Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Donald Trump Wants "SNL" Cancelled; Iraqi-Led Forces Battling for Control of Mosul. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired October 17, 2016 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00] DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: -- 21st century and it's frankly disgusting that Donald Trump is already claiming that an election is rigged. America stands for free and fair elections. Weave an almost perfect record on this in recent years. And now for him to be doing this is feeding fuel and frenzy to people that don't know their public history very well.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST: Well, you know, there is a sense of hopelessness in America right now. I went to my home state, Ohio, and I talked with people in Trump country. They voted Trump in the primary and they do believe the country is on the edge of disaster. For example, I talked to a man named Bryan Rice who represents steel workers in Canton, Ohio. This is what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRYAN RICE, VICE PRESIDENT, USW LOCAL 1200: We are headed down a hill that I do not believe we will ever recover from. You know, I'm not a bible thumper but I absolutely believe that there's a book written 2,000 years ago that's coming to pass right now. And I believe that we're in the end times. I believe --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
RICE: I believe there is going to be a final battle in the valley of him that if he win, I believe it's been written. And we cannot, we cannot stop that. Whole great nations have collapsed at this time. We are in that area of collapse. But again, its one world government, they are shutting us down. One world order, one world currency. We do not have the most qualified people. Out of 300 million people, those two aren't the most qualified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. You heard him. He truly believes that like the Roman Empire, America's time has come.
BRINKLEY: Well, I think that's his problem. You know, I'm from Ohio. I'm a catholic. I go to church. And I believe in my country and it's our duty to love America, take care of it and recognize all the things the federal government does to help us in our lives. If one wants to be anti-intellectual and operate on a dark emotive quality that the apocalypse is here. I don't want to raise my kids. I have three of them. I'm raising them to believe in America to have that hope in the future. I got to preach the gospel of utter despair and hopelessness. You know, that's sad to me that people exist like that feel that way,
sure. What can you do about it, though? I mean, you try to put forward like president Obama has done, like George W. Bush has done, like Richard Nixon did, even when he lost the close election back in 1960. You believe in the American electoral process. And believe me, I travel as you do around the world. We have it as well here in the United States as anyplace on the planet.
COSTELLO: So you know, you heard what Bryan said about our leaders. Our leaders in America, they are not making some of America believe that. Is there one person out there that you can point to that could do that?
BRINKLEY: It's not about one leader. We are not looking for a dictator, somebody to give us salvation. But what Donald Trump is doing is, in my view, anti-American at this point, telling people before they vote that the whole system is rigged, that plays into the hands of our enemies.
COSTELLO: Douglas Brinkley, thanks so much.
Iraqi-led forces on the move toward Mosul, trying to remove ISIS from their last major stronghold. We will take you there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:37:57] COSTELLO: The fight to force ISIS from its last major stronghold in Iraq now under way. Iraqi-led forces battling for control of Mosul. That's Iraq's second largest city. They are making headway inflicting heavy damage on ISIS troops. Watch at ISIS fires back while our Nick Paton Walsh reports from the front line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This has been an effort with much international support. A lot of coalition planning -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Nick was not hurt in this exchange. He wisely retreated. In the meantime, inside the city of Mosul where more than one million civilians are at risk. Humanitarian groups say they could face bombing, sniper fire or buried mines as they try to flee.
CNN's senior international correspondent Arwa Damon live outside Mosul. Hi, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. And you can still see in the plains behind me areas that the Kurdish Peshmerga pushed through earlier, engaging in some sporadic but fairly intense fire fights with ISIS. Also various different villages where we saw numerous airstrikes taking place. There was also artillery fire, rocket fire and still thick plumes of smoke, both black and white, across the entire plain. Some of it because of trenches that ISIS had dug and then filled with oil and set on fire. Those are still burning. Some of it because of the fighting that has taken place. But both at this point the Kurdish leadership as well as the leadership in Baghdad, the central Iraqi government leadership saying that they are making gains, that the plan so far is going according to what they had envisioned.
But it is important to note that the terrain that they are going through out here, just take a look at it. It's very open space. These villages are small. There is hardly as any of a civilian population there. Yes, ISIS is making a little bit of a stance. It is leaving behind people that are driving suicide car bombs towards the troops as they are advancing. There are small pockets of fighters that are coming out, taking pot shots and engaging the forces as they do move through here.
But in these kinds of areas, relatively speaking, it's easy to call in an airstrike. You don't risk collateral civilian damage. Once these troops reach Mosul, that is where the real battle is going to take place and that is where the backdrop is going to be significantly different to everything that we're seeing out here, because ISIS is going to be fighting a lot harder. Plus you have to deal with the one to 1.5 million civilians that are still trapped inside that city.
[10:40:45] COSTELLO: All right. Arwa Damon reporting live right outside of Mosul this morning.
In the meantime, as you well know, the U.S. is leading the air coalition in this campaign and supporting the Mosul offensive with thousands of troops stationed around the country. So let's talk about this operation.
Brigadier general mark Kimmit joins me. He is the former assistant secretary of state for political military affairs in the second Bush administration.
Welcome, general.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMIT (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: So I know that there are somewhat 54,000 Iraqi troops, 40,000 Kurds are now trained to fight ISIS in Mosul, 9,000 of those troops made up of Sunni fighters, Christians, Turkmen. It sounds like all factions within Iraq are coming together to fight ISIS. Am I being too optimistic?
KIMMIT: No. I think that's right. That is one of the good things happening in Iraq today that if they can agree on anything, it's that dash (ph) and ISIS an existential threat to the country. So they are coming together to fight it. But the real question is what happens after the fight is over.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about the fight right now because it is now underway before we get in to the aftermath. So, you know, I talked about this 54,000 Iraqi troops, right? So how many ISIS terrorists are they fighting exactly?
KIMMIT: Well, the estimates are between 3,000 and 8,000. But it's important to note that there are fighting inside of the city. So in many cases, numbers don't make a huge advantage when you are fighting street to street, block to block, house to house.
COSTELLO: So, you know, it sounds like it's an overwhelming mismatch but you're saying that's not exactly true. So explain to me how those 3,000 to 8,000 ISIS terrorists can fight an army of 54,000 effectively.
KIMMIT: Well, think how many people you can put in a narrow alley. That's exactly what ISIS is try to make it so they are not able to push in with as many troops. ISIS is also going to use improvised explosive devices. They are going to drop building. They are going to create a lot of rubble. They are going to be fighting inside the tunnels that they have created. So in many ways, they understand that there is going to be a much larger force attacking inside the city. And they are going to try to take away that numerical advantage from the Iraqi security forces.
COSTELLO: There are Americans on the ground, right. They are advising these troops. So how close to the action might they get?
KIMMIT: Well, I think our government has made the decision that we are not going to put our troops in what we call the close battle fight. Couple of hundred meters at the most. But certainly outside the range of small arms. In fact, Nick Paton Walsh is probably getting closer to the fight than our advisers are.
KIMMIT: Interesting. So of course, America is also with air power. So when you are fighting within a city, when it gets to that point, how can those coalition forces from the air help the troops on the ground?
KIMMIT: That's a very good point, Carol. Even though we have the most precise weapons in the world, when you start fighting inside of a city, you have two great dangers. One, narrow areas where you don't want to be dropping bombs on people's houses. And number two, the fear of collateral damage. So I think that we are going to be very, very circumspect and use precision weapons inside the city delivered by aircraft as only when necessary.
COSTELLO: General Mark Kimmit, thanks so much for your insight.
I will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:48:18] COSTELLO: "Saturday Night Live" does what SNL does. It spoofs political elections. And this past weekend was no different.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't deny you coverage of preexisting condition. Number two, no lifetime limits which is, you know, a big deal if you have serious health problems. And number three -- sorry. Women can't be charged more than men for health insurance. OK? And number four -- (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Donald Trump didn't get the joke. He tweeted quote "watched Saturday Night Live" hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin's portrayal stinks. Media rigging election." Funny he didn't feel that way 11 months ago when he was on "Saturday Night Live" dancing around with the comedians.
With me to talk about this, CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter and "Daily News" contributor Dean Obedallah.
Welcome to both of you.
So does it surprise you horribly, Dean, that Donald Trump would come out and be critical of "Saturday Night Live?"
DEAN OBEDALLAH, CONTRIBUTOR, DAILY NEWS: Nothing surprised me with Donald Trump. But let's be honest. He has a history of attacking comedians who have mocked him before from Seth Meyers to Jon Stewart who he sued Bill Maher for $5 million over a joke in 2013 that he told on "Tonight" show. So Donald's war on comedy which he is waging, which he is going to lose that war, is not shocking to me. I think its stunning 22 days before the election when there's pressing issues he is choosing to wake up at 7:00 in the morning and tweet that SNL has to be taken off the air. That's stunning.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Maybe just he thinks that since he's hosted the show can't possibly get any better. I mean, let's look at him dancing along from last year.
COSTELLO: Brian.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[10:50:06] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Call me on the cell phone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I could just watch that ad. It is so funny.
STELTER: I could watch all day. I do wonder if, you know, Trump likes to pick fights, then resolves them. I wonder if he will show up on the show between now and Election Day. You know, Clinton or Trump could make a cameo at some point.
COSTELLO: That would be interesting, right. I would love to see that.
OBEDALLAH: You can see that the ratings boom if they go Donald Trump is coming on tonight. What's he going to say? What's he going to do? But I mean, it really, all joking aside, there's the signs of a dictator who wants to crush comedians who mock him. I perform standup in the Middle East. In the Arab world you really cannot make fun of the leaders. (INAUDIBLE) was arrested and his show was cancelled for making fun of the leaders of his country. So even joking about this is going too far.
Sarah Palin, she was abused horribly by SNL, never said this kind of stuff. She took it with a grain of salt, laughed, went on to show and later laughed at it. That's the way politicians should do. We have a rich history of political humor. You should never say take it off the air. That's not (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: You know, what is interesting? I don't know. Malcolm Gladwell here at this podcast and he talked about political satire, right. And he talked about "Saturday Night Live." And said that's not political satire because they are really not taking a stand against anything. And if you watched that bit in its entirety, Hillary Clinton was just as pilloried as Donald Trump.
OBEDALLAH: That's true.
COSTELLO: So they are sort of laying it out there and you are laughing at it but they not really taking a stand for either candidate, are they?
STELTER: That's a very good point. Satire, you have insight hopefully as well as comedy. In this case, about Clinton, there were some tough jokes about Clinton. But on SNL, I think what might have really ticked off Trump was the digital video about his daughter and his kids, you know, the women in his life basically saying Melania is going to leave after the election. And I can understand that would have been very personal for him and he would have taken a really offense to that.
But it gets back to that instinct to pick up the phone and tweet that even his aides really dread, that he weighs in on twitter and said that SNL should be canceled. That's the kind of thing even if he feels, even if he was insulted do we really want him to pick up the phone and be sharing that at 7:00 in the morning on Sunday?
COSTELLO: Well, I think he is really trying to build this case that it's Mr. Trump against the world.
OBEDALLAH: Right.
COSTELLO: I mean, it's not just the media, it's also "Saturday Night Live." It's also some of his fellow Republicans. It's certainly the Democrats, the electoral process, everything is against him.
OBEDALLAH: I worked at SNL for eight years. I didn't know we had the power through 20 shows a year to rig the election. But apparently Donald Trump thinks we can rig the election. If there was ever a year we all need to laugh it's this year. My life expectancy has been shortened by this campaign. So we need to laugh and have some fun. It is not through great job.
And to your point, if that was really his issue, he would have tweeted I think it was unfair the way you portrayed Melania. Maybe some people would have been, hey, I get that. He would have outpour (ph), wins betrayal by naming in this. He's so thin-skinned that it goes to judgment, questions and temperament. STELTER: But to your point, Carol, Trump versus the world, we do need
to view what he's saying and doing now as a series of excuses and as a series of setups. He talks about large scale voter fraud which is a lie, a, I think we have to call it out as a lie as your guests have this morning but, b, we have to recognize he is setting up or he is setting the stages predicting or expecting a possible loss. And then he is dropping the bread crumbs along the way to prepare people for that.
COSTELLO: All right, Brian Stelter, Dean Obedallah, thanks to you both.
The last and final presidential debate airs Wednesday right here on CNN. Our special coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. eastern. I will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:57:55] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at the 57 minutes past.
The Hoboken train station reopens today at full service for the first time since that deadly crash last month. One person was killed and more than 100 wounded when a train failed to stop and plowed through a passenger concourse. Despite reopening, repairs are still under way. The cause of that crash remains under investigation.
A manhunt is in on Fairbanks, Alaska for this man. Authorities say he shot an officer and then stole his patrol car. The suspect is said to be an Alaskan native in his 20s. He is considered armed and dangerous. The officer, Alan Brandt, suffered non-life threatening injuries. He is in stable condition this morning.
Three people now in custody after the daughter of a U.S. Olympic sprinter, Tyson Gay, was shot and killed. Gay's 15-year-old daughter trinity died aft, getting shot in the neck early Sunday morning. She was in a restaurant parking lot in Kentucky when a group of men opened fire. An autopsy expected to take place today.
An update now on Jaden and Anais McDonald, the rare set of twins who were born conjoined at the head. The 13th month old boys are now recovering from a 27-hour surgery that separated them. CNN was there exclusively as the boys' parents saw them apart for the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Want to kiss him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, buddy. You look beautiful. You are even more handsome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: They're so tiny and so cute. The twins' dad says both boys are stable. Now they are waiting until the boys become fully alert to know what the long-term challenges, if any that is, they may have. And just a reminder, the big debate is coming your way, Wednesday. We
will be live in Las Vegas for that. And on Friday I will take my show on the road and we are heading to Columbus, Ohio. So I'm sure you will join me for that. It's going to be fantastic.
Thank you for watching me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" starts now.
