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Erin Burnett Outfront
CNN Republican National Convention. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 18, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC)
[19:00:07]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: The final night of the Republican National Convention is underway in Milwaukee.
Speakers setting the stage for the grand finale for the Republicans, which is Donald Trump will speak to delegates, and, of course, to the nation tonight, just days after surviving an assassination attempt. The former president at a moment of triumph, pursuing one of the most stunning comebacks in political history.
You are watching a special edition of OUTFRONT.
And welcome to all. I'm Erin Burnett, along with Wolf Blitzer, of course.
And, Wolf, no matter how voters view Donald Trump, right? And gosh, knows one of the most polarizing times in our history is political journey is unparalleled.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You're absolutely right, Erin.
Trump's speech later tonight may give us a sense of how he plans to move forward in that journey. Sources now telling CNN, the former president has been personally and very intensely involved in crafting what he'll say tonight, energizing -- emphasizing unity after the attempt on his life, instead of the more familiar and divisive rhetoric he has offered used in the past.
We'll be listening, of course, to every word that's coming up later tonight. And when Trump accepts his third presidential nomination and delivers his remarks in primetime, we'll get a better sense of what's -- what's -- what's -- what's about to happen.
His son, Eric Trump, also is speaking tonight and will help tee up his father's speech. We expect former First Lady Melania Trump to be in the hall making her first appearance at this convention -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. And CNN's Phil Mattingly is near the Trump family box in the convention hall.
And, Phil, you know, you've seen family members there throughout the week and Melania Trump will be there tonight.
So what more do you expect to see from the Trump family this evening?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Erin, what's been fascinating about the course of the last several days is there's been two real main stages, the convention stage and then center stage. Right behind me, you can see ringed and outlined in red, that is the VIP box, the family box where just around 8:00 p.m. every single night, the former president walks into raucous of applause, and then as one senior Republican official put it, a mini Mar-a-Lago of sorts, where you have Republican lawmakers, Republican candidates, top players in the Trump inner circle, cycling through seeing who can sit next to him, who can get his attention, who can talk to them, whether his son moves his chair or moves down to more chairs. J.D. Vance's mom was there last night, of what was a very powerful moment in his remarks.
And it has become a place where everybody is looking to throughout the course of the night, not just to see who's up there and it's certainly a who's who of Trump world and Trump world adjacent. But also to see the reaction, how the former president is doing certainly in the wake of the traumatic events of the attempted assassination, but also how he responds to people like Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis, former opponents, or his new vice presidential selections.
And tonight will be dramatically different. And one really particular sense and that is, as you noted, Melania Trump, Donald Trump's wife will be in attendance, will be sitting up there. Ivanka Trump is expected to be here as well.
And these are going to be things they haven't seen before. And all eyes will certainly be on them, Erin.
BURNETT: They certainly well, as we watch this evening.
Phil, thank you very much.
Let's go to Kaitlan Collins now on the convention floor.
And, Kaitlan, I know you just spoke to the House speaker a short while ago.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yeah, Erin. I'm standing in front of the Louisiana delegation down here on the floor. Everyone is getting ready for tonight's speakers to come out. You can see House Speaker Mike Johnson actually mingling with members of his delegation right now from his home state.
I just spoke to him a few moments ago about what he is expecting to see in his party's leaders tonight. And this is what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We hear from President Trump in his speech tonight.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think he's going to be inspiring and uplifting, and he wants to talk about unifying the country. That's what the country needs right now. And we're really looking forward to that message. We -- there's a lot
of anticipation as you can tell out here, lot of energy and I think that's true across the country. Everywhere we've been in recent weeks, that has been building.
But after the assassination attempt, I think there's been an emotional aspect to this that just can't be discounted. So it's going to be a big night for us.
COLLINS: What do you think unity means to Donald Trump?
JOHNSON: What's that?
COLLINS: What do you think -- how do you think he defines unity?
JOHNSON: I think -- when he says America first that comes from a deep, sincere place in his heart and he loves this country. I had been with him all over the place and all different kinds of settings.
You know, we've talked about it. He loves the American people. He loves what America stands for. And I think he's going to articulate that tonight and have a clear vision for where were going. And I think it's going to resonate with the American people just like J.D. Vance's speech did last night.
COLLINS: Thank you, Speaker Johnson.
(END VIDEO CLPI)
COLLINS: Now, Erin, I will say one thing we have been hearing from all of our sources is about this speech tonight from the former president that he personally helped rewrite after what happened on Saturday is going to revolve around unity.
But I think there is a question of what that looks like in Donald Trump's view, how he projects that from the stage compared to how someone else might define unity. It's kind of one of those stay tuned and wait and see speeches to see how he articulates that and what that looks like on stage.
[19:05:04]
And I'll tell you, I've been hearing from his political advisers who don't want that to just be a theme of tonight. That want -- they want that to be something that resonates throughout the rest of this campaign for the next 100 days or so until November. Of course, the big question is whether or not they can.
It's still very early. There are still a lot of time to go, but everyone will be watching closely as a speaker said, to what Donald Trump says when he addresses this convention, but also the nation tonight.
BURNETT: All right, Kaitlan. Thank you very much.
And you know, its interesting what Kaitlan talks about, Shermichael, the people close to him want, you know, the message again, maybe it will, maybe it won't, but we've had this conversation countless times before.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.
BURNETT: In fact, after the horrific events of Saturday, you know, when he posted a concern general, generous tweet at first, it wasn't even 24 hours later when there was a tweet about throwing out all the cases in witch-hunt, right. Just I'm just -- wasn't a tweet. It was a Truth Social post.
So what we here tonight doesn't really mean anything about what we're going to hear down the road.
SINGLETON: I mean, it doesn't, Erin, but there is an opportunity for people who don't typically engage in this process to hear what the former president has to say after what happened this past Saturday. I'm thinking about a guy named Paul Tillich. He wrote a book titled "Morality and Beyond". And in that book, Tillich talks about the church. He says the church has to figure out a way to adapt to the issues of today.
Well, Donald Trump has to figure out a way to adapt to the issues of today beyond just his base. And this is an opportunity for him to do that. For those skeptical, independent but right leaning voters who want to potentially vote for him this November.
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What I'll be interested in seeing is Donald Trump is known for using rallies as message testing, right? He likes to try things out see how the crowd responds if they like it, they'll keep doing it. So immediately after he was shot, he stands up and says, "fight, fight, fight".
Already tonight, the theme of this convention, really, is already being introduced by the head of --
BURNETT: The theme tonight is Trump is a fighter. I mean, that's the theme.
ANDERSON: Exactly. And so I would imagine that that's going to be the message he drives and he's going to see how it plays and the whole what lines work. The real issue though is that the people in the hall are already voting for him. Does he have the discipline to realize just because something works in the hall doesn't mean it's winning those swing voters. Can he go beyond that?
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. Look, I'm a longtime critic of the obsession with unity in American politics. Our system was not set up for a unit -- for unity, divided government, separation of powers, checks and balances. The Founding Fathers believed to paraphrase St. Augustine, in essentials is unity, in all else, liberty. That's why we have federalism in this country.
And what we need to paraphrase by my colleague at the American Enterprise Institute, Yuval Levin, is we need to be better at how we disagree with each other, not try to impose this false notion that we're going to all unify and rally around some one politician, particularly Donald Trump. The idea that Donald Trump can be a unifying figure in American politics is preposterous, and that's not really a criticism on me. He's simply an avatar of the culture war now.
Presidents are avatars in the culture war and the idea that you're going to get a tribalized country that is so deeply polarized and full negative and partisanship to see him as some sort of unifying figure is just literally important.
BURNETT: And yet, Alyssa in that room. Okay. He's going to come out and I don't know whether his bandage will be on or what you've got people in that room wearing a bandage in solidarity with him, he is going to come out at a moment like that. None of us have ever seen before, right? The last time he came out, it was a big moment for him.
Okay. Let's just play it. This is how Trump walked out in 2016. Last time there's a person in-person convention.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
BURNETT: All right. We all remember that moment, and, you know, in that room, there was incredible but it seems like in the room I mean, that's going to look like nothing compared to what you're going to get tonight.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this is obviously guy who's in the WWE Hall of Fame. He knows showmanship. He knows how to play to his audience. It's going to be ten times more electric tonight in that room.
I mean, we heard I talked to people who are there the first night that he came out and they said you could palpably feel the emotion, but I want to point out one thing I've just been observed bring his face as he's been in the box, he's actually spent a lot of time at the convention hall he is on cloud nine.
There's this bit of him that I do see sort of a soberness coming off of the assassination attempt, but let's also think, he announced his reelection, no major figures showed up. I think Matt Gaetz was one of the only sitting congressmen. It basically was seen as he was so weakened just 2-1/2 years ago, we thought it was me the summer of a January 6 trial, of a documents case, a Fulton county, none of that appears to be happening now, he's got the Supreme Court immunity ruling.
I mean, he could not have had a better, saved for the terrible events of last weekend, last year of his life. And I think he's sinking in and he's really realizing this is literally better than I could have dreamed up, how much people are rallying around.
BURNETT: You know, we've seen them a lot this week.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We have heard him a lot. And, you know, maybe he's been in a good mood.
[19:10:02]
I also watched him during J.D. Vance's speech last night, where he scowled practically the entire time he went, Vance gave maybe one of the most boring convention speeches I've seen, and I've seen a lot of convention speeches. It was long and it was boring but he can call them, J.D. boring, if I was Donald Trump.
GOLDBERG: We can't all be Peter Navarro. We can't all be Peter Navarro.
SIMMONS: Exactly because his people come out.
But this does strike me that Trump is going to do something that is not unifying, which is that they are really trying to go after a very narrow slice of the American public. This is, this is vertical marketing, not holes. They are trying to get every single person that already agrees with him to try to come out. I don't think they're appealing to many suburban women. I don't think they are appealing to that many African-Americans and Latinos, maybe the ones who are watching WWE or whatever, but they're not going to go. I don't think after the broad swath of the country.
And so that means he might be defying in some flowery language. But the substance is going to be the same.
GRIFFIN: But it speaks to how confident he is. I think that he's realizing well have long said that this race is between Joe Biden and the couch. I think he realized like he just needs to fight against the couch. If he can activate the core people who've been with him in the past, then he's going to win this thing, just based on all the public polling we have.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I mean, I think this point about he's running a base race is important because you, you know, yes, he may adjust the speech tonight to kind of appeal to unity, but we know deep down, he's animated. I mean, the theme tonight as Trump is a fighter, he's animated by the --
BURNETT: I mean, there's the literal and we had an economic night. We had a national security night. And we have a Trump as a fighter night.
BEDINGFIELD: So, there is a fundamental tension between I'm a fighter, and I'm a unifier, and I think, the other key thing is that his base knows him as a fighter and he knows that's what they like about him.
So I just think, you know, as he's moving forward in this campaign, it's hard to see him abandoning that kind of like fundamental visceral view of who he is and his belief that that's why people like him. But it's going to be hard for him to maintain this notion of unity.
ANDERSON: I don't know that he actually think that there has to be a view that being a fighter and being a unifier have to be opposite. So it just depends on what you're fighting against. If you're fighting for America, that can be very unifying. So, they to be a tension there, but we'll see if Donald Trump --
(CROSSTALK)
SIMMONS: -- unifying -- the unifying hi thread of the Trump era is that this is about Trump and his family. It's not really about that --
SINGLETON: Yeah, but, Erin, from an operational perspective, this campaign is the best ran campaign the former president has ever had.
SIMMONS: For sure.
SINGLETON: Chris LaCivita, Susie, those are very serious people. Brian Jack, who is now running for Congress in Georgia for political director. I know these folks, they know they're doing. And so, if you would want to say, oh, he's only placating to the base, he's only trying to turn his base, that's a naive position.
He recognizes that he has to turn out some Latinos. They recognize that the turnout, some African American young men. They recognize that the turnout, some young white men, and they're making those efforts.
BURNETT: So, okay, but earlier, there was reporting that he would not say -- you said Bret Baier, would not say Joe Biden's name during the speech. Okay. Now, I'm sure that that was in maybe -- maybe because you don't even want to give it -- you know, you don't even want to deign to do that.
But now, even in these past hours, if anybody's watching the headlines about Joe Biden more closely than Joe Biden is Donald Trump, right? And he sees that whole tide turning. So he's looking at a world. Well, maybe it's Biden, maybe it's not Joe Biden. How does that impact him tonight?
GRIFFIN: Well, I think it's actually brilliant if he doesn't mention him because he's kind of projecting I'm so far ahead. That would almost be punching down to like, bring his name to this speech, and to make it more about him. He's had this line that frankly as powerful as much as I hate it, but like they're trying to, I'm the only thing standing between them and you.
If he wraps that into the story of the attempted assassination, that's powerful to a lot of Americans who are watching. So I think it would actually be a wise call, but I do think that there's a part of him that may be bothered how much of his convention week is being eclipsed by Joe Biden. This, will he, will he not, is it Kamala Harris?
But tonight, all eyes will be on him.
BURNETT: I mean, you know, he could be debating Kamala Harris in September. I mean, I just say this is a worldview that even for him, it's a precise mix shift in days.
GOLDBERG: Yeah. No. Look, I mean, it's got to be very frustrating into Alyssa's point is it's traditionally, there's a rule that the opposite party goes quiet during the conventions and lets the other party make its case. I think Joe Biden would very much like that to be the situation here, right? Its not like you can say, oh, were their tampering or the stealing our news coverage. But this is not the way Joe Biden would want it still the news
coverage, right? And so it's kind of brutal. It's like you switch for covering the best-case Republicans can make to the dire straits of the Democrats. And Donald Trump is the only one who doesn't like that.
BURNETT: All right. Let's hit pause for just a moment.
MJ Lee has some breaking news. She's at the White House right now.
So what are you learning, MJ?
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, my colleagues and I have spoken with dozens of sources, both inside and close to the White House and the campaign. And this much is clear right now, many senior most officials inside the White House and the Biden campaign privately believe at this point that the president does need to drop out.
[19:15:05]
They've simply see the current political situation and as being completely untenable as one senior Democrat put it to us, everyone is saying it privately. People see and feel the walls are closing in.
This comes as sources have said that the president has become exceptionally insulated and isolated in recent days, that everyone is familiar with the fact that the president has for you here's relied on a small circle of advisers about what we are seeing, in the picture that has been painted for us since the debate is that that group of the most loyal aides that are really dug in with the president has become stunningly small. Chief among them, of course, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, both of whom have of course worked with the president for a number of decades and know him very well.
Now, many Democrats, as a result of all of these dynamics, they have been sort of alarmed as they have not really been sure whether the president is getting sort of realistic data from the people that are closest to him. Some of the sources said that many meetings and phone calls where people would be going to the president bearing bad news, that those appear to have largely stopped multiple sources.
Also, interestingly said that the president's recent response when presented with bad polling has been to cast doubt on whether anybody else can actually perform stronger than the president. That, of course, is not the first anecdote that we have reported on over the last few days of the president being defensive and dug-in when it comes to data and polling.
So, look, there's a lot of reporting coming out about who knows what, who is close to the president. And I think all of this just serves as a reminder that very few people actually have an insight into the president's mind right now, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. MJ, thank you very much.
One person who does have insight, the most worked with him and knows him, Kate Bedingfield.
So, Kate, what's your reaction to MJ's reporting.
BEDINGFIELD: Look, one thing I will say about campaign leaks like this, this is not honorable. This is not helpful to the candidate you're working for.
I think for people across the party who are raising their concerns, it's a conversation but I would argue needs to be had. I'm not -- I don't question that.
But if you are working for Joe Biden's campaign and you were going out right now while the president is clearly, as we've seen from some of his top closest confidants like Chris Coons, reflecting on what he wants to do moving forward, if you were working on his campaign and you were going out and leaking like this, put your name on it and resign because that is just -- that is not an honorable -- honorable way to behave.
BURNETT: All right.
SINGLETON: I agree with Kate on that.
BURNETT: All right. We're getting closer to Donald Trump's night at the convention as this reporting continues to break on Joe Biden. We'll get more information on the former president's speech anticipated here in just a couple of hours. We're going to bring it to you and his family will be there. His son Eric will speak before him as the convention finale kicks into high year.
We are also awaiting in the theme of tonight, Trump is a fighter. We're going to hear from Hulk Hogan. Kid Rock is going to be there. Linda McMahon, all of these people going to be here on this theme of fighter Trump coming up live. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:22:10]
BLITZER: We're back here at the Republican National Convention and Linda McMahon, the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration, has just started speaking.
I want to listen in.
LINDA MCMAHON, FMR. ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION: He scooped her up with delight and asked her who's the most beautiful girl in the world and she said, me.
Then he asked, and who do you love the most in the world? She said, you, grandpa. And he kissed her on both cheeks. Then she whisked off his hat and mussed his hair. And he smiled and with a love that only a grandfather could have given.
I first met Donald Trump when I was the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. (APPLAUSE)
MCMAHON: For fun, he became part of some of the most compelling and highest rated storylines in the company's history. And when he became president, I was honored to serve in his cabinet running the Small Business Administration.
I traveled the country talking to business owners and job creators. They knew they had a president who understood them and fought for them. He knew that small businesses are the engine of the American economy and the Trump tax cut proved to be like rocket fuel for them.
Almost every business owner I spoke with was using their tax savings to grow their businesses. And ladies and gentlemen, the U.S. economy was flourishing. But at no moment during my time in the government was more poignant for me than one that happened in 2018.
I traveled with the president to view the destruction which Hurricane Florence had levied on my hometown of New Bern, North Carolina. I stepped off of Air Force One and walked side-by-side with the president of the United States through the hangar where my father had been a shop foreman and my mom had been a budget analyst.
I watched Donald Trump walk through neighborhoods of my childhood, comforting those who had suffered such great damages. Because he was a builder, he talked to them about what it would take to rebuild, what kind of materials they should use. And he didn't just show a personal interest. He was one of them.
But now Joe Biden and the Democrats want to penalize small businesses by hiking their taxes. But when he's reelected, Donald Trump will make those tax cuts permanent.
(APPLAUSE)
[19:25:06]
MCMAHON: And he will also offer new tax cuts like no taxes on tips.
(APPLAUSE)
MCMAHON: Instead of taxing American companies, Donald Trump put tariffs on China that raised the billions of dollars and protected American industries. And if reelected, he'll do it again.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
MCMAHON: President Trump is a job creator and the best friend American workers have ever had in the White House. He is a champion of the forgotten men and women as I have experienced firsthand. But the media doesn't like to acknowledge that very often.
Donald Trump is not only a fighter, ladies and gentlemen. He is a good man. (APPLAUSE)
MCMAHON: He has the heart of a lion and the soul of a warrior. And I believe that, if necessary, he would stand at the gates of hell to defend our country.
(APPLAUSE)
MCMAHON: He loves this country, and he would do anything to defend it and to protect us from all harm. I am confident that he will make America great again, and why? Because he did it before.
(APPLAUSE)
MCMAHON: So I ask all of you here tonight and those of you who are watching from home to reelect Donald J Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
(CHEERING)
MCMAHON: Thank you. And good night.
(APPLAUSE)
BLITZER: So there you have Linda McMahon speaking, one of the early speakers on this final night of the Republican National Convention.
Still ahead, we're keeping an eye on the Trump family box just ahead of the arrival of the former president and his closest relatives.
And it's all leading up to his acceptance speech that's coming up later today. Let's take a quick break. Much more of our special coverage right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:18]
BURNETT: All right. That is floor of the convention hall for the RNC convention in Milwaukee, where they are waiting for the big event tonight and that of course, is Donald Trump returning to the arena.
Kaitlan Collins, I believe that Trump has arrived at this point?
COLLINS: Yeah, Erin. Donald Trump has arrived. I'm told. He is here.
He has not actually made it into the floor yet. Of course, when that happens every night, they show him on the screen, there's a big audience reaction and he goes up to the VIP box, but I am told that he is here on the property. And so, we should expect to see him any moment. We'll be watching closely.
And, Erin, one thing to note is how closely involved Donald Trump has been with really the weight is entire convention has been scripted. I'm told by sources that he's been heavily involved in who is speaking and when they are speaking. And just looking lets just speakers were set to introduce him tonight. Obviously, he will be the finale tonight, closing out this convention. With his speech, that's slated to go a little over an hour. But you'll see his son, Eric Trump, Dana White, Tucker Carlson, all of them coming out to speak beforehand, and that is all by design. He has had a role and a direct role in that selecting every single person who was coming out.
It really just speaks to obviously, Donald Trump is a showman. You hear a lot about visuals and so its not surprising he's been intimately involved in every aspect of this. We are waiting to see him enter the actual delegation floor. We should expect to do rather her soon, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Kaitlan, thank you very much.
And you know what? Kaitlan pointing out was Trump's been involved in who speaks and when. Now, you know, we've been sitting here sort of in the four hours until too late p.m. every night, and you have seen some of the MAGA heavy people, whether it's Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz in the earlier slots.
Nikki Haley, you know, some of the -- more kind of you would think reaching out voices have been later, but not tonight. Not tonight. Tucker Carlson, Alina Habba, Dana White, obviously, a UFC. I mean, this is the lead in to Trump is very MAGA tonight.
GRIFFIN: It's a choice and it shows that the party is MAGA right now. Why am not super bullish on this idea of a change Trump in this unity message is someone like a Tucker Carlson is the lead up to. I mean, this is somebody who recently traveled to the Kremlin, met with president -- with Putin. He's espoused dangerous conspiracy theories, like the great replacement theory.
This is not somebody who anyone would say is a unifying force within American politics. Now, I do expect that the tone and tenor of Trump speech will be different than the campaign speech. I'm not expecting for sharks and lasers and Hannibal Lecter tonight.
But I think that this speaks to where the party is, and that pretty much as soon as he's back on the campaign trail, we're going get old Trump.
BURNETT: And it's an hour long speech.
GOLDBERG: Yeah. I mean, I expect the nudity to be tasteful and integral to the plot, too. But no --
BURNETT: Did you say nudity?
GOLDBERG: Nudity.
BURNETT: Nudity, okay. Just making sure I heard you correctly.
(LAUGHTER) GOLDBERG: No, I think what we're going to see tonight is one prediction is I think Tucker Carlson has gotten in his head. I've known Tucker for a long time, that he's going to be the Pat Buchanan of 1982.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I'll get back to you after this brief message, which is Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state.
MIKE POMPEO, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Good evening. Good evening, my fellow Americans. It's great to be with you. A special shout-out to Kansas over there, my good friends from Kansas.
(CHEERING)
POMPEO: You know, I had the incredible privilege to serve as President Trump's CIA Director and Secretary of State. It was -- it was my greatest honor to work with him every single day to serve you, the American people.
Now -- now, you all are paying attention.
[19:35:03]
So, you know what the Trump administration achieved. But it's worth going through a few of these accomplishments.
Let's start with this. There were no new American wars.
(CHEERING)
POMPEO: Our border, our southern border, closed.
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: It may seem like a long time ago, but when we took office, there were people's heads being cut off at the beaches. We destroyed ISIS and its caliphate.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: And, you know, here's another fun fact. We never lost our secretary of defense for two weeks either.
(LAUGHTER)
POMPEO: You will remember, for those four years, the evil of Vladimir Putin was held at bay.
When we walked out, January of 2021, the Iranian regime was afraid, and the people of Israel were strong and secure, and we treated them like the friend and ally that they need to be.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: Everywhere we went, everywhere we went, religious freedom was protected.
We held three summits in North Korea, and North Korea was quieted. We had begun too -- we'd begun an honorable exit from Afghanistan. And not a single Chinese spy balloon flew across the United States of America, four years.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: Had I been the secretary of state and a Chinese spy balloon flew across our country, I would have been the former secretary of state, and rightfully so.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: Under President Trump, the Chinese Communist Party, which to this day presents the greatest threat to our nation from outside of our country, we confronted it like never before.
Look, ladies and gentlemen, in short, we put America first every single day.
(CHEERING)
POMPEO: Forty-two months on, what has Joe Biden and Kamala Harris done and their leftist handlers?
What have they delivered to us for security and prosperity? Almost nothing. Let's start with this. You saw some of them last night, 13 new Gold Star families from Afghanistan. As an Army veteran, I want to speak to everybody who served in Afghanistan. I'm disgusted by the Biden administration's incompetent pullout from that country.
(CHEERING)
POMPEO: To those of you who served there, know this. Know that your service was honorable, that you saved American lives, and that the Pompeos love and admire you for what you did for America.
Thank you, and God bless each and every one of you.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: Every one of you who has served in uniform and the families of those, you deserve a president, a president who will not check his watch while he is honoring our fallen brothers and sisters.
It was indecent. (CHEERING)
POMPEO: And, of course, it was that very weakness, that very weakness we saw in Afghanistan that prompted Putin's butchery in Ukraine.
Last week, we saw what it meant, a children's hospital bombed, innocents killed. It did not have to be, and now, of course, a second war in Gaza. President Biden won't even talk about the fact that Americans are still being held there by the Iranian regime.
Contrast that -- contrast that with what we did when Americans were wrongfully held. President Trump sent me to North Korea to bring home three American pastors.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: We brought them home. We brought them home, along with dozens of others, dozens of other hostages, and we did so without paying one single penny to the terrorists.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: And what about Iran today?
When Joe Biden eased up on President Trump's maximum pressure campaign, we gave money to the ayatollah, so he could cut more checks to the genocidal maniacs who conducted attacks, barbaric attacks, in Israel.
And now, of course, closer to home, a massive national security challenge.
[19:40:02]
Our southern border is a welcome mat. It's a welcome mat for Islamist terrorists, drug dealers, Chinese spies, and violent criminals.
Ladies and gentlemen, President Biden sold out our citizens and our security and our sovereignty, and we need to get it back. And I am confident that we will get it back.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: I -- I had this incredible privilege to serve as your top diplomat. I saw -- I saw how the world always looks to our nation as the unrivaled example of what a free society should look like. But unfortunately, unfortunately, President Biden struts the global stage. Maybe I should say he shuffles the global stage.
He talks a big game about American values but what's he done at home? What's he shown the world? What have he and his leftist base actually shown other nations?
He censored free speech here at home. He has put woke into the military that I and you so desperately love. We must reclaim it.
He put it in our schools as well. He's weaponized the justice system against our political opponents. And even to this day as we sit here today, he and Vice President Harris are providing appeasement to the pro-Hamas radicals on our streets here inside the United States.
And even worse, today this administration treats illegals better than our own citizens. That is indecent.
And the entire administration -- the entire administration has failed to tell us the truth, the truth that we all know and is so dangerous to our nation. The truth that Joe Biden can't handle the 3:00 a.m. phone call. Indeed, he won't take a phone call after 4:00 p.m.
My call -- my call to you tonight is really straightforward. It's really simple. We can't trust the Biden administration. That means we have work to do to uphold American values.
It is up to those of us in the room tonight and those of you watching tonight. Donald trump will every day -- I saw it firsthand -- he will put America first.
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: So -- so let's do what's right and what's important. Let's elect a president who isn't ashamed of our nation and will never apologize for our country.
(APPLAUSE)
POMPEO: And when we do -- and when we do, we will put a strong America first leader back in the White House, we will reelect Donald J. Trump and we will make America special, exceptional and of course great again.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless our veterans and the United States of America. Thank you all. Thank you so much.
(APPLAUSE)
BURNETT: Former secretary of state, CIA director, Mike Pompeo.
We're going to take a brief break as we await the foreign president entering that convention hall. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:19]
BURNETT: Our Republican convention coverage is back.
This is Pastor Lorenzo Sewell speaking. REV. LORENZO SEWELL, 180 CHURCH SENIOR PASTOR: If President Trump had moved one millimeter, he wouldn't have been here on Monday to talk to us about how America was going to be made wealthy again.
If President Donald Trump would have moved just a millimeter, he wouldn't have been here on Tuesday to talk about how he was going to make America secure again.
If President Donald Trump would have moved just a millimeter, he wouldn't have been here on Wednesday to tell us how he was going to make America strong again.
(APPLAUSE)
SEWELL: And if President Trump would have moved just a millimeter, we would not be hearing tonight how he was going to make America great again!
(APPLAUSE)
SEWELL: Before I take my seat, I've just got to talk to you about something called providence and something called sovereignty. God's sovereignty is his ability to be able to do what he wants when he wants because he's God. And God's providence is when he does what he wants when he wants for all of you.
(APPLAUSE)
SEWELL: Did you know that President Trump was shot on 6:11? And do you know that Ephesians chapter number 6 verse number 11 says, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power?
(APPLAUSE)
SEWELL: To all my Democrat friends, I want to ask you one question, do you know anybody that was the 45th president? He was convicted of 34 counts. He raised $53 million in 24 hours, and could be the 47th president of the United States of America. And he was shot one time. Do you know anybody like that?
(APPLAUSE)
CROWD: Trump! Trump! Trump!
[19:50:14]
SEWELL: To all my friends back in Detroit who are Democrats, I'm going to ask you just one simple question. You can't deny the power of God on this man's life. You can't deny that God protected him. You cannot deny that it was a millimeter miracle that was able to save this man's life.
Could it be that Jesus Christ preserved him for such a time as of this? Could it be --
(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)
SEWELL: Could it be when we prayed for him, when he came to the roundtable in Detroit that Jesus asked and he received that we sought him and then he found protection? Could it be that the king of glory, the Lord God, strong and mighty, the God who is mighty in battle protected Donald Trump because he wants to use him for such a time as this?
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
SEWELL: If you believe that, come on, put your hands together and give our great God great glory.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: Jamal, God protected him, the message from Pastor Sewell, where Trump could actually campaigned at Sewell's church in June in Detroit.
SIMMONS: He did campaign at Sewell's church. It was billed as an African American outreach event. It turned out when the cameras turned the other direction, the entire church, all the pews were filled with white people, which is fine. You can have could be the case, but that's not an African American outreach event.
I got to tell you I was in Detroit last weekend with my family and friends and I talked to a lot of people. I have -- did not -- and I was at a church because we had --
BURNETT: You're from Detroit.
SIMMONS: I'm from Detroit. We were at a church and I will tell you, I didn't detect it anybody who's thinking about voting for Donald Trump in the services that I was in. In fact, many of them still supported President Biden, but they were also okay with Kamala Harris.
Their idea was whatever the Democrats want to do, solve the problem, get it on with, let's get back to talking about Donald Trump.
SINGLETON: Yeah, but there -- but there are African-American who are willing to vote for Donald Trump and we should not be naive about that, nor should we dismiss, or overlook that.
We always love to say in our community, we're not a monolith, but anytime a Black person decides to vote for Republican, that we want a cascade them and so you can no longer come to the, quote/unquote, cookout.
People are looking at Trump for economic opportunities and other things that they may find intriguing. We should acknowledge it. We should respect it, and we should study why those individuals are moving towards Republicans generally speaking, which is something, Erin, that did not occur with Mitt Romney.
I worked on this campaign. It did not occur with John McCain, and we didn't even see these numbers with George W Bush. That's a phenomenon that we should not just dismiss.
ANDERSON: Another thing that sticks out to me about what we just saw is the religious fervor of this convention. I mean, political conventions are always a little bit of a tent revival, but the explicit use of such spiritual language to talk about Donald Trump. It's a reminder that he doesn't just have voters. He has followers.
He is effectively leading the congregation tonight with his speech.
BURNETT: I mean, that was -- wasn't even there was something veil, there was nothing insinuating. So, that was God protected him, God chose him on Saturday.
GRIFFIN: And you know what? I think there are a lot of people in that room who very much believed. I think folks that it will resonate within the evangelical community. And I would expect you're not going to hear that direct in Trump's remarks, but I think you are going to hear him allude to --
BURNETT: Here he is. He's walking out right now. Now, obviously, he's not speaking at this very moment. He is speaking this evening, entering the actual convention floor now, and he's going to be going to his box, the red box where his family has been sitting day after day. He has appeared there every single night and also Jonah, Melania Trump is going to be there tonight. Ivanka Trump's going to be there tonight.
Ivanka Trump actually, someone that I know saw her at a restaurant at the Jersey Shore on Monday, right? She was -- she was doing other things earlier this week with his convention began, but she is going to be there tonight. We understand as well.
Here he is walking up to the box. He's -- the bandage is on. He's going to be speaking obviously later tonight, but he's now going to be there, Jonah, to see what were about to watch. Close friend of his, is golf pro, then Tucker Carlson, Alina Habba, his lawyer, one of his lawyers, right?
This is -- these are the people he wanted right ahead of him tonight.
GOLDBERG: Right.
So part of the theory of Donald Trump's coalition is to get these low propensity voters who are not the typical white working class or even like the sort of African-American men that we've been talking about. It's to get the people who -- I mean, talk about a catch, play video games, watch WWE, who wouldn't occur to them to vote under normal circumstances.
[19:55:02]
But this sort of reality show, tent revival thing, things about for the excitement.
BURNETT: All right. So we see that box. You know, you see Ted Cruz there, harkening back to the last in-person convention and how that went, different time now.
Phil Mattingly, you're right outside the box. What do you seeing?
MATTINGLY: Yeah, it's been fascinating. We've talked about this couple of times, Erin. Who's in the box as the president arrives. But before we get to that, lets just about the energy tonight, and I think talk to him, a number of Republicans throughout the course of the week brought the unity about other party is very much not just behind Trump, but of Trump at this point in time.
But it's also the energy tonight is just different. It was expected to be displayed, planned to build to this moment and the president coming in about an hour-and-a-half early, but he's been coming in over the course of the last several nights.
You certainly heard it in the crowd. A lot of expectation for the speech. I want to show you the box right now and kind of walk you through who's actually in it, but the former president, just sitting down to his right, you see Jason Aldean, Brittany Aldean, the country music star and his wife also performing. It's kind of the must go to party of the evening after the events are done this evening here on the convention floor.
And then around him, you have a lot of U.S. senators, Republican senators, including Republican candidates, as well as Steve Daines, the NRSC chair. That I'm told was intentional. The senators were told if they were here to be ready to be in the box with the former president.
We've talked about how where people sit, who's in the box at which time is actually supposed to send a message, certainly the case now, but the Senate, Senate candidates, the people well around him also, I believe we've -- one more thing, Erin, I just want to say, we've been waiting to see who the family would bring in as well because this is a big moment for Melania Trump. She has not walked in yet. We didn't expect her to do so.
Eric Trump is expected to speak tonight. He's there also. The former president's lawyers, including Todd Blanche, Emil Bove, Alina Habba, who is expected to speak tonight. They've been with him most of the week. We've seen them walking as well.
BURNETT: It's just fascinating.
Shermichael, also, Jason Aldean being there and his wife, Jason Aldean, of course, was performing in Las Vegas --
SINGLETON: Yeah. BURNETT: -- when there was that horrific mass shooting. Obviously, he is no Trump supporter forming but, you know, when you talk about the importance of the night and obviously Trump is appearing speaking for the first time since the attempted assassination, that connection can't go unnoticed.
SINGLETON: No, it certainly can't go unnoticed.
And look, you saw the pastor talking about the millimeter difference. I was looking at Twitter, seeing where people were posting about it, and a bunch of my Republican, conservative friends were saying how people in that crowd were standing and cheering because to Alyssa's point earlier, there is a religiosity to this.
And a lot of those evangelicals they do believe that Trump is somehow ordained by God, whether you agree with that or not, that is the belief of millions of Americans. And I think Trump may play in to that a little bit tonight.
BURNETT: It almost in a religious way. I mean, how does that, how does that poll? Obviously, we know how that goes in the room. You know how that works with the base of MAGA. But more broadly, when you're talking about unity and enlarging your voter base.
ANDERSON: Well, it's -- it creates the notion that Donald Trump is somehow different and he has always thrived on the idea that I'm not just your average politician. And so, while I don't expect that a majority of Americans look at him as a sort of messianic figure, the idea that he is somehow different. And even if you don't like him, he certainly had a string of luck, that definitely resonates.
BURNETT: And obviously an intensity on his face right now as he is watching the head golf pro for Trump International, who he chose, John Nieporte, to introduce, not to introduce him to be speaking here in these moments before his actual address, which is later this evening.
And, of course, we will all be there for that.
CNN's convention coverage continues right now.
(MUSIC)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: We are live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Donald Trump just entered the convention hall.
Good evening. Thanks for joining us. As prepares to formally accept his third nomination for president. Trump taking center stage and opening a new phase of an unprecedented, unpredictable presidential election.
Trump insiders suggested the former president's speech could be different than any speech he's given since entering the political arena, in nearly a decade ago.
This is CNN special coverage in the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention. I'm Anderson Cooper, along with Jake Tapper.
And, Jake, everything that has happened to this convention over the past few days has been leading after this night.
TAPPER: Indeed. I understand that Donald Trump's grip on the Republican Party appears tighter than ever before as he heads into his big speech after a turbulent few weeks, bookended by the criminal conviction of him by a prosecuted by attorney general, district attorney, rather, Alvin Bragg, not to mention, of course, his survival of an assassination attempt just on Saturday, a shocking and horrific moment.
We're told that Mr. Trump has been hands-on, writing and remarks -- writing his remarks until the last minute, with a focus on unity, we're told. That's the message he is said to be embracing since the shooting, in contrast, of course, with a darker and more boisterous tone, he has taken in past speeches, including past convention speeches.
Whatever the 45th president of the United States says tonight, the show of support he's getting here in Milwaukee is --
