hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you're watching from irnd a the world, thanks very much for joining us. there is now less than a month until election day in the u.s. presidential race. we are clearly now in the home stretch. a new nbc news "washington journal" poll just out conducted this weekend shows hillary clinton up 11 points nationally over donald trump. this poll done after the release of the 2005 "access hollywood" tape that captures trump speaks explicitly about women but done before last night's presidential debate. it last night's second presidential debate is any indication, it's going to be a rocky and nasty final few weeks. >> hello. hello. hello. >> -- this was locker room talk. i'm not proud of it. i appaologized to my family. i apologized to the american people. essential i'm not proud of it, but this is locker room talk.

>> yes, this is who donald trump is. >> but if i win, i am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception -- >> it's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of donald trump is not in charge of the law in our country. >> because you'd be in jail. >> secretary clinton -- >> okay, donald. i know you're into big diversion tonight, anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it's exploding and the way republicans are leaving you -- >> honest abe never lied. the good thing. the big difference between abraham lincoln and you. >> right now we're watching the stage in charlotte, north carolina. that's a key battleground state where republican vice presidential candidate mike pence is scheduled to appear any minute now. while there have been rumors out

there that governor pence was considering dropping off the ticket, he clarified his stance this morning. >> that's absolutely false. to suggest that at any point in time we considered dropping off this ticket. it's the greatest honor 6 my life to have been nominated by my party to be the next vice president of the united states of america. >> and coming up next hour, hillary clinton will make her first postdebate appearance in detroit, michigan. while donald trump hits the campaign trail later today in pennsylvania. after days of defections by republican lawmakers, did donald trump's performance in last night's debate stop the bleeding? several prominent members of congress dropped their support over lewd comments from the party's presidential candidate, and just a little while ago, a conference call between republican house members wrapped up led by the house speaker paul ryan. our senior political reporter manu raju joins us now from st. louis. manu what are you hearing about this conference call with the speaker of the house, clearly

this is breaking news? >> reporter: it really is. paul ryan, of course, as you know, aegonized oesh donald trump initially not endorsing donald trump when he came the presumptive nominee, later coming to terms with trump and later defending trump. in recent weeks more on the trump bandwagon calling for a unified congress, a binary choice between hillary clinton and donald trump, we we should get behind donald trump. well, he's not defending donald trump anymore. a private conference call paul ryan said he's done defending donald trump, will not campaign with donald trump and told his members you all need to do what's best for your district. what paul ryan will focus on in the next month, keeping control of the republicans, need a check

on a possible hillary clinton presidency. this message dlivg forwaelivere members not received well. he received a lot of pushback. districts with a lot of trump supporters saying you're helping hillary clinton taking this stance. given the supreme court potentially to hillary clinton, and we need to do more to help donald trump. one member, i'm told, the better donald trump does the better house republicans do, and it's "not rocket science." the house speaker didn't really push back on these members, i'm told. he did say he was not going to unendorse donald trump. at least not at this moment. sounds like he's probably still going to vote for donald trump but doing nothing to defend him, not going to campaign with him and clearly it just shows, wolf, how difficult of a position republican leaders find themselves in as donald trump continues to make controversial comments and particularly in the aftermath of that rather lewd

tape leaked over the weekend, wolf. >> and manu, the statement put out by a paul ryan's spokeswoman, strong, read it to our viewers, the speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities. the working assumption is that paul ryan is now assuming that hillary clinton is going to be the next president of the united states, and he doesn't want her to have a republican majority in the house and a republican majority in the senate. is that what he's assuming? >> reporter: that's what a lot of members who got off the call, several of whom i spoke with afterwards, took that message away, that paul ryan is essentially conceding the white house to hillary clinton, but i should caution, the ryan camp is pushing back pretty aggressively on that. they are saying, there was no concession whatsoever. paul ryan did not try to make that, leave members with that impression. he did not say that donald trump cannot win, but he did make

clear that he does need the republicans to stay in control of congress, in order to be a check on a potential clinton administration. assuming if she does win they need to keep control of congress, why he wants to focus the next month keeping control of congress. barnstorming the country in difficult house races and doing so with senate republicans as were well. that's his focus and does not want to be in political division with the top of his tinchts thanks very much. for more on trump's debate performance and turmoiled into the republican party, bring in our political panel. carol lee, and cnn politics editor wanna sommers with us as well. the speaker will spend all his time trying to maintain the republican majority in the house of presentatives, meaning in effect not spending any time trying to get donald trump elected? >> i don't see today as that big

a development, because to me it's a distinction without a difference, in essence. he essential he spent the last six months since the spring only focused on keeping the republican majority. raising money nor house and senate candidates and others and hasn't really said or done much publicly for donald trump besides appearing at the convention and answering question when asked by cnn, and others. he said today he can't -- the republicans can't give hillary clinton a blank check. using those words in fund-raising e-mails for month. to me, not as big a deal. >> supposed to remember, this past saturday, was going to welcome donald trump to wisconsin together with the governor and a senator. have a big deal there, but after the tape by the "washington post," the "access hollywood" tape came out, he cancelled. disinvited him from coming to wisconsin. >> and that there is the big deal. so now, you know, all things equal, they have not campaigned

together. they will not campaign together and he will not withdraw his endorsement because he takes seriously his role as essentially the senior republican in the land, and that as if the party overall is doing that and no plans at this hour to do that. >> what is the message, carol, paul ryan is sending to republicans? >> hard to read that any other way than they this donald trump has lost the race and needs to take care of what's most important to him. maintaining republican control of thes house. i also think you can't underestimate the republicans are worried that more will come out like this. the fact he's saying he is not going to defend donald trump anymore is significant. what happened over the weekend, there is concern that what else is out there? what's it going to be next week? going to be the week after that? and so i think you're just seeing him doing what he has been doing, but actually saying it very explicitly. >> the working assumption is,

and they're aid frayed fraid ofe video and audiotapes to come out that will embarrass them. >> absolutely. the big concern. a lot of republicans are fearful of that especially in r50e67ece polling. if we'd had the conversation three, four months ago, talking ak republicans losing seats one thought safe in the house would be youd landish. now a new normal you have a nominee with these kind of crude comments about women that are out there, and i think that if you're to hear more of that, you're likely to see the polls get worse and worse. we're in a critical period before the ease leshgs, no room for error for the republicans. >> and a new "washington journal" and news poll, 11-point advantage for hillary clinton over donald trump. hillary clinton, 45%. 35% for donald trump. pretty low. that's going to send a powerful 34e6g to republicans as well?

>> it is. i think that's part of why you saw ryan do what he did today. he sensed it was coming. pretty evident overnight friday into saturday and into sunday this was raez eresonating and would cause trouble ameng women voters. do what you do in your own district, he said that today, is important. about 20 races republicans are on the bubble. under threat. more so today than friday morning. so you will probably see those ones pretty quickly come up with some kind of answer that either said i'm not voting for him. he should apologize again or something along those lines. there are more hard right conservative republicans in this caucus saying they're upsets with this decision. that makes sense. their districts are deep red, and that's where donald trump enjoys big support. will cause greater fissures within the caucus. >> and seem to be onboard after the debate performance. reince priebus going out speaking enthusiastically about

donald trump, even though he condemned in harsh terms that videotape. >> they seem to be onbard so far. hearing that publicly. questions swirling around yesterday whether or not they would remove resources away from the trump campaign. instead funnel those into down ballot races effectively and joint fund-raising agreement the party has with the presidential nominee. expecting to hear more out of the rnc. a call scheduled later this evening. more answers what they plan to da and whether or not they plan to continue to back their nominee. >> how successful, carol, was donald trump last night, in the presidential debate in addressing the issue of that awful 2005 videotape? >> well, that's a good question, because this poll indicates, first early sign that this is actually really -- >> this poll taken before the debate last night. right. >> but it was -- before the debate, definitely taken at least after the friday night release? >> and then you saw donald trump do last night was double down on this locker room talk line, and

i don't think that that -- that didn't make a lot of his people who want him to apologize more full-throatedly happy and not clear that's something that's going to play with women. >> let me play that exchange with anderson cooper. listen to this. >> are you saying what you said on that bus 11 years ago, that you did not actually kiss women without consent or grope women without consent? >> i have great respect for women. nobody has more respect for women than i do so you're saying you -- >> you hear the things i said. i was embarrassed by it, but i have tremendous respect for women. >> have you ever done those things? >> and i will tell you, no, i have not. >> what did you think of that exchange? >> i thought that, know, he said he had never done that. well, you know, now everyone will be digging into whether or not that's actually true. so there's that question. and -- but saying that this is locker room talk is not -- again, it goes back to his initial way of apologizing which

was a half apology, and then did something a little more meaningful, and now back to doing this locker room talk, which tells me and everybody else that that's really how he thinks about this. >> what was your reaction when you heard it, juana? >> to me sounded like he was diverting attention away from himself. said it's locker room. brought up indiscretions of past president bill clinton. sounded like a child would say. did a bad thing. sorry about that, but look what this person did over here? that thing is really bad, too. came across -- for a candidate who did one of the recent quinnipiac polls, 25% with women. i don't think it's going away. >> quickly after his apology went on the offensive against bill clinton. >> right. >> what he did many years ago. watch this. >> if you look at bill clinton, far worse. mine are words and his was

action. his was what he's done to women, there's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that's been so abusive to women. so -- you can say any way you want to say it, but bill clinton was abusive to women. hillary clinton attacked those same women. >> and as you know, the "washington post" reported initially that the trump campaign wanted some of those women who made those accusations against bill clinton to not only sit up front blaut what was described as the family box last night. the organization for the presidential debate said, not happening. >> right. and thwarted really at the 11th hour. at the verge of doing it and debate experts stepped in. an interesting argument and there's been plenty of polling done to suggest that that will not resonate well overall. serm will resonate and probably stops the bleeding for him among most ardent supporters and

diehard republicans who have waited 24 years to see a republican go toe-to-tow, face-to-face with a clinton and bring up this stuff. the rest of the country, look at polling, doesn't want to talk about it, doesn't care and knows the distinction between bill clinton and hillary clinton. >> a lot more to assess. stay with us. a split on syria. donald trump saying he doesn't agree with his running mate on a key foreign policy issue. >> he and i haven't spoken and i disagree. >> you disagree with your running mate? >> i think we have to knock out isis. and standing by to hear from donald trump's running mate mike pence in a town hall in north carolina. stay with us. we'll be right back. if you have medicare

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that just tastes better. with more vitamins. and 25% less saturated fat. only eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. donald trump contradicts his own presidential running mate on key issue. the war on syria. what trump said last night and how pence explained it here this morning on cnn. >> he and i haven't spoken and i disagree. >> you disagree with your running mate. >> swe have to knock out isis. -- syria's no longer syria. syria is russia and iran.

>> i believe we have to get isis. we have to worry about isis before we can get too much more involved. >> the question i had, and you can check the transcript, so can viewers, was about the humanitarian crisis in aleppo and what we ought to do. donald trump's position, our position, we need to establish safe zones and be willing to use resources and including military power to secure those safe zones to allow those people including 100,000 children to be able to evacuate. last night she conflated that and referred to general provocation and involvement by the russians in the syrian regime, and, you know, donald trump's made it clear. our policy is safe zones for people suffering in syria. >> all right. bring back our panel. carol lee, white house reporter for the "washington journal." ed o'keefe, political reporter for the "washington post" and cnn politics editor juana summers. i wanted, before we get to

conversation on this, i want to play a clip. mike pence just a few moments ago speaking about trump and the debate last night. >> -- but i've got to tell you, i xrojoined this campaign in a heartbeat, because you have nominated a man for president who never quits. who never backs down. she a fighter. he is a winner. and we will make america great again when we make donald trump the 45th president of the united states of america. you know, donald trump, i truly believe, saw it last night on the debate stage. he literally embodies the spirit of america. strong -- freedom-loving -- independent -- optimistic -- and willing to fight every day for what he believes in and what makes this nation great.

you saw that on the stage last night. you know, it take as big man to know when he's wrong. and to admit it. and to have the humility to apologize and be transparent and be vulnerable with people, and donald trump last night showed that he's a big man. and i was on television this morning on msnbc. i think it was that one. it was on a few. somebody asked me about my faith. they asked me about the fact that i say that i'm a christian. and the wake of the last few days, what i made of everything, and i -- i'll tell you what, i welcomed the opportunity. other than -- other than that woman standing next to me, my

wonderful wife karen, the most important decision in my life was when i made a decision for christ in 1978. it's made all the difference. and i was happy to explain on that television program that i'm a believer. and my faith informs me tweer hold up a godly standard and aspire to live godly lives, but also informs me that we all fall short. we all fall short of the glory of god. that there's no one righteous. other than the one. you know, as i said last weekend, i don't condone what was said and i spoke out against it, but the other part of my faith is, i believe in grace. i've received it. i believe in it. i believe in forgiveness. and we're called to forgive as we have been forgiven and last night my running mate, he showed

the american people what was in his heart. he showed humility. to the american people. and then he fought back and turned the focus to the choice that we face, and i'm proud to stand with donald trump. [ cheers and applause ] because i've got to tell you, everybody, this election, it's not just -- it's not just a choice between two people. it's a choice between two futures. and i want to say to all of my friend here in north carolina, i choose a stronger america at home and abroad. i choose a more prosperous america. i choose an america that stands up for the constitutional principles that made this nation

great. i choose to stand with donald trump, and every american who believes we can make america great again! because despite off the dall of distractions this election is about bigger things. truly is. about security, prosperity, about the stream cousupreme cou united states and having the highest standards of inftegrity in the highest office in the land. they tend to get lost in the th. the issues that matter most to the citizens of america. and the ones to talk to your neighbors about in the next 29 days.

first on the subject of our security. despite traveling millions of miles as our secretary of state, the world is more dangerous today than the day that barack obama bb and hillary clinton took over our foreign policy. our allies less secure, enemies more emboldened. we cannot have four more years apologizing to our enemies and abandoning our friends. it's so important to understand. 7.5 years of the foreign policy of barack obama and hillary clinton has weakened america's place in the world, and literally resulted in the wider middle east virtually spinning apart. remember, the number one priority that hillary clinton expressed when she became secretary of state was a reset with russia. and shortly after she hit that little red button in a press conference, a newly -- a new he emboldened russia invaded

ukraine. took over crimea and they have a foothold now and renewed alines in syria, and in iran. it truly is extraordinary to think of the failure of this administration. but it's not just an emboldened russia. china is literally building islands in the south china sea, north korea firing ballistic missiles and testing nuclear weapons. you know, history teaches us the weakness arouses evil. and donald trump and i know that the weak and feckless foreign policy of hillary clinton and barack obama of leading from behind, moving red lines, faynifayne i feigning a reset are all a testament to this truth of history. the truth is, there's a couple of things that are very much on -- were on her ajegenda and r

responsibility. hillary clinton instituted a disastrous agreement with the mullahs in iran. in my debate a week ago her running mate was actually boasting of the agreement. you know when mr. hayes and i were in the congress we worked together to pass unish sanctions on iran and objective of which was that the punishing economic sanctions would stay in place until iran permanently abandoned its nuclear ambitions. secretary clinton transferred $150 billion to the iranians only for a delay in their ambitions and during the period of the agreement once it comes off, no restrictions will be in place. and we're still, it was -- this administration, and the deal that hillary clinton initiated that resulted in delivering on the day that four americans were preleased from captivity, 400 million in cash was delivered on

a palette as a ransom payment to the radical mullahs in iran. >> we'll continue to monitor mike pence delivering his stump speech now. clearly the first speech he has delivered publicly since that friday night release of that videotape from "access hollywood." the very vile words that donald trump uttered on that videotape. let's get back to our panel right now. you know, it's interesting. it also takes place after he said something very extraordinary, donald trump, last night at the presidential debate, when the whole issue of, martha rbrought up, referring t mike pence, trump said, okay. he and i haven't spoken, and i disagree. i disagree. ed, how unusual is it for the presidential candidate to publicly tell everyone he hasn't spoken with his vice presidential running mate on such a sensitive issue and i disagree with him? >> unprecedented.

then again this whole exercise has been that and the fact he would do it on a debate stage with about 60 million people watching i think is a sign of maybe what little regard he may have for pence. the campaign jumped at it, said, no, no, no. they've talked and, in fact, kellyanne conway, campaign manager tweeted earlier in the day a photo reportedly showing trump speaking with pence on the plane on his way to st. louis. pence has said, you know, we've talked about these things and claimed this morning there wasn't necessarily disagreement, but clearly different things said, and i think pence made clear last week in his debate that there were differences with trump on this and, look, even the way talk be just now. he's talking much more aggressively about taking on iran and the economic sanctions that should be in place and the deal cut with the u.s., and the european countries and iran. last night trump was essentially crediting iran for working with russia and the assad regime to take on isis and not talking necessarily -- you think editorial. >> much more hard-line on the russians than trump clearly is. but now we're getting the first

response, juana, from donald trump to paul ryan, the speaker of the house. and i'll read it. he just tweeted his favorite venue, shall we say -- paul ryan should pend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting republican nominee. there you see the tweet from donald trump. there's a feud now that openly surfaced between the top republican in congress and the republican nominee. >> absolutely. i think if anything could be predictable, this election cycle, it would be that donald trump would respond and something like that pointing out that he is of the people. he is not a creature of establishment, washington, which i think is what he and advisers tried to assert of folks in the party like house speaker paul ryan. so not surprised at all at his response. the question is, will there continue to be a back and form between top republicans like paul ryan and donald trump? one thing that struck me watching the debate, if donald trump was campaigning for the republican nomination, a great

debate. hit all the red meat that works for the conservative base. end of the day he needs to bring new people into the fold. seen that sfuning 11-point margin in the nbc "washington journal" poll and i don't think that's the way to do that. twitter on what i'd of the aisle he's on. >> and trump's performance in the debate at least stopped the bleeding within that republican base with the speaker what the speaker did today, carol, telling other members and republican members of the house of representatives, you know what? i'm not going to go out there and work for this guy. i'm not going to go out there support this guy. you guys do whatever you think is going to help you get elected, re-elected, if you will. but that bleeding continues. >> it clearly with the speaker of thes house, and what we're seeing here is kind of the rounding out of the paul ryan/donald trump relationship. remember how it started? which was, you know, donald trump not -- criticizing paul ryan, because paul ryan was playing footsie and wasn't sure

whoa support him and now tried to make it work a while and clearly it's not working and if there's a very, a distinct separation. >> will we see, ed, more republicans, for example, in the house of representatives and the senate for that matter walk away from donald trump? >> what we'll have to see, i think if you're a vulnerable senator, republican senator, who hasn't weighed in by now, questionable. most of them have in one way or the other. you saw john mccain and kelly ayotte, thanks, no thanks. no longer supportering. >> jason chaffetz. >> from utah. through the rest of today and tomorrow, probably hear again from those more vulnerable members who are in sort of races on the bubble. elise stefanik, from the adirondacks in new york tried to hug the line in the middle there. she may break one way or the other. other races across new york state, frankly, that are, you might think of. probably some members down in florida. out in the midwest.

probably have to think about this and think hard what exactly they should be doing and saying, as ryan and greg walden, chairman of the national republican congressional committee said today, do your polling. figure it out for yourselves and we understand that you're got to dot what you've got to do and got look, vulnerable republicans, look at these national polls including the "washington journal" nbc poll that just came out within the past hour showing 11-point lead nationally right now for donald trump, and going to say, you know what? maybe i should think about myself and run away from this train? >> absolutely. that same poll showed democrats with a seven-point edge on the question which party voters prefer to control congress which is according that their story the largest gap in four democrats, largest advantage for democrats, rather, 2009. polls will come out to tell what the races look like, is control of the house, perhaps, at stake? or more vulnerable senators than we expected? >> and donald trump said

something extraordinary last night as well, when he said that, if he's elected president of the united states he will have his justice department name a special prosecutor to revive potential charges against hillary clinton, and at one point was going back and forth and said if he was president, she would be in jail. i mean, the notion of, i mean -- the former attorney general, eric holder, he tweeted this. he was president obama the attorney general, supporter of hillary clinton said this -- in the usa we do not threaten to jail political opponents. donald trump said he would. he is promising to abuse the power of the office. >> it was a really extraordinary moment. it was -- you have not heard anything like that from a republican or democratic nominee for president. and you -- you know, you know this, because you cover the white house, at different times. and the white house, the president of the united states is, the role, maintain a bit of a distance.

you would not order something like that. even in any scenario. and so it's something that i think will probably get paid more attention to once we move a little past the "access hollywood" tape and it's really significant and says a lot about how donald trump thinks and sees his opponents, i don't any ever a case in american history. >> no. >> where a presidential candidate of one party said if i'm elected, the other candidate is going to jail. >> no. absolutely not. uncharted territory. a lot of people saying, you know, this is the definition of fascism. what has happened in other countries where the guy wins and puts his opponents in jail or guy organizing the coup is flown jail by the dictator. it is stunning. and it is unprecedented. and yet again, from a crass political perspective, what he did and said last night is exactly what so many real dyed in the wool ultra conservative have wanted a presidential candidate to do and say to the face of a clinton for more than 20 years, and they got it last

night. that's great. but it will do nothing most likely to help him win the election. >> it plays to that base, that very conservative base of the republican party that he's trying to consolidate but needs a lot more than that, juana, if elected president. he's got to go beyond that base? >> absolutely does. important it look at the areas trump is losing in terms of polls poorly with women. hillary clinton is beginning to catch him among men. saw a recent poll putting them with a one-point difference among white men i believe it was. huge if you look at past electoral results. one of the things republicans have to look at moving forward. how to broaden the base, bring in independents, undecideds, bring them into the fold and that language that ed described. i don't think that does the trick with many of the groups that donald trump needs to win over. >> the other set of issues, sensitive issue, our own anderson cooper pressed donald trump on that $916 billion tax loss that he took in one year in the 1990s.

and the suggestion the netanyahu reported that for maybe 19 years wouldn't have to pay any federal income tax. listen to that exchange. >> did you use that $916 million loss to avoid paying personal federal income taxes -- >> of course i do. of course i do. >> can you say how much years you avoided paying personal income tax? >> no. but i pay tax and i pay federal tax, too. >> sort of unclear whether he paid any federal income tax as a result of that $916 billion loss. >> right, but again he said of course i do. of course i did that. so that feeds this perception he is not paying taxes in a way that most americans would like the president of their, of the country to contribute, and i think that the polls show that this is an issue that matters. that people care about this issue, and if you step back and look broadly, hard to see one thing that donald trump said or did last night that moved people who already weren't in his camp,

and that is what he needed 20 to do and needs to do if he wins the election. this is just another example of that. >> an extremely rough, tough and occasionally very ugly presidential debate last night. except for the last question. the last question that came up in that debate when someone stood up and asked both of these presidential candidates to say something nice about the competition. let me play the clip. >> i respect his children. his children are incredibly able and devoted, and i think that says a lot about donald. >> i consider that a compliment. i will say this about hillary -- she doesn't quit. she doesn't give up. i tlap. respect that. i tell it like it is. she's a fighter. i disagree with much of what she's fighting for. i do disagree with her judgment in many cases, but she does fight hard, and she doesn't quit, and she doesn't give up

and i consider that to be a very good trait. >> and at the end they wound up shaking hands, which is something they pointedly did not do 90 minutes earlier when the debate started. >> right. and john podesto told your bryanna keilar that was intention to send a message she was not pleased with the tone of things. you could almost hear and audible, like -- ah -- when that question was asked. so tense in there. even watching, you could sense how tense it was and one of the only light moments of the evening. >> probably the only one. good they they did it. we needed it. >> and i was expecting her to say i don't have anything nice to say about him and for him 20 say, i don't have anything nice to say -- but they stepped up and ended it on 0 more positive note and finally shook hands. guys, thank you very, very much. coming up, reaction pouring into trump's reaction to jail hillary clinton if elected

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don't wait. call now. we expect to hear from hillary clinton next hour in detroit, michigan. that will be her first campaign appearance after last night's very contentious presidential debate, but after the face-off in her plane leaving st. louis, hillary clinton said she was happy and felt great. maybe one reason why, a new nbc news "washington journal" poll conducted this weekend shows hillary clinton up 11 points nationally over donald trump. hillary clinton with 46%. trump 35%. the brand new nbc news "washington journal" poll. joining us to talk more about the clinton side of the

postdebate conversation, congressman adam schiff, the california democrat. a hillary clinton supporter. thanks very much, congressman for joining us. >> pleasure. >> what's your confidence level right now following the debate last night and taking a look at this new nbc news "washington journal" poll? >> well, i feel very optimistic but nothing to be complacent about pap volatile campaign season and seen trump come back time after time. so the effort is really going to be to get out those voters, but i was particularly struck by several things during the debate last night. not the least of which donald trump all evidence to the contrary saying we still don't knee russia's involved with hacking our institutions. this after the director of national intelligence as well as the secretary of homeland security came out with such a strong statement implicating the kremlin. a lot of jarring -- >> no doubt, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee. you have no doubt russia, high-ranking, russian government officials, at the highest

levels, are involved in these hacking operations? >> i think the intelligence leadership said it very clearly. yes, we know the russians are hacking us and those kind of decisions are not made at a low level. they're very significant in terms of the relations between our two countries, and putin has a small circle of people. this is not the kind of decision that's going to get delegated to a low-level person. >> couldn't happen without putin's authorization? >> i don't think that's possible. this is such a deliberate interference, such a ham-handed interference, this hacking of institutions, dumping of our documents goes to very senior levels and there aren't many people in the senior levels besides poot. >> what was your reaction when you heard donald trump look at hillary clinton and say, if he's elected president, he will ask the justice department to name a special prosecutor to go after her once again and he also suggested if he were president she'd be in jail? >> well, i was an assistant

district attorney for six years and appalled to hear that, so antithetical to how the justice department is supposed to work. po more than that, i remember countless times part of a delegation meeting with retti e representatives of new fledgling democracies and not threatening to jail opposition if you win the election. that's what third world countries do. and to hear the republican nominee for the presidency say that's what we ought to do was just a shocking ignorance in terms of how our democracy works. >> i want to play a clip. mike pence, the vice presidential running mate moments ago blasted hillary clinton for the transcripts that wikileaks released of her wah street speeches for which she earned hundreds of thousands of dollars. listen to this. >> another excerpt eck intoing to a brazilian bank. did you hear this? this is an excerpt if her

speech, he dream was, "a hemisphere common market with open trade and open borders." >> all right. she's getting a lot of grief for that. i assume you've read those transports. what was your take? >> you know, i haven't read the transcripts. i've seen the excerpts published. i don't know what to make of that, frankly. except that this is mike pence trying to distract from all the problems his running mate has, and i know mike very well. we came into congress together, and i have to say, it's sad to see him continue to embrace donald trump, even after this past week. i think it can't help but injure his reputation, but he's being a dutiful soldier and the best i think the trump campaign can do is point at these transcripts and say, look there. not here. >> transcripts also have her saying, look, one thing, a public position but you have to have a private position as well which could be different, and that seemed to suggest according to her critics she was being

two-faced? >> that's criticism they leveled, again, not really seeing what was involved in that conversation, it's hard to tell. during the debate last night she talked about that in the context of lincoln. how lincoln would have different audiences when trying to make his point and persuade them, this is frankly not so much a, what you say inside and outside, but knowing knowing this economic argument will move people who respond to the economy. this argument on the moral high ground will move other people. that's the approach legislative leadership uses quite often. >> on the conference call house speaker paul ryan told members, do what you've got to do. i'm going to spend my time exclusively trying to get republicans elected because he doesn't, if hillary clinton becomes elected, he democratic majority in the house of senate. do you feel as a member of the the house that's a possible, there could be a democratic majority in the house? >> that's a possibility. i think this is why paul ryan is

throwing donald trump under the bus at least away from him as far as possible and telling his members, do what you need to do, support him, don't support him, i don't care, he's going to lose anyway. that's the basic message. saves yourself. jump off the raft if you have to. and if those polls you just showed are accurate and the generic has democrats up now 7%, who would you vote for in the congressional race, who do you prefer to be majority in congress, if those numbers hold, yes, you could have the size of a wave. we need to take back the house. >> would have to be a huge wave given the majority republicans currently have. congressman, thank you for joining zeus thanks, wolf. coming up, donald trump says syria, russia and iran are the allies in the fight against isis, but is that true? we'll get a fact-check. that's next. rom doing right by our customers. who's with me? i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. ♪ ♪

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hillary clinton and donald trump are getting into a heat exchange on the debate stage last night over foreign policy. when trump was asked about his views on syria, the fight against isis, he offered this assessment. >> i don't like assad at all, but assad is killing isis. russia is killing isis. and iran is killing isis. and those three have now lined up because of our weak foreign policy. >> your running mate -- >> right now, syria is fighting isis. we have people that want to fight both at the same time. but syria is no longer syria. syria is russia, and iran, who she made strong and kerry and obama, made into a very powerful nation and a very rich nation

very, very quickly. very, very quickly. >> our global affairs correspondent lisa labot is here doing fact-checking. he says assad, syria, russia and iran are fighting isis. are they? >> no. listen, the u.s. really wanted russia to be in there when they we want in there. about a year ago they said they would be fighting isis, but since then the u.s. says about 99% of russian air strikes have been against u.s.-backed rebels. if you look at what's happening in aleppo right now, wolf, the u.s. -- russia says it's targeting al nusra and other terrorist type organizations but they have not been. they've been targeting civilian casualties such as hospitals, ambulances. this is what the u.s. has been saying all along, that they would love to fight with russia against isis, but right now that's not happening. russia and iran together are both fighting those opposition targets. >> russia and iran's main goal, like hezbollah, is to keep

assad's regime in power in damascus, expand that regime, if you will. >> that's right. that's what the sole goal of the russian intervention has been, to prop up bashar al assad. over the last year, certainly he has strengthened his position over the last year. that's what this whole fight between u.s. and russia -- u.s. ending talks with russia, declaring this cease-fire dead because russia in talking about military cooperation all over because russia is only trying to support bashar al assad. nothing about -- >> strongly condemned president obama and hillary clinton for that matter on their stance on syria. listen to this. >> you were in total contact with the white house and, perhaps, sadly obama probably still listened. i don't think i'd be listening very much anymore. obama dross the line in the sand. it was laughed at all over the world what happened. now, she talks tough. she talks really tough against

putin. and against assad. she talks in favor of the rebels. she doesn't even know who the rebels are. every time we take rebel, whether it's in iraq and anywhere else, we're arming people, and you know what happens? they end up being worse than the people. >> so, is that statement he made true? >> well, it's half true. certainly, hillary clinton has called for arming some of the rebels. she disagreed with president obama. she fought with defense secretary gates, leon pa ned da and others. they are kind of intermixed in with the moderate rebels. there is concern about that. what's not true is she was not in office although tt the time. she had nothing to do with the red line. the fact president obama is consulting with hillary clinton, i think that's totally false. >> after he left the state department, he would call her for advice? that was the impression trump

was leaving. >> certainly, you know, secretary kerry gained a lot of notoriety for his speech talking about that red line. secretary clinton had nothing do-to-do with that. >> elise labott. thank you for that. the news continues right now on cnn. here we go, top of the hour. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being here with me to kick the week off. this is special coverage of a stunning turn of events in the most unpredictable presidential race of our lifetimes. with just 29 days until election day, the most powerful republican in congress pretty much abandoning his party's nominee for president. just marinate on that for a minute, abandoning. speaker paul ryan says he won't campaign, he won't focus on and he won't advocate for donald trump's efforts to win the white house.