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Soon: Clinton Leaves for Vegas Debate; State Dept.: FBI Talks on Email Were proper; Trump: Ryan's 2020 Hopes May Rely on My Loss; Melania Trump Breaks Silence on CNN; Trump Ramps Up "Rigged" Election Claims. GOP Divided: Questions Over Future of Party. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 18, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:00]

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STEPHEN COLBER, HOST "THE LATE SHOW -- or this shriveled tangerine covered in golden retriever hair filled with bile that I wouldn't leave it alone with the woman I love?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think I'll go with the fiber nutrient bar.

COLBERT: Interesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of "CNN Newsroom" starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. The next stop of the presidential election, Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton will soon board her flight for tomorrow's presidential debate. And Clinton is toting some new baggage, questions over a classified e- mail on her private server and whether the State Department tried to protect her by striking a deal with the FBI.

Donald Trump calls that felony corruption. Today, he's campaigning in Colorado. His running mate, Mike Pence is in North Carolina. Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine stumps in Michigan. While Bill Clinton visits -- Pennsylvania and surrogate Bernie Sanders is in Arizona.

In the meantime, Trump is ripping fellow Republicans who bulk at his claims of a fixed election just three weeks to the day before Americans head to the polls.

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TOM LLAMAS, CORRESPONDENT "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": Is Paul Ryan hurting you or helping you?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't want to be knocking Paul Ryan. I think he could be more supportive to the Republican nominee. We're doing well. I think we're going to win the election.

LLAMAS: Do you think he wants you to win?

TRUMP: Well, maybe not because maybe he wants to run in four years or maybe he doesn't know how to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And Melania Trump breaks her silence and talks to CNN's Anderson Cooper. She discussed and downplays her husband's lewd and sexually aggressive comments caught on tape.

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MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: They were kind of a boy talk. And he was lead on, like, egg on, from the host, to say dirty and bad stuff.

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COSTELLO: We're following all the angles for you this morning. CNN's Manu Raju is covering Trump's claims and the blow back. And Brianna Keilar breaks down the latest controversy for the Clinton campaign. Manu, kick us off.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Donald Trump for days, now trying to paint himself as the victim of an unrelenting political and media establishment, trying to go after him, trying to paint a broad brush, saying that this election is filled with voter fraud and state after state. A message that is riling up his supporters and a message that he delivered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, last night.

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TRUMP: They even want to try to rig the election at the polling booths. And believe me, there's a lot going on. Do you ever hear these people? They say there's nothing going on. People that have died 10 years ago are still voting. Illegal immigrants are voting. I mean, where are the street smarts of some of these politicians? They don't have anybody is right.

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RAJU: Now, this claim is also being rejected by Republican leaders on the state level and on the federal level, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, spokeswoman over the weekend saying that the Speaker believes that this election will be carried out fairly.

But Carol, one person we have not heard from is the Speaker himself. Since last week when he said that he would no longer defend -- Donald Trump in that private conference call with House Republicans, we have not seen Paul Ryan answer questions about that publicly. All part of an effort by the House Speaker, I am told, to go underground, if you will, not answer questions, not engage in a back and forth over Donald Trump, believing that this actually will not bode well for the Republicans as they try to keep the House majority, but Donald Trump not letting this go, also causing a lot of concerns within -- the Republican circles, that this could hurt their chances of keeping control of Congress. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju, reporting live from Las Vegas.

Hillary Clinton set to take off for Vegas within the hour. But her final 35 hours of debate prep, more turbulent than her campaign had hoped for, new questions surfacing about her e-mails. Did a State Department official try to strike a deal with the FBI to protect Clinton? Our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar is on the tarmac in White Plains, New York, where Clinton is expected momentarily. Hi, Brianna. --

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, Republicans are seizing on this issue. They say - hi there, they say that Republicans are seizing on this. Saying that it backs up their criticism about FBI director Comey and not bringing charges against Hillary Clinton when it comes to her private server and her private e- mail that she used while she was Secretary of State.

We have part of these FBI interview notes in the Clinton investigation and an FBI official says, "In exchange for making the e-mail unclassified, state would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more agents in countries where they are presently forbidden."

There was a perception by this FBI official that the State Department was essentially doing Hillary Clinton's bidding. Trying to minimize the negativity, the negative effects in the e-mails, having them look at an e-mail that was classified secret and trying to get it downgraded. Now, there is also another FBI official who says, while the State Department -- sought this out, there

[10:05:16] was also the FBI bringing up the personnel issue, not actually the State Department. So now you have the FBI saying in the end the classification was not downgraded and the State Department is also pushing back. Here's what the spokesman John Kirby said.

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JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Not only is there no proof, it's absolutely not true, completely false allegation. It just didn't happen that way. Now what did happen, half of what she said is right, Kennedy did call the FBI and try to get a little bit better understanding about why they wanted one particular e-mail classified secret. We didn't see it that way. We didn't think it needed to be classified. But the FBI held firm to their position. The e-mail remained classified. And that you know, that e-mail, redacted, is on our website. You can go look for it yourself. But there was no bargain sought by the FBI. There was no bargain rendered.

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KEILAR: Now, there's certainly been some tension between the State Department and the intelligence community about classified documents. The State Department saying that they feel some things have been overclassified when it comes to Hillary Clinton's e-mail. And that's something that she's really held on to, Carol. The question is do voters really care? Does this affect how they see Hillary Clinton? Or does it just reinforce the opinions that they have about her and some of those folks around her since this was a State Department official who, while Hillary Clinton was no longer in the State Department, had served under Hillary Clinton, so there could have been some allegiance there. That's really the question, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Brianna Keilar reporting live from White Plains, New York this morning. Thank you.

So let's talk about this. With me now, Ron Brownstein, he's a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic". And Asma Khalid is a political reporter for "NPR." Welcome to both of you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST AND SENIOR EDITOR "THE ATLANTIC": Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So Ron, this alleged quid pro quo, it's sure to come up at Wednesday's debate so how might Clinton respond?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, look, I mean it's a -- as Brianna laid out, it's a complicated story with the State Department, one e-mail suggesting the State Department began a conversation, one e-mail suggesting the FBI began the conversation. You know, look, she's got -- in all likelihood, she's going to do what we saw John Kirby do, which is deny that the trade was ever offered.

But it does kind of underscore just what kind of a monumental mess she created for herself with this decision several years ago. It's astounding how much it has continued to shadow the presidential race all the way through. I think the biggest question it raises is about kind of the insularity of the circle around her, the inability to raise competing questions, to raise doubts and whether those can get to her.

But having said that, it is largely baked in the cake, we have historic numbers of Americans saying they don't believe she's honest and trustworthy. And yet the concerns about Donald Trump, about his temperament, his qualification, his attitude towards women and minorities, literally are trumping those concerns as we head into the final turn of the race.

COSTELLO: And Asma, I know you were just in the state of Ohio, is this issue of Clinton's e-mails resonating there?

ASMA KHALID, POLITICAL REPORTER "NPR": I can't agree more with Ron, I mean, I think it's something that's already baked in, and so I spent all of last week speaking with undecided or conflicted female voters. These are suburban women in Ohio. Many of them were undecided a couple months ago. I went back and revisited them. And I kept hearing from them that they are reluctantly supporting Hillary Clinton. That was probably the most common thread I heard from them. Some of them, you know, mentioned a third party candidate or still being on the fence. But what I think is interesting is in the last couple of months, not one woman came back to me and said Donald Trump has improved his standing in the last couple of months or that he's done himself any favors since when I last spoke to them.

COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, let's talk about Donald Trump for just a second Ron. Because Melania Trump sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper, she dismissed Donald Trump's talk aboard, that bus with Billy Bush as just "boy talk." And sometimes she feels she has two little boys in her house, her husband and her 11-year-old son, -- does that make it go away?

BROWNSTEIN: No. I mean, the interview was kind of a nonevent. I mean, you obviously have to feel for the spouse being put in such a difficult position. But I don't think she said anything in the course of that interview that would change the mind of anyone upset by or put off by Donald Trump's words and behavior. I mean, there really wasn't much of a sustained argument there, other than boys will be boys and the media ought to get me.

You know, like I said, there's a lot of stability, there's a lot of baked in, in this race. Six national, major national polls in the last week or so, Donald Trump is at 37 to 39 in all of them except the "ABC/Washington Post." He was having trouble getting above 42 percent even before all of this happened, since we've had the cascade of revelations, the tape, "The New York Times" revelations on the taxes, everything that's happened in the debates. He has been stuck somewhere in that ballpark of 37 to 39 percent with only three weeks to go. It will be in a historic reversal to get to the kind of level you're going to need to win.

COSTELLO: But here's the thing, like, you know, I'm going to be in Ohio on Friday, so I know all about it and Asma, you were there too.

[10:10:16] So, just the state of Ohio and these comments that Trump made about women, they don't seem to be really resonating as negatively there as in other states. In fact, when you look at the latest CNN/ORC poll, Trump and Clinton are virtually tied among women.

KHALID: That's true, but I would caution and say that prior to those comments, Donald Trump seemed to have a bit of an edge in Ohio. And I spent of lot time looking at demographics, I'm sure, you know, Ron does this as well, and demographically, Ohio is a state that ought to be trending well for Donald Trump. It's not as highly educated as some of the other battleground states. That seems to play on Donald Trump's favor. There's a large manufacturing base still in the state. Again, something that you would think would play in Donald Trump's favor.

So, I mean for me when I went back and specifically met with women I had previously met in May and June, to hear these women, and some of them are lifelong Republicans, tell me that they are troubled by Donald Trump's vulgar language. One woman said that she couldn't watch some of this on TV with her daughter. And that was sort of the tipping point for her. I would again say that I don't think Donald Trump has carried really any favor with some of these undecided independent voters that he needs, in order to grow his base.

COSTELLO: I found that too with undecided voters. -- I want to center a little bit on the debate before you guys have to go. So the - big debate is Wednesday. So, Ron, will this topic come up or will the candidates, as many voters told me, will they focus on the issues? That's what many voters tell me they want.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think they pretty well exhausted the Trump tape -- in the last debate. I mean, and really, the question for me is what is Donald Trump's orientation and kind of strategy in this debate because as we said, I mean, he was looking at a ceiling of around 42 percent before all of this happened. Now he's struggling to get to 40 percent. And yet what he has been doing in the last few weeks with these increasingly outlandish claims of the election being rigged or "The New York Times" being against him because they're serving the interest of a Mexican billionaire.

What he's basically doing is doubling down on that, you know, that 40 percent that he has and seems to be focused more on changing the composition of the electorate by massing turnout among those type of voters rather than persuading the electorate that, you know, that is more likely to actually show up. If that is the posture in the third debate, I think you're going to have a lot of Republicans really nervous about what that will mean for control of the Senate and possibly even the House.

COSTELLO: So, Asma, I always wonder, you know, because the first debate got 80 million people, right? The second debate didn't -- I mean, still a sizable number, but not as many. Do you think people will still be interested in watching on Wednesday?

KHALID: I hear such an appetite from voters, particularly people, you know, in battleground states who are still somewhat conflicted. So, in terms of that audience, I think there will be an appetite for both candidates to make their case.

But you know what I'm really curious to see is a topic we have not yet seen explored in the debates, and that's immigration. You know, Donald Trump's immigration policy is hugely popular among members of his Republican base who supported him. But they are out of step with what we see. You know the Pew Research Center polls and have been polling on immigration policies for years. And they have found that a majority of the American public now supports some pathway towards some sort of legalization. And I'll be very curious to see how both candidates discuss immigration. It's a policy in which I think Donald Trump tends to trend more right than where a number of independent or conflicted voters may be at this point.

COSTELLO: Well, that's supposed to be a topic at Wednesday's debate. So, I'm sure it will come up and I hope they talk about it at length. Thanks to both of you for being with me this morning. Ron Brownstein, Asma Khalid.

Still to come in the "Newsroom," after the year of Trump, what will the future of the GOP look like?

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[10:17:50] COSTELLO: No matter what the outcome next month, it's probably fair to say the Republican Party will never be the same. Whether they elect Donald Trump or not, the GOP is divided. And if you take a moment to listen to some voters in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Mr. Trump's latest round of attacks on Paul Ryan, the House Speaker and the establishment are sinking in.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, Wisconsin Congressman, doesn't like him so much anymore. What do you think about that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like him either. So --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Ryan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Ryan, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you use to like him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did, but not anymore. He's not backing up Trump and he should.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say Paul Ryan is a traitor. Why do you spell it like that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I'm an uneducated white American Catholic deplorable hillbilly from Wisconsin, that's why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a traitor to the GOP.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Ryan is a traitor. Not only the Republican Party but he's a traitor to the United States American citizen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Harsh, right? Those Republicans who support Mr. Trump, but -- my next guest took his never Trump sentiments all the way to an independent run for president. With me now is Evan McMullin, independent presidential candidate and former chief policy director for the House Republican Conference. Welcome, sir.

EVAN MCMULLIN, INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND FORMER CHIEF POLICY DIRECTOR FOR HOUSE REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE: Great to be with you. Thank you.

COSTELLO: So you heard what those voters said about Paul Ryan, he's a traitor, they don't like him anymore. He's hurting the country. He's not patriotic. They might be saying the same things about you.

MCMULLIN: Well, they can go ahead and do that. Only about 9 percent of the American electoral voted for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These are the two most unpopular candidates in modern times from the two major parties. We've got to have better in this country. Millions of Americans are already supporting my campaign with Mindy Finn and we're only two months into this thing. Obviously for us, it's a shorter run. But we feel - Yes. It's a lot shorter, right? But look, we're you know, we're providing -

COSTELLO: Let me go back to that. Because Mr. Trump does have a lot of supporters, you know, even in the worst poll you see, he's got 31 percent support from Republican voters, who don't like Establishment Republicans like yourself.

MCMULLIN: Well, I would hardly call myself an Establishment Republican given that I left my role with the Republican Party and launched an independent bid. And I'm actively advocating for a new conservative movement and a new generation of leadership in our country. --

COSTELLO: So, you're no longer a Republican?

MCMULLIN: I haven't been a Republican for many years.

[10:20:16] actually. I've been a registered independent for as long as I can remember. I'm a conservative. I'm an American first. Then I'm a conservative. Then I think about party. The Republican Party has left conservativism, left conservative principles, the very principles upon which our great nation was founded, the principles that made it the most powerful and prosperous on earth.

I'm talking specifically about the truth that all of us are created equal. And that we all have a right to life liberty in the pursuit of happiness. If the Republican Party isn't going to be committed to the fact we are all equal and that we should have liberty. Then it will not be a place for conservatives like me - and the millions of people who are supporting us. --

COSTELLO: So, that said, that said, after this election, what might the Republican Party look like? Because you've long split, right. You have other never Trump people who still consider themselves Republican. And then you have those who support Mr. Trump who still call themselves Republican and conservatives. So, what will the Republican Party look like after this election?

MCMULLIN: Well, I want to make it clear that we're opposed to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It's not just -- the media, and I understand, likes to attach this never Trump name to us, and I get that, but we're opposed to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Hillary for the usual reasons, Donald Trump for reasons that we've explained quite a bit.

What happens to the Republican Party I think is not probably very good for it. I don't believe that it's going to be able to make the reforms. Or I tend to believe it's not going to be able to make the reforms. It needs to survive as a political entity that can offer leadership to this country. Now, I've left the door open a little bit for that. But we saw this after 2012 in less challenging circumstances with those who are supporting Donald Trump empowered now. They're not going to let the Republican Party likely make the changes it needs to make. If that's the case, then this conservative movement will be even more necessary. --

COSTELLO: So would you say those Republicans, very conservative Republicans who support Trump, have destroyed the Republican Party?

MCMULLIN: I wouldn't describe them as very conservative. They're not all very conservative. A true conservative is dedicated -

COSTELLO: Just my core question, have they destroyed the Republican Party?

MCMULLIN: They have participated in severe damage in doing - severe damage to the Republican Party. But really, the Republican leaders are the ones who bear responsibility ultimately. For years, the Republican leaders should have stood up to bigotry and misogyny among some parts of the party. Not all the party, there are plenty of Republicans who are not misogynists, who are not bigots, but there is a part of the Republican base that is that. And that's the unconfortable truth. It's not easy for us to say those of us who have been affiliated with the party before but we've been inside it, we've seen it, and you see it playing out with Donald Trump here. So, to change that I think is a generational challenge that America doesn't have time for. We need something new.

COSTELLO: So I want to ask you about the leadership because you brought that up. Paul Ryan, he's kind of gone underground. We haven't heard from him. He says he's not going to defend Donald Trump anymore. But he hasn't withdrawn his endorsement. So, is that for the good of the Republican Party in your mind or is that cowardly?

MCMULLIN: No. I mean, look, I think Paul Ryan is a statesman. And we are fortunate to have him as Speaker of the House. He's trying to protect the Republican majority in the House. I understand that. But there's a bigger thing happening here, which is the empowerment of a white supremacist, white national movement in the country that is enormously destructive to the Republican Party.

So, while he tries to save the House, which I hope that he will. And I think that's a worthy goal, it also allows for other things that are maybe on bigger problems to move forward, but it's not just Paul Ryan, I mean, it's Priebus, it's so many others. It is Republican members of Congress across the board and not all of them, some of them have spoken out against Trump. Few of them, however, have said what they're for. If not for Trump, who are they for. And few have fought for that. That's what I'm talking about.

COSTELLO: Going back to the white nationalist thing. Do you feel that white nationalists have infiltrated the Republican Party?

MCMULLIN: Well, Donald Trump has certainly empowered the white nationalist, white supremacist movement, absolutely. And he's brought them into the Republican base. I think some of that existed even before him. Not as organized and not as overtly but he identified it and was able to capitalize on it. Then he's capitalizing on it now. And that's why I'm calling on Republican leaders to at least now we're only three weeks away from the election. You've seen the truth about Donald Trump, if you couldn't see it before. Now is the time to stand up and repudiate this. Repudiate his misogyny and bigotry.

[10:25:16] And if you can't do that now, if you won't do that before November 8th, if you won't stand up for Americans, then what business really do you have leading this country? And I think that's the question they have to answer.

COSTELLO: Evan McMullin, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

MCMULLIN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. Still to come in the "Newsroom," just call him campaigner in chief. But President Obama isn't just making the case for Hillary Clinton. It appears he's making the case for himself too.

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