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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump's Struggle to Gain Female Voter Support; First Lady: Trump's Words "Cruel", "Frightening"; Some Opposition To Clinton Rooted In Sexism; Trump Mocks Reporter With Disability; U.S. Launches Missiles At Radar Targets In Yemen; Samsung Note 7s Are Getting Difficult To Return; Dylan 1st Musician To Get Nobel Prize For Literature. Aired 4:30-5pm ET

Aired October 13, 2016 - 16:30   ET

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

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[16:30:35] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

We're going to stay with politics. The first lady coming out and slamming Donald Trump, this after a string of new accusations of sexual assault. Trump cannot afford to lose the female voter demographic as badly as he is right now, according to polls. Four years ago, women made up more than half of all voters. In fact, white college-educated women typically lean Republican.

CNN political director David Chalian is over at our magic wall.

David, how far behind is Trump polling with women voters?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: So, Jake, let's take a look at our most recent national poll. We have an NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll out earlier this week after the debate, after the controversy over the "Access Hollywood" tape, look at them on your screen. They are tied among men in this poll, 39 percent to 39 percent. But among women, Hillary Clinton has a 17-point lead, 50 percent to 33 percent.

Donald Trump needs to significantly increase his advantage with men if he is going to be able to combat her huge advantage with women.

TAPPER: And, of course, it's not a national election. It's state by state. How are we seeing these latest developments impact in the key battleground states?

CHALIAN: Well, let's dig in deep to Pennsylvania, one key state that Donald Trump is really focused on right now. I want you to look first of all, brand-new Bloomberg poll that was out today. This is the overall horse race in the four-way, 48 percent for Hillary Clinton, 39 percent for Donal Trump. That's a nine-point lead in a state, clearly one that's leaning her direction.

Why? This is where you really see the fallout, Jake, from a story like the "Access Hollywood" tape and now the allegations. Look at suburban Philadelphia voters, 56 percent for Hillary Clinton in this poll, 28 percent for Donald Trump. That is an enormous gap. That 28- point lead among suburbanites, that makes Pennsylvania nearly unwinnable for Donald Trump.

And we have two brand-new polls out this hour, just moments ago, more contested states. Take a look. Sorry. Take a look here -- well, in North Carolina, you -- I apologize. In North Carolina we have got a four-point lead for Hillary Clinton, and we -- in the state of Ohio, we have a one-point lead for Donald Trump, 42 percent to 41 percent.

So, now, I want to take you to the map for 270, Jake, OK? This is all about trying -- trying to get to 270 electoral votes. As I just told you, let's give him North Carolina even though Hillary Clinton has a four-point lead. Let's give him Ohio. Let's give him Nevada. Let's give him Florida. Those are the remaining battleground states.

But if we give them all to Donald Trump, he's still shy of the 270 electoral votes. So, he does need to dig into some of that Democratic territory like Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin. But the polls this week have shown that she is maintaining that edge. That is a fierce line of defense that is not crumbling at all for Hillary Clinton right now.

TAPPER: I think the Pennsylvania suburbs, Obama won by 10 percentage points. Hillary Clinton up by 28. Staggering.

David Chalian, thank you so much.

CHALIAN: Thanks.

TAPPER: Donald Trump claims he has more evidence disproving the sexual assault accusations, but is there anything he can say at this point to change the minds of female voters? We'll talk about that next. Thanks.

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[16:38:11] TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

Sticking with politics now. It was a fund-raising e-mail that seemed to come from an alternate reality. The Trump campaign claiming there is a, quote, incredible Donald Trump surge happening across the nation. An e-mail that went out under the name of Eric Trump, the nominee's son.

The campaign built this animated graphic from this map, pulled from Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com. It shows Trump running up the scoreboard against Clinton, beating her by a wider margin than President Obama bested Mitt Romney.

Here's the problem with it -- the graphic used in the Trump campaign e-mail looked at an alternate universe where only men were polled, where only men voted, from Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com website. If you look at only women, according to Silver's forecast, Clinton would win by a wide margin as well.

Silver's conclusion from all the polling data is pretty straightforward. Quote, "It seems fair to say that if Trump loses the election it will be because women voted against him. Let's talk about this and more with CNN political commentators S.E. Cupp and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.

So, the response today -- first of all, let me just say, this feels like a real moment for women in America, not just what happened with Roger Ailes and Bill Cosby, but just the idea that like, holy cow, this stuff happens, and it happens lot.

JENNIFER GRANHOLM (D), FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: Michelle Obama's speech today was remarkable because it spoke for so many of us. I'm sure you probably agree with me on this, right?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do. I do.

GRANHOLM: Yes, it was so powerful, because we have all been in those circumstances and we've all not -- maybe not everyone, but we've certainly, a lot of us, have encountered these buffoons who think they can come in and take over, including take over our physical space. That speech was just remarkable. Perfect.

CUPP: And it was remarkable because, thus far in the campaign, no one else has really been able to deliver that kind of message the way she did. Hillary Clinton is sort of a flawed vessel for delivering that kind of message, and maybe that's not her fault, but that's just the fact. So, it took Michelle Obama to come out and say what we've all been thinking, that this is not okay.

And I heard it directed as much to men as I did to women -- that this is not all men.

GRANHOLM: Right. That's, I think, a real important point.

TAPPER: I want to interrupt. Let's Michelle Obama interrupt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: One of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life, and I have to tell you that I listen to all of this, and I feel it so personally, and I am sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman? It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: One of the problems I hear in the response from the Trump campaign, and Trump just calling them liars and, in fact, suggesting -- seeming to suggest, although you heard Kayleigh McEnany dispute this, look at her. That sounded to me like, look at her, I would never grab her. Is this resonating with so many women? Many women who are inclined to vote for Donald Trump and seem so tone deaf?

CUPP: Well, I don't want to sound glib, but I don't think the best defense is to say she is too unattractive for me to have sexually assaulted. That doesn't seem to take this seriously. And I don't think that sounds good to most women. But what I also saw on that stage in addition to sort of the death

spiral of a campaign was a child. I mean, a fully formed human understands the seriousness of the times, the seriousness of these allegations, the serious trouble that your campaign is in. And yet, he cannot resist the frat-boy joke, "look at her." in the midst of all of this. The basic self restraint and self-control and self-awareness that you want adolescents to get -- I don't think he has that.

GRANHOLM: He has a serious personality disorder, I think. I mean, I'm not a psychologist, but anybody looking at him can see that his narcissism. He was born with a silver spoon. He has never had to fight for anything. It's all been given to him.

And now, he assumes that he's God's gift to women. If he comes in and kisses you on the lips, you want it. It's just so utterly insulting.

But I just want t get back to Michelle Obama's speech for just one second, because the thing that was important and the thing that's important about this apparent gender divide is that, what he is doing in going hard after the white male vote assumes that all the white males are going to go in that direction. Michelle Obama was so beautifully clear in saying, this is not the men that I know. This is not the men in my family, so many of us felt that way.

My father would just be horrified by this. My husband horrified. So, there is all these great men out there who have daughters, who have mothers and sisters who would be just as horrified as a lot of the women.

TAPPER: So, let me bring up something uncomfortable that the Trump people are bringing up. I don't know that it's completely unfair of them to do so, which is, did the left and the media and many feminists take too lightly the accusations against Bill Clinton in the 1990s, the accusations of rape from Juanita Broaddrick and assault and harassment from Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones?

CUPP: I think without a question. You know, what's interesting is Republicans before Trump used to claim the moral high ground on issues of morality, bed room stuff. Maybe they didn't always deserve it. But they at least would say, the argument would go -- well, if it happens on their side, we're still morally outraged about it. If it happens on our side, we're so morally outraged about it. They're not.

The party that has supported Donald Trump and, forgetting some people that have denounced this -- the party has no moral outrage for this. It's exactly what we condemned the Clinton supporters and Democrats of in the '90s. Where is your moral outrage? You seem to just dismiss this so this so willingly as if it's just frivolous nontroversy.

Well, now, Republicans no longer that the moral high ground because they're doing the same thing with Donald Trump.

TAPPER: Governor, let me ask you if I can, because I want your thoughts on this. Obviously, there are a lot of people out there opposed to Hillary Clinton because they disagree with her, they don't agree with her principles. Maybe they think (INAUDIBLE) of her. Do you feel that there is also a component of this that is just completely rooted in misogyny and sexism?

GRANHOLM: I think that Donald Trump is playing that violin, is playing that chord so hard that he really wants to get these -- he wants to get the male vote to counteract his loss of women and that this divide that he is stoking is very real.

[16:45:11] And yeah, I think there is a lot of misogyny and a lot of sexism embedded in it. And all you have to do is look both at his behavior and his words, and the words and behaviors of the people who are - who are surrounding him, who apparently think it's perfectly fine for him to continue on this.

TAPPER: And the shirts - and the shirts up at his rallies.

GRANHOLM: Look at the - look at the stuff that's on there. It's disgusting. And yes, it is hardcore misogyny, but then again, not all men - there are good men, like you, Jake, and all the people who we know who are not in that camp, so we got to counter that.

TAPPER: We'll get a - we'll get a - we'll get a fact-check on that.

GRANHOLM: Don't make this man president!

TAPPER: Well, we're going to get a fact-check on calling me a good man on Twitter any second now. Governor Granholm, S.E. Cup, thank you so much.

The United States firing back at Yemen today. Why this could throw the entire Middle East into even more chaos. And then there's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times, they are a' changing. Those are just some of the lyrics that of one Bob Dylan, one of the greatest honors in the world.

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[16:50:08] TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Our "WORLD LEAD" now, a U.S. navy destroyer firing tomahawk missiles at three radar sites in Yemen. The strikes were in retaliation, the Pentagon says, for two instances this week in which Houthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles at American warships in international waters. The missiles thankfully did not hit the USS Mason and there were no reported injuries, but the Pentagon has vowed to defend itself against any threat. The U.S. government has been providing arms and intelligence to the Saudis who are deeply involved in this civil war in Yemen. Let's get right to CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. And Barbara, these Houthi rebels, they're backed by Iran. Does this mean that the U.S. is now even more enmeshed in this proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the Pentagon for now says no, that it is not getting more deeply involved, but if there are more attacks, you can bet that answer is going to change. So far, no response from Houthi rebels after the U.S. Navy fired missiles at radar sites used by the Iranian-backed forces. Those same sites targeted U.S. Navy warships twice in four days. PETER COOK, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Those who might threaten U.S. forces should recognize that we will not tolerate threats to our people. We will respond if our forces come under fire.

STARR: The U.S. is not saying if there is intelligence showing direct Iranian involvement in the attempted attacks. Tehran announced its own deployment of warships to the region. The Pentagon making clear, it's ready for more action.

COOK: Should we see a repeat, we'll be prepared to take appropriate action again at the appropriate time.

STARR: If there is further provocation, U.S. officials say the next round of potential targets could include rebel-missile sites and small boats serving the spotters. This time, officials think the mini- missiles were fairly old, but had been outfitted with highly lethal warheads, the kind the Al-Qaeda and Iran know how to make.

SETH JONES, POLITICAL SCIENTIST OF RAND CORPORATION: It'd be a very serious charge if the Iranians were in any way complicit in conducting the attacks against the U.S. destroyer.

STARR: The first rebel strikes came Sunday, and then another attempted missile attack on Wednesday. In both attacks, the USS Mason fired defensive weapons. The U.S. ships were not struck, and there were no injuries. But the Pentagon wanted to take out the onshore sites used to target the navy. Drones flew overhead to very locations and the destroyer USS Nitze fired tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea into three remote areas in Yemen where the coastal radars had been used to threaten the Mason and other nearby ships. After the Nitze strike, drones returned to ensure the radars were destroyed.

And those Iranian-backed rebels known as the Houthis are denying they had anything to do with the strikes against the U.S. Navy. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Barbara Starr, thank you so much. If it was his words music critics admired most, and now Bob Dylan is being recognized as one of the greatest poets and authors of our time. Stay with us.

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[16:57:41] TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Let's turn to our MONEY LEAD now, for millions of people who own the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. It's bad enough that the phone may burst into flames, now the process of returning this faulty phone may make your head explode. You cannot just go to a store and trade it in, you have to use a special fireproof box. And that box you need to either get mailed to you or you pick it up yourself from retailers, the thermally insulated return kit resembles something of a science experiment. First, there are blue safety gloves that you're advised to wear, because some folks may be sensitive to the packaging material. Then there's a static bag for the phone itself which you then place into a small box. And then that package goes into a slightly bigger box. And that box finally goes into a shipping box. That doesn't sound at all like an inconvenience. Still, it's not all bad, Samsung says that if you turn in your Galaxy Note 7, the company will not only give you a new phone, but also a $100 credit.

Maybe Bob Dylan is not just the voice of his generation, the American icon is also a Nobel Prize Winner. Yeah, you heard me right. Today, Bob Dylan was awarded the prestigious honor for literature. As early as this month, the prediction was, it ain't him, babe. One bookmaker gave Dylan a 50:1 chance of winning, favoring more traditional novelists instead.

But oh, the times, they are a changin' and Dylan is now the first musician to receive the honor. The Swedish Academy credits the 75- year-old with, quote, "Having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. The committee also credited him with a cash prize of 8 million Swedish krona. That's about roughly 900,000 American dollars, but money doesn't talk, it swears, as Dylan would say. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter @JAKETAPPER or tweet the show @THELEADCNN. That's it for THE LEAD, I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Thanks for watching.

[17:00:03] WOLF BLITER: Happening now, horrible liars. Donald Trump launches a furious counter-attack against the growing list of women who say he groped or kissed them against their will. Trump calls the claims outright -