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Ryan Won't Defend Trump; Trump Called Accusers Terrible. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 10, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Elise Labott reporting for us. Thanks for the fact checking.

That's it for me. Thanks for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues right now on CNN.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me here to kick the week off.

This is special coverage of a stunning turn of events in the most unpredictable presidential race of our lifetimes. With just 29 days until Election Day, the most powerful Republican in Congress pretty much abandoning his party's nominee for president. Just marinate on that for a minute, abandoning.

Speaker Paul Ryan says he won't campaign, he won't focus on and he won't advocate for Donald Trump's efforts to win the White House. This after that devastating video surfaced in the nastiest general election debate we've ever seen.

Let's begin the hour with my colleague, Manu Raju, CNN's senior political reporter, who is still in St. Louis for us.

Manu Raju, nice to see you.

You tell me, what exactly did Speaker Ryan tell Republican members today?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: He basically said that the one thing that he's going to be worried about for the next 29 days is saving the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, not the White House. He made very clear that Donald Trump will have to defend himself. You know, he said he would not campaign with Donald Trump, which is not - it's not a huge surprise. He has actually not campaigned with Donald Trump at all this cycle.

But he said - the more significant thing is that he's no longer going to defend Donald Trump. And Paul Ryan has defended Donald Trump time and again, especially in recent weeks. He was asked about the fact that Donald Trump may not have paid taxes for 18 years. He said that's not that big of a deal. I asked him a couple weeks ago about his attacks on a Latina beauty queen. Paul Ryan downplayed it. And when Paul - when Donald Trump was criticized for his first debate performance, Paul Ryan defended Donald Trump's debate performance. He's saying he's no longer going to do that, and it's because of that video that really - it really surprised, shocked and stunned so many Republicans. They felt like they could no longer stand by him.

Now, Donald Trump reacting rather harshly on Twitter to the news that Paul Ryan would not defend Donald Trump. Donald Trump saying this in a tweet. "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee." Now, I asked the speaker's office if they want to respond to that and they just said that the speaker's going to focus on protecting the House and Senate majorities for the next 29 days.

But I should tell you, Brooke -

BALDWIN: Yes.

RAJU: When Paul Ryan delivered this message internally, he got a lot of pushback from members from conservative districts who have lots of Trump supporters, who are Trump supporters themselves. And one of them said that, look, if you don't get - if Donald Trump doesn't do well, we're not going to save the House Republican majority. And they said, quote, "it's not rocket science." So a lot of anger, a lot of acrimony the day after the debate and Paul Ryan sort of looking for a way out.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. I want to come back to Paul Ryan and some of the pushback you talked about.

Manu, thank you so much, in St. Louis.

But also, by the way, we now have our best idea yet of exactly how that vulgar videotape of Donald Trump, back from 2005, may be resonating with you, with the voters. We have our first major poll since its release. This is the NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll conducted just this past weekend. And you see the numbers for yourself. It shows Hillary Clinton up 11 points nationally over Trump.

So, let me bring in my panel. Lots to talk about on this Monday, 29 days to go. Julie Pace is back with us today, CNN contributor and chief White House correspondent for the "Associated Press," and Ari Fleischer is with us as well, former White House press secretary for George W. Bush.

So, welcome, welcome, to all of you.

And, Ari Fleischer, you're first at bat. Question being, you just heard Manu's reporting on Speaker Ryan. Do you agree with what he's doing, how he is now going to be dedicating the next 29 days?

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I do agree with it if you're Paul Ryan because what he doesn't want to do is keep getting dragged into everything Donald Trump. And he's got his own constituency to worry about. So it's actually very smart of him, I think, to be able to say he still has endorsed Trump. He didn't withdrawal his endorsement. But he's sending a signal to the press, don't even bother to ask me about Donald Trump anymore because I'm not going to give you an answer.

BALDWIN: Can you read into it a little bit more? Do you think that this shows fear that his real worry is holding onto that Republican majority?

FLEISCHER: Well, I think that's always been a worry. I still think the House is safe, no matter what Trump loses by. I don't think there --- you're still going to have a wave election in which the House is going to be in danger in any way shape or form. But what Ryan is doing, though, is sending a signal to college graduates, particularly who pay a little bit more attention to the endorsements. And this is where Donald Trump is the weakest, and this is where congressional defections normally don't matter. They could hurt Donald Trump with a group he's got to get back into his column if he has any chance of winning, and that's college-educated Republican voters.

[14:05:09] BALDWIN: OK. I also noted, Ari, you said, no matter what Trump loses by. Well, let me loop back.

But, Julie, I want - I want you in on this. You also heard Manu talking about some of the pushback that Speaker Ryan is getting, especially in some of the more conservative districts. You know, they're angry. They're saying he's essentially conceding the election to Hillary Clinton. That he's essentially giving up then on the Supreme Court. Are you surprised by the backlash?

JULIE PACE, CNN INSIDE POLITICS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm not surprised by the backlash because if you look at the Republican Party right now and you look at the makeup of the House Republicans and you also look at those poll numbers that you just showed there, you have anywhere between a third to a half of the Republicans right now that are loyal to Donald Trump. They believe in what he's talking about when it comes to immigration and various other policies. And they also just vigorously hate Hillary Clinton and would do anything to see her kept from the White House. It almost doesn't matter what Donald Trump does to them as long as it ends up with Hillary not being the president. So I'm not surprised by this pushback. And it just reinforces that no matter what happens on November 8th, whether Trump wins or loses -

BALDWIN: Yes.

PACE: The Republican Party has a huge problem on their hands.

BALDWIN: OK. Before we look ahead, let's bounce back. Last night, this is the moment in the debate, it's being called Nixonian. He was compared to a dictator. This was an unprecedented moment. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception. There has never been anything like it. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.

TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secretary Clinton -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Just to follow on from that, let me show this this from A.G. Eric Holder, tweeting this. Quote, "in the USA, we do not threaten to jail political opponents. Donald Trump said he would. He is promising to abuse the power of the office."

Ari, you say, you know, Trump is flat wrong on this. I mean do you think he even understands how the justice system works?

FLEISCHER: Well, I don't know if he does or if he doesn't, but I know what he said is wrong, that the United States president does not direct the IRS to audit anybody or target anybody. The president of the united - individuals. The president of the United States does not direct the attorney general to target individuals, to prosecute individuals. We have a separate system of justice that has to make those calls.

And, look, I don't really understand what Jim Comey at the FBI did when they reviewed Hillary Clinton's e-mails. It was very hard for me to understand Comey's reaching the conclusion that he did after he laid out all the indicting facts against Hillary Clinton. But so be it, the FBI made its call. And the biggest danger is when politicians try to intervene and direct the outcome that must be an independent course of investigation to suit their own purposes. What Donald Trump said last night was wrong and should not be said by anybody who wants to be our president.

BALDWIN: To be fair, and we know he's being, you know, criticized for that, Hillary Clinton is being criticized for this response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: That was something I said about Abraham Lincoln -

TRUMP: Honest Abe. Honest Abe never lied. That's the good thing. That's the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Julie, let's set up the question about public and private and how do you think she did with that response?

PACE: Right. What's so interesting about this is if we had been going into this debate with any other kind of lead-in than what we had with this Trump video, there would be a lot of focus on our first glimpse at what Hillary Clinton said behind closed doors to Wall Street executives, investors. And one of the things she said was - was talking about how it's OK for a president to have a private position and a public position. And I think for a lot of people it reinforces what they've thought about Hillary Clinton, that she's some who is willing to take a politically expedient position, that they can't necessarily trust what she says.

And I think that her answer wasn't exactly what I would call forthright. But Donald Trump, while he had a pithy line and a pithy comeback, didn't really hammer her on this throughout the debate, which he could have. And, again, in any other context, I think we would really be focusing on that. But so much of what's happened in the last few days has really overshadowed that. And that's to Hillary Clinton's benefit.

BALDWIN: All right, so we've been going through some of the debate. Let's talk about what everyone was talking about before the debate. After the tape, before the debate, there were these women in the audience. And, Ari, this is - I want to ask you about this. Surprise, a bit before the debate you have these three women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. So he invites them to the debate. In fact, from everything we're hearing from sources, Mr. Trump actually wanted them in the VIP box, you know, sitting with his family members, but the head of the debate commission said, no, you know, it's only for families only. But I don't even the words. I mean you were watching, Ari. What did you make of that?

[14:10:19] FLEISCHER: It just fits everything about this campaign. They're both unsavory characters, aren't they, all three are. Bill Clinton is, Hillary Clinton is and Donald Trump is, Brooke, and that's the only thing I can conclude. You know, I think that Donald Trump is personally offensive and I think that Hillary Clinton in professionally offensive. And this is the choice we have. You know, in the debate last night, when Donald Trump brought up the issue about Libya and the red line - or Syria and the red line, and Hillary said, I wasn't there, you know, this is where she's being -

BALDWIN: She was, but she wasn't when the chemical weapons were used, am I correct?

FLEISCHER: But when the issue - but when the chemical weapons were used, she supported Barack Obama in backing off of his red line. She said something narrowly and technically accurate, but on the bigger, more important policy point, she - she totally deceived the country with her answer. This is Hillary - vintage Hillary and this is what bothers me so much about the choice the American people have.

BALDWIN: Before the debate I thought David Axelrod put it best when he was just marinating on everything and said this is all just profoundly sad.

Ari Fleischer and Julie Pace, thank you so much. Twenty-nine days to go. And we continue here.

As vulgar as Trump's words were in that video, this is not the first time his talk about women has raised eyebrows, shall we say. In fact, CNN dug through old audio clips of Trump's 17-year tenure on Howard Stern. Our team found he was once unabashed and brazen on the subject of sex when asked about it on the radio from comments on having sex with women who were on their menstrual cycles, to talk of threesomes with only thin women. Here is what he said about the apparent perks of running beauty pageants in a recording, this is from April of 2005.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's kind of funny is that I'll go backstage before a show -

HOWARD STERN: Yes.

TRUMP: And everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else. And, you know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. You know, I'm inspecting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. Right.

TRUMP: I want to make sure that everything is good.

STERN: You're like a doctor. You're there -

TRUMP: Yes, is everyone OK? You know, they're standing there with no clothes. Is everybody OK? And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN reached out to the Trump camp. Didn't get any comment on that.

But earlier this week, Trump was asked about his lewd comments on Howard Stern's program and he told Los Vegas New Station KSNV that, quote, "a lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment. There's nobody that has more respect for women than I do."

Andrew Kaczynski, welcome to the CNN family, by the way.

ANDREW KACZYNSKI, SENIOR EDITOR, CNN KFILE: Good to be here.

BALDWIN: Nice to have you on.

Has been looking into tapes from Trump's past. And so before we get into the Stern interviews, the three women we were just talking about sitting in that audience, these Bill Clinton accusers, you actually found some tape of Trump talking about them in a much different way.

KACZYNSKI: So Trump basically for about a ten-year period both, you know, at the time, and going up to I think as late as 2008 basically dismissed and even mocked many of these women, including women that he had with him at that press conference. There was Paula Jones, who he called a bad person and unattractive. He said the same about Monica Lewinsky. He said Bill Clinton was a victim of them, actually. He blasted the moralist hypocrites in Congress who went after the Clintons. He said Paula Jones was a loser who should have run faster from Bill Clinton. Called Gennifer Flowers not a good woman. And as late as 2008 said the scandal was totally unimportant. Now, in '98, at the time, he actually even sympathized with Clinton

and I think we have a clip of that.

BALDWIN: Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: But you like Mrs. Clinton, too. I mean in your book, "The Art of the Comeback," you say of Mrs. Clinton, "she's a wonderful woman who's handled pressure incredibly well."

TRUMP: I agree with that. I think she's gone through terrible times. I think she's been through more than any woman should have to bear everything public. I mean women go through this on a private basis and can't take it. She's on the front page of every newspaper every week with what went on in Washington. I think she's a wonderful woman. And -

BLITZER: Is she qualified - is she qualified to be senator?

TRUMP: I think she is. I mean I think, frankly, that if she ran from another - from another state, I think I'd support her because she's really a very terrific woman. I know her. She stays in Trump Tower. When she's in New York, I mean she stays in Trump Tower. Not because of me, but because of somebody else that has an apartment at Trump Tower. So all -

BLITZER: That in itself is a qualification, right?

TRUMP: At least she has good taste.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: My, what a difference a few year has made.

KACZYNSKI: Right.

BALDWIN: Right. Andrew Kaczynski, thanks for digging it up. Thank you so much.

Just ahead here, we'll talk live to a former "Access Hollywood" producer who worked with Billy Bush about whether he thinks there could be more videos to drop.

Plus, locker room talk. So this is what - this was what Trump was referring to that tape from '05 in that debate last night. Well, what exactly is this sort of locker room talk? What's real? What's not? Let's have a chat about that.

[14:15:00] And, you know, just watching it, the pacing, the finger pointing, the hovering. We'll analyze the body language of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It is absolutely fascinating.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Nothing more than good old-fashioned locker room talk. That's how Donald Trump explained his use of lewd, sexually aggressive comments he is heard making on that 2005 recording that surfaced on Friday. And when my colleague Anderson Cooper pressed him at the debate last night, Trump apologized but tried to downplay what he said, even just quickly switching the subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This was locker room talk. I'm not proud of it. I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly I'm not proud of it. But this is locker room talk. Can you imagine the people that are, frankly, doing so well against us with ISIS and they look at our country and they see what's going on. Yes, I'm very embarrassed by it. I hate it. But it's locker room talk and it's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of ISIS.

[14:20:04] I will take care of ISIS.

ANDERSON COOPER, MODERATOR: So, Mr. Trump -

TRUMP: And we need to get on to much more important things and much bigger things.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here with me, Shaun Harper, a professor at University of Pennsylvania, the executive director of the Center for the City of Race and Equity in Education. Also Vicki Sciolaro, she's the chairwoman of the Kansas Republican Party's third congressional district and Donald Trump supporter.

So welcome to both of you.

And, Shaun, let me just turn to you first.

VICKI SCIOLARO, THIRD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT CHAIR OF KANSAS REPUBLICAN PARTY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I read your - thank you. I read you piece in "The Washington Post." Obviously, I'm a woman. I haven't been in these locker rooms that he's alluding to. But in my opinion, real men don't talk like this. What do you think?

PROF. SHAUN HARPER, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: When women aren't around. And I just want to make clear that not all men talk in this way. In fact, perhaps not even most men. But far too many men engage in the kind of lewd conversation that we heard in that video.

BALDWIN: You've heard this yourself.

HARPER: I've heard it, firsthand.

BALDWIN: Not just bragging about sex, but - HARPER: No.

BALDWIN: Sexual assault?

HARPER: Now, men -

BALDWIN: There's a difference.

HARPER: To be sure, men don't sit around and brag about raping women, but they do talk about grabbing women's private parts and, you know, forcing a woman to kiss them. You know, that, too, qualifies as sexual assault. So I think it's important to be sure that everyone understands that sexual assault is not just one thing. And this doesn't just happen in locker rooms. It also happens in bars, in fraternity houses. Sometimes even at kids' birthday parties where the dads sort of sit off to the side and just rank order the moms and talk about, you know, which ones are hot, which ones are not, which ones they'll do sexual things to and so on.

BALDWIN: At a kid's birthday party.

Let me come back to you.

But, Vicki, how, as a Trump supporter, I mean how - you've heard Trump's words, I'm sure, unedited. How did you feel hearing that?

SCIOLARO: Well, obviously, it was very offensive. However, I think it's totally irrelevant. I mean it was so long ago. And I do believe that most men will talk about women in ways that they would never talk about publicly. And, of course, if they would have known that they were being recorded, I - there's no doubt in my mind they would - the conversation would have been totally different.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me just go back to actually what Trump said. I know you said this was a long time ago, but these are words and he has acknowledged that this was him. He says, "you know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. Don't even wait." He goes on. "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can you do anything." Billy Bush says, "whatever you want." Trump says, "grab them" -

SCIOLARO: I doesn't make any difference.

BALDWIN: "Grab them by the bleep. You can you do anything." He is bragging, Vicki, about sexual assault.

HARPER: Right.

SCIOLARO: I hear you. I hear you. I hear you. He is bragging. But here's the thing, why is it an issue now? It should not be an issue now. Everybody - the millions and millions of people who elected him - I did not choose him and -

BALDWIN: The taped surfaced. That's why it's an issue.

SCIOLARO: Yes, well - well, it's because - listen, I - I did not vote for Donald Trump in the primary. In - in our - I did not vote for him. He was not my choice. He was like next to my last choice.

BALDWIN: But you will be?

SCIOLARO: But I absolutely will be. And here's why. Here's why. Because of the issues. Nobody is perfect. Here's the issues. Last night in that debate, they defined their issues. They lined the marks in the sand. Number one, Roe v. Wade. OK, Hillary Clinton doesn't care about murdering babies, dismembering abortions. That's OK with her. OK.

BALDWIN: Wait a second.

SCIOLARO: Religious freedom -

BALDWIN: We're talking -

SCIOLARO: Oh, yes, yes, yes.

BALDWIN: I appreciate you talking about substance, and that is important, Vicki, but we're talking about locker room conversation.

SCIOLARO: Yes.

BALDWIN: My question was about, is it OK that a man who wants to be the president of the free world is bragging and admits to it.

SCIOLARO: OK.

BALDWIN: And, yes, he's apologized, to sexual assault.

SCIOLARO: Yes, well, that - that's wrong. OK, yes, but that is - that - that is - that is wrong, absolutely. But here's the thing, he's not running to be the pope. Look at the culture of our country. Everybody knew he had strip clubs, but still the millions of people chose him to be the nominee. And look at our culture. It's filled with a bar, strip clubs on every corner. I am a strong pro-life Christian woman. And I would never talk like that. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I've been married to the same man for 32 years. I have four children whom I love and adore. And it's repulsive what has been said.

[14:25:02] But this whole campaign, everything about it, I mean this is the - this is the kind of person that needs to lead our country. God can use anybody. He used - he used the harletts (ph).

BALDWIN: I'm - Shaun, go ahead.

SCIOLARO: And that's OK. It's all about what God can do. God can do this.

HARPER: But -

SCIOLARO: God can use this man.

HARPER: But, Vicki, you're suggesting that we should talk about the issues, we should talk about the substance. I would argue that sexism and sexual assault are a part of the issues that our country must grapple with.

SCIOLARO: Absolutely. They are.

HARPER: And the things that - the things that we heard -

SCIOLARO: Absolutely. Just like human trafficking. Just like human trafficking.

HARPER: Right. But, you know, the things that we heard from -

SCIOLARO: It's all a part of it.

HARPER: From this adult man who is running to be president of the United States, millions of children heard that, boys and girls, and boys -

SCIOLARO: Yes. Yes.

HARPER: May take their cues from this guy who wants to be our president. And behaves in accordance with -

SCIOLARO: OK, but here's the thing. When Bill Clinton was president - when Bill Clinton was president, my children came home from school and they had no idea it was actually called the Oval Office. They thought it was called the oral office because of the - the talk in the elementary schools.

HARPER: Vicki -

BALDWIN: OK, OK, OK.

SCIOLARO: Bill Clinton educated my children at a much younger age than I wanted to.

BALDWIN: But, Vicki, Bill Clinton isn't running for president right now.

HARPER: Exactly.

BALDWIN: We're talking about Hillary Clinton.

HARPER: Exactly.

SCIOLARO: No, but his wife is. His wife is. And they are a pair. The two are one.

HARPER: No, I disagree.

SCIOLARO: They are the same.

HARPER: I - I disagree.

SCIOLARO: They're totally the same.

HARPER: Holding - holding a woman -

SCIOLARO: Totally the same.

HARPER: Accountable for the sexist things that her husband says or does is the very definition of sexism itself. Hillary Clinton hasn't sexually assaulted anyone. Hillary Clinton was not caught on a tape saying these vulgar things about men or about other women, right? So I think that this is a diversion to try to take the attention away from Trump by saying that, well, Bill Clinton does it. Well, that doesn't make it right. And -

BALDWIN: These are conversations that people are having. This is the 2016 presidential election.

SCIOLARO: No, that's true. That's true.

BALDWIN: This is the 2016 - and, Vicki, I'm grateful to have you on because, I mean, you represent a chunk of this country -

SCIOLARO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Who absolutely, you know, has merit and feels this way. I just - I just - I've got to go. Vicki Sciolaro and Shaun Harper, I appreciate the discourse.

SCIOLARO: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Welcome to 2016. That's all I'm going to say.

Coming up next, from finger pointing to facial expressions, what the body language of both of these candidates last night tells us about their performance at the debate. And we'll ask an award-winning debate coach for his perspective.

Also ahead, any minute now, Hillary Clinton is expected to take to the stage here. This is Detroit, her first rally since last night's debate. We'll keep an eye on that.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)