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New Day Saturday

Donald Trump Refutes Sexual Assault Allegations; How Allegations Will Affect the Campaign; Assessing New WikiLeaks E-mails; Trump Warns of Dark Media Conspiracy; Key Battleground Voters on the Economy; HLN to Debut New Show 'Primetime Justice'. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 15, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:10] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: 7:00 on a Saturday morning. I'm glad to see you're up. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you

PAUL: Donald Trump is, of course, they've fighting back this morning. He just tweeted, I want to read this for you here. "100 percent fabricated and made-up, charges pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton campaign may poison the minds of the American voter. Fix." And yesterday, slamming the women accusing him of sexual assault.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am a victim of one of the great political smear campaigns in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, the two new allegations come from Summer Zervos, a former "Apprentice" contestant and Kristin Anderson, a photographer and former model. But Trump called Anderson's accusation nonsense and false and release the statement on Zervos.

He writes or at least the campaign writes, "I vaguely remember Ms. Zervos as one of the many contestants on "The Apprentice" over the year. To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who I am as a person and it's not how I've conducted might life.

In fact, Ms. Zervos continued to contact me for help, e-mailing my office on April 14 to this year, asking that I visit her restaurant in California. Beyond that, the media is now creating a theater of absurdity that threatens to tear our Democratic process apart and poison the minds of the American public."

Well, CNN's Ed Lavadera has been following this accusation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first of eight accusers publicly came forward, Wednesday night this week. Mindy McGillivray was one of them.

For her, it was the presidential debate in St. Louise that prompted her to speak out. Mcgillivray couldn't believe what she had just heard.

MINDY MCGILLIVRAY, DONALD TRUMP ACCUSER: We hear Anderson Cooper ask him like a number of times. You know, is this something you that did? Did you grope women? Did you kiss them? And he just adamantly says no? I jumped off my couch and I was like, "You're a liar."

LAVANDERA: Summer Zervos once appeared as a contest on Trump's reality show "The Apprentice". After she was kicked off the show, Zervos was in talks with Trump about working for his company. He asked to meet her at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

SUMMER ZERVOS, FORMER APPRENTICE CONTESTANT: He came to me and started kissing me open mouth as he was pulling me towards him. I tried to push him away. I pushed his chest to put space between us and I said, "Come on, man, get real." He repeated my words back to me "get real," as he began thrusting his genitals.

LAVANDERA: In the early 1990s, Kristin Anderson was an aspiring model in New York. According to the "Washington Post", Anderson had never met or seen Donald Trump in person until he sat down next to her one night in a Manhattan dance club.

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.

LAVANDERA: Temple Taggart is a former Miss Utah. She says, without her consent, Trump kissed her on the lips immediately after meeting her in 1977.

Rachel Crooks told the "New York Times" that Trump kissed her inappropriately as well in 2005.

Natasha Stoynoff, a write for "People Magazine" says Trump forcibly kissed her and pinned her down while on a reporting assignment at Trump's Mar-a-lago Estate in Florida.

And Jessica Leeds says Trump grabbed her breasts and put his hands up her skirt on a plane in the early 1980s.

Donald Trump, again, Friday denied all of the allegations against him and described it all as a political smear campaign.

TRUMP: I don't know who these people are. I look on television. I think it's a disgusting thing.

LAVANDERA: Which is exactly how Mindy McGillivray says Trump treated her one night backstage after a Ray Charles concert at the Mar-a-lago Estate. McGillivray was there with a friend waiting to get her picture taken with the singer. When she says Trump grabbed her from behind. MCGILLIVRAY: And he didn't give me a second glance. He knew what he did. I know he knew what he did. I can tell by looking at his smug face, he knew exactly what he did. I told Ken (ph) I was like, "Donald just grabbed my ass." And he was like, "What do you want to do about it?" I'm like, I was silent, you know. I don't want to do anything.

LAVANDERA: She says she regrets not confronting the billionaire right on the spot. And despite Trump's insistence that he treats women with respect, all of the women who've come forward say Trump treated them like objects that he could have his way with.

What would you tell Donald Trump today?

MCGILLIVRAY: You're a sick, sick person. And if he don't acknowledge it, then maybe he's just an helpless old man who needs to step down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And the Trump campaign released this statement before the lead from Summer Zervos' cousin named John Barry. And the statement said "I am completely shock and bewildered by my cousin, Summer Zervos, and her press conference today.

[07:05:05] Ever since she was on "The Apprentice" she has had nothing but glowing things to say about Mr. Trump. That was until Summer invited Mr. Trump to her restaurant during the primary and he said no. I think Summer wishes she could still be on reality T.V and in an effort to get that back, she's saying all of these negative things about Mr. Trump."

BLACKWELL: Well, CNN reached out to Zervos' attorney, Gloria Allred and she responded with this.

"John Barry is a huge Trump supporter. He was employed at Summer's family restaurant until several months ago when his employment ended. Since then he has expressed hostility and ill will towards Summer."

Let's bring in CNN's Chris Frates. Chris, we know that the Trump campaign is releasing the statements. They talk about some of the other allegations. What else are we hearing from the campaign?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Victor, well, you know, that statement is coming, you know, essentially after two more women came forward yesterday. And they alleged Donald Trump groped them.

Now, that number of women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment now totals seven. And we heard from Hillary Clinton's campaign, she's steered mostly clear of these allegations against Trump.

You know kind of fearing that pulling the spotlight away from Trump's troubled campaign is not the way to go at this point. She stayed mostly quiet. But she did weigh in last night at a fund-raiser in Seattle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESEDENTIAL 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. America is better than this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now, Kristin Anderson told "The Washington Post" in a story published yesterday that Trump slid his hand up her miniskirt and touched her private parts at the New York City night cluck back in the '90s.

And former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos said Trump grabbed her breasts and kissed her over dinner at the hotel back in 2007.

Now, of course Victor, Trump dismissing these allegations as lies. In fact, he seems to mock two of his other accusers as too unattractive to draw his eye. And he painted himself as the victim of a smear campaign. Here's what he said last night, reiterating what he said in a tweet this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: These allegations are 100 percent false, as everybody. I think you know. These claims defy reason, truth, logic, common sense. They're made without supporting witnesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now, all of these allegations have knocked Trump off his game, off his message since that news broke last week. But in a statement last night, Trump said he plans to address the nation in a much more personal way. He wants to talk about his vision for the country and put this behind him, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Chris Frates, once again form Washington, thanks so much.

FRATES: You're welcome.

BLACKWELL: Christi?

PAUL: Chris Moody, CNN Politics Senior Digital Correspondent with us now. So, Chris is there a sense that Donald Trump can come -- can overcome all of this. And when might we hear more of that policy as opposed to all of the shenanigans that we've heard so far. All of these accusations from Trump himself? When are we going to hear more from him?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Donald Trump is in fox hole right now fighting for his political life. And with just a couple of weeks left in the election, time is really running out. The major opportunity he has to try to turn this thing around is next week in Las Vegas at the presidential debate with Hillary Clinton. But looking at the electoral map, going into this election, it was already really tight. Hillary Clinton already had a firm head start just because of the demographics of the country.

Donald Trump needed or -- excuse me -- needs to win states like Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and others. Really have a clean sweep of all of these battleground states in order to reach the 270 votes he needs to get -- to win the Electoral College.

That is getting harder and harder by the day as he's having to answer questions about alleged sexual assault, instead of making his closing arguments. So, he's really going to have to turn this around very quickly.

And every time he's talking about alleged sexual assaults, this time he's not talking about his vision for the country. As Chris Frates mentioned just a moment ago, this has knocked him off his game and he has to get back on his feet as soon as possible if he wants any hope of winning those Electoral College votes in those key swing states.

PAUL: Well, and somebody else who's been publicly silent about all of this is House Speaker Paul Ryan. He would actually, with a build at a major party address in Madison, Wisconsin and he was talking more about Congress.

So, when you look at what you we're talking about, the electoral map and the numbers that we're talking about if Hillary Clinton at this moment seems to be poised to win the White House, would that not push Republicans to get out and vote to keep Congress in Republican control?

[07:10:11] MOODY: That's right. The presidency is not the only office that Republicans are worried about right now. They fear that that down ballots, they could suffer as well including popular members of Congress, the House and the Senate.

Now, if Donald Trump should lose in November, the Republican Party is really going to have to pick up the broken pieces of what happened over the past couple of years. There's been an incredible split in the party that has been unforeseen, really in modern history.

And the Republican Party is going to have to have a real gut check and figure out what kind of party they want to be in the future, whether it's the party of Donald Trump, or more of a conservative party that we saw before Trump's rise.

Now, this is complicated for a guy like Paul Ryan who has decades of experienced and time talking about conservative values, but then endorsed Donald Trump. He will be known as a Donald Trump supporter after this election, whether he likes it or now.

So, I expect if Donald Trump should lose in November, I expect there to be some real soul searching in the Republican Party.

PAUL: All right. Chris Moody, appreciate your thoughts. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, what's next for Donald Trump on the defense fighting allegations for multiple women? Our panel, we'll weigh in next on what this means for the Trump campaign, less than 30 days now from the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Well, Donald Trump has lost several supporters in the wake of sexual assault allegations, but some have jump ship only to return a couple days later. How will these latest accusations now affect his campaign in the final, extremely crucial weeks before this election is coming up next month?

With me now, Trump supporter and former Reagan White House Political Director, Jeffrey Lord. Back, again, A. Scott Bolden, Hillary Clinton supporter, former Chairman of the Washington D.C. Democratic Party.

[07:15:02] Jeffrey, good morning to you.

JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Good morning Dr. Blackwell.

BLACKWELL: And welcome to you, Scott

Let me start Jeffrey with you. Donald Trump said last night that he is a victim here. Do you believe Donald Trump is a victim?

LORD: Let me tell you why. This is the biggest exercise of what I call ruling class hypocrisy that I've seen in a long time. I mean, NBC has a tape of Juanita Broaddrick that they are apparently unwilling to release a full tape with all of the out tapes and everything they are unwilling to release in which, of course, she specifically accuses President Clinton of sexual violence, a.k.a rape.

BLACKWELL: All right, let me bring you back to the question. And I think you believe that he's a victim. But tell me why is he a victim?

LORD: Because these people do these things themselves and then hide it and then accuse other people of doing it, doing the same thing.

BLACKWELL: OK ...

LORD: I mean, this is mind-boggling here the hypocrisy.

BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, let me play for you some tape from -- let me get the date, it was New Year's Eve, December 31st, 2015 when Donald Trump started initially attacking Bill Clinton for his marital history for the scandals of the '90s.

LORD: Right.

BLACKWELL: And this is what you said then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jeffrey, you know, Donald Trump is not a choir boy, right? I mean, Donald Trump has his own history, his own marital past. Will that become an issue in a Republican primary?

LORD: Well, if there's somebody out there, as there is with Bill Clinton accusing him of rape, I'd, you know, I'd like to know her name.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The accusation here is not rape, but sexual assault. You said back then ...

LORD: There you go.

BLACKWELL: ... "If there's someone who's accusing him, I'd like to know her name." Well, this is how you're finding out the names. Why is that a problem now that are coming out?

LORD: There is no accusation of rape here, right?

FOLK: But aside -- wait a minute, are you saying that because it's only sexual assault you don't want to know?

LORD: No, no, no, Victor. What I'm saying is that you've got people who do these themselves on a regular basis.

Senator, the late Senator Kennedy, you know, famous incident of sexual violence at La Brasserie Restaurant that was noted in -- via "New York Times" reporter and "PQ" magazine in 1990. What happened to that? Not a thing, not a thing. Senator Biden was in the Senate. Senator McCain was in the Senate. They didn't do anything about it.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, you're pointing out these story lines about ...

LORD: Hypocrisy.

BLACKWELL: But as you use the word hypocrisy you're not answering questions about the candidate you are supporting.

So, let me come to you Scott. Let me come to you Scott because what we're seeing with Jeffery here is that back in December he was willing to discuss Bill Clinton's history. He's willing discuss Bill Clinton history, now ...

LORD: But there is no accusation of rape.

BLACKWELL: There is no accusation of rape, correct.

LORD: All right.

BLACKWELL: But I'll put back ...

(CROSSTALK)

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPROTER: But that doesn't make it any better. BLACKWELL: Go ahead, Scott.

BOLDEN: Jeff, it doesn't make it any better at all. Listen, Donald Trump is the -- it lives at the height of hypocrisy. The media and the Democrats aren't driving these allegations of sexual assaults, Donald Trump is.

Donald Trump is driving it because of the video from "Entertainment Tonight." He's driving it in the ...

BLACKWELL: "Access Hollywood."

BOLDEN: "Access Hollywood," forgive me. He's driving it on the debate where he denied ever sexually groping women and then he continues to drive it for a week. Completely off message. Not talking about economics or the economy or immigration, but objectifying women, even in his defense.

At time did once (ph), he spent 35 minutes at one of his rallies talking about these issues, whereby, nobody's talking about them but him. It's illogical, quite frankly. I think he's given up on the campaign.

I think he's going to attract his base, energize his base because he certainly isn't getting educated white men and women in the suburbs that he needs. These battleground states he's not growing, and Hillary, because of these allegations that Donald Trump is driving, she's up by six points in Georgia and she's competing even in red states.

BLACKWELL: Right.

BOLDEN: The Trump campaign even pulled out of Virginia. And so, he's got some real problems, but they're his problems.

BLACKWELL: We've got to go to break, but when we come back we're going to continue this conversation and we're going to turn to Hillary Clinton and what we're learning from this WikiLeaks, the hacking of the John Podesta's e-mails. Stay with us. Quick break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:23:13] BLACKWELL: And we're back with our political panel, A. Scott Bolden, Hillary Clinton supporter and Jeffrey Lord, a Trump supporter.

I want to turn to WikiLeaks and what we're learning from the hacking of John Podesta, the campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton, those e- mails and CNN can't independently verify the authenticity of these messages, but I do want to say that there is this exchange after Hillary Clinton's interview with NBC related to her e-mail server. During which she said she was sorry about the confusion, but she didn't apologize.

Let's put up first what Podesta wrote here that the subject line is she rocked it, but he writes here, "The press takeaway was the whine of, but she really didn't apologize to the American people. I am beginning to think Trump is on to something."

And then the Policy Director, Neera Tanden response, "Everyone wants her to apologize. And she should. Apologies are like her Achilles heel. But she didn't seem like a B, you know, skip the word because of the hour, in the interview. And she said the word sorry. She will get to a full apology in a few interviews."

Scott, I'm going to come to you. Was Trump on his something here and if she was going to apologize, why didn't she come out the gate and just say it then?

BOLDEN: Well, I wasn't part of those discussions, but you can see from these WikiLeaks that ought to be condemned by Donald Trump and others but they haven't. But these are political strategists analyzing her interview, analyzing an issue that is a challenge and difficult, but one that's evolving at the time of these discussions no one knew everything that would come out. No one knew exactly all the information.

BLACKWELL: But they knew she was sorry. They knew she was going to apologize. Why -- in a few interviews she'll gets to be apology to the American people.

BOLDEN: Well, I wasn't part of that discussion or that team. But I will say this, she did apologize initially and she went further in her apology directly to the American people. Now, maybe you think that maybe she shouldn't have this evolving position, but I can tell you, having run for office and been in support of candidates and work in campaigns that everything is evolving.

[07:25:09] You've got to give more information that it goes to this analytical process and what you're seeing are deliberations behind. What's most important is what the candidate is presenting. She's apologized. She was in-charge and she wants to move -- want to talk about the important issues of the campaign and that's fair. That's fair.

BLACKWELL: Scott, when you say there that, you know, what you're seeing is that the deliberations behind, what's most important is what she says publicly. That rings familiar of, you know, you have to have a private and a public position on ...

BOLDEN: Not at all. Not at all. This is the -- hold on.

BLACKWELL: Go ahead quickly, but I've got to get Jeffrey in.

BOLDEN: I will. I'm talking about discussions between her strategist and her political people. She wasn't part of those e-mails. And the evolving position on what the candidate's position would be on an issue like the e-mails, that's a fair discussion behind the scenes.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jeffrey, go ahead.

LORD: Well, she's caught here. I mean, this is the problem. I mean, you know, in this day and age, it's very interesting. Donald Trump does not do e-mail and I think this is probably one of the reasons why.

BOLDEN: If he were, it would be worse, trust me.

LORD: I mean, I just think that she's been caught out here and, Victor, you're absolutely right. She -- I mean, this is the problem the American people have with her is that she does say things in public when -- and then when she's in private like with the Goldman Sachs speeches, you know, one minute she's condemning "Wall Street" when she's in public, but when she's back there behind the scene she says, "Yeah, I'm really with you." This is exactly her problem. This is why people don't trust her.

BLACKWELL: We got to rest here.

BOLDEN: This is not true, though. This is between a political strategist, these e-mails. She wasn't part of it.

BLACKWELL: I hear you. And we leave that for the viewers to decide. I've read who sent the e-mail? Who receive it? And the folks at home will sit (ph) that out.

All right, A. Scott Bolden, Jeffrey Lord, thank you so much.

LORD: Thank you, Victor.

BOLDEN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, Clinton versus Trump, you've got to watch it, Wednesday, final debate showdown. Live coverage 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

PAUL: Meanwhile, Donald Trump says he knows who to blame for the weight of sexual assault allegations that are battle (ph) this campaign in recent days. The dark media conspiracy, Trump says it's out to get him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:57] PAUL: Welcome back. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Well, good to be with you. Let's start with the sexual assault accusations against Donald Trump. They're now piling up. Another woman has come forward accusing the Republican nominee of reaching up her skirt.

PAUL: Kristin Anderson, a former -- a photographer and a former model I should say said that this happened at a crowded New York City nightclub that was back in the early '90s. And she tells our Anderson Cooper why she didn't report the incident at that time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN ANDERSON, ACCUSES TRUMP OF SEXUAL ASSAULTAT NYC NIGHT CLUB IN THE '90s: It was one of those things that happened really quickly. And I pushed him off and I moved away and I sort of didn't really ponder on it that long. And I didn't tell anybody.

I've seen a few people like, "Oh, well, you should have said something." Oh, yeah, say what, to who? Could I have said something? Maybe, but, you know, whom I'm going to tell? So I go to the club manager and I say, "Donald Trump put his hand up my skirt," and they'll be like, "Yeah." And they'll go to him and say, "Did you do this?" And he'll say, "No." And then where do we go from there? It's kind of like where we are now.

You know, he's saying no and there are a ton of women saying, "Yes." And more will come out, because if it was that nonchalant, there's no way he didn't do it to many other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Trump on Friday called her account "nonsense," arguing that he rarely sits alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One came out recently where I was sitting alone at some club. I really don't sit alone that much. Honestly, folks, I don't like sit alone. I go in with (inaudible) -- I was sitting alone by myself like this.

And then I went, "Whoa," to somebody. I just heard this one, it's like unbelievable. Even a simple investigation would have shown these allegations against me in just about all cases, its nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, the basis of his defense there was that he rarely sits alone. Well, Anderson never claimed that Trump was sitting alone at the time of that incident.

PAUL: In the meantime, he's warning his supporters of a dark media conspiracy, the culprits, Mexican billionaire, the media and Hillary Clinton.

Brian Stelter, our Senior Media Correspondent has been looking into this. So, Brian, what's the story behind the conspiracy theory that Trump's pushing?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is -- maybe going to be grandest conspiracy theory of all. In the past couple of day he's talked about the banks, the media, politicians, corporations and Hillary Clinton all working against him. Here's his tone, specifically, about how he thinks the media is treating him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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. This is a conspiracy against you, the American people, and we cannot let this happen or continue. (END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: We are in a pretty dangerous place with the way Trump is describing these wide ranging, vast conspiracies. He's trying to say the media equals Clinton and Clinton equals the media. And it's a lot more complicated than that.

Victor, Christi, there are a lot of journalist who are concerned about the prospect of a Trump presidency, but there are also a lot of journalists, well, a lot of complaints about Clinton, a lot of concerns about Clinton.

Journalists are trying to cover both these campaigns fairly. But right now, there's a lot more to cover on the Trump side, a lot more complicated and troubling stories on the Trump side. Journalists are trying to treat both fairly.

PAUL: Right, because, of course, then we got Hillary Clinton and all the WikiLeaks that are coming out as well, all the e-mails.

I want to talk to you, too, about -- real quickly, that late 2005 tape knowing Donald Trump wasn't the only one on there. "Today" show host, Billy Bush, was heard on that tape. He was suspended we know by NBC. What are we learning about his future?

STELTER: Yeah, very interesting development overnight with Billy Bush. His lawyer confirming exit negotiations with NBC, meaning that Billy Bush will be leaving the "Today" show and not returning to the 9:00 a.m. hour of the "Today" show. Here's what his lawyer said over night about a report that Billy was raising $10 million settlement with the network.

[07:35:06] He said that report is false. There has been no settlement reach. He said there is no $10 million agreement and that amount has not been discussed. Negotiations are on going between the two parties.

The significance of this is, well, think about the public relations nightmare here. The idea that Billy Bush is being paid $10 million, potentially to leave NBC, it's almost like he's being rewarded in some grotesque fashion for his behavior on that tape and for not sharing the tape sooner.

Now, that's not exactly what's happening here because there are still negotiations about what the final settlement number will be. But, essentially, they are paying off Billy Bush's contract and that deal would be worked out in the days to come.

PAUL: Right, right. It comes down to a contract what was in it and what the terms will be, right?

STELTER: Yeah.

PAUL: We've point that out. Brian Stelter, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

STELTER: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: All right, Clinton-Trump running neck and neck in Florida in the latest polls. They got less than a month, 24 days now. We're asking voters there, what they need to hear from the candidates to put one of them over the top?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Donald Trump fighting back even tweeting early this morning after two more women accused him of sexually assaulting them. He denies all of the allegations and says, "He's a victim of a smear campaign."

Now, this is all unfolding as voters continue to make up their minds in key battleground states. In some states, the voting has already begun. Now, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, these are critical states.

PAUL: And earlier this week in Miami, a former Democratic presidential nominee, AlGore campaigned with Hillary Clinton reminding people there that every vote counts. Gore recalled the election that he nearly lost there in 2000.

[07:40:07] The demographics in Florida, they've changed pretty dramatically since that time. Poppy Harlow traveled to Florida's crucial -- went I-4 corridor and spoke with members of the growing Latino and retiree populations as part of a special report. It's coming at this weekend called "Your Money, Your Vote."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of countries are nipping at our heels.

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

BOB STONAKER, FLORIDA VOTER: She has talked about increasing the amount of immigration. That's stunning that we would allow that many people to come in. That will ensure a liberal culture forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're coming out of these recessions slower than we have in previous recessions.

HARLOW: That is true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would strongly disagree with the assumption we're better off now than we were seven, eight years ago, strongly. HARLOW: The thing is by almost all measures, the U.S. economy has improved significantly in the last eight years. Unemployment is half of what it was in 2009 and the stock market has almost tripled from its low that same year. But it's the national debt that really troubles these voters.

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

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

election.

MIRIAM CASANOVA, FLORIDA VOTER: The most important thing besides that the Lord is there is education. Are you being needed? My vote is going to Hillary Clinton. To me, she's got a head over the shoulders.

HARLOW: So what about Cuban-Americans, a group that makes up about 30 percent of eligible Hispanic voters in Florida. Miguel and Maria Garcia moved to the Unites States in the early 1960s, following the Cuban revolution. You can see the generational divide in their family, split right down party lines.

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

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

MARIA GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: I'm not having such a tough time. I have problem with Trump in the sense of the future here because working. And the other side was Hillary, I honestly don't trust her.

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

M. GARCIA: We saw it in Cuba. People didn't have incentive because their government who are giving them everything. I know we have to live some part to help because they sort of with any -- to help (ph).

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

M. GARCIA: Republicans help, though. I mean ...

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

C. GARCIA: (Foreign Language) the Donald Trump?

(OFF-MIC)

C. GARCIA: The Donald Trump? (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So as you can see, these voters are clearly divided on who they think would do more for their personal economy as president. We've heard so much from the candidates and the pundits. It was refreshing to get out there and hear directly from the voters.

I should note that this was filmed before the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape of Donald Trump surfaced so we called back all of the Trump supporters we interviewed and nearly each one, with the exception of just a few told us they are still supporting Donald Trump and planning to vote for him.

You can see much more of our swing state road trip in our special report, "Your Money, Your Vote" that airs tonight at 7:30 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Victor and Christi, back to you.

BLACKWELL: All right, Poppy, looking forward to it. Trump and his supporters defending the candidate against more accusers, we get some insight from a former "Apprentice" contestant who say there is a public and a private Donald Trump.

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[07:48:29] BLACKWELL: We're now a little more than a week since the "Access Hollywood" tape was released and the Trump campaign is still reeling from the fall out and now an angry and defiant Donald Trump is pushing back against new allegations of sexual assault.

Joining me now is Season 4 "Apprentice" contestant, Marshawn Evans Daniels. She's the author of "S.K.I.R.T.S. in the Boardroom". A woman survival guide to success in business and like, a reinvention strategist for women and the CEO and founder of GODFIDENCE.com. Good to have you this morning.

MARSHAWN EVANS DANIELS, FORMER "APPRENTICE" CONTESTANT: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: So what we've heard from Trump supporters after seeing the "Access Hollywood" tape and now hearing about these allegations is, "That's not the Donald Trump I know."

When you were on the show in 2005 when this was recorded, Season 4, what you heard in that tape and what you're hearing from these women, is that the Donald Trump that you know?

DANIELS: Well, I didn't -- I would like to say that I didn't really know Donald in the way that I thought I did. I looked up to him as a mentor, someone who could be a positive role model and a business example.

I'm -- I was at the time a thriving, budding entrepreneur. But what I will say is that I did know a man who used profanity regularly. I did know a man who would compliment and talked about women in a way that was often odd and inappropriate at times.

But, the bigger issue for me is that, you know, there is always been this cloud of secrecy around the real Donald versus the public Donald. We see a public Donald who was entertaining on television, but we had to signed $5 million nondisclosure agreements when we were on that show as cast members and I think it's interesting that we were told that if didn't air, it didn't happen.

[07:50:02] And then I look back now and I see that anybody who really has been involved with Donald or the Trump organization has been required to sign very extensive and abnormally aggressive nondisclosure agreements. I'm a lawyer and I know that this was-- now, that this was abnormally restrictive.

BLACKWELL: So how are you able now to speak out when we're hearing from people who were involved with the show that they cannot?

DANIELS: Yeah. Well, I can't speak to anybody else's contract, but what I will tell you is that mine with $5 million dollar, five year nondisclosure agreement. So mine ended six years ago.

Others, they maybe still with help -- still under the restrictions of theirs, but what I will say is that there is a pattern. It seems like there is a pattern where people are being told to be quiet, not to speak out.

We were even -- I was personally even threatened not only by Trump supporters, but by Trump himself publically, you know, the press release that he issued telling me to be very careful and I think that now we look at women being told to be silenced, that we shouldn't believe them and that there is this culture of silencing that's very dangerous when we talk about our government and constitutional freedom of speech.

BLACKWELL: You talked a little bit about the compliments in the Boardroom in doing (ph) the tape under the show. Flash that out a bit for us. What did you see? What did you hear?

DANIELS: Well, you know, one of the things I've always known is that Donald is a casino guy. And I used to manage pro athletes in the NFL and the NBA and I'm -- so I'm very used to being around men who talked about women, but what I noticed about Donald is that he would make comments that were inappropriate at really odd times.

So here in the Boardroom you could be talking about business and wanting to be taken seriously and he would interrupt you not with that's a good idea or a follow up it was more, "I like that blouse."

So in the middle of conversation, it was just very odd at certain times. And so I see that actually during the debate, during the presidential debates where all of a sudden there will be something he's talking bout and then he'll just randomly wander off somewhere else.

But also it's interesting that he talks about Secretary Clinton's looks and to whether she was had the look to be president and it makes me really wonder when I was (inaudible) that were we being looked at or listened to or were we really just being looked at and then we look at our Supreme Court are we going to have a Supreme Court that looks like the Trump brand, which is what we were told, we had to dress so that we looked like the Trump brand?

BLACKWELL: Now, there are some supporters who at least -- past supporters who after the release of the tape and even after these allegations have decided that they're no longer with Trump, but they stayed with him through the proposed Muslin ban, through some of the statement about African-Americans, through some of the release of recordings of the statements on women. And I understand you take issue with this being the strong that breaks the camel's back.

DANIELS: Yeah. One of the biggest deceptions is self-deception. And people are choosing to be oblivious. I've always said the gospel is colorless but not oblivious. And people chose to ignore Mexican- Americans being attacked, Mexicans being attacked, the disabled, the veterans, people who look like me and you and others, they chose to ignore that, but it wasn't and tell one of our sisters who happens to be white was attacked.

And I always have believed, unfortunately, I grew up in predominantly white neighborhood that have mostly white friend, but there is a way that Barbie is protected by Ken and when that is disturbed and disrupted, America kind to stands up in a different way than it does for the rest of us. So the question is, who is worthy of be -- who is worthy of fighting for?

And there is a strategic political advantage to making sure that Caucasian women are -- that you have -- there is a strategic advantage to making sure you have the support of Caucasian women. It would be very hard to win the presidency without them.

And so it's very interesting to me that it wasn't until that a white woman was talked about in a disparaging manner that all of a sudden now we have outrage. That's hypocrisy and that's something now I find shameful and cowardice.

BLACKWELL: Well, the conversation now is, is there a difference between the Donald Trump of 2005 and the Donald Trump of 2016? We appreciate you here, coming here to speak with us about the Donald Trump you knew in 2005 as we look ahead to the election in just 24 days from now.

DANIELS: It's so important to stay awake.

BLACKWELL: All right, Marshawn Evans Daniels, thank you so much.

DANIELS: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And Marshawn is going to be with us later this morning talking about the views of some of the Christian leaders who are sticking with Donald Trump. Stay with us for that portion of the interview.

Also you got to watch, Wednesday, Final Presidential Debate Showdown. Live coverage begins at 4:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

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[07:58:06] BLACKWELL: Police in Ohio say they may have a serial killer on their hands and fortunately, though, he's already behind bars.

PAUL: That's because this guy, Shawn Grate has confessed to killing five women. He's already been charged with two murders and now his ex is talking. She's only talking, though with HLN's Ashleigh Banfield. Here's the preview of what's in store on the debut of her new show, "PRIMETIME JUSTICE."

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, "PRIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD": Hi, Victor, hi, Christi. We got a lot coming up on the new program. We're super excited about it. For one, we've been following the story about what looks to be like a serial killer story in the making.

A man who's confessed to killing five women and he did this behind bars. He told a reporter, guys, that he did this. He hasn't even been charged with some of these murders and he's spilling --this is his picture. Kinds of reminds you of Dahmer and the Bundy just unsuspecting in his look, but could be unbelievably deadly.

So we're watching the story and one of the people who can help us get inside his mind, his girlfriend who lived with him for five years, perhaps, give us some kind of inclination as to whether there might have been any clues before all of these murders happened. So we're going to that story.

And then we are so fortunate because Robin Wright is going to stop by. She's going to talk about not only the current season of "House of Cards" that she is filming. She's also directing, which is pretty exciting. She's going to talk about injustice in her view.

She's doing something in another part of the world that's pretty remarkable. It has to do with girls. It's very unfair. She's trying to right or wrong and she's really awesome and I think you really going to like it.

We're looking forward to our first show. Everybody is tweak in the last bits and pieces. You're only seeing a little of the set behind me. You can see the full thing, 8:00, Monday night, see you there.

PAUL: Yes, we will. Ashleigh, thank you so much and be sure again to watch "PRIMETIME JUSTICE" with Ashleigh Banfield premiering Monday night 8:00 p.m. Eastern on our sister station, HLN.

And there is a lot that we need to break down for you this morning.

BLACKWELL: Let's get to it right now.