Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

At Least 10 Killed, 21 Hospitalized in CA Bus Crash; New National Poll gives Clinton a 12-point Lead; Clinton Campaign Ramps Up Efforts in Battleground States; Trump Claims Contest is "Rigged"; AT&T Inks $85 Billion Deal To Buy Time Warner; Wikileaks Releases More Hacked Emails From Clinton Camp; Kurdish Fighters Now Within 5 Miles Of Mosul. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired October 23, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin with this breaking news out of California. A fatal bus crash taking place near Palm Springs leaving at least 10 people dead, more than 20 others have been taken to the hospital. This is according to CNN affiliate KESQ.

California Highway Patrol says the accident occurred at 5:00 A.M. local time on Interstate 10. KESQ is reporting that a semi-truck and a U.S. holiday tour bus collided. Westbound Interstate 10 will be closed for several more hours. CNN is still gathering information about the cause of this deadly crash. Of course, we'll bring you the updates as we get them.

WHITFIELD: And now, turning to politics. We're talking about less than 16 days now until election day. And Hillary Clinton is in the battleground state of North Carolina. You're looking at pictures right there as she's expected to speak momentarily. And we're talking about this being in Raleigh, North Carolina.

And the Clinton campaign should be in good spirits today because of some latest polling. A new ABC News national poll of likely voters shows Clinton leading Trump by 12 points. Meanwhile, the latest CNN polling average puts Clinton ahead by nine points. CNN partner Catalyst, a data company, says more than 5 million Americans across 35 states have already voted and that includes more than 3 million votes in the battleground states.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it's a laughing matter. I think it's serious. And I think we need to get out there and vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump does not say anything about how he does stuff. He just says he's going to do things and it's like -- but, yes. Just saying it doesn't make it happen. I believe she can make things happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to vote for Donald Trump for president. I think I look at things from an economic perspective first and I think he provides us with the best solution when it some comes to economics.

WHITFIELD: CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is covering Hillary Clinton's campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina. So Joe, any response from Clinton's campaign today about these new CNN polling average numbers giving Clinton a nine percent lead over Donald Trump?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You know, a lot of times the campaign doesn't jump all over the latest polling information. And I think this is one of those times. They've said again and again and again that they're going to treat this as a close race all the way up to election day. And a lot of reasons for that, one is a no gloating policy, I think here at the campaign.

But it's also important to say that this campaign wants to win. And if they do win, they want to win very decisively, especially, because Donald Trump has said he reserves the right not to accept the results of this election. Hillary Clinton, as you said, coming here to St. Augustine's University in just a little while. Earlier this morning, she appeared at an African-American church in the Durham area talking to people there in the congregation about the election and also Donald Trump. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are those, as you know, fanning the flames of resentment and division. They want to exploit people's fears, even if it means tearing our nation further apart. They say that all of our problems will be solved by more law and order as if systemic racism didn't exist. And they paint a bleak picture of inner cities in the African-American community. My opponent did it again in the third debate.

You know, I've stood next to him for four and a half hours in those three debates just proving once, again, I have the stamina to be president and commander in chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Hillary Clinton appearing at the church there with the mothers of the movement, that group of mothers of young people who died violently and sometimes notorious situations often involving police use of force shall be with them when she comes here to St. Augustine's University in just a little while, once again, reaching out to African-Americans in a state that her running mate has actually called a checkmate state for Donald Trump. So she's pushing to get minorities and especially minority millennials. That's a group that she certainly had some problems with in the primaries, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so, Joe, when you look around the crowd there, is it made up of a lot of young people, presumably even from that university or their contemporaries or is it a mixed bag based on, you know, just people in general who live in that area?

JOHNS: Yes. It's a pretty good mix. And it's clear that the word did got out so it's not just the African-Americans, this is an HBCU, historically black university in Raleigh. It's been here quite a while. But a good mix, but it's clear, a lot of students are out.

Hillary Clinton trying to get those because that X factor is so important to her when you think about the Obama coalition that she and her campaign are trying to reignite for this election, it involves millennials or African-American or minority millennials make up something like 40 percent of that, it also involves women and African- Americans. This is the group she's just not sure about and they're going to try to get them over the finish line November, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joe Johns, thank you so much in Raleigh, North Carolina, appreciate that.

All right. So this morning, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, was on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper. And they talked about the Trump campaign's claims of the Clinton camp inciting violence. Mook also explained their decision to go after typically red states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: These battleground states are called that for a reason, they're all going to be incredibly close. We don't want to get ahead of our skis here. So we are just as focus on Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, other states as we have ever been. There's a special opportunity that popped up late in Arizona where Donald Trump's divisive rhetoric about Latinos, his shameful remark about Senator John McCain and POWs has put that state into play.

It is possible to win it but it is going to be razor thin there. It's an uphill climb and we've got to stay focused on these other states. We have a very clear message to our supporters, it was double-down and knows the grindstone and keep working.

JAKE TAPPER, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: But what about turnout among, for instance, African-Americans in North Carolina have been early voting. I've heard that it's lower than where it was for Obama in 2012.

MOOK: Well, first of all, we're seeing high turnout generally across the country. The voter rolls have reached the high watermark over 200 million people for the first time in our country on the voter rolls. We have expect more voters ever in our history to turnout and participate in this election.

North Carolina has only been voting for a few days. So I think we still need to let the data come in. But look, we should assume that there's a mountain of work left to be done there so we got to stay focused.

TAPPER: In an e-mail that was hacked by WikiLeaks and I know that the talking point from the Clinton campaign is this is the Russians trying to infiltrate but beyond that there's the substance of this e-mail. We learned that the king of Morocco wanted to contribution $12 million to the Clinton foundation last year but he only wanted to do it if he could get a face-to-face meeting with Hillary Clinton. Clinton adviser, Huma Abedin, wrote that the contribution was a none-starter if the king did not get a meeting with Hillary Clinton.

Now, ultimately, Hillary Clinton did not make the trip to Morocco because the campaign had already started. But this does raise the kind of concerns that there is a pay-to-play. He wanted to meet with Hillary Clinton, $12 million for the foundation. I mean, doesn't this feed into one of the concerns that voters have about Hillary Clinton and the Clinton foundation.

MOOK: Well, I'm glad you asked the question for that reason. It was known for a long time that the Clinton foundation's conference was held in Morocco. It has been known for a very long time that Secretary Clinton chose not to attend that conference. So there isn't anything new here?

TAPPER: But Bill and Chelsea did.

MOOK: They did. But Secretary Clinton chose not to. And as you pointed out, this was an illegally stolen e-mail put out there by the Russians because they want the campaign to be about this, they want this sort of questions to be raised rather than talking about the real issues.

TAPPER: Well, this is a real issue, I mean, pay-to-play. People don't like the idea of money going to the Clinton foundation in exchange for access to the former Secretary of State. I mean, you can understand why that would trouble people.

MOOK: Absolutely. And it's not true. Again, I'm glad you raise the question because people should understand that never took place. Secretary Clinton always at the highest ethical standards when she was Secretary of State. When she was United States senator, there were systems put in place to prevent exactly what you're talking about.

The Obama White House and the Department of State put in the highest possible ethical standards and there's never been any evidence of any pay-to-play.

TAPPER: A two Democratic operatives, Robert Creamer and Scott Foval were caught on tape talking about instigating violence at a Trump rally, in Foval's case. In the last time we spoke you said any violence is unacceptable. Have you looked into whether or not Democratic operatives paid by the Democratic National Committee were actually instigating these horrific actions -- these violent actions we saw at Trump rallies. I mean, I'm sure you would agree. If that's true, that's really offensive.

MOOK: Well, violence is unacceptable. these individuals no longer have a relationship with the DNC. They've never had a relationship with the Clinton campaign. And my understanding is that the events -- the reference happened, I think, in February of last year, they did not have a contract with the DNC until June.

But putting all that aside, this was, again, a video that was leaked out for the purpose of damaging the campaign. It is edited, so we don't know what the full context is. And there's no evidence whatsoever that we have been able to find that anyone ever did anything like this when they were working for the DNC.

TAPPER: But certainly, even if they weren't working for the DNC, if they were Democrats and they were instigating violence, this is horrific.

MOOK: It's unacceptable for anyone from either party to do that. But again, no one who was working for the DNC or the Clinton campaign was doing that. This is, again, an attempt by Donald Trump to distract from the real issues of this campaign. He's spiraling after his last debate and he doesn't want to talk about substance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. A lot to discus here. I want to bring in CNN presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley. Also Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Lynn Sweet. All right. Good to see you all.

All right. So, you know, I wonder, Douglas, you first, you know, you heard it just mentioned that the five million votes that have already been cast look like, some of these numbers are very favorable to Hillary Clinton. This early voter turnout, are we getting close to any kind of possible historical numbers. Is this a real statement about how this race has been played out?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think it is. I'm actually voting on Monday here in Austin, Texas for early voting. I do think people now -- what really are real indicators, some people can dismiss polls. But it's pretty hard to dismiss starting to see things trending in early voting for Hillary Clinton. It's very good news for her. But it's -- we've just heard -- I mean, it's not time to do a slam dunk and they have a lot of work to do, the Clinton campaign at getting voter turnout.

Donald Trump has a lot of work to do right now. I think I'm just holding traditional Republican states like Arizona, Utah and Georgia. He has a real burden on him.

WHITFIELD: And then, Lynn, to see Hillary Clinton's camp descend on traditionally red places like north Carolina and even Arizona, is there a feeling within the Clinton camp that there really may be an advantage to doing this, that the outcome could be favorable?

LYNN SWEET, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, the outcome is -- you know, a campaign wants to do something, the most obvious way is where they send the candidate or the top surrogates. So we know that the Clinton campaign thinks spending time, resources, sending Michelle Obama to Arizona is time and effort well worth spent. This is broadening the playing field. It's putting more battleground states in play. Even thinking that Arizona could be a battleground state is something one would never have imagined months ago.

WHITFIELD: And, you know, Douglas, even though, you know, Donald Trump has been digging in his heels whether be at the end of the debate or even, you know, at his rally saying that he would challenge the results, that the system is rigged, especially if he doesn't win. At the same time, when you listen to his campaign manager like today, Kellyanne Conway on "State of the Union" and say we are behind. Are you seeing in the demeanor of a Donald Trump or his camp that there is a realization setting in, a plan of post-election that they're eluding too?

BRINKLEY: I do think it's all about post-election. In their heart of hearts, they know they're going to lose. I say that because they lost all three debates. The first debate was just so devastatingly bad for Donald Trump. He was cresting a little bit. He was up in Colorado and competitive in Pennsylvania and then that first debate where he was so snorting and sniffling and interrupting and started turning a lot of people off followed by the "Access Hollywood" tape. And he's been really unable to get any kind of momentum going. And you just see the new polls out now, he's hemorrhaging in a terrible fashion.

I mean, he's going to -- as it's trending, he's going to make Mitt Romney and John McCain seem like winners. He's going to be such a loser, meaning, he's not even going to be competitive with their electoral college numbers.

I don't know what Trump does to turn that around. I think it's the Hail Mary that there are this hidden voters that Trump found what, mainly, white male voters that haven't voted for a while that nobody is polling, they're going to come out in historic numbers. But, boy, that is a very thin path to victory if they're hoping that works.

WHITFIELD: All right. And quickly, Lynn, you know, 16, 17 days to go, nothing is set in stone. We all know that if you are Donald Trump's camp, what is the likely focus to try to grasp any of those undecided voters or keep those very dedicated supporters?

SWEET: Even if they have a focus as they did with his 100-day plan, if the candidate himself doesn't talk about it enough, it isn't as effective as we know from his speech yesterday when he talked about suing the women accusing him of sexual misconduct instead of talking more about his issues, it then gets distracting.

One quick point, what Kellyanne Conway and Robby Mook have in common when they're asked tough questions about negative things, they both say let's just stick to the issues.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Lynn, glad you're with us today. I thought, maybe, you know, that you are such a die-hard Cubs fan that you might've had other plans today.

SWEET: It is wonderful. I forgot my Cubs hat right now. Otherwise, I would make sure that everyone -- I saw it but it is historic and we have a political component because Iowa, Cleveland Indians, that's a swing state, will this effect turnouts?

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. All right.

SWEET: And people are watching this world series next week.

WHITFIELD: They're always political implications. That's right. All right, Lynn Sweet, Douglas Brinkley, thank you so much. Good to see you.

All right. Donald Trump campaign is in Florida in just a few hours. Next, the fallout from what was build by his advisers as a policy speech. So why did Trump spend so much time attacking the media and the women accusing him of sexual misconduct?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, he delivers his own speeches. This is he's candidacy. He's the guy who's running for the White House and he has the privilege to say what he wants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Next, what else, his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, told us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Right now, live pictures Raleigh, North Carolina and that's Hillary Clinton there stumping, talking to supporters there at St. Augustine University there on campus. Many of the supporters, including mothers whose children died in police- involved incident and gun violence. We continue to monitor her remarks and we will bring them to you live.

All right. Meantime, with less than 16 days to go until election day and Donald Trump's campaign manager is acknowledging what Trump himself has not. The latest dip in polls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONWAY: We are behind. She has some advantages like $66 million in ad buys just in the month of September, thereby doubling her ad buys from August and mostly those ads are negative against Donald Trump, a classic politics of personal destruction, cesspool kind of ads. And that she has tremendous advantages. She has a former president that happens to be her husband campaigning for her, the current president, first lady, vice president, all much more popular than she can hope to be. And she's seen as the incumbent.

So our advantage going in, we were behind one, three, four points in some of these swing states. And Mitt Romney lost to President Obama, Chuck, our advantage is that Donald Trump is just going to continue to take the case directly to the people. He doesn't expect to be able to cut through the noise or the silence and the way were treated by some. And so, he's taken the case. He's going to visit all these swing states many time as his running mate, Governor Pence.

And we feel that with Hillary Clinton under 50 percent in some of these places even though she has run a very traditional and expensive campaign that we have a shot of getting these undecided voters that somehow have said I know who Hillary Clinton is. I don't want to vote for her. I don't much trust or like her. We need to bring them aboard over the next couple of weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring back our political panel now to talk more about this, Douglas Brinkley and Lynn Sweet. All right. So, you know, Douglas, you eluded to this. We're talking about Robby Mook and Kellyanne Conway, what they have in common is they have to still present a very positive outlook regardless of which direction the campaign is going. So is that what we're hearing from Kellyanne Conway or in a way, are you also hearing a realization setting in?

BRINKLEY: I heard realization setting in. That was a very depressing soundbite that somebody that's reading the writing on the wall that the campaign has sunk incidentally. I am a historian of American political history and Donald Trump's campaign was the most abysmally- run campaign. It's just been a disaster in the fall.

Now, Hillary Clinton has the problem of getting voter turn out but I'm starting to see young people and that's why she's doing a lot of college campuses saying, you know, I don't even know if I'm voting for Hillary Clinton but I'm voting against bigotry of Donald Trump. I'm giving voting against the xenophobic attitudes of Trump. I believe in climate change and Trump doesn't. So she's starting now to bring in those millennials which she struggled with here at the very end.

WHITFIELD: And so, Lynn, what may have been the turning point if that's the case? Because yes, certainly, that young vote is very important whereas in Barack Obama's case, I mean, he really galvanized and encouraged and attracted that young vote whereas we've heard so many talk about the apathy or young voters are just so turned off. And like Douglas said, they will be voting more against as supposed to four. But is there a turning point or has there been one for Hillary Clinton?

SWEET: Well, a quick note on Obama and his appealed to youth that is comparable because of his relative youth to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He was so much more in tune culturally and hip and convincingly cool than either Trump or Hillary Clinton would ever be so it was an easier pitch to make to a lot of students who might have been predispose to like him anyway, for reasons other than his playlist.

Now, I think a turning point probably were the three debates taken in totality which were Donald Trump's best chance to change the conversation, do everything that Kellyanne Conway talked about, you know, focus, refocus, reset, whatever words we want to use, he had three great opportunities to do that. And even in follow up messages and why she false paid advertising from the Clinton campaign, it doesn't speak to why the Trump campaign then didn't put on more ads, raise more money of its own.

WHITFIELD: Except, they got a lot of free publicity, so why bother, right? Well, you know, let me ask you all to respond to more of what Kellyanne Conway said this morning when talking to Jake Tapper asking her about this conflicting message of patriotic unity versus conspiracy bias.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: The difference between the contract for America that you worked on in Mr. Trump's speech yesterday is that Speaker Gingrich wouldn't come out and spend 15 minutes railing against people accusing him of misdeeds, railing against the media, he would just go in and start talking about the issues that matter to the American people. So I just wonder, did you know he was going to start with this list of grievances that might undercut the message?

CONWAY: Well, he delivers his own speeches. This is he's candidacy. He's the guy who's running for the White House and he has the privilege to say what he wants.

At the same time, I will tell you having worked on the messaging in and around the actual contract with the America 27 years ago, Jake, there was plenty of talk then about how we as Republicans could not get a fair shake from the media. And, I think -- look, I agree with you. I saw you quoted somewhere saying it was "Horrifying" that someone at CNN had shared a question with Hillary Clinton in a competitive town hall against Bernie Sanders, I agree with you, Jake Tapper, it is horrifying.

Also horrifying is having a print reporter telling John Podesta, "I'm a hack now." So here, have the privilege of editorial latitude on what I'm about to publish. Is there anything here that bothers you? This is not journalism.

This is at its best, cozy relationships, collaboration, all the way to collusion. So, you know, we fell very frustrated, it's not all members of the media, it's not even most members of the media. But look at the stories that are being written now. The path to 270 is narrow. The path to 270 is over. That's so unfair to the voters who are yet to go to the ballot box and exercise their constitutional right to tell us who should be president of the United States and commander in chief.

Let's let the voters tell us who they want to be president and not have all these people who don't share their economic woes, who don't share their lack of health insurance, who don't share their lack of failing schools, who don't share their knuckle decisions at the end of each month whether to afford the rent or maybe, a nice birthday party for a 6-year-old kid. I mean, let's give the voters their chance to express their will and not tell them now the race is over.

TAPPER: I'm not saying the race is over but just to underline one point. Nobody at CNN shared questions with the Clinton campaign, it's a separate issue but I don't want to talk about that right now. Let's talk about Mr. Trump's call to drain the swamp.

One of the things that he wants to do is to amend the constitution so that one can only serve six years in the house, six years in the senate. Now, Donald Trump's running mate, current government, former member of the house, Mike Pence, he served 12 years in the house. When Mike Pence was leading the fight against the Wall Street bailout in his 8th year, was he part of the swamp?

CONWAY: Well, he was definitely living in a swamp. But in the case of Mike Pence, he's been a friend and a client for many years, I can tell you, those were dark days for him because he was up against Republican president. Also, voting against no child left behind, voting against tarp, voting against the Medicare Part D, very difficult to do that against a member of your own party when he's president. But Mike Pence and people like him, gave that principled commitment to the people of Indiana 6th congressional district at the time. And he in fact held his promises. We don't see that from everyone and you know that, Jake.

TAPPER: All I'm saying -- but the proposal would bar somebody like Mike Pence from serving more than six years. And it sounds like you think that's exactly the kind of person who should be in congress?

CONWAY: And Mike Pence would agree with Donald Trump on that that when you're there for too long, you need that fresh blood and new perspective. I wish there were more members like Mike Pence. If there were, we wouldn't need to have the conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. A few different messages to dive into there from Trump being, you know, in the driver seat, so to speak, and then term limits despite the fact that Donald Trump's running mate has been in his seat for at least ten years.

OK. So, Douglas, you first, because I know you already presses this by saying this has been a rather unusual campaign. But, how much more unusual is it made to hear comments like this? It seemed to contradict a lot of what the campaign or at least, some of the members have been standing for.

BRINKLEY: Well, the entire Trump campaign is a one big large contradiction. And the problem is -- and if I were working for Donald Trump, I'd be furious at Republicans. They've been abandoned by John McCain. They've been abandoned essentially by Paul Ryan. They've been abandoned long ago by John Kasich. They've been abandoned by Jeb Bush, on and on. Republican party wants nothing to do with Donald Trump.

They always knew the Trump campaign that Hillary Clinton or the Clinton machine, as they call it, is going to be formidable. But they didn't realize that nobody would join the Trump bandwagon or all these people would sit it out or be so lackadaisical.

And furthermore, I think, with Donald Trump pushing the idea of crooked Hillary, he was tracking with that but the WikiLeaks didn't quite show the extent of crookedness that he was claiming. And in those debates, Hillary Clinton created a new character for herself which people are talking about and that is, the tough, hard-nailed woman. The words like bad-ass. And Donald Trump thought he was criticizing her with calling her nasty -- a nasty woman but now people are saying, yes, good.

[14:30:03] At least we can see Hillary Clinton is tough and difficult and people like that more. Before they weren't sure who she was so she now has a persona in focus. The polls are showing people like Hillary Clinton much more now than they did in September.

WHITFIELD: Lynn, is the Donald Trump constantly revealing itself peeling back more and more layers?

SWEET: I think they are -- yes. There's a yes and but. You don't have the wherewithal of staying on your message and you have multiple messages, then that's what happens.

Kellyanne Conway is trying so hard on refocus on what she thinks is best, the issues. I also want to point out when she's complaining about the media and talked about the contract with America, for America, Newt Gingrich ended up becoming speaker of the House because that message broke through.

It was exactly her point. Whatever beef she might have with the media, they had a focused, disciplined campaign. Doug, we know that somehow the American people decided that more Republicans and Democrats should be in the House. That's what happened.

So you have to respect the American that they can absorb multiple messages at once about issues, about Donald Trump's lack of discipline and talking the about accuracy for many, many issues, and then the sexual misconduct that's out there.

So, whether or not there are more layers to be revealed, Fredricka, I don't know. I think they have plenty of stuff to deal with already that's been unveiled even if nothing else comes up between now and Election Day.

WHITFIELD: All right. We've got a little over 16 days of more or less before Election Day. All right, thank you so much, Lynn Sweet, Douglas Brinkley. Appreciate it.

SWEET: Thank you.

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up next, AT&T inks an $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner. What it means for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:47]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. There's a huge shake up happening in U.S. media, the landscape of it that is and it could affect what we all watch and how we watch it.

AT&T has agreed to buy Time Warner for $85 billion. Time Warner is the umbrella company for this network, CNN and also HBO, the Cartoon Network and Warner Brother's Studios, among others.

CNN Money reporter, Cristina Alesci joins me now. So is this going to change anyone's service or how much their bill will be? Those are the big questions most consumers want to know. CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY REPORTER: That's a good question. Your bill will not go up unless consumers want more features or more data. Look, at the end of day, these two company executives say that this is about giving consumers what they want which is more video on your phones.

This is what all millenials talk about all the time and maybe even more flexibility when you talk about mobile bundles of content, right. They could be more customizable. You could pay for channels that you want on mobile, which has been the criticism of the cable bundle.

And the fact that you're getting channels that you're really not watching there. So from the standpoint of AT&T and Time Warner, they are giving customers what they want and there's also an opportunity to create mobile friendly content, right.

You have the power of Warner Brother's Studio maybe this deal makes it easier to get mobile friendly content out there and a lot of it, which, you know, consumers want more video at the end of the day.

WHITFIELD: They want it all mobile. All right, thank you so much, Cristina Alesci. Appreciate that.

Next, Wikileaks releases another batch of hacked e-mails from Hillary Clinton's campaign manager's account. CNN's Athena Jones is covering that story for us from Washington -- Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. That's right. Another day, another set of hacked e-mails. How damaging could they be to Clinton's campaign? More on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:46]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. So a new batch of hacked emails released by Wikileaks show Hillary Clinton's team debated how she should handle her brewing e-mail controversy back in 2015 and even considerer advising her to crack a joke about it at a gala dinner. Athena Jones has more on this latest leak from Washington -- Athena.

JONES: Hi, Fred. This is interesting because it speaks to the sensitivity around this e-mail issue, an issue that's dogged Clinton from the beginning. We see an exchange in this latest release from March of 2015, the month before Clinton officially announced she was running.

She was preparing to speak to Emily's List, a political action committee and her campaign toyed with the idea of making a joke about the e-mail issue. Let's put some of those messages.

The first is from Jennifer Palmieri, who is now Clinton's communications director saying, "I wanted to float the idea of HRC making a joke about the e-mail situation at the Emily's List dinner tonight. What do folks think about that? Now what followed that initial e-mail was a discussion among several aides about how it would be good for Clinton to show some humor and how this dinner could be a good opportunity to do that.

Because Emily's List, that audience is really her crowd. It's a group that works to get pro-choice Democratic women elected to public office.

Now ultimately Mandy Grandwald (ph), who is a Clinton media adviser chimed in to nix that idea saying we don't know what's in the e-mails. So we are nervous about this. Might get a big laugh tonight and regret it when content of e-mails is disclosed.

So this exchange shows there was clear awareness that these e-mails could be a problem. It also shows there was a clear understanding that Clinton's own words could later be used against her.

Much as her campaign has been using Donald Trump's own words against him in ad after ad after ad. I should note that CNN has not confirmed the authenticity of these e-mails and the Clinton campaign isn't verifying them.

Instead they are stressing that they believe these e-mails were illegally stolen by Russian state actors trying to influence the presidential election.

We should note that Wikileaks seemed to acknowledge it wants to affect the election tweeting yesterday, "Leaked early, leak often. If Wikileaks had obtained e-mails earlier, U.S. voters could have chosen Sanders versus Trump so do it. Do it now."

Clinton's Press Secretary Bryan Fallon responded on Twitter saying, "Wikileaks makes its Trump endorsement official. Not that it was a secret prior to now. So a lot coming out in these e-mails. So far none of these revelations have proven deeply damaging.

It doesn't seem to be hurting her in the polls in the waning days of this race. The big question is what's next. Wikileaks has promised to release thousands more e-mails and the question is whether any of those e-mails will be truly damaging.

WHITFIELD: All right, we shall see. Athena Jones, thank you so much in Washington.

All right, coming up, Iraqi and Kurdish troops close in on ISIS fighters in Mosul, the terror group's last stronghold in Iraq. We'll take you live to the front lines, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:37]

WHITFIELD: In Iraq right now, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are within 5 miles of Mosul after days of fighting to recapture the city from ISIS insurgents. CNN has received several accounts of ISIS fighters using civilians as human shields. And officials inside one village near Mosul say 40 people were executed by ISIS after they were caught celebrating their liberation. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in nearby Irbil. So Nick, is the operation moving faster than expected?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. But the progress we've seen today by Peshmerga forces, who have taken one key village called Bashika (ph), which has held out longer than some had expected.

And other areas around it as well, they say a total of 100 square kilometers. They pushed through the territory but it's not entirely clear the quality of clearance, the security they have upon it and that's been an enduring issue for Peshmerga forces as they advance.

They can move down roads, but are they sure that things are free of ISIS fighters. A lot of artillery being used in the past hours or so potentially trying to deal with ISIS pockets in those uncontrolled areas.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter here to lend support to the Peshmerga campaign referring to how this would be a difficult fight. During a press conference with the president of the Autonomous Kurdish Region here, President (inaudible).

And during that conversation it appeared they learned that Bashika had actually being taken. This all about advancing toward the urban stroll of Mosul, but the five-mile distance is still complex because we don't know what's behind them after the five miles.

I know a lot of ISIS are still holding out there. A lot of towns have been pushed around or partially cleared, but this tunnel complex is mines that will really make things hard. Refugees coming out, but also the continuing resupply of security services inside those areas -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. If you want to help those trying to escape the violence in Iraq head to CNN.com/impact. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:53:22]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Baton Rouge sheriff's deputy, Nicholas Tullier, is fighting for his life after being shot and severely wounded by a gun man targeting officers back in July. Three of his comrades were killed in an ambush. Ed Lavandera has the story of this officer who went beyond the call of duty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vicious ambush pierced through the heart of Baton Rouge. Three officers killed by a lone gunman on a quiet Sunday morning. But as the story has faded from the headlines, one officer who answered the call to take down an active shooter targeting cops is still fighting for his life.

JAMES TULLIER, OFFICER TULLIER'S FATHER: He's a fighter. You know, we believe in him. He believes in himself and Nick is not ready to go.

LAVANDERA: He's Baton Rouge sheriff's deputy, Nick Tullier, is in a coma. He survived more than a dozen surgeries after he was shot three times, once in the head and twice in the abdomen.

TULLIER: His heart stopped four times in E.R. and they brought him back four times.

LAVANDERA: Tullier's father, James, says doctors first told him that his son wouldn't survive a day. Then it was two days, then five. Now it's been more than 95 days and Nick Tullier is still breathing. He's defied every odd.

TULLIER: Everybody claims this is the place that miracles happen. We hope so. He's passed everything they've thrown at him already. He's still here.

LAVANDERA: The night before the ambush, Nick Tullier, was driving home when he noticed Tyla Carter and her daughter stranded on the side of road with a flat tire. Tullier stopped and put his patrol car spare tire on their car and followed them home to make sure they arrive safely.

[14:55:07]His friends say that's the kind of officer Tullier is.

VAN FOSTER, OFFICER TULLIER'S FRIEND: I think it goes back to his moral compass and it's always pointing due north.

LAVANDERA: Since the ambush Tullies' mother, father, and fiancee, have not left his side. They are waiting for him to wake from this long coma. But Tullier's son struggles with the questions that have no answers.

TRENT TULLIER, OFFICER TULLIER'S SON: What's going to happen in the future? Am I still going to have a father that's going to be able to have conversations with me? Are we going to be able to hang out anymore and just chat?

LAVANDERA: If he survives, Nick Tullier will likely never patrol the Baton Rouge streets again, but for his family, Tullier's refusal to give up, to keep breathing is a miracle. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Our hearts go out to the family as well as our prayers. The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right after a short break.

Look at live pictures right now out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Mixed in the crowd there, the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. We'll have much more about her visit to North Carolina, the battleground state right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)