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Presidential Race; Clinton In New Hampshire; Advisors Want Trump to Practice for Next Debate; Trump's Miss Universe Comment. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 28, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:13] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone, I'm Poppy Harlow. In today for my friend Brooke Baldwin. So glad you're with us. A lot ahead in the next two hours.

In the race for the White House, Donald Trump is on a swing state tour. He's in the Midwest right now. Michelle Obama is stumping for Hillary Clinton in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, this hour.

But just moments from now, Hillary Clinton will be live in Durham, New Hampshire. She is riding high off a strong debate performance. Now she's targeting what polls show is a weak link in her support, that is her appeal to young folks, millennials specifically. She'll leverage a proven winner among people ages 18 to 34. That is her former Democratic rival, Senator Bernie Sanders. They are going to promote a free public college tuition plan for lower income families. Sanders is one of two political heavyweights in her corner today. First Lady Michelle Obama was in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: And then, of course, there are those who question and continue to question for the past eight years whether my husband was even born in this country. And let me say, hurtful, deceitful questions deliberately designed to undermine his presidency. Questions that cannot be blamed on others or swept under the rug.

We also need someone who is study and measured, because when making life or death, war or peace decisions, a president just can't pop off or lash out irrationally. No, we need an adult in the White House.

And, trust me, a candidate is not going to suddenly change once they're in office. Just the opposite, in fact. Because the minute that individual takes that oath, they are under the hottest, harshest light there is. And there's no way to hide who they really are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, we'll talk about the first lady's speech and what she said this morning in a moment. But first, President Obama is getting personal on how much this election means to him. Take a listen to what he told Steve Harvey this morning on his radio show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you don't vote, that's a vote for Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

OBAMA: If you don't vote, that's a vote for Trump. If you vote for a third party candidate who's got no chance to win, that's a vote for Trump.

My legacy's on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: "My legacy is on the ballot."

Let's talk about it with the author of "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," CNN political commentator Carl Bernstein.

Good to be with you.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be with you.

HARLOW: You wrote a fascinating piece about this and delved into a lot more of it on cnn.com right now and you wrote that Clinton needs Obama to carry her across the finish line. How do you think the president can most effective? Because it's not that he hasn't been out there. He has been out there. He will be out there in force in these last 40 days. How can he do it most effectively to help her with the voters she doesn't have locked in?

BERNSTEIN: He has credibility with those voters. This is about two visions of America - an inclusive, progressive America, such as Obama represents, such as the tradition of the modern presidency represents, and a fearful vision of America, under siege from within, under siege from foreign adversaries. And he's got real credibility. His popularity is as high as it's been. And he can appeal to millennials. He can appeal to white women, which is where Trump really needs to expand his base. But also, Hillary has done a great deal in this debate to finally get some wind at her back, and with Obama it's a very powerful combination.

HARLOW: Obviously race is front and center in this election. Some of the millennials that were polled by "The Washington Post," I mean the number one issue for them was race in the debate. And we've talked a lot about race and what happened in terms of Trump's father and in the 1970s in terms of those housing discrimination lawsuits, but not a lot has been spoken about Hillary Clinton's father. Contrast them for us.

BERNSTEIN: Well, I say that in the piece on cnn.com.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: Hillary Clinton's father was very bigoted. He was representative of many white people of his time. He described black people in epithets at the mid-century and into the '60s. But Hillary Clinton changed directions away from her father. She heard Martin Luther King preach in Chicago. A youth minister took her to hear King. She was hugely influenced by this. She became an advocate for racial justice. It is the constant of her life, actually. If there is a single bottom line to her advocacy, public policy positions, it is about equality for all Americans.

[14:05:00] HARLOW: Then - then let me ask you - then let me can ask you this. If that is the single thread that weaves through her life of 25 plus years in the public eye and in public service, why is it, if race is the number one thing of importance right now to these young vote, as they showed in their response to the debate, why is she not doing better with them, Carl?

BERNSTEIN: I think Bernie Sanders raised a lot of questions that appealed to younger people. She is of a different generation, even though Bernie Sanders is also. But she represents, I think, to a lot of younger people the past and she has to convince them that she is in tune with ideas of today and their concerns. And I think she's starting to do a lot of this.

I think the real thing that we need to look at right now is the contrast between her and Trump among the groups that Trump needs to win.

HARLOW: Right.

BERNSTEIN: And this debate was a disaster for him in that regard.

HARLOW: You know, it's one thing for President Obama to come out and support her. You expect that. And he is and he will, we hear, step it up. When Michelle Obama comes out, I mean there's a reason, right, Carl Bernstein, that she got sort of the nickname "the closer." She comes out on stage today in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. I was just there all day yesterday reporting, talking to these undecided voters. You know, it's so key in this race and she comes out and she says, "we need an adult in the White House. We need someone who will study, we need someone who will prepare." Does it feel like what she says has even more of a punch, because perhaps we hear from her less often than we do from the president?

BERNSTEIN: I think it's a great one-two punch whatever it is. And I think we're also going to see both of them and Hillary Clinton keep going to this question about Trump's taxes and his verbal confirmation, it would appear, that he did not pay federal taxes. This is a huge -

HARLOW: So he says -

BERNSTEIN: Thing that could just be so destructive and I think we're going to keep hearing it from both the Obamas and from Hillary.

HARLOW: All right, he says he did not say that he didn't pay federal taxes, but replying to Hillary Clinton saying, you know, "why aren't you showing us your taxes. Perhaps it's because you didn't pay federal taxes." He would say - he said, "that's smart." So we're going to debate that with Ben Stein coming up. Overall, as we're two days out now from the debate, what is your

forecast for the next one? Because it's a very different format. It's a town hall.

BERNSTEIN: I think it's more than a format. I think that the expectations might be very high that Hillary is going to knock him off his block again. That might be a little bit unreasonable. Trump did very well, even temperamentally in a sense, in the first half hour of the debate and then he lost it and became unhinged. He needs to stay hinged if he can do it.

One of the things that's very interesting is that Rudy Giuliani was among those prepping him for the debate.

HARLOW: Right.

BERNSTEIN: And his temperament also is this bombastic "let's go after the - you know, hate Hillary," that line of attack. He needs to expand, Trump does now, not just - he's got the hate Hillary voters. He needs to do it substantively as he tried to do in the first part of that debate and stick to those substantive appeals.

HARLOW: When you saw from the fascinating report in the - you know, Patrick Healy's (ph) report in "The New York Times" this morning that his entire team wants him to do that, focus more on prep and those attacks that he can lob at her.

Carl Bernstein, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

BERNSTEIN: Good to be with you.

HARLOW: Again, a fascinating article on cnn.com.

All right, I want to get to the ground in New Hampshire. That is where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are set to appear in a little bit. Our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny is at the event.

We know that - I mean you just - you just heard Carl Bernstein say it, she needs to do better with young people and Bernie Sanders is the guy to help her do that. They're going to talk about this free college tuition plan. Specifically, though, how is Sanders going to sort of step up, you know, put the fire under her among millennial voters?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, really one person is frustrating the Clinton campaign now. His name is Gary Johnson. Of course, running as a libertarian candidate. And if you look at survey after survey after survey, in the Clinton campaign's eyes, there are too many young voters under 35 who are still considering Gary Johnson.

That is at the center of everyone's message today. Yes, college affordability is the official policy proposal here, but it is the argument that a vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, in effect is a vote for Donald Trump. We heard Michelle Obama make that argument really as strong as anyone has made it earlier today in Philadelphia. She'll be making it again in Pittsburgh. And that is the message that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is going to be making here in New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders, of course, won New Hampshire, we remember back in February, by some 20 percentage points.

Poppy, there is a line stretched outside of this auditorium here in Durham, at the University of New Hampshire, down the block around a football field. I have not seen this big of a line for a Clinton event in a long time. Some of them are coming to see Bernie Sanders, no question. He's so popular here. The Clinton campaign hopes that they can translate some of his popularity to Hillary Clinton.

[14:10:20] And he makes a strong argument, Poppy, we've heard him talk about this, that they have to get out and vote. Young people have to vote. And he'll argue that they should vote for Hillary Clinton. The question is, will millennials follow suit? Sometimes they have a mind of their own, as we've seen. So, but that is the challenge facing the Clinton campaign today, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, Jeff, I thought it was fascinating, the interview that Chelsea Clinton did with "Cosmopolitan" magazine that just came out today and she really went after Gary Johnson. And she said, you know, "you're not supportive of public schools, then, yes, you should vote for Gary Johnson." But clearly a strategy to hit those millennial, especially female voters with that interview.

Jeff, we'll wait for Hillary Clinton to come on stage there in Durham. Thank you very much.

And Donald Trump's campaign advisors are planning what seems to be significant changes for how their candidate prepares for the next presidential debate. "The New York Times" this morning reporting that aides want Trump to practice a lot more, to be more drilled and repeatedly go after those facts, answers, and counterattacks. Aides are reportedly concerned about what they describe as Trump's lack of focus during the debate on Monday.

Let's bring in Jason Carroll.

Jason, I think the big "if" here is whether Trump will do that. I mean "The New York Times" sort of delves into this, well, Roger Ailes was trying to prep him at one of his golf courses and Trump was distract and they got into sort of past campaign stories and they weren't very focused.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

HARLOW: And obviously Roger Ailes was going through, you know, his ousting from Fox News. Is there a sense from the Trump camp that this time it's going to be different. That someone is going to take the lead here. They're going to lock him in a room and make him drill down on this?

CARROLL: Well, look, I mean despite the public proclamations from Trump that he won the debate, it's very clear, privately there's talk that, you know, he did not perform as well as he should have. That there were a lot of missed opportunities that he did not hit Hillary Clinton hard enough on issues such as the economy, jobs, Benghazi, her trustworthiness. That he really took the bait when he should not have and didn't respond as well as he should have when he was challenged on issues such as birtherism, his taxes, issues such as - such like that, allegations that he's a sexist. And I think what's happening is the campaign is now looking and saying, his unconventional approach that they took to preparing, this non-traditional approach of not holding mock debates, not really pushing him, not taking him off the campaign trail and really having him hunker down really did not serve him as well as it could have.

Now, look, going forward, you know, as you said, the question is, what will Trump do? Well, look, at the end of the day, we've seen this during the primaries, we've seen it now during this leg of the campaign, Trump is his own man. So it's going to be hard to predict what he's going to do going forward. Roger Ailes, former head of Fox, was involved in trying to get Trump to prepare and initially, according to "The Times," there was this effort to have him follow the traditional route of holding mock debates, but apparently that's not something, according to "The Times," that Trump warmed up to. He became distracted and that was abandoned and what the camp did was they instead decided to go over the issues and follow this sort of non-traditional method of preparing.

Going forward, I guess the question is, what is he going to do? Is he going to prepare in more of a traditional way? Certainly a number of his advisors certainly want him to do that. They want him to hunker down, focus on the issues, perhaps hold mock debates, get a podium in there if necessary. But at the end of the day, this is Donald Trump and he's going to end up doing what Donald Trump wants to do.

HARLOW: It's fascinating, it's interesting, Jason, just to reminisce back to 2008 and what you've read subsequently about how the McCain team was trying to prep Sarah Palin for those debates and she didn't want sort of the traditional prep work, but eventually they got her there to do that.

So, Jason Carroll, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Coming up, now a significant update on the New York bombing investigation. Investigators believe they have finally identified the two men that you see in this surveillance video. Three law enforcement officials telling CNN now, authorities think they've identified the two men seen removing that pressure cooker from the bag in New York City and then walking away with the luggage. You'll remember, this was the second pressure cooker that was found on 27th Street.

The men were identified in just the last 24 hours. The two men are still considered witnesses. As CNN has reported, investigators believe the two men were foreign tourists and sources tell us investigators believe they have left the United States. That was the bomb that did not detonate in New York City. But others did. One of those injured 29 people. That was the bomb on 23rd Street.

Coming up next, as Trump once again attacks a former beauty queen over her weight, she's striking back. I will speak live with former Playmate and "Apprentice" contestant about why she is supporting Donald Trump and her response to his latest remarks on that.

[14:15:10] Plus, he is one of Trump's fiercest critics. What does former Mexican President Vicente Fox think about Trump's debate performance. He will join me live.

And breaking news from Capitol Hill. The Senate, for the very first time in the president's term has voted to reverse one of his vetoes. The White House calling it the single most embarrassing thing the Senate has ever done. Details ahead.

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HARLOW: Welcome back.

Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado is speaking out about being criticized for her weight and called, quote, "Miss Housekeeping" she says by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. In an interview with CNN last night, Machado called Trump aggressive and rude. She also said that she will rally against what she considers his personal attack on her ethnicity.

[14:20:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICIA MACHADO, FORMER MISS UNIVERSE: He was really aggressive. He was really rude. He was a bad person with me. And that is the - the story then I need to share for my community. We can't accept - we can't accept more insults for my Latin community. No more. No more insults for the women. I know very well Mr. Trump and I can see the same person that I met 20 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Again, that was Alicia Machado responding to the lobs that Hillary Clinton threw at Donald Trump during the debate, saying that when she was Miss Universe and gained weight subsequently that Mr. Trump called her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping." The Trump campaign denies that.

My next guest says she has mixed feelings about Trump's comments, though she does plan to vote for him. She's a Trump supporter. She's a former Playboy Playmate and an actress who was a contestant on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" when Trump said this to her. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me say this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brande came in here. She got down on her knees and said, "I passionately want to do this. I, at this point, am the team chooser. Not the team leader."

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Excuse me, you dropped to your knees?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And begged to do this. And I said, I'm looking around the room and we had - even Latoya (ph), who's sitting beside me, thought maybe Brande was right -

TRUMP: That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Dennis (ph) thought I should be -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining me now is Brande Roderick.

Thank you for being here.

BRANDE RODERICK, FORMER CONTESTANT, "CELEBRITY APPRENTICE": Hi. Good to be here.

HARLOW: Good to be with you.

So after Clinton brought up Alicia Machado, Trump said she said that -

(EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM TEST)

HARLOW: Hear you and an employer, if there is that clause, can bring that up with the employee, or the pageant winner this case. What Donald Trump did is, according to her, call her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping," which is a racial slur. He also had her work out in public in front of the media, right? And some Trump supporters have said, yes, well she could have said no to that. I mean are those appropriate - are those appropriate things.

RODERICK: OK, well, (INAUDIBLE). Listen, first of all, he did not admit to saying "Miss Piggy," that she said he did, and, of course, that is what she is saying. But working out in front of people, that is showing physical fitness there. She's showing that she's healthy. That's part of her reign of being a Miss Universe, being physical -

HARLOW: It was in reaction to her weight gain. It was in reaction to her weight gain.

Brande, did you say something? I said it was in reaction to her -

RODERICK: (INAUDIBLE). Oh, go ahead.

HARLOW: I said it was in reaction to her weight gain. My question to you is, you said last year on CNN, "he's the host of a reality show. They definitely didn't hire Trump because of his filter." This was during the primary. If he's elected president of the United States, do you think he needs a different filter?

RODERICK: : You know, I think that everybody - all Trump supporters would probably say he does need a soft filter, definitely. I mean, but the thing that Americans, what we all love about him, is that he's a straight shooter. He says exactly what he's feeling and he doesn't really sugar coat things. Does he need a soft filter? Yes. I don't think that anyone is denying that.

HARLOW: Let's talk about the context this is in because this follows other offensive comments that Donald Trump has made about women. Let's put a few on the screen. About Megyn Kelly moderating - moderating the first Republican primary debate. "You could see there was blood coming out of her eye, blood coming out of her - wherever." About Carly Fiorina, who ran against him in the primary, "look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?" About Rosie O'Donnell, he called her "disgusting inside and out. Take a look at her, she's a slob." He also called her a "fat pig."

[14:25:19] Trump has said that he would be, quote, "the best for women if elected." His daughter, Ivanka Trump, sat down with an interview - with me for an interview last year and said he would be amazing for women and talked about how he's elevated women in the workplace. What do you think a president Trump would do for women?

RODERICK: Let me tell you. Let's talk about my experience, which you just showed on television about his comment to me. There's a difference between somebody saying something derogatory and demeaning and what he said to me was completely innocent. And, believe me, I certainly know the difference between somebody saying something derogatory or demeaning. And I think that a lot of things are taken out of context. And I believe that Trump is absolutely the best person to be commander in chief. He is the best person to be our president. I have a lot of opinions about that.

HARLOW: How did - How did that -

RODERICK: Sorry, go ahead.

HARLOW: How did that make you feel, the clip we played at the top, when he said something to the effect of, "you would, you know, you would look good on your knees"? I mean how did that - how did that make you - how id that make you feel?

RODERICK: Exactly what I just said. It was - it was completely innocent. It did not make me feel one way or the other. I know what it's like to have a feeling of somebody being derogatory towards you or demeaning. It feels like you're being kicked in the gut. It feels like you want to vomit. And, believe me, that was the complete opposite. And it was completely innocent.

HARLOW: Last year you were speaking to my colleague Kate Bolduan during the primary race and you said that you think Trump has - she asked you, do you think that Donald Trump has the temperament to be president? And you said, "I think I need to see more." Now you're a big Trump supporter. A big -

RODERICK: Yes.

HARLOW: A big supporter of his. What is it that you saw from him in the last year that told you, yes, he has the temperament to be president?

RODERICK: You know what, there are a lot of things that I've seen and a lot of reasons. But one that I'm going to really - that really strikes home that I will - that I'm very passionate about is his support for our troops and our first responders. I have a long line of military in my family, some of which are deployed right now. I have best friends that are Green Berets and Rangers that are ex-Secret Service men and they are all in support of Trump. They are all fearful of what's going to happen to all of us and our country if Hillary is elected president.

HARLOW: So specifically to the - specifically, and we're all incredibly grateful and indebted to our veterans. Specifically to the temperament question, Brande, what about Donald Trump's temperament has taken you from a place where last year you said on CNN, I think I need to see more.

RODERICK: Oh.

HARLOW: To be told that he has the right temperament.

RODERICK: Sure.

HARLOW: And then to a place now where you say yes, he has the best temperament to be the president. What specifically has he done on that front?

RODERICK: If you - if you look back to the very beginning of how he had absolutely no filter whatsoever and he would say things, I think that he's completely changed over this campaign. I mean you can watch his progress in that and I think that he's progressed a lot in his temperament and how he reacted to things.

HARLOW: But you just told me - you just told me that you think that he needs a better filter when he says things like he did yesterday on Fox News about Alicia Machado.

RODERICK: Of course. It doesn't means he - exactly. He's not perfect, of course. Nobody's perfect. Nobody has a perfect temperament. Absolutely not. But he has progressed, absolutely. You asked me what I've seen from before to now. I've seen a progression in him and I've seen his temperament get better.

HARLOW: Is it enough?

RODERICK: Absolutely enough, 100 percent.

HARLOW; Brande, before I let you go -

RODERICK: Yes.

HARLOW: Is there anything about the way that Donald Trump has handled this situation with Alicia Machado, who spoke personally about how much it has pained her. She said that his comments to her caused her caused her to become anorexic and bulimic, something that took her years and years to get over.

RODERICK: Yes. Absolutely. I mean, for me, I don't think there's anything wrong with saying sorry. Should he say sorry for making those comments because it made her feel the way that she felt? Absolutely.

HARLOW: So you're suggesting that Donald Trump apologize? You'd like to see that?

RODERICK: Sure. Absolutely. Yes.

HARLOW: Brande Roderick, appreciate you joining us. Thank you.

RODERICK: Thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up next, Donald Trump suggests during the debate that he did not potentially pay federal income taxes. Is that exactly what he said? He says that, well, if he didn't, that would have made him, quote, "smart." We'll talk with famed economist Ben Stein. Does he think Trump will release his tax returns and what does he make of that statement?

Also, millennial voters, they came out in droves to elect President Obama both times, but what do they care about most this election? I will speak with some of them. They participated in a focus group during the debate. The results, fascinating.

[14:30:11] Also, we're waiting a live event with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire.