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Poll: Dems Have 11-Plus Advantage in Choice for Congress; WH: CBS Interview Was "Donald Trump in Full"; Hillary Clinton: Bill's Lewinsky Affair Not An Abuse of Power. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 15, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:00] RAHUL BLOKHRA, INDEPENDENT VOTER: He's not very focused. He's not very sincere to whatever he decides to do. Things change fast. A good example is, you know, with Putin and Russia.

STEPHANIE MARTIN, INDEPENDENT VOTER: As a lifelong Republican, I guess I would consider myself, you know, part of the religious right and now the values that I see coming from the White House just don't mesh up with what I believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Joining our conversation in the studio here to share their insights, the host of the Pollsters Podcast. Democrat Margie Omero, Republican Kristen Soltis Anderson.

Let me just start -- I'll start with the Republican first. You have the most to lose, if you will, in the election. Three weeks. Three weeks. What is your biggest worry?

KRISTIN SOLTIS ANDERSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: I think my biggest worry is the unknown unknowns. Something like the president deciding to shift the focus to an issue that's not as productive let's say something like the economy. Three weeks is still a very long time.

I think right now if you're looking at those generic ballot numbers that you just showed, being down by double-digits in the last five major polls that have come out, three of them has had the generic ballot in plus double-digit territory for Democrats. That makes at least the House look like a much scarier place. It really means these candidates need to in the suburbs demonstrate -- I support the president when I agree with him, but here's why I am a unique individual. That can be key to winning those suburbs.

KING: What's your biggest worry?

MARGIE OMERO, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: Well, so, Democrats worry about the Senate and a lot of red states. Democrats in the Senate and how their fortunes may or may not be changing as we head in the home stretch.' Also, the turn out and you're asking a lot of district places and people who voted Republican in the past, they voted for Trump, they voted for Mitt Romney, asking them to change their mind or asking people who don't vote really vote in midterms very often to vote perhaps in the midterms for the first time or the first time in a while. And that can be a heavy lift for some folks.

KING: Yes, you made the point that especially suburban Republicans, we got one right across the river here, need to somehow be, I'm a Republican, I'll be with the president, but not when it's better for the district or when I think he's wrong.

However, can you sell that argument? Just look at how closely things track. ABC -- this is ABC/Washington Post poll, Trump's approval, 43 percent approved and 53 percent disapproved. How are you going to vote for Congress? Fifty-three percent Democrat, 42 percent Republican.

The vote for Democrats in the congressional generic ballot is the president's disapproval rate. So, can you break from him or you stuck with him?

ANDERSON: It's tough. I think the candidates who are able to be independent are ones that have been laying that ground work for a while. You can't just turn that on in the last three weeks, you can't just etch a sketch to use an example that has been used in politics before.

But you got candidates like -- let's take somebody like a Will Hurd. He's a Republican member of Congress of El Paso, Texas, a district that is not a favorable district to Republicans and yet, in a lot of the public polling that exists on that district, he's doing quite well. He is someone that's been critical of the president's approach on many pieces on immigration policy. That ground work that's been laid well before the last month of Election Day is what allowing him to be different in that.

KING: It has a local relationship with the Latino community as well so he doesn't sometimes gets -- doesn't suffer for the president's numbers.

Let's just show, Margie, the president is all over the place. He's on television. He tunes in to Fox News, he tunes in to 60 minutes, magazine interviews. He's also on the road all week. We can show you where he's traveling. He's doing a hurricane stuff today, and I want to make the distinction.

He's in Florida today and Georgia although there is some race -- big races in those states too. And he doesn't want to take the blame for it but he's going to all these other places.

You remember well in 2010, 2014, Democrats ran from President Obama. They just ran from him. Didn't want to talk about ObamaCare, thought that he was toxic in their races. There are some Republicans who say the president is helping to a degree. First in television. You think I'd know how to do that. There are some Republicans who say, you know what, a couple of months ago we were worried about the president being everywhere. Now maybe this helps.

OMERO: You know, maybe. I mean, look, you have I think, the challenge for a lot of Republicans is looking authentic when we know that some of them are trying to embrace the president sometimes but also say they are critical of his tweet but like his policies. So, I think at least maybe for some Republicans, there's a sense that they're authentic if they are there at a campaign stop embracing the president. But you also see people who say well, I didn't invite the president to come here. You know, He just showed up. We've seen that in some of these campaign stuffs.

So, I don't think that everybody is as equally excited when the president comes to town.

KING: Pick a race each of you as we close that you think will tell us a lot about what really happened come Election Day?

ANDERSON: I think I'm keeping my eye on this Florida Senate race. Because here you have someone -- you have two candidates who are actually well liked by the people in their state. This is not a case where people really hate the choices that are on offer to them, and yet it's a state that broke narrowly for Trump. You've got a very closely contested race, all the public polling shows that race is a tie. That's the one I'm watching.

KING: In a very competitive state. Yes.

OMERO: Well, in Georgia there's a House race. Lucia MacBath running against Karen Handel. You may remember Georgia six was very big. It was a big special.

It's the same Republican, now a different Democratic candidate.

[12:35:00] She's had a very tragic personal story that she talks about. Her son was a victim of gun violence and there how does the issue of guns in a suburban district where there's been a lot of attention on this district before. How does that affect -- how does -- what does that tell you about the big board?

KING: We will keep an eye on both of those. And if you're looking for races at home, you live somewhere else in the country just looking where I'm going to learn this year. those are two good ones right there.

Up next for us, the president and the first lady getting a first hand look at the hurricane devastation along the Gulf Coast.

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KING: Topping our political radar today, a shake-up at the National Security Council. John Bolton's chief of staff Fred Fleitz leaving his post to return to his previous job at the Conservative think tank, the Center for Security Policy.

[12:40:06] The group has been accused of promoting anti-Muslim views. Fleitz only joined the administration a few months ago. Bolton saying in a statement that Fleitz was a valuable member of the counsel and that he wishes him well.

The president and the first lady now in the Florida Panhandle seeing some of the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael. They arrived about an hour ago and after some brief remarks, the president and the first lady boarding Marine One for an aerial tour of some of the hardest hit areas. The storm killed at least 18 people and there are many still are unaccounted for.

As of this morning, more than 230,000 still without power. And in some places people are relying on air drops of food and water to survive.

Former President George W. Bush out doing his part in the final campaign days trying to prevent a blue wave in the upcoming midterms. He's in Indiana today fund-raising for Republican Senate candidate Mike Braun.

And retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan also will be out on the campaign trail trying to boost fellow Republicans including Congressman Scott Taylor of Virginia. For Ryan, part of a three-week campaign blitz that has him in 12 states for various candidates including members of the House Freedom Caucus.

Watch this, Republican Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky going tactical to prove how tough and effective he's been he says since taking office. Armed with a full arsenal of weapons, he goes to a gun range in a new Twitter video and proceeds to obliterate what he calls every government scourge in his sights.

Up next for us, I'm president and you're not. President Trump goes full Trump in a new interview, just the way his White House team likes it.

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[12:45:59] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Washington, D.C. is a vicious, vicious place. The attacks, the badmouthing, the speaking behind your back. But, you know, my way, I feel very comfortable here.

You make a deal with somebody is like making a deal with that table. I don't want to pledge. Why should I pledge to you? If I pledge, I'll pledge, I don't have to pledge to you.

Lesley, it's OK. In the meantime, I'm president and you're not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: There you go. Just a few moments there from President Trump's wide ranging interesting interview on CBS with Lesley Stahl. The president also touched on just about every other single topic in the news including his relationships with North Korea, China, Russia, and members of his own cabinet. When ask to sum up the freewheeling hour, here's how the White House counselor Kellyanne Conway put it on Fox.

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KELLYANNE CONWAY. COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Oh, it is fantastic and you know, I call this entire media barrage by President Trump, Donald Trump in full. It's part of why he got elected.

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KING: That's true. That is true actually. His accessibility and his authenticity is one of the reasons he got elected. It's also one of the reasons now Republicans have few problems in the elections particularly in the suburbs. But the idea Washington is a terrible place. It's backstabbing, it's horrible, I don't like it here.

ELIANA JOHNSON, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: It did showcase the way in which Trump is a fully transparent president.

KING: Right.

JOHNSON: And that what he says to the press is similar to what he says behind the scenes in the White House. And in that sense, you always know what the president is thinking. And sort of his internal monologue to the extent you really can get a full read on somebody without concrete views on a lot of things.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it also raises the question of why doesn't the president do more of this. Since he's selected , you know, his favored interviewers to talk to repeatedly Fox and Friends, Hannity, (INAUDIBLE) doing -- speaking with other networks. But, if the White House believes that he did so well, put him in front and have him answer questions. It's very hard for the White House staff to explain the president's thinking, his contradictions, his misstatements. Put him -- let him respond and explain exactly why (INAUDIBLE).

JONATHAN MARTIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think he's going to do that more often, and I think he's more confident in doing that. I think there's a lot of pushback from the White House to stop him from doing that.

And yes, obviously, he likes it and this is the whole game for him. He wants to be on T.V. and he wants to watch himself on T.V. and watch the coverage of himself which of kind of (INAUDIBLE) I say this on T.V. But nevertheless, this is the idea for him is to like be a sort of like all media figure all the time.

KING: And so --

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: He is in the middle of a media blitz.

KING: Yes, he's everywhere.

LUCEY: Not just (INAUDIBLE). He is calling people from the plane. He's talking on the tarmac. He's everywhere.

MARTIN: I have long wished that we had a law that required all presidents to have the LBJ style tape recorders in the Oval Office. So that after a certain point in history, we could listen to conversations. This is like the next best thing (INAUDIBLE) because he does (INAUDIBLE) and as Manu said, he basically wears it on his sleeve.

You know, whatever he is thinking -- and if it's not tweeted, then now (INAUDIBLE).

KING: And so if you're on team Trump and maybe you're not sure what the president thinks of you, maybe you're the defense secretary and you watch 60 Minutes and you learn this.

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LESLEY STAHL, 60 MINUTES: Is it true General Mattis said to you, the reason for NATO and the reason for all these alliances is to prevent World War III?

TRUMP: No, it's not true. Frankly, I like General Mattis. I think know more about it than he does.

STAHL: Is he going to leave?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. He hasn't told me (INAUDIBLE) relationship with him. It could be that he is. I think he's sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Number one, he doesn't know more than General Mattis about these things. General Mattis is a decorated military veteran why that's he was brought on. But that tells you there's some tension there, maybe the president already has the heads-up that General Mattis plans to leave (INAUDIBLE).

MARTIN: And he was rebutting. He wasn't even rebutting the substance of the question. He was just trying to like to prove himself against Mattis.

[12:50:02] But he wasn't challenging the fact that NATO exists to stop World War III. It was just like, you invoked Mattis against me and so I'm going to swipe at Mattis

Now you had a great tweet yesterday about Mattis.

JOHNSON: The phone call has taken to calling him moderate dog Mattis behind the scenes. And -- so I think this goes to say --

(CROSSTALK) JOHNSON: I do think this goes to Jonathan's point that if we had tapes in the Oval Office, you would hear Trump saying things like I think he's a Democrat if you want to know the truth, and we got it on 60 Minutes.

But also, I think Trump was trying to broadcast and that people think that if Mattis left, it would be -- it would really hurt this administration. And I think Trump was trying to signal, you know, I can live without him. He's a Democrat and he may leave and that will be fine.

KING: A place where some advisers Kellyanne Conway said was the full Trump. This one particularly in the election climate where you have the huge gender gap. You have a giant gender gap, Democrats are hoping to ride that to the majority in the House especially in the American suburbs.

This is here revisiting the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, and when the president decided after going very quiet, very civil for a long period of time, to directly attack and question the credibility of Professor Blasey Ford in public, the president says, too bad, we win.

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STAHL: You mimicked Professor Blasey Ford. You mimicked her?

TRUMP: Had I not made that speech, we would not have won. I was just saying she didn't seem to know anything. Well, I think she was treated with great respect. I'll be honest with you.

STAHL: But do you think --

(INAUDIBLE)

STAHL: Do you think you treated her with great respect?

TRUMP: I think so, yes. I did.

STAHL: But you seem to be saying that she lied.

TRUMP: You know what, I'm not going to get into it because we won. It doesn't matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That's harsh.

RAJU: That's harsh. And -- no, his speech had nothing to do with getting -- Kavanaugh getting confirmed. It did not sway any votes in the Senate. It was more of Kavanaugh's testimony and his denial that won over some of those key Republican senators. But also underscores the point --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not in the president's head.

RAJU: Not in the president's head. But -- LUCEY: -- thinks that moment helped sort of build momentum outside --

KING: You'll find among Republicans.

LUCEY: And build sort of enthusiasm among Republicans.

RAJU: But that's necessarily getting Susan Collins to vote.

(INAUDIBLE)

MARTIN: The moment was the Kavanaugh testimony and Lindsey Graham's performance, shall we say, at the hearing. And combined with the scrutiny of Kavanaugh and some of the stories I think folks on the right found to be a little bit far-fetched or unfair. That's what really galvanized the right and that was well before the president went to South Haven and gave that --

KING: But he loves confrontation, he loves saying I'm right. He loves saying I got this to the finish line. He could have said Judge Kavanaugh is on the Court. Justice Kavanaugh is on the court, I hope everyone can go back to their lives but instead he chooses this.

Up next, not a time war. President on 60 Minutes, Hillary Clinton in the news. Still standing by her actions during her husband's sex scandals. What she said in a weekend interview that's drawing some controversy.

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[12:57:31] KING: Welcome back. Hillary Clinton raising eyebrows for responses she gave during a CBS interview that aired Sunday. She says she played no role in criticizing any of the women who accused her husband Bill Clinton of sexual assault in the early '90s. Mrs. Clinton also says she has no regrets of how she handled her husband's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

And there was this exchange during the interview that will disappoint many in the Me Too era.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In retrospect, do you think Bill should have resigned in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal?

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Absolutely not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't an abuse of power?

CLINTON: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people who look at the incidence of the '90s and they say a president of the United States cannot have a consensual relationship with an intern. The power imbalance is too great.

CLINTON: He was an adult. But let me ask you this, where is the investigation of the current incumbent?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: How's that one --

MARTIN: The what about-ism.

(INAUDIBLE)

MARTIN: Look, this is why Democrats roll their eyes when they see this in October. They say, why is she doing interviews at this moment of the campaign? We talked earlier about Warren taking this pre- emptive step. Now, a very similar critique of why with three weeks out, would you do these T.V. interviews.

Well, of course they're going to ask about Monica Lewinsky --

RAJU: You know, it really just shows how marginalized the Clintons are really as surrogates. They used to be -- especially Bill Clinton used to be the most (INAUDIBLE) surrogate on the Democratic campaign trail. Now, they get faced with these questions, Bill Clinton stumbled over similar questions early this year, and Hillary Clinton today, it's difficult issues for them. They don't have good answers which is surprising. You'd think they've good answers prepared if these questions are going to come up.

LUCEY: And some of these came up during her campaign but in the Me Too era now, they -- she just can't walk away from this stuff and they haven't really figured out how to answer it and it really limits her ability to be helpful.

KING: I think that's part of the issues here. What do you say? What is the answer?

We didn't have anything perfectly or, you know, just to say --

RAJU: We made mistakes. You can (INAUDIBLE) some mistakes (INAUDIBLE) instead of digging in and defiantly punching back typical (INAUDIBLE).

JOHNSON: Yes. There's a better answer than I think reiterating for everybody why you lost the campaign.

KING: That's a good way to put it. The why three weeks before a consequential giant election critical to the rebuilding of the Democratic Party.

MARTIN: Well, you're a central figure in lot of these races too, John. She's on the air in a lot of Senate races (INAUDIBLE).

KING: That's part of the two.

All right, thanks for joining us in the INSIDE POLITICS. Hope you enjoy your Monday. Don't go anywhere. More news. Wolf starts right now.

Have a great day.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.