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Clinton Campaign Reacts to FBI Announcement; How Does FBI Issue Affect Trump Campaign?; A Look at Liberated Iraqi Towns; Strained U.S.=Russian Relations Examined; Latest on Italian Earthquake. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired October 30, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: We don't back down, not now, not ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN HOST: A defiant tone -- Hillary Clinton on the attack after her e-mails make headlines yet again. Plus the horrors of ISIS, dozens executed by the group while the Iraqi army claims a small victory.

And going as Trump for Halloween -- there is a mask for that.

Hello. Thanks for joining us. I'm Cyril Vanier, and this is "CNN Newsroom." The FBI's discovery of e-mails by one of Hillary Clinton's top aides was made public over the objections of the U.S. attorney general.

According to officials, FBI Director James Comey ignored those objections when he unilaterally informed Congress on Friday. We'll have more on that internal clash in just a moment.

But meanwhile, on Saturday, Hillary Clinton seemed to shake off the bombshell. As you can see there, she was campaigning in Miami with pop star Jennifer Lopez.

However, she has been complaining loudly of Comey's timing so close to the election. Thousands of e-mails belonging to long-time Clinton aide, Huma Abedin, were recently discovered during an unrelated FBI investigation of Abedin's estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, in the center of your screen.

The revelation, of course, was red meat for Republican candidate, Donald Trump and his supporters. Here is what he had to say on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The only reason -- the only reason that they did this action that you saw yesterday was very, very serious things must be happening and must have been found -- very, very serious things -- very, very serious things. And you could also ask when they complain on the other side, why wasn't this evidence given previously? Why wasn't it given previously? And when you talk about instincts, I

don't know if anybody saw my comments on Anthony Weiner.

It's called instinct, folks. I had no idea I was going to be that accurate. Boy, that was right on the note.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So what was Trump referring to? This -- a tweet he sent out in 2015. "It came out that Huma Abedin knows all about Hillary's private illegal e-mails.

Huma's P.R. husband, Anthony Weiner, will tell the world." So Donald Trump feeling vindicated today.

The FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail sever was closed last July. So its sudden resurrection so close to election day knocked the Clinton campaign back on its heels.

She went on the offensive on Saturday, targeting Comey for his timing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: It is pretty strange. It's pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election.

(APPLAUSE)

In fact -- in fact, it's not just strange, it's unprecedented. And it is deeply troubling because voters deserve to get full and complete facts.

And so we've called on Director Comey to explain everything right away, put it all out on the table, right?

Now, of course, Donald Trump is already making up lies about this. He is doing his best to confuse, mislead, and discourage the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: As we mentioned at the top of the show, the decision to go public with the newly discovered e-mails provoked sharp disagreements within the Justice Department. CNN Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez has the details.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It was an extraordinary 36 hours at the FBI and the Justice Department as top officials wrestled with how to deal with newly uncovered e-mails that appear related to the Hillary Clinton e-mail server investigation. FBI Director James Comey on Thursday told his bosses at the Justice Department that he planned to tell Congress about the newly found e-mails.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other officials at the Justice Department opposed that plan. They believed that doing so violated the department's policy to not comment on politically sensitive investigations so close to an election. Lynch's staff relayed that message to Comey.

But the FBI director decided to set aside those objections, telling his employees in an internal memo, quote, "I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed.

I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record." Officials at the Justice Department think Comey should have at least allowed investigators more time to determine the importance of the e-mails, meanwhile, that the FBI officials believe that they'd be accused of covering up for Clinton if they held on to the information until after election day.

Comey's three-paragraph letter to Congress left many unanswered questions. And now, he's facing pressure from both the Clinton campaign and from Republicans to provide more information.

And that's highly unlikely at this point. The FBI's only beginning to process to review the e-mails.

And they still don't know whether the e-mails contain classified information or whether some of the e-mails may be duplicates of e- mails they've already looked at. None of those answers is likely to come before election day.

VANIER: And with the Clinton campaign accusing the FBI of playing politics with the case, the spotlight is now on the bureau's director himself. Our Gary Tuchman takes a closer look at James Comey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): I, state your name.

COMEY: I, James B. Comey...

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: James Comey became the seventh director of the FBI in 2013, in the beginning of President Obama's second term.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): So help me god.

COMEY: So help me god.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Congratulations, Mr. Director.

TUCHMAN: But years before that, he became number two at the Justice Department under President George W. Bush, and was a registered Republican, although now, he says he's quote, "not registered any longer." But in the past, he donated to both the Mitt Romney campaign in 2012 and the John McCain campaign in 2008.

He also served as a counsel on the whitewater committee back in 1996. But his reputation for bipartisan fairness has long been well-known.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Bob Mueller and Mr. Jim Comey.

TUCHMAN: When Comey took over the FBI director's spot from Bob Mueller, this is what Mueller had to say.

MUELLER: I have had the opportunity to work with Jim for a number of years in the Department of Justice. And I have found him to be a man of honesty, dedication, and integrity.

TUCHMAN: Comey gained a degree of fame for his role in one of the most dramatic incidents during George W. Bush's tenure in the White House. Comey's boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, was gravely ill in the hospital.

Two of President Bush's top aides rushed there to try to get Ashcroft to endorse a warrantless eavesdropping program. Comey was acting attorney general while Ashcroft was in the hospital.

And when he found out about the plan, he rushed to the hospital and stopped it.

COMEY: I was very upset. I was angry. I thought I just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man.

TUCHMAN: The eavesdropping program was not endorsed. As a federal prosecutor, Comey dealt with the Khobar Towers terrorist bombing case, following the attack 20 years ago on a U.S. military facility in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 service members.

He prosecuted members of the mafia.

COMEY: We are here this afternoon to announce the unsealing of three separate indictments against 14 alleged members and associates of the Gambino crime family.

TUCHMAN: And he prosecuted America's domestic diva.

COMEY: Martha Stewart is being prosecuted not because of who she is but because of what she did.

TUCHMAN: Back in July, Donald Trump tweeted, "The system is rigged," after Comey's statement regarding Hillary Clinton.

COMEY: We are expressing to justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.

TUCHMAN: But as this news continues to develop, Trump said this.

TRUMP: It might not be as rigged as I thought, right, right?

(APPLAUSE)

The FBI -- I think they're going to right the ship, folks. I think they're going to right the ship.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

TRUMP: They're going to save their great (ph)...

(END VIDEOTAPE) VANIER: Trump's presidential bid has been struggling in recent weeks.

But the latest move by the FBI could boost his campaign.

The Republican nominee has to find a way to reach those 270 electoral votes to win the election. Now, it's not impossible, as CNN Political Director, David Chalian tells us.

But it is an uphill battle.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We've been talking a lot about Donald Trump's very narrow path to 270 electoral votes. And it was clearly on display if you looked at his travel schedule on Friday.

He went to New Hampshire, Maine and Iowa -- a total of 11 electoral votes at play there. But he needs them all.

Take a look. This is our battleground map where we start right now. Remember, if we give Donald Trump every remaining battleground state -- Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio -- I'm even giving him that one electoral vote in Nebraska that's up for grabs, that gets him to 265 electoral votes.

So he was in New Hampshire on Friday. Look here, if he gets New Hampshire, that's 269 electoral votes. But why was he in Maine?

Because he went to Maine's second congressional district, which they award their electoral votes by congressional district, to pick up one electoral vote. That electoral vote gets him to 270 if he's able to win that electoral vote in Maine.

This is Donald Trump's path to 270. Run the board, flip New Hampshire, win that Maine electoral vote, but which has a lot of white non- college-educated voters -- Trump voters, where they really think they could pick that up and they think it's what puts them over the hurdle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: And that was CNN Political Director, David Chalian reporting there. Even before the e-mail, controversy came back to life, new polls were showing Trump closing the gap with Clinton.

A "Washington Post" ABC poll released Saturday has Clinton with just a two-point lead. Now, that's within the margin of error.

A week ago, Clinton had a double-digit edge in the very same poll. CNN's poll of polls, which averages the five most recent national polls, gives Clinton a five-point advantage over Trump.

Breaking news coming out of Italy now, the United States Geological Survey says a 6.6 magnitude earthquake has struck the city of Perugia. That is in the center of the country.

Now, so far, there are no reports of casualties or damages. A CNN producer did feel a very strong tremor in the center of the city.

This quake is hitting not far from where two powerful quakes hit on Thursday. So, of course, we're going to keep keeping a very close eye on that for you in the coming moments.

There are reports that ISIS has executed 75 Iraqi officers in Mosul. A witness says the men were among 600 people detained after gun battles earlier in the week.

ISIS released many of the civilians. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces are moving closer to Mosul. Officials say they cleared out ISIS fighters from a town south of the city, killing 35 ISIS militants.

The United Nations is worried that ISIS will use civilians as human shields against Iraqi forces as it has already done according to the U.S. since the beginning of the offensive to retake Mosul.

And Iraqi forces have liberated more than a dozen majority Christian towns and villages near Mosul. Residents who fled the town of Bartella two years ago are now starting to come back.

But of course, they're coming back to ransacked homes and churches. CNN's Arwa Damon met with one priest who hopes the town can still be reborn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Father Benham Lalu's (ph) voice echoes through the blackened shell (ph) of his church. He has loved this place ever since he was a child.

BENHAM LALU (ph) (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I was seven or eight years old, and I used to sit in the first row. The deacons and priests would be praying.

I'd sit looking around the church. I never thought the day would come that the church would look like this.

DAMON: He knew ISIS were cruel but could never imagine this.

BENHAM LALU (ph) (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): How can they come into a church, a house of worship, and do this, with peaceful and loving people? We don't want enemies.

DAMON: But they had no choice. Throughout this once sleepy town, ISIS defaced and destroyed all symbols of Christianity.

And the battle to liberate Bartella left entire streets in ruins. Gravestones pockmarked with bullet holes, homes with the warning "mufahakh (ph)," booby-trapped, and only traces of the life before.

We met father Lalu (ph) two years ago, before the horror began, when this was a tranquil sanctuary.

LALU (ph) (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): When you were here, I told you, ISIS would come. And we asked them what they wanted.

We didn't know ISIS was this ugly, this destructive, this evil. They want to send the world to the dark ages.

DAMON: But Father Lalu (ph) is ready to forgive.

LALU (ph) (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We would even pray for them so that god can enlighten them and then leave this road. How could someone blow himself up or kill just because they're of a different faith?

DAMON: Bartella was liberated on the father's 49th birthday. But half his congregation has already left Iraq.

He prays the rest will stay.

LALU (ph) (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We're trying. We are trying as best as we can to bring back hope.

DAMON: Arwa Damon, CNN, Bartella, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Let's look just across the border now to Syria and the brutal civil war there. An activist group says at least 21 people have been killed in Aleppo since Friday.

The group says government forces backed by Hezbollah militants are trying to put down a new rebel offensive to break the siege of eastern Aleppo.

A video shows tanks, armored vehicles, and rockets flying as intense fighting rages. Aleppo is divided between the government-controlled western section of the city and the rebel-held east.

Air strikes on a prison in Yemen have killed at least 43 people. The Houthi-controlled government says that the bombs targeted Hudayda, a port city under rebel control.

Their defense ministry blames the Saudi-led coalition, which has yet to comment on the assault. The U.N. says 10,000 people have died in Yemen's conflict, and that the country is on the brink of mass starvation.

Now, it's the latest craze in Moscow gaming. But as U.S. and Russian tensions flair, this nuclear war game has some people feeling uneasy.

Plus, even if this ugly presidential campaign has been more trick than treat for many voters, Trump and Clinton will be trying to get out a candy this Halloween. We'll explain just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): This is CNN breaking news.

VANIER: Breaking news out of Italy, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake has struck the center of the country, about 68 kilometers east of Perugia. That's according to the United States Geological Survey.

There have been no reports of casualties so far. Earlier this week, a 6.4 earthquake hit a similar area in the center of the country. We'll continue to monitor that very closely as there is unfortunately

a high chance of casualties and damage when quakes hit in that part of the country. The political deadlock has finally been resolved in Spain.

The parliament has reelected Mariano Rajoy as prime minister. Efforts to form a coalition government failed after December's general election.

And Mr. Rajoy had been serving as caretaker prime minister. No sooner was he re-elected, however, and several thousand people took to the streets in Madrid.

That was on Saturday. They were protesting against further cuts to education and health care spending.

And protesters in South Korea now are demanding president Park Geun- hye step down. Thousands of people marched through Seoul on Saturday.

Ms. Park is accused of leaking state documents to a friend. She apologized and she did admit sharing documents to get a, quote, "personal opinion."

Her approval rating has now plunged to 21 percent. Ties between Russia and the U.S. are frosty, to say the least.

They're at odds on Syria and on Ukraine before that. That's why a fantasy nuclear disaster game in Moscow that's meant to be fun feels a little unsettling.

Here's Matthew Chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Red alert, this Soviet-style nuclear bunker, where a couple of Russians are racing to prevent a catastrophic strike on the United States.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): Nuclear bombs will be launched in one hour.

CHANCE: The aim of the quest, the latest gaming craze in Moscow, is to find the nuclear launch codes, deactivate a hidden red button that's already been pressed by a mad Russian general. Of course, it's complete fantasy.

But amid the current tensions with Russia, it all feels a little unsettling. Are you worried that something like this could happen in real life?

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): Actually, I'm not. No, I'm not thinking about it.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): I'm worried because it's very stupid information on both side and I know that normal people in all over the world that don't want any war. (UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): Now, I know that in school in Russia, they

told -- they tell to the children the same, that our main enemy is U.S. And it -- it sounds ridiculous for me.

And I -- I -- I'm totally sure that war is impossible.

CHANCE: But not all Russians agree. National television has been broadcasting a mass training exercise involving up to 40 million people across the country to prepare responses, says the government, for a chemical or nuclear attack.

It's the biggest rehearsal of its kind since the collapse of the Soviet Union and suggests the Kremlin at least wants Russians to take the threat of war very seriously. Of course, all-out conflict between Russia and the West remains highly unlikely.

The principle of mutually assured destruction still holds just like it did during the cold war. But with tensions growing over Syria, Ukraine, and the Baltic states, analysts say a small risk of contact, misunderstanding and escalation between the the nuclear superpowers has become very real.

And it's a risk the Kremlin seems keen to spotlight, releasing details of its latest intercontinental ballistic missile being added to its nuclear arsenal. The Satan 2, as it's known, will be one of the world's most destructive weapons, guaranteeing Russia's place as a top nuclear power.

State television has also upped its hard-line rhetoric. In its flagship current affairs show, Russia's top state news anchor, dubbed by critics as the Kremlin's propaganda-in-chief, recently issued a stark warning of global war if, for instance, Russian and U.S. forces clash in Syria.

"Brutish behavior towards Russia," declared Dmitry Kiselyov (ph), "could have nuclear dimensions." It is an apocalyptic vision that adds a further sense of realism to the fantasy quest being acted out by gamers in Moscow.

This time, a cold war nuclear holocaust is averted. Hopefully, one in the real world will be, too. Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Now, with the U.S. presidential election just over 10 days away, everything is political now. You can't avoid it.

So don't be surprised to see Madam Secretary or the Donald ringing your doorbell for trick or treat. Anna Major report explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAJOR (PH): Spooked by the presidential race?

TRUMP: She shouldn't be allowed to run.

CLINTON: Donald, I know you live in your own reality...

TRUMP: Such a nasty woman.

CLINTON: (Inaudible) a trust fund.

MAJOR (PH): Just wait for Halloween. This year, it's not traditional costumes that are bestsellers across the U.S. It is actually these two.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Scary, looks like a -- a kid with a tantrum.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): Almost as scary as the real-life version.

MAJOR (ph): Every four years, Halloween is just a few days before election day. This year, sales are expected to hit record levels of almost $8 and a half billion dollars.

Thanks in part to this wicked campaign.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Donald Trump is outselling Hillary about 10 to one. And the reason is because the left likes to buy it because they want to lampoon him.

And the right likes to buy him because he's, you know, godlike, he's their candidate.

MAJOR (ph): But don't be frightened, Hillary fans.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): In the 40 years that we've had presidential masks out, we believe, for the first time, this is not a clear indicator of who is going to win the presidential election.

MAJOR (ph): That's because women buy fewer masks than men.

Are you going to dress up as one of them?

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): No. I might dress up as Bernie Sanders.

MAJOR (ph): Do you have any intention to dress up as either one of them?

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Oh, no, no, not at all, not at all. I won't look good as Hillary and Donald and I -- see, I don't have the hair for Donald.

MAJOR (ph): One thing is certain...

CLINTON: The (ph) president is not a state (ph)...

TRUMP: No puppet -- no puppet...

CLINTON: It's pretty clear...

TRUMP: You're the puppet.

MAJOR (ph): A costume store is the only place you'll ever see this. Anna Maya (ph) reports, CNNMoney, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: OK, let's get right back to that breaking news we're tracking for you this hour. A 6.6 magnitude earthquake in the center of Italy -- we found out just a few minutes ago.

Let's try and find out what we know at the moment with our Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIS: Certainly. This information is coming at a very delicate time across Central Italy, to say the least, considering that only four days ago, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck this particular region as well. And we can't forget what happened back in August.

So they have had a very difficult path over the past several months. And with a magnitude 6.6, that's just starting to initialize here at the USGS website.

We are going to look out for the potential of some major damage coming out of this area. This is the details that we know.

So information is still sparse. But we're going to try and pass along everything -- every bit of information as it comes to us from this area, and of course, from the U.S. Geological Survey.

A 6.6 magnitude on the 30th of October, it happened locally at about 7:40 in the morning. And what really concerns me here is the depth that the USGS has on their website right now -- 1.5 kilometers deep.

This is significant because if you have a shallow earthquake like this, there is not a lot of earth or rock or rubble to really dampen the shockwaves of an earthquake. So let's say if it was 100 or 200 kilometers deep, then you've got all that rock bed to really kind of dampen the effects of the earthquake.

But when it's this shallow, when you have a focus point that's only one and a half meters below the surface of the earth, that is definitely considered a shallow earthquake.

That is when you start to see a major catastrophic damage. Of course, we still haven't received any information or images coming out of this area.

But really, that one and a half kilometer deep epicenter really concerns me with this particular earthquake. So that's something we obviously have to pay very close attention to.

And here is the information that we do know as well in terms of the population densities that felt the shaking. Light shaking was felt by this magnitude 6.6 earthquake by about 200,000 people.

But what I want you to notice, let's not focus so much on the numbers right now because those will be refined in time. But the U.S. Geological Survey is actually starting to indicate that there was at least severe or violent shaking felt from this particular earthquake.

And my analysis of the situation has to do with the fact that this was such a shallow earthquake in a very mountainous region. We haven't quite zoomed into the area on Google maps to see the villages and the towns that are located in and around the epicenter.

But you can imagine just within the valleys of all these mountainous regions that those areas have certainly felt the effects of this major earthquake that just took place. You can see the -- the plate tectonics that take place across Central Italy.

That is why it has been so active across this region lately. We have these plates coming together, moving at roughly 30 millimeters per year.

And that's about the same as your or my fingernails grow in a -- in a period of a year as well. So it's kind of an interesting note, and obviously, a very active part of the world.

You can see the history of all the earthquakes that have taken place since the beginning of the century across that mountainous part of Central Italy. So certainly, more information to come.

We've got lots of details coming into CNN. We will definitely keep you up to date. In the meantime, I'm going to send it back to Cyril at the news desk.

VANIER: All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you very much. And Derek and to CNN International Weather Center are staying across that.

That's the early information -- geological information coming out of Central Italy right now. So thank you for watching. I'm Cyril Vanier.

Next on CNN is "Erin Burnett OutFront." Stay with us.