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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Super Tuesday; Trump Campaign; Super Tuesday Polls; Clinton Campaign. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired March 15, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Super Tuesday two weeks ago and I do mean it's the superest. We've got some live ballot cam shots for you from Charlotte, North Carolina, and from St. Louis, Missouri. Six hundred and nine-one Democratic delegates are up for grabs today in five big bellwether states, three of which happen to be the home state of the people who appear on the ballots. For Republicans, they're fighting over 358 delegates, and two of their contests, Florida and Ohio, are winner-take-all. And that is music to the ears of Republican candidates not named Trump, who at the moment has a 100 delegate lead over Ted Cruz. For Hillary Clinton's sake, she's got more than twice the Democratic delegates as her competitor, Bernie Sanders.

My CNN colleague, Dan Simon, is watching the voting in North Olmsted, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. And our Kyung Lah is in the Miami suburb of Hialeah.

So, Kyung, if I can begin with you. Just give me the lay of the land in Florida. I know the weather's good, but it could be tumultuous today in other areas.

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly tumultuous. And we actually have some new data that we're getting from the Florida Department of State. It's not very specific, but we are hearing from the secretary of state that turnout across the state this morning has been high. We are also hearing from the secretary of state that they can confirm that early voting in this year, 2016, has surpassed that of early voting in 2012. There is a lot of voter engagement. There is a lot of energy in this state. Certainly a lot of interest. A lot of people heading to the polls today, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right, Kyung, if I can switch over to Dan for a moment. Ohio is such a big deal and just earlier today we saw the governor, John Kasich, voting and taking to the microphone as well. He's feeling very confident, but the polls have them in a statistical dead heat. Take me to Ohio and give me the lay of the land.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, voter turnout here also seems to be strong. The secretary of state telling us just a short time ago no major issues thus far.

We are here in Cuyahoga County, North Olmstead. The most popular county here in the state. Turnout has been strong at this one polling location. You can see a number of voters behind me. I want to show you something that's critical, Ashleigh, and it also speaks to John Kasich and how well he hopes to do here. When you come here to the desk, you can pull either a Republican ballot or a Democratic ballot. So if you are a Democrat and you want to vote for Donald Trump or you want to vote for John Kasich, you can do so. And clearly that crossover vote, at least from the Kasich campaign, they believe that it's going to be significant.

I just spoke to a retired teacher just a short time ago. She taught Spanish for many years. She is a life-long Democrat, but today she chose a Republican ballot and she voted for John Kasich because she says she wants to support her governor.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right, Dan Simon for the ballot cam shot, thank you. And Kyung Lah, appreciate it as well. We'll check in with you early but also often.

By this time tomorrow, Donald Trump could have the GOP nomination all but sewn up, or the fight could get even messier than it has been up till now, and that's saying a lot. Katrina Pierson is the Trump campaign's national spokeswoman and she joins me live this hour from Dallas.

And clearly, Katrina, you got the memo about wearing hot pink on this show today.

KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESWOMAN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: I see.

BANFIELD: I just noticed in the preview shot that we were dressed almost the same. It's great to have you on today. I really appreciate this, especially since there's this brand new ad and since we're two women on the air, we're about to watch a couple of other of our fellow sisters doing something none too pleasing I think for your campaign. They are reading your candidate's own words about women, and it's very, very powerful. Let's stop and listen to it. I want to ask you about it in a moment.

PIERSON: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: you know, it really doesn't matter what they write, as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: OK, so that's just a part of it, Katrina. And I know you, as a woman, don't like hearing those things. I think a lot of other women don't like hearing those things. The question for you though, as part of his campaign, will this matter?

PIERSON: You know, Ashleigh, no, I don't think it's going to matter because only liberals -

BANFIELD: Why not?

PIERSON: Well, because only liberals think that women are one-trick ponies. Look, the thing is, women care about their future. They care about their children's education. They care about their jobs, their husband's jobs. Mr. Trump, hands down, wins on all of those issues. A lot of these things in that commercial were pulled from some of his television appearances that is entertainment. So, no, I don't think this is going to matter at all because people know that Trump is not a chauvinist or even a racist for that matter. These are all attacks that usually are coming from the left, but now they're just coming from the right.

BANFIELD: OK. Well, I will give you that and I will tell you you're right, women are not one-trick ponies. I didn't love hearing that, but I can forgive candidates all sorts of things.

[12:05:00] When you start getting to flip-flopping, though, that becomes an additional problem. And, again, with this ad, your candidate, Mr. Trump was asked today, on two different morning shows, if he had seen the ad because they wanted to get him to react to it. Here's what's odd. He taped an interview with "Good Morning America" in which he answered George Stephanopoulos saying, "I have seen it." And then he went live after that with the "Today" show and said I have not seen it. Which is it?

PIERSON: Well - well that's because there are so many ads, it's really hard to keep them straight. When you have -

BANFIELD: No, they were talking about that very, very strong women's ad. It was very clear. They outlined this very, very painful women's ad that came out this morning.

PIERSON: There are several. There are several ads out there online. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on ads. He probably wasn't even sure which ad they were talking about.

BANFIELD: He - no, he did. He did. He said, yes, well, you know, I have seen it and it was a Romney deal. And then later on he said, I have not seen it. I would have to see it. I've heard about the ad but I've not seen the ad. So he did answer those two questions from those two networks that he knew of the ad but he first said he had seen it and then he later said he had not seen it. That's flip-flopping to voters.

PIERSON: Well, it could be flip-flopping, but when you have hundreds of millions of dollars in attack ads, it's very easy to get them mixed up because we don't know which ones are coming from the left or the right half the time. This particular one that you just played is coming from the right. And again, if we played an ad where Mr. Trump is talking about, you know, his male colleagues or opponents for that matter, you'd hear some of the same things. And that's the point I'm trying to make. Mr. Trump treats everyone equally. And that's really important moving forward. We shouldn't be categorizing people at this point. We need to start to come together and bring people together and that's why they like him.

BANFIELD: You're right, people do like that. They do - yes, they do want to be - they do want to be brought together. They do want to be treated equally. And they definitely ask - you know, answer those questions in the exit polls about honesty. They're real hard on Hillary Clinton about honesty. And I want to ask you about your candidate, Donald Trump, when it comes to honesty. He has said over and over again, speech after speech that there's been no violence - there's been no injuries, I beg your pardon, there's been no injuries when he's asked about the violence at his rallies.

There's a picture I want to show you of a police officer from Friday, the rally in Chicago, who was bleeding profusely from the top of his head. I don't know if you have a monitor in your studio but I'm showing it to the audience right now. That is, without question, an injury. Michelle Fields, the reporter with Breitbart, a right wing website, has now resigned after filing a complaint against Cory Lewandowski, the campaign manager, claiming that he hurt her physically when he grabbed her. I know you've seen the picture of the sucker punch. One of the supporters at a Trump rally just went in and sucker punched. He's been charged - he's been charged with it. Those are clearly injuries. Why is it that your candidate continues to say over and over there have been no injuries?

PIERSON: Well, I think from the beginning, Mr. Trump has always said that these are love fests because these are people who do come to the rallies by the tens of thousands to see Mr. Trump because they love Mr. Trump and he loves them. So they are love fests. What we don't hear about is the protesters that come into these events and they are the ones that actually start punching and throwing themselves on the ground, but the media never shows that part of it.

Up until last week there were no injuries. When we do see things that happen, in Chicago, for example, the police officer that you're talking about, these were not Trump people. These were protesters, moveon.org. I mean there was a domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, who was on the scene promoting this on social media, (INAUDIBLE) Black Lives Matter.

BANFIELD: Yes. They were injuries, though, right, at the rallies? These happened at the rallies because Mr. Trump continues to say there were no injuries -

PIERSON: This was - no, this was not inside our rally. This is outside the rally.

BANFIELD: Well, the sucker punch sure happened inside the rally and Michelle Fields said she was just trying to get a better perspective when she was bruised. And whether it was Cory Lewandowski or not, that's her complaint. That's her allegation. It hasn't been proven yet. But it happened at the rally. So it's an injury at the rally. PIERSON: Well, there's always going to be allegations. And I believe

in the next few days you'll see that cleared up as well.

BANFIELD: No, there's video. Katrina, please, there's video of the man being sucker punched in the face at the rally.

PIERSON: I'm trying to get to that.

BANFIELD: OK.

PIERSON: Yes, I'm trying to get to that.

BANFIELD: Just let's not ignore that, because it's really important when we get the facts staring us straight in the video.

PIERSON: No, it is. But a lot of times Mr. Trump will also say that because you do have these protesters that are ripping things out of people's hands and getting in their faces and pushing them that they do fight back. We still don't know what happened prior to that engagement and I'm really not going to criticize an 80-year-old man until we do have those facts.

BANFIELD: Well, I hope he continues to maybe say that there have been some injuries. Maybe not as many as he feels are being made out, but that there have been some. We have to acknowledge when it's on tape and it's happening there in the arena.

Let me ask you about the - it has to do with the - the instances with that Mr. John McGraw, the 78-year-old who did the sucker punch. Donald Trump was asked on "Good Morning America" by George Stephanopoulos this morning if paying the legal fees for John McGraw would condone the violence. And Trump answered, "no, no, I didn't say that. I haven't looked at it yet and nobody's asked me to pay the fees. And somebody asked me a question and I haven't even seen it. So I never said I was going to pay for fees." But in February he said, "I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise." And on Sunday just of this week he said, "I'll look into paying the legal fees of Mr. McGraw." That is completely inconsistent.

[12:10:18] PIERSON: Well, it is inconsistent because there are - these are all separate events that we're talking about. The initial statement was made when another disrupter was at the rally also trying to cause harm and injury to a protester and that's what he was talking about.

BANFIELD: No, the - the initial one - let's be clear. There wasn't a disrupter. He said, if anybody sees anyone, I'm going to paraphrase a bit here, you know, about to throw a tomato, I want you to knock the crap out of them. I'll pay - and then he went on to say, I'll pay your legal fees. You know, I've got the quote, I'll knock - "knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK. Just knock the hell - I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise." So that's not about a protester, that's about anything that might happen.

PIERSON: Yes, he's always talking about self-defense (ph). Well, he's always talked about self-defense. Again, if you go to the beginning of the rally, the message is very clear, there is to be no violence if they handle the protesters carefully. At the same time, he always says he will support their self-defense.

BANFIELD: The sucker punch wasn't self-defense, Katrina. The sucker punch wasn't self-defense.

PIERSON: Yes, well we - well, let's go back to that then again.

BANFIELD: OK.

PIERSON: I said, I'm not going to - to question what's going on with an 80-year-old man. So we'll have to wait and see what happens with that. And when he was asked about Mr. McGraw, he didn't - he didn't see what happened. In fact, nobody knows what happened prior to that and that's what we're going to try to find out.

BANFIELD: So, Katrina, one last question. There's a newspaper article called the - you know, out of the "China Global Times" today and it's pretty bizarre. They are saying that Mussolini and Hitler came to power through election. From the rise of narcissistic, inflammatory candidate, to the violence that surrounded Trump's planned rally in Chicago, this newspaper is saying that it's shocking it could happen in a country that boasts one of the most developed and mature democratic election systems in the world. This is China making fun of us and our democracy because of your candidate. Do you think your candidate bears some responsibility for a country's national newspaper making fun of us?

PIERSON: Not at all. In fact, Mr. Trump, one of his biggest talking points is the fact that the whole world is making fun of America and how weak we've become as a nation and as a people, where people actually get offended because of what somebody says for crying out loud. And it didn't used to be that way. And that's the difference that Mr. Trump has made on his campaign trail.

And the fact that China is using the Chicago incident as their reference, again, that had nothing to do with Mr. Trump. That was the organized left, the paid chaos that comes from the militant left, not Mr. Trump or anyone on the Republican side.

BANFIELD: Yes. And just to be super clear, Donald Trump has said, I love China. People say, oh, you don't like China. No, I love them but their leaders are much smarter than our leaders and we can't sustain ourselves with that.

You know, I always love talking to you because you are a straight shooter. Will you come back?

PIERSON: Thanks, Ashleigh. Absolutely. Any time.

BANFIELD: OK, I'll send you the memo on the outfit next time too. Thank you, Katrina.

PIERSON: Thanks. BANFIELD: OK.

After the break we're going to have a closer look at all of the political math. But, first, take a look at these pictures in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hillary Clinton showing up, I believe it's at one of the polling places. And clearly a lot of supporters. You can see Secret Service around her as well. This is one of those days when maybe there aren't big rallies, but there are certainly polling place visits for a lot of these candidates. North Carolina polling well for Secretary Clinton. But you know what, polls have been wrong before. It's why it's such a nail biter. Back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:17:22] BANFIELD: You know, numbers really tell the big story for today's make-or-break contest. There are huge implications as voters in five states are on their way to the polls, if not now shortly after work. For the GOP, there are 358 delegates up for grabs. And for the Dems, we're looking at 691. So to break it all down, CNN Money's chief business correspondent Christine Romans to take us through the math, the fallout, the pathways.

How does it all shake out?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Math is fun today.

BANFIELD: Really?

ROMANS: Really fun.

BANFIELD: It is every day.

ROMANS: This is delegate rich Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri, those five states, more than 1,000 up for grabs. Driving the delegate math in each state, the economy. The jobless rate is officially 4.9 percent and home prices are rising. The stock market up almost 200 percent - 200 percent. But in these states voting today the focus is on closed factories, stagnant wages, declining opportunity for anyone without a college degree. The frontrunners want to run up their delegate leads, wrap this up. Their opponents want to narrow the delegate surplus of Clinton and Trump.

Now, for the GOP, Donald Trump just added the nine delegates of the Northern Mariana Islands. His total now, 471. Ted Cruz, 371. He wants to make it a two-man race. But these are winner-take-all states for the GOP. In Florida, 99 delegates. That's Marco Rubio's home state. Trump leads in the polls. North Carolina, 72 delegates up for grabs.

Look at this, Ashleigh. These are manufacturers jobs lost in North Carolina. This will be driving voter sentiment -

BANFIELD: Ouch.

ROMANS: Heading into there. Similar picture in Ohio. John Kasich is the governor. He needs a win there for any remote route to a contested convention. Manufacturing and jobs lost there. For the Democrats, even narrow wins add to Hillary Clinton's delegate

lead, but if Sanders were to pull out a Michigan-style victory in Ohio or Illinois or both, Clinton still leads in the math, but under pressure politically.

BANFIELD: Speaking of math and the job losses, we keep hearing that the jobless rate, as you put it, was 4.9 percent.

ROMANS: Right.

BANFIELD: But Donald Trump says it's 42 percent.

ROMANS: Donald Trump keeps saying it's 42 percent. He said something this weekend, he changed it a little bit this weekend, he said that everybody who is not looking for a job is considered employed. That's just not true. The unemployment rate is 4.9 percent. The under employment rate, 9.7 percent, if you count in people who are working part time, people whho are discouraged -

BANFIELD: Who have stopped looking.

ROMANS: Who stopped working.

BANFIELD: Yes.

ROMANS: The way that you get to Donald Trump's number, and you can't even get to it that way, 37.1 percent of people aren't working. Among those people are my grandma, your mom, probably, your -

BANFIELD: How dare they?

ROMANS: I know. Get them back to work so we can fix the labor market.

No, it's people who are retired, people who have dropped out, people who are college students, people who are stay-at-home moms, stay-at- home dads.

BANFIELD: You mean Melania Trump?

ROMANS: People who are disabled. People who have - who have not found their way back into the labor market from the - from the crisis.

BANFIELD: Yes.

ROMANS: But 42 percent is not the unemployment rate.

BANFIELD: I can get you to 53.

ROMANS: How?

BANFIELD: According to "The New York Times." My no-good, do nothing children. They don't do anything.

[12:20:04] ROMANS: That's right.

BANFIELD: And if you count those kids in there, it's about time they start pulling their weight.

ROMANS: Labor laws are a problem.

BANFIELD: Fifty-three percent of people aren't working in this country. Those brats.

ROMANS: OK.

BANFIELD: Thank you for that math. I hope they were watching.

ROMANS: Math is good.

BANFIELD: Math is important, children, stay in school. You'll get a good job out of it.

Thank you, Christine.

Straight ahead, Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. Just get used to hearing that a lot. Today it's important. In the general, it's critical. A lot is at stake, though, for two particular candidates. John Kasich, the governor there, could he make it his. Could he change the path for Donald Trump? On the Democrat's side, Bernie Sanders, can you up-end Hillary like you did in Michigan? Man, this is tight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:10] BANFIELD: Earlier, I told you that Secretary Clinton was in Charlotte. My bad. She is actually in Raleigh, North Carolina, and she's speaking live. Let's listen in.

QUESTION: So there's a possibility that Donald Trump could lock up - potentially lock up the nomination tonight, you could be in a prolonged primary battle. Is that a problem for your party?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, where we stand right now, as of now, before obviously we get the results tonight, I've gotten more votes than anybody, including Donald Trump, and 600,000 more, and I think I'm ready to take him on if he is, you know, in that position. Obviously, I will continue to build the number of delegates who support me.

And I absolutely respect Senator Sanders. He has a right to run his campaign in any way he chooses. And I'm proud of the campaign that he and I have run, because we've actually focused on the issues. That's what it's been about, not insults. And we share a lot of the same goals, but we have different solutions about how to fix the problems facing us. So I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and keep building a broad, inclusive coalition of voters which I - I think we've got a good beginning on and, you know, work until I do I hope have enough.

QUESTION: Would it help - would it help this campaign - would it help this campaign to move on to the general election tomorrow?

CLINTON: Yes, sorry, Dan (ph).

QUESTION: Would it help your campaign to move on to the general election tomorrow?

CLINTON: You know, Dan, that's not my choice. I mean we are building up, and I hope it is added to, as long as people come out and vote and nobody thinks it's done, I think the numbers are adding up in my favor. I think that the number of delegates will continue to increase. So I'm going to keep working as hard as I can. But I think it is important that we really do focus on the very dangerous path that Donald Trump has laid out here. The kind of bluster and bigotry and bullying that he's exemplifying on the campaign trail is disturbing to, I think, to the majority of Americans.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, guys, thanks very much.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) party to unify, encouraging (INAUDIBLE), encouraging (INAUDIBLE) racism, sexism, all the things you've spoken about (INAUDIBLE) still got hundreds of thousands of voters who are saying, yes, he's my person or, yes, (INAUDIBLE). And I - how do you put this in a historical perspective? How do you do it? I mean these are people that you are going to try to appeal to yourself during the general and what do you do -

CLINTON: Well, but let's - let's look - let's look at where we are right now. He's gotten a minority, perhaps a plurality, but a minority of those who chose to vote in the Republican primaries and caucuses. As I said, I've gotten more votes than he has already. So I don't think he represents the vast majority of Americans, who are more interested in solving our problems than venting our disappointment or our anger. Is it going to be challenging? Of course it will be. That's clearly a general election and we're going to work as hard as we can to be as possible as focused as possible. So that's what we're trying to do.

I'm sorry. Who was talking?

BANFIELD: I honestly do not know how these candidates are able to keep their voices. They talk all day to voters, to reporters. They hold these rallies. It's one of the hardest things to do and all of that on no sleep. So there you have it, this is what the day is like on voting day in a particularly important state like North Carolina. And there are four other really important states, too. And Hillary Clinton's leading the delegate count, the overall delegate county in the race against Bernie Sanders right now. And she will likely keep that momentum in the two southern contests today, Florida, North Carolina, where she is right now. What about the Midwest, though, that rust belt? Thanks to Sanders surprise win in Michigan, Hillary Clinton's chances of winning Ohio, Missouri and her home state of Illinois are not 100 percent certain at this time.

Kristina Schake joins me now. She's the deputy communications director for Hillary for America.

Thanks so much for being here today.

KRISTINA SCHAKE, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Thank you for having me.

BANFIELD: I was watching you intimately watching how your candidate's doing. Is she OK? Is she healthy? Is she - is she managing?

SCHAKE: Yes. Yes. As you can see, she's struggling with her voice -

BANFIELD: Yes, they all are.

SCHAKE: But she's out there working to earn every vote.

BANFIELD: As they all are. And it's really grueling stuff.

SCHAKE: Yes.

BANFIELD: There's a reason why a lot of these candidates say I don't want to do it ever again.

So, listen, John Kasich in Ohio, the governor there, who was looking to potentially get a win there, has said that Democrats, he's a Republican, he has said that Democrats are moving over in that open primary because they're allowed to, to vote for him. Now, that may be terrific for him, but that very well could affect Hillary Clinton.

SCHAKE: Well, we certainly hope that's not going to happen today, because as we saw with Trump talking today, that he hopes to win Ohio and he hopes to win Florida. And if he does, he's ready to start attacking Hillary. So we know how high the stakes are here. We really need our voters to come out and support Hillary today.

[12:30:10] BANFIELD: What are her chances in Ohio? I mean it's getting squeaky there, isn't it?

SCHAKE: Well, as you