Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Obama Touts Supreme Court Nominee; Interview With Tavis Smiley. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 07, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:04]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So, they think, eventually, they will come in. So, this is the moment for them to, you know, exchange their differences, if you will, but to do it in a relatively civil way, because you don't want to get overly nasty.

And that is clearly...

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Taking that turn.

BLITZER: And as -- they have been working hard, both of them. It puts enormous stress on them. They're frustrated. They're angry. And it explodes sometimes.

BALDWIN: The fact that this New York primary is so important that we saw, you know, Secretary Clinton on the 4 train today in New York, obviously trying to humanize her. It's what we have seen in other campaigns as well, John Kasich at a deli name-checking prominent New York athletes.

Is this what we will be seeing for the next seven days?

BLITZER: I assume we -- and, well, it's going to be, I think, 11 or 12.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Eleven or 12 days? It's all blurring together.

BLITZER: Yes. We're going to be seeing a lot of -- and I don't think they're just going to be in the five boroughs of New York. I think they are going to go Upstate. Hopefully, they will go to my hometown of Buffalo, New York.

BALDWIN: Buffalo.

BLITZER: I hope they go to Syracuse, to Rochester, Albany, they go Upstate, and they see what's going on up there. A lot of voters up there as well, so it's critically important. And I'm just trying to boost Western New York. It's not just...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I know, love for the Buffalo. BLITZER: It's not just New York City.

BALDWIN: That's right. Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Again, he will be moderating the big debate a week from today in Brooklyn.

BLITZER: How cool is that?

BALDWIN: How cool is that? I cannot wait. We will be live in Brooklyn next Thursday.

Meantime, we will see you at 5:00.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Another celebrity has weighed in on this presidential race. This is far from an endorsement. TV host and entertainer Nick Cannon now is backing no one in his spoken word video. It's entitled "Too Broke to Vote."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK CANNON, ENTERTAINER: Nobody cares about me. Nobody cares about my family. Nobody cares about my folks. And nobody gets my vote. Nobody for president, that's my campaign slogan. We got money for wars. We can't feed our homeless. The government is hopeless. This like a reality show.

Real lives of the house liars starring Anglo-Saxon Christians. But I ain't feeling the Bern. And hell no, I will never get Trump. The Clintons had their chance with me. They the reason my cousin still locked up.

We can't elect without no college. And don't even get me started about the Electoral College. Let's be honest, that's how they really choose the president. And that's facts. They got you all confused with these views from these Republicans and Democrats. Liberals and conservatives, man, I ain't none of that.

I'm hungry. But where the money at? Because I'm too broke to vote. I'm too broke to cope. I ain't trying to check no ballots. I'm trying to check this balance on these checking accounts. And you all are people careful double-checking accounts. But just like in Florida, it's going to be another miscount.

As soon as they get to this amount, they're going to try to dismount. Yes, flipping sides back and forth, it's political gymnastics. Just like Olympic acrobats go for the gold, because that's who makes the rules. All this pageantry is just designed for fools. They going to give you who they choose. Too big to fail. Too rich to lose. And I'm still too broke to vote. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Staying on the theme of politics here.

Joining me now, the author of the new book "50 for Your Future: Lessons From Down the Road." He is PBS host Tavis Smiley.

It's such an honor a pleasure to have you on. So, thank you so much.

TAVIS SMILEY, AUTHOR, "50 FOR YOUR FUTURE: LESSONS FROM DOWN THE ROAD": Nice to meet you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let's begin with -- we were just talking to Wolf about the Democrats. Let me just begin there, this whole doubling down.

SMILEY: Sure.

BALDWIN: Again, same question on Bernie Sanders saying Hillary Clinton, despite her resume, is unqualified to be president of the United States. Do you agree with that?

SMILEY: I'm not sure that I believe that she's unqualified to be president. Clearly, she's qualified to be.

The question is whether or not she ought to be the president. Is she addressing the issues that Nick Cannon was just rapping about in his video, the issues of poverty and income inequality and economic immobility.

(CROSSTALK)

SMILEY: Whether one likes or loathes Bernie Sanders, he's been abundantly clear about what he would do on those issues. And so I like the fact that Bernie's been in the race. I said this a couple years ago, before he got in. Secretary Clinton was a little upset with me when I made this comment publicly, but I thought she needed somebody to challenge her from her left for three reasons.

Number one, left to her own devices, she's too hawkish. Number two, left to her own devices, she's not progressive enough. And, number three, I think that Bernie Sanders has made her a better candidate. I asked her that question on my show a couple weeks ago.

BALDWIN: What did she say? Did she acknowledge that?

(CROSSTALK)

SMILEY: She wouldn't say yes. What she said was, well, you're in a contestation like this, then ultimately it does make you a better candidate. She made Barack Obama a better candidate. He acknowledged it. She wasn't quite go there, but he's made her better.

BALDWIN: On the Republicans, a month ago, "USA Today," you wrote, "Black America could get on the Trump train."

SMILEY: Sure. BALDWIN: After all this crazy last couple of weeks on the trail, do you stand by that?

SMILEY: First of all, whenever you write a piece, the editors, as you know, choose the headline. It's all about click bait. That was not my headline, number one.

But having said that, the point I was making was that I don't like seeing black folk being taken for granted by one party or ignored by another party. And in this election, when conventional wisdom left the station before the train did, anything could happen.

I don't want Hillary Clinton or anybody else, for that matter, Bernie Sanders, taking for granted the black vote. They ought to be competed for. They ought to be competed over. Now, having said that, on the Republican side, I made this point the other day somewhere. On the Republican side, it troubles me that they're not campaigning to all of America.

Here's the question. Why should we consider you seriously to be president of these United States if you're only campaigning to a slice of America?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Whether about going to Flint?

[15:05:03]

SMILEY: Well, Trump and Cruz are running segregated campaigns. They're not campaigning to the rest of us. How do I know that my vote matters to Donald Trump, that it matters to Ted Cruz? They haven't asked for it. They're not campaigning to my community or other communities.

BALDWIN: Are you saying, essentially, Democratic Party, it is not in the bag that the black vote is going to go to you like obviously it did a couple years ago?

(CROSSTALK)

SMILEY: It ought not to be, number one. And, number two, anybody who thinks the black turnout will be the same for Clinton that it was for Obama, put down the crack pipe. You're stuck on stupid if you think that Hillary, no matter how well she does, is going to pull the numbers he pulled.

It's an historic election. You know that. The number's not going to be the same. The black vote, there ought to be a competition for it. And I'm not suggesting that Bernie is better than Hillary or other way around.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But what about on the Republican side? Do you see -- I think it was -- was it last night you called racial arsonist? You called Mr. Trump a racial arsonist.

SMILEY: Yes.

BALDWIN: First of all, can you define that for me?

SMILEY: Sure. You're going around setting racial fires everywhere you go. And that's what Donald Trump does. Anti-Muslim comments. Anti-immigrant comments. It's not just being a racial arsonist. It's, quite frankly, anti-American.

I have never seen a party that is so self-sabotaging as the Republican Party. It's Shakespearian. It's Orwellian. But it's also, as I said, anti-American.

BALDWIN: Do you think, though, on your point about not having the Democratic Party take the black vote for granted, do you think African-Americans, come November, whether it's a Cruz or a Trump on the ticket for Republicans or maybe Kasich, I don't know, would they vote for either of them?

SMILEY: I think folk vote their interests.

If you're not going to campaign on the issues that matter to them, if they don't see themselves in your agenda, and if you don't make any overtures to them, heck no.

BALDWIN: What do they need to do to change that, other than campaigning in maybe communities?

SMILEY: They need to lay out an agenda that is not antithetical to the best interests of black people, and they ain't got there yet.

BALDWIN: What about just overarching, you mentioned this is a historic election cycle, it's unprecedented, it's gotten nasty on both sides.

What do you think? You know, we're at a 20,000-foot view, when it's in the history books, what are we going to take away from this?

SMILEY: Great question.

Let me give you two things I think we ought to consider, number one. At this moment right now, what we need is the exact opposite of what we're getting. We need a leader with civility, with humanity, with integrity.

BALDWIN: There's a lot of counterpunching.

SMILEY: There is. I don't see that surfacing as yet, the kind of leader we need in this moment.

Secondly and finally, this election is about what kind of nation we're going to be. This new book, my "50 Things Book," is about -- yes, it's about what kind of people we want to be.

(CROSSTALK) SMILEY: How do you become your authentic self? How do you live the life that you were meant to live? How do you become the best you that you can be?

BALDWIN: What's the big lesson?

(CROSSTALK)

SMILEY: Well, there's so many of them. Certainly, one of them is to do what you find meaningful and purposeful, not what you find expedient, whether it's for money or votes or anything else. But how do you become your most authentic self?

The book is about to be the best you, you can be. But this election is about what kind of nation we want to be. I shudder to think that if we make the wrong decision about what we want to be, then we're in trouble. And our ideals and our ideas are not the same thing. We got to mesh those two things.

BALDWIN: Come back.

SMILEY: Thank you, Brooke. Good to see you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. Again, the book, "50 for Your Future: Lessons From Down the Road." Tavis Smiley, thank you so much.

SMILEY: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Next, New York welcoming Ted Cruz with a couple of choice letters there on the front page of "The Daily News," specifically F and U. We will talk about the city's media treatment and how this is a whole new ball game for these candidates here in New York.

Also, one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters says, yes, you know what? America could do better when it comes to these candidates. Ben Carson in his own words today on CNN.

And moments from now, President Barack Obama will be speaking from his former law school in Chicago to make the case for his Supreme Court nominee, the one Republicans refuse to give an audition to.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:07]

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

Donald Trump back on home turf, thousands of supporter showing up for his rally on Long Island, devouring Trump's scathing reminders of that time back in January when his rival Ted Cruz attacked him over his -- quote, unquote -- "New York values."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have got this guy standing over there, looking at me, talking about New York values, with sworn on his face, with hatred, with hatred of New York, so, folks, I think you can forget about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As for Ted Cruz, his campaign stop in New York appears to be enemy territory for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted Cruz has no big being in the Bronx. To receive this right-wing bigot is an insult to the whole community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This is a Texas senator, fared well in the South, fared well in the Midwest, but who is struggling to get some traction here early on the state of New York.

You need not look any farther than the cover of "The New York Daily News." You see the headlines here, "Take the F U Train, Ted." Ouch.

Joining me now, Gloria Borger, CNN chief political analyst, Ryan Williams, former spokesperson for Governors Mitt Romney and John Sununu, and Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state who has endorsed Donald Trump.

So, awesome having you all on.

Maybe, Gloria, to you first. With Ted Cruz, you know, spending so much time in New York, I wouldn't exactly say it's been an entirely warm welcome. Trump is way ahead in the polls. Do you think he's going to make up significant ground between now and April 19?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think what he's trying to do is work really hard to keep Trump under 50 percent, because he wants to get a bunch of delegates away from Trump.

This is a real uphill battle. He's trying to get his head in a New York state of mind, if you will, and it's a little hard for Cruz after you have talked about New York values and all the rest.

[15:15:03]

So, you know, I think that he can't completely give up. He understands. I have talked to his campaign. They know they're not likely to win New York, but they would like to get a few delegates out of it and kind of stake their claim to a degree, because at this point in the campaign, you cannot be seen to be abandoning New York, even with Donald Trump as the front-runner.

BALDWIN: Donald Trump's numbers are huge in that Monmouth poll we have been talking about the last 24 hours.

BORGER: Fifty-two percent.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Right, 52 is big.

And, Kris, we know that CNN's reporting the Trump camp is adding to his inner circle. Watching the rally, talk about being in his element last night in Long Island, Ivanka introducing him. There was this whole fancy pre-produced video of Trump highlights from the video. Is this the beginning of the changes we will be seeing rolling out, Kris?

KRIS KOBACH, KANSAS SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't know if it's the beginning of a broader change in the Trump image.

I think what you're seeing is the Trump campaign getting very serious about the delegate math now. And I think that's why he's spending so much time in New York.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Weren't they serious before?

KOBACH: Well, they were serious before. But here where it comes down to.

New York's got 95 delegates. And 50 percent is the magic number for Donald Trump. If he gets over 50 and he holds the other two guys to below 20, both statewide, and in each of the congressional districts, he gets all 95. Or if he does almost that good a performance, he could get close to 95.

That's why Cruz is in the unfamiliar territory. He's looking to get 20 percent and deny Donald a huge take-home at the end of the day in New York. They're all looking at the math. It's getting harder and harder the further we go before -- without Donald Trump locking it up. It's going to get harder and harder to hit the magical number of 1,237 delegates. I think that's what's going on here.

BALDWIN: Then you have today, Ryan, we had former presidential candidate Ben Carson. He was on CNN. You know, this is a man who has indeed officially endorsed Donald Trump. But he had this to say when asked about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: You think there are better people out there to be president than Donald Trump?

BEN CARSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think you have to really think about that. It doesn't matter what you're doing. There are better people than me at neurosurgery. There are better people than you being a broadcaster. There are better people at everything.

QUESTION: And you say that there probably are better people out there. Did you have someone in mind? CARSON: I don't think that that's a useful place to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I mean, I'm sure Trump, Ryan, would appreciate, as he has, any support he gets. But do you think he responds to that? I don't know what that response was.

RYAN WILLIAMS, REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN CONSULTANT: I think you have to appreciate Ben Carson's honesty with the response to his question.

He's obviously not the best surrogate. He kind of says things off the cuff which are not helpful for his campaign, to say the least. But, look, I think we're heading into a period now where the Trump campaign is in somewhat of a period of disarray. There's internal squabbling going on now for power.

They're just now starting to look at the delegate process, the back end part of it, which is actually electing the people who will serve as delegates and cast unbound votes if the nomination is not locked up outright by Trump.

I think that they're trying to shift gears. It's late. He does hold the lead right now with the math. But it is troubling, I think, for his campaign the lack of organization they have shown thus far.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Gloria.

BORGER: I was just going to say, look, in any -- you can't win the Super Bowl unless you make some adjustments at halftime, right? That's exactly what the Trump campaign is doing.

They now are putting a delegate team in place that's being run by Paul Manafort, who has a lot of experience in that role. He worked for Jim Baker, who we interview later on "SIT ROOM" tonight. He worked for Jim Baker in the '76 delegate race and won for Gerald Ford on the floor, that convention.

So they are starting to pay a lot of attention to it. It's late, but campaigns need to be flexible and you have to give the Trump campaign credit that they are starting to focus on this, because that's where the race is headed.

BALDWIN: Kris.

WILLIAMS: But, Gloria, they're not making tweaks. They're assembling the entire team now.

The Cruz campaign has been organizing the delegate process now for months.

BORGER: That's true. That's true.

WILLIAMS: This is not something you can't just flick a switch and start overnight. And I think it just speaks to the lack of organization the Trump campaign has.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Kris, I want you to respond to that. You heard Ryan there.

KOBACH: I think it's definitely true that the strength of the Trump campaign has always been the candidate himself, and his an ability to draw these massive crowds, whereas Cruz has had kind of a traditional campaign machine of people who are there way ahead of the schedule, working delegate math, and trying to get the states organized.

I think Cruz has an edge there. And the Trump campaign is now, to take Gloria's analogy, at halftime, we're saying, OK, this is where our weakness was. Now we're going to have to start to strengthen our delegate efforts.

[15:20:00]

I don't think it's too late at all. This is just an adjustment to say, hey, look, we might go into a very close number in that convention. It could be a contested convention. So let's make preparations.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger with the football analogy. I like it. I like it.

BORGER: Who knew?

BALDWIN: I like it.

Can we talk about John Kasich? We had a little fun editing this mash- up together, John Kasich at a deli in New York. Go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't seem to get through because the press is getting in the way. Hey, what about the Jets? What do you think? And what about A-Rod?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A-Rod's going to do well.

KASICH: I would like to be Jeter for one day. One day. Well, maybe two days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a senior.

KASICH: What are you going to be?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to work in news.

KASICH: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: News.

KASICH: Oh, news?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of want to get Pink Floyd back together.

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: You know what I heard, though? I heard that if they get back together again, Trump is going to make them pay for every brick in the wall. Did you get it? Did you get it? OK. Good.

It's like Johnny Football, right? How did it work out for him? I can't even...

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: Never use a fork.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember, in the Bronx, when we get pushed, we push back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No pushing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, guys, it's rude.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grandma's recipe.

KASICH: Beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's what it's all about here in the Bronx. We are who we are. We're not changing for anybody. We need help in New York, though.

KASICH: What do you need?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need help in the United States.

KASICH: I think you need a right fielder.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not 100, 200 years.

KASICH: How come you're not eating?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I eat all day long.

KASICH: How about a little cheese on the top of this? Mamma mia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mamma mia.

KASICH: They put me in a car and then they drive me and then they shout get out and talk. And I don't have any idea where we go half the time. But, of course, I'm thrilled to be in the -- are you kidding me? This is like -- this is like being so alive, being in New York. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I love that so much. I love that so much.

Gloria, I'm like -- I'm going to hop in the next yellow cab in Manhattan and it's going to be John Kasich at the steering wheel. Where do you need to go, you know?

BORGER: I'm hungry looking at all this. It's like the New York version of the town hall, right, in New Hampshire, except it's so much more fun, right?

BALDWIN: Ryan, what do you think?

WILLIAMS: Look, I think Kasich's having fun right now because he has nothing to lose. He's not going to be the nominee of the party.

BALDWIN: Ouch.

WILLIAMS: He's running really with nothing going on. He's like the last guy at a party who can't take a hint that it's time to call an Uber and go home.

He is staying in the race and not much to lose, I guess, so why not have fun?

BALDWIN: Kris?

KOBACH: I think it's always fun to watch a fellow Midwesterner like me try to fit in, in New York City. No, he's having fun. But I agree, he's not really in the race at this point.

BALDWIN: Kris Kobach, Gloria Borger, Ryan Williams, thank you all so much.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: We will talk again.

And make sure you watch tonight, because Senator Ted Cruz will be sitting down with ERIN BURNETT on "OUTFRONT" 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Coming up next, the CEO of GE firing back at Senator Bernie Sanders in a scathing piece in "The Washington Post" -- why he's accusing the Vermont senator of making a -- quote, unquote -- "shallow campaign promise" and not living in the real world.

Plus, President Obama going back to school, kind of, sort of, in Chicago today, how he is working to make the case for his choice for the Supreme Court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:07]

BALDWIN: Just about the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Senator Bernie Sanders has really built his campaign on calling out big banks and corporate greed. But the CEO of one of those huge corporations is now turning the tables on Senator Sanders.

After "The New York Daily News" published an interview in which Sanders said General Electric was -- quote, unquote -- "destroying the fabric of America," Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of GE, wrote an op-ed in "The Washington Post."

In part, he wrote this: "It's easy to make hollow campaign promises and take cheap shots in speeches and during editorial board sessions, but GE operates in the real world. We're in the business of building real things and generating real growth for a nation that needs it now more than ever. It seems Senator Sanders is missing the point."

Immelt also noted that Senator Sanders has never stopped by the GE plant in his home state of Vermont. So there's that as well.

Let me bring in Rana Foroohar, CNN global economic analyst. She is also the author of "Makers and Takers."

Welcome back, as always.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN ANALYST: Thank you.

BALDWIN: You say this is a huge deal that he did this.

FOROOHAR: I do. I'm just kind of amazed that he took aim at GE in particular, because actually if you talk to corporate leaders, if you talk to policy-makers, GE is probably the number one big company in the U.S. that people look to when they say, look, you can bring jobs back home, you can do manufacturing in a smart way in the U.S.

I'm not saying they don't outsource jobs. This is a multinational company. But this is a company that's also done a lot to try and create regional hubs. I have been in many of their factories. There's a great one up in Schenectady, New York, where they're actually doing the sorts of thing that we need to do in this country, which is create high-tech manufacturing, create local economic ecosystems.

And I'm just really surprised that Sanders targeted GE in particular.

BALDWIN: So, then do you think he did his homework, or not so much?

FOROOHAR: I'm worried. I'm worried, because I think this kind of comment, coming off the back of some of...

BALDWIN: The editorial board interview.

FOROOHAR: The editorial board interview.

BALDWIN: With "The New York Daily News."

FOROOHAR: The idea of how do you actually -- you know, you're talking about breaking up big banks, but how do you do it? Well, I don't know.

BALDWIN: Lacking specifics.

FOROOHAR: Lacking specifics.

BALDWIN: Although he gave some later

FOROOHAR: He gave some later.

BALDWIN: But...

FOROOHAR: And, look, I'm very -- I'm very sympathetic to this --