[Jake Tapper, Cnn:] That's it for "THE LEAD." I'm Jake Tapper, turning you over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks for watching.
[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn:] Happening now, new low. Donald Trump hits bottom in his debate with Hillary Clinton, and in a new national poll which has him trailing by double digits. Is the Trump campaign in freefall and dragging down the Republican Party with it? Ryan's revolt. House Speaker Paul Ryan says he will no longer defend Donald Trump and will focus on protecting his party's hold in Congress. Ryan tells Republican lawmakers to head for the exits if they need to. Expanding the map. Democrats may step up their efforts to capture the House and Senate seats. Sources say there's talk of pouring more resources into the states Democrats never thought they could capture. And un-predictable. New signs that North Korea's leader is preparing some sort of provocation. Is Kim Jong-un plotting a new rocket launch or some other surprise timed to the U.S. election? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in
[The Situation Room. Announcer:] This is CNN breaking news.
[Blitzer:] Breaking news. After a shockingly nasty debate, the presidential candidates are back on the campaign trail today, and that presidential campaign has turned into an all-out brawl. After downplaying the explosive video of his vulgar and sexually aggressive remarks, Trump went all out in last night's debate, aggressively working to keep his base, calling Hillary Clinton the devil and threatening to jail her if he's elected. Today he's picking up where he left off. But in the process, Trump may have alienated even more mainstream Republicans and independents. In a stunning move, House Speaker Paul Ryan today said he will no longer defend Donald Trump and will focus on protecting the GOP majority in Congress. He told colleagues they must do what's right for them and their districts. Clinton smiled through the debate; and Democrats have reason to keep smiling. Our CNNORC poll showed Clinton won the debate by a large margin. And today, a new national poll shows her leading Trump by 11 points. Clinton is campaigning today in key electoral battlegrounds, hitting back hard at Trump and sources say the newly-emboldened Democrats may take their fight for control of Congress into more states. I'll speak with a Trump supporter, Congressman Chris Collins. And our correspondents, analysts and guests, they will have full coverage of the day's top stories. But let's begin with the Trump campaign and the Republican Party, both seemingly in meltdown mode. Today, CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is out on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania. Sunlen, Trump was defiant in the debate. Tell our viewers what he's saying today.
[Sunlen Serfaty, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, what we're seeing is really Donald Trump lashing out today against Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. He's been, of course, trying to keep his campaign off life-support, but tonight Donald Trump seems to be digging in deeper with many Republicans in taking on this very aggressive, very defiant posture. This is still very much a campaign and a party in crisis mode.
[Serfaty:] Tonight Donald Trump's scorched earth strategy is threatening to engulf the Republican Party.
[Donald Trump , Presidential Nomine:] If they want to more release tapes saying inappropriate things, we'll continue talking about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things. There are so many of them.
[Serfaty:] House Speaker Paul Ryan today holding a conference call with Republican lawmakers, telling them, according to sources on the call, that he will no longer defend Trump and will spend the next month focused on preserving the GOP's congressional majority. Ryan telling members, quote, "You all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump firing back today, tweeting, quote, "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs, and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee." The intraparty battle comes as a new NBC"Wall Street Journal" poll done after the release of the 2005 videotape with Trump making sexually aggressive comments about women, but before Sunday's debate, finds Trump trailing Clinton nationally by double digits.
[Trump:] If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse, mine are words and his was action.
[Serfaty:] Trump's no-holds-barred debate performance was an attempt to stabilize his candidacy, bringing to the debate women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment and assault as he tries to move past the videotape controversy.
[Trump:] I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly I'm not proud of it, but this is locker-room talk.
[Cooper:] Have you ever done those things?
[Trump:] And women have respect for me. And I will tell you no, I have not.
[Serfaty:] Trump's contrition was short-lived, quickly turning his focus to sharply criticizing Clinton.
[Trump:] She has tremendous hate in her heart. And when she said "deplorables," she meant it.
[Serfaty:] Even suggesting he would try to imprison his Democratic rival if he was elected next month.
[Trump:] If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.
[Hillary Clinton , Presidential Nominee:] It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.
[Trump:] Because you'd be in jail.
[Serfaty:] Despite the concerns by some in the party about Trump's path forward, his running mate, Mike Pence, says he's not jumping ship.
[Gov. Mike Pence , Vice-presidential Nominee:] It's absolutely false to suggest that at any point in time we considered dropping off this ticket.
[Serfaty:] Even after Trump contradicted gun during the debate on the ticket's stance towards military action in Syria.
[Trump:] He and I haven't spoken, and I disagree.
[Serfaty:] Pence today saying there was no daylight between the two.
[Pence:] I've talked to him about our policy. Donald Trump has made it clear our policy is safe zones for people suffering in Syria, but also his focus is on destroying ISIS in Syria.
[Serfaty:] And in a sign of support, Mike Pence returned to the campaign trail today. That was after this weekend he decided that he could not represent Donald Trump at an event on Saturday. Mike Pence telling the North Carolina crowd that he does not condone what Donald Trump said in that videotape, but he does believe in forgiveness Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Sunlen Serfaty, thanks very much. Hillary Clinton is back on the campaign trail after last night's down and dirty debate. She's working to try to get out the vote in key battleground states. Our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, is joining us live from Detroit. Joe, Hillary Clinton has some fresh momentum right now. What's the latest?
[Joe Johns, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, she had noisy crowd here at Wayne State University in the Detroit area. The Clinton campaign says the candidate is happy with her performance, happy with the polls that show her up, and also hopeful that she was able to get her key campaign messages at that debate last night, despite what the campaign communications director, Jim Palmieri, calls distractions and even an attempt by Donald Trump to, quote, "intimidate the former secretary state."
[Johns:] Fresh off he contentious second debate, Hillary Clinton takes her campaign to the Motor City to woo blue-collar Michigan voters.
[Clinton:] Donald Trump spent his time attacking when he should have been apologizing!
[Unidentified Female:] I'm a Republican, but this election is so much bigger than party.
[Johns:] Her campaign is appealing not only to loyal Democratic voters but persuadable Republicans in a series of new TV ads featuring GOP voters who are supporting her bid.
[Unidentified Male:] By putting party aside and voting for Hillary Clinton.
[Johns:] A CNNORC poll conducted immediately after the debate Sunday night found that 57 percent of those who watched believe Clinton won, compared with 34 percent who said Trump did. The survey, which skews slightly more Democratic, showed Clinton with a 34-point lead among women and an 11-point edge with men.
[Clinton:] He needs to take responsibility for his actions and his words.
[Johns:] Clinton began the fiery debate taking aim at Trump's temperament, painting him as unfit for the presidency.
[Clinton:] Donald Trump is different. I said starting back in June that he was not fit to be president and commander in chief.
[Johns:] Clinton seizing on the 2005 video of Trump making lewd comments about women to make a broader case about his readiness to become president.
[Clinton:] Yes, this is who Donald Trump is. But it's not only women, and it's not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our president, because he has also targeted immigrants, African- Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims, and so many others.
[Johns:] But Clinton also facing questions about leaked portions of her paid speeches, in which she said politicians can have different positions in public and in private.
[Clinton:] As I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln was trying to convince some people; he used some arguments. Convincing other people he used other arguments. That was a great I thought a great display of presidential leadership.
[Johns:] Trump quickly pounced on the remark.
[Trump:] She lied. Now she's blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln. That's one that I haven't OK, honest Abe. Honest Abe never lied. That's the good thing. That's the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you.
[Johns:] While much of the night was filled with sharp attacks, it ended on a higher note, with the candidates being asked to compliment their rival.
[Clinton:] I respect his children. His children are incredibly able and devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald.
[Trump:] I will say this about Hillary. She doesn't quit; she doesn't give up. I respect that.
[Johns:] And the Clinton campaign saying they would like to get her more talking about what she'd like to do as president as opposed to Donald Trump, which only underscores a problem she's having: that he commands so much media attention, it's sometimes difficult for her to get her message out over the roar. And the concern is that things could get even worse in this last month, because last month's last night's debate suggests this could get even dirtier. Back to you.
[Blitzer:] All right, Joe Johns reporting for us. Thank you. Joining us now, Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York. He was the first member of the Congress to endorse Donald Trump. Congressman, thanks for joining us.
[Rep. Chris Collins , New York:] Good to be with you, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] So Congressman, do you still support Paul Ryan as speaker of the House?
[Collins:] Oh, of course, I do. Paul Ryan has a very difficult job. It is his job to make sure we maintain our majority in the House, which we're going to do, but the bigger the majority, the better. So nothing has changed over the last few months, where that's Paul Ryan's primary job. It was yesterday; it is today. And it's a true statement: all of us running for reelection have to run our own races. So I really didn't see any controversy or anything new popping up today that was any different than yesterday with Paul Ryan's focus on maintaining our majority in the House, which we're going to do.
[Blitzer:] That's what he says he's going to do exclusively. He's going to work to try to maintain that Republican majority in the House. But also on that conference call, according to our sources, he made it clear he is not going to defend Donald Trump; he's not going to go work for him. He's not going to do any campaigning for that. Is that appropriate?
[Collins:] Well, I mean, Paul Ryan never has defended Donald Trump. He's focused on maintaining our majority in the House. Again, I don't see that any different than we've had for the last few months. And it's going to be that the movement behind Donald Trump and the grassroots that are as supportive of Donald Trump today, as they were a week ago.
[Blitzer:] You know you know, Congressman, they were going to be campaigning together on Saturday, this past Saturday. Trump was going to go to Wisconsin. Paul Ryan was going to welcome him there. Reince Priebus, also from Wisconsin, the chairman of the Republican Party, was going to be there. The Republican senator, the Republican governor. But they disinvited Trump after that video came out Friday night. So there was going to be an effort by Paul Ryan to go out there publicly and campaign for him. But that's gone away. Are you happy about that?
[Collins:] Well, I will say Saturday was a very raw day, if you will, after that video came out that was disappointing to a lot of us in what he calls locker-room talk. But he has now apologized to America, which he did last night. And so he's moved on to the issues, the difference between his change agenda and Hillary Clinton's status quo agenda and clearly did point out 30 years of words that Hillary Clinton has made on campaign trails but no positive actions to support that. So I think Donald Trump did an incredibly good job last night pivoting to the difference in his change agenda versus her status quo agenda and pointed out again and again, like in western New York, the jobs that she promised as a U.S. senator that never happened. She's making additional promises now on the campaign trail that, frankly, are not going to happen.
[Blitzer:] You mentioned Saturday was a pretty brutal day. So many Republican colleagues of yours, other well-known Republicans, like Condoleezza Rice, for example, Senator John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Congressman Jason Chaffetz. That video came out, and all of a sudden all of them said they could not support, they could not vote for Donald Trump. That was a breaking point for them, and it seems like for a lot of other Republicans, as well. Your reaction to that?
[Collins:] Well, I disagree. I think the majority of our members of Congress are still solidly behind Donald Trump, because we know what this country would look like with four years of Hillary Clinton in office. The Supreme Court is what came up last night, and she did not say for one second she was looking for Supreme Court justices to defend the Constitution. She wants to rewrite Citizens United, wants to take our guns away...
[Blitzer:] Congressman, what would be your breaking point?
[Collins:] My breaking point in supporting Donald Trump, I'm not sure there ever would be, considering Hillary Clinton and her actions, her lies to America. She's never apologized to lying about her e-mails. She's never apologized for lying to the Benghazi families.
[Blitzer:] So let me just be precise.
[Collins:] She's now lying about her WikiLeaks and the issues there.
[Blitzer:] Congressman, if more tapes come out, very, very raw, vile tapes came out in the coming days, that still wouldn't impact you as far as your support for Trump?
[Collins:] Well, words are words, and they can be disappointing, and they can be language I would not use, but again, it comes back to words versus actions, and Donald Trump did point that out. And his change agenda, whether it's our energy policy, Supreme Court, defeating ISIS, you know, making sure that we secure our borders and get our jobs back. That is the America that we have to worry about. It's not words; it's actions, and it's the future of our country. Donald Trump represents that agenda that's going to change the country for the better, working with a Republican House. And it's not Hillary Clinton and her empty rhetoric and her phony feminist agenda that is not reality. So, no, I'm going to be continue to be a very strong Donald Trump supporter, because the future of America is at stake.
[Blitzer:] All right, Congressman. Stay with us. We have more to discuss. We'll take a quick break. We'll resume our conversation right after this. [commercial break] We're back with Chris Collins of New York. He was the first member of the House to support Donald Trump. Congressman, Trump came into last night's debate reeling from the release of that awful video, with party leaders abandoning him left and right. Instead of showing some real genuine remorse, he proceeded to bring up Bill Clinton's accusers. He threatened to jail Hillary Clinton if he were elected president. He called her the devil. He repeated all those lines, by the way. Today at his rally went even further. Is it smart for him to take what some call that scorched-earth approach?
[Collins:] Well, the Hillary Clinton campaign has taken a scorched- earth approach, because she really doesn't have a positive message for America, and her actions do speak louder than words. So what you've got here is an outright, you know, brawl. And I think we're going to see it for the next four weeks. Donald Trump is going to be talking about his agenda of change. Hillary Clinton is I don't know if she's going to try to defend the indefensible, whether she's talking about our economy, the unrest in our inner cities, the divisiveness of this nation, the situation in Syria and Iraq. Last night, she even had the audacity to say she was not in the administration when they drew the red line. Another outright lie. And so, you know, Hillary Clinton should be apologizing to America for, you know, her lies. But as we move forward, I'm afraid we're going to see, you know, a pretty nasty four weeks. And what goes around comes around. And, you know, Donald Trump is not someone to take anything, you know, laying down, so, you know he did apologize. He moved right to his message of change. He contrasted that with Hillary Clinton. I suspect you're going to see that and, you know, some very blunt words.
[Blitzer:] It's going to be yes.
[Collins:] That's how Donald Trump talks to America.
[Blitzer:] If last night and today is any example, it's going to be brutal. But you know what? Donald Trump wasn't always like that as far as Hillary Clinton is concerned. I interviewed him back in 1999. Listen to what he said then about Hillary Clinton.
[Trump:] Terrible times. I think she's been through more than any woman should have to bear, everything public. I mean, women go through this on a private basis and can't take it. She's on the front page of every newspaper every week with what went on in Washington. I think she's a wonderful woman.
[Blitzer:] He also around the same time, he called Bill Clinton a victim. He said that the accusers his accusers, in his words, were an unattractive group. He called Paula Jones a loser. What do you make of this reversal? And do you think voters buy this sudden concern for these women that he's now showing?
[Collins:] Well, I mean, that was then, now is now. And what I would say, you know, some people don't remember I was the one that introduced Hillary Clinton in February of 2001 after she won the Senate race. I was the one that stood with her at my biotechnology company, introduced her to western New York as she started her Senate career. I've subsequently seen who Hillary Clinton really is. I obviously don't support her at all now. I gave her the benefit of the doubt back in 2001, only to be disappointed with the rhetoric and the words that did not turn into actions. But that was then. Now is now. And Donald Trump is a private-sector business guy doing business. And as he has said before, he understands, you know, at some point he was supporting Republicans, he was supporting Democrats as a private-sector business guy. You know, I'm not surprised he would say nice things, whether he was biting his tongue as he did or not. But today is the day that matters, and Hillary Clinton's actions, certainly, since she was a U.S. senator and subsequently secretary of state, which have been one failure, one bad judgment call after another...
[Blitzer:] All right.
[Collins:] ... which has led us to where ISIS is today and so forth. You know, today is the day that matters, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] I'll just point out I'll just point out, Congressman, I remember that interview back in 1999. He was effusive. Very warm, very outgoing in his praise of Hillary Clinton at the time. And I assume he was very, very sincere back in 1999 in going out and saying all those nice things about her and her husband. But let's leave it on that note.
[Collins:] Well, you know, I think we should remember that she said very nice things about Donald Trump as well.
[Blitzer:] She and her husband went to his wedding, as a lot of us remember, as well.
[Collins:] That's correct. So another time.
[Blitzer:] So they they used to have a good relationship. Now they clearly don't, although they didn't shake hands at the beginning of that debate last night, but they did shake hand at the very end. Congressman, thanks for joining us.
[Collins:] Always good to be with you, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Coming up: the campaign trail is winding through the battleground states today, but the path to 270 electoral votes is not getting any easier for Donald Trump. And there are new indications right now that Kim Jong-un is planning some sort of provocation. Will he launch a new rocket ahead of the U.S. election? Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.