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Erin Burnett Outfront
DNC Chair to Step Down After Convention; Sanders: DNC Chair Made the "Right Decision" to Resign; Clinton Camp Claims Russians Leaked Email to Help Trump; Clinton and Kaine First Joint Interview; Protestors Emboldened by DNC Chair's Resignation; All Eyes on Bill and Chelsea Clinton to Fire Up Dems. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 24, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: A major shake-up on the Democratic Party on the eve of their convention.
Plus, are the Russians trying to help Trump win the White House? That's the charge from the Clinton campaign.
My guest, the Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort this hour.
And Chelsea Clinton delivering the most important speech of her life, on the convention's final night. Can she live up to Ivanka Trump's performance?
Let's get OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. We begin with the breaking news on this Sunday. Democrats in disarray. The DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz out.
Welcome to a very special edition of "OUTFRONT" live from Philadelphia where the Democratic National Convention will kick off just hours from now.
Wasserman-Schultz is out as head of her party effective at the end of the convention. The final straw that led to her stepping down, new evidence surfacing, the Democratic Party officials conspired in favor of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.
Thousands of e-mails, some of them embarrassing to Democratic officials, leaking on the Website, WikiLeaks, showing bias towards Clinton at Sanders expense.
Among the emails' leak, one DNC official writing on May 5th seemingly referring to Sanders when asked this -- "For Kentucky and West Virginia, can we get someone to ask his belief? Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist."
A couple of weeks later, there's this, from another DNC official asking, "If there's a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that never had his act together, that his campaign was a mess." The controversy playing into the hands of Donald Trump, who tweeted today, "Leaked e-mails of DNC show plans to destroy Bernie Sanders, mock his heritage and much more online from WikiLeaks. Really vicious. RIGGED."
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT tonight on this breaking story.
And, Jeff, an incredibly fast moving story today. It looks like Debbie Wasserman Schultz was fighting this tooth and nail.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: She was, indeed, Erin. When she flew here yesterday from Miami, she gave a somewhat of an introduction yesterday to Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, then flew here.
I actually happen to be on the plane with her. She was in very good spirits. Good mood flying here to really preside over this historic convention that is going to nominate the first woman to be the president of a major party's ticket. That is all over tonight.
She's going to have no major speaking role at all. She will have a small slot it looks like tomorrow evening. But, boy, it took several hours of wrangling from Democrats and meetings and other things to get her to the conclusion that this simply was not going away. The substance of these emails are troubling to many Democrats. Bernie Sanders supporters certainly, but also some Clinton supporters. And they believe that it was simply untenable. But it took her several hours to reach that.
Finally, she got a call from the president to thank her for her service. The translation for that is, he also is involved. He wanted her to go.
BURNETT: And Jeff, you know, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the DNC faced accusations for a long time. Right? You know, we all heard them. Long-time rigged system. That they were in the tank for Hillary Clinton.
What were the Clinton campaign and the White House saying behind-the- scenes about that?
ZELENY: Behind-the-scenes they just thought some of these e-mails, you know, were unfortunate and its certainly, it just ripped open the wound that was really starting to heal between the Sanders supporters and the Clinton campaign. And perhaps that was the exact reason for the timing of this release by WikiLeaks just at the moment of a unified party. A unified convention.
You have this sort-of, you know, injecting itself into it. But they were very frustrated here that the committee was so slow to react to this. But I think the bigger challenge here is, the bigger frustration of the Clinton campaign, they've spent all day talking about Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She's not on a national ballot.
Today was a day to keep talking about Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. We're only 24 hours after his big roll-out yesterday. And all day today, here in Philadelphia, the conversation was dominated by this process.
We'll see if that continues tomorrow. And we'll see if there's an uproar right here on the floor of this convention hall if she does actually speak.
Erin?
BURNETT: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
And let's go to Dana Bash now.
Dana, you know, in downtown Philadelphia today as we all went through there, a lot of protesters here and a lot of them supporting Bernie Sanders. A lot of people wanted Bernie Sanders as their nominee. A lot of people.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question about it. And in fact, just checking in to my hotel, there were a number of Bernie Sanders supporters, delegates, who worked very, very hard for him during the primary process. Eager to remind me and others that he won 43 percent of the Democratic vote in total during the primary and caucus process.
That's very significant. And even more significant, just as Jeff was saying in that, we were just at the time, kind of observing them all, where Bernie Sanders, just a couple of weeks ago, finally endorsed Hillary Clinton, gave word to his supporters, people like the delegates I met today, that you know what? It's time to get behind Hillary Clinton. And this is going to make it harder for hem to swallow that.
[19:05:10] Whether or not that will spill on to the floor of the convention remains to be seen. But, obviously, as Jeff just reported, the Clinton people especially are trying to minimize the time where there could be an awkward moment on the floor, just giving her time to basically open the convention tomorrow afternoon.
BURNETT: All right. Dana Bash, thank you very much.
And OUTFRONT now, our panel to talk through this huge story. The campaign manager of Bernie Sanders, 2016 campaign Jeff Weaver is with me. And we've got a lot to talk about.
Also joining me, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. The Hillary Clinton supporter. Her firm currently does work for a pro-Clinton SuperPac. Bakari Sellers, Hillary Clinton supporter also with me. Donald Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany also here and the former adviser to four presidents Reagan and Clinton, David Gergen here and political director David Chalian.
So we got a full house but let me start with you, Jeff.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She says she's stepping down. But she's not going to do it until the end of the convention. Is that good enough for you? JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, look, I think what the signal was today is that the voices of the Bernie Sanders supporters have been heard and other people frankly in the party. Hillary Clinton supporters, who felt this was the last straw, that she had to go. And I think this shows that they've been heard. And I think it gives us an opportunity to move forward toward November, united to deal with the problem of Donald Trump.
BURNETT: All right. So, you know, you're trying to make an argument for being united, but obviously as this campaign was going on, you had deep frustration. You used the words once that Debbie Wasserman- Schultz was throwing shade at your campaign. Right?
WEAVER: Right. Right.
BURNETT: Right? I mean, of course, a very serious sentiment. But she insisted again and again and again, Jeff, she said it wasn't true. That's not what these e-mails show, but here's what she said multiple times.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBBIE WASSERMANN-SCHULTZ, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Let me just reiterate that the Democratic National Committee remains neutral in this primary based on our rules.
Let me state again, we are not putting our thumb on the scale for any candidate.
My function as the chair is to neutrally manage the primary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEAVER: Well, that's clearly not the case. I mean, these e-mails demonstrate that that was not the case.
BURNETT: So you're vindicated now but -- I mean, do you feel you would have won? I mean, could you have won if this were not the case?
WEAVER: Clearly, the life of the campaign and Senator Sanders was made more difficult by the fact that there were people with their thumbs on the scale.
Would it made a difference in delegates? No, probably not. But I think what this does demonstrate is that the party is willing to move forward, start anew. They're listening to the voters. We're going to have a fresh start and we're going to go into November. We're going to elect Hillary Clinton. We're going to defeat Donald Trump.
BURNETT: And one more question as I bring our panel in. And that is, while this was happening, while she was denying again and again and again, but it was actually happening, do you think the Clinton campaign knew?
WEAVER: I don't know what people knew, frankly. And I don't know what's important about that. But what is important is obviously we were disadvantaged. I mean, obviously, the debate schedule was a problem. The DNC data issue was a problem.
BURNETT: You've got bad nights for debates?
WEAVER: We got bad nights on debates. No Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve. Thanksgiving debates. But, you know, it has been exposed. And I think going forward, I think that the next chair will handle this in a much more neutral way, I'm sure, in the future presidential campaigns.
BURNETT: I mean, Maria, the thing is, you know, the day that this happens, and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is forced out, Hillary Clinton names her as an honorary chair of her campaign. That is -- that's a little tough.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Or you could say that it's loyalty. I mean, one of the --
BURNETT: OK, yes.
CARDONA: The other side of this is that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has worked very hard for very long time for this party. She has raised a lot of money. She's made a lot of changes in the party to make it a 50-state party.
To focus on all of the issues that Democrats want to underscore during the campaign, but I agree with Jeff. I think that the Sanders supporters' voices were heard. I think that Debbie understood that this was not surmountable. That this was untenable. And like everybody here in Philly, all Democrats on all sides, the major, major goal for us, Erin, to defeat Donald Trump in November.
And I think she realized that this was going to continue to be a distraction and her whole focus, her whole commitment, in fact the reason why she worked so hard at the DNC is to make sure that we had a Democrat elected. And more than anything for her as a good friend of Hillary's, the first woman president.
So I don't think that she was going to do anything to take the focus off of that.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: And, clearly, Jeff is sitting here giving a message of unity. If there was anyone who was going to express anger, it would be you. All right? And I know you're angry. I know you're angry. But you're careful to say that Donald Trump is the goal, that you're focused on.
To David Gergen, this does, this does in the Bernie Sanders supporters and the broader country really create an image of a rigged system.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. And the Bernie Sanders people have every right to be angry. And I think that four to five of Bernie's argument all along, the system is basically rigged.
There were thumbs on the scale. I do think what's been smart is the Democrats have acted quickly on this.
We remember the comparison of the Republican convention. How long it took to lance the boil on the Mrs. Trump's speech.
BURNETT: Right.
[19:10:10] GERGEN: This, I think, the move quickly on this was very, very smart.
Secondly, very importantly, Bernie Sanders himself along with, Jeff, are being extremely gracious about this.
BURNETT: Yes, he is.
GERGEN: I mean, it's remarkable, and that sets a very tone from say, what a Ted Cruz said at the Republican convention.
So if you look at it, it -- I think this is a passing thing. I also think that, you know, that if there's evidence that the White House knew and conspired, that's very different. We don't even know if this is the last of the WikiLeaks leaks.
BURNETT: No.
GERGEN: What are they sitting on? We don't know that.
BURNETT: Yes.
GERGEN: Stay tuned.
BURNETT: And what about on the floor? Does this spill on to the floor? Well, you have 44 percent of Democrats who wanted Bernie Sanders as their nominee.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I don't think it's just Bernie Sanders. As Jeff was saying, I think the Hillary Clinton people were sort of ready to be done with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz also.
I mean, I think she is not going to be greeted, you know -- maybe she'll get some sympathy applause tomorrow or whatever. But I don't think it's going to be like excitement on the floor to see Debbie Wasserman-Schultz take the stage.
I would just argue one thing, David. Yes, they double down quickly this weekend since the WikiLeaks came out, but why on the eve of the convention is this the story? That to me -- this was foreseeable.
We -- two months ago, there was conversation that Debbie Wasserman- Schultz may be moving out of the chairmanship of the party to deal with her primary and really focus on that and use that as a face- saving mechanism to get through this. So this has been in conversation for months. Why was this not resolved before the eve of the convention? It just seems to me that the Democrats could have taken care of this earlier.
GERGEN: The emails made all the difference. If it took a whole day to wrangle with her after the emails to get her out of the job, think how hard it would have been without the e-mails?
CHALIAN: True.
BURNETT: I mean, the night of the convention starting, obviously, not the time the Democrats wanted this to happen.
BAKARI SELLERS, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: No, not at all. I mean, if anybody tells you that it's perfect timing, they're simply lying to you. I mean, this couldn't happen in a worst moment. But I think that you can look at these things and I say we have some major operational deficiencies at the Democratic Party that have to be sorted out. And I think they will begin to be sorted out with our good friend and I guess now former colleague Donna Brazile.
BURNETT: Right. She's now going to be the interim chair.
SELLERS: She's now going to be the interim chair. And we're able to, I think, even Ben Jealous today, who is a harsh critic of Hillary Clinton, who came out and supported Hillary Clinton today, said now it's time to heal.
So you have those operational type deficiencies. But what we do not have is a fractured party. We do not have a party that's falling apart at the seams. I know that Kayleigh, she's over here salivating to my left.
(LAUGHTER)
The first time she'll ever be on my left. I can tell you that. But I know that, I know that there are many Republicans out there, and Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus, who really want this Ted Cruz moment. And we simply won't have that.
What you will see over the first couple of days of this convention, and I was -- I'm on the rules committee. I was on the rules committee last night. I saw Robby Mook and Jeff Weaver get together and we were able to work things out. The platform committee is the same way.
The first two days when you have Bernie Sanders on stage. You will have this unity. And then what you'll see over Wednesday and Thursday is the president of the United States and you'll have this character witnesses come out and finally Hillary Clinton pivoting and moving towards Donald Trump.
BURNETT: Moving ahead.
All right, quick final word, Kayleigh.
(CROSSTALK)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You can't contradict 40 percent of Bernie Sanders voters say that they're not going to vote for Hillary Clinton. And when you look at this scandal, and that's what it is, on the day that the head of the DNC saying she's a neutral broker, she's behind-the-scene saying Bernie Sanders can never win. You had the CFO of the party attempt to use this heritage, attempt to use his religion against him to which the CEO of the party replied and said, amen. This is a crisis for democracy when the --
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: Well, it's kind of like what Donald Trump is to Elizabeth Warren, by the way.
So I mean, like using heritage is not a sword that the Donald Trump campaign needs to throw out there. But I will say -- what I will say --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: OK.
SELLERS: The CFO using somebody's heritage against them is outright wrong and atrocious. And the CFO and anybody who agreed with that need to be gone.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: All right.
MCENANY: There was something (INAUDIBLE), and he apologized.
BURNETT: We will hit pause. All of you are going to be with me, of course, as our coverage continues here.
Next, our special edition of OUTFRONT from the site of the Democratic convention here in Philadelphia.
The Clinton camp charging that the Russian government leaked the DNC e-mails in a bid to help Donald Trump.
Well, Donald Trump's campaign chairman will respond. Paul Manafort is my guest after this.
Plus, President Obama says Hillary Clinton is tough as nails, while admitting she has a crucial weakness. What is it?
Clinton's top spokeswoman is OUTFRONT this hour.
And the Clinton-Kaine ticket. Their first joint interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He called you crooked Hillary. What do you call him?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:12] BURNETT: Welcome back to a very special edition of OUTFRONT, live from the Democratic convention. We are here in Philadelphia on this Sunday evening. Tonight, Donald Trump trying to build on the buzz from his Republican convention plotting a busy four-state tour the week, in this week of key states. And also attacking Hillary Clinton every single chance he can.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a fan of Bernie Sanders, but I am a fan of one thing that he talks about, trade. But he has been gamed. He has been -- it's a rigged system against him. And what happened with the choice of Tim Kaine was a slap in the face to Bernie Sanders and everybody. I was shocked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: John King is OUTFRONT.
And, John, where is Donald Trump going to be going this week? Obviously focusing a lot of energy on swing states and raising money.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot of energy, Erin. I'm trying to get to 270. That magical number.
Let's look at the states. I'm going to stretch out the map a little bit. This is the 2012 map. Where is Donald Trump going to be? He's going to be in Virginia, North Carolina. He's going to be in Ohio. And he's going to be in the state of Florida.
Why are those four states significant? Well, they are always battleground states. But look back at this. Let's go back to the last time Republicans won the White House. That would be in 2004. George W. Bush won all of those states.
You're trying to get to 270 electoral votes and you're a Republican based on how things have gone the last 10, 20 years of president politics, the four states Donald Trump will be in this week, pretty critical.
If you can win them, you're probably moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
BURNETT: And Trump is obviously going to be spending sometime as you were talking, swing states, Virginia.
Obviously, Hillary Clinton's VP pick Tim Kaine calls Virginia home. Some have said that really could tip that crucial state in her favor.
How much does Kaine help her in the state, the fight for Virginia?
KING: It's interesting. Let's take a look at it two ways.
First, let's look at some polling. Of all the swing states that are pretty close right now, let me stretch this out a little bit. They brought the music up in the hall. How about that?
Virginia is actually a pretty good state for Hillary Clinton right now. These other swing states, very, very competitive. But here's the best way to look at it for Tim Kaine.
If you look at the electoral map, again, you are trying to get to 270, right? There goes the music.
Hillary Clinton, we have right now at 236 to 191 for Donald Trump. The dark red states solid Republican, dark blue solid Democrats. Light blue lean Democrat. Light red lean Republican.
Watch this. If Hillary Clinton, we have Virginia right now is a toss- up. Yellow. If she can hold Virginia and then get one more, the state of Florida, game over. She gets to 278. She's the next president of the United States. Even if lost Florida to Donald Trump, you're thinking Tim Kaine state of Virginia, she can do it with Pennsylvania and then just one more. Say could be Nevada. The high Latino population. It could be New Hampshire, Iowa.
So Virginia, 13 electoral votes. If Donald Trump can't get them, Erin, his path to the presidency gets a whole lot harder. And with those Spanish-language skills we saw from Tim Kaine, you got to see them a lot in Florida, Nevada, Colorado as well.
BURNETT: All right, John King, thank you very much.
And OUTFRONT now, Donald Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort. And Paul, I want to talk more about what John was reporting in just a moment, but first, I want to get straight to the big story of the day.
[19:20:10] Hillary Clinton's campaign manager is accusing Russian state actors of getting and leaking Democratic National Committee e- mails, critical of Bernie Sanders. All of that in an effort to help Donald Trump. That's the accusation.
I want to play for you exactly how Robby Mook put that accusation in his own words. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: What's disturbing to us is that we -- experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these e-mails and other experts are now saying that they are -- the Russians are releasing these e-mails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Paul, what's your reply to that?
PAUL MANAFORT, DONALD TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: They certainly are getting desperate rather early in the game. I mean, yes, they should be concerned about the leaks of the, from the Democratic National Committee. It puts the Democratic National Committee at risk and exposed the fact that it was a rigged political primary system against Bernie Sanders. But our concern is broader than that.
Just think about a server, an unsecured server sitting in a closet in Hillary Clinton's home in New York. That was even more vulnerable than what was going on at the DNC. And just think of the national security issues that most likely hacked in foreign countries vaults of information.
That, you know, Mr. Mook's attempt to change the agenda and the discussion falls flat. The concern is -- and it's a concern all Americans should be having is that Hillary Clinton put America's national security at risk. The DNC at risk is one thing. The national security of the United States is another. That's what the issue is here.
BURNETT: On the issue of Russia, though, it is still important. I mean, Russian government hackers did break into DNC servers last month. We know that. We know that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have said very positive things about each other.
You personally, of course, Paul, advised the pro-Putin former president of Ukraine.
Why is it so farfetched to blame the Russians and say that the motive was to help you?
MANAFORT: I mean, it's just absurd. I mean, Donald Trump is running for president of the United States. Donald Trump is talking about the failed leadership of the Obama administration.
I don't know anything about what you just said. You may know it. If you do, then you ought to expose it. But to say, you know -- I don't know what you're talking about. It's crazy. The fact that we're having this conversation is the wrong conversation. The conversation we should be having is what does Russia have from Hillary Clinton's server? That's the bigger issue. Not what anybody had got from the DNC server?
BURNETT: Well, but the motive does matter, right? I mean, I don't know whether they did or didn't. I know that that is right now what the Clinton campaign is alleging.
I guess the question then that I do want to get an answer from you on, Paul, if Russia did it, they hacked those emails. They leaked them. Do you categorically condemn it?
MANAFORT: Of course, we categorically condemn hacking. Why -- we don't favor hacking. Our biggest concern is the exposure of the United States national security from -- to hackers.
Donald Trump has been talking about that for his whole campaign. Of course we are concerned about it. What we are also concern about is the Justice Department investigation that covered that over. And minimized the risk that the country has been put in. That's a bigger concern of ours.
BURNETT: Do you think that they're capable and that they could have done it and that they had the motivation to do it, Paul?
MANAFORT: I have no idea who's capable of doing -- investigating. This is an absurd conversation we're having. BURNETT: It is, though, an allegation that they have made. And if it turns out that Russia is behind it, there are, of course, going to be a lot of questions about it.
You know, the former ambassador to Russia, Ambassador McFaul said, "It was Russian meddling in American democracy and the American election."
And just to be clear, you say you absolutely condemn it. But would you also agree it's completely and utterly inappropriate for Russia to in anyway be meddling in the American election?
MANAFORT: I would consider inappropriate for any foreign country meddling in the U.S. election.
BURNETT: So, so I guess the final question I have on this, again, is the ties of your campaign to the Russian government. Carter Page, Trump foreign policy adviser, was in Moscow just earlier this month. He was giving a speech. He, obviously, prior had been one of the many advisers to Gazprom. Obviously, the state's owned massive energy company in Russia. He said that the "United States was missing opportunities to work with Russia."
Very specifically, came out and said that.
That obviously flies in the face of the current United States policy towards Russia.
Do you think U.S. policy is wrong and that the United States should be working closely with Putin?
MANAFORT: I don't have any idea what U.S. foreign policy is under President Obama other than failing to exert American presence around the world.
The reason the Middle East is a mess, the reason China is expanding its reach into the South China Sea, you know, all of these things are because of failed leadership. Not just towards Russia, but in all regions of the world.
[19:25:06]That's one of the primary concerns that Donald Trump will be expressing during this campaign. And many of these failed policies were created under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She's the one who talked about a reset in Russia that has failed abysmally.
BURNETT: Now, Paul, long before these e-mails leaked, Bernie Sanders talked about an election process that he believed was rigged. And Donald Trump has, of course, used that word and made it his own.
Bernie Sanders, though, has been clear today that he does not think the solution is Donald Trump. And here's how he put it in an interview this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the vast majority of our supporters understand that in Donald Trump, and I say this not happily. You have somebody who lies all of the time. Somebody who wins his campaign just by vicious attacks against his opponent. Most of my supporters understand Trump has got to be defeated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Sanders, obviously, doesn't think that Donald Trump is the solution.
What are you doing, Paul, to get some of his supporters to actually buy into your message?
MANAFORT: Look, we're not doing anything new. A number of Bernie Sanders supporter -- well, Bernie Sanders support is based on a range of things. One is ideological. Two are people who are fed up with the system, who are anti-Wall Street.
Well, the candidate of Wall Street is Hillary Clinton. She's the one whose campaign is totally financed by Wall Street. Not Donald Trump.
Additionally, a group of Sanders supporters are against the rigged economy. Rigged trade system. Again, these are issues that Donald Trump has been speaking out on.
So, I mean, to the non-ideological supporters that, you know, were supporting Bernie Sanders, we think that Donald Trump's message of going into Washington, creating change and ending the gridlock will be appealing.
This is an election of change. There's one candidate that's establishment and one candidate that's change. Hillary Clinton has been part of that establishment for 25 years. That's what Bernie Sanders was campaigning against. That's what Donald Trump is campaigning against.
BURNETT: OK.
MANAFORT: To those voters who are voting for Bernie Sanders because of that issue, we think we're going to be successful.
BURNETT: And before we go, Paul, I want to ask you something about Tim Kaine.
Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine did their first interview. And I wanted to play for you the part where they were asked about Donald Trump.
Here's how they answered the question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He called you crooked Hillary. What do you call him?
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't call him anything. And I'm not going to engage in that kind of insult fest that he seems to thrive on.
TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't want to -- she's done a good job of letting the, you know, water go off her back on this. That's not the way I feel.
When I see this, you know, crooked Hillary or I see the lock her up, it is just ridiculous. It is ridiculous. It is beneath the character of the kind of dialogue we should have because we have real serious problems to solve and what most of us stopped the name calling thing about fifth grade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Is the name calling beneath you, Paul?
MANAFORT: I'm sorry?
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Is the name calling beneath you? Even in the press release today, you used the words "Crooked Hillary."
MANAFORT: Look. Hillary Clinton's credibility with the American people is at an all-time low. I mean, over 60 percent think she's a liar. Over 60 percent don't think she can be trusted. You know, people think she's corrupt.
You know? People think she's got special favors from the government. People think she is a pawn of special interest. So, I mean, that is not the -- those issues are what define her. Not any particular one name.
BURNETT: All right. Paul Manafort, thank you very much. Appreciate your time tonight.
And next on our special edition of OUTFRONT here from Philadelphia, Clinton and Kaine, in their first interview together. We'll have more of that. Kaine backing down on his opposition to the most important trade deal in recent American history. Will it be enough to win over Sanders supporters?
And President Obama on Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's not always flashy and there are better speech makers. But she knows her stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:00] BURNETT: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
We are live here in Philadelphia. In just a few hours, the Democratic National Convention will formally kick off. Our breaking news tonight, Hillary Clinton and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, moments ago, giving their first joint interview as the presumptive nominees for the 2016 Democratic ticket.
Here, Clinton describes one of the reasons that she picked Kaine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want somebody who will be candid and will tell me, hey, I don't agree with this, or could you think about it somewhat differently? I don't think I have all the answers. I think that we'll be a good team. I believe we'll work well together. I believe that he will give me his best advice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And my panel is back with me along with Maeve Reston, our national political reporter.
OK so, you know, this was the big unveiling, Maeve. This is the big unveiling of the ticket and their first interview together. I want to play several more pieces of it.
But first of all, she is saying I pick him because I trust him and I know that I can listen to what he says.
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Which is sort of like a translation for having, you know, a no person in your life. Somebody that you will take their guidance, their advice and we all keep asking the question whether Donald Trump has someone around him like that.
And I think to that point, you know, I think at every juncture, her campaign is trying to make it clear that they are trying to be the steady hand and that Kaine is someone that everyone in America could feel comfortable with should he have to step into the role of president. But it was -- it's certainly her level of comfort with him is so different than what we have seen on the campaign trail. She looks happy when he is around.
BURNETT: Maybe in that sense she can humanize him, which has always been one of the most difficult things for her. It's when people see a softer side, a less strident side.
Here's a moment that that was a little bit visible in this interview. Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just want to do everything I can to make sure that we win and that the presidency of Hillary Clinton is fantastic. And I think I can, with my two cents, I think I can help that happen.
CLINTON: I do, too. Well, I just have to add that he plays a mean harmonica. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've heard that.
CLINTON: Yes.
KAINE: I kind of have a fallback in my life.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:35:17] BURNETT: All right. Does that succeed? The harmonica in humanizing her and him?
CARDONA: I think so. And to Maeve's point, I think, what you see when she was with him is joy. Right? And when she campaigns with joy, she is a much different candidate. She connects almost automatically with folks in an at least, a much more personal manner.
And I just want to say, I have known Tim Kaine for a very long time. I worked with him when I was communications director at the DNC in 2001. And he -- I was so impressed by him. He really helped us out with this big campaign on Spanish language media. And his Spanish is perfect.
I saw him in the event yesterday. I got so many notes from my Latino friends and they were so proud to hear him speak in Spanish. I think that's going to be a huge asset.
BURNETT: Which means he practices. Because, you know, one year in Honduras a long time ago for many of us would not be enough to still be fluent.
CARDONA: And why I do that everyday.
SELLERS: I don't know about that either.
BURNETT: Well, I mean it as a compliment. I mean, he's obviously committed to knowing the language.
SELLERS: He also, it's more than -- and I understand Maria's point here. But even further, I mean, it's not a patronizing, oh, I'm going to speak Spanish at any point.
But, in fact, he is the first person to speak from the floor of the United States Senate in fluent Spanish when immigration reform supporting the Gang of Eight. And I was probably one of the more critical people of the Clinton campaign in terms of hopes for the VP selection.
In fact, in "Politico," I said that you shouldn't have two white people at the top of the ticket. But after watching Tim Kaine yesterday, I had a very low bar, probably shouldn't have.
Watching him blow that out the water, understanding that he has been somebody who has actually led civil rights charges for African- Americans and Hispanics and understanding that if you look at the rollout, if you juxtapose the rollout of Tim Kaine versus the rollout of Mike Pence, you can see a vast difference.
But even more importantly, like Hillary Clinton in a very fundamental way likes Tim Kaine. I'm not sure if we know whether or not Donald Trump likes Mike Pence.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: All right. So let's play another clip here from the interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAINE: I think I'm ready to lead. I'm ready, first, to be a supportive vice president so that the presidency of Hillary Clinton is a fantastic one. But if something were to put that in my path as much as any human being would be ready, I would be ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Convincing case, David?
CHALIAN: Well, it's the right answer and it's certainly -- he's got the right resume, I think, to convince people he's ready for the job. But what is really interesting to me now that we have both picks on both sides, Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, no matter who wins the White House, we have a new dynamic that we haven't seen since Al Gore in the White House, which is a vice president sitting there with their own political future to make calculations for.
RESTON: So we knew Dick Cheney wasn't going to run. Joe Biden despite the Hamlet act last summer, we knew wasn't going to run for president. This is the first time in quite sometime no matter who wins, the White House is going to have that extra added layer of politics now. They are thinking about their own political future and how they ascend to the presidency one day.
You can see Pence squirming the other night when, you know, Donald Trump went completely off script the night after his convention speech, in that event. It was going to be interesting where he's --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: See his talk radio show host past can come out, because obviously, he likes things more scripted.
One more clip here, and this is something Kayleigh I want to get your reaction to.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I don't know what their convention was about other than criticizing me. I seem to be the only unifying theme that they had. There was no positive agenda. It was very dark, divisive campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: She is right, Kayleigh, that her name was mentioned a whole lot more last week in Cleveland than Donald Trump's.
MCENANY: Her name was mentioned a lot, but let's remember that she is the person who's given three purported policy speeches all of which are devoted to attacking Donald Trump.
And for her to say there was no positive agenda, I'm happy to contradict her with numbers and facts because in the aftermath of the convention, 75 percent of CNN viewers said it was a very or somewhat positive speech that Donald Trump gave. 56 percent said they are more likely to support Donald Trump. So numbers contradict what she's saying. I understand the Democrats are trying to make this about being dark, but the reality of the world we live in is it's a very dark time and most people feel that.
SELLERS: Erin, if I may briefly, I think that one of the numbers that we have to look at, and yes, that was a very dark convention. It was Melania Trump's plagiarism, followed by Ted Cruz, followed by a dark (INAUDIBLE). But one of the stark contrasts, one of the stark statistics that comes out, and Maria can piggyback this is that Hispanics who watched -- Hispanic voters who watched that convention each day, their unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump went up.
I have never seen that before. I mean, I went through the research that CNN gave us, and that's very hard to do in your convention to make a certain group of people like you even less.
BURNETT: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
[19:40:00] CARDONA: And they don't just not like him, they are scared. And I don't think just Latinos. African-Americans, Muslims. Everybody who did not look exactly like most people in that arena in Cleveland scared to death after that convention.
BURNETT: Here's what's interesting. Now the Democrat convention, you guys end up talking about Donald Trump. Maybe that will be something as the week continues, you see the flipping.
All right. All of you staying with me.
The DNC under fire with those e-mails showing favoritism towards Hillary Clinton.
Coming up, the Clinton campaign will respond.
And Chelsea Clinton speaking before her mother at the convention Thursday. Will she measure up to Ivanka Trump's widely hailed speech at the RNC?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
We are in Philadelphia, where the Democratic National Convention is going to kick off in just a few hours. Thousands of protesters showing up here today taking to the streets to show their support for Bernie Sanders. And in some cases, their disdain for Hillary Clinton. At times chanting, "Hell no, DNC. We won't vote for Hillary."
And OUTFRONT now, Karen Finney, the senior spokesperson for the Clinton campaign.
Karen, I want to ask you about that, but first, I want to start with the issue of the e-mails. Obviously, one of the big stories of the day.
So Robby Mook is the campaign manager, who come out and said that the Russian government was behind this, Russian state actors and that they did this in order to help the Trump campaign.
[19:45:05] Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort just on the show. I asked him that question, played for him exactly what Robby Mook had to say. He called it absurd, categorically absurd. He said he would condemn the Russians if they had done any such thing.
Do you have any evidence that it was the Russians? And that they did it to help Trump?
KAREN FINNEY, SENIOR SPOKESPERSON, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Well, sometime ago, when this first surface, there were reports that some of the actors who had participated in this did have connections to the Russian government, obviously there's an investigation ongoing in terms of that and I think as you raised there are some connection -- some interesting connections there. There seems to be quite a lovefest of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
But I think more importantly, this party is coming together and moving forward. And I think the e-mail issue is I hope we're trying to obviously put it behind us.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, I think, this morning made the -- you know, she -- today made the right decision. It was her decision to make. And now we move forward to make sure that we beat Donald Trump.
BURNETT: And I do want to move forward. But, obviously, that accusation is a very significant one that you all are making.
So just to be clear at this point, you don't have any specific evidence that it is true?
FINNEY: I can only go off of the public reports that we've seen that have indicated that there were connections to the Russians. And, you know, I think that's what Robby was speaking to. But more importantly, again, I think, you know, it's interesting some of the points that you raised with Manafort.
He didn't quite deny and he didn't quite, as voraciously denounce, I think in the way that I think you were looking for. But, again, let's be clear about what the Trump campaign is trying to do here and it was pretty clear that Mr. Trump is trying to appeal to Bernie Sanders supporters. He's hoping to pick up some --
BURNETT: Right. They made that very clear. They want that support.
FINNEY: And I certainly - But I don't think it's going to work because I think Senator Sanders' supporters actually will follow what Senator Sanders and what you just had Jeff Weaver on talking about, and that is that our goal is to defeat Donald Trump, because I'll tell you something, if you care about climate or women's rights, or healthcare or this economy, Donald Trump is not your guy. Hillary Clinton is the person you're going to vote for.
So he can try to throw around all the accusation that he wants to, to try to, you know, stir the pot but it's not going to work.
BURNETT: So the protestors that we saw in downtown Philadelphia, "Hell, no DNC. We won't vote for Hillary."
You're coming into a convention actually in the exact same position as Donald Trump in one crucial way --
FINNEY: I completely disagree.
BURNETT: OK, 44 percent of Republicans on the eve of that convention did not want Donald Trump as their nominee. 44 percent of Democratic voters on the eve of your convention want Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton.
FINNEY: Although we say in the last few days have been a lot smoother than the rollout of Mr. Pence as the VP nominee. And, again, we are in a position where we have Bernie Sanders has endorsed Hillary Clinton. He'll be speaking on Monday night. There is a lot of admiration for the work that he's done.
And, look, this is very normal. I was actually at the DNC in 2008 and it was very hard for some of Secretary Clinton's supporters to get behind Barack Obama. She herself really helped lead the way and said, look, we've got to get behind this guy.
And she campaigned with him and raised money for him. So I think part of, you know, that is part of what the convention is about, frankly. It's people coming together and remembering what it is we stand for as Democrats. What it is we're fighting for. So I actually think that by the time we get to the end of this convention and moving forward as people, you know, look, if you worked really hard for a year, for a candidate that you love, it is hard. And it does take sometime.
And so what I hope, though, is that these voters will take a second look at Hillary. You're going to have the chance to do that this week and learn a lot about her that I think people don't know the fights that she's taken on in her life and the things that she cares about. And I think the more they learn about her, the more they're going to feel really good about supporting her for president.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Karen Finney, thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight. And next from our special edition of OUTFRONT, live from the Democratic National Convention here in Philadelphia, Bill Clinton taking the stage in Philadelphia.
Does he help or hurt Hillary?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:52:40] BURNETT: And welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
We are live in Philadelphia on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.
All eyes going to be, though, on Chelsea and Bill.
Now, look, the reality of it is the Trump kids were one of the biggest highlights of the RNC. They presented a united and very well-poised front.
But can Chelsea and Bill have the same impact?
Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the Trump family star turn at the Republican convention, Hillary Clinton is getting ready to deploy her family assets this week.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's the best change maker I have ever known.
SERFATY: With former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton both set to deliver high-profile speeches in Philadelphia.
CHELSEA CLINTON, HILLARY CLINTON'S DAUGHTER: I don't think I have ever had the chance to vote for someone as qualified as my mom.
SERFATY: It's a role they have been playing on the campaign trail.
C. CLINTON: My mom, dad and I are in three different states.
SERFATY: The Clinton family fanning out across the country where Donald Trump has been a frequent target.
B. CLINTON: At some point, you also have to say, what are you going to do? You can't just spend all of your time saying everything everybody else did was wrong and they were all doofuses.
C. CLINTON: The racism, the sexism, the homophobia, the Islamophobia, the anti-immigrant rhetoric, the anti-worker's right rhetoric, the rhetoric against Americans with disabilities, I mean, the list just goes on and on and on.
SERFATY: Bill Clinton is writing his own speech for his Tuesday night address, where mission number one could be firing up the base after the fractured primary.
B. CLINTON: You have a chance not only to bring a long primary season to the close by giving Hillary a victory and sending her on to a united convention, but to begin the general election.
SERFATY: The former president is beloved by Democrats and an effective messenger, giving a standout address at the 2012 Democratic convention making the case for re-electing President Obama.
B. CLINTON: I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside.
SERFATY: But after Ivanka Trump's introduction of her father --
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: My father and our next president, Donald J. Trump.
SERFATY: Chelsea Clinton's speech on Thursday might be just as anticipated setting off a face-off among friends.
I. TRUMP: She's been a great friend to me. I've been a great friend to her.
[19:55:03] C. CLINTON: I love Ivanka. And I've just been so grateful to be her friend and I'm grateful that I know she feels the same about me.
SERFATY: Chelsea has made early childhood education and women's rights a focus on the campaign trail.
C. CLINTON: What matters most to me now as a mom myself is that my mom has been fighting for making progress on issues that really matter to me.
SERFATY: She recently gave birth to her second child, which has helped her mother reveal her softer side.
H. CLINTON: I talked so much about being a grandmother. Now I'm sure I'm going to be talking doubly about being a grandmother.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: And coming off the Republican convention, when there is so much attention focused on the Trump family, they were featured there prominently throughout the week, there is now so much attention, added attention on the roles of the families.
The Clinton family by comparison, they are already very well know, but they are also a family that's very used to the political arena, Erin. Very used to the spotlight.
BURNETT: All right. Sunlen, thank you very much.
And, David Gergen, very used to the spotlight. That plays in their favor. But also perhaps to their detriment, because the Trump kids were not. And so their performance was all that -- GERGEN: Fresh.
BURNETT: Perhaps fresh. Right. New faces.
GERGEN: Yes.
BURNETT: And strong speeches.
GERGEN: Absolutely. And then I think the two Trump kids gave the best speeches of the entire Republican campaign. Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka.
But I will tell you this, though, too. Bill Clinton in the past had been able to tell Hillary Clinton's story better than she can. He captured aspects of it that she is a little humble talking about. It's not easy for her sometimes.
As long as he keeps it fairly brief, you know, a Clintonian speech can, you know, a little bit like an accordion, they can stretch out accordion. But, you know, as long as you can keep it fairly brief, I think he can do a very good job. But Chelsea may be a real surprise for many, many Americans.
BURNETT: Right. That's a more important speech.
GERGEN: It's a more, you know, it's interesting. But what I also find - because she is just as talented as Ivanka. They are not only friends, but they're both extraordinarily articulate women.
I will tell you this. I think nothing better than Bill Clinton would like than to see Hillary Clinton elected this time. And to see Chelsea go up against Ivanka in about 20 years.
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: And that would be an interesting outcome to all of this.
Let's talk about dynasties.
GERGEN: Yes.
BURNETT: OK, thank you very much, David Gergen. And more of our special edition OUTFRONT live from Philadelphia after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
