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Panel discusses Michelle Obama's Speech at DNC, Sanders Supporters; Trump Gets Standing Ovation at VFW Address; Will Trump or Clinton Attract Working-Class Voters?; Talks Underway Between Sanders and Clinton for Sanders to Formally Nominate Clinton; Terror Attack at Church in France. Aired 10:30-11:00a ET

Aired July 26, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30:10]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST, "NEWSROOM": We are live in Philadelphia, the site of the Democratic National Convention. Good morning to you, I'm Carol Costello, thanks so much for joining me. Any moment now Bernie Sanders delegates are set to speak in Philadelphia. Expected to roll out new plans for their platform moving forward.

Those plans coming less than 12 hours after Bernie supporters booed several speakers during day one of the DNC. First Lady Michelle Obama, oh no, they did not boo the First Lady. Mrs. Obama, though, called for unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: But when a crisis hits we don't turn against each other. No we listen to each other, we lean on each other. Because we are always stronger together. And I am here tonight because I know that that is the kind of president that Hillary Clinton will be. And that's why in this election, I'm with her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now, Democratic strategist and Hillary Clinton supporter, Tracy Sefl. Patricia Murphy, columnist for The Daily Beast and Roll Call. And Tim Miller, former Communications Director of the Jeb Bush presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you.

Tracy I will start with you. Michelle Obama, everybody says great speech, hit it out of the park. But I had a Bernie Sanders supporter on just a few minutes ago who said that she did nothing to unify the party when it comes to Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

TRACY SEFL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well are we sure he saw the speech? Because that's pretty small in terms of the percentage of Bernie supporters who are acknowledging all of the unity, and the efforts, and the policy proposals, and calls to support her. So is it a done deal, is it going to be 100 percent? No, of course not. I mean we're Democrats, after all. We like to make things a little complicated. COSTELLO: Patricia what do you think? Will we hear as many boos

tonight? You know Bill Clinton is expected to take the stage. A lot of Bernie supporters don't like his policies.

PATRICIA MURPHY, COLUMNIST, "THE DAILY BEAST": That is the great unknown, going into these next three days at the Democratic convention. I was with Bernie supporters yesterday who were actively plotting a challenge to Tim Kaine's Vice Presidential nomination, on the floor. And they were also talking about other ways they could express their continued disapproval of the Democratic Party. Especially after the Wikileaks email. I think that really inflamed the tensions coming into this Democratic convention.

So we're going to have to wait and see. I know they were talking about booing Hillary Clinton, challenging Tim Kaine. I -- and I said well what if Bernie asks you all to stop doing that? And they said you know, it was never about Bernie. And they don't consider themselves Democrats in some cases. They don't care if they disrupt the Democratic Party's convention. And so many of them are wedded to this disruption even more than they're wedded to Bernie Sanders.

COSTELLO: Well what's interesting -- and Tim Miller, I'll bring you into this part of the conversation -- I talked to a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters who were protesting yesterday. And they too said this has nothing to do with Bernie Sanders. We skipped the Republican National convention, they said, because everybody knows that's corrupt. We want to like bring out the DNC's -- the corrupt nature of the DNC. That's why we are here.

So as a Republican, as you sit here and watch this convention, Tim, what goes through your mind?

TIM MILLER, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, JEB BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well I don't have to be as diplomatic as Tracy does because I don't have to win these folks over. I think they're cuckoo for cocoa puffs. I don't -- I have no idea what is happening. They -- Bernie got crushed in -- you know it wasn't even really that close.

So I mean, obviously it was surprisingly close. We thought Hillary was going to win easily and it was a challenge. But in the end she won by 4 million votes, about. And the policies that they're pushing are two clicks short of Venezuela. So I don't know what they're doing and I think what you're seeing on the Democrat side is a party that is going through the early stages of what we are seeing in the Republican Party right now.

Which was kind of a takeover from the anti-establishment side. And I think if the Bernie folks had been a little bit more diplomatic and united with maybe some of the African American base or the Latino base of the Democratic Party, he might have ended up being the nominee. Which would just be insane as far as I'm concerned.

COSTELLO: Going back to Michelle Obama's speech, I thought it interesting on many fronts. She talked about Hillary Clinton in very much the terms of a mother. She talked about her children a lot. And she talked about Hillary Clinton being our friend, as in Barack Obama's friend and Michelle Obama's friend. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: And this election and every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives. And I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility. Only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be President of the United States. And that is our friend, Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:35:25]

COSTELLO: OK so there were all -- there was always these rumblings, Tracy, that you know, the Obamas didn't really get along with Hillary Clinton, or the Clintons. I mean, but did this dispel those notions?

SEFL: She not only dispelled them but she did it in such an elegant, effortless, graceful way. I have to give props to Sarah Hurwitz, her speech writer, for the magnificent prose. But props of course, to the First Lady for her delivery. I thought it was incredibly authentic. And I loved hearing her say she trusts that Hillary Clinton is the best person for this job.

Those are really important words for everyone in the hall, and outside, and all around Philly. Whatever their grievances may be, her words were very, very powerful.

COSTELLO: And she was also, Patricia, very positive on a night when everybody was dissing Donald Trump. And at -- Michelle Obama's speech, frankly, resonated more with the crowd than the speeches dissing Donald Trump.

MURPHY: Yeah, and not just what resonated with this crowd, but I think what resonated beyond these crowds and these conventions, out to the millions of Americans watching these messages. And I covered the Republican convention last week and this convention this week. And I would say if there's a criticism to be made of the Republican convention last week it was a lot, it was dark in some cases, but also a lot of following Donald Trump's lead. Saying, "we're losers, we don't win anymore. Our country, people aren't afraid of us, they don't respect us."

And after a while that kind of was beating the audience down a little bit. Until he said, "and here's how I'm going to fix it." I mean thanks from (ph) Michelle Obama, particularly a woman who's had her own patriotism challenged, and her husband's citizenship challenged. To come out and say regardless of everything that they have been through, this is the best country today, in the world.

And so I thought it was really powerful. And again, something that people could connect to. Because if, you know, anything about Americans, they want to be hopeful about their future. And so I would say if other Democrats can follow that lead, they'll be successful in this convention.

COSTELLO: So Tim, do you think that resonates with Republicans like yourselves, who aren't all in for Donald Trump?

MILLER: Well look, she's not going to, I don't think, bring a lot of Republicans over to Hillary's side. I just think that the fault lines are too deep and it's been really 20, 30 years where Hillary has been an extremely partisan, negative force looking towards Republicans. So I don't think she's going to be able to fix that rift.

But I do think that she was a model last night for what we should see the next three days for Democrats. And I think trying to turn Donald Trump into just your average Tea Party Republican is not an effective attack. I think Michelle gave a very personal defense of Hillary that also attacks Donald Trump without -- not saying his name, but on the lines of character, and readiness.

And this is not your usual Republican. He's far outside what is acceptable for a President of the United States. And I thought that is something that's going to resonate, I think, particularly with women, Republicans who are sitting there trying to decide do they vote for Trump or do they maybe just take a pass and vote down ballot.

COSTELLO: All right. Tracy Sefl, Patricia Murphy, Tim Miller, thanks to all of you, we appreciate it. Still to come in the Newsroom, Trump is keeping busy with running mate Mike Pence this morning. They're hitting the trail to talk to veterans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:43:15]

COSTELLO: Donald Trump is keeping busy while all eyes are on the Democrats this week. Just moments ago he spoke to veterans in North Carolina about promising reforms in the veterans administration. CNN's Sara Murray live in Charlotte with more on that. Good morning, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Donald Trump came out swinging here at the VFW convention. He was sharply critical of Hillary Clinton, who spoke here just a day earlier. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know how she takes care of the veterans. Just look at her invasion of Libya and her handling of Benghazi - a disaster. Or a look at her emails which put America's entire national security at risk.

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Lock her up!

TRUMP: And to think she was here yesterday. I guess she didn't do very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MURRAY: Now Trump also hit the Democrats more broadly for failing to address ISIS in the first day of their convention yesterday. But he also came here and tried to flesh out some of his plans for how he would overhaul veterans care if he were president. This included talking about starting a dedicated line straight to the White House for veterans if they have any complaints about their care.

Trump said if these issues aren't addressed, he will answer the phone calls personally. He jokes that maybe this will even take the place of his late night Twitter activities. All in all Carol, it was a pretty warm welcome for Donald Trump here, at this event. He left to a standing ovation. Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Sara Murray, thanks so much. Reporting live from Charlotte, North Carolina. While Trump courts veterans today, both candidates are hoping to woo blue collar and manufacturing voters on board. The economy clearly an important issue that certainly resonates. According to a recent CNN-ORC poll, Trump might have a leg up. 54 percent of registered voters say Trump is better equipped to handle the economy. Only 43 percent side with Clinton.

With me now is Jay Timmons. He's the President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. Welcome, Jay.

JAY TIMMONS, PRESIDENT, CEO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS: Good morning, Carol. How are you?

COSTELLO: Good morning, I'm great. Why is Donald Trump's economic plans resonating more than Hillary Clinton's, among those who work in the manufacturing sector?

TIMMONS: Well look, I think both candidates have a long way to go to really attract manufacturing voters in November. We haven't really heard what Hillary Clinton is going to say this week. Donald Trump had his moment in the, in the sun at the convention last week.

And what we want to hear from both candidates, and frankly both parties, is a commitment to those things that will keep America an exceptional nation. And that will grow our economy certainly faster than the current two percent that we're seeing right now.

COSTELLO: Jay if you were watching the Democratic National Convention last night, you didn't hear much about blue collar workers, or the white middle class, who feel they're left out of the equation. Did you feel that way or was it just my imagination?

TIMMONS: Well look, I -- you know, I think you've got three more days of the Democratic convention, the Republicans had four days. And I think what we really need to focus on, Carol, is what they're going to say over the next three months. Look, manufacturing is the solution to growing an economy, ensuring a strong economy, ensuring that America remains exceptional.

The NAM, The National Association of Manufacturers, has put out a platform that has 11 key areas that we're encouraging candidates to speak about. It's our competing to win document. And in this document, it's a blueprint for what we need to succeed as a nation. Those issues are tax reform, and regulatory reform, and certainly a commitment to opening markets overseas for our products that we manufacture here, in this country.

And then I would say also that one of the biggest challenges that our candidates are going to face, whoever's elected president, is going to be to rebuild America. A solid, well-financed, well-funded infrastructure program will lead to very rapid growth in the economy. And we're hoping the candidates ...

COSTELLO: Well you certainly ...

TIMMONS: ... are going to talk about those issues in a better way.

COSTELLO: You certainly heard -- you, actually you heard Donald Trump talking about that during the RNC last week. Bill Clinton is going to take to the podium tonight at the DNC. He's usually pretty good with these kinds of voters. What does he have to say to say that, you know, "my wife cares about you?"

TIMMONS: I have tremendous respect for anyone who's served in the office of President. But in all honesty, Carol, this isn't about Bill Clinton. This isn't about George Bush. This is about Donald Trump, and it's about Hillary Clinton. And it's about Gary Johnson. It's about what any of those candidates for President will do to build the economy -- to grow the economy and build America's future.

So I'm interested more in hearing what Hillary Clinton has to say. I was certainly interested in hearing what Donald Trump had to say. I think voters are very interested in what the Party platforms say. I think, I think manufacturing workers, and manufacturers are very concerned that the Republicans are looking backwards and talking about reimplementing Glass-Steagall, and aggregating our trade agreements. I think they're very worried that Democrats are talking about raising taxes and implementing more regulations.

We really need to work together in a way that produces a balanced platform. That will enable manufacturing to be unleashed and to grow. And to be able to attract more investment onto the shores of our country. Which will ultimately create more jobs, better paying jobs. Manufacturing's the lifeblood of any successful economy. And we want to see more of a commitment to our agenda.

COSTELLO: All right, Jay Timmons, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I want to go right now to Manu Raju. He has some breaking news and it concerns Bernie Sanders. What is it, Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah, that's right, Carol. Actually talks are underway right now between Hillary Clinton's camp and Bernie Sanders' camp about him, Bernie Sanders, formally nominating Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee for President after today's roll-call vote concludes.

Now this is according to a Senior Democratic Party source who says these talks are underway. We'll see how they get finalized, how it ends up. It's all part of an effort to showcase unity. Of course that is what Bernie Sanders' camp and the Clinton camp have been discussing over the last several days, how to bring this party together. And how to get the Sanders camp over to the -- behind Bernie Sanders -- behind Hillary Clinton.

Of course we've seen all of these outbursts and concerns raised by Sanders supporters about Hillary Clinton's candidacy. Bernie Sanders has sent out text messages, has sent out emails. And he gave that speech last night saying it's time for the Party to get behind Hillary Clinton.

So this effort, if it does come to pass, if Hillary -- if Bernie Sanders does formally nominate Hillary Clinton after today's roll-call vote, there'll be another effort to just say the Party should get behind Hillary Clinton. The question is, though, Carol, will it work?

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live for us this morning, thank you. I'll be right back.

[10:50:32]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Another terror attack in France. This time a priest is killed in a church during mass. His throat slit by the attackers. One man now in custody. President Hollande calling the attack "a cowardly assassination committed in the name of ISIS." Jim Bittermann live in Paris with more. Hi, Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, a really tragic story this morning in a town near Rouen, which is about an hour and a half to the West, Northwest of Paris. And in this suburb of about 28,000 people, the priest was saying mass this morning and the only people there were two nuns, and two parishioners.

These two assailants came in, slashed the throat of the priest, and wrapped (ph) something in Arabic, according to one of the nuns who was interviewed. One nun was able to get away, was able to alert police. And because of the proximity of this church to the city center of Rouen where, in fact, one of the French SWAT teams is located, they were able to respond right away. They were able to get on the scene, surround the church.

And apparently as the assailants were coming out of the church, they were brandishing knives, they were shot dead by the police who intervened. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Bittermann reporting live from Paris this morning, thank you. And thank you for joining me today, I'm Carol Costello. AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan after a break.

[10:55:55]