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Clinton Becomes Presumptive Nominee, Sanders Vows to Continue Until Convention. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired June 08, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:02] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to thank the people of North Dakota.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: It appears that we will likely win Montana as well.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: I don't think anybody knows what we'll end up here in California. But I suspect the gap will significantly diminish.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And if this campaign has proven anything, it has proven that millions of Americans who love this country are prepared to stand up and fight to make this country a much better place.
Thank you all. The struggle continues.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. That's Bernie Sanders. He's not conceding, not dropping out. We have projected that Bernie Sanders will win the Montana Democratic presidential primary. That's his second win of the night. He also won North Dakota. Hillary Clinton had three big wins tonight as well. We're still waiting for California. That's the big prize -- the biggest prize of the night. That's the biggest state. Of course the biggest prize of this primary season.
Right now Hillary Clinton still has a significant lead in California. You just heard Bernie Sanders say it would get closer.
Let's get a key race alert on California right now. 39 percent of the vote is in. Her lead still approaching 400,000. Hillary Clinton with 1,111,000 votes. Bernie Sanders, 713,000 votes. 60.2 percent, Bernie Sanders 38.7 percent.
You heard, Anderson Cooper, Bernie Sanders say he's not giving up. He wants to continue this race not only next week in Washington, D.C., the last contest with its 20 delegates, but all the way to Philadelphia. That's what he said, even though he knows it's a steep -- very steep climb.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The struggle continues, he said. So does our panel. They continue. (LAUGHTER)
COOPER: The struggle. Let's get some feedback. What did you think of his speech, Ron?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I thought it was a -- there was, you know, a strong reaffirmation of his core themes. He's run an incredible race. He's changed the dialogue in the Democratic Party. He's changed the trajectory of the Democratic Party. But he's lost the race. He was losing by three million in the popular vote going in tonight. 640,000 more at this point. Her lead in the popular vote has expanded by 20 percent. If she wins California she would have won 16 of the 20 largest states, beat him in 15 states by more than he beat her in any state. It's kind of hard to see what the argument is going forward.
COOPER: David, did it sound like the speech of a man about to get out of the race?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It did not, but it did sound like the speech of a man who put a marker on next Tuesday with Washington, D.C., cited specifically that next Tuesday we continue to fight until the last primary. So I think he's now bought himself a week of time to figure this out.
Remember, eight years ago on the last Tuesday primary day Hillary Clinton also gave her stump speech, reaffirmed her arguments.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CHALIAN: It took a couple days for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to sit down and meet and a couple of days after that to unwind here. So I think he just bought himself a week. If he gives the same speech next Tuesday night I think you have an entirely different situation.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Gloria.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, it's a -- it's a process.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
BORGER: It's a process he's got to go through. And so he gives the speech, he meets with Obama, he said, I look forward to meeting with Obama. He got a gracious call from Hillary Clinton, who by the way was booed at his rally. And I think it takes a while to get there.
I think, though, if you look at his supporters and you hear the way they reacted to Hillary Clinton, if he does end up joining with Hillary Clinton he's got a big job ahead of him to convince the quarter -- again, 25 percent of his voters say no way they'd vote for Hillary Clinton. He's got to figure out a way to mobilize his voters and maybe change the minds of a bunch of them.
COOPER: Bill?
BILL PRESS, SANDERS SUPPORTER: You know, first of all, I was just struck by how he has grown as a candidate since we first saw him. Very uncomfortable out there tonight. I thought the speech was the best condensation or distillation that I've heard of his message.
COOPER: A shorter speech than we've heard.
PRESS: Shorter and really jammed together in what the vision really was. I do think he missed an opportunity to be more gracious toward Secretary Clinton and to recognize the historicity, if you will, of this moment.
[02:05:08] But I agree with David. He bought himself the time. It's next Tuesday. He's got a lot to think about between now and next Tuesday, which is where he wants to go with his political revolution and how does he get there and what's the best way to get there? To fight for every vote in Philadelphia or accept reality before.
COOPER: Bakari?
BAKARI SELLERS, CLINTON SUPPORTER: No, I mean, that was my expectation going in. I mean, I didn't think Bernie Sanders was going to pack it up today. He hadn't packed it up this whole time. Why would he all of a sudden pack it in today? In the last primary, he's assured his voters and everyone listening that he would go to the last primary, which is next Tuesday.
But the breaking news, the highlight of the night is not Bernie Sanders saying the struggle continues. The highlight of the night is Hillary Clinton making history. The highlight of the night is after 200 years Hillary Clinton is the first woman nominee of a major party. And just think about this.
You're going to have Malia Obama, who is the daughter of the first African-American president, able to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton, the first candidate, woman candidate, female candidate in the history of this country. That's the type of imagery that the Democratic Party can be proud of tonight.
JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I still think that the issue here is what does Bernie want. And he is going to have a list of some sort, in some way. I would suspect he wants input on the vice presidency, the platform. I mean -- and there may well be other things. And he's going to have a list of demands here and he's going to want them. His supporters are going to want them. He's got some leverage. That's exactly right.
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, first of all, I'm grateful that we've got Larry David for one more week on "Saturday Night Live."
(LAUGHTER)
CHALIAN: They're on hiatus. NAVARRO: And you know, as to the question of what Bernie wants, the
one clear message that came out to me as to what he wants is he does not want Donald Trump to be president. And there's this -- you know, there's this narrative that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump voters have so much in common, but I think that Bernie Sanders is going to go all out to try to make sure that his voters don't go into the Donald Trump category.
PRESS: Yes.
NAVARRO: He spent a lot of time talking about Donald Trump's excesses and the things he has said that he finds offensive. This is something he's not going to be able to live with. And I do agree with Bakari. You know, I don't know if it's because it's that late at night.
SELLERS: That's a first.
NAVARRO: That I'm having -- you know, I'm low on sugar or I'm getting sentimental or what. This -- you know, I never thought this woman thing would mean anything to me. I definitely will not vote for somebody because of gender, because of ethnicity, because of color. I vote on qualifications. But I will confess to you that when I saw Hillary Clinton come out today I did feel something.
There was a stirring of emotion in me because I do know that there was a time when there were generations of women before me struggling and who fought so very hard to gain the right of a vote. And I think it means so much to those generations and I'd be remiss if it didn't mean something to me.
COOPER: All right. We're going to take a short break. Our coverage continues. We have more analysis of Bernie Sanders' speech and this momentous night in the presidential race after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:12:08] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We pick it up from here. Hello, and welcome to a special morning after the final Super Tuesday edition of EARLY START. It's just after 11:00 p.m. in California. So I guess it's a late-night edition from California. I'm Christine Romans.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. It's Wednesday here, although it's still Tuesday back there. June 7th for you who are in the West, June 8th here in the East. Nice to see you this morning.
Hillary Clinton making history overnight and celebrating that history for the first time acknowledging she is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party. And she did it in a pretty big way on this final Super Tuesday. Maybe bigger than some expected. Still counting in California but the results look good for her. She told her supporters the choice ahead is clear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander-in-chief.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: And he's not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico. He's trying to wall off Americans from each other. When he says let's make America great again, that is code for let's take America backwards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. Six states voted this time. Hillary Clinton won New Jersey big. She won New Mexico. She won South Dakota, which is a state a lot of people Sanders -- thought Sanders would win. Bernie Sanders won caucuses in North Dakota and the Montana primary. And as for the biggest prize of all, California, still counting votes there. The totals keep on coming. About 41 percent of the vote is in right now. Hillary Clinton with a pretty big lead.
This is mostly early votes still. A lot of it is early vote where Hillary Clinton was expected to do well. Still, this is a very, very sizable lead.
ROMANS: Yes. 400,000 lead in votes there. Meantime, Donald Trump striking a presidential tone, sticking to script, using a teleprompter, making no mention of the controversy over his remarks about a judge's Mexican heritage. His speech loaded with attack lines aimed at Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves. They've made hundreds of millions of dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts. And I mean hundreds of millions of dollars. Secretary Clinton even did all of the work on a totally illegal private server. Something that how she's getting away with this, folks, nobody understands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:15:02] ROMANS: All right. So much to talk about this morning as this campaign now pivots from primaries to the general election. Let's start with CNN's Brianna Keilar. She is in Santa Monica for us this morning, or last night. California where Bernie Sanders just finished speaking a few minutes ago -- Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He finished speaking here just a few minutes ago, and he vowed, Christine, to fight on to next Tuesday. That is the Washington, D.C. primary.
Bernie Sanders has long promised that he would give everyone a shot to vote in the Democratic contest who wanted to. And he has seen that as the final contest even though when you look at the 20 delegates that Washington, D.C. has you might say, well, that's pretty inconsequential, he wants everyone to have a shot at a vote. Now some signs tonight that the writing was on the wall. His speech
only 17 minutes long. That is by far the shortest speech I have ever heard him give. He frequently goes on for an hour or more. So this was especially short.
He also did not criticize Hillary Clinton once and he acknowledged her victories. But here's the thing. Listen to how the crowd responded when he did that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Our fight is to transform this country and to understand --
(CHEERS)
SANDERS: And to understand that we are in this together.
(CHEERS)
SANDERS: To understand that all of what we believe is what the majority of the American people believe.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And to understand that the struggle continues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And actually, what I thought I was going to be tossing to there, Christine, was Bernie Sanders congratulating in a very gracious way Hillary Clinton on her victories tonight. The crowd here responded with boos. You heard chants of "Bernie or bust" during his speech tonight.
There are a lot of folks here who are really his diehard supporters who are making it clear they are very much for Bernie Sanders. And you can see how it would be difficult just by the mood that we're seeing here tonight that they would pivot over and support Hillary Clinton. There's a long road ahead. Bernie Sanders has said that he wants to unify the Democratic Party.
Yes, he's going to fight on. But at the same time we know that the campaigns are in touch even at the campaign manager level. So some signs that behind the scenes they're building bridges. But you can just see here just how difficult it's going to be for Hillary Clinton to really garner support from these diehard Bernie fans.
ROMANS: Brianna, quickly, what is in store for Bernie Sanders over the next few days? He goes to Washington, D.C. and he's got some pretty big meetings in Washington, D.C. later this week.
KEILAR: That's right. So he is going to first make a stop at home in Burlington. Then he's going to Washington, D.C. He has meetings. He's going to meet, for instance, with Harry Reid on the Hill. He's going to be meeting with President Obama. He's going to have a rally in Washington, D.C. That is still on the schedule. And he sent out a fundraising e-mail for people to commit to voting in Washington, D.C. The big question is what happens next Tuesday or next Wednesday, how does that play out.
ROMANS: Bernie supporters booing Hillary Clinton's name. Also booing the media. Every time there were news reports during the night of Hillary Clinton having a lead in California big boos for that as well.
All right, Brianna Keilar, thank you for that.
KEILAR: Right.
BERMAN: But cheering when Bernie Sanders said the big goal is to take on Donald Trump here and that's something they all must do. So you see Bernie trying to temper his message there.
As for Hillary Clinton, she was clearly savoring her victories today. She said in her speech that the milestone, it is a milestone, in U.S. and women's history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Thanks to you we've reached a milestone. The first time --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee for president of the United States.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Tonight -- tonight's victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed, and made this moment possible. In our country it started right here in New York, a place called Seneca Falls, in 1848.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: When a small but determined group of women and men came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights.
[02:20:08] And they set it forth in something called the "Declaration of Sentiments." And it was the first time in human history that that kind of declaration occurred. So we all owe so much to those who came before, and tonight belongs to all of you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I want to thank all the people across our country who have taken the time to talk with me. I've learned a lot about you. And I've learned about those persistent problems and the unfinished promise of America that you are living with. So many of you feel like you're out there on your own, that no one has your back.
Well, I do. I hear you. I see you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) CLINTON: And as your president I will always have your back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: That was Hillary Clinton tonight in Brooklyn speaking to supporters there.
I want to discuss now with our panel, joining us, CNN Politics reporter M.J. Lee, Josh Rogin, and CNN political analyst, and columnist for "Bloomberg View." Andy Dean is a CNN political commentator, a former president of Trump Productions and a Donald Trump supporter. And Dan Pfeiffer is a CNN political commentator, a former senior adviser to President Obama.
Dan's making really his debut on the early morning flagship election night show. So thanks for being here, Dan, who also voted today for Hillary Clinton.
M.J., I want to start with you here. You know, history made with Hillary Clinton. She is the first woman to be a major party presumptive nominee. She acknowledged that in her speech tonight. But she did not stick to that. I think also acknowledging in her speech that this election she intends to make this election just about -- as much about Donald Trump as it is about whatever history she hopes to make.
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, even though we ended tonight on Bernie Sanders and the news that he will continue to fight on, that he will not leave the race and he intends to take his fight all the way to the convention, I think we certainly do need to keep in mind sort of this momentous occasion that Clinton had and this great achievement that she had exactly eight years after she conceded to then senator Barack Obama eight years ago in her 2008 first White House campaign.
I was at her campaign rally earlier tonight in Brooklyn. A lot of women in the room who were really taking this in as a moment in history, they remember so well the disappointment that they felt eight years ago when she did not get the Democratic Party's nomination. And tonight I think they're feeling sort of all the more -- sort of the joy and sort of the remarkable moment that this is, that a woman for the first time has become the presidential nominee of a major political party.
And my colleague Dan Merica and I wrote about this tonight as well, that in her speech if you listen she spoke about her mother, Dorothy Rodham, and Clinton's aides say that in preparing to give this victory speech she was thinking a lot about her mother and really sort of coming to the realization what she was about to achieve and what she was about to celebrate. So sort of a poignant and important sort of personal moment for Hillary Clinton tonight.
ROMANS: Dan Pfeiffer, you voted for her today. What were your thoughts on how she handled her speech, the tone she gave?
DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I thought it was excellent. I think she was -- she clearly savored the moment. It was eight years in the making for her. You know eight years to the day when she dropped out. More than 200 years in the making for the country. And she set both a positive tone and she continued on what I think is a very successful Trump contrast argument to make in the fall. So I think she should -- her campaign feels very good about it. She should feel very good about it and now the real work begins.
BERMAN: All right, guys. Stick around. There's clearly a lot more to discuss.
Andy, we're going to talk about Donald Trump extensively.
Josh, we'll get to you in just a moment.
Coming up next, you know, Donald Trump, how he chose to celebrate this last Super Tuesday. What he chose to talk about on this stage tonight. What he chose to read from the teleprompter and why he was doing so. So much to discuss, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[02:28:28] BERMAN: All right. Donald Trump will be the first to tell you that he likes to win and he did just that tonight, finishing first in a bunch of one-man races. Part of his victory speech tonight included attacks on his Democratic opponent. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Together we accomplished what nobody thought was absolutely possible. And you know what that is. We're only getting started. And it's going to be beautiful. Remember that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Tonight we close one chapter in history and we begin another. Our campaign received more primary votes than any GOP campaign in history, no matter who it is, no matter who they are. We received more votes. This is -- a great feeling. That's a great feeling.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: This is not a testament to me but a testament to all of the people who believed real change, not Obama change, but real change is possible.
(CHEERS)
TRUMP: You've given me the honor to lead the Republican Party to victory this fall.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We're going to do it. We're going to do it, folks. We're going to do it. I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle and I will never, ever let you down.
Too much work, too many people. Blood, sweat, and tears. Never going to let you down. I will make you proud of your party and our movement. And that's what it is, is a movement.
[02:30:04] Our recent polls have shown that I'm beating Hillary Clinton. And with all of her many problems and the tremendous mistakes that she'd made and she has made tremendous mistake, we expect our lead to continue to grow and grow substantially.
To all of those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And by the way, the terrible trade deals that Bernie was so vehemently against, and he's right on that, will be taken care of far better than anyone ever thought possible. And that's what I do. We are going to have fantastic trade deals. We're going to start making money and bringing in jobs. We're going to put America back to work. We're going to make our own products. We're going to put America back to work.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We're going to rebuild our inner cities, which are absolutely a shame and so sad. We're going to take care of our African-American people that have been mistreated for so long. We're going to make you and your families safe, secure, and prosperous. Prosperous again. Together, we will put the American people first again. First again.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We will make our communities wealthy. We will make our cities safe again. We will make our country strong again.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will make America great again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Let's bring back our panel here. And I want to start with Andy Dean.
You are a Trump supporter. You heard that speech last night. A couple of things really jumped out at me. "I will never, ever let you down." This during a week when he's been sort of fighting with some of the establishment Republicans. And this direct appeal for Bernie Sanders supporters looking at that overlap of the criticism of trade deals and fairness for American workers.
ANDY DEAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good couple points there. Well, first, remember, this was a teleprompter speech, and I think Donald Trump did a good job. I mean, he obviously off the cuff on the campaign trail is a very entertaining and energetic speaker. But with this speech he needed to stay focused on the issues, to pivot back to the things voters that care about. And that's jobs, and that's the economy and that's terrorism. And so I think by pivoting back to the issues that people care about Donald Trump came back very, very strong tonight.
And yes, he made an appeal to Bernie Sanders supporters. He's going to make an appeal to all Americans who care about raising our wages and getting America back on our feet instead of getting destroyed by all these countries who are ripping us off with all these trade deals. So I thought tonight was a big win for Trump.
And one last thing about his speech. He said look, I'm going it talk about Hillary Clinton next week and we're going to talk about her many, many problems. And I think that that's going to start to illuminate the distinction between Clinton and Trump. And I'm looking forward to that speech.
BERMAN: It's a good point. He did preview that next week he intends to give a big speech exclusively on the Clintons and what he says their problems are.
But, Josh Rogin, he made a few points there worth bringing up. Number one, Donald Trump was on teleprompter which was very different. Andy was suggesting that's because he needed to focus on the issues tonight. Why? Well, because over the last few days he's been focused on a lot of other things, namely, his comments about this judge, this Indiana-born judge who he referred to as a Mexican, criticizing the judge on the Trump University case.
Paul Ryan called the comments about that job, the textbook definition of racist comments. And now Donald Trump tonight tells people, and I imagine the people he was talking to tonight were people like Paul Ryan, like Reince Priebus, I will never disappoint you. Do you think they heard that message and do you think they believed it?
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think they heard it. No, I don't think they believe it. You know, I spent the last few days with a lot of Senate Republicans in the congressional delegation abroad together, and they were just all tied up in knots about what to do about Donald Trump. You know, they're bending over backwards to try to find a way to support him. But there's a point at which they cannot just go along.
And this is the point. OK? And what we saw over the week was this sort of five-week, six-week effort by the Trump campaign to convince Republicans, especially Republican lawmakers, Republican leaders that Trump is acceptable, that he can communicate to their constituents and that he can lead the party in a way that won't sacrifice not only this election but the future of the party for a generation. And that was all squandered. OK. So that's what he's trying to do.
[02:35:07] I don't think he's going to be able to do it with one speech. Why? Because Republicans have seen this movie before. Right? There was that whole effort where Trump came to Washington and met with Paul Ryan and they all, you know, shook hands and did the gripping grin. But then he totally went back on everything that he said. So until Trump actually makes some concessions that people can see, until he modifies some of these more extreme policies like the ban on Muslims and takes back some of these things that he said that Republican leaders like Paul Ryan see as blatantly racist, they're just going to see this as more empty words. And whether or not Trump cares about that really remains to be seen.
ROMANS: All right, everyone, stays. Josh Rogin, thank you so much. Andy Dean. Everyone stays. Don't go way. There's so much to talk about. So much action overnight in the primary season. Nearing the end of the primary season. And Bernie Sanders vowing to fight on.
BERMAN: Yes. He says it's not over.
ROMANS: He says we're not at the very end of the primary season. So what does this mean for Hillary Clinton's plan to unite Democrats and take the fight to Donald Trump? We're going to discuss that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:40:35] ROMANS: The struggle continues. That is how Bernie Sanders ended his speech in southern California, vowing to stay in the fight until the convention.
Our panel once again. M.J. Lee, Josh Rogin, Andy Dean and Dan Pfeiffer.
And Dan, you voted for Hillary Clinton today. You're a Hillary Clinton supporter. You used to advise the president of the United States, Barack Obama. And here you have Bernie Sanders giving this 17-minute speech where to boos when he mentioned Hillary Clinton's name he vowed to stay in this through next week. The Washington, D.C. primary. And he said he's going to take his message, his message all the way to Philadelphia. \
What do you take away from that speech from Bernie Sanders?
PFEIFFER: I think that this is the beginning of a process for Bernie Sanders to get out of this race and help unify the party. He didn't attack Hillary Clinton in this speech. He talked about taking his message to the convention. I think under all scenarios he will push for process reforms, his policies to be part of the policy committee, the policy of platform for the party. So he could have -- he could have taken different tacks tonight.
Eight years ago after the last primary in 2008 Hillary Clinton gave a very feisty speech similar to a stump speech. Terry McAuliffe, who was her campaign chairman at the time, introduced her as the next president of the United States. You would have thought from that speech she was going to go all the way to the convention. She did -- was out of the race three days later. So I think there's a process in place. I was comforted by that speech that Bernie Sanders wants to do the right thing, get behind Hillary Clinton and ensure that a Democrat succeeds Barack Obama.
BERMAN: One of the things he did very early on in that speech is he made clear his number one goal is to defeat Donald Trump. And that seemed like a message to his supporters and Hillary Clinton supporters that whatever I'm about to say after this, that's still our number one goal.
Can we put the California numbers back up for a second here? Because we keep tallying the vote in California. About 41 percent of the vote in right now. We'll put that up in a second so you can see where California stands. There it is. About 44 percent in right now. Hillary Clinton leads by 18 percent. Some 395,000 votes. That's a lot. The vote is still coming in. Bernie Sanders is closing it some but he's got a long way to go if he wants to end it there.
M.J. Lee, we're talking about what Bernie Sanders said tonight. He said we're going to fight hard to win the primary in Washington, D.C. Then we're going to take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia.
I suppose the question is, is that fight to Philadelphia a literal or a metaphoric one? I mean, is he going to fight for the issues all the way to Philadelphia or is he going to fight to the nomination? That's what Dan was saying. Dan thinks that over the next few days that fight will be more metaphorical than literal.
LEE: Right. I mean, I think Bernie Sanders has to know that there's so much responsibility on him now to unite the party. Even if he does want to take the fight to the convention. Whether that's influencing the party platform, making sure that there are certain reforms made to the political process. He knows that -- I mean, we heard the crowd booing. We heard our colleague Brianna who was in the room sort of noting how intense the negative reactions were when he even brought up her name.
This is his responsibility now to go out there and say over and over again to his supporters, Hillary Clinton has become the presumptive nominee when he's ready to do that and make sure that this doesn't end up actually negatively affecting the Democratic Party.
BERMAN: There was some news, right, today. We just heard from our "New York Times" first reported, CNN confirmed that Bernie Sanders is cutting his staff way, way back.
ROMANS: Right. About half the staff will be laid off tomorrow with severance they said but to point out there's just one primary left in Washington, D.C. next week and they'll keep going all the way until then.
BERMAN: All right. Hillary Clinton now the presumptive nominee. It is historic. But she obviously knows she will need the supporters of Bernie Sanders to make even more history. So she is reaching out. She did so in that speech tonight. What's going on behind the scenes? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:48:22] CLINTON: I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for the extraordinary campaign he has run.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: He has spent his long career in public service fighting for progressive causes and principles and has excited millions of voters, especially young people. And let there be no mistake. Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we've had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Hillary Clinton praising Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton essentially thanking Bernie Sanders for his role in this race. Hillary Clinton mentions Bernie Sanders she gets cheers. Bernie Sanders mentions Hillary Clinton he gets boos.
Josh Rogin, how much more does Hillary Clinton need to do to bring on board those Bernie Sanders supporters?
ROGIN: Well, as the reports showed the negotiations behind the scenes are already going on between the two campaigns. To see what Hillary Clinton can do to get Bernie Sanders, to one, rhetorically supporter and, two, give her all of the data and e-mail list and everything else that he's accumulated. And now he's going to have some demands of his own. He's going to want influence over the convention. He's going to want to have some influence over the future of the party. He's got some leverage, but time is running short and he'd better use it or he's going to lose it.
ROMANS: Time is running short. He'd better use it. He's going to lose it. And at the same time tonight you heard Donald Trump also reaching out to Bernie Sanders supporters. Both of them eyeing that prize.
[02:50:04] All right. Everybody, stay where you are. Much more to talk about and where those Sanders supporters will go. We're going to get to that after the break.
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ROMANS: All right. Let's look at the California voting right now. You can see Hillary Clinton with an almost 400,000-vote lead, 58.8 percent to 40.2 percent. But this is 45 percent reporting so we'll see if those numbers tighten. Bernie Sanders certainly says he thinks those numbers are going to tighten. And he is vowing to stay in.
So how does the party unite behind Hillary Clinton? I want to bring back our panel to discuss.
And Andy Dean, Trump supporter, I want to go to you first here because one of the first things, the very first point that Bernie Sanders made in his speech last night, the very first point of this morning, I should say. The very first point he made was that the most important job here was to defeat Donald Trump. Donald Trump in his own speech said, hey, Sanders supporters, come over here, we have a lot in common.
How is Donald Trump going to convince those Bernie Sanders supporters that they should vote for Trump?
[02:55:06] DEAN: Right. Well, look, these Bernie Sanders supporters, and there are million s of them are in play right now. And there's no guarantee that they're going to go to Hillary Clinton. Now, you know, statistically, if you look at the type of voter that they are, they're more likely to go to Hillary Clinton. But if you're a swing Bernie Sanders voter and you're interested in trade deals and you're interested in wage increases then the candidate you're going to pick is Donald Trump because the best way to increase wages is to have a stronger economy and have better trade deals. And Donald Trump is somebody who understands the private sector.
And Hillary Clinton is somebody who does not get the private sector. She's been a bureaucrat her entire life. And Bernie Sanders has been railing against Hillary Clinton, her privilege, her connections to Wall Street and Goldman Sachs. So I think that these on the fence Sanders supporters could easily go to Donald Trump. I don't think that's farfetched at all.
ROMANS: Interesting, right?
BERMAN: The question is, will they do it even if Bernie Sanders doesn't want them to and fights against it? That will be one of the subjects we discuss when EARLY START continues right after this.
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