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Trump Welcomes Pastor Freed from Turkish Custody; Saudi's Deny Involvement in Journalist's Disappearance; Midterm Voter TurnoutCountdown to the Midterms: 23 Days To Go; Trump: Democrats are "Bad People", Believe in "Rule of Mob". Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 14, 2018 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:00:14] JOHN KING, CNN HOST (voice-over): Racing from rally to rally, hoping to defy history.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Democrats support a socialist takeover of health care that would totally obliterate Medicare.

KING: The numbers look great for the Democrats if their most loyal voters show up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You young people never do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do.

KING: Plus, a journalist disappears and the evidence points to a shocking Saudi government plot.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I've never been more disturbed than I am right now. If it did happen, there would be hell to pay.

KING: INSIDE POLITICS, the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. To our viewers in the United States and around the world, thank you for sharing your Sunday.

The midterm election now just three weeks away. Democrats have a clear path to seize control of the House, while Republican odds of keeping the Senate look brighter. One wildcard: Democratic optimism in big races for governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STACEY ABRAMS (D), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We are making choices and decisions about everyone's lives, and if you're not part of the decision-making, I promise you you're still going to be affected. The really crass way I've heard it put is, look, if you're either at the table or you are on the menu.

I'm going to win this election because I revere the right to vote and I'm going to talk to every single Georgian because I know --

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The president knows this is a referendum on him and his tumultuous first two years. His hope, that the Trump base can somehow produce yet another election surprise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Democrats have become totally consumed by their chilling lust for power. You can either vote for Democrat mob rule or you can vote for a Republican Party that stands proudly -- the law and order, fairness, freedom and justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: There's also this wild card: a pre-election foreign policy confrontation with the Congress. The president is reluctant to get tough on Saudi Arabia, but this bipartisan outrage after the disappearance of a Saudi journalist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: If they lured this man into that consulate and they killed him and they chopped up his body and now they're lying about it, that is going to have a dramatically negative impact on U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia on Capitol Hill. Members of Congress are going to be up in arms about that including myself and something's going to happen. You cannot do those things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We begin the hour with the midterm landscape days out. Let's take a look at the numbers and they favor Democrats.

This is our CNN poll, a 13-point lead among likely voters when voters are asked, which party will you vote for in your local election for Congress? A big lead for the Democrats here. A new ABC/"Washington Post" data today backs this up. It's about the same a path to take back the House for the Democrats, the Senate's more dicey. We'll get to that in a minute.

All of it's driven by this -- the president actually up from his poll numbers of recent months but still historically low when it comes to a president in his first midterm election this is what drives midterm elections. The president's approval rating at percent in our poll, 41 percent in the new ABC numbers. This driving Democrats as we go to the polls.

Let's take a look right here. This is why we have Democrats currently favored 206 seats lean likely and solid for the Democrats.

Look at the solid Democrats 182, only 153 seats solid Republican. Right now, advantage Democrats. You see the advantage in the leans, likelies and solid plus plenty of opportunities in the yellow toss ups for Democrats in the final three weeks unless there's a big change to take back the House.

A different story when you look at the Senate. We currently have the Republicans at 49, Democrats at 45. Democrats, if nothing else changed on this map, would have to run the toss-up states, difficult.

Republican Tennessee, Republican Arizona, Republican Nevada Democrats would have to run the board here or somehow hold their seat in North Dakota which we list right now as lean Republicans, somehow take Texas which we list as lean Republican. A much more difficult climate here.

Still, the opportunity within reach in the Senate, the House clearly within reach. This is why the president is on the road constantly and so are prominent Democrats, like the former Vice President Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: You know what I know, this is not hyperbole. This election is bigger than politics.

(APPLAUSE)

No matter how young or how old you are, you've never been through an election quite like this, never. Our basic values, our basic American values are under assault. This is America, so get out, take it back, it's time!

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: With us this Sunday to share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Abby Phillip, Michael Shear of "The New York Times", Michael Warren of "The Weekly Standard", and "Politico's" Rachael Bade.

The former vice president on the road there.

[08:05:01] That's in Kentucky. Get up, vote. The urgency there -- the Democrats see the opportunity. They're essentially hoping they don't blow it, right?

MICHAEL SHEAR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: You know, if you think back to the day after the inaugural, the women's march in Washington, which captured more than women. It was -- it was sort of a cross-section of liberals, since that moment, there hasn't been an opportunity for the left in this country, for Democrats in this country, to really lay down a marker that responds to this president and what this president has been doing, both the policies and the behavior.

And I think that's what Mr. Biden, Vice President Biden was trying to capture, and to think that's what is fueling the numbers that you talked about, the advantage for Democrats is because this really is the moment that Democrats want to walk into those voting booths and say, we don't like this.

KING: We don't like this. And to your point about the women's march in to the vice president's point about essentially, get out, you better get out, you don't know wake up the morning after the election and have wasted this opportunity, just look at some of the numbers, we mentioned the big numbers the generic ballots, who are you going to vote for for Congress? Democrats have a growing lead as we get closer to the election.

This is why -- first, you look at men voters. The president's approval rating among men, 52 percent, disapproval, 45. On the generic ballot, men break 50 percent Republican, Democrat 45. Get it. They follow the president's approval.

But look at women now. Trump approval 34, disapproval 63, generic ballot look how women are say they're going to vote, Republican 33 percent, Democrat 63 percent, a direct how you think about the president how you feel about the president is how you're going to vote in three weeks.

RACHAEL BADE, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, Republican leadership has known for a long time that they have a problem with female voters and they know that they need to convince at least some of them stick with the party in order to keep their majorities. I think that right now, there's obviously a little bit of hope on the Republicans part, because the president's approval numbers have increased because of the Kavanaugh bump.

But right now, the focus seems to be with the party on what they're calling the green wave now, forget the blue wave, the red wave. Republicans are really concerned about these Democrats raising a ton of money.

And we're -- so we're seeing not just the enthusiasm in the polls, but Democrats consider this of the top 70 most contested House races. Republicans have reserved $60 million on TV, while Democrats have one hundred and nine million dollars worth of TV ads that are going to be coming up or have been running until election day, and that is not including Bloomberg coming in and bring another $80 million.

Democrats, the advantage and the enthusiasm is really showing in this money right now.

KING: There's another way to look at it. You mentioned those targeted races and again Democrats with an advantage. That's the party with momentum. The party with enthusiasm, but Republicans -- a lot of Republicans have been around for a long time say, whoa, this doesn't happen to us. What's going on here.

KING: Look, there's other way to look at it. In the House races, Democrats as of October 12th, out raising their -- this is just candidates out raising their opponents, $626 million to $473 million in House races. You look at the Senate races as well there.

If you have momentum, if you have the numbers on your side, sometimes the missing ingredient is the money. Democrats are not lacking there.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, and I think that they're making up for what they know is going to be a factor and I think we're already starting to see it in the polls, is that the president is having a pretty good week, he's having a pretty good couple of weeks. The economy is still doing quite well. He has a few things on his plate that he can dodge as a win.

And I think as we get closer to November, they're going to start to see some narrowing which is when the money is going to matter the most.

So, I think Democrats are going into a fall cycle actually despite the feelings of angst about President Trump. There is also the reality, that the president is having a pretty kind of stable last couple of weeks, especially compared to the summer when his poll numbers were really dropping hard. So, that's stabilizing Democrats are trying to work on turnout, but also using their money advantage to try to make the difference because they're going to need it.

In the next couple of weeks, these polls are going to narrow.

KING: And it's fascinating for me, it's fascinating when you talk to pollsters about this because they talk about the Kavanaugh confirmation battle, and they say that it energized everybody, but Republicans needed to be energized. And so, the Democrats were already energized Republicans come up -- the Republican pollster Neal Newhouse very smart that's called it he thinks we're going to get a split decision to split election where the House races are trending more toward the Democrats but those red state Senate races, the North Dakota's of the world, the Indiana's of the world, they -- Tennessee through the world they're moving back toward the Republicans they bet.

MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Yes, that was always kind of the way it was right the Senate map was all was so much more favorable to Republicans the House map much more favorable to Democrats because there were all of these districts that voted for Hillary Clinton in but have a Republican House members with Democrats obviously thought that's where we can start building our majority.

You know, listening to Vice President Biden though, I'm sort of struck by a little bit of a disparity and something that if I were a Democrat, I'd be a little worried about which is they're still talking about trying to fire up sort of the base of the Democratic Party. This -- Donald Trump should have fired these people up from day one which they have supposedly from the women's march.

[08:10:06] But you look at the Democratic achievements in special elections over the past couple of years and they've not necessarily been from resistance style Democrats I think of Conor Lamb from Pennsylvania outside a suburban Pittsburgh district, I think there's a disparity there between the voters that Democrats feel like they still need to get out to sort of build that majority, he the resistance type voters and those folks who actually exist who are on the fence who may, you know, vote for Republicans or Democrats from time to time, that sort of a mixed message there, you can't just simply run on against Trump, but I think that's where Democrats have sort of struggled to find a message that's not simply anti-Trump.

KING: More often than not, though, you're right, they're hoping that the anti-Trump animus where they need it is baked in and they motivate people why vote for us? Democrats, the number one issue if you look at their ads in the closing weeks -- health care, taxes, jobs, unemployment, anti-Trump corruption. So, the anti-Trump is low on the list, health care is up top.

The Democrats campaigning saying, they didn't replace Obamacare. They've taken certain pieces of a way and the Democrats saying they'll take more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Mike Braun he backs Washington's latest health care plan allowing insurers to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jackie Walorski voted 11 times to undermine healthcare and take away coverage from people with pre-existing conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cannot believe that Martha McSally would vote to let insurance companies deny health coverage to people like my son because he has a pre-existing condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It's striking to me the Democrats think this works they have data to back that up.

But when Obama was president in two midterm elections where the Democrats got spanked, 2010 and 2014, they ran from Obamacare, now they're hugging it.

BADE: Yes, I do think it's interesting. You know, we sort of assume the Democrats the whole mantra with them is anti-Trump, anti-Trump. But if you actually look at a lot of these ads, like you just played there, they're focused on these sort of bread-and-butter pocketbook issues -- health care, taxes, economy because Democrats think if that is what gins people up the most and that Trump is going to do all the advertising they need for them, and that he's going to be out there saying controversial things and they don't need to highlight what he's saying.

You have to wonder if that sort of mistake on their part but because like we said the Republicans were able to throw this in Obama's face a few cycles ago but yeah that's sort of they're focused on those bread- and-butter issues.

KING: Twenty-three days to put it to the test. The Democrats think health care.

When we come back, the GOP's campaign close, the president is everywhere, as our warnings of open borders and socialism.

And this Sunday's politicians say the darndest things odes to a president who we all know loves flattery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CINDY HYDE-SMITH (R), MISSISSIPPI: It is such an honor to work with this man, is he not the best president we have ever had?

REP. MIKE KELLY (R), PENNSYLVANIA: This glorious (ph) personality, this glorious (ph) president, we have seen in our lifetime.

REP. LOU BARLETTA (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATES: You're overseeing the greatest economy in American history right now.

REP. STEVE CHABOT (R), OHIO: I've decided the more Steve Chabot you get, the less President Trump you're going to get. So I'm not going to give this speech, God bless you all and God bless President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:52] KING: Welcome back.

Four rallies, two call-ins to Fox News, a sit-down with "60 Minutes", a couple of magazine interviews, and an episode of profane reality TV direct from the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANYE WEST, MUSICIAN: Trump is on his hero's journey right now and he might not have expected to have a crazy mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Kanye West run-up and a support. But best believe we are going to make America great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The president in the closing days of an election that is all about him is going all-in being him. Listen to this very Trumpian praise last night of the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Tough cookie. I know tough people, he's tough, he's Kentucky tough. You know, he goes down as the greatest leader in my opinion in history. What we've done is incredible together. But he's better when I'm president that he ever was what anyone else was, but -- doing much better.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: This is a giant bet by the president. There are a lot of Republican strategists who would prefer -- go to the big red states, go to Montana, go to North Dakota, go to Indiana, don't go anywhere else.

The president has decided you're going to make it about me, let's make it about me. The question is, can it work?

PHILLIP: It seems almost like Republicans are sort of coming around to the strategy that they -- they're nervous about it because I think a lot of people wonder if lightning can strike twice in reality but President Trump's instincts have gotten them through some pretty tough spots. I think it helped them with the Kavanaugh hearing and now there the president is cooperating with them on the message. He's executing a message against Democrats, the mob, about health care in that op-ed that he wrote last week about that issue.

And now, he's trying to get his people out, trying to get them to make it about him, because I think Republicans have realized that it is not -- it has not been enough that the achievements that they've been able to make in Congress and it's not mobilizing their voters. It needs to be about something else.

And actually, what the president does is he speaks to his voters about something different about culture, about what they belong -- how they belong together as supporters of Trump.

[08:20:08] And I think he's kind of the only person who knows how to do that and that's kind of why they need him out there, in a broader field, maybe not everywhere still. There's still a lot of places he can't go, but he's being a lot more bold than I think maybe some of the more conservative -- conservative in the sort of risk-taking sense Republicans might want it.

KING: And again to that point, there are some places he cannot go. There are some places where he is toxic and candidates who run perfect races will lose on the Republican side just because the president is toxic. But again, if you look back at history, Democrats ran from President Obama in 2010, ran from President Obama in 2014.

It doesn't work. It creates dissonance in your own base and people don't know what to do.

To your point about the president's message, some people say, can he be disciplined on the campaign trail? He has been pretty much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: These are bad people we can't let this happen to our country. Republicans believe in the rule of law, not the rule of the mob.

Democrats have signed up for a socialist takeover of American health care that would utterly destroy Medicare.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Utterly destroyed Medicare, now we got a policy debate about that. Some Democrats are for Medicare for all, but forget the policy. That is politics, older voters will get to turn out a little bit later most likely to vote, the president's trying to say don't dare vote for the Democrats.

SHEAR: Right, and so, there have been places where he's been -- been disciplined like that and as you know, the Republican Party writ large may welcome some of that. But where he hasn't been particularly smart isn't being able to offer a Trumpian way of touting things like the lower taxes, that you know a lot of the Republicans out there, especially in some of these House races, but in the Senate races as well, would love to have -- would love to essentially have presidential support and a bully pulpit behind some of the things that they want to talk about, even if he wants to do it in a way that's Trumpian, in a way that talks all about himself which would be easy to do and you hardly ever get it.

I think I saw one story about a rally that's -- they didn't get to the tax cuts until, you know, minute 61 in a 70 or 80-minute rally. That's not what some of the Republicans want, you know, despite the fact that some of the rhetoric in a rally like that it's going to be helpful. But it's -- he's not closing it the way they like.

BADE: It's interesting because, you know, Republican leadership always talks about, you know, tax cuts and you know what things that they've done in Congress. But again, look at some of these ads that are running in these Republican districts. You're seeing them really leaning into this -- the president sort of calling the leftist mob and these you know the socialists really trying to paint them as extremists.

I've seen a number of ads attacking Democratic candidates who have served in the military as being unpatriotic, so tried to link them to terrorists, which I think you know it's laughable to a lot of people, but it shows you they feel like perhaps that is not enough and they are really sort of leading into this narrative that the president is pretty good at doing --

KING: You see those ads when the climate is so against you, then you go to slash and burn. You go to things that simply cannot be supported by the facts often, but you do it hoping you can tear down the other guy.

WARREN: President Trump's victory in 2016 was marginal, right? He actually lost the popular vote but wins marginally in these states he has to win to win the electoral college.

This seems to be -- I agree with you, Abby, in this -- I talked to a couple of Republican strategists the last few days, none of that reticence or concern about the Trumpian way is there anymore because they seem to have internalized the idea that it's margin of victory. I mean a victory that you win by just a few votes by just grinding it out, by just trying to get your voters out there and motivated is still a victory. I think the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing -- I don't know if there's

actually going to end up being a true Kavanaugh bump for a Republican because you know we talked about the ways in which one should also motivated Democrats as well, but it is one of those things you know if Republicans do better if they hold Democrats back a little bit in the House if they really run the table on the Senate races. It's going to be -- it's going to be because they really pushed on the margins and were able to just eke it out.

KING: Right. You win the red states anyway, don't lose red states in this environment, try to at least hold yours.

WARREN: Arizona is a perfect example. I think they're really grinding it out. In Tennessee as well.

KING: Tennessee is another one, it's the key test there. We'll watch this play out 23 days.

Up next for us though, to foreign policy. An American pastor welcomed home, but a bigger global storm is brewing. Saudi Arabia is accused of a horrific kidnapping and murder. And Congress is asking why the president seemed so reluctant to get tough.

(COMMERCILA; BREAK)

KING: This was an Oval Office celebration Saturday. Pastor Andrew Brunson free after spending two years in Turkish custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This has been a long journey. But for Andrew, it's been a very interesting day because as you probably heard I said a little bit earlier -- from a Turkish prison to the White House in 24 hours, that's not bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:29:51]

KING: Certainly an encouraging development, but as tensions with Turkey ease, a crisis with Saudi Arabia is challenging President Trump's cozy relationship with the royal family and his reluctance to make human rights a priority.

This, in the "Washington Post", about what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul: "The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered, said one person with knowledge of the recording. You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered."

The Saudi denials go as high as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman but U.S. officials and key members of Congress say the intelligence they have reviewed leaves no doubt. The President has repeatedly made clear in recent days he is in no mood to cut off arms sales as part of any punishment but as pressure from Congress mounts his language is starting to get tougher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a lot at stake and maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. There's something -- you'll be surprised to hear me say that -- there's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that were the case.

So we're going to have to see. We're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: "Severe punishment" is an escalation, if that's the right word, of the President's rhetoric. If you watched him throughout the week, at first he was kind of like, this didn't happen in the United States. Why should I care about it? He's not a citizen. He's a permanent resident. No way I'm cutting off arms sales.

But he's being pushed by Congress, just like he was on the Russia sanctions months ago. Is he moving?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the dissonance still there next week. Look, President Trump is not -- this is not the first time that he would say something in one setting, and say something in another setting. Every time that he has been asked about this, this week he has been very, very clear. He is resistant to revisit this issue of the arms deal.

He has convinced himself that Saudi Arabia is an important financial boon to the United States. That's not actually particularly true but that's what the President believes. And I think that's a big deal for him. He does not want to have to explain somehow that what he claims to be $110 billion in investments are not coming to the United States.

That being said --

KING: The actual spending is --

PHILIP: The actual spending is --

KING: -- about 10, 15 percent?

PHILIP: Far less than that.

KING: Right.

PHILIP: Far less than that.

And as many analysts have pointed out, that's our leverage over them not the other way around. So, President Trump is grappling with this. We're seeing him grapple with it in real life. I think they're looking for, in the White House, a way to punish the Saudis that doesn't step on that issue for the President. But I think that this is still something that they are actively trying to work out and we are not seeing them move quickly on it. That's notable. They are not moving with any kind of haste.

KING: Right. And the President says he will speak to the Saudi King some time this weekend. He has not as yet. The Crown Prince has directly denied it -- the king's son has directly denied it to Jared Kushner, the President's aide. They've not even ruled out the Treasury Secretary still going to what they call "Davos in the Desert", the big Saudi investment conference.

The Brits seem to indicate they're not going to go now. A lot of technology companies have pulled out. Secretary of State Pompeo saying we'll see if Secretary Mnuchin goes to that.

My question is just like on Russia, does this from Congress push the White House?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR BOB CORKER (R-TN),FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: My instincts say that there's no question the Saudi government did this. It will hugely undermine that relationship, at least with Congress.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: I've never been more disturbed than I am right now. If this did in fact happen, and this man was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, that would cross every line of normality in the international community. If it did happen, there would be hell to pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: I think this request -- I mean the dissonance that Abby was talking about, what we just saw, reflects how much of an island Trump is on with respect to members of his own party, certainly members of his own party on Capitol Hill; even people within his own administration -- Mike Pompeo, John Bolton. These are not people who share his sort of transactional view, the President's transactional view of foreign relations where -- all of this about sort of esoteric (ph) stuff about human rights or moral leadership in the region -- that doesn't really break through to the President's own view.

So that's why there's still this idea that he very well may do something and may be pushed. I don't know he holds a particular view on this very strongly, which is why ultimately I think he's going to be pushed but it's an odd position to be in for a President, the guy at the very top, to be so at odds with sort of everybody else.

RACHAEL BADE, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER POLITICO: If he does end up going, you know, tough on the Saudis and taking some sort of action, you have to probably look at those top allies on the Hill. We just saw a clip of Lindsey Graham who is one of the top advocates for Brett Kavanaugh on the Hill and helped him get through, defended him, you know, through the entire fight. [08:34:54] Rand Paul is co-sponsoring a resolution that is likely to get a vote in the Senate at some point that basically says that this arms deal shouldn't go through. And there was already a lot of resistance to this arms deal on a bipartisan basis in the Senate even before we even heard about the murder of this reporter.

And so that's when we're going to increase the amount of angst about that deal. And he's going to continue to get pressure including from key allies like Graham.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: And so people who ask why? Why doesn't the President get there right out of the box? I'm going to at least freeze these arm sales. We're going to be tough. I'm going to call the King on day one. People will ask why.

Trump critics point to his first international trip -- remember the Saudi threw him a big party, there was that infamous orb. There was -- you know, there was a great celebration; the President was feted, as you know, as a world hero.

There are others -- and we go back right here -- this is the first trip for the President right here. Some people say well, they love him. And this is what he loves most of all and he doesn't turn on people who do this to him. And there are other people now saying well, what about the Kushner companies and what about the Trump organization?

Listen to the President himself from day one of the campaign about his business relationships.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Saudi Arabia, they make a billion dollars a day, a billion dollars a day. I love the Saudis. Many are in this building.

Saudi Arabia -- I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: One would think given that, that the President would want to prove -- especially when you listen to the details, the allegations here about the Saudi team flying into Istanbul, a murder, dismembering the body, smuggling it out. You would think given the questions people are going to ask about the financial interest that the President would thank (ph) from day one.

MICHAEL SHEAR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes. But that's the opposite of every instinct that we've ever seen with this President, right. You could say that about Russia as well. You would think that given the series of things that have happened over the last few years that the President would bend over backwards to be tough on Russia to prove that he wasn't complicit or colluded with them.

So that's not the kind of president that we have. And in addition to the sort of behavioral things that you just talked about, you know, Saudi Arabia from day one was a linchpin in his foreign policy, vis-a- vis Iran and the Iran deal, you know, which the Saudis very much supported the United States withdrawing from.

And so you've got his personal proclivities, you know, on these kinds of things. You've got his foreign policy. And so if he changes, if he does switch -- if this kind of outrageous thing that may have happened switches his position on this, it will be because he's pushed not because he wants to do it.

KING: Well, we'll watch it play out. The Saudi government today threatening sanctions against anyone who retaliates against them. Having some history with the Saudi over the years -- they say things, they don't usually do things. >

Up next, most of you will don't have to wait but this being a midterm year, history says most of you won't bother to vote early or on Election Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:39:55] KING: You might not have to wait 23 days to cast your vote. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia allow early voting. That process already under way in 15 states so most of us don't have a good excuse not to vote. Though turnout numbers in midterm elections are pretty bleak especially among the groups Democrats need to show up if there is to be a blue wave.

Let's just first look at the history. Midterm turnout from 1942 -- that was your high in 1966. This is the last midterm election -- it's pathetic, frankly, 36 percent, a post-war low.

Look at the eligible electorate and then look what happens in a midterm year. Voters over 65 if everyone showed up would be only 20 percent of the electorate. Young people could make up 29 percent of the electorate if they all showed up.

Look what happened in 2014. Older people, much more sway. They show up to vote. Younger people, about half of the influence they could have in the election because they don't tend to show up. That is the problem in a midterm election year.

So who has high interest in this one? Seniors do -- they show up. White voters -- Democrats need African-Americans, Latinos and young voters to turn out, less enthusiasm, less high-interest among those groups.

Can they turn them out in the end? Well, Democratic groups especially looking at younger voters, running ads, doing anything they can, saying please show up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure you don't like it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you like some meme on Instagram.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the weather is nice maybe you could go to one of those little marches.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You might even share this video on Facebook.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you won't vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You young people never do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Midterms, primaries --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every single election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be there. But you won't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The mocking ad essentially challenging young people to get out and vote. Taylor Swift on Instagram this past week, weighing in on the Tennessee senate race. Of the former governor Phil Bredesen, she'd say that's her candidate. Again, has a ton of followers, trying to tell young people everywhere, not just in Tennessee, get out and vote.

The Texas long shot Beto O'Rourke trying to beat Ted Cruz in Texas needs younger voters to come out. Came out on a rally on a skateboard last night -- we might have some video of that as well. Let's see. Play that out. There you go.

This is the challenge. The big numbers favor the Democrats overwhelmingly. To turn this from a blue ripple or small blue wave into a blue tsunami, they need to motivate people who traditionally do not show up in midterm elections. Can they?

BADE: They're certainly putting money trying to do so. The DCCC, which basically is the House campaign arm spent $25 million specifically trying to target unlikely voters, minorities, young people. And they know that they have an issue here and they want people to show up.

Beyond young people, though, a big concern that they have is Latino voters right now. There are about a dozen house Republican districts where the population of Latinos is above 20 percent, up to two-thirds of the population. And this is halfway to the numbers they need to the majority. So if they get all 12 of those, they're halfway to the 23 seats they need. But they're having trouble right now getting people and they're trying to do that with Spanish-speaking ads. They have Latino field directors. But they know they're struggling right now and they've got a couple of more weeks to turn that around.

PHILIP: And this is the issue that Hillary Clinton had in 2016 -- Latino voters, African-American voters, getting them to turn out. But also particularly with Latino voters, they found that sort of Trump is sort of anti-Mexican or whatever, build the wall, anti-build the wall rhetoric was not enough to get those voters out.

So I think Democrats are going to have to build a pretty robust message for Latino voters centered on the economy, on education, on health care in order to counter. It's not going to be enough to sort of project Trump as the sort of anti-immigration person. That doesn't work.

KING: And there are so many places where Latino voters -- Nevada, Texas, on many House districts as you noted, younger voters just about everywhere -- especially you can win one district here. But if you need three, you need your whole base to turn out.

WARREN: That's right. And in some places like Texas, they actually -- the Hispanic voters are more likely than in other seats to vote Republican. Texas is doing relatively well than other Republicans among those voters.

I mean let's just look back -- to me, we're talking about this now in mid-October about turning out voters who ought to have been motivated from day one. It seems to be a simmering problem that nobody on the Democratic side wants to publicly talk about, but it seems like a big problem.

KING: It's a problem for the party if they can't turn them out. We will see. That's one question at the polls at ABC/Washington poll today shows a little bit better enthusiasm. We'll see that in the last three weeks or about.

Up next, our reporters share a page from their notebooks including President Trump's visit this week to storm-ravaged Florida and Georgia.

[08:44:46] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Let's head one last time around the INSIDE POLITICS table, ask our great reporters to share a little something from their notebooks, help get you out ahead of the political news just around the corner.

Abby.

PHILIPS: Well, a month before the midterm elections, of course, the storm that we had last week became something of a wild card. Storms are often things that you can't really predict, obviously, but right now, at this moment, I think the White House is trying to make sure that they don't become a sort of negative factor here for some of those key races in Florida and in Georgia. [08:50:01] Now, President Trump heading to both states this upcoming week and the federal response is going to be pretty important, the Panhandle really devastated.

That that's actually also where a lot of Trump supporters also live. Now the two races in Florida -- the governor's race and the Senate race are two critical races that Republicans are trying to hold on to.

But the flip side to that coin is that Tallahassee's mayor, Democrat Andrew Gillem is the Democratic candidate for governor. So again, we don't know where this is all going to go but I can tell you that the White House is making sure that when they respond to this storm that they are forward looking on the situation so they don't become a negative factor in important races down in those states.

KING: Another wild card in those very close races -- governor and Senate. Michael.

SHEAR: So for the next 60 days or so, the government is taking comment on a proposal by the White House that would expand the extent to which they can deny -- they can deny immigrants the right to get a green card based on their taking of public services like Section 8 housing vouchers or food stamps.

Now this is not only a kind of policy approach but it's also political but what they're trying to do is to put Democrats in the position of defending not only immigrants but also defending people who take public benefits. Those are two issues that Republicans think that their candidates will be helped by.

Democrats are put in a kind of awkward position because they want to come to the defense of immigrants and people who take public benefits and oppose this rule. But by doing so, they fear that that makes their possibility of re-election a little bit harder.

So look for them to expand their defense in their opposition to the rule after the elections, not before.

KING: Immigration always -- a constant political issue in this administration. Michael.

WARREN: Well, in case we didn't get enough of our fill of Supreme Court politics, the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings have obviously made that issue an important issue in the midterm elections. And there's I think a real question about whether or not there will ever be in the next several years, a nominee of a president to get confirmed by a Senate held by the opposite party.

This is I think a hypothetical, but a potent question. I was in Tennessee a few days ago. I asked Democrat Phil Bredesen, a moderate trying to win in a red state, where he said he would have supported Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation.

I asked if the Democrats were to take over control of the Senate, Chuck Schumer were to deny say, President Trump a SCOTUS nominee's vote on the floor, what would he do about it? He didn't have an answer for that but he did say he believed that all, you know, Supreme Court nominees who are -- go through the process should get a vote on the floor.

I don't know if his base or really the base of the Republican Party would be ok with that. We're sort of in a new era here but I think it's an interesting question to start asking and probing these Senate candidates on down the line.

KING: Yes -- what they think in Tennessee probably not what Chuck Schumer thinks.

WARREN: No.

KING: Rachael?

BADE: The focus is going to be obviously on the midterms for the next few weeks but just as the polls are closing on November 6th -- the new narrative is going to be about leadership jockeying in the House especially if it changes control.

We are seeing Kevin McCarthy, who is Paul Ryan's number two, really is trying to lock down conservatives. This is a group that blocked him from becoming speaker to lead the conference before. He is out there introducing bills that would fund the President's wall $25 billion worth of wall money, basically resolutions that would block illegal immigrants from voting which clearly is not a big problem.

But what he's doing right now is trying to woo the far right. And it sounds like he actually is having a little bit of success. We've seen Breitbart, of all publications, that has always been a pain in the side of Paul Ryan's, McCarthy himself -- they're actually sort of opening the door to him.

And we're hearing that's because the President himself wants McCarthy to lead the Congress and he's leaning on these conservatives and saying give him a chance. I want him to lead.

KING: Starburst for everybody. Look it up on the Internet if you didn't get that one.

I'll close with this. President has settled on a new White House counsel and the choice is proof the White House knows it faces a challenging and potentially treacherous stretch on the legal front once the election passes.

Veteran D.C. litigator, Pat Cipollone is the President's choice. Trump lawyer Emmet Flood was the early favorite but it was decided by the President and others he should stay focused on his work responding to the special counsel investigation.

Now once the election passes and Justice Department guidelines pass, the White House expects new twists from the Mueller Probe and in separates cases being handled by federal prosecutors in New York, looking into among other things, the President's business.

Plus if Democrats take the House, January will bring a flood of new document requests and oversight investigation. So Flood stays put and Cipollone comes on board with an urgent goal, not only of getting himself in place but of quickly hiring a handful of deputies for a now quite depleted counsel's office.

[08:54:59] That's it for us. I hope you can join us on week days as well. Thanks for sharing your Sunday morning. We're also here at noon on weekdays, remember that.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER". His guests include Senators Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders, plus the Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.

Have a great Sunday.

[08:55:15] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)