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Presidential Race Tightens A Week Before Election; Clinton Campaign Slams FBI's "Double Standard"; Iraqi Troops On Eastern Outskirts Of Mosul; Presidential Race Tightens A Week Before Election; States Seek Military Help To Prevent Election Cyber Attacks; Thousands Of Migrants Camping At Paris Metro Station; New Study Says "Dad Bod" Is Most Attractive To Women. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 02, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, with the polls now tightening and Clinton's lead disappearing, her campaign goes all out to remind voters of Trump's past problems with women.
SESAY: Hacking the vote. Anxiety over cyberattacks against U.S. election has some states calling in the military.
VAUSE: Suicide bomber's human shields and urban warfare. Iraqi troops are on the verge of an ugly battle inside Mosul.
SESAY: Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. We're now into the second hour of NEWSROOM L.A. Believe it or not, it's now the final stretch. And the U.S. presidential candidates are rallying voters in key Battleground States. Donald Trump took his campaign to two democrat-leading states on Tuesday, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. He is riding a wave of momentum after Hillary Clinton's latest e-mail controversy.
SESAY: Clinton made stops at three early version rallies in Florida, and largely ignored the e-mail scandal. She instead shifted her focus back on Trump, blasting his character and treatment of women. When the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll shows Trump, with a one-point lead, you are looking at a statistical tie. And CNN's Poll of Polls still has Clinton four points ahead of Trump.
VAUSE: Meantime, democrats are accusing the FBI Director James Comey of a double standard in the way he has dealt with cases involving both Clinton and Trump.
SESAY: And just days after announcing a new investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server, the bureau released dozens of pages from a 15-year-old investigation involving Bill Clinton. Our own Jim Sciutto, reports.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: OK. Great. We're set. JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY: Just days after disagreeing about going public with new Clinton-related e-mails, FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch met behind closed doors on Monday, the first time they had been face-to-face since Comey sent his controversial letter to congress. No comment, however, on the investigation, and law enforcement officials say, "Don't expect any from Comey until the investigation is complete." A review of thousands of e-mails for classified information or other evidence of wrongdoing, an investigation that likely won't be finished until after Election Day. Clinton's advisers continue to level fire at the FBI. Campaign Manager Robby Mook, telling CNN that Comey's letter to congress represents a blatant double standard.
ROBBY MOOK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It was shocking to me, yesterday, that every time people ask questions about investigations pertaining to Donald Trump, they are tight-lipped and silent, "sticking with protocol." When it comes to Hillary Clinton, they don't.
SCIUTTO: The Clinton campaign is also calling foul after the FBI released documents, Tuesday, related to the 2001 investigation into the pardon of Mark Rich, a donor to President Bill Clinton's Presidential Library Foundation. Hillary Clinton's spokesman Brian Fallon, took to Twitter saying, "Absent a FOIA litigation deadline, this is odd. Will FBI be posting docs on Trump's housing discrimination in the 70s? That regarding a case that was settled years ago." The campaign is now calling on the FBI to release information on any investigations into Donald Trump, and alleged ties to Russia.
MOOK: James Comey opened this door and we're just asking for him to make this right and treat everybody the same.
SCIUTTO: Law enforcement sources tell CNN that the FBI has been conducting multiple investigations of alleged connections between Russia and the Trump campaign or its backers. But none so far has yielded proof of criminal connections. Those probes include a year- long investigation of former Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his firm and their alleged ties to pro-Putin figures in Ukraine. The FBI has also looked into alleged meetings between former Trump adviser, Carter Page and Russian individuals under U.S. sanctions. And it continues to examine allegations against Roger Stone, a Trump supporter, about possible connections to WikiLeaks. Stone acknowledged communicating with WikiLeaks, but denied any illegal behavior.
ROGER STONE, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I have a back channel communications with WikiLeaks, but they certainly don't clear or tell me in advance, what they're going to do.
SCIUTTO: If the intelligence community's public assessment that Russia is not necessarily trying to sway the election for one candidate over the other, but just to disrupt it. So, doubts about it. But I spoke to the Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee today, Adam Schiff. He said in his words, "You'd have to be willfully blind not to imagine that Russia is trying to tilt this in favor of Trump.
[01:04:58] He cites the daily WikiLeaks releases of e-mails hacked from Democratic Party officials' e-mail accounts. And it is that democratic viewpoint that helps feed this push on the FBI for more details about what it's found about Russia's attempt to interfere with next week's vote. Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
SESAY: Well, joining us now, Democratic Strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican Consultant John Thomas. Our wise men back here with us. Thank you so much. Dave, let me start with you. Do you share the Clinton campaign view that there's a double standard at play here with Comey, when it comes to Clinton and Trump?
DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Absolutely. I mean, this is totally unethical. And James Comey is really politicizing the office. I mean, it's unprecedented, we've never had a law enforcement entity like the FBI, put their thumb on the scale of a presidential race like we've seen in this race. It was unprecedented that he even made a comment about an ongoing investigation back in July, and now he is doing it again last Friday, 11 days before the election. And I think this represents a real double standard in the way that the FBI is handling this, because they're not talking about the investigation into Donald Trump's campaigns possible connections with Russia, whether it's Donald Trump himself or his former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
VAUSE: We've all known as democrats back in July, you know, Comey was a man of integrity, he was incredibly high-ethical standards and, you know, hoped his family was watching his testimony because they would be proud of him. And now, he is the worse guy in the world.
JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: You know, I love how the pendulum swings.
VAUSE: Yeah. That was about to -
(CROSSTALK)
THOMAS: A week or so ago, you know, democrats were railing on Donald Trump for insinuating that the election might be rigged. And now the FBI is rigged. You know, it just depends on who -- which side you're on today.
SESAY: Do you find the release of the Mark Rich paperwork, does it strike you as odd in any way, the timing of it?
THOMAS: You know, very coincidental, I think. And what you have to do is take a step back and look at public records requests, or the freedom of information act, then we make those a lot - a lot in our campaigns. And oftentimes you're lobbying 20, 30 requests at a public agency. And sometimes timing is worked out where you will get them. I mean, I've received them, the week before an election. It's not unusual. I suspect in the presidential race, lots of public records requests were submitted. And this one, it's unbelievable, the timing, but I just don't suspect there's anything. VAUSE: OK. Right now, Hillary Clinton and all of her surrogates are desperately trying to change this conversation. This is Hillary Clinton earlier today.
HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He calls women ugly, disgusting, nasty, all the time. He calls women, pigs, rates bodies on scale from 1 to 10. We just heard from Alicia. She was Miss Universe. Why does he do these things? Who acts like this? And I'll tell you who, a bully. That's who.
VAUSE: And in case you missed the point, President Obama also had a few choice words as well.
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: By the way, this is not just one tape, where he's bragging about how being famous allows him to get away with actions that qualify as sexual assault. This is a lifetime of calling women pigs and dogs and slobs and grading women on a 10- point scale. If you disrespected women before you were elected, you will disrespect women once you're president.
VAUSE: Then just like democrats say, the whole e-mail issue is baked into the cake. I just wonder if this, you know, Trump's woman problem is baked into the cake as well. We've sort of been there, done that. We've now moved on to the latest scandal du jour.
JACOBSON: Yeah, but at the end of the day, women are going to decide this election. Back in 2012, they comprised 53 percent of the electorate. And so, Hillary has to run up the score to sell a number of women voters who are still undecided. Some of these key Battleground States in Florida, in Ohio. Particularly, those two states where Donald Trump is winning in the polling trends. And so, I think they have got to run up the score as much as possible with women voters and this is a great argument to convey.
SESAY: John, how do you see them in the Trump campaign not just trying to double down on the e-mail scandal, but also trying to broaden the map, and go towards those blue-leaning states, the right strategy at this point in time?
THOMAS: Yeah, it is. I mean, this is a timing and timing and timing thing. If we - if the Billy Bush tapes had come out on last Friday, you know, the temperament question would be front and center. The FBI announcement has shifted us away from temperament, and to corruption as the top issue. And it's an opportunity, because corruption disgusts everybody, red or blue or independent. And so, this is the conversation they want to have in the - in the final days.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, Donald Trump at his campaign rallies, he's been hammering this. He also seems almost measured in his delivery.
THOMAS: I think that's an understatement.
VAUSE: Yeah.
THOMAS: Yeah. VAUSE: Listen to -- listen to this.
[01:09:45] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She wants to blame everyone else for her mounting legal troubles, but she has really no one else to blame but herself. As you know, the FBI has reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton. This is the biggest scandal since Watergate. And now, it's been reported that there are FBI inquiries probing virtually all of Hillary Clinton's inner circle.
VAUSE: Okay. Six days to go. Can he stay on message?
THOMAS: That is the question. I'm not sure. But we did seem to get another speech earlier today.
VAUSE: Yeah.
THOMAS: And he was so measured.
VAUSE: Yeah.
THOMAS: His -- even his voice tone was lower.
SESAY: Uh-hmm.
THOMAS: And it was -- you could see he was trying as hard as he can. And is this going to be like the debates where he can hold it together for the first 20 and loses in the last? I think we're going to shift at the end of this week, the conversation, as I think we're going see Donald Trump is going to take a commanding lead in the polls. Then the question will be, what does a Trump presidency look like? And if he can keep it in control until Tuesday, he very well might be the next president.
SESAY: Dave, is this a case in the closing stages where Hillary Clinton needs those big names surrogates out front and center? And do they change the message? What do they do in these final days?
JACOBSON: Look, I think they've got to double down on the message that they know that works. They've got to present a character argument and develop a real contrast between Hillary Clinton being a candidate who perhaps has issues with trustworthiness, but at the end of the day, she's going to deliver for children, for families. She has got a real proven track record on those issues. Donald Trump is someone who's a racist, who's misogynistic, who's a xenophobic candidate who really divides people instead of bringing people together.
VAUSE: We should note, 25 million people have already voted in this election. Donald Trump appealing to those people who have voted. It's not too late to change your mind.
TRUMP: This is a message for any democratic voter, who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton, and who are having a bad case of buyers' remorse. In other words, you want to change your vote. You can change your vote to Donald Trump, we'll make America great again, OK? VAUSE: We'll make America great again. Very quickly though, early voting, though, the democrats are in a bit of trouble, aren't they?
THOMAS: Yeah, I think realistically, the argument he was making is, not that people are going to change their early vote. I think he's making the argument to democrats that have yet to cast their votes, saying it's OK to change your mind on Election Day and come vote for me.
JACOBSON: But if you look at the trajectory -- look, if you look at the trajectory in the states that matter, let's take Nevada for example, Hillary Clinton is leading in terms of votes who have cast ballots. With democrats, they're up seven percentage points over republicans. That's a key Battleground State. If you look at Colorado, she is winning in terms of democrats over republicans turning out, and also North Carolina. Donald Trump has to break through in one of the three states if he ever wants to get to 270 Electoral College votes.
VAUSE: Yeah, supporters are slamming though, in North Carolina and in Florida, especially -
THOMAS: In a populous wave might not be measured properly in the polls.
VAUSE: Yeah.
SESAY: Counting down.
VAUSE: Thanks guys.
THOMAS: Thank you.
SESAY: Always appreciate it. Thank you.
VAUSE: OK. Iraqi troops now are just a few hundred meters away from entering Mosul, in their fight to reclaim that city from ISIS. Right now, they're up against snipers, landmines and blow box just east of the city limits.
SESAY: Counter-terrorism forces are taking control of the last village outside Mosul. They're clearing explosives left behind by ISIS. And sandstorms are also making the battle more challenging.
VAUSE: CNN's Military Analyst, Retired Colonel Rick Francona joins us once again for more on this. So, Colonel, we know the special forces are moving in from the east. Where does this go from here?
RICK FRANCONA, MILITARY ANALYST AND RETIRED COLONEL: Well, we continue to see them pushing in. And they've made great progress. I think everybody is really pleased with the momentum that the Iraqis have right now. They've pushed through that outer barrier, and they're actually in some of the suburbs of the city. They've taken over one of the TV stations. So, it will just be a matter of time before they actually push into the center of the city. We're also seeing other Iraqi army troops move up from the south and pushing ISIS back. In fact, ISIS has done a tactical retreat, and they're moving back up into that western side of the city, and we think that's where the big battle is going to take place, John. They're going to concentrate all of their force, make their final stand on the western side of the city. That's when the fighting is going to get very intense. ISIS has nowhere to go. The Iraqis are about to surround the whole city. So it looks like this is where the final standoff is going to be.
VAUSE: There are also - it's on the horizon and a real test of the Iraqi government, and that deal which is in place amongst these coalition partners, that the Iraqi army and Iraqi force, the police will be the only ones that actually enter Mosul, proper. The Peshmerga, the Kurds, the Shiite Militias will stay back. What is the likelihood that that will hold, and if it does, what will it say?
[01:14:43] FRANCONA: Well, right now, it looks like the Iraqis have the upper hand and the momentum. They certainly have dedicated the number of forces necessary to do this. But once they get into that city, that street fighting, that house by house, street by street, they may need more help. And I could see them calling on the Peshmerga, the Kurds for some help. They definitely want the keep the Shia militias out of there, because we just do not need a sectarian problem. And then once the Iraqis are able to secure the city, and they will, then I think the big problem begins, what do you do with all these people now that you've taken the city? A lot of social services have to be provided, housing, shelter, you know, all of those things that need to be provided to what's going to be a burgeoning refugee population.
VAUSE: Yeah. This is somewhat many, many weeks to go. Colonel, thank you for being with us.
FRANCONA: Sure.
SESAY: Well, ISIS has been forcing hundreds of families to march towards Mosul as the militants retreat. They've also been using civilians as human shields. Arwa Damon has the story of one family who escaped by hiding in a ditch.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the town of Tulul al Nasir. ISIS is no longer here, but nor are most of its people. As ISIS left, they forced the civilians to go with them. Men, women, children, the elderly as human shields.
Just days before the Iraqi security forces arrived, ISIS fighters went through house to house, demanding that every family leave and make their way towards another larger town called Hammam al-Alil about 20 kilometers away. And in this home is one family who managed to escape. Asa'ad, his wife and daughters all hid in a ditch while around 500 other families were marched or driven away. His wife Sadiye says the fighter that came to their door was Syrians.
SADIYE, ISIS SURVIVOR (through translator): They told us you're going to have to walk to Hammam al-Alil, so we knew that the road was long. So, we took blankets and bread with us. DAMON: Mariam, just eight years old says, they shot over our heads. I was crying. We drive along the route they walked. One filled with chilling memories.
ASSAD, ISIS SURVIVOR (through translator): When we got up there, that was where they killed three brothers, and they took the fourth. When we saw them being killed, we stopped and then they shot around us.
DAMON: These plains, he says, were all packed with families walking. And this was the ditch that saved their lives.
And it wasn't just their family that stayed here. There are a number of other families that also ended up hiding inside this ditch. And he says it was a gift from God that they weren't discovered because ISIS fighters were going around on their motorcycles and firing into the air during the whole time.
What saved them, the thick smoke from fires burning at nearby oil wells and the sulfur factory obscured the moonlight.
The only thing that he cares about right now, he said, is for the other families from the village, those whose whereabouts are still unknown to come back safely. Among them, his eldest. Zanon, his daughter, who has a baby who's four months old. She's name is Zanon, she's among those who are missing.
She had taken another route with her husband. After two nights, even though ISIS was still in the town, they decided to sneak back home. They hid under the staircase for another two nights. The children shaking with each gunshot, each explosion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The army came in the morning, but we didn't know until the evening. The neighbors came and said the army is in the streets. We went out and we were celebrating. We couldn't believe it. We still can't believe it. At night, we are still scared they might come back.
DAMON: Still, Mariam can't wait to get back to school. She wants to be a doctor. Hearing that briefly, brings a smile to her mother's face, briefly allows her to escape the torment over her missing daughter. Arwa Damon, CNN, Tulul al Nasir, Iraq.
VAUSE: Next here on NEWSROOM L.A., Turkey is moving tanks and artillery to its border with Iraq. We'll have a live report from Istanbul on growing tensions as Iraqi forces enter ISIS-controlled Mosul.
SESAY: Plus, what's going to happen to the minors who were living in this now demolished migrant camp in France?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:00] KATE RILEY, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN WORLD SPORT headlines. It was busy Tuesday in European Champions League, highlighted by Man City's continuing quest to finally being Spanish (INAUDIBLE) Man City had lost all five of their previous meetings with the Catalans including the most recent, two weeks ago, 4-0, while Messi would get the first goal of the game on Tuesday. It was Man City who would respond with three straight goals, two by the German, Ilkay Gundogan, to collect their first win against Barcelona, 3-1 ends on the night.
Also, in action on Tuesday, the five-time champ Bayern Munich on Dutch soil to face PSV Eindhoven. But forehand they knew they would be through to the next stage of the tournament with a win. Well, the task, the host team was quite simple, lose and they'll be out. PSV would get on the board first with an early goal but Bayern's Robert Lewandowski would prove to be too much with two goals of his own, one coming in the 34th minute, and the decider close to end. (INAUDIBLE) hold on to win 2-1.
And finally in the Spanish capital, Atletico Madrid took on the Russians FC Rostov. Atletico of Antoine Griezmann snapped the deadlock just before half an hour, Griezmann would strike again and so with the game tied at the 90th minute to give Atletico 2-1 victory. The win confirms Atletico through to the next round. And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Hello, everyone. Turkish military sources say Turkey is moving a convoy of 30 tanks and bulldozers to its border with Iraq.
VAUSE: The defense minister says the move in preparation for, "important development in the region." a vague reference to Iraqi forces entering Mosul. Turkey has
insisted it will be involved in helping retake Mosul from ISIS, a claim Iraq has dismissed.
SESAY: Well, CNN's Ian Lee joins us now live from Istanbul. So, Ian, why has Turkey chosen to deploy these tanks and artillery to this border area at this particular point in time?
IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isha, we saw these pictures of these tanks, artillery as well as bulldozers being deployed to Sirnak as well as Silopi, and these are towns that are right on the border, the closest towns to Mosul and also about 100 kilometers or so from Tal Afar. Now, this is a very strategic move by the Turks. Now, they haven't said exactly what they're going to do. They say that they're positioning them for terrorism operations, but that's about as far as they've discussed. But it is very telling, the location, because Turkey has said, as you pointed out, that they insisted they will be part of the battle for Mosul. But also more importantly, they've said that Tel Afar, this is a village city west of Mosul that the Hashd al-Shaabi, these Popular Mobilization units are moving towards right now to cut off ISIS's escape from Mosul into Syria. But these Hashd al-Shaabi are Shiite units backed by Iran.
[01:25:01] And Turkey is afraid that once they go into Tel Afar, that there could be violations against the Sunni population that is there. This is a predominantly Turkmen city, which has close kinship to Turkey. And Turkey has said this is a red line. And we've had a war of words between President Erdogan as well as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, both saying - well, Erdogan saying that they will move in and they will do whatever they want. And Haider al-Abadi saying that it would be very dangerous if Turkey got involved. So, there is a potential if this continues to escalate that this war on words, this exchange of words could be -- and turn into an exchange of bullets.
SESAY: And to that point, is there any word of U.S. efforts to mediate between these two sides to lower tensions between Iraq and Turkey?
LEE: Yeah, the U.S. has been mediating for some weeks now between Iraq and Turkey, trying to ratchet down the rhetoric, trying to get them to talk. Now, Turkey going into Iraq, they would need most likely approval from the United States and other coalition partners to make that move. But this is really seen as trying to get influence in Iraq. You have Iran on Iraq's east, you have Turkey to the north, both countries want influence in Iraq, in the future of Iraq, and that's what you're really seeing play out right now.
SESAY: Uh-hmm. Ian Lee joining us there from Istanbul, Turkey. Ian, we appreciate the reporting. Thank you so much.
VAUSE: And we'll take a short break. When we come back here on NEWSROOM L.A., the U.S. Election System under threat of a cyberattack, and the military now being called into a Battleground State.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:17] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour. Iraqi troops are battling ISIS on the eastern edge of Mosul. Forces have now taken control of the last village outside the city. They're clearing explosives left behind by ISIS before entering. But sand storms are also making the advance more challenging.
VAUSE: 33 people are confirmed dead after a gas explosion at a coal mine in southwestern China. State news agency also reports two miners escaped. The blast happened on Monday and the cause is now under investigation.
SESAY: An aviation expert says new analysis debunks the notion that someone was flying missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 when it crashed into the sea. A new report from Australian transport officials concludes the plane was out of control and spiraling in its final moments. The flight to Beijing vanished in March, 2014. Only bits of debris believed to be from the plane have turned up.
VAUSE: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are trying to drum up last minute support less than a week before election day. Trump is gaining ground on Clinton in some of the latest polling. CNN's national poll of polls shows him now just four points behind.
SESAY: All right. Well, all but four U.S. states are so worried about potential election cyberattacks, particularly from Russia, they have asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for protection. BAUSE: The key battleground state of Ohio is going even further. As
CNN's Rene Marsh reports, it's deploying a military unit to test just how vulnerable it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The critical state of Ohio has taken an unprecedented step. Calling on the National Guard's elite cyber unit to help protect the election.
MARSH (on camera): You called on them to essentially hack the state's systems --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to be tested. Cyber warfare is a new front for the military, for business, and now for elections.
MARSH (voiceover): Hacking voting machines in the nation's 9,000 jurisdictions would be a tough task since they're not connected to the internet or each other. There are also security measures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you can't get into that machine without breaking any one of these seals.
MARSH: But voter registration databases with names, numbers, e-mails and addresses are vulnerable. There were breaches in states including Arizona and Illinois. Hackers could use voter contact information to send erroneous voting locations. Hackers could also wipe the database clean, making names disappear from voter logs, sparking confusion and long lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We call this room the hunter's den. We are cyber hunters.
MARSH: The national guard cyber team in Maryland is on standby to assist its state. Major General Linda Singh runs the operation.
MAJOR GENERAL LINDA SINGH, MARYLAND NATIONAL GUARD: These are the folks who are out responding to the snowstorms, the floods, the hurricanes. But they're not necessarily thinking that we're out fighting the technology war.
MARSH: Both here and in Ohio, the goal is the same. Identify and stop cyber intruders.
MARSH (on camera): You're looking for anything that doesn't look quite right, meaning malicious activity?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Malicious activities, bad guys pulling information away.
MARSH (voiceover): With the election just days away, Ohio is confident your vote will count.
MARSH (on camera): How can you truly be prepared for something that really the country has never experienced before? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't mean that a cyber attack couldn't occur
which would create an inconvenience. But it's not going to change any outcome of an election.
MARSH: National Guard cyber teams test computer networks by trying to hack them. It's called penetration test. They're essentially looking for vulnerabilities hackers could exploit. Now these cyber units are not in every state just yet. There are 23 units, and in another three years, the plan is to have these cyber teams for 34 states. Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, for more on the cyber attacks and the threat of them, we're joined now by Garrett Reim. He is a reporter with "The Los Angeles Business Journal".
Garrett, thanks for coming in. I guess it all started over the weekend when the former chief technology officer of Facebook tweeted this. Good chance of major internet attack November 8. Many groups have the ability and incentive. Map outage alone could easily skew the election.
He went on to say that could impact younger voters because they rely on their smartphones for maps to try and actually find voting booths, that kind of thing. But I guess the point is, you don't need to hit the electoral rolls, for instance, to cause disruption at election.
GARRETT REIM, REPORTER, THE LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL: Yes, I think that's absolutely right. But I think it'd be a little farfetched to believe that by knocking out Google Maps, no one could find their polling place. There are Apple maps, there's ways, there's alternatives to finding your polling place. And usually polling places are at well-known spots like your local school. So not the hardest place to find, and most people already know where it is in advance.
[01:05:08] SESAY: Yes. As we just mentioned to our viewers, that dozens of states and election agencies have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security asking for help against cyber attacks. I mean, at this stage in the game, there is there anything they can do? Should one decide to launch a cyber attack, is there anything that can be done to prevent that?
REIM: For the agencies, there is not a whole lot they're vulnerable to, I would say. The individual jurisdictions. It's not likely these voting machines are going to be hacked themselves. I think what's more likely is that someone could try sowing chaos by hacking a social media account of a major network or doing a denial of service attack against a major news network's website. So people aren't able to see what the election results are. Or fake news is pushed out that maybe causes people to stay home on the West Coast because they think that the election is over.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, a lot of people are saying, because, with Twitter and social media, people's news moves so quickly now that consumers and reporters have got to be very, very careful of how they digest this information. If you get a tweet saying, Jill Stein won Alabama, the Green candidate who just took Alabama, you got to be a bit sensible and say, hang on, you got to look at this twice, right?
REIM: Yes. And I think a lot of it is -- consumers are getting much more savvy at consuming news. They tend to look at multiple sites. And when it comes to the election, I think you shouldn't rely on just a single source. You should wait and see if other people are confirming news and if it's being verified. It would be tough for a hacker to take out or take over several news sites at once. So it's likely that if you look around, then you could see, maybe someone's (ph) off.
SESAY: Attack or not, isn't one of the biggest issues here, or the last thing issue here that is going to damage people's faith in the system in the sense that there is control over the system?
REIM: Yes, and I think that's already the problem. There is a survey a couple of weeks ago that said that some 2/3 of Trump voters believe that the election result could be manipulated. So they're already sort of on edge, and they believe the system is vulnerable. So this would just feed into their beliefs.
VAUSE: Just getting back very quickly to the issue of the maps. You couldn't take out the individual site. But what about the software which provides the information to those maps? Is that an area which could be attacked here?
REIM: I think it's possible. Again, there are so many different map sources.
VAUSE: And they use different technologies --
REIM: Yes, they do. It's very distributed. There's lots of backups. Google is dealing with hacks all the time. So they're very familiar with ways to thwart this sort of thing, or to sort of divert -- bring in extra resources to help out.
VAUSE: And we're using maps kind of as symbolic of your whole lot of websites because clearly millennials aren't that stupid that they couldn't find a voting booth --
REIM: Right. And as soon as Google maps goes down, it's going to be live on Twitter and people are going to be like, there's a Google Maps outage, use your Waze app or do something else.
VAUSE: OK.
SESAY: Well, Garrett, we appreciate it. Thank you, Garrett Reim, joining us to give us some sense of what the landscape looks like.
VAUSE: It is one of those things that this election is shaping up to be unprecedented in so many different ways. Thanks.
SESAY: We'll be watching. Thank you. Well, the lovable losers. The Chicago Cubs are now just one win away
from being losers no more. With their backs against the wall, the Cubs hammered the Cleveland Indians 9-3 in game six of the World Series Tuesday night. Now that means we'll see a decisive winner take all game, game seven, in Cleveland on Wednesday night.
VAUSE: The Cubs wasted no time in this one, putting up three runs in the first inning. A grand slam in the third. The Indians are going for their first title since 1948, when Isha was born. For the Cubs, they've gone 108 years without a championship.
SESAY: You know, I'm at a loss for words.
VAUSE: That's unlike you.
SESAY: Yes. All right. Moving on. Round one to you. Next on NEWSROOM L.A., migrant youth (ph) in France. An update on where they're heading after the demolition of their camp.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:42:09] SESAY: Hello, everyone. France is expected to start moving about 1,500 children and teenagers from what's left of a migrant camp in Calais within the hour. They'll be taken to reception centers across the country.
VAUSE: France is at odds with Britain over where they'll be cared for. Under E.U. law, the U.K. is obliged to take minors with verified British ties. France demolished the camp last week. About 300 kilometers away in Paris, thousands of migrants are camping at a metro station.
SESAY: France plans to clear that area too. Melissa Bell explains why these camps are growing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The Calais jungle is now a thing of the past. Its tents torn down and its inhabitants relocated to emergency shelters in France's regions. But as the camp in Calais has closed, others have grown, like this one near a Paris metro station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we know it, the Paris are opening the door. There are rumors in the whole Europe that France is getting the papers of all of them are coming towards France right now.
BELL (on camera): The numbers of migrants living rough around (inaudible) station have swelled over the course of the last couple of weeks from several hundred to 2,500 according to the aid associations who help them. We're talking about Eritreans, Somalis, Sudanese, and Afghan nationals, most of whom have applied for asylum in France. They're simply waiting now for their applications to be processed, and living in the meantime in the most appalling conditions.
BELL (voiceover): Sarah is just 17 years old. She arrived at the Stalingrad camp a week ago, and she says she's had no help in claiming asylum.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very cold. (inaudible) they talking to together. How are we planning to sleep? When I sleep in the night, I cry. Always I can cry. How I can sleep?
BELL (on camera): Are you scared?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry myself. I don't have anybody there.
BELL (voiceover): Soon, migrants arriving in Paris will be taken to this camp in the north of the city. It was due to open in October, and it shouldn't be long, say authorities. After Calais, they want migrants off all of France's streets.
Stalingrad is to be cleared by the end of the week, its tents torn down, and its inhabitants relocated to emergency shelters in the greater Paris region. The question is, how many more will be drawn to the streets of a country that now appears to be offering more than just its streets? Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Terrible scenes there. We'll continue to follow the situation regarding those migrants and refugees in Paris. But for now, a quick break. More after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:46:13] KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Where is fall? You wouldn't find it across the Southeastern United States or the Mid- Atlantic or the deep South. That's because temperatures running way above normal for this time of year. More like August or September weather. Hello, everyone. I'm CNN meteorologist, Karen Maginnis.
We do have a frontal system sweeping across the great lakes and the central plains, riding right around that ridge of high pressure. So as that moisture bumps in across some of that dryer and hot air, we could see a chance for some showers and some thunderstorms.
Keeping things fairly unsettled into the Pacific Northwest. Rainfall expected up and down most of the coastal area, all the way down towards northern California. Although San Francisco should be mostly sunny. Partly cloudy in Denver.
Thunderstorms for Chicago. It's going to cool off. 20 degrees. Dallas and thunderstorms. Atlanta still hot. New York City is still fairly mild, but running above normal. Look at New York, though. By the weekend, those temperatures only in the low teens. So it's going to feel a whole lot cooler than what we have seen. Belize City, 28 degrees. Nassau, Bahamas, looking 28. And if you're traveling towards Rio de Janeiro, should be mostly sunny. Look at that, hot, 34 degrees. And Quito, 16 and thunderstorms.
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VAUSE: It's called the dad bod, when middle age arrives and the only six-pack is in the fridge. If your body is a temple, it would be pizza hut. It's caused by lower levels of testosterone resulting in more fat, less muscle. But here's the good news. Apparently pudgy, chubby older guys with man boobs and a spare tire around the waist are more attractive to women and are less likely to suffer heart attacks and prostate cancer. And yes, the person behind this groundbreaking research going out on a limb here is a man. And that man joins us now from Connecticut. Richard Bribiescas is a professor at Yale University. He is author of the book, "How Men Age".
Richard, good news. Men everywhere can no longer suck in their stomachs. They can exhale. They can loosen their belt. Explain the more attractive to women part.
RICHARD BRIBIESCAS, PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, YALE UNIVERSITY: Oh, thank you for having me. I think it's a little bit nuanced, more nuanced than that. I think what I was trying to do is look at male ageing from an evolutionary perspective. And trying to make the argument that as men get older, they don't have the muscle mass. They don't have the physical wherewithal to compare -- to compete with younger men. So they can try and sort of leverage some of the changes that come naturally with aging, including putting on a little bit more fat.
[01:49:56] And what I noticed in my research was that a lot of the changes that occur in a man's body as they age also occur in men when they become fathers. Such as declines in testosterone levels, increases in body fat. And so my hypothesis is that older men are made attractive by the fact that they might be more likely to be better parents, to actually devote time and energy towards their kids and their mates as opposed to competing for mates and competing with other males. So it's basically trying to leverage a new reproductive strategy.
VAUSE: OK, you made it sound really dull then. But I know where you're coming from. The health benefits though here, it seems to be at odds with what doctors have been telling men for years.
BRIBIESCAS: Yes. Well, it's one thing to remember that it has to be within context. So obviously I'm not advocating that being obese or overweight is healthy for you. It certainly isn't. But from an evolutionary perspective, it's one thing to understand that throughout most human evolution, having too little food was probably the most common condition. And so we -- if you have a little bit of fat, it actually helps you to fight off infection. It helps you to get through the lean times. And so if you're able to do that, then you're able to stick around and survive and be around to take care of your children.
VAUSE: So at the end of the day, you're saying, don't fight evolution?
BRIBIESCAS: Well, I'm just saying that evolution continues. And we're a product of our evolution.
VAUSE: OK. Richard, thanks so much for explaining it and giving good news to all of us who are heading towards 50 and beyond. BRIBIESCAS: All right. Well, thank you.
SESAY: 50? Why are you lying about your age?
VAUSE: Almost 50. OK. Let's talk more about dad bods. Dad bad bods, dad bods. Dr. Jenn Mann is a lead therapist on VH1's couples therapy. Thank god she's here. And author of "The Relationship Fix". She is joining us now.
OK. Ruin my night. Why can't I give up the gym and have a meaningful relationship with Krispy Kremes?
DOCTOR JENN MANN, LEAD THERAPIST, VH1 COUPLES THERAPY: Well, I have to say I'm a little skeptical of this information, although I may be on the verge, after hearing this, of writing a book about why saggy breasts are very, very desirable and wrinkly skin. So like I'm ready to save a lot of money.
VAUSE: Covering all bases tonight.
MANN: Exactly. Exactly. Look, I have some concerns about it. I think that first of all, some of the information be misinterpreted as, dads, let yourself go.
VAUSE: That's how I heard it.
MANN: It doesn't matter how heavy you get. And I think we already have a problem. We have an obesity epidemic in this country. Well also tend to -- men tend to put on weight after marriage and after a baby, even more so than women, although in this country, we're both equally guilty of all of this.
So the studies that I have read when it comes to attraction is really that women tend to prefer a V-shaped man, that they prefer a hip ratio -- a waist to hip ratio of 0.9. No more than 1.0.
(CROSSTALK)
MANN: But that said, that men tend to think that women want more muscular, buffer guys. It's why if you open up a "Men's Health" magazine, you're going to see buffer guys than if you open up "Cosmo" magazine. And typically, there is a Harvard study that was done where they had women look at men's bodies and say what their attraction is, that women tend to have flings with the super muscular guys, but tend to like a guy who is not quite as muscular, but also not heavy. We're not talking about obesity when it comes to what women tend to be geared towards. And I think there's a longevity issue and a health issue.
SESAY: I was kind of struck that this expert, or this academic also says that guys with a little more girth around their midriff make better fathers. I was struck by that. Where is he going with that?
MANN: And I get what he's saying about that when you have a higher -- lower testosterone and a higher weight, which oftentimes can go together, especially after a baby, because men do tend to -- their testosterone levels do tend to drop a bit after a baby, that men are less likely to stray. They're more likely to stay in the cave and help raise the baby. I get that. That said, I don't think that we should be encouraging men to let themselves go. And also a lot of the studies show that that weight in the middle for men is a heart attack waiting to happen. So that's a big concern to me.
VAUSE: What he is saying is that yes, you don't need to be the six- pack Hollywood dude, but also you don't need to be a blimp either. If you've got a little bit around the middle, some women might find that nice.
MANN: And look, I think that to me, the bottom line is we have to look at what is good health. Good health is moderate exercise, eating a healthy diet. All the studies are showing plant-based is super healthy. It lowers heart risk, cancer risk, diabetes risk that we really need to look at what is good health, what is longevity, and of course, what does our partner find to be attractive.
[01:55:11] SESAY: I think what's ironic, or some people find eyebrow raising is the fact that the bar is being lowered for men but it didn't change for women.
MANN: Exactly. Exactly.
VAUSE: I was waiting for that.
MANN: And look, I believe that we have a duty to look our best for our partner, regardless of what our gender is.
VAUSE: That includes wrinkles and saggy boobs.
MANN: Absolutely.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Because that's what the book is about.
MANN: Yes. I can just see it now. People will be like, wait a minute, the relationship fix. I'm looking for the chapter about saggy boobs. It's more about how to be a good partner.
VAUSE: Everyone's getting a pass. The guys can get fat and you can have the saggy boobs and we can all live happily ever after.
MANN: Not so much.
VAUSE: OK.
SESAY: Thank you so much. You can come back and fix our relationship at another point.
MANN: Anytime.
VAUSE: We need therapy. Thank you.
SESAY: Thank you. All right, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm
Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. We will be back with another hour of news right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You can change your vote to Donald Trump. We'll make America great again, OK.
