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Trump Tackles Battleground States; Clinton Team Goes on Attack Against Trump; Iraqi Troops Battle ISIS to Free Mosul; Pro-Brexit Tabloids Attack Ruling; Electoral Map Gives Edge to Clinton; U.S. Officials Concerned Over Election Day Hacks; Russian Media Watching U.S. Elections; Chicago Cubs Win World Series. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 05, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:10] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Three days until the big day. The U.S. presidential candidates are gearing up for a contentious election and they're giving a lot of love to the battleground states.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Iraqi forces are in the heart of ISIS territory as they push their way into Mosul.

ALLEN: And they celebrated in style and they should have. The Chicago Cubs were honored Friday with five million fans by their side.

HOWELL: One of them our producer who's doing this show.

ALLEN: That's got to feel good, doesn't it?

HOWELL: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

HOWELL: 4:00 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast. Three days to go, Natalie. Just three days to go.

ALLEN: Three days to go.

HOWELL: It is the final countdown to one of the most divisive U.S. elections in recent history.

ALLEN: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are crisscrossing the battleground states in a frantic push this weekend both trying to convince American voters they should be president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Imagine having a president who demeans women and mocks the disabled. Who insults African-Americans and Latinos and Muslims. Who personally engages in busting unions and preventing people from having the right to bargain collectively.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. This will go on for years, folks. If she ever got into the Oval Office, Hillary and her special interests would rob our country blind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The candidates in these final days making their closing arguments to voters. A new FOX News poll shows Hillary Clinton with a two-point lead over Donald Trump, 45 percent to 43 percent, but that is within the survey's margin of error.

ALLEN: Our latest CNN Poll of Polls which includes those FOX numbers shows Clinton ahead by five points, 47 percent to 42 percent. However, our electoral map has her slipping just below that magic number of 270 electoral college votes.

HOWELL: So at this stage in the game there is a great deal of focus on those battleground states. States like Ohio, and that is where Hillary Clinton spent Friday night hoping to rely on the star power of Jay-Z and Beyonce to rally a crowd in Cleveland. Take a look.

They're wearing pantsuits, nonetheless.

ALLEN: And that hat, I just couldn't pull off that hat, but she can. Beyonce and her backup dancers, they were wearing pantsuits in Clinton's honor. The singer and her rapper husband say they want their daughter to grow up in a country where women don't have limits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEYONCE, SINGER AND CLINTON SUPPORTER: Less than 100 years ago, women did not have the right to vote. Look how far we've come from having no voice to being on the brink of making history.

JAY-Z, RAPPER AND CLINTON SUPPORTER: I would like to introduce to you the next president of the United States, Miss Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Clinton told the crowd she needs their help to crack the glass ceiling once and for all. Other celebrities like Marc Anthony, Katy Perry, and Jennifer Lopez, J-Lo have been spending their time on the campaign trail to help Hillary Clinton. That is something that Donald Trump says he doesn't really need. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I hear we set a new record for this building. And by the way, I didn't have to bring J-Lo or Jay-Z. The only way she gets anybody. I'm here all by myself. I am here all by myself. Just me. No guitar, no piano, no nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Obviously the candidates hoping these large crowds will equate to votes.

CNN's Sara Murray has more from the Trump campaign trail and his strategy to flip key battleground states.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 2016's toxic presidential contest, led by two deeply unpopular candidates, is coming to a close in fitting fashion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton is under FBI investigation again after her e-mails were found on pervert Anthony Weiner's laptop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did Hillary end up filthy rich? Pay-to-play politics.

MURRAY: Donald Trump amplifying his latest barrage of negative ads on the campaign trail.

[04:05:02] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think she's unstable. She's trigger-happy.

MURRAY: Despite no new information from the FBI, Trump is still tearing into Hillary Clinton over her e-mail server, and insisting she'll eventually face criminal charges.

TRUMP: How can Hillary manage this country when she can't even manage her e-mails? Did you ever see -- hey, folks, let's forget all of the stuff. What a mess. All she had to do was follow the rules. Unbelievable. And now she's going to run the country. She'll be under investigation for years.

MURRAY: All part of his final push to convince voters he's the fresh face, and she's the face of corruption.

TRUMP: She's likely to be under investigation for a long time, concluding in a criminal trial. Our president. America deserves a government that can go to work on day one and get it done.

MURRAY: With the polls tightening, the GOP nominee is campaigning today in Ohio, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and aiming to drive up his election day vote in key battlegrounds.

TRUMP: We have so many great polls. But you have to get out and vote on November 8th.

MURRAY: Trump's sprint to the finish still taking shape, but the GOP nominee will campaign this weekend in six battleground states and is likely to wedge in more along the way. But stops in North Carolina and New Hampshire planned Monday. His campaign continuing to be a family affair. As Donald Trump Jr. hits the trail in Arizona and New Hampshire, while Eric Trump barnstorms Michigan.

MURRAY (on camera): Now even though the polls show Donald Trump trailing here in Pennsylvania, the margins have tightened. And this is a state you're going to see him come back to before Election Day because it's a state with no early voting. So it's a strategic move to come here and try to rev up his voters and convince them to turn out on November 8th which is exactly what we heard from him on Friday night.

Sara Murray, CNN, Hershey, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And as we mentioned Clinton holds a narrow lead in national polls, but that gap is too slim for comfort. That's why these final days the Clinton team is full on attack mode against Trump.

Our Tom Foreman has more about that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLINTON: Just a few days ago, Donald Trump was endorsed by the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So much for the high road and so much for the fact that Trump immediately rejected that KKK support calling it repulsive. Hillary Clinton is making hay of it anyway.

CLINTON: They said it's about preserving white identity and they've placed their faith and hope in him.

TRUMP: Our military is a disaster.

FOREMAN: On TV, the Internet, and especially in the battlegrounds, the biggest names in the Democratic Party are stepping up the blitz that started a few weeks ago. Then it was Senator Elizabeth Warren in Denver, Colorado.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The big, brave Donald Trump is too chicken to release his tax returns.

FOREMAN: Now it's former President Bill Clinton further south in Pueblo.

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We got to decide, do we want a change in reality or a reality TV?

FOREMAN: Up in Wisconsin, Vice President Joe Biden was playing offense, too.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's thoroughly unprepared and unqualified to be commander-in-chief of the United States of America. It's not even close.

FOREMAN: Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine hit Arizona trying to rally Latino voters.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (Through Translator): Donald Trump said that Mexican immigrants are drug dealers, rapists and murderers. He's a clown.

FOREMAN: And in North Carolina, it was Senator Bernie Sanders pushing women to the polls. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we have

come too far in this country to elect a president who objectifies women, who insults women, who brags about his sexual assaults.

FOREMAN: President Obama was even out there mocking Trump over being offended by "Saturday Night Live."

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And you want to be president of the United States? Come on, man. Come on.

FOREMAN: And First Lady Michelle Obama has been trying to bring it all home.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Because make no mistake about it, casting our vote is the ultimate way we go high when they go low. Voting is our high.

FOREMAN (on camera): Collectively, all these big Democrats are hitting the Republican nominee on every possible weak spot. And all that talk about taking the high road, that's clearly changed into take any road as long as it ends at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Tom Foreman, thank you so much.

Let's bring in CNN Politics reporter Eugene Scott to talk about it all. Eugene live in Washington with us.

Eugene, first of all, let's take a look at this electoral map. The breakdown has changed with significant shifts now in favor of Donald Trump, but still Trump facing a steep climb to 270. Help us understand the details of this.

[04:10:05] EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, what we're seeing is in states like North Carolina that have historically been red that it's a bit of a tossup. And so both candidates are competing for it. You know it went blue in '08 for President Obama and it went red in '12 for Governor Romney. And so the candidates believe they both have a shot at getting its voters to back them.

We're seeing other states like Arizona who find themselves in the same situation and really are trying to get people out to the polls to back the candidate because what can happen is still not clear right now.

HOWELL: But, Eugene, for Donald Trump really to get to that magic number, he would pretty much have to run the table, right? He'd have to get all of those battleground states.

SCOTT: He will have to. I mean, it would take a lot for him to get ahead as we showed earlier. Hillary Clinton is still ahead in many of our national polls. And these states are pretty volatile and go up and down each day, but I think when you look at the averages, you will see that he is behind the former secretary.

HOWELL: Eugene, we talked about this at the top of the show. Hillary Clinton focusing on those battleground states in Cleveland, Ohio, on stage with Jay-Z and Beyonce. The focus there obviously to turn out millennial vote, but also to focus on African-American voters. The concern among the Clinton campaign is that there could be a significant dip compared to 2012, the support and enthusiasm for Barack Obama.

SCOTT: Indeed. Beyonce's a bit of a three-fer. She can deliver the millennial vote, the women's vote, the African-American vote and just people also who support many of the policies that Hillary Clinton believes will make America the best country possible. And so we're seeing people -- these candidates put out all forces trying to reach the demographics that they think can deliver them a victory.

HOWELL: Obviously to pack the stadium there, to pack the crowds in, and then to try to get each of those people to make sure that they vote come November 8th.

Also let's talk about Donald Trump -- Teleprompter Trump, I should say, basically staying on focus, staying on message, and staying out of the media spotlight. Is that strategy working for Mr. Trump?

SCOTT: Well, we've seen polls tighten. You know, it was about a week ago that we found out that the FBI was looking at Hillary Clinton again with these new batch of e-mails. And there was a lot of concern, a lot of doubt that Donald Trump could stay on message for an entire week, but he's managed very much to do that. Even having moments where he was giving himself a pep talk on stage. And as a result, we've seen polls tighten. Whether or not he's staying on message this final week will convince people who've been on the bubble or undecided to actually board the Trump train remains to be seen.

HOWELL: But people are boarding the Trump train. We are seeing the polls tighten as many pundits would say should be expected. The nation quite polarized when it comes to these two different parties. We'll see how it all shakes out.

Three days to go, Eugene. Live in Washington. Thank you so much for being with us.

SCOTT: Thank you.

HOWELL: Of course you can stay with CNN. You won't have to miss anything when it comes to Election Day coverage. Stay with CNN and we will have all of our correspondents, our reporters, producers on the ground, photojournalists, bringing you every detail Tuesday.

ALLEN: Really? You think we'll cover it?

(LAUGHTER)

HOWELL: I think we will.

ALLEN: Let's say it one more time, huh? How many more days to go, George?

HOWELL: Three days. ALLEN: Yes. All right. We're going to turn to other news here in

just a moment.

Iraqi troops are inside Mosul for the first time in two years but ISIS is using a vicious tactic to hold them back. We'll take you there live.

HOWELL: Plus, in the United Kingdom pro-Brexit tabloids are attacking a court ruling that could affect its timeline. Why the British prime minister says Brexit will continue as planned.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:17:40] HOWELL: The battle to retake Mosul, the fight there taking place street by street. Iraqi forces are trying to drive out ISIS out of neighborhoods in the eastern part of that city. Iraq's elite counterterrorism units were first to get inside the Mosul City limits.

ALLEN: They are pushing in from the east in the heart of ISIS territory going house-to-house to clear the areas. Bear in mind, thousands of civilians are still living in these neighborhoods.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in Irbil in northern Iraq. That's about an hour's drive from Mosul.

Nic, now that Iraq's forces are in Mosul, what are you hearing about ISIS resistance?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, ISIS this morning claim in the hours to have launched at least one suicide attack against the Iraqi forces. We're hearing from the Iraqi forces yesterday, they were talking about advancing into six neighborhoods, raising Iraqi flag over those neighborhoods.

The picture that emerges today is somewhat different. We're not hearing anything about advancing forces. More about regrouping. And we know that in at least one neighborhood, one of those districts that government forces were pushing into yesterday, they were hit by suicide bombers and they literally had to turn around and leave. And we certainly know that in other neighborhoods, the Iraqi army has become heavily bogged down, not able to move forward, and that the fighting -- sporadic fighting continues today.

The impression that it's created while Iraqi forces moved into those places on the eastern outskirts of the city, they've met strong resistance. They talk about ISIS snipers on rooftops of buildings, of ISIS firing mortars, sort of short range. They fire these artillery pieces quite high in the air. They were over buildings, over a few streets and then dropped, intended to hit the Iraqi troops. But civilians are being killed and injured in the process.

Food, water, electricity in very, very scarce supplies for the civilians now part of Mosul at the moment. So the picture that is emerging is one that -- you couldn't say at this stage that it was a stalemate. But given the sort of bravado and the intensity of yesterday, let's say the momentum has ground down significantly. And that's an indication the resistance that the Iraqi forces are facing -- Natalie.

ALLEN: All right. Thanks so much, Nic Robertson, with the latest on that in Mosul. Thank you, Nic.

[04:20:03] HOWELL: Now to the issue of Brexit in the United Kingdom. The British prime minister is assuring the EU, the leaders there that it will go on as planned. This after a high court ruled Thursday that Theresa May needs the approval of parliament first.

ALLEN: They probably knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

HOWELL: Yes.

ALLEN: Leaving like that. But she's confident, she says her government will win an appeal.

Our Diana Magnay has more from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Victory at the high court for the champions of parliamentary process has not gone down well with the pro-Brexit press. The judges vilifies, called the enemies of the people.

GINA MILLER, INVESTMENT FUND MANAGER: The result today is about all of us. It's not about me or my team.

MAGNAY: Gina Miller, the fund manager who brought the case against the government and her fellow plaintiffs called Brexiteers and the loaded foreign elite.

There are many loaded foreign elite here in Romford. It's a market town east of London. And most people here voted for Brexit, mainly because of immigration.

We head for lunch to the Tasty Bolle, a local greasy spoon, standard British fare, staple British reading.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people have voted. Everyone -- the largest votes ever out. People came out of their houses, took the time to go and vote to get out of Europe. And these people are coming along saying well, parliament's got a right to reverse it. No way. There's no way.

MAGNAY: But it's not all rage against the remainers.

(On camera): "Loaded foreign elite defy will of British voters." Do you think that's fair?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't. No.

MAGNAY: I've been walking the streets of Romford this morning clutching the tabloid press, but actually the mood here in one of the most Euro skeptic towns in the whole of the United Kingdom isn't quite as sour as the paper would suggest.

What is in your fish and chips? I mean, you couldn't get much more British than this.

IAN CLARK, STORE OWNER: Just try it. It's like chocolate.

MAGNAY (voice-over): Ian Clark is pretty sanguine about the mood in the country and the sentiment in the press.

CLARK: I think (INAUDIBLE).

MAGNAY (on camera): So when it says now your country really does need you, we must get out of the EU?

CLARK: No. Get on with it. They need to sell their paper.

MAGNAY (voice-over): But hate crime since Brexit has had tragic consequences with the role that some of the press has played in inflaming toxic views under scrutiny. Pleas for tolerance made in the wake of politician Jo Cox's murder, constantly repeated with each twist and turn of the Brexit saga.

Jo's husband Brendan tweeting after the high court ruling, "Whatever our view, I hope we can take a step back and debate it soberly. Inciting hatred has consequences."

If the court's decision is upheld, that debate will move from the press to parliament where members will be under extreme measure to honor the will of the people.

Diana Magnay, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Diana, thank you.

Japan has launched a new weather satellite that will continue to advance its meteorological agency.

ALLEN: Derek is here to tell us about. Derek, I make sure that George has to say that.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That was a great lead-in, by the way .

ALLEN: So I can --

VAN DAM: Well done. At 4:15 in the morning. I applaud you, George and Natalie.

ALLEN: Look at it. There it is behind you.

VAN DAM: Here it is. Actually yes. This is my best visual representation of this advancement in meteorological weather information. How about that one?

All right, guys. I got to tell you about it because it's leaps and bounds from where we're coming from and where we're going to. Let me explain, satellites, their responsibility is to take a snapshot of the world's weather patterns. The clouds basically from about 22,000 kilometers into the atmosphere. That does it every 30 minutes or so. But in between that 30-minute time frame, in those images that are taken, there's crucial data loss that meteorologists like myself and other people who work at National Weather Services don't have the information and the ability to analyze because it simply isn't there. It takes 30 minutes to scan the earth.

Now, with the new advent of this satellite, they're going to do rapid scan continuous monitoring of the earth's planetary weather systems so that means no loss of data and weather information so making our weather forecasts more timely and more accurate for you at home. So you have to benefit for this.

Take a look at the video of the Himawari Satellite Nine actually launching into space. This is about three days ago, November 2nd, in the Kagoshima prefecture. That's the southwestern sections of Japan. This is a monumental step in their aerospace and meteorologist agency. And really it's going to help monitor tropical cyclones in the western Pacific, also make it possible to accurately study the distribution of volcanic ash and aerosols which you know is crucial for the aeronautics industry and airline industry.

[04:25:07] Volcanoes and volcanic ash can actually down airlines quite easily so we actually try to avoid those when we're flying. Interestingly enough, we have Himawari-8 in the sky right now monitoring the clouds across eastern Asia. Himawari-9 will actually take over from 8 so it's actually on standby until the year 2022.

Here's an example of that rapid scan continuous monitoring. Do you see how quickly and how well-defined this latest typhoon is across the Western Pacific? You can see the little bubbles from the convection that's taking place. Those are the thunderstorm clouds. And that really helps meteorologists and scientists better understand what's happening in the atmosphere. So we're seeing these leaps in bounds in our understanding of what the weather's about to do. And it can only really mean better and more accurate weather forecasts for you and myself at home.

Natalie, George, that's the latest we got.

ALLEN: I love the fact that you gave that satellite the spin.

(LAUGHTER)

VAN DAM: Geostationary.

ALLEN: You know, what was life like before iPhones and weather satellites? I mean, really.

HOWELL: Really, yes.

VAN DAM: You had us, little Velcros and sunshines on the wall.

HOWELL: Our best meteorological mind on the geostationary satellite, Derek Van Dam.

ALLEN: Thanks, Derek.

These are real science. You know. He just -- you know, he does not have a teleprompter. Some of us do.

Still ahead, a Trump supporter interrupts President Obama as he campaigns for Clinton in North Carolina. You'll hear how the president handled that coming up.

HOWELL: Also ahead, we show you how the U.S. electoral map is shaping up and changing as this race comes down to the wire.

We're live from Atlanta. To our viewers here at home and around the globe this hour, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:11] ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers around the world and here in the United States, especially you swing state viewers. You're the most popular right now.

This is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell, following the headlines for you this hour.

The U.S. presidential candidates are in their final push before Americans head to the polls come Tuesday. It is three days away before Election Day. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hitting those swing states, as Natalie pointed out. There all weekend. New national polls have Hillary Clinton with a slight advantage over Donald Trump.

ALLEN: Also, the U.N. is warning ISIS is seizing young boys in Iraq to fight in the battle for Mosul, which is going on right now. A spokesman for the U.N. Refugee Agency says there are reports the terror group is taking children as young as 9. The announcement come as Iraqi troops engage in fierce combat with the militants in eastern Mosul.

HOWELL: Children being (INAUDIBLE).

The Pentagon says a U.S. air strike has killed a senior al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan. Officials say that he died in the strike on October 23rd in Kunar Province. They say that he plotted attacks against the United States and had been trying to set up safe havens for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

ALLEN: Peaceful marches in Indonesia turned violent Friday leaving 160 protesters and dozens of police officers injured. People in Jakarta are demanding the ouster of the city's governor. Some are even calling for his death. Governor Ahok is a Christian and he's accused of insulting Islam. The Indonesian president has now canceled his trip to Australia.

HOWELL: Back to the U.S. presidential campaign, it is just three days away now until Election Day and neither side at this point taking anything for granted. The U.S. president Barack Obama spoke at two rallies in critical swing states, in North Carolina, Thursday.

ALLEN: It was during one of those stops that he was interrupted by a Trump supporter. You can hear the president become impatient as he tried to get order back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Hold up. Hold up. Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second. Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second. Now listen up. I'm serious. Listen up. You got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate. He's not doing nothing. You don't have to worry about him.

This is what I mean about folks not being focused. First of all -- first of all, we -- hold up. Hold up. First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech. So second of all, it looks like maybe he might have served in our military and we ought to respect that. Third of all, he was elderly and we got to respect our elders. And fourth of all, don't boo. Vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Don't boo, vote.

HOWELL: The U.S. president. Yes. They are making the case to vote to respect the First, you know, Amendment, the amendments and also just to, you know, have civility in a situation.

ALLEN: Well, you just watched how the president handled that. Keep in mind as you listen to how Donald Trump described it a short time later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Today Obama had a protester. And a protester -- if I have one, they immediately pick out the protester, even though the protesters we just found out through WikiLeaks were paid $1,500 to go into our rallies and be violent, right?

(CROWD BOOS)

TRUMP: And in Chicago they badly hurt policemen. They bad hurt other people. Although our people can take care of themselves very nicely. I must say.

(CHEERS)

TRUMP: But whenever there's a protester, the only time those cameras move, the only time they pick out a protester, because that's a negative thing, right? And yet Obama today spoke in front of a much smaller crowd than this, by the way, and there was a protester. And a protester that likes us. And what happened is they wouldn't put the cameras on him. They kept the cameras on Obama. And I said that's strange. You saw it today on television. Right?

He was talking to the protester screaming at him. Really screaming at him. By the way, if I spoke the way Obama spoke to that protester they would say he became unhinged. He became --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:04] HOWELL: Donald Trump there on the stump. National polls show that Hillary Clinton, though, has a modest advantage, a slight lead over Trump ahead of next Tuesday's election.

ALLEN: But the final outcome will depend on a handful of battleground states.

HOWELL: Yes.

ALLEN: The most popular right now, CNN's John King takes us through the map.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're into the final weekend. Hillary Clinton at 268, Donald Trump at 204 in the electoral votes. The gold states are the tossups. Donald Trump is in the hunt. Advantage Hillary Clinton.

Let's ask this question. How does she look compared to President Obama four years ago? Is she in the position the president was in when he won a big victory back in 2012. Well, let's look at some way to judge. First way to judge is the national polls. That's much better than where the president was four years ago. A lot of people forget this because of the outcome, the finish on Tuesday. But heading into the final weekend, this race was a dead heat, 47 percent to 47 percent. That's the national perspective.

But we pick presidents by states. So let's go back to the map and think about the key battleground states. Compare Clinton then -- Obama then, excuse me, and Clinton now. Let's look at the states. In states where Clinton is running just about even with where the president four years ago, they include Nevada and Arizona, they include these important blue Midwestern battlegrounds, Wisconsin and Michigan, and they include one of our tossup states, New Hampshire.

Now the gold states are tossups heading into this final weekend. President Obama won one, two, three and Nevada, four of these states. Hillary Clinton in the same position the president was heading into the final weekend. She thinks she can win all four of these, too. We'll see what Tuesday brings. But she heads into the weekend about even with four years ago.

These are the states Clinton has to worry about. She's underperforming President Obama significantly in big battleground Ohio and a smaller but important Midwest state, Iowa. We lean these to Donald Trump because he is running much better than Mitt Romney did four years ago. He has a lead heading into the final weekend. Clinton is underperforming Obama in those two states, and just by a bit in Pennsylvania. She still has a lead in Pennsylvania, it's just not quite as big as President Obama's was heading into the final weekend four years ago.

But even though she's underperforming in those, she's over performing, she's stronger than the president was heading into the final weekend in Colorado by a little bit. In Virginia by a bit. And significantly in North Carolina and Florida. This is very important. President Obama trailed in North Carolina in 2012 heading into the final weekend. He trailed in Florida by a bit heading into the final weekend.

He ended up winning Florida by a tiny margin. The closest race in the country, state by state perspective. He lost North Carolina a bit. But again, he was trailing heading into the final weekend. One of those two, she's ahead in both of them. And that's a big deal as we go back and look at the map and say, how does Clinton get to the finish line? How does she compare to the president four years ago. Well, she thinks she's going to hold these blues up here.

She hopes to turn Ohio. Let's see what happens. We still lean that one in favor of Trump. There's some talk in the Democrats they can pull back in Iowa. We're going to leave that one leaning Donald Trump. We'll see what she does on Tuesday. But significantly, they believe especially because of early voting they can win out in Nevada. Most Republicans in Nevada are starting to think that, too. That would get Clinton over the finish line. That's enough. But they also think again because she's in better position than the president was four years ago, they think she can possibly win both of these.

And they still think, even though this one has become very close at the end, and Trump is closing here, they think they can win that. If that were to happen, if Clinton could win Florida and win North Carolina, and add New Hampshire, that puts her in the ballpark of where the president was four years ago. Now is that guaranteed? Absolutely not. Donald Trump is fighting in those states to the end. But if you're asking the question, how does she look now compared to the president then, especially because of these two states as she enters the weekend, sure. In a contested race with Donald Trump, but confident the outcome will look a little bit just like it did in 2012.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: John King.

ALLEN: Well, as Election Day nears, the U.S. is worried that Russia will cause mischief. It might be a little bit more serious than mischief.

HOWELL: Right. Officials saying that hackers could try to deceive voters and create doubt to sow uncertainty about whether the system is, as Donald Trump says, rigged which is an unfounded claim.

Here's CNN justice reporter Pamela Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Heightened concerns over Russian-led efforts to undermine the U.S. election. U.S. officials warn that hackers could tamper with local data bases of voters' names and addresses to cause confusion at the polls.

BRYAN CUNNINGHAM, CYBER SECURITY EXPERT: We don't know what we don't know. There may be hacking tools and software in election systems around the country just waiting to be used on Election Day. And that would be very hard to detect.

BROWN: Already the Department of Homeland Security has uncovered signs hackers from Russia tried to penetrate state voter registration systems, though there's no indication they have been tampered with. DHS has been coordinating efforts with every state in the nation to prevent hacks. Scanning computer systems to identify vulnerabilities.

DHS officials at the Cyber Command Center in Washington are also monitoring networks for denial of service attacks. Officials say such an attack on Election Day could take down Web sites voters use for news and information.

CUNNINGHAM: If you shut down or disable or undermine the communications that people are using to figure out where to vote and to actually deal with traffic and things like that, you could create massive delays and lines.

[04:40:14] BROWN: U.S. officials say Russia has been waging an information operation for months with doubts about the votes including e-mail hacks of the Democratic National Committee.

Widespread hacking of voting machines in the nation's 9,000 jurisdictions would be a tough task since they are not connected to each other or the Internet. But officials will be looking for trolling operation disseminating fake news of tampering and vote rigging.

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, CO-FOUNDER, CROWDSTRIKE: It's almost impossible to actually to hack this election, but it's certainly possible for someone to claim attack and hack and to try to influence the public that way.

BROWN: Law enforcement also on heightened alert for potential terror attacks around the Election Day. CNN has learned officials intercepted overseas chatter among al Qaeda adherence about targeting three states, Texas, Virginia and New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's non-specific. And right now we're assessing the credibility of it. But we're geared up to go all the time.

BROWN: Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Well, that's just a terrifying thought to think of Russia hacking into the election. HOWELL: Yes.

ALLEN: Coming up here, we'll look at how this election's being followed around the world and you'll see the coverage in Russia is especially noteworthy.

HOWELL: Indeed. The way these two different candidates are being portrayed in Russia. We'll have that story as NEWSROOM continues.

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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Vandals struck Donald Trump's campaign officer in Denver, Colorado, twice on Friday.

HOWELL: That's right. Police saying that they have one person in custody after a rock was tossed through a plate glass window on Friday evening. It's not yet clear if the same person was responsible for anti-Trump graffiti that was painted on an exterior brick wall. Graffiti was discovered Friday morning.

[04:45:04] ALLEN: Donald Trump is facing more calls to fire the man in charge of preparing his potential transition to the White House. On Friday, two former aides said New Jersey governor Chris Christie were found guilty on all charges in connection to that scandal known as Bridgegate. Lanes of the key bridge to New York were closed in 20013 causing a massive traffic jam.

HOWELL: That's right. Prosecutors, they say it was all done to punish a local mayor for not endorsing Chris Christie. Witness testimony implicates the governor, but he is denying and has denied any wrongdoing.

CNN reached out to the Trump campaign for comment as Chris Christie has been part of the Trump team but we have not received yet a response.

ALLEN: Well, as we mentioned, Russians are following the U.S. presidential election with keen interest.

HOWELL: Indeed, they are. And judging by what's being reported in Russian media, it is no secret which candidates -- which candidate, I should say, is favored.

CNN's Clarissa Ward has this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: The American dream is dead. Bing, bing, bing. Bong, bong. Ding, ding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia's media is relishing every minute of this U.S. election, presenting it as an epic failure of American democracy. And it's not hard to see who the favorite is here. The Republican

candidate is presented as a maverick underdog, a political outsider, who speaks truth to power. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is cast as a dangerous Russia hater, whose election could lead to World War III.

Russian media frequently labels her a witch, with one tabloid even calling her, "Evil Incarnate." State TV anchor, Sergey Brilev, says it's a response to Clinton's aggressive attitude.

SERGEY BRILEV, RUSSIA TV ANCHOR: They've been on the streets over the course of years. Clinton is someone hostile to Russia because, while she's being hostile, she's done all those anti-Russian statements be it about hacking or about Putin or Russia, just rhetoric statements.

WARD: President Putin has dismissed allegations that Russia is playing favorites in this race, but as the polls have tightened Russian media is now suggesting that the election is rigged and that the establishment won't let Trump win.

One channel has predicted bloody social unrest if Clinton becomes president, followed by the overthrow of the corrupt regime.

KONSTANTIN VON EGGER, RAIN TV ANCHOR: It is a very effective message for the Russian audience because Russian audience is very suspicious of America, is very suspicious of Western democracy and American democracy. And someone who rebels against the system definitely is very good in the eyes Russia.

WARD: Which is why media here is happily milking this election for all the propaganda value it can get.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: I'm reminded of --

ALLEN: What to say?

HOWELL: Yes. I'm reminded of Gorbachev and Reagan, though, when they took that suspicion away.

ALLEN: Yes, they did.

HOWELL: It seems like we're at a very different point now.

It's not just Russians that are watching the U.S. presidential election.

ALLEN: We've got it from China as well. Matt Rivers gives us a look from Beijing at how China views the race.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Matt Rivers in China, one of the countries most mentioned on the campaign trail, though one candidate certainly uses stronger language than the other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We can't continue to allow China to rape our country. And that's what they're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: It's rhetoric like that and China's consistent mentions in the debates that have people talking about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HUANG, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Regardless of Trump's slogan of "Make America Great Again," I think Hillary definitely will be a better leader.

HUNG RONG, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER (Through Translator): I prefer Donald Trump because he's funny and interesting. But it really doesn't matter to China. We're just outsiders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: A Pew Research report released in October found that 37 percent of the Chinese public viewed Hillary Clinton favorably. For Donald Trump, it was just 22 percent. And while the Chinese government doesn't officially comment on foreign elections, state-run newspapers said the campaign proves Western democracy is dangerous. In October, the "People's Daily" wrote in part, "All this weirdness points straight at the corrupt practices of the U.S. political system."