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CNN Live Event/Special
The Third Night Of The Democratic National Convention Kicks Off; Kamala Harris Accepts Her Nomination. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired August 19, 2020 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And while this virus touches us all, we've got to be honest; it is not an equal- opportunity offender. Black, Latino and indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately.
And this is not a coincidence. It is the effect of structural racism, of inequities in education and technology, health care and housing, job security and transportation, the injustice in reproductive and maternal health care and the excessive use of force by police and in our broader criminal justice system.
This virus, it has no eyes, and yet it knows exactly how we see each other and how we treat each other. And let's be clear. There is no vaccine for racism. We have got to do the work -- for George Floyd, for Breonna Taylor, for the lives of too many others to name, for our children and for all of us. We've got to do the work to fulfill that promise of equal justice under law. Because here's the thing. None of us are free until all of us are free.
So we're at an inflection point. The constant chaos leaves us adrift. The incompetence makes us feel afraid. The callousness makes us feel alone. It's a lot.
And here's the thing. We can do better and deserve so much more. We must elect a president who will bring something different, something better, and do the important work, a president who will bring all of us together, black, white, Latino, Asian, indigenous, to achieve the future we collectively want. We must elect Joe Biden.
And I will tell you, I knew Joe as vice president. I knew Joe on the campaign trail. And I first got to know Joe as the father of my friend. So Joe's son Beau and I served as attorneys general of our states, Delaware and California.
During the Great Recession, he and I spoke on the phone nearly every day, working together to win back billions of dollars for homeowners from the big banks that foreclosed on people's homes.
And Beau and I, we would talk about his family, how, as a single father, Joe would spend four hours every day riding the train back and forth from Wilmington to Washington. Beau and Hunter got to have breakfast every morning with their dad. They went to sleep every night with the sound of his voice reading bedtime stories. And while they endured an unspeakable loss, those two little boys always knew that they were deeply, unconditionally loved.
And what also moved me about Joe is the work that he did as he was going back and forth. This is the leader who wrote the Violence Against Women Act and enacted the assault weapons ban, who, as vice president, implemented the Recovery Act, which brought our country back from the Great Recession.
He championed the Affordable Care Act, protecting millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, who spent decades promoting American values and interests around the world. Joe, he believes we stand with our allies and stand up to our adversaries.
Right now we have a president who turns our tragedies into political weapons. Joe will be a president who turns our challenges into purpose. Joe will bring us together to build an economy that doesn't leave anyone behind, where a good-paying job is the floor, not the ceiling.
Joe will bring us together to end this pandemic and make sure that we are prepared for the next one. Joe will bring us together to squarely face and dismantle racial injustice, furthering the work of generations.
Joe and I believe that we can build that beloved community, one that is strong and decent, just and kind, one in which we can all see ourselves. That's the vision that our parents and grandparents fought for, the vision that made my own life possible, the vision that makes the American promise, for all its complexities and imperfections, a promise worth fighting for.
So make no mistake, the road ahead is not easy. We may stumble. We may fall short. But I pledge to you that we will act boldly and deal with our challenges honestly. We will speak truths and we will act with the same faith in you that we ask you to place in us. We believe that our country, all of us, will stand together for a better future.
And we already are. We see it in the doctors, the nurses, the home health care workers and front-line workers who are risking their lives to save people they've never met. We see it in the teachers and truck drivers, the factory workers and farmers, the postal workers and poll workers, all putting their own safety on the line to help us get through this pandemic.
And we see it in so many of you who are working not just to get us through our current crisis but to somewhere better.
There's something happening all across our country. It's not about Joe or me. It's about you and it's about us, people of all ages and colors and creeds who are, yes, taking to the streets and also persuading our family members, rallying our friends, organizing our neighbors and getting out the vote.
And we have shown that, when we vote, we expand access to health care and expand access to the ballot box and ensure that more working families can make a decent living. And I'm so inspired by a new generation. You, you are pushing us to realize the ideals of our nation, pushing us to live the values we share, decency and fairness, justice and love. You are patriots who remind us that to love our country is to fight for the ideals of our country.
In this election we have a chance to change the course of history. We're all in this fight, you, me and Joe, together. What an awesome responsibility. What an awesome privilege.
So let's fight with conviction. Let's fight with hope. Let's fight with confidence in ourselves and a commitment to each other, to the America we know is possible, the America we love.
And years from now, this moment will have passed and our children and our grandchildren will look in our eyes and they're going to ask us, "Where were you when the stakes were so high?"
They will ask us, "What was it like?" And we will tell them. We will tell them not just how we felt. We will tell them what we did.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(APPLAUSE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Two couples are socially distant -- the Democratic presidential nominee, the Democratic vice presidential nominee. We have just seen a unique moment in American history, the first woman of color formally becoming, officially becoming the Democratic presidential -- vice presidential nominee. That's the first time that has happened in American history.
We also saw a truly unprecedented moment, the former president of the United States, Barack Obama, delivering a scathing, a scathing attack against the current president of the United States, President Trump.
This was a moment that we anticipated, that this would unfold, but not to the degree that it has unfolded.
I've been watching President Obama, for example, since 2004 deliver speeches. This may have been the most powerful address he ever gave, a presidential address to the nation, not only strongly supporting the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, right now, but going after the sitting president of the United States.
And, Jake, you don't see that very often. I've studied American history a long time. I don't remember a time when the immediate past president was going after the sitting president the way he did.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: No, I agree. I'll talk about President Obama in a second. But, first, I don't think we can overstate how significant a moment it is for the girls and women and people of color in the United States and around the world watching this event tonight. What a historic moment for Kamala Harris, a senator from California, to get the party nomination for vice president. It really is truly historic and one of these moments that is going to change people's lives and inspire people because of the groundbreaking nature of that.
In terms of the contents of her speech, it was interesting. She introduced herself to the -- to the American people. There was a lot of very progressive messaging going on there in terms of systemic racism and ideas like that.
For the younger people, for the progressives, I think, that the Democrats need to turn out, talking more about problems in America than about problems with President Trump. I think she only mentioned Trump by name once.
On the other hand, perhaps, she thought she didn't really need to go after him, given all the work that President Obama did going after Donald Trump, basically saying that democracy is at stake.
As you noted, Wolf, it was an unprecedented speech to have the immediate past president go -- speak at a convention and talk about basically this is a four-alarm fire, you have to defeat this guy.
[23:15:08]
TAPPER: And, Dana, I mean, I don't know that this has happened at any time in the last, you know, half century.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. I mean, President Obama made clear he believes that this is an existential threat. And when I say this, he was talking about his successor, the man in the White House right now.
I mean, you almost saw it as a break glass in case of an emergency moment, and he was breaking the glass, saying this isn't just about politics, this is about the fundamentals of democracy.
And you're exactly right. It wasn't just about really, you know, going at Donald Trump, which he did in a pretty stunning way, but it was much bigger, much broader.
As our colleague David Chalian said, it was more of a presidential address than a political speech. And it was that bridge -- you know, we've heard Joe Biden talk about the fact that he knows he's not young and that he's a bridge to the next generation, we saw that tonight, from Barack Obama to Kamala Harris in a very, very stark way.
And she gave a very similar speech in tone and tenor and in message, which is this is about the future of democracy, but it's about how people feel and how people should want to get back on track from her perspective, and, obviously, from the perspective of Joe Biden, Abby.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And you know, I think that in some ways, perhaps, one of the reasons Kamala Harris didn't spend a lot of time focussing on Donald Trump is because she is supposed to embody that future that they want people to start to envision about a country in which someone who is the daughter of two immigrants, who is a black woman and a South Asian woman, can become the vice president of the United States.
She is herself, that thing that I think they are trying to kind of create this picture of. But on the other side of that, leading into it, I mean, it is so stark how truly dark the message was from President Obama. This is the candidate of hope and change. The message that he was presenting to Americans tonight was effectively that he said this administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes to win.
I cannot overstate how stunning that is to hear from a former president of the United States. And it's a long way from where he was four years ago when he was out on the DNC stage giving a speech for Hillary Clinton. He mentioned Donald Trump in about two or three lines, basically saying this guy is a businessman and he doesn't care about you.
This is a completely different type of tone, but it's reflective of how urgent, as we've all said tonight, he thinks this moment is, and how important it is he thinks for Democrats to not really take a sort of blaze (ph) attitude towards voting and getting out to the polls.
TAPPER: Yeah, I mean, a four-alarm fire by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Abby. One thing that strikes me, we did get some more policy specifics this evening, especially from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is -- who is probably one of the wonkier speakers this evening, which I do not mean in a pejorative way.
But it strikes me there has been so much about Joe Biden and his empathy. Joe Biden cares. That's really the message that I'm getting from this entire convention is Joe Biden cares, he cares about you. And that's not a small thing. Cares about people like you is a poll question. It's one of the ways that people decide who they're going to vote for.
Kamala Harris also had a similar approach in the sense that she talked a lot about how it feels to be an American right now. There wasn't a five-point list on here are the economic policies.
BASH: Yeah, that's so true.
TAPPER: It feels unsettling. It feels isolating. It feels uncomfortable.
BASH: Yeah. I mean, she -- that's exactly right. She was going for people's emotions, which, as Abby has noted many times, Donald Trump does very well, but a different kind of emotion that he strives for, and this is very clearly going for the opposite.
And, you know, on that note, it is the other thing that Barack Obama was clearly trying to do here. Obviously, he was talking about something so huge, which is the state of democracy which he thinks is really, you know, threatened right now, but he talked about his friend Joe Biden. And the people around Joe Biden and certainly President Obama believe that there is no better validator than President Obama. He has not -- his sort of magic political fairy dust has not worked on other people in the past when he has tried to campaign, either during midterm elections or even Hillary Clinton.
[23:19:59]
BASH: But the hope among the people in this orbit is that it's different because now he's talking about his vice president for eight years and somebody who he calls his brother, and he can validate him for president in a way that really no one else can, Abby.
BLITZER: You know, it's really amazing, when you think about the personal stories that we've been hearing tonight. Kamala Harris has an amazing personal story, how she came from a mother and a father, both immigrants, to the United States. And now, she's the vice presidential nominee of a major -- of a major party. It's an amazing thing and it speaks a lot about our country.
And President Obama, you know, he's always been a great speaker. He's always been a great orator. But he really delivered tonight in going -- in making it clear that he loves Joe Biden and he thinks that Joe Biden will be a great president. He loves Kamala Harris. He thinks she'll be a great vice president.
But in going after the sitting president of the United States, suggesting that the failures of President Trump, the failures have resulted in 170,000 American lives lost from coronavirus, suggested the failures of President Trump have resulted now in millions of Americans losing their jobs, and he says the failures of President Trump are now endangering the American democracy.
Abby, these were powerful words from the former president of the United States. He didn't mince any of that, and I think it was truly historic.
PHILLIP: It was absolutely historic. And, you know, I guess we should just point out the obvious. The president of the United States was watching this. He was tweeting as it was happening in all caps.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIP: And it was something that I think really for -- this is such a psychodrama between these two men in so many ways. I mean, you know, Donald Trump said today that he believes that he is president because of Barack Obama. And in some ways, you know, I think -- I don't know that Barack Obama disagrees with that. I think he understands his place in this whole narrative.
And so for him to take a moment to really lay out his objections as clearly as possible, I think Obama seems to be now for the first time in four years willing to take his place in this psychodrama that President Trump has been a part of for four years and say, yeah, I do think that you are the wrong guy for the job, I am going to say that out loud, I am not going to fall back on these old ways of being a former president. That is historic.
TAPPER: Yeah.
PHILLIP: And I think that that is -- it was a distinct choice. I'm not sure that it's a choice he wanted to make, but it's a choice that he probably felt he had to.
TAPPER: And one other -- one other point, if I could just make it, is that obviously President Trump has eroded many norms and traditions and Democrats would say, and that is why Michelle Obama and Barack Obama are, you know, are changing this, throwing out this tradition out the window.
It's obvious that to Barack Obama, to President Obama, he's very -- he's well-aware of how historic what he's doing is. And just as a -- as a Philadelphian to point out, where he spoke this evening, the Museum of the American Revolution, which is a part of Philadelphia, that is full of all sorts of colonial history and landmarks, that says to me that he knew that he was taking a stand for what our founding fathers back in 1776 were taking a stand for in his mind, Wolf.
BLITZER: He certainly did. And, Anderson, the former president of the United States made it clear that the stakes for all Americans right now are enormous.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yeah. Talking about 1776, he said, what we do with the next 76 days will echo through generations to come. That's a theme he repeated actually twice in this speech.
I mean, Nia-Malika Henderson, a history-making speech from Kamala Harris and really a history-shaking speech by President Obama, just an extraordinary speech.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: And you saw Kamala at the top of that speech acknowledge that history, acknowledge all of the women who came before her, nameless women in some instances who were stepped on and looked over for centuries in this country, but all the while tried to push it forward. She mentioned Shirley Chisholm and then she wove her own personal story into that history.
I think millions of little brown girls and boys across the globe really looking at this moment, and in many ways may be thinking that it never could have happened. But you saw something extraordinary tonight, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris accepting that nomination and then the first black president essentially passing the baton to this daughter of immigrants, a father from Jamaica and a mother from India.
[23:24:59]
HENDERSON: You know, I came into this day thinking about my grandmothers, Katie Ruth (ph) and Bertha May (ph). Katie Ruth (ph) from Mississippi and Bertha May (ph) from Canada, women who -- like the women who you heard Kamala talked about.
Never could imagine the experiences that they had in their own lives, the experiences of sexism and racism, but kept pushing forward in wanting to expand the idea of what America could look like and always --
COOPER: Yeah.
HENDERSON: -- wanting that seat at the table but always being denied. Not tonight.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, Anderson, and just watching this unfold tonight, I have to say that watching Barack Obama, this was not a convention speech, this was sort of the new definition of the fierce urgency of now, and I could see him in the Oval Office.
It was intimate, it was chilling, and he was declaring a national emergency. And what he was doing was saying, I need you to save democracy, nothing less. Yes, he talked about what he believes, et cetera, et cetera, but this was on a higher plain. This was the emergency.
And he is saying, you know, you've got to do this now and you could -- you could see it in his voice and you could see it in him.
COOPER: Let me just read a couple of lines.
BORGER: Yeah.
COOPER: He said everything depends on the outcome of this election --
BORGER: Yes.
COOPER: -- in 76 days. Do not let them take away your power. Do not let them take away your democracy. Make a plan right now. He talked to white factory workers, to black mothers --
BORGER: Right.
COOPER: -- to new immigrants, to young people. Again, he repeated, I refrain, what we do echo through the generations.
BORGER: Right. So he's saying don't let them do this to our country. They can't take the democracy away from us. And so this was sort of a creed (ph), I don't know what you want to call it, but a president talking to the country, former president talking to the country and declaring an emergency.
COOPER: And, David, not --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: -- in all caps from the White House like President Trump --
BORGER: Right.
COOPER: -- on his Twitter machine, speaking in lowercase with a camera kind of almost looking up at him a little bit. The intimacy of it also was unique.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: You know, Anderson, going into this, there was a lot of discussion about, well, Obama is, you know, worried about his legacy in this election. You know, he's fighting for his buddy and all of that.
Let me just be really clear, and everybody knows my relationship, OK? I've known this guy for 30 years. We're good friends. I worked with him through many, many speeches. The guy who went to Philadelphia tonight did not go there as a partisan, did not go there as a Democrat, he went there as a person who loves the country, loves this democracy, believes in it.
And with all its imperfections, believes that we have the ability to grab the wheel of history and turn it in the right direction or the wrong direction and sees this as a critical moment in our history. And he wanted to take this opportunity and talk directly not just to Democrats but to the country about this moment. He elevated it.
You mentioned the president's tweets. It just accentuates the fact that the one president was taking this to a much higher plane --
COOPER: Yeah.
BORGER: Right.
AXELROD: -- and the other guy can't get there. He cannot --
BORGER: He can't.
COOPER: He could never give a talk like this.
BORGER: He doesn't understand it.
COOPER: Sitting in his bathroom tweeting is the best he can do.
BORGER: Well, I don't even think he understood this.
AXELROD: Yeah.
BORGER: You know, the fact that he was sort of hate tweeting in all caps, I don't think he understood at all what Barack Obama was talking about. And I think --
AXELROD: Well, if you --
BORGER: And Obama was saying --
AXELROD: I'm not going to --
BORGER: Obama was saying, look, I understand why people don't like government. I understand why you're turned off. But just look right ahead. Look at what is happening in this country. And, meantime, the president is kind of hate tweeting him.
AXELROD: Well, yeah. I mean, it was sort of spasmodic (ph) -- BORGER: Totally.
AXELROD: -- tweets of random arguments, just trying to say something to stop, you know, what he was seeing on television or respond to what he was seeing on television. I also think that the portion of the speech about Joe Biden was very significant.
BORGER: Yeah.
AXELROD: Because, again, not -- now to return to more mundane matters of electing a president. Joe Biden needed the affirmation. People need to hear that this whole evening, I think, was enlarging for Joe Biden, but Obama's testimony was very important because he did live with Joe Biden in that White House for eight years, knows him better than anyone else.
COOPER: He called him a brother.
AXELROD: And can testify in a very credible way.
HENDERSON: Called him his brother.
AXELROD: Yeah, he did.
BORGER: Yeah.
AXELROD: And he did rely on him. I was there. I was a witness to the many times in which Biden was handed very sensitive assignments and which Biden went behind closed doors with the president and counselled him on the most sensitive decisions that he had to make.
[23:30:07]
And I really think focusing on the role that he played was very important for purposes of this convention, but for purposes of this country, setting the stakes in this election, of this election and making it clear that this is not any other -- the fact that he said I never expected him to continue my policies.
What he was saying is, if this were a normal president in a normal election, he would not approach it this way.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: He wouldn't be giving that speech.
COOPER: Yes.
HENDERSON: Right. And there was something I was reminded of --
COOPER: Sorry. Sorry. David, finish your thought.
AXELROD: Go ahead, go ahead, Nia. No, I was going to say is when Trump got elected -- when Trump got elected -- when Trump got elected, Obama made clear I will not speak out on the day-to-day workings of the presidencies or his decisions, but if there are matters of fundamental constitutional principle, or fundamental values, then I feel I must.
Tonight, it all culminated in that speech. I think -- you know, I've worked with him on many speeches. This, to me, may be the most historically important one he's ever given.
COOPER: I mean, in my lifetime I don't know that I've heard a speech like this. Go ahead, Nia.
(CROSSTALK)
HENDERSON: Yes. No, I think -- I think that's right. I mean, I think another important speech is the race speech also given in Philadelphia. Here he was as the constitutional scholar tonight. That was what he spent his life doing before he got into -- into politics and explaining the Constitution.
There's also this theme, I think, that is playing out with all of these people who are coming out in speaking against Donald Trump. Essentially saying we gave him a chance. We had hoped that he would behave in the way that a president should behave. That he would feel the weight and the awesomeness of the office, but that never happened.
And you could see -- I'm reminded of what Van said, sort of the reluctance that he has to come to this moment. There was a sort of sadness and somberness that here he was having to make this speech in this moment in history. And now having to rally the country, rally those folks who might not have taken this seriously. Might not have thought that Donald Trump would behave in this way. And say, listen, it's up to you to save this country in the way that John Lewis and those folks in the 1960s did the same for this country.
COOPER: I want to bring in Van Jones. Van? You talked a lot about the speech beforehand about his reluctance probably to make this kind of a speech. What did you think about it?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I thought Obama did what he had to do, but I got the feels, man. I -- you got a lot of people who watched Kamala Harris tonight holding their daughters' hands. Something beautiful, amazing happened tonight. People have begun to lose hope in this country. Maybe I can't make it. Maybe nothing's possible anymore.
When you have a black woman standing up there the way that she was, proud, strong, warm, telling the story of being in the stroller, a stroller's view of protest. My family's been doing this. She's representing something. She's putting medicine out here for people.
And I know there's a lot that has to be talked about in terms of the policies of it, but this was history. This was a big deal. I got women texting me from across the country saying, I feel great tonight. I feel like I can make it tonight. There is a brokenness in this country that I think that she was speaking to on a much deeper level than the policy.
I think Obama, you know, did what he had to do. Usually the V.P. brings the blowtorch. She brought the campfire. And something really special happened tonight. I appreciate Obama taking the hard shots so she could do what she had to do. She delivered something beautiful tonight. Kamala Harris.
COOPER: Governor?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She certainly did. And I just want to go back to what President Obama did for just a moment. Because what he did in saying you are the missing ingredient is that he empowered people out there, he made people see that this democracy is theirs and that they have the power to make this change.
He was echoing what Kamala Harris had done from when she came out at the very beginning of this convention night and said you've got to vote.
When Kerry Washington said we, the people, is you. So, people I think came away from tonight -- I feel like I want to leave the studio and go vote right now. People feel a sense of urgency to be able to exercise their ability to fix this problem, and for that I am really grateful that he was so powerful in empowering us.
COOPER: Yes, Andrew Yang, it was interesting. The president said make a plan right now, you know, for yourself and then, you know, for your neighbors and for your friends.
[23:35:06]
ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I loved the concrete direction on Barack's part, but I am so happy for Kamala Harris. My god. She had an enormous moment, an historic moment. And there are times -- I've been there. There are times where you feel like a speech or a moment is too big for someone, and you didn't feel that for even a moment here.
Instead, you felt like Kamala was as joyous, brilliant figure conveying an important message and meeting the moment and then some. I've been with Kamala on the trail. I've seen her speak dozens of times. This is the best I've ever seen her and I'm so pumped for Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party because we needed that bridge to positivity. It's true.
GRANHOLM: Woo.
YANG: Like Van said, ordinarily the V.P. is, like, taking out the guns, but instead it was Kamala giving us a vision of what this country still can be. Thank you, Kamala. I'm just so happy for her and the party.
JONES: Amen, brother.
YANG: That was tremendous.
JONES: Amen, brother.
COOPER: Scott?
JONES: Scott agrees.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, yes, I mean, I'll be glad to come in and be the Pepe Le Pew in the garden party. Look, I thought --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I always liked Pepe Le Pew, just for the record.
JENNINGS: Yes, yes, I know, I know. He's always had great schemes, great ideas.
I thought the -- I want to comment on something Governor Granholm said about she wants to jump out of the studio and go vote right now. You heard that message from Michelle Obama earlier this week. You heard it from Hillary Clinton tonight and then you heard it from Barack Obama.
So, three big speakers all hitting the main theme of please go vote and go vote as soon as you can. To me, as a Republican, what I hear as -- I hear that underscoring a little bit of nervousness about Biden's ability to close the deal.
Remember, after all, it was former President Obama, who, by the way, I thought did a great job tonight with his material who was once quoted in Politico as saying never underestimate Joe Biden's ability to f things up. That's a direct quote from him, not from me, that's what he said.
And so, I think they need to try to bank as many votes as they can as early as possible because of the fear --
JONES: Scott?
JENNINGS: -- that some of them have that Biden will stumble down the stretch.
JONES: Good try, Scott.
COOPER: Van?
JONES: I think they're scared that the Republicans are going to try to steal it and they're scared that the post office is going to be crippled. I don't think that they're scared about somehow all these people are going to decide to go vote for Donald Trump next week. You don't know this party if that's what you think.
GRANHOLM: That is for sure. Hey, can we say --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: Look, I appreciate that you all are selling a conspiracy theory about the post office. The fact is we had the biggest turnout we've had for a midterm in 100 years and we are going to have a massive turnout for president in November. Nobody is going to be denied. The post office is not being shut down. This is a scare tactic and I don't understand how many people bought into it. (CROSSTALK)
GRANHOLM: My god.
JONES: So, you don't mind --
YANG: But Scott, scare tactic that the president of the United States has essentially been leading. So, you can't blame people for taking it seriously --
GRANHOLM: Right. Exactly.
COOPER: Which by the way, he just today --
YANG: -- that the president is threatening.
COOPER: -- he gave a shout-out to QAnon today, basically he said how great they were. And so, talk about a conspiracy theory, the president seems on board with that.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: Yes. And by the way, let me say, it's absolutely asinine and outrageously stupid for him to do that and it's absolutely dumb and stupid to embrace a conspiracy theory about the post office. Both parties need to --
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: You are the one that had --
JENNINGS: -- dump these conspiracy theories. It is corrosive to all of American politics for people to buy any of this junk.
JONES: But Scott, you just had a bad idea --
(CROSSTALK)
GRANHOLM: Well, let's vote him out then. Let's vote him out.
JONES: Yes. I was only responding, Scott, to your bad idea that the reason that we're saying go vote is because we're somehow scared that we're -- that our folks are not going to want to vote for Biden after your convention. That's all I'm saying. I want to say one thing --
COOPER: Hey, Van --
GRANHOLM: There is something though --
COOPER: Well, Van, I was going to ask you. After hearing President Obama tonight and what we heard from Michelle Obama, do you have any doubt about how active he will be over the next 76 days?
JONES: Listen, no doubt at all. And I think he -- I think he did what he had to do. I really -- I agree with David Axelrod. I agree with other people. This is not -- he -- this was something that he would not have wanted to do four years ago or three years ago or two years ago, but he did it.
I think the other thing that happened that was good tonight was that the immigrants got their voice and there was some incredibly powerful moments that happened earlier that also is bringing the other party -- last night I was complaining hey, where are the Latinos, where are the immigrants? That happened.
But listen, I don't think you're going to have to worry about Barack Obama, Michelle Obama showing up. But much more importantly, Kamala Harris showed up. We got a whole new star. You got the Obamas, you got the Kennedys, now you got the Harris family, too. I'm excited.
COOPER: Governor?
GRANHOLM: So, can I just say that, you know, I want to go back to this immigration. The three policy issues that were really hit on during this convention, which were gun safety, immigration and climate change.
[23:39:58]
The Democrats pulled out those three policies which have long been part of who we are because the contrast with the Republicans is so stark and the fact that vast majority of Americans support these policies.
Ninety-four percent of Americans believe we should have universal background checks. Eighty-one percent of Americans believe we should have a path to citizens for immigration. Sixty-seven percent of Americans believe that the federal government is not doing enough to combat climate change.
Those are huge numbers. And the Democrats tonight were really smart in bringing up those issues. But in also telling the stories in such a powerful way with videos and heartfelt videos. I mean, the young woman who wrote the letter to the president because her mother had been deported after her father was a marine and he voted for the president because the president said he wasn't going to harm military families.
That was devastating. I mean, the same, the same kinds of stories being told. So bottom line, is I think this was threaded so beautifully and in such a heartfelt way, that I don't know how people couldn't have been moved.
COOPER: Let's go back to Wolf.
BLITZER: You know, Anderson, I was so moved when Kamala Harris spoke about her mother, the most influential person in her life.
Let me just read a couple of sentences because it was so powerful to me to hear Senator Kamala Harris to say these words. My mother taught me to service to others gives life purpose and meaning, you know. How I wish she was here tonight, but I know she's looking down on me from above.
I keep thinking of that-year-old Indian woman, all of 5 feet tall, who gave birth me to me at Keizer Hospital in Oakland, California. And that Senator Harris these words.
On that day she probably never could have imagined that I would be standing before you now speaking these words, I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America.
A child of immigrants. All of a sudden, a woman of color becoming the vice-presidential nominee of a major political party here in the United States.
You know, Jake, it is really history unfolding and she moved a lot of us in speaking so personally. I wish her mother had been around right now to see her daughter in this place.
TAPPER: Absolutely, a historic night. A night that is going to mean a lot to millions of individuals of color, women and girls around the world. This historic moment for Kamala Harris.
A couple points I want to make about -- about the remarks we heard earlier tonight. One is I was texting with somebody in Barack Obama's world who was telling me that, first of all, President Obama sees tonight's speech very much as a continuation of his remarks at the John Lewis funeral about the importance of democracy, about the importance of exercising one's right to vote.
And then the second point that he made, this individual in the Obama world, was that as we've all been saying, Barack Obama didn't want to give this speech. He knows it is a break from norm, but he literally does feel democracy is on the line.
How to take the speech, this individual told me, literally. Take it literally. If people are inspired by it, great, but generally they want people to feel unsettled. That is the point of the speech this evening from Barack Obama to make people feel disturbed by what he sees.
For a former president to come out and say this current president is a threat to democracy. And as a sidebar to that, it's interesting that while Barack Obama was making the case basically that Donald Trump is an un-serious person and unfit for this office, the response of Donald Trump, as Abby noted, is to be going on a Twitter storm, leveling all sorts of allegations and falsehoods and wild statements in all caps on Twitter, which is obviously not how we are used to American leaders behaving.
Another point -- another point I want to make, Dana, and I want to get your thoughts on this is I said earlier that Kamala Harris' talk about structural racism was something for progressives, a message for progressives. Obviously, it's a message for everyone.
BASH: Right.
TAPPER: But what I meant by it is last night Joe Biden, the actual top of the ticket, said in a -- in one of these events that they had for the convention, quote, "most cops are good," but the fact is the bad ones need to be identified and prosecuted. Basically, the bad apples theory of problems in policing. Kamala Harris had a completely different perspective. She talked about
structural racism as one of the reasons why excessive use of force by police so often happens to people of color. That's what I mean. It's a very different world view.
BASH: No question.
TAPPER: You know?
BASH: Absolutely. It's a different world view because it's her world view.
[23:44:53]
It's the world view that she knows from being a woman of color and it's a world view that she knows from her experience as -- as -- as a lawyer and as a lawyer who represented the people both in San Francisco and then more broadly in California.
And, Jake, you know, one of the things you were mentioning that you were texting with somebody from Obama world. I heard from somebody something that really made sense to me, which is that it's as if this was something that was pent up for years. And he hasn't wanted to play ball. And he felt like he had no choice. And it just kind of came out.
And on that note, remember, Donald Trump is where he is in large part because he jumped into politics on a conspiracy theory. Saying falsely that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Well, Wolf, you mentioned one of the lines that Kamala Harris used talking about her mother was very specific that her mother gave birth to her at Keizer Hospital in Oakland, California. That was a not so subtle message to the president who has not disputed the idea that she is not eligible to be president. Questioning whether or not she -- maybe because she has immigrant parents can't be president. But she was born in the United States. And the fact that she was extremely specific was not an accident, Abby, don't you think?
PHILLIP: I mean, how incredible that we even have to have this conversation. And how ridiculous, frankly. But, yes, I think, Dana, nothing in this speech is by accident, including that line.
I mean, you know, we were talking about Kamala Harris' mom, Shamala, and what she would think if she were watching her daughter do this. The fact that her daughter has to now be subject to the same birther conspiracy theories as the former President Obama is ridiculous and I think that we should just point that out.
I do want to kind of touch on something that Jake was talking about -- about Kamala Harris and the role that she plays in this Biden ticket. Tonight, it felt, you know, we've watched lots of vice presidents go through and do this kind of thing and usually vice presidents are really just unremarkable, frankly.
They are -- they are partners in running for office and in governing. I do think that Kamala Harris made a case for how she could be additive to this ticket. And it's for just the reason that Jake pointed out.
There is a difference, a generational difference between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and how they approach these issues. Kamala Harris can speak with authority and experience on issues of civil rights and on issues of justice. Because she is a black woman. Because she is a former prosecutor.
When you read the speech it really lays out all the ways in which she is bringing something to this ticket that is not just another person who is running with Joe Biden. It's someone who is coming to this campaign with a different point of view and with a lot of authority on a lot of issues that perhaps Joe Biden doesn't have.
BLITZER: You know, it's very interesting that Kamala Harris speaks about her mother Shamala and Kamala's stepchildren call her Mamala, which is an adorable Yiddish world itself. It's just a very moving moment all around.
We're also getting some new information about the convention finale tomorrow and what Joe Biden will say. We'll have that right after a quick break.
[23:50:00]
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COOPER: We're getting our first look at how Joe Biden will close the Democratic convention in his acceptance speech tomorrow night. I want to go to Jeff Zeleny with that. Jeff, what are you learning?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, I am told that Joe Biden does not intend to make President Trump a central figure in his acceptance speech tomorrow evening in Wilmington, Delaware.
Yes, he will talk about the failures of the Trump administration's leadership. Yes, of course, he will talk about America's losing standing in the world. But I am told by a senior adviser that the formatter vice president wants to deliver a forward-looking, optimistic and affirmative address.
In the words of this adviser he says the former vice president sees this as a moment bigger than President Trump. An opportunity to make an affirmative case to America.
So that, of course, this is the biggest speech that Joe Biden has given in his long political life. Yes, he's run for president three times before. He's never been on this cusp. He spent a lot of time working on this speech, but tomorrow night at least he wants to deliver an optimistic forward-looking address. Of course, he hopes to be that bridge between the Obama/Biden coalition and what he hopes to see as the Biden/Harris coalition. Anderson?
COOPER: Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, thanks very much. I want to go back to Van Jones and company. Van, overall, the, I mean, one more night to go. What do you think of the sort of what we have seen night to night and culminating with obviously this historic night tonight?
JONES: Yes, two things. One is I think that, you know, Biden doesn't have to say anything bad about Trump. It's already been done. He can push forward. I do think that the hard hat lunch pail crowd may have not gotten enough from these past couple of days. I think he needs to draw that circle big enough to bring those guys in and he's going to have his table set.
COOPER: Governor?
GRANHOLM: All right. I think he's got to and he will project steadiness. This forward look will give people comfort that he is going to fix their problems. This is all about them and he is going to be the one to solve the country's greatest problems with a great team.
COOPER: Andrew?
YANG: I loved tonight's economic messaging around the shop owner in Ohio, the farm owner in Iowa, the restaurant working in California. If Joe makes the mainstream business owners feel like he's got their back, I think he is going to have a great night.
COOPER: Scott, do you think it's wise for him not to -- for Biden tomorrow not to focus on Trump?
JENNINGS: A hundred percent. He needs to do two things. One, explain why after 40 years in public life he's the one to finally fix problems that are going on.
[23:55:04]
And, two, he and Trump have the same job, who has a plan to make America normal again and get our economy going again. They both got the exact same task, one this week and one next.
COOPER: Van, who do you think the best speaker has been so far?
JONES: Michelle Obama.
COOPER: Governor?
GRANHOLM: The Obamas, both of them. Quite a pair.
COOPER: You can only choose one. Andrew?
GRANHOLM: I can't.
COOPER: Andrew?
YANG: Anderson, Kamala Harris had to follow Barack Obama. She met that standard. It was amazing. I loved it.
COOPER: You're still on the Kamala Harris high. All right. Scott?
YANG: I really am. JENNINGS: Yes, the Obamas -- the Obamas are so head and shoulders
above everyone else in their party in terms of oratory skills and, frankly, personal speechwriting ability that they were always destined to outshine everyone else in this convention.
COOPER: Yes. Really extraordinary. We have much more ahead on the Democratic convention. I want to thank all the -- all the folks with me. Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon pick up our coverage right after a quick break.
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