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Battle to Liberate Mosul; U.S. Troops in Iraq. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 17, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Mosul, Iraq. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We're following two major breaking stories this hour. A decisive moment in the fight against ISIS. And moving towards a decisive day in an ugly and very bitter presidential race here in the United States.

In Iraq, the battle is underway to recapture the city of Mosul from ISIS. The coalition leading the battle is made up of mostly Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They're backed by U.S. advisors and air power.

Iraq's military says it has inflicted heavy losses on ISIS fighters. Reporters including embedded CNN journalists reporting explosions and heavy exchanges of gunfire.

But the offensive to retake Mosul could take weeks maybe even months. It's Iraq's second-largest city. The last remaining ISIS stronghold in the country. U.S. defense secretary Ash Carter calls this a decisive moment in the campaign to defeat the terror group.

We'll take you live to the front lines of the battle. That's coming up this hour.

The other big story we're following right now, presidential politics here in the United States. Less than 22 days and counting until Election Day, and Donald Trump is wrapping up his claim that the system is rigged.

Earlier this morning, he tweeted is, of course there is large- scale voter fraud happening on and before Election Day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive.

Trump has presented no evidence of voter fraud. Here is what his campaign manager told our Jason Carroll just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: And if there is -- if there is compelling evidence of voter fraud, obviously as early voting goes on --

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But there hasn't been any evidence of that.

CONWAY: No, I didn't say that. I said if there is that certainly we would take action. But in the meantime, it's very frustrating every day to just see that we can get complete coverage of the race. (INAUDIBLE) almost all coverage is about Donald Trump and not Hillary Clinton. I think that's a disservice to the voters who deserve to really see what the choice is in stark contrast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Trump is also fighting back against claims of inappropriate behavior made now by at least nine women. The allegations range from unwelcome advances to sexual harassment and assault. Trump strongly denies the accusations.

Meanwhile, we're getting brand new CNN-ORC polls taken at these --- as these allegations begin to surface. The polls were conducted in three key battleground states, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio.

Our Political Director David Chalian is joining us now. David, how are these two candidates doing in these crucial states?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: They are crucial states. They are three of our four sort of remaining toss-ups in this election right now, Wolf.

Let's take a look first at North Carolina. Look at the horse race and how it's shaping up there. We just released these polls within the last hour. You see, in Nevada -- sorry. Let's take a look at Nevada. You will see Clinton 48 percent. Oh, sorry, that's North Carolina. There you go, Nevada, Clinton 46 percent; Trump, 44 percent; Gary Johnson at seven percent and that's key. Take a look at Hispanic voters in Nevada, Wolf. They can make up nearly 20 percent of the electorate in Nevada.

And look here, Hillary Clinton is clearly beating Donald Trump by 21 points, 54-33 percent. But Gary Johnson is getting 10 percent of the Hispanic vote. In 2012, Barack Obama got 71 percent of the Hispanic vote in Nevada. Hillary Clinton is underperforming where the president was. This is a warning sign and Gary Johnson is taking some of those Hispanic voters.

Now to North Carolina. Take a look at the horse race overall in North Carolina. And you see it's basically tied, Clinton 48 percent; Donald Trump 47 percent; Gary Johnson lower here, down at four percent.

What is keeping Donald Trump in this race right now? White evangelical voters. Look a look in North Carolina, white evangelicals make up nearly 35 percent of the electorate, Wolf. And here, he's winning them 77 percent to 18 percent.

Now, this is a constituency you would expect to be with Trump. But in the aftermath of the "Access Hollywood" tape and the allegations of the women about groping, he is still holding that evangelical base and that is key.

And then, finally, in Ohio. This is the Trump stronghold of these three polls. Take a look. He's got four-point edge right now against Hillary Clinton in Ohio, 48 percent to 44 percent; Johnson down at four percent and Jill Stein at two percent.

And independent voters are a key here. Look at this because we polled Ohio back in September. Look at Donald Trump's growth among independent voters, Wolf. Back in September, he was at 42 percent among independents in Ohio. He's now up nine points, 51 percent.

So, he's beating Hillary Clinton there by 18 points among independents in Ohio, and that's a key part of what is keeping him ahead there.

[13:05:03] BLITZER: He just tweeted he was very happy with those results in Ohio, from our CNN poll as well.

David, stay with us. I want -- also want to bring in our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and the director from Monmouth University Polling, the institute there, Patrick Murray.

A brand new Monmouth national poll has just been released moments ago. Hillary Clinton widening her lead by 12 points among likely voters. Patrick, how can Trump close that gap nationally with, what, only just 22 days to the election?

PATRICK MURRAY, DIRECTOR, MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY POLLING INSTITUTE: Yes, I think the key that we're seeing right here with these national polls that are coming out, they've all been conducted since those allegations started coming out from those women on Wednesday.

And I think some of the swing state polls that you just talked about, that CNN just did, some of those interviews were done before that. And the polling that we had out last week suggested that that Wednesday night was a real turning point.

And so, those allegations, I think, have really given a lot of credence to what's going on here with what Trump said in that tape. 62 percent of voters in our poll said that the allegations that these women are saying about Donald Trump are probably true.

And I think that a lot of this has to go with a swing now that we're seeing in enthusiasm because of that, that the likely voter models are now starting to swing from helping Donald Trump to helping Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: Interesting.

David, you've studied these polls and as we mentioned earlier, the polls were taken as the sexual misconduct allegations against Donald Trump began to surface. So, what are we seeing? How are women, specifically, responding? CHALIAN: Well, take a look at female voters across all three

battleground states that we polled, and you see that this is clearly part of Hillary Clinton's support. This is -- in Nevada, you see she's winning women 53 to 38 percent; in North Carolina 54 to 43 percent. Those are double-digit leads among women.

In Ohio, it's much closer, 48 to 45 and that's largely because married women give Trump the advantage in Ohio. That's not the case in the other two states.

But I'll just say, as you were just talked about. Yes, we're seeing some impact here that nearly six in ten 10 voters do believe that Donald Trump did these things that these women have alleged that he's done. But we also saw in an ABC News-"Washington post" poll out this week that a majority, again nearly six in 10, actually say it doesn't say how they're going to vote in this election.

BLITZER: Interesting.

All right, you know, Gloria, the voting block, the women out there, Donald Trump really needs to get a lot more support among women, if he's going to be elected.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, women could very well decide this election. Let's go back to Mitt Romney because it's always a good idea to compare where Donald Trump is to where Mitt Romney was. Even though Mitt Romney lost, he has to outperform Mitt Romney.

So, if you look at women, for example, Romney lost women by 11 points and that was considered large. Trump is down by double that, according to a whole bunch of polls we've looked at. So, that's problem for him and by every measure, not just women. But if you look at Latinos, Romney got 27 percent which was very low. Trump is at 17 percent.

And so, you see that in almost every category, and I can -- I can go down here, a long list, is that Trump has these deficits. Also, one other thing we have to take into consideration, which we see in the Monmouth poll and we saw it in the "Wall Street journal" poll last week, the favorable view of Donald Trump. 26 percent of voters have a favorable view of Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton's isn't that great either, 38 percent. But 26 percent is quite a deficit to make up, and it would be unprecedented and dramatic if he did make that deficit up on that favorability issue.

BLITZER: He's got three weeks to go, three week and a day.

David, the magic number, of course, 270 electoral college votes. Taking a look at the polling right now, where do the candidates stand in reaching that goal of 270?

CHALIAN: Well, right now, it's still advantage Clinton. There's no doubt about that. If you look at all of the states that are currently leaning in her direction or solidly in her corner, she's pretty much over that threshold already. She's about at 272 electoral votes.

So, Donald Trump can win all three states we were just talking about in our new polling, Ohio, Nevada, North Carolina. He can add Florida to that. And he still doesn't get to 270, Wolf. He has to flip a state that is already leaning in Hillary Clinton's direction, whether that's New Hampshire or Pennsylvania, Wisconsin where he will be later today, or in Michigan. And those states have just not been trending in his favor.

BLITZER: At least all the polls in those states show that she is clearly -- has a decisive advantage, at least for now.

Patrick, your poll has Clinton up nationally now by, what, 12 points. The ABC-"Washington Post" poll, on the other hand, released over the weekend, has her up by only four points. The NBC-"Wall Street journal" poll is a lot closer to your poll. How do you explain the discrepancies?

[13:10:09] MURRAY: Yes, I think a lot of it does have to do with the likely voter modeling and depends on how many self-reported actions you put in it. I mean, we ask people what they're going to do. If you ask them how enthusiastic they are, that could change it.

I think Trump voters still remain more enthusiastic down -- if you get to the real gut level. The question is, does that add any new voters to the list to those who are going to turn out? I think the key thing that we're seeing here is a lot of Clinton voters, who are not necessarily enthusiastic and might lose points if you ask them that question, are now starting to say, but still I have to come out. And I think that's what we're seeing the difference in these poll numbers.

BLITZER: You know, Gloria, I want you to listen to what the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, and his running mate, respectively, had to say about the U.S. electoral process. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The election is being rigged by corrupt media, pushing false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect Hillary Clinton president.

MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will absolutely accept the results of the election. Look, the American people will speak in an election that will culminate on November the 8th.

But the American people are tired of the obvious bias in the national media. That's where the sense of a rigged election goes here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But it seems two different assessments --

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: -- of the rigged election process from the presidential nominee and the vice presidential nominee.

BORGER: Well, and I also think Donald Trump has brought (ph) that beyond the media to -- at the state level. And this is where you've gotten a lot of pushback from party officials who say, wait a minute -- and from -- and from Pence. Well, you know, wait a minute.

The interesting thing to point out here is that Donald Trump is charging that there's election fraud in a lot of these battleground states which have, by the way, Republican governors. And in most of them, Republican secretaries of state. So, those Republicans who are running the party apparatus and watching voting are pushing back against their own candidate.

So, it's not just the media he's talking about. He's talking about challenging the very electoral process, itself. And that's what has Republicans quite upset, particularly since they're running a bunch of these states.

BLITZER: And, David, it's pretty unusual to have the presidential candidate, the vice president candidate, offering different assessments like this on such a critically important issue.

CHALIAN: But this is the third time, maybe, in the last three weeks --

BORGER: Yes.

CHALIAN: -- that we've seen them offer different assessments. And it seems that Donald Trump has no qualms whatsoever about, you know, making sure that when Mike Pence speaks and says something that he doesn't agree with, he gets out there. He tweets. He makes sure to, sort of, drive the bus right over Mike Pence.

BORGER: And, by the way, Mike Pence has no problem, I don't think, disagreeing with Donald Trump, when he feels that he needs to, because Mike Pence is somebody who's got a political career in front of him. And I think when he wants to distance himself, whether it's on foreign policy and the question of Assad, or whether it's, you know, on voter fraud, I think he's going to continue to do that.

BLITZER: He certainly is.

All right. Gloria, David, Patrick, guys, thanks very much.

Meanwhile, there's some new documents just released by the FBI that raised some questions, stemming from Hillary Clinton's e-mail controversy. At issue is whether there was any quid pro quo between the FBI and the State Department, specifically did someone at the FBI declassify a State Department document in exchange for something? The FBI denies any improper activity.

Our Senior Washington Correspondent Joe johns is joining us with more details. Joe, what is this all about?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the FBI says nothing was declassified. But this is the latest red flag some congressional Republicans say they've identified in their continued look back into the Hillary Clinton e-mail server situation.

New documents released by the FBI shed light into back and forth, between the FBI and State Department, over questions that got raised about whether a top state official, State Department official, was trying to strike an inappropriate bargain with the FBI to change the classification of a secret document relating to a report of arrests in the Benghazi attack.

Now, this gets a little complicated. The question was whether under secretary of state Patrick Kennedy was suggesting the State Department would consider addressing a need for additional space for FBI personnel stationed in other countries, in exchange for making the classification change.

The FBI says it looked into the situation, putting out a statement today, and said it was actually an FBI employee who brought up the issue of overseas FBI agents. The statement said that while there was never a quid pro quo, these allegations, nonetheless, were referred to appropriate officials for return.

[13:15:00] JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brought up the issue of overseas FBI agents. The statement said that while there was never a quid pro quo, these allegations nonetheless were referred to appropriate officials for review.

Congressional Republicans starting at the top with Speaker Ryan saying, quote, "these documents further demonstrate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's complete disregard for properly handling classified information." Now, the State Department also released a statement on all of this today, asserting that the allegation of a quid pro quo is "inaccurate and does not align with the facts."

So the question is, where all of this goes. Something that occurred at the State Department around and during the watch of Hillary Clinton, who, of course, is running for president. Congressional Republicans are raising smoke about this, and they say there could be fire.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Joe, thanks very much. Joe Johns reporting.

Hacked e-mails are raising new questions about Hillary Clinton's views on Wall Street as well. We've got details of that.

And the battle to liberate Mosul from ISIS is being called historic. Just ahead, we'll go live to the front lines. I'll also ask the Pentagon spokesman to lay out exactly what role U.S. troops are playing right now in this battle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:20:08] BLITZER: We'll get back to today's big political developments here in the United States in just a few minutes. But right now I want to go to Iraq, where the battle to push ISIS out of Mosul is underway. Thousands of troops led by Iraqi security forces, they are clearly moving on the city. They're fighting to liberate Mosul from ISIS fighters who have occupied that city for the last two years plus. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is embedded with Peshmerga Kurdish fighters outside the city and here's what happens earlier today as he was reporting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And Nick is joining us now live. He's near Mosul.

Nick, first of all, are you OK? What exactly happened that made you duck down?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, at that stage we had just joined the Peshmerga as they were on the main road to Mosul. That's where that gunfight there took place. Now, they cleaned out the road, but obviously not the hills and village and houses around it. ISIS fighters kept popping out it seemed of tunnels or hiding places. At that instant, we appeared to be taking fire from both sides. One bullet passed over my head and, of course, the Peshmerga struggled to respond, not quite knowing where that fire had come from.

But, Wolf, literally 30 minutes earlier, in the hills further away from there, we watched the Peshmerga chase down one ISIS fighter and then another one popped up from a tunnel, opened fire on them and then when they shot back he blew himself up right in front of us. That's the tenacity of the fighters they're facing here as this fight continues, Wolf.

BLITZER: And what about now? What's the latest? What are you hearing from all of your sources?

WALSH: Well, at this stage, this was always the beginning of the operation. The Peshmerga moving down a key highway on the east of Mosul city, securing about five or six kilometers of it. Now that has been patchy in success today. A lot of ground taken. But as you saw there, it's not entirely secure and safe. We saw one village, they held them back for quite some time, they're going to keep that fight up for a while. The Iraqi army is supposed to pile down the road at this stage and move on to the next village. And then, of course, we may start seeing other operations in concert happening in other areas around Mosul. The idea is to keep the pressure up.

But this is just the plains outside of Mosul. The flat expanse of deserts and villages, which many, perhaps had hoped ISIS might give up with less of a fight, saving their kind of gun powder, as it were, for the urban sprawl of Mosul itself where there are 1.2 million people thought to be potentially trapped and brace themselves for this assault. ISIS, though, not giving up the plains that easily. We saw today they will put up a fight.

A lot of coalition air power being used. In fact, I saw what looked like American vehicles with western occupants in the convoy that we were with, the Peshmerga. We're told by the Pentagon there are no troops involved in the ground assault, but we did certainly see western faces in the midst of the Peshmerga here as they advance. A complex situation where the United States, the coalition are providing a lot of technological expertise, trying to make this move more smoothly. But there are mines (ph), and as you saw there, the sheer tenacity of ISIS' fighters that may well slow them down, Wolf.

BLITZER: And there's no reason to believe these ISIS fighters are going to give up by any means. You know, Nick, you say 1.2 million people. This is the second largest city in Iraq. And 1.2 million people there and I assume everyone is bracing for enormous numbers of civilian casualties as a result of this military offensive right now. Right now we're just getting in some pictures of a car bombing in Mosul. I suspect that probably is only just the beginning of what is going to be taking place. It looks very, very devastating. How are they dealing with the potential huge number of civilian casualties?

WALSH: It is potentially utterly horrifying, Wolf, 1.2 million people caught in what could, if the worst fears come to realization, be a more sectarian kind of fight here. The population of that town is predominantly Sunni. They're caught in tight, dense urban areas. On the west of the city, we understand a lot of people have been moved over there and they'll face the Iraqi military and potentially Iranian backed Shia militia if things go wrong, according to the American plan, moving in there. That's the real fear. There are camps placed around the city to try and take tens of thousands of refugees, but as aid agencies called for today, there is no real humanitarian corridor to allow safe departure. Many fear ISIS may try and use them as human shields. Many, in fact, fear that the population themselves may be reticent to throw themselves onto the Iraqi army or even the Iranian backed Shia militia. They're mostly Sunni. The forces moving in were mostly Shia is their fear. A lot of sectarian tension here. That's playing into the border concerns about how quickly can you get people to stay in their homes, peace to return to the urban area itself. We're simply in the opening stages of this fight right here, and as I say, a staggering number of human souls in the balance, Wolf.

[13:25:12] WALLACE: Certainly is. What a horrible situation indeed potentially. Thanks very much, Nick Paton Walsh. Be careful over there.

Just a little while ago, I spoke with the Pentagon spokesman, Peter Cook, about the operation and if American service men and women are in harm's way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Peter, thanks very much for joining us. PETER COOK, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Wolf, happy to do to.

BLITZER: So what do we know right now about this operation underway to liberate Mosul?

COOK: Well, first of all, it's going according to plan and this is the Iraqi's plan, of course, to retake Mosul after it was first taken over by ISIL some two years ago. Wolf, they started moving out about 6:00 Baghdad time, Iraqi time, and it has been progressing as expected. And the coalition, the United States, our international partners, are all standing shoulder to shoulder with the Iraqis, offering the support that we have been providing for some sometime and will continue to provide.

BLITZER: So what's the U.S. assessment? How long do you expect this operation to last?

COOK: Wolf, this will be operating under the Iraqi's timeline. Prime Minister Abadi has said he's like to wrap this up before the end of the year, but, of course, the enemy has a vote in all this. We're going to proceed according to the Iraqi plan and worked out carefully with not only our commanders on the ground, but also Secretary Carter, who's been very involved, talking with the prime minister about how this plays out.

This is going to be a difficult fight, Wolf. Let's be clear about that. But we stand ready to, again, support the Iraqis and ready to take the fight to ISIL and to try and, once again, restore some semblance of a decent life for the Iraqi people in this city that's been again basically taken over by ISIL and the people in the city of Mosul having to suffer through the barbarity of ISIL.

BLITZER: I know there are about 5,000 U.S. troops right now on the ground in Iraq. How many of them are directly involved in this operation and what's their role?

COOK: Well, Wolf, all those U.S. forces are carrying out specific responsibilities with regard to our overall campaign. They may be part of the logistical work, the advisory work that we've been doing with the Iraqis. Some of them have been very involved in training the 12 brigades that are carrying out this mission in Mosul. Others, of course, have been involved in the air campaign. We continue to deliver combat air support, which has been critical to this fight in terms of rolling ISIL back in Iraq. We'll continue to be critical in Mosul specifically.

They're all doing a variety of responsibilities, carrying out a variety of responsibilities. But what's important here, Wolf, is that it's the Iraqis in the lead. We're in a support role. We're doing all we can to help them, along with other members of the international coalition.

BLITZER: I take it, though, there are about at least 200 or so U.S. special operation forces on the front lines right now along the combat with these ISIS forces, is that right? COOK: Wolf, we should be very careful. First of all, I'm not going to

talk about our special operations force and where they may be located, either in Iraq or in Syria. But even our special operations forces are performing in an advice and assist mission where they are helping and advising the Iraqi special operations forces. Their counterterrorism services in particular, as well as the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, take the fight to ISIL. Even our special operators are being very careful to serve in this advisory enabling role because that is the role that -- that's been carved out for us in Iraq.

This is the Iraqi's fight. We're doing everything we can to support them. To be sure, this is a dangerous situation, including for those Americans. But it's the Iraqis in the lead, Wolf.

BLITZER: How active are these U.S. air strikes? How many are being conducted, at least right now?

COOK: Well, as you know, we've conducted more than 100,000 sorties as part of this counter-ISIL mission, both in Syria and Iraq. And we've continued to fly them. That's the whole coalition, not just the United States.

Just in Mosul alone, Wolf, there have been more than 70 air strikes since the start of the month. A lot of those air strikes trying to soften up ISIL positions, to allow for the movement of these Iraqi forces and also to restrict the movement of ISIL forces. We'll continue to carry out those strikes again, oftentimes at the request specifically of the Iraqis, specific strategic targets they feel are important to their movement going forward.

BLITZER: Where are those U.S. air strikes being launched from?

COOK: A variety of places, Wolf. Won't get into details specifically. But, as you know, we have capabilities throughout the region. We are thankful and appreciative of our international partners, including some from the region who have -- who have aided this effort, and this has been very well coordinated. The air campaign has been a real success and will continue to be, as many critical component of this campaign.

BLITZER: We know there have been these plumes of smoke coming up from these oil fields in and around Mosul. That the ISIS forces are launching. It's pretty horrendous. They say it's designed to prevent -- to make it more difficult for these U.S. air strikes. Is that your understanding?

[13:30:03] COOK: Well, Wolf, they may be trying to prevent those air strikes and they may be trying to, if you will, cloud the battle space.