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Bernie Sanders Calls on Supporters to Back Clinton; Day 2 of Democratic Convention Kicks Off Today; Interview with Representative Brad Sherman. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 26, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:24] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Thank you so much. I'm live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the site of the Democratic National Convention. Good morning. I'm Carol Costello.

We're just hours away from day two of the DNC but if you listen closely, you might still hear the rumbles and rallying cries of a boisterous opening night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Diehard supporters of Bernie Sanders shed tears as their beloved candidate tells them it is time to abandon the Bernie-or-bust movement. Sanders urges them to get behind longtime rival Hillary Clinton as the only way to prevent a Donald Trump presidency.

The first lady, Michelle Obama, delivered a more impassioned pitch for Clinton, electrifying the party faithful, and even fighting to contain her own emotions. She also painted the contrast to Trump without ever mentioning his name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF UNITED STATES: I trust Hillary to lead this country because I've seen her lifelong devotion to our nation's children, not just her own daughter who she has raised to perfection, but --

(CHEERS)

OBAMA: But every child who needs a champion. When I think about the kind of president that I want for my girls and all our children, that's what I want. I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled 140 characters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Tonight the former president Bill Clinton delivers the headline speech just after the Democrats officially make his wife the first female nominee of a major party.

Can Bill Clinton build on the momentum of a raucous opening night?

So let's talk about that. We're covering all the developments for you. Let's begin with senior political reporter Manu Raju.

Hi, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Now before Bill Clinton can speak, his wife will actually be nominated to be the Democratic nominee for president this afternoon. That roll call vote will actually take place this afternoon and will not be a vote by acclamation, something that we saw in 2008. In fact, there will be actual votes on the floor and an opportunity for Sanders supporters to disrupt the proceedings potentially. So watch for that to take place.

Now Bernie Sanders knows full well that could happen. And listen to him here making a direct plea to his supporters to make sure that they get behind Hillary Clinton this fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think it's fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am.

We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger. Not leadership which insults Latinos and Mexicans, insults Muslims and women, African-Americans and veterans, and seeks to divide us up.

By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now yesterday afternoon the Sanders campaign was getting a little bit worried that a number of their supporters would continue to -- have outbursts and disrupt what's happening in this very choreographed convention and they actually convened some private discussions to figure out a way to rein some of those angry and unruly supporters. They dispatched Ben Jealous who's a senior surrogate for Bernie Sanders to identify some of those people and rein them in. It didn't really work.

And when things got kind of out of hand, Sarah Silverman, a top Bernie Sanders supporter and a comedian, lashed out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SILVERMAN, COMEDIAN: Can I just say? To the Bernie-or-bust people, you're being ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now tonight the Democrats are trying to present Hillary Clinton in a bit of a different light. They're going to talk about her life's work and all these public testimonials that are meant to reverse their sliding poll numbers.

[10:05:01] We saw polls out yesterday showing that 68 percent of these voters do not believe she's honest or trustworthy. The Democrats hope that all this will start to reverse that trend going forward, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

Even though this is a big pitch for unity, many diehard Sanders supporters still aren't ready to back Hillary Clinton. Listen to what happened moments ago as Bernie Sanders spoke before the California delegation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Elections come and go. In my view our immediate task, what we must do or forever look back in regret is defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton.

(CROWD BOOING)

SANDERS: In my view, it's easy -- it's easy -- it is easy to boo but it is harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under a Donald Trump presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So this should come as no surprise because after all Sanders rallied against Hillary Clinton for months, painting her as a big money candidate who could not be trusted. As "The New York Times" puts it Sanders now, quote, "faces the task of putting down the revolt he started.

With me now CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He's also the senior editor for "The Atlantic." CNN political commentator and Hillary Clinton supporter Hilary Rosen and Gary Frazier, he's the East Coast coordinator for Black Men for Bernie Sanders, and Katrina Pierson, she's a national spokesperson for the Trump campaign.

Welcome to all of you.

So, Hilary, I will start with you. Can Bernie Sanders contain his supporters?

(CROSSTALK)

HILARY ROSEN: You know, the "New York Times" was smart about saying this, that he did start this revolution. But I have to -- I have to give some props to Bernie Sanders last night and today. He really -- he really gave a full-throated emotional plea. And I think much of what we heard last night in the hall, the anticipation of Bernie Sanders' speech was, yes, we know he's going to endorse Hillary, but is he going to do it with any passion, is he going to give us a rationale for why it really matters? And I think he did that.

And the fact that he's going now delegation to delegation, he is spending the day trying to make sure that his supporters really understand that the best way to get their long-term goals are to support Hillary Clinton, I do think that it's going to have an impact with a significant majority of his delegates.

COSTELLO: So, Gary, Bill Clinton is going to speak tonight. And we know that Bernie Sanders' supporters, many of them, don't -- aren't really in to Bill Clinton. So will they boo him, do you think? Or is Bernie Sanders really making an impact in saying, you know what, it's time?

GARY FRAZIER, EAST COAST COORDINATOR, BLACK MEN FOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, listen, I think first of all, you know, it's safe to say, you know, Bernie Sanders pushed Hillary as far to the left as he could do. And hats off to him. But again we made ourselves known to America that this revolution started with Bernie Sanders but it would not end with Bernie Sanders.

For us, you have to take a look at the urban communities across this country where established Democrats are calling the shots and walking all over us. You guys exposed us to the corruption of the political system and then you want us to get back in line with that same corruption. How can we do that?

COSTELLO: But Bernie Sanders, I mean, he lost the primary, there's no two ways about it.

FRAZIER: He lost? I see they're still counting votes in California. You know, votes have been suppressed. Are we ignoring the fact that our votes have been suppressed? And --

(CROSSTALK)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hillary Clinton did beat him in 15 states by more than he beat her in any state. Re- litigating the primaries I think doesn't make a lot -- doesn't make a lot of sense. But look, it's an indication that this movement, this real movement that Bernie Sanders has kindled, and which Democrats -- I think the first two nights of this convention, in many ways is an exercise in catharsis, where Democrats are essentially -- the victorious Clinton side is I think going out of its way to try to let the Sanders side have their moment and kind of, you know, deal with the disappointment of not having -- one, but having made an incredible showing.

COSTELLO: Well, that's why they're having a roll call vote. Right?

BROWNSTEIN: And having a roll call vote. They allowed them to speak last night. There were signs. I mean, there were many Sanders' supporters were given prominent speaking rolls, I mean, from Ben Jealous to Sarah Silverman.

COSTELLO: It's not enough --

BROWNSTEIN: But, but, I mean, look, I mean --

COSTELLO: I don't think you're convincing Gary.

BROWNSTEIN: No, no, the question --

(CROSSTALK)

FRAZIER: Definitely not convincing me.

BROWNSTEIN: I think to me the signal is -- the signal is that if -- in the end, it is hard to imagine a lot of hard core Bernie Sanders supporters voting for Donald Trump. I mean, they may -- some may peel off to the third party. But I think the real signal here, and I think you would agree, is that if she is elected president, this is an ongoing force that she is going to have to deal with. The Democrats in Congress are going to have to deal with it.

The revolution, quote, that he started, is something that will not end on election day and it is going to be part of this Democratic mosaic.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's --

ROSEN: I don't think that's right. And I --

COSTELLO: I want to bring Katrina Pierson in for just a second because -- and talk a little bit about Michelle Obama's speech because that was certainly the speech of the night.

And many people, Katrina, many Democrats, at least, say that Michelle Obama put a human face on Hillary Clinton and forced people to look at her as a human being. What do you think?

[10:10:10] KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, I think if you look at Michelle Obama in 2008, as she says, Hillary Clinton couldn't run her own house, so how can she be expected to run the White House? I don't think anyone expected her to say anything other than positive things about Hillary Clinton.

I mean, here we are today talking about this unity. She's still being booed by delegates at her own convention. Now we're hearing about voter suppression in California. And we see the DNC e-mails, the racism and bigotry in the DNC e-mails. These are all things that Republicans are being accused of doing and it's been exposed to the country that it is the DNC that participates in racial divide and gender divide.

And we are seeing this play out on a national stage where someone like Donald Trump --

COSTELLO: No, I see --

PIERSON: -- who as his daughter said it best.

COSTELLO: I think Gary here -- PIERSON: He's color blind and gender neutral, just wants to keep

America safe.

COSTELLO: I see Gary here, you're shaking your head. Are you in agreement with Katrina?

FRAZIER: Absolutely. Because again it goes back to the minority communities that folks continue to overlook. That's the thing. These minority communities are suffering and black communities that are suffering at the hands of established Democrats. These aren't the Republicans that are doing this to us. These are established Democrats that are doing this to us.

So until we will start to have a real conversation about what we're going to do with those in the minority communities, how can we ever get behind such corruption? And I want to say this as well, too, you know, we cannot continue uttering Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, you know, those people stood for integrity and morals. You know, and this is what -- they died for our votes, they died for our rights.

COSTELLO: Did you embrace Michelle Obama's speech?

FRAZIER: Absolutely not. And I'll tell you exactly why.

COSTELLO: Really?

FRAZIER: I can tell you exactly why. Now my hats off to Michelle Obama. They've done some great things as president and the first lady. But I think when you try to play on -- when you try to play the race card in the black community because first you guys sent us Oprah.

COSTELLO: Michelle Obama was playing the race card?

FRAZIER: No, I think the establishment is playing the race card. See, first you try to send us Oprah. You sent Obama. Obama didn't work. You try to send us Oprah. Oprah didn't work. See, we are awake. No.

ROSEN: OK. Stop, stop. No. They are their own people. They are not anybody's tool.

FRAZIER: That's right.

ROSEN: Stop. We're talking --

FRAZIER: They're being used as tools.

ROSEN: No, they are not.

FRAZIER: They're being used as tools.

ROSEN: That is disrespectful to the first lady.

FRAZIER: No, that's disrespectful to us in the minority community.

ROSEN: And the president to suggest that. Here's the real issue which is this isn't really about politics, it's about policy.

FRAZIER: Really?

ROSEN: The point that I think you're right about is that there are still people hurting. And I see this as -- the Sanders movement ends up being kind of the Democrat's Tea Party, right? Which is where do we get our point across, how do we get made? And I think what you have is in many respects people sort of talking over each other because where you lose people isn't suggesting that the political process has actually been tainted or poisoned or rigged.

People have actually voted more for Hillary Clinton than they did for Bernie Sanders. What is true, though, is that the policies that our government and our business leaders are supporting are not bringing enough people along. And you -- I think it's important for you to separate that, instead of talking about the corruption of the politics because that is not true. You can talk about --

FRAZIER: Lying Bill wasn't true?

ROSEN: You can talk about sort of -- there are policies are working for everybody that needs to work for.

BROWNSTEIN: It's fair to say his argument has enormous consequences. Right? Because when you look at the way this election is going, Hillary Clinton needs to match Barack Obama's numbers in the minority communities, among African-Americans, Hispanics, mixed race, Asian Americans, and she also needs big turnout. Now, you know, two reasons they --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Before you go --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Before you go on, I do want to play more of Michelle Obama's speech.

BROWNSTEIN: Sure.

COSTELLO: Because it was such a hit with many Democratic voters and a very strong voting bloc for Hillary Clinton are black women. And I think Michelle Obama's speech resonated especially with that demographic. So let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Leaders like Hillary Clinton who has the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her. That is the story of this country. The story that has brought me to the stage tonight.

What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I

watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.

And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.

[10:15:09] Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great. That somehow we need to make it great again because this right now is the greatest country on earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. And just to put everything into perspective, and I hear what you're saying, but the most recent CNN poll shows that 64 percent of Bernie Sanders supporters will vote for Hillary Clinton.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it is worth noting, also, that Hillary Clinton is the nominee because she won three-quarters of -- more than three- quarters of African-American voters, two-thirds of Hispanic votes. White voters split evenly between Clinton and Sanders. And, you know, notwithstanding the passion of those who supported Bernie Sanders, the reality is she is the nominee because she consolidated the diversity of the Democratic Party. That is what put her over the top.

And in general election polling, she is -- you know, she is -- two recent polls in Pennsylvania and Ohio found zero African-American support for Donald Trump. The key question, though, is enthusiasm and turnout. Can she get that kind of extraordinary turnout that we saw in some places such as Cleveland for Barack Obama? And that is a legitimate issue listening to the kind of dialogue we're having here today.

COSTELLO: Thanks to all of us. I do appreciate it. Ron Brownstein, Hilary Rosen, Gary Frazier and Katrina Pierson.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a gun control rally right now in Philadelphia. And a big focus tonight at the convention. Yes, gun control. So will it resonate with voters?

Thank you so much for your passion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:41] COSTELLO: Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is leading a gun control rally right now in Philadelphia just a few miles from the Democratic convention site. Tonight the issue will move to center stage as the Mothers of the Movement, many of -- many of them women who have lost their sons to gun violence, talk about why they're backing Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCY MCBATH, LOST SON TO GUN VIOLENCE: We know Secretary Clinton, even as Senator Clinton, has been dealing with these kinds of issues with gun violence, gun violence prevention, mass incarceration, criminalization, poverty, she's been dealing with these kinds of systemic issues all along, so her record speaks for itself. So she didn't just join the game, she's been doing the work already, she's been in the trenches, so she understands dynamically the way to move forward, to be able to change this kind of climate that we see with gun violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now to talk about this, Congressman Brad Sherman from California.

Welcome, sir. Thanks for being here. So gun control, the central issue of tonight's convention. And there's this big rally in Philadelphia going on right now with Gabby Giffords. It is an important issue. But are voters passionate enough about it that their passion will get them to the polls to vote?

REP BRAD SHERMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: There are people passionate on both sides. And there's an effort on the other side to paint us as against the culture of rural America, against the idea of hunting, against the idea of having a gun at home for self-protection, where you may be 15, 20 minutes away from law enforcement.

So the effort here is to show that with reasonable gun control laws that have a prospect of passing. You don't need 30 bullets in a magazine to bring down a deer. And if you do, you shouldn't be hunting.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Well, I do think that Republicans have been successful in painting the Democrats as destroyers of the Second Amendment. And I'll just give you one example. Here is Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment. She wants to abolish it. OK. Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away and she wants to abolish the Second Amendment. She wants to take the bullets away. She wants to take it. You tell me that's something we can live with. We're going to cherish the Second Amendment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So many gun rights advocates absolutely believe that, that Democrats, their real intent is to destroy the Second Amendment.

SHERMAN: I think that's ridiculous. There are a lot of members of our caucus that are hunters, an awful lot who represent rural areas. Again this is about how many bullets you need in the magazine. Do you need a gun that will spray bullets around? And the answer to those questions is no. Just ask even the gun advocates say you shouldn't have a bazooka at home, nor do you need one. So Trump will try to describe us extremists. He'll try to say we're for open borders and unlimited immigration.

He'll try to say we're for no trade deals at all, just let everybody -- everybody into the country. And he'll try to say that we're for taking guns away from people. But if you actually look at the positions, they're the reasonable kinds of common sense if -- I mean, what we fought for in Congress was no fly, no buy. Does anybody out there think that someone is so dangerous that we prevent from their constitutional right to travel, we won't let them get on a plane, but we'll let them buy a gun?

Of course we need a system for getting off that list and the due process. But if due process says you're too dangerous to fly, then you're too dangerous -- those are the kinds of common sense measures that I think people in the country will agree with.

COSTELLO: What I wanted to ask you about, too, is, you know, Hillary Clinton said, you know, she's the unifying factor among Republicans. It seemed last night that Donald Trump really was the unifying factor for Democrats.

SHERMAN: Yes -- look, I think we'd be unified behind our positive agenda, but Trump certainly helps. Here is a man who has pandered to racism, has proposed constitutional tests. He says the most extreme thing and then he backs down just a little bit. But --

[10:25:08] COSTELLO: But wouldn't you rather the candidate being the -- being the unifying factor and not the guy who is running against that candidate?

SHERMAN: We have both. And as an American, I'm aghast that one of our major political parties would nominate Trump. But as a Democrat who would like to see some big wins, I think they're doing all they can to help us.

COSTELLO: Congressman, thanks for stopping by.

SHERMAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Bernie Sanders is preaching unity. His delegates set to speak minutes from now. Is the party closer to coming together?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)