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Interview With Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Kelly; Police Shooting Videos; Trump Tweetstorm; Investigators Speak With Wrecked Train's Crew; Civilians Trapped as Troops Mass Near Aleppo; Trump Discusses Teacher Sex Scandal in Interview; Police Release Video of El Cajon Shooting. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired September 30, 2016 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:01]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: No slight too small. Trump defends his Twitter storm, telling critics at least they know he's awake and ready to answer that 3:00 a.m. call. They're saying he fell into a trap set by Hillary Clinton, and just keeps making things worse.
Shooting videos. After days of demonstrations, police in El Cajon, California, are about to release video of the shooting of an unarmed black man. Businesses have closed. Students have been sent home from schools. How will the community react to the video?
And delay over. Air Force One can't take off. President Obama comes to the top of the stairs. Who is he yelling at to hurry up? None other than Bill Clinton.
We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLITZER: We're following breaking news in the presidential campaign. Donald Trump just finished a speech in the battleground state of Michigan. Not only is he stepping up his attacks on Hillary Clinton. Trump is defending his late-night Twitter rant against the former Miss Universe that Hillary Clinton first mentioned in Monday's debate.
In a series of tweets starting around 5:00 a.m., Trump called Alicia Machado disgusting, and urged people to -- quote -- "check out sex tape and past" -- end quote. No such tape apparently exists.
Campaigning in Florida this afternoon, Clinton told a crowd she thinks Trump's Twitter meltdown is -- quote -- "unhinged, even for him." New swing state polls show Clinton on sturdier ground than before this week's debate. We're awaiting a new national poll.
Also breaking, we're standing by for police in El Cajon, California, to release video of an officer-involved shooting of an unarmed black man, a shooting that has set that community on edge. After days of demonstrations, businesses and schools have closed, as everyone awaits the release of the video. We will discuss the presidential campaign with Trump supporter
Republican Congressman Mike Kelly. And our correspondents, analysts, and guests, they will have full coverage of the day's top stories.
Let's begin with our national correspondent, Jason Carroll, who is following Trump's latest Twitter storm and his continuing feud with a former Miss Universe.
Trump isn't backing down at all, Jason, is he?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not backing down at all. In fact, in an interview this afternoon, Trump called Twitter, he said it was a very effective way of communicating.
One Trump adviser putting it this way, saying what goes on, on Twitter is not the campaign message, but when the messenger is the candidate, there is no denying his words matter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump up early this morning, and not letting up on his attacks on former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. The GOP nominee tweeting before dawn: "Wow, crooked Hillary was duped and used by my worst Miss U. Hillary floated her as an angel, without checking her past, which is terrible, Trump adding: "Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M. become a U.S. citizen, so she could use her in the debate? -- yet offering no proof that such a sex tape exists.
Hillary Clinton responding with a tweet of her own. "What kind of man stays up all night to smear a woman with lies and conspiracy theories?"
And during a campaign stop in Florida later in the day:
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean, his latest Twitter meltdown is unhinged, even for him. It proves yet again that he's temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CARROLL: During Monday night's debate, Clinton raised Machado's accusation that Trump called her Miss Housekeeping and Miss Piggy after she gained weight following her Miss Universe win in 1996.
CLINTON: Her name is Alicia Machado.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Where did you find this? Where did you find this?
CLINTON: And she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet...
TRUMP: Oh, really?
CLINTON: ... she's going to vote this November. TRUMP: OK, good.
CARROLL: Trump has kept the story alive by criticizing Machado on a daily basis, even as he pushes back on reports some of his advisers were not happy with his debate performance, and are considering overhauling his approach before the second meeting with Clinton, this as Trump continues to cite unscientific online polls that are not true measures of public opinion.
TRUMP: Every single online poll said we won, which is great. Every single online poll.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CARROLL: And as for those accounts of debate discord, Trump tweeting: "Remember, don't believe sources said by the very dishonest media. If they don't name the sources, the sources don't exist."
It should be noted, citing unnamed sources are a common practice in the world of journalism.
Trump also at odds with the "USA Today" editorial board. The paper's board has never taken sides in a presidential race, but is urging voters to consider anyone but Trump this year, writing: "Republican nominee Donald Trump is, by unanimous consensus of the editorial board, unfit for the presidency."
[18:05:07]
As some GOP leaders encourage Trump to stay focused on issues, he's leaving open the possibility of bringing up Bill Clinton's past infidelities at the next debate.
TRUMP: I was going to do it, and I saw Chelsea sitting out in the audience, and I just didn't want to go there. I thought it would be too disrespectful. I just didn't want to do it. But she was very nasty. We will see what happens.
QUESTION: If it does come up, though, in the next debate, do you think maybe your past marital history is also fair game?
TRUMP: I guess. They can it. But it's a lot different than his. That, I can tell you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, on another note, while there has been much scrutiny on the Clinton Foundation, now Trump's charitable foundation is also under scrutiny, this after "The Washington Post" reports the organization never obtained the proper certification New York requires before a charity can solicit money from the public.
"The Post" says, by not registering, the organization avoided an annual audit that protected Trump from outside scrutiny -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jason Carroll, thank you very much, Jason Carroll reporting.
We're also getting our first look at Donald Trump on camera admitting that his business interests were hurt by his name-calling aimed at Mexican immigrants.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has been watching the newly released video deposition from a lawsuit involving Trump.
Sunlen, what are you finding out?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really interesting.
We went through this video deposition, and one thing that really caught our ear is this first clip where Trump talks about the root of his lawsuit, the chef who had planned to open a restaurant in his new D.C., hotel, and he backed out of that, saying that he was offended and unhappy about the comments that Trump made about Mexican -- illegal Mexican immigrants in his presidential announcement speech.
Trump in this video, he says that the chef was just grandstanding in reacting the way he did. But, interestingly enough, Trump also admits that those comments did hurt his business.
Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If they would have gotten out very quietly, I think it would have been a lot better for everybody.
They caused me damages, because, you know, they made such a big deal out of it is. And they didn't have to make a big deal out of it, so that was disappointing. But that's what I meant. They wanted to be, they thought, politically correct by doing what they did. I think they made a mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: So, a more serious and somber tone certainly coming from Trump in that deposition. He also later went on to say that those controversial statements in his announcement were planned ahead of time.
He says, Wolf, that it wasn't something that he wrote out, but certainly something he planned to say.
BLITZER: Commenting that he is now putting politics over his business. What exactly did he say?
SERFATY: Yes, he did, although he is admitting here that there was some business backlash over that controversial comment.
He in essence, says that, politically, this is a good thing for him, because he now is the nominee. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I obviously have credibility, because I now, as it turns out, became the Republican nominee, running against -- we had a total of 17 people that were mostly senators and governors, highly respected people.
So it's not like -- like, you know, I have said anything that could be so bad, because, if I said something that was so bad, they wouldn't have had me go through all of these people and win all of these primary races.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And there of course had been a lengthy back and forth whether to release this video or not. The Trump team was saying that they did not want it released. They said it could potentially damage him politically and come up in TV ads that his opponent might use.
The judge, Wolf, though, rejected that argument. He sided with the TV outlets, CNN among them, who had filed this motion to get the video released.
BLITZER: All right, Sunlen, thanks very much for that update, Sunlen Serfaty reporting for us.
There's other news we're following. Brand-new polls taken off Monday's presidential debate show Hillary Clinton getting a very definite boost.
Our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, has got the numbers for us.
And, Brianna, we're also just getting in the first national poll taken completely after the debate. What do these numbers show us?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.
What it shows is that Donald Trump is about even where he was and Hillary Clinton has gotten a little bit of a boost following the debate. If you check out these numbers from this FOX News poll of likely voters, they say 43 percent of them say they are now for Hillary Clinton. That is up two points from September 11, when we saw the last poll taken.
Donald Trump at 40 percent, that's exactly where he was in September. Gary Johnson bumps up a point -- or -- sorry -- he stays even, and Jill Stein bumps up a point.
But what you're really seeing here is Donald Trump continuing to struggle to get above these low 40s, which is an area where really he needs to expand there, if he's really going to have a shot, Wolf, and it really speaks to this idea that many people -- you will remember our poll after the debate, 2-1 said Hillary Clinton won that debate. So you're seeing the positive effects for her of this. BLITZER: That's a national poll. We're also getting several key
battleground state polls, Brianna, polls once again taken after the debate. What are they showing?
[18:10:03]
KEILAR: That's right.
And these may be of course even more important, because are the states that are really going to determine who ends up being in the White House. So we're looking at the Florida poll, and we see Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by four points.
When we look at the Michigan poll, she's got a very comfortable lead there, seven points. And when you go to New Hampshire, another comfortable lead at seven points as well. And then, in Nevada, she's up six points. That's a bit of a turnaround, for sure, where she was weeks ago.
Donald Trump was actually leading her in some polls here. And it also speaks to I think how she's trying to build on this. She had Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire with her this week. He's going to be in Michigan sometime soon. Elizabeth Warren is going to be in Nevada next week.
So she's getting a bump out of the debate. Of course, there are many other obstacles to go ahead, still a vice presidential debate, still two presidential debates, and still weeks to go before the election.
BLITZER: Brianna Keilar reporting for us, thanks very much.
In the last hour, we spoke with Hillary Clinton supporter Lanny Davis.
Joining us now, Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Mike Kelly. He's a Donald Trump supporter.
Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.
REP. MIKE KELLY (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: So Donald Trump, he's got work to do in these key battleground states, if you look at these respective polls, the numbers we just showed. What does he need to do?
KELLY: Well, I think he's done quite well. And, of course, you look at CNN polls, in Colorado, Ohio, he's up. And in Pennsylvania, he's even.
BLITZER: But that was taken before the debate.
KELLY: And I understand.
BLITZER: These are all new polls taken since the debate, and 85 million people watched that debate.
KELLY: That's right. BLITZER: So, clearly, it's going to have an impact.
KELLY: That's right. And I understand that.
I think the first third of the debate, if you talk to most people, they thought Donald Trump had a wonderful night. Where I'm from, in Pennsylvania, they're talking about blue-collar people who really do look at what's happened to them and their lives. Their wages have been frozen.
In some cases, we have shut down coal mines. That was an objective that the president stated very clearly when he went into office. He succeeded in that. And Mrs. Clinton said, unfortunately, we're going to have to continue to shut down those coal mines.
So, when you talk about polls, remember, a lot of likely voters have been polled, but not people who have changed over and are engaged this year. I'm looking forward to it. Listen, Colorado, Ohio, he's ahead. In Pennsylvania, he's even. If he's even in Pennsylvania...
BLITZER: Well, those -- remember, those are done before...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: No, I understand.
BLITZER: In the four states we have since the debate, in Florida, Clinton up four, in Nevada, Clinton up six, in Michigan, Clinton up seven, in New Hampshire, Clinton up seven, and in this FOX News poll, a national poll, Clinton up three in the FOX poll that was just released, all of these polls taken since the debate.
So forget about the earlier polls, because clearly the debate had an impact.
KELLY: Yes. And I understand forget about stuff.
But, look, should we say this was a strong showing and people say -- but what happened today? Well, we're still almost 40 days away from the election. There's a lot of ground to be covered. There's a lot of things to be said yet. And I have watched these before. The bumps go back and forth. You're always one day away from gaining points in any of those polls.
BLITZER: But you see yourself -- you're a politician.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Sure. No, I'm an automobile dealer.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: You're a member of the United States Congress.
KELLY: Yes.
BLITZER: So, you're a Republican from Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania obviously a key state.
Could you see yourself getting up at 3:00 in the morning and tweeting about a former Miss Universe and an alleged sex tape? Could you see yourself doing that to your supporters out there, your followers, and say go watch this sex tape?
KELLY: Here's what I see.
I see a guy who has boundless energy. And he's a high-octane guy. In the private sector, when somebody attacks you, you usually push back.
Me being up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, that's not unusual for people in the private sector to get up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, especially when you're in charge, when you're the chief, when you're the CEO. You very rarely sleep. You sleep even with one eye shut.
So, I have watched Mr. Trump, and Mr. Trump is very active. He's a very high-energy guy, high-octane guy. I'll tell you what. If he was the coach, I would want to play for him. And if he was the guy that was running the business, I would want to work for him. And I think that's what the country needs right now is a strong leader.
BLITZER: But should he -- he's the presidential nominee. He's the Republican nominee. Doesn't he have aides who can do that kind of stuff for him?
KELLY: Sure.
BLITZER: Does he need to -- is that respectful for a presidential nominee?
KELLY: I think what's respectful is for people to understand that over 70 percent of the American people feel that America is headed in the wrong direction.
I watched Secretary Clinton for 30 years she has been here, for 30 years. The president, since he came into office, has doubled our national debt. And I think those are the things -- the people that I represent back home, you know what they look at? They look at people who want to make America great.
BLITZER: I just want to be precise, Congressman. You don't have a problem with Donald Trump tweeting at 3:00 a.m. about a sex tape?
KELLY: Wolf, I don't concern myself with what Mr. Trump says at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. What I do is concern myself what Mr. Trump can do to make America great again. And that's what I think all Americans are looking at.
BLITZER: Here's the problem, that some of his aides have acknowledged, albeit privately, she laid the bait, if you will, in that debate Monday night, and he followed up.
He would not let it -- five days later, they're still talking about it. KELLY: Yes. Well, polished politicians say the same thing all the
time. They say, well, listen, stick to your talking points. Whatever you do, don't let them get you off track.
What Mr. Trump is, he is reacting the way a person in the private sector back, an individual -- I just -- I can tell you, from back home, where I'm from, somebody pushes you, somebody shoves you, you shove them back.
Now, what will he do going forward? I don't know. I think we all learn every day from our experiences. But just to be in the public light as a politician, it requires some different skills. And the skills it requires is people not saying actually what's on their mind, but saying...
(CROSSTALK)
[18:15:08]
BLITZER: He's doing now -- and we just saw it -- he's now reading speeches from a teleprompter. He's been doing that at least for a month or two right now. That's his aides do -- even though he used to ridicule politicians who would just speeches from teleprompters.
They want him scripted, but he's Donald Trump, as you yourself point out.
KELLY: He is unique. He is unique.
BLITZER: And sometimes he can't control himself. He's going to go out at 3:00 a.m. and tell his supporters, his followers -- and he's got more than 11 million on Twitter alone -- go watch a sex tape.
All right, stand by.
KELLY: Sure.
BLITZER: We have got more to discuss, much more with Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania. It's a key battleground state -- when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:20:00]
BLITZER: We're back with Donald Trump supporter Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Kelly.
Congressman, it's now been, by our count, 65 days since Donald Trump had what we call a full-scale news conference with reporters. He's doing interviews with FOX News, a few others here and there, but a full-scale news conference, 65 days. And that was during the Democratic Convention.
He used to criticize Hillary Clinton. She went for an even longer time without a news full-scale conference. Why is he reluctant to answer questions from reporters?
KELLY: You know what? I'm not sure that he is, Wolf.
But I will tell you this. I'm not in touch with him every day, but I do watch him. He's all over the country. If a problem crops up somewhere, if it's Milwaukee, he's there. If it's down in Charlotte, he's there.
He's always there when there's trouble. He went down to Louisiana when there was problems. And along the way, he does meet with reporters at any time. I watched him after the debate Monday night.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He walked through the spin room. He walked through the spin room. Hillary Clinton obviously did not walk through the spin room.
KELLY: Right.
BLITZER: But to stand in a news conference for, let's say, 45 minutes or an hour, just call on reporters and answer their questions, that's what politicians do.
I'm sure you do that once in a while yourself. I assume you do that once in a while. And he used to criticize Hillary Clinton for not doing that. Now he's not doing it.
KELLY: Yes, sure.
Well, you know what? I don't know whoever -- the campaign probably advises him what he should do, what he shouldn't do. I do know he's been very accessible to everybody. I have watched him. I have been with him. I have never seen anybody with the energy level that this guy has. I told you, he's high-octane. He's going to be there. If you need him, he's there. He's been that way his whole life.
BLITZER: He's a different campaigner, a different politician now, very, very tightly controlled by his advisers. They want him to read a teleprompter. They don't want him to go out there and just answer questions. They're trying to control him. And from their standpoint, it seems to be working.
KELLY: Well, listen, and I think we all take advice in our life.
I have never gotten to the point -- been a car dealer since 1970 when I got out of school. I worked for my dad. But, listen, you have got to pay attention. And you have got to watch how things change. Things can change so quickly. You have got to be able to pivot very quickly and face those challenges.
BLITZER: How is Mike Pence, the vice presidential running mate, going to do against Tim Kaine, who is a very smart guy?
KELLY: If anybody questioned Donald Trump's, his ability to pick people, his judgment, they don't know Mike Pence. I served with Mike Pence. My first term in Congress was on Ways --
was on Foreign Affairs with Mike. He's such a solid, solid man. He's a guy that I would go to any time, because he's that type of a person.
And I think ,so Donald Trump's judgment, they say, well, can we really trust this guy? He picked a guy who is one heartbeat away from being in the White House. If something ever happened to our president, the vice president steps in, as you and I both know.
When you look at Mike Pence, he's a solid, solid man. He's a guy that I would trust him with anything, my checkbook, my wife, and my business, and know that, when I came back, it would be solid.
BLITZER: Yes. He's a former congressman, governor of Indiana.
KELLY: He's a great guy.
BLITZER: I'm looking forward to that debate. I think it will be a substantive, policy-oriented debate between two smart guys. We will see what happens.
KELLY: I agree with you.
BLITZER: Thanks very much for coming in.
KELLY: Wolf, thanks for having me.
BLITZER: Mike Kelly is a Republican from Pennsylvania.
Just ahead, breaking news: We're standing by for new video of a police-involved shooting of an unarmed man, a black man in California.
Later, who was President Obama yelling at to hurry up, hurry up? Watch this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:27:46]
BLITZER: In our breaking news, Donald Trump is defending his predawn Twitter storm.
In a series of tweets starting around 5:00 a.m., Trump continued his feud with a former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, calling her disgusting and urging people to -- quote -- "check out sex tape and past."
Let's discuss the fallout from all of this with our political experts.
Mark Preston, he was being pretty disciplined, reading speeches from teleprompter, not necessarily doing full-scale news conferences, as we just pointed out, but he seemed to lose that control overnight.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes.
I mean, look, we thought that perhaps we saw a new Donald Trump, and we certainly heard that from Republicans, certainly on Capitol Hill, that were happy, because they didn't have to keep on making excuses for Donald Trump.
However, Wolf, he seems to have no discipline whatsoever, which is playing right into the Clinton narrative that he is incapable of having, like, the competence and quite the level -- quite frankly, the level of ability to not go out and stop himself. He just can't stop himself.
And I got to tell you, Republicans are very concerned. In fact, one of them said to me, what they're telling congressional candidates right now, certainly some of them, shelter in place, shelter in place, and just talk about your own race.
BLITZER: Yes. He hasn't listened to them as far as reading rally speeches from teleprompters.
He used to ridicule politicians who read a speech from a teleprompter. He used to ridiculed Hillary Clinton and some of the Republican challengers he faced for reading speeches from teleprompters, ridiculed the president of the United States for doing so.
But now almost all of his speeches, he's reading from a teleprompter. But he can't -- he can't sometimes can't control himself to go off message and do what he did last night.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And he seems to have a very difficult time letting go of those perceived slights. Any time someone goes after him, he feels like he needs to go back after that person, whether it's a beauty pageant contestant or a Mexican-American judge .
But the fact that he was reading from a teleprompter and giving those very scripted speeches, that was actually a very good moment in his campaign. Polls were looking a lot better for him. He was delivering a consistent message against Hillary Clinton.
But when he goes off-script, he starts to make mistakes. We saw that at that debate. We saw that after the debate, and -- which is one reason why, too, he's not had a press conference in a very long time. He's not doing anything other than friendly interviews, for the most part, because he's worried about making a mistake. But he sometimes does it on Twitter, too.
[18:30:10] BLITZER: And Ron Brownstein, as you know, Hillary Clinton started this latest battle over Miss Universe at the debate Monday night, and here, five days later, we're still talking about it, because he feels he was slighted. And some of his aides say you can bait him with a tweet, and he's going to react. How much of a problem is this?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Right. It seemed to validate that narrative.
Donald Trump's worst moments as a general election candidate have come when he has either forgotten or ignored the old political adage that you should never get in a fight with anyone who isn't on the ballot. And the spectacle of someone who is, you know, six weeks away, possibly, from being elected commander in chief, leader of the free world, engaging in a Twitter war with a former beauty contest -- you know, contestant is just extraordinary.
He managed in one single set of tweets to give ammunition to all of the core Democratic arguments him: that he is volatile, vindictive, racist, and sexist. That's a pretty efficient use of 140 characters, to get all of those narratives in there.
And it does just kind of reconfirm that the principle obstacle he faces, the biggest headwind that is keeping his polls in the low 40s or even now back into the 30s again in some of these state polls, are the doubts, personal doubts about him, the doubts about his temperament, his qualifications, his experience and his self-control.
BLITZER: Rebecca, "The Washington Post" has been digging into Trump's business deals, his charitable foundation, as well. They've got a new report out there, saying that in New York state, he didn't really get the proper certification to solicit funds for his charitable foundation, and as a result, because he didn't he have that proper certification, he didn't have to provide annual audits, if you will. How much of a problem is this for him?
REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's also a very big problem, and it would be maybe even bigger, if we weren't talking about these other problems and controversies that Donald Trump has created for himself.
But this is extremely relevant to this campaign, not least because Donald Trump has tried to make an issue of the Clinton Foundation, and this weakens his argument against Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. He is trying to make the case she managed it poorly, used it for her own self- -- her own purposes, essentially. And now Donald Trump is having to answer questions about why he was using his foundation for his own purposes and other people's money, not even his own money, for his eponymous foundation.
This could become an even bigger story soon, because as we know, the New York attorney general is now probing his foundation. They could take action against it, fines perhaps, maybe even shutting the foundation down perhaps, because it did not have this certification to solicit donations. So we'll have to see how this develops, but it's definitely relevant to this campaign and a huge story, huge problem.
BLITZER: And I want to play, Rebecca, for you and for all of our panelists, some sound from a 2004 interview that Donald Trump did with Don Imus on his radio show, discussing a teacher, female teacher, who was caught sleeping with a 14-year-old student. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: How would you like to be the husband of the wife that was, you know, playing around with a 14-year- old kid? Unbelievable. By the way, did you see what she looked like?
DON IMUS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Not bad.
TRUMP: Not bad? Yes, I'd say so. I know a lot of guys trying to date her right now, Don.
IMUS: Well, I don't know what your teachers looked like when you were in school. But...
TRUMP: None of them looked like that, believe me. But do you think this 14-year-old kid is scarred forever? He might have put the move on her. It might have given him confidence, actually.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: That clip is going to going to generate some controversy, Rebecca, as you can imagine.
BERG: That's right. And it just plays into a much larger narrative about how Donald Trump talks about women, how he talks about sex.
There is also a report that I was reading today about how he and his wife watched, he said, Paris Hilton's sex tape together, and his comments that he made about Paris Hilton's attractiveness when he met her when she was 12 years old.
And so none of this is helpful for him. It is not the message you want to be talking about less than 40 days from election day, or really at any point in a presidential election.
BLITZER: Mark, when you're running for president of the United States, everything, basically, about your life is going to come out.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Look, and we talk about the woman vote and how women are going to be angry at his misogynistic statements and comments and actions. But something like that, though, plays to fathers, OK? It plays to anyone who has a daughter, anyone, you know, who's married.
BERG: Suburban families.
PRESTON: Correct. And you hear that and you say, "My God, he could have been talking about my daughter." And I think we're kind of -- that's been lost in this whole discussion about where it could hurt Donald Trump. I think that could hurt Donald Trump.
RAJU: Yes, I mean, he's made so many crude comments over the years, on radio shows, Howard Stern and the like. It hasn't hurt him yet in a significant way, but now it's continuing to feed into this narrative, as you said, Rebecca, in this narrative about how he talks about women in particular, especially in light of this "L.A. Times" report that came out this week, saying that he -- alleging that he fired employees who were not pretty enough and, of course, the Alicia Machado comments, talking about her weight. Obviously, something at a time when voters are really starting to engage.
[18:35:15] BLITZER: Is it going to have an impact, Ron? BROWNSTEIN: Yes. No, look, I think you know, we have to remember
only a week ago, we were talking about whether there was a risk to Hillary Clinton at the debate, because the Clinton campaign and Priorities USA had put almost all of their chips on personally disqualifying Trump on raising questions about his temperament, experience and values, rather than critiquing his agenda. And there was a chorus of the Trump surrogates on television who were saying he had the same opportunity that Ronald Reagan had in the 1980 debate after Carter had raised similar questions about Ronald Reagan. Jimmy Carter, President Jimmy Carter.
And Reagan was reassuring and genial in the debate. The doubts dissolved, and he rolled toward a landslide.
In fact, what we have seen from Donald Trump, both at the debate and especially after, is this incredible cascade of remarks, activity, behavior, performance that have tended to reconfirm and deepen these debates -- and again -- these doubts. And it is those personal assessments, although I disagree a little with the panel, I think the personal assessments clearly have hurt Donald Trump, 60 percent of the country saying he's not qualified. Sixty percent say he doesn't have the temperament. Sixty percent saying he's biased against women and minorities. That is, without question, I think, the principal head wind that is keeping his support stuck in the low 40s, despite the enormous doubts that many voters express about Hillary Clinton, as well.
BLITZER: Everyone, stick around. We have a lot more to assess.
We're also standing by for some breaking news. Police in California, they have just released video of that deadly shooting of an unarmed black man. The shooting has the community on edge right now. Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
[17:41:25] BLITZER: We have breaking news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. Police in El Cajon, California, have just released video of an officer-involved shooting of an unarmed black man, a shooting that has set that community on edge right now.
Our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown, is with us. Pamela, these videos are very disturbing. What are we learning?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf, they are disturbing. But they are not conclusive. They do show this confrontation that ended with police killing an unarmed black man. And that caused protests there in El Cajon since Tuesday.
Take a look right here. This is business surveillance video. And it shows the victim walking around after someone, purported to be his sister, called 911 and said he was acting different.
And watch, you can see the officer walking up to him here in this parking lot. And then there is some sort of interaction there. And then there was another officer that walks into the frame. You can see the police car right there. That officer gets out of his car, walks up to join this confrontation.
It's tough to see, as we zoom in here. You see the surveillance video. There's also the cell phone video. Tough to see exactly what's happening, because the faces are blurred. But if you listen, you can hear some screaming, Wolf. And you can hear that the shots, the screaming, the police chief says -- there are the shots right there, the screaming. Very jarring here, Wolf.
The police chief says one of the officers used a Taser, and as we just heard right there, another officer fired his weapon.
But what police said was that the victim was holding what -- a vape, and they're trying to suggests it looks like a gun. And police are saying that he was holding it as though he was firing a weapon.
So here is the vape right here. This is what police say the victim was holding in his hand. And if we show the still picture, the still picture shows what police say is the victim holding this vape in a shooting position, Wolf.
And so police releasing this video, trying to calm concerns in the community. We know that businesses have been shut down early. There have been concerns about protests there in El Cajon. So today, police releasing this video after really a lot -- putting under a lot of pressure, because they released this still image right here, and people in the community, Wolf, are wondering why they didn't release the video so you could see everything that happened in this confrontation.
So now today in El Cajon, police releasing these videos, but still a lot of questions to be asked -- Wolf.
BLITZER: I'm sure there will be. All right. Thanks very much, Pamela Brown reporting.
There's breaking political news we're following. A just-released national poll shows Hillary Clinton increasing her lead over Donald Trump. This is significant, because this new national poll was taken completely after Monday's presidential debate.
We're back with our political experts. Let's go through some of the numbers in his national poll. It's a FOX News poll. And, what, by three points, 43-40, Hillary Clinton over Trump.
But take a look at these key battleground state polls, Ron Brownstein. If you take a look at Florida, for example, Hillary Clinton in Florida right now, a new poll since the debate, up four. Take a look at Michigan, new poll. Hillary Clinton up seven. In New Hampshire, new poll. Up seven. In Nevada, up six.
So she clearly got a significant bounce in these battleground states, which is where this election is going to be won or lost. BROWNSTEIN: Right. And you kind of separate those out. You would
put Michigan and New Hampshire in the inner core of states that are part of the easiest path to 270 for Hillary Clinton. You'd also put Colorado, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania as probably the other three that are remotely competitive that she would have to defend, as well as Virginia, which is somewhat safer.
[18:45:02] If she holds all of those, she's there, regardless of what happens anywhere else. Florida and Nevada are icing on the cake.
And to me again, as we talked about it before, less -- more important than the margin is the absolute number for Donald Trump. Just in those polls that you flashed by, except for Florida, he's at 40 percent or below in all of them, as well as some of the other polls that have been taken.
The real challenge for Donald Trump is growing his support beyond the low 40s, while he's facing rejection from minority voters and this unprecedented resistance from college educated whites. The race gets closer when Hillary Clinton's problems are in the forefront and her number comes down. But it's been very rare for Donald Trump to get much above 42 percent. And if he can't do that, if he can't resolve the doubts that are keeping him there, in the end, I think it is very tough for him.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That next, Mark, that next presidential debate, the second presidential debate will clearly be significant, as well.
By the way, we got some live pictures, hold on for a moment, Air Force One has just arrived back here in the United States. You see the president walking down with Bill Clinton and John Kerry. They just came from Jerusalem, where they attended the funeral of Shimon Peres, the late Israeli president and prime minister. They're walking down the stairs right now, back here in Washington, D.C.
You know, it's -- I want to point out, Rebecca, that President Obama and Bill Clinton, when they traveled to Israel for the funeral of Shimon Peres, the former president, you know, they had a light hearted moment as they were leaving Tel Aviv. They were on the tarmac, President Obama was already aboard Air Force One, trying to hurry Bill Clinton along. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Clearly, the president wanted to leave. Bill Clinton has a hard time saying goodbye to folks on the tarmac. I was a White House correspondent for CNN during the Clinton administration. He was always late for almost everything, because he just loved people that much, wanted to talk.
REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Clinton time is a little bit different than Obama time, I suppose. I think that video actually went on for a little bit longer even than we were able to show, due to time constraints, because Bill Clinton was taking his time.
BLITZER: Yes, and the president has to talk out of Air Force One and say, hey, Bill, come on, we're leaving. We're flying back to Washington.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: I feel like I'm with my wife and children, I'm like, let's get out of the house and get in the car.
BERG: Maybe the only person who could hold up the leader of the free world, a former leader of the free world.
PRESTON: Right.
BLITZER: They're flying back to Washington.
They've landed now back here at Andrews, Joint Base Andrews as it's called.
Very quickly on this legislation that the president vetoed this 9/11 legislation, allows victim's families of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia. The president was badly humiliated, because both the Senate and House rejected his veto, if you will. Now, there's some movement to reconsider.
What are you hearing?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: There's definitely buyer's remorse from leaders, particularly Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, they expressed reservations before this became law. They said that they're siding with the administration's concerns that this could have ramifications, particularly for Americans overseas, opening them up to possible retaliatory lawsuits, say if the United States did a military action in the Middle East, maybe one of those countries could sue an American diplomat overseas. That's what is worrying the White House and worrying leadership and Congress.
One thing that right now we're seeing is a lot of finger pointing. Mitch McConnell saying it's the White House's fault for not communicating their concerns earlier, the White House pointing fingers back at the congressional leaders and they're trying to deal with it in the lame duck session of Congress. But rig now, there's overwhelming support for this law.
BLITZER: If this was support for the president, he's working behind the scenes, why didn't he go public, have a news conference, make a statement, warn of the dangers of this? He was silent publicly, even though behind the scenes, he and the top national security advisers were very concerned.
Just the final thought on that.
Stay with us, everyone. Be sure to remember to stay with CNN, for the one and only debate between Governor Mike Pence and Senator Tim Kaine. Our coverage of the vice presidential debate begins 4:00 p.m. Eastern Tuesday, right here on CNN.
Just ahead, we have dramatic new images from the besieged city of Aleppo in Syria, where civilians are trapped. Syrian forces are poised to move in. What can the U.S. do about this humanitarian nightmare?
And investigators search for clues to the deadly train wreck in New Jersey. Can they recover critical data from the train's recorder?
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[18:54:20] BLITZER: Tonight, federal investigators are waiting for it to be safe enough to recover important data recorders from a wrecked commuter train. A New Jersey transit train failed to stop, rammed into the Hoboken train terminal, injuring 114 people and killing a woman on the platform.
CNN's Rene Marsh is keeping track of the investigation.
Rene, authorities have just held a news conference. What did we learn?
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the NTSB has contacted all of the crew members including the New Jersey transit train engineer. But federal investigators have not yet done a thorough interview with the engineer. Also tonight, a slight wrinkle in the investigation, at issue is with one of the train's recorders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARSH (voice-over): Investigators have retrieved one of New Jersey Transit Train 1614's event recorders, but so far have not been able to download its critical data.
BELLA DINH-ZARR, NTSB VICE CHAIR: The NTSB is working with the manufacturer of the recorder to perform a download at the manufacturer's facility.
MARSH: There were two recorders on board. The one in the locomotive has been recovered, the second remains in the cab of the train. Damaged to the terminal has prevented investigators from getting their hands on the second recorder.
DINH-ZARR: It may be a day or two more before we can gain full access to the site.
MARSH: The event recorders monitor critical day point like the speed of the train, position of the throttle and if and when the brakes were applied.
Forty-eight-year-old Thomas Gallagher was the engineer at the controls. He's now out of the hospital but heavily medicated. So the NTSB has not interviewed him.
Witnesses say the passenger train never slowed as it approach the 10- mile-per-hour zone before entering the terminal. The train slammed into a bumper block, went airborne and hit the concourse.
JAMIE WEATHERHEAD-SAUL, PASSENGER: It didn't brake. We didn't feel any like gradual deceleration.
MARSH: Thirty-four-year-old Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, a wife and mother from Hoboken, was killed as she stood on the station platform. More than 100 others were injured.
The deadly crash has brought familiar train safety issues back into the spotlight. New Jersey transit does not have positive train control or PTC. That's the technology that uses GPS and sensors to monitor the speed and location of a train and automatically slows it if the engine does not act. It's still unclear though if the technology would have prevented this crash.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARSH: Well, toxicology tests are being run on the train engineers blood to test for drugs and alcohol.
Investigators are also examining his health records, his work schedule, as well as activities during the last 72 hours leading up to the crash. As for the train's event recorder, we are told it will arrive in Kentucky at the manufacture's offices tomorrow for closer analysis -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Rene, thank you. Rene Marsh reporting.
We have dramatic new video of these humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Syria.
Look at this, this month old baby had just pulled from the rubble of a four-story building that collapsed after an air strike, as others wipe blood and dirt from the baby's face, the rescuers overcome with emotion.
And estimated 3,100 civilians have been killed since Russian started air strikes to support the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's regime a year ago. And now, some 10,000 Syrian-led ground troops are expected to begin a push into the city of Aleppo.
I want to bring in our global affairs correspondent Elise Labott who's watching all of this.
This horrific situation unfolding in Aleppo. You're getting new information. The Syrian conflict is escalating.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I would say, it's unimaginable, but it's actually happening and we have some other very powerful video that we just received of an explosion. This is at the moment of the explosion. You can see the white smoke right there, and people running for cover.
We don't know what this chemical actually is. But U.S. officials do believe it's some kind of chemical, a phosphorous, maybe a napalm. And this just shows the kind of incendiary weapons being used in Aleppo right now. Bunker buster bombs. People are trying to go underground to bomb shelters, but they can't because of the bunker buster bombs by Russia and Syrian regimes.
Aleppo in such dire straits, Wolf. They are out of food. The civilians in eastern Aleppo are out of water we understand where the rebel-held areas are. And the Syrians are attacking hospitals, ambulances. It is such dire situation, Wolf, and it's only getting worse.
BLITZER: And there's pressure on the battlefield, putting an enormous amount of pressure on Secretary Kerry who's been trying to put some kind of ceasefire with the Russians.
LABOTT: Well that's right and we understand that Syrian troops are surrounding Aleppo. So, it doesn't really look like that diplomacy is working.
You know, John Kerry has been called the eternal optimist, but I have to say, Wolf, even he is running out of hope. He's been warning Russian foreign minister Lavrov that the U.S. is going to walk away from talks, this cease fire that they negotiated just about two weeks ago. It's pretty much dead.
If they don't see some action, the U.S. says it's going to walk away from talks. But, Wolf, they don't have a plan B. And this is why Secretary Kerry really reluctant to pull the plug. There's a lot of discussion of some type of options that they could do, sanctions, arming the allies. There's nothing really they could do, and just evidenced by conversation Secretary Kerry had with Syrian rebels the other day. He said, look, I fought to use force and I lost -- Wolf. Really frustrated secretary right now.
BLITZER: You can only imagine, we saw that image of that little month old baby, you can imagine what else is going on there. Horrific situation.
Elise, thanks very much for that report. Elise Labott reporting for us.
That's it for me. Thanks for watching.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
