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Hillary Clinton Gives Concession Speech; Trump: Time to "Bind the Wounds of Division"; Trump Elected President in Stunning Upset;. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 09, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:16]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining me. Hillary Clinton just minutes from now, delivering her concession speech in one of the most historic upsets in modern presidential history. She's due to speak at the bottom of the hour. And of course we will carry that live for you. Clinton's speech hours after Donald Trump delivered his own as the nation's next president. His win in a word, stunning, going well past the 270 electoral votes needed, crushing Hillary Clinton, her supporters stunned and heartbroken after one of the most polarizing presidential races in our lifetime, President Obama congratulating Trump and due to speak publicly himself later today. A victorious Trump changing tone and calling for a divided nation to unite behind his presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT: Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division. We have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Republican president in 11 years to have such a huge advantage. The GOP now controls both the House and the Senate. And the House under a Trump administration, Trump says he will deliver his campaign promises, stoking great optimism among his supporters and great fears among those who do not see this win coming. We are covering the campaign and the fallout. Let's begin though, with CNN's Jeff Zeleny, he's on the phone from the site of Clinton's speech in just about a half hour. Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Good morning, Carol. We are outside the New Yorker hotel in Midtown Manhattan. I can tell you the scene here is one of disbelief and long faces for Clinton donors, top advisors and rank-and-file staffers. We are watching them walk into the hotel now for what will be a concession speech, the first time we hear from Secretary Clinton, since -- her epic defeat last night.

And just talking to a couple staffers this morning, they say they just simply can't believe this. They say today is not a time for finger pointing. But Carol, I can tell you that has already started. For all the conversation about a divide in the Republican Party and what might have happened had Donald Trump not won, the recriminations inside the Democratic Party will be just as severe and deep. They say now is not a time for finger pointing. Her speech today will be focused on healing and will urge Democrats to support this president- elect. But Carol, the looks on people's faces here from Joel Benenson and Jim Margolis, top campaign advisors, they still looked stunned to me. Still look shell-shocked. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Jeff Zeleny reporting live for us. Now let's turn our attention to the Trump camp. CNN's Sara Murray is here with that. Good morning, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Well, even this morning, some Trump aides, Trump advisors, are still stunned at his ability to pull out this victory last night. And we did hear a very different tone from Donald Trump, a man who has inspired chants of "lock her up" about his political rival at his rallies. Take a listen to what he said, though, last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us, it's about us, on our victory and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she fought very hard. Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time. And we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: And if it seemed like hard work to pull off a political revolution, now Donald Trump has got to build a government. This is an avenue that's been entirely separate from his campaign planning. Donald Trump did not really want to be that involved in the nitty- gritty of transition planning. He wanted to focus on the task at hand, which is winning the election. So his transition team has sort of been doing their own thing, laying out a first 100 day plan for Donald Trump, going through different agencies looking at for instance, regulations Donald Trump could remove, repeal unilaterally and also sort of hunting through names of people who would be suitable cabinet officials for Donald Trump so that he will have different lists of people to choose from for each of these different agencies. Now, it's very early in the process and Trump's own aides says that hold on, give us a couple hours at least to let this victory sink in before we immediately delve into transition planning but there's no doubt that all of this effort is going to start up very quickly and earnest, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Sara Murray reporting live for us this morning from New York. Thank you. So let's talk about that and more. Frank Sesno is here. He's the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs for George Washington University. Maeve Reston joins me. She's CNN's national political reporter.

[10:05:16] Lynn Sweet is here, Washington Bureau Chief of the "Chicago Sun-Times." And David Gergen joins me again. He's a former presidential advisor to Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. And Ryan Lizza is also here, Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker."

So, David, I want to start with you. Hillary Clinton is about to give this big concession speech in just about 25 minutes or so. Her closest aides will be in the audience. It won't be a huge gigantic affair. What do you suppose she will say?

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR TO NIXON, FORD, REAGAN AND CLINTON: I think she will be extremely gracious. In 2008, she suffered a stinging defeat to Barack Obama and when she pulled out and conceded, she was very gracious. That was a speech in which she famously talked about the glass ceiling, said we have at least put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling. But she threw her full support behind him. You know, and she said in that speech in 2008, I have been in public service for four decades. This is now five decades. This is a woman who's devoted her life to trying to make it by the country as she sees it.

And I think that she's going to go out that way. She's going to go out on a high note and she will continue to be a force. I think she could calm a lot of the fears that are out there, to try to give people something constructive way to take all their emotions and move forward. I think that's going to be very important too.

COSTELLO: I want to bring Brianna Keilar into the conversation too because Brianna, I know you've covered the Clinton campaign and I want to ask you about you know, some people said, why didn't she just give her concession speech last night. Why not go out and get it over with as you know, as is traditional, why wait until today?

BRIANNA KEAILER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think part of it was because she was waiting for some of those final states that we saw come in. I think that you know, from lessons past, and I think there was certainly a realization pretty -- I don't want to say pretty early but at a certain point last night well before we heard from John Podesta that the writing was on the wall, that there wasn't a pathway forward. But just waiting for that official acknowledgment I think of Wisconsin and Michigan and sort of where those were going. But also, a lot of people Carol, looked at, you know, not wanting to rush this but I think they also looked at the stage that was set up at Javits, it was a very different situation.

And I think they also looked back to other times, where for instance, John Kerry, waiting until the next morning to do something. I think they felt like, Hillary Clinton making that concession phone call was enough to really stem criticism of her not acknowledging the Democratic process that she had railed against Donald Trump for not talking about respecting.

COSTELLO: And Lynn, Mr. Trump in his victory speech last night, he was gracious toward Hillary Clinton and the crowd, they clapped, right? So how long do you think that will last?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": It depends so much on what he does. Also, you know, he did that near 3:00 a.m. And I -- who isn't a human being and doesn't blame Hillary Clinton for saying maybe I do want to wait, really talk to some viewers, supporters who may be up. So I think it will depend what he does. Is he really going to continue saying, he wants to call a special prosecutor on day one to lock her up? If he keeps up with that language, then no matter how gracious a speech Hillary Clinton makes, which I agree with David, is exactly what she's going to do. Remember, when they go low, we go high, she's going to go out that way. But he has to decide if he wants to be president and act like it now. So it will last as long as he does not continue to polarize, incite and inflame already raw feelings and nerves.

COSTELLO: Well, Maeve, Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, said that wasn't discussed, that you know, they were going to take some sort of legal action against Hillary Clinton, but she didn't say it was off the table.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: I think that we should have no idea what to expect from Donald Trump after the course of this campaign. He also went out there and talked about suing all of his female accusers. So will that happen? I don't know. --

COSTELLO: You know, also the Trump University trial's going to go forward on the 28th of November. So he may actually appear and testify.

RESTON: Right. I mean, I think that there's so much pressure building on him now, especially because Republicans are in such a powerful position in Washington, to really deliver. I don't know what that will be exactly. I mean, there are a lot of voters out there, even people who supported him who never thought that he was actually going to build the wall, and there were people who thought he was a closet Democrat. I mean, the really interesting thing about Donald Trump is that he has been such a sort of empty vessel in a way in the sense that we don't know exactly what his plans are. He hasn't laid that all out. This campaign has been about personality and it's really, there's a lot of pressure on him right now to come forward and explain what he would do.

[10:10:16] COSTELLO: So Frank, I don't want to take away from Mr. Trump because it was an astounding victory, right? It's in a historic victory. His supporters are thrilled. So maybe we will see the real Donald Trump now that he is the president-elect.

FRANK SESNO, DIRECTOR SCHOOL OF MEDIA AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well, there's been a lot of talk about what a new day this is for America and for American politics. It's a very new day for Donald Trump, too. He's never had a job like this. Let's remember, he's never been in government. He's never had to make and build constituencies and win people over and create alliances and deal with opponents who are not going away. You can't fire people because they shoot from the sidelines. There are a lot of surprises still in store, his taxes, we going to see his taxes? When do they come out? What does he say? He has never had to manage all these moving parts. And so the surprises there will matter. He discovers now that every word, right, David? Every word he utters, it's not the candidate from the trail throwing bombs anymore. It's the president-elect who everybody, leaders around the world, are listening to for nuance, for direction, for hints, for suggestions to where he's going.

COSTELLO: And it is possible - he only has to grow into the role, right, Ryan Lizza? I mean, he's already going to -- I think he's going to start getting intelligence briefings right away.

RYAN LIZZA, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT "THE NEW YORKER": Yes. Look, it's going to take a lot of work, frankly, from a lot of Republican leaders who opposed Donald Trump. I mean, some of the brightest minds in the Republican Party are the ones that sat on the side lines. And didn't want -- were in this sort of never Trump movement and a lot of those folks hopefully will get a hearing with Donald Trump and some of the Republican leaders have been his most vociferous critics. Hopefully, will be a little bit of a make-up session there because let's be honest, Donald Trump is going to need help. He's never done this and I don't think, you know, I don't think he's quite prepared for the job he's about to get. And you know it's in everyone's benefit, of course, that he doesn't fail.

COSTELLO: Right. Here's why we keep talking about this. Because when you take a look at some of the exit polling, when voters were asked about feelings if Mr. Trump won, 20 percent said they were concerned and 36 percent, they were scared. If you look at the exit polling, you will see how divided our nation really is along minority lines, along gender lines, still. So David, that's a tall order for Mr. Trump.

GERGEN: It is. It is. I would think that he would go slow about saying exactly what he's going to do. The most important thing now is to gather people around him who can make this transition go forward. He's got to have a small team doing that. And one of the issues, I think we have to sort out quickly is he did this almost as a one-man show, remarkable. We have never seen a candidate, you know, while she was traveling around with an entourage and all sorts of stars, entertainment stars, you know, he was out there alone. And so, I think he - that's his tendency to govern that way. But Washington is a place, where you get more progress you collaborate, if you work in a collaborative way with other people. Who is he going to collaborate with? He has got Jeff Sessions there in the Senate. Who's going to be in his ear helping him to navigate this? Because given so, it's such new terrain to him. He's going to need a couple to help him along.

COSTELLO: Well, the good -- the better news is John Kasich tweeted, and I'm going to have to get it on my phone because it disappeared here. So, John Kasich tweeted saying the American people have spoken and it's time to come together, congratulations, president-elect. Mitt Romney tweeted out congratulations and it's time to come together as Republicans because Donald Trump was elected president.

SWEET: That's what we do in America, which was kind of what everyone was saying to Donald Trump when he said, if I think the election is rigged, I may not concede. Well, now he's not complaining about rigged. Another point I want to make, though, is a thing to watch is how he approaches Congress. They are not his employees. They are not his board of directors. You cannot fire them. And they can obstruct everything he wants to do, particularly the Democrats in the Senate. We have no idea yet if he's a student of the body. If he understands how it works and one other quick thought, he gets a lot of his, let me call it a sugar high, from going out and getting these big rallies. He wouldn't have that for a while.

COSTELLO: He doesn't need 60 votes to repeal things. He needs 60 votes to replace things. And that's what it's going to be. Is he really going to tear up the Iran agreement? Is he really going to repeal Obamacare?

SESNO: And this is where this brand-new job becomes brand new big. Because he not only needs to manage the Senate and the House, he's got to manage NATO and China. And he's got to deal with -- how is he really going to be read by Putin. Every single thing he says and does now is under a global microscope. And recognizing that and speaking to that and thinking in that way,

[10:15:16] processing that, David and I were talking in the hall earlier comparing this to the Reagan moment because when Reagan came in, lots of people thought, Europeans thought he was a cowboy, didn't know what he was doing, grade B actor, but he had a big and impressive kitchen cabinet around him. Major advisors who has been around -

COSTELLO: But he was also a governor.

SESNO: He had been a governor, big, big, big difference. Who is his kitchen cabinet? Is it Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie?

RESTON: He doesn't listen to people. That it's very hard to get him to take advice. I mean remember all these conversations we've had this entire campaign about you know, how people would urge his children to go to him and get him to stop using, you know, such divisive language. So I think that is, you know, a big tough. And I think there's also a big conversation that is starting today, you know, soul searching within the Democratic Party as well, and sifting through these exit polls. You know, there was not a huge surge of women who came out to support Hillary Clinton. You know, we thought there was going to be this huge Latino wave and sometimes exit polls can be wrong, but you know, there are a lot of people out there that are going to argue that Bernie Sanders was the stronger candidate. And this may involve in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

COSTELLO: And Brianna, it does lend credence to you know, Donald Trump kept saying that the system is rigged, right? Well, if all the polls were wrong and we are all surprised that this happened, maybe voters will say Donald Trump was right.

KEILAR: They could believe that or you know the idea just that the polls completely didn't show something and that happens sometimes. You know, I now look back on a moment in the primary season Carol, where -- and I see it entirely through different eyes now, and that was in March on the night of the Michigan primary. I was covering Bernie Sanders in Florida. I was where the story was not supposed to be. He had a rally and it wrapped up early because he didn't expect to win. I mean, the polls had Hillary Clinton leading in Michigan by big double digits and sort of near the end it seemed like maybe it would tighten, but then all of a sudden he beat her. It was the biggest primary upset in those early months. And it told us a whole lot, I think, about where voters were in Michigan, working class voters who sent us a signal then, who sent the signal out last night as well with Donald Trump, and it was something that really you know, couldn't be ignored and you know, polls didn't necessarily show it. So I think that there were -- it's just something that is hard to measure and there's so many different things going on. We saw that then, we saw that last night as well.

COSTELLO: I just want to tell our viewers what they're watching. They put up a screen so you can see Hillary Clinton leaving the Peninsula Hotel, which is where she's been staying, which she stayed overnight. She's going to make her way to the Windham which I think is about 20 blocks away from Midtown Manhattan, forgive me if I'm wrong about that, but it's not a long drive. Because her speech is due to take place in just about ten minutes. I just wanted to tell our viewers what they were seeing. You were saying, Lynn?

SWEET: I think, one thing to look at, all the people in the Senate, who I think Trump will have his eye on will be Bernie Sanders. They might try and do something on trade. That is the first person and it's logical, it's reaching across the aisle. Bernie Sanders' new political operation called Our Revolution, when they issued a statement last night they had some conciliatory language towards the elites who are out of touch. So I would keep an eye on that. Because that would be a logical move, I think.

GERGEN: That's true. But that's where the collisions begin. Because if they start moving on trade, I can't tell you how terrifying Western Europe is already of what's coming. And financial markets are extremely nervous. But there's a real sense, what have you guys done in the United States? -- This is your BREXIT you know, which hugely disruptive in Europe. And they're going to argue if you really embrace these trade policies, you're going to throw the world into a deeper session.

COSTELLO: I got to end this here. We've got to move on because we do expect President Obama to issue a statement around 12:15 Eastern Time. That will also be fascinating because President Obama very much wanted Hillary Clinton to carry on his legacy, right? So, what does he say now, right? He worked hard and ultimately failed. So, Frank Sesno, Ryan Lizza, Maeve Reston, Lynn Sweet, David Gergen and Brianna Keilar, thanks to all of you.

Part of understanding Donald Trump's historic win is understanding who turned out to vote. Let's bring in CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans. She has that. Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, the assumption was Donald Trump's base was limited to white men and Hillary Clinton would do much better with women and minorities, but there were some surprises when it comes to race and gender, perhaps the biggest, Carol.

Trump did better with blacks and Latinos than Mitt Romney did four years ago. Clinton won those groups, but not by an Obama margin, not by enough. Nationwide, 12 percent of the electorate is African- American. Clinton won 88 percent. Trump 8 percent. And while that's a huge margin, of course, it's -- five points less than President Obama in 2012.

[10:20:16] Now, Trump narrowed the Democrats' advantage with Latinos as well, 65 percent of Latinos breaking for Clinton, 29 percent for Trump. President Obama did eight percentage points better in 2012. Trump also did well with these groups in battleground states. Look at Florida. Almost 20 percent of the electorate there tell us they are Latino, Trump garnering 34 percent of that vote. That's part of the reason he won Florida. 63 percent of that group breaking for Clinton but that was not enough, Carol.

Some interesting developments when you look at gender and education. Among college educated white males, Trump won 54 percent of the vote to Clinton's 39 percent. The gap was even larger for white males without a college degree. This is a group that really latches on to Trump's message. 72 percent break for Trump, just 23 percent for Clinton.

And finally, Trump won 62 percent of white non-college educated women compared to Clinton's 34 percent. So, this shows you across the country, demographics that Clinton was hoping for did not show up in big enough numbers to vote for her the way the campaign had wanted and planned for. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to talk about that a little later in the "Newsroom." Christine Romans thank you so much.

Coming up, we are moments away from hearing from Hillary Clinton for the first time since Trump's stunning win. We will bring you her concession speech after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:47] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome back to our special coverage. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. We are just minutes away from Hillary Clinton's concession speech. It will be the first time we have seen or heard from the candidate since her historic and stunning defeat here in the United States. Let's get straight to our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, joining us outside the Windham New Yorker Hotel where Hillary Clinton will be speaking any moment now. Jeff, set the scene for us.

ZELENY: Wolf, I can tell you Secretary Clinton will be addressing her supporters. Really we have seen a stream of top advisors of the campaign, many of whom have become familiar to those watching this campaign very carefully. Joel Benenson, who's a top strategist and pollster, Jim Margolis, Minyon Moore, all veterans of the Clinton administration, filing into this hotel here, as well as rank-and-file staffers.

Several dozen, maybe even a hundreds of staffers inside are going to be greeting Secretary Clinton when she gives, what I'm told is a thank you address as well as an address urging Democrats and others to support this president and move forward. I'm told this is going to be a forward-looking address.

And Wolf, I do not believe it will begin momentarily. I believe that Secretary Clinton is not quite here yet. They are still screening people and people will be coming in. But Wolf, it is a sense of disbelief here. You see people hugging, crying. It's still every -- many Democrats here. Everybody is shell-shocked, as they were last evening at the Javits Center, when they walked out in disbelief.

But there are some questions now. What did they miss? What could they have spotted out happening in the country? But clearly Wolf, in the words of one advisor to me, we underestimated Donald Trump. And I think that is the way to sum it up most succinctly. Wolf?

BLITZER: So, Jeff, I think it's fair to say they were stunned by the results last night. Is that fair to say?

ZELENY: Wolf, absolutely. Stunned does not even begin to describe it. You try and think of a word that would describe it. And they simply were not preparing for this. This is you know, her second bid for the presidency and you know, they definitely were looking forward. I was told even by one source that she was prepared to name her White House Chief of Staff. Her transition was in place, which is typical for a presidential candidate.

But Wolf, the aides were confident of their path to 270. They were not exactly sure which states they would win. They were worried about North Carolina but they were confident about holding that blue wall. But Wolf, you have to wonder, Secretary Clinton, I traveled with her across the country for the last year and a half. She did not go to Wisconsin one time in the general election and ultimately, lost that state. And I can recall President Obama in 2008 and 2012 going there frequently. So they campaigned far less in some of these blue battleground states. They simply were focused on expanding the map. At the end of the day, they needed to be focusing on holding the map. So, it was a failure across the board to recognize this rise of Donald Trump, the anger in the country here.

And Democrats, Wolf, are also asking questions. I talked to a top advisor to Bernie Sanders, asking him for his comment. They said we have nothing polite to say right now. So, Wolf, that is what's coming up here. These divisions in the Democratic Party will be laid bare by this as well.

BLITZER: And just to be precise in terms of the format, she will go to a stage, a microphone, will someone introduce her? Do we know that? Or is she just going to go out there and speak?

ZELENY: Well, Wolf, I know she will be joined by Sen. Tim Kaine, her running mate, along this journey here. He will be with her here at the hotel. And she will be greeted, I'm told, by applause from all of these staffers and supporters. I'm not sure if someone will introduce her or not. But of course, the key point of this is to give a public concession speech. She made a private phone call to Donald Trump last night. It was a brief and cordial phone call. But this morning her address will be you know, her main opportunity here to say what she has to say before she takes her leave and Donald Trump moves forward to become the 45th President of the United States. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, he is. He will be the 45th President of the United States. Jeff Zeleny, stand by. We're to get back to you.