Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

First Lady Speaks In New Hampshire; Michelle Obama Says This Wasn't Locker Room Banter; Michelle Obama Delivers An Emotional Speech; Trump Speaks At Rally Amid New Allegations; Trump States No Lie Establishment Won't Tell; Trump Says Clinton Should Be Locked Up. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 13, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES (live): -- that if we are, and don't ever let anyone tell you differently, hope is important -- hope is important for our young people. And we deserve a president who can see those truths in us. A president who can bring us together and bring out the very best in us. Hillary Clinton will be that president.

So, for the next 26 days, we need to do everything we can to help her and Tim Kaine win this election. I know I'm going to be doing it. Are you with me? Are you all with me? Are you ready to roll up your sleeves? Get to work? Knock on doors? All right, let's get to work. Thank you, all, god bless.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, delivering a powerful speech in favor of Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States. But also strongly, in very, very stark terms, condemning Donald Trump for a whole host of issues. Lots to discuss.

We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

I want to bring in my panel to discuss. Our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger is with us, our Senior Political Reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, the Washington Bureau Chief for "USA Today," Susan Page, and our Political Analyst, and Washington Bureau Chief for the "Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich.

You've heard strong speeches for Hillary Clinton before. This is clearly one of the most powerful speeches.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: This is one of the most powerful speeches I've ever heard by a woman, talking about the power of women in politics. Ironically, it didn't come and probably couldn't have come from Hillary Clinton herself.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Right.

BORGER: But came from Michelle Obama on behalf of Hillary Clinton, expressing the outrage, as she put it, that -- expressing that this is not normal behavior. This is disgraceful, intolerable. No woman deserves to be treated this way. And in a very sort of personal way, I can't stop thinking about this. This has shaken me to my very core. Talking to women voters out there. Talking to their children. Talking to their husbands. And saying this all -- this political race comes down to an issue of character. And comparing the character of Donald Trump, obviously, to Hillary Clinton.

And I think when we look back on this speech, talking about the power of women to change an election, it's going to be a very important speech in American political history.

HENDERSON: I think that's right.

BLITZER: Yes.

HENDERSON: I mean, I think it's one of the most powerful political speeches I've ever heard anyone deliver. It was partisan but it had a bipartisan feeling to it.

I talked to folks at the White House. This is a speech she wanted to deliver. She is -- it was personal to her. She wanted to make it personal. At some point, she said that she feels it personal, these shameful comments and this belief that you can do anything that you want to a woman. And she said that it hurts.

And I thought what was interesting about it is this is about Obama- ism, right? It's about Obama's legacy. And it's Obama's view of the country. This idea we are an imperfect nation, always in the process of perfecting this union.

So, I -- you know, this will be, I think you're right, remembered for years to come, in terms of what it meant to this campaign, what it means to women in politics, what it meant to Hillary Clinton.

And she turned, at some point, to Hillary Clinton, and praising her, talking about her being a good mother, a good wife, she said, a good daughter who took care of her mother in her --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A loyal one.

HENDERSON: A loyal one, exactly, --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A loyal one.

HENDERSON: -- which was -- yes, which was an important thing to add, I think, in that -- in that speech.

So, you know, I mean, this is why Michelle Obama has such a good reputation as the closer. Someone who can come in and make people change their minds, in terms of who to vote for, and also a really engage with that base (ph).

BLITZER: And, Susan, she made it also clear that she does not believe Donald Trump is fit to be president of the United States.

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Yes, she made that clear. And I'll tell you what interested me about this speech. This was a speech to women.

BORGER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

PAGE: I mean, this was a speech to the sisterhood. Not talking about policy. Not talking about paid maternity leave or daycare or education. She was talking about what's like to be a woman in America, experiencing that young women have had on college campuses, elder women have had through their careers.

And, in that way, that made it -- we've had so little bipartisanship --

HENDERSON: Yes.

PAGE: -- in this election. This was an appeal to the majority of the electorate which that is female voters.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And, see, I would argue this also appealed to men. And that's because she said -- she said to dismiss this as everyday locker room talk, what Donald Trump said last week, is an insult to decent men everywhere.

[13:05:04] BORGER: Yes.

KUCINICH: And she made that point. And it -- that was another very powerful point of this speech because I -- talking to men both Democrats and Republicans over the weekend and the last couple of days, they're just as repulsed by this as women are. And that is resonating, you know, across the country.

But this also just reminds me of the convention when Michelle Obama gave one of the most if not the most powerful speech of Hillary Clinton's convention.

BLITZER: It was an unbelievably powerful speech just now as well. A very good speech at the convention, as all of us remember. Here, let me play a little expert from the speech who -- for viewers here in the United States and around the world who might just be tuning in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE OBAMA: -- this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect. But here we are, in 2016, and we're hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it. And all of us doing what women have always done. We're trying to keep our heads above water, just trying to get through it. Trying to pretend like this doesn't really bother us. Maybe because that we think admitting how much it hurts makes us, as women, look weak. Maybe we're afraid to be that vulnerable.

Maybe we've grown accustom to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet, because we've seen that people often won't take our word over his. Or maybe we don't want to believe that there's still people out there who think so little of us as women. Too many are treating this as just another day in time (ph) as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted, as if this is normal. Just politics as usual.

But New Hampshire, be clear, this is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. And it doesn't matter what party you belong to Democrat, Republican, independent. No woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserve this kind of abuse.

And I know it's a campaign but this isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong. And we cannot endure this or expose our children to this any longer. Not for another minute and let alone for four years. Now --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The first lady of the United States.

Donald Trump speaking now. We're going to hear a very, very different speech from him. Let's listen in. He's in Florida.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (live): Thanks very much. Thank you, folks.

CROWD: USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.

TRUMP: Thank you, folks. It's great to be right here in Florida which we love. In 26 days, we are going to win this great, great state and we are going to win the White House.

Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt, and when I say corrupt, I'm talking about totally corrupt political establishment, with a new government controlled by you, the American people.

There is nothing the political establishment will not do, no lie that they won't tell to hold their prestige and power at your expense. And that's what's been happening.

The Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that fund it exist for only one reason, to protect and enrich itself. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election.

[13:10:05] As an example, just one single trade deal they'd like to pass involves trillions of dollars controlled by many countries, corporations and lobbyists. For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the local special interests, they partner with these people that don't have your good in mind.

Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they haven't seen before. This is not simply another four-year election. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we, the people, reclaim control over our government.

The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry. The political establishment has brought about the destruction of our factories and our jobs, as they flee to Mexico, China and other countries all around the world.

Our just announced job numbers are anemic. Our gross domestic product, or GDP, is barely above one percent and going down. Workers in the United States are making less than they were almost 20 years ago and yet they are working harder. But so am I, working harder. That I can tell you.

It's a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.

Just look at what this corrupt establishment has done to our cities like Detroit; Flint, Michigan; and rural towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina. And all across our country, take a look at what's going on. They've stripped away these towns bare and raided the wealth for themselves and taken our jobs away, out of our country, never to return, unless I'm elected president.

The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure. We've seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty, in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors. So true.

CROWD: Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up.

TRUMP: Honestly, she should be locked up. Should be. Should be locked up.

And likewise, the e-mails show that the Clinton machine is so closely and irrevocably tied to the media organizations that she -- that she, listen to this, is given the questions and answers in advance of her debate performance with Bernie Sanders.

Hillary Clinton is also given approval and veto power over quotes written about her in "The New York Times." They definitely do not do that to me, that I can tell you.

[13:15:04] And the e-mails show the reporters collaborate and conspire directly with the Clinton campaign on helping her win the election all over.

(BOOING)

With their control over our government at stake, with trillions of dollars on the line, the Clinton machine is determined to achieve the destruction of our campaign, not gonna to happen.

(APPLAUSE)

Which has now become a great, great movement, the likes of which our country has never seen before, never ever.

(APPLAUSE)

They've never seen a movement like this in our country before. Yesterday in Florida, massive crowds, people lined up outside of big arenas, not able to get in. Never happened before. It's one of the phenomenas -- it's one of the great political phenomenas. The most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons is the corporate media, the press.

(BOOING)

Let's be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They're a political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda, and the agenda is not for you, it's for themselves.

(BOOING)

And their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy.

(BOOING)

For them it's a war, and for them nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it on November 8th, remember that.

(APPLAUSE) This election will determine whether we are a free nation or whether we have only the illusion of democracy, but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system, and our system is rigged. This is reality, you know it, they know it, I know it, and pretty much the whole world knows it. The establishment and their media enablers will control over this nation through means that are very well known. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, and morally deformed.

(BOOING)

They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family, they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that, they will do whatever is necessary. The Clintons are criminals, remember that. They're criminals.

(BOOING)

AUDIENCE: Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!

TRUMP: This is well documented, and the establishment that protects them has engaged in a massive coverup of widespread criminal activity at the State Department and the Clinton Foundation in order to keep the Clintons in power.

(APPLAUSE) Never in history have we seen such a coverup as this, one that includes the total destruction of 33,000 e-mails; 13 iPhones, some by hammer; laptops; missing boxes of evidence; and many, many other things.

People who are capable of such crimes against our nation are capable of anything. And so now we address the slander and libels that was just last night thrown at me by the Clinton machine and the New York Times and other media outlets, as part of a concerted, coordinated and vicious attack.

It's not coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment, and all together at the same time as WikiLeaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine, including 2,000 more e-mails just this morning.

(APPLAUSE)

These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false.

(APPLAUSE)

And the Clintons know it, and they know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction and they're outright lies. These events never, ever happened and the people said them meekly fully understand. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and you'll understand also.

(APPLAUSE)

The claims are preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time very soon. (APPLAUSE)

These lies come from outlets whose past stories and past claims have already been discredited. The media outlets did not even attempt to confirm the most basic facts because even a simple investigation would have shown that these were nothing more than false smears.

(APPLAUSE)

Six months ago, the failing New York Times wrote a massive story attacking me, and the central witness they used said the story was false; that she was quoted inaccurately. She said that I was a great guy. She had great courage, I'll be honest with you. She was an amazing person. And never made those remarks -- that I was a great guy, and never made the remarks.

TRUMP: And when I read the story, I was sort of surprised -- how could she say that? And she didn't say it.

We demanded a retraction but, they refused to print it, just like they refused to pin the comments from another source who praised me in her book, or the words of another wonderful woman who said really nice things about me. They put other statements that she didn't say, they misrepresented. The story was a fraud and a big embarrassment to The New York Times and it was a big front page story. Front page, center, color picture, a disgrace. They were very embarrassed, it will be part of the lawsuit we are preparing against them.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, today the same two discredited writers, who should've been fired from The New York Times for what the did, tell another totally fabricated and false story, that supposedly took place on an airplane more than 30 years ago. Another ridiculous tale, no witnesses, no nothing.

Then, there was a writer from People Magazine, who wrote a story on Melania and myself on our first anniversary. The story was beautiful, it was beautiful, it was lovely. But, last night we hear that after 12 years -- this took place 12 years ago, this story -- a new claim that I made inappropriate advances during the interview to this writer...

(BOOING)

And I asked very simple question, why wasn't it part of the story that appeared 20, or 12 years ago? Why wasn't it a part of the story? Why didn't they make it part of the story? I was one of the biggest stars on television with The Apprentice and I would've been one of the biggest stories of the year. Think of it, she's doing this story on Melania, who was pregnant at the time. And Donald Trump, our one year anniversary and she said I made inappropriate advances, and by the way, the area was a public area, people all over the place.

Take a look, you take a look. Look at her, look at her words. You tell me, what you think. I don't think so -- I don't think so.

(APPLAUSE)

But, it is amazing, doing a story -- a love story -- on how great we are together -- and by the way, we're stronger today than we ever were before which is good, but... (APPLAUSE)

It's a love story -- it's a love story on our one year. And if I did that, she would've added that it would've been the headline. And who would've done that if you're doing this and you're one of the tops shows on television.

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?

(BOOING)

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.

By the way, this is a room that everybody can see in. It's got glass walls. It's at Mar-A-Lago; it's got glass walls. Can you believe this? Why wasn't it in the story, biggest story of the year.

This weekend the New York Times published a full-page hit piece with another claim from an individual who has been totally discredited based on the many, many, many e-mails and letters she has sent to our office over the years, looking for work, Donald is great, wanting go to my rallies. But, the New York Times -- and this was full op-ed piece -- refused to use the evidence that we presented -- refused to use it. If they used it, if they would have looked, they would have said, there's no story here.

Others in the media, which almost surprises me because they're dishonest also, were presented with the story by this woman numerous times, and they got very excited. But, after seeing the evidence that we immediately give them, all of them refused to write the story. There was no story.

The Times, though, didn't want to see it, they just wrote the story. And this was a full page opposite the editorials. This is part of a concerted effort, led by the New York Times and others. Now the New York Times is fighting desperately for its relevance and its financial survival. And it probably won't even be around in a few years, based on its financial outlook. Which wouldn't be a bad thing, if you want to know the truth.

(APPLAUSE)

But, as it winds down its years and is becoming more and more problematic, it's gotten more and more vicious, more and more vile. And even the other mainstream media is talking about the single greatest pile on in history, and all between now and November 8th. And you have to see the stories they've written, it's one after another, after another, and facts mean nothing, third-rate journalism. The great editors of the past from the New York Times and others, ladies and gentlemen, are spinning in their grave.

I will not allow the Clinton machine to turn our campaign into a discussion of their slanders and lies, but, will remain focused on the issues facing the American people.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Trump! Trump! Trump!

TRUMP: Thank you, thank you. But, let me state this as clearly as I can, these attacks are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies. The only thing Hillary Clinton has going for herself is the press, without the press, she is absolutely zero.