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McCain Questions Trump's Judgment on Justice Pick; Iraqi Forces Battle to Take Back Mosul from ISIS; Former "Celebrity Apprentice" Contests Rebuked By Trump on Locker-Room Talk. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 17, 2016 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:31:04] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, something you hear from a lot of Republicans who are still a bit skeptical in voting for Donald Trump, they say, all right, we're voting for him because of who he would nominate for the United States Supreme Court. Well, a slight twist today, that party's 2008 presidential nominee, long-time Senator John McCain, says he's actually not so sure Trump's choice would be better than that of Hillary Clinton.
Here's what he told a Philadelphia radio station.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO SHOW HOST (voice-over): Isn't Trump the superior guy to Hillary Clinton, vis-a-vis, Supreme Court in those issues, Senator?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA (voice-over): First of all, I don't know because I -- because I hear him saying a lot of different things.
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO SHOW HOST: Uh-huh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Senator McCain's response comes after Trump has released this list of 21 potential conservative judges he would appoint. Senator McCain added the Senate would oppose any nominee that Hillary Clinton would put up for the Supreme Court.
So with that, Jeffrey Toobin, the man who wrote the book on the Supreme Court, CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.
Your book, "The Obama White House and the Supreme Court."
What say you? It's basically saying we're going to fight everything Hillary Clinton puts up and we don't like Trump's examples.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: This is an example of how Trump's problems are tying Republicans in knots. At one point, we're saying we don't know who Donald Trump will appoint, but we do know, and those are very --
(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: If you go with the 21 judges on the list.
TOOBIN: Yes. If you believe he will pick from that list. Trump is erratic and he may say that was list was just advisory and pick someone else, but those are certainly conservative nominees. And what's more interesting about what McCain said is we oppose any nominee that Hillary Clinton puts forward. Think about that. That's never happened in American history that every member of one party has voted against a president's nominee to the Supreme Court. And that really raises the possibility that if the Republicans controlled the Senate, we are at a justices for the foreseeable future.
BALDWIN: Which is why these down-ballot races -- I know we're all hung up on the top of the ticket, that's why it is all so key this election season.
TOOBIN: Absolutely. It sounds like inside baseball, but who controls the United States Senate, 50 -- the difference between 49 and 51 votes is enormous, because if the Democrats control the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, they will get a hearing on Merritt Garland, or whoever -- if she didn't -- if Hillary Clinton doesn't re-nominate him, whoever her appointee is. If it's Chuck Grassley, if he wins and the Republicans take control, they can not hold hearings just like they've not held hearings on Merrick Garland and there will be eight justices for the foreseeable future. It's enormously important but --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Health care.
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: Health care, same-sex marriage, abortion rights, all this stuff.
BALDWIN: OK.
TOOBIN: But people care about the presidential race.
BALDWIN: Vote.
TOOBIN: Vote, indeed.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Jeffrey Toobin, thank you.
TOOBIN: We're allowed to say that, right?
BALDWIN: Yes, we can.
TOOBIN: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: Just vote.
Happening right now here -- thank you -- the long-awaited battle to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul after it fell into ISIS hands two years ago. CNN takes you live to the front lines of the battle.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: but this has been an effort with much international support, a lot of coalition planning, American air power --
(GUNFIRE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[14:38:46] BALDWIN: An all-out battle ranging in Iraq. The country's prime minister, announcing the start of a mission to retake Mosul from ISIS and free more than 100 people. Iraqi-led forces appear to be gaining ground. Iraq's military says it has inflicted, quote/unquote, "heavy losses on ISIS."
CNN's senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, was trying to file a report from the battle zone when he nearly got caught in the crossfire. Here he was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: What kind of resistance will they continue to face? The Iraqi military, too, at some point, will have to move down towards Mosul. But this has been an effort with much international support, a lot of coalition planning, American air power --
(GUNFIRE)
PATON WALSH: One came right at me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: We've got Nick live near Mosul.
And first thing's first, Nick, are you and your crew OK? And secondly, what's the status of the battle?
[14:40:04] PATON WALSH: Well, we've been fine for some time. That was a moment we were down on the main road towards Mosul, is on both sides opened fire towards the unit we were in and moments later we had seen an is fighter running away, and another fighter blew himself up quite a staggering scene, showing the tenacity of the fighters left behind. Talk about the fight for the city of Mosul, and have been the claims that ISIS has to be taken first, that's what started today moving about five or six kilometers, moving in flanking. Those villages have not been thoroughly cleared. That's a lengthy job and people hiding in tunnels there, hiding to take shots, as well. A lot of individuals are being used. In fact, the group we were with, looked very familiar to American vehicles and we've seen a lot of coalition air power providing support for the Peshmerga, but the job is to push further down the main road of Mosul a lot of mines and roads to cover. A lot of ISIS fighters hiding away inside there. And the biggest question, really, Brooke, is what becomes of the 1.2
million people thought to be trapped inside the town of Mosul, themselves. No corridor for them to escape to. Yes, there's tents around the city they could potentially get to, but they're being used as human shields by ISIS and the bombardment will continue intensity all around here, all the violence. That's a major fear, they get caught in that -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: We'd love to hear from those American people, and for an American audience, this issue in Iraq should be taking center stage as people are figuring out who they trust the most when it comes to Election Day.
Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much, near Mosul.
This just in to CNN. Despite Donald Trump's troubles, new polls show tight races in several swing states.
Plus, a former WWE start and "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant who worked with Donald trump joins me live, next. She got fired for her locker-room talk.
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[14:46:20] BALDWIN: A former WWE star and "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant is taking issue with Donald Trump's comments about him saying he has free range to grope, kiss, and who knows what with women. She's Maria Kanellis-Bennett. She publicly used so-called locker-room comments. but here's a twist, right before she was fired from "The Apprentice," Trump shamed the nine-version star for her locker-room talk in the boardroom, as he put it. Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA KANELLIS-BENNETT, FORMER CELEBRITY APPRENTICE CONTESTANT: Because you came in our dressing room and you took a crap and left the stench in the room, so that is the whole purpose of why I was upset.
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Isn't this sort of gross, though, bringing that up? It's like disgusting. This is my boardroom. It's not a locker room. Maria, you're fired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Maria joins me now.
Nice to meet you.
KANELLIS-BENNETT: Is there nice to meet you, as well.
BALDWIN: All right, so your so-called locker-room talk, Mr. Trump's so-called locker-room talk. I know you're coming forward now, you're calling him -- you're shaking your head. You're calling him a hypocrite. Tell me why?
KANELLIS-BENNETT: Because what I said was actually locker-room talk. What he said is very, very far removed from what I said, and that's not locker-room talk. If he would have acted upon what he was talking about, that would have been assault.
BALDWIN: Sexual assault. Do you accept his apology?
KANELLIS-BENNETT: I don't. Because at the end of his apology, it's always what I don't believe what they were saying and he discredits these women and I think that that's incredibly wrong to do. I mean, he doesn't even remember these women. He doesn't -- he doesn't give them any credit for what they've been through.
BALDWIN: You know Donald Trump, you know familiar with his personality more than the rest of us. The election is rigged, that e is widespread voter fraud happening?
KANELLIS-BENNETT: I think he's just afraid now. He's trying to put anything out there to spin the story right now because he is losing votes and he's losing votes from women.
BALDWIN: What do you think he's afraid of?
KANELLIS-BENNETT: Losing. And we've witnessed it before when he's filed bankruptcies, so that he could get out of these contracts in the past. So I mean, I think he's just a person that if things aren't going well, he doesn't fight for it. He just starts blaming everyone else.
BALDWIN: Maria, from what I was told, you are still an undecided voter. I know that you will definitely not vote for Trump. We're three weeks a
KANELLIS-BENNETT: Because I haven't really heard the issues. I haven't heard policies. We've been so focused on what Donald Trump is saying and these accusations and these -- this wild language that he uses that we haven't been able to focus what really matters and that's the policies, that's the issues that are really occurring in America today. So, as soon as I hear more about Hillary's policies I'm sure I'll be able to make a decision.
BALDWIN: You don't feel like you've heard that from her?
KANELLIS-BENNETT: I haven't. No. Every time she tries to talk, Donald Trump is interrupting her, so you can't really get a full sentence out of her.
BALDWIN: OK. Maria Kanellis-Bennett, former season nine "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant, thank you for being here. Good luck.
KANELLIS-BENNETT: Thank you very having me.
[14:49:58] BALDWIN: Thank you.
Just ahead, a manhunt underway in the firebombing of a Republican office in North Carolina. Donald Trump blaming it on Hillary Clinton's, quote, "animals." And a big programs note, the interview everyone waiting for. Melania
Trump sits down with Anderson Cooper, tonight, 8:00 eastern, only on CNN.
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BALDWIN: This is heartbreaking to watch. This is a video that's been shared thousands and thousands of times. It captures the moment this father tells his 8-year-old son the unthinkable, his mother is dead of a heroine overdose. The father shared the video for all of us to watch.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mommy died last night. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mommy died last night. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: What do you mean? My mom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED: How?
(CRYING)]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:55:16] BALDWIN: Oh, how awful to watch.
Ashleigh Banfield, your new show, "Primetime Justice" with Ashleigh Banfield, premiers, 8:00 tonight on HLN. That's horrendous to watch.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the kind of thing that is injustice at its core. A lot of people look at the heroine epidemic, Brooke, and they cast aside those who choose to take drugs, and they don't think about those kids. There's a lot of controversy about this father and what he chose to do, by, a, videotaping and, b, releasing it. That's shouldn't be lost on anyone. That's an 8-year- old child that can't consent legally to that kind of privacy violation. But my god, the effect it's having on people. Look at you and me. That's scary.
BALDWIN: 34 million, you said.
BANFIELD: 34 million people have seen that. And many are drug addicts who said you've changed my life.
BALDWIN: These are the kinds of stories we'll look for tonight.
You also were talking about a serial killer case out of Ohio. This guy confessed to killing five women. This is the chilling 911 call from his home in Ashland.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
911 OPERATOR: 911, what is the address to your emergency?
CALLER: (INAUDIBLE). I've been abducted.
911 OPERATOR: Who abducted you?
CALLER: Shawn Graves (ph).
(END AUDIO FEED)
BALDWIN: Tell me more.
BANFIELD: That's how we caught him. That woman, whose name is Jane Doe, at this time, she was abducted and tied up and sexual assaulted by that man, that photograph you just showed. She was lying beside him when she was able to wiggle away, call 911, right when he was sleeping. Called 911 and led them right to them. She was rescued, that god, or she may have ended up in the same fate as the two other women whose corpses were rotting in that same house. One in an upstairs bedroom closet, bound, gagged, beaten, and like I said, decomposing. Another one in the basement in a pile of garbage, face down, covered in garbage. And Shawn Grave (ph) has copped to all of it. I don't understand how this happened. He's admitted it to police, reporters. He even led them to three more bodies.
And now the big question is, among other things, are there more, and what makes a man like that tick? Because I -- I get a Ted Bundy feeling when I see that photograph. He looks like he could blend in among all of us.
Tonight we're going to speak to his ex-girlfriend who lived him for five years, and an ex-boyfriend who was with him for a year and a half to try to get inside the mind -- get some insight. How do we recognize these people among our flock? How do we, you know, protect ourselves, protect our friends to people who seem charming? Because that's what people said about him. Shawn Grave (ph) was charming. Imagine that, charming.
BALDWIN: No, no.
Watch her tonight, 8:00 tonight, "Primetime Justice" with Ashleigh Banfield.
Congratulations, my friend.
BANFIELD: Thank you. It's going to be great.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Can't wait to watch. 8:00, HLN. Do not miss it.
Meantime, let's roll on.
Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me. We begin this hour -- we're back with claims by Donald Trump that
election is a scam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The election is being rigged.
The process is rigged.
This whole election is being rigged.
Remember this, it's a rigged election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Trump continuing his tirade on Twitter saying, "There is large scale voter fraud happening on and before Election Day." For the record, there is not a shred, not an iota of evidence to support his conspiracy theory. And this corrupt democracy would have to be going on in these tossup states, under the noses of Republican governors. Every single one of these you see in yellow on the screen. Republican governors conspiring to get Hillary Clinton elected, not likely.
One law firm firing off tweet, after tweet, more than 30 of them, to dispel any talk that the system is rigged. One of them reads as follows, "Ordinary citizens, not government bureaucrats, serve as election officials and conduct the election. They check in voters, confirm I.D.s, keep records." And it goes on, "Voting machines are equipped with multiple inter-connected counters to make it impossible to add or remove votes secretly."
The head of that law firm joins me now, Chris Ashby, who also happens to be a Republican campaign lawyer.
Chris, welcome.
CHRIS ASHBY, ATTORNEY, ASHBY LAW, PLLC: Thanks for having me, Brooke.
BALDWIN: By the way, I talked to the secretary of state in Ohio last hour, who is a Republican. He would agree with you.
Why did your law firm feel a need to do this?
