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Hillary Clinton Celebrates Historic Win, Bernie Sanders Stays In; Trump Tones Down Rhetoric in Victory Speech. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 08, 2016 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:00:34] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you all. The struggle continues.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 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.

CLINTON: When he says, let's make America great again, that is code for let's take America backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Hillary Clinton celebrates victory and cements her place in history. 96 years after women won the right to vote, Clinton now becomes the country's first female presumptive presidential nominee. A moment certainly not lost on Clinton who spent her entire career trying to get here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone. The first time -- the first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clinton embracing the moment, reaching across all party lines by tweeting this image, quote, "To every little girl who dreams big, yes, you can be anything you want, even president. Tonight is for you."

Clinton solidified her spot with several big wins on Super Tuesday including the grand prize of California. And she won big there. That means Clinton has nearly 400 more delegates than what is needed to clinch the nomination. And while Senator Bernie Sanders won't bow out, Clinton is trying to win over his supporters. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for the extraordinary campaign he has run. He has spent his long career in public service fighting for progressive causes and principles, and he's excited millions of voters.

Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we've had over how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Even though Bernie Sanders says he's staying in the race, his campaign now preparing for major layoffs. All of this setting the scene for a meeting between Senator Sanders and President Obama tomorrow.

Let's bring in CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski, she has more on that. Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Right, yes, you can see the writing on the wall here. I mean, but you saw the statement that came out from the White House last night. Obviously a well-prepared statement that had been ready. And as soon as President Obama spoke by phone to both Clinton and Sanders, they put this out congratulating and thanking both of them, talking about Hillary Clinton inspiring millions, thanking Bernie Sanders for energizing millions.

Then at the very end it said that the president will meet with Sanders at Sanders' request here at the White House tomorrow. So this changes things a little bit. I mean, we've known for days now that the president has been ready to go endorse Hillary Clinton, but the White House's stance has been, let's be extremely tactful. Let's not upset anyone's supporters. Let's respect the process is really how they've described it.

So you could see in this statement just so carefully worded, the president wanting to include everybody. Not having this be -- at least, you know, to his great an extent as possible -- about a winner and a loser just yet. Let's have this be everybody has mostly the same values, the same issues. They feel much the same way on most of those issues.

Let's have kind of everybody be a winner here and try to unite the Democratic Party. So now we know there's not going to be an endorsement just yet. At least not until this meeting which should be pretty interesting tomorrow, Carol.

[10:05:10] COSTELLO: Yes, it will. Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the White House. Thank you.

For any Sanders supporters left feeling burned by Hillary's win, Donald Trump has a message for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: To those who voted for someone else in either party, I will 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now whether Sanders' backers will defect to Trump might be one of the great questions left in the race. So here to talk about that and more, Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst, David Catanese, senior politics writer for U.S. News and World Report, Bill Burton, a former deputy press secretary for President Obama, and Lisa Boothe, columnist for the "Washington Examiner" and a Republican strategist.

Welcome to all of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thank you for being here.

Bill, I want to start with you. What do you suppose President Obama will say to Bernie Sanders?

BILL BURTON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SKDKNICKERBOCKE.COM: Well, I think folks should keep in mind that President Obama has some experience in uniting the party after what was a divisive primary. In 2008, he had to do a lot of work to bring Hillary Clinton supporters on board and build the coalition that he needed to beat John McCain in that general election.

This time around I think the president is going to say to Bernie Sanders, you know what, you've become a true progressive leader in this party, you've spoken with a strong voice about issues that are really important to the folks that we represent. Let's all band together and make sure that we elect an awesome president in Hillary Clinton and stop Donald Trump from becoming president.

COSTELLO: So, Josh, what if Bernie Sanders decides to stay in beyond D.C. because he's threatened it before? I know he's laid off half his staff. So maybe that's not a possibility anymore. But what do you think?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think the game for Bernie Sanders right now is to get concessions. And the $64,000 question is, what does Bernie want in exchange for him throwing his support and his lists and his data and all of his resources behind Hillary Clinton in earnest? He can -- he has some leverage, but leverage is like your muscles. If you don't use it, you lose it. So the best thing he can do is get some concessions, that could be short-term concessions, like power at the convention, power of the platform, longer term concessions like control over some of the rules going forward, even the next Democratic primary.

But they're not going to give him the big thing he wants which is influence over who's going to be the vice president. So the negotiation starts now. And if Bernie Sanders is smart, and I think he is, he'll want to wrap those negotiations up sooner rather than later.

COSTELLO: Well, David, I just talked to Lincoln Chafee. He said that he wishes that Bernie Sanders would be named as Hillary Clinton's running mate. He thinks that would be a good thing because Bernie Sanders can certainly gather enthusiasm, right?

DAVID CATANESE, SENIOR POLITICS WRITER, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD AIRPORT: I mean, look, I think Bernie Sanders' supporters would love that. I just don't think that that's probably a realistic option for Hillary Clinton. Everything we know about Hillary Clinton is that she is safe. Right? And she has broken the glass ceiling, with being the first woman nominee. She doesn't need a wow vice presidential pick. So, you know, these floatation of Elizabeth Warren I think it warms the hearts of progressives. They'd love to see it.

But I think Hillary Clinton ultimately goes with someone safe, someone competent, and someone that doesn't screw thing up for her. She's already the historic figure on this ticket. She doesn't need someone else to carry that --

COSTELLO: Yes, but she doesn't exactly attract enthusiastic crowds.

CATANESE: Well, I mean, look at the crowd last night was pretty good. And frankly, she may not need the big, enthusiastic crowds in order to defeat Donald Trump. I think -- look, I think Bernie Sanders is eventually going to get on board with Hillary Clinton. I think people are rushing to push Bernie Sanders out of this race. Forget what Hillary Clinton went through. Running for president is an exhausting, emotional task. You've got to give these candidates some space to make up their minds. I think eventually, though, Sanders will get on board, throw his support and help infuse some of that enthusiasm to the Clinton campaign.

COSTELLO: Lisa, President Obama will probably begin campaigning for Hillary Clinton very soon. Supposedly they'll be side by side on the campaign trail. Are Republicans scared of that?

LISA BOOTHE, CONTRIBUTOR, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: No. I mean, not particularly. I mean, look, Hillary Clinton has essentially been running to be a third term of President Obama. I think you're looking at a lot of Americans particularly in the middle class, the Pew Research recently came out with a study talking about the shrinking middle class. They're looking at manufacturing has shrunk by 29 percent over the past decade alone, I believe.

So there's a lot of Americans that are struggling economically. And if you look at the polls, Donald Trump is leading on the issues of jobs, leading on the issues of the economy. And I think you're going to see Donald Trump reach out to those disaffected voters, particularly the ones -- you look at exit polling, right? And you see majorities of both Republicans and Democrats really caring being an issue of trade which is something that Bernie Sanders was trumpeting and actually helped him win Michigan. And Donald Trump's going to try piggyback off of that and talk about

these issues, reach out to these disaffected voters, in the hopes that he can court them and bring them over to him.

[10:10:07] COSTELLO: And Bill, like this group of voters that Lisa is talking about, they don't particularly like President Obama. So how might President Obama help Hillary Clinton win over those voters?

BURTON: Well, look, I think this is actually where the fight is going to be in this presidential election. If you look at the coalition of voters that Bernie Sanders had, he had a lot of young folks. But he also had a lot of non-college educated white voters across the entire country. He won them just about everywhere except in the south and in Ohio. And so yes, there is going to be a big fight.

And as President Obama's approval ratings continue to go up, I think the diversity of places that he can go and campaign for Hillary Clinton will increase. But I think if you look at that particular segment of voters, that's the fight in this election. And that I think is the only thing that gives Donald Trump any chance at all.

COSTELLO: So Josh, Donald Trump is going to give this speech on Monday and supposedly he's going to attack Hillary Clinton. But I guess a part of me thinks, you know what, Republicans already really dislike Hillary Clinton, right? Democrats know that she has baggage, right? They still voted for her. So will that strategy really work for Donald Trump?

ROGIN: I think it depends on whether the Trump campaign has anything really new to contribute to the discussion. I mean, just broadside attacks on the Clinton Foundation and insinuations that she committed felonies, not backed up by evidence, you're right, that's already been out there. And it's already had whatever effect it's had. That's the problem with going negative five months before the election.

It leaves you no room to go even more negative. Let's see if the Trump campaign has done any good research. So far most of their accusations have been really sort of shallow and really poorly thought out. But who knows, anything could happen.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Josh, David, Bill, Lisa, you're going to stick around. Thanks to all of you.

Tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, Hillary Clinton will be in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump tries to tone it down last night. But is it too late for some Republicans?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:16:17] COSTELLO: Toned down rhetoric and teleprompters. Donald Trump tries to shift gears on Super Tuesday by delivering a victory speech with the help of a teleprompter. This as some Republicans pull away following Trump's controversial attacks against a judge's Mexican heritage. Trump's message to the GOP about that? Get over it. Let's bring in senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. He's in

New York outside of the Trump Tower. Good morning.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. I'm told by Trump campaign sources that this of a, quote, "team effort," in terms of writing Donald Trump's speech last night. Yes, a teleprompter was used, but I'm told that this was basically a speech that he had to give. That this was important after what was described to be by one Trump adviser in very candid terms as a bad few days that he's had in recent days.

Of course that is because of this controversy regarding his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel. But Trump tried to pivot to the general election campaign. It's something that he's tried before. But this time he made it clear he's ready to take on Hillary Clinton in the upcoming general election battle. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: 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.

The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves.

They've made hundreds of millions selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts, and I mean hundreds of millions of dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now Trump all morning long has been touting some of the good reviews he's gotten from inside the Republican Party in terms of the response to last night's speech. He did get some pretty positive reviews from the RNC chair, Reince Priebus, who put this tweet out last night. We'll put this up on screen, it says, "Great victory speech by Donald Trump tonight. Exactly the right approach and perfectly delivered."

Of course that came after some defections have already started to occur inside the Republican Party. Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk announced yesterday he is rescinding his endorsement of Donald Trump. But of course, Kirk is in a very tight and tough re-election battle in Illinois. No word on whether other Republicans will follow suit.

But Trump said last night, Carol, his next big plan is a speech that is set for early next week. He plans to go after Hillary Clinton. What he described as the Clintons' personal financial dealings of enriching themselves while working in public service, as he described it last night, turning the State Department into a hedge fund. That is exactly what they want to hear inside the Republican Party right now. Less in terms of attacks on his former rivals, on judges and so on. And setting his sights on Hillary Clinton -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta reporting live from New York City. Thank you.

As you might expect, team Clinton is seizing on this latest Trump controversy and the fallout for the Republican Party. Moments ago, campaign manager for Hillary Clinton, Robby Mook, talked to me about one potential strategy for the battle ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBY MOOK, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: The most effective thing to do with Donald Trump is just to get his words out there and let them speak for themselves. We saw her do this in her national security speech the other day. The erratic behavior, the insults, the bullying. I'm sure that's what we'll see in this upcoming speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now to talk about this and more, Josh Rogin, a CNN political analyst, David Catanese, senior politics writer for U.S. News and World Report, Bill Burton, a former deputy press secretary for President Obama, and S.E. Cupp, CNN political commentator.

Welcome to all of you.

ROGIN: Thank you.

BURTON: Thanks.

COSTELLO: So Bill, I want to start with you because Reince Priebus said that speech by Trump last night was perfect, the tone was perfect.

[10:20:07] So a Democrat sitting back and saying, he can look presidential.

BURTON: You know what's hilarious to me is that Donald Trump is getting all these pats on the head because he gave a speech without saying anything racist and people are, like, that is presidential. You know, Michelle Obama has said running for president doesn't change who you are, it (INAUDIBLE).

The problem for Donald Trump is that he's not going to be judged by voters just a teleprompter-delivered speeches, he's going to be judged on those things that are revealed about him. And the more that people know about him, the more he speaks off the cuff, the more he lets people in to how he really thinks about different groups, Latinos, Muslims, women. The tougher time he's going to have actually winning votes out there across the country.

COSTELLO: But, S.E., if -- I don't know, if Donald Trump continues to rein himself in, you know, memories fade fast when it comes to the world of politics and the public.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, that's a big if, Carol. You know, I appreciated the more disciplined tone, but the cat's out of the bag, and my memory is not short. As a Republican and a conservative and a woman, and someone he's personally, you know, attacked on Twitter, I'm not going to forget the things that he has said to damage our party and to cast us in such a negative light.

And frankly, you know, I thought teleprompter Trump was defeated and chastened last night. He doesn't want to be reading on a teleprompter. That was a defeated Donald Trump who lost this battle. If the battle was between Donald Trump and people like Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus, Trump is the loser, and Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus are the victor. They won. And he was sort of chastened back to the teleprompter and to get on script.