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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Primary Coverage of the Final Super Tuesday; Hillary Clinton's Historic Moment; Sanders Vows to Fight On. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired June 08, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:04] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to see you this morning. I'm John Berman. It's Wednesday, June 8th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East, 1:00 a.m. out in California, where they are still counting votes right now. You can see right there, there's the latest vote total, Hillary Clinton leading by nearly 400,000 votes.
But even without that, Hillary Clinton did make history last night. She claimed victory in the Democratic race. The first woman ever to become a major party's presumptive nominee, including super delegates right now, Hillary Clinton has -- well, we don't know how many she has. She's getting -- she went over the top, 2,630. That is including superdelegates, well over what she needs to secure the nomination in July. She's also now won a majority of the pledged delegates.
ROMANS: Of the six states voting in yesterday's final Super Tuesday, Clinton won at least three with a big victory in New Jersey. Closer margins in New Mexico and South Dakota, although there have been some hope in the Sanders campaign that he would take South Dakota. Sanders won two states, Montana and North Dakota. And, of course, still hanging in the balance, California, where Clinton still has the lead here, about a 400,000 vote lead here.
In her victory speech, Clinton basked in her historic moment but did not take her eyes off her Republican delegate. And Donald Trump in his speech returned the favor. He promised to be a fierce competitor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The choice is clear. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And he's not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico, he's trying to wall off Americans from each other, when he says "let's make America great again", that is code for, let's take America backwards. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The Clintons have
turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
They've made hundreds of millions of dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts, and I mean hundreds of millions of dollars. Secretary Clinton even did all of the work on a totally illegal private server. Something that she's getting away with nobody understands.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
ROMANS: All right. A lot to discuss this morning or tonight if you're in California. We have just the people to do it. CNN's senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, CNN political reporters Tal Kopan and Eugene Scott, and CNN political analyst Josh Rogin, columnist for "The Washington Post."
Eugene, let me go to you first. What -- when you listen to those two candidates and their speeches last night, give me your headline. What is the takeaway as we move forward in the next weeks?
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think one of the big takeaways, specifically with the Hillary Clinton speech, is that this campaign would be a forward-moving campaign that is reflective of the increasing diversity and new face of America. The historical moment of last night and even her line about Donald Trump trying to separate Americans from Americans seems to be a huge theme of what she wants to communicate, that she's bringing with her a diverse coalition of supporters who have strong ideas about what America can be, not just for themselves, but for people that are different from themselves. That was one of the clear examples that I saw.
In terms of Donald Trump, he seems very much interested in taking America in a new direction away from what we have seen as establishment politics. Where the direction is, where that direction is, is not always clear to people who are -- who have been following politics historically, but those who want to see some change, he seems to be focused on that group.
BERMAN: It's interesting, listening to Hillary Clinton last night because over the course of this election and the previous ones she ran, she never wanted to overtly say, vote for me because I'm a woman. However, she has used her gender to court votes in some ways. Overnight, she kind of, basking in the history of the moment, and talking -- you can see a picture there. That was taken before the event last night. You can see her there with a very diverse group of people age-wise and race-wise.
And last night, she was talking about her own family, her mother, her granddaughter. Listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLINTON: Our children and grandchildren will look back at this time, at the choices we are about to make, the goals we will strive for, the principles we will live by.
[04:05:05] And we need to make sure that they can be proud of us. The end of the primaries is only the beginning of the work we're called to do. But if we stand together, we will rise together because we are stronger together. Let's go out and make that case to America.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: "Stronger together" was the very end of her speech, Tal. But it was interesting to hear Hillary Clinton acknowledging directly what she considers to be the historic nature of the candidacy at this point.
TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Absolutely. This is something she's sort of flirted how to deal with throughout the campaign. You know, we've seen her when asked all along sort of what change do you represent, she's made allusions to the fact that having a woman as president would be something different.
This is the first time we've seen her sort of full-out embrace the fact that her candidacy is now officially historic. And if there was a night to do it, this was the one. In fact, her campaign was a little displeased last night, or the night before last, when the "Associated Press" and our network and others essentially called the race for her because they felt like it was too soon. They wanted the actual primary night to be this crowning achievement moment.
And it was really interesting. Eight years ago, she stood up and made a comment about the glass ceiling not being fully broken but having millions of cracks. Tonight, the first thing she said was returning to glass ceiling analogy and talking about finally beginning to breakthrough.
It was a powerful moment for her to be able to sort of claim that mantle. You know, we've also seen her use this woman card retort back at Donald Trump pretty effectively, saying deal me in. I think this is something we're going to see her come back to, especially in a general election against Donald Trump.
ROMANS: And she's also talking about Donald Trump in that speech, no question talking about her role and her mother and her grandmother, but then talking about her granddaughter, rather, and then talking about Donald Trump and building these literal and figurative walls. Listen to what she said about building walls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: We believe that cooperation is better than conflict. Unity is better than division. Empowerment is better than resentment. And bridges are better than walls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And she went on, Josh Rogin, to talk about, as Eugene pointed out, talking about how Donald Trump is building walls among Americans. You know, walling off different groups of Americans from one another. Is that going to be effective?
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think Hillary Clinton has a demographic advantage here, right, especially in some of those key states, especially in the Southwest. If the poll numbers are any indication, then Donald Trump has a big problem with Hispanics, with Muslim-Americans, with Asian-Americans, and some of the other groups he's offended over the last few months.
The more Hillary Clinton can focus on that, the better. You know, it's also part of her argument that Donald Trump is just too dangerous to be president. He's going to say she's corrupt. She's going to say he's dangerous. And voters will be put to a choice, which would you rather have.
BERMAN: Well, Brian Stelter, what Donald Trump says is, look, I'm just different. I'm a fighter. I'm not a typical politician. Listen to what he said last night.
All right. I can read it to you right now. He said, "Now, I know some people say I'm too much of a fight. My preference is always peace, but I've shown that, I've shown for a long time, I've built an extraordinary business." He went on to say, "I will never back down. I fought for my family. I fought for my business. Now, I will fight for all of you."
Donald clearly trying to turn the focus of the controversy over the last few days into something more forward looking, Brian.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and the closest he's come to sounding like a typical politician, I would suspect that Clinton would use that against him and say he's acting too much like a typical politician. I don't think this will last for very long. I don't think he'll be able to restrain himself and his allusion to an upcoming speech all about Clinton, an anti-Clinton speech, he said, what, probably next Monday, is an indication that he will be unleashed. Maybe not stick to the teleprompter as the way he did last night.
ROMANS: All right, guys. Don't go away. We have a lot to talk about. We haven't even mentioned Bernie Sanders yet. And that's still in play.
Donald Trump promising to go after Hillary Clinton, promises to unite the Republican Party, but can he do it?
BERMAN: Plus, they're still counting votes in California. This, the very latest, 57 percent now in. And Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead by about 300,000 votes. Now, 403,000 votes ahead, we are still counting there. A long way to go.
Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:13:54] TRUMP: Now, I know some people say I'm too much of a fighter. My preference is always peace, however. And I've shown that. I've shown that for a long time. But if I'm forced to fight for something I really care about, I will never, ever back down, and our country will never, ever back down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. That was Donald Trump last night during his victory speech. He was reading from a teleprompter there. A lot made of that fact. A lot made of the tone. Was it a different Donald Trump than we've heard before?
ROMANS: Well, he didn't throw insults and big taunting names.
BERMAN: Well, he went after Hillary Clinton very, very hard though. He did not apologize, certainly, for the scandals over the last few days when he went after a judge and his Mexican heritage, but let's talk about all of this with our panel right now.
Joining us again, an esteemed group of our colleagues.
You know, Josh Rogin, one person was Reince Priebus. After Donald Trump gave the speech, he tweeted, "Great victory speech by Real Donald Trump tonight. Exactly the right approach and perfectly delivered."
Interesting, yes?
[04:15:00] ROGIN: You see, it's like Reince is trying to pat him own the back and reward good behavior and punish bad behavior, as if she has some control over what Donald Trump is doing.
Yes, it's good for Reince Priebus that Donald Trump makes an outreach to the Republican Party, but it doesn't mean that that outreach will, A, be successful, or B, be sustained, right?
So, Reince Priebus' mission is to unite all the people of the party within the Trump campaign. It's not clear that either side is really doing it. The Donald Trump that we see reading off the teleprompter, remarks written presumably by his staff, that's a very conciliatory, open-minded, outstretched hand Donald Trump. But whenever he puts the teleprompter away and talks off the cuff or talks on a conference call with his surrogates, he seems to be a different person. That person doesn't really seem to care what the Reince Priebuses of the world really think.
ROMANS: You know, it's no surprise he didn't mention Trump University or the judge. I mean, no one really expected him. But, you know, he did talk about how he takes the responsibility of the mantle of the party and how will not let his party down. I want you to listen to the language and we'll talk about it on the back end. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You've given me the honor to lead the Republican Party to victory this fall. I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle, and I will never, ever let you down. Too much work, too many people, blood, sweat, and tears. I'd never going to let you down.
I will make you proud of your party and our movement, and that's what it is, is a movement. To those who voted for someone else in either party, I'll work hard to earn your support, and I will work very hard to earn that support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Eugene Scott, I will make you proud of your party and our movement. This in a week where there are plenty of Republicans who were not proud at all and were embarrassed by his comments about a judge.
SCOTT: Yes, indeed. For some people, they would look at that as saying that may be the closest to apology that we were getting from Donald Trump. An acknowledgment that some of you are not proud of some of the things I said in the last week, or some of my behavior. But I want you to know that I will make you proud and I will represent you in the general.
I think one thing that's really interesting and really important is that Donald Trump is not looking just to be the leader of the Republican Party but of the country. And so, there are other people outside of the party, including independents, obviously, that he needs to make proud. How he will go about doing that remains to be seen.
BERMAN: But, Tal, it's interesting. He said, I'm never going to let you down, but the fact of the matter is a lot of Republicans over the last 24 hours flat out said you did and you have. I mean, Illinois Senator Mark Kirk has said he's not going to vote for Donald Trump. Mark Kirk in a very tough Senate race there. The Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the language used by Donald Trump, you know, is the textbook definition of a racist comment. So, this is almost retroactively saying I'm not going to let you down, when he is.
By the way, he has yet to apologize for that statement.
KOPAN: Yes. And, in fact, he did a television interview today where he continued to reiterate that these comments were something he stands by and said that Republicans should get over it.
You know, this speech we saw tonight pretty much perfectly encapsulates the catch-22 we sort of predicted for the Trump campaign.
On the one hand, what has propelled him to this point and excited new Republicans voting for the first time and really being energized is the fact he does give the RNC fits. That's what they loved about him and the fight he had with the sort of establishment GOP was exactly part of his appeal. So, now, all the sudden, if you have him sort of kowtowing to the powers that be and performing as Reince Priebus called perfectly, you have a bit of a problem because now the establishment is 100 percent, where is the boon for his supporters.
So, this is going to be a very difficult line for him to tow throughout the rest of this general election campaign, is keeping both sides of his party happy. Tonight I think we saw the pendulum swing sort of in the opposite direction.
ROMANS: Republicans have been contortionists for the past lake six months. Maybe almost a year, you know? It will be interesting to see if they can straighten that out.
BERMAN: Well, politicians in general are quite flexible. A lot of --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: That's so true.
BERMAN: -- on that line of work.
All right, guys. All of you stick around. We have a lot more to discuss.
All right. An historic Senate race shaping up in California tonight. Really interesting here. You're looking at pictures of two Democratic women, both minorities. They will face off in the November election. You'll notice I said two Democrats. This is the first time a Republican will not be on the ballot there in more than a century.
ROMANS: Plus, the votes still being counted in California right now between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. You can see there Hillary Clinton with a 400,000 vote lead, with just shy of 60 percent of the precincts reporting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:24:14] ROMANS: A historic night in the race for the Senate seat being vacated by California Democrat Barbara Boxer. For the first time in a century, it appears that a Republican will not be on the state's general election ballot for the Senate. Instead, it looks like two Democrats will compete against each other in a November runoff.
State Attorney General Kamala Harris is the top vote-getter among 34 candidates seeking the job so far. Coming in second to Harris, ten- term Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez of Orange County. Under California's unusual election rules, only the two top finishers from whatever party move on to November.
BERMAN: But that does mean for the general election that that Republicans and independents could be the ones who decide between two Democrats.
ROMANS: Fascinating.
BERMAN: Graduation ceremonies at Stanford University will include a student-led protest this weekend. There's growing anger after former student Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail, some people say just six months in jail, for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus.
[04:25:09] A coalition led by Stanford faculty members attempting to recall the judge in the case.
Listen to this law professor, a friend of the victim, make the case for removing the judge from the bench.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE DAUBER, STANFORD UNIVERSITY LAW PROFESSOR: I do not agree with the way that the judge applied the law in this case. I don't agree with the decision he came to, and that's why we're working on a recall campaign. You know, one of the most important factors that he's supposed to consider is the severity of the impact of the crime on the victim when deciding how to make a proportional sentence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The defense team for Brock Turner, a former swimmer at Stanford, has filed a notice preserving the right to appeal the sentence.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Dow futures just slightly lower, but oil is up, trading above 50 bucks a barrel. Stock markets in Europe and Asia, as you can see, they are mixed right now. The S&P 500 now just 18 points away from a record high. The S&P has jumped 15 percent since its big decline in February. Rising oil prices and a delay in interest rate hikes from the Fed has been fueling that gain in the stock market.
But it could be another bad day for shares of Ralph Lauren. The stock tanked at yesterday's open, recovered with a 2.3 percent loss. Look at that action in the past three days. The drop came after Ralph Lauren announced it's calling 8 percent of its workforce. It's closing stores. Sales at Ralph Lauren sales is in the slump, shoppers are turning to fast fashion brands like H&M. The company's founder and namesake Ralph Lauren says he backs the company's new CEO saying, quote, "I'm trusting my baby with him, and my baby has to grow up."
BERMAN: All right. Some breaking news overnight. Hillary Clinton the first woman to become party's presumptive nominee. Donald Trump promising a tough fight ahead. Bernie Sanders just an hour or so ago vows to fight on.
All that and we're still counting votes in California. We'll tell you where things stand. Here's a preview, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:31:18] CLINTON: Thanks to you we've reached a milestone. First time -- first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: All right. Hillary Clinton's historic night, winning big in several states, now embracing her role as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is 4:31 in the East. It is 1:31 in California, where they are still counting votes.
Happening right now, Hillary Clinton holding a commanding lead in the California primary. Two-thirds of the precincts reporting now. CNN is still not calling the race, but history was already made last night.
Clinton now officially the first woman ever to become a major party's presumptive presidential nominee, including superdelegates she now has a commanding lead here, 2,630, including super delegates, well more than she needs to win the Democratic convention in July. She also now has a majority of the pledged delegates.
Of the six states voting in yesterday's final Super Tuesday, Clinton won at least three of them with a big victory in New Jersey. Closer margins in New Mexico and South Dakota. Sanders picking up two states, Montana and North Dakota.
And still hanging in the balance, California. That's right, as we told you. She's still leading by 15 points right now. That vote lead, 402,000 ahead here.
In her victory speech, Clinton basked in her moment but did not take her eyes or her criticism off her Republican opponent. And Donald Trump in his speech returned the favor, promising to fierce competitor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
CLINTON: The choice is clear. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And he's not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico, he's trying to wall off Americans from each other, when he says "let's make America great again", that is code for, let's take America backwards.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
They've made hundreds of millions of dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts, and I mean hundreds of millions of dollars. Secretary Clinton even did all of the work on a totally illegal private server. Something that she's getting away with nobody understands.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BERMAN: Welcome to the next five months of your life, everybody.
Let's bring in our panel of political experts. CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, CNN political reporters, Tal Kopan, Eugene Scott, and CNN political analyst Josh Rogin, who's also a columnist for "The Washington Post".
Tal, I really think what you saw last night were both candidates trying to frame the rest of this race going forward. In one case, you know, Donald Trump trying to kind of close the book on a really five- day awful chapter in his campaign. Hillary Clinton trying to open the book in what she hopes will be a turning point and really renewed focus for her going forward.
[04:35:06] KOPAN: Absolutely. This is totally a preview of what's to come. You know, it's interesting, over the last few days when we've seen some of the backlash to Donald Trump and from some kibitz from his inner circle, they were really frustrated that he was spending so much time talking about this federal judge when there were moments he could have gone after Hillary Clinton.
That was a big indication for me tonight that he listened. He really trained some of his attention on Hillary Clinton, really previewed a major speech coming where he's going to go after her on many of the things that have been swirling against her for a long time. Now, it's really interesting because Clinton is some of her best when she's backed into a corner or playing the victim. She's very good when attacked. And Donald Trump has a tendency to be lured into traps in a way that she might try to lay for him.
So, the way these two are going to dance is going to be fascinating to watch. As we get into debates, certainly it could only amp up the intensity.
ROMANS: And how they'll stick to their message, Brian Stelter. That's what's so clear in any presidential campaign right, is the message that you are giving every day on the stump and every debate.
How do you rate the -- what did you hear from these candidates? How do their messages play?
STELTER: The indication is Clinton will be negative against Trump when necessary on a national level but have a positive message she'll try to express in other forums, you know?
Last night was very clear tonally, talking about Trump setting a table against him. But at the end saying we're better together. Those who words, better together, we're all going to be tired of hearing them by November. We're going to hear them over and over and over again.
I also thought it was notable how much she leaned into the historic nature of her candidacy. She's not done this up until now. And Barack Obama did not do this in 2008. Last night, even wearing white, perhaps a nod to the suffragist
movement many years ago. She called all the way back to the Seneca Falls in the first women's right convention, she spoke about other women who blazed a trail for her. She embraced the fact she's the first presumptive nominee who's a woman from a major party.
To see that, to hear that, I couldn't help but think about the women in the audience, the girls in the audience brought there by their parents. This is even "The New York Post." No friend to the Clintons. I think that was a souvenir. Even "The New York Post" knows it's going to sell a lot of copies this morning with that souvenir cover, because a lot of people are going to want to own this piece of history.
BERMAN: Eugene, let's listen to what Hillary Clinton had to say about architecture here, bridges versus walls, as she's trying to draw a contrast going forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: We believe that cooperation is better than conflict. Unity is better than division. Empowerment is better than resentment. And bridges are better than walls.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You know, his has been part of her message really since last Friday when she devoted an entire speech to going after Donald Trump. She now has these clear divisions she's laying out every day. Even in this moment last night, which she could have just chosen to give a speech about claiming the nomination. She chose to spend a lot of it, Eugene, talking about Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: Very much so. I think one thing that's very interesting optically is that when you look at Hillary Clinton in that moment, she's surrounded, she's backed by people of different races and ages and groups in terms of gender and orientation. She's making it very clear that it is us, that this is about unity, this is where the new America is moving us forward compared to the optics of Donald Trump's speech, where you didn't see that. It was just Donald Trump.
I think what Hillary Clinton is going to try to communicate is that her campaign is going to be about us whereas Donald Trump, she believes, will focus on communicating and his own agenda, his own goals, and moving that forward.
STELTER: By the way. He even held his event last night at one of his clubs. So, the difference between the two visuals I thought was striking. He's a campaign, the Trump campaign, that's very small, it's run on a very small way. You know, it's got an unfinished campaign office space in his building, only a few staffers there. So, you know, it's a small backdrop there at one of his golf clubs,
versus Hillary Clinton having thousands of people at a venue in Brooklyn.
BERMAN: To be fair, Hillary Clinton doesn't own a golf club.
STELTER: That's true. He was promoting some of his own brand.
ROMANS: Let's listen to something he said that struck me about how, hey, he's a peace-loving guy, but he will fight when he needs to. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Now, I know some people say I'm too much of a fighter. My preference is always peace, however. And I've shown that. I've shown that for a long time. I built an extraordinary business on relationships and deals that benefit all parties involved, always.
My goal is always, again, to bring people together. But if I'm forced to fight for something I really care about, I will never ever back down, and our country will never, ever back down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:40:05] ROMANS: Josh Rogin, he's a lover and a fighter.
ROGIN: Right. I think Donald Trump is mischaracterizing the criticism. It's not that people say he's too much of a fighter. It's that people say he's too thin skinned and has no discipline and can't avoid being baited into counterproductive battles with people who are below his station, right? So, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or the prime minister of the U.K.
The question for Republicans is, can this guy be presidential? One night it seems like he can, the next night it seems like he can't. Until he demonstrates at least three days in a row where he doesn't get into some sort of tiff with somebody on Twitter for no reason, I think that whole presidential sort of image is not really going to stick.
ROMANS: Reince Priebus said --
BERMAN: That song was "The Girl is Mine", Paul McCarthy and Michael Jackson. I don't want to let that reference go unnoticed. But go ahead, do the news.
ROMANS: The news is Reince Priebus liked what he heard last night, you know? You say he's got to put three days in a row together like this. But Reince Priebus said this, "Great victory speech by Real Donald Trump tonight. Exactly the right approach and perfectly delivered," which is interesting because some people say that doesn't seem like Donald Trump.
STELTER: I bet he hated seeing that speech. He hated. I mean, this was supposed to be a press conference. Then he decided not to can take questions after all.
When he has to take questions from the press again, is he going to be that version of Trump or is he going to be unleashed Trump? I would guess unleashed.
But I do think it's notable, you hear him saying, I will never, ever back down. Personally, I thought that was a powerful moment in his speech. That's exactly what Republicans want to hear. They feel like their leaders have backed down again and again and again. I thought Trump's repetition of that have phrase was really evocative.
ROMANS: Name that tune after the break.
BERMAN: We'll see how they continue these messages over the next few days.
I think it'll be interesting to see how much repetition they can get on these themes over the next few weeks until the convention, to be sure.
All right, guys. Stick around.
ROMANS: Hillary Clinton reaching out to Bernie Sanders supporters to unite the Democratic Party, but her primary challenger Donald Trump is vowing to -- but Donald Trump also reaching out to those supporters and Bernie Sanders is vowing to fight to the convention. And the votes are continuing to come in, in California, Hillary Clinton ahead by almost 402,000 votes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:46:25] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to fight hard to win the primary in Washington, D.C. and then we take our fight for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Senator Bernie Sanders vowing to stay in this race all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July, but acknowledging the math is not in his favor.
Here to discuss is our panel of political analysts, our dream team, our predawn dream team this morning.
Let me ask you, Eugene, you know, we talked to Dan Pfeiffer, who voted, supports Hillary Clinton, voted for Hillary Clinton, used to advice President Obama earlier. He said, yes, he knows the tone, he heard that speech, but he thought -- he was optimistic that Bernie Sanders sees the off-ramp here.
SCOTT: Yes, very much so. I think there was a moment in his speech where he mentioned that he knows Americans will not support Donald Trump. I thought that was a very important statement to make regardless of what happens, because whether or not he moves forward or not, what he communicated to his followers is you can't get behind Donald Trump. We definitely need to move in a different direction.
I think what we'll see from him in this next week, especially following this conversation with President Barack Obama, it's a clear sign regarding what he's going to do next and how he's going to mobilize all of the supporters to move forward in the general election.
BERMAN: I think you're right, Eugene. I think Dan's right that this language was more conciliatory and Bernie Sanders is looking for a way out over the next week.
However, if you're looking to parse every line, there were other things he said that you could look at and say, well, maybe it's not going to be so easy, like when he was talking about arithmetic. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I am pretty good at arithmetic, and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight. But we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: But, Tal, if you're fighting for every delegate you can get, in particular if you're going to fight for every delegate you can get past next week, past Washington, D.C., that's when it starts to get to be an issue.
KOPAN: Of course, because that means you're talking about super delegates. That means you're trying to convince people who may have publicly stated their support for Hillary Clinton to switch to a side. You know, talking about parsing words, one thing we did not hear Bernie Sanders say last night is a pledge to actually win the nomination. That was something he has removed from what he's been saying over the past few weeks.
But he vowed the fight would continue. He also said, it was really interesting -- they were chanting his name, and he said, it is not just about Bernie. He really spoke about the movement as something he has sort of helped kindle but is now a full-fledged thing on its own that he hopes will continue.
So, he's definitely laying the groundwork for the movement he started and the ideas he's put forward to continue of an outsized influence on the Democratic Party and given himself an off-ramp if he doesn't get the nomination to still be a figurehead in this revolution.
ROMANS: And, you know, Hillary Clinton in her speech also acknowledging sort of not Bernie but these themes, these themes that Bernie Sanders has continued to hit on. She specifically mentioned them. We can listen to that right now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for the extraordinary campaign he has run.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
[04:50:02] He has spent his long career in public service fighting for progressive causes and principles and he's excited millions of voters, especially young people. And let there be no mistake. Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we've had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility, have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Josh, she -- or he, Bernie Sanders, is having a meeting Thursday with the president. The White House pointing out that it's at his request, he will be meeting on Thursday. He's going to have a rally. He's going to do the Washington, D.C. primary.
Talk to me about the way forward. Part of that sound bite almost sounded like thank you for influencing things to date, bye-bye, Bernie, but he's still very much alive here.
ROGIN: Well, Bernie Sanders, although he knows he won't win the nomination, knows he has a lot of power and a lot of leverage. It's not just in the help that Hillary Clinton will need to beat Donald Trump, but look at all those Senate races. All the Democrats on the ticket all the way down the line would benefit from having the Bernie machine behind them.
So, Bernie wants to have as much leverage as possible. So, he's going to meet with the Hillary people. He's going to meet with the president and he's going to say, listen, I've built this. If you want it, I'm going to need some concessions.
Those concessions can be short-term concessions, putting influence in at the convention. It could be long-term concessions, influence how the party operates moving forward, including in 2020. And Bernie is trying to maximize his leverage over the next week.
So, when he's that negotiation, he can get what he wants, and what he wants is, as Tal noted, to make this movement something real, something that returns him to the Senate in a position of prominence with a whole team of people and a whole list of senators and congressmen who he can lead to influence the party and the country going forward.
BERMAN: You know how you can tell he has leverage? Both candidates who aren't Bernie Sanders were talking about Bernie Sanders last night. Hillary Clinton we just heard. Donald Trump talking about Bernie Sanders also.
KOPAN: Yes, Sanders supporters are really --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: To all of those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of super delegates, we welcome you with open arms.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And, by the way, the terrible trade deals that Bernie was so vehemently against, and he's right on that, will be taken care of far better than anyone ever thought possible, and that's what I do. We are going to have fantastic trade deals. We're going to start making money and bringing in jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Brian, quickly in 30 seconds, it was interesting to see Donald Trump making a play for Bernie Sanders supporters.
STELTER: Sanders I bet watched both that and the Clinton speech before giving his own speech a couple hours ago. This must be agonizing for him.
This is a Vermont senator who made it all the way to the end of the Democratic primary, all the way to California. He has seen his views lifted on to the national stage.
Now he's not fighting for the nomination. He's not fighting for the presidency. He's fighting for what history is going to say out him, which is why it's going to be so difficult and hard the next few days to help his supporters accept what has happened here. Perhaps meeting with Obama will be the first step on Thursday.
ROMANS: All right. Everyone, stick with us here.
Speaking of history, a Senate history in California. Historic race shaping up in California overnight. Two minority Democratic women may be facing off in November's election with no Republican on the ballot.
BERMAN: Plus, we're still counting votes in California right now. Sixty-one percent of the vote in, and look at this. Hillary Clinton leads by 14 points, holding steady at 406,000 votes. That number is actually growing. Much more next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:58:09] BERMAN: An historic night in the race for the Senate seat being vacated in California by Democrat Barbara Boxer. For the first time in a century, it appears a Republican will not be on the general election ballot. Instead, it looks like two Democrats will compete against each other in a November runoff.
State Attorney General Kamala Harris is the top vote getter. Right now in second place, ten-term Democratic member of Congress, Loretta Sanchez of Orange County. Under California's unusual rules, nonpartisan primaries, the top two finishers move on in November.
RROMANS: All right. Hillary Clinton's best economic idea may be her simplest, fix what's broken. A new CNN Money analysis of Clinton's proposals show infrastructure spending could give the economy and the labor market a big boost.
Clinton says she wants to spend $275 billion improving things like roads, bridges, sewers. She also wants to establish a national infrastructure bank to critics say that would not pass Congress due to lack of oversight. And she wants to reauthorize a program to sell bonds to fund projects.
Infrastructure has been a main point for Bernie Sanders economic proposals as well, something Donald Trump cites as one way America is losing.
But economists say Clinton will have to beef up her proposals ahead of the general election despite the fact that some prominent experts think Trump's plan will cause a recession, he leads Clinton in many polls on the economy, interestingly.
BERMAN: All right. We're counting votes in California. We'll give you the latest numbers as EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: It may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Hillary Clinton, she embraces history, now, you know, reveling in the fact she's the first woman to win a major party's presidential nomination. She's the presumed nominee of the Democratic Party, though she kept her focus last night largely on Donald Trump, who is promising a tough race ahead.
