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Sanders Claims Clinton Not Qualified to be President; Trump Holds Fiery Rally in New York. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired April 07, 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: Remember that is a person that you were talking to, who may or may not have hair.
PEREIRA: Absolutely.
CUOMO: Who are these kids? Who are their parents?
PEREIRA: I know. I know.
CUOMO: I hope that kid's school, I hope that community is watching this piece.
PEREIRA: That's right, Uncle Mo.
CAMEROTA: There you go. Keep us posted when we get a picture of her.
PEREIRA: Yes. Wouldn't it be nice?
CUOMO: Done.
CAMEROTA: Time more "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.
Good morning, Carol.
PEREIRA: Good morning.
CUOMO: Costello attacked by a wombat in 1987.
PEREIRA: That is not true.
CUOMO: Barely escaped with her life.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You are such a ridiculous man, Chris Cuomo.
CUOMO: She still can't talk about it? I understand.
COSTELLO: Yes. Yes. All right. Have a great day.
NEWSROOM starts now.
CUOMO: You can see the scar --
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Trump towering in New York.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Talking about New York values with scorn in his face, with hatred, with hatred of New York.
COSTELLO: Defending his home turf against Ted Cruz.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The people of New York know exactly what those values are.
COSTELLO: But the Bronx not rolling out the welcome mat.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't believe that she is qualified.
COSTELLO: Sanders questioning Clinton's cred. The frontrunner on the offense.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, in a number of important areas, he doesn't have a plan at all.
COSTELLO: Get ready, New York.
Plus Ray Lewis' controversial question.
RAY LEWIS, FORMER NFL STAR: I'm trying to figure out if black lives really matter.
COSTELLO: The former NFL star asking the e movement to tackle black- on-black crime.
Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
No more Mr. Nice Guy. Bernie Sanders slams Hillary Clinton, accusing the former secretary of state of being unqualified to be president.
You are looking at live pictures out of Philadelphia, where Sanders is getting ready to hold a news conference. We're going to keep an eye on it, but bottom line this race is getting ugly.
CNN's Brianna Keilar has more for you.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, this just shows you how high the stakes are as we head towards the New York primary on April 19th. And Bernie Sanders is clearly not taking kindly to the Clinton campaign's new strategy to go after him more aggressively.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDERS: I don't believe that she is qualified --
KEILAR (voice-over): Bernie Sanders lashing out at Hillary Clinton.
SANDERS: I don't think that you are qualified if you get $15 million from Wall Street through your super PAC. I don't think you are qualified if you have voted for the disastrous war in Iraq.
KEILAR: The war of words between the two presidential Democratic candidates escalating. Sanders claiming --
SANDERS: She has been saying lately she thinks that I am, quote- unquote, "not qualified to be president."
KEILAR: But Clinton's campaign denies she ever said he wasn't qualified.
CLINTON: The presidents who are successful know what they want to do and they know how to do it.
KEILAR: Clinton is pointing to an interview Sanders did with the "New York Daily News," where he struggled to identify how his administration would break up the big banks, elaborating in an interview with Chris Cuomo.
CLINTON: I was, I think, a little bit, you know, surprised that there didn't seem to be a lot of substance to what he was saying.
KEILAR: Clinton now taking this line of attack on the campaign trail, pinning Sanders as unprepared to be president, and even questioning whether he's a Democrat.
CLINTON: He himself has said that he never was. He never ran as a Democrat until he started running for president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And Carol, I was at this rally last night in Philadelphia. This was red meat for Bernie Sanders supporters, about 10,000 of them at Temple University. They were eating this up. And it is important to note both of these candidates fundraising now off of this back and forth, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar reporting for us this morning. Thank you.
You can see that podium there. Bernie Sanders is about to hold another event in Philadelphia like I said at the top of the show. Joe Johns is monitoring that.
Good morning.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We're waiting for this news conference here in Philadelphia. After that Bernie Sanders is going to go over and address the AFL-CIO here in Pennsylvania. That's something Hillary Clinton did just yesterday.
One of the questions we might want to get to Bernie Sanders at this point is whether when he talked about Hillary Clinton not being qualified, he was actually conflating something that the Hillary Clinton campaign had put out just yesterday. What the campaign had said was that in the run up to the New York primary, they wanted to disqualify Sanders, then defeat him, then unite the party. Not exactly the same thing as saying Bernie Sanders is unqualified for president. So a question about whether he conflated those remarks.
What all of this points to however is the notion that the run up to New York and also here in Pennsylvania is a very hot time on the campaign trail for these Democrats, both turning up the heat.
[09:05:05] Both with real ties to New York state, making this a very competitive and perhaps a nasty race for that state which almost anybody could have predicted, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns reporting live from Philadelphia. And when Bernie Sanders begins speaking, we'll dip in again for you in the city of brotherly love.
As for the Republicans, take a look at the "New York Daily News." Senator Ted Cruz isn't exactly getting a warm welcome. His New York values attack not going over well. And that is not lost on Donald Trump. Trump attracting 10,000 supporters last night in Bethpage, New York, and using Cruz's words against him.
Phil Mattingly is covering that part of the story for us this morning. Good morning.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Three words uttered as an attack line in a January debate, this is before the primaries even started, now roiling the New York primary. 95 delegates at stake. An opportunity for Donald Trump to recover from one of the worst weeks of his campaign, and he is making sure to deploy attacks on Ted Cruz and that attack line over and over again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: I love these people. These are my people.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Less than 24 hours after a devastating Wisconsin defeat, Donald Trump looking to regain his footing in familiar territory, his home state of New York.
TRUMP: You know, Lying Ted Cruz came today. He couldn't draw 100 people. A hundred people.
MATTINGLY: Trump making no mention of his bruising Wisconsin loss at a rally in Long Island, but wasting little time criticizing Ted Cruz, the Texas senator.
TRUMP: I've got this guy standing over there looking at me, talking about New York values with scorn in his face, with hatred, with hatred of New York. I think you can forget about him.
MATTINGLY: The rally coming just hours after Trump huddled behind closed doors with one of his top advisers, frustration over strategy, direction, even staffing, according to sources, all roiling the campaign.
Ted Cruz also campaigning in the Big Apple, doubling down on his past criticism of, quote, "New York values."
CRUZ: Let's be clear. The people of New York know exactly what their values are. If you want to know what liberal Democratic values are, follow Donald Trump's checkbook.
MATTINGLY: Cruz trailing badly in early New York polls, but predicting a big move in the state, much like in Wisconsin.
CRUZ: Well, you know, the interesting thing about polling is it can change and it can change quickly. We just won a landslide victory, winning by 13 points, sweeping the state.
MATTINGLY: John Kasich, hoping to stay alive, coming in second in the latest poll, continuing to fight off calls for him to drop out of the race.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: Now it's very clear that John Kasich and Ted Cruz have a lot of ground to make up in New York but if you want to know what they are actually trying to do here pay attention to where they are going in the days ahead. The reason is this. Donald Trump will likely win New York. Both campaigns are willing to cede that at this point. But the delegates are allocated in a way that doesn't go to winner-take- all.
That means John Kasich and Ted Cruz can focus on very specific congressional delegates and try and pick up delegates, just a few perhaps, to keep Donald Trump's total down. That is the crucial issue of this race. That is what gets them to Cleveland and an open convention -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Phil Mattingly, reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.
I want to dip back in to Philadelphia and that Bernie Sanders campaign event. It's beginning to fill up with supporters as you can see. But Bernie Sanders has not taken the stage yet. We'll continue to monitor this for you.
Also still to come in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Ted Cruz has no business being in the Bronx. To receive this right-wing bigot is an insult to the whole community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Yes. Up next, how Ted Cruz is responding to that angry protester and his rough welcome to New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:12:58] COSTELLO: All right. Back to Philadelphia for just a bit. As you can see, Bernie Sanders -- Senator Bernie Sanders is being introduced right before his news conference, as he likes to call it. When Bernie Sanders begins speaking of course we'll get back in for now.
As you well know, New Yorkers are fiercely loyal to their city so perhaps it is no surprise Ted Cruz had a rough time in the Bronx. It's a borough filled with immigrants who embrace what Cruz calls "its New York values."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Ted Cruz has no business being in the Bronx. This is an immigrant community. We deal with climate change every single day and he wants to say it doesn't exist. We are one of the poorest congressional districts in the country. And to receive this right-wing bigot is an insult to the whole community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Earlier today Cruz responded to that protester on "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: This meeting -- look, there was one loud mouth protester. I mean, in the city of New York you can find one loud mouth protester. We are a nation of laws. And being a nation of laws -- it mean you enforce the laws. And, you know, every other nation on earth enforces their law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Cruz also tries to campaign at a Bronx school but his appearance was apparently canceled after students threatened to walk out.
Let's bring in Trump supporters and Arizona state treasurer, Jeff DeWit. I'm also joined by Ted Cruz Brent Bozell, he's the founder and president of the Media Research Center and publisher of NewsBusters.
Thanks to both of you for being with me.
JEFF DEWIT, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Thanks, Carol.
BRENT BOZELL, TED CRUZ SUPPORTER: Thank you.
COSTELLO: So, Brent, why did Senator Cruz go to the Bronx?
BOZELL: Well, he's going to campaign in all 50 states. And that's just the way it's going to be. And he's going to go right to New York and he's not afraid of it. Look, we understand what he --
COSTELLO: When you say, Brent, when he's not afraid of it, did he go there to, like, attract protesters? Did he go to gain support or money?
BOZELL: No. No. He's going to go there -- no, he's going to go there to campaign and as he said if you have one loud mouth, you have one loud mouth. Donald Trump has had hundreds of loud mouths against him. That is the nature of politics.
[09:15:04] And you're going to get that. But look, we're talking about New York values. And I'm going to say very clearly what he means by that. The New York values he's talking about are personified by the mayor of New York City who calls himself a radical, socialist who is radical in economic policy, radical in social policy, radical in foreign policy and was endorsed by Donald Trump.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about Donald Trump for just a second with you, Jeff. Senator Cruz supports Mr. Trump's idea of building a wall. Deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants and as you saw in the Bronx how divisive those ideas are in some neighborhoods. So can either man claim to be a uniter? Because both of them are.
DEWIT: Well, Mr. Trump is talking about, you know, A, just enforcing the laws that are on the books. We have laws about our immigration that are not being enforced. But that's I don't think why these people are truly upset. When you look at what Ted Cruz has said, you know, in a roundabout way to hit at Donald Trump, this being his home state, but the way he classified all New Yorkers in a very demeaning fashion, now this is when Ted Cruz is going pay for that. So I've said that Ted is cruising for a bruising --
COSTELLO: So, wait a minute, Jeff.
DEWITT: -- in New York after those comments.
COSTELLO: What do you think -- what do you think Ted Cruz means by "New York values"?
DEWIT: Well, I think he's just trying to -- you know, he was trying to win other states by classifying all New Yorkers in a very negative light. And that might have helped him, say, in his home state or other places. But now it's going to come home to roost. And don't forget, the week after New York we have Connecticut. We have Pennsylvania. We have other states that also, you know, associate very closely with New York. So this is going to hurt Ted Cruz throughout the whole northeast which is why Ted Cruz is number three, a distant, distant third in the polls here and many other states coming up. So this is -- now he's going pay the price for those comments
COSTELLO: Brent, is he paying the price? Because he is way behind in the polls.
BOZELL: Look, two weeks ago he was supposed to lose Wisconsin and he won in a landslide. There is plenty of time to make it up. Is he going to win? If Donald Trump can't win his own backyard Donald Trump is finished as a campaign. You know, clearly Donald Trump is going to win the state and no one is suggesting he's not. But I think Cruz is going to do a lot better. But look, Ted Cruz is talking about the values of those leaders, not
just de Blasio. How about Hillary Clinton? How about Mario Cuomo? How about -- you know, Andrew Cuomo who's in there now? This is a state that is known for its far leftism. There's no question about it. And those are the values he's talking about.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about Mr. Trump for just one more second, Jeff, because sources say Mr. Trump huddled with one of his top advisers over frustration with strategy and direction and even staffing. So is there a shakeup in Mr. Trump's future? I know he appeared very confident in his speeches here in New York but is he a little rattled?
DEWIT: No, not at all. I think everyone is looking to make something -- anything they can and try to shake things up. But I think if one of our people walked in with a latte for another person on the campaign and they were supposed to get decaf, and they got decaf, I think you'd hear on the news later there was a big shakeup. And no, the campaign is doing very well. Everybody is doing great. And you know there is always a back and forth and we brought some new people in recently.
COSTELLO: Jeff, how can you --
DEWIT: To deal with the delegate game but --
COSTELLO: Wait a minute. You say the Trump campaign is doing very well after that huge loss in Wisconsin? Where he didn't win a single delegate?
DEWIT: Well, we won a handful of delegates. Last I saw I think we won six delegates.
COSTELLO: OK. So --
DEWIT: But --
(CROSSTALK)
DEWIT: We never expected to win anything.
COSTELLO: Still that wasn't a great showing.
DEWIT: Yes.
COSTELLO: And he did sit down and he did talk about strategy. So you are saying there is nothing wrong at all with the Trump campaign in the way it's being run and the staffing, et cetera, et cetera?
DEWIT: No. We never expected to win Wisconsin. You know, the state GOP party there itself, the governor, everyone else have thrown in with Ted Cruz. And Ted Cruz has become the establishment Trojan horse. They are using him in states like that where they can control the vote to try to knock Donald Trump out of the race. So we never expected to do well in Wisconsin. We had it a zero on the spreadsheet that I track about delegates that still shows that we can get over 1500 delegates if it plays out the way we want to play out. And to get six there, that's a great win. So --
COSTELLO: Brent, what do you say about that?
BOZELL: Look, Jeff, I love you. But you don't believe it. You don't believe that Ted Cruz is a member of the establishment because to believe that is to say that you know nothing about politics. And you are very well learned about politics. Ted Cruz is the most anti- establishment figure in the United States Congress today. He came to Washington to fight the establishment. He's done nothing but fight the establishment, which is why the establishment despises him.
But look, Carol and Jeff, I'd like you respond to another issue that is far bigger an issue. What about the issue of Donald Trump's hitman Roger Stone yesterday threatening violence in Cleveland if his delegates don't get their way? What about that issue?
[09:20:04] DEWIT: Well, Brett, I would tell you, for someone who claims not to be establishment, first off his name is senator. I think even his own supporters who were clapping as he gave his victory speech, you know, I think there was that sound of the record screeching to a halt as he thanked Jeb Bush, and Lindsey Graham, and Mitt Romney, these establishment folks for their support of his campaign.
COSTELLO: Well, Jeff, what about what Roger Stone said?
DEWIT: Look, all we're saying is Cleveland -- if this gets stolen, and quite frankly, I think the Ted Cruz people would be upset, too. Again, the Trojan horse thing, they're using Ted Cruz right now but there are a lot of establishment folks that say as soon as we get there --
COSTELLO: I mean about --
DEWIT: They're going to --
(CROSSTALK)
BOZELL: Jeff. Jeff. Roger Stone.
COSTELLO: He intimated violence in Cleveland.
BOZELL: Roger Stone said they would publish the room numbers of the delegates. That is a clear threat of violence. He said they would publish the room numbers where the delegates are. Ted Cruz isn't doing that kind of nonsense. You know that. That is a threat.
DEWIT: Ted Cruz is doing a whole ton of nonsense with delegates. I've seen it firsthand.
BOZELL: Nobody is threatening anybody. Jeff, that's a threat of violence. That's a threat of violence. Why isn't your campaign --
DEWIT: That is not a threat of violence.
BOZELL: Why aren't you denouncing that? DEWIT: No one threatened violence. That is not a threat of violence
at all to say hey, by the way, we'll make sure we know --
COSTELLO: Let me ask you this way, Jeff. Roger Stone and what he says?
DEWIT: No. To be honest I haven't really kept up with what Roger Stone has been saying. So that's not something I follow as closely. But I know that Cleveland is going to be a battle. When you look at how -- what Ted Cruz is doing in trying to ignore the will of the voters in states like my own, Arizona, and try to steal the delegates we have to get a better -- you know, actually we have to get better at somehow blunting what Ted Cruz is doing because he's out there lying. Lying Ted is doing what he's doing on TV with the delegates.
(CROSSTALK)
BOZELL: You don't do it by threatening --
COSTELLO: I have to leave it there.
BOZELL: Jeff, you don't do it by threatening violence.
DEWIT: There's no one threatening violence.
COSTELLO: Jeff DeWit, Brent Bozell, thanks to both of you for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.
All right. Ted Cruz will sit down with Erin Burnett tonight, that starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Up next in the NEWSROOM, new information on the man in the hat. Take a close look at this video. He's a suspected Brussels bomber. Could these new pictures help track him down?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:26:23] COSTELLO: All right. Bernie Sanders is speaking in Philadelphia right now and the reporters have been asking him questions. And one of the first questions asked is why has the Democratic campaign become so nasty between Sanders and Hillary Clinton? He calling her unqualified to be president. She's claiming that he doesn't do his homework when it comes to issues. Let's listen.
SANDERS: Raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy. So, look, let's be clear. This is not the type of politics that I want to get in. I know this is what the media loves. It is not the type of politics that I want to get in. But let me also be very clear. If Secretary Clinton think that I just come from the small state of Vermont, we're not used to this, well, we'll get used to it fast.
I'm not going to get beaten up. I'm not going to get lied about. We will fight back. But I do hope, I do hope that we can raise the level and I do hope that now and then the media will choose to talk about real issues. Got a real issue, Nancy? What do you got?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
SANDERS: No, what I am saying -- did you hear what I -- what I just said is that she has attacked me for being unqualified. And if I am going to be attacked for being unqualified, I will respond in kind. So I would hope that we can get away from this. I do have respect for Secretary Clinton. I don't know who in her campaign comes up with these brilliant ideas. But all that I'm saying is I am not going to go into New York. You know, I know that they are getting nervous. They have lost seven out of last eight caucuses and primaries. And I know every day they develop a new approach to the campaign.
I gather their approaches -- again, this is a quote from CNN. Quote, "disqualify him, defeat him and unify the party later." That sounds to me like they are ready to run a very negative campaign. That is not what I want to do. I don't want to do that. But if we are going to be attacked and my qualifications for president, after being in the Congress for 25 years, supporting working people throughout my entire career, standing up to virtually every special interest in this country, they're going to question my qualifications, I think I have a right to question theirs.
Thank you all very, very much. And guys, thank you very much for the (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: All right. You heard what Bernie Sanders said, he doesn't want to run a negative campaign. But he is going to respond to attacks from Hillary Clinton.
What you're looking at on the right hand side of your screen is Hillary Clinton. She's about to begin a campaign event in front of Yankee Stadium for quite obvious reasons. And let me just see if I can find her in the crowd. We're getting Brianna Keilar up on this because Hillary Clinton was hugging supporters. She said a few words and she's somewhere in that crowd of people.
But as you heard Bernie Sanders say, he's very upset that Hillary Clinton claimed that he was ill prepared to talk about solutions to the problems he sees facing our country.
There you see Senator Clinton right now.
Bernie Sanders responded yesterday to Hillary Clinton's slams by saying that she was unqualified to be president because she takes so much money from big banks.
Brianna Keilar is with us now to talk more about, I don't know, the increasingly negative campaign on the part of the Democrats.
KEILAR: Yes. This is really the most contentious that we have seen this, Carol, on the Democratic side. We talk so much obviously about how testy things get on the Republican side. And this is something I think you have heard Hillary Clinton's campaign long say, look, Bernie Sanders said that he wasn't going to go negative. And I was at this rally last night. I'll tell you this is something that made a lot of --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Brianna, I'm going to interrupt. Let's listen to Hillary.
CLINTON: Look, I didn't -- I don't know why he's saying that. But I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz any time. So let's keep our eye on what's really at stake in this election.
