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EARLY START

Hillary Clinton Becomes First Female Presidential Nominee of Major Party; Bill Clinton Headlines Last Night at the DNC; Two Attackers Storm Church in Northern France. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired July 27, 2016 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The things you can do on an iPhone. Hillary Clinton makes history on night two of the democratic convention, one glass ceiling shattered. Though, she has a bigger November version in mind. So, did she move closer overnight?

Welcome to Early Start, everyone. Live at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I am Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, July 27th. It is 3 a.m. here in Philadelphia at the CNN Grill. We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the official midpoint of the Democratic National Convention.

All that happened last night full of history, Hillary Clinton became the first woman -- the first woman to become the official nominee of a major party, which is convenient because the word presumptive is you feel tired to say for so long. She closed out the night via video from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What an incredible honor that you have given me and I can't believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet.

Thanks to you and to everyone who's fought so hard to make this possible. This is really your victory. This is really your night. And if there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say I may become the first woman president but one of you is next.

Thank you all. I can't wait to join you in Philadelphia. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The unquestioned headliner of the night, a guy named William Jefferson Clinton. You might know him as Bill, the 42nd President of the United States. He began by saying "In the spring of 1971, I met a girl," and then proceeded to give us a minute by minute account of their relationship since then.

Just kidding, sort of. It was a remarkable and personal testimony designed to paint Hillary Clinton as a change maker and to soften her maybe a bit in the public image.

CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us now with more. Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Christine. The night was unquestionably historic. But as you note, Bill Clinton had another goal in mind, make her more human and there's a very good reason for that.

Over the course of four decades of service, a lot of it in the public sector, Hillary Clinton has been kind of defined, maybe at times not in the way she would want to be. Bill Clinton called it a cartoon character that has been created because of that.

And in his job in the speech last night, was to try and change that, to add a three-dimensional picture, a very specific strategy that as you noted, trace the arc of their relationship and also the arc of her career. And it all cushioned off with Bill Clinton making this final case. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: If you love this country, you're working hard, you're paying taxes and you're obeying the law and you'd like to become a citizen, you should choose immigration reform over somebody who wants to send you back.

(APPLAUSE)

If you're -- if you're a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together.

(APPLAUSE)

We want you.

If you're a young African-American disillusioned and afraid, we saw in Dallas how great our police officers can be. Help us build a future where nobody's afraid to walk outside, including the people that wear blue to protect our future.

(APPLAUSE)

Hillary will make us stronger together. You know it because she spent a lifetime doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And, guys, the task for Bill Clinton and really the whole string of speakers on Tuesday night was not a small one.

Hillary Clinton in the latest CNN/ORC poll has an unfavorability rating of 68 percent, which in any other year where Donald Trump wasn't running would be historically high.

But the whole point, the whole purpose was to paint a fuller picture of Hillary Clinton and also in a election cycle that is very clearly about change, paint somebody who spent a large part of her career in the public eye, in the government sector as someone who can do just that.

[03:05:03] It was a heavy and serious task. But one Clinton attempted to address and only the kind of folks that waited the way Bill Clinton can.

Now, this is going to continue obviously tonight, as well. You've got Vice President Joe Biden speaking; you've got President Obama speaking as well. As one democratic official put it to me, Michelle Obama's job was to make the historic case, Bill Clinton's job was to make the human case, Barack Obama's job will likely to be making the case for the future. Guys?

BERMAN: All right. Phil Mattingly outside the CNN Grill. Thanks so much.

Joining us to discuss the second night of the democratic convention, CNN political analyst, Josh Rogin, a columnist for the Washington Post, and our special trio of CNN political commentators, Angela Rye, former executive director for the Congressional Black Caucus, Amanda Carpenter is a former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz. And we have democratic strategist Bob Beckel with us as well.

I think, guys, you can look at the Bill Clinton performance as if we're in Olympic skating competition, right. A technical score and an artistic score. I mean, there was the presentation and then what he's trying to do, Bob, how do think he did?

BOB BECKEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he did fine. Look, first of all, remember, what he did was fill in big gaps about Hillary Clinton. People did not know about her history going back in the '70s working with kids and working in legal aid. And he did it.

I mean, who better to tell that story than Clinton, and it was a very 'unClintonesque' speech in a way, you know, but that made him more human. I think he did his job and he did it well.

ROMANS: A full set of little bit of what he said it was personal very personal. I mean, he started kind of with this, you know, "In the spring of 1971, I met a girl" and went from there, took us all through their relationship.

Let's listen to him sort of try to soften her and tell the story of their relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

B. CLINTON: In the spring of 1971, I met a girl.

(CROWD CHEERING) The first time I saw her, we were appropriately enough in a class on political and civil rights. She had thick blond hair, big glasses. Wore no makeup. And she exuded this sense of strength and self- possession that I found magnetic.

After the class, I followed her out. Intending to introduce myself. I got close enough to touch her back but I couldn't do it. Somehow I knew this would not be just another tap on the shoulder and I might be starting something I couldn't stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And he talked about how he asked her to marry him three times, Angela Rye, and she said no every time. He talked about, you know, when she saw the first house that she wanted to buy. We heard a lot about their relationship, you know, and until now more recently what we've heard about their relationship is kind of negative stuff that Donald Trump has said.

ANGELA RYE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I actually loved this entire speech. I was saying earlier today that it's just been frustrating for me watching Bill Clinton not be the explainer and chief this go around, this campaign he's been harmful to her in some instances.

And today, you saw him not just be the explainer and chief but you saw him be a proud husband, a proud father of Chelsea, talking about her raising Chelsea. Talking about her being a good friend and the friend that has gone on the campaign trail at her own expense to talk about the Hillary they know. I thought that was so impressive. And he went state by state, every state that she touch, including Alaska.

ROMANS: Right.

RYE: And it was so compelling. I thought he did a fantastic job.

BERMAN: It was minute by minute, and state by state. You know, hour by hour view of their relationship as he did put.

Amanda Carpenter, Angela called Bill Clinton the explainer-in-chief. But you essentially told me in makeup, where we have all our best conversations.

AMANDA CARPENTER, FORMER TED CRUZ COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes, obviously.

BERMAN: That what he was explaining was the wrong thing.

CARPENTER: I found it a little uncomfortable. Listen, going into this I wanted to see Bill Clinton give this sort of majestic speech that explained the moment in time from a presidential perspective and also talk about Hillary.

I think it's great that he lay a lot of groundwork for her. But kind of like -- you know, I grew up in a time when all this was going on in the White House, with Monica Lewinsky when I was in middle school in hight school. I don't care about their love life. I don't care about these things.

If you want to get people, I feel like he should be explaining why she's qualified as a leader. And to start the speech talking about how he wood her, spending so much time like, trying to convince America that he loves her. I just find it bizarre and weird and I just don't want to go back down that road.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: He did talk about, he tried to draw it around about how she's done all this work and how she's a change maker and how, you know, him knowing him for so long is why he's qualified to call her a chief maker.

CARPENTER: Yes.

ROMANS: So, listen to him talk a little bit about why that journey matters to who you're voting for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

B. CLINTON: She's insatiably curious, she's a natural leader, she's a good organizer and she's the best darn change maker I ever met in my entire life.

(APPLAUSE)

[03:10:03] I can tell you this. If you were sitting where I'm sitting and you heard what I have heard at every dinner conversation, every lunch conversation on every lawn walk, you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything. She always wants to move the ball forward. That is just who she is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Josh Rogin?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, to Amanda's point, I think they had plenty of other people tonight talking about her record. Bill Clinton is talking about the one thing that only he can talk about.

I mean, to your point, this level of difficulty on this speech, super high. Because what he's trying to, he's trying redefine the most well- known woman in politics, to perhaps one of the most well-known woman in the world. He's trying to give her a new start, a new slate; he's trying to change the narrative about Hillary Clinton.

That's almost impossible. And the way he did it was clever. What he said was you've heard about this version of Hillary Clinton from the Trump side. I'm telling you a different version. How do you square that? You can't. One is real and one is made up and I'm telling you the real story. And that's his argument. And he's saying that no matter what you've heard about Hillary Clinton, I should know. And I think that's a powerful argument.

BERMAN: It was fascinating, Bob. In another sportsman (Inaudible) To me, it looked like a team with a passing offense deciding to run the ball for the whole game. I mean, Bill Clinton right there he didn't talk about himself at all. That was what was different from his normal speeches. This wasn't a defense of the '90s; this was really all about someone else.

BECKEL: That belongs in the Smithsonian by the way, that he was -- he didn't talk about himself during that. But I'll tell you, when he talked about her being a change agent at every step of the way. You know, what Trump is trying to make her part of the past, right, the crooked Hillary and all that.

And in every stage, what Bill Clinton said was she move the ball forward.

ROMANS: Right.

BECKEL: And that's what the American people want to see something get done which Donald Trump cannot do. And I think, I tell you, you analyzes the speech carefully it was one of the more brilliant speeches. I mean, maybe not the poetry of Michelle Obama. But certainly, strategically it was a perfect speech.

CARPENTER: And I do think this was one of the first speeches that define Hillary Clinton like, you know, she's just a really hard worker, she's always doing things, she's moving the ball.

But Bill Clinton, I wonder was he auditioning for the first spouse, trying to show the public also this is how I'm prepared to take a backseat. I can do this, I can just speak about her and it will be OK. There's some of that going on, too.

BERMAN: I think it was interesting, that's why there was just a ton going on. We have a lot more chance to talk about.

ROMANS: Right.

ROGIN: And the one person he didn't mention, Donald Trump.

ROMANS: Oh, yes. All right. Personal intimate stories. You've got more on that here when we continue after the break from those Hillary Clinton has helped on night two of the DNC. But can their testimonials change the minds of millions who think she can't be trusted?

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Last night, democrats reintroduce their new nominee to the American public. One speaker after another telling of their personal connection to Hillary Clinton. Portraying her as a woman who fought for them and who said -- and who they said will fight for you.

Let's get back to our panel. Josh Rogin, Angela Rye, Bob Beckel. Bringing our political commentator, John Phillips, he's a talk radio host at KABC.

BERMAN: We should have a fashion commentator to talk about Meryl Streep, you know, American flag. ROMANS: Yes, there you go, there you go. but we will talk first,

there was a video they played, the mothers of the movement. This video they played that really got a lot of attention. And this is one of these episodes where they were trying to show how Hillary Clinton has been there for people who may not have a voice and how she has consistently done that. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were informed she only had half an hour but once she got there, Hillary actually sat there and listened to each and every one of our stories. She showed respect, empathy. We've seen a loving mother part of her. It wasn't about politics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 30-minute meeting turned into two hours because she listened to us. Nobody else listened to us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eleven times, eleven times, he said he couldn't breathe. It seems like people are just getting away with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people say what can we do?

H. CLINTON: Well, I think you can continue to speak out but you will be more effective if you do somehow band together so that it's a constant drum beat as to say look, we are citizens, we are mothers, we lost children. This is not only wrong, it is unacceptable and here are the things that need to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And some of those mothers took the stage and spoke last night as well. But that video, Angela, moving and trying to show that even though there's a camera there in that meeting obviously, but that she behind the scenes is trying to -- the change maker that Bill Clinton said she is.

RYE: You know, in addition to this video, the circus to show the airs on ShowTime. They had footage of these mothers also doing a town hall for Hillary Clinton in South Carolina and it's absolutely one of the most compelling things that I've seen yet because they were sold on the fact that they believe this was the candidate who actually heard them.

So, to see that on that video that they showed tonight is, again, it's very, very compelling. These are women that I've watched. I've known some of them. I respect quite a bit. I do not know how they can keep it together with what they've been through and to stand up there and say nothing bad about the other candidate, which is a sharp contrast from what we saw last week.

[03:19:56] The woman who had the son who was killed in Benghazi went up there to criticize Hillary Clinton. These women went up there today to compliment her on pushing forward the change they think they need to see stabilize.

ROMANS: Josh? ROGIN: I talked to some Clinton aides this week they see this is as

another opportunity to draw a sharp contrast between Clinton and Trump, right. Look, Bill Clinton said and I think I was in the hall, I think people received this was that there's a public service for private individuals, right.

So, before we knew Hillary Clinton, the senator, Hillary Clinton, the first lady, she had this 30-year record that Bill Clinton is trying to fill in. She's a private citizen doing public service.

You compare that to Donald Trump. And the argument they're making is he's a private citizen, OK, you can compare apples to apples. What has he done in public service? The record is much thinner.

BERMAN: They have provided an enormous amount of biographical detail over the last two days and I expect we'll hear probably more of it the next two days.

And for instance, you know, Lauren Manning, who was a survivor on 9/11 work for Cantor Fitzgerald, she gave this very emotional testimony about Hillary Clinton coming to see her while she was recovering. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN MANNNG, 9/11 SURVIVOR: I was catastrophically burned over 82 percent of my body. My chances of survival next to zero. I battled for months to live and for years to recover. She walked into my hospital room and she took my bandaged hand into her own.

For years she visited, called and continues to check in because Hillary cares. I trusted her when my life was on the line and she came through. Not for the cameras, not because anyone was watching, but because that's who she is. Kind, caring, loyal. She had my back.

This is the Hillary Clinton I want you to know. She was there for me and that's why I'm with her.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Look, very emotional. Moved the crowd. I'm sure moved people who were watching on TV as well. The question to both John and Bob here if you can answer it quickly is, at the end of the week, does this move voters? Does any of this move voters? Or is it all about what Hillary Clinton says on Thursday?

JOHN PHILLIPS, KABC TALK RADIO HOST: Well, to give you another sports metaphor this is the leadoff batteries. What they're trying to do here is they're trying to humanize her. People think that she's a climber. People think that she is an ambitious politician that's willing to do anything to become president.

So, they want to take as many sympathetic figures as they possibly can and just wrap her in them and say, oh, no, look, she's not the House of Cards guy. She's a real person.

BERMAN: Bob?

BECKEL: I'll tell you, you know, there's very few times that people -- and if Donald Trump can get a bump off that convention, she will get one off this convention. I don't think it's going to last that long.

Let me tell you quickly about the focus groups in Ohio.

BERMAN: Oh, yes, I love this.

BECKEL: It wasn't about as good as what the person. "Bill cut trade deals that cut my job and the '90s was the last time America was great, which was good. He cheated on her was rising lovers so much. Real for the real person, I'm real two for one."

Remember, when they used to talk about that Bill that you get two is for one?

ROMANS: Yes.

BECKEL: It was a mixed bag but the trade thing was there.

ROMANS: Interesting. We'll talk about that a little bit more when we come back. Because that is really -- you know, the legacy of Bill Clinton, you know, how he's trying to position himself not as, you know, the third Clinton -- the third Clinton term. But, you know, maybe trying to run a little bit from some of the history of the 1990s.

All right, 23 minutes past the hour.

ISIS claiming responsibility for a new attack in Europe. We'll bring that to you, next.

[03:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Two attackers have stormed the church in Northern France and murdered an 85-year-old priest, committed the act in the name of ISIS. A witness who was inside the church on Tuesday tells French television the priest was forced to his knees and had his throat slit when he resisted.

The ISIS news agency described the attackers as soldiers for the terror network. Both suspects were shot and killed by police.

ROMANS: Terrible. All right. Twenty eight minutes past the hour. Hillary Clinton last night making history. She becomes the first woman ever to represent a major U.S. political party in the race for president.

We'll break it all down, next.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)