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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Conservatives Plot to Stop Donald Trump; Clinton Wins Missouri, Moves Closer to Nomination; Shocking Upsets in NCAA 1st Round. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The plot to stop Donald Trump. Some conservative, some Republicans meeting behind closed doors to figure out a way to derail the Republican frontrunner.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton officially wins the Missouri primary. That gives her a clean sweep of Super Tuesday. Could an official backing from the White House be far behind?

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. I'm John Berman. It is Friday, March 18th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And this morning, new loud noises, new machinations from the "Dump Trump" movement from some corners of the Republican Party. Top conservatives plotting secretly in back door meetings from Washington, D.C. to West Palm Beach, desperate to try to find some kind of way to take down the Republican frontrunner.

[05:00:04] Trump and his opponents, John Kasich and Ted Cruz, they are heading west on the campaign trail today. Donald Trump and John Kasich, they will be in Utah. Ted Cruz will be in Arizona. Both those states vote on Tuesday.

Let's get more on the widening fracture within the Republican Party from CNN's Sunlen Serfaty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Will this "Stop Trump" movement seem to be picking up steam among conservatives Republicans? Conservatives emerging from this meeting in Washington, D.C. yesterday really came away with a firm message, potentially calling for a unity ticket, maybe even between Ted Cruz and John Kasich and, yes, even the possibility of launching a third party candidate, of course, in an effort to stop Donald Trump.

Now, meanwhile back on Capitol Hill yesterday, Marco Rubio making his first appearance since suspending his campaign this week. He stopped short of any sort of endorsement, but used the opportunity to blast Donald Trump.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I think that will happen that the race narrowed further and hopefully, there's time to still, you know, prevent a Trump nomination which I think would fracture the party and be damaging to the conservative movement.

SERFATY: And in a very surprising move, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham tells CNN's Dana Bash that he thinks Ted Cruz -- yes, Ted Cruz -- is the only potential to stop Donald Trump.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: The first goal is to stop Mr. Trump from getting to the 1,237, and then to use the process that's written, not to do something that's not unfair to Trump. But right now, you need 1,237 delegates to become the nominee. I think Ted Cruz is the best alternative to Mr. Trump in terms of denying him 1,237.

SERFATY: And part of that will be helping Senator Cruz raise money. Senator Graham is already slated to head a fund-raiser Monday in Washington, D.C. fund raising more essential now that this primary has a potential to last a lot longer -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thank you, Sunlen.

Bernie Sanders returns to the campaign trail this morning just after, just hours after conceding Missouri to Hillary Clinton, officially giving the former secretary of state a Super Tuesday sweep. Sanders makes stops in Idaho and Arizona today. Despite trailing Clinton, the senator still sees a path to the nomination.

More now from CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON POST: John and Christine, even as many Democrats are trying to turn the corner and look ahead to Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders is trying to remind folks, look, this Democratic primary fight is still alive. He is campaigning aggressively in Arizona. That is the next big primary state in just four days.

He campaigned there last night and this is what he had to say.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to have elections not only here but in Utah and Idaho and we're heading further in a couple of months to California and to Washington state, to Oregon.

(CHEERS)

We think that the climate is a little bit friendlier for us. We think we have a path toward victory.

(CHEERS)

And if we can bring out large turnouts, we will win this thing.

(CHEERS)

I'm proud that up to now, we have won nine states. We have almost 850 delegates.

(CHEERS)

And with your help on Tuesday, we're going to win here in Arizona.

ZELENY: But even as Sanders campaigns, the reality is set in. He would have to win a vast majority of votes in the states to catch up with Hillary Clinton.

The Clinton campaign is still running against Bernie Sanders. They are not taking anything for granted in Arizona or other states. They are on the air with new television ads.

But the Clinton campaign is clearly running a dual track strategy here: keeping one eye on Bernie Sanders and one eye on Donald Trump -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

Now, for a closer look at the situation around the country, the political situation, we are joined by CNN politics reporter Tal Kopan from our Washington bureau.

Tal, Paul Ryan yesterday, the speaker of the House, a lot of people with raised eyebrows, listening to the speaker talk about what he thinks of the race right now, what he thinks of Donald Trump, what he thinks about maybe being a candidate for president himself one day.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It is more likely to become an open convention than we thought before. So, we're getting our minds around the idea this could very well become a reality, and therefore, those of us who are involved in the convention need to respect that.

It's not going to be me. It should be somebody running for president. People are out there campaigning. They're canvassing. There's caucuses and primaries. That's who we should select from among for our next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, he is saying it won't be me because the former Speaker John Boehner actually, essentially endorsed Paul Ryan for president, was saying he hoped the convention pick Paul Ryan.

[05:05:04] That's why Paul Ryan is saying he won't do it. Of course, he at one point said he won't be speaker either.

So, Tal, what's going on here?

TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, I think Ted Cruz was right about one thing. He is calling it a two-man race. He is wrong about the two men -- Donald Trump and not Donald Trump.

And what are you seeing is conservatives wracking their brains with what seems to be an insurmountable lead for Donald Trump in terms of another candidate jumping over him and getting to 1,237. Now, they're trying to figure out, all right. If we really don't want this man to be our party's standard bearer, what can we do to open it up at the convention?

You know, I'm talking to a lot of folks about this. I talked to one donor from Marco Rubio's campaign who is saying he wants to run for a delegate in the state which already voted so that he can go to the convention and continue to support Marco Rubio and be there if there are multiple rounds of balloting.

In some ways, this is a parlor game and D.C. is loving to play it. In other ways, it is a real existential crisis for the Republican Party.

ROMANS: Absolutely. Let's talk about Marco Rubio. He went back to work yesterday. He went back to Washington. He does have a day job. He's got maybe like ten more months on the day job.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: No, I'm not going to be anybody's vice president. I am not interested in being vice president. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. I'm not going to be vice president. I'm not running for governor of Florida.

I'm going to finish out my term in the Senate over the next ten months. We're going to work really hard here. And we have some things we want to achieve. Then I'll be a private citizen in January.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: He had been campaigning so hard. To see him so subdued. Remarkable, Tal.

KOPAN: Yes, absolutely. One of his spokesmen tweeted a video of his staff sort of lining the hallway on Capitol Hill and applauding him as he returned to work. All along, he said I'm going to be president or a private citizen at the end of this. He is sticking to that line for now.

There's a lot of buzz about him potentially mounting a run for governor in a couple of years. But he certainly doesn't need to make that move now. Depending on the nominee, I don't know he wants to be on the vice presidential ticket.

When asked about potentially teaming up with Ted Cruz by Dana Bash, he dismissed that as "House of Cards" stuff. I think in some ways, he is being honest. At this moment, he is not planning his next step. He is decompressing.

But I don't think we should take that to mean his political future is over forever, most likely.

BERMAN: One of the most important things, he said, the call with Minnesota Republicans who supported him in the caucus. He said Ted Cruz is the one true conservative left in the race. A lot of people think Marco Rubio at some point in the near future could endorse Ted Cruz. That would be a significant development.

Tal, I want to shift to the Democratic race right now because there's a fascinating piece in "The New York Times" that broke late yesterday from Maggie Haberman, which essentially says that Barack Obama, President Obama, told Democratic donors, that pretty soon they have to get behind Hillary Clinton. The White House is denying this. Listen to the denials from Josh earnest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president did not indicate or specify a preference in the race. I did not say that he couldn't make up his mind. The president casts a ballot. The president has voted in the Illinois Democratic primary.

REPORTER: Who he voted for?

EARNEST: We have not indicated that preference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, I'm not going to say that Josh Earnest isn't telling the truth, but I do think that Maggie Haberman and Michael Shear are terrific reporters. I quite believe them when they quote people who are at a meeting with President Obama last week who said the president was saying that people pretty soon going to have to get behind Hillary Clinton.

If that is, in fact, the case, Tal, what kind of difference does that make?

KOPAN: I don't know if it is a substantial difference. I think the White House has been playing this game for months. I mean, Barack Obama made many comments subtle endorsement of Hillary Clinton, or subtle indictments of Bernie Sanders, her opponent.

And, you know, Bernie Sanders has in the past run somewhat against Barack Obama's record. There are lots of people who are quick to bring up how in 2012, he sought a primary challenger from the left for Obama. And, you know, suddenly all along, the White House indicated it is very much behind Hillary Clinton and not as much behind Bernie Sanders.

You know, Clinton has fully embraced the Obama administration in every way she can. We have seen Bernie Sanders try to do it more as she does it more and more and as popularity goes up.

You know, most of the Obama world is in the Hillary camp working for her. It is everything but situation, it's been everything but President Obama standing up and saying I endorse Hillary Clinton.

[05:10:03] But for the people who are really watching closely, they can sort of surmise where he has fallen on this even if he doesn't want to say it.

ROMANS: All right. Tal Kopan, nice to see you, bright and early this Friday. Thank you. Talk to you again very soon, OK?

KOPAN: Thanks for having me.

ROMANS: Ten minutes past the hour. The White House with new pressure on Republican senators to consider the president's Supreme Court nominee. Will it work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Lawmakers heading home for a two-week recess, leaving the fight for the Supreme Court in limbo. Judge Merrick Garland met with Democrats on Thursday. Most Republicans are refusing to sit with him or grant him a hearing. But the president is hopeful there are cracks in the resistance.

Here is CNN's White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine.

Right. So, we are seeing this big push. It's almost like another difficult campaign trail. The Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland goes to Capitol Hill. He's beginning to have these sit-down meetings with senators, although, at this point, none have been with Republicans.

[05:15:02] Now, there are seven Senate Republicans, some up for re-election, including the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Chuck Grassley, who have now said, OK, we'll be willing to sit down and meet with Garland, although in some cases, including Grassley, they've just said they're just going to reiterate that they're not going to consider him as a nominee or any nominee for that matter right now.

The White House, though, believes there is a chance some vulnerable incumbent Republicans could be won over and that public pressure will be strong. Now, the White House is using a lot of Twitter, special hashtags.

Yesterday, the president had a phone call with progressives. And he helped to urge them to get out and involved, get their voices heard and work on this to show that Garland should have a fair shot.

It's just strange. On the one hand, Republicans are saying I don't know why we're talking about this. We made it clear we're not even going to hold hearings, but then you have the White House expressing confidence that this nominee will ultimately be confirmed.

What it's going to boil down to is what do Republicans see as their least damaging optioning to consider this consensus nominee or wait and see if there is a Democratic president, who they would bring forward? Is it better to be seen now as not obstructing the process or as some Republicans believe, are voters just going to be motivated by them trying to do everything they can to keep the balance of the Supreme Court from shifting -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, Michelle.

Partisan brawl on Capitol Hill as lawmakers try to assign blame for the Flint water crisis. It happened in the House Oversight Committee. Members blasted EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, demanding she resign. McCarthy deflected blame into the state of Michigan, saying the decision to take the water from the Flint River was poorly handled.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, he was under fire. He claims he was misled by employees and so-called "experts" who assured him the water in Flint was safe and Governor Snyder rejected calls to resign.

ROMANS: FBI investigators say a student who stabbed four people on the California college campus before he was killed by police may have been inspired by ISIS. Eighteen-year-old Faisal Mohammad was a student at the University of California, Merced. Authorities say he may have become self radicalized and drawn inspiration from terrorist propaganda. Investigators found ISIS materials on his laptop and evidence he visited extremist web sites prior to the attack last fall.

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, police in Washington, D.C. are investigating an alleged case of sexual abuse at the Sidwell Friends School. That's the same school attended by both of President Obama's daughters. The incidents which reportedly took place on Wednesday is not considered to be a crime at this point in time, according to authorities. It's not known where on campus this took place. School officials say they are cooperating right now with law enforcement.

ROMANS: Also breaking overnight. New York City Police are investigating a suspicious piece of mail sent to Donald Trump's son in Manhattan. FBI, police and fire officials responded to Eric Trump's apartment last night. The mail was reportedly addressed to him at the exclusive Trump Park East in midtown. Police say the postmark was from Massachusetts.

BERMAN: All right. Global temperatures, they keep shattering records. In the month of February, Earth was nearly 2.2 degrees warmer than normal. Scientists call that astounding, because records usually broken by hundredths o tenth of a degree. That's 2.2 degrees. The February represents the tenth straight month of record breaking global temperatures, a mark being called right now unprecedented.

All right. Eighteen minutes after the hour. Break out those brackets. You will not believe who is leading right now in the CNN bracket challenge.

ROMANS: Oh, stop.

BERMAN: But that aside, the basketball tournament full of surprises. Full of drama. And we have our first Cinderella story.

Andy Scholes will have it all in the bleacher report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:13] BERMAN: Simply heroic first day of the NCAA basketball tournament. And by that, I mean I'm winning.

It was great. And like the 12th seed, man, they just killed it.

ROMANS: Yes. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report.

Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.

You know, pretty much every year, a 12th seed beats a 5. We had two 12 seeds on the first day of the tournament get a win. Now, Yale had been waiting 54 years to get back in the big dance. Mason had a career high 31 points for the Bulldogs. The Bears get frustrated. Two players nearly get into it during a time-out.

Fast forward with two minutes to go, Justin the reverse lay in puts the Yale up by six. Baylor had one last chance but they would fumble it away as Yale pulls off the upset, 79-75.

The other 12 seed upset of the day came from Little Rock. They made a big comeback against Purdue in the final three minutes. Closing seconds, Josh Hagin, the fade away three right there, ties the game with just four seconds. We go to double overtime in this one. Little Rock would hold on, 85-83 to get the first tournament win in 30 years.

All right. One seed Virginia with no problem and Hampton yesterday. But there was a scary moment for the team. Tony Bennett collapsed during the final seconds of the first half. He was just dehydrated. After the game, he joked he drunk a ton of Powerade to fix the problem.

During the game, he started trending on social media. Prompting the singer to clear it up on Twitter. He tweeted, I want to let all my fans know that I'm okay. Glad to hear UVA coach is fine after his fall. Congrats on the win.

All right. Also trending on social media last night was Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller and I'm guessing you can tell why.

[05:25:05] His dress shirt completely drenched with sweat. This is the first half. A half time, a team manager had to go back to the hotel to get him another shirt for the second half. That second shirt might actually be covered in tears now as Arizona was upset by Wichita State.

All right. Apparently, John Berman cannot lose at anything. He wins every CNN quiz show and, right now, as he said, he is in first place in the bracket challenge.

And here on EARLY START, we are a balanced team. To balance out Berman, Christine Romans is down there at the bottom in last place.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: So, like I said, unfortunately, I'm somewhere in the middle, too. So, it's just perfect.

ROMANS: So embarrassing.

BERMAN: First day.

ROMANS: I've got to say -- is Victor behind me? I think I'm second to last.

SCHOLES: Victor Blackwell is at last, Christine. You are second to last.

ROMANS: You can't see this, but there's a lot of red already on my bracket.

BERMAN: Tears, Andy Scholes.

ROMANS: OK, thanks, Andy.

BERMAN: Thank you so much, Andy.

ROMANS: Donald Trump returning to the campaign trail today. The movement to stop the Republican frontrunner from securing the nomination, that movement is building. We'll tell you about it, next.

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