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New British PM Gets Right Down to Business; U.S. Works to Heal after Police Shootings; Emotional Farewells to 3 Dallas Slain Officers; Polls Show Candidates Neck-and-Neck in Swing States; Veep Wannabes Try Out Trump Signature Lines. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired July 14, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:31] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour. Theresa May gets right down to business. Britain's new prime minister making some bold moves to begin filling her cabinet.

Who will be his VP? Donald Trump says he will soon announce his vice presidential pick as new polls swing in his favor.

And "BLACK, WHITE AND BLUE", CNN hosts a candid emotional town hall on how to strengthen ties between communities and police in America.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Theresa May is starting her first full day as Britain's new prime minister. Right away she will be dealing with the fallout from the Brexit referendum. Miss May has a packed schedule of meetings and more cabinet announcements.

One of her first choices caused some jaws to drop. On Wednesday, she named former London mayor Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. Johnson is known for his colorful comments, his distaste for political correctness and was a top campaigner to leave the E.U. Johnson was considered a front runner to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister who stepped down Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve our country as prime minister over these last six years and to serve as leader of my party for almost 11 years. And as we leave for the last time my only wish is continued success for this great country that I love so very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: In David Cameron, I follow in the footsteps of a great modern prime minister. Under David's leadership the government stabilized the economy, reduced the budget deficit and helped more people into work than ever before.

But David's true legacy is not about the economy but about social justice. From the introduction of same-sex marriage to taking people on low wages out of income tax altogether, David Cameron has led a one-nation government and it is in that spirit that I also plan to lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, some of the other people Theresa May has chosen to help her leave: David Davis is newly created Brexit minister, Amber Rudd replaces Mrs. May as Home Secretary and ex-Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is now Chancellor of the Exchequer overseeing the British treasury.

Now to further discuss what a Theresa May leadership will look like, I'm joined by Sony Kapoor. He is the managing director of Re-define and has been an adviser to the European Commission and parliament. Thank you so much for joining us Sony.

Theresa May is in the hot seat and we're all trying to figure out how she is going to lead. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street on Wednesday she vowed to lead a one-nation government and struck a rather populist tone of fighting for the ordinary working class family. And for a split second I thought I was listening to a Labour Party leader. Is she truly staking a move to the center of the political landscape?

SONY KAPOOR, RE-DEFINE: It's hard to know exactly what she believes in. She has been a team player for the most part and one who had, apart from her brief, which was the Home office stayed essentially in the background. So what her views are on broader issues of the economy in terms of fairness, et cetera, it's a little hard to say. But it would seem that she is definitely going to be her own woman.

She is going to be her own prime minister. She is trying to bring a different sort of agenda to the landscape and this is very opportunistic also because the Labour Party is in tatters.

I think you are correct in the idea that she is staking new center ground and she's also responding to the Brexit vote which was essentially a revolt against the elite, which was a revolt against globalization, which was a revolt against those who have run away with success as part of globalization and the liberal order by those who have been left behind.

[00:05:03] I mean real income has stagnated in the U.K. for the bottom percentile exactly as it has in the United States and I think she needed to respond to that. Now how far she will be able to deliver on this that is an entirely different question.

SESAY: Yes. And to that point though, again that's what makes it all seem so hazy as we try and make sense of the road ahead. The question is how do we square those centrist, conciliatory remarks that she made outside 10 Downing Street on Wednesday with the cabinet picks she's revealed so far? The likes of Liam Fox, David Davis -- veteran right wingers.

KAPOOR: Well, so there is an interesting period during the rounds which is that she has put the Brexiters in very awkward, difficult situations, basically asking them to deliver on the very unrealistic promises that they had made during campaign.

So Boris Johnson who had sort of left the field and did not challenge her for prime ministership is suddenly now made foreign secretary. So it is going to be his responsibility, having essentially burned bridges with all our European partners, having made sort of near racist comments about President Obama. It's going to have to be his job to try and repair those relationships.

David Davis who is another known euro skeptic is going to be the person who will have to sit with European partners who are in no mood to be nice to the U.K. as they shouldn't be, to try and strike a new bargain post Brexit.

And then you have got the new trade minister who essentially is supposed to go and negotiate new trade deals and he is also a known euro skeptic and a Brexiter.

So these people essentially have been put by May in positions of prominence which will be necessary to deliver on the post Brexit agenda. I think the signal essentially she is sending to the party and to those who voted for Brexit, look, you know, I put these people who were the face of the campaign in positions to deliver.

And frankly I think there is a real master stroke to this which is that I do not think that any of them will be able to deliver. And this will hopefully allow cooler, more sensible heads to prevail. And we will end up with a situation where the most likely scenario is that we will not actually end up leaving the European Union because there is no better offer out there.

SESAY: Some fascinating analysis there. Sony Kapoor, we must leave it there. Thank you so much for the great conversation.

In the U.S. state of Texas, loved ones honored three of the five officers killed in that police ambush last week in Dallas.

[MUSIC]

SESAY: Transit Officer Brent Thompson leaves behind his six children who said their father taught them how to fight under pressure. The sister of Officer Michael Smith said he worked hard to give his two daughters more than he ever had. And a friend and colleague of Officer Lorne Ahrens said he not only had a big personality but also an enormous heart. He leaves behind two children.

All five of these officers died while protecting protesters speaking out against police brutality. All five were white men, shot and killed by an African-American sniper who said he was targeting white police officers. All of this has led to a nation in pain.

Our own Don Lemon looked at police and race relations in the U.S. in his town hall meeting, "BLACK, WHITE AND BLUE". Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police in Louisiana last week. Quinyetta McMillan is the mother of his son. She spoke about the recent violence in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUINYETTA MCMILLAN: Violence for violence is not -- will never be the answer to nothing especially not in the situation that me and his family is sharing right now. I think we all come together to say that we want peace, we want peace for both families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: I want to bring in CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore who is also a retired FBI supervisory special agent. Cheryl Dorsey is a retired sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department and author of "The Creation of a Manifesto Black and Blue". Thank you so much for being with us tonight.

The nation is very much in pain. And I think Quinyetta McMillan really summed that up, Steve. It was a very painful way to begin that town hall and just acknowledge that the violence only leads us to a dead end.

[00:09:59] STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: The violence does lead us -- you know, tit for tat is going to just destroy this country if we continue this. And I think tonight, you know, the first stage in healing is for everybody to voice their pain. And in "BLACK, WHITE AND BLUE" tonight, that's what they did. It was mainly -- as I saw, a voicing of pain, of grievance. This is how we have to live.

And now we have to go to the next step and we have to make sure that our differences are not irreconcilable. And we have to get people of good will on both sides to find common ground rather than point from each side.

SESAY: As you talk about hearing each other, Cheryl there was a moment that -- many moments struck me in this town hall. But one of our own CNN colleagues at the town hall basically spoke of his fear as a black man with a bright future, successful, educated, spoke of his fear when it comes to his interactions with the police and essentially said to the panel of law enforcement present, what can you tell me in terms of how I carry myself so that I remain safe in these interactions.

I want you to listen to what Charles Blow, CNN commentator and "New York Times" journalist and author said about that reality that black men are facing in this country. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES BLOW, CNN COMMENTATOR: Can we just take a moment as America and register how profound and immoral it is that we should have to give a certain group in this country a tool box to survive what should otherwise be an innocent interaction?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Cheryl, I was going to ask you as the mother of four sons, of four black men, how does it make you feel, that reality that you have to give your kids a tool box and have a conversation so that they know how to navigate interactions with law enforcement and you are law enforcement.

CHERYL DORSEY, FORMER LAPD SERGEANT: Right. And so it's very conflicting but I understand that it's important to do. And what I say and I preach to my children all the time that if you feel grieved by a law enforcement officer, holding court curbside is not the time do it. You do yourselves no service by not complying.

It's imperative that you do exactly what that officer says in the moment even though you may feel that he doesn't have the right to do it because at the end of the day I want you to survive that police encounter. I need you to come home. And that's what we all want.

And listen -- I'm not immune, right. When they stop me they don't know that I'm a retired sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department. They see a black woman behind the wheel and I get the treatment. So none of us are immune from this.

SESAY: Steve, I mean you hear that -- you hear that reality. I mean, Cheryl also is a mother and she speaks of her reality as a woman and her interactions with police. How do we change that?

MOORE: Well, I have all the answers. I think the first thing we do is if -- first of all, if a policeman is not in the wrong you have to endorse their actions. If the policeman is in the wrong, however, bank tellers get fired for putting the wrong check in the wrong account. That's just a trust issue. It's not because they are bad people or whatever, they're just not good at that job.

SESAY: What about the point that is being made that came out tonight that some of this interaction is shaped by the fact that the police are coming at these individuals with preconceived notions inherently thinking that they are dangerous with stereo types.

MOORE: I agree and I understand. And sometimes the people in the cars have preconceived notions about how they are going to be treated by the police. So what we have to do is find a way -- first of all, we have to get more people of color in the police departments. We have to. Nothing survives interaction with a person you don't understand. I was on a SWAT team that was half black, half white. It was a revelation. We didn't have these problems because it was completely integrated. That's where we need to go.

SESAY: Is that the answer? Complete integration within the law enforcement -- Cheryl?

DORSEY: Well, I think it's important that the police officers be able to relate to the community that they serve, right. I think that was part of the problem with that officer who shot into the car with Philando Castile. He didn't look in that car and see that little four-year-old girl and think that could have been my daughter. That could have been my litter sister. Had he thought that, I don't think he would have fired four or five rounds into that vehicle.

And so it's imperative that we have people of color serving their community because the change is going to come from the inside.

SESAY: Steve Moore, Cheryl Dorsey -- the conversation continues next hour. Thank you. Thank you for now.

Now in Don's town hall earlier, a Harvard university graduate student tried to get to the bottom of why some police officers seem to treat African-Americans differently from other races.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:15:03] JAMES RAMSEY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY GRADUATE STUDENT: In the eyes of law enforcement and from the justice system -- my question is what is it about black people that make us seem to police officers to be more dangerous, or in cases of police safety our lives less valuable or expendable? Whereas our white counterparts in similar situations either walk away from those encounters unharmed or if they don't those offending police officers are held accountable.

GARRY MCCARTHY, FORMER CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICER: What's happened in this country so far in my estimation is that it's been a one-way conversation about the police but not including the police. So questions like this need to be asked and they need to be answered.

But the facts are such, at the end of the day, take the city of Chicago -- 80 percent of our murder victims are African-American. More than 90 percent of the known offenders of those murders are African-American.

So when police officers go on patrol, a number of things happen. First of all we put more police officers in those distressed communities -- communities with the highest levels of crime. Those interactions are therefore happening more frequently. And at the end of the day we don't profile -- we don't profile races, we profile criminals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Earl Ofari Hutchinson joins us now. He's a syndicated columnist and an author. Earl -- thank you so much for joining us.

EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: My pleasure.

SESAY: That young man from Harvard asking law enforcement in the room effectively why black men are perceived as dangerous? Why they have the interactions they have with law enforcement.

Before we get there, let me ask you about your interaction with law enforcement and whether it fits what we have been hearing from a lot of black people in the last couple days. HUTCHINSON: Well, obviously, I'm not a millennial. So I mean

obviously, if you are under 30 it's going to be more of a problem. I mean, the young African-American male obviously has always been almost a bull's eye, the target.

Of my generation I look back. I talk to my son. He is of that generation and I can't tell you how many times I have heard him not just now but over time say the number of times he's been stopped, how they have talked to him, police officers, essentially the third degree, in other words it's almost like I'm guilty and I have to prove my innocence even though I haven't done anything.

So we hear this over and over again. When officers stop, rightly or wrongly it's just an attitude oftentimes and I think it really purveys that and on both sides they feel it and that's where the tension arises.

SESAY: In terms of acknowledging that, I mean law enforcement have not -- some in law enforcement have taken it to be almost like that they are under threat or they're being attacked in this moment and that people are anti-police. What do you make of that and that kind of maybe resistance on the part of some to hear the voices of those who are in the streets protesting?

HUTCHINSON: Well, you see, that's what I said before. It seems it's a rise on both sides because you have all of these attitudes, all these stereotypes, all these preconceptions and conceptions about each other which oftentimes do not conform in any way to the reality.

We keep hearing this term even before Ferguson last year, even before Dallas, Baton Rouge and Minnesota now -- us versus them. The blue line -- we keep hearing that. It's almost like it's a war zone. I keep hearing that. What is this -- the Berlin Wall? I mean we're all American citizens.

So what is it that continues to have this rigid divide here which really in the root of that stems from the preconceptions, the attitudes and the stereotypes and that lack of understanding and communication? This drives everything.

SESAY: Well, some of basketball's biggest stars took the stage at the Espy Awards on Wednesday night and they said this. Let's share this with our viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: Let's use this moment as call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence. And most importantly, go back to our communities. Invest our time, our resources, help rebuild them, help strengthen them, help change them. We all have to do better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Your thoughts on that? HUTCHINSON: Yes. Well, I think Lebron James -- and by the way, he is

living proof of giving back to the community. I mean he has given millions of dollars, scholarships for kids, putting them through college. He is actually invested in his community. He's a good role model. And many of them that stand up there and say we have to invest in our young people. They are good role models.

I think it's great. You have superstar athletes that young people identify with. If I say something, ok. But Lebron James, a Carmelo Anthony saying something or someone of that stature, it gets their attention. People hear that of that generation because they're of that generation.

[00:20:10] So I think when they send a positive message about rebuilding the community, investing in young people and also they did talk, too, about the violence, as you know, on both sides. I think that resonates. And we need to hear more of that.

SESAY: Earl -- it's such a pleasure. Thank you so much.

HUTCHINSON: My pleasure.

SESAY: Thank you.

All right. Time for a quick break now.

A white teenager breaks it down. His life is privileged because of his skin color. His poem went viral. I'm talking to him next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROYCE MANN: Dear white boys I'm not sorry I don't care if you think the feminists are taking over the world, the Black Lives Matter movement has gotten a little too strong (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: It's been a tough week for race relations in the United States. Two African-American men killed by police, both caught on tape, each causing an uproar. Days later, a sniper gunned down five officers in Dallas. It's been one bad week, but the root of the problem, well that dates back generations.

A 14-year-old white boy from Atlanta breaks it down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Dear everyone who isn't a middle or upper class white boy. I'm sorry. I have started life in the top of a ladder while you were born on the first rung. I see now that I would change places with you in an instant but if given the opportunity would I? Probably not.

And just to be honest, being privileged is awesome. I'm not saying that you and me on different rungs of ladder is how I want it to stay. I'm not saying that any part of me at this very moment even like it that way. I'm just saying that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) love being privileged and I'm not ready to give that away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: That impressive young man, that impressive slam poet is Royce Mann. He joins us now, live from Atlanta. Royce -- thank you so much for joining us.

The name of your poem is "White Boy Privilege". It has gone viral on social media. And you say you consider yourself lucky because of the color of your skin and the money in your parents' wallet. Why do you feel the need to apologize for that?

MANN: I'm not apologizing because I think it's my fault. Because I was born only 14 years ago and the problems date back much further than that. I'm just apologizing because I think it's sad what some people have to go through because of the color of their skin or their gender and things that they were born with that they didn't choose.

SESAY: Yes. And you have a message for other white boys. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:25:12] MANN: Dear white boys, I'm not sorry. I don't care if you think the feminists are taking over the world, the Black Lives Matter movement had gotten a little too strong (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I get that change can be scary but equality shouldn't be.

Hey white boys, it's time to act like a woman to be strong and make a difference and time to let go of that fear. It's time to take that ladder and turn it into a bridge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Royce, what's been the reaction from your friends to that call -- the reaction from your other white friends?

MANN: It's been very positive. A lot of people who said that it inspired them to do more and it's made them realize how privileged they are compared to many other people.

SESAY: I want to share with you the reaction on social media because people had been reacting really passionately to what you had to say there.

Tracy Ellis Ross of the ABC show "Blackish". She tweeted this, "If you watch nothing else today please watch this."

Golden Globe winning actress Taraji P. Henson tweeted this, "God bless this little brave angel."

And this person wrote "Re-tweet this please, far and wide. If this 14-year-old white boy gets it what excuse do others have?"

What do you make of the reaction to all of this from celebrities and people outside of your circle?

MANN: Yes. I'm just so glad that I am hopefully helping to start a discussion about these issues that are very prevalent as we saw with the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and then the killings that followed of the five police officers in Dallas.

And I think that these discussions really need to happen now because it seems like in our society, we let tragedies happen and then we talk about the issue for maybe a few months after it but then we sort of forget about it.

And we really need to get some change to happen now. We can't stop talking about these issues because it's going to take a lot of change for everybody to be equal. Like people don't realize how far away we are from that.

We've come a long way though and I think we shouldn't forget what has already been done like in the civil rights movement, for LGBT rights, for women's rights. But we also need to realize that there's a lot more that has to be done.

SESAY: Yes. And where does this come from. You are such a worldly young man at just 14. How difficult was it to sum up all this emotion that you have, all this awareness that you have? How difficult was it to write this poem?

MANN: It was a little bit difficult to get it started because you know you have all these thoughts and it's just sometimes hard to get them on to paper. But once I got started I think I really knew what I wanted to say and then it was pretty easy after that.

SESAY: Well, we're really pleased that you were able to capture it and put it down on paper and start a really, really important conversation.

Royce Mann -- you a very special individual.

MANN: Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you so much for speaking to us tonight.

MANN: Thank you for having me.

SESAY: I have a feeling we're going to hear a lot more about that young man in the future.

Time for a quick break.

New poll shows the race for the white house is getting tighter. Just ahead which states could make a difference for Donald Trump this November?

Plus, a real life celebrity apprentice as Trump decides on a running mate. Who is still in the game? Next on NEWSROOM L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [00:32:15] SESAY: Hello, everyone, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

The headline this hour. Theresa May isn't wasting time as Britain's new prime minister. She has a packed schedule on Thursday, her first full day at Number 10 Downing Street. Ms. May has already named several new cabinet members. She says that government will not be driven by the interest of the privileged few.

An Italian prosecutor says human error may be to blame for the head on crash of two passenger trains in Southern Italy. 23 people were killed and at least 50 were injured in Tuesday's collision. No charges have been filed. But prosecutors are investigating.

Three of the five police officers killed in last week's ambush in Dallas were laid to rest on Wednesday. Officer Lorne Ahrens and officer Michael Smith each leave two children behind. They were remembered for their devotion to their families and their job.

And the sixth children of transit officer Brent Thompson said their dad will always be their hero.

Well, new polling shows the race for the White House getting tighter in several key swing states. The Quinnipiac University surveys give Donald Trump a slight edge in Florida and Pennsylvania. He is tied with Hillary Clinton in Ohio.

Meanwhile, Trump says he will announce his pick for vice president Friday in New York. It's reportedly down to Indiana Governor Mike Pence, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Well, let's bring in CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He's also a senior editor at "The Atlantic."

Ron, my goodness, my goodness, my goodness.

The spectacle of the choice of VP for Trump. Have you ever seen anything like it?

ROB BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Nothing quite like this. I mean, 1984, the first presidential campaign, I cover Walter Mondale. Held this kind of public -- very publicly summoned different people for their -- it was a way of really kind of indicating respect for different factions of the party. But this kind of rolling audition, particularly with this last minute, you know, the tire pops on the plane. So he's got an extra day to kill in Indiana and suddenly the entire political world is there, it's Trumpian and that it is unlike anything else.

SESAY: It is. And, you know, everyone has been saying it all day, but it's worth repeating. It is very much a reality show vein. You know, doing it for the cameras.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. And I love also that, you know, you end up -- if in fact everyone seems to believe that it is down to Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich. You're kind of arrayed from the most to the least conventional pick.

I mean, Gingrich last held office in 1998. He did resurface a run in 2012. He is a long-time provocateur. Fundamentally changed the way Congress works. He's changed the Republican Party. But he is someone who would be way outside of the box in terms of someone who has held an office a long time.

Pence is the most conventional. A former House member. Current governor, close to religious conservatives although they soured on him after he backed off of that Religious Liberty Bill.

[00:35:08] And then you've got Christie, who's kind of in the middle, you know. I mean, who is -- has been sort of an outsider, but is a current elected official, is viewed with some suspicions by religious conservatives, which makes me wonder if Trump will go there.

SESAY: And to that point, what is the criteria for this choice as well? As we know, is it personality? Is it policy? I mean, what's the thinking?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, policy would require there will be a lot of policy to adhere to, right? So, I mean, there really hasn't been that much of that.

You know, look, I think, I think it's obviously compatibility. It's very (INAUDIBLE). It seems like, yes, like almost everything else in this campaign, very personal to Trump, right?

I mean, you know, look who flew out today to try to influence the decision.

SESAY: The kids.

BROWNSTEIN: It was the kids. It wasn't the campaign manager. So I think it's going to be someone -- I do, as I said before, I think the important thing for Trump is I think finding a current elected official who can run. We've never seen anything like the kind of criticism he has faced from the Republican speaker of the House, the Republican Senate majority leader and the number of Republican senators who are not attending the convention. Virtually every Republican senator in a competitive race is not going.

He needs to find someone who says that the Republican Party as it stands views him as a plausible president. Because I mean there certainly have been mixed signals of a kind we have never seen before. That's why I think he would be much better off with Pence or Christie than with Gingrich.

SESAY: Or while the spec goes on, we get this Quinnipiac University survey.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SESAY: They come out and show that he is leading Clinton in Florida and Pennsylvania and tied in Ohio. What do you put -- how do you explain the tightening of the race? BROWNSTEIN: James Comey, FBI, right? I mean, look, there's no question Hillary Clinton has taken a significant hit from the beginning about this e-mail story and public perceptions of her honesty. This one I think went further. I mean, this has clearly taken a bite out of her. But it is worth noting that even in these polls and the national polls that came out yesterday from the Marist- McClatchy poll.

Hillary Clinton has come down clearly in the wake of the FBI report. Donald Trump hasn't really gone up, OK. Donald Trump, there is not a serious national poll that has had him above 42 percent support since mid-May.

Hillary Clinton has been higher. She's now descending, but he is not rising. He faces significant head winds and each point, you know, kind of gets exponentially harder as he tries to drive toward 50 so either he is going to be able to convert some of those voters eventually, or he's going to need those third party candidates to pull away a lot of the votes. Because if we look at the electorate right now, for all the difficulty that Clinton is facing and it is real, Trump's ceiling looks pretty solid somewhere in the low to mid-40s.

SESAY: Well, speaking of the difficulties that she faces. She is obviously taking on the strategy paint him as dangerous.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SESAY: Listen to what she said earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His campaign is as divisive as any we have seen in our lifetimes. It is built on stoking mistrust and pitting American against American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The fact of the matter is, Ron, the battlegrounds are tightening. Is that a message that will open things up?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, that is a message aimed at her coalition. We talked about this before. Clearly Donald Trump because of the racially polarizing nature of his primary campaign and many of the things he has done since is going to face enormous deficits among minority voters, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, the law and order candidates echoing Richard Nixon.

He is very strong among working-class whites. He is, it's possible that he will run better among whites without a college education than any Republican nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

What Hillary Clinton is talking to in that speech, though, are white- collar whites, college-educated whites who tend to recoil from candidates who they see as racially divisive. And Donald Trump is facing real dangers with those voters. I told you before, no Democrat in the history of modern polling, going back to 1952 has ever won most college educated whites. She is consistently, if narrowly ahead among them.

And if that holds despite the tightening that we're seeing right now in the wake of the FBI report, he can't win. So what she, I think, is trying to do is painting him among those white-collar whites, he faces two big problems.

One is many view him as not qualified to be president, 60 percent. And the "ABC/Washington Post," the white-collar whites said he's not qualified. And second, they view him as racially divisive. The more she can kind of paint him into that corner, the harder it is for him to put together a coalition that can actually win a majority.

SESAY: Interesting times ahead. The convention is just around the corner.

Ron Brownstein, thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

SESAY: All right. Time for a quick break now.

And some of the potential VPs on Donald Trump list are already using his signature slogan.

Coming up, we'll audition the finalists who are promising to help make America great again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:41:45] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston says she is fed up with incessant tabloid gossip about her personal life and wants the world to know that she's not pregnant.

In a piece with "The Huffington Post," the actress also wrote she is fed up with how celebrity news objectifies women. Aniston also wrote, "I used to tell myself that tabloids were like comic books, not to be taken seriously, just a soap opera for people to follow when they need a distraction. But I really can't tell myself that anymore because the reality is, the stalking, objectification I've experienced first hand going on decades now, reflects the warped way we calculate a women's worth."

Well, as we mentioned earlier, Donald Trump will announce his pick for vice president on Friday. The political world is in a frenzy, speculating about who it will be.

But Jeanne Moos decided to see which finalist is best at delivering Trump's signature slogan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since Donald Trump can't legally pick the guy in the mirror for VP, he may have to settle for one of these three. So why not audition all three.

Let's start with how confident they sound saying this --

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R-NJ) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will bring you the next president of the United States, Donald Trump.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The next president of the United States, Donald Trump.

MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA GOVERNOR: The next president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump.

MOOS: Hmmmm, pretty similar.

Jimmy Fallon has already predicted how the Donald will introduce his VP.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON: This next person will be a footnote in history at best.

MOOS: And which of the potential footnotes got the warmest greetings from the Donald?

Indiana Governor Mike Pence got a handshake, a free touch on the arm and a funny face accompanied by pointing. Newt Gingrich likewise got a handshake, an arm around the back and a pat on the shoulder. But Chris Christie got a handshake and a hug. Advantage Christie.

Still, the acid test is the ability to deliver the Donald's core message.

TRUMP: We are going to make America great again.

MOOS: Though even the Donald's delivery isn't great when he is tethered to teleprompter.

TRUMP: And we are going to make America great again.

MOOS: So how do the would be VPs do when they --

PENCE: To borrow a phrase, make America great again.

MOOS: Mike Pence.

PENCE: And we can make American great again.

MOOS: Newt Gingrich.

GINGRICH: To make America great again, I'm going to be for Donald Trump.

MOOS: Chris Christie.

CHRISTIE: And I am confident that he will make America great again.

MOOS: The Donald has his work cut out for him, making his VP great at delivering his signature line.

TRUMP: And we are going to make America so great again.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --

PENCE: And we can make --

GINGRICH: America great again.

TRUMP: Greater than ever before.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: It will all be revealed on Friday.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. World Sport is up next. You're watching CNN.

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