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Trump Security Incident Examined; Trump in North Carolina; Clinton in Florida; IOraqi Fighting Discussed. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 6, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:11] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, we love you! Welcome back!

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to finish his speech. Donald Trump returns to the stage after being rushed off by the secret service.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And under fire, CNN's Arwa Damon recalls being caught up in the fighting between ISIS and Iraqi forces.

From CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. "CNN Newsroom" starts right now.

We're down to just two. The United States is just two days away from choosing its next president.

HOWELL: The latest CNN poll of polls shows a race that is tightening even more ahead of that very critical vote Tuesday just 3 percentage points now, separating Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, 46 percent to 43 percent. Now, both candidates focusing in and campaigning hard in those key states, those battleground states.

But, no either way come Election Day. One of those battleground states, it is the state of Nevada, very important prize for these candidates. And that is where Donald Trump held his rally Saturday night but there was this.

A brief interruption by security scare, the secret service immediately rushed Mr. Trump off the stage after someone in the crowd shouted, gun.

ALLEN: A man later identified as Austin Crites was taken into custody and questioned. CNN has told Crites was not the person who yelled gun and no weapon was found. He was later released without any charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, we love you! Welcome back!

ALLEN: Trump returned to the podium just a short time later and quickly resumed his speech after briefly acknowledging what had happened.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Nobody said it was going to be easy for us. But we will never be stopped. Never, ever be stopped. ALLEN: Austin Crites, the man at the center of the security scare identified himself as a long-time Republican but said he opposes Trump. He told his version of what happened at the rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN CRITES: I just came with a sign. I literally just had one sign that said Republicans against Trump and when I pulled out the sign, people around me were trying to grab the sign. Somebody yelled something about a gun.

And so, that's where things really got out of hand. I mean, people are just kicking me, grabbing my arms, twisting them. And finally, I'm very thankful for the law enforcement who was able to quickly come because had they not been there, it's possible that these people could have you know, strangled me and killed me right on the spot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The security scare shows how tense many people have become with Election Day just around the corner, and with the race so close, both campaigns are leaving little to chance. CNN Kyung Lah reports on the Trumps campaign weekend blitz through key swings states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Trumps side by side and neck and neck North Carolina, a must win state to hit 270. Melania Trump on charm offensive, a rare appearance on the campaign trail.

MELANIA TRUMP, WIFE OF DONALD TRUMP: He's also compassionate, thoughtful, giving, and loving. Donald cares.

LAH: Three days to Election Day, Donald Trump mostly on message on script in North Carolina.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESDENTIAL NOMINEE: The Clinton family have made themselves rich by being in politics.

LAH: But earlier at a camp rally in crucial battleground Florida.

TRUMP: Here's your construction worker.

LAH: Donald Trump cast teleprompter Trump aside, lashing out at Hillary Clinton's celebrity support from Beyonce and Jay-z. Talking about Jay-Z's explicit rap lyrics.

TRUMP: We don't need Jay-z to fill up arenas you know. Should I use that language for one event? Can you imagine if I said that?

LAH: Of course, Trump has used plenty of other language that's landed him in trouble. Trump then pivoting back on script, pounding away at Clinton's Achilles heel, her use of a private e-mail server.

TRUMP: If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. LAH: The e-mail controversy is central for the closing message Trump is toting as he zigzags across the country, visiting at least ten states between now and Monday, four to crucial battleground states. The states Trump can't hit, we'll see this.

[04:05:02] TRUMP: Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people.

LAH: An unconventional $4 million two-minute long ad. Trump's final national message will run during NCAA, NFL and NASCAR events this weekend and during major prime time programming before Tuesday.

TRUMP: The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us.

LAH: Trump also taking the conventional turn as a Republican presidential candidate, delivering the weekly Republican address.

TRUMP: It's time to close the history books on the Clintons and open a bright new chapter focused on the great citizens of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Hillary Clinton is eliciting some major star power to win over young voters on Saturday. Singer Katy Perry joined the democratic candidate in Pennsylvania, before that, Clinton was on the trail in Florida.

She had campaigned in Florida more than any other state since the democratic national convention. CNN Senior Political Correspondent Brianna Keilar is with the Clinton campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton campaigning in Florida.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESDIENTIAL NOMINEE: It's a big state. I got a lot of ground to cover.

KEILAR: The fourth time she's been in this state this week, thanking the crowd for braving the rain to see her.

CLINTON: My friends, you are a hardy bunch, standing out here in the rain. I don't think I need to tell you all of the wrong things about Donald Trump. But here's what I want you to remember. I want to be the president for everybody, everybody who agrees with me, people who don't agree with me, people who vote for me, people who don't vote for me.

KEILAR: Recent polls put Florida at a statistical tie, and with 29 electoral votes at stake, Clinton's campaign sees the sunshine state as one way to block Donald Trump's path to the White House and they're encouraged by high Hispanic voter turn out among those voting early. CLINTON: Every day in this campaign is exciting and being here with all of you, the last Saturday before Election Day really gets me geared up. We are seeing tremendous momentum, large numbers of people turning out breaking records.

KEILAR: Clinton and her long bench of surrogates are fanning out across battleground states in these final hours before Election Day. Her running mate, Tim Kaine also campaigning in Florida and Vice President Joe Biden in his home state of Pennsylvania, slamming Donald Trump.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT, USA: A guy who wants to be president getting up at 3:30 in the morning and Tweeting vitriol, now I'm demanding, Tweeting vitriol about a woman's body, her weight, calling women pigs and call, I mean, imagine -- I get the back of my father's hand quicker than -- no, I really -- I really mean it. You do. You know what I'm talking about. Can you imagine at your dinner table your father or mother allowing you to speak that way?

KEILAR: Clinton is also tapping star power. The campaign is out with a new ad in tossup states featuring Katy Perry.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: By those, the headlines and now let's break it all down and get some analysis with CNN Politics Reporter Eugene Scott live in Washington. Well Eugene busy place there the next couple of days. I know you will have a lot to cover. Let's talk about where we are right now two days before Election Day and let's take a look at the map of states right now, that magic number of 270 to reach the Electoral College benchmark, that 270 number. And the polls are tightening in these battleground states. Donald Trump still has a very steep climb to reach that mark.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS CORRESPODENT: He very much does, but I think he got some optimistic news last night. We saw the polls from Iowa that says he has a significant lead there.

He needs Iowa to win. This is not a state that it appears to be a part of Clinton's plot map to victory, so he has some hope. He has some things looking positive for him.

But it's a tight race and right now in the Electoral College. Hillary Clinton looks like she's doing way better.

HOWELL: We saw Donald Trump in the other critical state of Nevada. Both candidates need that state but there was a security scare for Mr. Trump on stage when somebody in the crowd yelled gun.

The person detained was never charged. What we do know of him is that he is a Republican but not a Trump supporter. What more can you tell us about at that, that situation?

SCOTT: Well, he told us he had a Republicans against Trump sign and he began being pushed, and assaulted and attacked before he heard someone yelled gun. [04:10:03] He said, he did not have a gun. Secret service said he did not have a gun, but while the Trump campaign has not always had situations like this happen at their rallies, it does remind us of earlier days where things were a bit more violent when there was a protest.

HOWELL: Indeed we heard the gentleman say that he was concerned that he could have been killed in that situation so thankfully he got out OK.

Let's talk about these new longer ads that the campaigns will be rolling, the Donald Trump campaign planning to put out a two-minute ad, the Clinton campaign planning to do something similar. So, what's the target there? And what's the impact that these different types of ads could have on people?

SCOTT: Clinton is certainly trying to get that Obama demographic, that group that supported the current President, to get on board with her. Everyone is worried about turnout especially in some different states that don't have early voting. And she's hoping these ads like a Katy Perry connects with millennials and young women groups that she needs to win.

Donald Trump is trying to convince people who are outside of his space that he is the best candidate, to defeat Hillary Clinton and lead the country in the directions he hopes the way will go. And so the ads will highlight the issues that he thinks he's greater than her.

HOWELL: OK, so the ad will hit those states that the candidates can't reach presumably, but the states they can reach. Let's take a look at the map here, Eugene. You get a sense of where these candidates will be going over the next two days. And let's talk about why these different targets are so important, not this particular map but we do have another map that shows actually where the candidates are going if we can pull it up. We do see it there, Trump campaign stops very critical states for Mr. Trump and then for Hillary Clinton, you see Michigan at play, Pennsylvania so important for her, talk to us about it.

SCOTT: Well Pennsylvania is a state that has gone blue since I believe 1988. But it's still pretty tight and Donald Trump has been working really hard to win that state because he thinks if he can win Pennsylvania he could probably win Ohio. And he's doing really well in Ohio, but the chances of him winning that aren't certain at this point. As we've mentioned before, both candidates are focused significantly on North Carolina and Florida, hoping that the different groups in those areas come out and support them.

HOWELL: CNN Politics Reporter Eugene Scott, live in Washington. Eugene, thank you. We will stay in touch with you to get more analysis as we get closer to that day, that day being November 8th. The historic Election Day, a day like none other that we've seen in the United States, and where should you go to get the best coverage, well, right here. CNN, Tuesday night.

You of course want to stay with us. We have our correspondents, producers, photo journalists all over bringing you the very latest. Everything that happens in the United States as we get closer to that very critical minute.

ALLEN: Every second, every minute.

HOWELL: Every millisecond.

ALLEN: Everybody all in. Well we all know that fighting ISIS has been a major concern of U.S. voters. Next, we'll take you live to Iraq on the latest on the effort to take Mosul back from terrorists.

HOWELL: Plus, CNN's Arwa Damon survives a frightening ISIS ambush in Mosul. You want to hear her story next as CNN Newsroom pushes on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:46] PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: I'm Patrick Snell with your World Sport Headlines. The Irish national rugby team has been trying to beat New Zealand for111 years. In 28 previous attempts they failed to beat the all blacks but now they can say "Mission accomplished." The Irish were focused, personified here racing into a commanding lead, 30 points to 8. Predictively, the world champions hit back though, the Irish score though to win it 40 points to 29.

A very famous wins, the very latest from English premier, well Anthony Conte of Chelsea are sitting pretty atop the standings after beating Everton five-nil on Saturday. Much of the recent form centered around the brilliance of the Belgian Eden Hazard. He was instrumental again at the break scoring twice. Chelsea dominant throughout. Everton could not even manage a shot on the goal.

Really has been quite a year for Andy Murray, another Wimbledon in crown, another Olympic goal, don't forget the joys of fatherhood too. And now he can say not as British world number one but world number one, how is that sound Andy. Novak Djokovic's quarterfinal defeat at the Paris Masters on Friday. That meant that Murray only needed to reach the final to hit the ranking summit well on Saturday. He did just that without even hitting a ball. That's because his opponent, the Canadian Milos Raonic withdrew from the match with injury. It meant that Scott was through to the final where he'll play John Isner on Sunday. He'll want to win it though.

A look at you World Sport Headlines. Thank you for joining us. I'm Patrick Snell.

HOWELL: The battle for Mosul, to retake Mosul in Iraq. Iraqi coalition forces, they face a hardened enemy in ISIS with militants even willing to fight to the death.

ALLEN: ISIS has held Mosul for more than two years and it's made use its tunnel network and bobby traps to fight Iraqi troops. If that weren't enough, it's also using civilians as human shields making it difficult for Iraqi forces to counter snipers.

HOWELL: You know we're hearing about just how brutal the fighting is from our own Arwa Damon and Brice Laine. Their firsthand experience when they were caught up in the middle of all of these.

ALLEN: They were with Iraqi Special Forces for more than 28 hours in the city and survived a vicious ISIS ambush. Here's how Arwa described it to CNN's Poppy Harlow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are photographer, cameraman. Brice and I were with this unit of Iraqi counter-terrorism forces and what happened was ISIS ambushed them in a very complex attack on one of this narrow street that they were going down. And they managed to split the convoy in two. I have to say that this is the most harrowing experience that I've personally have ever been through despite having covered war zones for more than a decade.

What happened was once they managed to split the convoy in two initially with gun fire, rocket-propelled grenade. They then began to systematically take out the convoy's vehicles, humvees and MRAPs starting on both ends and moving towards those that were in the middle, forcing the soldiers and eventually us out of our vehicles onto the streets and into the buildings. Basically putting the troops in more vulnerable positions because then the ISIS fighters were moving in and attacking the buildings that the troops were sheltering in.

At the end of a very long 24 hours the bottom line is that we were under siege with around 22 wounded soldiers. Six who were not wounded, it got so bad at one point in the morning, Poppy. And this is despite the fact that the unit was repeatedly calling in for backup, none came, but they were saying that they were running out of ammunition. And this is how close the ISIS fighters were. They were in the building right behind where all of us had spent the night along with an Iraqi family. An air strike took out the building the house right behind us. Later we found out eight Isis fighters were there.

At one point there were ISIS fighters on the rooftop right next door throwing grenade into the courtyard that wounded even more the soldiers that we were with. They were screaming for anyone who could walk. Even people who were wounded on one arm carrying their weapon in the other arm to come up to the roof and defend this position.

[04:20:05] The reason why backup couldn't arrive? Well, based on what we told the units that were supposed to becoming as reinforcement also got bogged down because of clashes that they were undergoing with the ISIS. And this really just illustrates the challenges that the Iraqis are going to be facing as they try to clear Iraq's second largest city.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: The family Arwa, I mean -- in those notes that you sent back in the midst of all of these, you talked about the family with their children. Do you know what happened to them?

DAMON: The family that we were with, that we spent the night with, they didn't want to be filmed. They were very friendly, they were very welcoming but at the same time they were terrified. Overnight we were chatting. We were laughing, we were joking but then in the morning when the ISIS counterattack began, they were crying, they were hiding under the staircase. They were trying to leave the house to go to their neighbor's because they thought they would be safer there. They made a few attempts to run out but the gunfire kept driving them back. One of the little boys was screaming out, I don't want to die today.

Eventually they did leave their own home running out without their shoes on. We weren't able to say goodbye to them. I don't know what's happening to them right now. Another family whom we met, Poppy, that they did agreed to be filmed. We met them earlier on the day. One of the daughters, she was just 19 years old and she was shaking. Her body was visibly shaking. Her hands were shaking because of the fear of the fighting that was happening around them, but also because she was afraid that the Iraqi Security Forces were going to take her father away.

And I think it really drives home this reality that Mosul is a city with a population upwards of 1.2 million people. The soldiers as they move through these various neighborhoods, there are civilians living within these homes. Civilians that oftentimes their presence is not directly known.

And the other concern, too, Poppy. And this happened on a number of occasions, sometimes a house will have a white flag outside of it. Sometimes that house will even have a family on the lower floor, but as one of the soldiers told us, he then went upstairs. Five ISIS fighters were hiding in the upstairs room. He threw a grenade, and he says two of them were killed. One of them grabbed for the gun, shot the soldier in the leg. So they are hiding amongst the civilian population. They are using the civilian population as fighting positions.

HARLOW: What can you at tell us, Arwa, also about the man, this taxi driver that we're seeing in some of the new video that you have from this harrowing experience?

DAMON: You know that really just illustrates the chaos of the battlefield and how it's very difficult to discern whether someone is friendly or an enemy and just how tense the entire situation is. What happened is that the soldiers asked this man in the taxi to stop. He stops his vehicle. He gets out of it and he begins moving towards them. Remember, their biggest threat in all of this is suicide car bombs.

So, the initial assumption is that he is a suicide car bomber or a suicide bomber himself. He moves towards them. They start shooting. There's a lots of confusion. One is screaming at them to come, to go. He ends him on the ground. They drag him away and they tried to treat him but he eventually dies of his wounds. They don't know who he is. There's no identification on him. They still think that the vehicle was packed with explosives.

And then there was such an intense fire fight right afterwards that the last I saw his body was on the side of the street, wrapped in a blanket with pink flowers on it. I mean -- and these are scenes that aren't unique to our experience. These are scenes that play everywhere as these troops move forward throughout Mosul. Every single unit is coming across similar experiences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: We are obviously thankful that Arwa is OK, that Brice is OK, that that family is OK.

ALLEN: Absolutely.

HOWELL: Arwa's reporting taking you right to the front-line, right to the heart of it so you can understand exactly what so many families are dealing with this offensive takes place.

ALLEN: That taxi driver's story tells a story as well.

HOWELL: Yeah.

ALLEN: I mean every element that's she talked about, and the fact that she's been covering wars for 10 years and this was her most harrowing experience. In fact she kept detailed notes of her entire 28-hour ordeal and you can read her full account of that ISIS ambush and its aftermath at CNN.com.

For more on the battle including how civilians are fairing in the fight, we just saw one family. Michael Holmes is in Erbil and Michael Arwa's experience is quiet terrifying. It just certainly illustrates the complexity of this fight there in Mosul and what Iraqi troops are up against.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And, you know, Arwa always does this and that's an important thing to say that, you know, she say, we were there, it was bad, it was terrible.

[04:25:06] But these civilians live this every single day. And as that fighting continues and expands and becomes more intense like that, and you got relief aid organizations saying, they're seeing a dramatic increase in the number of displaced people. 35,000 since this campaign began three weeks ago. And you can drive around this region and see camps being built and expanded to cater to those numbers. We visited one of those camps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

At a camp of the displaced, a mother and daughter reunited separated by ISIS for two long years. The reunions here come one after another. A very public torrent of emotions for which words do no justice.

The scenes here are both heartbreaking and joyous. Just imagine if it was you, on the inside of the camp you've got families from previously ISIS-held territory, on the outside you've got their families and loved ones who haven't seen them in two years. But the problem is this, security, those on the inside need to be screened and processed. There could be ISIS among them and that processing is yet to be completed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

HOLMES: This is my brother Ikram Ahmed (ph) says. For so long we didn't see each other or even talk. Ikram's story repeated throughout the camp. And, along the road leading to it lines of cars and trucks headed towards the gates in safety.

Waad Zan (ph) tells us he walked 20 kilometers here with his family. At last security he says. At the fence his brother-in-law, Akmed, a young family reunited.

I'm overjoyed he said, but it is frustrating to not be able to come in.

This is Kaza camp. It was originally built with 1,000 tents and meant for 8,000 people. 4,000 people arrived in one 24 hour period. This camp is now full. They're extending it but for now they're having the same families to other camps.

Aid organizations expected these people to come and have prepared as much as possible, the problem not knowing what's yet to come. The fear, that this is just the beginning of the possible long-feared deluge of the desperate and the dispossessed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And through that point, the U.N. estimating perhaps as many as 700,000 people will need assistance or might need assistance as this campaign continues. It's really a staggering number and one aid group telling us that facilities will start to struggle when numbers hit around 250,000. So you can see the challenges ahead, Natalie.

ALLEN: Yes, that's a beautiful story you shared with us about the families coming together but, yet that compounds what we already have, the refugee crisis we have in that region. Thank you so much for your reporting for us, Michael Holmes, live in Erbil.

HOWELL: Both Michael's reporting and Arwa's reporting really drives it home, you know, it's the families that are dealing with this as this offensive pushes on. Thanks for being with us. Stay with us. We'll be right back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:46] ALLEN: And welcome back to our viewers around the world. You're watching CNN Newsroom live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour. South Korea has issued an arrest warrant. Arrest warrant for two former aids to the President Park Geun-hye. Authorities have already arrested one of those former aids. They are suspected of being involved in the abuse of power scandal involving Park's administration.

ALLEN: Two suspects are in custody in Turkey after police fired on them near Istanbul's at the Turk Airport. One suspect was injured. Authorities tell Turkish media the pair was riding towards the airport entrance and ignored multiple orders to stop. CNN Turk says police did not find any weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Nigerian. The Nigerian Army says that it has found one of the Chibok schools girls kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram. She and her and her 10-month old son escaped from Boko Haram hideout. The militants abducted 276 girls from a boarding school back in 2014. They nearly 200 are still missing.

ALLEN: The U.S. Presidential race has become even more competitive. A new CNN poll of polls shows Hillary Clinton's lead shrinking. Just 3 percentage points separate her and Donald Trump. Both candidates are focusing on Tuesday in their final sprint before Election Day, Tuesday.

HOWELL: And before we get to Tuesday there's always a lot to talk about when it comes to politics. Let's bring in Scott Lucas now. He's a professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham in England. And live via Skype with us. Scott, good to have you.

I want to talk first of all just about the external forces that are at play with this particular election unlike anything we've ever seen really. There are these hacks that happened, e-mail hacks, U.S. authority's points to Russia. The constant read of terrorism from groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, even fringe groups and domestic terror. And come November 8th the promise from Trump supporters to monitor some polling stations which for some might amount to voter intimidation. Have you ever seen anything quite like this in a U.S. election?

SCOTT LUCAS, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: I don't think we've seen the type of direct intervention that we've seen from Russia to start with. It's not just the allegations about the hacks of e-mail, including the computers of the Democratic National Committee. It's the day upon day propaganda coming from Russian State outlets in favor of Trump in trying to beat down Clinton, but on top of that I think you match up this external pressure. And let's be honest, you know, that is a very unstable world out there.

With this very explicit use of language by Trump himself and by his supporters which is we may not recognize this electoral result. Now we may, in other words try to take this entire rig system down. And I can't recall a presidential candidate going quite as far as that. And when you match it up there with specifically the Russian interests, yeah, we're in unchartered waters regarding the way our democracy operates.

ALLEN: Right. Because we like saying one more day but a lot of people are saying this election, the voting might not be the end of it. Then this country is going through something with this election that we haven't seen before.

[04:35:01] LUCAS: You can recall back in 2000, I'm sure your viewers can, but we went through several weeks of uncertainty in the Bush versus Gore election. And that wasn't resolved until a Supreme Court decision. And that was serious enough, I mean people may not remember it but there was questions about whether the government will effectively be paralyzed. I think here is the question really of one candidate, what he or she does under over the mic. I think we know Hillary Clinton will probably recognize the electoral result.

But is Donald Trump really going to say that despite the fact that we really don't have a history of extensive voter fraud, this is a sort of red herring here. That he's going to call out the people on the street against the result? You know, I just -- I would hope he wouldn't, but I just don't know how far that man would go.

HOWELL: Let's talk about the race specifically. So Hillary Clinton still has an advantage in the CNN poll of polls, but it is a very tight advantage. You know, I read this article in the Wall Street Journal about other nations that are also concerned when it comes to tight elections, concerned about outside forces threatening to influence those elections similar to the question I asked you earlier, Scott. Is there a concern among other nations that the same thing could happen to them? And is this the new norm?

LUCAS: Yeah, I think it is the new norm by the way. I think you look at certain countries, and again Russia is a prominent example, but there are others. And I think because of the way that media operates so quickly now on a 24/7 basis that they are going to try to get messages out there to shift elections. We saw a bit of this in Brittain in June when we had the big debate about the E.U. referendum. Although not to the extent we're seeing it in the U.S. elections.

But I think there's a bigger concern here. I'm going to be honest with you. And I think that is the image of the U.S. has really taken a real hammering in the past few months. You know there had finish issues after the Iraqi war in 2003 and in recent years about what the America stands for. I have to be honest with you. I don't think this Presidential election has done America any good. It's looked to be unstable, unsettled and instead of dealing with issues, really replaced it with a lot of shot.

So after the election I think there has to be a lot of soul searching. You know, I'm very proud that America stands for democracy and freedom but you're not getting those values being lived up to, at least in the eyes of many people outside of the U.S.

ALLEN: Try to find a positive note to end here because -- it's a little scary. I don't know if we can, but give us something that we can look forward to once the election is over. Think of something.

LUCAS: I mean personal and remember it's not just about the Presidential election. We've got a very heated contest for control of the Senate, which could go either way between Republicans and Democrats. And I say that for a wider point. I think the American system is one where people wisely, you know, 250 years ago created a system of checks and balances, So it's not just about the president, it's about having a responsible military, it's about having the Supreme Court, which I think has been a very positive force in checking some of the excesses of politics. It's about having a responsible Congress and that means that one individual cannot take the system down. So while I'm concerned about what has occurred in the presidential race, the American system has gone through a lot of shocks and that my hope is, is that with a lot of thinking about what we want as Americans, health care, economy, a better society that will come out of this OK, whatever happens on November the 8th.

HOWELL: You know it has taken a lot of shots. But as Scoot fair to say it is still standing, and, you know, we will see how it plays out come November 8th and beyond. Scott, thank you so much.

ALLEN: Thanks so much. Thanks a lot.

LUCAS: Thank you folks.

HOWELL: Let's talk about the threat of severe weather. Looming once again across the Adriatic and parts of Italy.

ALLEN: Derek Van Dam is following that report. Hello, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Everything is still intact here.

ALLEN: OK, good.

HOWELL: Thank goodness, Derek.

ALLEN: Talking about climate change.

VAN DAM: Yes, severe weather is possible. But it's not all doom and gloom. There are some good things to come out of this forecasting, including building up some snow pack into the Alps, and also alleviating some of the drought conditions across Portugal and into Spain. So, some of our viewers there waking up this morning will appreciate that from perhaps Lisbon into Madrid as well as Barcelona.

But I want to point out on this satellite loop just some of the storms that have rolled through at the Corsica, and Northern Sardinia region and the western facing areas of Italy. That region has been hammered over the past 12 hours with some strong hefty thunderstorms. There have been reports of water spouts across this region, even into the Adriatic. And the potential for excessive rainfall and flooding exists today, especially as we look towards the coast of Albania, Montenegro into Croatia, and even towards Rome.

We've highlighted the regions with two darker shades of red. That's where we have probable severe weather throughout the course of the day today.

[04:40:03] All of Italy has at least the potential for this excessive rain, large hail and isolated tornadoes, water spouts of course if they form over the water. And, look at how busy and active the radar has been over the past 12 hours, specifically across Sardinia and into the Florence and Rome region.

Some of those thunderstorms there, really flaring up, that's why I'll be concerned about the potential for flooding. I think that has already occurred but those storms in that complex of rough weather will move across the Adriatic and impact places like split and basically the entire coast of Croatia. That's where we could experience perhaps 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall in a very short period of time.

And also, look at the strong gusty winds across the area. That is a concern as well, that can also impact, let's say the boating and fishing industry but it's not all doom and gloom. As I've already mentioned, look at the beautiful sites coming out of the south of France and into the Italian Alps. Wow, great weather cast from that region with snow pack starting to build up for the season. We have a potential for an additional 20 to 25 centimeters of snowfall going forward over the next 10 day or so. Natalie, George.

ALLEN: Looks pretty. Thank you for that.

HOWELL: It is pretty. I love it. Derek, thank you.

VAN DAM: You're welcome.

HOWELL: You know, Scott Lucas have pointed this out that the world is watching what happens here with this American election. America will decide but -- and the world will have to live with that decision. Coming up, what China and Mexico think of this particular race for the White House.

ALLEN: Plus, one chilling case in South Carolina leads to several gruesome discoveries. It's a crime story that is really hard to believe. We'll have that coming up.

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[04:45:04] HOWELL: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom". Authorities in South Carolina say that a man has confessed to a 2003 quadruple homicide after police found a woman chained up on his farm in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Thursday. She says that she was chained by the neck and ankle in a shipping container for more than two months.

ALLEN: And investigators found the body of her boyfriend, that's him you were just seeing there on the property. She says, 45-year-old Todd Kohlhepp shot him to death in front of her. That is the suspect there. Then on Saturday he led police to where he says he buried two more bodies though those have not been recovered.

HOWELL: Including the four people killed 13 years ago at a Superbike Motorsports store. (Inaudible) -- Kohlhepp I should day could stand accused of murdering seven people in total. The Spartanburg sheriff spoke about this to reporters. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you saying that this man killed seven people? And you found two bodies here, those four people plus ...

CHUCK WRIGHT, SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA COUNTY SHERIFF: Let me clarify. Four from Superbike. We know of one here on the property and possibly two more. We haven't found the other two. We've been shown where they are possibly located on the property but we haven't confirmed that yet. So until we find something, some evidence or find a body, you know, he just told us that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So potentially seven?

WRIGHT: Yes, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Kohlhepp already spent 15 years in prison after confessing to a kidnapping in '87 -- 1987. He bought the farm two years ago after working as a real-estate agent. Very sick man.

HOWELL: Indeed.

America's Choice 2016. Only Americans can choose their next president but people around the world will have a stake in the outcome of Tuesday's vote.

ALLEN: CNN correspondents are tracking international sentiments. Here are the views from China and Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matt Rivers in China where the next U.S. president will have plenty to deal with, including issues about China's slowing economy and the ongoing power struggle in the South China Sea. China's party communist leaders never officially comment on U.S. elections but government-run newspapers had said the craziness of the campaign season, "Points straight at the corrupt practices of the U.S. political system." As for the average person here in China, they appear to favor Hillary Clinton. 37 percent of the respondents in a Pew reports said they view her favorably. That's 15 percent more than Donald Trump.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera in Mexico City. This country has played a principle role in the run up to the dramatic U.S. presidential election. Many people here on the streets paying very close attention, very worried about Donald Trump being elected president of the United States. They feel he catapulted himself to the top of the Republican field by insulting Mexican immigrants and his talk of a border wall along the U.S. southern border. And There's also a great deal of concern that if Donald Trump is elected president that he would hit the Mexican economy like a hurricane causing the Mexican peso to plummet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, that's it from Mexico and China. And CNN's Rafael Romo spoke with former Mexican ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan. He asked the former ambassador what Mexico may do in terms of trade if Trump wins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ARTURO SARUKHAN, FORMER MEXICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S. I think that Mexico is preparing a number of options in its -- in its potential response to measures that would impinge upon these very important trade flows that benefit both peoples. If you look at what Mexico did in 2009 when it sought to ensure U.S. compliance with the trucking provisions of NAFTA and it implemented counter-tariffs, counter- bailing duties on U.S. exports to turn around that situation. That was a pretty powerful and compelling instrument and it would not be surprising if Mexico were to use something like that again in the coming months if there was a push to trigger a trade war with Mexico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Trump's rhetoric about immigration, building a wall, and slapping tariffs on goods made by U.S. companies in Mexico is already hurting that country financially. The peso is down 9 percent this year due in part some analysts say to Trump. And we'll be right back.

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[04:51:44] SNELL: I'm Patrick Snell with your World Sport Headlines. The Irish national rugby team has been trying to beat New Zealand for111 years. In 28 previous attempts they failed to beat the all blacks but now they can say "Mission accomplished." The Irish were focused, personified here racing into a commanding lead, 30 points to 8. Predictively though, the world champions hit back. Ireland scored again to seal a victory 40 points to 29. A very famous wins indeed.

Antonio Conte of Chelsea siting pretty atop England's Premier League right now after inflicting a 5-0 dropping on Everton on Saturday at the Britain team with the second best defense by the way in the league torn to pieces by the Blues and now 1-5 on the bound. Much of the post-recent form has centered around the brilliance of the Belgian Eden Hazars. He was instrumentally again scoring twice Chelsea rampant Everton could not manage one shot on goal.

As the race to Dubai continues at the Turkey Airline open. Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen has captured all the headlines there. Olesen opening up with a 65 and followed with a course record 62 on Friday. With a 68 in his third round Saturday he's totally running away with it. Seven shots clear of the field as he tries to win his first tournament in more than a year. Can he maintain the pace right through Sunday's final round?

That's a look at your CNN Sport World headlines. Thanks for joining us. I'm Patrick Snell.

HOWELL: You have to admit, during this campaign season there are times, do you laugh, do you cry, what do you do?

ALLEN: Right. Throw your arms up. Well you hopefully get some laughs from Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From the moment Donald Trump took an escalator to announce his candidacy, campaign 2016 has escalated into laughs. From awkward air kissing to sniffing, to coughing.

CLINTON: Every time I think about Trump I get allergic.

MOOS: The Donalds not allergic to kids. He actually signed one but threatened to re-assign a crying baby.

TRUMP: Don't worry about that baby. I love babies.

MOOS: A minute later.

TRUMP: Actually, I was only kidding. You can get the baby out of here.

MOOS: And then there was mini Trump.

TRUMP: Do you want to go back to them or do you want to stay with Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump.

MOOS: Crowd pleasing answer to realize mini Trump parrots the last word he hears.

TRUMP: What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Name.

MOOS: And then there was the child-like delight in balloons. Hill and bill batted and kicked them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seemed like he'd seen balloons for the first time in his life. Look how delighted he is.

MOOS: The Donald seemed delighted with his own pronunciation, Ne- vaaad-a. Nobody says it the other way. It has to be Nevada.

MOOS: Actually, Donald, wrong. This is right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nevada.

MOOS: At one rally.

TRUMP: Hey get this thing out of here would you?

MOOS: Trump attacked his teleprompter. He publicly humiliated ...

TRUMP: Like this stupid mic.

MOOS: His microphone.

TRUMP: Stupid mic keeps popping.

MOOS: Remember when Hillary barked into her mic?

CLINTON: Arf, arf, arf, arf.

MOOS: And then this happened at a Trump rally. This is something you shouldn't do -- what was that? Is that a dog?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Hillary.

[04:55:04] TRUMP: It's Hillary.

MOOS: When it comes to the insect vote, the Donald attracts mosquitoes.

TRUMP: Oh, there was a mosquito. I don't want mosquitos around me.

MOOS: And Hillary appeals to flies.

CLINTON: Any way he chooses.

MOOS: If only time would fly. So we can get relief from the constant buzzing of the candidates.

TRUMP: I don't like mosquitoes.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Well, it will all be over soon.

In "Saturday Night Live" got into the act this weekend. Alec Baldwin and Kate Mckinnon made fun of the candidates one more time.

ALLEN: They do it very well, don't they? But this time they took bite out of the satire and went high after the campaign went so low.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole election has been so mean. You know what I think could help us? Let's get out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, we can only hope it will be like that after the election.

HOWELL: Let's hope. Let's hope.

ALLEN: Thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. A Special edition of "New Day" starts in a moment. You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.

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