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More Accusers Step Forward Against Donald Trump; Where is Melania Trump?; Foreign Ministers Gather to Discuss Syria; Thailand Begins Year of Mourning. Aired 2-2:30a ET
Aired October 15, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:12] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: More accusers step forward. How Donald Trump is handling new allegations of sexual assault. Foreign ministers gather in Switzerland to discuss Syria's civil war but few are optimistic. And Thailand officially began the year of mourning. The nation says goodbye to its late king.
It's all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. We're live in Atlanta. Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.
At least eight women now accuse U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual assault. The two latest alleged victims came forward on Friday. One is the former contestant on Trump's show "The Apprentice," the other a woman he didn't know at a New York nightclub. Trump says these accusations are false, a setup, and he's the target of a smear campaign. Jason Carroll has more from a Trump stop in North Carolina.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you get hit, you hit back.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is lashing out, even as more women come forward accusing him of making unwanted sexual advances.
TRUMP: They have no witnesses. There's nobody around. They just come out. Some are doing it for probably a little fame, to get some free fame. It's a total setup.
CARROLL: The "Washington Post" publishing another alleged incident involving Kristin Anderson who says Trump reached under her skirt and groped her at a crowded New York nightclub in the early 1990s.
KRISTIN ANDERSON, TRUMP ACCUSER: The person on my right, who unbeknownst to me at that time, was Donald Trump, put their hands up my skirt. He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely.
CARROLL: Trump calling Anderson's claim false.
TRUMP: One came out recently where I was sitting alone in some club. I really don't sit alone that much, honestly folks, I don't think I sit alone, I go on with groups of -- I was sitting alone by myself like this and then I went wow, to somebody. I just heard this one. It's like unbelievable.
CARROLL: As Trump pushes back against the accusations, his running mate says the campaign will soon be providing proof.
GOV. MIKE PENCE, (R-IN) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, just stay tuned. I know that there's more information going to coming out that will back his claim that this is all categorically false.
CARROLL: Mike Pence also responding to First Lady Michelle Obama's emotional speech Thursday rebuking Trump's sexually aggressive comments about women caught on a hot mic during a 2005 taping for "Access Hollywood."
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: This was not just allude conversation. This wasn't just locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior and actually bragging about kissing and groping women.
CARROLL: The Indiana governor saying the First Lady's message was off base.
PENCE: Well, in fact, I have a lot of respect for the First Lady and the job that she's done to the American people over the last seven and a half years but I don't understand the basis of her claim. He's categorically denied these latest unsubstantiated allegations.
CARROLL: Another one of Trump's accusers, Jessica Leeds, telling CNN's Anderson Cooper that Trump groped her while they were sitting next to one another on a flight nearly 30 years ago.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN AC360 ANCHOR: Did he actually kiss you?
JESSICA LEEDS, TRUMP ACCUSER: Yeah, yeah.
COOPER: On the face or on the lips?
LEEDS: Wherever he could find a landing spot, yes. His hands were everywhere.
CARROLL: Trump responding suggesting Leeds was not attractive enough to interest him.
TRUMP: Oh, I was with Donald Trump in 1980. I was sitting with him on an airplane and he went after me on the plane. Yeah, I'm going to go after her. Believe me, she would not be my first choice. That I can tell you.
CARROLL: As the Trump campaign reels from accusations of sexual assault, his eldest son drawing attention for comments he made in 2013 suggesting women who cannot handle sexual harassment should find another job. DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: If you can't handle some of the basic stuff that's become a problem in the workforce today, like, you don't belong in the workforce. Like you should go, you know, maybe, you know, teach kindergarten. I think it's a respectable, you know, position.
CARROLL: Trump also had choice words for Hillary Clinton, he said that when she walked by him on the debate stage, he said, "I was not impressed." He also had words for President Obama saying this about his accusers in relation to Obama, "Why doesn't some woman maybe come up and say what they say falsely about me they could say about him."
Jason Carroll, CNN, Greensboro, North Carolina.
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[02:05:02] ALLEN: Another woman, Temple Taggart, was a contestant in Trump's Miss USA pageant in 1997. She says she was 21 years old when he embraced her and kissed her on the lips. Taggart says the first time was during a pageant rehearsal and then later at Trump Tower.
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TEMPLE TAGGART, TRUMP ACCUSER: When he came out to greet me he gave me another embrace and a kiss that was a little different this time. It kind of felt like -- it just felt like a little more to me. So, I did -- I felt awkward and I just remember in my mind going what does he think this is, like, I'm thinking he's married, this is awkward for me. He is how much older, this is not all that I came here for. So, I just -- to me, it was like I hope he knows that I'm here for business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Taggart first told her story back in May. Trump has said he doesn't know who she is and never kissed her.
Hillary Clinton has largely avoided commenting directly on the sexual assault allegations against Trump. She's also telling supporters she takes no satisfaction on what is happened to Trump because of the damage it's causing the United States. But during an event on Friday she did find an opportunity to attack his character.
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HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The whole world has heard Donald Trump brags about mistreating women and the disturbing stories keep coming. This is who Donald Trump really is. We know that. Now we have to demonstrate who we are.
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ALLEN: In the battleground State of Ohio, U.S. President Obama warned voters not to let Donald Trump and his supporters discourage them from going to the polls this year.
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BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Now, her opponents made it pretty clear, he's just going to drag this election as low as it can possibly go. And he figured that if he makes our politics just toxic, then maybe you'll just figure out you have no good choices, you just get discouraged and you just don't vote. But don't fall for it.
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ALLEN: WikiLeaks has published an e-mail showing Democratic strategists discussing, asking voters about Barack Obama's father's Muslim faith back in 2008. The e-mail included some of Hillary Clinton's top political allies when she was running against Obama for their party's presidential nomination.
Two of the people in those e-mails say they were doing what any political professional would and that is examine candidate's potential weaknesses. A separate e-mail in the leaks shows that various arguments against Clinton were also tested around the same time.
A series of controversies alienating female voters are threatening to sink Trump's campaign but through them all one person has been noticeably absent, Trump's wife Melania. Our Brian Todd looks at why.
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TRUMP: Right now I am being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It's a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the accusations pile up, the most important woman in Donald Trump's inner circle has stayed silent and has been largely absent from the campaign trail since her ill-fated speech at the Republican convention.
MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: My parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life.
TODD: Melania Trump made it clear early in the campaign that she would focus much of her time raising their son Barron. But she did issue a statement the morning after the "Access Hollywood" tape came out, saying, "The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know."
Through her lawyers, Mrs. Trump also sent a letter to the writer and editor of a "People" magazine article. She's threatened to sue them, not over the writer's allegations that Trump sexually assaulted her but over a passage which claimed falsely, according to Melania Trump, that the writer once casually met Mrs. Trump on the street.
LYNN SWEET, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES REPORTER: Well, it's nitpicking. And it's not part of the larger issue.
TODD: How does Melania Trump really feel about all the allegations? Why hasn't she come out and spoken at any lengths about them to cameras?
M. TRUMP: We love you too.
TODD: The campaign isn't commenting. A crisis communications guru has a theory.
RICHARD LEVICK, LEVICK STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CEO: I think there is a real fear. What else might there be?
TODD: Mrs. Trump does have examples to follow.
SWEET: Usually in campaigns, wives are used to be validators of their husband, to be a voice to talk about their husband. Wives in campaigns or spouses in general in campaigns are often used to tell the public about a side of the candidate that they otherwise would not know.
TODD: A role immortalized by Hillary Clinton in the 1992 60 minutes interview after Gennifer Flowers said she'd had a long running affair with Bill Clinton.
CLINTON: I'm not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette. I'm sitting here because I love him and I respect him, and I honor what he's been through and what we've been through together. And, you know, if that's not enough for people, then heck, don't vote for him.
[02:10:14] TODD: But so far, none of that from Melania Trump. It's been left to her husband.
TRUMP: And by the way, we're stronger today than we were ever were before which is tough.
TODD: If Mrs. Trump addresses the multiple allegations, how should she do it?
LEVICK: They need to take her out of the cocoon. Take her out of hibernation. She needs to be front and center talking about this issue, showing her forgiveness.
TODD: The "New York Times" reports that Donald Trump and his advisors have considered a joint television interview that he and Melania Trump would give to a major network. But the "Times" says after a statement from the "Access Hollywood" anchor, who Trump talked about in those initial tapes, and after excerpts from his interviews with Howard Stern came out, campaign officials nixed that idea. The Trump campaign wouldn't comment on that or give us any comment for this story.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: We turn to other news next. Diplomats will meet in a few hours to discuss the talk of the ceasefire in Syria, why there's little optimism those talks will bring any big change. As ahead, flocks of grieving nation bids farewell to its beloved king and begins a year of official mourning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: Diplomatic efforts to save thousands of Syrians have fallen through before but diplomats will try and try again. And in just a few hours, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in Switzerland for talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry yet again, and other ministers. CNN's Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr talks about the stakes.
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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: At least 160 people killed by air strikes in eastern Aleppo since Tuesday, activists inside Syria told CNN. As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made clear, Aleppo's rebels remain a target.
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT: It's going to be the springboard, as big city, to move to another area, to liberate other areas from the terrorists You have to clean. You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey.
STARR: For the White House, the decision to try to save the innocent civilians of Aleppo from Russian and Syrian bombs or allow Aleppo to fall may be one of the last major foreign policy decisions of the Obama Administration. Top officials are discussing three main options, all have problems. Plan A, restart talks with Moscow. Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Switzerland on Saturday, but U.S. officials have little hope of convincing Russia to back off its support for Assad.
MARK TONER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESMAN: I certainly don't want to overplay or underplay our expectations for Lausanne. I think that you're right, that the urgent need right now in front of us is some kind of cessation of hostilities.
[02:15:08] STARR: Plan B, arming so-called moderate rebels fighting Assad. But the concern, weapons could get into the wrong hands. Plan C, conduct missile strikes against Syrian regime airfields and barrel bomb production and storage sites involved in attacking Aleppo.
Those in favor say it's a strong message to Moscow, but the Pentagon worries it could escalate into a direct confrontation with Russia. With the election just days away, the administration is unlikely to risk a Russian confrontation, officials say, even as the Aleppo battlefield grows grimmer.
And some officials say the White House may simply be running out the clock, not wanting to start a new foreign entanglement at this point for a new president.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
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ALLEN: Forces in Iraq are gearing up for a major battle with ISIS. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says the battle to liberate Hawija is imminent. The city is one of the last ISIS strongholds in Kirkuk province, and that offensive there comes ahead of an expected operation to retake Mosul. A body was in Kirkuk City on Friday to meet with civil and military leaders. Shiite para-military say government troops and Kurdish forces will join them in the battle for Hawija.
There are conflicting reports of whether the Nigerian government release the number of Boko Haram commanders as part of the process that freed 21 Chibok school girls. A source close to the deal says some captured militants were released but the Nigerian government insists militants were not swapped for the young women. The 21 girls freed on Thursday. There's one you see there were among the nearly 300 the militant group abducted in 2014. Some of them escaped but almost 200 are still missing.
The Nigerian president, meantime, is taking some heat for how he responded when the first lady questioned his leadership. The wife of Muhammadu Buhari said if her husband doesn't get a grip on his government, she may not back him in the next election.
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MUHAMMADU BUHARI, NIGERIAN PRESIDENT: I don't know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and other room.
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ALLEN: Yeah, he said she belonged in his kitchen and the living room and the other room. Buhari also said his political knowledge is superior to his wife. He said it during a news conference in Berlin while standing next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Wow.
ALLEN: Awkward.
VAN DAM: Pretty sure this is 2016.
ALLEN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, so, perfect time to turn to the weather, Derek Van Dam.
VAN DAM: What a transition.
ALLEN: Yeah.
VAN DAM: You know, what we're talking about is the western Pacific heating up again in terms of typhoon activity. And what is interesting to note about the two systems you see on your T.V. screen there is that we know the path of where these are headed but the problem with this area is that the warm waters of the western Pacific can make these storms intensify very quickly.
And so often, just before it makes landfall, just in the case of the Sarika, just east of the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines, it's currently sustained winds around 160 kilometers per hour, 150 kilometers, rather. And the thing about this is we're starting to see this rapid intensification that's forming. An eye wall has developed with this particular typhoon. So it could, in fact, strengthen before it actually reaches landfall, perhaps even gusts over 200, 215 kilometer per hour making this a strong category two or weaker, or category three Atlantic hurricane equivalent.
So, it's just very difficult to tell exactly the strength with these particular typhoons. But there's one thing for sure that conditions in or around Manila, the capital of the Philippines will deteriorate. And especially from Manila and northward into the outer suburbs of that particular location, here is the official forecast track from the joint typhoon warning center. And you can see it sustains and maintains its strength as it goes across the South China Sea. And then as it reaches Haiku, just in southern China, in the shores of Vietnam, that's where winds could pick up once again. So you see that intensification process once over.
Here's the forecast wind gusts across Manila. Again, this is kind of an elevated area in terms of the mountainous terrain. And that will help deteriorate the storm temporarily but again restrengthening as possible across the South China Sea. The main concerns going forward will be the strong, gusty winds bringing down power lines and also trees. But there's also the potential for flash flooding and mud slides across this area.
You can see the two storm systems that we have our eyes on. One, again, moving far westward by the end of the week but then we just focus our attention on another major storm system that's forming just west of Guam as we speak.
[02:20:09] I want to bring you to the west coast of the United States. Look at the damage that 10 unconfirmed tornados have caused across this region, just west of Portland, Oregon. And I'll let them roll the video so you can see one of the tornados that actually made it on shore. This is a F2 tornado, according to the National Weather Service. It damaged 128 structures and homes in Manzanita, Oregon. That is, by the way, a record, 10 tornado warnings in one day for northwest Oregon, that has never happened. So you can see the odd weather and the dangerous weather that's happening across that part of America.
ALLEN: Loop around.
VAN DAM: That's right. Yeah, that's right. But look, it was actually remnants of an old typhoon. You're right.
ALLEN: All right, Derek, thank you.
Well, many people in Thailand are in shock and disbelief over the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He spent 70 years on the throne and is the only monarch many Thai people have ever known. CNN's Will Ripley shows us how tens of thousands in Bangkok are mourning his loss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A sea of black outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Tens of thousands gather in grief. On the first day of Thailand's year-long mourning period, some openly wept for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a man considered the father of modern Thailand, a man many can't believe is gone.
What is the hardest part that you're going through right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the hardest part is like, we still not, like, accept the truth that our king has just passed away. And it's still very hard for everyone, not just me, for us. We just like crying. Every time that we look around, or see people, or watching T.V., or something like that, it just make us feel very down to accept that he's really, really passed away.
RIPLEY: Police say the crowd outside the Grand Palace alone easily exceeded 100,000 people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you see the people around, you know, as mostly there, as things, down face, all people, student, there's been a lot of us. Today is really like a (inaudible), like a heart breaking day.
RIPLEY: Aside from the ceremony of cannons outside of the royal palace, you don't hear much noise despite these huge crowds. The Thai people don't tend to sob or wail. Theirs is a silent grief.
The royal Hirsch (ph) took the king from the hospital where he lived for the last two years, past the doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly to save his life. It drove to Bangkok's normally busily streets, now eerily silent. Salutes along the route as the king made his final journey to the palace. His body bathed in Thai Buddhist tradition. A ceremony led by his son and successor, the crown prince, as his wife of 60 years, Queen Sirikit looked on. The ailing queen hasn't been seen in public for several years.
Even a full year of official mourning may not be enough for those who believe Thailand lost more than a king. They say it lost part of its soul.
Will Ripley, CNN, Bangkok.
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[02:25:01] ALLEN: This just in to CNN. More than 200 countries have now agreed on a major step to reduce global warming. At a meeting in Rwanda, delegates promised to reduce the greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners. Those are the world's fastest- growing greenhouse gases.
The final presidential debate in the Race for the White House takes place Wednesday. And if the first two face offs or any indication, the showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is likely to be downright brutal. The contests are so wild they've sparked some video mockery. Here's Jeanne Moos with that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The candidates were hard on each other, but not this hard.
TRUMP: Hey, hey, hey, I have to say, you suck. Well, that's just stupid.
MOOS: Nor were they this nice.
TRUMP: I had the time of my life though I never felt like this before.
MOOS: Two debates, two parodies.
TRUMP: I've been waiting for so long now I finally found someone to
stand by me.
MOOS: "Stand by me" lyric.
TRUMP: Congratulations. Great job.
MOOS: Was actually a sarcastic comment in the real debate. The funny thing is this U.S. election spoof wasn't even made in America. A Dutch video artist did it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just noticed the way these candidates were strolling around the stage and I just felt this needed a song, really. Some sick courting ritual, in a way.
CLINTON: Saw the writing on the wall as we felt this magical fantasy.
MOOS: With a magical fantasy of a different sort, Bad Lip Reading is back with a new video.
TRUMP: Well, I can do this.
MOOS: Actually, Trump was saying this ...
TRUMP: Wrong.
CLINTON: That is absolutely proved.
TRUMP: Wrong.
MOOS: Bad Lip Reading has been around five years now.
TRUMP: Well, yeah, I can do this.
CLINTON: (Singing).
TRUMP: I doubt you're quite that good.
MOOS: Hillary did actually wink ala Sarah Palin at the debate.
CLINTON: Well, not quite that long.
MOOS: Commenters commiserated, "We are doomed. This makes more sense than the actual debate.
TRUMP: You know you want to lick my feet. You know you want to lick my feet.
CLINTON: That's psycho.
MOOS: The video producer who does these bad lip readings wants to remain anonymous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Favorite way to eat chicken?
TRUMP: Raw.
MOOS: Actually, Donald's favorite way to eat chicken is with a knife and fork. The public eats up these parodies. Forget "Dirty Dancing," the debates are dirty politics and could use a little harmony.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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ALLEN: Thank you to the Dutch videographer who gave us a bit of levity. Thanks for that. I'll be right back with our top stories. Back to the real stuff in just a moment.
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