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City Braces for More Unrest After Police Shooting in Milwaukee; Imam and His Assistant Shot and Killed After Mosque Prayers; At Least Three People Killed in Louisiana Floods; Sarcastic or Sincere, Trump Camp Flip-Flops; Trump Calls for Media Bias; Cyclist with Parkinson's Trying to Outrace Train; Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 14, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:07] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, 5:00 Eastern, I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

We begin tonight in Louisiana where thousands are suffering severe flooding that has already claimed several lives. Also Milwaukee right now bracing for the possibility of more violence tonight as Wisconsin's governor activates the National Guard.

This was Milwaukee overnight after protesters reacted to the news of a police shooting that left a 23-year-old African-American man dead. In a news conference a short time ago we learned a number of things including there were 17 arrests overnight, mostly for disorderly conduct, six businesses were set on fire, seven police vehicles were damaged.

During that news conference Milwaukee's mayor said that there is clear evidence from the video of the shooting he's seen that the man shot and killed was armed with a gun that had 23 rounds. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR TOM BARRETT, MILWAUKEE: I have, however, seen the still photo extracted from that. And that still photo demonstrates without question that he had a gun in his hand. And I want our community to know that. That he had a gun in his hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Our Ana Cabrera is in Milwaukee for us tonight. And Ana, look, we got a number of headlines from this police press conference. The thing that was reiterated over and over from the mayor there was please keep the calm, urging parents and grandparents to keep their young ones home tonight.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And we are seeing a lot of people starting to gather one of those burned buildings. This is a BP gas station where you can see all the charred wreckage. If you were out here you could smell the charred remains behind me. Vehicles also burned out. This is just a couple of miles, or rather a couple of blocks from that shooting scene, the shooting that seemed to ignite the furor in this community. We're seeing a lot of those community members gathering, talking among

each other, some of these folks here from church groups, local community leaders, also hoping to keep peace tonight, Poppy.

Let me back up and talk about what happened that seemed to ignite the unrest in this community. There was an officer involved shooting yesterday afternoon involving that 23-year-old suspect or some consider him the victim of a crime against police. Apparently he was at a traffic stop, took off on foot. There was somebody else in the vehicle. Officers pursued.

A 24-year-old officer we learned is the one who opened fire. Police say that the suspect had a gun in his hand and disobeyed orders to drop the weapon. We also learned from that recent press conference from the mayor that that gun held 23 rounds. A gun that police say had been stolen in a burglary back in March.

We're still learning more about the suspect who was killed, we've been looking into his criminal history. He has a misdemeanor on his record for conceal carry. He also had a felony theft charge that was apparently dismissed.

Now community members says it's not just about that one incident but really it's about what they have felt for years here in Milwaukee, in the north side of this community, where African-Americans say they have been treated unfairly, they have been oppressed, and this was an incident that really ignited those emotions and that anger in this community. So tonight police are calling for -- for peace.

They are calling for people to stay calm, to express their anger in a productive way. They are welcoming those protesters and the National Guard is on standby, Poppy, and will be deployed if necessary but will not be actively enforcing anything unless it comes to being necessary if the -- if this gets out of control once again -- Poppy.

HARLOW: And Ana, we heard the police chief there in Milwaukee, in that press conference just about an hour ago, that one of the first questions he was asked is what is the race of the officer that killed that suspect and he said, you know, I wish I didn't have to talk about race but I know in the context of where things stand in this country right now it is necessary. He said that officer was African-American.

Also a journalist asking him and the mayor when we'll see the video, when the video will be released of this shooting that they have from the body cameras. Any indication of when that might be.

CABRERA: At this point we just don't know. It is an ongoing investigation. And the Wisconsin Department of Justice has taken over the investigation, an independent body that will look at all the facts of the case. And the mayor said as they are doing their investigation they will release that video or the still photos that he referenced in due time but there are a lot of people out here in the community who simply don't believe the mayor, they don't believe authority, they don't believe the police about what they have shared in this investigation. [17:05:04] So that body cam footage, those pictures or images that

have come off of that body cam will be crucial pieces of the investigation and could be very crucial in terms of calming the anger that is currently still simmering here in Milwaukee -- Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Ana Cabrera, thank you. Stand by. Thank you for me in just a moment.

We will also speak with one of the state representatives there. Lena Taylor will join us in just a moment. But I do want to bring you some more breaking news here.

In New York City where police investigators say the gunman who killed -- shot and killed an imam here yesterday in Queens was precise in his targeting of two men right after prayers at a nearby mosque.

Our Sara Ganim is covering this story, she joins me there now.

Sara, when you look at the investigation, I mean police are being very careful not to say that this was motivated by something in particular or that this was a hate crime, they just don't know yet, but what have we learned from this investigation?

SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: So police are being very careful about a motive, Poppy. But today we have learned some new details. We've learned that that imam did have $1,000 cash on him that was not taken after he was killed. Police are also saying two clean shots to the back of the head, what appears to have been a revolver. Police are investigating whether or not this person may have had some sort of prior knowledge of shooting experience.

They are also saying that it does believe he knew what he was doing, was precise about what he was doing and went after these two people, although they are not saying at this point why that might be the case.

They also released a sketch today that you can see has now been posted in many places near the -- in front of actually the mosque where this imam and his assistant had left after Saturday afternoon prayers before they were gunned down. We know investigators got this sketch based on witnesses and also surveillance video where they could see the suspect fleeing the scene in this direction back north on 79th Street before -- after the shooting happened.

We do know that investigators, as we have already reported, are pursuing many different leads but this is the starting point today and this news has really angered a lot of people here in the community, especially people who knew these two men, Poppy.

HARLOW: And, Sara, one of the men killed, an imam, the other his assistant. I don't know if we have images of the two men that we can show our viewers but as we look for that I'm wondering how things have evolved since last night when you were on our air. We heard a lot of the people who had gathered at that location yelling justice, justice, justice.

What is the community reaction now 24 hours after this murder? GANIM: Absolutely. There is anger here. And there's also a degree

of people being scared. It's a scary thing to think that in the middle of a day on a busy street two people would be shot in the back of the head and murdered. We saw a gathering this afternoon, again, after afternoon prayers here at the mosque where many people were talking about many different things, including the fact some people told me, you know, they have seen a rise, an uptick in this neighborhood in assaults. They talk about armed robberies. They also talk about feeling that they were being targeted at times in this neighborhood.

This is a community with a strong Muslim-Pakistani-Bangladeshi community and these two men were Bangladeshi nationals. One of them, the imam, had come over five, six years ago, according to some people who went to the mosque, with his family. He had kids. These two men were neighbors. They were very well-liked in the community. Many people told me, you know, he was a person that people went to for advice with their problems. He was very open and they will -- they will miss him and they will miss that leadership. And that's what makes this all the more scary to them as well -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Sara Ganim, live for us in Queens, New York, tonight. Thank you for that.

Coming up much more on our breaking news. Also to politics and Donald Trump at this point not just taking on Hillary Clinton, but also declaring the media is his opponent as well.

Can he win voters over when he's battling the free press at the same time?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:12:27] HARLOW: All right. Back to our breaking news out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a city that was literally set on fire in parts last night after major, major protests following the police shooting of a young African-American man there who authorities say was armed with a handgun.

Lena Taylor is a Wisconsin state senator. She said that the people in Milwaukee are hurting and frustrated by a number of things including the lack of jobs and opportunity there. She says it is all contributing to the unrest that we saw last night and she joins me on the phone.

Thank you for being with me.

LENA TAYLOR, WISCONSIN STATE SENATOR: Thank you so much for having me, Poppy. I appreciate it.

HARLOW: Let's talk about what the Mayor Tom Barrett said. We heard in the press conference just about an hour ago urging peace, urging a fully transparent investigation, and saying stay home tonight, do not come here, do not light this city on fire again like we saw last night.

Do you think that we will see calm tonight in Milwaukee?

TAYLOR: The truth of the matter is that people want to hear answers and results and they want to experience change to the circumstances that they are living with every day. And so, although I understand the mayor's pleas for calm, I think the answer is to talk about what solutions, to talk about what opportunities are going to be existing so people can have some hope. People feel hopeless. And so I hope for calm but the truth of the matter is we've got to do the work and we've got to put in the work to show that we are connecting and hearing the people and, frankly, the devastation that they are experiencing, the trauma that they are experiencing.

Dr. Joy Degru has a particular talk that she has done that's built off her work, her writing that she's done about the post-traumatic slave syndrome. And what I will say to you is in Milwaukee where we have the disparities in everything, in health, literally, that you could speak of. When we are labeled the worst place in the nation to raise a black child. When we're number one for incarceration of African- American men. And when you're dealing with all of those things, coupled with lead in the soil, lead in the pipes for the majority of the community who is poor and African-American in the city.

When 60 something percent of the lead pipes that exist in the state are in Milwaukee, when the effects of lead are known, when the air quality is challenged, and 15 percent of the kids cannot read on grade level and their fathers are in prison or unemployed.

HARLOW: And --

[17:15:13] TAYLOR: And addiction is the issue, these are the things that people need to hear results on.

HARLOW: And Senator --

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: -- some level of calm.

HARLOW: And, Senator, no question, you are echoing the concern and the pain felt by far too many across this nation. No question about that. But as we look at the situation in Milwaukee and I'm looking at images and our viewers are looking at images of businesses completely burned to the ground, a BP gas station, other stores, you had seven police vehicles targeted.

TAYLOR: You need to (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: Exactly. My question to you is, there needs to be a forum for this discussion and progress and change. No question. But what is your message to those thinking of going out tonight and repeating what we saw last night?

TAYLOR: Actually I just left the community and a community organized group of people and -- who have just, you know, grassroots organized, and said we need to go out and help clean up our community. We need to go out and not only clean up the property damage, but we need to go out and help to clean up the damage that has help -- has come to exist for the people who have been damaged in the community. And for that healing to happen. And that has to happen when people know that they -- that someone loves, someone cares, someone hears their concern.

HARLOW: Yes.

TAYLOR: You know, I believe all our people need is some love and faith to be very honest with you, and I can't mandate love and I can mandate faith, but we can do the things that help them to know that by giving them access to opportunity and that has to start now.

HARLOW: You know, after the police ambush that we saw in Dallas, for example, the police chief there came out and encouraged protesters to join the police force, right? And it was something unique that we've never heard before.

TAYLOR: Exactly. Yes.

HARLOW: And it was his message of how the two sides can come together in his city. I'm wondering what your message is about how the two sides can come together in Milwaukee right now as this investigation takes place, as this all plays out, how do the two sides come together in the interim?

TAYLOR: Well, three things I'd like to say. First the chief inspired me -- inspired me so much that I called the police association president, Mike Crevelo, and I said to him we need to work on some black and blue events because if we keep fighting each other we're just going to be black and blue just like in a domestic violence situation. But if we, instead, work together we can be the healing. We can be the catalyst to create healing in our community and so we began the process of planning actions that we would do together that would frankly, you know, be black and blue coming together to be able to do things to make a difference in our community.

We'll continue to do that. But I'm with that chief. And I'm with our efforts to say that we have to do something to create that.

HARLOW: Yes.

TAYLOR: But we have to be real about where we are. We have to be real about the pain and the trauma and we need to go to trauma informed care. And we need to figure out what pieces we're going to do that are related to trauma informed care to be able to deal with the history of trauma that has existed and not been addressed in this community. And so to ignore that is to ignore the hurt, the pain, the frustration, the anger that individuals have and then lastly, you know, very candidly, you know, we have to also think about, you know, the effects of choices that people -- that they are making, but I want to be clear and I want to be fair in the midst of this.

Some people don't care about the effects that's happened because their pain and their trauma is so personal to them that they can't even value someone else because the value on themselves is so challenging. So we're going to have to deal with the human value that we've put and that we devalue that we put on people of color and I'm going say this. It's going to start one person, one mind, one effort at a time. And

I'm telling people that we can be the change that we want to see. And it's going to take us working together, not pointing fingers at each other.

HARLOW: State Senator Lena Taylor, I think you said it there, working with each other, not pointing fingers at each other as we look at the images of the aftermath, absolute devastation for the people that own these businesses in Milwaukee.

Thank you so much for being with us.

TAYLOR: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I believe that most of them are insured but it still is devastating.

HARLOW: State Senator Lena Taylor there from Milwaukee.

Much more on that breaking news ahead tonight on the program. Also I'll take you live to southern Louisiana where deadly floodwaters continue. It is getting worse and worse.

[17:20:01] One of our CNN photojournalists speaks with me live in the midst of all of it right here. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It is the worst possible news today for the people of Louisiana as they are nervously watching those floodwaters rise in the southern part of the state. It is expected to get worse. Take a look. These are neighborhoods in Lafayette, Louisiana, that's about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge. Forecasters are expecting more rain there. That means no relief at least in the days ahead. Already 7,000 people have been evacuated, rescued from the sudden flooding. Three people have died as a result.

On phone with me right now, Mark Biello, he's a CNN senior photojournalist. He's been covering the devastation out in the midst of it, filming it, talking to people as they've been rescued.

And, Mark, tell me what you've seen from your vantage point today. You've been out in a boat in the midst of it, you've seen some of these rescues. Put it on context for us.

MARK BIELLO, CNN SENIOR PHOTOJOURNALIST: Yes, Poppy. I'm actually currently at 12 miles east of Baton Rouge in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood which is off Highway 190, also called Florida Boulevard. And what we've got here -- when I got here, there were dozens and dozens of boats going out to rescue people in this flooded neighborhood. What we saw -- what I saw was a lot of these boats were personal-private civilian boats along with fire and rescue and also National Guard, so it's been a combined rescue operation.

[17:25:16] They staged people on this street called the neighborhood down in Sherwood Forest, Flanery Road and they were not necessarily trapped in their homes. What happened was there was no water in the neighborhood last night and at 10:00 p.m. and around 3:00, 4:00 this morning the water levels kept rising, rising and rising. You know, it got all the way up to the eaves of the roof tops of some of these homes. But there was enough time for people to get some of their belongings, get out and kind of go to staging area on the road and then these flat bottom boats and air boats that came in were picking them up and bringing them here to my current location and then they were loaded on National Guard trucks that then took them over to shelters.

HARLOW: And Mark --

BIELLO: And again, you know -- yes.

HARLOW: Mark, you also -- you and I were speaking earlier before the show and saying, comparing it to some rescue operations you saw when you were covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Rita. What's the difference here from what you're seeing on the ground from the rescue operations?

BIELLO: There was a -- there was a much bigger rapid response to the actual rescue operations and people weren't trapped in their attics or there was no chopping through rooftops or breaking down doors to get into these homes. There was a timely and organized kind of evacuation. So thankfully, you know, there hasn't been any more casualties, you know, to this event.

There's still a lot of army helicopters and Coast Guard helicopters that are flying over as we speak. Still searching. And the rescue operation is still continuing, too. They are still bringing in more of these flat bottom boats and Wildlife Fishery Department has showed up, too.

I think what's happening now is they're trying to get as many people as they can and get them out before dusk. And now they are using actual city buses. There are charter buses and some other ATV vehicles, amphibious vehicles, giant tractor type vehicles. I'm not sure what they are called.

HARLOW: Right.

BIELLO: That are bringing in families. There's one pulling in right now, actually.

HARLOW: All right. Mark Biello, I'm going to let you go and continue filming all of this and reporting it out for us. Again no relief in sight for Louisiana, the floodwaters continuing to rise there and expected to do so in the days ahead. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Coming up, we turn to politics. Donald Trump set his sights on a new target, the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now they are analyzing, did I really mean that? How could I say that? These people are the lowest form of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Today Donald Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort defended that line of attack. What he and Trump are now alleging next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:36] HARLOW: Right now on Twitter Donald Trump is railing against the media with a tirade of tweets accusing the, quote, "crooked media" of protecting his rival, Hillary Clinton. One reads, "If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn't put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20 percent."

Another tweet today, "The failing 'New York Times' keeps saying that I am saying to advisers that I will change. False. I am who I am."

That last tweet appears to be triggered by the newest report in the "Times" out this morning painting a picture of a fractured Trump campaign. While campaigning in the deep blue state of Connecticut last night Trump threatened to pull the newspaper's credentials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They wrote a story today. Anonymous sources have said -- three anonymous sources. Anonymous this, anonymous that. They don't use names. I don't really think they have any names, OK. But anonymous sources have said -- there are no anonymous -- you know, with my campaign, I'll be honest with you. It's me. It's me. They never called me. They don't --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The article called inside the failing mission to tame Donald Trump's tongue quotes 20 sources mostly anonymous who say that the Trump campaign is, quote, "exhausted, frustrated, and still bewildered by fine points of the political process and why his incendiary approach seems to be sputtering."

Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort telling our Jake Tapper this morning the article is false while reinforcing Trump's new catch fry of a media that is biased against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MANAFORT, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: We are convinced that contrary to the stories of the "New York Times" which are not correct and contrary to the lead-in to this interview of Trump unplugged that Trump is very plugged in. He's very connected and you're seeing crowds attending these appearances that are end of October numbers. Not August numbers.

In August, look at the crowds Hillary Clinton is getting. She's appearing before 30, 40, 100 people. He's appearing before 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people. That shows you the campaign is working contrary to what the media is saying. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. A lot to discuss. A. Scott Bolden is with me, he's a Hillary Clinton supporter, former chairman of the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party. Also with us, Scottie Nell Hughes, a CNN political commentator and a Donald Trump supporter.

Scottie Nell, let me begin with you. You just heard what Manafort said. He blamed the media for part of the decline we're seeing in Trump's poll numbers. Doesn't some of the blame go to the candidate or most of the blame to the candidate himself because this week, for example, he came out, he -- multiple times called President Obama the founder of ISIS. Then he said we didn't understand him, he was being sarcastic, and then this morning his running mate said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he was being very serious and he was making a point that needs to be made, that there is no question that the failed policies of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the wider Middle East created a vacuum within Iraq in which ISIS was able to arise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Trump says he was being sarcastic. Pence says he was being serious. When it comes to these high-profile contradictions on the ticket does it, Scottie, play into fears among some in the party that the Trump camp suffers from a lack of discipline?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't know if it's a lack of discipline. It's just diversity that we have several different viewpoints but the end result --

HARLOW: But on the same ticket?

[17:35:01] HUGHES: Of course. Who said that the -- do you actually think President Obama and Joe Biden agree 100 percent on everything or every cause? If you did you would see them both --

HARLOW: It's not -- but let me just jump in because it's not about agreeing on a cause. It's Pence saying he was serious when he said Obama founded ISIS and it's Trump saying first he was serious then he was sarcastic. That's the difference.

HUGHES: Well -- but I think he talks about -- you've got to sit there and realize that there was some sort of blame that goes on this administration for why ISIS was created. I also think you have to put some blame on the Bush administration prior. This is something -- this is a very complicated issue that's been going on for over a decade. So right now you've got -- you've got Pence, you've got Donald Trump, just sitting -- they're going to go through, they're going to be on the same page and fact that this is a problem that we have going forward and they want to present their plan. Why they are having a press conference tomorrow about how they're going to finally fix this problem, how they're going to take care of ISIS instead of continuing to let this grow as it has and fester over the last 12 years.

HARLOW: And, Scott, when we look at your candidate, yes, she's happy about the poll numbers. No question. In the battleground states. At the same time, sources are telling my colleague Jake Tapper that the contents of her interview with the FBI about her e-mails are headed to Congress, specifically notes taken by an FBI agent in that interview and that Congress can get those as early as tomorrow. So the issue here is she cannot seem to shake this and it continues to weigh on her campaign.

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, WASHINGTON DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, that's baked into the numbers, though. I mean, she's ahead by 10, 15 points. Those records, those notes, we have to see exactly what they say, whether they're going to be turned over and quite frankly what's going to be redacted or not redacted.

I'm a former prosecutor. Those notes quite frankly are going to be scrubbed by the FBI because they may not want to compromise or give light to other investigations for other individuals going forward by DOJ on similar types of issues. So a lot to consider here.

But remember this. What you're hearing from the Trump campaign and what you're seeing in the "New York" article is to believe that narrative, you would have to believe that these reporters got together, created a false story, took it to their editors, their editors signed off on it, and they ran with no viable source whatsoever.

HARLOW: I do think --

BOLDEN: That's wrong, quite frankly. And the Trump campaign does not seem to be looking at -- hold on, one second. They are not asking for retraction, they're not complaining about fraud, they are not doing anything but telling you that they are crooked. Whenever Trump gets in trouble, whenever he doesn't like what you're doing he calls you crooked. And now the media that has been his darling --

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: Actually he did say it was fraud.

BOLDEN: He's now calling them crooked.

HUGHES: He has accused the "New York Times," Scott, of fraud several times and he has asked for a retraction.

BOLDEN: Ask for a retraction.

HUGHES: He's asking them apologize.

BOLDEN: Ask for a retraction. Write --

HUGHES: He has done that. He's asked the same thing --

BOLDEN: Write, and ask for an investigation. He's done none of that.

HUGHES: That has not (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: All right. One voice at a time, guys. One voice -- one voice at a time.

BOLDEN: Well, let me tell you this.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: No, let me say this.

BOLDEN: I'm a former chair of a party.

HARLOW: Let me say this. Let me say this, Scott.

BOLDEN: I've been in those meetings. And they sound pretty good. Pretty accurate.

HARLOW: All right. Let's be very clear here. Also the policy of the "New York Times," according to our Brian Stelter, who was a reporter there previously that you have to, as a reporter, tell your editors who your sources are before they're going to sign off on anonymous sources. That is what he says the policy is.

BOLDEN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Scottie, let me get back to leading in to -- Scottie Nell, the speech tomorrow that Trump will give in Ohio focusing on ISIS. Let's look back at what he said about the wars in Iraq and pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq to both Wolf Blitzer and to Piers Morgan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: How does the United States get out of this situation? Is there a --

TRUMP: How do they get out?

BLITZER: Is there a way out?

TRUMP: How they get out? They get out. That's how they get out. Declare victory and leave.

PIERS MORGAN, FORMER CNN HOST: If you were president would you take all American troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq now? Straightaway?

TRUMP: Well, Iraq, we shouldn't have been there. And I'd get them out real fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So listening to those two interviews from 2007 and 2011, Scottie, it seems like Donald Trump would have done the exact same thing that President Bush and then President Obama did. So by his own logic would that then have made Donald Trump the founder of ISIS? Had he been in office at that time? HUGHES: There's a difference between just being an ordinary citizen

and sitting there and doing interviews and saying things and actually being in office and having the action. And that's what we're going to learn tomorrow what Mr. Trump is going to do to clean up this problem because what we have not heard from Hillary Clinton yet is what she's going to do for ISIS and if she still agrees with her decision when she voted for the Iraq -- when she voted for the war and then later on as secretary of state --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: But, Scottie, he's saying -- he's saying, I would have pulled out, too.

HUGHES: And he was a citizen, a common citizen not running for office. He had no --

BOLDEN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: So do words not matter? Do words not matter?

HUGHES: Words do matter but we're looking at -- let's look at what Hillary Clinton said at that time. Let's look at Barack Obama. Let's look at their actual voting record during all those years that created this problem. Mr. Trump was not in any position to create ISIS --

HARLOW: Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq and Donald Trump said in an interview with Howard Stern that he would have gone into Iraq as well.

HUGHES: And he - that was post already being in Iraq and he actually said that that would be unpatriotic of him at that stage of the game, just at the very beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom to go against our soldiers so he went along with it at the time.

[17:40:10] But back to my main point. We have yet to hear Hillary Clinton say if she agreed with the withdrawal how this administration handled it and how she would have done it any differently. That's why you have Donald Trump saying if you want more of the same --

HARLOW: Just to be clear, Scottie, the Status of Forces agreement --

BOLDEN: Poppy --

HARLOW: The Status of Forces agreement --

HUGHES: Was under George W. Bush.

HARLOW: -- came between Malaki and George W. Bush that said that in the end of in 2011 --

HUGHES: And that's why I said --

HARLOW: -- they would pull troops out. To have kept them in Iraq without a negotiation with Iraq to secure them was the concern. HUGHES: So if the area was -- if the area was unstable, if they were

still going to stick by the plan, if they did not have -- they did not know, have proper knowledge of the area and what was going on, they are still going withdraw because of an agreement of a prior president? I don't think so.

Obviously they did not have enough intelligence as now the House Republicans are sitting there saying that they were given altered information of what was going on with ISIS? Obviously they didn't have it. They did not have to go through that plan if it was true.

HARLOW: All right, Scottie, stay with me. Stay with me.

BOLDEN: Well, Poppy, if I may. The hypocrisy --

HARLOW: My producers are telling I have to get a break in.

BOLDEN: The hypocrisy continues.

HARLOW: Scott, stay with me. Let me get a break in. We'll be back on the other side.

BOLDEN: OK.

HARLOW: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Throughout this election Donald Trump has accused the political system of being rigged, saying it might even cost him the White House but this weekend he's going a step further.

[17:45:04] He is insisting he is not getting a fair shake from us, the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not running against crooked Hillary. I'm running against the crooked media. That's what I'm running against.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He's continuing his attack today against the press, a series of tweets one of them reads, "If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn't put false meanings into the words I say I would be beating Hillary by 20 percent."

Our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter is with me. He's the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." Also with me is CNN political commentator and a journalist in her own right, Scottie Nell Hughes, and a Trump support. She is also the political editor of BrightAlerts.com.

Thank you both for being here.

Scottie Nell, to you, as a Trump supporter, that's one hat you wear. You're also a journalist. I mean you've been a journalist for years. You've covered the White House at one point. What do you make of those comments from Trump about the media?

HUGHES: It's very hard for me as a journalist to sit there and hear. I hate any criticism of the media. But is it well deserved? I mean, we in the media think it is our job to hold politicians accountable. And it is. But then is it the people's job to hold us accountable? And I think when you're looking right now what the conservatives, what the GOP is feeling is they feel like we're fine with you asking questions of our candidate, we're fine with you questioning things. But let's make sure that we're also doing the same and spend the same amount of time on the other person.

Listen, the American Press Institute just came out, says only 6 percent of Americans say they have great confidence in the press. I mean, second to being a politician the media is the most --

HARLOW: So where that's from?

HUGHES: American Press Institute just came out with that this past spring. 6 percent have great confidence in the press. About 50 percent have somewhat confidence. That's a problem.

HARLOW: So, Scottie, let me --

HUGHES: That's a problem.

HARLOW: All right. So let me bring Brian here.

Brian, Donald Trump hasn't been on CNN in how long?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It has been, I believe, over a month, might be getting close to two months. He's really choosing just to give interviews to FOX News and to local TV stations. Once in a while he'll go on a major network but for the most part he's really staying at friendly media outlets right now where he's not going to be asked many skeptical questions.

HARLOW: So he regularly calls out journalists covering his rallies. He did it on Friday night. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: These people are the lowest form of life. I'm telling you. The lowest. They are the lowest form of humanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Brian, freedom of the press, right, enshrined in our Constitution, and when he walks this line, I get it. It plays well with his supporters. But how dangerous of a line is this?

STELTER: He has the right to say whatever he wants about you and me and Scottie, and he's doing that on Twitter and on TV all the time, but journalists also have the right to cover him aggressively and skeptically, and challenging him every step of the way.

You know, Hillary Clinton has also been challenged by the press this week. I have a feeling she's feeling pretty bruised about the coverage of her e-mail scandal but she keeps her media critiques mostly private. She doesn't see a value in expressing them publicly every single day.

Donald Trump obviously feels differently and it's one of the reasons why I love Twitter is he can speak up whenever he wants. But I do think we're at the point where he's essentially delegitimizing journalists, saying there's not a proper world for the press. That's what his tweet this afternoon suggested. That the First Amendment doesn't apply when journalists are saying false things about him.

The reality is, even if the stories are false they are generally protected by the First Amendment and by legal in the past. We should keep that in mind when he attacks the press.

HARLOW: And let's talk about this. I mean, he has targeted the First Amendment before. Let's listen to what he said back in February.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles we can sue them and win lots of money. So we're going to open up those libel law, folks, and we're going to have people sue you like you never got sued before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And, Brian, that goes back to the 1960s, the Supreme Court ruling in the case involving the "New York Times" about, you know, what it would take to hold the press accountable for a story and there has to be malicious intent here, and he's saying change everything. As a journalist your perspective on that, your concern about that?

STELTER: Certainly a lot of press freedom groups have come out and said they are very concerned about a libel law comments and also about the practice of black listing news outlets like "The Washington Post," "Politico," the "Daily Beast" and the "Huffington Post." Those outlets are not allowed to receive press credentials at Trump rallies. And I asked one of Trump's aides today, are you going to re-examine that? Are you going to give them press credentials, he did not give a definitive answer to that question.

And again, Trump has the right to exclude whoever he wants from his events. But it is -- it does have a chilling effect on journalism more broadly.

[17:50:08] The reality is, journalists, I know this is hard to believe, we don't want the story to be about us. We'd much rather be covering what Donald Trump is saying about Clinton, about Obama, about what policies he would enact. That's what the story should be. And every time he's talking about the media, he's not talking about Hillary Clinton.

HARLOW: Right. One thing he will be talking about tomorrow is the issues and ISIS and his plan to defeat ISIS. You can bet we as a network will be covering the issues covering that speech. Brian Stelter, thank you very much. We lost Scottie Nell's

connection. Scottie, thank you to you as well.

All right. Coming up, breaking news. Catastrophic flooding in Louisiana. 800,000 under a flood warning in the state right now. A live report. Stay with us.

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HARLOW: In today's "Fit Nation" it is man versus machine at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in Colorado. Not only do the cyclists face two 10,000-foot mountain passes, they race a train nearly 50 miles. But for one competitor that is nothing compared to the challenge he faced after being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[17:55:06] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This is the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, a grueling 47-mile race through the mountains, against a train.

JOE WILLIAMS, IRON HORSE BICYCLE PARTICIPANT: To ride the Iron Horse, you have to have the mindset that you are going to suffer. It's the same for me, the same as it is for everyone else.

GUPTA: But for Joe Williams, it's not the same. What he faces every day is far more challenging.

WILLIAMS: Receiving the diagnosis was shattering. The chief neurologist came out, and he said, Joe Williams, you have Parkinson's Disease.

GUPTA: The left side of his body would freeze up, but soon he discovered he could reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's by cycling.

WILLIAMS: Today, I'm 63, and I should have declined physically, but each year I believe my health is improving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, Joe, go.

WILLIAMS: I won. I beat the mountain today. I didn't beat that train. I'll never beat that train. But today, of all days, I'm normal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: All right. Coming up, straight ahead, Donald Trump's campaign manager goes one on one with our Jake Tapper this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION." Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANAFORT: We have are convinced that contrary to the stories of the "New York Times," which are not correct, and contrary to the lead-in to this interview of Trump unplugged that Trump is very plugged in. He's very connected. And you're seeing crowds attending these appearances that are end of October numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. Manafort and Tapper. The entire interview. You'll see it only right here, next.

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