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Confirmed: Trump Had Microphone Problems at Debate; Wells Fargo CEO Grilled on Capitol Hill over Scandal; Some Young & Black Voters Plan Not to Vote in Protest; Video of Trump Deposition on Mexican Comments. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 30, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:34:03] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: This just into CNN news regarding the microphones at the presidential debate on Monday. You will remember Donald Trump complained about his mic not working properly.

CNN senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, joins me now.

What do we know, Brian?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES (voice-over): Hoping my mic works.

HARLOW: It does.

STETLER: This did not affect the television broadcast but it affected the thousand people in the room, and that includes Trump's family members sitting up front. Here's what the debate commission just announced in a very short and sweet statement. They say, yes, there were issues regarding Donald Trump's audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall. So, again, not the TV broadcast but it might have affected Trump. It might have put him a little bit off his game. Remember, right after the debate he said, "They gave me a defective mic. It was defective. Was that on purpose? Was that on purpose?" Well, there's no evidence it was on purpose. There's no reason for a conspiracy theory. but it put more pressure on the commission to make sure everything is working well at the next debate in about a week.

HARLOW: It certainly does. But it also goes right into the narrative. And let's be clear here, this did not affect what you, our viewers, heard on television. This affected what was happening in the hall.

Brian, you said it could have thrown him off a little bit, but this goes into the narrative he's been hitting so much that the whole thing is rigged.

[14:35:23] STELTER: That's right. He complained about the moderator, Lester Holt, this week as well. Let's be honest, some people made fun of Trump's excuses when the mic being people didn't believe him because up until today there wasn't evidence, the commission had not confirmed any problem. Democrats are reacting to this. A former DNC spokesman saying this did not affect audio levels in the television audience, people watches at home heard every word he said and that was his problem. Because the commission was acknowledging there is a problem, it shows how important every single detail was right down to the wiring of the microphone on stage.

HARLOW: No question about it. Brian Stelter, something tells me both mics will be working really well next time.

Brian, thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

STELTER: Indeed. Thanks.

HARLOW: Coming up, the CEO of Wells Fargo grilled on Capitol Hill.

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REP. GREGORY MEEKS, (D), NEW YORK: Your institution is making over 22 billion a year. Who is paying for it? Who's taking responsibility for it? Don't tell me you're sorry.

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[14:40:42] HARLOW: The CEO of Wells Fargo was on the congressional hot seat but his apologies may not have been enough to end the harsh scrutiny he and his bank are getting. Members of Congress accusing Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf of running a criminal enterprise, some even saying he should be fired or jailed. The banker testified 10 days after he was grilled by Senators. All of this over revelations that thousands of employees at his bank used the information on real folks to create fake account, millions of fake accounts. Why? To make money and meet their sales goals. Take a look.

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SEN. ANN WAGNER, (R), MISSOURI: Your company abused its customers. While you have apologized that carries no weight with me, sir.

REP. MICHAEL CAPUANO, (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Who cares? We'll pretend to be fired. We'll follow workers and get through this. You know where I heard that before? The guys who ran Enron.

REP. JEB HENSARLING, (R), TEXAS: Mr. Stumpf, I regrettably have a mortgage with your bank. I wish I didn't. If I was in the position to pay it off, I would have, because you have broken my trust and you have broken the trust of millions of others, and it will be a long, long time to earn that trust back.

MEEKS: Your bank, you, CEO, chairman, was on top of what basically has been a criminal enterprise.

JOHN STUMPF, CEO, WELLS FARGO: There's no question that we don't do everything right and we've made mistakes. We're upping our game.

MEEKS: Who should pay for it? If you don't do anything right, who's accountable for it?

STUMPF: We're going to make it right for every one of our customers.

MEEKS: Your V.P. made $125 million bonus package. You institution is making over $22 billion a year. Who's paying for it? Who's taking responsibility for it? Don't come tell me you're sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

"CNN Money" correspondent, Cristina Alesci, is with me.

"CNN Money" has been doing extraordinary reporting on this, the real people impact. The question now becomes, that's the lambasting on the Hill, what happens next?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Where are the teeth in all this? That is in the investigations that are happening, right? We know the Department of Justice is looking into that. That is a huge concern. Also the Department of Labor has now caught on and said, wait a second, we need to investigate some of the labor practices. "CNN Money" just broke a story about an employee forced to stay without pay after hours because he didn't meet his sales goals. So these are the kind of things it does not that the heat on this bank is going to let up any time soon.

HARLOW: No one should be forced to work ever without being paid, but these are hourly workers making 15 an hour forced to stay late to make these calls to meet their numbers.

ALESCI: That's right.

HARLOW: There's also news the bank illegally repossessed the cars of more than 400 servicemembers, military members, and made them pay thousands of dollars in fines?

ALESCI: Yeah, this is crazy and it couldn't have come at a worse time. The bank now has to pay a $24 million fine for this, for seizing cars without getting the correct court orders to take them away from all people, members of the military veterans, very obviously people, victims who have a compelling story. And we've spoken to those people already and they're coming forward. So not only that but you have also customers who have been charged fees on accounts they never opened.

HARLOW: Right. And they'll pay those people back. But what's the impact been on these people in the interim?

Before I let you go, some people spoke up, and that is terrifying to do when you're working for any employer. They called this, quote/unquote, ethic line, and complained and then they got reprimanded?

ALESCI: Yeah. So we have actually now reporting to show that retaliation against tipsters who raised red flags about these practices, they were retaliated against, and not only were they retaliated against but it was institutionalized, that human resources had a way of dealing with these people. And that person that you mentioned who called the ethics line was fired a couple of days later for tardiness. So there were ways the bank kind of quelled or, you know, pushed down anyone who raised the red flag. And this is going to cause -- you know, potentially, this is going to set the standard for how CEOs are held accountable in the post-financial crisis world.

HARLOW: Absolutely, but --

ALESCI: That's why this is important.

HARLOW: It's totally important. But even if Stumpf gets outted, that doesn't make lives better for a lot of people and that's the frustration in all of this.

[14:45:] ALESCI: That is definitely a frustration, and the frustration is these guys made a lot of money. He's giving back $41 million but he made a lot of money over his time as CEO. And these people are average people getting ripped off.

HARLOW: Cristina, thank you. Great reporting. Cristina will be with me this weekend with more on that as well.

Coming up, breaking news, video released of Donald Trump answering questions under oath. His videotaped deposition, and what he said about his comments referring to Mexicans as rapists. We'll see it next.

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[14:49:45] HARLOW: As Hillary Clinton heads into the home stretch for the race for the White House she's stepping up her efforts to gain voters of young people and African-Americans. She's in South Carolina. She has to convince everyone to come out in large numbers to show their support for her, like they did for President Obama. Turnout is a particularly large concern for both party nominees, and some say they plan to protest by not voting at all.

Here's what a former presidential candidate said.

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JEB BUSH, (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If everybody didn't vote, that would be a powerful political statement, wouldn't it?

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HARLOW: Mary-Pat Hector is with me. She's the national youth director for the National Action Network, and founder of Youth in Action. She's also a student organizer at Spellman College.

Thanks for being with me. MARY-PAT HECTOR, NATIONAL YOUTH DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK &

FOUNDER, YOUTH IN ACTION & STUDENT ORGANIZER, SPELLMAN COLLEGE: Thank you for having me, Poppy.

HARLOW: Part of what you're doing is trying to make sure what Jeb Bush just said doesn't happen, that every eligible voter goes to the polls. Hillary Clinton has African-Americans, 93, according to one poll but her support among young black voters is 60 percent according to this survey from just last month. The big question is how many of them will turn out on Election Day. Are you running into that problem as you talk to people, a lack of support for her from black youth?

HECTOR: It's not even just Hillary Clinton but it's both presidential candidates. What's lacking is when asked questions like at the debate when you're talking about issues that affect African-Americans like police brutality we're hearing much more answers regarding how we're going to deal with the victims instead of how we're going to deal with the officers that commit these crimes and hold them accountable. Once we come out with actual plans that the young people are asking for and that's, again, on both parties and especially really talking about one who's not released a plan at all then we will really begin to see young people engaged and ready to vote.

HARLOW: Young black woman quoted in a recent "New York Times" article said choosing between Clinton and Trump is like deciding stabbed. Some of that probably hyperbole but, still, how do you convince someone that feels like that that they need to vote?

HECTOR: Because you know it's more than the presidential elections. When you're registering to vote and you look at cases like Trayvon Martin and others, they choose the juries based off of registered voters. When you think about the Senators and congressmen and others that create policies and laws we live by as day to day citizens, it's important to exercise your political agency. And when you have presidential candidate openly demean citizens and women and people who are Americans then it's important to exercise your right to vote. Lastly, Poppy, when you think about this being the very first president after the very first African-American president of the United States then it I important to exercise your political agency.

HARLOW: On that point, black voters have traditionally been -- last recent decades been very loyal to the Democratic Party. I wonder if you think we're seeing a generational shift. A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a young black voter in his 20s and he said, quote, "The '94 crime bill signed under President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's support, her comment about super predators sticks with me, even though she's walked those back."

How do you counter that sentiment?

HECTOR: Poppy, I feel like so many times people don't necessarily think about Clinton and all she's proposing and they only focus on Bill Clinton and his past policies. She's openly stated that the crime bill was problematic what we need to focus on are the people that voted for the crime bill as well as the stations and police officers that use that crime bill to target African-Americans. That's what we need to focus on and more so what she's pushing policies she's pushing now that will benefit not only African-Americans but Millennials and other people that need help in this country.

HARLOW: Mary-Pat Hector, I wish we had more time.

Thank you for being with us and thank you for all you are doing to get everyone to exercise their right to vote.

It's nice to be with you.

HECTOR: Thank you very much, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up next, more on our breaking news, video just released of Donald Trump answering questions under oath. His videotape deposition.

Also, the Commission on Presidential Debates issuing a statement regarding Donald Trump's microphone at the debate. You heard him complain it wasn't working right. Is that true? Next.

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[14:58:48] HARLOW: Top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Brooke Baldwin.

In minutes, you may see Hillary Clinton herself respond to the pre- dawn tweets from her rival, Donald Trump. While many of us were sleeping, Trump entered his fifth day of what Clinton has dubbed "Machado meltdown." Clinton is referring to Alicia Machado, who accused Trump of bullying her about her weight gain after the Miss Universe pageant in 1996. Clinton brought up Alicia Machado on Monday during the debate. And fast forward to today, Friday, into the wee hours of the morning, Trump sent out a string of tweets alleging Machado made a sex tape, calling her a, quote, "con," and also saying she was his, quote, "worst Miss Universe."

Let's go to Boris Sanchez and our Sunlen Serfaty.

We'll talk about Clinton's event there in just a minute.

But, Sunlen, first, you have news about a tape that could be damaging for the Trump camp. What is it?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it could be, Poppy. This videotape is Donald Trump's deposition where he testified under oath from June surrounding a lawsuit he brought against a chef at his hotel in D.C. By way of a little context, this chef pulled out of plans to open a restaurant in his hotel in D.C. citing specifically Donald Trump's comments over Mexican immigrants and the potential that some of those immigrants might be rapists. Those claims, of course, made in Donald Trump's announcement on day one of his campaign. Now there had been a --