Trump Rips Clinton in Tweet, Still Silent on Moore; White House Questioned on Trump's Moore Silence, Franken Attacks, Hypocrisy on Sexual Misconduct Accusations Against Trump; Roy Moore Supporters Not Swayed by 8th Female Accuser
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Allegations of sexual assault or harassment still sending shockwaves from Washington to Gadsden, Alabama, to Minnesota, and beyond. Senator Al Franken apologizing for groping and kissing a woman without her consent in 2006 and facing an ethics probe now. An eighth accuser coming forward against Alabama Senate candidate, Roy Moore, and describing an encounter in his office back in 1991 when she was 28 years old.</s>TINA JOHNSON, ROY MOORE ACCUSER: The moment we walked in, it was full-on assault. I mean, he was very, very flirtatious. And commenting constantly the whole time, and it was not like for five minutes, it was like we were there for a long period of time. It was so uncomfortable. I knew something was up, but I just ignored it. Tried, you know -- just what it was. When it was time for us to leave, my mother had got up to go out the front door. When she was going out the door, I proceed out and he just grabbed me from behind on my buttocks and he just squeezed it really hard. I remember thinking I was so ashamed. I felt humiliated.</s>WHITFIELD: Meantime, President Trump is not commenting today on Roy Moore. But he is taking aim at Hillary Clinton again and blasting out this tweet: "Crooked Hillary Clinton is the worst and biggest loser of all time. She just can't stop, which is so good for the Republican Party. Hillary, get on with your life and give it another try in three years." So why did he do this? Well, because last night, in an interview with WABC Radio, Clinton spoke out about the sexual assault or harassment allegations against Roy Moore, Al Franken and President Trump. And she also talked about comparisons being made to her husband's scandals.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D), FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): When creditable allegations come forward, look at the contrast between Al Franken accepting responsibility, apologizing, and Roy Moore and Donald Trump who have done neither.</s>WHITFIELD: I want to bring in White House correspondent, Boris Sanchez. The president going after his favorite target.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. There was some infighting among Democrats after earlier this week, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said Bill Clinton should have resigned over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. And there was debate about whether or not lawmakers had the appropriate response to the allegations of sexual misconduct against the former president. An aid later clarified that the Senator, who actually replaced Hillary Clinton, meant to say, if these allegations had been levied against Bill Clinton in the current era, he would have been disqualified. But a lot of Democrats didn't take kindly take kind to that, including a long-time aide to Hillary Clinton, who tweeted that Gillibrand is a hypocrite after taking 20 years of endorsements and money from the Clintons. He said this was potentially a primary strategy for 2020. Hillary Clinton got personal last night on that radio interview that you played a clip from. She defended her husband, saying that he had been held accountable. Listen to this.</s>CLINTON (voice-over): This was a painful time, not only in our marriage but in our country, that I've written about. But it was investigated fully. It was addressed at the time. He was held accountable. That is very different than what people seem to be remembering from that period, because you can go back and look at the history.</s>SANCHEZ: And in that interview, she also said that she didn't -- could not believe that Donald Trump's presidency has turned out as bad as it has. So then you had that response from President Trump this morning. No public events on the schedule today, Fred. But the president is expected to head to Mar-a-Lago in just a few days for the holiday -- Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Boris Sanchez, thank you so much. The White House faced a slew of questions yesterday regarding President Trump's relative silence on Roy Moore, his attack on Al Franken, and the possible hypocrisy given more than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it also fair to investigate this president and the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by more than a dozen women?</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, I think that this was covered pretty extensively during the campaign. We addressed it then. The American people I think spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But how is this different?</s>SANDERS: I think in one case specifically Senator Franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn't.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said one of the ways that Alabama voters might be able to figure out if these allegations against Roy Moore are true is in the court of law, that's a direct quote from you. There's no criminal means by which that could happen. So are you suggesting that Roy Moore sue the accusers in order to hash this out in court?</s>SANDERS: That would be something that I refer to him to make that decision. That's not something I would be able to advise on.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But you said court of law?</s>SANDERS: I said that's one option, one way to determine that process. But that would be a decision that he would have to make. Certainly not one I'm going to make.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Because during the campaign as you well remember, then Candidate Trump said after the election he would sue all the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct and you from the podium deemed all liars. He hasn't done that. Why hasn't he done that?</s>SANDERS: I haven't asked him that question. I'd have to ask him and let you know why he hasn't chosen to take that path, essentially stating that's an option that Roy Moore has on the table. Jeff?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are some critics who said it was hypocritical of the president to tweet about Al Franken and not weigh in on Roy Moore?</s>SANDERS: He has weighed in on Roy Moore. He did it while he was on a foreign trip in Asia. I did it repeatedly yesterday. In fact, I took about 15 questions on that topic. And only one on Al Franken. So to suggest that this White House and specifically that this president hasn't weighed in is just inaccurate and wrong. He weighed in. He said, if the allegations are true, he should step aside. He also weighed in when he supported the RNC's decision to withdraw resources from the state of Alabama. It's just simply inaccurate statement to make about the president. Sara?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you tell us whether the president believes these women making allegations against Roy Moore and would he be willing to ask the Alabama governor to delay the election or take a step like that to try to intervene in this electoral process in Alabama?</s>SANDERS: The president certainly finds the allegations extremely troubling. As I stated yesterday. And he feels like it's up to the governor and the state, the people in the state of Alabama to make a determination on whether or not they'd delay the election or whether or not they support and vote for Roy Moore.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, the White House peppered with those questions back-to-back yesterday. Let's bring in my panel now. Amie Parnes is a CNN political analyst, and David Swerdlick is a CNN political commentator. Good to see you, both. Amie, you first. The president has opened himself up to scrutiny by weighing in on Franken, not really weighing in as extensively on Moore, and then also unleashing on Hillary Clinton now today. So can he escape not addressing the issue, the hypocrisy?</s>AMIE PARNES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think he can escape it. Because, first of all, the Alabama election won't happen for another few weeks. And so he will keep hearing questions from reporters on this I think almost daily. And I think if there is a huge cry of hypocrisy right now and that's what we're experiencing. A lot of Republicans are even saying why did he go there. But I think Trump, President Trump feels like he could because he got away with it. He kind of got through it during the 2016 election. People knew about all of this. They knew about the "Access Hollywood" tape. They knew about a dozen or so accusers. And they still voted for him and elected him president. He feels that he's in the right. That people believe him. The American public believed him. And that's why he continues to do this.</s>WHITFIELD: This was the ""Access Hollywood"" tape that people saw for the first time just a year ago. Let's look at it.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet.</s>WHITFIELD: So, David, the White House wants this to go away, doesn't want people to recall that was just -- almost exactly a year ago that everybody got to see that for the first time. But, you know, like Franken, I mean, the president admits to it. So what's different? How does the White House make a distinction that there is a difference?</s>DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, Fred, I think there's some differences and a lot of hypocrisy to go around. I agree with Amie that the White House is not going to be able to avoid these questions between now and December 12th when the Alabama Senate election is. At the same time, I don't think the questions is going to move the president or the White House off of their position because President Trump has shown a year ago in the "Access Hollywood" issue throughout the accusations against the president, throughout his comments that we all heard about Megyn Kelly, about other women, that the president is nearly impervious to being shamed about any of his reprehensible or inappropriate behavior. He admitted and apologized to having said those things that we all heard on the tape. He never admitted to and has refused to acknowledge any of the accusations of actions that he's taken from these many accusers and that is what the -- that's a thin nail to hang your hat on but that's what the White House is hanging on, and that's why Sarah Huckabee Sanders is saying all these women, even though the charges against other Democratic supporters are serious. The president is trying to have it both ways.</s>WHITFIELD: The president has been bashing Hillary Clinton this morning via Twitter, too. Perhaps he was inspired by Senator Gillibrand's comments as it pertained to, you know, former President Bill Clinton. This was Gillibrand.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER (voice-over): Is it your view that the President Clinton should have stepped down at that time, given the allegations?</s>SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, (D), NEW YORK (voice-over): Yes, I think that is the appropriate response. I think things have changed today. In light of this conversation, we should have a very different conversation about President Trump and a very different conversation about allegations against him.</s>WHITFIELD: Amie, Gillibrand's office has clarified that, you know, it was the context in which she was talking, you know, had something like this been happening today. Because the climate is different now. So the office tried to offer that clarity. But, you know, politically, has there been any damage done, so to speak, especially since Gillibrand benefited greatly from Clinton's support, taking seat of Hillary Clinton, you know, once Hillary was in the race. What are the political ramifications potentially from Gillibrand's comments?</s>PARNES: It's highly awkward for her because she did take Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. They know each other very well. I think the Clinton folks feel hurt by what she's said. The one thing it's done, fueled the fire on Republican's side. Republicans love this stuff. The one thing they love is talking about anything Clinton related. Enter Hillary Clinton, that's kind of fun for them. That's kind of a distraction from all the other noise that's happening. I think they'll continue to bring this up and use the Senator's words and say look, even she feels the need to bring this up. And, you know, maybe other Democrats feel the same way so it's kind of harping back to the Clinton days. It's the one foil that Republicans love, bill and Hillary Clinton.</s>WHITFIELD: Kind of hurtful to the Clintons there but, you know, hurtful in a different way potentially for Gillibrand who's seeking possibly higher office later?</s>SWERDLICK: Exactly, Fred, that's the thing. Even though there is hypocrisy around Senator Gillibrand's sort of shifting view of the Clintons or at least of former President Clinton, the reality is any Democrat who wants to run for president in 20, Democrats that want to retain their seats in Congress going forward are going to have to grapple with the President Clinton issue and get that out of the way. Whether or not they in the past overlooked President Clinton's allegations against President Clinton, they're not going to be able to in the future. Same with Vice President Biden. If he runs in 2020, he's going to be asked about the way he conducted the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings. The Republicans love to bring them up. If there's any doubt why Gillibrand is bringing it up, it's because they want to talk about it now, not talk about it in 2018, 2020 or beyond.</s>WHITFIELD: Something tells me it will still be talked about.</s>SWERDLICK: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: Can't avoid it at this point, right? Amie, David, thank you so much. Appreciate it.</s>WHITFIELD: Still ahead, congressional investigators are raising new questions and concerns about Jared Kushner. Why they're focusing on how forthcoming the president's son-in-law was about questions related to WikiLeaks.