hello. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us. up first, what will paul ryan say about the elephant in the room? the house speaker addressing an audience of college republicans any moment now. you're looking at live picture. we'll take a close look to see how he responds to donald trump attacks on the republican party and accusations of sexual misconduct swirling around the republican presidential nominee. our senior political reporter manu raju join us us from madison, wisconsin with a preview. he's about to seek. what are we likely to hear? >> reporter: this is supposed to be a speech designed to rale against what he -- overshadowed

by a week-long spat with donald trump. paul ryan has not answered questions since he decide and monday, said he would no longer defend or campaign for donald trump. actually yesterday cancelled a 30-minute q&a session with business leaders. today is expected to take questions from college republicans. expect the donald trump issue to come up and i am told if it does he's going to clarify his position about why he is choosing to focus instead on trying to save the congressional republican majorities and also say he just cannot defend the indefensible. so watch for that line of comment from paul ryan. he's going to have a radio interview later this afternoon, too. we'll hear even more from him on his fight with donald trump, but a moment in the campaign, wolf, paul ryan clearly has not wanted to talk about donald trump, did not intend to get into this week-long feud with donald trump, even telling donors in a private conference all earlier this week, he did not mean to pick a fight with donald trump,

but wanting to explain why he views it so important to keep the republicans in charge. possibly also to have a check against hillary clinton as she starts to possibly run away with this presidential race. wolf? >> and just to be precise, manu, the format is, he'll open up with some remarks. he'll speak for a while. presumably blasting the democrats, blasting hillary clinton for that matter, and then take questions from these college republicans there in madison, wisconsin, where you are? >> reporter: yes. that's right. and a lot of these questions have actually been submitted beforehand. ryan has an idea of the kind of questions coming his way. so we'll see exactly how he responds. later this afternoon, it will be more of a free-flowing typical interview he'll have with a radio host are here. wale he we'll hear even more of his views. wolf, the important thing to note, republicans are incredibly nervous about this presidential race spiraling out of control. they see the poll numbers and allegations piling up against

their nominee and doing everything to save their congressional majority. paul ryan trying to do just that by, after this week he's going to hit the campaign trail. stump for house republican candidates who are in very different re-election races, and make the case that, why the republicans at least need to keep ahold of the congressional majority given that donald trump is really struggling right now. so a shift in focus, and here it will be interesting to hear exactly how paul ryan makes that case. especially in light of a number of folks not happy with paul ryan, conservatives, some conservatives not happy with paul ryan for not standing more fully behind his nominee. because paul ryan has not yet revoked his endorsement of donald trump. even if he says he's no longer going to defend him, wolf. >> not campaigning with him by any means. a rather awkward moment. top republican in the house of representatives, speaker of the house, refusing to in these final days of this campaign to go throughout and campaign with the republican nominee. we're going to have live

coverage of this coming up. manu, stand by. house speaker certainly has a tough road ahead of him. let's discuss this and a lot more with our panel. our chief political correspondent dana bash is here. chief political analyst gloria borger, and author of "how's your faith?" david gregory and political reporter for "time" magazine zeke miller. you've covered the speaker a long time, dana. a sensitive moment. how is he going to address, for example, the allegations that donald trump groped women that have come forward in recent days? >> i can't imagine him getting that specific. >> he's going to be asked questions. >> yes. >> and i'm sure college republicans will have specific questions. >> we'll see. you would hope that they will considering the fact that this seems to be one of the only opportunities for him to get questions at all on this issue. one thing i can tell you is that, clearly, paul ryan did not anticipate the backlash against him, and what has happened to

paul ryan in the last two or three days puts him in the, in the same camp as every other republican who tried to challenge donald trump. sometimes it was on the debate stage. it was because they were his opponents and others because they just distanced themselves. they have gotten a lot of backlash from within the republican party. now, it was, by donald trump himself, i can tell you, paul ryan and his team did not anticipate that the republican nominee would go out and so publicly attack the republican house speaker, and so what is happening, i just was in pennsylvania yesterday. i was in the suburbs of philadelphia. kind of ground zero politically for whether or not donald trump's, the allegations about him are going to fly, and more than anything else, i heard from republican local officials and also just republican voters, how angry they are, not at donald trump but at paul ryan for not sticking by donald trump. >> and dana is right, gloria.

donald trump not only tweeted against paul ryan after paul ryan said in that conference call he could no longer go out and defend and support him, all of that kind of stuff, but then in this speech he went even further and basically suggesting there's a civil war going on between the republican nominee and the republican speaker of thes house. >> well, his suggestion would be true, and if you look at the recent "wall street journal" poll, two-thirds of republicans believe that republicans are sick with donald trump. and what republicans have done is -- given the president an opportunity to kind of stick the shiv in and say, huh, well, some of these guys were for him, now against him. does that mean that suddenly they've discovered something about donald trump that they never knew? what he's trying to do, play in the senate races and play in the house races right now. so paul ryan finds himself in a very difficult position. i believe he will still say that i cannot defend this kind of indefensible behavior, period,

but he will say, believe it or not, we have been talking about the issues here. this is my agenda. what i want to talk about. and this is what republicans ought to be campaigning on, and i'm going to focus on keeping the republican majority in the house, because when you look at their internal polling and the polling out there, they're really worried not so much about losing the majority, although that could happen, but about losing 20 to 25 seats, which is would be very, very difficult, and put his speakership in peril. >> they lose 30 seats, the democrats are then in the majority in the house of representatives. >> yes. >> and while that was always considered a large number, still considered unlikely. by no means impossible right now. >> it's not impossible. i just think, it would have been refreshing if paul ryan showed releadership and just swhaed was on his mind. he didn't have to say to those house members that i'm, you know -- i'm not going to actively support paul ryan -- as we watch him there.

i'll hand it back to you. >> keep going. >> as we monitor that. we could have left if alone saying i'm focused on house races. he created the rift either way. and he's in a compromised position as so many of these other republicans are. he does not support donald trump. what he really wants to do is protect the house and be a check on either a trump or a president clinton. >> let's listen in to the speaker of the house. >> -- on what this election is ultimately about. beyond all the ugliness lie as long running debate between two governing philosophies. one in keeping with our nation's founding principles like freedom and equality and another, another seeks to replace them. and so at this time i would like to invite you to reflect on this choice that we are facing here. right now as fractured and as polarized as this country is, a vast majority of americans,

seven out of ten, they agree on something fundamental. they agree that our country is on the wrong path. we have a chance to start solving our country's problems. we have a chance to save this country from decline and set it on the right path. a path lit with hope, liberty and self-determination. those core principles that set america apart. you know, in elections, we don't just decide who are leaders will be. we get to choose what kind of country we will have for years to come. and the kind of america we want is confident and determined. our allies trust in oand our ens fear the america we want. the america we want is a land of opportunity driven by the individual spirit. you don't just live your life. you lead your life. you don't just get by. you get ahead and make the most of your potential. the america we want is a place

where work is rewarded. where success is earned. where engine newtsy exalted. in the america we want, government exists to serve the people, and instead of lecturing us our leaders listen to us. they offer positive solutions to tackle our problems, and sometimes, sometimes we put all of those ideas on paper, and we put them on a website named better.gop. i'm told it looks great on any mobile device. that is better.gop. this is the america we want. this is our party's vision for america. what vision do hillary clinton and her party offer the people? they want -- what america -- that doesn't stand out. they want an america that is

ordinary. there's kind of a gloom and grayness to things. and the america they want, the driving force is the state. it is a place where government is taken away from the people. where we are ruled by a cold and unfeeling democracy that replaces original thinking. it is place where the government twists the law and the constitution itself to suit its purposes. it's a place where liberty is always under assault. where passion, the very stuff of life, is extinguished nap is the america hillary clinton wants. and if given control of washington, if given control of congress, it is the kind of america she will stop at nothing to have. the america that they want is remade in the mold of what we call liberal progressivism. now, liberal progressivism really needs no introduction right here in madison. right?

it's imported from socialist europe. it got its start in america right here in madison, wisconsin. where, what? ten minutes down the road from nafalet high school. i used to play over there. fighting bob, he was part of a movement to address legitimate grievances of the people. busting trusts, ending patronage. important reforms with good intentions, but their theory was that if we enlarge the state, if we stock the bureaucracy with exports and technocrats who would decide what was best for the collective, then we would all be better often, and to many in its time the idea had some appeal. it's made little sense founded on the distrust of power, but it did have some appeal, but it didn't take long for this thierry to be pulled back into its collective roots, to central planning and organization. our betters became obsessed with bigger and bigger government. ignoring constraints, consul or

otherwise and arbitrarily picking winners and losers. >> we'll continue to monitor the speaker of the house paul ryan. speaking to college republicans in madison, wisconsin. we're told during the q&a coming forward there will be questions on donald trump. the latest allegations that donald trump engaged in sexual -- sexual abuse, if you will, of women over the years. zeke, you're with us. zeke miller political reporter for "time" magazines. these allegations have come to dominate this stage. a lot of republicans are confused right now and don't know whether or not to believe these women and at least a half dozen, maybe 10, 11 more women are coming out every day making these kinds of accusations, and it seems to be dominating this dialogue with less than four weeks to go? >> certainly the speaker thought he was out of the woods with that conference call and talking about the backlash he felt. now it's sort of to get through that and it gets worse and worse and worse.

you know, 10 women in 72 hours. how many more will come out? even republicans start talking about this and bill cosby terms. wheth there seems to be a pattern here, and that more and more women will come forward. the trump campaign obviously saying they have some sort of evidence to refute it. where whereit been? if they had it, you think they would have put it out before it ever hit the news. >> and later today releases evidence to discredit these women who have made these charges? >> like whack a mole for them at this point. whatever evidence they say they have, they have to keep working. as we're talking more stories are coming out with more women who are coming out. giving different tales of allegations of donald trump doing similar things to them. unwanted -- basically going at them unwanted, which amounts to assault. and these allegations are saying in a.

it's unclear what kind of evidence they're going to give. >> and more women are coming forward even as we speak right now. let's take a quick break. resume our analysis right after this. also, president obama had a lot to say about the in-fighting, and blasting donald trump for his comments about women, and trying to woo back women voters. all that and more. we'll hear from paul ryan. he'll address these issues, we're told, when we come back. is that ice-t? nope, it's lemonade. is that ice-t? lemonade. ice-t? what's with these people, man? lemonade, read the sign. lemonade. read it. ok. delicious. ice-t at a lemonade stand? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money marin saved by switching to geico. yo, ice-t! it's lemonade, man! fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

breaking news. a story first reported by the "washington post," karen tummalty, we want to warn all viewers here in the united states and around the world that the details are very graphic. here's what this woman told the "washington post." >> and i'm talking to me friend who i'm sitting to and across from on my left side. i'm very clear on this. this is the vivid part for me. so the person on my right who unbeknownst to me at that time was donald trump put their hands up my skirt. he did touch my vagina through my underwear. >> trump spokeswoman, just telling the "washington post," and i'm quoting now, mr. trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get free publicity. it is totally ridiculous. very strong allegation. now reported in the "washington

post." following several similar allegations in the "new york times." and other newspapers around the country as well. let's bring in our legal analyst laura coates joining us right now. laura, as you know, the trump campaign threatening legal action libel against some of these women, against the publications, the magazines, the newspapers. you're watching all of this. is there a serious legal challenge here? >> reporter: well, when it comes to the "new york times" and the "people" magazines and "washington post," i think the very, very uphill battle to say the least. libel claims in general are very, very hard to defend against, or prove, actually. and the reason why it's such a hard thing for a public figure like donald trump and nobody more public than donald trump, the gop nominee for the president of the united states, they have a very, very overwhelming burden's they have to prove it's not only false, but it damages their reputation and there's actual malice used.

wolf, you talk about malice, it's not whether somebody personally had a beef with donald trump or didn't like him personally. it's about whether the publishers knew or should have known it was false when they reported it. the hurdle most publications have to overcome is say, listen, we did a thorough and comprehensive investigation. we invited response from the actual candidate, heading up the story and did fact checking. >> i've read the article now in the "washington post." posted online and throughout the article the reporter karen tummalty quotes others who contemporaneously were told about this allegation and over the years, this woman kristen anderson apparently told several of her associates several of her friends what happened there. that will be an important element if there is a lawsuit. right? >> absolutely. because a journalist has to assess trustworthyness and credibility. one of the ways to do that for the courts is to do kind of

contemporaneous investigation of people who were there, who she may have told. questions that person's -- if it didn't came out a day or two ago but just revealed information but further adds to her credibility, perhaps, she may have told this at the time it actually happened. those are some of the facts you have to look at to figure whether a journalist or publication had reason to know it was false or not. >> laura, stay with us. more i want to bring in our panel. dana bash, gloria borger, david gregory and zeke miller. the story sounds similar to others heard over the past few day days. >> it does and making it harder, talki talking about before we heard this on tape describe it. harder for the trump campaign to come out with evidence that all of these women are not telling the truth. it doesn't mean that -- that we are going to say that they are all 100%, you know, rock solid. we don't know that.

but the fact that this woman in particular, as you were saying did have people who at the time she told. it makes it a little harder, a lot harder, for them, for the trump campaign to discredit and it's a snowball effect when it comes to these allegations. >> gloria, what -- >> not just a snowball. >> what further hurts donald trump is that he himself spoke about doing these kinds of things in that "access hollywood" miked interview with billy bush. he spoke about doing precisely these kinds of things. because he's a star, he can do whatever he wants. >> i can't help myself. i just go up to them and start kissing them. >> because they're beautiful. >> in this particular case, putting his hand under someone's skirt, and in another, also, another case. amp you have this avalanche of women, what's in it and the trump campaign is diz crscredit

them, saying there's some sort of conspiracy against the campaign. what is in it for these women to come out now? these women don't seem like people who are looking for their 15 minutes of fame. they look like reluctant witnesses to me, and they look like women who at the time these things occurred, it wasn't common to go and complain about it, or to make these things public. and i think that now after they saw donald trump say to anderson cooper at the debate, this has never happened, felt some kind of need to come out. and at some point i know the trump campaign is going to challenge each and every one of them, but at some point when it gets to a group that grows larger and larger every day, they have to address the fact that there are, what? 10, 12 women who are coming out and do they discredit all of them?

>> deborah feyerick is working the story in new york. the "washington post," the story just posted woman says trump reached under her skirt and groped her in early 1990s. what else are you learning about this woman, kristen anderson? >> reporter: what we're learning, she was conflicted about coming forward. didn't know whether there was anything in it to temperature the story. seemed like a story you sort of share with friends like this creepy guy did this to me in a bar one night. a lot of women have those story. this particular women, kristin and zo anderson was at a nightclub, talking to friends. wasn't even engaged with donald trump apparently sitting next to her when she felt his hand a finger, actually go up her miniskirt and touch her in her most private area and recoiled. didn't last more than 20 seconds but jumped off the couch and immediately recognized him pap club he was known to

frequent and repeated to story to several friends over course of several years. it happened back in the 1990s, but she wrestled with whether she should tell this story. now that all of these allegations are coming forward and she realized in her words that this wasn't just some sort of creepy incident. it wasn't her words, the act of a predator. why she decided to release and reveal what she went through, and she says, look. my part is going to be dredged up. she understands that, but she felt it was more important to get this information out and not to protect this incident that happened to her and we're seeing more women come forward. we have another woman who is expected to speak at 2:30 in california. she's being represented by the famous lawyer gloria allred, but now there are at least eight women, at least eight women, who have come forward since the debate when donald trump was asked by anderson cooper, did you ever sort of turn your locker room talk into action? and he said, i have not, and a lot of women are really just

repelled by that and deciding to come forward at their personal risk and tell what happened to them. with respect to donald trump. >> i suspect there could be more women in addition to this woman coming forward with gloria allred around 2:30 eastern time as well. you know what donald trump said yesterday. he said these are lies, libelists, a coordinated campaign by the clinton campaign with the corrupt news media. they're out to get him and basically he said there's no truth whatsoever to nany of thee allegations? >> right, he's gone farther into crazytown. this is a horror show of a political campaign for the presidency right now and what's true while all of this is going on, new women coming forward with new accusations. him blaming the media and a global conspiracy. people are voting. people are getting polled. and hillary clinton is now in an even more commanding position to

capture the presidency. so as he hemorrhages support among republicans which is the big issue here, you've got paul ryan speaking at the top of the program saying, we're engaged in a debate between two different governing philosophies of the country. 2340, we' no, we're not. we're in a debate whether donald trump is fit to be president of the united states. a majority saying doesn't have the qualifications or temperament. not moving the electorate at all. why the likes of paul ryan focus on the senate and house. it's moved away from the presidential election. >> i assume you know karen tummalty, highly respected washington political correspondent. been around for a while. she's a very serious journalist. >> used to be at "time" magazine as wom as well. a grand conspiracy? a., we're not that good. we saw the donald trump speech yesterday and all the things, listen to things he said are rigged, crooked or fixeding everything from unemployment numbers to the federal reserve

to sort of globalist banks. i mean, to buy that conspiracy theory one he's using to deprotect it in these new allegations against him requires buying into this entire ultimate world view. some people are donald trump supporters a un s and want to b. donald trump mainstreamed a lot of that and looking for an off ramp. how does he blame a likely loss at this point? >> and the get his base thinkus, what he enthussed. finding his base who haven't been participants and get them to participate, because i think that's his only -- i think that's his only shot at this point. >> what you said anecdotically again i was in the philadelphia suburbs yesterday at events that republicans put on for ivanka trump to come and speak. mostly women at these events and i did not find one woman,

obviously a self-selected crowd that wanted to come in and listen to ivanka trump. republican areas, republican women, i cannot tell you how many have said they believe it's a conspiracy. >> paul ryan asked a question by these college republicans, what happens if hillary clinton wins the election. let's listen in. >> -- divide a government as when barack obama was president. worked on things we could achieve in the last year. these are things we have big philosophical differences of. why having more of the same stalemate is not a good option. let me give you one little example. take tax reform or a budget, for example. all tax laws must start in the house of representatives. so look at our tax reform, go to better.org and see what we do, and we write tax bills in the house a certain way to maximize economic growth. then we send that bill to the senate, and it's the senate budget chair who is the referee, decides whether or how we'll

consider that bill, tax bill or budget bill. if we keep control of the senate in the republican hands, and if ron johnson wins re-election, will determine whether we keep the senate, a nice guy named mike enzi from wyoming, senate budget chair helps us get the tax bills through. if we losed senate, do you know who becomes the chairman of the senate budget committee? a guy named bernie sanders. ever heard of him gentleman what what --? if we lose of control of the senatewhat we're deal with. that makes it that much more difficult to even put a bill on president's desk. that is why it's so important we keep the senate as well. >> so there's not much of an option? is what he's telling you? >> we'll keep fighting for what we believe and passing what we believe in the house but got to get things to the president's desk. we've got to actually get them through all, and the filibuster is frustrating enough as it is, but not even able to bring up a

bill if we lose control of the senate would are more frustrating. >> do you have a follow-up? you're good. okay. kate. kate from wisconsin rapids. >> hi, speakerthank y. thank you for joining us. college students minorities and lower income individuals who normally would vote for democrats see how our policies or fair and will benefit them? >> i spend a lot of my time on just that point. i'd say two things. you have to have good idea idea. we do. number two, look how miserable the status quo is. the war on poverty itself. we measure success in the war on poverty by effort, not outcomes, and look at the kind of things that we're offering, for instance, customizing welfare benefits to get a person from welfare to work.

creating economic growth. the left's argument of more government control, redistribution in which leads to slower economic growth. you can talk how bad the status quo is and little opportunity we have because we are living under obama liberal policies. what we have right now is a flavor of what they want to continue doing. talk about then, what freedom and opportunity and mobility look like. talk how our principles are. you get to have more determination over your own life and we want government to get out of the way so we can actually solve problems locally. solve problems in our community. we want, we need people, and every single person in this country is needed and what we want to do is help solve these problems together. eye to eye, soul to soul, person to person. what the left is saying, no, no, no. just have washington fix all that. the best way to do it, appeal to people by trying. by going and talking to people and showing that we care. that we have better ideas.

and that we have principles that when applied work. the last point i'll say is, especially in poor communities in america. rural and urban america and poor communities, i spent a lot of time doing this. go find the people who are doing a really good job solving problems. go find those great poverty fighters and surround them and help them and amplify them. pulaski high school. you're from -- you know plasticy across the street from st. luke's? 14 years ago, gangs. we all know plastulaski high sc and 14 gangs. you can imagine the violence, dropout rates. kids getting washed away from society. a local group, running rebels. local poverty fighters, said, let's try something else. trying more police, more cameras. more everything. they had a bunch of kids, young people, who yused in gangs down on her luck, got redeemed, came

into the school to become mentors to help the kids in plasticy high school learn from their mistakes to not rebapeat e mistakes. violence-free zone program. graduation up, attendance up. everything is turning around. academics up and kids are graduating with futures. we've taken, we, the people in the community, taken a violence-free program a local-grown idea in milwaukee and spreading it to other schools in milwaukee. spreading it to ressene. that is what we believe in, an extension of our philosophy of rolling up your sleeves, solving a problem locally and fixing it. you can't do that if you're waiting for washington to solve all of these problems. so there's just a beautiful picture of the kinds of things that we as conservatives believe in achieving so that everybody can reach their lot in life. the way i say it the american ideas are really, really clear simple ideas.

the condition of your birth doesn't determine the outcome of your life. we need to make sure that idea is believable and true for everybody. and only by each and every one of us taking responsibility in our communities and advancing these ideas and principles and solutions can we achieve that. i think that's attractive no matter what party you belong to. >> all right. go to kelly from the state of georgia. there she is. >> i was wondering -- >> wait for the mike. nobody can hear you otherwise. >> hi. >> hi. where you from, kelly? >> georgia. >> wow. my question is, what is your best advice for republican college students on liberal campuses like madison regarding an increased criticism and challenges faced in light of the upcoming election? >> we're going to continue to monitor this q&a session with college republicans. remember these questions were submitted in advance. house speaker paul ryan is familiar with the questions. told at least one of the questions would involve donald trump, how he feels about donald

trump. the latest allegations of sexual allegations by donald trump. we're monitor this with the house speak are and bring you whatever he says about donald trump. we'll take a quick break and resoum or resume our coverage right after this. when your cough returns. one pill lasts 12 hours, so... looks like i'm good all night! some cough medicines only last 4 hours. but just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. let's end this.

back to breaking news. another woman reportedly come forward to accuse donald trump of inappropriately touching her. she says it happened in the early 1990 in a nightclub. bring back or panel. also deb feyerick reporting on this story from new york. for viewers here in the united states and around the world just tuning in, yet the latest woman who has now come forward. a woman by the name of kristen anderson, early 20s at the time, early 1990s, accusing donald trump of groping her. deb? >> reporter: yes, exactly, wolf, and what's interesting about her story is that it is of consistent with other stories that we are now hearing since

sunday night's debate when donald trump said that he did not touch women. he just talked about it. it was just locker room talk. a lot of women reacted very negatively to that. there are now at least eight women who cnn confirmed who have, are coming forward with these stories about how he groped them. how think was an unwanted sexual encounter, and how it was not consensual. in fact, quite the opposite. the latest woman, in her 20s which if happened in the 1990s, sitting on a couch, engaged in a conversation with other friends. didn't even -- wasn't even talking to a man she identifies as donald trump, she told t"the washington post", that he touched her, she jumped up, was repulsed, noticed it was donald trump. she told the story to several friends, according to the

"washington post" over brunch and they lasted about it incredible he would do this. she didn't approach the "washington post" herself. in fact, a friend of hers knew about the story who contacted a reporter and took several days to consider whether in fact coming forward was the right thing to do and ultimately decided in fact it was. >> in the article, she also told karen tummalty of the "washington post" who's going to join us in the next hour with more details, she said she recognized donald trump. "he was so distinctive looking with the hair and eyebrows. i mean, nobody else has those eyebrows." she really remembers donald trump at that moment, the whole thing lasted, what, 30 seconds or so. dana bash, it does, as we say, follow this pattern of these other women who have made similar charges. >> i just think we should maybe not be so surprised, but i'm just sitting here, we're talking about this the last 45 minutes,

because it is a new allegation and i still can't believe that this is the discussion we're having just a little more than three weeks before a presidential election about one of the nominees. it's just -- it's just mind-blowing. it really is, but it is where we are and i have to just add because a lot of people have been asking, why didn't this stuff come out before? where were the opposition research teams on all of his republican opponents' campaigns? where was the media? and in not looking into all of these things? i think part of the answer is what you alluded to earlier. it's where we are in the calendar. that people are seeing that this is, this is it. this is show time. if you're going to talk, talk now and that people would feel compelled and saying woman after woman, to come out because of what donald trump said to anderson cooper on the debate stage sunday night saying it didn't really happen. just words. >> and the president and michelle obama was very powerful

condemning donald trump even though she refused to mention him by name and today the president of the united states really went after donald trump. i think we have a clip. i'll play a clip in a moment. but the attacks launched against him are nonstop. >> they are nonstop, because the charges keep coming, and they keep growing. and when you look at the numbers that we're seeing. i mean, there was a poll yesterday which asked, i believe it was a fox news poll -- which candidate's a good role model? trump 20%, yes. at least clinton got a majority. it's not as if overwhelmingly, but 20%. then you keep hearing these stories. you know, at a certain point, people have to wonder whether there is a candidate with serious impulse control problems, and have to start wondering about -- what to do ash it. >> isn't it striking this is all

about donald trump? i mean, this is -- >> of course! >> -- about donald trump's fitness more than hillary clinton or anything else. this impulse, lack of impulse, control, is so clear at this point and hemorrhaging of republican support. a speaker of the house covering this hour having a completely separate conversation. willing to not excuse but to ignore all of this about donald trump to try to reach 35% or 40% of those republicans he needs to try to keep republican control of the house and senate. try to be a check on hillary clinton. but it's a completely separate conversation a few weeks before the election. >> trying to say -- listening to paul ryan, thinking that he's like someone standing within an umbrella while a hurricane is coming at him, and it's hard to keep the hurricane from coming at you from just that tool, and what he's talking about is checks and balances and he's got republicans angry at him. going to have women angry at him. it's just -- he's a serious guy,

paul ryan. who cares about issues. >> and the republican party is not turning back into paul ryan's court. >> exactly. >> it is now a trump republican party. >> least worst option for paul ryan. what else does he do? not comfortable fully embracing donald trump and were to fully abandon him, worse. paul ryan is trying to reach out to voters in the swing senate and swing out districts and get the crossover voters. people voting for hillary clinton maybe don't like her and maybe to send a ron johnson into a senate as a check on hillary clinton presidency. people who are voting for that, that's who paul ryan is try to reach out to pt not even the republican base. they don't care about that. why we're talking about it. >> also real moments of testing as a leader. i think it's true. a lot of these republicans who finally saw fit, finally realized that donald trump was disqualifying himself after they were up in the polls. like a john mccain. like a rob portman. these are times of testing where you've got to do something hard. if paul ryan wants to say, look,

i am excusing this to hold on to the house and senate and why the importance as republican speaker have that conversation. don't tiptoe around. he's still declaring war on donald trump. >> you see how unhappy he is. not a happy warrior. >> not the only republican not happy right now. stay with us. we'll continue special coverage following the breaking news. yet another woman has come forward, and alleged that donald trump reached under her skirt and groped her back in the early 1990s. we're also now told that the speaker, paul ryan, wrapped up his q&a with these college republicans in madison, wisconsin. the issue of donald trump and allegations of groping, sexual abuse did not come up in that session. we have a lot more coming up here. michelle and barack obama are taking a very aggressive campaign schedule in support of hillary clinton with three stops in the last 24 hour ps's they've delivered some

they've delivered some of the most stirring speeches in hillary clinton's campaign will their one-two punch be enough to finish off trump? we'll discuss. we'll be right back. i thought i had it covered. then i realized managing was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me who have tried other medications,... but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief... ...and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections... ...including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,... including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,... ...and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb,... ...hepatitis b, are prone to infections, ...or have flu-like symptoms or sores.

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adults 21 and over could only purchase marijuana at licensed marijuana businesses. and prop 64 bans advertising directed at kids... requires strict product labeling... child-proof packaging... and bans edibles that appeal to children. smart provisions to safeguard our families. learn more about the safeguards at yeson64.org. president barack obama and first lady michelle obama are firmly behind hillary clinton's campaign for president. in the past few day, both have been out there on the campaign trail swinging hard against her republican opponent donald tr p trump. here's what the president said at a campaign rally in cleveland, ohio, just a little while ago. >> he seems to be in the middle of the game making excuses all

the time for why he might be losing. it's always interesting to me to see folks who talk tough but then don't act tough. talking about how great his buildings are, how luxurious, and how rich he is flying around everywhere and all he had time for was celebrities and now suddenly he's acting like he's a populist, man, i'm going to fight for working people. come on, man. >> joining us are white house correspondent michelle kosinski. he took on donald trump today and also blasted republicans who support donald trump. tell us about that. >> you heard the tone he took there, making the crowd laugh, mocking donald trump and republicans. this is what he's been doing. he did virtually the same speech on tuesday, almost presented it as a comedy routine with this mockery directed toward his

targets. today he saved his strongest criticism for republicans. his message was some of you are withdrawing your support now, what's the matter? it wasn't enough when donald trump spoke out in a demeaning way towards women? towards muslims? it wasn't enough when he criticized a gold star family? basically saying what's wrong with you that you didn't understand that things were offensive before and now you're withdrawing your support, wolf. >> the president pretty much also picked up today where the first lady michelle obama left off yesterday. her emotional speech clearly expressing her deep, deep anger at donald trump. listen. >> because i can tell you that the men in my life do not talk about women like this and i know that my family is not unusual. [ cheers and applause ] and to dismiss this as everyday locker room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere.

[ cheers and applause ] the menu and i know don't treat women this way. they are loving fathers sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this kind of vicious language about women. they are husband and brothers and sons who don't tolerate women being demeaned and disrespected. and like us, these men are worried about the impact this election is having on our boys who are looking for role models of what it means to be a man. >> michelle, clearly one of the most important speeches by the first lady. you're learning more details about the speech. tell viewers what you've learned. >> she did the same thing during her speech at the democratic national convention. the emotion in her voice. this speech is almost a continuation of that where she's speaking from the heart to the point that at times it seems like she's going to start crying so now we know from sources in

the white house that this was a speech she wanted to give, she wrote most of it, she had help from a speech writer. this is something she felt from her heart she wanted to personally deliver. it was based on the anger she felt when she heard donald trump's words. she felt she wanted to get the speech out there and president obama since then has been praising the speech. he didn't get to see it live, he was on fair force one at the time and he was shown a video of it and sources say that he was wowed by it. and it's interesting because, wolf, when you look at the things the president said as recently as late august at a fund-raiser saying "i'm tired about talking about donald trump." every time he speaks he makes the case against himself by himself. he and president obama and joe

biden were all out on the campaign trail. on tuesday president obama's speech was is intended to be this epic take down of virtually everything donald trump has ever said, wolf. >> they are incredibly important surrogate surrogates they could help revitalize that barack obama base. over the next three weeks are we going to see them early and often on the campaign trail for hillary clinton and against donald trump. >> yeah, i mean, the white house has been asked for weeks and months where's president obama, when he is going to go out there and they said come october he's going to be out there one to two days every week and that's what we've been seeing, wolf. >> michelle kosinski at the white house, thanks. you've heard from the candidates, now you'll hear directly from the voters in the key battleground states who will decide the next president of the united states. clinton or trump, your money, your vote. that's tomorrow, 7:30 p.m. eastern only here on cnn.

that's it for me, thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. east american the situation room. for our international viewers, "amanpour" is coming up next. for our viewers in north america "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. good afternoon, i'm brooke baldwin. any moment donald trump will be speaking in south carolina. he will be speaking about new attacks. just a short time ago president obama savage it had republican nominee along with republicans and lawmakers in jgeneral.