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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Obama Speaks Out for Hillary; DNC Speakers Zero in On Trump; Reagan Shooter Hinckley to be Freed. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 28, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama passing the baton of hope to the woman he says must become the next commander in chief, better than Bill.

[04:00:00] Welcome to EARLY START, live in Philadelphia. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, July 28th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East, 4:00 a.m. inside CNN grill.

So, you know, it turns out Barack Obama knows how to give a convention speech. The president of the United States capped an evening of big drama, big names in what was really throw everything at them, including the kitchen sink effort to beat Donald Trump. He kind of threw in two kitchen sinks. It was pretty extraordinary.

If you are keeping score at home, the president thinks that America is already great and thinks that Donald Trump is not so much.

CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us from outside the CNN Grill.

The all-star lineup, Phil, last night leaves nothing left but Hillary Clinton.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she will now have the heavy burden of trying to close out what has been three straight nights of kind of star-packed speakers, none more so than tonight. It was worth noting a specific strategy to what the Clinton campaign, what Democrats were trying to do tonight. You have Michael Bloomberg talking to independents. You had Joe Biden talking to blue collar voters. You had Tim Kaine talking to happy go lucky Midwesterners.

And you had Barack Obama, making that final pitch, and really calling on the organization that got him elected in 2008, got him reelected in 2012, to reengage for Hillary Clinton.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me. I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me, because you are who I was talking about 12 years ago when I talked about hope. It's been you who fueled my dogged faith in our future, even when the odds were great, even when the road is long.

Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope.

America, you vindicated that hope these past eight years. And now, I'm ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen. So, this year in this election, I'm asking you to join me to reject cynicism and reject fear and to summon what is best in us to elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States.

(EDN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Guys, 12 years to the day from that speech in 2004 that really catapulted Barack Obama to super stardom to political stardom and eventually to the White House.

And while President Obama laid out kind of a very 30,000-foot look at what he saw America as being, is what he saw the general electorate is being, don't get it twisted. There are also very strategic, very systemic attacks across the board against Trump on this evening. And it wasn't just on the party basis. There's a real effort by speaker after speaker to separate Donald Trump from the Republican Party, to separate him from Americans on the whole, painting him as dangerous, painting him as somebody who doesn't have the temperament to be in the White House.

And that is a message you are likely going to hear again tonight, as you noted, John. Hillary Clinton will be closing this convention, closing two weeks of conventions with a very highly anticipated speech. A speech with a high bar to cross over based on the last three nights here.

He got some help, though. Her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, will be introducing her. Guys, I know you are well slept and ready to go after two weeks of conventions. It will all come to an end tonight.

ROMANS: We're still not letting you in, Phil.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTINGLY: Hillary Clinton will bring it home.

ROMANS: You have to stay out there.

Three drunk guys out there chanting, "Let Phil in, let Phil in". Nice to see you.

Let's discuss a third night of the Democratic convention. Our dream team is back.

You know, one moments that was really interesting last night was when the president and Hillary Clinton were embracing on the stage. You could see just how energized people were in the crowd. And you could see he was in that photo-op sort of passing, actually passing the baton to her, hoping, Mark, that she -- I mean, that really was -- I think the symbolism of that moment was pretty clear.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: The takeaway, you know, we'll be able to digest and really take away the big moments of this convention. What can be interesting is tonight, right? He has handed the baton to her. He did that. That was a very big moment on the stage.

Can she rise to the occasion and deliver an uplifting speech that's going to get the crowd on its feet, that is going to allow her to springboard off and do this bus tour, which she's going to do over the next couple days of two important states of Pennsylvania and Ohio?

ROMANS: So, we're at the bus tour stage of the general election campaign, right?

PRESTON: Right, how cool (ph) it is, right?

Yes, you know, the bottom line is, they've had such a good convention so far, is that in some ways it's a problem tonight, I think. She is not the greatest speaker in the world. She doesn't have the warmth and passion the way that Joe Biden does.

She doesn't have the oratory skills the way that her husband or Barack Obama does. She is very competent, we know that. You know, we know she has the knowledge and skills.

[04:05:03] But can she deliver tonight?

BERMAN: Angela Rye, answer the question.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not sure, but here's what I can tell you: Hillary Clinton has surprised us before and I think one of those surprising moments was in New Hampshire, in 2008. And so, we just know what to expect. I think that if she paid attention to the speeches and the build-up to tonight, she may surprise us.

The one thing that Bill Clinton said in his speech yesterday was that she always pushes forward for change. And I think the great thing about Democrats' message discipline this week, which is unheard of, is that Barack Obama said the same thing tonight. So, I think that she might dig in.

ROMANS: Let's play a little bit of that sound. I want -- because he -- there was an overlap between what former President Bill Clinton said and what Barack Obama said about the tenacity of Hillary Clinton, and he sort of walked through her accomplishments to show how she pushed the ball, moved the ball forward.

Listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Hillary's still got the tenacity she had as a young woman working at the Children's Defense Fund to make sure children with disabilities could get a quality education.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

She still got the heart she showed as our first lady, working with Congress to push through a Children's Health Insurance Program that to this day protects millions of kids.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

She still seared with the memory of the very American she met who lost loved ones on 9/11, which is why as a senator from New York, she fought hard for funding to help first responders, to help the city rebuild, why as secretary of state, she sat with me in the Situation Room and forcefully argued in favor of the mission that took out bin Laden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He's talking about Hillary Clinton, Amanda, but almost reminds everyone and Republicans that their candidate has no background in public service. No background in government, in managing or anything.

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: All of the speakers have done a really good job laying the ground work explaining Hillary Clinton's character in a way that I don't people were fami1iar with, painting her as this kind of workaholic, who was also working behind the scenes, pushing the envelope.

And what Angela said really made me think about how she will approach the speech. She is not a big rally speech-giver that brings people to their feet. But the few times she has been big is when she masters her sort of quiet, serious voice. Given the state of this election, especially with the cyber security attacks, I mean, the danger we face, I they she has a really big opportunity to adopt that persona. The groundwork has been laid that she's this type of person. So, to try to give a Barack Obama-type speech will not seem authentic. So, may be take that risk and try to go that quiet, serious route to end this.

BERMAN: Maybe not the joke he wrote to Tim Kaine either.

CARPENTER: The mockery is not working.

BERMAN: No, it may not work there, no.

Mockery? No. What President Obama did in talking about Trump last night was interesting, right? Amanda, we noted before, I mean, Barack Obama quoted Ronald Reagan in his speech last night, something Donald Trump didn't do.

CARPENTER: It's the R's.

BERMAN: Reagan was your guy. Josh Rogin, he specially quoted the city on a hill. Let's play that quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: Ronald Reagan called America a shining city on a hill. Donald Trump calls it a divided crime scene that only he can fix. It doesn't matter to him that illegal immigration and the crime rate are as low as they have been in decades because he is not actually offering any real solutions to those issues. He is offering slogans and he's offering fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And, Josh, you were saying that was the nice stuff that the president had to say about Donald Trump. He called Donald Trump a home-grown demagogue.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. It is true that the Trump campaign has come so far from the Reagan legacy it is hard not to point it out. Reagan promoted democracy abroad and human rights, right? He was an aspirational candidate. He told Americans the best of America was in front of him, that they work towards it. He didn't harp on the negative. Donald Trump is totally the opposite of Ronald Reagan.

Now, is Barack Obama going to be able to appeal to those Reagan people? Probably not. It's very savvy of him to draw that line, because again, what was interesting is Bloomberg was making the same comments. They are going after the independents, the people in the middle, the people who are probably Republican and don't like Donald Trump at all, and they are giving them cover to vote for Hillary Clinton.

ROMANS: You know, Mark Preston, it's interesting, because you talk about what kind of speech she could give tonight. Hillary Clinton could give tonight. You know, when you -- I'll use camera guys, for example, people who have covered her, you guys, for a long time, for years, right?

BERMAN: They don't want part of this.

ROMANS: No, many of them have told me that when you go to an event, right, and she is giving a speech and there is the speech. And then after the speech, you break down the cameras. That is when the people are all around her, and she's talking one on one to people, and the energy for her around the small group interactions.

You know what I'm talking about, right? The small group interactions, not necessarily the big televised speech. She needs to capture that somehow, and how do you capture that on a big stage?

PRESTON: Well, it (INAUDIBLE) about George W. Bush as well. George W. Bush was really good after the speech in small settings. Here is something and I will probably get lit up on Twitter for saying this.

But I think this is where she's got to be very careful. She cannot look like she is the angry woman. Joe Biden can be the angry man. But there is a different level set for women, which is unfortunate, that she can't come out and look angry. If she is going to be serious, she's got to be very careful on how she

delivers that speech. But, again, I go back to two big high nights. Tuesday night. Okay. I mean, it was good. It wasn't bad. It wasn't Ted Cruz where he walked off the floor.

I think that we're coming into a Thursday night where, you know, she could come out of this not looking as got as she was hoping.

RYE: She doesn't have to be soft, though. I think that if we're very honest. The one Hillary Clinton thing I just thought about is her debate performances. When Hillary is telling -- it cannot be a rally performance, and that's why I think it's hard because convention feels very much like a rally. But if she sells this why she is the best qualified candidate the way Barack Obama did in the debate form of Hillary, I think that she will win.

PRESTON: Let me give you insider stuff for background. Watch tonight, OK, when Hillary Clinton is delivering her speech. The way they produced this convention so far has been masterful. What they do is they drop captains all throughout the audience. And their job is on certain cues is to get their area cheering.

So, if Hillary Clinton is able to follow her script to a point and she is repeatedly stopped by cheering, that means the producers of the convention have done their jobs and that will happen.

ROMANS: All right. Our producers are telling us to stop talking.

BERMAN: Go to commercial.

ROMANS: We have to go to commercial.

BERMAN: President Obama gave a speech last night. Other people gave speeches last night. We will talk about Tim Kaine. We're going to talk about Michael Bloomberg. And we're going to talk about Joe Biden. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:16:30] SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's going to be great, believe me. We're going to build a wall and Mexico pay for it, believe me. We're going to destroy ISIS so fast, believe me. There's nothing suspicious in my tax returns, believe me.

Here's the question: do you really believe him?

AUDIENCE: No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Some decent impression. Dad humor you call it. That was Hillary Clinton's running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, mocking her opponent. He was just one of many at last night's Democratic Convention. It seemed most of the convention speakers had Donald Trump right in their crosshairs.

Our panel joins us again, Mark Preston, Josh Rogin and Angela Rye --

BERMAN: That is a messed up Brady Bunch right there.

ROMANS: John Phillips is also here, she's a Trump supporter on the stage, here.

I want to talk about first, gosh, what I remind you, first, I think we want to listen to more Joe Biden, right? Joe Biden was in rare Joe Biden form last night. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His cynicism is unbounded. His lack of empathy and compassion can be summed up in a phrase I suspect he is most proud of having made famous: you're fired. I mean, really, I'm not joking. Think about that. Think about that.

Think about everything you learned as a child. No matter where you were raised. How can there be pleasure in saying, you're fired?

He's trying to tell us he cares about the middle class. Give me a break. That a bunch of malarkey.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: What do you think about that, Angela, malarkey, you're fired, all in one sound bite?

RYE: I love it. I think this is Joe Biden singlehandedly destroying the concept of a blue collar billionaire in three words, or four words. That's a bunch -- oh, five words. It's early. OK?

Hey, I went to law school because I don't do math.

(LAUGHTER)

RYE: He was so effective and I said this earlier. It is not just Uncle Joe who we're used to, you know, sometimes putting his foot in his mouth. This was Reverend Joe, because he was preaching. He took us back to second grade. I had Mrs. Lindsey to tell us you cannot put down. And he told us that Donald Trump was doing that, and it was -- he was basically taking advantage of people who have less than them economically. I thought it was fantastic.

BERMAN: John Phillips, Joe Biden appealing to the voters that Donald Trump needs.

JOSH PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I don't think if he was Uncle Joe or Michael Douglas in "Falling Down" last night because there was a lot of rage from Joe Biden.

BERMAN: Well, but look, rage is what Donald Trump is tapping. RYE: Righteous anger.

PHILLIPS: Yes. But it also reminded me that he wishes he was the candidate. He wanted to run. He had his horrible family tragedy, which is the reason why he didn't run.

But when you looked at him on stage, he did not want to give the speech as the last hurrah. He wanted to be giving the speech tomorrow night in primetime. You can tell that. It was coming through the television screen.

ROMANS: And it was the battle of the billionaires, too. I mean, you know, you had one billionaire on the stage. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg talking about Donald Trump. I want to zero in on that, because Michael Bloomberg endorsing Hillary Clinton last night and really laying in to Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Now, we heard a lot of talk in the campaign about needing a leader who understands business.

[04:20:04] I couldn't agree more. I built a business and I didn't start it with a $1 million check from my father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You know, he is trying to show his major Wall Street cred and take away some of the business credibility of Donald Trump.

So, here's how Michael Bloomberg started his business. He used a $10 million check with a severance payment when he was laid off from the investment bank Salman Brothers during a recession in 1981. He took his severance check. We don't get severance checks last night, but he took it and took his computer skills and started Bloomberg LP. It's a business best known for trading terminals and then, of course, the media network.

Forbes puts Bloomberg's net worth at $47.7 billion. Meaning, he's not just a little billionaire. He is a very big billionaire.

Trump got a $1 million loan from his dad to get his start. He now controls more than 500 companies, he says. His main assets are real estate, but he also owns golf courses and modeling and travel agencies and licensing business. He has taken four of his casinos through bankruptcies. Forbes puts his net worth at $4.5 billion.

Now, Donald Trump says that's right. He says he's worth more $10 billion. I think on the stage last night, he was trying to show, you know, there are billionaires and there are just little billionaires.

BERMAN: Michael Bloomberg says, "I'm from New York and I know a con when I see one." He was brutal, as brutal as we've seen about Donald Trump.

A lot more news to discuss, including John Hinckley, of course. The man who tried to kill Ronald Reagan, he will be completely free next week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:26:04] BERMAN: The man who shot President Reagan and three other people 35 years ago is about to go free. John Hinckley's conditional release from the government's psychiatric hospital could come as early as August 5th. This after a federal judge ruled he is no longer a threat to himself or others. He will live with his mother in Williamsburg. She's 90, in Williamsburg, Virginia, and will be monitored by a treatment team.

President Reagan's daughter Patty Davis says the ruling sickens her heart. But Michael Reagan, one of the late president's son, tweeted that his father forgave Hinckley and that maybe we should do the same.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour here in Philadelphia at the CNN Grill. President Obama just a few hours ago, going to bat for Hillary Clinton. Was his endorsement a home run? We've got that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)