Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

FOX News Host: Slaves Who Built White House Were 'Well Fed'; Trump Urging Russia to Hack U.S.?; Democratic National Convention Day Three. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 27, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:05]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much. We will see you racing around the floor later this evening.

And now, shall we continue on, hour two?

All right, here we go, top of the hour. You're watching CNN's special live coverage here from Philadelphia. Pretty pictures. CNN Grill, just adjacent to the Wells Fargo Center, where all the action is taking place all through the week here, day number two of the DNC. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for spending your Wednesday with me.

Let's keep in mind in a matter of hours the nation will see President Barack Obama do his part to try to help the Democrats make history for a second time. The first just happened with now a major party's first female nominee. Time number two, everyone at this convention is hoping that will happen November 8 with the election of Hillary Rodham Clinton as this country's first woman president.

President Obama is set to cap a night of political heavyweights, including, check this out, in order of appearance here in Philadelphia, we will be hearing from the vice president, Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who we just heard from Sunlen's piece all about Clinton's running mate, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. And then, of course, president of the United States set to speak some time after that 10:00 mark.

Now, make no mistake, the president has a tremendous amount riding on this, not just, of course, for the Democratic Party, but for himself and preserving all eight years office of his own in that Oval Office.

Let's begin this hour with senior political reporter Manu Raju for more on what to expect from the president's prime-time speech.

How much, Manu, do we know, will he be talking about his eight years vs. a massive pitch for Hillary Clinton?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think he will talk about his eight years and make a massive pitch for Hillary Clinton.

The president views this speech as one of the most important of his entire time in office. We are told by White House officials that he has been working on this speech since late June, actually writing this speech out in handwritten fashion on yellow legal pads, and going back and forth with his team of advisers to really fine-tune this speech.

What we're expecting him to talk about is to talk about the progress that he believes the country has made in his time in office and that Hillary Clinton can continue that effort, and also that if you elect Donald Trump, he believes that that will essentially be erased.

That is the contrast that he's going to draw. He's also expected to talk about her as a public servant, what did she as secretary of state, why he selected her as secretary of state, and then talk about his own personal relationship with Secretary Clinton, how they were one-time rivals and now they became very, very close, how they got to that point. Expect him possibly even to tie it back to his 2004 convention speech that sort of catapulted him into the stratosphere actually 12 years ago to the day when he delivered that speech.

This is a very important moment in the president's eyes. And politically Democrats believe it could help reverse Hillary Clinton's very poor poll numbers, particularly on the trustworthiness factor, the honesty factor and perhaps with Obama's improving poll numbers, Democrats hope that they can help her improve in that direction -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Manu Raju, thank you so much there inside the arena hall.

Now, this may be a day for Democrats, but Republican nominee Donald Trump, he is trying to steal some of that spotlight after his comments, a number of comments, predominantly about Russia hacking the e-mails of the Democratic National Convention. And they're shocking even to his harshest critics. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, let me tell you that Hillary Clinton's campaign has responded to that. Her senior policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, says -- and I quote -- "This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent. That is not hyperbole. Those are just the facts."

He goes on and says: "This has gone from being a matter of curiosity and a matter of politics to being a national security issue."

Let's start there.

I have CNN political commentator Jeffrey Lord, a Trump supporter, used to be the White House political director under Ronald Reagan, CNN political commentator Van Jones, former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who is also senior adviser to correct the pro-Clinton super PAC Correct the Record, and chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

So, happy day three. Let's just dive right into it, the fact that, Van Jones, Trump is encouraging Russia to commit espionage. How dangerous is that?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, he probably thought he was being clever. He probably thought he was being cute. He probably thought he was being outrageous. He probably thought here is a good way for me to steal the spotlight.

[15:05:13]

The problem is, you can't do stuff like that if you want to be the president of the United States. You can't say stuff like that if you want to be the president of the United States. I cannot explain to you, having worked in the White House, how sensitive every word, semicolon, comma is when you are speaking on behalf of the authority of that office.

And, listen, I don't think this is the biggest thing in the history of the world. I think the Democrats are going to beat him up about it. But this goes to an incredibly important question of temperament and judgment.

BALDWIN: Cute, clever, Jeffrey Lord, what do you think?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sort of. But I don't think it is like saying ISIS is the J.V. team, which the incumbent president said.

Look, first of all, in terms much these e-mails, I certainly was led to believe by Hillary Clinton and the rest of the campaign that these were all personal e-mails. So I'm sure there is no security information in there, according to Secretary Clinton.

I would just say, look, the folks who are his critics here are the folks who got us into this mess and I just don't think they have any credibility with the American people on this.

JONES: But, Jeffrey, Jeffrey, you are one of the best. And you worked for Reagan.

LORD: Right. Let me tell you...

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: Hold on a second. I just want to this up.

Reagan was a master of this entire process. Reagan would never say anything like that, nor -- he got caught off-camera one time, but he would never deliberately say something like that, nor would you have in that position.

Don't make excuses for the unexcusable.

LORD: No, no, no, Van, look, having been there, I can tell you this. When Ronald Reagan shortly after he was inaugurated held his first press conference and he was asked about relations with the Soviet Union, he said that they reserved unto themselves of the right to lie and to cheat.

I can only tell you there were gasps in the room when they said that because presidents didn't say these kind of things. We were having detente with the Soviet Union. You don't do this. Later on, he went back and said -- not in that press conference, but in a different speech -- he called them the evil empire.

I can only tell you the coronaries...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let me turn to the ladies. Jump in.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's different from seeming to invite a major country that the U.S. has very strained relations with, at best, to hack an American political party, seeming that way.

Now, having said that, the Trump campaign is in cleanup mode. Jason Miller, who is the Trump campaign communications director, did not one, not two, but seven -- a series of seven tweets. It's like three...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Three, five, seven, four, five, seven, sure. What did he say?

BASH: Just to try to explain. I will just give you number three.

"To be clear, Mr. Trump did not call on or invite Russia or anyone else to hack Hillary Clinton's e-mails today."

Now, to have to type that into a tweet and try to clarify that...

BALDWIN: This is Donald Trump looking right in that camera.

BASH: Not exactly, I'm sure, what Jason Miller would have liked to do today or anybody in the Trump campaign.

But they are trying to clean it up, which does show that they understand that it was not exactly the best message for his candidacy.

BALDWIN: Especially in the wake of the interview he gave "The New York Times" when he talked about NATO and perhaps the U.S. not coming to allies' defense.

(CROSSTALK)

JENNIFER GRANHOLM (D), FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: He is ridiculous. In terms of our national security, first of all, he is inviting us to really pile on, on the suspicion that somehow he's in cahoots with Putin when he does stuff like that. Whether or not he is, he's inviting the comparisons to being a Manchurian Candidate when he does stuff like that.

And then when you suggest that he that -- he doesn't suggest, says we should pull out from NATO and not defend our allies, I mean, and then to try to send a signal to Russia over the airwaves that they shall come in and hack, this -- he should -- if he were a serious candidate, he would have shut is down and said, look, we are not in the business of partnering with Russia. This is serious stuff. I don't care if they're hacking the DNC or the RNC. We should not be inviting the Soviet Union to be hacking...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I want you to respond. Let we just add another voice into all of this, Leon Panetta weighing in as well. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I find those kinds of statements to be totally outrageous, because you have got now a presidential candidate who is in fact asking the Russians to engage in American politics. And I just think that that's beyond the pale.

There are a lot of concerns I have with his qualities of leadership, or lack thereof. And I think that kind of statement only reflects the fact that he truly is not qualified to be president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:10:03]

BALDWIN: Coming from Leon Panetta, former CIA director.

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: The naivete here that the Russians aren't trying to hack every last thing that's out there is mind-boggling. They don't need any encouragement from Donald Trump or anybody else.

JONES: Listen, but words matter.

And here's the thing.

LORD: What difference does it make, according to Hillary Clinton?

JONES: But can you imagine if a Democrat invited, or seemed to invite, a foreign power to interject themselves into our campaign and to hack one of your people? I think you would be as offended. And we are offended.

BASH: Can I just say something about raw politics here?

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes.

BASH: Forget the policy, raw politics. What are we doing right now? We're sitting at the Democratic Convention...

BALDWIN: Talking about Trump.

BASH: ... talking about what Donald Trump said. He -- whether -- take away the question of whether or not this was appropriate to say for somebody who wants to be commander in chief. As somebody who understands how to get into the narrative, he did it. He succeeded. We are talking about it.

(CROSSTALK)

GRANHOLM: ... to talk about the lineup tonight, which will be a great contrast.

BALDWIN: Excellent pivot, Governor Jennifer Granholm.

(CROSSTALK)

GRANHOLM: Because he is unsteady. She will demonstrate that she is steady. You need somebody who you can be sure is going to make you safe and not make you more...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I have to imagine President Obama will be addressing this very issue on that stage. Yes? Yes.

GRANHOLM: I bet he will. I bet he will.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: NATO, Russia. He might. I think he might.

Just quickly on tax returns, quickly, he's not releasing them.

LORD: Right.

GRANHOLM: Release them.

LORD: Look, where were George Washington's taxes, Lincoln's, Franklin Roosevelt's? I personally think he should never release them, because this is just a political tool.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Thought bubble. This is 2016. Van Jones, there you go.

Let me say thanks to all of you. We have so much more to go through. Thank you all very much.

Coming up, though, 12 years to the day after appearing in the 2004 Democratic National Convention, what will President Obama's message be tonight marking one of what will probably be his last final messages as commander in chief? We will talk about that.

Also ahead, after saying Donald Trump would never be president, President Obama now changing his words, saying, anything is possible this November, even advising Democrats to stay worried.

And just one day after -- two days after Michelle Obama mentioned slaves building the White House in a powerful speech inside that Wells Fargo Center, FOX host Bill O'Reilly has said they were -- quote -- "well-fed and had decent lodging."

Really? We're going to talk about that. This is CNN's special live coverage. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:00]

BALDWIN: All right, we're back here live in Philadelphia, massive night expected here inside the Wells Fargo Center just right over there, with the major lineup of speakers at day number three of the DNC, chief among them the president of the United States.

He, of course, will make a case, a full-throated endorsement, I'm sure, for Hillary Clinton and the progressive policies he has enacted over the past eight years in the White House. In fact, it was, if I may take you back down memory lane, 12 years ago today that then- Senator Barack Obama was introduced on the national stage for very first time. Remember, he was a 2004 DNC keynote speaker, and, of course, he has been back to every Democratic Convention since.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2004)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: It is the hope slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs, the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores, the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta, the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds, the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2008)

OBAMA: A promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel West.

And it is that promise that, 45 ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington before Lincoln's Memorial and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2012)

OBAMA: I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. Times have changed, and so have I. I'm no longer just a candidate. I'm the president.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, let's look ahead to this evening.

I have with me here CNN political commentator and Hillary Clinton biographer Carl Bernstein. The book is "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton." CNN political analyst Jackie Kucinich, bureau chief Daily Beast, Washington. Mo Elleithee, CNN -- or rather -- I was just making you join us there, Mo -- executive director of Georgetown's Institute of Politics and Public Service and former coms director for the DNC.

So, welcome to all of you.

I'm excited, because we're going to have wedding photos apparently with you as it relates to Tim Kaine. Stand by for that.

But, first, Jackie Kucinich, President Obama, the notion of obviously a President Trump, how much of that would negate his eight years and how much of a then full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton will we hear?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, if Trump wins, you have to assume the Senate and potentially -- the House and potentially the Senate also stay in place. So, yes, the Obama legacy and the Obama agenda would be in extreme jeopardy, because you can imagine the House is just going to push through some of the rollbacks that they have wanted.

And so the stakes could not be higher for Obama down the line.

BALDWIN: Supreme Court justice. Yes. Yes.

[15:20:01]

KUCINICH: And Supreme Court, absolutely.

BALDWIN: What are you expecting from him tonight?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That he's going to talk, among other things, about the break-in at the Democratic national headquarters.

If anybody would have told me 44 years after the break-in at the DNC that we would have a convention...

BALDWIN: Watergate, Mr. Watergate Hotel.

BERNSTEIN: ... where we were talking about another break-in at Democratic headquarters and the implications of it in a political election for the presidency, this is not something that I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams or worst nightmares.

However, he is going to address the question of Donald Trump's fitness to be president. And, today, we have reached a tipping point in this election, when it ought to be apparent to all. And the Democrats should be able to make their case that he is manifestly unsuited to be president of the United States because of his recklessness with the national security, and just even thinking about the idea of endorsing the notion that the Russians should go ahead and hack into our national security apparatus.

And it's typical of what we have seen in the campaign. Say what you want about Hillary Clinton. Nobody's been rougher on her than I about her server and its recklessness. Apples and oranges. This is a disqualifying event for a president of the United States.

BALDWIN: OK. Want to move on the president, Mo, and get to Tim Kaine. We saw him doing his walk-through earlier. He and his staff checking out which tie may be better for one of these prime-time speaking spots. This is him saying hello really to the entire country who is not quite familiar with the once Richmond City councilman.

Talk to me about your personal story with him.

MO ELLEITHEE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I have known him 15 years, since he was mayor of Richmond, running for lieutenant governor of Virginia. I was working for the then candidate for governor, now Senator Mark Warner.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ELLEITHEE: I worked on his gubernatorial campaign in 2005, on his Senate campaign in 2012. He officiated my wedding. He is a friend. He is maybe of the many -- I have worked with some tremendously talented political figures.

BALDWIN: Here's your photo, wedding photo.

ELLEITHEE: Oh, boy, look at that. We both had a little bit more -- our hair was a little less gray back then.

(LAUGHTER)

ELLEITHEE: But he may be the truest public servant that I ever known in politics.

BALDWIN: Why?

ELLEITHEE: He was, growing up, really instilled with the notion of social juice and breaking down barriers and sort of -- he grew up Jesuit-educated and was really taught the notion of public service, doing good for others.

And he's taken that with him throughout his entire life, throughout his entire career as a missionary in Honduras, as a civil rights attorney in the former capital of the Confederacy. It's true to him.

BALDWIN: And his father-in-law, right, was the Republican governor of Virginia. And you covered him.

BERNSTEIN: I covered his father-in-law, Linwood Holton, who was a truly great and courageous man.

BALDWIN: Helped integrate schools.

BERNSTEIN: A Republican who ended massive resistance in the closing of the schools in Virginia to avoid integration. His father- in-law did it.

And, look, what we're talking about -- what we have seen at this whole convention, contrast to Cleveland, there are two different visions of America. And nothing epitomizes it more than Hillary Clinton's embrace of civil rights as a teenager hearing Martin Luther King speak, what Tim Kaine has done in Virginia, what his father-in- law did in following in that bipartisan tradition that Donald Trump is not following in.

You could not have -- the president of the United States, the most -- the first African-American president, coming here tonight. That's what this election is about, two visions of America. And it's, as I said, the Gettysburg of the cultural wars, this election, to determine the future of this country for generations.

BALDWIN: Let me full-circle back to you, Jackie K., because you were sitting right here yesterday and we were talking about Bill Clinton. And you were like I bet my bottom dollar we're going to hear the Yale library story. And you called it.

Here is a piece of the beginning of the love story he told last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the spring of 1971, I met a girl.

The first time I saw her we were, appropriately enough, in a class on political and civil rights. She had thick blonde hair, big glasses, wore no makeup, and she exuded this sense of strength and self-possession that I found magnetic.

After the class, I followed her out, intending to introduce myself. I got close enough to touch her back, but I couldn't do it. Somehow, I knew this would not be just another tap on the shoulder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I was listening to Paul Begala, written speeches with Bill Clinton for the last 25 years.

And the way he said it, it was like, he is such a quintessential Southerner, sort of Mark Twain, saying, hey, come down the river with me and at end of this little river ride you end up feeling like you found the meaning of life. And he was relating that to the speech last night.

[15:25:07]

KUCINICH: Well, this was a very personal speech for Bill Clinton. And you saw that in the presentation.

You just -- you felt it, right? But I do wonder how much Tim Kaine will bring out that realness in Hillary Clinton.

BALDWIN: Yes.

KUCINICH: Because, as you know, what you see with Tim Kaine is what you get. And Republicans trust him, Democrats trust him. They really like him. And so I wonder how much he can bring out in her some of the things that people really like in him.

BALDWIN: Jackie and Mo and Carl, thank you all so much. Thank you, thank you.

So, how will Americans, how will you react to Senator Tim Kaine's speech tonight? We will talk to a father who knows Senator Kaine quite well when he was then Governor Kaine in the state of Virginia, when the worst thing possible happened in Blacksburg, Virginia, the mass shooting at Virginia Tech.

We will talk about that and what that meant for him, the then- governor, hopping on a plane from Japan to come see his son and so many others.

Also ahead, the day after Michelle Obama's powerful speech to the Democratic National Convention here, FOX News host Bill O'Reilly weighed in, saying the slaves who built the White House were -- quote -- "well-fed, good lodging."

Let's go there.

This is special live coverage here from Philadelphia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)