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Clinton and Trump Blitz Florida; CNN Poll: Most Americans Expect Clinton to Win; Trump Seizes on Soaring Obamacare Premiums; Trump Holds DC Event Then Campaigns in NC; Audio Reveals Trump Loves to Fight, Hates to Lose. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 26, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Less than two weeks before Election Day and the two presidential candidates are focused on key battleground states. Hillary Clinton begins her day of campaigning in all-important Florida. It comes as a new poll shows Donald Trump holding a razor thin lead in a state that he must win. But this morning, the Republican nominee is off the campaign trail. He's in Washington, D.C. for a ribbon cutting at his new hotel, and then he'll stump in North Carolina. All of this as new audio tapes from a Trump biographer reveal candid conversations with the candidate just before his presidential bid capturing his fierce ambition and refusal to accept second place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you lose a lot, nobody's going to follow you because you're looked at as a loser. Winning is a very important thing. And the most important aspect of leadership is winning. If you have a record of winning, people are going to follow you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Let's begin, though, in Florida. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Palm Beach. Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I am here at Palm Beach State College where you can see this line growing behind me here. They are here to see Hillary Clinton at an early vote rally. She's opening the second day of a two-day swing here in Florida, all-important battleground state. Of course, Donald Trump, last night, wrapped up a three-day swing.

Now, there is a new poll this morning showing that Donald Trump is up two percentage points but within the margin of error here in Florida. It's a critical state for his comeback plan. That's why Hillary Clinton wants to block him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is so great to be back in Florida.

TRUMP: We're going to win the state of Florida.

ZELENY (voice-over): Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a relentless fight for the golden prize of Florida's 29 electoral votes. Trump mincing no words on his view of those who choose Clinton.

TRUMP: Tell you what, you vote for her, you're crazy, OK? I'll tell you, she is the worst.

ZELENY (voice-over): Clinton releasing a new campaign ad narrated by Morgan Freeman, laying out a stark choice.

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: A steady hand or a loose cannon.

ZELENY (voice-over): A new CNN/ORC poll show seven in 10 Americans now believe Clinton will win the White House. She's dismissing the poll but for different reasons than Trump.

CLINTON: It's going to be a close election. Don't pay attention to the polls. Don't get complacent.

ZELENY (voice-over): With 13 days to go, Trump trying to turn the tables, seizing on news of skyrocketing health care premiums for Obamacare.

TRUMP: The rates are going through the sky.

ZELENY (voice-over): Yet, Trump's argument that his employees were being crushed by Obamacare quickly fell apart. Most don't get insurance under the Affordable Care Act, a point he struggled to explain.

TRUMP: It's a small group, but it's a group that's having tremendous problems with Obamacare because of what's going on with the premiums and what's going on with the deductibles.

ZELENY (voice-over): In a Miami radio interview, Clinton said millions of Americans now have health care under the law but acknowledged major shortcomings that should be fixed, not repealed.

CLINTON (through phone): The costs have gone up too much, so we're going to really tackle that.

ZELENY (voice-over): It's an 11th hour political headache hitting voters in the pocketbooks. Clinton ignoring health care at her rally trying to keep the focus squarely on Trump and whether he's fit for office.

CLINTON: Americans are coming together at the very moment when Donald Trump is making an unprecedented attack on our democracy.

ZELENY (voice-over): Former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell throwing his support behind Clinton. She tweeted that she's proud to have the endorsement of a decorated soldier and distinguished statesman. All this as Trump and Vice President Biden trade fighting words. JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The press always asks

me, don't I wish I were debating him? No, I wish we were in high school, I could take him behind the gym. That's what I wish.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Did you see where Biden wants to take me to the back of the barn? Me. He wants to -- I'd love that. I'd love that, Mr. Tough Guy. You know, he's Mr. Tough Guy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: So, Carol, Donald Trump and Vice President Biden, I don't believe that they'll be fighting before the end of this campaign, but, really, who knows? Perhaps that would be a fitting end to this chaotic 2016 campaign.

But, Carol, back here in Palm Beach, when you look at the crowd here, what the Clinton campaign is trying to do is bottle up this vote right now. She had an early voting rally yesterday, again today. She'll be going to Tampa later. All this is happening while Donald Trump is in Washington attending the grand opening of the Trump Hotel. And then he will be going to the other battleground state that is so key in this election, that is North Carolina, where Hillary Clinton will go tomorrow.

So, Carol, North Carolina, Florida, those are the two states to watch in the coming days.

COSTELLO: And we'll be watching them. Jeff Zeleny reporting live from Florida this morning. Thank you. So as Jeff said, with Trump in a statistical dead heat in a state that's essential for him, he's raising eyebrows by leaving the campaign trail to tout his brand new hotel in Washington, D.C. His campaign pushing back saying it's just a brief respite from his breakneck schedule.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:08] KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, he has been in 12 stops in Florida in 2 1/2 days. Nobody accuses Donald Trump of taking time off, believe me.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

CONWAY: The guy -- we don't even know when he sleeps or if he does. The guy's indefatigable and he is -- you know, nobody asks Hillary Clinton, why do you have five days off before the debate? But he's coming to open a hotel that's under budget and ahead of schedule. It's a great illustration to America of what he does. He builds things.

BLITZER: But he opened the hotel about a month --

CONWAY: He fixes things.

BLITZER: -- a month-and-a-half ago or so. CONWAY: This is the official grand opening.

BLITZER: That was the soft opening, but the hotel's been open now for at least a month or six weeks.

CONWAY: This is the grand official opening and it's been scheduled this way for a long time, and we're very excited to show America what this man actually does. He fixes things. He builds things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Still, today, it's the grand opening of Trump's new hotel in the nation's capital. Yesterday, it was a trip to his golf resort in Miami where Donald Trump posed with employees and touted his property success. As "Politico" put it, it all kind of looked like an infomercial. Oh, and don't forget the launch of Trump's Facebook T.V. show, which some say is a precursor to Trump T.V.

So let's talk about that and more. Jackie Kucinich is here. She's the Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast." And Paul Singer joins me too. He's the Washington correspondent for "USA Today." Welcome to both of you.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So, Paul, is Kellyanne Conway right? Donald Trump's just making his brief stop to like cut the ribbon on his new hotel and then he's back on the trail and that's as it should be?

PAUL SINGER, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY: Listen, you know, Donald Trump has been flirting with the presidency run since the mid- 1990s. And we've always asked this question, does he really want to be President of the United States, or is this just a branding exercise? And here it is now, he's the Republican nominee for President, and we really still can't answer that question.

Does he really want to be President of the United States? Does he want to be in a room arguing with the Office of Management and Budget over which program to cut at the Department of Housing, or does he want to be doing this? He wants to be cutting the ribbon on things. He wants to be standing in front of cheering crowds. I honestly still can't tell, but whatever it is, he is keeping the brand alive right up to two weeks before the election. Not what I expect to see a candidate doing.

COSTELLO: But, Jackie, you've heard what Kellyanne Conway said, you know, the fact that Donald Trump is in D.C. cutting the ribbon proves that he is a successful businessman who can get projects off the ground.

KUCINICH: I mean, it seems like Plan B is becoming Plan A again for Donald Trump. I mean, he said this himself a couple weeks ago, he'll be on Pennsylvania Avenue either way because that's where his new hotel is. But, I mean, it sounds like really good spin to me. This is a candidate that doesn't really listen to staff, that if he wants to come to a ribbon cutting, he's going to come to a ribbon cutting, you know, no matter what.

You don't take a respite from the campaign trail 13 days out. You just don't, but, you know, most people aren't Donald Trump. It is a curious decision, but when he's making his own schedule and he's making all the calls, this is what he wants to do so he's going to do it. I mean, and no one's going to tell him any different.

COSTELLO: Well, as you've said, Jackie, this is closing argument time for the candidates because we're 13 days out to the general election, right?

KUCINICH: Right.

COSTELLO: So Clinton is making her closing argument in a different way. She has a new ad out, so let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: A steady hand or a loose cannon? Common sense and unity, or drama and division? A woman who spent her life helping children and families, or a man who spent his life helping himself? Our children are looking to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Paul, Team Clinton says this is part of a series of ads that will begin running in battleground states. It's not clear to me if the Trump campaign is doing something similar. Is this effective for the Clinton camp?

SINGER: Well, you know, we've said it all along that these are two very flawed candidates. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton come with baggage to this race.

And, frankly, Hillary Clinton would be the most damaged candidate running for President in our history if it wasn't for the fact she's running against Donald Trump. Her best argument at this point is, you know me very well, you know what I've done, and look at that guy. We don't want him to be President. That is something that they have been blessed with, a candidate who is even more flawed than they are, and they're going to keep hammering that right to the Election Day.

COSTELLO: Jackie, this issue of Obamacare, with the premiums rising 22 percent, I mean, when you take a look at the big picture -- and I always like to put things into perspective -- Obamacare serves only a small portion of the United States. What? Twenty million people are on Obamacare. There are over 300 million people in this country. So will that issue really resonate when you look at it that way?

KUCINICH: You know, it would if Donald Trump would take more advantage of this. This was a gift to him. He could have made this a bigger issue than he did, but he sort of muddied the waters when he talked about whether his employees are on Obamacare but they're not because most of his employees are covered by, you know, Donald Trump's company. So it is sort of missed opportunity for him. [09:10:07] Hillary Clinton hasn't been forced to talk about it. She

has said in the past that Obamacare needs to be fixed. But on this particular issue, she avoided it at a rally yesterday, and it's something that -- you know, it's up to the opponents to really press her on.

But the other thing I just want to say about the ads, the Clinton campaign, we see them go back to over and over again is children. This is for children. How you do explain this to children. How about our children's future? You saw that with the daughter's ad. You saw that, to an extent, with the Khizr Khan ad, the Gold Star Father who Donald Trump attacked. And you see it in one of the ads you didn't play, with Hillary Clinton talking to children. So that seems to be working for them, and you'll see that theme, I think, going forward, I mean, these last final days.

COSTELLO: Well, and then if you, you know, step back and look at it, Paul, I suppose you could say those ads are clearly targeted towards women.

KUCINICH: Yes.

SINGER: Oh, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, the Clinton campaign is focused very heavily on women, getting a turnout from women. She's leading in all the polls with women. And the past few months, we have seen an enormous growth in interest in the election by women on social media. It is very clear that she has an audience she feels like she can speak to, and it's going to be very powerful for her on Election Day.

COSTELLO: OK. So you guys stick around because we have an exciting second block to come.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the Donald Trump we see? Fearless. So what really scares him the most? New Trump tapes revealing much more about the mind of the candidate, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:44] COSTELLO: Donald Trump loves to fight and he hates to lose and he needs to be famous. These are all admissions from Trump himself in recently obtained audio tapes recorded during a 2014 interview with journalist Michael D'Antonio.

CNN's Kyung Lah has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You vote for her, you're crazy, OK? I'll tell you. She is the worse.

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a Donald Trump we don't often see. Not campaigning but instead contemplated, like when he talks about how he won't accept losing. D. TRUMP: You can be tough, and ruthless and all that stuff, and if

you lose a lot, nobody is going to follow you, because you're looked at as a loser. Winning is a very important thing and the most important aspect of leadership is winning. If you have a record of winning, people are going to follow you.

LAH: As we've seen this selection, this is a leader who enjoys a fight.

D. TRUMP: I like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.

LAH: And the tapes reveal that willingness began as a child.

INTERVIEWER: In eighth grade?

D. TRUMP: I loved to fight. I always loved to fight.

INTERVIEWER: Physical fights?

D. TRUMP: Yes, all kinds of fights, physical --

INTERVIEWER: Arguments?

D. TRUMP: All types of fights. Any kind of fight, I loved it, including physical.

LAH: Ex-wife Ivana Trump also sat down for a rare interview. Ivana explained how six months into their relationship, she saw how Trump reacted when she outskied him.

IVANA TRUMP: And then the ski instructor I told him, "Don't tell Donald that I can ski, OK? Because his ego, it's so big. He's not able to going to ski.

I went up. I went two flips up in the air, two flips (INAUDIBLE) in front of him. I disappeared.

Donald was so angry. He took off his skis, his ski boots and walked up the restaurant.

INTERVIEWER: So he left you?

IVANA TRUMP: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Wow.

IVANA TRUMP: He could not take it. He could not take it. He went foot bare up to the restaurant and said, "I'm not going to do this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) for anybody, including Ivana."

INTERVIEWER: Oh, jeez.

IVANA TRUMP: He could not take it, that I could do something better than he did.

LAH: For Trump, everything is a competition, especially business. TRUMP: I never had a failure, because I always turned a failure into

a success.

LAH: The theme weaves through his interviews, refusal to acknowledge any business failures.

TRUMP: I bought something and I throw it into a bankruptcy. I made an unbelievable deal. Wiped out a lot of the debt. Came back. The next day, I read the story, "Trump files bankruptcy." I get all these people that don't understand business saying oh, did you go bankrupt?

Do you understand that?

INTERVIEWER: You talk about this a lot.

TRUMP: I do. I always do because -- I'll tell you what I do. I always do because -- i'll tell you why I do. What always bothers me is false stuff. Untruths. That bothers me.

LAH: But what doesn't bother him -- fame. Trump admits, he needs it.

TRUMP: It's happened from the time I was fairly young.

INTERVIEWER: Did it unnerve you at first?

TRUMP: No.

INTERVIEWER: Or make you feel unsafe ever?

TRUMP: No. I think what would unnerve me, if it didn't happen.

LAH: He takes a moment to talk about marriage.

INTERVIEWER: When you think about balancing when you think about balancing your ambition and your relationship with people you love, what's changed over the years?

TRUMP: Well, it's very hard for somebody to be with me.

LAH: Ex-wife Ivana in her interview says what ended thirst after three children with him, Trump's affair with Marla Maples.

IVANA TRUMP: She's so stupid girl. She doesn't have a brains. I have no idea why Donald was doing with her. But she broke us our marriage because immediately when I find out his affair, I file for divorce.

INTERVIEWER: This is it?

IVANA TRUMP: I was the one, yeah. Because if you cannot trust your spouse, you know, it's over.

LAH: Trump upended the presidential election with much more than fiery rhetoric. The interview shows he did it with a singular, unyielding belief in himself. [09:20:04] TRUMP: The most important thing is being able to have the

proper vision and then never quitting. You know, a lot of people say, oh, you could never give up. Well, you can give up if you have a stupid vision.

So, I always say vision is the most important thing. You need a proper vision and then you have to have the ability to get it done.

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. So, let's talk about that.

Jackie Kucinich and Paul Singer back with now. So, Jackie, "The New York Times" released these tapes so voters could get a look at the real Trump. You know, they wanted the facade to drop.

Did that do it for you? Did you get a sense of a new Donald Trump by listening to these tapes?

KUCINICH: It was really fascinating. And not to, you know, play psychologist. But one of the things I found most fascinating about these tapes are some of things that Donald Trump fears the most -- weakness, failure, the whole litany of things is what he hates in other people and what he really goes after other people for. I mean, that sort of projection was really interesting and revealed in these tapes.

You've seen it parodied a little bit. You've seen that out there. But just to see it sort of reiterated through the tapes that were released by "The New York Times," was really interesting because we haven't really gotten to know Donald Trump the person as much in this campaign.

COSTELLO: Well, the most interesting part to me was when he talked about when actually his first wife, talked about that skiing trip, Paul, and said you know, he didn't even want to have anything to do with because she was a better skier than him, and then the first Mr. Trump -- Mrs. Trump, said that Donald Trump left her for a woman who was perhaps not as accomplished as she. And, I found that fascinating.

Your thought as a guy?

SINGER: Yes, as a guy. You know, speaking for all guys. It's kind of weird what really struck me about this whole thing is Donald Trump brand we talk about this forever.

Donald Trump's brand doesn't allow him to lose. You don't go to McDonald's for wine and you don't go to Donald Trump to lose. You only go to Donald Trump to win, right? He has to keep pushing that brand.

That's why you see this rigged media. He's not going to lose this election if Hillary Clinton wins, it will be stolen from him by an unfair process. The funny thing about that, watching this thing, Donald Trump defines failure as not being able to get on TV and not having your fame in the newspaper. Like to him, that is the great defeat is someone who can't get on TV and doesn't get their phone calls returned.

COSTELLO: -- deflected my question.

SNGER: Oh, sorry.

COSTELLO: No, it struck me because I think most modern marriages, people are partners and they support one another in every kind of endeavor. So, like if I did a great scheme feed and my husband saw it he would go, go Carol, he wouldn't refuse to ski any longer.

That's really competitive.

SINGER: That's what you would anticipate. But again Donald Trump operates in a different world than we do. He sees his life as the center point of any exercise.

COSTELLO: And, Jackie, had Donald Trump talked this way, and he sat down with a reporter, any reporter from any network and talked this way during the campaign, and showed his vulnerability, right? Would it have made a difference with independent voters and with women voters?

KUCINICH: It's hard to say, Carol, because, there have been so many things in this campaign that could have played. And I don't know that there was one silver bullet that would make him appealing to women voters, and you know, minorities, and independents, and anyone who is not voting for him right now. That's a tough question.

But I will say, in terms of your question to Paul about Ivana, one thing in the "Art of the Deal" that was really interesting is he said that when Ivana went to work on his hotel, I think it was one of the casinos, she did a really good job and she was really good at it, she would come home and want to talk about it.

And he didn't like that. He just wanted her in -- as the wife. He didn't want her as a business woman. And he said something to the effect of, you know, I'm not going to do this again. So, that sort of challenge to our point wasn't really -- isn't who Donald Trump is.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Jackie Kucinich, Paul Singer -- thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Newt Gingrich tackles the media on takes on Megyn Kelly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: You are fascinated with sex, and you don't care about public policy.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Me? Really?

GINGRICH: That's what I get out of watching you tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Hear what came before that epic clash, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:02] COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Newt Gingrich melts down, angrily accusing Megyn Kelly of FOX News of being obsessed with sex after she brought up the Billy Bush tape. You have to see it to know what I'm talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: The three major networks spent 23 minutes attacking Donald Trump that night, and 57 seconds on Hillary Clinton's secret speeches. You don't think this is a scale of bias worthy of (INAUDIBLE). I mean, you want to know why Donald Trump --

KELLY: If Trump is a sexual predator, that is --

GINGRICH: He's not a sexual predator. You can't say that --

KELLY: OK, that's your opinion. I'm not taking a position on it.

GINGRICH: You can't defend that statement.

KELLY: I'm not taking a position on it.

GINGRICH: I'm sick and tired of people like you, using language that's inflammatory that's not true.

KELLY: Excuse me, Mr. Speaker, you have no idea whether it's true or not. What we know is that there --

GINGRICH: Neither do you.

KELLY: That's right. And I'm not taking a position on it, unlike you.

GINGRICH: Yes, you are. When you use the words, you took a position. And it's very unfair of you to do that, Megyn. I think that is exactly the bias people are upset by.

KELLY: I think that your defensiveness on this may speak volumes, sir.

GINGRICH: No, let me suggest to you --