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Donald Trump Accepts Republican Presidential Nomination; Donald Trump's Speech to Republican National Conversation Examined; Clinton to Announce Running Mate Soon; Ivanka Trump: My Father is "The People's Champion." Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 22, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The situation is worse than it has ever been before.

Violence in our streets, chaos in our communities. America is far less safe.

Look at America. What the hell is going on here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you ready for change?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I am the law and order candidate. I am your voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, July 22nd, 8:00 in the east. Chris and I are live from Cleveland where we have been all week, but we are wrapping up our coverage of the Republican convention this morning. Donald Trump declaring last night that America is in crisis as he accepted his party's nomination. Trump saying that he is the only one who can fix America's problems.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Trump echoing the theme from the entire week, which is blaming Hillary Clinton for many of the nations if not the world's problems.

So did Trump make the case to voters, including new voters, and enough of them to win in November? CNN has every angle covered this morning. Let's begin with Phil Mattingly. Phil, tell us about the speech.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The themes, Chris, those weren't new. You've heard them throughout the last 13 months. But the delivery, it was raw, it was ominous, and there were big pledges and big promises. One thing is 100 percent certain after last night, there's no subtlety to Donald Trump's message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

MATTINGLY: In the biggest speech of his life, Donald Trump declaring America is in crisis.

TRUMP: Not only have our citizens endured domestic disaster, but lived through one international humiliation after another.

MATTINGLY: At time, painting an exceedingly dark picture of the state of the country.

TRUMP: The attacks on our police and the terrorism of our cities threaten our very way of life.

MATTINGLY: The Republican nominee speaking ominously about the dangers of illegal immigration.

TRUMP: Where was the sanctuary for all of the other Americans who have been so brutally murdered and who have suffered so, so horribly?

MATTINGLY: And portraying America as a broken nation that he is uniquely qualified to bring together.

TRUMP: Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.

MATTINGLY: Trump's message for the public, "I'm with you."

TRUMP: People who work hard but no longer have a voice, I am your voice.

MATTINGLY: Rejecting globalism, Trump insisting America first.

TRUMP: USA! USA!

MATTINGLY: His key theme, restoring law and order, to a country he says has been overwhelmed with crime and violence.

TRUMP: The crime a violence that today afflicts our nation will soon, and I mean very soon, come to an end.

MATTINGLY: Trump, blaming America's ills on his rivals Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration.

TRUMP: This the legacy of Hillary Clinton -- death, destruction, terrorism, and weakness.

MATTINGLY: Casting Clinton as a politician, controlled by donors.

TRUMP: She is their puppet. And they pull the strings.

MATTINGLY: And the Republicans as the party of truth.

TRUMP: If you want to hear the corporate spin, the carefully crafted lies, and the media myths, the Democrats are holding their convention next week. Go there.

MATTINGLY: His attacks revving up the Cleveland crowd, but the nominee showed signs of restraint, quieting calls to send Clinton to jail, instead focusing on the fight ahead.

TRUMP: Let's defeat her in November.

MATTINGLY: And avoiding using his popular moniker, "crooked Hillary," a stark difference from his boisterous rallies. In the longest acceptance speech in 40 years, Trump reinforced the key promises of his campaign.

TRUMP: We are going to build a great border wall.

MATTINGLY: While dialing back on others, like his proposed ban on all Muslims entering the U.S.

TRUMP: We must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism.

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

[08:05:01] MATTINGLY: The Republican nominee challenging conservative orthodoxy by sharply criticizing America's trade deals and denouncing the foreign policy of both Democratic and Republican administrations.

TRUMP: After 15 years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before.

MATTINGLY: Trump making history as the first Republican nominee to embrace the LGBTQ community at a convention.

TRUMP: I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and depression of the hateful foreign ideology.

MATTINGLY: The New York billionaire completing his improbable takeover of the Republican Party, though it hasn't been smooth sailing this week with Ted Cruz's endorsement snub and the plagiarism controversy involving his wife. Trump and his running mate, tying to project a united fight and hoping Cleveland gives them a boost heading into November.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And guys, last night really making crystal clear, there will be no grand shift in policy. There will be no big pivot. This is Donald Trump. This is the campaign he is going to run. He is not changing.

However, you have to note, there is a very strategic calculation in that the Trump campaign. When you talk to advisors, when you talk to Donald Trump, he makes clear he is reaching out to a specific group of people, people who feel left behind, people who are uneasy, people who feel disenfranchised. The big question now is, is that a broad enough swath of people in this country, in the general electorate, to actually ride to a victory in November. We don't have that answer yet. That's something to keep a close eye on in the weeks and months ahead. Chris and Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Phil, thanks so much for all of that.

So let's discuss everything we just heard with Christine Quinn, Hillary Clinton supporter and vice chair of New York's Democratic Party, and CNN political commentator Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager. He's still receiving severance pay from the Trump campaign. Thanks to both of you for being here. So Corey, we've had a couple of analysts on this morning who said it was too heavy on doom and gloom and that there was no real note of, hey, America is the best country in the world, and the optimism of what will be before us.

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think what you learned about Donald Trump over the last year plus is that he is going to tell the truth. He is going to tell the American people things that most politicians aren't willing or haven't been willing to do so. And what that has done particularly in the Republican primary field is that attracted more voters to come out and support a candidate, 14 million votes in a field of 16 or 17 people that has ever received any amount of votes in the history of the Republican Party. So what you're doing is you're telling people the truth. The American people are very smart.

CAMEROTA: So it is -- the truth you think is as bleak a picture the status of America today?

LEWANDOWSKI: We're $19 trillion in debt. Our Washington, D.C. politicians, he talked about them last night, have failed the American people. The people who are upset and turning out to vote for the first time in 20, 30, 40 years, are tired of a broken Washington, D.C. And they want someone to go there and fundamentally change it. And Donald Trump has said I don't need special interest money. I won't be the beholden to those special interests. I'll fund my own campaign. It's been a huge selling point right now. He put his own money in. He doesn't need the job. He wants the job to make America great again and that' what he's going to do.

CAMEROTA: Christine?

CHRISTINE QUINN, PRESIDENT, CEO, WOMEN IN NEED: I think the speech was incredibly dark and heavy. And I'm not saying there aren't problems in America. I work with homeless families every day. I know there are problems in America. But I also know that this country is a great country. And I also know that voters want to hear, yes, an affirmation of their problems, but where they're going to be moved to make things better, and Donald Trump has none of that.

And strategic --- and the fact that, he has he won the Republican nomination? Of course he has. But strategically, if he is going to win the presidency, he's going to have to reach out to women, to Latinos, to immigrants, all of the community that he used last night to make very clear and his choice of Governor Pence, very clear that he has no interest in embracing or in helping. He is still committed to building this ridiculous wall.

LEWANDOWSKI: That Mexico will pay for.

QUINN: I'm going to wake up tomorrow and be a super model. You know what I mean? Saying it don't make it true. He has doubled down on keeping Muslims out of the country.

LEWANDOWSKI: If they come from terrorist states. That's a fair policy. If you come from a terrorist stop.

QUINN: Can you stop? Nobody interrupts you. First of all, it is an un-American policy. It is a policy that most of his --

LEWANDOWSKI: -- that kill Americans.

QUINN: Many of his Republican colleagues have refused to endorse. It is unenforceable.

[08:10:04] CAMEROTA: He said immigration from any nation compromised by terrorism.

QUINN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: We've been compromised by terrorism.

LEWANDOWSKI: He didn't say Muslim. You mentioned Muslims.

QUINN: What does that mean?

CUOMO: That's the question.

QUINN: We've been compromised by terrorism. Does that affect us?

LEWANDOWSKI: Our failed immigration policy --

QUINN: So what does that mean, we can't come back? If I go to Europe, I can't come back?

LEWANDOWSKI: Because we let someone into the country that shouldn't be, then that's our problem with the federal government.

And look, the San Bernardino killer, 14 people are dead --

CUOMO: I can't hear anything.

QUINN: I'm sorry, I thought you were in Orlando.

CUOMO: Make your points, Corey.

LEWANDOWSKI: What I said is the immigration system has completely failed us. We're allowing people into the country whose goal, whose desire is to kill Americans. Until we reform our immigration policy and we know who is coming here, we need to better understand and do a better job. The government's role is to protect U.S. citizens.

CUOMO: Is it fair, look, I get the premise, you make it well, he has made it many times. He has moved off the Muslim thing because it is not working for him in certain polling, and he said something so broad last night --

QUINN: It could affect everything.

CUOMO: It is impossible to do because he's basically saying not Muslims. It is everybody. So let's put his solution to the side because it is unworkable. It's important. It's not going to happen.

But here is my question for you. When you're developing the premise of this, the premise of this is going to matter. Our system is broken. We have less attacks on our soil than any other major target of terrorism, you know that. We vet refugees who come into this country more than any other category of immigration. Doesn't that matter? Because he says it, and you make the case as if they just waltz right in, and that's not true.

LEWANDOWSKI: The problem is the vetting system that we currently have in place is a failure.

CUOMO: It will never be perfect.

LEWANDOWSKI: It needs to be better, because what we're doing is we're allowing Syrian refugees come in, and by own government's account we don't know who these people are because the records of these refugees aren't very good.

CUOMO: Here is the problem with the statement, Christine, because you're going to have the same problem. Her solutions will be just as hollow.

QUINN: We haven't seen that to date.

CUOMO: We have, but that's not the discussion for today. What I'm saying is this. The Syrian refugees, if you want to keep them out, and Alisyn has made this point many times, you're going to have to keep other categories, like my cousins who come over to visit from Italy, because they're not checked the way the Syrian refugees are. Some of them don't have the paperwork, but a lot of people don't complete the picture and profile for the United States. The refugees, it's usually better because the U.N. does it first.

LEWANDOWSKI: I understand, but what we're asking for is a temporary slowdown so that the United States can put a system in place.

CUOMO: Not a slowdown, a stop. You're geeing to keep people out of this country.

LEWANDOWSKI: Temporarily just so we can have the right system in place.

CUOMO: But you'll never have the right system in place.

LEWANDOWSKI: It has to be better than it is today because the San Bernardino came in with a K-1 visa, who killed 14 people, and the State Department we couldn't even vet her social media activity because we didn't have the resources. There's a fundamental problem when we're letting people into the country and we don't have the simple background to say that person is willing to come here and kill a jihad.

QUINN: Can any system be improved? Of course. But in fact if you look at the vetting system that's out there right now, it is extensive. It really does delve into people's backgrounds. Can it be made better, that's a fair conversation to have at some point, but that's not the conversation that Donald Trump is putting out. And Corey, you've changed what you said just in the course of this show. We're talking about a ban on anyone coming in from countries that have been compromised by terrorism. What does that mean? Does that mean if all of us leave and go on vacation to Europe, we can't come back? We come from a country that has been compromised by terrorism. It makes no sense and it is just about isolationism and blaming and pushing other people out. The Orlando killer, and I apologize for mishearing you before, was an American.

LEWANDOWSKI: Sure, the San Bernardino husband.

QUINN: And this is a more complicated problem that needs a deeper answer than just blame them, keep them out, when you're keeping out people who have done nothing wrong.

CAMEROTA: Corey, we have a picture of you from last night. It is a picture --

CUOMO: You look good, by the way.

CAMEROTA: And boy, do you look good. You're on the phone here with Donald Trump. What was he telling you after his big speech?

LEWANDOWSKI: You know, Mr. Trump called to actually say thank you for the hard work I put into the campaign, and I obviously said thank you back. And I said congratulations. It was a big night for him and his family. They deserved to be the center of attention. They did a great job, 14 months of hard work, that they put in when many, many pundits, including many people at this network said Donald Trump would never be a serious candidate. He would never beat the greatest field ever assembled. Donald Trump has proven every pundit wrong, shy of a very few who said he would be where he is today. And he will continue to prove the pundits wrong who say he can't beat Hillary Clinton come November.

QUINN: I think he was calling to say, was that a Trump tie?

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: I'm sure it was. Corey, Christine, thank you. Great to see both of you.

Hillary Clinton, hoping to steal the spotlight now that the Republican convention is over.

[08:15:00] We could learn as early as today who she will pick as her running mate. So, let's get to CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns. He

is live in Orlando, where the Clinton campaign is today.

So, Joe, what are they signaling?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: They're just getting started here in Orlando. Later today, they're going to come in and sit down with the mayor of Orlando and others and talk about the Pulse nightclub massacre that happened very recently.

Look, Hillary Clinton expected to fly over in just a little while from Miami, and talking to Senate Democrats and others about this process, it's about fit, it's about demographics, and we've already talked this morning about some of the top names, including Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the former DNC chair, also the former, and what he brings to the table.

Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Ohio, I'm sorry, the former of governor of Iowa, now, in fact the agriculture secretary, and the idea that he can actually speak to people in small towns, that would be very useful for Hillary Clinton.

Some of the other names that have arisen more recently, and apparently getting a close look, include Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. This is someone who's seen a very passionate and eloquent spokesman for Democratic cause, and we do know Hillary Clinton likes him a lot.

There are many other names on the list that Hillary Clinton has sat down recently to talk to, including Elizabeth Warren, of course. They have said they don't think they're going to be the pick.

So, we'll be watching and waiting. The announcement could come by text message today or tomorrow. Hillary Clinton has three stops here in Florida.

Chris, back to you.

CUOMO: All right, Joe Johns, we know you got your nose to the grindstone. Let us know if we get real information about when it is actually coming. Appreciate it.

So, after everything that has happened here this week, positive and negative, it really came down to last night. If nothing else, Donald Trump had the room arocking during his big address.

Now, the question is, when you have kids who are so good-looking and so good at the podium, do they start distracting a little bit from you? Ivanka said some things, Ivanka Trump, that a lot of people are saying why doesn't her father say those things? We're going to talk about what she said and what it may mean to his campaign, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:21:16] IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: Come January '17, all things will be possible again. We can hope and dream and think big again. No one has more faith in the American people than my father. He will be your greatest, your truest and your most loyal champion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, there is Ivanka Trump painting a positive picture of her father, and reaching out to women voters, talking about equal work and equal pay for women. Optimistic, aspirational, very different than what her father did and said last night.

Let's discuss the contrast and why it may matter, be a plus or minus.

CNN political director David Chalian, CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston, CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston.

Brother Chalian --

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, sir.

CUOMO: -- we often divide labor, especially when we have sophisticated adult children to lean on who are articulate. She came out and said things last night. Was this what Ron Brownstein calls the alternative reality of what Trump's campaign could have been about, but is not?

CHALIAN: Well, I thought she was fantastic. I thought she gave a really strong speech and really a star of the week, and the star of the children. I think that what you saw in Ivanka Trump's speech was why conservatives have been weary about Donald Trump throughout the whole process. It was a speech that could have been given at a Democratic convention.

CUOMO: She said, I'm not a Democrat or a Republican.

CHALIAN: Exactly. I don't like to be categorically put in either camp and she made a play to millennials when she said that, which I though was wise thing to do as well for her. I think she's going to be hugely important advocate, but I do think it was odd on the final night of the Republican convention, where you've been trying to stitch together the party all week, to all of a sudden hear these themes on equal pay -- you know, stuff we're going to here in Philadelphia.

That being said, I think she could be a real conduit to bringing some new people into the Trump coalition.

CAMEROTA: So, Mark, let's talk about those themes that David says could have been rolled out at the DNC. She talked about workplace rules for pregnant women and moms and new moms and equal pay, and all those things that you haven't heard Donald Trump talk about.

So, how does that work?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, look, I mean, I think a lot of people here on the floor last night were very happy with a lot of things that she said. I mean, by and large, as David said, those are themes that you wouldn't necessarily hear at a Republican convention.

However, right afterwards, her father gave a very dark and gloomy speech about the state of America. I think when they saw in Ivanka Trump is somebody who is inspirational, who was aspirational, somebody who is the future. I think there was such a contrast last night between what she said and how she portrayed herself and then what he said and how he portrayed himself.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: And it was also just because it was so fresh, it was unlike anything we've heard from anyone on the Trump campaign this entire time, you know. The fact that she was playing up, that she's an independent voter, and can reach out to these women, you know, that's just really something that he has not been able to do on the campaign trail is actually show how he is going to broaden his reach, and last night's speech was another example of that.

I mean, he was much more restrained, much more disciplined. But it was exactly the same themes that we ha been hearing on the campaign trail from him, you know, since the beginning of his campaign.

CUOMO: By the way, to the extent that they matter, the instant poll afterwards, David, and your focus group show that he did well with Republicans who were watching the speech, 75 percent of them saw it, favorably or very favorably, positive or very positive.

What does that tell you?

CHALIAN: So you're right to make the caveat. These are people who tune in to watch the speech. So, it is not representative of America but -- and if you're tuning in to watch speech, you're predisposed --

CUOMO: Sure.

CHALIAN: -- to like Donald Trump probably.

[08:25:00] That being said, if you are Donald Trump and you're going to give the biggest speech of your life and 75 percent of the people watching view it favorably, and you get an increase from 60 percent to 73 percent, who after the speech say, they think your policy also move the country in the right direction, that's progress. He came in here and he hit marks, and made progress.

CUOMO: He had a good night.

RESTON: And all the things we're not talking about right now. I mean, they did a lot of clean up last night by moving beyond the Melania controversy and everything else that happened this week.

CAMEROTA: Ted Cruz.

RESTON: Ted Cruz.

PRESTON: Right, but I think we're inside the hall last night and watched it, and it is different than watching it on TV. We were in the hall and watching it on TV. If you were in the hall, there was no energy last night. There was no

enthusiasm.

CAMEROTA: You mean in the crowd?

PRESTON: There was very -- I found it to be surprisingly very little enthusiasm. There was no high point at it, at the end, the crowd came together.

CHALIAN: It was a long speech.

CUOMO: The longest in 40 years. 75 minutes.

(CROSSTALK)

RESTON: It depended on where you were on the floor and which delegations you were near.

I mean, there were sort of moments of bursts of enthusiasm during the speech and other times quite flat. Usually at a rally --

PRESTON: That's the problem. There were moments of it. This is a rally where you all --

CUOMO: Hold on. Let's get context here for why. Let's say you're right, Mark, which I've never said before. Let's say you are. He was talking mostly about what is wrong in America, and crisis, and the world. Those are not applause lines, you know?

So, he was doing something last night, I'm a change agent, insurgent, this situation sucks. I mean, that's part of his mandate, did he overdo it, did he do it? You know, that's subjective. The question is, what does it do to Clinton?

CHALIAN: Well, listen, Hillary Clinton has never been sort of the maestro when it comes to sunny, rosy optimism. It is not the easiest contrast for her. And I know that we -- students of this who have followed this, the happy warrior, Reagan and George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, these people who paint the positive picture have been successful at this effort.

You know, Donald Trump is different. I can't rule out because a dark and more divisive or stormy cloud tone, I can't rule out that that may be successful for him, even though that hasn't been the path that we believe is the stuff that makes successful presidential candidates.

RESTON: Thinking of the 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign, after September 11th, when they went out on the campaign trail, and voters still were so gripped by fear, and ultimately, of course, they were successful in that campaign.

And talking to voters out on the street here, they just keep waiting to hear more. They know that they are not necessarily -- don't necessarily want to go with Hillary Clinton, because they feel she is more of the same. They get that she would do something different. They just don't know what it is yet. PRESTON: Hillary Clinton's biggest obstacle isn't going to try get

over Donald Trump's speech last night. It is going to talk her husband's speech and Barack Obama's speech. That is going to be different --

CAMEROTA: That will be a challenge.

Panel, thank you very much. Great to talk to all of you.

Well, many say Donald Trump's speech painted far too grim of a picture, but others say that it reminded them of Ronald Reagan or Richard Nixon. Among those, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He'll make the case for why he likes the speech so much, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)