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White House Reacts to Trump Win, Transition of Power; Clinton Gives Concession Speech Earlier; Trump's Breech of Clinton's Blue Wall Changes Political Landscape; Whole U.S. Government Shifting to Republicans; World Response to Trump Presidential Victory. Aired 1:30- 2p ET
Aired November 09, 2016 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00] JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And Republicans and the Congress voted 50 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act and each time they were voting to take health care away from 22 million Americans. They were voting to strip critically important consumer protections from people that prevent them from being discriminated against because there is a preexisting condition or paying more for health care because they're a woman. The kinds of protections that don't just benefit 20 million Americans since it went into effect but the 150 million Americans that get health care through their employer. These are the kinds of decisions that the incoming administration and incoming Congress will be challenged to make.
UNIDENTIIED REPORTER: How do you (INAUDIBLE) foreign allies-
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll continue to monitor Josh Earnest at the White House, briefing reporters on this transition. The president wants a smooth transition between now and January 20th when Donald Trump will be sworn in on Inauguration Day as the next president of the United States, the 45th president of the United States.
Earlier, the Secretary of Defense Ash Carter issued a statement saying, "I am committed to overseeing the orderly transition to the next commander-in-chief." Ordering everyone in the defense to cooperate in this transition with the incoming commander-in-chief Donald Trump.
And we're also told now that starting today, Donald Trump will receive the most highly classified daily national security briefings, the kind of briefings that a sitting president gets from the intelligence community. That's part of the tradition, part of the process going forward.
Let's talk a little bit more about all of this with CNN political commentator, Patti Solis Doyle, the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid.
Patti, thanks for joining us.
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks for having me.
BLITZER: You've been down this road before. You remember, she lost the Democratic presidential nomination back in 2008. This, to then- Senator Barack Obama. Gave a very important speech at the end of that and now has lost this bid for the White House. How surprised were you she couldn't deliver?
SOLIS DOYLE: Well, in all honesty, Wolf, I'm devastated. I'm just -- I felt very strongly that she would have made a very strong and effective president, working on the issues that I personally care very deeply about, like immigration reform and equal pay for women, and it breaks my heart that we, as a country, were on the precipice of electing the first female president of the United States and we fell short.
You know, I think it was a surprise to everyone that she lost. I think it was a surprise to the Trump campaign, to the Clinton campaign, and a surprise to all of us who looked at the numbers and felt pretty confident she was going to win.
BLITZER: Let me play a clip, what she said in her concession speech today. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And to all the women and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: I know -- I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but some day someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: What was your reaction when you heard her speech today?
SOLIS DOYLE: Well, I cried, and I'm almost going to cry now. It's just that tough. Emotional time for all of us who supported her with everything that we had. She's had a long journey, Wolf, and oftentimes really hard journey. But she has broken so many barriers, for so many women, and now I'm grateful for it, because she's made it easier for me and for my daughter and for all women to sort of make decisions for their own life that best suits their own life. And for that I'm grateful. I'm grateful to her. And I think about what she said and what she believes and that is to do all the good you can for as long as you can for as many as you can, and I believe that's what she's going to continue to do.
BLITZER: And you can see that she was upset, because so many of her supporters, her staff, they worked around the clock to get her to become president of the United States. And you could see how badly she felt not only for herself and her failing, but certainly for all of those people, especially the young people who worked for her. SOLIS DOYLE: Right. Working on a campaign is just - it's
excruciating. It's 18, 20-hour days. You devote everything you have to it. It affects your family, your friends. And you do it because you believe in a cause, or you believe in a candidate. You believe in something bigger than yourself, and when you lose, it's excruciating. And will be feign. As she said, for a very long time. To this day, I still do a would-have, could-have, should-have in the '08 campaign. May if we had put more in the caucuses or talked more of humanity than experience.
I feel for these people. They're going to be talking about would-have, could-have, should-have for a while.
[11:35:22] BLITZER: Certainly will.
Patti, thanks very much for joining us.
SOLIS DOYLE: Thank you.
BLITZER: Patti Solis Doyle, CNN political commentator, former Hillary Clinton campaign manager.
Still ahead, from Russia to China to Mexico, reaction from around the world. It's pouring into CNN now. The global response to President- elect Donald Trump, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Donald Trump didn't just breached Hillary Clinton's so- called blue wall of defense, he shattered it. Trump's support among white working class voters, a key part of his president's victory.
Let's discuss with our panel, CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger; CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash; and CNN Politics editor, Juana Summers; and CNN political commentator, Ryan Lizza, the Washington correspondent for the "New Yorker" magazine.
Help us understand, Gloria, for our viewers around the country and around the world, how much Donald Trump has now changed the political landscape in the United States.
[13:40:15] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He really has. I think what we're seeing is that the blue wall the Democrats felt they had in the Rustbelt is dissolving. And what he did was he got out new voter in large numbers from rural areas in this country, voters who feel disenfranchised, feel trade deals don't benefit them, feel left behind, feel they haven't had a raise in 15 years. He also got non-college educated white voters to go with him, including women. And the Obama coalition just kind of fell apart and Hillary Clinton could not garner enough new Latino voters to make up for it. I mean, Donald Trump got a higher percentage of Latino voters than Mitt Romney did. Think about that. And I must say, she helped this. You know? She has an integrity problem that never went away, and focused so much on the fear of Trump that she didn't focus enough on getting rid of her own problems, so the election happened. BLITZER: Listen to this radio interview. A clip from a radio
interviews Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon gave describing the strategy behind yesterday's truly remarkable win. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, CEO, DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN (VO): Really concentrated heavily on foreign events. Certain areas throughout the country in both North Carolina and in Ohio that we really looking at, and as those started to come in, I think we felt quite confident. And so it was never -- there was no lack of confidence. The analogy to the British exit, the Brexit movements was -- really what the exit polls showed of how people's desire for change, right, and desire for real change, just not the change that gets talked about on cable TV. So, that's when I felt that, well, if this is correct, if the thesis is correct, you'll start to see start to roll across what we call the "Core Four", which is the four we felt we had to win to give ourselves multiple paths to victory, which was Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Iowa. And we already felt that, you know, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, places like that, Wisconsin, would always be in play because of this populist message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: He was right. Is there a hidden vote the pollsters did not determine? People who voted for Donald Trump even if they didn't say so to pollsters?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's blatantly obvious. Either a hidden vote or every single polling model and approach was just wrong. Never mind the actual data modeling -- voter modeling, which goes well beyond the polling, and the Clinton campaign and the Republican National Committee did that. The RNC said that they had it basically within two but on the lower part of that.
But I think that he is absolutely right that this is a global movement that has just reached the shores of the United States. That it was as Donald Trump said his campaign, Brexit-plus. He was right. People are so fed up with the way things work or don't work in this town by business as usual, and more importantly, to his point about the populace message, the fact they feel they're sit on the sidelines watching and not feeling whatever prosperity others are. That was real. They tapped into it.
BLITZER: Let's not underestimate, Juana, the enormity of what's happened yesterday. There will be a Republican president of the United States controlling the executive branch of the U.S. government. The Republicans will control the legislative branch of the U.S. government, be the majority -- remain in majority, House and Senate. And once Donald nominates a Supreme Court justice breaking the 4-4 time, there will be a 5-4 Republican basically conservative advantage on the U.S. Supreme Court. The whole picture here in Washington has shifted.
JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS EDITOR: It absolutely has. You've gone from an era, I feel like, particularly on Capitol Hill, has been Republicans in disarray. Now Donald Trump in a matter of 70-some odd days will be inaugurated with an immense amount of power and why you see some Republicans not clinging to him as strongly as you expect, people like Paul Ryan and others clinging to him, saying they want to do whatever they can to make sure Donald Trump is successful. This is an enormous opportunity for Republicans on Capitol Hill and across Washington to really consolidate power in a way they never have before.
BLITZER: Will he be able to do it? On day one, he says he'll try to repeal and replace Obamacare? He's going to try to get rid of the Iran nuclear deal. He wants to get rid of all of the climate-change subsidies that the U.S. is spending a lot of U.S. taxpayer dollars on. He wants to move quickly in these areas. Is that reasonable? Is that realistic?
[13:45:30] RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. He will be one of the most powerful presidents in recent times. The fact that the executive branch has grown so much under first George W. Bush and then Barack Obama means that Trump comes into a White House with expanding powers. On day one he can rescind every single Obama executive orders. They're at the will of the president, can be signed and unsigned at the stroke of a pen. And obviously, when you have one party rule in Washington, legislation gets passed. We saw that in 2009 when Barack Obama had a Democratic Congress.
On Obamacare, Republicans have a plan to dismantle that, using a complicated process from reconciliation, and it would not require the normal 60-vote majority in the Senate.
He would be able to move through Supreme Court immediately -- a Supreme Court nominee, and if Democrats try to filibuster, they'll get rid of the filibuster in the Senate.
So, yeah, he's going to have, with one-party control, very power president for sure.
BLITZER: Stay with us. More coming up.
Heads of state from every corner of the world, they are now weighing in on Trump's presidential victory. We're going live overseas for the global reaction to this historic moment here in the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:50:43] BLITZER: Across the globe, world leaders have had reactions to Donald Trump's victory in the United States. In his address, Trump attempted to allay concerns over the uncertainty of his future presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATEDS: We will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us.
I want to tell the world community that while will always put America's interest first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone, all people and nations. We will common ground, not hostility, partnership not conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Let's talk about this. Our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is joining us live from Moscow; our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is in Irbil, Iraq; and CNN's global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, is here with me.
Clarissa, Russian President Putin seems very pleased with America's choice of president. Let's listen to what Putin said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Russia is ready and wants to restore the full-fledged United States. I repeat, we understand this will be difficult but we are ready to play our part in it and do everything to return Russian-American relations to a stable and sustainable development track.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Clarissa, is this a pivotal moment for U.S./Russian relations?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I think it's no secret that if you look at the past few years that the breakdown of the Russian-U.S. relationship to Cold War levels, the rising anti-Americanism you see here, the Russo-phobia we see in the U.S., all of this collectively has been a major problem. There have been several key issues that have been instrumental to the deterioration of that relationship, the situation in Ukraine, of course, the situation in Syria, sanctions against Russia and, of course, the sanctions against Russia and, of course, sanctions against Russia -- forgive me, and, of course, these allegations of hacking. Hacking, Russian influence trying to gain influence in the U.S. Russian people saw that as deep evidence of a hatred against Russia.
And, Wolf, Clinton is seen as a continuation of the status quo, more of the same. She's seen on the ground as anti-Russian, aggressive, an interventionist, someone who is actively fomenting regime change in countries across the world. Regime change is something of an anathema to the Kremlin.
Donald Trump has seen as someone new, someone who is not bogged down with the trappings of being the part of the political establishment. One lawmaker here today to me, "Today is my birthday but this is the best gift I could have got."
At the same, let's not jump to conclusions here. I think there's a very real understanding the Donald Trump can be erratic, that he is still something of a wildcard, the it remains to be seen as to what kind of action he will take in terms of his actions toward NATO, having a more isolationist foreign policy, which the Russians approve of.
So too early as of yet to say this is a pivotal moment but certainly Russians are branding this as a moment of excitement and opportunity potentially - Wolf?
BLITZER: They certainly are.
Nic, the Middle East is embroiled in a number of wars, economic turmoil, the fight against ISIS. How has the region reacted to the news of Trump's win?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Wolf, there's a degree of concern here. You have the Iraqi prime minister congratulating President-elect Trump. You have President Barzani, the Kurdish leader here, congratulating President-elect Trump as well. But both of them are saying, look, we want him to continue, we want the United States to continue in its support against crackdown against terrorism here, meaning ISIS. Trump has said this is something he will do. He will go down hard on ISIS. He said he might cooperate with Russia in Syria to crack down on ISIS there as well.
But that raises concerns in this region for the United States' other allies here, like Saudi Arabia, like Turkey. Because if the United States goes in behind supporting Russian policy in Syria as part of a process to tackle ISIS, those countries like Saudi Arabia will see the United States therefore ling itself up with President Assad and lining itself up with Iran. There are deep sectarian tensions here so you could fuel further problems. This is a house of cards in this region, built on sand, inherently unstable. And on top of that, in this Muslim region, you have concerns about what they've heard President Trump or President-elect Trump saying on the campaign trail. So, they want that crackdown on ISIS. How he goes about it is the really big question. And then those concerns as well, inherently, how stable, is he going to be erratic or not? Those are going to be the issues they'll be looking at here -- Wolf?
[11:56:03] BLITZER: During the campaign, Trump repeatedly said he would end all Syrian refugee immigration to the United States.
Elise, Donald Trump has been speaking about building a wall, Mexico will pay for it. You've been speaking to diplomats. What's the reaction you're getting that Donald Trump is president-elect.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of anxiety in Mexico. Not just because of the pledges he's made but Mexicans feel there's a history of discrimination of their country. This peeled back the veil, allowed it to be OK. So, there's concern about what it will do to the economy. You see the Peso is falling. There's a concern about what will happen to these immigrants and some of these documented workers that do go back and forth from Mexico each day. So, I think Mexicans right now and diplomats from the U.S. and Mexico that I've spoken to both here and in Mexico City feel this is am existential moment for Mexico. Trump has pledged to renegotiate NAFTA. So, what they're saying is Mexicans want to think about what kind of relationship they want to have with the United States and how that affects the relationships they want with other countries. So, they think this is a real fundamental shift in U.S. Mexican relations. A lot of anxiety right now.
BLITZER: And Donald Trump will be getting these daily, highly classified national security briefings as president-elect of the United States. A significant development. Some U.S. officials believe maybe those briefings will moderate some of his views on international affairs. We'll see what, if anything, they do.
Guys, thanks to all of you for excellent round-robin of reports.
That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 eastern in "The Situation Room."
CNN's special coverage of Donald Trump's election continues right after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
