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President Elect of the United States is Donald Trump; Clinton is Expected to Deliver Concession Speech Shortly. Aired 10:30-11a ET.

Aired November 09, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes he is. He will be the 45th president of the United States. Jeff Zeleny, standby, we're going to get back to you. With us now, CNN's many have rested(ph), our Senior Political Analyst David Gergen, our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger, and our Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash. Also joining us, our Senior Political Correspondent Brianna Keilar, who's joining us from New York. Brianna, a lot of us remember - remember the speech she delivered more than eight years ago when she said, "I wanted to break that ceiling," when she lost to then-senator Barack Obama, did not get the democratic presidential nomination. She delivered a powerful address here in Washington that day. This is going to be different, because at that point she still looked forward to a significant political future. I suspect she's not looking forward to much of a political future right now.

BRIANA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, and it's still sort of unknown exactly how - where she moves forward from this, Wolf. But to put a point on that, that was the speech where she talked about the cracks in the glass ceiling and the entire reason, aside from the fact that it could accommodate a large celebration, the entire the Javits Center was chosen last night was because it has a big, beautiful glass ceiling. And so it was supposed to serve as this visual for her cracking the glass ceiling. And in the end, it was just this very sad, what was supposed to be a party, of just people who were just crying and shocked and leaving and emptying confetti cannons of confetti back into boxes.

But so we're expecting now a very different scene and she's expected - we've all been told - to be gracious, to talk about trying to heal the country. But it's a tall order and also just sort of, I think, underlying that is just how many divides there are, both in the democratic party - we heard a little bit certainly from Jeff talking about Sanders supporters and some of their concerns. I've heard that too, a lot of anger. But there is just such a divide that we do expect her to talk about certainly healing those divides, but it's not something you can just spackle over. So this is really just, you know, this is just going to be, I think, a step along that path.

BLITZER: You were there, Brianna, last night at the Javits Center, and your reported how that mood shift as the minutes and then the hours went by and that Donald Trump was picking up states that polls suggested he was not necessarily going to pick up. And then at the end, she made a decision she was not going to address the thousands of supporters who had gathered there. John Podesta, her campaign manager, instead came out and said, "She'll say something tomorrow." Walk us through the background, why she decided, even after telephoning, calling Donald Trump and conceding and graciously congratulating him, why she decided at 2 a.m. last night not to address her supporters.

KEILAR: I think that it was just so stunning for Hillary Clinton and for those around her, what had happened, Wolf. I mean, I heard descriptions of what they were going through, that they were despondent. And actually what we were hearing was going on behind the scenes was reflected entirely by what we were seeing there at Javits Center. People who had been so relaxed and they had been happy. They were getting beers, they were getting glasses of wine and just waiting for Hillary Clinton and then all of a sudden that turned to concern and then that turned to people crying. That turned to people sitting and waiting. That turned to people leaving because they were so upset that they couldn't handle being there waiting to see what would happen. But I think that it was in a way such a turn for Hillary Clinton and for those around her to go from what they planned, which was a big party to then a concession speech, that I think they made that decision that she would make the call and then sort of on her own terms, but in a way taking some time, waiting until those final results from Michigan and Wisconsin came in. Remember, it was so late in the night by the time we had that, and so that was the timeline that they worked out. Because Hillary Clinton coming out on that stage which was beautifully appointed here with a map of the United States for a very different scene, instead taking it down a notch, going to a different location today in what is instead going to be a more subdued goodbye to those who have spent so much time working on her campaign and also just an acknowledgement of just what a divisive election this has been and sort of how she wants to have her final message on that be about unity.

BLITZER: Brianna, we're going to get back to you. Stand by. Gloria, Donald Trump in his speech, his victory speech last night, which was relatively short. He was very gracious to Hillary Clinton. He was very pleased with the phone call she made conceding, congratulating him. He congratulated her on her service to the United States over the years. It was a very different tone that what we have heard for months from him about crooked Hillary.

[10:35:00] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: No, he said that we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her public service and he talked about binding the wounds. And he said it's time for all Americans to come together and I think that's what you're going to hear from Hillary Clinton today. This is an unexpected development in American politics and I think when we take a step back we will understand that what Donald Trump did here was extraordinary. What he did was rip the Band-Aid off of American politics. And things that had been simmering, at least to our knowledge in the media, quite frankly, things that had been simmering outside the country and around this country in rural America, people who felt left behind by their own party and by their government came out and voted in numbers that astonished even the Trump analytics people with whom I was speaking last night. They had no idea. Their internal polls were showing them up 10 points in Wisconsin and

they didn't believe it. They thought something was wrong. So what Donald Trump did was create a new coalition and his challenge now is to take that more populist coalition that he created and combine it and meld it with a conservative coalition in the House and Senate and try and come up with some way to govern. That isn't going to be easy, but the republicans that I've heard from throughout the evening and even this morning were saying, "Look, we have to do this. We need to do this for the good of the country and that's what - and that's what we intend to do."

BLITZER: You know, Dana, this speech from Hillary Clinton will be very significant. It will be a speech to the American people, but also specifically to her supporters; so many of them are so angry right now. It will be followed in a little bit, 12:15 Eastern, the President of the United States will address the American people and he will speak, he spoke with Donald Trump earlier this morning, invited him which is the tradition to come to the White House on Thursday to begin this formal transition between now and January 20th when Donald Trump will be inaugurated the 45th president of the United States. And another speech coming up sort of in between by house speaker Paul Ryan; he's going to be speaking out as well. He was lukewarm at best as far as Donald Trump is concerned. This is an important day because these speeches will set the tone.

BORGER: Absolutely. And Donald Trump started it last night. He started it by setting the tone in a very gracious, very conciliatory, very, you know, it's time to come together. The whole crooked Hillary, throw - lock her up was like a distant memory already even though some people in his crowd were screaming it just hours before. But he put that aside, as a leader should do and does when he or she wins or loses. And that was your point about the speech that we're going to hear momentarily from Hillary Clinton. I always have believed that the concession speech is often, in our democracy with a sort of, you know, civilized peaceful transition, the concession speech is more important than the victory speech. Because it is the signal to the people who don't want the president who was just elected, this is our country, this is democracy, this is what it's all about, we have to respect the office of the presidency and learn to respect the president.

BLITZER: David Gergen, that's democracy, a peaceful transfer of power after an election. This was a free and fair election here in the United States. Donald Trump won it fairly. He is the president elect of the United States, and if you're talking about concession speeches, I thought John McCain eight years ago, Mitt Romney four years ago, they delivered very powerful, moving concession speeches. I don't know if Hillary Clinton has been reading those speeches, but I assume she'll do something similar.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: She didn't have a lot of time to read them, did she? Such a surprise. But I do think that she will not only be gracious but classy. You know, this is a woman who has tried for 25 years to become president of the United States, prepared for this moment, thought she would get there, must have a deep sense of rejection, and must - and the whole sense of being disillusioned about what the country is all about. There are a lot of her supporters who woke up today disillusioned. And I think she wants to channel that negative energy into something more positive. I do think we're blessed that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are all going to be - are all going to be gracious in these opening statements and help set a tone.

BLITZER: Yes, and President Obama remembers eight years ago when there was a transition and he became president. That was very, very useful. He was a junior senator from Illinois and all of a sudden he's the president elect of the United States. Donald Trump really has no government experience at all and now he's going to be the commander in chief and the president of the United States. And you've got to give him an enormous amount of credit. He came from nowhere. People discounted him. They belittled him when he was running for the republican presidential nomination against 16 or 17 republican governors and senators with a lot of money, a lot of advertising. He beat them all one by one by one and then they underestimated him. The democrats certainly did, the Clinton campaign certainly did in these months leading up to last night.

[10:40:15] MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: They absolutely did. And, you know, I think there's going to be - there certainly is a lot of soul searching going on in the democratic party as well about, you know, how this happened and whether Hillary Clinton was the strongest candidate to go up against Donald Trump. I think that there's so much pressure though on Donald Trump now who has not been particularly specific about most of the things that he wants to do, with the exception of a deportation force and a wall. There's so much pressure on him now to kind of lay out an agenda. And there's pressure on republicans to be a check on those ideas that they did not agree with. So it's going to be a fascinating scene that plays out.

BORGER: I totally agree with you that he's been very vague on most of the policy prescriptions that you usually hear a lot of details from presidential candidates, but that actually gives him a lot of running room now. A lot of running room to work, never mind the democrats, but with his fellow republicans who will control congress to do deals on things that they might not do with another republican leader; certainly they wouldn't do with, for example on the budget with John Boehner, because they didn't trust him, even Paul Ryan. And so this gives them an opportunity and him an opportunity, especially if he, you know, has some good will after he nominates a conservative to the supreme court, probably overturns executive orders, then he's going to, you know - there's going to be a lot more room for give and take with some of it(ph).

BLITZER: The first day, Gloria, that he's going to be the president of the United States, January 20th, the inauguration. During all of these speeches at these rallies, "On day one, I'm going to remove the Iran nuclear deal...On day one, I'm going to do this."

BORGER: Well, he's going to reverse executive actions.

BLITZER: All of President Obama's executive rules.

BORGER: Well, there are certain things that he can do - that he can do on day one. And I bet that those are the things that he will do on day one. I think it's also going to be interesting to watch how the democratic party reacts to him, because it's not unlike Barack Obama. When Barack Obama came in, he was kind of a celebrity and so is Donald Trump. He had control of the congress and so does Donald Trump. And I think that what Obama did was say he wanted to be a transformational president. People who come into office very often over interpret their mandate. I would argue maybe Barack Obama did that. And we'll have to see what Donald Trump does, what he's able to achieve with his own party, and how the democrats react. Because the republicans from day one, Mitch McConnell said our first job is to get rid of Barack Obama. We'll see what happens.

BLITZER: The congratulatory messages to the president elector coming in. Former president George H. W. Bush two minutes ago just tweeted, "Barbara and I congratulate Donald Trump, wish him well as he guides America forward as our next president. His family is in our prayers." Very nice tweet, very nice message from former president George H.W. Bush. The Bush family, as we know, especially after Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, was soundly defeated by Donald Trump. They have not been out there supporting trump.

GERGEN: No, no, no, the Bush family has real anima(ph) stored toward Trump, but I think they're graciously going to put this aside. I do disagree that this parallels to Obama. The Obama inauguration was one of the biggest celebrations I've ever witnessed in this country and there was a sense that this is a country that was inclusive, that would bring everybody in. This is a - we're heading toward a time when Donald Trump right from the beginning has held us together, but underneath a lot of this some of his aides are already saying things like, "We've got enemies. We've got long memories. We'll remember who was with us."

BORGER: The democrats. What will the democrats do? Republicans felt that way about Barack Obama.

GERGEN: Well, they didn't feel threatened.

BORGER: I'm not so sure.

GERGEN: I mean, you've got a lot of democrats who feel personally threatened. Women feel we're going backward. Minorities feel fearful, insecure, that this is not the country that they thought they were living in.

BORGER: I'm not so sure that a lot of people didn't feel that way about Barack Obama. I'm not so sure they expressed it as publically.

BLITZER: You remember all those critics, all those haters of the president who didn't even think he was legitimate because he supposedly wasn't even born in the United States so that was a pretty high percentage of that and you remember who led that birther movement at that time.

GERGEN: Barack Obama never sort of involved or like - "I might take away some of your liberties. I may, you know, attack you on things that are very precious to you." I just feel like this is a very different environment than what we went through in 2008 - (INAUDIBLE)

[10:44:47] BLITZER: Well let's see if the president and Hillary Clinton and the others now can heal a bit as we go toward the inauguration on January 20th. We're waiting for Hillary Clinton. She is going to be delivering her concession speech. She stayed at the Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan a few blocks away. The Windham New Yorker Hotel. That's where her staff, her supporters, her friends, her fundraisers, they have fathered there. They are all very, very sad. They're coming to grips with the new reality that Hillary Clinton will not become the first female president of the United States. The next president of the United States, in a historic moment, will be someone with no government experience at all, Donald J. Trump. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage. We're waiting for Hillary Clinton to deliver her concession speech. She's still over at the Peninsula Hotel where she spent the night, a very short drive over to the Windham New Yorker Hotel. The room there, the ballroom is all set. Her supporters have gathered inside, her fundraisers, her staff. This is going to be a very, very emotional moment for them; also very emotional for Hillary Clinton as well as she concedes and she acknowledges that Donald J. Trump will become the 45th president of the United States. Jeff Zeleny, our Senior Washington Correspondent who has covered Hillary Clinton now from the beginning of her road that she hoped would lead her to the White House. That's not happening. Jeff, I asked you earlier to set the scene. She's running, obviously, a little bit late. Give us some more information. What we're hearing from her aides, what she's likely to say.

[10:55:17] JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she is running a little bit late. But I am told that is because this campaign really had to scramble to set this event up. This is not something that they were planning for. So my colleague Dan Merica is now inside the ballroom and just told me a few moments ago that they are still setting up the risers for people. They have not started allowing a lot of people in yet. Some people are inside. So that's one of the reasons she's running somewhat behind here. She is simply waiting for this event to be set up here, Wolf. But it just goes to show how on- the-fly this moment is. But I think looking back, Wolf, this is not only the end of this campaign, this is the end of her second bid for the presidency and some of the advisors and supporters and friends that I have seen walk through the doors here of this New Yorker hotel have long faces on them for that reason. They have been with her since 2007, throughout this campaign. Wolf, this is not anything that they ever expected would be happening on the day after the election.

BLITZER: Yes, to say they're stunned and overwhelmed is certainly an understatement. We've got a live picture from inside now. They're still setting up. You see the flags over there. You see the podium. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, Hillary Clinton will be leaving one hotel, going to another hotel, and delivering her concession speech.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage. I am Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. We are watching a dramatic development right now, a very dramatic moment, Hillary Clinton about to concede publically. She did privately in a phone conversation with Donald Trump last night, but now she's about to deliver a speech in New York City to her supporters, her staff, her friends, her fundraisers. They've gathered at the Windham New Yorker Hotel. We've got live pictures coming in from there already. She will be delivering this speech with her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine.

This is just the first of several important speeches we're about to hear this morning, the president of the United States shortly after Hillary Clinton delivers her concession speech. He'll be speaking at the White House. We'll of course have live coverage of that. That's now scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Eastern time here in the United States. And the speaker of the house, Paul Ryan, he also has a speech coming up. He's been at best lukewarm as far as Donald Trump is concerned. He will deliver a speech. All of these speeches will be critically important in setting the stage for the transition, the transition from President Obama to the president elect of the United States who will become the president, we're talking about Donald Trump on January 20th, that's inauguration day here in the United States. We've got a team of all of our political analysts and correspondents who've covered these dramatic moments.