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Trump's Children Grab Spotlight During Day 2 of Republican National Convention; Trump to Arrive to Welcome Even Via Helicopter. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 20, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:01] CUOMO: As long as you don't mess it up with how you run the campaign.

CAMEROTA: We'll see you all tomorrow.

"NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello starts right now.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. We're live from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Donald Trump's kids deliver on night two, showcasing their dad as a blue-collar billionaire with a soft side. This after Trump locks the party's official nomination. Also in the spotlight, Hillary Clinton. Republicans taking every opportunity to just skewer the presumptive Democratic nominee.

In case you don't understand what they're chanting, they're chanting, "lock her up, lock her up."

We are covering all of this with our team of political experts and reporters. But let's begin with CNN's Phil Mattingly.

Hi, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, throughout the rather tumultuous first 24 hours of the Republican National Convention, advisers and Trump supporters would say the same thing. Just wait until you hear from Donald Trump's kids. Well, that happened last night. And they delivered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: It is my honor to be able to throw Donald Trump over the top in the delegate count tonight.

Congratulations, Dad. We love you.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump formally clinching the Republican nomination.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm so proud to be your nominee for president of the United States.

MATTINGLY: Trump's children stealing the spotlight with emotional speeches about their father.

TIFFANY TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Donald Trump has never done anything halfway, least of all as a parent.

MATTINGLY: His 22-year-old daughter, Tiffany, getting personal.

T. TRUMP: I still keep all of my report cards, some dating back to kindergarten, because I like to look back and see the sweet notes he wrote on each and every one of them. Contrary to what you might expect from someone who places an emphasis on results.

MATTINGLY: Eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., calling his father his mentor and best friend, casting him as the blue-collar billionaire.

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: I was there with him by his side on job sites, in conference rooms from the time I could walk. He didn't hide out behind some desk in an executive suite. He spent his career with regular Americans. He hang out with the guys on construction sites, pouring concrete and hanging sheetrock.

MATTINGLY: Trump's children from different marriages delivering powerful testimonials of their dad.

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: For my father, impossible is just the starting point. That is how he approaches business projects. That's how he approaches life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Now, Carol, when you talk to Republicans who have been working with or speaking with Donald Trump over the course of the last year, all of them say the same thing. It is a different man behind the scenes. And that is exactly why you've heard from Trump's family in the first two days and why you're going to continue to hear from them going forward.

The idea, the strategy here, paint a fuller picture of a guy who can sometimes be a little bombastic on the campaign trail. Give voters who might be uneasy about Donald Trump a reason to go his way -- Carol.

COSTELLO: He can be a little bombastic on the campaign trail, Phil.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: That was a good way to put it. Thanks so much.

Hillary Clinton also had a starring rolling in Trump's big party. Her named mentioned a whopping 79 times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP JR.: If Hillary Clinton were elected, she would be the first president who couldn't pass a basic background check.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: We didn't disqualify Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States. The facts of her life and career disqualify her.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Not since Baghdad Bob has there been a public figure with such a tortured relationship with the truth.

DR. BEN CARSON, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: OK, so let's talk about all of this. I'm joined by Trump supporter and talk radio host, John Philips. Welcome. And also I'm joined by the director of University of Virginia Center for Politics, Larry Sabato, and David Kusnet, a former chief speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.

Welcome to all of you. OK, so John, I want to start with you.

JOHN PHILIPS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Sure.

COSTELLO: So Donald Trump, Jr.'s speech was so positive. Tiffany's speech made me smile. Very sweet. Positive. Upbeat. But then you had all the other speakers last night just going completely negative on Hillary Clinton. And it was supposed to be about the economy. That was supposed to be the theme last night.

PHILIPS: You know, I think last night ended up being Hispanic outreach night because Donald Trump brought a pinata and the pinata's name was Hillary Clinton. And I think it was a twofer. I think a majority of the American people do not believe that Hillary Clinton is an honest and trustworthy person. So by attacking her --

[09:05:06] COSTELLO: Don't Republicans get that by now?

PHILIPS: Well, but by attacking her and by attacking her character, you're appealing not just to Republicans, but a majority of Americans. And if you look at that field of 17, they had stark disagreements on trade, on immigration, on foreign policy. The one thing the Republicans all had in common was they thought that Hillary Clinton also was a dishonest, untrustworthy person.

COSTELLO: So the idea, Larry, is to paint Hillary Clinton as a criminal because if she is a criminal, and if you vote for her, you're going to put a criminal in office, and it is better to put a man who maybe doesn't have the experience that she does, right?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Essentially. Let me make clear my view is it was completely over the top. Lucifer, really? Lucifer? And beyond that, though, look beyond Ben Carson and look beyond the chants of jail her, jail her, you know, jail to the chief. I guess we're back to Nixon again. I think essentially what they were trying to do is to concede that it is much more difficult to sell Donald Trump. It is far easier to attack and degrade Hillary Clinton because again, these two candidates have extremely high unfavorables.

So, you know, how are you going to spend your time? You're going to try and rebuild Donald Trump's favorables? Good luck with that one. You're going to -- you're going to continue to undermine Hillary Clinton, and that's what they tried to do.

COSTELLO: So, David, during the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, will we see Mr. Trump being portrayed as a racist over and over and over again?

DAVID KUSNET, FORMER CHIEF SPEECHWRITER FOR PRES. CLINTON: I think you're going to hear a lot more positive from and about Hillary Clinton and her running mate than you heard anything positive last night. We were told that the theme last night was going to be something like put America to work again. And instead, the theme seemed to be let's bash Hillary Clinton all over again and all over again.

And having worked in and observed campaigns since 1984, I think that's the harshest rhetoric I have ever heard from either party in a national convention. I remember that in 1980, President Reagan -- Ronald Reagan, candidate Reagan, had a stump speech where he said how wonderful it would be if Jimmy Carter lost his job. And in 1992, Bill Clinton had an acceptance speech, which should have been a lightweight. He said that what it took for a recovery was for one more American to lose their job, and Mr. President, you are that man.

But saying that your opponent needs to go to jail and lock her up, the litany of the night, that is a new kind of rhetoric for either party to have.

COSTELLO: And John, do you really think that will attract moderate voters or voters who might not have made up their minds? Or young people who really don't like negative stuff like that?

PHILIPS: Well, I want to disagree with one point that David just made, in that Hillary Clinton is going to have a positive, optimistic convention. The last three weeks we've seen Elizabeth Warren's one- woman production of "12 Angry Men" going after Donald Trump. I mean, they've been going after Donald Trump's jugular just as much as it has been going the other way.

COSTELLO: So on the subject of Donald Trump's children because I thought their speeches were fantastic last night, and there are more to come, right?

SABATO: There are more to come. There are six Trumps. Six people in his immediate family who are featured speakers. Now I know history is a stubborn thing. So I went back and I checked all of the post-World War II conventions, Democratic and Republican. The Kennedys, the Clintons, the Bushes, the Fords, the Carters, they all have loads of kids, never, never has there been six members of a family or anything close to it as major speakers pushing a candidate for president. It's obvious why.

COSTELLO: Well, tell us, it's obvious why. SABATO: Trump has made a virtue of necessity. The truth is that most

of the Republican establishment has had to mow their lawn this week. They've had some important duties that have been on the calendar that have kept them away from Cleveland. So a lot of normal speakers, like, say, former Republican presidents and former Republican nominees for president, they were really busy and couldn't come. So they had to fill the time. This humanizes Trump in a way that others couldn't. So maybe it does some good for him. But let's remember why they're there every single night.

COSTELLO: You know -- and I'll get to you in a minute, David, but I want to pose this to you, John. So it is great to hear from Mr. Trump's kids.

PHILIPS: Sure.

COSTELLO: But they don't know how to run a government. And isn't that what the convention is in part to showcase about Mr. Trump, why he should be president, why he is qualified to be president of the United States? As a voter, wouldn't I rather hear from people who can tell me that, who know a thing or two about government?

PHILIPS: Well, one of the things that's been viscously attacked so far in the cycle is his character.

[09:10:03] They've said he's a racist, they've said he's a bigot, they said he's a misogynist. So you need character references to go out there to say, no, he's not that guy, he's a great father. He's someone who respects women, he is someone who is very involved in their lives.

COSTELLO: I know, but --

PHILIPS: And who better than his family.

COSTELLO: So he is a great father. That doesn't mean he is going to be a great president.

PHILIPS: Well, if the attack is that he is a misogynist and a racist, I think the people that know him best would be the people to say that he's not.

COSTELLO: David, what do you think?

KUSNET: Well, as a speechwriter, I've always believed that a speech or any kind of communication needs an emotional structure as well as a logical structure. And I'd agree that the speeches by his children were very, very effective yesterday. But to couple these kinds of warm feelings with the kinds of harsh attacks that you had on the same evening in the same hall, I think it says clashing. You don't have a Hallmark card and an indictment right next to each other.

COSTELLO: David, I did want to ask you about this because this of course going. It's all over the Internet. So supposedly Donald Trump, Jr. said he wrote his own speech, but when people noticed his address mirrored a passage in a book by Frank Buckley, Frank Buckley piped up to say, hey, you know what, I helped write the speech, it's OK that he took my line. I'm OK with that.

And I don't know, what's wrong with saying someone helped me write my speech? I mean, you're a speechwriter. Do you care that people use your words without attribution?

KUSNET: Well, I think -- I think many Americans now are getting a tutorial in sort of the informal -- the ethics of the informal profession of speech writing. And I think the first rule is you don't borrow large amounts of content from someone else without attributing it. And I think the second rule is you don't set up a situation where you're going to claim credit for the person's speech in real time. And what Mr. Buckley did, and ordinary circumstances was understandable. He took something he had written under his own name and he used it in a draft for a public speaker.

But coming after the controversy about the borrowing in Mrs. Trump's speech, he should have pulled that material or paraphrased it, or done something, because it set up a situation where he had to come forward and claim credit for very effective words that the candidate's son had spoken and he had to do it in real time.

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there, Larry Sabato, John Philips, David Kusnet, thanks to all of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it is one of the top issues if not the top issue of this election. That will be the economy.

But did voters get the answers they wanted last night?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:28] COSTELLO: It is day three of the Republican National Convention. Today's theme, "Make America First Again".

Sixteen people expected to speak tonight, among them three of Trump's former rivals, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Senator Marco Rubio, and Senator Ted Cruz, who is not expected to endorse Trump tonight.

The vice-presidential nominee, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, will also take to the podium, as well as Trump's son Eric.

Donald Trump will return to Cleveland today, and his arrival will be anything but subtle. The GOP nominee is expected to helicopter in to a wealth of event later today.

CNN's Martin Savidge following that story.

He joins us now from the Great Lake Science Center here in Cleveland where that event will be held.

Hi, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol.

Another beautiful day here in Cleveland, Ohio, and they're getting set for the arrival now of Donald Trump. And let me tell you, we all know Donald Trump does not do anything by just half. So, here is a breakdown of how it will happen. First, he is going to fly into the airport here. Now, it is not going to be Cleveland's main airport. It is Burke Lakefront Airport.

So, picture this, the Trump 757 touching down at the small airport on the lakefront. It lands right at the foot of the city of Cleveland. This billboard with wings will then be parked right there with this beautiful backdrop of the city behind him.

Now, after that point, he gets aboard his helicopter. It is roughly 800 yards to go from where he lands to where his helicopter will touchdown. But still, this is all part of the fanfare of imagery.

So, he'll do a couple of loops around Cleveland. I love Cleveland, but it's not that big. You can drive around it fast.

He's going to fly it around a couple of times, and then touchdown on that cement pad right next to Brown's Stadium on the lake front here, and he's expected to be greeted by friends and family. Maybe he'll get out and do kind of a rope line thing, but it will all be Donald Trump. It should be something to see and I'll be here to watch.

ANDREW PUZDER, TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER: I graduated from Cleveland, I took three years off (INAUDIBLE). It was the '60s.

COSTELLO: Oh, here we are, Martin Savidge, I'm sorry. I was talking. Having a great conversation. We found out we both went to Kent State University.

So, we were thrilled with that. Martin, I know you're also from Cleveland.

SAVIDGE: I am.

COSTELLO: Martin Savidge, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

All right. Well, let's talk about last night's theme at the Republican National Convention. The theme was to make America work again. You probably couldn't tell that from the speeches.

[09:20:02] In the speaker's prepared remarks, Hillary Clinton was mentioned 79 times. That was more than Donald Trump, business, jobs and the economy were mentioned.

Despite that, supporters say Trump does have a sound economic policy, one better than Hillary Clinton's and President Obama's. I'm joined by Trump economic advisor, Andy Puzder.

PUZDER: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Andy, thanks so much for being here.

PUZDER: Pleasure to be here. Thank you.

COSTELLO: So Donald Trump, Jr. gave a terrific speech.

PUZDER: He did.

COSTELLO: And he painted his father as this blue collar billionaire.

You also worked for Mitt Romney, who is also another rich guy, right? But Mitt Romney didn't connect in the same way Donald Trump is connecting to blue collar America. Why do you think that is?

PUZDER: You know, I'm not sure. It really is true that working class Americans don't resent Donald Trump as a billionaire or guy. They actually see a success and they want to emulate it, which is the America I grew up in. It's the one that I'm willing to depend and that I love.

COSTELLO: What is Donald Trump saying that Mitt Romney didn't say?

PUZDER: I don't think he is ashamed of his wealth at all. And I don't think Mitt was ashamed of it, but he thought it was not a plus in the campaign to be this very, very rich guy. Donald Trump comes in, you know, he is very authentic. This is who I am. This is what I am. A rich guy but I understand what you want. I know what you're feeling. I know blue collar people. I know working class people.

With Donald Trump, you never doubt that you're getting exactly what you see. You may not like it, but you're going to get who he is. I think people, particularly in millennials respond to that positively. They like authenticity. He is an authentic guy.

COSTELLO: Well, I was so intrigued by the notion, Donald Trump, a very wealthy man, was connecting. I went to (INAUDIBLE) which is not from here.

PUZDER: Yes.

COSTELLO: So, you're from Chagrin Falls. You know where that is. And I talked to two men who are Republicans, Mike and Joe, asked them how -- why Donald Trump resonated with them. Here is what they told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: What is it that Donald Trump has that you also have that you can relate to Donald Trump?

JOE CANNAVINO, OHIO VOTER: What's the word. His work ethics. No such thing as no. You work. You earn a living to bring for your family. We have seen him go through bankruptcy and come back.

MIKE DICKEY, OHIO VOTER: My dad brought me up and said the world doesn't owe you a living, all right? You've got to go out there and get it yourself. So, I think he comes along the same lines. I think -- he got -- he inherited some stuff from his father, but he has the same core values that I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Interesting, right? So Mike and Joe, they're really counting on Donald Trump to make their lives better. They are. But they want specifics too. Because they also told me you know what, we think he is going to help the economy in Ohio, but we done know how yet. That does frustrate them.

PUZDER: I want to address that. One thing I really liked in that is they talked about the fact that he failed and come back. That you know, the Democrats are trying to use the fact that he had a few bankruptcies to overshadow his much vaster success. Henry Ford, his first car company went under. He came back and changed the world. Steve Jobs, half the projects he was involved in failed, but he came back and changed the word.

I think people respect that in Donald Trump. I don't think it's worked in the same ways.

COSTELLO: But the difference here is Donald Trump was still a wealthy man and came back.

PUZDER: Yes.

COSTELLO: These two guys are not wealthy men. If at the declared bankruptcy, it may be a whole different story for them. That's why when Donald Trump tells blue collar America that he can help them, he better deliver, because it will hurt them deeply if he doesn't.

PUZDER: So, how will he deliver? What we need is growth. That's the one thing that will create jobs and increase incomes. It doesn't require a government mandate. If you have growth, then employers will compete for employees, rather than employees with each other --

COSTELLO: OK. So, how do you generate growth?

PUZDER: Pro-growth, tax policy. His policy would encourage capital investment. It will encourage money coming back to here. Hillary Clinton's tax plan is basically an income redistribution plan. It's not a growth plan. It doesn't even purport to be.

On energy, he is all of the above, wants to make America energy independent within five years. Hillary Clinton's plan, it basically a climate change plan. It tries to repress -- wants to get rid of coal workers.

COSTELLO: Going back to the energy independent thing, in many ways, we are in Ohio, but now there is a glut, right, so the natural gas industry isn't quite as effective for people who bought into that, right?

PUZDER: Well, with energy prices down, right, what you have is you really should have an economic boost, because people are paying less at the pump, and businesses are paying less to use energy. Unfortunately, we have counter baling factors holding the economy back, but low energy prices are not only important for our economy, they're also important for the national defense, because quite honestly, right now, our biggest problem isn't climate change. Our biggest problem is radical Islamic terrorists, and when we're sending oil dollars over to the Middle East, the countries that may support radical Islamic terrorists, then we're threatening our safety as well.

[09:25:07] And the last thing is regulation. Look, this guy, Donald Trump, built buildings in New York. He knows what regulation can do to hold businesses back. He wants to reduce regulation. He wants to get rid of President Obama's executive orders, where he kind of bypassed Congress to get his agenda passed. Donald Trump will get rid of that.

Hillary Clinton, every problem she sees, she thinks has a government solution. We need private sector solution. We need economic growth, we need a president --

COSTELLO: Will we hear more specifics in Donald Trump's speech on Thursday?

PUZDER: I hope that you will. You know, obviously I haven't read his speech. I don't know who reads his speeches, but it is not me.

COSTELLO: We're wondering that too. Andy, thanks for stopping by.

PUZDER: Pleasure to be here. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the Trump campaign is digging at its heels on the Melania speech controversy. Hear for yourself, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)