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CNN Live Event/Special
Election Night in America: Clinton Will Not Speak Tonight. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 09, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: With Donald Trump at 247, Hillary Clinton has to block it. You know, she is leading in New Hampshire right now. But Donald Trump, if he gets two of those three, it's game over.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: It's over.
Let's go to Jim Acosta. He's over at Trump headquarters at the New York Hilton hotel.
What are you seeing over there, Jim?
What are you hearing?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, I just talked to a senior Trump adviser just a few moments ago, who said that if Donald Trump is declared the winner, and they do believe that that is going to happen very, very soon, that he will deliver a speech that calls on the country to come together.
He will obviously talk about this as being a very big upset win. Then he's going to praise the movement that brought him to the White House. That is, of course, if everything goes the way it seems to be going right now.
But Wolf, as for this issue of bringing the country together, you can just hear the chants behind me. The crowd here at Trump campaign headquarters is chanting "lock her up" once again.
Obviously it's going to be very difficult for Donald Trump to bring the country together given that kind of rhetoric, the rhetoric that he's used out on the campaign trail, talking about Mexican immigrants, talking about Muslims immigrating into the United States, talking about women, the kind of language that just infuriated female voters.
But, Wolf, I'm also told that this work of building a Trump administration has been actually happening as part of this transition team that was being led by New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, who was expected to be an instrumental part of an upcoming, potentially upcoming Trump administration, he is here on the floor tonight. Just saw him a few moments ago. So Wolf, they're very excited here. They're breaking out into chants
of all sorts of things that we've heard on the campaign trail. There are lots of red hats in this room. I suspect we're going to be seeing a lot of those red hats in the days and weeks to come -- Wolf.
BLITZER: I suspect we're going to be hearing a lot more about making America great again.
Anderson, over to you.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Wolf, thanks very much.
Jeffrey Lord, Corey, in terms of -- we heard that chant, "lock her up."
Is that something you think Donald Trump pursues as President of the United States?
Or, again, should the idea of reaching out, of sort of being presidential --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure you can do both here. Number one, you can make the gracious concession -- acceptance speech and reach out, et cetera. But number two, she really does have some serious problems here. I seem to recall Senator Al Franken telling I think it was Jake the other day that he wants as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he wants an investigation of the FBI --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Sorry. Here's John Podesta. Let's listen in at the Hillary Clinton event.
JOHN PODESTA, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Well, folks, I know you've been here a long time and it's been a long night and it's been a long campaign.
But I can say we can wait a little longer, can't we?
They're still counting votes and every vote should count. Several states are too close to call. So we're not going to have anything more to say tonight. So listen. Listen to me. Everybody should head home. You should get some sleep. We'll have more to say tomorrow.
I want you to know, I want every person in this hall to know and I want every person across the country who supported Hillary to know that your voices and your enthusiasm mean so much to her and to Tim and to all of us. We are so proud of you.
And we are so proud of her. She's done an amazing job and she is not done yet. So thank you for being with her. She has always been with you. I have to say this tonight. Good night. We will be back. We'll have more to say. Let's get those votes counted. And let's bring this home. Thank you
so much for all that you have done. You are in all of our hearts. Thank you.
COOPER: John Podesta speaking to a group of Hillary Clinton supporters in what was, in the opinion of many of the people in that room, supposed to be a victory party for Hillary Clinton. Certainly does not seem to be turning out that way.
Does it surprise you that we're not going to be hearing from Hillary Clinton tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure. I can see wanting to wait and see what happens. I don't know what her state of mind is right now. And they don't know how long it will be before --
COOPER: Do you think Donald Trump still comes out if it starts to get called by, you know, networks?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I suspect if the media organizations --
[02:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- call it that he may speak tonight. I would ask the secretary of state and the attorney general --
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supreme Court justice (INAUDIBLE) --
COOPER: Do you think Trump would come out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First and foremost, Hillary Clinton is going to lose tonight. She should call Donald Trump immediately and say you've run a great race, thank you very much.
Secondly, she owes it to the American people to make a speech. If this was Donald Trump sending out the chairman of his campaign, saying we're not going to address this tonight because all the votes aren't counted, it's what, 2 o'clock in the morning on the East Coast.
We have 99.9 percent of these ballots counted. We're waiting for a small fraction in Pennsylvania or a small fraction in Wisconsin, which will not materially change the outcome of this election. I think this is, exactly to Van's point, not bringing the country together. This is saying you will hear something moving forward --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Podesta could have just e-mailed everyone yesterday and we would have gotten this from WikiLeaks as opposed to just coming out and doing this.
This is absurd.
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- exactly his point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is so egregious that if this was Donald Trump the hypocrisy would be so outrageous.
You know what somebody once called him?
The George Costanza of this election. That's what he would be called right now.
VAN JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Corey, Corey, Corey. You won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So where is the conciliatory note to say I want my people to support one president?
Where's that message?
JONES: It's got to start with you, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it has to start with the president who ran -- it has to start with Hillary Clinton who ran. I didn't run for president. John Podesta didn't run for president.
JONES: See, this is the fear. Here it is. You see it. You won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say it again. I didn't hear you.
JONES: You won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. And Hillary Clinton should say that to the American people and say support Donald Trump because there's one president.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: I'm not done. I'm not done. Look, it's 2 o'clock in the morning. She'll talk in the morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will she?
COOPER: Let him finish.
JONES: Corey, you're being a horrible person right now. Let me finish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this was Donald Trump, the hypocrisy would be so outrageous right now --
JONES: I want every parent at home --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At 2 o'clock in the morning.
JONES: I want every parent at home who's up right now, who's trying to figure out -- who are up right now, trying to figure out how are we going to get through this, all right, where is the grace going to come from, where is the understanding, where is the empathy going to come from, it's going to have to come from ordinary people.
Tomorrow at work, when we go and look at people who we don't agree with, this can't be the interaction. It's going to have to be ordinary people reaching out to each other.
I'm going to say one more thing before I let a smarter person talk about smarter things.
When they were beating up on Melania Trump this past week, I stuck up for her because I thought it was inhuman and disgusting for somebody who'd never signed up to be a political wife to go out there and do her best and actually ask for the bullying to stop and then be bullied herself because you've got to treat people like human beings.
Tonight, Hillary Clinton's a human being. I think we give her a break, let her come out tomorrow and do a good job. And I'm going to tell you what, if we can't begin to treat each other in a more human way, this thing is going to go from bad to horrible.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To bring up Melania Trump who I happen to know and respect immensely I heard so many people say on this network --
JONES: Not me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not you. You're right.
So many people who criticized her for saying that her priority was going to be anti-bullying because of what her husband has said on Twitter. Criticized her. Multiple people all the time.
And tonight to say that one of two people who's going to be elected President of the United States is not going to come out and say we should unite behind the person --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me. You had your chance. It's now my turn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying the same thing four times in a row.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, what Van is saying we have to get the respect from the people at home to come out and support Donald Trump.
No, no. They put their faith in Hillary Clinton. And she received tens of millions of votes today and won a series of states. And she's the leader of the Democratic Party. And for her not to walk -- is it too late?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think look, as we've just seen, this is an election that has deeply, deeply divided the country. The polling -- if you look at -- we'll probably get the polling overnight.
But the polling going in was that 90 percent of Clinton voters were strongly unfavorable to Trump, 90 percent of Trump voters were strongly unfavorable to Clinton.
It is still entirely possible that Hillary Clinton will win the popular vote, given the West Coast states of California, Washington and Oregon and Donald Trump will win the presidency by dominating in the Rust Belt.
But the divisions in the country, the urban, non-urban. He won working-class white voters, non-college white voters by more than Ronald Reagan did. But the gap between the way they voted and the college educated white voters was the biggest ever.
So there are a lot of divides that are left after this election and it is going -- I agree, I think Hillary Clinton, if she is -- and it looks like a very kind of thin, you know, road, if she is the loser she has to make a gesture to reach out. I think what Donald Trump does as well.
[02:10:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to recognize we are in a very unique situation where essentially half the country is not only disappointed, they are frightened by the outcome either way. And that -- just under half the country. And that is a big development going forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how many times we heard, will Donald Trump concede this race, will he call into question -- you know what we're seeing tonight?
We're seeing Hillary Clinton, who refuses to concede. She has lost this election. Whether it has been called or not, the race is over. And we heard for weeks that Donald Trump will call into question the legitimacy of this election. He will not concede.
What will his people do?
Will there be an outrage?
Where is the outrage tonight that Hillary Clinton refuses to call and concede the election?
The race is over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, this is such a basic thing to do.
And Van, to your point and you certainly don't remember this, I do, in one of Nixon's losing races, either for president or governor of California, he did exactly some version of this and waited until the next day and wouldn't do it.
And you know what they said?
He's got no class. I remember this vividly. And here we are. And Hillary Clinton does this and everybody says oh, well, maybe she's tired. I don't think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, the race hasn't even been called yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, then stay up and wait for it to be called.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're running for leader of the free world --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- on the day after the election. This is not that extraordinary. But I think the advice Van was trying to give you is good advice and I'm just giving it to you as someone who's been on the winning side of elections, which is you can either use this as an occasion to sort of strut and -- for strutting and payback.
Or you rise to the occasion and say we have now won, we've got to bring the country together.
And since you are the leader -- if your guy's going to be the leader of the country and leader of the free world then there's an onus on him to do that.
And the fact that his opponent is waiting for the votes to be counted shouldn't be the occasion for you to replay everything that bothers you about what's been said over the course of the campaign. You've won. So act like you've won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Donald Trump's going to go on tonight. I think he's waiting for Hillary Clinton to call him and concede this race. And then he's going to make a very gracious speech, which says I want to be the president of the entire United States, I want to bring everyone together.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think anybody here tonight has argued that he should not come out and he should not deliver that kind of --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if we don't have the election results why would he come out?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: My assumption would be he would wait until somebody calls it and then come out and so he could have the --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes, whether she calls him or not. And then maybe it looks her -- makes her look even worse. But he at least gets his due tonight, which is certainly well deserved, given the incredible --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not as if because she's gone home this process is about to end. This process is continuing as we speak. And when the race gets declared, I think it's entirely appropriate --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But to Corey's point, I think Corey raised an interesting point. There was a lot of criticism of Donald Trump, what would you do on Election Night?
If the roles were reversed and Donald Trump wasn't conceding tonight --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question was whether he would accept the result of the election and he wouldn't say. There's no indication here that she's not going to accept the result of the election. The result of the election hasn't been officially declared yet. So I -- go ahead. I'm sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if the roles were reversed and you might not know the answer to this, would Donald Trump want to wait for every vote to be counted?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably. So --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I'm saying is this goes to the -- I mean, one of the things that drove this entire election is this belief, this passionate belief that there is a double standard, one standard for elites and the other standard for the regular folks.
Donald Trump being the representative of the regular folks here.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. To Corey's point exactly, if this were reversed you can only imagine the criticism that Donald Trump would have --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- if he had sent Kellyanne out there to say go home and we'll talk to you tomorrow.
JONES: You're right but the difference isn't just that your guy is the blue-collar billionaire and Hillary Clinton's the elite. The difference would be that your guy said he wasn't sure if he would accept it. And she has never said that.
And so that's why -- and you are correct. If Donald Trump were being hesitant, it would trigger those old memories. But she didn't go down the road your guy went down and that's why she's being --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the fact is even if Donald Trump hadn't come out as Gloria I think was pointing out, Hillary Clinton would have come out. He can still come out and say I won, once that verdict is kind of reached by the networks, by all of us --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is it so much about the timing?
I understand it. But it's also about what they say. And that's I think was your point. And I think Hillary Clinton needs to be gracious about the stunning victory that Donald Trump has had, number one. He won. And he --
[02:15:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- reset the map. He blew it up. His supporters came out where we didn't think they were. Polling was wrong. We were wrong. Everything was wrong. I mean, his own analytics people had him winning in Wisconsin but they didn't believe their own analytics. That's how stunning this was.
COOPER: I think back to the second -- the end of the second debate and the last question that was asked by someone in the audience, which was say something nice about the other person. Hillary Clinton said Donald Trump's kids. Which is that's an easy one.
I thought his answer was -- I thought it was a great answer but I also thought it really showed kind of the charm of Donald Trump, that his supporters see and like and that people who know him well say they see one on one and see in meetings and know socially, which is him saying something which -- I mean, he attacked her in campaign commercials for it but said she doesn't give up. She's got grit.
And I thought that answer -- I was like, wow, that's a side of Donald Trump that is something that everybody can kind of like. And I'm guessing we're going to see a lot of that Donald Trump in whatever speech he makes tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That may be seeing what you're seeing tonight with her. She's not giving up till the last vote is counted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I -- I mean, unless we want to beat this around a while longer but I don't want to invite you to do it. Let me just say this. You know, you said earlier and I think you're right, that part of the frustration that people were expressing --
COOPER: By the way, this is Donald Trump arriving at campaign headquarters, where we believe he will be speaking. You can hear -- let's just listen in. Some of the votes of the people outside of the street, cheering him there.
And that's a hat in a box that has been there. I'm guessing he's going to take it out of the box. I don't know. But that is Donald Trump arriving. We assume he will be speaking -- I'm sorry. But continue, David. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I was going to say is Corey said earlier and he's right, that people have -- Bill Clinton ran for president, saying he wanted to run for the forgotten middle class and every president subsequently has said we're going to address some of these big economic problems that our economy and other economies have faced that have particularly been visited upon a working-class manufacturing sector, workers and so on.
Donald Trump ran -- you said Donald Trump ran for office making -- speaking the truth. He's going to have to now carry through on those things. That's going to be very difficult. And if he doesn't, he's going to have the same reaction visited on him that other politicians have.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: We just saw Chris Christie. We also saw former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Donald Trump's entourage, his supporters, his family heading -- I haven't gotten a glimpse of the candidate himself. But we anticipate seeing him shortly.
There's a lot of folks waiting. What started out -- it's really interesting, when you think back to 5 o'clock this afternoon, 6 o'clock, Kellyanne Conway earlier in the day on another network had given an interview sort of saying they hadn't gotten as much support from the RNC, from Republican establishment, as they liked.
A lot of people online kind of interpreted that as, well, they're trying to set the stage for a disappointing night. That is certainly not -- whatever the mood might have been internally early on, it is certainly --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anderson, it's beyond that. There was a story that broke many moons ago, the afternoon yesterday, that said that John Kasich had scheduled a speech Thursday afternoon in Washington. And that the purpose was to reclaim the direction of the Republican Party. I assume he won't be delivering at least that speech on Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of -- he didn't need the RNC. He didn't need Kasich. He didn't need any of those folks who abandoned him in some ways. The Bush family.
You saw Paul Ryan sort of flip-flop on him, seeming to back him, then saying he wouldn't but then ultimately endorsing him. You wonder what happens to Paul Ryan. You wonder what happens to that whole class of folks, who thought they were going to be the future of the Republican Party --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they are also here. That's the thing. This was an incredible uprising by, in particular, one segment of the population. Here's a couple numbers.
Hillary Clinton's vote among non-college whites compared to Barack Obama, down 13 in Michigan, 8 in Pennsylvania, 10 in Wisconsin, 12 in New Hampshire, 6 in Florida, 5 in Ohio. Nationally only 28 percent, less than Walter Mondale got against
Ronald Reagan. A bigger margin against non-college whites than Reagan did against Mondale.
But that included an agenda that a lot of those people you just mentioned really are not part of on any point. Backing away from trade. Very restrictive on immigration, no cuts in entitlements. And infrastructure program twice as big he said as Hillary Clinton.
I asked Paul Ryan about that at a forum we did a couple weeks ago he said that's not in the better way program.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there is Tom Donahue and the Chamber of Commerce. There are many aspects of the Trump agenda that are fine, that overlap with what Republicans want to do, repeal ObamaCare, cut regulation, cut taxes. But there's a whole other half and maybe the more important half in terms of --
[02:20:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- building the coalition that won, that really collides with a lot of the existing interests in the party and how that shakes out.
I asked a Republican senator this summer at the convention, how many Republican senators would go along with Donald Trump if he wants to withdraw from NAFTA?
And he said less than five. But yet that is an important part of what happened in Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- how does that play out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you can see the better get out of the way program now.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's going to change because a lot of these guys, their re-election now to Donald Trump. When you think about it, he got, what, one newspaper endorsement. Is that right?
He had a terrible video that came out. He divided the Republican Party. And there was this uprising as you put it, a revolution of the people. No matter what all of these things were, because there were people who feel disenfranchised and they wanted to change election. They gave him change.
So Congress, if he has control of both houses and it looks like he might. If he has control of both houses, the message is going to be to incumbents that the voters wanted change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. What --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to say it's not just the Republicans. I will insure (sic) you Donald Trump won in Democrat House districts across this country tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what that means for those incumbents is we'd better listen if we have a president who has set the agenda and won in a district where they weren't supposed to win.
So as Donald Trump is going and talking about what his agenda is for the American people, you won't just see Republicans as part of that. He will build a broad coalition, as he always does when he tries to get something done.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- to those Democrats and he will say this is what happened in Michigan, this is what happened in Pennsylvania, this is what happened in Ohio and if you want to get re-elected and you don't want me campaigning against you in those districts where I won overwhelmingly --
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: He won't have to do that.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: The left wing of our party, if he wants to do something on trade, he won't have to threaten anybody because he's got the left wing of the Democratic Party is closer to him on trade. I know you've been trying to get in. I want to talk after you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, all I'm trying to say here is I think that the period after Reagan left office until tonight, the Republican establishment came back into their own and they took control of this party.
And from my perspective, as nice as so many of these people are on a personal level, they steered the party off the tracks. They could not understand for the life of them why they couldn't get Mitt Romney elected. They assured everybody he's the guy, this is what's going to happen. He'll win.
Ditto John McCain. This was their mentality here. And they have finally been stopped in their tracks by Donald Trump, who is going to rewrite this whole script here.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what happens to all those people that you named, how is he going to deal with John McCain and these others?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same way Ronald Reagan dealt with them, that you mount the political troops to get their support or you go around them. Or you go around --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeffrey, will it matter in terms of his leverage if he doesn't win the popular vote, if he loses the national --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. The President of the United States is the President of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But in terms of claiming the mandate and influencing people who may not want to vote for him --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George W. Bush had those -- lost the popular vote. He was a pretty powerful president.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: Let me make a criticism of the Democrats, though, because you're criticizing your party. Let me just make a few observations.
People are saying what happened with the Latino vote?
You start talking to people. You know, there was not actually a big investment. A lot of the Latino organizations -- you talked to Voto Latino and other groups, they felt like there actually was not a big enough investment in them.
You can find complaints, you know, going back several months, saying, listen, we have people who want to sign up, who want to be registered to vote. Some of those efforts actually ran out of money before they ran out of voters because it was an assumption that the Latino community was going to be able to kind of self-organize and do stuff.
You've got to go back, you've got to see that there were certain parts of this coalition that are going to have a lot to say about feeling taken for granted, not invested in properly, et cetera. And I think that those are the kinds of things we're going to have to go back and talk about as a party.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think it was a failure of organization or a failure of the candidate?
JONES: Listen, I think that there were -- I think that for this Latino surge that materialized but only barely could have been much bigger if people made -- if there had been money from the very beginning, saying we're going to have to invest and build real capacity in the Latino community.
You're going to go back and look and talk to people on the ground in Nevada, in Colorado, in Florida and the great online organizers like Voto Latino. Ask them how much money they got, ask them how much support they got. They're going to tell you very, very little.
(CROSSTALK) COOPER: You also wonder what Joe Biden is thinking tonight, as he looks at this, looks at the results --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looks at Scranton.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And also a next generation of Democrats.
What are they thinking tonight?
Maybe Van, you can talk about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, is there a next generation --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there a next generation of Democrats?
Because everybody was --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Michael.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Party identification and affiliation is at an all- time low in the modern era. I think --
[02:25:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- so many individuals voted today without any regard for their identification by party. Instead, it was a vote they were making along class lines, income lines --
JONES: There's one star who hasn't been talked about tonight who is going to be talked about a lot and her name is Kamala Harris. She just became the senator from -- I would imagine. Or she will be declared the senator. I don't know. I'm sorry; I'm not trying to get in no trouble but I bet that she will get declared the senator --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She might get declared.
JONES: -- she might get declared the senator from California. She is sharp as a whip. She is smart as a tack. She is an amazing force on her own.
And she's going to wind up being --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question then is, Ron, the question for you is, do you think that this is -- given as disruptive a force as this -- as Donald Trump has been, is there an opportunity for a re- alignment, is there an independent or a third-party candidacy --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, Trump accelerated the trends that we had. I wrote today -- I thought the nightmare scenario for Clinton was that Trump batters down her defenses in the Rust Belt before they have advanced far enough in the Sun Belt to replace those losses. So basically they were caught in between. They didn't get far enough
with -- there wasn't a countermobilization enough among minority voters although the Latino thing will be disputed about whether this was right. In particular, yes, she did better than President Obama did among college whites but not nearly as well as the polling suggested.
She was up 3 relative to President Obama among college whites, down, what was it among non-college whites, down 8. That's sort of the story. And it was clear Trump was going to run better in Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin than Republicans usually do.
It wasn't clear he was going to win all of them. And then she fell short -- she did take Nevada, she did take Colorado, she did take Virginia but there were enough of these blue-collar and non-urban whites in Florida and North Carolina to hold that. In Arizona to hold that.
Georgia didn't really get off the launch pad again with just an overwhelming white vote. So the Democratic Party I think -- this was the nightmare scenario. He forced them to kind of accelerate demographic changes that might have taken a decade, moved their base from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. They weren't strong enough in the Sun Belt and then he knocked down the doors --
COOPER: Corey, just on a personal level as somebody who was there from the get-go and went through an awful lot with this man, this candidate, who you're still very obviously close, to what is it like to see this tonight?
What is it actually like to see those flags there, to see that crowd with their hats and knowing the candidate's about to come out?
It's just got to be an extraordinary feeling.
LEWANDOWSKI: Look, it's amazing to have been a small part of American history. And there are very, very few people who have had the privilege of serving as President of the United States. It's such an honor, it's such a high privilege.
But to have so many people doubt also --
(CROSSTALK)
LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I don't know Robby, who ran the Clinton campaign. I guarantee that guy put in 20 hours a day seven days a week for the last year and a half and his family suffered and his relatives and the abuse he took online. I respect it. These guys put the uniform on. I put the uniform on.
I was fired halfway through the season. But that's it. Baseball. Right?
But it's so amazing. Of the small team we had. We still have a small team relatively speaking compared to the Clinton campaign. But I take nothing away from those guys who dedicate their lives -- and this is truly a -- two years.
And then Robby wakes up today thinking he's going to win and they lose. And I've been on the other side. I've lost those races. It's so devastating. You don't recognize it tonight, you will tomorrow. And I'm fortunate that tonight I'm on this side but I give those guys a lot of credit because they play to win.
COOPER: I want to talk about the small team but we do have a projection. I want to go back to Wolf.
BLITZER: We have a major projection right now. Take a look at this. CNN now projects that Donald Trump will carry the state of Wisconsin. He will win Wisconsin with its 10 electoral votes. He's cracked the so-called blue wall that Hillary Clinton had tried to create.
Donald Trump wins Wisconsin. Take a look at this, 92 percent of the vote is in. Up by 75,000 votes. Plus 10 electoral votes. Donald Trump the winner in Wisconsin.
Let's take a look at the electoral college map right now. With that win in Wisconsin look at how close he is. Right now he has 257 electoral votes. He needs 13 more, 270, to be elected President of the United States. Hillary Clinton remains at 215.
Let's go over to Jake and Dana.
He is getting incredibly, incredibly close, Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: And the wall comes tumbling down. This is the blue wall that Hillary Clinton had talked about. This is a state that Hillary Clinton hasn't even visited since the Democratic convention over the summer.
And it's stunning. The last time it was close -- I believe was in 2000 -- but since then Democrats have won the state.
This is a state that voted for Mike Dukakis over George H.W. Bush. I mean, this is a reliably Democratic state. It is amazing to me -- and this is not an original observation -- but the idea that the Clinton campaign can see white working-class voters going to Trump in places like Iowa and Ohio and not --
[02:30:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is amazing to me -- and this is not an original observation -- but the idea that the Clinton campaign can see white working-class voters going to Trump in places like Iowa and Ohio and not see that Wisconsin was also potentially in jeopardy, that's remarkable. This is truly the beginning of the end for Hillary Clinton's campaign.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The Clinton campaign simply took Wisconsin for granted. DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question. And let's take a second to look at where we are now, with CNN projecting Wisconsin for Donald Trump.
Two more states we're going to be watching to see what we can project, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Donald Trump just needs one of those to clear that 270 mark to formally be the president-elect of the United States of America -- two states. You mentioned 1984 for Wisconsin. Michigan and Pennsylvania, they haven't gone Republican since 1988. So these are more bricks in that blue wall.
TAPPER: And can I say one other point.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And both of those states, by the way, if you take a look, Trump is ahead in both of those. In Pennsylvania he's ahead by 75,000 votes and in Michigan he's ahead by 59,000 votes.
TAPPER: Yes. We are one call away from the presidency being determined and Donald Trump is leading in both of those states. Corey Lewandowski is right. There was a lot of talk over the last month and a question at a presidential debate just for Donald Trump, not for Hillary Clinton, about whether or not he would accept the results of this election.
And the idea that we are being told by one of the campaigns they're not going to have a comment when we are just one state projection away from there being a president-elect declared by the media, is remarkable.
And I agree with those who are saying, if the tables were turned, if it were reversed, there would be a lot of outcry by people in the media and others about Donald Trump's behavior.
I recognize that these are difficult moments for individuals. I don't mean to make light of that or belittle that at all. But this is also a moment for the entire nation, for the entire United States.
If Donald Trump ends up winning, which certainly could happen, the idea that the other candidate is not going to concede before -- I mean after that happens, while we're all still awake, it's only 2:30 in the morning, that's remarkable.
And I have to say there is a nation going on here. It's not just one candidate and her supporters. There's an entire United States of America.
BLITZER: David Chalian, our political director, you're looking very closely at these remaining numbers, these outstanding numbers out there.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, it's just -- when you look across the board of why this blue wall seems to be teetering on a complete collapse here, you can see it in the trade issue. You can see it in the anger and dissatisfaction with government. You can see it on the white working class.
These all came together in that region of the country, where his message resonated and his voter profile showed up. This notion that America was on this inexorable fast path, demographically away from where it was, did not materialize.
BLITZER: And this notion of the first woman president, David Chalian, of the United States, so many people thought that was almost certain but the polls indicated that it probably was, didn't happen.
CHALIAN: No, it didn't happen. And there will be a lot of going back and looking at the polls in this race and polling in general. There's no doubt about that.
But to Jake's point about how the Clinton campaign saw these states, I can't stress enough -- Wisconsin and Michigan, they were never considered battlegrounds by the Clinton campaign ever, throughout this entire process, until the final couple days in Michigan they considered that. That was on a different list for them. So this is clearly coming as a big surprise to them as well.
BLITZER: A major blunder on the part of the Clinton -- the Clinton campaign, Dana.
BASH: No question. And to be fair, the Republicans didn't even realize how big of a wave they had on their hands, one that it seems -- and we'll talk about this later -- that Donald Trump seems to have coattails in the U.S. Senate and in the House of Representatives.
Republicans are just winning across the board and doing quite well.
But I just want to concur with what you said, Jake, about the whole question of John Podesta coming out and saying, never mind, go home, we'll talk to you in the morning. I mean, that's just not -- I get she's human, just like you said. I completely understand.
But I agree that if the tables were turned and if Donald Trump were waiting for one more state and he said never mind, I'm not going to come out or suggested that the phone call wouldn't be made to say congratulations, Ms. -- Madam President-elect if the tables were turned, it would be -- the Democrats would be --
[02:35:00]
BASH: screaming from the rooftops.
CHALIAN: And it just -- this is different than -- remember, in 2004, it all came down to Ohio and John Kerry did not come out and speak that night. But the entire election was hanging on that one state.
There are enough states out here to put Donald Trump over 270, that it is surprising to me that they are not waiting that out because it's not like the entire election is hanging on one state, that just doesn't look like it will get projected.
TAPPER: Outstanding we have New Hampshire, we have Maine, we have Pennsylvania. We have Wisconsin. We have Michigan. We have Arizona.
I mean, he needs one of them, right?
I mean, not including New Hampshire, which is only four electoral votes. But he needs one of those bigger states. I mean, this thing's almost --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And he's leading in several of --
TAPPER: -- this thing's almost done.
BLITZER: Yes.
I want to go to Sara Murray over at Trump headquarters at the New York Hilton hotel in New York.
I take it Trump and his entourage, they are there and they're going to be -- Donald Trump will be speaking fairly soon.
Is that right?
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They are here. We are expecting Donald Trump to speak fairly soon although I have to tell you, Wolf, for (INAUDIBLE) to have been in this room, this race has been over for a while. They have been here celebrating.
They have restocked the bar for Donald Trump supporters who are not going anywhere, by the way. They just continue to cheer, continue to wait for Donald Trump and Mike Pence to show up.
And, of course, we know his plan going into this was to deliver a victory speech, to be gracious, to talk about bringing the country together. It will be interesting to see if that tone changes at all in the wake of the fact that Hillary Clinton is not conceding.
And speaking to some of Donald Trump's aides and seeing what they're putting out there on social media, they do seem surprised that we're not going to be hearing from his Democratic rival tonight.
But there actually are a number of Donald Trump supporters that are right by a curtain to my left, we have heard them cheering over and over again and they're just waiting to make their entrance. So should be any moment now -- Wolf.
BLITZER: I'm sure Donald Trump will be speaking fairly soon.
Sara Murray's over there at Trump headquarters in New York City over at the Hilton hotel there, the huge ballroom.
Jake, this is the moment that Donald Trump predicted would happen. A lot of the strategy used in defeating 16 or 17 Republican candidates, senators, congressmen, certainly governors, worked. Crooked Hillary: he used to call his opponents in the Republican primary by a name as well. That seemed to have resonated with a lot of folks. TAPPER: It worked. And I don't know how much of Donald Trump's success is because of that behavior or despite that behavior. And I'm sure there will be many studies and lots of research and data about this. There are -- without question, there are people who found that appealing, his most ardent, diehard supporters who yell things like --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Little Marco, low-energy Jeb, all of that.
TAPPER: Right. I also think that there are a number of people who look past that at the message he's delivering. And, of course, there are a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters and supporters of Gary Johnson and Evan McMullin and Jill Stein, who couldn't look past it and found things that he said incredibly offensive.
And this news that we're getting tonight is bothering them and hurting them. And I guess we'll see whether Donald Trump as president, as opposed to a candidate, how he's going to behave and whether or not he's still going to use that kind of language.
BLITZER: Let's go over to John King at the magic wall.
John, it's almost over I think, it's fair to say.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Well, and to the point that everyone was making earlier about the 2004 comparison, that was one state, the state of Ohio, and we did -- I think it was 11-something the next morning, when that election was finally called.
If you're looking at this right now to the point -- there are a lot of Democrats, Wolf, my inbox is filled with a lot of Democrats asking the very question they were just asking, these Democrats were doing it privately in e-mail, private e-mail, saying how dare she essentially leave with so much still in play?
But if you look at this again, let's go to Pennsylvania, 97 percent --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Hold on one second. I want to go back to Dana right now.
Dana, what are you learning?
BASH: You know, Wolf, I have a little bit of information but I just want to be sure that I have it right.
BLITZER: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: -- go back and talk to John. We'll get back to you.
KING: Just go through this. You go through these -- again, you go through the outstanding states, Wisconsin you see the lead. You're looking to try to find the Democratic votes. And the math's just not there.
Again, if it was one state you'd say OK, they've got to be extra careful about one last state. You go back to Michigan, it's very hard for the math -- and I just want to pop this up, Wolf -- it is not inconceivable that Donald Trump catches up in Minnesota, Minnesota, the one state Walter Mondale won in the Reagan sweep.
The math is hard still --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: All right. Stand by.
KING: -- race there. But this is a sweep.
BLITZER: Dana, you wanted to be precise. So go ahead.
BASH: That's right.
CNN can report that Hillary Clinton has called Donald Trump to concede the race. She has called Donald Trump to say that she will not be president. And I'm not sure the exact words but probably to congratulate President-elect Donald Trump. So that has happened in the last few moments.
[02:40:00]
BLITZER: President-elect Donald Trump. If Hillary Clinton has conceded, that is dramatic; that is a dramatic development, Dana. And to hear the words "president-elect," we haven't yet projected that.
But Hillary Clinton, what you're saying, has now made a formal telephone call to Donald Trump to concede.
Is that right?
BASH: That's correct. I'm talking to a source who was there for it and is telling me that that conversation did happen. Our Sam Fise (ph) is also hearing from a different source that that conversation did happen.
So Hillary Clinton has made it very clear to her opponent that she believes that he will be the next President of the United States and not her.
BLITZER: And you're also hearing, she is still not going to speak tonight. Donald Trump, momentarily, we assume, he will be speaking, addressing that very enthusiastic crowd there. But she won't.
BASH: We don't have any indication that the plans that John Podesta, her campaign chairman, announced publicly, are going to change. But it's pretty clear that that phone call gave a green light to Donald Trump to make his speech.
BLITZER: So if her aides, Jake, are telling her it's over and she makes that phone call to Donald Trump, congratulating him on winning the presidency, they obviously, they have given up at this point and Hillary Clinton has done what she thinks is the right thing.
TAPPER: Well, they can look at the math and see the facts and the math and the fact is that, as John King has been saying now for some time, if you look at Pennsylvania, there just are not the votes there for Hillary Clinton. It's impossible to think that she's going to win that state.
And if Donald Trump wins that state, that's the enchilada. That's the whole ballgame.
BLITZER: You know, it's a moment that we want to make another major projection right now.
And CNN projects that Donald Trump will win the state of Arizona with its 11 electoral votes. Donald Trump wins Arizona; 68 percent of the vote is in. He's got a nearly 80,000-vote lead. Donald Trump will carry Arizona.
So let's take a look at the electoral map right now. You see Donald Trump. He has 268 electoral votes. He needs two more to become President of the United States, President-elect of the United States. She had 215.
Take a look at that, 268 electoral votes, 268 votes for Donald Trump.
Jim Acosta, you're over there at Donald Trump headquarters at the New York Hilton hotel in New York. They're pretty excited right now.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it certainly feels like a victory party now. They are just jubilant here at Trump campaign headquarters.
I just talked to a Trump campaign official a few moments ago and asked whether or not Donald Trump will address what John Podesta said over at the Javits Center here in midtown Manhattan earlier this evening and this official said, no, Donald Trump will address the American people.
So we are waiting for that to happen any moment now. We understand he's in the building. And from talking to a number of Trump campaign officials, they are all responding with basically the same reaction. They're just as shocked as everybody else.
Now you'll probably talk to some people high up in the inner circle, who will say, oh, no, no, we knew this all along. But I've talked to a number of senior Trump campaign officials, down to the advance staffers that we saw on the campaign trail on an everyday basis. They are shocked.
They themselves cannot believe the upset that we're all witnessing, which is obviously one of the most stunning political upsets in recent American history.
Now as for what Donald Trump is going to say during this speech, Wolf, we do expect Donald Trump, as the 45th President-elect of the United States, to try to bring the country together, to try to say something to the American people that will begin this process of healing.
They're going up in cheers one more time, Wolf, because the word is spreading throughout this room. It's up on the screens that Donald Trump is about to become the next President-elect of the United States.
But in addition to trying to bring the country together, he's going to be thanking the people who made this movement happen. There were a lot of doubters from all stripes, Democrats and Republicans, who didn't think this moment would happen. But it's happening -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, 268 electoral votes. That's what we have projected so far. You need 270.
Look, the -- you see Mike Pence, the vice presidential running mate, and his wife. They're walking in. I'm sure Donald Trump's family will be walking in. And then, of course, Donald Trump himself will be walking in.
He's going to be addressing this very enthusiastic crowd over at the New York Hilton hotel in Manhattan.
Hillary Clinton has announced through John Podesta that she will not be speaking tonight, although we have now learned that Hillary Clinton did phone Donald Trump and congratulated him on what she said would be his victory.
There's Mike Pence, the vice presidential running mate, with his family, very, very excited --
[02:45:00]
BLITZER: -- very enthusiastic --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: -- over there. There's Mike Pence.
Let's talk -- let's get Sara Murray.
Sara Murray, you're over there as well. This crowd clearly very excited. Pence -- hold on a second, because looks like Mike Pence is going to speak first, presumably will introduce Donald Trump.
Let's listen in to Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, the vice presidential running mate.
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), IND.: This is a historic night. The American people have spoken and the American people have elected their new champion. America has elected a new president and it's almost hard for me to express the honor that I and my family feel that we will have the privilege to serve as the Vice President of the United States.
I come to this moment deeply humbled, grateful to God for his amazing grace, grateful to my family: my wonderful wife, Karen; our son Michael and his fiancee, Sarah; our daughter, Audrey, far away, and our daughter Charlotte.
I could not be here without them and I'm deeply grateful to the American people for placing their confidence in this team and giving us this opportunity to serve. And I'm mostly grateful to the president-elect, whose leadership and vision will make America great again.
So let me say it is my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce to you the President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BLITZER: Right now a historic moment. We can now project the winner of the presidential race, CNN projects Donald Trump wins the presidency, the business tycoon and TV personality capping his improbable political journey with an astounding upset victory.
Donald J. Trump will become the 45th President of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton in a campaign unlike anything we've seen in our lifetime. Donald Trump wins the presidency of the United States. He is now going to be called President-elect Donald Trump, he's walking up right now. You see him right there. He's going to be speaking momentarily.
He's got his wife there. History has been made.
Jake, this is a moment a lot of people are going to remember.
TAPPER: Well, the first time in the history of this country that somebody who has never held any job in government or the military being elected to the presidency. He is going to be moving from Fifth Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue.
I think it's a moment that a lot of people in his inner circle did not even think would ever happen. But it was a decisive win. There are still outstanding states that we haven't even called yet. But because his win was so overwhelming, we're calling it right now.
BLITZER: He's there with his wife, Melania; his son, Barron. He's going up to the microphones. He's going to be having a victory speech. I assume he'll mention the phone call he received just a little while ago from Hillary Clinton in which she conceded. She congratulated him on becoming President-elect of the United States.
Dana, this is a moment few anticipated.
BASH: Except if your name is Donald J. Trump, who said Brexit-plus- plus and we'll analyze the results. But that looks like exactly what this is right now. So many things to look at and think about in what the new Trump-led world here in Washington is going to be like.
A Donald Trump governing, a Donald Trump taking over the institutions that he called rigged so many times.
BLITZER: And here he comes to the microphone. Donald Trump is going to speak.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody.
[02:50:00]
TRUMP: Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business, complicated.
Thank you very much. I've just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us. It is about us. On our victory and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign I mean she fought very hard.
Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely.
Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together, to all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. It's time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all of Americans and this is so important to me.
For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country. As I've said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family.
It's a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people and serve the people it will. Working together we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream. I've spent my entire life in business, looking at the untapped potential in projects and in people all over the world.
That is now what I want to do for our country. Tremendous potential. I've gotten to know our country so well. Tremendous potential. It is going to be a beautiful thing. Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We're going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none and we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.
We will also finally take care of our great veterans who have been so loyal and I've gotten to know so many over this 18-month journey. The time I've spent with them during this campaign has been among my greatest honors. Our veterans are incredible people. We will embark upon a project of national growth and renewal. I will harness the creative talents of our people and we will call upon the best and brightest to leverage their tremendous talent for the benefit of all. It is going to happen. We have a great economic plan. We will double our growth and have the strongest --
[02:55:00]
TRUMP: -- economy anywhere in the world. At the same time we will get along with all other nations, willing to get along with us. We will be. We will have great relationships. We expect to have great, great relationships. No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach. America will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We must reclaim our country's destiny and dream big and bold and daring. We have to do that. We're going to dream of things for our country and beautiful things and successful things once again.
I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America's interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone. All people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility, partnership, not conflict. And now I would like to take this moment to thank some of the people who really helped me with this, what they are calling tonight very, very historic victory. First I want to thank my parents, who I know are looking down on me right now. Great people. I've learned so much from them. They were wonderful in every regard. I had truly great parents.
I also want to thank my sisters, Marianne and Elizabeth who are here with us tonight.
And -- Where are they?
They're here someplace. They're very shy actually. And my brother, Robert, my great friend.
Where is Robert?
Where is Robert?
My brother, Robert -- and they should all be on this stage but that's OK. They're great.
And also my late brother Fred, great guy. Fantastic guy. Fantastic family. I was very lucky. Great brothers, sisters, great, unbelievable parents.
To Melania and Don and Ivanka and Eric and Tiffany and Barron, I love you and I thank you and especially for putting up with all of those hours. This was tough. This was tough. This political stuff is nasty and it is tough. So I want to thank my family very much. Really fantastic.
Thank you all. Thank you all.
And Lara, unbelievable job. Unbelievable.
Vanessa, thank you. Thank you very much. What a great group. You've all given me such incredible support and I will tell you that we have a large group of people. You know, they kept saying we have a small staff. Not so small. Look at all of the people that we have. Look at all of these people.
And Kellyanne and Chris and Rudy and Steve and David.
We have got tremendously talented people up here and I want to tell you it's been very, very special.
I want to give a very special thanks to our former mayor, Rudy Giuliani. He's unbelievable. Unbelievable. He traveled with us and he went through meetings and Rudy never changes.
Where is Rudy?
Where is he?
Governor Chris Christie, folks, was unbelievable. Thank you, Chris.
The first man, first senator, first major, major politician -- let me tell you, he is highly respected in Washington because he is as smart as you get, Senator Jeff Sessions.
Where is Jeff?
A great man. Another great man, very tough competitor. He was not easy. He was not easy.
Who is that?
Is that the mayor that showed up?
Is that Rudy?
Oh, Rudy got up here.
