>> despite all of the terrible things he has said and done, he is still trying to win this election. >> she's home sleeping and i'm working. the way it's going to be in the white house, too. >> whenever things are going badly for you, you start blaming somebody else? you don't have what it takes to be in this job. >> this is "new day," with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> it's "new day" but it's debate night. good morning, everyone. welcome to your new day the final presidential debate between donald trump and hillary clinton is now 13 hours away. can trump turn around his poll numbers? and how much time will be spent on the claim of a rigged election? versus the accusations of unwanted advances against trump? >> now, there's no question trump comes in with a lot of baggage but clinton has her own challenges. what we've been seeing in these stolen e-mails, she's going to have to answer for some of the questions that are raised. now you have this undercover video suggesting a democratic

operative may have been inciting violence at trump rallies. she's going to have to answer for that tonight. this is the final stretch. 20 days until election day. we begin our coverage with cnn's manu raju live in vegas. manu? >> hey, chris. now poll after poll has donald trump losing in key battleground states, including a new poll from arizona in the traditional red state clinton now up five points according to this survey. so the question is tonight, whether or not donald trump can reverse his downward slide. ahead of tonight's final debate, donald trump throwing a hail mary. going after washington and intensifying his unfounded claim that the election is rigged. >> they even want to try and rig the election at the polling booths. >> reporter: even calling on his supporters to monitor polling places. >> people are going to be watching on november 8th. >> reporter: and doubling down on his media conspiracy theories. >>alize there's a voter fraud

with the media because say so poison the mind of people by writing false stories. >> reporter: the gop nominee pledging to shakeup washington. >> it is time to drain the swamp. >> reporter: now promising if elected he will push for term limits for members of congress. a populous proposal that has yet to succeed. >> decades of political failure and special interest collusion must and will finally come to an end. >> reporter: trump opting not to respond to president obama, who ridiculed the billionaire's voter fraud accusations. >> you start whining before the game's even over. if whenever things are going badly for you and you lose you start blaming somebody else. then you don't have what it takes to be in this job. >> reporter: instead announcing that he's bringing obama's kenyan-born half-brother malik, a trump supporter, to tonight's debate. trump and hillary clinton head into tonight's final debate with

looming controversies. undercover videos released tuesday produced by diskrithed svz activist james o'keefe suggest it was democratic operatives working for the clinton campaign instigating violence at some trump rallies. >> it is not hard to get some of them to pop off. >> reporter: both the dnc and the clinton campaign deny any involvement. and those on the tape deny any of the proposed schemes ever took place. meanwhile, trump is facing accusations from at least nine women who say he made unwanted advances without their consent. >> these are people who are trapped. put his hands under somebody's skirt on an airplane. >> reporter: trump rejects those claims but senate democratic leader harry reid blasting trump's behavior. >> it is kind of a sickness. >> now, clinton has been off the trail for several days and actually preparing for this debate, leading the campaign

trail for her surrogates. the question is how does hillary clinton address the allegations and other revelations from the wikileaks e-mails? because, chris, as we know the clinton campaign has really just not addressed those issues in any sort of meaningful way in the last several days chris. >> true. so let's see what we'll get from people representing those two different points of view. manu thank you very much. we have cnn political commentators for us. former new york congressman rick lazio. he ran against hillary clinton back in 2000 for the new york senate. and simone sanders former national press secretary for bernie sanders now a clinton supporter. one of the things that will come up tonight regardless of topics, you're going to have character and you're going to have what each candidate has been bringing that is worthy of criticism. top of the list for trump will be what chris wallace decides to do with the allegations of these women. and certainly what trump himself has been saying about a rigged election. not the media being unfair to him. that's one thing. do you believe that he has a real case to make that the election -- this election, is

rigged? >> only if you think you're going to lose. so i think he needs to pivot off that very quickly. if he wants to make the point that the media has been unfair to him, he has things to cite. he wants to talk about some of what got released today that there looks like there may have been a clinton operative that was inciting violence at those rallies, that that may be evidence, i would -- if i was him, i'd say, hey, we found out that during the primary debate, that there was a leak of a question, a town hall meeting, that's an example of a -- the media -- >> doesn't mean the whole race is rigged. >> no but if i'm him, i'm going to -- >> touch and go. >> and pivot off and then he needs to stay -- he needs to do two things i think, number one which is going to be difficult he needs to juice his supporters enough to get them to the polls because he's got such a bad ground game and that there's a couple of points advantage to clinton. and number two he needs to come across as being presidential enough so that people who are on the fence will trust him. those are two very difficult

things to manage in my view. >> problem with the b.s., you dig the hole, that's the b.s., now you want to fill it in it never quite looks the same. clinton will have to deal with that. she'll play to an advantage of the rigged thing and being another unsubstantiated clinton by trump. then you have this video. one of her people, kramer ran that outfit, they worked with the dnc and they were trying to provoke people or at least training people to do it. that looks dirty. >> so, look, i think we don't necessarily know what exactly chris wallace is going to say about this tonight at the debate. but i think secretary clinton will be ready. you know, i think donald trump is going to come out and he's going to spontaneously come bust tonight and when he looks absolutely crazy and secretary clinton just stands there and looks calm, cool and collected, i think that makes the difference to the voters. >> what if he doesn't, and wallace says, what do you people paying for in this dnc? these are your people clinton and they're doing this shady stuff. how does this not make you current? >> well then i think secretary

clinton's answer to that is clearly that, look, i have ran a very -- i've run a straight-laced campaign. we're out here talking about the issues that are important to the voters. and the democratic national committee, our party has had some issues but what party hasn't but we are in the process of expanding our party. we have worked to build up not just, you know, the building in d.c., but all across this country and we're running an expansion program. do we have some things we need to clean up all across the board? which party doesn't. i'm sure the republican party should not be the one to cast the first stone there. but i think she has to pivot and bring it right back to the issues and this is about who can govern. who on -- when they take office in january, will have a plan, a 100-day plan and their administration to keep america on the right track and take it to the next level and that's secretary clinton. >> two things if i'm trump, i'm pushing on. number one, the american people don't trust hillary clinton and so i'd be hammering away at that over and over again to reinforce it. the second thing is, two out of three americans believe we're on

the wrong track. seven years into an expansion. they think jobs being created are poor jobs. they're not keeping up with their rent. 20 million american families are paying more than 50% of their income for housing. you've got 50 year low in terms of home ownership. you've got more people falling behind. more people in part-time jobs. more people paying higher amounts for their health care premiums as opposed to the -- what was promised to them through the affordable care act. if i'm trump, i'm going on a rip about the economy and the people being left behind. i'm positioning myself as the change agent, as somebody who's not going to have scandal after scandal in the white house. this is what you'll get with hillary -- >> you lose high ground on that one point because you know you're right the numbers are what they are. we've never seen nominees for the two parties be as low in the personal estimate as they are right now. that's why you know your former man bernie sanders got so much surprising momentum because he didn't have that -- >> right. he had a message by the way. >> that's true. >> and i think -- i think -- >> but your guy has a trust

problem. he says you can't trust her, nobody's -- >> he's not my guy. >> yeah, yeah, trump comes up and says you can't trust her. >> right. >> he doesn't have any high ground there. >> you can't trust donald trump either. >> you've got nine women he's calling liers, now corroborating claims the "people" magazine woman he said look at her why would i pick her. he talks about -- >> but chris, if i'm trump i'm not getting into the weeds about that. >> when he says you can't trust her -- >> i don't think donald trump can ignore that conversation tonight. and furthermore for him to make the case that you know, the housing is bad, the economy is bad, you know i think there are people in this country who identify that they have, you know, gotten ahead a little bit in the last eight years with president obama. when president obama came to the white house the republican party had driven it into, and we can make the case that in terms of home ownership, that was because these wall street executives brought america to the brink of disaster. i think we can -- there's this two sides to that economy, arguments that they can have tonight.

but i definitely think donald trump won't be able to escape the conversation about the allegations of sexual assault. his temperament, his disparaging comments about women, that is something that's going to be on the table. >> but you think with everything on the line tonight, because this is the last chance, you think he won't be able to keep it together? now i know, look, i keep getting hit with the stick with people say when has he held it together. when has he held it together. the first 20 minutes of that last debate he just went straight negative on clinton, didn't say anything too nuts you know about her just stuck to what the status quo is. and, didn't do anything about himself. but do you think that's a given that he can be like that. >> i'm not sure, chris. i mean he has disappointed his supporters i think time and time again in terms of staying on message. he's got a message that he can bring the game. he can -- he could do well, he's got the potential to do well tonight. although i have to say it's the last time people are going to see him. they've got 19 more days of campaigning after that but this is the last major event that people are going to tune in and see these two candidates. so it's critical for him to

really stay on message, my view, of being a change agent, addressing the economy, talking about what he'll do, and then putting clinton on the defense in terms of what she's done with foreign policy, are we better off now than we were when she was secretary -- when she came in as secretary of state. the debt which is one of 9 subjects now we've got $10 trillion more of debt than we had when -- than when barack obama took office. there are things if he's got the knowledge he can say to go out there and make people comfortable, that he knows the issues, and that he can be the president and he gets what people are thinking about, and -- >> are you more for trump or against clinton? >> no, i -- i am personally, i am discouraged about this campaign on both sides. i look at both of them, and i don't know how we got here. >> you know who you're going to vote for? >> yeah i'm going to probably write somebody in. that's what i'm going to end up doing. i'm going to vote. i encourage everybody to vote. don't leave that to somebody else. but my case, i just have never

been a trump supporter. i've always felt like his lack of civility, and his lack of depth was a big problem in terms of being president. and in terms of hillary. i not only disagree with her on the issues, but i am really appalled by the constant scandals and her fact that she's always seeming like she's on the margins on the ethics. >> you're in less worse mode -- >> yeah. >> sanders? >> there is no chance i write in sanders. i'm voting for secretary clinton. and i'm encouraging everybody out there to not only go to the polls and vote for president but vote down ballot because those are the races that really affect folks, and there's congress folks on the ballot, control co comptroller people on the ballot. >> wouldn't it be nice if we had a conversation like this on the stage tonight? we probably won't. thank you very much. all right so we want you to stay with cnn for live coverage much tonight's debate it's going to begin at 4:00 p.m. eastern. the debate is tonight 9:00 p.m. right here on cnn. alisyn? >> i don't know if you've

mentioned this but in just hours the final presidential debate will be happening. what does hillary clinton need to say about those hacked e-mails? as well as the other issues that are going to come up tonight like the economy? we talk about her strategy, next. i'm beowulf boritt and i'm a broadway set designer.

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the debate has not yet begun but it's already tense. according to a "new york times" report the families of both clinton and trump will not shake

hands or cross paths when they enter the debate hall. the report claims that the clinton campaign wanted to prevent a potential ambush by any of trump's guests. joining us now to discuss this and the issue is democratic congressm congressman, chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee and a hillary clinton supporter. congressman, thanks so much for being here. >> good morning, alisyn. great to be with you this morning. >> okay. we know a couple of other bits of background stage craft that are happening that i want to bounce off you. we understand that reince priebus has been played by -- wait a second. i know this. in the trump camp -- hold on a second, reince priebus is playing the moderator chris wallace. and here's an interesting one, chris christie has been playing hillary clinton. that's an interesting image. but what all on this suggests is that trump is preparing better than he did for say the first one he is actually doing some mock debates. one of the issues that will come up is the economy.

voters so far in the polls say they trust donald trump more than hillary clinton. on the economy. what's she going to say tonight about that? >> well, alisyn, it is a matter of which donald trump shows up tonight. the damage really has been done. but there's going to be a clear contrast on the economy when it comes to secretary clinton and donald trump. i'm sure donald trump's going to be asked and asked again why he has not paid any taxes unlike people all across the country hard-working blue collar folks like the family that i was raised in. secretary clinton has committed her life to making sure that she's able to make a difference for people, for families. for children. and you contrast that to the bigotry and ugliness that we're seeing from donald trump and that's going to spill right into the economic -- >> but what about jobs? i mean i hear what you're saying and you're trying to, you know, cast the past aspersion on donald trump which is fair. however what she's going to say about how she's going to create jobs? >> well, secretary clinton has leaned in to a strong job creation package starting with a

robust investment in infrastructure. you contrast that with what donald trump has said, which is he'll put the full faith and credit of the united states on the line and try to ride out the debt the way that he has with every other business transaction he's been engaged in. the american people do not want to see that. no one wants to see the full faith and credit of the united states put on the line and that's going to lead to a negative job creation in the united states compared to the positive side we'll see from secretary clinton in addition to the investment with education and job training which is critically needed all across the country. >> congressman let's talk about some of the challenges for her tonight. there have been e-mails released that are certainly embarrassing but one of these e-mails came from a foia request and it basically shows the state department patrick kennedy undersecretary trying to get the fbi to downgrade a classification of one of hillary clinton's e-mails it was about benghazi and he wanted it to be declassified instead of classified. how is she going to approach that tonight? what's she going to say to voters? >> well, alisyn, i agree with president barack obama that

there's no credibility associated with that assertion. and number two, let's not forget that these e-mails came from hacked from a foreign state entity namely the russians that's been identified by the department of -- >> well no hold on one second, this one is from an actual freedom of information act request. this isn't part of the wikileaks dumb that i'm talking about. this exchange between the fbi and the state department where the fbi released it as part of their reports, and it shows that the -- it appeared to show, that the state department was asking for a favor and wanted one of her e-mails involving benghazi not to be classified. >> well, again, whether we're talking about the e-mails that came from the foia request or the other e-mails, president obama i think said it best. and he said that there was no credibility associated with this assertion and that's what we're seeing with this one. >> but i mean they -- they -- the state department and the fbi agreed that this one did happen. this one isn't -- this one did happen. i mean they both said there was no quid pro quo but it did

happen that patrick kennedy was asking for a reclassification of an e-mail. >> look, again, i think president obama, who's closer to the intelligence than anything that i've within briefed on said it best that the assertions here clearly show that there's no wrongdoing. but look there should never be questions asked associated with these types of things and that's where i am on this. again, with president barack obama's response, i think he provided the clarity that was needed associated with the concerns with this particular e-mail. >> okay about the wikileaks e-mail, there are these -- look, anybody -- if anybody's e-mails were ever to be released they would be embarrassing. these are no different. it does show some of the top clinton aides around her really struggling with sort of her messaging, particularly about the e-mails, and whether or not she could genuinely apologize. and you hear john podesta and another adviser trying to say why isn't she doing this more forcefully? why isn't she just saying i'm sorry. do you think congressman,

tonight, that hillary clinton will take one more pass at saying i'm sorry about the e-mails? >> alisyn, clearly what i've seen is pertaining to the e-mails secretary clinton said she was sorry and that she said she would not do that again and you compare and contrast with donald trump who can't say sorry about anything or take anything back that speaks to the character of our candidates today, and that's why i'm so supportive of secretary clinton. look with the back and forth between staff there are always going to chat i know that secretary clinton is a good person and a sincere person. and that's why we saw that apology. but again we should not forget that these came from hacked e-mails, and nobody should be aiding and abetting foreign state entities like the russians when they're trying to enter american politics and our democracy. >> congressman i want to ask you about a plan that donald trump has announced saying that if he were elected president he would want congressional term limits. he would want all of you limited to six years there on capitol hill.

you would be out in other words. you were elected -- you were elected in 2009, and you've been there already for seven years. what do you think of that plan of his? >> well, alisyn, the people's house is exactly that. it's the people's house. and every two years the american people decide who's going to stay and who's not going to. and i trust the american people more than i trust donald trump. >> all right, congressman ben ray lujan we will be looking forward obviously to watching tonight. thanks so much for helping us preview it. >> thank you. >> let's go to chris. >> we've got some new poll numbers and they're painting a not so good picture for donald trump on the electoral map. what can he do in the debate to reverse the reality? we get the bottom line next. woah! you're not taking these. hey, hey, hey! you're not taking those. woah, woah! you're not taking that. come with me. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. mom, i'm taking the subaru.

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this is it. the third and final presidential debate. the last time you will get to see trump and clinton on equal footing. what needs to happen tonight, how about it affect the conversation? let's get the bottom line from cnn politics executive editor mark preston.

so, what could happen tonight that could change the state of play? >> well, donald trump get right back to the basics, chris? can he start talking about the issues? can he talk about how he's going to govern? can he move beyond the allegations of sexual harassment? if hillary clinton brings it up, can donald trump pivot away from that? can he talk about the e-mail controversy in a way that is understandable to the american public? if he's able to do all that, then donald trump could have a good night. at the same time, hillary clinton, can she really talk about how her credentials are needed at this time? you know, in this state that we're in. not only here in the u.s., but, you know, broadly, globally, you know, can she talk about his temperament and make that hammer home quite frankly, make that hammer home with the voters and try to, you know, cast him as someone who's unstable. and quite frankly, can they both explain that they are the right ones to govern at this time? that they can work in washington and that they can bring change to washington.

>> mark, very quickly here are the stated topics for tonight. debt and entitlements, immigration, economy, supreme court, foreign hot spots, fitness to be president. so that's twhat the moderator chris wallace wants to talk about. how much time do you think will be talking about -- will spent -- will be spent talking about that versus say controversies? >> well, fitness, yeah -- >> to be president -- >> under -- >> yeah. >> right? >> right i mean who knows. quite frankly, barack obama's half-brother is going to be in the audience tonight again, something that's bizarre, something that we would have never seen in previous debates. who knows what's going to happen? i suspect donald trump is going to come out swinging and set the tone. hillary clinton if she is, is, is playing this right a tie for her is a win so you would expect her to be a little bit more reserved. but if she would -- if he really starts battering their then it could get ugly early. >> what's a bigger factor tonight? nine women, the coordination of the accounts now "people" magazine coming out to kind of

take on donald trump's assertion that all these women are like? or the latest video from project veritas and a democratic operative saying we're trying to bait violence at trump rallies and the stuff in the wikileaks e-mail? >> right, which are terrible stories to hillary clinton. the problem with that, chris, as we know is that donald trump seems to be clouding his own message. whenever something seems to be going terrible for hillary clinton, donald trump goes out on the campaign trail, he says something, or you know he does something that seems to suck all the oxygen out of the air. donald trump in many ways has allowed hillary clinton to get away with this. he keeps blaming the media, but the fact is he seems to team trumping it, to use his own name, trumping whatever is happening to hillary clinton. so while the clinton stuff is bad, i don't know how much it's really going to move voters at this point. >> mark, let's take a look at where the polls are right now. right before the debate, because obviously things shift after that. this is cnn's poll of polls, meaning the last five national polls, clinton is up by nine. she has 47%. to his 38%.

then let's take a look at some of the battleground states. let's look at -- >> by the way i'll bet you that this number gets closer after this debate flp >> you think it will tighten. okay. so let's look at the battleground states. here's arizona clinton is up in arizona 43% to 38%. >> unusual. >> what do you think here, mark? >> well, as chris is absolutely right, it's absolutely unusual, and what it does is put donald trump in a defensive position in a state where he should not even have to worry about that he should write off and be focusing on a state such as north carolina or pennsylvania or even looking at democratic battleground states that he wants to go in and try to pull back or quite frankly democratic health states michigan is a state, wisconsin, some states like that, that donald trump now when he looks at a state like arizona or utah, texas, what have you, he's having to play defense now. he shouldn't have to be paying any attention to these states. >> let's look at some others. here's nevada. this is considered a battleground state. this is monmouth university poll. she has 47% to his 40%. what do you want to say about this, mark?

>> well, i mean look barack obama has done pretty well in nevada. this is, of course, a state because there really is an anti-government feel here in nevada. i think it's about 90% of the land here give or take is owned by federal government -- >> but she didn't do well against bernie in the primary. >> everybody thought that she was -- >> and that the latino vote was going to be actually motivated and it wasn't. >> right. no it wasn't, because out here, the liberal left is the liberal left. every strong union town out here. they're going to be behind her but to your point chris she didn't do particularly well with the base in the primary. but again this is a very quirky state. you know, that has divided government. they have a republican governor for example. if harry reid is leaving his seat may go republican but the fact is donald trump should be doing better here than he is right now, and again, another state he's playing defense in that he shouldn't have to be worrying about. he should be trying to go on offense in democratic states. >> here's one that republicans think is a shocker and it's texas. >> hmm. >> because they are within the

margin of error here. donald trump is ahead, but only by three. he's getting 41% to her 38%. is it possible that texas turns blue, mark? >> no. but let's talk about -- talk about that twelve years from now. to the demographics shifting so much in the state of texas that that big state, is likely to go democratic if the constituents stay the same in about twelve years. but again, this really hammers home the point that donald trump right now shouldn't be worrying about texas at all. this shouldn't even be on the map. the only reason they should be going to texas is to raise money in houston and in dallas and austin, but the fact of the matter is hillary clinton so close right now it's got to be troubling. to your point, at the top, donald trump is playing defense almost in all of these states right now, which is not really good for him heading into the election. >> what does wisconsin mean to you? obviously paul ryan his home state. scott walker, his home state.

47-39 -- clinton on top very small slice going to third parties there only 4%. >> right. big union state. so that's probably where we're seeing that as well. and donald trump's message of trade while it played well in the primary chris doesn't seem to be connecting at this point. so, again, he should be doing better than he is there. >> okay, mark, thanks so much for getting up early for us. we'll be watching tonight. >> he's in vegas. he didn't go to sleep. >> yeah, you're right. there's no sleeping there. stay with cnn for live coverage of tonight's debate at 4:00 p.m. eastern. be sure to watch the debate at 9:00 p.m. right here on cnn. >> the battle for mosul is taking a disturbing turn. the pentagon says isis fighters are using civilians as human shields. how will they deal with that especially in these long range artillery attacks? answer is next. guess what guys, i switched to sprint. sprint? i'm hearing good things about the network. all the networks are great now. we're talking within a 1% difference in reliability of each other. and, sprint saves you 50% on most current national carrier rates.

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impact in my life. as if you needed another reason to know that the election matters, look at what's happening in iraq, as these forces push toward mosul. right now, isis fighters are employing a familiar and

barbaric move using civilians as human shields. how will the allies deal with this? cnn's senior national correspondent clarissa ward joining us near mosul. tell us where you are, what the state of play is, and how this new development factors in to strategy? well, good morning chris. we're here at the kurdish peshmerga forces front line that is closest to the city of mosul. mosul is just about eight miles behind me. but if you take a look quickly at our other shot just next to me you can see this town which is really just behind me, that town is also under the control of isis. in the last few hours we have seen some pretty heavy airstrikes and also artillery coming from this area from coalition forces, as essentially they try to soften that target, preparing for an offensive to take back that town that you see just behind me. you can still see those plumes of smoke, just moments ago.

we heard a series of rockets. earlier on there was other artille artillery. we heard at least four airstrikes. reportedly those airstrikes also going on throughout the night and i think this is what you're seeing chris is an attempt to kind of wear down the enemy. to exhaust the militants who have been in control of this area behind me for more than two years now. towards the south of mosul, we're sort of on the eastern side, towards the south you are seeing some pretty heavy clashes taking place between the iraqi army and isis militants. in a christian city near the town of nimrod which is an ancient site. it is kinetic and active there. iraqi forces are saying at least 14 villages have been liberated. and the understanding here on the ground is this is going to take some time. this is a marathon and not a sprint. >> yes we've heard that as well. that's an important reminder of how long this will take weeks if not months.

clarissa thank you very much for being there and for the reporting. turning back now to tonight's final presidential debate one of the topics will be immigration. this is an issue that has been a centerpiece of donald trump's campaign from the beginning. so what will he say tonight? joining us now is linda chavez, a republican and former reagan official. she is not supporting trump. miss chavez, thanks so much for being here. >> great to be with you, alisyn. >> immigration of course is an issue close to your heart donald trump has talked about how we need to secure our borders. what don't you like about this position? >> well, first of all the best way to secure our border, beyond putting in good border security, is to change our legal immigration laws to make it possible for the people that we need to bring in to the country, who whose skills we need to come here legally. and donald trump really does not like that. he wants to basically end immigration, legal immigration, as we know it. he wants to go back to a system that was in place prior to 1965,

a system that basically had country quotas, and made it very difficult for people to come to the united states. that will actually increase the pressure on people to come here illegally so it actually is counterproductive for even from his point of view. >> what about his plan for a wall? what do you make of that? >> well, you know, we already have a wall along a portion of the border. but anybody who has spent time in the american southwest recognizes how impractical, difficult and expensive it would be to try to put a solid wall between mexico and the united states. part of the terrain is mountainous, it's desert, you would really interrupt the ecosystem in the southwest. and, it, frankly, any wall that you build, someone will figure out a way to get over it or to tunnel under it. so i think it's really a waste of resources, and again, if you want to have better security, there are high-tech means, we

already have invested more in border security along our southern border. we tripled the amount of money we're spending. in fact, we spent more money on enforcing that southern border than we do on all other federal law enforcement combined. to me it's a mystery why, as conservatives, we would want to throw more money at it, and build walls, when there is a better way to deal with immigration. >> well let's talk about that, what you just said. as a conservative the conundrum you find yourself in because you're not alone, you are a republican, you are a conservative, yet you don't want to vote for donald trump. so what are you going to do? on election day? would you vote for hillary clinton? >> well, i hope not to have to do that. i -- you know, i think donald trump is an existential threat to america. that his election, you know, we're looking at you just had a report on aleppo and what's --

not on aleppo, on iraq and what's happening in mosul, and you know the whole foreign policy threat that i think he poses. he is somebody who doesn't know very much about foreign policy. he's somebody who sort of shoots from the hip, which is extremely dangerous in this environment. so i really cannot vote for him. it looks, according to the polls, like hillary clinton is going to win easily. i was in colorado, which is a swing state, and it does not look like donald trump has a chance here. so i don't think when i go in to that polling booth i'm going to have to pull the lever for hillary clinton. and what i will be doing is supporting all of the republican down-ticket candidates, because i think it's really important to have republicans in congress should hillary clinton be elected president to be able to stop her from doing things that frankly i will find objectionable.

>> so you're going to leave it blank basically is what you're saying? >> i'm basically going to leave it blank. i mean that's my intention. i might write in marco rubio. he was my candidate in the primary season. but, there's just no way in the world that i can vote for donald trump. >> so donald trump says that if he loses that it will have been a rigged election in fact he's not even waiting for that possibility, he's saying that the election is rigged. what do you think of that language? >> well i think it's dangerous language you know what's interesting about it is this is right out of the russian playbook, this srt of disinformation campaign. back in the days when it was the soviet union they always tried to throw a pall of illegitimacy, american elections, and donald trump is feeding right in to that right now. he wants people to think if he doesn't win it's not because he's a loser, which i think he is, but because of the election

has been stolen. and that's undermines the very fabric of our democracy pip mean, we live in a country in which there's peaceful transition, even if you don't like the person who wins, you accept it. i didn't like the fact barack obama won twice. but you know, i was willing to accept him as the legitimate president of the united states. and to go out there and criticize him when i disagreed with his policies, and fight to make sure that congress kept him in check. but i accepted his election. and i think it's very dangerous when you have the nominee of the republican party basically telling people that this election is being stolen. >> linda chavez, always good to get your perspective. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> chris? >> let's get some good news. let's get back to humanity for a second. we have an update on the twin. anais and jaden mcdonald, once joined at the head. now separated. but still in a fight for their

recovery. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta spoke with their parents to see how the twin are doing after this land marge surgery at new york's montefiore hospital next.

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on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. and if you do have an accident, our claims centers are available to assist you 24/7. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. the sweet faces of these little boys have captured all of our attention. 13-month-old twin, conjoined at the head, undergoing a rare 27-hour surgery to separate them. so how are the boys doing?

cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has their story. >> jadon and anias mcdonald are finally resting in separate beds. born conjoined, connected at the head, jadon and anias underwent a 27-hour operation beginning last week to separate the two. messages of support and encouragement poured in from all over the world as people learned about the story of the two little boys. >> it's just amazing how these people who are total strangers can love our babies. i mean, the way they do, and they really, you can really feel their love through their messages, and just you know all the donations. >> reporter: today, mom nicole, can now cuddle up next to anias in a single twin bed. jadon is opening his eyes. four days after the historic operation, i got a chance to speak with nicole and dad christian. how are the boys doing this morning? >> they're doing well.

jadon's has his eyes open, and he's -- he's tracking, you know, with his eyes, and he's moving his -- he wasn't moving his left side there for a little while. but now he's moving his left arm. >> jadon, i mean i think he just smiled at me. i'm almost sure he just smiled. under all that, yeah, and he's looking me right in the eye and he follows you. it's -- it's awesome. and he's trying to pull all his tubes out. >> yeah, usually it's a good sign if they're trying to pull the breathing tube out themselves. it's usually time for it to come out. >> yeah, he is ready for extubation. >> anias has always been the one to struggle more. after he was born he had breathing issues, feeding issues, and seizures. doctors expected his recovery to be slower. >> we knew anias would struggle a little bit more. he is progressing at a slower rate but he's still moving forward. and there's still so much hope for him and he is right now he's crying and moving his arm. so, i know that he just has a lot more recovery to do.

but, he'll get there. he'll get there. he always surprises us. every time. >> he is doing very well. but he is still having some of the seizures, so you know, we just appreciate everybody continuing to pray for him. that's what we need the most. >> does he seem to respond to you when you touch him or talk to him in terms of movements or some sort of response? >> i can only see it on the monitor so i know that he knows that i'm here when i talk to him his heartrate goes down. his blood pressures go down, and he's calmer. >> so nicole reads, and sings to her son. ♪ good night >> both the boys are going to go back into the operating room tomorrow to have their dressings changed. but overall doctors are pleased with their progress. >> you're still as feisty as ever. >> nicole and christian, they're taking it just one day at a time. >> the very first day when jadon wasn't moving his left side at all and anias wasn't moving anything i think i couldn't stop focusing on it. i couldn't stop thinking that this was term. but every day it gets better and i think that's the best part is that every day there's something

new and good to focus on and we just keep doing that. >> dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. >> amazing medical mystery. you know, development. no, no question about that. can you imagine i mean we're both long time parents now, new parents, all right, these kids are 17 months old, 16 months old. and to have that perspective, and to deal with this. how old are the kids? >> 13 months. >> can you imagine that? >> i only have a little teeny window into this in that i had freemys. and they had all the wrapping and wires up their nose. and to see your child so vulnerable. it is heartbreaking but modern medicine is incredible. and we're all prague for those little boys. >> keep them in your thoughts they're going to need it for a long time to come. all right we had some good news. now how about some funny news? the late night laughs is next.

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time nor late night laughs. there is a new interview with melania trump. >> what? >> sort of. >> we haven't seen you much since your speech at the convention. >> yes, that is my choice. they did not send me to live in an undisclosed location. i am a private person, stephen. my life is not a photo-op. >> you don't blame your husband for what he said? >> yes, i do. i said to my husband, that those

words are very unappropriate. plus, he said them on a bus. disgusting. this is not the man i married. >> well, have you forgiven your husband? >> oh, yes. >> so you've forgiven him? >> i have. more than forgiven. stephen, i have forgotten. >> it's hard to believe anyone -- it's hard to believe anyone can forget what he said. >> forget what who said, huh? >> okay. but, but numerous women have said they were groped by your husband, as well as beauty pageant contestants who say he walked in on them while they were naked. >> those are all lies, steven. except the ones where their videotaped. then it's locker room talk. my husband is kind. he is a gentleman. >> okay. well he's a gentleman, then why did he say he didn't do it because they were too ugly.

>> he's raw. he tells it like it is. and these women, oof, am i right? >> she looks like melania trump. that is a very good actress. >> i do not. >> you know what though? tough, tough being in this game for the spouses. >> of course. >> she didn't ask for this. >> there you go. >> now she's got it. >> all right. time for "newsroom" with carol costello on that note. hi, carol. >> i know i needed to laugh. thanks for that. good morning from las vegas. "newsroom" starts now. and good morning and thanks for joining me from the campus of the university of nevada-las vegas, the site of tonight's final presidential debate. i'm carol costello. all right. round three. donald trump and hillary clinton will trade their punches face-to-face. they'll battle each other and try to sell themselves. many will tune