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Violence at Trump Rallies; Trump Campaign Manager Under Fire; Kasich's Campaign Strategy; Obama Begins Historic Two-Day Visit to Cuba. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 20, 2016 - 16:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:01:22] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello again. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

President Barack Obama expected to land in Cuba at this hour marking a historic day for the two countries. It's been nearly 90 years since a U.S. president has touched down on Cuban soil. Our own Chris Cuomo is in Havana. Chris, from your vantage point, what are the people feeling and thinking as the president is about to arrive?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPODENT: Well, I'll tell you what, Fred, as correct as what you just said is, 90 years, it's even bigger than that for the Cuban people. They see this as never. There has never been a U.S. president here since the revolution. And remember, to talk pre- revolution Cuba, that was a different country, it was a different culture and certainly a different time and expectation.

So today is huge for them. It feels like when the Pope was coming, you know, interestingly over my shoulder is the famous symbol here of the entry way to the Havana Bay, the El Moro Castle, the lighthouse. And it is seen as the metaphor for the welcoming into Cuba and Havana. When the Pope came, it was big. This you could argue is even bigger. Because many people here, generations thought it would never happen.

WHITFIELD: And that lighthouse is huge. I have been there. It is kind of symbolic of the hope that many people have been holding on to it for a long time. But at the same time feeling that this day would never come, meaning this day being the eve of real change. So how much promise are people hoping for, feeling this president will be bringing?

CUOMO: It's big. As you suggest, metaphorical and pragmatic. What else will happen in you see these Cubans, older Cubans, those who are heavily indoctrinated about the revolution and by the revolution, wearing Obama pins here.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

CUOMO: You know, the thought of that. The great enemy, the imperialist, now coming here and he is being celebrated for doing so. Now, that said, the old expression a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That is a really good way to look at what is going to happen here. The idea that anything good will happen quickly, I think is naive to the point of recklessness. So today is big, it will mean a lot on different levels but it's only a suggestion of what is still needed to come.

WHITFIELD: Right. And that symbolism is huge. You talk about the suggestion and there might be some suggestion when you see the president coming with 39 members of Congress, and now 11 entrepreneurs and business CEOs too.

So let's talk a little bit more about that when we come right back and join again there in Havana. Chris, thanks so much.

Now let's take a pause from Havana, Cuba and talk about the overall race for the White House. It was another night for violence at a Donald Trump rally. This time in Tucson, Arizona. Trump's campaign manager, Cory Lewandowski, the man in the gray blazer was caught on camera in an apparent altercation with a protester.

And more violence erupted at that same event. A protester was brutally attacked as he was being led out of the venue by police. Sucker punched, stomped on. This morning on ABC, Trump was asked about the incidents and this is how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Security at the arena, the police were a little bit lax and he had signs, they had signs up in that area that were horrendous. That I cannot say what they said on the sign. But THE ultimate word and it was all over the camera and frankly the television cameras can't take it and they can't do anything about it. And I will give him credit, now he doesn't touch -- he doesn't --

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Video there showed that he touched --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: That was somebody else -- I give him credit for having spirit. He wanted them to take down those horrible profanity-laced signs. These are disruptive --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in CNN correspondent Chris Frates, Republican strategist Brian Morgenstern and columnist and co-author of "The Party's Over," Ellis Henican. All right. Good to see you, all of you.

So Chris, you first, you heard, you know, Donald Trump, you know, trying to say there that Lewandowski didn't actually touch -- he said but he does give him credit for being very spirited. A lot of questions being asked about the videotape that everyone saw and the appropriateness of a campaign manager being in the fray there and being involved.

Is the Trump campaign saying any more or feel compelled to better explain itself if not Donald Trump himself?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what is so interesting about that, Fred, is listening to Donald Trump say that he wasn't touched but the video showing Lewandowski clearly touched him. This is really the second time that Lewandowski has come under fire with charges he manhandled someone at a Trump event.

[16:05:10]

We saw that video of him yanking that protester by the collar at a rally in Tucson yesterday. But earlier this month, a reporter accused Lewandowski of grabbing her by the arm and yanking her backwards as she tried to ask Trump a question at a news conference. That reporter, her names is Michelle Field (ph). She pressed charges against Lewandowski. He denied touching her.

This has bubbled up so much so that we today we heard from the Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. He weighed, he says he thinks law enforcement professionals, not campaign officials, should be dealing with those protesters. It really does raise questions, Fred, about why was Lewandowski out in the crowd to begin with and is that the appropriate role for the campaign or should that be left for the private security that the Rrump campaign hired?

In fact, just few weeks ago, they started to put private teams of private security throughout the crowd? That way they can help get these protesters out quickly with local police and Secret Service so there are a lot of questions here. But the thing that struck me so much was hearing Donald Trump essentially say he didn't touch anybody and the video clearly shows that he did.

WHITFIELD: And so Chris, was it the young man whose collar was pulled, is that the one who was recently released from some medical treatment and said that he is a first-time voter and trying to describe his injuries and what happened?

FRATES: Actually, that was not the video we saw. The young man who was released from the hospital was a young protester who at the same event was sucker punched by man at that rally --

WHITFIELD: Oh and was wearing the American flag?

FRATES: That was the American flag gentleman. He was sucker punched. His name is Brian Sanders. He is 33 years old. He talked to CNN and he said he was there, and I can tell you, "the reason I went to protest Trump's rally is because of his fascist approach, his racism, his hate of women and his lies. He went to hold up a sign, saying that Trump is bad for America and he felt like that was something that he need -- a statement that he needed to make.

As he was led away by law enforcement he was sucker punched by another man at that rally. Who, you know, who was later arrested for misdemeanor assault. If you watch that video, can you see behind Brian Sanders, a man in the American flag shirt, there was also someone look like they were being led away with a KKK hood on. Brian Sanders saying "I don't know who that was. I wasn't affiliated with that person. I have taken a lot of flak as if we were together. I don't know who that person was." That person and their intention is still an open question, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. So we know a lot is going to have to be, I guess, addressed as it pertains to the Donald Trump campaign as it pertains to that moment. So let's gentlemen, take a moment and talk about somebody else, how about that?

On the GOP, John Kasich. He is ignoring the suggestion that has been made that he should focus on the east while Ted Cruz should focus on the west. He says, no way. He told this to Dana Bash earlier today, Ellis, that he's going to focus on trying to get better footing in this race overall. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: One scenario that I have heard is that split the map scenario. You focus from now on on the east where you do quite well. Ted Cruz focuses on the west where he does better. Try to keep Donald Trump's delegate count low through the convention. Is that a strategy you or anybody on your team would pursue?

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not at this point. We're not thinking that way. I'm thinking that we're getting momentum and I can go east and I can go west. You know, the thing about California and me, OK, you know, I've got positions that unify people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So Ellis, John Kasich staying in the race, keeps it interesting, doesn't?

ELLIS HENICAN, COLUMNIST: It does. It is such a sensible strategy on paper at least but it turns out politicians have ego, Fred and this no politician who has any other attitude than why not the best? Why not me? So while it makes total logical sense, it isn't going to happen.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brian, real quick, your thoughts?

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, he is doing what needs to be done. And saying that he is campaigning everywhere. The bottom line is the non-Trump candidates are trying to make sure he doesn't get to 1237. In order to do that Cruz has to win some states, Kasich has to win some states. Dems the facts. And Kasich can't deny it but he does have to say he is campaigning hard everywhere. Doing what he has got to do.

WHITFIELD: And still it will be the challenge for someone to get the 1237. All right. Thanks so much to all of you. Appreciate it.

We're going to take a short turn here. A quick little turn here. To go to Peoria, Arizona, outside of Phoenix. Ted Cruz is campaigning there. Let's listen in. TED CRUZ, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's the kind of deception. That's the kind of abuse that the system that people are frustrated with. And you know, Arizona has seen firsthand the consequences of illegal immigration. Just a couple of days ago I was found in Douglas, Arizona on the border, on the southern border. I was visiting with ranchers there who were sharing stories.

[16:10:10]

One rancher, a woman, shared how drug smugglers would routinely come into her home, break into her home, make themselves food in her kitchen, shower in her bathroom, sleep in her bed. People need to think about what is wrong with our country when American citizens are being terrorized by transnational criminal cartels, they are smuggling in tons of drugs that are destroying young people and they are smuggling in human beings who are often physically and sexually abused. These are not good people, these coyotes and smugglers.

When I was touring the border yesterday, someone had joined me. It was an Arizona man named Steve Ronaback. Steve Ronaback's son, Grant, January of last year was murdered by an illegal alien. Grant was just 19 years old, he was working in a convenience store. Grant was someone who everyone says was full of life, full of joy. If people came into the convenience store, they didn't have the money to buy what they needed, he would sometimes take money out of his own pocket to help them pay for the groceries they need.

But one night an illegal alien came in. Someone who had been charged with rape and burglary and yet released. A violent criminal let out on the street. And this illeg alien dumped a jar of change on the counter and asked for some cigarettes. And Grant at age 19 began counting out the change. And apparently he didn't count it out fast enough and this illegal alien pulled out a gun and pointed it at his face --

Grant immediately --

WHITFIELD: Immigration front and center ther ein Arizona, two days ahead of the primary taking place there. Ted Cruz there perhaps taking a page out of the Donald Trump play book with this latest example that he is talking about.

Let's bring back Brian, Ellis and Chris. So I wonder, Brian, will this message resonate differently coming from a Ted Cruz?

MORGENSTERN: I think it may be a little a bit too little too late because Trump has made this the cornerstone of his campaign. He already has Sheriff Joe and Jan Brewer on his side. I know Senator Cruz wants it compete in Arizona. He is saying what a candidate should say to do that. I just think Trump has galvanized enough support in that particular state at this point that this is not going to be enough.

But Senator Cruz is doing well in Utah. That primary is also coming up so they may end up splitting the next two that are upcoming.

WHITFIELD: Utah, Idaho and Arizona. Ellis, how do you see Ted Cruz trying to secure support there in Arizona and the other two states?

HENICAN: Brian is right. It's a little tough to outtrump Trump on that issue in Arizona. But he's got other places he can win, and Utah is one and there are a whole bunch of ther states to come, especially moving east and when you have to add Kasich into the equation as well. I just think we don't know. Is Trump going to get the majority that he needs or is he not? Anyone who says they know now I think is patting themselves on the back prematurely.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ellis Henican, Brian Morgenstern, Chris Frates, thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Well, do we have a night for you tomorrow night. The democratic and Republican candidates all five making their cases to the voters on the same night, same network.

The final five candidates tomorrow 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Meantime, also on stand by for President Barack Obama who is expected to touchdown at any moment now there in Havana. Beautiful view of Havana, Cuba there. This is a symbolic day as it is the first visit by a U.S. president in nearly nine decades. We're live from the ground, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:55]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. In two days, democrats in three western states will have their say.

On Tuesday, democratic voters in Idaho, Utah and Arizona will go to the polls with 131 delegates on the line. Bernie Sanders is holding three rallies in Washington state today. He will be attempting to turn the tide following Hillary Clinton's sweep last Tuesday. Sanders is optimistic that he can win out west.

Let's bring in CNN's Boris Sanchez to discuss more on this showdown out west. Boris is in Tucson, Arizona.

So Boris, Hillary is taking a bit of a respite or at least she's not being seen on the campaign trail right now but her husband is, what's the plan?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really, Hillary Clinton is hoping that some of her husband's popularity here in Arizona will translate to support for her campaign. You will recall Bill Clinton very popular in Arizona, the only Democrat to take the state in a general election since Harry Truman, many, many decades ago. He is not going to be alone here on the stage in Tucson. He's going to be with former congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband former astronaut Mark Kelly. They are both expected to take the stage in just a couple of hours. There is already a huge crowd outside and a band is setting up here.

Both of those, Gabby Giffords and her husband are very, very popular figures here in Arizona and around the country where they've campaigned for the Clintons and they've also appeared in several commercials for them as well. The Clinton campaign is expecting to do well in Arizona. Sanders, though, is still fighting to stay alive in a race and in this state in particular he was here over the weekend, meeting with immigrant families. He also visited the border between the U.S. and Mexico. He had some choice words for Donald Trump there as well. He has also spent $1.5 million in commercials here, hoping to get momentum going again, after, as you mentioned, Hillary swept super Tuesday 3, taking all five states that were up for grabs just a few days ago.

Now the real debate is between Democrats who argue that the party should coalesce behind Hillary or that Bernie should stay in the race. There are two reasons why some Democrats want Bernie to stay in the race. First, --

WHITFIELD: All right. Boris, sorry, I have to interrupt you. Right now, Air Force 1 coming in for a landing in Havana, at (INAUDIBLE) Airport there. Historic trip by a U.S. president. The first U.S. president to touch soil at this moment right there in Havana, Cuba in 90 years. Along with the president, a contingent, of some 39 members of Congress. Also on board 11 business CEOs and entrepreneurs. All bringing with them hope for a new, a changed Cuba ahead.

Leading our coverage there from Havana, Cuba, our Chris Cuomo. He is there on the rooftop getting a bird's-eye view of the feelings in Havana. Cuba, the hope and perspective. Chris?

CUOMO: I tell you, Fred, our producer, Kim Norgard, saw the president's plane coming past our location here. Now it is touchdown and to many of you at home it looks like there's Air Force One touching down again. Not for Cuba.

[16:20:05]

Again, forget about 90 years. Yes, that's the last time but this was a never before, since revolution, this has not happened. And that's what Cuba is today. It is its revolution history. And many here generations of people here never thought this would happen.

So just this moment, of this plane being on the ground, and President Barack Obama being inside, is something that people here never imagined. This is the great imperial overlord. This was the fuel for the need for the revolution. Now the people wearing pins that say Barack Obama here. 50, 60, 70-year-old Cubans wearing those pins, Fred. This is huge. Everything that happens once he lands is going to be something that people here never thought would happen. The question is, what does it mean going forward?

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, Chris, as you had a chance to interact with people, while people are expressing hope in lots of different ways, have you come across people who are also expressing fear, worry about the kind of change potentially that Cuba could be exposed to, you know, on the horizon?

CUOMO: That's the right question, Fred. And the answer is yes. There's a lot of fear to go around here, both real and imagined. You have concern about, well is this a take over? Is this what we've been told and threatened about our entire lives? So you have that with the older generation. But you also have a mellowing with many of those people and expectation here that people here need more, they deserve more. 90 miles from the richest country in the world.

And then you have fears about what change will mean. It can mean many things for tourism. But will it trickle down to the people who need it most? Will it be another exploitive environment? There are a lot of what ifs here. But there is a certainty now.

President Barack Obama, the United States of America, has come to Cuba. And when something happens that you thought would never happen before, then change is all possible. Now you know who knows this a lot better than I do, Fred, the two men I'm bringing in right now.

WHITFIELD: OK.

CUOMO: Patrick Oppmann and our Jim Acosta. It's great to have you both here as always. It's great to share another moment in history. That's what we are seeing, Patrick. I mean, sometimes people think oh, you're hyping it. This can't be exaggerated. You know generations of people here who never thought this day would come.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When I came here four years ago, I actually never expected that I would have the opportunity to cover this. The cold war ended for all of us when the Soviet Union collapsed, when the Berlin wall (INAUDIBLE). The cold war has never ended in Cuba. You still hear the same kind of rhetoric, the same kind of acrimony.

The United States is still to blame for all of Cuba's problems. That starts to end now. Embargo is slowly being phased out. Congress has to lift it. President Obama is doing everything he can. He is coming here, not to scold the Cuban government, he's coming here to connect with the Cuban people, and say that but to start a new chapter.

CUOMO: And of course, you have the whole overlay of this coming on the heels of the Pope. And the Pope supposedly negotiating this. Jim, (INAUDIBLE) together as well that, you know, the cardinal here, being an emissary of El Papa, telling these two, Raul Castro and Obama, it is time for something new, providing cover to both. Now this.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And President Obama is going to pay a visit to the old cathedral in Havana later on this evening to tip his hat to Pope Francis for beginning this process. Remember, he helped broker this agreement between the United States and Cuba in secret. Along with Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser to the president.

From talking to White House officials, I can tell you, Chris and Patrick, what the White House hopes on this trip is to make this policy irreversible. Yes, they haven't taken down the embargo like you said, that requires Congress. But have the president of the United States come to Cuba, bringing the first lady, bringing his daughters, the first grandma is here, President Obama's mother in law is coming as well, along with all these members of Congress, they are hoping that Americans will see this at home and say we need to come to Cuba too and that starts the change.

They know that 50, 60 years of isolation, that can't change overnight. But this is the first step in that process and that's what the White House wants to accomplish.

CUOMO: But you have many forms of push back here and back in the U.S., in your own family you will feel that as Cuban-American yourself, your generation removed from this. When this rain started to come, this old man came up to me in the square downstairs when I was coming back from lunch. He said, look up. I looked up. He said he said, Fidel cry (INAUDIBLE) -- he was saying, this rain, Fidel brought it here, these are the tears of the revolution. (INAUDIBLE) too.

ACOSTA: That's right. The tears of the revolution still exists but they are starting to dry up. And not only here in Cuba but also in the Cuban-American community back in the United States. It used to be the day when the Cuban-Americans in Miami would shake their fist at their former homeland because they were so outraged with Fidel Castro.

Now you have so many young Cuban-Americans in Miami who come back and forth. They talk to their relatives here. They want to visit their mother, their father. Earlier today, we were out the baseball stadium, where President Obama will take in a baseball game later on this week. There was a wifi hot spot outside of the stadium where all of these Cubans were connecting with their relatives back in the United States.

[16:25:00]

So there is almost a revolution taking place now that nobody really anticipated, and that's a digital one and it's bringing these two people together finally after many, many years.

(CROSSTALK)

OPPMANN: And a generational shift as well. People who thought to throw the Americans out -- they are wondering how this works. Can capitalism and communism coexist? Fidel Castro surely didn't seem to think so. Happy the Americans were sent backing. Raul Castro has, by necessity, because the economy is in such terrible shape here, says he will leave presidency within two years, he's going to be 86 then, and he has got to find a solution to this problem because isolating Cuba doesn't really do much for Cuba as well. They need tourism dollars with the Venezuelan oil revenue drying up. There is some fear from the older generation. But the younger generation they're leaving in droves.

We hear about doctors making $20, engineers making $20 a month. No one can survive on that salary. Majority of this country, they are surviving on money coming from Miami. Whoever thought Jim that Miami would be financing the final years of the revolution. $4 billion a year some people thing comes in remittances, that's the life blood of this economy. So it is very, very complicated. Younger generation though, you know, if you're getting on a raft, you don't have much ending any more and penny change would improve their lives, is what I've heard.

ACOSTA: And members of congress are coming with the president. The longest list I've seen on any presidential trip since I've been covering President Obama. He's got the CEO of Mariott. He's got (INAUDIBLE). He's got Paypal. All of these companies that want to come in and establish a (INAUDIBLE). And there's a flip side to this as well. The White House has made it very clear, and this is going to be interesting to watch all week long, Chris, the president is going to be talking about human rights here in Cuba.

A sitting U.S. president is going to talk to Raul Castro, in front of the Cuban people, will talk about human rights. He's going to meet with the dissident community here. People who he helped release from prison as part of the deal that reestablished diplomatic relations. And then at this major address to the Cuban people on Tuesday, he's also going to talk about human rights again. And the Cubans sound somewhat receptive to that, Patrick. Isn't that interesting?

OPPMANN: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: I mean that is something that just would be unheard of in previous administrations.

CUOMO: Today there's a famous group here that protests like what on a weekly basis?

OPPMANN: Yes.

CUOMO: They lay down on the street and they got immediately get arrested and taken off on the street.

OPPMANN: Receptive but unwilling to change and respectful but also they said, with our guard up. And the idea is that U.S. cannot tell us what to do. I spoke yesterday with (INAUDIBLE), she's the lead negotiator on the Cuban side with U.S. and she said, we know he's going to talk about things we don't like and we will listen and we will consider it and we will be respectful.

ACOSTA: Baby steps. Yes.

OPPMANN: Yes.

CUOMO: Let's bring in some more perspective on this. I will let you guys find a way to get dried off.

(INAUDIBLE) not fast enough, my metaphorical (INAUDIBLE).

Let's bring in presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley and Lisandro Perez. He is the chair of the Latino studies Department at John J. College and he is the founder of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, FIU. It's great to have both of you to talk about what this means.

Douglas, you heard me say, I'm sure earlier on, yes, the number is 90 years since a U.S. president has been on the ground. But as our Patrick Oppmann educated me to earlier, this is a never. Since the revolution there has never been an American president here. And many thought there never would be. What's your take?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Absolutely. Let's forget about Calvin Cooliage for a minute. That was a different Cuba. We are witnessing right now is history in the making. This is I think the high water mark of Obama's foreign policy.

The very fact that we are having on the Air Force One landing in Havana, and you're going to be having President Obama talking directly to dissidents in Cuba. Talking to entrepreneurs in Cuba. Going to a baseball game, Tampa Bay Devil Rays (INAUDIBLE) Cuban nationals with Raul Castro. This is a big deal. It reminds me of Nixon's 1972 trip to China, although a lower grade of importance than that and when of course, when Bill Clinton finally normalized relations with Vietnam during his presidency.

But officially when we see the president walk off the tarmac here, you know, on to the tarmac, and I think that will be the moment we can say that it is not just the fall but the cold war has ended in Cuba.

CUOMO: Let's be optimistic enough to assume the president is going to get off this plane. Right now looking at live picture in Havana, Cuba. You see the time there. Remember it especially if you have any connection to Cuba, 4:29 p.m. Eastern Time. That's the United States of America Air Force One, President Barack Obama, inside of it, touching down on Cuban soil. Something that generations of Cubans never thought would happen. The question is, what will it mean?

Lisandro Perez, there is so much need here, this is a third world country in many ways. The needs are great for change on many levels. What are the realities to what forward?

LISANDRO PEREZ, CHAIR DEPT. OF LATINO STUDIES JOHN JAY COLLEGE: Well, let me say, first of all, that witnessing this right on the monitor here in the studio has been emotional for me.

[16:30:00] I'm Cuban-American. I spent my whole life studying Cuba and writing about Cuba. And to actually witness Air Force One landing at Jose Marti International Airport I really -- I never thought I would live to see this day. So I wanted to confirm what you've been saying all along about how historic this is.

I think this is an important visit. I think the president is going to Cuba because he wants to move forward. The plan that he has and the agenda that he has for really bringing change to Cuba and to also primarily stress the friendship of the American people. I think that's going to be mainly his message, and I think part of the reason he's there is precisely because the progress has been slow since he made his announcement on December 17, 2014.

It's been slow on the U.S. side. It's been slow on the Cuban side. And I think he want to -- this is both for consumption in Cuba and for consumption in the U.S. And I think he want both sides to be moving on this.

CUOMO: Lisandro, important point, thank you. But I just want to direct people to what we are seeing now. Patrick, let me bring you in here. Obviously, this would be the welcoming committee. One of the big x factors is would the president, Raul Castro be part of this. I don't see any signal of him being there yet. They are opening the door now. Obviously, the agent of security checking the way as they bring the jet way over for the president to be able to get out. There it moves.

Obviously he's got to come down those stairs. Very wet out here right now so, they're going to have to be careful about getting him down. Who do we believe to be in this welcoming committee?

OPPMANN: I'm seeing Ambassador Jeff DeLaurentis, the United States top ambassador, top diplomat of Cuba --

CUOMO: Now, that's a meaningful distinction, right.

OPPMANN: Yes.

CUOMO: He's not the ambassador.

OPPMANN: He's not the ambassador of Cuba because he's not been nominated -- because of course there will be a lot of opposition to that in the senate due to the (inaudible) charge de affairs. He has the ambassador out (ph) from previous postings and for all intents and purposes, he is the Obama administration's man in Nevada (ph) -- he was very much involved. And let's talk about Air Force One a second.

Jeff DeLaurentis, has seen the Air Force One in Cuba one other time. He was there when Allen Gross was picked up and President Obama said, a smaller version of Air Force One down to pick up Allen Gross. Jeff DeLaurentis was there. That of course was a secret flight we didn't know about until after he left. This is anything but that

CUOMO: Jim Acosta, if your phone is still working in this driving rain here.

ACOSTA: Yes, that's right. It is driving rain.

CUOMO: We just had a treat from the president, what is it?

ACOSTA: President Obama tweeting as he was landing here in Cuba, "Que ...

OPPMANN: Que bola.

ACOSTA: Que bola.

OPPMANN: What's going on -- what's going on Cuba?

ACOSTA: What's going on Cuba? He just touched down here looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people. CUOMO: You see the Foreign Minister of Cuba Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. We see Gustavo Machin, who is the number two at the Foreign Minister for Cuban affairs, and I've seen Josefina Vidal as well. So, you've got the top Cuban diplomats for the U.S. They are to greet the president. I've not seen Cuban President Raul Casstro. You know, Jim, you know I think -- how did the president tweet that? There is no 3G here.

ACOSTA: That's right.

CUOMO: Obviously the U.S. government has a lot more capabilities.

ACOSTA: They've got some bells and whistles on Air Force One.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've got some bells and whistles well, that impresses me.

ACOSTA: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's landing and sending a tweet because ...

CUOMO: Douglas Brinkley, let's make some metaphor effect of this rain that you're looking and not be in right now. This is not going to be an easy transition. Every journey begins with a single step. That's hopefully what we're seeing today, as a big step. The question is, in what direction and at what pace?

BRINKLEY: Well, I think that you know, we have to look at this as being the large moment in the fall. I mean, in 2018 Raul Castro will be stepped down and Barack Obama won't be there. So for the trade embargo to be lifted, it's not going to happen during president Obama's White House tenure or Raul Castro. But this is a beyond applause (ph). Suddenly American Airlines is going to be having flights to the United States.

We're going to be having educational groups going down to take tours of the Bay of Pigs or where TR, Theodore Roosevelt fought at the battle of Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill -- movies and music. So, I think that this is more than just an opening salvo. I think this is a main moment in American History.

CUOMO: All right, professor. Let's pause right there. There is President Obama and First Lady. We also know they have their kids and Michelle Obama's mother as well. There is Malia I think that we just saw. So, they're getting ready to come out in the rain. A little bit unexpected. Certainly it is a step up from what they were dealing with in D.C. which is snow. But here comes the President of the United States and his family. He's about 30 steps away from touching down on soil that many felt the American president would never step on.

OPPMANN: I don't think anybody watching this in Cuba isn't moved and probably a lot of people in the United States. You know, this is -- there will be a before and after to this trip and to this moment.

[16:35:00] CUOMO: And you want it to rain (inaudible). President Obama is really opening up the flood gates here. This is a momentous thing that we're watching right now. Who would have thought that the president of the United States would be shaking hands with Cuban officials? I know Patrick, when you took this job in Havana, you probably thought, is this ever going to change on my watch? It's what every Cuban correspondents say when they get stationed in Havana, is it ever going to happen on my watch?

OPPMANN: I know, absolutely. And here we are.

CUOMO: And here we are.

OPPMANN: And it seems for (inaudible) he probably never thought that he would received them at the airport.

CUOMO: Absolutely.

OPPMANN: And for Cubans who are watching this live in Cuba, to see this kind of red carpet treatment for the hated enemy.

CUOMO: The flowers that we're seeing here, any cultural significance to that or is it just what it seems like just a nice gesture?

OPPMANN: Just a nice gesture because there's something very you dress up the airport and again and again Cuban officials, seeing Josefina Vidal greet the first lady. It's a (inaudible) kicked out of the United States as part of the spying scandal. Gustavo Machin shaking hands with the president. He can't come to the United States. He was kicked out of the United States over a spying scandal as well. There's a lot of spy ...

CUOMO: There's the Cuban Ambassador to the U.S. Cabanes (ph) there. Now, who is not there, Jim and Patrick, is Raul Castro. Is there anything to be read into that? Is that significant?

ACOSTA: I think baby steps. Baby steps. You know, this is something -- this is a diplomatic dance. They like their music in Cuba. This is a diplomatic dance. The president doesn't want to go too fast, too far, and neither do the Cubans. So, they're almost on the same page in that regard. They both know that there's a lot at stake, but they both kind of need each other right now.

The president has -- he's opened up Pandora's Box and so now we have to see how this is all going to play out. And you know, this is a gamble for president Obama. What if he gets here and this just doesn't work out, you know.

CUOMO: Look, that's a real crosshairs (ph) -- Lisandro Perez, let's bring you in here. This moment of him being on the tarmac is very real for you but there's also something here that is not completely real and that is the change in the embargo status because politically, an executive order is only as good as the executive in office, nothing legislative follows. It stays the way it is. But still, the significance to you of this way from the president on Cuban soil.

PEREZ: Well, I think it's true that the -- in other words, he can't really change the embargo but in fact, I think this trip goes a long way. Now we're starting to move the agenda. Let me say, I am very surprised that Raul Castro is not there and I think most Cubans watching on television are probably also surprised. Raul Castro did meet the popes when they arrived in Cuba. It may be like you say, a sort of political gambit or things (inaudible). But I am very surprised not to see Raul Castro here.

OPPMANN: I think as Jim was saying, baby steps. They said we would meet him with respectful hospitality. But they're not signs all over Havana welcoming the president like there were with the pope. This is more controversial for Cubans as well. What if the United States opens up and because of the terrible economic mismanagement of this country, things don't get better for the Cubans? Who do the Cubans then blame?

ACOSTA: And there's also -- there's also, I mean the Cubans, while they're receiving president Obama, they still have billboards-- propaganda billboards as you're making your way from the airport to city that say bloquero (ph) with the news. Instead of a no, there's a news. They still are very much -- they're vehemently against this economic embargo that the U.S. has on Cuba here.

They feel like that should be a part of these negotiations with the United States. The Cubans want Guantanamo back, you know, so they're still -- as Patrick is saying, there might be domestic political considerations here as to why Raul Castro is not here.

CUOMO: But as you know, and again, you know it's great reporting context to have as a journalist that you've lived this situation in your own family. Many people in America of Cuban descent do not like that President Obama is where he is right now. When you say Castro, they say oppressive regime, you know, of human rights. Dissidents that people aren't just held down economically. It is about freedom here and that complicates the situation because you can't have change just on one side.

ACOSTA: Yeah, that's right. And that's why the president had said and the White House is making no bones about it. President Obama is going to talk about basic human rights here -- the right to free speech, the right to freedom of the press, the right to assembly. And those rights are not universal in Cuba. There are things starting to -- we have bloggers like Yoani Sanchez who is very popular on twitter.

The Cubans aren't throwing her in prison. She does have little run-ins with them from time to time. But, so things are starting to happen slowly but surely. The question I have though throughout the course of this trip is the words that President Obama uses. And that I think is going to go to what you're saying Chris (ph) about the Cuban Americans back in the United States. Will they feel president Obama was tough enough on the Cubans? That's why he has this diplomatic dance to pull off.

CUOMO: Well, we also know that this isn't random. I'm not just talking to scheduling, I'm talking to strategy. We are told from people who are close to the president that he's thought a lot about what to say and that is one of the hallmarks of President Obama. He is a very thoughtful speaker in terms of delivering messages. So, we can expect that ans when he says what he says and what he does not say here, it will obviously be relevant, as is where he's going right now. Tell us Patrick, what's the agenda?

[16:40:00] OPPMANN: Absolutely. So from here, he's going to drive into Havana. He will meet with the U.S. Embassy staff and family. They actually couldn't do it at the U.S. Embassy -- just too small for this delegation that's going along with President Obama -- over 1,200 people. Jimmy, I know you've covered so many presidential visits. With Cuba, I've seen a lot of presidents -- the Pope coming here.

I've never seen a visit that required so much of the Cuban government. Both sides have sort of been spinning for weeks about how do we get this done in a country with such limited resources. In a lot of ways, I think this is the White House showing off the power and enormity of the United States. That we come with a delegation that no one has seen.

We come with a plane that's bigger than anyone else has got. A car that is bigger than anyone else has got. But you know, of course, the president is going to meet with Raul Castro. There'll be bilateral meeting. There will be a dinner -- a state dinner tomorrow night. But there are things that are probably steps too far red lines for the president as well.

They've said categorically he will not meet with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. That's just too much. This is a man many Americans look and say, you took away my home, you may have executed my relatives and that is a meeting that the president can have. You can meet with the president, that's Raul Castro but to meet with Fidel Castro that would be insulting.

ACOSTA: They don't want to stir up a hornet's nest here. It may be raining but they don't want a hurricane in other words. They want this to go very smoothly this week. The president's going to go to the cathedral to pay respects to the pope's involvement in all of this and then going to this baseball game on Tuesday.

You know, I think cigars -- you know the president has been known to smoke a cigarette -- he's used the nicorette gum more often than not, but maybe he'll light up a Cuban cigar, I don't know. Maybe we'll have to wait and see.

OPPMANN: It is legal now.

ACOSTA: It is legal now. He won't be breaking any rules.

CUOMO: He doesn't have to inhale.

ACOSTA: He does not have to inhale, that's true

(CROSSTALK)

OPPMANN: The better if you do though.

ACOSTA That's right. But you know, and that's the message they want to get across to people back in the United States. The White House is saying come to Cuba. They're almost doing sort of a travel log, The President Obama goes to Cuba. You know, Anthony Bourdain, you know, president Obama as Anthony Bourdain in Cuba a little bit.

CUOMO: And it's kind of dangling things in front of him. All of these people who come in big businesses, (inaudible), potential for investment, potential to change the lives of people. It's literally being paraded before their eyes. American baseball, you know, obviously the passion of this country and of America. The Rolling Stones here on Friday. You know, really the best of cultural kind of cooperation is going to be laid at their feet.

ACOSTA: I think that message from President Obama is okay Cuba, here's your chance. We're rolling out, you know, pulling out all of the stops. You're rolling out the red carpet, we're pulling out all the stops, and if you seize this opportunity, business will come. They don't have the Soviet Union anymore. They don't have Venezuela. The petrol dollars are gone.

This is -- Cuba's opportunity to really start moving in the 21st century because really they're still frozen in time. They need this cash to come in. They're going to have to reciprocate and I think that's why President Obama is going to be delivering that message.

OPPMANN: Please to say how the Cubans, they never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This is really the last chance. Fidel Castro wasn't able to get this done -- is what they got less than two years in power. The transition isn't fully locked down. You know, Raul Castro is 84, anything can happen at that age and that would be -- if there isn't a --

ACOSTA: This is the window of opportunity.

OPPMAN: This is a window and it's closing every day.

CUOMO: Now if you can see here, come in real quick on Patrick's cuff links. These were a gift from his wife, Cuban by the way. So, you see the American and the Cuban flag together. This was seen as a promise. This was a suggestion and yet today, we see those two flags on the car carrying the president of the United States on his way into Havana, Cuba.

OPPMANN: And not just on the president's car, not just on my cuff links, Cuban's all over the city wearing American flags. Sometimes it's spandex, sometimes it's a t-shirt. Air fresheners lie on the old cars.

ACOSTA: I saw it flying over the baseball stadium there -- flying over the baseball stadium now. This is a new chapter.

OPPMANN: And as a Cuban citizen in the old days in the 60's, wearing an American flag got you tossed in jail. Now, it's not a big deal.

CUOMO: Rock and roll got you tossed in jail, and now you got the Stones coming on Friday.

ACOSTA: You can't always get what you want but sometimes you try real heard, you get what you need. Is that the -- did I get it close?

CUOMO: Jim Acosta.

ACOSTA: How do you translate that in Spanish.

CUOMO: Hey Patrick, you're always the best. You're our man here in Cuba, but that was a strong finish by Acosta. Also to Lisandro Perez and Douglas Brinkley, thank you very much, and stay with us because this is just the beginning of a moment in history for the United States and Cuba. We'll be back live from Havana right after the break. You don't get what you want but sometimes you get what you need.

[16:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right, we are live in Havana, Cuba. We just saw something that many here thought would never happen. A president of the United States, President Barack Obama on Cuban soil now in Havana, making his way in -- this is just moments ago as he arrived with the first lady, his daughters, his mother-in-law. This has not happened since the revolution. You're going to hear it's been 90 years, it's been 90 years. No, it's been forever because before the revolution, Cuba was different.

It's different now under the Castro's and this was something that people had been promised in this country wouldn't happen because America was the evil imperialist and now, here is someone trying to bridge that and that comes with a lot of controversy. So, let's discuss what just happened. We're about to see today and in the days to come and what it means here and back home in the United States. We have our best, Jim Acosta and CNN's Patrick Oppmann. We also have Professor Douglas Brinkley with us and Lisandro Perez, Chair of the Latino Studies Department at John Jay College. He's also the founder of the Cuban Research Institute at FIU. Gentlemen, it is great to have all of you.

We were talking about this presence sends an impression here but Douglas for you, again, a lot of people back home politically and culturally said don't do this. The Castro's have to go. Don't do this we don't want to embrace a regime like this. Don't do this you did it without the legislature, you shouldn't be taking this type of executive action. What's the plus/minus on these issues?

[16:50:00] BRINKLEY: Well, yes, Ted Cruz in particular is running for president and his father was from Cuba and he said that Barack Obama is coming here to apologize for American foreign policy. On the other hand, Donald Trump said he is fine with this although he would he have done a better deal. I think this is about young Cuban-Americans being more willing to let go of what their parent's sort of hate to the Castro bothers. This is a great fall (ph) and the entire world community is cheering this as a great diplomatic moment.

Russia is fine with Obama coming. The Pope perhaps is someone who brokered it. China said it is a good thing. All of our European allies say it is a good thing. It's just a generation of Americans that were wounded by the Cuban revolution of the 1950s and the Castro's. Terrible abuses of human rights policies that have resisted this friendship meeting. But this is a 21st century diplomatic event. It's a long time in coming. Bob Dylan back in the Cold War days and the Cuban missile crisis wrote a song.

And here's your metaphor Chris, a hard rain is going to fall. We had the fear of a nuclear annihilation in the 1960s. And here we are in 2016 and it is a friendship visit. It's been a long hard road from Kennedy to Kennedy's fear of annihilation to Barack Obama coming. So this is, I think, is a moment to be honored and celebrated. It's a small step as we've been saying but a significant small step in U.S.- Cuban relations.

CUOMO: Lisandro Perez, and then there's the other side of the coin in terms of what it means to forget about the past and start to move past the Castro's. You can remember that very acutely and sharply and yet want this moment to happen today, not for the Castro's but for all of those Cubans who have been left behind. What does that mean to you?

PEREZ: You know, Chris, I think this is an opportunity and I hope it turns out that way. It's my biggest hope for this, that this will be the beginning of a healthy relationship between the United States and Cuba. That's a relationship that Cuba and the U.S. have really never had. And when I say never, I don't mean just now during the revolution, and since 1959. I mean, since way before Calvin Coolidge went to Cuba.

It has been a relationship that's been characterized by U.S. threats to Cuban sovereignty, by a lot of economic dependence, treating Cuba as playground. And then since the revolution, it's been a policy of hostility and isolation. And I'm hoping this marks the beginning for the first time ever, a sort of more normal, healthy relationships between two neighbors. Obviously, the power difference is very great. But I'm hoping that this is the start of that type of relationship.

CUOMO: Patrick, you live here. You know what life is here like right now. You know what the people need. You know what they want. What do you think you're going to hear when you go home?

OPPMANN: I think people are going to be processing this. Like win December 17th when the surprise announcement was made, Cubans immediately thought this would make their lives better. They are so desperate for some good news here and it hasn't really. There is hope, there is optimism, but in terms of the lives (inaudible) Cubans fleeing in record numbers. They still have a tough lot and they're going to hope that this improves their lives.

I saw the Cuban diplomat yesterday, Josefina Vidal, just the changes in routine, is that going to make things any better? She said no, the embargo has to go first. I don't even know if that will make the kind of changes. But if you go back to the history of this, Calvin Coolidge came here on a gunship, you know. Years before that, the United States had invaded Cuba to kick the Spanish out and sort of treated this island like it was our property.

So, this is a very different kind of diplomacy. This is cruise ship diplomacy. He's coming with executives who want to invest in Cuba, who want to re-build some of the terrible destruction that's been caused here over the years. I think the president can offer a very different vision than Cubans so far I have seen. CUOMO: You know, in terms of the timing and the symbolism Jim, today's

Palm Sunday. There's no question that Pope Francis had something to do with this. We heard Raul Castro say things about prayer and religion that would have been punishable as a crime under the early revolution. And today Palm Sunday, more churches were open. There were more masses. I saw more palms. I made crosses out of the palm. Know how we do that tradition. And offered them to people and they took them. That wouldn't have happened the first I came here in the late '90s, but it's happening today.

[16:55:00] ACOSTA: Raul Castro has always been the pragmatist, right. Fidel is the more revolutionary leader. Raul has been the pragmatist. And keep in mind, Raul Castro is a fan of President Obama. I was with President Obama when he went to Panama in April of last year and had that bilateral meeting with Raul Castro which was also historic. And it was during that bilateral meeting where we were all sort of blown away and Raul Castro said, not only am I a fan of President Obama, I've read his autobiographies.

And he started talking about portions of the books read about portions of the books that President Obama had written. And so, there does seem to be a relationship between these two leaders. They've spoken on the phone. The question and we were talking about this throughout is how far do they take this? And we just don't know at this point. I think a lot of it rides on how things go this week and you know, we're talking about, you know, how the Cuban-American community feels about this.

The Cuban-American community is not monolithic community. They don't all think the same. There are differences of opinion but what is happening right now is something that a lot of Cubans are now starting it say, this needs to take place. We've tried this for 50 or 60 years of isolation, the embargo. If we tried social security or Medicare for 50 years and it doesn't work, we wouldn't have social security or Medicare it any more. The Cuban embargo essentially was ineffective.

It did not result in Castro-leading power, and so, what president Obama is trying to do as part of his foreign policy doctrine of (inaudible) stupid stuff, he is saying, okay, maybe diplomacy might work with a little bit of tough love, you know. He's going to say, you need to respect the press. You need to respect free speech.

CUOMO: And there's a lot of yap around whether or not Raul Castro -- why wasn't he at the plane?

ACOSTA: Well, (inaudible) already weighed in on that as matter of fact --

CUOMO: I think it should be put to the side. Sources close to the planning of this trip said there is no reason to have the biggest moment happen just when president Obama touches down. It's him coming here that makes history. It's not he's meeting Raul Castro. It's happened before. They shook hands at Mandela's funeral. That would not had been a noble action, this is.

So, let's see what happens going forward on the agenda here of what is certainly a historic moment. So, for you, Jim Acosta, Patrick Oppman, to Douglas Brinkley, and Lisandro Perez, to each of you at all, thank you for being with us. Let's bring it back to Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center right now. History have made before all our eyes, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It was an extraordinary, extraordinary moment. We know there will be more extraordinary moments to come. And Chris, just as you talked about the hope that comes with President Obama and his visit, I have do wonder whether a lot of the Cubans are looking for some assurances too that they will be exploited in the days to come.

Whatever opportunities around the corner, we talk about those CEO's, Marriott, Starwood -- I'm sure Cuban people want some assurances that they too would get a big piece of the pie of opportunity. The Cubans would too be involved in whatever enterprises are on the horizon. And you know, any capitalism on the horizon, opportunities for them.

So Chris Cuomo, we're going to continue to watch your coverage later on this evening and of course over the next two days. Thanks so much for being with us and bringing us those historic moments. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, much more straight ahead right after this.

[17:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)