The Note: 29 Days Until Election Day
— -- COUNTDOWN TO ELECTION DAY: 29 days
Donald Trump Promises to Continue Attacks on Clintons 'If They Release More Tapes'After an evening in which he invited women who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault to join him at the second presidential debate, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump threatened to continue personal attacks against the Clintons if additional private recordings of himself are made public, ABC’s ADAM KELSEY notes. “If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we’ll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things,” said Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Paul Ryan Maintains Endorsement of Trump, But Tells House GOP 'Do What's Best for You.'House Speaker Paul Ryan is not rescinding his endorsement of Donald Trump but told fellow House Republicans in a conference call today that they should handle Trump however they think it will most benefit their own races. “You all need to do what’s best for you in your district,” he told the representatives, according to a person on the call. He also said he would not defend Trump or campaign with him for the next 30 days. AshLee Strong, a Ryan spokeswoman, said that there was no change in his position on Trump, ABC’s ALI ROGIN reports. http://abcn.ws/2dqQ8e3
If Elected, Trump May Not Be Able to Fulfill Big Debate Promise.Federal law may prevent Donald Trump from fulfilling a big promise he made at last night's debate, according to former U.S. DOJ chiefs from both political parties. "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into [Hillary Clinton]," Trump vowed, citing Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state. But former attorneys general under Republican and Democratic administrations said presidents don't get to decide on the appointment of a special prosecutor. ABC’s MIKE LEVINE and JACK DATE have more. http://abcn.ws/2dRVSkJ
Mike Pence Blames Policy Disagreement With Donald Trump on Debate Moderator.In an attempt to dismiss an apparent policy disagreement between the two men at the top of the Republican ticket, vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence accused ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, the co-moderator of last night’s presidential debate, of mischaracterizing his position on solving the crisis in Syria in a question to Donald Trump. In an interview on MSNBC this morning, Pence said Raddatz got her question “wrong” and challenged viewers to analyze the transcripts. ABC News has subsequently reviewed the transcripts in question. ABC’s JUSTIN FISHEL has more. http://abcn.ws/2dfHZMa
A Trump Debate Response Sparks Popular Hashtag #MuslimsReportStuff."We have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on," Trump said. "When they see hatred going on, they have to report it." Trump’s comments last night sparked a frenzy of tweets, many of them laced with humor, under what became one of the most popular hashtags from the debate -- #MuslimsReportStuff. ABC’s MARIAM KHAN has more. http://abcn.ws/2drf2dR
Mike Pence Dismisses Reports He Was Contemplating Leaving Trump Campaign.Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, decried reports that he was thinking about leaving the campaign as "absolutely false." "That was absolutely false...These rumors just furl around presidential campaigns," Pence said on Fox News this morning. http://abcn.ws/2e0qSk3
Trump Surrogate: Groping Comments Don't Amount to Sexual Assault.Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., one of Donald Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters in Congress, is drawing fire for saying late Sunday that he did not believe Donald Trump’s comments about women amounted to sexual assault. ABC’s ALI ROGIN has more. http://abcn.ws/2dGIyBu
TALES FROM THE TRAIL
ABC’s RYAN STRUYK and JOSH HASKELL: A Florida federal judge has pushed the Florida voter registration deadline back one day to Wednesday, October 12 because of Hurricane Matthew. The Florida Democratic Party sued the state after Gov. Rick Scott refused to extend the deadline ahead of the hurricane. The deadline was previously slated for tomorrow, October 11.
ABC’s JOSH HASKELL: Hillary Clinton wasted no time talking about Sunday’s debate and telling 4,000 supporters at Wayne State University that "you never saw anything like that before." This crowd in Detroit had a lot of energy and continued to interrupt the Democratic nominee with chants of Hillary. “On Friday, the whole world heard him talking about the terrible way he treats women. And last night when he was pressed about how he behaves, he just double down on his excuse that it's just locker room banter,” Clinton said. “Well I will tell you what, women and men across America know that is just a really weak excuse for behaving badly and mistreating people.”
ABC’s CECILIA VEGA: Just as Clinton was on a riff about the debate during her first event since last night's debate, a protester interrupted her. The man was wearing a t-shirt with Bill Clinton's photo and the word rape under the photo. Secret Service escorted the protester out, but the disruption was pretty loud and Clinton had to acknowledge it. She said: "I do hope somebody follows that gentleman out and stages an intervention. He clearly has not been following this election very closely.”
ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS, RYAN STRUYK and ALANA ABRAMSON: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said tonight that he is fully supporting the Republican nominee. On a private call with RNC members this evening Priebus said that “nothing has changed” in their support for Trump and are still “fully engaged in the race,” per sources on the call this evening and confirmed in an audio recording obtained by ABC News.
ABC’s KATHERINE FAULDERS and JOHN SANTUCCI: As of today, former Virginia chairman Corey Stewart is no longer affiliated with Donald Trump’s campaign. In a statement released today, the campaign stated Stewart is being replaced “effective immediately” for staging a “stunt in front of the RNC without the knowledge or the approval of the Trump campaign." Stewart came under fire in July for blaming Hillary Clinton and VA Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam for “essentially encouraging the murder” of the Dallas police officers.
ABC's MATTHEW CLAIBORNE: Chelsea Clinton did a Q and A in Racine, Wisconsin today. She spoke very briefly of the debate at the top of her event saying “I am so proud of my mom after last night’s debate as I am everyday,” but she was not short on attacking Trump. “Words do matter. I never thought I would see in my lifetime the almost normalization of hate speech from Donald Trump and the Republicans…it also matters to me that we match our actions with our words and our values.” Chelsea said that Trump was not interested in all Americans but rather just people who look like him: “straight, wealthy, white men.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we’ll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things.” --Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
HAPPENING TONIGHT:
--Nightline Presents: “Inside the Final 30” -- In the 30 days leading up to one of the most anticipated Presidential elections in American history, “Nightline” presents “Inside the Final 30,” a daily documentary series that kicks off today to take viewers behind the scenes on the campaign trail. These installments, to broadcast on “Nightline” and across its digital properties each day, will go beyond the daily headlines to focus on the issues that matter most to Americans as well as revisit the key moments that have shaped the direction of the race thus far. ABC News’ powerhouse politics team of on-air and off-air reporters, who have relentlessly covered each twist and turn of the race from the beginning, will be featured in the political docu-series and share insights on not only the race itself, but also how it’s covered day to day.
--7 PM - Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
--7:30 PM - Hillary Clinton holds a voter registration event in Columbus, Ohio
--Entertainment Tonight host Kelly O’Dell addresses Donald Trump’s lewd comments about her in recently released 2005 video.
--Ken Bone, the breakout star of the second presidential debate and latest meme phenomenon, will appear on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.
WHO’S TWEETING?
@ericbradner: Is grabbing a woman by the genitals sexual assault? "I don't know. I'm not a lawyer," says RNC's @seanspicer.
@realDonaldTrump: Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee
@tamarakeithNPR: In response to a shouted question about whether Trump will show up for the third debate, Clinton said "yes."
@MarthaRaddatz: True Teamwork. Thank you @andersoncooper
@ajjaffe: On RNC conference call, Priebus told members there was no mtg this weekend to figure out how to drop Trump from ballot.