Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Breaking news. A showdown on the campaign trail. President trump on the road once again, playing the race card at rallies, stoking fears about immigrants and trying to walk back his clear threat that u. S. Troops may shoot migrants who throw rocks. But democrats are countering with former president obama, who accuses the president of lying, making up stuff and pulling a political stunt at the border. Also calling President Trump to account his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, who now says donald trump repeatedly used racist language in conversations. Ill speak with republican senator jeff flake, and our correspondents and specialists are standing by with full coverage. Lets begin out there on the campaign trail as the president wraps up a rally in West Virginia and gets ready for another one in indiana. Our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta, is in indianapolis at that rally. Jim, apparently no letup in the harsh rhetoric. Reporter oh, thats right, wolf. But the president is walking back one comment that hes made in the last 24 hours, suggesting that u. S. Troops could shoot at migrants who might be throwing rocks at military forces stationed at the u. S. Border with mexico. But the president is not giving up on this issue of immigration with his own caravan of falsehoods heading into next weeks Midterm Elections. For President Trump, its an aboutface. One day after he all but gave the green light to u. S. Troops to fire upon the caravan of migrants heading to the u. S. Border, the president is backtracking, now saying those soldiers will be making arrests instead of shooting if theyre hit with rocks. They wont have to fire. What i dont want is i dont want these people throwing rocks. They do that with us, theyre going to be arrested. Theres going to be problems. I didnt say shoot. I didnt say shoot. Reporter but hold on. Heres how the president ignited the controversy. He want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. Were going to consider and i told them, consider it a rifle. When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico Military police, i say consider it a rifle. Reporter critics pounced, calling that an abuse of the commanderinchiefs authority. You dont use maximum force. You use minimum force. And you dont attack. You defend. You restore order. So he has it all wrong. Reporter the president s incendiary rhetoric on immigration is throwing the gop off its message on the economy. Mr. Trump tweeted about the latest unemployment numbers. Wow, the u. S. At a 250,000 jobs in october. Unemployment at 3. 7 . Wages up. These are incredible numbers. Keep it going. Vote republican. So the country is doing i think maybe you could say better than its ever done. Reporter but the president is riding immigration more than any other issue heading into next weeks Midterm Elections with continued vows to end birthright citizenship, even though its enshrined in the constitution. This crazy, lunatic policy that we can end. That we can end. Reporter mr. Trump hinted at why hes throwing so many punches before the mid terms. As he told a rally in missouri, he says republican stalling, and when an anti semitic gunman committed murder at a synagogue. For seven days, nobody talked about the elections. It stopped a tremendous momentum. Reporter that sense of desperation might also explain this misleading Trump Campaign web ad which falsely blamed democrats for allowing copkiller luis brockmontes into the u. S. The newspaper found he had been deported under bill clinton. After he snuck back into the u. S. , he was arrested and released by arizona sheriff, joe arpaio, a trump supporter, before he was deported again and reentered the country when republican george w. Bush was in office. Pressed on his rhetoric by reporters, the president accused the media of causing violence. No, no. You know what . Youre creating violence by your questions. You know . You are creating you. And also, a lot of the reporters are creating violence by not writing the truth. The fake news is creating violence. Reporter campaigning with democrats in florida, former president barack obama said voters are a clear choice next week. In the closing weeks of this election, we have seen repeated attempts to divide us, with rhetoric designed to make us angry and make us fearful. Theyll get folks riled up, just to protect their power and their privilege. Reporter now, as for the president s rhetoric, the Washington Post factcheckers found the president made more than 1,000 false or misleading claims in the month of october alone. That is faster than the factcheckers can keep up, wolf. But there is one reality the president is dealing with tonight at a rally in West Virginia, just a short while ago. He acknowledged democrats may take the house, possibly the senate, in the upcoming Midterm Elections. A reality the president said he will be dealing with. Wolf . Jim acosta, thank you very much. A very different message coming from the democrats side. The former president , barack obama, heading to atlanta right now for a rally this evening for democratic gubernatorial candidate, stacy abrams. Just hours after campaigning in florida for the democratic gubernatorial candidate, Andrew Gillum, the africanamerican candidates are both hoping to make history here in the United States. Lets bring in our senior political analyst, mark preston. Mark, why are these races so significant right now . Well, a couple things. One, we havent heard a whole lot from president obama since he left office. Hes kept a relatively low profile. But he is out on the campaign trail, and what were seeing in georgia and florida is perhaps the passing of the baton, wolf, where you have these two rising africanamerican stars who are on the press pcipice of being a to take over. As far as the state of play right now in politics in the u. S. , this is what the president had to say. I know theyre sincere. Conservatives who are compassionate and must think there is nothing compassionate about ripping immigrant children from the arms of mothers at the border. Im assuming that they recognize that a president doesnt get to decide on his own who is an american citizen and who is not. Thats not how the constitution of the United States works. Thats not how the bill of rights works. Thats not how our democracy works. People who think its wrong to spend eight years trying to take away Peoples Health care and then spend the final days pretending youre Mother Teresa or florence nightengale. People who im assuming people must get upset when they see folks who spend all their time vilifying others. Questioning their patriotism. Calling them enemies of the people. And then suddenly pretending theyre concerned about civility. And we dont need more mealy mouth elected officials who say, oh, well, im very concerned. Or im terribly vexed by this bad behavior. But theres nothing i can do about it. There you have very sharp words right there, wolf, from the former president of the United States, barack obama, on the campaign trail. Not only for stacy abrams and Andrew Gillum in florida, but as we also saw, a democrat, bill nelson in much trouble in florida. Theyre hoping that barack obama can raise his profile, as well. The former president says this may be the most important election of our lifetimes. Is his message very effective, a counter message to what were hearing from President Trump . Certainly a different message in the fact that it is not a scare tactic. Its more of a get out the vote message. Before i walked onset, i called one of Andrew Gillums top political folks and said explain what this means to have barack obama come in, and explain it beyond just the basic it helps get out the vote. He says it reminds people there is an election and it dominates the news cycle. Thats what were seeing in florida. He wants to generate get that Democratic Base out there, as well, in big numbers. Mark, thank you very much. Joining us now, republican senator, jeff flake of arizona, a member of the judiciary and Foreign Relations committees. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. You just heard President Trump and former president barack obama lay out two very different Closing Arguments. So which one sounds most like your own vision for the country . Well, thats a tough question. I certainly dont like the tone that President Trump has taken with regard to blaming immigrants. Having that ad, which i thought was just sickening. And frankly, very untrue with regard to the threat that is posed by illegal immigrants. And the notion that democrats have prevented any fix, the last real vote we had on substantial Immigration Reform was the bipartisan bill we did in 2013. Every democrat in the senate voted for that bill, which included about 41 billion for Additional Border security. Thats more than the president has even asked for on border security. So this notion that this is all the democrats fault is just wrong. It sounds like youre more in line with former president obama than you are with the current president , President Trump. Well, certainly, the tone. Ive always felt that the tone is better. I do think that President Trump and republicans have a strong hand to play with regard to the economy. The economy is doing well. The jobs report announced today was good. Boy, thats what if i were a candidate right now, thats what i would be running on. Not this fear mongering. And we know youre not running for reelection. Certainly sounded like the former president may have been going after you and some other conservatives who say theyre concerned about the president. But not doing enough about it. You heard that little clip of what he just said. I want you to respond. Well, i know that some people who know that i am very much opposed to the president in regard to some of his policies, and certainly his behavior expect me to become a liberal. Im not. Im a conservative. And i vote for conservative policy and regulatory policy. If if the president puts up good, conservative judges, i typically vote for them. I dont support the president when he tries to keep us from imposing russias sanctions or other items on his agenda. I voted to protect the special counsel from the president s moves. So i agree with the president sometimes. I disagree with him quite a bit. But people shouldnt expect me to vote in lockstep against the president simply out of spite. In these final days before the election, the president obviously wants to focus heavily on immigration, on that Migrant Caravan, still weeks away from getting to the United States, assuming it ever does get to the United States. About 1,000 miles away fr. Do you support a military buildup inside your home state of arizona, near the southern border with mexico . As you know, the president , hes ready to deploy 15,000 active duty military personnel to the border. No, i dont. I dont think that its necessary. The caravan contains far fewer people than it once did. I think that we could handle them with Border Patrol and i. C. E. Agents and others civilians. Not the military. The military, as i understand it, in my state, would be deployed out of tucson. That is still more than an hour away from the border. They wouldnt even be Forward Deployed on the border itself. So it strikes me that its not a very serious thing. I think another pretty transparent play to the base, just like the birthright citizenship move now. Yeah. The president clearly cant change the 14th amendment to the constitution through an executive order through his signature. Although he suggests hes been told by some unnamed legal scholars that he can. Clearly, almost everyone disagrees with that. Another border state republican, your colleague, senator ted cruz of texas, he tweeted a suggestion that his democratic opponent, congressman beto orourke, is actually funding the Migrant Caravan with campaign cash. His tweet basically said let me read it to you. Two basic questions we reporters should ask beto today. One, should the caravan be allowed to cross illegally into texas. Beto refuses to answer. And two, did your Campaign Dollars legally fund their doing . So why shouldnt voters trust the Republican Party to govern when some of its most prominent leaders like senator cruz, seem to believe in paranoid conspiracy theories . Well, i think senator cruz certainly was the on the other end of some of these conspiracy theories when the president accused his father of being involved in jfks assassination. So i certainly am surprised to hear he would espouse that kind of Conspiracy Theory with the caravan. So i think we are better off as republicans sticking to what works, i think. And we have a good record on regulation and jobs and the economy. Thats a good message right now, but to see the fear mondayerige particularly with regard to immigration is unseemly. I went last night a couple miles from my house where at a church they were welcoming 22 families who were asylum seekers. And they had asked us all to bring clothes and food. And we did. And to see people like that caring for people who truly needed help was just something else. It was just with the backdrop of whats going on in politics, to see what was going on last night was very refreshing. And its going on all over the country, frankly. Are you going to ask senator cruz, your republican colleague, to actually withdraw that baseless accusation that beto orourke is funding through his Campaign Contributions that caravan making its way through mexico . I havent even seen that tweet. You mentioned it, it was the first i had heard of it, so i would want to know more about it. Clearly a baseless security theory. Go ahead. I would think so. If somebody is accusing i can tell you, as a former candidate, you husband your campaign resources. You want to use them in the best way you can to get reelected. And to think that somebody is using them to fund a caravan coming north just doesnt strike me as plausible. Well, the president has suggested that george soros, the billionaire, that hes funding that caravan, as well. Have you seen any evidence of all to back up that Conspiracy Theory . None at all. None at all. And george soros, the antisemitism that goes on, we just had an example last week of radio marty, the broad cast that goes to cuba. They produced a program that called george soros a multibillionaire jew. And went on to blame him for the financial crisis of 2008. Now, after i wrote a letter and asked for an investigation, they have suspended those who were involved in that program. But that was taxpayerfunded antisemitism. And theres a lot of it that goes on with george soros, this reference to being a globalist and on and on. And its just its just wrong. Its just wrong. Hes an 88yearold, very wealthy guy, gives a lot of money to progressive caucuses. He also happens to be a holocaust survivor. And theres a lot of this kind of anti semitic rhetoric out there, blaming him for all sorts of stuff, blaming other jews for all sorts of stuff. Its a really Disturbing Development thats unfolding. How do you explain that right now . Why has that accelerated . Well, i mean, as you mentioned, he gives a lot of minute to progressive and liberal causes. Nobody denies that. He certainly wouldnt. But some of the conspiracy theories out there are that he somehow was standing in the way of those helping the Holocaust Victims back when he was i think 14 years old. And hungry. Some of these are absurd on their face. But anybody who funds liberal causes or who isnt a conservative is fair game for some conspiracy theories and things thrown out there that just doesnt speak well for us as conservatives or republicans. We, i think, can fight on the issues. I think on the issues on the economy and things like that, we have a lot of good things to say. But instead we delve into these conspiracy theories and hate politics, grievance politics. And it doesnt do us well. And frankly, i think here in arizona, its not helping the republican candidates at all. Its a very Disturbing Development. And do you believe the president at all as his critics are suggesting at least partially to blame for this heightened antisemitism out there . And we were all sickened last weekend when we saw what happened at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh. Well, ive been very critical of the president with regard to the First Amendment, and blaming the press. And weve seen just today a military general in nigeria cite the president when they opened fire, i guess, on some protesters. Youve seen around the world, Bashir Al Assad in syria cite the president and cite fake news when he was trying to cover up what he had done his military prisons. You see the president stand next to duterte of the philippines and laugh as they referred to the press and media as spies. Words matter, and when the president denigrates the press and the First Amendment and calls real things fake and fake things real, it has a real effect around the world. And we cant forget that. And so many people have appealed to the president to stop calling the news media the enemy of the American People. Today went one step further. He blamed the news media for helping to create the violence we sue unfolding right now. Hes doubling down, tripling down on all of that. Right. I think thats patently absurd to blame the media for that. I just do. Let me play a clip of what the president said today on that front. Listen to this. You are creating, you. And also, a lot of the reporters are creating violence by not writing the truth. The fake news is creating violence. And you know what . The people that support trump and the people that support us, which is a lot of people, most people, many people, those people know when a story is true and they know when a story is false. And ill tell you what. If the media would write correctly and write accurately and write fairly, you would have a lot less violence in the country. I just want to point out, the president has often spoken about violence and hes made suggestions about using violent actions. I want your reaction to what we just heard from the president. Well, blaming the media for the violence out there, i think is just wrong. I think that we all ought to stand up and speak out when the president goes as far as to commend a republican congressman for assaulting a reporter. Thats just not right. And that doesnt do anything to foster peace or civility. So i think the president has gone too far, many times, in this regard. But to blame the media for this, i think, is just wrong. Youve got a lot a lot of praise, i remember, when you wrote a check for 100 to the Democratic Senate candidate, doug jones, in alabama, when he was running against roy moore last year. Are you donating money to any democratic candidates, even symbolically, this time around . Im cheering a few on out there. I mean but that was the best 100 ive spent in an election, i think. Doug jones is a good colleague and i think eminently a better senator than roy moore would have been. And i think, frankly, i did republicans a favor there, as well. So i there are a number of good candidates on both sides of the aisle out there. Who are you cheering for on the democratic side this time . Well, one in iowa. I mean, we have a candidate on our side of the aisle that isnt exactly i think making things easy for republicans moving forward. Its not the best face of the party. Youre talking about representative steve king . I am. I am. Some of the statements hes made over the years with regard to migrants coming across the southern border and more recent comments in this regard have just not been good for the country, certainly not good for the party. Yeah. He said some pretty Disgusting Things recently. Not just recently, for a while. Any other democrats youre cheering for . Ill keep it to that right now. Okay. Senator jeff flake, thanks so much for joining us. Well continue this conversation down the road. Thanks. Up next, the president s former lawyer and longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, now says that donald trump over the years repeatedly used racist language in conversations. Hes been caught up in the mueller probe, as you know, and has fallen out with the president. But is there any reason not to believe him . Instead, hes the tallest guy in his office. L basketball player. Yeah, erics had to compromise a lot in life. Ah yes, you need travel insurance when you travel. So, should i set some. Hello . But not when it comes to cutting the cord. Fubo gives him all the sports he needs as well as all the shows his family loves. Dont compromise. Get over 100 channels plus showtime and cloud dvr included. Call 844tryfubo. That skills like teamwork, attention to detail, and Customer Service are critical to business success. The kind of skills, that work for you. Buy chocolate, sea salt rxbar. Or not, whatever. Im just saying some words in a commercial. [door closing] when we switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to Liberty Mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. All the tools you need for every step of the way. Make it, squarespace the president once again uses racially charged rhetoric to drive the supporters to the polls. His former lawyer and longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, says donald trump has a history of using racist language in conversations. Our political correspondent, mj lee, is joining us now. Mj, has Michael Cohen now become President Trumps at least one of President Trumps biggest critics . Sure seems that way, wolf. Michael cohen is unleashing on donald trump in this new vanity fair interview, and he says that in the years that he worked for donald trump, he witnessed firsthand in multiple conversations donald trump using racist and chilling language. Three examples that i want to point to from this vanity fair interview. In 2016, Michael Cohen says the two men were discussing a trump rally, and Michael Cohen noted that most members of the audience were white. And he says, i told trump that the rally looked vanilla on television. And trump responded, thats because black people are too stupid to vote for me. A second example. Michael cohen says that shortly after Nelson Mandelas death, the former south african president who died in 2013, donald trump said to him, name one country run by a black person that is not a shit hole, and also added, name one city. Third and last example. In the late 2000s, Michael Cohen says that he and donald trump were traveling together in chicago. He says, we were going from the airport to the hotel, and we drove through what looked like a rougher neighborhood. Trump made a comment to me, saying that the only the blacks could live like this. Obviously, very incendiary, racist comments that Michael Cohen is now pointing to, as donald trump having made over the years. And he says that the motivation for him speaking out right now against his former boss is that he knows from firsthand knowledge that donald trump, what he says in private is actually worse than what he says in public. And that he simply wants to quip the American People before next tuesday, the Midterm Elections, so that they can make an informed decision and know that this is actually Donald Trumps true character. Wolf . Wasnt Michael Cohen, mj, the guy who during the Trump Campaign was actually leading an outreach effort to minorities and testifying that donald trump was no racist . Thats right. Michael cohen over the years has unofficially and officially done a lot of work for donald trump, as you know. This is kind of why he famously got the nickname of Donald Trumps fixer. And one of the things he was involved in during the 2016 campaign was minority outreach. And youre absolutely right that during that time when Michael Cohen was still on Donald Trumps team, he vouched for Donald Trumps character, and essentially went as far as to say that donald trump did not have a single racist bone in his body. Heres a quick reminder. Ive lost count as to how many times the disgusting liberal Mainstream Media have attempted to label mr. Donald trump a racist, a zoxenophobe a bigot. This interview is one more data point and reminder of the complete 180 that Michael Cohen has done when it comes to donald trump. We know from our reporting over the last couple of weeks that Michael Cohen says he changed his Party Registration from republican back to democrat. When we bumped into him last month, Michael Cohen said that he wants every american to get out and vote against donald trump. Otherwise we are going to see two to six years more of this craziness. That was Michael Cohens words. And, you know, frankly, there are going to be a lot of people who are watching this and still having a pretty hard time believing what Michael Cohen says, because, frankly, its true that Michael Cohen, for so many years, was Donald Trumps staunch defender. So this 180 is not necessarily going to sit well with everybody, wolf. Worked with him for ten years, very, very closely. Any reaction, mj, youre getting from the white house to this interview in vanity fair . Not so far that im aware of, though its always possible, as you know very well, that donald trump could be holding on to his phone, could be sending out a tweet. And as you know, donald trump over the last few months, he also has done a 180 when it comes to Michael Cohen. He has been bothered, clearly, by Michael Cohens decision to criticize him, and also clearly has not sat well with donald trump, the president , that Michael Cohen is deciding, as we have reported extensively, to speak with investigators as he waits for his sentencing in december. As Michael Cohen would argue, he is the person who knows donald trump better than anybody, and he wants to show investigators that if there are skeletons in Donald Trumps closet, he would be the man to know. Wolf . Mj lee, good report. Thank you very, very much. Coming up, the president trips over the truth as he tries to walk back his statement that u. S. Troops on the border may shoot migrants who throw rocks. And after a massacre of jewish worshippers in a series of mail bombs, the president laments that two maniacs stopped gop momentum in the campaign. Is that the first thing he thinks of . Stay with us. Youre in the situation room. Delicious pasta marinara. But birds eye made it from zucchini. Mmm. Mashed potatoes. And rice but made from cauliflower. Looks like i need a fork oh no. giggles birds eye veggie made. So veggie good. The new lincoln mkc. Mix. Connecting the world inside, with the world outside. So you can move through both a little easier. Introducing the wellconnected 2019 lincoln mkc. [ neighing ] [ neighing ] [ sigh ] its bring your own phone, not pony. So i couldve taken the bus . Yeah. Bring your phone. Switch your carrier. Save hundreds a year with xfinity mobile. Call, click or visit a store today. Our breaking news. President trump just wrapped up a political rally in West Virginia, once again stoking fears over migrants. As he left the white house, the president backtracked about the possibility of u. S. Troops shooting rockthrowers along the border. Lets discuss the campaign with our experts. And gloria, im going to play a clip. This is the president in his own words in his own words, beginning with what he said yesterday and how he modified that today. Anybody throwing stones, rocks, like they did to mexico and the mexican military, mexico police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of mexico, we will consider that a firearm. Because theres not much difference. When you get hit in the face with a rocco owe they want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. Were going to consider and i told them, consider it a rifle. They do that with us, theyre going to be arrested. Theres going to be problems. I didnt say shoot. I didnt say shoot. But they do that with us, theyre going to be arrested for a long time. What do you make of the way the president seemed to walk back what he said yesterday . Well, he seemed to walk it back. He did walk it back. But he didnt say he was walking it back, because he said he never said what he said. Which he said. You understand that . Yes. Kind of. So and, look, i think the reason is very clear. He was getting an awful lot of criticism from the military about this. And i just want to read you a tweet from david lapin, who is a former Homeland Security spokesman for this very administration and a marine. He said, a military strained by 17 years of war and sequestration doesnt need this. Service members have repeatedly spent long periods of time away from home. Dont need this. I mean, everybody is calling it a stunt, which it is. So he had to kind of back off. But theres a tape, and its what he said. Yeah. He said if they throw a rock, its like somebody using a rifle. So if somebody uses a rifle and youre in the military, you know what you need to do. I want you to listen, mark. This is the president , hes lamenting the fact that what happened at the synagogue, the pipe bombers that took away some of the momentum he was trying to generate in the campaign by focusing in on the migrants. Listen to how he explained that today. The republicans had tremendous momentum, and then, of course, this happened, where all that you people talked about was that. And rightfully so. It was a big thing. Rightfully so. But now we have to start the momentum again. Now, we did have two maniacs stop a momentum that was incredible. Because for seven days, nobody talked about the elections. It stopped a tremendous momentum. Yeah. He was the first clip was from october 26th. Second part was today. Ive got to tell you, i really empathize with him. Hes so right about this. And i think we should feel for donald trump. Its outrageous. Hes the president of the United States. Hes supposed to be the moral leader, not only of our country, but the world. Were supposed to set an example. And he cant even go out and not make it about himself. But we have seen this time and time again. And as we head into this election, we decide, hey, is it good he talks about immigration or is it bad he talks about immigration . You know what, he doesnt necessarily care whether its good or bad. He thinks good and good for him. As you know, susan, the democrats want to investigate the president s assertion he wants to deploy as many as 15,000 troops along the border with mexico. And that would cost tens of millions of dollars. But hes the commanderinchief. Does he have that discretion, that ability to make that kind of decision and have the military obey his order . So the president has broad discretion over the military. But its no way absolute. Obviously, hes subject to constitutional constraints. There are statutory constraints over the use of the military in exactly this kind of context for domestic Law Enforcement purposes. And, of course, congress has the power of the purse. They get to decide how money might be spent. And thats a powerful tool whenever they want to use it. Additionally, the u. S. Military is subject to the laws of armed conflict. If they were given a illegal order, for example, to violent the reduce of proportionality by shooting someone who threw a rock at them, the military is, you know, bound to disobey an illegal order like that. You know, but congress has an additional role here, the role of oversight. If the president of the United States is wasting tens of millions of dollars for turning the u. S. Military into sort of a political stunt, this is all theater, there are no security considerations in doing this, that is an example of the kind of waste, fraud and abuse that congress has an obligation to investigate, root out and inform the American People about. Sabrina, very strong economic numbers, jobs numbers, once again came out for the month of october, 250 jobs created, 3. 7 unemployment, very low. Why isnt the president simply focusing in on the economy and how well these jobs numbers are instead of bringing in all these other issues . Well, if this were any other president , and we were just days out from the Midterm Elections, which will determine whether his party keeps control of congress, you would think he would want to talk about the fact that the jobs numbers, the unemployment rates, have continued to look good for the country. But the fact of the matter is that while the Trump Administration has been able to continue the economic progress that began under the previous administration, the president s own Approval Ratings have largely remained stagnant. And so what that reinforces is that this president has a ceiling. And so although the economy is doing well, hes not actually getting credit for it. In many ways, because, of course, the rhetoric that we often talk about, the actions from this president , continue to be unpopular in the eyes of public opinion. So hes going back to the same ploy that he used to success in the 2016 election, which is to make this a lot more about immigration, to really run on the politics of fear. What that does, of course, is makes it a baseonly election. The question is, how thats going to play as a Closing Argument for all of those republicans, particularly in the house in very competitive districts where, frankly, voters are not necessarily being motivated to the polls on immigration alone. It worked then. Lets see if it works again this time. The former president , gloria, president obama, he was on the campaign trail in florida, and he delivered a very different message than the current president. Watch this. In the closing weeks of this election, we have seen repeated attempts to divide us, with rhetoric designed to make us angry and make us fearful. Its designed to exploit our history of racial and ethnic and religious division. It pits us against one another. To make us believe that order will somehow be restored if it just werent for those folks who dont look like we look. Or dont love like we love. Or pray like we do. He was very active on the campaign trail for hillary clinton. Didnt exactly work out in the end for her. How is it going to play out this time . Look, at this point with days to go, this is about mobilization. Its not about persuading anybody any more. Persuasion is over. Hes just trying to mobilize voters. And so hes not looking to play in red states to the people that donald trump is looking to play to. Hes looking to play in the state like florida, where its close. Hes looking to play to those close Hillary Clintonwon districts. The districts he won, you know, when he ran for president in 2018 and beyond. So i think getting him out there they know where theyre putting him. They are putting him in florida, georgia. They know where he can help. And i think he wants to make up for some lost time, because under his watch, dont forget, at the state and local level, they lost 1,000 legislative seats, and governorships. And hes trying to help out this time. How do you think its going to work . I think, you know, as we talked at the top of the show, just speaking to one of gillums folks, just within the last hour, it is the idea is to just put this front and center in front of voters, specifically africanamerican voters in georgia and in florida who will look at these two candidates in gillum and stacy abrams and see barack obama. Well see what happens. Stick around. Theres more news were following. Echos of the cold war as Vladimir Putin welcomed cubas leader to moscow. Whats behind putins new promise of military and Technical Cooperation . C g e. Know what goes great with steak and shrimp . More shrimp. And you know what goes great with that shrimp . You guessed it. More shrimp. Steak and unlimited shrimp, starting at 15. 99. Only at outback. Steak and unlimited shrimp, starting at 15. 99. Your insurance rates skyrocket you could fix it with a pen. How about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead . For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Tonight, Vladimir Putins latest diplomatic move is raising some concerns about a repeat of one of the most dangerous confrontations of the gold war. Lets bring in cnns brian todd. Brian, what is putin up to with cuba . Reporter wolf, he is expressing solidarity with the castroinstalled communist president of cuba and cutting military deals with the cubans, all leading to a key question tonight. Is Vladimir Putin yearning for the days of the cuban missile crisis . In what seemed to be a flashback to the battle days of the cold war, two adversaries shook hands today. Vladimir putin and castros handpicked successor met facetoface in moscow with putin expressing what he called his unwavering solidarity with the communist island nation. Translator i am very glad to see you, to be able to continue our dialogue which had already begun some time ago. Reporter a benign phrase, possibly belying what putin and his cuban ally could have in the works. A prominent moscow newspaper reports there could be a 50 million deal brewing for cuba to eventually buy some Russian Military hardware, part of a pattern of military cooperation between putin and cuba apparently designed to spy on the u. S. Cuba is russias toehold into this hemisphere. It is a place for some very close ties with the Russian Military, with Russian Military. It is a key port for russia. Reporter the possibility of more russian hardware in cuba harkens to the moment america came the closest it has ever ben to nuclear war. October 1962 when a Dangerous Alliance between fidel castro and nikitakruschev lead to the placement of missiles 90 miles from americas shores. He probably loves the optics. A lot of this has the trappings of the cold war, an arms race, returning its posture very close to u. S. Shores, being as disruptive as possible. Reporter since taking office, donald trump has rolled back some of the moves president obama made to improve diplomatic relations between the u. S. And cuba. Experts say putin is taking full advantage of trumps tougher stance on cuba. Clearly the appearance, the perception will be that just as the u. S. Is drawing back, that cuba is now seeming to run into the arms of russia, is a symbol that i think Vladimir Putin would be very happy for most of the world to see. Reporter his efforts to grab back some of the old soviet influence near american shores, analysts say, strikes at the emotional core of the exkgb colonel who once said the collapse of the soviet union was the, quote, greatest gio political collapse of the 20th century. On a strategic level we are continuing to see russia build the russia versus the west narrative and trying to create a revisionist russia, a russia thats a stronger player on the world stage than they have been. Reporter analysts warn that cuba is not putins only target in using americas neighbors against it. They say putin has sent russian advisers to venezuela and to nicaragua to give them military and economic help. Those three countries, cuba, venezuela and nicaragua, were what President Trumps security adviser john bolt en called a triumvirate. It seems he is going back to the battle days of the cold war. Reporter he is. In addition to visit russia, he is also about to visit some of communist allies from that cold war era. It seems optically we are heading back to the cold war alliances, all playing into Vladimir Putins hands. He loves this stuff. Brian, thank you very much. Very interesting indeed. Coming up, breaking news. A showdown on the campaign trail as President Trump tries to drive his loyalists to the polls with raciallycharged rhetoric. He is now being answered by former president obama who accuses him of lying while warning this election may be the most important of our lifetime. I cant believe it. That grandpas nose is performing flight of the bumblebee . No, you goof. I cant believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my Car Insurance with geico. Nice. I know, right . [nose plays a jazzy saxophone tune] believe it. Geico could save you 15 or more on Car Insurance. So, lets talk about Conference Calls. Theres always a certain amount of fumbling. A lot of times it doesnt work. We have problems. Comcast business goes beyond fast. By letting you make and receive calls from any device using your business line. And Conference Calls you can join without any dialins or pins. phone there are currently 3 members in this conference. I like that. I like that too. I would use that in a heartbeat. Get started with innovative Voice Solutions for a low price when you get fast, reliable internet. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Happening now, breaking news. Opposing visions. President trump and former president obama rallying voters tonight ahead of next weeks Midterm Election and presenting sharply different visions out of the u. S. And its challenges. Which one will better get out the vote . Called out by cohen. The president s former fixer, Michael Cohen, is saying mr. Trump made repeated racist references in private conversations with him over the years before he was president. We have details of cohens very disturbing claims. Tampering and obstruction. Newly revealed text and emails show longtime trump adviser roguer stone telling an associate targeted by the special Counsel Robert Mueller not to talk and to plead the fifth. Will mueller hold that over stones head or charge him . Scaring off votes. New information about the shockingly racist Campaign Video retweeted by President Trump demonizing mexicans and blaming democrats. Our factcheck reveals misleading and flatout false allegations. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room