phil mattingly is outside trump tower in new york. let's go to manu raju here with me. >> there is growing anxiety right now within the republican ranks that these comments will be damaging. actually probably derail donald trump's campaign. and what they're saying right now, fred, is that they want these resources spent to save the congressional majority. both in the house and the senate. senior republican official tells me it's time to abandon donald trump if you're the republican national committee and one reason why is because of these damaging comments and donald trump on damage control. donald trump apologizing overnight hoping to tamp down the controversy that's threatening to derail his campaign. >> i've said and done things i regret. and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who i am. i said it, i was wrong and i apologize. >> reporter: but also taking a swipe at bill clinton. >> bill clinton has actually abused women and hillary has b

cnn's phil mattingly has a lot to talk about. he's live in farmville, virginia, the site of tonight's vice presidential debate. hi, phil. >> reporter: hey, alisyn. in an election year that's running increasingly low on days until the actual voters go to the polls, donald trump's taxes are all anybody's talking about. whichever candidate gets the upper hand on this issue, they may very well win the white house. >> i understand the tax laws better than almost anyone, which is why i am the one who can fix them. >> reporter: dangerous

john and christine. >> i can't wait. >> phil mattingly, thank you., a face we have not seen on the campaign trail. melania trump will give her first speech since the republican convention back in july. she will go to philadelphia on thursday. donald trump announced last week she will give two or three speeches before election day. he promises they will be big, important speeches. >> joining us now is eugene scott. political reporter for cnn. a lot has happened. a big weekend of developments. i want to start with the democrats and their assault on james comey. listen to john podesta. he was on with jake yesterday with "state of the union." >> i think this is something that has been tossed into the middle of the campaign. we would have preferred that not happen, but now it has happened, mr. comey needs to come forward and explain why he took this unprecedented step. particularly when he said himself in the letter to the hill. these may not even be significant. >> it wasn't long ago we listened to tim kaine that comey was a fair person and made the righ

john and christine. >> phil mattingly, thank you. with the clinton foundation doing good and doing well for bill clinton. the memo written by a close clinton aide outlines the rule he played raising funds and turning relationships with corporate donors into big speaking fees for the president. the memo comes from 2011. it notes one clinton foundation dond donor ubs paid clinton $1.5 million. >>> this is a new lawsuit filed against the republican party. the dnc says trump claim the election is rigged rests on what it calls fabricated claims of voter fraud in minority communities. the republicans say the dnc is giving support to trump's claims in violation of a long standing legal settlement aimed at banning voter suppression activity. the rnc is calling the suit meritless. >> let's talk about the state of the race. scre joining us is zach wolf. the poll of polls shows hillary clinton at 47%. trump at 41%. that margin is big, but it is shrinking a tiny bit. i want to give you a note of comparison. in 2012, it is not apples to apples, b

our phil mattingly is outside trump tower. phil, besides seeing rudy giuliani, kelly ann conway enter trump tower, have you seen any other activity involving his advisers? >> reporter: we saw chris christie walk in. that's the team. this is the inner circle that's been working with trump. it's the group that's been closest to him other than his kids up to the point. they are still with him now. others are in the midst of a mass exodus. rudy giuliani asked if trump should be asked to step down. he shook his head no. we have been asking what is the next step? this is the team that is going to deal with the issue for donald trump. fred, there's no real, clear answer to what that is. you stau mike pence statement and leadership members are leaving. these are the folks that have to figure out ut going forward. that's what they are trying to do now, fred. >> okay. anything more about possibly donald trump appearing before a group of people, his supporters this evening, perhaps to either test the waters, we just talked to the wall st

>> see you in vegas in a couple hours, phil mattingly, thank you. donald trump still doubling down on his claimants that this election is rigged, that there's widespread voter fraud, even blasting republican leaders who are denying his allegations so we had cnn and our fact-checking team take a look look at these allegations. our senior investigative correspondent joins me now. the president today said this is unprecedented, based on no facts, what did you find. >> we took a reality check and we found actual cases of voter fraud occurring but they are extremely rare. they have is not been proven to be part of any vast conspiracy or attempt to regular elections and several republican officials i talked to from florida to philadelphia to out west believe this attempt to smear an election's validity is wrong and without factual basis. so here's what we did. we asked the trump campaign what evidence they have that the elections are rigged. they sent us an e-mail listing out several studies they say prove their point. they actually don't. the trump camp

we have cnn's phil mattingly in iowa, in cedar rapids at that hillary clinton rally but evan, do we know what it is about the e-mails that caused the fbi to take a look? we don't know what these e-mails were, we don't know who sent them, we know they were not sent by hillary clinton and we know they were e-mails not in the possession of the fbi, it was not on anything they had previously examined as part of the investigation into the clinton e-mail server. we do know according to officials we've been talking to that it was -- these e-mails were found on a device that the fbi didn't have in its possession during that year-long investigation. in other words, it was on a dwas they hadn't previously examined and that has come into their possession as part of an unrelated investigation. that investigation, we don't know it's not related to the wikileaks investigation. there's still questions here the fbi sending three paragraph letter to members of congress updating them because he previously testified before congress and the three paragraphs now everybody is trying to parse exactly what he s

. >> cnn's phil mattingly is live in washington with much more on this. the fact that it is news that the running mate is sticking with the presidential candidate, that's pretty amazing. >> reporter: yeah, if your baseline for victory after the debate is your running mate did not decide to jump off the ticket, last night was clearly a rousing success for the trump campaign. but seriously, if you look at kind of manu was laying this out well, where republicans are today compared to where they were 48 hours ago, 24 hours ago, there's a feeling certainly within the trump campaign that they are in a much better place and they believe the accusations, the allegations, the hot mic moment itself has been asked and answered and it's time to move on. here's what mike pence said in that interview with cnn. >> i was offended by them. i said i couldn't defend them and encouraged donald trump to continue to express his genuine remorse. i think last night he showed his heart to the american people. he said he apologized to his family, apologized to the american people,

cnn's phil mattingly is there. >> reporter: no question the clinton campaign is more comfortable with where they stand. it is not just where they look at the polls. the cnn poll of polls shows a six-point lead. here in florida, the clinton campaign pointed to two and three-point leads. not anymore. latest poll coming out showing donald trump has a two-point lead. the clinton campaign under scores this that the campaign has been trying to make to supporters. now is not the time to pull off. take a listen to what hillary clinton had to say. >> there are 13 days left in the important election. i have to tell you, it is so clear how high the stakes are and i am going to work as hard as i can over these next 13 days reaching out to as many people as possible. we can't take our foot off the gas even for a short time. every vote counts. >> reporter: guys the reality is this, trump has real support in the northern part of the state. particularly in the panhandle and north florida. that support if he can get out the vote, it will make the race close. democrats in the state are pointing to earl

here's cnn's phil mattingly. >> hey, john and christine. there was something noticeably absent from hillar clinton's remarks on sunday. any mention of fbi director comey or the letter he sent to capitol hill on friday. there's a reason for that. the clinton campaign, the top advisers, they're going to continue to attack jim comey and try to undercut everything he was trying to by informing congress. hillary clinton herself, she is referting back to what they were trying to do 12 days ago. she has a campaign strategy. a message they believe she needs to get back to. early voting. people are voting across the country. noticeably, here in florida. >> this is amazing. more than 20 million people have already voted in this election. most of the votes, in the last few days, 3 million of those votes from right here in florida. [ applause ] you see numbers like that when people are standing up for what they believe in. >> reporter: the question is, will she lose support? will the masses walk away from her? when it comes to e-mail server, things wer

cnn's phil mattingly is covering the trump campaign for us. trump is getting what, a practice run tonight? what are you hearing? >> reporter: that's right. it's practice that donald trump needs. if only for this reason. unlike just about any other politician in recent history, he went through the republican primary without a lot of experience with town halls. he had the big rallies, not the one on ones. you saw that repeatedly in new hampshire. that changes tonight for at least 90 minutes. >> so let's take a few questions. >> reporter: tonight, donald trump holding a new hampshire town hall, pulling back the secret world of debate prep. a similar format to sunday's crucial debate. tonight, moderated by talkradio coast howie carr. it's a dry run his advisers acknowledge is increasingly necessary. his running mate, mike pence, had a well regarded debate performance this week. something trump himself has taken credit for. >> i'm getting a lot of credit, because that's really my first so-called choice. that was my first hire, as we would say. >> r

so you'll hear about this going forward. >> phil mattingly, great job. thank you so much for the report. >> now, the number stands at 9. that's how many women cnn confirms have come forward with allegations of misconduct regarding donald trump. something struck me while watching anderson cooper interview one of the first, jessica leeds, the woman who claims trump groped her on an airplane decades ago. the trump campaign said they would prove it false. their proof was the testimony of a british man already discredited in another public case who claims he was sitting across the aisle on that same flight and he saw no groping. trump's denial was more in keeping with his responses to all of these claims. take a listen. >> when you looked at that horrible woman last night, you said, i don't think so. i don't think so. she would not be my first choice, that, i can tell you. man. you don't know. that would not be my first choice. >> his denial set off a light bulb in my head. there was something unusual about leeds in comparison to other trump accusers and wome

i want to bring in phil mattingly outside of wilton manors, florida. >> reporter: there is a lot of support here and the lgbt community is very prominent. that's why she was here. it's worth noting, while dealing with the director comey letter, what you saw from hillary clinton was essentially her strategy from here on out. let's focus on the issues and where her campaign was planning to go before this all happened. when it comes to florida, that means focusing on the early vote. take a listen to this. >> this is amazing. more than 20 million people have already voted in this election. most of those votes in the last few days, from right here in florida. now, you only see numbers like that when people are standing up for what they really believe in. so if all of you vote, if your friends, your family, co-workers vote, they are going to make some really big history on november 8th. >> fred, that's really the strategy in a nutshell. they feel like they are in a good position. it could be as many as six in ten florida voters will cast their ballots before november 8th. that's why you've heard

phil mattingly is in milton manors. phil, we hear hillary clinton trying to stick with her commitment to the lgbt community. at the same time, did she address the elephant in the room, this fbi investigation review of e-mails? >> reporter: fred, don't think you'll see it in her stump speech going forward and here is why. she was rallying her supporters, her die-hard supporters. the coalition that she needs to come out. the clinton campaign find of figures it this way. if you had a problem with her e-mail practices or these investigations before this letter from jim comey went to capitol hill, you weren't going to vote for her anyway. they believe this is already baked in. while the campaign advisers will be out and we've seen them out repeatedly attacking director comey for this, what hillary clinton's role going forward will be to campaign, talk about their issues and what they want to do. essentially, act like this didn't happen. keep on with their strategy and bring out that coalition that they thought they had in pla

phil mattingly is live for us in cedar rapids, iowa. phil, what have clinton or any of her aides said responding to this surprising news? >> reporter: clinton herself hasn't said anything about it as she deplaned as you noted, they found out late about this. she didn't say anything at all when we asked question, but john podesta just released a very lengthy statement calling in to question the rationale for jim company any to send this letter to clim to let them know that they were doing this. included is this statement, it is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election. the director owes it to the american people to immediately provide full details of what he's now examining. we are confident this will not produce any conclusions gift from the one the fbi reached in july. and jake, that statement from john podesta also noting that in a separate e-mail to fbi staff, jim comey noted that it wasn't even close the criminal prosecution of hillary clinton, that final decision that was made

. >> cnn's phil mattingly joining me now from florida, outside of ft. lauderdale. is there any reaction coming from the clinton camp, especially with this breaking news, that the e-mails may have been discovered by the fbi weeks ago? >> well, i think what you're hearing from the clinton campaign when it comes to this issue won't change. it hasn't changed since hillary clinton's first statement in cedar rapids a few days ago. they believe they've undercut the argument republicans are making about what this actually is right now. they believe the letter from director james comey to capitol hill was unnecessary. they question the rational for it. every piece of the story that's come out since, when you talk to clinton advisers, they believe it is essentially evidence of the claims that they are making. because of that point, fred, you played the sound from hillary clinton from here a couple hours ago. it is a not so subtle look at their strategy going forward. reference what's going on but focus on the campaign trail. here's why. jim eluded to this when talking about

phil mattingly is traveling with the clinton camp and joins us from daytona beach, florida. her rally is set to begin in minutes and huma abedin is not going to be by her side. that matters because these two are inseparable and politico described as her shadow. why isn't she there? >> reporter: a noticeable emotion from the clinton traveling party. very rarely do you see hillary clinton without huma abedin by her side, whether it's on the campaign plane or bus or at the rally. campaign officials are pushing back on the idea that this has some grander meaning but there's no question about it, hillary clinton traditionally does not go anywhere without huma abedin and it underscores the very real issue that the campaign is facing. this is a stunning development, and poppy, you ran through it point by point, laying out how epically amazing this story has become and huma abedin is right in the center of the right now. we are told hillary clinton is expected to address the fbi letter at the top of this rally and for the most part they want to move forward with their strategy and t

phil mattingly reporting.anderson, back to you. >> if hillary clinton was up against any other candidate but donald trump, i mean, these wikileaks e-mails could really be devastating. donald trump has taken a lot of the attention off it because of accusations against him and his own comments. >> he has his own problems right now that have turned the race dramatically in her favor. that doesn't mean that there is not -- if donald trump comes into this -- we heard he's doing more debate prep, working with a better team. that doesn't mean there is not a lot of fruit for donald trump to bring into the debate about, do you mean what you say about issues, what about trade. bernie sanders would have loved these more than anybody. had bernie sanders had these in the primary, talking about the people you want to regulate the banking industry or give you advice are you people or the wall street people. to go to a brazilian bank and say imagine a hemisphere with open trade and open borders. we're only seeing parts of the

cnn's sunlen serfaty and phil mattingly are in farmville here at longwood university. phil, we want to start with you. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. for weeks, maybe months hillary clinton's campaign advisors have been pining, begging, pleading for donald trump's taxes to become center stage in this presidential race. trump has assiduously avoided doing that. no longer because of the revelations from that weekend "new york times" story, this is all anybody is talking about on the campaign trail, including donald trump. >> i understand the tax laws better than almost anyone, which is why i am the one who can fix them. >> reporter: dangerous campaign liability or political opportunity? >> i have brilliantly used those laws. >> reporter: donald trump hoping for the latter after the leak of a few pages of his 1995 tax returns. attempting to turn the fact that he may not have paid federal income tax for years into a testament of his business expertise. >> as a business person i've legally used the tax laws to benefit, really i mean it's to my benefit, and t

i can't -- just when you think you heard it all phil mattingly. just when you think you heard it pull let's discuss trump campaign senior adviser jack kingston and cnn political commentator and hillary clinton supporter hilary rosen. mr. kingston, thank you for joining us this morning. do you add your name to the list of people who say yes, donald trump is right to say that if hillary clinton wins, the election result is illegitimate because it's rigged? >> well, i don't think he was saying the result was illegitimate. i think he was saying that there is a bias out there that has been against him. and chris i just have to say, as somebody who has been involved in this for many years, i've never seen quite the media onslaught on a particular candidate. but, you know, it's part of the territory. and you know as mike pence says, certainly we are going to accept the results of the election. but the reality is, the media has been overwhelming in their prejudice against donald trump. whether it's good news or bad news. just to give you an example, you j

thank you very much, phil mattingly. back with congressman adam schiff, ranking democrat on the intelligence committee. very quickly on the memo by wikileaks, details we just heard bill clinton could make upwards of $66 million in paid speeches, other business ventures, if you will. doesn't that play into that narrative that the clintons were engaging in what his critics call pay to play? >> no, i don't think it does. what we're talking about there, as far as i can tell, and i just had the glimpse you showed, is money he was going to make speaking around the country. certainly, the trump campaign will use it, as it has used these other hacks to its advantage quite gleefully. i don't think that's going to change the dynamic of the race. i do have to say this thing, wolf, because it never ceases to amaze me. from that clip you just showed, here we are less than two weeks out and donald trump cannot help himself but to still be pushing these hotels. you can only imagine as president this could continue. he would use that of

cnn's phil mattingly is live in harrisburg, virginia where mike pence is about to take the stage. looking forward to hearing what he has to say. last time team trump was quick to dispute the post-debate poll that said clinton had won. are they disputing this one? >> reporter: they are a little more comfortable with this result, i think. look, there's no question about it. the team is happy about what happened last night. mike pence did what they wanted him to do, what they thought he needed to do coming out of the gate. now, there's one issue that might be popping up and our colleague john king reported on this. part of that strategy was denying or deflecting from or trying to get away from a number of statements that donald trump has made himself. now, going against donald trump has not necessarily been a fail-proof policy for trump staffers up to this point. mike pence obviously isn't just your average trump staffer. but it is an important dynamic to watch going forward. mike pence's performance was considered very successful but there are issues there that will be worth watchin

cnn phil mattingly outside trump tower with more of the fallout. , first of all, what are you hearing possibly from the gop? >> reporter: well, look, the push back, the blow back is sustained. it's very real and it's a level we haven't seen before. it's important to drill down on what manu is saying here about swing state republicans, about what this means down ballot. advisers i've been talking to in battleground states n key senate races they are horrified by what happened. in the just because of the content of the tape which was obviously terrible what it means for the party in general. take a look at four republicans who said flat out donald trump needs to step down from the ticket. senator mark kirk, mike lee, virginia representative barbara come stock and represent i have mike kofman. more republicans are coming out and saying, donald has to go. not a lot of big republicans have made their endorsements. mike lee was floated as a potential supreme court justice in a trump administration had sering words. listen to this -- >> if anyone spoke to

cnn's phil mattingly has the fallout over trump's rigged comments. and jason carroll looks at the run-up to this week's third and final presidential debate. lead us off, phil. >> carol, look. think about it this way, donald trump saying something is rigged, not exactly a surprise. we've heard that plenty over the course of the last 16 months. but donald trump saying the electoral results on november 8th will be rigged, it's more or less almost undercut a central pillar of what the democracy is all about. and it's terrifying. even to republicans. >> remember this it's a rigged election. >> reporter: for donald trump there's only one he's trailing in the polls, a conspiracy to keep him out of the white house. >> the election is being rigged by corrupt media, pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president. >> in rally after rally, tweet after tweet, trump pushing the theory about any evidence or recent historical precedent that the electoral results will be rigged. trump's running mate, mike pence, trying to to

phil mattingly in the debate hall, what are we expecting tonight?k on berman now, an impressive trio right there, look, tonight, it will be a similar format in some ways to what we saw in that first debate. you're not expecting the same type of audience but you are expecting a lot of people to tune in. what you'll have is 90 commercial free minutes. it will be on that stage behind me right now. both candidates will be seated. tim kaine will. the stand-ins are going through things, the comes to the actua debate, this is important, i think a lot of people are trying to move past what this means. for both of these candidates facing off with one another, clearly the biggest stage of their career, even though they're accomplished politicians that have been through a number of debates before, this is an opportunity a little bit like what we saw a week ago, to talk about their candidate, to talk about their campaigns, but also to put the other candidate on the defense. what this is going to do in those nisegments, there will be question and each will have

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let's begin with cnn's phil mattingly, here to break down some of the more fiery moments. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. do not harm, probably the first principle no. question about it when it came to these two candidates. but they had very clear goals going into this debate. for tim kaine it was to talk about donald trump. he didn't want to talk about mike pence at all. all he wanted to do was remind viewers of donald trump and some of the comments he's made. that meant attacking on the issue that has become the premier issue for the clinton campaign over the course of the last week, taxes. take a listen. >> he said if i run for president, i will absolutely release my taxes. he's broken his first promise. second, he stood on this stage last week and when hillary said you haven't been paying taxes he said that makes me smart. so it's smart not to pay for our military. it's smart not to pay for veterans. it's smart not to pay for teachers. >> his tax returns showed he went through a very difficult time but he used the tax code just the way it's supposed to be used

phil mattingly, i'll guess the campaign was caught off guard. >> to say the least, brook.t didn't have wi-fi so when we landed we were finding out about this at the same time and that apparently includes hillary clinton and her advisors. one advisor saying "we're learning about this at the same time you are." so obviously this was quite a surprise at least to her advisors. it's worth noting her most senior advisors were all on the plane with us. her campaign manager robby mook, her communications director, houma abedin, her close advisor, were on the plane that didn't have internet access so it appears most if not all of them were unaware of this when we landed, after we landed, it took them longer to deplane than usual. one of the advisors was on a conference call throughout that process but have we had a response yet? no. hillary clinton did deplane. she'll pull up to her event in a couple minutes. all she did when we yelled questions at her was wave and smile. as of now no response, still formulating a response. but talk about being caught off guard. there was no why fi

phil mattingly breaks down the fiery debate. sunlen serfaty has the fallout. phil, let's start with you. >> carol, remember at one point this was supposed to be the boring debate between as one person said dull versus duller. not so much. look the candidates had very clea goals and objectives going into this debate. they just took a rather combative pathway to get there. >> i must have hit a nerve here. >> hotly contentious from the start. >> i can't imagine how governor pence can defend the insult-driven, selfish me style of donald trump. >> reporter: the vice presidential debate becoming a night of whose candidate is more insulting. >> you and hillary clinton would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign. >> reporter: tim kaine repeatedly putting mike pence on the defensive, using donald trump's own words. >> he's called women's slobs, pigs, dogs, disgusting. he went after john mccain a p.o.w. and said he wasn't a hero. >> reporter: words pence didn't directly defend. >> when donald trump says women should be punished or mexicans are rapists and criminals

why not. >> reporter: phil mattingly, cnn, las vegas. >> a lot to discuss.ng us again, cnn senior political reporter, nia-malika henderson, and i know political analyst, gloria borger. gloria, looking ahead to tomorrow, what do you think? >> i think -- >> what are you expecting? >> fireworks. and i think hillary clinton, in a way, has a tougher job than donald trump tomorrow night. because she has to come up with a better explanation for the e-mails. she has to continue to show that she has the temperament to be president. and she has to kind of attack at the same time and take down donald trump. it's not easy. and i think donald trump, on the other hand, just kind of has to prove that he can be in the oval office -- that people have to see him as somebody who can occupy the oval office. >> not the people that already see him that way -- >> and broaden -- >> it's really moderates. it's independent voters. it's college-educated voters of both races. it's older voters. these are all of the voters that hillary clinton is overperforming among. and donald trump i

phil mattingly tonight reports. >> reporter: donald trump has a very real utah problem.s largely because of this man, evan mcmullen. >> our campaign is a three-month presidential campaign. >> reporter: haven't heard of him? you're not alone. in a year where third party candidates like gary johnson and jill stein have made waves, mcmullen has been an afterthought. yet he's now in position to have the largest impact of all three on the general election. he's in position to win utah. >> people like to say that mountain -- that utah is a republican state, or a deep red state. i say that it's a principled conservative state. >> reporter: for trump, trailing in the polls and with an extremely limited path to 270 electoral votes to begin with, it's a major headache. but it's one that has been percolating for months. and now appears to be peaking. a drive through salt lake city produces political yard sign after political yard sign, yet no hint of the presidential race. it's a reflection captured in the polls of the general disgust with the tone of this race. and one with roots

so, let's begin our coverage with cnn's phil mattingly. ve us the latest. >> no shortage of issues that donald trump has pushed throughout his campaign as rigged. whether it's the media or the political establishment. the iowa caucuses. but this pushing the electoral results as rigged in its entirety is a new and very dark term. one that is unsettling, even some of his republican supporters. >> remember this. it's a rigged election. >> reporter: for donald trump there is only one reason he's trailing in the polls. a conspiracy to keep him out of the white house. >> the election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president. >> reporter: in rally after rally, tweet

let's begin with cnn's phil mattingly live in virginia. porter: good morning, chris, there's some sense coming into this debate it would become a calm state affair between two federal politicians, dull versus duller some call it. it took 20 minutes before those tuned as most desperately trying to land blows in favor of their running >> governor pence can defend the donald trump. >> becoming a night of whose candidate is more insulting. >> you and hillary clinton would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign. >> reporter: using donald trump's own words. >> he's called women's slobs, pigs, disgusting. he went after john mccain apow and said he wasn't a hero. >> reporter: words pence in many cases didn't directly defend. >>he

let's start with cnn's phil mattingly. >> reporter: good morning, chris. something rigged? that is not new. whether it is the political system or washington, d.c. the new focus is unsettling politicians on both sides of the aisle. it is a dark turn to the campaign in closing weeks. >> remember this, it's a rigged election. a conspiracy, keep him out of the white house. >> the election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president. >> reporter: rally after rally, tweet after tweet, trump pushing the theory without any reason or that the electeral results will be rigged. trump's running mate, mike pence, trying to tone down the rhetoric saying trump doesn't meaneral electoral rigging. >>

phil mattingly, you've been doing a reality check as well. >> yeah, that's right. it wasn't just hillary clinton that was taking some swings tonight. donald trump rolling off a litany of attacks against bill and hillary clinton. included this one. that bill clinton lost his law license. >> but what president clinton did, he was impeached. he lost his license to practice law. >> so here's the claim, that bill clinton lost his law license. quite simply was no longer allowed to practice law. so here are the facts. in the wake of revelations that bill clinton lied during the monica lewinsky investigation the arkansas supreme court brought a disbarment lawsuit against clinton. now, clinton agreed as part of the resolution to that lawsuit the day before leaving office to a five-year suspension of his arkansas law license as part of that plea deal to put an end to the lewinsky investigation. so where does that leave us? the verdict. it's true. on donald trump's claim that bill clinton lost his law license for five years. it's accurate. for this and all of tonight's realit

let's begin with phil mattingly in virginia. good morning, phil. >> good morning, alisyn.to do last night heading into the debate. for tim kaine, make it all about donald trump. for mike pence, really present a calm, steady hand on the ticket. that, that they did. but in a calm, steady way? not so much. >> you are donald trump -- >> hotly contentious from the start. >> i can't imagine how governor pence can defend the insult-driven, selfish me style of donald trump. >> reporter: the vice presidential debate becoming a night of whose candidate is more insulting. >> you and hillary clinton would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign. >> reporter: tim kaine repeatedly putting mike pence on the defensive, using donald trump's own words. >> he's called women's slobs, pigs, disgusting. he went after john mccain a p.o.w. and said he wasn't a hero. >> reporter: words pence didn't directly defend. >> when donald trump says women should be punished or mexicans are rapists and criminals or john mccain is not a hero, he is showing you who he is. >> senator, you whipped out that m

phil mattingly is on the trail with clinton in daytona beach. sarah murray is in golden, colorado where trump spoke earlier today. phil, let's begin with you. key here is that huma abedin is not traveling with hillary clinton today, and this is someone who is literally always by her side. do we know why? >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right. the gate keeper, the sister -- the younger sister, the daughter, whatever you want to call it, huma abedin is obviously extraordinarily close to hillary clinton, goes with her everywhere. the official explanation is she's back in brooklyn today working out of the campaign headquarters, but she was on the plane yesterday, she was with hillary clinton yesterday when she made her initial statement about the fbi letter that came from director comey. she was right next to hillary clinton when they got the news in the airplane that this had actually occurred. so her not being here is certainly noticeable to anybody that's been following this campaign, but it does underscore one thing. the clinton campaign is try

cnn's phil mattingly, though, is following this and has some more. phil? >> reporter: hey, victor and christi. for donald trump there's no question about it. his campaign at this point is donald trump trying to play defense, more or less. but in a very trumpian type fashion. and that means going on offense, believe it or not. even though as many as nine women have now made allegations of sexual misconduct related to donald trump, donald trump is not pulling back. he's not trying to put it behind him. he's not even focused on some of the issues that his advisers have told him are necessary to win swing states like ohio or colorado or virginia. he is attacking. attacking the women, attacking their stories, even attacking their appearances. take a listen. >> we're going to stop it. we're not going to back down. and remember this, it's a rigged election because you have phony people coming up with phony allegations, with no witnesses whatsoever, ending up from 20 years ago, 30 years ago. how about this crazy woman on the airplane? okay? i mean, can anybody bel

more on her day in florida from phil mattingly. >> florida can make the difference. >> reporter: with new polling that could suggest a tightening race in florida, hillary clinton is taking nothing for granted. >> i am going to work as hard as i can over these next 13 days reaching out to as many people as possible. >> reporter: the democratic nominee spending her second straight day in a state that could all but guarantee the white house. warning against complacency. >> we can't take our foot off the gas, even for a short time. >> reporter: throwing more jabs donald trump's way. >> listening to donald trump's campaign, i truly doubt that he has ever read the constitution, or if he did back in school, he certainly doesn't remember it and he doesn't understand it is the most important founding document for the longest lasting, greatest democracy in the history of the world. >> her attacks including a dig, donald trump's detour. his campaign scheduled to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for his new hotel in washington, d.c. >> while the hotel may be new, it's the same old story. he relie

also with us phil mattingly at trumpato trump tower in new york. it seemed as if at the end of the recording when donald trump said we'll talk more in the coming days. that might have been foreshadowing to what we're going to hear as his counterpunch at this event tomorrow night. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely, victor. kind of an ominous message there in this seeming apologetic message from donald trump. this new dynamic is going to be the elhavenephant in the room. you had donald trump who was likely feeling the weight of the world going into sunday's deb e deneeding a course correction. this is mere serioore serious f. you have him coming into the debate with high profile republicans revoking their endorsement. and put simply, he has a lot of explaining to do. this is not the way that anyone would want to go into a debate. and a reminder that the format of the debate is the dynamic that's necessarily will be the serious podium debate they have had in the past. this is a town hall where undependeu undecided voters will be asking questions directly

cnn's phil mattingly has more. >> donald trump has a very real utah problem, largely because of this, evan mcmullen. >> our campaign is a three-month presidential campaign. >> haven't heard of him? you're not alone. in a year where candidates like jill stein and gary sullivan have made waves, he's a campaign stop. he's in position to win utah. >> people like to say that utah is a republican state. or a deep red state. i say that it's a principled conservative state. >> for trump, trailing in the polls and with an extremely limited path to 270 electoral votes to begin with, it's a major headache, but it's one that has been percolating for months, now appears to be peaking. a drive through salt lake city produces political yard sign after political yard sign, yet no hint of the presidential race. it's a reflection captured in the polls of the general disgust with the tone of this race and one with roots in the state's dominant mormon faith and its gop leaders who have been kruled trump's fiery and deeply offensive rhetoric. >> i'm going to use some tictacs just in case i start kissing

>> phil mattingly, thank you very much for that report.sident obama also is going all-out to help hillary clinton get out the vote. let's go live to michelle kaczynski. the president is putting his popularity at work right now. >> reporter: the president has not forgotten about the other races out there. he's endorsing close to 200 other candidates down to the state level. he's trying to step up the sharp rhetoric, not only against donald trump but against opponents of democrats all over the ballot, all over the country. it is unprecedented. president obama on the campaign trail in force. >> come on, people. this ain't a show. now suddenly you're okay with your nominee having a bromance with putin. the white house now using donald trump's unpopularity against republicans running for office nationwide, ridiculing congressman joe heck running for senate in nevada for only recently turning against trump. >> how does that work? you're for him but you're not for him, but you're kind of for him. what the heck? >> reporter: at a fund-raiser, he t

let's bring in our correspondent phil mattingly covering the trump campaign for us and jeff zeleny covering the clinton campaign. phil, shue trump preparing now for this next face-off, the second face-off with hillary clinton? is he takingen in pages, for example, from mike pence's playbook? >> reporter: i think donald trump advisers made clear, he kept a close eye on mike pence last night. one of the interesting elements, wolf, about the second debate is the format. it's a town hall. the type of thing donald trump has done a number of times on the campaign trail. keep in mind, one-on-one debates something donald trump did not experience when he was in that primary. he always had 10, 11, 12 other people sitting beside him. very different for him in that first debate. the second debate, not so much. we're actually going to get a test of sorts. donald trump heading to new hampshire tomorrow where he will have a town hall pap bit of a practice run, if you will, going forward. but the big question remains, wolf, will he do the preparation behind the scenes? look what happened with mike pence la

let's go straight to phil mattingly who is in bangor, maine, where trump just spoke. second speech of the day, he did not, phil, correct me if i'm wrong, bring up these accusers. instead he really seemed to stay on message. >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right. i was texting back and forth with a republican official and he said that was kind of kellyanne conway's dream speech, if you will. he talked about the issues. he repeated jobs over and over and over again, talked about combatting isis, the types of issues that his team, poppy, has repeatedly asked him to focus on, not on these issues that have really put his campaign in such a bad place. this is really the first rally over the course of the last few days where he hasn't gone on offense attacking his accusers, attacking their allegations, attacking their appearance. that was missing from this rally. but i will note, poppy, as you talked about, the rigged election line is something that is sticking with him everywhere he goes and it's no longer just kind of some issue that he brings up. this is something that h

cnn's phil mattingly starts us off live in virginia. phil? >> good morning, chris. goals for the candidates last night weren't exactly a secret. tim kaine make it all about donald trump. for mike pence, show that there is someone on the ticket who's calm and steady. their pathway to achieve those goals, though, a bit of a rocky performance. >> donald trump -- >> i must have hit a nerve here. >> reporter: hotly contentious from the start. >> i can't imagine how governor pence can defend the insult driven, self-ish style of donald trump. >> reporter: the vice presidential debate becoming a night of whose candidate is more insulting. >> senator you and hillary clinton would know a lot about an inadult driven campaign. >> reporter: tim kaine repeatedly putting miami peeks on the defensive, using donald trump's own words. >> he's called women slobs, pigs, dogs, disgusting. he went after john mccain, a p.o.w., and said he wasn't a hero. >> reporter: words pence, in many cases, didn't directly defend. >> when donald trump says women should be punished, or mexicans are rapi