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Trump Threatens to Sue NY Times; New Airstrikes in Syria Ahead of Latest Ceasefire Attempt; Hurricane Nicole Being Tracked. Aired 3- 4a ET
Aired October 13, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] MAX FOSTER, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Damage control. Donald Trump threatens to sue the New York Times after it prints new allegations of sexual misconduct by two women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA LEEDS, ACCUSING TRUMP: It was a real shock when all of a sudden his hands were all over me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Back to the drawing board. New accusations in air strikes ahead of the latest attempt to reach a ceasefire in Syria.
And special delivery. The pizza man brings peace of mind to a man whose grandmother was trapped in the floodwaters left by hurricane Matthew.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Max Foster in London. And this is CNN Newsroom.
We begin then with new bombshell accusations against Donald Trump. Two women tell the New York Times the U.S. presidential candidate touched them inappropriately.
One says Trump kissed her in 2005 after she introduced herself. Another says he tried to put his hand under her skirt on an airplane 30 years ago.
Trump's lawyers are demanding a retraction and plan to sue. CNN has not independently confirmed the women's claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEEDS: It was a real shock when all of a sudden his hands were all over me. He started encroaching on my space. And I hesitate to use this expression but I'm going to, and that is he was like an octopus. It was like he had six arms. He was all over the place. That if he had stuck with if he stuck with the upper part of the body I might not have gotten -- I might not have gotten that upset.
But when he started putting his hand up my skirt and that was it. I started to tell my story about a year and a half ago when it became apparent that Trump was actually running for president. And I started telling my friends, let me tell you what this guy is about.
I would like to think that sharing this story would make a difference both in the election and the society's view of women to change some of the behavior, the sexual behavior between men and women in both directions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, Trump's campaign says this entire article is fiction and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous.
To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election.
With this latest allegation is similar to the 2005 video where Trump bragged about groping women and touching their genitals uninvited.
CNN's Anderson Cooper pressed him about that during Sunday's presidential debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, AC360 SHOW HOST: So, for the record you are saying you never did that.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said things -- frankly you hear these things. They are said. And I was embarrassed by it but I have tremendous respect for women.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Have you ever done those things?
TRUMP: And women have respect for me. And I will tell you no, I have not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, democrat Hillary Clinton did not directly address the New York Times article on her rally in Nevada on Wednesday night but she did take issue with Trump's past behavior and comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This latest incident about, you know, how he treats women -- well, he's doubled down. He doubled down on his excuse that it is just locker room talk. And I got to tell you, after he said that in the last debate, the most amazing thing happened, athletes and coaches started speaking out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, a separate statement issued by the Clinton campaign goes further. It reads "This disturbing story sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women. These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words."
Meanwhile, CBS News has released a video from 1992. It's from the show Entertainment Tonight. Trump is talking to a 10-year-old girl and mentions dating her when she's older.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Thursday night. You are going up the escalator?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TRUMP: I'm going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Trump's behavior at the beauty pageants he owned is also under fire. He admits walking around backstage when the female contestants were naked because he could.
Here's Ed Lavandera.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump loves a beauty pageant. And by his own admission he was no stranger backstage while owning parts of three different pageants for nearly two decades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Is everybody OK? And you see this incredibly looking women, and so I sort to get away with things like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: In 2001, Tasha Dixon was Miss Arizona competed in the Miss USA pageant, she experienced this kind of awkward moment firsthand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:05:07] TASHA DIXON, FORMER MISS ARIZONA: Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing in to our bikinis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Dixon was 18 at the time and said watching Trump storm in to the dressing room was shocking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIXON: To have the owner come walking in when we're naked or half naked in a physically vulnerable position and then to have the pressure of the -- you know, the people that work for him telling us to fawn all over him, go walk up to him, get his attention.
Who do you complain to? He owns the pageant. So, there's no one to complain to everyone there works for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: In 2005, four years later, Donald Trump bragged to Howard Stern about what he could get away with since he owned the pageants. The conversation uncovered by CNN's case file.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But I will go back stage before a show.
HOWARD STERN, RADIO HOST: Yes.
TRUMP: And everyone is getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it.
STERN: You're like a doctor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Later in that same show, Trump is asked if he had ever had sex with Miss USA or Miss Universe contestants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Never comment on things like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us the first letter of -- the first of the country you had sex with.
TRUMP: How many letters are there?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: This comes just weeks after Hillary Clinton brought up Trump's attacks on former Miss USA Alicia Machado. Trump once describe her as Miss Piggy. And then, told his Twitter followers to find her sex tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And what qualifications would you say you have?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: And in other video where Trump is seen interviewing Playboy playmates and basks in the glow of a question from CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Have you ever dated a playmate. TRUMP: I refuse to answer the question.
MOOS: On the grounds that it may be true.
TRUMP: It may be true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Tasha Dixon says she is speaking out so voters can get a better understanding of Donald Trump's personality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIXON: I'm telling you Donald Trump owned the pageant for that reason to utilize his power to get, you know, around beautiful women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
FOSTER: Well, CNN ask Donald Trump's campaign manager about Tasha Dixon's claim but she avoided answering the question by going after Hillary Clinton instead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: No, he didn't say -- what she described was pretty -- was pretty graphic and detailed. So let's not confuse the two. I heard what she said, and I heard what he said.
And the fact is that all you want to do, it seems is talk about something he said, 10, 15 years ago. And yet we never, ever, want to talk, particularly CNN where we offered up these women to you we never talk to the women who were shamed and blamed by Hillary Clinton because they had sexual contact with her husband.
Some consensual long-time affairs of course including in the White House, and then others victims of predatory conduct. That somehow is not relevant, but Donald Trump, on Howard Stern's show is relevant. And you want me to believe that a critical mass of Americans agrees with that. No, not really.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, a Trump's spokeswoman tells People magazine an article that published online later Wednesday night is a fabricated story and the incident never happened. A reporter for the magazine claimed Trump attacked her in 2005 at his Florida resort.
She said, "We walked into that room alone and Trump shut the door behind us. It turned around -- I turned around and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat."
CNN has not yet independently confirmed the reporter's accounts. That reporter says she tried to make herself believe it was no big deal but now regrets not speaking out sooner. The Trump campaign has not responded directly to CNN for comment.
Now Hillary Clinton is facing her own challenges. Donald Trump is seizing on the now daily revelations from WikiLeaks exposing the inner workings of her campaign.
We'll have that report later on this hour.
Meanwhile, diplomats from the U.S., Russia and other countries will resume Syrian ceasefire talks on Saturday. They'll meet as conditions in Aleppo get much worse.
A volunteer group says another day of bombing killed at least 25 people on Wednesday. It was the second day of air strikes after a lull of several days.
In his strongest appeal yet, Pope Francis is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Syria for civilians to flee and to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. He spoke to thousands of people during his weekly audience in St. Peters Square.
Those talks resume with revelations between Washington -- or relations rather, between Washington and Moscow increasingly strained.
Matthew Chance joins us now from Moscow with more on that. What do we know about the nature of these talks, Matthew?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the State Department, Max, they are not going to be bilateral talks that were abandoned by the United States a few weeks ago where it was just Russia and the United States sitting down, carrying Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister talking about the cessation of hostilities.
It's now a more multilateral approach as they call it which really involves other countries associating with the conflicts in Syria that some of the gulf states, Turkey as well along with of course, Russia and the United States.
[03:10:03] And so, it's slightly different, but it does recognize the reality of the situation on the ground in Syria, that despite the rhetoric that we've heard, particularly from France and the United Kingdom, over the past couple of days that Russia should face war crimes from the French perspective that there should be protests outside the Russian embassy in London.
That's what's the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said.
There is this reality that in order for there to be an agreement on Syria, Russia needs to be at the negotiating table. And I think that's why the United States is effectively, you know, swallowed its pride in some ways and go back to the negotiating table despite the poor record they have had so far bringing an end for the hostilities there.
And will sit down once again on Saturday in Geneva and Switzerland and to try and hammer out some kind of humanitarian access, some kind of cessation of hostilities to try and alleviate the suffering and the bloodshed, which is occurring on a daily basis now in Syria, generally, but specifically in eastern Aleppo where there's a renewed bombardment of Russian air attacks and Syrian army assaults.
FOSTER: As you say, not bilateral talks but reality is that a deal won't work if the U.S. and Russia don't sign up to it. So, where is the common ground between those two countries right now? Where can they move forward on this?
CHANCE: Well, it's difficult to assess what common ground there is, isn't it? I mean, they both want the war to end. So, that's common between them. But they want it to end on different terms. I mean, the Russians want it to end with Bashar al-Assad in a strong, if not on a saleable position.
The President of Syria is a long-time Moscow ally. And the Russians have made it quite clear that they are determined and are prepared to put military force behind this. They are determined to make sure they get their way in Syria.
The United States and the policy of other western countries is a little less clear in the sense that they, first of all, don't want Bashar al-Assad to remain in power. They see him as a transitional figure, at best.
There's backing for various rebel factions, which don't have the backing -- which don't have the support of the Russians. And so, you know, there's a distinct difference in what the future of Syria looks like ideally from the perspective of Russia and from the perspective of the United States and other western allies.
And so that's the real fundamental problem when it comes to solving this Syrian crisis, this Syrian civil war at the negotiating table between Russia and the United States. They both want very different outcomes.
FOSTER: OK. Matthew, in Moscow, thank you very much for that.
Next, you'll see how people in Mosul, Iraq, are preparing for a brutal battle against ISIS. We talk to a resistance fighter inside the key city.
Plus, in Germany yesterday, a Syrian refugee suspected of planning a terror attack has committed suicide. How fellow Syrians helped capture him, next.
[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT REPORTER: Hi, there. I'm Patrick Snell with your World Sport headlines.
The head of Russia's Olympic Committee is stepping down from his post as the considerable fallout following all these allegations of state- sponsored doping continues. Alex Zhukov is officially leaving his position so he can concentrate on his other job as first deputy speaker in the Russian parliament. Early this year, the county's track and field athletes banned from the Rio Summer Games in Brazil. Zhukov oversaw the 2014 Winter Games staged in the nation's Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The NBA's preseason global games continue this week in Beijing where fans packing out the Beijing Sport Center to watch the New England -- New Orleans Pelicans and the Houston Rockets. But a scary moment for New Orleans star player Anthony Davis. The 6'10" forward sprained his ankle, but thankfully it wasn't serious. The game itself wasn't close.
Houston building as a lead as much as 28 points before winning by 12.
And former UFC champion Ronda Rousey will make a long awaited come back on December 30th, more than a year after being knocked out by Holly Holm. The 29-year-old from California will try to reclaim her Bantam Weight crown against the current holder the Brazilian Amanda Nunez in Las Vegas.
Rousey is the longest reigning UFC champion in women's mixed martial arts history holding the 135 pound crown for three years between November 2012 and November of last year.
That's a look at your sports headlines. Thanks for watching. I'm Patrick Snell.
FOSTER: The Syrian refugee suspected of planning a terror attack in Germany has committed suicide in jail. That's according to German media. Authorities say Jaber al-Bakr was planning an attack similar to those in Paris and Brussels.
Our senior international correspondent Atika Shubert joins us from Berlin. This will be a huge frustration to the intelligence services, Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, it's a huge setback. He would have had a lot of information that security services here were trying to get hold of.
We've just had confirmation from the justice ministry. They simply put out a statement saying that he committed suicide apparently in his cell. He was found dead and that they will have a press conference in about two hours' time to hopefully give us more information.
But we don't have any more details than that. A lot of questions being asked, whether he was being monitored? How he was able to apparently commit suicide in his cell? Certainly, we know that he was -- certainly in an unstable mental condition.
According to police investigators, they found 1.5 kilos of highly unstable explosive in his apartment, called TATP and police believe he was going to be using that explosive to pack them into a suicide vest, and they believe to attack the airport here in Berlin. It could have been this week. And so, given that, it would probably make sense that he should have
been monitored very closely, but we don't know the circumstances around his death, as yet. So, we are waiting for more details from police and security services in Dresden later, Max.
FOSTER: Meanwhile, of course for those who handed him in, to be honored. Tell us about those three and the story behind that.
SHUBERT: Yes, very interesting case. They actually haven't officially been identified. But what happened was that the suspect Jaber al-Bakr actually slipped through police hands. And there was a 48-hour manhunt for him. And he apparently traveled to nearby Leipzig where he several other Syrian refugees at a train station and convinced them to let him spend the night.
What he didn't know was that those refugees actually recognized him from the news. They called the police, apprehended him. And when the police arrived they described that he was already tied up and they had him pinned down on the sofa when they handed him in.
So, there had been calls to honor these refugees for calling the police, for telling authorities what had happened and turning him in.
And Chancellor Merkel herself, in a message through her spokesperson, said that certainly these refugees should be praised for what they did.
FOSTER: Ok. Atika, thank you. Back with you as we get the responses from the authorities there to that case.
Now the U.S. says it has retaliated after an American warship in the Red Sea was targeted twice this week. The Pentagon says it launched at least three cruise missiles into Yemen destroying three radar sites and territory control by Houthi rebels.
The U.S. says those radar sites were activated when the USS Mason was fired upon. The Houthis denied targeting the ship.
[03:20:01] Washington is backing the Saudi coalition fighting Houthi rebels who are supported by Iran.
Now the U.S. is telling Turkey and Iraq meanwhile to calm down. The two American allies have been arguing over Turkish troops in northern Iraq. Turkey doesn't have permission from Baghdad to be there, but Turkish president said the troops will be a part of the battle to retake Mosul from ISIS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (TRANSLATED): Regarding Mosul the reason for indecent attacks on Turkey is the fact that we are upsetting this regional balance. We took the first step by popping the balloon of Daesh with the operation in Jarablus.
We are also determined to burst the balloon of sectarian conflict in Mosul that was popped to unleash blood and fire in the region. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Erbil in Iraq. And the sense coming from there is that Mosul something big is about to happen in Mosul.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Every day it appears the tension escalates here. That's the sense that something is imminent. Very hard to know exactly when things will really begin. But it hasn't stopped ISIS from laying an intense defense around the city.
A trench filled with crude oil that maybe set fire to concrete walls put in place. And now we are hearing also that female members of ISIS are being used to go from house to house getting around the strict cultural sensitivity of getting inside of somebody's living quarters to even search for things like SIM cards on women.
That's a volume of paranoia that ISIS currently have inside them now, and also perhaps a reflection of some of the resistance we are hearing they are facing inside the city itself as it awaits this likely siege or assault.
The city itself is a distant prize. Masked by dust. Its TV masked barely visible here, but its outskirts are very alive. With ISIS presumably digging in, waiting for the fight will be coming down the main road in the days ahead.
Motorcycles, trucks but no civilians to be seen. What life there was here, has been purged by ISIS. Air strikes in their wake inside the city, streets are empty. These are rare pictures filmed by activists inside the city, comfortable enough now the end maybe near to send out video that could get them killed if caught.
The date of October 9th on the paper and nobody on the streets. An ISIS leaflet with a letter "m" in Arabic on it which has never looked more sinister. And from the comment (Ph) resistance.
But first, Iraq tag group of locals but now behind this ISIS truck being torched, they claim in this video. A resistance fighter arranged a rare call to outside the city going to its outskirts to get network reception and explain to us what happens when the assault on the city starts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.
WALSH: What signal are you waiting for the zero hour attack against ISIS?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): We do have a signal. God willing with the advancement of the security forces we will start when they are at the outskirts of Mosul suburbs. We cannot announce or talk about the targets at the moment. We use the simple weapons that we have under our hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: ISIS have released images of life as normal but even their propaganda shows how the coalition that huge air power are closing in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Are ISIS acting differently like they think they are under siege?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): They are scared and devastated. We know from their behavior, their movements. Moving from one house to another. They move from one side of the city to another. They only move at night.
At their checkpoints, they cover their faces now, the way they used to when they first entered Mosul. There are female detachments that raid the houses now. They are looking for phone SIM cards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Up on the ramp parts you can see the screws are tightening but the days ahead for those trapped inside the city will be darker, indeed.
Now that resistance operation obviously facing great challenges given how paranoid ISIS are on their network inside the city. One member involved in it said to us in fact, they use weapons they'd in fact stolen from an Iraqi police unit as ISIS moved in to the city originally in 2014.
Only 30 or 40 of them. Some of which they actually have to dispose of when they kill a high-ranking ISIS official. That activity though, it appears has tailed off we're told, in the past weeks or so because they are trying to build up resources to be able to launch this internal kind of insurrection, if you like, when that broader assault happens. When that happens? It could be in the days ahead but I mea, to the political mainstream here it could also be weeks. Max?
[03:25:01] FOSTER: What do you make of this idea that is Turkey is just going to get involved in that fight, despite not having permission from the Iraqis?
WALSH: There's a lot of rhetoric here. And I think most of the people we speak to on the Peshmerga side, who I think will if they see the Iranian backed militia often working with the Iraq military moved in to the city of Peshmerga way well, in fact, not be entirely against the idea of Turkish assistance and trying to hold on to parts of Mosul.
Most people I think talk about plan a, which is the idea that the Iraqi military do most of the fighting and moved in the Peshmerga, the Kurdish forces provide a perimeter for that and some Sunni paramilitary groups move in as well to make the Sunni population of Mosul calm. That's the plan a which the idea we heard from Hashed al-Shaabi, the
Iranian backed militia leaders that they could get involved in the fight themselves directly, that they will get involved in the fight directly. Well, that would pretty much unseat plan a.
If plan b comes into effect then yes, people are talking about changing alliances. The Peshmerga perhaps moving more with Turkish assistance.
A lot of things that could suddenly be in play. All of this though is speculation. I think people hope that plan a holds together. Perhaps what we are hearing out of Ankara right now is President Erdogan giving a message to Baghdad.
If you let the Iranian backed militia break that deal and get involved in the fight for Mosul, well, we also have a card to play and that's our NATO army potentially moving in to assist Sunni paramilitary groups in keeping hold of parts of Mosul.
That frankly, is a doomsday option. If we see that occur it could be very disastrous in the city itself, for the million people inside it and also for the border future of Iraq where this territorial integrity very much at stake as well, Max.
FOSTER: OK, Nick, thanks.
Australian police have charged two teenagers with plotting a terror attack and with having links to ISIS. The two 16-year-olds were arrested on Wednesday in Sydney. Two knives were also seized. The suspects were denied bail and are due to appear in a children's court.
The acting New South Wales police commissioner called their arrests evidence of an ongoing threat as the latest in a string of terrorism- related arrests in Australia.
With just five weeks to go until the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump is focusing on women who have accused Bill Clinton of inappropriate sexual behavior.
Up next, we'll have a check of the facts view on those claims.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back. I'm Max Foster in London. Let's check the headlines for you.
German media report a Syrian terror suspect has committed suicide in jail. The 22-year-old Jaber al-Bakr was arrested on Monday after authorities found 1.5 kilograms of dangerous explosives in an apartment. German police say they think he had links to ISIS.
One of the U.S. banking industry top figures is now out of job. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf is retiring in a wake of a scandal over its sales practices. He's been under fire since regulators accused the bank of creating fake accounts without customer's permissions. Donald Trump's lawyers are demanding the New York Times retract this
bombshell report where two women claim he touched them inappropriately. A trump spokesman said the article is fiction and a character assassination.
CNN has not independently confirmed the women's claims.
On the campaign trail on Wednesday, Trump repeated his calls to send Hillary Clinton to jail over her e-mail server. Clinton's campaign is scrambling to explain the latest batch of e-mails released by WikiLeaks.
Joe Johns has more.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: As Hillary Clinton looks west, her campaign is keeping an eye on the latest batch of stolen e-mails released by WikiLeaks.
The daily deluge of campaign chairman John Podesta's stolen e-mails becoming an unwanted distraction for Clinton. The content offering a glimpse into the inner workings of the Clinton campaign.
One e-mail revealing a disagreement between top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and Podesta over Clinton's press strategy. Abedin wondering if Clinton can survive not answering questions from press at events with Podesta responding, "If she thinks we can get to Labor Day without taking press questions I think that's suicidal."
Donald Trump is seizing on the cache of hacked e-mails to make the case against Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This is the most heinous, the most serious thing that I've ever seen involving justice in the United States in the history of the United States. We have a person that has committed crimes that is now running for the presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Podesta brushing aside those attacks claiming Trump scorched earth tactics are designed to energize his supporters and turn off everyone else.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN PODESTA, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: This seems to be their strategy to disgust everyone with, you know, our democratic dialogues and to come out in polls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Clinton is trying to make sure that doesn't happen, rallying supporters today in Colorado and Nevada.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLINTON: His campaign said today that they are going to use a, quote, "scorched earth strategy" for the remaining four weeks of this race. Now, that just shows how desperate they are. That's all they have left, pure negativity, pessimism, and we're not going to let Donald Trump get away with it, are we?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Ahead of her trip, the Clinton campaign releasing this Spanish language ad featuring a Nevada woman who entered the U.S. illegally with her parents when she was 4.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You are going to have a deportation force.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: In Florida today, a federal judge granted an extension of the state's voter registration deadline due to the effects of hurricane Matthew, given the Clinton and Trump campaigns until next Tuesday to register additional voters.
If it is true that there's an effort to depress turnout by turning off voters, the Clinton campaign says the way to fight it is continuing to push for voter registration, emphasizing early voting.
They also hope to counter it by selling their voters on something to vote for and not just on voting against Trump.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
FOSTER: Hillary Clinton's problems aren't limited to her WikiLeaks and e-mail server issues. As Election Day draws closer, Donald Trump has been focusing on women who accused Bill Clinton of inappropriate sexual behavior.
The cases against Clinton were litigated decades ago and fact checked to death, but we asked Tom Foreman to go over one more time what we actually know to be the truth.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Trump campaign has two chief accusations here, first that Bill Clinton used power and prestige to manipulate and victimize sexually women and that Hillary Clinton helped because she then intimidated and insulted those women to carry the crime forward.
[03:35:08] He's been helped out in this by several women who joined Trump in this effort. Let's go through their cases one at a time. Starting with Juanita Broaddrick. This is back when Bill Clinton was the attorney general in Arkansas.
She said in 1978 that he raped her at a public gathering shortly afterward Hillary Clinton grabbed her by the arm and the hand and held on to her because she had something to say.
Listen to this little bit of sound from an interview that was posted by the conservative web site, Breitbart, a few days ago supporting Trump's claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUANITA BROADDRICK, ACCUSED BILL CLINTON: And she says with this very angry look on her face do you understand everything you do? And that frightened me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: So, what are the problems here? Well, first of all, Bill Clinton has denied there ever was every rape. Broaddrick gave an affidavit at one point where she said there was no rape. And in 199, NBC interviewed her and asked her very pointedly that Bill Clinton or anyone near him ever threaten you, try to intimidate you, do anything to keep you silent and Broaddrick said no.
Since 1999, she stuck with her story that there was a rape and there was intimidation afterward. Next case we can talk about here is Paula Jones. This one when Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas.
She says in 1991 he propositioned her and exposed himself to her. She filed a lawsuit against him. He eventually settled that suit by paying her $850,000, while admitting no guilt. So, what's wrong with that?
Well, for Trump's purposes, the problem is not clear what Hillary Clinton's role would have been in all of this. And there sort of a lack of evidence here. Paula Jones told the New York Times shortly after filing her lawsuit, they sent out people to dig up trash on me but there's really no proof of how that might have happened.
Third person here, Kathleen Willey. This one Bill Clinton was in the White House as president. She was a White House aide. She says that in 1993, he fondled her and then she tells stories of these odd encounters, a dead cat on her porch, a strange man hiding under her deck, another man around the neighborhood asking about her children.
She sees all of that as the Clintons trying to intimidate her. But again, here are the problems, Bill Clinton denies there was ever any sort of sexual encounter and there's no proof, no physical evidence to support her claims.
Now there are other women who are not helping out Trump who keep coming up in this debate, among them Gennifer Flowers. This is back when Bill Clinton was running for the first time to be president. For the first time she showed up and said, that they had a long-running affair for many years.
Hillary Clinton, very publicly dismissed her saying about Gennifer Flowers, "She is some failed cabaret singer who doesn't have much of a resume to fall back on." But years later when he was president, Bill Clinton did admit under oath that there was at least one sexual encounter with Gennifer Flowers. And of course, Ms. Monica Lewinsky, the woman who was a White House intern. Bill Clinton has admitted having an inappropriate relationship with her and Hillary Clinton has said very little publicly about Monica Lewinsky over the years.
However, in a phone call to her best friend, that friend wrote down in her journal that Hillary Clinton said that Lewinsky was a narcissistic, Looney Tune after she found out about this relationship. But again, that was a private conversation that only became public after the friend passed away and her journal was made public.
FOSTER: Bringing (Ph) Jacob Parakilas now, he's with Chatham House, an independent think tank based here in London. He is studying the election from afar.
Trump can't get away from this story around his, sort of, well, the sexual accusations around him. But he's pursuing it, as well, isn't he, in many ways. Because he is constantly defending himself. How do you think he is handling it? And what harm is it doing him?
JACOB PARAKILAS, CHATHAM HOUSE ASSISTANT PROJECT DIRECTOR: Well, I think the danger for him is the longer he keeps the story on sort the general topic of sexual impropriety, you know, as with his revisiting of the Clinton scandals, the more it focuses on this general topic. And it's not an area which has done him a lot of good in the polls over the last few weeks.
The other issue there is that the accusations against Clinton, first of all, their accusations against Bill Clinton with a sort of subsidiary accusation against Hillary.
The other problem is this has been in the public eye for 15 or 20 years. None of this is new information. Whereas, the information about Trump is new. So, he is sort of combatting today's revelations with things that have already baked into the public impression.
FOSTER: But he is managing some of the era of the accusations or the spotlight being on him by pushing it away a bit toward the Clintons.
PARAKILAS: A little bit, but in doing so he is also not focusing on areas that could actually sort of change the narrative, that could focus more on Hillary Clinton's vulnerabilities. I mean, you saw that with the WikiLeaks releases.
And while I don't think there is anything that deeply changed the narrative about Hillary Clinton there, to keep the focus on the accusation, sort of the accusation of closeness, you know, to rebuild that narrative that she represents the failed system and he represents an opportunity for change.
[03:40:10] That would have been a more successful strategy than staying down in the mud as it were.
FOSTER: He, at one point in the debate though, suggested that the media weren't going heavy enough with Clinton on the e-mail issue. So, he perhaps would blame the media for focusing on the sexual improprieties.
PARAKILAS: He, but the media is both sort of the necessary component of his strategy and his most useful foil. His audience, his supporters have been trained, not least by him, to hate the media. To distrust everything except a few hand-selected, very carefully picked news sources.
So, by the same token, he needs those, you know, the bulk of the media to reach the voters who he hasn't convinced or who are wavering in support of him. So, it's a very -- it's hard to see how the strategy builds a winning coalition for him.
FOSTER: He needs swing voters, doesn't he, to win the election? So, where is he with that? Obviously, with his hard core voters he can say whatever he likes. It doesn't make a difference. But, what about the swing voters?
PARAKILAS: The last few weeks have not been good in polls for Trump. The polling averages show him down between 7 and 10 points, there have been individual polls sort on both sides. There is a lot of data coming out.
But the interesting thing is states like Utah, which are not in any way swing states but there is a poll that came out yesterday showing Clinton in a dead heat with Trump with Evan McMullin, the independent...
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: So, the independents doing really well.
PARAKILAS: At 22, following him at 26. Now that could be an outlier, polls often are. But it's a demonstration that, you know, when Utah, which is one of the reddest states in the country.
FOSTER: He should have it.
PARAKILAS: He should.
FOSTER: OK. Jacob, thank you very much for joining us today.
Still ahead, how a pepperoni pizza helped to ease a man's mind about his grandma. That was in the aftermath of hurricane Matthew.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00] Now, Hurricane Matthew maybe gone, but the eastern U.S. is still feeling the impact of the storm, 39 deaths are blamed on the hurricane, 19 of them in North Carolinas. Still rising rivers are devastating parts of states, roadways are under water and homes are flooded.
In North Carolina, national guardsman and other first responders pulled stranded people from their submerged homes using rafts and helicopters to whisk them to safety.
Now, a dangerous category four hurricane s bearing down on Bermuda at this hour.
Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now from the International Weather Center for details on that. Pedram?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Max. Great to see you.
You know, this storm system just in the past 30 hours has gone from a tropical storm to a category four, as you said. And an impressive storm on satellite imagery. You go in for a closer perspective, we think landfall in the next several hours, potentially less than six hours away from landfall.
Could weaken a little bit to a category three but still would be a major hurricane at landfall. And you think about the damage potential across this region. Only four times in recorded history, at least going back to the 1950s when we had reliable data had we had a hurricane made direct impact towards Bermuda. Two of them actually occurred in 2014.
It doesn't happen very often. A very small land mass that you're talking about here. So, the area of concern becomes limited for an opportunity to be struck directly but that is certainly what looks to be the case in the next several hours.
And where we have reliable statistics like the United States, when it comes to tropical cyclones making landfall, almost half of the fatalities are related to storm surge. And that is precisely what we're concerned about. Up to eight feet is what the forecast is for the storm surge across portions Bermuda.
And when you dissect the storm system and put them side by side with the island itself, the eye wall diameter, Max, sits at 35 miles across an impressive size for an eye over this storm system. And you look at the island of Bermuda, at length is about 22 miles from north to south and its widest point roughly one mile across.
So, really not going to be a match for what is a menacing storm approaching the island. And that is major concern of course with what's going on across the Atlantic Ocean.
But I want to switch back and go to the other side towards the Pacific Ocean. Broad circulation. You can pick out here really threatening the western United States. This in and of itself could be a historic snowstorm for folks across places like Seattle, Portland, down into northern California.
Wind warnings and watches in place for winds that could approach 100 kilometers per hour. And the rainfall potential could actually exceed what has happened in the State of North Carolina with the flooding that Matthew left behind.
So, certainly a high threat here over the next several days for cities like Seattle down towards Portland.
Now continuing across the Western Pacific and getting out towards the Philippines, we're watching a couple of disturbances. One of which is Tropical Depression 24. This particular storm poised to become a typhoon in the next 24 or so hours. And very quick strengthening expected.
You notice it doesn't look organized or symmetrical on satellite imagery but the forecast indication is that this will rapidly intensify as it approaches the islands. And notice the winds will go from 55 to 95 eventually to 160. Could potentially approach 200 kilometers per hour just north of Legazpi. It could be eastern Luzon here on Sunday morning for landfall.
So, a lot going on in the world of weather right now. And that is typically the case as we approach in September into October. Certainly it is what is happening right now in the Pacific Ocean, Max.
FOSTER: Pedram, thank you very much indeed.
Well, Hurricane Matthew hit coastal Florida before the Carolinas and Nebraska man was worried when he hadn't heard from his grandmother after the storm. So, he came up with a creative way to make sure she was OK.
Phil (Inaudible), our CNN affiliate WFTV explains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the only Papa Johns in Flagler County. So, when the restless the people of Palm Coast realized the worst of Matthew was over the phone rang off he took. Lance Tyler told me tips on his delivery have been good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LANCE TYLER, PIZZA DELIVERY MAN: They sure do order pizza after a hurricane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But as he grabbed a pizza destined for Parkway drive after the weekend he had no idea the payoff he was about to receive.
TYLER: It was a quite a surprise for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The surprise started with man named Eric who called in that order from Nebraska. When he got to the neighborhood he pulled out the box and took a look at the receipt. And as it turned out there were some special instructions, a phone number to call and he figured at the time it was just because the owner of the house had some big dogs they need to put away.
TYLER: The way that he answered the phone, is she there? Is she OK. It sounded like he was worried.
CLAIRE OLSEN, LANCE TYLER'S GRANDMOTHER: He knocked on the door and he said, "delivery," I said, "I didn't order anything. You could -- "your grandson did."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At 87, Claire Olsen has weathered her share of hurricanes but she's never had a pizza delivery guy put his phone to her ear and heard her grandson. OLSEN: Grandma, I haven't talked to you in two days I got worried
about you. You must be hungry by now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pizza was plain pepperoni.
OLSEN: It was fantastic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And much appreciated. Tyler told me it topped every tip he's ever gotten.
TYLER: Her expression was just priceless. The way that she was like, wow!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But even with every topping on the menu, nothing in the box could ever has been as good as the grandson who cared enough to call for pizza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: And thank you, Phil (Inaudible) for that report. We are happy to tell you that Olsen's phone is now reconnected. She has made several calls to let everyone know that she is just fine.
[03:50:04] Now, a surprise reunion for a teen at a refugee camp and the star of a hit TV show. Their story just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAVAHERI: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri in watching hurricane Nicole.
A historic hurricane now as of the last few minutes this particular storm a category four storm now. And for the first time ever in the month of October we have had category four or category five, Matthew of course being the previous one that reach such status.
It is approaching Bermuda rather quickly over the next 12 hours, and we expect this to make landfall sometime late morning, local time in Bermuda. It could weaken just a little bit but still would be a major hurricane as it comes ashore across the Island of Bermuda.
Certainly it could have devastating impacts considering how quickly the storm system has flourished across the portions of the western Atlantic Ocean.
But across the United States, here comes another significant frontal boundary in place. Much cooler temperatures across portions of the upper Midwest. We're talking about temps close to zero in the morning hours in places like Minneapolis and Chicago.
But big changes. I stop it for you here around Monday evening. And notice the warming pattern returns, yet again, as we build deeper into the month of October. A pretty impressive setup. We expect late next week we have some cooler temperatures to return across that region of the United States and Canada. There's a big storm system parked off the western United States. In
fact, millions underneath a high wind watch across this region. Not only a lot of wind in the forecast but a lot of rain. We are talking about potentially 50 centimeters of rain inside the next seven days across the Western U.S.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back. A Syrian teen was already overjoyed to get a chance to start a new life in Germany but he definitely wasn't expecting what happened next. He caught up with a new friend who also happens to be a star on one of television's biggest shows.
Robyn Curnow reports.
HUSSAM ALHEKARY, SYRIAN MIGRANT: My last English exam.
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two unlikely friends, one a TV star, the other a refugee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIAM CUNNINGHAM, IRISH ACTOR: She was good, she was kind and you killed her.
CURNOW: You may recognize Irish actor Liam Cunningham. On screen he is best known as Sir Davos from the hit series "Game of Thrones."
ALHEKARY: In Syria, I was part in my school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: While 16-year-old Hussam is far from famous. One of the millions of refugees from Syria's civil war.
To Cunningham, war is just a fantasy, played out on a fictional battlefield. But for Hussam it's all too real. He was forced to flee Syria after his school was destroyed by an air strike killing several of his friends and other students.
[03:55:05] Cunningham and several Thrones cast mates visited refugee camps in Greece earlier this year, trying to raise awareness to the refugees' plight. Cunningham met Hussam at another camp in Jordan and the two immediately hit it off.
The teen hoped to eventually join his father and brother in Germany. Hussam even started teaching himself German and English so he could easily integrate into society. That was a month ago. Hussam successfully made it to Germany and is now living in Stuttgart when Cunningham decided to surprise his Syrian friend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALHEKARY: Oh, my God. What are you doing here?
CUNNINGHAM: Good to see you. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Both friends delighted to be reunited.
CUNNINGHAM: Welcome to Europe.
ALHEKARY: What are you doing here?
CUNNINGHAM: I came to see you.
ALHEKARY: Really happy, really happy. It's unbelievable. Yes, yes, I can't explain my feelings. Yes.
CUNNINGHAM: I am overjoyed. I'm incredibly happy because of the generosity of the German people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: While the two were busy catching up, Hussam admitted he had never heard of "Game of Thrones."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALHEKARY: I didn't realize that my friend is here, Liam Cunningham is a big famous, just when -- just when the ladies -- the ladies told me that he is a big actor and famous actor and, oh, my God, so that I give him a hug.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Hussam promises to start watching the show once he and his family get settles in their new home.
Robyn Curnow, CNN.
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster in London. And we'll be back with our next -- the next hour of CNN Newsroom after this short break.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
