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Trump To Cleveland. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 20, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I hope they do move on. But, admit it. When you make a mistake, you admit it.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, (INAUDIBLE), thanks very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

That's it for me. I'm back at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues next right here on CNN.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. Top of the hour. Live in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.

We have definitely an exciting hour ahead of you. We're talking planes, helicopters, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, you name it, day three, RNC, bring it.

Breaking news here, though. Let's get to this. We are learning that the writer of Melania Trump's speech that contained plagiarized passages has revealed herself and she has offered up an apology. You will hear much, much more about her.

But first, as you see, live pictures from the skies. Any moment now, the party's newly minted, no longer presumptive, we can scrape that from the lexicon, the presidential nominee will make an entrance unlike any other thus far this convention. The first night he walked through smoke to Queen's "We Are the Champions." The second he appeared via satellite there at Trump Tower. And minutes from now, Mr. Trump is on board this plane. He will be emerging. Once he lands here in Cleveland, hopping on a chopper, as one does, and then rolls in for this big welcome event with his - the man he has chosen to be on the ticket, Mike Pence.

Trump is landing at a tiny airport nearby here. In fact, as we watch the approach, he has just about touched down. And you know we're going to stay on this live because it's fun. And we're watching for the man of the hour. Here you go.

The Trump plane touching down here in Cleveland. This is a huge, huge day for him because this is the mega day when he will be standing later this evening on the podium here at the Q, at the Quicken Loans Arena, and introducing to the rest of the world whom he has chosen to be on his ticket.

We also have live pictures, once he exits this plane, he will be jumping on a helicopter to then go on and to greet Mike Pence, who will be traveling to the science center location via motorcade. And we'll be watching, waiting to see if they speek.

We're also told, I believe - guys, get in my ear and tell me - on the left side of your picture, this is where I believe he will be landing. We know some of his adult children, Eric - thank you, yes, it is - Don Jr. is there, Eric Trump is there, lots and lots of people waiting for his arrival and that is where - let's just get straight to Martin Savidge. He is watching from that chopper landing location over at the science center.

Martin, big crowd.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a good crowd. The music's blaring. That's a clear sign that we're getting close to something here. We did just see Trump's 757 pass right by this position here on final approach into Berkley Front Airport there.

We should point out, by the way, the distance from where he's landed to where the helicopter will touch down is about 800 yards. So it shouldn't be a long helicopter flight unless he decides to take a couple of laps around the Cleveland skyline, which he could do. But we've already see, we've got family on hand. We've got a crowd of supporters that are on hand. It's being said that his running mate is also on hand, Mike Pence, so we've got an eye out for them. But it should be quite an entrance. Not just one but two landings in Cleveland in the span of a few minutes. So we definitely know that Donald Trump is a man that knows how to make an entrance, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Marty, we'll stay with you as we'll watch for him to head from one mode of transportation to the next. We can tell you that Mike Pence is in this crowd, I'm told. I believe - there he is in the middle of the screen, Governor Mike Pence, awaiting Mr. Trump. So we'll stay on this. I have Jim Acosta also standing by somewhere.

Jim Acosta, tell me where you are and what you're seeing.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke.

That's right, I'm standing not too far from where Martin is. He has the better view, I would say, than what I have. But this one might get a little bit better here in a few moments. As you just mentioned, Trump's plane came through here just a few moments ago, Trump Force One, as it's called. He's going to chopper over here and then rendezvous with his running mate, Mike Pence. We expect that to happen just behind me.

We're waiting to find out whether or not he's going to make a few comments, Donald Trump, that is. It all sort of depends on if they lower the volume of this blaring music that they're playing right now. But Donald Trump is arriving in Cleveland not only as the Republican nominee, Brooke, but to a host of new questions. Obviously there is this whole issue of whether or not Ted Cruz, the

Texas senator, his old rival, will offer up some kind of endorsement tonight. There's also the saga over Melania Trump's speech on Monday night. The Trump campaign has just put out a statement on that explaining that a speech writer for the Trump organization was the person responsible for those passages, those plagiarized passages that appeared in Melania Trump's speech. And then, of course, there's a new flare-up in the fight between Donald Trump and John Kasich, the Ohio governor, who is refusing to attend this convention here.

[14:05:14] So as Melania Trump said the other night, Brooke, it would not be a Trump contest without some drama and excitement. But if he lands here, when he lands here and rendezvouses with his running mate, Mike Pence, we'll be wondering if he'll take a couple of those questions. We'll be waiting to see if that happens. But that should all unfold behind us here in just a few moments.

And, Brooke, I'll just stand out of the way a little bit so you can see this as we zoom in. You can see Mike Pence and Mrs. Pence moving toward us. They're standing just below First Energy Stadium, where the Cleveland Browns play. We're right out in front of the Science Museum here in Cleveland. And behind the Pences, you can see Ivanka Trump, you can see Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump, other members of the Trump family. Donald Trump Jr. And so this is a real moment of unity for these two men, both top and bottom of this Republican ticket.

And I think in a way, Brooke, this is a way for Donald Trump and Mike Pence to say, OK, now this is really our convention. You have some speakers on Monday night. You had some speakers or Tuesday night, the speaker of the House, Chris Christie and so forth. But tonight we'll here the vice presidential running mate. Tomorrow night we'll hear from Donald Trump. We might even hear from Donald Trump tonight. You know how Donald Trump is, all bets are off. But in just a few moments here, it will be that image that they're trying to portray, try to get out there, of this ticket really coming together in its own here in Cleveland, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, we're going to stay on these pictures. Jim Acosta, thank you so much for the play by play.

We'll stay on the picture. I have a mega panel, just take my word for it. I've got about eight people standing by on the full political spectrum, but we have to take a moment.

Joe Borelli, let me just begin with you. I mean your man knows how to make an entrance, doesn't he?

JOE BORELLI (ph): I mean this is big, bold and beautiful, right? We certainly - hey, look, look, we're doing right now what he wants all of us to do. We're all sitting here with baited breath -

BALDWIN: Talk about him.

BORELLI: Waiting for him to emerge from the plane, waiting for him to get on his helicopter, waiting for him to buzz the tower as he jumps around earlier today. You know, so I think this is what Donald Trump wants and he's getting what he wants. I think it's going to be a great entrance.

BALDWIN: Mary Katharine Ham, thoughts, ruminations?

MARY KATHARINE HAM, SENIOR WRITER, THE FEDERALIST: Yes, I don't hate on the Donald Trump entrance.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HAM: It's the most entertaining part of the campaign for me.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HAM: And if we can't get Tom Selleck in the magnum helicopter, which at this point why not, then bring us Donald Trump on the helicopter and do a fly-by Cleveland skyline. Here we are.

BALDWIN: Here we are.

HAM: 2016.

BALDWIN: Anna Marie (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm hoping he'll be lowered down like a, you know, on a rope. That will good.

I'm interested for his main trick tonight, which will be drinking a glass of water while Pence speaks. Has anyone heard that that's going to happen tonight?

BALDWIN: Badum, bum. But that is the issue, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BALDWIN: I mean we saw this sort of soliloquy over the weekend as they made the big reveal. And in that "60 Minutes" interview where Mr. Trump sort of jumped in quite often. You know, what will - what will Trump say tonight? What will Pence say? He's really also got to sell it to, I guess, Tim, sort of his boss, on why he really is the right pick despite maybe Trump's gut.

TIM NAFTALI, FORMER DIRECTOR, NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY: Well, look, if he hasn't sold it to him already, it's too late. What he's got to do is sell it to the American people that there is message discipline, that there is a sense of where this ticket wants to go and that there's a governing philosophy.

One of the things we haven't heard at all is that there's a philosophy of government.

BALDWIN: Yes.

NAFTALI: There - we - what we know is that they want Hillary Clinton in jail. But other than that, it's not clear what they want to do. So tonight is a big night for them to set the destination of the ticket.

HAM: Well, and I think Pence is actually a decent person to do that job.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HAM: And to make that speech. The question is, will Donald Trump upstage him by calling into another show while this is going on. I mean that's - that's really the question.

BALDWIN: During Pat Smith's original (ph) speech the other night, right, he called into Fox.

HAM: Exactly.

BALDWIN: Craig Dunn (ph), I know you're not sitting with us but I don't want to ignore you because you're so important in this conversation. As a Republican - I'm being told no Craig Dunn. It was a fake out for now.

David Catanese, to you. Just talk about the picture -

DAVID CATANESE, SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Yes.

BALDWIN: The plane, the chopper, the entrance.

CATENESE: We've spent so much time talking about these speeches and what people say. But the conventions are also about images.

BALDWIN: Yes, optics.

CATENESE: About pageantry. And Donald Trump is the king of images and pageantry. And, frankly, even with this helicopter/train/planes/automobiles entrance, it takes a little bit of the coverage away from the plagiarism controversy that has been dominating cable news all week. So Trump can always overcome a media narrative, I think.

And I think even this convention - even though this convention has been rocky for two days, maybe it's rocky tonight. I think he can change it with one big speech tomorrow night because rarely do you remember a Monday or Tuesday night of a convention history. It's all about Thursday night and Trump has the ability to completely change the narrative.

BALDWIN: Yes. I'm glad you brought up the substance and I think on the speech writing bit there's been a lot of news on that just in the last hour or so.

So, Sara Murray, let me just pivot to you, as we stay on these live pictures. Talk to us about this speech writer who's sort of fallen on her sword and how the Trump campaign has responded to her.

[14:10:01] SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really interesting, Brooke, because for days the Trump campaign has been saying they're not going to name the people who were involved in this. We've seen Paul Manafort out there saying that Melania didn't crib lines from Michelle Obama's speech despite the fact that they were word for word in a couple of these places.

But today there is a woman, Meredith McGiver (ph), she's a speech writer for the Trump organization, she's done speeches for them, who came out with this statement and she essentially said, look, this is my fault. I'm responsible for this. She said she worked with Melania ono this speech and that Melania really admires Michelle Obama. And so she said that they spoke over the phone, and I'm going to read a little bit from her statement here.

So, over the phone she, Melania, read me some passages from Mrs. Obama's speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech. I did not check Mrs. Obama's speeches. That was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused.

Now, Brooke, she goes on in this to say that she actually offered to resign from the Trump organization, and that Donald and Melania Trump would not accept that resignation, saying that people make innocent mistakes and they learn from them. So that should cast off this saga. But, Brooke, it does make you wonder why they wait until today to clear this up, to put out this statement and why they didn't just do that on Tuesday morning and end this narrative rather than dragging it into day three of Donald Trump's convention.

BALDWIN: Let me follow up with you in just a second, Sara Murray, but, to, Tim, we were talking before the show started and to you and I know other folks have said sort of the lead or the headline of all of that is the fact that Melania Trump, whose husband is the Republican nominee's role model is the Democratic first lady.

NAFTALI: Yes. I mean the - the best form of flattery, you know, is imitation. That's unbelievable, particularly in a hall which detests the Obamas. But the second thing I'd like to say is that this speech writer has actually thrown Melania under the bus because she's saying that Melania did the plagiarism. I don't know why people haven't noticed that. I - I - she is basically saying, well, Melania Trump gave me these words. I had no idea she plagiarized them. So this is the weirdest, weirdest statement I could imagine. It is bewildering, actually.

BALDWIN: Well, tell -

HAM: And also interesting to me that these are the least offensive thing that was said from the stage yet was actually something that I guess, you know, Michelle Obama said first. We're not talk about anything else or not much else that was said from the stage, you know, or from the audience, which has been as much a part of, you know, a lot of these speeches as what's been on the stage, the shouting for Hillary to go to jail and whatnot.

BALDWIN: Which we'll - trust me, we'll get into over the next two hours.

I want you to respond to all this and I want to go back to Sara.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, it all seems tremendously innocent. You have someone, Melania Trump, who's not well versed in politics, well versed in political speeches. It came out that she - she looked for inspiration from someone who had a - who was in this position before. We have someone who was supposed to check it. Obviously the speech writer didn't do her job tremendously well. She offered her resignation. I think finally the Trump campaign is doing what the media has asked for, someone take responsibility, put it to bed, move on. Pence is tonight. A big, big lineup tonight. Time to go forward.

BALDWIN: OK, I'm watching everyone's sort of reactions but I do want to say, back to you, Sara Murray, because not only do we have that bit of news - this is a huge Wednesday, folks. We also have a bit of news on the governor of the state who, you know, when you talk to the Trump campaign, they're calling out the fact that he's a no-show. By the way, you got to win Ohio when you look at history in order to win ultimately in November.

Sara Murray, what has - what is this reporting now between Governor Kasich and Mr. Trump some months ago?

MURRAY: Well, Brooke, there are so many storylines coming into this convention today. And one of the more unusual ones that we're hearing and after John Kasich dropped out of the race, there was apparently a phone call between one of John Kasich's senior advisors and Donald Trump Jr. And we're being told that by sources close to John Kasich in which Donald Trump Jr. was feeling out John Kasich for VP, saying would he be interested in doing this. He could be in charge of domestic and in charge of foreign policy. So very powerful VP slot.

And this set off a number of conversations between the two camps that eventually led to Donald Trump and John Kasich on the phone together in which John Kasich sort of made it clear that they seem to have very differing approaches to governing and to campaigning. He suggested that Donald Trump might want to read one of his speeches during the campaign.

And that really seems to be where these overtures fizzled. It became very clear that they would not be a good match. That Donald - or that John Kasich was not interested in this.

Now we have not heard an official comment from the Trump campaign on this, but just to give you a little bit of a sense of the background here, Brooke, this is coming at a time, like you said, where relationships between the Kasich camp and the Trump camp are very tough at the moment. Paul Manafort went out earlier this week and said John Kasich, who is very popular here in Ohio, is embarrassing his state by not showing up at the convention. That has made things much worse at this point between these two parties.

And like you said, this is a state that Donald Trump is going to have to win. He is all-in on his rust belt strategy and it may not have been the best move for the Trump campaign to be out here insulting the Ohio governor. But, you know, we'll see what the polls show in the coming weeks after this convention, Brooke.

[14:15:05] BALDWIN: Right. Sara, thank you so much. Stand by to you. So, again, you know, you have that sort of story line emerging. That reporting between Kasich and the Trump camp. You have what we're learning about, you know, Melania Trump and this speech writer. And you also have the question, you know, will Ted Cruz, who essentially, you know, got the silver in this whole race, who got under Trump's skin a little bit, you know, will he endorse Trump as he really has the spotlight on the main stage this evening.

But let's not also lost - oh, here we go. I spot a chopper. Here we go. So this is - listen, we're doing exactly, I'm sure, what the Trump camp wants us to do, you know, all eyes on Trump. We went from an airplane. Now to this chopper, which is landing. So just again to - if you're just joining us, Trump's chopper on the right. You see - I see applause. So this tells me they're close. You see Mike Pence there in the middle of your screen. A bunch of the Trump children. The Pence family. They're standing by, watching and waiting to have Mr. Trump land.

This is part of a big welcome because really today is Mike Pence's day. This is a day that they will emerge on that stage this evening together. Listening to my panelists, as we're all watching. I'm hearing some chuckles. But again, you know, this man knows how to make an entrance.

Brian Stelter, are you having fun?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm sitting here as a media guy thinking, you know, we can mock this, people can mock us for covering this, but this is the message. This is the Trump campaign's message. Tim, you were saying there's no philosophy we're hearing. Well, I think the philosophy is strength. What would you do if had a plane? What would you do if you had a helicopter?

BALDWIN: Use them.

STELTER: Yes, you would fly in. And the entire message here, part of the message from the campaign is his money, his aim and his helicopter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a helicopter?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So -

STELTER: But the helicopter means something. It really does. He wouldn't be doing this if it didn't mean something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what it means - look, I wonder how you and I want to know, I want to know how much he's going to charge the campaign for that transportation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of the campaign spending was to Trump Enterprises. You know, like I mean I think I wonder, you know, he's not - he is a savvy businessman, as they say.

STELTER: And that's part of the message of this helicopter as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever it costs, it's worth it, because, again, we're sitting here, all of us, you know -

STELTER: If Barack Obama had a helicopter in 2008, he would have flown in.

BALDWIN: He would be on it. he would be on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he would have had to pay for it as taxpayers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just waiting for him to do a Nixon wave when he gets onto the helicopter.

BALDWIN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That that would be - that would be the fine touch (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's - it's the brand, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And brand does read strength to some people, but it's more just the Trump brand and their - in the story about Kasich where they said, you can handle foreign and domestic policy, Kasich then allegedly says, well then what would you do? And he says, well, he'd make America great again. That's the brand. That's what he's going to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'd make it - yes. He's fly on Marine One.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's the official spokes model for America. That's what he would be doing. He was the brand ambassador for America. Which, you know, he is, he does embody a certain kind of America, you know, and that's the people - actually you know what's funny, I'm really looking forward to seeing how people react to him, because I don't know about you guys, but talking to people who are actual delegates, they are not the same as a Trump rally. So far it's -

BALDWIN: It's so different. That's a great point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. The people -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I do agree. I'm a delegate. I've been on the floor. I think the support has been absolutely tremendous. I don't know what you're hearing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, OK. I mean -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have even Trump delegates today coming out and sort of -

COX: They support him. No, no, no, they support him. No, no, no, wait -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Non-Trump delegates chastising the Cruz people for not - potentially not support -

COX: No, no, no, wait, I think you're misunderstanding me. It's not that they don't support him. I'm saying this is literally a different crowd than a Trump rally.

BALDWIN: It's not a mega, screaming, sold-out rally you get to go -

COX: Right. These are not the same -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Right.

BALDWIN: That go for free.

COX: Types of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

BALDWIN: A lot of young people. It's a different crowd. It's a little bit different feeling.

COX: It's a different crowd. It is literally not the same people. It is not the same demographic. It's -

BALDWIN: Got to buy a ticket.

COX: They had to pay to be here.

BALDWIN: But absolutely enthusiasm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, you can't have it both ways.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm not critiquing enthusiasm -

CATANESE: The test will be -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm saying it's a different kind of rally.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, David.

CATANESE: The test will be tomorrow night -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CATANESE: Because the first two nights, look, between 10:00 and 11:00, people start emptying out and going to parties. We saw that with the Joni Ernst speech last - last night.

BALDWIN: By the way, they did that less in other conventions -

CATANESE: True. True, but - BALDWIN: Stagecraft, although it is his thing, but it's not so great at that (Ph).

CATANESE: But if that arena floor is empty for Trump, then I think that's big.

BALDWIN: Here we go. He's landing. So, take a moment. Look at the crowd. And watch the chopper land. I mean to rock 'n' roll, and this is - this is - this is how Trump rolls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Fever (ph) couldn't have done a better job. A lot of people in the crowd are the New York delegation. I know a member -

BALDWIN: Yes, tell me what you know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were - they were all invited. I know a couple other states might have been invited, but primarily it's made up of New York delegates and alternate and people who have traveled with our delegation.

STELTER: The people who are skeptical of this, and they can be, and journalists should be skeptical of this, let's remember Barack Obama in 2008, the columns that he came out to speaking at convention night four -

BALDWIN: Criticized for that.

STELTER: Theater and drama is always part of his entrance. Donald Trump, though, is probably taking it to a new level. I wonder who will do this -

BALDWIN: But isn't this already - it's sort of unorthodox. Like it's - the whole thing's been unorthodox.

STELTER: Absolutely. I'm -

BALDWIN: And has done really well for his - you know, out of the box.

STELTER: I always find myself thinking what candidate four or eight years from now will learn from Donald Trump. This is the kind of thing they very - what may learn. It looks like something out of the start of "The Apprentice" on reality TV and, of course -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And next week we're going to see -

STELTER: He's going to have an even bigger audience here tomorrow night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next week we're going to see a robotic entrance by Hillary Clinton with her focus group, political wave, you know -

[14:20:03] BALDWIN: Let's listen.

STELTER: Just a second.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to Cleveland, the next president of the United States, Mr. Donald J. Trump.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you, everybody. This is really an honor. And we're going to win Ohio, right? (INAUDIBLE). We're going to win Ohio. We're going to win it all. We're going to make America great again. That's what we want to do.

But the last time I got accused of speaking a little bit long, so this time we're going to speak a lot short. But I just want to introduce a man who's become a friend mine. Somebody who's going to make an unbelievable vice president of the United States, Governor Mike Pence.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's hear it for the next president of the United States of America, Donald Trump!

It is such an honor to join your family to welcome you to Cleveland. We're excited to hear you address the nation tomorrow night. It's been exciting to hear more from your family, more to come tonight. And I'm convinced what begins in Cleveland will end in the White House!

Thank you and God bless you and welcome to Cleveland!

TRUMP: Thank you very much, Mike.

I just want to also congratulate Don and Tiffany and Eric is going to have his shot tonight and Eric's going to be great. And Ivanka tomorrow night. And my whole family.

And, Karen, I just want to just - your whole family is an incredible family and we love having you with us in this endeavor. And hopefully we're going to do an amazing job and an amazing job for the country most importantly. So, thank you very much. And, kids, congratulations. Fantastic job. Thank you, (INAUDIBLE). Thank you.

Thank you, everybody. We'll go and start working.

BALDWIN: For those of you - for those of you wondering with that theme song one, that was a theme song from "Air Force One," with Harrison Ford. Big, dramatic entrance. So now here you have the two. This is the big day for Governor Mike Pence. This is the evening, prime time, where he will be stepping out and speaking in front of millions and millions of people.

I have my entire panel here. We've been watching from the airplane to the helicopter to now here on to ground, New York delegation there on the ground to greet them, the entire family, minus Melania Trump, Joe. Do you think that was a good move not to have her there? Not to sort of do this, brush it off the shoulder and roll on back to Cleveland?

BORELLI: I don't know. Like I said, I think the person who was perhaps implicit in all this, the speech writer, has come out and said, listen, I'm taking responsibility.

BALDWIN: She offered her resignation and Trump said thanks but no thanks.

BORELLI: Right. The whole campaign's trying to move forward. The focus clearly to what we're seeing right now is on Governor Pence tonight because that's who he greeted the minute he got off the plane.

I would really love to be a fly on the wall in camp Clinton right now because I imagine they're sitting around a booth maybe, you know, chuckling a little bit, but at heart I think they're realizing that they can't compete with this. This is very difficult for them to compete with the amount of coverage that this is getting, the presidential nature of all this. He essentially looks like he came off Air Force One on a helicopter. They can't compete with this without - you know, probably spending taxpayer money to do it with the president or stuff like that. I think it's a great message. I think it's a great start.

[14:25:01] BALDWIN: Ana Marie. Ana Marie.

COX: Well, I was going to say, you know, I was wondering, this reminds me of something, and the swelling music, actually sort of finally - finally did it for me, the swelling music and the arrival by helicopter, "Apocalypse Now." So that's where I go with this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

COX: But, you know, other people may feel differently.

I'm also happy, as I've been saying, I'm happy to move past the Melania stuff because it was the least offensive thing that has been said at this convention. There have been things that are far more worrisome to me. And - hopefully, you know, I'm hopeful that Pence will get a chance to talk about his record tonight, which is a record that I think some of the American people will feel deeply uncomfortable about.

One of the reasons why Trump has been able to appeal to some swing voters has that - is that he's been a social moderate authority. He appears not to be very troubled by LGTB issues. You know, he's sort of had an interesting evolution on reproductive rights, let's say. And Pence has a strong record that will appeal to a lot of perhaps fear, but it's incredibly conservative.

BALDWIN: Let me have someone respond to that. We now have another voice. Let me bring Craig Dunn in, Republican chairman, Indiana's fourth congressional district, Indiana delegate and a Kasich supporter.

Craig Dunn, you know, first I'd just love just have you react to this, you know, mega entrance by Mr. Trump and Governor Pence, but also on Governor Pence, the man, the record and what he needs to say tonight.

CRAIG DUNN: Well, we've got a saying in Indiana when we're talking about a good hunting dog, that "this dog will hunt." And it's never been truer than with a governor like Mike Pence. He can get the job done. Indiana's proven it time and time again under Mike Pence. We've had a tax cut every year he's been in office. We're leading the Midwest in economic growth. In fact, we have a greater job situation right now in Indiana than ever in our history before. So we're really excited to see Governor Pence help out the Trump team on a national level, to bring the great Indiana success story to the people of the United States.

BALDWIN: What about, to Ana Marie's point, though, as the Dem here, as a Dem on the panel, the fact that, you know, looking at Governor Pence's record and some of his, you know, issues, how he - how he has - what he's said in years past on the far, far right. Yes, it will play well with the base in a place like Cleveland here this week, but, you know, in the next couple of months when you're trying to grab those folks in the middle, may not sit well.

DUNN: Well, I think if you look at a situation that the United States doesn't all live on the East and West Coast. And there's a lot of people between those two coasts that actually do appreciate family values and the more traditional values that made the Republican Party great.

I think Mike Pence is not just going to be some sort of a polarizing person. He wasn't brought on the ticket for that reason. He was brought on the ticket to reassure social conservatives that the Trump ticket was serious about maintaining those social values. Sure, there's going to be people that disagree with Governor Pence on certain issues. I've been one in the past myself. But by and large you're getting a top-quality vice presidential candidate. No matter what you would like to say about Mike Pence, he is a first class individual and family guy. His word's his bond and he brings a sense of humility and of humor to anything that he does from a political standpoint. And I think if you judge by the quality of the man, the people of the United States will be very happy with him as their vice president.

BALDWIN: All right, Mr. Dunn, stay with me. Let me just also bring in the panel because another big question, you know, Ted Cruz, who really fought it out sort of tooth and nail with Donald Trump up until the end, who really did seem to get under Mr. Trump's skin. I mean he's been - extended this offer to speak prime time. He said, heck, yes, thank you very much, I'll take that. We don't know whether or not he will endorse. Mary Katharine, do you think he will?

HAM: I think Ted Cruz has always tended to be a little too cute by half and to want to walk a line. And so I hold out the possibility that he will not actually endorse from the stage and he will do a rousing speech. I think his supporters here still have a bit of a chip on their shoulder about Donald Trump and I think he's going to say, I'm smart enough to walk this line and I can please everybody at the same time. So we'll see what happens. Maybe I'm wrong.

BALDWIN: You're nodding.

STELTER: We know at the Cruz rally just now, Trump supporters booed when they saw Trump's plane coming in.

BALDWIN: Huh.

CATANESE: Ted Cruz is having a rally right now thanking delegates, but he has been working the network of the Republican Party all week.

BALDWIN: This his thought bubble 2020. CATANESE: They're already looking at 2020. You see a lot of these guys -

BALDWIN: Yes.

CATANESE: You know, Tom Cotton, the senator from Arkansas -

BALDWIN: Yes.

CATANESE: Has hit almost every delegation that's had a big breakfast. Cruz is very active. Scott Walker is active. So these guys have got both feet in both camps. They want to seem as loyal as they can, but not going whole hog as to be completely tied down to Donald Trump if he goes up in flames in November.

And I've had Republicans say to me, look, 2020 is going to be the harder election for Hillary Clinton. Already banking, they won't say on the record -

[14:30:00] BALDWIN: OK.

CATANESE: They'll say in private - (INAUDIBLE) and they'll say, you know, 2016, fine, we may lose this, but -

BALDWIN: 2020.

CATANESE: But watch her try to get re-elected -

BALDWIN: OK.

CATANESE: And try to have 16 straight years of Democratic -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll actually say I completely agree with this. I think that in some ways that this is an unfortunate situation