Return to Transcripts main page

CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

Donald Trump Leading Presidential Race; Historic Revolution in American Election; Several States Too Close to Call. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 9, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They haven't kept.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have brought us into a greater deficit. We've got $21 trillion, almost $21 trillion in debt. We're leaving our country in a worse shape than our parents left it for us for the first time in the history of our country. And what people have said was, we don't want that anymore. We don't want people who make promises that have, you know, the most extensive credentials ever to serve as the President of the United States. People don't want that. They want someone who is going to tell them the truth, who's going to do what they say they're going to do, to bring fundamental change, and let people decide how the country is run.

That's what we're seeing tonight, is the people have listened to what the media said. They've listened to the narrative of how great the other side was. How everybody is going to join and how the Hispanics are going to come out in record proportion. How Donald Trump is a misogynist and a bigot, and all the things that we've heard the mainstream media talk about. And they stepped back and said, you don't understand. We are tired of Washington, D.C. We're tired of broken promises. We're tired of people going there and forgetting about us. And we want wholesale and fundamental change. That's what is taking place.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANDERSON COOPER 360 ANCHOR: What's different -- I mean, it also looks like he will have a republican house, a republican senate. I mean --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

COOPER: -- the potential for him to affect his policies is great. But there are of course, real divisions within the Republican Party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

COOPER: And some of it, you know -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they will - and some of them --

COOPER: They're going to start to have to use his name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're right. I mean, yes, they - yes, they are. I'm looking for that -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Much more likely tomorrow, I think.

COOPER: You're right. I'm sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things I remember attending as a White House staff meeting is, the National Governors Association's meetings. I think they are in February. And they come to the White House for a meeting and political dinner. I'm just waiting to see Governor Kasich greet President Trump.

COOPER: Well, I mean, the meeting - what, there's a traditional meeting between - it would be between -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be on Thursday

COOPER: Right, on Thursday, between President Obama and the president-elect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

COOPER: I mean, to be a fly on the wall at that dinner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. I mean, change is at hand here. And I keep going back to Reagan for a purpose, because he was the last president, certainly the republican side, to bring that kind of change and face that kind of resistance, not only as he sought the nomination and ran for election. But once he got there.

COOPER: I guess one of the questions, obviously, is how capable, I mean, a lot of promises are made during an election. Donald Trump has talked about things as a negotiation. And that, you know, some of the conservative criticism of him early on was that, you know, that too much is up for negotiation with him. Negotiation or compromise can be a dirty word in Washington, can -- I mean, the wall of reversing Obamacare, the Supreme Court. How much can he actually do, and as quickly as he said?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, remember at one point Paul Ryan met with Donald Trump and came out basically saying, or his aides basically said, you know, what Donald Trump said, just help me get elected and then we'll run on your - we'll use your agenda, OK? We will - we will use your agenda. I think Paul Ryan is going to hold him to that. And I think that I've just heard from a republican who said that there could be a populist conservative governing coalition, if they can all get on the same page. And I think the fact again, as we were saying before, that Donald Trump had coattails that he brought in some of these republicans into congress --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I think they're -

BORGER: -- who were very worried about their jobs, that they now owe him something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Look -- COOPER: And that they will -- the question is, what do they do to the

Obama legacy? What do they do with Obamacare? What do they do about the premium increases, which Donald Trump has spoken about? What do they do about trade? Do they - do they withdraw from the TPP right away? What do they do about the wall? You know, these are things that republicans had disagreed on.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, I think there is a couple of ways to think about it. If you're kind of looking for it now, what happens now, how do you think about this? I think if you're a progressive, there are three areas where you might try to figure out something positive.

First of all, the fact that now Trump is going to own health care. He is going to own health care for at least 20 million people. And the republicans can't just sort of, you know, stand back and let the bad parts of Obamacare go on unchecked just because they want to, you know, stick it on Obama. The republicans are now going to have to really step up and do something. That could wind up being a positive. We don't know. Secondly, he made a bunch of promises about urban investment and urban renewal and empowerment, et cetera. I think he should be held to those kinds of promises and let's see if he is actually serious about those things.

And then lastly, this whole question around trade. I think for the left-wing of the Democratic Party, there's probably something there that can make some kind of sense. I think there are three things that are just irredeemably bad that we're going have to resist this president on as it progresses. One is, all the stuff around immigration and the Muslim bashing, if that becomes a serious part of his presidency, there will be a big, big push back from decent people in this country who do not want to see that type of rhetoric and agenda coming from Washington, D.C.

Secondly, the Supreme Court is going to be a massive fight. And lastly, which we haven't talked about, is this whole question of climate and whether or not we're going to be able to make real progress on climate and climate change. The last thing I want to say, because I don't know if I'm going to get a chance to talk again, there are people around the world who are watching this. They are appalled. They are shocked. They are surprised. The markets are showing it. And there are some people who are laughing. And some of them are in the Kremlin.

This is not just the first election in which you got a woman running and a business person running. This is the first election in which an enemy power deliberately and explicitly interfered in our election and got away with it. And they interfered in our election in a one-sided way. They didn't hack democrats -- they didn't hack republicans. They hacked democrats. And we're going to have to figure out now what is our relationship to Russia going forward. And if Russia got away with it this time, what if the Chinese do it to republicans next time? We're now living in a completely different context whose national security point of view that needs to be talked about.

COOPER: Jeffrey, assuming Donald Trump becomes the president, do you think - and he has already talked about him. There is some talk about who would be his Attorney General, who would be his Secretary of State. Do you see him reaching out to kind of a diverse group of republicans or whomever to kind of form a cabinet? Where do you see --

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, again, the model for me, which I - which was instantly clear to me as I, you know, got to know him, is his own company. I mean, he has - he has a lot of people there, a lot of very different people who are very talented in A, B, or C areas that he brings in to accomplish tasks. That's what he will do. I mean, he is an executive. He has an executive's mind. I have no doubt whatsoever.

Now, will he, as any president should, having won an election, want to steer the country in the direction that he promised he would steer it? Sure. Will he try to find people who will do that in these individual cabinet departments? And, you know, the age old problem in Washington is, presidents appoint people to run departments, and then they wind up doing it the reverse. They wind up representing the department to the president, instead of representing the president and the people to the department. But, yes, I'm sure he - I'm sure he will do this.

COOPER: Paul?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, that may well be. But I would point out, first off, the election is not over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

BEGALA: And it seems to me, just back of the envelope math, highly likely that Hillary Clinton wins the popular vote irrespective of even if Mr. Trump pull off this Rustbelt States. Only 24 percent of the vote in California is in. She's likely won it overwhelmingly. Washington, Oregon, so you could very well be in a situation where we are. We know no matter who wins, that this party - this country is deeply, deeply divided. And that has been the case for many years. We had-when Bill Clinton was sworn in, it was on the book of the prophet Isaiah. And thy shall be called healer of the breach.

Then the next president has two terms, he said I will be a uniter, not a divider. Then the next president had two terms and he said there are no red states nor blue states, only the United States. And yet still, despite 24 years of three very different presidents, all talking about that divide and trying to address it, it is deeper and more painful than ever. And this is about trade, is this about Russia. But more fundamentally, the pain here is so spectacular that it's going to take a real miracle.

COOPER: We've got another projection from Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN THE SITUATION ROOM HOST: All right. We do have another major projection right now. All right. Donald Trump, we project will be the winner in the State of Utah, with its six electoral votes. Donald Trump carries another state. You see the popular vote there. Donald trump ahead. He's on a 13,000 vote lead over both Evan Mcmullen who looks like he is in second place right now with 41 percent of the vote in and Hillary Clinton right now, 82,000 votes, in third place. Let's take a look at the Electoral College count, where it stands right now with Donald Trump win in Utah. Right now, Donald Trump is ahead, inching closer and closer to 270 electoral votes. He now has 244 electoral votes compared to Hillary Clinton's 215 electoral votes. Donald Trump doing very, very well tonight. It's 270, though. That's the magic number. Let's take a look in a key "RACE ALERT" at the numbers coming in right now.

Remaining states. We'll start with Michigan, right now, 80 percent of the vote is now in. Trump has an impressive lead of 77,000 plus votes over Hillary Clinton, there are 16 electoral votes in Michigan. Trump ahead in Wisconsin, 87 percent of the vote is in, similarly as an impressive 84,000 vote lead over Hillary Clinton, 10 electoral votes at stake in Wisconsin. In Arizona, Trump again, leading, 60,000 vote lead over Hillary Clinton with 65 percent of the vote in. Arizona has 11 electoral votes.

In Pennsylvania, look at this, 97 percent of the vote is in. Trump is ahead by almost 51,000 votes over Hillary Clinton there, 20 electoral votes at stake. In Pennsylvania, Trump doing very well in Pennsylvania right now. Let's take a look at some more states where we have not made projections. In New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton is ahead, but by only 700 votes over Donald Trump, with 85 percent of the vote in, four electoral votes in New Hampshire.

In Maine, 81 percent of the vote is in. Hillary Clinton has the lead of almost 17,000 votes over Donald Trump in the State of Maine. Finally, take a look at this, in Minnesota, 84 percent of the vote is in. Hillary Clinton has a pretty good 71,000 vote lead over Donald Trump. 84 percent of the vote in, Minnesota has 10 electoral votes. Let's go over to Jake and Dana. The numbers, clearly right now, Jake, are in Donald Trump's favor.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN THE LEAD ANCHOR: Absolutely. Hillary Clinton needs to win Michigan, she needs to win New Hampshire, she needs to win Pennsylvania. Right now, she's only ahead in one of those states with almost all of the vote in. It's really stunning and Van has been talking about some of the dimensions of this race, some of the social dimensions that have people who supported Hillary Clinton very upset this evening, but let's take a moment and talk about the outsider nature of the campaign that Donald Trump waged and looks like he might win. Having to do with how dissatisfied the American people are with Washington, D.C., with institutions, that they think are failing them. Institutions, whether it is the Justice Department and the government of Washington, D.C., whether they're political or career individuals, and how they are not serving the purposes of the American people, that's one.

And then a second one, I think is very significant and we haven't really talked about it at all. And that is the role of the United States in the world. You could make the argument that Donald Trump is somebody who has talked about how he thinks that we have been involved in too many entanglements in other countries, and Hillary Clinton has been defending that sort of thing. It's one of the reasons why a lot of veterans anecdotally supported Donald Trump, in addition to the fact that many of them are just conservative republicans, and that is they agree with the idea that we shouldn't be involved in too many countries overseas. We should be more focused on the United States. There are a lot of policy dimensions to this. Van is touching on some of the social dimensions to this, but there are a lot of policy dimensions to this, and then of course there's trade. And the idea that the trade deals that might be very, very lucrative to corporations and to Wall Street have not been as lucrative and successful for people in Ohio, for people in Michigan, for people in Pennsylvania, the states that today are really rising up and saying "Not so fast, Washington, D.C."

BLITZER: And Dana, I know you're in touch with the folks in the Trump campaign. What are you hearing?

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHORWOMAN: Well, a little bit of news, that I'm told that Donald Trump and his campaign did prepare two speeches, as we were told earlier by our Clinton team, that Hillary Clinton did a victory speech and a concession speech, and he is preparing and hoping to give that victory speech. So, what will be in it? I'm told that he will be gracious. That he will to talk - to speak to what Van was talking about before and also Michael and others, about the tone of these speeches being so important. Will talk about coming together, will reach out to those who didn't vote for him. So, that is the tone that I'm told he will set in this speech and we'll see what specific words he uses, and, you know, how specific he gets, whether he says specifically "Hillary Clinton's voters, please understand. I know you didn't support me, but come my way." But the overall tone is going to be that and the other is gratitude.

BLITZER: That's what the victor --

BASH: Victory speech.

BLITZER: That's what the victors usually say. They reach out, they try to be gracious, they encourage --

BASH: That's right.

BLITZER: -- the losing presidential candidate to be gracious as well.

BASH: It's true. This is anything but a usual campaign and campaign season, right down to the speeches. So, it is I think noteworthy to hear particularly given how incredibly divisive this has been, that if he does get that magic 270 tonight, if those rustbelt states go his way, not to mention Pennsylvania, that that is the theme and the tone and the tenor I'm told he will set.

BLITZER: I mean, what's impressive, very impressive, not only is he ahead in the electoral college map, but popular vote. He is ahead in the popular vote, I think more -- about 54 million Americans have voted for him. Maybe a million more than voted for Hillary Clinton nationwide. That is so impressive right now.

TAPPER: It's big, but as you know, it's right now, we still have yet to see what happens in California and some of the western states, but just to touch on what Dana said in terms of the speech, whoever wins this evening, there is a huge responsibility for that man or that woman to reach out, not only to the people who voted for his or her opponent, but to the people who don't like him or her. If Donald Trump wins, I think there is going to be -- in addition to his celebration and the victory lap that he has every right to take, there are people who really bothered by things like, when he made fun of that disabled reporter. And he really has an obligation, especially if he wants to be a successful president, and I know he - I know he wants to be a successful anything that he tries to do. He wants to be - he wants to succeed at. There is an opportunity now for the country to heal, for the country to come together, whether Hillary Clinton wins or Donald Trump wins. And I really hope that the victor does actually take that opportunity to try to unite the country after this extremely brutal election.

BASH: The owners is also on the person who doesn't win.

TAPPER: Absolutely.

BASH: To do that.

TAPPER: Absolutely.

BASH: And, you know, we remember in2008, John Mccain's concession speech is probably one of the best speeches he ever gave in his life because it was so gracious in telling the people who supported him to please support the next president. And because, again, this has been so divisive, so tough, so intense, it is maybe even more important for the person giving the concession speech to give that message to their supporters.

BLITZER: We'll see what time the victory speech happens and the concession speech happens. We're going to be watching all of that so, so closely. Still not over yet, they're still counting votes. Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: Yeah, Wolf, thanks very much. In terms of what happens in the coming weeks, for whoever the president-elect is, in terms of a transition team, I mean, some of them have -- I assume both sides, and certainly the Clinton side has already, you know, they have people in places that are Donald Trump has named as well. What is the process for that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Chris Christie is running the transition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a problem.

BORGER: For Trump, and that's a problem. And he also hasn't been particularly visible of late with Donald Trump because of the whole Bridgegate trial, et cetera. But they have been running a full bore transition. I think in terms of Hillary Clinton, when you were dealing with an Obama administration who had been here, democrats, the transition might have been a little smoother and a lot easier than if it is president Trump, then the Obama team would have dealing with the president Trump's team who wants to actually undo everything that President Obama has done in office.

COOPER: You know, it is interesting also when you have President Obama with the highest approval ratings I guess of his presidency - well, probably not his presidency, but it certainly for a president at this stage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was Reagan.

COOPER: And certainly was out there on the campaign trail an awful lot. I mean, to not be able to - well, he was able to get himself elected, but not -- he didn't have great coattails for certainly for Hillary Clinton.

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: Well, obviously, I'm sure he's deeply disappointed tonight, I haven't spoken to him, but he campaigned very, very vigorously, he felt very strongly about it. But, you know, my guess is that they will meet on Thursday because that is the obligation of the outgoing president to try and affect a transition to the next administration. We've done it for several - for a couple of centuries, and he -- I'm sure he'll feel a responsibility to do it.

Let me just make a couple of points, though. One of the things that I'm going to be watching here, we - you talk about the people were swept in on his coat tails and so on. Some of them were incumbents who were re-elected. There are many members or they're more than a few members of congress who didn't endorse him of his own party. Paul Ryan separated himself from Donald Trump and excoriated him in very, very sharp terms several times. They don't have the same agendas in many ways. The notion of -- I mean, I'll be interested to see - I don't think I can't think of a time when you had a president who was so at odds with so much of his own base, because ultimately, he ran against the Washington establishment and Mitch Mcconnell and Paul Ryan and some of those guys, they're part of the Washington establishment.

BORGER: And now, they are going to have to deal with them and they're going to have to figure out what part of the Trump agenda works with what they want to do. I mean, as Trump - as Donald Trump always says, he's a negotiator, even if he has to negotiate -

(CROSSTALK)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: May I just add to the list of, you know, we're in unchartered territory. We seem to be assuming we're going to hear an acceptance speech from Donald Trump, perhaps, if this goes the way it's -- you know what all the caveats are. Here's what I'm trying to say. You can put on that list trying to calm down the market because the Dow Futures are down 800. I don't know what it is he says tonight or tomorrow, but he needs to the point of who will he surround himself with. Make sure that he can instill some confidence in Wall Street sooner than later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, and it will also be interesting to see what Obama says, right? I mean, they have this meeting on Thursday or so. Obama has been very vocal that he didn't think that Donald Trump was qualified to be president, he didn't have the temperament. Donald Trump, if he becomes president, is a complete and udder repudiation of Obama. I mean, he ran as the anti-Obama. And if you look at all the things that the transition team has been saying, their goal is to, you know, undo Obama's legacy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is paradoxical because as Anderson pointed out, the president's approval rating is quite high, but let me just say this. Part of what the president and others criticized Donald Trump for, was suggesting that he might not accept the result of the election. I don't think you can do that and then not accept the result of the election. And I think they'll be people, and Van can speak to it, who are going to be in a resistant mood about this because they'll say Donald Trump didn't give Barack Obama a chance, so why should we give Donald Trump a chance. And the answer to that is we only have one president at a time, and you have to try and make it work.

COOPER: We're going to - we're going to have more with our panel, a lot more. It looks -- they'll looking at counting the vote, looking at the numbers state by state. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Now, we have a key race alert. Let's update you and all the outstanding votes right now. Let's start in the key -- let's call it the battleground state of Michigan. Right now, 81 percent of the vote is in. Trump maintains a pretty good lead. 72,000 votes over Hillary Clinton, there are 16 electoral votes at stake in Michigan. Wisconsin, he's got an 87,000 vote lead over Hillary Clinton right now, with 88 percent of the vote in, that's another 10 electoral votes right there. Let's see what happens in Wisconsin. And Arizona, he also has a pretty good lead of 64,000 votes over Hillary Clinton with 65 percent of the vote in, in Arizona, 11 electoral votes at stake there. In Pennsylvania, Donald Trump maintains his lead. Almost 59,000 vote lead over Hillary Clinton with 97 percent of the vote in. Trump's still ahead.

In Pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes right there. Impressive leads in all of those states. Let's move on to New Hampshire right now, 87 percent of the vote and Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead. She is now up by 3500 votes over Donald Trump. Once again, 4 electoral votes in the state of New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton does have a lead also in the state of Maine. She's up by 17,000 votes over Donald Trump, 84 percent of the vote is in, four electoral votes in Maine. In Minnesota, Hillary Clinton has the lead there, 66,000 vote lead over Donald Trump, 85 percent of the vote is in, in the state of Minnesota, where there is 10 electoral votes. And in Alaska, the Donald Trump is building up a lead with 28 percent of the vote in, 13,500 vote lead over Hillary Clinton, there are 3 electoral votes at stake in Alaska. Let's take a look at the Electoral College map right now, where it stands, Donald Trump is ahead. He has 244 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton's 215 electoral votes. You need 270 to be elected president of the United States. Trump is getting closer and closer and closer in this improbable run. Very impressive run for Donald Trump. But, Johns, let's take a look and see where we stand in these remaining states. COOPER: And we're not done yet in these remaining states up here, but at the moment, six states that President Obama carried four years ago have flipped. We're not done completely, but including Florida, and at the moment, we're looking at Pennsylvania, Ohio, which is done. Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, stunning. As you look at it, so, let's go back and look -- and see with the ones we're still waiting on. 88 percent now of the vote, 49 to 46 here, this has been steady, and we did this by hand a short time ago. Now, it has fed in, 99 percent in the vote now in Milwaukee, this is where the democrats were telling us earlier, "Just wait. We're going to get a lot of votes out of Milwaukee." They did get more votes, but nowhere near enough to close the state-wide gap. You pull out of the thing, you still have 49 to 46.and you see the margin there, so, let's look around. The blue areas, are there places where we can get more democratic votes? See 100 percent here, see 100 percent is in. We're 100 percent here.

We come up here, Dane county so I'm almost 9 nine percent of the state population, the convercy big county hasnnpzDane County, it's a big county, it's almost nine percent of the state population, it's the University of Wisconsin, Madison. We can expect that the votes still out here are going to go lopsided for Secretary Clinton. The question is, are there that many out there? Because this is the only place left where you have a big -- large population center relatively, democratic area with the votes still out, and it's -- I'm very skeptical that there are anywhere near enough votes there to make that up. So, you look at some other blue areas, we're at 91 percent here. Again, we're not talking about a lot of votes here. It's a smaller area of the state. You pull out, let's come over here to O'Clare, we're at 87 percent here.

But again, it's 1.7 percent in the state populace. So, this is what's happening in the Clinton war room. They're desperately going county by county and calling their people, and saying, "Is there anything missing? What's missing?" So, every now and then, a number comes in, and you suddenly see a drop, they realized they've missed something, but if you look at this right now, we're going to count them to the end, of that this has been - it's a relatively small lead, but it is been a steady, call it a stubborn lead in the sense there's more of the votes come in, it's holding up in the state of Wisconsin. It's 10 and a very important 10. And you move over to Michigan, which is 16. And again, we've been stuck here for a while, 81 percent. You see the lead right here, you have 48 to 47 if you round -

BLITZER: About 70, 000 votes.

COOPER: Yeah, about 70,000 votes if you round that up, it just moved a little bit on you again there. And so, what are we waiting for? Number one, we're still waiting, and this will be the bulk of what we're missing is right here in Wayne County. Again, it's a place where Hillary Clinton is winning quite big, but the Milwaukee example told us, the Clinton campaign tells us "Just wait. They're going to come." Maybe it will be different here, but it was not, in Wisconsin. We waited, Milwaukee came in and it gave them a boost, but nowhere near what they needed. They need a miracle here out of Wayne County to make up some big numbers, translate when you get back out here. And you look through the state, earlier in the night this was red. Marquette was red most of the night. Hillary Clinton came back, but we're at 100 percent now, and so there's no votes to be made up there. So, you're looking in the middle part of the state, Wolf. You're trying to find areas, Genesee County, this is Flint. It's 4.3 percent of the state population, there's more for her. She's winning by a sizable margin, but again, you see 62-46, when the rest of that vote comes in, it's not -- you're not going to get, you know, 30 - you're not going to make up 30,000 or 50,000 votes there. You might make up, you know, some, but it doesn't look big enough.

And that's the - that is the issue now as you go through these states. Oakland County is at 99 percent. You pop down, we're still waiting most of all on the Swing County vote. Again, mathematically impossible? No. You're starting to look here and here, and the word improbable, unlikely, comes in your head. But we'll count them, we'll keep counting them, we've seen strange shifts before. This one switched late, Pennsylvania was coming in blue most of the night. It switched late, it is still a one point race, it's very close, inside the Trump campaign, they think they have this. They've been checking around with their people, they think it's done. And you ask the democrats, where are the votes going to come from? You know, there's a little bit left here, there is a little bit left here.

BLITZER: Not much.

COOPER: Yeah, you're mostly in. This is the biggest, you know, basket of democratic votes of all, there is a little bit left there, but you look at this again. We'll wait, we'll keep counting, you know, we want to be cautious about this, but again, it's a small lead.

BLITZER: 60,000 lead.

COOPER: 60,000. In a giant state like Pennsylvania, that's normally, you know, not a huge lead, but again, it is been steady and stubborn and persistent.

BLITZER: That's where is the (INAUDIBLE)

COOPER: They're (INAUDIBLE) last time I checked, it was mostly in at 98 percent. So, again, this is an area where it's 10 percent of the state population. She held the lead there but the numbers -- one of the issues, even in places where she's performing by percentage, the turnout -- you see issues with turnout. That was why the democrats are saying "Wait on Milwaukee." Her percentages were about what a democrat needs to do there, but the numbers weren't. The -- it's not your just percentage, you've got to turn people out. And that's a problem, especially when you have in places like this, we talked about this earlier, you know, 50 percent for Hillary Clinton to 47 percent for Donald Trump. Well, you're not going to win, you're not going to win in a state that has, you know, so much conservative territory. These are small or less populated area but the -

[01:30:00] UM: We talked about this earlier, you know, 50% for Hillary Clinton and 47% for Donald Trump. You're not going to win, you're not going to win in a state that has you know so much conservative territory.

These are small or less populated areas. But the Democrats just in the fewer counties in Pennsylvania that are blue, the Democrats know the challenge. Not only win, but win big and run it up and do well in the suburbs. And she is just underperforming across one that has come back, you look to the Northeast, New Hampshire has come back, let's go back up here to 2016.

But look at that, I mean we're talking about 4,000 votes there, a little less than that. A little less than that as you look this right now. We're going to watch this come in. I mentioned earlier that the Trump people were very confident that when these votes came in down here they would get more of them, we're still waiting on Derry, Londonderry next door has come in at a pretty good lead for Donald Trump there.

So again, we're going to keep counting New Hampshire up to 87% and this one is incredibly close seesaw. When you add it all up, you pull out here, from an electoral college perspective, at least two out of three of these need to change for Hillary Clinton to have a hope; probably all three of them. Yes, we still got some business to do out of the Western part of the country. There would be some of these states aren't completely called yet. But the two big ones, Pennsylvania and Michigan, if they don't change, math doesn't work.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: He has got 244 electoral votes.

Male: Right.

BLITZER: By our projection, he doesn't need all that many more in order to get to 270.

MALE: That would get you 64, 74, 80, and 280 right there.

BLITZER: Anderson, back to you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What we have seen tonight certainly is a revolution in American politics and I'm wondering if Trump supporters, Corey Lewandowski and Jeffrey Lord, I mean there is -- we used to talk a lot about the autopsy of the Republican Party done in 2012. There is certainly going to be one done among a lot of Democrats and probably among some Republicans, but what does this mean? Jake Tapper made the point earlier about you know the polls are all wrong. What does this mean for the whole polling industry? What does this mean for how elections are run in the future, or is Donald Trump such a unique candidate because of the force of his personality that it...

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would say, and Corey probably knows infinitely more about this than I do, but you know politics is about people, it's about human beings and one of the things I think we have a problem with in the political world is that everybody is so obsessed with data and there are human faces behind these things and they don't listen. They don't pay attention.

I mean I have told you before about my, you know, being at home in Pennsylvania and beginning to pick up the Donald Trump thing, even before Donald Trump announced for President because of the way people were talking about issues that have nothing to do with Donald Trump at that point. That's what this is about all together. And when you abandon that and you just you know well, you know you're just going to sit in a room full of data, you're going to lose that.

COOPER: Corey, when you signed on to be campaign manager, I mean did you honestly in your heart believe this night as it appears to be gone right now was going to turn out the way it did? Did you honestly believe...

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think in January of 2015, when I signed on to become Donald Trump's Campaign Manager to lay the foundation anybody thought at that time Donald Trump was going to be elected President of the United States tonight. That is what is going to happen. It's unequivocal, the numbers are there. He is going to be the President of the United States.

Now, how does that come to be? What we saw, you know, against all of the pundits who said this would never happen, he would never run, they would file his taxes and all the things you're aware of, what we saw was the American people didn't care about those things.

And what they wanted and what they want is somebody who tells them the truth, that isn't stuck in a Washington mentality. And what he did and what we did many, many times and was criticized infinitely by the mainstream media was he would have a rally, but this doesn't translate to votes and the Democrats understand precisely what Mary had for breakfast today, and she had breakfast and she ate at 3'o clock in the afternoon. They knocked on her door and they called her again.

That is not how the American people function. That's not what the American people wanted. What we do know is that connecting with people directly and having them buy into what you're doing, I think that's the big difference. People bought into Donald Trump...

COOPER: How much did Donald, in your opinion did Donald Trump, I mean I've always thought Donald Trump has an extraordinary antenna, whether it's a political antenna or whatever it is, for sensing things in other people, whether it's in his company or in the crowds that he is talking to, he feeds off it. How much did Donald Trump, when he came down that escalator do you think had in his mind what the mood of the electorate was? Or how much do you think was that he sensed once he started going out, meeting crowds of people, talking to people that he learned from them?

LEWANDOWSKI: Okay. I think, and The Washington Post has reported this, Bob Costa has said it, he is the greatest raw political talent of a lifetime. The greatest, because he understands people fundamentally and what you have in Donald Trump, and what the blue collar sees in Donald Trump is Donald Trump is worth billions of dollars, he has created an amazing company, employed tens of thousands of people. But what he does? He stops at McDonald's and eats there.

I know he walks to a construction site, he talks to everybody with respect and dignity and doesn't think anybody is better than anybody else. I've seen it firsthand on so many occasions. When you go with him to a construction site, and I witnessed it here in Washington, when he was still in the old post office, he would stop and talk to every person there working and ask them, is this the right way? And he would notice small things, taking pride in everything that he does at his properties, giving pride back to the people who are doing the work, making sure that they understand that he appreciates it. The American people see that and it was real and it is real that is what the American people respect.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I know (Van and Pauly). Well, three things. First of all, let's try to be clinical about it. When there is a revolution in media, when there is a new media form, a new master usually comes along and shocks everybody. Radio with FDR, people totally wrote FDR off and then he understood radio better than everyone else and he broke through.

JFK, totally written off, but he understood television better than everybody else, and he broke through. Obama, totally written off, but he understood the Internet, that you could raise money, small donation dollars, viral videos, and he was able to break through. Donald Trump understands social media and reality television better than anybody else, and that's the era that we're in.

And so, things that you do in social media like being outrageous, insulting people doesn't get you fewer followers on social media, it gets you more. The idea of being the villain, the villain actually is the star in a reality TV show. And he kind of understood this, he played up the villain kind of thing.

I was saying all along, as you guys will remember, that this guy was a major threat. I used to call him Trump-zillah. And every Democrat told me, I was wrong. When Brexit came out, I did a Facebook video and it was out Freak the F Out because I said this could happen here. Every Democrat told me that was wrong. Part of that is understanding the media environment. The other part is understanding, I said over and over again, quoting Lord of the Rings, where will the hammer fall?

And I said the hammer will fall on the Rust Belt and people said, "No way, it's going to be good forever." There is a problem with the Democratic establishment, not understanding the media environment that we're in, not understanding where the pain is in the country, and taking a lot of stuff for granted. So you guys were able to take advantage of that. That said, it's not as rosy as you say.

JONES: Paul, I just want to get to you in and then we got to break.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: We have to understand the political environment as well. Like Donald Trump did, he gave voice to this spectacular anger. At the same time, 69 out of 99 state legislative chamber is controlled by the Republicans, the highest since 1920; 34 of 51 Governors, the third highest since Second World War; 54 senators, the highest since 1928; 274 house members, highest since 1928. There is a huge constituency for Republicans. This is a Republican country, President Obama, he cut through that. But to try to win a third term has never been done by the Democratic Party.

COOPER: We have to take a quick break. We'll have more. We'll continue to count the votes, continue to look at the States. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We have another projection right now. CNN now projects that Donald Trump will win the State of Alaska. Alaska has three electoral votes. Donald Trump will carry Alaska. Another win for Donald Trump. Let's take a look at the electoral college map. With this win, these three electoral votes, Donald Trump has moved closer and closer to this magic number of 270 needed to win the White House. He now has 247 votes. Hillary Clinton has 215 votes. He is getting closer and closer to that number of 270. Let's do a Key Race Alert right now.

All right, let's start off with the states that are still outstanding. We'll start off in Michigan, where 84% of the vote is now in. Trump has nearly 80,000 vote lead in the State of Michigan, which right there has 16 electoral votes. Michigan, we're waiting for more votes. Wisconsin, 89% of the vote is in. Trump also has a pretty impressive lead, 86,000 vote lead over Hillary Clinton, there is another 10 electoral votes right there.

Arizona, 66% of the vote is in. Trump has a 62,000 vote lead over Hillary Clinton. 11 electoral votes at stake in Arizona, he is ahead. In Pennsylvania, he is ahead as well, 97% of the vote is in. That's a healthy number. He is ahead by almost 77,000 votes over Hillary Clinton. Pennsylvania alone has 20 electoral votes. Trump is ahead at this late stage right there.

Let's take a look at the remaining outstanding states. New Hampshire, 87% of the vote is in. Hillary Clinton has a lead of about 3,700 vote lead over Donald Trump with four electoral votes at stake in New Hampshire. In Maine, another four electoral votes at stake there, Hillary Clinton is up there as well. She has an 18,000 vote lead over Donald Trump, 86% of the vote is in. And in Minnesota, Hillary Clinton is ahead by almost 57,000 votes over Donald Trump, 87% of the vote is in, in the State of Minnesota right there.

So you see, Donald Trump is doing well. Once again, let's take a look at the electoral map. You can see 270 needed to win. 247 for Trump, 215 for Hillary Clinton, you see those yellow states, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven states remaining outstanding. Jake, Donald Trump in the biggest of those states right now is ahead.

JAKE TAPPER, ANCHOR, CNN: And can I just say, we've been talking for months about what the effect of Donald Trump and comments he made would be on the Latino vote and on the vote of white college educated women. And the truth of the matter is that according to exit polls, the effect was not as strong as anybody would have predicted. Anybody did predict, except for maybe Mr. Trump.

Donald Trump only lost white college educated women by six points, according to exit poll data, I saw. That's not the huge gender gap chasm that we thought we were going to see. But perhaps even more surprisingly, I'm looking at exit poll data comparing to percentage of the Latino vote that Romney got versus the percentage of the Latino vote that Trump got in four states. In Florida, Trump got a smaller percentage than Romney got. But in Nevada, in New Mexico, and in North Carolina, Donald Trump did better with Latino voters than Mitt Romney did. I mean, tell me who had that on their bingo card?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Nobody. Nobody but that speaks to sort of taking it up to 10,000 feet here. Going back to June 16th, 2015, when Donald Trump announced, I see Corey over there, he was there. He remembers. Every step of the way, he announced, nobody thought he really meant it. He wasn't going to give his financial records, he did. I remember vividly and the top aid to one of the early front-runners in the Republican primary contenders saying why are you guys talking about Donald Trump, there is no way he will ever be Republican nominee.

And then fast forward to all of these ups and downs that he had and he was completely resilient for the reasons that you were just talking about, because it all comes down to an economic message that he no matter what else he veered off in, and he veered off in a lot of directions that his campaign did not appreciate, but he had the fundamental appeal to people who felt and feel left behind and that was something that was impenetrable for these voters.

And that is why he was Teflon Trump. And so along the way, I mean we can chronicle, we can sit here for 20 minutes in chronicle all the zigs and zags of the Trump campaign, but he kept coming back because it was that fundamental.

TAPPER: And when you look, this is traditionally a night where we'll talk what the winner does did right and not necessarily what the person who doesn't win or the loser does wrong, but when you look at the campaign of Bill Clinton talking to working class of voters.

BASH: Yep.

TAPPER: In 1992, versus the campaign of Hillary Clinton talking to voters in 2016, I don't think you got the -- it's the economy's stupid message from Hillary Clinton that Bill Clinton and James Carville and Paul Begala and others drove home. It was a very different message and apparently enough people in Union households and in white working class households in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio and Iowa thought she is not talking to me. She is not telling me what she is going to do to make my life better and Donald Trump is, which seems obvious now. But at the time, at the time I think probably a lot of Democrats were frustrated.

BLITZER: And that, as you remember -- all of us remember a lot of those Trump supporters and there are millions of them, I think 55 million already have voted for him tonight, so many of them were angry at Hillary Clinton when she use that word deplorables in describing Donald Trump supporters and they said we're Americans, we love this country, we are not deplorable.

BASH: No question, it didn't turn out to be the Mitt Romney 47% moment that kind of, sort of played on a loop, but there is no question that the deplorable concept was something that the Trump supporters embraced. I mean, how many times did we go to a Trump rally and people were wearing t-shirts saying I'm a proud deplorable, adorable, deplorable. I mean, they embraced it because they thought it was so ridiculous because they thought that their voices and they think that their voices should be heard too and that Trump supporters were misunderstood and some of them were and some of them weren't, but that's a story for down the road. But the bottom line at the end of the day is that he surprised constantly throughout the entire Republican primary season, and then he clearly seems to continue to do that through the general election.

BLITZER: And you know what else he did, he showed during the Republican primary contest when he beat 16 or 17 Republican Senators and Governors and so many of them had a lot more money in paid commercial advertising than he did, he had relatively little during the primaries, but he was on television clearly all of the time. And in the general election, Hillary Clinton, her campaign spent so much more money on negative ads against him, yet look at how well he has done today.

TAPPER: At the end of the day, it's not necessarily the richest candidate, as Jeb bush showed us earlier. It's not necessarily the candidate that is flashier, necessarily. It's the candidate that has a message that appeals to the plurality or the majority of voters. And he apparently, we haven't called this race yet, but he apparently had that. He apparently, that message of jobs, border, terrorism, Washington's broken, saying it over and over and over again, that was appealing.

People think Washington is broken, they think they have lost their faith in American institutions, including Republican leaders and Democratic leaders and Congress, including law enforcement, including counterterrorism officials, including the mainstream media. They have lost their faith and he was giving voice to that.

BLITZER: And Dana, he stuck by his basic message from day one. He said we're going to build a wall, Mexico is going to pay for it. He still says that in the past few days, he continues to say that. He is going to have repeal and replace ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act. He still says that he has been saying that since day one. He stuck to those messages, and it seems to have worked.

DANA: It's true, and as you're saying that, I'm thinking of Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager's kind of mantra. She said to me and she said it to both you as well in interviews which is her diplomatic way of saying that she didn't think that Donald Trump did well when he hurt himself by getting distracted by other issues, but he did the best when he was talking about the issues.

On that note, let's - let me just tell you what she said in the "told you so" tweet, kind of very well constructed from Kellyanne Conway, "Things that were true: undercover Trump vote; @mike_pence for VP; Hillary's floor & ceiling are the same; rally crowds matter; we expanded the map."

BLITZER: All right. Everybody stand by. It's a cliff-hanger race right now. Well, we're watching the final electoral votes come in. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's update you now with a Key Race Alert. Let's take a look at the remaining states where there are votes outstanding. In Michigan right now, 16 electoral votes, 85% of the vote is in. Donald Trump maintains the lead, more than 70,000 vote lead. You saw it increase right there over Hillary Clinton. Michigan, Donald Trump is ahead. Wisconsin, he is ahead even more impressively, he's got an 85,000 vote lead over Hillary Clinton, 90% of the vote is in Wisconsin, 10 electoral votes at stake in that state.

In Pennsylvania, Donald Trump is ahead with 97% of the vote in. He is ahead by almost 75,000 votes over Hillary Clinton, 20 electoral votes at stake in Pennsylvania. In Arizona, he is ahead as well, 11 electoral votes in Arizona. He is ahead by more than 67,000 votes in the state of Arizona over Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump doing well in all of those states. We're watching them very, very closely.

There are more states we're watching. In New Hampshire, right now Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead. She has got a lead of almost 3500 votes over Donald Trump right now, with 87% of the vote in, four electoral votes in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton on top. She is also on top in the state of Maine, another four electoral votes. She is up by almost 20,000 votes over Donald Trump, 88% of the vote is in in Maine. In Minnesota, she is up by 44,000 votes, 40,000 votes that you see right there just changed 88% of the vote is in, Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump in Minnesota with 10 electoral votes.

Let's take a look at the Electoral College map right now. It's all important to Donald Trump has 247 Electoral College votes, Hillary Clinton has 215, you need 270. He is inching closer and closer to that, you see 247, and you need 270. Let's go over to Jeff Zeleny right now. He is joining us from Clinton headquarters over there at the Javits Center in Manhattan. We see a crowd behind you, what are you hearing over there, Jeff?

JEFFREY ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there is still a crowd behind me here at the Javits Center, as you can see. There is a little bit more activity right now and they have turned off the election coverage early for the last several hours. This crowd here has been watching our coverage and others, really a somber mood here. But I am told that campaign Chairman John Podesta is on his way here to the Javits Center from the Peninsula Hotel where he has been with the Clintons. He is on his way here, Wolf, and he is going to be giving some type of an announcement or message.

I'm told Secretary Clinton is not going to be coming here, at least not now at this moment. The Clinton campaign is still watching this handful of States that remain out there, Wolf. But I can tell you, optimism among all Democrats here, supporters here has essentially faded. Top advisers across the board, top donors, top strategists, all are recognizing that Hillary Clinton is not likely to be the next President. So John Podesta is coming here to make some kind of a statement. We do not know exactly what that will be, but we will bring that to you when he does it. BLITZER: Well, it's approaching 2 AM here on the East Coast. Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much. Let's go over to John King. You're taking a closer look at the handful of states that are outstanding that will determine who the next President is.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And you know, we currently have Donald Trump at 247. Pennsylvania would be 20, that would get him to 267, and so you're looking at the map right here and you're trying to find with 97% of the vote in, is there some way for Secretary Clinton to make that up. And I'll tell you, Wolf, this is just -- you want to give everybody the benefit of the doubt, you keep going through here, 100% of the votes counted, you move out here to Allegheny County, 98% of the vote is counted.

You're looking for places where is it possible there could be some miracle comeback or there is some big pile of votes that we yet to count. This is more populated out here, the suburbs of Philadelphia, but that's 99%, 98% of Bucks County, look how close it is, so even if you make up a little bit with what is left. And a lot of times, you get to 99% and you don't get to 100% until the next day. If this is just one precinct out or one issue somewhere, and so you're looking at that and I just can't find them. I've been looking for hours trying to find more votes to see, is there any math out there.

And if you go through the Trump vote in these counties, they're most at 100%. You might find a couple as you go through, there is one or two we found at 98% earlier when I was going through. But they're all coming in at 100% now. So, you assume most of the Trump vote is counted but guess what, so is most of the Clinton vote, and so you're looking at Pennsylvania.

BLITZER: 75,000 votes, with a lot of votes (to overcome) at this very late stage.

KING: Exactly, especially when - where the places you're looking were votes right, yes, they're Democratic areas. But as I said, when I was in the suburbs earlier, 99%. She is winning big, but there is not that many votes left. Over here, she is not winning by as much. It's very close here in Bucks County, so if there are more votes to come in, they're likely to be relatively evenly split, if they keep with the trend of the night. When you get to 99%, it's hard to see something come in late that is going to defy what you've been seeing for the rest of the night. Happens sometimes but it's lets likely to happen. So, so you're looking at Pennsylvania, and if you're in the Clinton war room, again they're calling all their people all around the state, and they're not there to be found. That doesn't mean, maybe they are...

BLITZER: Doesn't look good for her there. Let's take a look at Michigan.

KING: You come to Michigan here, you're in the same vote here expect we have more votes out, 14% of the vote yet to be counted. But again we got a pretty healthy lead there. Modestly, but a healthy lead that has been stubborn and persistent, so let's just earlier tonight, I told you if this was going to happen, the most likely source that was here, Detroit, Wayne County. We're up to 96% now in Wayne County. Yes, a very big healthy lead for Hillary Clinton when it comes to the percentages, but no more votes.

Oakland County, no more votes. Genesee County, last time you were here was a little above 47%. I think it was last time now, they're up to 84%, and again, those are votes for Secretary Clinton. But, you know, even if she gets another 5,000 or 8,000 more on there, it doesn't match up when you come to this. So, it's getting very hard to find these votes. Let's just go next over to Wisconsin, we're in the same boat here, we're at 90% now. That's even...

BLITZER: 85,000 vote lead that Trump has.

KING: A healthier lead there, so you're looking Milwaukee is now up to 99%. This would have been your biggest chance to get votes and we went from 87% to 99% and she made up a tiny bit, but not enough. The Clinton campaign has been telling us throughout the night, watch Dane County. Now, there are still 16% of the vote out here. It is conceivable, when you get that, 16% of the precincts, so you could get a giant stack of votes and she is winning this one overwhelmingly. So, if you're looking at this map, you're thinking, okay, there it is. But you're placing a giant bet on one county essentially, because when you go through the rest of this, most of it is in at 91% here, but again look at the percentage of the population and you're talking about much here votes or so. If you're in the Clinton campaign war room, you're hoping against hope, you're hoping against math really at the moment in the sense that, when you pull back out here with Donald Trump at 247, Hillary Clinton has to walk it, you know, she is leading in New Hampshire right now, but Donald Trump, if he gets two of those three, it's game over.

BLITZER: It's over. Let's go to Jim Acosta, he is over at Trump headquarters at the New York Hilton Hotel.