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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Final Night of Democratic Convention; Hillary Clinton Accepts Nomination; Examining Hillary and Chelsea Clinton's Speeches. Aired 3- 3:30a ET

Aired July 29, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

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[03:00:41] HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And so, my friends, it is with humility, determination, and boundless confidence in America's promise that I accept your nomination for president of the United States!

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic nomination, the most important speech of her life. Did it do enough to bounce back against Donald Trump? New reaction ahead. Good morning, everyone, welcome to "Early Start" live from the not CNN Grill. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Did you lift a glass from the CNN Grill?

BERMAN: Not CNN Grill. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: Five finger discount over here. I'm Christine Romans, it is Friday, July 29, it is 3:00 a.m. In the east, we are in New York, but oh, what a big night. When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit. Hillary Clinton on what politically speaking was the biggest night of her life, a night in which history was made in this country. Never before had a woman accepted her party's nomination for president and never before had Hillary Clinton had so much to do in one 60- minute address. Make herself relatable to a country that somehow doesn't quite know her after a quarter century in the spotlight, make herself seem honest to a voting population that doesn't quite trust her after a summer of scandal, and most of all, make elf seem like a better option than Donald Trump. And that, she did with gusto.

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CLINTON: Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. We have to decide whether we will all work together so we can all rise together.

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ROMANS: CNN's Phil Mattingly was there. He joins us now. Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... the checklist, it was quite a heavy expectations list of things to try and accomplish there. She went into this speech today and Hillary Clinton really attacked it with a mix of optimism but also sharp attacks on Donald Trump, trying to make very clear that this election is not necessarily about Hillary Clinton, it's about whether Donald Trump has the temperament to be in office. And she's obviously clearly coming down on the side of no.

But again, compared to last week, it's worth looking at the tone. One where Hillary Clinton was stressing unity. Take a listen.

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CLINTON: None of us can raise a family, build a business, heal a community, or lift a country totally alone. America needs every one of us to lend our energy, our talents, our ambition to making our nation better and stronger. I believe that with all my heart. A country where the economy works for everyone, not just those at the top. A country where all our children can dream and those dreams are within reach.

And yes, we're loved Trump's hate. That's the country we're fighting for. That's the future we're working toward.

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MATTINGLY: Guys, it's no small task trying to follow two of probably the better or best orators in the party's history and her husband and Barack Obama. That's exactly what Hillary Clinton tried to do. And he got good, more or less, good marks afterwards.

Bernie Sanders coming out, somebody who she gave quite a nod to during the course of the speech, congratulating her on historic achievement, saying in a tweet this morning that they would be stronger together, yet Barack Obama also taking to Twitter to congratulate her.

Guys, there are now 102 days to the election day not that anybody here is counting. No question at all. This is going to be a very divisive and attack-heavy campaign, but Hillary Clinton really trying to set the tone on her big night, a very historic night, at least trying to make this a choice about Donald Trump or her. And very clearly, she thinks she's the one that's going to guys.

BERMAN: All right Phil Mattingly finally got inside after three nights of being outdoors at the Democratic convention. Thanks so much, Phil.

Joining us to discuss, we are joined by CNN political analyst Josh Rogin, a columnist of the "Washington Post," we have a couple CNN political commentators, two of our best, Democratic strategist, Bob Beckel and John Phillips, talk radio host at KABC and a Donald Trump supporter, Bob Beckel, we have an instant poll from the speech itself.

[03:05:17] Now, granted a lot of people who watch were Democrats and Hillary Clinton supporters but the reaction very positive. 71 percent had a very positive reaction. Only 12 percent had a negative reaction. More importantly, Bob, what was your reaction?

BOB BECKEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: My reaction was that this was a very good speech. She covered a lot of territory, but she is who she is. I mean, she's not going to be able to deliver a speech the way her husband does or the way Barack Obama does. That's not her forte, particularly in a room like that, but I think what she very clearly outlined here was this is about Donald Trump. It's much as anything else, she went through all the policy stuff and you have but she made the point, you really think Donald Trump ought to be president of the United States? You want him in the Oval Office? And I think that's what it's going to come down to in the end and I (inaudible) say no.

ROMANS: Let's talk about a little bit about her criticism of Donald Trump last night. She talked about his temperament. We've heard this temperaturementally unfit to be president to have the nuclear code et cetera, et cetera. Listen to her make the case last night.

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CLINTON: So just ask yourself, do you really think Donald Trump has the temperament to be commander in chief? Donald Trump can't even handle the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign. He loses his cool at the slightest provocation. When he's gotten a tough question from a reporter, when he's challenged in a debate, when he sees a protester at a rally, imagine, if you dare, imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.

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ROMANS: You are a Trump supporter. I'll let you react to that one.

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She gave a perfectly acceptable speech and she contrasted herself with Donald Trump, but she was going to do that anyway if she didn't drop any F bombs or a plot on the Kennedy assassination. I think she had two different goals in this speech and I'm not sure she accomplished them. She had to go out there and give people who don't think she's an honest person a reason rethink their position. She also had to go out there and excite the base.

Back in 2008 one of the reasons Barack Obama was so successful was he excited minority voters, he excited young voters, he gay and lesbian voters to go and turn out in record numbers. If she's going to win this time around, she's going to have to do the same thing. I'm not sure she accomplished that.

BERMAN: She did want to go out and paint a contrast. This was very much to me a reaction to last week. I'm not sure she would have given this speech had last week not happened the way it did. She said at one point, you know, that was, you know, Ronald Reagan talked about morning in America and Donald Trump talked about midnight in America and she also work very hard to just be optimistic and praise the United States. Play sound byte number five, guys.

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CLINTON: We have the most dynamic and diverse people in the world. We have the most tolerant and generous young people we've ever had. We have the most powerful military, the most innovative entrepreneurs, the most enduring values. Freedom and equality, justice and opportunity, don't let anyone tell you that our country is weak. We're not. Don't let anyone tell you we don't have what it takes. We do. And most of all, don't believe anyone who says, "I alone can fix it".

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BERMAN: Josh Rogin, she went on to say what about the troops, what about the police officers who wake up every day, not knowing if they'll come home. She went on to list the people who give so much to the country. Again, this was a deliberate effort, I think, to contrast herself to what we saw last week.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well that's exactly right. You get the sense that if aliens came down from space and watched the Trump convention and then came back and watched the Philadelphia Clinton convention, they would think people were talking about two different countries, all right. There was no overlap, right? And this was a theme that you saw over and over again this week, Bill Clinton said this, President Obama said this, they said the picture of reality that the Trump campaign is drawing for everyone is just simply not correct.

And in turn, if you read Trump's statement, it's a statement by Steven Miller, Trump campaign policy advisor, after the speech, it said, in part, it's about Hillary's speech, he said it's a speech delivered from a fantasy universe, not the reality we live in today, right?

So, they're both presenting their visions of what's going on for regular Americans. They can't both be right. And it remains to be seen which one voters will believe.

[03:10:03] ROMANS: You know, it was interesting because she's not saying everything's perfect. She's saying that together, you know -- together we address these challenges, and let's play the sound byte where she talks about how America's not afraid. I think it's number two.

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CLINTON: We are not afraid. We will rise to the challenge just as we always have. We will not build a wall. Instead, we will build an economy where everyone who wants a good job can get one. And we'll build a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are already contributing to our economy. We will not ban a religion. We will work with all Americans and our allies to fight and defeat terrorism.

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ROMANS: Bob Beckel, she's directly talking about policy proposals from Donald Trump, the very policy proposals that have made him so popular to his supporters.

BECKEL: I'm sorry, you're looking at me ...

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BECKEL: I'm sorry. Hi. We were in Philly too long. Listen, she -- I think she took Trump apart, piece by piece, the way she should have. And contrasted herself with him the way she should have. One of the John's comments about exciting the base, she's not necessarily going to excite the base. Trump's going to excite the base. And I'll tell you, you want to get people in the base to come out, all you got to do is wave Donald Trump in front of them and they'll be out there. I will guarantee you the longest lines will be in Hispanic precincts and black precincts in this country when this election jus take in place because they want to come out and vote against Donald Trump. Maybe not necessarily enthusiastically for Hillary Clinton, but certainly against Donald Trump.

BERMAN: All right. We got a lot more to discuss, guys. Stick around. Hillary Clinton, as we said, trying to, in a way, reintroduce herself to the country or, as she said, maybe introduce herself for the first time. Did it work? We'll discuss.

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[03:16:27] ROMANS: All right, the closing night of the Democratic National Convention, politics-palooza coming to an end. That night last night to bolster Hillary Clinton's credentials to be commander in chief. At the same time, speakers tried to reintroduce her as a wife, a mother, as a woman. We'll bring back our panel Josh Rogin, Bob Beckel, and John Phillips. Josh, I never got a reaction from you. Overall, how did you rate her speech last night, her performance last night? What letter grade do you give Hillary Clinton on arguably the most important 60 minutes of her life?

ROGIN: It was definitely B plus, A minus. I mean she exceeded expectations, right? She didn't make any big errors. She came across as relatively genuine and authentic for Hillary Clinton. She noted that, in her career in public service, the public part has always been difficult for her and that's true, if you talk to people who have been following her and reporting on her and dealing with her, she's never, ever liked doing speeches, but she's worked hard to get better at it.

She hit all the points. I thought she went a little long. You know, I thought it could have been a little bit tighter, but overall, you know, no big mistakes, she made her arguments, she had the crowd with her throughout the whole thing, you got to give her relatively high marks.

BERMAN: Now, that's Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton undoubtedly the headliner last night and in some way it's hard to believe anybody else could breakthrough on a night when the nominee his or herself speaks but someone did breakthrough last night and a lot of people are talking about this morning and that's Khizr Khan, who is the father of a solider, an officer who was killed serving in Iraq. An officer who was Muslim who joined after 9/11 to go fight, and this man was absolutely scathing toward Donald Trump and had that entire audience, and I think a lot of the viewing public watching in kind of stunned silence. Let's watch him.

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KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF DECEASED MUSLIM U.S. SOLDIER: Donald Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you, have you even read the United States constitution? I will -- I will gladly lend you my copy.

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BERMAN: You know, and then he said to Donald Trump, have you ever even been to Arlington National Cemetery. You have sacrificed no one and nothing, he said. You know, John Phillips, you're a Donald Trump supporter, how does Donald Trump respond to that?

PHILLIPS: Well, that was the theme of each convention, wasn't it? Each side presented the other side in that light. It was Hitler versus Bambi. In the Republican convention, we had all the people who were killed by illegal aliens. We had the references to police officers that were killed in the line of duty. When you go to the Democratic Party Convention, you get the flipside of that, you have the mothers whose children were killed by gun violence, you had this man, so you have the two different narratives that are being put out there and as Josh said, two completely different world views.

ROMANS: And that's what you get from conventions, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

ROMANS: You get the presentation of the party, you get what the candidate's package is and what the support -- I mean the tones of each were so incredibly difficult.

Bob Beckel, I want to listen to Chelsea Clinton because she introduced her mom last night and Chelsea Clinton's somebody who grew up in the White House and notoriously private but she is a mother, she is a proud daughter, and let's listen to what she talks about how her mother does it. Her whole life, her mother has been on the front page. Listen.

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CHELSEA CLINTON, HILLARY CLINTON'S DAUGTHER: People ask me all the time, how did she do it?

[03:20:04] How does she keep going amid the sound and the fury of politics? Here's how. It's because she never, ever forgets who she's fighting for.

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ROMANS: How do you think she helped humanize, make her mom more relatable last night? Was she successful? BECKEL: I think it was a wise decision on their part to have her

introduce her. You know, she did not necessarily come across as an Arkansas kid, you know? I mean it's a New York child. But I think it was the right thing to do. But look, humanizing Hillary Clinton is an important thing to do, but dehumanizing Donald Trump is the most important thing to do for the Democrats. And I think in terms of that, and particularly national security issues, Trump thinks he's got the corner on that. I don't think he does at all. In fact, in the end, I think it's going to be the national security issues that bring Trump down.

BERMAN: Well in fact he will play this later in the show but General John Allen gave a very forceful speech last night, the type of speech you don't normally see, Bob Beckel, at a Democratic convention so we'll get to that in a little bit. Stick around, guys. We do have some breaking news this morning

Two police officers shot in San Diego. We'll give you to new breaking details next.

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[03:25:37] BERMAN: All right, we do have some breaking news this morning. Two police officers shot overnight in San Diego. Looking at live pictures right now from the scene. Police officials say they are actively looking for t shooter or shooters. Residents in the city's Southcrest area have been ordered to shelter in place. Officials say the condition of the two officers, unknown at this point. We're going to bring you the latest details as we get them in here

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour. The sky is the limit. Hillary Clinton making history, accepting the Democratic nomination for president. Did she do enough? Did she do enough to convince Americans to unify behind her? That's next.

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