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Melanie Trump to Speak in Pennsylvania; Iraqi Troops Enter Mosul for First Time Since 2014; Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 03, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:31:10] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump's wife Melania takes the stage in Pennsylvania next hour. She gives her first speech since the Republican National Convention back in July.

CNN Politics reporter Sara Murray is in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, where Melania Trump will be speaking.

Sara, the campaign says she'll talk about her own story as well as her husband's policies. I know you're getting more information. Give us a preview.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. Obviously we know that Donald Trump is the attack dog of this campaign, but they really want Melania Trump to come out here today and deliver a more optimistic message, to talk not only about what she would do as first lady and her experience as an immigrant coming to the United States, but also about sort of the more human side of her husband, what he is like as a life partner, what he has been like as a father to their son, Barron.

Obviously, this is a very different sense than what we get from Donald Trump on the campaign trail. And it's a kind of something that could be potentially be beneficial to him particularly in light of the "Access Hollywood" tape and some of the struggles he's had with female voters.

BLITZER: Sara, as all of us remember Melania Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention over the summer was criticized after the revelation that several sentences were lifted from a 2008 Michelle Obama speech. Was that a factor in the rather limited role she has played in the campaign since then?

MURRAY: Well, Wolf, what I can tell you is that moment was a very upsetting moment for the campaign. Donald Trump himself was very upset with his own staffers. He felt like they had let Melania Trump down by not doing their job to vet her speech. But really most of the reason she's not been on the campaign trail is because she has said publicly and privately that her number one goal is to take care of their 10-year-old son Barron.

Now it is telling that going into this speech, he worked closely with Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump's campaign manager. We obviously know Conway has the trust of Donald Trump. But she's also been working on building this relationship with Melania Trump. Melania has privately been very supportive of Kellyanne being the head of this campaign. So the two feel comfortable enough together to work on this speech. And she's actually done a couple of run-throughs with campaign staff. They say she is polished, she is prepared, but there's no doubt she has reservations about being out on the campaign trail.

I talked to another source who said they're actually hoping to get Melania Trump down to Florida to do another campaign event but that ultimately didn't pan out. And Wolf, I think this sure goes back to her seeing her number one goal as sort of keeping the family intact, raising their son.

She's not the kind of political spouse who's telling Donald Trump every day what his talking points should be and looking through the polling, she's the kind of spouse that will just pull him aside once in a while and say, Donald, I don't know about that.

Back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much, Sara Murray, we'll stand by for that speech.

Melania Trump stepped into presidential politics almost a year and a half ago. That's when she stepped on to that gold-looking escalator at Trump Tower in New York, rode into the political spotlight with her husband. Since then she has been in and out of the public eye as events unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Are we going to see more of her on the campaign trail?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think very much so.

Melania, say a few words, come on.

MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: Hello, Iowa. This is very, very special night, and you voting for your next president.

I would be me. I will be different than any other first ladies.

From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life.

D. TRUMP: Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it. It's fantastic. They think she's absolutely great.

[13:35:02] My wife Melania gives the exact same speech. And people get on her case.

She's actually going to make two or three speeches.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's bring in our panel, our chief political correspondent Dana Bash is with us, our CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers, columnist for "USA Today," and "TIME" magazine contributor Jay Newton-Small, she's also the author of the book "Broad Influence: How Women are Changing the Way America Works." There you see the book cover.

Dana, Trump is clearly trying to win over white college educated women as much as he possibly can. How much does Melania Trump going out there, delivering a speech, maybe a second on in Florida within the next two days, how much is that helping?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it doesn't hurt, that's for sure. And you're right, he definitely needs to up his numbers with regard to women. But not just women, with regard to white educated men. And that is really the core of the vote where Melania Trump is going today in those so-called collared countries around Philadelphia. The four counties that really do swing. Tended to vote more Democratic in presidential years but have historically been more Republican in registration.

I was there a few weeks ago when Ivanka Trump went, Wolf, and the support for Donald Trump was very, very solid then. But that was as "Access Hollywood" and that tape was beginning to seep into the consciousness. I was just talking to some Republicans I met up there, officials, who said that he really dipped in the polls big time but he's been coming back and that, according to the source, Republicans have been coming home.

This speech by Melania Trump is an attempt to just push them right through the door, make sure that they stay home.

BLITZER: Kirsten, the location of this speech outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, what does that say, they decided to finally get her out there, deliver the speech, first big speech since the convention, they're doing it in this location?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Well, first of all, they've been saying that they think that they can win Pennsylvania. And I think that as Dana was saying she is going to try to reach some suburban women, probably get some -- you know, some of the white, you know, college-educated men and women. And, look, I think we've seen some of -- a little bit of an erosion for Hillary with the women's vote. She was having really overwhelming numbers with the women's vote.

In the most recent poll, she was up 12, which is exactly what Barack Obama which you would expect with a female candidate running against somebody who has multiple sexual assault accusations against him, that number might be a little bit bigger. So, you know, they are probably also trying to keep that number down a little bit.

BLITZER: Jay, you spent a lot of time studying the impact of women in presidential politics, local politics for that matter as well. How much of a difference will this speech really make?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, CONTRIBUTOR, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, I think we talk a lot about the white educated women's vote but I think what they're actually looking for here is the white non-educated women's vote. And that's the vote that really has swung quite enormously for Donald Trump back and forth during this campaign. So it was a vote that he very much had coming out of the convention. They then swung away from him after the whole "Access Hollywood" allegations that women came forth saying that he was groping them. There was one "Atlantic" poll that had them -- that had him even with Hillary, 40-40, amongst college non-educated -- non-college educated white women.

That's startling. That's a group that goes traditionally more than 20 percent for Republicans in almost every election. So the idea that he would be even with Hillary with that group is really amazing. They're now edging back towards Donald Trump, which is why you see him coming up in the polls based on that support. And that's the group he's really going for here is on the edges, trying to get more non-college educated white women and that's a group that Melania can appeal to, frankly.

BLITZER: Dana, let's talk about one of those Melania Trump moments that stood out to you. Here's what she told our Anderson Cooper about that now infamous "Access Hollywood" tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Is that what it is to you, just locker room talk?

M. TRUMP: Yes. It's kind of two teenage boys -- actually, they should behave better. Right?

COOPER: He was 59.

M. TRUMP: Correct. And sometimes I've said, I have two boys at home, I have my young son and I have my husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Dana, so why does that stand out to you?

BASH: Because she's trying to appeal to wives out there and women who are with spouses who sometimes act in an adolescent way and trying to kind of connect on that surface. But, again, we're not just talking about a spouse and a husband. We're talking about a potential president of the United States. And that struck me because I think it's very much, you know, on a different level but very much in keeping with what we're seeing on the campaign trail right now as Donald Trump tries to stay on message, Wolf.

I'm told that part of the reason that the Trump team has been successful over the past week or so in doing that is because they're -- I mean, this is my words, not my sources.

[13:40:08] But they're sort of treating him like the boy that Melania was talking about, trying to get him to get out all of his angst and anger and frustration with the things he's hearing from Hillary Clinton before he goes on stage so he doesn't go on stage and say something he shouldn't say and step on his own message. That to me is just striking in the comparison and how he's being described by the people around him and his own wife. BLITZER: Kirsten, you had another moment that really stood out to

you. Melania Trump moment also in the interview with Anderson Cooper. I'll play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: In terms of what he actually said on the tape, not saying he did it, but what he said the behavior he described to you, is that sexual assault?

M. TRUMP: No, that's not sexual assault. He didn't say he did it, and I see many, many women coming to him and giving phone numbers and, you know, want to work for him or inappropriate stuff from women. And they know he's married.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So Kirsten, why did that stand out in your mind?

POWERS: Well, there were two things. One is her -- like most Trump supporters, sort of saying this doesn't describe sexual assault, which I think there's this real division in the country of how -- you know, a lot of people feeling, I think a lot of women feeling that it did. And then also, you know, I think that she just -- sorry, I lost my train of thought. What was her other -- oh the --

BLITZER: When she was talking about the -- what inappropriate stuff from women and they know he's married.

POWERS: Right, she was putting that on the same category as being sexually assaulted. Right? So we're talking about sexual assault, and then she's going over here and she's saying, but at the same time women come and they give numbers to -- phone numbers to my husband and obviously that's bad and of course that is bad but that's not on the same level as sexual assault.

BLITZER: And very quickly, Jay, you picked the tweet involving Melania Trump and Heidi Cruz, Ted Cruz's wife. The tweet read, "A picture is worth 1,000 words." Why did you choose that?

NEWTON-SMALL: It's just -- he's always -- I mean, it's always been that his wife is sort of the trophy wife in this relationship. It's such an unusual --

BLITZER: It's a Donald Trump tweet.

NEWTON-SMALL: Yes, the Donald Trump tweet. And, I mean, it's such an unusual role for a modern woman and it's one that really has incited a lot of feminists on the left to say that, you know, this is -- I mean, not somebody that you should put up as somebody as an example for our young women in America and so it will be interesting to see how they sort of roll her out today as a good example for young women in America.

BLITZER: All right. We're standing by. We're going to hear momentarily from Melania Trump. We're going to have that speech live here on CNN. Stand by for that.

There's also other news we're following. Iraqi forces now in a head- to-head battle with ISIS on the streets of Mosul. At the center of the fight, scores of innocent civilians, some being used as human shields, as the terror group struggles to maintain control of Iraq's second largest city.

We're going there live. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:23] BLITZER: Iraqi forces are now facing the most difficult phase in the battle for Mosul in a significant breakthrough, troops have entered the ISIS-held city for the first time in more than two years but ISIS will not give up Mosul without a bloody and brutal fight.

Mortar shells are flying. Witnesses say snipers are shooting at people trying to flee and ISIS is using civilians as human shields.

Our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is joining us from Irbil in Iraq, not too far away.

Nic, how intense is the fighting right now?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, right now, Iraqi forces are in two neighborhoods on the eastern side of Mosul, there's been very heavy shelling in a neighborhood in the northeastern side of the city as well. This is somewhere where the Iraqi Army is trying to advance. But what they're finding, now they're getting into the city, is they're finding what they're describing as pockets of ISIS resistance, ISIS snipers on roofs of buildings.

Their advice to the civilians of the city is stay indoors, raise a white flag on the roof of your building. We will try to evacuate you if possible. They are trying to create corridors, safe corridors for people to be able to leave the city. But all the indications are at the moment that ISIS continues to put up stiff resistance. There was an ISIS convoy on one of the bridges in Mosul today.

Witnesses there say that they saw airstrikes on that convoy. U.S.-led coalition spokesman said that a convoy of ISIS vehicles or ISIS targets were hit on an important bridge in Mosul. There is a sense that while the government forces are entering the east of the city, that it is in the west of the city across the river in the west, closer to Syria, closer to where, if you will, ISIS could, if they choose, flee the city, go into the countryside and sort of regroup back towards Syria.

There is a sense that ISIS will put up a stronger fight in the west of the city and it is around the west of the city that some of the Shia militias, the PMUs have, if you will, been taking a flanking maneuver to shut off that backdoor so the noose is tightening on ISIS and they will be well aware now that there are groups of people in the city who are more willing, more able, more capable to try to take up arms against them but this is just the beginning, Wolf, of a very long series of intense urban conflicts -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And I know we're hearing truly horror stories from the civilians who are fleeing the fighting that's going on.

[13:50:01] Remember, Mosul is a city of more than a million people. Just imagine the potential disaster that is unfolding in that city for those civilians that are leaving in big numbers right now.

All right, Nic. We'll get back to you.

We have a lot more coming up, including the race for the White House in the United States. Up next, a flashback to the 2000 presidential campaign when a huge story broke just five days before the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that when he's running on that kind of campaign, I think something like this does become an issue because, to me, that's his integrity right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Five days out from the presidential election and the Trump and Clinton campaigns they are on the attack, but back at exactly this point in the 2000 presidential race, the Republicans were on the defense when a moment from George W. Bush's past suddenly came to light.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Countdown to Election 2000. Five days to go.

BLITZER: As this long day in this long campaign came to a close, the race took a surprise turn just within the past hour with a new development affecting Republican George W. Bush which could have potentially adverse effects on his campaign.

[13:55:05] For the latest, we go to CNN senior White House correspondent John King who's just outside of Chicago.

John, tell us what's going on?

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the Bush campaign acknowledging tonight that when the governor was 30 years old back on Labor Day weekend in 1976 he was pulled over for driving under the influence of alcohol in the state of Maine.

Now the Bush campaign also raising questions about the timing of all this saying they believe this has been done in a deliberate effort to smear the governor and damage his chances in the presidential race coming out so close to the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was it, back in the year 2000.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." In the meantime, the news continues right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:14] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are --