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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Most-Watched Debate Ever: 84 Million Viewers; Trump Holds First Rally Since Debate; Clinton Team Rides Debate Momentum on to Campaign Trail; Trump On Beauty Queen: "She Gained A Massive Amount Of Weight"; Ex-Beauty Queen Slams Way Trump Treated Her; Why Trump Supporters Say He Won The Debate. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired September 27, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:13] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were right back on the campaign trail today after a debate that was historic on a number of fronts. It was the most watched debate in American history, an estimated 84 million people tuning in.
It was the first time a woman took the debate stage as a presidential nomine from a major political party. And although this is something we haven't bothered the fact checkers with, I think it's fairly safe to say was the only time a hypothetical 400-pound bedridden cyber attacker, a former Miss Universe, and Rosie O'Donnell came up in a presidential debate. We're going to get to all of that over the next two hours.
In a CNN/ORC poll, a clear majority says Clinton won the debate. Trump meanwhile is claiming victory, but also suggesting someone might have given him a bad microphone.
Now, as I mentioned, his back on the campaign trail, holding his first post-debate rally tonight in Florida.
Our political reporter Sara Murray is there. She joins me now.
So, what did Trump have to say about his debate performance last night?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Anderson, Donald Trump is still insisting he won the debate. Even though some of his supporters at his rally say they believe he may have missed some opportunities to go after Clinton. And right here, he said that he was holding back against Clinton, that he didn't want to embarrass her, even as he hammered her performance last night, saying it was over-rehearsed, saying it was scripted.
And it's been an interesting rally, Anderson, because we're really seeing sort of a flashback to the Republican primary Donald Trump. He each keeps interrupting his own voice to tout battleground states polls where he's leading and to bash the media that's obviously a valuable line of attack coming out of his campaign, to go after the dishonest press as he put it and says they are essentially misrepresenting his debate performance and his position -- Anderson.
COOPER: He seems to be reattempting to sort of reset the narrative. How is that going? Or how is he trying to do that?
MURRAY: I think he's absolutely attempting to reset the narrative. If there were missed opportunities for him last night, he's certainly not leaving any of those on the table tonight. He's going after Hillary Clinton right now behind me about her e-mails. He's brought that up multiple times tonight.
And the framework he's trying to do, he's trying to essentially paint her as the candidate of the past and to say she's had decades in politics and all she's done is delete her e-mails or set up the State Department and the Clinton Foundation and essentially use it as a corporation for pay to play, as if this is really something that they believe is the big picture that could be effective for them going forward, is casting Donald Trump the candidate of change and casting Hillary Clinton as a typical politician.
COOPER: All right. Sara Murray, Sara, thanks.
Our Randi Kaye was also at the Trump rally in Florida tonight. She spoke with Trump supporters about how he did in debate. Here is a little bit of that went.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're saying less about his taxes. I would care less about Hillary's taxes. We're not going to vote more him for his taxes. We're voting for him to clean up this country, get rid of the dirty politician and whatever they can do to make this America great again.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he was prepared?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think he was prepared. He's prepared for everything.
KAYE: Do you think he made any mistakes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think he made mistakes.
KAYE: Do you believe he respects women?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe yes he does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I have more reaction from Trump supporters later in the program. Right now, we got a lot to talk about with the panel.
Joining me, Clinton supporter and former Sanders surrogate Jonathan Tasini, former Obama administration official Van Jones, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. Trump supporters Kayleigh McEnany and Scottie Nell Hughes. Gloria, I mean, Trump is saying he won all the online polls. We
obviously don't use online polls because usually it's something anybody can click on as many times as they want or call in or whatever. And it's not an actual legitimate poll. But he says he won nevertheless.
What happens now?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think we have to wait four or five days to see what this does to the polls in the campaign. It could be a stasis where it just sort of settles. The Clinton people I spoke with today were kind of downplaying it, spinning it lower saying, we don't expect the polls to go up.
But in fact, if she doesn't get a couple of points bump out of this, it won't be good for her. I think what we're seeing is Hillary Clinton taking a little bit of a victory tour today. You saw that in her tone today.
And what Sara Murray is talking about I think is really significantly, because we see Donald Trump emerging from this debate unfiltered to a great degree, swinging, taking swings at targets like we used to see during the primaries.
COOPER: And still this morning talking about Miss Universe when asked about it on FOX News and kind of rehashing that.
BORGER: And complaining about the mic.
COOPER: Right. We'll also -- well, we'll talk to her actually, Ms. Machado, later on in the broadcast.
But, Kayleigh, Donald Trump talked afterwards in the spin room about this threat about bringing up Bill Clinton's infidelities down the road. I want to play what we said to Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Anything that you wish you did differently?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No, I'm very happy I was able to hold back on the -- you know, on the indiscretions with respect to Bill Clinton, because I have a lot of respect for Chelsea Clinton.
[20:05:09] And I just didn't want to say what I was going to say --
BASH: Which is?
TRUMP: Which is I'll tell you maybe at the next debate. We'll see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I also want to play what Mayor Giuliani said about the same topic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER NYC MAYOR: I sure would have talked about what she did to Monica Lewinsky, what that woman standing there did to Monica Lewinsky, trying to paint her as an insane young women, when in fact, Monica Lewinsky was an intern. And the president of the United States, her husband, disgraced this country what he did in the Oval Office. And she -- she didn't just stand by him, she attacked Monica Lewinsky. And after being married to Bill Clinton for 20 years, you didn't know the moment Monica Lewinsky said that Bill Clinton violated her and she was telling the truth, then you're too stupid to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: As a Trump supporter, do you wish he would have gone down that road last night or do you think it could backfire?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I agree with Mr. Trump that he shouldn't have brought it up and it's good that he didn't. However, logically, I understand the point that Rudy Giuliani is making, because there are a lot of woman who step back and said, you know, there's sexual assault accusers who say they weren't heard and listened to as Ms. Clinton herself said every sexual assault survivor should be heard and listened to. There were several who were not when it came to her personal circumstances.
So, logically, I understand the point and I think Rudy Giuliani is making the point clearly. But I don't think that Donald Trump should have brought it up on the debate stage. He did what he did and he did it expertly.
COOPER: Scottie, do you wish Donald Trump would have done better own the birther issue, on the questions of his tax returns? Both questions which were probably kind of pretty obvious that they might come up?
SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm glad they come up. I hope that is the end of it. You know, that has been the question today. Did he miss opportunities? I think so. But I think he purposely missed opportunities because we have two more debates to go. If this is all Hillary Clinton can do, if this is all she has to show and last night was it, we still have a few more weeks until the election.
COOPER: You think he purposely didn't pivot in order to hit Hillary Clinton on topics which --
(CROSSTALK)
HUGHES: We will find out in the next debate. I guarantee he will learn the art of pivoting when it comes to debate because he had never done that before. He'd never been on a stage with someone like here.
And possibly, why sit there and reveal all of your cards right now? Why not hold some of them back --
COOPER: Because this debate will have the largest audience in human history and the other ones probably won't.
HUGHES: Except with the some of the teases that we've seen. I guarantee the next time people will come -- I say, if this is the best Hillary Clinton can show, if this is her best fire that she had against Donald Trump, she's done. We don't even know if this is going to get that much of a debate and all the online polls said Donald Trump did win.
COOPER: But, you know, online polls mean nothing.
HUGHES: But we're also talking "TIME", CNBC, "The Hill", "Fortune" --
COOPER: Right. Those are online polls.
HUGHES: But you also get the CNN poll which David Chalian last night admitted that it was actually a poll that was skewed more towards the Democrats than the Republicans and the numbers reflected that.
COOPER: You do admit that online polls are --
HUGHES: Absolutely, but you know what this is all she had, she's been an overwhelming victory and they can't claim it.
COOPER: So, Van, the idea that he could have pivoted or that they did practice it. It seems hard to imagine that wasn't something they had suggested to him or gone over in whatever debate prep they did.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, you are starting to see something that should be troubling to everybody. Donald Trump has been very, very good the past couple of weeks, frighteningly good from my point view. He's been disciplined. He's listened to his advisors and he's been rising in the polls.
He walked up there last night. He got rattled. Somebody said some mean things and now he's on a tear and he's just tearing up the playbook and doing whatever he wants. That is dangerous in a leader. Sometimes, guess what, when you are a leader, bad things happen to you. It doesn't mean you abandon your strategy and start doing crazy stuff and that's what's happening now.
COOPER: Jonathan, I mean, were you surprised -- I mean, you're obviously not a Trump supporter. But were you surprise perhaps pleasantly that Donald Trump did not find a way to bring up the wall, to brick up immigration, to bring you will Mexico, national security. Any of the things that he talks about all the time, that there were certainly opportunities where he could have instead of talking about going down the rabbit hole and Sean Hannity and call Sean Hannity and things like that.
JONATHAN TASINI, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: No, but I think what we saw was the Donald Trump that I think is the real Donald Trump which he's unhinged and he's deranged. And when he was knocked off stride, he couldn't collect himself. And so, you saw somebody, I found it curious and interesting to watch the undeclared voters, the ones that Pamela Brown was talking to. And one of them when Donald Trump said, you know, I have the best
temperament of anybody. I think there was a laugh across the whole country when he stayed that because nobody believes he has the best temperament and I think that showed and therefore, I don't think you get to those things you talk about whether it be the wall or other issues. He was thrown off stride. It was very difficult for him to come back to that.
COOPER: Did it concern you all that -- I mean, it seems so obvious some of the things that Hillary Clinton was bringing up in order to kind of goad him. Your dad gave you $14 million. That's what you started off your business life with. I mean, that's an obvious, you know, poke at Donald Trump and he went for it.
[20:10:03] It seemed like every time she would bring up something, like jingling shining object, he would go and reach for it and waste valuable time. No?
MCENANY: Well, he would explain it and I think that -- I agree with Scottie that he did need to explain his birther point of view and he did need to get those explanations and he did that not because Hillary goaded him to do so, but because he was responding to the questions asked and responding to her.
I do think he should have talked about her email scandal more. But I do also think that what he saw last night was brilliant when he said, looked at Hillary Clinton, and said, this is all politician. It's all talk. No action. Sounds good. Doesn't work.
COOPER: That was early on.
MCENANY: That defines his candidacy.
COOPER: Without a doubt, he was very effective, I thought early on in prosecuting a case against Hillary Clinton and making a case for himself.
BORGER: These were predictable, as you say. And the fact that he didn't pivot to talk about transparency, to talk about the Clinton Foundation. When she attacked him on not policing his taxes, it was kind of stunning to me.
And I think -- you know, I ran into somebody who knows Donald Trump very well after the debate. Who said he just can't help himself. When you poke him, he has to respond personally about it.
JONES: And part of the danger of this if you're going to be commander in chief is that people figure that out, and they start gaming you, and that's very dangerous.
COOPER: We got a lot more to talk about ahead, including Hillary Clinton's day. As we said, she was deemed the winner in a CNN/ORC poll and today, she came out swinging, celebrating. Will her performance last night change anything in the race? That, of course, is a big question. Plus, the former beauty queen who became part of last night's debate, as we mentioned. Donald Trump is keeping up his comments about Alicia Machado. We'll dig into how she became part of the presidential race and we'll talk to her coming up as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:15:21] COOPER: With the dust still settling from their first face off, both candidates back on the campaign trail. According to a CNN/ORC poll, 62 percent of registered voters who watched last night's debate thought Clinton win, 27 percent said Trump did better.
I want to point out what Scottie mentioned last segment that the survey suggested debate watchers more apt to describe themselves a as Democrats than the overall pool of voters. Even among independents who watched, 54 percent thought Clinton won, versus 33 percent who said Trump won.
It's clear how Hillary Clinton and her team think last night win.
Jeff Zeleny tonight takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Did anybody see that debate last night?
(CHEERS)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is a new spring in her step tonight.
CLINTON: Oh yes. One down, two to go.
ZELENY: Flying to a rally in North Carolina, Hillary Clinton reveling in the strong reviews from her first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump.
CLINTON: You should know when I set my minding something, I keep going. I don't quit, whatever the static, whatever the incoming is and that is what I'll do for the American people.
ZELENY: The most watched debate in history, more than 80 million viewers on television alone came just in time for Clinton. She's locked in a tight race with Trump, nationally and in critical battlegrounds.
On the campaign trail today, Clinton picked up where she left off on stage. After hitting Trump for not releasing his tax returns --
CLINTON: Maybe because you haven't paid any federal income tax for a lot of years.
ZELENY: She pressed the point even harder today.
CLINTON: And I got to that point where maybe he's paid zero. He said that makes him smart. Now, if not paying taxes makes him smart, what does that make all the rest of us.
ZELENY: For preparing for debate and presidency.
CLINTON: He made it very clear that he didn't prepare for that debate. I did prepare and I tell you something else I prepared for. I prepared to be president of the United States and I think that's good.
ZELENY: To her charge that he's built his business by stiffing the little guy.
CLINTON: Stiffing people -- dish watchers, painters, plumbers, architects, glass installers, marble installers, drapery installers across America.
ZELENY: Democrats fanned out across the country to file on Trump.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Did she have a good debate or what?
ZELENY: From former President Bill Clinton in Ohio to running mate Tim Kaine in Florida.
SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Boy, it really shows just how rattle he was.
ZELENY: But with 42 days to go, and the second debate less than two weeks ago, Clinton made clear the fight was just beginning.
CLINTON: This election is going to be close. They are all are these days.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And, Jeff, you've been talking to the Clinton campaign. I understand they think thinker debate performance might actually move the needle with certain voters. What did they say?
ZELENY: Anderson, they certainly hope it will. And they point to these two demographic groups. First of all, college-educated women. Think of a Republican or an independent in the suburbs of any battleground state, like Philadelphia for example. Their focus groups believe and their research shows that they were offended by Donald Trump and more open to supporting Hillary Clinton.
This is the kind of voter who doesn't necessarily love Hillary Clinton but now they believe Donald Trump is unacceptable. And the second is young voters.
Anderson, one of the challenges of the Clinton campaign has been these millennial voters. Why she was on a college campus tonight, will be there again tomorrow. But these young voters are also considering a third party candidate. The Clinton folks believe the performance last night shows them why this election is actually important, why their vote is needed. And that's why Bernie Sanders will be on the campaign trail tomorrow on a college campus in New Hampshire at Hillary Clinton's side -- Anderson. COOPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny -- Jeff, thanks.
Back with the panel. Joining the conversation as well, CNN political commentator and former New York congressman, Rick Lazio, who ran against Clinton in 2000 Senate race.
Congressman, you actually have been on a debate stage going against Hillary Clinton.
RICK LAZIO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
COOPER: I'm wondering, the Clinton you remember from your debate versus the Clinton you saw last night. How do you think she did last night? What did jump out at you?
LAZIO: I think she was more impressive last night. She was more measured. She had her facts together. She does her homework. She did back when she debated against me.
She doesn't make a lot of unforced errors. I think people may have been expecting that. That wasn't going to happen. The case really was whether Trump was able to make the case for him as president.
And I think it's really interesting that last night I was coming up my elevator at my apartment building. And I talked to millennial couple, speaking with millennials who at the debate party, with 20 other millennials and I asked them, too, what do you think, what was your reaction? They said, we laughed through the 30 minutes and then they were depressed afterwards.
[20:20:00] And I said, well, who did you vote for last time I said? They said, we voted for Obama but we don't just -- we don't know what we're going to do.
So, in terms of moving groups, I'm not sure there were that many people. I do think that Trump missed a lot of opportunity by being so defensive and going so off message. He didn't really prosecute the case properly on the economy. He had so much to say in terms of --
COOPER: And as far as you're concerned, is that just lack of debate preparation?
LAZIO: I think it's a combination of a lack of debate preparation, maybe a lack of discipline, and really in your mind sort of organizing it so that you can put somebody else on defense.
COOPER: Having a strategy.
LAZIO: Yes, it really took him, Syria, Somalia, Egypt, Libya, I mean, around the world when she was secretary of state. If I was him I would have said is there one place that is better now than it was when you took office? What about that server when they called you extremely reckless? The FBI, the director, what were you doing? What were you thinking?
What about -- and in terms of just calling her, when she's challenging him on his credibility, I would have said let me just remind you about the situation you claim that snipers were shooting at you in Bosnia and then you repeated it? What were you thinking when you're doing that?
So, I think he missed some really fundamental opportunities to make the case about who she was on character and who he'd be on economy and things like charter schools.
COOPER: Scottie, do you think Donald Trump reached any voters he didn't already have last night?
HUGHES: No, but why he was successful, and what Hillary Clinton lost this morning, when people woke up, the women were not excited. You did not hear this great brouhaha, this great celebration of the first female president, she did great last night, let's go vote for her.
She needed to motivate females to be in support of her. She did not do that last night.
BORGER: We don't know.
HUGHES: You didn't. You didn't see it over -- that was not the narrative.
Plus, her goal was to paint last night Mr. Trump to be a sexist, bully, and guess what? That didn't work. That's not what we were talking about.
COOPER: But Donald Trump this morning was talking on television about, you know, Ms. Machado and continuing to say, she gained too much weight. He previously had said she was somebody who liked to eat. I mean, is that something he should be talking about still today?
MCENANY: No, I don't think he should have gone there to propel the story.
COOPER: It makes it a story again even more --
MCENANY: Sure. But that being said, and to the point last night, his campaign denies these accusation. It has a he said/she said. There is a host of characters we could bring on this show.
COOPER: He did say on television she likes to eat and she gained too much weight and sent media to watch her workout.
MCENANY: But what Clinton said on the stage, he said was false. We can Secret Service agents on here who have a lot of things to say about Hillary Clinton, like when she was in upstate New York and she allegedly said, according to Ronald Kessler of "The Washington Post" -- "The Washington Post" and "The Wall Street Journal" when she was there, she said, let's get the bleep out of her, there's no money here.
That's investigative reporting from "The Wall Street Journal". So if we want to get into third party hearsay, we can do that because I have a list of a dozen Secret Service officers who all have similar quotes like that.
COOPER: Go ahead, Jon.
TASINI: Go first, I'll follow.
JONES: I mean, I'm sure that people say bad things about people. I think that that might miss the point though. The point is that Donald Trump has tremendous problem with a section of women. And I don't think he did himself any favors today by doubling down and tripling down on this fat-shaming, this weight issue stuff.
And I don't think it shows -- it's one thing to be not disciplined, preparing for the biggest debate in the history of humanity and have no strategy. It's something else to realize you fell on your face and get up in the morning and say I want do more of that. That doesn't make sense and it doesn't -- I think get people convince him as commander in chief.
COOPER: Jon?
TASINI: The one thing I want to talk about is what Jeff mentioned in terms of demographics. He mentioned Hillary Clinton needing to do much better with the young voters. And we talked about this a week ago right here on the show. It struck me, one omission from Hillary Clinton's standpoint, that she never mentioned Bernie Sanders in the debate last night.
And there were two opportunities she could have done that. And Bernie Sanders people, our people want to hear an affirmation of what that campaign did. And there was one opportunity for example when climate change came up, when she correctly showed and pointed out that Donald Trump thinks climate change is a hoax. She could have said, folks, in the Democratic platform, we have the most far-reaching approach to climate change we have in our history. And that's thanks to Bernie Sanders and movement, and it commits me after I'm inaugurated, 100 days later to hold a summit on climate change, to actually implement it.
That would mean a lot to young voters and when she talked about inequality, let's face it. Bernie Sanders is the person who brought inequality into this debate. She should have at least found a subtle way of saying, I want to thank my friends Bernie Sanders who I will work with in the Senate to move --
COOPER: Gloria, I mean, it is to Jonathan's point, for her, it's critical to get millennials who are going in a lot of states to Gary Johnson.
BORGER: Yes, particularly if you look at the polling in the state like Colorado. She's bleeding millennials. She really needs them. She and Bernie Sanders are going to have to do more and I think they will.
TASINI: And he's campaigning with her tomorrow --
BORGER: That's right. But millennials include young women of color. [20:25:04] And just young white women who also might object to the
Machado story, who might also why did he raise, you know, the best thing about the debate was I didn't raise Monica Lewinsky and Hillary Clinton's husband's infidelities. I don't see what that gets him either.
HUGHES: There is a reason he's doing so well with married women. And these women are the ones that are engaged in this election. I mean, he's 17 points up, according to the latest CNN poll, 17 points. It's a large -- and these women are the ones that are showing up at rallies and going to things. Barack Obama made history because he was the first African American president. Hillary Clinton staked her entire campaign on being the first female president and she's not winning with all of the female --
BORGER: But suburban Republican women are very persuadable right now and that's a problem for Donald Trump.
JONES: And Democrats haven't done well with married women for a while.
COOPER: Yes, let's take quick break.
Coming up, as we just talked about, the winner of one of Trump's beauty pageant says Donald Trump called her "Miss Piggy" and that he publicly humiliated her. Some point he said on television that she likes to eat. Trump continued this morning, saying this woman, quote, "gain a massive amount of weight", and it was a real problem.
I'll be speaking with Alicia Machado in the next hour of 360. More of the back story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:13] COOPER: Well Donald Trump is not letting up on his criticism of a former Miss Universe, the way he treated Alicia Machado came up in last nights debate. She says when she won the pageant, the way bullied her after she gain weight let to eating disorders and depression.
Today Trump now kept the story going but kind of -- it's another comments about her. Again I'll speak with Alicia Machado in the next hour.
Right now Brian Todd has more. And the former beauty pageant winner who's now a part of the presidential campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She doesn't have the stamina.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When Donald Trump questioned Hillary Clinton stamina she was ready taking on Donald Trump with his own alleged words about a Miss Universe contestant.
CLINTON: He called this woman miss piggy. Then he called her miss housekeeping, because she was Latina. Donald she has a name ...
TRUMP: Where did you find ...
CLINTON: ... her name is Alicia Machado ...
TRUMP: ... where did you find this?
CLINTON: ... and she has become a U.S. citizen and you can bet ...
TRUMP: Oh really?
CLINTON: ... she's going to vote this November.
TRUMP: OK.
TODD: Alicia Machado from Venezuela, winner of Trump's Miss Universe contest in 1996. With all the stressors after the event, Machado says she gained about least 20 pounds. Trump claim it was at least 40, that's when she says Trump publicly shamed her. The Clinton campaign had a highly produce ad ready to hit Trump.
ALICIA MACHADO, MISS UNIVERSE 1996 (Through Translation): He was overwhelming. I was very scared of him.
TODD: This summer, Machado spoke of the names Trump called her. Which Hillary Clinton had mentioned.
MACHADO: Miss house keeping. Miss piggy. Miss eating machine.
TODD: Machado claims that not long after the 1996 pageant, Trump pressed her into working out in front of a crush of reporters and cameras. She says she felt like a lab rat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things she will do in between, she's go back and forth OK, it's called an active rest.
TODD: At that event, Trump spoke to "Inside Edition".
TRUMP: She weighed 118 pounds or 117 pounds and went up to 160 or 70. So this is somebody that likes to eat.
TODD: Machado recently told the network Fusion, she protested that display.
MACHADO: When I talk to him like I don't want do this. I feel so bad with these reporters in front of me. And he tell me, you know something, I don't care.
TODD: Machado says she suffered from anorexia and bulimia for five years. Today on Fox News, Trump defended his treatment of Machado.
TRUMP: She was the worst we ever had. The worst, the absolute worst. She was impossible. She was the winner and, you know, she gained a massive amount of weight. And it was -- it was real problem. We had a real problem not only that, her attitude. And we had real problem with her. TODD: Analyst say the Clinton campaign likely believe Alicia Machado
gave them the same kind of opportunity as Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the gold star parent who blistered Trump at the Democratic convention.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The Clinton campaign clearly planned this out in advance and it was going be a rat a that that. Last night it was kind of the opening sell-off from Hillary. And here comes Ms. Machado, you know, appearing on television shows. She's all over the news and they made it a big story. It's very clever. It's an after debate story that keeps the issue alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: We reached out to the Trump campaign about the specific allegations made by Alicia Machado. The campaign in the statement called her claims "totally baseless and unsubstantiated" and said Machado had lobbed a public smear campaign to gain a notoriety at Donald Trump expense. Anderson?
COOPER: Brian Todd, thanks very much.
With me again Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany and CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. And joining the conversation, Clinton supporter and CNN political commentator, Maria Cardona.
Maria, I mean how effective on clearly this is something the Clinton campaign had planned out. Secretary Clinton almost didn't get this in. She found a way right at the end of the debate to get this in. You wonder what else their -- that they had planned, that she would have liked to have a gotten in.
But it is interesting because it does phrase a second day, it keeps the story going. And Donald Trump has played into that. I'm not sure he was ask about it on Fox News, but his comments continued the narrative.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's no question about that, Anderson. And I think what was so brilliant about what Hillary did and how she did it is that she brought it up at the end and he had started to take the debate the whole debate after the first 30 minutes.
And so, I think she knew that this was going to be something that he was going to lament to it exactly what happened. But I think more than that, and why I believed it so damning, it's because it does a couple of things. It reminds Latinos of the vicious comments he has said about Latinos, Mexican immigrants, Muslims women in general.
Frankly it reminds the American public that this is a man who has demeaned so many people in America. And what kind of example is that going set for our children. I have a young son and a young daughter at home.
[20:34:58] So what example are we going to set if we give this man the Oval Office, somebody who thinks nothing of dehumanizing women, dehumanizing immigrants and what is that teach our son in terms of how -- is that OK in terms of treating women? So I think that was a very clear message and a brilliant contrast between his character and her character.
MCENANY: Well I wish that there was a fact checker at the debate, to fact check Clinton and point out what our reporter pointed out Brian Todd, that this was an allegation. And when you fact check this lady Alicia Machado, what she find is an AP story I have collaborated in front of me from 1998 ex-Universe accused of threat. Judge Fuenmayor has actually got on air saying this woman called him and set threatened to end his career and life. AP story as I have an economist story from the same month in February of 1998. So this is a he said, she said.
CARDONA: I think it's actually not.
MCENANY: I think to just notice to the American voter ...
CARDONA: No, no.
MCENANY: You have a recording? I don't think you ...
CARDONA: Howard Stern, there is a recording on Howard Stern where he goes on there and calls her an eating machine. So from eating machine to what we just saw in terms of him fat shaming her in front of reporters to him calling her miss piggy is not ...
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: It is not a junk.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: But it's not a junk.
MCENANY: But as an allegation, irresponsible to report the fact.
COOPER: But keep calling her an eating machine and somebody who likes to eat. I mean that's ...
(CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: I got people said about me, I like to eat. I like to eat. That is not ...
COOPER: An eating machine while she's standing there being forced to work out in front of reporters?
MCENANY: She wasn't force to do, she didn't have do that if she didn't want to ...
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: She worked for him.
MCENANY: No ...
CARDONA: Yes she did.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: How do you know that? You don't know that. She worked for him. He was her employer. She said she was afraid of him, we could take her at her word or not.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: The point here though is that the Clinton campaign knew that he would take this debate because they saw what happened with the Khan family and the gold star parents and they saw that the day after that he went on television and he talked about his own sacrifice and he asked the question about why the mother didn't speak. And I think that he fell into this just the way they thought because he can't help himself.
COOPER: Right, I mean does he give you any pause that somebody is so easily riled and discombobulated by, you know, slights that happen in the world of politics all the time?
MCENANY: Well, I didn't see it as discombobulated and I really think outside is the main stream media and outside of the political class, there were a lot of undecided voters who watched Donald Trump last night and thought he did a good job. I don't know if it's majority, I don't know if that remove the polls. I happen to agree to Bob Schieffer, that, you know, Donald Trump didn't move any votes and Hillary Clinton didn't gain any. But I don't think everyone saw it the way we saw it. I don't think he seemed rattled. I think he seemed like a real person on that stage. Like he was speaking for the American people.
CARDONA: He definitely same rattle than he seems rattle today. He's completely been taken off his game and I think this story was Alicia Machado was a big part of it. And look, I know Alicia Machado. I work with her on a couple of projects, she's a huge community activist. So for her to be going out there and talking about how Donald Trump does not have the character that we would want as somebody in commander and chief is going to be incredibly powerful for women and for Latinos. And just one last thing on the story that you brought up, the accusations against her ...
(CROSSTALK)
CARONA: She just became a U.S. citizen. Do you have how tough the background check is being becoming a U.S. citizen? If any of that was true she wouldn't have be a U.S. citizen.
COOPER: Right.
MCENANY: It's not very tough that we have two refugees that went setting out bombs here in New York City. So it can't be that rigorous.
COOPER: But again your story she was never actually charge with anything. (CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: And I'm going take the record of Judge Fuenmayor and ...
(CROSSTALLK)
COOPER: But which accusation he said ...
CARONA: That's right.
COOPER: ... and open investigation. There was ISIS on no new reporting from back from 1999 or whatever that was.
MCENANY: He is on record saying that she called me and threatened my life. And during a case that she was involves where she ...
COOPER: Right. But as a law student, you know, you can be accused of something but if she's never charged and never put on trial and found guilty.
MCENANY: Right, and a law student I know what we're talking about right now, third party hearsay, because that's her worried against his. We don't know if Donald Trump ...
CARDONA: It's not hearsay actually.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: But we're talking about is fat shaming, which is completely different. From I mean this apple, orange.
CARDONA: Really calling her an eating machine in public on the radio.
MCENANY: I'm an eating machine. I don't take offense to that.
CARDONA: She -- he did it to demean her.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So let me ask -- let me ask this. If you gain 60 pounds and your employer said to you or said about you in front of a room full of reporters this one likes to eat, she's an eating machine, you're telling me that would feel OK to you?
MCENANY: She was not force to this ...
COOPER: No, no ...
MCENANY: But none ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: She's standing in the room in front of a room full of reporters. She's gained -- you've gained weight. You're in a room full of reporters. Your employer says to the media, this one likes to eat a lot. She's an eating machine. You're telling me you would be OK with that?
MCENANY: I'm an eating machine ...
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: Oh come on Kayleigh.
BORGER: Stop deflecting.
MCENANY: You know, what I'm not OK ...
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: Don't deflect.
BORGER: Stop deflecting.
[20:40:02] MCENANY: I'm not deflecting ...
(CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: ... allegations to Trump, we got to talk about allegation salary putting like this ...
BORGER: But we're not talking ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But, you know, what -- but it is interesting. Donald Trump should have brought any of those allegations ...
MCENANY: And he should off, he should off, right?
COOPER: Right. Your candidate didn't do anything of that. So, I get that, you know, your incredibly smart person and your able to bring this up. I guess it just surprise the that the candidate himself didn't think of his feet to bring up anything that would go against ...
MCENANY: And brought up her e-mail scandal more.
COOPER: Right.
MCENANY: I agree with you the comments this morning continue the story and he shouldn't have made those comments. But what I think is this is the case of hearsay the voters ...
(CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: ... issues.
CARDONA: And he has the reason why though this is damning, it's because any man who has a wife, a daughter, a mother, a lot of women go through this, right in terms of self-image. And so this is going to be incredibly relevant and compelling to anybody who think the story. COOPER: We'll see if (inaudible) anywhere down the road. Kayleigh McEnany, thank you. Gloria Borger, Maria Cardona.
Despite many saying Hillary Clinton won. And by the way we're going to talk Ms. Machado in the next hour. Despite of a number of people saying Hillary Clinton won the debate last night, Donald Trump is saying he did the best job and top "verbally" every poll about it, and even loyal supporters agree with him. Randi Kaye caught up with some of them today in Melbourne, Florida and ask them why, that is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:10] COOPER: Donald Trump has wrap his first rally since last nights debate, thousands of his supporters gather at the airport in Melbourne, Florida. Tonight Randi Kaye, caught up with some of them to see how they thought he did in the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Among the Trump faithful at this Florida rally there was little doubt about who won the night.
CARMA SZIOZEK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: He held his composure very strong last night. She tried to gave her all, but I don't think he bought it. He did not fall into that trap.
KAYE: Do you think that he was prepared?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do believed he was prepared. He's prepared for everything.
C. KAYE: Do you think he made mistakes?
LES CHELSEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't think he made mistakes.
KAYE: No stakes but some interesting admissions. When Hillary Clinton suggested Donald Trump may not have released his tax returns because he hadn't paid federal taxes. Trump seemed to admit it calling that smart. Some supporters jump to his defense.
CHELSEY: His pay his taxes. It just so won't ...
KAYE: How did you know that?
CHELSEY: Well wouldn't I. Why wouldn't he pay his taxes? People taxes don't know if he hasn't.
KAYE: And if he didn't pay?
JACKIE GIBSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think that's awesome. I try pay as little as I have to. Don't you.
KAYE: At some point a handful of supporters got tired of our debate questions and insisted we talk to a military mom. That's when things turned ugly with this woman calling us the media, vultures and cowards. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get your butt down there and you interview him. If here not here to interview military go leave. Leave.
KAYE: It's not a question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave. You're here about Hillary Clinton. We're here about Trump and our military. Leave.
KAYE: I'm here about Trump as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave. No, you're here about ...
KAYE: I'm not leaving.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't have a heart.
KAYE: Police stepped in after that. But tensions remained high. We pushed ahead with the issue of birtherism. When Trump was asked about it in the debate. He said he had nothing more to say about why he pushed that narrative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your question, I think it was answered. And I think he answer the question.
KAYE: But to some here the conspiracy theory still lives.
GIBSON: I want to hear an explanation from President Obama. And we never got one from him, did we?
KAYE: What does he have to explain.
GIBSON: Where he was born. To show his birth certificate. I have mine in home ...
KAYE: He did show it.
GIBSON: No.
KAYE: And what about when Mrs. Clinton try to Trump for referring to a former Miss Universe pageant contestant as miss piggy, and then later apparently because she was Latina as miss housekeeping.
As a woman does that language bother you?
GIBSON: No, silly.
KAYE: Silly?
GIBSON: It's silly? I mean what -- I mean has nothing do with the election. There are so many important issues in our country right now.
KAYE: This woman wasn't effected either.
Do you believe he respects women?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe yes he does.
KAYE: Clinton also hit Trump for once voicing support for invading Iraq and calling climate change a hoax started by China. He denied doing either despite the fact that he said both. This supporter was forgiving especially on the issue of climate change.
And that China was behind it?
KENNETH SZIOZEK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I believe Al Gore is behind it making money. He's gotten rich out of it.
KAYE: He have admitted that he had said better no it doesn't bother you?
K. SZIOZEK: No, bother me a bit. Because I am telling same thing, I'd said that is, that's a hoax and a half right there.
KAYE: And despite CNN's polls showing Clinton had the stronger night we couldn't find anyone here now voting for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hell no. I'm voting for him. He's my man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Randi joins us now from Melbourne, Florida. So how did it end with the supporter who was yelling at you?
KAYE: Well Anderson, the police did step in and they basically told her to get out of my face. Stop yelling at me, that we were the media and we had every right to be there as well. So eventually she calm down but the trouble was Anderson that she already gotten that whole crowd worked out.
So we actually had to stop doing some of our interviews wait for that crowd to clear out, wait for some new people to come in who didn't see that altercation. So we could continue with the interviews. But we've seen this before. Donald Trump supporters are fiercely loyal and even those who haven't been Republicans very long, we've spoke today to lifelong Democrats, lifelong Independents who are now voting Republican just so they can help elect Donald Trump they say.
And I will also tell you that the all believe what Donald Trump said on the stage last night at the debate that he has the right temperament to be president. They don't think he's too thinned skin. They don't think he's going press that nuclear button. They think he's the man for the job, Anderson.
COOPER: Are you going to have a glass of wine tonight, Randi?
KAYE: Oh, I am. For sure, maybe two.
COOPER: I might too as well. Randi thanks very much.
Up next, more moments from the debate and those sniffles heard around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But he's are doing this, we cannot let it happen under ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What was going on with Donald Trump, or most people assume he had a cold or allergies, Mr. Trump has a different explanation, but sometimes pictures speak louder than words.
A body language expert weighs in on this and how both candidates did in the eyes of viewers, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:53:40] COOPER: If you were one of the more than 80 million people watching last night's debate, you probably noticed something about Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Is that OK? Good. I want you to be very happy. It's very important to me. But in all fairness to Secretary Clinton the NAFTA agreement is defective, talking about that later.
We cannot let it happen by Mayor Bloomberg.
Is our country's in deep trouble. What they're doing to us is a very, very sad thing.
And Lester, they're taking our jobs. And let me give you the example of Mexico. They have a VAT tax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Mr. Trump's sniffling became a viral sensation, but the reason behind this is still up for debate. People on social media speculating he was suffering from anything, from allergies, or cold or something else. This morning on Fox & Friends, Republican nominee denied that he was even sniffling at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: No, no sniffles, no. You know, the mic was very bad, but maybe it was good enough to hear breathing. But there no sniffles, I don't have -- I have no allergy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you don't have a cold?
TRUMP: No, no cold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK ...
TRUMP: Every once in awhile but no cold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A Body Language Expert and Physician Dr. Jack Brown, joins us now. First of all, what do you make of the -- what appeared to the sniffling?
JACK BROWN, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: Most likely, it's due to anxiety. People will sniff like that when they have a high level of anxiety, although, sometimes, you will see a deep sniff intake, a deep respiration like that when people are in the middle of contempt, like this, or when they tell -- when they tell a deception. Sometimes, you'll see that. But he did it at least 40 times, deeply, I counted, and a bunch of other times, less deeply.
[20:55:14] COOPER: It was the first time that Clinton and Trump had interacted, in person as candidates. I think a lot of people wondering how that would go. I want to take a look how they each greeted each other off the top and let's talk about what you think their body language said. So, what do you make of this?
BROWN: If I was counseling Mrs. Clinton, I would tell her she should have turned a little more towards Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump shook hands like he often does, he pulls the other person in towards his torso. And so I would say, he could have done that for intimidation purposes, but that's his normal MO.
He also patted her on the back, and I would have recommended against that. And by her -- by him going in her personal space like that, that was a lot of off-putting to a lot of people.
COOPER: You know, it seemed almost immediately, Donald Trump was drinking a lot of water, which is something he had kind of made fun of Marco Rubio for in the past and he continued to do it throughout the debate, and I don't think Secretary Clinton, that I saw, drank any water at all.
BROWN: I agree. I counted 11 for Mr. Trump, and Secretary Clinton, zero. Which, you know, it's a normal physiological response when you get nervous that your throat gets dry. So the fact that she didn't need it means that she was very much in her game.
COOPER: I want to look at Hillary Clinton when the issue that's really dogged her, this entire debate or campaign came up, her e- mails, what stood out to you about her body language during her answer?
BROWN: I think that's when she got most nervous, she displayed most anxiety. She -- her rate of blinking went way up. And when you are anxious, when you're nervous, your blink rate goes way up. And hers did. And she had more extended blinking, too, so for longer durations. Her -- she also tilted her head back. So that was the -- those were signals that she was getting most anxious about that section of the debate, more than any other.
COOPER: When Donald Trump's taxes was brought up, what did his body language tell you then?
BROWN: He had a definite, his mouth went into a fear expression, and that was one part that ...
COOPER: A fear expression?
BROWN: His corners of the mouth went back and down. He also rocked back and forth on his feet laterally, several times, pretty quick. So, and if you watch it, it's quite noticeable. And that really got to him, that section.
COOPER: Also, as far as how good the two candidates were standing during the debate, what stood out to you?
BROWN: Mrs. Clinton, she stood with her shoulders square most of the time. Donald Trump, if you notice, he bent down to that microphone a lot. And -- which you shouldn't do, that microphone is good enough to pick him from there, of course. He was also tilting forward at his waist, even when he wasn't bending down. His torso was also turning towards her.
So all of these things make him look like he's subordinating himself to her alpha. He's looking like a bait to her alpha. He shouldn't have done any of that. So it's -- she stood though with her shoulders square. And when she looked over towards him, it was just her head turning, not her whole torso. That -- and by doing that, she maintains her alpha status.
COOPER: How would you grade both of them?
BROWN: I would give Donald Trump a "C" and I'd say, Secretary Clinton, an "A minus."
COOPER: You're not talking content, just body language?
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Just with the nonverbal, yeah.
COOPER: Right.
BROWN: It's just with the nonverbal nothing else.
COOPER: Yeah, it's so fascinating to look at this body language stuff. Jack Brown, thank you so much, I appreciate it.
BROWN: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Well, still ahead in our next hour, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hitting the campaign trail running just hours after the most watched debate in American history, both claiming victory either one backing down, the latest from both campaigns when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
