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CNN Live Event/Special
Debate Night in America: Post-Debate Analysis. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired October 20, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:00:16] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And welcome back. It is the top of the hour. It is 9:00 p.m. here in Las Vegas.
The debate ended about an hour and a half ago. I wanted to play one of the key moments in this debate. We're going to play kind of the long version, it's about two minutes or so of Chris Wallace asking Donald Trump if he would accept the results of the election. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, DEBATE MODERATOR: One of the prides of this country is the peaceful transition of power and that no matter how hard fought a campaign is that at the end of the campaign that the loser concedes to the winner. Not saying that you're necessarily going to be the loser or the winner, but the loser concedes to the winner and that the country comes together in part for the good of the country.
Are you saying you are not prepared now to --
(CROSSTALK)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I will keep you in suspense.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, Chris -- let me respond to that because that's horrifying. You know, every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction. He claims whatever it is, is rigged in his direction.
The FBI conducted a year-long investigation into my emails. They concluded they had no case. He said the FBI was rigged.
He lost the Iowa caucus, he lost the Wisconsin primary. He said the Republican primary was rigged against him.
Then Trump University gets sued fraud and racketeering, he claims the court system and the federal judge is rigged against him.
There was even a time when he didn't get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged against him.
TRUMP: I should have gotten it. CLINTON: This is a mindset. This is how Donald thinks. And it's
funny but it's also really troubling.
WALLACE: Ok.
CLINTON: That is not the way our democracy works. We've been around for 240 years. We have had free and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them. And that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election.
You know, President Obama said the other day when you are whining before the game --
WALLACE: Hold on folks. Hold on, folks.
CLINTON: -- is even finished it just shows you're not up to doing the job. And let's, you know, let's be clear about what he is saying and what that means. He is denigrating. He is talking down our democracy. And I, for one am appalled that someone who is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind of position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All right. We had about a 45-minute discussion about this on air. But we have some new panelists. John King is joining us, Corey Lewandowski as well as Angela Rye. John -- what did you make of that moment? How significant?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well, what I make of most of is the emailing back and forth with Republicans in the key swing states. Donald Trump, we haven't discussed anything that happened at tonight's in the context of where we are in the campaign.
She came in with a commanding lead now, certainly a commanding lead when you go state by state. And so what did each of them say and how does it affect the situation on the ground for the next 19 days? And top Republicans in Florida, in Ohio, in New Hampshire just emailing me saying that is not a recipe to win the voters he needs to win.
Maybe his base supporters would like it because he's not saying he'll concede the election to Hillary Clinton. One of them to me this is a brilliant strategy to get from 37 to 40. But in terms of trying to win Independents, trying to win the middle of the electorate, trying to answer doubts about temperament and judgments, Republicans in those states didn't like it.
COOPER: Corey?
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think what you have to remember, let's go back to the closest election of the presidency in our lifetime -- Al Gore and George W. Bush. And if either of them going into this election would have conceded that we will not use every legal means possible to us at the end before the election began --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: That's not what he said.
LEWANDOWSKI: We wouldn't have -- we never would have had a recount in Florida.
(CROSSTALK)
LEWANDOWSKI: We never would have had a recount in Florida. We never would have had a --
DAVID AXELROD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Corey -- are you disappointed in your winning mate that he did -- he did that?
LEWANDOWSKI: Here's what I'm disappointed in. The hypocrisy of no one calling Al Gore --
(CROSSTALK)
LEWANDOWSKI: David -- here's what happened and you remember this. Al Gore conceded that night then he unconceded --
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes he did.
LEWANDOWSKI: -- and then he had to re-concede on December 13 --
BORGER: Right.
LEWANDOWSKI: -- six weeks later.
JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Right.
LEWANDOWSKI: That's what Donald Trump is saying.
BORGER: -- because they had to recount the votes.
AXELROD: Which the secretary of state certified, November 18.
BORGER: But they weren't counted.
COOPER: It was an automatic recount.
AXELROD: But why wouldn't your guy just say of course unless there is something that called into question the result of course I will accept them. Why wouldn't he do that?
BORGER: He can't.
LEWANDOWSKI: What he's saying about is he'll use every means possible to make sure that he --
BORGER: He didn't do that.
(CROSSTALK)
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let's talk about what he actually said. What he actually said is I'll keep you in suspense. There's nothing presidential about number one his debate performance tonight and number two that answer.
This was the most undemocratic answer that could have been given by someone who is, as Hillary Clinton said, a major party's nominee. That was a horrible answer. He made a -- he made a mockery of American democracy tonight.
[000506] LEWANDOWSKI: You know what is a mockery -- this whole conversation is a mockery because she doesn't want to talk about --
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: Well, the fact I was at the comma and not a period is also a mockery.
LEWANDOWSKI: She doesn't want to talk about what's really going on in this country. She doesn't want to talk about the fact that she lied --
RYE: Actually -- she did.
LEWANDOWSKI: -- about her immigration position.
RYE: I'm sorry, Corey --
KING: It wasn't a question asked at the debate. The question was asked by Chris Wallace of Fox News who did a very good job tonight pressing both candidates -- pressing both candidates. He did ask some questions of -- this was a question -- Anderson did a great job as well -- I'm talking about tonight.
This was a question about -- this question was not asked in 2000. Had it been asked during the debates, I'm sure both candidates, George W. Bush and Al Gore would say, I fully expect to accept the results. We didn't know it was going to come down to 537 votes.
But the reason the question was asked is that Donald Trump keeps saying at rallies there is election fraud -- it's a rigged election. The media bias thing is another thing. We can talk for 25 years about that if you want.
But in terms -- he says specifically, the election is being rigged now and will be rigged on Election Day. That has never happened before.
RYE: And his surrogates have --
LEWANDOWSKI: Let's talk about what Donald Trump has talked about this election. He's talked about immigration. The American people have now focused on immigration. He's talked about the terrible trade deals and Hillary Clinton has changed her position and now TPP is a bad thing. He's talked about getting NATO to --
(CROSSTALK)
LEWANDOWSKI: What are they doing? I'm getting to the point. I'm getting to the point.
He's talked about NATO paying their fair share, they're now going to pay their fair share. He's talking about having a free and fair election and making sure the election results are honest and trustworthy. And now the American people are going to say, you know what, that's exactly right.
And the media bias that has surrounded this campaign is unequivocal. It is absolutely biased. The numbers are there. And so what he's saying is let's make sure this election is fair. Let's make sure it's honest. And at the end of the day, I'll make sure the American people --
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: Had he said that, I would have applauded him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't say.
AXELROD: Had he said that, I would have applauded him.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: You hear the people.
Had he said that, everybody in America would have stood up and applauded. The reality is that's not what he said. And you guys keep coming out here and trying to re-spin everything.
RYE: I think the bigger problem is we're not talking about issues. Hillary Clinton tried over and over again to pivot toward the issues. Tonight we're judging Donald Trump on whether or not he pouted for five minutes or whether smiled. We're not even talking about his inability to answer questions. The fact that he does not -- not only does he not have the temperament to lead this country he doesn't have the temperament to be a high school president. We're not talking about some very fundamental --
LORD: I was a high school president and he certainly has the temperament.
AXELROD: Why am I not surprised.
RYE: You would do a hell of a lot better in a debate than your candidate tonight.
COOPER: Gloria.
BORGER: Can I just read you something that Donald Trump said this past May during the primaries? After he was doing well, right? And was winning or won.
"You have been hearing me say it's a rigged system but now I don't say it any more, because I won. It's true. Now I don't care. I don't care. The only way I won was I won by such a big margin because it is a rigged system. But the only way you can do is like a boxer. You got to knock them out then you don't got to worry about the judges. But it's true." So -- LORD: What was his tone of voice?
BORGER: I don't know.
LEWANDOWSKI: Let me read you something that Al Gore said --
RYE: Why are we talking about --
LEWANDOWSKI: Ignoring voters --
BORGER: I can't.
LEWANDOWSKI: -- means ignoring democracy itself. If you ignore those votes and thousands in Florida in this election, how can you or any American have confidence that your vote will not be ignored in a future election?
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: These are two different things because Donald Trump was complaining about the rigged system -- no, no. Donald Trump was complaining about the rigged system all along until he won.
LEWANDOWSKI: These are his words in the "New York Times".
BORGER: Al Gore was complaining because there was an automatic recount in the state of Florida and as you know it wound up 537 vote difference. This is different. The complaints about the rigged system -- the complaints about the rigged system occur during a presidential debate. You have never seen anything like that. Al Gore wasn't complaining.
LEWANDOWSKI: He was complaining.
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: Can I just ask a question.
BORGER: Because there was a recount.
RYE: For the rest of this part of the discussion and I think Corey probably missed the first hour and a half. But for the rest of this part of the discussion can we please address the election that will take place on November 8, 2016 and not relitigate an election that has been asked, answered and solved from 2000. That's all I'm asking for the moderators. Please not bring it up.
Bring up the emails because it has something to do with this election. Why are we talking about before 2016? They talked about it for an hour. It's nuts.
LORD: I'll tell you why. You weren't here.
RYE: I know but I watched it.
COOPER: You asked the question, let him answer. [00:09:56] LORD: Let me answer. Is that what Donald Trump is saying, what many Americans feel is that the system -- FBI, State Department, you name it is, quote-unquote, rigged. They let off their friends --
JONES: So look, your guy is a law and order guy, right?
LORD: They play a double game and it doesn't matter whether it's the election or whether it's the internal workings of the FBI, getting her off the hook --
JONES: I want to ask some questions.
LORD: -- it's all part and parcel of the same thing. That is what the election is about.
RYE: So then why does he have to --
COOPER: Let Van go ahead.
JONES: You can try to get rid of it. Let's get rid of it. Let's talk to somebody who could give us some information here.
John King -- you are the person that we all look to. This guy says he wants to be a law and order candidate. Do you think that Republicans and other people when you start playing with the rule of law, the fundamentals of a law and order candidate or law and order society is that you respect the constitution, you respect the process.
Has he put himself in any harm's way with Republicans basically playing with this idea of maybe this is not legitimate, maybe you are going to be violent, maybe you're going to have a revolt. Help us understand how this is going to be processed in this election?
KING: You are asking me in part a somewhat loaded political question.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: No, that's not my job. That's not my job. And to Corey's point I'm having a back and forth with Corey because I'm trying to answer the very specific thing about a rigged election. Not the rigged system, not the FBI but about what Donald Trump has said about a rigged election. That somebody could actually either fake the votes or get into the system and switch the count, switching an election.
That's the point I'm talking about. That's never happened. I'm willing to talk to you about everything else.
But to your point, Republicans are saying Donald Trump is wrong about this. There is a lot of that going on. Certainly without a doubt it's just to have a candidate for president saying that -- and Donald Trump used the active voice -- today and on Election Day they are going to rig the system. That means changing the numbers. That means cheating.
LEWANDOWSKI: That has been done. JONES: You have Republican governor, you've got Republican
secretaries of state in swing states. You're trying to say that a Republican candidate saying that I believe Republican governors and Republican secretaries of state are going to allow -- that doesn't hurt Republicans?
KING: Well, let's look at this way. In the last ten years, Democrats have won two presidential elections overwhelmingly. Republicans have won everything else. So the system is rigged, Republicans have benefited from it a whole lot more than the Democrats. If the system's not rigged, I don't believe it.
I believe there are instances of fraud, yes, but in a way that changes a race for congress? For governor? For president? Come on.
COOPER: I guess the question is -- and you alluded to this earlier -- is for the next week, is this going to be a discussion out on the campaign trail? Every Republican, every Democrat running. And how does that help or hurt Donald Trump? Does it help Donald Trump to have this be the topic that's discussed for the next week eating up the air time?
LORD: No. There are other things they're not talking about.
COOPER: You think it does?
LORD: If it makes it part and parcel of that, as a stand alone, no.
COOPER: But it seems like the debate is going to be more was it appropriate what he said more than anything else.
LORD: And as the candidate he should be out there saying -- tying it in to all these other things.
BORGER: But why -- why do you think --
AXELROD: Do you think he should be out there saying that the system is rigged?
RYE: The voting system.
AXELROD: And the election will be stolen from him?
LORD: Because we have had a lot of instances of this.
RYE: Where? Where? Where?
BORGER: Let me ask you. Why is his answer --
COOPER: When you say a lot, what do you mean?
RYE: And don't name Pennsylvania -- Jeffrey.
AXELROD: Pennsylvania state senate race --
LORD: Wait, wait. COOPER: Well, (inaudible) kind of talks about that.
LORD: Yes, it was overturned. Overturned because the judge said the race was stolen. The Kennedy/Nixon race, Richard Nixon went to his grave thinking it was stolen from him. Al Gore -- I mean there are all sorts of things out here that John Kerry thinks well, Ohio and all of this --
BORGER: We're not going to resolve this because what you're saying to me sounds more anecdotal than --
LORD: What I'm saying to you is the systemic problem of double standard.
BORGER: Here's the question I want to ask you and maybe Corey which is, why was Donald Trump's answer to this question different from Mike Pence's answer?
JONES: Let him answer. Let him answer.
LEWANDOWSKI: You've asked me the question. Why is Tim Kaine's answer on taxpayer funded abortion different than Hillary Clinton's answer?
COOPER: Can you answer her question.
LEWANDOWSKI: Sure so you tell me why is Barack resident Obama's --
COOPER: Can you answer without a rhetorical question?
LEWANDOWSKI: Absolutely, absolutely. You tell me every candidate and their running mate who agree on every single answer.
AXELROD: So they disagree --
LEWANDOWSKI: How about on gay marriage, on Joe Biden and Barack Biden when Joe Biden --
AXELROD: Corey, this is a different -- I'm sorry Gloria.
BORGER: No, I was just going the say. So they disagree.
LORD: What if they disagree. So what?
BORGER: But it's a fundamental issue.
LEWANDOWSKI: So the differences actually on taxpayer funded abortion --
AXELROD: No, no. It is. It is different.
LEWANDOWSKI: Why?
AXELROD: This isn't a policy question. You have one guy saying I believe in the integrity of the election system and the other guy, the guy at the top of the ticket saying I'm not sure. That seems like a pretty profound issue. LEWANDOWSKI: You don't think it was a big deal that Joe Biden got out
in front of President Obama on gay rights before Barack Obama. That was a fundamental question of the Democratic Party.
AXELROD: No, no. When you are talking about the integrity of the American democracy --
LEWANDOWSKI: You don't think gay rights is an important issue that Barack Obama --
AXELROD: Corey -- both you guys, I said it to Jeffrey, I'll say it to you, you are not helping yourself like this.
[00:15:09] LORD: David?
AXELROD: It is not sensible.
LORD: David?
All I'm saying to you and I'll say it again, this is about a double standard for elites versus everybody else.
AXELROD: No. What it's about is our fundamental --
BORGER: Well, is Pence representing elites?
LORD: What?
BORGER: Is Mike Pence representing elites?
AXELROD: It's about telling all these folks --
LORD: He's a member of Congress -- sure.
AXELROD: It's about telling all these folks who are chanting out here with bull horns that if Donald Trump loses, that the election was stolen from him.
COOPER: John.
KING: If this is what the next 19 days is about, about a rigged system and they're taking the election and not, if you're Donald Trump, about getting you a job, fundamentally restructuring the economy and changing Washington, then Hillary Clinton is going to get 340 electoral votes.
JONES: Let me add to that. Let me add to that. Here's the deal. This is -- fundamentally this is a leadership failure on the part of Donald Trump. In the following way, first of all you have to remember, both of these candidates -- both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had tremendous problems with their own parties.
Hillary Clinton was able to heal a rift in her own party such that now Sanders is out there being a surrogate for her. Donald Trump's first leadership challenge is to heal his own party. He has not been able to unite his own party. He hasn't been able to unit his own campaign. Kellyanne Conway threw him under the bus today.
He hasn't been able to unite his own ticket. He's not able to unite his own family. Ivanka has a different position than he has on the fundamental integrity of the election.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: You have a catastrophic leadership failure of the first order for the very first time on the candidate, not on --
KING: I think -- but I think there has been a point in this election where Donald Trump could have won it without completely unifying the Republican Party because he had the capability to reach out to Democrats and to reach out to Independents.
If we were having this conversation on September 26th, the day of the first debate, Donald Trump was -- he had 89 -- he's getting 87, 89 percent of the Republican vote. He hadn't completely unified the family. But he was also getting Independents and Democrats. So he was --
JONES: He got a pathway.
KING: -- making up for his problems with some Republicans by having broader appeal outside of the electorate. There have been times in this election where Donald Trump could win without getting all of Ronald Reagan's party or all of George W. Bush's because he is a different kind of candidate. He had outside Republican appeal.
JONES: Let him finish. Let him finish.
KING: He has lost that right now. If you go state by state, you know, he's under Mitt Romney's vote in Alabama, in Mississippi, in Texas, in Utah, in Arizona. He is under Romney's number, which again, if you are close to Romney's number and you're getting a lot of Democrats and a lot of Independents that's ok.
But he's not getting the Democrats and Independents anymore because he's talking about this stuff. Not about the economy and changing Washington.
NIA MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: And if you look at the first debate, this question was asked about accepting the outcome of the election. And Donald Trump had a somewhat different answer. He said the answer if she wins I will absolutely support her.
What happened between that debate and this debate is Donald Trump is collapsing in the polls among all of these different groups. So it does play into this idea that when things aren't going his way he talks about everything being rigged whether it's the Emmy nomination --
KING: And he is listening to people who have for years said this. Conservative talk radio, Steve Bannon -- for years have said this.
LEWANDOWSKI: If Donald Trump wants to raise the issue with the American public as he has with the issue of immigration which was not at the forefront of this presidential debate before Donald Trump entered it and talks about those issues and talks about the fact that we have to make sure we have integrity in our voting process there is nothing wrong with that. But on the election -- this would be great.
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: But that isn't what he's talking about.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: After he starts talking about --
BORGER: But do you think this energizes, you know, there are two different schools of thought on this politically. Aside from the fact that it's a dangerous thing to do, potentially, that it energizes his base to get out there and vote or that it depresses his base?
LEWANDOWSKI: I think Donald Trump has addressed more issues as a candidate than Hillary Clinton has ever achieved as a U.S. senator.
BORGER: I'm not talking about -- I'm talking about the rigged system.
LORD: I think it will energize his base -- absolutely.
BORGER: Yes. So is that the reason he's doing it now and that he said he would accept the results when he was ahead.
LORD: I think before the debate is what I thought he was going to try to do to tie all of this together and that's what I think he was doing.
BORGER: You think he did that successfully?
LORD: What?
BORGER: You think he did that successfully?
LORD: I think he needs to do it more, not less.
BORGER: Because I think what Corey was talking about earlier in the day that Donald Trump didn't talk about a lot tonight was this notion of reformer, he did talk about Hillary Clinton not doing anything in years.
LORD: He put out specific things about lobbyists --
BORGER: Right. But tonight, he didn't talk about draining the swamp and all that stuff which has a lot of resonance out there.
COOPER: Yes, it was interesting that he didn't bring up draining the swamp --
LEWANDOWSKI: They had a very engaging conversation on immigration. Obviously it was the high point of the debate. They had a very detailed conversation on a number of issues including immigration was one of them which -- but also in her email exchanges. This is an issue that Hillary Clinton cannot duck.
[00:20:01] The polling indicates that she loses every time they're talking about her emails. This is an issue she loses on. She continues to not validate the WikiLeaks being authentic. They have never said that they're not real but they won't go out and say that they are real. If they're not real, let's go out and actually give you the real emails if the ones that WikiLeaks are reporting aren't real. They can't do that.
And her own campaign chairman understands that there are problems with that Clinton campaign and her honesty.
COOPER: Let's look at what might have been one of the high points for Donald Trump tonight or one of the best moments for Donald Trump. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I ask a simple question. She's been doing this for 30 years. Why the hell didn't you do it over the last 15, 20 years? You were very much involved -- excuse me, my turn -- you were very much involved in every aspect of this country, very much and you do have experience. I say the one thing you have over me is experience but it's bad experience because what you have done has turned out badly.
For 30 years you have been in a position to help. And if you say that I use theater or I use something else, make it impossible for me to do that. I wouldn't mind.
The problem is you talk but you don't get anything done, Hillary. You don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AXELROD: I think that was an effective moment for him. That is his poor argument. You have been around for 30 years I'm new, I'm different, I will change a system that isn't serving people well. That's his fundamental argument.
He had other good moments where he put her on the defensive. She made a very quick pivot on the open borders question and went right to the Russian hacking. And it was very obvious and he called her on it. There were several moments like that.
The problem is that they were all eclipsed by this other thing which, if you look at the headlines of every newspaper -- the banner headline refuses to say he will accept the results of the election.
LORD: Who is eclipsing it? Who's eclipsing it -- the audience or the media at large?
AXELROD: I don't know. Jeffrey -- here's the thing. I've prepared candidates for debates for a long time. And, you know, the one thing that you tell them is --
LORD: Don't get spontaneous. AXELROD: Don't say stuff that's going to hijack your own debate.
Don't get in your own way. Donald Trump is forever in his own way and that's why he is in the straits he's in right now.
LORD: But what you're saying is it's because the media then pounces right?
AXELROD: I'm saying because he says things that are so outrageous.
LORD: To whom?
AXELROD: Well, to the American people.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: Jeffrey -- here's the problem with your argument, Jeffrey. The media system as you describe it I'm going to grant you, it's awful. It's biased. It has it out for Republicans. I'll give you that. I don't believe it but I'll agree with it.
LEWANDOWSKI: Can we stop the show now?
JONES: Guess what? That's not a brand-new development in your world today. This is something you guys have been saying for a long time. So what you're saying is you have a leader that is so incompetent that he can't figure out that the train is tough and adjust.
Guess what? You think the American media system is tough. Putin is tough, ISIS is tough. You're not going to adjust to that either. You can't have it both ways. You can't say you have a brilliant leader who understands media, who understands the moment who then steps on every rake that he finds in the field and say he's a genius. You can't have it both ways.
LORD: But then here's the difference. Here's the difference is that Republicans keep saying that people like Mitt Romney, they go back a long way, they don't fight. What they like about Donald Trump is precisely what he is doing. They are saying --
(CROSSTALK)
LORD: They're saying that he is --
JONES: Give them what they want.
LORD: That he is not just laying down on media bias or a whole lot of other things -- that he is standing up and fighting. Standing up to them -- that's what they like.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: Here's the interesting thing. There's an important part of this --
How do you see this?
LEWANDOWSKI: I didn't know that Van was the moderator all of a sudden. He just takes over.
COOPER: Angela --
RYE: One is I want to go back to this sound bite on this 30 years because I think Hillary Clinton actually ended up winning this when she said I'm happy to compare my 30 years of experience to yours.
JONES: What she saw coming and clearly was prepared.
RYE: Absolutely. You know what, it looks like that preparation worked.
COOPER: Corey -- your point?
LEWANDOWSKI: Look, during the fitness to be president component, right. Donald Trump talked specifically about people who are paid to disrupt his rallies and the media hasn't talked one second about that. He's talked about that --
JONES: Wait, wait, wait.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: It's not zero. We led Anderson's show with it last night.
(CROSSTALK)
LEWANDOWSKI: About 1 percent of what the rest of the country --
Also Hillary Clinton when she wants to talking about inciting violence and Donald Trump does that -- listen to the rhetoric she uses when it comes to the immigration issue, right. That's inciting concern and Hillary Clinton used that and --
BORGER: Inciting concern?
LEWANDOWSKI: That's right.
RYE: Versus inciting violence.
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: But inciting violence which is inciting concerns?
LEWANDOWSKI: A four-star general is in prison today for what exactly Hillary Clinton did. And no one is talking about it that he lied to the FBI one time and she lied 33 times and she is free and clear and running for president. No one's talking about that. It's amazing. There's a four-star general, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs is in jail today for lying to the FBI once. Hillary Clinton lied 33 times and she's free to run for President of the United States. No one is talking about it.
[00:25:09] LORD: Double standard -- yes.
COOPER: I read the article in the "New York Times" also about that. So people are talking about it.
Let's go over to Wolf and we'll come back with more with the panel.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks, Anderson.
I want to get some more reality checks right now. Tom Foreman and Jim Sciutto are going through the assertions made during this debate. Tom, first to you -- what did you find?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi -- Wolf.
Donald Trump went after Hillary Clinton with a real dollars and cents accusation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: $6 billion was missing. How do you miss $6 billion? You ran the State Department. $6 billion was either stolen -- they don't know -- It's gone. $6 billion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Where did this accusation come from? There's conservative media outlets that have been scrutinizing a document from the State Department that says in part "Over the past six years contracts with a total value of more than $6 billion were incomplete or could not be located at all." But the State Department inspector general has said they have misunderstood and mischaracterized what this means. He says this means there is sloppy paperwork but the money is not missing. It is not lost. And based on that, Trump's claim about this is false -- Wolf?
BLITZER: All right. Thank you. Jim Sciutto -- what did you find out?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf -- hacking the U.S. election -- one of the most heated exchanges of the debate on who is responsible for that hacking. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She has no idea whether it's Russia, China, or anybody else.
CLINTON: I'm not quoting myself.
TRUMP: She has no idea.
CLINTON: I am quoting 17 --
TRUMP: Hillary -- you have no idea.
CLINTON: -- 17 intelligence -- you doubt 17 military and civilian agencies. Well, he'd rather believe Vladimir Putin than the military and civilian intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect us. I find that just absolutely --
TRUMP: She doesn't like Putin because Putin has outsmarted her at every step of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: You heard the claim there, Donald Trump arguing the U.S. does not really know, has no idea, in his words, who is behind the hacking of the Democratic Party, officials, organizations and U.S. voting system.
So let's look at the facts. Just a little more than a week ago the U.S. intelligence community and the Department of Homeland Security took the rare step of publicly naming and shaming Russia for hacking Democratic Party organizations and officials. ?Their statement said that the intelligence community made that judgment with confidence. They went on to say it's their view that such a cyber attack was likely approved by the senior-most Russian leaders.
Now, to be fair, the U.S. has not determined with the same confidence which country or actor is behind the attempted hacks of some 20 state voter registration systems. That except for the hack of the state of Florida's voting system that they blamed on Russian groups. But really the verdict here very clear -- U.S. intelligence agencies saying it is Russia that is responsible for many of these elections hacks.
We rate Donald Trump's claim as false, Wolf, for this. All of tonight reality checks -- remember you can go to CNN.com/realitycheck -- Wolf?
BLITZER: Jim Sciutto -- thanks very much. Tom Foreman -- thanks to you as well.
David Chalian you are getting some more results from our CNN/ORC instant poll.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN PRODUCER: Yes. Now we're digging on issues but let's start again how the debate watchers say who won the debate tonight. Overall result -- 52 percent of debate watchers tonight in our poll say Hillary Clinton won the debate tonight. 39 percent say Donald Trump won the debate tonight. Scoring her third victory in our poll this debate season.
Now let's look at some issues -- Wolf. Who would better handle the economy? Take a look at this and how close it is. 50 percent of debate watchers say that Hillary Clinton would better handle the economy. 48 percent say that of Donald Trump.
Who would better handle immigration? That was a hotly debated topic tonight. We see the result here, now it flips. Donald Trump, 50 percent of debate watchers say he would better handle immigration; Clinton 48 percent. Very close results on two big issues there.
BLITZER: The debate started off on the important issue of the Supreme Court. Who would be better in filling a vacancy or more on the Supreme Court?
CHALIAN: And another basic tie in our result? Who would better handle Supreme Court nominations, Donald Trump gets 49 percent of debate watchers who say he would better handle SCOTUS nominations and Hillary Clinton gets 48 percent. So again, to Dana's point earlier, we do see when you're digging on some of these issues and the topics that were debate across the categories that Chris Wallace presented that it is a divided nation in many respects.
BLITZER: Good point. And see more of the results from our CNN/ORC instant poll in the CNN politics app built with CA Technologies. Download the CNN politics app to always know who is winning and why.
Quick thought on the results we're getting?
[00:30:02] JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I just wanted to read from an email I got from a Republican congressman and I just found it stunning because -- well, you'll hear. He said, "This is a Republican congressman who doesn't want Hillary Clinton to win. Trump is toast. Toast. Literally, anyone else in the world could have beaten her except him. I worry about the House."
The last part is very significant, because Republicans have already been worried that Donald Trump will drag down the Senate. Although, there is some evidence that some of the Senate candidates, some of the Republican Senate candidates have distanced themselves sufficiently, that they might actually pull it off.
But if her margin is so big, that won't be enough for Republican Senate candidates in swing states such as Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio. And the House has always seemed to be out of reach because of redistricting and a whole bunch of reasons that are too boring to go on to right now but very important.
But if the wave is so big and Donald Trump is suppressing his own voter turnout by telling them it's not going to matter, the votes are rigged, here's a Republican congressman saying I'm worried that we might lose the House.
I don't know if that's going to happen or not, but if they are worried, that's definitely not a good sign.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And you need a big wave. That's 30 seats, I believe.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: 30 in that seats.
BASH: To win -- for the Democrats to win. I actually have had Republicans say to me in recent days that if the Democrats were a little bit better prepared, that they thought it was even remotely feasible to retake the House, then it would have been possible. Now if there's a wave, then it still could happen. But the fact of the matter is, that Republicans are very, very nervous, which is why they really needed Donald Trump to do well tonight.
And more importantly, as some were saying to me before this debate, they needed Hillary Clinton to stumble, which didn't happen.
BLITZER: All right, coming up, we're going to see how undecided voters are reacting to Donald Trump's refusal to say he would accept the results of this presidential election.
We'll go back to our focus group right here in Las Vegas. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:36:15] BLITZER: Let's get back to our focus group of undecided voters. Randi Kaye is here in Las Vegas.
Randi, let's take a look at some of the low moments of the night according to these voters.
Here's one of those low moments for Donald Trump when he was asked if he will accept the results of this presidential election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm not looking at anything now. I'll look at it at the time.
What I've seen -- what I've seen is so bad. First of all, the media is so dishonest and so corrupt, and the pile-on is so amazing. The "New York Times" actually wrote an article about it, but they don't even care. It's so dishonest. And they've poisoned the mind of the voters.
But unfortunately for them, I think the voters are seeing through it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: So Randi, why didn't these voters like that answer?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For a whole lot of reasons, Wolf. Why don't I let you tell them for themselves here.
Let me start with Shawn (ph). Why didn't you like the answer when Trump said that he would not accept the election results until he had a chance to look at them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, well, when looking at the question of peaceful transfer, you know, I think he was faced with the last debate and I think he was faced with the real possibility of losing. And being that he is an ego maniac, he reacted, and it was unfavorable, it's hypocritical and unpatriotic. I didn't like that.
KAYE: Yes. And you're not the only one who felt that way, Wolf. A lot of folks here felt the same way about that answer and as you said you have a low point as well for Hillary Clinton that this group agreed on.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Yes. Here's Hillary Clinton's low moment when talking about the hacking of e-mails and Russia's involvement. Women seemed to like it even less than men.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: CLINTON: Well, that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States.
TRUMP: No puppet. No puppet.
CLINTON: And it's pretty clear...
TRUMP: You're the puppet!
CLINTON: It's pretty clear you won't admit...
TRUMP: No, you're the puppet.
CLINTON: ...that the Russians have engaged in cyberattacks against the United States of America, that you encouraged espionage against our people, that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do, and that you continue to get help from him, because he has a very clear favorite in this race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: So Randi, what are these undecided voters saying about that moment?
KAYE: We were talking about that here with Lana (ph) and we're talking more about that the moment where Hillary Clinton said that Donald Trump would be Putin's puppet and accused his campaign of the cyberattacks.
Why did that not sit well with you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I feel that Hillary is not taking accountability for what has happened with the e-mails and that Russia is being used as a smokescreen. That, you know, in order to clear this up that she is going to have to say that she's done what she's done.
KAYE: All right. So with 20 days left, we had to find out, did this debate help anyone make up their mind or possibly change a vote?
So let's ask the group with a show of hands. Did this debate help any of you decide on a candidate? And if so, how many of you have decided now to vote for Hillary Clinton? One, two, three -- five of you.
OK. How about did this debate help you decide to vote for Donald Trump? Ten of you.
All right. What about a third party? A Gary Johnson or Jill Stein? Did it make you want to vote for any of them?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just undecided.
KAYE: OK. That's what I'm going to ask you next. Who is still undecided here? How many?
One, two, three, four, five -- six of them still undecided.
And as we're getting closer, of course, they're still trying to decide, but part of the problem, Wolf, is that they all feel that this election has been so crazy.
So I asked them just one word, how would you describe this election?
Myra (ph), how would you describe it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deplorable.
[00:40:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emotional.
KAYE: How about in the back? Sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Educational.
KAYE: Educational. What about you, Zeke (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.
KAYE: Great. You're having fun with it. And you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Circus.
KAYE: A circus. I mean, that's just a sampling. That's why people are having such a hard time deciding but they are clearly running out of time.
Wolf?
BLITZER: 19 days to go and not much time left.
You know, Jake, people say in politics, though, a week or two weeks could be a lifetime.
TAPPER: Sure. Now it's interesting, though, that Donald Trump won that focus group. I saw him won a focus group, a Frank Luntz focus group, on a different channel also. It's very interesting.
BLITZER: Let's get to the instant poll. Because you've got some more numbers coming in on our "CNN/ORC Instant Poll".
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Along those lines. So let's again first remind everyone, our instant poll of debate watchers, who won the debate tonight -- Hillary Clinton, 52 percent; Donald Trump, 39 percent. She was the winner of the debate.
But when we asked that critical question, and you just saw this with Randi Kaye, who did the debate make you more likely to vote for? Trump at 23 percent. 23 percent of debate watchers more likely to vote for Trump. Clinton, 22 percent of debate watchers more likely to vote for her. But a majority, 54 percent say no change in their vote at all.
We should just note, though, that is the first time in our three debates that numerically Donald Trump moved more voters to his cause than did Hillary Clinton. We hadn't seen that before. But it is also the largest number we have seen for no change at all.
BLITZER: And we can show more of the results. If you want to see more of the results of our "CNN/ORC Instant Poll," go to CNNPolitics, our new CNNPolitics app.
Anderson, over to you.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yes. Coming up, we're going to have another reality check on what we heard from Trump and Clinton tonight.
And we want to know, did the debate change your vote? Go to CNN.com/vote to tell us. We'll have the results ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:45:40] COOPER: And welcome back to debate night here.
I want to take a quick moment to go to Tom Foreman with another "CNN Reality Check."
Tom?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Hey, Anderson.
One of the topics that Hillary Clinton went after here is one that Democrats care about a great deal, gun control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: We have 33,000 people a year who die from guns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Well, if you look at the numbers there, the Centers for Disease Control say in 2014, the last year for which we have complete numbers, there were 33,599 total. However, out of that number, 11,409 were homicides or legal interventions, essentially a police shooting there. All the rest of them were either suicides, which is a big number there, accidents or something else.
These are still critical, these are still tragedies, these are still a terrible thing, but it's important thing that people know the difference when they talk about that big number. She didn't lay it out the way she really should in that case. What she said is true, but it's absolutely misleading.
And Donald Trump had something to say about guns, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Second Amendment, which is under absolute siege. I believe if my opponent should win this race, which I truly don't think will happen, we will have a Second Amendment which will be a very, very small replica of what it is right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Well, President Obama started this year calling for federal agencies to use all their powers to cut down on gun violence, pushing Congress to do something about it, which Congress has had very little luck passing any kind of gun legislation.
But states out there, look at what's happening with them. Here's a study of Harvard Business School, it found from 1990 to 2014, more than 20,000 gun laws were proposed at the state level, more than 3,000 of them passed. Although these are real mixed bag.
For example, there are laws out there that loosen and/or tighten gun restrictions. I say and/or because you might have a law that makes it harder to buy a gun, but easier to carry it all in the same law. So it's hard to say exactly what those laws have done.
And that's why we have to say when it comes to Trump's idea that the Second Amendment is somehow under siege, all we can really say about that is it's complicated and very much up to interpretation.
Anderson?
COOPER: All right. Tom Foreman, thanks.
Now let's check in with Jim Sciutto who's got another reality check.
Jim?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Anderson, we're talking about Syrian refugees here. Very sensitive issue on both sides. Here's a claim Donald Trump made tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: People are going to pour into our country. People are going to come in from Syria. She wants 550 percent more people than Barack Obama, and he has thousands and thousands of people. They have no idea where they come from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: So Donald Trump there claiming that the Obama administration has allowed in thousands and thousands of Syrians and Clinton wants to more than quintuple the number of people coming in and that the U.S. doesn't know the identities of the refugees from Syria coming in to this country.
So let's look at the fact. In 2016, the fiscal year that just ended last month, the U.S. admitted 12,500 Syrians. Hillary Clinton has proposed raising that figure to 65,000, about 550 percent.
As for the second part of the claim, let's be honest here. The checks that they go through, very thorough. Biometric checks like fingerprints, biographical checks, a strict vetting process to verify their identities, that can last more than 12 months.
So our verdict here on the first one, we're going to say is true. The Obama administration has admitted thousands and thousands of refugees. That 12,000. And Hillary Clinton does want to increase that very significantly.
The second part, however, false. There is, in fact, a long, thorough vetting process with backgrounds, the identities of the refugee. We rate that claim as false.
For this and all of tonight's reality checks, please make sure to go to our Web site, CNN.com/RealityCheck.
Anderson?
COOPER: All right, Jim Sciutto.
Jim, thanks very much.
Back with our panel here.
Just in terms of where this race goes now. I mean, that's what it is obviously all about. The debates and how they are done. They are not going to be on the stage together again.
How does this -- I mean, it's just a few weeks away now.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now you have 19 days of state by state. This is a test of organization. It's a test of resources. Hillary Clinton has more money, but based on everything we know, and the Republicans say they're going to prove us wrong and let's keep an open mind about it. But in the last two elections, Democrats have out hassled Republicans in early voting and done a better job with Republicans of turning out.
[00:50:00] Now the Romney campaign did better than the McCain campaign did. The RNC says it's going to step in and step it up this time. But if you look right now, Hillary Clinton can change -- if nothing changes, Hillary Clinton wins the election and actually by a pretty healthy margin.
Donald Trump has to get Arizona back, a Republican state; get Utah back, a Republican state.
He might have helped himself there at the beginning of the debate: judges, guns, abortion. A very strong conservative message from Donald Trump at the top of the debate that might have helped him there.
He has to get those back. Anybody has to get one of their core states back this late. It's tough. And then he's got to change, Anderson, North Carolina, which is very close but he has to win it. He has to keep Ohio, which he is slight ahead in right now. And he has to turn Florida and even then he needs 17 more electoral votes.
COOPER: All right. We're going to take a break. More with our panel coming up with some final thoughts. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, tonight, we asked you to go to CNN.com, tell us did the debate change your mind. Here are the results. 13 percent of you said yes; 87 percent of you said no.
And we are less than three weeks away from election night in America. CNN's campaign camper is park behind our set in the quad of UNLV. It's the latest stop in a cross country tour. This campaign camper will be headed to Washington, D.C. for election night. You can see some of the photos of people at CNN in partnership with Instagram, Facebook and ZA Technologies so far.
We want to hear from you. Post a photo on Instagram with #MyVote and tell us who you are voting for. Your picture could be a part of our election campaign.
[00:55:20] And we are back now with the panel.
Nia, in terms of what you're going to be looking for in the days ahead?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Here's -- actually, sorry, Hillary Clinton is talking.
Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Whether it's, you know, being implored about Trump University or losing the Iowa caucus and the Wisconsin primary or losing Emmys for goodness sakes, he says that it's rigged against him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Why didn't Chris Wallace --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: How did you feel when he said, you know, nasty woman, nasty woman and you're a puppet and -- it was Vladimir Putin?
CLINTON: I just don't -- I just didn't pay any attention to that. I was very concerned that even now after 17 intelligence agencies in our government, both military and civilian have confirmed that Russia has engaged in cyberattacks against Americans that he refused to admit that it's true and condemn it for what it is, which is a blatant effort to try to interfere in our elections.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What would you do if --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: From your praised for Goldman Sachs bankers to calling Podesta calling Bernie Sanders a doofus would make it harder for you to win? To rally the liberal base around and can make your appointment.
CLINTON: Not at all. Bernie Sanders is out there, working hard every day to get me elected. I'm looking forward to working with everybody in our party. But as I said in the closing, which they gave us at the last minute, I'm reaching out to all Americans -- Democrats, Republicans and Independents. I want to summon every American, to you know, use his or her talents, and energy, and ambition to really our help our country. And that's what I'm going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Are you worried about --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: If they are found to have --
CLINTON: You know, I know nothing about this. I'm not -- you know, I can't deal with every one of his conspiracy theories. But I hope you all have something to eat and something to drink on the way back to New York.
Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: How did Chris Wallace do?
CLINTON: He did very well. He did very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All right, Hillary Clinton on her plane heading back.
Nia?
HENDERSON: Yes. I mean, I think it will be interesting to see whether or not Donald Trump keeps up the talk of a rigged election in some ways. It might be better to reign for him to talk about a rigged election than to keep talking about the sexual assault allegations that he was dealing with before. So it's a bit of a change-up in terms of what he's talking about.
Michelle Obama is going to be in Arizona tomorrow. That will be really interesting how she frames what happen tonight, how she continues to frame this election in terms of women, right, and women kind of revolting against some of the things that Donald Trump has said.
And I think, we're going to see the most active campaigning period for Hillary Clinton. She had been studying for the debate. A lot of the other surrogates have taken up the flax so we'll see what that looks like.
COOPER: David?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think it will be interesting to see. I don't think Donald Trump did anything tonight to change the trajectory of the race, which has been moving away from him and he has a chasm in these public polls in the aggregate of about eight points.
I think it will be interesting to see if some efforts are suddenly shifted to the Senate in trying to get as many Democratic senators elected and does the candidate's resources and schedule reflect a commitment to that? Does that become a big concern?
But right now, I said earlier in the campaign early in the -- weeks ago, that it would take an inside straight for Trump to win. Now it's a royal flush. I think he's got a really, really tough row to hoe.
COOPER: Gloria?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: And I think what we're going to see is the continued distancing of people who are up for re- election in the Republican Party against Donald Trump.
I'm thinking of a state of Florida, where you have Marco Rubio running ahead of Donald Trump. How does he answer the question about the rigged election? When it comes to him? When he's on the campaign trail?
How does Rob Portman who is running for re-election in the state of Ohio answer that question? And I think Donald Trump has in his answer tonight given his party even more problems than they had before this debate.
COOPER: We're going to wrap up our coverage of tonight's debate. Now if you missed any of the debate earlier this evening, you can see it in its entirety. We're going to replay the entire debate right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
