Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20181016

Of attacking a womans appearance. Does well, she started it work between a president and a porn star . Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. Despite mass skepticism on capitol hill, President Trump seemed to take the saudi regime at its word again. Tweeting, quote, just spoke with the crown prince of saudi arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their tushish tons lot. He was with secretary of state mike pompeo during the call and told me he has already started and will rapidly start a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly. Then in an interview this afternoon, the president once again standing by saudi denials and lending credibility to their calls for an investigation into what democrats and republicans say the saudis likely ordered. It depends whether or not the king or the crown prince knew about it, in my opinion. Number one, what happened. But whether or not they knew about it. If they knew about it, that would be bad. But the president does not seem to think that they knew about it. A Senior National security adviser to the president told cnn that trumps response to the apparent murder and dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, quote, may be the most controversial decision of his presidency. The relationship between the two world powers is at a major crossroads. Pompeo was all smiles before the cameras today while meeting with crown prince muhammad bin salman or mbs, whom today has been defended by the president and his administration. This all comes as we await a report from the saudi regime. The two sources tell cnn, will admit khashoggi was killed by saudis. That report which is still being drafted may claim that the death happened during a botched interrogation carried out by individuals who supposedly did not have the clearance to conduct the operation. We have the story covered from right here in washington all the way to the saudi capital of riyadh. Lets go to Barbara Starr at the pentagon. Barbara, secretary pompeo was in the air for half a day for two meetings that were pretty brief. Brief indeed, jake. Now, supposedly, in his meeting with the crown prince, the two men agreed to a transparent investigation. And you are right. There are a lot of skeptics about whether that is even possible. On the lastminute mission to find out if saudi arabia ordered the killing of a Washington Post journalist, secretary of state mike pompeo was all smiles and seemingly jovial as he greeted Saudi Crown Prince, muhammad bin salman, the man increasingly suspected of masterminding the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi at the saudi consulate in turkey. Both men claplaying the diploma card. Thank you for hosting. Reporter pompeo held a brief first meeting with the elderly king salman, and then the crown prince, the de facto ruler of the kingdom. Pompeo flew over 12 hours for less than one hour of discussions. The state department called the Meetings Direct and candid. In private, he has got to impose the reality on the kingdoms leadership that this is incredibly serious issue. Reporter the president now tweeting, he spoke with the crown prince who denied any knowledge of the killing. Trump taking his word that he has already started and will rapidly expand a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly. How President Trump holds saudi arabia accountable may be the most consequential decision of his presidency, a Senior Adviser to the president tells cnn. The Vice President seeming to understand that. Its important that the world know the truth. If, in fact, mr. Khashoggi was murdered, we need to know who was responsible. We need to hold those responsible. Reporter but so far, mr. Trump is not willing to directly point the finger at saudi leaders. Wanting not to give up what he claims will be a 110 billion u. S. Arms deal. That hurts our workers. That hurts our factories. That hurts all of our companies. Youre talking about 500,000 jobs. Reporter republicans disagree. There isnt enough money in the world to purchase back our credibility on human rights and the way nations should conduct themselves. Reporter back at the saudi consulate in istanbul where khashoggi was last seen, turkish investigators searched the compound for nine hours, looking into clues that toxic materials were there and painted over in the two weeks since khashoggi disappeared. And tomorrow mike pompeo is scheduled to be in turkey for meetings with officials there to try and learn more about what happened in that country. Jake . Barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks so much. Cnn Senior International correspondent, sam kiley, is on the ground in riyadh, saudi arabia. And sam, even if President Trump believes the denials, democrats and republicans on capitol hill are not buying it. Is there any concern in saudi arabia about possible u. S. Government retaliation . Reporter yeah, there is inevitably, jake. There are two major concerns. There is the place of saudi arabia in the wider world, possible retaliation from the United States could easily take the form of restricting access to ammunition supplies for the war in the yemen, which in any case is controversial and highly unpopular, even among the population here, jake. And on top of that, talking of the domestic population, there is a strong sense that if this incident did happen, and many people dont believe that it did. But if the evidence comes out that it did happen, that that is a national shame, and that will put pressure internally on mbs, muhammad bin salman, the crown prince to and those around him, to try to somehow restructure the whole saudi royal family and the ruling elements that at the moment have been really heavily concentrated in his hands over the last couple of years, jake. Sam kiley in riyadh, thank you so much. Joining me now is the top democrat on the Senate Intelligence committee, vice chairman mark warner from virginia. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. President trump just tweeted that he spoke with crown prince muhammad bin salman, and that the saudis deny any involvement, any knowledge of the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi and that the saudis are vowing a full investigation. Do you trust the saudis on this . I dont think i trust the saudis on this, because i dont think theyve been very forthcoming. I also want to make sure that we get whatever evidence that the turkish government may have. I think there needs to be a fullfledged international investigation. And it appears to me that the saudi story, even in the last 24 hours, has been changing to where they may be acknowledging that the journalist, khashoggi, was murdered but somehow presenting the notion that it was rogue elements. I mean, come on, jake. This is actually not some dark room or off some dark, deserted road. This is inside the saudi consulate. And 15 individuals coming over from saudi arabia for what at least appears to be one task only and that was the elimination of mr. Khashoggi. So youre the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence committee. Have you seen intelligence about this, and if so, what can you tell us about it . Im not going to speak to any of the classified information that i may have seen. I do know that i think our government is gathering that information, and well be briefed appropriately. But this is clearly a case where it appears, and i think a lot of us had hopes that mbs, the crown prince of saudi arabia, might be moving towards liberalizing his nation, allowing more rights of women. But we have seen now a repeated pattern. Not only in terms of mr. Khashoggi, but earlier, just this past year, where mbs basically imprisoned hundreds of his relatives to extract payments from them, where they held hostage the lebanese prime minister. Even stories about mbs kind of restraining his mother in the basement. There seems to be, unfortunately, a pattern here that is reminiscent of the old authoritarian saudi governments. So i want to get to mbs in a second. But lets talk for a second, if we can, about the meeting between secretary of state pompeo and the leadership of saudi arabia. They seem to be all smiles in front of the camera. Are you confident that behind the scenes secretary pompeo delivered a tough message on behalf of President Trump in the u. S. . Well, im not going to criticize secretary pompeo for the public footage. I do wonder what appears to have been only with the king, at least, a 10 or 15minute meeting, whether he fully represented the extent maybe the president doesnt feel, but i can assure you that broadlybased bipartisan feeling here in the senate is if this journalist, who had been living in virginia, in my state, was murdered in this heinous way inside the saudi consulate, there needs to be consequences. Because our government this is more than an economic deal, which is the way the president seems to reduce any of these into some kind of monetary exchange. You know, our government has stood for a free press. We have stood for human rights. This president hasnt been willing to voice those kind of feelings, but clearly theres a broad base of bipartisan senators who will try to hold the saudi government accountable, if this all proves to be the case. A turkish official told cnn today khashoggis body was chopped up. Is that true . And how much stock do you put in reports from the turks . Well, jake, weve heard again, published reports that the turks may have either audio or visual videos. Im not aware whether that is true or not. But there have been public reports. I would hope that if the turkish government did have that kind of evidence, that in an appropriate way they would make that present that to the international community. Obviously, including our government. This administration has embraced crown prince muhammad bin salman, or mbs, as hes known. And as you note, hes gone after critics, gone after internal dissidents. Take a listen to your colleague, republican senator, lindsey graham, earlier today. The mbs figure is to me toxic. He can never be a world leader on the world stage. This is in our face. I feel personally offended. They have nothing but contempt for us. This guy has got to go. Sorry, arabia, if youre listening. There are a lot of good people you can choose, but mbs has tainted your country and tainted himself. Senator warren, do you agree, mbs has got to go . First of all, i think we need to get all of the facts out before we reach a final conclusion. But the behavior of the saudi officials does not inspire any confidence. If the turks have this evidence, it ought to be brought forward. But i also hope for my republican colleagues an indication that the president of the United States, who speaks up for our values, which is respect for a free press, which is respect for human rights, needs to be willing to speak out more strongly than he has. And quite honestly, this is more than an economic transaction between our arm sales and the saudis. Listen, the saudis are an important partner in many ways and a very dangerous neighborhood. But this kind of behavior should not be allowed on the international scene. Sources tell cnn that saudi arabia is preparing to say that khashoggi was killed during a botched interrogation and the whole operation was carried out by individuals without the clearance to do so. What are the odds . Whats the percentage that this happened with Saudi King Salman or mbs not knowing about it or not authorizing it . Jake, weve seen visual evidence and the turks have reported 15 saudi agents flying in to istanbul, going to the consulate, which is my understanding, plenty of saudi diplomats are there. And then coming out and within a 24 hour period leaving the country. Again, thats a large group of individuals coming in. This was not some dark alley. This was inside the saudi consulate. Its strains any credibility that somehow the leadership of the saudi regime, which is so authoritarian, wouldnt have knowledge of these actions. Senator mark warner, vice chair of the intelligence committee, thanks for your time, sir. Thank you, jake. Oil, bombs, billions. How saudi arabia shapes u. S. Policy, and may be able to get away with murder. Thats next. And throwing slime on executive time. While President Trump faces a tremendous decision on saudi arabia, he decides to call Stormy Daniels a, quote, horse face on twitter. And stormy isnt staying silent, either. Stay with us. music throughout than psoriatic arthritis. As you and your rheumatologist consider treatments, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a once daily pill for psoriatic arthritis. Taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can reduce joint pain. Swelling and significantly improve physical function. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests, and cholesterol levels have happened. 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In our money lead, President Trump is now trying to distance himself from any financial ties to saudi arabia, tweeting today, quote, for the record, i have no financial interests in saudi arabia or russia, for that matter. Any suggestion that i have is just more fake news of which there is plenty. Youll notice the specific language there. The president said he has no financial interest in saudi arabia, which, of course, does not mean he doesnt have saudi financial interests in the United States. Which he bragged about on the campaign trail. Saudi arabia and i get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me, spend 40 million, 50 million. Am i supposed to dislike them . I like them very much. Of course, the u. S. Looking the other way long predated khashoggi or President Trump. If youre wondering why saudi arabia has been able to get away with it for so long, well, just follow the money. Mr. President , you may not have financial interests in saudi arabia, but you certainly have them with saudi arabia. In fact, financially driven friendships have fueled saudis influence in washington for decades. Lining pockets of republicans and democrats alike from k street to capitol hill and beyond. They have lobbyists that will contact your member of congress on the hill. They have Public Relations firms that will contact big Media Outlets on their behalf. So wherever they need influence, they have it. Asher shapiro from the committee to protect journalists named names, tweeting out registration records from hp goldfield from a former staffer for democratic senator bob menendez and bob coleman, a republican from minnesota turned lobbyist, among others. Just before President Trump visited the kingdom last year, the saudi government hired three u. S. Lobbying firms near the white house, one made up of former trump advisers, receiving annual compensation of 5. 4 million, according to federal records. One of those goals is to make sure that arms sales keep flowing from the u. S. To saudi arabia. Another is to make sure that the u. S. Turns a blind eye to a lot of civilian casualties being experienced in the war in yemen. Other issues include domestic human rights issues in saudi arabia. They want u. S. Policy makers to turn a blind eye to. Of course, its not just the government. Its the president s private businesses, as well. Saudi arabia and i get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me, they spend 40 million. 50 million. Am i supposed to dislike them . I like them very much. Now relationships with one of the Worlds Largest Oil Suppliers are being put to the test. As, sources say, the regime prepares to acknowledge Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi was killed in turkey. Saudi officials will continue to come to the United States and they have plenty of places to stay. The saudi government purchased the 45th floor of trump tower back in 2001 for 4. 5 million. Although more recently, saudi lobbying firms spent more than a quarter Million Dollars at the trump hotel on pennsylvania avenue in washington, d. C. The road to the white house, after all, is familiar territory for the royal family. We found in our research that the saudis do a great job of hiring lobbyists who make Campaign Contributions to people who can get things done they need to get done. In fact, we found several instances where lobbyists made Campaign Contributions to folks on the exact same day they were contacted by a saudi lobbyist. Lets talk about it with my experts. And mona, let me start with you. This doesnt take into account the lobbying from the defense contractors who sell arms to countries like the saudis. But it really is remarkable how wired they have this town. Look, the world is full of bad actors and sometimes you have to deal with them and thats the world we live in. But what isnt acceptable is an attempt to white wash what they are, an attempt to let them off the hook. And this case was so flagrant. To kill a u. S. Resident, a contributor to the Washington Post in the consulate that way, it was a reckless thing to do and it was something that cried out for a little bit of moral leadership and taking a stand by the president. And thats whats missing. You know, their hooks into washington are not new. Its been going on a long time. So you ask yourself, what changed that made them feel they could do something this egregious and get away with it. You have to point out, the change is we have a president who will not talk about human rights, who is utterly transactional in his view of every Foreign Policy relationship in every possible level. And i think, you know, its hard to avoid the conclusion that they felt emboldened by the way donald trump has talked about the way nations behave in the world. You also have a new crown prince. On the other end. Who may be more reckless himself. Exactly. Two more lobbying firms announced theyre stopping work on behalf of saudi arabia. Cnn confirmed the park group. The Washington Post reports that republicanfunded lobbying group bgr is following suit. Is this are they just now waking up to what the saudis are . Or what is they did not know that they were not human rights supporters . I think thats the problem with this. Is that, yes, this is egregious. And i do think when there is an attack on a journalist, it also is a different kind of attack. It takes on a more political flavor in the sense that, you know, journalists are protecting us by their coverage in a particular this journalist was. But the reality is, theyre abusing the people that live under them every single day. They do public executions, 47 people in one day. There is a lot of alarming things going on in that country. And it seems like until it gets on to the international stage, people can kind of look the other way and say, well, you know, we have to do business with them. But, you know, the u. S. Government has to do business with them. Business people dont have to do business with them. Pr firms have to do business. Yeah, theres no we have to. I mean, we have a you know, air force base there. We do rely on them. There are some reasons to have a relationship with them. If youre a pr firm, you dont have to do this. So the state department after the meeting with mike pompeo with Saudi Crown Prince today put out a description of their conversations. The secretary welcomed saudi arabias support of the turkish authoritys investigation. The secretary and the crown prince agreed on the importance of a thorough, transparent and timely investigation that provides answers. Okay. Thorough, transparent we know they have had cleaning crews and apparently painters go in. And timely. This took place two weeks ago. The first 48 is a show that basically shows Police Officers trying to discover who the perpetrator is behind a crime a murderer in the first 48 hours. Now were in the first two weeks right now. Its almost blatant what we have seen the saudis do. They sent a cleaning crew in, in front of cameras. It was basically they were flipping the middle finger at the world, saying were going to do what we want to do. But i do think, to add to what ron had said earlier, the idea that President Trump hasnt acted in a way that he should. Look at what we have seen happen in the philippines. Look at what we have seen happen in turkey in and of itself. Look at what we have seen happen in russia, and now we have seen this journalist killed now. I dont think we would see it to this level, certainly not this publicized, if donald trump didnt attack the media day in and day out. Well, with all due respect, and im not shy about criticizing President Trump, and i dont approve of the way he sent signals that this kind of thing is okay. At the same time, he didnt create duterte. It predated him. The same thing with the other countries you mentioned. Certainly putin. So its a little bit yeah. They feel, i think, they have more room to move. But look at his quote about putin on 60 minutes, hes not doing it here. Everybody stick around. President trump doing, sadly, what President Trump does, insulting a womans appearance and the vicious attack on Stormy Daniels, wasnt his only moment of twitter rage today. Stay with us. Your company is constantly evolving. And the decisions you make have far reaching implications. The right relationship with a Corporate Bank who understands your industry and your world can help you make well informed choices and stay ahead of opportunities. Pnc brings you the resources of one of the nations largest banks, and a local approach with a focus on customized insights. So you and your company are ready for today. On table ten. Hed be proud of us. A Family Business should stay in the family. See how lincolns Insurance Solutions can help protect your family, your business and everyone who counts on you, at lincolnfinancial. Com while the world waits to see whether President Trump will have a forceful response to the apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the saudis, President Trump has no problem taking on battles here at home, usually using some particularly ugly language. For instance, he took aim at porn star Stormy Daniels, to whom he paid hush money positto quiet about their alleged relationship. The president of the United States this afternoon called her, quote, horse face. The porn star responded with a tweet insult that was quite literally below the belt. Yes. This is the news. Cnn, jeff zeleny is at the white house. And jeff, is the white house spinning in any way that the president of the United States attacking a porn star, calling her a horse face, a woman with whom he allegedly slept right after First Lady Melania Trump gave birth to their son, are they try to spin this as some sort of brilliant, shrewd politics . Reporter jake, the white house isnt trying to talk about it. Many aides simply did not want to address the question of horse face. Perhaps thats because its three weeks to the day before the midterm elections, one of the central challenges for republicans, women voters in the suburbs. Thats the key to holding on to the house of representatives. Now, all of this is coming as the president had no events on his public schedule today, leaving him plenty of time to tweet you will havulgarities an. Famous for his insulting nicknames, President Trump coined a new one today. After a defamation suit filed against him by porn star Stormy Daniels was dismissed. Now i can go after horse face and her thirdrate lawyer, the president said on twitter. She knows nothing about me. A total con. Never mind the president s longtime lawyer, michael cohen, has pleaded guilty to tax fraud and violating Campaign Finance laws. For arranging a sixfigure settlement to keep her and another woman quiet during the final days of the 2016 campaign. I was bullied. Daniels, whose real name is stephanie clifford, fired back. In addition to his,um, sho shortcomings, he has demonstrated his incompetencies, hatred of women and went on to call him tiny. Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti added, youre a disgusting misogynist and an embarrassment to the United States. Pocahontas reporter its only the latest example of the president aggressively and personally attacking women. Todays list once again includes senator elizabeth warren. Pocahontas, the bad version, sometimes referred to as elizabeth warren, is getting slammed, the president wrote today. In the first of three tweets at the massachusetts democrat, who hopes to unseat him in 2020. The president belittling warrens video she released monday, trying to prove her native american heritage. They will call us every ugly name in the book. Reporter after making a pledge earlier this year i will give you a Million Dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by trump, if you take the test and it shows youre an indian. Reporter the president now saying he wont contribute a dime. I was going to have her tested. Ill only do it if i can test her personally. Okay . That will not be something i enjoy doing, either. Reporter that drawing a sharp response from warren, calling his comment a creepy physical threat. She added, hes trying to do what he always does to women who scare him, call us names, attack us personally, shrink us down to feel better about himself. It may serve his ego, but it wont work. Jake, that is an open question whether its going to work or not. The president was elected after a long string of similar comments during his president ial campaign before he became a politician running for office. So for all of the vulgarities weve seen on twitter, unclear if it will work or not. But there is a sense of unease. They wish the president would stick to issues, other things. Again, three weeks today before the midterm elections. Jeff zeleny at the white house for us. Thanks so much. And as jeff just alluded, there is a long history President Trump has of going after women for their appearance. Lets just take a little sampler. Just a teeny little sampler of some of these remarks. Youve called women you dont like fat pigs. Dogs. Slobs. And disgusting animals. Your twitter account only rosie odonnell. You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, donald trump said the following about you, quote, look at that face. Would anyone vote for that. Can you imagine that, the face of our next president. When youre a star, you can do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the [ bleep ]. She would not be my first choice. That i can tell you. Man those, of course, are just the Public Comments that we know. Mark preston, there is an electoral part of this, which is, yes, he said those things and he got elected, even though he lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. Women are important voters, especially republican women, this election, and to call Stormy Daniels horse face, that reminds women of this. Can you imagine being a republican woman candidate right now, at an event and being asked by the local reporter what they think of President Trumps comments about Stormy Daniels, specifically reciting that to her . I cant imagine that any republican woman is going to say, you know what . I think that hes right. I mean, this is the kind of thing that has caused an incredible amount of heart ache and heartburn amongst republicans, because they see this as an opportunity they could have used to build upon the successes they have had, except the president as you have said in the past, the president sometimes cant get out of his own way. Hes unable to take a win and to move forward. The last couple of years, if he had played this right, republicans would have been in a lot better electoral positioning than they are right now. The judge handed him a victory with Stormy Daniels. That is the most amazing thing. He could have said, story over, this lowlife should know. Im getting to sound this person this person sued me, its been thrown out, there was nothing to it. Were moving on. And everybody would have applauded. All of his supporters. And even his opponents would have thought, fair enough. And that would have been the end of the story. He completely reversed it, and now its a problem for him. But it is consistent. Everything that trump does is about feeding the sense of grievance among his base and creating an endless succession of cultural conflicts that he manufacturers to kind of keep them stoked. It is wrong to say there is no cost to that. Democrats are on track to win 60 or more of collegeeducated white women, which would be the most they have ever won in a midterm election. Their performance even among blue collar white women is sub par, relative to what it has been. So there is some cost. But its also true that there are a lot there have been a lot of women who are uneasy, for example, about changing gender roles and that they are, you know, many of them, Trump Supporters of t supporters. So this is consistent with his vision, and the republican vision of the midterm, which is were going to polarize, turn out our base and in the process take some of these redleaning areas and make it tougher for democrats. The flip side of that is very real, which is that these white collar suburban areas, when youre looking at votes among college women, its tougher than ever, and this makes it even harder. And the thing is, even though you have people who have worked for President Trump, women, kellyanne conway, nikki haley, talking about how great a boss he is, how supportive he is of women in the workplace, there is also this part of him that talks about women as if they are chattel, property. We only know Stormy Daniels, because he allegedly slept with her. By the way, right after melania had their son together. So i dont understand the thinking, if there is any, about even bringing this up. Well, i think its i actually think its exactly what ron just said. Its purposeful. I think its purposeful for his base. That there are look, there are a lot of women, a lot of republican women, frankly, even educated republican women in this city who cheered him attacking Christine Blasey ford. Who you know, and at a minimum, if they werent cheering it, actually saying, im okay with it. I think its fine. So i think that there is a different dynamic there. But i think with his particular base, i just dont think the namecalling thing is an issue, whether hes doing it against women or somebody else. If it was, he wouldnt be president. No conservative selfrespecting conservative can look at this and say, its great our president slept with a porn star and is engaging in an insult contest with her. Well, were Getting Supreme Court appointments, were getting wins, were going to ignore this. Thats exactly what it is. The end justifies the means. And the one means in this is abortion in the supreme court. That is it. They have sold they have sold Everything Else through the christian conservatives, evangelicals who talked about this high moral ground for many years. I disagree a little, guys. That is it for the conservative elite in the senate and so forth. Thats not only whats it for part of his base. The fight is the point. The idea that President Trump is standing up for all of them against all of the institutions that they think look down on them. Like those porn stars. But its the big media elite or the big, you know, coastal elites. And what he basically does is i mean, you know, you talked about the Christine Blasey ford. He constantly shatters these norms. The norm shattering is the point. It basically says to them he has been willing to do things no one has been willing to do on their behalf. I have seen things on twitter, this is just anecdotal, basically like i think its awesome that President Trump sleeps with hot chicks. Im paraphrasing. Look at karen mcdougal. Look at Stormy Daniels. Thats awesome. Thats righteous righteous probably isnt im dating myself a little. But theyre happy about it. The bigger issue is trying to understand the split with the women. If you were to see a difference between liberal women and conservative women, they have a very different view of whats happening in this country. And so, you know, even educated, conservative women look at Something Like the Christine Blasey ford situation and they see it totally differently, including very smart, nice people that i know. So i think that there is, you know, maybe they dont like the namecalling, but they dont really have a problem with him attacking women. To your point, the polling is very clear that the women who voted for trump have a much dimmer view the way gender relations are changing and the role of women in society is changing. Very interesting. Exactly three weeks away from election day, a brandnew poll out of texas with one number that might worry democrats nationwide. Stay with us. R transplant, it could cost you your life. Its time to get out of line with upmc. At upmc, livingdonor transplants put you first. So you dont die waiting. Upmc does more livingdonor liver transplants than any other center in the nation. Find out more and get out of line today. Nothings more important than a good bedside manner. I dont know how to say this. Its okay, doc. Give it to me straight. No, you dont understand, i dont know how to say this. Im just a tv doctor. They also know you should get your annual checkup. It could save your life. Schedule a checkup with your doctor, know your four health numbers, and start taking control of your health today. Cigna. Together, all the way. Were back with the lead and a showdown tonight in the lone star state. Republican senator ted cruz will debate his democratic challenger, representative beto orourke. And what is easily one of the marquis midterm races in the country comes on the heels of a brandnew cnn poll that shows cruz has a sevenpoint lead over orourke, despite orourke breaking fundraising records and bringing in more than triple what cruz did in the third quarter. Lets talk about it with the experts. Are republicans happy, sevenpoint lead, three weeks out . Is that good enough . Theyre happy about that and also happy about the fact that democrats are spending apparently 38 million in a race that their overwhelmingly likely to lose. And look, it isnt just the money that its going to be the determining factor. Obviously, if it were, orourke would win. But to rely theyre relying on a new texas that has, you know, a lot of minority voters who are going to turn out. They havent yet in offyear elections. You know, minority voters just dont seem to get to the polls in off years. So it doesnt look good for orourke. And theres another piece, right, which is we talked about earlier segments, that the core of the republican vulnerability is the movement away from them in whitecollar suburbs elsewhere in the country. The Southern Suburbs are just harder. Their different. In texas, orourke has stalled out, doing better than previous democrats among collegeeducated white voters but stalled out around 40 , and in this poll only at 36 among them. Whereas in many of these northern suburbs, youre seeing democrats up into the mid 50s, which is why there are so many republicans at risk in the white collar house seats. But in texas, in these Southern Suburbs, ill plug my cnn. Com piece, he talks about this. It is tougher, and youre going to see that in georgia, as well. Its still more conservative, particularly on social issues, and unless he can get that into the mid 40s, even if he solves the minority turnout problem, you still dont have quite enough critical mass. Ive seen republican mischiefmakers on twitter pushing beto orourke. Send your money to beto orourke so they dont send money to Claire Mccaskill or jackie rosen in nevada. Right. I think that beto is an extremely talented politician. And if he doesnt win in texas, which is the general consensus, that its very unlikely. Obviously, it would be a huge upset. I still think he has done something good. I think that he, you know, went into a situation where he wasnt expected to win, but he is trying to make changes in texas. I think hes energized a lot of people. And i think he is a leader for the future, and i think he is set up. I know there is a idea that you cant lose and go and run for president or other things. I disagree with that. Because he didnt lose in new jersey. He lost in texas, which is a very different thing. Abe lincoln did it. One precedent. You think he can run for president if he doesnt win the senate race . A couple things. One is, we have him at seven points in our poll, basically tracking with what were seeing with other polls. I think by election day, given the enthusiasm they talk about a democratic turnout, youre going to see that shrink a little bit. This is actually right i mean, the fact is, it would be quite a win for beto orourke to take a red state blue so quickly. Could he run for president afterwards . Look, donald trump is president of the United States. We can just stop right there. Can i quote one other number . Whoa, but just very important. What he could have done is beto orourkes candidacy, even if he does lose, could have accelerated texas turning blue a little bit quicker than what demographics we think is going to happen. When he does score the upset, he is a certain candidate. One other point. In that poll, essentially 90 of the people who approved for trump said they were voting for cruz. Thats what we are seeing in national polling. The high end of what we have seen nationally. And its why on the one hand you have the election moving in two Different Directions at once. The red state senate races. But democrats looking stronger in these kind of inner suburbs, white collar suburbs. The relationship that the extent to which this is a referendum on the president and a National Parliamentary election in which the individuals are receding and the question of which party you want to reward is rising, i think will reach an alltime peak this year. And speaking of that, a new abc news Washington Post poll highlights the tale of two americas. On the one hand, democrats have an 11point advantage in the generic ballot for the house. But when you look at the look, 53 to 42 . Big momentum for democrats. But when you isolate the 68 races that this poll identifies as tossups, that lead evaporates and becomes a onepoint advantage for republicans, essentially a tossup. So republicans losing the house is not necessarily a done deal. No, its not a done deal. And i think it certainly goes to what ron wrote for cnn. Com. The idea that every suburb of every metropolis is monolithic and all going to come out for democrats is not the case. The suburbs of washington, d. C. Are going to be a lot different than the suburbs of houston, a lot different than the suburbs of, say, santa fe. That is true. I think if youve got money and youve got to place a bet, youre going to place it on democrats taking back the house. We dont know what its going to be, though. And of the 28 house races that cnn defines as tossups, Democratic Candidates raised 70 million last quarter. More than triple the 21. 4 million collected by the same republicans in the same contest. Theres a big financial advantage for democrats. Theres no question that the democrats are jazzed. And they cannot wait they will clean the old cliche, drag themselves over cut glass to vote this time. The question is whether the republicans will be equally energized, whether there was a kavanaugh bump, for example, which some people think is actually illusory. The republicans turn up in midterm elections. And so theyre probably they were probably already going to, and the question is democratic enthusiasm. And a reminder, cnns dana bash will moderate the Texas Senate Town Hall thursday night on cnn. A similar invitation was made to ted cruz. New troubling fallout from President Trumps tax cuts. It looks like the tea party is over. Stay with us. Is mealtime a struggle . Introducing oreida potato pay. Where oreida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this. With this. When kids wont eat dinner, potato pay them to. Oreida. Win at mealtime. Potato pay them to. You dont always use your smartphone for directions. Are we there yet . Hey guys, up there. Or to laugh out loud. But when it matters most, you count on tracfone to keep you connected for less. Our smartphone plan gives you talk, text and data with unlimited carryover starting at 15 a month, no contract. All with nationwide 4g lte coverage. Get top smartphones or bring your own phone. Tracfone. For moments that matter. In our money lead today, the Republican Party touting a strong stock market, despite a bit of a roller coaster ride for the dow this month. The dow up 547 points today as stocks recover from last week. But republican rallying cries against the deficit and the National Debt that once brought the tea party to power seem to have been, shall we say, decaffeinated since Obama Left Office with fresh news from the Treasury Department that the annual deficit will be jumping up 17 , just shy of 800 billion for this fiscal year, a level we havent seen since 2012. Alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. Where are the tea partyists now . Reporter not seeing that. I saw a lot of smiles today as the dow jumped 548 points, had its best point and percentage day for one day since march 26th. Look, the economy is strong, it is growing, and usually in boom times, usually see deficits shrink, because the government takes in more money via taxpayers. But in this case, the government is spending more, because of the tax reform from President Trump. The government is spending more than its taking in, and its really racking up those bills. And the government is actually running the largest budget deficit in six years. But that not rattling the markets today with the dow ending higher by 548 points. Jake . Alison kosik at the stock exchange. When republicans were selling the American People on the tax cut bill, they assured the American People the 1. 5 trillion in cuts would pay for itself. Take a listen. Yeah, im totally confident this is a revenueneutral bill. I think its going to be a revenue producer. As we have said over and over and over again, the 1. 5 trillion deficit only to be filled, only requires us to grow. 4 of 1 over the next ten years. Goodness gracious. Thats very much achievable. But this morning, a new tone from majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. Its very disturbing, and its driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular, medicare, Social Security and medicaid. Thats 70 of hopefully, at some point here well get serious about this. We havent been yet. This is what democrats, mark, said all along. Theyre going to pass this tax cut, which is going to set the deficit up to even higher levels, hundreds of billions of dollars more, trill jobs more in the longterm and come for medicare, medicaid, Social Security, et cetera. So as you come to me, im writing this down. I have Great Respect for Mitch Mcconnell. I think that he will go down in history as a great legislator, whether you like his policies or not. But to go out and say that medicare, medicaid and Social Security are very popular programs, as its a program that you kind of might want to opt into, these are programs that are required. Theyre required for the poor, theyre required for the elderly, and quite frankly, were all paying into it right now. Something has to be done to these entitlement programs. But when youre in power in congress and you have the power to do tax cuts and spending, you dont necessarily want to cut these entitlements. Look, it is ive got to think that sound bite is going to go almost directly into democratic what are democrats running on in this election . Two things. The attempt to repeal the Affordable Care act and second, the argument that the republican tax cut will eventually require them to go after medicare, Social Security and medicate. Now you have Mitch Mcconnell joining paul ryan and larry kudlow and basically saying, hey, youre right. This is what we do plan to do. Its a strange moment of unforced error for the Senate Majority leader this close to the election. There is no indication that President Trump has any interest in signing any legislation that would reform these social safety net or entitlement programs. He told paul ryan years ago, its horrible politics, why would you want to do it . He ran on that. And so he has a mandate not to touch these programs. Look, you know, this is one of the great betrayals of the ruling class, if you will, or the people in power, and also of the American People who just dont want to grapple with the fact that you cannot incessantly spend more than you take in, and weve told everybody this really adorable fib that youre only getting back from Social Security what you put in. Thats a lie. Thats a total lie. The only way to politically do that, you add 40 million more seniors and you have to control the spending on entitlements. But to then cut taxes no, i agree. I agree. There should have they should have done both. They should have had spending cuts and tax cuts. But tax cuts. Tax cuts. Theyre not going to do spending cuts and tax cuts. When we were talking about the tea party a few days ago, i was saying i dont like when they call anyone a mob, whether its tea party or liberal protesters, whatever. But where is the tea party . Where are they . Not like youre the spokesperson. Yeah. No, i think that this is what we see a lot, is that people get very fired up about issues when the person in power is somebody they dont like, and theyre obsessed with it. And then when somebody who they like comes into power, they suddenly arent interested. And what it shows, they were really never serious about it. Thanks for being here. Follow me on facebook and twitter at jake tapper. Tweet the show at the lead cnn. Our coverage continues right now. Thanks for watching. Happening now, breaking news. Smiles and denials. Secretary of state mike pompeo and saudi rulers flash smiles during meetings in the disappearance of u. S. Based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, allegedly killed inside the consulate in istanbul. Pru President Trump says he denies it. A turkish official says khashoggis body was dismembered after he was killed. As others provide cnn with passport scans of alleged members of a saudi hit