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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democratic Convention Opens Today; DNC Email Scandal Forces Chair to Resign; Clinton and Kaine Interviewed on CBS 60 Minutes; New Terror Attack in Ansbach, Germany. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired July 25, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START SHOW HOST: Here comes the democrats. The party ready to gavel in at its convention today. But before the Hillary Clinton coronation begins another e-mail scandal forcing one of the top democrats of the country to step aside.

What does it all mean for the 2016 race, right now?

Good morning, everyone. And welcome to Early Start at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, EARLY START SHOW HOST: And I am John Berman. It is Monday, July 25th. It is 3 a.m. in the East. We are live this morning in the CNN Grill. It's not a bar, it's a bar. This is the city of brotherly love.

But so far the main brotherly interaction is of the cane and able variety. We're not talking about Tim Kaine, no. Just hours before the Democratic Convention is set to gavel in the Democratic National chair has checked out. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepping out after an embarrassing e-mail leaked.

CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us now with the very latest. Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, "United Together" is the theme for the first day of the Democratic National Convention. And in theory, that's fantastic. The speakers seem to back it up. You have Senator Bernie Sanders up to the raucous and at times not so pretty primaries speaking tonight.

You have Elizabeth Warren scheduled to speak, and you also have Michelle Obama. So, big names speakers across the board. The idea is bring the party together. One problem. An e-mail hack.

The Democratic National Convention -- or Committee having a number of their staffers have e-mails released by WikiLeaks and those e-mails make it look like exactly what Bernie Sanders said was going on inside the DNC over the course of this, of this primary that it was perhaps rigged.

You have staffers talking about planting negative stories about the state of Bernie Sanders. Staffers talking about planting questions about Bernie Sanders' religion. These are the types of issues and his team has been saying existed for a very long period of time.

It would be worth noting Bernie Sanders has called for a very long time for Debbie Wasserman Schultz to step down. Well, now he's going to get his wish. At least at the end of the convention.

What we know so far Debbie Wasserman Schultz still planning to speak to gavel in the convention and that she stated yesterday in a statement to speak to delegates. Democrats I've been speaking to, guys, are not comfortable with that, they don't want the scene of booing on the floor, so that remains in flux.

But as it stands, this is still, as you guys noted, Hillary Clinton's convention, and she and Tim Kaine sat with their first joint interview with 60 Minute. And as all of this turmoil was going on behind the scenes, Hillary Clinton wanted to keep the focus on the republican convention. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know what their convention was about other than criticizing me. I seem to be the only unifying theme that they had. There was no positive agenda. It was a very, dark decisive campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And, guys, I think that's the theme we're going to hear a lot going forward. The republicans they were negative, they were dark. The democrats they have a proposal, they have optimisms. They have all sorts of these things. But first they need to figure out what's going on inside their party. Christine?

ROMANS: Oh, yes. Unity a new theme. The same old theme. Unity this week. All right, Phil. Stay with us.

Joining us to discuss all of this. We got our dream team this morning. CNN political analyst, Josh Rogin, columnist for the Washington Post, and CNN political commentator, John Phillips, talk radio host at KABC and a Trump supporter.

BERMAN: We may have some other people trickling in over the course of...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Oh, yes, yes. We got surprises all morning.

BERMAN: We have new rivals.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: So let's stick and get it wrap in here at 3 a.m.

ROMANS: Surprises all morning for you so stay tuned. Let me talk first to Josh, you know, look, politics can be dirty, right? This really sort of shows exactly what was going on. It appears to show what was going on behind the scenes. How damaging is this for the unity of the party?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there's a big difference here between the Democratic Party unity and the Republican Party unity. Remember, we had this problem at the RNC in Cleveland last week.

The difference is at the end of that convention, they still want to be unified. You have Ted Cruz on the third basically give the middle finger to the Trump campaign.

Tonight, the democrats will actually unify. So, it is a big problem, all right. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had a lot of enemies. The Bernie bros people had been with her for a long time. They finally got their scout, OK. That's big news.

But tomorrow night he'll get on that stage, he'll endorse Hillary Clinton as he's done before and then we'll be able to move on. So, we'll have a long term effects for the party, but for the Clinton campaign for democratic unity, they are unified going into the election.

BERMAN: John Phillips, this tease you nicely because nothing says unity like getting rid of the chair for the entire party on the eve of the convention.

JOHN PHILLIPS, KABC TALK RADIO HOST: They're all unified and that they all hate Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but beyond that...

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But then you're making Josh Rogin's argument. In a way you are because there weren't a lot of people who wanted her to stick around.

[03:04:58] PHILLIPS: Right. Well, here's the important part. This is the month of hijack story lines. The republicans had certain story lines that wanted to put out then we got caught up with Melania speech problem, and you got caught up with Ted Cruz and what he did with Donald Trump refusing to endorse.

At this convention the democrats wanted to start it up by saying look, we're all one big happy family, everyone gets along and the republicans have all kinds of problems that are playing out to television. The problem is we saw this little problem bubble up to the surface and it looks like both parties are in chaos.

ROGIN: But it looks like both parties are i chaos. But the democrats actually, this is a problem that they actually saw. The Republican Party created their its chaos was created by the Russian Intelligence Service, so intentionally to invest with the Democratic Party.

BERMAN: But we don't know -- we don't -- there is evidence that is created by the Russian Intelligence Services, yet we don't have the evidence.

ROGIN: There is smoking gun. BERMAN: We don't have evidence that they did it because they wanted to play in Democratic Party.

ROSIN: Why else would they do it?

BERMAN: Well, but there is a leap there that we don't have the evidence up yet.

ROGIN: Or logic.

ROMANS: Phil, tell me a little bit of the timing of all this. Because do you think that this is something that, you know, she is sticking around, she was on the stage last night.

BERMAN: Debbie Wasserman Schultz?

ROMANS: Yes. She's sticking around. I mean, and at the end of the convention, right, that's when she will officially going...

MATTINGLY: Officially at the end of the convention Donna Brazile takes over as the temporary chair. Look, if the Clinton campaign, if democrats had their way she would be gone now. She wouldn't be speaking to the delegates.

Again, their big issue there is they don't want the scene. They don't want the scene of what happens with Ted Cruz, they don't want the scene of what happened with delegates on the floor in Cleveland, they don't want the boing here.

The interesting element of this is I heard a number of democrats say hey, long game? This is great. We've wanted to get rid of from Obama administration officials to Clinton people. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been considered a problem.

She's been considered off message for a long period of time, she hasn't been considered the best ally or surrogate. So she gets to leave. Bernie Sanders as Josh says gets to claim that some type of victory here which is another victory after a week where he had a good day in the platform too.

So, those are positive things, but in the near term, is this how you want to start a convention? Absolutely not.

BERMAN: We have Bernie Sanders, we have Michelle Obama tonight. What are we expecting to hear from Bernie Sanders?

MATTINGLY: A message of unity. And that sounds maybe so much right. But what was most interesting of this entire process is Bernie Sanders on CNN on State of the union yesterday, every time Jake Tapper asked Bernie Sanders about the e-mails, Bernie Sanders pivoted almost immediately to attacking Donald Trump.

ROMANS: Yes.

MATTINGLY: This is a big thing for Bernie Sanders, it proves everything you're saying was right. And Bernie Sanders is right back on message of attacking Donald Trump. You will see an indictment of Donald Trump or at least in an effort to, and then at the very end making very clear that he and his supporters should all get behind Hillary Clinton.

BERMAN: Al right. Guys, stick around, we're going to talk about Tim Kaine. We're going to talk about other things. Coming up, a lot more to discuss.

ROMANS: The speculation was loud but Tim Kaine, well, to tell you he's a quiet quite of politician.

He and Hillary Clinton sat down for their first interview as running mates. Some of their answers, next.

[03:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Welcome back to Philadelphia, site of the Democratic National Convention. That is the CNN Grill. We are inside right now which is a good thing because it is 95 degrees at 3.13 a.m.

All that's going on the Clinton campaign is showing off its newly minted vice presidential candidate. Last night, Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine sat down for a joint interview on 60 Minutes and Senator Tim Kaine says he is ready to be president if the need ever arrives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM KAINE, VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR: I'm ready to lead. I'm ready first to be a supportive vice president so that the presidency of Hillary Clinton is a fantastic one. But if something were to put that in my path as much as any human being would be ready, I would be ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's put our panel back. And joining us again reporter Phil Mattingly, John Phillips, talk show host, Josh Rogin from the Washington Post. And joining us now, CNN political commentator Bob Beckel, longtime democratic strategist.

ROMANS: Hi, guys.

BERMAN: Bob Beckel, you've seen a few V.P. roll outs in your day.

BOB BECKEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I covered the second Lincoln in a row. Yes, I mean, other were very well done and particularly compared to Trump. But, you know, Kaine if he was -- Kaine he's boring, I've known Kaine for years. He's not boring at all. And he's got -- he's a gut checker.

I mean, I would not want to be in his way when he gets mad. When he ran for Governor in Virginia, he had a lot of people who were out there taking him on. He did not hesitate to cut back. So, I don't -- I think if Trump think they've got a, you know, a weak guy here, they're making a big mistake. ROMANS: Let's talk about what Bernie Sanders said about Tim Kaine.

Bernie Sanders were like to see somebody like Elizabeth Warren or somebody more liberal or more progressive. Listen to what Bernie -- we have a sound bite, don't we?

BERMAN: Yes.

ROMANS: Let's listen to what Bernie Sanders said about Tim Kaine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS, VERMONT STATE SENATOR: He's a very, very smart guy, he's a very nice guy. His political views are not my political views.

He is more conservative than I am. Would I prefer to see somebody like an Elizabeth Warren selected by Secretary Clinton, yes I will have. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Josh, he's too conservative.

ROGIN: Yes. He definitely represents the centrist wing of the Democratic Party. It was not a choice for play progressive. I've covered Tim Kaine on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Armed Service Committee, he's very tough on foreign policies and almost where the sort of the republican hogs are.

I mean, this follows very closely on what Hillary Clinton wants. It shows you that she's making a choice to unify the party. She's making a choice of who she wants to govern with. If she thinks she's going to win then she wants to look at the guy next to her every single day and say this guy's agrees with me and that's what she got.

ROMANS: He helps her on guns, doesn't he, Bob?

BECKEL: Huh?

ROMANS: He helps her in guns, doesn't he, upgrade on the NRA?

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: Yes. A little bit. It should be, well, anyway. And the NRA is headquartered in Virginia. It should -- well, that might be accidentally (Ph).

[03:15:02] But anyway, the four years -- you know, everybody talks about Tim Kaine being a moderate, I just agree with that on foreign policy. But just remember this is a guy who's a missionary. He's not only speaking Spanish down to helping poor kids in North America.

I mean, this is a guy that is all his life -- he was the first guy to fight for African-Americans to use certain facilities of Virginia.

I mean, what more can you ask for. Now, you want Elizabeth Warren, well, yes, that's fine but I think Tim Kaine is the right choice.

BERMAN: Yes, it's interesting, Phil Mattingly. BECKEL: Although I want Clayton Adam to -- oh, excuse me, to Hillary Clinton.

ROGIN: What's name called about?

BERMAN: Yes, called about.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: Adam Clayton (Inaudible).

BERMAN: You have Bernie Sanders is less than 100 percent enthusiastic about Tim Kaine. You have the whole DNC e-mail thing being released. He has protesters, he had even thousands of Bernie Sanders people on the streets yesterday protesting peacefully here.

MATTINGLY: More than what we saw in Cleveland.

BERMAN: More -- well over than we saw in Cleveland.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

BERMAN: So, there is a little bit of hint of discontent here among the Bernie Sanders people on this first day, particularly as this air of uncertainty as we head into the day.

MATTINGLY: What's been the most interesting over probably 72 hours is been watching Bernie and his guys attempt to placate that. And again, another sign that Bernie Sanders is not going off the preservation any time soon. They are touting big wins in the platform negotiations most notably on super delegates.

They are talking about Debbie Wasserman Schultz no longer as the chair of the DNC as of Thursday night. But, there is no question about it. There are a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters who don't dislike Clinton because he was mean to Bernie Sanders during the primary. They are ideologically opposed to what she believes in.

And Tim Kaine lines up much better with Hillary Clinton than she does with Bernie Sanders. So, if his pick was an effort to try and as waves those concerns or bring those people over, it wasn't. It's just -- it wasn't and I think the Clinton campaign wouldn't apologize for that, they're looking towards the general election.

BECKEL: You know what they didn't get? They didn't get the floor fight they wanted. They wanted to have a minority put forth and have an all-out fight with Clinton.

BERMAN: But, Bob, you know this? This is a big difference between the republican convention and the democratic convention. Every four years, because the democrats have way more delegates. The floor of a democratic convention is a messier place, period, than a republican convention just because of the numbers. So there could be something that go on tonight that don't look right on TV.

BECKEL: That's because it is all inclusive. You have to walk out there. I don't, so. No, you know, a lot of super delegates. I mean, I was there at the birth of super delegates that we've added to them ever since. And there are extra delegates.

You know, you've got to remember you got to go back to the Mississippi delegation back in 1964 to when there's two delrgation in Mississippi and they voted and both seated.

There were a lot of states politics involved there so they have to broaden out the number of delegates to make it worthwhile or make it workable for states here.

ROMANS: John, just real quickly before we go to break.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

ROMANS: You heard Trump saying this is as slap in the face of Bernie Sanders as the choice of Tim Kaine. Donald Trump cannot help himself. We are going to hear I'm pretty sure from him all week.

PHILLIPS: I think he's right. And just because Bernie people don't burn the building down doesn't mean they're not upset. They have a lot of other options including voting for someone other than Hillary Clinton.

It's not just Donald Trump that's going to be on the ballot. It's Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, and it's Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate. I'm not convinced they'll follow Bernie Sanders's advice tomorrow night.

BERMAN: Are you convince though that they are going to follow Donald Trump's advice? Because Trump is all of a sudden counseling very hard on all these progressives. He seems very concerned that they get everything they want, John, all of a sudden. As he's the best messenger.

PHILLIPS: He doesn't need them to vote for Trump. He just need them to vote for someone other than Hillary Clinton.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: We're waiting for his lead that's what we are doing.

ROGIN: And, Bob, yes, I think Donald Trump has about much credibility in the democratic race as Putin does.

BERMAN: All right. On that note, we're going to have much more from Philadelphia in just a few minutes. All the excitement building.

But there is a lot other news going on in the world. A new violent attack in Germany. Who police say is behind this now.

We have a live report next.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: A new attack overnight in Germany. The third in a week. Last night, in the City of Ansbach, about 120 miles north of Munich, a suicide bomber blew himself up after being refused entry to a music festival.

Authorities described him as a the 27--year-old Syrian refugee who had denied asylum. He was killed. Twelve others at least were injured.

I want to get the latest from CNN's Frederik Pleitgen who is live on Ansbach this morning. Good morning, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. There is a lot of really devastating details about all this. First of all, this seem to be the first ever suicide bombing in Germany at all. And one of the worst thing about it is that apparently it could have been much worse than it actually was.

As you said, the police are saying that the man behind this is a 27- year-old refugee from Syria who had been living in Germany for about two years. However, his application was actually rejected. About a year ago, how German authorities could not send them back to Syria obviously because of the violent situation that's going on there.

Now what they told us about how all this went down last night. They say that about 10 p.m. he tried to get into a music festival that was happening here in the center of Ansbach. However, the security there at the gate didn't let him in because he didn't have a ticket.

And then what happens what that he hung around the entry area there for a while and then threw himself up.

And they say if he would gotten into that music festival, presumably there would have a lot more carnage than they're actually was because there were metal devices inside that explosive device that he had. The police saying they found screws and nails at the scene.

As it stands right now, twelve people have been wounded from the attack. The attacker himself was killed. And it certainly comes at a time when people here in Germany are very, very concerned about the security situation here in this country.

[03:25:06] Only last Tuesday, you had an axe wielding man from Afghanistan who claimed allegiance to ISIS who wounded several people out of commuter train before he was shot by police.

Then you had that massive shooting that happened in Munich, just a couple of days ago where nine people were killed and the attacker killed himself. And now you have this incident here in this Bavarian town, and certainly there are a lot of people who are demanding more action from the authorities.

And authorities themselves are also saying that they are probably going to have to ramp up their security presence not just in this city but in many other places around Germany as well, John.

BERMAN: All right. Fred, thanks so much. Fred Pleitgen in Ansbach this morning. Keep us posted.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty seven minutes past the hour. A big corporate news this morning. Verizon is buying Yahoo. The deal is expected to be announced later today.

After months of bidding, people familiar with the sell tell CNN Money the deal is worth $4.8 billion. Verizon would acquire a Yahoo's core internet businesses and its real estate holdings.

It does not include the company's roughly $30 billion stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Now the deal would end Yahoo's 21-year run as an independent company. It also could mean that Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer is out of a job.

She get an estimated $55 million pay package as she walks out the door. Shares of Yahoo have rallied since the company announced it was taking bids. It is up more than 18 percent this year with the $4.8 billion price tag. There are only 17 companies in the S&P 500 that are worth less.

BERMAN: Bye-bye Yahoo.

ROMANS: Bye-bye.

BERMAN: All right. The democrats are pushing for party unity here as they are pushing out the DNC chair.

This is really extraordinary on the morn, no longer the eve, the morn of the Democratic Convention, can they write the shift in the next few hours. That is they gavel in.

We are live in Philadelphia, next.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)