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Belgian Authorities Captured Mohamed Abrini; Aide to Donald Trump's Campagin Accuses Ted Cruz of Gestapo Tactics; U.S. Navy Officer Charged With Espionage; Obama: Clinton Emails Did Not Jeopardize Security; Boston Globe Satirizes Donald Trump; Sanders' Big Push To Court Minority Voters. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 10, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:00:12] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton united on one idea.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That we will do everything possible to prevent this country from seeing a Donald Trump or some other Republican in the White House. That would be a disaster for this country and I will do anything to prevent that.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will take him over Ronald Trump or Ted Cruz any day.

WHITFIELD: As both crisscross across New York in an all-out delegate battle.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Hillary Clinton making a stop in Baltimore today shifting her focus from Sanders to the general election. Live pictures right now on the even about to get under way out of Baltimore.

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders holding a rally on Coney Island this hour touring his victory in Wyoming last night which means that Sanders has won eight of the last nine contests. Although, he is still trailing Clinton. Every delegate counts in this race.

It is something Ted Cruz has reiterating today on the Republican side. He picked up all 34 pledge delegates in Colorado closing in on Donald Trump by almost 200 delegates.

We have so much more straight ahead in the events happening today in the race for the White House. And the crucial New York primary straight ahead.

But first, this. We begin with new developments out of Brussels. Prosecutors now say the terrorist who planned the deadly attacks in Belgium last month were plotting to hit France again. But as they saw how quickly the investigation into last year's attack in Paris was moving, they switched apparently gears and turned their target to Brussels instead. This comes as Belgian authorities captured Mohamed Abrini who has confessed to being the man in the hat at the Brussels airport as you see right there highlighted on that surveillance video.

CNN senior producer Kellie Morgan is in Brussels for us today. So how much do we know about the details of this plan?

KELLIE MORGAN, CNN SENIOR PORDUCER: Yes, Fred. This is coming from a French broadcaster BFM. They say that according to a source close to the investigation, and more specifically, this information has come from a computer that was owned by airport suicide bomber Ibrahim el- Bakraoui (ph) that computer was the one that was recovered from a garbage bin just near this big apartment which was used by the attacker to make their bomb.

Now, on this computer, according to BFM, there was a file listing two targets, the (INAUDIBLE) business district and also catholic association in Paris. Furthermore, there were notes to the effect that they were in a hurry. Specifically, one read, we need to protect ourselves from the police.

So this will come as a shock to Parisians knowing, finding out that they were the intended target of yet another attack. So we can be sure that they will be on high alert. Remember that a plot was thwarted in that city a week after the attacks here in Brussels. That plot apparently was in the advanced stages of planning. So, yes, the French will be on high alert again, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kellie Morgan, thank you so much in Brussels. Appreciate it.

Let's talk more about this with my panel. CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen and CNN intelligence and security analyst Bob Baer.

So we are hearing of this confession of Mohamed Abrini, Bob. I know, you particularly felt a little apprehensive about the fact that he is revealing these details about whether the hat was sold, et cetera, and whether he indeed is the man in the hat. Now what are your feelings about this possible plan that was changed in midstream?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think what it attests to, Fred, is Belgium police are catching on what they have to do and they are breaking up the momentum of this group, you know. If they hadn't been knocking these doors down, getting into safe houses, capturing computers, you know, checking information against the information of those computers, they wouldn't have stopped this attack. But they are doing exactly the right thing. All of these groups you have to break the momentum in order to stop them.

WHITFIELD: And Peter, in your view, how much of that momentum has been, you know, compromised by these arrests, by these recent raids?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Mohamed Abrini, the man in the hat, is somebody who, you know, is the last surviving person that we know of who played some kind of active role in the Paris attacks. And then similarly he played a very important role in the Brussels attacks. So the immediate cell that carried out both the Brussels attacks and Paris attacks seems to be mostly behind bars or dead.

The problem, however, Fredricka, is that the network that is supporting them is still out there. And that network, the more we know about this, seems to grow larger and larger with every passing week.

[14:05:18] WHITFIELD: And Bob, in your view, what more can be learned about this network by way of these arrests?

BAER: Well, the people, Fred, directly involved -- I think they are all going to be arrested at some point in the next couple of months, if not the next couple days. But I think as Peter was alluding to, its other networks out there, other connections. The German interior ministry said that, look, 70 percent of the people coming into Europe as refugees are coming without documents. And among them are members of the Islamic state. And he put the number of people in Germany, at nearly one thousand active jihadists. So what we are talking about a problem we haven't really begun to grasp. And you know, we can get this one cell but how many more are out there?

WHITFIELD: And so, I wonder, Peter, what does your gut tell you about whether the resources or the communication between these members of these networks say in Brussels, how much they are directly tied to a bigger network outside of the country or if they have put themselves in a situation where they have an autonomy just within a country of Brussels?

BERGEN: We have from the Paris attacks and all of the attackers made a video with ISIS showing that they are in Syria with ISIS. And that's clearly was directed, trained, overseen by ISIS central, the extent to which they are autonomous. I suspect they were quite autonomous in the sense that they were given an overall directives, what the U.S. military would call commanders intent. But they were told to, you know, do go ahead and carry out the attacks at a time and place of your choosing and not that's typical of many terrorist organizations.

With the Brussels attackers, we still don't know that precise relationship to ISIS central but I think that we will find that, again, there was a very tight kind of link to ISIS central in Syria.

One interesting thing, Fredricka, is of course, every all of these people are Francophone, you know, Paris and obviously Belgium and Francophone countries. And this network doesn't appear, you know, to have deep roots in other European countries, which isn't to say there aren't other networks that are completely separate. Because as Bob has just pointed out, I mean, you have got hundreds of Germans who have come back. You have got hundreds of Brits who have come back. And we haven't seen anything very dramatic in those countries as yet but clearly other European countries that are not Francophone face similar problems.

WHITFIELD: And Bob, who concern do you believe authorities might be when they draw the correlation between an arrest, you know, last month and then the ensuing, you know, explosion of bombings in the airport and the subway, and now these arrests and to any other potential plot that may be hatched?

BAER: Well, as Peter said, these groups are autonomous. They go to Syria, the fighters, they learn how to work machine guns, make explosives, battlefield tested. They are truly Gorilla fighters. They come back and, as Peter said, they act on their own. So they hit targets of opportunity which if they don't have any central planning, it's very difficult for the police to intercept messages or communications. So they can, at any moment, take a vest and go to a crowded yes place and blow themselves up and that would be considered a victory.

WHITFIELD: All right. Bob Baer, Peter Bergen, thanks so much, gentlemen. Appreciate it.

All right. Coming up, an aide to Donald Trump's campaign on the race to the White House accusing Ted Cruz of quote "gestapo tactics" after his win in Colorado last night. Trump will be speaking to voters in New York in just about an hour from now.

Our Chris Frates is there.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey. Good afternoon, Fred.

After back-to-back losses to Ted Cruz, Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail here in his home state of New York and he's not very happy. I'll tell you why after the break.

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[14:12:53] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. The Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is speaking right now at a rally in Coney Island, New York. Let's listen in.

SANDERS: Republican governors who are trying to suppress the vote. Now, this country from day one has struggled with a lot of pain and a lot of bloodshed to create a vibrant democracy where all people could participate and shape the future of this country. And now you've got Republicans who are working overtime trying to make it harder for people of color or old people to vote and I say to those --

WHITFIELD: All right. Bernie Sanders trying to appeal to the diversity of New York as he stumps for more support in Coney Island just a little over a week away from the New York primary. So New York state of mind? Well, that's an understatement.

Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are laser focused on the primary and what they are both calling their home states. After winning Wyoming yesterday, Sanders is boasting that he has won eight of the last nine races. But today on "STATE OF THE UNION," Clinton was un-phased reiterating that hundreds of delegates still set them apart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Right now, I am leading him with about 2.5 million votes in the popular vote. I'm leading him in pledged delegates with a larger margin than then Senator Obama ever had over me. I feel good about the upcoming contests. And I expect to be the nominee and I will hope to have a unified Democratic Party so that we can turn our attention to the Republican nominee.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Are you preparing for the scenario where you -- where neither of you enter the convention with the exact number of pledged delegates you need? And there might be something of a fight or contested convention? Are you getting ready for that, just in case?

CLINTON: No. I intend to have the number of delegates that are required to be nominated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:15:05] WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in CNN politics producer, Dan Merica.

So, Clinton, you know, has consistently held New York and a new FOX News poll out today shows that she is leading Sanders by 16 points. Where does Sanders say that he has an advantage in New York?

DAN MERICA, CNN POLITICS PRODUCER: Hey, Fredricka.

Yes. So Senator Sanders has consistently had an advantage with younger voters and his campaign feels that upstate voters, white working class voters in upstate New York could actually help him this primary.

Now, Secretary Clinton has campaigned hard enough made stops in Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, all the other locations. And you're right, this is a home state for both of these senators and former senator and senator Sanders. Hillary Clinton representative of the state for eight years. Bernie Sanders was born in the state. Lived there for first 18 years of his life. So Hillary Clinton has focused on upstate but Bernie Sanders campaign does believes that white working class voters in upstate New York could help him win the primary in late April.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Merica, thanks so much, competing with a big crowd there in Baltimore awaiting Hillary Clinton's arrival at the rally there.

Thank you so much, Dan. Appreciate that.

All right, meantime, Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail and he is expected to speak in upstate New York at any moment now. And it's a good bet that he will be hitting Ted Cruz pretty hard. Today, Trump's new convention manager is accusing the Cruz campaign of gestapo tactics and not playing by the rules as the delegate hunt heats up.

Let's go to CNN Chris Frates now in Rochester, New York.

So Chris, upstate New York, New York City, they are worlds apart. Is it believed that Trump will showcase a kind of different style or message from what we have been seeing from him?

FRATES: Well, I tell you, Fred, this is the first time we are seeing Donald Trump in three days and he's back on the campaign trail here in his home state of New York and it's really hard to understate how important New York is going to be for Donald Trump.

On April 19th, there's 95 delegates at stake here and a chance at winner take all and that's huge for Donald Trump as he tries to reverse Ted Cruz's momentum who has been on a bit of a hot streak recently. And the polls show that he is doing well here. In fact, if you look at the latest FOX News poll out just today, 54 percent support for Donald Trump. Ted Cruz just 15 percent support behind, even John Kasich. And Donald Trump taking advantage of Ted Cruz's own words. You might remember, Ted Cruz criticized New York and New York values and Donald Trump said that's directly a shot at New Yorkers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: These are unbelievable people. And when they talk about New York values, New York values are amazing values. And he didn't say that. You know, now he's got a liberal spin on. He made that up. When you look at his face during the debate, he was talking of New York values as though he hates New Yorkers which is his real feeling. And if he even got in, he would give nothing to New York. He would never help New York. You know, you always need help. I mean, place, states, cities, I mean, they need help. They need help from the federal government. They need all sorts of money for all sorts of projects. He will never give anything to New York. He has hatred for New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So Ted Cruz, of course, explaining that he was criticizing New York's liberal politicians, not his people. Donald Trump trying to make a little bit of hay of that particularly because Trump -- excuse me, Cruz has won four out of the last four contests. Big wins in Wisconsin. And just yesterday, he picked 34 delegates in Colorado and that has the Trump campaign calling foul. We heard from the Trump campaign say those were gestapo tactics, that he's threatening delegates to get their support. The Trump folks saying this is just another Donald Trump temper tantrum that he didn't get his way and it sis sour grapes. And what you have seen the organization, that's where the Cruz people say. That's why we are winning here. We have a better organization than Donald Trump.

Donald Trump, he needs to win here in New York and get that organization going. And of course, he has brought on a delegate strategist to help do that. We'll see what he says in a few minutes as he makes one of his first appearances here in western New York, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We shall see. Thank you so much, Chris Frates. Appreciate it.

All right. Let's talk more about this now. The state of the presidential races with our panel, Jason Johnson is the politics editor for the root.com and a political science professor. Good to see you. Ryan Lizza is a CNN political commentator and a Washington correspondent for the "New York." Good to see you as well. And Jeremy Diamond is a CNN politics reporter.

All right. Hello to everybody.

All right. So Jason, let me begin with you. Donald Trump spending time yesterday at the 9/11 memorial without huge fanfare and now in upstate New York, as you saw the backdrop there from Chris Frates, you know, hoping to drum up some excitement. But is Trump going to continue to hit hard on Ted Cruz, you know, for those New York values comments or might it be something else? You heard Chris, you know, talking about kind of maybe like a recalibration of his camp.

[14:20:15] JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS PROFESSOR: Well, honestly, Fred, you know, Donald Trump isn't Donald Trump if he's not swinging at somebody. He is always going to be attacking someone, attacking Ted Cruz, attacking women. Whoever he has got to attack, that's what Donald Trump is going to do.

I think Ted Cruz really walked into this by saying New York values. But let's be honest, New Yorkers weren't going to vote for Ted Cruz anyway. They were going to vote for Donald Trump. And anyone who can't make the distinction between the liberal politicians who run the state and how Ted Cruz may actually feel about New Yorkers in general and everyone knows that distinction. This is just a state he was going to lose and that's all Donald Trump is going to focus on.

WHITFIELD: OK. So Ryan, so even if Trump wins big in New York, he really needs to win very big in every upcoming race, doesn't he? And Cruz is making the case that Trump can't do it. I mean, four out of four of the most recent, you know. Are we headed, indeed, into a contested convention and, you know, if so, there are some who are already making their predictions. In fact, this is what Ted Cruz had to say about it last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: What Wisconsin means is Donald's pass to 1237 is almost impossible. It means the odds of going to a contested convention in Cleveland has become much, much higher.

I believe the first ballot will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives and on a subsequent ballot, we are going to win the nomination of a majority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Ryan, there are some who are predicting -- you know, we are talking about Donald Trump is having to win like 80 percent of the remaining delegate count in order to get to that 1237. Is that reasonable?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, look, I think what's happened since march 15th where Rubio got out of the race is the never Trump movement sort of got its act together and you had two big states, Utah and Wisconsin that slowed Trump's momentum. In that same period, from March 15th to Wisconsin, you had Trump make just a month long series of outrageous statements. His poll numbers in general electorate collapsed and sort of Wisconsin, which was the only state that voted on that day put an exclamation point on all of his troubles. And all of the delegate experts predict that he will not be able to secure a majority of bound delegates by June 7th.

The other thing that's been happening is Ted Cruz has a very sophisticated delegate hunting operation. And if you look at what's happened in these delegate fights in recent weeks in Louisiana, Tennessee, Colorado and North Dakota, Donald Trump is getting his clock cleaned on the ground (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: You're talking about the districts, you know, those supporters getting into those districts. And that clearly, Jeremy, is the thing, the area that Donald Trump revealed a while ago that he did not understand. I mean, tat fiery tweet that he said, how is it that you could, you know, get the popular vote, the most votes but then you don't the delegate count? But I bet he understands it now.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes. Well, he is certainly trying to, right? He's putting together a team that is really going to tackle this delegate problem aggressively. You know, he has hired Paul Manafort, a veteran Republican operative who has handled several presidential campaigns going back decades. And this is somebody who is going to be able to take Trump's, you know, message driven, math communication strategy, that is unconventional playbook and make it a little bit more of a traditional campaign. And that's what Donald Trump has tasked Paul Manafort of doing. And Manafort also making clear that he reports directly to Trump and not to campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. So, it is certainly going to see how much recalibration is actually taking effect. I mean, already, we're seeing Donald Trump, you know, largely avoiding the media spotlight in the last few days.

WHITFIELD: Which is odd, isn't it?

DIAMOND: Definitely. And so it kind of bears the question of whether we're seeing a fuller recalibration of the campaign strategy that is going to show a much more disciplined Donald Trump or if this is kind of is temporary and there is all this discussion of campaign shift and retooling of strategy, you know, lying low for a bit before they seize their opportunity to once again, you know, make all of these headlines after the New York primary.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And Jason, let's talk about the Democratic race for a little bit. Bernie Sanders winning eight of the last nine contests. That is, you know, big setter in the camp for him. Meantime, Hillary Clinton who is now focusing a good part of her campaign ongoing against the opponent of a Republican.

JOHNSON: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: Is that a big gamble? Is that a great risk especially when we are talking about just barely 200 delegate counts, you know, minus the superdelegates between she and Bernie Sanders?

JOHNSON: Well, the thing is, you can't sort of say the superdelegates don't count because that's what makes Hillary's lead so big, right.

WHITFIELD: They do count but they can change their mind.

JOHNSON: That's true. They can change their mind, but she's not worried. She knows she's going to clean up well in New York. She knows she is going to do well in Pennsylvania. She knows she is going to do well in places like Maryland. So she is not concerned.

Now, I do think what is important is the margins of these victories matter. Bernie hits like 30, 42 percent in New York. She's not going to gain that much. But he is in such a statistically difficult position at this point. Hillary has been trying to pivot to the general election for like two-and-a-half months not. I think she really thinks she can knock it out after New York and a couple of these other states.

[14:25:25] WHITFIELD: All right.

Jason Johnson, Ryan Lizza, and Jerry Diamond. Thank you, gentlemen. Good to see all of you. Appreciate it.

All right. In just four days now, CNN hosting the Democratic presidential debate. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders facing off live from New York this Thursday night 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.

Also coming up, a Navy officer charged with espionage, accused of spying on the U.S. power. Details on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:29:33] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

CNN is getting new details about an investigation within the U.S. Navy that official say could have threaten national security. According to heavily redacted documents just released to CNN, a U.S. Navy officer has been arrested for espionage and is being charged with giving secret information to a foreign government.

CNN's Nick Valencia has been digging into this for us. So we understand there are several wide-ranging charges including what?

[14:30:00] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We'll get into those in just a little bit. I just got off the phone with the U.N. official, who sort of gave me the lowdown exactly of what we are dealing with here. He says that this is a case of national security. The investigation apparently took place for quite some time. According to this U.S. official, it was months.

And the individual being charged in this case is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. We don't know how long he has been in the U.S. Navy or exactly which foreign nation he was accused of communicating with.

He was taken into custody eight months ago at the end of last summer, the beginning of the fall, and he has been held in custody ever since. The details of this espionage case were released this weekend when this individual made his first preliminary court appearance.

And they listed some of these violations he's accused of, a failure to safely store classified material. He communicated also secretly and possibly gave advantageous information to a foreign nation. This information related to national defense.

He also tried to conceal and hide foreign travel so there's an intent to deceive charge there. Failure to report foreign contacts and then as well as bringing discredit upon armed forces by soliciting at least one prostitute and he's being charged with adultery for having sex with somebody who is not his wife.

What happens to the case now? It is now in the convening authorities hands as the four-star admiral and he will take this case and decide whether or not he will refer it to court-martial.

Now depending on the sensitivity of this information, just how sensitive this information was that he was giving to this foreign nation, this case could be punishable by death penalty.

WHITFIELD: All right, very severe. Thank you so much, Nick Valencia. Appreciate it.

All right, President Barack Obama making a rare appearance on Fox News this morning. Is he doing enough to protect America from terrorists? That's the question and how he responds, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. This morning, President Barack Obama made his first appearance on Fox News Channel in more than two years. He praised Hillary Clinton's run as secretary of state and said e-mails from her private server did not jeopardize national security. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:35:10]BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America's national security. Now, what I have also said is that -- and she's acknowledged, that there's a carelessness in terms of managing e-mails that she has owned and she recognizes. But I also think it's important to keep this in perspective. This is somebody who served her country for four years as secretary of state and did an outstanding job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN politics senior digital correspondent, Chris Moody, is joining me from Washington. So what more did the president say?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, because of the open investigation, of course, President Obama has to be very careful when discussing this issue. He talked about what he could and that was his belief that she did not jeopardize the national security.

However, that's not the same, of course, of her falling outside the bounds of the regulations involving the passing around of confidential material.

But also he assured the interviewer that it wasn't just that she didn't fall off the bounds of national security -- excuse me. But he -- I'm sorry.

WHITFIELD: OK. You know what, I wonder, Chris, sometimes we have a little audio problems there. I wonder if there's more to say about the president being asked in an interview that he did with "The Atlantic" magazine in which he mentions how he tells his staff that terrorism, quote, "takes far fewer lives in America than hand guns, car accidents, and falls in bathtubs. Did he elaborate further on that?

MOODY: He did. He was actually very defensive about the question in that interview. Chris Wallace pressed him on why after attacks or major news events involving foreign policy, he did things like going to baseball games like in Cuba or played golf after Mr. Foley was beheaded by ISIS. Take a listen to how he responded to the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: There isn't a president who has taken more terrorists off the field than me in the last 7-1/2 years. I'm the guy who calls the families or meets with them or hugs them, or tries to comfort a mom or a dad or a husband or a kid after a terrorist attack. So let's be very clear about how much I prioritize this. This is my number one job and we have been doing it effectively.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So you see, Fred, he was making a differentiation between the policies that he has even the policies that the left have criticized of him and going after ISIS and also the response he has at home.

Making sure that people know that even though there might be terror attacks around the world, that Americans don't change their behavior, that they are not cowed into changing how they live their lives.

And he wanted to express that by doing things like playing golf and going to the baseball game as he did, which he has taken criticism on.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Moody, thanks so much from Washington. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

MOODY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, "The Boston Globe" warning of riots by the military and mass deportations. These headlines say it's a prediction of what life would be like under a Donald J. Trump presidency. We'll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:11]

WHITFIELD: "The Boston Globe" is taking a hard stance today against a Trump presidency. Creating an entire section of the paper with a phony snapshot of what it says America might look like next year under Trump.

The headlines glare with news of mass deportations, market sink, trade war looms, and U.S. soldiers refuse order to kill ISIS families. The fake front page is accompanied by an op-ed by the "Boston Globe" editorial staff which says the GOP must stop Trump.

"Donald J. Trump's vision for the future of our nation is as deeply troubling as it is profoundly un-American" and goes on to say, quote, "The toxic mix of violent intimidation, hostility to criticism and explicit scapegoating of minorities shows a political movement is taking hold in America.

If Trump were a politician running such a campaign in a foreign country, right now the U.S. State Department would probably be condemning him," end quote.

So joining me right now, Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." Good to see you. So a lot of very unusual things here.

The editorial on the page prominently under the newspaper banner and then, of course, you see those words, such as "the GOP must stop Trump." the opening line saying, "the future of our nation is deeply disturbing as it is un-profoundly un-American."

So at the same time, how un-American or bold is it that anyone in America would be stopped at the urging of a content in a newspaper that is supposed to be unbiased?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In this case, it's kind of going to the extreme, isn't it? I was reading this morning, the headline "deportations will begin." This is certainly coming with a point of view. There is no doubt about that.

It's coming from the editorial page of "The Boston Globe," which is separate from the newsroom. A lot of people don't care about the difference and it's already being bashed online as an example of liberal media bias.

I think what we're seeing here are editors in "The Boston Globe" where editors and producers and anchors want to make a statement and get people's attention and pay attention to what Trump has been saying in his own words.

That's what "The Globe" says it is doing using his own words to preview the future, but it's definitely been controversial. It's almost like something out of the satirical newspaper but in real life.

WHITFIELD: Turning it around again, let's see the hard copy because it presents itself differently when you go online to thebostonglobe.com.

STELTER: Yes, there's the whole thing. It does look like a real front page. When you open it up, you see the normal idea section and you'll see their editorial thing, the GOP must stop Trump.

Of course, Massachusetts is a pretty liberal state, but we know there is a big amount of support there for Trump as well. We saw that in the state's primary. I do wonder if some Trump supporters will be calling and canceling their subscriptions.

[14:45:05]But I also think they'll actually be a big dent to "The Boston Globe." They know what they were doing with this cover and they were seeking to create controversy and they have. And there are a few jokes here as well.

Even though it has a serious point, they suggest that Amarosa from "The Apprentice" would be the education secretary, Kid Rock being an ambassador to Japan. So they are having some fun with it while, at the same time, trying to make a serious point.

WHITFIELD: And it's dated, Sunday, April 9th, 2017, looking ahead, one year from now. So in a time where newspapers, particularly across this country, are really in a tight place, many are kind of staying alive as best they can with their hard copy.

STELTER: Right.

WHITFIELD: Did "The Boston Globe" calculate this as a necessary risk to take? What was behind the decision making for "The Boston Globe," traditionally a conservative mainstream newspaper, taking this kind of risk?

STELTER: I think you're on to something there. Earlier this week at "The Boston Globe," an unusual internal memo came out saying, we need to rethink everything we do. Can we come up with a plan for the future that isn't as relied on print and come up with new, bold strategies to gain readers?

This was already in the works before that memo came out. That's what is happening in print newsrooms all across the country, people being urged to try new things, to be experimental and come up with new ways to find readers. Now this may turn off some readers, but impress a lot of other ones. This is out of the box thinking, whether you love it or hate it. It's sort of reflecting on what we are seeing in other newsrooms as well.

Trump is a once of a kind out of the box candidate. We've seen that on websites as well, especially any liberal websites and this is another way to put a spotlight on what Trump has said but keep in mind, the editorial page said Ted Cruz will be a more dangerous candidate.

Those are the words of the editorial page. They are not making a front page about Cruz. They are making a front page about Trump.

WHITFIELD: Right. No comments about John Kasich, but they did take the time to talk a little bit about Mitt Romney as well and Paul Ryan.

STELTER: Right. They are suggesting that. The convention this summer, the editorial board would love to see Romney or Ryan as the eventual nominee of the party. I have reached out to the Trump campaign this morning, by the way, they haven't commented at the moment. I suspect at some point down the road we'll be hearing from Trump about this fake front page.

WHITFIELD: Probably. All right, Brian Stelter, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: We'll much more from the NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:18]

WHITFIELD: All right, nine days before the New York primary, which is made up of a very diverse electorate, Bernie Sanders is making a big push to try to win over non-white voters.

At a town hall hosted by Director Spike Lee at the Apollo Theater, an emotional Sanders responded to a question from one of the moderators relating his family's tragic holocaust experience to his life's mission to fight racism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can remember as a kid tears coming down my eyes knowing that much of my father's family was wiped out by a lunatic in Germany. You know, and that stays with you. It's something that you never forget.

And to see racism or people heeding each other for the color of their skin or for the accent that they may have, the language of the country that they came from is from the deepest part of me something that is so grotesque and awful that from a very early age it was clear to me that I'd have to spend my life helping to oppose that type of behavior. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper, Hillary Clinton reiterated that her fight against America's high incarceration of black men has been a main priority of hers since the first day of her campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The very first day of this campaign, I gave a speech about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. I have been consistently speaking out about what I would do as president and I think it's important for people to recognize, we have work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about it more with CNN political commentator, host of BET News and professor of African-American Studies at Morehouse College, Marc Lamont Hill. Good to see you, Marc.

The Sanders campaign making a concerted effort to try to connect with nonwhite voters and one way in so doing, the release of this ad put together by Spike Lee, let's take a look together.

(VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: This ad representing diversity, is this enough? Does this help Bernie Sanders appeal to an audience, an electorate that for a very long time Hillary Clinton's campaign has been able to say that it already has the attention of?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's definitely a step in the right direction. Bernie Sanders campaign got off to a rocky start when it came to the race question because there were accusations whether fair or not that he was more concerned with economic justice than racial justice and that he saw economic justice as the primary vehicle to arrive at racial justice.

There was the event in Seattle where he showed up to someone else's event and Black Lives Matter protesters came on the stage for these state sanctioned that we're talking about.

In some ways, this covered up the fact that he does care about racial justice and equality but that he has a particular world view of getting there.

Having people like Spike Lee speak out on his behalf gives him credibility with community that just doesn't know a lot about Bernie Sanders.

What we're finding is that the more people hear about Bernie Sanders, the more they tend to like him. The problem is, the black community has a deep connection socially, psychologically and I would say bizarrely to the Clinton administration and family. [14:55:05]And so they have a kind of natural constituency among black folk, which needs to be unraveled if Bernie Sanders is going to be successful. That's an uphill climb and his lack of success in the south suggests that he has a lot of work to do.

WHITFIELD: Even he acknowledged that recently. In this "Washington Post"/ABC News poll taken back in February, it was showing the real disparity between how Hillary Clinton appeals to nonwhite voters versus Bernie Sanders.

Clinton polling 67 percent in favor of a nonwhite voters to Bernie Sanders 28 percent. So how does Bernie Sanders take the momentum of what he's seeing in the eight of the last nine contests to now trying to appeal to an audience where there's a real deficit when you compare his track record to Hillary Clinton?

HILL: People need to see more ofwho he is and what he's about. People polling for Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama until they realized they could win and they realize that he had an agenda that spoke to their interests.

The same thing can happen to Bernie Sanders. If he continues to speak to issues, reparation issues more specifically, continue to talk about mass incarceration, if he can continue to talk about racial issues and justice, he has a shot.

At some point, he has to be much more aggressive in showing how the Clinton agenda and policy making machine is not in the interest of black people because if he continues to show how good he is, but doesn't do enough to aggressively challenge Hillary, Hillary is still going to run out the clock and that's not going to be a good sign.

WHITFIELD: At the same time, quickly, how does Hillary Clinton overcome the dialogue particularly about what Bill Clinton is trying to answer to in the last week and overcome not taking the nonwhite vote for granted and, you know, leading themselves into the false sense of security that they have that in the bag?

HILL: I'm not sure I'm willing to presume that they are not taking that for granted. They know that they have that vote in their pocket even if it means shooting down black protesters. You keep him busy, do something. Every time he goes on the campaign trail, it will be a long summer.

WHITFIELD: All right, Marc Lamont Hill, thank you so much. Speaking of Clinton, let's go to Baltimore. Hillary Clinton is there speaking to a pretty sizeable audience. Let's listen in.

(HILLARY CLINTON SPEECH)