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CNN Live Event/Special
Clinton Wins New Jersey Democratic Primary; Trump Tonight We Close One Chapter In History & Begin Another; Trump: I Will Never, Ever Let You Down; Trump Calls For GOP Unity, Attacks Clinton; Standing By For Clinton To Speak. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired June 07, 2016 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:02] JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: And he talks about how he's able to give these extemporaneous speeches where as he criticizes others, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and more from reading for teleprompters but they are rolling out teleprompters for him this evening so among his, I would say campaign handlers although nobody handles Donald Trump. There is a hope among some people on his staff that he will be reading from a script.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And that obviously is something that he believes is important for tonight to try to give across a very specific, very well carefully crafted message.
My understanding is that it is going to be a thank you to the Republican Party, an attempt for him and these very tumultuous times, especially last few days within his party to try to say OK, you know, let's try to pivot and move on and focus where we should focus as a party, November, and on the person who is going to be the opponent for the White House, Hillary Clinton.
So substance wise that's my understanding but I think it's important for us to kind of take a step back and remember. I wish just sort of calculating, so within 51 weeks, barely a year, next year will be a year that Donald Trump became a political candidate for the first time. And he is going to be -- and he obviously it's been incredibly bumpy at times and there's been something to marvel at a times but he's learning on the job with the biggest, brightest spotlight that anybody could possibly have. And it's quite remarkable.
TAPPER: It has been an amazing year for him when you think about the fact that he just declared his -- that he was running for president June 2015 and for weeks now he has been the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. All these other contests that are coming forward are really just mere formalities as he continues to dominate.
I think that we -- I was listening to the panelists earlier and I think Paul Begala is right in one of the things he says in that one of the strongest cards that Donald Trump has to play is to attack Hillary Clinton. I'm not saying that he should or should not but that is something that does unify Republicans ...
BASH: Exactly. TAPPER: ... the base and it is the one thing that when you talk to people like Senator Marco Rubio or talk to people like House Speaker Paul Ryan, people who are only reluctantly saying they will vote for Donald Trump, the one thing they always come down to is he's better than Hillary Clinton. So the more that he can talk about that and the less that he talks about trying to explain what he meant by calling the judge Mexican and saying that his heritage was the reason why he can't be fair because Donald Trump is going to build a wall, et cetera, et cetera, that three page press release that he put out earlier today, the less he does that three page release and the more he talks about Hillary Clinton's weaknesses, I think the better for the party and the better for him.
BASH: You're absolutely right and my understanding is that that has been the message to him leading into tonight's speech. Remember, you know, everybody is so fractured right now and so angry and so aggravated at you for all of these comments about the judge and putting them in a position of having to defend or not defend or, you know, taking everybody off message, Hillary Clinton is the one you should talk about to unify everybody on the Republican side.
TAPPER: New Jersey girl Dana Bash let me interrupt you for one second. Wolf Blitzer has a relevant announcement.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We've had a projection, Jake, right now. CNN camp projected Hillary Clinton will win the New Jersey Democratic presidential primary. This is the first of six contests tonight. Hillary Clinton wins New Jersey based on the numbers that have come in so far. The actual votes that haven tallied. Hillary Clinton will win New Jersey. This is the first contest of the night.
Other contests the polls have just closed in three other states. It's too early to call in New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. We'll wait for some actual numbers to come in and then we'll see where we can go from there. Right now too early to call New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota that had lined Hillary Clinton is projected to win, win the Democratic presidential primary in New Jersey.
Remember, we're waiting to hear from Donald Trump momentarily. He's going to be speaking. He's got a speech that he has prepared. He will be reading at least part of it from a teleprompter. Only the third time he's reading from a teleprompter for speech. He did that at the AIPAC meeting, the America's Republic affairs committee, his national security speeches, more on policies speech. These will be only the third time that he will be reading from a teleprompter. We'll have live coverage of that. That will be followed by Hillary Clinton's historic speech, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, we're obviously, covering all of that live as we wait let's go and continue the conversation with our panel. In terms of this speech, I mean, do we know -- do we know if Donald Trump rehears these kinds of speeches. I mean Jeffrey do you know this?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do not know. I do not know. I tend to think not. [21:05:01] COOPER: Does he have, you know, the speech writers. I mean, I read that the AIPAC speech was written by his son-in-law and sort of he has ...
LORD: He does have.
(CROSSTALK)
SARAH ELIZABETH CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: When he was going to announce, you forget, I used to be very friendly with Trump and Co. When he was first going to announce I was sent a copy of the speech that he was meant still to deliver. And with the first word, I was watching and knew he's not delivering anything on this paper. And it was a very cogent, very clear professional presidential kind of typical, typical speech that obviously he threw up -- threw -- tore up and threw out the window.
So yes, that he has speech writers. I'm not sure if they write and then he takes parts or he leans on it. But clearly throughout this election, he has preferred to as they say wing it.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And by winging it, he was able to do brilliant things.
COOPER: Right.
JONES: And part of I think what we have to try to not lose track on here, is that there is -- and I actually worry if Trump completely collapses, Sanders is pushed off the thing ...
COOPER: He's being introduced now along with his family.
LORD: He does have a great sound track. His playlist is awesome.
CUPP: Pretty Mercury isn't alive to say take this song.
JONES: Do you think there's his dead artist tract.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Wow, thank you very much. Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
TRUMP: I'd like to begin by thanking the people of Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico, New Jersey and California. And we had some big, big days and we have some big numbers come in, very big numbers. I'm truly honored by your support. Together, we accomplished what nobody thought was absolutely possible. And you know what that is, we're only getting started and it's going be beautiful. Remember that.
Tonight, we close one chapter in history and we begin another. Our campaign received more primary votes than any GOP campaign in history, no matter who it is, no matter who they are, we received more votes. This is -- great feeling, that's a great feeling.
This is not a testament to me but a testament to all of the people who believed real change, not Obama change, but real change is possible.
You've given me the honor to lead the Republican Party to victory this fall. We're going to do it. We're going to do it folks. We're going to do it. I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle and I will never ever let you down. Too much work, too many people, blood, sweat and tears, never going to let you down. I will make you proud of our party and to our movement, and that's what it is, is a movement.
Now recent polls have shown that I'm beating Hillary Clinton and with all of her many problems and the tremendous mistakes that she'd made and she has made tremendous mistakes. We expect our lead to continue to grow and grow substantially.
To everyone who voted for me throughout this campaign, I want to thank you. I want to thank you very, very much.
To those who voted for someone else in either party, I'll work hard to earn your support and I will work very hard to earn that support. To all of those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms.
And by the way, the terrible trade deals that Bernie was so vehemently against and he's right on that, will be taken care of far better than anyone ever thought possible and that's what I do. We are going to have fantastic trade deals. We're going to start making money and bringing in jobs.
[21:10:06] Now I know some people say I'm too much of a fighter. My preference is always peace, however. And I've shown that. I've shown that for a long time. I've built an extraordinary business on relationships and deals that benefit all parties involved always. My goal is always again to bring people together. But if I'm forced to fight for something I really care about, I will never ever back down and our country will never ever back down.
Thank you. I've fought for my family, I've fought for my business, I've fought for my employees and now I'm going to fight for you, the American people, like nobody has ever fought before. And I'm not a politician fighting, I'm me. You're going to see some real good things happen.
Just remember this, I'm going to be your champion, I'm going to be America's champion, because you see this election isn't about Republican or Democrat, it's about who runs this country, the special interests or the people, and I mean the American people.
Every election year, politicians promise change. Obama promised change and it didn't work out too well. And every year they fail to deliver. Why would politicians want to change a system that's totally rigged in order to keep them in power? That's what they're doing, folks. Why would politicians want to change a system that's made them and their friends very, very wealthy?
I beat a rigged system by winning with overwhelming support, the only way you could have done it, landslides all over the country with every demographic on track to win 37 primary caucus victories in a field that began with 17 very talented people. After years of disappointment, there's one thing we all have learned. We can't fix the rigged system by relying on very -- and I mean this so, so strongly -- on the very people who rigged it and they rigged it and do not ever think anything differently.
We can't solve our problems by counting on the politicians who created our problems. The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves. They've made hundreds of millions of dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts and I mean hundreds of millions of dollars.
Secretary Clinton even did all of the work on a totally illegal private server, something that how she's getting away with this folks nobody understands, designed to keep her corrupt dealings out of the public record, putting the security of the entire country at risk and a president in a corrupt system is totally protecting her. Not right. I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week and we're going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons. I think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting.
I wonder if the press will want to attend. Who knows?
Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge funds, the Russians, the Saudis, the Chinese all gave money to Bill and Hillary and got favorable treatment in return. It's a sad day in America when foreign governments with deep pockets have more influence in our own country than our great citizens. I didn't need to do this, it's not easy, believe me, I didn't need to do it, but I felt I had to give back to our wonderful country which has been so good to me and to my family.
[21:15:13] I've traveled to many of our states and seen the suffering in people's eyes. I've visited communities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Indiana and Ohio, whose manufacturing jobs, and they literally, these jobs have virtually disappeared. An embarrassment to our country and it's horrible.
I've embraced the victims of illegal immigration, moms and dads who have had to bury their own children, because of people that shouldn't have been in the country. Remember it folks, remember it.
I visited the crumbling cities and the struggling schools. I've seen our dilapidated airports, highways, bridges and I've compared them to other countries where we see facilities so far superior to ours, it's really not to be believed. Hard to imagine what's happened to our country.
America is getting taken apart piece by piece, auctioned often and just rapidly auctioned off to the highest bidder. We're broke. We're broke. We owe $19 trillion going quickly to $21 trillion.
Our infrastructure is a disaster, our schools are failing, crime is rising, people are scared. The last thing we need is Hillary Clinton in the White House or an extension of the Obama disaster. What a crowd, what a crowd. Thank you all very much. We love our country, we love our country. But we can turn this all around. We're going to do it by putting America first.
That commitment is the foundation for change that's been missing and it's been missing for a long time. It's important to understand what America first means. It means on foreign policy, we will never enter into any conflict unless it makes us safer as a nation. It has to make us safer as a nation.
This is the opposite of Hillary's foreign policy, which invaded Libya, destabilized Iraq, unleashed ISIS and threw Syria into chaos and created the mass migration, which is wreaking havoc all over the world. And while putting Iran on the path to nuclear weapons and making them a dominant power in the Middle East. And they are dominant and we have made them that way, folks. We have made them that way. Better hope I'm president.
On trade, America first means the American worker will have his or her job protected from unfair foreign competition. What's happening there is absolutely a disgrace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No PPP!
TRMP: No PPP, you're right about that. So, and you mean no PP. We are going and remember this, we are only going to have great trade deals, OK.
We are only going to have that. We're not going to approve as somebody just said the Trans Pacific partnership, which is a disaster, a disaster for our country. Almost as bad as NAFTA, signed by Bill Clinton, which is just stripped our country of our factories and our manufacturing and moved them to other places, in particular, Mexico.
If it's not a great deal for our country, we will not sign it. It's got to be great for our country, for our community, for everybody in here because believe me, we are all suffering and we're suffering big league and it's getting worse.
On energy policy, America first means opening up America's great potential to bring wealth and prosperity to our own workers, including our wonderful and hard working miners who have been absolutely totally mistreated by this administration.
[21:20:06] On economic policy, America first means having tax and regulatory policies that keep jobs and wealth in the United States. Substantially lower taxes for middle class Americans and businesses, likewise regulation which is strangling our economy, which would be brought down from his present and same level, we will make it very, very good for our companies, for our small businesses and for people that want to survive and do well in our country.
On immigration policy, America first means protecting the jobs, wages and security of American workers. Whether their first or tenth generation no matter who you are we're going to protect your job because let me tell you our jobs are being stripped from our country like we're babies.
The beauty of America first is that it brings us all together. Every American worker of every background is entitled to the same benefits, protections and rights and privileges. It's going be that way. Now the people in charge say things can't change. I'm here today to tell you that we have to change. We have no choice. We have to change. We're going to put ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump!
TRUMP: Thank you. We're going to put America back to work. We're going to make our own products. We're going to put America back to work. We're going to rebuild our inner cities, which are absolutely a shame and so sad. We're going to take care of our African-American people that have been mistreated for so long.
We're going to make you and your family safe, secure and prosperous, prosperous again. Together we will put the American people first again, first again.
We will make our communities wealthy, we will make our cities safe again and we will make our country strong again. Ladies and gentlemen, we will make America great again. Remember.
Thank you. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you
TAPPER: Donald speaking in Briarcliff Manor, New York at one of his many properties. It was one of the (inaudible) county, New York. It was a short speech. He seemed to largely stick to script. He was reading from a teleprompter. If you're not used to seeing Donald Trump speaking that way, it's because usually he speaks very extemporaneously, maybe reading from a few notes not tonight.
Tonight he had a very determined message that he wanted to deliver. One of the parts of the message he was trying to deliver was -- let me bring in my colleague Dana Bash, was, hey, Republican Party chill out, I've got this, I can be the presidential candidate. The nominee you want me to be and he did largely stick to that. Didn't say anything too controversial there. It was pretty interesting. He did allude to his inimitable style to a degree by casting himself as a fighter.
BASH: Right.
TAPPER: And people say I fight too much. Nobody really says that. They criticize some of the things you say but he's putting it in terms of a fighter and one of the most interesting lines I thought he had in the entire night was, I beat a rigged system and then he painted the Clintons, Hillary and Bill, as masters of this rigged system.
BASH: That's right. And, you know, just to your point about kind of trying to button up and maybe calm a lot of Republican's nerves and anger, frankly, at him he said specifically, I understand the responsibility of carrying this mantle and I will never let you down. A lot of people think that at least this week he did let them down but he's trying to clearly move on from that and just like you and I were talking about before the speech very, very much tried to unify Republicans behind a common political enemy, Hillary Clinton.
And something that is not that usual for a speech like this, giving us the schedule update and telling us that he is going to have a major speech on Hillary Clinton on Monday going through all the reasons why but probably expanding on some things he said tonight. All the reasons why she and her -- the Clintons in general are part of that rigged system that he talked about.
[21:25:09] TAPPER: He said that the Clintons have taken the politics of personal enrichment to an art form and he even described a motive, one that he is at best supposing, he doesn't now for certain, as to why Hillary Clinton had a private e-mail server. He said she was trying to keep deals that were being made on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, et cetera.
Again, no evidence for this that we know of, although that was on her e-mail server that he -- she was trying to keep that secret. So I suspect that what he's telegraphing is that on Monday, if that is indeed when he gives the speech, he will largely stick to an attack focus on the Clinton Foundation and allegations that have been made about the Clinton Foundation and fundraising for the Clinton Foundation as opposed to some of the attacks that he's leveled in the past that deal with charges and allegations against Bill Clinton.
BASH: That's right. And look, he gave this speech, as you mentioned, in a very unusual kind of way since he did read from a teleprompter, something that he very much has criticized Hillary Clinton for doing, but he went back to basics on that note. So much of his support going to Trump rallies during the primary has been -- he is different, he's a disruptor. He can go to Washington and make things different. He is trying to remind people, particularly those who aren't necessarily on the Hillary Clinton band wagon, maybe even some Bernie Sanders supporters but independents, that the system is something that needs to be blown up in Washington. It doesn't work, and Hillary Clinton and her -- the people around her have been in this town for decades and they're part of the problem.
TAPPER: The only thing he said about Bernie Sanders this evening, Anderson, was that Bernie is right about those trade deals and he's going to fix them.
COOPER: And certainly reaching out directly to Bernie Sanders supporters hoping to try to pick up as many as he can in this -- what is likely the winning days of the Bernie Sanders campaign. Let's get some quick reaction from Gloria, David, our panelists.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, if you have any doubt about where this campaign is going, you don't have any doubt any more. The first major speech he's giving after the primaries is about Hillary Clinton. And this is going to be a campaign about who you dislike the least and I think that Donald Trump is starting out by saying OK, you think you have some questions about me, I get it, but Hillary Clinton, if you look at her history, she has, as he put it, turned the State Department into a private hedge fund. OK.
And that's going to be the opening line of attack and Hillary will have to defend herself against that. But his first major speech is not about tax policy or education reform or even trade. It is about Hillary Clinton and that's how it's going go.
COOPER: And also about himself as ...
BORGER: Yes.
COOPER: ... a fighter, as a fighter for ...
BORGER: Yes, absolutely.
COOPER: ... America.
DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: But the speech he's giving next week is clearly going to be ...
COOPER: Right.
AXELROD: ... an alloy (ph) carpet bombing on Hillary Clinton and her integrity. And this is the race that's setting up, Donald Trump attacking Hillary Clinton on honesty and integrity, Hillary Clinton attacking him on stability and temperament. And it'll be an interesting match-up.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah. And closer to the race, I think, Republicans want to see from him. I mean, I think they might be a little frightened when he says I'm not a politician, I'm me, because Donald Trump comes with a lot of baggage. But it is interesting, I mean, if you look at the history of the Clintons, Republicans have never been able to beat the Clintons. The only person that beat the Clintons, David Axelrod, team Barack Obama ...
AXELROD: It's actually Barack Obama.
HENDERSON: ... and going to the left, right, of Hillary Clinton. And I think you saw some of that in his speech, reaching out to Bernie Sanders, talking about those trade deals. He seemed to be trying to get to the left on not consistently always on foreign policy, attacking her on Libya even though his position since it switched back and forth on Libya, but we'll see. It's been interesting.
COOPER: Right.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN "SMERCONISH" ANCHOR: The teleprompter, to me, suggested that this was going to be a controlled speech and his mannerisms were controlled, but this was incendiary, the sort of things that he was saying and that kind of surprised me. I also think that it was lacking in vision. You would think that this occasion, we're spending a lot of time tonight inappropriately so, talking about the significance of Secretary Clinton becoming the presumptive nominee. But never the less, he's reached a milestone and I thought that perhaps, this was the big picture evening. But that wasn't the way that he played it. He was instead setting up ...
BORGER: At least the big picture ... SMERCONISH: ... what will be the Peter Schweizer book "Clinton Cash" as the playbook for the fall.
AXELROD: The real question is how long will he stay tethered to a teleprompter? How long can he -- you saw a little sort of burps of spontaneity there, you know. I, you know, I better be a president. You better hope I'm president ...
CUPP: Oh, yeah.
[21:30:00] AXELROD: ... and stop. I just think it is going to be a real challenge and test for him to kind of color within the lines. As I said earlier, that's not what got him here, and it's not his personality.
COOPER: Before we continue on with your panel, also awaiting Hillary Clinton's remarks. Let's get a Key Race Alert from Wolf.
BLITZER: Anderson, thanks very much. We've already projected that Hillary Clinton has won the New Jersey Democratic presidential primary. Let's update you on three other states right now. In New Mexico 30 percent of the vote is in and Hillary Clinton has a lead, 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent for Bernie Sanders. Almost the third of the vote is in New Mexico.
In South Dakota, Hillary Clinton has the lead with a quarter of the vote in 23 percent. Hillary Clinton has 53.7 percent to Bernie Sanders 46.3 percent. She's ahead in South Dakota as well. In North Dakota, North Dakota caucuses we only have percentages. Here is where Bernie Sanders is ahead and he's always done pretty well in these caucuses, 29 percent of the vote is in, 61.7 percent for Bernie Sanders. 29.6 percent for Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders is ahead in North Dakota. We're standing by Montana is going to be closing at the top of the hour.
Donald Trump no surprise we projected he is the winner. He doesn't on the position in South Dakota and New Mexico two more states for Donald Trump. Let's go over to John King over the magic wall.
John, let's take a closer look at New Mexico right now Hillary Clinton has a slight lead over Bernie Sanders.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: She does. And if you look at the map early on we've only projected New Jersey. We have a lot of vote county to do as we move west. But if you look the map early on we have votes from five of the six states or four of the six states excuse me of coming with votes so far. And Hillary Clinton is leading in three of those four.
That's exactly what you do not want if you're a Bernie Sanders supporter because you're hoping for a miracle tonight. And also if you look at the margins and they want Bernie Sanders to sweep or win as many of the six as he can to catch up in pledged delegates he needs 70 percent, 71 percent.
Right now you look here what the Sanders, oops sorry about that one. Sorry about that one that I'm looking at you I should be looking at the map. 30 percent of the vote in New Mexico not that was not great state but its done 53 percent to 46 percent. So again so it's 30 percent. We have to wait to see if Santa Fe put down the last closes. Those are the three major population Sanders down there.
Let's continue to watch this but again even if the margins change Senator Sanders needs 71 percent to catch up and he certainly wants to win to get at least close. If he can't catch you're in the Clinton campaign these early results, let's just pull out the Albuquerque area, 33 percent of the vote here in Bernalillo County and 53 percent of where he's running tight. It's, you know, relatively close. But she's winning in the state. She's counting on the Latino vote here to get over the finish line.
This part of what the Clinton campaign, Wolf hopes is game, set, match. But that's how they hope to end the night, three of the six. And the fact that she's competitive in South Dakota, she's leading at the moment, only 23 percent of the vote in right now and this is encouraging to the Clinton campaign because again to that Sanders math you need 71percent. He has done incredible well in this part of the country and this is where he's run up some pretty healthy margins. 55 percent here, you move about to the west and the caucus is 78 percent there.
So he's run up some big margins out in this part of the country and this was what Sanders hoped for momentum. He's doing that in North Dakota, that's a healthy lead small number of votes caucuses 36 percent, but that's a healthy when Senator Sanders but again short of the 71 percent he needs in the business Clinton blue early on in the vote count. You incredibly encourage reviewing the Clinton campaign headquarters thinking that maybe you can win South Dakota but if nothing else your going to be very competitive.
BLITZER: Yeah. And North Dakota the caucus is closer.
KING: Right.
BLITZER: Delegates those were in actual ...
KING: Right.
BLITZER: ... numbers we only have percentages in North Dakota.
KING: You go to caucuses.
BLITZER: It's a -- and Bernie Sanders as I said he does well in those caucuses in a relatively smaller states.
KING: Right and when you get to the primaries Hillary Clinton largely has done better in primaries. That's not every where but he has done better and again the Clinton campaign was looking at these three, New Jersey, New Mexico, and California. The fact that they're in play in South Dakota is going to make them incredibly happy because what they're hoping for is at the end of the night and the conversation she started tonight needing 214 pledged delegates. If she wins 214 pledged delegates tonight she will have a majority of the pledge delegates.
That has been a big Sanders argument can I catch up and pledge delegates. Can I get a majority of the pledged and then go to supper delegates and say you can't return the will of the people. Now Senator Sanders has said he will go to them anyway. He said today we'll say what happens to the week of that, you know, go them anyway but Senator Sanders needs more delegates tonight. If you're in the Clinton campaign again this isn't over by any means but now again -- we're up to 30 percent of the vote here. And it's holding. But we're waiting and let wait and say what else comes in as we go through this and obviously we're waiting for the biggest prize. The polls are still open in California we're waiting in Montana just a few months a way a top of the hour. But if you looking at the map in the Clinton campaign the early result coming in you're very encouraged.
BLITZER: I'm assumed Bernie Sanders will do well in Montana. Relatively speaking.
KING: The expectation the Clinton campaign if you talk them early in the week is they expected to lose all three of these. That's what they told, now someone is an expectation someone just spend maybe they had a sense they could do better in South Dakota we're telling us.
[21:35:04] But what they were saying is, you know, we expect to lose these three and we want to win the three bigger states. The three more diverse states and they think they make more of a political point and so far they've achieved it in New Jersey. And see that again right this they're doing it in New Mexico based on early results. Again that's a competitive race from Senator Sanders.
BLITZER: Yeah.
KING: But in the state, but, you know, the Clinton campaign as ahead and were starting small to get more votes but we need these two larger centers to come before we could be certain about that one.
BLITZER: And Montana closes right at the top of the hour.
KING: A few minutes away.
BLITZER: Right, let's govern over to Jake and Dana. As we anticipate we are the awaiting the Hillary Clinton speech and historic speech there will be a film, there will be a video of the Hillary Clinton campaign put out, we'll show that to our viewers as well. This will be Jake her first speech as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
TAPPER: A big speech. They've prepared a lot of activities and also a video to go with it. But before we go to that let's go to Brianna Keilar who is in Santa Monica with the Sanders campaign and Brianna you're learning more about conversations going on between the Sanders camp and the Clinton camp. What can you tell us?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We've learned, Jake that these conversations have reached the campaign manager level so Jeff Weaver who is Bernie Sanders campaign managers has been talking to Robby Mook Hillary Clinton's campaign manager. In fact they spoke earlier today pretty significant considering the call was made last night by a number of outlets saying Hillary Clinton had reached that all important number of 2,383 delegates, including super delegates. So they spoke today and this is what I've learned from a source who is familiar with these discussions. I was told by this source that these conversations have been about keeping the lines of communication open so that eventually they can unify the party.
They're expecting that there will be more conversations moving forward. These conversations were described to me as cordial and of the nature that everyone is on the same page with the goal of defeating Donald Trump. We had known Jake that these campaigns we're in touch, but we didn't know the extent and we didn't know what they were talking about. Bernie Sanders heading Thursday we've learn now to Washington D.C. for some meetings and a rally intriguing that he's going to be having these meetings, not so the campaign not saying much about them. Obviously they could be potentially very consequential.
TAPPER: Indeed Brianna Keilar, thank so much. And Dana Bash it is so important to Hillary Clinton that Bernie Sanders if everything goes according to the way that Hillary Clinton wants it to go that Bernie Sanders really work hard to get his supporters on board and was pointed out by a reporter from Buzz Feed when I was looking at Twitter that Trump's speech in addition to containing that remark aimed at Bernie's supporters saying Bernie Sanders is right about those trade deals and I won't prove them that in addition to that that when Donald Trump through shade at the Clintons and the DNC and the whole corrupt process that is also something that Sanders supporters, especially the Bernie or burst wing, might find intriguing and in fact over the weekend when I interviewed Bernie Sanders it was the first time he ever criticized the Clinton Foundation when I asked him about it he went into a whole description of how distasteful or the problems he had with Clintons and the Clinton Foundation raising money with countries like Saudi Arabia.
BASH: Absolutely. Those issues and of curse one of the biggest that will probably have the most impact or big impact -- excuse me in some of those Rust Belt States that Donald Trump is wanted to play in trade which is a big issue for both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
But talking about Hillary Clinton and kind of this moment that we're looking forward to as you see the supporters getting very excited, she tweeted something just a short while ago which, you know, was her because there's an "H" at the end of the photographs. There you see it with a little girl and it said to every little girl who dreams big, yes you can be anything you want, even president, tonight is for you.
I mean it is that moment and it is eight years ago today that Hillary Clinton gave the speech talking about the 18 million cracks in the hardest highest glass ceiling meaning of course the Presidency of the United States.
TAPPER: We can come back and talk about Clintons problems with independent voters after her speech but let's focus more on the historical nature of what is about to happen, which is as I've said earlier 100 years ago women in this country did not even have the right to vote. There has never in the history of the United States been a major party presidential nominee who was not a man.
BASH: That's right.
TAPPER: Until now.
BASH: It's absolutely true. And Paul Begala over there talked about the message to little girls and Hillary Clinton talked about it too here. My young son asked me he's a placement where he has all the president. Mommy, why aren't there any women here?
[21:40:11] So it's young girls and young boys that have this kind of thing to look forward to. It really help change this country.
TAPPER: Whatever you think about Hillary Clinton, whatever you think about her politics an important moment for the nation. Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much. We have a projection right now. Bernie Sanders we can know project will win the North Dakota Democratic caucuses. Bernie Sanders is the winner in North Dakota. Our -- his first win of the night tonight. We earlier projected that Hillary Clinton is the winner in New Jersey in the Democratic presidential primary.
Let's get a Key Race Alert right now on the other races that are still outstanding for the Democrats. In New Mexico, Hillary Clinton maintains the lead, 53.3 percent to Bernie Sanders 46.7 percent, 30 percent of the vote is in. Hillary Clinton has a lead in New Mexico in the Democratic presidential primary.
She also still has a lead in South Dakota in the primary there. Hillary Clinton with 53.9 percent, Bernie Sanders 46.1 percent, 27 percent of the vote is in there. Hillary Clinton maintains the lead there. Montana, remember, closes at the top of the hour. Let's go back to Anderson.
COOPER: Wolf, thanks very much. And we continue to wait Hillary Clinton about to speak. Let's take a look again at the room where she is going to be speaking very soon. At large, obviously, very enthusiastic crowd.
Paul Begala, I mean, clearly they have thought about the optics of this, they have put a lot of consideration, obviously, into getting a -- an enthusiastic crowd all around. What are you anticipating from your candidate tonight?
PAUL BEGALA, PRO-HILLARY CLINTON SUPER PAC ADVISER: Well, I spoke earlier about how I thought Mr. Trump would try to unite the Republicans in disagreement with Hillary, which is a standard tactic. She'll do some of that I'm sure, you know. And she needs to -- but most importantly reach out to those Bernie voters. The first step of that is say, "Hey, Trump's the worst."
But then the next step is more important frankly -- it was to say, "I hear you. I get it. We do need to do more about income inequality, Bernie is right about that and I will help continue that movement. We do have to do more about global climate change. And I will help to lead that movement. We have got to clean up the system of campaign financing. I can help to lead that. I heard you all. I need you all." And that's where we get empowered. And still going to bring more, but it won't happen in one speech, you know, a brick is not a wall but this is going to be the first most important step for (inaudible).
JONES: I think she'll do all that, and she should. But I think sometimes we forget when stuff like this happens. Sometimes we do news. This is history. This is bigger than news. What's about to happen tonight is bigger than the news. There are -- I hope that people, they can have their little daughters up, have their granddaughters up tonight to watch this, because this is a big deal, not for the Democratic Party, not for the United States.
It's a big deal in human history. There just has not been a -- is that 1970 was the first time that any major country had a female leader, I could be wrong on that, but it's been in the lifetime of people, in this room, that you have women leading nations. And so, for the most important nation in the world to at least have the chance, at least have the opportunity, to pick a woman is a big deal tonight. It's a big deal.
COOPER: Donna Brazile?
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I'm overjoyed. I'm overjoyed for obvious reasons, I'm a woman, but more importantly, I have watched so much history over the last 40 years being made in this country, whether it was Geraldine Ferraro, 32 years ago, being selected, Sarah Palin. One of the things I tweeted out tonight after watching so many exchanges at this table I should have bought some sage of a flag made it here, listening to some of the conversation.
But one of the things I thought about we've made this history together. Abigail Adams telling her husband, John, on March 31st, 1776, don't forget the ladies. And, you know, Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress was a Republican from Montana. We have made this history together and that's what this tonight is about, the history that we have made together as a part ...
COOPER: We're going to take a short break. We're going to bring Hillary Clinton's comments to you live. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:48:21] COOPER: And welcome back. The crowd awaiting Hillary Clinton any moment now. We anticipate her to walk on the stage and begin her speech.
That -- oh, and she'd also putting out, on Twitter, she's put up a new avatar, is that what they call an avatar? Is that what the kids call it?
Anyway, it's a new photo of herself on Twitter saying, "History made". That just went up. It is history, David Axelrod, yet for a lot of young women you hear on the campaign trail saying maybe it's not such a ... AXELROD: Actually, I think one of the most encouraging things about it is for these young women, it doesn't seem that remarkable ...
BORGER: Right.
AXELROD: ... that a woman should be the nominee for president. We saw it earlier an interesting episode in New Hampshire where some older public figures women talked about how important it was for women to support women and so on and there was a big backlash among younger women, particularly, those supporting Bernie Sanders. Many of them were.
I think that it is really -- it says something about where we are as a country that for these young women, this is not that remarkable. This is an expected thing that women can compete for the presidency and that, you know, in a way is more encouraging than the historic event itself.
HENDERSON: And Hillary said that in her speech in 2008. She said it was remarkable that it was unremarkable and in some ways, crediting her run in 2008 with expanding the idea of who can run for president, who can win states and primaries, because that was in a historic run and she's I think building on that going forward.
So, I do think we need to kind of memorize and in sort of really kind of take in the moment as I'm sure she is too, you know, in women. And ...
COOPER: And you hear that Gloria in the campaign forum?
BORGER: I do, you know, I was in the Trump rally talking as some young women. I said, does it matter to you about, this is an Iowa, you know, that Hillary Clinton could become the first woman president? And they've said, well, we're going to see a woman president.
[21:50:12] And I've realized then what kind of a generational gap there is, because no one in my generation would have assumed anything of the sort.
But I just to want say one thing about Hillary Clinton. She -- over the last 30 years, she's been kind of a Rorschach test for women, you know. When you think of all her different roles, you know, first lady of Arkansas. When she became first lady of the United States and her husband -- remember two for the prize of one?
And her husband handed her healthcare, some women thought that was fabulous. And some women thought, what is he doing handing over this huge job to his wife, right? And then, she ran for the Senate. And then, she ran succeeded. And then, she ran for the presidency.
And all along the way, she has had her detractors. And she has also been someone that women have said, look, look at what she did, this is remarkable. A first lady had never run for the Senate before.
COOPER: Let's welcome now Patti Solis Doyle to the panel, Hillary Clinton's former presidential campaign manager. Obviously, it's a historic night. But (inaudible) we did hear that a lot in 2008 from younger women. And Hillary Clinton has not done as well among younger female voters.
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, FORMER HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, I got to bring my own personal experience to this. I worked for her for 17 years. And for those 17 years and way before that, this is someone who really devoted her young adult -- her entire adult life to promoting women's issues, to fighting for equal rights for women, women's health, for equal pay. And having come so close in 2008, not just making it, but seeing her tonight, you know, get the nomination, it's just really emotional.
COOPER: Let's go back to Jake Tapper, Jake.
TAPPER: Thanks Anderson. Let me bring in the campaign chairman for the Hillary Clinton campaign, John Podesta who joins us now. John, thank you so much. What are we going to hear from Secretary Clinton this evening?
JOHN PODESTA, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, look, I think she's going to talk about what she wants to get done for the American people. And I think that she wants to reach out to Senator Sanders ' supporters and say we're in this together. We can build a better future together. And, you know, so she's going to hit the campaign themes that she's been talking about that we're stronger together if we all work together. So, we're excited about tonight. We feel like we're finishing strong and she's in a very good mood.
TAPPER: She will be declaring victory though, declaring that she has enough delegates, including superdelegates to be the nominee?
PODESTA: We have, you know, what -- tonight, we go over the top against any measure with pledged delegates, with superdelegates, with the popular vote. We've got three million more votes. So, she will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. We're very proud of her.
We're very excited about that and, you know, we just need to move forward now, consolidate the party, reach out, try to bring our party together and make common cause to take on Donald Trump and the Republicans and put our country on, you know, a positive track.
TAPPER: Has she spoken to Senator Sanders any time recently or do you expect her to do so this evening?
PODESTA: I'm sure she's going to talk to them soon. But I don't think she's talked to them in recent days.
TAPPER: How much is she willing to reach out to Sanders and supporters? Meaning beyond the idea of the importance of unity and the importance to you and your campaign of defeating Donald Trump? Are there specific concessions that she is willing to make when it comes to the Democratic platform? When it comes to perhaps even offering Senator Sanders a place on the ticket or in a Clinton cabinet?
PODESTA: Look, the Democratic platform process really just begins tomorrow. And I think when you look at the distance between Senator Sanders and Hillary Clinton, it's miniscule compared to the gulp that exists between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. So, we've got time to work that out. I think we both want to see equal pay for equal work.
We all want to the see people's wages raised. We want to see the minimum wage raised. We to want see an economy that's working for everyone, that's bringing everyone into the economy to lead a good life, to make college affordable. So, there's so much more in common between Senator Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
And in great opposition to what we're hearing from Donald Trump who's a candidate of division and -- you know, we 're just going to keep working to make sure that we bring our party together and reach out to his supporters and move forward together to November to be victorious.
[21:55:09] TAPPER: The best way to reach out to his supporters and move forward together with Bernie Sanders, it might be argued, is to offer him a place on the ticket, especially because Secretary Clinton has had trouble appealing to independent voters, ones who like Senator Sanders, is that a possibility?
PODESTA: No, not here tonight. I'm just -- you know, we're just trying to finish up the primaries and win and secure the delegates we need to make her the nominee of the party. We think we've done that tonight. And when the results are all in from California, we will be the nominee of the Democratic Party.
And then, we have plenty of time to talk about what brings us together as Democrats. And again, Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton agree on so much more than the gulp between the two of them and Donald Trump.
TAPPER: Last, we heard from Senator Sanders, he said he was going to take it all the way to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia that was going to be a contested convention.
PODESTA: Well, you know, we'll see. We -- what we know is that we've won the delegates necessary to make her the first woman nominee of a major party in the United States. We're very proud of that. We're very proud of her. And I think she's going to go forward and try to unify this party and, you know, ensure that the White House stays in Democratic hands so that we can continue the progress that we've made over the last eight years.
Not turn back, not go back to a broken economic system that works only for the wealthy. And that's what Donald Trump is promising the American people. So, we're happy to take him on and we're prepared to take him on.
TAPPER: Donald Trump has talked a great deal about expanding or at least redrawing the map in the general election, putting those industrial states, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, in play. Are there any states that have traditionally gone Republican that you think Hillary Clinton can play? PODESTA: Sure. I think that, you know, she -- given the fact that he's been such a divisive figure, he's offended virtually, every group in America from Hispanic-Americans to Muslim-Americans. I think there are states that have traditionally or at least in the past several election cycles gone Republican that will be in play for us. But, you know, we will, you know, put our resources to work to ensure that we're going to get the electoral votes that we need to make her the next president of the United States.
TAPPER: John Podesta, thanks so much for joining us and congratulations.
PODESTA: Good to be on, thanks.
TAPPER: A big achievement for John Podesta, being the campaign chairman of the campaign, the first woman party nominee, major party nominee in American history.
BASH: No question about it. And again, it's just -- it's so poignant to think of where we are on the calendar that it was eight years ago today that she ended that giving to that point, probably the most poignant and, you know, well-delivered speech of her political career talking about the fact that she was, you know, sad that she was ending at that time, her campaign run in the primary.
But happy that she made such a push for women in hitting the highest and hardest glass ceiling and the fact that eight years later, she's able to take that and take an important step further.
TAPPER: And I hope that the Sanders supporters watching appreciate the facts that all three of the major politicians speaking are addressing them in no small way. We had Trump talking specifically to Sanders' supporters trying to get them on board. Hillary Clinton will be talking about them trying to get them on board. And then, Sanders will have a message of his own, Anderson.
COOPER: That's right, he will -- we'll, obviously, be bringing his remarks much later in the evening, probably in around the 1:00 A.M. hour or so. Once we get the final results probably from California, a lot certainly to look forward to in this speech.
I mean, do you think she goes after Donald Trump, Michael Smerconish?
SMERCONISH: I think she does. But think within moderation. I found it interesting that Jake asked John Podesta whether she'd be declaring victory tonight. And he was very careful with his word choice. And he said, she will be -- I'm paraphrasing, she will be the Democratic nominee.
And I think that the balance that she needs to strike is to go out and recognize the historic significance of what is occurring this evening and at the same time, not do so in a way that alienates the Sanders supporters before as we've been using the metaphor all night long, that plane lands.
HENDERSON: Yeah. Trump came out, I think to the song with a chorus, "We are the victors, you are the losers." Not exactly gracious. She's not going to do that.
[22:00:03] I think if you look back at that 2008 speech, certainly memorable for that line about breaking 18 million cracks and breaking the highest -- almost breaking the highest hardest glass ceiling. But it was also about Barack Obama, right?
