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Clinton Campaigns in New York Amid Sanders Fight; Brussels Police Release New Video of Bombing Suspect. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 07, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Saying that, but I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz anytime. So this got - let's keep our eye on what's really at stake in this election. We have Republicans whose values are so antithetical to what's right for New York or right for America. And I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing with my friends, like the girl (ph) president and others for all these years to try to really make a difference in people's lives.

QUESTION: Did you say that he's competitive to New York?

CLINTON: Oh, I - that's up to the voters. The voters will decide that.

QUESTION: Bernie Sanders is saying also that he thinks that there's going to be a contested convention. Would you like to talk about that?

CLINTON: Well, Marcia (ph) -

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

CLINTON: I don't really know what that means because if someone gets the number of delegates needed to be nominated, then the convention will nominate that person. And, look, I ran a very contested campaign against then Senator Obama and it went all the way to the end. We worked really hard. He got more delegates and so I endorsed him. I worked for him. I nominated him at the convention, because we are going to have to unify Democrats and right-thinking Americans to stand up against the Republicans. Donald Trump or Ted Cruz are just absolutely going to rip away the progress we've made and Trump, with his insults at everybody, is trying to divide us instead of unify us. So let's start with the Democratic Party and go from there.

QUESTION: Did you see the Yankee game last night, Secretary Clinton?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) nomination?

CLINTON: I'm going to work hard to do that.

QUESTION: Secretary - Secretary Clinton, did you see the Yankee game last night? I know you're a big (INAUDIBLE).

CLINTON: I didn't, but I read about it. I read about it this morning. Was it as exciting and a blowout as it sounded?

QUESTION: It was pretty good. How does it feel to be back campaigning in the Bronx?

CLINTON: It feels great. You know, Ruben (ph) and I were just talking. When I first started running for the Senate, I came to the Bronx.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

CLINTON: And I came back many, many times and worked to support the great things that are going on in the Bronx. I am so proud of the progress that has been made. You want to - you want to brag a minute on the Bronx?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. We here in the Bronx have seen for many, many years a friendship with Hillary Clinton, building our housing, 23,000 units of housing in the last six years, $9.5 billion of private investment, creating jobs, cutting unemployment. We've done that with real Democratic values. We've done that by identifying problems and working together on the solutions.

And we've done that with someone who has been a leader in healthcare, as Hillary has been. The secretary has been by far the best person that we see in terms of foreign policy. Someone asked me last week, you know, Bernie's in the Bronx. Are you feeling the Bern? Well, the Bronx hasn't been burning for decades and so we here in the Bronx, the way we've done in the past, we're going to be with Hillary. We're going to give her the amount of votes that she needs so that she can win this city and the state of New York, go on to win New Jersey, Connecticut, California and take on Donald Trump in November and be the next president of the United States.

CLINTON: Amen! Amen!

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) you are - you are proud - you've said you're proud of the issue-based campaign democrats are running.

CLINTON: Right.

QUESTION: After what Bernie Sanders said last night and after the fact that his campaign manager said that you want to destroy the Democratic Party for your ambition to be president, do you still - are you still proud of the Democratic race?

CLINTON: Well, I'm going to keep talking about the issues, Dan. And I'm going to keep drawing contrasts, because that's what elections are about. But I think it is important to tell people what you're going to do for them and how you can get it done, how you can produce results that will make a positive difference in people's lives. That's why I love working with leaders like Ruben, because it's all about rolling up our sleeves and getting to work. Don't make promises you can't keep. Know what you want to achieve. And then bring everybody together to get the results. And that's what I'm going to do in New York, across the country and, if I'm so fortunate, as president.

QUESTION: Is he doing a disservice to the party?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) you have received support of some Latino elected official but still there are some sectors that are still not so convinced that you stand for Latinos. So what would your message to those sectors that, you know, might want to (INAUDIBLE) decided that are supporting you or not in the Latino community?

CLINTON: I'm very proud of my record on behalf of Latino issues and people. And - Ruben?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't really know what Latino sectors are you referring to. (speaking foreign language) Hillary Clinton. (speaking in foreign language). She's been a leader on immigration issues. She's been doing this with - since Ted Kennedy. And we know that their - everyone out there who says that they're for the immigrant community hasn't been there in the way that she has been. Here in the Bronx, 41 percent of the people who live here were born in another country.

So when you look at the progress that's been happening here, we've been benefitting from it, we've been benefitting from her leadership. She's the person who has the ability to work with the world leaders in order to have the people here who come from those countries feel like they have true, true compassion coming out of the White House.

[09:35:06] So (INAUDIBLE) Latino leader. We were all here yesterday from the Bronx, throughout the state of New York and throughout the country, all the - the overwhelming majority of Latino leaders know who our friend had been (INAUDIBLE) (speaking foreign language) Hillary Clinton. (speaking foreign language).

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) we don't use a token on the subway, you're aware of that now.

CLINTON: Yes. Well, you know, actually, I think we changed when I was senator. I think it was my first term when we changed from tokens to metro cards.

QUESTION: And you're well aware of that.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

CLINTON: I do, Marsha. I am so proud to have represented this state for eight years. I'm a proud New Yorker. And I want to be a good president for New York and for the rest of our country. But New York values, the people of New York, there is no place like it in the world. And I'm going take those experience, take those values to the White House if the people of New York give me that great privilege.

Thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, thank you.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

CLINTON: You know, a couple years ago -

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You heard - you heard Hillary Clinton talking there. Beside her was the Bronx borough president. His name is Ruben Diaz (ph). He was a good spokesperson for Hillary Clinton. Very glib in talking with the folks out there in front of Yankee Stadium.

I want to bring back in Brianna Keilar. I'm also joined by the president of the American Federation of Teachers and a Hillary Clinton supporters, Randi Weingarten.

So, Brianna, I will start with you. What do you make of that?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this is Hillary Clinton trying to ratchet things down a little bit. And I think you have to understand that what we saw from Bernie Sanders last night did not happen in a vacuum. I was there at the rally. This was something certainly that his supporters loved. There were about 10,000 people there at Temple University and they were just eating this up.

What we have seen - and this was actually something that my colleague Jeff Zeleny broke after Bernie Sanders' Wisconsin win - was there's this new Clinton strategy where the campaign is trying to go after Bernie Sanders more aggressively despite these concerns about unifying Democrats for a general election. We actually saw her ratchet this up last week. I was with - I was covering here at SUNY Purchase outside of New York City and she took on some protesters, labeling them as Bernie Sanders supporters and saying, look, I've got 2.5 million more votes than Bernie Sanders.

So we've seen her sort of ratchet this up. The latest was, he talked to "The New York Daily News." He had a number of stumbles, including on really explaining himself on how he'd break up the big banks. She said a number of things. If you're a presidential candidate, you're probably a little irritated with that he hasn't really done his homework, that she's not even sure if he's a Democrat. And what we saw last night was Bernie Sanders kind of ratcheting it up even more.

So it seems to me in a little way - in a little bit that, you know, Hillary Clinton has sort of poked a bear. And I think it's a bear that the Clinton campaign didn't necessarily think really has a shot at the nomination, but it doesn't mean it's not a bear that can't really - you know, can't also damage her. Imagine the ads that could be made for this state.

COSTELLO: And before I - I just want to explain what our viewers are - are looking at. I think that Hillary Clinton is going to ride the subway here. They're inside the subway station in the Bronx.

KEILAR: Yes.

COSTELLO: So that's what you're looking at when they ran up those stairs.

KEILAR: And if I can say -

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

KEILAR: And if I could say something on this. This, to me, is sort of a veiled reference - in a way you would sort of use this as the imagery of what we heard from Bernie Sanders in his "New York Daily News" interview with the editorial board there. He was asked about the subway and how do you use the subway. And he said "tokens." Well, it has been years and years, double digits years, since you used a token on the subway. It's a metro card that you use, as you well know there, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes.

KEILAR: And so she was asked about that. Sort of a jab that a reporter made about Bernie Sanders. She didn't really take the bait there in those comments. But here you see her on the subway riding the subway. As I should mention, Bernie Sanders has done before as well.

COSTELLO: Yes, he has.

So, Randi, you heard what Brianna said, that Hillary Clinton was poking a bear and (INAUDIBLE) fight back (INAUDIBLE).

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: So I think that the issue is not that. I think the issue is, frankly, and we've, in my union, we've run a very positive campaign of both of these candidates. (INAUDIBLE) the reason that you (INAUDIBLE) lose is because Bernie promised from the beginning, and that was part of his charm, to run a really positive campaign about the issues. And since the beginning of March, it's gotten more and more negative and he's been attacking her character over and over and over again on almost every speech. And so, you know, she - she responded in terms of not doing his homework in terms of "The Daily News." I mean I'm someone who's actually been at "The Daily News" -

COSTELLO: Yes, but, Randi, she also - she also said he wasn't a Democrat and she couldn't really figure out what party he represented.

WEINGARTEN: Well, I actually -

COSTELLO: And she was intimating that he was a socialist, right? Nobody was fooled by that.

WEINGARTEN: No. Actually - I actually read that interview with Glen Thrush (ph). You know, what - this is what's great about the Democratic Party. We let everybody in. And it is true that Bernie became a Democrat to run for president. And he's been an independent. He's caucused with the Democrats. But he's been an independent for a long time.

[09:40:15] (INAUDIBLE) how do you actually (INAUDIBLE) you're going to run a positive campaign? I mean you can be sharp about the issues. But what - the point is, is that he's been (INAUDIBLE) every single day (INAUDIBLE) last several weeks. And so that's, frankly, for me, I'm just really disappointed.

You know, talk about the issues. He has raised issues like income inequality and things like that, but I think the reason people in New York - and, look, I'm a New Yorker, but people in New York and "The Daily News" became such a big issue is because they do roast you. You know when you go into a "Daily News" editorial board meeting, you have to know the hows. You have to know how the things you're proposing are going to really work. And that's - frankly, that's what New York is. New York is not just about the sound bite. New York is, OK, what are you going to do about it? And sorry for using my hands, but that's what New Yorkers do. And I think what she's - you know -

COSTELLO: Well, Brianna - Brianna, I think that Bernie - Bernie Sanders will have a chance to rebound from that "Daily News" article on the debate stage, right? Because you can bet that he's going to have his answers well prepared. Or at least she should, right?

KEILAR: Certainly. And there's - I mean there's no way, Carol, that he doesn't get asked some of these questions that he stumbled and bumbled on before "The New York Daily News." He didn't know the statute that he would use to president executives of offending financial institutions. He didn't know really the ramifications of recent -

COSTELLO: And just forgive me. I'm going to look away from you guys because I want to watch this video. So continue, Brianna. Go ahead.

KEILAR: OK. Go - yes. It's fascinating.

You know, he didn't know sort of some of the legal ramifications of some of these attempts to regulate big financial institutions. He didn't know how that would affect his plans to regulate big financial institution. So he has a lot of meat to put on the bones. I think he's certainly going to be asked about this.

He is still technically an independent. He's running as a Democrat. And something that strikes me here, Carol, is that I think there's a little bit of the Clinton campaign having Bernie Sanders where they want him. Now, look, his supporters are all - are on board with this. He's fundraising off of this. They're jazzed about this. But at the same time, for a long time now, every time Bernie Sanders does something that could be even mildly construed as negative against Hillary Clinton, the sort of Clinton machine says, oh, look, he said he wasn't going to go negative. Now he's going negative. And that's sort of, I think, an attempt to take aim at his brand, as someone who's sticking to the issues.

Last night he did play into that certainly. I'll tell you, people listening sort of said, whoa, holy cow, listen to what he just said. You know, he really went after her. I'm not sure how much that's going to matter to his supporters. But clearly in New York, the Clinton campaign thinks that there is - you know, there is something to be gained here.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about Bernie -

WEINGARTEN: Well, because -

KEILAR: Right.

COSTELLO: Let me talk about Bernie Sanders' supporters for just a second, because I want to ask you this question, Randi.

WEINGARTEN: Yes. Sure. COSTELLO: And specifically about your union. Because there seems to be this disconnect between the teachers union and the teachers in it. Politico found that more individual teachers had donated to the Bernie Sanders campaign and not to Hillary Clinton's. If that's true, why are you endorsing Hillary Clinton?

WEINGARTEN: Well, let's see. Let's look at the facts in that article. It said that there was a $19,000 difference between the people who've actually used their websites to donate to each. We actually don't ask our members to donate. Our members donate through a political contributions to the union and there's been millions and millions of voluntary contributions and, frankly, there's been thousands and thousands of volunteers for Hillary. I tried to do a back of the envelope calculation last night when I saw the - when I saw the story and there's been over 12,000 people who have actually volunteered for Hillary through our union, not through the campaign. So the bottom line is -

COSTELLO: But you're saying this - you're saying this political article is misleading then and the majority of teachers support Hillary Clinton.

WEINGARTEN: No - well, what I'm saying, Carol, is that in all of our polling that we've done, we've seen somewhere between 2:1, 3:1 and 4:1 who are supporting Hillary. But the point is, I love the fact that our members are engaged. And, frankly, I love the democratization through social media and things like this. But the conversation in our union right now is, how are we going to bring the party back together again? How are we going to bring our union back together again. And, frankly, I was on a - a town hall with a lot of members a couple of days ago and the Bernie supporters were talking about that, because at the end of the day, Hillary is the most experienced, qualified candidate frankly if my lifetime. And I think what's happening in New York is you're seeing in New York a coming back together of what she did. She worked for people in New York. People in New York know that. And she's really joyful in terms of what she's doing in terms of campaigning towards New Yorkers.

[09:45:05] COSTELLO: Well, I will say - I will say, Brianna, that she's getting a warmer welcome than Senator Ted Cruz did yesterday, right? She's with the borough president there, Ruben Diaz.

KEILAR: Yes. She's getting a very warm welcome and you know, this is a place where she's well known, right? She lives there. She lives slightly outside of New York City. And --

COSTELLO: I don't think she lived in the Bronx.

KEILAR: No, she did not live in the Bronx. But she is here and you're seeing her here on the subway which this is the fascinating thing about New York City. The subway is the great equalizer. Right? This is what Mayor Bloomberg would take to work and is a way for -- even though he was a very, very -- he is a very rich man, it was a way certainly that he sought or through imagery to connect with everyday people.

So yes, she's getting a pretty warm reception, probably some surprised subway riders who were on that train with her.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Is that Huma Abedin behind her? Her right hand woman for lack of a better term there. And that's the borough president standing holding on to the -- what do you call -- the rail.

KEILAR: Yes. And also her travel press aide, Nick Merrill, who you see there sort of strap hanger there on the right. So she has -- you know, she's certainly being flanked by -- I think you see Secret Service. She's certainly flanked by, you know, her entourage.

This is the thing about being Hillary Clinton. It's hard to just roll into a subway train and have it be a normal event.

COSTELLO: Well, I will say that this is an unusual -- I mean, this is an usual thing to happen. Right, Brianna? You don't -- I mean, Hillary Clinton doesn't normally let cameras follow her, you know, up the stairs and into the subway. As you said she did this for a reason.

KEILAR: Yes, she did and part of it is because of how much is at stake in New York. When you're looking just at the pledge delegates, there's 247. That is so many delegates. I mean, Bernie Sanders, just think, prior to Wisconsin, he won several states. He picked up 139 delegates there. There's 247 at stake in New York. This is a huge slice of the pie. And Hillary Clinton wants to win it. We saw polls not long ago that showed her about 12 points ahead.

But what if Bernie Sanders got this bump off of Wisconsin? He's also expected to do well in the Wyoming caucuses on Saturday. What if rides a little bit of momentum into New York?

This is her adopted home state. She wants to win and she wants the delegates, and she certainly doesn't the embarrassment of her home state not supporting her more than Bernie Sanders.

COSTELLO: Isn't amazing that we can get a live shot underground from the subway?

KEILAR: It is amazing.

COSTELLO: Isn't it amazing? OK. We're still following. The train is obviously moving.

Randi, let me ask this question. The bickering between the Democrats. I mean, Mrs. Clinton is asking Mr. Sanders to apologize to Sandy Hook victims. Mr. Sanders is asking Clinton to apologize to Iraq war veterans. At some point wouldn't you just say it's getting a little childish?

WEINGARTEN: I think you're getting -- I think this has been a very long campaign. I mean, it's gone months and months and months. We are the only country that has campaigns that seem to go on forever. And so I'm sure that tempers are frayed some. But at the end of the day it has to be about issues. And it has to be about who's going to be not just a progressive. I mean, this is what I love about the Democratic Party. We basically have two progressives running but who's going to actually get something done?

But I think what you're seeing is just tempers fraying because of the length of the campaign, both of them have been working really hard. But at the end of the day it really is about who's going to actually get something done. And I think that what you see -- and Hillary, I agree with Brianna. Hillary has become a New Yorker. And you know, you see her kind of having that kind of New York state of mind which is, don't just tell me about your values, don't just tell me how important it is to break down barriers. Tell us how you are going to get that done. Tell us how you're going to raise wages. Tell us how you're going to bring manufacturing back to New York. Tell us how you're going to help the dairy farmers.

And that's the -- you know, that's who she is, and I think the -- you know, I love this riding on the subway. You know, look, we all, every New Yorker has a subway card in their wallet. Because as Brianna, it is the great equalizer in New York. You take the subway. It's the way you can get around.

COSTELLO: Well, Brianna, let me ask you this question. Because you got into it just a little bit. Bernie Sanders supposedly is trying to convince super delegates to go his way. So there's that, you know, backdoor campaign going on. Could there be a contested convention on the Democratic side, too? Because a lot of people ask me that question.

KEILAR: I think, you know, I don't know. I think it's much more unlikely. I think the issue would be if she didn't hit that mark she needs to in pledged delegates. Right now the Clinton campaign feels pretty confident that they're going to do that.

[09:50:03] The Sanders campaign certainly feels like they're going or they say they're going to be able to stymie her, he'll have to win considerable proportion of the delegates in New York and Pennsylvania, and they're really hanging a lot of this on California, which goes all the way to the end, June 7th, Carol.

I think it's -- I think it's unlikely that there's going to be a contested convention, and also the other thing to think about is these super delegates, and I know a lot of people, you know, between the Sanders supporters and the Clinton supporters, they say, how is that democratic? These are people who just get to decide, these aren't not voters. What Bernie Sanders wants to do is say to these super delegates who disproportionately support Hillary Clinton if he is able to close that pledged gap, hey, you need to support what the voters are saying and you need to swing over to our side.

I think it's unlikely they would do that, but first things first, he would have to close that pledged delegate gap. And looking at the math he is much more than 200 delegates behind her.

I do want to say something about the guns, though, that you mentioned, which is really interesting to me, Carol. That's something the Clinton campaign sees Bernie Sanders very vulnerable on. They have all along but especially in New York. They are trying to appeal to African American voters who are concerned about gun violence. She's trying to bolster her support there to maybe, you know, create a firewall against some support that he may be getting against progressives which he's appealing to with his Iraq war appeal.

COSTELLO: I know. I was going to ask you about that, Randi. He wants Hillary Clinton to apologize to all of the victims of the Iraq war. I want your thoughts on that.

WEINGARTEN: So, look, at the end of the day, she's already said that she regrets the vote in terms of Iraq. I would say that in retrospect, most people regret that. But at the -- but when that was happening, you have to actually look through the lens of what was going on in terms of New York and what was going on through the country. 9/11 had just happened, and 9/11 really rocked New York.

And frankly, one of the things that I found as I went from, you know, an advocate for Hillary to a believer, after the work that she had done in 9/11, I mean, we saw, frankly, those of us who were there, we walked that pile for the next several days, we saw what the effects were. A lot of people we knew had been killed by terrorists, and there was a different kind of fear in terms of the country that way.

But I think what has happened is, as I said before, she's the most experienced, qualified candidate I know, and one of things -- or in my lifetime. And one of the things I've always respected about her is that she really follows the evidence and she is resilient and tenacious. So after 9/11, when we saw those folks who are working on the pile, that -- those first responders, she fought like the best fighter I know to get them the health care they need.

COSTELLO: All right. OK. I'm going to wrap this up now. But I'll just explain a little bit about where Hillary Clinton got out of the subway train. She is still in the Bronx and as you can see she's just walking down the street, greeting what looks like supporters. Of course we'll keep you posted on this but thank you very much, Randi Weingarten and Brianna Keilar.

I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:57:26] COSTELLO: All right. We have breaking news on the Brussels terror attacks. Police just released new video of the third airport bomber. Here it is. Watch carefully. It shows the man in the light colored jacket with that hat leaving the airport. At one point you can even see him -- I guess he's kind of jogging away.

Let's get more from CNN's Alexandra Field.

Hi, Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Carol. That third suspect from the airport, the man in the white jacket, authorities say they still don't know where he is, but they do now know where he went in the immediate aftermath of the bombings. They have released a number of CCTV clips that show him after the explosions happened. He's outside of the airport. They say that he walks on foot into the neighborhood of Zaventem which is in the same vicinity as the airport.

By the time he reaches the neighborhood, however, he has lost that white jacket and that fishing hat. They don't know where the coat or the hat went, but they do continue to track him. At one point they say he walks toward the neighborhood of Schaerbeek. That is of course the same neighborhood where investigators say the Brussels bombers made their explosives.

The last recorded images that investigators have were taken at 9:50 in that neighborhood. So they're now appealing to the public for help asking for information from anyone who may have seen that man on that morning. Anyone who may have taken his picture, anyone who might have any idea of his whereabouts after 9:50 a.m., just two hours after the bombings.

And along with looking for that suspect, Carol, they say they're also looking for the coat that he has seen wearing in the airport. They say it could have important traces on it which could be critical to this investigation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alexander Field reporting live from Brussels this morning. Thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

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

A Democratic firestorm. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on the trail this morning. Sanders set to speak to a union group momentarily, and Clinton stomping outside of Yankee Stadium before hitting the subway. Both addressing Sanders' comments yesterday that Clinton was not qualified to be president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look. Let me be clear. This is not the type of politics that I want to get in. I know it's 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 thinks 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 be lied about. We will fight back.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Bernie Sanders says you're not qualified.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it's kind of a silly thing to say, but I'm going to trust the voters of New York who know me and have voted for me three times, twice for Senate, once in the presidential primary. Look, I didn't -- I don't know why --