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Ex-Intel Officials: Russia Trying to Sway Election for Trump; Two More Women Accuse Trump Of Sexual Assault; Woman In 2005 Trump Video Speaks With CNN. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired October 14, 2016 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(HEADLINES)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
The breaking news tonight, new accusations against Donald Trump of sexual assault. Two more women have come forward claiming he groped them, including a former contestant on Trump's reality show "The Apprentice."
Summer Zervos says Trump kissed and touched her during a business dinner in 2007. Another woman, Kristen Anderson, tells the "Washington Post," Trump reached up her skirt and groped her in a New York City bar in the early 1990s. CNN has not verified the claims of the accusers.
Even as these new allegations were coming out, Trump was dismissing other women's claims of assault as all horrible lies. He denied having ever met any of the previous accusers saying of one of them, quote, "She would not be my first choice."
All of this is coming just five days before Trump's final debate with Hillary Clinton. They face off this coming Wednesday in Las Vegas. We're covering all of that.
Much more this hour with our guests, including Trump supporter, Republican Congressman Ted Gilho. Our correspondents and expert analysts are also standing by.
Let's begin with our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. Jim, Trump says he's being viciously attacked with lies and smears. What's the latest?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, at this very moment, the Trump campaign is putting out statements pushing back on these accusations and the candidate himself is questioning the credibility of his accusers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): No apologies and no admissions of guilt from Donald Trump, who was still angrily denying he's ever sexually assaulted women. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I look on television, I think it's a disgusting thing, and it's being pushed. They have no witnesses. There's nobody around. They just come out. Some are doing it for probably a little fame. Phony accusers come out less than a month before one of the most important elections in the history of our country.
ACOSTA: But every day it seems Trump faces more accusations. The latest, Summer Zervos, who appeared in a news conference with Attorney Gloria Allred to say she was abused by the real estate tycoon after she was featured on Trump's hit TV show "The Apprentice."
SUMMER ZERVOS, TRUMP ACCUSER, FORMER "APPRENTICE" CONTESTANT: He came to me and started kissing me open mouth. He put me in an embrace, and I tried to push him away. I pushed his chest, put space between us, and I said come on, man, get real. He repeated my words back to me, get real, as he begin thrusting his genitals.
ACOSTA: Another accuser, Kristin Anderson, tells the "Washington Post" Trump reached up her skirt and groped her back in the '90s.
KRISTIN ANDERSON, TRUMP ACCUSER: He did touch my vagina through my underwear.
ACOSTA: Both women say they came forward after seeing Trump bragged about grabbing women's genitals in a hot mic moment caught on camera. And after other women surfaced to share their stories of alleged abuse as Jessica Leeds did on "AC360."
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": Did he actually kiss you?
JESSICA LEEDS, TRUMP ACCUSER: Yes, yes.
COOPER: On the face or on the lips?
LEEDS: Wherever he could find a landing spot, yes.
ANDERSON: After that, I was like, OK, you know what? Let me just back the girls up, you know? That's not OK.
ACOSTA: Trump says Anderson's account is false.
TRUMP: One came out recently where I was sitting alone in some club. I really don't sit alone that much. I don't think I sit alone myself. And then I went wow, it's like unbelievable.
ACOSTA: And he cast doubts on Leeds' story by suggesting she wasn't attractive enough for him to assault her.
TRUMP: I was in Donald Trump in 1980. I was sitting with him on an airplane and he went after me on the plane. Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.
ACOSTA: Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, says he has faith in the man at the top of the ticket. [18:05:03]GOVERNOR MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has asserted that all of these recent, unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false and I do believe him.
ACOSTA: And Pence politely pushed back on First Lady Michelle Obama, who denounced Trump's behavior.
FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA: I can't believe that I'm saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women.
PENCE: I have a lot of respect for the first lady and the job that she's done for the American people over the last 7-1/2 years. But I don't understand the basis of her claim.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And just the last several minutes, Wolf, the Trump campaign put out a statement from Donald Trump himself, denying these claims from Summer Zervos who had that press conference earlier today.
It says, quote, "I vaguely remember Ms. Zervos as one of the many contestants on "The Apprentice" over the years. To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who am as a person. It is not how I conducted my life.
In fact, Mr. Zervos continued to contact me for help, e-mailing my office on April 14th of this year asking that I visit her restaurant in California. Beyond that, the media is now creating a theatre of absurdity that threatens to tear our democratic process apart and poison the minds of the American public.
When Gloria Allred is given the same weighting on national television as the president of the United States, and unfounded accusations are treated as fact with reporters throwing due diligence and fact checking to the side in a rush to file their stories first. It's evident that we're truly living in a broken system."
Wolf, it doesn't get more plain than that. Donald Trump is fully and completely denying all of these accusations. At least the ones that are being leveled by Ms. Zervos, and we've been hearing that all day long at his events here in North Carolina. He's simply saying none of it ever happened -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jim, thanks very much. Jim Acosta reporting for us. Now let's hear more from the latest woman to accuse Trump, the former "Apprentice" contestant, Summer Zervos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SERVOS: In 2007, I was going to be in New York for a social obligation. I contacted Mr. Trump's office to see if he was available for lunch. I was informed that he could not have lunch, but he would like to meet me in his office.
When I arrived, he kissed me on the lips. I was surprised but felt that perhaps it was just his form of greeting. We sat and spoke. He was extremely complimentary.
He said that he was impressed with how I handled myself on "The Apprentice" and said he had never met anyone with my combination of being smart, attractive and with the largest set of balls as I had.
He said that he would love to have -- he said he would love to have me work for him. Mr. Trump said he would be coming to Los Angeles soon and he would contact me. I was very excited. I felt as though my dream of working for Mr. Trump might come true.
As I was about to leave, he again kissed me on the lips. This made me feel nervous and embarrassed. This is not what I wanted or expected. He asked me for my phone number and I scrawled it down with a marker.
I left hurriedly and called a friend who lived in New York because I was upset by the kiss. I also called my parents to let them what had happened. I spoke at length with my loved ones and we came to the conclusion that this was undoubtedly some form of greeting and that I should not take it as anything other than that.
Mr. Trump called early in the morning the day I returned home. He referred to me as his O.C. angel. He wanted to know who was with me at that hour. He scolded me about my penmanship because it was difficult for him to read my telephone number as I had written it for him.
Even though he called me, he concluded the call by asking me for my phone number. He then called again days later to let me know that he was coming to Los Angeles. He again called me after he had just landed in Los Angeles.
He asked me to meet him that evening at the Beverly Hills Hotel and asked me where I would like to have dinner. When I arrived, his security guard greeted me at the hotel. He walked with me to greet Mr. Trump.
I assumed we were going to a restaurant in the hotel. Instead, I was taking to a bungalow. The security guard opened the door and I went in. I was standing in the entryway.
To my left was a bedroom and I saw Mr. Trump's clothes on the bed. I did not see him, but he greeted me with "hello" in a (inaudible) voice that sounded like hello.
I thought a mistake has been made and Mr. Trump thought he was speaking to someone he was more familiar with. I walked further into the living room away from the bedroom and sat down.
[18:10:04]I waited for about 15 minutes until Mr. Trump emerged. He had his suit on. I stood up, and he came to me and started kissing me open mouthed, as he was pulling me towards him. I walked away and I sat down in a chair.
He was on the love seat across from me, and I made an attempt at conversation. He then asked me to sit next to him. I complied. He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast.
I pulled back and walked to another part of the room. He then walked up, grabbed my hand, and walked me into the bedroom. I walked out. He then turned me around and said, let's lay down and watch some tele- tele.
He put me in an embrace, and I tried to push him away. I pushed his chest to put space between us. I said come on, man, get real. He repeated, get real as he began thrusting his genitals.
He tried to kiss me again with my hand still on his chest and I said dude, you're tripping right now, attempting to make it clear, I was not interested. He said, what do you want? I said I came to have dinner. He said OK. We'll have dinner.
He acted like he was a bit angry. He pointed out that someone had delivered a fruit basket. I felt that it was to show me how important he was. As we were waiting for dinner, I sat across the room from him as far away as possible. He said I had never known love.
I did not want to discuss my personal life with him. Just before dinner arrived, he transformed into being all about business and began questioning me as though I was on a job interview.
Dinner was delivered to the bungalow. When dinner arrived, he asked me to wait in a small room. I felt that he did not want the waiter to see me. After the table was set, he beckoned me to come out. We shared a club sandwich.
The conversation then focused on the fact that I had a mortgage on my home, which I told him was in good standing. He spoke about how he was able to maneuver to get out of debt.
He told me that I need to let my house go into default and tell the bank they could take it back. He advised that the bank would then take anything to rid themselves of a problem loan.
He told me to call the bank and tell them I was leaving the keys on the table and for them to pick it up. He said that would be a mini version of what he does. He urged me not to make another payment on the home loan.
He then abruptly said he was tired and needed to go to bed and ended the conversation. He told me to meet him in the morning at his golf course in Palace Verdes. I was very conflicted with what occurred.
I wondered if the sexual behavior was a test or whether or not I had passed. Obviously he still wanted me -- obviously, he still wanted to talk to me about a job -- obviously, he still wanted to talk to me about a job, even though I had turned his sexual advances down.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Let's get some more on the breaking news. Joining us now, a Trump supporter, Republican Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida. He is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.
REP. TED YOHO (R-FL), TRUMP SUPPORTER: Sure, Wolf. Appreciate you having me on.
BLITZER: So do you believe this woman?
YOHO: You know, there's allegations are flying left and right. I don't know what to believe. I mean, this is something they sound serious, but this is something that needs to be worked out in a court of law.
We're in the middle of a presidential candidate selection for our president, our next president of the United States. And we've heard these things in the past with other presidential candidates. I think, you know, where I come from, people down here, they're tired of this.
People around the nation are tired of this. We want to focus on who is going to get us out of debt, who is going to do national security. These are serious allegations, as you brought up, but this is something I don't think needs to be worked out on national television. I think it should go into a court room and these things should be worked out that way.
BLITZER: But you wouldn't want a president to have a background of a history of this kind of sexual assault on women, would you?
YOHO: I don't want it based on allegations and I think if we go back to the Clinton era, we can rehash all this of what did happen and what we do know that happened with an intern that was 22 years of age in the oval office.
So do we really want to go there or do we want to focus on where we're at as a nation and look at the seriousness of where we're at. This next president is going to pick lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court judge, federal judges and district judges.
And when I compare Mr. Trump's platform and policies to Mrs. Clinton, there's just no comparison. When I look at immigration, she wants open borders. He wants secure borders. We can go down the litany of tests on different things like that.
So I'm going above the fray. I choose not to get into the gutter. Let's face it, this is a presidential election like we've never seen in the country in my 61 years. So you know, I think we should focus more on the issues, who is going to lead out of this because these are the candidates that we have.
BLITZER: I think you're a right. This is a presidential election like I haven't seen and you haven't seen and maybe we've never seen before. And another woman also came forward today, spoke to "The Washington Post" about a separate incident of alleged sexual assault. Listen to her story for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And I'm talking to my friend who I'm sitting to and across from on my left side. I'm very clear on this. This is the vid part for me. So the person on my right who unbeknownst to me at that time was Donald Trump put their hands up my skirt.
He did touch my vagina through my underwear. I pushed the hand away, and I got up, and I turn around and I see these eyebrows, very distinct eyebrows of Donald Trump.
And I got up and I moved and I continued to talk with my friend. And they said oh, that's Donald Trump. I was like, eww, he's gross. He just put his hand up my skirt. That's not OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: So Congressman, do you believe her?
YOHO: I don't see her. I've not talked to her, but again, being a Christian like I am, he who has not sinned cast the first stone. I think we need to raise the nation above this and I would love to see our candidates come up above this.
You know, if you look at the hot spots around the world with Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, a small country like Yemen firing on our military ships and proxies of Iran. This is a spill-out of the Iran nuclear deal.
These are things that have to be addressed and I'm more interested in who is going to deal, who is best to deal with that and have these allegations, you know, if they happened, and I'm not disputing they didn't happen.
But if they happened, why did they take so long to come out? Is this the right venue to go ahead and investigate these? And if we want to do that, I've heard these same things about President Clinton and then where does Mrs. Clinton fit in to that to cover up for him? So you know, I don't know -- I personally don't want to go down that road and --
BLITZER: But you know what, Congressman? I totally agree, the most important issues that should be on the forefront right now, the national security issues, the important domestic economic issues, but if you listen to Donald Trump's speech yesterday, he went on for about 40 minutes, 30 minutes of which were addressing these allegations, similarly this afternoon.
We had it live here on CNN. He spent most of that speech going after these women, saying look at them, suggesting they weren't even attractive enough.
And the reason this is causing such commotion out there, such a stir, Congressman, is because what he himself said about what he can do to these kinds of women in that 2005 "Access Hollywood" video. I'll play this clip to remind you.
YOHO: That's all right --
BLITZER: So he himself said in his own words what these women have now said he alleged did to them.
YOHO: Wolf, you know, we both have heard that. I'm sure, like you, I've talked to a lot of people, and I'm sure you've heard people say they've said that before, they may have said it before. I've heard women say they've said it before.
You know, I'm not condoning it. I'm not trying to defend it. I'm not trying to apologize. But what I do know is this, Mr. Trump said he did -- he said that, he admitted that. He apologized not just to his wife, to his family, to the -- anybody he offended.
He apologize basically to the woman -- or to the world. So when you think of that, that's a sign to me of a leader, I take responsibility for my actions. I'm embarrassed I did it. I mean, what else can you do --
BLITZER: Let me throw this out.
YOHO: -- judge not lest you be judged.
BLITZER: Congressman, let's say these women are not lying, that they're telling the truth, that he did what he said on that tape he likes doing he said in his own words, when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. You can grab them by the private parts. Let's say these women are not lying.
[18:20:05]Would you like him to tell these women, I'm sorry, I apologize?
YOHO: You know, I'm going to leave that between you and him. I think you should interview him and ask him that.
BLITZER: We've asked -- I would love to interview him, by the way. We've asked many times. So far he's declined, but he's more than welcome to join us here in THE SITUATION ROOM whenever he wants to.
YOHO: I'll pass that on to his campaign people.
BLITZER: Because he has an open invitation to discuss these issues, as well as much more important national security issues, domestic economic issues, the issues that the American people want to make sure they have knowledge (inaudible) as they go to the voting booth in 25 days.
Congressman, I need you to stand by. We have to take a quick break. We'll continue our conversation right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:25:06]
BLITZER: The breaking news tonight, Donald Trump is facing new accusations of sexual assault from two more women who have now come forward. One is a former "Apprentice" contestant, who says Trump forced himself sexually on her back in 2007. The other women says Trump reached up her skirt and groped her in a New York City bar back in the early 1990s. CNN has not verified the claims of these accusers.
We're back with Trump supporter, Republican Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida. Congressman, in an interview I did with Donald Trump back in October of 2008, just before the election, it was remarkable, because he went out of his way to praise Nancy Pelosi. He said President Bush should be impeached and he defended Bill Clinton strongly. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Well, you know, when she first got in and was named speaker, I met her and I'm very impressed by her. I think she's a very impressive person. I like her a lot. But I was surprised that she didn't do more in terms of Bush and going after Bush. It was almost -- it just seemed like she was going to really look to impeach Bush and get him out of office, which personally I think would have been a wonderful thing.
BLITZER: Impeaching him?
TRUMP: For the war.
BLITZER: Because of the --
TRUMP: He lied. He got us into the war with lies. And, I mean, look at the trouble Bill Clinton got into with something that was totally unimportant, and they tried to impeach him, which was nonsense. Yet Bush got us into this horrible war by lying, by saying they had weapons of mass destruction, by saying all sorts of things that turned out to not be true.
BLITZER: Their argument is that was the intelligence that he was presented, and it wasn't as if he was just lying about it.
TRUMP: I don't believe that.
BLITZER: You believe it was a deliberate lie?
TRUMP: I don't believe it. I don't think you believe it either, Wolf. You're a very intelligent young man. I don't think you believe it, either.
BLITZER: By the way, thank you for calling me a young man.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Just a little bit of that interview. So Congressman, you hear that what he was saying eight years ago, what he says now. What is your reaction? Because he's been all over the place on a lot of these kinds of sensitive issues.
YOHO: Yes, I remember that interview and I appreciate you bringing it up, and I had a laugh when he said he called you a young man, that's a good thing.
You know, lying with an intent to mislead people and if he's saying George Bush did that on the Iraq war, you know, I've talked to military people that were over there. They found yellow cake over there. They found sarin gas.
So there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I was against the war. I've never been for that war. I think we should end these wars right now. But if we're going to go down that path, again, you can look at what President Obama said.
If you like your doctor, you can keep them. If you like your insurance company, you can keep it. Your insurance premiums are going to go down $2,500 on average. We know that's not true.
So you know, what he said back then, Mr. Trump, he's been in the entertainment business, he's on camera. I don't know why he said what he said back then. Obviously he believed it. But that was eight years ago. This is today.
I'm focused on what are we going to do today? Like we were talking about, we've got a country that's $20 trillion in debt. We have Social Security, Medicare, they're at the brink of going unfunded. We've got all these hot spots.
The Philippines just woke up the other day. They're realigning themselves with Russia and China. We've got some serious problems in here. One of these candidates need to step up and rise to the occasion so that the American people feel comfortable and the rest of the world feels comfortable.
When I compare Mrs. Clinton to Mr. Trump's policy, I stand with Mr. Trump's policies. I do not condone what he said or what he did or what allegations were said. I don't condone any of that. I am focused on who is going to preserve our constitutional republic.
Because if we worry about how many people said this and it becomes mob rule, and that's the true democratic state when you have mob rule in a true democracy, it's the majority rule.
As Ben Franklin said, a true democracy is when you have two wolves and a sheep sitting down and they decide what are we going to have for lunch, the sheep always loses in that.
So we've got a constitutional republic. Let's work the process and have faith in the system and the American people.
BLITZER: I know you got to run. One final question, the House Speaker Paul Ryan hasn't pulled formally his endorsement, if you will, if it is an endorsement of Donald Trump, but he certainly isn't defending him at all. Do you support Paul Ryan's effort to only focus on congressional races to try to keep the House of Representatives in a Republican majority and totally ignore the presidential contest?
YOHO: No. You know, I was on that call with Paul Ryan and Paul Ryan did say he was not going to campaign with Mr. Trump. He would with Mike Pence. But he also said that his goal was to bring back all the members in Congress, plus to defeat Hillary Clinton. So he's going to put his time in other areas to defeat Hillary Clinton. I stand with Paul Ryan on that.
BLITZER: Congressman Ted Yoho, thanks very much for joining us.
YOHO: Wolf, I appreciate it. You have a good evening.
BLITZER: Thank you. You too. More breaking news coming up, Donald Trump strongly defending himself against allegations of sexual assault.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As you have seen, right now I am being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It's a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are. Have no idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:35:35]
BLITZER: The breaking news tonight, new accusations against Donald Trump of sexual assault. Two more women have come forward, claiming he groped them including a former contestant on Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice."
I want to bring in our CNN colleague, Anderson Cooper. Anderson, you just sat down and spoke with another woman, the one we saw in that 2005 "Access Hollywood" video of Donald Trump. What did she tell you?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Actress, Arianne Zucker, from "Days of Our Lives." She was the one giving the tour to Billy Bush and Donald Trump for his appearance on "Days of Our Lives."
We talked to her really one week to the day that tape was first released. It was very interesting because she said when it first came out, she read a transcript of it and didn't quite absorb what kind of an impact this was going to have.
It wasn't until she saw the tape that it really resonated with her. Here's some of what she just said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIANNE ZUCKER, ACTRESS: I have my own life story as well. But everything that I've learned up to this point, I've learned to really push it off and be -- and not really care about it, if you will and just because there are men like that in higher power, in positions that will maybe make a statement, not quite like that, but I've definitely been in that type of when I was young. You just go, thank you, or you're welcome.
It's easy to walk away from. But when I realized, when I understood the magnitude of those statements made behind closed doors, not just about me and not every woman has gone through what I've gone through to get in the place where I'm fine, it's not OK.
And I felt like I needed to at least say to my family, most importantly, and I have a lot of fans that have been stressing the fact that are you OK? Are you doing well? Are you hurt? Of course things -- when people say things behind your back, they're hurtful. But we find a way to stand up and be strong and I think for my family it hurts probably more than for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: She's got a 6-year-old daughter, a 6-year-old stepson, who she has had to explain this tape to and she hopes that this -- she wants to obviously move beyond this, and she certainly hopes that this will have a positive effect on other women, on men, just in terms of the conversation of about sexual assault, about what's appropriate, what's not.
BLITZER: I'm sure all of us hope for that as well. Anderson, how did she learn about this "Access Hollywood" tape?
COOPER: She got a call she said I think from her manager or her agent before the tape was released. I assume they got a heads up, maybe for "The Washington Post," who were calling for a comment or something. So she got a sense something was about to be released.
She vaguely remembered giving the tour. It happened 11 years ago. Obviously at the time she had no idea what Billy Bush and Mr. Trump had actually said on the bus before meeting her.
She had remembered it is just a tour, the kind she does many times for people that are going to be on the show or for a (inaudible) that shows up. It wasn't until she actually saw the tape that it really began to sink in and hit her.
BLITZER: Did she have any reaction, Anderson, to the new accusations against Trump that came out today?
COOPER: Well, it's interesting. One of the women who's come forward to the "Washington Post," Kristin Anderson, actually cites seeing this tape, in particular, seeing her hugging Donald Trump, introducing herself to Donald Trump and to Billy Bush, saying rat is -- it was that moment that one of the reasons that motivated Kristin Anderson to talk to "The Washington Post" about somewhat she says happened to her in a club.
She said Donald Trump put his hand up her skirt just as he talked about doing on that bus. She also talks during the interview about Donald Trump's public apologies. She obviously has not heard anything directly from Donald Trump or from Billy Bush apologizing.
And we also played some of Donald Trump's statements today talking about Jessica Leeds, the woman on the -- who says she was on an airplane assaulted by Donald Trump. Donald Trump today essentially saying that woman wouldn't be his first choice based on her appearance.
[18:40:02] BLITZER: Yes. Anderson, excellent work as usual. Thanks so much for that and to our viewers. An important note, you can see much more of Anderson's interview later tonight on "AC360." Remember, that starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.
Let's get some insight from our political experts. Gloria Borger, let me start with you. These latest allegations, how much more difficult does it make the Trump campaign reaction dealing -- this is clearly a political crisis for them with 25 days left in this campaign.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: This is an avalanche here and I think with every passing day, it gets more and more difficult. I think that what you see is a candidate kind of unleashed who feels the need to defend himself, to defend his brand, and running for the presidency and winning part of it seems to be secondary, to a great degree.
And there is no political consultant I personally know who would recommend that the speeches that Donald Trump has been giving over the last two days are the right way to try and get his campaign back on track. Instead, he's just talking about himself and discrediting these women who are claiming these sexual assaults and just isn't working for him.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Not just campaign consultants that we speak to, Donald Trump himself said his own campaign staff is advising him not to do this and he doesn't care. We need to step back for a second and just look at where we are.
An entire week of this campaign now, one week ago today is when that tape was released -- the "Access Hollywood" tape. For an entire week, it has been thrown away for Donald Trump. He's been consumed by this.
There's been nothing but a slide downward. Voters moving away from him. That is clear. So now we have 25 days left. He just threw out a week, and he's showing no indication that he wants to get it back on course.
This is a campaign, just enflamed right now with something that they can't -- the candidate seems totally unwilling to try to move beyond.
BLITZER: For the second day in a row, he's suggesting I couldn't have done this, because look at these women, suggesting they're not attractive enough. Let me play a clip from what he said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, I was with Donald Trump in 1980. I was sitting with him on an airplane and he went after me on the plane. Yes, I'm going to go after you. Believe me, she would not be my first choice that I can tell you. You don't know. That would not be my first choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Yesterday, he said look at her, as if she wouldn't be attractive enough.
ABBY PHILLIP, "WASHINGTON POST": This is a candidate who is playing off of the crowd. He cannot help but look into that crowd and see adulation and people cheering him on. And respond to that by continuing down this destructive road and in fact this entire campaign seems to be a play to the crowd.
He is going down this tract because he knows when he stands at that podium, his supporters will respond to him with exactly what he wants to hear and he's not reaching a single soul beyond that auditorium and that's a huge problem.
And it's one that's actually I think gotten beyond Donald Trump at this point. I mean, hearing Republicans talk about this campaign, they are talking about it in the past tense.
Paul Ryan is going out there and he's not even mentioning his own nominee's name. He's trying to make the case for Republican leadership in Washington that is an unheard of situation 25 days before an election.
BLITZER: Paul Ryan wants to salvage his own political career, maybe run for president in four years. Part of the reason why he's not out there aggressively campaigning with Donald Trump right now.
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Also because he wants to save his job, because he wants -- not because Paul Ryan wants to be speaker desperately, but because he wants a House majority. Right now, he's looking at the lay of the land and risking losing the House majority. Their polls aren't looking that great in some of these swing states.
And they're worried about the down ballot damage so that's why he's talking about his message when he was speaking to college kids and gave them a chance to talk about what they want to do.
But Abby's absolutely right. He's not talking about if there's a Republican president. He's talking about how we -- how we handle Hillary Clinton in the White House for the most part. That is striking. They're talking about picking up the pieces rather than working with the Republican president. It's unusual.
BORGER: Can we just get back to that statement that Donald Trump made just -- that you just played and the one day before? The "look at her" because what he's effectively saying is, look at her, she's not pretty enough for me to sexually assault. I mean, that's stunning that a presidential nominee would be making that statement from a podium to his supporters in his own defense. I think you have to kind of let it sink in.
PHILLIP: There isn't a soul defending him for that.
KUCINICH: Right, not a single person.
BORGER: Particularly not after he makes a statement like that. I mean, he's discrediting these women. The way he's discrediting them is by saying they're not attractive enough. BLITZER: Some are suggesting this is like a Bill Cosby situation, where one comes forward, then two, then the dam breaks and there's an avalanche of women out there making these kinds of accusations.
PHILLIP: There are a lot of similarities there, especially in the sense that, you know, these women are coming forward at the risk of their own reputations, knowing that they would be attacked by Donald Trump and by others.
And also knowing that, in some cases, they're not dealing with forensic evidence here. You're not dealing with police reports. You're dealing with just their word against Donald Trump's.
And that is exactly where so many women in the Bill Cosby situation where when these allegations first came out. But it was sort of this avalanche of women after women that changed the dynamic around that.
Donald Trump is not in a court of law here. Here is in the court of public opinion. Everybody knows what that means. He doesn't need to wait for a jury to come back with a verdict. The American people are making a decision.
CHALIAN: I was struck by what he said today. He said, if only 5 percent or 10 percent of people believe these charges, I'm going to lose. He's in trouble then because a lot larger percentage than 5 or 10 percent are going to believe these women who are telling their nothing to lose but their reputation. And Donald Trump's evidence, there are going to be questions about the characters vouching for him on his side of the equation.
BLITZER: Jackie, there was not a moment at today's speech by Donald Trump at this rally, where he seemed to be making fun of Hillary Clinton's appearance. Let me play the clip for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The other day, I'm standing -- I told you this. I'm standing at my podium, and she walks in front of me, right? She walks in front of me, and when she walked in front of me, believe me, I wasn't impressed, but she walks in front of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: You hear a little laughter coming out of the crowd, I wasn't impressed. Everybody understood what he was talking about.
KUCINICH: Absolutely. Not only is he making fun of people who said that he -- alleging that he sexually assaulted them, he's talking about the appearance of the woman he's running against. He's not doing himself any favors with anyone. It just shows that Donald Trump doesn't respect women. That's what this -- contrary to what he says, his actions and his words are not really showing that.
BORGER: I'm old enough to recall and have covered the Gary Hart campaign. When Gary Hart said to journalists, you remember he had an affair, and he said, you know, follow me. He sort of says, follow me, you're going to be bored.
And they followed him and they weren't bored. What Donald Trump did during the debate the other night was effectively the same thing, because Anderson pressed him repeatedly and said, is this just talk or have you ever behaved this way?
And he said, no, I haven't behaved this way. It's the functional equivalent of what Gary Hart did. So these women now, and at some personal risk, as you're talking about, at some personal risk, have come out and said, you know what?
He does behave this way. So now he's backed up against a wall, and he's just flailing and criticizing, whether it's Hillary Clinton's appearance, which is --
KUCINICH: Criticize her policies. Her appearance has nothing to do with it.
BORGER: Talk about her tax plan, and I'm sure a lot of people in this campaign would rather, right?
KUCINICH: Kellyanne Conway made a joke that. Someone tweeted from the rally said, talk about the issues, talk about your policies, and Kellyanne, his campaign manager tweeted, that was me. Sort of throwing a little shade at her own candidate because she wants him to be on message and talking about these allegations.
BLITZER: I want everybody to stand by because the breaking news continues. We'll have much more on the breaking news. That's coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSS MARTE, FOUNDER, CON BODY: You want to be in prison that bad?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRSPONDENT (voice-over): For Coss Marte, this mock prison cell is more than a clever branding idea for a gym, it's a symbol of transformation.
Coss was once a major drug dealer. He was caught and spent four years in prison.
MARTE: That's what really woke me up and I realized that selling drugs was wrong.
CUOMO: During a routine prison physical, Marte got a second wake-up call.
MARTE: My cholesterol level was -- they were like extremely high.
[18:50:01] And they said, if I didn't start dieting or exercising correctly, that I could die within five years.
CUOMO: Coss developed a full body workout right inside his cell.
MARTE: I lost 70 pounds in six months. CUOMO: He lost weight and gained purpose.
MARTE: I actually helped 20 guys lose over 1,000 pounds.
CUOMO: Once out of prison, Coss connected with Defy Ventures. The group gives micro-loans to ex-cons so they can start small businesses and then mentors them.
EDLYN YUEN, DEFY VENTURES MENTOR: What I really like about Defy was their mission. There is a lot to be said about being self-sustaining in society no matter who you are.
CUOMO: Coss now trains more than 300 people at his New York gym, Con Body. He's also certifying and hiring other ex-cons as personal trainers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coss has an eerie focus that's inspiring. Prison does not have to be the end result.
MARTE: From the ground up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Two former top U.S. intelligence officials say a series of cyberattacks on Democrats indicate Russia is trying to sway the election for Donald Trump.
Our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is working the story for us.
Jim, you have breaking details. What have you learned?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. These former senior intelligence officials who are now advising the Clinton campaign clearly very concerned as you have this drip, drip of e-mails, hacked e-mails coming out virtually every day, hacked by Russia. They share the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia is behind the hacks. Where they go further is they believe that Russia is actually trying to win this election for Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Tonight, disturbed by the continuing drip of staff emails hacked by Russia, top former intelligence officials backing Hillary Clinton are raising the e alarm. Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen, who is an informal national security advisor to the Clinton campaign, echoing the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, that the Russian government is the clear culprit.
MATT OLSEN, FORMER NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER DIRECTOR: This is a significant and unprecedented attack on our Democratic institutions. So, from my perspective, it's not just a campaign issue. It's a national security issue. SCIUTTO: Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA who
has publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, reiterated his charge that Trump has become an unwitting agent of Vladimir Putin. This on a call organized by the campaign.
MICHAEL MORELL, FORMER CIA ACTION DIRECTOR: Trump is cozying up to Putin because Putin has played him like a fiddle. Putin has figured out what makes Donald Trump tick and he's playing to it. And Donald Trump is responding.
SCIUTTO: Morell and Olsen argued that the fact that the hacks are focused only on the Democratic nominee suggested Russia is trying to sway the election for Donald Trump.
OLSEN: The information that's getting released is focused on Secretary Clinton, leading me to conclude that their goal is really to sway in a favor of Donald Trump.
SCIUTTO: Multiple current U.S. officials with knowledge of the investigation say there is growing evidence that Russia is using WikiLeaks as the vehicle to make the stolen emails and other documents public, possibly with WikiLeaks cooperation. How does this work?
Former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden told CBS the cyberattack begins with Russian criminal gangs.
MICHAEL HAYDEN, FORMER NSA & CIA DIRECTOR: I think the actual theft is being done by Russian criminal gangs, on behalf of the Russian state, at the direction of the Russian state. It is a little bit of a cut out plausible deniability. And I do think the Russians are pushing these in direction of WikiLeaks and letting them push them into the public domain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: The Trump campaign dismisses any attempt by Russia to help out Trump in the general election. And Trump himself has repeatedly raised questions about whether Russia is involved at all in any of these hacks or attacks on state voting systems -- Wolf.
TRUMP: All right. Jim, thanks very much.
Jim Sciutto is our chief national security correspondent.
Coming up this Sunday, new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN: ANTHONY BOURDAIN" explores some of China's spiciest foods.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, PARTS UNKNOWN (voice over): The way it works is you order a whole bunch of ingredients, meat, vegetables, noodles, fish, whatever you like; a lot of different ingredients. And you feed them into the pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At dogtown (ph), we should just throw first.
BOURDAIN (on camera): Yes, because that's going to take a long time. That's where that tripe is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called, like thousand-layer stomach.
BOURDAIN: It's all going in there, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BOURDAIN (voice over): The inner ring is a more neutral broth. The outer ring, though, is the good stuff. The hard stuff.
(on camera): Oh, that's good, man. That's good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was our first bite of hog body (ph).
BOURDAIN: Awesome, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BOURDAIN: And it only gets better my friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN" air this is Sunday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.
And remember, we're counting down to the final presidential debate. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they will face off for the last time before the election this coming Wednesday in Las Vegas. CNN's live coverage begins 4:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll be out in Vegas for that.
That's it for me. Thanks so very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
