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CNN Live Event/Special

Donald Trump Wins Republican Nomination At RNC; J.D. Vance Picked As Trump's Running Mate; Biden Says Vance Is A Clone Of Trump. Aired 5-5:30p ET

Aired July 15, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

(BEGIN LIVE VIDEO)

JON HUSTED, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF OHIO: And be prepared in the tradition of our founders to pledge his life, his fortune, his sacred honor, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

He must share the values and principles of our presidential nominee and be trusted to faithfully implement the will of the people. J.D. Vance is such a man.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN: J.D.! J.D.! J.D.!

HUSTED: A man who loves America and will represent our people with moral courage, strength, and honor. J.D. is a living embodiment of the American dream. He came from humble beginnings and even as his life took him to places, he might have never imagined, he never forgot where he came from. Ohio values are in his blood.

(APPLAUSE)

He served our nation in the United States Marine Corps.

(APPLAUSE)

He is a graduate of the Ohio State University.

(APPLAUSE)

He graduated summa cum laude from Yale Law School and is the author of the best-selling book, "Hillbilly Elegy."

(APPLAUSE)

And he is a crusader for the people of the Ohio in the United States Senate. He has never forgotten the working people of our country and he never will. He fought to bring investment to middle America as a businessman and has fought to defend them every single day in the Senate.

And this I know, this I know, he will faithfully stand by President Donald Trump's side as they win this election and change the course of our nation.

(APPLAUSE)

They will change the course of our nation to the benefit of all American citizens and truly make our country great again.

(APPLAUSE)

It is therefore my honor to nominate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance for the office of Vice President of the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN: J.D.! J.D.! J.D.!

BRENNA BIRD, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF IOWA: Delegates and alternates, pursuant to Rule 40A, a motion to nominate by acclamation is now in order. The Chair now recognizes Delegate Bernie Marino, Senate candidate from Ohio, for the purpose of making a motion.

BERNIE MARINO, OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE: Thank you Madam Chair. My name is Bernie Marino. I'm honored to be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from the great state of Ohio.

(APPLAUSE)

I know firsthand that my dear friend J.D. is a selfless and brilliant fighter. He is a patriot who loves America. He loves Ohio. He loves his family. He's a great father. He's a great man and that's what we need in this nation today. To J.D. Vance, America first is not just a slogan, it's his North Star.

He has followed it every moment of his life and career. He knows what it's like to live in poverty, forgotten by Washington politicians. He is dedicated to ensure that no American is ever forgotten again.

(APPLAUSE)

Madam Chair, it is a great honor to move that J.D. Vance be nominated by acclamation by this Republican National Convention as its candidate for the office of Vice President of the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

[17:05:00]

BIRD: Without objection, the previous question is ordered. The question is on the motion that Senator J.D. Vance be nominated by acclamation. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

UNKNOWN: Aye! BIRD: All those opposed signify by saying no. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it and the motion is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN: J.D.! J.D.! J.D.!

BIRD: Delegates and alternates, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that Senator J.D. Vance has the overwhelming support of this convention to be the next Vice President of the United States.

UNKNOWN: J.D.! J.D.! J.D.!

The Chair is pleased to make the following appointments to the Escort Committee for Senator J.D. Vance, his Vice-Presidential nominee. Usha Vance, thank you and God bless America.

UNKNOWN: J.D.! J.D.! J.D.!

UNKNOWN: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back Speaker Johnson.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, HOUSE SPEAKER: What a great night. Pursuant to Rule 40D of the rules of the Republican Party, I formally declare President Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance as the Republican nominees for President and Vice President of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back RNC Chairman Michael Whatley.

MICHAEL WHATLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE RNC: What a great afternoon for the Republican Party and what a great afternoon for America. It is now time to take the official convention photograph. If all of the delegates would please stand and turn to the center camera --

(END LIVE VIDEO)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, as they prepare for the official convention photograph, let us talk about what we've just seen. So that was certainly a rousing introduction of the party's Vice-Presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, coming out onto the floor, embraced, cheered to the tunes of Merle Haggard's America First. John King, what is the wisdom, what is the strategy behind the Vance pick, do you think?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's Trump deciding that his base is his path to winning, as his base was his path to winning in 2016. And a lot of people, you know, there's the debate, right? Do you pick Nikki Haley? Do you go for the suburbs? Do you try to broaden your coalition? His answer was no.

His answer in 2016 was quell a convention uprising, pick Mike Pence, a traditional establishment Christian conservative from the heartland. This time, there's no doubt on that floor who the Republican Party, who the leader of the party is. He's officially the nominee now. He's the leader of their party.

He has grassroots enthusiasm and they have made the calculation that he can win by picking -- President Biden just called J.D. Vance a clone. That will be the political argument made. Someone who has -- who didn't begin there, but has come to the Trump agenda and has come to be a Trump loyalist and that by turning out their voters, they can win the election.

And it's -- we'll know 16 weeks from tomorrow, if it's the right bet. As someone who studies the map and the demographics, it's not a bad bet. It's not a bad bet. He did it in 2016. And again, you have a very unpopular incumbent president and you have, in many of the states that matter most, third party candidates on the ballot, that if there are people out there who can't vote for Donald Trump, but don't want to vote for Joe Biden, have options they didn't have in 2020.

And so it's, there's a bit of a risk to this as there always is. There's also going to be the debate about does it matter? But I can get the path. I can get the path for Donald Trump and I can also get, if you look at the other side of this arena, we're not showing to the viewers right now, there are other networks where you speak to the Trump base. That's where you go to speak to the Trump base. That's how they want to use J.D. Vance.

UNKNOWN: Right. He's going on the candidate tonight.

KING: Make sure you vote. Yes. Come out to vote.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. And I think that we should be careful to your point about, does it matter, that the days of JFK pick, picking LJ to unify the party and to help get him over the line. We don't see that anywhere. We haven't seen that for, for quite some time.

[17:10:00]

What Donald Trump clearly learned in picking Mike Pence, which was a strategic decision to unify the party because he had to, was he wants to pick somebody who he's comfortable with and he's comfortable with J.D. Vance. He's comfortable with him as a person and he cannot underestimate how important it is that his children were really pushing him.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. And the reality -- you're absolutely right. The reality is that in this moment, the strength that Trump has with the party enabled him to ignore what was a pretty concerted push behind the scenes against J.D. Vance. I mean, if you look at some of the graphics that were airing on Fox News tied to Rupert Murdoch, they were listing out all of the nasty things that J.D. Vance has ever said about Donald Trump in a very straightforward way.

"The Wall Street Journal," "The New York Post" issued separate editorials advocating for Doug Burgum. There were donors behind the scenes. Ken Griffin reportedly one of these major Republican donors who were actively trying to get him not to pick J.D. Vance. And what did Trump do? He ignored them. He went with the guy that he had a personal connection with and if, and we're starting to get more reporting about how that connection was built over time because obviously Vance had a lot of work to do to convince Trump that he was really on board with him and he did that.

He was one of the first senators out of the gate to endorse Trump when it was clear that Trump was going to run again and that was not lost. This of course after Trump endorsed him for the Senate and somewhat, you know, he noted that at the time Vance had said some, some nasty things about him but that that was like many other people who had done the same thing and he, and he went ahead and supported him. So I think these are all factors. I will also say Vance has in many ways a biography Donald Trump always wished he had. That Ivy League --

TAPPER: It's an incredible biography.

HUNT: Yeah.

TAPPER: It's an incredible biography raised basically --

HUNT: Plus the Marine Corps.

TAPPER: Right, the Marine Corps and the Ohio State University and Yale Law, but also the fact that he had such a difficult upbringing. In fact, Vance is the last name of his mama and papa, his grandparents who truly raised him. It's the -- it's actually the third last name he ever had and it's the final one he took.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know I was struck by just like the human -- the humanity of it all. Watching him on that floor accept the nomination as the Vice President of the United States. To your point Jake, when he was growing up in Middletown, Ohio and that hillbilly elegy, you know, background. Do you think J.D. Vance ever thought that he would be the Vice President of the United States? It's an incredible American story. One that I think everyone, regardless of your party, should be able to celebrate at this moment.

TAPPER: Or at least the vice-presidential nominee.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: He hasn't actually won the election yet. David Urban very excited. A jam-packed convection kickoff and there's still much more ahead as we break down the new Trump-Vance ticket with our political experts and look ahead to the headliners speaking tonight. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:17:06]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: He's the man who will run alongside Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States. Just appearing publicly for the first time since being formally nominated by the Republican delegates. Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, along with his wife, coming out here to a standing ovation from the delegates just hours after being named to the ticket by the former president. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the

world. This is a special edition of "The Situation Room." I'm Wolf Blitzer live at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And I'm Erin Burnett in New York. And Wolf, by choosing Vance, Trump has picked one of his most loyal and fiercest defenders. It's a remarkable rise. A 39-year-old former U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Yale Law School grad will turn 40 in August. This is somebody who has only been in the Senate for 18 months. A meteoric rise. Before that, first making his name for publishing a best-selling memoir.

It was the memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which detailed the struggles of growing up in and eventually leaving Appalachia. At the time, J.D. Vance described himself vocally as a never Trump guy. That's a quote. He also, at the time, Wolf was a CNN contributor.

BLITZER: I remember that. And this election, Erin, just adding to the intrigue surrounding this convention. It, of course, comes just two days after the former president survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and just hours after the judge in Trump's classified documents case in Florida dismissed the case. We're gonna have a lot more on all of this coming up in just a few moments.

BURNETT: I mean, just incredible that the fast and furious pace of the developments today. Let's go to Kristen Holmes in Milwaukee. Kristen, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, obviously now the pick. We know that. So what are you learning? What are sources in the in the Trump team telling you about why he ultimately chose Vance? I know your reporting was there was a lot of down to the wire for the president on what he wanted to do. And when will they appear together for the first time?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, when it comes to when they're going to appeal -- appear together for the first time, we still don't have answers on that. There are some speculation rumors that Donald Trump could appear on the floor as early as tonight, whether or not he would be with his newly picked vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance.

That is currently unclear. But when it comes to actually choosing Vance, this was a really down to the wire decision. Donald Trump has been mulling between three candidates, three potential candidates for months now. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Senators Marco Rubio and Senator J.D. Vance. And we are told that Vance and Trump met on Saturday at Mar-a-Lago before that rally in Pennsylvania, an assassination attempt.

[17:20:00]

When I've talked to a number of allies and advisers since Donald Trump made that announcement, they said a lot of it came down to chemistry, that they were pitching him on this idea that he had a close personal relationship with Donald Trump and that also they believe that the two of them got together or had the best chemistry when they were talking together.

There was also an idea among many of them that this was somewhat of a passing of a baton. Donald Trump wants to leave a legacy. And there were questions about whether or not he would choose someone like J.D. Vance, someone who is 39 years old at the beginning, really, of his political career.

There were questions as to whether or not he would be a threat to Donald Trump. But I did talk to some very close allies of J.D. Vance who said that they believe this was somewhat of a passing of a baton, showing that Donald Trump wanted to continue this MAGA legacy. One thing to keep in mind here is Vance has had a very strong belief in the MAGA movement, in this sort of populist movement. And that was something that Donald Trump took note of.

Now, one thing I do want to note as well is the fact that he had a lot of allies around the former president, Vance did, including his son, Don Jr., who we know, according to Kaitlan Collins, made a pitch to his father as recently as the last several days, arguing that he was the best candidate for the job. Obviously, they won out, and Vance is going to be at the top of the ticket.

BURNETT: Kristen, thank you very much. And you mentioned Kaitlan. Let's go to Kaitlan on the floor. I know she's with the former New York Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin. Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, Erin, of course, here we are on the delegation floor. It has been quite a crazy few hours. I am with Lee Zeldin of New York, after we just saw Senator J.D. Vance in that first public appearance since he was named as Donald Trump's running mate. What do you believe that Senator Vance of Ohio brings to a Republican ticket in 2024?

LEE ZELDIN, FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: Yeah, I'm an Army guy. Usually, I'm biased against the Marines, but I'm excited. You learn a lot of leadership in the military. He's someone who, as we heard from the nomination speech, hasn't forgotten where he's come from. Smart guy, got an Ivy League law school, and he was successful as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist.

He is someone who's smart. He could show up on Kaitlan Collins' show on CNN, and Kaitlan will ask J.D. the tough question, and J.D. will have a good response, and Kaitlan will push back, and J.D.'s ready. And I think it's good to have a good messenger. You know, running and winning statewide in a place like Ohio, you have to get into Cincinnati, you have to get into Cleveland. Well, if you want to win a presidential race, we have to get inside of blue cities.

We've spoken about this on-air. Talking to longtime, disenfranchised Democratic voters, and winning and earning their support. And I think J.D. is a smart, articulate messenger. He will work hard, taking nothing for granted, and I look forward to seeing him sworn in as the next vice president.

COLLINS: I'm glad you're such a big fan of "The Source," but when you look at him, you know, one question I've heard from people who were looking at who Trump was going to pick, is J.D. Vance now the heir apparent for MAGA? ZELDIN: Well, listen, I would say that for anyone at any position

ever, you always have to earn your next election. It doesn't matter whether you are great with an approval rating at 90 percent, or maybe it hasn't been going well, but you have an opportunity to turn things around. First, we have an election to win. And nobody should be focusing on any election after November 5th of 2024.

First and foremost, is ensuring that over these next few months, understanding that elections are starting right after Labor Day, not November 5th. Early voting starts in a place like Pennsylvania, just a couple weeks after Labor Day. So you have to work hard and earn it, and nobody should be thinking about a next election after that.

COLLINS: Speaking of Pennsylvania, and obviously how critical a vice presidential pick is, we saw that on Saturday night with what happened with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. I thought of you as I was covering it that night, because you yourself were attacked when you were on stage at a campaign event and running. And I just wonder what you make of what happened on Saturday night, what has happened to you, and what it says about the moment of political violence that we see against politicians in both parties right now.

ZELDIN: To think that we were millimeters, milliseconds away from a dark, unchartered disaster for American politics. I mean, we're standing here today, and fortunately, more than just President Trump dodged a bullet. And it's not about the Republican Party dodging a bullet, or the Democratic Party dodging a bullet, America dodged a bullet on Saturday.

And we need to learn whatever lessons we need to learn to ensure that these presidential candidates, vice presidential candidates, and all candidates for all office are safe as they participate in this process. Yes, I agree that with anybody who says that we sell our scores at the ballot box. And anyone out there who cares about this process should be doing everything in their power to be able to protect it.

I want people to participate in the process. Go to rallies, get educated, get involved, volunteer, donate $5 if you can. What ends up happening if we have more political violence, people start staying at home. They get scared. Others won't step up to run for office in the first place.

[17:25:00]

So this is a moment in time where we need to unite as Americans first and foremost, and pray for not just President Trump and his family, but pray for our country to hope that there is no next victim, whether it is a candidate for office or it is a volunteer, someone just trying to show up at a rally with their wife and their daughter. Next thing you know, giving up your life heroically to protect them. I don't want to in the rest of my life, in your life, I don't want us to ever have to witness this ever again.

COLLINS: Yeah, that message about settling at the ballot box, a bipartisan message with President Biden. Lee Zeldin, thank you for joining us tonight. Erin, of course, a busy moment here on the floor of the delegation. Many more busy moments though to come this week here at the Republican Convention.

BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely. All right, Kaitlan, thank you very much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Erin, our political experts are joining us right now for some very serious, important discussion. David Chalian, why do you think Trump decided to name J.D. Vance as his vice-presidential running mate?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Because I think in J.D. Vance, he sees not only somebody who he believes is a real convert to the MAGA movement, but somebody who can take the Trump party beyond Donald Trump, 2028 and beyond. He sees somebody who could sort of solidify for the future the Trump version of the Republican Party, whether it's a more nationalistic look in terms of economic approach or in terms of foreign policy.

And I think that's what the thinking is here. I don't think it's to put Ohio in play. I don't think he needed to solve some piece of a political problem for him on the ticket. What he's done here is take the reality of what we see in this convention hall, that this is Donald Trump's party in his making, and double down on that.

I know some Republicans will think, well, Vance has proven to be such a chameleon. He was anti-Trump. How do you know where he's going to be? Is he going to continue to move around? Clearly, Donald Trump thinks he is going to put his stamp on this party as the Trump party for decades into the future.

BLITZER: Audie Cornish, when he's only 39 years old, J.D. Vance, a freshman senator, and now he's the vice-presidential nominee for the Republicans.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I think we know freshman senator is not disqualifying. There can be perfectly fine freshman senators go on to be president. He's interesting because he's a chief translator. He's prided himself in not just his conversion from being anti-Trump to, well, wait a second, there are some good policies here, but he's taken that out in his campaigning.

He addresses the electorate on all the issues they care about, whether it's about being anti-woke or populism. He just does it in a way that he thinks can be heard beyond the base, and that's why I think he's on there, is to be the person who can speak beyond the base.

BLITZER: That's an important point. Jeff Zeleny, President Biden just weighed in on J.D. Vance, this election of J.D. Vance. This is his first comment, President Biden's, on this decision by Trump. This is what -- I'll play the clip. This is what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He's a clone of Trump on the issues. A clone of Trump on the issues. So I don't see any difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITSER: He's a clone of Trump on the issues. I don't see any difference.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Look, that is going to be the Biden-Harris campaign's bumper sticker message, if you will, a clone of Trump. And he's right. I think that, you know, it's one of the reasons he was chosen, at least in terms of his view of things. So the reality here now is, though, I think this gave at least the Democrats I was talking with this afternoon a bit of a shot in the arm. I mean, they believe that Senator Vance's record is something that they can successfully go after.

We will see. And they like the contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris and Senator J.D. Vance. If we see them on a debate stage and they're talking about the timing of that now, that will certainly be very interesting. But I've been on the floor for the last several hours talking to Republicans. I was sort of struck by, yes, they all support Donald Trump. There's very little dissent there.

There were some questions about what does he bring to the ticket? There were some questions about how they really view, this is the real handoff here in terms of national security and populism. This is not the Republican Party from yesterday. But we, of course, know that. Donald Trump has made that very clear. But J.D. Vance certainly is someone in that vein.

But I think going forward, we're already hearing from Ohio Democrats and others, his record is going to be certainly examined on abortion. That's what Vice President Harris, I'm told, is really going to zero in on him. And I know that, Manu, you and I were just talking about his abortion record.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right. In fact, when I spoke to J.D. Vance last fall, right in the aftermath of Ohio voters protecting abortion access, I asked him about the fallout of that. He said Republicans should adopt, at the minimum, a national standard, a national abortion standard. Potentially 15 weeks, 20 weeks, with some exceptions.

[17:30:00]

He argued Republicans were in the wrong position by not supporting a national abortion ban. He said that's what we can convince voters that we are in the right position.