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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Republican National Convention Officially Nominates Donald Trump; Chris Christie Targets Hillary Clinton in Speech; Tiffany Trump Spoke About Father. Aired 3:30-4a ET

Aired July 20, 2016 - 03:30   ET

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

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: "Lock her up," they are chanting. They're talking about Hillary Clinton. This is the Republican National Convention . This is where Donald Trump was officially nominated for that post last night.

Speakers at the convention last night had a lot to say, though, about the former Secretary of State. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. They have cleared away the beer pints and now brought in the coffee at the CNN Grill in Cleveland. It is 31 minutes past the hour of 3, 3.31 in the East.

Night two of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Just a few hours ago, at long last, Donald Trump shed the prefix presumptive and he is now the official republican nominee. Trump thanking the delegates and touting his running mate in a video speech. He beamed in from Trump Tower in Manhattan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D. TRUMP: I'm so proud to be your nominee for president of the United States. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you on Thursday night on how we build a brighter and more hopeful future for all Americans.

It's an honor to run on the ticket with Governor Mike Pence who is an incredible man and will make a great, great vice president.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The official theme for the evening was "Make America work again." But most of the speakers hammered away at Hillary Clinton and the delegates chanted "lock her up."

Senior political reporter, Manu Raju joins us now. "Make America work again" or throw Hillary Clinton in jail. That was the real theme. MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It really was for a second

straight day. You really heard speaker after speaker suggest that Hillary Clinton both go some saying as far as saying that perhaps she should be in jail.

This is been the one message that has united the Republican Party. Congressional leaders, rank and file republicans, the delegate and the Trump family themselves going after Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: We cannot promote someone to commander-in-chief who has made the world a more violent and dangerous place with every bad judgment she's made.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: She lied about her e- mail, she lied about her server, she lied about Benghazi. She even lied about sniper fire.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: And what does the Democratic Party establishment offer? What is their idea of a clean break? They are offering a third Obama term brought to you by another Clinton.

(CROWD BOOING)

And you're supposed to be excited about that.

COX: A Hillary Clinton Supreme Court means your right to own a firearm is gone.

CARSON: Are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now the question is how does this play outside of the room? One republican in particular went after the speakers for attacking Hillary Clinton. That is Jeff Flake, the Arizona republican senator who's no fan of Donald Trump.

Let me read you his tweet. He said that "Hillary Clinton now belongs in prison? Come on. We can make the case that she shouldn't be elected without jumping the shark." Now Today's program will probably feature a lot more anti-Hillary Clinton messaging.

One speaker in particular, though, that will be interesting to watch is Texas Senator Ted Cruz who has not really spoken in depth publicly about his views about Donald Trump after their very contentious primary fight.

Don't expect an endorsement we're told, but he's probably going to talk about how this party needs to unite in some ways to stop Hillary Clinton. John and Christine?

[03:35:00] BERMAN: All right. Man Raju, thank you so much. Let us discuss day two of the republican convention. Look who we found at the bar at the CNN Grill.

Joining us right now, CNN political analyst, Josh Rogin, columnist for the Washington Post, also joining us our CNN political analyst, let me name them for you, democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, Amanda Carpenter, former communications director for Ted Cruz, and KABC talk radio host, John Phillips who is a Donald Trump supporter.

So, "Make America work again" was the theme. But as I joke last half hour I will repeat it because it was just that good of a joke, unless your job is could be a jailer or, you know, perhaps a prison guard for Hillary Clinton.

There wasn't much talk about jobs last night. It was "lock her up, throw her in jail." Mostly about Hillary Clinton, including from the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who really hit that theme hard. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: Hillary Clinton as a failure for ruining Libya and creating a nest for terrorist activity by ISIS. Answer me now. Is she guilty or not guilty?

Hillary Clinton putting big government spending financed by the Chinese ahead of good paying jobs for middle class Americans. Is she guilty or not guilty?

Hillary Clinton as an inept negotiator of the worse nuclear arms deal in American history. Is she guilty or not guilty?

Because see we know exactly what four years of Hillary Clinton will bring. All the failures of the Obama years but with less charm and more lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, John Phillips, by my account, there were no acquittals there from the floor of the convention. But to keep this metaphor from going, does the Republican Party, does this convention risk looking like 12 angry men? Does it risk looking too angry without anything productive or pro-Donald Trump. This was awfully anti-Hillary.

JOHN PHILLIPS, KABC TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I think the overarching theme of this convention is defined by the fact that this is the first republican convention in our lifetime that wasn't funded by the Chamber of Commerce.

This was Donald Trump and Donald Trump supporters, people who have been sending him checks. And the fact of the matter is they believe that Hillary Clinton is a dishonest person. Polls show that people think that charges should have been filed against Hillary Clinton for the e-mail scandal. (CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But let me ask you this. He's got those people. There are swing voters now...

PHILLIPS: Sure.

BERMAN: ... who will vote in this election who did not vote in the primary. Swing voters who live in Ohio, swing voters who live in Pennsylvania, in Florida. What do they think when they see that?

PHILLIPS: Well, a majority of Americans believe that charges should have been filed against Hillary Clinton over the e-mail scandal. That's not republicans. That's not the people in the room. That's Americans as a whole.

So, I think they hit on that theme because they know that people do not trust her. They think she's a dishonest person.

ROMANS: Well, I will let you push back there. Because how does the Hillary Clinton take all of this anger in that room and use it or use the tape of that chanting next week to their advantage or in the general to their advantage?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think they underscore the fact that they are talking to a very limited group of people and that Hillary Clinton will be talking optimistically about how she actually will create jobs for the country, about how she will make an economy work for everybody.

And there will be other pointing out that as much as Donald Trump wants to underscore his supposed successes in business, that a lot of what he has done has actually defrauded thousands of people through Trump University.

There's over 3,500 lawsuits against him by contractors and subcontractors that he has not paid. The people that whose jobs have been lost because the products that he makes go overseas. There's a lot there to prosecute since we're using that word next week, and we're really looking forward to it.

ROMANS: Josh.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think you saw the reaction already from the Hillary Clinton campaign they tweeted, "If you think Chris Christie is in a position to lecture anyone on ethics, we've got a bridge to sell you."

So, there is a hypocrisy that they're pointing out here, right? The republicans are focusing on Hillary Clinton's record but refusing to discuss the record of their speakers and of Donald Trump, right? And that's untenable position in the long run. Eventually they're going to have to answer the same question they're putting there.

BERMAN: I was interesting, I mean, listening to Chris Christie or watching Chris Christie last night. Because it seemed also he seemed to be saying this is what you could have had Donald Trump with me as a running mate.

If you're looking for an attack dog, this is an attack dog. He gave a speech to the crowd seemed to love. I mean, that's the kind of thing that vice presidential nominees, which is a job he wanted, love to do.

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I do have a question about Chris Christie's future. People talked about him possibly being as attorney general. But, I mean, when you give an intensely political speech, you disqualify yourself from taking a sober job like that.

So, it's kind of interesting. But my question with the whole "lock her up" stuff, where is this going? The point is to beat Hillary Clinton at the ballot box. If you're elected, you're not going to retroactively prosecute her or to actually put her in jail.

So, I'm kind of confused by this. But the way this is going they may announce a prison reform plan tomorrow night to put Hillary Clinton in jail. So, maybe it will get substantive.

[03:40:01] ROGIN: Can I suggest here?

ROMANS: Sure.

ROGIN: Chris Christie spent 20 minutes laying out a foreign policy vision that's critical of Hillary Clinton that Trump totally disagrees with, right?

ROMANS: Yes.

ROGIN: He laid out this hawkish, anti-Assad, anti-Putin foreign policy. Trump doesn't agree with any of that.

ROMANS: That's right.

ROGIN: OK. So, they're totally off-message. The only thing they can agree on is Hillary Clinton should be put in jail.

ROMANS: Hillary -- go ahead.

PHILLIPS: I want to reject one thing that Maria said. She said that the Hillary Clinton convention it's going to be an optimistic convention. But what have we seen in the last few weeks? We've seen Elizabeth Warren's one-woman production of 12 angry men.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: No, I mean, it's true. Hillary Clinton campaign...

CAMPAIGN: And that campaign in good thing for progressives actually.

ROGIN: The race to the bottom but right now Trump is winning.

CARPENTER: Yes. This is going to be the toilet bowl election. It's clear -- look at what's been mentioned last night. Donald Trump is not trying to make people like him. They are here to explain negative hard strategically in Hillary Clinton as far as they can.

He can only win by driving her unfavorables up even higher when his are sky high. They're going to make each other -- it's going to the gutter. It's who can make each other work the worse and that's where this election is going.

ROMANS: And who can position for 2020? I mean, how many people last night and tonight and next week are going to be looking beyond right now, right?

Let's talk about Paul Ryan, for example.

BERMAN: For example.

ROMANS: For example. I'm not naming names. But Paul Ryan last night gave a speech where he talked about the post-election world. He came out there after some real hesitation a few weeks ago, a few months ago. He came out there in support of his candidate. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN: I like to look at it this way. The next time that there's a state of the union address, I don't know where Joe Biden or Barack Obama are going to be but you'll find me right there on the rush with Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Amanda, if you are Paul Ryan, how do you play this game here right now?

CARPENTER: Well, he needs give people who are reluctant to vote for Donald Trump to say a place to land. I think in a few years from now we may be talking about Ryan republicans because he is the Speaker of the House.

He has to lay out a legislative agenda and what he does in the House. He has people who are going to look to him for leadership and if Trump is president or not, it doesn't really matter.

We know that Trump isn't interested in the policy, the messaging. Ryan is in a very intense and focused way. And so, he should just continue to do that. I think he's trying to lay pretty low. His gesture kind to be wallpaper and just come through unscathed.

He did a pretty good job last night. But going forward, he's going to have to position his House republicans in a way that they can survive through the general election.

BERMAN: Big headliner tonight is Mike Pence. The running mate of Donald Trump. What is he going to do, John? What do you think we're going to see from Mike Pence tonight?

PHILLIPS: I'm sure he's going to try to give him credibility. He's a former congressman, a Governor of Indiana. A state that Barack Obama won in 2008. A guy from the Midwest when Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania are all up for grabs.

But let's be honest. When you're part of the Donald Trump show there's only one star and that's Donald Trump. I suspect he'll be a vice president that goes to a lot of funerals of heads of state who wear sunglasses in their official portrait.

BERMAN: When you're offering to initiate the job that he hasn't won yet.

(CROSSTALK)

CARPENTER: Yes, he's basically conservative ornamentation on the ticket.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's historically what the job is.

CARPENTER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's on play that they've actually gone to.

ROMANS: Yes. He's assigning on. But still there's so many -- I mean, on trade, for example, they are very different world view on so many different things.

ROGIN: So, what we're looking at is for all these guys who are going to run in 20, is what will the Republican Party look like after the Trump election? How far will Trump drag the platform the, drag the issues, drag his agenda, and drag the party away from where Paul Ryan is where Mitch McConnell is?

I listen to John Kasich who won a step foot in the arena in his own state by the way, but gave a speech three blocks away about foreign policy, sounding very presidential, talking about how the Republican Party in America has to reject everything Donald Trump every said foreign policy and national security, right?

There's a reason he's doing that. The leaders, the establishment, whatever you want to call them, they know they're losing the grip of the party on policy. They're losing the people Mitch McConnell got booed, right, at the republican convention.

So, for all of these guys it's a calculation OK, if Trump loses, well, we still have a party to lead into the next election?

ROMANS: Twenty-twenty is not hindsight. But that's the agenda.

BERMAN: All right. Don't go anywhere, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Two of Donald Trump's children taking the stage last night. Rave reviews last night at the RNC. We'll bring you sound from them next.

[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. The Republican National Convention here in Cleveland. Something like, a Trump family reunion. Everyone named Trump gets to talk here.

Last night, Donald Trump, Jr. and Tiffany had their chance to speak. There is Tiffany Trump right there. And she tried to touch on some of her father's more personal side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

T. TRUMP: He's always helped me be the best version of myself by encouragement and by example. He motivates me to work my hardest and to always stay true to who I am and what I believe.

That's what he does. He draws out the talent and drive in people so that they can achieve their full potential. That's a great quality to have in a father and better yet, in the president of the United States.

TRUMP JR.: I've seen it time and time again that look in his eyes when someone says it can't be done. I saw that look a little over a year ago when he was told he couldn't possibly succeed in politics. Yes, he did.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Donald Trump's kid giving polished, powerful speeches about their father. They are very excited of both for their father for the first time because most of them couldn't vote in the New York primary because they weren't registered republicans.

That aside, let's talk about the night and the family speeches. Joining us again in our panel, John Phillips. Donald Trump, Jr. is a good politician. I mean, that was, you know, I've seen that several times.

And each time I see him, that guy knew what he was doing. It's not easy to talk to thousands of people in the crowd and millions of people out there across the country. He did it very well.

[03:50:04] PHILLIPS: These kids aren't props. They are active participants in this campaign. And prior to that, they were active participants in his businesses. And Donald Trump was clearly an active participant in their growing up in their lives and raising them. And I think that the public is going to like that a lot.

ROMANS: Yes. And he obviously have a high expectations for them. You heard Tiffany Trump talking about how, you know, she would get a report card and he would write little notes of encouragement, short but sweet and with high expectations.

You also heard how she goes and point out some policy in the speeches, real policy in the speeches. And I heard education policy which really got my attention because that is sort of one of the things it's not very sexy to talk about. You know, the K through 12 is not -- is not working in America. Listen to what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP JR.: The other party gave us public schools that far too often fail our students, especially those who have no options.

(APPLAUSE)

Growing up my siblings and I, we were truly fortunate to have choices and options that others don't have. We want all Americans to have those same opportunities.

(APPLAUSE)

Our schools used to be an elevator to the middle class. Now they're stalled on the ground floor. They're like Soviet Arab department stores run for the benefit of the clerks and not the customers. For the teachers and the administrators and not the students.

You know why other countries do better on K through 12? They let parents choose where to send their own children to school?

(APPLAUSE)

That's called competition, it's called the free market and it's what the other party fears.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I love the little kid on the phone. OK. That was great. I hadn't seen that before. But that was policy. That was education policy in the speech from Donald Trump's son.

ROGIN: And what's startling about that clip is that Donald Trump, Jr. clearly has a better mastery of economics and education and national security policy than Donald Trump...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: And conservative orthodoxy.

ROGIN: ... than Donald Trump Sr., right?

ROMANS: Yes.

ROGIN: If only Donald Trump, well, what I want to say, if Donald Trump could have that kind of discipline, that kind of message control, that kind of mastery of the facts and the issues, he would be doing even better that he's doing right now.

So, he sort of see that they're in the Trump sort of world. There is an agenda, a policy, idea, a proactive, you know, aggressive sort of plan for how to impose Trump's view of how government and the world should operate.

But Donald Trump isn't capable of meet -- of explaining that plan because he can't concentrate on the teleprompter long enough to get through it. So, you start to see that Donald Trump Jr. really does have the stuff.

ROMANS: But he doesn't come off as a prep school rich kid here either though, when he's talking about an elevator in the middle class. I mean, he's sort a relatable really to working Americans.

CARPENTER: Yes. And that's what I found really refreshing about this. He found a way to message things like, school choice, how bureaucracy drives up the cost of tuition and makes education worse. For people without saying this very policy in ways that we're used to hearing.

He used a nice metaphor and he probably borrowed it from somebody which we've discussed earlier. But it came off as very relatable in a way that anybody could understand. But were still true to conservative values. So, it was really masterful.

BERMAN: Democrat super delegate, Maria Cardona, were you really won over by the Trump children?

CARDONA: I was won over by the Trump children but it didn't make me change my mind about the father. I do think that he helped Donald Trump. Because to Josh's point, I think people were wishing that maybe he was the one that was running for president as opposed to the father.

You mentioned that, you know, a lot of the kids weren't even registered to vote. He actually was.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Right.

CARDONA: He was the only one. And so, I think what he has done is that he has made other republicans a little bit more comfortable in terms of this is somebody who is advising his father, and he seems to have even more of a knowledge base on republican orthodoxy and what does that actually mean.

ROMANS: All right, guys. We'll leave it there. Because while they were all in that room, anybody with a 401K was happy because stock markets have been doing very, very well.

I want to get an Early Start on your money, everybody. Eight gains in a row now for the Dow Jones Industrial average. A new all-time high, record highs for markets here.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Just like today.

ROMANS: That's right. The Dow just up 25 points up yesterday. It's now gained 663 points over that winning streak.

BERMAN: Oh, wow.

ROMANS: That is a lot. As for today, Dow futures are sticking high, so you could see another record. Stock markets in Europe they are rising. Shares in Asia trading mixed overnight. Looking at oil back little $45 a barrel.

You know, and by the way, about five years ago, you had record high gas prices and now they're down like 2.20. I want to look at Microsoft today, that's probably going to pop today. The company's earnings showed its big bet on cloud computing is paying off. So, watch Microsoft it's a widely held stock shares that went up more than 4 percent in the free market.

A revenue for Microsoft cloud business doubled. And it's now rivaling industry titans like Amazon. That made up for weak performance from its new Windows 10 Operating System. The fact it's down 4 percent in the year, one of the worst performers in the Dow. But if you're holding onto it you're going to see a pop today.

[03:55:01] BERMAN: All right. That's the good news. The sad news, legendary film and television director, Garry Marshall has passed away. He, of course, the brain behind "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley," and so many great hits that we like in the 70's.

He also directed blockbuster films like "Pretty Woman" and the "Princess Diaries." He also, you know, appears an actor in dozens of movies and TV series. And this guys a real creative icon. I owe my youth in front of a TV to this man. Yes. He died of complications from pneumonia in California after suffering a stroke. He was 81 years old.

ROMANS: All right. Fifty-five minutes past the hour. A big night at the Republican National Convention . EARLY START continues right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)