jim acosta, thanks very much. now hillary clinton's day, which is making some democratic strategists nervous, the aim, it appears, is to act like a candidate who's on her way to such a big victory, she can afford to spread the campaign joy. clinton was on the trail with senator elizabeth warren today. warren, certainly, didn't seem to hold back when it came to donald trump. >> not at all. surrogate attack dog in chief, for sure. and what elizabeth warren was doing, probably in a more sharp fashion than we've ever seen from hillary clinton, is use donald trump's own words against him. whether from the debate or from some controversial videos. take a listen. >> he thinks that because he has a mouth full of tic tacs, that he can force himself on any woman within groping distance. well, i got news for you, donald trump! women have had it with guys like you. and on november 8th, we nasty women are going to march our nasty feet to pass our nasty votes to get you out of our lives forever! >> obviously, getting the crowd

jim acosta in lakeland, florida. >> we'll go to the source. trump campaign manager kellyanne conway talking to us about this. you heard what jim said there. this is just -- i guess more straightforward language that we are hearing from donald trump today where he says she has to go to jail. you have talked about how he is really talking about the process, a special prosecutor, that she should sort of go through the, you know, the process of i guess being checked out in a way that your campaign feels that she hasn't been. but he is not talking about the process there. he is saying, she has to go to jail. >> brianna, i was on an nbc show quoting the nbc.com story calling it a quip. i thought it was a clever way of addressing it. what donald trump is doing is he is representing many, many voices across this country who feel incredibly frustrated that, yet again, there is a different set of rules for somebody named hillary clinton than the rest of us. people who have done far less than she has done imperilling our national security. destroying diff

jim acosta there. obviously trump there speaking in colorado springs. let's continue, much to discuss, cnn chief political correspondent dana bash, ron resnick, reporter for kpnx in arizona and lonnie chin who once served as public policy director for mitt romney. so welcome to all of you. i don't think i heard jim acosta -- he mentioned how we'll continue to hear about a rigged election from trump. let me relay this to everyone. to from the trump camp, there's another major announcement trump will make today as part of his pledge to "drain the swamp" in washington. he says "i will push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of congress." direct me, there already are term limits so what does he mean? >> there are term limits on the presidency, of course, and one of the big debates for some time has been whether or not the fact that there are no term limits in tong, whether that helps to breed corruption because it breeds a whole industry which we see everyday, those of us who live in washington, of lobbyists who are paid by

. >> let's get right to cnn's jim acosta at the al smith dinner, brian cooler, and jim acosta, both joining me from new york, and kevin madden. can't forget kevin, you're not in new york, so there you go. we're going to start with jim. jim, just 24 hours after a tense showdown, donald trump, hillary clinton, tonight following tradition and roasting themselves and each other at the charity dinner, let's take a look at it. >> with all of the heated back and forth, between my opponent and me at the debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each other. in fact, just before taking our seats, she bumped into me and very civilly said pardon me. [ laughter ] and i very politely replied, let me talk to you about that after i get into it was. just kidding. just kidding. and hillary was very gracious. she said if somehow she gets elected, she wants me to be without question either her ambassador to iraq or afghanist afghanistan. it's my choice. >> donald, if at any time you don't like what i'm saying, feel free to stand up and shout wrong while i'm talking. you know, come to t

jim acosta is following this angle of the story. >> reporter: hi, fredricka.s was a surprise at the top of donald trump's gettysburg speech billed by his campaign as an unveiling of what he plans to do his first 100 days in office as president. he, instead, went after the people accusing him of sexual assault, most notably the women that came forward that said donald trump was forcing himself on all of them. donald trump said during the speesh in gettysburg, pennsylvania, he plans to sue all of them after the election is over. here is more of what he had to say. >> every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. total fabrication. the events never happened. never. all of these liars will be sued after the election is over. >> reporter: now, also, during those remarks on this topic, we should point out trump said he believes that the dnc and the clinton campaign are behind these allegations that are being made by these women and he said he's going to get to the bottom of that as well. we should point out, fredricka, donald trump, not so long ago th

jim acosta. >> reporter: christine and george, it is another

let's go straight now to cnn's jim acosta. he is live in west palm beach where we will hear from donald trump out loud very shortly. jim what do we expect to hear? >> you know, i think that is the question, john. i can tell you from talking to people inside the trump campaign, i talked to a trump campaign official earlier this morning who say they plan on fighting fire with fire. they plan on responding to these latest allegations against donald trump by essentially having more bill clinton accusers come forward. so that is something we can expect to see in the days to come. not necessarily today according to this official but in the days to come. and as you pointed out in those tweets, donald trump is not backing away. he is refusing these charges, saying plainly they are not true. we saw as much in that statement from the campaign overnight. when they demanded that "the new york times" retract that article with the threat of a lawsuit. and of course that statement they released yesterday evening saying that these accounts in

>> jim acosta, thank you so much. what does hillary clinton think about this? she will go to ohio today. in a rally weekend over in florida. she did a news conference and talked about at length on saturday. but on sunday, she implored voters to remember what she called the big picture. >> there's been ups and downs in all that we've gone through over the years and even in this campaign. but i want you to know, i am focused on one thing. you. there's a lot of noise and distraction. but it comes down to what kind of future we want. >> again, what is happening inside clinton world, how do they intend to address the issue going for? >> reporter: hey, john and christine. there was something noticely absent from hillary clinton's remarks on sunday. they're going to continue to undercut everything he was trying to do 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. here's why. early voting. people are voting across the country.

jim acosta has more. >> reporter: trump is embracing the investigation into the e-mails possibly linked to hillary clinton. trump and advisors are praising the fbi for looking into the e-mails as part of the investigation of the sexting allegations. that is a big shift after donald trump is causing the government of rigging the election. now the fbi has the information it needs to bring clinton to justice. >> how do you have that many e-mails? do you sit down all day and keep typing? no wonder nothing gets done in our country. this is the single biggest scandal since watergate. >> reporter: trump is pursuing a blue state strategy making a stop in new mexico and michigan. those are the states he hopes to flip on november 8th. john and christine. >> the question is now what does hillary clinton do about this in her campaign over the next several days? she did a news conference on saturday. she answered questions about this. i should say friday night. then talked about it on the trail saturday. not so much on sunday. she goes to ohio today. right now, she is asking voters to remember the b

>> jim acosta in washington. jeff zeleny in ohio. a sense what we'll see over the next few hours on the campaign trail. thank you very much. >>> most of us want to pay as little in taxes as possible. how does a self-proclaimed billionaire possibly avoid paying income taxes almost two decades and how does an allegedly successful businessman lose close to $1 billion in the first place? here to help explain, cnn money correspondent christina alesy. $916 million. h how much do we know how much he lost? >> reporter: his casinos under pressure, made a bad bet, had an airline facing troubles. all potentially losses that could have been reported in that 1995 return that we have. all that said, a billion dollars is a lot of money, and now tax experts that we've spoken to have said, real estate developers have a lot of leeway on what they can classify as a loss. so now tax experts are beginning to question, did he puff up those numbers? are they larger than they should be? and that's going to cause a lot of reporters like me and the rest of th

jim acosta is out on the campaign trail with trump right now. trump is still claiming the election is rigged, right? >> that's right, wolf. donald trump is making a big push across the state of florida this week. it's a must-win battleground for the gop nominee who says he's winning this race no matter what the polls say, or as he calls them, the dark polls. don't believe the polls, donald trump says, believe him. >> watch the polls, because this is part of the crooked system. >> as trump explained to farmers in florida, the latest election polls conducted by the mainstream media are part of the bitter harvest, seeding doubt about his ability to win. >> these are called dark polls. they're phony polls put out by phony media, and i tell you what, all of us are affected by this stuff. what they do is try to suppress the vote. that way people don't come out to vote. >> roughly one in seven times, a rigged system. >> we're going to fix our rigged system. it's a broken, it corrupt, it's a rigged system. we're in a rigged system. we're in a broken and

. >>> i want to go to jim acosta. he's on the scene for us at that rally. jim, trump stepping up his attacks against the news media even more so today. right? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. donald trump earlier today took his demonization of the news media one step further. in the past, he's described reporters as disgusting and dishonest. earlier today, i should say, he described hem as criminals. here's what he had to say. >> the media isn't just against me, they're against all of you. that's really what they're against. they're not against me, they're against what we represent. like hillary clinton, they look down on the hardworking people of the country. that's what's happened. the media is entitled. condescending, and even contemptuous of the people who don't share their elitist views. >> reporter: now, also in those comments, wolf, he described members of the process crooks and thieves. all of this rhetoric is whipping up the crowds at these rallies, really against the news media. just a few moments ago, a woman hit me with her sign. routinely we're

jim acosta is "outfront" tonight. what is the trump campaign saying? they obviously like everybody in this country in many ways blindsided by this. >> absolutely erin and they are scrambling to contain the fallout for what is obviously a devastating story for the campaign at a moment just before the debate rematch with hillary clinton. as soon as that was released a statement from donald trump we can put this up on screen. it is sort of an politician. this was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years soog. bill clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course. not even close. i apologize if anyone was offended. erin, a lot of people were offended by. this including inside the republican party. i talked to a top campaign advisor for donald trump. i asked this person can donald trump survive this and this person responded it is pretty tough. >> i think there is an acknowledgment inside the trump campaign that they don't know how their candidate can survive this at this point. we can tell you that his vice presidential runn

jeff zeleny, jim acosta are still with us. even before we started to listen to her live, she made three points about donald trump, jeff. she said, he can't be trusted with nuclear codes. he has no problem mocking women's appearances and he doesn't understand soldiers and their issues. very strong words, very political words from the first lady. >> incredibly strong words from her and words she's been making as she's been campaigning across the country for hillary clinton and it's both a good thing and a bad thing, i think, for the clinton campaign, that the first lady is out there. one, it's a sign they know that they need more enthusiasm among their democratic base. so that is why she's in north carolina, one week to go before voter registration, but i was struck by how she was breaking down the map there at the end. 17 votes per precinct would have flipped it the other way. she is really trying to get people engaged, and it will take a village tovoters enthused about the election. she's one of the most popular messengers out

. >> let's get the latest from jim acosta. >> reporter: john and christine, donald trump is taking a bit of a victory lap after the mike pence performance in the vice presidential debate. he is trying to get back on message. he went after obamacare noting how this week former president bill clinton described the affordable care act as a crazy system. >> can you imagine when he walked home to that beautiful home in westchester and said, hillary, how was your day. a big part of her campaign is obamacare. she want to double up and double down. this woman doesn't know what the hell she's doing, folks. there's only one way to stop obamacare. that's to vote for donald j. trump. >> reporter: trump was praising pence in the vice presidential debate. he was also taking credit. noting the pence pick was the first pick for the candidate. he is pushing back on the notion that he is jealous of pence's performance. and in the words of kelly anne conway, that is truly outrageous. >> jim, later this morning, mike pence will be on "new day." >>> donald trump mocked hillary clinton for taking time off

we have jim acosta with more. >> reporter: he is ramping up the attacks on the news media. showing dark polls showing he is losing to clinton. at a rally in tampa, he said they don't care about hard working people. here more. >> the media isn't just against me. they're against all of you. that's what it is. like hillary clinton, they look down on hard working people within our country. the media is entitled, condescending and contemptuous of people who don't share elitist views. >> reporter: and the trump campaign is offering alternative programming on trump's facebook page were starring in analysis of the campaign. the trump campaign officials say don't call this trump tv. john and christine. >> thank you, jim. >>> the clinton campaign turned some of the forecacus to down bt races. let's get the latest from brianna keilar in new hampshire. >> reporter: hillary clinton is in the battleground states in the final push ahead of election day. she is changing focus not just getting voters to turn out for her, but voters to turn out for democrats who are down ballot. she is hopin

but up first, let's go to jim acosta. jim, you're there in north carolina. trump is about to hold a second rally in that state after his detour here in d.c. what's the latest? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. donald trump is pushing back on the notion that he squandered valuable campaign time by attending that ribbon cutting in washington. he says he'll do for the country what he's done for those hotels. the trump campaign insisted this wasn't a political event. but as donald trump cut the ribbon on a new hotel in washington surrounded by his top aides, he also carved out some time to give a shoutout to newt gingrich, a top surrogate. >> by the way, congratulations, newt, on last night. that was an amazing interview. we don't play games, newt, right? >> reporter: trump was talking about this interview on fox news where gingrich clashed with host megyn kelly, who was pressing him on the allegations of sexual misconduct. >> you are fascinated with sex, and you don't care about public policy. >> me, really? >> that's what i get out of watching you tonight? >> y

cnn's jim acosta is traveling with donald trump and has the latest. >> reporter: john and christine, donald trump is ramping up attacks on the national news media accusing news outlets with dark polls. covering the campaign as crooks and thieves. as a rally in tampa, he said they don't care about hard working people. >> the media isn't just against me. they're against all of you. that's what it is. like hillary clinton, they look down on hard working people within our country. the media is entitled, condescending and contemptuous of people who don't share certain elitist views. >> reporter: for republicans dissatisfied with the news media, the trump facebook page is offering alternative programs. his staff is starring in the analysis of the campaign. the officials say don't call this trump tv. john and christine. >> thank you. the clinton campaign has turned focus to down ballot races. this as hillary clinton and allies drop attacks on donald trump. we get the latest from brianna keilar in new hampshire. >> reporter: hillary clinton has been going through battle ground states here in

. >> cnn senior white house correspondent, jim acosta, is in virginia beach, where we will hear from trump momentarily. much of his 100-day plan are things we heard from him throughout the campaign. things like scrapping obama care, investing more in fossil fuels, et cetera. there are some new things he outlined. what stands out to you. >> there was one policy proposal dealing with immigration we had not heard before. a proposal for a mandatory min yum sentence for undocumented immigrants caught in this country having already been deported before. there was some new policy nuance in the speech we heard. it was pretty much a repackaging of proposals we have already heard from donald trump. what was most striking about that speech, it was not very lincolnlike. it was not that kind of gettysburg address. this was very much an airing of grievances by donald trump. he talked about the news immediamedia, the women that have accused him of sexual assault. he vowed to sue them after the elec is over and go after the news media and find out if the hillary clinton campaign was involved. he wen

jim acosta. >> reporter: christine and george, it is another reminder how vicious the campaign season has become. an occasion where candidates deliver lighthearted remarks and jokes. donald trump and hillary clinton went after each other drawing groans and boos from the audience. >> hillary is so corrupt. she got kicked off the watergate commission. how corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the watergate commission? >> donald is really as healthy as a horse. you know the one vladimir putin rides around on. >> reporter: there was one remarkable moment where donald trump and hillary clinton actually shook hands. something they could not bring themselves to do at their last debate. christine and george. >> despite the awkwardness in white tie of some of the jokes and many called the lack of civility, they did have their moments. this is a tradition where both candidates have a little bit of fun. take a look. >> we have proven we can actually be civil to each other. in fact, just before taking the dais, hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said pardon me [ laught

more now from jim acosta. >>> why did you go on the late night tweet storm?reporter: when it comes to his battle with former miss universe alicia machado, donald trump is no mr. congeniality. his response to her claim trump called her "miss piggy" for gaining weight, the gop nominee lashed out in bombastic tweets in the middle of the night. did crooked hillary help disgusting check out sex tape and past aleacha m. become a citizen to use her in the debate? and using alicia m. in the debate is a paragon of virtue. just shows that crooked hillary suffers from bad judgment. hillary was set up by a son -- by a con. the trump chain says it's just firing back. >> i don't know miss machado, but she's not a very credible witness. >> reporter: machado insists her past is nottel are ve el artelt relevant admitting -- >> everybody has a past. i'm not -- a thin girl, but that is not a point now. >> reporter: in a statement, she says trump's latest attacks are cheap lies with bad intentions adding, "trump insists on demoralizing minorities and people of certain religions

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is on the campaign trail in nevada. jim, is donald trump happy with the job mike pence did? >> oh, he's very happy, wolf. donald trump is latching onto mike pence's performance in last night's vice presidential debate as a major victory for his campaign. now the question for trump is whether he can out do his number two. donald trump is taking a victory lap, declaring the bottom of his ticket came out on top in the vice presidential debate. >> mike pence did an incredible job. and i am getting a lot of credit because that's really my first so-called choice. i would argue that mike had the single most decisive victory in the history of vice presidential debates. >> if you can't meet the mixing standard. >> gentlemen, people at home cannot understand either one of you. >> reporter: mike pence was at times sprinting as fast as he could away from trump as tim kaine was in hot pursuit. >> i'm happy to defend him. most of what you said is completely false and the american people know that. >> reporter: while the indiana govern

>> jim acosta for us. at donald trump's second event you see the big crowd behind him already gathering. checking in later. >>> and donald trump taking the stage in his first event no ocala, florida, bring in my political panel. juana summers and a.b. stoddard, editor for real clear politics and david nokima for the "washington post." kellyanne conway is saying, speaker ryan has a job to do. okay? she knows that. this is someone who's one of donald trump's closest advisors, juana, who knows speaker ryan has a job to do. not just concerned about donald trump. he's turned his attention now to hanging on to the house which it almost seems nuts he has to concentrate on that, with the big majority they have. what does that tell you about what's going on inside of the trump campaign right now? >> first of all, kellyanne conway has been in the game so to speak a long time and understands what paul ryan's role is. what paul ryan said he'd do, focus solely on keeping control of the house is what he's done all along

we'll talk about all of this, but first let's go to jim acosta. trump campaign is obviously warmly welcoming this latest development. >> that's right. the trump campaign is calling this a great day and for donald trump the news that the fbi is once again investigating hillary clinton's e-mails is an october surprise that actually helps his campaign. >> it sounded like a victory party in new hampshire as donald trump supporters erupted into cheers. but it wasn't the election returns coming in. >> i need to open with a very critical breaking news announcement. >> reporter: it was the headline that it's no longer case closed for the fbi's investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail practices. >> hillary clinton's corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. we must not let her take her criminal scheme into the oval office. >> reporter: for trump the fbi my longer be on the rigged list. >> the system is rigged. but what i've just announced, it might not be as rigged as i thought. right? right? the fbi, i think they will right the ship, folks. i

first, to cnn's senior white house correspondent jim acosta.e's in florida, covering the trump campaign. and tell us what you heard today. donald trump has said he's unshackled. is that what you observed? >> reporter: brianna, today we found out exactly what donald trump unshackled sounds like at events across florida, saying paul ryan is part of a sinister plot to stop him from being president and hillary clinton should go to jail. doing all he can to hit the delete button on that damaging hot mike moment, donald trump is hammering hillary clinton's e-mail scandal every chance he gets. >> the election of hillary clinton would lead, in my opinion, to the almost total destruction of our country as we know it. >> reporter: with a nod to his current freefall in the polls, trump pointed to clinton campaign e-mails stolen by wikileaks and called on congress to investigate his rival. >> after getting the subpoena to give over your e-mails and lots of other things, she deleted the e-mails. she has to go to jail. >> reporter: trump come pains he's now

our senior white house reporter jim acosta is working that story for us. jim, tell us about the new polls and what are they showing? >> reporter: wolf, after two weeks of some damaging revelations from hot mike moments to allegations of sexual assault, the bottom line is these revelations have not been fatal to donald trump. he's still hanging in there. case in point, our latest cnn/orc poll showing you nevada right now, hillary clinton leads donald trump in that important battle ground state by two points. that is not a large lead for hillary clinton there. that's within the margin of error. and then north carolina, donald trump, if he's going to win the presidency, a lot of republicans say he has to win north carolina. he only trails hillary clinton by one percentage point. wolf, i think that lines up with what we're seeing on the cam plain trail. yes, these revelations have been damaging over the last couple of weeks but have not affected turnout at his rallies. there's still a lot of energy at these rallies. >> what are you seeing out of ohio, jim? >> r

cnn's senior white house correspondent jim acosta has been covering this campaign for a very long time. jim, what's the expectation there? >> yeah. well, i think no question about it, this race was changing even before the disclosure that the fbi is now looking at these new hillary clinton e-mails or potentially hillary clinton e-mails as part of the anthony weiner investigation. if you look at that latest abc news/"washington post" daily tracker poll, donald trump has closed the gap with hillary clinton significantly. so why not is the attitude inside the trump campaign. why not go to places that look like they're in clinton's realm. michigan is another issue. that is because the trilliump campaign, though they recognize it is solidly in hillary clinton's column at this point, that is chock-full of voters they think are likely to vote for donald trump. they want to make a couple more last stabs at taking that state. no question about it, i wouldn't call the anthony weiner story, the e-mail story, or the fbi isn't looking at potentially looking at e-mails as a game changer but it has p

brianna keilar, kevin madden, and we let jim acosta go, we figured he needed a break so we let him go. you know, at one point, kevin madden, the audience booed. listen. >>, for example, here she is tonight in public, pretending not to hate catholics. [ booing ] >> now, if some of you haven't noticed, hillary isn't laughing as much as all the rest of us. that's because she knows the jokes. and all of the jokes were given to her in advance of the dinner by donna brazil, which is -- everyone knows, of course -- >> so kevin, that was painful. and the reason we're talking about this -- do you remember 2012. this was at 2012. this was your candidate, mitt romney, and president barack obama -- look at them laughing at each other. that was not the spirit of the dinner tonight and the boos -- that wasn't a good moment. >> right, i think the first one about hating catholics, that was a failure to read the room. people enjoy comedy, but they don't -- they know there is a line. and with that joke, it stepped over the line and it was no longer gracious or self deprecating. this was a big part why

jim acosta is there. jim, assailing obamacare, not new grist entirely for trump, but normally he doesn't focus as much on the health care law as he has been doing today. >> reporter: that's right, jake. donald trump is seizing on this latest report on obamacare that premiums will be going up 22% next year for consumers as sort of a late campaign season gift. earlier in his remarks a few moments ago trump said that these reports that the premiums going up 22% are just the beginning. they'll be going up, he said, 60, 70, 80, 90 percent. he said consumers will need to be good negotiators themselves to figure out how to pay for their health insurance. back in 2009, 2010, as president obama was pursuing health care reform, republicans latched onto the unpopularity of the issue and rode a wave into congress and took control of the congress in the house of representatives. and that was a very, very big moment for republicans. so i think the trump campaign, sensing what has happened before perhaps could happen aga

cnn's jim acosta is covering the trump campaign for us. he joins us live. jim, you are getting news about who trump is bringing to the debate tonight. what can you tell us? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. i think it's a pretty clear indication that donald trump intends to go for the jugular tonight at this final faceoff with hillary clinton. we are just getting word that one of donald trump's guests will be a woman by the name of leslie milwe. she is a former arkansas tv reporter who says more than 30 years ago she was sexually assaulted by former president bill clinton. obviously this is a counter-punch from the trump campaign after all of these allegations of sexual assault facing the gop nominee. but wolf, it's a very clear indication that what we may see tonight is going to be a repeat of what we saw during the second debate where both sides are going to be hesitant to even shake hands with one another because it is just getting so nasty, even inside the debate hall. we do know, also, that donald trump has been putting in more prep work for tonight's de

let's begin the hour with jim acosta, our cnn white house correspondent standing by here outside of that debate arena. let's talk strategy. which should we expect tonight, jim? >> well, i don't think it's going to be a war of the bores, brooke. these are two political professionals who are going to be prepared for this debate. i'm told by advisors to mike pence that he has been preparing for this vice presidential debate since he was tapped as donald trump's running mate back in july so that shows you how seriously mike pence has taken the debate prep sessions with wisconsin governor scott walker. i will tell you, brook, from talking to one of mike pence's aides, he is ready for these attacks on donald trump's tax returns. that know that is coming. i talked to a democratic strategist who said if climate change comes up expect tim kaine to talk about tax returns. if immigration comes up, expect tim kaine to talk about tax returns. republicans know this, republican tick know this is and mike pence has been preparing for this having said that. they feel like inside the trump campaign that t

cnn's jim acosta is in north carolina where mr. trump is set to speak in just minutes. several republican strategists are now saying trump should not have spent the morning in d.c., jim. and every single hour he spends outside a battleground state over the next 13 days is simply wasted time. >> reporter: yeah, jake. and donald trump is pushing back on the notion that he wasted critical campaign time to unofficially or, excuse me, i should say officially open up the new hotel in washington, d.c., where he also spent some time praising one of his top supporters who may have made his efforts to attract women voters even tougher. the trump campaign insisted this wasn't a political event, but as donald trump cut the ribbon on a new hotel in washington surrounded by his top campaign aides, he also carved out some time to give a shout out to newt gingrich, a top surrogate. >> by the way, congratulations, newt, on last night. that was an amazing interview. we don't play games, newt, right? we don't play games. >> reporter: trump was talking about this interview on fox news where

cnn is tracking all of these developments, senior white house correspondent jim acosta is covering the trump campaign while senior washington correspondent joe johns has more on hillary clinton's trip to another critical state, ohio. jim, let's start with you. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. who would have thought the october surprise would have come on october 1, but that appears to be what happened over saturday night when we saw "the new york times" bombshell report. donald trump, we can put the tax returns back up on screen. the loss on his casino business. edded 915 million, nearly $1 billion. that is something that could have tax experts say enabled him to avoid paying taxes for some 18 years and tees up what hillary clinton was talking about at that debate. here is how the exchange went one week ago. >> the only years that anybody has ever seen were a couple o years when he had to turn them over. to get a casino license and he shows he didn't pay any federal income tax. >> that makes me smart. >> reporter: you can hear the messagi messaging, that he's smart, newt

jim acosta in washington, thanks so much. want to bring in austin ghoulsbee, economic adviser to hillary clinton. also steve cortez, member of trump's national hispanic advisory council. all weekend we heard trump's surrogates say the fact he lost $916 million in 1995, the fact that as the "new york times" suggests that maybe he didn't pay federal income taxes for 15 years after that, they say it's a sign of his genius. explain to me why mensa should open up its rolls to donald trump based on this information. >> look, i think all americans realize that we pay as little in taxes as is legally possible and what donald trump did is use every legal tactic possible to reduce his tax exposure. he was in an incredibly bad position, by the way, most real estate people were in the early 1990s. it was a disastrous time for that business. i think the more important part of the story isn't just that he used all legal means to reduce his tax bill but more importantly, is that he came back. he got off the mat. he was deeply, deeply in deb

going to jim acosta with late word on how mike pence has been getting ready for tonight? what's his objective tonight? >> reporter: his objective tonight, wolf, is to win. the trump campaign desperately wants to reset the narrative out there, and a win would do just that. if mike pence can deliver it tonight. i just talked to a top pence aide who said he didn't do any additional debate prep today. he feels he is ready to go. he worked out. spent time with his family but felt no need to do additional debate preparations today because he has been doing this, wolf, since he got the nod as donald trump's running mate back in july. that's how long he's been preparing for the debate. he's taken a more conventional approach working with scott walker, playing tim kaine behind the scenes. nick ayers playing the moderator. they say he is ready for the attacks on donald trump's tax returns. they know that those attacks are coming. i talked to one top aide with mike pence who says, yes, he is prepared to handle that. and for good reason. he should be ready to handle other things. i r

jim acosta. knile clinton campaign is grappling with the steady drip of stolen e-mails by wikileaks. it was president obama going after donald trump today. not hillary clinton. >> that's right. hillary clinton arrived here just moments ago. she is off the campaign trail yet again. she is going directly to another round of debate preparations, i'm told with her team of advisers whom she was flying here with. that's the reason president obama took his turn taking on trump today. he blasted him for calling the election rigged and he accused him of being a whiner. >> hillary clinton arriving in nevada tonight for her final face to face showdown with donald trump. staying off the campaign trail and above the fray, president obama weighing in from the rose garden. taking aim at trump and the talk of a rigged election. >> i would advice trump to stop whining and try on make this case to get votes. >> on the eve of the third presidential debate, aides say she is bracing for the toughest tangle yet. they

jim acosta is live for us traveling with the trump campaign in colorado springs. jim, mr. trump announced a new plan that he says will drain the washington swamp. >> reporter: that's right, jake. donald trump has -- has drained the swamp. he proposed concessional term limits at a rally here in colorado springs. here is what he had to say. >> congressional term limits has finally arrived. not only will it end our government corruption, but we will end the economic stagnation that we're in right now. no growth. >> reporter: donald trump is also continuing this message that the election process is being rigged with voter fraud even though he is not offering any proof that that's occurring. with his crowds chanting "tell the truth" to the national news media, donald trump is making the case that the fix is in, to rig the election and guarantee a hillary clinton victory. >> it's a rigged system. >> reporter: but the gop nominee is only offering unfounded claims that elections officials are allowing just about anyone from the dead to the undocumented to cast a ballot. >> people

joining me we have cnn's senior wife correspondent jim acosta and we have james fallows, national correspondent"atlantic." first to you, jim. you had donald trump, he had a town hall which, including to those close to him, said it was a practice for sunday. he insists it was not practice. but how did this go and what does this tell us about sunday? >> it's interesting, brianna. earlier in the week his campaign manager kellyanne conway was saying the town hall format is tailor made for donald trump and then lo and behold we had this town hall event in new hampshire last night but it wasn't really a true town hall. there weren't citizens standing up and asking questions. these were questions that were being fed to a conservative talk show host who was then asking these questions of donald trump. and even donald trump during the event as you said stated that this was not a dry run for sunday's debate. here's what he had to say. >> they were saying this is practice for sunday. this isn't practice. this has nothing to do with sunday. we're just here because we just wanted to be here and, you know, h

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta joins us. is this a last-ditch effort on his part to save his campaign? >> reporter: wolf, it's an us versus them moment. donald trump today basically accused the media of being in a grand conspiracy with the clinton campaign to bring down his presidential bid. he is pushing back hard on allegations that he abused women. with a massive crowd of supporters cheering him on, donald trump blasted away at allegations that he has sexual assaulting women as lies, told by a dishonest news media. >> these vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. >> reporter: the fiery speech was in response to a "new york times" story featuring two women who say trump made unwanted sexual advances toward them including jessica leeds who claims he groped her back in the '70s. >> he was like an octopus. it was like he had six arms. he was all over the place. if he had stuck with the upper part of the body, i might not have gotten -- i might not have gotten that upset. i

let's check in with jim acosta. what was his message to the colorado springs crowd? >> i think donald trump's message was not apocalypse now but apocalypse three weeks from now. he said if he loses on november 8th that americans will lose their independence that the united states will become a one party system. he says the media are so dishoc o honest that people should avoid the media and get their latest information right off of the internet. here is what he had so i to say. >> history will report that 2017 was the year that america lost. truly lost, its independence. truly lost its independence. and by the way this is our final shot folks. in four years it is over. you are never going to be able to win. it is tilting. it is going to be a one party system. this is your final shot. for the supreme court. >> trump did roll out a new campaign theme today. in washington he backed up that with a call for p congressional term limbs. andersen if you strip away all the --. that was a message that really resonated with his supporters. the problem is they had to get past all

jim acosta reporting for us. now let's hear more from the latest woman to accuse trump, summer zervos. >> in 2007, i was going to be in new york for a social obligation. i contacted mr. trump's office to see if he was available for lunch. i was informed that he could not have lunch but he would like to meet me in his office. when i arrived, he kissed me on the lips. i was surprised but felt that perhaps it was just his form of greeting. we sat and spoke. he was extremely complimentary. he said that he was impressed with how i handled myself on "the apprentice" and said he had never met anyone with my combination of being smart, attractive and with the largest set of balls i had. he said that he would love to have -- he said he would love to have me work for him. mr. trump said he would be coming to los angeles soon and contact me. i was very excited. i felt as though my dream of working for mr. trump might come true. as i was about to leave, he again kissed me on the lips. this made me feel nervous and embarrasse

jim acosta, thanks so much. we are still a month away from thanksgiving but this morning there's a political float so big it won't even fit in the macy's parade. reports that somehow, just appeared out of nowhere that should she win, hillary clinton is considering joe biden as secretary of state. the same joe biden who is currently the vice president. >> cnn global affairs correspondent elise labott is at the state department watching all of this. talk to us about this float. >> if you remember, in 2012, there were these rumors they were going -- that hillary clinton as secretary of state and joe biden were going to switch jobs. you always have this kind of speculation when there comes time to name a cabinet. certainly both hillary clinton and donald trump are looking to prepare for the inevitability of being president, naming a cabinet and secretary of state is obviously one that hillary clinton's going to be looking at very closely having served in the job. so political reporting this morning that joe biden is

jim acosta is "outfront" at that trump rally in tampa. jim, our polls showing trump down by five. obviously hasn't moved in the past month. and trump is not focusing. he says not paying attention to polls that show him down. >> reporter: that's right, erin. he'll be out here in tampa in a few moments. he's making a big push across the state of florida all week, it's a must-win battleground for the gop nominee who insists he's winning this race despite being behind in the polls including ours here at cnn, but donald trump is writing off those polls as dark polls. don't believe the polls, donald trump says, believe him. >> watch the polls because this is part of the crooked system. >> reporter: as trump explained to farmers in florida, the latest election polls conducted by the mainstream news media are part of a bitter harvest seeding doubts about his ability to win. >> these are what, they call them dark polls. they are phony polls put out by phony media. and i'll tell you what, all of us are affected by this stuff. what they do is try and suppress the vote. this way people don't

jim acosta, back to you. hillary clinton led every single poll out of new hampshire since may, but with trump stopping there soon, will it be enough to change that? let's talk about that with our panel. wanna summers, k wanna -- juana summers and gloria borger, chief political analyst and brianna keilar political correspondent. gloria, what message does trump need to share with voters in new hampshire right now? >> look, i think he needs to stick on his message. which he's actually been doing more than we've seen in the past. these past couple of days. he's got to talk about hillary clinton, wikileaks, draining the swamp in washington, which is a message that's very resonant for him, that she is the status quo. that he represents change, and that, that if you elect hillary clinton it's going to be more of the same. i think these he's going to be -- going to be talking up wikileaks, and congressional investigations and continuing along that line. if he reverts back and starts talking about how he's going to su

jim acosta was listening to the speech and it was a rather subdued donald trump, jim, because some peopleexpecting him to come out full guns against hillary clinton and he did talk about her e-mails but in a more measured way. >> that's right. we did get a heads-up from the campaign just before this event got going he was really going to tailor his message more towards cyberissues and what a perfect opportunity the trump campaign feels to talk about hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server when she was secretary of state. we do understand these events in colorado later on today that he is going to be going after what she did after leaving the white house. she and president clinton made a lot of money after leaving the white house. the trump campaign wants to highlight this and they want to highlight the fact that most of that money was made off of books and speeches and that sort of thing, whereas donald trump they say, you know, created jobs. carol, part of this is a defense, subtle one, but it is a defense of this story that exploded over the weekend with regard to his 1995 tax

jim acosta for us, thanks so much. i want to get to cnn's joe johns with more on the reaction from capitol hill. joe, what are you hearing from republican sources on this? >> well, john, from hearing from sources across the board, in fact, first, with let's start with the clinton camp. they've often struggled over how much to weigh in ton firestorms created by trump, but sources have told cnn's jeff zeleny they're debating it. hillary clinton is planning to deal with it this weekend, of course, in the debate, perhaps calling on top republicans to denounce their nominee. her reaction on twitter was very direct, but also minimalist, about an hour ago. she tweeted, "women have the power to stop trump," and she also included in that tweet a link for voter registration. she tweeted earlier, "this is horrific. we cannot allow this man to become president." clinton's running mate, tim kaine, tweeted, this kind of behavior makes me sick to my stomach. and also said at a campaign stop in las vegas, "i don't like to say the word

cnn's jim acosta joins us now. thump spending a lot of time in florida obviously this week. he definitely needs to win there. what's the latest tonight? >> reporter: that's right, anderson. donald trump just wrapped up his remarks here at tampa right around us at this moment we want to point out we have a small group of donald trump supporters screaming at us saying all sorts of different things. i'm going to try to get through this. but basically donald trump continued his attacks on the news media. earlier today he described reporters covering his rallies as crooks and thieves. he said the media is not only running against me, they're running against you. he went on to say the media does not care about hardworking people. it's been a steady drumbeat of just raising the rhetoric, raising up this rhetoric against the national news media, anderson. there's one reason why he is not happy, obviously with where the polls are right now. earlier today he said these polls are, quote, dark polls. he said designed to suppress the vote. basically to encourage people to stay home becau

cnn's jim acosta is there, too. he joins us now. trump started l day with an early morning twitter spree alleging the system is rigged against him. did he say more about that tonight? >> reporter: yes, he has, anderson. just the last few minutes, actually, donald trump went through these allegations again saying accusations of sexual assault that have surfaced in the news media the last week or so have been a part of what he calls a rigged conspiracy to throw the election to hillary clinton. in just the last few minutes he said these accusations, he called them events that never happened and he said i do think most people believe me. at one point, he said that the media is simply trying to put up nice, sexy headlines even though nothing ever happened. so donald trump once again denying that he ever sexually assaulted anyone at this rally here in green bay. and anderson, this rally is pretty fired up. people here, you know, i don't want to use language we shouldn't use on tv, but the crowd here has chanted "cnn sucks" about a half a