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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Admits He Needs Florida to Win Election; Obamacare Rate Increases Could Help Trump in Florida; Bill Clinton Favorability Ratings Slide; Super Pac Ad on Danger of Trump with Nuclear Weapons; ISIS Sets Sulfur on Fire, Suffocating People near Mosul; Clinton Speaks at Rally in Coconut Creek, FL. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 25, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:30:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): I believe Florida is a must win and I think we're winning it. I think we're winning it big.

UNIDENTIFIED FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: 29 electoral votes. You can't go to the White House unless you win in Florida, you would concede that, right?

TRUMP: I think that's probably true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so David Chalian, CNN political director.

Hello, sir.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hello.

BALDWIN: So hearing Trump acknowledge, yes, he needs Florida to win, it's a significant admission coming from a man who doesn't always acknowledge things.

CHALIAN: That is true, Brooke. It is significant admission. And it also perfectly describes the state of the race where we are right now because if Hillary Clinton was on that same "FOX and Friends" show and asked that same question, she could honestly say, no, it's not a must- win for me. It gets at how narrow Donald Trump's path is. He is right to acknowledge it. He can't win this race without Florida. It's not feasible. So it shows you what a narrow path he has there.

BALDWIN: Referring to the Electoral College, you have to get to 270. Trump's campaign released an electoral map and here you have it. You have campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, e-mailing supporters saying it's this map that shows where Trump currently stands as well as the possible path forward for the win. So when you look at this it puts Trump at 266 while Clinton claims 193. Can you -- how do you read this map? Do you think this is accurate?

CHALIAN: No. I don't believe that Wisconsin and Michigan, the two states in the upper Midwest are true battlegrounds. They're leaning Democratic. You can say the same for Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maine and Colorado. So I don't think this is an accurate of what we call battlegrounds.

But I think Kellyanne is right when she says you want to know our path? Here's our path. It's winning all of the Romney states, plus Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, and the one congressional district in Maine. If they did all of that, that would be 270 electoral votes. But that's a tall order. That's sweeping the board of every contested race out there right now.

BALDWIN: Let me hone back in on Florida, because Obamacare, we're talking about it, the premiums, the report came out premiums are up next year. And when you look at exit polls from four years ago in 2012, when Floridians were polled, 47 percent of Floridians wanted to repeal Obamacare, which is precisely what Trump is advocating. We know the premiums in Florida are going up 19 percent so if Trump pounds this into the pavement for the next two weeks, could that help him win Florida?

CHALIAN: It's a huge gift for him. This storyline is a big gift for him, no doubt about it. I don't know how much it will move the needle. And remember, it's not a completely clean shot because, as Donald Trump has already faced questions in debates about this, but he still has to answer the questions about what his replacement for Obamacare looks like. Just like Hillary Clinton needs to continue to answer the questions what fixes she wants to make.

But the idea that it is in the headlines now that premiums are going up, that options are becoming fewer for consumers, that insurance companies are leaving the exchanges, these are the exact warnings against Obamacare that Republicans have been making for the last six, seven years. so the fact that it's happening at the end here to have this information for Donald Trump to get out there and tout, gives him an issue that, as you point out, people are divided on.

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: And one where he's not just speaking to his base, but perhaps could bring on Independent voters, try to bring on moderate Republicans that may have drifted away to rail against Obamacare. That's a unifying message for people beyond his base but to his party more broadly.

BALDWIN: For Trump and all the Republicans down-ballot.

David Chalian, thank you very much.

CHALIAN: Thank you.

[14:34:00] BALDWIN: Coming up next, for the first time in 13 years, Bill Clinton is underwater in his unfavorable ratings. Why is that happening? Is it Trump? He is speaking live in North Carolina right now.

Plus, the reviews are in, and so are the numbers on what appears to be a soft launch of Trump TV. See what happened and how Trump is responding today.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Bill Clinton is one of the most popular presidents of our time. He's gotten less popular. He's been out on the presidential campaign trail all year long stumping for his wife. Over these past months, he's taken some hits. Let me show you numbers. In May of last year, Bill Clinton's favorability was at 64 percent. 13 months later, it was at 51 percent. And now you see the numbers, the latest CNN/ORC poll shows the tumble in his popularity landed him at 47 percent for October. It's a steep slide that may be from repeated hits by Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words. His were action. His was what he's done to women. There's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that's been so abusive to won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources"; and Tim Neftali, CNN presidential historian and former director of the Nixon presidential library.

Fellows, why down to 47 percent?

[14:39:53] TIM NEFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, look, Donald Trump's campaign has succeeded in pulling down the favorability ratings of one Clinton, just the wrong one. There's no doubt that dump's efforts to remind people of the naughty '90s have had an effect, but politically useless effect.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: I wonder if it will last. Normally, the first lady, or gentleman, is more popular than the person in charge of the White House, so I wonder if he'll gain if he's in office.

NEFTALI: I'm hoping for first mate. I think that would be better.

BALDWIN: First mate --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: If she wins. If she wins.

Speaking of Donald Trump, Trump TV, what's up?

STELTER: If, on Election Day, Clinton is the winner, Trump is the loser, there's continuing speculation he'll launch a network or streaming service. And we're seeing a prototype. Every night at 6:30, the Trump campaign has what looks like a newscast. It is really a campaign ad giving his supporters encouragement and support in these two weeks. So it will go everybody night through Election Day.

BALDWIN: Let me play sound. Donald Trump has responded to the speculation that after the election, if he were to lose, that Trump TV could happen. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (voice-over): No. I have no interest in Trump TV. I hear it all over the place. WE have a tremendous fan base. We have the most incredible people. But I have no interest in that. I have one interest, that's on November 8th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right. So, you know, understandably, optically, you want to think you're going to win but it's a potential.

STELTER: The fan base is the key part of that line up. He has a fan base and they'll want to see him whether he wins or loses. So if he loses, there will be an interest in to watch and see Trump there that's on Facebook, a new challenge, something like that.

BALDWIN: In these final two weeks -- last question, Tim -- you have these ads popping up. I'll play one in just a second, mysterious ads from super PACs whose donors don't have to repeal themselves after the election.

Here's one example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(EXPLOSION)

ANNOUNCER: One nuclear bomb can kill a million people.

(EXPLOSION)

ANNOUNCER: That's more than all the men, women, and children living in Columbus, Ohio.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: They're hearing a guy running for president of the United States maybe using nuclear weapons. Nobody wants to hear that about an American president.

TRUMP (on camera): Why do we make them? Why do we make them? Why do we make them?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Obviously, that is an anti-Trump ad. The donor, the head of the super PAC has just revealed himself in the last 20 minutes or so. It's Bill Bradley, who's come forward. But the point being, A, do you think that's effective and, B, tell me more about these mysterious ads. NEFTALI: First, they're mysterious because, according to the rules,

an ad that runs now, past last Thursday, the donors don't to be publicly revealed until after the election. That's what makes them mysterious. Although, this is a play off of a 1964 ad against Barry Goldwater, known as The Daisy Ad.

What's interesting about this ad is where it's running. It's running in Ohio. It's running in a state where Secretary Clinton still has a fight on her hands. And I suspect this is on behalf of people who would like her to win in a landslide. She doesn't need to win Ohio to get 272 electoral votes but she would like to have Ohio.

STELTER: If you thought this election would be about hope and positivity, no. An ad like that preys on the most base emotion, which is fear.

BALDWIN: Brian and Tim, thank you very much.

NEFTALI: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Up next, it's like a toxic waste dump. A sulfur factory set on fire by ISIS. Toxic fumes spreading through the air for miles and miles all around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They placed explosives inside what was massive mountain of sulfur.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is Arwa Damon. She was there. Do not miss her incredible report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:56] BALDWIN: Leaders of the coalition to defeat ISIS met in France. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter saying he's encouraged by the fight for the Iraqi city still under ISIS control.

Look at the map with me. The push to retake Mosul has moved more quickly than expected. But ISIS is not letting go without a fight. Far outnumbered, the terror group is setting traps, laying IEDs, setting fire to oil fields, even igniting a sulfur facility, sending a toxic cloud into the sky and hundreds of people to the hospital,

Our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, went to the poison zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): It could almost be waves rippling against a shoreline on another planet, neon streams catching the light. But this hauntingly beautiful scenery is toxic. The yellow rock formations are raw sulfur crumbling and melting under intense heat. It may look volcanic, but this is manmade. (on camera): When ISIS withdrew from the sulfur factory, they placed

explosives inside what was a massive mountain of sulfur, as well as placing it explosives over an expanse of around four and a half kilometers around this factory sending fumes into the air.

(voice-over): Hundreds of people living in the area had to seek medical attention for trouble breathing, burning eyes and choking. Hospitals ran out of oxygen.

(on camera): I have no idea how the vast majority of these workers out here are able to deal with the smell and burning in one's eyes without having proper protection. Those people out here don't have gas masks on. But they are working tirelessly to try to bring this under control.

[14:49:55] (voice-over): Across this other worldly landscape, there are bulldozers. Firefighters trying to stifle the flames with loads of dirt. This is a battlefield that has no rules or boundaries.

(on camera): And this is just one of the ways that ISIS is trying to use whatever it possibly can to try to not only impede the advance of the security forces towards Mosul, but also in doing so cause maximum damage and maximum impact on the civilian population.

(voice-over): If this is a sign of the lengths ISIS will go to out here, it's terrifying what it plans for Mosul itself.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Incredible.

Arwa Damon, in Iraq, thank you so much.

Quickly, live pictures. Hillary Clinton just started speaking in Coconut Creek, Florida. You know who else is in Florida today, about to hold a dueling rally in Stanford? Yep, Donald Trump. We'll listen to Hillary Clinton.

Stay with me. We'll be back in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: State of Florida front and center today. Donald Trump acknowledging he knows he needs to win Florida to win the White House. He's about to start speaking. We'll listen to him.

We're also about to dip into Hillary Clinton in Coconut Creek.

Quick break, and we'll take her live, 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Hillary Clinton in Coconut Creek, Florida.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to thank them for coming as well.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: I've got to ask you, did anybody see the last debate?

(CHEERING)

[14:55:07] CLINTON: Well, the good news was it was the last debate. Oh, well, thank you!

(LAUGHTER)

Yeah, that last --

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: Thank you!

You know, you're right. That last debate was like an early birthday present, right? But here's what I wanted you to remember. I stood next to Donald Trump for four and a half hours, proving once again I have the stamina to be president and commander-in-chief.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: You know, I tried as much as I could to talk about all the issues that are on your minds that I believe we can work together to improve and, in fact, my wonderful running mate and I, Senator Tim Kaine, wrote a book called "Stronger Together," and we put all of our policies in it because I want you to know what we're going do to be the next president and vice president.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: And I think it's important because I want you to have confidence that we're going to work everyday to implement the plans that we have put forth. And I tried in the debate to draw the contrast with Donald Trump, who doesn't really have very many plans. You know, I've tried to run a campaign based on issues. He's run a campaign based on insults. So in the debate we didn't have a lot to talk about other than he continued, true to form, to throw out his insults.

But in that last debate, he said something that I found horrifying. Well, he said a lot of things. But there's one thing in particular that I wanted to point out because no presidential candidate, Republican or Democrat, has ever said this. He refused to say that he would respect the outcome of this election. Now --

(BOOING)

CLINTON: Now I guess we shouldn't be too surprised this is the same guy who said he thought the Emmys were rigged against him. But this is serious. On January 20, the first thing a president does is to take an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And I have serious doubts about whether Donald Trump even understands what that means.

In America, we don't say we're going to keep you in suspense about whether we will respect the outcome of an election. We have free-and- fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power. That is one thing that makes America great. It makes America who we are.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: And we don impose religious tests at our borders because we are country that was founded on religious liberty. And we don't punish newspapers or journalists that try to cover the news or are critical of politicians or threatens or restricts the First Amendment because our democracy depends on a free press. And we don't incite violence and people against each other. We respect the open exchange of ideas that a democracy depends on.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: I've got to say, I bet some of you or maybe your parents and grandparents came from places where none of that was true, right? There is a reason why America is the greatest and longest-lasting democracy the world has ever known, because we believe that no matter what you look like or where your parents were born or who you love, you have the right to be treated equally and fairly in the United States.

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: And Donald Trump is attacking everything that has set our country art for 240 years.

Now, after spending his entire campaign attacking one group of Americans after another -- immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, women, POWs, people with disabilities -- now his final target is democracy itself.

So here's what I want you to know. In the next four years we are going to change some things in America, right?

(CHEERING)

CLINTON: I do want to get the economy working for everyone not just those at the top and we're going to do that along with other positive changes. But we are not going to change the fundamental values that made American the greatest nation --