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CNN NEWSROOM

Former Israeli Leader to lie in State at the Knesset; U.S. Congress Overrides Obama Veto of 9/11 Bill; Obama Discusses U.S. Troop Deployments Overseas; Clinton's Super Surrogates Out on the Trail; Trump Slams Clinton at Rally; Libertarian Johnson Can't Name Foreign Leader. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 29, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:59:54] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour:

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Want to show you these pictures now of Shimon Peres' casket making its way to the Knesset, just arriving there as Israel prepares his official state funeral.

VAUSE: Chemical warfare in Darfur -- the escalating violence so brutal in Sudan. Amnesty International says it amounts to a war crime.

SESAY: And Donald Trump just can't let it go -- a new round of criticism of a former Miss Universe. Is he hurting his campaign?

VAUSE: Hello everybody. We'd like to welcome our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Israelis are preparing to lay to rest one of their founding fathers, Shimon Peres. He died Wednesday at the age of 93.

VAUSE: His body will lie in state at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, all day. The doors will open to the public in the next few hours so they can pay their respects.

Flags in Israel and the United States are at half staff. And these are live images of Jerusalem right now where it has just gone 7:00 a.m. on a Thursday morning.

SESAY: The funeral services for the former Israeli leader will be on Friday. Peres died at the Sheba Medical Center surrounded by family two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.

Our own Oren Liebermann is live in Jerusalem and joins us now. Oren -- Mr. Peres lying in state at the Knesset a short time from now. His body is just arriving. Israelis will soon be able to pay their respects as the country's last founding fathers. What are the expectations for the coming hours? OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in just a few moments his

body will be taken out of the caravan that it came from just outside of Tel Aviv earlier this morning and it will be prepared to lie in state at 8:45 this morning, so just over an hour and a half.

Israeli leaders, the Prime Minister, the President and the Speaker of the Knesset will come pay their respects and then the gates for the public will open just a few minutes after that.

The gates of the public will be open to the public -- it will be open for 12 hours and that is an expectation of how many people are expected to come visit, to come mourn, to come pay their final respects to Shimon Peres. And there is a bit of an expectation that maybe it will be open even longer if the lines to come pay their respects are that long. That will be the focus of today, thanking and mourning Shimon Peres after he died yesterday at Sheba Medical Center just outside of Tel Aviv.

From here the focus -- or from Thursday into Friday the focus will shift from the Knesset to Mt. Herzl. That is where Israeli leaders are buried. That is where Shimon Peres will be buried. There will be eulogies. There will be a ceremony. And then the funeral -- the laying to rest of Shimon Peres.

That's how the next few days will play out. We expect very much long lines at the Knesset to pay final respects to Shimon Peres because of how much he meant to this country, how much he meant to Israelis even those who fundamentally disagreed with him on major points. They still view him with the utmost respect for everything he did for Israel over a career of public service that lasted more than half a century -- John and Isha.

SESAY: And Oren, what do we know of who will speak at this funeral, as you talk there of eulogies, for Peres -- a man of pure stature there obviously for Israel and all walks of life?

LIEBERMANN: In terms of speakers, I'd expect a number of world leaders to come forward because we saw so many powerful statements about what Shimon Peres meant not only to Israeli leaders but also to leaders around the world.

As far as who's coming, we know President Barack Obama will attend. We know President Bill Clinton will attend. The French prime minister, the German president and many, many others will be there to say their final farewell to Shimon Peres. Perhaps many of those offering their thoughts on how much he meant to them as someone who stood unapologetically for peace and behind the peace process even at a point perhaps especially at a point where it is so stagnant right now.

SESAY: He was, indeed, the face of the peace movement there in Israel. He was one of the architects of the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel's first peace treat with the Palestinians. We know that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his condolences but do we know whether he will be attending the funeral? LIEBERMANN: I haven't gotten a final word on that. It did take him a

bit to put out a statement after the passing of Shimon Peres, but then Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did indeed put out a statement saying that Shimon Peres was a partner for peace. He called him a brave partner for peace who unapologetically moved forward and tried to make a two-state solution happen. Tried to recognize the Palestinian state and create that.

Powerful words -- especially coming from the Palestinian leadership. I would say that not all Palestinians and not all Palestinian leaders agree with that but nonetheless powerful words coming from President Abbas there. As for his attendance I don't have a final answer on that yet but I suspect we'll find how many more leaders -- which leaders are coming to attend the funeral.

SESAY: Yes. We know that in the hours of Mr. Peres' passing, Israeli air waves have been flooded by his political allies, as well as his political foes -- all of them reflecting on his importance to Israeli politics and public service career of well over 70 years.

[00:05:13] Talk to us a little bit about how Israelis are reflecting on this moment of Mr. Peres' passing?

LIEBERMANN: Well, a number of people. A number of Israelis have pointed out that there isn't an aspect of this country that he didn't affect in some way because he held virtually every position in office -- from president to prime minister, defense minister, foreign minister -- all the way on down to some of the more minor roles.

Throughout that career, he affected everything and even changed his position dramatically from the beginning of his career towards the end of his career. He started as a hawk. He started as a pro-settlement politician who, in fact, opposed Yitzhak Rabin when he tried to move against the settlements.

But over a career in public service, over a lifetime in public service really, his position evolved. In doing so he obviously created political enemies not only here in Israel but abroad. But what he became was a symbol of the peace movement, its most vocal leader.

There is not a leader on the left or in the center in Israel who stood as unapologetically or who stands as unapologetically for peace as Shimon Peres did. And he believed that you could build trust and confidence between Israelis and Palestinians even at a time where there's so much mistrust between Israeli politicians and Palestinian politicians.

That is what Israelis are talking about. Whether they agreed with him or not, that of course, is part of the debate. But in terms of the respect that they all have for him, someone who served the state for basically his entire life from before the creation of the state until now, that is what Israelis are remembering. That is what Israelis will come to the Knesset to pay their respects for.

SESAY: Oren Liebermann joining us there from Jerusalem. Oren -- we appreciate it. Thank you. As we show our viewers these pictures there of the body of Shimon Peres arriving at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

VAUSE: Ok. Of course, we will continue to follow the events in Israel throughout the day, Thursday and as well as Friday when the state funeral gets underway.

But we'll move on here.

The American relatives of those who died in the 9/11 terror attacks can now take legal action against Saudi Arabia in a U.S. court after Congress took the extraordinary of vote to override a presidential veto of a bill allowing those lawsuits.

Mr. Obama called the vote a politically-motivated mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sometimes, you have to do what's hard. And frankly, I wish Congress here had done what's hard.

I didn't expect it because voting -- if you are perceived as voting against 9/11 families right before an election, not surprisingly, that is a hard vote for people to take but it would have been the right thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's legal analyst Mark Geragos joins us now live.

So Mark, if the 9/11 families actually get their case before a judge, is it fair to say they still face some pretty big hurdles in particular proving that Saudi Arabia was directly responsible?

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, actually not. I'm quite confused. I've got several cases right now pending in federal court against Turkey under this particular statute. I don't understand why the President thought this was a brave vote. It wasn't a brave vote at all.

What this says is, frankly, that if you sue and you can prove that any particular country -- and in this case, everybody has talked about Saudi Arabia -- was responsible, legally, for the act, that they can't escape under what's called sovereign immunity. Meaning they can't say because they're a foreign power that they get immunity, so to speak.

To me, this is a no-brainer. I'm pretty much conflicted or perplexed as to why the President thinks that this was a good idea to veto this. To me, this is one of the few times where I think Congress got it right.

VAUSE: Ok. Well let me play for you President Obama's explanation of his concerns and why he vetoed the bill in the first place -- as you say it's all about sovereign immunity. This is what the President said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The concern that I've had has nothing to do with Saudi Arabia per se or my sympathy for 9/11 families. It has to do with me not wanting a situation in which we are suddenly exposed to liabilities for all the work that we're doing all around the world and suddenly finding ourselves subject to the private lawsuits in courts where we don't even know exactly whether they're on the up and up in some cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:09:58] VAUSE: So I guess -- I guess what the President is saying is that if the United States removes sovereign immunity to countries like Saudi Arabia then they will do it to the United States and so U.S. servicemen and others all around the world will be subject to their laws as well. Is that how you understand the President's explanation?

GERAGOS: I understand his explanation. It makes absolutely no sense. This is not a treaty. This is not something where he's saying we're not going to abide by some international agreement that says we have immunity and they have immunity. What he's saying, frankly I think, is disingenuous.

I mean -- look, I understand his theory. But his theory absolutely makes no sense. It's not a treaty. All this is, is something under FISA which is the Foreign Individual Sovereign Immunities Act and that has nothing to do with giving U.S. citizens abroad immunity. So, no, what he's saying is absolutely ludicrous, frankly.

VAUSE: Mark, we will have to leave it here right now because we have to go back to Israel. But we want to come back next hour and continue this discussion.

We appreciate you being with us. We'll continue it in the next hour from now. Mark Geragos -- thank you so much.

Let's go back to Israel right now because the casket is coming out and is being placed on the plaza of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, after making the journey from the hospital just outside Tel Aviv at Ramat Gan -- a journey of about one hour as it made its way up the hill to Jerusalem. And now you can see the soldiers carrying the casket with the body of Shimon Peres, the ninth president of Israel now taken to lie in state at the plaza of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem.

And that is where our Oren Liebermann is right now. So Oren -- of course, for many people this will be their chance today, their only chance really to pay their respects to Shimon Peres, a man who was president and prime minister, the only Israeli to serve in both capacities.

LIEBERMANN: And we very expect many, many Israelis will come pay their respects at the Knesset. And that's what we're looking at right now. That's the casket of Shimon Peres, draped, wrapped in an Israeli flag, carried by soldiers, led by military rabbis as it makes it way.

It is already in the Knesset outside the plaza. That is where it will lie in state. That is where thousands upon thousand of Israelis we expect will come today to say their final farewell to Shimon Peres, a man who affected this state, who directed this state in so many ways and in so many positions -- as you mentioned, prime minister multiple times, president from 2007 to 2014. That is very much where he had his final impact and where he shaped his legacy as the man who stood for peace.

Now two weeks after he suffered a massive stroke and passed away, this is the beginning of the official ceremonies leading up to his funeral on Friday. This is the body of Shimon Peres being carried to the Knesset where it will lie in state.

In just about an hour and a half we expect Israeli leaders, the prime minister, the current president and the speaker of the Knesset to come pay their respects. And just a few moments after that, the plaza of Knesset will open up to the public for them to come and say their farewell. As it makes its way closer to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament just outside me in Jerusalem -- just behind me in Jerusalem.

VAUSE: One interesting fact here, Oren, is that an idea of just how entwined Shimon Peres is with the history of Israel. When he was first elected to the Knesset that building was not there. He was elected back in 1959. The Knesset where it is right now was not opened until 1966 when he was an MK back in the day. They did business in downtown Jerusalem, 24 King George Street, I think, an old bakery building. So it is notable that his body will lie in state in this building which, you know, as far as Shimon Peres is concerned was a relatively new addition to Jerusalem.

LIEBERMAN: And he doesn't just predate the Knesset building, he predates just about everything here including the state of Israel itself. His commitment, his life in public service and his dedication to the state started before 1948, before the creation and the recognition of the state of Israel.

And Prime Minister Netanyahu had -- again an interesting thought -- the Jewish New Year is right around the corner. It's just a few days away beginning on sundown on Sunday. This is the first year since the creation of the state of Israel that people here will face without Shimon Peres who was very much Israel's elder statesman.

It will take a while for that thought to sink in that Shimon Peres who was so often in the public light here whether it was making a statement or holding an event or working on a project -- this is the first time we won't see that. His Peres Peace Center often hosted dignitaries from around the world as he did what he saw as his job, as he tried to build trust and confidence between Israelis and Palestinians.

This will be the first time -- the first Jewish year that they don't, we don't see his face, we don't see his obvious impact, his obvious work which he did tirelessly until the very end. [00:15:05] VAUSE: And of course, he will lie in state today. Then

there will be the official state funeral on Friday. Mr. Peres will be laid to rest at the burial plot known as the "Great Leaders of the Nation" on Mount Herzl. He will take his place alongside the other founding fathers of Israel.

LIEBERMANN: He will. His commitment -- his spot on there has been, you know, unquestionable for so long now because of how long he was in the public eye.

As we understand it he will be buried between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. It's interesting that that is his spot because those were two of his great political rivals. Rabin was in his own party, in the Labor Party, and Shamir was in the Likud Party who he opposed. But those were also two of his great political allies as he moved forward and worked on some of his projects. So it is interesting, very fitting that that will be his spot on Mount Herzl.

Again his spot there, there was never a question about whether he deserved a spot there. He's deserved it for so long, for decades now. That has been the spot for President Shimon Peres.

There was, and I will point this out only because it's worth nothing, there was a question about whether he would be buried there only because his wife is buried in Ben Shemen. That is where he moved to when he left Poland so many years ago. And his wife is buried there. There was an option that he might be. But as we now know without question it will be Mount Herzl. It will be among the giants of Israeli history that he will be buried and that will Friday right around noon local time.

VAUSE: Of course, world leaders are flying in from everywhere to take part in that state funeral -- an operation which I read early today the police have described as complex which seems to be an understatement to say the least.

Oren, we'll continue to check in with you as the day progresses. Thank you.

SESAY: Some other news now and the U.S. will send about 600 more troops to Iraq to help in the fight against ISIS. Both governments agree this could speed up efforts to retake Mosul from the terror group. The additional troops would help train and advise Iraqi forces but would not have a combat role.

U.S. President Barack Obama talked about the troop deployment particularly in Syria during a CNN Town Hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There are going to be some bad things that happen around the world and we have to be judicious in thinking about is this a situation in which inserting large numbers of U.S. troops will get us a better outcome knowing the incredible sacrifices that will be involved? And in Syria there is not a scenario in which, absent us deploying large numbers of troops, we can stop a civil war in which both sides are deeply dug in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: CNN international correspondent Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Beirut. Fred -- the U.S. president's comments about both sides being dug in for this war in Syria provides really little to no hope for the civilians caught up in the middle of the conflict and it really underscores the limits of U.S. diplomacy in this war.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The limits of U.S. diplomacy, Isha, especially at this stage in the game, there are some who would argue that had the U.S. intervened earlier in this conflict, possibly you wouldn't be at this stage obviously where the battlefield has become so complex where you also have now ISIS on the scene as well and also where these sides are so dug in at this point in time.

But it's absolutely true that if the U.S. were to intervene right now, it certainly would take a large troop deployment to do that. And now, of course, you also have this major other factor there on the battlefield which is the fact that Russia is already very much involved in this conflict. Russia has its planes there in Latakia; also has a lot of combat forces on the ground as well. We have seen them go around Syria.

So the U.S. president certainly is right that at this stage it would take a massive U.S. deployment and it would take a massive U.S. deployment against Russian backlash to actually make any of that happen.

But it certainly, you're absolutely right, also shows the limits of U.S. diplomacy in a conflict however where it also seemed as though the parties of this conflict are not really willing to engage in any diplomacy at all at this point in time. And that certainly is a factor that makes it very difficult for the U.S. to try and play any sort of mediating role between the sides to try and bring this conflict to an end.

And I think you're seeing that right now on the ground in Syria where you have these ceasefires. You've had plenty of them in that past -- all of them have fallen apart at every shingle time. The fighting has gotten worse afterwards.

So yes, the U.S. president probably is right that it would take a lot of combat forces to stop the fighting there in Syria. But at the same time, diplomacy at this stage at least, surely, isn't working.

SESAY: Yes. It certainly isn't.

Let's talk about the reality that civilians are facing there in Syria. We know that in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, two more hospitals were struck in eastern Aleppo. What are you hearing about the situation right now and the implications of these strikes? [00:20:05] PLEITGEN: Yes. Well, I mean it's certainly a dire

situation especially in the Aleppo area. From what the opposition says, there are only about 30 doctors left to begin with in Aleppo servicing some 250,000 people.

There was a very strong statement also from UNICEF saying that it's especially children that are suffering under this situation and certainly it is one that continues because on the one hand you have the fact that these hospitals have been damaged. These hospitals apparently at this stage are not functioning and there are not many functioning hospitals left in Aleppo.

And at the same time you do also have that very heavy fighting going on, with the Syrian government acknowledging that it continues to press an offensive on the eastern districts of Aleppo which are the ones that are held by the opposition. Certainly there is also some shelling going in the other direction as well.

And you know what the U.N. is saying, and also other aid organizations, is that on the one hand their big issue is they can't get any relief goods into the eastern parts of Aleppo with the fighting going on. They can't bring in medical supplies which would be vital and which are certainly in short supply. But almost even worse, they say, is the fact that they can't get people who are sick, who are wounded, who are malnourished out to get them some real medical treatment.

So that's why they are calling for an immediate pause to the fighting for at least 48 hours and they certainly want some sort of corridor to try and get those that are suffering the most out of that place.

SESAY: It is desperately needed. Fred Pleitgen joining us there from Beirut. Fred -- always appreciate the insight. Thank you so much.

And you can catch an encore presentation of President Obama's Town Hall with U.S. service members, veterans and their families. It will air in just under six hours from now at 11:00 a.m. in London, 6:00 p.m. Hong Kong time.

VAUSE: The Syrian city of Aleppo is a killing zone right now especially for children. UNICEF says almost 100 children have been killed there since Friday in the eastern part of the city.

War planes dropped bombs on two hospitals inside Aleppo. At least two people were killed. Only 30 doctors remain in eastern Aleppo to treat an estimated quarter of a million people who remain behind.

Washington is considering tougher responses to the Russian-backed assaults on Syria's largest city. Russia said it is ready to restart ceasefire talks. A senior U.S. official says Russia is not serious and is simply playing for time.

Barbara Walter is a professor at the University of California, San Diego. She joins us now from San Diego. Barbara -- thank you for being with us. The U.N. Secretary-General was pretty blunt today saying those responsible for the attacks on Aleppo are guilty of war crimes. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Imagine the destruction -- people with their limbs blown, torn off; children in terrible pain with no relief, infected, suffering, crying -- with nowhere to go and no end in sight.

Imagine a slaughter house. This is worse. Even a slaughterhouse is more humane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He called it war crimes. It's a slaughterhouse. If he is right then why would Bashar al Assad, the dictator, be systematically targeting civilians right now?

BARBARA WALTER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO: So President Assad is consciously engaging in ethnic cleansing in eastern Aleppo. That is now a fact.

And he's doing this for two reasons. The first reason is he wants to get rid of Sunni civilians in eastern Aleppo because they are supporting the opposition. And if he clears them out or kills them this weakens support for the rebels and they're weaker as a result.

The second reason is he wants to send a signal to Sunni civilians living in the rest of Syria who are supporting the opposition -- if they continue to do that they, too, will be targeted.

So it's an intimidation strategy with the larger Syria and it's an ethnic cleansing strategy in eastern Aleppo.

VAUSE: Ok. Well, the speed and the intensity of this offensive has the White House apparently considering Plan B if you like which would be in supplying better or more effective weapons. That's one part, giving those weapons to rebel fighters who have been vetted; also maybe allowing Turkey and Saudi Arabia to do that as well.

At this point, though, would providing better and more effective weapons to the rebels, would that have any effect?

WALTER: I don't think that's going to significantly affect what's happening. These are bunker busting bombs. They're coming from the air and the Assad regime backed by Russia has the advantage there. So this is going to be very difficult to stop using military weapons. It's something that's going to have to be stopped by convincing Russia to stop backing this particular regime.

VAUSE: Ok. On the diplomatic front the U.S. has threatened to suspend talks with the Russians if this assault on Aleppo continues. That was mocked today by Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. They put out this statement -- I want to read it to you. It's lengthy so stay with us.

"Finally a real power move in American diplomacy, Secretary of State John "Not Delusional" Kerry has made the one threat, the Russians feared most -- the suspension of U.S.-Russia bilateral talks about Syria."

[00:25:05] "No more lakeside tete-a-tetes at five star hotels in Geneva; no more joint press conferences in Moscow. We can only imagine that having heard the news Vladimir Putin has called off his bear hunt and is rushing back to the Kremlin to call off Russian airstrikes on hospitals, schools and humanitarian aid convoys around Aleppo."

And we have heard that Russian officials do want to try and salvage those peace talks but if you listen to the cynicism coming from McCain and Graham, do you think it's justified?

WALTER: I think it is justified. I think President Putin has absolutely no interest in a negotiated settlement at this point in time. I do think he will eventually seek a negotiated settlement but not now.

Right now he wants to make as many gains or he wants his favored side, President Assad to make as many gains as he possibly can so that the negotiated settlement at the end will be more beneficial to Assad and to Putin as well.

And I think part of what's going into this is a conscious effort to make as many gains before the November election here in the United States. If Hillary Clinton wins, which is what it is looking like at this point in time, she is probably going to pursue a more hawkish strategy in Syria and this does not bode well for Assad or Russia.

VAUSE: Yes. Good point there.

Barbara -- as always, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate your insights.

WALTER: My pleasure.

SESAY: Time for a quick break now.

Donald Trump is pulling no punches after his debate performance. After the break -- his latest attack on Hillary Clinton.

VAUSE: Gary Johnson is having another Aleppo moment. The Libertarian presidential candidate's latest televised gaffe in just a moment. It is epic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour. The body of former Israeli leader Shimon Peres is lying in state at the Knesset ahead of his Friday funeral. Peres died Wednesday morning at the age of 93, two weeks after a stroke. Current Israeli officials will lay a wreath at Peres' casket in the coming hour before the public pays its respects.

VAUSE: U.S. President Barack Obama says that it is a mistake for Congress to allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. The House and Senate voted to override his veto of the bill on Wednesday. Mr. Obama says the measure will expose members of the U.S. military to similar lawsuits from other countries.

[00:30:05] SESAY: The Pentagon is sending about 600 more U.S. troops to Iraq to help in the fight against ISIS. The U.S. Defense secretary says this should help speed up efforts to retake Mosul from the group. The additional troops would help train and advise Iraqi forces, but would not have a combat role.

VAUSE: In New York, investigators believe two men seen taking a bag that held an unexploded bomb are employees of an Egyptian airline. They believed the men were visiting and returned home. The FBI is trying to contact them to retrieve the bag. Authorities say the men are witnesses and not suspected in the Manhattan blast, which wounded dozens earlier this month.

SESAY: Now Amnesty International says the Sudanese government is using chemical weapons on civilians and as many as 250 people may have died. We're going to show you the images the group analyze and we must warn you they are graphic.

VAUSE: This happened in a remote part of Darfur. Many of the victims are children. Some are covered in lesions and blisters. Others have been vomiting blood. Amnesty says many of the victims have no access to medical care and are using salt, limes and local herbs for treatment. The group's investigation indicates at least 30 chemical attacks since the beginning of the year.

SESAY: Two of Hillary Clinton's biggest campaign surrogates were out on the trail, Wednesday. Bernie Sanders joined the Democratic presidential nominee in New Hampshire as she tries to win over millennial voters who supported him in the primaries.

VAUSE: Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, Michelle Obama slammed Donald Trump for his birtherism claims and also for not releasing his tax returns.

Donald Trump spends his day campaigning in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, where he's still claiming victory in that first debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The new post-debate poll that just came out, the Google poll has us leading Hillary Clinton by 2 points nationwide and that's despite the fact that Google's search engine was suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton.

How about that? How about that?

(END VIDEO CLIP) SESAY: Well, Mo Kelly joins us now. He's the host of the "Mo Kelly Show" and the "Mo Kelly Experience" radio program in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Mo, you heard --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: We didn't quite hear him, but basically he was saying there is another online poll out there, a scientific online poll.

SESAY: And he's claiming it.

MO KELLY, HOST, MO KELLY SHOW: He is claiming that they are scientific, but they are actually not scientific polls. If any poll would say that Donald Trump won that debate is one, which you can vote, I can vote, my 14-year-old nephew can vote. I can vote twice. I can vote on my cell phone. I can vote with my desktop computer. But we need to inform the electorate that's not a scientific.

And if you have to keep trying to make the argument that you won the debate after the fact that means you lost.

SESAY: But he has to keep making that argument. Because his whole mission or the whole theme of his campaign is winning. So he doesn't care how he does it. He has to keep pushing it.

KELLY: Absolutely. And you still have to put that face on it that you always win, you do win and no matter what the facts say, he has been consistent in that regard, the facts may say otherwise, but he's still going to put forth the narrative that he won.

But here's the simplest way to decide whether someone wins the debate. Did he improve his standing among voters? Did he get better or worse with these constituencies? And a reasonable person can say, no, he didn't. So therefore he lost.

VAUSE: I thought you're going to say, did he go to the party afterwards? He didn't.

OK, the controversy keeps coming over. Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Donald Trump on "Fox News" again insisting he is not the bad guy here. He actually saved her job because the organization behind Miss Universe actually wanted to fire her.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Look what I get out of it, I get nothing. So a lot of things are coming out about her. I'm not going to say anything. I couldn't care less. But it's somebody I don't know, don't know certainly very well. I saved her job because they wanted to fire her for putting on so much weight. And it is a beauty contest. You know, I mean, say what you want, but I mean, they know what they're getting into it. It's a beauty contest. And I said don't do that. Let he try and lose the weight.

Can you imagine I end up in this position like this? So that's the way it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK. "New York Times" has noted that she has been mentioned 6,000 times on television, almost 200,000 times on Twitter. Time to stop talking.

KELLY: Yes, being presidential is a full-time job. It's something you have to do all the time. Not just for the first 20 minutes of a presidential debate. It's every interview that you take. It's everything which comes out of your mouth. It's every statement that you release.

And Donald Trump, he keeps succumbing to his ego as far as trying to defend some perceived slight or even real slights because he wants to defend Donald Trump the person as opposed to graduating to a position where I want to defend the nation.

[00:35:05] SESAY: So you see this more as Trump gone rogue as opposed to a campaign strategy, that they continue to talk about this.

KELLY: To say that he's gone rogue is to assume that he was on the path at a certain point and then diverted.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: OK, today, we saw Hillary Clinton rolling out the big guns. And this is interesting. Because, you know, on the campaign trail, Donald Trump is sort of surrounded by Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie, and that's it from the Republican establishment.

On the Democrat side, Hillary Clinton, well, today, First Lady Michelle Obama was on the campaign trail and this is some of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: If a candidate is erratic and threatening, if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fears, and lies on the campaign trail, that's who that candidate really is.

Either Hillary Clinton or her opponent will be elected president this year. And if you vote for someone other than Hillary, or if you don't vote at all, then you are helping to elect Hillary's opponent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Also out today, her rival during the primary season Senator Bernie Sanders. He was talking to a group of university students and he was talking about the Democrat's plan for debt-free college tuition. This was Senator Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can assure you, make no mistake about it that I will work with President Clinton to make sure this legislation is passed as quickly as we possibly can. And to make that happen, we need your help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There was a clear message here from both these people today, get out to vote. Because they are worried of what, there's lack of enthusiasm.

KELLY: Well, there was an explicit message by seeing them together. The implicit message is the Democratic Party has coalesced. They are coming together, united.

You are not seeing that on the Republican side. You're not seeing Ted Cruz going out on the trail and holding hands with Donald Trump. You're not seeing that with a lot of the people like John Kasich.

The Democrats are showing -- and let's not forget, President Obama is a surrogate as well.

VAUSE: Yes.

KELLY: Speaking to the military is a way of advocacy for Hillary Clinton in addition to that. This was a very strong day for Hillary Clinton and she didn't have to say a lot.

SESAY: Strong enough, though, to move the needle you think? I mean, using Bernie Sanders, the optics are great. But does it have the potency? We know what the expectation is and the hope is, but what do you think?

KELLY: Oh, yes, it's good until the next story cycle, the next news cycle rolls around. The benchmarks are still the debate. We have another one coming up on October 9th as far as the presidential candidates and vice presidents as well.

VAUSE: Stay with us. We're going to take a short break.

When we come back, Mr. Aleppo is at it again. Gary Johnson will have his biggest epic fail so far when we come back.

SESAY: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. We have a lot more on our election coverage. The race for the White House. We're going to focus on the third-party candidate in this block.

Joining us once again is Mo Kelly. He is the host of "The Mo Kelly Show" and "The Mo Kelly Experience" radio programs in L.A. and San Francisco.

OK, Mo, Gary Johnson, he's done it again. He is the libertarian candidate. A pretty simple question.

Who is your, you know, most favorite world leader. This is how he handled it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Name a foreign leader that you respect.

GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I guess I'm having an Aleppo moment in the former president of Mexico --

MATTHEWS: But I'm giving you the whole world.

JOHNSON: I know. I know. I know.

MATTHEWS: Anybody in the world you like. Anybody, pick any leader.

JOHNSON: The former president of Mexico.

MATTHEWS: Which one?

JOHNSON: I'm having a brain --

MATTHEWS: Well, name anybody.

Fox?

How about you? Who is your favorite foreign leader? Get him off the hook.

Give him a foreign leader you respect.

BILL WELD, LIBERTARIAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Fox. He's terrific.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE HOST: Any foreign leader?

JOHNSON: Merkel? OK, Merkel.

MATTHEWS: OK, fine. Saved yourself.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: It's excruciating to watch, Mo. A disqualifying moment?

KELLY: That was the second disqualifying moment.

SESAY: Yes, indeed.

KELLY: Remember, he is having these interviews because he wasn't invited to the debate. And if you are not invited to the commander- in-chief, you know that you are going to asked a foreign policy question. If you are not invited to the debate, you're going to be asked a foreign policy question or at least some modicum of knowledge of foreign policy. That's inexcusable. I don't know what to say beyond that.

VAUSE: It's not like he was ask who is your favorite Ming Dynasty poet. It was a pretty easy question.

OK, so lack of preparation, not knowing foreign policy. That segues nicely into what we're about to do now which is Donald Trump and fears in the campaign that he is not preparing for the next debate.

And House Speaker Republican Paul Ryan was actually asked about, you know, you've been -- you've done a debate or two in your time when he was the VP nominee.

How important is debate prep? This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you did a vice presidential debate. Did you prepare a lot for that?

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I know where you are going with this. So I think -- yes, I did, David.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does preparation help?

(LAUGHTER)

RYAN: It does, David.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Very nicely handled by Speaker Ryan, but will Trump take the hint?

KELLY: I'm not so sure he will because he's made a career of of doing it his way. His success, thus far, has been unconventional in doing it his way.

An amateur debater knows that there is a question that you're asked and there's the question that you wish they ask, but whatever they asked you, you want to take what is asked of you and then turn it against your opponent. There was no mention of emails by Donald Trump for the most part. No mention of the Clinton Foundation. All these things are very basic in nature.

So for him not to do the basic things means that he's not being advised well, or he's not listening to his advisers. And either is problematic.

VAUSE: I suspect it's the latter. Kellyanne Conway is pretty tough.

Mo, come back next hour, because there's a lot to talk to.

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: We really appreciate it.

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) that I'd like to talk to you about which I should save.

Thanks, Mo.

SESAY: Thank you. And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. "World Sport" is up next. And then we'll be back with another hour of news from all around the world. You're watching CNN.