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Donald Trump Warns of Riots If Denied the Nomination; Secretary John Kerry to Announce ISIS Acts as Genocide; Michigan Governor: "This Was A Failure at All Levels; Judge Garland Seeks Meetings with Lawmakers; Trump Video Jabs Clinton for Dog Barking. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 17, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00] CUOMO: Ladies thanking her.

CAMEROTA: There you go.

CUOMO: And yapping over it.

CAMEROTA: There you go.

CUOMO: What a save.

PEREIRA: Well done, Nate.

CUOMO: What a great guy. The nonchalance, the urgency in the moment. Good stuff.

PEREIRA: Well done.

CAMEROTA: Now are you done?

CUOMO: Now I'm done.

CAMEROTA: Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

Hey, Carol.

PEREIRA: But he's not done.

CUOMO: But I just like to say --

PEREIRA: See? Just let the lady have her show.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Michaela. I appreciate that.

NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning, everyone. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

It is St. Patrick's Day. And it's not just Irish bars feeling a bit more raucous and rowdy today. The Donald Trump campaign is showing its feistiness with some cautionary words leveled at the Republican establishment. Just hours after Donald Trump warned of possible riots if he doesn't get the nomination, Ben Carson drove the point home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no question that there would be a lot of turmoil if the establishment tries to thwart the will of the people. Recognizing that millions of new voters have come into the Republican poll largely as a result of Donald Trump. And it's very unlikely that those people would maintain their enthusiasm if in fact some shenanigans resulted in someone else being the nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Phil Mattingly live in Philadelphia with more on this. Hi, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.

Well, yesterday was supposed to be a day where things calmed down a little bit. Let the dust settle after another big Super Tuesday. Get the measure of the Republican race. Instead it raised a lot of questions about the direction things are actually headed. And part of the reason is this. People who are trying -- within the party who are trying to stop Donald Trump are really all right now pointing to that convention as the opportunity to do so a contested convention.

So Trump has some rationale and merit to his concern about what might happen there but obviously a lot of concern about his supporters very passionate, showing that in spades over the last couple of weeks and somewhat troubling moments particularly in Chicago with some violence and rallies. For Republican officials now, real concerns not just with Donald Trump's brushback but also with the tone of where this is headed over the next couple of months -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Phil, just after Mr. Trump made his riots comment on CNN yesterday the Republican National Committee, they tried to tamp down the strong words. Here is a bit of that exchange I had with Sean Spicer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, RNC CHIEF STRATEGIST AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I assume he's speaking figuratively. I think if we go to the convention, whoever gets 1237 delegates becomes the nominee. It's plain and simple. The voice of the delegates -- delegates are elected to represent the Republican voters.

COSTELLO: Sean --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I'm sorry to interrupt but I don't think -- I don't think Mr. Trump was speaking figuratively. I don't think he was. I think he was serious.

SPICER: Then you should ask him, Carol. Well, I appreciate you trying to, you know, guess what he was saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So Sean Spicer did not like my -- you know, my interruption so -- but you see the RNC, at least publicly, is showing little concern that things could actually get ugly but what's the reality?

MATTINGLY: Well, behind closed doors Republican officials were always concerned about the security of a convention. That's just the way things go every four years. But the direction of this campaign has obviously increased that probably tenfold. I think what the RNC and what Sean is trying to do right there is try and tamp things down a little bit. Try and bring maybe some rational thought to the direction things are heading and looking at this logically. There's a lot of time to play out a lot of delegates still to play, and there is a mathematical possibility Donald Trump could reach the requisite delegate totals before they actually get to Cleveland.

But behind the scenes, again, Carol, if you look over the last couple of weeks, if you look at the violence, if you look at the profanity we've seen, if we look at the whole direction of where Donald Trump's campaign has gone, top Republican officials very concerned about where it could be headed and especially those who want to try and to stop Donald Trump on a convention floor. There is a very real recognition of the backlash that that could bring and a lot of concern that comes with it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Mattingly reporting live from Philadelphia.

A dose of reality now. There has been violence at Trump rallies and there is evidence authorities are not handling it properly. Five sheriffs deputies in North Carolina have been demoted or suspended without pay because of this incident. All of those deputies put on probation for a year.

You see that black protester being led away by deputies. The protester flips off the crowd before being sucker-punched by a man named John McGraw. The deputies failed to arrest McGraw after the punch. In fact they did not arrest him until the next day after McGraw went on "Inside Edition" and told the country, quote, "The next time see him," the protester, "we might have to kill him."

So against that backdrop, chaos of a different kind. Some conservatives are actively trying to thwart voters' wishes by defeating Trump on a number of backdoor ways. The Cruz camp is quietly plotting a complicated delegate battle at the Republican convention and influential conservative blogger Eric Erickson is fighting for a third party candidate, calling Trump a "moral cretin" and a "gold-plated sleaze."

[09:05:04] I'm joined now by CNN political commentator and former Capitol Hill communications director Tara Setmayer, along with national political commentator for USA Radio Networks and Donald Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes.

Welcome to both of you.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, NATIONAL POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, USA RADIO NETWORKS: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Scotty, let's clear things up. Is Mr. Trump hinting of a riot if there is a contested convention, his strategy to stop it?

HUGHES: I guarantee Mr. Trump wants no violence. All he wants is peace and he wants the laws to be applied and the rules to be applied that the GOP are going to enact. And I think that's what you're going to see. I happen to agree with Sean Spicer that it was just a figure of speech and that all we're asking for, and I think the Republican Party has a great opportunity right now in fact. Because there are Republicans that are disenfranchised, that are angry, that are upset, and they were this way going into the 2016 election and the Republican Party has the chance right now to restore and actually repair a lot of this lost faith that people have in the political process and that this party really does represent the conservative base. And it represents a wide variety of views. But does it in a peaceful fashion.

COSTELLO: But you heard what Ben Carson say. He seemed to think there would be chaos if the Republican convention is contested.

And I want to ask you this question, Tara. You know, we're the most admired democracy in the world. What do you think that Cubans or Venezuelans or Egyptians think when they see violence at our political rallies?

SETMAYER: Well, the Cubans and Venezuelans rightly used to it since they, you know, under dictatorships basically. No country probably familiar to them. But listen, what is going on here is really concerning for a lot of reasons. First of all, I don't think the American people or the conservatives over 50 percent to 60 percent of folks in the Republican Party who are not supporters of Donald Trump should be forced to have to fall in line with someone that they vehemently disagree with in values.

I'm a conservative. I don't -- my values as a conservative do not fall in line with what Donald Trump is doing. Not only ideologically but character and integrity wise. So someone like this who's supposed to be a leader, he's supposed to be the next president of the United States, is so irresponsible with his words and how he portrays things moving forward using words like oh, trying to pressure people. There could be riots and setting this up and people like Scottie who yesterday on this channel actually had -- said that she didn't have a problem with riots and then had to walk it back because she -- because Wolf Blitzer said, wait a minute. You don't really mean riots, and then had to do verbal gymnastics to explain it.

I mean, it's irresponsible language that's kind of gotten us into the situation we're in now. And moving forward I think that it's unfair for people to think that we need to just fall in line with someone like Donald Trump who does not line up with our values. I'm a conservative first. And I think there are my people out there that do not feel as though it is fair to be -- to have this shoved down their throats --

COSTELLO: But -- but I will say, Tara, here's the thing. And Scottie, you can reply to this. The voters have spoken. Republican voters are voting for Donald Trump. You can't deny that. So I know you're a conservative and you don't like Donald Trump but you're being beaten right now.

SETMAYER: That's right now. The game isn't over. When you play football you don't decide in the fourth quarter when you still have an entire quarter to play if the opponent is winning to say, well, I'm walking off the field now because the game is over. No, that's not how it works. And just a little bit of --

HUGHES: But that's --

SETMAYER: Just a little bit of history. In 1860 there was a contested convention and the frontrunner was Governor Seward of New York and it took four ballots and guess who ended up winning? It was Abraham Lincoln who was in a third or fourth place at the time. And there were delegates, and there were deals made, and people -- they had voting and it was very -- you know, it was civil. Not like this. So people need to understand that no one is stealing votes away from anybody else. This is the process and Donald Trump doesn't get to change the rules now because he happens to be winning now. It's not over.

COSTELLO: OK. Scottie, last word.

HUGHES: OK. Real simple. First of all, Martin Luther King actually used the word riot himself. He said it was the language of the unheard. So if you want to sit there and accuse everybody else --

COSTELLO: Come on, that's -- don't bring up.

HUGHES: Martin Luther King --

COSTELLO: No, no, no.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Dr. Martin Luther King was all about peaceful protest. No, no, no.

HUGHES: But it was about peaceful protest. But Dr. King used the word --

COSTELLO: No, no, no.

HUGHES: Let me say. I love how Tara is sitting there and trying to throw it that we're trying to be un-peaceful and yet there is no criticism right now of groups like the Democracy Spring that is encouraging the largest civil disobedience in history starting next week. It almost seems like the talk that Tara is giving right now actually sides with them over the majority of conservative evangelicals who are actually siding with Mr. Trump.

SETMAYER: Absolutely not. No, we're supposed to be better than them.

HUGHES: We are. We are.

SETMAYER: No, let their side handle that.

HUGHES: But your language --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: People like you and Donald Trump who double speak and say, we don't riots but they're OK but we want peace and then you have Donald Trump, you know, making comments, he makes and saying that he's going to, you know, pay legal fees of a guy that said he should kill a protester and sucker-punched him. It is irresponsible.

HUGHES: I love how you --

(CROSSTALK)

[09:10:01] HUGHES: You don't criticize the words of your own party right now that has lost this last two election cycles. I'm sorry, Tara, but your --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: That's absolutely not true.

HUGHES: -- version of establishment conservative lost.

SETMAYER: No, they're not. You can say that --

HUGHES: Yes, they lost.

SETMAYER: But I actually worked in the conservative for a very long time.

HUGHES: No, you know --

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: I think we need to define the different conservative.

SETMAYER: So, you know -- I don't think so.

HUGHES: Mine is still (INAUDIBLE), mine is Sarah Palin, mine is Joe Arpaio. Those are my conservatives.

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: I'm not jumping on the Donald Trump train.

HUGHES: Yours are Mitt Romney.

SETMAYER: To get attention. OK. I don't know how you as a conservative with conservative values square with what Donald Trump is doing. Even on policy he's not a conservative.

COSTELLO: OK.

SETMAYER: You don't sit there and double question my conservative values. I've been consistent throughout my entire life.

HUGHES: Don't question mine.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: OK. I've got stop it here. I got to stop it here. But perhaps this is a sign of the Republican convention to come. We'll see.

Scottie Nell Hughes, Tara Setmayer, thanks to both of you.

And we're going to talk about that movement, the Democratic Spring, in just a little bit in the NEWSROOM.

Let's talk about Secretary of State John Kerry now. He is now talking on ISIS and its mass killings and brutality that have horrified even other terror groups. Two senior U.S. officials say Kerry will officially label those murders as genocide. That label unanimously approved by the House but resisted by President Obama could force the U.S. to deeper involvement in fighting ISIS.

CNN's Elise Labott at the State Department with more on this. Good morning.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Yes, Carol. Well -- you see Secretary Kerry speaking right now about the crimes and the atrocities committed by ISIS. The U.S. also calls it Daesh. That's the nickname for ISIS. And Secretary Kerry has determined officials tell me and is speaking right now to the fact that the U.S. has determined that the atrocities ISIS is committing against Yazidis, against Christians, other ethnic groups is considered a genocide.

You know, Carol, that the U.S. intervened to rescue hundreds of Yazidis trapped on that mountain top in late 2014. But now the U.S. determining that not only against Yazidis but other crimes, beheadings, crucifixions, rape also considered a tool of genocide, do constitute such a war crime. And as you said, Carol, this will definitely, you know, reach calls for the U.S. to get more militarily involved.

Congress almost unanimously approved a resolution earlier this week calling these crimes genocide. The administration under intense pressure not just from Congress but from Christian groups, from activists and others to provide some protection for these ethnic groups, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Elise Labott reporting live for us from the State Department.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, some Republicans signaling they could be open to the president's Supreme Court pick. The latest on the intense battle next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:00] COSTELLO: It's shaping up to be a fiery day on Capitol Hill. This is a live look at the House Overnight Committee. And as you see, congressmen are grilling Michigan Governor Rick Snyder over the Flint water crisis.

He's giving his opening remarks right now. He told lawmakers that this was a failure of government at all level, local state and federal and said it is not about political finger-pointing and he said there is not a day or night that goes by that this tragedy doesn't weigh on him. His goal today he says in this hearing will be to tell lawmakers what he's doing to prevent another tragedy like what happened in Flint, Michigan, over contamination of its water. We'll keep you posted on this.

Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland will be on Capitol Hill today too trying to meet with senators, ahead of what's sure to be a testy nomination process if it ever gets started. Well, some GOP senators including Kelly Ayotte and Chuck Grassley have signaled they are open to meeting with Merrick Garland. One person is decidedly not.

And that would be Mitch McConnell who penned an op-ed in "USA Today", urging his fellow senators to put aside any thoughts on hearings and instead moved with other matters. McConnell writing in part, quote, "Let's not allow partisan fighting on one issue to prevent the Senate from addressing other priorities such as our economy and national security. Instead, let's focus on where we can agree."

Manu Raju is following the story for us.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Hey, Carol.

Now, this plays out in a very contentious election year environment. Republicans are defending 24 Senate seats compared to 10 for the Democrats. Now, Republican leadership is betting this is going play well for them in November by firing up the Republican base and claiming they could be a firewall against a progressive justice and right now, a number of vulnerable Republicans seem to be siding with their leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy.

RAJU (voice-over): Senate Republicans declaring President Obama's choice for Supreme Court dead on arrival.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Widely recognized not only as one of America's sharpest legal minds but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence.

RAJU: The president touting 63-year-old Merrick Garland as a consensus nominee with more federal judicial experience than any other nominee in history, who worked on high profile cases like the Oklahoma city bombing and the Unabomber as the long time Justice Department lawyer and federal prosecutor.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Put this off until after the next president is elected.

RAJU: But Republicans argue it is about principle saying American voters should first elect a new president before confirming a nominee.

MCCONNELL: It seems clear that President Obama made this nomination not -- not with the intent of seeing the nominee confirmed but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election.

RAJU: Majority leader Mitch McConnell even calling Garland to say he will not meet with him or get a confirmation hearing.

[09:20:05] SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: That principle has no history, no precedent and is virtually impossible to defend.

RAJU: Senate Democrats urging counterparts to do their job, warning more obstruction could flip control of the GOP-led chamber in November.

SEN. HARRY REID (D), NEVADA: Give President Obama's nominee a meeting, a hearing and a vote.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We hope the saner heads in the Republican Party will prevail.

RAJU: But several and tough reelection races standing firm with the Republican leadership.

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R), OHIO: If I meet with him, it may not be a good use of his time because I'm not going to change my position.

RAJU: For his part, Garland not emotional yesterday, having been passed over twice for a seat on the high court.

JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: This is the greatest honor of my life other than Lynne agreeing to marry me 28 years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, the theatrics will be on full display on Capitol Hill today when Judge Garland meets with the two top Democrats, Senate minority leader Harry Reid and the top Democrat in the judiciary committee, Patrick Leahy. And this afternoon, Senate Democrats will gather to demand action on this nominee.

This all foreshadows over the next two weeks, during a congressional recess, Democratic activists will be in the home states of a lot of vulnerable Republican hoping they will start to cave. Seen two but that's about it, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju, reporting live from Capitol Hill, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: an epic battle for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. How nasty could it get?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:55] COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

It appears Donald Trump is on a collision course with Hillary Clinton to win the general election. And that has the GOP front runner shifting his attention to Clinton and away from Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

Trump ramping up the anti-Clinton rhetoric with videos like this one.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

COSTELLO: It is the latest attack by trump on his potential Democratic challenger, and it could be a preview of a battle to come, a battle that could be one for the ages, according to former adviser Van Jones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What you are going to have with Hillary Clinton and with Donald Trump, this is going to be King Kong versus Godzilla. You have two massive mega global celebrities with high negatives, huge fan bases going against ea other. And it is going to be who can are who the most?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Hilary Rosen is an adviser with the Democratic National Committee, and Tom Bevan is a cofounder and executive editor of "Real Clear Politics".

Welcome both of you.

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hi, Carol.

TOM BEVAN, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Great to be with you.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you both here.

Hilary, will our children be able to watch the attack ads?

ROSEN: No, my kids are already sick of it honestly. You know, here's the thing -- Donald trump has obviously appealed to a significant portion of the Republican Party, but not all of the Republican Party.

And as we just heard in your last segment, there are still a lot of Republicans and I think particularly women who are just not going to be attracted to kind of a personalizing the campaign and attacking Hillary the way he keeps threatening to do so. Having said that though, you know, his attacks can be corrosive. And the Clinton campaign has to be ready for the nastiest, most aggressive campaign they could have possibly imaged.

COSTELLO: And, Tom, I was going to ask you about the tone of that video with Hillary Clinton barking. I mean people who dislike Clinton will laugh. But what about undecided voters and especially women? Because CNN did a national poll, Hillary Clinton leads in women to -- Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in women like 62-34.

BEVAN: Yes, there is definitely going to be a massive gender gap Clinton is running against trump. You have seen Donald Trump put these divisive monikers on candidates. What is he going do come up with to tag Hillary Clinton and can he do so in a way that is not sexiest and demeaning.

COSTELLO: Well, he can because Hillary, there is plenty of fodder for Donald Trump without the barking dogs saying. There's the issue of her 250 speeches. Hillary Clinton refuses to release the transcripts. Even progressive darling Senator Elizabeth Warren would not give Clinton cover. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TV ANCHOR: His stage has raised some questions. Let me ask you this. Do you believe that Senator Clinton should release the transcript of her speeches to Goldman Sachs?

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Look, I think that our candidates are out doing what they should do in a primary. They are debating the issues.

TV ANCHOR: You are not answering my question, Senator.

WARREN: What I'm doing is I'm telling you what I think should be going on right now in the primary.

TV ANCHOR: It's a yes or no question. Should she release the transcripts or not?

WARREN: What I told you is I think the primaries are going exactly what they should be doing and the candidates are being tested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Hillary, if Senator Warren wanted to give her cover she could have said no, I don't think she should release the transcripts because there's nothing them. But she didn't do that. Why isn't Donald Trump going there?

ROSEN: Well, look, you know there are plenty of ways to try and attack Hillary Clinton. But there are more ways to try and attack Donald Trump, and if he goes at substance, if he goes at credibility, if he goes at morals and ethics, you know, he has a history of business practices that will be significant fodder.