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Presidential Race; Fact-Checking Election Rigging Claims; Obama's Comments about Trump; Colleagues Back up Trump Accuser; Death Threats After Paper Backs Clinton. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 18, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The news continues right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you.

Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

We are one day before the final presidential debate and Donald Trump's final chance to deliver a game changer. The candidates are now each dodging new controversies and new headaches.

Let's begin with Donald Trump. The president of the United States just called him a whiner and the recent rhetoric unprecedented. Here was President Obama just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have never seen, in my lifetime, or in modern political history, any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place. It's unprecedented. It happens to be based on no facts. Every expert, regardless of political party, regardless of ideology, conservative or liberal who has ever examined these issues in a serious way will tell you that instances of significant voter fraud are not to be found.

That, keep in mind, elections are run by state and local officials, which means that there are places like Florida, for example, where you've got a Republican governor whose Republican appointees are going to be running and monitoring a whole bunch of these election sites. The notion that somehow if Mr. Trump loses Florida it's because of those people that you have to watch out for. That is both irresponsible and, by the way, doesn't really show the kind of leadership and toughness that you want out of a president. You start whining before the game's even over? If wherever things are going badly and you lose, you start blaming somebody else, then you don't have what it takes to be in this job because there are a lot of times when things don't go our way - or my way. There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even - you could even rig America's elections, in part because they're so decentralized and the numbers of votes involved. There's no evidence that that has happened in the past or that there are instances in which that will happen this time. And so I'd advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his

case to get votes. And if he got the most votes, then it would be my expectation of Hillary Clinton to offer a gracious concession speech and pledge to work with him in order to make sure that the American people benefit from an effective government, and it would be my job to welcome Mr. Trump, regardless of what he's said about me, or my differences with him on my opinions, and escort him over to the Capitol, in which there would be a peaceful transfer of power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk more about the president's comments with my colleague, Phil Mattingly, who was there with a bunch of palm trees, looks like, in Las Vegas there, the site of the final presidential debate.

Phil Mattingly, nice to see you.

Also notable in this joint news conference with the prime minister of Italy. You know, the president of the United States said, listen, Trump doesn't surprise me anymore, it's the Republican officials who are haranguing the president over his diplomatic, you know, attempts at conversation with Russia and now look at Trump and their endorsements of Trump.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, besides, this is the - the ideal Nevada backdrop I've got here.

Look, this is the most important, I think, point of what we saw from President Obama today. Obviously, you talk - you saw him talking about the elections and why the attacks that Donald Trump has made on the system as a whole are dangerous kind of to the entirety of the American democracy. But there's a shift in the president's - how he's talking about Donald Trump and how he's talking about the Republican Party.

If you've paid attention over the last couple months - and , Brooke, I know you have, Hillary Clinton has tried very hard to dissociate Donald Trump with the broader Republican Party. Over the last couple days, and once again today, President Obama has done the exact opposite. He's tried to question Republican leaders for maintaining their endorsements, for not attacking Donald Trump's assertions, particularly when it comes to the election, when it comes to Russia. That is a shift and I think that underscores both confidence the Democratic Party has in where this election is going, but it's also setting the table and setting the tone, Brooke, for what happens next.

[14:05:17] And basically that is this, anybody who endorsed, supported or did not outright come out and criticize Donald Trump is going to have to live with that and perhaps pay for that in the months ahead if Hillary Clinton is elected president, Brooke.

BALDWIN: The president was also asked about what's been in the news recently. This is cue the Hillary Clinton headaches, and which she's certainly going to answer to tomorrow night, this back and forth between the State Department, of course, where she was once the boss, and the FBI, and this reported pressure perhaps coming from state to FBI to declassify or not this particular e-mail. What was said today?

MATTINGLY: Well, what you have is Donald Trump's campaign and Donald Trump personally seizing on this issue, believing what they have is explicit evidence of a quid pro quo. And what this is basically is the FBI's notes from the investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mail server and what it says is a State Department official, a top State Department official under Hillary Clinton, Patrick Kennedy, was basically asking the FBI to step down the classification of a specific e-mail. And, over the course of that process, an FBI official appeared to request a personnel advancement or an increase in personnel at a foreign outpost. That looked like a quid pro quo. In fact, one of the FBI officials described it as such. The FBI has denied this. The State Department has denied this. This is what President Obama had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think you've heard directly from both the FBI and the State Department that the notion or the accounts that have been put out there are just not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So, Brooke, President Obama echoing the FBI and the State Department. But, again, the Trump campaign has seized on this issue. Republicans on Capitol Hill have as well. This is not going anywhere. Expect to hear about it on Wednesday night here in Las Vegas at the debate.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, see you in Vegas in a couple of hours. Phil Mattingly, thank you.

Donald Trump still doubling down on his claimants that this election is rigged, that there's widespread voter fraud, even blasting Republican leaders who are denying his allegations of large scale voter fraud. So we had CNN and our fact-checking team take a long look at these allegations. Drew Griffin is the guy to do it. Our CNN senior investigative correspondent joins me now.

I mean the president today said this is unprecedented what Trump's been saying. That it's based on no facts. What did you find?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: We took a reality check on this whole thing and what we did was we found actual cases of voter fraud occur but they are extremely rare. They have not been prove to be part of any vast conspiracy or attempt to rig an elections and several Republican officials I've talked to from Florida to Philadelphia to out west believe this attempt to smear an election's validity is wrong and without factual basis.

So here's what we did. We asked the Trump campaign what evidence they have that the elections are rigged. They sent us an e-mail listing out several studies that they say prove their point. They actually don't. The Trump camp cherry-picked information to conclude this entire election system is rigged. It's just simply not, Brooke. Study one, researchers at Old dominion University believe they found non-citizens voting in large enough numbers that the results could have actually decided the election in close races. That study is now being challenged because it was an online poll with a small sample size. The author does tell us he stands by his study and he believes that in a very, very close race, a local race, decided by a few dozen votes or even a few votes, non-citizens could, he said, sway a race. It's never happened. He has no evidence of it.

Study two, Pew Research which showed problems with voter registration lists basically being outdated with dead people still listed as eligible to vote. But the study does not mention a single example of an actual vote fraud. None of those dead people voted.

Study three is about voter fraud in Philadelphia. It was done by a Philadelphia city commissioner and cites a handful of examples of fraud in Philadelphia. But any conclusion that it proves the system is rigged is completely false, according to the author, who is a Republican. In the last two years, he tells me, eight people in Philadelphia have been convicted of voter fraud. Eight people. Nothing that would swing an election.

BALDWIN: So you just touched on one of the allegations that dead people are voting.

GRIFFIN: Right.

BALDWIN: And it's coming from Rudy Giuliani, who is saying dead people are voting. They're voting for Democrats, not Republicans. Is that true?

GRIFFIN: Again, we're asking the Trump campaign for specifics. They pointed us to a report of dead people voting in Colorado. A television news station uncovered evidence that dead people in Colorado have been voting in several elections over the past few years. How many? Six to seven. Six to seven total. The secretary of state's office says the minute they found out about it, they began re-scrubbing the system to try and eliminate even that possible avenue of fraud. But, again, this is six or seven people in all of Colorado. According to the secretary of state's office, among these six or seven people involved, they were mail-in ballots that were basically sent to homes traditionally homes that vote Republican, Brooke. So the second part of the allegation was dead people, mostly dead Democrats vote, we couldn't find any evidence of that as well.

[14:10:18] BALDWIN: Voting for Democrats. OK, thank you for checking. Facts are important -

GRIFFIN: Right.

BALDWIN: As we talk about this election. Drew Griffin, thank you.

Trump's rigged election claims also dogging some Republicans in this reelection fight. Republican senators in three critical battleground states, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania had face-offs with their challengers. And in another sign of what an extraordinary election year this has been, all of the Republican candidates had to step away from or flat out go against what their party nominee has been saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R), OHIO: I made an extraordinary decision not to support my own party's nominee. But his words were offensive. They were wrong. They were demeaning and degrading to women. And for me that was the final straw, Tracy (ph). But I didn't make the decision lightly. You know, I respect voters who take a different position on this. He did win the nomination.

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Our elections may not always be completely perfect, but they are legitimate. They have integrity and everyone needs to respect the outcome. I don't know how this race, my race, the president's race or any other race is going to turn out, but we all need to respect the outcome because that's going to be necessary to pull us all together on November 9th, the day after the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And then there's this from Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who's in a reelection battle of his own. He was in a debate Monday and he said this, quote, "this election is not being rigged. We have 67 counties in this state, each of which conduct their own elections. I promise you, there is not a 67-county conspiracy to rig this election."

Let's dig deeper into everything we've heard between folks running for office and, of course, from the president of the United States. I have national political reporter for "The Washington Post," Abby Phillip. She's back with us today. And Todd Gillman, Washington bureau chief at "The Dallas Morning News."

Great to see both of you.

TODD GILLMAN, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "DALLAS MORNING NEWS": Good to see you.

BALDWIN: Let me get to these down ballot, you know, issues in just a moment and begin, Todd, with the president. We just played the soundbite at the top of the show where essentially he's saying to Mr. Trump, quit your whining. He's saying, you know, get out and make the case for your votes. Do you think the president was at all trying to bait Trump into any sort of war of words?

GILLMAN: Absolutely. This is more than just a critique of questioning the integrity and the validity of the election. The way the president went about this, stop your whining, is designed to paint Trump as a petulant schoolboy bully which jives with everything else that we've seen that's unpleasant and offensive about Trump and it also goes straight to Trump's venerability, which is that he often takes this bait. It was very loaded and carefully calibrated language.

BALDWIN: If he takes it, if he runs with it, Abby, how could that affect Donald Trump, because his own supporters would sure love that? ABBY PHILLIP, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": Yes. I

mean I think Donald Trump is going down this road because he knows his supporters want him to. This is the type of argument that has originated on parts of the Internet where his supporters are the most active with sort of talk show hosts like Alex Jones and so on, Roger Stone, as you mentioned earlier. So it's important to his supporters that Trump air this.

And I think the Clinton campaign and Democrats largely, they're sort of a lilt gleeful about this situation in which President Obama can say Donald Trump is a whiner and then a few hours later they can expect a tweet from Donald Trump sort of addressing what the president had to say. And it fits into a narrative that he sort of can't be left alone with his cell phone and might tweet things that are off message or aren't about the issues that some of his campaign aides would like him to focus on instead.

BALDWIN: Let me pivot and just now talk about the debate tomorrow night. I just got some news in my ear from my executive producer. So as we're learning who may be brought - we - listen, we remember the last debate and some of those Bill Clinton accusers that Mr. Trump brought in, we're now learning that the Hillary Clinton campaign will be bringing Meg Whitman - remember Meg Whitman, Republican, who controversially said, "I'm with her," and Mark Cuban.

Todd, thoughts on this move?

PHILLIP: Mark Cuban again? I guess they must feel that the Dallas billionaire is really getting under Trump's skin successfully.

I mean, look, it's just, you know, reinforcing the idea. They're trying to get a little bit of a rise out of Trump. He's - you know, he has shown, as Abbey said, he raises to the bait often. He can't help himself. He hits back. He tweets. He digs in. You know, I'm not sure if that's quite as dramatic as bringing some of the Bill Clinton accusers last time, but they're going to do what they can to get in each other's heads ahead of this debate.

[14:15:15] I think the Clinton's main tactic again is to just stay out of Trump's way. You know, there's an old saying that you don't get in your enemy's way when he's making a mistake on the battlefield. And to a large degree, that is her tactic now and for the rest of the three weeks.

BALDWIN: It's amazing to me the drama on the stage and then, of course, the drama in the seats tomorrow night in Vegas.

Abby, let me ask you about Paul Ryan, because we know Donald Trump, he gave an interview to ABC's Tom Llamas and it appears he hinted that he thinks - he being Trump - thinks that Paul Ryan is rooting for him to lose. Here's the sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM LLAMAS, ABC NEWS: Is Paul Ryan hurting you or helping you? DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 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 want 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. Maybe he just doesn't know how to win. I mean who can really know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: On the 2020 notion, Abby, do you think Trump has a point?

PHILLIP: It's just - it's so funny to hear Trump say, "I don't want to be knocking Paul Ryan," and then proceed to do exactly that thing. But, you know, I mean, I think Trump suspects that a lot of the Republicans who are trying to cover their backs by hedging on support for his candidacy or maybe even walking away from him are doing so for their own political survival.

I think Paul Ryan actually has a lot more proximate problems than a run in 2020, namely holding on to the House of Representatives. And that's what Paul Ryan is more focused on right at this moment because he understands that his job as speaker of the House could be in jeopardy if this ends up becoming some kind of a landslide that wipes out a lot of Republicans who gave him that majority. So maybe 2020 maybe. I mean we're looking at folks like Ted Cruz also looking at 2020 and others, but I think Paul Ryan has bigger fish to fry right now.

BALDWIN: I can't even - I just want to see what happens in three weeks. Can't even wrap my head around another four years from now.

Abby and Todd, thank you both so much. I appreciate it.

We are getting some breaking news - let me move on to this. We're getting some breaking news involving the former "People" magazine writer who is accusing Donald Trump of sexual assault. They are now rolling out witnesses. Those details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:17] BALDWIN: Here's the breaking news. You know the story, this "People" magazine writer accused Donald Trump of attacking her during an interview of the one year anniversary of marriage between Melania Trump and Donald Trump down in Palm Beach, in Mar-A-Lago. Well now several people who've corroborated her story are coming forward. They say the story is indeed true. Jessica Schneider is working this for us today.

And so how are these people?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, you know, "People" magazine and this writer, Natasha Stoynoff, really fighting back now against not just Donald Trump but also Melania Trump because we heard last night in that interview with Anderson Cooper, Melania Trump said, look, I remember Natasha Stoynoff, but I don't remember her when she says she came by Trump Tower after she got off the Trump beat, after she allegedly had this happen to her.

So, today, "People" magazine is putting out this report. They're citing six people - friends, colleagues, even a journalism professor who say, yes, Natasha Stoynoff told us about what happened. Interestingly, one of her professors is even tweeting about this. I'll read you it briefly.

BALDWIN: Sure.

SCHNEIDER: He says, "in 2005, Natasha Stoynoff phoned me, distraught, crying, said Trump assaulted her. She is telling the truth." He's written several tweets of this nature.

So "People" magazine is really coming out strong saying that our writer has told multiple people about this in the days and the weeks and the months following this alleged attack and they said they're not backing down off of this story. Now, interestingly, at the end of this, Natasha Stoynoff says, well, hey, maybe Donald Trump just doesn't remember this. In fact, pretty bitingly she said, maybe he's assaulted so many women he doesn't remember. So pretty strong language coming from Natasha Stoynoff. But "People" magazine putting forth these corroborating not witnesses but corroborating friends who Natasha told her story to -

BALDWIN: Sure.

SCHNEIDER: To say, no, this happened and they believe her.

BALDWIN: So that's what she's saying. They're backing her up again. Just reminding everyone, we've heard from Donald Trump multiple times speaking publically saying, they're all lies, it's fiction. I believe even talking about Natasha specifically, he said, "look at her and look at her words." There's that.

You also now - let me read this statement we have. This is actually (INAUDIBLE) from Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump's daughter. She said, this is reacting to the 2005 Billy Bush/Donald Trump tape, said that his comments were, quote, "clearly inappropriate and offensive." Quoting Ivanka, "my father's comments were clearly inappropriate and offensive and I'm glad that he acknowledged this fact with an immediate apology to my family and the American people." She goes on, "the greatest comfort I have is the fact that I know my father. Most of the people who write about him don't. I do." She finishes with, "so that gives me an ability to shrug off the things that I read about him that are wrong." Ivanka Trump.

And now moving on to Hillary Clinton's campaign heading into unchartered territory, Republican territory. Hillary Clinton sending in top-tier surrogates as she makes a big play to turn Arizona from a deep red to a shade of blue in terms of these surrogates. You have Chelsea Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Michelle Obama. They will all be in Arizona this week. Add those appearances to the $2 million in TV ads that the Clinton

campaign just bought up. Clinton also diverting more resources to down-ballot Democrats, meaning this isn't just about shoring up the Senate anymore, but a realization that a House majority could actually be in play.

Joining me now, Mi-Ai Parrish, president of the Arizona Republic and Republic Media.

Mi-Ai, nice to have you on.

MI-AI PARRISH, PAPER RECEIVED DEATH THREATS AFTER CLINTON ENDORSEMENT: Thanks for having me, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Before we talk about your reddest of the red states, I just want to get to this opinion piece that you wrote where you say you received death threats, among them, quoting, "you're dead, watch your back," and, "you should be put in front of a firing squad as a traitor." All because your paper, Mi-Ai, for the first time in its 126 year history has endorsed a Democrat. It has been a month since you all came forward and did that. What have these - what has that been like for you?

[14:25:22] PARRISH: Our journalists are used to getting death threats. I don't mean that they're common, but that, you know, that is part of the work when you do things that are controversial and certainly this editorial was controversial. But the type of death threats and the type of threats against people who are not journalists has been surprising and has been alarming. And also the acceleration of threats against the work that we do, you know, really calling for people to - to heckle, to harass, to boo, to threaten and sometimes to assault journalists in the course of the business has been very disturbing to me.

BALDWIN: So this is what your journalists were dealing with, all the while covering what could be one of the most important elections of our lifetime. And your state, Arizona, it has been so red. It has only gone - voted for a Democrat for president - correct me - once in 60 years, it was Bill Clinton in '96.

PARRISH: Right.

BALDWIN: Can you just underscore how significant this is that it could go blue?

PARRISH: It is - it is very surprising. I mean, obviously, we had not endorsed a Democrat for president in our entire history, including when bill Clinton won Arizona. It's a very red state. It's a very - it's a conservative state and that is our readership and that is our tradition. We were founded as the "Arizona Republican" and that has been, you know, part of our history and is part of our present day. So the idea that the Clinton campaign is sending such high level surrogates into Arizona is - it's news.

BALDWIN: It is news and it's also news what Donald Trump's been saying about, you know, this is a rigged election. And especially when you look at these states that really could pave the path for him to the White House, states such as yours, where you have a Republican governor, right, where you have government in charge of securing polling stations. What do you make of Mr. Trump saying that there is widespread voter fraud and that it's rigged?

PARRISH: I - as someone who's recently registered to vote in Arizona, it's not that easy to register to vote here. You know, I mean it's - it is - it's a - it's a secure. It's - there has not been any - we would report it. There has not been in any way, any case, any form widespread voter fraud that we would be - that we're aware of and -

BALDWIN: You mean it's tough to register, not because somebody's trying to make it hard for you, but because they're dotting their "i"s and they're, you know, crossing their "t"s?

PARRISH: They're - absolutely.

BALDWIN: Yes.

PARRISH: They - they make sure that you live in a house. They make sure that you live in the state. And, you know, it is - and it's a very thorough and thoughtful process. So it - I - having just experienced it myself, I don't see - you know, it - and I don't, you know, obviously that's been widely reported as not an issue and I'm not experiencing that. And our reporters, I mean that's something that we look at, report, investigate and take very seriously and that's not something that we're seeing here at all.

BALDWIN: To you and your journalists, keep doing what you're doing. And we could be up late watching Arizona November 8th. Mi-Ai Parrish, thank you so much.

PARRISH: Thank you so much for your time.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the third and final debate. Both Trump and Clinton preparing for tomorrow's showdown as new controversies hover above both candidates. We'll talk debate strategy, predictions, expectations ahead.

And when politics and comedy collide. What Amy Schumer said during her standup show in Florida that prompted some 200 people to up and walk out. The comedienne is now responding. We'll talk with someone who was at the show, and someone who's friends with her, coming up.

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