hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it is 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you are watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we start with a campaign trail frenzy. with just under 63 days to go until the u.s. presidential

election. right now, we are standing by for hillary clinton set to speak at a rally in tampa, florida. in virginia beach, donald trump is preparing for a town hall on national secretary and veterans affairs. that will be host by retired general, michael flynn, whom we will speak with in a few moments. a new poll shows how close it is. donald trump now leads hillary clinton by two points. 45% to 43% among likely voters. that's inside the margin of error. our national correspondent, jason carroll, in virginia beach, where trump is holding a town hall. the next hour, our senior washington correspondent, joe johns, is in tampa for the upcoming hillary clinton rally. first, hillary clinton just answered some questions to the news media about donald trump trump. what did she say? >> she did answer some questions to the news media about donald trump among other things.

she was asked about the latest polling that shows a statistical dead heat. she said she doesn't respond to polls or focus on them as she has many times. she is here at the university of south florida expecting to refocus her campaign on the issue of national security. also, looking to try to pull more of the millennial vote in. that's very important. some of the internals in that cnn polling do suggest that hillary clinton is now doing much better with younger voters than she was during the primaries when she was running against bernie sanders in the democratic contest. meanwhile, earlier today, hillary clinton was also asked a few questions on the plane about, among other things, her speech in cleveland just yesterday, which was remarkable for an extending coughing fit

she had at the very top. she laughed it off by saying she was allergic to donald trump who was in the area at the same time. let's listen to some of that. it sound like we don't have that at this time. the important thing to say about the university of south florida, we do expect to hear a little bit more about national security. our polls show donald trump with an edge on the issue of terrorism. hillary clinton with an edge on foreign policy. her running mate, tim kaine, in the military important state of north carolina, giving a speech on the very same issue. they did today put out an ad hitting donald trump once again on the issue of national security and whether he has the temperament to be command commander-in-chief. >> we are getting some notes that hillary clinton said. among other things, she said,

donald trump is full of scams, fraud, questionable relationships. clearly, his tax returns tell a story the american people deserve and need to know. she adds this, he clearly has something to hide. we don't know exactly what it is but we are getting better guesses. i want to go to jason carroll, who is covering donald trump, down in virginia. this is an event with a lot of veterans talking about veteran affairs and national security. >> certainly, a number of the supporters out here for donald trump feel as though speak about veterans affairs is one of his strong suits. to prove that, the trump campaign released the names of 88 retired generals and admirals who have come out in support of donald trump. not only will retired general, m

michael flynn be taking the stage but army general, bert misasawa will be taking the sta stage. some of the themes he will be addressing is that veterans should be able to see whatever type of doctor they want, whether in the v.a. system or a private doctor. this certainly speaks to a number of people we have spoke to. one man retired from the navy, said he went to see a doctor and had problems 67. when trump started speaking to that, that really appealed to him and talking about the failed policies of democrats, fixing a very broken v.a. system. these are some of the things that donald trump will be addressing when he takes the stage an hour from now. wolf? >> joe johns, guys, thanks very

much. trump, as jason said, he will be taking the stage in virginia beach. trump will be joined by the former director of the defense intelligence agency, retired lieutenant general michael flynn, a senior adviser to donald trump. he also accompanies the republican nominee to the intelligence briefings that he receives now from the cia. i spoke with general flynn a little while ago. i asked him about the focus of trump's town hall next hour. >> the sole purpose is national security. we will discuss foreign policy and veterans issues and the readiness and the direction our military is going. it is a very stressed-out force. it will be a good set of topics we will be talking about with roughly somewhere between 1200-1500 people today in virginia beach. >> the trump campaign just released the list of 88 retired

generals and admirals supporting donald trump. you, i understand, played a role in collecting the signatures. is that right? >> here we are, wolf. i want to tell you that that list. we thought about this a couple weeks ago and one of the individuals on there who was a holocaust survivor as a child, is the one who came up with the idea. as soon as we got the word out to a bunch of people, that thing filled up quickly. frankly, we had to cut it off this weekend, because we wanted to make sure it broke this particular week. this is an important woeek for national security and for our military, particularly the commander-in-chief forum tomorrow. that list will grow. we are very, very happy with it. a lot of warriors on that list. a lot of people that care deeply about our country and the direction our country is going.

we are really appreciative of all the people that signed up. >> as you now, both romney and mccain had more than 300 retired generals and admirals who signed a similar list. >> what's notable this time, several high-ranking republican national security officials have not only not endorsed donald trump but they are staying out of it completely, condoleezza rice, henry kissinger, james baker, both bush presidents, george schultz, i should say. how disappointed are you? >> i would just say that the list of names on that particular letter that talks about donald trump, their belief of donald trump's ability to be commander-in-chief, those are all military retired flag officers, both admirals and generals. i think what you are referring to is, as the election went on for romney, he was able to secure some number right at the very, very end, right prior to

the election itself. i suspect we're going to get more endorsements from a variety of national security folks here in the coming weeks. i'm not going to compare apples and oranges, because these are two different times in our country and, frankly, right now, the state of play in the world, the complexity of the world that we face, these are some very serious times. the people that i know on that list, which are many of them, and have served with many of them, some very serious people that thought quite a bit about endorsing donald trump. they have all jumped on board. >> what about the silence from condoleezza rice, henry kissinger, george schultz and james baker, you must be so disappointed they are not endorsing donald trump? >> i kind of look at it personally, wolf, i sort of look at this as, there are people in the past, those are great names.

those are great people. i have met some of them. i know some of them. i would just say that everybody is going to be making their own decision as we go forward. i am less concerned about people that are looking at how we did things in the past. i am more concerned about people focusing on the future and the type of national security, the type of foreign policy, the type of military, the type of homeland security kind of issues that we must start looking at in a much, much different way. i think this election is an election of change. i think that the people of this country, the united states of america, want change, in a big way. that's what donald trump brings. >> donald trump often says illegal immigration is a national security issue itself. as you know, there is a lot of confusion right now over his plan for dealing with the millions of undocumented immigrants here in the united states. i want you to listen to what he

told reporters on his plane yesterday. >> can you rule out that one possibility in that determination is a bath way to legal status? >> no. to become a citizen, you are going to have to go out and come back in. >> a lot of republican plans have talked about letting people have legal status, to be able to live here, work here. people who have lived here for a long time and contributed to society? >> we are going to make that decision into the future. >> sola last week, he said, if u want legal status, you have to leave and reapply for entry. yesterday, he had a different suggestion saying we'll leave it to the future and see what happens down the road. so what is it? where does he stand? >> well, first of all, i had a very, very difficult time hearing that. here is my take on where the

immigration policy stands. this is about prioritizing those illegally -- those individuals who are illegally here in this country. i keep going back to the word undocumented. undocumented means they are here illegally, they have overstayed their visas or whatever it is, wolf. people that are hear illegally. i believe what donald trump has really laid out is a prioritization of the different groups of those illegal immigrants that are here. i think that's a really smart way to do it. he has talked about those that have committed violent crimes, in one case, we've looked at the sanctuary cities as another decision to make. i think that the prioritization of those who are here illegally is a very smart way to approach this in understanding that some of this is going to take time. we are looking at such a large number that have been allowed to come into our country illegally. i think prioritizing is really

what donald trump is talking about when he described that. at the end of the day, wolf, if you are here illegally, we have to get these people out of this country and allow them to come back in under a legal process that all the other immigrants that have come to this country and done so legally have taken. that process, i think it takes upwards of about 18 months. it has to be done through a legal means. if that means we have to fix that process, i think we're going to have to do that. so there is a lot of pieces to this thing. the only part that i would add back to your question p is that this is really about prioritizing those who are here illegally and making sure that we understand each of the categories of the people that are here. >> he is leaving open the possibility that some of them could actually get legal status here in the united states down the road without leaving the united states first. he is opening up that

possibility. >> again, i didn't quite hear what he said in the airplane there yesterday but i would say that that is something that should be considered. these are ideas that are coming out based on the sheer scale of the illegal problem we face in this country. each group that are herei illegally, are going to have to be looked at. we want to start with those that are the felons and get them out of this country as quickly as possible and get them returned to their countries of origin. on the other scale or end, maybe there are people who are here that have demonstrated over years an ability to be part of the country. they still have to go through a process that brings them into this country legally. they still have to go through that legalization process. >> they might not necessarily have to leave the country first. they might be able to go through

that process while remaining in the united states. is that right? >> that's possible. at this point in time, i would leave those specifics up to the people that i know that are looking at this particular problem very hard. the biggest thing is trying to figure out, wolf, the biggest challenge we have is our own country doesn't even know really how many people we have here illegally. necessary really sort of a stunning fact. we have to come to grips with that number first and really understand what we have, where they are, and then get into how we really want to categorize each of these different groups of people. it has to be smart. that's really what donald trump is talking about, a very, very, smart, imaginative, creative solution to solving this problem. we can not have a secure country if our boreders are not secure.

those people that worked their tails off to come in here legally, we have to protect that status as well. that's a very important process that people have worked very hard to make sure they do correctly. coming up, one of my interviews with retired lieutenant general michael flynn. i'll ask him what he considers the biggest strategic legal threat to the united states and what he, and donald trump would have done if the philippine president had insulted donald trump. we will also talk to a key clinton smotherer, the ranking member of the house intelligence committee, adam shift. you are looking at live pictures in tampa. hillary clinton getting ready to take the stanl thege there. we'll have coverage and much more coming up after this.

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you're looking at live pictures in virginia. donald trump is getting ready to speak to a town hall on national security issues and veterans issues. retired general, michael flynn, is a senior trump adviser. he will be moderating that. he accompanied trump to his first classified intelligence briefings as received from the cia.

i spoke with general flynn and i asked him what he learned from those briefings about the biggest threats facing the country? >> our economic health both nationally and internationally is weak right now. that is the single, biggest strategic problem that we face is our economic health of this country. what i came away in the couple of briefings that we have received, i really believe that cyberis, very blunt, it is eating our lunch every single day. we have to take a harder look at how we are working not only in government and trying to protect our own government infrastructure but the nation's critical infrastructure across the country, our electric grid, our telecommunications system, our health care system. so cyberis is a problem. we see nation state and

nonnation state actors coming at us every single day, multiple times a day. we have to build a much greater resiliency and we must figure out new ways of operating within the cyber domain. frankly, the government can take on a much greater role. it is going to require some imagination, some creativity and frankly a little bit morris ce in some of the areas where we conduct, maybe only defensively operations instead of offensive operations. we have to take a wider look at everything we are doing in the cyberdomain. that's clearly a problem our nation faces. >> is russia trying to use cyber warfare to interfere in the election process in the united states? you have heard the accusations. >> i don't know. you will have to ask the

government, our government, if that's the case. i don't know. what i know is that russia as a nation state has a significant capability in the world of cyber. we do know that russia does things like supports some cybertransnational organized criminal groups. the same on china as well. so these are sophisticated capabilities but, in terms of whether or not russia is involved in our election system right now, i don't know. you have to ask the russians. i would tell you that what we have to protect is we have to protect our political system as much as we have to protect our defense systems. right now, i feel like we are way behind in many areas, particularly in the capacity, what i would describe as the numbers of people we need in our own country.

there are some estimate that is we need between 700,000 and 1 million new workers in the field of cyber between now and 2025. we have a lot to do to get up to speed in this new domain of cyber. >> you heard president obama saying when it comes to cyber capabilities, the u.s. is by far the best and can deal with it defensively better than anyone and offensively better than anyone. it sounded to me like he was issuing a not so settle threat to the russians, chinese, north koreans, russians, whoever may be involved. you want to play this game? we can do it better than you. >> what was your reaction when you heard that. >> i am glad the president said something about it. i appreciate the fact that he is speaking up about this particular issue particularly with all the noise about potential influence of our

election process. so i'm glad the president said something. he needs to say something. he needs to say more about it. this is a very dangerous time we are in for the country as a whole beyond just cyber. some of the things that we talked about in these different briefings that we have received and some of the things that we know that you report on all the time, wolf, is just complex issues that we are dealing with with china, north korea, the south china sea, ukraine, the entire middle east is on fire right now and falling apart. places like north africa, afghanistan, which we have seemed to have forgotten about. we still have a large number of troops over there. they deserve to know we care deeply about them. we need to be talking about them as well. we need to make sure -- the people in this country need to understand we are facing a very, very complex, difficult time around the world. there are nation states that do

not see our way of life here in the united states as their way of life. we have to protect it. in order to achieve peace, we have to have a strong defense as donald trump likes to say. i think it is very important we take all of these things very seriously. we are able to juggle those in a very routine, matter of fact fashion. >> general, the president canceled a planned meeting with the president of the philippines after that philippine leader used some very vulgar words directed at president obama. here is what he said. >> the president of a sovereign state. >> basically called the president of the united states, according to some translations, an s.o.b. the president said, you can't go to a meeting with a guy like this. the u.s. has very strong treaty

obligations, treaty commitments with the philippines. how do you think donald trump would have responded if the philippine president had called him an s.o.b.? >> personally, i think it is better to go face guys like that and stand up to them. i would have probably gone personally, i'm talking personally. i would have probably gone there and called him an s.o.b. and then said, let's talk. we have to figure out how we are going to move forward. what we have to be very conscious of, wolf, is that china is making moves in the south china sea on some of these island parcels down there. in some cases, they may be working deals with the philippines. so the government of the philippines. we have to be very smart about how we deal internationally with some of these rulers, these presidents around the world. the president made his decision based on how he made his decision but i think that sometimes it is better to stand up to people who come across as bullies instead of backing down from them and walking away. this is not a time, wolf, around

the world where we can take our ball and go home. we have to confront the situations that exist around the world and the philippines right now, wolf, are in a very delicate position because of their geographic position along the south china sea there. we know publicly that china is making moves with the philippines to try to work something out. we do not want to lose the alliance that the united states of america has with the people of the government of the philippines. very important alliance. it goes back nearly 100 years. >> one more question. yesterday, donald trump said, if he had been president, and the chinese government treated him upon his arrival in china for the g-20 summit the way they treated president obama, not providing the proper stairs, not the proper red carpet, he would have told the pilot, take off and go back home. this is no way for an american president to be treated. was donald trump right in that

kind of analogy? >> yeah. i think he is. this is embarrassing for the united states of america. have some respect, have some respect for the office of the president of the united states of america, particularly a president who has had 7 1/2 years as the president. he is on probably his last trip to the far east there and into a g-20 summit. show some respect for him. >> general, you just said that donald trump, the president should have gone ahead with that meeting with the philippine president even though he called him an s.o.b., because too much was at stake. now, you are saying the president should have left china because the proper stairs were not given to air force one when it arrived there, even though the g-20 leaders were all waiting on critically important issues to meet with him. isn't that a contradiction? >> no, it is not a contradiction. look at the context and the timing of when that happened.

that was at the very beginning, these statements from the philippine president. they have been in the last 24 hours or so. there are some timing issues there. we have been the best enemies and the worst friends around the world and we have got to stop being both of those, wolf. we have to stop telegraphing everything that we are going to do when it comes to fighting our enemies and we have to stand up with some of the friends that we have around the world. otherwise, nation states, countries like china, russia, they will not hold the level of respect for you personally, mr. president, or for this country. that's something we can not afford to happen. >> general flynn, thank you so much for joining us? >> thanks, wolf, appreciate it. democratic presidential candidate, hillary clinton, gave

her first conference as she told it. she took aim at donald trump focusing in on his failure to release his tax returns. >> harks everybody. i had so much fun yesterday. i did want to do this again. adventures on the plane. i just want to start by referencing something that donald trump told abc news. he said that the american people don't care about his tax returns in fact, he has also said it is none of our business. i just think he is dead -- >> clearly, we have got to cue that tape up. it just happened moments ago. that's precisely what we are going to do. we are going to play for you the entire exchange that hillary clinton had with the reporters aboard her plane.

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welcome back. we're standing by. we have the tape of hillary clinton. she just answered a whole bunch of questions aboard her plane on her flight from new york down to florida. we're going to play that tape. she really goes after donald trump and a whole host of issues, including his refusal to

release his tax returns, among other issues. we're going to get to that tape in a moment. adam schiff is with us, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, democrat from california. i want to get your reaction to what we just heard from retired li lieutenant michael flynn, former head of the defense agency. what stood out to you? >> what stood out to me, you asked him about not meeting with the philippines president and trump's claim he would have taken air force one away. flynn made it clear he believed we should stand up to bullies. when you asked him about putin, he wasn't willing to say the man's name or showed no willingness to talk about russia's involvement in hacking, for someone who has leaned so far forward in accusations. it was very notable he was unwilling to take on russia and

their cyberactivity. it speaks a lot to flynn's own relationship with russian tv, the kremlin mouthpiece as well as the whole trump's campaign's affection for the russian dictator. >> when you say flynn's relationship on russian tv, what do you mean by that? >> this is someone that is seen on russian television, the propaganda arm of putin, the kremlin. to go to moscow to say at times things disparaging of the united states, i think shows a closeness to the russians. this is a candidate that has talked disparaging about nato and speaks flatteringly of putin. the fact that the trump campaign is so infused with people that have a favorable opinion of this bully. flynn, when you invited him to

confront that bully, wasn't willing to. he was willing to talk about the philippine president but not talk about someone who may be actively trying to involve ourselves in this. >> what is the point you are trying to make about general flynn? what's the point you are suggesting about his relationship with the russian government? >> i think general flynn like so many surrounding trump and trump himself has a rosy view of vladmir putin. when he is asked to talk about russia's interference, he doesn't take the opportunity to talk about it. he said, i don't know anything about that. >> what is the answer to that? are the russians directly interfering in the u.s. election process? >> on the basis of the public information, that he ought to be aware of, that i'm certainly aware of, there is very strong

evidence of the russians hacking into the dnc and into ccc. there is very clear motivation for them to be behind the dumping of information as well. we have seen them undertake this process in europe. the fact that flynn is unwilling to talk about it tells me that the trump campaign is just too much in the corner of vladmir putin. that is very much against our national security interest. i would love to ask those people who sign that letter on behalf of the trump campaign, those retired flag officers of what they think of trump's disparagement of nato and putin. >> do you believe the russians are interfering, hacking, if you will, dnc computers, dccc computers, hillary clinton's campaign, because they want donald trump to be the next president of the united states? is that your suspicion. >> my suspicion based on the public information, which is very powerful, is that the

russians want to interfere in our elections. they want to sew discord. they don't want to see hillary clinton because they know she can maintain sanctions against them and can build support for international sanctions. it is as much about disrupting an discrediting american democracy. we are in a fight over eye yas. they are holing up their authoritarian model. we are holding up the democratic model. >> adam schiff is the ranking member of the house intelligence committee. thanks for coming in. up next, we are standing by for hillary clinton. she is getting ready to take the stage for a campaign rally. once she is on the stage, much more right after this.

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right now, keeping an eye on tampa, florida, where hillary clinton is expected to take the stage for a live event. we are watching the stage in virginia beach, virginia, where donald trump is getting ready to take part in a national security town hall. dana bash is here and susan page from the washington bureau chief for "usa today." and ryan lizza, our cnn political commentator. everyone, stand by. we have the tape on the flight to florida. hillary clinton answered reporters questions and she was very tough on donald trump. i just want to start about referencing something that donald trump told abc news. he said that the american people don't care about his tax

returns. in fact, he has also said it is none of our business. i just think he is dead wrong. the reason presidential candidates going back decades have released their tax returns is because the american people want to know. if they are going to entrust a president with the management of our country's finances, any want to know how did this person handle his or her own finances, which is one of the reasons why we've released 40 years of tax returns. it's specially important given what we are discovering, not from trump himself, but from the kind of work that many of you are doing and your outlets are doing. what have we learned? we have learned that donald trump has been bankrupt in his company six times. he has been sued about 4,000

times. he has been accused repeatedly of fraudulent behavior. his so-called trump university is under investigation right now because of the way it has scammed so many students who thought they would get a better opportunity in life p we'. we've recently learned his trump foundation has been fined for illegal activity when it made a political contribution to the attorney general of florida at the time she was being asked by her constituents investigate trump university because of the effects these people she is responsible for had experienced. as we know, there was a phone

conversation between them. they contradict each other. the american people deserve to know what was said. clearly, the attorney general did not proceed with the investigation. the list is growing. "the washington post" has a long list of many of the behaviors, the experiences, the activities that trump is engaged in that raise serious questions. "the new york times" discovered about $650 million owed to foreign banks and foreign entities. we know about his relationships with the kremlin, his own and those of people with whom he has worked. truly the list goes on and on, the scams, the frauds, the questionable relationships, the business activities that have stiffe

small businesses. so clearly his tax returns tell a story that an american people deserve and need to know. and his continuing claim that he can't release his tax returns because he is under audit has been disproved repeatedly. and so the question really is, will he abide by the precedent that everyone else -- republican and democrat alike -- have fulfilled in providing that critical information to the american people. i think the burden is on him, and indeed for the rest of us in the campaign, on our side, the press, the public, to demand what a big majority of the american public says they want, which is for him to release his tax returns. so i'm going to continue to raise this because i think it is a fundamental issue about him in

this campaign that we're going to talk about in one way or another for the next 62 days because he clearly has something to hide. we don't know exactly what it is, but we're getting better guesses about what it probably is. and if he's going to pursue this campaign, he owes it to the american people to come clean and release those tax returns. so we'll take some questions. >> with that, let's start with generate here. >> hi, jen. do you think that you are held to a different -- [ inaudible question ] -- more broadly, jason chaffetz today asked a judge to look into the deletion of your e-mails, he

said he is doing another hearing concerning foia on thursday. are you concerned they're just going to continue to dig in to you and are you waerd thorried you win, they are going to keep doing that? >> jen, that's a very good question. jen basically said i think there is a different standard for trump, and do i think that a lot of these issues that are raised about trump are dismissed because somehow the american public has factored in to their assessment of him that that's the kind of guy he is. and a lot of this behavior coming from him seems to be expected somehow. and that's fine if you're a reality tv star or you're a real estate developer. i don't think it is fine if you want to be president of the united states. and i could only say, look, this is not new to me. you could go back and look at a lot of what has been said about me by so many people, going back

25 years. and so it's something that i just accepted. when i'm in office, i work well with republicans and i believe as president i will work well with republicans again. we have a long archive of quite complimentary comments that republicans who have worked with me have said over the years. and i think we should do more to get those out, nick, because they come from the center to the far right in terms of people who i worked with as first lady. i worked with as senator. i worked with as secretary of state. i know how to work with republicans. i believe we can get results when i am president. but i have no doubt that they would prefer not to have another democratic president in the white house. and so i'm running for this job. i believe i'm the best person for this job and they're going to keep coming after me.

and your example about the congressman calling for more hearings is just a perfect segue. because the fbi resolved all of this. their report answered all the questions. the findings included debunking his latest conspiracy theories. i believe i have created so many jobs in the sort of conspiracy theory machine factory because honestly, they never quit. they keep coming back. here's another one. it's been debunked. if that's how they want to spend their time instead of looking to address the problems of the american people, that's their choice. but when i'm president, we're going to get down to business and we're going to get results. [ inaudible ] you know what? i can't speak for what they want to do. you think they'd have learned a lesson from this campaign. why did someone come from the

outside and seize their nomination who had never been in public service before, with the kind of record he has of bankruptcies and fraud allegations and all kinds of questions about his deals and who finances him. because clearly republicans were not producing results for people who support them. and i think that's what one of the results of this election will be. you don't keep doing the same thing in politics over and over again when it's not working. and it is clearly not working for a lot of the republicans. those who are in safe districts are looking over their shoulder right now. so i think that they're going to have to come to the conclusion that maybe they should actually produce results for the american people and not engage in all of this partisan conspiracy theorizing that doesn't put one more good job for anybody on the table, doesn't educate a kid, doesn't improve health care,

doesn't do anything other than try to keep people agitated so that they can take advantage of them politically. hillary clinton speaking to reporters aboard her plane. second day in a row she's gone to the back of the plane to meet with the press. dana batch, ryan lizza, susan paige still with us. she was very tough, reinforcing the whole notion why hasn't donald trump released his tax returns. >> this is a benefit of talking to the press. you can take questions and you're going to get tough questions, but you also can try to set the agenda. and it is very clear that one of the main reasons she came back today is to set the agenda and she said it point-blank, to say she is going to keep talking about the fact that donald trump hasn't released his taxes. by the candidate herself doing that, in this kind of forum, it is going to keep the pressure on donald trump, but more importantly, i think, going back

to our poll today that shows that donald trump, not hillary clinton, is seen as by far the most trustworthy and promise, she's trying to turn that on its head saying, hey, wait a minute, he's not getting the same kind of scrutiny that i am. we don't know anything about his personal finances. we should be asking that question and she will continue to try to do so to flip those numbers around. >> ryan? what was your reaction? >> i agree with dana it is a bit of a shift. strategy from a month where basically the clinton m.o. was to let donald trump step in a lot of misstatements and bad news cycles. all of a sudden it is after labor day and there are two polls in a row that show a tightening race. there is no doubt her convention bump is gone. the race has gone from high single digits to sort of mid to low single digits. and that may -- i think she's now going to engage a little bit more forcefully and has decided that she needs to come out and

hit him a little harder and not just let trump mess up on his own which was part of the strategy in august. because the polls show a tightening race that must be extremely concerning to democrats waking up to that cnn poll this morning. >> susan, i know it shook up a lot of democrats, including some people in the hillary clinton orbit, if you will. susan, that poll that came out, cnn/orc poll shows a slight advantage right now among likely voters for donald trump. >> hillary clinton has definitely lost that bounce she got from the democratic convention. we're in this new phase after labor day. we are also three weeks out from the first debate. one thing you heard from hillary clinton in these comments to reporters was trying to outline, sparring, if you will preparation for the debates and see what kind of attack might get under his skin and get him to react in that first debate at hofstra on the 26th. this is the next big event we know is coming. there may be no bigger event in

this election than that debate. >> how ugly is it going to be? >> i think -- well, this has been a campaign of attack and counterattack. it is hard to remember a campaign that has been as relentlessly negative as this one. i think there is no reason to expect that that first debate won't just increase, just intensify the attacks we've heard from each of these on the other. each wants this election to be a referendum on the other diguy. >> you agree, dana? >> oh, absolutely. but i agree the stakes are much higher in these debates for hillary clinton because the expectations are higher for her because she is a seasons politician, she is a seasoned debater. we saw donald trump in the primaries debate for the first time, but he is a first-time politician. for lots of reasons, maybe it is not fair but it is the way it is, the onus is onner had. >> standing by to hear from hillary clinton. she's got a rally that she's

going to be addressing momentarily down in florida. donald trump is got a town hall on national security in virginia. lots more live coverage coming up right here on cnn. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. the news continues right now on cnn. here we go, top of the hour. you are watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. breaking news here, we have now some tape showing hillary clinton on board her plane slamming trump for saying no one cares that he's not releasing his tax returns. this happened on board her brand-new 737. the one that now also transported her own press pool. let's go straight to joe johns first up here, standing by in tampa, florida where secretary clinton is set to start her campaign moment there any minute from now. let's backtrack to this gaggle. that's what we call it. on board this plane. she had