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Michelle Obama Gives Speech Criticizing Donald Trump; Woman Who Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Assault is Interviewed; Interview with Michael Dukakis. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 14, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:02] ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We are at a moment of reckoning in the presidential race. We saw it play out in real time, back-to-back speeches. Michelle Obama and then Donald Trump each providing such stark contrasts to the other, the most we've seen in this election. For Trump's part, he was angrily denying allegations he made unwanted sexual advances on several women, saying it is all lies, and more than that, it's part of a conspiracy between the Clintons and the media to take him down.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And first lady Michelle Obama also gave a stunning speech yesterday, a blistering condemnation of Trump for bragging about sexually assaulting women. So this does seem to be a defining moment in this race. We are only 25 days from Election Day and five days until the final presidential debate. We have it all covered for you this morning. Let's begin with Brianna Keilar live in Washington. What's the latest, Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. This presidential race seems to be getting nastier and more contentious. You had first lady Michelle Obama in battleground New Hampshire 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 and warning his supporters about rigged elections as his poll number keep dropping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

KEILAR: Donald Trump issuing an apocalyptic call of 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 crossroads 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, U.S. FIRST LADY: I have to tell you that I listen to all of this, 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.

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

MICHELLE 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.

MICHELLE OBAMA: This isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong.

(APPLAUSE)

MICHELLE OBAMA: And we simply cannot endure this or expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, and yet alone for four years.

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

JOE BIDEN, (D) VICE PRESIDENT: 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, (D) 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 today. That is a state where the latest polls have him falling behind. And Hillary Clinton is off the campaign trail again today, Chris, for a star-studded fundraising swing on the west coast. She does have her husband Bill Clinton and her daughter Chelsea campaigning for her as well as President Obama in Ohio.

CUOMO: All right, Brianna, thank you very much. It's important for you to recognize, this isn't about going after the people who support Donald Trump, as he was suggesting. This is about him and what he's done. And one of his accusers, Jessica Leeds, is telling her story to CNN. She alleges Trump assaulted her on a plane a long time ago. She told Anderson Cooper about what happened. Here's a piece.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 the -- the -- the dishes and everything else like that. And it was like suddenly he's like encroaching on my side of -- of -- of the seat. And his -- his hands were everywhere.

[08:05:06] 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 -- I was 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?

LEEDS: I don't know if I said it out loud or whether --

COOPER: It'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. But she never came.

COOPER: Do you know how long that went on for? LEEDS: Not real long. 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? 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 VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: To discuss all this is our CNN political commentator and vice chair of the New York State Democratic Party Christine Quinn and CNN political commentator and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Great to have both of you. Corey, when you hear Jessica Leeds' account there of what happened to her on the plane, do you believe her?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It's hard for me to say if I believe or I don't believe her.

CAMEROTA: I'm just asking your opinion.

LEWANDOWSKI: Let me tell you what my concern is. This alleged incident took place 37 years ago, and there are some of the details that she remembers so vividly, but then when you look back at it, she hasn't even told us what city she was flying from. That was a minor detail. Sure it's a minor detail. She knows the type of plane 707. Details say that airline didn't have 707s back them. Minor details. My concern is then she talks about her second interaction with Donald Trump two years later at a Humane Society event and talks about specifically the language that was used there. When they asked her when did this event take place? She said it was about 1979, the spring, the fall, maybe the fall.

CAMEROTA: So you expect people to remember an exact date --

LEWANDOWSKI: You know what I think --

CAMEROTA: More than --

LEWANDOWSKI: I think if you want to come forward 37 years later and talk about an incident that took place that changed your life, which I think an incident like this if it took place would have changed her life, you would know the details. You would know the city you were coming from. You would know the type of year it was and you would remember these things because it was so profound, so life-changing that it's something you can never forget.

CAMEROTA: OK, Christine, we've heard this from other people besides Corey that that's what pokes holes into her account?

CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First, I just want to say, and I've done work in a lot of different ways with survivors of sexual assault during my career, one of their biggest fears, one of the biggest reasons they don't come forward, is after having been victimized they're worried they're going to be victimized again. And that victimization starts by people not believing them. People basically, even in polite ways, even in calm ways, calling them liars.

And this incident did happen a long time ago. But crime victims and crime survivors remember things in -- in -- in different ways than you remember a lunch 20 years ago. Different things stick in their minds, and different things come back in different ways. You're dealing with a trauma. And any person with any kind of psychological or psychiatric knowledge will tell you that traumas get remembered and pushed down and forgotten and remembered in different ways than other memories.

And I think if you listen to Miss Leeds' interview, she's clear that she doesn't remember in bright, white light everything. But she's also very clear what happened. And last night after being on Anderson Cooper I had the opportunity to talk to some of Miss Leeds' friends in the green room. They had been suggesting she come forward for quite some time. And she didn't want to.

CAMEROTA: Right.

QUINN: But the tape, and his answer to Anderson, is one of those triggering moments for survivors that can compel them forward and that shouldn't be dismissed.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

QUINN: And this kind of picking apart is what we've done to sexual assault survivors for decades.

CAMEROTA: And that leads me to my next point, did you believe, I mean the parallels between the accusers of Bill Clinton and the accusers of Donald Trump are notable. Did you believe those women when they came forward?

[08:10:08] QUINN: You know, to be honest, it was a different time in my life. I hadn't done crime victim's work and it was in a different $ place. I think anybody -- that said, anybody who comes forward and says that something like this has happened to them should be believed --

CAMEROTA: So now you're inclined to believe Bill Clinton's accusers as well? QUINN: I think people need to be believed. And then if ever we find

that an accuser has made it up, regardless of who they're accusing, that is also a terrible thing. But I believe you need to start with believing the victim. But let's --

CAMEROTA: On both sides.

QUINN: Let's not forget -- right and what you're looking for her is consistency and I get that. But let's also remember, Donald Trump didn't believe the women who accused Bill Clinton. He was very clear and strong in that --

CAMEROTA: He's on the record as saying that he was on Bill Clinton's side while all of that was happening.

Mike Pence, VP nominee, was just on a different morning show and he talked about these accusations and what is going to happen today. So let me play that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a lot of respect for the first lady and the job that she's done for the American people over the last seven-and-a-half years. But, I don't understand the basis of her claim. And Donald Trump --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't believe his language was sexually predatory?

PENCE: Well, no, I already spoke about my concerns about the language he used in that eleven-year-old video. But -- but the -- what he's made it clear is that was talk, regrettable talk on his part, but that there were no actions and that he's categorically denied these latest unsubstantiated allegations. Frankly I think even before the day is out there will be more evidence publicly that shows and calls into question these latest allegations. It --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Before the day is out there will be evidence that calls into question these allegations. What do you think that's going to be Corey?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look I think if you see one particular incidence where they talk about an interaction between Melania Trump and Avery Porter, a firsthand account, and Melania Trump has now come out and said not only did that never happen but the paper, the article that was written was never fact checked --

CAMEROTA: "People" magazine, let me tell our viewers, this was a "People" magazine reporter who said that Donald Trump attacked her when Melania was pregnant. Melania -- this was in 2005,elania went up to do an outfit change when this reporter was doing a joint interview with both of them. And then months or a year later, this reporter encountered Melania on the street who Melania greeted her very warmly and asked why this reporter hadn't been around. We now know the back story is because she had been accosted by Donald Trump. Melania says she --

LEWANDOWSKI: Allegedly.

CAMEROTA: Allegedly. Right, allegedly accosted. But that's what she says. And Melania says that moment on the sidewalk didn't happen. So is that the evidence --

LEWANDOWSKI: No, it's not. But it's a classic first person example. Look "The New York Times" in March wrote a story about all of these women who were after Donald Trump, and then they went person after person after person and found out that what "The New York Times" wrote was factually inaccurate. There was no retraction. And what you see today is "The New York Times" again, you know, what is the due diligence that they've done on any of these? You know they have an individual who tells story --

CAMEROTA: And they have people who contemporaneously at the time they told the story to. And they checked those.

LEWANDOWSKI: I think what you're doing is you're taking your newspaper, putting it on the front page and driving a story that you don't know to be factually accurate. It's an accusation at best. You have the response from the accusation which you published 24, 48 hours later. And now what you're doing is continuing to give light to a story that on the other side of this has not been discussed at all.

QUINN: This is -- first of all, last night Trump supporters, Corey and others were criticizing the "Times" for not putting it out quickly enough. Now they're criticizing the "Times" for not taking enough time to substantiate it.

So it's just anything to try to distract from now numerous women, numerous women, over a period -- a long period of time, different women, following on Donald Trump throughout this campaign, saying sexist and misogynistic things. They just want to divert, attack the messenger, and attack the victims and call them untrue liars.

And this really speaks to could this man, with this type of behavior in his own words, and these type of allegations, be a president of the United States for everyone including women and girls, including the one out of five girls who are sexually assaulted?

CAMEROTA: Isn't the larger issue here, Corey, that every day that your candidate spends defending this talking about it is a day that he loses?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look I think if I were there I'd be telling Donald Trump to be on the offense. Let's talk about Hillary Clinton where she has said she's for open borders. Let's talk about the fact that she's got a public persona and private persona.

CAMEROTA: Why wouldn't you be talking --

LEWANDOWSKI: Those are the issues.

CAMEROTA: -- that Donald Trump wants to change? I mean why talk about --

[08:15:00] LEWANDOWSKI: That is the issue. That's immigration, right? Immigration, there is a clear dichotomy in this race on immigration. Donald Trump wants to build a wall. Hillary Clinton has said now privately which she never admitted to, she's for open borders, right? Hillary Clinton has said I'm against Wall Street but then we find out from her private speeches she says you're the best to regulate Wall Street.

CAMEROTA: Are we going to hear this from Donald Trump today?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I don't know what you're going to hear from Donald Trump today. But I think talking about the failures of Hillary Clinton and what she said privately. And we see this now in the emails. And don't forget, Hillary Clinton has said recently, I wish all of my e-mails would be released.

Well, guess what, every time we see more e-mails from Podesta, she has more and more problems.

CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: One, there's been clear statements, and evidence that some of the Podesta -- the e-mails that were released have been doctored. But two -- so it is true if you talk to -- number of the emails, particularly one from Donna Brazile which she said she never sent.

Let's go back to the issue here. He keeps talking about Hillary's private and public persona. We saw a real glimpse into Donald Trump's alleged private persona on that tape when he didn't know he was being taped. And you know what? You really are what you say and what you do when you don't think people are watching.

LEWANDOWSKI: I agree.

QUINN: And we saw that.

LEWANDOWSKI: Deplorables, people living --

QUINN: She said that in a room of 1,000 people.

LEWANDOWSKI: -- people living in their basement?

CAMEROTA: The deplorables --

LEWANDOWSKI: Which she now had to retract.

QUINN: But she said that in a room --

CAMEROTA: But Bernie Sanders said that he thinks -- Bernie Sanders doesn't mind that.

LEWANDOWSKI: It doesn't matter, she thinks that people should live in their parent's basement.

(CROSSTALK) LEWANDOWSKI: She wants to be a representative of all the people. But hundreds of millions of people are deplorable because they support Donald Trump? How can you truly do that?

QUINN: First of all, she didn't say that in private --

CAMEROTA: We're going back in time. Look, let's see what happens today. The new cycle has moved past what you're talking about right now. But obviously, will give us more material.

QUINN: And how could he be the president --

CAMEROTA: Quinn, that's the end.

LEWANDOWSKI: Thank you for all the women he promoted in his own business.

QUINN: Oh, please.

CAMEROTA: Take it to the green room.

Chris?

CUOMO: Less than four weeks to go. Where does the race stand? We're going to ask someone who's been in the thick of it -- former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic nominee for president, Michael Dukakis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:34] CUOMO: Twenty-five crazy days until we find out who will be the next president. We hope. We hope that we figure it out 25 days from now. Both candidates say this election is bigger than they are. You know what? They're right.

Let's discuss why with former governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Michael Dukakis. In 1988, he was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, they wound up losing to George H.W. Bush. He joins us now.

Governor, good to have you with us.

MICHAEL DUKAKIS, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS: Chris, good to be with you. Although, I suspect I speak for a lot of Americans when I say that I can't wait until this election is over.

CUOMO: Except when it ends --

DUKAKIS: This is really bizarre.

CUOMO: When it ends, Governor, it won't be over, is my suggestion, because this is definitional what we're going through in this election right now. It's not incrementalism as some elections often are. This seems to be as much about who you want as what you want.

What do you believe the stakes are? DUKAKIS: Well, I'm not sure it's -- it's that different or that earth

shattering. We've already heard about Joe McCarthy in the '50s, who was a terrible guy, and was a terrible period, Chris.

Vietnam was a divisive issue, divided families, divided communities, and we went through all of that and finally emerged out of it. And we'll -- we'll do the same in this case. But, it hasn't been fun. It's been a bizarre election in many ways, bizarre campaign.

And believe me, it will be great when it's over.

CUOMO: Why so confident that the country just moves on afterwards? McCarthy was never nominee for president. We've never had anybody who has ascended through so much obstacles the way Trump has. You know, remember, it's unprecedented that he made it through that field of 16. He didn't have the party on his side.

You know, for all this talk of the hacked e-mails on the Clinton side, imagine if we saw the GOP e-mails about what they were saying about Donald Trump and yet, there he is. And largely, because of what he's tapped into, which is a real anger at the status quo which for many is personified by Hillary Clinton.

Do they have it wrong about her?

DUKAKIS: Look, I've known Hillary Clinton for 30 years. She's a thoughtful, decent, caring person. I don't recognize this cartoon that the folks that are opposed to her have created of her. She's devoted herself, especially to kids. And I've worked with her, Kitty and I have worked with her. We know her to be a person who has real values, and cares deeply bout this country.

And you know, one of the things that happens in campaigns is that it becomes a kind of story line. I mean, I was the bloodless technocrat. Look, I have my strengths and my weaknesses. I don't think anybody in Massachusetts that Mike Dukakis is a bloodless technocrat.

But that was the thing that kind of developed. And it's developed in her case as well. But we know her. Like her. Have worked with her. And I think she'll be a fine president.

CUOMO: You think that if she was running against a less controversial, less of a gaffe machine, Republican, if it had been Kasich, if it had even been Rubio, or even Jeb Bush, you think Hillary Clinton would be in a lead right now?

DUKAKIS: It would be a contest. But I got to tell you, I'm not impressed with any of those folks. I don't think they would be great presidents or great leaders. There's nothing about their backgrounds that tell us that they would be. But it would be a contest.

What it would be, however, is a contest in which issues and ideas and the country's future would be debated and discussed, the way you want a campaign to discuss them. And we wouldn't be talking about the sexual habits of this head case what's running for Republican -- won the Republican nomination and running for the presidency. I mean, I think the guy's pathological to tell you the truth.

CUOMO: He says --

DUKAKIS: And every day that goes by seems to reinforce that.

CUOMO: He says that what seems like craziness, or pathology to some is actually the truth. And the reason that he gets called that or even sociopathic, Carl Bernstein just called him, is because people like you and Carl represent the establishment. And you're trying to keep the people you like in power, and he represents the rest of America, that this is why everyone's going after him.

[08:25:03] DUKAKIS: I don't know what he's talking about. I have no idea what he's talking about.

I'm a very proud Greek America who came out of an immigrant tradition. Your family was the same. Your dad was a remarkable guy and a great example of that immigrant tradition.

What is he talking about? What is he talking about?

I'm teaching kids now, taught for 25 years at Northeastern University, and 23 at UCLA, they're wonderful kids, many of them children, grandchildren of immigrants. They're going to be great Americans. They are great Americans. I have no idea what kind of reality this guy lives in.

CUOMO: What do you say to the voter --

DUKAKIS: I think he's dead wrong.

CUOMO: What do you say to the voter who says, it's just a setup against me. In Washington, nothing gets done. They just take care of each other there. It's about the elites, versus people like me, who are working check to check trying to take care of my family. They only take care of themselves.

What do you say to that voter who numbers in the many millions in this country about why Hillary Clinton isn't more of the same?

DUKAKIS: I tell them that I'm a guy, Greek kid from Boston, who managed to get elected governor of the state three times, to be the nominee of his party for the presidency of the United States. There's no country in the world where you'd see this happen.

I don't think anybody's ever accused me, Chris, of being part of the establishment. I've been a reformer all my life. I worked hard to change my state and it needed a lot of changing, and it is a great state these days. It was not a great state when I first went into politics and I'd like to think I contributed to that.

And these days I teach because I want to inspire these kids that I'm teaching, and they're terrific, to go into public service themselves. And I believe deeply in it. And they believe deeply in it.

And it's one of the things that inspires me these days. I really mean this. And I hope it will be possible to convince lots and lots of Americans that that's the system at its best. I see it at its best. I saw it at its best.

Yes, I lost the presidency, very disappointing. My fault, nobody else's. But this is a great country. And it's the most open political system in the world.

And I think we've just got to do a better job of convincing some doubting Americans, and I can understand their doubts, especially in parts of the country which are not sharing in our prosperity. We've got to convince them in the best possible way and respond to their concerns and their needs and I think we can do so. But we're going to have to get by the next 25 days to make it happen.

CUOMO: Hmm. Governor Dukakis -- thank you very much for joining us on NEW DAY as always. Appreciate it.

DUKAKIS: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: All right.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Has anyone mentioned that it's 25 days until the election? So before you leave for work or you go about your day, what's the bottom line of where the election is today? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)