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Gingrich and Kelly Face Off; Iraqi Forces Sweep Villages; Obamacare Fix Proposals. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 26, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Biased people are upset by it.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: I think that your defensiveness on this may speak volumes, sir. What I said is if --

GINGRICH: No, let me suggest to you --

KELLY: No, no, no, let me make my point and then I'll give you the floor.

GINGRICH: All right.

KELLY: What I said is if --

GINGRICH: Yes.

KELLY: Trump is a sexual predator, then it's a big story. And what we saw on that tape was Trump himself saying that he likes to grab women by the genitals, and kiss them against their will.

GINGRICH: You are fascinated with sex, and you don't care about public policy.

KELLY: Me? Really?

GINGRICH: Now that's what I get out of watching you tonight.

KELLY: You know what, Mr. Speaker, I'm not fascinated by sex. But I am fascinated by the protection of women --

GINGRICH: OK.

KELLY: And understanding what we're getting in the Oval Office.

GINGRICH: OK.

KELLY: And I think the American voters would like to know --

GINGRICH: And therefore we're going to send bill Clinton back to the East Wing because, after all, you are worried about sexual predators.

KELLY: Yes. Listen, it's not about me. It's about the women and men of America. And the poll numbers show us that the women of America, in particular, are very concerned about these allegations, and in large part believe that they are a real issue.

GINGRICH: You --

KELLY: And Trump dismissed the women summarily.

GINGRICH: You want to comment -- you want to comment on whether the Clinton -- do you want to comment on whether the Clinton ticket has a relationship to a sexual predator?

KELLY: We, on "The Kelly File," have covered that story as well, sir. I will tell you the poll --

GINGRICH: No, I just want to hear you use the words. I want to hear the words, Bill Clinton sexual predator. I dare you. Say Bill Clinton sexual predator.

KELLY: But he's not on the ticket. And the polls also show that the American public is less interested --

GINGRICH: He'll be in the -- he'll be in the East Wing.

KELLY: In the deeds of Hillary Clinton's husband than they are in the deeds of the man who asks us to make him president, Donald Trump.

We're going to have to leave it at that and you can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for being here.

GINGRICH: And you, too. And you, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. So let's talk about this. With me now is Angela Rye, a CNN political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator and former Ted Cruz communications director.

Welcome to both of you.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you, Carol.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Alice, what was that about?

STEWART: Well, I'm fascinated by the -- the pivot that I guess Newt Gingrich was trying to do here. Look, when he says that the media is fascinated by sex, look, I will say this, Donald Trump had the opportunity to extinguish the firestorm of this controversy weeks ago by stopping -- talking about this, yet he repeatedly continues to engage in dialogue and talk about this.

Look, when we have -- have a man who's the nominee of a party who goes on -- is on tape bragging about using his stature and a few Tic Tacs to inappropriately give unwanted advances to women, and when they come out they say -- he says they're liars and threatens to sue them, that's not a way to put this story to bed. He should be talking about Obamacare. He should be talking about his plans for immigration. And that's what he needs to focus on. So I think I --

COSTELLO: And just to be clear, Alice, you're voting for Mr. Trump.

STEWART: I'm going to vote for him. I'm a Republican. And to -- to paraphrase the great Oprah Winfrey, he ain't coming to my house, and I don't like a lot of the things he says, and I don't like a lot of the things he's done, but I do think his policies are better for our future. So I think -- I think Newt Gingrich inappropriately attacked Megyn Kelly on this and I'm -- I'm -- as a friend of Megyn Kelly, I'm proud of her for standing her ground and holding his feet to the fire on this.

COSTELLO: Angela, a senior adviser to Trump, Dan Scovino (ph), he sent out a tweet. And I'm going to read it to you. This is the tweet from Dan Scovino. "Megyn Kelly made a total fool out of herself tonight attacking Donald Trump. Watch what happens to her after this election is over."

RYE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Angela, what exactly do you think that means?

RYE: Well, I don't want to read into what he means at all. What we know, Carol, from experience with being a commentator here on this network, having friends who are commentators here on this network, we know that when Trump surrogates, Trump supporters send out tweets like this, there are some among his base, some that some of us would still call baskets of deplorables, who use that as an opportunity to threaten the lives of folks, to attack them personally, to attack their families. There was a gentleman who was on last night talking about -- and I can't think of his name right now -- but he was talking last night about threats that have come directly to his family because he also has a child, a black child at home.

This is going a step too far. Donald Trump, by all accounts so far, if these eleven accusers and counting are right, that is what we would call a sexual predator. And whether or not Newt Gingrich wants to pivot --

COSTELLO: Well, I just want to focus on this tweet for just a second, if you will, Angela.

RYE: Sure.

COSTELLO: So, Alice, what do you think this tweet meant when Dan Scovino said, "watch what happens to her after this election is over"?

STEWART: Well, clearly he's trying to insinuate that her show will suffer from standing up to Newt Gingrich, which I don't believe that at all. I think she has a strong show. I applaud her for standing up to Newt Gingrich and certainly the way that she's been treated by Donald Trump throughout this campaign, starting with the very first debate, and for her to still maintain a semblance of fairness and balance in her reporting of this. I commend her for that. [09:35:05] But, to -- to Angela's point, the threatening on Twitter

and the threatening we've seen amongst a lot of people throughout this campaign is just uncalled for. And for us to be engaging in the personal attacks like this are uncalled for, and the dialogue certainly needs to be elevated.

COSTELLO: You know, when I was watching Newt Gingrich, I just -- I just felt he was -- he just appeared so defensive to me.

RYE: He was.

COSTELLO: And actually a moment from the 2012 campaign popped into my head. Newt Gingrich was running for the Republican nomination, right? He was on that debate stage. And I'm just going to show it to my viewers now. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN: She says that you came to her in 1999, at a time when you were having an affair, she says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?

GINGRICH: No, but I will. I think -- I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office, and I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So Newt Gingrich was talking about an ex-wife, who claimed they had an open marriage, Angela. And you -- I don't know, what -- that image, that moment popped into my head as I was watching this Newt Gingrich/Megyn Kelly thing.

RYE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Am I on to something?

RYE: I definitely think so. I think that that was what Megyn Kelly was insinuating when she -- when she said your defensiveness on his subject, sir, speaks volumes. I thought that it was completely rich. That it was Newt Gingrich here who was so frustrated by the term sexual predator, got so viciously angry with Megyn Kelly to who -- to your point has also suffered at the hands of Donald Trump, at least verbal abuse, this election season. This is the candidate that he's supporting who's also tried to make excuses for what happened on military bases with sexual assault of men and women. Super completely frustrating.

And, Alice, I did want to go back because you brought up Oprah Winfrey earlier on. Let's be very clear, Oprah endorsed Hillary and is voting for Hillary. So I know you were paraphrasing --

STEWART: Right.

RYE: But l just don't want to confuse the viewers because facts sometimes get a little muddled in Trump segments (ph).

COSTELLO: But (INAUDIBLE) I think it's wonderful that, you know, we can at least be, you know, nonpartisan in our support of Oprah Winfrey, at least with one small thing.

STEWART: Right.

COSTELLO: Alice, I know it must be very frustrating for you as a Republican woman that, you know, this kind of thing continues to come up, because Mr. Trump is lagging badly in women, he's 17 points behind. So what does he do? Is there -- if there's only 13 days to go?

STEWART: Well, he stops talking about this trash, and he stops making disparaging comments to women. And he does have a lot of ground to make up. Look, in the battleground states, which are key, he has to do well in these battleground states. A month ago, Hillary was up five points in the battleground states. Now she's up 15. So there's a long way he has to go.

But he can make up ground. He can focus on Obamacare. That's a great issue. Moms and women across the country are -- want to make sure their children are provided with quality affordable health care. And that's something with the premiums going up 22 percent for -- in many states, that's something he should focus on.

He should also focus on his plans to -- to help our military and increase national security, and on immigration. So addressing some key issues that are top concerns to women, and stop talking about the "Access Hollywood" tape and these issues that are divisive and destructive, that could -- that could go a long --

COSTELLO: And that includes Newt Gingrich, right?

STEWART: Yes, Newt Gingrich may not be the best spokesperson on this topic.

RYE: And, really quickly, Carol, the one thing I would say is, I'm really concerned that people continue to say that sexual assault is not an issue we should talk about. We absolutely should. It's something that is a matter of public policy and we have to resolve it and we can't without talking about Trump's past transgressions, past issues here. But we also -- he needs to be talking about this issue, but he just needs to pivot in the way he's talking about the issue. What he's done so far has been very destructive to the public discourse and Newt Gingrich did not help him at all last night.

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Angela Rye, Alice Stewart, thanks so much.

STEWART: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Iraqi forces close in on Mosul as hundreds of ISIS suicide bombers are pouring in from neighboring Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:43:41] COSTELLO: ISIS is not letting go of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, without a fierce fight. Witnesses telling CNN, ISIS suicide squads are pouring into Mosul from Raqqa in neighboring Syria. Iraqi forces are sweeping villages near Mosul, hunting for militant. But as they close in on the city, the U.N. warns ISIS is carrying out barbaric acts. The terrorists are killing men, women and children, tossing their bodies into a river and dragging others behind trucks.

CNN international correspondent Michael Holmes is near the front lines outside of Mosul.

Hi, Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Yes, those suicide squads, incredible. Over the last couple of days, witnesses inside Mosul telling us that hundreds of ISIS fighters have come across and it is clear what their intention is. They're in distinctive uniforms, we're told. They're wearing suicide belts. They're mainly foreign fighters. And they are clearly there to die in this fight.

Now, we're also told that in the east of the city, most of the ISIS fighters from there are starting to head to the west of the city. They have to cross the Tigris River to do that. They have been putting explosives on those bridges as they go, so we know what they're going to do, and heading into the west part of the city, which is really a rabbit warren of alleyways and narrow roads and closely built houses, which is going to make it easier for those already embedded in a place like that, in fighting position, and going to make it pretty impossible for some of the big armored vehicles we've seen rolling across the Iraqi plains to navigate.

[09:45:17] So, they're going to be there, and they're set. The plans, obviously that ISIS has been making for the last two and a half years that they've been holding Mosul, are now starting to be put in place. Also, we're told dozens of suicide truck and car bombs placed around the perimeter of the city and Katyusha rockets.

Here's some good news to show you. Want to show you some video that might warm your heart. These poor people who have come from about six villages just east of Mosul that were liberated by the Iraqi army. These people have been held as human shields. They've been under ISIS control for the last two years. Finally, freed as the Iraqi army came into their villages. They were taken to a camp for internally displaced people and you can see some of the reunions. The tears of joy. People were kissing the feet of their parents they hadn't seen in two years.

And these are sort of scenes that we are seeing as these villages and towns are being liberated. People finally able to catch up with their relatives. And some happy reunions in some very difficult times, Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's terrific. Michael Holmes reporting live inside of Iraq. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:00] COSTELLO: Sticker shock for Obamacare, a huge jump in premiums and insurers dropping coverage. So, what will the next president do to fix it? Donald Trump tweeting just this morning that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced, but the nominee's message yesterday, a little fuzzy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: All of my employees are having a tremendous problem with Obamacare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you provide health insurance to all these employees?

TRUMP: Yes, I do. I do, David (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So none of them are on Obamacare?

TRUMP: No, some of them, but most of them, no.

We don't even use Obamacare. We don't want it. The people don't want it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Christine Romans is digging into the candidates' plans.

Good morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN MONEY CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

So the next president's going to have to deal with this, right? This is going to be something that is going to be a centerpiece of whoever is the next president of the United States. And Donald Trump, on the campaign trail, his biggest applause lines are that repeal and replace. So, what would he do?

In March he put seven points out on his website and here's what it looks like. Repeal it and replace it, take it out, get rid of individual mandate. It also calls for breaking down state barriers so insurance companies can sell policies across state lines. He also wants to make premium payments tax-deductible and ease regulations on importing prescription drugs, allowing cheaper prescription drugs then to come in from other countries.

As for Hillary Clinton, she admits there are flaws to this law. Here's what she told a Florida radio station yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're going to make changes to fix problems like that. The president and I have talked about it. And, you know, look, this is a major step forward. Twenty million people. And actually I'm sure you know this, predominantly working people, African-American, Latino people now have access to insurance, but the costs have gone up too much. So we're going to really tackle that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: They're really focusing on the benefits to millions of people who are not ostracized now by the health care system anymore, but say they need to fix those prices for other people.

Here's what she would do. She calls it defend and expand Obamacare. She supports a public option, basically a government health insurer that would compete with private companies. She wants to expand outreach to younger healthier people. We talked about that yesterday, Carol. That would reduce costs. And she, too, wants to lower prescription drug costs by mostly promoting more competition.

So there's the plans from each of them. The question now is, Obamacare has become so political in an election season, how do you strip away the politics and just fix it, like the American economy has so many times, government has so many times found a problem and fixed it, how do you just fix it without, you know, trying to score points on the political front?

COSTELLO: You know, I wish I could be optimistic and say, oh, my gosh, I'm sure Congress will either fix it or really repeal it and replace it with something, but -- but I am not hopeful.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) --

COSTELLO: And it's because Congress has tried to kill Obamacare, what, more than 50 times?

ROMANS: Republicans in Congress, right.

COSTELLO: It's gone -- Republicans in Congress. It's gone to the Supreme Court, right?

ROMANS: Right.

COSTELLO: Where it's been challenged. So --

ROMANS: It is the law of the land.

COSTELLO: So it's really hard to see that -- it's really hard to see that it moves forward at all.

ROMANS: Well, you know, making sure that younger people get in there. Making sure that people know that they are going to be fined if they don't get insurance. And eventually the insurance is going to be cheaper than the fine. These are all things, all steps forward in -- in what is the work in progress still of Obamacare as it becomes, you know, the law of the land and policy here.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, thank you so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, black cats and billy goats. The Chicago Cubs trying to end a World Series curse more than a century old. But, oh, they had to contend with the Cleveland Indians. They were Kluber-ed (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:40] COSTELLO: The Indians strike first, shutting out the Cubs 6-0 in game one of the World Series. The Cleveland catcher, Roberto Perez, smacking two home runs and driving in four runs. It was the Indians' pitcher, though, Corey Kluber, who stole the show, making World Series history by striking out eight batters over the first three innings. He is so insane. And he's also a Tiger killer. But I like him because the Tigers are out of it and I'm now rooting for Cleveland. So, there you have it.

All right, so Mike Pence, he spent Tuesday hitting the stump in Ohio, but the VP nominee is still pulling for the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. Asked by reporters who he was rooting for, Pence wrote "go, Cubs, go" on a baseball and tossed it up the aisle of his campaign plane. His move becoming fodder for late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": Did you see this, Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, threw a baseball to reporters today with a note saying that he's rooting for the Cubs. And then the reporters turned the ball over on the other side and it said "help."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Pence says he's been a Cubs fan since he can remember and he has visited Wrigley Field many, many times. Good for him to sticking to his team.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

[10:00:00] And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Just 13 days before Americans choose their next president and the two campaigns are focused on key battleground states.