>> the election is being rigged by corrupt media, pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president. >> reporter: donald trump trailing in the polls and plagued by allegations of sexual misconduct is falling back on his favorite safety net. >> the election is rigged. it's rigged like you've never seen before. the investigation of hillary clinton was rigged. it's all rigged. it's all rigged. >> the gop nominee now insisting there's a monumental conspiracy to rig the entire election against him. trump tweeting today, "of course there is large-scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. why do republican leaders deny what is going on? so naive." but trump's claims aren't true. there's no evidence of widespread voter fraud. and the candidate's claims are putting election officials, even

those in his own party, on edge. today, ohio's secretary of state, a republican, who plans to vote for trump, blasted the candidate's claims as reckless. >> it's irresponsible. he should focus on issues that matter to people. i can reassure donald trump, i am in charge of elections in ohio and they're not going to be rigged. i'll make sure of that. >> reporter: while hillary clinton's running mate warns that trump's claims are the protests of a sore loser. >> it's an insult to american voters and it's an insult to county registrars to say that america doesn't know how to run an election. we know how to run an election. and this is clearly a guy who feels like he's losing and is trying to whine in advance. >> reporter: as trump's running mate, indiana governor, mike pence, says he will accept the results on november 8th -- >> as donald trump said in that first debate and i'll say to you again today, we're going to accept the will of the american people. >> reporter: -- even he is warning about voter fraud on the campaign trail today. >> voter fraud cannot be

tolerated by anyone in this nation, because it disenfranchises republicans, independents, democrats, liberals, and conservatives. >> reporter: in fact, a loyola law school professor found just 31 potential instances of voter impersonation out of more than 1 billion ballots cast from 2000 to 2014. >> sara murray joins us now. what more did trump say tonight about his claims of a rigged election? >> reporter: well, he kept up his claim of this rigged election and pointed to people who are dead, who are still on the voter rolls. he pointed to a study that showed some non-citizens may be voting in american elections. but anderson, i think the thing that's really important here is that, yes, in an election, there will be instances of voter fraud. but the people who have studied this have found that these instances are minuscule and nobody who has studied this has come out and said that there is widespread, systemic voter fraud and no one has said that this is the kind of thing that

undermines the integrity of our american elections. >> all right, sara murray, thanks very much if hillary clinton was off the campaign trail today, doing debate prep. as you heard, though, donald trump was hitting her hard on her state department e-mails and he got powerful new ammunition today. a new release from the fbi investigation, that documented a dispute between patrick kennedy, a top state department official, and the fbi. the fbi claiming that he pressured them to change certain e-mails from classified to unclassified. more on that now and the larger state of the campaign from cnn's jeff zeleny. >> reporter: hillary clinton is shoring up blue states and exploring red states. trying to keep donald trump from bouncing back. but for yet another day, she's off the campaign trail, preparing for her final debate wednesday. she's outsourcing her work to other democrats, like elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. >> a selfish little sleaze ball. a man who will never be president of the united states. >> not only is he going to lose

this election, but he and his billionaire friends are going to start paying their fair share of taxes. >> reporter: tonight, all eyes on arizona. a once-reliable republican state that may suddenly be up for grabs. the clinton campaign making new investments and sending one of its biggest weapons, michelle obama. three weeks before election day, clinton is in the driver's seat, but still facing fallout over the fbi investigation into her e-mail server. the fbi today denying a quid pro quo in its fight with the state department over the classification of e-mail on clinton's private server. a newly released document suggests a top state department official pressured the fbi to declassify certain e-mails, possibly in exchange for offering to help station fbi agents overseas. the fbi and the state department deny that any arrangement actually took place. but congressional republicans seized on it as one more clinton controversy. speaker paul ryan saying in a statement, these documents further demonstrate secretary

clinton's complete disregard for properly handling classified information. all of this as more hacked campaign e-mail, published by wikileaks, offering an unvarnished look at clinton's paid speeches that she's refused to release publicly. at least three of clinton's paid speeches were to goldman sachs, that bernie sanders railed against in the primary. now they're disclosed. >> that's why i believe secretary clinton should release the transcripts. >> reporter: clinton's words, finally released because of the stolen e-mails, are at odds with the populist rhetoric in her party. in a 2013 speech, she suggested wall street should regulate itself, saying the people that know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry. she received $250,000 per speech and also talked foreign policy. she said she had no problem authorizing secret missions in places like syria, saying, my view is you intervene as covertly as possible for americans to intervene. she added, we used to be much

better at this than we are now. clinton and her allies started the month with $152 million in the bank, new figures show, while trump had only half that. and jeff join us now. what can you tell us about the clinton strategy for the swing states moving forward? >> reporter: well, anderson, that $152 million in the bank is really going to allow them to expand and try some other places. arizona is at the center of that list. they have been looking at it for a few weeks, but the decision to send michelle obama there on thursday, who's arguably the most popular democrat and probably the most popular politician of either party, they're acceptsending her there thursday. that's a sign they can win arizona. a lot of top republicans are saying that donald trump simply does not have the ground work there. so many money actually matters and pays off. the clinton campaign, also, is starting to spend more money in states with down-ballot races. focusing on indiana and missouri. $1 million combined there.

so they are having the luxury here of expanding into red states. but some of this is bluster, some of it is not. we'll find out in the coming days which is which here. they're still counting on a strong debate performance on wednesday to put her over the top. but anderson, the reason it matters now, colorado, other states are starting vote by mail. all the ballots went out today. the clinton campaign trying to freeze this race in place, get all those ballots in case something should shake out, like all those controversies still hanging over her head. >> jeff zeleny, appreciate the reporting. with election day getting closer, polling starts snapping into focus as you be decided voters make up their minds. tonight, four new national polls from abc, "the washington post," nbc news, "the wall street journal," and monmouth university. they show clinton with anywhere from a 4-point lead to a 12-point lead over donald trump. and there are new battleground polls out there, some showing a tighter race than that. all of them factors into the race for 270 electoral votes.

cnn's john king breaks it down by the numbers. >> some very competitive states still on the map. a chance still to change the race. look at north carolina. always competitive, 48 for clinton. 47 for trump. this one, competitive in '08 and in 2012. looks like it will be competitive to the end. slight clinton lead there, but really that's a virtual tie, a statistical dead heat. out in nevada, key to both obama victories. but 46 for clinton, 47 for trump. gary johnson gets 7. that's a statistical tie. a very close race in another battleground state. and here's one reason nevada is so close. the latino vote, critical to both big obama wins. 10% is going to third party candidates, the libertarian, gary johnson. clinton still has a big lead over donald trump, but she would love some of those votes to come them to the democrats. let's move to the midwest, battleground, ohio, a critical state, absolutely must-win for donald trump. and he's already tweeted how happy he is with these results. 48 for trump, 44 for clinton.

johnson and stein at the bottom of the pack in battleground ohio. the clinton campaign says they're still in play in ohio, but donald trump after the last two weeks of bad news in the lead in that battleground state. why is that happening? let's take a quick look. the education gap we've seen throughout the campaign continues. white voters with no college degree, overwhelmingly for donald trump. wow, look at that margin. white voters, no college degree, the foundation of trump's support. but white voters with a college degree, in all three of these battleground states, clinton wins. critical, because mitt romney won this constituency in 2012. this is a very important part of her being more competitive in the more conservative states, leading among white voters who have a college degree. quickly on the issues, let's go through these. in all three of these battleground states, she wins. if the question is, who's best on foreign policy? who is the better temperament to be president? who would be the better commander in chief? but on issue number one, the economy, donald trump gets the edge in all three states. and despite all these allegations against donald trump, despite hearing him on

tape talking about groping women, donald trump still viewed as more honest and trustworthy than secretary clinton. three tight races in three battleground states. how does that affect the map that matters most? well, let's go to where we now stand heading into the election. as we have it now, clinton would win. the gold states are the battleground states. guess what, the gold states are the three we just went through, with north carolina, ohio, and nevada. so what does that tell you? they're important states, but clinton can win the presidency without them. donald trump absolutely needs at least those two. there's no way to get donald trump to 270 without ohio and north carolina. he would also still need florida and then still need more. but the benefit for clinton here is, she would like these states. she still thinks she's competitive in these states, but she can win without them. here's the challenge for donald trump. wednesday's debate is absolutely critical. the map is heavily tilting her way. he has to hold this, but he also needs a strong debate performance to move this one his way. again, he's a little behind right now. he needs to move this one this way, if he can. still a little behind there. look, that would get him into play. still wouldn't get him to the

finish line. donald trump, absolutely, would have to win florida and even if he did, he'd have to turn something blue red. but those three races being so competitive tell you, map's tilting in clinton's direction. the debate does offer trump a chance, if he can seize it, to maybe make the last couple of weeks a little interesting. >> no doubt. going to be very interesting, either way. john king, thanks so much. just ahead, some of the most important moments from my conversation with melania trump. also this -- >> this has been an effort with much international support, a lot of coalition planning -- [ gunfire ] >> dramatic moments in the battle for mosul. cnn's nick paton walsh is there. we'll get the latest from him as some 50,000 troops with u.s. advisers help take on isis and drive them out of the last big city they hold and have been terrorizing month after month. r. try these delicious phillips' fiber good gummies, a good source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are great. my work here is done.

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welcome back. donald trump out on the campaign trail. hillary clinton is not. both, to some extent, tonight defensive. hillary clinton over allegations of a deal between the fbi and state department over declassifying certain e-mails. and donald trump over everything he's been saying lately about the system and the election outcome being rigged against him. back with the panel this hour, paul begala, maggie haberman, and corey lewandowski. first, paul, i want to ask about what we were just reporting on, the state department and fbi denying there was any quid pro quo over the classification

level of a clinton e-mail, but it certainly doesn't look good. and had it not been for donald trump's "access hollywood" tape, this would have been getting a lot more attention. >> i guess, but it's one of these stories -- one of my clients was john glenn, the legendary astronaut, war hero, senator. he had a word for stories like this, migo, my eyes glaze over. they had to pay me to read this stuff. it's two bureaucrats fighting over some classification stuff that -- i don't care! >> paul ryan came out with a wonderful statement on this. this is another example of her showing an absolute complete disregard for classified information. and this is evidence of the fact that there was quid pro quo going on. and her not being able to understand what's classified and what's not. and she clearly mishandled this information. and you're talking about your eyes glagz over. it's because the volume of the what she mishandled evidence in her e-mails is so vast.

we saw it earlier, saw it with the clinton foundation in the state department. we saw clear evidence of pay-for-play and conflicts of interest. now we're seeing quid pro quo with classified information. people should care about this. this is important. this is classified information. this is important. >> corrine? >> look, we keep talking about this and at the end of the day, the fbi did a thorough investigation and they said there was no criminal intent and nothing criminal was done. and so even i -- i was trying to also kind of get more from this e-mail. and i actually -- there was no quid pro quo. it was just two -- just like paul said. it's two bureaucrats just going -- just talking and going back and forth. but there was no quid pro quo actually in this e-mail. >> anderson, let's not kid ourselves, okay? the undersecretary of state negotiated with the fbi in a quid pro quo in the e-mail and what it said, and he filed a form 302, which is what they file, their notes from this

investigation, and they said, it's very simple, if you declassify this e-mail so it's hidden from the public, the state department will give you overseas billets for your fbi agents so they can go work overseas. when that was originally denied, the assistant secretary, undersecretary, said, i would like to take it up the chain to the fbi. who else can i talk to? three separate occasions. whether or not the quid pro quo ever happened is irrelevant. potentially asking for the quid pro quo is a felony. and we've seen the house members now ask for the immediate resignation of patrick henry from the state department and instead what we see is politics as usual, d.c. insiders get protected. what would happen to the regular person doesn't happen to me. and hillary clinton should step forward right now and say, if this is the case, unless they are accusing an fbi agent of lying on form 302, which no one is doing, then we know unequivocally that this was an attempted quid pro quo, and that alone is a felony. >> maggie, do you see hillary clinton actually talking about this or just trying to run out the clock? >> i think she's going to try to run out the clock, which is what

she's basically been doing. she's essentially been running -- to say it's a non-campaign is not quite right, but she's been saying as little as possible, i don't think it's helpful for her anytime the public hears the words e-mails and state department, in any conversation. i don't know how many of the details people are actually able to process, because it is a somewhat complicated story. but it's certainly not a help to her. and i think that she will do everything she can to not talk about it. >> paul, it does play into, you know, the long-standing criticisms of her about lack of transparency or a tendency for secrecy or a belief that the rules don't apply. >> yes, and the e-mail thing has done an enormous amount of political damage to her, enormous. this is a career diplomat who had a very similar job when condoleezza rice was secretary of state. he wasn't a political appointee, arguing with a career fbi official about what to classify. your government does this every day. that's what they do. these nerds and propeller heads, they just argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. that's what this was. >> as a nerd, i.

>> i say that with great administrati admiration. >> i hate to tell you, if you look in the mirror, you're kind of a nerd too. i've got to be honest, we're all a little nerdy on this panel. you wouldn't be on this panel if you weren't kind of nerdy. paul, identify got to ask you, it was referenced in the last hour, your name was on one of the leaked e-mails from wikileaks, in 2008, a chain about polling about obama's past drug use -- >> obama loyalists. this was a group i was a part of that was watching the hillary/barack death march and really worried that the nominee would be so badly damaged that they wouldn't win. i was part of a group, the founder was from moveon, he was very pro-obama. foll the pollster was pro-obama. the people who did the research, that was a pro-obama firm. it wasn't some clinton deal.

there were some clinton people involved, some obama people involved. but every campaign and every pac tests their own strengths and weaknesses. it was actually a poll to test senator mccain's strengths and weaknesses, but you have to put your own in there, or it's going to be a biased poll. >> as a trump supporter, it's got to bother you that wikileaks, which would have been a huge story had there not been anything going on, on the trump side. the trump tape is an enormous attention getter. had that not been, had it been a more standard campaign, this wikileaks story would have gotten more attention. >> it should. it's a huge concern and americans should be worrying about this on the heels of the questions that still remain about the e-mails and this is why i say, when we first got word ten days ago about this "access hollywood" tape, he should have, as he did, made an apology, both maybe do an interview together, put it to bed and move on. >> not have the week go by.

>> certainly, because there's plenty of things to talk about with hillary clinton and all we're hearing from this is attacks on donald trump. there's nothing from the democrat side. nothing from over there about what is hillary clinton going to do to -- >> because it does allow hillary clinton to essentially run out the clock. to just try to lay low, raise money, and prepare for the debate. >> not just the wikileaks, what we saw today with the freedom of information request from the fbi document that is her protective detail that was assigned to her is that they were treated so deplorably, they couldn't find senior staffers from the protective police department that's tasked with protecting the secretary of state to serve in that detail any longer. so what they found was a number of junior staffers, because she treated these people so badly. this is exactly consistent with what the secret service has said in the past. and ef-wiwe have a public face hillary clinton and a private face of hillary clinton. this wasn't a leak, it was a

transfer of information. >> i saw the folks who risked their lives to protect her and her husband and they're frs-class, terrific people. they don't say things of the sort that corey's suggesting or did i ever see hillary mistreat any of these heros who risked their lives to protect her. it's a really unfair shot. but it's the sort of thing you get about hillary. and i'm not sure why. maybe it's a woman thing, so they have some need to make these accusations. i don't know. but i can tell you firsthand, at least my exposure, which was very close for a very long time, i never saw anything like it. >> this is what the fbi documents that were revealed today through the freedom of information about said. this wasn't me. this was the fbi documents who said, they couldn't not find senior staffers to serve on her protective detail. if you want to question the fbi, that's up to you. oom reporting what was released today. >> and this information is why she's doing her prevent defense. laying low, protecting her lead, and hoping, as maggie said to run out the clock in order to

not have to answer these questions and hopefully in her mind continue her lead. i want to thank everyone on the panel. we'll dig deeper on donald trump, ramping up rhetoric and claiming it's a rigged election. why his latest claims are causing so much concern frankly in both parties. we'll be right back. ...and even given super powers? since benjamin moore reinvented paint... ...is it still paint? benjamin moore. paint like no other. like bundling home and auto coverage, which reduces redney. tape, which saves money. when they save, you save. that's home and auto insurance for the modern world. esurance, an allstate company. click or call.

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as we've been talking about, donald trump is ramping up his claims that the election is rigged against him at his rallies and on twitter, he's hammering that message home. >> the election is being rigged by corrupt media, pushing false allegations and outright lies. the process is rigged. this whole election is being rigged. and remember this, it's a rigged election. because you have phony people coming up with phony allegations. >> we should point out, there's no evidence to support donald trump's allegations about a rigged election. over the weekend, republican leaders and election officials from both parties tried to counter his claims. it's not the first time that trump has embraced a conspiracy theory. some would say it's a culmination. here's dana bash. >> it looks to me like a rigged election. >> reporter: donald trump is now hitting this note hard and his

chorus of surrogates singing backup. >> they are attempting to rig this election. >> do you want to tell me that i think the election in philadelphia and chicago is going to be fair? i would have to be a moron to say that. >> there's no question that everything possible is being done to stop donald trump. >> reporter: it's not hard to see why trump's team is doing this. if he loses, he's laying the groundwork for blaming the political system he ran against since day one. he's also following a familiar pattern, peddling in conspiracy theories that don't have facts to back them pup. remember, trump first stepped on the political stage five years ago, pushing the mother of all political conspiracies, questioning whether president obama was born in america. >> if he wasn't born in this country, it's one of the great scandals -- >> reporter: and as a candidate for president, he's promoted some doozies. like ted cruz's father being

involved in president kennedy's assassination. >> his father was with lee harvey oswald prior to oswald being, you know, shot. i mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. what is the right prior to his being shot and nobody even brings it up. >> reporter: many question whether clinton aide and friend vince foster really committed suicide. quote, there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. i don't do that, because i don't think it's fair, he said. now trump is even throwing out that there that hillary clinton may even be on drugs, with zero evidence to prove it. >> at the beginning of her last debate, she was all pumped up at the beginning. and at the end, it was like, take me down. she could barely reach her car. so i think we should take a drug test. anyway, i'm willing to do it. >> reporter: trump's focus on what he calls a rigged system goes beyond unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud. he also claims the press is in on it.

>> the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. they're a political special interest, no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda and the agenda is not for you, it's for themselves. >> reporter: many trump supporters, like e.d. hollister, tell us they believe the system is rigged against their candidate. it's why they don't believe sexual assault allegations against trump. >> all of the media who's been holding back on a totally irrelevant issue. >> reporter: you think it's totally irrelevant? >> totally irrelevant. >> reporter: how come? >> because it's not the issues, national security, border security, foreign policy, obamacare. those are the issues. >> reporter: some trump conspiracies echo those seen on conservative sites like breitbart, whose executive chairman, steve bannon, is on leave to help run trump's campaign.

it worked for trump to rally the base in the primaries, but the general election, to be determined. dana bash, wicnn, washington. >> there are signs that trump's claims about a rigged election are resonating with his supporters, setting off talk of rebellion in some crowds. we have a lot to discuss. joining us, david gergen. also with us, cnn senior political commentator, david axelrod. you can find his podcast on cnn.com. david axelrod, this messagedy donald trump, it certainly appeals to his core supporters, but what does that really do for him at this point? doesn't he need to expand his vote? women voters, young voters, minorities? >> this has been a dilemma for him for some time. he has a very committed base. when he said, i could shoot someone on fifth avenue and i wouldn't lose a vote, he was right. he has a base of followers who will follow him anywhere. but they aren't enough to win an election. and he has had real difficulty expanding beyond it. and he's been his own worst

enemy in that regard. and particularly among these college educated white voters, who he seems to be systemically driving away, and among them, women, most of all. so, i, you know, all of the things he's doing now seem designed to reinforce support that he already has, but not to build on it. >> david gergen, historically, have you ever seen anything like this? a presidential nominee calling the electoral process into question to this degree? >> no. we've never had anyone calling into question to this degree. we have had republican candidates in the last couple of elections, john mccain, most famously, called into question what a.c.o.r.n. was doing and how it might disrupt, he believed, his election. but this is very, very fundamental. and donald trump, once again, without evidence, is questioning the very fundamentals of how we elect people. it's not just one organization. he's saying the whole thing is fixed. and it's a fix between the media

and democratic party. and i think what he's doing, anderson, is preparing people for a loss. then he can say, you know, i didn't lose, the system was rigged. >> which goes against how every candidate, david axelrod, who's lost, generally says, okay, i lost with and i support the -- i support my opponent, we have to come together as a country. donald trump said he would do that during the first debate. but you wonder what his message, if he loses, is going to be? >> i look at donald trump and i see a guy who defines the world in terms of winners and losers. and he clearly sees himself on one side of that clul. he is not someone who will accept a loss as legitimate. we saw this during the comment as we lost the iowa caucuses. he very quickly started talking about the fact that it was fixed, that it was rigged. so he is laying the groundwork

for a loss. i don't know whether it's a strategic decision or emotionally necessary for him, but the result of it is is that we're going to have a very ugly aftermath if he doesn't win this election, because a large number of voters who supported him are going to believe what they're saying and they're not going to accept the result. and i think that's very frightening for our democracy. >> davidgerden, paul ryan spoke out about this weekend. our democracy relies on confidence in election results. could they not be just reckless but actually dangerous? >> they could be. i give credit to mike pence saying we're going to accept the results of this election, in contradiction to trump's suggestions here. but trump is calling for observers to be at the polling booth. and we already know some of those observers are basically saying, we're going to engage in racial profiling. we believe that basically blacks and minorities fix elections. they come out and vote when they shouldn't, and there are going to be muslims that are going to show up.

and basically they're suggesting they may start harassing voters. they could throw really monkey wrenches into this. anderson, it's also something that's very profound here. that the republican party for a variety of reasons is taking a conservative argument frequently now that the system is fixed. that essentially, inner cities in particular, there's massive a lot of fraud. the evidence does not support massive amounts of fraud. a professor at loyola has studied elections between 2000 and 2014. there were only 35 credible cases of minor fraud and they never threw any election. but when you start going down this road, you undermine the belief of voters that the election is fair and once that happens, the person who wins is branded as illegitimate. and that's what they're trying to do to hillary clinton now, so to make her illegitimate and frankly, it is encouraging people, i think -- i don't want to say encourage -- there are people who are following trump who now believe that she belongs

in jail, not in the white house. and maybe somebody ought to take her out. you hear those kind of loose comments and they're frightening. >> yeah. david axelrod, david gergen, guys, thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up, does melania trump also think the election is rigged? today, i asked her about that and about her husband's comments and all the women who have come forward to say that he touched them inappropriately. her thoughts, next.

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the extra income that i get from airbnb has been a huge impact in my life. well, today i sat down with melania trump for her first interview since the tape emerged of her husband bragging in 2005, the same year they got married, that he could kiss and grope women because he's a celebrity. as you know, at least nine women have come forward to say that he did just that. donald trump says they are liars. and has said about some of them that they aren't sexually attractive enough for him to be interested in. how does melania trump feel about all of it? i asked her. >> it was ten days ago that "access hollywood" released that tape. i'm wondering when you first saw it, when you first heard it, what did you think? >> i -- i said to my husband that, you know, the language is unappropriate. it's not acceptable.

and i was surprised, because that is not the man that i know. and as you can see from the tape, the cameras were not on, it was only a mike. and i wonder if they even knew that the mike was on. because they were kind of a boy talk. and he was lead on, like, egg on from the host to say dirty and bad stuff. >> you feel the host, billy bush, was sort of egging him on? >> yes. yes. >> is that language you had heard him use before? >> no. no, that's why i was surprised, because i said, like, i don't know that person that would talk that way. and that he would say that kind of a stuff in private. i heard many different stuff, boys talk.

i -- the boys, the way they talk when they grow up and they want to sometimes show ooemp, oeach oh, this and that, and talking about the girls. but, yeah, i was surprised, of course. >> michelle obama, who you, i know, have spoken positively of in the past, she said last week about what your husband said on that tape, she said, this was not just a lewd conversation. this wasn't just locker room banter, this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior and actually bragging about kissing and groping women. in terms of what he actually said on the tape, not saying he did it, but what he said, the behavior described to you, is that sexual assault? >> no, that's not sexual assault. he didn't say he did it. and i see many, many women coming to him and giving phone numbers and, you know, want to

work for him or, inappropriate stuff from women. and they know he's married. >> you've seen that? >> oh, yes, of course! it was in front of me. >> in front of you? >> in front of me. and i said, like, why -- why you need to give your number to my husband? i'm very strong. people didn't really know me. people think and talk about me like, oh, melania, oh, poor melania. don't feel sorry for me. don't feel sorry for me. i can handle everything. >> i know you want your voice to be heard on this. so a number of woman have come forward and made allegations against your husband. some of them go back more than 30 years. he has said they're lying. do you believe him? >> i believe my husband. i believe my husband. this was all organized from the

opposition. and with the details that they go -- did they ever check the background of these women? they don't have any facts. and even the story that came out in "people" magazine, the writer, she said that my husband took her to the room and started kissing her. she wrote in the same story about me, that she saw me on fifth avenue and i said to her, natasha, how come we don't see you anymore? i was never friendly to her. i would not recognize her. >> that never happened? >> never happened. that's why i sent them the letter. because it discredited her story. >> right, your lawyer as sent a letter to "people" magazine saying they have to retract. >> yes, because it was not true. so how we could -- how we could

believe her? that never happened. i was never friends with her. i saw her -- she interviewed us twice. she came to the wedding. and for that story. that's it. i would not recognize her on the street or ask her why we don't see her anymore. so that was another thing like, people come out, saying lies and not true stuff. >> we're three weeks to the election. if you could let the american people know one thing about your husband, what would it be? because right now, the latest polls show, i think, more than 60% of people believe your husband made some sort of unwanted advances. what do you want those people to know? what would you say to them? >> that my husband is kind and he's a gentleman and he would never do that. that everything was organized and put together to to hurt him,

to hurt his candidates. >> organized by the opposition -- >> by the opposition, yes. >> you mean, the media, clintons. >> yes. >> you think they're working together? >> yes, of course. >> well, the two men heard speaking on that now-infamous hollywood tape, one is running for president and the other got fired. billy bush is officially leaving nbc and the "today" show. he was suspended after the tape came out and after several deals of negotiations, the exit deal is done. his spokesman wouldn't comment on the terms of the deal. just ahead, inside the battle to retake mosul from isis. nick paton walsh is on the front lines. that not only made your bathroom look like a spa but stood up to the humidity of a shower this steamy. this steamy yep, even this one. if it's a matte finish paint, and can resist any amount of moisture, is it still paint?

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contains graphic images, including the death of an isis suicide bomber. >> they've been waiting for years to push through the lines and take on isis' brutality. peshmerga into the desert to flank a main road to mosul. air strikes often hitting the places they were headed to fi t first. hopes isis may not fight for the tiny settlements around mosul quickly dashed. this is the first village, they move down the road toward mosul, and encountering pretty heavy resistan

resistance, returning fire with what they have. often blunt and old. they want this over. fast suddenly, there's pan et, they spot car, a suicide car bomb racing toward them, it's isis, one, two rockets try to hit it. a third is lucky. they push on toward the main prize, the road itself to mosul. flanked by all fires, lit by isis, and air strikes piling in regardless. shells still landing near the peshmerga, a casualty taken away. >> down on the main objective, the road itself, isis sent two car bombs and attacked from both sides. >> the iraqi military will have

to push down here toward moos you will, this has been an effort with much international support. a lot of coalition planning, american air power. >> shut the doors. >> is this yours? >> stay in the car now! >> isis still everywhere, even in the hills. they give chase to one man, an isis fighter, he shoots at peshmer

peshmerga. humvees rescue him and hunt on. an isis fighter pops up from a tunnel, shoots. he blows himself up. a tenacity and desire to die that will surely slow and bloody the fight ahead. >> nick joins us now. >> are there actually tunnels around there? that was an isis fighter in a tunnel, you believe? >> that's what we think. he did seem to emerge out of nowhere. that's slowing the advance of the peshmerga down. and will continue to do so. they have land mines and an extensive tunnel network. there may be a four kilometer one from the outskirts big enough to let a motorcycle travel in it, anderson. >> difficult road ahead. appreciate what you and your team are doing, we'll be right

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that does it for us, thanks for watching. cnn tonight with don lemon starts now. melania trump stands by her man. you just heard her with anderson, and we have a lot more to talk about. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. melania trump breaking her silence since the release of that tape. >> i wonder if they even knew that the mike was on. because they were kind of a boy talk. and he was lead on like egg on from the host to say dirty and bad stuff. >> hillary clinton has a lead over donald trump in our new poll in the battleground states of nth