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The Situation Room

Trump to Discuss His Physical with TV Celebrity Dr. Oz; U.S. Show of Force after North Korean Threat; Obama Hits the Trail for Clinton, Hits Hard at Trump. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 13, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

TAPPER: Follow me on Facebook and Twitter. That's it for "THE LEAD." I'm Jake Tapper, turning you over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: breaking news. Campaigner in chief. As Hillary Clinton calls in sick, President Obama gives her campaign a shot in the arm. With a rally in a key battleground state, he calls Clinton the most qualified candidate ever and calls Trump unfit to be president, saying he uses Vladimir Putin as his role model.

Debating deplorables. Trump accuses Clinton of slandering millions of his supporters, but while his running mate denounces a former Klan leader, he won't call him deplorable. Will the uproar hurt or help the Clinton campaign?

Mrs. Cellophane. Hillary Clinton says she's the most transparent candidate after releasing health records, decades of tax returns and more. As the Democrats call on Donald Trump to do the same, is he planning to reveal his medical tests on TV?

And un-intimidated. Days after North Korea tests a nuclear weapon, the U.S. flexes its muscle -- muscles by sending a pair of nuclear- capable bombers on a fly-by. But Kim Jong-un's regime vows to put its warheads on missiles, making clear the target would be the United States.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

The breaking news, President Obama hits the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton and hits hard at Donald Trump. In this first solo appearance, the president told a Pennsylvania crowd he really, really, really wants to elect Clinton, who's spending another day at home recuperating from pneumonia.

And he attacked Trump as unfit in every way for the presidency, saying Trump represents a dark, pessimistic vision of the country, accusing his campaign of fanning resentment, anger and hate.

Trump is back on the attack today. He's accusing Clinton of sowing hate, saying she slandered his supporters as deplorables. Running mate Mike Pence refuses to use that term against the former Klan leader, who he otherwise disavows.

While Clinton is taking a hit for her "deplorables" comment, her campaign is trying to turn it against Trump, with a new ad focusing in on his most controversial language.

After North Korea carries out a powerful nuclear test, the U.S. sends a message to Kim Jong-un. An aerial display by a pair of nuclear- capable bombers. But while North Korea's neighbors are worried, the communist regime is suggesting that its nuclear threat is really aimed at America.

I'll talk with a key Donald Trump supporter, Chris Collins. And our correspondents, analysts and guests, they will have full coverage of the day's top stories.

With Hillary Clinton home recuperating, President Obama campaigned on her behalf today. Let's begin with our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar.

Brianna, the president stood up for Hillary Clinton, and he came down very hard on Donald Trump.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Wolf. As you know voters, by a ratio of about two to one, say that both of these candidates are untrustworthy and dishonest. There's much more information available right now about Hillary Clinton, because she spent decades as a public servant, and Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns has been unprecedented in modern history.

But both of these candidates have demonstrated a penchant for hiding things.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton resting at home with pneumonia, getting an assist from Obama in Philadelphia, where he blasted Donald Trump for not being transparent.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got one candidate in this race who's released decades' worth of her tax returns. The other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all.

KEILAR: He also defended the Clinton Foundation and criticized Trump's.

OBAMA: One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate's foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself. I mean, I -- you know, he -- I -- he had the taste not to go for the ten-foot version. But...

KEILAR: The Trump Foundation's purchase of the painting was first reported by "The Washington Post," which also found the charity hasn't seen a donation from Trump himself since 2008, almost unheard of for a family foundation. The running mate, Mike Pence, insists Trump has been very generous.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Anyone who knows about Donald Trump and his career knows that this is a man that has given away tens of millions of dollars to charitable causes throughout the course of his business life. He's been incredibly generous.

KEILAR: But we really don't know if that's true, and we may never. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, asked if he'll release any information about his purported donations.

[17:05:10] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And the reason I ask -- why would you doubt it?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I doubt it because this is like badgering. In other words, I don't see it as journalism. I see it as badgering.

In other words, we've had this conversation so many times on so many different networks.

KEILAR: While Clinton has released more than three decades of her tax returns, and the Clinton Foundation has publicly released donor information, her use of a private e-mail address and a private server while secretary of state has severely tarnished voters' opinions of her. And most recently, her failure to reveal she had pneumonia until this video surfaced of her nearly collapsing while leaving the 9/11 ceremony is raising questions about her transparency.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Why keep it a secret?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (via phone): Well, I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal.

KEILAR: Her campaign initially said Sunday she was dehydrated and had overheated, only to later admit she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days before. She and her husband are trying to set her medical state straight.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Frequently -- not frequently. Rarely but on more than one occasion over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing has happened to her when she just got severely dehydrated.

H. CLINTON: Oh, I think really only twice that I can recall. You know, it is something that has occurred a few times over the course of my life, and I'm aware of it and usually can avoid it.

KEILAR: Trump has also put out very little health information besides a very colorful letter from his doctor, saying his "test results were astonishingly excellent" and that Trump will be "the healthiest individual ever elected president."

Conway defending Trump.

CONWAY: I don't know why we need such extensive medical reporting when we all have a right to privacy. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Now, Hillary Clinton is promising to reveal more medical information soon, and Donald Trump has said he will release the results of a physical exam that he took last week, Wolf. That is something that Clinton has already done. Though he is not promising to release any of the information about his medical history.

BLITZER: Brianna Keilar reporting, thank you.

Donald Trump is out on the campaign trail today, and he is fully on the attack. After slamming Hillary Clinton at an Iowa rally, he's now heading to Pennsylvania.

Our political reporter, Sara Murray, is on the scene for us. Sara, Trump is going all out in response to Hillary Clinton's use of the word "deplorables."

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Hillary Clinton has been off the campaign trail for the last two days, and Donald Trump is looking to capitalize on that, criticizing her at every turn for her dig at Trump supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY (voice-over): Donald Trump still having a field day with Hillary Clinton's remark that half of his supporters are deplorables, with intolerant views about race, sex and religion.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: While my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, I call you hard-working American patriots who love your country and want a better future for all of our people.

MURRAY: Trump, adopting a double-barreled strategy as he unloads on Clinton.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is running a policy-free campaign. She offers no ideas, no solutions, and only hatred and derision.

Whether you vote for me or whether you vote for someone else, I will be still your greatest champion.

MURRAY: And rolls out some new policy of his own, calling for an expanded childcare subsidy for couples earning less than half a million dollars a year, as well as guaranteeing maternity leave for new mothers whose employers don't provide it, by offering six weeks of unemployment insurance benefits.

As for the Clinton campaign, it's arguing Trump is the one with a negative view of Americans, releasing an ad highlighting some of Trump's most controversial criticisms.

TRUMP: How stupid are the people of the country?

We're building a wall. He's a Mexican. You've got to see this guy. "Oh, I don't know what I said. Oh, I

don't remember!"

MURRAY: Clinton's camp is also seizing on this Mike Pence interview with Wolf as another signal the Trump campaign is fostering intolerance.

PENCE: Donald Trump has denounced David Duke repeatedly. We don't want his support, and we don't want the support of people who think like him.

BLITZER: Would you call him a deplorable? You would call him that?

PENCE: No, I don't -- I'm not in the name-calling business, Wolf. You know we better than that.

KEILAR: The Democrats piling on after Pence refused to call David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, deplorable. Clinton tweeted, "If you won't say the KKK is deplorable, you have no business running the country."

As Tim Kaine argued that failing to call out bigotry only fuels it.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If you cannot call out bigotry, if you cannot call out racism, xenophobia, anti -- if you can't call it out and you stand back and you're silent around it, you're enabling it to grow. You're enabling it to become more powerful.

[17:10:08] MURRAY: All of this as Duke, who recently touted himself as one of Trump's deplorables on Twitter, celebrates Pence's response on social media and in interviews.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now, we're expecting Donald Trump to come here to Pennsylvania tonight and explain a little bit more about his new child care policies, his new maternity leave policies.

But one of the key questions is how he is going to pay for that in addition to the expansion he's called for in military spending and some of his more expensive immigration policies.

Now, campaign aides assured me earlier today that later this week Donald Trump would give a fuller economic address, and all of these things would end up being deficit neutral. But as of now, they're not explaining exactly how that all works -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sara. Thank you. Sara Murray reporting.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York. He was the first member of the U.S. Congress to endorse Donald Trump.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R), NEW YORK: Good to be with you, Wolf. BLITZER: Let's talk about some of the controversy out there right

now. President Obama went after Donald Trump today for his continued praise of the Russian President Putin. Listen to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Think about what's happened to the Republican Party, right? They used to be opposed to Russia and authoritarianism; and fighting for freedom and fighting for democracy. And now their nominee is out there praising a guy, saying he's a strong leader, because he invades smaller countries, jails his opponents, controls the press, and drives his economy into a long recession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So do you believe, Congressman, Donald Trump has gone too far in praising Putin?

COLLINS: No, Wolf. As I said before, it's pretty sad that, under Barack Obama, where ISIS didn't exist before he came to office is now thriving, because of his supposed red line in Syria, the vacuum he left in Iraq.

And what Donald Trump is saying is we have to, in the civilized world, which includes China, civilized world which includes Russia, we have to band together with Europe and our other allies to defeat ISIS, the greatest threat to the civilized world. That's what he is saying.

And this is because of a lack of leadership of Barack Obama, who just the other day said again the biggest threat to humanity is climate change. Excuse me? It's not ISIS? It's not, you know, the economy?

BLITZER: Well, the question -- Congressman, let me interrupt. With respect, the question was about Putin, not ISIS. Is it appropriate...

COLLINS: I think they go hand in hand.

BLITZER: Why does it go hand in hand? I f he's praising Putin, who invaded Ukraine, took over Crimea, deals with dissidents in a ruthless manner, deals with the press in Russia the way he's dealing with it, why would a Republican presidential be praising Putin? And are you comfortable with that?

COLLINS: Well, to me it's in the context of working with Russia to defeat ISIS, which is the problem created by Barack Obama.

But I'll also say, the truth of the matter is, Barack Obama is not a leader. Barack Obama doesn't lead our allies or our foreign policy. We don't have a foreign policy. Our economy is a mess. Barack Obama is a community activist who has shown he's not capable or competent of doing the job. He's not a leader, and he is contrasting him to someone who, politically, we disagree with on every front. His actions on the Ukraine can never be justified. Russia is our enemy in those senses.

But I will have to say about Vladimir Putin, he calls the shots in Russia. Everyone knows where he stands. There is something called leadership. We don't agree with that leadership. Don't get me wrong; we don't agree with it at all. But you can't say that he doesn't have a firm grip on what's going on in Russia, something Barack Obama does not have in the United States.

And we've paid a price for eight years of a lack of leadership by the most divisive president who, again, today is, in trying to call Donald Trump out on the deplorables...

BLITZER: Well, Congressman...

COLLINS: ... this is the most divisive president that's ever been in office.

BLITZER: Congressman, you say you're comfortable when he says that Putin is a strong leader and seems to suggest that he would emulate him, maybe, if he became president of the United States. He says Putin is a stronger leader than the president is, President Obama is.

COLLINS: Well, what is a leader, Wolf? A leader is the person in charge. A leader is the person who sets the agenda. That's who a leader is, whether it's the leader's business...

BLITZER: Congressman, if you heard the president's speech today, he also pointed out that Saddam Hussein was a strong leader, too, a very strong leader, and look at how he ruled Iraq.

COLLINS: Well, Saddam Hussein was a dictator. There is a difference. And, you know, again, we can say what we want to say. What we have to come back to is our country...

BLITZER: I just want to be precise, Congressman. I just want to be precise, because when you disagree with Donald Trump, you disagree with Donald Trump. You don't always just echo what he's saying. You don't believe that Putin is a dictator?

[17:15:06] COLLINS: I believe he is on the borderline of being a dictator. But with that said, they have something called quasi- elections there. I'm not somebody that could speak to that exactly.

But again, under the definition of a leader, even though we disagree with what he's done in many ways, he is a strong personality. He is a leader in his own way. We may disagree with most everything he does, but we also need to work with him to defeat ISIS.

BLITZER: Let's talk about Donald Trump's medical records. He took a physical exam, he says, last week. He's going to release those results later this week, presumably.

His campaign manager. Kellyanne Conway, said she doesn't know why extensive medical reporting is even needed, in her words, when we all have a right to privacy. But if you're running for president of the United States, don't the American people deserve to know as much as possible about a candidate's potential health?

COLLINS: Yes. I can't disagree with that, Wolf. There's a difference between things like tax returns and the like, and someone's physical health. I mean, we're expecting someone to work rigorous, you know, 16-, 18-hour days, be on call 24/7. I don't think it's unreasonable to -- to get the records that would suggest, you know, whether somebody is physically fit, to use that example.

And from what I'm hearing, Donald Trump is going to release that next week, and I believe Hillary Clinton is getting ready to release hers.

I'm just -- just disappointed in Hillary Clinton in, once again, lying to the American public. That's the Clinton family trait. After they knew she had pneumonia, saying she was dehydrated. You can't believe a thing that Hillary Clinton says. You can't believe a thing her campaign says. This was yet another example.

BLITZER: She was dehydrated, but she also had pneumonia.

I want to be precise. He says he's going to release his medical records from the checkup he had last week later this week.

COLLINS: Yes.

BLITZER: Remember, in 2008, John McCain, I think he was 70 or 71 years old. Trump is 70 years old. Next month, Hillary Clinton will be 69 years old. McCain allowed reporters, including our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta, to review eight years' worth of his medical records and to interview, at great length, his doctors.

This week Trump says he's going to release his results of his physical on the "Dr. Oz" television program. So you think that's a serious way to present this information to the American public?

COLLINS: Well, I think the most critical information is your health today. I mean, what your health was a year ago, two years ago, 50 years ago, doesn't matter. What is your health today? What's your blood pressure? What's your cholesterol? Are you taking any kind of medication for allergies and so forth? I call that a fairly general checkup. You know, what's -- we can do an EKG and things of that sort. Most of us go through those every couple of years, something once a year, every two or three years as we get a little older.

What matters today is, in both cases, what is their health today as one or the other is getting ready to enter office? I think -- I know I could care less what it was five years ago.

BLITZER: All right, Congressman, stand by. We have more to discuss. Lots going on right now. Much more with Congressman Chris Collins right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:22:26] BLITZER: We're back with a key Donald Trump supporter, Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York.

Congressman, the last two days, it's come to light that Donald Trump hasn't actually given any of his own money to the Donald J. Trump charitable foundation since 2008. And there are a lot of questions about that. One question, is that why he won't release his tax returns?

I don't know if you've had a chance to look into this, but what's your reaction?

COLLINS: Well, I have not looked, into it and I really can't speak for Donald Trump. I do know Donald Trump is known to be a very generous person over the years. The particular details of his family foundation, I don't know. I don't know at all.

But I do know from folks like Mike Pence who have said, you know, as he's looked into things, Donald Trump has always been generous. And you know, I think that's something that we should always thank the person for. The details aren't as important as the thought that goes into it and what his foundation does. I mean, a big contrast -- contrast between the Trump Foundation and the Clinton Foundation, that's for sure.

BLITZER: Well, here is the question. You know, he says he's not going to release his own tax returns because he's under IRS audit, but there's nothing stopping him from saying, "You know what? Over these past several years, here is the amount of charitable contributions I did provide." The IRS says they wouldn't have a problem with that. Why not release that number?

COLLINS: I can't answer that, Wolf. I really -- I don't think America cares. I don't know -- you know, there's always the privacy issue. You know, you hear that all the time. In some cases, people may be providing assistance through other things, like their own companies. It's not uncommon to have somebody ask you for a donation; and your company makes the donation, and in fact, it's your money, just coming through another vehicle. That's not uncommon at all, whether it's supporting the Boy Scouts or the, you know, Cancer Society. People are just looking for that. And who knows?

Maybe some of it didn't come out of his own personal pocket. But if it's coming out of his company's, one and the same.

But I'm not privy to any of that information. I'm more focused on making America great again and the contrast of the difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump when it comes to respecting America and Americans.

BLITZER: Yes. And recent polls, by the way, 62 percent of the American public say they would like to see his tax returns.

He says he'll release them after the audit is complete, but there's nothing that would prevent him from releasing specific information, the percentage of taxes, for example, that he pays, the charitable contributions, stuff like that. But so far he has declined to do so. We'll see what happens in the next two months.

Congressman, thank you, as usual, for joining us.

[17:25:05] COLLINS: Always good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Chris Collins joining us, the congressman from upstate New York; Buffalo, New York.

In the next hour, I'll speak with a Hillary Clinton supporter, Senator Chris Coons.

And coming up here, more from the campaigner in chief, as President Obama tries to refocus the campaign narrative by tearing into Donald Trump's qualifications to be president. Our experts are standing by.

And days after North Korea tests a nuclear weapon, the U.S. sends nuclear-capable bombers on a very dramatic fly-by. Is that enough to give Kim Jong-un some second thoughts? Stay with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're covering the breaking news: President Obama hammering Donald Trump this afternoon while campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

[17:30:08] Let's get some insight from our political experts. Brianna, you're with us, Brianna Keilar. President Obama, he came out swinging today. Is it going to make much of a difference?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He took on Donald Trump, particularly on transparency, not releasing his tax returns, a number of things. It can't hurt, certainly, because he has a near record-high approval rating right now, which is good for Hillary Clinton.

The question is how much can enthusiasm for President Obama be translated to Hillary Clinton? When you look at the Obama coalition she's been courting, she's not doing as well, particularly with Latinos and millennials.

The Clinton campaign will say, "Actually, look, she polls OK with millennials," but are they motivated enough to get to the polls? That is the real question, and that is where President Obama comes in. And he's trying to create some interest there.

BLITZER: Can she, David Chalian, recreate that Obama coalition that got him elected president twice?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, that is their entire theory of the case. That is how the Clinton campaign believes they can create a victory is by recreating that coalition.

Brianna is right. The transference of the energy for President Obama onto Hillary Clinton is not something that happens, you know, just like that. He's going to be out there working it, but his name is not on the ballot. So he is popular with these groups.

And we should note, of course, when we're saying that Hillary Clinton is not doing well with some of these groups, compared to Trump she's doing phenomenally well. She's underperforming where Barack Obama was with these groups, and she needs to get those levels out. Remember, Barack Obama was able -- his campaign was able to actually

alter the shape of the electorate in certain key states so that young people made up a larger share of the electorate in Virginia in 2008 than they had in previous elections.

That's the kind of thing about awakening the Obama coalition. It's not just getting them out. It's getting them out in larger numbers so that the electorate looks more beneficial to Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: Mark Preston, the president of the United States, he went out on a solo campaign trip for Hillary Clinton today in Pennsylvania. There are a number of places he could go. But Pennsylvania is a state that almost always is Democratic in a presidential contest. Did he go there because they're worried about Pennsylvania?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, a couple of things. If you look at the map of Pennsylvania, Wolf, it is a sea of red except for two geographic areas. One Philadelphia and the suburbs, as well as Pittsburgh out west.

Now, Barack Obama going there, these huge urban populations which is what gives Democrats the victories. And they've won since George H.W. Bush took the state back in '88. Democrats have won it every year since.

But if you look at Barack Obama on the campaign trail, not only can he do well with these urban centers that we've seen such as in Philadelphia, but when they put him back on the trail, he could help in a state such as Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio. Even though we always talk about Ohio being the Rust Belt, they do have a large African-American population in many of their cities. States like Michigan, as well.

I did speak to a White House advisor, who told me today that you probably won't see Barack Obama on the campaign trail the rest of this month because you have the UNGA, and you also have Barack Obama, who's been out of the country, you know, on his foreign travels.

But come October, he is going to pick up the pace again, and he is, as David and Brianna said, is going to be a huge help to Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

BLITZER: It's going to be curious to see to which states they send him to campaign for Hillary Clinton.

Jackie, the whole nature of this election, two months to go, policy, that's an important issue; but transparency all of a sudden is becoming another critically important issue. How is that playing out?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I feel like policy was left on the platform so long ago.

But transparency in terms of trust has become a huge problem in this election. And it is not actually that hard to believe that, at the end of the day, we could have a president that -- that is not seen as trustworthy, the trust numbers are upside-down, as well as their likability numbers being upside-down. I don't know when the last time that those two things were at play and that happened, but that is the choice the voters have right now. They don't like either of these people.

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton's campaign has a new ad, as you know, Brianna, going after Trump's remarks, referring to what she had said about that so-called basket of deplorables. Let me play you a little clip from the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You can't lead this nation if you have such a low opinion for its citizens.

GRAPHIC: What is Donald's opinion of our citizens?

TRUMP: How stupid are the people of the country?

We're building a wall. He's a Mexican.

You've got to see this guy. "Ah, I don't know what I said. Ah, I don't remember!"

You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. What the hell do you have to lose?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So their point, in putting out an ad like this in key battleground states, is?

KEILAR: That, look, he has said things about voters, as well. Right? That's the point.

The problem is, this is just a race to the bottom on this issue. I mean, Hillary Clinton should never have said that half of Donald Trump's supporters are deplorable. Right? That was a huge mistake that she made.

[17:35:06] I'm not sure how this is going to play out in the polls. We're going to know soon enough.

But Donald Trump has a major liability himself, you know, when it comes -- who hasn't he insulted in a way that's -- the list is very long. Muslim-Americans, Mexican-Americans, women. A disabled reporter, a war hero, arguably African-Americans. So he has a huge liability here.

The question is which one, I guess, is worse? What he has said or, for the -- for the slice of the electorate that they're really fighting for right now, what Hillary Clinton said about the basket of deplorables?

BLITZER: She originally said, David, half of his supporters are part of this basket of deplorables. Later, within a few hours, the next day, I think, she tried to fix that. She said, sorry she used the word "half." It's not half.

CHALIAN: Right. She said she regretted the word "half." She said that was wrong. And then she went on in that same statement to do exactly what this ad does and what Brianna is getting at, which is engaging in this notion that Donald Trump has said, from the Clinton point of view, a lot of deplorable things and took on lots of groups of people. That's a fight they want to have. That was the heart of her speech in Reno when she was going after the alt-right. That's part of her base-motivating effort, as well as trying to pull on some questioning Republicans who haven't yet completely warmed to Trump.

KEILAR: Which was a speech that was effective, of course, because of the people that she was highlighting. But she never should have, in one sentence, said "deplorable" and not named specifically David Duke, you know, Alex Jones, these people that she was talking about in that speech.

BLITZER: All right. Stand by, because we have more to come. Donald Trump says he's going to release the results of his physical exam later this week, maybe on the "Dr. Oz" program. We have new information. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:25] BLITZER: While President Obama was campaigning for Hillary Clinton this afternoon in Philadelphia, both Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, kept up their drum beat of criticism over Clinton's use of the word "deplorables" to describe some of Trump's supporters.

We're back with our political experts. David Chalian, yesterday when Mike Pence was sitting right over there, he clearly said he wants to denounce Donald Trump, doesn't want the support from -- excuse me. Denounce David Duke. David Duke. Wants to denounce David Duke, doesn't want the supporters of David Duke to support Donald Trump.

But he refused to use the word "deplorable," which is the word that Hillary Clinton came out with. Her basket of deplorables. You said at the time he didn't want to use that word because it was a Hillary Clinton word.

CHALIAN: And I think he repeat -- I think he said that for himself today up on Capitol Hill when he was visiting with Republicans there and asked about this.

The campaign, as you can tell now, it has been two solid days out on the campaign trail for Donald Trump hitting this message. This is their -- they see that Hillary Clinton has sort of handed them a weapon in this campaign battle right now, and they plan to use it every single day against her.

And so what they don't want to do is muddy in any way that by owning the word "deplorable."

Obviously, as you said, they disavowed him. They say he doesn't want his support. But he's also coming into criticism. The Clinton campaign is playing this up, that he refuses to label David Duke, a clearly deplorable person, deplorable. But I think it is -- it is a strategy in place to not muddy up their line of attack on that word.

KUCINICH: And it doesn't help that Donald Trump initially did not denounce David Duke. He pretended he didn't know who he was. And so that also plays into that.

KEILAR: To be clear, he did. He did know who he was.

KUCINICH: He did.

KEILAR: Because he'd -- he's certainly known who he was, at least from 2000, when he said, "I'm not doing the Reform Party nomination because of David Duke." I just want to put that out there.

KUCINICH: Yes. Precisely.

KEILAR: Yes.

BLITZER: You know, Mark Preston, the whole issue of charitable contributions on the part of Donald Trump. President -- President Obama really went after him today in his speech in Philadelphia on that. Now Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, they want to hold hearings on Trump's donations to the Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi.

They're trying to make these charges stick in these final two months of this campaign, trying to pressure Trump into releasing information about his charitable contributions. Are they going to succeed?

PRESTON: Well, they're certainly trying to get them to stick with voters. Right? The idea that -- that House Democrats are going to be able to have hearings over this, it's just not going to happen. They don't have the power. They are in the minority in the House of Representatives, and those hearings are very unlikely to happen at all.

But you know, when you talk a lot about honest and trustworthiness, certainly about Hillary Clinton, we've talked about how that's her biggest Achilles' heel.

But as we close into these final days of the campaign, Donald Trump, I think there's something to be said that Donald Trump, this is going to turn out to be an Achilles' heel for him, as well. The idea that he says he can't release his taxes because he's under audit we know is false. He could certainly release some information. We'll see what kind of information he releases from his medical record, as well, Wolf. But, you know, is it going to be as detailed as we want it? Probably not. I mean, I think we can -- we can, you know, forecast that ahead.

And he's also going on the "Dr. Oz" show, a reality television show in many ways, to do so. While we do, you know, criticize Hillary Clinton or at least talk about her weakness in honest and trustworthiness, I do think that Donald Trump is dealing with the same issue, as well. BLITZER: You know -- and you've been looking into the whole notion.

He had his physical, Donald Trump, last week. Said he's going to release the results later this week. And now we're learning he's going to do it, as Mark just said, on the "Dr. Oz" program.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. And you know, I guess the question is how are voters going to receive this? Well, a lot of people watch the show, so they might receive it very well.

But just judging by what Dr. Oz said in an interview about talking to Donald Trump about this, perhaps they should not because he actually said, you know -- I called the studio the doctor's office and he said I'm not going to ask him questions he doesn't want to have answered.

So this isn't the same as being interviewed by a doctor who also wears the hat of journalist. This is a doctor who also wears the hat of entertainer and has made it clear that he's not going to ask any questions that Donald Trump doesn't want to answer.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, this reminds me of the tax return playbook a little bit. Initially, he said I'm going to release my tax returns. They're big, they're beautiful, they're great, and then he said, oh, I'm under audit. I don't think I'm going to do it. And then now he says, once I'm done being audited, I'll release them.

This is kind of what you're seeing with the medical records. He says I'm going to release them, then they say, OK, we're just going to release a part of them. And now, Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, is talking about privacy.

I'm sorry. You're running for President of the United States. Unless you're talking about your family and your kids, privacy is canceled.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: If you want to be President, you're going to have to answer the questions.

KUCINICH: Right.

BLITZER: That's basically the history of all of this. Guys, stand by. We're getting word of an alarming new development right now involving North Korea, the North Korean threat against the United States. Will today's show of force by the U.S. military cause Kim Jong-un to back down, or will it provoke him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:40] BLITZER: After weeks of North Korean provocations, including missile launches and even a nuclear weapons test, the U.S. military today sent an unambiguous message to North Korea's Kim Jong- un. CNN's Brian Todd is here in the SITUATION ROOM. Brian, this comes just as we're learning about yet another North Korean threat.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are, Wolf. Tonight, even as the United States displays its fire power to the North Koreans, a strong signal from Kim Jong-un's regime channeled through a Japanese official that the real target of Kim's nuclear program, the enemy those bombs are designed to deploy against, is the United States.

But tonight, America is not backing down, a Pentagon official telling us they're prepared to use every capability at their disposal to counter Kim's threat including a bomber that can deploy a nuclear weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Some of the America's most fearsome war planes, previously deployed to strike ISIS targets, tonight, sending a message to North Korea. Nuclear capable B-1 bombers make low flying runs just below the DMZ.

A top U.S. commander says the maneuvers, just days after North Korea's strongest nuclear bomb test ever, are meant to show Kim Jong-un's regime American's full range of military might.

MAJOR GENERAL JAMES MARKS (retired), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The B-1 is -- got some incredible closure time. It's extremely fast and it also has a large capacity for ammunitions. So you can hang inside that thing and underneath this B-1 a whole array of kinetic capabilities.

TODD (voice-over): Experts say North Koreans take notice when American forces engage in this flyovers.

MICHAEL GREEN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ASIA AND JAPAN CHAIR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The North Koreans were devastated in the Korean War by American air power, devastated. That's why they built miles of tunnels, why so much of their military capability is hidden underground. They're scared to death of the U.S. Air Force and Navy and bombing.

TODD (voice-over): Still, a U.S. intelligence official tells CNN tonight they see no indication that Kim and his generals are seeking to down shift their provocative behavior. In fact, the North Koreans are celebrating their fifth nuclear test.

At a massive rally in Pyongyang, a top North Korean official brags, they will continue their aggressive warhead production.

KIM KI NAM, CENTRAL COMMITTEE, NORTH KOREAN WORKERS PARTY (through translator): The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable the production of a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power at will, as many as desired.

TODD (voice-over): Meantime tonight, according to the Kyodo News agency, a Japanese lawmaker who's just returned from Pyongyang says a close adviser to Kim Jong-un told him North Korea's nuclear program is directed at the United States, not Japan.

MARKS: North Korea does not want to be defined as a regional threat. North Korea envisions that they are, aspires to be, an international power that deserves the attention of Russia, of China, of the United States.

TODD (voice-over): But one analyst believes Kim Jong-un's nuclear build-up along with the bloody purges of those in his inner circle show a desperation to cling to power.

GREEN: Yes, he's got the ability to kill who he wants, but, no, he doesn't have confidence, I suspect, in his own regime and its stability. Without nuclear weapons and without constant public executions, and that is not a stable future for that regime in the long run.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: As the palace intrigue plays out in Pyongyang, U.S. and South Korean officials are bracing for more aggression from Kim Jong-un. They are telling CNN tonight that Kim may conduct another nuclear bomb test soon. It would be his third just this year. Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian, if he does that, would the U.S. respond militarily?

TODD: Analysts say that's not really likely. The retaliation that might unleash from Kim Jong-un is just too unpredictable. A cyber- attack against the North Koreans could be possible but most likely the U.S. is going to keep pressuring China to reign this young man in. So far though, that has not worked and the Chinese are furious with Kim Jong-un.

BLITZER: Brian Todd reporting. Thank you. Coming up, President Obama hits hard at Donald Trump as he hits the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in a big get out the vote rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:50:04] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is not reality TV. Democracy is not a spectator sport. You don't tweet in your vote. America's not about, yes, he will. It's about, yes, we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Happening now, breaking news. Stumping solo for the first time, President Obama campaigns alone for Hillary Clinton while she recovers from pneumonia. The President is fired up as he defends and praises Clinton while he thrashes Donald Trump, calling him unfit for office and blasting his refusal to release his tax returns. Will the President's action translate to votes for Hillary Clinton?

Name calling. A battle is raging between the campaigns. Hillary Clintons calling half of Trump's supporters a basket --