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Trump Apologizes for Being Caught on Tape Talking about Groping Women. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 8, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


HOWELL: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in -- in Atlanta and we begin with the breaking news that we're following, an apology from the Republican candidate for U.S. President Donald Trump, the first in his political career, where he said that he was sorry for making vulgar comments that were caught on tape about groping women and claiming that he could get away with it because of his celebrity. That footage from 2005, published by The "Washington Post" went viral on Friday and surely has caused a public uproar. Here's what Donald Trump had to say.

TRUMP: I've never said I'm a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologize.

I've traveled the country talking about change for America, but my travels have also changed me. I've spent time with grieving mothers who've lost their children, laid-off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries, and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I have gotten to know the great people of our country, and I've been humbled by the faith they placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never, ever let you down.

Let's be honest. We're living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we are facing today. We're losing our jobs. We're less safe than we were eight years ago, and Washington is totally broken.

Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground. I've said some foolish things, but there's a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.

HOWELL: Trump there. And now to the video that prompted that apology, shot in 2005 for a segment on Access Hollywood, which is an entertainment news show here in the United States. You hear Donald Trump in that clip, talking off camera to the show's host about trying to have sex with a married woman, among other things. The video never aired on Access Hollywood, but was later given to the "Washington Post" and then published.

Leading into this clip, we do want to warn you the contents of what you're about to hear are graphic.

(VIDEO STARTS)

BUSH: She's still very beautiful.

TRUMP: I moved on her actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it.

BUSH: Whoa.

TRUMP: I did try and (beep) her. She was married.

BUSH: That's huge news there.

TRUMP: No, no, Nancy.

BUSH: Yeah.

TRUMP: No, this was...

BUSH: (Inaudible).

TRUMP: And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. So I said, "Well, they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch. I couldn't get there, and she was married.

And all of a sudden, I see her. She's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look.

BUSH: Sheesh, your girl's hot as (beep) in the purple.

(UNKNOWN): Whoa.

BUSH: Yes.

(UNKNOWN): Whoa.

BUSH: Yes, the Donald has scored.

(UNKNOWN): Whoa.

BUSH: Whoa, my man.

(UNKNOWN): Right.

BUSH: Wait, wait, you got to look at me when you get out...

(Crosstalk)

(UNKNOWN): ...set this up.

BUSH: That is very funny. (Crosstalk)

(UNKNOWN): You are (beep).

(UNKNOWN): Maybe it's a different one.

BUSH: It's better not be the publicist. No, it's her.

TRUMP: Yeah, that's her, with the gold. I got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet, just kiss. I don't even wait.

And when you're a start, they let you do it. You can do anything.

BUSH: Whatever you want.

TRUMP: Grab them by the (beep). You can do anything.

BUSH: Yeah, those legs, all I can see is the legs.

TRUMP: Oh, it looks good.

BUSH: Come on, shorty.

TRUMP: Oh, nice legs, huh?

BUSH: Get out of the way, honey. Oh, that's good legs. Go ahead.

TRUMP: It's always good if you don't fall out of the bus like Ford, Gerald Ford, remember?

BUSH: Down below. Pull the handle.

TRUMP: Hello. How are you? Hi.

ZUCKER: Mr. Trump. How are you?

TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific.

ZUCKER: Pleasure to meet you.

TRUMP: Terrific. You know Billy Bush?

ZUCKER: How are you?

BUSH: Hello, nice to see you. How are you doing, Arianne?

ZUCKER: I'm doing very well. Thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?

TRUMP: We're ready. Let's go.

ZUCKER: All right.

TRUMP: Make me a soap star. ZUCKER: Absolutely.

BUSH: How about a little hug for Donald? He just got off the bus.

ZUCKER: Would you like a little hug, darling?

TRUMP: OK, absolutely. Melania said this was OK.

BUSH: How about a little hug for the Bushy? I just got off the bus.

ZUCKER: Oh, Bushy.

BUSH: Here we go. Excellent. Well, you've got a nice co-star here.

TRUMP: Good.

ZUCKER: Yes, absolutely.

TRUMP: After you.

Come on, Billy. Don't be shy.

BUSH: As soon as a beautiful woman shows up, he just -- he takes off.

TRUMP: Get over here, Billy.

BUSH: This always happens.

ZUCKER: I'm sorry. Come here.

BUSH: Let the little guy in there.

ZUCKER: Yeah, let the little guy in. How you feel now? Better? I should actually be (inaudible)..

BUSH: It's hard to walk next to a guy like this.

ZUCKER: (Inaudible).

BUSH: Yeah, you get in the middle. There we go.

TRUMP: Good. That's better.

ZUCKER: This is much better. This is...

TRUMP: That's better.

BUSH: If you had to choose honestly between one of us, me or the Donald (inaudible).

TRUMP: No, no, no, that's tough competition.

ZUCKER: That's (inaudible) right there.

TRUMP: Yeah.

BUSH: Seriously, you had to -- you had to take one of us as a date.

ZUCKER: I have to take the Fifth on that one.

BUSH: Really?

ZUCKER: Yeah. I'll take both.

(UNKNOWN): (Inaudible).

TRUMP: Which way?

ZUCKER: Make a right. Here we go.

BUSH: Goodbye.

ZUCKER: (Inaudible).

BUSH: Here he goes. I'm going to leave you here.

TRUMP: OK.

BUSH: Give me my microphone.

TRUMP: OK. You're going to -- oh, you're -- you're finished?

BUSH: You're my man, yeah.

TRUMP: Oh, good.

BUSH: I'm going to do our show.

(UNKNOWN): Let's reset.

ZUCKER: Oh, you want to reset?

(VIDEO ENDS)

HOWELL: Access Hollywood is now identifying the woman that Donald Trump was referring to in his comments, that woman the show's former anchor, Nancy O'Dell. O'Dell is currently hosting Entertainment Tonight, another other entertainment news show in the U.S. CNN has reached out to her representatives for comment, but have not heard back at this point.

Trump's democratic rival Hillary Clinton is pointing to that video as more evidence that he is simply not qualified to be president of the United States. It's something our campaign has been saying for months, and the video of Trump's comments about women could serve to bolster that argument to the public. Here's how Hillary Clinton responded on Twitter, quote, "Women have the power to stop Trump."

Her running mate Tim Kaine also speaking out on this saying that it is time to ask Republicans if they can still stand by and support Donald Trump.

KAINE: There's a couple of things I think this suggests, and it -- and it -- it's just so clear. First, any Republican who has said they are for Donald Trump, they need to be asked by the press and others and by constituents right now, "Do you still think he's qualified to be president of United States?"

HOWELL: Several high-ranking Republicans are speaking out against Trump in light of that video. First, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan said, quote, "I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revere, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats the situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests." In the meantime, he is no longer attending tomorrow's event in Wisconsin.

And Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus saying the following, quote, "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this matter ever," he says.

2012 Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney tweeted the following, quote, "Hitting on married women, condoning assault, such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America's face to the world."

Some top Republicans are even pulling their support for Donald Trump entirely, one of them Jason Chaffetz, the Republican Congressman from Utah. He spoke earlier to CNN.

(VIDEO STARTS)

CHAFFETZ: I'm out. I -- I can no longer endorse Donald Trump for president. I -- there's no possible way I vote for Hillary Clinton, but these are important. They are wrong. It's used a baseball metaphor. I -- I got to call balls and strikes, the way I see him.

And, you know, my wife, Julie and I, I we got a 15-year old daughter. Do you think I can look her in the eye and tell her that I endorse Donald Trump for president when he acts like this? And his apology, that was no apology, that was an apology for getting caught. I worry that, you know, it's very naive to think if -- if there's this and that sort of approach. You really think this is the only thing that's out there like this.

I got to say I -- I've played college football as a placekicker. I've been in a lot of locker rooms. This was not just locker room talk, OK? This -- this was offensive. And it was absolutely totally wrong, and I am not going to endorse him. Again, I'm not going to vote for Hillary Clinton, but there's no way I'm going to do that. But I -- I can't tell the good people of Utah that I endorsed a person who acts like this. We all do silly, stupid stuff and try to make, you know, probably make jokes that are inappropriate, but this goes beyond that. And it's -- and we -- I think we should all stand up and say we're not going to tolerate this.

Why should we have a race to the bottom? Why can't we stand tall for high moral values? That's who we are as a Republican Party. And -- and I -- I can't endorse this person for president.

(VIDEO ENDS)

HOWELL: Fair to say there is a lot to talk about. Let's bring in our politics reporter Eugene Scott live in New York with the very latest via Skype.

Eugene, good to have you with us. So, Donald Trump's apology, the first in his political career, was it enough?

SCOTT: Well, there were Republican leaders who've said himself that it was not enough, the initial apology of wanting him to go further. If you recall, the original version, the Republican nominee shifted to Bill Clinton's past indiscretions very quickly before he released the video where he went on and seemed to expand upon the -- how wrong he viewed himself after thinking about the situation more.

HOWELL: You know, Trump has been struggling with key groups specifically with women. And the question is how might this the video that has been released apology that has been submitted, how might that impact those swing voters?

SCOTT: Well, as you saw, the Clinton campaign was very aggressive in making it clear that they believe that Donald Trump is not good for women, and that this video furthers that claim. I think one thing that's really interesting to pay attention to is that in the CNN poll released in September, Donald Trump was doing better with married women than Hillary Clinton was. And so it'll be interesting to see if there is a shift in that demographic.

HOWELL: Trump's apology was defiant, and he made the point that this would be discussed further at the debate that is set to happen on Sunday. That debate critical for this candidate Trump who is now trailing Clinton in the national polls, what role will this all play in the debate?

SCOTT: I think it just shifted the whole -- the whole theme of the debate. I think, initially, there was some thought that there would be far less interest in this debate compared to the first one, but now it's very clear that eyes will be on what's happening this -- this upcoming Saturday. You see that he is going into the debate prep primarily because there's expectation that Hillary Clinton will use this in her lines of attack, but he seems to be prepared for that.

HOWELL: And, Eugene, certainly there was that release of Clinton's a campaign chairman emails. We'll obviously touch base on that just a little later.

Thank you, Eugene.

The other top story that we're following, the deadly hurricane that is making its way up the southeast U.S. coast. My colleague Michael Holmes is braving the weather elements out there in St. Augustine, Florida. Michael?

HOLMES: That's right, George. Yeah, St. Augustine, Florida, it is still blowing here, but Hurricane Matthew has turned its way further north. It is now threatening Charleston. It is threatening Savannah. They are being hammered right now. And a little later in the program, we will take you to Charleston for a live report. We'll also speak to a policeman who runs a county where Hurricane Matthew might finally make landfall. That's coming up later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is COUNTRY Breaking News.

HOWELL: 3:16 on the U.S. East Coast. Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell. And we continue following the breaking news this hour, Donald Trump's apology for vulgar comments that he made about women in 2005. It is the first apology of his political career. But for many, it is simply not enough.

He's already lost support from a number of top Republicans. The U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan saying that he is sickened by what he heard and disinvited Donald Trump from an event in Wisconsin that was set to happen Saturday.

The "Washington Post" published an unaired Access Hollywood taping of Donald Trump from 2005, and in it he can be heard saying that he tried to sleep with married women. He also bragged that his fame enabled him to grab women by their genitals without complaint. Trump's apology, early Saturday, didn't directly address the comments. He went on the attack mentioning Bill Clinton's sex scandal from the 1990's.

Earlier, my colleague CNN's senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, also weighed in on this on the impact that Trump's comments may have won his presidential campaign. Listen.

(VIDEO STARTS)

KEILAR: This does go farther than anything we've heard Donald Trump say in terms of what is considered socially acceptable behavior or speech. He has dismissed some of his past comments about women saying, "You know what, that was entertainment. No one respects women more than I do." And so he sort of tried to reassure people that in private moments he is very respectful. Well, this is a private moment, and you hear how he speaks.

And then the other issue with it, especially something that I think could motivate young people, especially young women may be for Hillary Clinton because they're motivated against Donald Trump, is that he's condoning forcible advances on women whether they are wanted or unwanted.

(UNKNOWN): Yeah.

KEILAR: So this isn't just a matter of using a slang term for a woman's private parts or using words that are derogatory toward women. It's about him saying, "You know, I'm attracted to beautiful women," and then he basically says, "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."

(UNKNOWN): That's the case. KEILAR: Grab them by the "fill in the blank," by their private parts.

I mean, that's -- that's a big issue for Donald Trump. This goes beyond.

(VIDEO ENDS)

HOWELL: In the meantime, some of Trump supporters are speaking out in his defense, including his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

(VIDEO STARTS)

LEWANDOWSKI: Clearly, this is not how women should be spoken about. But, you know, we're not choosing a Sunday school teacher here, and I want to be very clear about this. And we -- what we know about Donald Trump -- this is 12 years ago, this audiotape and does not reflect or bring to mind the Donald Trump I've spent 18 months with traveling. I've never heard anything like this out of him.

And so, you know, let me say, we're pointing a leader. We are electing a leader to the free world. We're not electing a Sunday school teacher to have a leader, someone who is tough and will be respected around the world. You know, that's what we're doing here, and that's why I think Donald Trump is.

And, you know, are his words perfect? Absolutely not. Is this defensible? I don't think so.

(VIDEO ENDS)

HOWELL: With top Republicans pulling away from Trump's campaign, my colleague Paula Newton spoke with Larry Sabato about what the future may hold not only for Donald Trump, but also for the Republican Party.

SABATO: The Republican Party is badly fractured. In fact, they're kind of like humpty-dumpty, and I'm not quite sure how they're going to be put back together again once this election is over. But for the election itself, here's the impact. It doesn't affect Donald Trump's base at all. If you look at social media, you'll see that virtually every Trump supporter is defending Trump to the hilt. They don't care.

However, Donald Trump is in the low 40's. He needs another four or five percent of the vote to win. This is going to help prevent him from getting that four or five percent.

NEWTON: Yeah. And we've always said that have -- Larry, that you know, at this point, it's those swing voters that he desperately need to get. He did show that he was getting ever so slight, the kind traction that he needed.

And, Larry, this is on a day when we've had more revelations about Clinton emails. Apparently, her -- her speeches to banks have been leaked online, and they show some things that perhaps -- specially about trade -- that she may not be so happy with. And yet what, it's completely obscured, ignored. NEWTON: It's -- it's totally obscured. And really it's the same

effect. Her base isn't going to defect at all. They are not going to be concerned about much of this. Why? Because the opponent is Donald Trump, and that's precisely why Donald Trump space doesn't care about this new videotape because the opponent is Hillary Clinton.

But look who wins. Hillary Clinton is four or five points ahead of Donald Trump. So if everything stays the way it is, even with these new revelations, Clinton still wins.

(VIDEO ENDS)

HOWELL: And as they both just mentioned, thousands of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's Campaign Chairman John Podesta have been posted online by WikiLeaks. They include what appeared to be excerpts from transcripts of closed door speech that Clinton gave to Wall Street companies after leaving the U.S. State Department. The hacked emails were just released hours after the U.S. accused Russia of trying to hack into its elections.

Let's return now to my colleague, CNN Politics Reporter Eugene Scott, live in New York via Skype with us.

Eugene, again let's talk about this situation with the release of Clinton's Campaign Chairman emails, touching on trade, touching on the middle class, but the timing of this release could actually benefit Hillary Clinton.

SCOTT: Very much so. In a normal a situation, in a normal weekend, this definitely would have taken priority over at the next debate over the issue that as seems to be derailing the be Donald Trump campaign. But based on social media interaction on what voters are interested in is certainly is the leaked tape from Donald Trump at Access Hollywood that people will be paying attention to most this Sunday.

HOWELL: But as people talk, you know, about the email situation with Hillary Clinton, obviously, that's something that their campaign is trying to prevent. When it comes to this debate, do we expect them to push pretty strongly on this audio that's been released.

SCOTT: They certainly will. They have been pushing pretty strongly on it already, but what we can expect is the Trump campaigns push even harder on these emails and try to make the argument that Hillary Clinton is not transparent and just not have an agenda and ideas that are at the best interest of working-class Americans, whether or not that will stick given these leaks from Access Hollywood remains to be seen.

HOWELL: Eugene, it was interesting with the last debate. Obviously, people were looking on and wondering and questioning how would these two candidates, and we see the image here. How would they come together? Would they shake hands? They did it in this instance, but with the next debate, the question, how does Hillary Clinton even walk on to the stage given now the context of this debate will be focused to some great extent on Donald Trump's comments, these lewd comments about women that had been published? SCOTT: That will be something certainly worth watching. We're at a

pace where I'm not sure that we've seen an election where two leading candidates appear to have such little respect for one another. Whether or not they can fake that this upcoming debate is not clear, but the tension is big, and I imagine will get thicker knowing that Donald Trump plans to attack Hillary Clinton and her merits very personally.

HOWELL: And let's let's get into that. You know, you talk about these two candidates that, as you say, have very little respect for each other. Trump has promised to bring up Clinton's marriage to the former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the issue of infidelity. Several questions here, first of all, will it matter how might Clinton respond to it or could it even backfire on Donald Trump to go there?

SCOTT: Well, this is not the first time that the Trump campaign has made it clear that they plan to address this issue at a debate. So the Clinton campaign has probably been preparing for it for some time, and I imagine that that is even ticked up given Donald Trump's promise to address it last night.

Granted Donald Trump's campaign just has had a few hours to prepare for this attack regarding this video from Access Hollywood, that and on top of all of the preparation that his critics say he needed to do compared to the last debate, it's not clear how ready he will be Sunday for that.

HOWELL: It was interesting. We can talk about this later in the show, but Mike Pence, you know, when this news broke, it was interesting to see how these campaigns huddled and moved quickly to, you know, get away from the press but to decide how they were going to actually talk about this. We can get more context on that from you later.

Eugene Scott, live for us in New York. Eugene, thank you.

SCOTT: Thank you.

HOWELL: A war of words earlier on CNN with a heated exchange among political commentators and a Trump surrogate. It's all ahead as the broadcast continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

HOWELL: On the U.S. East Coast, we welcome our viewers here in the United States and around world back to the show, continuing the breaking news that we're following here on CNN, Donald Trump apologizing for vulgar comments that he made about a decade ago about women.

Video clips from his comments were released on Friday, and it's causing a widespread uproar. In the tape, Trump is heard bragging about trying to have sex with a married woman and being able to get away with it because of his celebrity and to grope women, he says because of his celebrity. Here is just a portion of his remarks, which again we warn you, are indeed crude (ph).

(VIDEO STARTS)

BUSH: She's still very beautiful.

TRUMP: I moved on her actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it.

BUSH: Whoa.

TRUMP: I did try and (beep) her. She was married.

BUSH: That's huge news there.

TRUMP: No, no, Nancy.

BUSH: Yeah.

TRUMP: No, this was...

BUSH: (Inaudible).

TRUMP: And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. So I said, "Well, they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch. I couldn't get there, and she was married.

And all of a sudden, I see her. She's now got the big phony tits (ph) and everything. She's totally changed her look.

(VIDEO ENDS)

HOWELL: All right. Trump's campaign, it is now doing damage control. He's no longer going to a Republican event in Wisconsin on Saturday.

Here's our Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash, with more on that.

(VIDEO STARTS)

BASH: At first Donald Trump released a very brief terse statement sort of apologizing for these vulgar comments and suggestions about actions that he could or would or should or had taken against women. But after the firestorm was so intense, the crisis mode was so furious inside Trump Tower, and that the incoming that they were getting from Republicans around the country was so intense not the least of which out Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, disinviting Donald Trump from an event in his home state of Wisconsin.

Donald Trump acquiesced and gave a statement on camera, in his own words, on his own terms. Here's what he said.

TRUMP: I've never said I'm a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologize.

I've said some foolish things but there's a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.

(VIDEO ENDS)

BASH: Now that kind of straight to camera statement is incredibly rare for something like this. And the fact that that was the mode and that was the medium that his campaign that he chose to use is quite telling. He didn't want to do a sit-down interview with a reporter who was going to program, didn't want to go before at the press in a press conference with people who are going to pepper him with questions, wanted to try to tamp-down, do some damage control, say the words he never says, "I am sorry," try to get some credit for that and hunker down for 36 more hours before his debate's performance. Very, very high stakes when he's going to have to answer to this and other questions, but particularly this, standing across from his opponent for the presidency of the United States who happens to be a woman.

Dana Bash, CNN Washington.

HOWELL: Dana, thank you. And that debate set for Sunday, things got heated earlier between some panelists on CNN's -- CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, I should say.

When they were talking about the leaked recording, here's what they all had to say.

(VIDEO STARTS)

SETMAYER: This absurd locker room banter talk, you know, I mean as a mother, Scottie, I don't understand how you continue to justify this. I challenged you on this issue months ago when Donald Trump -- when I brought up the fact that he was a philanderer and bragged about it.

LEMON: She's supporting her candidate.

SETMAYER: I get it, but you're a mother first. You have daughters. I don't know if you have (inaudible).

HUGHES: Yeah, exactly, I do have daughters.

SETMAYER: And how could you sit there and justify this to your daughter when you have the person you want to put in the White House talking about grabbing private parts of women.

LEMON: OK, all right.

SETMAYER: This is insanity. (Inaudible)...

HUGHES: And how can you justify Hillary Clinton being in the White House who put bodies...

SETMAYER: This is sexual predatory.

HUGHES: ...who puts people in body bags and lies to the mother and makes fun of people.

SETMAYER: Yes, and she's despicable, too.

HUGHES: That's why I'm doing it because she lies to mothers.

SETMAYER: If the Republican Party put forth...

HUGHES: I put Donald Trump above her.

SETMAYER: ...if the Republican Party had put forth a -- a candidate that was (inaudible) ...

NAVARRO: You know, I really can't stand this.

SETMAYER: This wouldn't be (inaudible).

BECKEL: The question is, have you no decency? Have any of you no decency?

SETMAYER: Exactly. Where is the integrity? It's despicable.

HUGHES: But -- yes, where is the integrity in supporting Hillary Clinton, Tara?

SETMAYER: I'm not supporting Hillary Clinton.

HUGHES: Where is that integrity? (Inaudible) if that's what you're doing.

SETMAYER: This is bigger than Hillary Clinton.

HUGHES: No, it's not right now.

SETMAYER: It's about the culture and our country. It's about our country and the culture that we are accepting.

BECKEL: You know, you will rue the day your daughter sees this film.

LEMON: All right. Everybody, one at a time. Ana...

NAVARRO: Can I just say that (inaudible)...

LEMON: Ana, quickly, I have to get to break. I'll bring you guys back, but go ahead.

NAVARRO: All this -- all this shaming of each other on TV...

LEMON: Yeah.

NAVARRO: ...really, let's not do this, guys.

LEMON: Yeah. NAVARRO: None of us are on the ballot. The people that are on the

ballot are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and we are judging Donald Trump.

BECKEL: Well, Ana, come on.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: If you -- listen, if you choose to believe him, if you choose to make excuses for him, that's your choice. That's your choice.

SETMAYER: And then be responsible for it.

NAVARRO: My choice is...

BECKEL: But, Ana, don't sit there and try to say there's a balance.

NAVARRO: ...to consider (inaudible) man who has consistently disgusted me from the first day of this campaign. And I think that every single Republican is going to have to answer the question, what did you do the day you saw the tape of this man boasting about grabbing a woman's (beep)?

BECKEL: Exactly.

NAVARRO: Period.

LEMON: OK. All right. We'll be...

SETMAYER: Right.

HUGHES: Will you please stop saying that word? My daughter is listening.

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: Your candidate should stop saying it.

NAVARRO: You know what, Scottie, don't tell me you're offended when I say (beep) but you're not offended when Donald Trump says it.

SETMAYER: Exactly.

HUGHES: I am offended by you saying that word over and over on this/

NAVARRO: I am not running for president, he is.

HOWELL: Let's talk about on this Donald Trump situation this audio, the video that has been leaked we'll have -- leaked, we'll have more on that in -- later in the show. But now the other top story that we're following, this deadly hurricane, Hurricane Matthew, and our Michael Holmes is braving the weather elements in St. Augustine, Florida. Michael joins us now live.

Michael? HOLMES: Thanks, George. Yes, coming up after the break we're going

to do -- bring you the latest on Hurricane Matthew as it continue to turn north along the U.S. East Coast. We'll take you to Charleston, which is under serious threat, and we'll speak to the sheriff of the county where Hurricane Matthew might finally make landfall.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Major hurricane on the U.S. East Coast has weakened, but it still poses a threat to the southeastern part of the country. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says that Hurricane Matthew's eye is now moving north toward the coast of South Carolina. Officials in the state of Georgia and the Carolinas have urged people to take shelter and are warning of danger of storm surge flooding. Florida officials say that the hurricane killed four people there after it caused hundreds of deaths in the Caribbean.

Let's go live to my colleague Michael Holmes, anchoring our team coverage in St. Augustine, Florida. Michael?

HOLMES: Yeah, George, we've been following this hurricane from Jamaica to Miami, to Melbourne, Florida, and now in the St. Augustine here in Florida. There was storm surge here earlier where I'm standing right now. We were thrown mid-calf in water. It's now drained away, but for a while this -- this historic 450-year-old city was isolated. Half of the residents didn't take the mandatory evacuation order seriously, stayed put, and they ended up in a city that became officially closed. It is now re-opened and the water is draining away.

Further north, it is a lot worse than that. Places like Savannah and also Charleston them where we find out Brian Todd standing by.

Brian, you're -- you're looking at record levels of water there in the harbor, and we're talking about a city that has problems with water at the best of times.

TODD: Absolutely, Michael. We were told a short time ago by the Charleston police officer that there was water coming over the seawall, at the battery, which is a low lying area in Charleston right by the Ashley River there. So they are starting to have significant flooding problems here in Charleston.

We just saw over here photojournalist Eddie Gross, we'll pan to his left and your -- your left. That blue awning there, you can see it's kind of flying up. It almost came off its moorings a few minutes ago, so we've got to watch for flying debris. If that awning comes loose, we could be in some danger here, too. The palm trees really bending in the wind here. This is Warren Street. These trees have been near buckling all night long, and there's a lot of debris coming down over here.

We talked about storm surge. Michael, you just mentioned that high tide a couple of hours ago in Charleston harbor was approaching nine feet. That's the third highest on record, the highest since Hurricane Hugo 27 years ago. I talked to an emergency management official not long ago. He said

there was a tornado warning in Myrtle Beach, a significant distance from here, north on the coastline, near the North Carolina border. So this storm, even at its edges, really causing problems as that the eyewall start -- starts to approach South Carolina. That awning over there just buckled again. It -- it may be about to fly off, so we've got to be a little careful around here.

You know, we talked to emergency management people here all night long about evacuations. Nearly 400,000 people got out of this area ahead of the storm, Michael, but they say that really wasn't enough.

As of about front probably five hours ago, they were telling people it was too late to evacuate. What they advised you to do was to get to the highest place in your residence or wherever you were staying. That's how drastic it was.

So they're talking about flooding. We did talk about -- we did talk to some police officers down the street here a short time ago. They said there is significant flooding in many streets in Charleston, so we're really seeing the -- that the destructive effects of the storm starting to be felt here in earnest. The only people out so far that we've seen are first responders. Here comes a vehicle here.

Also, we were told a short time ago by the state Department of Transportation that Interstate 95, in both directions in the southern part of South Carolina -- that's the biggest highway pretty much going north/south through the state -- was impassable in both directions. They're telling people to stay off those major roads because they just don't know what they're going to encounter this morning, Michael.

HOLMES: Yeah. It's such a shame, a beautiful city under threat from Hurricane Matthew. Brian Todd, thanks for your reporting there. Stay safe with that awning flapping around there.

OK. So where is Hurricane Matthew heading? How much punch does it still have? Derek Van Dam joining us now at the International Weather Center. With that, it's a CAT 2 these days, but that still packs a punch.

VAN DAM: You know what, Michael, the northern eyewall is now starting to cross over land in the Hilton Head region in South Carolina, so we do anticipate this group of meteorologists at CNN Weather Center believe that a landfalling hurricane will take place within the next coming hours. So that is going to be a major concern for that particular area.

Another concern, we keep harping on this because it is so incredibly crucial that people give this information out. The storm surge flooding that is taking place, as we speak, specifically into the Charleston Harbor region, if you recall, roughly a year ago with Hurricane Joaquin when we had a record level storm surge that took place there, this is actually superseding that. And we believe that this is the third highest storm surge that the Charleston Harbor has seen. Remember Hugo several, several years ago that brought the highest

storm surge into the Charleston Harbor region. Here's what you need to know.

We have a current level in the Charleston Harbor of 9.9 -- or 9.29 feet. That is roughly five feet over normal tidal values for this time of the month. And what that means is that we're getting all that push-up of water in the canals and all the tributaries across the Charleston Harbor area there. So flooding is a concern. Storm surge will be a problem, significant inundation of homes especially along those barrier islands there. And as we continue to see that storm surge threat as our landfalling hurricane moves on shore within the coming hours here.

This is the latest radar. You are looking at some of the outer rain bands and the latest -- this is actually flash flood warnings, and that is in place for Charleston, including Mount Pleasant, Savannah and the Hendersonville regions, extending inland across the extreme southern sections -- southwestern sections of South Carolina.

Look at the landfalling hurricane. As we speak, it's again moments away. The official landfall terminology means when this eyewall actually traverses the coastal areas of the Carolinas, so we'll have to wait a few more hours until that actually happens, but it is moving in a northerly direction. We are getting some of the stronger winds associated with that from Beaufort into Hilton Head Island just north of Savannah. And again that storm surge threat very high across the Charleston region where flash flood warnings extend across that state, and flash flood watches into our North Carolina.

Category 2, 105 mile per hour sustained winds. The big threat here storm surge, but also flooding. Look at our computer models depicting anywhere between 10 and 20 inches of rainfall in an already saturated environment.

You know what that means, Michael, when we start to have a saturated ground like this and we get hurricane force winds, it is going to be easy to topple over trees and electrical poles. So we believe that one million plus customers without power will definitely go up in the overnight periods here. Back to you.

HOLMES: Yeah, it was that a couple hours ago, it was still a 1.1 million in Florida alone...

(UNKNOWN): In Florida alone.

HOLMES: ...so there's going to be power losses. Yeah, there in Florida alone, they're trying to repair it as quickly as I can. When we were driving up from Melbourne to here in St. Augustine, we saw a lot of utility trucks heading south to try to fix them.

I was going to ask you, Derek, what -- what actually changes with the hurricane when it does make landfall? I mean, generally, you -- you expect that's going to weaken the hurricane, but what does it mean for the Hilton Head area? VAN DAM: Well, it's a great question because when that eyewall

actually crosses into land, we lose the moisture source from the Atlantic Ocean, basically the jet fuel necessary for a storm to strengthen. So what we anticipate to happen is the storm to lose organization, lose some of its forward punch, but still be a significant rainmaker and a significant threat to life, especially for the coastal areas and immediately inland regions of South Carolina.

HOLMES: All right. Derek, thanks a lot. Derek Van Dam there with the very latest on Hurricane Matthew.

And from here in St. Augustine, we'll send it back to you, George. Certainly, this storm has just kept on going. It's giving and giving all the way up the coast.

HOWELL: Michael, you talked about driving up from Melbourne up to a St. Augustine. What was it like for you and your team there when that storm was bearing very down?

HOLMES: You know, our team, you know, Elam (ph) and Jose and I, we -- we followed this storm from Jamaica. We were down there. Of course, it went to the east of Jamaica and the effects not so great there.

We went to Miami. We went up then to Melbourne. And when we were there, we -- we did get the punch of it. And we spent all of last night out in absolute howling winds and rain. And it was quite an experience, I'll tell you. It was -- it was fairly savage when the hurricane force winds had just built up, and built up, and built up. And eventually, it really did wall up the place but, fortunately, not a lot of damage.

Driving up here, we have wind and rain, but not too dramatic. And right now, the rain stopped here in St. Augustine and, of course, where Bryan Todd is getting hit and places like Savannah and Hilton Head, George.

HOWELL: Michael, we certainly appreciate the coverage from you, from Brian Todd, from your team there, Elam (ph) as well and everyone else that -- that is out in the elements bringing us this coverage of this major storm. Thank you so much, and we'll stay in touch with you, Michael.

This is CNN Newsroom. Still ahead of the race for the White House, Donald Trump heads for Sunday's debate with a new cloud over his candidacy. We'll bring you more on the Trump bombshell and his controversial history with women, that as Newsroom continues.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

HOWELL: We continue following the breaking news, Donald Trump saying that he is sorry for the first time in his political career in his campaign, apologizing for comments captured on tape in 2005, which he describes groping women and making sexual advances without invitation. The fallout from that bombshell video could pose a real setback to

Trump's campaign when it comes to female voters. CNN's Randi Kaye reports the Republican presidential nominee has a long and controversial history when it comes to women.

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KAYE: Donald Trump says he loves beautiful women, he also loves to talk about women and it often lands him in hot water like during his long-running feud with Rosie O'Donnell.

TRUMP: She came to my wedding. She ate like a pig.

KAYE: After his dust-up with Megyn Kelly during the Fox News Debate, Trump said this about her on CNN.

TRUMP: She starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And, you know, you can see there was blood coming out of our eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.

KAYE: Critics charge he was referring to menstruation. Trump insisted it was a big misunderstanding.

TRUMP: I was going to say nose and/or ears because that's a very common statement, blood pouring out of somebody's nose. It's a statement showing anger.

KAYE: Kelly wasn't the first female journalist Trump sparred with decades ago. After "New York Times" columnist Gail Collins wrote about rumors of Trump's bankruptcy, he sent her a copy of the article she'd written and circled her photo writing across it, quote, "the face of a dog."

Much of what Trump has said about women was during his many appearances on Howard Stern's radio show. In 2005, he made this remark talking about a woman in a beauty pageant.

TRUMP: This horse, she's unbelievably short, and I'm a little surprised. I think that the -- the boob job is terrible. You know, they look like two light bulbs coming out of a body.

KAYE: After he bought the pageant, Stern asked Trump how he might change it.

TRUMP: They said, how are you going to change the pageant? I said, I'm going to get the bathing suits to be smaller and the heels to be higher.

KAYE: A woman's breasts were always a hot topic for him.

TRUMP: I view a -- a person who is flat-chested is very hard to be a 10. OK?

(UNKNOWN): Oh, I see.

(UNKNOWN): Right. TRUMP: I mean, you have to be extraordinary. You have to have the

face of Vivien Leigh to be a 10...

(UNKNOWN): Exactly.

TRUMP: ...if you're flat-chested. OK? But she went from an eight to a solid four.

KAYE: And in another appearance on the show...

TRUMP: Some incredible beautiful women, they'll walk up and they'll flip their top, wow, and they'll flip their panties. I've been with women with extraordinarily bad breast jobs. Isn't unbelievable? Women -- one woman, beautiful, had big beautiful real boobs...

(UNKNOWN): Go ahead.

TRUMP: ...really beautiful.

(UNKNOWN): Right.

TRUMP: And she wants them reduced.

KAYE: Years later on the Howard Stern Show, Trump boldly mocked Kim Kardashian's physique.

(UNKNOWN): Right.

TRUMP: Does she have a good body? No.

(UNKNOWN): Of course,.

TRUMP: Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely.

(UNKNOWN): Right. In other words...

TRUMP: And if it weren't Kim, they'd say, "Wow! I don't want to go out with her."

KAYE: And just last week Trump had to defend comments he made about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. He called her Miss Piggy and an eating machine on Howard Stern Show, mocking her weight gain. He doubled down on those comments on Fox News.

TRUMP: She was the winner and, you know, she gained a massive amount of weight. And it was -- it was a real problem. We had a -- we had a real problem.

KAYE: A candidate struggling to win the support of women come election day, in his own words. Randi Kaye, CNN New York.

HOWELL: And now the comments focused on Nancy O'Dell from these comments that were released from Donald Trump back in 2005. We'll continue on that. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. More news just after the break. Stay with us.

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