We round up a full weekend of breaking news surrounding the 2016 presidential election with analysis of last night's second Clinton-Trump debate; How Washington Post was able to beat out NBC's "Access Hollywood" footage release of Trump's vulgar, sexual comments about women; Plus, what exactly defines "locker room talk"?
AirTalk election 2016: Grope-gate, more leaked Clinton emails and Sunday night’s contentious townhall debate
Last night's presidential debate quickly turned to a recording released on Friday which has Donald Trump talking about groping women.
Moderator Anderson Cooper asked Trump if he realized he was describing sexual assault. Trump denied he had taken such actions, then discussed Bill Clinton’s history of sexual improprieties.
Trump had already signaled how he'd defend himself with a pre-debate news conference featuring women who'd accused Bill Clinton, including rape. One of the women was the alleged victim of an alleged rapist whom Hillary Clinton defended in court decades ago.
During the debate, Trump said, "If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words and his was action."
How will this play to the suburban and working class white women Trump needs to attract for his campaign to succeed? We’ll also look at other issues raised in the debate such as Hillary Clinton’s comments on how politicians' public and private statements don’t always align. Additionally, we'll examine Trump's comments on the conflict in Syria and how they contrast with his running mate, vice presidential candidate Mike Pence.
Guests:
Harmeet Dhillon, RNC National Committeewoman for California; she tweets
Bill Burton, Democratic political strategist, Hillary supporter, former deputy White House press secretary for President Barack Obama; he tweets
Clinton’s campaign emails: Sorting out the implications of the latest Wikileaks release
On the heels of Trump’s 2005 “hot mic” video, Wikileaks released Friday a slew of reportedly hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.
The emails had excerpts of Clinton’s paid speeches that were seen as potentially damaging to her campaign. As reported by POLITICO, this included quotes on open trade and open borders, as well as jokes about the Benghazi hearing. They also included excerpts from paid Wall Street speeches.
Larry speaks to Josh Gerstein of POLITICO to get a deeper look at what the new leak means for the Clinton campaign.
Guest:
Josh Gerstein, senior White House reporter for POLITICO
Defining 'locker room talk'
The Trump campaign is defending the contents of the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which candidate Donald Trump talks explicitly about uninvitedly grabbing women’s crotches and kissing them without permission, by characterizing the comments as “locker room talk.”
On AirTalk, we will speak with listeners about the nature of so-called locker room talk. On the recording, Trump brags that his star status allows him to get away with grabbing women without them being able to stop him.
We'll open up the phones to find out what kinds of locker room talk you overhear. How common is it, what does it typically constitute, and do Trump's comments fit within your understanding of the term?
Tracking the Access Hollywood tape: from NBC Network to the Washington Post
The 2005 Access Hollywood video that showed Donald Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women prompted the question of why the NBC-owned footage broke via “The Washington Post.”
Tipped off by an anonymous source, it took Post reporter David Farenthold five hours to verify and publish the story on Friday, whereas NBC had been aware of the archival footage since at least last Monday, according to sources.
Some have pointed to NBC’s vetting process and the slow mulling over questions of legality, while others say the problem lies in the distance between NBC’s entertainment side and its news team. Another potential complication was NBC’s on-air personality Billy Bush, since suspended, who was shown playing accomplice to Trump’s lewd remarks.
So what, exactly, was NBC waiting for? And is there more potentially damaging footage sitting in NBC’s “Apprentice” archives?
Guest:
Margaret Sullivan, Media Columnist for “The Washington Post” - the news outlet that broke the story of the “Access Hollywood” tape; Sullivan wrote: “A political bombshell was right under NBC’s nose. What took the network so long?”