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Massive Internet Outage; Military Offensive Gains Ground. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 21, 2016 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in New York, 8:00 p.m. in Mosul, Iraq, 1:30 a.m. Saturday in Pyongyang, North Korea. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, Donald Trump hits the campaign trail after getting booed at an awkward charity dinner. We're less than 18 days and counting until Election Day. Trump has multiple rallies today as he faces criticism for saying he might not necessarily accept the election results. He's holding his first rally of the day right now in Fletcher, North Carolina. You're looking at live pictures. Moments ago, he spoke about the road ahead to Election Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I don't know what kind of shape I'm in, but I'll be happy and at least I will have known, win, lose or draw -- and I'm almost sure if the people come out, we're going to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The candidates and their surrogates, they're fanning out across key battleground states. Besides North Carolina, Trump holds rallies in two Pennsylvania towns. His running mate, Mike Pence, has an event in New Hampshire.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton campaigns in Ohio. Her running mate, Tim Kaine, and vice president Biden, they're on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania. Bill Clinton rallies supporters in Florida.

Let's bring in our political panel. Joining us, David Chalian, he's CNN's Political Director; Jackie Kucinich is CNN Political Analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast"; and Zeke Miller, a political reporter for "Time" magazine.

David, North Carolina clearly an important -- critically important battleground state. Donald Trump desperately needs to win North Carolina. This rally so far, at least so far, he seems to be sticking mostly to the script, the teleprompter. We just heard him say his new catch phrase, we have to drain the swamp. This is a key moment for him right now.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, I think that drain the swamp message is one he should be hitting every day from here on out. I think that is something that actually not only just works for his base but actually can begin to add some voters to his coalition at the end here. People who are so fed up with Washington that decide that he is the change that is needed.

Listen, North Carolina is going to be a hard-fought battle from here all the way out. That is not going to move outside of that toss-up category. Most likely, voters are very locked in. There are very few movable voters there. And that is going to be a huge test, huge test, of each side's of ground game operation, data operation, when we see the results on November 8th -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And eight years ago, President Obama -- correct me if I'm wrong, David. Eight years ago, President Obama captured North Carolina over John McCain. But four years later, he narrowly lost to Mitt Romney, right?

CHALIAN: That is correct. And it's why that the Clinton campaign, early on in Brooklyn at their headquarters, circled it on the map as the state they most wanted to fight to win back after it slipped away from Obama in his reelect.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens this time.

Jackie, Hillary Clinton has released a new ad featuring the gold star parents of Captain Humayun Khan. Khan was the Muslim-American U.S. Army captain soldier who died in Iraq while fighting off a suicide bomber. Trump got into a feud, as all of us remember, after the family spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Here is part of the new ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHAN: My son was Captain Humayun Khan. He was 27 years old and he was a Muslim-American. I want to ask Mr. Trump, would my son have a place in your America?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A very powerful ad. It will begin airing in several battleground states. So, how effective, Jackie, do you think it will be? Which states do you think will have the most impact?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think this will be a very effective ad, particularly in places where you have a lot of veterans. Where you have a lot of minorities who might have felt offended by Donald Trump's warring with the khans for, you know, weeks and weeks.

And this reminds them of one of the biggest arguments Hillary Clinton has against Donald Trump and that's his temperament. And so, I imagine this will have an impact with people who are still paying attention. A lot of these states are already -- they're early voting is happening and so every day counts.

BLITZER: It certainly does.

Zeke, there's a new poll out. Look at this. It shows Trump and Clinton deadlocked in Georgia. In Georgia, of all places. Trump 44 percent. Clinton 42 percent. That's clearly within the margin of error. That's an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll in Georgia. If it's that close in Georgia, Donald Trump clearly has some problems right now. Other states, he's got some problems as well, within the margin of error. What's going on over here?

[13:05:02] ZEKE MILLER, POLITICAL REPORTER, "TIME": You know, certainly right now, we're seeing Donald Trump have a lot of weakness among Republicans, both in Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, other states, where he's just not getting the same number of -- same percentage of Republican voters who are at -- right now saying they're going to turn out to vote for him on Election Day or in early voting.

That's a problem for him. It's a solvable problem. It means he doesn't necessarily have to win over a lot of the swing voters in those states in order to print off (ph) back on top in Georgia and Arizona if those Republicans come back home.

The problem is, if he has that problem in Arizona and Georgia, what is the problem for him in Ohio and Pennsylvania, in Michigan? All the -- you know, all the states that he kept -- or North Carolina. The states he talked about expanding the map to where he -- where he -- what he really needs to win this race to get himself over 270 electoral votes. If he has a problem with his own base, that's the real indicator there in Georgia and states like Arizona as well.

BLITZER: You know, last night, the Alfred E. Smith dinner, David, in New York, it's usually a fun event for politicians, presidential candidates. Last night, a little of that but some awkward moments. Let me play some clips from previous years and this year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- story of Al Smith's historic run for the presidency is truly inspiring. It gives me hope that in America, it's still not possible for a fellow named Al to be the commander in chief.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary is so corrupt. She got kicked off the Watergate commission.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, recently, one of John's top advisers told the "Daily News" that if we keep talking about the economy, McCain's going to lose. So, tonight, I'd like to talk about the economy.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four, maybe a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: A little flavor of years' past, this year. It got awkward last night and there were even some boos. That's pretty extraordinary, isn't it, David?

CHALIAN: Well, it is. This event has always been sort of historically this opportunity not only to sort of display self- deprecating humor, poke a little fun at yourself, show some humility, but also to show some kindness between the candidates. And that just did not really exist, in terms of what we saw on camera.

We heard from Cardinal Dolan, earlier today, that perhaps there were a few kind words exchanged between the two. But what was on display for the viewing audience, Wolf, was a break from tradition. And it probably fits this campaign season. We shouldn't have expected going in that they were going to be able to completely remove themselves from the darker tenor and tone that the campaign has had.

BLITZER: Jackie, let me play that clip from Cardinal Timothy Dolan. He's -- he was really in charge of that dinner. It's a Catholic Charities event. A very important dinner. Let me play the clip of what he said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN, ARCHBISHOP, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK: And after the little prayer, Mr. Trump turned to Senate -- to Secretary Clinton and said, you know, you are one tough and talented woman. And he said, this has been a great -- a good experience in this whole campaign, as tough as it's been. And she said to him, and, Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. So, in private, they seemed to have a relatively cordial exchange over there. It was not necessarily all that cordial in public. A familiar note to all of us who have watched the debates.

KUCINICH: I -- you know, it's so nice to hear that. It would be nice to see it every once in a while. But that's what you sort of expect. That was -- that's what we see on Capitol Hill a lot. They're at each other's throats in public and then behind the scenes, they're actually trying to work together.

So, the fact that they did have that -- that Cardinal Dolan did relay that exchange, it is comforting and it sort of -- it almost seems like it's hearkening back to (INAUDIBLE) tone days that weren't that long ago.

BLITZER: Not that long ago. All right, I want everyone to stand by. There's a lot more politics we're watching. The road to the White House.

Also coming up, Donald Trump -- Donald Trump's drop in the polls. We're watching that closely right now. Directly affecting down battle races and putting several red states in play. We'll discuss. We're monitoring Donald Trump. He's speaking live right now. And a massive Internet outage, affecting social media sites and news organizations around the United States right now. The U.S. government looking into this very, very closely, including some suggestions this could be a possible cyber attack. Congressman Adam Schiff, he's standing by live. He's the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. He's been briefed. We'll be right back.

[13:09:48]

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BLITZER: The U.S. government now investigating a massive Internet outage to determine whether it's the result of a cyber attack. Congressman Adam Schiff is the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence. He's joining us from Washington.

Congressman, what can you tell us about this? Was this, in fact, the result of some sort of a cyber attack on the United States?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Wolf, we still don't know who is responsible. I spoke with the administration within the hour about it. Obviously, the Department of Homeland Security is looking deeply into this. It's of grave concern. But, at this point, it's too early to say what was the cause of this, who is responsible, what the motivations may be.

BLITZER: We did get a statement from the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest. He said, I've seen the reports. I know the Department of Homeland Security. That is the U.S. government agency that's responsible for monitoring our security and cyber space and coordinating with the public and private sector to protect U.S. interests in cyber space, is monitoring the situation. They'll take a close look at it. At this point, I don't have any information to share about who might be responsible for this malicious activity.

The fact that he's calling it malicious activity suggests cyber attack probably was the result of this mass outage of the Internet.

SCHIFF: You know, I had exactly the same impression from that language, Wolf. I think, certainly, you would imply from that that this was the result of a cyber attack, not the result of some accidental technological malfunction.

But I think there's still, in these early hours, a lot we don't know about just how this took place. But if it was a cyber attack, I'm confident, with the forensic capabilities that we have, we'll get to the bottom where it came from.

[13:15:00] REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: But I think there's still, in these early hours, a lot we don't know about just how this took place. But if it was a cyber-attack, I'm confident, with the forensic capabilities that we have, we'll get to the bottom of where it came from and figuring out, of course, the why is also of vital importance.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We know that you believe and others in the U.S. intelligence community believe that Russia has been responsible for the cyber-attacks on the Democratic National Committee, other Democratic Party organizations, if you will. Do you also believe - I just want to be precise - that Russia is directly responsible for the cyber-attacks, the WikiLeaks documents that have been released, the e- mails of John Podesta, the Hillary Clinton campaign chair?

SCHIFF: Well, I certainly think that the - and I can only comment at this point on the publicly available reports, but I think that the Dell (ph) report that came out recently by that private security firm was very credible, and I think - and that report concluded that the Russians were behind the hack and release of the Podesta e-mails as well.

I also think what the director of National Intelligence and secretary of Homeland Security said prior to these Podesta hacks about the DNC, that the method and the motivations were consistent with Russian practices is true of the Podesta e-mails as well. And, of course, it's perfectly aligned with the efforts they have given through their hacking and release of helping Donald Trump.

So I think that's certainly our - is a very credible public report that this private agency put out and very consistent with what the Russians have been doing all along, unfortunately.

BLITZER: Donald Trump questions whether Russia is responsible for the hacked e-mails. I want you to listen to this exchange that Trump had with Hillary Clinton during Wednesday night's final presidential debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think it's time that you take a stand because it's -

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She has no idea whether it's Russia, China or anybody else.

CLINTON: I am not quoting myself. I am quoting 17 -

TRUMP: She has no idea. Hillary, you have no idea.

CLINTON: Seventeen intelligence - do you doubt 17 military and civilian agencies?

TRUMP: Our country has no idea. Yes, I doubt it. I doubt it.

CLINTON: Well, he'd rather believe Vladimir Putin than the military and civilian intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How conclusive is the intelligence that Russia is directly responsible for the hacking, that Putin himself ordered it?

SCHIFF: Well, as Director Clapper said as recently as yesterday, they don't say that they have confidence in an intelligence judgment lightly. Here I think the evidence is really quite overwhelming of Russian involvement in the hack and release of these e-mails. Donald Trump knows better and I think when he denies this and says that nobody knows, Secretary Clinton doesn't know, essentially the director of National Intelligence doesn't know, what Donald Trump is really saying is that my campaign is more important than the national interests. And if I have to deny the obvious facts, if I have to carry Russia's water, I'm willing to do it. Anything in the service of my campaign. And that is not someone we can afford to have as commander in chief.

BLITZER: Just moments ago at his rally, Donald Trump was speaking and he really lashed out at President Obama and Hillary Clinton, among others. I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We have a bunch of babies running our country, folks. We have a bunch of losers. They're losers. They're babies. We have a president, all he wants to do is campaign. His wife, all she wants to do is campaign. And I see how much his wife likes Hillary, but wasn't she the one that originally started the statement, "if you can't take care of your home," right? You can't take care of the White House or the country. Where's that? I don't hear that. I don't hear that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He was referring to some statements that were made eight years ago when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were both running for the Democratic presidential nomination. I don't know if he was exactly quoting Michelle Obama accurately. We'll check that out. But give me your reaction when you hear that kind of assertion from Donald Trump.

SCHIFF: Well, honestly, my reaction is, keep it coming. Here he is attacking a popular president, and attacking an even more popular first lady. It's a terrible campaign strategy, and it's one that isn't going to attract anyone new to his campaign or to support him or win over anybody that's not already devotedly in his camp. This is just the kind of thing he's been doing all along. In fact, you - and I don't know whether it actually happened, but the reports he was going to bring the alienated half-brother of the president to the debate. What's the point of that? It's such a distraction from what his message supposedly is, and I just think it's a terrible campaign strategy and it's why his campaign is really just going down the drain.

BLITZER: All right, Adam Schiff, the congressman from California, thanks for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thank you, Wolf.

[13:19:53] BLITZER: Coming up, the battle for Mosul continues as ISIS claims it's carried out multiple attacks in another city not too far away. We're going live to Iraq when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: We'll get back to our political discussions, the race for the White House, in just a few moments.

But first, an update on the Iraqi army's military offensive against ISIS terrorists in Mosul. ISIS is striking back south of Mosul, in Kirkuk, where they've launched attacks on government buildings. Those militant attacks come as the losses mount for ISIS in and around Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. That's a key target in the fight for Iraq right now.

Our senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is near Mosul. He's joining us.

Nick, so what's the latest? What are you seeing from the ground where you are?

[13:25:04] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This attack on Kirkuk very much a typical ISIS tactic of hitting an unexpected area. Kirkuk held by the Peshmerga, who were launching many of the attacks against Mosul at the moment, trying to take the plains around that key city off ISIS.

The Kirkuk attack, 30 militants coming in at dawn, ISIS propaganda, saying they used a number of different assets to attack that city and the fighting is still ongoing. I'm sure a part of their strategy to be able to get those live pictures of the attack on Kurdish television here, giving people the idea that ISIS can potentially strike at will a-symmetrically.

But, still, that's not really going to upsetting the applecart of the main campaign itself. That will continue to push ahead. But it's finding very tuff resistance indeed. In fact, we ourselves saw how drones are being used to spot Peshmerga positions, direct artillery. There's some pictures here of one of those drones being shot out of the sky by the Peshmerga.

But we ourselves also came across an instance in which ISIS seemed to use a drones to drop explosives near our positions as well. Remarkable the technology they seem to be able to make out of nothing, sort of homemade to some degree.

And at the same time, too, sad news now emerging of a U.S. loss. The first since the beginning of this campaign against Mosul. Unclear if he was directly involved, killed by an IED. Minimal information, as is always the case in the first 24-hours since a U.S. death. But we, ourselves, have seen U.S. special forces right on the front line here. The Pentagon say they're not involved in the assault, but I have to level with you, Wolf, we see they're armored vehicles often going in behind the very first column of Peshmerga armor against ISIS. The White House accepts they are in harms way. This is turning out to be lengthy, bloody, and ISIS have much more fight in them than I think optimists believed was the case before.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, ISIS is still in control of Mosul as we speak. We'll see how this military offensive goes down.

Thanks very much, Nick Paton Walsh. As I always say to you, be careful over there.

Let's talk a little bit more about this Iraqi military offensive on Mosul. Joining us from Chicago, Illinois, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan while in the U.S. Air Force. Remains a major in the U.S. Air National Guard. He's a former member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, what are you hearing about the progress right now in this battle to liberate Mosul?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: Well, it seems like the front end of this battle has gone pretty well. But keep in mind, you know, what you have right now is outskirts. It's not the main part of the city, the second biggest city in Iraq, which you can compare to, you know, Milwaukee or something like that in terms of size.

The real question's going to be, you know, does ISIS decide to stay and fight to the end? In which case you have a, you know, block to block fight. You're looking for booby-traps, IEDs and it will be very slow going, or does at some point ISIS make a stand and then decide to melt away and go to, you know, their spiritual center of Raqqa? And that will be the real question. And keep in mind, the United States, who's better at this than anybody, it took us a while to pacify Mosul. So this could - this could be a long road indeed.

BLITZER: Yes, let's not forget when the ISIS terrorists took Mosul more than two years ago, they captured a lot of sophisticated U.S. military equipment, armored vehicles, among others. So they do have weapons. They do have capabilities. There's no doubt about that.

You heard Donald Trump at the presidential debate with Hillary Clinton the other night say this - the timing of this Iraqi/Kurdish military offensive right now was designed to try to help Hillary Clinton's campaign. Do you believe that?

KINZINGER: No. No. Not at all. I mean, you know, look, I've been extremely critical of President Obama and some of the civilian leaders we have in terms of timing, in terms of, you know, why it's taken so long and things along that line. But, no, I think that's a pretty big charge to say that somebody is, you know, doing a military offensive to help a campaign in the presidential election. I don't ascribe that to anybody. Look, I have major disagreements with President Obama, but I also don't think he would do an offensive just simply to help in a presidential race.

And I don't, frankly, see how this does help Hillary Clinton. I don't see how it helps Donald Trump either. This is just part of what needs to happen to liberate Mosul. And so I don't put a lot of stock in it. I highly doubt Mosul will be liberated within two weeks anyway.

BLITZER: It's going to be a while and now that these ISIS terrorists have their own counteroffensive against Kirkuk, which is an oil-rich area, a lot of Iraq's oil is in Kirkuk, I remember when I was there, I was in Mosul. If the ISIS forces could take Kirkuk, that would be an enormous loss for the Iraqi government. I don't know if that's even realistic, but they did launch an assault there. How worried are you about that?

KINZINGER: Well, you know, I'm worried in that obviously loss of life, perceived instability, things along that line. I'm really not worried about the fall of Kirkuk. Kirkuk was actually a very friendly area during the Iraq War. I remember flying in a number of times to the air base in Kirkuk and it's very sympathetic.

That said, obviously, ISIS is trying to, as they're losing ground right now in Mosul and Syria and elsewhere, they're trying to send the point mainly to their potential recruits and to their people that they're still on the offensive. I think that's what this stems from.

[13:30:11]