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Hillary Clinton Holds Rally; Trump-Ryan Split. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 10, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:03]

ANTONY BEILINSOHN, WORKED WITH BILLY BUSH: And there's talk about taking over "The Today Show" at somewhere down the line. And they wanted to protect him.

So, that's why. How do we release these tapes that he's sort of embedded in and, at the same time, protect Billy Bush? So, I think that's why they held onto them for so long.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Sad for him. I'm sad for him.

Brian Stelter, just quickly, there are "Apprentice" producers who claim what we heard in the "Access Hollywood" tape is nothing compared to what they have.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BALDWIN: What are you learning?

STELTER: Certainly, Mark Burnett, the producer of "The Apprentice," he sold his company, so MGM now has the tapes. There's legal reasons and contractual reasons why they can't just be released.

And even if they were, how strange would that be. Could there be leaks? We will see. The Huffington Post just published from an unaired "Apprentice" episode. So, it does seem there could be some raw materials that might start to leak out.

Meanwhile, as you said, Billy Bush suspended. My sources at NBC believe he will not be coming back to "The Today Show."

BALDWIN: OK. Brian Stelter, thank you. Antony Beilinsohn, thank you both so much.

Make sure you watch Brian, "RELIABLE SOURCES," Sundays 11:00 Eastern here on CNN.

OK, we continue on. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

It's Monday. There's a lot going on. We're back with a rumbling showdown with the most powerful Republican in Congress and his party's nominee for president. You have Speaker Paul Ryan pretty much abandoning Donald Trump today, saying he won't campaign, he won't focus on and he won't advocate for Donald Trump's efforts to win the White House.

For his part, Donald Trump has come out firing with this scorching tweet. Let me read it for you -- quote -- "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration, and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee."

All of this after this video that we just spent the last six or seven minutes discussing and one of the most vicious debates in U.S. political history.

Let's get straight to Manu Raju, our CNN senior political reporter there in Saint Louis, the site of the debate last night.

Walk me through this stunning face-off with Trump and Speaker Ryan, please.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has of course been going on for several months.

As you recall, right after that presidential primary when Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee, Paul Ryan decided he was not ready to endorse Donald Trump. They spent several weeks trying to come up with a reason why Paul Ryan should get behind Donald Trump. Eventually, he did. Paul Ryan spoke at the Republican National Convention.

But then a few months later, Donald Trump said he's not ready to endorse Paul Ryan for his primary. That led to a back and forth. Eventually Donald Trump said he would endorse his reelection bid. Then, actually, in recent weeks, Brooke, they have been on the same page. Paul Ryan has been making the case for a unified Republican Washington, saying it's a binary choice with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and that's why he's selecting Donald Trump.

But it all changed after the release of that video, Paul Ryan disinviting Donald Trump from that Saturday event in Unity, Wisconsin, rally, Republican event, told him not to come to that event. Today in this private conference call, he said he's going to spend the next 29 days just campaigning and just worrying about the Republican majority in Congress.

He does not want to defend Donald Trump at all. That was the message that he sent to his members. And that actually provoked kind of a furious response among some of the more conservative members of his conference, who said, look, we need to have a presidential nominee who will win. That will help our House Republican majority. Someone said it's -- quote -- "not rocket science, Mr. Speaker. That's why we should get behind Donald Trump."

One thing, though, Brooke, Paul Ryan not revoking his endorsement of Mr. Trump. He's saying, suggesting he still actually may vote for him in November, but he's done defending him, done campaigning with him. He said he's just going to worry about the Republican majority. Just shows how much division there still is behind Donald Trump's candidacy just 29 days out, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Not unendorsing, but not having anything to do with him and supporting him in the next 29 days, that's all. Manu Raju, thank you so much with the scoop there in Saint Louis. We will get back to that.

We're also now just getting our best indication yet of exactly how that hot mike video of Trump's lewd remarks are resonating with you, the voters.

So, look at some numbers with me. These are the first major poll numbers since the release of that video. This is NBC/"Wall Street Journal" and it was conducted over the weekend. It shows Hillary Clinton up 11 points, double digits here, nationally over Mr. Trump.

To Sara Murray we go, who's with Donald Trump's campaign there in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

Sara, what is the Trump campaign saying today about this Speaker Ryan phone call? We know he tweeted. Do we expect Trump to address this at the event there?

SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, Brooke, that poll gives us really the first sense of the magnitude of just how damaging Donald Trump's comments on that videotape could potentially be to his campaign.

Now, granted, that was taken before last night's debate. And I do know from talking to Donald Trump's advisers, from talking to his allies, they felt like, even though it was a little bit of a scorched earth debate, they felt like Donald Trump delivered a solid debate performance, that he went after Hillary Clinton on a number of different areas that will make Republicans happy.

[15:05:10]

And they sort of felt like that was the kind of debate performance that could sort of stem the tide of Republican defections. They didn't know if it would stop it completely. So, publicly, they're very much saying, look, we don't need the establishment behind us. We have grassroots support.

But, obviously, they knew going into that debate he needed to have a solid performance. And he couldn't constantly have this narrative of Republicans jumping ship. So, we will see when he gets here today what approach he takes, if he continues to go after Hillary Clinton for things like Bill Clinton's infidelities or if he focuses more on her e-mails, on Benghazi, on WikiLeaks, on these Podesta e-mails.

I think today will give us a good indication of whether the Trump campaign Trump feels confident that they're starting to turn a corner, that they can win back some of this support, or if they feel like they're in a desperate position just a few weeks out from Election Day.

BALDWIN: I know you're listening for all of that. Sara Murray, we will talk again. Thank you so much there in Pennsylvania with Trump.

Let me bring in my panel. I have Carol Lee standing by, the White House reporter for "The Wall

Street Journal," Bob Cusack back with us as well, editor in chief for "The Hill," and Mike Shields is here, CNN political commentator and former chief of staff for the RNC.

Great to see everyone.

Ladies, first. Carol Lee, I'm going to come to you, beginning with, you know, we have this unfolding showdown Manu was just reporting between Speaker Ryan and Trump. You know, you have Speaker Ryan today telling Republicans he would no longer defend his party's nominee. He wants to focus on maintaining that Republican majority in Congress. Thoughts, Carol?

CAROL LEE, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, I think it's really hard to read Paul Ryan's moves any other way than he sees that Donald Trump is not going to win the election and is trying to conserve what is most important to him, and that is maintaining Republican control of the House.

BALDWIN: So, you do think he's given up on any kind of Trump win?

LEE: It's hard to see what else he would be saying. He is saying that he needs to maintain control of the House because he needs to be -- the House needs to be a check on Hillary Clinton.

And, you know, the thing that's interesting here is that we're seeing kind of the arc of the relationship between these two. As Manu mentioned, it was not a warm and fuzzy relationship. Paul Ryan has never been a huge fan of Donald Trump. They tried to kind of work it out in the last few months, but it's not working. And so he very clearly seems to be cutting ties.

He is saying some of the things that he had already been doing for the last few months, which is really focusing on House races. But it's pretty remarkable coming after this debate and then on the heels of the statement. I think it's also a reflection of Republicans are worried about what else might be out there. Is it not just this "Access Hollywood" tape? What else could come next? And so he's trying to worry about his own turf.

BALDWIN: So, then, to your point, with Speaker Ryan essentially conceding that Hillary Clinton would win, you have, Mike, these Republican congress men and women, especially in the more conservative districts, who are furious, to use Manu Raju's word, about what Speaker Ryan is doing.

They feel like he's just giving up on the Supreme Court, for example. What do you make of the backlash against Ryan?

MIKE SHIELDS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think what you're seeing, it's pretty simple when you stop and think about it.

Competitive House races, the ones that are going to make a difference in winning the majority in the House, are in the swing parts of the country. They're not in the deep red or deep blue parts of the country. They're not always even in the same place as the presidential election is being run.

So, in a sense, what I think Speaker Ryan is saying, there's a presidential race. That's fine. The presidential race is going to be run on its own. I'm going to worry about protecting the vulnerable members of my conference that are in the swing parts of the country and they need resources, they need a message and they need to defend themselves. I'm going to help them do what they need to do.

And I that's pretty elementary. He's the speaker of the House. He's not running for president. He's letting the presidential race take on what it's going to take on and he's focused on helping the House members. I think that's a wise decision.

BALDWIN: All right, so he's thinking about down-ballot ahead to November 8.

Let's look back, Bob, to the debate last night and to a moment that was, quite simply, unprecedented. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception. There has never been anything like it.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.

TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MARTHA RADDATZ, MODERATOR: Secretary Clinton...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "Because you'd be in jail."

And you hear -- I don't know if those were -- it was applause or screams in the audience. You have now, Bob, former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeting: "In the USA, we do not threaten to jail political opponents. Donald Trump said he would. He is promising to abuse the power of office."

[15:10:05]

You know, comparisons to this seeming Nixonian.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: I hear you laugh -- to a dictator. This is just wrong, is it not?

BOB CUSACK, "THE HILL": It was a good line by Trump. And any time he's talking about Hillary Clinton's e-mails, I think

that's a good thing for Donald Trump. At the same time, there are no rules in campaigns. And there are certainly no rules this election cycle.

But the one thing that Donald Trump needs to talk about more, I think, I don't think raising Bill Clinton, one of many points. I think talking about e-mails, talking about policy, talking about ISIS, that is all good.

But he has gotten distracted where he's talking about Miss Universe, he's talking about the Khan family, which is something that Hillary Clinton raised. So, bottom line, I think that Donald Trump needed a game-changer. He didn't get it last night.

BALDWIN: Do you think, just following up on that, that he went, to quote some folks on TV today, he went full Breitbart on the whole situation, but did he really gain voters from his performance?

CUSACK: I don't think so. Certainly, the base that likes Trump loved those lines. And it shows that he wants to get the base out.

But he needs a broader coalition. He needs independent voters. Polls are showing that independent voters thought that Clinton won. The people that are still torn between these two choices, who are -- really don't -- they don't -- a lot of people I know don't want to vote for either one of them. They're starting to lean towards Hillary Clinton.

He's only got one more debate left.

BALDWIN: You know, a CNN poll indicated Hillary Clinton won. There is one more debate.

Carol Lee, what did you think of Hillary Clinton? Let's put substance aside for a second and just on style, how -- you know, she definitely interrupted less than, obviously, Donald Trump did, but she was smiling. Some perceived that as smirking. Then you had Donald Trump pacing around her. I keep calling it almost like a cage match. What did you think of all of that?

LEE: It reminds me these town hall debates always create kind of strange body language moments. You remember the Obama/Romney debate where they were kind of circling each other in this way.

You know, she seemed to think -- her approach was very similar to the way she took in the first debate. And clearly she thinks that that worked well for her. But I think you also saw a couple moments where Donald Trump was able to get under her skin a little bit more than he was in the first debated. She snapped back and said, you know, something to the effect of, you don't want to talk about your exploding campaign, so you're just going to say all these distracting things.

And so she was very -- clearly did not want to interrupt. She kept trying to turn the focus back on to, these people have questions. We should be responding to them and taking their questions, not arguing with each other.

And yet it was a really contentious debate. And she, like you said, smiled through a lot of that.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes.

That was the debate. Then the video that came out Friday. And sort of in between, you then had this other piece of news, which is these Bill Clinton accusers, these three women who, you know, Trump brought into the audience. Apparently, he even -- he wanted them to sit with his own family in the VIP box, but the commissioner, president, said, no, this is a families-only area.

But you could still see them sitting there.

Mike, is this the stunt that Republicans wanted because at the end of the day nothing unifies Republicans like attacking the Clintons? What did you think of that spectacle?

SHIELDS: Well, look, if you're looking at the numbers of where Trump needs to improve his ballot performance, he's trailing badly with women. He's trailing badly with minorities. That's the place that he needs to go. I don't know that doing that stunt is going to help them with any of that stuff.

He's trying to point out the double standard of how Clinton was treated in the press with these women and that sort of thing. You're right, I think that's a play to the base. I don't know that it really helps benefit him on the things that he's trying to achieve in the campaign.

There's just been this tension within the Trump campaign that's been pretty public between the people that are saying, let Trump be Trump and let him make his own decisions and the people that are saying, no, let's have him read off a teleprompter, let's stick to some talking points and be very strategic.

For about four weeks, Donald Trump was reading from a teleprompter, he wasn't tweeting, he wasn't doing things like this, and he actually caught Hillary Clinton. They were tied. And so logic would tell you that getting back to that is where he needs to go. And that is probably what he needed to do last night as well.

So, I think this sort of thing is a distraction from the strategies that are going to get him back into the race.

BALDWIN: He's down 11 points in that NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll in the wake of the tape coming out this weekend. We will see how he fared with the debate numbers-wise going into this third one next week in Vegas.

Carol Lee, Bob Cusack, Mike Shields, thank you so much.

Moments from now, Trump and Clinton holding dueling rallies. This is the first time they have held these public events since last night's heated debate. We will watch both of those for you. [15:15:00]

Also ahead, billionaire Warren Buffett is weighing in, what he thinks about Trump last night admitted that he has avoiding paying federal income taxes for years.

Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We all watched the debate. I don't know how you would characterize that 90 minutes of television. Perhaps the best part was the final question posed by one undecided voter, Karl Becker. And everyone in that room wanted to hear the answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL BECKER, UNDECIDED VOTER: My question to both of you is, regardless of the current rhetoric, would either of you name one positive thing that you respect in one another?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

RADDATZ: Mr. Trump, would you like to go first?

CLINTON: Well, I certainly will, because I think that's a very fair and important question. Look, I respect his children. His children are incredibly able and devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald.

[15:20:05]

TRUMP: I consider that a compliment.

I will say this about Hillary. She doesn't quit. She doesn't give up. I respect that. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter. I disagree with much of what she's fighting for. I do disagree with her judgment in many cases. But she does fight hard, and she doesn't quit, and she doesn't give up. And I consider that to be a very good trait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: How about that, two solid answers.

Karl Becker, you are our hero for mentioning the R-word, respect. How on earth did you come up with that question?

BECKER: It was a pretty simplistic question, in my opinion, that needed to be answered, at least for me to work towards becoming decided.

And it's a question I ran past my kids before the debate, well, on Saturday, and they kind of came back and kind of gave me the thumbs-up on it. BALDWIN: All right, we will come back to whether or not you decided

in a second, but did you -- I mean, sitting as close as you did to those two, could you feel the tension?

BECKER: Oh, there was definitely a palpable tension between the two, beginning with no handshakes to kind of two warriors circling each other in a ring.

BALDWIN: Two warriors circling each other.

And then you had, after the debate, I was glued to just watching the cutaways. You had other members of both families coming up and meeting you all. Can you tell me about that, microphones off? Who talked to you and what did they say?

BECKER: Everyone talked to me. Chelsea, immediately, I talked with her. We had a conversation that was just very interesting.

And Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump thanked me for my question, had a couple conversations with them. And I respect both of the candidates very much. And they're very good people, mikes off, outside of the cameras, very engaging, very nice people.

BALDWIN: You have an 18-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son. When you talk to them about this election, and the language that's been used, what do you say?

BECKER: Well, my daughter, this is her first election. And it's important for her that her vote count. And she wants to see, you know, who's going to be the next leader for her for the next four years and when she graduates college? Who is that person going to be?

And my son is of the same mind-set. He looks to be out of school in a couple of years. And where is he going to be? Who is going to be leading this country when he is in college, and to take away the rhetoric, to take away the animosity and which of these candidates can lead this country.

BALDWIN: What about you, Karl Becker. You were undecided. Are you decided now?

BECKER: I'm still undecided, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You're still undecided.

BECKER: I'm waiting for that third debate. Yes. I'm looking forward to that third debate.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What are you waiting for? What is that thing you need to hear?

BECKER: I will know it when I hear it. I hope that my question will take the third debate into another realm of more positive, what can these candidates do to lead us for the next four to eight years, as opposed to the climate that we have been living the past 48 hours and almost a year now for this election.

BALDWIN: Karl Becker, thank you so much.

Let's go to Hillary Clinton, first time she has spoken publicly since that debate.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CLINTON: Now, I believe you deserve something to vote for, not just something to vote against.

So, last night, when I got a chance, I tried to speak directly to the questions that are on people's minds and to share my vision of what we can do together.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

CLINTON: Now, I will tell you what.

[15:25:03]

Donald Trump spent his time attacking, when he should have been apologizing.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Now, there are a lot of things he should apologize for, right? And on Friday, the whole world heard him talking about the terrible way he treats women.

(BOOING)

CLINTON: And last night, when he was pressed about how he behaves, he just doubled down on his excuse that it's just locker room banter.

Well, I will tell you what, women and men across America know that is just a really weak excuse for behaving badly and mistreating people.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Now, I have got to tell you, though, we have seen this kind of behavior all through the campaign from my opponent. And, unfortunately, some people don't want to face it.

But here's a man who has insulted, not just women, but African- Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, Muslims, POWs and so many more.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: So...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: You know, I do hope somebody follows that gentleman out and stages an intervention. He clearly has not been following this election very closely.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: But, hey, folks, we now know -- we now know who Donald Trump is, but the real question for us is, who are we, right?

I would argue, we he are not who he is.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Here in America, we are taught to, and we should, respect each other, lift each other up, celebrate our diversity.

That's the country that I know and love. And that's the country that this generation of young people are going to make even stronger, more open, more tolerant.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I believe that we can do this. Stronger together is not just a slogan for me. It's a blueprint for our future.

I believe our economy should work for everyone, not just those at the top. And I'm closing my campaign the way I started my career, fighting for kids and families to make sure every single person in this country has a chance to go as far as your hard work and your talent will take you.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN: All right, so, this is the first time we have seen Hillary Clinton since the big debate last night, where she says, essentially, Trump should have been apologizing, instead of attacking.

And over and over, we hear this from her, essentially, that Trump, based upon every group of person in this country who he's offended, just doesn't have the temperament to be president. She's there. She's heading off to Columbus, Ohio, a little later today for a voter registration event.

Meantime, coming up, want to talk about these three women who were sitting in that audience last night in Saint Louis. Three women are all Bill Clinton accusers. These are three women who specifically Donald Trump specifically had attend this debate. In fact, he wanted them to be sitting with his own family in the VIP box, wanted them front and center. We will talk more about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)