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Hala Gorani Tonight
Democratic Convention to Kick Off Today; Investigators Believe Russia Behind DNC E-Mail Hack; Latest on the Attacks in Germany; Turkey Now Expanding Crackdown on Journalists; Tim Kaine Wins Clinton Veepstakes. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 25, 2016 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00] HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the Democratic Convention is kicking off amid a fire storm of controversy. Hillary Clinton is set to
become her party's nominee, but at this hour that party is in turmoil over a fresh e-mail scandal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: And those are boos you're hearing. Bernie Sanders backers are not happy with his endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
Plus an ISIS media agency is claiming responsibility today for a suicide blast in Germany, the latest on that. And Russian athletes will not face a
blanket ban from the upcoming Rio games. We'll take a closer look at Moscow's relationship with the Olympic committee, what does it mean for
athletes there.
Hello everyone, I'm Hala Gorani. We are live from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Thanks for joining us for this specially
edition of the World Right Now.
Well, it is the Democrats turn in the spotlight this week. They want to rally around Hillary Clinton. They are formally nominating her for
president after all, but the convention here in Philadelphia is already off to a rocky start even before the opening gavel.
Today's program gets underway in about an hour without the party's outgoing chairwoman on the stage. Behind me, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is resigning
over leaks e-mails that showed Democratic staffers. She favored Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the primary.
She was booed. You see the image is there, after she addressed delegates at a breakfast this morning in Philadelphia. Sanders, is one of the
headline speakers this evening at the convention along with First Lady Michelle Obama and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. She was
probably his favorite of the Bernie backers and some of them are quite disappointed with the selection of Tim Kaine.
Now, back here, the theme of the day is "United Together", but we saw more divisions on display just a short time ago when Sanders addressed his
supporters. You heard some those boos, some pretty remarkable moments. Take a look at the crowd's reaction just a few miles from our position here
in Philadelphia when Bernie Sanders addressed his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Sanders was jeered and booed for that very endorsement. The crowd later broke into chants of we want Bernie. The leaked to e-mails seem to
prove that Sanders what he has been saying all along is actually true, that the Democratic Party wanted Clinton to win the nomination at his expense.
So they weren't neutral in this race at all.
CNN -- sorry, it's live television, guys. Don't worry about it though. We'll get it straight in just a few seconds. Jim Sciutto is explaining why
Russia is now the prime suspect behind this cyber attack that's embarrassed the party so much.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials believe the hack of DNC e-mails bear the hallmarks of Russian cyber
activity. The FBI is now investigating, but experts on Russian cyber attacks say the timing of the release on the eve of the Democratic Party
convention points to a possible attempt to influence the U.S. election.
JAMES LEWIS, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: They have certainly used hacking in the past to get political results. It's their
modus operandi. They use hacking to shape opinion, to get political results. So it fits with what they've done in the past.
SCIUTTO: Hillary Clinton's campaign manager took the allegation a step further, saying the release was intended to help her rival, Republican
Candidate Donald Trump.
ROBBY MOOK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I don't think it's coincidental that these e-mails were released on the eve of our convention here and that's
disturbing.
SCIUTTO: The cyber security firm CrowdStrike which analyzed the attack found digital fingerprints pointing to Russia, including time stamps
matching Moscow's time zone and some coding in the Russian language. Democratic Party officials and others have also pointed to Trump campaign
manager's Paul Manafort's past work for pro-Russian former president of the Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, as well as Donald Trump's own public
expressions of support for Vladimir Putin.
[15:05:06] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I respect Putin. He's a strong leader.
SCIUTTO: Reported financial ties to Trump's businesses and Russian backers and comments last week that he might not come to the aid of NATO allies
under attack if elected president. Donald Trump's son dismissed the alleged ties outright.
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF DONALD J. TRUMP: I mean, I can't think of bigger lies, but that exactly goes to show you what the DNC and what the Clinton
camp will do.
SCIUTTO: Russia has accused the U.S. of political tampering of its own. Moscow believes the U.S. orchestrated the pro-democracy protests in Kiev in
2013 which deposed the President Yanukovych in favor of a more pro-western Petro Poroshenko. Some see potential Russian pay back in the attack on the
DNC.
LEWIS: They want to undermine our information hegemony and win the battle in the information space. This is just another part of that effort.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: Well, the FBI is investigating the e-mail hack. Now, the FBI is not saying officially that this is definitely Russia. That's not stopping
the democrats. They're going so far as to suggest a motive, saying Moscow wants Donald Trump to win the White House.
Trump is calling that theory laughable. He tweeted the new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails which should never have been
written, stupid, because Putin likes me.
Let's get a view from Russia, CNN Contributor Jill Dougherty joins me now live from Moscow with more. Any official reaction there, coming from the
Kremlin on these -- off the back of these reports that the Kremlin, that Moscow may have been directly involved in trying to prop up Donald Trump
here?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's basically a non-reaction. It's Dmitri Peskov who is the spokesperson for President Putin, refusing to
comment but also referring to those comments that I think he just heard from Donald Trump Jr. saying that it really is a lie. So essentially, you
know, the Kremlin is shooting it down. And that has been the opinion all along when there have been reports about previous Russian hacking.
But I think, you know, if you look at it in a technical sense, there is that part of it, who did it technically and how and then it's to what
purpose? And I think that's one of the more interesting questions. I mean, I think we have to ask, what does this do? Who does this help?
And obviously it hurts Hillary Clinton. It hurts the Democratic Party, but does it really help Donald Trump? Hurting her does help Donald Trump. But
having the implication that you're being helped by Vladimir Putin might not be a very good thing in this context, so that could backfire.
And then, Hala, there are other theories that it could be that the hackers, Russia, the people who are behind this, just simply want to show the
dysfunctionality of American democracy and get back at the U.S. for getting involved in mocking around in Russian elections, as they put it, and
elections in other parts of this part of the world.
GORANI: All right, Jill Dougherty in Moscow. Thanks very much there joining us from the Russian capital. Let's get more in what you expect
this weekend.
I'm joined here in Philadelphia by Scottie Nell Hughes, a CNN Political Commentator and the Donald Trump Supporter. And Sally Kohn is also a CNN
Political Commentator and a Hillary Clinton Supporter. Thanks for both of you for being here.
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: So really, it's very much on opposite sides of this one. I'm going to start with you Sally.
SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But we like each other.
SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, we really do.
KOHN: We really do.
GORANI: You can disagree politically, but like each other personally.
HUGHES: That happens all the time. If Congress can only take that same initiative, we'll be good.
GORANI: Exactly. So let's talk a little bit about this week because this is a huge, not just an embarrassment, but a huge distraction, isn't it,
Sally?
KOHN: There's -- who question, I think it's a distraction and in particular, in an election here, well, let's be honest. We, in the media
and in the Twitter sphere, and all that have relished these distractions.
HUGHES: Yup.
KOHN: We've gone after all of them like catnip, like we're more interested in high school bathroom gossip than the actual substance of policy that's
at stake and how these elections are going to really affect real people's lives. Instead, we like to talk about the rumors and the dirt in the --
they're valid. I wish we could, you know, if this going to addressed the people are being held accountable, more people will be held accountable.
It would be nice if we can talk about substance.
GORANI: I mean, we can liken it in a little bit to the flap over Melania Trump's speech. But, they're certainly there were portions of it that were
plagiarized. That story though had legs because the campaign didn't address it right away. Will it be different do you think to the Democrats?
HUGHES: Well, and yesterday when this first came out, Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down, but said she was still going to foresee. She's now
taking the ideas. She's going to not show up. She's not going to gaveling, but they can let it to another 24 hours. But this story goes
beyond the convention.
We talked about this actually helping Bernie Sanders to justifying a lot the claims that he had. That's what happens during the convention. But
there are a lot of other issues within at these e-mails. There's racism. There's bigotry. There.
GORANI: Where is there racism and bigotry?
[15:10:00] HUGHES: Because of the phrases that were used within the e- mails between DNC staffers that reviewed.
GORANI: Such as?
HUGHES: Such as when it talking about the taco bowl vote, talking about the Hispanic vote that we need to go after where taco bowl vote. They make
fun of an African-American woman's name. They talk about -- talking about use some derogatory terms towards some homosexuals.
GORANI: Sally?
HUGHES: And those comments will go addressed the convention will need to be addressed and let those staffers.
KOHN: I have they get addressed sooner. Let's be honest. OK, let's be clear. It's totally, completely, which I can use some more extreme
language, unacceptably mess up. Yeah. The problem here becomes when we want to focus on a few stupid DNC staffers and their really offensive e-
mails, instead of, and we allow that to become proxy for talking, for ignoring the actual substantive differences.
So yes, we have some DNC staffers who said some bigoted things. We have a Republican Party that's running on a bigoted platform.
HUGHES: No. But no, that's the problem with this. This is the Democratic Party has always been charging Republicans with this and here we have it in
black and white. It's the democrats they're talking about. They have all these e-mail have or they're actually went in out to tried to slander,
purposely create a narrative, sell it to the media and slander Mr. Trump and it false in. I mean, this is your worst nightmare.
GORANI: Sally, you're saying the Trump campaign is running on a racist, xenophobic platform?
KOHN: Look -- and yeah, but I'm not that how policy, are we.
GORANI: You know, but what policies are homophobic about it?
KOHN: I'm here on planet earth. Let's talk about the Republican Party platform which supports conversion therapy, which believes that I am the
gay woman should be sent to therapy to be turned into a straight person.
GORANI: That was added, was it not ...
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: It's not because anything (inaudible) straight person. It wants to roll back marriage politics that does not support me as a gay person, my
legal right to have a child, to be a gay parent.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: No, no, no. No, I'm sorry, but on what planet is that not all the moment bigotry?
HUGHES: But first, please do not say the first homosexual man stand openly applauded and he was given.
KOHN: But I guess.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: Please don't say the word homosexual, this is not 1972. First of all, let's play a game. Yeah, yeah I appreciate you and I love you too, I
appreciate that.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: But no. No, she often said it, but you can be offensive for this to address, what do you want me to say, that I love you, you're my friend?
Let me tell you that, number one and two. Again, that's fantastic have a person on the stage, have a gay person on the stage, and say that is great
(ph).
But it does not make up for your policy. You can put as many working women on the stage of the Republican Party. It doesn't make up for the fact that
they don't support paid family leave and making childcare affordable and make Trump that he will think.
(Crosstalk)
GORANI: I'm enjoying this spirited debate, but I want to talk to you about the latest poll because you talked about back room gossip. And in some
ways this sort of Twitter sphere, fishbowl chatter about what happened at the Republican National Convention, all of they talk about, they plagiarize
portions of the Melania speech.
All of that endlessly by analysts was discussed, pulled apart, about how this has to hurt Trump. We get a poll out, right? The latest CNN ORC
poll, Trump at 44, Hillary at 39 in a four-way race, Sally. The CNN ORC poll, Hillary Clinton is not trustworthy, 68 percent of Americans. This is
the highest unfavorable rating she's gotten. What do you make of that?
KOHN: Well, Hala, those numbers suck.
HUGHES: I know.
GORANI: Yes, but there's no other way to.
KOHN: Look, we know how conventions work.
GORANI: Yeah.
KOHN: You know he goes first. He gets his bump then she goes and gets his, you know her bump.
GORANI: Yeah, but was a convention that was endlessly characterized as a disaster ...
KOHN: Well, I think there are two points for me here and also in the same polling is also evidence that the people who do not support Trump came out
of that even more staunchly negative about him. So the point was, he had to woo a -- look, to win. His margins are tight and to win, he needs more
than a 10 percent bump coming out of the convention.
He needs to really convert a large swath of voters and the evidence says that he's not doing that, number one. And that explains our number two,
that poll bump at a gas bubble, it's going to pass.
GORANI: All right. What do you think of that? Because, I mean, did you think being a Trump supporter, that after that convention, the bump would
not be as favorable to your candidate as it was?
HUGHES: If you listen to a lot of the people that were on TV, they say, they thought it was a disaster. They thought it was horrible. They
thought it was negative and bleak. Hillary Clinton is calling it a very dark convention, a very dark convention. That is not what it was, then
obviously the people that resonated with the people that resonated America.
GORANI: But you don't have known that any parts of Donald Trump's speech that were dark, bleak and negative?
HUGHES: I have to tell you, it's called the truth. When we are $19 trillion in debt, when people are, actually we have three states this past
week that had to actually pull out of the Obamacare exchange, people lost health insurance. We are not living in a positive place right now.
GORANI: But there are many other positive economic independents, but I want to ask you internationally, as we're seeing around the world.
HUGHES: Right.
GORANI: A lot of people were dismayed and this is really, I'm using this word intentionally, at some of the things Donald Trump said in an interview
about expanding immigration limitations to countries that have been victims of terrorist attacks like France and Germany. Do you support that?
HUGHES: Well I think what it is, he wants to do something. We have to do something with the NATO to make these countries also lock down their
borders, so they can also start putting into places that they have these terrorist attacks, that they know who's coming in.
[15:15:02] GORANI: These were European-born perpetrators.
HUGHES: I agree.
GORANI: You can lock your borders as much as you want, if we also (inaudible) of your country.
HUGHES: But we also need to know who's in there. We also need to make sure that they're tracking, just like the FBI, the CIA follow our citizens
that make derogatory language online and other things. That these countries are also trying to -- that they're also keeping their citizens
safe too. Unfortunately, that seems to be lacking.
And we saw this last time in Germany. We saw it yesterday, what was that the two -- the Syrian refugee that actually we had the machete and went,
you know, did some horrible things. We've got to make sure these countries are being held to the same standards we are if we're going to continue to
be able to have these open borders with them, these open trade policies.
KOHN: First, we don't have open borders.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: We know that the net migration is actually, you know, migration is out of this country, number one. Number two, look, my ancestors came to
this country before there even were immigration policies, right? They came here, and that was what this country celebrated, is always what this
country celebrated. One out of two terrorist attacks in this country has been foiled by the Muslim community. We combat terrorism by supporting the
Muslims who were just terrorists.
HUGHES: But it only takes one.
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: I want to get both of you guys on, briefly (ph) on the people we got. This has been a great debate. Scottie Nell Hughes, Sally Kohn,
thanks very much for the two of you. We really appreciate it.
We're going to have a lot more from here in Cleveland, as you can see, very passionate debates, very different ideas. The start of the U.S. Democratic
Convention is minutes away. Already though as we've been talking about, there is all that controversy brewing.
We'll have the very latest from Philadelphia in a moment. Stay with us. And later, a neighbor identifies the man responsible for the latest suicide
attack in Germany. We'll have a live report. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back, everybody. Thanks for joining us. We're live at the Democratic National Convention here in Philadelphia. People are
starting to really fill the seats up behind me. There are some sound checks going on. We heard from Boyz II Men, Demi Lovato as well, the big
superstar performing at the Democratic National Convention here. And we are expecting this evening Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders as well.
But you'll remember, he was booed by his supporters today when he said they should vote for Hillary Clinton in order to defeat Donald Trump this
November. We'll continue to bring you live coverage in just a few minutes.
But now to Germany, well, that country copes with another terrorist attack. We're learning more about the individual that police believe carried out
Sunday's bombing.
The neighborhood has identified him and the name is Mohammad Daleel. A media group leads to ISIS claims that the 27-year-old Syrian refugee is an
ISIS soldier. That's what they are saying online. At least 15 people were injured and police say, Daleel blew himself up outside a music festival in
Ansbach, Germany.
German official say, Daleel had Islamist videos on his phone and in a video message had vowed the attack was an act of revenge against Germans because
they struck Islam.
[15:20:00] But Daleel was recently rejected for asylum in Germany. He was due to be deported.
That was just the latest in a string of recent attacks in Germany for within the last week. Let's bring in Senior International Correspondent,
Atika Shubert and she joins me now live.
Let's talk more about what more can you tell us about this attacker in particular?
ATIKA SHUBERT, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm actually right in the crime scene now and we came here and sat down. We actually,
spoke to a woman who sitting at the exact same table. She said he was young, good looking, quiet, she would never have thought of him doing
something like this. But all of the sudden, he stood up just a few feet from me here, reached back, and that's when his bag detonated.
I want to show you here just to give you a sense of what was happening. They're still see playing cards here, and when that happened, you can still
see some of the bloodstains on some of those cards. It's incredible to be here at the scene at this point, all of forensics evidence has been
gathered but it's quite -- haven't quite has cleaned up yet. And there's very raw emotion here, they're trying to figure out how that an attack like
this happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
A train stabbing, a mass shooting, a machete attack, and now, a suicide blast, four attacks in one week, three carried out by refugees, all in the
Bavaria Region. The attacks appear unrelated but Germany is on edge, says Bavaria's Interior Minister.
JOACHIM HERRMANN, BAVARIA'S INTERIOR MINISTER: Yes, this was also for me personally, a very terrible week, as I think it was for most people in
Bavaria. The attack last Monday, on the train in Pittsburgh then the rampage in Munich Friday night, and now again, an attack.
SHUBERT: The attacker in Ansbach was a 27-year-old Syrian refugee with a history of suicide attempts according to police. His asylum application
had been rejected. Police say he packed a rucksack with explosive but also screws and ball bearings to inflict maximum damage.
His target, a local music festival, he tried to enter but had no ticket. Eyewitnesses told police he sat down in a nearby bar, leaned forward then
exploded. He killed only himself but wounded more than a dozen others three seriously. Police searched his apartment looking for explosives and
any links to terror groups.
This is where he lived. It's about maybe a half hour walk to where he ultimately died in that explosion that he set off. That's his apartment
right there, and we've had a chance to speak to his neighbors, other refugees also staying here in Germany. What they say is, they didn't see
any signs of him becoming extremist or even being worried in any way. They describe him as friendly and happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was happy always, always. It's just one week ago, I saw him, he was happy.
SHUBERT: Did he ever mention any extremist jihadist groups like ISIS, like al-Qaeda, anything like that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he didn't -- he didn't. He told me that he left his country because of the civil war in Syria. If he was an extremist, he
could join to those groups in his homeland. Why he was here?
SHUBERT: Across the street, German neighbors say it won't change their views on refugees, they welcome them, but they are scared.
This neighbor said, it doesn't change our opinion on refugees but we can't see what's going on in their minds. Most refugees are so friendly to us
but these events are shocking and that scares us.
The Ansbach attacker appears unrelated to the Afghan teenager who took an ax to train passengers in Woods Parks or the Syrian refugee who hacked a
woman to death with a machete and Reutlingen.
Police say, the Munich shooter was a bullied teenager, German-Iranian with no connection to any of the attacks, but the growing number of victims from
these string of violent attacks has Germans fearing even more violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUBERT: Hala, this plays straight into public fears that there would be a crime wave, that you would see more attacks like this with so many refugees
coming in last year, more than a million. And just on the way here, we saw a very small right wing protest and a counter protest by the left wing. It
just goes to show how incidents like this are really exacerbating tensions and divisions in Germany, Hala.
GORANI: Right, one can imagine just how the atmosphere is changing, thanks very much. Atika Shubert live there at the scene of just the latest attack
in Germany.
Now, to the Russia athletic story and the world governing body for aquatic has now banned seven Russian swimmers over some of those doping violations
is the first worst federation to announce that Russian athlete cannot compete at Rio's since the IOC decided against a blanket ban. Now, Russia
has established an anti-doping commission following allegations of widespread cheating.
[15:25:03] To Turkey now, the country is expanding its massive crackdown after the failed coup. Authorities have issued arrest warrants for 42
general journalists looking for possible criminal conduct.
The warrants came at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with opposition leaders, part of a rare show of unity in that country against the failed
uprising. Thousands of soldiers though, remain in detention. The government also, fired or suspended 50,000 civil servants, judges and
security forces. And at least, one Turkish magazine is already worrying that the government is trying to seize more power. It's a satirical
magazine called Leman. It's often compared to France's Charlie Hebdo. It says, that it's coming under unbelievable pressure since the clampdown
began. Ian lee has that story from Istanbul.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This cartoon the Turkish government doesn't want you to see. On one side, the military, the other anti-coup
demonstrators, both sides about to engage in a deadly game of chess. One played out in the streets on July 15th during a coup attempt.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the plot on exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.
The cover says, this isn't a battleground for Erdogan or Fethullah Gulen, says the editor in chief of Leman. This is our country and the fact that
they used it to viciously in six hours, around 300 people died.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: The coup failed but tensions remained high the following week. The night before the edition's release, Leman tweeted out the front cover.
Threats immediately came in and protesters began to gather here in front of their offices saying, "Don't you remember what happened to Charlie Hebdo?"
The 2015 shooting at the French satirical magazine killed 11 journalists.
"Now, we should always take political Islamist threats seriously because they do as they say", he tells me. "If not today, tomorrow, when there's
an opportunity."
Protesters accused Leman's cover of supporting the coup.
"I would not support any coup", he tells me. "We don't have to settle for the lesser of two evils. We want democracy and we want it now."
Turkish police quickly secured Leman's offices but the court banned the edition from publication. CNN requested comments from Turkish officials
but did not get a response. These are uncertain times for political cartoonists. Only one agreed to talk to us on the condition of anonymity.
We'll call him Adam
"I enjoy expressing myself", says Adam. "I can't do anything else, this is how I matter. Occasionally, I'm worried and scared but we take that risk."
At 21 years old, Adam is just starting out but he's aware of the power of the pen.
"This cartoon I'm working on depicts how I feel when I draw", he tells me, "I sensor myself sometimes. I want to make people laugh but worry, will I
anger someone, I get hurt, will this get others hurt, will it bring people to the streets." In Turkey's age of uncertainty, a picture speaking louder
than words.
Ian lee, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GORANI: Pretty remarkable what's going on there, a lot more to come.
Bernie Sanders gets booed after he urges his followers to support Hillary Clinton. What does it mean for Democratic unity? We'll have analysis in a
few minutes, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:31:28] GORANI: Welcome back. Your headlines, the FBI says it's investigating the Democratic National Committee e-mail hack.
The online site Wikileaks posted thousands of e-mails apparently sent by party officials. Experts suspect Russia was behind hack, Now, as
Democrats gather for their political convention is Philadelphia which begins in the next hour and where we are broadcasting from. We'll have
more (ph) on the leaks in a few minutes.
Also one of our top stories, Sunday, a suicide bomber in Germany has been identified by a neighbor as Mohammad Daleel. He's a refugee who is denied
asylum and was due to be deported. At least 15 people were injured when police say Daleel blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach. He
was the only one killed. A media group linked to ISIS claimed that Daleel was an ISIS soldier.
An 18 and a 14-year-old were shot to death early Monday morning outside of teen party at a Florida nightclub. And more than a dozen other people
between ages 12 and 27 were injured. Police have detained three adults. They say the shooting was not terror related.
We are now about half an hour from the official beginning of the Democratic National Convention right here in Philadelphia. Welcome to all of you who
have just joined us.
The theme tonight "United Together". Michelle Obama, the first lady. Bernie Sanders, of course, the rival of Hillary Clinton in the primary
process are among the speakers. Sanders addressed his supporters a few hours ago but ran into some blow-back when he said Democrats should rally
behind Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: We have got to defeat Donald Trump. And we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Not exactly party unity. Hillary Clinton was also speaking to crowds in North Carolina today. She said this convention will be very
different from the Republican gathering last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I am very excited about contrasting our vision and values with what we saw from Donald Trump
and the Republicans, because this election poses such a stark choice, doesn't it? I mean, we always believe our elections are important. That's
at the heart of our democracy. It's how we make decisions. And people have fought and died for the right to vote and to express themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, in Roanoke, Virginia, Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence are making an appearance. They're holding a town hall campaign
event. Let's briefly listen in, and then we'll get to our guest David Gergen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: To Hillary, and Hillary threw her under a bus and it didn't take her more than five minutes to make that decision. Man, I don't want her
covering my back, I'll tell you right now. It's true. It's true.
Now, the other thing I'm surprised at, you know, it's nice when you're not reading speeches, isn't it, really, because I can talk about current
events. This stuff happened 10 minutes ago.
[15:35:04] You know if you're reading speeches, I see these guys. I dealt with a lot of them. I've actually been a very political person all my
life. I've always been on the other side. But now for 14 months I've been doing this and I like this side in a certain way better because we can do
certain things better.
They used to love me when I was just a contributor. I give millions of dollars just I was a contributor. Now I know. I like this better. I like
being non-establishment better.
But with Bernie, when you look at what happened, the thing that surprises me most is how he folded. He folded. I thought he was really hanging out
tough, tough, tough. Then they find these horrible e-mails talking about his religion and is he Jewish and is he an atheist, then what and that's
not going to play well. Man, that's rough. And that's not as bad as some of the other ones.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Donald Trump there at a campaign event. He's due to make an appearance with Mike Pence, his running mate. They're saying Bernie
Sanders hold it, that there was a conspiracy against him off the back of the scandal, leaked e-mails over the weekend showing there was some
collusion between party officials and Hillary Clinton campaign staffers.
Let's get some analysis on all this. CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen joins me now. He advised President Reagan, Clinton and Nixon. If
you were to give some advice to Hillary Clinton today, what would it be?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, get this for Bernie Sanders committee revolt (ph) to calm down. Yeah, I think
Bernie Sanders has actually been very gracious, unlike for example Senator Ted Cruz at the Republican Convention and his campaign team has. But
surely, at that those boos, you showed that clip of him asking his supporters to support Hillary, that must have been jarring for him.
GORANI: But does he now have -- do you believe Bernie Sanders, the control over his supporters that Hillary Clinton wishes he had. In other words,
all he has to do is say, "Look, we need to fight this fight against. We need to prevent Trump from winning."
GERGEN: I think it's fair to say that Bernie Sanders attracted a lot of independent-minded people. And they're being ...
(Off-Mic)
GORANI: Yeah.
GERGEN: You know, they're not going to go like lambs following.
GORANI: All right. And let's talk a little bit more about what he has to do tonight to help out Hillary Clinton. We heard him there address his
supporters. Tonight it's different. He's addressing Clinton supporters and Bernie delegates as well. So he has really the floor with the entire
party listening.
GERGEN: Yeah, he should. He should be able to control the floor tonight, because there are far more Clinton supporters here than Bernie Sanders and
making over probably to Bernie Sander people. But I do think that the party has more discord than we thought coming in. It seemed to be more
united, it seemed that the Sanders people were going to Hillary and she would be OK.
But there's -- I think the DNC, the e-mail leaks really angered people. It ripped, you know, the healing that was going on, just ripped it away. And
there is a deep wounded sense among the Sanders people.
GORANI: Do you think, I mean in your experience, and the working theory is that Russian hackers are behind this. In your experience, has there ever
been an instance that you can remember where Russia or before Russia, the Soviet Union was meddling to this extent in an internal U.S. political
race?
GERGEN: I can't. The tradition is that you don't. And it's going to be very explosive if evidence is ever acquired, so far we haven't seen it that
not only that this was Russian hackers but that these e-mails were leaked on the eve of the Democratic convention to hurt Hillary Clinton and to help
Donald Trump. That would be explosive. But I would caution people say, well you never ever, well, I have to say she never ever meddle in the
affairs or express a view about somebody else's election.
I remember President Obama just went to Britain not long ago to urge people basically to vote against Brexit.
GORANI: Right. Well, yeah. Well the U.S. has a long history of meddling in other countries' affairs, as other countries have a long history as
well. But in this case, it would be very different wasn't it? But we don't know that there's Kremlin connection. The belief is that Russian
hackers might have been involved.
GERGEN: Well, the Russian hackers and it appears that these are the same people who hacked into the White House and hacked into the Defense
Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I would also point out that they did begin the hacking before Donald Trump declared his candidacy, that's worth keeping in mind. I think it would be
bad enough in itself that the Russian hackers were picking all this stuff up. I think it takes next leap to say they intentionally leaked as they're
to help get Donald Trump elected. I think we have to be cautious about that and totally ...
GORANI: And I think there must be some nervous DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign staffers because apparently there is the possibility that the hack
went on for months.
GERGEN: Right.
GORANI: 20,000 e-mails that's takes a long time to go through. And it's possible we might see more revelations.
GERGEN: Exactly. And may that there's going to be more e-mails from other sources before this is over. We don't know. With this number odd time in
the history, when these individual, you know, things like this, you can get in and get somebody's mail and put it out there.
[15:40:08] GORANI: Very, very interesting times we're living in.
GERGEN: Yeah, very different.
GORANI: David Gergen, thanks very much. And as I mentioned this evening, Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren as well will be speaking
on the stage behind us. And don't forget, you can get all our latest news and interviews and announcements on our Facebook page,
facebook.com/halagoranicnn.
Coming up next, Hillary Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, has said, he's boring in a good way. We'll take a closer look at what he might bring to
the Democratic ticket as they take on the Republican. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well there you have it. It's an overhead shot of the floor here at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. We're hearing some
bands rehearse their numbers. And tonight is a big night because it is a night in which the Democratic Party wants to put this e-mail hack scandal
behind it, firmly behind it. It wants to get Michelle Obama onstage to say wonderful things about Hillary Clinton. Of course we'll hear from Bernie
Sanders, and Bernie Sanders was telling his supporters today vote for Hillary Clinton in November, and he got booed and jeered. So party unity
may not be what's in store for Hillary Clinton and supporters this evening, but we'll see.
But here's a look at the line of this evening. Now take a look at the 47th, the Democratic National Convention by the numbers. This year's
convention is being held in Philadelphia, at the Wells Fargo Center, also home to the NBAs 76ers and the NHL Flyers.
There's as many as 50,000 people will be attending including 4,768 delegates, 350 as alternates. The party is spending $85 million on the
event, it's estimated. Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in the U.S. home to more than 1.5 million people. It's a beautiful city. My first
time here and I recommend it.
With all the controversy surrounding the Democrats, there is not a lot of attention on Hillary Clinton's recent pick for vice president, Tim Kaine.
The U.S. senator was thrust into the starlight Friday after Clinton made the announcement. Some see him as a safe choice, but they made their first
joint appearance Saturday at a rally in Miami. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Progressive, predictable, and with ties to stake vital to the election. Hillary Clinton hopes Virginia Senator Tim Kaine
will help her win the White House.
But the two haven't always been close. In 2007, Kaine endorsed then- Senator Barack Obama, snubbing Mrs. Clinton. But today, with a trash talking, (inaudible) in Donald Trump, Clinton needs a safe bet.
SEN. TIM KAINE, (D-VA) VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: I am boring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
[15:45:05] KAINE: But, you know, boring is the fastest growing demographic in this country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tim Kaine started his career as a civil rights lawyer before moving on to politics. A successful run as the mayor of Richmond
launched his name and in 2006, he became the governor of Virginia.
Kaine has a record of defending liberal policies in the United States. Despite being Catholic, he openly supports abortion rights and same-sex
marriage. And he stood up to the NRA, actively pursuing gun restriction laws. And perhaps Kaine has an "X" factor. He gained national attention
when delivering a speech on the senate floor entirely in Spanish.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This may resonate with Hispanic voters who have been alienated by Donald Trump. As for Trump, he was quick to employ his
infamous nicknaming skills, labeling the Virginia Democrat "corrupt Kaine."
CLINTON: Senator Tim Kaine is everything. Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not. He is qualified to step into this job and lead on day one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clinton's pick is disappointing to some Bernie Sanders supporters who wanted a more progressive candidate like Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts.
For Michael Moore, "show me one voter gained by naming Tim Kaine, it's not Trump who'll beat you", he tweeted, "it's the people who are going to stay
home". And Kaine's support for Wall Street and global trade PACs like the TPP also caused concern among the same-sex.
But in an election that will hinge on who carries the swing states, Tim Kaine's ties to Virginia may prove very valuable to Clinton.
GORANI: Coming up, we'll hear some big speeches on the first night of the convention. I'll speak to a man who knows how to write speeches. He's
president Obama's former speechwriter. You don't want to miss this, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: We're coming to you live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Democratic National Convention. Hillary Clinton, of course, is going to
officially become the nominee of her party. But there is a lot of tension between Bernie and Hillary supporters after those leaked e-mails over the
weekend revealed that DNC Democratic National Committee staffers appeared to be strategizing with Hillary campaign staffers to weaken or to get in
the way of Bernie Sanders during the primary process.
And we even heard Bernie Sanders urged his followers to vote for Hillary Clinton and Mike Pence and he got booed when he did that. Now the speakers
are big and the stakes are high this evening. My next guest knows a thing or two about rhetorical construction. It means very important moment.
David Litt is a former speechwriter for President Obama. He's now the head writer and producer "Funny or Die" based in Washington, D.C. David, thanks
for joining us.
DAVID LITT, FORMER SPEECH WRITER FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yeah, it's a pleasure to be here.
GORANI: So David, you just gotten here. What are your first impressions?
LITT: Well, you know, I just feel like the energy in the room, it doesn't matter how many of these things you've been to, how many campaign speeches
you've been to.
[15:50:00] This is a celebration of democracy and there's something alive about it. It's just great.
GORANI: But Bernie Sanders might say, hang on, what do you mean democracy? It appears as though the party, which was supposed to be neutral, was
strategizing with arrivals during the primary process. This isn't fair.
LITT: Well, I think what Bernie Sanders said today is I assume an accurate reflection of where he stands on. I'm sure he wasn't happy to see those e-
mails, I don't think anybody was. But he said this is the world we live in, we have a big job to do in the fall. And I thought he did a good job
of making an argument for, you can be disappointed and still set your sites on the next four years of who you want the president to be.
GORANI: You're a former Obama speechwriter and tonight we're going to hear some big important speeches. Somebody like Bernie, how would you advise to
put a speech together in order to really energize his followers to support Hillary Clinton, because he good booed today when he asked them to do that.
LITT: Well, I think that he is making the case and I think he should continue to do it and do it authentically. I think he truly, and he said
this, believes that Donald Trump is a dangerous potential president. He should not be the next president of the United States. Hillary Clinton is
the only other alternative and he supports her. And he should be honest about why that is. Tell your own story.
GORANI: But isn't it a problem if your best argument to vote for somebody is the alternative is worse?
LITT: Well, I think ...
GORANI: I mean, as a speechwriter, if you had to put that into words.
LITT: Well, I think that any speech, any political speech is a choice. And you want to say why the alternative is worse and why your person is
better. And I think that what Bernie Sanders ought to be doing tonight, what I suspect he will do tonight, is argued for the choice. In the world
that we live in, in the real world, as he said, we have a choice to make. And what choice should we make? I want to see him make that case.
GORANI: Now, the First Lady Michelle Obama will also be speaking. She's extremely popular in the United States. Americans love her. So how much
can she -- I mean, what does she need to do to help Hillary here?
LITT: Well, I think that you'll see a lot of different people who know Hillary personally, speak to who she is. And, you know, Michelle Obama,
obviously I'm going to go ahead and guess she was an Obama supporter in 2008. She's come around on Hillary. And I think that that is one of the
strongest arguments you're going to hear all week. People who said, you know, I wasn't sold on Hillary Clinton eight years ago but now I think
she's ready and I'm excited to support her.
GORANI: Well, I wonder if she'll make a reference to the portions of Melania Trump's speech, they were plagiarized from her 2008 convention.
LITT: Maybe she'll just quote the same speech right back and will just keep going.
GORANI: I think we want to know who's way of writing whom ...
LITT: The space-time continuum will open up.
GORANI: Exactly, all right.
But now, we also have Elizabeth Warren. The thing about Elizabeth Warren is, she, of course, wasn't -- she's not on the ticket. She wasn't selected
by Hillary Clinton, but she was probably Bernie Sanders' supporters' favorite pick and she's speaking tonight. What's the expectation there?
LITT: Well, you know, I think she is another person who can speak to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party and explain, if you care about Wall
Street, if you care about fairness, if you care about working families, this is why Hillary is your choice. And that's going to be her, I would
imagine, her focus to say, you know, these are the issues I championed, I have credibility with people who care about these issues. So this is why
Hillary is my choice. And in the end, that's every convention speech. You're saying, here is why I'm voting for this person. Here's what speaks
to me about that.
GORANI: But that's not what Donald Trump's speech was in Cleveland, right? I mean, it was ...
LITT: I guess I should have said, with some exceptions.
GORANI: And with exceptions but fundamentally that speech, people called it dark, they called it negative. They called it fear-mongering. And then
even his supporters thought, you know what, this convention was a disaster, the speech was too gloomy, then you look at the polls, and you've got a
massive bump out of it. How do you explain that?
LITT: Well, I think that he's gotten a bump, this pretty, I wouldn't say massive, it's a normal, standard bump, which I think was better than I
expected after the sort of shambles in the convention they had. But to be fair, if you're Donald Trump, he gave a coherent speech. I didn't agree
with it, but he read off a tell prompter, he didn't go off the rails. For Donald Trump, that's a huge win. So I think he's being graded on a curve a
little bit and you're seeing that.
GORANI: All right. Just one moment, I'm sorry, I can hardly hear my producer in London. Are we wrapping? Oh, no. We still have -- believe it
or not, two minutes, which is awesome.
LITT: OK, OK.
GORANI: So by the way, and we have some pretty good acts here. Were you at the Republican National Convention?
LITT: I was not, I skipped that one.
GORANI: So the musical acts were very different. Here we have Paul Simon doing a sound check with two (inaudible). We had Boyz II Men, not sure if
they had personnel changes between '91 and now. They had Motownphilly going on behind us. And Demi Lovato, who I couldn't pick outside of a
lineup, she was here as well, probably reflecting my age here.
Well, let's talk a little bit about the energy here at the Democratic National Convention versus something like the Republican, that's a two very
different events.
LITT: They really are. I think that the Democratic, one of the strengths of the Democratic National Convention is when it comes to entertainment, I
know the Republican Convention had Antonio Sabato Jr., I've heard of Scott Baio, who I also hadn't really heard of.
[15:55:02] And the question with Democrats not are the celebrity is going to be there, it's can you make that connection from celebrity support the
candidate, they can get attention, can they start to make a real case and, you know, get people to the polls in November. But that's a weapon that
Democrats have their disposal, and they can use it.
GORANI: David Litt, thanks very much, a former Obama speechwriter.
Now with "Funny or Die" in Washington, D.C. We really appreciate you there. And I apologize because it is quite a bit of noise behind me, so
I'm having a hard time hearing in my earpiece.
But anyway, we're getting through it. Thanks very much, this is the end of the program. Thanks for watching. The opening gavel at the convention is
six minutes away. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper is next now.
And right on cue, the music stops as well. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
