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Clinton Concedes; Trump Elected President; Stock Market Tumble and Rebound; Trump Visits White House. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 09, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:17] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And take a look for yourself here. Live pictures, Washington, D.C., blue skies. The sun is up. The sun is up over the White House here in Washington. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We are live in the nation's capital with CNN's special live coverage the day after this historic presidential election. Thank you so much for being with me.

Let me just bring you up to speed. Moments ago, Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech after her defeat in the most spectacular and stunning political shakeup in modern American history. Donald Trump will become the 45th president of the United States. Hillary Clinton lost to a billionaire who has never held public office and who will now be the first political novice to run the most powerful nation in the world since Dwight D. Eisenhower won 63 years ago.

Here was Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country. But I feel - I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together. This vast, diverse, creative, unruly energized campaign. You represent the best of America and being your candidate has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

I know how disappointed you feel, because I feel it, too. And so do tens of millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is painful, and it will be for a long time.

Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power and we don't just respect that, we cherish it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go now to Joe Johns in Hillary Clinton's hometown of Chappaqua, New York.

Joe Johns, I mean she said it herself, this is painful, it will be for a long time. We saw her - some tears from some of her staffers, hugging those who have been so close with her, especially for these last two years. And we just learned Bush 43, he called her up, didn't he?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And I've got to say, I was there for a while in the Javits Center last night. Really just a pall came over the room as the returns started coming in and it became clear that Donald Trump was staying close or leading in a lot of states that the Clinton campaign had expected to do better in.

Here in Chappaqua today it is raining, perhaps apropos. I was struck also today by a number of things in Hillary Clinton's speech. I think the line about keeping an open mind, giving Donald Trump a chance to lead. The sense of the presidential candidate on the losing end of an election bowing, if you will, to the notion of respecting the office of president of the United States. And she also reached out to those supporters who had expected so much to see the election last night of the first woman president, essentially telling them that we had not been able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling, as she put it, but told them to keep heart.

Here in Chappaqua, as well, a lot of shock talking to people in the streets. This is the home of Hillary Clinton. Many people expressing astonishment at what happened last night. And interesting, one man I spoke to on the street calling this, among other things, a revolt without guns. So the country has a lot of healing to do and it's going to be up to Donald Trump to try to take them along part of the way.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Point to the line from Senator Kaine, Faulkner, "they killed us but they ain't whooped us yet." Thank you, Joe Johns, in Chappaqua, in the rain.

Now the transition begins. President Obama, we know, called Donald Trump early this morning to offer his congratulations. He also invited the president-elect to the White House tomorrow. A short time ago, President Obama spoke from the Rose Garden about the results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT: I've 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 - she fought very hard.

[14:05:14] I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me the past - of which there were a few people - I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. But, remember, eight years ago, President Bush and I had some pretty significant differences. We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the

country. The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. And over the next few months, we are going to show that to the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The transition plan to assume the role as president of the United States has been delivered now to Trump Tower. Within that plan includes a plan for Trump's first 100 days in office.

Let's go to MJ Lee, our CNN national politics reporter, who is outside Trump Tower in New York City. We know, of course, the president has invited the president-elect to this White House come tomorrow. Walk me through what we know thus far, MJ, of the Trump transition.

MJ LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, look, Brooke, I can tell you that the scene right now outside of Trump Tower is pretty chaotic. They've actually closed down the sidewalk right outside of the entrance to the building. That's why we're reporting from across the street. And there are just tons of spectators here taking their photos, including protesters as well as supporters, really just sort of taking in the fact that the man that is inside Trump Tower behind me right now is going to be our next president.

And, Brooke, I was actually thinking about the last time that I was reporting outside of Trump Tower. It was about four and a half weeks ago, the day after the "Access Hollywood" tape had come out, remember Trump spent all day the next day huddled inside with his advisors and the fallout from that tape was so serious and it was so close to the election that a lot of Republicans had said "this race is over," including some inside Donald Trump's own campaign. And now here we are, a month later, Donald Trump defying all expectations he will be our next president.

We did hear earlier parts of Donald Trump's victory speech last night. Obviously, he took a very gracious tone, striking a very conciliatory tone as well. But there is a sense among some of his topped advisors basically that the media got all of this wrong, that the people really did not understand the forces driving Donald Trump's candidacy. I want to play a little sound of what Trump's campaign CEO Steve Bannon said earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, CHAIRMAN OF BREITBART AND CEO OF TRUMP CAMPAIGN (voice- over): If you listen to Breitbart news daily and, you know, read the pages of Breitbart, you know, you're not surprised this morning. If you read "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" and "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Financial Times of London," you're - I think for the audiences, I think because I know they refer to your - to audience members as stupid and don't know what's going on and, you know, you're all -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Klansmen, Steve, we're all Klansmen. Closet Klansmen. BANNON: Yes, all these names (ph) (INAUDIBLE). The same - it's the

same thing as Brexit, that -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BANNON: They didn't really understand Brexit, and they didn't understand what the underlying desire for people to have control of their own lives that Brexit represented. And I think you saw the same thing last night. And I - I'm just - you know, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see it really (ph) melt (ph) down (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And now that he has been elected, Brooke, of course, Donald Trump has a lot of work to do to build out his administration, to prepare for the transition, and I think a lot of Americans across the country are asking the question of, can he heal the divides that have really come open during this election? It is going to be a tough thing for him to do.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: MJ, thank you so much, outside of Trump Tower there in Manhattan. This red wave of voters who propelled Trump to victory has given him a Republican-controlled Senate and a Republican-controlled House of Representatives. And it is expected a conservative leaning Supreme Court will follow. Hillary Clinton, though, is winning the popular vote. It's important to add that. You heard earlier how Donald Trump reached out to the millions who supported her in his victory speech.

With me now, CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash, CNN's senior political analyst David Gergen, CNN political commentator Mary Katharine Ham, and Susan Page, Washington bureau chief of "USA Today," who can put now her 10th presidential campaign in the history books.

[14:10:09] I almost want to say good morning to everyone just because I know everybody's a bit bleary-eyed. We've all, you know, stayed up a bit too late. Some people are, you know, enthralled by the news today and are so excited. Others are just sad and are working through it.

David Gergen, let me just turn to you first. On that Hillary Clinton speech, and we'll get to this massive upset of a victory of Donald Trump's in a moment, but do you think that was the most difficult thing she has had to do in her life?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it was. You could see the pain in her face. You can just imagine the tears that have been flowing over the last 12 hours, 14 hours or so. But I also thought it was one of her best speeches.

BALDWIN: She was graceful.

GERGEN: Because she was not only graceful, but she opened up. You got to see Hillary. The more venerable parts of Hillary and the caring parts of Hillary. BALDWIN: Does it make you wish you had seen more of that along the

way?

GERGEN: Yes. Yes. I mean I think - I think - one of the turning points back in 2008 was when she teared up just before the New Hampshire primary and people saw that she was a real person, a real woman who cared. And I think that that got lost in the - in the conversation this time around. So I thought the speech today was very effective. And I think all those speeches have been gracious. There have been four speeches, Mrs. Clintons, Mr. Trumps and, you know, Ryan and the president. And all have been gracious. And I think they've set a good tone for the opening days, but everybody knows there are a lot of big fights coming. A lot of big fights.

BALDWIN: On the tremendous victory, Dana Bash, let me turn to you. You know, you were up in the wee hours on TV working through all of this, this history that was made. And one thing I think it's important pointing out is that through this election cycle Donald Trump crushed two political dynasties in the Bush family and the Clintons.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's a really interesting point and a great way to put it, Brooke. I actually didn't think of it that specifically, but you're exactly right. In fact, somebody was joking last night that Barbara Bush had it right all along, that the country doesn't need any more Bushs or Clintons, from well before her son Jeb decided to run.

BALDWIN: That's right. She did say that, didn't she?

BASH: Right. But it does speak to part of the reason, a big part of the reason it appears that Hillary Clinton didn't win. It's because of the - you know, as you were just playing from Steve Bannon talking about the Brexit effect. That's what Donald Trump said was going to happen. That's what his campaign manager said was going to happen. And it seemed to have happened that people in this country are just so done with - never mind the dynasties which the Hillary Clinton presidency would have effectively been, but also just business as usual. Things just don't get done here.

And one of the fascinating data points in some of the exit polls is how many people who voted for Trump either don't like him, don't think he has the - you know, don't think he has a very good character and don't think he has the temperament to be president. I think it was somewhere in the ballpark of 20 percent. That's a huge number. These are people who voted for him to be president. And what it says is that they're willing to take the risk with somebody they don't like and somebody that they don't necessarily think is fit for the job because they think it would still be better than the alternative.

BALDWIN: There you have - you're talking about the kick in the pants or the message to the establishment in this country. You also, though, have these establishment Republicans who were none too thrilled about what Donald Trump had been doing, you know, offering, Susan, this olive branch. You know, even looking at - we mentioned Bush 43 called Hillary Clinton after the concession speech. He called Donald Trump to congratulate him. Jeb Bush tweeted congratulations. John Kasich, congratulations. Ted Cruz, Mitt Romney.

SUSAN PAGE, "USA TODAY": And, you know, part of that reflects concern that Donald Trump raised during his campaign about the peaceful transfer of power. You know there was -he talked about the election big rigged. Raised a lot of concerns about our constitutional systems. Now that he's won -

BALDWIN: Yes.

PAGE: We assume he no longer thinks the election's rigged. But I think that the democrats in particular wanted to make the point that we have a system in place. They called him "our president." They didn't call him "your president." They said they want him to succeed. That may only last 24 hours to a week because the -

BALDWIN: That was my question. Does the good will, does the Kumbaya moment extend?

PAGE: Sixteen months of the fiercest campaign in modern history. It does not get -

BALDWIN: It was nasty.

PAGE: It does not get turned off like a light switch. But there is possibly an opening for Donald Trump to become a more inclusive figure than he has been during his very difficult Republican primary campaign and this general election

BALDWIN: But I think that's what - I think everyone's sort of sifting through what this means. And I think one of the biggest question marks, Mary Katharine, is, is this going to be the candidate, lock her up, build a wall -

[14:15:06] MARY KATHARINE HAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.

BALDWIN: Special prosecutor Donald Trump, or is it that the Donald Trump who was gracious last night in his speech in New York?

HAM: Right. Well -

BALDWIN: Who's it going to be?

HAM: First let me say, I think it's incumbent upon me and I think it's part of the process to say, I was wrong. There were so many people who were wrong. It's like it -

BALDWIN: It's all good.

HAM: It's like singing (ph) Roxanne and replace Roxanne with "wrong," you still would not have enough "wrongs." So that's part of this process is understanding where we misunderstood.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HAM: I thought that the appetite for change was huge, but that he was not going to have enough of the nuts and bolts to pull it across the line. It turns out the appetite was larger than that. So he broke all the rules going through the primary process and he broke all the rules becoming president. For that reason, I'm not sure he's - he and his team are excited to say, "you guys know better than we do," so that's part of this. Part of it is his just general personality. But there are folks, Pence in his orbit, the Heritage Foundation has been working on it, a conservative think tank has been working on transition stuff as it did for Reagan when he came into office. The question is, who has his ear? I think Kellyanne Conway has certainly earned it. Other people in his circle. But he's mercurial. We don't know who he listens to. That's been part of this discussion.

BALDWIN: I mean one possibility, and we'll have an entire conversation about transition, but you have - you could have a Reince Priebus as a chief of staff. You could have a Speaker Ryan hang on to his post as the most powerful Republican in Congress. It's, you know, it's all red here in Washington. How might that work in terms of governing for Donald Trump?

GERGEN: Well, I think he's got prospects on the domestic arena that actually are larger than what Hillary Clinton first faced and that -

BALDWIN: How do you mean?

GERGEN: Because he's a Republican president with a Republican House, Republican Senate, you know, and some of the things he wants to do is to repeal things and you can get that done with 50 votes. You don't have to get your 60 in the Senate to do that, some of those things. And, you know, he's got Paul Ryan sitting there with a plan. He can blend in his own thinking about economics.

BALDWIN: But Paul Ryan is the policy wonk. That is not Donald Trump.

GERGEN: Well, that's true. No, no, no, but he can deliver the votes. That's - you can get an alliance going. So I think on the domestic side you can think of that, maybe they can be more ambitious than people first thought. I think it's on the international side where there are real issues because he ran against the establishment and normally when you come in, you want somebody at State, you want somebody at Defense, you want a team underneath him at Treasury that, you know, that are - that are experienced people. You know, people who go back, who've earned their spurs, who know the international landscape, can pick up a phone and talk to a foreign leader without any problems.

Those people mostly endorsed Hillary Clinton. They're sort of off the reservation. A lot of them don't want to go work for Donald Trump. They don't - they think he's mercurial. They're not sure they want to be there. And you've got a lot of foreign nations looking at - you know, he - he turned a lot of American foreign policy upside down in this campaign. On NATO, you know, he's sort of skeptical of NATO, but embraced Putin. And, you know, on the question of North Korea - or South Korea and Japan, he's - there are many, many issues. And Mexico.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GERGEN: There are many issues out there that are - on the foreign policy side that are complicated.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GERGEN: He's going to start getting his briefings, we understand this morning -

BALDWIN: As early as today.

GERGEN: Intelligence - intel briefings, yes. They'll start right up. And he's going to have to figure out very quickly, who do I want running these things? Who am I going to listen to on the foreign policy side, because that's going to be complex.

BALDWIN: We have so much to talk through in terms of transition team, who you would want to communicate with, policy, international, domestic.

But, Dana, if I may turn to you, not only are you just our, you know, political stud here at CNN, you're a mom. And, you know, listen, we've all been in touch with other parents and some kids are thrilled that Donald Trump is the president-elect and then you're also hearing from parents who are throwing their arms around their little daughters because they're weeping and they can't believe she didn't win. I'm just curious how we, as a country, those folks especially who are sad over the loss for Hillary Clinton, that she didn't shatter the ceiling, how do you talk to your son? How should we be talking to our children?

BASH: It's so funny that you ask me that question because just before I came on with you, I was reading an e-mail that my best friend from college, Karen Malkin (ph), sent me from the head of her kids' school. She has three kids. And it went into answering that exact question. And just to boil it down, it is, this is how it works. This is democracy. This is why we live in the best country on the planet because when people rise up, they do it with their votes. And that's what happened. And maybe depending on the age of the child, they're too young to understand that, but they will eventually.

And it is, of course, a heartbreak for all of the people who took their daughters and sons because they personally were voting for the first female president and they wanted their kids to be a part of that, but they're also a part of something bigger than the gender, and that's the message that parents probably will be giving to their kids to, you know, explain that sometimes democracy is messy but the fact that all these leaders, including the current president of the United States, came out today to say, it's a peaceful transition, we're going to all get behind our new president and hope that he does well is something that we should be proud of as Americans.

[14:20:14] BALDWIN: And I think Republicans and Democrats would agree with the line in Hillary Clinton's speech today when she was talking to young people. She said, "many of you are at the beginning of your personal and professional lives," she said, "but fighting for what's right is worth it."

Thank you all so much. Again, President Obama, he is inviting his successor, Donald Trump, to

the White House tomorrow. What will that conversation look like. We'll talk to one of President Obama's long-time advisors.

Also ahead, Van Jones getting a lot of reaction after calling this election quote/unquote "white-lash" as part of our election conversation here on CNN. We'll discuss that with Van.

And First Lady Melania Trump. New details on how the White House is preparing for the new first family.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. We are live in Washington, D.C. And you are watching CNN's special live coverage.

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[14:25:05] BALDWIN: All right. Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Just into us, we have some new numbers here. All precincts reporting in the state of Minnesota. It appears Hillary Clinton has won that state. Another update, Donald Trump has won the second congressional district in Nebraska. So that brings the electoral vote count now to 290 for Trump and 228 for Clinton.

Donald Trump's stunning win sent global markets into a brief overnight freefall, but they have stabilized by now. Here in the United States, early stock losses have all been evaporated. So let's go to Alison Kosik. She was on the floor of the exchange since the crack of dawn this morning.

The rallying, which is obviously good news. Why the turnaround, do you think?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it's interesting, 236 points to the upside for the Dow. Definitely not what I expected to see today when my eyes kind of fell out of my head during those returns coming in when we saw futures for the Dow falling 800 points.

Well, I think what's happening here is that now that a Trump presidency has had time to sink in, investors are weighing what a Republican Congress and a Republican president mean for a low tax, pro-growth and low regulatory landscape, one that can be very beneficial to stocks and business. One analyst is putting it this way. If the Brexit was a 10 on the earthquake scale, this is a five or a six.

Still, though, I wouldn't get complacent because we could see massive swings between now and inauguration day depending on what investors learn about where President-Elect Trump stands on policies. And we've certainly seen a big swing lower with the Mexican peso falling to an all-time low because of fears Trump will undo NAFTA.

As for the Fed, it's been looking for a rate hike for some time now and could be hiking next month, but analysts say now it really could depend on the market, whether it's volatile or not. So if we see market volatility after Trump's victory, I'm talking about wild swings, then the Fed could decide to hold off raising rates as everyone is thinking it will do in just a few weeks.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Glad it's stabilized for now. Alison, thank you so much.

KOSIK: Sure.

BALDWIN: Meantime, tomorrow, Donald Trump is expected to step into the White House for the first time as president-elect. An invite from President Obama to the man he once called, quote, "temperamentally unfit to be commander-in-chief."

So, I want to bring in Bill Burton, former deputy White House press secretary for President Obama, and Kevin Madden is here with me, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist and partner for Hamilton Place Strategies.

Gentlemen, nice to have both of you on.

And, Bill, let me just start with you. And, you know, to be a fly on the wall of this meeting at the White House between the president and the president-elect. I mean you know President Obama. Walk me through the meeting tomorrow. How does President Obama say congratulations but please don't chip away at my eight years here?

BILL BURTON, FORMER DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I don't think that will be a part of the conversation. I think the president will take this very seriously. When we came into the White House in 2009, President Bush and his team were very open and welcoming and helpful as we made that transition into the White House. And I think President Obama is committed to that and he wants to lay that down for President-Elect Trump.

For Trump, I think - you know, I was in college back in the 1900s when Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota. And Jesse - and people thought that was going to be a crazy thing. I was at the election night party. They cut off the alcohol because it got so crazy. But when Jesse Ventura became governor, he did take it seriously and he actually did nominate some pretty moderate judges and did the best that he could. And I think that President-Elect Trump is going to do the same sort of thing. So I would imagine him in that meeting is going to be putting forth his best face possible and we'll -

BALDWIN: OK.

BURTON: We'll see the beginning of the peaceful transfer of power.

BALDWIN: OK. Kevin, so you think -

KEVIN MADDEN: By the way, Bill said 1900s, right?

BALDWIN: I - I thought he did. MADDEN: I think it was 1990. He's not that old.

BALDWIN: Bill, you - I think you said 1900s. I know you probably didn't get a lot of sleep.

BURTON: It was - it was the 1900s.

MADDEN: '90.

BALDWIN: You're looking good for being, you know, as old as you sound like you are, 116 years old.

BURTON: I appreciate that. I don't feel good.

BALDWIN: Kevin Madden, with this transition, you know, listening to the president earlier in the Rose Garden, he said it's kind of like, you know, it's like a race and we each run our leg and I'm just passing off the baton. He was saying how professional the previous administration, the Bush administration, had been with him. How, though, might this Obama-to-Trump transition be more challenging, more difficult?

MADDEN: Well, I think the - I think one of the problems right now is that you have an administration, right, that's been up and running for eight years. They know all the ins and outs of the government. They know a lot of the day to day pressures that face a potential administration. Whereas, you have a campaign which is really focused on the - this 24-hour circle - cycle, then the next 24 hour cycle, right? So it's been five yards of a cloud - in a cloud of dust for them for the last year and a half. Now they have to think about how they're going to plot out and plan a four-year administration.

[14:30:02] And, I mean, if you think of the size of the government right now, 16 cabinet agencies, 400 sub agencies, 4,000 political appointees that - that President-Elect Trump is going to have to consider