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Trump Unleashes on Accusers, Media in New Allegations; Liberty University Students Protest Falwell's Support of Trump; The Changing Demographics in Battleground State Florida. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 13, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:08] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Breaking news on all that's happened today. Donald Trump wrapping up a brutal tirade against the news media for telling the stories of women who say he sexually assaulted them. Trump also unleashing on the accusers who made these bombshell allegations published in one place in "The New York Times" today. Two women who say they were, by all accounts, sexually assaulted by the man who was the Republican nominee. Trump's legal team threatening to sue, demanding a full retraction and an apology, writing in a letter, quote, "Your article is reckless, defamatory, and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically motivated everyday to defeat Mr. Trump's candidacy."

Joining me, Timothy O'Brien, the executive editor of "Bloomberg View" and author of "Trump Nation, The Art of being the Donald," a book that got him sued by Mr. Trump.

Timothy, welcome.

TIMOTHY O'BRIEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, BLOOMBERG VIEW & AUTHOR: Brooke, good to be here.

BALDWIN: When we hear Donald Trump threatening the different suits, he follows through.

O'BRIEN: No. More often than not he doesn't. He's a big saber rattler. He spent 40 years suing business partners, competitors, politicians, the government, the media, but more often than not he threatens and doesn't follow suit.

BALDWIN: Throws a lot of darts, but they don't necessarily land.

O'BRIEN: He's a paper tiger, except in my case.

BALDWIN: But with you. And you won.

O'BRIEN: We won. It dragged on. He sued me for libel. He claimed my book damaged his reputation by low-balling his wealth and going across the history of his tattered problems in his business career. And the suit -- he sued me for $5 billion. It got tossed out in 2011 and we moved on.

BALDWIN: Do you think with the case the "Times" there's any -- what's your assessment?

O'BRIEN: I think the "Times" is on very solid ground here. Donald Trump is the most public of public figures. There's a very high legal standard for him to surmount in order to win a lawsuit or even successfully file one in court against "The New York Times." "The New York times" responded very strongly to Donald Trump. The "Times" in- house council said, we're well within our rights in terms of public service journalism and if you believe your reputation is damaged by the claims we made in this article about how you treat women, we have a pretty demonstrable track record of all of the outlandish things you said about women, including your daughter.

BALDWIN: You wrote the book on the man. You wrote "Trump Nation." And you spent a bit of time with Donald Trump in that time did he speak to you about women?

O'BRIEN: Yeah, he always spoke to me about women. I mean, he's --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: How did he speak to you about women?

O'BRIEN: The thing about Donald is he sees himself as James Bond and Hugh Hefner. Those are his role models.

BALDWIN: Would he admit to that?

[14:35:00] O'BRIEN: In a second. He said it in the book. His favorite movies are Bond movies among others. His favorite Bond character is Gold Finger. Clinton Eastwood, Hugh Hefner and James Bond are his role models for him. It hasn't changed since he was about 12 years old. I think he constantly talks about how attractive he is to women, how he would acquire women in the same way he acquires a building.

BALDWIN: Acquire women.

O'BRIEN: Acquire women. He has a predatory personality. And he's deeply insecure. He routinely brags about his wealth, his intellect and sex appeal. And if you're comfortable with how attractive you are to women or how wealthy or smart you are, you don't need to constantly parade around and wear it on your sleeve.

BALDWIN: Did you ever hear any language from Trump that was in the ballpark of the Billy Bush conversation.

O'BRIEN: No, I never did. I never did.

BALDWIN: Nothing like that.

O'BRIEN: That was authentically locker room talk that I heard from him.

BALDWIN: Unlike the vulgar sexist talk.

O'BRIEN: Yeah, which is predatory assault language, which is a very different class of commentary.

BALDWIN: So what do you make of how he responded today? This visceral anger towards -- again, I say again these are accusations. We can't verify their stories. He says they're lies, it's fiction, and he says he has evidence to disprove these stories, but the way he came out today -- did you watch him?

O'BRIEN: I did watch him. This tracks back to the debates, because he invited people to scrutinize it. Anderson Cooper said, have you actually ever taken action on any of the things you talk about on that tape. And he said no.

BALDWIN: And that's what --

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Then he compared himself to Bill Clinton. He said, "I used words, Bill Clinton took action." At this point, anybody watching the debate, any journalist knew the floodgates would open if there were people who felt they had been attacked. Lo and behold, it all lands in the media. Here we are now and he's pretending it doesn't exist.

BALDWIN: That's when you read the "Times" accusations, when you read from these women, they said they were watching the debate, they saw Anderson ask the question.

O'BRIEN: They were angry.

BALDWIN: And they feel like he was lying.

O'BRIEN: Right.

BALDWIN: Tim O'Brien, have to go. But thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for having me, Brooke. Appreciate it.

BALDWIN: The book, "Trump Nation, The Art of Being the Donald."

Coming up here, students at Liberty University, as in Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, they're protesting the Christian school's president over his continued support of Donald Trump. We'll talk to one of those students leading the charge, live, next.

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[14:42:00] BALDWIN: Another breaking story we're following, the bombing suspect Ahmad Rahimi, pled not guilty in New Jersey. Rahimi appeared in court. He is facing five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer on the state level. Rahami faces federal charges as well.

Donald Trump unleashing on a growing list of women who say he touched them intimately without their consent. Trump savaging the news outlets their stories. Now support for Trump is starting to crumble at what, until now, is a bastion of evangelical Christian support. Students at the largest Christian university in the world, Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia, saying they don't like that their school president, Jerry Falwell Jr, is still openly supporting Donald Trump.

Now a group called "Liberty United against Trump" is issuing let me read it: "Because our president has led the world to believe that Liberty University supports Donald Trump we students must take it upon ourselves to make clear that Donald Trump is absolutely opposed to what we believe and does not have our support.

But Falwell says he takes Trump at his word. He told CNN he is still voting for Donald Trump despite these allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY FALWELL JR, PRESIDENT, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: I vote for Donald Trump because he's the best person to be qualified president of the United States. I won't say anything to besmirch the character of these women. It's the heat of an election, it's four weeks away from Election Day and it's -- everybody is in a frenzy so we have to keep that in mind, "The New York Times" is very anti-Trump. And I believe the statement that was just released. But that's not the point. The point is what about the Donald Trump of today. Is he a changed man? I think he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, Alex Forbes, a student member lf that Liberty United against Trump group.

Alex, welcome to CNN.

ALEX FORBES, MEMBER, LIBERTY UNITED AGAINST TRUMP & STUDENT, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: Hi, Brooke. Good to be on.

BALDWIN: Good to have you.

So here's my first question. We know thus far in the last 16, 17, 18 months Donald Trump has insulted Mexicans, he's insulted African- Americans, Muslims, women. What was it about this vulgar video from the bus that made you and other students say "enough is enough"?

FORBES: It's not really just the vulgarity that comes out of his mouth when he came off that bus. It was the multiple things like he said, insulting Muslims, insulting women, Latinos, it's been a lot of things that have built up to this and we just saw this as the straw that broke the camel's back and we were prepared to do something for it.

[14:45:17] BALDWIN: And so what exactly are you doing?

FORBES: Well right now we are passing around the letter that you just read on air. It's going around our campus as we speak. Students are signing it. Some alumni are signing it. BALDWIN: Jerry Falwell is standing by his endorsement, as I said, a

moment ago, for Trump for president of the United States. And when you read his original statement, end of it, I would like to read to you: "This student statement seems to ignore the teachings of Jesus not to judge others, but they are young and still learning."

Alex, are you ignoring the teachings of Jesus? Are you still learning?

FORBES: I mean, I'd like to think we're all still learning, and to hear that from our leader, it's disheartening. But it only makes me want to go forward in our pursuit. I do believe that I am following the teachings of Jesus still. I mean, to say that we are not following the teachings of Jesus because we stood up to a man who has called women pigs and has insulted Muslims and called Mexicans rapists is ridiculous.

BALDWIN: Have you gotten any indication from the university that they don't want you talking? Are they trying to hush you up at all?

FORBES: Not as yet. In fact, I will say I thank Jerry for his support -- for quasi-supporting us in saying we are -- he encourages us to speak our minds, but not as of yet, we haven't gotten any hush- ups.

BALDWIN: That's good for you all. You should be able to be free to speak.

FORBES: Exactly.

BALDWIN: But my last question is this. Here you are, a young conservative. You are rebuking the Republican nominee for president. I did the quick math. Correct me, I think this is the first time you are voting in your life.

FORBES: It is, I am only 20.

BALDWIN: You're only 20. So, Alex, what will you do come November 8th?

FORBES: You know, there's a lot of options. I might write someone in. I might vote for Evan McMullin. There's a lot of options for conservatives. We don't have to vote for someone based on the "R" behind their name.

BALDWIN: Alex Forbes, happy voting. Thank you so much.

FORBES: Thank you, Brooke. Good to be on.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Coming up next, more fallout from these two monumental moments in the election today. You had Donald Trump firing back at his accusers, declaring war on just about everyone, and Michelle Obama with an emotional take-down of the Republican nominee.

Stay here.

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[14:52:30] BALDWIN: Donald Trump is at war today, on the counter attack after more women have come forward with claims that he touched them inappropriately. This is unfolding as voters continue to make up their minds in battleground states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

This week, in Miami, former Democratic presidential nominee, Al Gore, campaigned with Hillary Clinton to remind people, you know his story, every vote counts. Gore recounted the election he narrowly lost there in 2000. But the demographics have changed dramatically since then.

Poppy Harlow traveled to the crucial I-4 corridor and spoke with people in the growing Latino and retiree populations as part of a special report called "Your Money, Your Vote."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERRY SHAW, FLORIDA VOTER: I think we mostly feel it's not so much that we're real crazy about Donald Trump, but most of us want a change.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's the common thread among many of the seniors we met in Florida. There's a sense that the country is headed in the wrong direction. Even the well-off seniors in this gated community are anxious.

BOB STONAKER (ph), FLORIDA VOTER: A lot of countries are nipping at our heels.

HARLOW: We met these neighbors in Sarasota. Their dissatisfaction with what they see as the status quo runs deep.

STONAKER (ph): She has talked about increasing the amount of immigration. That's stunning that we would allow that many people to come in. That will ensure a liberal ver.

We're coming out of this recession slower than we have in previous recessions.

HARLOW: That is true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would strongly disagree with the assumption that we're better off now than we were eight years ago. Strongly.

HARLOW: The thing is, by almost all measures, the U.S. economy has improved significantly in the last eight years. Unemployment is half of what it was in 2009. And the stock market has almost tripled from its lows that same year.

But it's the national debt that really troubles these voters.

BOB KUCK, FLORIDA VOTER: I think it really kind of scares us that we're staring at 20 trillion in debt, not knowing how our grandchildren will repay it.

HARLOW: Well Trump may have of many seniors, Clinton has her own growing demographic here, Puerto Ricans. There are, by some estimates, 100,000 more Puerto Ricans in Florida now than there were for the 2012 election.

MIRIAM CASANOVA, FLORIDA VOTER: The most important thing besides that the lord is there is education. They need it. My vote is going to Hillary Clinton. To me, she has her head on her shoulders.

[14:55:11] HARLOW: So what about Cuban-Americans, a group that makes up about 30 percent of eligible Hispanic voters in Florida?

Miguel and Maria Garcia moved to the United States in the early 1960s following the Cuban Revolution. You can see the generational divide in their family, split right down party lines.

MIGUEL GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: I have a lot of reservations about both nominees.

MARIA GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: This year is a tough year.

UNIDENTIFIED VOTER: I'm not having such a tough time.

MARIA GARCIA: I have problem with Trump in the sense of the filter here, if it's working. The other half is Hillary, I honestly don't trust her.

CARMEN GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: If it wasn't for your fear of Communism, you would be a Democrat, because you believe in everybody having equal opportunity.

MARIA GARCIA: I saw it in Cuba. People didn't have incentive because the government was giving them everything.

(CROSSTALK)

MARIA GARCIA: I know we have to live some part to help because there's always a need to help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These two people right here are the biggest helpers that you ever want to meet.

MARIA GARCIA: Republicans help, too.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: 97-year-old grandma, Maria, has cast her ballot for many Republican candidates over the years, but not this time.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CARMEN GARCIA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Donald Trump? Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Aye. MIGUEL GARCIA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Donald Trump, aye, she said.

HARLOW: She didn't like him. She wasn't a fan.

BALDWIN: Hi, Poppy Harlow.

HARLOW: Hi.

BALDWIN: Ohio yesterday, Florida today. Is the enthusiasm there?

HARLOW: No, not at all. Even those retirees, who are supporting Trump, not totally enthusiastic, most of them. Same thing for the Clinton supporters. One of them told us this is, quote, "Just a game, this election." That's how they feel like it's been. They said honesty, integrity. I don't see that right now.

Here's the thing with Florida. You have Clinton helped so much by this burgeoning Latino population, Puerto Ricans. They make up 18 percent of Florida's adult population now. But when you look at the numbers, Pew said only 15 percent of them are registered to vote. So she needs a lot more to register and get to the polls.

For Donald Trump, can he enthuse the retiree base growing there more than she can the Latinos, and we know retirees vote in way bigger numbers, then he'll take it. I cannot overstate the importance of this state. Remember 2000, 537 votes, that's what determined the next president. So Florida, totally key.

BALDWIN: Quickly, this was shot just before the Trump/Billy Bush video came out.

HARLOW: Right, the "Access Hollywood" tape.

BALDWIN: Have they changed their minds?

HARLOW: Not one. We, of course, after that tape came out, went back to all the Trump supporters in the series and said, are you still standing by him, are you still supporting him. Every single Florida voter supporting Trump that we talked to, even the ones that were in this piece that didn't make the edit, every single one are standing by Trump, and it speaks to the loyalty.

BALDWIN: We'll be watching this weekend. It's called "Your Money, Your Vote," airs Saturday night, 7:30 eastern, only here on CNN.

Poppy, thank you.

So we begin, top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

We begin with two remarkable head-turning moments in an already unprecedented presidential campaign. They come from Donald Trump and Michelle Obama. First, Trump just launched a counter attack for his political survival like none we've ever seen. We are less than a month to Election Day. Trump ripped apart fresh accusations from three women who say that he forced himself upon them. Two talked to "The New York Times." One is a former writer for "People" magazine.

So I want to play some sound from Donald Trump himself. This is just from minutes ago as he dismissed these claims of groping and forced kisses, and worse, all the while rebuking the major news organizations that are telling these women's stories. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: These people are horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars. And interestingly, it happens to appear 26 days before our very important election. Isn't that amazing?

(SHOUTING)

TRUMP: This invented account has already been debunked by eyewitnesses who were there. They were there! The very witness identified by the author has said the story is totally false.

These events never ever happened. And the people that said them meekly fully understand. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and you'll understand also.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: The claims are preposterous --