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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
GOP Convention Review; Secret Servoce Confrims Invetigation of Trump Campaign Adviser for Threat to Hillary Clinton; Trump Threatens to Walk Away from NATO Commitments if Nations Neglect Obligations to U.S. Aired 3:30-4a ET
Aired July 21, 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)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get off!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give him the hook!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pull the plug!
(CROWD BOOING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Intrigue, drama, turmoil at the Republican National Convention.
ROMANS: He looked like as if he's going to be sick.
BERMAN: Chris Christie is not amused. Ted Cruz refuses to endorse Donald Trump for president. The crowd doesn't like it one bit.
Welcome back to Early Start, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: So, if you missed it we're going to talk about it more. If you already saw it you can see it again because it was fascinating.
I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour here. We're at the CNN Grill in Cleveland.
Ladies and gentlemen, as John Berman says, we have discord this morning. A once-in-a-lifetime convention strife the kind of moment that leaves people booing, that leaves people cheering, gasping, all at the same time.
Something funny happened on the way to party unity here at the Republican Convention, and it was Ted Cruz. The runner-up to Donald Trump in the primaries got a prime speaking spot and what did he do with it? He did not support Donald Trump. No endorsement.
And in return, no love for him. In fact, in many cases, the cutaway shots here when you -- when you watch that speech just like really tell the story. Senior political reporter, Manu Raju, he joins us now with the night's biggest moment of controversy. Manu, wow!
RAJU: Indeed. It was very, very tense in that room. Remember, this is the first time that Ted Cruz has really spoken in depth about the campaign, about Donald Trump since he dropped out of the race in May.
What we heard in that convention hall last night was not much mention of Donald Trump at all. In fact, in Ted Cruz's speech, he only referenced Donald Trump at the top of the speech, saying he congratulated him for winning.
But when he continued on his speech he talked about republican values and talked about conservative values, he did not go and offer that endorsement, and that made people very angry in that crowd.
Now what really drew a lot of outrage, folks are saying 'lying Ted,' booing and chanting over him was when he told voters to vote their conscience in the fall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Stand and speak and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.
(CROWD BOOING AND CHANTING)
We must make the most of our moment, to fight for freedom, to protect our God-given rights. Even of those with whom we don't agree.
(CROWD BOOING)
We will unite the party. We will unite the country by standing together for shared values, by standing for liberty. God bless each and every one of you, and God bless the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now the blowback was very fierce, not just his critics, but some of his supporters. One of his supporters. One of his supporters Arizona Congressman Trent Franks told our colleague Deirdre Walsh in the -- in the convention hall that he should actually have -- that he should actually supported Donald Trump in that speech.
He should not have withheld that endorsement. Now when some reporters caught up with Ted Cruz afterwards, he was unapologetic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator, why did you decide not to endorse Donald Trump in the end?
CRUZ: I laid out a very simple standard, we need a president who will defend the country and be faithful to the Constitution. I hope very much that is -- that is who the next president will be. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MANU: Now in that convention hall, immediately after the speech, his wife, Heidi Cruz, was escorted out by security as a number of delegates started to heckle her, and there was some concerns possibly over her safety.
One convention delegate was started shouting at her "Goldman Sachs," a reference to her place of employment and then not saying it in a nice mannered, John and Christine, and that just really showed how much tension there was in the room during that speech, guys.
BERMAN: All right. Manu Raju, thank you so much. We have to talk about this.
[03:35:00] Because honestly, this doesn't happen at conventions anymore. So, joining us to discuss CNN political analyst, Josh Rogin, a columnist for the Washington Post, also with us a trio of CNN political commentators. Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, also with us former Ted Cruz communications director, Amanda Carpenter, and KABC talk radio show host, John Phillips, a Donald Trump supporter.
Good morning, one, good morning all. Josh Rogin, let me read you what Donald Trump said about this. He tweeted about this. You'd be shocked to know that Donald used Twitter to respond this. He said, "Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage. Didn't honor the pledge."
The pledge he's talking about is the pledge that every republican candidate which should support the ultimate republican nominee, which Ted Cruz signed. "I saw his speech two hours early, but let him speak any way. No big deal." Two questions.
ROGIN: Sure.
BERMAN: Is it a big deal?
ROGIN: Yes.
BERMAN: Second question, how on earth did this happen? How on earth was it that Ted Cruz found himself on this stage with the permission of the Trump campaign not endorsing the nominee?
(CROSSTALK)
ROGIN: Well, I don't buy any of the theories that Donald Trump planned this, right? What we've seen from this convention is disorganization, right.
ROMANS: Yes, that's great. I agree.
ROGIN: Every night there's been some sort of mess. And this is just tonight's mess. So, let's assume, based on all the available evidence, that Donald Trump didn't want this to happen. He thought it won't be this bad. And this is a disaster for the convention, because nobody is focusing on Donald Trump. We're all focusing on ted Cruz. Now when it comes to Ted Cruz, it's also a disaster. I was watching the speech with a republican congressman standing next to me and he heard this, you know what he said to me? He said, "Man, I really wish Ted Cruz had won the nomination so that he could lose to Hillary and then the party would be rid of him." OK.
The Republican Party is looking at Ted Cruz as like a 30-year problem. He's going to run every four years, he's going to -- if he doesn't get the nomination he's going to keep running, he's going to unpredictable, he's going to be a fly in the ointment, he's going to do all these kinds of crazy things that no one can predict and no one can control and they all hate him, right?
The never Trump movement that he's speaking to, they hate Ted Cruz. And now the pro-Trump movement, they also hate Ted Cruz. And now if that's the way to start a presidential campaign for 2020, I'll eat my hat.
ROMANS: Let's listen to what Chris Christie said. You know, some of the cutaway shots as I was saying are almost priceless. You hear people saying "give him the hook" and you see the shock on people's faces and the boos.
Chris Christie -- Dana Bash caught up with Chris Christie after the speech. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: I think it was awful and, quite frankly, I think it was selfish. And he signed a pledge and it's his job to keep his word. And Donald Trump gave him the opportunity to speak here at this convention tonight. And I think it was too cute.
And I think you saw by the end of the speech that the crowd was waiting for him to do the right thing and realized that once again he wasn't going to do it. And I think the performance you saw up there is why Ted has so, so richly deserved the reputation that he's developed on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Amanda, what is Ted Cruz's strategy here, then? What is the strategy? He's giving up on the -- so instead of doing like Paul Ryan and grudgingly going along or doing the John Kasich and being absolutely AWOL, this is his strategy.
CARPENTER: Well, there are a lot of people who are very uncomfortable with Donald Trump being the republican nominee. And Ted Cruz, yes, he probably would like to run for president in 2020. But I feel -- I know because I worked for him.
He believes you should stand up when faced with something this really terrible. We know, we all talk about every day the terrible character flaws that Donald Trump shows on a daily basis. Whether it's lying, whether accusing a judge, whether he's been telling military should be in torture. I mean, you name it, we can't even keep up with this stuff. This is a
fact that somebody stood up there -- and it's not like he killed this puppy on stage. All he did was didn't endorse him which everyone knew he wasn't going to endorse him. And Dana Bash was reporting from the floor that Ted Cruz wasn't going to endorse.
ROMANS: So, why do you think they let him speak? I mean, why do you think...
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: I don't know. I think they thought they could make Ted Cruz get it. Republican establishment always thought they can make Ted Cruz gave. They never have.
ROMANS: Yes.
CARPENTER: And this is a miscalculation.
BERMAN: We asked Paul Manafort. It's actually, Paul Manafort was asked why Ted Cruz was allowed to speak. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Mr. Trump felt he finished second, he should have this spot -- I mean, Donald Trump was trying to unify the party and he's (Inaudible) I think notwithstanding with Senator Cruz said tonight, the party came together.
Donald Trump made the offer to speak without any conditions. He thought Senator Cruz might be a little more politically smart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, John Phillips, Paul Manafort essentially finished second. He is near the thought the campaign didn't. And in full disclosure here, we all read the speech, you know, minutes before and Dana was reporting that he wouldn't endorse.
And when I read the speech the first time, it didn't seem as glaring as it did, you know, it set to music and the music is the boos of the people in the crowd.
[03:40:03] And Ted Cruz, you know, taunting the New York -- the delegation.
PHILLIPS: The congregation.
BERMAN: The delegation. And Donald Trump waving from the back there. You know, but it really kind of was a moment.
PHILLIPS: Well, here is the benefit. Now you owe him nothing. He was rejected by republican primary voters in election after election after election. He was rejected yet again, this time by the delegates of the Republican Convention. If you look at the polls, Donald Trump is within the margin of error
or doing better than Mitt Romney did with (AUDIO GAP) states. So, Ted Cruz's supporters are already with Donald (AUDIO GAP).
Now Donald Trump doesn't to give him an appointment, he doesn't have to help with his re-election. He doesn't have to give him anything. He called Mitch McConnell a liar on the floor of the Senate. Mitch McConnell owes him nothing. Ted Cruz is now a man without a country.
CARPENTER: I think Donald Trump is the only one that gets to be politically incorrect.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: I think Donald Trump...
CARPENTER: You know, like this is -- this is in your face move it say, I'm not going to hide behind closed doors. I'm going to come to the convention and tell you my plans. Vote your conscience should not be a controversial statement.
It only is because everybody in that room knows that men and women of good conscience have a hard time voting for Donald Trump.
ROGIN: Everybody knows that he is giving his middle finger to Donald Trump and all his supporters and that's what he was doing. Now I think Donald Trump should appoint Ted Cruz to the Supreme Court and then he'll never run for president again.
BERMAN: I was going to focus with undecided voters during this dial testing, right.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: And during this moment, actually the dial test went up. And afterwards, it was what happened? What was -- you know, did you like it? And we're like, everyone was saying, no, we were just confused.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Even Newt Gingrich, right afterwards he took the stage. He tried to kind of ad-libbed and tried to sort of undo the non- endorsement. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: I think you misunderstood one paragraph that Ted Cruz, who is a superb orator, said, and I just want to point it to you. Ted Cruz said, "You can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution."
In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution.
(CROWH CHEERING) To paraphrase Ted Cruz, if you want to protect the Constitution of the United States, the only possible candidate this fall is the Trump/Pence republican ticket.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The master that was trying to clean it up.
ROGIN: Yes. Newt Gingrich not going -- he's going to be V.P., I think he's auditioning for press secretary, right? That's a pretty good fit, though.
PHILLIPS: I give him a mop and a bucket.
ROMANS: This is so delicious. I love watching this. This is best award...
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: It's the best convention ever. But, again, why are we surprised about this? Ted Cruz was never going to win Mr. Congeniality. He was never that on Capitol Hill. He was never going to go to with the establishment on Capitol Hill. Let's remember, he always talked about being the outsider.
And to Amanda's point earlier, why is it that Donald Trump is the only one that gets to be politically incorrect or to do the things that are unexpected. And so, you know, and Josh, I know that you believe that this is a huge mistake on behalf of Ted Cruz's part.
ROGIN: Correct. That's right.
CARDONA: But let's also remember that Donald Trump did not win with a majority of republican voters. He won a plurality. He did not win a majority. And there are many republican voters out there, even though they might not voice it, that do not want Donald Trump.
ROGIN: So, what he do with that plurality -- that plurality is 13 million people, OK? Those 13 million people are not going away. They're going to be there in 2020.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: That's true. That's four years away.
ROGIN: So, if you're Ted Cruz, are you going to write off those 13 million votes?
CARDONA: You never know what's going to happen.
BERMAN: John?
PHILLIPS: And he won with the plurality in those early states. But as we got closer to the convention and the field they are vowing, he was winning with a majority.
ROMANS: We haven't even said the words Mike Pence.
BERMAN: We are going to.
ROMANS: But I'm just saying, I mean, this is another night where their message has been hijack. Really hijacked.
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: They haven't had a good night. Since this roll out, since this, I mean, he's really been sidelines throughout the whole process.
CARDONA: And he hasn't had a good day yet.
ROMANS: The pressure is on for Donald Trump tomorrow bring...
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: Tonight.
ROMANS: Tonight. Let's move in to the news. So, what does he have to do? So, what does Donald Trump have to do now? What did he have to do tonight to get back on message?
ROGIN: Talk for three hours.
ROMANS: Talk for three hours.
ROGIN: I mean, right? It's only like six speakers, right? Instead of a five-hour program, there is no one else. There is Ivanka, there is the self-help motivational guy. And peter Thiel and that's about it, right. So, Donald Trump will give a very long speech.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: All right. Hold that thought.
CARDONA: Which scares the Republican Party, by the way, if that happens.
BERMAN: We have -- we have a lot more to discuss, including Mike Pence.
ROMANS: I'm just saying.
BERMAN: Including Mike Pence.
ROMANS: He is the vice president candidate. We're only talking about Ted Cruz.
BERMAN: And -- and we are to talk about NATO because Donald Trump gave an interview to the New York Times...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Big story. BERMAN: ... which has a lot of people talking in the foreign policy establishment, a lot of people in Europe talking about it suggesting NATO nations may not have the U.S. supporting them under all circumstances.
[03:45:00] We'll discuss, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Breaking overnight. New controversy. New controversy at the RNC as Donald Trump threatens to walk away from NATO commitments if he thinks allies under attack have not met their obligations to the United States.
This as Trump's pick for vice president finally got his moment in the spotlight.
We'll bring back our panel again. Josh Rogin, Maria Cardona, Amanda Carpenter, and John Phillps. And, guys, I want to first talk about this New York Times piece of David Sanger and Maggie Haberman. I want to read to you what is in this piece that really has a lot of people talking about NATO and what Trump is saying about NATO.
"He explicitly raised new questions about his commitment to automatically defend NATO allies if they were attacked, saying he would first look at their contributions to the alliance. He even called into question whether as president he would automatically extend the security guarantees that gives the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back."
Josh. Wow.
ROGIN: Yes. The message Donald Trump is spending to the entire world is if I get elected, you're on your own, OK. He laid out a world view that it would change U.S. policy and custom in international commitments that have stood since World War II at least.
[03:50:08] I mean, when people around the world hear these things, they take them seriously and we can say, oh, well, maybe he'll study up, maybe he'll learn the intelligence, maybe he'll change his view.
But this has been Donald Trump's consistent view. So not only did he say that before we come to the aid of the NATO states we're going to check if they their bills which is like a weird thing to do in the middle of a Russian attack on NATO, right? He also said that America can't lecture other countries on liberty, democracy and human rights.
ROMANS: That's what Vladimir Putin says.
ROGIN: Right. That's the exact Russian line. But not only that. It's the exact opposite of what Ronald Reagan said that "America should be the shining city on the hill." Right?
And the last thing that he said, which is really kind of crazy, is that when they asked him about with how is going to solve these big problems, complicated issues, he thought about it and said "meetings." OK? So, it's clear that he doesn't have a command of the issues on (AUDIO GAP) a serious person on foreign policy in the first place.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: John Phillips, you're a Trump supporter.
PHILLIPS: Yes.
BERMAN: I want you to answer specifically the (AUDIO).
PHILLIPS: Yes.
BERMAN: Actually, let's do that the United States (AUDIO GAP) should tell other countries that they should stick to human rights because we have our own problems here. Do you believe that?
PHILLIPS: Well, I think that's what he's saying in a roundabout ways, I'm going to focus on domestic policy as a candidate and a president. And with NATO, he's saying, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Pay your bills. And most of these countries are not paying their bills.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Or beat overrun?
PHILLIPS: We are subsidizing their welfare states.
ROGIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And that should stop.
ROGIN: Now, well, the bottom line is that U.S. commitments to foreign countries are by definition unequal, OK? We have -- we are the super power. They are a fine states. It will never be even. OK? Can they do more? Yes. Shall we push them to do more? Yes.
But if you're waiting for all these countries to have an equal commitment to security, you'll never going to get that in the entire order of the world which is break down.
PHILLIPS: Do they pay their bills?
ROGIN: No one is saying that. It's a scram era. No one is saying they shouldn't pay their bills. They're saying -- we're saying that we have international commitments that provide peace and security around the world which in turn provides peace and security for us. OK? We can't have the security at home if we don't have security abroad. Donald Trump doesn't seem to realize that and he doesn't seem to care.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Mike Pence is getting -- Mike Pence is getting bumped again.
ROMANS: I know. Let's talk -- We need to talk about Mike Pence.
CARDONA: So, let me do the bridge.
ROMANS: All right.
CARDONA: Mike Pence, in his speech, said Donald Trump will stand -- will make sure that the U.S. stands with our allies. Donald Trump actually said that he would not.
ROGINN: Exact opposite.
CARDONA: That's also a huge problem.
ROGIN: Mike Pence is an internationalist who voted for the Iraq war as pro-trade and for standing up dictators.
ROMANS: Is Donald Trump getting intelligence briefings yet?
ROGIN: Yes. Getting them every day.
ROMANS: So, the idea here is that, you know, some people will say, well, once he gets in he'll start to see what it's really like around the world. You're not going to hear these kinds of things, but is he getting intelligence briefings.
ROGIN: He's getting the briefings, but he's not processing them, OK? He's not studying.
BERMAN: But, Josh, there's the possibility that he finally agrees.
ROGIN: Well, he does.
BERMAN: He does not think that the United States would have that role in NATO.
CARPENTER: If that is the case, why wasn't he at least doing it quietly? He's putting the world on notice that we will abandon our allies as (Inaudible) president. If you want to be that and scale that commitment it should be dealt quietly after your president. So you don't leave our allies vulnerable. Secondly, why is he doing this interview today?
This is supposed to Mike Pence's night. We don't know what's going to happen.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Let's listen.
CARDONA: He's done. This is coming out today.
ROMANS: Yes.
ROGIN: And to your point, I think he does believe this. I think this is what he's about. The problem of course is that every other republican speaker during the convention doesn't acknowledge that. Chris Christie got up yesterday and he said...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: And they don't believe it.
ROGIN: ... and criticized Hillary Clinton for not being tough enough on Vladimir Putin. And his only candidate is -- would be after Vladimir Putin and Hillary Clinton.
BERMAN: I think we just stepped on Mike Pence once again. We have to get on Mike Pence in another segment. And we are going to talk about that. But between NATO and between Ted Cruz and between everything else...
ROMANS: So much to talk about.
BERMAN: All right. Ted Cruz really surprised a lot of people here at the Republican Convention, refusing to endorse Donald Trump for president.
Early Start continues right after this.
[03:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNAH VAUGHAN JONES, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Another wild night at the Republican Convention. Donald Trump's former rival is practically booed off stage.
Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets of Turkey. President call for state of emergency after the failed coup.
We're live from Istanbul with the latest on that.
And decision day for Russia's Olympic athletes. They'll find out shortly if they're banned from the Rio games.
Thank you very much for joining us. I'm Hannah Vaughan Jones here in London. And this is CNN Newsroom.
Another huge night for republicans on day three in their convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Indiana Governor Mike Pence officially accepted his role as candidate for vice president.
He made an effort to unite the party behind Donald Trump, comparing him to former President Ronald Reagan. But the night wasn't without controversy. First, a recap of some of the key speeches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PENCE: You know, the funny thing is the party and power seems helpless to figure out our nominee.
[04:00:01] The media has the same problem. They all keep telling each other that the usual methods will work against him. They -- they keep thinking they've down a man only to wake the next morning and find that Donald Trump is still --
