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CNN Live Event/Special
Coverage of Republican National Convention; Donald Trump Wins Republican Nomination; Trump's Children Talk About Father's Personal Side. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 20, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back.
The hall is pretty much empty now. We are still going over some of the key moments from this evening, the second night of the Republican national convention. Tomorrow, of course, we're going to hear from more family members. Eric Trump is going to be speaking. Ivanka Trump's going to be introducing her father on the final night, on Thursday night.
Here are some of the -- probably the key moments. It's about three minutes long. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), HOUSE SPEAKER: I formally declare Donald J. Trump and Michael R. Pence the Republican nominees for president and vice president of these United States.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm so proud to be your nominee for president of the United States. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you on Thursday night on how we build a brighter and more hopeful future for all Americans.
It's an honor to run on a ticket with Governor Mike Pence, who is an incredible man and who will make a great, great vice president.
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: For my father, impossible is just the starting point. That's how he approaches business projects. That's how he approaches life. Whether it's teaching his granddaughter how to swing a golf club or tackling the toughest negotiations, he's always fully committed.
That's why the person who had never run for office before stood on the stage 11 months ago in this very arena with 16 professional politicians. And this week that same man will stand before you as our party's nominee for the President of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TIFFANY TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: As a recent college graduate many of my accomplishments are still to come. But my dad takes such pride in all that I've done so far no matter how big or how small. I still keep all of my report cards, some dating back to kindergarten because I like to look back and see the sweet notes he wrote on each and every one of them.
Contrary to what you might expect from someone who places emphasis on results, my dad's comments referred often to the sentiments expressed by my teachers about how I acted in and out of the classroom just not even focusing on the letter grades themselves.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: We cannot make the chief law enforcement officer of the United States someone who has risked America's secrets and lied to the American people about it day after day after day.
Here it is -- everybody. We didn't disqualify Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States. The facts of her life and career disqualify her.
RYAN: What do you say that we unify this party at this crucial moment when unity is everything? Let's take our fight to our opponents with better ideas. Let's get on the offensive, and let's stay there. Let's compete in every part of America and turn on the polls like every last vote matters because it will.
Fellow Republicans, what we have begun here, let's see this thing through. Let's win this thing. Let's show America our best and nothing less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Some of the key moments from tonight. Let's talk about it with our panelists. John King -- in terms of what do you think the headline is tomorrow out of tonight?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think we're at the halfway point. So now we go into the back half. What the Republicans have done, you can disagree with it if you're a Democrat or an Independent. I think they've done a very good job saying what they're against, what they see wrong in Hillary Clinton whether it's her personal character, whether it's her judgment on foreign policy, whether it's the private e-mail server. They made a pretty strong case.
Again, Democrats will disagree. They won't like it. What are they for?
I think there's been a lot less of that. They're only at the halfway point. You decide how to build and structure your convention. I think the challenge in the second half is to -- sometimes challengers think they don't have to do this. And that's an interesting dynamic.
Sometimes if you think you're in an environment where people are fed up with what they've got and they want something different and they're essentially saying Hillary Clinton is a third term, sometimes challengers don't think they have to fill in here's what I will do different. They think they just have to say I am different. I think because Trump has never held office they do need to put a little meat on the bone in the second half.
COOPER: But haven't a lot of observers been saying Trump hasn't had meat on the bone and he needs to do that for pretty much his entire campaign. And so far voters don't seem to --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Republican primary voters did not. Republican primary voters did not. He needs to grow beyond that now. If every Republican in America votes for him, it's not enough.
[00:05:08] The middle might be a lot smaller. We live in a world where there are fewer people in the middle. You have your Democrats and your Republicans. He needs to grow beyond where he is.
And there are still some. I think he's done a -- I think he's making progress here at this convention. And since the primaries ended there are also still some Republicans he has to get. There are still some skeptical Republicans saying not sure.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, you have to expand the base. And you have to be -- as David knows this better than anybody, you have to be aspirational at a certain point and not only tell people what you're for but present a picture of how different this country could be if you were running it and what would be great about that. And you know, nobody did that better than Barack Obama.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, and Ronald Reagan.
BORGER: And Ronald Reagan. Ok. I'll give it to both of you. And I think what we saw on day one was kind of as Ana was talking about, the dark negative view of this country.
Today we saw Paul Ryan giving an optimistic speech, but it was mostly still Hillary is awful, just as it was on day one -- lock her up and all the rest.
And I think maybe Pence, maybe the vice presidential candidate will start talking to some of that aspiration for the future of the country.
JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Let it be said that when Jack Kemp died then Congressman Pence took to the house floor to say that he considered himself to be a Jack Kemp Republican.
BORGER: As is Paul Ryan.
LORD: As is Paul Ryan. My point exactly. So I imagine you will be hearing some of this from Mike Pence.
COOPER: One of the things that Pence had said publicly in, I don't know, in a speech before he got the nomination was very much a full- throated attack on Hillary Clinton. And I'm wondering -- LORD: I mean you can do both. You can do both at the same time.
But, you know, it is important to do the positive. There's no question about it.
And I think Mike Pence will be -- I think Donald Trump is that. I mean I believe that. His entire record, I mean, this is where we get another political argument here. But I certainly see him as that way. And I think a lot of people see him that way.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Here's where I think tonight --
LORD: Van is skeptical.
JONES: Well, I'm skeptical on the positive, that kind of thing. I think tonight's a night for us to really take a step back. Something tremendous happened in the history of the country tonight. I mean we can get in the weeds, we can fight about it, I can go back and forth with you. But you just can't get away from the fact that there's something happening in this country that is almost impossible for ordinary people who are political professionals to understand.
We got it wrong. It's almost -- I feel like a meteorologist using meteorology tools to try to understand a tsunami -- right. Don't forget, next week 43 percent of the delegates to the Democratic Party voted for a socialist. The rebels lost in the Democratic Party, but that was a massive rebellion.
You have a rebellion in this party that actually won. So I think all of us have got to take a step back and say what is happening in America where something like this is even possible? And I think we may -- tonight we might have lost some of that but this is a huge -- the history books, no matter what happened in November will record tonight.
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there's two big stories out of tonight. One is the finality of the Never Trump movement and trying to steal it from Trump on the floor. It's over.
LORD: Yes.
NAVARRO: Today he became the official nominee of the Republican Party. There is a resignation that comes with that for people who don't like him. I think that's why you see Michael Reagan, who's been very critical of Trump until now, say ok, you know, there is no alternative --
COOPER: Although I will say a lot of Never Trump people, I think Erick Erickson is one of them, says Never Trump means Never Trump no matter what happens --
NAVARRO: As I told you yesterday, unless the Virgin Mary appears to me on a piece of toast and speak to me expressly asking me to vote for the guy I will not be voting for Donald Trump.
LORD: See me at breakfast. NAVARRO: Really? Can I tell you something? God knows I need to
avoid carbs. I think I'm going to do nothing but pork rinds between now and November.
The other big story is the kids. They hit it out of the ballpark. These are not political kids. Donald Trump Jr. does have a lot of experience in front of the cameras. He's been part of "The Apprentice" thing I think.
Tiffany is 22 years old. I mean, think about what we were doing when we were 22 years old. I don't even remember, thank God.
They were impressive. They were eloquent. They were passionate about their father. They made a good case. And they're going to get a lot of credit for it tomorrow.
They're also working their guts out for their father. I hear from a lot of my friends in the donor world how they often get calls from Donald Trump Jr., and they're just very impressed by him.
COOPER: And did you know much about for tomorrow what the supposed theme is? Because I think tonight was "Make America work". There's some who quibble whether we heard a lot about that. I mean is there a desire to have a more -- not just an indictment of Hillary Clinton but sort of a positive what Trump is about.
[00:10:08] ANDY DEAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. The theme is supposed to be "Make America one again" which I'm not sure what that means -- right. So that's a good thing in the sense that you can make it about anything.
So I think you're going to have the negative and the positive. And I think in politics you need both to win. I mean you're running against Hillary Clinton. You have to point out all those faults.
But at the same time you have to say you know what, the economic situation is bleak, the labor force participation rate is as bad as it's been since Jimmy Carter. But here's the answer. I'm a job creator. I'm a builder. I know how to get things done.
BORGER: I thought that was tonight.
DEAN: Well -- that's what I'm saying. "Make America one again", economy and national security; "Make America one again" is Thursday.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. Tomorrow is "Make America first again". And we'll see Mike Pence.
DEAN: Ok.
HENDERSON: And one of the things I think Mike Pence can do. We've already seen the prosecution of Hillary Clinton tonight over and over again with a lot of these speeches.
But Mike Pence has a record. He has a record in Indiana. We've heard Donald Trump talk about that. And that's something that I think has been missing from this sort of showcasing some of the Republican approaches to the economy. And maybe that is something that Pence can get into because that's the way that Romney used Republican governors in 2012.
I think the difficulty is the economy is doing pretty good. 230 -- 268,000 jobs in June. I think the unemployment rate is something like 4.9 percent. People don't necessarily feel it, but in terms of the data I think it's hard to --
LORD: In terms of the data how many people are not in the --
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN: The labor force --
HENDERSON: It's the wage stagnation.
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: So maybe the theme tomorrow will be make America work again, again. Another day of -- but look, here is -- I think the most important point here is what do people take away from these four days? Do they have not just a picture of the case against Hillary Clinton but a picture of what a future under Donald Trump would look like and whether he allayed some of those concerns about his temperament, his experience. You know, we haven't heard a lot of that to date.
And I think that's very important because Donald Trump has done well to this point. He's won 13 million votes or something in that order. He has to win 65 million to become president of the United States. There's a big gap he has to fill there. And just thrilling the people who have already voted for him is not going to get him there.
BORGER: One of the speakers is going to be Tom Barrick, who is a business -- a very old dear friend -- this is on the final night. An old dear friend but who's done a lot of business with him.
And to your point, which I think is so good about the qualifications of Donald Trump for president, we really haven't heard a lot about that other than the fact that he's a businessman.
Well, I think they're going to have to try and fill that in with people who have actually worked alongside him and say this is how he does business and this is how his business skills will translate into the presidency. So Tom Barrick and other business people will be able to fill that in.
JONES: And the Democrats are going to have a hard time with that. I think what the Democrats are going to have to figure out a way to do is to say look, what a CEO does is not what a president does. In other words, you can't fire the Senate. Right? You can't reorganize the Supreme Court.
BORGER: Or walk away.
JONES: We have a constitution -- yes. But I think that the Democrats are going to have a tough time next week trying to rehabilitate now because when you have this much fire directed at a person for so long I think that's got to be very, very tough.
But I think that for me what I'm looking for these next two days, if it is -- I'm going to be frankly relieved. If it is only Hillary Clinton is horrible, Hillary Clinton is horrible, and there's no bridge to people of color because I haven't seen that yet, there's no bridge to anybody who wants an actual idea or solution, that's going to be -- hey, it will be tough. But you can rope-a-dope that. And then we actually have a lot of room next week.
KING: Donald Trump has a lot of challenges left. David made the point that they've gone after Hillary Clinton. They haven't done as much as they think they need to do to address Donald Trump's weaknesses.
He has many weaknesses with the American people, doubts about whether he's ready to be president, his unfavorable ratings. Hillary Clinton also has a long list of problems she has to deal with at her convention.
I think Van just made an interesting point. We're wrapping up this convention. We're half way. We have two more days. Then we get the next one right away -- we don't get much rest, we go through that one.
But in this year of disruption why should we think it's over? Why should we think that just because now we have Donald Trump and then we're going to get Hillary Clinton we're done? There's not going to be any more disruption?
What will it be? I don't know. Will it be the Gary Johnson keeps going up just enough to make the debates? Does that make a difference? Is there something else out there? I have no idea.
But he makes a good point. We have been on a roller coaster blindfolded all year long. Why do we think it's going to be any different?
COOPER: If Gary Johnson does, who does he take away votes from?
KING: I don't think we know the answer to that question.
HENDERSON: Both of them it seems like.
COOPER: Hold on. One at a time.
KING: I think you could make the case -- look, the Never Trump, the Erick Erickson type conservatives who say I just can't do it for Donald Trump. They could vote for Gary Johnson if they want. But he's to the left and so is Bill Weld, to the left of Hillary Clinton on some of these social issues.
[00:15:12] If you just want to say I'm going to ignore that and vote on fiscal issues, you could do that if you want. Bill Weld was a prosecutor. He's a law and order guy. You could find a way to rationalize anything. But if you're a Bernie Sanders voter, Gary Johnson -- I'm not saying they're all about this -- but wants to legalize pot, he's fine on the social issues, he tries to speak to millennial millennials on libertarian issues, get the government out of your bedroom, get the government out of the gay rights decisions.
I think Gloria's raised an interesting question. Most people think because it's disaffected Republicans that would hurt Trump more especially if you go state by state --
HENDERSON: And I think it depends on where they play. I mean are they playing in the Rust Belt or are they playing in the Sun Belt of those more diverse states? I mean I think Hillary Clinton is obviously trying to stave off some of those losses in terms of blue- collar white Americans and is doing better among college-educated Americans. But yes, I mean they could mix things up.
Jill stein as well as the other candidate -- yes.
AXELROD: Polling may not -- I think polling at this point is of limited value, but the polling suggests that it doesn't make all that much of a difference, that you know, the race pretty much stays the way it is, whether it's four people being tested or two people being tested.
Where the debates would make a difference is Gary Johnson doesn't have any money. He doesn't have any profile. If he could get an opportunity to get on a platform, he may -- he may be (inaudible) -- he could be. He could be.
NAVARRO: I want to go back to a point that Van made which I think is very important which is I have not heard any outreach to minorities --
COOPER: That was going to be my question.
NAVARRO: And you know, the "Washington Post" is reporting that there are 18 African-American delegates out of 2,472 -- the lowest number in a century. That is a woeful, woeful number -- folks. It is not where my party should be. And --
COOPER: But it seems that --
NAVARRO: And you've got a guy who's polling at zero percent with African-Americans.
COOPER: Donald Trump has spoken about reaching out to African- Americans. He's spoken about he believes he's going to do well among Latinos. Recently he's been talking about gay and lesbian Americans, that he would be better for them than Hillary Clinton.
And yet we don't hear really much of the messaging is there shouldn't be a white America -- to paraphrase Barack Obama there, shouldn't be a blue state or a red state, white America or black America, there should just be one America, which is what we heard from Paul Ryan.
LORD: you say he's not reaching out, I mean, this is where I think there's a legit difference here.
COOPER: Sure.
LORD: When we have Ben Carson here or when we have Sheriff Clarke here, they're here as Americans. They're not here as black Americans. That is the fundamental difference. So to have an appeal to, quote unquote, "minorities" is to in essence go over to that side of the playing field and acknowledge that that's the mission.
NAVARRO: Do you think there's any justification to have less than 1 percent of the delegates be African-Americans in 2016?
LORD: I don't think we should be bean counting. I think that they're all human beings.
NAVARRO: Well, actually, there was bean counting.
I think we should have a representative democracy. We'll never get --
COOPER: We've got to hold that thought. We're going to continue this discussion. It's an important one to have. We do have to take a break.
We'll also have another reality check on tonight's speeches including Chris Christie's claim that Hillary Clinton is to blame for the turmoil in Libya. Details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is CNN Weather Watch. I'm meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
Heat is going to be the big story across portions of the central United States. Take a look at all of the bright colors indicating the pink with an excessive heat warning, the red being an excessive heat watch, and all of the orange areas showing where we have a heat advisory.
For a lot of these areas it's not just the temperature but it's also the humidity. The dew points that are going to go with it that will take many of these areas well above their average. For example, Denver, a high of 34 with mostly sunny skies, almost 40 in Dallas with sunshine. Chicago, take a look, 31 degrees with partly cloudy skies. But we're going to get even warmer than that by the end of the week back to the mid 30s. And New York, similar scenario, 29 for the high as we go into Wednesday. But we're talking mid 30s for the highs by the time we get to the weekend.
So again, it's not just going to be a day or two with this heat. We're going to see this last for several days. We do have some areas that will get at least a little bit of a break in the form of some showers but not very heavy rain. So it will be a temporary relief from that heat.
Also expecting hot temperatures around Nassau with a few isolated showers and thunderstorms. Mexico City, high of 24 with some showers and thunderstorms as well. Again, those thunderstorms also creeping into Guatemala City with a high temperature right around 23 degrees.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to the Republican national convention. We've just wrapped up day two of this convention.
Tom Foreman is with us once again. Tom -- you're doing some more reality checks on the accusations against Hillary Clinton involving both Libya as well as guns.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes -- absolutely.
Chris Christie lit this place up when he went after Hillary Clinton on what's supposed to be her strong point, her foreign policy. And he said to the contrary, Libya is a mess and she's the chief architect of it. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: She was the chief engineer of the disastrous overthrow of Gadhafi in Libya. Libya today after Hillary Clinton's grand strategy, their economy's in ruins. There's death and violence on the streets. And ISIS is now dominating that country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Let's break this down. 2011 -- yes. There was a lot of turmoil over in the Middle East, North Africa. Gadhafi was using increasingly brutal measures to put down his opposition, they're all uprisings. An international coalition forum saying if we put a no-fly zone over this it will suppress Gadhafi. His opponents will have a better chance.
Hillary Clinton, according to senior people, really didn't like that idea to begin with and the administration wanted to do economic sanctions. They wanted to do other things. Found out it wasn't working fast enough. They finally went with the no-fly zone. Gadhafi was toppled.
And then Hillary Clinton said yes, this was smart power at its best. This is the thing that we're supposed to do.
However, it's important to bear in mind here, she didn't initiate this plan. She was not the only person involved in trying to clean up afterwards. So when everything fell apart there, she neither deserves as much credit as she gets for it working, the good parts, nor as much blame for the bad parts.
So Christie's claim about this we're going to say is false. She wasn't that key of a player in it. Not the sole player, as he implied.
Another big issue that came up here was the matter of guns. Hillary Clinton says the country's not doing enough to control guns. Others suggest maybe she wants to do way too much. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRIS COX, NRA: In case you're wondering where Hillary Clinton stands, she said, quote, "The Supreme Court is wrong on the Second Amendment." It's that simple. A Hillary Clinton Supreme Court means your right to own a firearm is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Very tough claim and one of several here. Yes, Hillary Clinton has been critical of the court rulings that would limit the ability of states and municipalities to impose stricter gun rules, for example, the overturning of Washington, D.C.'s rule that would make it so you couldn't have a handgun.
[00:25:08] She also wants universal background checks. She wants stricter gun controls overall. But she has never said she wants to do away with your right to own a gun. In fact, if you go on to her Web site, it says there that gun ownership is part of the fabric of many law-abiding communities.
You may not like her views on guns. You may think they're too restrictive. But there is no sign that she's trying to overturn the Second Amendment, as so many have suggested. Our verdict on that is also false -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Tom Foreman -- thanks very much. I know you're working to get some more reality checks as well.
Jake and Dana -- on the issue of Libya, this is a really important issue because so much of the criticism of her four years as secretary of state revolves around the fact that Libya today is for all practical purposes post-Gadhafi a failed state.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And there are two reasons why she gets a lot of criticism for it beyond the fact that she's the Democratic presidential nominee, which is the main reason. But one of them is Libya was in many ways her baby. She and the National Security Adviser Dr. Susan Rice were the ones urging President Obama to get involved in Libya along with the governments of France and England.
So she was in many ways in charge at least theoretically of that country, of that specific policy, as secretary of state. That's one. Two, the disaster, the tragedy of Benghazi, the deaths of those four Americans, largely I think, having reported on this and covered it for years now, largely because at the very least inadequate security for the people who were there.
Obviously, the primary fault lies with the horrific Islamic extremist terrorists that killed those four men. But there was inadequate security. And ultimately, she was the secretary of state. Now, you might not hold her responsible in the same way that a lot of people here do. But those are serious parts of her record to be discussed.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And in the very lengthy report that the Republican Benghazi committee just put out a couple of weeks ago, it does go into detail and shows e-mails back on Libya as her legacy at the time, when it looked like it could be a sort of a good story, a positive story of getting out a dictator and turning it around potentially to a democracy. You could see that the e-mail traffic about how all-in her advisers were and maybe even her friend Sidney Blumenthal who was e-mailing her about the need to really hold on to Libya as kind of her crown jewel, potential crown jewel of her tenure as secretary of state.
TAPPER: And then obviously in addition to the failure to provide adequate security there is the post-attack part of this, which is in the context of the 2012 re-election campaign for President Obama the White House was very eager to have the narrative, to continue the narrative that the terrorists are on the run and that this was not al Qaeda and to blame this on that anti-Islam video.
And Hillary Clinton without question went along with that narrative even though she suspected accurately that this was terrorism-related. Now, was she the reason that that narrative was important? No. That was from the White House. That was President Obama. That had to do with his re-election. But did she put out that it was a video when privately she's sending messages and --
BASH: To her daughter.
TAPPER: -- to her daughter and having conversations with the Egyptian foreign minister saying we think this is an al Qaeda-related group? Yes, she was.
BLITZER: We're going to hear a lot more about Benghazi, Libya in the course of the next several, several weeks. The Republicans are not going to let up on that at all.
All right, guys. Stand by. Let's go over to Anderson.
COOPER: Wolf, Jake, Dana -- thanks very much. We put together some more compilations and particularly one on Tiffany Trump I want to show in just a second. But before we do, Ana you wanted to correct something you said I think before the break.
NAVARRO: Right. Nia told me during the break that she got an e-mail from the RNC saying that it wasn't 1 percent of the delegates that were African-American, it's 3 percent of the delegates.
COOPER: You had said there were 18 African-Americans.
NAVARRO: Nia saying the RNC is saying it was --
HENDERSON: Some black Republicans did sort of an unofficial count of black delegates. They had reported in June that it was 18. But their count here said that it was 80. They're going to put out more official numbers on the coming days. Again, that still gets them at 3 percent. It's more than Mitt Romney in 2012. It's less than George Bush at 167 in 2004 --
NAVARRO: I will tell you it's painful for me.
[00:30:00] The reason that it's painful to me is because I know Reince Priebus. And I know he had every intention of making this tent bigger, drawing in LGBT, drawing in Hispanics, drawing in African- Americans. And to see this floor today where that is just sorely lacking and so -- is to me very critical.
COOPER: You know, months ago, Van, you were saying very publicly that Democrats should not assume that Donald Trump cannot get African- Americans, cannot get Latinos and others, do you still believe that?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I think the milk is curdled. Listen, the big danger that the Democrats have is that in order for us to win, we have to get 60 percent of the black vote. No, I'm sorry, 70 percent. No, I'm sorry, 80. No, I'm sorry, 90 percent to 92 percent of every African-American who votes for president has to vote for a Democrat for us to be secured our victory.
Which means that you've got 3 African-Americans out of 20, you can't -- if Donald Trump got 3 out of 20, he'd have a real shot. He blew it. He's getting 0 percent of the black vote in Pennsylvania, in Ohio.
Why? Because his tone has been so awful toward Mexicans, toward Muslims. And at a certain point, you get the hint. If you're mean to that group and you're mean to that group, you're going to be mean to me.
So he had relationships with the black community that have now curdled and I don't think you can fix that now.
JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I should tell you, I should tell you, I've actually told this to Van, but in walking around here over the last two days, I've had two different delegates, both of them African- Americans, who stopped me personally to say that they wanted to send a message to Van Jones that they were enthusiastic Donald Trump supporters.
JONES: Those two? OK.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Herman Cain and Ben Carson.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDY DEAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let me talk bigger number and those two. And I think that Hillary Clinton's real vulnerability on November 8th, and I remember we were on set in March 8th when Michigan voted and Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to Bernie Sanders. And she has not been connecting with African-Americans in the north. She did in the south. But in the industrial Midwest, she did not connect. It's a huge vulnerability.
And I think if Trump can focus his advertising to African-Americans especially in Michigan and Pennsylvania, it's a huge opportunity.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do think -- I've never seen worse numbers for a nominee. I mean, zero. Now, in fairness, there's a margin of error usually of four percent. It could be four percent. But zero is a very bad number.
DEAN: But if the turnout is low --
AXELROD: 14 percent among Hispanics is half of what Romney got --
COOPER: So the question is what is he actually doing about it? I know there was a public announce and I guess he officially appointed Omarosa formerly from, I guess, "The Apprentice" --
JONES: That's a good sign.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Chief director of African-American research --
JONES: That's a good sign.
COOPER: Do you think that's --
JONES: Listen, I have a great deal of respect for her and I think that she's somebody who does have some appeal and some standing in the community. So I wouldn't say anything bad about her. But it's very hard for her to undo what's been done.
Listen, I -- you know, we've had a lot of these discussions. And there really do seem to be two different views. One is the view that almost -- you know what, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to count your beans. I'm just going to be myself and there's another thing that says, you know what, it's a complex country. And we've got specific pain, sometimes you need specific solutions. And he's blowing that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clock's ticking.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: You just talked about low turnout. And I remember that low turnout conversation in 2012. People thought it was going to be a low turnout of the Obama coalition.
You're going to have President Obama banging the drum for Hillary Clinton. You're going to -- and I agree with you. Hillary Clinton provokes the enthusiasm of overcooked asparagus in a lot of minority groups. But, but the panic about the idea of Donald Trump being president could make a surge of voters come out.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One word. Birther.
Hillary Clinton mentioned it at the NAACP yesterday. I know people have talked to the president about this. Van may have talked to the president personally about this.
He remembers. Politicians hold grudges. David knows.
You see, David's right at the table.
Politicians hold grudges. Barack Obama remembers the birther movement. Remembers Donald Trump.
(CROSSTALK)
And Donald Trump, just the clock is ticking. It's hard in the 100 days. I don't question Mr. Trump's faith to go into the community.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Let him finish.
KING: Just the clock is just ticking. And there's a Democratic infrastructure in place. And if you're going to do it, again, I don't question his good faith for saying I want to do this. But tick, tick, tick. The election --
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And also he'd missed an opportunity with the sort of Melania Trump, Michelle Obama plagiarism scandal.
They could have, said listen, Melania Trump, she did in some ways borrow from this speech. She acknowledges that Michelle Obama had a quintessential American story and it reminded her of her own story.
I mean, they couldn't do that, right? In some ways because they spent so much time authorizing Barack Obama.
DEAN: One last thing, I think tomorrow night, a speech we will be talking about is Reverend Darryl Scott from Cleveland. He's a pastor. He's on this diversity committee. One of the strongest speakers I have ever seen in my lifetime. And it wouldn't surprise me if at 11:00 p.m. Eastern, we're analyzing that speech and saying that could potentially turn the tide, getting him more involved to help get African-Americans on board.
COOPER: We're going to take a short break. Our coverage continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:39:16] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're back in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention. The hall here is empty. But Tom Foreman is still with us. He's been doing reality checks.
Very few people, if any, still left here at the Quicken Loans Arena. But you're looking at some more reality checks. Some of the comments we heard from the speakers tonight.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. One of Hillary Clinton's chief claims that she will be better for women in this country. But tonight there were those who said, hold on, maybe not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHARON DAY, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR: As head of a foundation, you accepted tens of millions of dollars from foreign countries who enslave women and who treat them as second-class citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:40:00] FOREMAN: So what is she talking about there? Well, the Clinton Foundation has indeed accepted many millions of dollars from foreign countries. Saudi Arabia, Australia, Norway, $10 to $25 million each to the foundation. The Netherlands and Kuwait, $5 to $10 million each. Qatar, Brunei, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, $1 to $5 million each.
All of these organizations have kicked in money over there. There really isn't really slavery legal anywhere in the country. That reference is made there. There is illegal slavery in various forms in other places. But let's just go past that part and just get to the part about women being treated as second-class citizens.
The World Economic Forum says, yes, out of these donors there are several countries in here that have very low scores in terms of how they treat women. So if we look at that part of this claim alone, we can simply say that when it comes to the Clinton Foundation, yes, they have taken some money out there. It is true.
They've taken money from countries that do not treat women very, very well. Millions of dollars.
Another issue out there was the matter of coal and energy and where you're going to get it from. And what does that mean when Hillary Clinton's in charge and she becomes president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R), WEST VIRGINIA: His recklessness has cost more than 60,000, 60,000 coal workers their jobs since 2011. Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton has already promised to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: They're going after President Obama and Hillary Clinton there. Let's look at the stats here.
Here's what's happened with coal miners in this country from 2011 until 2015. There were 84,000 in 2011. Now it's down to 53,000. If you look at that period of time, that would suggest that her numbers are a little bit high there.
They're still a very significant and important job loss there. But the numbers would be off enough to say that that is false.
But what about this idea that Hillary Clinton said we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business? Yes, she said that at a CNN Town Hall. Now, there were a lot of caveats about this. She said she was simply acknowledging the state of the economy. That this is going to happen. And that she wants to put a whole lot of money into revitalizing coal communities, making things move forward. But this statement has bitten her in those communities very hard, and as much as she's tried to explain it away, people there still say, look, you said these words and you said them loud at the time and it didn't sound to us like we were confused. So the verdict on that is yes, she said the words. That's true.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Tom Foreman, thanks very much for the reality checks.
Jake and Dana, the argument that you hear from the Clinton Foundation people is, yes, they took money in from Saudi Arabia, Unite Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, others, but they used that money to help people in Africa, the vaccines, HIV. They were doing good deeds. And a lot of the money that the Clinton Foundation has dispersed has gone to very important causes.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I'm not going to defend anyone taking money from any of these governments that treat their people so horrifically, that have indentured servitude, that treat women as second-class citizens.
But let me just say if you're going to start faulting people for taking money from the Saudi royal family and others, you might want to look into the records of the Bush libraries, both George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush.
The idea that any party would criticize any other party of these two parties that are both incredibly cozy with the Saudi royal family is beyond hypocritical.
Now, there are plenty of things that Sharon Day said that apply to the Clintons and the Clintons only. But the idea that the Clintons are the only ones who are cozy with the Saudi royal family and not the last two Republican presidents, it's a joke. It's a joke.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question. I mean, I remember -- I think you were covering the Bush administration with me, George W. Bush, kind of holding hands, actually holding hands.
TAPPER: Yes, not kind of.
BASH: Actually holding hands with the Saudi crown prince. And you know, having incredibly important meetings. And on the flip side, when the current -- the late prince died, President Obama went to the funeral. And he was criticized for doing that and not going to at the time it was right after "Charlie Hebdo," not going to join other world leaders in Paris. So it is absolutely bipartisan.
BLITZER: Let me play another clip. This is Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, really issuing a prosecution against Hillary Clinton.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R-NJ) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton, as an awful judge of the character of a dictator and butcher in the Middle East, is she guilty or not guilty?
(CROWD YELLS "GUILTY")
CHRISTIE: As to Hillary Clinton lying to the American people about her selfish, awful judgment in making our secrets vulnerable, what's your verdict? Guilty or not guilty?
(CROWD YELLS "GUILTY")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:45:00] BLITZER: "Guilty." The crowd here kept saying, guilty, guilty. And then you also heard, Jake, the crowd say "Lock her up. Lock her up."
TAPPER: Yes, and in fact, the junior senator from Arizona, Republican Jeff Flake, put out a tweet discussing all of the calls for Clinton --
BASH: You want me to read it?
TAPPER: No, go ahead. Going all the calls for Clinton to be jailed because we should point out, the lock her up chant started yesterday. I think fairly spontaneously. Fairly organically.
BASH: And there were people with Hillary for prison signs and so forth --
TAPPER: Yes, that's been a meme for a while, but I think it was during the Patricia Smith -- that's the mother of Shawn Smith, the Benghazi victim. She was really criticizing Hillary and people started chanting lock her up.
Anyway, Jeff Flake.
BASH: So Jeff Flake, a senator from Arizona, who said that "He had to mow his lawn, which is why he's not here." So that gives you a sense of where he is in the Trump --
TAPPER: Except he's in Arizona, where they don't have lawns.
BASH: That's exactly the point. He said @HillaryClinton "Belongs in prison? Come on, we can make the case that she shouldn't be elected without jumping the shark."
Now, maybe he was moved by Scott Baio being here yesterday. He wanted to make another "Happy days" reference. But I think the point is that not everybody is thrilled with going so aggressively, so hardcore against Hillary Clinton. But again, he's not here. TAPPER: Well, on the subject of "happy days," we should just point out that Garry Marshall, the producer, legendary producer of "Happy Days" and many other shows, we just learned about his death recently. And I feel amiss. I would feel remiss if I didn't mention that because he brought so much great entertainment to our lives.
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Absolutely. Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: But we can move on.
BLITZER: Stand by. There's more coming up.
Donald Trump's children in the moment when he became the Republican presidential nominee. They opened up to our Dana Bash. She was right there with them as it happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:50:00] BLITZER: History was made today when Donald Trump became the official Republican presidential nominee. No more presumptive nominee.
He went over the top with more than 1,237 delegates -- 1247, I should say, delegates. The count was there. It was official. He became the nominee.
And our own Dana Bash was there with his family when it became official.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: That's right. I'm right here with the children, and I can -- right next to Ivanka.
Ivanka, you're getting emotional. Can you tell me how you feel right now?
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: It's unbelievable. It's surreal. I'm so proud of my father. I'm so proud. We all are.
BASH: Did you ever think that you would be right here nominating your father for president of the United States? Did you ever think it would come to this?
ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: It's amazing. He's the ultimate outsider and he did it. We're so proud of him. And I've never underestimated my father ever. He's just amazing. I've never underestimated him. And you see it today. I mean, it's just a special day for our family.
BASH: Tiffany, you're going to speak tonight. What are your thoughts? TIFFANY TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Yes, I'm speaking. I'm so honored to have the opportunity. And the crowd sounds pretty excited for everything going on. So we'll see how it goes.
BASH: We look forward to your speech. We just can't say it's your last.
Don Jr., we're live on CNN right now. That was quite a moment. You were able to nominate your father for president of the United States.
I see that you're taking a deep breath.
DONALD TRUMP, JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: You know, it doesn't get any bigger than that, Dana. I mean, it's incredible. I mean, one of the more surreal moments of my life. Other than perhaps the birth of my children. I mean, I've watched him work so hard on this and speak to so many real people who are just feeling left out and left in the dark here in New York and all over the country. And to be able to do that, it's historic. It's awesome.
BASH: I have to say I'm not so sure people can see, but you're tearing up right now.
TRUMP, JR.: You know, it's pretty real. So I get to speak later on today. So I've got to get my composure back together. It's a surreal moment. And it's a real movement.
As I said in there, it's not a campaign. It never was. We're not politicians. He's a real person who's gotten stuff done, who's had a track record of success and accomplishment and he wants to bring that to this country. And he's going to do that. Everyone talks about it in theory. He's actually done these things.
BASH: Let's talk about how your dad is feeling. Did you talk to him before coming out here, before you were doing what you just did?
TRUMP, JR.: I've been running around a little bit like crazy today. So I haven't had a chance to speak, you know, catch up with him all that much. We've had a crazy day. I get to speak tonight. But I'm sure I'll be hearing from him and my phone will be ringing in a few minutes. So it's just awesome. I couldn't be happier to be a part of this.
BASH: You're speaking tonight. Any preview?
TRUMP, JR.: You'll see. We'll see. We'll see. It's going to be fun. It's going to be interesting. It's going to be impassioned. I get to talk about my father a little bit, but also still talk about the severity of the situation we're in as a country, because too many times I've seen the fluffy joking about the father thing and we're just not in that situation. I'd love to be able to deliver that speech, but we're not there.
BASH: Now you talked about the fact that you're not from a family of politicians. You have been in the public eye because of who your father is, pretty much all of your life. But still, this is a different kind of moment. Can you ever -- could you ever have imagined this moment happening right now?
TRUMP, JR.: You know, not before he announced last, you know, June. The second he announced, if there's one thing I've learned about my father, if there's one thing I know about my father is never bet against him when he puts his mind to something. He just gets it done. He gets things done. That's what he's done his whole career. You can't be the guy he is. You can't do what he's done without being able to do that. And it's just, it's spectacular. He's one of a kind.
BASH: And as you sit here looking around with all of these signs and you're kind of in the moment, can you reflect just for a second on what this year has been like for the Trump family?
TRUMP, JR.: Listen, it's been tough. It's been brutal. It's a lot of work. I mean, you know, we -- by the fact, we've gotten involved because we believe in his message. Meaning my siblings, myself, my whole family.
You know, we want him to do what's right for this country because we know he can do that. We want this country to be better for our kids than the way we received it. And that's not the way we're going, Dana. Politicians have ruined this country. They've done it time and time again.
What's going to change? What's different about this batch than the last?
He's such an outsider. He can do that. He can make those changes. And he's going to do a phenomenal job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Dana, great work. You were at the right place, at the right time, you took advantage and you got that exclusive access at that historic moment.
[00:55:00] BASH: I have to say just sitting there, I was just watching them sort of fixated on their faces as they were, you know, watching the states vote one after the other and then Donald Trump Jr.'s siblings, watching him.
It was emotional. Look, this is -- they're human beings. And as we've heard tonight with speeches afterwards and we've seen throughout the campaign, they're very close with their father, but to see them really overwhelmed with emotion was really pretty amazing.
BLITZER: Who would have thought a year ago, we would be here at this moment?
TAPPER: And that's the thing that we really need to take a moment I think on this day, towards the end of our coverage on this day that Donald Trump is accepted formally, the Republican presidential -- well, he hasn't accepted yet, but his name has been thrown into contention. He's nominated as a Republican nominee. And that is it is amazing. Now, you might not like Donald Trump, or maybe you love Donald Trump. On its face, an outsider like Donald Trump has never gotten the nomination like this. It is unprecedented in American history.
BLITZER: Certainly is. All right, guys. Thanks very much.
Don Lemon is going to be picking up our special coverage from the CNN grill right here in Cleveland after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
