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New Day

Trump Angrily Denies Allegations of Sexual Conduct; Interview with Representative Ted Yoho; First Lady Delivers Blistering Takedown of Trump; Interview with Desiree Rogers; Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 14, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: She delivered a blistering rebuke of Trump for bragging about sexually assaulting women on video.

The stakes could not be higher right now. You've got just 25 days until the big election and only five days until the third and final Clinton/Trump debate.

We've got it all covered for you. There's lots of news. Let's begin with CNN's Brianna Keilar live in Washington.

Good morning.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. This presidential race seems to be getting nastier and more contentious. And you had First Lady Michelle Obama in battleground New Hampshire. She was sharply denouncing the GOP nominee and Donald Trump is defending himself from the latest allegations. He's lashing out against people in his own party, he's warning his supporters about rigged elections, as his poll numbers keep dropping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a struggle for the survival of our nation.

KEILAR (voice-over): Donald Trump issuing an apocalyptic call to arms to his supporters amid mounting allegations of sexual misconduct.

TRUMP: Our campaign represents a true existential threat.

KEILAR: Portraying himself as the victim of a smear campaign, a conspiracy orchestrated by Clinton, the media, and the establishment.

TRUMP: This is a crossroad in the history of our civilization.

KEILAR: The Republican nominee flatly denying the accusations against him.

TRUMP: These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction, and they're outright lies.

KEILAR: Even suggesting that Natasha Stoynoff, a writer for "People" magazine who says she was physically attacked by Trump in 2005 was not attractive enough. TRUMP: Look at her, look at her words. You tell me what you think.

I don't think so.

KEILAR: Trump's speech a stark contrast to Michelle Obama's emotional call to women to rise up against him.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I have to tell you that I listen to all of this, these shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman.

KEILAR: The first lady condemning Trump's lewd comments captured on tape about women and sexual assault.

M. OBAMA: It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts.

KEILAR: Speaking in deeply personal terms while refusing to mention Trump by name.

M. OBAMA: This isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong. And we simply cannot endure this or expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, and let alone for four years.

KEILAR: President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also taking on Trump while campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His admission of what is the textbook definition of sexual assault is not inconsistent the way he's abused power all along.

KEILAR: The president hammering Republican leaders who have just decided to withdraw their support.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You claim the mantle of the party of family values, and this is the guy you nominate? And stand by and endorse and campaign with until finally at the 11th hour you withdraw your nomination? You don't get credit for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Donald Trump has two rallies in battleground North Carolina. That is a state where the latest polls have him falling behind. Hillary Clinton is off the campaign trail again today for a star- studded fundraising swing on the West Coast. But she does have her husband and her daughter campaigning for her. As well as President Obama, Alisyn, he is in Ohio trying to rally voters in that state where early voting is under way.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Brianna, thanks so much for all that reporting.

One of Donald Trump's accusers, Jessica Leeds, is telling her story to CNN's Anderson Cooper. She says that Donald Trump assaulted her on a plane more than 30 years ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA LEEDS, TRUMP ACCUSER: He wasn't flirting and I don't think I was flirting. We were just talking.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And then the meal finished.

LEEDS: Then the meal finished and the stewardess cleared away the dishes and everything else like that. And it was like -- suddenly he's like encroaching on my side of the seat. And his hands were everywhere.

COOPER: Did he say anything?

LEEDS: No. And I didn't either.

COOPER: You didn't say anything?

LEEDS: I didn't say anything.

COOPER: You say his hands were everywhere. Can you be specific?

LEEDS: Well, he was grabbing my breasts and trying to turn me towards him and kissing me and then after a bit, that's when his hands started going wearing a skirt and his hands started going towards my knee and up my skirt. And that's when I said, I don't need this. And I got up.

COOPER: Is that literally what you said?

[07:05:01] LEEDS: I don't know if I said out loud or was it --

COOPER: That's what you were thinking.

LEEDS: I do remember thinking the guy in the other seat, why doesn't he say something? I mean --

COOPER: Could other people see?

LEEDS: The guy in the seat across the aisle could see. And I kept thinking well, maybe the stewardess is going to come and he'll stop. She never came.

COOPER: Do you know how long that went on for?

LEEDS: Not real long. No. No. I would say just about, what, 15 minutes? That's long enough.

COOPER: That's a long time.

LEEDS: Yes.

COOPER: Did he actually kiss you?

LEEDS: Yes. Yes.

COOPER: On the face or on the lips?

LEEDS: Wherever he could find a landing spot, yes.

COOPER: And, I mean, 15 minutes is a very long time.

LEEDS: Well, you know, it seemed like forever. So -- but I got up, got my bag and I went back to the coach section. And I went all the way back to the tail of the airplane. The last seat in the last aisle. And sat down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Let's discuss with someone who supports Donald Trump and is unimpressed by these accusations. Republican Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida.

Congressman, it's good to have you this morning. You describe yourself as a Christian conservative family man. Married for 41 years. You've got three kids. God bless you for that.

REP. TED YOHO (R), FLORIDA: Thank you.

CUOMO: What Donald Trump said on that tape and in that video, what he demonstrated, you say, just locker room. You actually say it was stuff in a locker room, which obviously, you know, wasn't true. Why doesn't it bother you?

YOHO: Well, you know, this election, you know, you're hearing enough allegations on both sides about this person and this person. The thing that I look at is we're $23 trillion in debt. There's -- crises breaking throughout the world on our foreign affairs policy. We've got a broken immigration system, we have a failing health care system.

I want to find a candidate that's going to fix the problems of America and when I compare Mr. Trump to Mrs. Clinton, it's obvious which way we're going to go. You know, we're looking at the survival of the Constitution of the Republic that we've had and I think it's a very clear choice.

BERMAN: What about being a Christian, though, does in factor into this, into a character assessment of both these people? You've been outwardly critical of Hillary Clinton in the past on a character basis but not Donald Trump.

YOHO: No, I have been pretty critical of him, too. If you look through the bible, the bible is covered with people of bad moral judgment. King David, you know, I mean, you can start there. And just work through the bible, you've seen people of poor judgment, moral judgment and what happened is they've done and gone on and done great things because they were inspired.

CUOMO: Do you -- do you put Donald Trump in that category? You say he's a man of poor moral judgment?

YOHO: No, I don't put anybody --

CUOMO: I'm just trying to get your context.

YOHO: I think there's some things that we've all done. You know, if you're living on this planet. There's things that we've all done and what I've learned is judge not lest you be judge and, you know, he who has not sinned throw the first stone. I mean, those are biblical principles. And if you're a Christian, you know, you believe in those things. And so what you do is you just move on from that and look at what we're trying to do. $20 trillion in debt. Social Security, Medicare. They're starting to fail. Obamacare is failing.

We need to redirect this country. We need a leader that is going to lead and stand up and protect those rights that we have in this country and I say Donald Trump is the person over Mrs. Clinton. That's my choice.

LEMON: Donald Trump didn't talk about these issues that you're outlining. He hasn't done it for a long time, in fact he hasn't even given a press conference in a long time. What he did yesterday was he said that I, essentially as the media, and working with Hillary Clinton to destroy his campaign and making up all these accusations. Do you agree with that, sir?

YOHO: You know, I'm hearing accusations on both sides, Chris. And I'm hearing both sides getting deeper and deeper in the gutter. I'm looking for the person to raise their head out of the gutter and start climbing up. And let's do what's best for America and, again, if I compare Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, you know, there's things we can point fingers at and say, you know, let's stop the nonsense. Let's stop the childishness. I'm looking for the adult to raise up and you'll see Mr. Trump do that. I truly believe that.

CUOMO: Is an accusation of sexual assault nonsense or childishness?

YOHO: We can go both -- no, it's not. Absolutely not. But you can look at what's happened on the Clinton side, too. You know, whether her husband is guilty --

CUOMO: Has Hillary Clinton been accused of sexual assault?

YOHO: Well, if you look at what her husband has been allegedly to have done and then she has stood by there and protected that or, you know, you go back to that rape case. You know, and this is getting back down into that garbage in the gutter and I choose not to live there and the American people, I think, for the most part choose not to live there. And it's the media attention that stays on there and, of course, both candidates are great at keep piling it on.

CUOMO: But, again, you call it gutter talk and nonsense and, look, to a certain extent, I think all common sense would go your way, which is, hey, let's focus what really matters here. But --

YOHO: That's right.

[07:10:01] CUOMO: You're talking about women accusing him of having sexually assaulted them. That has to matter. If it true, it would be a crime. Doesn't that have to matter? YOHO: Well --

CUOMO: Don't you have to be somewhat curious about the truth behind it?

YOHO: Well, you know, I just heard on your program the accusations are there. That's not proof. That's not -- you know, that's not been proven and it was 30 years ago. Why does it take somebody 30 years to speak out? And I'm not defending him, I'm not defending any actions he did nor am I defending Mr. Clinton or Mrs. Clinton for what they did or didn't do.

I want to focus on who is going to lead this country out of the mess that we are in. And when you start looking at what America stands for and those principles that have made America great. It our common principles, our core values and the Constitution. Who best to serve America to protect those rights that we have to make this country strong and great again. And -- you know.

CUOMO: So you're -- so you're saying that Donald Trump shares your values and that's why you're voting for him for president?

YOHO: I'm not saying I share values with anybody. I'm saying that Mr. Trump is the person that will --

CUOMO: You just said, Congressman, the American core values that we have to protect those and defend those. Donald Trump is the person to do it. So you're saying he gets what those values are and you must agree with him on that level and you must share his values.

YOHO: I'm not saying that.

CUOMO: If you're going to support him, you have to own the totality of the person. That's what it is. You don't get to just support part of somebody, you support all of them, right?

YOHO: Well, if you look at your core values, our rights come from our Creator, not from government. A government instituted by us. Our founding principles that we're all created equal and we have the right to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that's held together by the Constitution. So who's going to protect that. Hillary Clinton we see has a globalist projection of her ideals. She thinks government is the solution. She thinks government-run health care is the best way. She'll go after your First Amendment, Second Amendment, and we're seeing that in Congress now.

You know, I don't have time to go into this. At a future date I'll be happy to talk to you about the things. The garbage I see coming out of Congress as far as what we're trying to stave off and then I see Donald Trump will stand strong to protect those rights that we have and the other thing is we are looking at the Supreme Court justices for the next lifetime appointments on Supreme Court justices, federal judges and district judges and, you know, I've sat with Donald Trump. We've met with him. And he has already vetted 11 conservative justices that will preserve those values I just mentioned. And when you look at those values that made America great as a

country, when you look at those are neither Republican or Democrat, those are American ideologies and I see Donald Trump protecting those with the help of Congress and over Mrs. Clinton. So yes, I'm going to stay there and I'm not saying my opinion is the same as his opinion or his is the same as mine. On his other stuff and his personal life and the things he did. Let the courts work that out. I'm not going to be the judge of that.

CUOMO: Ted Yoho, thank you for making the case for Donald Trump. Appreciate having you on NEW DAY.

YOHO: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris, there are these back-to-back speeches and they crystallize the ugly state of this race. So is Michelle Obama and Donald Trump, what -- which voice will voters hear on Election Day? We discuss that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:25] CAMEROTA: Just 25 days to go until election day and the polls show that Donald Trump's numbers are slipping. Can he turn things around? Joining us now to discuss CNN political analyst and "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin and CNN political analyst and "New York Times" national political reporter Alex Burns.

Gentlemen, great to have you.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be here.

CAMEROTA: Josh, if -- OK, first of all, 25 days in this campaign is an eternity. Things happen in this 24-hour news cycle so rapid fire that 25 days is a long time. If today Donald Trump were to ignore the allegations and come out and speak about the economy and jobs, can he turn things around?

ROGIN: Yes, it's a lot of time. People are voting now, OK. So the damage every day is actual real damage. But what you're suggesting here and you got to the heart of the matter is, he needs a strategy, right? What we've seen over the last 48 hours or the last five days -- since the video came out that they're flailing. All right. You have the Obama -- presidency, the Clinton campaign, they've got their surrogates out, they've got their messaging out, they've got their talking points. Everyone has got a job. Everyone is sticking to their script. And the Trump people are all over the place.

So, yes, they would be wise to figure out a response and then try to move on and then try to talk about the things that they want to talk about. But it's not happening.

CAMEROTA: I mean, you say that everyone is sticking to a script and you're right, of course. But Michelle Obama yesterday, the first lady, did seem to -- if not go off-script really sort of inject a personal take on what she thinks Donald Trump's words are in her speech and give it a real wallop of emotions. So let's listen to a portion of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF UNITED STATES: I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally. And I'm sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman? It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Alex, obviously, Democratic women like that. The crowd liked that a lot. Can she sway any Republican women or are people so entrenched in their corners?

ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think she can. And I think it's not just Democratic women who respond to a message like that, I think it's also, frankly, a lot of men. I think you have in Michelle Obama, certainly one of the most prominent, most admired and most liked women in American public life, out there delivering a message not as a candidate, right? That Hillary Clinton can say all those same things that Michelle Obama said but it just stands differently because she is asking people to vote for her personally and just whenever a politician is advocating for herself or himself, it sounds different to voters.

[07:20:12] CAMEROTA: And Hillary Clinton doesn't share much of herself.

BURNS: Right.

CAMEROTA: I mean, she doesn't say how hurt she is or what she feels. I mean, she does -- she gives a very different speech than that.

BURNS: She certainly does. But someone like Michelle Obama who, even though she is married to the Democratic president of the United States, even though she's certainly a partisan figure in many respects, for your average voter, the first lady just as a position is seen as being sort of above or at least outside of politics. And so she can make those kind of arguments and have people hear them in a different way than they would if they were hearing them from a candidate or even from her husband.

CAMEROTA: I looked at the poll numbers. This is the latest FOX News poll. This is about suburban women that obviously both sides have been trying to court. Well, first, we'll just look at women. Hillary Clinton is 19 points above Donald Trump right now. With suburban women she is 24 points. He is at 29 percent with Republican women. She's at 53 percent with suburban women. What can he do to get them back, Josh?

ROGIN: I think it's too late. As a native of suburban Philadelphia, been there recently. My informal poll is that these purple counties, especially Bucks County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, which are seen as the bellwethers, they're not going to go Trump. OK. These people have just had enough. They're shell shocked. OK. They were open to it. Trump has an economic message that appeals to these women, especially Republican women. But it's too late. And they're done.

And this is what they're telling everybody who will listen. So the only recourse that Trump really has is to try to push up the numbers with his base and with the demographics that favor him, white men, as much as he can to make up for this loss.

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton is going on Ellen DeGeneres' show today and we have a little clip of it where she talks for the first time about what she felt about Donald Trump's presence behind her during the debate. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because of the revelation of the public video and everything that came out on "Access Hollywood," you know, he was -- he was really all wrought up and you could just sense how much anger he had. And so he was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage. And I would just feel this presence behind me.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: And, you know, I thought, whoa, this is really weird.

ELLEN DEGENERES, HOST: Yes.

CLINTON: And so I was just trying to stay focused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Alex, his supporters are going to think this is a little too convenient that now because these accusations have come forward now she says that he was stalking her around the stage. She didn't seem nervous. Look at this. And she seemed to be in command. But what do you think about now this narrative that she felt that he was stalking her?

BURNS: Well, you know, we've seen candidates try that move before. This is something that Al Gore tried against George W. Bush, to kind of physically intimidate him on stage. It just plays differently obviously to voters when it's a man and a woman. There's a gender dynamic there that makes it all the more --

CAMEROTA: But you think she should have -- if she did feel that way, she should have said it before, I mean, the past week?

BURNS: Well, I don't think you hear her out there. I think we'll see the full clip, but I don't -- I don't think the tone of that is particularly accusatory like shame on you for doing that. Right? But there is this -- it is something that a lot of voters responded to. It's something, frankly, because I was so busy sort of taking notes on what they were literally saying I largely missed in the debate that he was doing this and then afterwards you just hear everybody saying, my goodness, what was he doing on the stage?

CAMEROTA: Alex, Josh, thank you. Great to get your take on all of this.

ROGIN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. There's no question the first lady gave an emotionally charged speech speaking out against Trump's lewd remarks. Here's a little bit of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So where did this come from? We're going to talk to those who know her about the origin of this powerful message., next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:28:22] CUOMO: First Lady Michelle Obama delivering a powerful speech denouncing Donald Trump over his lewd comments about women and sexual assault. Here's a little bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We all know that if we let Hillary's opponent win this election, then we are sending a clear message to our kids that everything they're seeing and hearing is perfectly OK. We are validating it. We are endorsing it. We're telling our sons that it's OK to humiliate women. We're telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated. We're telling all our kids that bigotry and bullying are perfectly acceptable in the leader of their country. Is that what we want for our children?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Whom is this going to resonate with, what the first lady just said? Joining us now is former White House social secretary, Desiree Rogers.

Desiree, it's good to see you.

CAMEROTA: Good to have you here.

DESIREE ROGERS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY TO PRES. OBAMA: Good morning, guys. Good morning.

CUOMO: You know the first lady very well. ROGERS: Absolutely.

CUOMO: This speech we understand, she changed what she was going to say, obviously, in the context of the moment changed and this supposedly came out of her very quickly. She knew exactly what she wanted to say. Who is this Michelle Obama? The people aren't used to this.

ROGERS: This is the real Michelle Obama. I think the emotion that you hear in her voice, her ability to really articulate personally what this means to her, and how this can impact this nation. You're hearing something from the heart. This is not made up. This is her.

CAMEROTA: In fact she said, quote, "I feel it so personally and the truth is, it hurts. It hurts." Why does she feel it so personally?

ROGERS: Here's what I would say. I mean, I don't know exactly but what I would say is for any woman that has experienced whether it's catcalls or being -- your body being talked about in a negative way. I mean, you feel that pain and that hurt. And I think that is what she is talking about, is just the amount of disrespect that these lewd comments --

(END)