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Trump To WSJ: Zero Chance I'll Quit; Trump Remarks on Women Causing Some Republicans to Rescind Endorsements. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired October 8, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[12:00:03] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's now got the big phony (inaudible) and everything. She's totally changed her look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheesh, your girl's hot -- in the purple. Whoa, the Donald has scored. Whoa, my man.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Look at you. You are a -- maybe it's a different one.

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

TRUMP: Yes, that's her, with the gold. I've 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 star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those legs, all I can see is the legs.

TRUMP: It looks good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, shorty.

TRUMP: Nice legs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way. 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?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down below. Pull the handle.

TRUMP: Hello. How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Mr. Trump. How are you? Pleasure to meet you.

TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific, terrific. You know Billy Bush?

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

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

TRUMP: We're ready. Let's go. Make me a soap star.

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like a little hug, Darling?

TRUMP: Absolutely. Melania said this was OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And Donald Trump did respond by posting a defiant apology on Facebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Anyone who knows me knows these word don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, we have this covered from all angles. CNN's correspondent, Phil Mattingly is outside Trump Tower in New York and we also have our senior political reporter, Manu Raju with me now.

And this is just in, we are learning that the Republican vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, who was going to go in place of Donald Trump to a luncheon today, House Speaker Paul Ryan has now said he will not attend.

So we are looking at now an avalanche, really within the GOP in terms of GOP leadership that is now taking back its support of Donald Trump and then there are people who are distancing themselves and one is not sure how to interpret what this means when Mike Pence, his running mate is no longer going to go in place of Donald Trump.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: This is hugely significant. Mike Pence actually is very close to the Wisconsin Republicans, very close to Paul Ryan, a close personal friend. They talk frequently, but this shows how big of a distraction this video tape has become for the entire Republican Party for their ability to keep the House, the ability to keep the Senate.

These Republicans down ticket want nothing to do with the top of the ticket. Paul Ryan is trying to -- raising money across the country simply to keep the House majority. At that Wisconsin event today, there's a vulnerable Senate Republicans going to go there. Ron Johnson, he wants nothing to do with the top of the ticket.

WHITFIELD: At first, he was a reluctant backer of Donald Trump. It took some doing for Paul Ryan to step up, to say I'm going to support this Republican nominee.

RAJU: That's right. They're almost tapering over the divisions, but this just burst those divisions right through. It is very clear that even if though Mike Pence, the Republicans are more comfortable with him, they see him and his association with them as a huge, huge distraction.

They need to get past this episode with a big question, whether or not they will. It will peril their bid for the White House, but it will peril their bid to keep control of Congress.

WHITFIELD: We heard from New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte through a tweet that she is going to write in Mike Pence. She is no longer supporting Donald Trump.

So Phil, Mike pence is no longer going to go to the event of Paul Ryan. Are you hearing anything from the Trump camp about how to interpret this and what this means?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing at the moment, Fred. But I do think it's important to note, Mike Pence has been the most steadfast public supporter of Donald Trump, repeatedly going to the mat for him at Trump's worst moments including the debate, which came in the wake of the comments in the fight with Miss Universe, came in the wake of the stories about his tax returns that were leaked to the "New York Times."

Mike pence was always the guy who stood up for Donald Trump and the person that Donald Trump was. This wasn't Mike Pence talking about policy, this was Mike Pence vouching for the man himself.

Mike Pence, a deeply religious individual, a conservative through and through, has the respect to the Republican Party, both the establishment and the conservative wings has repeatedly vouched for Donald Trump.

Now this video comes out and that's very problematic. We haven't heard from the Trump camp and the Pence sources are not elaborating beyond that. He is not going here.

You can read this a very specific way and I think when you look at everything that's happening. You said avalanche, I'd say wave.

[12:05:01]You can use any number of different adjectives or descriptions here. This is adding to a very, very problematic afternoon right now for Trump.

RAJU: Fred, this really ups the ante for tomorrow night for Donald Trump here at this debate and in St. Louis. He absolutely has a huge, huge victory tomorrow night or not a major stumble because if he does stumble, it's going to get worse for him politically. More people will abandon him. He can turn the tide around if he takes it to Hillary Clinton and has a good performance --

WHITFIELD: How? How?

RAJU: That shows -- very good question.

WHITFIELD: Is there a good performance for Donald Trump after this? This is a gigantic distraction.

RAJU: And how does he respond to Hillary Clinton will certainly put him on the spot on the question about the videotape and how he answers that. This is going to be a very challenging debate for him. He needs to clear that hurdle. Otherwise, it could be the end of his candidacy.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, OK, political correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty also joining us here. So Sunlen, how Hillary Clinton handles this, how Donald Trump handles this, tomorrow, indeed, it's a huge stage. We already know that because it's the second presidential debate. The ante was upped a long time ago. How does either candidate proceed or campaign? What are they trying to shape? What is the message that both are trying to shape tomorrow?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONENT: Yes, this is going to be a walk on egg shells moment. In each of their instance too, you know, you have Hillary Clinton, of course, wanting to balance out how to come out against it.

We have seen some balance in her campaign, ten, 12 hours since this first broke, the question is, how forceful she will be, how direct she will engage with Donald Trump last night. This is a town hall format.

It's a different feel, a little more casual. You are dealing with voters here potentially asking these questions and Hillary Clinton, you know, potentially looking right at Donald Trump. That is a big question and you know, calling him out.

For Trump, of course, he was already in damage control mode trying to, of course, correct from his first bad debate. Now he's even more, you know, obviously, in crisis mode here.

You know, look, the debate is over 24 hours away. A lot can happen. There are, you know, this crisis mode is kind of swirling and snowballing where he will be tomorrow. It might be different than where he is today.

WHITFIELD: OK, let me bring in Rebecca Berg and Errol Louis also into the conversation. So Errol, we know that Hillary Clinton was prepping today. Donald Trump has enjoyed prepping by being in the formats of rallies.

We don't know whether he has any kind of mock town hall debate style, but now, today, what is your expectation of how Donald Trump would be preparing today for tomorrow with a new message, a new obstacle now in his wake.

And especially that he's tweeting that it's been an interesting 24 hours that he had that midnight apology. How is Donald Trump spending his day to prepare for, trying to reshape a message to save his candidacy tomorrow?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: All of his time I imagine is going to be spent on that last category of work, trying to rescue the candidacy at all. He did do a mock town hall debate with selected supporters. It wasn't quite what he's going to face on Sunday.

But he was up in New Hampshire doing exactly that. Of course, he denied it was prep for his town hall style debate. But, of course, that's exactly what it was.

When you talk about the bottom falling out, multiple leaders walking away from him, that's got to be the main concern. If you have, even from the point of view of a simple decency, apologies of the sort that he made, which was really a non-apology.

Because he called it a distraction, nothing more than a distraction, which is not how you apologize. The apologies need to go to Adrian Zucker, Nancy O'Dell, to the people that he was talking about in such a disparaging way.

The apologies also need to go to his campaign staff and followers and donors and then finally, perhaps an apology to the general public. So he's not doing any of that.

I imagine he's simply fielding phone calls from lots of donors, lots of supporters asking for instructions, asking for some guidance about what they are supposed to say between now and Sunday night.

The longer he just leaves this, the worse it is going to get and I think the more support he is going to lose.

WHITFIELD: So Rebecca, this has always been a very different candidate, remember. I mean, this is non-establishment. This is going it alone. Even if he's losing support, Donald Trump's position, I mean, his entire constitution is, I'm going to do it my way anyway.

Doesn't this speak to his supporters, his advocacy, those who are going to say, this is the Donald Trump that we like. He is going to go it alone. He was going to handle whatever comes his way and without anyone's support.

[12:10:07]REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, as Phil pointed out earlier, Fred, this has worked for Donald Trump to this point. As I'm looking at the Republican reaction to Donald Trump's remarks and the Republicans rushing to flee the scene, so to speak, this appears to be a different situation.

This seems to have crossed a line for many Republicans and by extension, many Republican voters. These lawmakers are responding to signals from the electorate. They have their own political careers to protect.

So this seems like a different situation now. Maybe the straw that broke the camel's back. Donald Trump can be defiant. It's really the only style he knows to be defiant and to stand behind what he said essentially and keep filing ahead.

But this is a very different situation now. It crossed a line for a lot of Republicans. When we look at the pressure on him for the debate tomorrow, this is, I mean, any debate in a presidential election is going to be a high stress situation with very high stakes.

You only have three of these opportunities in the general election. Now, Donald Trump, on top of all of that, has to deal with this controversy, has to deal with Republicans fleeing his campaign, disowning his campaign and condemning it and condemning remarks and has to prepare for the debate amidst all of this.

It's going to be very, very difficult tomorrow for him to make an impression that is positive and move past this.

WHITFIELD: So Manu, Donald Trump will say the Republican leadership isn't what got me to this point in the first place. So what difference does it make if there's no Republican advocacy, if he doesn't have GOP leadership in his corner at this juncture?

RAJU: You know, that's certainly the argument that he could make. The problem is Donald Trump needs to grow his base right now, not lose support, particularly from influential people that can actually campaign for him on the ground and get their own supporters to come out.

Donald Trump right now is trying to consolidate Republican support. That was one reason why he was doing well in the polls before the first debate because Republicans were coming home, getting behind his candidacy.

Some of those more mainstream Republicans who are now solid on his candidacy started to see the leaders of Congress walking away, maybe those voters too will start to walk away. It will be harder for him to probably share the Republican base and Republican establishment and Republican rank-and-file voters. If he doesn't have that, he may not win the White House.

WHITFIELD: So Sunlen, for Mike Pence, I mean Phil just described, he is a religious man. We heard him particularly in the vice president debate talk about that was one of his internal struggles, right taking public office at the same time his commitment to faith.

Now you have his running mate, this situation, which undermines everything that Mike Pence was demonstrating that he represents. So, he wouldn't be going to the luncheon to the Paul Ryan event. Is he likely having his own internal consternation and struggle about whether he even remains on the ticket? I mean, where in unchartered territory in so many directions?

SERFATY: Without a doubt, he is definitely having a lot of internal discussions right now and certainly with some of his top aides, many of whom he brought over from his governor's time in the governor's office.

But certainly people that he trust and can confide in as he deals with this public battle of what to do and what to say. I think the number one job is to defend the top of the ticket. He's in this very awkward spot of having to potentially defend the indefensible.

That's why we saw these reporters last night at Mike Pence's event yell repeatedly and loudly, Governor Pence, what do you think about this and he totally ignored. He is not in a position right now to respond. He is going to have to give a response.

WHITFIELD: And he's the one who received all these accolades after the debate from people who said he is the one on this ticket, who looks more presidential, who behaves more presidential, who had this calm demeanor, and now this.

RAJU: Don't forget his own potential presidential ambitions, too. Talk about the 2020 candidate and how he handles this. Will it really go a long way to determine whether or not he can salvage his own candidacy going forward? A huge test as Sunlen was saying for him going forward.

WHITFIELD: Phil, outside of Trump Tower, every time we see you, we see a whole lot of people. Manhattan is always a very busy spot in Fifth Avenue, but are people there because they are awaiting a sighting of anyone within Donald Trump's camp?

Are you seeing an activity that in any way can kind of give you some insight as to what is happening inside Trump Tower and who is accompanying Donald Trump there?

MATTINGLY: Yes, Fred, one of the most interesting things, I think really I was out here late last night and staking out as well here this morning. We haven't seen the usual run back and forth of top Donald Trump advisers.

[12:15:08]We usually see them walk in and out. We usually chat with them when they walk in and out. We have not seen anybody really over the course. What that means I think is kind of what we talked about earlier where everybody is kind of barricaded in right now trying to figure out exactly what the way forward is.

I think I have talked to people close to the campaign that acknowledge that there are differences on how people think Donald Trump should react going forward. There were differences on how people thought Donald Trump should have phrased or put out his apology last night.

Everybody is trying to marry together some type of coherent response and one doesn't exist right now. I think there is a lot of frustration. If you look at the broader campaign, when you talk to people in battleground states and people who were trying to figure out a way forward right now.

There's a lot of frustration. But inside Trump Tower, itself, it's Donald Trump and closest advisers, and they are trying to figure out a path forward on this issue, on the debate, and frankly, on the future of a campaign that is in dire straits right now -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Just a little over 30 days away, remarkable. All right, thank you so much, Phil Mattingly, Manu Raju, Errol Louis, Sunlen Serfaty. We'll check back with all of you. There's so much to talk about. We are not done, we have a long way to go.

All right, meantime, former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney is about to speak at an event in Las Vegas. We'll be monitoring to see how he weighs on this latest Trump controversy. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, a day ahead of the second presidential debate.

This breaking news, the fallout from Donald Trump's 2005 tape where he makes graphic and lewd remarks about women. Undeterred Trump telling the "Wall Street Journal" now, there is zero chance that he will quit and that he will never give up, despite calls for him by many within the GOP to step aside.

Two Republicans, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo and New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte became the first sitting Republican senators to back away from Trump following these incendiary comments.

[12:20:13Let's discuss this with my guests, CNN political commentator, Lanhee Chen, and he is the former public policy director for Mitt Romney, and Trump supporter, Ed Martin. All right, good to see both of you. Appreciate it.

All right, so Ed, you first because you are a Donald Trump supporter. Are you still a supporter?

ED MARTIN, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: How do you maintain your support and advocacy for Donald Trump especially after the release of these comments?

MARTIN: The first thing, I'm glad he apologized. I have two young daughters and two young sons. I teach them that you have to be better than what we heard. I think it was problematic, disturbing, but he apologized.

I think, look, you heard, we had a primary and somebody selected. I think that we have a guy that's talked about issues that matter. We are in Missouri, where I'm from, people are really hurting.

And I think the words that he said were pretty terrible. He apologized. After that, we have to fight for the future of the country. I think Hillary Clinton's direction, the choice she wants and what her actions have been are much worse.

WHITFIELD: Does the display of Donald Trump's character whether it was ten years ago or ten days ago up stage whatever potential promise voters may have been seeing as to why they elected him the nominee?

MARTIN: Yes, I mean, of course. When you say something terrible, you need to apologize. But now at this point, the conversation, he's not going to be taken off the ballot. He needs to go forward. He needs to talk about the issues. We have a problem with jobs and immigration, and I think --

WHITFIELD: He has to address it in a different way. Yes, we saw the apology, but there are many within the Republican leadership say it wasn't an apology enough. It wasn't contrite. How do you suppose he needs to address that during a town hall setting tomorrow here on this campus?

MARTIN: Well, I think he's going to have a chance to speak, as you said, he's be in front of a lot of people and say something about it. But I think what I want to see and what most Americans want to see is put the distraction part of it, say the apology and get back to the issues part of it.

WHITFIELD: It's more than an apology. Doesn't there have to be some kind of language, explanation -- he has to divulge more about what was the spirit behind saying that? How does one recover from that?

You are talking your children, what is the message. When you explain things to your kids, it has to be more than I apologize. You lay out why, when, where, all of that. How do you expect to do that?

MARTIN: I think somebody in public life who's on a Hollywood show that says something terrible like that. Billy Bush has apologized, I think most people have accepted his apology. Donald Trump needs to apologize --

WHITFIELD: But running for president, the highest office of the land.

LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's the problem. People don't see the apology as an apology because then he goes on to attack Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

WHITFIELD: It was in within the statement of an apology that people have been waiting for 12 hours.

CHEN: It will be one thing if he was auditioning for another reality TV show. He's auditioning to be the leader of the free world. This is a very different situation. This is the time of choosing for Republicans, I really believe that.

I think most Republicans have to sit back and say what does the Republican Party want to be in the future? We have to look beyond the election. I get the point about judges, I'm sympathetic.

But at some point, you have to think what's best for the party and for the country more importantly. This man should not be president of the United States. There's just nothing about what he said. There is nothing what he said that is redeeming or redeemable.

WHITFIELD: You work within the Mitt Romney campaign, if you were working within the Donald Trump campaign, you wouldn't be telling him step aside, step away, you know, it's over because, I mean --

CHEN: I very well might be. They are going to know that the numbers better than anybody else, but my sense is that what he needed was support from independent women across this country.

That video tape, that audio tape is going to make it very difficult for him to get the support he needs particularly in states like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

So the question will be a political one, which politically, is there a pathway there? Is he actually doing more harm than good to the cause of defeating Hillary Clinton --

WHITFIELD: Is there a political pathway?

CHEN: I don't think -- I think if there is, it's incredibly narrow.

MARTIN: This is a month away. The election is a month away.

WHITFIELD: No time.

MARTIN: It's a huge amount of time. Tomorrow, you may be talking about x or y issue in the world that implicated Hillary's action.

WHITFIELD: Do you believe he can recover and people will forget this?

MARTIN: They will accept the apology and they'll recognize in a president like with Hillary or Romney or anyone else, an imperfect person who has policies that are necessary for America.

CHEN: Part of this will be how he performs in tomorrow's debate. I think that for Americans that haven't seen, I'm sure many Americans, most Americans have seen the tape and the so-called apology. The question will be how he behaves in the debate tomorrow night. That's why this debate is particularly critical.

WHITFIELD: What would you need to see -- what do you believe he needs to put on display during that debate?

CHEN: Contrition. There was no contrition in that statement last night. There was anger. A sense of why do I have to do this. That's what I got from that statement. I think he needs to demonstrate contrition. In the town hall format, he can do that because of the way it's set up.

[12:25:02]WHITFIELD: And you are not waiting for a question from the audience in which to do it. Set the stage right at the top?

CHEN: Question about trade, he ought to just pivot and say, let me address this issue first. I have said some things that have been very hurtful, I apologize. I recognize, as a father, as a husband, as a son, whatever, he needs to express contrition in a sincere way. That's not something we've seen. That thing was a joke last night. That apology video was a joke.

WHITFIELD: So Ed, is that in Donald Trump?

MARTIN: Is that what?

WHITFIELD: Is that in Donald Trump to show that kind of contrition? MARTIN: Quick stories are a tough sell.

WHITFIELD: If he showed that is that a turn off for you and others who are standing by his side no matter what?

MARTIN: I'm not staying by his side no matter what. I'm standing by somebody whether it was in anger or not. The response of what was said ten years ago needs to be an apology. He apologized. I tend to think of apologies as sincere and I tend to take his word at it.

But I think it would be good for the first time he is in public to be clear on that, sure. But look, this is a guy, a human being like everybody else who has made mistakes and will make more.

I would like to see him say at the beginning I am sorry and then go into the issues. We are in Missouri where we have hollowed out jobs. We have a question in Missouri how to go forward with jobs.

Immigration is a factor instead of a debate on this. I mean, it's disappointing to me that we are having this conversation because and we should, I agree.

WHITFIELD: Who are you disappointed in?

MARTIN: Everybody. Everybody in the sense that why does this come out now?

WHITFIELD: That it begin with Donald Trump for being recorded by saying things like this?

MARTIN: I think he apologized, that's right. In politics we know, this drops for a reason. It's dropped for a reason and that's OK. Don't excuse it.

WHITFIELD: If it didn't drop, it would have been OK?

MARTIN: No, if it didn't now, it would be three or four weeks.

WHITFIELD: OK, Ed Martin, Lanhee Chen, thanks so much, appreciate it, gentlemen.

Of course, tomorrow night this topic is going to be addressed. Will be at the very top? Will it be by way of questions or will the candidates take it on straight away on their own?

The town hall style debate will be moderated by Anderson Cooper, 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Live coverage starts at 4 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. We'll be right back from St. Louis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:50] WHITFIELD: Oh, welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in St. Louis. A day ahead of the second presidential debate. And now, the support for Donald Trump is dropping. There are many in Republican leadership who are campaigning dump Trump now. We just heard moments ago, Nevada Congressman Joe Heck, who is running for Senator Harry Reid's senate seat. Said, he is not supporting Donald Trump. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOE HECK, (R) NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: I believe that any candidate for president should following campaign in ethical moral and decent campaign as they go about the trail. I accept that none of us are perfect. For me I am not infallible. However, I can no longer look past the pattern of behavior and comments that have been made by Donald Trump.

Therefore, I cannot in good conscience continue to support Donald Trump nor can I vote for Hillary Clinton. My wife, my daughters, my mom, my sister and all women deserve better. All Americans deserve better. Our campaign will move forward and I continue -- and we'll continued to be based on the principle of the Republican Party, the need for conservative leadership and all the (ph) parliament on all people are treated with respect and dignity.

My hope is that this will not divide us and now we can unite behind principles, Republican principles. We deserve a candidate that can ask himself at the end of the day, can I live my life with honor and do I deserve to be elected president of the United States? I believe our only option is to formally ask Mr. Trump to step down and to allow Republicans the opportunity to elect someone who will provide us with the strong leadership we desperately needed and one that Americans deserve.

Today, I stand her disappointed in our choices for president, but more committed than ever to bringing the same code of honor, decency and respect to the U.S. Senate. Thank you for being here this afternoon and this morning. And I turn over to my good friend Cresent Hardy. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's just the latest example of an avalanche of disappointment that is being expressed against Donald Trump, of the Republican nominee. This time, that was out of Nevada. You heard from Congressman Joe Heck who said Donald Trump should be formally asked to step down, but you heard the heckles you heard the boos there. Presumably many Donald Trump supporters who were in the audience their just didn't like what was being said. Meantime you're also seeing her in Las Vegas, a former presidential candidate Mitt Romney is now talking. I think we have an update, perhaps, listen to him now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: About the last day with the tape where Mr. Trump has revealed not just offensive language, but offensive conduct. And I have already said something and that I don't have something to add other than I want to express on the behalf of myself and my party and how much we love all the people in this country, regardless of gender or ethnicity or religion. And I was offended and dismayed by what was said and done by Mr. Trump. I think it's degrading to our women, to our daughters our granddaughters and the future generations. And I dearly hope that we will come together as a nation and stand as firmly as we can for the principles that may have made us the shining city on a hill, not just here, we're not just the shining city on the hill for ourselves but for people around the world.

I love this great country. I love what it represents. I love the people of America. I have to tell you, the greatest thrill of my life was being able to go with my family and see this country and meet you here in Nevada, but people also across the country.

[12:35:01] We're a great and noble people. We stand for powerful things. These men who are running for office are men of integrity and character. We need men like that in Washington, perhaps more like that in any other time in our history.

And so, I have a special request for you. One of the reasons I didn't win -- well, I was the reason I didn't win. I make -- I remember what Natalie Stevenson said, no it wasn't Natalie Stevenson, it was -- gosh, who the heck was it? Anyway, I'll pretend, it was Natalie Stevenson, said he was asked why he lost and he said, you know, he said I always wanted to run for president in the worst way, and that's just what I did and so that was Fritz Mandl (ph) let's see that, that was Fritz Mandl (ph) who said that, so I made some mistakes. But one thing we didn't do as well as we could've. And I was -- we didn't have as larger force going out and knocking on doors as we need.

In some states we didn't turn out voters as well as the Democrats did. And that's up to you. These campaigns, these guys are going to win, but it's going to depend on us going out and making sure that Republican voters actually vote. A lot of people have things that come up, they got work that occurs that calls them into the office or to factory. They've kids and have some event that occurs and they forgot to vote. We can't let that happen. And so I'm calling on each of you to make a personal commitment to spend time knocking on some doors or making some calls in behalf of Cresent and Joe and so there are interspersed among you people who are part of the staff of these groups, of this campaigns.

They have white badges on. Come up to them, tell them you are going to give them some time, come into the headquarters and make some calls or knock on some doors and in your home because this matters. This is a very unusual campaign this year. It really matters if good people come out and vote and express their views and vote their conscience. I love this country I love you for your support. I love the chance to be here today in this beautiful sunny state. I really respect these guys. I want to see them in Washington. I want to help them to help lead our country and I want you to make sure that happens. Thanks so much. Great to be with you today. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. You are listening to former Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney who is there trying to shift the focus on getting people, still encouraging Republicans to vote. He's not necessarily saying for Donald Trump. He did say I was offended and dismayed by what was said. It is degrading to daughters to our granddaughters and we should come together, but he is saying to Republicans there they need to knock on the doors and try to secure those down ballot seats for those Republicans raining (ph) for those congressional seats.

Let's bring in Sunlen Serfaty and Manu Raju to talk about this, what adjust (ph) to position you've got this former Presidential candidate who feels like he was almost there and he started to allude to the fact that one of the reasons why he doesn't believe that he was able to win is because we didn't have enough Republicans knocking on doors. He's encouraging them to do that, but not for Donald Trump. He didn't say don't do it for Donald Trump. But he did say this needs to happen for Hardy as well as Heck though.

RAJU: You know, it's very interesting who he was with. Joe heck, who's running for the U.S. senate for the seat that Harry Reid Democratic leader is vacating. Heck is in a close race. This is a race that could determine the next senate majority. And so far, he's been unequivocal in his support for support in Donald Trump. I asked Joe Heck a few weeks ago, do you support Donald Trump? Do you have any concern of him? He did not, he said I trust him with his fingers on the nuclear codes, everything like that.

WHITFIELD: Until today?

RAJU: Until today, he just put out a lengthy statement revoking his support, showing up with Mitt Romney, who's of course, a never Trump leader of the never Trump movement, if you will.

WHITFIELD: And he said he and the GOP should "Formally ask Trump to step down." not coming from Joe Heck.

RAJU: Yes exactly, it just shows these Republicans in very difficult senate races. It made the calculation so far they should stick to Donald Trump. This is the dam that that is breaking Donald Trump support from the Republicans running in those top senate races they can't stand by him anymore.

WHITFIELD: We keep talking about how tomorrow is so critical for both Hillary Clinton and for Donald Trump. What is said, particularly because that apology from Donald Trump is not being interpreted as being contrite enough, Sunlen. So, how might that opening statement or the dialogue be shaped today?

SERFATY,I think he -- certainly that is a big discussion in Trump tower today. How he -- what tone he brings tomorrow night is so important. Does he offer new words? You know, that this has been two semi apologies that Trump has had since the story first broke by the Washington Post, you had the first somewhat apology where he went right after bill Clinton, and then he said he was sorry if anyone was offended by this if they were offended.

[12:40:01] You know, the key word there being "If" of course, people were offended we've heard a lot of accounts of people being offended by this. But then second video apology, kind of a bizarre, odd video last night, it was kind of hunched over, he looked like he didn't want to be there and certainly he felt forced to do that and then he came out whit a more explicit apology, but in the same video he went after Bill Clinton, when after Hillary Clinton almost ominously bringing up that this is might be ...

WHITFIELD: And nearly promised he's going there.

SERFATY: Right, exactly.

WHITFIELD: And it was Sunday

SERFATY: Exactly, so his tone is so important, I think that's something that within Trump Tower, they're still trying to work out and it has to come from Donald Trump himself though.

RAJU: He said 1 out of 20, he talked to the "The Washington Post" and he said that he may be even address this tonight. But there is no confirmation that there's any sort of Trump event speech tonight, so maybe he feel some pressure in this and debate going on about may be he is to talk about this again given how politically problematic ...

WHITFIELD: Almost like a dress rehearsal before tomorrow night.

RAJU: Potentially yeah.

WHITFIELD: All right. Manu, Sunlen, stick around. We're going to take a short break for now we have more straight from St. Louis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. More now on breaking news. Donald Trump now telling the Wall Street Journal there is zero chance he will quit. And that he will never give up, despite calls for him by many in the GOP to step aside. Sources telling CNN that there is growing pressure to dump Trump over his remarks on a tape from 2005. Trump's comments are sexually explicit, lewd and aggressive towards women. We want to play a portion of it for you right now, but we do warn you it is extremely graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll admit it. I did try and -- she was married.

(OFF-MIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With Sara.

TRUMP: No, no Nancy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

TRUMP: No this was -- And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, I'll show you where there is some nice furniture. I took that furniture, I moved on her like a -- I couldn't get there, and she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her. She's got the big, phony -- and everything. She's totally changed her look.

[12:45:04] BILLY BUSH, RADIO HOST: Sheesh, your girl's hot as -- in the purple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa!

BUSH: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa!

BUSH: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa my man!

[CROSSTALK]

TRUMP: Look at you. You are a -- maybe it's a different one.

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

TRUMP: Yeah, that's her with the gold. I better 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 star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.

TRUMP: Grab them by the -- 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: Oof, 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.

ARIANNE ZUCKER, ACTRESS: Hi Mr. Trump. How are you? Nice to meet you.

TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific, Terrific. You know Billy Bush?

ZUCKER: How are you?

BUSH: Helo, 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. Make me a soap star.

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

ZUCKER: Would you like a little hug darling?

TRUMP: OK, yeah absolutely. Melanie said this was OK.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Donald Trump did responds by posting a defiant apology on Facebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 travel 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 and 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're 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. We've got this covered from all angles. And let's go first to CNN Senior Political Reporter, Manu Raju and Sunlen Serfaty. All right, so we've got the Wall Street Journal now reporting and they had a conversation with Donald Trump who said I'm not going anywhere. I'm not a quitter, period.

RAJU: Yeah, and he is not. We know Donald Trump, he's pretty defiant, he is digging in and that apology is really a sign of that. I mean look at how he first sounded contrite, and then he dug in. He dismissed it as a distraction and he turned it to Bill Clinton, a sign of how -- he said he want to talk about this in a manner of days and this is Donald Trump who is -- and this is Donald Trump telling the Wall Street Journal he's not going to join the Washington Post. He is not going anywhere.

Saying he's actually firing up his base, firing up the supporters and probably going to bring it up in tomorrow night's debate. The question is what is the rest of the party doing? We've seen member after member of congress abandoning Donald Trump, withdrawing their endorsement and now pressure on the Republican national committee to withdraw his resources, focus on Donald talking racist, because their big fear that Donald Trump may be just lost the presidential ...

WHITFIELD: And the list I'd growing Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire saying she is no longer supporting him. You heard from Joe Heck who's a congressman who is running for the Harry Reid's seat, and Nevada who says formally the GOP should actually remove its support. Don't know if that's going to happen. Mitt Romney, former presidential candidate who we just heard, who called the video tape disgusting and appalling and said it's a terrible example particularly to his, you know, daughters and granddaughters.

But, you know, Sunlen, at this point we are just over 30 days away from the general election. Even if the GOP as a whole says we are not behind Donald Trump, there really are no options. I mean his running mate, Mike Pence says that it's no longer going to be a part of the Paul Ryan luncheon in Wisconsin today, but what are the options for the GOP without Donald Trump? Without this ticket?

[12:50:00] SERFATY: Yeah, I mean the drip, drip, drip as you said it is really important. These chips falling so important into putting pressure not only on Donald Trump, but most importantly on the Republican Party. What this rains prove is do what sort of -- do they pull out resources? What sort of in public statement does he make were you just had a real, you know, very short one line condemnation on Donald Trump, but he is also in Trump tower today, you know, trying to get through this, plot a strategy forward.

The question is, do that strategy involves his support of Donald Trump that's still of course is an outstanding question. There are mechanisms in place that could support potentially getting Donald from off the ticket, but those are very vague and the big question surrounding all this is, is that possible now 30 days out? And I think that's a lot of the conversations that are going on today within Republicans. As you see these people start to withdraw their support from Donald Trump, what's the other option? Are we writing Mike Pence in? Are we going to try to, you know, full pledge go forth for trying to get Donald Trump off the ticket? Those questions still unanswered today.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen and Manu. Were going to talk again. We are not done. We are going to take a short break for now however. So this latest crisis, you know, for Donald Trump is hitting right before tomorrow's debate.

Still ahead, how both campaigns will have to prepare for all of that when that question does come up we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:54:58] WHITFIELD: Welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at Washington University here in St. Louis. And the fallout continues after the release of those 2005 words from Donald Trump on that video. We now have a statement from his running mate, Vice Presidential Nominee, Mike Pence saying, as a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the 11-year-old tape video released yesterday.

I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them. I am grateful that he has expressed remorse and apologized to the American people. We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night, this on the eve of the second presidential debate being moderated by our Anderson Cooper tomorrow here in St. Louis on the Washington University Campus. Our Manu Raju is also with me as well as Sunlen Serfaty.

I have ben using the word avalanche and avalanche of Republican leadership has said is rescinding their supports. They are no longer endorsing a Donald Trump. And now, you have information from a senate Republican leadership.

RAJU: Yeah, that's right. This is very significant. John Thune, number three senate Republican, South Dakota Republican, member of Mitch McConnell the majority leaders inner circle, just sent out a tweet that saying that he -- that Donald Trump should step aside and Mike Pence should be the Republican Nominee for president. And makes John Thune the highest ranking elected Republican in congress to call on Donald Trump to quit.

A sign of just how much pressure, how much consternation, how much -- how problematic Republicans see this video tape and Donald Trump's handling of this video tape. And this is just the beginning of what could be a lot more. We've seen rank and file members, people in top senate races like Joe Heck from Nevada pulling out his endorsement, but this is John Thune who's a very influential voice within the Republican establishment within the cause of congress calling on Donald Trump to quit very significant. Of course, Trump saying he's not going anywhere.

WHITFIELD: Well, and this after New Hampshire Senator, Kelly Ayotte said in a tweet that she would write in Mike Pence and withdraw her support ...

SERFATY: Right and going back to -- have to go back to that Mike Pence statement this is the first time we've heard from Mike Pence since the story broke. He ignored reporter's questions last night in his event, just how unprecedented into the sort of statement is. You know, really, we are entering an uncharted territory here. You have the Vice Presidential candidate, you know, basically chastising the top of the ticket saying he will, you know, talking about how his words and actions offended people.

And I thought the most poignant part of the Pence statement was when he said I'm praying for Donald Trump and hoping he can basically essentially prove to the American people tomorrow night. That to me, he says the jury is out for Mike Pence here. He is not sold on what direction this is going here. So, I didn't think -- I thought that was certainly an interesting thing and really underscores what position Donald Trump is right now, if you have his running mate coming out and saying this things.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, that was remarkable.

RAJU: Raising the stakes for tomorrow night for Donald Trump, typically going into these debates, you lower expectation, Mike Pence just significantly raise expectations for Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, who is supposed to be your number one cheerleader who is now saying you better get it right.

RAJU: So he better -- Donald Trump better hit more than a grand slam tomorrow night if he had any chance of getting Republican support and may be even getting his own running mate to become the cheerleader. That was a very cold --

WHITFIELD: And somewhat that is the remark and I do want to reread that again for those who were just now tuning in. He says, "We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night."

Sting. Donald Trump, himself, in an of the few calls he made to newspapers, he indicated he might be thinking about having an event tonight potentially in new york where he talks to supporters trying to reshape the narrative going into tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if that ends up happening. Certainly the fire around him, he needs more than reshaping the narrative. He has a lot more explaining to do.

SERFATY: And it's interesting, Donald Trump himself and in that interview today, one of the few calls that he made to news papers, he indicated that he might be thinking about potentially having an event tonight potentially in New York where he talks to some of his supporters to only trying to reshape the narrative even going in through to tomorrow.

So the interstate be if that indeed end sup happening, but certainly the this fire around him he means a lot more than just reshaping the narrative, he has a lot more explaining to do.

WHITFIELD: I want to bring also into this conversation a former CNN Washington Bureau Chief. Frank Sesno, now a professor at George Washington University. And so Frank I mean this is remarkable, Sunlen put it right, we are in uncharted territory.

I mean not only do you have a Republican nominee who is now having to talk about his words from 11-years-ago, now that his own running mate who is saying he is praying for him. His own running mate who no longer is appearing with the house speaker, Paul Ryan in Wisconsin today at an event that Donald Trump was originally invited to attend.

How do you see all of this now just one day as the clock ticks to the were second presidential debate? FRANK SESNO: It's breathtaking. I mean it's positively breathtaking. I think what we have heard that was a past hour literally is the ground opening up underneath the Republican Party with a parade of people.

[13:0:03] John Thune, has mentioned hugely influential, Joe Heck's comments in Nevada which you got on the air were really very interesting, because he was trying to be as eminent as he could be, but you hear him being heckled by others in the crowd.