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CNN NEWSROOM

Utah May Vote Democratic for the First Time in 50 Year; WikiLeaks Leaked More Emails From the Clinton Campaign; Conjoined Twins Go Into Surgery Today. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 13, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Donald Trump fires back against allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump tweeting this morning, "The phony story in the failing New York Times is a total fabrication, written by the same people as last discredited story on women. Watch." Several women have not come forward accusing Trump of making unwanted sexual advances. CNN is working to confirm those reports. The Trump campaign also denying allegations made by a People magazine writer who says back in 2005 while she was on assignment this happened: "We" - Donald Trump and she - "walked into that room alone and Trump shut the door behind us.

I turned around and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat. I was stunned." Trump also responding to that accusation tweeting, "Why didn't the writer of the 12-year-old article in People magazine mention the incident in her story at the time?" Because, he says, it did not happen.

With allegations weighing heavily on the Trump campaign, his poll numbers are dropping across the country, putting once solidly red states back within the democrats' grasp. That includes states like Utah which has voted republican in every election since 1968.

Clinton is tied with Trump there. The third party candidate, Evan McMullin, a very close third. So let's talk about this with James Evans, who is chairman of the Utah republican party and Peter Caroun who is chairmen of the Utah democratic party. Welcome to you both. So James, I want to (--)

PETER CORROON, CHAIRMAN, UTAH DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. James, you're the republican guy, what do you think about this?

JAMES EVANS, CHAIRMAN OF THE UTAH REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, I can give a general answer to all of this is that this is salaciousness in this presidential campaign. Clearly, there's a character lynching against Donald Trump.

When I look at - it's just disappointing all across the board because no woman should have to suffer sexual assault, but also we must be cautious this close to an election when you start hearing allegations. I think I'm more interested - well not more interested, but just as

interested in wondering does Hillary Clinton, is she willing to believe or at least say that Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey, and Paula Jones, do they deserve to be believed? So we need to have the same standards when we're talking about these sorts of accusations.

COSTELLO: OK, so, Peter, do you think that's why a conservative republican Utah voters are gravitating toward other candidates besides the republican nominee because of character assassination by the media. [10:35:06]

CORROON: Not at all. Utah is one of the reddest of red states and I'm the democratic party chair, so I know that. Utah is a state where family values matter. We have the most children per capita of any state in the nation and our families are important to us.

And when we hear somebody like Donald Trump coming out and saying these things about women, our state turns away. He does not represent Utah values, he doesn't represent, frankly, conservative values, or democratic values, and we don't think he's going to be the candidate here in Utah. We think for the first time in over 50 years that Utah is going to turn blue.

COSTELLO: OK, so that would stun a lot of people, James. Perhaps one of the reasons Utah, conservative Utah voters are turning away from Mr. Trump is because it's Romney country and Mitt Romney hasn't been so complimentary of Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump has not been complimentary of Mr. Romney.

EVANS: That is true, but I just wanted to answer my colleague there, there is no way that Hillary Clinton is going to win Utah, so we can put that to rest. Yes, this has more to do with the interplay between - within the republican party.

You do have that dynamic between Donald Trump and Mitt Romney, but I keep taking you back to the larger environment, where there is a double standard when you start hearing these sorts of allegations.

And once again, I want to repeat over and over and over again, no woman deserves to be assaulted. I think women deserve to be believed, but we must do it in the same context where it seems as though there's an accusation against Bill Clinton and that Hillary Clinton covers it up. That seems to be dismissed. And three weeks before the election, now you are hearing these other allegations against Donald Trump.

First of all, Utahans are pragmatic, but absolutely we're a family state and that's why it's a republican state. We're the party of family values. But I want to make this one last point, if I could, and I'm looking forward to the interview that you're going to have with Bill Clinton's illegitimate son and ask Hillary Clinton is she willing to accept him.

COSTELLO: No, no, no, no, no, come on. Oh, please. No. That's just rubbish. He does not have an illegitimate son. You have no proof of that. Why would you bring that up? EVANS: How do you know this? Have him on the air.

COSTELLO: You were just talking about people being salacious. You dropped that one on national television?

EVANS: Because I'm making the point...

COSTELLO: Oh, come on.

EVANS: Because I'm making the point you're ready to defend Hillary Clinton against that - that's his allegation, but yet your accepting allegations of these women.

COSTELLO: I gotta go. (INAUDIBLE). James Evans, Peter Corroon, thank you so much for joining me. I'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: All right, WikiLeaks are releasing more stolen documents yesterday; just about 1000 pages. The Clinton campaign is now fighting back. Let's head to Washington and check in with Joe Johns. Hi Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What appears to be a new installment of these stolen emails, just boasted by WikiLeaks within the last hour. Following the previous pattern, apparently more emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. And just reading through the first of them, like the others, they appear to be more of the inner workings of the campaign, including day-to-day communications.

Our team is just getting started looking through them and we'll be back to you when we know more about them. Of course, I think the significant thing you can say about these emails is the critics of Hillary Clinton, the opponents of Hillary Clinton are asking the public to look at the content of the messages.

The Hillary Clinton campaign is asking the public to look at the fact that these emails were stolen from the campaign and there may be some collusion with Russia and they accuse the Trump campaign of essentially being in cahoots with a foreign government to try to destabilize the election. So we'll have more when we find out what's in the latest installment, Carol. Thank you.

COSTELLO: So the Clinton camp is fighting back by saying, you know, Russia is behind this. It's working in concert with WikiLeaks and that somebody very close to the Trump campaign is working with WikiLeaks.

JOHNS: Well that's true. And the Clinton campaign has alleged that Roger Stone, who is a close ally of Donald Trump, has actually been in contact with WikiLeaks. He has said on the record that he has a back channel connection to WikiLeaks, but he's also denied that he knew anything about the release of these emails in advance.

So there's some of this and some of that. The bottom line, though, is the Clinton campaign is trying to push the notion that the Trump campaign is somehow involved in all of this with Russia as an intermediate.

COSTELLO: All right, Joe Johns reporting live for us from Washington this morning, thank you. Right now, surgeons in New York City are hoping to pull off a miracle; separating a pair of twins who are conjoined at the head. Meet Jadon and Anais, the McDonald twins.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been given exclusive access to the remarkable and rare journey. Their condition only occurs in one out of every 2.5 million births and very soon, if it hasn't happened already, the boys will begin what's expected to be a 20-hour surgery to separate their shared brain tissue. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me now on what is likely to be a remarkable day. Hi Sanjay. [10:45:05]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it is a remarkable day and I've got to tell you this is one of the perks of the job, right? Just next door is where this operation is happening. Very few people get to see this.

Very few neurosurgeons get to see something like this, because, you mentioned, it is so rare. Dr. James Goodrich is the lead surgeon next door, and he's widely considered one of the leading craniopagus neurosurgeons in the world.

And what craniopagus means, as you mentioned, Carol, are twins who are conjoined, connected at the head. I'm just going to lean over and pull up this model here for a second.

I want to show you something, Carol. They actually - it's amazing the technology nowadays, when you look at what is possible even before the operation starts. This is a lacquered model of the boys' heads and the blood vessels inside that are so critical.

I'm going to show you just a little bit inside here. If you take a look, these are the blood vessels that are going to be so critical in terms of actually making this operation successful. So this is the challenge. When you talked about up to a 20-hour operation, this is really what that entails.

But Carol, also as you mentioned, look it's the parents who have had to go through some remarkable decision making and thinking about this and trying to figure out how to put this all together. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE MCDONALD, MOTHER OF TWINS CONJOINED AT THE HEAD: They're perfect. They are so funny and they're...

CHRISTIAN MCDONALD, FATHER OF TWINS CONJOINED AT THE HEAD: Happy.

NICOLE: They're happy, you know, they play.

CHRISTIAN: They're crazy.

NICOLE: They're crazy. He's really there are the brunt of the burden, I would say. He's got breathing issues and feeding issues and he has some vision issues and in the beginning his hearing was off. And he's gone through heart failure. He's had seizures.

GUPTA: You know as Jadon and Anais, the twin boys, born September of last year, they found out on a routine ultrasound, Carol, that the boys -first they found that they were twins, and then they were in fact conjoined, and then it's been a whirlwind.

This family from a small town in Illinois, now moved here to the Bronx to seek out Dr. Goodrich and to undergo what, as I mentioned, is happening next door.

COSTELLO: I can't wait to see the results and what an amazing story. And thank you so much for the inside look, Dr. Gupta, always appreciated. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:50:00]

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you 51 minutes past. The U.S. strikes back after an American warship is targeted by two missiles in the Red Sea. According to the Pentagon, three radar sites, believed used by Houthi rebels, were destroyed. The rebel group denied it was behind the strike that targeted the U.S.S. Mason earlier this week.

Twenty-one kidnapped schoolgirls are free after Boko Haram hands them over to the Nigerian government. The girls were among the nearly 300 who were taken in the middle of the night back in 2014. A source says the girls were released because of high-level negotiations between the government and the terror group.

Two police officers are out of surgery and recovering after a gun battle in Boston. Officials say the officers who are listed in critical condition were responding to an apparent domestic disturbance that spiraled out of control. The suspect was shot and killed. Police say he had an assault rifle and a ballistic vest.

Embattled Wells Fargo CEO John Stump is out, the company announcing he retired effective immediately. The move comes amid national uproar after regulators accused the bank of creating as many as 2 million fake bank and credit card accounts. A source telling CNN Stump made the decision to leave, which was welcomed by the board.

Donald Trump, he said his lewd and sexually aggressive comments, caught on tape, were nothing more than locker room banter. How does that dismissive description sit with two iconic athletes? Let's bring in Coy Wire with their response in today's BLEACHER REPORT. Good morning, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Tom Brady, LeBron James, two megastars who can have completely different reactions about Donald Trump's response to those locker room comments. And first you have Tom Brady, a friend of Trump though he's never publically endorsed him, at a weekly press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MALE: Keep with your own(ph). How would you respond if your kids heard Donald Trump's version of locker room talk.

TOM BRADY, PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: Thank you guys. Have a good day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: That is what the young ones call ghosting. He's gone, doesn't want to answer that question. Then you have LeBron James, a Hillary Clinton supporter, and he tackled that same exact question head on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: What is locker room to me is not what that guy said. We don't - we don't disrespect women in no shape or fashion in our locker room. That never comes up. No, and I got - obviously I got a mother-in-law, a wife, a mom, and a daughter, and those conversations just go on in our locker room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Thursday night football matchup, wo do you have? The defending Super Bowl champs the Denver Broncos, they're going to San Diego to take on the Chargers, but the Broncos are going to be without their head coach Gary Kubiak. He's going to miss the game with what they're calling a complex migraine condition. And on the field, the Broncos' starting quarterback, Trevor Siemian, may or may not be back from his shoulder injury.

Last week his backup, rookie Paxton Lynch, was sacked six times against the Atlanta Falcons. That gave the Broncos their first loss of this season. They're going against the one-in-four Chargers, but those Chargers four losses only by an average of three points. We'll see how this one turns out. I think it's going to be a good one, Carol.

All right, now, 19-year-old Austin Matthew's making his NHL debut scored four goals to start the season and this was no fluke. This kid was the number one overall draft pick in the NHL this year, but one of the most fascinating facets of the story is that this guy is from the desert in Arizona.

And you can't just run outside and find some ice to skate on when you're growing up in the desert. What an outstanding night for Austin, four goals in a game. Last year Stanley Cup MVP and likely future hall-of-famer, Sid Crosby has never scored four goals in a game in his entire 11-year career. Making history and making mom proud. [10:55:09]

Don't forget, tonight the Dodgers national game five. The winner will go home at 8 Eastern. The winner has a date with the Cubs in the National League Championship Series and tomorrow the Blue Jays and Cleveland hooking up in the American League Championship Series on our sister station CBS.

COSTELLO: You know, you know I'm picking for the World Series. Cleveland. I think it's Cleveland years. They won, what, the basketball championship? I think they're going to win the World Series, the Indians.

WIRE: Year of Cleveland for Carol. I like it.

COSTELLO: Yes, notice I didn't mention the Cleveland Browns because they're so awful this year.

WIRE: Because you're a very smart woman.

COSTELLO: Yes. Coy Wire, many thanks to you. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan after a break.

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