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French Police: Hostage Standoff Ends At Church; Fort Myers Police: Nightclub Shooting Not Terror; Michael Jordan Speaks Out On Racial Relations; Michelle Obama Electrifies Convention With Rousing Speech; Are Democrats United Behind Clinton? Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 26, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:55] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news out of France. Police are ending a standoff at a church in the Normandy region after two armed men took several people hostage. The attackers have been neutralized, we're told. Between four and six people were being held by the men armed with knives. We're working to find out more. We're going to have updates and we'll get them to you right away.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: More breaking news for you. This, out of Somalia's capital. (Video playing) At least seven people killed by suicide bombers, and you can see a plume there of white smoke in this distance. The attackers were targeting the African Union's main peacekeeping base in Mogadishu. The terror group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility.

CUOMO: We also have an update to the Fort Myers nightclub shooting that killed two teens, wounded more than a dozen other people. The city's interim police chief saying this is not an act of terror and more suspects may be on the loose, as well. Three young men arrested already after leaving the scene. The FBI and the ATF now joining the investigation.

CAMEROTA: Michael Jordan, obviously a basketball legend, breaking his silence on the tension between police and black communities in a letter published on "The Undefeated". The famously private Jordan says solutions are needed to ensure blacks receive fair treatment and police officers are respected.

Jordan writes, in part, "I was raised by parents who taught me to love and respect people regardless of their race or background, so I am saddened and frustrated by the divisive rhetoric and racial tensions that seem to be getting worse. I know this country is better than that."

Jordan, whose own father was shot and killed in 1993, also said he will donate $1 million each to the NAACP and a group working on police-community relations.

CUOMO: Notable because Michael Jordan not known for speaking out about social issues like this.

CAMEROTA: Yes, he said that the time had come, it had been too long. CUOMO: Very interesting. All right, so day one of the Democratic National Convention. The big question was will the Dems come together and get past the email. The big names came out to the put the problems behind them. Now they say the real threat is clear and it is Donald Trump. How effective was the case? A closer look, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:37:20]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Seriously, someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Michelle Obama punching Trump right in the Twitter. She was making the case at the Democratic National Convention last night and she wasn't the only one. To the extent that there were attacks on Trump and his message last night, were they effective?

Let's bring in our panel to discuss. Former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and writer for TheNewYorker.com, Richard Socarides. We also have CNN political commentator, KABC talk radio host and Trump supporter, John Phillips. And, CNN political commentator and host of "BET NEWS". He also has like nine other things going on his life.

CAMEROTA: But we don't time for that in a four-hour show.

CUOMO: He's a professor, he's a hydroponic farmer, he's got a lot going on, Marc Lamont Hill. How did you feel last night, Professor, about the success of the intended effect of going at Trump, and did it work for the party?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, HOST, "BET NEWS": I thought it was somewhat effective. I thought they hit the right notes. They had a more measured and subdued tone which I think was very important. They wanted to sort of counter some of what they would consider the passion of the previous week with what seemed liked more reason because that's the overall message and the subtext of the entire convention. They were more reasonable, were more disciplined, and more patient.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Elizabeth Warren, who has been a notable attack dog against Donald Trump -- she seemed possibly more subdued last night, so in case you were sleeping let's play a portion of Elizabeth Warren.

CUOMO: Sleep?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Let's face it, Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, or for college kids, or for seniors. No plans to make anything great for anyone except the rich guys like Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: John, as a Trump supporter, what did you think about the attack?

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, TALK RADIO HOST, KABC: I agree with you, I think she was more sedate than she usually is. She's been on the 15-city tour of rage on ice (ph) and we didn't see that last night against Donald Trump. What she did do, though, is she stuck to the storyline which is what Hillary Clinton is putting out there, that is that Donald Trump is a very specific, different kind of threat to the country than typical Republicans.

Now, that wasn't what we heard from Bernie Sanders last night. Bernie Sanders just kind of launched into that stock speech going after Republicans. Oh, they're going to side with the banks, they're going to side with the powers that be, they're going after the little guy, and I thought that was a stark contrast to what we saw from Elizabeth Warren.

CUOMO: Socarides, you came in with a big smile on your face, saying what a difference 24 little hours make. Why are you so confident this morning?

RICHARD SOCARIDES, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO BILL CLINTON: Well, I think we had a great night. The Democrats had a great night last night.

CUOMO: In what form? Where did you see it?

[05:40:00] SOCARIDES: Well, I think Michelle Obama really set the tone for the night. I mean, she gave one of the really most eloquent speeches I've heard in a long time. It was beautifully written, it was beautifully delivered. It was delivered with a tremendous amount of emotion. I mean, at a couple of points you could really hear her voice crack a little bit.

I mean, don't think they don't take this personally. I mean, last week was all about going right at Barack Obama and I think that this was her message to the country that things are -- you know, we still have a lot of work to do but things are not as dire as Donald Trump says. And look at what the Democratic Party stands for. Look at what we've achieved.

And look at her personal story. When she talked about waking up every morning in a house built by slaves. I mean, I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

CAMEROTA: That's interesting, Marc, because Michelle Obama had a more oblique attack of Donald Trump. She didn't overtly --

HILL: Right.

CAMEROTA: -- say what was wrong with Donald Trump. She just talked about when -- what I say to my girls when somebody questions their father's faith, you know, what we talked about, and that was effective. But, obviously, everybody in the convention hall is not going to vote for Donald Trump. They're here at the Democratic Convention. Do you think that what was said last night did sway any Independents who are on the fence?

HILL: I do, because what they did was essentially coop the Republican approach which is to say that we are quintessentially American. We represent the values and ideals of America. Last week, the narrative from the left was, and has been really for all summer, Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, right? And so now there is talk about American exceptionalism, as Michelle Obama did last night.

They're talking about saying America has never not been great. All of the things that you might normally hear at a Republican convention you hear at the Democratic Convention, which I think is an important strategy. So I think people on the fence will say wait a minute, who represents American ideals better? Who can defend American empire better? And the Democrats made a heck of a case last night.

SOCARIDES: You are so right.

HILL: Thank you.

SOCARIDES: I mean, it was such a patriotic speech. The whole evening was actually quite patriotic, but Michelle Obama gave a speech that was really about patriotism.

PHILLIPS: You know, I think there were two things that she was trying to do last night. One's the macro, one's the micro. The macro is to convince the American public that Hillary Clinton isn't fundamentally a dishonest person. The micro is she needed to shut the Bernie people up.

And I think part of the problem with what was going on last night when Sarah Silverman and others were being booed, is that the Bernie delegates aren't the usual suspects. These aren't the county party chairmen, these aren't the state legislators, these are different people that he brought into the process. These are movement left- wingers and they are there behaving like movement left-wingers and she did shut them up.

CUOMO: The last -- some of my Republican friends actually enjoyed the fact that Michelle Obama stole the night because they're like, eh, she's not even an elected. You know, you brought out your big dogs last night -- Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and you're talking about the first lady. It's a good night for me.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's rumors that she might be running for the U.S. Senate seat in California if Dianne Feinstein retires.

SOCARIDES: Can I tell you what I thought? Can I tell you what I thought?

CUOMO: Really? Yes, let me move my Madonna mic. (Laughter)

SOCARIDES: Listen, when she finished her speech last night, what I thought to myself was four years ago we heard Bill Clinton in a speech that many people thought saved that election for Barack Obama. And this year, it was Michelle Obama who returned the favor -- the family favor. And I think she, you know, will go down, you know -- after the election we'll say that was the moment, I think.

CAMEROTA: Very interesting, panel. Stick around, we have more to talk to you about because there are two parties, obviously, offering two very different visions. Democrats declaring that America is already great, Republicans vowing to make America great again. Which one resonates with voters? Our panel weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:00] CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. So, let's talk about the two different takes on where America is right now. Last night, the DNC presented a positive outlook on the status of America compared with the dire picture that the RNC presented last week. Many characterized Donald Trump's acceptance speech as dark. Well, last night Michelle Obama had a different tact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great. That somehow we need to make it great again because this, right now, is the greatest country on earth. (Cheers)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, so which party's message will resonate more with voters? Let's bring back our political panel. We have Richard Socarides, John Phillips, and Marc Lamont Hill. So, Marc, I mean, herein lies the question. Is, you know -- do you want to say America has a lot of problems and we're going to fix them and we're going to make America great again, or America's still great and we're going to continue, you know, our greatness? And that's what voters have to decide, basically, in November.

HILL: Right.

CAMEROTA: And you see it in stark relief there.

HILL: And they're both reasonable messages, right? It's how you spin them and you take them up, and what particular social circumstance you're in when you hear that message. If you haven't had a job in five years you're going to say America's maybe not so great, right? If you've been, you know -- if you've been witnessing acts of terror that seem to be unprotected or unprevented, you may say America's not so great right now.

On the other hand, if you're invested in some American ideal, you say you know, America has provided opportunities that other countries couldn't and haven't, you may have a different take on it. If you're frustrated with all the anger and what some would consider hate from the right, then you may say hey, wait a minute, let's respond to that darkness with some light by saying America has always been great. So it really depends on how you spin it. And I think the left is doing a better job of spinning it right now because they don't seem angry.

CAMEROTA: John?

PHILLIPS: They were kind of schizophrenic about it. You had Michelle Obama who was talking about American exceptionalism and then you had Elizabeth Warren go on and say you're getting screwed, you're getting screwed by corporations, you're getting screwed by the banks.

Mind you, she's saying this from a building named after a bank group that was sponsored by corporate sponsors as she's endorsing a woman that used to sit on the board of directors at Walmart. So I thought that they were both on sort of different pages last night in that respect.

[05:50:00] CUOMO: So let's do it, though, this way. When you hear Trump's message you support Trump.

PHILLIPS: Sure.

CUOMO: Why does it work for you when he says let's make America great again and clearly paints a picture of this country being in disarray and in the negative? Why does it work for you?

PHILLIPS: Well, first of all, that's the argument that the party out of power always makes. The people who are in charge are screwing things up. Secondly, people are terrified right now. They're terrified of terrorism, they're terrified of crime, they're terrified of losing their job, losing their homes. So he's speaking to, I think, a broad section of America with that message.

SOCARIDES: But, you know, I think that the Republicans and Mr. Trump are making a fundamental mistake. I mean, Americans are always about the future. Elections are always about the future. We are an optimistic country. And I think that rather than try to have it both ways that the Democrats, last night and throughout this week --I think you'll say are trying to paint a realistic picture.

That, of course, we have things that we need to improve on. Of course, not everything is right. But that for the last eight years we've made a tremendous amount of progress -- that more people are employed and that we're stronger working together. And I think that you saw last night, in Michelle's speech, a beautiful portrait of what we've done and where we have to go.

And then, I think Sen. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, obviously two very important very important voices of our party, talking about what we still need to be fixed. They're uniquely qualified to do that. I think Bernie Sanders was about as pitch perfect as you could get last night.

CAMEROTA: Is he enthusiastic enough?

SOCARIDES: I think he was very enthusiastic and I think by the end -- by the end, you really understood. You really believed that he meant it. I mean, that was a --

CUOMO: Because it took him until the end of his speech.

(CROSSTALK)

SOCARIDES: But that is classic Sanders. I mean, that was -- last night was a classic speech. If he had gotten up there last night and given a speech that wasn't authentic -- but he gave a very authentic speech. You heard -- I mean, this is what we heard for a year, right? I mean, how many times did we hear him sound like that? He had to give an authentic speech, he had to give it. That was the end of his campaign. It was very sad there. People -- his supporters crying on the floor.

CAMEROTA: We saw them.

SOCARIDES: He had to own that moment and he had to let his supporters have that moment.

HILL: I didn't but it, though. I didn't buy it. I felt like -- I mean, I loved Bernie's message but it didn't feel like an endorsement of Hillary Clinton. It felt like an extension of his campaign, which is a very different argument. It wasn't Ted Cruzville. I mean, it wasn't that bad. But, at no moment did it feel like he was full- throat support.

SOCARIDES: Oh, I completely disagree.

HILL: Hillary's the right person. I didn't --

SOCARIDES: I think by the end -- by the end, you really -- you really knew that he was there.

HILL: It felt perfunctory to me and Ididn't want it to. I was expecting -- I was expecting it to be a very different speech.

PHILLIPS: There was more plagiarism in Bernie Sanders' speech than in Melania's speech. He just happened to plagiarize himself because it was the same speech he gave when he endorsed her.

CUOMO: Which is impossible.

(CROSSTALK)

SOCARDIES: I don't think you can plagiarize yourself.

CUOMO: You cannot plagiarize yourself.

HILL: Yes, you can. You actually can.

CUOMO: How can plagiarize yourself?

HILL: When you copy -- like if you take an old paper or an old book you wrote, and then take the exact same text and put it in a new one and don't cite it as something you already wrote.

CUOMO: That's plagiarism?

HILL: Plagiarism -- it's called self-plagiarism or auto-plagiarism.

CUOMO: Auto-plagiarism, now you're --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: I like it. So Bernie should go down then. (Laughter)

HILL: Let's the memes begin.

CUOMO: John, to your -- I think the challenge for the Democrats, and we have to see how it develops this week, is we know, because of the convention and frankly because of the very direct line argument from Trump, whom they're speaking to. Who he's trying to -- he called them the forgotten.

In 1968, we heard from Nixon -- called them the silent majority without actually creating that term. Who do you think the Democrats are speaking to? Who is their base that they need to come out strong in a way that could determine the election?

PHILLIPS: Well, they need minority voters to turn out in 2008 numbers. But what they did last night was push to the party to the left. This is not Bill Clinton's Democratic Party. You heard Bernie Sanders in his speech talk about how he moved the party on trade, how he moved the party on other issues in the platform. That's what he considers to be his big victory -- pushing the party to the left.

SOCARIDES: Well, and tonight we're going to hear from another big leftist, Mike Bloomberg, who is going to, you know, push us exactly where we want to be, I think. And, Bill Clinton, another leftist and progressive. Listen, I think we as Democrats right now are exactly where we want to be after the first night.

HILL: Moving toward the center, that's why I'm sad. You know, a leftist out on Monday and then let's do our real, like, DLC (ph) party --

SOCARIDES: No, no, no. But listen, we're a party of coalitions. I mean, you really saw the coalition last night.

CUOMO: Well, you've certainly seen them because you've got lots of different groups that you still have melding together but it was only day one at a convention. Fellows, thank you very much, appreciate it.

HILL: Thank you.

CUOMO: Auto-plagiarism, that's what I took away from that segment. Much more ahead on the DNC's big night. Michelle Obama is getting the headlines. Why? What did she do that the man on the other part of your screen, Bernie Sanders, did not? We'll break it all down for you next.

[05:54:50] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SILVERMAN, STAND-UP COMEDIAN: To the Bernie or bust people, you're being ridiculous.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her.

OBAMA: Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great. This, right now, is the greatest country on earth.

WARREN: We are not going be Donald Trump's hate-filled America. Not now, not ever.

EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: I believe in the candidate who believes in all of us.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: We are the United States of America. Our best days are ahead of us. America, we will rise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CAMEROTA: It is Tuesday, July 26th. The sun is coming up over Philly. We want to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. You're watching NEW DAY. Chris and I are live in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention.

And this may be Hillary Clinton's nomination party but opening night, at least, belonged to Bernie Sanders and Michelle Obama.