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Trump Praises Gingrich Criticism of Megyn Kelly; Donald Trump Speaks Out. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 26, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:31]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we're back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

Very soon, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will hold rallies in critical battleground states. But we will take you to both of them.

But up first, Donald Trump's first one-on-one interview with CNN in a month, it happened after big promotional event today in Washington, not for his candidacy, but for his hotel. And when we asked him talking about why leave the campaign trail for this ribbon-cutting just 13 days before Election Day, he hit back. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's new audiotape of you talking about the fact that you really have relied on your popularity and the fact that people come to your events, and that helps you with free advertising. Is that what this was about?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, not at all. This was just under budget, ahead of schedule. That's what this is, under budget, ahead of schedule.

We built a hotel that will be one of the great hotels of the world, just opened today. It officially opens today. And we built it for less money than was anticipated. And we built it ahead of schedule by over a year.

And if the country will do that, we would have a country that would be in much better shape than it's -- highways -- they build highways for double and triple the cost. They build hospitals.

BASH: And so to people who say you're taking time out of swing states to go do this, you say?

TRUMP: I say the following. You have been covering me for the last long time.

I did yesterday eight stops and three major speeches. And I have been doing this for weeks straight. I left here -- I left there for an hour-and-a-half. I'm going to North Carolina right now. Then I'm going to Florida. I'm going up to New Hampshire. For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting, because

Hillary Clinton does one stop and then she goes home and sleeps. And yet will ask me that question.

I think it's a very rude question, to be honest with you. And what I do is, I want to back my children. My children work very hard, Ivanka in particular. And at the opening of the hotel, I want to back my children. Very important to me.

So we had a ribbon-cutting which was very quick. And I stopped in D.C. But the real key to this is, I want the American people to understand that this is under budget, ahead of schedule. And we need that for the United States.

BASH: And I -- just so you know, I have been reporting on the fact that you're going to North Carolina for a couple of stops straight from here.

But my next question is, there's a new poll in Florida that has you up a couple of points. Other swing states have you really in the hunt. Given that, are you prepared to write a check to help yourself get over the finish line?

TRUMP: Sure.

BASH: And, if so, how big? And I'm talking about advertising.

TRUMP: Let me just tell you that we have -- I have over $100 million in the campaign. Hillary Clinton has nothing in the campaign. She's all special interests and donors. And they give her money. And then she will do whatever they tell her to do.

But I will have over $100 million in the campaign. And I'm prepared to go much more than that.

Now, here's the question. New polls are coming out. We're leading Florida. We're doing great in North Carolina. We're doing great in Pennsylvania. We're doing great all over. We're doing really well in New Hampshire. Ohio, as you know, and Iowa are doing fantastically well.

I'm telling you, CNN doesn't say it, but I think we're going to win.

BASH: So, but to do that, you have a pretty big bank account.

TRUMP: I do.

BASH: You can -- and time is running out. The clock is ticking.

TRUMP: OK.

BASH: Will you write a check and...

TRUMP: I have already done it. I have already written a number of them.

BASH: But, I mean, specifically, specifically to get up on the air to combat the ads that you say Hillary Clinton is running against you?

TRUMP: She's got -- well, in Florida, she has 50-1 against me, 50. You were the one that reported that.

BASH: But you have to means to combat that.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Sure, I do.

But, in the meantime, 50-1, and I'm leading. How would you like to have spent -- in the old days, you would get credit. If you would spend less money and have victory, that would be a good thing. Today, they want you to spend money.

I will have over $100 million. I'm willing to spend much more than that if I have to.

BASH: In this speech here, you talked about the fact that this is the second best piece of real estate on Pennsylvania Avenue. In 14 days, are you hoping that you are going to be spending after that more time here or down the street?

TRUMP: Well, look, I just hope that -- I built a great company. This is truly a great company. We have some of the great assets of the world, not only in our country, but in other countries.

And I predicted Brexit. You were one of the people that asked me about Brexit. And I said it's going to happen. And I'm not even saying this is Brexit, but I think the result is going to be the same, if not more so.

We are going to have, I think, a tremendous victory. People don't want four more years of Obama. They don't want Hillary with all of the corruption and all of problems.

[15:05:00]

And you see all of these WikiLeaks coming out and they're a disaster. And when you see John Podesta, who I think is terrible way he speaks about her, but that she has bad instincts, John Podesta saying that the person he works for has bad instincts.

I think it's terrible, but so many other things even worse than that are out about their honesty and their dishonesty. I really think that we're going to have a tremendous victory. And you know what? If I didn't think that, I wouldn't say it. I would say, well, we're going to be fighting hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dana Bash joins me now.

And, Dana, let me just go back a couple of questions. Why were you so pressing him on the will he write a check, will he write a check and for how much? BASH: Because, to win a presidential election, especially against

somebody who is so well-funded, who spent a lot of time fund-raising and still does, like Hillary Clinton, you need money, you need money to compete. And he was saying that he has put $100 million into his campaign but actually the FEC reports that we have, public records, says $56 million.

Now, that's nothing to sneeze at that. That's a lot of money for anyone to put in to for anything, but also to fund their own campaign. But because of the unique situation of Donald Trump's campaign, in that he did fund his own primary campaign,but now he has been working with the Republican National Committee in a joint fund-raising effort, and they are just spending that money on getting out the vote on the ground, the hope among Republican Party officials is that he, being the billionaire that he says he is, would make up some of that by really putting a lot of money on TV.

And so that's why I was pressing him on that, because I have heard from Republicans some frustration that he's not doing that enough, that he's not spending that enough, and that they should be more competitive with regard to TV ads against Hillary Clinton.

And the Trump campaign, his campaign manager was on CNN a couple of days ago complaining about the fact that Hillary Clinton has so much money in ads really attacking Donald Trump and that that helps her. So that was that line of questioning there.

BALDWIN: And now there's some news from Manu saying that Hillary Clinton is now saying to big donors, send the money to down-ballot on the Senate side. I'm going to talk about that with my panel in a second.

But, Dana, thank you so much.

BASH: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And glad you grabbed him for the interview.

Let me bring in my panel. I have Gloria Borger standing by, CNN chief political analyst. Also with us today, CNN political commentator Lanhee Chen. He used to serve as Mitt Romney's public policy director. And CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson.

So, awesome having you all on.

And, Gloria, I want to stay on Dana's Trump interview and I just want to ask you this. I know Democrats are pouncing all over him today, saying you know, look at you, free publicity, you get all this press for your hotel in D.C., look at what you're doing, 13 days to go, but, you know, he did make the point that he is outcampaigning Hillary Clinton in terms of stops.

He is about to head to North Carolina and he said he's doing it for his family business. What do you say to that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I would say fine. I would say a lot of people think his time would be better spent not extolling the virtues of his family business, but rather extolling the virtues of American business, which is what Mitt Romney did today.

You know, these guys, Brooke, were a mile apart. I was at the Romney event while Dana was at the Trump event. And Romney had an elaborate ruse to avoid reporters, a decoy limousine included, and did not want to talk to us at all.

But it was like living in an alternate universe. And Romney was talking to -- at the Chamber of Commerce to establishment Republicans. And get this, Brooke. He was talking about something called policy. Have you heard of that?

BALDWIN: What?

BORGER: What? Right. He was talking about this like tort reform and all those kinds of things to Chamber members. And so I feel like there's a little yin and yang going on here in Washington. Right?

BALDWIN: And, Lanhee, let me ask you since you know the man quite well, decoy limos and all. What do you think he's thinking now?

LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, this is like an alternate universe we're living in.

I think Mitt Romney looks at this whole thing and he looks at it I think with some sadness. I think he'd love to be having a discussion about issues, tort reform, regulatory reform, Obamacare, but that's not the campaign we have.

I think what he's trying to do is, he's trying to set out some markers here about things the Republican Party can look at and stand for after this election. But he's not someone who will go and rub salt in a wound. He's not going to go and purposely attack Donald Trump in a very visceral way. He said his piece. I think his speech...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I remember that speech in Utah some months ago.

BORGER: Last March.

CHEN: Well, I mean, he gave -- yes, he said his piece.

[15:10:02]

And so now the election is where it is. It's sad for those of us who work for and supported Governor Romney to see where we're at now as a party with this nominee. But, look, it is what it is. The voters chose him and the election is 14 days away.

(CROSSTALK)

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: But it's also true that Mitt Romney, maybe more than any other establishment Republican, recognized the power of Donald Trump in 2012. He was the one who sought out Donald Trump's endorsement and was happy

to have it. And I covered that campaign and he recognized that Donald Trump was a very specific voice, was resonating with conservatives, was talking about populism in populist tones.

And it's true that has rebuked him since then, but he was very happy to have that endorsement back in 2012.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Can we move off of Governor Romney?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: If I may, we have got this reporting from Manu Raju, sources telling CNN that Clinton's campaign is actually now sending signals for big big, big donors, Gloria Borger, to shift campaign donations to Senate races. What does that signal to you?

BORGER: Well, it signals, first of all, that they feel pretty comfortable with their own bank accounts and where they are in terms of their own ad buys and what's going on in terms of their polling in key battleground states, and that they're thinking beyond the election to governing, and that they have to -- they have to win the Senate, which is what they want really to focus on.

And I just -- not to get back to Romney, but before he went on the stage, he tweeted to Republicans, because he can't talk about Trump, head to the polls and vote for Republicans in the Senate, the House, and statehouses.

So his message counter to that is to people, if you're not going to vote for Trump, the hidden message, then split your ticket.

BALDWIN: Vote for all the Republicans down ticket, yes.

BORGER: Split your ticket if you have to.

BALDWIN: Right.

Let's talk about the new e-mails, new batch of e-mails among Hillary Clinton top advisers and aides and they show how some of Hillary Clinton's closest confidants reacted when the news first broke that she had used that private e-mail server while she was at State.

WikiLeaks published these hacked e-mails from the account of Clinton's chairman, John Podesta. Let me just read this one exchange. This is from March of 2015. The woman who is now in charge of Clinton's transition team is Neera Tanden.

And she writes: "Why didn't they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So crazy."

It's all in reference to Clinton's top aides at the State Department, the they. Podesta says, "Unbelievable."

Tanden then writes: "I guess I know the answer. They wanted to get away with it.'

Nia, if you're a voter and you're reading your papers and you're trying to think, hang on a second, Hillary Clinton's secrecy, get away with something, what's your takeaway?

HENDERSON: It's certainly new information on an old problem, this problem of trustworthiness and transparency that Hillary Clinton has had that has dogged her campaign for months and months and months.

I think it's late in the game. I these think are the October surprises the Clinton campaign is going to get. They're lucky to be facing an opponent in Donald Trump who isn't really disciplined enough to take advantage of this.

But, my goodness, this is a big deal. Some of her closest advisers are complaining about her approach to this e-mail problem and this e- mail server. And Neera Tanden is sort of on the outside of that inner circle of the Clinton campaign.

But I think one of the things is, it's so late, about 80 percent of voters already made up their mind. About 20 percent in 2012 made up their minds in October and November. And most of those broke for whoever was leading at the time. But, listen, my goodness, it's another problem I think for Hillary Clinton.

BALDWIN: I read a tweet the other day that said the October surprise is that there's an October surprise every day.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Lanhee, let me go to you, let me go to you, because I do want to talk about the Florida poll. This is what Dana mentioned when she was talking to Donald Trump. And it shows he is up two points. Again, this is Florida. He admitted this is a state he needs to win the presidency. This is after a big two-day swing in the state.

Hillary Clinton is adjusting strategy. She's going back to Florida this weekend. And I know, Lanhee, you had e-mailed me about some of your research showing that the race is stabilizing.

CHEN: Yes.

Well, I think Trump is recovering some of the challenges -- from some of the challenges that he's had over the last few weeks. I think some of those Republicans are coming home. And as a result, I do think Florida will be relatively close.

I think it's critical for a reasons. One is Marco Rubio down-ballot, he looks likely to win. The closer that the election is or if Trump manages to pull off Florida, the better it is for him obviously.

But I think Trump is just dealing with the fact that he's running against a historically unpopular Democratic Party nominee as well. And that is what is keeping him in the mix here in Florida and in other states. So we will see. But I do think Trump is seeing some stabilization in his numbers there and that's the reason why you see him slightly ahead in this poll out today.

[15:15:01]

BORGER: Brooke, I have been talking to a Republican who does tracking every day in Florida.

And he said to me last night it looks like it's somewhere between two and four-and-a-half points for Hillary Clinton, depending on what night you poll. So it is stable, she has a lead, it went up after the videotape, obviously, and then now it seems to be sort of at a stasis enter somewhere two and three points, so, close, but she's still ahead.

BALDWIN: Gloria and Nia and Lanhee, thank you all.

HENDERSON: Thank you.

CHEN: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Next, we have to talk about -- thank you -- Donald Trump's feud with Megyn Kelly, part, we can call it, what, six? The nominee praising Newt Gingrich for this wild argument on live TV where the former House speaker flat out says to Megyn Kelly, you have a fascination with sex. We will discuss that.

Also, never-before-heard tapes of Donald Trump talking about life, what motivates him, what he fears the most, you will hear it. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:16]

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

Let's get straight this shall we call it a dustup? Megyn Kelly, FOX News host, getting into a heated exchange with a paid FOX News contributor. This is what went down between Megyn Kelly and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is a super surrogate for Donald Trump, what really shocked viewers and lit up social media last night all over women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault.

Here's the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: If Trump is a sexual predator, that is...

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: He's not a sexual predator. You can't say that.

KELLY: OK. That's your opinion. I'm not taking a position on it.

(CROSSTALK)

GINGRICH: You could not defend that statement.

KELLY: I'm not taking a position on it.

GINGRICH: Now, I'm sick and tired of people like you using language that is inflammatory that is not true.

KELLY: Excuse me, Mr. Speaker. You have no idea whether it's true or not. What we know is that...

(CROSSTALK)

GINGRICH: And neither do you.

KELLY: That's right. And I'm not taking a position on it, unlike you.

GINGRICH: Yes, you are. When you used the words, you took a position. It is very unfair of you to do that, Megyn.

(CROSSTALK)

KELLY: Incorrect.

GINGRICH: That is exactly the bias people are upset by.

KELLY: I think that your defensiveness on this may speak volumes, sir.

(CROSSTALK)

KELLY: What I said is -- no, no, let me make my point, and then I will give you the floor.

GINGRICH: All right.

KELLY: What I said is, if Trump is a sexual predator, then it is a big story.

And what we saw on that tape was Trump himself saying that he likes to grab women by the genitals, and kiss them against their will.

GINGRICH: You are fascinated with sex, and you don't care about public policy.

KELLY: Me, really?

GINGRICH: That's what I get out of watching you tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, that was last night. Here was Donald Trump today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: By the way, congratulations, Newt, on last night. That was an amazing interview.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: That was an amazing...

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We don't play games, Newt. Right? We don't play games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk about it.

Angela Rye is here. She's a CNN political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. Betsy McCaughey is a Trump supporter and former lieutenant governor of New York supporting Mr. Trump.

Ladies, welcome.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

BETSY MCCAUGHEY, FORMER NEW YORK LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And, Lieutenant Governor, first to you.

Why is Newt Gingrich, with his history with women, accusing Megyn Kelly, a female host, of being fascinated with sex?

MCCAUGHEY: Well, the fact is that the media should not sensationalize accusations against Trump or anybody else, for that matter, without even a shred of evidence or witness that what is alleged has occurred.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So, I'm not doing that. I'm just asking you a straight-up question.

MCCAUGHEY: No, but he's responding to many instances lately where that's occurred.

For example, when Jessica Leeds went to "The New York Times" and said Donald Trump groped me on an airplane some 40 years ago, "The Times" rushed to print that story without having any facts. They didn't know even the year it occurred, much less the date. They didn't have the flight. They didn't have any witnesses.

And they put it on the front page of "The New York Times." That is irresponsible journalism. And "The Times" in fact has stated that they are abandoning standards of journalism fairness to bring down Donald Trump. And that's what Newt Gingrich is responding to.

BALDWIN: But, again, the question was, is -- to use your word of responsible, is it responsible for someone who was speaker of the House, but has a history with women...

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAUGHEY: He's not the issue. It's the terribly irresponsible behavior of the media that is the issue.

BALDWIN: What do you think?

RYE: Oh, no. Yes, no, that's not the issue.

The issue is that there are 11 women now and counting who have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault. There are teenaged girls who have talked about Donald Trump going into a space where they were naked and getting dressed during a pageant.

The problem is that Donald Trump is self-righteous, not only about his behavior in groping women and bragging about that. He's self- righteous about all kinds of bad, illicit behavior that we would never want our children to engage in.

That is the real issue. So, it's not about the irresponsible media. In fact, I would argue that this network that I'm proud to be a commentator on has been very responsible, so much so that many of these allegations haven't been aired as fact, but have simply been stated as just that, allegations.

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: I'm not done, Betsy. And I let you have the floor. I didn't talk while you were talking.

I think it's very, very important that we say what it is. These are accusations. But the fact that there are 11 women and counting, Brooke, is damning. The fact that Donald Trump has been sued more than 4,000 times is damning even about his business record.

We can say that if it looks like a cat, it smells like a cat, it might just be a cat. That's what it is, no pun intended, given what he said.

MCCAUGHEY: The fact is, when this happens, it endangers all of us.

This is very similar to what happened with the UVA, University of Virginia, rape charges, or the Duke lacrosse team. People are smeared. Everyone assumes they're guilty. Then the truth comes out.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I don't think anyone is assuming Mr. Trump is guilty.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAUGHEY: The only difference here is that it's also tipping a presidential election.

[15:25:00]

RYE: Let me tell you -- can I just tell you what's so interesting about this?

To hear Trump supporters wanting to defend people who are innocent until proven guilty, and to contrast that with Donald Trump taking out a full-page ad in four major New York papers about the Central Park Five, five young black and Latino boys who were innocent, who were baited into confessing to a crime they didn't commit, calling for the death penalty, right?

And then for him to turn around at what was supposed to be his ribbon- cutting today, telling Newt Gingrich, we don't play games, well, you know what, Mr. Trump? Sexual assault is not a game. And we shouldn't play games.

MCCAUGHEY: And no one...

(CROSSTALK)

RYE: I'm not finished.

And you should be defending people who have been victims of sexual assault. You shouldn't play games with that either.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAUGHEY: You don't assume that everyone who makes that allegation is true.

You know, I'm a woman. I have been a woman all my life. But I'm also the daughter of a father. I have a brother. I hope I will have grandsons soon. And I wouldn't want any of those boys to be accused of something and just assume that they're guilty.

The fact is, in today's world, calling somebody a nasty woman is somehow not permitted, but a woman can accuse a man of something, and, well, that's OK.

BALDWIN: Let me hit pause.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAUGHEY: I don't like this double standard.

BALDWIN: I would love to hear more from both of you.

I want to pivot, moving off of this exchange, and move into what we saw and what we have been seeing at some of the Trump rallies, some of the signs.

Please stick around.

Please stick around.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)