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Obama Makes Pitch For Down-Ballot Candidates; New Hampshire Senate Race Could Impact Senate Control; Trump Flip Flop On Mass Deportation; Trump Rally In Florida; Clinton and Warren to Take Stage in New Hampshire; Conway Acknowledges Trump's Uphill Battle. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired October 24, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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.

Up first, heading into the home stretch of a very bitter presidential campaign here in the United States. We're less than 15 days and counting until the November 8th election, and the candidates, they are beginning their closing arguments to voters.

Take a look at this, live pictures coming in from Manchester, New Hampshire right now. Hillary Clinton is out there on the campaign trail with Senator Elizabeth Warren. They'll be speaking shortly. We're going to have their remarks live right here on CNN.

Nationally, Hillary Clinton has a 12-point lead in the latest national poll. The ABC News-"Washington post" poll shows her at 50 percent compared to Donald Trump at 38 percent.

Trump continues his campaign swing right knew across Florida with stops in Boynton Beach, St. Augustine and Tampa. Early voting, by the way, got underway in that crucial swing state today. At last count, more than 5.1 million Americans have cast early ballots around the United States.

Any moment now, once again, Hillary Clinton will step onto the stage in Manchester, New Hampshire, looking at live pictures, along with the Massachusetts Senator, Elizabeth Warren, who's unleashed fierce attacks against Donald Trump at several Clinton rallies over these past several weeks.

Our Senior Political Correspondent Brianna Keilar is on the scene for us. Brianna, Clinton and Warren, they're looking to fire up the base, lend support to Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan who's locked in a very tight race with the incumbent Republican senator, Kelly Ayotte. Update our viewers.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. In talking to Clinton campaign aides, they think Hassan, at this point, is actually besting Ayotte, according to their polling. But what they're also seeing is that Hillary Clinton is performing better in New Hampshire than Hassan.

And so, they are here and this is not always the case. But they are here to sort of pull along, if they can, Governor Hassan, in the hopes that she will oust the incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte and be another Democratic member of the Senate. So important for Hillary Clinton, if she is to win the White House, is to have at least some cooperation in Congress.

So, also, the other thing is, you know, they're trying to get people out to vote. And they're here at a college, obviously, which is where they're trying to attract some of the supportive young people. Many of them who are here at this rally.

A lot of confidence, I will tell you, from Hillary Clinton supporters and from those in her campaign. They'll tell you they're not counting the chickens before they hatch, Wolf. But I think they're certainly feeling good, as you see them trying to bring along these down ballot Democrats. And not just Hillary Clinton, but we saw that with President Obama in Nevada over the weekend as well.

BLITZER: All right, Brianna, we'll stand by. We'll have live coverage of Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton. They will fire up that crowd, no doubt about that.

Hillary Clinton right now looking beyond Donald Trump and lending her support to what are called these down ballot candidates, attack teaming with president Obama who endorses 30 more House candidates across more than a dozen states today.

Let's talk about that with our Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zeleny. Jeff -- and also, our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash and our Senior Political Reporter Manu Raju.

Dana, let me get your thoughts first. A handful of these Senate races are very, very tight right now. So, how much weight will President Obama's endorsement actually carry? Will it make a major difference?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly could especially in states that are not battlegrounds on the presidential level, but more are -- more so on the Senate level especially. Because in the battleground states where you see Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, New Hampshire where Brianna is is a perfect example, everybody is getting the message on all sides of this.

But the states, for example, like Missouri, if Barack Obama goes there, tries to help the Democratic candidate who has a pretty good shot of winning and unseating incumbent Republican there, Roy Blount, but there isn't a real battle on the presidential level, that could make a difference.

And then, overall, no matter where they are, it's about enthusiasm, Wolf. They -- the Democrats, particularly the Hillary Clinton campaign and all of these Senate Democratic candidates, believe that there is nobody, at this point, like the Democratic president, to go out, to get people fired up, to get them to tell their friends this is important and we need to get to the polls. It is about enthusiasm and they think that he's the best messenger.

[13:05:00] BLITZER: Dana, as you know, President Obama, he really ripped into some of those down-ballot Republicans in Nevada on Sunday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, the excuse they're using for why they should be elected is, well, maybe we did support Trump and now we're being kind of quiet about it. But you should vote Republican anyway, because we'll check Hillary's power. We'll be a -- we'll be a -- we'll be a counterweight.

No, no, no, no, no. No, all -- listen, they've been in charge of Congress now for the last six years, basically. And what have they gotten done?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Sorry, I suppose in the next two weeks, we're going to hear a lot more of that. Is that right, Dana?

BASH: Absolutely because he is right. Republicans, on a national level and in some of these key swing states where Senate Republicans are neck and neck with their Democratic challengers, they -- people have sort of signaled to voters, we don't think that Donald Trump is going to win. We think that Hillary Clinton is going to win. Therefore, you've got to vote Republican on the Senate level for that check and balance.

Now, Democrats are trying to make the case that that doesn't really work with voters. But the fact that you have the president of the United States out there trying to push back on that notion, tells you that there's a little bit of concern that that message could work. In a place like New Hampshire, for example, where the chamber of commerce is running an ad saying that very thing. And voters in New Hampshire tend to kind of go independently and are ticket splitters.

BLITZER: And Jeff Zeleny, we're also hearing that Hillary Clinton is sort of quietly reaching out to some Republicans. Why is she doing that? And which Republicans are we talking about?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Hillary Clinton is known to be a planner. She thinks ahead and she, you know, is planning her next move. She has aggressively campaigning, no question.

But I am told she is beginning to turn her attention toward what comes next should she win. And that is the difficult task of governing in the aftermath of this divisive election.

Regardless of the Senate majority, it is going to be very narrow here. So, I am told, by people who are close to her, that she has been reaching out to some of her old allies on Capitol Hill.

Now, a couple of them, John McCain among them, is locked in a tough fight of his own in Arizona. But he is likely to survive that fight, strategists on both sides believe. So, he could be an ally. But she's also -- is, you know, very close to Lindsey Graham, Lamar Alexander, some others.

So, it's -- no Republican wants to be identified as having a conversation with her, at this point. But I am told in recent days, she has been extending a hand and doing outreach to some of her old friends on Capitol Hill. And it's part of what is slowly becoming her planning for the transition.

That's not to say she's getting ahead of herself here. Donald Trump has a transition team in place in Washington as well. It would be malpractice not to because the reality is, the winner of this election here suddenly has a very big job on the morning after the -- of the election.

But she is beginning to concentrate more on that even as she campaigns aggressively. And as Democrats try and do something they didn't think they'd be able to do and they'll run up the score and help Democrats down the ballot at the U.S. Senate, but also in House races as well as state legislative races.

We're going to see President Obama play in state legislative races and he has some making up to do because so many more -- so many seats were lost during his time in the White House, more than any other recent president -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Manu, with so many Senate races pretty tight right now, including New Hampshire, the Senate race in New Hampshire, how could all of this impact the balance of power in the Senate? Because it -- let's say Hillary Clinton wins, the Democrats will need a net gain of four seats to be in the majority.

MANU RAJU, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPDONENT: Yes, that's right. Any majority is going to be a narrow majority. If Democrats could even get a majority with a 50-50 Senate, presuming that Hillary Clinton wins and Tim Kaine, as vice president, would break the tie.

Now, I was here speaking with the two Senate candidates here in New Hampshire earlier this morning, Wolf, with Maggie Hassan, the Democratic candidate, and Kelly Ayotte, the New Hampshire Republican senator. And both of them expect this race, in particular, to be very, very close, one that could tilt the majority.

And both are making very different calculations about how they deal with the top of the ticket. Kelly Ayotte said that earlier in this campaign season that she supported Donald Trump but would not endorse him. But now, she's revoked that endorsement. Here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: You got a lot of attention when you said first at that debate that Donald Trump, you could see him as a role model for your children. Then you took that back. What happened at that debate?

SEN. KELLY AYOTTE (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: I made a mistake. I mean, debates, many people are -- you know, you're asked a lot of questions at a debate. What's clear to me is that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton, unfortunately, are role models.

[13:10:09] GOV. MAGGIE HASSAN (D), NEW HAMPSHIRE: Kelly Ayotte's sticking with Donald Trump for most of this entire campaign. On 35 different occasions, saying that she was supporting him. She was voting for him no matter what he said.

And so, her political calculation in deciding to disavow him truly at the 11th hour, I think, just really reflects that all of her judgments are political calculations. And this entire campaign for her has been one attempt to walk back from her Washington record just as she's now attempting to walk back from Donald Trump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, Kelly Ayotte sharply shifting messaging, Wolf, to say that she would be a check on a Clinton White House. And that Republican -- that voters here in New Hampshire should elect a Republican to keep a possible Democratic White House in check, trying to make that case to voters.

And Maggie Hassan, for her part earlier this year, I asked her about whether or not she trusts Hillary Clinton, whether she finds her honest or trustworthy. She would not answer then. Now, she says, I do think that Hillary Clinton is honest or trustworthy.

It just shows, Wolf, that the Democrats are trying to run on the top of the ticket's coattails, while the Republicans are trying to run way from the top of their ticket -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Manu Raju reporting for us. Manu, thanks very much.

Coming up, Donald Trump flip-flopping on a central issue in this campaign. Back in 2012, in an interview, he emerged showing -- that interview showed him taking a much softer stance on undocumented immigrants here in the United States.

And take a look at this, these are live pictures coming in from St. Augustine in Florida, where Donald Trump will rally with supporters later this afternoon. We'll, of course, have coverage of that.

And the Clinton campaign is dismissing new claims of what are called pay-to-play politics. This as another batch of WikiLeaks e-mails has just surfaced.

[13:12:02]

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[13:15:50] BLITZER: Hillary Clinton and Senator Elizabeth Warren, they'll be taking the stage in the battleground state of New Hampshire momentarily. Right now Maggie Hassan, the governor, who's running for the U.S. Senate, she's speaking. We're going to have coverage of what Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton have to say. Stand by. That's coming up momentarily.

Meanwhile, a rare acknowledgement from the Trump campaign. Donald Trump is rails against what he says is a rigged election system here in the United States, but his campaign manager concedes what the polls are showing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We are behind. She has some advantages, like $66 million in ad buys just in the month of September, thereby doubling her ad buys from august. Most of those ads are negative against Donald Trump, classic politics of personal destruction, cesspool kind of ads. And she has tremendous advantages. She has a former president, happens to be her husband, campaigning for her, the current president and first lady, vice president, all much more popular than she can hope it be. And she -- but she's seen at the incumbent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But listen to this. Just today, Donald Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I believe we're actually winning. Now, the press -- I believe we're actually winning.

We're up in Ohio. We're up in Iowa. We're doing great in North Carolina. I think we're doing great in Florida. I think we're really -- I think we're going to win Florida big. I think we're going to win Florida.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so let's bring in our panel. Gloria Borger, I'll start with you, is there a disconnect between what his campaign manager is saying and what he's saying?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Let me point out that Kellyanne Conway is a pollster, and she knows how to read polls. She knows which -- how much weight to give certain polls and how much weight to give other polls. So I think she was -- she was trying to be honest and flipped it to talk about how much money Clinton is spending, which is also true. She's raced a lot more money than Trump and she's spending it with two weeks left in the campaign.

Donald Trump has lived by the polls. If you remember during the primaries, everything he talked about was the polls. We're doing great. We're up in the polls. It's difficult for him now to make a transition to say, you know what, we've got to get our voters out there because we're having some problem. So he isn't making that transition. He is continuing to say we're winning.

I think it would be better in a way for him to say, these things are so close, I need every person I've got to get out there, because that way he could get his base aroused and more enthusiastic about going out to vote. It would be a natural thing for him to do. Say, we're the underdog. We can win this thing.

BLITZER: And we've seen, David Gergen, and you've been around with me for a long time, this is the race for the White House right behind us, but we've seen, in the final two weeks, tomorrow two weeks exactly until Election Day, people can change their minds. People can come around. Even if the polls are showing one thing today, two weeks is a long time in American politics.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it is fluid, Wolf. I think we have to acknowledge that in many states. This new Monmouth poll out today on North Carolina showing Republicans making some gains. You're going to see that in some other states. And this -- it may close down some.

But I actually thought that Kellyanne Conway was very smart to acknowledge that they're behind. You know there's been -- throughout this campaign, the Trump people have often been talking about they're living in a different universe. They're seeing a different reality. And it's made them less credible. I think this makes her look more credible, it makes the campaign more credible, and I do think it provides a springboard for what Gloria is arguing, that to rally your base, to get them out there, their votes are important.

BLITZER: Yes, that North Carolina, that new Monmouth poll that just came out --

GERGEN: Right.

BLITZER: It shows Hillary Clinton ahead by only one point in North Carolina, 47 percent to 46 percent.

GERGEN: Look at that Senate race, too. Burr --

BLITZER: And the Senate race with Burr. Yes, that's a very close race there as well.

BORGER: But that's not a natural state for her. That wasn't a blue state that she was --

GERGEN: No, but it is -- but it suggests that there's still fluidity at play.

BORGER: Yes. Exactly.

BLITZER: It's still a -- Matea, you know -- Matea Gold from "The Washington Post." You've heard all these suggestions that, just like in Europe, and we have a lot of viewers in Europe right now, the Brexit vote --

MATEA GOLD, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Right.

BLITZER: People were reluctant to tell pollsters that they were going to vote -- how they were going to vote on Brexit, if they were opposed to -- if they were in support of leaving the European Union. You hear Trump people saying, you know, a lot of people are reluctant to say they're going to vote for Donald Trump to a pollster, but they will go out and do that. Do you buy that?

[13:20:13] GOLD: Well, there's always the possibility that we're missing some of the electorate in these polls. But one thing that I think is important to keep in mind is that I hear from Trump and his supporters a lot right now, just look at my crowd sizes. She's not getting crowds like this. That is a very dangerous metric, a misleading on at this point. I'm going to date myself and recall coving Howard Dean's campaign in the cold January, in January 2004, and there were 800 people who turned out for a rally and we thought, North Dakota is going for Dean. Well, he got 1,200 people in the vote. So sometimes the crowds that turn out are the sum total of your supporters.

KING: Bernie Sanders got a lot bigger crowds than Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary contest as well.

DAVID CATANESE, SENIOR POLITICS WRITER, "U.S NEWS & WORLD REPORT": And the polls are all over the place, like they always are in elections. To me, the most telling thing that's happening in the last 48 hours is what Democrats are saying and doing. I watched Barack Obama last night in Las Vegas. It was supposed to be a rally for Hillary Clinton. He's spent 20 minutes talking about the Senate race there. He would not be doing that if they weren't confident that Nevada is likely locked down.

Today they're in New Hampshire. They're probably going to spend a lot of time focused on that Senate race. Hillary Clinton and the Clinton campaign would not be allowing that if they felt this was that tight. They have such an utmost amount of confidence. They feel like they are not only going to win, it's now about the margins and can they deliver a considerable Senate majority.

BORGER: And, you know, Trump is reacting to that, interestingly enough. He's always spoken about himself. And just over the weekend and today you -- you've heard him talk about, we've got to elect Republicans. We haven't heard that from Donald Trump and it's a reaction to what the president --

BLITZER: All right, hold -- Gloria, hold on for a moment. Senator Elizabeth Warren is speaking now in Manchester, New Hampshire, a battleground state. She's introducing Hillary Clinton.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Hanging out with our neighbors! You know, I've been traveling all around the country for Hillary Clinton and for our Senate candidates. I've been to Missouri and Ohio and Wisconsin and Colorado and Pennsylvania. And I've got to say, it is good to be in a place where I can say, go Pats! Go Pats! All right.

Now, it really is great to be in New Hampshire. It is great to be in the home state of my dear friend and your senior senator Jeanne Shaheen. It is great to be in the state that is going to send Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster to the United States Congress! It is great to be in the state that's going to elect Colin Van Ostern as its next governor! It's great to be in the state that is going to send Maggie Hassan to the United States Senate! Yes! Oh, and just one more. It is great to be in the state that's going to send Hillary Clinton to the White House. Yes! Yes! Yes! That's why we're here.

OK. So I just want to be official here. I'm with her. Are you with her?

Look, we're here today with someone who gets up every single day and fights for us. Someone who has spent her life fighting for children, spent her life fighting for women, spent her life fighting for families, fighting for health care, fighting for human rights, fighting for a level playing field, fighting for those who need us most. Hillary Clinton fights for us. It is now time for us to fight for Hillary!

Now, I want to talk for just a minute about values. I grew up in a family that didn't have much. My daddy sold fencing and carpeting, ended up as a maintenance man. After he had a heart attack, my mom worked a minimum wage job at Sears to keep our family above water. All three of my brothers went into the military. Me, I just wanted to be a teacher. All of my life, I wanted to be a teacher. Can we hear it for America's teachers? Yeah!

Now, I had the calling early on. I used to line up my dollies and teach school. It was tough being one of my dollies. I don't think you did your homework last night. It was -- there were -- it was tough. It was tough.

My parents would have given me anything they could, but they just didn't have the money to send me to college. And the only way I could get to be a teacher is that I ended up at a commuter college that cost $50 a semester, and it opened a million doors for me. The way I see it, I am the daughter of a maintenance man who ended up as a United States senator. Hillary Clinton is the daughter of a factory worker, granddaughter of a factory worker, and she's going to be elected president. We believe in that America. That is the America we fight for!

[13:25:45] We believe, but we are worried. Worried that those opportunities are slipping away. In fact, a lot of America is worried. Worried and angry. Angry that far too often Washington works for those at the top and leaves everyone else behind.

You know, for 30 years now, Republicans have pushed trickle-down economics and they've done one thing, they've helped the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful. And they've stepped on the faces of everyone else who's trying to get a fighting chance to succeed.

You know, Donald Trump talks a big game about how the game is rigged. Let's be clear, Donald Trump is right, the game is rigged. It's rigged for guys like Donald Trump. And I say it's time to fight back. Maggie says it's time to fight back. Hillary says it's time to fight back. Yeah.

We start our fight right here on college campuses. Education builds opportunities. But not if people are getting crushed by student loan debt. Right now it's a one-two punch. The high cost of college and the high cost of student loans. The federal government is making billions of dollars in profits off the backs of our students. It is obscene to make money off people who are trying to get an education.

But I want to be clear on this. We know where Kelly Ayotte stands. She voted against refinancing your student loans. And Donald Trump, we know where he stands, too, on higher education. You know, colleges need more money to bring down the cost of tuition. His plan is to get rid of all federal student loans, abolish the whole Department of Education. I think his plan is to set up another fake university, cut out the middleman and cheat the students directly himself. That's why we fight back. That's why we fight back.

Look, college alone is reason enough to get out and vote. It is reason enough to get out and volunteer. Hillary and Maggie and I are determined to make debt-free college the law of this land. That's where we want to go.

We are determined to refinance that $1.3 trillion in student loan debt. Yes. Help us do that. Help elect Hillary and Maggie so that we can make college a pathway of opportunity, not just for rich kids, but for all of our kids. Yeah!

Look, we want to build an America that's going to work. But that isn't going to happen with Donald Trump. Donald Trump cheered on the 2008 financial crash so he could scoop up real estate on the cheap. He stiffed small business owners, plumbers and painters and construction workers when he built his casinos and golf courses. And Donald Trump disrespects, aggressively disrespects more than half the human beings in this country. He thinks that because he has money, that he can call women fat pigs and bimbos. He thinks because he is a celebrity that he can rate women's bodies from one to 10. He thinks that because he has a mouth full of Tic-Tacs that he can force himself on any woman within groping distance. Well, I've got news for you, Donald Trump, women have had it with guys like you! And -- and nasty women have really had it with guys like you!

[13:30:08] Yeah! Get this Donald, nasty women are tough.