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Coverage of the Republican National Convention; Governor Mike Pence Will Be Trump's Running Mate; ISIS Claiming To Have Connections On The Suspect on the France Attack. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 16, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:27] POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Good afternoon, everyone, live from Cleveland. I'm Poppy Harlow and you're watching CNN's special live coverage of the Republican National Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. We are going to win on trade, win at the border, we're going to win so much, you're going to get so sick and tired of winning.

We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with all. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.

This Election will decide whether we're ruled by the people or by the politicians.

Crooked Hillary Clinton, she's crooked. Lying Ted. I call him little Marco. Very, very, very low energy Jeb Bush. In the history of the Republican Party I've gotten more votes than Ronald Reagan, who we love, more than Richard Nixon and more than the Bushes.

I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn't lose any voters, OK?

We are doing something special, this is a movement. We are going to make our country great again, believe me, we will make our country great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What a week it will be. Welcome to Cleveland, everyone. In just two days this city will play host to one of the biggest political events of the year, the Republican National Convention and the official nomination of Donald Trump for president.

Indiana governor Mike Pence as vice president, number two on his ticket. And the two just held their first event this morning in New York. Trump joking about how pence endorsed Senator Ted Cruz first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Talked about Trump then he talked about Ted, who is a good guy by the way, who is going to be speaking at the convention, Ted Cruz, good guy. But he talked about Trump and Ted and then he went back to Trump. I said, who did he endorse? So even though he was under pressure, because I'm so -- you know, outside of the establishment, it was the single greatest non-endorsement I have ever h in my life. OK? I will tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Got to joke about it. And while there is plenty of anticipation for the convention, there is also anxiety over the massive security challenge it poses. Four action packed days and additional 50,000 people descending on the city and did we mention, the entire world will be watching.

Also with me this hours, my friend and my colleague Brooke Baldwin, she is live for us in Nice. She is following the developments following that horrific terror attack in Nice - Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Poppy, I'll take it here in France.

ISIS now is saying, they are calling this truck driver who mercilessly mowed down crowds of families of here just two nights ago, calling him an ISIS soldier for their cause. We know, Poppy, 84 people were killed, including children. Hundreds more injured. Later this hour we will talk about the new clues into how this attacker might have been radicalized. That and so much more here along the promenade here in the (INAUDIBLE), Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Brooke, thank you so much.

Brooke will be live with me from nice for next three hours. So stay with us for all the updates from there.

When you add that, what happened in France this week and the deadly ambush of the officers in Dallas and police involved shootings in this country and protests and violence we have seen as some Trump rallies in the past, you can understand why police here in Cleveland are preparing for any scenario. They have created what I can tell you from personal experience where I navigate through it is a massive security zone around this convention venue. We have live team coverage of these stories this hour.

Also, the latest on the developing situation overseas affecting a major U.S. NATO ally on the front lines in the fight against ISIS. The Turkish government now saying it is back in control after a party -- part of the military, these junior officers tried to stage a coup that plunged the country into chaos.

You saw it all play out live on your television screen. What it has resulted in is at least 161 people killed. Turkey now demanding something of Washington in the wake of what happened.

All of that is ahead. I do want to begin, though, with presidential politics. And we are again live in Cleveland as the RNC kicks off this week, this morning in New York, the first joint event for Donald Trump and his new running mate, Mike Pence.

Let's break it all down. A lot to talk about. With me now the executive editor for CNN politics, Mark Preston, political analyst and columnist for "Washington Post" Josh Rogan, our CNN political commentators Kayleigh McEnany and Paul Begala. Kayleigh is a Trump supporter. Paul is a Clinton supporter.

Thank you all for being here. What a morning. I have to begin with this, 28 minutes, 28 minutes is how long Donald Trump spoke about his policies himself, railed on Hillary Clinton before he mentioned really his running mate.

[15:05:36] MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Right. And you would have thought today would have been the day for Mike Pence. This was his day in the sun but many ways we learned a couple of things. One is that Donald Trump is not going to let go of reigns. This is the Donald Trump campaign and there's no ifs and ands or buts out that.

In addition, what else was interesting is not only did he talk about Pence at the beginning of the speech but he went off on as he often does and attacked Hillary Clinton. He talked about himself. He even belittled Pence a little bit for his endorsement of Ted Cruz. And then I do think as we're going forward over the next 48 to 72 hours, it will be interesting to see if these two men actually break apart. Will Mike Pence go out with campaign on his own? Will he go to these states in the Midwest where Republicans think Mike Pence can help the Republican ticket or will they be together?

HARLOW: Yes. I mean, Josh Rogan, to you. What was your reaction to, you know, the presentation of it? Was this evidence that this pick was a do no harm pick, someone who will not -- doesn't need to be the spotlight and who Trump thinks he can frankly control?

JOSH ROGAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, Trump was very honest about it. He said that he picked this for party unity, right. He chose his head over his heart. And even in the last moments he still was reluctant. Now, this shows that two things. It shows one that the campaign staff is having an effect on Donald Trump's decisions.

HARLOW: And his family.

ROGAN: And his family and they both - well, at least some of his family pushed for this pick, especially Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman. So Donald Trump is listening to the people around him especially whoever he talks to less. It also shows that he decided to pick someone who is just different from him in almost every way possible, different in style and policy decisions. This is an odd couple in politics if we have ever seen one. And how that plays out over the next four months remains to be seen.

HARLOW: So Kayleigh, you are the Trump voice in all of this. I mean, you can tick through so many policies where they are different. Not only did Mike Pence support NAFTA, he TPP and actually said that he voted for eve free trade deal that has come before him, his 12 years in Congress he has voted for. Donald Trump has and will continue to rail on Hillary Clinton for doing exactly that. How does this not hurt him on that front? Does this mean he can't attack Clinton so much on that?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think so. What I think it shows is that he doesn't dismiss the Republican platform. Mike Pence is pretty much a lock step Republican with a pristine conservative record, rated 100 percent by almost every organization that's rated him.

This was Donald Trump saying look. I have differed from the platform on trade, as you mentioned, and other issues. But I still respect this party. I still respect the values that have under guard at the party that is about to nominate me on Wednesday. And this is a nod to traditional Republicans. It was an important thing that I think he did and it was a great pick.

HARLOW: Paul, as a Clinton supporter, does it scare you that it appears that Donald Trump perhaps for the first time has made a non- gut decision. He has made -- really though? Is this acting more presidential to not go with his gut as Dana Bash reported? His gut was Christie. He even on Thursday night up until midnight asked his team can I go back on this one, on this Pence pick. Instead he followed through. He listened to his kids, his family and his advisers.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. And he then well let all of that out in the most undisciplined candidate, had the most undisciplined process and now this most undisciplined event today.

Now, I am only for Hillary. You know this Poppy, but viewers (INAUDIBLE) I advise a Super Pac supporting Hillary. I wish I could take that 28 minutes and run it as an ad for our Super Pac. Here is why. It was reminded me like the warm-up before the opera, me me me.

HARLOW: But people love that, Paul. People love that. That is why he has been nominated.

BEGALA: No. Poppy, no, they don't. He has got nominated by 13 million people, OK.

MCENANY: Fourteen.

BEGALA: 13.3 is what I count.

MCENANY: Fourteen million.

BEGALA: Let's call it 20 semantics.

He needs 65 to 70 million votes to become president. The difference between the 14, I stand corrected, and the 65 or 70 he needs, are completely different folks. They tend to be more female than male. They tend to be college educated or they tend to be people of color. All communities he does very badly.

HARLOW: So let's talk about the women. Because, Kayleigh, you can't argue with the poll numbers and they do show that your guy needs help with women. He just need it. Then I sat down with a group of women last night here in Cleveland. Trump supporters, Clinton supports, undecided, you will that see that later in the program. It was fascinating. An eye opening for me.

But Mike Pence certainly pushes him to one side on women. Mike Pence voted to defund Planned Parenthood. He staunchly, staunchly anti- abortion. I mean, he said he hopes Roe versus Wade would go away. He said that many, many times. And he said this morning, I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican in that order. Does Pence help Trump with enough women?

[15:10:25] MCENANY: I think he has the ability to because he has got a very soft side. You mentioned abortion, you know, same-sex marriage. Traditional social issues. When you look at gallop and the importance and the people who see those issues as the most important problem we face, it is either one percent or statistically insignificant.

Most women like conventional voters care about the economy. They care about terrorism. I think Trump - rather, Pence can help to soften Trump's image. He is very principled. He is very even tempered. And I think in that regard he can help Trump with women and especially drive him the economic message which I think will win women in the end.

HARLOW: Mark?

BEGALA: Even tempered but his principles are at war with the voters they need to win.

HARLOW: Do you agree with that? Is that a fair assessment that his principles are at war with the voters they need to win?

PRESTON: Right. Here is the thing about the Pence pick, which I think we have to the Donald Trump campaign was built basically without digging out a cellar, right. I mean, it was built -- a house that was just built straight up very quickly. What Mike Pence gives you is that he allows you to try to consolidate the conservative wing of the party which still is checked out on Donald Trump. They are not all there yet. Mike Pence has his own issues with social conservatives even though he is strong on social security.

HARLOW: But on the fundraising front, too right he got great connections to the Koch brothers who have not jumped in for Trump.

PRESTON: But the Koch brothers have indicated that they are still not going to play in this race. We will see what happens. Before you go out and get those independent voters, the voters who are waiting on the sidelines, you have got to shore up your base. I do think that Mike Pence helps him shore up the base.

ROGAN: On the other hand it's a risk, right, because Donald Trump has said, he is going to flip democratic states. There's no way Mike Pence helps him do that.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: Nor was Newt Gingrich.

ROGAN: Blue state Republican --

PRESTON: But not very well liked in his own blue state.

HARLOW: Nor Pence, I should say, Forty-two percent approval rating for Mike Pence in his home state.

I'm getting the wrap. Save the thought because we have a lot more to talk about.

Thank you all. Mark, Josh, Kayleigh and Paul.

Coming up next, live from Cleveland, ISIS claiming the demand behind that horrific terror attack in Nice was a soldier for their cause. The new clues about how he may have been radicalized and how quickly. Also this -

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: An astonishing night playing out in Turkey as gunfire rains down from helicopters in a bloody coup attempt. The country now blaming a cleric, a cleric who is living in the United States, a cleric living in Pennsylvania of all places for plotting to overthrow the Erdogan government. Much more on that ahead.

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[15:16:10] HARLOW: Overseas right now. The president of Turkey demanding that the United States do something that he says will calm things down after these spectacular failure of a military coup last night.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: Gunfire, breakdown of law and order in the Turkey's two largest cities, Istanbul and capital of Ancara. Calm again today, some generals are in jail, 161 killed overnight and now the Turkish president Erdogan wants the man he said he believes is responsible.

This is who that is. A popular cleric who leads a religious movement from his place of self-exile. You see him right there on your screen. The problem for Turkey is that place is the United States. (INAUDIBLE) Gulen lives in Pennsylvania of all places. He lives in the Poconos.

Turkish president Erdogan, calling on President Obama to arrest and extradite him and hand him over. Keep in mind, many American families are very close to the unrest this weekend. Turkey is a NATO ally. Hundreds of U.S. service members and their families are stationed in Turkey. And right now, the air bases are secure. Everyone is reported safe. And all military operations. So, in and out of those air bases are on hold. Let's go live to Istanbul. That is where we find our Ian Lee. Also

with us to put this in context is Kimberly Dozier, our global affairs analyst for CNN.

Ian lee, let me go to you, first. Quite a different scene there. It is 10:15 at night on the streets of Istanbul. Quite a different scene than we saw play out last night.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Really quite a difference 24 hours can make, Poppy. Last night, we were hearing gunfire. There were explosions taking place. And tonight, you are hearing about honking of horns. You are hearing a loud speakers.

These are the supporters of President Erdogan. These are the supporters you called to come to this square, to fill the streets of not just here in Istanbul, but all over Turkey. To seal a force to say that the people stand with the president and not just the coup. And that's what we have been hearing over the loud speakers and going down there and talking to the people, they say they want to come out to show they are against the coup and they are for democracy and when you ask them who's responsible for this, a public enemy number one at least for them and Erdogan is (INAUDIBLE) Gulen. They say he is the one responsible and they want him, you know, arrested or handed over to Turkey -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Kimberly Dozier to you. Talk to our viewers about who this man is.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Gulen was a political ally of Erdogan back in the early 2000s. They are both conservative Islamic politicians. They had originally teamed up to fight secular military generals and had been quite successful but then Erdogan seized power or was elected as prime minister. And then as he got more and more powerful, that's when Gulen said this wasn't what this was supposed to be about. We are simply amassing power for the sake of power and you are becoming a dictator. That's when they broke apart and it started getting ugly.

There were a number of investigations launched into Erdogan, his family and his followers that he blamed on Gulen and his followers and a lot of those investigations were shut down. That's one of the reasons that you see just now in the aftermath of this coup, almost 3,000 judges have been arrested or fired and been told that they are followers of Gulen. So Erdogan has always seen him as the sort of puppet master of a movement across the country against him.

[15:20:03] HARLOW: And Ian, let's also put the relationship between the United States and Erdogan's government in perspective. Yes, we are allies. Yes, they are a major NATO player, an ally of the United States. But at the same time what was the secular government has moved further and further away from that. Erdogan has been jailing journalists. He has been jailing members of the media. He has been -- having a much more autocratic regime and therefore, there has been strain with the United States. On top of the fact that the west has called on Turkey to do a lot more in the fight against ISIS. But, Erdogan has been democratically elected three times and he is

very popular. I mean, a lot of people in the streets last night and tonight are Erdogan supporters, right. He has the will of his people it seems.

LEE: That's right. And that's what's been so vexing for a lot of people here, a lot of rights defenders is because he does have that popular support. And he does win elections free and fairly. He has arrested journalists. He has threatened journalists. He has threaten human rights campaigners. He has gone after social media, shutting down You Tube at times because saying that it's spreading lies about him.

You know, what's interesting in the aftermath of this coup is that you had all of these political parties, all of the opposition parties and everyone coming together, including Erdogan's party and saying that they were against the coup. They were united and they were for democracy. But also, opposition leaders are a bit nervous that this coup could have had the opposite effect. That emboldens him and empowers him to continue this crackdown to help consolidate power. And so, while you do have this unity right now there is fears this could be even worse moving forward.

HARLOW: Very quickly to you Kimberly Dozier, do you think that's the case? Does this embolden Erdogan to crack down more?

DOZIER: Absolutely. He is going to use this as an excuse to go after not just the coup plotters but anyone he saw opposing him. And the U.S. is going to have its hands tied because there's only so much pressure they can bring to bear. They need Incirlik air base. They need Turkey's cooperation to defeat ISIS.

HARLOW: No question.

Limberly Dozier, thank you so much. Ian Lee live for us tonight in Istanbul.

Coming up, live in the CNN NEWSROOM, we have new details on the man behind the truck rampage, that terror attack in France. Our Brooke Baldwin following developments live for us in Nice tonight -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. Poppy, we are here along the promenade where just about 48 hours ago, a mad man mowed down thousands of families who were just here celebrating basically France's Independence Day. We have new information tonight as far as exactly who he came -- where he came from and what might have inspired him. We have that coming up for you, Poppy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:50] HARLOW: All right. Welcome to our live coverage from Cleveland.

I do want to tell you we are focusing very much on France though as well today in the wake of that horrific terror attack. We have major developments in the investigation into the truck that mowed over and killed 84 people, injuring dozens more in nice. France's interior minister today announcing a huge boost in security across the country.

Let's go live to Nice tonight where we find Brooke Baldwin with the developments - Brooke.

BALDWIN: Poppy, France is calling for volunteers, all French people and patriots as they have been saying to help raise security along France's roads and border after yes there has been some criticism that the president here in France, Francois Hollande has not done enough. This is what some are saying to keep France safe from repeated attacks like you look back to January and Charlie Hebdo, on some of the sophisticated attacks in November. And then, of course, right here on this beautiful strip of land here in the French Riviera two nights ago.

Then there is this. That there is no evidence yet that this attacker was radicalized. But, if he was, we did hear from the French interior minister today who did say he would have been radicalized quite quickly, so quickly that he wasn't on anyone's radar. He was a virtual unknown as any possible terrorist.

France's foreign minister earlier today saying authorities now face this new threat, threat being people like him, these individuals not in direct contact with ISIS. But since it is sensitive to the propaganda to their messaging.

Earlier today the ISIS media wing issued a statement claiming the attacker was one of their own ISIS soldiers. We are also learning French investigators discovered a possible phone link between the Nice attacker and a terror suspect who left Nice some years ago for Syria.

So let me bring in all of those points and more, our CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank.

And so, a lot to go through. First though, tell me about this person who lived in Nice and left for Syria who put out all this propaganda on You Tube and this phone number connection.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Also the attack, they got hold of the attackers phone number and they cross referenced it past -- counterterrorism investigations that they carried out in the past and they found that there was a link to an associate of a French jihadi, (INAUDIBLE), somebody from Nice, and an investigation into this individual, the associate OF (INAUDIBLE), that this phone number of the attacker actually cropped up in that investigation.

But what they are trying to figure out and go back and look at is whether that he was connected to them because they were social acquaintances or whether he was part of a natural radical network in France. Previously, the French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve saying that he believes that he was radicalized quickly indications that he had been radicalized quickly suggesting it happened not so long ago.

BALDWIN: What about from the media wing of ISIS calling him a soldier and not, you know, claiming responsibility but they specifically said this individual did indeed answer their call to attack the U.S. led coalition, attack the west.

[15:30:09] CRUICKSHANK: Right. And they are not saying ISIS -- this guy came to Syria, came --

BALDWIN: They are not.

CRUICKSHANK: They are just saying he answered their call for attacks in France in the United States. So they are just saying that he was inspired by them. The fact that they took 36 hours to put out this statement suggests they didn't really know who this guy was. They have to do their homework. They have to look at all the sort of media coverage to figure who he was, why he did it. And now they put out a statement.

BALDWIN: I know we are talking also about this, you know, additional 10,000 French soldiers. And just to be clear, it's to maintain sort of the presence that has been in France just for security since really Charlie Hebdo last January. An interesting point you made that I want you to make for everyone who is watching is we are in beautiful, you know, nice but not too far this way is what?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, Not too far away, you have areas of where you have gritty housing projects. The attacker lived with his wife in one of those areas on the 11th floor of a tall building housing project over (INAUDIBLE). And here you have alienation, not integration into mainstream society and that that's made the young men and women, some of whom are immigrants or the children and grandchildren of immigrants, vulnerable, like this guy Omar Deabbi (ph) who helped recruited generation of French Jihadis to go and fight in Syria with his you tube sermons.

But yes, you have radicalization in this area, according to a study by the combatting terrorism center at West Point, about a fifth of all French ISIS recruits come from this area.

BALDWIN: Nice.

CRUICKSHANK: The Nice. The French Riviera. South east and coastal region of France.

BALDWIN: I just don't think a lot of people realized that.

Paul Cruickshank, thank you so much.

And just, Poppy, as I send it back to you, let me just remind everyone it is still beautiful. You know, I was out today taking a minute just to myself to absorb all of this. And the beaches were packed. People are still here on vacation. And the promenade as you cans has reopened.

Poppy, back to you in Cleveland.

HARLOW: But that is so indicative of the French resilience and spirit that, Brooke, you and I both saw play out in Paris in November after that attack, the same thing here, not willing to be defeated by the terrorism. And Brooke Baldwin, live for us in Nice tonight. Brooke, thank you so

much. We will get back to you shortly.

Ahead here live from Cleveland, Donald Trump, officially picking his running mate today. But could Mike Pence hurt him with those undecided female voters?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Pence has said in the past he would like to see roe versus wade overturned. Does that move the needle for you one way or the other, Holly?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It definitely makes me rethink his positions of what I want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:36:02] HARLOW: You are looking at live images of progressive field in beautiful downtown Cleveland where we are coming to you live tonight ahead of the Republican National Convention.

There is little doubt that Donald Trump is trying to appeal to religious conservatives by naming Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. Pence calls himself a devout evangelical. He is stretched this his religious conviction. And he said that again today in his introduction to the nation in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The people who know me well know I'm a pretty basic guy. I'm a Christian and conservative and a Republican in that order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So let's talk about all of this, the newly announced Trump- Pence ticket. The founder of the Christian coalition and one of the major organizers for Christian conservatives Ralph Reed. Thank you for being with me. We appreciate it very much.

RALPH REED, FOUNDER, CHRISTIAN COALITION: Thank you, Poppy. Good to be with you.

HARLOW: I was listening in my hotel room preparing for the show and I stopped when I heard that line, I am a Christian, a conservative and Republican, in that order. How much do you think Mike Pence can help Donald Trump, a man who has been divorced three times, a man who, you know, has said he is not asked God for forgiveness, how much can Pence help him with evangelical Christians and with Christian conservative base?

REED: I think he can help him a lot. I think he is somebody who has tremendous street cred on the right among social conservatives. Frankly, he is a full spectrum conservative. He is a tax cutter. He is a limited government conservative. He is a job creator. He is a Reagan-ite. So he doesn't just appeal to social conservatives. But he is someone for whom his personal faith in God inspired his public service, animates his life and gives meaning and purpose to everything he does.

But Poppy, I want to be clear that Donald Trump doesn't need Mike Pence to do that job for him.

HARLOW: Why?

REED: If you look at the Pew research center poll from just a few days ago, Donald Trump was already winning 78 percent of the evangelical vote to Hillary Clinton's 17 percent.

HARLOW: Well, that's not surprising. You are always going to get that with a conservative candidate. What you guys need is to energize the base for the ground game to get all of those folks out of their house to the polls. And there is no question that right now the Republican Party is divided. I mean, you will have a lot of folks saying the party know, it is not. Jeb Bush penned and op-ed this morning in the "Washington Post" saying he is going to vote for write- in candidate or potentially Gary Johnson. I mean, you got a divided party. Does Pence bring the party more together?

REED: Not among this constituency. That's my point. I think those folks were already coming and they were coming heavily.

HARLOW: But what about other Republicans?

REED: Every single survey, every single published poll taken since Trump wrapped up the nomination shows him between 65 and 80 percent among this constituency. I think what the selection of Mike Pence does is it's a unifying pick. It's a governing pick. It's a pick that reveals a lot about Donald Trump's decision-making process. And what it shows is that he wants somebody who is a full spectrum conservative. He is a man of deep faith and strong core conservative convictions. He is somebody who has served at both state and federal level, has a very distinguished record. And I think it helps unify the party. And it makes it clear, I'm here to play and I want to govern and I want Mike Pence to be my governing partner.

HARLOW: What did you make of the fact that Trump spoke for 28 minutes on the stage this morning before really mentioning Mike Pence or bringing him on stage? Did it show us it's the Trump show?

REED: Well, I think any time Donald Trump is in a room, it's the Trump show, but I --.

HARLOW: The announcement of his number two.

REED: Yes. I watched it. I thought it was a great event. I thought Mike Pence had every opportunity to say what he wanted to say. I thought he gave great remarks. I have known Mike Pence since he served in Congress. He is a friend. I'm thrilled. I mean, I can tell you I know the guy. I worked with him on the hill. I have worked with him in his capacity as governor in Indiana. And I'm not alone. This is somebody who not only has the record of somebody who has been pro-life, pro marriage, pro-family and solid on all of these moral and social issues.

But he is also somebody and this is what you can't put a dollar figure on. He has strong personal friendships and working relationships with the people in our movement. That's going to count for a lot.

[15:40:28] HARLOW: Thank you so much for joining us, Ralph Reed. We have more to talk about bit I'm getting the wrap in my ear.

REED: OK. Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Good to have you here live with us in Cleveland.

From terror attack overseas to some kind of violent protests here at home, security obviously is a major concern as this convention kicks off. Coming up, why the head of Cleveland's police union said he is being set up for failure and why the list of items that are banned and not banned is raising some eyebrows, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:44:36] HARLOW: Welcome back to our live coverage here in Cleveland. In just two days more than 50,000 people are expected to converge on this city for the Republican national convention. Some are asking if Cleveland is prepared to keep convention goers and this city safe. Some of that anxiety comes from Ohio's open carry firearms law that allows people in the convention's 1.7 square mile secure event zone to openly carry their guns. One of my colleagues saw someone doing it this morning. Weapons are not permitted inside the arena though.

Martin Savidge is covering it all for us live from Cleveland.

And Martin, this morning on "SMERCONISH" here on CNN the head of the police union here said that having protesters armed is quote "absolutely insane." Listen.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) is a man of no short words and he believes it's irresponsible for anyone, even though he knows it's their right under the constitution, to come to an event armed with just be he thinks asking for trouble.

As you know, you probably can tell, helicopters all over the city flying right now. Cleveland is right in the middle of a security sweep. It's essentially a day-long sweep of the city on all levels, ground, air, and even out on water as they lock this city down. It's not just a typical sort of barriers like this that you see.

Let me show you the other stuff that's becoming (INAUDIBLE) on the street. This kind of fencing has been going up for days now. What is interesting about this stuff is, of course, one, how tall it is, it is much taller than myself and others. And then look at the very tight knit on this steel. You're not going to get a toe grip. You are not going to get much of a finger grip in order to be able to go up and over like you would on say cyclone fencing. Clearly, there are a number of areas where they have these checkpoints that are set. This one is currently not manned but you can bet it will be. And then let me show you something else, of course, its street

barriers. Even before we had the tragedy that took place there in Nice, it was clear the homeland security people had been concerned about that possibility. So they have been installing these on all the major thoroughfares and any places where you are going to see large public gatherings or conventioneers coming and going.

In other areas they have even gone so far as to set up snow plows complete with the plows on the front. That's not because they are expecting snow, it is because those too become very effective barriers. So on top of what you see, there's also the police forces themselves. Cleveland police have just tweeted out that at 4:00 this afternoon they are swearing in all the out of town police. Over 2500 police came from all across the country to help secure this convention, Poppy.

HARLOW: And Marty, what do we know about the equipment that, as you said, not only the Cleveland police are going to have but all of those police forces from outside the city coming in to help, the different equipment that is being ordered has been ordered by this police department for the officers. I know there are some questions, some concerns about some of it. Is that right?

SAVIDGE: Right, there is. I mean, Cleveland essentially has a $50 million federal grant to buy the things and to obtain security for this convention. They estimates that about $30 million is going to go to personnel, overtime and bringing in the outside police force I just mentioned. $20 million has been using for security shopping spree. And they have been buying everything from 2000 riot suits to also things like motorcycles and riot gear handcuffs, of course trailers, you name it, all the way down to about 20,000 boxed lunches that will used to feed all of the police officers that are going to be on the street. So you know, that's just some of how they are spending it. The problem is the riot gear came in very late. The police union saying much of it did not fit properly with the bullet proof vests but making adjustments, Poppy.

HARLOW: Martin Savidge live for us there in Cleveland where it's going to be quite packed to say the very least.

Marty Savidge as the security look, thank you so much.

And coming up, what does it take to pull off something like this? You have got 50,000 extra people coming descending on the city. What does it take to put it all together? We are going to give behind the scenes look at the final preparations underway inside of that convention hall from building the stage to hanging all the equipment to can I tell you how many cameras are here? A behind the scenes look live from Cleveland next.

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[15:53:57] HARLOW: All right. Welcome back to our live coverage here from Cleveland. I want you to look at your screen on the right side. Yes. There it is. That's your countdown clock. The countdown to the start of the RNC, the Republican National Convention here. It all begins Monday here in Cleveland. CNN is definitely all in with political coverage that guarantees you will not miss a minute. Take a look at what we did to the inside of the quicken loans arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you watch CNN's coverage from the convention over the course of the next week we are going to broadcast from quite a number of locations. But let me just point out the locations in the hall. They are still under construction but you can get a sense of them. So over there in the corner it is a two-level anchor platform. Anderson Cooper and our analysts will be on the top level. John King and the magic wall will be on the lower level.

But then I want to direct you into the sky, if you will. Up there where you see the CNN logo, America's choice, those are our sky boxes were Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and guests will broadcast from. Our sister networks on CNN international and CNN Espanol will be right next door. We have another couple of anchor booths were our affiliates will broadcast from. So all around the hall you will have CNN anchors and reporters. And then of course around this floor --.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was going to say it is not (INAUDIBLE), we have podium reporters, right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. And we will have roving floor reporters. So around this floor we will have reporters who will be roving the floor, if you will, talking to delegates, talking to officials, talking to political leaders, talking with speakers. If you think about the location that CNN has, call it an all-access pass.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: there is so much energy in this hall right now, just a hubbub of trying to get things together. I mean, like I said, you can hear the drilling, the fending the sawing. It's all in progress. But I have to believe it does not compare to the energy once this is done and the delegates are here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this will be teaming with people. It will be full of people. There will be definitely a heartbeat to this room. There will be lots of energy every night. And then, of course, on Thursday night the big night something you don't normally goat to see. Those are some of the balloons that will drop on Thursday night. So they have put them into bags and they will be loading them into the ceiling today and tomorrow. The ceiling will be full of balloons. And they will drop them all on Thursday night presumably right after Donald Trump accepts the nomination.

[15:55:19] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that netting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is netting and balloons that will be filling the ceilings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But this is the Cavs arena.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, and that's what made this even more challenging for both the Republican national committee and for the news media. The NBA championships were held right in this very spot and that delayed their ability to start constructing what you see around us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: That's a look inside. A lot ahead this week.

Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM next for you Florida governor Rick Scott will join me live. He is one of the prominent speakers who will take the stage this week at the RNC. So as a Trump supporter what does he think of the candidate referring to fellow Florida Republicans as little Marco and low energy Jeb Bush? We will talk about that. We got his take on the Pence pick for VP.

A lot ahead live in the NEWSROOM. We will be right back.

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