to. There's no question about that.

RESTON: Of course right.

MATTINGLY: But I think you see that Donald Trump is in the rallies. That's the one that makes him most comfortable. That's where he gets his energy, that's where he feels best about himself.

[14:35:02] I think having that as the entre into this really important 48 hours, I mean, his campaign do that as an important point for him. The difference, and you noted this, some of the Republican debates, they are a very ruckus crowd. There's not the expectation that that is going to be at all the case here. He feeds off those crowds. That's where he knows if he's adding to that or not.

WHITFIELD: And the difference is that's among your advocates.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

WHITFIELD: You know, your 20,000, 30,000, we're talking about 100 million people potentially.

BROWNSTEIN: Potentially. You know, I've talked to a number of strategists in both parties over the last few days about what they think each candidate has to do. And I was struck by the consensus. Their natural instinct may be to try to maul the other, but really I think -- in both parties, I think the leading thinkers believe that their job much more is to repair their own image than put more dents on the other. They're both laboring under the highest unfavorable ratings of any general election nominee. People have no shortage of doubts about either of them. Adding to that maybe less important and kind of resolving some of the doubts that each face about themselves.

WHITFIELD: Wow, it's only 51 days out. Can you believe it?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Kind of unbelievable.

WHITFIELD: Man. Time flies.

RESTON: Finally.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: People were counting?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks to all of you. Appreciate it. All right, Maeve Reston, Phil Mattingly, and Ron Brownstein.

All right. Coming up, the "New York Times," the "Washington Post" and the "L.A. Times" all telling the same story today. Donald Trump is a liar? Details on why these publications are coming out swinging just one day now ahead of that debate next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We've at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York, site of the first presidential debate tomorrow night, live on CNN. The crowds are pumped up. They're ready for this.

In just over 30 hours, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will square off here and while we expect a whole lot of zingers between the two, some members of the media are already slamming Trump and his truthfulness or, in their opinions, lack thereof. The "New York Times" labeled Trump's week a week of whoppers.

[14:10:04] The "L.A. Times" calling his falsehoods unprecedented. The "Washington Post" saying Trump's statements come from an alternative universe. And Politico's headline, "The week of misrepresentations, exaggerations and half truths."

I want to bring in CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter.

Brian, this is pretty remarkable.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It is.

WHITFIELD: Especially when people look at media outlets, newspapers as being unbiased and then these headlines and statements are saying something very different this political season.

STELTER: This really is highly unusual. To have all of these respected news outlets speaking out about Trump's propensity to tell falsehoods. What I would say is he is uniquely fact challenged. Yes, Clinton shaves the truth, lots of politicians try to exaggerate or stretch the truth, but Donald Trump does by a number of different measures lie more often.

Here's what Politico said in their report. We can put them -- the data on screen. They've measured everything Clinton and Trump said for a week, all the tweets, all the speeches, all the interviews, and found that Trump, in his different events, he had one untruth during these six speeches, the town halls, seven TV interviews, 37 tweets. All that together, one untruth every 3.2 minutes.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

STELTER: You compare that to Hillary Clinton who gave two speeches, three TV interviews, one press availability, 114 tweets, two op-eds, she said one untruth every 12 minutes. Well, that's according to Politico's study of the data.

Now the "New York Times," "Washington Post," the "L.A. Times," in similar stories today. They're reaching similar conclusions about Trump. I think it's a coincidence but it's important to note all these news outlets coming to similar conclusions.

WHITFIELD: Yes. STELTER: Ahead of the debate of course where there's a pressure on

Lester Holt, the moderator to jump in when there's mistruths spoken.

WHITFIELD: So with that kind of reported track record, which is very unflattering, I mean, that's the last thing.

STELTER: Right.

WHITFIELD: Americans, right, would want to represent this nation from the White House but why is it that that doesn't in any way impact his popularity? He is the Republican nominee, he is in a face-off 51 days before the election.

STELTER: Yes. Sometimes whether I'm hearing from Hillary Clinton or Trump, if they stretch the truth, well, if you agree with them, if you believe in them, and you support them, you may not mind it. I am convinced many of Trump's voters are not particularly interested in the details of the facts that come out of his mouth. However they're interested in the broad strokes of what he's saying. You know, there's also a difference between a big lie and a little lie. And here's what I mean. There's big lies about whether Trump supported the invasion of Iraq, then there's little lies like him saying that Lester Holt, the debate moderator, is a Democrat. , or actually Lester Holt is a Republican. He's a registered Republican. It shouldn't matter --

WHITFIELD: I'm sure he's not happy that that's out.

STELTER: But now that's out there. And that's an example of a small lie, you know, kind of fib.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

STELTER: Listen, we all sort of maybe in our lives fib.

WHITFIELD: Right.

STELTER: But these are presidential candidates. And I'm glad we're seeing these news outlets have the highest standard for both.

WHITFIELD: Right. And I say that because as journalists, the last thing you want is your own political, you know, demeanor and your allegiances to become part of the story.

STELTER: Right.

WHITFIELD: So Lester Holt, moderator, a lot of pressure on him. He's a fine journalist.

STELTER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: But all eyes are on him in terms of how to handle, how to navigate if there are mistruths, how to pick up after his colleague, Matt Lauer, was criticized for not correcting the candidates, particularly Donald Trump, in the middle of that exchange, that town hall. STELTER: That's right. There's always in the back of our heads as

journalists this desire to be fair, to treat both sides with an equal amount of scrutiny. But given all these fact checks with Trump, whether it's the "Post" or another news outlet saying that Trump lies more often, you wonder if Holt is going to have to speak up when he hears misstatements and actually holds these candidates more accountable.

Here's what the head of the commission, the debate commission, Janet Brown, told me about how they want Holt to handle it this time tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET BROWN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMISSION ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: I don't think it's a good idea to get the moderator into essentially serving as the Encyclopedia Britannica. And I think it's better for that person to facilitate and to depend on the candidates to basically correct each other as they see fit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: So she is essentially saying the candidates have to fact- check each other. But there's a lot of pressure, including from the Clinton campaign for Holt to speak up if there's an egregious lie said on stage. So we'll see if that happens. I'm told by NBC sources Holt will not be a potted plant on stage.

WHITFIELD: Right. At the same time, he's not being very public about his strategy, his questions, et cetera, and he's got a very tight knit core of folks working with him in preparing --

STELTER: Good luck, Lester Holt.

WHITFIELD: Good luck, Lester. That's right. All right. Thank you so much. Brian Stelter, appreciate it. We'll be right back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:18] WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at Hofstra University. We'll continue our debate coverage in a moment. But I want to update you on this breaking news. Very sad tragic news out of the world of baseball. A star pitcher for the Miami Marlins, Jose Fernandez, was killed in a boating accident overnight.

Officials say the 24-year-old all-star and two other men were found dead after their 32-foot boat crashed near Miami Beach. The names of the other victims have not been released. investigators point to speed as the cause of the accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORENZO VELOZ, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION: It does appear that speed was involved due to the impact and the severity of it. It does appear to be that they were coming at full speed when they encountered the jetty and the accident happened.

As of right now, there was not much evidence on the vessel. Everything was in the water. There is no indication of alcohol or any type of illegal drugs involved. Right now the bodies are in our medical examiner's office and the autopsy will determine that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So sad. CNN Sports analyst Christine Brennan joining me now.

So, Christine, Hernandez, a huge star and really he was even still on the rise. What kind of impact will his death have on the Marlins, on baseball as a whole?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Fredricka, this is devastating news. Devastating if you lose anyone in the prime of life at such a young age of 24. But Jose Fernandez was already a pillar of the community in Miami. And so this hits I think even harder because of what a wonderful personality he had. The future in baseball, eventually becoming a $200 million pitcher, I mean, his -- he was -- was one of greatest pitchers in the game at 24.

[14:50:04] A power pitcher, just such a presence, such a force on the baseball team, and then in the community. And when you consider that he defected to the United States at age 15, he didn't come in as a superstar but as a 15-year-old, went to high school in Tampa, learned English. But he had tried three other times to defect prior to that -- the time that he was successful. So his love of this country, wanting to come to the United States, throw that into the mix, and this is just an unbelievable tragedy.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, I mean, what a storied childhood, you know, trying to get to the States so many times and then, you know, trying to make it big in baseball and just the discipline it took to become such a great player and that people would remember him and say that he was just so down to earth and a real pillar of the community.

BRENNAN: Oh, without a doubt. I mean, how many times do you and I talk about athletes who do the wrong thing, who get in trouble, whether it's Ray Rice or Ryan Lochte or, you know, terrible tragedies in sports or bad coaches, or misbehavior, steroids? All the bad things we talk about in sport. This man was all about the good things in sports. The great things in sports. An unlimited promise and potential, his love of life, his love of his team.

You saw it today, the entire team crying behind the leadership of the Marlins talking about this tragedy. He is -- he was just on the rise in every way. And one can envision, Fred, what his impact could have been in the Cuban-American community in Miami with kids, in urban areas. All of that now is lost. And I don't want to put too much on a 24-year-old but this was one man that you could have said not only one of the great pitchers in baseball, rising stars, all-star, as you mentioned, National League Rookie of the Year, but also a man that had such unlimited promise within Miami and the community and reaching kids as a role model and all of that now is lost. WHITFIELD: Well, our hearts are broken for Jose Fernandez and of

course for his family.

Christine Brennan, thank you so much.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:53] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. The brand-new season of "PARTS UNKNOWN" is back tonight at 9:00 right here on CNN. Host Anthony Bourdain takes us to one of his favorite places, Hanoi, Vietnam where he sits down with the U.S. commander-in-chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All right, you're going to have to --

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST: I will walk you through it.

OBAMA: You're going to have to walk me through this.

BOURDAIN: We're about to eat buncha. It is about as typical and uniquely a Hanoi dish as it is. These beautiful little pork patties, grilled pork belly.

Buncha is served in a broth of vinegar, sugar and the ubiquitous (INAUDIBLE), or Vietnamese fermented fish sauce.

Chilies to taste. I mean, if you have an important state function after you might not want to --

OBAMA: You know what, I'm going with this thing. You know, we're going to do what's appropriate.

BOURDAIN: Vinegar --

OBAMA: All right.

BOURDAIN: And then you just have noodles and drop them in your bowl.

OBAMA: That's not too elegant but I'll manage.

BOURDAIN: No. And dip and stir, and get ready for the awesomeness.

OBAMA: I'm ready. Now is it appropriate to just pop one of these whole suckers in your mouth or do you think that you should be a little more --

BOURDAIN: Well, slurping is totally acceptable in this part of the world.

(LAUGHTER) BOURDAIN: It takes some skills, by the way, to handle these sticky cold noodles but whatever your opinion of the man, the president has those skills. I've got to say --

OBAMA: This is killer. This is outstanding.

BOURDAIN: Good to hear.

OBAMA: It's really good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. You're all invited to the table. Catch Anthony Bourdain's full conversation with President Obama tonight at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN. And we are back from Hofstra after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)