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Trump on the Attack in Campaign's Final Days; Trump Camp to Air 2-Minute Ads in Battleground States; New CNN Electoral Map: Clinton Dips Below 270; Interview with Rudy Giuliani; Russia and Voter Issues; Election Comes Down to the Wire. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired November 04, 2016 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. The final push. Locked in a very tight race, the candidates are going all out to round up votes on the last weekend before election day with help from family and some high-powered friends. And CNN has learned Donald Trump is going all out, spending millions of dollars on a very unusual last-minute ad strategy.
[17:00:20] Long and narrow road. Our new map shows Hillary Clinton right now is short of the electoral votes needed to win the White House, but she's clinging to a lead; and Trump still has a very difficult path to get over the top.
Election-day threat. Growing concern that Russia will launch cyber- attacks in a bid to undermine the voting in America. And law enforcement is also on alert for potential terror attacks tied to the balloting.
Plus, FOX and hound. Star news anchor Megyn Kelly is reportedly accusing former FOX News boss Roger Ailes of sexually harassing her repeatedly. Why she kept things secret for a decade.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLITZER: Breaking news, just four days before the election, four states are seeing a shift in mood enough to change CNN's electoral map. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the White House, and our new map shows Hillary Clinton at this time is short of that number. But Clinton is clinging to a lead, and she's working to try to shore up support behind that so-called blue wall of states that tend to vote Democratic. And Democrats are confident they have the ground game to grind out crucial wins in battleground states.
Donald Trump still has an uphill path with many road blocks to put together an electoral majority. He's making a final push through ten states. And CNN has learned exclusively tonight that Trump is spending millions of dollars on a highly unusual advertising bid in a final bid to win over votes.
The close race and anxiety over the outcome seems to be affecting financial markets. The S&P 500 closed down for a ninth straight day. That's the longest losing streak in 36 years. There are also growing concerns tonight that Russia may be planning
election-day cyber-attacks aimed at misleading voters and sowing doubt about the electoral system here in the United States. Homeland security is working with states to spot and combat any hacks; and law enforcement is also on the lookout for possible terror attacks tied to the election, following online chatter among al Qaeda loyalists.
Plus, troubling new reports tonight that FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly is accusing former boss, Roger Ailes, of repeated sexual harassment. The allegations, kept secret for a decade, reportedly are revealed in Kelly's forthcoming book.
I'll speak with a top Trump advisor, the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. He's standing by live. And our correspondents, analysts and guests, they will have full coverage of the day's top stories.
Let's begin with CNN's Brian Stelter. He's here with me with the breaking news on an unusual and rather expensive new ad, Brian, by Donald Trump.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right.
BLITZER: Stand by for a moment. I want to quickly, though, go to CNN politics reporter Sara Murray. She's on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.
First of all, Sara, Donald Trump is hammering Hillary Clinton in these final days. What's the latest?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. We've reached the final stretch of the campaign, where candidates are hustling through multiple battleground states every day, trying to turn out every last one of their voters.
And on both sides television ad spending is going to reach nearly $100 million this week. But if you were hoping for an uplifting end to this campaign, think again. We're hearing nothing but attacks from Donald Trump today on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY (voice-over): 2016's toxic presidential contest, led by two deeply unpopular candidates, is coming to a close in fitting fashion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton is under FBI investigation again after her e-mails were found on pervert Anthony Weiner's laptop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did Hillary end up filthy rich? Pay-to-play politics.
MURRAY: Donald Trump amplifying his latest barrage of negative ads on the campaign trail.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think she's unstable. She's trigger-happy. MURRAY: Despite no new information from the FBI, Trump is still
tearing into Hillary Clinton over her e-mail server, and insisting she'll eventually face criminal charges.
TRUMP: How can Hillary manage this country when she can't even manage her e-mails? Did you ever see -- hey, folks, let's forget all of the stuff. What a mess. All she had to do was follow the rules. Unbelievable. And now she's going to run the country. She'll be under investigation for years.
MURRAY: All part of his final push to convince voters he's the fresh face, and she's the face of corruption.
TRUMP: She's likely to be under investigation for a long time, concluding in a criminal trial. Our president. America deserves a government that can go to work on day one and get it done.
[17:05:05] MURRAY: With the polls tightening, the GOP nominee is campaigning today in Ohio, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and aiming to drive up his election-day vote in key battlegrounds.
TRUMP: We have so many great polls. But you have to get out and vote on November 8.
MURRAY: Trump has largely been sticking to the script, aside from this moment Thursday, when he appeared alongside Medal of Honor recipients but still took the opportunity to compare their bravery to his own.
TRUMP: They're so much more brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did. I'm brave in other ways. I'm brave -- I'm financially brave. Big deal, right? These are real brave.
MURRAY: Trump's sprint to the finish still taking shape, but the GOP nominee will campaign this weekend in six battlegrounds states and is likely to wedge in more along the way, with stops in North Carolina and New Hampshire planned Monday.
His campaign continuing to be a family affair, as Donald Trump Jr. hits the trail today in Arizona and New Hampshire, while Eric Trump barnstorms Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY: Now, Donald Trump will take the stage here in Hershey, Pennsylvania, later this evening. Pennsylvania is a key place to come and make that closing argument, because there is no early voting here. The Trump campaign says they believe the polls are tightening in their favor, and that's why we're going to see Trump come out here tonight and make the pitch that every single one of these folks coming to this arena needs to turn out and vote on November 8 -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Sara Murray reporting for us. Sara, thanks very much.
Let's turn to our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, who joins us now with some exclusive reporting on a stunning new advertising move by the Trump campaign. What are you learning exactly, Brian?
STELTER: For every dollar the Trump campaign has spent on TV ads, the Clinton campaign has spent $2. So tonight the Trump campaign making a big ad buy, $4 million, in nine battleground states and nationwide on shows like "The Voice" and on NFL football games.
The idea here is to run a two-minute long ad. Normally 30-second ads. This ad, two minutes long. And here's a clip of it. This is from Trump's speech last month in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people.
I'm doing this for the people and for the movement; and we will take back this country for you, and we will make America great again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: Now this speech three weeks ago, it was one of his most controversial speeches of the campaign. Talked about the corrupt global elites, the establishment hurting the middle class and the working class. He's taking this ad, cutting it up, running the highlights two minutes at a time. The idea here is to break through all the noise, all the ads in the final weekend.
And the Trump campaign says they believe the message is positive. It's a contrast to Clinton's negative ads.
BLITZER: A two-minute TV commercial not cheap at all. Brian, thanks very much for that. Brian Stelter reporting.
The tightening race has brought some changes to CNN's electoral map. CNN political director David Chalian is with us. David, it looks like Hillary Clinton is now short of that 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: This is the old map. This is where we were this morning, Wolf. She was just over that mark. And here's the new map after we changed four states in Donald Trump's direction. She falls just below that.
What changed? We moved New Hampshire from lean Democratic to battleground. We moved Ohio from battleground to lean Republican. We moved Utah from battleground to lean Republican. And we moved this Maine congressional district -- remember, in Maine they allocate their electoral votes by congressional district -- that one northern part of Maine, that electoral vote we moved towards Donald Trump.
Now, what does this mean for his path at this point? Because remember, she may -- Hillary Clinton may have just fallen below 270, but she's still only two away. He's at 204. He needs to sweep every remaining battleground state on our map, Wolf, and the battleground district in Nebraska. They also award their electoral votes by congressional district. If he gets that extra one there, he goes to 270.
Hillary Clinton for her part, back to our battleground map now, our new map, as you see, she's at 268. Any one of these yellow states she can flip. New Hampshire, the smallest one of them, and that gets her to 272. Hillary Clinton still has more paths than Donald Trump. His steep hill became a little less steep in this map, but it's still the kind of map where he has to completely sweep everything -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Still four days to go. We'll see what happens. David, thank you. David Chalian reporting.
Hillary Clinton is trying to hold onto a narrow lead and as she tries to get out the vote, she's staying on the attack. Our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, is in Detroit, Michigan, for us.
Joe, Clinton is still forced to defend what's called that blue turf.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's true, Wolf. And Hillary Clinton just took the stage here in Detroit.
I've got to tell you, there has been some tightening in the polls. The latest poll suggesting she's holding onto a four-point lead. But the campaign says the late emphasis here in Michigan was always part of the plan. That's because Michigan is another one of those states that does not have early voting.
So it was always, they say, going to get extra attention as election day approaches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Hillary Clinton is closing out the campaign with a final argument aimed directly at Donald Trump.
HILLARY CLINTON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you debate in front of, you know, 60, 70, 80 million plus people, you've got to -- you know, you've got to have a sense of preparation, readiness, calmness, composure, and I'll tell you, some of what I heard coming from my opponent, it was really hard not to go, "What did you say?"
JOHNS: The Democratic nominee is largely scrapping the traditional campaign playbook of ending on a more optimistic note, instead going hard again her Republican rival.
CLINTON: Think about what it would mean to entrust the nuclear codes to someone with a very thin skin who lashes out at anyone who challenges him.
JOHNS: Clinton is amplifying that message with television ads and seizing on Trump's own words.
TRUMP: Our military is a disaster. When Mexico sends its people, they're bringing drugs; they're rapists. JOHNS: Her campaign schedule between today and election day reflects
the tightening race in key sections of Clinton's blue firewall. She's focusing today on Pennsylvania and Michigan before turning her attention to battleground Ohio, holding an evening rally in Cleveland with rapper Jay Z.
CLINTON: I know that if we have a big win on Tuesday, we will have a big wind behind our backs going into government in January.
JOHNS: Clinton plans to return to Pennsylvania and Ohio this weekend, with additional stops in Florida and New Hampshire before closing out the campaign with a rally in Philadelphia on Monday night with her husband and daughter as well as president Obama and the first lady.
The president, keeping up his heavy campaign travel today, barn storming battleground North Carolina where he slammed Donald Trump.
OBAMA: We can't elect a president who vilifies minorities, mocks Americans with disabilities.
JOHNS: But he admonished the crowd of supporters after they shouted down a man holding a Trump sign.
OBAMA: Hold up, hold up. Hold up, hold up. Hey, hold up, hold up.
We live in a country that respects free speech. So second of all, it looks like maybe he might have served in our military, and we ought to respect that. Third of all, he was elderly, and we've got to respect our elders. And fourth of all, don't boo -- vote!
JOHNS: But the president is far from the only surrogate on the trail for Clinton today. Bernie Sanders focusing on Iowa, Chelsea Clinton in New Hampshire; and former president Bill Clinton rallying supporters in Colorado, where he took note of Melania Trump's speech on Thursday.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yesterday I never felt so bad for anybody in my life as I did for his wife going out, giving a speech saying, oh, cyberbullying was a terrible thing. I thought, yes, especially if it's done at 3:00 in the morning against a former Miss Universe by a guy running for president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: On a conference call today, the Clinton campaign manager said Hillary Clinton had gotten enormous support in early voting around the country, including from voters in Florida. And he described what he called a Hillary Clinton coalition coming together at the polls, made up of Latinos, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, millennials and women -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Joe Johns reporting for us from Detroit. Joe, thanks very much.
Key House Democrats are calling for a Justice Department investigation now, what they call alleged leaks from within the FBI that they say were meant to benefit the Trump campaign. I'll speak next hour with one of those Democrats, Congressman Elijah Cummings.
But right now, joining us, the former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani. He's a top advisor to Donald Trump.
Mayor, thanks very much for joining us.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Nice to be with you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Two days before Director Comey, the FBI director, sent that letter to Congress on the Huma Abedin e-mails that were found on her estranged husband's computer, Anthony Weiner, this is what you said on FOX News. I'll play the clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[17:15:05] GIULIANI: And I think he's got a surprise or two that you're going to hear about in the next few days. I mean -- I'm talking about some -- pretty big surprise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard you say that this morning. What do you mean?
GIULIANI: You'll see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stay tuned. You're lucky, because we've got to go. I'm out of time. Otherwise I'd keep pressing you.
TRUMP: We're not going to -- we're not going to go down. We're certainly not going to stop fighting. We've got a couple things up our sleeve that should turn this around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right. Since then you've suggested you've had conversations with former, current FBI agents. To be clear, did anyone leak any aspects of that Clinton e-mail investigation to you?
GIULIANI: No. I've spoken to no current FBI agents, gosh, in the last eight months, nine months, ten months, certainly not about this. Conversations that I've had have been basically with friends of mine that I work with on mafia cases and Colombian drug dealers and white collar cases. An awful lot of former FBI agents are enormously upset about Comey's decision, you know, back in, what was it, July. They disagreed with it. They thought it was a prosecutable case.
So I've had lots of conversations with them and they have told me a lot about the -- I guess the disagreement between the Justice Department on the one hand and the FBI on the other. But it all comes from former FBI agents, and it's all hearsay.
And in that particular situation, I was actually talking about the advertising campaign that you were referencing earlier that I knew was going to come as a big surprise. And there were about four different formulations of it at that point that we had in mind; and I didn't know which one we were going to use. But I knew one was going to be a surprise. I wasn't referring to any possible information about e- mails or that sort of thing.
BLITZER: Because in this letter that has just come out from two Democratic ranking members of respective committees, Elijah Cummings and John Conyers, they say -- and they refer to an interview you gave this morning.
Let me read the first two sentences from the letter. This is a letter to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Justice. "This morning Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump's closest and most vocal campaign advisors, appeared on national television and confirmed that he had obtained leaked information about the FBI's review of Clinton- related e-mails several days before FBI director James Comey sent his letter to Congress last Friday about this letter. In fact Mr. Giuliani went even further and bragged about the information that he had obtained stating, quote, 'Did I hear about it? You're darn right heard about it'."
So they're saying that you confirmed this morning you got this leaked information before the FBI wrote to Congress about the new review.
GIULIANI: That's not correct. I've had no conversations with anyone inside the FBI.
I have heard for the last four months a tremendous amount of information about the consternation within the FBI, the fact that FBI agents were very unhappy about the way they were being treated by the Justice Department. That's all true. But none of it came from any current -- I haven't talked to a current FBI agent, as I told you, in the last, gosh, at least eight or ten months.
BLITZER: But did you know -- did you know, Mr. Mayor, that Comey was about to make this...
GIULIANI: I did not.
BLITZER: ... announcement right to Congress about this review?
Because in the interview this morning on "FOX & Friends" you seemed to say, "Did I hear about it? You're darn right I heard about it."
What were you referring to?
GIULIANI: I was referring to the consternation within the FBI which, you know, "The New York Times" has reported on and "the Wall Street Journal" has reported on. That's what I was referring to. I was referring to the fact that -- this has been going on for about four months now, this tremendous anger among -- and I got it all from former FBI agents. Tremendous anger within the FBI about the way, No. 1, Jim Comey's conclusion.
And, No. 2, the way they believed they were being obstructed by what they regard as a pretty corrupt Obama Justice Department. You know, cutting off a grand jury investigation, cutting off subpoenas. I actually didn't find that out until -- until recently.
BLITZER: So -- what I hear you saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, you're now saying you did not know that Comey was going to release this information about a review of the Huma Abedin e-mails found on her estranged husband's computer before he made that official report to Congress?
GIULIANI: That's -- that's absolutely correct. But I did know that there was...
BLITZER: You had no information about that?
GIULIANI: Had no information about that at all. That came as a complete surprise to me, except to the extent that maybe it wasn't that much of a surprise to me, because I had been hearing for quite some time that there was a lot of, I don't know how you would describe it, maybe revolution is too strong a word, but a lot of debate and anger within the FBI about the way they were being treated by the Justice Department.
[17:20:32] And a lot of FBI agents feeling that the Justice Department had been corrupted. Loretta Lynch's meeting with President Clinton four days before the interview. Then the report coming out four days later. You couldn't possibly have written that report in four days, it had to have been written before.
And that was over the Fourth of July weekend. I have been hearing that all summer and all fall. But as far as what Jim Comey actually did, I had absolutely no knowledge of that.
BLITZER: ... and so -- and so -- So you're talking about big surprises before the announcement that were forthcoming. You now say that was the advertising blitz that's going to take place over these actual final few days, that's what you were referring to?
GIULIANI: Yes. Actually, that had several different possibilities at that time. There were a couple of other things that were being considered as what was going to be done in the last four days of the campaign.
In fact one of them is still on the table, so I won't even talk about that, but it has nothing to do with e-mails.
What I was talking about was a push at the end to try to get -- try to get Donald Trump's message out above the loud noise that's going on and a lot of the clutter that's going on in the campaign.
BLITZER: So if the inspector general of the Department of Justice accepts the recommendation the request from these two members of Congress to go ahead and investigate leaks that are coming forward not just what you may or may not have said, but other leaks that are coming forward, will you cooperate with that inspector general investigation?
GIULIANI: Yes. I don't know anything about leaks from the FBI or the Justice Department. I haven't talked to anybody in the FBI or Justice Department.
BLITZER: Are you upset about the leaks coming from the FBI? You're a former U.S. Attorney.
GIULIANI: I will not like the people around Hillary Clinton take the Fifth Amendment or ask for immunity or -- I have no worry about being incriminated like the people around Hillary Clinton. She seems to be surrounded by, gosh almighty, it looks like eight or ten people that have gotten immunity or taken the Fifth Amendment. I mean it's actually disgraceful that you would be surrounded by so many people doing that.
In my case it's real simple. I've talked to no FBI agent. I've talked to no Justice Department official. I have no idea about who's leaking information. What I do know from former FBI agents is that we have a very angry FBI because they feel that the Justice Department of Barack Obama has been corrupted by the way in which Loretta Lynch handled this case.
She recused herself from this case, remember, and now she's reinserted herself in it. Recusal from a case, Wolf, means you take yourself out of it, and you turn it over to your subordinate. So she keeps coming into out. She keeps coming out of it.
The FBI tried to get -- this I get from public sources. The FBI tried to get a grand jury empaneled, and they were stopped by the Justice Department. And I have my own view of these allegations going back six or seven months. I think it is clear that Hillary Clinton...
BLITZER: All right.
GIULIANI: ... committed a multitude of federal crimes that are fairly easy...
BLITZER: Very quickly. I want to move...
GIULIANI: Let me finish my sentence.
BLITZER: I want to move onto some other stuff, Mayor.
GIULIANI: I know you don't want to hear this. But that are fairly easily...
BLITZER: Go ahead.
GIULIANI: ... prosecutable, much easier than cases that I've prosecuted or the years.
BLITZER: What do you mean by public sources?
GIULIANI: Many newspapers. There was an article -- there was an article -- several articles. I don't know if it's true, but there were several articles that said that the FBI went and tried to get a grand jury empaneled back in February on the Clinton foundation and was blocked from doing it.
BLITZER: But let me ask you a question, Mayor. If you don't know it's true, why are you suggesting it? Why are you going on national television talking about these issues if you don't know it's true? GIULIANI: Well, I am told this by former FBI agents. And these are
people that I worked with when I was in government and I find to be credible people. And I think their conversations, all corroborating each other, must be maybe at least a handful of them corroborating each other about the consternation within the FBI. It seems to me that that was probably true. Also it's my own analysis.
BLITZER: A couple of follow-ups on this. I want to move on to some other stuff.
GIULIANI: Sure.
BLITZER: But very quickly, did you get the information from former FBI officials or from the public record in newspapers? Because there is a difference -- and you appreciate as a former U.S. attorney...
GIULIANI: Yes.
BLITZER: ... the difference. Even if former FBI agents are providing sensitive confidential information, they have a responsibility for the rest of their lives not to do so, right?
GIULIANI: No, not really. And the information they were providing...
BLITZER: When they leave office, don't they sign documents saying they won't release secret information, if you will?
[17:25:05] They didn't give me any secret information. They just told me there was a big revolt going on.
BLITZER: But they're giving you confidential information from inside...
GIULIANI: That's not confidential.
BLITZER: ... an investigation.
GIULIANI: They're telling me that there was a lot of -- a lot of consternation and a lot of anger about the conclusion that Jim Comey reached, which I could understand, because I had that same consternation and disappointment in the conclusion that they reached.
They didn't give me any facts. I had no facts, no information, no particular information other than that there was a big dispute going on.
And then there were an awful lot of newspaper articles about -- like I told you, going to the eastern district of New York to get a grand jury and being told they couldn't have a grand jury. And then seeing a lot of these people involved in the investigation, like John Podesta's lawyer being involved in the investigation at a very, very high level. John Podesta kept him out of jail.
I did not get that from the FBI, by the way. I got that from the newspapers. BLITZER: I just want to clarify that the point about speaking to
former FBI agents as opposed to current FBI agents. We did some checking. You were on the Lars Lawson radio show the other day, and you said you are getting that kind of information from active FBI agents. So you used that term.
I just want to make sure to make sure we're getting that right. We listened to the audio and you were talking about current FBI agents, at least in that radio interview with Lars Lawson.
GIULIANI: Well, the information I've been getting is from former FBI agents.
BLITZER: So you misspoke to Lars Lawson?
GIULIANI: If I did -- if I did say that, that was wrong. I have not -- I have not spoken to an on-duty FBI agent about anything, I guess for the last the months. I don't know.
I've actually never talked about this investigation to any current member of the Justice Department or current FBI agent. I don't know if I can make it any clearer than that. You can look at my telephone records if you want. I don't -- I don't, you know, acid bleach my e- mails.
BLITZER: All right. We're not going to look at your telephone records, and it's good to know that if the inspector general of the Justice Department...
GIULIANI: He can ask me anything.
BLITZER: You're not going to plead -- you're not going to plead the fifth, you're going to cooperate with any of these investigations.
GIULIANI: I will give him the same answers I just gave you.
BLITZER: All right.
GIULIANI: I won't have a public and a private position.
BLITZER: On the Lars Lawson radio interview, you misspoke, is that right?
GIULIANI: If I did say that, I did. But I have not spoken to any active FBI agent. All the information I have comes from newspapers, books and some former FBI agents.
BLITZER: All right.
Let's talk about Governor Chris Christie. As you know, two of his top staffers were convicted today on all charges in connection with what's called that Bridgegate lane closure, that scandal. This is what Donald Trump had to say about Chris Christie on this issue last December.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: The George Washington bridge, he knew about it. How do you have breakfast with people every day of your lives? They're closing up the largest bridge in the world. The biggest in the United States. Traffic flowing, during rush hour. People couldn't get across for six, seven hours. Ambulances, fire trucks.
They're with him all the time, the people that did it. They never said, "Hey, boss, we're closing up the George Washington Bridge tonight." No, they never said that. They're talking about the weather, right? Then -- so he knew about it. He knew about it. Totally knew about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Governor Christie's aides, they both testified that Christie knew about that decision to shut down the bridge. The prosecution said Christie knew about that decision. You just heard Donald Trump say he believes Christie knew about the decision.
Do you still have confidence in Chris Christie leading the transition team for the Trump campaign?
GIULIANI: Well, I have confidence in Chris Christie. I've known Chris for a very long time, including back when he was a U.S. attorney. And I take -- I take his word for it.
The people who testified. Obviously, had a motive to say what they said. You have to take that into consideration, right? They were trying to save themselves from a conviction. One of the ways to save yourself from a conviction is to say I was ordered to do it or I was told to do it. And Chris has repeatedly said that he didn't know about it.
So I'm certainly not going to -- I'm not going to turn my back on a friend because some people at a trial as part of their defense used that as their defense.
BLITZER: And as far as his role in the campaign right now, he's taken a very low profile. We haven't seen him on television lately. Is he still in charge of the transition team?
GIULIANI: As far -- as far as I know he is, but I'm not -- I mean, I haven't been involved with the transition team at all, so you probably have to check with someone else. As far as I know, he is, yes. But I -- but don't take...
BLITZER: Mr. Mayor...
GIULIANI: ... but don't take -- don't take that as you know, 100% correct because I'm not knowledgeable about that.
BLITZER: Mayor Giuliani, as always, we appreciate your joining us. Thanks very much.
GIULIANI: Thank you. BLITZER: And next hour we'll speak with Congressman Elijah Cummings of
Maryland. He's the ranking member of the Government Oversight Committee. He and his colleague, John Conyers, they've written to the Department of Justice Inspector General asking for an investigation of these FBI leaks. We'll have that interview coming up. Stay with CNN by the way all this weekend for complete coverage of the presidential race. And, all-day coverage on Election Day. That's only four days from now.
Up next, U.S. Intelligence officials are voicing deep concern that Russia will use cyber-attacks to cause chaos on Election Day. Is America prepared?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly reportedly accusing former boss, Roger Ailes, of sexually harassing her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:35:00]
BLITZER: Federal and state authorities are now on the lookout for possible Russian cyber-attacks tied to Election Day here in the United States. Our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown, has been digging into that. She's here with us right now. Pamela, how worried are U.S. Officials right now?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well U.S. Government officials telling us just today, Wolf, that they are very concerned that Russia will cause mischief on Election Day by deceiving voters and creating doubt about whether the system is rigged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Tonight heightened concerns over Russian-led efforts to undermine the U.S. Election. U.S. Officials warn that hackers could tamper with local databases of voters' names and addresses to cause confusion at the polls.
BRYNN CUNNINGHAM, CYBERSECURITY EXPERT: We don't know what we don't know. There may be hacking tools and software in election systems around the country just waiting to be used on Election Day and they would be very hard to detect.
BROWN: Already the Department of Homeland Security has uncovered sign hackers from Russia tried to penetrate state voter registration systems, though there's no indication they've been tampered with.
DHS has been coordinating efforts with 48 states to prevent hacks, scanning computer systems to identify vulnerabilities. DHS officials at the Cyber Command Center in Washington are also monitoring networks for denial of service attacks. Officials say such an attack on Election Day could take down websites voters use for news and information.
CUNNINGHAM: If you shut down or disable or undermine the communications that people are using to figure out where to vote and to actually deal with traffic and things like that, you could create massive delays and lines.
BROWN: U.S. Officials say Russia has been waging an information operation for months to sow doubts about the vote, including email hacks of the Democratic National Committee. Widespread hacking of voting machines in the nation's 9,000 jurisdictions would be a tough task, since they're not connected to each other or the internet. But officials will be looking for trolling operations disseminating fake news of tampering and vote rigging.
DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, CO-FOUNDER, CROWDSTRIKE INC.: It's almost impossible to actually hack this election but it's certainly possible for someone to claim it's hacked and try to influence the public that way.
BROWN: Tonight law enforcement also on heightened alert for potential terror attacks around the Election Day. CNN has learned officials intercepted overseas chatter among Al-Qaeda adherence about targeting three states, Texas, Virginia and New York.
COMMISSIONER JAMES O'NEIL, NEW YORK POLICE: It's nonspecific and right now we're assessing the credibility of it. But we're geared up to go all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And we're just getting an update that the Department of Homeland Security is now working with all 50 states to scan their networks in an effort to prevent hacks. And, Wolf, I can tell you from talking to law enforcement officials there's really a lot of concern about security on Election Day compounded by the fact about how divisive this election season has been. The concern is that someone who might be agitated by the toxic environment will want to act out come Tuesday.
BLITZER: Yes, deep concern, four days to go. Let's hope it's peaceful and no cyber-attacks. All right, thanks very much. Pamela, don't go too far away. I want to get more insight from our CNN correspondents and our political experts right now. Gloria Borger, the road to 270 for Hillary Clinton seems to be still pretty strong, but not as strong as it was a few days ago. Is that the result of this FBI investigation?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Wolf, we don't know. It could be, it might not be. It might be the natural tightening of a race as we get to the end of a race. It could be as a result of the FBI investigation. I don't think we're going to know until we see those exit polls after the election.
What we do know, and what democrats and republicans do agree on, is that a turning point in this campaign was after the first debate. And, we saw Donald Trump take a fall after that first debate. Now we are presuming that some of this tightening is due to the FBI
investigation but -- and it's a natural assumption, this hasn't been a good story by any stretch for Hillary Clinton. But the race is just tightening and we -- it remains to be seen why.
What we do know is that on our map, which David knows much better than I do, we have New Hampshire, which was leaning democratic, suddenly we're calling it a toss-up state. And Ohio, we are now leaning to become a red state. So that's why the numbers look a lot better for Donald Trump and also Utah we're now leaning red.
BLITZER: And he still has an uphill struggle, a more difficult struggle than she does. But it's getting closer.
Well, David Chalian, let's talk about what's happening over these final four days. We're told that Trump is going to visit ten states, Hillary Clinton is going to visit five states. What do we read into that?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, we read that Donald Trump needs to go a lot of places because he still needs a lot of states. I mean that -- we did change this map. It does become more favorable for Donald Trump, but that doesn't negate the fact that Hillary Clinton is still in a much more commanding position when it comes to the electoral map than Donald Trump.
[17:40:04]
CHALIAN: And so Donald Trump is trying to find a bunch of places that he can take. Hillary Clinton can be a little more targeted in her final approach here because she just needs to protect that blue wall, which seems to be holding right now, even if by a narrowed margin. A new poll out of Michigan today, she has a four-point lead, Pennsylvania a four-point lead. A democrat would normally like to see a few more points of a margin there in those states but that is a -- that is a significant enough lead that the blue wall is holding. So, she's got to find one battleground state, Nevada, Florida, North Carolina, to win and then she's home.
BLITZER: I'm curious, David Axelrod, you've been through this before, an insider in the Obama campaign.
DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISOR: Much more relaxing this way.
[LAUGHING]
BORGER: We like having you here.
AXELROD: Thank you.
BLITZER: With four days to go, the last time in 2012, 2008, were the polls pretty accurate or were you guys surprised on Election Day?
AXELROD: No, we weren't surprised because our polling was very accurate. But, the difference is that our polling was off of voter lists that were updated constantly.
BLITZER: This is internal Obama campaign polling.
AXELROD: Exactly. So, we were talking to voters and we had their vote history. So if a voter -- it meant less to us if a voter said I probably will vote. In a random digit dialing poll, they would drop that poll -- they would drop that voter out and say that's an unlikely voter.
It turns out that that group of voters who said they'll probably vote but habitually did vote who we included in our sample were skewed in our favor. So, we always knew or felt we had a four-point lead going in and we won by four points. The public polls were really too conservative in terms of how they evaluated the electorate.
BORGER: But now both campaigns are doing that. You have the Republican National Committee having a very sophisticated data analytics operation, which they didn't have. They took a page from your playbook and decided to start working on that four years ago, which they are doing.
CHALIAN: But the public polling still doesn't views the voting files.
BORGER: Exactly, exactly.
CHALIAN: Public polling numbers are ...
BORGER: ... can be different -- can be different.
BLITZER: Nia, the polling -- the early polling in North Carolina ends tomorrow. Based on all the information we have, democrats are ahead in North Carolina right now, at least according to registration. African- American turnout, though, is down from 2012. So is North Carolina absolutely a must-win for Hillary Clinton?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It isn't, but they sure would like to win it because if they win that, then they completely block Donald Trump from being president. And that's why you've seen so much energy down there. Barack Obama down there today. Pharrell was down there as well. They see a good mix, the democrats do, in terms of the kind of voter that's down there. A lot of historically black colleges and universities down there, 11, and you've seen different surrogates fanning out to those different campuses. And you see college educated whites. That's another target group for democrats to win.
If you think about the way Obama won in 2008, they very much targeted those five big counties right along that I-85 corridor and was able to swell the vote there. But they do have some concern.
I talked to a democratic pollster this morning, I asked him how he was feeling. He said a little nervous because they do see some softening in terms of the support among white voters. They see a drop-off of about two or three points. And, that's a big deal because they really want to get about 35% of the white vote, which is what Obama did in 2008 and allowed him to win in combination with the black vote. But, listen, if democrats win North Carolina, then Hillary Clinton's
the next President.
BLITZER: Yes, Obama won North Carolina in 2008, but didn't win narrowly in 2012.
HENDERSON: Exactly. About 100,000 voters yes.
BLITZER: Right, everybody stay with us. We have a lot more coming up, including there's new fallout from the departure of former Fox News Chief Roger Ailes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: We're seeing reports that Megyn Kelly is about to open up about her allegations of sexual harassment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:47:45]
BLITZER: Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly apparently is about to add her voice to those women accusing former Fox News Chief, Roger Ailes, of sexual harassment.
CNN's Brian Todd is joining us. Brian, reports say Kelly is now opening up in a new book.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Wolf. Megyn Kelly is opening up according to one report with remarkable detail. Alleging that in one incident, Roger Ailes made an aggressive move on her and after she pushed him away, he asked when her contract was up.
It has set up a heated exchange of accusations tonight between Kelly and her disgraced former boss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Disturbing and explosive new details tonight alleging even more predatory advances by former Fox News Chairman, Roger Ailes. This time the accusations come from Fox's biggest star, Megyn Kelly, apparently detailed in her new book.
MEGYN KELLY, FOX ANCHOR: It's a very personal book. It's revealing.
TODD: In the book Megyn Kelly says Ailes sexually harassed her repeatedly starting in 2005 according to excerpts obtained by radar online. Kelly writs Ailes would engage in a cat and mouse game with her "veering between obviously inappropriate sexually charged comments, e.g. about the very sexy bras I must have and how he'd like to see me in them) and legitimate professional advice."
She reportedly also writes that Ailes offered to advance her career "in exchange for sexual favors." BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Kelly kept these secrets
for a decade. It's almost unfathomable to think about what she experienced early on in her career and how she eventually rose to the highest level of stardom at Fox while keeping all of this a terrible secret.
TODD: Radar Online says in the book Kelly details how in January 2006 Ailes took it further, writing Ailes was "trying to grab me repeatedly and kiss me on the lips."
She says when she pushed him away, "he asked me an ominous question. When is your contract up? And then for the third time, he tried to kiss me."
Fox News would not comment on Kelly's accusations. Through his lawyer, Ailes denied Kelly's reported allegations and the disgraced Fox News boss's attorney pointed CNN to this comment Kelly made last year to Charlie Rose on PBS.
KELLY: And, I really care about roger. And he's been nothing but good to me. And he's been very loyal and he's had my back. And he's looked out for me.
TODD: But that interview was done while Ailes was still Kelly's boss.
[17:50:01]
TODD: Ailes was forced out in July after former Fox Anchor, Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes for sexual harassment and retaliation. She later settled for $20 million. Ailes denied Carlson's allegations too and reportedly ran a behind the scenes media campaign to discredit her. But, when Fox's part company launched a probe, more than 20 women reportedly came forward, telling outside investigators Ailes had engaged in inappropriate behavior and made unwanted sexual advances toward them.
Ailes said those claims weren't true either but agreed to step down getting a $40 million settlement to walk away. Now Kelly is being offered more than $20 million to stay at Fox, her star rising, due in part to moments like this at a Republican debate.
KELLY: You called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.
RICHARD LEVICK, CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST: Fox is betting on Megyn Kelly as their future. Roger Ailes is gone, they've paid the $40 million. Fox sees Megyn Kelly as a bridge to credibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now in the book excerpts that were released, Megyn Kelly does not name the Fox News supervisor who she complained to about Roger Ailes. The Wall Street Journal reports that her supervisor at the time was commentator Brit Hume who was then the Managing Editor of Fox's D.C. Bureau. Hume told the Wall Street Journal Megyn Kelly never made a sexual harassment complaint to him. Wolf? BLITZER: Brian, thanks very much. Gloria, you know Roger Ailes is
supposedly this informal unofficial adviser to Donald Trump right now. So, how does this, if at all, play into the Trump campaign with only four days to go?
BORGER: I don't think we've seen it play at all before this, and I don't think we're going to see it play much after this. Roger Aile -- Roger Ailes has not made himself very public as a supporter of Donald Trump. We know that -- we know that he is. We know that he was at a couple of pre-debate meetings. We don't know how much strategic advice he's been -- he's been giving his friend, Donald Trump.
I think the question of Donald Trump and women revolves around Donald Trump's behavior, not Roger Ailes' behavior. And, so, I think that while people will certainly pay attention to what Megyn Kelly writes in her book, it's a compelling story that Brian Todd just told, I don't think the impact on this race will be much at all. It's much more about Donald Trump himself and what Donald Trump's behavior has been towards women.
BLITZER: David Axelworth, how do you see it?
AXELROD: Yes, well one thing I'm clear on is that given Donald Trump's imperatives in the race right now, I don't think you're going to see much of Roger Ailes. Because his big target is trying to soften this opposition among women. This is why his wife was out there making the speech she made yesterday. This is going to be a focus of his effort. So this is not necessarily a helpful story for him and I'm sure Ailes will not be around him in the next few days.
BLITZER: Yes go ahead.
CHALIAN: Sorry, I was just going to say Wolf, that the Clinton campaign is making an issue of this already. Brian Fallen out there trying to say that the Trump campaign should be asked about this and the association with Roger Ailes. They're going to try to make hay of it, but I agree with Gloria, I don't think many voters are going to associate Donald Trump with Roger Ailes and make a decision.
BLITZER: The conviction of two of Governor's Chris Christie's aides over the so-called Bridgegate scandal, a conviction today on all counts, is that going to have an impact these final four days?
CHALIAN: I doubt it will have an impact on the election. Although listening to your interview with Rudy Giuliani where he didn't seem 100% certain if Chris Christie was still in charge of the transition or not was surprising to my ears. Rudy Giuliani is a very plugged in member of the Trump universe right now. And for him not to be able to sort of say definitively 100% that Chris Christie is still running the transition --
AXELROD: It could impede the transition efforts.
HENDERSON: Yes, and I'm sure Donald Trump at this point is very glad that he didn't go with Chris Christie as his number two. He seemed to want that, then not want it, then want it again. And, of course, it ended up being Mike Pence.
Chris Christie was the first big establishment figure to back Donald Trump and now his reputation in some ways seems to be teetering at this point with the news about these former aides. At some point I think he was supposed to campaign for him, with him in New Hampshire. We'll see what happens.
It's also interesting just to think about the arc of Chris Christie's career, right? If you look back at 2012, there was a sense that maybe he should have run then, and after he won his re-election, there was the talk about him being the next big star of the republican party and we see now it's much different.
BLITZER: It's very different indeed. And, I was exactly struck by what David Chalian said when I spoke to Rudy Giuliani. He was very close -- he didn't know, he said you're going to have to ask other people Gloria, if he's still in charge.
BORGER: Yes. I don't know if that's a reflection on Chris Christie or the Trump campaign or the Trump transition. I think that Chris Christie has had an awful year. There's no way --
AXELROD: (inaudible) dissent on that.
BORGER: There's no way around that.
[17:55:02]
AXELROD: You know, it's awkward -- it's awkward -- it's awkward when your -- you're your campaign is all about corruption and fighting corruption when your transition chief is -- in the fix that he's in.
BORGER: Well, and John Podesta -- John Podesta today came out, just wasn't even asked about it and volunteered that Chris Christie ought to resign from the -- so they're clearly trying to make ...
BLITZER: On a very different note, David, I see you're wearing your "Situation Room" uniform today on the air. But you have another little ...
AXELROD: Yes, yes. I do -- I do. This is the one I should be wearing.
BLITZER: Let me see that. We can't see.
AXELROD: This is the Chicago Cubs t-shirt, and I want to make a shoutout not just to the Cubs, but to the 5 million people who turned out today to celebrate the Cubs. It was a civic communion like we have never seen in Chicago before. And, by the way, it happened eight years to the day from when Barack Obama in that very same park claimed the presidency. So that park is --
(CROSS-TALK)
CHALIAN: ... Is there a causal relationship?
AXELROD: The bottom line is, if you're going to have a big party, it's a great spot.
BLITZER: All right, guys. Congratulations from all of us.
Coming up, we have more breaking news we're following here in "The Situation Room."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The candidates are going on the attack as they go all-out to round up votes on this the last weekend before Election Day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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