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Donald Trump Set to Speak in Minnesota; Hillary Clinton Rolling Out the Star Power; New FBI Letter on Clinton E-mails; Comey Stands By FBI's Original July Assessment of E-mails. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired November 06, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:39] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely gorgeous Sunday. Beautiful blue skies over the White House and Washington Monument. Live pictures here. From our new set producing a couple of days with CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. It is so nice to come to you from Washington, welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. We are live in the nation's capital in Washington D.C.

Over my shoulder there you know that house, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, soon to be the new home address, either For Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, who could it be? We could know the answer in a little more than 52 hours, not that anyone who has been counting. Until then it is an all-out sprint to the finish line.

Any moment now we're watching lots of events for you on this Sunday afternoon ahead of Election Day. Donald Trump is set to speak to voters in Minneapolis, Minnesota and historically Democratic state. This is his actually second stop out of five, five states for Donald Trump. Today he was in Iowa, next he's headed to Michigan then on the Pennsylvania, and then finally not too far from where we are here in Virginia.

On the flip side, Hillary Clinton, she is rolling out even more star power today. Last night she was with Katy Perry. The night before it was Jay-Z and Beyonce. And today, she's in Ohio with the king of Cleveland, LeBron James. Tonight another James, James Taylor alongside her in New Hampshire.

And adding to the list of celebrities in Clinton's corner, we've just been listening to him perform in Florida, Stevie Wonder. He's still at it, campaign event. This is near Orlando before heading over microphone to the president of the United States.

So, here's where the candidate stand right now nationally when we look at some of the numbers beyond these actual events, right, so this brand-new CNN poll of poll shows Hillary Clinton with a three-point lead over Donald Trump in a four-way race but, you now what, national polls don't win elections. Electoral College votes do. 270 of them to be precise.

So with that said, let's begin with my colleague, Jeff Zeleny, he is in Cleveland with the Clinton campaign, ahead of the big King James event. Ohio is key, it is tight. What do we expect to hear from her?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey Brooke. So much sports action happening this year in Cleveland, of course LeBron James was a champion, will be going to the White House next year with the cavaliers and President Obama but before that, he is trying to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton. But Hillary Clinton is making this election so clear that she's going to continue the president's legacy. So unusual here to have the sitting president campaigning so much. Of course we see President Obama will be in Florida in just moments but she's talking about him on the campaign trail. Listen to what she said in Philadelphia just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This election is about much more than the two candidates. Our names may be on the ballot but make no mistake, everything you care about, everything I care about and I've worked for is at stake. This election is about doing every thing we can to stop the movement to destroy president Obama's legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And Brooke, that is a central point here. The Clinton campaign knows that it does not have quite as much enthusiasm among African-American voters. Here in Cuyahoga County, here in Cleveland of where we are so interesting the numbers of early voting, I just looked it up, where it sounds 28 percent from this point where it was in 2012.

Now, some of those early voting rules have changed so it's not exactly apples to oranges but it's one of the reasons LeBron James, they believe his endorsement will help get black voters more to the polls. And Hillary Clinton was touting this endorsement when she received it a month ago in Akron. Let's take a listen to what she said about King James.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTIN: Now, I may become president but he will be king of Ohio for as long as there is a king. I'm obviously delighted to be endorsed by someone who has demonstrated such leadership and such extraordinary ability. But I'll tell you what really moved me the most is, he's given back to his home town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:08] ZELENY: So Brooke, you may wonder what all these celebrities, musicians and now LeBron James, how they actually help? Well, the Clinton campaign will say it's an organizing tool. Everyone behind me here has given information. And they are likely to get a text message or e-mail on Election Day or before Election Day to get out the vote. So that's what the Clinton campaign is trying to do with the big names, using it to rally support. But we're also expecting to hear from LeBron James just a couple hours. His never endorsed to major political figure like this. It will be fascinating to see what he has to say about why he's doing it. Brooke? BALDWIN: She seems like she has the a-team out for her. We'll see if that translates into votes. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much in Ohio. Meantime, Donald Trump set to speak in Minneapolis for a campaign rally there momentarily. You see the airplane hangar is packed. You see the Trump/Pence signs. This is part of the five-state spread he is making today. All of them battlegrounds except for where he'll be in Minnesota.

So let's begin there. Sara Murray is live in Minneapolis and that's really the sort of quinky dink on this Sunday. The state is incredibly blue and it hasn't, you know, been Republican since the Nixon landslide in 1972. So on this Sunday before Election Day, why is he spending time there, Sara?

SARA MURRAY, CCN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Brooke, that's a question that's baffling to some even inside Donald Trump's campaign today. Look, there is no doubt he'll get a warm welcome here because packed house inside, there's an overflow crowd outside. But that doesn't change the dynamics of the state of Minnesota. It is a very blue state like you said and gone for Democrats since 1972, 1972 is the last time a Republican won it. And public polls show Hillary Clinton with a comfortable lead here.

Now Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said earlier today to reporters, that they see a tight race here in their internals but I talked to a number of other people who are involved in the campaign who say they haven't seen any internal polling for Minnesota. They have no reason to believe the campaign is even pulling Minnesota. And they believe this is more of an effort in optics, a way for the Trump campaign to say, we're pushing into blue battlegrounds, not just Michigan and Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

But the reality is, if you talk to Republican strategists, they don't see a chance for Donald Trump to break through here. They say he doesn't have the kind of ground operation you would need to be able to capitalize on late momentum in a place like Minnesota tilted blue for so long. But Brooke, that isn't going to stop him from coming here and trying to get his best shot.

BALDWIN: We will listen in live. Sara Murray, thank you so much from Minneapolis. Donald Trump's last minute bid in Minnesota along with heavy campaigning in Michigan has a lot of Democrats taking a second glance at the traditional blue wall of electoral votes. So, let me bring in our political guru here at CNN, our Political Director, David Chalian to break down what exactly is going on. David, how do you explain this?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, Brooke, there is clearly some, you know, more competitiveness, a tightening happening in some of these blue states because you would not see Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton twice and Bill Clinton twice all visiting Michigan in the final week, unless the Clinton campaign thought they had to shore something up.

Let's look at the overall electoral map where are right now. The CNN electoral outlook. You see there five states in yellow. Those are the five remaining real toss-up battleground states. If you add up every blue leaning state and solid state Hillary Clinton is two shy of where she needs to be to win the White House. She can win any one of those yellow states and she gets there. And by the way, they are feeling good about Nevada, six electoral votes there based on the early vote.

Donald Trump at 204 there on the map, he needs to sweep every remaining battleground state and if he isn't able to do that, that's why you see him now as Sara was saying, in Minnesota, in Michigan, because he's looking for somewhere else to find votes so that he's not just a no room for error, must sweep every battleground state. He's trying to see if there's opportunity in those blue states as well.

BALDWIN: OK, David Chalian, thank you so much. Let's broaden this out to his point about these blue states and where Trump could have a chance and also Manu is reporting, let me bring my political panel Jay Newton-Small, contributor and two-Time Magazine and author of the book "Broad Influence, Women Are Changing the Way America Works" and David Swerdlick is a CNN political commentator and the assistant editor of the "Washington Post." Lynn Sweet is the Washington bureau chief of Chicago Sun Times and Manu Raju is a CNN senior political reporter.

So great to see all of you all on a beautiful Sunday in D.C. But I wanted turn to you sir with your reporting between the most, you know, powerful Republican in Congress and your Republican at the top of the ticket here, it was an almost moment.

[15:10:03] MARU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: There was an almost moment. And it was kind of -- almost a flip-flop for Paul Ryan. Remember, last month when he told Republicans in a private conference call that he would no longer defend Donald Trump, he would not campaign with Donald Trump in the aftermath of the Access Hollywood video.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

RAJU: Well, it turns out he did campaign with Donald Trump today in Wisconsin. Paul Ryan actually offered to appear at a campaign stop with Donald Trump. Trump said they cancelled their plans, they changed the schedule. So that actually didn't work out.

And yesterday, Paul Ryan appeared on stage with Mike Pence, Trump's running mate as they tried to campaign for Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin senator who is in a very, very tight race, increasingly tight, surprisingly tight race. But it really goes to the point that a couple of things, Paul Ryan is in under a lot of pressure from Trump supporters, people who want him to do more even within his own conference and he recognizes that.

And also, there is a real belief that this is tightening, this race is tightening and that Republicans need to come home as Paul Ryan said and they could win this race. And there are some Republicans who are concerned if they don't have that message, that they could end up getting blamed if they don't do more to help the top of the ticket. So, a lot of dynamics playing out just because polls are tightening right now. BALDWIN: But you don't see it as the Trump campaign throwing shade on the speaker?

RAJU: I don't see that. I have no evidence of that ...

BALDWIN: Yeah.

RAJU: ... right now. It seems to me more of an effort by Paul Ryan to mend fences because he knows that his position do not defend or campaign with Donald Trump got a lot of blow back.

BALDWIN: And perhaps a piece of that and I want to bring this up to all of you, Speaker Ryan wrote the CNN op-ed. And I just want to quote part of it where he does mention Donald Trump by name, he says, so go to -- this the URL, better.gop, and "Take a look at what unified Republican government can get you and then vote Republican. Donald trump, our Senate candidates and our House candidates so we can start turning things around. If Republicans do not turn out, if we sit this one out, we will open the door not just to Hillary Clinton but also a Democratic Congress eager to give her a blank check." So he is saying sort of what we've been hearing Jay from Trump as far as you elect her, years of investigation, drama and scandal.

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, CONTRIBUTOR, TIME MAGAZINE: I mean, that is the case that certainly Republicans have made all along is that she is the worser of the two options, right? And If you look at Supreme Court nominations and if you look at policy and these things but it is still really striking and as you go into the end of this, you know, the final stretch of this campaign, the last 48, 52 hours, that you see Hillary Clinton campaigning -- if you look at the beginning of her rallies, she has this like laundry list of people whore there supporting her from the Senate candidates and gubernatorial candidates, to the House candidates to the mayor, like the school board people and she's just keeps going on and on and on. And all of these people are there to get elected.

And you go to the Trump rallies and its like -- and as Trump yesterday, he said, it's just me and wife Malania and my son Eric, you know? And it's so striking that it's such a nontraditional campaign that Trump is running, in part because he's running as an outsider and someone who has run against the establishment of Washington as a whole, Republican or Democrat. And that -- the really big question there is, what effect that has on the down ballot and ...

BALDWIN: Right. Right.

NEWTON-SMALL: ... whether his coat tails are big enough or whether he's a detriment to this campaign.

BALDWIN: Why Speaker Ryan saying vote Republican, vote Republican, vote Republican. On the blue wall, right, these blue states, Lynn, let must just turn to you and ask you, the fact that, you know, Jeff Zeleny said you have, you know, the president of the United States twice in Michigan -- no, it was David Chalian and you have Bill Clinton in Michigan, I mean this should be traditionally a lock for her. Why then do you see this as nerves among the Clinton campaign? LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: No, I don't

see this as nerves and tomorrow you're going to have both Clinton and Donald Trump in Grand Rapids, which is an interesting place, the home of the Gerald Ford Museum and it's also home to what I call the Amway vote, a very conservative slice of Michigan. But I think this whole tumble in the polls is directly due to the FBI, Director Comey and his reopening the e-mail discussion.

BALDWIN: Also add to that, you know, think of all the independents in New Hampshire, there is the event in New Hampshire as well trying to sway. And I think the FBI is affected ...

SWEET: Right. So I think this -- she's still in the lead but this new negative campaigning that's going to the end, that inspirational end that the Clinton campaign wanted, I don't think it's anything but the FBI -- FBI revelation. And as a result to that, it reopened Michigan.

Now, I would have thought that the vote there could have been more solid because the issues are playing to her, especially with Flint on the table with the Republican governor in Michigan ...

BALDWIN: Right. Right.

SWEET: ... but it isn't. It was just turns out to be more fragile than anyone had thought.

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's more fragile and it is Electoral College vote rich, right.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

SWERDLICK: We talk so much about Ohio having 18 electoral votes, Michigan has 16. So you can't afford if you're the Democrats ...

BALDWIN: Yeah.

SWERDLICK: ... to have the bottom fall out in a state you thought you had in your mind (ph).

[15:15:03] BALDWIN: What about Minnesota? What is Trump doing there? It's since 1972. Let me say that again, that it's gone Democrat.

SWERDLICK: Yeah, I think -- I was just looking at that last poll of polls you showed Brooke, and I think it was eight or nine points in favor of Secretary Clinton.

BALDWIN: 11th hour last ditch. I mean ...

SWERDLICK: Yeah.

BALDWIN: ... if you think Romney was in Pennsylvania and that didn't work for him as always ...

SWERDLICK: Right. It's hard to see why the Trump campaign is a big, you know, they must think they know something but it is hard to see why they think they have a shot at Minnesota with three days left.

RAJU: And it seems to be a lot of that is just a message, more than actual reality, that they can win it, to tell the voters and tell their supporters, we're on offense and we're expanding the map. We're not shrinking, we're actually fighting in the blue states.

BALDWIN: Yes.

RAJU: But one thing I want to point out, the NBC-Wall Street Journal poll today had a concerning number for Trump supporters, white college educated voters supporting Hillary Clinton more than Donald Trump. Those are key -- particularly for Republicans, senators and people in key downticket races, they need those voters to come to the polls and support them, also for the top of the ticket as well. So, that's a national poll, we'll see how that plays in the battleground state but certainly concern to them.

SWEET: So that's a quick point. You know, as long as Trump is losing in a heavy way, the Hispanic vote and white college educated voters, it's hard to see his path to 270. I mean it's just a big ...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I think that may be one of the biggest -- let me hit pause. I want to keep you around. I have more to get to. And I'm glad you mentioned messaging, by the way, because I do think that's a big part of this. Do not forget, Tuesday, kind of a big deal, election day, right. We've been leading up to the Super Bowl of politics, Tuesday, election night in America. Here at CNN, we will have every race, every results for you. So stay with CNN until the very last vote is counted.

Moments away from Donald Trump now and also from the president, both speaking momentarily, sprint to the finish. Stay with me, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:23] BALDWIN: All right, we're back live in Washington. I got some breaking news. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Jake Tapper just set down next to me, host of "THE LEAD", host of the "STATE OF THE UNION." And let me just bring you right in. You have a letter in your hands from the director of the FBI in the wake of this reopening of this review of the e-mails regarding Hillary Clinton. Read the letter.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD": It's shocking news. It's from the director of the FBI to all of the same Republican chairman of the committees on the House and Senate about the information that they've been looking at in Anthony Weiner's computer.

BALDWIN: Right.

TAPPER: OK, the headline is we're sticking with our original assessment from July. The FBI director says ...

BALDWIN: Not criminal. TAPPER: Which is that there are no criminal acts took place. Although, obviously, he also said the way Hillary Clinton and her staff handled the information was extremely careless. But the headline is nothing new here changed our conclusion. And I'll just read the letter.

BALDWIN: Yeah, please do.

TAPPER: Dear Mr. Chairman, "I write to supplement night October 28th, 2016 letter that notified you the FBI would be taking additional investigative steps with respect to former Secretary of State Clinton's use of a personal e-mail server. Since my letter, the FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of e-mails from a device contained and connection with an unrelated criminal investigation, "we know that to be the investigation of the Anthony Weiner. "During that process, we reviewed all of the communication that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state. Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton, that none of the acts were criminal and very grateful to the professionals at the FBI for doing an extraordinary amount of high quality work in a short period of time "sincerely yours, James Comey.

BALDWIN: This is huge.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BALDWIN: We were on air -- remember I broke before my show two Fridays ago ...

TAPPER: Yes.

BALDWIN: ... the letter two members of Congress, two leaders saying, you know, we're going back and looking, she's been under huge, huge criticism. Democrats have been furious with Comey which has been a flip-flop from that we saw earlier in the summer. What influence -- we are two days out. How will this impact what happens Tuesday?

TAPPER: It's hard to say. I mean, first of all, two Fridays ago the October 28th letter, that James Comey is writing about, the race was already tightening but it's hard to conclude anything other than the fact that it really hurt secretary Clinton ...

BALDWIN: Yeah.

TAPPER: ... that the cloud hurt her. And I think a lot of Democrats believe that what it did is Republicans who were leaning towards Hillary Clinton, it drove them back into Donald Trump's camp especially the time when he has been "more disciplined with his message," sticking to the teleprompter, his phone having been wrenched away by Kellyanne Conway so he's not doing these tweets in the middle of the night.

This basically says, hey remember that letter from ...

BALDWIN: Never mind, forget I said that.

TAPPER: Forget it. We're going back to what we said back in July.

BALDWIN: But Tapper, I thought Comey wasn't going to say anything until later. We thought this would take so much longer. This whole re-opening ...

TAPPER: The guidance we got was that they were going to review the materials but that it might take weeks or months...

BALDWIN: Right.

TAPPER: ... until they reviewed all materials. And obviously, there was a cloud over secretary Clinton's head here, what are they going to find? What are the new materials and that cloud has certainly hurt her with voters. Now we have James Comey saying we reviewed it and our conclusion is the same, which is not the say that we didn't find anything new or that we didn't find anything that should have been inappropriately forwarded. It is just this conclusion we reached back then, we still believe the same thing, there is no prosecutor, no reasonable prosecutor that would take this case.

BALDWIN: This is a huge, huge deal. Stay with me really quickly, I want to go to Jeff Zeleny who is there at the Clinton event in Ohio. What sort of a response have you gotten from the Clinton campaign, Jeff?

ZELENY: Brooke, Hillary Clinton is flying here to Cleveland as we speak from Philadelphia so we have no direct reaction from her but her National Press Secretary Brian Fallon just moments ago tweeted this, he said, "We were always confident nothing would cause the July decision to be revisited." Now Director Comey has confirmed it.

So at the early reaction from the Clinton campaign, obviously, they view this is very welcome news and good news here. Of course, they have been very critical of the FBI director's decision to jump in the fray here a now little more than a week ago, it was a week ago, Friday, when that bombshell really did change the trajectory of this race.

And now they are wondering of course, you know, if they certainly can't undo that. But they are certainly happy to see this letter coming out and the Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, you know, just learning this as we are and they are going to get the word out here. But Brooke, you can expect that Democratic surrogates and Hillary Clinton herself, I would expect would address this here in Cleveland.

[15:25:10] This is coming here, you know, just right before Tuesday and there are several states where early voting is not going on. Pennsylvania being one, Michigan being one. So, unclear if it can undo all of the political damage, if you will over the last week or so but they certainly view this as welcome news today, Brooke. So when Hillary Clinton takes the stage behind me here with LeBron James, I would be very surprised if she did not mention this letter from Director Comey. Brooke? BALDWIN: We'll listen for it. We'll take it live. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much. Lynn Sweet is also sitting next to us and James Tapper, because it's a bit of, you know, I told you so from the Clinton campaign but we don't even know what sort of damage. It's impossible to undo some of these -- these early votes, million of votes are already bee cast.

SWEET: It's better than nothing to say the least. There are some states that have no early voting in particular and important in this case, Pennsylvania ...

BALDWIN: Yeah.

SWEET: ... which is a state that they need, that the Clinton people need to keep that 270 number in mind. I think when we do all of the postmortems, this late decision for Comey ...

BALDWIN: On a Sunday afternoon.

SWEET: This is better than nothing but just to revisit those few weeks ago when he started up, if this review could have been done this quickly, I think it adds to the people the critics that say you shouldn't have said anything at all until you know. But postmortem aside, the number of undecided swing voters is something that the Clinton campaign is in better shape to know probably than the Trump campaign which may mean this excursion into Minnesota might be a few hours that they needed someplace else.

TAPPER: And can I just say ...

BALDWIN: Yeah.

TAPPER: ... two days we always like to say two days is a lifetime in politics or one day is a lifetime in politics.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

TAPPER: It actually takes more than two days for something to really seep into the bloodstream. There are going to be a lot of people who go to the polls on Tuesday who don't know about this letter, even, you know, even if it's covered from now until then by the media. People who are just -- it's a Sunday and people are outside, they're watching the football games, they're playing with kids, they're working their double shift, people who aren't going to learn about this. If you want to get something out in politics generally speaking and I know Comey does not operate according to politics or political schedule ...

BALDWIN: Yeah.

TAPPER: ... but if you want to get something out, you need at least a week really and bare minimum four or five days.

BALDWIN: I've got Evan Perez on the phone. He's our justice correspondent who -- remember we talked the day all of these broke, Evan, and, you know, everyone sort of assumed we would hear nothing from James Comey especially of all times on a Sunday before election day. What is your reaction?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we were told by the FBI, don't expect us to provide any piecemeal updates, we're going to provide an update when we have a conclusion, when we know what we're dealing with and know what is on these e-mails and we've been able to assess them. And so that is in keeping with what was happened here it appears that what they've been doing is frankly just working 24/7, trying to figure out the e-mails and make sure they land through the system that they have, to verify and prepare them to what they've seen before and also -- again, you don't have to look at those again and narrow down, focus on the ones that you have not. And that is what has happened.

We were told initially it would be a couple of days to at least separate the e-mails that they have not have to look again, that they sort of -- they didn't have to worry about, we knew they were building -- talked with just to make sure they can go through with key word searches so to narrow down what really happen -- to examine more carefully. And that appears -- to be what happened here.

To be honest, we thought this would take a lot longer, we thought it going to take weeks. And the danger for the FBI, by the way, is that this might not be the last of it. Somewhere, somewhere else there might be some e-mails and they sort of just live somewhere else that we'll be back here again in two months, three months, a year, that is always the danger with e-mails.

BALDWIN: This is stunning, I'm listening to you, I'm watching the Trump plane, that the picture is here as he's about to speak to the crowd in Minneapolis here. Also ahead of (inaudible) on the right side of your screen we're watching and waiting for president Obama, we just saw him go from Marine One, Air Force One. He will be route. All of this as news from the FBI director should start to swirl, letters to members Congress saying ultimate conclusion with what we reached a couple of months ago with regard to Hillary Clinton's e- mail, private e-mail investigation. David Swerdlick, let me just go to you. You're hearing all of this for the first time. Your response?

[15:30:05] SWERDLICK: So, as you said, this is going to shape up to be and I told you so for Democrats, right? They have a case to make that Comey could have waited until after the election, if there was nothing to see here, then why did he have to do this a week before the election and potentially influence the election.

If Clinton loses the election, then this will be a source of controversy, you know, sort of unending. At the same time, Brooke, I would say that Comey has an argument to make that if it's accurate as you reported out at one point, that it was two Thursdays ago that this landed on his desk and two Fridays ago that he issued that first letter to Congress, I think he has an argument to make that he was trying not to put his thumb on scale by notifying Congress in real time rather than waiting until after the election.

BALDWIN: Jay? NEWTON-SMALL: I think people here going to be really angry here, are

the Senate candidates in Florida and New Hampshire where you saw the polls really tighten in the last weeks because of this Comey letter. And you said now they are both toss-up states, now they're both like, you know, really close. And so, Maggie Hassan is the Governor of New Hampshire running against Kelly Ayotte who is the incumbent Republican and Patrick Murphy in Florida is running against Marco Rubio.

These are two people who really were riding the coat tails of Hillary Clinton. She was surging that (ph) until the Comey letter, the first Comey letter.

And now, they're fighting for their lives in these races, it's the down ballot effect is one that really can't be underestimated here.

BALDWIN: Let's take a breath and let me -- if you're just joining us, we are live in Washington reporting now on major news as we watch all of these different candidates. You're about to see Donald Trump here in the left side of your screens, speaking to a crowd in Minnesota.

We're waiting for the president of the United States in Florida, all the while major news just dropped. We have this letter from the FBI Director James Comey to members of Congress essentially saying, they are standing by their findings from several months ago with regard to Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server. That ultimate conclusion was that that was not criminal.

But the question remains, when this news initially broke that he was taking a closer look at those e-mails that were on former Congressman Anthony Weiner's laptop. That didn't necessarily help Hillary Clinton especially with all of these really votes that have been cast over the last week or so.

And now, you have the Clinton campaign essentially able to say we told you so, we will hear how she responds to that when she speaks if the president touch it, when he speaks in Florida, and how Donald Trump responds.

I mean, this is something that he's grabbed onto, he stayed on message beyond talking about those rising Obamacare premiums. This has been the other significant narrative from the Trump campaign to be able to say if you elect her, you will have years of drama and investigation and reminding everyone, you know, of what the FBI was looking into.

Carl Bernstein is on the phone with me. He has written a book on Hillary Clinton and the Clintons. Carl Bernstein, you have said it time and time again with me, that this e-mail, that the e-mail issue would come back to haunt her. But now you have the director saying he's standing by his initial conclusion.

CARL BERNSTEIN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: He's standing by his initial conclusions but it deflates to a remarkable extent all of the elation that the Trump campaign was running on with his last, with Comey's last quote, bombshell. This is an enormous development. It is a relief for the Clinton campaign and Hillary Clinton of enormous implications it may mean that she has great aid from Comey in putting this behind her, not certainly to the satisfaction of Republicans and Trump. But it's a big, big step that enables her to claim that she now has once again been "exonerated" in a legal sense by the investigators of this whole matter.

And if she were to win the election, I cannot imagine that she's not going to try and find some way to through some remarks in next few days to try and put this thing behind her as best she can so that it doesn't continue to come back and snap at her heels if she's elected though, that obviously there are going to be people snapping away for a long time.

BALDWIN: Carl, thank you.

Dana Bash is joining me now. And, Dana, I mean, to Carl's point, sure the Clinton campaign has two or so days to right this message but at the same time, the big unknown is how much damage has already been done.

[15:35:01] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I really don't think you can put the toothpaste back in the tube at this point. They're going to try as much as possible. No question about it in the Clinton front. But look, the reason why this was such a bombshell for -- and it's obviously a bad one for the Clinton campaign and good one for the Trump campaign is that, it fed into a narrative that the Trump campaign was already pushing and one that every poll showed was the biggest soft spot for Hillary Clinton.

Honest and trust worthiness along with questions of, you know, whether or not the big picture, whether or not you want somebody who is -- has been in Washington in part of the system for decades and decades.

So given that, I heard Jake telling you earlier that, you know, it takes a little while in sort of the DNA of a political story for it's a really seep in. And I think that's true.

BALDWIN: He's really do. He's right.

BASH: I think he's right. And, you know, it is not, you know, the '60s or '70s, information moves extremely fast with social media, with 24-hour cable and you name it. But at the same time, forget about the fact that there are people who have cast their votes with information that the FBI is relooking,, reopening, whatever it is that they had done at these e-mails. It's still unclear how much of an impact this is going to have on the people in like Pennsylvania with -- they don't have early voting, whether or not it's really going to seep into their consciousness.

And I have to say, you talk to Evan Perez, he is our stellar reporter who covers the Justice Department, who was saying that he was told it would take a long time. It's mind blowing to me that if it was doable, why they didn't try to keep it quiet, understanding, yes there could be leaks, deal with it when that comes but keep it quiet, figure it out, put all of your army of agents on this, knowing the political dynamite that this was going to be, and then deal with it then, especially given that the outcome is what it is. BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I mean, folks who said on the side of Jim Comey, he was afraid perhaps it would have leaked, it would have looked bad, then a cloud hanging over the FBI, would looked like he was withholding. I'm just saying that's what, you know, the other camp would say but you make an incredibly valid point.

Here's my next question because I'm wondering as we're going to see Donald Trump momentarily and actually we see the president, guys, let me know when we want to dip in where. But how does Trump, I mean, this is a huge piece of his narrative, look at what, you know, as he would take crooked Hillary has been up to and the FBI and this is that, and does he just skip it, ignore it?

BASH: You know, it's hard to tell, not only is it a big part of the narrative, it's a 180 from the narrative that he had before a week ago, Friday. I was with him in Iowa when he has started to say maybe the system is not rigged.

Remember the guy who I said was the worst person in the world, James Comey, because he didn't file criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, never mind. I actually, I'll give him credit ...

BALDWIN: Changed his tune.

BASH: Because -- right, because he is a great guy. His narrative completely turned on its head in a successful way for Donald Trump. So we'll see the way whether he does -- it does another 180.

My suspicion is he'll gloss over the facts that we just got in this letter today and talk more about the narrative that he had been sort of painting a big picture about Hillary Clinton as the ultimate insider but we'll see.

BALDWIN: We will. We'll take it. We'll listen. Dana, thank you, don't go too far.

Let's go to -- just want to get reaction from our, you know, political A-team here at CNN, David Chalian, joining the conversation as well. You'll been listening to our chat, you know, David since Tapper broke it, read the Comey letter here a moments ago. Your thoughts, sir?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It is just mind-boggling that the FBI Director after inserting himself into the campaign with 11 days to go, finds a way to reinsert himself into the campaign with just a couple of days to go, Brooke.

I just want us to take a step back here and look at where we are in the race, which is in a no small part to the FBI, Director Comey's initial letter to the hill. Both campaigns, both data operations will tell you that they saw significant real impact on the race after that news came out.

So have sort of hey, never mind, a big never mind, after seeing what -- look at the map right now, you see tighter contest, a tighter race nationally, his battleground state got tighter. You see the Clinton campaign going to fortify the Democratic leaning states. Some of that was going to happen.

There was going to be a natural tightening in this race, no doubt that Republicans and Democrats both saw some of that tightening happening.

[15:39:58] But Jim Comey put it on steroids in a way that really altered the dynamic of the final stretch of the race and then, now, two days before the election say, never mind, there's nothing to see here.

It's just an astonishing moment at an end of the campaign, one that I can't really find in my memory as I'm searching for a comparable moment that has happened.

BALDWIN: Yeah. It's tough to find one. Let me add two more pieces. This is breaking. We're getting reaction from the Clinton campaign.

Just got -- handed this from Jennifer Palmieri, spokesperson of the Coms team with the Clinton campaign, "We have seen Director Comey's latest letter to the hill. We are glad to see that he has found as we were confident that he would, that he had confirmed the conclusions he reached in July and we are glad that this matter is resolved".

Nia-Malika Henderson, another voice I want to bring in here. She says resolved. That's a mighty big word.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah. And it certainly where they want to leave this and essentially say that there is nothing to see here and in many ways that seems to be what Comey is saying in that letter after raising so many questions with that other letter that really gave I think Donald Trump a closing argument, you know, that he hadn't had before.

And that closing argument, you did see as David said some tightening in the polls. Specifically I was talking to folks in North Carolina and they saw a drop in support among constituencies that had been for Hillary Clinton, specifically white voters. They start to shift back to Donald Trump.

So there was a real impact I think with this October surprise. Typically, you know, all of things we think of that had effects on campaign, the 47 percent remark, you look back and that in political sciences, they all really didn't have that much impact. But this, I think is one of those things that really did have an impact.

And now, you have Comey in just, you know, days before people will go to the polls in a lot of these states, Pennsylvania and Michigan, states that haven't voted at all yet, here he is inserting himself on a way that I think the Clinton campaign is breathing a sigh of relief. But certainly, I think if you're the Clinton campaign, you wanted to see this much earlier and not impacts the Comey reinsert himself into this campaign at all initially.

BALDWIN: Dana said it two paces out. It's kind of tough to put it back.

Manu Raju, so this is -- we have a letter here to members of Congress, how are members are Congress responding?

RAJU: Right now, there are -- you are not hearing a lot officially. But I can tell you just from e-mails and text messages, from Democrats, I'm hearing that from. They are livid.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

RAJU: I mean that they are concerned that this initial letter had such a major impact on the -- not just the race for the president but the ballot ...

BALDWIN: The down ballot to Jay's point.

RAJU: To Jay's point earlier. I mean that is, you know, to the point that folks were making Jake and Dana as well, that it's not going to -- people will -- it's going to take a while for people to understand that Comey is not moving forward. People -- the initial letter just re-ignited questions about her trust, her honesty and led to all these questions.

Maybe she'll be impeached some day. You don't want to go through that the Clinton years all over again. It became very difficult for Democrats down ticket to defend Hillary Clinton saying that, you know, we're supporting a nominee who is under FBI investigation.

That was a very damaging impact on races down ticket. It would changed the forecast for Senate Races to be, you know, Democrats are almost certainly going to take the Senate, so maybe they won't, so maybe they'll have a barely a majority, a 50-50 Senate, 51.9 Senate because some of those races are going to determined by one or two percentage points.

So Democrats I'm hearing from are just furious. And what does this mean for James Comey's future too and Hillary Clinton is not obligated to keep her or him on as FBI.

BALDWIN: Right. It doesn't have to fulfill the tenure.

RAJU: Does not have to if she becomes president, that's going to be an interesting relationship to see. But this looks terrible for James Comey as well.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, let me bring you in. As we have Trump here. Listen it is a busy Sunday, ahead of Election Day. He may or may not even mention it. We're waiting to hear how the precedent, if he does or doesn't mention it, Hillary Clinton speaking later in Cleveland.

All of this and if I'm talking to you, Gloria, the initial review of the breaking news happened two Fridays ago and I remember you saying, you know, why would James Comey insert himself so close to the election. Gloria, it's Sunday afternoon and he's now reinserted himself and it's all essentially for not.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. It's as if he set, you know, the race on its head and then came out today and said, "Oh, never mind about it. Never mind. OK." What I did before, don't worry.

And as Dana was saying earlier, I think, it's hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube. And so, by doing this, which we totally understand why he's doing it because his initial letter had not enough detail it in.

[15:45:04] He's initial letter raised all of the questions about where these classified e-mails, where these hidden Hillary Clinton e-mails. Then we have all these leaks coming out saying, "No, they weren't Hillary Clinton e-mails". And then, the story took on a life of its own which Donald Trump picked up on.

So today, the Sunday before the election, obviously people at the FBI give them a lot of credit. Because it's mind-numbing that they went through all of this work, usually government does not work that quickly, in case you have noticed.

And they went through all of the e-mails and said, "Oh, by the way, this doesn't change our original conclusions." So the question everyone then asked is, I think Manu was saying, the question everyone then has this, but why did you raise it in the first place? Or when you raise the original question why didn't you say what the unanswered questions were?

So, it's a mess. I mean, I understand why he's doing it. I think it may be too late but if I were the Clinton campaign and Brian Fallon twitted and said, "Look, we always thought this was nothing and she would be exonerated, et cetera, et cetera. I would say it was a big ball of nothing but I doubt that Donald Trump is going to do that.

BALDWIN: Well, it's funny because we all live in the news bubble and we want to know when these candidates sneeze. But it's a Sunday afternoon and so many people, you know, heaven forbid, aren't sitting there and watching CNN, let alone, aren't paying attention to any teeny tiny, even massive news develop.

So, Dana Bash, let me just bring your voice back in the conversation, because I'm curious shy of like ticker tape parades and Goodyear Blimps and who knows what, I mean, what can the Clinton campaign do to communicate this with folks who haven't voted the message from Director Comey?

BASH: They're probably trying to figure that out right now, you know, get it out there as much as they can, obviously starting with the candidate, you know, push it out to all of their social media lists, use the really sort of high tech social media and other, get out the vote operation that they have to inform people.

And then just kind of hope that people understand and get the message. You know, I think that in some ways, I'm guessing the people sitting in Brooklyn right now are trying to figure out, you know, how aggressively do we push this because by pushing -- by them pushing out the never mind it was a big nothing burger, you're telling the story of what happened in the first place if that makes any sense.

BALDWIN: Great point. BASH: You know, you're reminding people that it's a thing, not that

most people need a reminder. But one thing that I was thinking as we watched Donald Trump gear up here is, another reason why this was such a game changer is because when I was doing reporting last week on why Donald Trump was suddenly Mr. on message, a teleprompter, Trump as I call him, one of the reasons somebody is very close to him told me that he got so focused, was because of this FBI issue, the Comey letter was described to me one source as a thunder bolt from God.

It just kind of went at him and said, "Oh, wow, like this is a big deal and maybe I should get focused and get disciplined and do what I need to do because with this maybe I could win. So that's another way that the initial letter changed the dynamics of this race. And, you know, ripples out from there as you were talking about with Manu and others.

BALDWIN: So let me throw this on you, because I remember we're watching, I want to say, it was that final debate when Donald Trump essentially was talking about he'll keep everyone in suspense as to whether or not he would ultimately concede.

Let me play out a scenario in which Donald Trump wins on Tuesday. And we're talking about a president elect Trump. And we have the damage that has been done, perhaps we'll never be able to quantify it from this initial Comey news from two Fridays ago. Is there any move from the Clinton campaign post-election day?

BASH: To say that these results are not -- or to challenge the results you mean? Is that what you mean? If Donald Trump wins?

BALDWIN: I don't know, yeah, yeah.

BASH: That's a big if. That's sort of several hypotheticals down the road. You know, I think it would be possible certainly, it doesn't seem that that's the (M.O.) of sort of the Clinton campaigns sort of where they have been going.

(Crosstalk)

BASH: Well, I don't know. I mean, it's certainly -- historically, I mean, it's very different circumstances but you know, go back to Clinton -- excuse me, to Bush/Gore in 2000, Gore was not happy with the way things went but he accepted the results and he even as vice president gaveled it in before the House of Representatives, certified the vote.

So it's hard to imagine that happening but, you know what, it's hard to imagine the fact that we're talking 48 hours before Election Day that the FBI yet again, through, you know, grenade into the presidential race.

BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah, I just kind of feel like the grenade have exploded, so I'm just thinking of possible scenario.

[15:50:13] BASH: Yeah. You know, that's a great point. BALDWIN: Yeah. David, we just learned Bruce Springsteen, just in the thick of all of this, we just learned Bruce Springsteen will be performing tomorrow night before the mega Obama/Clinton rally. I believe it was Bruce Springsteen and what 80,000 or so people for Obama some years ago, showing this show of force with all of this news. It will be a huge night in Philadelphia tomorrow.

CHALIAN: No doubt about it. Bruce Springsteen also closed out the John Kerry campaign in 2004 as I recall. I don't think his partisanship here is all that much of a surprise. But it is a huge draw obviously.

Remember, that final Philadelphia event, that is going to have Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, now we're learning Bruce Springsteen. Remember, the great ...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER PALMIERI, HILLARY CLINTON COMS DIRECTOR: ... letter to the hill. We are glad to see that as we were -- that he had found as we are confident that he would, that he has confirmed the conclusions that he really reached in July. And we're glad that this matter is resolved.

I have one other thing to tell you, which is that we are adding a guest to our rally on tomorrow night in Philadelphia and that Bruce Springsteen will be appearing and performing and appearing with not just the Clintons but the president and the first lady.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sorry, David. We wanted to quickly get that from Jennifer Palmieri as we -- from the plane, from the Hillary Clinton campaign there.

Again, the word, just to reiterate, they feel like, you know, obviously, all of this from Comey and the FBI has resolved and adding the news about Bruce Springsteen. Please, sir, continue.

CHALIAN: No. I was just saying Bruce Springsteen has sort of been a stall ward at the end of these Democratic presidential campaigns for a little more. And remember that Pennsylvania unlike other states we've been talking about, does not have huge tradition of early voting. Most of the voters in Pennsylvania vote on Election Day.

And so, closing out the rally there with such super star power, the Obamas, Bruce Springsteen, both Clinton's together is a way to start making sure that those people leave that concert and get to the polls on Tuesday in Pennsylvania.

But, Brooke, this is the third time in this presidential election, one of the most amazing presidential elections any of us have ever covered, where Jim Comey, the FBI Director, has made himself center stage in the middle of the campaign.

BALDWIN: Well, on Jim Comey, let me now read, David, and everyone, we've gotten a tweet. Let's move a tweet of the screen. This is from the campaign manager from Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway.

She tweets -- this is in response to Brian Fallon from the Hillary Clinton campaign. She says, "Why did you, your colleagues and your candidate attack Comey and his credibility? David?

CHALIAN: Well, you remember how this went, right? When Jim Comey came out in July and said he was recommending no charges, though he thought that Hillary Clinton had ...

BALDWIN: Republicans jumped all over it.

CHALIAN: You got it. A Republicans jumped all over him. Then a week ago Friday, when he came out and said, there were these new e-mails found. We have to go through them. Democrats jumped all over him.

There's no doubt that that happened. Each one was playing to that perspective. So just -- now Kellyanne Conway is coming out and saying, "Hey, it was a week ago that you guys were complaining about this guy."

Although I will say, I don't hear a lot of praise for Jim Comey in Jen Palmieri's word. I hear more relief that the matter has been resolved. I don't think you're going to see, quite frankly, from either side of the aisle at this point, a lot of people standing up and saying Jim Comey acted so incredibly well in this presidential campaign.

I think you're going to hear from both sides of the aisle that he probably was a little too involved in the presidential campaign.

BALDWIN: Let's take a moment -- let's all listen in to Donald Trump there on the stump of Minneapolis.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: As we all say together, when we win on November 8th, we are going to drain the swamp. And I'm going to help you on big league on immigration in Minnesota because I know what's happening to you and it's not a good thing. It's not pretty.

At the core of my contract is my plan to bring jobs back to our country. America has lost 1/3 of its manufacturing jobs since NAFTA. A deal originally signed by Bill Clinton and supported by Hillary. America has lost 70,000 factories since China entered the World Trade Organization, another Bill and Hillary-backed disaster.

Minnesota ranks fourth nationwide for the highest share of jobs lost due to a trade deficit with China, did you know that? You're fourth at least you're not first.

[15:55:06] And then, you're going to vote for the people that did that to you? I don't think so.

Why do I feel good about Minnesota? I'll tell you one thing. I'll tell you one thing. If I don't win Minnesota, I'm going to look real bad to those pundits that I do not respect very much. And there are some of them right up there, the world's most dishonest people, the media, totally dishonest people.

They are the dishonest people. Hey, send a camera outside to take a look at the crowd also.

And when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, our trade deficit with China grew 40 percent. Great job, Hillary, we're living through the greatest jobs theft in the history of the world. No country has ever lost jobs like we've lost jobs. Ford laid off 794 workers and Saint Paul had moved their jobs overseas. MoneyGram laid off 408 workers in Brooklyn Center and moved their jobs overseas. Greatbatch laid off 200 workers in Plymouth and moved their jobs, like so many others, to Mexico.

Not going to happen, folks, anymore. It's over. It's over. It's over. Speed manufacturing laid off 592 people in Hastings and moved their jobs to Mexico. IBM laid off 500 workers in Minneapolis and moved their jobs to India and various other countries.

A Trump administration will stop the jobs from leaving America. We will stop the jobs from leaving Minnesota. And we'll stop them immediately. It's one of the reasons. One of the reasons I ran, one of the main reasons I ran, and so simple. If a company wants to leave Minnesota, fire their workers and move to another country, and then ship their products back into the United States, through what will be a very, very strong border, I promise you.

We wild ma them pay a 35 percent tax on those products. And I'll tell you what will happen, not very complicated. They won't move. They're not going to move. They're not going to move. Our politicians are controlled by special interests, donors and others, and some of them aren't very bright.

You know, you've been hearing this for years, how do we stop this terrible outflow? They could have stopped it that most people don't even think of these things. But let me tell you, you put at tax on those products when they make them, they want to move to Mexico, it's a different ball game, folks, they are not leaving. They stay with you.

And when we lower taxes on business, which we're going to do, we're going to start new businesses, businesses will expand, and we'll have a lot of jobs. We will also unleash American energy, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal. We're going to put our miners back to work.

We're going to put our steel workers back to work. We will also cancel all harmful Obama regulations that hurt Minnesota farmers, workers and small businesses. Big league, you've been hurt.

I'll tell you, you know, honestly, because I was looking at the stats, I have, like, a lot of time on airplanes. I look at stats.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

TAPPER: Welcome to "The Lead", and good afternoon, I'm Jake Tapper. We have huge breaking news this Sunday afternoon here in Washington, D.C. just two days before the election.