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Donald Trump Denies Allegations of Sexual Assault from Multiple Women; Emails Released by WikiLeaks Indicate Criticism of Bill Richardson by Clinton Campaign; Iraqi Armed Forces Prepare Assault on ISIS Held City of Mosul; Voters in Pennsylvania Interviewed; Actor Discusses Battle with Depression. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired October 15, 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] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- 30 years ago, how about this crazy woman on the airplane, OK? Can anybody believe that one? How about this? After 15 minutes, we don't know each other, after 15 minutes, she said well, that was too much and I decided -- 15 minutes? With the ladies in this place, it would be one second and it would be smack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: OK, I want to bring in Phil Mattingly who is in Bangor, Maine, there. So, Phil, do we expect to hear the same dialogue that we just heard from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, or is this a different audience, different information?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the short answer is yes. We expect to hear the same time of tone, tenor, the same type of attack mentality we've seen from Donald Trump over the last couple of day. But I think a Trump adviser I spoke to last hour kind of made this point to me. We don't know at this point what Donald Trump is going to say going into a lot of these rallies. That's the point the campaign is at now. And that includes this very strange attack on Hillary Clinton at his last rally. Take a listen, Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Athletes, they make them take a drug test, right? I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I do. I think we should -- why don't we do that? We should take a drug test prior because I don't know what's going on with her. But at the beginning of her last debate she was all pumped up at the beginning. And at the end, it was like, take me down. She could barely reach her car.

So I think we should take a drug test. Anyway, I'm willing to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So that is obviously a new line of attack on the fitness of Hillary Clinton that we've seen up to this point. But, Fred, I think it's worth noting, as I said, campaign advisers don't know what Donald Trump's going to say when he gets to the stage. I think the point is this -- Donald Trump has reached the point in this campaign where he's going to say what he wants to say when he wants to say it, whether that has a negative impact on the polls or that has a negative impact on his ability to win in swing states, to win in battlegrounds, he doesn't care anymore. He believes that message is what got him to this point and that's how he's going to close out this campaign, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, he says the shackles are off. Meantime, what are his supporters there, what are they saying?

MATTINGLY: I think the interesting point is when you go to Donald Trump's rallies, and I've heard this repeatedly over the last couple of weeks, even in the wake of that inflammatory hot mike tape, even in the wake of the allegations of sexual assault that we've seen over the course of the last couple of days, his supporter don't waiver. They believe in Donald Trump. Take a listen to one we just spoke with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNN ROSS, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I trust him. I believe him. And I really feel in my heart that he's gotten the attention of a lot of people that the rest of the world doesn't even know that we exist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Fred, it's something you hear repeatedly over and over again. They're not put off by what's the last week. A lot of them say we hear that talk a lot in our normal lives, and even those who are offended by what he said, said it's bigger than those comments. We want to stick with Donald Trump.

I will say, one of the disconcerting elements I've heard over the last couple of days when you talk to Trump supporters, the idea of the quote-unquote "rigged election" that you heard in the lead up to this, that you've heard over the last couple of days, is the theory that a lot of them subscribe to. And that is obviously very problematic going forward. It's something that a lot of Republicans, establishment Republicans I've talked to behind the scenes are very concerned about from here on out. I think that's an issue, though, you're going to hear Donald Trump continue to talk about going forward even though there's no truth to it whatsoever. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Phil Mattingly, thank you so much from Bangor, Maine.

OK, so joining us now to talk more about this, CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor of "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein, and Washington correspondent for "TIME" magazine Jay Newton-Small. All right, good to see both of you.

All right, so Jay, let me begin with you. So, you know, polls have shown Donald Trump, you know, his popularity has slipped, particularly after that "Access Hollywood" videotape was revealed. So, is there a feeling now from Trump and his campaign that going after the accusers will help bring some of those numbers up or is it simply trying to get the last word on the topic? JAY NEWTON-SMALL, WASHINGTON CONTRIBUTOR "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, I

think there's a diversion between, frankly, his campaign and Donald Trump. I think if you saw during this week for example Kellyanne Conway was yelling at her candidate from the back of an auditorium, saying "stick to the issues," and trying to keep him focused on message rather than kind of diverting off into these character attacks or diverting off into talking about this whole sort of uproar.

And really, the more that Donald Trump can stick to issues, especially going into this next debate, looking at immigration or looking at trade, then that's where he really needs to be.

[14:05:00] The more he goes on these Twitter tirades and the more he attacks women, calling them liars and calling them unattractive, saying he never touched, that's just not going to do him any good, especially when the people he really needs to drive out are female voters. He's got the male voters, certainly the white male voters, but they've been targeting up into the first debate female white voters. And that demographic is really not going to him. There's a poll this week that "The Atlantic" had that had Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton tied amongst non-college educated white female voters. That is a demographic that usually goes to Republicans by 20 percentage points, and the fact he's losing these, these tirades are not going to help that.

WHITFIELD: So Ron, Jay brings up an interesting point there with Kellyanne Conway saying do this, and he says no. So is this, you know, Donald Trump, we've heard him say days ago, that he is unshackled. The shackles are off. So is this Donald Trump going it alone, particularly when in his messaging he says this election is being rigged, you know, by the media, you know, "pushing false and unsubstantiated charges and outright lies in order to elect crooked Hillary," this in his tweets. Is he just saying, you know what, forget it, I'm just going to do my own thing. There is no script. There really is no camp. This is just Donald Trump.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, I don't really see it that way. Certainly he is unbound. There's no question that he is going further and making more inflammatory accusations than we've probably ever heard from a presidential candidate in either party.

But I don't see it as something as him completely slipping the tether of the campaign. If you look at the written, the prepared remarks that he gave the other day where he essentially talked about an international globalist conspiracy that is out there to deny him the election and to, basically, as he said, impoverish working Americans, that was not something he adlibbed. That was something that was written by the campaign.

And it all reflects I think the same calculation. By any conventional measure, as Jay said, what Donald Trump is doing doesn't make sense if you look at what most people consider the real swing voters in the electorate at this point, many of them college educated white voters where he is underperforming any Republican nominee, and, frankly, we'll hear a lot of this as not only unshackled, but unhinged. I think what all of this points to the Trump campaign and the

candidate are banking on mobilizing nonvoters, the most disaffected, alienated, largely blue collar, non-urban share of the electorate that are most likely to believe the kind of arguments that he's making. And I think that's where they are putting their chips.

WHITFIELD: And so, Jay, I also have to make a correction based on something you said. You said it was Kellyanne Conway apparently who said stick to the script, but now, I understand that it's not, it was not Kellyanne Conway but someone from the camp, but not her, instead, a supporter of Donald Trump. In fact, not even someone within the campaign. So just that correction bed on something you said. So.

NEWTON-SMALL: I took that actually from Twitter, Kellyanne Conway was the one who tweeted out. Journalists heard somebody from the room yell, I think it was stay on message and stick to the script, and Kellyanne Conway tweeted "actually, that was me." So, that's where I got that from.

WHITFIELD: We're being told that was a joke, not true. So, we'll stay away from that until we get that straight.

But meantime, it looks like we are seeing Donald Trump just four days away from the last presidential campaign, and so, Jay, is it your feeling that he is going to stick with the kind of messaging $at we are seeing at this event whether it's in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, today or upcoming in Bangor, Maine?

NEWTON-SMALL: Certainly, this seems to be the messaging that he has been sticking with for the past few weeks. And when he's on message, it is the message of trade. It is the message of jobs. It is the message of immigration. And these are the points where he actually does really well against Hillary Clinton, that and the fact that the electorate truly doesn't want a professional sort of politics to lead the country at this moment.

And so I think we're going to see him talk about that. And that is, you know, when you listen to his speeches, those are the main points that he brings up. But then the points that get a lot of attention is when he does these little tirades, when he goes off and attacks folks for attacking him. And that's always been the way he's been throughout the campaign, that he never lets a punch go unanswered. He always punches back. And so I wouldn't be surprised if he continues to punch back because that's Donald Trump. He's also stated from the beginning of the campaign, I will always punch back.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to leave it right there. Jay Newton-Small, Ron Brownstein, good to see you, appreciate it. We're going to see you again, though, however, not saying a total goodbye, just bye for now, short commercial break.

Also coming up, Hillary Clinton supporter Bill Richardson reacts to leaks of Clinton campaign e-mails that the camp has yet to substantiate. But Bill Richardson himself has comments about it. His reaction, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL RICHARDSON, (D) FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW MEXICO: I don't think there's any damage, and it shows that this is the way politics is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:13:00] WHITFIELD: The Clinton campaign is trying to recover from a series of leaks of private hacked e-mails. In some of the e-mails, at least one, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, disparages Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico governor, who also served in Bill Clinton's cabinet. He mentions Richardson in one email with the subject line "Needy Latinos and one easy call." Podesta goes on to write in this alleged email, quote, "Bill Richardson is still on TV a lot, especially on Univision and Telemundo. And notwithstanding the fact that he can be," and there's a word in there I won't repeat, "It was worth getting him in a good place," end quote.

So the campaign won't confirm or deny the authenticity of the e-mails and CNN has not independently verified them either. Earlier, I spoke with Bill Richardson and asked for his reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARDSON: Well, I don't consider the comments John made disparaging. He's been a friend for 30 year, a colleague. We worked together when I was in the Clinton cabinet. He was chief of staff.

You know, it's political talk. You know, all politicians, most politicians are needy. They have egos. What John was trying to do was get me and the Clintons back together. There was a breach over seven years when I, after I got out of the presidential race I endorsed President Obama. Needless to say, the Clintons weren't happy. So he was trying to get us back together. And in order to do that he used those terms the persuade the Clintons to make a call to me. Hillary Clinton did call me. I did meet with former president Clinton. We dealt with the breach. You know, I'm supporting them very strongly. We dealt with that breach and that was what Podesto with was trying to do as a good campaign manager. So I'm not upset at all and I think nobody should take them as condescending or disparaging.

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like it sends a message, however, to people who perhaps may not be as intimately familiar with politics that something can be said in a negative light about someone, but then that same person might be used to help benefit a campaign or someone else in the political arena?

RICHARDSON: No, I don't think so. You know, the world is so scrutinized now. We have e-mails. We have Facebook. We have Twitter. Everybody knows everything. No. These, this is, if you want to say locker room truck, locker room talk, as Trump has said he was doing, which he wasn't, this is political locker room talk that happens all the time. You know, in campaigns that are very intense, a lot of pressure, you know, Podesta is trying to put together a campaign. He's also an issues guy, did great work on climate change. That's how I saw him recently in the Obama White House.

So this did not offend me, and I don't think it offended hardly any Latinos. Hillary Clinton has a very good record with Latinos, very good positions on immigration reform, on jobs, on education. Trump is his own worst enemy with Latino voters. So again, I don't think there's any damage. And it shows that this is the way politics is.

WHITFIELD: So, you don't believe this will undermine the Clinton campaign, it won't undermine your commitment to Hillary Clinton or even your working and friendly relationship with John Podesta?

RICHARDSON: No, not at all. John and I have been in touch. I am supporting Hillary Clinton. I've contributed to her. I've done three events for her. I'm not an insider obviously. But I want her to win. And so this doesn't diminish my very strong support for her candidacy, and I'll continue speaking out as I'm doing now. So no, I'm not bothered at all. A lot of other people, especially some of the media are bothered more than anybody else.

WHITFIELD: All right, there are a lot of distractions on both sides in the pursuit of the White House. And as you reminded us, you were the energy secretary under the Clinton White House. And I wonder, you know, your relationship with the Clintons and your experience with the Clintons, do you feel like her husband, Bill Clinton, and his missteps, whether it be his comments about Obamacare or whether it be Donald Trump talking about the allegations and the relationships that Bill Clinton has had, if all of this is a distraction, if this is undermining Hillary, if it hurts her in a big way, not just from her own opponent but also from her own husband?

RICHARDSON: Well, I think the reality is that Bill Clinton is a very popular politician in this country. When he left office after all those allegations, he was still over 60 percent favorable, and he's been judged a very good president because of the balanced budget and so many other things he did, the strong economy. So, first of all, I think he's an asset.

The country dealt with those alleged infidelities. There was an impeachment. That's over with. I think to revive them, to resuscitate them, especially compared to some of the allegations against Trump, which seem to be real. I'm not going to get into every one of them, but his own comments, the lewd, lascivious comments he made to Billy Bush, that's pretty strong stuff.

So I don't think, I think what Trump is trying to do is distract from his own problems. And my view, Fredricka, is that he realizes that this election is probably gone for him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Tomorrow on "State of the Union," Jake Tapper sits down with Nancy Pelosi to talk about the latest e-mail hack at 9:00 a.m. eastern time right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:22:45] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. So ISIS is now telling its wounded fighters they can get out of Mosul as Iraqi forces prepare for a major battle to retake the city. The city has been in ISIS hands for the last two years and is the terror group's last stronghold inside Iraq. CNN's Ben Wedeman is near Mosul. So Ben, how close are Iraqi forces to moving in on that city?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it appears that the day of reckoning for ISIS is Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, is perhaps only days away. Iraq has mustered tens of thousands of troops as well as Kurdish forces. There are American forces in the theatre as well. Paramilitary units seem to be all primed for this offensive, and many with Mosul are getting the message. We're hearing from sources inside the city that there are ISIS fighters who are starting to panic, apparently expressing concern that perhaps maybe they can take advantage of an amnesty offered by the Iraqi government. Others are simply getting out of town. We heard from sources inside Mosul today that six buses full of men as well as women and children left the city, and that 14 ISIS members apparently who were fleeing without permission were executed including two leaders among them.

In the meantime we understand that ISIS has released prisoner, people being held for minor offenses like not cutting their beards properly, wearing clothes not approved by ISIS, smoking cigarettes. They've been leased from prison to dig tunnels and trenches around the city. So the city is bracing for this onslaught, which could happen anytime, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much from near Mosul.

All right, back to politics and the race for the White House in this country. Donald Trump refusing to back despite facing multiple accusations about his behavior towards women. None of the accusers filing formal complaints that we're aware of.

[14:25:05] Straight ahead, the legal ramifications Trump could face, this as we wait for him to speak live in Bangor, Maine. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Eight women are now publicly accusing Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, detailing incidents of unwanted groping and kissing, some of them even coming on live television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald just grabbed my ass.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next thing I know there's a hand up my skirt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His hand started going towards my knee and up my skirt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of a quick hug and a kiss on the lips. And I was shocked just because I was like, what was that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, that last accuser was Summer Zervos, who appeared on season five of "The Apprentice." The Trump campaign is now disputing her claims, using a statement from a man claiming to be her cousin. This is what Trump said last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The cousin of one of these people, very close to her, wrote a letter that what she said is a lie. That she was a huge fan of Donald Trump. That she invited Donald Trump to a restaurant to have dinner, which by the way, I didn't go to. Didn't even know who the heck we're talking about here. But these allegations have been many of them already proven so false.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Zervos held a news conference with renowned attorney, Gloria Allred. None of these women have filed any formal complaints or lawsuits. Let's talk more about this with CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Philip Holloway. So that's this young woman, Summer Zervos, who was with Gloria Allred. He was the litigating attorney. Is there a presumption that they are moving the direction of some sort of case against Donald Trump?

PHILIP HOLLOWAY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, ironically, because they have now caused Donald Trump to have to come out and say these things are not true, he's called them liars, he's ironically has opened up conceivable an avenue for relief that they may not have otherwise had.

[14:25:09] Assuming their claims are true, we don't know if they are or they're not. But if their claims are true and Donald Trump has falsely accused them of being liars, then they could ironically now bring him to court on a theory of defamation, slander, and libel, just like he's threatening to do against "The New York Times."

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So even if this was an appearance just simply to reveal her accusations, but they didn't and hadn't cobbled together any kind of real legal case, he may have opened the door to one because he's called her a liar. He's called the number of the women who have come forward, now eight, their phony allegations. So Donald Trump has said he wants to sue the "New York Times" because of "New York Times" reporting. But how would he be able to do that? Wouldn't that mean that the "New York Times" knew that these stories or allegations were phony? How would he sue a publication?

HOLLOWAY: So for Donald Trump to sue "The New York Times" or any media organization, Fred, he's going to have no not only show that these publications, the statements that they published were false, which it's hard to prove a negative. Assuming they weren't true, it's difficult to prove they weren't true. If that were the case, if he can get past that, he's got to show his

reputation was damaged. Well, there's an argument to be made his reputation really wouldn't be that much more damaged in light of the hot mike tape that we heard recently about.

But then they've got to prove actual malice. They would have to prove that "The New York Times" knew it was publicizing something that wasn't true or that it acted with reckless disregard for the truth. In other words, they had some serious doubt about the veracity of these claims and they went with it anyway. And that's going to be difficult to show.

And on top of that, litigation would open up a Pandora's Box of who knows what in terms of litigation, discovery. They would be getting into Donald Trump's background, they would be getting into his taxes, his business, his personal life.

WHITFIELD: Threatening potentially. You don't see he would want to embark on that?

HOLLOWAY: I don't see where Donald Trump wants "The New York Times" and its team of good lawyers and journalists digging through his personal affairs through the discovery process that inevitably would flow from this type of litigation.

WHITFIELD: All right, Phil Holloway, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

HOLLOWAY: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up next, your money, your vote. Our Poppy Harlow takes us inside the battleground state of Pennsylvania to find out why voters there deem the economy the number one issue this election. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:15] WHITFIELD: Live pictures out of Bangor, Maine, where Donald Trump is expected to address voters there and his supporters. It's his second stop of the day after holding a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, earlier this afternoon. We'll take you live to Bangor as it happens.

Meantime, we're just about three weeks away to the election, and already, more than 450,000 voters have already be cast in early voting. And according to polls, the latest electoral college map shows Clinton has the lead, and in the battleground state of Pennsylvania where Trump hoped to pick up the working class vote, Clinton is leading up nine points over Trump in a four-way race.

So CNN's Poppy Harlow traveled to Pennsylvania to speak with voters as part of a special report called "Your Money, Your Vote."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Beth Hamilton is a rarity here. She's a woman in the Democratic stronghold of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, supporting Donald Trump.

You're really concerned about the economy.

BETH HAMILTON, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I am. I think so many manufacturing jobs have left.

HARLOW: Do you think there's really any way that those jobs are actually coming back given globalization, given free trade, given technological advances?

HAMILTON: I'd like to believe that there is potential to just sit back and say all the jobs are going to leave because it's cheaper to make something in China or it's cheaper to make something in Mexico and not even try and do something to try and keep some of those jobs. I think that's foolish.

HARLOW: Donald Trump has put this state in play with his appeal to white working class voters like here in Burks County. We met Hamid Choudry at his bustling restaurant in the heart of Redding.

HAMID CHOUDRY, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: God bless America, a melting pot, the greatest country in the world.

HARLOW: A Muslim from Pakistan, he immigrated here in 1988. When we spoke with Choudry in late September, his vote came down to one thing.

CHOUDRY: Jobs, jobs, and jobs. You go five miles in either direction, you have shut down plants.

HARLOW: He told us Donald Trump is the candidate who can bring those jobs.

CHOUDRY: He's a smart man. I'm taking a leap of faith.

HARLOW: You're taking a leap of faith?

That was then. Now he's more hesitant to take that leap after the 2005 video of Donald Trump bragging about groping women surfaced. Choudry questions how he could explain a vote for Trump to his nine- year-old daughter, so now he's undecided.

CHOUDRY: If you look at today's Redding newspaper, you'll see the paper plant got shut down.

HARLOW: This is a paper plant closing.

CHOUDRY: More jobs leaving Burks County.

HARLOW: We went to find that plant.

So, this is the plant that's closing. The manager here told us 31 jobs are being cut and these are good paying jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's one of the few left in Burks County.

BILL SCHWOYER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: They gave us the notice two weeks ago that they are shutting the facility down at the end of the year. I started there when I was 19, so I've been there for 37 years.

HARLOW: Bill Schwoyer has been a machine operator at the Nina Paper factory for nearly four decades. Lisa had been working second shift here for 14 years. In many respects, they're the quintessential voter Donald Trump had been courting, blue collar, and their jobs are disappearing.

LISA, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: The trade agreements, I fully believe that is the reason many jobs are leaving.

HARLOW: But your jobs, for example, aren't necessarily going to Mexico or China right?

LISA: Well, they have to compete in the world market.

HARLOW: Nina Paper told us this plant, quote, "operated at well below full capacity, resulting in a noncompetitive cost structure despite the good effort of the roughly 30 employees there.

[14:40:00] The company is vowing to help its workers try to find jobs, possibly at other Nina sites in other states.

Donald Trump says he will throw out what he calls bad trade agreements and he will save jobs like yours and he will bring your jobs back.

LISA: Sure he will.

(LAUGHTER)

LISA: I don't think so. I don't believe he can come through with those promises. He's a businessman. I don't know if that's necessarily what we need to lead the country.

HARLOW: Both Lisa and Bill say Clinton has their vote.

SCHWOYER: She's going to get my vote. I'm just, you know, you don't feel super confident in either of them maybe, but you know, I just, really, I have no faith in Donald Trump at all. None. He's reality TV, and I just don't trust that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Poppy Harlow joins us now. Poppy, it is so great to hear the candor of people paying very close attention to this election.

HARLOW: They are. And you know, Fred, they're talking about the issues and I think they wish they'd hear more of the candidates talking about, right, jobs, jobs, jobs. And the economy and the voters that we talked to are clearly very divided on who they think would be the best president for their personal economy.

We've heard so much from the candidates, so much, Fred, as you know, from the pundits, so it was refreshing to get there out there and hear from the voters. I do want to note, this series was films over the past few months before that 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape of Donald Trump surfaced. So we called back all of the Trump supporters across the three states we traveled through to ask if they were still standing by him after his remarks on his tape. Nearly every single one, Fred, with the exception of just a few, are standing by Trump and still planning to vote for him, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So Ohio, one of those other of the three states that you mentioned you visited, and that, too, is a state that always matters in any presidential election, but now, you know, it's neck and neck there, too.

HARLOW: I mean, it's really neck and neck. The latest polling out this week shows 42 percent for Trump, 41 percent for Clinton in Ohio. And we saw that. When we visited part of Cleveland that is very, very solidly blue, Mitt Romney didn't get a single vote in this area in Cleveland where we went. You saw the support for Clinton there.

And then we traveled 200 miles south to Pike County, Ohio, which is sort of the opposite. It used to be solidly blue and is now leaning more red. And in the last election Romney won Pike County by only a single vote. We just saw the divide within this critical state that you know, no Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio since, well, no one, no candidates won Ohio since 1960, exactly. So it talks to the significance of it, Fred, for sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, that's why these next 24 days so critical. All right, Poppy, thank you so much. Of course you can see much more of Poppy's swing state road trip on CNN's special report "Your Money, Your Vote," airing tonight, 7:30 p.m. eastern time.

All right, still ahead, we'll talk more about those battleground states and the road to 270.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:46:57] WHITFIELD: All right, this week, Hillary Clinton put some distance between herself and Donald Trump in key swing states. Fresh polls taken after the tape of Trump's lewd comments surfaced revealed Clinton is now leading New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Meanwhile, Trump closed up shop in Virginia, pulling all resources out of the battleground state, a signal that he's effectively ceding the state to Clinton.

Let's bring in against CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein and contributor for "Time" magazine, Jay Newton-Small. Good to see you back. Ron, to you first. Is that a pretty sizable signal, Donald Trump's camp would close up shop in Virginia and simply say we're not going to win this one?

BROWNSTEIN: Very revealing not only about Virginia but the overall recon figuring of the map that we are seeing. The coalition, Fred, that's consolidating against Donald Trump potentially in record numbers is centered on minority voters and college educated white voter, particularly women. And in states where that is a dominant demographic combination, it's very tough for Trump.

So if you look across the sun belt, for example, Virginia and Colorado are both states that were reliably Republican in the '90s, going to be become competitive in this century, but in this election are simply out of reach, it appears, for Donald Trump because of the large presence of those college educated whites and minorities. North Carolina and Florida, the same problem to a lesser extent.

Conversely, he is the most competitive in some of these rustbelt states, where the blue collar white voters who are strongest supporters are still a significant piece of the overall pie. That's Ohio and Iowa.

But the last state I would mention as the tipping point here is Pennsylvania because it's very hard for Donald Trump to get to 270 without Pennsylvania. And there, the key factor again is in that white population, more of those college-educated white voters combined with a big minority presence in Philadelphia makes it very tough. He could come out of Philadelphia and the suburbs down 600,000 or more votes. And there are just not enough people elsewhere in the state despite the big crowds he's getting in some of the western counties in Pennsylvania.

WHITFIELD: So Jay, Clinton, you know, gaining in on Trump in some of those battleground states, even in Indiana, Mike Pence's home state. How does she keep the momentum going into this final stretch, because all along through this campaigning for both sides it's been said neither candidate can afford to take anything for granted.

NEWTON-SMALL: Clinton's campaign -- Clinton's strategy at this point seems to be to step out of the way of the train wreck and let him sort of damage himself. She does, she is -- she has been incredibly good at needling him. So in the first debate, for example, bringing up Miss Universe from Venezuela, which really kept him off message for at least a week after that. That's been her strategy because he just cannot resist, he can't take a punch without wanting to punch back. And so the more that they find people to punch at him, the more they get other people to attack him, he spends all of his time spinning his wheels, and they just stay out of it. She really hasn't been pushing herself to the forefront in any way. And she's, frankly, benefitted from the fact so many of her chairman's emails, John Podesta's emaisl from the WikiLeaks that have been going on which could have been potentially damaging in any other campaign has really kind of gone under the radar, given all of the sort of sturm und drang over Donald Trump, exactly.

[14:50:15] WHITFIELD: So, Ron, is there a civil war within the GOP? Mike Pence was confronted about it, asked about it, particularly the recent attacks Trump has launched on Paul Ryan, and this is what Pence had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Paul Ryan is my friend. And honestly, I'd like to see Republican leaders supporting the Republican nominee for president of the United States. I'm supporting all the Republican nominees in this fall's elections.

But what's encouraging to me is despite the fact that some Republicans who have decided to go a different direction, the overwhelming majority of leaders, the overwhelming majority of Republicans are standing with Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So unclear whether the House speaker Paul Ryan is really standing with Donald Trump. So, you know, how does this resonate not just within the party, but among the electorate?

BROWNSTEIN: The short answer is we are seeing more division at the leadership level of the Republican Party over a presidential nominee than at any point in the party's history. I don't think, 1964 with Barry Goldwater isn't comparable. Even 1912, which is probably the biggest previous example when Theodore Roosevelt bolted the party over the re-nomination of William Taft, even compared to that, you are seeing a higher percentage of Republican senators, Republican governors, other Republican leaders saying they're not going to vote for the nominee.

We've never seen anything like George H. W. Bush, a former president of the party, basically letting it be known that he's going to be voting for the other party's nominee.

How much this affects Republican voters is another question. Donald Trump had been doing pretty well until this latest round of revelations holding together the Republican base. Where it's really hurting him, Fred, is with those independent Republican leaning voters, those college educated white voters, who, as we've said before, every Republican nominee in the history of polling going back to 1952 has won those voters. In every poll now, Hillary Clinton at worst is even and almost always is ahead. And I do believe it is among those voters that you will see the real impact of all of these signals from so many conservative leaders saying it is OK to depart from your usual partisan inclination.

And as I said, that's what makes Virginia so tough. That's what makes Colorado so tough. That's what makes Philadelphia so tough, Pennsylvania so tough. If he can't compete in these suburban counties outside the big metro areas, you combine that with the minority population, there are just not enough other people for Trump to mobilize.

WHITFIELD: So then Jay, is that who Trump is talking to? Is he talking to independents when he says the system is rigged?

NEWTON-SMALL: He's trying to talk to independents. I mean, I think I would disagree slightly with Ron here, that I think the demographic is not college-educated white voters or particularly women that they're going for, more on women's votes and I've written a book about it. But he was looking really to expand the non-college educated white women's vote, and that's a demographic he spent much of August and September going after. And he caught up in the polls, we forget, going into the first debate with Hillary Clinton, based off of real surges of those numbers.

The fact that he's losing them given all of these revelations is very worrisome to the Republican Party. And I think looking down ballot, it's something that is hurting particularly in the Senate where six of the 10 races that are swing races, you have female Democratic candidates on those ballots who are just tying those comments that Donald Trump makes about women to their male opponents across the board, except for New Hampshire where there are two females. But it is certainly damaging, and it is hurting especially amongst independent women, whether they're college-educated or non-college- educated.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jay, Ron. Thank you so much to both of you. Appreciate it.

And a reminder, Donald Trump is holding a rally in Bangor, Maine, a state that his opponent Hillary Clinton is favored to win. He is expected to take to the podium at the top of the hour. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In this week's "Turning Points" a YouTube star talks about finding his authentic self after opening up about his battle with depression.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yousef Erakat is not easily discouraged.

YOUSEF ERAKAT, DIGITAL ARTIST: I went to the dean of my department at San Jose State University and told her I was going to create a YouTube channel. She had told me it was going to worst decision that I could make for my acting career.

GUPTA: But it wasn't.

ERAKAT: So I started my YouTube in 2011.

GUPTA: He set out to make people laugh.

ERAKAT: How do you send text?

I would reenact what it was like to live in a Middle Eastern household.

GUPTA: But deep down he was struggling.

ERAKAT: I became aware of my depression probably when I was in college.

GUPTA: After gaining success on YouTube, the depression worsened.

ERAKAT: I was unhappy with what I looked like. I was living with depression and bipolar. One day I just decided to be completely open. It was the best decision that I ever made in my career.

GUPTA: It took rehab, a 90-day weight loss program, and then finding what he called his authentic self.

ERAKAT: Unless I was able to heal myself, no one else was going to be able to hear me.

GUPTA: Now, Erakat has more than 12 million YouTube fans, and his acting career has gotten a jumpstart with a role in Tyler Perry's next "Medea" movie.

ERAKAT: My goal is to be noticed and to be seen by the industry in Hollywood. Just because you have a mental disorder, it does not mean you're limited in your levels of success in life.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thanks for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. I'll be back tomorrow. Much more straight ahead with Poppy Harlow in the Newsroom.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, 3:00 p.m. eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow. Thank you so much for being with us. We begin with politics, and the number of women coming forward to accuse Donald Trump of unwanted sexual advances and in some cases sexual assault has grown. A total of now eight women claim that Donald Trump touched them inappropriately. Some say he forcibly kissed them. Others alleged he went further, he groping their breasts and other private areas.