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New Day
Michelle Obama Speaks at Democratic National Convention; Bernie Sanders Endorses Hillary Clinton; Interview with Joel Benenson. Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired July 26, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SYMONE SANDERS, FORMER NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY, BERNIE 2016: But she didn't paint a dismal picture like the Republicans did the week prior to. What the first lady went out there and did is she gave us hope. She painted a picture of opportunity, that we have the power to continue to take this country to the next level. And that made me so proud to be a Democrat and to see a black woman last night.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Symone Sanders, I will be monitoring your Twitter feed to what the response is that you get from the Berners. Thank you for making the case, as always.
SYMONE SANDERS: Thank you.
CUOMO: It's been a great pleasure working with you.
SYMONE SANDERS: Thank you.
CUOMO: There is a lot of news, political and otherwise. So let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To the "Bernie or bust" people, you're being ridiculous.
BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president. I am proud to stand with her.
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: Let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great. This right now is the greatest country on earth.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: We are not going to be Donald Trump hate-filled America, not now, not ever.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe in the candidate who believes in all of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, July 26th, 8:00 in the east. Chris and I are live in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention. A lot of news to get to this morning.
Hillary Clinton set to make history today in this historic city, the first woman to be a presidential nominee of a major party. On opening night, some of the Democrats biggest stars tried to demonstrate brotherly love, or sisterly love, led by Michelle Obama.
CUOMO: Stole my line, I see, using the meaning of Philadelphia. Well played. Well played. Somehow, it sounds better when you say it.
Bernie Sanders gave an endorsement last night. Some will say it is full throated. Some will not. However, it was certainly really important for the party to come together around his words, and he did say Hillary Clinton must be this country's next president. Was that enough? There are a lot of angles in this convention right now. We have them all covered. Let's start with CNN's Manu Raju. Manu?
MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chris. Party officials were so worried that this convention was getting out of control yesterday that the Clinton campaign and the Sanders campaign began a series of private discussions to figure out a way to reign in those unruly Sanders supporters. And what we saw on the floor yesterday is it didn't really work. Speaker after speaker were shouted down. There were chants, they were interrupted. But one person was not interrupted, and that's Michelle Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great.
RAJU: Michelle Obama, bringing down the house on night one of the democratic convention.
MICHELLE OBAMA: This right now is the greatest country on earth.
(APPLAUSE)
RAJU: The first lady leading a powerful list of headliners, including Hillary's Democratic rival, Senator Bernie Sanders.
BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
RAJU: After a hard fought primary, Sanders welcomed to the amid deafening cheers in a three-minute standing ovation before delivering a full-throated endorsement of his former rival in the most important political moment of the night.
SANDERS: Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her tonight.
RAJU: Sanders emphasizing the stakes of the election.
SANDERS: If you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate.
RAJU: While comforting disappointed supporters, many getting emotional during his remarks.
SANDERS: We have begun a political revolution to transform America, and that revolution, our revolution, continues.
(APPLAUSE)
RAJU: The speeches aimed at uniting a party, still simmering over the primary fight. The division on display both inside and outside the convention hall as Sanders delegates shouted in favor of their nominee and interrupted speeches with anti-Clinton boos despite efforts by Clinton and Sanders official to quiet the outbursts. These protests drawing an unscripted rebuke from Sanders supporter and comedian, Sarah Silverman.
SARAH SILVERMAN, COMEDIAN: To the "Bernie or bust" people, you're being ridiculous.
RAJU: But the discord quieting as Michelle Obama took the stage.
[08:05:00] MICHELLE OBAMA: In this election, I'm with her.
(APPLAUSE)
RAJU: The first lady, casting the presidential race as a decision about who would create the best future for America's children while delivering resounding praise for her husband's former rival.
MICHELLE OBAMA: In this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility. Only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend, Hillary Clinton.
RAJU: Mrs. Obama, choking up while touching on the historical significance of Clinton's nomination.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.
RAJU: In highlighting the challenges overcome throughout history that brought her to the stage.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.
RAJU: The first lady making an unusual foray into partisan politics to knock Donald Trump without mentioning him by name.
MICHELLE OBAMA: The issue the president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.
When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can't make snap decisions. You can't have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out.
RAJU: Candidly talking about the lessons she has tried to instill in her daughters.
MICHELLE OBAMA: We urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith.
RAJU: And criticizing Trump's rhetoric.
MICHELLE OBAMA: We insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures does not represent the true spirit of this country. Our motto is when they go low, we go high.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: Now, later today, the convention will formally nominate Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic candidate for president. And also at that same time, watch for Sanders supporters to make any outbursts and try to push back and see if they try to disrupt the proceedings. That's something that Bernie Sanders' campaign and Hillary Clinton's campaign are watching very closely.
Now, afterwards this convention program is going to try to sell Hillary Clinton to the American public, talk about what they're calling, quote, "the fights of her life," really, an effort, Chris and Alisyn, to soften her image and reverse her sliding poll numbers.
CAMEROTA: Manu, thank you very much for laying all of that out.
One of the big speakers last night joins us now, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. Welcome, senator.
SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D) NEW JERSEY: Thank you, guys. It's good to be back on.
CAMEROTA: How mad are you that Michelle Obama eclipsed your speech last night?
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D) NEW JERSEY: Not mad at all. Not mad at all. I'm very happy. And I heard that she pulled the entire speech from herself.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: You were very passionate. You had a very rare commodity at political conventions -- attention. People were paying attention to you. And you used some bold language. Let's play a little taste from the senator's speech. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOOKER: Here in Philadelphia, let us declare again that we will be a free people, free from fear and intimidation. Let us declare again that we are a nation of interdependence, and that in America, love always Trumps hate.
(APPLAUSE)
BOOKER: Let us declare -- let us declare so generations yet on board can hear us. We are the United States of America. Our best days are ahead of us. And together, with Hillary Clinton as our president, America, we will rise. God bless America. Let us rise together. God bless America.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Cory Booker, senator from New Jersey, burning calories at the podium.
(LAUGHTER)
BOOKER: I had that --
CUOMO: But there was huge enthusiasm. You said hard things and your own truth, but with a smile on your face the whole time. Where was that for you? What was the moment for you up there?
BOOKER: It was -- it blew me away. You rehearse your speech and everything. But when you get out before that crowd, the energy, the intensity, it was really powerful. They lifted me. It was a gift that folks gave me to be able to stand there and feel that.
CAMEROTA: We can feel the energy there and the crowd did seem to like you. And I was joking about Michelle Obama eclipsing you, sort of, only in that so many people are talking about what she said. I don't know if that is because it surprised people. Let's play a moment of Michelle Obama's speech and then I want get your take on it. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:10:05] MICHELLE OBAMA: What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: OK, so what did you see in Michelle Obama last night?
BOOKER: I think the thing about it was she spoke from the heart. You felt her energy. You felt her spirit. And I think that what people expected was a speech, but what they got as a sharing, a convening of spirit.
You know, when she talks about her kids, that really affected me. And so I'm just grateful that she started, and I think what's going to be kicking off a week of just incredible speaker after incredible speaker. The Republican convention, I've actually been exchanging e- mails and texts with some of my Republican colleagues from the Senate who just didn't even go. This is a convention where we're bringing everybody under our tent. And even when you crowd that many people, there is some friction, but the reality is we're all there, and I'm just excited about the line-up to come.
CUOMO: Make the case. Michelle Obama, first lady, says in there, "What I respect about Hillary Clinton, she doesn't buckle under pressure. She doesn't quit." Your opponents will say first lady is exactly right, and that's why Hillary Clinton wouldn't own what happened with her e-mail server, wouldn't own the two different stories about Benghazi. That's true, it's a plus and minus for Hillary Clinton. She doesn't let go and she doesn't do what's easy, which is often to apologize for mistakes. Fair criticism?
BOOKER: Well, no, she did apologize for that. The reality is, this is the great thing about the attack machine that has been focusing on her for years. They're taking things and trying to elevate them so people cannot see the truth of who she is. The Benghazi hearing you mentioned, there is more investigations, millions of dollars spent, longer than the JFK assassination, longer than 9/11. They took something that happened under George Bush, embassies attacked, and tried to expand it into something and pervert the truth, so much so that and they were running investigations that didn't really find anything new.
And so this is the great thing about this convention is that noise, those people throwing things at her is not going to the in the center stage. What we'll hear at this convention is the truth of who she is. You'll see her spirit. You'll see and learn things about her that are going to bring back the humanity they tried to strip away. They're going to see the truth of a great candidate.
CAMEROTA: Did you see Donald Trump's tweet after your speech?
BOOKER: I did, I did.
CAMEROTA: We'll put it up on the screen. Donald Trump tweeted and said something to the effect of "I know Cory Booker better than he knows himself."
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: "If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party then they have no future. I know more about Cory than he knows about himself."
CUOMO: What does he got on you?
BOOKER: Let me tell you right now, I love Donald Trump. I'm going to say that. I don't want to answer his hate with hate. I'm going to answer it with love. I'm not going to answer his darkness with darkness. I know his kids, I know his family. They're good, the children especially, good people. This is the problem he has is he wants, first of all, I feel lucky because he was attacking everybody else in the Senate from John McCain to Elizabeth Warren, and I feeling left out. Thank you, Donald Trump. I finally feel that I'm important enough that you will attack --
CUOMO: When you read that and he says -- what else can that mean? "I know Cory Booker better than he knows himself," what is that supposed to mean to you?
BOOKER: That's what he wants. He wants us to be speculating. It sounds so sinister.
CUOMO: It does.
BOOKER: I don't care. I love you Donald. I pray for you. I hope that you find kindness in your heart that you're not going to be somebody that spews out insults to your political opposition, that you're going to start finding some ways to love. And I'm going to elevate him. I love you. I just don't want you to be my president. I don't want to you have the White House to be spewing that kind of mean-spirited hate that belongs -- it doesn't even belong in a playground sandbox.
The reality is, I'm sorry, I'm just going to keep loving on him. I'm going to tell the truth about him. But I'm going to keep loving on him, praying for the best for him and his family. That kind of vitriol, that kind of meanness, has no place in the presidency. Bring it on, Donald. Show your truth. I'm going to show mine. Love you, brother.
CAMEROTA: Interesting tactic, you heard it here on NEW DAY. You're going to keep loving him up.
BOOKER: I'm going to keep loving him up.
CUOMO: Love him to death.
BOOKER: My mom loved me sometimes, it was very painful.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: Tough love.
CAMEROTA: Senator, thanks so much.
BOOKER: Thank you very much.
CUOMO: Big night, it was a big night for you, senator. I hope you appreciate those moments.
BOOKER: Thank you very much.
CUOMO: It's good to be with you, Senator.
BOOKER: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Day one of the Democratic National Convention is now in the history books. Is the Clinton campaign pleased with how it has gone so far? We will ask her senior strategist Joel Benenson next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:18:04] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that, based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next President of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: You know who that is. Senator Bernie Sanders, coming out in support of his primary rival, Hillary Clinton. An endorsement to close the first night of the Democratic convention. Will the Berners follow?
Joining me now is chief strategist for Hillary for America and Democratic pollster, Mr. Joel Benenson. Joel, good to see you.
JOEL BENENSON, HILLARY FOR AMERICA STRATEGIST: Chris, how are you. Thanks for having me.
CUOMO: So full throated endorsement. That's what some call what Bernie Sanders did last night. Do you feel that he gave you everything you needed to turn the Berners into Clinton people?
BENENSON: Well, look, we think from the time they appeared together in New Hampshire and he endorsed her for president then, and last night reinforcing that message, and the strength with which he delivered that message, yes, he is. And I think he wants to campaign around the country on the causes that every progressive cares about, particularly economically and economic justice. And I think that it did a lot of work for us last night.
CUOMO: Now, you're here at the convention to make the case. Full disclosure. Full disclosure, you helped raise me. I know your politics. The criticism within the house right now will be Clinton is not Sanders' school of Democratic politics. She's a centrist and she's not a true progressive and that's why you're having trouble getting the Sanders people into your tent. How do you make the case to them?
BENENSON: Look, first of all, I think that's one of the things we're going to do tonight. We're going to talk about the consistency and the constancy of her fights on behalf of justice. People who say she's not progressive enough or she's a moderate, this a woman who out of law school went to the Children's Defense Fund and was part of making sure that disabled children, every disabled child in America, got into schools which they weren't happening at that time.
A woman who's been fighting fairness and justice for women and children her whole life, fighting for health care for children.
[08:20:10] When universal health care got defeated, she went and made the case for the White House as First Lady to get these kids covered when Congress need help getting the bill passed. Veterans, people who lost their husbands or wives in battle, raising their death benefits from $12,000 to $100,000. These are fights she's engaged in, because everything she has done in her life has been focused on changing the odds for people who have had the odds against them.
Women, Cecile Richards will speak tonight. She has been a champion of protecting women's right to make heir own health care decisions. She has 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood, hands down. And those are --
CUOMO: And former president Bill Clinton is speaking tonight also.
BENENSON: Indeed.
CUOMO: What should we expect from him? Is he going to make these kinds of points or is he going to go personal?
BENENSON: Well, look, I haven't -- you know, we -- nobody ever sees his speeches.
CUOMO: Come on. You don't have any idea?
BENENSON: No, look, I don't, really. You know, I remember standing in 2012 when he delivered his speech for President Obama, and I think a lot of people hadn't seen that --
CUOMO: That was different. You know, he wasn't part of the Obama campaign.
(CROSSTALK)
BENENSON: President Clinton, he knows this woman since law school. He knows her for four decades. He has been a partner with her, and she with he every step of the way. And he knows the record of how hard she has fought and who she's been standing up for, who she's been standing up to, her whole life. And he will be able to make a forceful case for her as a change-maker, making a real difference in people's lives.
CUOMO: What do you need to have happen at the end of this convention? When we leave, when I'm doing my coverage Monday morning, what do you need to be said about what happened during the week, and of course, the epitome will be the speech Thursday night. What has to happen?
BENENSON: I think by the end of this week what we want to have happened is that we will have shown the American people a clear vision, Hillary Clinton's clear vision for the country we want to build, which is a country that is stronger together, that builds on our belief and strength, around our diversity, that we're at our best when we lift each other up, leave no one behind. And that we've raised the stakes and drawn a very clear contrast with a very divisive, dangerous, reckless rhetoric that we heard out of Donald Trump in the Republican convention.
CUOMO: What's the proposition? You know -- we know what the negative is on Trump. The negative on Clinton we know as well. We just had the poll come out -- 68 percent say not trustworthy. So what is your proposition to them? The people who say I don't know if I can trust her. 68 percent, we've never heard of a number that high before. What do you say them?
BENENSON: I think our proposition is on a common sense level, say, hey, you've heard a lot about Hillary Clinton. These last four days, you've got a view into the life of a woman who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who've been left out, left behind, ignored, neglected, and made a difference in their lives -- not words, about with actions because she's a person who, when she sees injustice, takes it on. When she sees people who are treading on the downtrodden, she tries to not just lift them up but fight against those injustices and make changes for the future for their lives and for the country.
CUOMO: So on the character point, you're going to highlight competency as well, and then you have this contrasting message of Donald Trump saying, "Man, we got problems. And it's dark out there."
I want to -- because it was instruction last night. Michelle Obama is making a different case that obviously I assume was coordinated with the campaign to counter the darkness about what's present in America. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Impress the floor. The pushback is: tone-deaf, everything is bad, listen to the news, cops are getting killed, terror has never been worse. America is not in good shape. It's in bad shape.
BENENSON: Look, I think what Michelle Obama is what Hillary Clinton believes completely. We are the greatest country on earth. And as Bill Clinton has said time and again over the years, there's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed with what's right with America. And that's the belief that Hillary Clinton takes into this race.
And you said just framing it up around competence, I think it's more than that. It's not just that she's competence and we've got a candidate we're running against who is temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be President of the United States. This a woman whose whole life she has demonstrated compassion, common sense, and a drive and a fortitude to get things done. And that's what people need right now for the challenges we face.
No one on the Democratic side is saying we don't have real challenges. We live in a complex world. Families are changing today. We need to build a country that works in the 21st century, and that involves a candidate who does that based on American values that we've always cherished, that's always made us stronger. It's when we do things together, that's when we're stronger together.
CUOMO: Joel Benenson, thank you very much for making the case.
BENENSON: Thank you, Chris, for having me. Take care.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: As always.
[08:25:03] BENENSON: I didn't have you. You had me here, right?
CUOMO: That's exactly right.
All right, so up next, we're going to take a look at some of the key moments from Michelle Obama's rousing speech. It was clearly the moment of the night. What did she get done that made it so remarkable to Democrats here and around the country? We're going to analyze what happened in that speech for you, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: If you're going to gesture, gesture.
Michelle Obama speech certainly the talk of the first night of the Democratic convention. Why? Well, let us show you one of the most powerful moments of her passionate speech. It resonated in the hall and out. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: Leaders like Hillary Clinton, who has the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her.
[08:30:01] That is the story of this country. The story that has brought me to the stage tonight.
