Pandemic forces CNN into a debate unique to campaign cycle
The coronavirus epidemic dominated preparation for the two-hour debate.
Allegations from women in his past shadow Donald Trump
The chorus of women from President Donald Trump’s past is getting louder. Accusations about Trump’s past sexual exploits bubbled up on three fronts Tuesday, with two women pressing court cases and a porn actress publicly needling the president. Trump has so far weathered the rising #MeToo movement, but the latest developments served as a fresh reminder about the shadow thrown by questions about the thrice-married businessman’s past. In short order on Tuesday: —A former Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006 filed a lawsuit in California seeking to invalidate a confidentiality agreement so she can discuss her alleged relationship. —A New York City judge ruled that a defamation lawsuit by a former contestant on “The Apprentice” can move forward while Trump is in office. She has accused Trump of unwanted sexual contact. —Porn actress Stormy Daniels and her lawyer continued their media campaign against Trump as she seeks to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election so she can discuss their relationship. “People DO care that he lied about it, had me bullied, broke laws to cover it up, etc.,” Daniels tweeted. Trump has consistently denied accusations from all three women. He has previously called his accusers “liars” and has deemed such reports “made up stuff.” But it was another distraction for a White House already contending with a rash of high-level departures and a stalled legislative agenda. But the women aren’t going away. The former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, is set to do an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN Thursday. And Daniels — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — has taped an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” expected to air soon. McDougal’s attorney appeared on NBC on Wednesday morning. “Karen McDougal had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump for 10 months,” said Peter Stris. “It was a romantic relationship. They were together very often.” Some longtime allies questioned whether the accusations would have much impact. More than a dozen women came forward during the 2016 campaign to say that Trump had harassed them or worse, many speaking out in the wake of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which he was heard bragging about groping women. Some of them spoke out again as the #MeToo movement took off. “I think we learned through the campaign something we never thought was true. People were able to bifurcate the person from the policies,” said former campaign adviser Barry Bennett. “They were willing to overlook the personal behavior or the words on tape.” In the case of the Playboy model, Karen McDougal filed suit Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court against American Media Inc., the company that owns the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer. It had paid her $150,000 during the 2016 presidential election. The lawsuit alleges that McDougal was paid for the rights to her story of an affair, but the story never ran. It also alleges that Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, was secretly involved in her discussions with American Media. McDougal’s lawsuit was filed on the same day a New York judge sided with Summer Zervos, a 2006 “Apprentice” contestant. She sued Trump after he dismissed as “fabricated” and “made-up” her claims of misconduct at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, in 2007. Her lawsuit sought an apology and at least $2,914. In saying the suit can go forward, Judge Jennifer Schecter wrote, “No one is above the law.” Trump’s lawyers had argued the Constitution immunized him from being sued in state court while he’s president and had said the case should at least be delayed until he’s out of office. They said their position was supported by a long line of Supreme Court cases requiring courts to show deference to the president and his schedule. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that a sitting president was not immune from civil litigation on something that happened before taking office and was unrelated to the office. The ruling came after Paula Jones filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton. That case was dismissed by a judge, but was appealed. The appeal was still pending when Clinton agreed to pay $850,000 to Jones to settle the case. He did not admit wrongdoing. Also Tuesday, an attorney for Daniels — her real name is Stephanie Clifford — tweeted what he described as a 2011 photo of Clifford taking a lie detector test during which she addressed her relationship with Trump. Lawyer Michael Avenatti added the hash tags #searchforthetruth, #whosenext? and #buckle-up. Daniels and McDougal have offered strikingly similar stories about their alleged relationships with Trump. Both women claim to have had sexual encounters with him in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006. McDougal, who was the 1998 Playboy Playmate of the Year, said Trump also brought her to his private bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. In a time of rising concern about the treatment of women, the president has repeatedly offered sympathy for men accused of misconduct. After White House aide Rob Porter was pushed out over public reports that two ex-wives had accused him of abuse, Trump praised Porter and then appeared to cast doubt on the ex-wives’ allegations. The president last year backed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of pursuing romantic relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s, saying that Moore “totally denies it.” Porter’s exit put White House leadership under a harsh spotlight, raising questions about the security clearance process, and prompting calls for the president to state his support for victims of domestic violence. A week later, Trump declared he was “totally opposed to domestic violence.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Unlike first, second debate doesn’t set viewership record
An estimated 66.5 million people watched the second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, down from the record-setting audience who saw their first match but on par with the Obama-Romney contests four years ago. The first debate reached a total of 84 million viewers, more than for any other presidential debate on record, the Nielsen company said on Monday. The previous record of 80.6 million had been set for the only debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980. In 2012, an estimated 65.6 million people watched the second debate between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, after 67.2 million saw their first debate. On Sunday, the two candidates were competing against the NFL’s prime-time contest between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, which was seen by 16.6 million people on NBC. A football game aired opposite the first debate, too, but it was on cable’s ESPN and reached only 8 million people. Sunday’s debate, moderated tightly by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, was dominated early by questions surrounding Trump’s lewd conversation with Billy Bush in a recently resurfaced “Access Hollywood” outtake. In another clip getting wide airplay on Monday, Trump tells Clinton that “you’d be in jail” if he were elected. Raddatz on Monday said she could feel the tension in the room from the start. “When they came together at the beginning and didn’t shake hands, you knew you were in for a long evening,” she said on “Good Morning America” on Monday. The candidates shook hands at the end, following a disarming question from an audience member, who asked each candidate if they could think of one thing positive to say about the other. Raddatz and Cooper received generally good reviews for their sharp questioning and attempts to keep the candidates in line. Trump complained at times about not being treated fairly. At one point, when Trump objected to the Obama administration signaling in advance about an attack on ISIS positions in Iraq, Raddatz interjected with possible reasons for this tactic, including warning civilians to get out of harm’s way. CBS withdrawal from the political competition. CNN had 11.2 million viewers and Fox News Channel had 9.9 million, essentially flip-flopping their positions from the first debate. While that may be a reflection of a CNN personality serving as a moderator Sunday, it may also be an ominous sign of growing disinterest in the contest among Fox’s Republican-dominated fan base. A Fox personality, Chris Wallace, moderates the scheduled third and final debate Oct. 19. Republish with permission of the Associated Press.
Second presidential debate featured tough moderators
Moderators Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz teamed to ask sharp questions of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and to keep them corralled during many contentious exchanges during the second presidential debate. Sometimes those efforts drew the ire of Trump. “Nice,” he said. “One on three.” That signal to his supporters on Sunday night is sure to subject Cooper, of CNN, and ABC’s Raddatz to partisan criticism. But it seemed the dual moderators were determined to take a more active role than NBC’s Lester Holt during the first debate, seen by a record 84 million people. They took questions from audience members and viewers in the town hall-style debate, and frequently interjected tough follow-ups. After an opening question about whether the two candidates were modeling appropriate behavior, Cooper jumped in with a question to Trump about the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape released on Friday where he was caught making crude remarks about women. “You’ve bragged that you sexually assaulted women,” Cooper said. “Do you understand that?” He later asked Trump if he had done the things that he talked about on the tape, coming on to women by groping and kissing them. “When you walked off that bus you were 59?” Raddatz later said. “Were you a different man, or did that behavior continue until just recently?” A direct question from Cooper also compelled Trump to admit he had not paid federal income taxes in nearly 20 years. Clinton, for her part, was questioned about her use of a private email server while secretary of state, an issue that prompted investigators to conclude she had put some top secret material at risk, although federal prosecution was not recommended. “You don’t call that extremely careless?” Raddatz said. The ABC newswoman also pointed to the leaked release of speeches Clinton had made to private corporations after serving as President Obama’s chief diplomat. Raddatz noted that Clinton once said a politician needed a private and public position sometimes on issues. “Is it OK for a politician to be two-faced?” Raddatz asked. The moderators frequently tried to hush the candidates by noting when they had gone past their allotted time. Clinton sometimes bulled past the stop sign and at other times, quickly wound down her answer. When Trump was unhappy, he complained of unfair treatment. “She goes one minute over and you don’t stop her,” Trump said about his opponent. “I go a second over and you come after me.” Raddatz replied: “You’ve had many answers.” Trump objected to Cooper looking to move on to a different subject during a discussion of Clinton’s email issues. “I’d like to know, Anderson, why can’t you bring up the emails. I’d like to know,” Trump said. Raddatz had asked the initial question on the subject. “We brought up the emails,” Cooper answered. “It hasn’t, it hasn’t,” Trump said. “And it hasn’t been finished at all.” Trump has been critical of the news media, and particularly CNN, in tweets in the weeks leading up to the debate. Cooper brought up Trump’s late nights on Twitter, particularly when he attacked in the wee hours last month a former beauty pageant contestant who had criticized him. Cooper asked whether it was the sign of a disciplined leader. Raddatz sharply drew out Trump when he was answering a question about how to deal with Syria’s civil war. She pointed out that a position stated by Trump countered that of one outlined by running mate Mike Pence. Trump noted that he hadn’t spoken with Pence on the topic and that he disagreed with him. In what felt a little like a first debate rerun, the two candidates argued over whether Trump had initially expressed support for the Iraq war. Trump has denied it despite audio evidence, which Clinton again pointed out. Raddatz noted that the topic had been fact-checked. Toward the end of the debate, the two moderators almost seemed like schoolteachers admonishing their students to be quiet and in asking the candidates to wrap things up so they can get to more questions. “Thank you very much, both of you,” Raddatz said when they quieted down, to the audience’s laughter. Cooper and Raddatz seemed anxious to get in one last audience question. A man asked whether each of the candidates could think of one positive thing to say about the other – a query that proved particularly disarming after 90 minutes of cutting insults. Clinton said she respected Trump’s children, and Trump said he admired that his opponent was a fighter. Chris Wallace of Fox News is scheduled to moderate the third and final presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 19 in Las Vegas. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Moderator Lester Holt under scrutiny during debate
Everyone’s aware of the stakes for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the first presidential debate, but there’s a third person in the equation who faces a different pressure: Lester Holt. The NBC News veteran is moderating his first general election debate, making him solely responsible for the questions asked each candidate and for steering the conversation. His performance will be closely watched, particularly in light of a dispute over the extent to which he should call politicians out for making untrue statements. Holt, 57, has kept quiet about his preparations. The NBC “Nightly News” anchor took over his job last year after predecessor Brian Williams was found to have lied about his role in news stories. Like the moderators for all three presidential debates this fall, it’s Holt’s first time in that role for a general election debate. He hosted a Democratic primary forum in January, and has interviewed Clinton and Trump three times each during the campaign. In a reflection of the attention that will be paid to Holt, his voter registration became an issue last week. “Lester is a Democrat,” Trump said in a Fox News Channel interview. “It’s a phony system. They are all Democrats.” Holt, however, is a registered Republican, according to New York state voting records. Asked about the misstatement on Monday, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on MSNBC that it wasn’t a lie because Trump didn’t know Holt’s voter registration. Voting records show that Anderson Cooper of CNN, who is moderating the Oct. 5 debate, is registered unaffiliated with a party in New York and Chris Wallace of Fox News, the moderator on Oct. 19, is a registered Democrat in Washington, D.C. Martha Raddatz, who will join Cooper, lives in Virginia, which doesn’t register voters by party, and ABC would not discuss her affiliation. That illustrates on a small scale the issue of to what extent moderators, and journalists covering the debate, should point it out when a candidate says something untrue. It became part of the pre-debate discussion when Holt’s NBC colleague, Matt Lauer, was criticized for not confronting Trump earlier this month when the Republican falsely claimed he had not expressed support for the war in Iraq during a forum between the two candidates. The Clinton campaign says moderators should police false statements. Trump’s campaign says it’s not their role. Among journalists, there’s no consensus. Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said on CNN Sunday that in past debates moderators have generally believed the candidates should call their opponents out when something false is said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to get the moderator into essentially serving as the Encyclopedia Britannica,” Brown said. Television networks were skittish Monday in discussing their fact-checking plans in advance. None admitted in advance to plans of flashing graphics onscreen to identify a false statement; that hasn’t been done in the past. NBC News said it is teaming with PolitiFact for digital fact-checking. CBS said it will assign fact-checkers that will provide context during the debate on the CBSNews.com website. In past years, some networks have assigned reporters post-debate to examine the accuracy of particular statements. The television industry will be watching to see if Monday’s debate can smash the previous record for the biggest presidential debate audience, the 80.6 million people who watched the only debate of the 1980 campaign between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. The most-watched debate this century was the first between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012, with 67.2 million voters, the Nielsen company said. During his television journalism career, Holt has been known more for hard work than flashiness. He was a news anchor in Chicago for 14 years before coming to NBC in 2000, and logged long hours on MSNBC during the Iraq War. The bass guitar is his off-screen passion. Last week he set aside debate prep to play during a Manhattan rooftop party for “Dateline NBC,” joining some fellow NBC employees running through songs by Alabama Shakes, Billy Squier and Jefferson Starship. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
CNN: Joe Biden can be a game-day decision for debate
CNN says it will allow Vice President Joe Biden to participate in the first Democratic presidential primary debate even if he decides that day to be a candidate. The network released its criteria for the Oct. 13 debate on Monday. Since Biden has achieved an average of one percent support in three polls — even though he isn’t a declared candidate — CNN said he needs only to file the necessary paperwork or say he will that day to be in the debate. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Lincoln Chafee, Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb have already been invited. Anderson Cooper will moderate the Las Vegas debate. Dana Bash, Don Lemon and CNN en Espanol anchor Juan Carlos Lopez also will question the candidates. Biden aides have cited the CNN debate as one of the major factors in the vice president’s timing in making a decision. They have described it as an important opportunity, if he runs, to establish him as an alternative to Clinton. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
