Return to Transcripts main page
The Situation Room
Trump Apologizes After Lewd Conversation Leaks; Trump Caught Using Vulgar Language About Women; Hurricane Matthew Brings Dangerous Storm Surge Flooding; Aired 5-6p ET
Aired October 07, 2016 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRISTOL: -- hey, why is Hillary Clinton lecturing her (ph). She should let this story go on its own. And the key, if I were running the Clinton campaign, step out of it and let the media ask Paul Ryan, who's a really decent person and must be horrified by this, and Mike Pence what they think about this.
[17:00:15] TAPPER: All right. Bill Kristol, Kirsten Powers, thanks so much.
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. Rising water. Streets are flooding as Hurricane Matthew brings a dangerous storm surge that could top nine feet in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Florida's governor warns the worst is yet to come.
In the dark. More than a million people are without power in Florida, and the storm is still knocking down power lines as it grinds its way north. Millions of people still in its path.
And breaking right now: lewd and lascivious. Donald Trump caught on tape, bragging in very vulgar language about groping women, saying, quote, "When you're a star, they let you do it." Could this ten-year- old tape tank his campaign?
We want to welcome our voters 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: Tonight two breaking stories. Hurricane Matthew is heading north, punishing the Florida coast with powerful winds and heavy rains as it crawls up the coast. The storm surge danger is evident right now in Jacksonville, Florida, where water is running through the streets.
Georgia and South Carolina are bracing for similar scenes, and President Obama has just signed an emergency declaration for North Carolina.
The storm is packing winds of 115 miles an hour. It's already left more than a million people without power in Florida alone. And the biggest worry: those powerful storm surges that may top nine feet. But we begin tonight with a seismic jolt in the campaign of Donald
Trump, a lewd and vulgar tape of Trump bragging about his efforts to kiss, grope and have sex with women. That hot mike moment is ten years old, but Trump is already rushing to try to head off damage.
Our correspondents are in the storm zone. They're standing by to cover all of that, plus all of the political developments, as well. But let's begin with the bombshell political news right now.
A newly-leaked and extremely lewd conversation involving Donald Trump. It's so explosive, Trump already is apologizing. Let's bring in our own Jim Acosta.
Jim, tell us about this tape.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Wolf. We should point out to our viewers from the very get-go that this video is very offensive. It was released by "The Washington Post" just within the last hour or so.
It shows Donald Trump on a hot microphone back in 2005. He was being interviewed by the TV show "Access Hollywood" with Billy Bush. And during this interview, during some outtake moments, Donald Trump is caught on tape talking about what it's like trying to seduce women as a celebrity. And we should remind our viewers one more time the material they're about to watch is highly offensive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it.
BILLY BUSH, "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD": Whoa.
TRUMP: And I did try and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her. She was married.
BUSH: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TRUMP: No, Nancy. This was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I'll show you where they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't get there. And she was married.
And all of a sudden I see her. She's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's the girl hot as shit in the purple.
TRUMP: Whoa. Whoa!
BUSH: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man.
Wait, wait, you've got to look to set this up.
TRUMP: Oh, you are a piece of work.
BUSH: You've got to get this up.
TRUMP: You and I will walk in.
Maybe it's a different woman.
BUSH: Better not be.
No, it's her.
TRUMP: Yes, it's her, with the gold. I've got to eat some Tic-Tacs just in case I start kissing her. I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I start kissing them just like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.
BUSH: All I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: Looks good.
BUSH: Come on, Shorty.
TRUMP: Oh, nice legs.
BUSH: Get out of the way, honey. That's good legs. Go ahead.
TRUMP: It's always good if you don't fall out of the bus like Ford, Gerald Ford, remember?
BUSH: Down below. Pull the handle.
[17:05:01] TRUMP: Hello. How are you. Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you. Nice to meet you.
TRUMP: Terrific. Terrific. You know Billy Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?
BUSH: Nice to see you. How you doing, Ariane?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doing very well, thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We're ready. Let's go. Make me a soap star.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Donald? He just got off the bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You like a little hug, darling?
TRUMP: Yes, absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And just to underline how serious this video is, the Trump campaign released a statement from Donald Trump moments after this video was revealed by "The Washington Post." Putting it up onscreen. It says, "This was locker room-banter," according to Donald Trump, "a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course. Not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."
Wolf, we should also point out Hillary Clinton put out a tweet just a few moments ago, saying, quote, "This is horrific. We can't allow this man to become president."
And Wolf, I think just to stress once again how serious this is being taken inside the Trump campaign, this is the first time I can recall -- any of us can recall -- Donald Trump using the words "I apologize," although he did add the couching phrase there, "If anyone was offended." And I think we're all going to be hearing shortly from our Republican sources about this. I heard from one GOP donor just in the last several minutes, quote, "This is brutal. He is toast."
I imagine that will be an opinion shared by other Republicans as the hours go on, Wolf.
BLITZER: It's a huge development, obviously. What they used to call an October surprise, potentially, as well.
ACOSTA: A big one.
BLITZER: David Chalian, you're our political director. Give us some perspective on this bombshell.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, I want to underline something that Jim just said there, Wolf, which is that you understood how big this was on the Richter scale, because Donald Trump in a statement said the words, "I apologize." Even with the caveat, he doesn't do that. You know that is then seen inside the Trump campaign as a serious problem.
And now I think that the question that really lingers over the campaign is how do you recover from this, if at all. Can you recover from this? And now they're going to have to put together a plan here for what to do in these final 31, 32 days in order to get back from this.
Because Wolf, it's -- you have to remember where we are in the context of Donald Trump in this race. The question about the Trump candidacy that did not get resolved in that first debate is that a majority of Americans still think he doesn't have the right temperament or fit for the Oval Office. He's trying -- his core mission has been trying to solve that problem for voters and express to them that he is. And this obviously completely undercuts any effort of that. That's what's so damaging. I think it is safe to say that, of all the controversial things that
Donald Trump has said throughout this entire campaign, these words on audiotape, on a hot mike are the least presidential things he's said. And I just think that that makes trying to sell yourself to voters who are still questioning your fitness for the office very, very difficult.
BLITZER: Dana Bash, does it make any difference these words were caught on a tape ten, eleven years ago in 2005, when he was a private citizen, he was a showbiz kind of guy?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I mean, look, if he -- if these were words that he said in the past year plus, forget it. I mean, it would be completely game over.
But what I thought -- where I thought you were going with that is that, you know, we've heard of things that he has said but not actually heard him say the words, like we do on this audiotape. And it is quite different to actually hear it come out of his mouth, and vulgar words that we hear over and over again in that audiotape.
And just to sort of ducktail on what David was saying about the question of whether he can expand beyond his base, remember: this is about women. This is about whether or not he can be palatable to women and, frankly, beyond women, men who also find this kind of discussion vulgar and way over the line.
Forget about presidential. Not something that you would want your friend to say. Or your uncle. Or your father. You know, anybody who you're in close proximity with. It's just not the way most people think, you know, and certainly don't -- don't speak that way, unless they are, as you said in the locker room, and maybe they're 13 or 14 years old, and they're just learning about things like this.
ACOSTA: It transcends politics.
BASH: It totally transcends politics. That's exactly right. Then you add in the layer of the fact that it is women, suburban women in the key states like Ohio, like Pennsylvania and so forth, that he has needed to bring on, you know, it's very -- it's very damaging, I think.
Having said all that, this is Donald Trump. He was the guy who did Miss Universe, who was -- you know, appeared in Playboy videos, who you know, this was his persona to be kind of the man about town. And it is possible -- I don't think it's probable -- but it is possible for some of those persuadable voters to say tell us something we don't know about Donald Trump.
BLITZER: Yes. And this comes only, what, two days, Brianna Keilar, before the second presidential debate with Hillary Clinton. It's certainly raising the stakes enormously right now.
[17:10:08] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to imagine how this doesn't come up. And part of the problem for Donald Trump with this, this just -- this does go farther than anything we've heard Donald Trump say in terms of what is considered socially acceptable behavior of speech. He has dismissed some of his past comments about women saying, "You know what? That was entertainment. No one respects women more than I do." And so he sort of tried to reassure people that, in private moments, he's very respectful. Well, this is a private moment, and you hear how he speaks.
And then the other issue with it, especially something that I think could motivate young people, especially young people maybe for Hillary Clinton, because they're motivated against Donald Trump, is that he's condoning forcible advances on women, whether they are wanted or unwanted.
So this isn't just a matter of using slang term for a woman's private parts or using words that are derogatory toward women. It's about him saying, you know, "I'm attracted to beautiful women," and then hebasically says, "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."
BASH: That's the key.
KEILAR: "Grab them by the" fill in the blank. By their private parts. I mean, that's -- that's a big issue for Donald Trump. This goes beyond.
BASH: Because it -- because it totally undermines what he has said so many times on the campaign trail that you've heard him say over and over again: "I have nothing but the greatest respect for women. I put them at the highest positions in my company. Look at my daughter and look how I've made sure that she" -- which is all, you know, true. And fine. But the idea of him saying privately that he forces himself on a woman undermines that.
ACOSTA: Yes, and just the other day Donald Trump was saying to a local station -- I believe it was in Nevada -- "Well, you know, I was I in the entertainment business, so I was said some things that you wouldn't normally say as a politician in the past." My guess is, Wolf, is he will use that defense when he's explaining this.
But as they were saying over at the White House the other day, Josh Earnest was saying this. And we've heard this from both sides, from both political parties: "Who do you want as your president?" The president is kind of a star, as well. And this is not how a president of the United States behaves at all.
BASH: Can I just add one quick thing? You talked about the debate. This is only Friday. The next 48 hours is an eternity, especially when you have something as explosive as this. It's really hard to imagine that he's not going to come out...
ACOSTA: He's supposed to be on stage with Paul Ryan tomorrow.
BASH: Well, there's that, but also, in some way, shape or form try to lower the temperature on this before it's on the debate stage with tens of millions of people.
BLITZER: I'm sure they're thinking of doing something. They've got to do something.
David Chalian, over the past year plus, we've often heard media pundits suggest that something that Trump said is going to disqualify him. So far nothing has disqualified him.
How does he get over this?
CHALIAN: Yes, Wolf, it's a good point to bring up. I would just suggest, though, that we're at a different moment in Trump's candidacy. He's right now on a downward trajectory that he needs to halt. So it's not as if he's racking up victories on primary and caucus nights the way he was during the primaries and able to ride some momentum.
He is actually searching for how to find a floor to stop a slide that's been clear in the polls, both nationally and in many battleground states. So he's in a different moment, where controversy may not play exactly as it did during the Republican primaries.
But it is a good cautionary vote. I'm not sure he loses a ton of votes over something like this anymore. And to Dana's point, I think a lot of this is sort of expected behavior almost from Donald Trump now for a lot of voters.
But there's still voters. There's still a slice of voters who are looking to make an assessment. And there's no way that this can play favorably for Donald Trump as those voters are making an assessment about fitness for office.
I'll also say that we've seen him say -- and I know he's said he's not going to bring up Bill Clinton at the debate Sunday night. He said that to "The New York Post" this week. But we know that he has time and again used this line of Hillary Clinton as an enabler during the Clinton years about the women and Bill Clinton's infidelities and that that might be a line of attack against her. I think he now also just loses the ability to try and make that a line of attack, which clearly he and his campaign have done several times throughout this -- throughout this campaign.
BLITZER: All right, David and everybody else, everyone stay with us. There are a lot of viewers who are just tuning in. I'm going to play the audiotape one more time. Remember, there's vulgar words there. Listen to this, and then we'll continue our analysis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it.
BUSH: Whoa.
TRUMP: I did try and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her. She was married.
BUSH: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TRUMP: No, Nancy. This was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I'll show you where they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't get there. And she was married.
[17:15:07] And all of a sudden I see her. She's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's your girl hot as shit in the purple.
TRUMP: Whoa. Whoa!
BUSH: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man.
Wait, wait, you've got to look to set this up.
TRUMP: Oh, you are a piece of work.
BUSH: You've got to get this up.
TRUMP: You and I will walk in.
Maybe it's a different woman.
BUSH: Better not be.
No, it's her.
TRUMP: Yes, it's her, with the gold. I've got to eat some Tic-Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.
BUSH: Those legs. All I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: Looks good.
BUSH: Come on, Shorty.
TRUMP: Oh, nice legs.
BUSH: Get out of the way, honey. That's good legs. Go ahead.
TRUMP: It's always good if you don't fall out of the bus like Ford, Gerald Ford, remember?
BUSH: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello. How are you. Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you. Nice to meet you.
TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific. Terrific. You know Billy Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?
BUSH: Nice to see you. How you doing, Ariane?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doing very well, thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We're ready. Let's go. Make me a soap star.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Donald? He just got off the bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You like a little hug, darling?
TRUMP: Yes, absolutely. Melania said this was OK. She said this was OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: So that -- Jim Acosta, you've been covering him from the very beginning. Will this kill his campaign?
ACOSTA: You know, I think this could be it. I mean, I think this is one of moments that come in a campaign. And I think this far exceeds what happened with Mitt Romney's "47 percent" moment. This is one of those moments that just absolutely can sink a campaign.
And as Dana was saying earlier, Donald Trump has had a problem with women voters throughout this process. If you're a female voter in Pennsylvania or Ohio, and you're sitting on the fence and you're undecided, and you're thinking, you know, maybe you don't like Hillary Clinton so maybe you'll vote for Donald Trump, this is just one of those moments that is just going to give somebody a tremendous amount of pause.
And for this to happen two days before this rematch debate with Hillary Clinton. This was supposed to be Donald Trump's moment to redeem himself. She has used the term "basket of deplorables." There isn't much that is more deplorable than this. I mean, this is the exact definition of deplorable. He is in his own basket of deplorables right now.
BLITZER: He did say, though, that compared to what he heard Bill Clinton say on the golf course, this was modest. You heard him in that statement he released, when he sort of apologized.
BASH: OK. Look, he might be right about that. But it doesn't matter. Bill Clinton has already been president. He's not running for president now.
KEILAR: And we don't have the tape of him.
BASH: And we don't have a tape, and we're not hearing it and voters aren't hearing it. And it's not Hillary Clinton. He's running against Hillary Clinton not Bill Clinton. And that's a big difference that, you know, everybody needs to keep in mind right now.
ACOSTA: And keep in mind -- go ahead, Brianna.
CHALIAN: As our colleague Anderson Cooper said...
KEILAR: And looking at the -- sorry David.
CHALIAN: I was just going to say. to that point, as our colleague Anderson Cooper said to Donald Trump, you know, quite frankly that sounds like the excuse of a five-year-old, as well.
KEILAR: And you look at the apology. I mean, a couple of points here. So he -- you said sort of apologized, which is -- that's very accurate, because he attributes it to locker-room banter. I mean, the proper apology.
BLITZER: Let me read the statement that he released. He said this. And we can put it up on the screen. Quote, "This was locker-room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course, not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."
KEILAR: So a couple points. He tries to dismiss it as locker-room banter, which is not an effective way to apologize. And then he tries to push it away to somebody else, which is sort of typical Donald Trump. But in a normal apology, that would not be appropriate. And then the way he ends it with, "I apologize if anyone was offended." The lack of awareness there. "If anyone was offended"? I mean, certainly people were -- people are going to be offended by this.
And when you say -- and I think we all know this, because I'm sure -- I hope all of us have apologized to someone in our lives -- when you say, "I'm sorry if I offended you," it diminishes the effectiveness of your apology.
But just talking strategy here, the Clinton campaign strategy when it comes to Donald Trump is to hold him to where he is, which is about at nationally 40 percent. You look at these battleground states, that's really what's more important. But hold him where he is. Because they know that, once people go to Donald Trump -- this is what they say -- they're not coming back. So hold him.
[17:20:09] I mean, he's basically holding himself by doing something like this. It's going to be a -- he needs -- at this point in time when he's the one on the ropes, he needs to be able to get every last vote that he can in these battleground states; and this gets in his way of doing that. Just talking strategy, not about how offensive what he said was.
ACOSTA: And the question, I think, becomes does the cumulative effect finally crush Donald Trump? I mean, just remember, in the last few weeks we've been talking about Roger Ailes and all of his problems over at FOX News and how he's been informally advising this candidate.
Putting that aside, talking about Mexican immigrants coming into the country as rapists and criminals; describing John McCain as not a war hero; a Mexican-American judge is not capable of adjudicating the Trump University case because of his heritage; the Miss University -- excuse me, the Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, that whole episode. It just becomes this snowball effect. And you just have to wonder how much is too much? Donald Trump has defied gravity throughout this cycle, but at some point, gravity is a factor he's going to have to deal with, and it seems to be pulling him down right now.
BASH: And you know what I'm thinking about as we're sitting here talking? Mike Pence, who is genuinely, legitimately, a very religious Christian conservative. He always says he's a Christian before conservative and Republican, and I don't know anybody who've ever heard him say anything more than "gosh," never mind...
KEILAR: He said the "S-H" word the other day.
BASH: Well, that's debatable. That's debatable.
KEILAR: OK. All right.
BASH: But regardless, that was why it was potentially such big news.
KEILAR: Yes, did he really say it?
BASH: He is -- and he is not alone. I mean, Trump did OK with evangelicals in the primaries, maybe because who he was, was kind of baked in, and they were just much more about going against Washington than what they were traditionally mobilized for, which is somebody who is a lot like them.
But again, hearing Donald Trump say this, if you're a voter -- and again I just want to know what Mike Pence is thinking, somebody who is a true Christian conservative Republican.
BLITZER: David, he's supposed to be in Wisconsin tomorrow with the chairman of the Republican Party, the speaker of the House, both of whom are from Wisconsin, the Republican senator from Wisconsin, the Republican governor of Wisconsin. This make that event a little awkward, wouldn't you say?
CHALIAN: To say the least. And of course, it's just one of a string of sometimes awkward dances between the Republican Party establishment and Donald Trump throughout this campaign.
But now I do think this question hangs over Reince Priebus and Paul Ryan and Scott Walker, which is are you comfortable appearing with Donald Trump on stage after this? Do you bolster -- do you fortify yourself and bolster his candidacy and link arms to weather this together? Or do we start seeing some of the establishment really peeling away?
Remember those down-ballot races also. We've already seen nervous Republicans that Donald Trump's current trajectory in the race is making them sort of really try to step away from him as best he can to try save their Republican majority in the Senate.
This is going to be new fodder for that. If you thought you were seeing hang-wringing before among Republicans, you're going to see a whole new level of it after these comments now are out in the public.
BLITZER: All right. Everyone stay with us. We're going to continue to follow the breaking political news. And it's major breaking political news.
Also, the breaking news on Hurricane Matthew, where it is right now, where it's heading. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:27:58] BLITZER: We're following two breaking stories right now. Hurricane Matthew is heading north, punishing the Florida coast with powerful winds and heavy rains as it crawls up the coast. The storm is packing winds of 110 miles an hour. It's already left more than a million people without power in Florida alone.
And the biggest worry: those powerful storm surges may top nine feet. Georgia and South Carolina bracing for similar scenes. And President Obama has just signed an emergency declaration for North Carolina. We'll have much more on this coming up this hour.
Also breaking right now, a newly-leaked and extremely vulgar conversation involving Donald Trump. It's so explosive Trump already has issued a written apology of sorts.
We're back with our political experts. But first, once again, for viewers who have not heard this audio tape, it is very, very graphic, very disturbing, contains vulgar language. I'll play it one more time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it.
BUSH: Whoa.
TRUMP: And I did try and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her. She was married.
BUSH: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TRUMP: No, Nancy. This was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I'll show you where they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't get there. And she was married.
And all of a sudden I see her. She's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's the girl hot as shit in the purple.
TRUMP: Whoa. Whoa!
BUSH: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man.
Wait, wait, you've got to look to set this up.
TRUMP: Oh, you are a piece of work.
BUSH: You've got to get this up.
TRUMP: You and I will walk in.
Maybe it's a different woman.
BUSH: Better not be.
No, it's her.
TRUMP: Yes, it's her, with the gold. I've got to eat some Tic-Tacs just in case I start kissing her.
[17:30:04] You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you start, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BILLY BUSH, FORMER ACCESS HOLLYWOOD HOST: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the pussy. I can do anything.
BUSH: Yes, those legs. All I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: Looks good.
BUSH: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Oh, nice legs, huh?
BUSH: Get out of the way, honey.
TRUMP: Those good legs.
BUSH: Go ahead.
TRUMP: It's 's always good if you don't fall out of the bus. Like Ford. Gerald Ford, remember?
BUSH: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello. How are you? Hi.
ARIANNE ZUCKER, ACTRESS: Hi, Mr. Trump. How are you?
TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific.
ZUCKER: Nice to meet you.
TRUMP: Terrific. You know Billy Bush?
ZUCKER: How are you?
BUSH: Hello. Nice to see you. How are you doing, Arianne?
ZUCKER: I'm doing very well, thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We're ready. Let's go. Make me a soap star.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Donald. He just got off the bus.
ZUCKER: Would you like a little hug, darling?
TRUMP: OK. Absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Bushy? Just a little hug for the Bushy?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Now let me get you the reaction now, the statement from Donald J. Trump. He issued this statement, we'll put it up on the screen.
"This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course. Not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."
And then just moments ago Hillary Clinton issuing this statement on Twitter, "This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president." That's the statement from Hillary Clinton.
David Chalian is our political director. So, David, we're -- we're getting a lot more reaction in. I know this is making a lot of Trump supporters, Republicans, pretty uncomfortable right now especially with only, what, 30-plus days until the election. Two days before the second presidential debate.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And remember, Wolf, where we are in relationship between the Republican Party and Donald Trump. It has not been an easy marriage. So a lot of the people who are working on this campaign, who are working out in the field in battleground states, loyal Republicans, supporting the Republican nominee, even though for many of them it was not their first choice in the nomination process.
Now it just makes sense that foundation isn't as strong there. So what you see in my phone right now from a lot of Republican operatives is just like hand-in-hand trying to figure out how they are going to wrap their brains around this bombshell into the election, and again for many of them those that have worked on presidential campaigns for several cycles, this is not someone that they always wanted to sort of walk through fire for.
Now his supporters, his voters, clearly are that kind of loyal to Donald Trump. They have that kind of loyalty but in terms of the Republican operative world, the hand ringing is really intense right now. BLITZER: It certainly is. So Jackie Kucinich is with us as well.
Jackie, when you heard this tape, what was your immediate reaction as someone who has covered the Democrats and the Republicans this presidential contest?
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, we talk a lot about false outrage, this is outrageous. To have a presidential contender, someone who's a Republican nominee, speaking like this. It's not only women that will be offended by this. It's men who know women, men who have seen a woman once. This is not how people talk. It's not how people behave. And it's just -- it's not acceptable and his non- apology really doesn't cut it.
BLITZER: When you say non-apology, the non-apology is, I apologize if anyone was offended. And your thought was?
KUCINICH: Well, that's not an apology. That's not, I'm sorry. That's like, if you were offended by that, I guess -- I'm sorry about that, that you're offended, not that you're sorry about what you said. And he's done this before and other -- Donald Trump doesn't apologize. He sort of -- sort of tries -- he sounds like he's apologizing but that's not an apology.
BLITZER: We've heard some vulgar words from him, comments about women. Some of those are audio tapes from the "Howard Stern" show over the years.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.
BLITZER: He was a frequent guest on Howard Stern's radio show. But why is this different?
ACOSTA: And keep in mind, the audio that you just mentioned from Howard Stern and other places, they've been turned into Hillary Clinton campaign ads. They're running in swing states across the country. This far exceeds anything that the Clinton campaign has put into a TV ad, going after Donald Trump. This is way worse than what he said about Rosie O'Donnell that Hillary Clinton brought up during the last presidential debate.
This is -- this is the bottom of the barrel. And to have a presidential candidate engage in this kind of language, yes, it was a hot mic moment, he was caught on tape, he didn't intend to be talking about this publicly, and yes, he said and his campaign has said that he was an entertainer these many years ago, he wasn't running for president back then. There is just no explaining any of this behavior. It is just unconscionable. And it's not something that really a lot of people are going to want to tolerate in a presidential candidate.
Having said that, Wolf, one of the things that Donald Trump has going for him out on the campaign trail is media scrutiny.
[17:35:03] He often likes to turn to us during these campaign events and says there's the disgusting media. The dishonest media. There's nothing that we can do to manipulate or change the information here. People can just watch this video and be repulsed. It is repugnant. There's just no other way to describe this behavior.
BLITZER: Brianna, Mike Pence, the vice presidential running mate of Donald Trump, he's in Ohio right now. He's about to speak in Ohio before a rally there. We're going to monitor this, see if he says anything about this. But as several have already pointed out, Mike Pence is a very, very religious Christian, and I'm sure he is offended when he hears this kind of talk on this audio tape.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a gee whiz squeaky clean kind of guy. We've covered him on Capitol Hill and that's just who he is. You know, I think more than even a lot of Republicans. He is known in Republican circles as being that golly gee whiz squeaky clean kind of guy. So I think we're going to see how Mike Pence responds. You've seen him back Donald Trump up on some things. Right? Something that he has defended. What Donald Trump has said about Vladimir Putin, for instance, which I think some were surprised that he said that Vladimir Putin was a stronger leader than President Obama.
But also I think, I wonder about Paul Ryan. He's supposed to rally with him tomorrow in Wisconsin, right?
BLITZER: Yes.
KEILAR: And I'm right now trying to figure out what's going on with that. I put in inquiries and I'm trying to see if that's going to continue because the idea that the speaker of the House who almost already grudgingly is going along with this appearance with Donald Trump on his home turf is going to, you know, not even 24 hours after this comes down going to stand with him is sort of unbelievable.
BLITZER: We're showing a video -- live pictures coming in from Rossburg, Ohio, right now. Mike Pence is being introduced over there right now. We're going to monitor this and see if Mike Pence says anything about this.
You know what, as he walks out, Mike Pence, he's going to thanking a few people. I wanted to see if he says anything about this.
But it's a sensitive moment, David Chalian, for Mike Pence especially coming off what was widely seen as a successful vice presidential debate against Tim Kaine. Now he's got to deal with this. I think it's fair to say this is a political crisis.
CHALIAN: Wolf, there's no doubt that it's a political crisis. And listen, Mike Pence is inextricably linked now with Donald Trump in this campaign and he's made that clear. So I don't -- I don't think that will be our first indication. I'd be surprised if he breaks with him in some significant way. He may, you know, reassert the Trump apology/non-apology statement. But I think Brianna is right here to look at that Paul Ryan event tomorrow.
That is going to tell us everything. The Republican establishment has basically 24 hours now to figure out, are we cutting loose from Donald Trump and from this presidential campaign right now, or are we still linking arms? Because that is a day before the next presidential debate. We've got 30 days to go. They've got to look down-ballot and see what the potential effects of this might be on the party across the board, and they're going to have to come to a fast conclusion.
I think that is going to give us a very big clue how this last month of the campaign is going to play out, what Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus decides to do tomorrow.
BLITZER: All right. Stand by. Everyone, stand by. Mike Pence now speaking in Rossburg, Ohio, a key battleground state. We're going to monitor what he's saying. We'll see if he even gets close to addressing this latest development, this bombshell development involving Donald Trump.
We're also going to come back and update you on the other breaking news we're following right now. Hurricane Matthew is moving up the Florida coast towards Georgia and South Carolina. Stay with us, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:43:23] BLITZER: Our breaking news, Hurricane Matthew is not finish with Florida yet, slamming the state with powerful winds, heavy rain, and flooding. The governor warning that the worse may still lie ahead. While Georgia and the Carolinas are next in line.
CNN's Victor Blackwell is joining us from Jacksonville, Florida, right now.
Victor, flooding is a major concern there, I understand. What's the latest?
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A major concern here. And just a few hundred feet from me, I can see a flooded parking lot here as the storm surge and the continued rain are doing exactly what the forecasters expected that they would. I can tell you that this storm is now category 2, according to the 5:00 advisory, but the sustained miles per hour of the winds, 110 miles per hour still very strong. One mile per hour greater. It would still be a category 3. So don't take any -- people at home, don't take any false confidence or security in this now being a category 2 because the water is the major concern here.
We also saw from the National Weather Service clocking of the strongest winds, the peak winds here in Jacksonville in the Port Caroline area. 81-mile-per-hour gusts category one strength wind that came through here, as this storm is now headed by.
Governor Rick Scott has now said that a million people, a million homes across this state are without power. 170,000 of those customers here in Jacksonville alone. You're seeing the wind pick up now. That storm surge here in the St. John's River flooding. Local communities, small communities, that are very low lying, and we know from our meteorologist out of Jacksonville Beach, the storm surge, five to nine feet. So still a serious concern there. [17:45:06] There was a mandatory evacuation there at the beaches.
Some people left, others stayed. But we are hearing from Jacksonville sheriff's office a warning do not go outside until you hear a clear all-clear from the emergency operation center that flash flood warnings still in effect until 6:15 from the national weather service -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Victor. Thank you. We'll stay in close touch. Victor Blackwell, in Jacksonville.
I want to get an update right now on the forecast for this very, very dangerous storm. Our meteorologist Tom Sater is at the CNN Weather Center.
What is the latest, Tom?
TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, as Victor mentioned, Wolf, the last advisory from the National Weather Service dropped the sustained winds from 115 to 110. It's category 2. But don't let that disturb you in a greater way. It's not like it's a 3 or 4. But we've only felt category 1 or 2 damage along the coast so it looks like with this forward momentum, we're still going to see a possible land full. We have not had that. We've been extremely lucky.
Already in Jacksonville, a record over five-foot storm surge. To put it in context, Katrina with 27. Battery Park with Sandy was 14 but it's all about the layout of the land. It's not over with. Possible landfall somewhere between Savannah and Charleston. If that forward momentum can outrun the curvature of the winds. That one is spinning out in a way. So it's a weekend event still through Saturday, through Sunday. Closer inspection now, this is a fear yesterday as it approaches on its angle to the coast line of Georgia, and North Carolina, South Carolina, that we would most likely see a tornado watch posted.
Very good news today, though, Wolf, for viewers who haven't been with us since yesterday. 20 to 25 miles staying off the shore. That's the difference between a category 3 or 4 storm, or what was felt like a 1 or 2. It's the difference between eight million without power, one million without power. It's the difference between catastrophic damage, moderate to severe damage.
But more importantly, Wolf, if you look at this, it's the difference between several hundred million dollars in damage as opposed to a few billion. So it's nice to take that off the table.
Here's our tornado watch, we've had a few of them already today. That will continue to extend itself towards the east-northeast. But still the storm surge. This is a storm about water. Water is coming in from the ocean, of course, and the storm surge and the amount that's been falling from the skies. But we've been extremely lucky in the last couple of hours.
BLITZER: Tom Sater, thanks very much.
Up next, we're following the breaking news on the storm, this hurricane. We're also following the hour's breaking political news, a newly leaked audio tape in which Donald Trump brags about trying to have sex with a married woman and much more.
This is so explosive Donald Trump already is apologizing to anyone who is offended.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:52:22] BLITZER: Our breaking news. Hurricane Matthew right now lashing Florida with fierce winds and heavy rain, bringing dangerous storm surges, flooding as it moves up the southeast coast.
CNN's Sara Sidner joining us from Daytona Beach right now. So what's it like there, Sara?
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The storm has moved on but we are seeing some damage now. We're still getting a bit of rain, a little bit of wind. But this is some of the damage from this area. We are on A1A Beachfront Avenue here in Daytona Beach. This is from a roof, and then behind us where we've all been saying at the Hilton, you'll notice that there is quite a bit of damage there where things have been ripped off because the winds really did get quite high here for a bit this afternoon.
And that was the worst of it. It really has pushed on. We're not seeing as much wind and certainly not as much rain, but there's some damage here along the boardwalk, as well. And some businesses are going to have quite a bit to do when they're allowed back. They're really trying to still keep people off of the streets here. The police have been patrolling constantly. We know that all of the officers, the police chief said we're on duty starting at -- as soon as they could get out here they started patrolling.
And they're trying to make sure that people still stay off the roads for a while until they can deal with things like power. Almost this entire county is out of power, including the hotels here on A1A. A lot of them don't have power anymore, even the generator is having problems because of the wind and the rain, Wolf.
So the situation here, much better than it was this afternoon. Huge amounts of wind and rain kind of pushing off. A lot of people happy to see it go. We've seen just three or four people kind of walking up and down the streets to kind of assess what's going on. We do know, though, that a business owner that we talked to before stayed the night. He's OK. His business will reopen on Saturday, he says -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Let's hope all those businesses open sooner rather than later.
Sara, thanks so much for that update.
Coming up, Donald Trump caught on a 10-year-old video and audio tape bragging in very vulgar language about groping women, saying when you're a star they let you do it. Can this -- the release of this tape tank his campaign? [17:54:40]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Happening now, breaking news, caught on tape. Donald Trump apologizes after an old audio recording emerges of the GOP candidate engaged in a shockingly lewd and profanity laced conversation about women. Trump brags about groping and seducing them, citing what he calls his star status. How deep is the damage to his campaign?
And deadly storm, Hurricane Matthew inundates parts of the Florida coast with a wall of water. Jacksonville now getting the brunt of the storm, bracing for a life threatening surge of up to nine feet. How much damage will the city suffer?
We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world I'm Wolf Blitzer, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
