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Several Women Accuse Trump of Unwanted Advances; Trump Denies Accusations. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 13, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

CAMEROTA: Welcome to your NEW DAY.

This election has taken yet another sordid turn. Donald Trump said his lewd comments about women were just locker-room talk and that he never did what he said. Well, now several women have come forward saying that he was lying. They allege she made unwanted sexual advances on them. Two women telling their stories to "The New York Times," another, a "People" magazine writer.

[07:00:22] CUOMO: Trump says he is suing "The Times" and threatening anyone else who voices these allegations. So much for who can keep you safe or get you a better job. The current state of play in this election: who has treated women worse?

We're just 26 days until election day and only six until the final debate. We have all the news for you. Let's begin with CNN's Jason Carroll, live in Ocala, Florida.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.

You know, the Trump campaign says that all of these allegations are basically politically motivated. An attorney for Trump called "The Times" article both reckless and defamatory. CNN has not been able to independently confirm the allegations that some of these women are making.

We should also point out that some of the language you are about to hear in this story is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): Several women speaking out, accusing Donald Trump of touching them inappropriately.

JESSICA LEEDS, ACCUSES DONALD TRUMP OF INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING: It was a real shock when all of a sudden his hands were all over me.

CARROLL: Two of these women, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks, telling "The New York Times" they were both groped or kissed by Trump without consent. The incident with Leeds allegedly took place 35 years ago when she sat next to the billionaire in the first-class cabin on a flight.

LEEDS: If he had stuck with the upper part of the body, I might not have gotten -- I might not have gotten that upset. When he started putting his hand up my skirt, that was it.

CARROLL: Crooks telling "The Times" after introducing herself to Trump outside an elevator at Trump Tower, Crooks alleges he would not let go of her hand, then kissed her directly on the mouth, something she says felt like a violation. Crooks says this happened in 2005.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them.

CARROLL: That same year, Trump boasted to Billy Bush about how he forces himself on women.

BILLY BUSH, FORMER HOST, "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD": Whatever you want.

TRUMP: Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.

CARROLL: The two women telling "The New York Times" they came forward after watching Trump deny ever assaulting women at Sunday's debate.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Have you ever done those things?

TRUMP: Women have respect for me. And I will tell you, no, I have not.

CARROLL: The Trump campaign says the entire article is fiction, calling "The New York Times" story a coordinated character assassination.

Also in 2005, Natasha Stoynoff, a writer for "People" magazine, claims that she was physically attacked by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate while writing a piece on Trump and his wife, Melania's, one-year anniversary. Stoynoff says she was briefly alone with Trump in a room when, "within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat."

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but a Trump spokesperson told the magazine, "This never happened. There is no merit or veracity to this fabricated story."

This as another recording that year reveals Trump bragging to Howard Stern about going backstage at the beauty pageants he owns.

TRUMP: I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant, and therefore I'm inspecting it. They're standing there with no clothes. "Is everybody OK?" And you see these incredible looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.

CARROLL: Former Miss Arizona, Tasha Dixon, tells CNN that's exactly what happened in 2001.

TASHA DIXON, FORMER MISS ARIZONA: It was announced Donald Trump was going to come in, and before you could put a robe or kind of dress yourself, he walked in. And you know, some women were half naked. Others were in the process of changing.

It puts us in not only a physical, vulnerable position, but also an emotional state.

CARROLL: Trump's campaign manager refusing to comment.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: There's no way for me to know what happened there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Well, the Clinton campaign is commenting about all this. Quick to come out with a response, saying, quote, "These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words" -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jason, thanks so much for all that.

Let's bring in now CNN political commentator and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski; and CNN political commentator and senior advisor to a pro-Clinton super PAC, Paul Begala. Gentlemen, great to have you here.

Let's play that moment again in the debate that these women say prompted them to come forward. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just for the record, though, are you saying that what you said on that bus 11 years ago, that you did not actually kiss women without consent or grope women without consent?

TRUMP: I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.

[07:05:04] COOPER: So for the record you're saying you never did that?

TRUMP: Frankly, you hear these things. They're said. And I was embarrassed by it. But I have tremendous respect for women.

COOPER: Have you ever done those things?

RUMP: And women have respect for me. And I will tell you, no, I have not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. So, Corey, that's the moment when he said, "No, I haven't done those things," that these two women who have come forward to "The New York Times" say prompted them to say, "Yes, he has. He physically accosted me." One on a plane, one in a hallway, as well as the "People" magazine writer who said that he forced himself on her in a room. How do you explain these things?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I can tell you what Donald Trump has said. And he said unequivocally that these things didn't happen. What I do find very interesting is the timing of this. We're now 26

days before the presidential election. We're talking about an incident that potentially took place 35 years ago or more.

CAMEROTA: Many instances.

LEWANDOWSKI: Many instances that took place multiple decades ago, potentially. Potentially.

CAMEROTA: Also in 2005.

LEWANDOWSKI: Or at least the accusation is. And...

CAMEROTA: Several of them are 2005. I mean, the "People" magazine writer says that it was because she was doing a profile on his first year of wedded bliss with Melania while she was pregnant. And when Melania went to change her outfit, he forced her into a room and forced her up against a wall to kiss her.

LEWANDOWSKI: Alisyn, again, Donald Trump has said -- the campaign has put out a statement that this is not accurate, and it has not happened. What I do find very interesting is the timing of this. He has been running for president for two years now. He has been the Republican nominee since May, and they wait until 25 days before an election to bring out an incident...

CAMEROTA: Because of what they say they heard him lying on during the debate.

LEWANDOWSKI: If this incident had been so important to them, they -- they could have -- alleged incidents.

CAMEROTA: Alleged incidents.

LEWANDOWSKI: It could have talked about this many, many, many times, many opportunities.

Look, you have an accusation from a reporter right now that has access to the media any time they wanted to to raise this issue. Should it have been an issue that she want to discuss. I find it a little egregious that because Anderson asked a question, and they didn't like his answer after all the other things. They decide now this is my impetus to come forward. That was Sunday. Today is now Thursday.

CAMEROTA: They said that he was lying. Listen, here's my question. What's the difference between these allegations against Donald Trump and the old allegations against Bill Clinton that your camp -- the Trump campaign has fastened onto?

LEWANDOWSKI: If you believe Hillary Clinton, none of those things happened; there was no evidence of it.

CAMEROTA: If we believe you, none of these things happened. There's no evidence of it.

LEWANDOWSKI: That's exactly it. It's one person's word against another person's word.

CAMEROTA: So there's no difference. So why is Donald Trump going after those -- why is Donald Trump going after Bill Clinton?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, what I think Donald Trump should be doing is talking about Hillary Clinton's defense of a rapist who raped a 12- year-old girl and then accused this person in an affidavit she signed.

CAMEROTA: She is a public defender. This is what people do.

LEWANDOWSKI: Did you read the -- did you read the affidavit that CNN reported on that she wrote that said that this particular 12-year-old asked for sexual advances from grown men?

CAMEROTA: Corey, you don't think that lawyers should defend people accused of crimes?

LEWANDOWSKI: CNN reported that there was no factual basis in the affidavit that Hillary Clinton signed.

CAMEROTA: Corey, back to the point. It is Donald Trump who has brought up Bill Clinton's past. What if all of this is true in his past?

LEWANDOWSKI: That's what I said. I think Donald Trump should be talking about Hillary Clinton and not about Bill Clinton. And I think if you want to focus on what Hillary Clinton has done in her professional career: represent a rapist who went to jail and accuse a 12-year-old of asking for unwanted solicitations from grown people is egregious.

CAMEROTA: What does the Clinton campaign do with this -- the new allegations?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, they don't need to do anything. I don't think they're going to jump all over this. I don't know. My advice to them would be never interrupt your opponent while he's destroying himself, as Napoleon once said.

The problem here it's not just he said/she said. The most damming witness here is Donald J. Trump. He was on that bus with Billy Bush and bragged about forcing himself on women. These women have -- tell stories that comport exactly with what he said.

He went on Howard Stern and bragged about going backstage at these beauty pageants and ogling teenage girls. And now several -- this one woman Ed Lavandera interviewed you mentioned, Miss Arizona, she says, in fact, he did that.

So Trump himself is the most damaging witness against Trump.

CAMEROTA: Corey, do not believe these women?

LEWANDOWSKI: I don't know. It's very difficult for me to report on something that took place 35 years ago, long before I ever worked for Donald Trump. CAMEROTA: Many of the allegations are from 2005. But let's just say

this: I hear you. But if these were true, would you stop supporting Donald Trump?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look -- look, I can only tell you what my experience with Donald Trump has been over a 18-month period of time where I traveled with him every day, and what Barbara Res just said...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LEWANDOWSKI: ... was she never saw that. She thinks that it's true, but she spent 18 years working for Donald Trump, and in her own book she praised Donald Trump, and she never saw any of this take place.

CAMEROTA: But she just saw him become more reckless, she thought, with women, that he had become a womanizer. That he bragged about it, that he seemed quite proud of it. She was clear about that.

LEWANDOWSKI: Eighteen years she worked in that building as someone who worked very closely with Donald Trump. In 18 years she never witnessed it.

And what we see now is people who are making accusations who ran into Donald Trump in an elevator for three minutes. Or with him for sure.

But you've got a person who has been an employee of yours for 18 years who wrote a book, who was looking for a job afterwards (ph), who said, "I never saw this. And he was the least sexist boss I ever had."

[07:10:12] CAMEROTA: Seems fair -- seems fair to say that he didn't work with many women in the construction business and that he maybe didn't prey on women that he worked with in his office.

LEWANDOWSKI: I think his record in the business industry shows the respect that he does have for women when he takes people like Barbara Res, women who were never involved in those types of industries, and put them in leadership positions.

CAMEROTA: But basically, this -- you're saying you doubt, all these women who are coming forward now, you're doubting their credibility.

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I don't know any of these individuals, and I can tell you that my tenure with Donald Trump I've never seen anything like this take place. I can tell you about my personal experience with Donald Trump. None of this ever occurred while I was there. I've never seen the type of language he's used in the Billy Bush tape when I was there. That's all I can speak to.

BEGALA: I -- I believe Donald Trump. Donald Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women. I thought it was just talk, as he said. It was not locker-room talk; it was talk about rape culture and assault.

Now, we have women corroborating what Trump said. So I believe Trump when he says, "I did these things." I believe Trump when he says, "I went backstage and ogled teenagers." That's so perverted. So yes, I believe Trump. I believe Trump. He is corroborating these women's stories himself.

CAMEROTA: Paul, we need to talk about what's going on on the other side of the campaign, and that is that there are these WikiLeak documents that had been stolen and come to light. There's also a Freedom of Information Act document that reveal once again what we have seen before in terms of e-mails, that there was not a firewall between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation.

Let me read for you what a State Department official was telling a top Clinton Foundation official about doing favors for friends of Bill Clinton during and after the Haiti earthquake. Here it is. The source of this is ABC News. The State Department official says, "Need you to flag when people are friends of William Jefferson Clinton. Most I can probably I.D., but not all."

That was in response to, "Hey, when a friend of Bill Clinton's comes forward, can you sort of let them jump the line and go to the front for this favor." Once again, you see that the State Department was not separated from the Clinton Foundation in the way they had promised that they would be.

BEGALA: To what end? This was not a profit-making enterprise. This was trying to help people in Haiti whose lives and villages were destroyed by a natural disaster. And so, of course, the United States of America goes to help, we're the greatest country in the world and, of course, the Clinton Foundation went to help. They're a wonderful philanthropy. That's what they were trying to do.

CAMEROTA: But the fact that when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state and they promised, "We will have a bright line between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department. There won't be a cozy relationship or collusion," does this...

BEGALA: They had ample guidelines, and I can go and look them up.

CAMEROTA: Did this violate?

BEGALA: I don't know, to tell you the truth. I certainly don't think so. Because that's operations. That's trying to get to Haiti and help people who are dying. Right? The lines, as I appreciate it -- I didn't participate in any of this -- but my understanding was we're out fund-raising. That they couldn't raise money any longer from overseas unless people had given before Barack Obama was elected and Hillary Clinton became the secretary of state.

CAMEROTA: Gentlemen...

BEGALA: There's a world of difference between trying to help people who are dying and preying on women.

CAMEROTA: Corey, hold that thought. We're going to take a quick break. We have both of you coming back, and we're going to discuss much more on both of these stories, if you guys will stand by. Very quickly, we're going to take a very quick break. More on NEW DAY in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:24] CUOMO: All right. We're covering these allegations by several women against Donald Trump. This morning we were supposed to do an interview with Representative Mark Meadows, a Republican for North Carolina. He canceled. He's someone who has been defending Donald Trump. Won't get the opportunity to do it today, I guess. The invitation stands to Congressman Meadows to come on and do it.

Everyone is talking about this story. Vice President Joe Biden mentioned it last night on "Late Night with Seth Myers," this tape, the resulting allegations. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My dad used to say the greatest sin of all is the abuse of power, and the cardinal sin of all is a man raising his hand or taking advantage of a woman. And it is -- and here's a guy who says, "I'm a star. Talk about power. I'm a billionaire. I'm a star. I'm a celebrity, so I can go in and intimidate women into allowing me to assault them and assume they're not going to say anything." That is the ultimate abuse of power.

And I don't think and I don't understand how anyone can remotely justify that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Let's bring back Corey Lewandowski and Paul Begala.

Paul, what will the Clinton campaign do with this? Even in light of allegations, this is still a soft area for Hillary Clinton. We saw in the town hall, those women were sitting there in the audience, known as the Bill Clinton accusers. She didn't take it head on. She didn't want to deal with that issue. What about this?

BEGALA: I think the most important thing about a campaign is to make it about the voters, not yourself or even your opponent. The truth is this is coming out because these women have come forward. It's not a Hillary campaign thing.

Now, her campaign should be about the American people. The worst thing that Donald Trump has done for America, besides coarsening our culture, is hijacking our election. We have real needs in this country. Real needs. And we're not talking about them.

CUOMO: But do you ignore women coming forward with allegations? Does that make her insensitive to what their claims are?

BEGALA: Right, that's the thing. I'm sure you can't not reference it. But my own counsel -- I'm not in the campaign; I'm not allowed to talk to them. My own counsel would be, whoever gets back to issues first wins. Talk about people's lives. And others. Look at Joe Biden.

Joe Biden, by the way -- you know this, but our viewers should know -- he wrote the Violence Against Women Act two decades ago when he was a senator. He has a track record on this, and he's a man of sterling character. People like that may be able to. But I don't think she ought to be jumping up and down on this. I think she ought to get back to talking about her issues.

CAMEROTA: So, Corey, will Donald Trump, given all of this, continue to talk about the allegations against Bill Clinton?

LEWANDOWSKI: Listen, I agree with Paul. I think we should be talking about the issues. I think we should talk about the WikiLeaks where Hillary Clinton has a public face and she has a private face, where she's saying that Wall Street is best to regulate themselves, because they know the industry the best.

[07:20:10] What we know for one thing, minimum, you know, Chairman Podesta needs a better job of, you know, controlling his e-mail account, his Twitter account. Maybe we need to give him a new password somewhere.

This guy is at the center of every single discussion, and what we know is that he is ultimately aware and acutely aware of the speeches that Hillary Clinton has made to Wall Street, which is then contrary to what she has said publicly.

CAMEROTA: You blame John Podesta for being careless with his e-mails, but do you blame the Russians for being behind it.

LEWANDOWSKI: I don't know if it's the Russians or the Chinese or somewhere in between.

CUOMO: The U.S. government says it's the Russians. They say they have the digital -- wait, hold on a second.

LEWANDOWSKI: If that's the case, that's the case. I don't know.

CUOMO: Here's the question. Why would you resist that?

LEWANDOWSKI: I don't care who did it.

CUOMO: It looks bad for your campaign that you guys don't like to give negative attention to the Russians.

LEWANDOWSKI: I don't care if it's the Russians, the Chinese, the Vietnamese. What we know is that this. The Clinton campaign has never said these are not authentic e-mails, ever at all. And Palmieri yesterday, the communications director, disparages Catholics, of which I am one of. And no one is talking about this. If this was a Muslim disparagement, everyone would be up in arms.

CUOMO: It's not disparaging.

LEWANDOWSKI: It is disparaging.

CUOMO: Look, I'm a Catholic, she's a Catholic. He's a Catholic. Wouldn't you want to be a Catholic, too?

Let's play the -- let's read the e-mail and let people decide, because I think it's disingenuous to play religion as this -- you know, you're using something as a flashpoint for people, and you're doing it disingenuously.

Listen to what they said. Listen to what they said.

CAMEROTA: The context is that John Halpin. He is of the Center of American Progress. he is trying to write to the Clinton campaign, and he's talking, I believe, about Rupert Murdoch, who has decided...

CUOMO: Decided to raise his kids Catholic and done it with a high mass and all that.

CAMEROTA: So what John Halpin says is "Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic. Many converts. It's an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations."

Then the communication director of the Clinton campaign, Jennifer Palmieri, responds, "I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals."

So she...

CUOMO: This isn't hot anti-Catholic talk, and you know it.

LEWANDOWSKI: Their rich friends? I don't have any rich friends.

CUOMO: They're attacking rich people. They're not attacking Catholicism. And you know it. she is a Catholic, Palmieri.

LEWANDOWSKI: That doesn't excuse it.

CUOMO: You say you want to get back to issues, and you raise this nonsense. This is nonsense.

LEWANDOWSKI: The issues are open border. Hillary Clinton has said in these e-mails very clear.

CUOMO: Then do that. Do that. Don't talk about this Catholicism B.S. That's not real.

CAMEROTA: Furthermore, one second here. Because there's no policy that Clinton is suggesting to, for instance, ban all Christians from coming into the country. So, this is an e-mail exchange. Maybe it is maligning a certain religion, but it's not a policy.

LEWANDOWSKI: But these are the people that she's surrounding herself with who are maligning Catholics.

CUOMO: They're not maligning Catholics.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Paul. Do you see this as maligning Catholics?

BEGALA: No, of course it's not. These are faithful Catholics. I don't know Halpin, but Podesta and Jen. And they're having a private conversation about some very prominent people who either have converted or are raising their children Catholic, and it's the kind of thing people say in private. It was certainly not denigrating the Holy Mother Church or the faith.

I want to get back to the Russians, though. I think it's very interesting that Corey slipped the noose. The Russians have committed a crime. They hacked Hillary or John Podesta's e-mails and doing it to help Trump. Yesterday, you had Gary Kasparov. I saw him backstage.

(CROSSTALK)

LEWANDOWSKI: There is no proof that they're doing this to help...

BEGALA: There is proof that Trump is pro-Russian and pro-Putin. He's running this new ad that shows these threats to America. Kasparov, a pro-Russian democracy activist from Russia, smartest guy in the world. You missed it. He said, you notice what's not in there? Russia. Which is a great threat to America.

Trump is pro-Putin. He's pro-Russian. He overruled his own running mate at the debate and sided with Putin over Pence. Why is he doing that? And why is Putin involved in our election, trying to...?

CAMEROTA: Last word, Corey.

LEWANDOWSKI: ... have no proof whatsoever.

CUOMO: End on this.

LEWANDOWSKI: ... Vladimir Putin has direct knowledge of this or that this is designed...

CUOMO: You think that Russia would hack and that Putin wouldn't know about it or authorize it?

LEWANDOWSKI: That this is designed to help Donald Trump.

CUOMO: Why are you defending this situation so much? You call this anti-Catholic rhetoric with no basis, but Putin you give him a hard defense.

LEWANDOWSKI: Why don't we actually talk about what's in the WikiLeaks, which is the secret sauce (ph) of this campaign, which she has said she's open borders, which for 18 months she said, "No, no, no, I'm not for open borders and all of a sudden, we see that she is for open borders."

Don't want to talk about it.

CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, we have to go. Corey, Paul, thank you very much.

CUOMO: Maybe we'll continue over coffee.

CAMEROTA: Decaf. Good idea.

All right, up next, the woman behind the man who would be vice president, Tim Kaine's wife, Anne Holton, is going to join us live. We'll get her take on this unprecedented race.

CUOMO: Another Catholic. It's a conspiracy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:28:59] CAMEROTA: Of all the candidates' spouses, Tim Kaine's wife, Anne Holton, may have the longest history in politics. She's never held office, but she is the daughter of a former Virginia governor, a Republican governor; and now, of course, she is working to elect her husband on Hillary Clinton's Democratic ticket. Anne Holton joins us now.

Anne, great to have you here.

ANNE HOLTON, WIFE OF TIME KAINE: Thank you, Alisyn. Great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: You suggested I call you Anne, so I'll take you up on that.

We invited you in to learn about you, what makes you tick, how -- what you're doing during this election, but, of course, it's hard to avoid the news of the day. So, let's start with that. There's stuff on both sides.

There are women who have come forward with allegations of groping and sexual assault against Donald Trump. What was your response when you first heard about this?

HOLTON: You know, Alisyn, I am so done with talking about the other side. I am supporting a ticket that's going to protect women's rights in the workplace; the right to equal pay; the right to be free of sexual harassment; who's going to fight for women's reproductive freedoms. And I just think there's so many important things to be talking about in this election; and the most infuriating thing about the craziness on the other side is it's keeping us...