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Countdown on Until First Presidential Debate; Polls Show Virtual Dead Heat; Israeli PM Netanyahu Met With Trump Today; Protesters Gather Outside Panthers Stadium in Charlotte; Late Night Hosts Take on Politics. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 25, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:57] FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the camera and lighting crews have arrived, the set getting finishing touches as you see right there. You're looking at the last minute preparations at the Hofstra University Debate Hall where in just 30 hours Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will approach those podiums for their very first debate of the 2016 election.

Hello, everyone, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredericka Whitfield live at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. So the countdown is on. And as if the stakes weren't high enough, a new ABC/"Washington Post" poll shows Clinton and Trump in a virtual dead heat.

Clinton with only a two-point lead among likely voters over the next two hours, we'll talk about the candidates' preparedness and the three main topics they will debate. NBC moderator Lester Holt will be questioning Trump and Clinton about "America's direction, achieving prosperity and securing America." Both candidates are off the campaign trail today but have separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu met with Trump for 90 minutes at Trump Tower this morning. And aside from her preplans meeting with Netanyahu, Clinton is hunkered down at a hotel near her home in Chappaqua, New York where she was seen working late into the tonight.

Sources close to the campaign say Clinton has been spring with multiple stand-ins from Trump. She is also come through books about his policies and personalities. Meanwhile, Trump says he doesn't want to "over-prepare." He held a rally in fact in Roanoke, Virginia last night, mostly ripping Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine who represents Virginia.

But it's Trump's Twitter feed that is giving us the most insight into what he may do Monday night at the debate. After Clinton supporter Mark Cuban taunted that he would be in the front row as a guest of Clinton, Trump tweeted this, if dopey Mark Cuban of failed benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row perhaps I'll put Gennifer Flowers right alongside him. All right, Gennifer Flowers who infamously had an affair with then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, then told "The New York Times" that she would indeed attend the debate. Trump's campaign says she will not be there. So my colleague, Jake Tapper asked Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway if these are the types of head games that Clinton can expect from Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Can you confirm if Gennifer Flowers is going to be at the debate as a guest of Mr. Trump?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: No, I cannot confirm that and can't believe how easily baited the Clinton campaign was. Basically Mr. Trump was saying, look, if Mark Cuban is going to send out texts, that say, the humbling at Hofstra, and this is his big down fall, then Mr. Trump was putting them on notice that we could invite guests that may get into the head of Hillary Clinton, but we have not invite her formally and we don't expect her to be there of the Trump campaign.

I did think it was really odd one day after Hillary Clinton was of rebuffed by Democratic mayor of Charlotte to please not to come to Charlotte not for resources and not come at this time then they exercised poor judgment the very next day by putting out a statement by the Clinton campaign about Gennifer Flowers, and what this meant with Donald Trump that it shows he's easily provoked.

No, the easily provoked people here were the Clinton campaign. So, it was poor judgment. But look, we're going to talk about the issues that face America. That's what the debate is. I can understand why Hillary Clinton wants a billionaire in front row, that's just another Monday night for her. But we're going to talk -- we're taking the case directly to the American people tomorrow night.

TAPPER: As a point of fact, I think both Trump and Clinton were talking about visiting Charlotte and the mayor said they didn't have resources for either one to visit. But I think it's curious and probably a lot viewers are wondering, you think what's odd is the Clinton campaign's reaction to Donald Trump tweeting about somebody that her husband had an affair with decades ago, not the fact that Donald Trump tweeted something about someone -- the nominee' husband had an affair with decades ago.

[15:05:07] CONWAY: It seems odd that they would give it life and breath since you said three times in a row that Governor Clinton had an affair with her. I didn't say it but now a lot of Americans ...

TAPPER: But Donald Trump gave it life, did he not? Donald Trump gave it life. He's the one that brought it up.

CONWAY: He basically -- no. And they could have left it at that. What he said was if she's going to do this as way to bait him, then perhaps he'll then tweet. Perhaps he'll invite Gennifer Flowers there or have her sit in the front row. But, you know, I also just want to say, Jake, the particular presidential -- this year's particular presidential debate are incredibly important so that we can hear the visions of these two candidates, Donald Trump is on the stump every single day. He was in Roanoke last night, he was in four or five swing states just this week giving policy addresses and talking about issues. Hillary Clinton is running negative ads against him.

You know what should be fact checked? Hillary Clinton's campaign two weeks ago saying she was going to become more uplifting and optimistic and aspirational. Where's that exact on? Its negative ad after negative ad and negative pieces of mail, phone calls, get out the vote programs, we're just not going to do that. We're taking our case directly to the American people tomorrow in this debate and may I add, every single day out in the stumps.

TAPPER: But Kellyanne, it's hard to argue that Donald Trump hasn't been negative about Hillary Clinton. I want to ask you in fact, is he planning on bringing up Bill Clinton's marital infidelity during the debate himself. This is something he has discussed on Fox News Channel and other places and it's something that he's talked about in speeches.

CONWAY: Mr. Trump will answer the questions as they are asked by Lester Holt the moderator and he has a right to defend himself against anything that Mrs. Clinton -- Secretary Clinton may say in response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, so will Trump use Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs as fodder for tomorrow night and is the Clinton campaign prepared thing. Tapper asked Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In the mock debates, are you preparing for anything? Are you preparing for the Gennifer Flowers' of the world to be invoked?

ROBBY MOOK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, Jake, as you would appreciate, nobody knows which Donald Trump is going to show up to this debate and in fact his erratic temperament has been a subject of quite a bit of discussion in the debate. Now I would argue why he's not fit and prepared to be president.

But look, big picture, this debate is an opportunity for the American people to look at these two candidates and see which one of them is ready to be our next president and commander in chief. And I think the fact that Donald Trump is spending the hours before this debate on the -- on this sort of thing is indicative of the kind of leader he would be and president he would be.

So I think it's a warning sign before the debate has even started about Donald Trump's lack of fitness and bullying tactics that make him unfit to be president.

TAPPER: Former Obama adviser David Axelrod who wants Hillary Clinton to win is concerned if Hillary Clinton spends a lot of tomorrow night attacking Trump, that might not be enough for her to win the race. He told the "Washington Post," "If Trump finds a way to normalize himself, it can be a trap door."

Going into this debate, do you think it's more important for Hillary Clinton to sell her own vision or to paint Donald Trump as a threat, which could in doing so feed into her issues with likeability and trust worthiness and honesty, et cetera?

MOOK: Well, Jake, I'm really glad you asked this question because I think this is really the heart of the matter. Every time that Hillary has had an unfiltered opportunity to talk to the American people about not just what she's going to do, to make their lives better, the specific plans and policies that she has but also how her entire life and this campaign is part of a mission to help kids and families. She's done better. And so we're really excited to have that opportunity.

And to your point, I'm very concerned that Donald Trump will be graded on a curve. Just because he doesn't fly off the handle in the middle of this debate does not mean he's prepared to be president of the United States. He needs to have a coherent answers to the questions. He needs to demonstrate a command of the issues and needs to roll out specific plans about how he's going to make life better for Americans.

I was a little surprised to here Kellyanne imply that he has those plans. We haven't seen them. He has a secret plan to defeat ISIS. He won't tell anybody what it is. He says he knows more ISIS than the generals, that's not a specific plan and that's not being transparent with the American people about what those plans are. So, we hope that will come out at this debate and we absolutely want this to be an opportunity for Hillary to deliver her message directly so that people can understand she's fighting on their side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:10:07] WHITFIELD: All right, so let's talk about all of this now, I'm joined by CNN's Phil Mattingly and CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston, and CNN Political commentator Sally Kohn, a Clinton supporter, and John Phillips, a Trump supporter. Welcome to all of you. Nice big paid work here.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We have lots to cover, don't we? All right, So Maeve, you've been covering this campaign for a very long time. The Clinton campaign had to no this potentially would be coming from Donald Trump?

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Absolutely. And I mean we don't know exactly what Donald Trump's plans are. I mean there are tricky words in there that she won't be guest of Donald Trump tomorrow night but perhaps someone else, who knows. But I think Donald Trump likes to pump up the drama. One adviser to Hillary Clinton was saying to me last night that she will be ready for anything. Gennifer Flowers in the front row, she will blow her a kiss and not be rattled that she's ready for whatever he brings on and we'll see how deal with that.

WHITFIELD: And Phil, what's the feeling on how Hillary Clinton would steal herself for this? Because clearly she enough known this was coming. It kind of intimate as a wild back, he might unleash this.

PATT MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They've been not really going to be specifics, but there's this question about there's been preparation about the specific issues, new specific accusations, all of these contingency possibilities have been addressed in the debate. And he ask how she prepares, by preparing. She hunkers down as he noted. She spends a lot of time at the briefing books, a lot of time with advisers, that makes her comfortable. One thing it's very clearly about to me, Hillary Clinton has debated more than just about anybody on a stage this big in history.

WHITFIELD: All the way back to high school.

MATTINGLY: As the RNC likes to point out as they set the expectation. And so there's a level of comfort there with the stage. I think the one concern when we talked to Democratic officials that she over- prepares, she's a little bit into her own head about it. But I think she and her team are comfortable on the stage, it's just a matter of can they land what they need to land when the need to land it to make Donald Trump as Robby Mook was trying to point out, look like he's simply is not prepared or even a possibility to sit in the oval office.

WHITFIELD: And Sally, what is that look like too overpreprare? How could this be to the detriment of Hillary Clinton?

SALLY KOHN, CCN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I love you, Fred, but even that question in this election cycle should strike us all as a little preposterous, right. Like now because -- I'm not just accusing you uniquely of this but because, you know, as we're used to doing in politics, we have to talk about both sides. We have to say something about Trump. We have to say something about Clinton. You have t ask me a hard question about Clinton. So the hard question for Clinton for thus debate is she might over -- apparently Donald Trump ...

WHITFIELD: He says he doesn't believe in overpreparing.

KOHN: Right. But again it's like a mask for -- in facing a candidate who is not only under preparing for this debate but who is horrifically unprecedentedly unprepared to be president. The flip side of that is Hillary Clinton too prepared? I mean it's almost laughable reality. Yes, she may be too prepared for the debate like she is too prepared to be president. What a shame.

WHITFIELD: All right. So John, this brings out -- it rally boils down to insulting, that there's a different standard. Why is it that Hillary Clinton would be over-prepared and he could be under prepared and that's OK?

JOHN PHILLPS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well they have different goals. What Hillary Clinton needs to do tomorrow, she needs to motivate the Obama coalition to go out and vote. She's going to have an enthusiasm problem, she's going to have turnout problem, she needs minorities, she needs liberals and needs people that went out and voted in 2008 and 2012 to go out and vote for her. So far we don't know if that's going to happen.

What Trump has to do, is he has to be the guy that was in Mexico. He has tool presidential. He was to look like he belongs up there. And he has to bring back some of those college educated white women that voted for Mitt Romney that have reservations about him this time around and bring them back and attend. He's already done that with men. He needs to close the deal with women.

WHITFIELD: And what does looking presidential look like when you're on the debate stage?

PHILLIPS: You need to be in command of the facts. He need to look like the type of guy who would have a sober take on a world event that happened at 3:00 in the morning and you would have the country's best interest taken care of.

WHITFIELD: OK, exactly.

KOHN: You make me laugh, because these expressions kill me. I'm trying so hard to tone them down. You know, look, Politico just did a report, they'd look at Donald Trump, he followed him speaking for five straight hours. And in five straight hours, he told a lie, a lie an average of every three minutes and 15 seconds.

So, you know, I do think part of this is a question for Lester Holt, is he going to do a good job, you know, treat the candidates fairly. But if he lies more, hold him accountable more. You know, look, looking presidential isn't just being able to show up and say a few names of, you know, stand presidents without tripping over yourselves. It's a actually being able to show the American people that you're ready, that you have the temperament and the expertise and experience of this job. And frankly, I don't know how Donald Trump can show up and do that because that isn't who he is, he is fundamentally unqualified.

RESTON: So much I think of the onus will be on Hillary Clinton, on Monday night, to be doing this real time fact checking, right? So we've been covering Donald Trump for a long time ...

[15:15:06] WHITFIELD: You're saying it's going to more incumbent upon her to do that to correct as opposed to the moderator.

RESTON: Well I just think that -- I mean if she wants to win the debate she better be prepared to do that. You know, a lot of times, you know, Donald Trump's rallies when he said things that are inaccurate or exaggeration, there's no one there to call him out. That's why she has been preparing so carefully for each of those things so she can call him out on the facts and that's the way in which they think they can sort of expose what the see as ...

WHITFIELD: So why does that potentially undermine Hillary Clinton that people will then say she's being too wonky, if she's coming across too studied by correcting him, that that could potentially cost her support.

MATTINGLY: I think this is the primary frustration in the Clinton campaign. And Sally hits at it to a T right now is that -- that could be problematic for her, right. Her fluency on the issues, her ability to call out Donald Trump to Maeve's point.

The preparation is involved, Donald Trump is a lot of go to that he says over and over and over in the campaign trail that we've repeated stated are completely incorrect or a lie. And so they've been preparing for her to have counters to those as they come.

The concern you hear kind of rolling around a little bit is, oh will that make her look unlikeable? Is she attacking, does that hurt her numbers? I think the Clinton campaign scoffs at that idea, and thinks absolutely not her ability to command issues, not just command issues, command of a response to Donald Trump when he tries to put out things that aren't true, will only serve to benefit her. But, and I know disrupts (ph) you Sally, there are people in the party right now who were just concerned about absolutely everything. And I think one of those is the fallout for that.

WHITFIELD: OK, hold on. We're going to talk more about this. Phil Mattingly, Maeve Reston, Sally Kohn, John Phillips, appreciate all of your points of view. What I know there's more. We're going to get through that. And of course you can see the first presidential debate right here on CNN tomorrow night, 9:00 Eastern, our coverage begins 4:00 Eastern. Don't miss any of it.

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[15:20:21] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back to Hofstra University, site of tomorrow night's first presidential debate. I'm joined again now by CNN's Phil Mattingly, and Maeve Reston, and CNN political commentators Sally Kohn, a Clinton supporter and John Phillips, a Trump supporter.

All right, welcome back. We have a nice excited crowd back there. This is the prelude to what we're all going to be experiencing tomorrow. So Maeve, you first, you know, we're talking about the measuring sticks are different for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we've seen it on the campain trail, some anticipating the same will said for potentially on that debate stage. In fact, as Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook he doesn't want to see, nobody wants to see Donald Trump being graded on a curve.

RESTON: Right. And I think that that is -- is really one of the biggest concerns in the Clinton campaign right now and among allies, is that there is such a low bar for Donald Trump that they are very worried that if he is calm and cool and collected up there and there aren't those Gennifer Flowers antics, that he will come away with good headlines on next day. There are so many voters who are still undecided and we have to remember that. Many more than were undecided at this point in 2012. And he does have an opportunity to reintroduce himself tomorrow night. With me, with so many eyeballs there are going to be people believe it or not who have not been following every twist and turn ... WHITFIELD: Like us?

RESTON: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: So Phil, these candidates are mindful that they are trying to appeal to the undecided voters or not necessarily speaking to their base, speaking to their, you know, core support?

MATTINGLY: So look at the numbers, they are staggering, you have potentially 100 million people watching. You have between 70 to 80 percent in our poll right now say they are for sure going to watch -- look, I'm from Ohio, got a lot of buddies who are football crazy, don't care about the election. Mock I've been doing this for the last 15 months in my life, all of them will be watching the debate tomorrow night not Monday night football.

The campaign is very cognizant of that. And John made a good point last segment, which is they are absolutely reaching out to the independent voters who people haven't decided yet, but they're also reaching out to their bases right now and they need to rally their folks and they need to make sure that they can bring their coalitions together. So there's a kind of a dual approach to this. But the bottom line is, there are a ton of people watching, a ton of eyeballs and people ...

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: ... are really paying attention to huge moment.

WHITFIELD: Huge audience. This is a super bowl of politics. So, John, which Donald Trump does Donald Trump want undecided voters to appeal to?

PHILLIPS: Donald Trump has done very well in these debates. I don't know why -- the Clinton campaign ...

WHITFIELD: Because you agree there are several faces of Donald Trump. America has seen that. His supporters have seen that, tough undecided now, how does he call attention to? How does he win their hearts?

PHILLIPS: Well it's going to be the Donald Trump that has seen the bounce in polls. The guy was the candidate after Kellyanne Conway and Roger Ailes and others made him stay on message and stick to the script, is the guy that he's -- within two points of Hillary Clinton if you believe the "Washington Post" poll is beating her in several purple states, swing states.

So if he sticks to that, think he'll do OK. I think it would be a huge mistake by the way to go back to the Mark Cuban thing. If she were to bring Mark Cuban and have him sit in the front row, because then you create a circus like atmosphere that was created by Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: You see that as tantamount to the whole invitation of Gennifer Flowers? PHILLIPS: In the primary debates, whenever people would go toe to toe

with Donald Trump, they would see their numbers drop and Trump's numbers would go goes higher. So if she tries to mix it up with him in that way by bringing celebrities in there and doing that sort of thing, I think that plays to his advantage.

WHIFIELD: Sally?

KOHN: I'm going to need more alcohol. Later, not right now. But for tomorrow night. Listen. First of all the idea he would attack the first major female candidate of a major party running for president based on the horrid indiscretions and behavior of her husband and bring that personal pain public again -- it's not only offensive but like will back fire.

WHITFIELD: Is not a sacrifice of female followers -- and voters?

KOHN: But again, will Trump do it? Probably because he can't help himself. Should he have attacked the family of brave men who died defending this country? No, he shouldn't have but he did and he did it again and again and again.

So I don't care which Trump shows up, I want the Trump we seen all along to be held accountable in this election. The other thing I do want tomorrow night, I don't know, crazy as it sounds that we actually talk policy. I want to hear about Hillary Clinton's record of fighting for families and children throughout her career and her plans to continue to support the middle class and working families in this country and I would like Donald Trump to be press on the fact that he has no policy specifics or details whatsoever that he has outlined and he needs to be held accountable.

[15:25:15] WHITFIELD: And that is where the pressure is in large part due, you know, for Lester Holt. He's going to try and keep them to the 90 minutes in talking about America's direction achieving prosperity, securing America.

All right, thanks to our panel. We actually going to stop for now but we're going to pick this conversation up a little bit later. Thanks so much, everybody, of course you can see first presidential debate here at CNN tomorrow night 9:00 eastern time. Our coverage begins at 4:00.

All right, straight ahead, Charlotte police releasing tapes of the deadly encounter rather wit Keith Lamont Scott. But that doesn't stop another round of fiery protest in that city, what the videos show and whether they clear up any unanswered questions and what they don't show. Next.

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[15:29:40] WHITFIELD: Welcome back to Hofstra. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks so much for joining us, more predebate coverage in a moment. But now to breaking news out of Charlotte, North Carolina, where anger over the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott is spilling into the streets again today. Protesters gathered outside of Bank of America Stadium locking arms and chanting ahead of today's game between the Carolina Panthers and the Minnesota Vikings.

[15:30:03] Today's protect comes just a day after Charlotte police released two videos showing their deadly encounter with Keith Lamont Scott. We want to warn you that some of these images are very distributing. And one of the videos is from an officer's body camera as he arrives at the scene, and for a moment you can see Scott in the blue pants and when he comes back into the frame, he is then on the ground. He has a blue shirt, rather.

The other video is from a different perspective of a police car dash camera. And you can see Scott getting out of the car, starting to walk backwards before he was shot. Police say there are several other videos but those are the most relevant according to police.

I want to talk more about this with retired Los Angeles Police Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey, Legal Analyst Criminal Defense Attorney and Former Police Officer Philip Holloway, good to see both of you. So Cheryl, to you first, how does the release of these two videos, these images, fill in blanks for you or perhaps leave gaping holes for you?

CHERYL DORSEY, RETIRED LAPD POLICE SERGEANT: Well, it just really explains what the police chief had prepared us for and that's the video is not conclusive with regards to what the officer's statements are. I don't see any furtive movements by Mr. Scott prior to them firing their weapons. And I don't see any criminal activity that was occurring based on the statement that was released yesterday that was so exigent that these officers should have left a surveillance location to drive some distance away and put on vests that say they are the police and did come back to engage Mr. Scott. This thing could have been handled so differently.

I think it would have been better had they just called black and white and maintained their position of surveillance and cover and allow another unit to deal with Mr. Scott. But this thing as he's walking backwards, I don't see his hands raised. I see no furtive movement. He takes three steps and then he drops. It's inappropriate.

WHITFIELD: The police version of events is that he was seen in the vehicle, he was rolling marijuana blunt and that he may have been brandishing a weapon and that's what inspired these officers who were working undercover on another case, what inspired them to get out of the vehicles and pursue them in this manner. So, Philip, is all of that justifiable in your view based on what you saw in the videotape?

PHILIP HOLLOWAY, CNN LEGAST ANALYST: Well, let me first start by saying our sincere condolences to the Scott family because obviously they suffered a tragic loss. Now that said, and as the guests have said is correct. We did not see any actual furtive movements in a traditional sense. However, the Supreme Court of United States told us back in 1989 that in awful police use of force situations they are to be viewed from a perspective of objective reasonableness. In other words, put yourself in the position of the officer who is on the scene.

Now, these videos don't do that. Certainly the dash cam video doesn't do that. While he's not seen raising what may be a gun in his hand, he might have been considered by the officer behind the pickup truck to be circling around behind the truck. And let's face it, police officers do not have to wait until someone starts shooting at them before they can take action to save their own life if they truly perceive their life is in danger.

WHITFIELD: Cheryl, police say that he was brandishing a weapon. We end up seeing still images of a weapon and a holster but not on the body of Mr. Scott. How troublesome is that?

DORSEY: Well, you know, listen, the Supreme Court has also told us that a black man does not have any right that a white man must respect. And so the fact that they say he's brandishing a weapon in an open carry state and the fact that the officers are now saying that they observed him roll a joint, is problematic for me because I don't smoke marijuana and I don't roll joints but I do know all of that activities happens in your lap.

So I'm not sure how these officers were able from their position seated in their car to see Mr. Scott rolling a joint and then conclude that that's activity -- criminal activity occurring that so egregious and outrageous that they need to leave their posts to then deal with that. It doesn't jive, Fredricka.

HOLLOWAY: Well, if I can just respond to that Fredricka ...

WHITFIELD: Why wouldn't police release video that substantiate a threat, because based on what all of us are able to see, I'm not a police officer either nor I'm an attorney, but it's difficult to see where he looks like he is exhibiting threatening behavior based on the videotape that was released.

HOLLOWAY: Well, that's an easy one because it's threatening behavior when you're told multiple times over 30 or 40 seconds to drop a gun and rather than dropping the gun you get out of your vehicle and start maneuvering yourself into a different position.

[15:35:03] WHITFIELD: And that's my point. That's at the root of this argument though and this is why tensions are the way they are. In the video, you do not see a weapon on this person, Mr. Scott, and that's what I mean. Why would police not reveal or show to substantiate the claim that he was brandishing a weapon that there was a threat? Why would that video that was released not show that?

HOLLOWAY: Well, the chief had told us that those are the best that they have.

WHITFIELD: Oh Philip first.

HOLLOWAY: Yeah. They told us that those are the best that they have. And it's true, the videos do not -- you can't clearly see what if anything is in his hand. It looks like there's something there. The police have said it's a gun.

But we need to wait until the entire investigation is complete before we draw any firm conclusions. We can't jump to this emotional knee jerk narrative that this was someone simply reading a book because, you know, that has been I think mostly discredited at this point, not before it caused riots and the loss of life, but we have to wait until the entire instigation is complete to see what other witnesses have said that they saw and see what the other officers have put in their report and see what other videos may or may not show. We have only seen a small piece of this Fredricka. We need to wait for it all.

WHITFIELD: Cheryl?

DORSEY: And so Fredricka, what we're going to find from the other officers' statements is that it's going to be very similar to what the officer who discharged his weapon is going to articulate and that is that they were in fear, there was a threat. But we understand Fredricka that officers will create a manufacture probable cause, reasonable suspicion, a reason to use lethal force when one does not exist. We have now been required to rely on the officers' statement to fair up -- match up with the video, much like in the case of Walter Scott. Had we not had the video recording, we would have had to take the word of Michael Schrager that Walter Scott had grabbed his taser and was about to shoot him with it.

But for the video in the case of Sam DuBose, we would have had to take the word of Ray Tensing that he was being run over allegedly by Sam DuBose and that's why he fired his weapon. So now, we're going to have to take the word of these officers that somehow Mr. Scott made a furtive movement which we don't see. He didn't something threatening which we don't see. We don't see him raising his hands and it's going to be based on their statements and their statements alone because great deference is given to what police officers say.

HOLLOWAY: And that much I agree with great difference is given to what police officers say, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll continue this conversation we know. All right, thank you so much and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:47] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back to Hofstra University in New York, site of tomorrow night first presidential debate. On the eve of tomorrow night's presidential debate showdown, the expectation game is in full swing. Back with me to discuss this CNN Political Commentator Sally Kohn, she's a Clinton supporter and John Phillips a Trump supporter. All right, good to see both of you again.

So John, the Clinton campaign has been hitting Trump hard with ads and it's just full force, perceived connections to Russia and his issues with women voters. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'd look her right in that fat ugly face of hers. She's a slob. She ate like a pig. A person who's flat chested is hard to be a 10. Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat [beep]? Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think women would respect?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Trump's use -- the use of Trump's words in Hillary Clinton campaigns, doesn't have to be a whole, you know, giant narrative no tracking, et cetera, is it effective?

PHILLIPS: Well, this is typically the point of the campaign where you hit them with the kitchen sink, right? You go in with whatever attack you have, it's the best attack and hit them with that and voters see it for the first time and then you move the polls. Well, they have essentially ...

WHITFIELD: But it's a replay of his own jargon.

PHILLIPS: Yeah. But I think their hyperbole and the language that they have used directed at him dropped the entire campaign is blunting all of the stuff. I mean, they have essentially said the guy is a Nazi, the guy is a Klansman. All he has to do with this debate is prove he's not Charles Manson. That's a pretty good -- pretty easy bar.

WHITFIELD: How does he combat these images? So, we've got young ladies and the language he's using to describe women in that particular campaign. It's pretty hard hitting.

PHILLIPS: Yeah. I think the problem is though, it's old news. They've been saying this exact same thing for months and months and months.

WHITFIELD: You don't think he has to work hard to change that message, to come up with plans or reveal something about, you know, a change of thought or apologies, nothing like that.

PHILLIPS: No, I think he's got to do what he's going to do and just ignore this. And look, this has been out there. He -- that debate where he said that about Rosie O'Donnell was the most watched debate in primary history. People know that he said it. And yet, he's two points behind. The numbers just keep going up.

KOHN: So, you know, first of all, the Clinton campaign -- certainly Clinton herself has not said the things you just alleged. Other have said -- we're talking about his own words here and you're trying to contrast them with various untethered supporters, number one. That's a false comparison which basically is the definition of this election. And second of all, do you have kids?

PHILLIPS: I do not.

KOHN: OK, I do. Ii have a daughter. And she's the age of the little girls in that commercial. And I'm sorry, but I don't care if it helps him in the polls, hurts him in the polls, what he said is unacceptable, it's unacceptable for someone running to be president of the United States ... PHILLIPS: Politics is hardball.

KOHN: No, I'm sorry, John, how can you sit here and tell me that my daughter, my eight-year-old who's going to watch the T.V. who could see this man as a president, someone we should all be able to respect and look up to and that's the way he talks about women?

PHILLIPS: Well, you can go back to the way Bill Clinton has treated women and the way the Clinton campaign and the way that Clinton -- the Hillary Clinton itself suppressed ...

(CROSSTALK)

KOHN: But Bill Clinton isn't running right now. And ...

PHILLIPS: But little girls will going to hear those stories too.

KOHN: We're talking about things that Donald Trump has said and will not apologize for you just said he should apologize for. So, it's OK for my little girl to hear him call women fat pigs and slobs. That's OK. That's ...

PHILLIPS: She's going to have network television. She's going to see far worse done.

KOHN: But that's not the president. I don't see how we can lower the bar for presidency. He doesn't -- who cares if he doesn't know anything about foreign policy, who cares if he things you know is more than the generals, who cares if he insults little girls and immigrants. I care.

(CROSSTALK)

KOHN: No, he repeat this stuff, John. It's not OK.

WHITFIELD: They would probably come out and showing during a debate to say this is the narrative, this is the message, this is the mantra that I now want to, you know, help control this debate, what will Donald Trump's be versus what might Hillary Clinton's be tomorrow night?

PHILLIPS: He's going to hit on the same theme that he's been hitting on throughout the campaign. He's going to talk about securing the border. He's going to talk about aggressively going after ISIS. He's going to talk about moving away from the traditional Republican position on trade.

[13:45:05] And that is what has galvanized blue collar voters. That is what has brought all of these people to the party to watch those primary debates and vote in those primaries where we saw record turnout. He's going to hit those themes again.

WHITFIELD: Setting tone is really important for a candidate when they take to the debate stage. What do you anticipate for Hillary Clinton?

KOHN: Well, I think Hillary Clinton is going to reintroduce the American people to her story. Folks feel like they've known Hillary Clinton for a long time but may not know everything she's done throughout her life fighting for equality in schools, fighting to help families who don't have enough to feed their kids. She's going to reintroduce them to her story and to her plan for how she's going to actually help not only bring jobs back but bring back good jobs with good wages and benefits, and she's going to do it in a way where she doesn't act like a petulant school kid.

PHILLIPS: And here's the question that he asked to answer. She's going to talk about all of these things that Sally just discussed, all of these people that have been left behind, which was a theme that she used in the primary. Donald Trump has to ask the answer the question, left behind by who? Their party, the Democratic Party has been in charge for the last eight years. Why were they left behind?

WHITFIELD: All right, John, Sally, thank you so much. We appreciate it. All right, and of course, you can see this first presidential debate right here on CNN tomorrow, 9:00 Eastern Time. Our coverage begins at 4:00. And we'll be back in a moment.

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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back to the campus of Hofstra University in New York, site of tomorrow night first presidential debate.

[15:50:04] Late night comedy shows used to be the place where candidates try to look a little bit more like the rest of us. But in 2016, that welcome mat, well it can be a little slippery. Here is Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING HOST: Can I mess your hair up?

TAPPER: When Tonight Show's host Jimmy Fallon chooses to disrupt Donald Trump's quaff (ph) instead of confronting the candidate, things got messy.

SAMANTHA BEE: HOST, FULL FRONTAL: I guess because ratings matter more than brown people.

FALLON: You say some shocking things.

TAPPER: Critics say Fallon could have asked Trump why he was pushing a racially charge lie about the president's birthplace for five years, it was the news of the day leading up to the interview.

BEE: By ignoring the poop, NBC tacitly condoned a race-baiting demagogue.

TAPPER: And Samantha Bee, host of Fall Frontal on TBS, CNN sister network, broke from general late night protocol and went after Fallon.

BEE: Sure, he's making life possibly dangerous for Muslims and immigrants, but hey he's good entertainment.

TAPPER: Thought it might be worth mentioning this bit from NBC's late night with Seth Meyers that aired after the follicle faux pas.

TRISTAN MATTHEWS: You don't get to pedal racist rhetoric for five years and decide when it's over. We decide when it's over.

TAPPER: Seth Meyers says at this point, well versed in the art of diplomacy. And he told CNN's Brian Stelter that it's good to have both kinds of shows on air.

SETH MEYERS, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS: I think it is important that those shoes still exist for people who want to tune out politics for a night. And I think Jimmy does it better than anybody.

TAPPER: Fallon took it in stride joking with Hillary Clinton about his Trump interview.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He left these for you, softballs.

FALLON: No, I didn't -- no, that was my gift to him.

CLINTON: No.

FALLON: Yeah, that's what I gave him.

CLINTON: Yeah, you gave him.

TAPPER: The bigger question, is there still room for escapism when the stakes of the presidential election are so high?

DAVE ITZKOFF, CULTURE REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: I know that it's a perception that somehow late night hosts are merely entertainers or maybe there was some housey (ph) on time when that's all they did. But I don't really find that to be true.

JACK PAAR, TALK SHOW HOST: Would it be rude of me if I called you John?

TAPPER: When these politicians on late night trend began, Jack Paar was nothing polite in his 1960 interview with then-senator John Kennedy.

PAAR: Have you been (inaudible) things happened to you since you've been campaigning...

TAPPER: But in the decades shaped since, by Late Night hosts like such as David Letterman.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, LATE NIGHT: You can, first of all, the road to the White House runs through me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That always happens. Always happens.

TAPPER: And Jon Stewart. JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Obama v Romney, it is on.

TAPPER: All bets are now off. And playing it safe, to some, might be the biggest risk of all.

FALLIN: Donald Trump, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Jake Tapper. We're back in a moment from Hofstra University.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:56:35] WHITFIELD: All right, so welcome back to Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. So how are the candidates preparing? Last hours, I sat down with Republican Congressman Peter King of New York, and he has endorsed Trump and says his candidate will have the upper hand in tomorrow's debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We heard some details about how Hillary Clinton has been preparing this weekend, being in a hotel with a number of advisers until the wee hours of the evening. Reading over policy books, doing mock debates, preparing for this debate in any direction, a stand-in for those kind of potential one liners from Donald Trump. You don't believe he's doing any of that or anything suppose to that?

REP. PETER KING, (R) NEW YORK: I'm virtually certain. My understanding is, is there is no stand-in, none of that, there's no podium, there's nothing for his rehearsing. What he's doing is going over different issues. Going over how he can respond to certain charges against him and that would make about his case, bu not any type of formal rehearsal, no. That's not his style.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, that was congressman Peter King.

The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right after a short break.

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