Newt Gingrich Battles Megyn Kelly on Fox News
ASHER: And tensions are simmering in Venezuela a day after the opposition voted to put President Nicolas Maduro on trial. These are anti- government protests in Caracas. Other protests are happening all across the nation. Smaller pro-government rallies are also popping up as well. CNN's Shasta Darlington is following the latest developments in Venezuela from Brazil. She joins us live now. So, Shasta, is there any fears that these protests could turn seriously violent?</s>SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's what everybody is watching to see, Zain. As you said, Venezuelans are also taking to the streets in what are expected to be massive demonstrations across the country, but the biggest ones in Caracas, these are aimed at the embattled President Nicolas Maduro. The protesters say they have had some difficulty getting to the protests because ten subway stations have been closed, other roads have been closed off. But they're calling this the take back Venezuela day. They really want to show that they are determined to have President Maduro removed from office and their anger grew when the government blocked efforts to hold a nationwide referendum that might have had him voted out of office this year. According to polls, 80 percent of Venezuelans think that he should step down and yet last week the government blocked their efforts to try to have this done through a plebiscite. So now the fury of the opposition is just taking off and we're seeing it not only in the streets, but also in the national assembly which is controlled by opposition lawmakers. And that's why we saw them voting last night to launch proceedings against Maduro to see is this is a way they could have him removed from office. The problem there of course, it's more of a symbolic gesture given that in the end it's the supreme court which supports the government that would have the final say. So there's a lot at play here today. One of the concerns is that you could have clashes between pro-government and anti-government demonstrations. There is also a significant security presence around the presidential offices, because the opposition protesters said they are going to try and march on his offices. So these are all areas where there is concern there could be clashes, there could be violence, that certainly wouldn't be the first time. But then there is just the underlying situation of desperation. This is the third year of a crippling recession in Venezuela with the worst inflation in the world, with shortages of even the most basic foods and medicines that have sent thousands of Venezuelans pouring across the borders into Colombia and Brazil. And the question, you know, how long can they put up with this. And obviously the demonstration today is one way for them to show they just won't take it anymore, but it isn't clear where this will go in the end, Zain.</s>ASHER: Shasta, in the short term, though, President Nicholas Maduro is likely to cling on to power, because his supporters control the supreme court, as you mentioned. But he is still calling this a parliamentary coup. And I'm just wondering how is he going to respond to the mounting pressure for him to step down?</s>DARLINGTON: There are a number of different tactics. One thing we've seen, for example, the Vatican has now offered to mediate talks between the government and the on opposition. This happened Pope Francis himself received Maduro earlier this week. They say they're looking for some type of national conciliation, and so the government is jumping on that yes, we'll have this national dialogue. Well, we'll reach some agreements. The problem is, of course, a lot of opposition leaders are saying we want anything do with this. We've seen this before. This is a stalling tactic so that the government can try and deflect some of the frustration and put off all of these attempts to have Maduro removed from office. But what we saw yesterday is the armed forces came out and supported this national dialogue. So that certainly shows very squarely where the armed forces stand in this that is key, Zain.</s>ASHER: All right, Shasta Darlington live for us there. Thank you so much. Now an update on the race for the White House for you. Let's take you back to the campaign trail in Florida. We have waiting right now for Hillary Clinton to appear at this get out the vote rally in Lake Worth any time now. Our producers are telling me that she's set to appear in roughly around ten minutes. We will let you know if she says anything noteworthy. But in the meantime, she is advising her supporters to pay no attention to the polls. And that's a message that may surprise you since she's actually favored to win the presidential election. She's been doing quite well in the polls. Clinton, thoug, does not want her supporters to become complacent and staying home on election day. Actually right not to let down her guard, because a new poll just released shows Donald Trump is actually gaing ground on her in Florida. Take a look at this poll, 45 percent to 43 percent, very narrow margin it is actually within the margin of error. Well, Florida may not be a red state or a blue state, it's known all over the world as actually an orange state. Florida's agricultural industry is worth billions of dollars and its orange growers are among the country's most famous. CNN's Richard Quest visited an organic farm on the outskirts of Orlando to get a sense of the mood coming up on election day.</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The orange groves at Uncle Matt's farm stretch as far as the eye can see. Acres of green. They don't look like ripe oranges yet. It will be some weeks before they can be picked. But Ben is ready and he has been at the job for years. (on camera) Where did this organic push come from for Uncle Matt's? Where did it come from?</s>BENNY MCLEAN, PRODUCTION MANAGER, UNCLE MATT'S ORGANIC: Well --</s>QUEST: You don't just wake up and say I'm going to start an organic fruit company.</s>MCLEAN: Well, Matt, my youngest son, the company is actually named Uncle Matt from him. Rallied the whole family and he asked my dad -- we all called him Pappy -- he said, "Pappy, can we grow organic citrus in central Florida?" You know and my dad kind of bowed his nay up at Matt and he just said, "Matt, what you think we did for hundred 50 years? Nobody ever told us it was organic. That's the way we used to grow it."</s>QUEST: Was it a bit like having to learning to walk again?</s>MCLEAN: A little tougher than that. No. It is a big challenge.</s>QUEST: Did you have to be convinced first of all?</s>MCLEAN: Well, when my dad told me it could be done, that's all I needed.</s>QUEST: Yes, did you have to be convinced that you wanted to do it?</s>MCLEAN: Oh, yes. You know, if you're in agriculture, you love a challenge.</s>QUEST (voice-over): Whether you're an organic farmer or a conventional grower, the big problem remains greening. It's a disease that affects the orange trees themselves. And it seems no one is immune.</s>MCLEAN: You see the deficiency showing in the leaf?</s>QUEST (on camera): Yes.</s>MCLEAN: OK, that's typical of greening. That's what you see.</s>QUEST: It's effecting the immune system of the tree, but it's not the fruit?</s>MCLEAN: Well, it does, but it's in a small way. OK?</s>QUEST: But the fruit can still be picked --</s>MCLEAN: Oh, yes. You can still pick it and eat it.</s>QUEST: It's very serious?</s>MCLEAN: It's very serious. Richard, it can literally wipe this industry out. Ok. Not just because we're organic, the conventional boys have the same problem.</s>QUEST: What for you is the biggest issue in this general election?</s>MCLEAN: In this general election, Richard, I'm going to put it to you this way. Regardless of who wins, I don't think they're going to solve greening. And my biggest problem right now in the citrus industry is we don't have a cure for greening.</s>QUEST: How are you going to explain this election to your 12 grandchildren?</s>MCLEAN: But it's going to be written in a history book. Right? Because I've never experienced anything like this. We're all going to learn as we go. You learn to adjust, Richard. Whether you like it or not.</s>ASHER: You learn to adjust whether you like or not. Well, the rising cost of health care is Donald Trump's latest weapon and one of the Republican candidate's most vocal fiery supporters is Rudy Giuliani. Earlier, the former New York mayor engaged in a heated conversation with CNN's Chris Cuomo. His target: the Affordable Care Act better than known as Obamacare.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Here's the problem with Obamacare, Obamacare's got a lot of problems...</s>RUDY GIULIANI, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: You can keep your doctor. You can keep your insurance. Lie. Lie. It's going to save you money. Big lie.</s>CUOMO: Obamacare has problems, OK.</s>GIULIANI: Unaffordable Care Act, Democrat.</s>CUOMO: There are a lot of problems. The GOP wouldn't work to fix any of them.</s>GIULIANI: They wouldn't even negotiate tort reform with the</s>GOP. CUOMO: And you know what, and as a result, because the Democrats forced this down the Republican's throat, the ACA, they decided to punish them. And they won't work with the Democrats to fix any of the problems that they could fix.</s>GIULIANI: Oh, that's a bunch of nonsense. They created it. They created it themselves. They cut out bipartisan support and pushed it through. They pushed it through.</s>CUOMO: They passed it without the GOP, I said that.</s>ASHER: So, that was one heated interview. But we want to tell you about another cable news interview where things got really he heated when Megyn Kelly, Fox news host, asked Trump supporter Newt Gingrich, about the allegations of sexual misconduct against the Republican advocate. Take a listen.</s>MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: If Trump is a sexual predator that is...</s>NEWT GINGRICH, FRM. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: He's not a sexual predator.</s>KELLY: OK, that's your opinion. I'm not taking a position on it.</s>GINGRICH: You could not defend that statement. No, I'm sick and tired of people like you using language that's inflammatory that's not true. When you want to go back to through the tapes of your show recently? You are fascinated with sex and you don't care about public policy. That's what I get out of watching you tonight.</s>ASHER: So, Kelly concluded the interview by telling Gingrich you can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them. Gingrich has actually now tweeted that Kelly is wrong, quote, unquote, I don't have anger management issues, but I do have media bias issues. Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources joins me live now for more on this. Brian just take our international audience through what exactly happened here. I mean it started off as a fairly normal interview and then Newt Gingrich ended up telling Megyn Kelly that she was fascinated with sex. Just explain that to us.</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: And she denied that. She said what she's fascinated by is how women are treated, especially by powerful men, one potential office holder, Donald Trump. This is an example of the gender war really being front and center in this presidential election. Sometimes it's only the subtext, it's the not talked about directly, but the prospect of the first woman president in the United States and all of the allegations against Donald Trump by women accusing him of assault. That really kind of come together in this argument between Megyn Kelly and Newt Gingrich. It's not always talked about, but gender -- race, gender and class are sort of all themes in this election and gender in particular came up very explicitly in this conversation between Gingrich and Kelly. I think what we're seeing are Trump surrogates like beginning Gingrich almost at the end of their ropes and you can understand why, and you might sympathize with what they're going through. Trump is down in virtually every poll. He is being battered by a number of very critical news stories whether it's about his businesses, about these past issues with women allegedly, et cetera, et cetera. There is not much these Trump supporters can say, and so what we end up sighing are the angry arguments with the likes of Newt Gingrich.</s>ASHER: So, Brian, I mean, obviously the argument started with Newt Gingrich accusing Megyn Kelly of media bias. I understand that a lot of Republicans think that the media is liberal, but surely Fox News doesn't fall into that category.</s>STELTER: That is part of what was so strange about this. Yes, I mean Fox News is designed to be the anti-media sort of. It's designed to be a conservative counterpoint to the rest of what they say is the liberal media. You know, Newt Gingrich usually appears on opinionated shows like Sean Hannity's and Bill O'Reilly's. Megyn Kelly's show is a bit different on Fox News. She is more of a news person, some would say she leans to the right sometimes, but she's more of a news person and he didn't seem prepared to be challenged the way kelly was challenging him. Gingrich did say one thing at the beginning that was very true, he said people are living in two parallel universes right now, two alternate realities and that could not be more true. We see that in arguments like this with Gingrich saying the media is spending too much time talking about the sexual assault allegations, the media should be talking about Clinton. The reality is if you choose you choose your own news, if you pick and choose where you're getting your news, you are going to see one side or the other. People have got to have more of a balanced diet in order to understand what is going on with this campaign. And to the extent that people are off on one side or the other side or the other side, certainly that is detrimental to understand what is going on in this election.</s>ASHER: So all of these people, you know, like Chris Christie who I put into this category, Newt Gingrich who have defended Trump until the very end, now that there is a chance, a significant chance I would that he is probably not going to win. We don't know what's going to happen, but he might not win come November 8, what do those people do on November 9?</s>STELTER: Well, Chris Christie, to name one, since you mentioned Christie, he has been relatively quiet. He hasn't been giving interviews in recent weeks. He hasn't been visible campaigning for Trump. So maybe that's one answer is for someone to quietly slowly back away. Another example would be Rudy Giuliani. You showed him getting into a scrape with Chris Cuomo, arguing down to the last day on behalf of Trump. What happens to these folks after election day is intriguing. Do they say by Trump if he loses, do they continue to support what Trump was standing for, or do they break with Trump and try to work for a different kind of Republican Party in the future? It is a more extreme example of what happened in 2012 with Mitt Romney's loss, with real intraspection, and soul searching that happened in 2012. Will we see that same kind of thing in 2016 or not? That will be one of the questions for November 9, I suppose.</s>ASHER: So as a media analyst, who came out of that interview looking better, Megyn or Newt?</s>STELTER: Well, Donald Trump's aides are attacking Kelly. They're saying that she's biased. They're saying that she's a fool. The reality, though, is that Kelly's star on the rise among moderate, among normal viewer he is who don't feel quite as invested in this campaign as Newt Gingrich does, she was able to hold her own and stay cool while Gingrich was getting angrier and angrier. That is an impressive broadcasting skill. And I bet you there were a number of TV executives who spotted that last night. Her contract is up next summer by the way.</s>ASHER: I'm going to guess she's going to be staying on for a lot more money. But you're right, she was very, very calm during that interview. It impressed all of us. Brian Stelter, live for us there. Thank you so much. All right, we'd like to update you on a story we brought you yesterday here on Connect the World. The Pentagon is suspending its efforts to get some army veterans to pay back bonuses it gave them to reenlist while the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were raging. America's Defense Secretary Ash Carter said earlier, let me quote for you here, this process has dragged on too long for too many service members, too many cases have languished without action, and that is unfair to service members and to taxpayers. Right. You're watching Connect the World. Coming up in today's Parting Shots, we meet a photographer who camouflaged herself to get up close images of rare wild pandas. We'll have those images just ahead.