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President Obama Delivers Statement on Climate Change Deal; Hurricane Matthew Targets East Coast; NSA Contractor Accused of Stealing Secrets; Clinton, Trump Prepare for Second Debate. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired October 5, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:01:07]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. Thank you so much for being with me.

Again, we're waiting, we're watching for Donald Trump to speak in Henderson, Las Vegas, the Republican nominee for president today hailing his running mate's performance at the vice presidential debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I was very proud last night to watch Governor Mike Pence. He won, but he won on the issues. He won on -- somebody said he won on style, but style doesn't matter. The issues, the policy matters. And he's getting tremendous reviews from me and everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That praise comes just four days before Donald Trump himself and Hillary Clinton face off yet again.

It's a town hall format debate. It's just four days away in Saint Louis. And Donald Trump will be using the campaign trail to actually help him prepare. We have learned this New Hampshire town hall event tomorrow will be sort of a debate dry run, if you will, for the Republican nominee.

Meantime, we also know that Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman said the town hall setting will be ideal for his candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN PODESTA, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: Well, look, I think Hillary did a lot of town hall debates during -- and a lot of town halls during the course of the primaries and into the general, so she's very used to the format. She likes it. She likes answering questions from individual citizens.

She listens hard and relates to people. And that's a format that Donald Trump isn't as used to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. On the Clinton prep, tell me more as far as what she's doing ahead of Saint Louis.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, it almost sounded like John Podesta was raising the states and expectations for his candidate right there. He said she's done a lot of these town hall-type debates.

And, in fact, she has. Really, one adviser told me that she's really been preparing for this for years, in a sense of taking questions, listening to voters. So that's one of the differences -- or one of the reasons why she's preparing in a different way from Donald Trump.

She is at her home in Washington spending most of the day with advisers, her team, preparing for issues frankly that didn't come up in that first debate. And she's also planning on spending tomorrow, Friday and throughout the weekend before that showdown in Saint Louis on Sunday also preparing.

Brooke, she's not scheduled to have another campaign event until after the debate, so that's how seriously her campaign is taking this. They are essentially just reprising the practice regimen that she did after that first debate. And she was happy with the outcome of that. Democrats, of course, throughout the country were as well, so they're hoping that she repeats that Sunday in Saint Louis.

So, no former malpractice for her in terms of town hall meetings, just going through Trump's record with her aides. But, again, John Podesta said she's been doing this for years -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: She has. Donald Trump doing it as a practice tomorrow.

Let's talk a little bit about what this could look like when it counts on Sunday. Jeff, thank you.

Dana Bash is with me, CNN's chief political correspondent. Julie Pace is with us as well, chief White House correspondent for the Associated Press, as well as a contributor to CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS."

So, ladies, nice to have both of you on.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Dana, let's just begin with all of your intel you have been getting. The word I saw in an e-mail was like a scrimmage. I know Donald Trump has been learning from someone who is excellent at this sort of forum, Chris Christie. What do we know who about tomorrow?

BASH: That's exactly the term that a source used with me to describe what Donald Trump is going to do tomorrow. He changed his schedule. He's still going to the state of New Hampshire, which, of course, is an important battleground state, but he's doing something that is so familiar to anybody who's even thought about politics in New Hampshire, not so much to Donald Trump. And that is an intimate town hall. I'm told that he's going to actually do this in event in Sandown, New Hampshire. It's where his good friend Chris Christie started his presidential campaign in New Hampshire.

[15:05:11]

And it's going to be like -- they're going to try to make it as much like the town hall on Sunday as possible. Jeff was just talking about the fact that Hillary Clinton has done lots of town halls. Most candidates when you get to this point are really comfortable and familiar with the town hall setting, especially those who have had to go through New Hampshire to get to the nomination process.

Donald Trump, it's just not his thing. He is a guy who has rallies in front of thousands, tens of thousands of people sometimes. He doesn't do the intimate setting with Q&A very often. So that's why they have decided to do this, have it in a way that he can try to practice, because, again, unlike Hillary Clinton, he is not doing the traditional debate prep once again.

He's not going to have the mock debates and everything that you usually have and that Mike Pence had before his debate last night.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

So, Julie, we have heard from Dana and then also from Jeff about how these two candidates are preparing ahead of Sunday. But can you just explain to all of us how a town hall format is so totally different, for better or worse, depending on the candidate and his or her experiences, the intimacy, the speaking directly to voters, instead of maybe giving side eye to one of -- to your opponent? How is this more challenging?

JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: It's unbelievably more challenging and more difficult.

The only thing that's basically the same as the first debate and the third debate is that you have a large television audience and your opponent is there.

BALDWIN: That's about it.

PACE: But you're taking questions from real voters. Yes, that's it. That's all that's the same. But you're taking questions from real voters. They're often telling you details about their lives, problems that they have. And they're seeking real answers.

And then you add on top of that just the choreography of the stage. You're talking to the voter. You have a moderator who might interject. And then your opponent is standing there also walking around.

BALDWIN: Body language.

PACE: And the choreography is really tricky. And body language, that's something that these candidates really have

to practice to feel comfortable about it. And if you don't, you do leave yourself vulnerable to one of the big things that the public will be watching.

BALDWIN: So, what about -- you know, looking ahead, but also thinking of last night and the takeaways from the vice presidential debate there at Longwood University and how really Pence has been praised. Kaine has been called -- what are people calling him, overcaffeinated Kaine, the interruptions, even though perhaps he was there on substance, not as much on style.

Dana, what are you hearing about how Trump felt and his takeaways?

BASH: Well, you just played the sound bite of what he said publicly, that he thought Mike Pence won and he did a great job.

Privately, there is some rumblings about the fact that Pence was sort of a master deflector. But he didn't do what the number two traditionally does when he or she is put on the ticket, which is defend the person who put you there to nth degree. In fact, he did just the opposite, tried to kind of move around and sidestep a lot the ways that Tim Kaine tried to press him on controversial things that Donald Trump said.

So, I think that -- the reality is that Mike Pence, as you said, Brooke, did quite well with regard to keeping calm. He performed well. He kind of had the presidential look, but not necessarily the person who's going to tell the voters, oh, yes, everything Donald Trump says is great and wonderful, because that's not necessarily the way to get voters on Trump's side at this point.

It's more about reassuring voters. But, honestly, tomorrow, probably, even the next day, as everybody really turns towards Sunday's debate, this will probably be a distant memory.

BALDWIN: Before it is, though, Julie, one moment from the debate last night that's definitely getting extra scrutiny, after the fourth time in the debate Tim Kaine brought up Trump's Mexican immigrant rapist comment, Pence pounced. Here was Pence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Donald Trump says women should be punished or Mexicans are rapists and criminals or John McCain is not a hero, he is showing you who he is.

(CROSSTALK)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator, you have whipped out that Mexican thing again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Julie, Julie, Julie, what does Trump learn from this debate? PACE: Well, I think that one thing that he should learn, both from

the Pence moment there and his own first debate, is that any line that you say on that debate stage can be taken and used against you if you splice it up and don't any put context around it.

And Pence left himself vulnerable. He had been making that similar point throughout the debate about Tim Kaine using prepared lines and trying to attack Trump on things he said previously. But by using that phrase, he wiped everything that he said on that topic away.

[15:10:08]

And I think we're going to -- we have already seen Democrats using that. We are going to continue to see them hammering that message with Hispanic voters. That is not going to go over well when they hear that.

BALDWIN: It's like verbal jujitsu, I tell you. I'm glad it's not me. That's all I have to say.

Dana Bash and Julie Pace, thank you, ladies, so, so much. We will talk, of course, throughout the week ahead of Sunday.

After a week, meantime, of Gary Johnson gaffes, his running mate making a big revelation about his future on the trail and over the waning four weeks. How might that impact the race and specifically the Republican and Democratic nominees?

Also ahead, breaking news, we're getting word an NSA contractor is being accused of stealing government secrets, this just three years after Edward Snowden -- details ahead.

Also, breaking news, we're watching evacuations under way now in Florida and up and down the East Coast as Hurricane Matthew barrels towards the United States. We will take you there live, give you an update.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:13]

BALDWIN: Let's talk about this hurricane.

We know that mandatory and voluntary evacuations in two Southern states, that is now officially under way, as this now deadly Hurricane Matthew is making its way towards the United States.

Right now, this powerful Category 3 hurricane is headed straight for the Bahamas. It toppled parts of Cuba earlier today after just devastating Haiti. At least seven people are dead. This hurricane could slam the East Coast of Florida over the course of the next 48 hours. We're talking Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas all under states of emergency. President Obama today warning everyone to be ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a serious storm. It has already hit Haiti, with devastating effect. It is now in the process of moving through the Bahamas. Because it's not going to be hitting enough land, it is going to be building strength on its way to Florida.

We anticipate that, by tomorrow morning, it will already begin to have significant effect in Florida.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to South Carolina.

Stephanie Elam is live in Charleston, where those voluntary evacuations just began moments ago.

Are you seeing any traffic changes, Steph?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, you can see a lack of traffic at this point, Brooke.

Take a look over here at I-26, and you can see heading -- the lanes right underneath me that you're looking at, those are the lanes heading westbound out of Charlotte, out of the city. You see that's what's getting a little backed up down there.

And then, on the other side, you see there's no traffic. And that is because they are going to switch directions here shortly. And we will see all traffic coming on I-26 only heading westbound. On both the east and westbound sides, it will only be heading out of the city.

They want to make it very clear that they don't want people to story here in the city. And to that point, if you look over here on the right-hand side, you may see some technicolor here from the police officers.

And that's because some people were trying to figure out their way around and get up onto some of these exits. And they are not playing. They are stopping everybody, saying don't try to come down these exits. You have to leave the city at this point.

We have also seen that the Air Force base is moving their planes out of this area as well. Courts have been closed. University, colleges in the area have already been closed. The governor making it very clear, Governor Haley saying she wants people to leave, because, if you stay, you put first-responders in jeopardy.

So, at this point, they're saying it's time to leave. And the mandatory evacuations are in effect for Charleston and also Buford counties here in South Carolina. They now have held off on of the two northern counties along the coast. They will make that call until Thursday morning. But, at this point, what they want is for people to continue to leave

the city and make sure that they're safe and that their loved ones are safe as well, Brooke.

BALDWIN: No time to play. This is the real deal.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

Let me pivot to Donald Trump. Here he is, just starting speaking. Here he is, Henderson, Nevada.

Let's dip in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

TRUMP: Because that's my really first so-called choice. That was my first hire, as we would say in Las Vegas.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I'll tell you, he's a good one. He was phenomenal. He was cool, he was smart. He was -- you just take a look at him. He was meant to be doing what he's doing. And we are, very, very proud of Governor Mike Pence.

Thank you, Mike Pence.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I would argue that Mike had the single most decisive victory in the history of vice presidential debates. I believe that, too.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And last night, America also got to look firsthand at my judgment. And that was judgment. You need judgment for people, for deals. We don't do deals like the Iran deal. We don't do deals like that anymore folks.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: We don't do deals like that, $1.7 billion in cash. And we're in Las Vegas. When you hear $1.7 billion, I think this whole stage would be filled up to the roof.

Who ever heard of things like what's going on? Unbelievable. While Mike laid out big and bold solutions for America, his opponent talked only of small and petty distractions.

Hillary Clinton has been there for 30 years and hasn't fixed anything. She goes around, we will do this, we will do that, we will do this, all these things. It's wonderful. The problem is, why didn't she do them? In fact, she's just made things worse.

She failed in Upstate New York as a senator, promising to create, in order to get elected, 200,000 jobs, but manufacturing is down more than 40 percent and the jobs have left. It was just the opposite.

[15:20:03]

She failed overseas, producing only death and destruction. She unleashed ISIS, destabilized Iraq, Syria, Libya, and put Iran on to the path of nuclear weapons, In less than 10 years now, they will have nuclear weapons, one of the dumbest deals ever made, whether it's countries or any kind of a deal you can think of, one of the dumbest deals ever made.

At home, Hillary Clinton failed Latinos and African-Americans, producing only more poverty in their -- in the inner cities. And you see that. You see that all -- wherever you go to the inner cities...

BALDWIN: All right, Trump's praise for Mike Pence. You look at the polling, CNN's polling out of last night's V.P. debate, it was his running mate, Governor Mike Pence, who won.

And four days away until Mr. Trump has his next opportunity against Hillary Clinton, if he learns anything -- we have been talking about the art of deflection and not taking the bait, as Mike Pence didn't do as much last night, compared to Donald Trump in his first outing. We will see how it goes on Sunday in Saint Louis.

Meantime, the most powerful Democrat and Republican in the nation teaming up along with the former first lady and president to ask you to do one thing in four weeks. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, ARTIST: There's nothing more important than to vote. Lots of people lived and died, so that you could do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out and vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring your friends, bring your mama, bring your daddy. Get it done.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Vote. Vote, vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hearing your voice is the most important thing.

LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: Stay involved in the political life of our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell your friends to vote, and then vote, and then tell your friends' friends to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every election is important, but, believe me, this one is really, really important.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a responsibility. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is your country. Own it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Vote.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": Vote. It's your right. You can do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't let anybody stop you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it is imperfect, and it is frustrating at times, but it is still super important that you do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go and do it. Vote.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our future depends upon you casting a ballot.

OBAMA: If you're inspired by "Hamilton," if you're inspired by our founders, understand that the system of government they designed only works if you participate.

MIRANDA: See you at the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Inspired by the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton," PSA, just debuted on "The Tonight Show."

And the man who directed it, Alex Horwitz, joins me now. He actually filmed it while working on a media documentary called "Hamilton's America."

Alex, such a score to get to talk to you today. Nice to meet you. Nice to have you on.

ALEX HORWITZ, DIRECTOR, "HAMILTON'S AMERICA": Thank you for having me on.

BALDWIN: All right, so, I saw "Hamilton" way back in the day when it was in a public theater. And that was super cool. I remember coming to work and telling everyone about it. And they were like, wait, they're rapping about what?

And so here you have -- you're buddies with Lin back from your Wesleyan College days. And here fast-forward to this PSA -- we will talk about this, your documentary in a moment. But tell me the backstory. How did this PSA, the get-out-the-vote, come about for you?

HORWITZ: The documentary is the backstory for the PSA.

BALDWIN: OK.

HORWITZ: While we were filming for about three years, although most of those interviews you saw were filmed since the beginning of 2016.

And while we were in the room and doing these interviews for the film, I thought, you know, we're talking to some heavy hitters here. I shouldn't waste this opportunity. Let's just make a little...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Smart man.

HORWITZ: So, at the end of every interview, we just asked people in their own words to say what they wanted to say about voting, and cut it into that.

BALDWIN: What has your experience, just being out and about and talking with some of these folks who are very famous and well-known, and maybe some who aren't?

It's, how do we call this election, something we haven't seen in a long time. And whether there's excitement or fear, what is the sense you're getting from folks? Because I'm hearing from people who are saying, well, I don't like either of them, so I don't want to vote.

HORWITZ: That's a common refrain that I have heard a lot as well.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HORWITZ: And I have heard a lot from historians that I have met in the course of making this film who've reminded us that elections have always been volatile and ugly, with plenty of mudslinging.

In the election of 1800, there was a group of federalists who started publishing false obituaries of the news of Thomas Jefferson's death.

BALDWIN: Wow.

HORWITZ: So there's a lot of ugliness in political history.

This may be unique in anyone -- any living person's memory. That's certainly true, I think. But the great thing about what Lin created with "Hamilton" and what I hope we got to reflect in our documentary is that there's a lot that has nothing do with politics and has to do with governance.

And there's a slight difference there. So, we were talking to people about the latter, and they were happy to talk about history, about common values. And one of those common values is certainly voting.

BALDWIN: Tell me a little bit more about the documentary, Alex, and also in doing so, the first time you actually heard the demo, the song "Alexander Hamilton." You remember that?

[15:25:00]

HORWITZ: Yes.

Lin played me an early demo. And what can you say? My reaction was pretty much the same as everyone's. Wow.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HORWITZ: I had never heard anyone dramatize history quite like that, quite so effectively, made it quite so timeless and contemporary.

And I said, look, I don't know where you're going with this, and neither did Lin, but I want to make a film about it. So the conceit of the film is really Lin telling Alexander Hamilton's history. It's not a behind-the-scenes or making of documentary. There's the making of that for the "Hamilton" fan.

But it's really more about history seen through the lens of Lin and through all those interviewees that you see in the PSA.

BALDWIN: Can you give me -- final question, Alex -- just a good behind-the-scenes story in talking to all these incredible people that you have in this piece of film? Give me something.

HORWITZ: Well, look, we filmed with President Obama in the White House. I got to interview President Bush for about 40 minutes.

BALDWIN: Wow.

HORWITZ: And just a few moments of that make it into the film.

So, yes, here I was talking to a former president and several treasury secretaries about 2008, the bailout. We were always in the context of Alexander Hamilton and the government we started. But it was amazing to be talking to these people about what is essentially a "Great Performances" documentary for PBS. Where else are you going to get to talk to politicians like that about a musical?

BALDWIN: Totally. Totally. I loved watching the footage of Lin sitting, I think it was Alexander Hamilton's Manhattan apartment, right, composing through it all.

HORWITZ: Aaron Burr's. Aaron Burr's.

BALDWIN: Aaron Burr's, Aaron Burr's, Aaron Burr's Manhattan apartment.

HORWITZ: Yes.

BALDWIN: That was something.

Alex Horwitz, congratulations. Thank you so much for joining me.

And make sure, to all of you, check out the extended trailer for his documentary, "Hamilton's America," on YouTube. It airs October 21, 9:00 p.m. on PBS.

Coming up next here, we have got this breaking story, this NSA contractor who worked for the same company as Edward Snowden now charged with stealing top-secret information. Hear what his lawyer has to say. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, we're going go straight to the White House.

President Obama, he is about to issue a statement specifically on the Paris agreement, this historic global agreement on climate change.

OBAMA: Today is a historic day in the fight to protect our planet for future generations.