next, we will talk to former pennsylvania governor ed bendel and former cruz campaign director, alice stewartbe right back. ♪ john: our final guest tonight is tonight.heet of guests ed rendell, big-time hillary clinton supporter and former governor of pennsylvania, and the former communication director for ted cruz, alice stewart. i just asked about what seems to be a renewal going on with the dump trump movement headed to .leveland the campaign acknowledging their well short of the number of delegates needed, and some feeling they might be able to pull off a code -- a coup. ms. stewart: that was to be expected. there are some people who have had concerns with the donald trump for some time and will continue to. get closer to the convention, they will be speaking loud and clear, but what we expect to see at the convention, the rnc has gone through the rules process and gone over the rules, and what is expected to happen is people will galvanize and rally behind donald trump and he will be selected as the nominee of the republican party. while there are a lot of folks holding their nose and do

and alice stewart.sked about what seems to be a said renewed, something something going on with the dump truck moving to cleveland. people sayingp they might be able to pull off a trump coup. alice: that is to be expected. people have been -- have had concerns with donald trump for quite some time and will continue. they will be speaking loud and clear. but what we expect to see at the convention, the rnc has gone through the rules process. what is expected to happen is people will galvanize and rally behind donald trump and he will be nominated as the nominee for the republican party. while there is a lot of folks holding their nose and have issues and concerns about some of his policies and where he stands moving forward, the number one goal, though a number one focus for all republicans defeatservatives is to hillary clinton. we cannot do it divided we have to do united. the best way to do it is to get together at the convention and rally behind donald trump and put all focus and all eyes on defeatin

me bring in republican strategist and former national spokesperson with the ted cruz campaign alice stewartth a welcome to you. you heard newt gingrich right there. and i'm curious what you think. i've heard others echoing his setment that donald trump is already defined in the minds of the american people. >> both of these candidates have tremendous name i.d. without a doubt but when you're the candidate in the race like this and you have to money and organization and ground game and structure to put ads on the air and to get your surrogates out there and define your opponent, that's what you do, that's what you do if you have the money and resources to do that. you define your opponent in a negative fashion so they're on defense all the time and they can not go out there and push their positive message that's what the clinton campaign is doing and that's how you handle it. what the trump campaign is doing now, certainly gearing up their organization, hiring tremendous people on the campaign also focusing on their fund-raising and with their pacs and super pacs they will also begin in earn

here to discuss cnn political commentators angela rye, kay lee, republican strategist alice stewart, communications director for senator ted cruz. before i get to you guys. i was talking with van jones and he was mentioning the person who say you lie to the president. it wasn't joe walsh. this has been an emotionally deadly week. do you think donald trump has shown the kind of leadership we can expect in a president? >> i do. i think it was the right move for boat of the candidates to cancel the events. we heard him mention the awful deaths of the officers and the two deaths of, he referred to them as the motorist. he mentioned both as he should have and faded into the back drop. today was not about hillary clinton or donald trump. it was about honoring the officers and talking about the awful tragedies we've seen in figuring out how we can get to the place where what martin luther king said, we have to learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools. that is what today was about and it was nice to see the candidates fade into the background. >> i want you guys

let's bring in jim geraghty, senior political correspondent for the national review, alice stewart, formerns director for senator ted cruz and andre bower, former lieutenant governor of south carolina and dan pfeiffer, former adviser to president obama. thank you for being here. hope you didn't blink. a lot just happened in the last few minutes. jim, what john said and what i said. what do you say? >> we're flogging the speech writer who did this, it was a remix, it sounds really different when melania says it with the accent. a lot of excuses. instead, who are going to believe, us or your lying ears? at the very least they could have sent a small speech writing fee to michelle obama. >> alice, corey lewandowski is obviously close somehow to trump or people within the campaign basically told us, yes, it sounded like plagiarism, that someone should be fired and basically just sold paul manafort out as big as you possibly can. to me that indicates a high degree of discord within trump world. >> well, clearly. clearly there is. first and foremost, it was a phenomenal speech. she did a great j

back with me andre bauer and bob beckel and alice stewart.illary clinton and tim kaine out on the campaign trail tonight. trump says the gloves are off. is the clinton campaign ready for what's coming, bob? >> they're ready and they also have you'll have barack obama out there, bill clinton, kaine. we haven't heard a thing about pence in the last week as far as i know. what trump is trying to do is carrying this negative campaign on his own shoulders. which is dangerous as a candidate for president. but he doesn't have anybody to stand up there with him. there's no majority leader of the senate, no speaker of the house. both of them were taking a back seat now. trump's got to carry this on his own or his kids. and i just don't -- or frankly, some third rate supporters of his. i think it's going to catch up to him. i really do. >> wow, bob. that was shade. and sitting right next to you. a third rate supporter? it is a bit dangerous because of the people in his campaign, and i'm sure you would like to see him pivot and be a little more serious.

let's bring in alice stewart, cnn political commentator and former ted cruz communications director.elcome to cnn as a new cnn political commentator. was all this about 2020, ted cruz looking ahead -- let's say if donald trump loses, maybe he's set the stage for another effort at the republican nomination? >> he started last night talking about -- people forget he congratulated donald trump for his victory and called for people to vote their conscience. that was the takeaway from last night. >> why couldn't he simply say, as marco rubio said, i support ted cruz? it was nice that donald trump invited him to come, very gracious. everyone was expecting they would get some sort of endorsement. >> it was extremely generous to have the invitation without a doubt. there has been a phenomenal convention, they've done a great job, but at the same time, when the initial offer was made, there was never any exchange of, look, you can speak as long as you endorse. that was never in the initial conversation. they spoke the other day. the cruz campaign made it clear that they were not going to endo

alice stewart, cnn political commentator and former communications director for ted cruz. welcome to the team. we have cnn political commentator corey lewandowski, the former trump campaign manager, who is still receiving severance from the trump campaign, yet never buys me lunch. and the chair of the new hampshire delegation at the republican convention. also christine quinn, hillary clinton supporter, vice chair of the new york democratic party. great to have all of you here. >> thank you. >> let's talk policy, friends. corey, let me come to the man in the middle. trump gives this interview. let's put up this excerpt from "the new york times." here's what's got the eyebrows up. it is about if russia attacks, right. that's always been about the formation of what nato is meant to do. he says, if russia were to attack them, meaning the nato allies, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations have lived up to their commitments to us, to the united states, their obligations. he added, if they do, then the answer is yes. does he unde