Show: THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O`DONNELL Date: October 7, 2016 Guest: Yamiche Alcindor, Ben Ginsberg, Jason Chaffetz; David Fahrenthold, Ana Marie Cox, Maria Teresa Kumar, Ken Burns, Cecile Richards
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: That does it for us tonight, we`ll see you again. Now it`s time for THE LAST WORD with Lawrence O`Donnell. Good evening Lawrence.
LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Rachel, just want to make sure I heard you correctly. I believe I just heard you say the debate, if it happens. Is that how much the political world is rocking at 10:00 PM on Friday night?
MADDOW: You know, we had Yamiche Alcindor here moments ago talking about the Republican Party considering their options in case Trump decides to abandon the nomination, nobody knows what would happen if he did that.
He had previously raised the prospect that a hurricane could be enough to make him skip a debate. There is in fact a hurricane, if I were Donald Trump, I wouldn`t do that debate, we`ll see. Uncharted territory.
O`DONNELL: I have a feeling this is going to come up at the debate.
MADDOW: If it happens, yes.
O`DONNELL: Yes. Thank you very much, Rachel. Well we will continue to cover this breaking news that Rachel has just been talking about. Paul Ryan saying he`s sickened by what Donald Trump said on that Access Hollywood video.
And so now, Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus will not be joining Donald Trump at an event in Wisconsin tomorrow, because Donald Trump is no longer invited to that event. Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus will do it without him.
And as Rachel said, there are reports of Republican Party meetings tonight in Washington, actively considering the possibility of going into the presidential election without Donald Trump if Donald Trump drops out, if something else happens to make him drop out or if this is enough. We will take a close look at that Access Hollywood video and consider exactly what Donald Trump is telling us about himself in that video, exactly what he is confessing to.
We`ll also be joined by Ken Burns who is a leader of Historians against Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There`s nobody, nobody that has more respect for women than I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A big story just dropped on Donald Trump.
TRUMP: When you`re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything.
BILLY BUSH, THEN-ACCESS HOLLYWOOD CO-HOST: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the [bleep]. You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Essentially sexually assault women, there`s no defending it. It`s - it is horrific.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He even came out and said that he apologizes if anybody was offended.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saying I apologize if anybody was offended is not an apology.
TRUMP: I did [bleep] and she was married. I moved on her like a [bleep].
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And invariably they`ll say, "This time we got him," right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no privacy anymore.
TRUMP: All of a sudden I see her and she`s now got the big phony [bleep], she`s totally changed her look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s just - I mean, it makes me sick to my stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump recently said that when he was - talked about women in negative ways, it was always for entertainment purposes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have never ever heard a presidential candidate on tape talking like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I should be surprised and shocked, but I`m sad to say that I`m not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s probably more audio where that came from.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is The Last Word on Campaign 2016.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: So the news of the day is that the Republican candidate for president says that he is licensed to commit sexual assault at any time against any woman because he is a star. That`s what he calls himself, a star.
He thinks the way a child thinks about stars. A child thinks, "If I`m a Hollywood star, I`ll get to do whatever I want." A deeply sick man who has the heart of a sex criminal thinks, "I`ll be able to grab anyone I want." In the video discovered today by David Fahrenthold at the Washington Post that was recorded by Access Hollywood but not used in their show in 2005, Donald Trump essentially confesses to sex crimes.
He says all of this with authority, he says that you can do this, you can do anything you want to any woman if you are a star like him. Now, the only way he could say that with authority is if he has that experience. If he`s done it. He`s grabbed women that way.
In the video you`re about to watch, Donald Trump says, "I got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her." This is a man who knows his own behavior, so he`s taking precautions. You can actually hear him shaking the Tic Tacs out of the container, he`s taking the Tic Tacs because he knows he might do what he`s done before, he might just start kissing the woman who he has not yet met, who he`s approaching on the NBC lot in Burbank that day.
He then says, "You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful, you know, if I just start kissing them, it`s like a magnet, I don`t even wait." That is essentially a more aggressive version of what Republican Senator Bob Packwood was accused of in an Ethics Committee investigation that led to his resignation from the United States Senate just before the Senate was ready to vote to expel him. Bob Packwood did not deny those allegations of unwelcome attempts at kissing, he simply said that during that period of his life, he was having serious problems with alcohol and was under the influence of alcohol during those incidents.
But the United States Senate basically went on record in 1995 in the Packwood case saying that you can be expelled from the United States Senate for what Donald Trump admitted in this video 10 years after Bob Packwood was forced out of the United States Senate. So you`re not allowed to be a member of the United States Senate if you get caught doing what Donald Trump says he does, but Donald Trump is not running for Senate, he`s running for president of the United States.
"I just start kissing them, it`s like a magnet, I don`t even wait." That`s a sex crime. That is battery at minimum and possibly assault and battery depending on how physically aggressively Donald Trump does that to women. Donald Trump believes that the only possible repulsive thing about him when he just starts kissing them is his bad breath. That`s the only thing he`s worried about when he feels himself on that threshold of committing that particular crime, "Where are the Tic Tacs?"
That`s all - the only thing that`s on his mind. Donald Trump says, "When you`re a star, they let you do it - you can do anything." He didn`t say, "When you`re a star, you can do anything that`s legal." He said, "When you`re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything." And he didn`t stop there, he said, "Grab them by the" - I can`t say it on television. Here`s tomorrow cover of the New York Daily News.
That is the man who wants to be the next president of the United States. He believes it`s okay for him because he`s a star to grab your daughter by the - grab your daughter any way he wants, any time he wants. He thinks he can do that to your wife. He thinks he can do that to your mother. On this same video, Donald Trump talks about trying to have sex with a married woman. He used the "F" word for that, which makes him the very first presidential candidate in history to be on video recorded saying, "I tried to "F" her, she was married."
No other presidential candidate in history has that particular combination of words recorded on video. Just the Republican nominee for president. So yes, he thinks he can "F" your wife and he thinks he can grab your wife and he thinks he can grab your mother. Here is the video that is the worst October Surprise that any campaign has ever suffered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The thing is, you know.
BUSH: She used to be pretty. She`s still very beautiful.
TRUMP: I moved on her actually. You know, she was down at Palm Beach, I moved on her and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and [bleep] her. She was married.
BUSH: (inaudible)
TRUMP: I don`t know, (Nancy) - no, this was (inaudible) and I moved on her very heavily, in fact, I took her out furniture shopping, she wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I`ll show you where there`s some nice furniture." I showed her furniture, I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn`t get there and she was married.
And all of a sudden I see her, she`s now got the big phony [bleep] and she`s totally changed her look.
BUSH: Jeez, your girl`s hot as [bleep] in the purple.
TRUMP: Whoa.
BUSH: Yes.
TRUMP: Whoa.
BUSH: Yes, the Donald is good. Oh, my man. Clearly, you got to look at her when you get out.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You are a [bleep]
BUSH: You got to get (inaudible)
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Maybe it`s a different woman.
BUSH: It better not be. No, it`s her.
TRUMP: Yes, that`s her. With the gold - I got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful, I just start kissing them. It`s like a magnet. I just kiss, I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the [bleep]. You can do anything.
BUSH: Wow. You know, those legs. All I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: No, it looks good.
BUSH: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Ooh, nice legs, huh?
BUSH: Get out of the way though. That`s good legs. Go ahead.
TRUMP: It`s always good if you don`t fall out of the bus. Like Ford, Gerald Ford, remember?
BUSH: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello, how are you? Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi Mr. Trump, how are you?
TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pleasure to meet you.
TRUMP: Terrific. Terrific. You know Billy Bush?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?
BUSH: Hello. Nice to see you. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m doing very well. Thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We`re ready. Let`s go. Make me a soap star.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Donald? He just got off the bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You like a little hug, darling?
TRUMP: Okay. Absolutely. Melania said this was okay.
BUSH: I think a little hug for the Bush, I just.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: "Melania said it was okay." I guess I forgot to mention that that`s newlywed Donald Trump on that video. He married the third Mrs. Trump a few months before that day.
Donald Trump issued a statement today in which he did not use the word "apologize" - he used the word "apologize," but he didn`t apologize. The statement said, "This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course, not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended." That is the apology of a snake trying to pretend that what he had to say on that video is somehow Bill Clinton`s problem, and of course he is still not a big enough person to actually apologize.
He used the vile construction, "if anyone was offended." He spoke specifically by name about a married woman, saying he tried to "F" her. The world knows she was offended hearing that on that video today, but Donald Trump didn`t apologize to her, because in Trump world she might not be offended, she might not be. If she was offended.
Three years ago, Donald Trump tweeted this, "Sexual pervert Anthony Weiner has zero business holding public office." I have known and worked closely with real Hollywood stars, great actors, Oscar winners, Emmy winners, but not one of those men would ever do anything like what Donald Trump confessed to in that video, not one of them.
I never worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger, I only worked with real actors, Arnold Schwarzenegger was credibly accused and repeatedly accused of doing things like that to women on sets. It has happened. Donald Trump is not the only person like Donald Trump.
But Donald Trump`s childish imagery of Hollywood stars has nothing to do with reality, just like everything else in Donald Trump`s troubled mind. I have never considered Donald Trump a star of any kind but I will take his word for it that he is a sex criminal.
Joining us now is Cecile Richards, a women`s health advocate, the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Cecile, I just want to get your reaction to this video, what you`ve seen on it and what you think it means to the future of this campaign.
CECILE RICHARDS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND PRESIDENT: Well I think, Lawrence, like everybody else in America who seen it, I`m disgusted and I can tell you, it`s interesting that Donald Trump says if anyone`s offended. I think every single person I have talked to around the State of Nevada today, every single person I`ve talked to is offended.
You know, women take sexual harassment and sexual assault very, very seriously, and to have a presidential candidate condone this kind of activity and even make light of it is unbelievable. He is absolutely unfit to be president, this is someone who obviously has never been held accountable for his actions and it`s really, really been disgusting to see.
O`DONNELL: I want to listen to what his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said about this earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Clearly, this is not how women should be spoken about, but, you know, we`re not looking at a Sunday school teacher here and I want to be very clear about this, and we - what we know about Donald Trump, this is 12 years ago, this audiotape.
And so, you know, let me say, we`re appointing a leader. We are electing a leader to the free world. We`re not electing a Sunday school teacher.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: Cecile, what would you want to say to Corey Lewandowski about that?
RICHARDS: Well if there`s anything that demonstrates that Donald Trump isn`t a leader, it`s what we`ve seen today. And look, women - you know, this is - women have been disgusted by some of the things that Donald Trump has said in the past, he`s called women pigs, dogs, has been demeaning about everything about women.
This is a new low. And I think what`s extraordinary today, Lawrence, is the number of folks who are supporting Donald Trump, elected officials who will say they`re disgusted by his behavior, but they haven`t distanced themselves from his candidacy. This is a man who cannot be trusted with the presidency and it`s time for people to say that.
O`DONNELL: Well, based on his own words on that video, he confesses to sexual assault on that video, to having experience with sexual assault, to being able to grab women wherever he wants to and he confesses to in effect have done that. So if you`re defending Donald Trump on any platform starting tomorrow, especially in any way over these statements, you`re defending a sex criminal.
RICHARDS: I absolutely - I agree that this is a time when people really have to held accountable, because we`re not talking about Republicans or Democrats now, we`re talking about the future of the United States of America.
And I can tell you, women and men, regardless of their political party, are disgusted by his actions, by his behavior, by his statement and it`s time for people to stand up and say that.
O`DONNELL: And the Trump - the horror of the Trump tape in so many ways is, he`s completely oblivious that what he`s talking about is sexual assault.
RICHARDS: I think that`s right, and I think this is someone who obviously, he has serious issues about self control, he says that on his tape. I think this is a man who has never been held accountable for his actions in many parts of his life and I think it`s time we hold him, the American people, hold him accountable, he is not fit to be president.
O`DONNELL: Cecile Richards, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
RICHARDS: Thanks Lawrence.
O`DONNELL: Coming up, we have a live report from Katy Tur from inside the Trump campaign tonight, they are in full on panic mode over there. Also later, Ken Burns, the leader of Historians against Trump will join us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O`DONNELL: With more breaking news now of Republicans turning against Donald Trump dissatisfied with his so-called apology, now Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has just released a statement saying, "These comments are repugnant and unacceptable in any circumstance. As a father of three daughters, I strongly believe that Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape."
Coming up, Katy Tur will join us with new reporting from inside the panicked Trump campaign tonight, that`s next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Yes, that`s her with the gold. I got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful, I just start kissing them, it`s like a magnet. I don`t even wait. And when you start, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the [bleep]. You can do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: We have new reporting of what is happening tonight inside the trump campaign. MSNBC`s Katy Tur joins us now by phone. Katy, is it all panic over there?
KATY TUR, MSNBC CORRESPONDENT: You know, I had one source just describe it to me thusly, saying that, "We have our own hurricane going on right now inside this campaign." I`m told by sources within the campaign that this is a big deal, that they`re acknowledging that this is a big deal, one even telling our own Ali Vitali that this is too bad, as in not too bad and unfortunate, but rather too bad, as in this is an extraordinarily bad comment to come out. And then on an - at an extraordinarily bad time. Lawrence, we`re 32 days until the election, the campaign was trying to get back on track after the Alicia Machado comment and after those overnight tweets where he alleged that she had a sex tape to try to discredit her claims of calling - Donald Trump calling her Ms. Piggy and calling her problematic because she gained a massive amount of weight.
This is not good timing for the campaign. They don`t believe that necessarily this is the end for Donald Trump, but they do believe he`s going to have to come out and make a stronger apology. That`s what you`re seeing from a number of Republicans out there as well, Republican leadership like Mitch McConnell saying that, "Donald Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls across this country for these comments."
Now, the campaign source that I just spoke to a moment ago does believe that Donald Trump is truly contrite, they say that he`s been unusually quiet since this broke, he`s been holed up in his tower all day, and they do believe that this could be something of a teachable moment for Donald Trump.
I spoke to a swing state GOP official who said today is a game changer, and that right now every party in every state is preparing for that Democratic ad that splices Trump`s groping comments with their vulnerable GOP senators or congressmen. They call this degrading and that there`s no circumstance where this is acceptable.
This same GOP official is telling me that they wake up every single morning and wonder if this is the day that they should quit their jobs, this is the day that they can`t take it any longer and they need to come out and make a stand and separate themselves from not only Donald Trump, but from the Republican Party which they are growing to no longer know.
O`DONNELL: Katy Tur, thank you very much for joining us, I really appreciate it.
TUR: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: Coming up, what we can expect this to mean in Sunday`s debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O`DONNELL: No campaign has ever been hit with the worse October Surprise than what the Trump campaign got this afternoon from Donald Trump himself.
Today is October 7th, Donald Trump might have another 23 October Surprises in him because there are hundreds and hundreds of hours of unaired video of Donald Trump saying things on camera that were not used in his TV series or in interview shows like Access Hollywood.
Tonight, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus issued this statement, "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner ever." 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney tweeted, "Hitting on married women, condoning assault, such file degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America`s face to the world."
Speaker Paul Ryan issued this statement, "I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests. In the meantime, he is no longer attending tomorrow`s event in Wisconsin."
And just in the last hour, Donald Trump issued this statement in response apparently to Speaker Ryan statement, "Governor Mike Pence will be representing me tomorrow in Wisconsin. I will be spending the day in New York in debate prep with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Governor Chris Christie, and Senator Jeff Sessions. And the New York Times` Yamiche Alcindor is reporting tonight that a source tells her RNC officials are meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss what options the party has in case Donald Trump is not the nominee.
Joining us now are Ana Marie Cox, senior correspondent for MTV News and Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino and an MSNBC contributor. And Maria Teresa, I just want to get your reaction to where this story stands as of 10:30 tonight.
MARIA TERESA KUMAR, VOTO LATINO PRESIDENT AND CEO: Well, I think, right now, the Republican party is not only scrambling, but the leadership doesn`t know what to do. Why, Lawrence? Ballots have already been printed. Early voting has already started. It`s almost impossible for them to pivot from this, from the candidate that they not only uplifted but basically endorsed and did very little in their power to course strike when they have the opportunity to do so.
O`DONNELL: And Ana Marie, this is not the October surprise.
ANA MARIE COX, MTV NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: No.
O`DONNELL: This is the October 7th surprise. There will be many more surprises this October and certainly, many more gems from the video archives.
COX: Well, I think that`s true. What I think is really interesting here, though, is the reaction of Trump`s fellow Republicans. I think it`s really interesting for Paul Ryan to say he doesn`t want Trump there but Pence is OK. Because if you`re really not OK with men controlling other women`s bodies, I think Pence might have to answer for some things there too.
I mean, I will say this in defense of Donald Trump, which is that apparently, he`s only interested in one woman`s genitals at a time or at least like just the women in immediate vicinity, whereas the Republican party really goes for like millions of women at a time in terms of like, you know, transnational probes and what not.
I mean, I think that, you know, Trump and the Republican party cannot separate themselves from each other. Trump is an extension of the kinds of policies and kinds of attitudes the Republican party has had towards women for decades. And I also want to say there is something just that so grates on me when these Republican men say as a father, you know, of women or the father with daughters, this bothers me. You know what, you`re a son too.
And also, does it take knowing a woman to be offended by this? I will stop. I have to go on.
O`DONNELL: You don`t have to stop but I get it. So there`s now a big list of statements that I don`t have time to read from John McCain, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio. Things like John McCain, there are no excuses for this offensive demeaning comments. Ted Cruz, disturbing, inappropriate, no excuse. Marco Rubio, vulgar egregious, impossible to justify. But Maria Teresa, only Mitch McConnell gives Donald Trump a direct order saying no, you must issue a real apology and a real apology to all women. It`s only Mitch McConnell so far who has basically made his future support in effect conditional, based on what his statement says tonight.
KUMAR: But because he recognizes that what`s on the balance of power right now is the senate. He recognizes that there are so many Republicans right now in the senate that are so vulnerable because people are going to go out and vote in droves. And if the way that folks normally go out and vote is down-ballot and there are so many senate folks that are vulnerable to his candidacy as a result of Trump.
But I have to say, the fact that this is what is breaking the camel`s back and all of a sudden, people feel that they have to repudiate Donald Trump, it wasn`t when he basically was calling all Mexicans and Mexican-Americans rapists. It wasn`t when he was saying after racially profile Muslims, that wasn`t when he was making fun of disabled, that wasn`t when he was making fun of beauty queens and this is what it took.
And it basically says that we have clearly have a deeper awareness of sexual assault in this country and that`s clearly what he has admitted to but also, why did it take the Republican party so long to be so reprehensive and denying Donald Trump after he was clearly trying to pit one American against the another.
O`DONNELL: And Ana Marie, part of what`s behind the energy of the negative comment from Republicans tonight is they are 100 percent confident that in the debate Sunday night, Donald Trump will make this worse. He will find a way to make it worse.
COX: And will that be what finally gets them to unendorse or to try to separate from him? Because I noticed in all those statements, that`s what`s missing, right?
O`DONNELL: Yes.
KUMAR: Right. Exactly right.
COX: Like he`s not fit to be commander in chief. I mean, what does he have to do? What does he have to do! -- to prove to these people that he`s not fit to be in the oval office like it`s astounding to me. These are the people that complained when Obama like moved a bust out of the oval office, right? Like when he wore khakis. Like that`s what they thought was like disrespecting the oval office. Like, this is a vulgarian -- a short- fingered vulgarian (inaudible) no where near.
KUMAR: Right. Ana Marie, and the irony today -- I`m sorry, the irony today was that today the president signed the sexual assault for survivors. Then basically saying that sexual assault survivors actually do have human rights and the things that they have to do so the irony that is surrounding this and the fact that, again, the Republican party should have basically denounced Donald Trump a long time ago but now, they have come short of unendorsing him, really speaks to how the Republican party is imploding.
And let me be fair, the fact that we do not have a two strong party system, that`s not good for any American. We actually want to have debates and nuance. But the fact that all of a sudden this presidential election, something that -- Lawrence, we are normally on MSNBC so excited for when it comes to politics, it has gone to such a low that it`s really hard to engage because it`s talking about this idea of being predatory against women, of being really, you know, racially profiling other Americans. It`s become the basis of elections when at the end of the day, we should actually be talking about the hope in our future of this country.
O`DONNELL: Ana Marie Cox and Maria Teresa Kumar, thank you both for joining us tonight, appreciate it.
COX: Thank you, Lawrence.
KUMAR: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: The campaign war room is coming up next. And in the war room, we now have one Republican so far pulling back his endorsement from Donald Trump just tonight. We will have that in the war room.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down in Palm Beach, I moved on her and I failed. I will admit it. I did try and [bleep] her, she was married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s huge news there.
TRUMP: No, no. Nancy -- no. This was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said I will show you where they have some nice furniture. I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch.
O`DONNELL: You know, I just have to say Lis Smith and Elise Jordan here on the campaign war room. There`s a script in there I`m not going to do. When I watch that bus moving down the NBC lot, a place that I`ve spent years and specifically walking right by there.
And by the way, people should know, when you see that video playing and you see them -- the exotic car in the background is Jay Leno`s car, That was Jay`s parking space in that year right at that studio and Jay had a new and amazing car parked there every day.
And so Lis, it just brings us certain -- there`s a weird kind of personal horror to this man polluted that space where I spent so much time.
LIS SMITH, FMR. DEPUTY CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR FOR MARTIN O`MALLEY: And he`s polluting our country right now. Look, this wasn`t an October surprise. It was a hydrogen bomb. And I think, like, it hit women across the country like a punch in the gut. Because every day, women have to force off unwanted sexual event because everyday women are the victims of sexual assault. You know what, this isn`t locker room banter.
O`DONNELL: No, no.
SMITH: These are the troubled rantings of a dangerous misogynist. And if this doesn`t disqualify him from being president, then may God have mercy on all of our souls.
ELISE JORDAN, NBC/MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: I think even aside from the sexual component of it, which is kind of hard to separate from it, it`s all about power. This is about power that he feels he has over women because he`s famous, he can do whatever he want. And that is why it is exactly so disturbing that this person could be the most powerful person in the world.
O`DONNELL: So in the Trump war room tonight, they have an apology that they put out that isn`t working. Mitch McConnell`s rejected it. Say, get rid of that stupid if-junk, if anyone`s offended. Mitch McConnell is demanding a real apology. What are they doing over there and (inaudible) right now?
JORDAN: Well, what they should be doing is saying, you have to be quiet. You can`t go into that debate room.
O`DONNELL: They`re writing a new apology for him, right now, aren`t they?
JORDAN: They should be. But who knows with Donald Trump. He does what he wants to do. That`s been his MO the entire campaign and he`s gotten away with it. He really deeply believes that he is the reason for his success and no one can tell him anything. You can`t believe that -- he has some good advisors that they were not coaching him and telling him to not take the bait against Hillary Clinton in the debate. He fell into the trap and wallowed in it for a week. It wasn`t even his debate performances that poor was that he can`t control himself at all, period, at any point.
O`DONNELL: Lis, in the Clinton war room, what are they thinking Hillary Clinton should do with this if anything on Sunday night because there`s an argument to be said, you don`t have to do a thing. Let the moderators allow the bomb to fall on him and see what he does.
SMITH: Well, look, I don`t think she needs to -- Hillary bring it up. I think it will proactively get up.
O`DONNELL: They will come up.
SMITH: And you know what, if I`m advising her, I might even say don`t even shake his hand when you walk out there.
O`DONNELL: Well, that`s interesting.
SMITH: Because, you know what, he does not deserve that. This is a man --
O`DONNELL: That`s an interesting moment.
SMITH: -- who is, you know, normalizing sexual violence. And so why even dignify him by shaking his hand. He does not deserve to be on that stage.
JORDAN: If he was smart, he just wouldn`t go.
SMITH: Yes, I agree. It`s better for him to stay --
O`DONNELL: Why is it smart not to show up, Sunday night.
JORDAN: Because he cannot show up and control himself. It`s not like he`s going to be able to show up and make this better.
O`DONNELL: So not show up and then you go to the third one? You go to the third one or you just say I`m not --
JORDAN: It would be better for him to say that he is taking time to reflect and refocus his campaign.
O`DONNELL: And pray?
JORDAN: And then -- exactly. he is meeting with devout leaders to discuss his religiosity that he has, you know, come around to this past year. I mean, anything would be better than the guy opening his mouth at this point.
O`DONNELL: Right.
JORDAN: Because he can`t gain anything.
O`DONNELL: Because he`s never improved one of these problems, right? He`s only made them worse.
SMITH: This is the thing. Even if he went out there and got on his knees and offered up a full-throated apology, that would not fix this. This man should not be running for president. And if the Republican party and Republican leadership had any backbone, they would not -- they would drop their support for him and say, look, we would rather lose this election than lose our credibility and respect with the American public for years to come.
JORDAN: Paul Ryan`s move right now is very interesting because it was his rally tomorrow and Trump, I think, was essentially disinvited. And Ryan now is grappling with how closely he`s going to stay and support Donald Trump. A lot of his support is from anti-Trump Republicans. He has a strong base with moderate Republicans and even among Democrats in Wisconsin, he is a respected figure. How is Paul Ryan going to fall?
O`DONNELL: Most interesting strategic proposal tonight. Best thing for Donald Trump is to stay home Sunday night. That is really something to think about.
Lis Smith and Elise Jordan, thank you both for joining us tonight. I really appreciate it.
Up next, what Donald Trump said that has enraged documentarian Ken Burns. Ken Burns is one of the leaders of historians against Donald Trump. Ken Burns will join us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TRUMP: I got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful, I just start kissing them. It`s a magnet. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the [bleep]. You can do anything.
O`DONNELL: And that was enough for Republic Utah Governor Gary Herbert. He has pulled his endorsement of Donald Trump tonight. He tweeted Donald Trump`s statements are beyond offensive and despicable, while I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton, I will not vote for Trump.
And just a week ago, former Republican governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman said he was going to vote for Donald Trump because voters have to, "Deal with the hand dealt us by history." Those were his words. But tonight, Jon Huntsman said it is time for the Republican nominee to drop out of the race and allow vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, to represent the party. We will be right back with historian and documentarian, Ken Burns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O`DONNELL: `The Central Park Five` is the title of a documentary by Ken Burns about five black and Hispanic teenagers who were convicted of a brutally violent rape in 1990 in Manhattan. Donald Trump took out a full- page ad in "The New York Times" and other New York newspapers before the trial, urging New York to bring back the death penalty because of that case.
Ken Burns documentary tells the story of how `The Central Park Five` were released from prison when someone else confessed to the crime and his DNA matched the DNA in the case. Once again this week, Donald Trump insisted that `The Central Park Five` are guilty. Joining us now for an exclusive interview and the award-winning documentarian and filmmaker, Ken Burns. Ken, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
KEN BURNS, DOCUMENTARIAN: Thanks Sir Lawrence. Thanks for having me. The film was made by Sarah Burns and David McMahon as well as me.
O`DONNELL: I just want to read to you Donald Trump`s statement this week about `The Central Park Five`. He said they admitted they were guilty. The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous, and the woman so badly injured will never be the same. What is your response to those elements of Donald Trump`s statement? And I get the feeling, Ken, he has never seen the documentary because the answers are in that documentary.
BURNS: Yes, the answers are most definitely in our film. The facts don`t matter to Donald Trump very clearly. The boys didn`t do it. They served out their full sentences for their 1989 crime. They had coerced confessions. Some of them spent hours under intense grilling with no food, no water, no parents, and we`re told, look, if you just say the other person did it, we will let you go. It was a kind of circular firing squad. What was missing was their mention of anybody else. But they had this unknown DNA. This was incredibly bloody crime scene, there was none of the boys on the crime scene and none of the crime scene on the boys. It didn`t match -- the DNA that they found didn`t match any of the boys.
And 13 years later, when the oldest, Korey Wise, 16 years old had served -- was about to serve out his full sentence, he bumped into the guy who actually did it who went on after the crime to murder a pregnant woman and to rape other women, ignored by the police, the MO and the DAs who were certainly had these guys. He confessed. The DNA matched. And the judge after the fact, after they were all out, vacated their convictions. And it`s only been recently that the city sued.
May I also add that the sixth victim in this, of course, the most important, the rape victim herself, ran the New York City marathon in either 94 or 95 and so this sort of damaged goods that he is perpetrating is again one of his lies.
So let`s not hide, you know, the lead here. Lawrence, this is racism 101. He has been blowing this dog whistle for as long as he has been around. He took out the full-page ad, asking for the death penalty for these children, two 14-year-olds, two 15-year-olds and a developmentally challenged 16- year-old to kill them for a crime they did not commit, which the law has already excused them from, even though they served out their full sentences. Even though when they had a chance to plea bargain, they did not take it. Even when they had a chance at parole, they would not admit their guilt because they didn`t do it and had to enroll in sex offenders class. They still maintained their dignity.
And these are five human beings. And just like the women that he has spent today denigrating and indeed his whole life or immigrants, this is Antoine McCray, a human being. Kevin Richardson, a human being. Yusef Salaam, a human being. Ramon Santana, a human being. And Korey Wise, a human being.
And what we find in the study of leadership, historians who care anything about American history is that one of the key ingredients of leadership is empathy. And this person has zero empathy for anyone but himself.
O`DONNELL: Ken, what we`re seeing again today is that Donald Trump doesn`t know how to apologize. But he also doesn`t know how to separate fact from fiction. And that`s what you`re talking about in relation to this case and more broadly with the historians who`ve been talking about Donald Trump.
BURNS: So I gave a commencement address in June at Stanford University in which I was trying to place this election in its very unusual context that for the first time in 216 years, we had someone who is manifestly unqualified for the job, which had never happened in our republic. And many historians responded to that, and we set up a facebook page where they could record unmediated by the media. Meaning, their grand kids or their wives or their sons film them on a cell phone and posted their thoughts, and it is a troubling, a devastating indictment, well before today`s stuff came out, well before the blaming that the other immigrants are coming over the border just to vote against him.
I mean, these are the rantings of a megalomaniac. Of course the truth doesn`t matter. And you don`t apologize. You just double down. And that`s what he did again with `The Central Park Five`. It is a tragedy.
O`DONNELL: Ken, `The Central Park Five` available on Netflix? How do people see it now?
BURNS: Well, you know, we`re trying to get PBS to broadcast it again. It`s available at Shop PBS. We`re trying to make it available for a free download as soon as we can.
O`DONNELL: Ken Burns, thank you very much for joining us tonight, really appreciate it.
BURNS: Thanks, Lawrence.
L. O`DONNELL: We`re now awaiting for Donald Trump to release a possible video statement. NBC`s Kelly O`Donnell joins us now by phone. Kelly, what do we know?
KELLY O`DONNELL, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lawrence, I can tell you that based on my reporting, Donald Trump has been recording a direct message for voters done tonight inside Trump Tower. The intention of this message is to further apologize for the comments that were recorded on that off-camera microphone 11 years ago. And the intent here is to try to make clear that he is embarrassed by this, that he recognizes this was improper and to try to turn back toward committing the voters that he can do better.
I`m told that there were different scenarios considered by his closest advisers, recognizing that while there was a paper statement already issued, which is, I`m sure you`ve discussed with the first time the word apology was used but it was not a clear statement in the judgment of many because it also talked about Bill Clinton`s past conduct and it said if people were offended.
So recognizing that more needed to be done and up against the deadline of Sunday`s debate, there were many options being discussed. I am also told by my reporting that Speaker Paul Ryan and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin sort of preempted the Wisconsin piece of this, which was Trump`s expected appearance tomorrow in Wisconsin. So they disinvited him. And then it became what method to get this message out.
It was considered that an interview could be something that would be harder to control. So doing a video message would allow Donald Trump to be the sole messenger to speak directly to camera, to the voter, to say more about what he had said, what he has done and where he thinks this race is now in an effort to try to regain some control, to try to refocus on voters and, of course, knowing that Sunday in the debate, this will inevitably be a topic and time would be filled in between now and Sunday that there was great pressure for Trump to do something.
But of the options, an interview, phoning into a program, sending a tweet, the things we`ve come to know as standard sort of tactics for Donald Trump, this is considered so serious that they`re doing something we have not seen before. And that is an on-camera, recorded statement where Donald Trump will say more about this in an effort to put out some of the fire of controversy we`ve seen today, Lawrence?
L. O`DONNELL: Kelly, any indication that there`s an awareness in the Trump campaign that some of his words carried a legal implication of sexual assault?
K. O`DONNELL: I think there is, based on those I`ve talked to, an awareness that this is serious, that it is being treated differently. At the same time, there are people who support and have worked on behalf of Donald Trump who say he has always been judged by a different standard, and yet they recognize this time seems to be different. All of the past controversies that seem to be those moments where his candidacy was threatened.
In this instance, I would expect they will argue that this was a private conversation, that it was in an entertainment context, that he was not speaking publicly, would not speak that way. But from what I understand, he is very concerned about this, very aware of the gravity of this, even embarrassed if you will, Lawrence?
L. O`DONNELL: Kelly O`Donnell, thank you very much, appreciate it. That is the LAST WORD for tonight. Our MSNBC coverage will continue live now in anticipation of a statement by Donald Trump. That is the statement that Kelly O`Donnell was just referring to, expected to be released on video, recorded tonight at Trump Tower. It seems to be the kind of statement that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, was demanding earlier tonight from Donald Trump. In his statement, Senator McConnell said, "Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere, and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape."
Senator McConnell was the only major republican who demanded specifically that form of apology. The apology is for what you are about to see on this video. This is video from Access Hollywood that was not used on the show, Access Hollywood at the time they recorded this in 2005. This is that video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY BUSH, THE BILLY BUSH SHOW HOST: The thing is, she used to be pretty. She`s still very beautiful.
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I moved on her. Actually, you know, she was down in Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and (BLEEP) her. She was married --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s huge news there.
TRUMP: No. No. Nancy. No this was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I`ll show you where there`s some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn`t get there, and she was married. And all of a sudden I see her, she`s now got the big phony (BLEEPS) I mean, she`s totally changed her looks.
BUSH: Geez. Your girl`s hot as (BLEEP) in the purple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Yes! Whoa!
BUSH: Yes, the Donald has scored. Oh, my man! Wait, wait you got to look at her when we get out --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Start this off--
TRUMP: That is very -
BUSH: You give me the thumbs up.
TRUMP: OK. Look at you. You are a (BLEEP)
BUSH: You got to get a thumbs up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can`t be too happy-
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You and I will walk out.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Maybe it`s a different one.
BUSH: It better not be the publicists. No, it`s her.
TRUMP: Yes, that`s her with the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It`s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (BLEEP) I can do any of that.
BUSH: Yeah, those legs, all I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: Oh, it looks good.
BUSH: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Oh, nice legs huh?
BUSH: Get out of the way. Go ahead.
TRUMP: It`s always good if you don`t fall out of the bus, like Ford. Gerald Ford, remember?
BUSH: Down below, pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello, how are you? Hi! Good to see you.
ARIANNE ZUCKER, MODEL AND ACTRESS: Trump, how are you? How do you do?
TRUMP: Terrific, terrific. You know Billy Bush?
ZUCKER: How are you?
BUSH: Hello, nice to see you. How are you doing, Arianne?
ZUCKER: I`m doing very well. Thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We`re ready. Let`s go. Make me a soap star.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Donald? He just get off the bus.
ZUCKER: Would you like a little hug, darling?
TRUMP: OK, absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: We are joined now by phone by Yamiche Alcindor, New York Times reporter. Yamiche, I know you were reporting earlier tonight that Republicans in Washington were considering the possibility of Donald Trump dropping out of this campaign. What can you tell us now?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR, NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: What I can tell you is that republican officials, were definitely very franticly meeting after this news broke. That they were talking about the idea that the rules do not allow the party to have leaders ask Donald Trump to drop out. So that the only way that they would be able to take care with things, is that Donald Trump voluntarily steps down. And that possibility was being discussed and the possibility of Mike Pence possibly being the new nominee was being talked about. But no one in the RNC as of now as of my reporting has asked Donald Trump to step down, or no one said, "OK. This is the person that`s going to make the phone call, but they are preparing for the worse.
O`DONNELL: And Yamiche, is there any expectation among anyone you`ve talked to tonight that Donald Trump might not appear at Sunday night`s debate?
ALCINDOR: From my understanding, the expectation is that he will - he will definitely be at the debate. Part of the discussions happening at the RNC, were how was he going to deal with the issue at the debate. People were thinking about how he was going to - and suddenly spin this issue. How he was going to explain himself. So those - and the idea that his spending tomorrow not in Wisconsin but prepping for this debate. Debate prep tomorrow is not just going to be talking about how to make America great and laying out his policies. Most of the debate prep, I`m imagining is going to be focused on, "When Hillary Clinton throws this at you, what is your response going to be?"
O`DONNELL: And Yamiche, their problem might not be Hillary Clinton throwing this at Donald trump since it`s a town hall sort of forum, it could be someone in that audience. It could be a young woman, an older woman. It could be a young man. You don`t know where it might come from in that kind of format.
ALCINDOR: That is true. And I think that, I would imagine that in debate prep tomorrow, the worst thing that could happen to Donald trump, and they`re going to be talking about tomorrow, is whether or not you have a young woman ask Donald Trump that question and say, you know, "How am I supposed to vote for you? How do you convince me, that you`re going to be a president that`s going to respect women, and that`s going to be someone who has women at the forefront of your - of your administration, and that you`re also going to respect the women, that you -- that might be working for you as president. How are you going to do that if you had this -- now had this tape? So, I think that there - I think the idea that it was going to be a town hall, was already going to have - was already going to be an issue where people were nervous about who was going to ask Donald Trump questions. He`s not someone who does a lot of retail politics, a lot of going into coffee shops and shaking hands. He`s someone who likes those big rallies, so he does not answer questions from regular citizens. So this is already going to be a format that was going to be somewhat foreign to him. But now, this is definitely added pressure to that.
O`DONNELL: Yamiche, do you have any indication in your reporting tonight. What was the straw that broke the camel`s back on this one? Meaning, I read off a series of objections by Republicans John McCain, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and others. But they did not demand anything from Donald Trump. Mitch McConnell specifically demanded a new apology, with new wording to it. Was that the key to -- that changed this story tonight to where Donald Trump is preparing that apology?
ALCINDOR: I think there were a couple of things going on. I think one, yes, Mitch McConnell asking for that apology is part of the reason why Donald Trump is likely going to put out this new statement tonight. But I should say that I think it also feels different. And I think within the RNC and I want to say also within the Trump campaign, this is not when he could just kind of talk about the fact that he was taken out of context or that he could say that, you know, people are trying to paint me as a racist when I`m not really a racist. In this case, you have a very long video of audio and video and someone else on the bus that has now since apologized for his behavior and his lewd comments. And so, you have all those things going on. So I think that this felt different and it - the Trump himself recognize, and the Trump campaign recognizes that this was not going to be something that was going to go away. And also that statement was so short, the idea that he apologizes if he offended you. And a lot of republican women have just really recoiled with that idea, because it`s kind of an apology but not really an apology. So I think the Trump campaign recognize that, with four weeks outside of the debate. That in the end, I should say four weeks outside of the election. That he was going to have to do something much more forceful.
O`DONNELL: Yamiche Alcindor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I really appreciate it.
ALCINDOR: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: We`re joined now in the studio by Lis Smith and Elise Jordan, both Presidential campaign veterans. Where your worst program were poll numbers. For Rand Paul in your case, and for Martin O`Malley your case. You never had a night like this where you had to figure out how to address the impossible. I mean, in a week, we often sit around, we talk, "Well, how should they handle this? How should they handle that?" In the Trump campaign, Elise, though we have to face the reality that, we`re talking about a set of Things that have never occurred before? No one has any idea how to respond to this. No one in politics knows how to respond to this.
[23:09:01] JORDAN: Well, when you have just such a fundamentally unprincipled man who lacks so much character that it`s necessary to hold the nation`s highest office, and Republicans are embarrassed about him. People who want to vote for him even are embarrassed that they want to vote for him, just because of all the incendiary things he has said this entire campaign. Where do you go from there? And so, I wonder, what really can he say in this video statement? He`s been entirely (INAUDIBLE) his entire campaign, so we`re supposed to believe him now, just because the time is ticking away?
O`DONNELL: Yes, it`s a - Lis, it`s one of those things where, you know, everybody likes to pretend they know what a politician should say next. I -- there`s many times when I don`t, and not just with Donald Trump. But with Donald Trump, I have no idea. If they invited me over there and I will have the best of intentions of trying to help, I couldn`t suggest a single word to say about this.
[23:09:54] SMITH: Well - and it`s funny, we were talking about this before. And the only suggestion I would make is, he has to make an -- he has to apologize, and needs to say that he deeply regrets these words. They do not reflect his attitude toward women, all that. But this is the problem, an apology is not enough. This is not about this is about his character. He is a deeply disturbed and dangerous man who is unfit to be president. And he cannot unscramble the eggs here. The damage has been done.
O`DONNELL: Yeah. And how do you apologize for a lifetime pattern? And I want to go to something that Yamiche brought up, and that is the fact that another apology has been issued for the same event on the same bus, and that`s Billy Bush who we saw on the video was on the bus with Donald Trump. And here is Billy Bush`s written apology tonight he said, "Obviously, I`m embarrassed and ashamed. It`s no excuse, but this happened 11 years ago. I was younger, less mature, acted foolishly in playing along. I`m very sorry."
SMITH: What a contrast, right?
O`DONNELL: Those words don`t exist in the - in the so called "Trump apology." Billy Bush, I`m very sorry, period. There`s no if - there`s nothing in there about "if you`re offended." He`s saying, "I`m ashamed, and I`m Embarrassed. There`s no excuse." But - and that`s the kind of language that Donald Trump has going to have to find here, Elise, if there`s any kind of real, real sounding apology.
JORDAN: I think it`s going to be very difficult for it to come off as sincere even remotely.
SMITH: Right.
O`DONNELL: You`ll look like a hostage reading one of these notes. Right?
JORDAN: Exactly. So, that he`s going to reconvene for debate prep tomorrow, which is really just going to be crisis management, and discussing how to, you know, contain the damage from today`s announcement.
SMITH: Right.
JORDAN: So, the day when this broke, he was actually in debate prep at Trump Tower and aides were kept being pulled out of the debate prep session to -- as this story broke and trying to mitigate and manage this brewing disaster for Donald Trump. That`s never a good thing when you`re two days away from a major debate and your aides are literally abandoning you to go clean up your mess.
SMITH: Right.
O`DONNELL: Joining the discussion now, Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO of Voto Latino and MSNBC contributor. And Maria Teresa, Donald Trump`s got a big problem when it comes to the first time in his life, that apparently he is going to try to issue an apology that actually is written as an apology. And that is, that he`s never done it before. And worse than that, he has said on video that he`s never had anything to apologize for. He`s never felt sorry for anything in 70 years of life, never felt it. So what are the chances that he actually feels it now? Is there even the slightest possibility that Donald Trump has even the slightest sensation of real contrition about this?
[23:12:48] KUMAR: Lawrence, likely I can say that I cannot channel what Donald Trump is thinking. Thank goodness. But the fact he`s just constantly showing his lack of empathy. For example, you had burns on earlier and saying that The Central Park Five men were exonerated and served a sentence that they should not have served. And today, what`s been lost in the media that he doubled down and said it didn`t matter that they - that they were rapists. That was not true. And the fact that again, he does not seem to show any empathy and the fact that you mentioned, in his 70 years of life, he`s been able to basically walk around with a - with a silver spoon in his mouth. All I can think of is what conversations that we`re having within the Latino community and within the African-American community. He is a symbol of white male privileged, to the extent, and this is basically what this election is about. Because any other candidate whether it was female or a person of color, they would not have been able to get as far as they have except for Donald Trump.
O`DONNELL: Yeah, and Maria Teresa, the -- you can`t go 70 years --
KUMAR: Right.
O`DONNELL: -- and never apologize for anything. And then, you know, with 30-something days left in your Presidential campaign, decide, "The night has come for finally for the first time finally in my 70 years, there`s something I`m sorry for." Now, let me convince you that I`m sorry."
KUMAR: There`s absolutely no contrition, whatsoever, in anything that he`s demonstrated. And every single time he seems to wants to apologize, he says, "I`ll apologize if I offended you." That`s not an apology, Lawrence. And I think the American people are getting incredibly frustrated on this idea that he is not even focusing on the issues at hand. Majority of Americans don`t want to have a conversation of what he said seven years ago or that he was basically saying that he was -- that he admitted to sexually assaulting women. They want to understand what kind of leadership the president going to come in. How can they help themselves for a better future? And instead, we`re talking about this stuff that at the end of the day, you have to sit down and having these conversations with your children about. I mean, it`s incredibly, you know, disheartening at the end of the day.
O`DONNELL: We`re joined now by Hallie Jackson, NBC News Correspondent: Hallie, what are you learning from the Trump campaign tonight?
[23:14:55] HALLIE JACKSON, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: OK. So, here is what we know, and we just ran over from Trump Tower, we have been doing sort of a stakeout, some members of the media waiting to see will somebody come out, somebody going to talk to the media. We saw a couple of guys sort of carrying camera equipment out. They wouldn`t say where they`re coming from or what they were doing but -
O`DONNELL: Presumably, the video that recorded the first apology in Trump`s history.
JACKSON: One can only assume. So, my colleague, Kelly O`Donnell, has some reporting that this video as you have been talking about is going to be coming out. What I am hearing tomorrow in conversations with people close to the campaign (INAUDIBLE) campaign, I had one person tell me that surrogates have been asked to stay off television at least for a while, some of them, because -
O`DONNELL: Stay off television?
JACKSON: Correct, because the Trump campaign is trying to figure out how to weather this storm. The phrase I`ve heard again and again is real apology and not -
O`DONNELL: So they don`t think Corey Lewandowski helped tonight, apparently?
JACKSON: So, this wasn`t in any specific context of Corey Lewandowski`s comments. I have to say that, but we`ll leave that to them to decide. I think that you keep hearing this idea that there`s a real apology wanted. That people see -- even people who support Donald Trump saw through this idea, I`m sorry if you were offended. And I think there is a sense that a real apology would go a long way. I am very intrigued by this associated press report that Mike Pence is apparently beside himself. That is significant. Mike Pence, ever since he joined the ticket has been like the loyalist of the loyal soldiers. So, if Pence is now sort of breaking with his candidate at the top of his ticket, a guy who he has backed through controversy after controversy and defended, you know, I think that`s a red flag as (INAUDIBLE)
O`DONNELL: Well, when we say defended, has denied that Donald Trump has said on video what Donald Trump has said on video.
JACKSON: Sure. Wait.
O`DONNELL: This time, he`s got a feeling that`s not going to work. We`re going to Mark Halperin who`s joining us by telephone. And Mark, I understand you`ve been working on the - on the angle of what is being discussed in Washington about the possibility of replacing Donald Trump.
MARK HALPERIN, MSNBC SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not just Washington, Lawrence, but around the country. It would be - it`d be very difficult to do. You`d have to have basically a sticker campaign, a write-in campaign for someone, Mike Pence or someone else. But in this age of social media and with all the attention that would come with replacing Trump on the ticket, given Hillary Clinton`s unfavorables, republicans, some are saying tonight given the nature of the remarks, given Trump`s current standing that some would rather, some very senior republicans would rather take their chance on a long-shoot write-in campaign than to go through the toughest version of what they`ve gone through for months, which is Trump says something outrageous and they`re asked to defend it. Jason Chaffetz, congressman from Utah, the first one that we know of, sitting member of congress to unendorse Donald Trump this evening, but the expectations amongst many donors and some elected officials and that there will be many others, and that the smartest thing to do, as long shot as it would be, would be to urge Donald Trump to step down as the nominee.
As has been suggested, there`s no appetite for that within Trump`s camp, but of course, there isn`t going to be unless they see that as inevitable. And the key is as is often the case in republican politics to donors, some elected officials are hearing from donors tonight that this is simply after a string of outrageous statements, controversial statements, this is one that they simply think is not only intolerable from a moral perspective, but unsurvivable politically.
O`DONNELL: Mark, I have to think that this strategy is based on the question of which way do you want to lose? If someone is saying we`re going to -- we want to remove the person whose name is actually now printed on ballots already in a lot of places, we want to remove him and go through whatever mechanics are necessary, stickers, whatever, to try to get votes recorded for someone else. You`re basically saying we do not expect to win this election. We would rather win it without Donald Trump`s name associated. We`d rather lose it without Donald Trump`s name associated with us than lose it by association with Donald Trump.
HALPERIN: For many major donors, major donors, for many elected officials including male elected officials with female spouses and children, it is - it`s not practical to survive 40 days without condemning this, not just the way Paul Ryan did this evening, but the way Jason Chaffetz as to say, he`s simply not someone I can support for president. Now, this may blow over. Trump could surprise everyone with the greatest performance, he may issue this apology video, it may well blow over, but the conversations tonight, extraordinary on a Friday night, as extraordinary as you`re being on the air, as my being up reporting, is this is not a time when members of congress and some prominent republicans are saying, "Well, it`s Friday night, let`s see what happens on Monday." There`s an intensity to the conversations, an urgency to them, because they all know that, for many of them, it`s not going to be a sustainable position to say this is their candidate.
O`DONNELL: Mark, we`re going to take a break right here. If everyone could just hold in place, we`re awaiting the release of a video from the Trump campaign that is reportedly a video of Donald Trump clearly apologizing for what has appeared on other video released today. This would be Donald Trump`s first known public apology in his 70 years of life. We`ll be right back.
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TRUMP: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down in Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and (BLEEP) her, she was married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s huge news there.
TRUMP: No, no, Nancy. No, this was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I`ll show you where there are some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch.
O`DONNELL: And we are back with our live coverage tonight here, on MSNBC of what is expected to be the release of a video-recorded apology by Donald Trump, for what you just heard on that video. That is "Access Hollywood" video. It is not video they used on their show, when it was recorded in 2005, but it did find its way through David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post, into public release today, and it has rocked this presidential campaign, as nothing else before, has rocked this presidential campaign. And Hallie Jackson, this presidential campaign has gotten rocked a lot by surprising stuff. But there has never been a night like this.
JACKSON: It is 11:23. We`ll probably be going to be in here for like another three hours, talking about this.
O`DONNELL: Don`t say -- don`t give them any ideas in this control room.
JACKSON: So, here`s the thing, right? Is when you look at where this is, when you talk to, like, republican operatives and strategists and people close to the campaign, people who support Donald Trump, what you hear is, people say, again and again, tonight I`ve heard it -- but if I had a dollar -- a variation -- if I had a dollar for every time I thought this would do Donald Trump in . Here`s a couple of differences, though, because I have heard some folks say, listen, low-headed, you know, female voters that he needs to an overheard and be turned off by this kind of the low-hanging fruit. They have slipped to Clinton in a major way, in the last couple of weeks, you`ve seen that reflecting in polling. So, there`s that argument and the argument of, he says controversy after controversy. He`s been in this position before of getting in trouble, and it hasn`t affected him. But here`s the other part of it, this is audio. This is people hearing Donald Trump himself saying this. They`re not hearing it from Alicia Machado, saying that he said something. They`re not hearing it from a newspaper article, quoting people from The Apprentice, for example. This is the nominee himself, talking like this, and there may be a real visceral reaction from voters, not just women, but as Mark pointed out, their husbands and their sons.
O`DONNELL: What the - what the Trump campaign has never understood, especially Donald Trump, is that every single one of these things has indeed hurt him, hurt him badly from John McCain -- attacking John McCain forward, and it didn`t -- it did not hurt him with fanatical Donald Trump supporters and others who could push him all the way up to about 40 percent of the vote in a general election. But it has destroyed him for the general election, every single day that he was doing this in the primaries. And so, Elise, they`ve been using that old primary model of, "Well, you know, we left Rand Paul in the dust, saying this stuff and we left Scott Walker in the dust, saying this stuff," never comprehending that getting the nomination is a completely different exercise, and what you must do in the pursuit of the nomination, is nothing that hurts you in the general election, and he hurt himself in the general election every single day.
[23:25:25] JORDAN: Well, that`s exactly what I`m hearing from voters going to Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Virginia over the past three weeks and conducting focus groups with these voters, with Lord Ashcroft`s Polling Company, and that is what the voters are saying. They`re saying, "We want the vote for Donald Trump."
O`DONNELL: Right.
JORDAN: "We really don`t want for - want to vote for Hillary. Why did he -- why did he have to do this after the debate?" It wasn`t even the debate performance, it was the aftermath, with Alicia Machado, with the Miss Universe comments, that he just couldn`t stop it. I would say though, that it`s so incredibly difficult to get Donald Trump off the ballot at this stage in the game.
O`DONNELL: Well, you know what --
JORDAN: He would literally have to withdraw.
O`DONNELL: We`re going to -- we`re going to go to --
JORDAN: That`s the only way. It`s all about his vacancy and there`s a --
O`DONNELL: We`re going to go to a higher legal authority on this, right now. We have --
JORDAN: Good. I have a feeling who that is.
O`DONNELL: We have Mr. Ben Ginsberg. Mr. Ben Ginsberg is joining us by phone. He has provided legal counsel to the Romney, Bush presidential campaigns. He knows this stuff. Ben, where are we tonight if Donald Trump decides he cannot continue to campaign for the presidency?
[23:26:27] BEN GINSBERG, LAWYER: Well, under the rules of the Republican Party, Lawrence, they -- the Republican National Committee can reconvene and vote for a new nominee. Now, that`s the rules. The practical problem is, the ballots are printed in most of the states and early voting has started in any number of states. So the practicalities of doing that, even if he drops out, are really, really steep and, of course, we`re in uncharted territory.
O`DONNELL: So Ben, talk about printed ballots. We`re hearing some people saying tonight, well, you can do a sticker campaign where -- what does that mean? That someone`s going into a voting booth with a little sticker, that they`re going to put on their ballot, over the name, Donald Trump? What are the actual physical options for voting this way?
GINSBERG: Well, look, that`s a really challenging question, because the voting machines vary so much, not only from state to state, but from county to county, within a state. So that some machines, you could do a sticker or a write-in, and in other states, you`re precluded by the ballot design. For example, 2/3 of the county is in Pennsylvania, have touch machines without any sort of a paper trail. So, how can you do a write-in on a touchscreen machine? That would require a state-by-state analysis to see where you could do it. Now, Lisa Murkowski managed to do it in Alaska, a write-in campaign, with a 100,000 votes. And it was a gargantuan effort that started at the beginning of September. So, to do that on a national scale would truly be something unprecedented.
O`DONNELL: Ben, just to stay at this point for a second, have no ballot officials in any states contemplated this possibility? And I don`t mean tonight`s case, which is about scandal, but there are plenty of ways this could happen, all of them grim, to consider, but a candidate could be in a terrible accident and be unable, physically to carry on. Obviously, a candidate`s -- Paul Wallstone died in a plane crash as a -- as a senator. He`s not the only senator who died that way.
GINSBERG: Right. And Robert Torricelli had to drop out about this time of year because of political scandal.
O`DONNELL: Yeah. And that was also -- but that was scandal. I just want to leave scandal aside, just to kind of get out of this particular case at the moment, because it seems to me that ballot officials should be thinking about the possibility in this world, when anything can happen at any moment, that a candidate might not be there in a way that you could vote for that candidate on election day, and they would need to leave options open for that. But apparently, you`re saying they don`t really think about that.
GINSBERG: Well, the answer is, some states have done that and some, haven`t.
O`DONNELL: Yeah.
GINSBERG: You know, in our system, we practice a fierce federalism, and each state has its own procedures and its own voting equipment. And so, there is no one national answer. So, I think that there are some states where you probably could substitute out a name at this point, but by in large, to do that, in a comprehensive way with, what, 33 days to go, is really sort of impractical.
O`DONNELL: We`re going to go back to Mark Halperin, who`s also joining us by phone. And Mark, you`ve been working on the reaction among republicans, tonight. Is there anything more?
HALPERIN: Well, there`s deep skepticism, that I think would be understandable to everybody on set there, that anything Donald Trump would say, in the guise of an apology, would be effective, not just because he`s never done it before, but because just recently as this week, he was -- he was -- he was attributing remarks like this to entertainment. And not ever since suggesting that previous things he said, that were in the same variety, although not seen as bad, were no big deal. So, whatever statement might be coming, and there`s some question in my mind about whether there is a statement coming because of divisions within the Trump campaign, and I think more broadly the Trump-Pence campaign about how to handle this. Whatever statement might be coming, the people I`m in touch with say, this is not going to have the desired effect of calming the waters, and you`ve now got this, kind of, holding period with Trump no longer going to Wisconsin tomorrow to appear with Paul Ryan and Pence in theory going to that. You`ve now got this holding pattern between now and the debate on Sunday night, when if Trump really does -- whether he puts a statement out or not, sequester himself to prepare for the debate, that thinking about worry within the Trump camp and hopefulness on the part of those who would like to find some way to end this, is that, that vacuum is going to be filled with additional public officials coming out and saying, they just simply can`t support him now.
O`DONNELL: Mark, I want to go to this point you made. You used the phrase, "the guise of an apology." And I have to agree, if you`re 70 years old and you`ve never done it before. What are the odds of the first apology you`ve ever delivered in your life, working? And the other thing, Mark, is perhaps -- and I wonder, is -- are you -- you might you be talking to anyone tonight, who has talked to anyone tonight, who has seen the video that Donald Trump recorded this apology? Because presumably, I mean, Hallie Jackson`s reporting that they saw a video equipment, leaving Trump Tower tonight. Let`s assume for the moment that an apology was video recorded at Trump Tower tonight. If it was, some of those campaign professionals in Trump Tower have seen it.
HALPERIN: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of them may very well have the view, "This is terrible, it won`t work, or this is OK but it still won`t work. The words are right but he looks like he`s reading a hostage note of some kind." You know what I mean, Mark, there`s --
HALPERIN: Yeah.
O`DONNELL: -- going to be pretty soon now, some intelligence coming out of Trump Tower, two republicans in Washington and elsewhere saying, "We think we`ve got a good solid video here or we don`t."
HALPERIN: Yeah. I mean, 11:30 on a Friday night is a good time to speculate. And I think that they may have had the intention to record this, and then, again, pure speculations, a little bit informed based on some conversations that you have a video that had maybe isn`t judged, perhaps, won`t do the trick, and then, feedback from people who haven`t seen the video but who are very unhappy. Reince Priebus would be at the center of this, without a doubt, because he`s going to be hearing tonight from, not just Paul Ryan, not just from major donors, but from other elected officials. And I suspect, you know, you think about it and the campaign filled with oddities. You know, think about, this is like the kind of thing, like, you know, or maybe an Asian dictator would do, put out a statement at 11:30 eve on the most --
O`DONNELL: Yes, yes.
HALPERIN: You know, this is not -- this is not business as usual, and the Trump campaign has not been business as usual. But even if the video were virtuoso performance, 11:30 on a Friday night, usually not the best time to try to change the trajectory of your campaign. It would be seen as odd just based on the timing.
O`DONNELL: But, Mark, it would support your point, that what they`d be worried about in not releasing it now, as soon as possible, is the vacuum that it leaves and what do other republican officials do as they uncomfortably sit in that vacuum?
HALPERIN: Yeah, Lawrence, as you know from your time on the hill, members of congress normally, when faced with a tough situation, relish being at home, away from the capital of press corps. The pressure is largely of them. This is not the type of situation. They`re with their families, for the most part, they`re dealing with the -- not just by press but presumably, I think, quite certainly, by everyone they know, what do you think of this? And this is a time that is -- that is not safe for the Trump campaign. Normally, when presidential candidates are in crisis, you`re safe when some members are home. This is not a safe 48-hour period now, because of the lull, leading up to the debate, and Jason Chaffetz says, you know, he`s a bit of a Maverick in (INAUDIBLE) something of a one off. But I believe, just his actions, will embolden -- he`s never been a huge Trump person, but I think it will embolden. And again, we can`t talk about the names right now, but there are big name republicans who are thinking of following that path who all feel that it`s inevitable, that it will come to that and they don`t want the credit for going first, but they feel it`s the responsible thing to do.
O`DONNELL: Lis Smith, think about Democratic senate campaigns, now Democratic house campaigns. They are looking at this and they have a stop watch on this. How long did it take senator so and so, to come out and oppose Donald Trump after this video emerged?
SMITH: Yeah. I mean, I remember looking at my inbox and immediately seeing state parties in Missouri getting -- trying to pin down the gubernatorial candidates saying, "Do you -- will you still stand with Donald Trump?" And it reminds me a lot of 2012 when Todd Akin made those comments about forcible rape. And we thought -- and I was on the Obama campaign, and we certainly encouraged candidates to try to tie Romney to it. It`s a little bit of an opposite situation, but I have not seen democrats act so quickly on something as they have on this cycle, and it`s smart of them to do it, for the record.
O`DONNELL: Tony Schwartz who was Donald Trump`s co-author on "The Art of the Deal," meaning, that Tony Schwartz actually did write the entire book and Donald Trump put his name on it with him. Tony Schwartz basically lived with Donald Trump for the better part of a year or more, writing that book. He has been tweeting actively tonight. He said, Trump on groping women, this is exactly the man I knew. He considered women, objects, and that will never change no matter what Ivanka says. And Hallie Jackson, that raises the question that I think a lot of people are wondering about, and that is, who can convince Donald Trump about what he has to do next, and isn`t this the moment when people send Ivanka into the room with him?
JACKSON: Yes. The kids. Right? I mean, that`s what we`ve seen again and again in this campaign, except when he makes these decisions, it`s his children that have become, you know, some of the bigger influences and the bigger voices around him. This is in addition to the political advisors, but you see somebody like Ivanka Trump. She -- you know, and it is striking to me. We put this out in a (INAUDIBLE) to the network and one of the questions that we have is, what is her role going to be in cleaning this up, if it can be cleaned up for Donald Trump? She has been the top face of his, sort of, whenever there`s an issue, when it comes out, when these comments come out, she has been somebody who talks about her father. I will tell you this and I`m on the campaign troll, and I`m talking with undecided voters, (INAUDIBLE) sort of, mini focus groups here just out chatting with people and we -- especially in light of Alicia Machado comments, I had somebody just last week say to me, "Well, look at Ivanka." I mean, people actually say that. They say, he`s got a female campaign manager, you know, Kelly Anne Conway, people who brought up to me, who has children of her own. But people talk about Ivanka Trump and I think that - - I am curious, obviously, she and her husband -- what is going to happen and how she`s going to take on, sort of, the roll for her, after this.
SMITH: This is the awkward thing for Ivanka Trump. She is on camera from a few months ago saying, "My dad is not a groper."
O`DONNELL: Right.
SMITH: And now we have him on camera, talking about groping in very vile ways.
O`DONNELL: The worst conceivably --
JACKSON: There`s a really limited clean up that even she can do, right? She`s already been out there, full-fledged saying, "Oh, no, he doesn`t grope." Can you imagine having to go and defend your father? And say, "No, he`s not a groper, I swear he`s not."
SMITH: Right.
JACKSON: She`s already done that.
O`DONNELL: Yeah, Maria Teresa Kumar, still with us, on this. The idea that Donald Trump can find his voice in apology, in contrition, for the first time in his life, late on a Friday night, in the 70th year of his life, what are the chances that of all the political apologies we`ve borne witness to over time than the ones that have been recorded on video, what are the chances that Donald Trump`s video recorded apology could be convincing?
KUMAR: You know, I don`t gamble right now. I wish I was in Vegas because the odds are with me. Look, I think that there`s very little thing that he can do. And I have to say right now, God bless the GOP in Utah, because they are not always asking for an apology, but they are actually saying, "We no - we are withdrawing our endorsements." And that`s what the Republican Party right now really needs to do. I understand right now that they`re scrambling because they`re going to make the case that they still have to hold on to the senate so that they either going to be basically stand with Donald Trump. They`re going to go -- basically also say that the Supreme Court lies in the mix. Do you really want him appointing the next Supreme Court justice? I mean, let`s have these really honest conversations of what that risk with someone like Donald Trump in the Oval Office and until we are clear that we are willing to lose our decency as Americans, then we can go ahead and make those bets.
O`DONNELL: I want to go back to Mark Halperin for a moment. And Mark, this is with another Tony Schwartz tweet. And I cited because Tony Schwartz does have a certain authority about Donald Trump`s character and his behavior. And so Tony Schwartz has tweeted, "Trump may speak tonight but he will not truly apologize because he isn`t capable of doing so. He will make it worse." And so, Mark, there`s someone who knows Donald Trump well, whose personal bet is, Donald Trump will make this worse and who knows? He may have a recorded video that in the view of some people on his campaign, makes it worse, and that may be part of why that video is being delayed in its release tonight or is, as you say, might not be released tonight.
HALPERIN: Yeah, I mean, I`m now -- I`m now hearing that it`s more likely than not and that it may be -- we may be seeing it pretty shortly. But I`m still pretty skeptical that it can turn things around. There`s a -- there`s a sense among some people, that there are so many other fundamental problems with the campaign now, that you`re going to see a little bit of glasnost with the Trump organization of people, making the case, but even if he somehow survived this, but there are others problems, regarding the field operation, the surrogate operation, debate prep, the deterioration of polling that we`ve seen over the nine days, that again, would make the challenge of coming back from this, even with the performance of a lifetime in a midnight video, to a bridge too far for some. Now again, don`t want to overstate it. The people around Trump are saying, "This is all silly." "This is an overreaction." And that, you know, Trump is going to be there Sunday night, and fight his way back. But I`ll say again, a very high level to the party, there`s concern that this is -- this is simply not just -- not just the last straw, but a bridge too far regarding the statements that he was recorded making.
O`DONNELL: And there should also be very high concern with the -- in the involving party that "Access Hollywood" tonight had said that they have dozens and dozens more hours of video like this, with Donald Trump. We don`t know what the content of that video is, but it`s that kind of video that they didn`t use in their report. It`s that relaxed, kind of, video that we saw today on that bus. And Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz has now, as we`ve said, retracted his endorsement of Donald Trump. Here`s what he said to a local news station.
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REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: I`m out. I can no longer, in good conscience, endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments you can possibly imagine and, you know, my wife and I, we have a 15-year-old daughter. And if I can`t look her in the eye, and tell her these things, I can`t endorse this person. So, I`m out of the endorsement here. I don`t know who I`m going to vote for. I`m not going to vote for Hillary Clinton. There`s no way, under no scenario. But I cannot offer an endorsement for whatever that means, of Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: And that is very similar statement to what the governor of Utah issued tonight also, that he will not vote for Donald Trump and also will not vote for Hillary Clinton. We`re joined now by John Harwood of CNBC. John, what`s the latest of that you have on this?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: Well, I just hear a sense of hopelessness from republicans about the prospects for winning the presidency at this point. And I think, everybody`s trying to figure out how to manage the scenario where they lose the presidential race but minimize the damage to house members and senators, and I`m not quite sure how they`re going the navigate that, but honestly, the idea of a video apology having a significant impact on the situation, I don`t believe that`s possible.
O`DONNELL: And, John, we`ve never seen anything like this. We have seen campaign crisis before, and we`ve seen them at different times in different years, but the elements of this, are unique. Nothing like it, of this video, Donald Trump saying things that no other presidential candidate has ever been recorded saying. He wants to have sex, was trying to have sex with a married woman, and by the way, this is newlywed Donald Trump, who`s talking in this video. He had just had his third wedding a couple of months before this video was shot. And so this -- politicians don`t have a playbook for this. There are no politicians in the Republican Party who know what to do about this.
HARWOOD: Absolutely not. And remember, this is a party that a significant chunk of its base is, conservative Christians. And, you know, it is true that our politics have become very tribal, and so people who identify with one party or the other, tend to be extremely loyal to that party, but when you have a demonstration as vivid as this, a set of values that would seem to be unethical to a large chunk of their base, I don`t know how you get past that. And, you know, first of all, before this ever happened, Donald Trump was losing substantially in this race. He -- you know, when he woke up this morning, he was trailing, you know, in the range of five points, nationally, in most of the battle ground states. And so, the question isn`t, you know, "Does he hold his support?" He needs more support to win. And I talked to one republican consultant tonight, who said that this forecloses the possibility of expanding the support that the republican ticket needs to win.
O`DONNELL: We`re joined now, by phone, by Robert Costa of the Washington Post. Robert, what is your reporting, finding tonight?
ROBERT COSTA, WASHINGTON POST POLITICAL WRITER: It`s great to join you. This is a serious moment for the Republican Party. I``ve been -- I`m here in Washington, Lawrence, and calling around and actually just met up with some of my sources, and there is not a playbook, as your guests have been saying, for this. But a lot of congressmen tonight, elected officials that I`ve spoken to, are actively reconsidering their endorsement of Donald Trump and rescinding it, and there are early talks, though informal, I must say, about what would happen, should Donald Trump decide to not stay on the ticket and these are all informal conversations, kind of a round robin of phone calls.
O`DONNELL: And Robert, is there any indication that anyone in the Republican Party has gotten any reports from Trump Tower, about the quality of the apology that may have been recorded on video tonight, any reports indicating that, you know, on the order of, don`t worry, when this video gets out, it`s a genuine apology or this video won`t work, this apology doesn`t look real.
COSTA: There`s been a lot of discussion among top republicans, about making sure Trump sounds contrite. People going directly to the Chairman Reince Priebus, in urging him to make sure Trump has, in their minds, effective video. The problem many top republicans have tonight in this country, talk to the Washington Post, e-mailing me, is that they believe the video won`t be enough, that the story has legs, it`s going to continue.
O`DONNELL: And Robert, there`s -- this is a campaign that doesn`t really have any experience, obviously, in trying to do what they are reportedly doing tonight, and that is to get Donald Trump to apologize in a clear and genuine way. Before you even get to convincing, Robert, I just mean, using the conventional language of apology that is not conditional,.that is absolute. And that is the apology -- that is the kind of apology that Mitch McConnell was demanding of Donald Trump, and apparently, still demanding of Donald Trump. And it seems that Mitch McConnell made his support for Donald Trump, conditional, upon getting exactly that kind of apology.
COSTA: That`s exactly right. There`s going to be more of these kinds of demands. But Lawrence, your point is the crucial one tonight, because the people around Trump tonight, in Trump Tower, Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart, Kelly Anne Conway, the campaign manager, in touch with him, Reince Priebus, the chairman, you have Rudy Giuliani, a former New York Mayor. They all share a common thread, and that thread is behind the scenes, and in public, but especially behind the scene. They let Trump, be Trump, that`s how they put it. They`re not about corralling the candidate, and this is a moment to corral a candidate, but they don`t have that capital with Trump in interpersonal relationships to do so.
O`DONNELL: We`re joined by Mike Murphy, joining us by phone. Mike Murphy who has been in the campaign war room of presidential campaigns on the republican side before. Mike, we`ve never seen anything like this before. So, I`m going to ask you a question that I`m not sure has an answer, and that is, in a crisis like this, what would you be recommending the republican nominee do? Were you in Trump Tower tonight?
MIKE MURPHY, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Well, this thing is, as big of a bomb, as you get in a campaign and the shotgun marriage between Donald Trump and a lot of the republican establishment that has reluctantly been formed, is now been torn completely asunder. You know, the old rule of politics, "To Thine Own Self, Be True" there`s no Trump calculus now, that makes people want to stick with him. So they have to face that, which means, to stop this wildfire that`s exploding. I can tell you, the phones and e-mails, at the top, because one of the party are on fire tonight, with huge concern. Trump has to give a non conditional apology, that is incredibly persuasive and to have to follow that up Sunday, at the debate and persuade people that this horrible, inappropriate piggish behavior was an outliar and that he gets it, and he regrets it. Now, the Trump we`ve seen for the last year, I don`t believe, is capable of that. But that has to happen simultaneously, the campaign is going to have to have a very tough conversation with their candidate, one that should have happened a long time ago, of what else is out there. This sounds like a very typical Trump conversation, and if it is, there will be more tapes, there will be outtakes in television shows, there will be other things. So it`s almost to the point where Trump has to understand, at least my opinion is, somebody ought to tell him this, as a reality check, that your odds of winning the presidency now -- you`ve gone from being behind and in trouble, to almost nil. So it`s time to look in the mirror and decide if the best thing for the party and the country, is to step aside, rather than hand Hillary Clinton the White House, without much of a fight anymore. He is in an existential crisis for this campaign tonight.
O`DONNELL: Mike, you`ve gone right to that point, that in a normal war room, is the first question, and that is, how much more of this, is out there? Obviously, Donald Trump does not know. Iit is entirely likely that Donald Trump had absolutely no memory of that conversation on that bus, that was recorded on video. And Access Hollywood has said today, they`ve released a statement saying, that Access Hollywood alone, has dozens and dozens and dozens of hours of this kind of video, behind the scenes video for their segments that they did not use in their segments with Donald Trump. So that`s just one show that has a mountain of stuff like this. I`ve talked to contestants on Donald Trump`s own show, "Celebrity Apprentice" who insist that there`s all sorts of horrible video of Donald Trump, saying horrible things that were edited out of "Celebrity Apprentice" those are in Mark Burnett`s vault and they are presumably safe there, for Donald Trump purposes. But, there are plenty of other shows like "Access Hollywood" and others that have material like this, and that are not run or controlled by friends of Donald Trump.
MURPHY: Yeah. And I look -- I think Mark Burnett is a widely successful TV producer, is going to be under tremendous pressure now, not to be the Rosemary Woods of the election here because this is part of vetting the character of a president and the pressure on Burnett, as the king of "The Apprentice" to have a little bit of transparency here, if there are these concerns about Donald Trump, is going to be tremendous. Then you say there`s already been answer other tapes, and while Trump may not remember this, he knows this was the norm for his behavior back then. And my guess is, it was, which means more terrible tapes, which means he`ll spend the rest of the campaign, apologizing. This is as bad as it gets and it`s going to take a terrific 24 hours of heartfelt apologies, even to bring a heartbeat back to this campaign.
O`DONNELL: Mike, this is the October 7th surprise, that leaves room for 23 more, and that, I think, is the big -- the bigger problem here, for all republicans, no matter how much they think Donald Trump can or cannot navigate this particular ice berg that he`s crashed into, they have to bet, don`t they? That there are more of these out there, possibly even in the vaults of "Access Hollywood?"
MURPHY: Yeah. I think Trump`s behavior, both with the gafs of the past and the mistakes he made particularly in the second half of the first debate, and whatever potential mistakes could be in front of him at the next debate, have all tremendously eroded the confidence, even the most Trump-accepting wing of the party. So now, what you`ve got, are lots of electives, who are on the ballot themselves, who`ve been loyal soldiers, are now looking at Trump in brutally pragmatic terms, as an anchor around their necks. So we`ve already had at least one or two congressmen, drop off in tonight. You`re going to see more and the heat on the Kelly Ayottes and the Pat Toomeys, and the Marco Rubios and other folks in a highly competitive senate races. Is this going to snowball now? So Trump is becoming the worst thing you can be in October, as a presidential nominee, a massive liability to the rest of the party. And that is not going to be a position that he`ll be able to survive as a winning candidate, and I think there`s even a chance that he may look at this in another 24, 48 hours and reconsider whether or not he wants to be the nominee anymore. This is ironically, a way out for him, if he has some doubts of what might have started as a P.R. stunt, has grown out of control, if he wants an escape hatch, boy, oh boy, does he have it right now.
O`DONNELL: I want to do back to Hallie Jackson on the question of, do we have more movement from republicans tonight, as we`ve been speaking?
JACKSON: Yes. A representative, Mike Coffman from Colorado, just as apparently according to some local news stations coming out, and has now going farther than Jason Chaffetz did, tonight. He is calling on Donald Trump to step aside. This is an electing member of congress. Now, Coffman is in a competitive seat, in Colorado, right? So this is -- he`s a for reelect, this is a tough thing for him. He said, there`s been a lot of female swing voters, right? So he`s coming out, though. And what you are starting to see potentially, is the dam starting to break a bit, when it comes to the house? Until this point, remember the only person elected in congress that had reversed an endorsement of Donald Trump, was Mark Kirk. A little way back in the senate, back after the Judge Curiel comments, that for him, was the straw that broke the camel`s back, if you will. And at the time, when we talked, he said, I would encourage others to follow my lead. For months we didn`t see that, until tonight. You saw Jason Chaffetz come out and do it, you`re now seeing Coffman do it. The question is going to be, will others follow? We talked about the -- and you heard Mike, talked about the Kelly Ayottes of the world, the Marco Rubios of the world, they`re coming out and in very strong language, condemning what Donald Trump said, in no uncertain terms. What they have not done, is revoke their support of him.
O`DONNELL: And, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What`s interesting about Mike Coffman is, he was the first republican that cycled to actually distance himself from Donald Trump in a campaign commercial. So, I`m not surprised. And as you were saying, you know, it`s been a -- he has a long history, he`s got a tough race here. But I think the level of panic, we`re seeing among republicans, is unlike anything we`ve seen, you know, after the con controversy, after the Miss Universe controversy. And that`s where we have that feeling, like, this might be the straw that breaks the camel`s back.
O`DONNELL: And Elise Jordan, here is what is not happening at midnight tonight with republican congressmen telling the republican presidential nominee to drop out. What is not happening, is the republican speaker of the house, is not calling up that republican congressman and saying, hey, stop that, stop that. Get back in line with us on this. There is no one at midnight, tonight in Washington, trying to discipline house republicans and tell them what to say about this.
JORDAN: Republicans are more concerned about Trump, stopping his own bleeding and stopping his own self-inflicted wounds, than preventing thse defections. At this point, it`s not even about what Trump says, in response to this, it`s going to be in the debate, coming up, if he does participate in the Sunday night debate. He always makes things worse for everyone around him. And so while this video was terrible, and clearly, I cannot condemn it in strong enough terms. I guarantee that if he is let to operate by his own devices, and own whims in the coming days, it will be so much worse for everyone involved.
O`DONNELL: Also, a former New York Governor, George Pataki, who was one of the lower scoring presidential candidates in the primaries this season, has said, he`s horrified by the Trump tape. He said that Trump campaign is a poisonous mix of bigotry and ignorance. Enough. He needs to step down. So the call to step down now, among the republicans, is out there and it is a contagion, Lis, that the Trump campaign has to keep an eye on.
JORDAN: Right. Well, I think, you know, next we`ll be hearing from Tom Ridge and Christy Todd Whitman. But I think what`s more concerning here is, when you do see people like Jason Chaffetz and the Governor of Utah, doing it. And it`s no surprise why -- look, we were talking before, about how this hurts Trump with women and men, but you know what, it also hurts him with people of faith. And I don`t think it`s a surprise that we`ve seen Utah leaders come out first, against him, because they have always been resistant to him because some of his more offensive comments on immigration and everything, due to their Mormonism. And he does very poorly also with catholic voters and in the primaries, under performed with evangelical voters, so I think that`s a big problem for --
JORDAN: You`re looking back at 2016, the Mormons have held themselves high. They really have shown themselves to be principled -- and they should be -- among the Republican Party, they really are standouts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Yeah.
JACKSON: So, I just want to note, this is just coming as we`re talking about republican reactions, we`re talking about republicans around the country, Scott Walker, tweeting out, that this is inexcusable that Trump`s coming for him.
O`DONNELL: Inexcusable.
JACKSON: Here`s the thing, tomorrow, just -- If Walker, Ryan, Prevas, all in Wisconsin, that would Trump (INAUDIBLE) I mean, it is going to be a remarkable, sort of, optical moment.
O`DONNELL: And we are awaiting the release, the possible release of a video from the Donald Trump campaign. That video is reported to contain an apology. It is the first apology in Donald Trump`s life, the first public apology that we will ever have witnessed. Donald Trump issued what he thought was an apology earlier tonight for video released today, found by David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post. And that is video made by access Hollywood in 2005 on the NBC lot in Burbank where they were shooting an interview and an appearance with Donald Trump.
This was video that was not used in the access Hollywood show about Donald Trump at that time. It was video that was captured in which Donald Trump was speaking his mind about women generally, some specific women including a married woman who he said he wanted to have sex with. He used a much stronger phrase than that to describe what he wanted. And he also talked about a woman he was about to meet and who you will see him meet on this video. This is the video that seems to have rocked the Trump campaign and there are reports tonight of the possibility that this video could end the Trump campaign. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thing is she used to be pretty. She is still very beautiful.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I moved on her actually, you know. She was down in Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and (bleep) her. She was married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s huge news there.
TRUMP: And I moved on her very heavenly. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said I`ll show you where they`ve got some nice furniture. I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch. I couldn`t get there and she was married. And all of a sudden I see her. She`s now got the big phony and everything. I moved on her like a bitch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s totally changed her looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s your girl`s hot as (bleep) in the purple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Yes! Whoa!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the Donald scored on. My man.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to get the thumbs-up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can`t be too happy.
TRUMP: Look at you. You are (bleep). Maybe it is a different one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It better not be the publicist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No it is her.
TRUMP: Yes. That`s her with the gold. I better use some tic tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I am. It`s like magnet. Just kiss. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (bleep). Do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The leg, all I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: It looks good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Nice legs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way, honey. That`s good legs. Go ahead.
TRUMP: Always good if you don`t fall out of the bus like Gerald Ford, remember.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello. How are you? Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Trump, how are you?
TRUMP: Nice to see you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to see you too.
TRUMP: Terrific. You know Billy Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. Nice to see you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m doing very well. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We`re ready. Let`s go. Make me a soap star.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about a hug for the Donald. He just got off the bus.
TRUMP: OK, absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O`DONNELL: We are joined now by phone by Chris Matthews.
Chris Matthews, your reaction to this video.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR, HARDBALL: Well, I think the reaction to the Trump people is probably more important than those of the Republican Party, I think. Well you know what`s going on here. They are in deaf con 2 right now fearing the worst. And the worst is coming because as you`ve been pointing out on the air right now, there`s a time factor here.
You know, Bill Clinton could put off Monica by denying it, we all know that for months, using his cabinet to cover for him and using the clock. And so he could put it off, get the heat going. So by around August of 1998 when he had been under the skillet for a while, he is starting to cool down, things cooled down. And by the time, you know, he went and gave his discovery and spoke before the grand jury, it had calmed down enough for him to get through it. But he had there the benefit of his office and the benefit of all of those months where he could let it calm down.
And the clock is not working as well for Donald Trump because as we all know he`s on a cliff that he has been walking along for the last couple of days where it`s very clear he could fall off the cliff if nothing bad happened. It`s just that precipitous right now. And now to take this incident, and it is like he is on a cliff about a foot from the edge and he is being thrown stuff at him from his past, fair enough. Its good reporting. It may be op-ed but it is good reporting certainly. And it`s all relevant to who he looks to be and who he is and the way he talks about women and the way he behaves with women.
But it`s one of those situations where they are got to make a decision. I like this part of politics, not what this involves in terms of the context but the crisis management we are all watching here. How is he going to deal with this? Who is the Donald Trump who lives today who is running for president today and how has his character adjusted to this crisis? Can he take the heat? Can he come out of this with a measure of improvement in the way people look at it tonight and in the morning when they read the papers? And I think that`s a challenge. Can he improve his situation? And it`s about the clock. And tomorrow we have Saturday, a few hours of daytime Saturday and then we have the eve of the debate Saturday night, and then the long morning shows, hours of morning shows "Meet the Press" and the rest of them all talking about this if he doesn`t do something between now and then. So this is the heat that is going to rise to maybe 100 million people are watching on Sunday night and I would expect the first question from Martha Raddatz will be about this. And as someone said earlier on the program tonight, maybe second third, I think it was (INAUDIBLE), and it is the second, third, fourth and fifth questions will relate to this. And the reason is because it will be on the minds of those involved who are invited to the town meeting who have the tickets, not so much the journalists, but the people coming in will all be focus on this. And as we know appropriately, the proportion of participants will be 50/50 men and women. And the women will definitely ask these questions and I think the men will too who are thoughtful and somewhat sensitive will raise the issue too because this is such a vivid portrait of a mind-set that we are getting from the bus discussion there with Mr. Bush. And it`s a pretty --
O`DONNELL: Chris, I have to interrupt you Donald Trump`s video is ready to be scene. We have it here.
MATTHEWS: We`re on the mark here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: -- someone that I`m not. 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. I have traveled the country talking about change for America. But my travels have also changed me. I have spent time with grieving mothers who have spent lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I have gotten to know the great people of our country and I have been humbled by the faith they have placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down.
Let`s be honest. We are living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we are facing today. We are losing our jobs. We are less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground. I have said some foolish things but there`s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: That was Donald Trump. He said I said it, I`m wrong, and I apologize. And then immediately changed the subject to other issues and then including a swipe at Bill Clinton before ending what was only a 90 second video.
Chris Matthews, your reaction?
MATTHEWS: Well, I think you are right. There were three different messages there all in conflict. One, something like an apology but it was also a denial that was him. In other words he was saying that person you saw getting out of that bus was really not me. I`m not that person. And everyone knows who knows me it`s not me. We will see if anybody backs that up.
And then secondly, he said it was a distraction, in other words it wasn`t worth our interest. It wasn`t worth our attention as you and are talking about it. In other words it`s not worth putting on television. Why did he just do a video for television if it`s just a distraction? So he is putting down the moment here. The importance of what he is talking about after having denied it was him saying it. He didn`t really apologize. He disowned it and then he went and said it with us a distraction, and then he went on the attack going after Bill Clinton`s behavior.
I think the last part is the most important part and will be most important part. That`s camera ready for tomorrow, that statement. Because that says that he is going to go in there Sunday night and go on the attack, go after Monica, Kathleen, whoever he may go through the whole hall of shame or whatever of Clinton during the presidency. I think he care what it looks like he is going to go after everything. And of course that`s going to raise the old question with the left, the progressive left and the right. When Clinton got into trouble, the liberals said that`s personal behavior. Why are we talking about that? Let`s get on with the issues. Move on.org. Remember that? Move on. Let`s not talk about this. I don`t think the progressives are going to move on this. And unfortunately, it may not savvy, but unfortunately for Mr. Trump, the American Christians right is not going to like this. I know this and thought about this earlier tonight, Lawrence I have work in Utah of politics. I kept earlier tonight, this is going to affect him in Utah as the first sign. That is going to be the canary in the mind. And Utah is not going to like this. It`s not just Mitt Romney, it is Jason Chaffetz. It is the church out there. They don`t like this behavior at all. They are decent people with high standards. That may be the first wall to fall.
O`DONNELL: And it has been with Jason Chaffetz and the governor and the former governor. This was only a 90-second video. We have been waiting for it virtually all night here. I want to take one more look at it before we all react to it again with comments. This is Donald Trump`s first public apology in his 70 years of life. Let`s look at this 90-second video once again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have never said I`m a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I`m not. I have 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.
I have traveled the country talking about change for America. But my travels have also changed me. I have spent time with grieving mothers who have lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future.
I have gotten know the great people of our country and I have been humbled by the faith they have placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down.
Let`s be honest. We`re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we`re facing today. We are losing our jobs, we are less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground.
I have said some foolish things but there is a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days.
See you at the debate on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: Joining us now by phone is Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah.
Mr. Chairman, thank you very for joining us tonight. What is your reaction of what you have just heard from Donald Trump?
CHAFFETZ (on the phone): Well I hope he is sincere. I really do. But I just -- having read and seen and heard what Mr. Trump said, albeit ten plus years ago, I just - I can`t endorse that person. I just can`t do it.
MATTHEWS: And Mr. Chairman he just seemed to indicate that the age of the video is relevant, that we should somehow be, I don`t know, forgiving it, overlooking it because of the age of the video. What is your response to that?
CHAFFETZ: Well, I guess what was also offensive, not only from the raw abhorrent comment that he made during the video is his initial response, his tweet. That twitter was not an apology. That was an apology for getting caught. He was -- you know, to suggest that Bill Clinton has done far worse on the golf course should have been his first clue that he was on the wrong track. And to apologize if he offended anybody is not an apology for the actual action and the belief. And I just, I just can`t endorse that person. I desperately do not want Hillary Clinton to become the president of the United States. I think she would be disastrous. But I`m in a dilemma that Donald Trump has put the whole nation into and that is, you know, I can`t endorse that person. I just can`t do it.
O`DONNELL: And chairman Chaffetz, he also said in there what we saw on the access Hollywood video where he appeared to be completely relaxed and comfortable does not quote, his words, "that doesn`t reflect who I am." That is the issue here. And it seems to actually be one of those videos, it`s one of those backstage videos that does give you the feeling, it seems like it does give you the feeling of this is who the person is.
CHAFFETZ: Well, that`s what I worry about. You know, I want somebody of high moral fiber, you know. I do wish that mike pence was at the top of the ticket. I just do. I think he` is of high moral fiber. We`re talking about the presidency of the United States of America. And why should we settle for anything other than somebody of high moral fiber. And I -- like I said, there`s no possible way I`m voting for Hillary Clinton. She is one of the most flaws candidates in my lifetime. But I can`t -- you know, my wife and I, we have a 15-year-old daughter. How in the world could I look my 15-year-old daughter in the eye and say, honey, you know what, your dad endorses Donald Trump for president. I can`t do that. I can`t and I won`t do that. And that`s why I`m withdrawing my endorsement.
O`DONNELL: Mr. Chairman, did you tell the Trump campaign that you were going to withdraw your endorsement tonight?
CHAFFETZ: No. Almost no contact with the Trump campaign. I did call my local Utah Trump supporters and, you know, some of the main people there and I said listen, this is what I saw, what I feel, what I believe. And you know, if you want to give me a response. But it really is no excuse for it and it shouldn`t be tolerated. I spent a lot of time bashing on Democrats who step over the moral lines and act inappropriately. And you know to use a baseball metaphor, I have less at the end of the day look at myself in the mirror and say I call balls and strikes as I see them. This no matter which party, if you`re going to act like that and that`s how you think, you are not going to get my endorsement. You are not going to get my support. And I hope we do that on both sides of the aisle. It is just wrong and we have got to call it out as being wrong.
O`DONNELL: Chairman Chaffetz, did you communicate your thinking to Paul Ryan or anyone else in the house leadership before announcing your decision in.
CHAFFETZ: No. No. I answer to the people of Utah. And my wife and my three kids, two kids that are married now. I got to look them in the eye and myself. I don`t want for Paul Ryan. I don`t work for Reince Priebus. I don`t work for Donald Trump. So I have got to do what is right for me. And the people of Utah, they that endorsement do matter but I`m not going to be out there On the Record anymore saying I endorse Donald Trump.
O`DONNELL: Well, looks like Donald Trump has no more endorsement in Utah. Your governor has retracted his endorsement, former governor has retracted. But what about other Republican house members? One Republican in Colorado has now not just opposed to the Trump candidacy, he is now saying that Donald Trump should step down. Are you expecting to hear more reaction like that from your Republican colleagues in the house?
CHAFFETZ: I don`t know. I would suspect. I mean as disgusted as I was about that, I think probably - I think a lot of my colleagues feel the same way. They are going to have to come to their own decision on that. There`s a lot on the line. The Supreme Court, fighting ISIS. We`re put in a difficult precarious position at a terrible time. They are just going to have to answer that themselves. I don`t know. I got to do what I feel comfortable doing.
O`DONNELL: I appreciate, chairman Chaffetz, you talking about this in personal terms in relation to your family and relations to your own moral code, your own view of this as a human being.
There is also a political calculation that apparently is being discussed in Washington tonight. We have reporting from (INAUDIBLE) and others that there are Republicans considering which way to lose here. Basically should we ask Donald Trump or try to get Donald Trump off the ticket and go with some kind of write-in campaign, some sticker campaign that people a attach to their ball lots, whatever that is, with the acknowledgment that Donald Trump cannot win so which way do we want to lose. Do we want to lose tied to him as our nominee or do we want to lose having cut him loose and taken a more honorable path? Do you have any sense of that kind of discussion going on in Washington or any view of it yourself, how you would regard that strategic question?
CHAFFETZ: You know, I was on an airplane until about 5:00 p.m. mountain time. I can`t tell you that I`ve been in any conversations or discussions or anything like that. I would just hope that the media would also hold the Clintons to the same high standard. Because, you know, I want us as a people, as a nation, as a party on both sides of the aisle, we need good people on both sides of the aisle, we really do. But you know what, we better call it out for what it is and not just have it be one sided. So I don`t know what`s going to happen. I can`t foreshadow it. I can just tell you that I`m not going to endorse Donald Trump, somebody who acts, speaks, thinks like that. Can`t do it.
O`DONNELL: Would it be fair to say in your experience, in a presidential campaign like this, if one party`s nominee has a -- hits a rocky moment that the party is looking for a collective strategic response. In other words there would be talking points going out. There would be a coordinated message attempted. And if anyone was thinking of possibly defecting or withdrawing their endorsement in something like that, that there would be a disciplined message coming from the house Republican leadership basically trying to get you not to do what you have done tonight. Are you aware of anything like that coming from the house leadership?
CHAFFETZ: No. No. Quite the contrary. A lot of my colleagues, just in the last hour or so, have been texting me and calling and suggesting that, you know, I did the right thing and, you know, way to have a backbone and that kind of a thing. So we are as Republicans a very grass roots party. You don`t have leadership pop down drilling into you exactly how you are supposed to vote or act or endorse or anything else. So I`m kind of proud of our party that way. I think this happens more organically and each member is going to have to kind of figure out for themselves where they are on this. And I can just tell you where I`m at and that`s -- I listen and support the people of Utah third congressional district. They`re the ones sending me to Washington, D.C. They are the ones that I listen to and they are the ones I representing, not D.C.
O`DONNELL: And congressman, just before we go, did you get any calls from faithful Trump supporters in the House of Representatives, any of your colleagues in the house saying you shouldn`t have done that.
CHAFFETZ: Not yet, no. None. It`s only been out for a short little bit. And I tried to call a few people that, you know, we are having a hard time connecting real quick. But no, I have not.
O`DONNELL: Well, powerful chairman usually don`t get a lot of criticism from their colleagues in the house for a variety of reasons.
CHAFFETZ: There are benefits to being a chairman. I`m just teasing.
O`DONNELL: Chairman Jason Chaffetz, I very much appreciate you joining us tonight in this special coverage of this unique situation that we have never seen in a presidential campaign before. Really appreciate your time.
CHAFFETZ: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: We are back here with Hallie Jackson.
Hallie, it is happening. Any more reaction from Republicans?
JACKSON: Yes. I have been on the phone trying to get a sense to how people, you know, what people are saying about the 90-second video that is remarkable in a lot of ways. Remarkable from somebody who covers the campaign from this instinct. You can hear the different competing voices inside the campaign in that video. I think I can tell you just from my conversations prior to this coming out, I think that Bill Clinton reference is so significant. It is going to upset a lot of people who wanted to hear, Trump loyalists who wanted to hear a real apology and maybe leave it at the first 45 second and move on, but he talked about the Clinton (INAUDIBLE).
There is chatter, there is discussion that will he show up at the debate on Sunday night. He is going to be at St. Louis Sunday night and he`s going to be talking about Bill Clinton. And what this does is a couple of things. It gives Hillary Clinton an opportunity and her team to basically map out their plan and map out their line of sort of defense and going on offence for the next 48 hours because they know this is coming. It puts Trump in a position where, you know, he is going to be on defense on Sunday at a time when you need to be offense. His campaign had somewhat stabilized prior to 4:00 p.m. today. We had three days where we were talking about hurricanes. And now, he is in the line of fire. So it is just (INAUDIBLE). That is a remarkable piece of stage craft and it is sort of fascinating to watch.
O`DONNELL: I`m going to reveal to the viewing audience at home who couldn`t see this. When we were watching the video, get the three shot of our guests here. There was a collective physical reaction as if the air bags had just gone off here when Donald Trump mentioned Bill Clinton and Bill Clinton`s history.
SMITH: Yes. And this is the thing. If he wants to make Hillary Clinton more sympathetic, if he wants women of all political stripes to rally around her more, he should absolutely go after Bill Clinton on Sunday night. But there is absolutely no strategic reason to do it. And it just feeds into what you`re saying, the competing voices. There is a wing of the Republican Party that is driven purely by blood lost and Clinton (INAUDIBLE) and he is playing to them by doing that.
O`DONNELL: We are joined now by Jonathan Allen.
And Jonathon, I got to say that Trump new video recorded apology tonight looks like the product of free bargain in which his side of the deal was I`m going to mention Bill Clinton. I don`t care what else you say. I`m putting the Clinton sentence in there.
JONATHAN ALLEN, POLITICAL JOURNALIST: I have never seen anyone apologize with such little remorse in my entire life. Turns around and blames somebody else. I think, you know, we are talking about the debate. I was listening to Lis just a moment ago talking about the debate. I would be shocked if you heard Hillary Clinton say anything more than she has to.
Donald Trump is imploding. This election is about to be over. And you`re going to see Republicans streaming for the Donald Trump exits over the next 24, 48, 72 hours trying to figure out tow ho salvage a Senate majority and a house majority in what has to be the darkest day for the Republican Party nationally until the next Donald Trump implosion.
O`DONNELL: Elise, your reaction to everything that has happened here, including the, I would say the really interesting calm and certainty of Jason Chaffetz basic kind of condemnation of this Clinton candidacy. He was untroubled by what he had to do tonight. It was morally very clear to him what he had to do tonight. It sounded like he didn`t have a second`s doubt about it. He just need to get off the plane and into a position where he could tell Utah I am absolutely not with this guy.
JORDAN: And you know why? Because he did the right thing. And other Republicans know they need to and we`re going to gradually see the trickle effect of this.
What I found so interesting about this statement tonight was that he checked the box on apologizing and then he checked the box on talking about how he is a changed man by traveling the country, meeting with grieving moms, meeting with immigrant and then it was solid Trump, same man he always is, hasn`t changed, is going to go after Bill Clinton`s infidelity.
O`DONNELL: We are going to go back to our night of video momentarily. We are going to show the access Hollywood video again which start this crisis in the Trump campaign. We`re going to show the Donald Trump new apology video tonight.
But first I want to get in a word with Mike Murphy before we do that.
And Mike, Donald Trump, you know, said I`m wrong and apologize period. And no words came after the word apologize. He did not specifically apologize to Nancy O`Dell who is named in this video as someone who he specifically tried to have sex with when she was married. He dragged her into this and did not issue a direct apology to her. He did not issue the kind of apology that Mitch McConnell called for, which was an apology to all women and to make it much broader. Your reaction now of where Donald Trump stands with Republicans like Mitch McConnell.
MURPHY: Well, there are few tells kind-a-like poker. And a tape like this is created when you don`t trust the candidate to talk to reporters directly on television because they don`t really want to apologize. They don`t believe it. So you have a team shotgun speech writing exercise where you come up with a hostage video like this, which I think you made a point earlier about a deposition where it`s all negotiated.
The problem is television communicates a lot more than words. The only time I was watching him read that material where I thought he believed it when he said decades ago and then he pivot to let`s be honest, it`s not really about this, it`s about the Clintons. So it was as weak of an apology and frankly in my interpretation, it is un-heartfelt as possible. It also sets him up because he implies this was a terrible outlier. When if more tapes come out, we`re going to find out that was the standard, not the outlier. And then whenever the people apology was in this his attempt in the statement crumble completely.
So I think this is one of the things where he has managed to make a horrible situation even worse with a tape that really is not much about apologizing. And now part two will be what happens at the debate where this will clearly be a big topic and no teleprompter to protect him from what he really thinks.
O`DONNELL: And Mike, he is asking viewers to defy their common sense. They offered two videos tonight, one a written telepromptered apology video and then the other, the video from access Hollywood which Donald Trump says that video does not reflect who I am. But common sense tells you the unguarded backstage video does indeed tell us who you are.
ALLEN: It was completely authentic. He was (INAUDIBLE). He wasn`t aware he was on camera. Well the statement was totally curated. But then he won`t have the protection of a clich‚ written, you know, -- staff written hostage video at that debate Sunday night. It will just be him and people with no filter and no management. And I think we`re going to hear a lot more about the Clintons than we are about I`m sorry.
O`DONNELL: All right, let`s reset this video crisis for viewers who maybe just joining us especially in the west coast. We will begin with the access Hollywood video that was leaked today to the "Washington Post" to David Fahrenthold who made the video public. This changed the presidential campaign. It is now changed utterly by this video. Let`s watch that video and then we`ll go to the Donald Trump response video. Here is the access Hollywood video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thing is she used to be pretty. She is still very beautiful.
TRUMP: I moved on her actually, you know. She was down in Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and (bleep) her. She was married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s huge news there.
TRUMP: And I moved on her very heavenly. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said I`ll show you where they`ve got some nice furniture. I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch. I couldn`t get there and she was married. And all of a sudden I see her. She`s now got the big phony and everything. I moved on her like a bitch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s totally changed her looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s your girl`s hot as (bleep) in the purple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Yes! Whoa!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the Donald scored on. My man.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to get the thumbs-up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can`t be too happy.
TRUMP: Look at you. You are (bleep). Maybe it is a different one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It better not be the publicist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No it is her.
TRUMP: Yes. That`s her with the gold. I better use some tic tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I am. It`s like magnet. Just kissing them. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (bleep). Do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The leg, all I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: It looks good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Nice legs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way, honey. That`s good legs. Go ahead.
TRUMP: It is always good if you don`t fall out of the bus like Gerald Ford, remember.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello. How are you? Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Trump, how are you?
TRUMP: Nice to see you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to see you too.
TRUMP: Terrific. You know Billy Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. Nice to see you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m doing very well. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We`re ready. Let`s go. Make me a soap star.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about a hug for the Donald. He just got off the bus.
TRUMP: OK, absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O`DONNELL: And here after hours in crisis is the video released by the Trump campaign late tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have never said I`m a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I`m not. I have 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.
I have traveled the country talking about change for America. But my travels have also changed me. I have spent time with grieving mothers who have lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future.
I have gotten know the great people of our country and I have been humbled by the faith they have placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down.
Let`s be honest. We`re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we`re facing today. We are losing our jobs, we are less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground.
I have said some foolish things but there is a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days.
See you at the debate on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: That was Donald Trump`s second apology of the day. He had issued a written apology earlier in which he said I apologize if anyone was offended.
We are joined again by Chris Matthews.
Chris, Mitch McConnell tonight issued a statement before Donald Trump`s second apology saying, Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape. Did Donald Trump`s apology meet Mitch McConnell`s demand?
MATTHEWS: I doubt so. And you know, the interesting thing about this, there`s a lot of fraud on the left and misery on the right tonight and the middle just to discuss his affair. But the interesting thing is about everybody agreed tonight on the facts. And I think you`ve been right on pointing out the facts. They are the heart of the story, the facts.
The Associated Press is not a biased organization. And tonight`s lead I think tells us the facts to be caught on tape making shockingly crude comments about a married woman, he tried to seduce, Donald Trump declared in a midnight video I was wrong and I apologize yet he claim, yet is the key word, he claimed the astonishing revelations open quote "nothing more than a distraction," close quote. And argued his words were not nearly as egregious as former President Clinton`s marital affairs. Well, that`s a busy paragraph, but it really does create a problem for him.
If you`re going to apologize, that`s what you do and everybody gets it. And there was a point from the statement that he read from a teleprompter tonight. It got to me a little bit. I thought it was written by (INAUDIBLE) that was said that this campaign has changed me. And you know, Lawrence, that we all know those of us in politics that campaigns do change people. They do see, like the Kennedys saw the poverty in West Virginia and (INAUDIBLE), you see them in the big city and inner city. Poverty like you have never seen. You see people with real problems. Politics teaches you real life problems no matter how hifalutin your campaign is or how many airplanes you have to fly around. And you do learn more about reality. And I think if he had said that and said I`m not the same guy getting out of that bus 11 years ago, that might have been profound. But I think he ruined it by all that he did.
And by the way, I think the key thing we`ve overlooked so far, I`ve just come to it, what`s going to last longer in terms of play on television. His apology to the extent that it was one or the video of him there with Billy Bush yucking it up. Their voices coming out to us through a hot mike they didn`t know was hot coming to us in a very real way and then meeting that attractive actress who met them at the door. That`s going to be played over and over again. It is going to play right up until election eve. And as everybody has been saying, Hillary Clinton doesn`t have to do a narration of that. She simply has to show it. And it is now public domain.
So Trump has a real problem. His feature is that tape, not his past. And that future is going to lie between him and the election. And so it would take a profound almost -- I don`t know how you could say it, one of those sort of televangelist kind of apologies to be believable, Jimmy Swagger kind of thing. And I don`t think it is believable either. So I think he has got a problem. And I think it if going to drift, drift, drift all weekend, notwithstanding with this tape as you caught this POW statement.
O`DONNELL: We`re joined now by NBC News Andrea Mitchell.
Andres, I just want to get your reaction to everything we have seen so far tonight. You have witnessed historic turns in campaigns at different times. None of us have ever witnessed anything like this in a presidential campaign.
ANDREA MITCHELL, MSNBC HOST, "ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS" (on the phone): It certainly not. I can`t think of any president. I mean, we have seen within a few days in 1972 (INAUDIBLE) being removed from the ticket as vice president. That`s hardly the same as a month before the election the presidential nominee being caught in such exposure. The vulgarity, the cruelty of the video and the fact that as Chris, you were just saying this is out there for everyone to see. This doesn`t have to be turned into a campaign commercial to have an impact.
The apology, quasi apology was an interesting document because he apologizes. He then does try to change the subject and appeals to his base. But by going - by moving on saying it is a distraction, he is not reaching even the thresholds of Mitch McConnell to say nothing of what Jason Chaffetz said to you, which is a withdrawal of someone what said he can`t do this on principle. Now, you are going to see a number of people who are in close races, who are in, you know, districts are Donald Trump is a drag on the ticket. And right now we have Congresswoman Barbara Comstock from Northern Virginia who is in a tough race, she has issued a statement saying this is disgusting with vile and disqualifying. No woman should ever be subjected to this kind of behavior. It is unbecoming of anybody seeking office. In light of these comments, Donald Trump should step aside and allow our party to replace him with Mike Pence or another appropriate nominee from the Republican Party. I cannot in good conscience vote for Donald Trump. I would never vote for Hillary Clinton.
So you are going to see a number of those kinds of statements. But when you begin to see a real movement in the congressional party to protect the base, protect that Senate majority, try to at least and write him off, that is when movement is really going to occur.
And I think the closest we have seen to that so far have been what was seen from the speaker of the house. For Paul Ryan who has been so carefully walking that tight rope and with his, you know, house majority not wanting him to disavow or not endorse, not even being happy with him taking so long to endorse Donald Trump, for him to say what he said and to connect with Scott Walker and according to Kelly O`Donnell`s reporting, not just because it`s Kelly and she`s always right, but because it`s absolutely in character with Paul Ryan.
For them to disinvite Donald Trump from that Saturday first campaign appearance with him, that tells you so much about the way this party is moving. I think there is an outside chance and I don`t think it`s the most likely outcome but an outside chance that as we were hearing earlier, that this could be a cut your loss moment.
O`DONNELL: Andrea, quickly we going to be pulling it. We are going to get a break in here and we are going to bring on David Fahrenthold who is the one who found the video and made it public today.
Bu I just wanted to get your reaction to Donald Trump`s apology. I was sitting here watching it with three women -- Lis Smith, Elise Jordan, Hallie Jackson. They all had actually a physical reaction as I`ve told the audience to Donald Trump saying the word apologize and then completely changing the subject for the rest of the video saying it`s nothing more than a distraction. If it`s nothing more than a distraction, why has it stopped the campaign cold? And then bringing up Bill Clinton, just running away from his own conduct in this so-called apology as fast as he could. Just as a person experiencing someone apologizing for something like this, what did you feel when you were hearing this?
MITCHELL: Well, it was just an extraordinary reversal. You don`t apologize and then go on a personal attack at the same time. And it certainly indicated that all of the attempts by Kelly and Conway and some of the other adviser to restrain his instinct to go on the attack, the un - - not even veiled threat that he was going to go after Bill Clinton. And remember the tweet about inviting Jennifer flowers and then saying it was just a joke. But all of that had been pulled back and he was presenting himself with a very different approach to this second debate.
Clearly had been counseled that he had lost the first debate and they were struggling to get him to prepare and to come up with a different demeanor. But you can`t forget that the men around him have made careers about going after the Clintons and raising legitimate questions about personal life, I suppose of Bill Clinton, but he isn`t on the ticket.
And just as a political strategy, Hillary Clinton became more popular during the Lewinsky scandal. There was a tremendous sympathy vote. And if she doesn`t get defensive and hostile, she was certainly very restrained and very calculated you know in, I would say in a tactical way in that first debate, she kept her cool and kept her temper and had exactly the kind of demeanor that was successful for her in that debate. And I can`t imagine a scenario Sunday night where it`s going to down to his benefit to go after Bill Clinton and dredge up the past when I think the voters want - - even his base want him to talk about how it is going to change things from the status quo and be the change candidate that he wants to be.
O`DONNELL: Andrea Mitchell, thank you very much for joining us tonight with your reporting you`re invaluable perspective. Really appreciate it.
MITCHELL: What a night. You bet.
O`DONNELL: All right. We are going to take a break here. When we return, David Fahrenthold will join us. He is the person who has been breaking news consistently almost every day in this campaign. Important news. But today he outdid himself and broke the news that may change the course of history in this campaign.
David Fahrenthold will join us when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O`DONNELL: We are back with our continuing coverage of the breaking news of the release of a video earlier today, a video taken by access Hollywood in 2005 showing Donald Trump talking about women in ways we have never heard a presidential candidate talk about women. Here is some of that video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Yes. That`s her with the gold. I better use some tic tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I am. It`s like magnet. Just kissing her. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (bleep). Do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: That video forced Donald Trump to make two apology tonight. One a written one that said he apologized if anyone was offended. That was not accepted by anyone including anyone in the party. Then Donald Trump issued a recorded apology video in which he said I regret the words that were said today on this decade old video. He said they don`t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologize. Then he went on to say more than twice as much about things having nothing to do with his apology or that videotape.
We`re joined now by David Fahrenthold reporter for the "Washington Post." David Fahrenthold obtained the video. He publicly released it today. And David Fahrenthold`s breaking news today is now in complete control of this campaign.
David, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
DAVID FAHRENTHOLD, REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST (on the phone): No problem.
O`DONNELL: So David, everyone wants to know how you -- what can you tell us about obtaining this video. I know confidential sourcing is involved so please tell us everything you can. How long you had it, did you alert the Trump campaign that you had it and ask for any response from them before releasing it?
FAHRENTHOLD: I can`t tell you really anything at all about how I got it. We got it today and we told the Trump campaign that he had it about 1:30 in the afternoon and provide them at that time with a transcript of -- not of the whole video which is more than five minutes long but of a transcript of not of a whole video which is more than five minutes long but a transcript of the parts that everyone is reporting in part that are most relevant here. And they have asked for the video and we eventually showed them the video. And then shortly after that about 4:00 they issued the statement. The first apology sort of a half apology which Trump described as locker room banter.
O`DONNELL: And David, this is more cooperation in many ways than you are used to getting from the Trump campaign. You have been relentless this year in tracking down Donald Trump charitable contributions and actually not finding any Donald Trump personal charitable contributions and the Trump campaign has been very good at times at ignoring your requests for information. Today when you told them you had this video, it sounds like they responded rather quickly.
FAHRENTHOLD: Yes, they did actually. They responded. They responded to ask for the video and once we showed them the video they responded very quickly to say it indeed was him, basically to confirm the authenticity and to give a small sort of a small statement that include that kind of half apology.
O`DONNELL: And David, did you get any sense in your communication with them that they recognized the enormity of what you were about to reveal?
FAHRENTHOLD: It is hard to tell. My conversations with them, while helpful were rather brief. And so I couldn`t tell you. I mean I`m not sure that I even knew what it would become by the end of the day. I have been amazed to see how big of a story it`s become. I couldn`t tell you if they did. Certainly they didn`t say anything like that at the time.
O`DONNELL: So it`s within of those things, David, where we have a right to feel like we have seen certain things like this in Donald Trump`s history. We certainly things like this have been reported about Donald Trump`s attitude. They have been in print. But we`ve never had video like this and you were not sure whether that first Donald Trump response might just be what gets them through it, which is to say locker room banter and minimizing it. That is exactly the kind of response that the Donald Trump campaign had used in the past in situations that resembled this in certain ways. And so even you were surprised by where the story went from there?
FAHRENTHOLD: That`s right. I mean the thing that sets this apart -- there`s two things that sets this apart from all of the previous comments we reported on that Trump made about women. One is that it was not made publicly. It sound odd that a lot of the other comments that we`ve heard for made on the Howard Stern show or on television, you know, in times everybody saw them. It is kind of (INAUDIBLE) effect that similar said publicly have that. These are private comments.
These are comments that Trump made. We know that he didn`t think anyone else was listening. So that makes it inherently more interesting and I think people think of more revealing picture of him.
The other thing that`s interesting about this, I think it shades my view of both the apologies is what we`re talking about is not Trump just words. I mean, it`s not just Trump saying look at that lady, she`s a ten, you know, isn`t she beautiful with her legs. It`s not just a description. It`s what Trump is saying about his own actions. He was describing few things he`s done in the past and will do in the future, not just words but actions, kissing women, groping them.
Both of these apologies deal with this as words. It was the wrong thing to say. But doesn`t really address it as an indicator appeared of Trump`s actual conduct. I was interested to see if in the second apology he would say I know I said that I kissed women and groped them but that was just a joke. I don`t really do that or didn`t really do that. And he didn`t address it as conduct (INAUDIBLE). He addressed it as speech, you know, improper speech in both cases.
O`DONNELL: Well the things he is actually describing as part of his own conduct pattern including the specifics of that grabbing that he describes that I cannot even say on television, that is sexual assault. That is a classic description of sexual assault.
FAHRENTHOLD: I think that`s what`s interesting to me. You know, I think he would have been better for him, although he didn`t say it, you know -- as I said, that`s not how I acted. I wasn`t making a joke. I was bragging to Billy Bush. I was speaking on hyperbolic term. That was different actually the way I acted. And that is somewhat illusion to that. The second apology he said that`s not the man I am, that`s not who I am. But there`s no specific addressing of that. So I think that will be interesting to see if we find women who knew Trump with come forward now to say yes, this thing he said he did, he did to me.
O`DONNELL: David, in campaigns as we`ve been discussing with Mike Murphy and others who have been in crisis meetings with campaigns, one of the questions, one of disaster like this strikes is one of the question you ask the candidate is how much more is out there. How much more might people find. And it seems Donald Trump`s answer would have to be I don`t know because access Hollywood is saying they have dozens and dozens of hours of video like this that that they have never shown of Donald Trump and others who have been involved in their programs. What is your sense of the likelihood of more such video from access Hollywood or other sources like that emerging during this campaign?
FAHRENTHOLD: It`s hard for me to judge. But I will say this, two things. One, there`s in reason to believe that this particular access Hollywood episode was something special or different. That you know, they were going to meet a beautiful access to go a tour of studio backstage for days of our lives soap opera. But there is nothing about this that says this similar Trump would never have done or seen ever again. It seems like a common sort of occasion. Trump has been a gust star on a lot of things. So maybe there is. I don`t really know.
O`DONNELL: David Fahrenthold thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
FAHRENTHOLD: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O`DONNELL: I`m Lawrence O`Donnell in New York. This is our continuing live coverage of campaign crisis tonight in Donald Trump`s campaign. "Access Hollywood" video of material recording Donald Trump saying things that was not used in the "Access Hollywood" show when this material was recorded back in 2005 was released today.
David Fahrenthold of "The Washington Post" obtained that video, he released it. It showed Donald Trump saying things about women and his own involvement with women that we have never heard from a presidential candidate and things that we`ve never heard Donald Trump say before on tape on video. Here is some of that video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I moved on her actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. And I failed. I`ll admit the. I did try to (inaudible). She was married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s huge news.
TRUMP: No, no. Nancy. No, this was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I`ll show you where they have some nice furniture."
I moved on her like a bitch but I couldn`t get there and she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her. She`s now got the big phony (inaudible) and everything. She`s totally changed her look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheesh, your girl`s hot -- in the purple. Whoa, the Donald is good. Whoa, my man.
TRUMP: Look at you. You are a --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe it`s a different one.
TRUMP: Very funny. You and I will walk out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe it`s a different one. It better not be the publicist. No, it`s her. It`s her.
TRUMP: Yes, that`s her, with the gold. I`ve got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It`s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (inaudible). You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those legs, all I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: It looks good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Nice legs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way. That`s good legs. Go ahead.
TRUMP: It`s always good if you don`t fall out of the bus. Like Ford, Gerald Ford, remember?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Mr. Trump. How are you? Pleasure to meet you.
TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific, terrific. You know Billy Bush?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, nice to see you. How are you doing, Arianne?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m doing very well. Thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We`re ready. Let`s go. Make me a soap star.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about a little hug for the Donald? He just got off the bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like a little hug, Darling?
TRUMP: Absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about a little hug for the Bushy?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O`DONNELL: The Trump campaign`s first reaction to the release of that video was to say in a written statement that it was simply locker room banter. Then there was a written apology by Donald Trump in which he said he apologized if anyone was offended.
That apology was not accepted by anyone in Republican politics anywhere in this country. And Donald Trump realized at some point today that he and the Trump campaign staff were going to have to work to release a recorded video apology. That took the Trump campaign hours to produce and then finally minutes after midnight they released this recorded video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I`ve never said I`m a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I`m not. I`ve said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more than 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. I`ve travelled the country talking about change for America, but my travels have also changed me. I`ve spent time with grieving mothers who`ve lost their children, laid-off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future.
I have gotten to know the great people of our country and I`ve been humbled by the faith they placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never, ever let you down. Let`s be honest. We`re living in the real world.
This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we`re facing today. We`re losing our jobs. We`re less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground.
I`ve said some foolish things, but there`s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: We`re joined now by the host of "Hardball," Chris Matthews. Chris, you mentioned earlier tonight to watch Utah. You have experience working in Utah politics some time ago. It hasn`t really changed that much. You said to watch Utah.
Utah Republicans are now in open revolt against Donald Trump. The governor has come out against him now tonight. Mike Lee, a senator from Utah also now against him. We had Jason Chaffetz, a congressman from Utah on this program, you heard him retracting his endorsement of Donald Trump. What next?
MATTHEWS: Well, that`s a start. And I think all politics, that reflects I think the community out there in Salt Lake and the rest of Utah, which is this is not our kind of guy, not the kind of person.
First of all, long before the tape Donald Trump is a big shot, he throws his weight around. He`s not the kind of personality they like out there. Then to find out that this is he behind the scenes. This is how he behaves when the cameras aren`t on and he thinks the mic is off.
I was just thinking, Lawrence, that this tape is going to survive all of our conversations. This tape will be around for years. It will be around to explain the results of this campaign. It will outlive us. It will be non-degradable.
And the thing that comes across for us in a society in which men and women are supposed to act a little differently perhaps you might say. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had been the one on that bus.
Imagine -- it is unimaginable that she would talk as she was presenting herself like he said to Billy Bush, let`s walk out together. He`s choreographing this whole thing. Then he makes a reference to a president, Gerald Ford.
He`s thinking big picture, how he`s presenting himself even as he begins to move out of the bus. But there he is talking about how he would grab someone. Imagine if Hillary Clinton said I`m a big shot, whenever I want to I can grab some guy that way. It`s absurd to think about that.
I think that puts this in the perspective of what`s really beyond the pale. Anyway, Robert Costa, one fabulous reporter with "The Washington Post" and he somehow maintains his independence and judgment in covering Donald Trump all of these months.
He joins us by phone. I do respect your reporting. Objectively I was going back tonight with Lawrence looking at the AP reports, it`s so objective and it`s an objective fact, the situation that Mr. Trump finds himself in.
After being caught on tape making shockingly lewd comments about a married woman, Donald Trump declared in a midnight video, I was wrong and I apologize. Yet, that`s the key word, he claimed the astonishing revelations amounted to nothing more than a distraction.
We`re wrong to be talking about it. The conservatives like those in Utah and the rest of the country, the leadership of the Republican Party are wrong to be distracted by this.
It`s something like they are too infantile to know that this is an important and then argued his words were not nearly as egregious as former President Clinton`s marital affairs back in the `90s.
What do you make that Trump is going through right now? He`s probably watching this and he seeing this and of course, he sees progressives piling on, but he`s also seeing objective reporters like you and saying my God, this is a bombshell
COSTA (via telephone): Chris, great to join you tonight. It`s not just about what Donald Trump is going through tonight. It`s what the Republican Party is going through. And these are two different circles that have been linked for the last six to 12 months and they are really at odds tonight behind the scenes.
Based in my reporting, Trump has been reluctant to apologize. It took some hours. That`s why the video was late to get him to this point. But because of Speaker Paul Ryan and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, numerous elected officials, there`s immense pressure.
I think your point about Utah is so on the money because Utah is the tip of the iceberg tonight. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman in the House. You have Senator Mike Lee now calling on Donald Trump to step aside.
Favorite conservatives in Utah and you got the Utah and the Mormon group of the Republican Party, they`re reflecting a lot of the rumblings within the Evangelical community and the GOP. I expect tomorrow morning you`ll see more elected officials beyond Utah ask Trump to either step aside or fully denounce him.
MATTHEWS: What do you think the chances are -- maybe this is hard question for a straight reporter? Is there any chance Trump will do what Tom Eagle did back in `72 as the nominee for vice president simply throw it back to the Republican National Committee to pick someone else?
COSTA: I`ve heard tonight from several top Republicans that they themselves are thinking about it. For example, I spoke to Spencer Swik, who is the top fundraiser for the speaker, a long time confidant of Mitt Romney.
Between 11:00 p.m. and now, they`re on the phone thinking through what are the options. What happens if Pence could get the ticket? Could he be the presidential nominee?
In Trump Tower, it`s a different scene. You have to remember that Trump Tower on 5th Avenue tonight, you have Donald Trump in a combative mood. Many people who have spoken with him, he`s not in the mood to step aside.
MATTHEWS: Well, thank you very much. Robert Costa, from the "Washington Post," who has been covering this guy so effectively for all these months. Lawrence, back to you, sir.
O`DONNELL: Thank you, Chris. This was a 248-word apology that Donald Trump released on video tonight, exactly six of those words were apology. He said I was wrong and I apologize.
We are joined now by Brian Williams. Brian, I know you`ve been talking to some sources out there on the Republican side of the world about where things stand tonight. What are you hearing?
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC BREAKING NEWS CHIEF ANCHOR (via telephone): Well, Robert Costa and I may indeed be making the same phone calls to the same people. He is so right that there are two communities here, to constituencies. There is a force inside Trump Tower and there is what we used to call the Republican Party.
I think a lot of Republicans have gotten on board with calling this the party of Donald Trump since the convention. There is a -- there is a Wisconsin element to this story that itself is multipronged and as you know, as you`ve been discussing, as your guests have been discussing very powerful.
It includes but is not limited to the speaker of the House, and everyone in his camp. It includes Reince Priebus who has had a remarkable public metamorphosis that`s been dictated by the pace and timing of this race and Scott Walker is never far from all political things Wisconsin.
Chris Matthews correctly points out Utah as a conservative indicator, kind of unique but also a mover. There`s reason to believe the traveling Pence campaign was anxious for air cover.
Anyone who has been around politics 10 minutes saw the discomfort as they were trying to get the candidate and the press out separately tonight, and we all know how Mike Pence has run in this race.
The constituencies that are important to him, the community that he came out of. This is a pivotal weekend we are going into. Let`s not forget that it`s book ended Sunday night by a primetime audience that may well now exceed the first debate.
And a town hall format, one female, one male moderator that traditionally favors the empathetic. It favors the tactile. It favors the retail politician.
And finally, Lawrence, I`ll appeal to your sense of history and in plain English, the guy at the top often doesn`t know if and when it`s time to go.
In 1974, Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Congressman John Rhodes of Arizona made a long walk down the White House driveway and they were the three who told Richard Nixon his time was up and had to convince Richard Nixon his time was up.
I am drawing no parallel here except to say the guy is often the last guy to know and this is going to be a real weekend of taking temperature, looking for defections and again will we see the -- we`ve been talking about this storm for two days.
Will we see the reformation of an eye wall within a reconstituted of what used to be a Republican party. Will there be a power structure enough to see if they want to make a go with it some other way. An absolutely pivotal weekend in politics.
O`DONNELL: Brian, your point about that Nixon moment I think is so important. Not even necessarily to the specific issue of getting Donald Trump to step down but simply getting Donald Trump to behave and conduct himself in the way that the Republican leadership wants him to.
Even if that were ultimately to include step down. One of the problems in that scenario is that as troubled as Richard Nixon was at that time, he was a far more sensible politician on his worst day than Donald Trump seems to be on his best day.
And Richard Nixon understood who those people were who were coming to see him and we`ve heard Donald Trump seemed to not understand the powers of the speaker of the House.
We`ve heard Donald Trump at different times in the history of the campaign mock Paul Ryan as if Paul Ryan wasn`t someone who could completely control Donald Trump`s legislative outcomes if he were to ever get to the White House.
And so in that incredibly scenario that you reminded us of that moment where Richard Nixon had to face his real fate, in that scene Richard Nixon fully respected and understood those people who had come to see him and explained this to him.
Is there anyone that we`ve seen in this campaign who could have that kind of moment with Donald Trump?
WILLIAMS: Wow, that`s a great question. All those things you just listed, all of those office holders and names, some of that, if not all of that, has been just fine with Donald Trump`s core base of support around this country. They have been loyal and they have been vehement.
And the outsider appeal, people like you and me talk about the corollary, and that is you don`t pick a commercial airline pilot by going up to somebody in the airport and saying are you an outsider.
You didn`t pick a heart surgeon that way. This has been the appeal because of the system politics widely seen as broken and two parties in Washington widely seen as not doing the people`s business anymore.
If there is a wizened type, a gray beard in the GOP, there are plenty, there are plenty of statesmen and women still around who proudly wear the Republican label.
I just don`t know who that soul is, even who that committee or subcommittee would be that would make a visit to try to stabilize, to try to talk some sense into him. I just don`t know.
O`DONNELL: Brian Williams, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
WILLIAMS: Thanks, Lawrence.
O`DONNELL: We`re going to take a break here. We`ll be right back.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR MIKE LEE (R), UTAH: The fact is we`ve been asked to settle. Time and time again with the government and we`ve been asked to settle on matters of great principle with our candidate for president of the United States. This can`t continue. It`s time for us not to settle.
With all due respect, sir, you sir are the distraction. Your conduct, sir is the distraction. It`s a distraction from the principles that will help us win in November. You`ve stated that the objective has got to be to defeat Hillary Clinton in November.
I couldn`t agree more. It`s for precisely that reason, Mr. Trump, that I respectfully ask you with all due respect to step aside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: You sir are the distraction. That was Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah. We`re joined again by Chris Matthews who told us earlier this evening to watch Utah. If there is going to be a revolt that`s where it will begin. Chris Matthews, it is fully under way.
MATTHEWS: It sure is. It`s a state that`s not only LDS, not only Mormon, but it`s also a state that has been rejecting of the establishment. That gentleman we just saw there, Mike Lee, Lawrence, knocked off a long term senator to win that seat.
Bob Bennett who is the son of Wallace Bennett, it was whole tradition he knocked apart there. Orrin Hatch had to fight very hard out there, anybody that looked like establishment. So it`s not just a religious base, it`s a Tea Party base, very much a Tea Party man, Mike Lee.
Much more associated with the politics of Mike Pence, and of course, Ted Cruz. So that party, that right ward flank of the party which Mike Pence has been out this week trying to form up and to keep on Trump`s side.
We`re not even near the suburbs in terms of Trump`s appeal. He`s going right here from then. He`s getting killed in the Philly suburbs right now by a 36% margin killed.
What he`s fighting for now is the conservative wing of the party, the more religious wing, the less secular. There you see these people who are appalled by this behavior. They don`t see it as secular. They see it as raunchy.
I think we all do. And so, you know, right now we`re going to see this Republican Party come apart from the right and the left of the party or center of the party has moved against him.
I think you`re going to see a shrinking of his electoral base dramatically over the weekend, any polling, focus groups, any interviews by the reporters is going to show it.
Let`s face it. In the last week, he`s lost his lead in Ohio, a state you must win if you`re a Republican. He`s lost his lead in Florida, a state he needed to win his 270. And he`s already in the process of losing North Carolina. He`s nowhere near winning Pennsylvania or Virginia.
He can`t win the presidency as it looks right now. I`m beginning to think his electoral count is going to shrink rather low. It`s going to get really bad. And I got back to what I said earlier tonight when I brought over in the midnight run of Paul Revere here, I`ll tell you, it`s not going to happen.
He was already on the cliff. This will probably take him over. And again that tape of him with that attractive actor from the soaps is going to be played over and over and over again. It`s going to show a guy he didn`t want to show us in this campaign. Back to you.
O`DONNELL: Chris, let me just underline what you just said. Did I hear you say that you think this video is fatal for the Trump campaign?
MATTHEWS: As it stands, yes. His apology wasn`t enough because it wasn`t an apology. It would have taken almost a Jimmy Swaggart moment as I said, acted almost existential horror what he`d done. It`s something he had said by accident. It was said things by accident, but this is a full portrait.
This is a video of a long conversation in which he talked about trying to seduce a married woman when he himself was just married. It talks about women in a physical sense the way he`s been able to use his celebrity with him. Not just as it was said not just abusive but probably a criminal matter, if you get into the as sect of sexual abuse and sexual assault.
I don`t see how he can outlive this video right now -- I`m always open to the future. Sunday night is going to be one of the great moments in American political history, not necessarily for the good but we`re going to see what the guy does.
I think his character is on display now. It`s not what he did 11 years ago. It`s now what he said entirely. It`s how he deals with it now and the way he`s dealing with it now is not sufficient to erase what we see on that tape.
O`DONNELL: Hallie Jackson, mild-mannered Mike Lee and anyone who has spent any time in Utah knows that mild mannered describes many people in Utah. Mild-mannered Mike Lee was angry in that Facebook video.
JACKSON: Yes.
O`DONNELL: You could see him getting angry as he was hearing himself say what he had to say about Donald Trump.
JACKSON: I spent some time with mike lee out on the campaign trail during the primaries. He never endorsed Donald Trump. He`s Ted Cruz`s best buddy in the Senate. When you look from this 30,000 foot view, the character story is fascinating.
So Mike Lee is a guy who never backed Donald Trump. He was one of the few holdouts like, for example, Governor John Kasich, he was put on the Scotus list, the Supreme Court potential list of picks that Donald Trump put out two weeks ago as an olive branch to try to get Ted Cruz`s endorsement who by the way must have been looking at this right now going why didn`t I wait two weeks.
And then you`ve got the Utah factor, what we are seeing from the governor, from Mike Lee, Jason Chaffetz, the Wisconsin factor. Reince Priebus in 2002 started the festival that tomorrow Mike Pence will go to along with Paul Ryan and Ron Johnson but now not Donald Trump because of this.
There`s some reporting out there that Ryan personally called Trump tonight to disinvite him. I`m told that is not the case that the two did not speak tonight, but it is to watch what has happened to the Republican Party now.
This is a significant moment, guys, and it`s not overstating. I don`t know if it`s the death. I`ve gotten texts saying it`s over, he`s dead. This is it, 100 percent.
I`ve also gotten texts saying how many times have we seen something like this before and Trump has survived and gotten through it. But regardless, what it has done to the GOP and what it is doing to the GOP, I think is we`re going to have to watch it over the next 48 hours.
I agree with Chris that Sunday night`s debate, man, you thought two weeks ago was a big deal, my goodness.
O`DONNELL: It is the most difficult thing to imagine right now or to predict right now is what happens Sunday night, anybody who thinks they had a handle on that prior to today no longer does. Working a quick break right here. We`ll be right back.
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O`DONNELL: We are back with our live breaking news coverage of the crisis in the Trump campaign tonight. We`re re-joined by Jonathan Allen, political journalist and a biographer of Hillary Clinton.
Jonathan, we`re all sitting here trying to imagine Sunday night at this debate. Hillary Clinton gets to watch this news continue to break over the course of the weekend. She gets to watch presumably more angry statements by Republicans on Saturday to and about Donald Trump.
And she goes into that debate on Sunday night. What would you expect from Hillary Clinton on that stage Sunday night?
ALLEN: Lawrence, first of all, she`ll also get to watch "Saturday Night Live" on NBC, about 22 hours from now. I hope everybody is up and watching that.
But in terms of the debate itself, you know, I think her team has been preparing for Donald Trump to throw every possible attack at her. You name the woman that Bill Clinton has been linked to, whether fairly or unfairly, that has been tossed to her in debate prep.
I don`t think she`s going to be unready for that. My guess is that she will try to use that to pivot directly back to policy. There`s absolutely no reason for her to get Donald Trump off the hook on this by getting in the trenches with him. I think they know what they`re doing.
We saw her handle Donald Trump pretty firmly in the first debate. I don`t anticipate she`ll have a problem doing that in the second debate.
O`DONNELL: Will you expectation will be Hillary Clinton goes in there relying on the moderators to bring this up or questions from the audience to bring it up and let Donald Trump sink himself in his answers that she doesn`t need to jump on this in any way?
ALLEN: There`s an old reporter rule, Lawrence, which is if you let your source talk long enough they`ll hang themselves. And I think we saw that with Donald Trump in the first debate.
So yes, I think her strategy is going to be let the moderators bring it up. If Trump wants to fire her about Bill Clinton, she`ll have one line to come back with on that and try to get out of that and pivot back to policy.
O`DONNELL: Jonathan Allen, thank you very much for joining us tonight. And thank you very much for reminding us about what kind of panic is going on in this building right now when the "Saturday Night Live" writing staff trying to come up with something for tomorrow.
We`re going to try to get a camera live in the "SNL" writing room just upstairs. Jonathan Allen, thanks very much. Really appreciate it. We`re going to take a break. We`ll be right back.
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O`DONNELL: We`re back in our live breaking news coverage of the crisis in the Trump presidential campaign. Lis Smith, we were just talking to Jonathan Allen about how does Hillary Clinton handle this? We`ve worked in Democratic campaign and -- I mean, isn`t it just go out there on the debate stage and watch it happen?
SMITH: I do think that is how it happens. You know what, I love John and John is brilliant. He is a Hillary Clinton expert. Where I disagree with him is on this, I think that if Donald Trump goes in the direction of raising Bill Clinton`s past infidelities that Hillary Clinton will use it as a moment to show her humanity, her vulnerability, and talk about the personal pain it caused her.
You know, she`s not the only woman in America who`s gone through that. And some of her best moments, whether in 2008 or 2012 had been when she`s let down her guard and shown that he`s a vulnerable person and she`s gone through humbling experiences. I think she`ll take a different attack there.
O`DONNELL: And Elise, what we`ve seen certainly on the basis of one debate and including the primary debates, is that the Clinton debate prep system works. And whoever she has working on that with her, as well as her own ideas about what to do -- because as you know, you can do all of the debate prep in the world.
You`re never going to anticipate the exact sequence of language that lands on your candidate. And your candidate on her feet in the instance or sitting down in the town hall, has to make the decision of exactly how to respond, what tone, what amount, what facts do I use here and now.
They`ve just been great at this. They have plenty of time. They`ve got all day Saturday, all day Sunday to map out exactly what they want to do with this.
JORDAN: You know, what they`ve already done the basis of the work because she has been so consistently well-prepared that the beauty of going into the second debate is if you did it right for the first debate, it`s really so much easier.
And so over these past two weeks it hasn`t been what it was for her going into the first debate. Donald Trump never did the legwork, period. He needed to do some of it because what I`ve heard from a lot undecided voters is that his lack of seriousness really hurt him.
The bar was so low for him, but if he would have come in with a little bit of knowledge it really would have been enough to have helped him in an exponential way.
Hillary Clinton, though, has already been practicing for these attacks from Donald Trump. They`re going to hone and refine it over the next day or two, but she`s there. She already has her play book.
O`DONNELL: Hallie, let`s talk about what we already now know thanks to Donald Trump and Howie Carr Thursday night, during the storm coverage they were doing a little town hall sort of thing in New Hampshire.
And Howie Carr, local Boston radio talk show host, who is the biggest fan boy of Donald Trump in New England, just sits there in adoration of him.
He was the moderator and helping out Donald and offering him lines and things. When you watch it, Donald Trump couldn`t even keep his concentration in that no pressure forum.
JACKSON: So there is -- that was an interesting optical moment that we were covering when there`s a hurricane breaking towards the east coast. You watch that. We were told by sources around the campaign that was for Donald Trump to develop some muscle memory, to get back in the town hall setting, and sort of remember what it was like because he`s never done a town hall debate.
And he hasn`t done an actual town hall just a campaign event in months. So it was like kind of get back in the swing a little bit. The insistence that it wasn`t practice. There was a 2-minute timing clock. The audience told not to clap. Call a spade a spade.
He is doing prep. The prep is different. The prep has changed since the first debate. He has a smaller group of advisors now working with him. Chris Christie is honchoing that. Reince Priebus is involved in that we`re told.
Both men were with him when this story broke today at 4:00 in the afternoon doing sort of this prep session. So everybody is very aware of what the stakes are on Sunday night. There was a lot of talk before the first debate, what we were going to see, gracious Trump or the other Trump.
There is a question mark now. What I think is very clear, what Donald Trump himself came out and said at 12:01 was I`m going after Bill Clinton. Watch me Sunday go after Bill Clinton. We don`t need to guess. He told us.
JORDAN: It`s going to be Kamikaze Trump. He`s going to go in. He might take himself out, but he`s going to try to take her out and it is not going to be pretty.
SMITH: But even at the town hall it was so awkward, you`re supposed to be interacting with people and you know, putting yourself in their shoes and every answer of his, again it was like he got distracted but somehow brought it back to some anecdote about himself.
So they have been building up expectations that this would be a great format for him and I mean, if that was any indication I do not have high expectations.
O`DONNELL: And there wasn`t a single tough question.
SMITH: Yes.
O`DONNELL: All right, we`re going to squeeze in another break right here. We`ll be right back.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I moved on her actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I`ll admit it. I did try and (inaudible) her. She was married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She used to be great. She`s still very beautiful.
TRUMP: I move on her and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and (inaudible) her. She was married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s huge news.
TRUMP: No, no. Nancy. No, this was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I`ll show you where they have some nice furniture." I moved on her like a bitch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: We`re back in our live continuing coverage of this crisis tonight in the Trump campaign. And Chris Matthews, we`ve now been repeatedly showing that video because this is the video that has changed the course of this campaign.
We show different pieces of it at different times. Sometimes we run the whole thing. America may be less than 24 hours away from being able to quote passages of this video word for word in ways that people can`t forget.
MATTHEWS: You`re so right. The durability of this vehicle for information is going to be far greater than anybody who writes about it, talks about it, defends it, and apologizes for it. It`s going to be around.
It`s captivating because you`re catching private conversations. I was thinking what SNL will do with it tomorrow night. You`ll be hearing voices from inside the bus. They were be hyperbolic. They`ll be beyond this, but that doesn`t do much beyond this to at a cold open.
O`DONNELL: Chris, let me just stop you there for a second. Let`s remember something. On "Saturday Night Live" broadcast by NBC, they cannot say the words that Donald Trump said inside that bus.
MATTHEWS: That`s true.
O`DONNELL: That`s how astounding this is.
MATTHEWS: I think we ought to talk about this the way he called it locker room conversation. First of all, I`m not sure what that means in the 21st Century and I`m not saying I haven`t heard these words before. I`m not going to be a fraud about it.
Men don`t talk like this generally. Women wonder how we talk when we`re alone, and generally the guys I hang out with love their wives. They respect them and this is real. They don`t talk about them in this sort of physical kind of negative way or sort of not seriously respect. They just don`t.
This is not the normal conversation and I think women would be proud of most men the way they talk when they`re not there. They talk about them with respect and love. It`s their spouse in life for life.
And I think that people ought to know that. This is unusually unpleasant to hear because he`s talking about his physical behavior toward married women, toward other women. He`s just trying to pick up, if you will, in a way that`s really unbelievable.
I don`t think this is going to go away. And answer your question, I know you, trying to pin me before, that`s what we do around here, try to pin each other in terms of getting a fact out of each other.
If this stands, it is a killer if this stands. And I don`t have the imagination to think of what could happen Sunday night which would turn the tables in his direction. We have been saying -- at least on my program we`ve been saying all week he had to get an A-plus, a wow on this Sunday night to win this election.
He needed to make up for a weak performance in his first debate and the failure of his running mate to defend him in the second. He had to do something really superior. Now I think he has to do an A-plus performance, a wow performance to get out of the ditch he`s in right now.
That is starting your march down the field on the 1-yard line and you have to pick up 99 yards. This is going to be very tough. There aren`t many downs because this is all going to happen pretty fast now.
Tomorrow the newspapers will come out with all of this in it tomorrow. Everybody will read it tomorrow. It will be the huge story on Sunday morning well before the debates.
There will be an interim accounting for this with all of the best minds of the Republican Party being invited to the morning shows on Sunday morning and they`re all going to be asked on "Meet The Press" where do you stand now.
And there`s going to be an accounting, a roll call. And they`re going to have to say whether they`re with this guy with all that he said or against him. I don`t think they want to say they`re with him right now.
It looks like the fact that they`re going taking French leave on that Wisconsin event tomorrow tells you which direction they`re headed Sunday morning, which is not to show up for Donald Trump and that`s going to be the first big sign.
I don`t think it`s Hugh Scott yet coming to see the president as Brian talked about, but I don`t think he can hide. They`re coming for him.
O`DONNELL: Elise Jordan, they`re coming for him says Chris Matthews. You live inside the Republican Party. What are you hearing? Is that the sense that the people are feeling right now?
JORDAN: I think everyone is overestimating how much impact many this is going to have. People are pulling away but there haven`t been -- there weren`t enough --
O`DONNELL: You mean impact on professional Republicans.
JORDAN: Well, yes, I don`t see that many people un-endorsing him. I think there will be some. I think there`s going to be a trickle. I think people were in tough races, but I think that people are going to really try to just keep the status quo, keep everything calm.
O`DONNELL: What if it gets worse Sunday night? What if he does something worse Sunday night?
JORDAN: I doubt if he does anything that is so much worse on Sunday night. It will be just another subpar performance and if he gets really nasty with Hillary Clinton, which I do think is completely possible, and if he gets blatantly sexual on stage with allegations of Bill Clinton and if he has the kind of performance like he had on the Republican primary stage with Marco Rubio when he referenced his anatomy, I think the timing would be particularly poor.
Another thing is going to happened on Sunday, though, church in the morning. And I really am curious how Evangelicals in churches, in its strongest basis of support are going to grapple with this being the headline of the day and how they speak to their children about it.
O`DONNELL: We`re going to have to take a quick break right now. We`ll be right back.
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O`DONNELL: We`re back with our live continuing coverage of the crisis in the Trump campaign. Tonight, we`re joined by Chris Matthews in Washington, Elise Jordan, Lis Smith, and Hallie Jackson here in New York.
Hallie, you`ve been out there talking to Trump supporters all year of all different stripes. Where do you expect there to be any cracks in Trump supporters, if any -- you`re nodding your head no before I finish the question?
JACKSON: Here`s the thing. Throughout these moments -- it`s funny because we talk about October surprises and then there`s this one. It was a week ago that the "New York Times" bombshell tax report came out. That feels like a thousand years ago.
So just in being in contact with a lot of different supporters in swing states that we`ve met on the trail, you want to check in with them regularly. When the tax issue happened, they didn`t care.
Every controversy they defend him. These people who show up at his rallies, his supporters and that`s something that folks miss in New York and Washington because you can get inside a little bit of a bubble when you go out in the country.
These are people who truly hate Hillary Clinton and they want Donald Trump. And it`s not because they love Donald Trump necessarily, some do with a passion that is intense as we have discovered out on the campaign trail.
But a lot of it is driven by how much they dislike Hillary Clinton. I was struck by Jason Chaffetz saying he`s not going to vote for Hillary Clinton either and sort of talking about this ahead.
A Trump person say to me tonight, you know, and he was sort of -- this person was a little bit concern about the strategy that the Trump campaign saying, don`t get me wrong, I don`t like Hillary Clinton at all.
Like I am on Team Trump basically because I don`t like Hillary Clinton and I think that sometimes that gets missed. I don`t expect that Trump supporters -- I don`t know yet. It`s 1:53 in the morning. I don`t any if they`re going to change.
I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that`s where it matters, in the suburban parts of Philadelphia with these swing state voters.
O`DONNELL: Lis, does this move the undecideds off the fence?
SMITH: I think it has a good chance too. Look, I agree with a lot of what Chris said. We`re going to be seeing this video for a very long time and this video will be replayed much more than that apology video, and it doesn`t get better the more you see it. It gets even worse. So I do think that it can have that effect.
O`DONNELL: And Elise, if you really want to play the apology video, it`s only six words. The other 242 words you can ignore.
JORDAN: The extraneous language you can throw in the trash. I think Hallie made an important point talking about the issues that we as media have been obsessed over. There are huge stories that are happening that have really minimal impact with the voters.
The tax story, in particular, that Trump`s losses were the equivalent of 2 percent of all reported losses in one year and that doesn`t matter to voters. But women do care about -- undecided women care about these (inaudible).
O`DONNELL: And the last word tonight goes to Chris Matthews -- Chris.
MATTHEWS: Yes, I think we`ll know if I`m right and the others are wrong. I do think though that women who run for office run as women because it is a break through, a glass ceiling issue. You`ve got to justify. We need women and women run and make the case.
How does a woman run for office like Barbara Conestock running for re- election at the 10th district of Victoria or Kelly Ayotte hold on to her seat?
I`m looking at these women who are Republicans and have to run as a Republican woman. What is that, you`re a woman and you`re a Republican and you are expected to be loyal to the top of the ticket?
But that`s tertiary. You`re running as a Republican and a woman. I think they`re all going to stand on those two legs of their stool and skip the other one. I really do believe -- this is what I felt when I first heard the story when it was breaking.
My first reaction was, oh my God, this is a private matter. This is going to kill somebody politically. Why are we dragging out a private matter? It`s the old issue of public versus private. Everybody around me said this has got to come out, it`s going to be all other the place.
So my opposition to bringing it out was moot. It`s something that was already out there. "The Post" is going to run it. It`s a fact. The implications were going to be huge. My only question is it fair. It`s the old argument what`s private, what`s public.
The hot mic I guess in the tools we live by, anything that`s said into a hot mic is public and that`s just a fact and we`re going to learn once again that`s true. Good night to everybody. It`s late.
O`DONNELL: Thank you, Chris Matthews, really appreciate it. Also thank you to Hallie Jackson, Lis Smith and Elise Jordan. Everyone else who joined us tonight. Really appreciate it through our hours of live coverage of this situation. MSNBC`s live coverage continues after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O`DONNELL: And we are awaiting the release of -- possible release, we should now say, of a video from the Donald Trump campaign. That video is reported to contain an apology. It is the first apology in Donald Trump`s life. The first public apology that we`ve ever -- we will ever have witnessed.
Donald Trump issued what he thought was an apology earlier tonight for video released today, found by David Fahrenthold of the "Washington Post." And that is video made by "Access Hollywood" in 2005 on the NBC loft in Burbank where they were shooting an interview, an appearance with Donald Trump. This was video that was not used in the "Access Hollywood" show about Donald Trump at that time. It was video that was captured in which Donald Trump was speaking his mind about women generally. Some specific women including a married woman who he said he wanted to have sex with.
He used a much stronger phrase than that to describe what he wanted. And he also talked about a woman he was about to meet and who you will see him meet on this video. This is the video that seems to have rocked the Trump campaign and there are reports tonight of the possibility that this video could end the Trump campaign. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY BUSH, FORMER ACCESS HOLLYWOOD HOST: The thing is --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know --
BUSH: She used to be pretty.
TRUMP: She`s still very beautiful. I moved on her and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her. She was married.
BUSH: That`s huge news there.
TRUMP: No, no. Nancy. No, this was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I`ll show you where they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn`t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her. She`s now got the big phony (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and everything. She`s totally changed her looks.
BUSH: Sheesh, your girl`s hot as (EXPLETIVE DELETED). In the purple.
TRUMP: Whoa. Whoa.
BUSH: Yes. The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man. Wait, wait, you got to look at her when --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Look at you. You are a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Maybe it`s a different one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ve got to get the thumbs up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can`t be too happy --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You and I will walk there.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Maybe it`s a different one.
BUSH: It better not be the publicist. No, it`s her. It`s her.
TRUMP: Yes, that`s her, with the gold. I`ve got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It`s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I can do anything.
BUSH: Yes, those legs. All I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: It looks good.
BUSH: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Oh, nice legs, huh?
BUSH: Get out of the way, honey.
TRUMP: Those good legs.
BUSH: Go ahead.
TRUMP: It`s always good if you don`t fall out of the bus. Like Ford. Gerald Ford, remember?
BUSH: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello. How are you? Hi.
ARIANNE ZUCKER, ACTRESS: Hi, Mr. Trump. How are you?
TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific.
ZUCKER: Nice to meet you.
TRUMP: Terrific. You know Billy Bush?
ZUCKER: How are you?
BUSH: Hello. Nice to see you. How are you doing, Arianne?
ZUCKER: I`m doing very well, thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We`re ready. Let`s go. Make me a soap star.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Donald. He just got off the bus.
ZUCKER: Would you like a little hug, darling?
TRUMP: OK. Absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: We are joined now by phone by Chris Matthews.
Chris Matthews, your reaction to this video?
MATTHEWS: Ha, well, I think the reaction of the Trump people is probably important than those of the Republican Party. I think, well, you know what`s going on here. They`re in DEFCON 2 right now. Fearing the worst and the worst is coming because as you have been pointing out in the air right now there is a time factor here. You know, Bill Clinton could put off Monica by denying it, we all know that, for months, using his Cabinet to cover for him and using the clock. And so he could put it off and get the heat going. So by around August `98 when he had been on the skillet for a while, and it`s starting to cool down, things cooled down.
And by the time, you know, he went and gave his discovery and spoke before the grand jury and it had calmed down enough for him to get through it. But he had there the benefit of his office and the benefit of all those months where he can let it calm down. And the clock is not working as well now for Donald Trump because as we all know he`s on this sort of cliff he`s been walking along for the last couple of days where it is very clear he could fall off the cliff if nothing bad happens.
[02:05:07] It`s just that -- it`s just that precipitous right now and now to take this incident and you`re talking he`s on a cliff about a foot from the edge, and he`s being thrown stuff at him from his past. Fair enough, it`s good reporting. And maybe (INAUDIBLE) for all we know but it`s good reporting certainly. And it`s all relevant to who he looks to be and who he is and the way he talks about women and the way he behaves with women.
And -- but it`s one of those situations where they got to make a decision, and I sort of like this part of politics. Not what this involves in terms of the context but the crisis management we`re all watching here. How is he going to deal with this? Who is the Donald Trump who lives today who`s running for president today, and how is his character adjust to this crisis? Can he take the heat? Can he come out of this with at least a measure -- a measure of improvement in the way people look at it, will look at it in the morning when they read the papers.
And I think that`s the challenge. Can he improve his situation? And it`s about the clock. And tomorrow, we have the Saturday -- a few hours of daytime Saturday then we have the eve of the debate, Saturday night, and we have the long morning shows, hours of morning shows, "Meet the Press" and the rest of them, all talking about this if he does not do something between now and then. So this is --- the heat is just going to rise to maybe 100 million people are watching on Sunday night and I would expect the first question from Martha Raddatz will be about this.
And as someone said earlier in the program tonight, maybe the second, third -- I think it was on Sean Hannity, then the second, third, fourth or fifth question all relate to this. And the reason is, because it will be on the minds of those involved who are invited to the town meeting, who have tickets, not so much the journalists, but the people coming in will all be focused on this and as we know, appropriately, the proportion of participants will be 50/50 men and women and the women will definitely ask these questions and I think the men will, too, were thoughtful and somewhat sensitive will raise the issue, too, because this is such a vivid portrait of a mindset that we`re getting from that bus discussion there with Mr. Bush and it is a pretty --
O`DONNELL: Chris, I have to interrupt you. Donald Trump`s video is ready to be seen.
MATTHEWS: Great.
O`DONNELL: We have it here.
MATTHEWS: Run the mark here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I`ve never said I`m a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I`m not. 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.
I`ve traveled the country, talking about change for America, but my travels have also changed me. I`ve spent time with grieving mothers who`ve lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I have gotten to know the great people of our country and I`ve been humbled by the faith they`ve placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down.
Let`s be honest, we`re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we`re facing today. We are losing our jobs. We`re less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground.
I`ve said some foolish things but there`s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.
We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: That was Donald Trump. He said, "I said it, I`m wrong and I apologize," and then immediately changed the subject to other issues and then including a swipe at Bill Clinton before ending what was only a 90- second video.
Chris Mathews, your reaction.
MATTHEWS: Well, I think you`re right. There were three different messages there, all in conflict. One, something like an apology but it was also a denial that that was him. In other words, he was saying that person you saw getting out of that bus was really not me. I`m not that person. Everyone who knows me knows it`s not me. Well, we`ll see if anybody backs that up.
And then secondly, he said it was a distraction. In other words it wasn`t worth our interest, it wasn`t worth our attention. As you and I are talking about it. In other words it`s not worth putting on television. Well, why did he just do a video for television if it`s not -- if it`s just a distraction? So he`s putting down the moment here, the importance of what he`s talking about after having denied it was him saying it. He didn`t really apologize. He disowned it and then he went and said it was a distraction and then he went on the attack, going after Bill Clinton`s behavior.
I think the last part is the most important part and will be the most -- important part. That`s camera ready for tomorrow. That statement. Because that says that he`s going to go in there Sunday night and go on the attack, go after Monica, Kathleen Willey, he may go through the whole harsh -- the whole hall of shamer, whatever of Clinton during the presidency.
[02:10:12] I think -- it looks like he`s going to go after everything. And of course that`s going to raise the old question with the left, the progressive left and the right. When Clinton got into trouble the liberals said oh, that`s personal behavior. Why are we talking about that? Let`s get back to the issues. MoveOn.org, remember that? Move on. Let`s not talk about this.
I don`t think the progressives are going to move on this. And unfortunately, maybe not savvy but unfortunately for Mr. Trump, the American Christian right is not going to like this. I know this and I thought about this earlier tonight, Lawrence, because I`ve worked in Utah politics. I kept thinking early tonight this is going to affect him in Utah as a first sign that`s going to be the canary in the mind. And Utah is not going to like this. It`s not just Mitt Romney, there`s Jason Chaffetz, it`s the church out there, the LDS Church, they don`t like this kind of behavior at all. They`re decent people out there with high standards. That maybe the first wall to fall.
O`DONNELL: And it has been with Jason Chaffetz and the governor and former governor. This was only a 90-second video. We`ve have been waiting for it virtually all night here. I want to take one more look at it before we all react to it again with comments.
This is Donald Trump`s first public apology in his 70 years of life. Let`s look at this 90-second video once again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I`ve never said I`m a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I`m not. 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.
I`ve traveled the country, talking about change for America, but my travels have also changed me. I`ve spent time with grieving mothers who`ve lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I have gotten to know the great people of our country and I`ve been humbled by the faith they`ve placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down.
Let`s be honest, we`re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we`re facing today. We are losing our jobs. We`re less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground.
I`ve said some foolish things but there`s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.
We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: Joining us now by phone is Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah.
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. What is your reaction to what you just heard from Donald Trump.
CHAFFETZ: Well, I hope he`s sincere. I really do. But I just -- having read and seen and heard what Mr. Trump said albeit 10 plus years ago, I just -- I can`t endorse that person. I just cannot do it.
O`DONNELL: And Mr. Chairman, he just seemed to indicate that the age of the video is relevant, that we should somehow be, I don`t know, forgiving it, overlooking it, because of the age of the video. What is your response to that?
CHAFFETZ: Well, I guess what was also offensive not only from the raw abhorrent comments that he made during the video is his initial response, his tweet. That Twitter was not an apology. That was an apology for getting caught. He was -- you know, to suggest that Bill Clinton has done far worse on the golf course should have been his first clue that he was on the wrong track.
And to apologize if he offended anybody, it is not an apology for the actual action and the belief. And I just -- I just can`t endorse that person. I desperately do not want Hillary Clinton to become the president of the United States. I think she`d be disastrous but I am in a dilemma that Donald Trump has put the whole nation into and that is, you know, I can`t endorse this person. I just can`t do it.
O`DONNELL: And Chairman Chaffetz, he also said in there that what we saw on the "Access Hollywood" video where he appeared to be completely relaxed and comfortable does not, quote -- his words, "does not reflect who I am."
[02:15:02] That is the issue here and it seems to actually to be one of those videos. It`s one of those backstage videos that it does give you the feeling. It seems like it does give you the feeling of this is who the person is.
CHAFFETZ: Well, that`s what I worry about. I -- you know, I want somebody of high moral fibers. You know, I do wish that Mike Pence was at the top of the ticket. I just do. I just think he`s of high moral fiber.
We`re talking about the presidency of the United States of America. And why should we settle for anything other than somebody of high moral fiber and I -- there`s -- like I said, there`s no possible way I`m voting for Hillary Clinton. She`s one of the most flawed candidate in my lifetime. But I can`t -- you know, my wife and I, we have a 15-year-old daughter. How in the world can I look my 15-year-old daughter in the eye, and say, honey, you know what, your dad endorses Donald Trump for president. I can`t do that. I can`t -- and I won`t do that. And that`s why I`m withdrawing my endorsement.
O`DONNELL: Mr. Chairman, did you tell the campaign that you were going withdraw your endorsement tonight?
CHAFFETZ: No. I -- almost no contract with the Trump campaign. I did -- I did call my local Utah Trump`s supporter. And I -- you know, some of the main people there, and I said, this is what I saw, it`s what I feel, it`s what I believe and you know if you want to give me -- you know, a response, it really -- there really is no excuse for it and it shouldn`t be tolerated.
I spent a lot of time bashing on Democrats who stepped over the moral lines and acting inappropriately and you know, to use a baseball metaphor, I`ve also at the end of the day I got to look at myself in the mirror and say I call balls and strikes as I see them. And you know what, no matter which party, if you are going to act like that and that`s how you think, you are not going to get my endorsement. You`re not going to get my support. And I hope we do that on both sides of the aisle. It`s just wrong and we got to call it out as being wrong.
O`DONNELL: Chairman Chaffetz, did you communicate your thinking to Paul Ryan or anyone else in the House leadership before announcing your decision?
CHAFFETZ: No. No. I answer to the people of Utah and my wife and my three kids, and I got two kids that are married now. And I got to look at them in the eye and myself. And I don`t work for Paul Ryan, I don`t work for Reince Priebus, I don`t work for Donald Trump. So I got to do what`s right for me and the people of Utah. I don`t know that endorsements matter but I`m not going to be out there on the record anymore saying I endorse Donald Trump.
O`DONNELL: Well, it looks like Donald Trump has no more endorsements in Utah. Your governor has retracted his endorsement. Former governor has retracted. But what about other Republican House members, one Republican in Colorado has now, not just -- is not just opposed to the Trump candidacy. He is now saying that Donald Trump should step down. Are you expecting to hear more reaction like that from your Republican colleagues in the House?
CHAFFETZ: I don`t know. I would suspect. I mean, as disgusted as I was about that, I think probably -- I think a lot of my colleagues feel the same way. They`re going to have to come to their own decision on that.
There is a lot on the line, the Supreme Court, fighting ISIS. I mean, we`re put in a very, very, difficult precarious position at a terrible time. They`re just going to have to answer that themselves. I don`t know. I just got to do what I feel comfortable doing.
O`DONNELL: I appreciate, Chairman Chaffetz, you talking about this in personal terms, in relation to your family, in relation to your own moral code. Your own view of this as a human being. There`s also a political calculation that apparently is being discussed in Washington tonight. We have reporting Mark Halperin, Robert Costa and others that there are Republicans considering which way to lose here. Basically should we ask Donald Trump or try to get Donald Trump off the ticket, and go with some kind of write-in campaign, some sticker campaign that people attached to their ballots, whatever that is, with the acknowledgment that Donald Trump cannot win so which way do we want to lose. Do we want to lose tied to him as our nominee or do we want to lose having cut him loose and taking a more honorable path? Do you have any sense of that kind of discussion going on in Washington or any view of it yourself, how you would regard that strategic question?
CHAFFETZ: You know, I was on an airplane until about 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. I can`t tell you that I`ve been in any conversations or discussions or anything like that. I would just hope that the media would also hold the Clintons to the same high standards because, you know, I want us as a people, as a nation, as a party on both sides of the aisle, we get good people on both sides of the aisle.
[02:20:16] We really do. But you know what? We better call it out for what it is and not just have to be one sided. So I don`t know what`s going to happen. I can`t force you out of it. I can just tell you that I`m not going to endorse Donald Trump, somebody who acts, speaks and thinks like that. Can`t do it.
O`DONNELL: But would it be fair to say in your experience in a presidential campaign like this, if one party`s nominee has -- hits a rocky moment that the party is looking for a collective, strategic response? In other words, there would be talking points going out, there would be a coordinated message attempted, and if anyone was thinking of possibly defecting or withdrawing their endorsement and something like that, that there would be some sort of disciplined message coming from the Republican House leadership, basically trying to get you not to do what you`ve done tonight.
Are you aware of anything like that coming from the House leadership?
CHAFFETZ: No. No. No, no, no. Quite contrary. A lot of my colleague has just been in the last hour or so have been texting me and calling and suggesting that, you know, I did the right thing and, you know, way to have a backbone and that kind of thing. So we are as Republicans are very grassroots party. You don`t have leadership popped down, drilling into exactly how you`re supposed to vote or act or endorse or anything else. So I`m kind of proud of our party that way. I think this happens more organically and each member is going to have to kind of figure out for themselves where they are on this. I just tell you where I`m at and that`s -- I listen and support the people of Utah Third Congressional District. They`re the ones that are sending me to Washington, D.C. They`re the ones that I listen to and they`re the ones that I`m representing. Not D.C.
O`DONNELL: And Congressman, just before we go, did you get any calls from faithful Trump supporters in the House of Representatives. Any of your colleagues in the House saying, you shouldn`t have done that?
CHAFFETZ: Not yet. No. None. Now it`s only been out for a short little bit, and I tried to call a few people that, you know, I`m having a hard time connecting real quick. But no, I have not.
O`DONNELL: Well, powerful chairman usually don`t get a lot of criticisms from their colleagues in the House for a variety of reasons.
CHAFFETZ: Yes, there are benefits to being the chairman.
O`DONNELL: I bet there are.
CHAFFETZ: I`m just kidding. I`m just kidding.
O`DONNELL: Chairman Jason Chaffetz, very much appreciate you joining us tonight in this special coverage of this unique situation that we`ve never seen in a presidential campaign before. Really appreciate your time.
CHAFFETZ: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: Well, we are back here with Hallie Jackson.
Hallie, it is happening. The -- anymore reactions from Republicans?
JACKSON: Yes. So -- well, yes, I`ve been on the phone trying to get some sense to how people, you know, what people are saying about this video, right? This 90-second video that is remarkable in a lot of way, remarkable from somebody who covers the campaign in the sense that you can hear a lot of the different competing voices inside the campaign in that video.
I think I can tell you just from my conversations prior to this coming out I think that Bill Clinton reference is so significant. It is going to upset a lot of people who wanted to hear and Trump loyalists who wanted to hear a real apology and maybe leave it at that first 45 seconds and move on. But he talked about the Clinton thing. There`s chatter, there`s discussion of will he show up at the debate. He`s going to be in St. Louis Sunday night and he`s going to be talking about Bill Clinton. And what this does is a couple of things. It gives Hillary Clinton an opportunity and her team to basically map out their plan, and map out their line of sort of defense and grow an offense for the next 48 hours because they know this is coming. It puts Trump at a position where, you know, he is going to be on defense on Sunday at a time when he needed to be on offense. His campaign has somewhat stabilized, part of 4:00 p.m. today. We had three days where it wasn`t -- you know, we were talking about hurricanes, we`re talking about other things.
O`DONNELL: Yes.
JACKSON: And now, you know -- and now he is in the line of fire so it is just -- I mean, that is a remarkable piece of stage craft and it is sort of fascinating to watch.
O`DONNELL: Well, I`m just going to reveal to the viewing audience at home who couldn`t see this. When we were watching that video, get the three shot of our guests here. There was a collective physical reaction as if the airbags had just gone off here when Donald Trump mentioned Bill Clinton and Bill Clinton`s history.
SMITH: Yes. And this is the thing, if he wants to make Hillary Clinton more sympathetic, if he wants women of all political stripes to rally around her more, he should absolutely go after Bill Clinton on Sunday night. But there is absolutely no strategic reason to do it. And it just no strategic reason to do it. And it just feeds into -- what you`re saying the competing voices.
JACKSON: That`s right.
[02:25:01] SMITH: There is this wing of the Republican Party that is driven purely by blood lost and Clinton derangement syndrome, and he`s playing to them by doing that.
O`DONNELL: We`re joined now by Jonathan Allen.
And Jonathan, I got to say that the Trump new video recorded apology tonight looks like the product of a plea bargain in which his side of the deal was I`m going to mention Bill Clinton. I don`t care what else you say, I`m putting the Clinton sentence in there.
ALLEN: I`ve never seen anyone apologize with such little remorse in my entire life. Turns around and blame somebody else. I think, you know, we`re talking about the debate I was listening to Lis just a moment ago talking about the debate upcoming. I would be shocked if you heard Clinton say anything more than she has to. Donald Trump is imploding. This election is about to be over and you`re going to see Republicans streaming for the Donald Trump exit over the next 24, 48, 72 hours, trying to figure out how to salvage a Senate majority and a House majority in what has to be the darkest day for the Republican Party nationally until the next Donald Trump implosion.
O`DONNELL: Elise, your reaction to everything that has happened here including the -- I would say, the really interesting calm and certainty of Jason Chaffetz`s basic kind of condemnation of this Clinton candidacy. He was untroubled by what he had to do tonight. It was morally very clear to him what he had to do tonight. It sounded like he didn`t have a second`s doubt about it. He just needed to get off the plane and into a position where he could tell, Utah, I have absolutely enough with this guy.
JORDAN: And you know why? Because he did the right thing. And other Republicans know they need and we`re going to gradually see the trickle effect of this. What I found so interesting about the statement tonight was that he checked the box on apologizing.
SMITH: Right.
JORDAN: And then he checked the box on talking about how he`s a changed man from traveling the country and meeting with grieving moms, meeting with immigrants, and then it was solid Trump, the same man he always is, hasn`t changed, is going to go after Bill Clinton`s infidelity.
O`DONNELL: We`re going to go back to our night of video momentarily. We`re going to show the "Access Hollywood" video again which started this crisis in the Trump campaign. We`re going to show you the Donald Trump`s new apology video tonight. But first I want to get in a word with Mike Murphy before we do that.
And, Mike, Donald Trump, you know, said I`m wrong, and I apologize, period. And no words came after the word apologize. He did not specifically apologize to Nancy O`Dell who was named in this video a someone who he`s specifically tried to have sex with when she was married. He dragged her into this and did not issue a direct apology to her. He did not issue the kind of apology that Mitch McConnell called for, which was an apology to all women and to make it much broader. Your reaction now of where Donald Trump stands with Republicans like Mitch McConnell.
MURPHY: Well, there are a few tells kind of like poker and a tape like this is created when you don`t trust the candidate to talk to reporters directly on television because they don`t really want to apologize. They don`t believe it. So you have a team, shotgun speechwriting exercise where you`d come up with kind of a hostage video like this which I think you made a point earlier about like a deposition where it`s all negotiated. The problem is, television communicates a lot more than words. The only time I was watching and reading the material where I thought he believed it was when he said decades ago and then the pivot to the let`s be honest and throwing out this, it`s about the Clintons.
So it was as weak an apology and is frankly in my interpretation that it is unheartfelt as possible. It also sets him up because he implies that this was a terrible outlier when if more tapes come out it`s going to -- we`re going to find this is the standard, not the outlier. And then whatever people`s apology was in this attempt of a statement will crumble completely. So I think this is one of these things where he`s managed to make a horrible situation even worse with the tape that really is not much about apologizing and now part two will be what happens after the debate. Will this be clearly be a big topic and there will be no teleprompter to protect him from what he really thinks.
O`DONNELL: And Mike, he`s asking viewers to defy their own common sense. they`re offered two videos tonight. One, a written telepromptered apology video and then the other, the video from "Access Hollywood" which Donald Trump says that video does not reflect who I am. But common sense tells you the unguarded backstage video does indeed tell us who you are.
[02:30:05] MURPHY: It was completely authentic. It was (INAUDIBLE). He wasn`t aware he was on camera. While the statement was totally curated. But again he won`t have the protection of even a kind of cliche written, you know, cliche written, excuse me, staff written hostage video at that debate Sunday night. It will just be him and people, with no filter and no management. I think we`re going to hear a lot more about the Clintons than we are about I am sorry.
O`DONNELL: All right. Let`s reset this video crisis for our viewers who may be joining us now especially on the West Coast. We will begin with the "Access Hollywood" video that was leaked today to the "Washington Post," to David Fahrenthold, who got that -- made that video public. This changed the presidential campaign and it is now changed utterly by this video. Let`s first watch that video then we`ll go to the Donald Trump response video. Here is the "Access Hollywood" video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The thing is --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know --
BUSH: She used to be pretty.
TRUMP: She`s still very beautiful. I moved on her and I failed. I`ll admit it. I did try and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her. She was married.
BUSH: That`s huge news there.
TRUMP: No, no. Nancy. No, this was -- and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I`ll show you where they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn`t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her. She`s now got the big phony (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and everything. She`s totally changed her looks.
BUSH: Sheesh, your girl`s hot as (EXPLETIVE DELETED). In the purple.
TRUMP: Whoa. Whoa.
BUSH: Yes. Yes. The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man. Wait, wait, you got to look at her when --
(CROSSTALK)
BUSH: Will you give me the thumb?
TRUMP: Look at you. You are a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
BUSH: You got to give the thumbs up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can`t be too happy --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You and I will walk there.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Maybe it`s a different one.
BUSH: It better not be the publicist. No, it`s her. It`s her.
TRUMP: Yes, that`s her, with the gold. I`ve got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It`s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don`t even wait. And when you`re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I can do anything.
BUSH: Yes, those legs. All I can see is the legs.
TRUMP: It looks good.
BUSH: Come on, shorty.
TRUMP: Oh, nice legs, huh?
BUSH: Get out of the way, honey.
TRUMP: Those good legs.
BUSH: Go ahead.
TRUMP: It`s always good if you don`t fall out of the bus. Like Ford. Gerald Ford, remember?
BUSH: Down below. Pull the handle.
TRUMP: Hello. How are you? Hi.
ARIANNE ZUCKER, ACTRESS: Hi, Mr. Trump. How are you?
TRUMP: Nice seeing you. Terrific.
ZUCKER: Nice to meet you.
TRUMP: Terrific. You know Billy Bush?
ZUCKER: How are you?
BUSH: Hello. Nice to see you. How are you doing, Arianne?
ZUCKER: I`m doing very well, thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?
TRUMP: We`re ready. Let`s go. Make me a soap star.
BUSH: How about a little hug for the Donald. He just got off the bus.
ZUCKER: Would you like a little hug, darling?
TRUMP: OK. Absolutely. Melania said this was OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: And here after hours in crisis is the video released by the Trump campaign late tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I`ve never said I`m a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I`m not. 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.
I`ve traveled the country, talking about change for America, but my travels have also changed me. I`ve spent time with grieving mothers who`ve lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I have gotten to know the great people of our country and I`ve been humbled by the faith they`ve placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down.
Let`s be honest, we`re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we`re facing today. We are losing our jobs. We`re less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground.
I`ve said some foolish things but there`s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.
We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: That was Donald Trump`s second apology of the day. He had issued a written apology earlier in which he said he apologized if anyone was offended.
[02:35:05] We`re joined again by Chris Mathews.
Chris, Mitch McConnell tonight issues a statement before Donald Trump`s second apology saying, "Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape."
Did Donald Trump`s apology meet Mitch McConnell`s demand?
MATTHEWS: I doubt so. And I -- you know, the interesting thing about this, there`s a lot of Schadenfreude on the left and misery on the right tonight. In the middle just disgust I think is a fair -- but the interesting thing is about everybody agreed tonight on the facts. And I think you`ve been right on pointing out the facts and they are the heart of the story. The facts.
The Associated Press is not a biased organization. And tonight`s leads I think tells us the facts. After being caught on tape, making shockingly crude comments about a married woman he tried to seduce, Donald Trump declared in a midnight video, I was wrong and I apologize, yet he claimed, yet is the key word. He claimed the astonishing revelations amounted to, quote, "nothing more than a distraction," close quote. And are in his words were not nearly as egregious as former president Bill Clinton`s marital affairs.
Well, that`s a busy paragraph but it really does create the problem for him. If you`re going to apologize that`s all you do and everybody gets it. And there was a point in this written statement that he read from a teleprompter tonight that got to me a little bit. I thought it was written by staff, though, which said that this campaign has changed me and you know, Lawrence, that we all know those of us in politics, that campaign do change people. They do see like the candidate you saw -- the poverty in West Virginia, in Appalachian, you see it in the big cities and inner city. Poverty like you`ve never seen. You see people with real problems. Politics teaches you real life problems no matter how highfaluting your campaign is or how many airplanes you have to fly around and you do learn more about reality. And I think if he had said that and said I`m not that same guy was getting into that and getting out of that bus 11 years ago, that might have been profound.
But I think he ruined it by all that he did. And by the way, I think the key thing we have overlooked so far. I`ve just come to it. What`s going to last longer in terms of play on television? His apology to the extent that it was one or the video of him there with Billy Bush yakking it up, their voices coming out to us through a mic, a hot mic they didn`t know was hot, coming to us in a very real way. And then meeting that very attractive actress who met them there at the door. That`s going to be played over and over and over again. It`s going to be played right up until election eve. And as everybody has been saying, Hillary Clinton doesn`t have to do a narration of that. She simply has to show it and it`s now public domain.
So Trump has a real problem. His future is that tape, not his past. And that future is going to lie between him and the election. And so it would take a profound, almost -- I don`t how you can say it. One of those sort of televangelist kind of apologies to be believable and even Jimmy Swagger kind of things, and I don`t think that`s believable either. So I think he`s got a problem and I think it`s going to drip, drip, drip all weekend notwithstanding this tape, as you call it this POW statement.
O`DONNELL: We`re joined now by NBC News` Andrea Mitchell. Andrea, I just want to get your reaction to everything we`ve seen so far tonight. You have witnessed historic turns in campaigns at different times. None of us have ever witnessed anything like this in a presidential campaign.
MITCHELL: Certainly not. I don`t -- I can`t think of any president. I mean, we`ve seen within a few days in 1972, Thomas Eagleton being removed from the ticket as a vice president. That`s hardly the same as a month before the election the presidential nominee being caught in such exposure. The vulgarity, the crudity of the video and the fact that as Chris and you were just saying, this is out there for everyone to see. This doesn`t even have to be turned into a campaign commercial to have its impact.
The apology, quasi-apology was an interesting document because he apologizes, he then does try to change the subject and appeals to his base. But by moving on and saying that it is a distraction he is not reaching even the threshold level of a Mitch McConnell to say nothing of what Jason Chaffetz said to you which is a withdrawal of an endorsement by someone who says he just simply cannot do this on principle. That you`re going to see a number of people who are in close races, who are, you know, districts where Donald Trump is a drag on the ticket. And right now we have Congresswoman Barbara Comstock from Northern Virginia who`s in a tough race, and she`s issued a statement saying this is disgusting, vile, and disqualifying.
[02:40:06] No woman should ever be subjected to this type of obscene behavior. It is unbecoming of anybody seeking high office. In light of these comments, Donald Trump should step aside and allow our party to replace him with Mike Pence or another appropriate nominee from the Republican Party. I cannot in good conscience vote for Donald Trump. I would never vote for Hillary Clinton.
So you`re going to see a number of those kinds of statements. But when you begin to see a real movement in the congressional party to protect the base, protect the base, protect that Senate majority, tried to at least, and write him off. That`s when some movement has really been, you know, occur. I think that the closest we`ve seen to that so far has been what we`ve seen from speaker of the House.
For Paul Ryan who`s been so carefully walking that tightrope and with his, you know, House majority not wanting him to disavow or not endorse -- not even being happy with him taking so long to endorse Donald Trump. For him to say what he said and to -- connect with Scott Walker and according to Kelly O`Donnell`s reporting, which rings that`s just because it`s Kelly and she`s always right, but because it`s absolutely in character with Paul Ryan. For him to disinvite Donald Trump from that Saturday first campaign appearance with him, that tells you so much about the way this party is moving.
I think that there is an outside chance and I don`t think it`s most likely outcome but an outside chance that as we were hearing earlier from Mark Halperin and others that this could be a cut your lost moment.
O`DONNELL: Andrea, quickly, before we`re going to get a break in here and we`re going to break in here and we`re going to bring on David Fahrenthold who was the one who found this video and made it public today. But I just wanted to get your reaction to Donald Trump`s apology of -- I was sitting here watching it with three women, Lis Smith, Elise Jordan, Hallie Jackson.
They all had actually a physical reaction as I`ve told the audience to Donald Trump saying the word apologize and then complete changing the subject for the rest of the video saying it`s nothing more than a distraction, if it`s nothing more than a distraction why has it stop the campaign cold. And then bringing up Bill Clinton, just running away from his own conduct in this so-called apology as fast as he could.
Just as a person, experiencing someone apologizing for something like this, what did you feel when you were hearing this?
MITCHELL: Well, it was just an extraordinary reversal. You don`t apologize and then go on a personal attack at the same time. And it`s certainly indicated that all of the attempts by Kellyanne Conway and some of the other advisers to restrain his instincts to go on the attack -- not even veiled threats that he was going to go after Bill Clinton and remember the tweet about inviting Gennifer Flowers and then saying that it was just a joke. But all of that had been pulled back and he was presenting himself with a very different approach this second debate, clearly have been counseled that he had lost the first debate and they were struggling to get him to prepare and to come up with a different demeanor.
But you can`t forget that Steve Bannon and David, you know, Bossy are around him and they have made their careers out of going after the Clintons and, you know, raising legitimate questions about personal lives, I suppose, of Bill Clinton but he isn`t on the ticket.
And just as a political strategy, Hillary Clinton became more popular during Lewinsky scandal. There was a tremendous sympathy vote. And depending on her affect, and if she doesn`t get defensive and hostile and she was certainly very restrained and very calculated, you know, in I would say in a tactical way in that first debate. She kept her cool and kept her temper and had exactly the kind of demeanor that were successful for her in that debate.
And I can`t imagine a scenario Sunday night where it`s going to go down to his benefit to go after Bill Clinton and dredge up the past when I think the voters want -- even his base want him to talk about how he`s going to change things from the status quo. And be the change candidate that he advertises himself to be.
O`DONNELL: Andrea Mitchell, thank you very much for joining us tonight with your reporting and your invaluable perspective on this. Really I appreciate it.
MITCHELL: What a night. You bet.
O`DONNELL: All right. We`re going to take a break here. When he returned, David Fahrenthold will join us. He is the person who has been breaking news consistently almost every day in this campaign. Important news, but today he outdid himself and broke the news that may change the course of history in this campaign.
David Fahrenthold will join us when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:48:49] O`DONNELL: We are back with our continuing coverage of the breaking news of the release of a video earlier today, video taken by "Access Hollywood" in 2005 showing Donald Trump talking about women in ways we have never heard a presidential candidate talk about women. Here is some of that video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I got to use some Tic-Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I`m automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It`s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don`t even wait. And when you start, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I can do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: That video forced Donald Trump to issue two apologies tonight. One, a written one in which he said he apologized if anyone was offended. That was not accepted by anyone, including anyone in the Republican Party. Then Donald Trump issued a recorded apology video in which he said, I regret the words that were released today on this more than decade`s old video. He said they don`t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologize. Then he went on to say more than twice as much of things having nothing to do with his apology or that videotape.
[02:50:05] We are joined now by David Fahrenthold, reporter for the "Washington Post." David Fahrenthold obtained this video. He publicly released it today. And David Fahrenthold`s breaking news today is now in complete control of this campaign.
David, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I really appreciate it.
FAHRENTHOLD: No problem.
O`DONNELL: So, David, everyone wants to know how you -- what can you tell us about obtaining this video? I know confidential sourcing is involved so please tell us everything you can. How long you had it? Did you alert the Trump campaign that you had it then asked for any response from them before releasing it?
FAHRENTHOLD: I can`t tell you really anything at all about how I got it. We got it today and we told the Trump campaign that we had it about 1:30 in the afternoon, and provided them at that time with a transcript of not the whole video which was more than five minutes long but a transcript of the parts that everyone has been quoting the parts that are most relevant here. And they`ve asked for a video which we eventually showed them the video and then shortly around 4:00 they issued a statement, the first apology, sort of half apology with Trump describing this as locker room banter and said that he apologized (INAUDIBLE).
O`DONNELL: And David, this is more cooperation in many ways than you`re used to getting from the Trump campaign. You have been relentless this year in tracking down Donald Trump`s charitable contributions and actually not finding any Donald Trump personal charitable contributions. And the Trump campaign has been very good at times at ignoring your requests for information. Today when you told them you had this video, it sounds like they responded rather quickly.
FAHRENTHOLD: Yes, they did actually. They responded and like I said, they actually -- they responded to ask for the video and then once we showed them the video they responded very quickly. They said indeed it was him. Basically they confirmed the authenticity of it. Give a small -- sort of a small statement that included that kind of half apology.
O`DONNELL: And David, did you get any sense in your communication with them that they recognize the enormity of what you were about to reveal?
FAHRENTHOLD: It is hard to tell. My conversations with them while helpful were rather brief and -- so I couldn`t tell you. I mean, I`m not sure that I even knew what it would become by the end of the day. And I am amazed to see how big a story it`s become so I couldn`t tell you if they did. Certainly they didn`t say anything like that at the time.
O`DONNELL: So it`s one of those things, David, where we have a right to feel like we have seen certain things like this in Donald Trump`s history. We -- certainly things like this have been reported about Donald Trump`s attitude. They have been in print. But we`ve never really -- we`ve never had video like this and it -- you were not sure whether that first Donald Trump`s response might just be what gets them through it, which is to say locker room banter and minimizing it. That is exactly the kind of response that the Donald Trump campaign had used in the past in situations that resembles this in certain ways. And so even you were surprised by where the story went from there.
FAHRENTHOLD: That`s right. I mean, the thing that sets this apart, there`s two things that set this apart from all the previous comments we`ve reported on the Trump statements about women. One is that it`s not -- it was not made publicly. This may sound odd that a lot of the other comments that we`ve heard were made on the Howard Stern show or on television, you know, at times, and everybody saw them. It`s kind of (INAUDIBLE) effect that someone would say publicly how bad could it really be. These are private comments. They`re comments that Trump made we know when he didn`t think anybody else was really listening. So that makes it inherently more interesting and I think will paint a more revealing picture of him.
The other thing that`s interesting about this, and I think it shades my view of both the apologies is that, what we`re talking about it here is not Trump -- just words, meaning it`s not just Trump saying, look at that lady, you know, she`s a 10, you know, she had beautiful legs. It`s not just a description. What Trump is saying is -- about his own reaction. He`s describing a few things that he had done in the past and will do in the future. Not just words but actions, it`s kissing women and groping them. That`s -- both these apologies deal with this as sort of words, like the wrong thing to say. It doesn`t really address this as an indicator of Trump`s actual conduct.
I was interested to see if in the second apology he would say, I know I said that I kiss women and groped them, but that was just a joke. I don`t really do that or didn`t really do that. And he doesn`t seem to address it as conduct. He sort of addressed it as speech, you know, improper speech in both cases.
O`DONNELL: Well, look, things he`s actually describing as part of his own conduct pattern including the specifics of that kind of grabbing that he describes, that I cannot even say on television.
[02:55:07] That is sexual assault. That is a classic description of sexual assault.
FAHRENTHOLD: So I think that`s what`s interesting to me is, you know, it would have been better for him, although he didn`t say it. You know, that`s not -- as I said, that`s not how I acted, I was making a joke, I was bragging to Billy Bush. I was not -- I was speaking in hyperbolic term. That it wasn`t actually the way that I acted toward women. And he did somewhat of an allusion to that in the second apology in which he said that`s not the man that I am, that`s not who I am. But there is no specific addressing of that. So I think that`ll be interesting to see if we find or don`t find women who knew Trump who will come forward now to say yes, this thing that he said he did, he did to me.
O`DONNELL: David, in campaigns as we`ve been discussing with Mike Murphy and others who`ve been in crisis meetings in campaigns, one of the questions when a disaster like this strike is one of the questions you asked the candidate is, how much more is out there, how much more might people find. And it seems Donald Trump`s answer would have to be, I don`t know because "Access Hollywood" is saying they have dozens and dozens of hours of video like this that they have never shown of people who Donald Trump and others have been involved in their programs.
What is your sense of the -- the likelihood of more such video from "Access Hollywood" or other sources like that emerging during this campaign?.
FAHRENTHOLD: It`s hard for me to judge. But I will say these two things. One, that there`s not -- there is no reason to believe that this ticket to "Access Hollywood" episode is something special, you know, they were going to meet this beautiful actress to go, you know, tour of a studio backdrop for "Days of Our Lives," the soap opera. But there`s nothing about it that says that this is something that Trump would never have done or seen every again. It seems like a very common sort of occasion. Trump has a lot of guest stars on a lot of things. So maybe there is, I don`t really know.
O`DONNELL: David Fahrenthold, thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it.
FAHRENTHOLD: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END