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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democrats Push for Unity at DNC. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 26, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:31:55] MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF UNITED STATES: 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)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Glowing inspirational endorsements for Hillary Clinton on the first night of the Democratic National Convention. A party working hard to unify behind its nominee and against Donald Trump. Did it work?

Welcome back to EARLY START at the Democratic convention here in Philadelphia. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman. About 31 minutes past the hour. We are live this morning at the CNN Grill. Night one of the Democratic convention. It was like an entire season of "Downton Abbey" without the big house and the accent. It was intrigue, tension, backstabbing, humor, tears, euphoria, reconciliation and Al Franken. Just like "Downton Abbey."

Now to the concern of the Clinton campaign the day began with the sense that it might be dominated even overshadowed by disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters who were out in force on the streets and on the floor of the convention. But late in the night a speech by Michelle Obama, some already calling it one of the great convention speeches of this generation. It silenced the crowd first and then brought them to their feet, and then Bernie Sanders himself took the stage.

Joining us now with a recap, CNN's Phil Mattingly. Phil, it was a rollercoaster of emotion.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. If unity was the goal, it was very clear that there was work that needed to be done. And the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee made very clear, they had a murderer's row of sorts of Democratic stars lined up to try and address the concerns. Not just on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center here in Philadelphia, but also at the broader electorate. About Hillary Clinton as a politician and also about Hillary Clinton's character as a person.

Take a listen to how each and every one of them vouched for the Democratic nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She -- she never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. I'm with her.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: Together with Hillary Clinton as our president, America, we will rise. God bless, America. Let us rise together.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: A woman who fights for children, for women, for health care, for human rights. A woman who fights for all of us. We're here today because our choice is Hillary Clinton. I'm with Hillary.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:05] MATTINGLY: Now you guys obviously just saw a lot of big names. There was one unquestioned star of the night. And that was First Lady Michelle Obama. In a speech that impressingly jabbed at Donald Trump throughout, without ever actually mentioning her name -- his name, but also giving a ringing endorsement of Hillary Clinton. A person that over the course of the last eight years, there weren't always great ties to.

Michelle Obama clearly walked away from the night as a surrogate that the Clinton campaign not only wants to deploy as soon as possible but deploy over and over again throughout the course of the campaign. She was so effective "The New York Daily News" actually going back and changing the front page of the newspaper to reflect her impact on the convention. And the impact is no small thing.

Leading up to Michelle Obama's speech, guys, it was tension-filled to say the least inside the arena. There was booing, there was mocking, there was chanting. Michelle Obama started and that all stopped. A number of Democrats saying that might have been a tipping point for the convention. And what a convention going forward.

Tonight Bill Clinton will be taking the stage to speak. But before that, another opportunity for Bernie Sanders fans who haven't quite gotten on to the Hillary Clinton bus, to cause trouble. A roll call to actually officially name Hillary Clinton as the nominee.

You want to talk about how the Sanders campaign and the Clinton campaign are actually working together right now behind the scenes. They have been actually working the same office together on a whip operation to try and control that, and make sure that doesn't get away from them over the course of the day. So that'll will be something to keep an eye on. And then of course, Bill Clinton maybe trying to set the record for longest convention speech ever, beating Donald Trump last week. But we'll have to see.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: All right. We'll have to see. All right, thanks, Phil Mattingly for that.

We're back to discuss the first night of the Democratic convention. I want to play a little bit more of Michelle Obama's sound because I think she really was the headline of last night. And there was one particular part of her speech that really, really getting a lot of attention this morning, when she talked about well, she said they're going to low, we're going to go high. And she said America is the best place on earth. The best country on earth. And then she threw this -- threw this thread, from slavery to the house she lives in, to her daughters, to Hillary Clinton. 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 the highest and hardest glass ceiling, until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: That is the story of this country. The story that has brought me to this stage tonight. The story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation. But who kept on striving and doing what needed to be done so today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

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

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: 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.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A pretty effective advocate for Hillary Clinton in the next weeks ahead, isn't it?

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: A hundred percent. And part of what I -- what I hear when I'm listening to that is, I think about the election in 2008 and I remember feeling like there's no way this country is going to elect a black man. And it happened. And it was surreal. And this is not as big of a deal necessarily, but this year, when they announced that they were going to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill and it was a big deal for me. And I remember feeling like it was almost stolen when Donald Trump and Ben Carson were saying, they can put her on the $2 bill because quite literally, right, it felt like being cheapened.

And so this moment to me was just -- is just major because I think about it every time. The pressure that I experienced walking in to take the bar exam. The amount of pride that your community feels when you make it someplace. Don talked about it on this show earlier. You know -- not this show, but on his show earlier, what -- the pressure and the responsibility he feels, and the pride he feels going into the building every day.

ROMANS: You walk to the office.

RYE: And I just think that it's so important for all of Americans to hear that perspective because we don't all share the same journeys and stories. I just loved it.

[04:40:01] BERMAN: It was sort of like the big picture, big strategic reason for this speech, Bob Beckel. But there was also sort of a targeted tactical thing that Michelle Obama did very subtly. Really not so subtle. She kept on saying, I trust Hillary Clinton to, dot, dot, dot. And of course trust in this issue with Hillary Clinton, they haven't gone hand-in-hand. Her -- you know, her honest and trustworthy numbers are some of the worst things we've seen in a candidate.

BOB BECKEL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, and listen, if her trustworthy numbers were in good shape, this race will be over right now. And they will -- it'll get better. I mean, I think her numbers will get better, I don't know if Trump's can. But look, she's spent 25 years in the public light. And she's been on the defensive the whole time. All the time. And so after a while, you're going to get to the point where you're going to be a little bit defensive yourself and people are going to be out there saying, well, maybe there must be something there.

And I can't think of a single thing. Save the e-mail issue where she deserved to get the kind of heat she did. But I think this is why it comes back to what happens on Thursday night. It's so important. And as we rise to that standard.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's effective because you've got so many speakers making the argument. Follow your head. Right? Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders like. This is the smart thing to do. This is in your interest. And then you have Michelle Obama saying follow your heart. All right. This is what I'm feeling. This is -- meets the aspirations of women and minorities and Americans -- and you're going to see a lot more of that tonight.

When Bill Clinton takes the stage, his job will be to humanize Hillary Clinton. To tell the story of who she is as a person, back when she was a lawyer, back when she -- they first met. And that's a part of the story that I think a lot of Americans haven't heard.

ROMANS: The Clinton thing. We were talking about this earlier. Bill Clinton, however, to a lot of young voters, they don't really relate to him. Especially Democratic voters. He might have to reintroduce himself to them.

There's also the defense of the 1990s and globalization. You know - you know how will Bill Clinton play to this crowd when so much of what we're talking about here, trade, globalization, middle class left behind, you know, some people tried to blame that on the legacy of Bill Clinton's years.

JOHN PHILIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Well, I don't think he's going to re-litigate the battles of the 1990s because Hillary Clinton will yank him off the stage if he tries to go there. But this Democratic Party is in no way similar to the Democratic Party of the 1992 convention. That was the blue dog convention. That was Bill Clinton and Al gore saying we're going to take the party that had lost three consecutive presidential elections and we're going to moderate it. We're going to be the party of government, that we're going to make sure that we stay within budgets, we're going to put criminals in jail. And this party I think has moved very far to the left. What we saw last night was almost a Bernie Sanders rally.

BERMAN: Yes. Do you guys think the big dog that will bring the big game tonight was Bill Clinton? I mean, Bill Clinton has given some big convention speeches notably four years ago. But some people say in the trail this year, he's lost a step.

RYE: So I think he's going to be more disciplined on the convention stage. I think at the rallies he just forgets like we're in the era of social media. These things go viral. You can't really say that, Billy Jack. When he is on the convention stage, he is in his element. And I think we can expect him to be as a good champion today.

ROGIN: Yes, this is what Bill Clinton does best. He's -- he's going to be prepared. He knows exactly what he wants to do. He can reach to that crowd and he can speak to them in a way --

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: I'll tell you, though, the importance here --

RYE: He may get booed, too.

BECKEL: Going back to Bernie Sanders. You know, that the people going to the polls who are 18 years old this time were not born for six years after Bill Clinton became president.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: Yes.

BECKEL: There's a whole -- there's millions of people out there who didn't live the Clinton era. Certain parts for good, certain for not. But certainly as a presidency, he was a golden gem to have on the trail. I think he's been overtaken somewhat now. And he's going to have to reintroduce himself to people who don't know him.

RYE: Yes. You're so right.

BERMAN: Angela Rye is right. It will be interesting to see how the Bernie Sanders supporters react to him.

RYE: Yes.

BERMAN: Because it may not all be good. Stay tuned.

RYE: That's right.

BERMAN: A lot more to discuss.

ROMANS: All right, Bernie Sanders -- 45 minutes past the hour, folks. Bernie Sanders with his strongest endorsement ever of his former primary opponent, Hillary Clinton. Will it be enough to make his supporters get on board?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:48:08] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our job now is to see that strong Democratic platform implemented by a Democratic-controlled Senate. By a Democratic House. And a Hillary Clinton presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So is that it? Is all the strife, all the chaos here on the Democratic convention --

ROMANS: Everything is better now.

BERMAN: All gone because Bernie Sanders says he's behind Hillary Clinton?

Let's discuss. Josh Rogin, Angela Rye, Bob Beckel. We want to bring back in CNN political commentator Amanda Carpenter.

Josh Rogin, you were working behind the scenes a little bit here.

ROGIN: Sure.

BERMAN: The Sanders-Clinton, how they're, you know, whipping.

ROGIN: Yes.

BERMAN: This floor. Did they think that they are past the worst part and that starting today it's going to all be hands across America?

ROGIN: No. This will be something they'll be working on every single day all day. Now this is a very complicated operation. They joined their whip teams together, sent them out on the floor, to tell each delegation to keep their people in check. Right? That was -- that had mixed result. At the same time, they are sending Bernie surrogates to all of the delegate meetings, all around town to tell them to back off and to get on board.

They canceled two delegate workshops today that was supposed to happen because they didn't know what was going to happen. And they just don't want any more bad press where you have Bernie Sanders talking to a group of people who are screaming never Hillary at him, right? So this is far from over. Tonight went a big step in the direction of projecting unity. The message is clear. Support Hillary now, and we'll preserve our movement for later. Right? This -- we'll still have the Bernie movement, we'll just have it after November with a Hillary president, right? That's the sales pitch. And some of the Bernie people are buying it and some aren't.

ROMANS: One of the things I am so struck about is, you know, these young supporters of Bernie Sanders. You know, some of these young very, very vibrant supporters of Bernie Sanders and then tonight you're going to have Bill Clinton take the stage.

[04:50:01] And you made this great point that, you know, you've got all these millennials who were born after Bill Clinton was long out of the White House. It's interesting that Bill Clinton who, for so many people, sort of personifies genX and older, you know, politics, Democratic politics, it's almost unknown quality to some of these young people who've been born --

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: Yes. And I'll tell you, if there's one flaw in this convention is the lack of millennial speakers. People who can relate to -- look, there's 89 million millennials out there. Most of whom are independents. They do not align like their parents did or I did with their parents political party. They're independent and strongly so. And they've -- they're going to vote and they're going to vote maybe not as big a number as Barack Obama, but they're going to vote. And I haven't seen anybody say maybe the Kennedy kid last night who can relate to them that well.

And I would be very, very surprised. Well, I mean, I would be -- somebody would have to explain to me why they don't have more millennials.

ROMANS: Does Chelsea Clinton count? I mean, John Philips --

BECKEL: Well.

ROMANS: It'd be great.

ROGIN: On the border.

BECKEL: Some have suggested she's got -- she's got some --

(CROSSTALK)

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I will say, I think one thing they were trying to do with the speaker's line up, there were three prominent Democrat senators speaking last night. They are intent on taking back the Senate. And if you watch Elizabeth Warren's position a few weeks ago, she was really trying to put Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, in the box of owning Donald Trump. I am sort of picturing those three senators camping out on the floor

forcing votes and really trying to make that an issue to win those seats back and take back the Senate. I didn't really put it together until I saw the three of them on stage tonight. Somebody's putting that together right now.

BERMAN: It's actually an interesting debate within the Democratic Party about how to treat Donald Trump because there are people who say by putting him in the same group as Republican senators, you're normalizing him. If you're saying Donald Trump is just a typical Republican, then you're taking away the argument that Hillary Clinton and others have been trying to make was that he's unstable and a threat and a different type of candidate. I'm wondering, you know --

RYE: I think that there is another theory, and that is the Republican Party created Donald Trump. There are a series of things that have happened over time that, you know, Harry Reid I think called him like the Republican Party's Frankenstein. And so if you say that, you know, this is a recurring issue and it's spiraled out of control, and so you have to stop it somewhere, then you can't just start at the top. You have to go down ballot. And I think that's an effective DNC argument. It worked really well here.

ROGIN: You know, I think this point -- at this point and what we saw from the convention in Cleveland last week is that Donald Trump and the Republican Party are now one and the same. OK? That wasn't the case for most of the primaries. But Republicans have come a long way into accepting Donald Trump as their standard bearer. OK. So for the purposes of this campaign and for the purposes of the voters out there, it's -- that's got the message. It's too complicated.

(CROSSTALK)

ROGIN: They are all the same.

ROMANS: All right.

BECKEL: That will be true until November. And then after that, they're going to leave him like scalded dogs.

ROMANS: All right, guys. We got to leave it there. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, everybody. Another great morning of analyses.

Central to the Democratic platform, raising the minimum wage to fight income inequality. Here are Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren last night on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: America isn't going broke. The stock market is breaking records. Corporate profits are at all-time highs. CEOs make tens of millions of dollars. There's lots of wealth in America. But it isn't trickling down to hard working families like yours.

SANDERS: Hillary Clinton understands that if someone in this country works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The Democratic platform calls for a gradual increase in the federal minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. Right now it sits at $7.25. For a 40-hour workweek that's $15,000 per year. An increase to $15 an hour would boost incomes at the bottom to $31,200.

Here's the poverty line for a family of four on one income. It's $11.68 an hour. About 24 grand a year. So with the current rate, families making minimum wage really need two incomes to stay out of poverty. I think you're going to continue to hear more about this as the week goes on -- John.

BERMAN: Right. I guess day one of the convention on the books. So much happened. What's going to happen on day two? Can it possibly match the drama, the intrigue, the chaos, the Michelle Obama moment?

"NEW DAY" picks up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:58:44] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: When we are united, we are strong. We are indivisible, we are invincible.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Hillary Clinton has the guts and the grace to keep putting those cracks in the hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through.

SEN. AL FRANKEN (D), MINNESOTA: I can't wait to call her Madam President.

EVA LONGORIA, ARTIST: I'm with her.

WARREN: I'm with Hillary.

OBAMA: I'm with her.

SANDERS: I am proud to stand with her.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Tuesday, July 26th. And we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. And Alisyn and I are live in Philadelphia at the site of the Democratic National Convention. Up first, some of the party's biggest stars trying to deliver some

Philadelphia, some brotherly love for Hillary Clinton. How would they handle the Wiki discord on day one?

First Lady Michelle Obama seems to be the one getting the best response from last night. She was pounding on the notion of who her daughters will look up to as president.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And then Clinton's one-time rival, Bernie Sanders, delivering a full throated endorsement, appealing to his supporters.