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ISIS and Iraqi Forces Prepare to Clash South of Mosul; Two Earthquakes Hit Central Italy within Hours; Trump Predicts "A Tremendous Victory"; Galaxy Note 7 Burns Q3 Earnings; Thousands Take to Venezuela's Streets in Protest; U.S. Defense Secretary Suspends Bonus Repayments; The Decline of Donald Trump's Brand; Seniors Will Play Large Role in Florida Vote. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired October 27, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:00:11] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour --
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: ISIS leaders may be fleeing Mosul as suicide squads are sent in to defend the city.
VAUSE: Two powerful earthquakes just hours apart rattle central Italy bringing down buildings and homes, leaving an entire village flattened.
SESAY: Up in flames. Samsung's profits plummet as the tech giant counts the costs from its exploding smart phones.
VAUSE: Hello everybody. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
VAUSE: Iraqi-led forces may face their toughest fight yet for a town south of Mosul. Hammam al Alil on the Tigris River is now surrounded. Witnesses report ISIS has sent in its most effective foreign fighters to defend the town. Iraqi commanders say six more villages were liberated on Wednesday. More than a thousand civilians held as human shields were set free.
SESAY: Meantime western plans to isolate Raqqa, Syria are accelerating. There are concerns the terror group will launch attacks from there. And witnesses say ISIS is sending suicide squads from Syria to Mosul.
VAUSE: Joining us now is CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona.
Colonel -- thank you for being with us.
Is this heavy use of suicide fighters a sign of desperation by ISIS.
LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, these are foreign fighters they're bringing in. Many are coming from Syria and they're moving them into Mosul. I think it's a sign of what we expected.
These foreign fighters really have nowhere to go. They can't fit in with the local population. So they're going the fight. And I think it shows a certain willingness of ISIS to fight for Mosul.
You remember, the Iraqis were hoping that ISIS would melt away and head off to Syria and we're not seeing that. Instead we're seeing people coming from Syria into Mosul. So the Iraqis really have to close off that western approach.
VAUSE: And what we've seen so far is that this offensive has been ahead of schedule. I wouldn't say it's been easy but it certainly has been moving much faster than expected given the presence of the foreign fighters and the asymmetrical warfare, setting fires to oil as well as sulfur factories -- that kind of thing. This now appears to be the moment when it starts to get very difficult.
FRANCONA: I think so. You're seeing some of the Iraqi units getting bogged down. This was the ISIS plan. They wanted to blunt that speed, that offensive. They wanted to slow them down and make them pay a price for each town, each village they take and the use of these suicide car bombs.
And some of the commanders are reporting hundreds of these car bombs are very, very effective by ISIS. It causes the units to slow down and have to engage them and, of course, they have to take each village, root all these guys out. They're dug in. So it's starting to bog down in some areas although on the eastern flanks the Kurds and the Iraqi army seem to be doing a fairly good job there.
So I would say things are going according to plan but I think the reality of just how difficult this is going to be has set in with the Iraqis.
VAUSE: Many of those suicide bombers actually say they're coming from Raqqa, that's the ISIS stronghold in Syria. U.S. commandos of the anti-ISIS forces explain why there is now a new generation to begin an offensive on Raqqa. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. STEPHEN J. TOWNSEND, ANTI-ISIS COALITION COMMANDER: We think there's an imperative to get isolation in place around Raqqa because our intelligence feeds tell us that there is a significant external operations attacks planning going on emanating centralized in Raqqa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: There's no details on what that threat might be, what the attack might be but for the commander of anti-ISIS forces to go public and say that they are now moving within weeks to surround Raqqa, what does that tell you about the significance of the threat coming from Raqqa.
FRANCONA: Well, this was expected. They knew that once they begin the assault on Mosul that we may see reprisals being launched from Raqqa. Now we see the coalition forces saying they're going to start the isolation of Raqqa. And they need to do that.
But remember, John -- just a few weeks ago they said they were going to begin the isolation of Mosul and they have yet to accomplish that. There're still wide-open holes around Mosul.
So if they are going to go into Raqqa they're going to have to get more forces in place to do that. And what they have right now is not sufficient to do that.
VAUSE: Yes. It's a very different calculation, the Raqqa offensive compared to what is happening right now in Mosul. Everyone is saying Raqqa will be a lot more difficult.
Colonel -- thank you for being with us.
FRANCONA: Sure thing -- John.
SESAY: Well, air strikes killed 35 people in Syria, including at least 11 children. A monitoring group says a school complex hit in Idlib on Wednesday included an elementary and middle school.
[00:05:05] VAUSE: The head of UNICEF said it would be a war crime if the school was deliberately targeted. Idlib is near Aleppo -- it has the largest populated area controlled by Syrian rebels.
SESAY: Turning to Europe now, a mayor in central Italy says their small village doesn't exist any more. Two powerful earthquakes hit on Wednesday not far from where a quake killed almost 300 people just two months ago.
VAUSE: A 6.1 magnitude quake hit near Perugia on Wednesday night. About two hours earlier, a 5.5 magnitude quake hit nearby. So far, no fatalities have been reported.
SESAY: Our Barbie Nadeau joins us now from the Campi, Italy near the epicenter of these quakes. Barbie -- good to have you with us.
The first of these two quakes struck around 7:00 p.m. local time. What can you tell us about the impact?
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you can look right behind me. I don't know if you can see. This is a 15th century church that was fairly damaged in that first quake at 10 minutes after 7:00, the 5.5. And it completely collapsed two hours later. That's the sort of damage we're seeing.
There's so much structural damage in these strong aftershocks and these strong earthquakes. We have had aftershock after aftershock and we felt it here. We felt them all around the area. And people are terrified out there -- a lot of people who have been living in hotels and in tents since that August earthquake who have been displaced again. And they don't know what to do.
There's no sense that this is just an incident that is over. They feel like they are just living this nightmare over and over again. Like you said, we have had no fatalities with the exception of one man who local media says had a heart attack. But that can't really be counted in the earthquake fatality.
We have seen a lot of damage though on the highways coming up. Many of the roads are closed. I think we'll start to see some more reports here at first light in the next hour or so when the rescue officials can get out to the outlying areas.
This whole part of Italy is characteristic of the tiny roads and stone villages and small enclaves that have been very difficult to reach. It has been raining all night long -- it's stopped now, thank goodness. But that has been hampering the rescue officials and that's going to make it a little bit easier because they're fearful of mudslides, they're fearful of all sorts of things that will hamper the rescue operation as they move forward.
Let's hope that the fatalities stay at zero. Let's hope that the injuries are minor.
One of the things that's actually in some strange way a silver lining, so many people have left the area in august. We're not seeing a lot of people even in the area right now. They've let their homes because of previous damage.
SESAY: Yes. That is a silver lining in this horrible situation.
Barbie you mentioned rescue workers arriving at first light. So what kind of emergency response is in place right now? Is anything being done?
NADEAU: Well there, are civil protection authorities around and there are police officers and there are some fire brigade officials. You know, if someone calls for help they go to that location. But a lot of the phone lines are out. There's not a lot of electricity in certain areas. They will be able to really start combing the area at first light.
It is very dark here. It's a very rural area. There aren't a lot of street lights. There's not a lot of light pollution in the area. It's sort of just pitch black, especially foggy right now. It's raining. So they're really not able to tell at first glance, even with a spotlight what kind of damage there might be at a farmhouse or in a small enclave.
They are just waiting primarily here hear for people calling for help and then they're going to go out and start looking. What we saw in August with the earthquake, you know, when some of these old stone buildings were just flattened into rubble, it was impossible for people to call for help.
So what they're going to do is really comb the area as soon as they can get out there. But again, they are worried about the roads. They're worried about getting heavy equipment on some of these narrow roads. They've closed some of the highways and things like that. So more light will help them -- that's going to be on their side in the next hour or so.
SESAY: Our Barbie Nadeau reporting there from Campi, Italy near the epicenter of these two earthquakes. Barbie -- we appreciate it. Thank you.
SESAY: Let's talk politics, shall we? Donald Trump is barnstorming the battleground states with stops in North Carolina and Florida. He also visited Washington blocks from the White House for the opening of his new hotel.
VAUSE: There are less than two weeks now until Election Day. Some are asking why he is promoting his business and not spending all his time trying to win over undecided voters.
Here's how Mr. Trump reacted to a question from our Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You have been covering me for the last -- long time. I did, yesterday, eight stops and three major speeches and I've been doing this for weeks straight. I left here -- I left there for an hour and a half. I'm going to North Carolina right now. Then I'm going to Florida. I'm going up to New Hampshire.
[00:10:02] or you to ask me that question is actually very insulting. Because Hillary Clinton does one stop and then she goes home and sleeps. And yet you'll ask me that question. I think it's a very rude question to be honest with you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: It may be rude but a lot of people are asking it. Joining us here in Los Angeles, Ron Brownstein, CNN's senior political analyst, also senior editor for "The Atlantic". It has been so long. Welcome back.
(CROSSTALK)
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's been a long and a winding road out there. There's an election going on.
VAUSE: You have not stopped.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I've heard that. That's my excuse. Good to be back. Good to be back.
VAUSE: Ok. So when Donald Trump was not campaigning in the great battleground district of Washington, D.C.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
VAUSE: He was in North Carolina today and he was talking about his poll numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: You see the new polls coming out where we're really doing well. We're going to win North Carolina. We're going to win Florida, too. We're going the win Ohio and we're going to win Iowa. Yes, we're winning a lot of states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ok, very quickly. Let's go through those numbers because in North Carolina, a "New York Times" poll has Clinton ahead by seven points. Florida, Bloomberg has Trump ahead by two within the margin of error. In Ohio it's a dead heat. In Iowa, the last -- this is three weeks ago, Trump was up by four. A lot has happened since then. Ron -- how is that winning?
BROWNSTEIN: Look, the first problem is there's so much polling now that every day there's contradictory results. I mean the Bloomberg poll that has for example Trump ahead in Florida is the only one in weeks. And in fact the leading business group in the state which does terrific polling in the state had a memo leaked over the weekend in which they said Clinton is consistently ahead three to five points and they don't see any way to close that gap.
So, I mean we have a lot of contradictory information all the time. The general thrust, I think of where we are, is that you look at national polling, Donald Trump is behind somewhere in the range of six to nine points. And if he's behind six to nine points nationally, almost all of the swing states are going to break against him.
If that's where the race really is nationally and again, the structure of the race as we talked about is he had trouble getting above 42 percent even before his latest problems. With the problems he's having trouble getting above 40 percent nationally. It's still an uphill climb for him in most of these swing states.
SESAY: Is the race moving in the way you would expect it to statistically?
BROWNSTEIN: I think it's actually -- there's been a lot of structure, you know. We've talked about this. I mean again, because there's so much polling, every day we feel like we're on a roller coaster.
But in fact, the basic construct of this race where Donald Trump is maintaining a very substantial advantage, perhaps the biggest advantage for any Republican since Ronald Reagan among non-college white voters. So states there are a lot of non-college white voters particularly some of those Midwestern battlegrounds like Ohio and Iowa, he has been competitive.
On the other hand he is facing big deficits among voters of color, minority voters. He's going to lose them by somewhere between 50 and 60 points and he is underperforming literally any Republican nominee ever in the history of polling among college educated whites --
SESAY: Ever.
BROWNSTEIN: -- ever. Ever. So you know, you look at states like Virginia and Colorado that we're not even talking about --
VAUSE: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: -- that were reliably red in the 90s and in the first part of this century were swing states s So that -- you know, Pennsylvania actually kind of fits into that. So the pathways for Trump are very, very narrow and the fact that he is still going to places like New Hampshire where he is down so much and Mike Pence is in Utah kind of tells you all you need to know.
VAUSE: Ok. On Tuesday night there was an extraordinary exchange between Megyn Kelly and the former house speaker Newt Gingrich. Let's play it again because it's TV gold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: If Trump is a sexual predator that is --
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: He's not a sexual predator.
KELLY: -- ok. That is your opinion. I'm not taking a position on it.
GINGRICH: You can't say that. You could not defend that statement.
KELLY: I am not taking a position on it.
GINGRICH: I'm sick and tired of people like you using language that is inflammatory that's not true. You want to go back to the tapes of your show recently you are fascinated with sex and you don't care about public policy. That's what I get out of watching you tonight.
KELLY: Really?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And today, Donald Trump kept the story alive. One more from Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: By the way, congratulations, Newt, on last night. That was an amazing interview. That was an amazing -- we don't play games, Newt, right? We don't play games.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: No country for old men. Why does someone down 20 points with women keep that story going?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, it's hard to say. I mean look, Donald Trump is doing just fine with white guys over 50 who are kind of angry about the way the country is going. And yet his principal surrogates -- Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani are all, you know, kind of in that mold and kind of very confrontational with other segments of the electorate. He does have a big problem with women particularly college-educated white women.
You know, the polling as I said is all over the place on a lot of fronts. But one thing it is consistent about is that Donald Trump is going to lose college-educated white women by significantly more than any Republican nominee ever.
One other point -- the Donald Trump candidacy has torn apart every institution on the right. Every single one is in some version a civil war over Donald Trump. And what's happening at Fox News with Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity. I mean it is being -- writ large and everywhere -- every institution.
[00:15:04] And what happens after this campaign if he stays on the track that he's on and doesn't win, is there an insurrection against Paul Ryan? I mean the Trump candidacy is just cleaving the Republican coalition in a way that's not going to end on November 8th, whatever happens.
SESAY: The aftershocks will continue.
BROWNSTEIN: As we're seeing elsewhere -- yes.
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: We have so much more to get to.
SESAY: I know. We barely scratched the surface.
VAUSE: Ron -- so stick around for the next hour.
SESAY: Next hour.
BROWNSTEIN: Next hour.
SESAY: Thank you.
VAUSE: Thanks -- Ron.
SESAY: All right. Now the world's largest smart phone maker just saw its quarterly profits go up in smoke. Samsung's earnings are down 30 percent over this time last year.
VAUSE: The Korean electronics company lost nearly $2 billion. It's revenue is down more than $3 billion mostly due to a massive recall of Galaxy Note 7 phones after they burst into flames.
SESAY: Well our own Alexandra Fields is live for us in Seoul, South Korea with much more this. Alexandra -- when your phones start going up in flames you know you're going to be in trouble. I know Samsung executives were already bracing themselves for a dismal third quarter profit -- or report, I should say.
ALEXANDRA FIELDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right -- Isha. Look, this was an international debacle, and international embarrassment for Samsung. They had to project that there were going to be major losses during the third quarter and they did exactly that. They came out earlier this month. They put out a statement saying they projected these kinds of losses. Those losses were confirmed when they put out their earnings statements today.
But they are projecting a more rosy outlook for the fourth quarter. They're saying that they believe that there will be a recovery because of the sales of the S7 and the S7 Edge -- those are two other mobile phones that Samsung makes.
That said, you have to take into account the fact that analysts are estimating that the Note 7 debacle could cost the company billions of dollars well into 2017, in fact through the first six months of 2017. And you will see a continued fall out from the Note 7 debacle in the fourth quarter considering the timeline of the events that took place between the recall and then the decision to actually go ahead and terminate the production of those phones.
And, look, what's happening with Samsung doesn't just matter for Samsung -- this major company. It really matters for all of South Korea. This is a company that is very closely tied to the South Korean economy.
You have an economy here that is heavily dependent on export-related companies -- three of them to be specific. Samsung is of course, the most prominent of those companies. And just this week you had the central bank coming out with the third quarter GDP numbers. They showed a slowdown from the second quarter and the central bank actually went ahead and said that some of that slowdown was a direct result of the problems that Samsung and other major companies faced in that quarter -- Isha.
SESAY: Well, some far-reaching impact there. Alexandra Fields joining us there from Seoul, South Korea. Many thanks.
VAUSE: We will take a short break.
And when we come back, rising tensions in Venezuela as pro and anti government protests turn violent. All the details in just a moment.
[00:17:53] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Welcome back -- everyone.
A police officer was killed in a day of violent street protests in Venezuela; an interim minister adds that more than 100 people were injured.
VAUSE: Thousands of demonstrators are demanding a nationwide vote to recall President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of violating the constitution. They're also angry about an economy in freefall.
SESAY: Mr. Maduro's supporters also showed up at a pro-government rally in the capital. He says the opposition is trying to stage a coup.
Joining us now on the line from Caracas is journalist Stephen Gibbs. Stephen -- thanks so much for being with us. Street protests are nothing new in Venezuela and on Wednesday we saw yet again people take to the streets across the country. I'm wondering whether this feels like more of the same or whether it feels different, potentially a turning point for the country.
STEPHEN GIBBS, JOURNALIST (via telephone): That's a good question. Yes, certainly opposition supporters are getting pretty used to marching but I think that the opposition has a different tactic at the moment. And that is giving a bit of warning. Saying we are going to do this. This is going to be a big even and it's going to happen on this date.
The opposition is beginning to show look, we can do this. We're actually more popular than the government and we can prove it on the streets. So yes, something is going on.
But you know, let's not count out the government of President Maduro. He still has his supporters and crucially, he has the key institutions on his side -- the army, the intelligence forces, the police. So he's -- it's not over all yet but certainly something's happening here.
SESAY: Yes, and Stephen, do you think that with the opposition leaders calling for more protests -- I know that they are calling for a national strike on Friday -- will the government allow these demonstrations to continue?
GIBBS: I think they have little choice. I mean it's always the question when you have, you know, the beginnings of an uprising. At what point do the people in power which are the people with the arms, really, at what point do they say "this stops" and how do they stop it?
The opposition has been very clear that this is going to be a peaceful demonstration. And the government, too, says it's important that all this happens peacefully. But, yes, there is at some stage possibly the government is going to have to make a decision of how it stops this or whether it will end.
SESAY: You mentioned the recall referendum which was forcibly halted in recent days. We know that the national assembly, which is led by the opposition, is basically now calling for President Maduro to appear for questioning next week to decide whether to recommend he be removed from office.
Both sides appear to be at an impasse. The Vatican, as you know, is set to mediate talks between the sides this weekend. Can any common ground be found here?
GIBBS: You know, I think there is a little bit of hope because I think when people think carefully about this do they want to take this to the ultimate conclusion, which is a sort of street conflict, perhaps between the two sides. I don't think anyone in the opposition wants that, really. I mean majority of the opposition wouldn't want that. And the government will want to avoid that.
I mean, the core problem with this is in some ways the nature of the government. The government believes it is leading a revolution and the revolution some would say. And (inaudible) an all or nothing mentality now things have changed which is their country with the economy in deep crisis, the days of the oil boom when the previous president, Hugo Chavez was in power, and he could (inaudible) -- those days are over and so the government has to adapt living with a powerful opposition. And it's a protest that both sides are fighting quite hard to adapt to.
SESAY: Yes. They surely are. Stephen Gibbs, joining us there on the line from Caracas -- we very much appreciate it. Thank you so much.
GIBBS: Thank you.
VAUSE: U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is suspending efforts to collect millions of dollars in reenlistment bonuses from U.S. soldiers.
SESAY: As we first reported Monday, bonuses were paid ten years ago to some members of the California National Guard who didn't actually qualify. Recruiters were under pressure to meet enlistment targets for Iraq and Afghanistan.
I spoke to former Army Sergeant Robert Richmond. He told me how the collections efforts ruined his business plans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[00:20:02] ROBERT RICHMOND, FORMER ARMY SERGEWANT: And when I went to get the loan, the Army had just placed on my three credit reports that I hadn't paid this $15,000 debt that I owed to them. It devastated my financial ability and I ended up placing everything I had on credit cards and worked on this project until I ran out of money and it left my family in dire needs, it really did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Pentagon says about 4,000 service members will keep the bonuses. Another 3,000 are out of the military and difficult to find.
SESAY: Well, there's some good news for some folks there.
VAUSE: Yes. (inaudible)
SESAY: Yes.
Taking a quick break now here.
Coming up Donald Trump's brand is taking a hit including New York tenants demanding the billionaire's his name be removed from their apartment building.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back -- everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour.
Iraqi commanders say six more villages are free of ISIS militants as forces advance closer to Mosul. The troops face a key battle for a town south of Mosul. Witnesses say ISIS moved its best foreign fighters there to defend it.
VAUSE: Two powerful earthquakes hit central Italy not far from where a quake killed almost 300 people just two months ago. A 6.1 magnitude quake hit near Perugia on Wednesday night; about two hours earlier, a 5.5 magnitude quake hit nearby. So far no fatalities have been reported.
SESAY: France plans to bulldoze the Calais migrant camp known as "the jungle". More than 5,000 people have been sent to shelters as evictions began Monday. The camp was a symbol of Europe's migrant crisis with thousands flocking there hoping to make it to the U.K.
[00:30:03] VAUSE: Samsung electronics lost nearly $2 billion in profits during its third quarter. That's 30 percent over the same time last year. The world's biggest smartphone maker had to stop production of its Galaxy Note 7 after numerous reports that the device exploded and caught fire.
SESAY: Well, it's Donald Trump's biggest asset, his name. But since announcing his bid for the White House, his brand has taken a significant hit.
VAUSE: From a fall in hotel bookings to threats of boycott, his billion dollar business actually may be on a downward spiral. We get more now from Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump in business mode. His presidential bid on brief halt.
TRUMP: As soon as we're finished cutting the ribbon, I'm off to North Carolina, New Hampshire and back down to Florida.
MARQUEZ: But the suggestion by CNN's Dana Bash that he is putting business ahead of politics?
TRUMP: For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting because Hillary Clinton does one stop and then she goes home and sleeps.
MARQUEZ: Trump's brand, his name, being hammered literally on Hollywood's Walk of Fame over remarks he's made on and off the campaign trail.
Three democratic Senators urging the U.S. Golf Association to move the women's tournament from Trump's New Jersey golf club. The USGA for now says it's staying but in June a PGA tournament moved from Trump's Florida golf club to Mexico when enough sponsorships couldn't be acquired.
At some Manhattan buildings bearing the Trump name, residents now petitioning to have the golden letters removed.
MARJORIE JACOBS, TRUMP PLACE RESIDENT: Why should he get part of my rent and why should his name be on there?
MARQUEZ: There are signs, Trump's White House bid is hurting his brand. His latest hotel not called "Trump" at all, instead "Scion." Serta mattress, Macy's and Univision have already cut ties with Trump.
Today, protests outside Trump's new DC hotel as he cut the official ribbon inside. Chef Jose Andres pulled his restaurant from the project over the candidate's remarks about immigration. Trump sued and in a deposition insisted everything on the business front is a-OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What impact do you think your political campaign has had on the success of your hotels?
TRUMP: I don't think it's had much.
MARQUEZ: But at his Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is now under pressure to move its yearly fundraiser to a new location. The foundation declined to comment to CNN.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: All right. Well, we're joined now by sociologist Anna Akbari. She's also the author of "Startup Your Life: Hustle and Hack Your Way to Happiness."
It's so good to have you with us. So the Trump brand taking a hit. We are already seeing that during the course of this campaign.
Give us your view. If the brand prove they stood for high-end exclusive luxury, what does it stand for now?
ANNA AKBARI, AUTHOR, "STARTUP YOUR LIFE: HUSTLE AND HACK YOUR WAY TO HAPPINESS": Well, I think that is what we're figuring out. And I think honestly that's what Trump's team, what his brand is trying to figure out. I see this new venture as in a way being an experiment for them to see if his demographic has shifted, which we know had, you know, his demographic has not been sort of seen as this luxury, exclusive, New York City demographic during the campaign.
And so, perhaps, with this sort of luxury for the masses approach that they're taking now, you know, perhaps that's what he is exploring in terms of the new products he might roll out in the future.
VAUSE: Yes, before he started his campaign, it would be safe to say that Trump's supporters were not traditional Trump customers, right?
AKBARI: That's correct.
VAUSE: OK. Trump has always believe, though, that all publicity is good publicity.
AKBARI: That's right.
VAUSE: Are we now at the point where maybe that isn't quite true?
AKBARI: Well, yes, I wonder, though, would Trump agree with that, you know. I mean, I think we could agree that, yes, the publicity. And I bet his family would agree as well, because they are really feeling, I think, the hit for their brand. But for Trump, you know, I would wager to say that we have not seen the last of him putting his name on his products.
That this is just sort of a detour or something that they are doing until perhaps their time is able to pass after the election.
SESAY: Well, that's a good point.
AKBARI: Yes.
SESAY: Can you rehabilitate the brand? I mean with other high profile individuals who have taken a dip into their reputation like Martha Stewart, I mean, what's the process? Is it successful the effort to rehabilitate the brand?
AKBARI: Well, I do have to wonder if his brand will ever be sort of what it was, but we know that he's also a person who has experienced bankruptcy before. It's not that he has never failed. And, you know, he says that he has never really truly failed because he learned from his failures, but we have to wonder how much he's really learned because to grow from failure, you really have to be capable of and willing to self reflect. And he has stated himself that that is not something he likes to engage in.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Not one of his strengths.
AKBARI: No.
VAUSE: What we have seen, though, in this election campaign is that it wasn't just he was associated with his brand because his name was on all the buildings, he's actively campaigned on his business experience and the luxury of the hotels and marvels, oh, it's beautiful, all this kind of stuff.
He was in Scotland during Brexit. He was, you know, promoting his golf course. When he was admitting that President Obama was actually born in the United States, it was promotion for the same DC hotel that he was at.
Today, if he had actually quarantined the business in some way and not involve it so personally in his campaign, would they be going through the same amount of trouble that they are now?
AKBARI: Yes, I think it would, because, again, here is someone who has put his name in gold letters on everything. So he wasn't sort of a subtle CEO-type figure off to the side of this brand. He was the brand in many ways. And even now that he is sort of shunning the media, he is still -- he's holding his nightly sort of news conferences on Facebook, from the Trump Towers, right? So he is completely blending the two. He's going all in on that.
SESAY: All in. He is the brand, the brand is him. So to remove his name from any buildings or to go this covert way, you have to think, it's going to be personally painful for him given what we know of his personality type.
AKBARI: I would argue that it would be more painful for him to remove his name from the brand than to lose the election.
VAUSE: What about the fallout for the family, because you did touch on this. Because his daughter, Ivanka, she has her own, her own successful clothing line. And it does seem to be able to -- and maybe that's feeling the fallout for the election campaign, because she's not just a daughter, she's actively involved.
SESAY: Yes, she's a business woman.
AKBARI: One has to wonder sort of what those conversations look like behind closed doors, you know, and what pressure he is getting. And also, you know, how receptive he is even from his own children.
VAUSE: The name, according to Donald Trump, is worth $3 billion. That's what he said. November 9th, we'll find out what really is worth.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: We're checking all the ballot.
Anna, we appreciate it. Anna Akbari, thank you so much.
AKBARI: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
SESAY: Good luck with the book.
VAUSE: Thanks for coming in.
SESAY: Thank you.
Well, time for a quick break. Trump has a new narrow lead in the battleground state. But could the race for the White House come down to retirees? We'll chat about it over dessert -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Florida, crucial in this U.S. presidential election like it always is. 29 electoral votes could help decide the winner.
A new poll as we told you earlier shows Donald Trump with a very narrow lead, 2 percentage points. All the polls put Hillary Clinton in the lead. But that "Bloomberg" poll has a significant shift from earlier in the month when Clinton was way ahead.
SESAY: Trump is doing well with older voters there. Florida is home to more senior citizens than any other state.
Richard Quest sat down with some Clinton supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so glad you could come and you're so prompt.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Oh, I say. Hands up for Hillary. Everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are we here?
QUEST: Hands up for Donald Trump. Did you never even think for a moment that you might like to flirt with Trump?
IRENE SCHERER, FLORIDA DEMOCRAT: Absolutely not. Never. Never. In his mind, I wouldn't have been pretty enough.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good answer.
QUEST: Could the Republicans have ever put up any candidate against Hillary that you would have found acceptable.
SUE SULTAN-DONNER, FLORIDA DEMOCRAT: No, no. Because she so clearly reflects exactly what I want.
QUEST: Which is what?
SULTAN-DONNER: Social safety net. I want, I want health care. I not only want to protect the nation, I want to protect the people.
MAURINE ACLIER, FLORIDA DEMOCRAT: I am very lucky to have great granddaughters and I want women to be respected forever and always. So it's all about the Supreme Court.
LARRY BLUM, FLORIDA DEMOCRAT: I firmly believe that the election is not going to be close. I think that the Republicans will be in such disarray that in order to maintain themselves as the number two major party, that they're going to have to rethink their arguments, their collaborations.
SULTAN-DONNER: I wish that I could be optimistic. I'm grateful that she's going to have the opportunity. I think the Republicans will be recalcitrant. I don't think they're going to want in any way to make life easy for her.
QUEST: Oh, look at that cake. No one's having any cake!
When you voted today, what was in your head, in your heart? SANDY BLUM, FLORIDA DEMOCRAT: When I voted, it was like a relief. I'd been talking about it and talking about it for such a long time and now it's over.
QUEST: You've admitted you voted for Hillary Clinton. But did you do so enthusiastically?
S. BLUM: Enthusiastically, lovingly.
QUEST: When you voted, what were you thinking?
ALBERT DONNER, FLORIDA DEMOCRAT: I was thinking, look at this line, it's pretty large.
QUEST: Even in early voters.
DONNER: How wonderful it was -- it seemed to me because for the simple reason that we're mainly Democrats here. And I said, boy, Hillary's going to do well.
QUEST: The cake is excellent. I may be tempted by another slice, if I may.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: He's on the best road trip.
VAUSE: He's got a mustang. Mustang? A convertible? It was a Mustang and cake.
SESAY: And cake. I'm more focused on the cake than the car.
VAUSE: There we are.
SESAY: All right. Well, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. "World Sport" with Kate Riley is up next and we'll have another hour of news from all around the world. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.
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