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Epic Presidential Race Tightening After FBI Announces New E- Mail Probe; Biden Comments on New FBI Probe, Anthony Weiner; Clinton Campaign Reacts to New FBI E-mail Probe; DOJ Unhappy with FBI Director for Coming Forward with New E-mail Information; October Surprises Nothing New, Could Threaten Race Outcome. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 29, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: If you thought there was only one October surprise this election, think again. Just 10 days before you go to the polls, another stunner that can shake this all up.

I'm Poppy Harlow. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. It's the top of the hour.

If you thought this was a predictable election, take another look. The epic race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is now significantly tighter, because of a game-changer that jolted this race less than 24 hours ago, FBI Director James Comey's announcement of a brand new review of e-mails potentially tied to Clinton's private e- mail server.

For Donald Trump, it is fresh ammunition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the biggest political scandal since Watergate. And it is everybody's deepest hope that justice at last can be properly delivered.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The Clinton camp hitting back, demanding the FBI come forward with all that it knows immediately.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER (voice- over): It is now incumbent upon Director Comey to immediately provide the American people with more information than what is contained in his letter. He owes the public the full story or else he shouldn't have cracked open this door in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: CNN's new poll of polls shows a five-point spread between Clinton, 47 percent and Trump, 42 percent. All of this is happening now in an extremely critical day on the campaign trail. Clinton and Trump are racing across battleground states and pivoting on the fly and testing their new strategies in response to the FBI's new announcement.

FBI Director James Comey defying the objection of Justice Department officials by sending this letter to Congress, sent to both Democrats and Republicans. He wrote, quote, "In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear to pertain to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these e-mails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation."

Comey says right now the FBI can't assess whether of not these have significant material in them or not. And we don't know how long it might take for the FBI to pour through all of these and come to a determination. There could be thousands.

FBI Director Comey breaking with long-standing practice not to comment publicly about politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of an election.

Justice Department officials now acknowledge there is little they can do because of the fallout from this day. Do you remember it? Back on June 27th, when former President Bill Clinton boarded Loretta Lynch's plane on the tarmac in Phoenix. They had a private conversation not long before the Clinton e-mail investigation was wrapped up. The optics were anything but good for Hillary Clinton.

So what led the FBI to these new e-mails, as if it couldn't get any more bizarre, 10 days out? It comes back to disgraced New York former congressman, Anthony Weiner. The newly surfaced e-mails were found on at least one computer used by Huma Abedin, his estranged wife. Abedin has been by Clinton's side for the better part of two decades. A separate FBI investigation into his sexting allegations with an under- aged minor is what led the feds to this computer and these new e- mails. Again, whether they contain classified information or anything significant we don't know at this point.

CNN political reporter, Sara Murray, is traveling with the Trump campaign. She joins me from Golden, Colorado, where Donald Trump just held a rally.

Sara, they thought there might be another turn on the Clinton camp. They didn't expect this kind of turn. Trump is not missing a beat, capitalizing on it, is he?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's absolutely right, Poppy. Even though the FBI is essentially say, we don't know what we will find, we don't know if it will be anything significant, Donald Trump is using this as an indication that Hillary Clinton is very guilty, and not only that, that her top aides are. He went after Huma Abedin, a close aide to Hillary Clinton, as well as Anthony Weiner, on the stump today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If you check out the tweets or if you check out whatever it is I wrote about him, it was so perfect. I said, I can't -- that was done a long time ago. They found, by looking at Anthony Weiner -- a major, major, major sleeze -- they found what may be some of the 33,000 missing and deleted e-mails.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: I wonder, is she going to keep Huma? Huma has been a problem. Do we agree? Huma. Huma has been a problem. I wonder if Huma is going to stay there. I hope they haven't given Huma immunity, because it seems that everybody that walked down the sidewalk got immunity. And I hope they haven't given Huma immunity, because it seems that everybody that walked down the sidewalk got immunity. I hope they haven't given Huma immunity because she knows the real story. She knows what's going on. She knows what's going on. The sad thing is -- and this is one of the things I said -- how can you have all of this incredible, confidential, secret information, and have your top person married to this guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:44] MURRAY: Of course, we don't know what's in those e-mails. Investigators are going to sift through it. It gives you a sense of what a political gift this is for the Trump campaign. It is allowing him to go out on the stump and essentially paint Hillary Clinton as guilty before we know what's in these e-mails -- Poppy?

HARLOW: You heard him bring up again that this is akin to General Petraeus and look what he got as a result. There are a lot of differences there. He is going back to that line which he used a few months ago.

Thank you, Sara.

Let's talk this over with our panel. With me is Josh Rogan, "Washington Post" columnist; Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker; and CNN legal analyst, Laura Coates, also a federal prosecutor.

Ryan Lizza, the problem is the voters don't have much information at all to go on. In this letter, come acknowledges, quote, "The FBI cannot assess whether or not this is significant." What are voters supposed to do with this?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is difficult. None of us have all the information. The more I thought about this, I do believe that it is an important principle here that the Justice Department has, this rule, though it is not in law, it is a guideline, that 60 days before an election, investigations that are politically sensitive -- are just not common, and in some in the reporting, it has been said today that sometimes they don't even issue subpoenas, because they might leak out. But this is an extraordinary circumstance in that Comey -- think about it -- he is being told by the leadership of the Justice Department, including reportedly Loretta Lynch, the attorney general. But he has also promised or also testified before Congress that he has wrapped up this investigation. I think if Bill Clinton hadn't wandered onto the attorney general's plane a few months ago and made her sort of a political lightning rod in this case, that maybe Comey wouldn't have sent the letter. The fact that he was being told not to by Justice Department leadership, might have had the opposite effect. He might have said, if it comes out after that I didn't disclose this, that might be worse.

HARLOW: But then, Josh, is he then trying to save face for the bureau, for the FBI? Frankly, it was unprecedented when he came out in July and held that press conference and made those remarks saying she was extremely careless but no prosecutor would actually have a case here. That alone, those comments alone, were unprecedented. Because he did that, he felt like he had to do this.

JOSH ROGAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's exactly right. If we are to believe that James Comey did this to protect his own reputation and that of his institution, that came at the expense of the greater issue, not just Hillary Clinton, but also the public understanding. He has released just enough information to stir controversy, but not enough information to figure out what's going on.

And it is not about the last 60 days. I have been covering national security for over a decade. The FBI almost never comments on an on- going investigation, 60 days, a year, three years. There is a good reason for that. Tiny bits of information can have an outside affect, especially when they are exaggerated for politics.

HARLOW: But, Josh, let me push back on that. I've been thinking a lot about that. We have been hearing a lot about that in the last 24 hours. This unwritten rule of 60 days out in a political race, you don't comment. Isn't that, one could argue, the most important time to comment to give voters the totality of the information, right? They are voting for the next commander-in-chief. They are voting for their next leader. Don't they deserve to know what's going on but not in drips and drabs?

ROGAN: I don't think so. There is no totality. Unless they release every single transcript, which they are not going to do, it is always somebody curating and deciding what the public has a right to know.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Laura, jump in here.

Lonnie Davis, a former attorney with the Clintons, and a big Clinton supporter, he is going to be on the show later tonight with me, he said, bring 200, 300 agents in and we'll work around the clock for the next 24 hours and we'll just put all the e-mails you have out into the public domain and let people pour through them themselves. That is feasible.

[15:10:01] LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is. Poppy, the thing here is the court of public opinion may thrive on innuendos but the court of law does not. The FBI's role is in the court of law, to say, here are the facts and the evidence we have. When you have generic or vague descriptions that you may have a box that says Hillary on it and we are going to draw conclusions based on that generic, nonspecific basis, you are left with just having innuendo. That's the reason the Justice Department does not want pending investigations commented on. Not because of the timing, not just because of timing, not just because it is a presidential election, not because of Hillary Clinton, but because we do not know what those e-mails contain.

Perhaps the more prudent course -- you are right -- perhaps was not to talk about it in July but also, if I can just be a little more fair to Comey for a second, and say, Loretta Lynch did something that was unprecedented as well when she said, prior to Comey's July press conference, I am just going to defer to the finding of the FBI in terms of their decision whether or not to charge. She removed herself from her key role, which is prosecutorial discretion. James Comey has run with that torch ever since. It has had a domino effect that is more than inconvenient to Hillary Clinton. It is politically unpalatable to every voter.

HARLOW: Remember, Ryan Lizza, she quickly said that, after Bill Clinton walked on to her plane for 30 minutes, she came out after and said, we only talked about golf and grandkids and I'm going to go with the FBI here.

LIZZA: It was the right thing to do.

COATES: Yeah.

LIZZA: I agree with you, Poppy, the point you are making before. The more I had thought about this is, as a journalist, my view is more disclosure is always better. The voters are not children. They are getting a lot of information about what's going on. I think people can process this decision about whether they are really bothered by this one way or another.

HARLOW: Guys, thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: I've got to get a break in. You'll be back. I promise. Thank you all very much.

Vice President Joe Biden is weighing in on the latest chapter in this Clinton e-mail controversy in a wide-ranging, fascinating exclusive interview with our Michael Smerconish. He reveals his honest opinion about Anthony Weiner and what he thinks the FBI director should do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, SMERCONISH: What worries me, Mr. Vice President, is that folks are going to go to the polls or have already gone to the polls and they don't know what to make of this. They are in the dark. What should happen now?

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think it's unfortunately. I think Hillary, if she said what I'm told she said, is correct, they should release the e-mails for the whole world to see. The whole world to see. They continue their investigation and, to the best of my knowledge, it won't prejudice the investigation. But that's sort of the stilted language the agency always uses. It doesn't mean anything. So it's unfortunate.

BIDEN: I would be remiss if I didn't note that if she would have released all the e-mails from the get-go, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

BIDEN: That's true. But I don't know where those e-mails came from, what --

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: Apparently, Anthony Weiner.

BIDEN: Oh, god. Anthony Weiner -- I should not comment on Anthony Weiner. I'm not a big fan. And I wasn't before he got in trouble, so I shouldn't comment on Anthony Weiner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You will see much more of that interview ahead with the vice president ahead on this show.

Coming up, November 8th, you choose, 10 days. That is all there is to go. How many tables? My, how many tables have turned in the last 24 hours. Ahead, we will talk you to the battlegrounds of North Carolina, Colorado, Ohio and Florida, where Hillary Clinton will make her first stop of the day. You will be there live.

Also, we continue to learn more details about this investigation into the e-mails that have caused the FBI to take another look at the Clinton e-mail server investigation. We will get reaction from Capitol Hill. Congressman, Peter King says this all frankly came out of the blue.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[15:17:28] HARLOW: 10 days to go. 10 days out from this election and Hillary Clinton and her campaign are blasting FBI Director James Comey, demanding that the FBI release everything they have on these new e-mails under review. The e-mails were found on a computer that Clinton's aide, Huma Abedin, shared with her husband, former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. A law enforcement official says they are not to or from Clinton necessarily, but we don't know, because Huma Abedin did forward e-mails, she told the FBI, to her personal computer to print out, et cetera. A lot of complexity here.

Now, the Clinton campaign wants to know, if this is all the information the FBI was planning to share, why did they share it at all?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOOK (voice-over): It is now incumbent upon Director Comey to immediately provide the American people with more information than what is contained in his letter. He owes the public the full story or else he shouldn't have cracked open this door in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: I am joined by Republican Congressman, Peter King, who has endorsed Donald Trump.

Thanks for being with me.

REP. PETER KING, (R), NEW YORK (voice-over): You are very welcome, Poppy.

HARLOW: Do you want the FBI to release these e-mails and put them in the public domain, have people use their judgment as they look through them?

KING: That's entirely up to the FBI. The reason I say that is there could be more involved than --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Do you want them to? Do you want them to>?

KING: No, not unless the FBI decides they should. They reason I'm saying that is there could be a lot more involved than just e-mails. It could be how Huma Abedin testified about the e-mails, what Hillary Clinton said about them. Have they found anything in the e-mails which is different from what their statements are to the FBI? Are there any conflicts between what other witnesses told the FBI as to what is found in the e-mails? There is more than just content of the e-mails.

Also, with the content of the e-mails, they have to make sure that there is nothing classified or top secret in there. So, no, that's up to the FBI. You can't be telling the FBI how to do their business as far as the timing of an investigation. This is a criminal investigation. It would involve more than just content of the e- mails.

HARLOW: Do you think, Congressman, what the FBI has done, Comey sending the letter to Congress saying there are some e-mails here that may be pertinent, I don't know if they are significant but, heads-up, we are looking at them, is that helpful to the American voter without any more detail or context? If so, how does that help the voter?

[15:20:07] KING: I think it is helpful. First of all, Jim Comey acted unprecedentedly when he said back in June that he didn't think this case should be prosecuted. That's really not his job. That's the job of the Justice Department. The Justice Department has basically deferred these decisions to Jim Comey. He is following up on that. He is a professional. If he feels that there is something that he has

seen which could be contrary to his previous findings, then he has the obligation to come out with that because --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: But that's not the case. Congressman --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: -- relying on his statement of June 27th or July 6th or whatever it was --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: But, Congressman --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: -- now he says something different.

HARLOW: Congressman, you are saying that he believes, that Comey believes there is something significant, but that's not factual. He said in the letter, "Although the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant." That's what he said. So you are saying he thinks it is significant so he is telling people --

KING: I'm saying he must think it is significant enough for the American voter, based on his statement of last July. We would not release this statement -- Jim Comey understands the ramifications of what he is doing. There has to be something there that he thinks is important enough that it should be made known to the committee chairmen and the American public. If it was extraneous e-mail that had no relation at all, I don't think he would have. Whether it is significant legally, we will find out. It is significant as far as what he believes the American voters should know at this time.

HARLOW: So let's listen to what Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said last night about this to Anderson Cooper.

KING: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, A.C. 360: We heard Secretary Clinton press her case, Kellyanne, on saying she wants more information from the FBI, saying the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. Do you agree with that? Do you think voters are entitled to more information?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Yes, I am for transparency and full disclosure and immediacy and honesty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: She wants it released. She wants, Congressman, the same thing that Clinton's team wants. Why don't you want that?

KING: Because this is a criminal investigation. You can't be telling the FBI how to run a criminal investigation. I have great regard for Kellyanne Conway. Again, I haven't seen her full statement. But there could be other issues other than the pure e- mails themselves. Is there anything that comes out that is contrary to what Huma Abedin told the FBI or what Hillary Clinton told them?

By the way, it's important to point out that we wouldn't be having this issue if Hillary had released these e-mails 18 months ago.

HARLOW: Let me ask you one final question.

KING: Sure.

HARLOW: Our panel was debating before you came on. It is sort of practice, not written in stone, but it is practice of the FBI and DOJ not to comment publicly on things that may pertain to, be sensitive to political races 60 days out. Now, we are 10 days out, 11 days out when this happened. Do you agree with that as a policy in general or do you agree that voters should know everything they can know up until the moment they go to the voting booth.

KING: I believe as a general rule but, again, Director Comey must have seen something here that compelled him to make this known, that the investigation is going forward. Again, I think the American voters should know whatever they can know, so long as it does not interfere with the criminal investigation. Only the FBI director right now can make that decision. He is the one in charge.

Again, this is all Hillary Clinton's doing. If she had made those e- mails known herself, she wouldn't be in this position now. She has no one to blame but herself.

HARLOW: Congressman Peter King, we appreciate you calling in. Thank you.

KING: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up, we will take you live to the campaign trail in the battleground states where, at any moment, Hillary Clinton is expected to speak to voters in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Stay with us. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:55] HARLOW: Pretty busy day on the campaign trail. Vice President Joe Biden stumping for Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas. The vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, is in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

10 days to go until Election Day, and another FBI review linked to Hillary Clinton's e-mail server. Her campaign pressing forward with a rally set to begin any moment in Daytona Beach, Florida. Florida, a key battleground state. The latest e-mail investigation is playing big on newspaper headlines

front and center, across the battleground states. You see it, the "Florida Times Union," "Probe puts e-mails back into election." The "Orlando Sentinel," "E-mail again draws FBI's attention."

Let's bring in Phil Mattingly, in Daytona Beach, traveling with the Clinton camp.

Phil, I am interested in what is the feel inside the Clinton camp. You were on the plane last night when this news broke. They didn't have any Wi-Fi. So the Clinton team learned about it at the same time that you, the reporters, learned about it, when the plane landed. What are they saying today?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, they learned about it from us, the reporters. They were back talking to us when the Wi-Fi started to kick in and all of our phones starting buzzing. We all started to get news alerts.

To provide some context, earlier in the flight, we talked to some of their senior advisors. They were talking about what was coming up, including a visit to Arizona, the traditionally red state. That's how good they were feeling about how the map was playing out. By the time they landed, things were very different.

The tone the Clinton campaign is they're not making major changes. The schedule has stayed the same. The TV buys have stayed the same, how they're planning to attack this next week.

They were stunned by this development. A lot of Democrats around them were both stunned and angry. Right now, there is kind of a dual-track focus, one, attack FBI director, James Comey, for bringing this up in the first place, and the other, try to keep their supporters invigorated as they go into these final 10 days -- Poppy?

[15:30:00] HARLOW: While we continue to talk, I think we have some sound we can play of Brian Fallon, the press secretary for Clinton, in July, on CNN talking about Comey in a much more positive light. Let's roll that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: And now it seems we are disappointed with the outcome of this FBI investigation, so the FBI director in the hot seat, second-guess his decision. I think it is a bad look for House Republicans to second- guess a career prosecutor, who is a registered Republican, who was the number-two official at the Justice Department under George Bush and was even a deputy counsel on the Whitewater Committee investigating the Clintons in the 1990s.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: A bad look to second-guess a career prosecutor. That, from Camp Clinton in July. Now, they are doing exactly that. PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a bit of a role reversal.

They have essential grabbed on to the Republican playbook in the three months prior.

Here's the reality behind the scenes. The Clinton campaign was very angry with Jim Comey's, FBI Director Comey's press conference back in July. They felt it was unnecessary. But there was no indictment so they were ready to attack Republicans for attacking him. The shoe is on the other foot right now. They were trying to undercut what Comey was trying to do. They're trying to undercut the premise in the letter in the first place. They're trying to pressure him to come out and give more information. The reality is that is unlikely to happen just because of how these types of investigations move.

You know, Poppy, there is severe frustration within the Clinton campaign this has happened. It does look like they have reversed the course a little bit over the course of the last couple of months.

HARLOW: As soon as Clinton arrives where you are in Daytona Beach, Florida, to address this, you will bring it to our viewers live.

I should note, Phil, Huma Abedin not traveling with Clinton on this two-day Florida trip.

MATTINGLY: That's right. She was on the plane when this news broke and was in the huddle of top advisers with Hillary Clinton. Not on the plane today. Clinton advisers say, don't read too much into that, they're just rotating travel right now. But there's no question about it, Huma Abedin not traveling. Huma Abedin almost always travels with Hillary Clinton. So definitely not on the plane today. I'll keep an eye on it.

HARLOW: Phil, thanks for reporting.

We will bring you there live again as soon as Hillary Clinton begins to speak.

The calm FBI Director James Comey and the battle inside the Justice Department between top DOJ officials and the top guy at the FBI over all of these. Our Evan Perez breaks it down, next.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:40] HARLOW: What exactly happened between the head of the Department of Justice and the head of the FBI, Loretta Lynch and James Comey? The new revelations are that, frankly, the Department of Justice is anything but happy with James Comey for coming forward with this new information about e-mails potentially tied to Hillary Clinton e-mails while she was secretary of state.

Let's bring in CNN justice correspondent, Evan Perez, for more.

Even, walk us through the politic at play here. What's going on? EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot of internal

discussion that happened in the last 24, 48 hours between the Justice Department and the FBI. We are told there were no direct conversations between Loretta Lynch and Jim Comey, the FBI director. Instead, the communications happening between staff members. But the message was clear from the Justice Department that he really should not send this letter simply because the FBI did not know yet what it had. There was still a lot of investigative work to do.

Secondly, there is this practice, a policy at the Justice Department which you don't comment publicly or in any way about on going investigation that are politically sensitive within 60 days of an election. They don't send subpoenas. They don't publicly do any type of investigative activity that could leak because you don't want to mess with an election. That applies, Poppy, if you are talking about a local sheriff election or the governor. Of course, we're talking about the presidency here, and it would apply to this.

I'm told that Comey pushed back and said, I feel like I have to do this, because I testified to Congress, I told them I was going to give them information when we developed new information. So he felt he had a duty to tell them.

And the bigger concern for the FBI was, if they didn't say something, would be that if Hillary Clinton is elected and this emerges, and it certainly would, he would be accused of having covered up for Hillary Clinton.

HARLOW: There is another wrinkle in all of this. It has to do with the former president. Former President Bill Clinton deciding to walk on to Loretta Lynch's plane on the tarmac, June 27th, in Phoenix. The optics of that were anything but good. This was days before the FBI came forward and said, you know, basically, how she handled the e- mails was not good but there was no case here.

Donald Trump has pounced on that before. He's doing it again today. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: The FBI director, appointed by Republicans, said no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She made a mistake, or whatever. I wouldn't even call it a mistake. I think something happened. Look, something happened. You go --

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: What happened?

TRUMP: I think somebody talked to him. Look, how can President Clinton, when the attorney general --

(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: There's something going on. George, George, she is so guilty.

The system is rigged. But with what I've just announced previously, it might not be as rigged as I thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So now Trump is changing his tune, Evan, on whether the FBI is rigged or not. Seriously, how much does it complicate things here that Clinton and Loretta Lynch did have that conversation on her plane?

PEREZ: The fact is that this does weaken the hand of the Justice Department. The attorney general announced before Comey came out and made his announcement in July, she announced she was going to accept whatever recommendation came from the FBI and career prosecutor whose were doing the case. It is clear that the Justice Department -- you talk to officials there and they feel that their hand is weakened here. I will say this. You also hear from officials that they just did not really change the advice that they came to Comey. The principle is simply put that you do not comment on investigations that are politically sensitive just 11 days before an election. They don't feel like the plane incident played into this. It is clear, however, it has hung over the Justice Department. It has definitely weakened the hand of the attorney general.

[15:40:01] HARLOW: What is the likelihood, Evan, we get any more information, any more detail before November 8th?

PEREZ: Highly unlikely. The problem is the FBI still doesn't know what it has. They just now are getting access to these devices, or computer. So they don't know what's contained in these e-mails, what is this. How much is Huma setting up her appointments or grocery list? Or some could be a work product. We don't know what's contained here. The FBI is not going to figure that out in the next 11 days.

HARLOW: Evan Perez, reporting from Washington, thank you so much.

Quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Let's talk more about the latest FBI review of e-mails that the FBI says at least appear pertinent to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server.

We have CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany; and A. Scott Bolden, the former chairman of the Washington, D.C., Democratic Party and a Clinton supporter.

Thank you both for being here.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Kayleigh, do you --I just had Peter King on and asked him, do you want to see more information from the FBI on these e-mails before November 8th? He said, no, more information shouldn't be released until they can pour through it. Do you agree with him?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I agree with Mike Pence. I want to see what's in these e-mails. I think more information is better. The voters deserve that. I understand Congressman King wanting to make sure it is a thorough investigation. I get that. I'm for the voters having all information. I'm glad the FBI director came out with this. I think that more information is better. Let's put it all forward.

[15:45:24] HARLOW: You are on the same page -- the Trump camp is on the same page as the Clinton camp. You are both calling on the FBI to do the same thing.

Evan Perez reported that's very unlikely that's going to happen.

Let's talk about what this means, Scott, for your candidate. She is five points ahead of Trump in the latest CNN poll of polls. If you look at the daily tracking, a week ago, a 12-point spread between the two of them. As of yesterday, before this e-mail news broke, there is a two-point spread. How concerned are you?

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, FORMER CHAIR, WASHINGTON, D.C., DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Not too concerned. We always knew this race was going to tighten up. It is still about the battleground state and the road to 270. It's not surprising that two lawyers like me and Kayleigh and I agree that we want more information. But it's because we don't have any information. This letter didn't say anything that informed the public of anything. It's not Hillary Clinton's investigation, her e-mails or her server. The only thing that the --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: I just want to correct a point of fact. We don't know if it is her e-mails. We know it has to do with a laptop shared by her closest aide, Huma Abedin, and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner. There is the possibility that these were Clinton e-mails that Abedin forwarded to herself to print out, because she told the FBI previously she did do that, forward e-mails to her private devices. We don't know they are not Clinton e-mails.

BOLDEN: You are absolutely right. So why is the FBI director 10 days out sending a letting indicating publicly, aha, we found some e-mails? I'd love to know more now because you can't be in the middle of the road. I have been in the law game 30 years as a criminal defense lawyer and a former prosecutor. This is unheard of. Now that you have stepped out there, Mr. Comey, you have to share more. Except there is a big problem. He doesn't know what he doesn't know. The FBI hasn't seen the e-mails. This left with the only idea that you did this to impact the political process. That's all we're left with.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDEN: Because he doesn't have that information. HARLOW: Kayleigh, I have 30 seconds. What do you want to see your candidate do? You want to see him harp on the e-mails for 10 days or get back to the other issues?

MCENANY: I want to see him 95 percent on the issues, of course, devoting the top of his speech to this. It is very important. It is important to focus on what we do know, which is there were more e- mails recovered. Look at the letter. It says it appears pertinent to the Hillary Clinton serve investigation. This is not some vast right- wing conspiracy, which is what the Clinton campaign wants you to believe. This is from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We can't blame this on Jim Comey.

HARLOW: We've got to leave it --

MCENANY: We are hearing right now having this conversation because Hillary Clinton had a private server in her basement, used sledgehammers to clam her Blackberrys and used Bleach Bit to get rid of her e-mails.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Kayleigh, Scott, thank you. You'll be back.

Kayleigh McEnany, Scott Bolden, we appreciate it.

They are called October surprises. Boy, have they come this election. Events that shake up a race so close to Election Day. Ahead, how the one that hit yesterday is merely the latest when it comes to presidential campaigns.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:28] HARLOW: It has almost become synonymous with modern-day presidential elections, the inevitable October surprise.

Tom Foreman tells us that these kinds of campaign-changing events are nothing new when it comes to the race for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, it's been a while since we have had so many unexpected news events so late in an election cycle, but we certainly have had surprises before.

(voice-over): A raging storm on the east coast, a sex scandal in D.C., and a nuclear test in China, each has been an October surprise, a big news event in the autumn of a presidential election that threatens to change the outcome.

Late 2008 saw one.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, A.C. 360: $1.8 trillion. That is how much investors, including any of you with stocks in a retirement plan, lost today.

FOREMAN: As the stock markets dive and the recession roars, Republican John McCain insists --

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fundamentals of our economy are strong.

FOREMAN: And his once-tight race with Barack Obama becomes a Democratic blowout.

Four years later, fall reveals an audio tape of Republican Mitt Romney characterizing half the voters as dependent on government hand outs.

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what.

FOREMAN: The president lost to re-election.

The term "October surprise" gained popularity 44 years ago this week. In 1972, Richard Nixon's national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, had late news about the unpopular Vietnam War.

HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER NIXON NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We believe that peace is at hand.

FOREMAN: He is wrong. The war goes on, but so does Nixon's presidency.

And we have had October surprises ever since.

In 1980, many think Jimmy Carter will be boosted over Ronald Reagan by the release of the American hostages in Iran. The surprise, it does not happen until after Reagan has won.

1992, Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, is just days away from the vote when a top Reagan team member is indicted over the Iran-Contra affair. Democrat Bill Clinton takes the White House.

2000, Clinton's vice-president, Al Gore, is battling George W. Bush. Republican strategists are certain Bush can move ahead. Then news emerges Bush was arrested 24 years earlier for drunk driving.

(on camera): In the popular vote, the race winds up a tie, but Bush ultimately wins.

So the backwash of that October surprise? A Halloween trick-or-treat, depending on how you look at it -- Poppy?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:55:11] HARLOW: Tom Foreman, thank you very much.

Coming up, we will take you live to the campaign trail where, at any moment, Hillary Clinton is set to speak to her supporters in Daytona Beach, Florida. No doubt, she'll address all of this. Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: CNN is proud to announce the top-10 CNN Heroes of 2016. Each one will receive a cash prize and a shot at the top honor of CNN Hero of the Year, and that means an additional $100,000 towards their cause.

Anderson Cooper tells us how you can help decide the winner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Now that we've announced the top-10 CNN Heroes of 2016, I want to show you how you can help decide who should be CNN Hero of the Year and receive $100,000 to help them continue their work. Just go to CNNheros.com where you can learn more about each hero. When you're ready, click vote over here, then choose your favorite. Now, confirm your selection using either your e-mail address or Facebook account and you're all set. And this year, for the first time, you can also vote through Facebook messenger and on Twitter. You can vote up to 10 times a day per method.