Trump Disagrees, Has "Spoken with" Pence on Syria
BALDWIN: Republican vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence, today dismissing any speculation he and Donald Trump are at odds on their positions on Syria. Pence insists they're on the same page, even though during the debate last night, Trump flat-out contradicted Pence's idea about using military force when asked about how to stop the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo.</s>DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He and I haven't spoken and I disagree. I disagree.</s>MARTHA RADDATZ, DEBATE MODERATOR: You disagree with your running mate?</s>TRUMP: We've got to knock out ISIS. Right now, Syria is fighting ISIS. We have people that want to fight both at the same time. But Syria is no longer Syria. Syria is Russia and it's Iran. I believe we have to get ISIS. We have to worry about ISIS before we can get too much more involved.</s>PENCE: The question I had -- and you can check the transcript, so can your viewers -- was about the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo and what we ought to do. Donald Trump's Trump position, our position is that we need to establish safe zones. You need to be willing to use -- you need to be willing to use resources, and including military power, to secure those safe zones to allow those people, including 100,000 children, to be able to evacuate. Last night, she conflated that and referred to general provocation and involvement by the Russians, the Syrian regime. You know, Donald Trump's made it clear, our policy is safe zones for people suffering in Syria.</s>BALDWIN: So, we really wanted to hone in on the Syria issue. Clarissa Ward, we're coming straight to you, our senior international correspondent. You've covered Syria extensively. One take away from that initial statement from Trump, he said he hasn't talked to his running mate, number one. Number two, he said Aleppo is a disaster. He said he doesn't like Assad. But, quote, "Assad is killing ISIS." When you heard that, did you read that as Trump praising Assad? What did you make of his response?</s>CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What I made of his response is essentially he's branding himself as sort of an apologist for Assad and Russia and Iran and the action those three forces have taken combined together inside Syria. What he's essentially saying it is unfortunately that they're killing all these other people, but they're also killing ISIS. To a certain extent, that is true. Russia did, with Assad's forces, take back the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS. We have seen Iranian military advisers in Iraq advising and helping with the fight against ISIS in Iraq. So there is some truth to that. But what it ignores is the larger picture which shows quite clearly that ISIS has thrived precisely because of Assad's atrocities. It has grown as a result of the vacuum left by the Syrian civil war. And when you spend time in Aleppo, as I do, you see and understand firsthand how it is that this devastating humanitarian conflict is quickly turning into an incubator for extremism. What also confused me is that Donald Trump also says he would like to see safe zones. So, on the one hand, he seems to be willing to let Assad do his thing, along with Russians and Iranians. But it would be interesting for me to see how he plans to implement these safe zones, because this is an idea that obviously has been put forward by many different diplomats at many different junctures in this conflict. The reality is that the Assad regime has not been amenable to that, nor have its Russian backers. So there's a lot of confliction in the Syrian policy he articulates -- Brooke?</s>BALDWIN: So that was Trump. This was Hillary Clinton's response to what she would do in Syria.</s>CLINTON: I would not use American ground forces in Syria. I think that would be a very serious mistake. I don't think American troops should be holding territory, which is what they would have to do as an occupying force. I don't think that is a smart strategy. I do think the use of Special Forces, which we're using, the use of enablers and trainers in Iraq, which has had some positive effects, are very much in our interests.</s>BALDWIN: It sounded to me that her response was very similar to the strategy of the current administration. When President Obama himself was asked about Syria last month, he said it haunts him. You know, in terms of helping in the war then, what -- did you hear enough in her response?</s>WARD: One very major difference from President Barack Obama, she said she would like to see a no-fly zone implemented in Syria. That would offer some kind of protection to the civilians who have live under that relentless bombardment for five years now. But she didn't give any details on how that no-fly zone would be implemented. The jury is not out on this one. A lot of analysts are saying, hold on, that's a major military investment. It would require potentially escalating the conflict in Syria even further because it is the Russian fighter jets who are ruling the skies over northern Syria right now, not the U.S. But certainly, this is a significant departure from the policy of President Barack Obama, and potentially one that the people of Syria would very much welcome -- Brooke?</s>BALDWIN: Well, you're the one to talk to, having testified at the United Nations and being to Syria multiple times. Clarissa Ward, thank you for your voice. Coming up next, inside the shocking hot-mic moment shaking up the current presidential election. Up next, we'll talk to a former producer for "Access Hollywood," his thoughts on who might have leaked that 2005 video between Trump and Billy Bush, and is there more from where that came from?