Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Breaks His Silence in New York, Lashing Out About Rigged Delegate System; Brussels Attackers Initially Targeted France; The U.S. Role in Pushing ISIS Out of Iraq; Candidates Try to Charm New York Media; Why Some GOP Senators Dislike Ted Cruz?; U.S. Navy Officer Charged with Espionage; Bhutan, A Country Built on Happiness; Aired 5- 6:00p ET

Aired April 10, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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


[17:00:01] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: The big apple of course is the bulls eye of the political universe right now for the first -- for the past few days Donald Trump has been unusually quiet. Trump's silence ended today, though, with a big rally in his home state.

Trump holds a commanding lead in New York polls, but he wants more. He traveled to upstate New York to plead for voters there to turn out in huge numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need a great show of strength in New York state. It's so important. We need a great show of strength. You got to go not this Tuesday, but the next Tuesday. Nine days. Nine days. You've got to go out and you've got to vote in mass. You've got to bring your friends. You got to tell them about it. You are going to say this was one of the great days of your lives.

You're going to say when you cast that vote in nine days on Tuesday you're going to say it was the greatest single vote you've ever cast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, on the Democrat side candidates crisscrossed New York ahead of the April 19th primary there. Bill and Hillary Clinton stopped by several New York churches this morning looking to shore up support among African-Americans.

Clinton has lost eight of the last nine states to rival Bernie Sanders. And she's looking to end Sanders' momentum fast.

Sanders meantime rallied supporters on a Coney Island boardwalk and touted his victory in Wyoming last night. Sanders and Clinton are just four days away from a showdown in Brooklyn where CNN will host Thursday's debate.

So let's go straight to CNN correspondent Chris Frates right outside that Trump rally in Rochester, New York.

So, Chris, tell us more about Trump's pitch to voters there. He's been relatively quiet the past few days.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Pam. It's been a three-daybreak for Donald Trump. But he was back on the campaign trail today here in New York. And no surprise why. The Empire State crucial to Donald Trump's chances of winning the nomination. There's 95 delegates at stake on April 19th. And he has a shot at winning all of them. And that will be important because Ted Cruz has been on a bit of a hot streak recently. And it's got Donald Trump questioning whether the whole delegate system is rigged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We've got a corrupt system. It's not right. We're supposed to be a democracy. We're supposed to be -- we're supposed to be you vote and the vote means something.

And I want to tell you, it's a corrupt deal going on in this country. And it's not good. It's not good. And it's not fair. And it's not fair to you people. They're taking your vote away. They're disenfranchising people that want to see America be great again. And politicians will never do it. They don't want to do it. They can't do it because their lobbyists and special interests saying we're not going to let you do it.

It's no good. And we've got to change the system. And it's got to change fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now all of that talk about changing the system and the system being rigged comes as Ted Cruz has had big, big wins, four consecutive wins and big wins in Wisconsin and in Colorado. Just yesterday he took all 34 of those delegates. And that has Donald Trump and his campaign crying foul. Campaign adviser saying that it's because Cruz using Gestapo tactics to threaten delegates into supporting him, The Cruz folks say that's absolutely ridiculous. It's just another Donald Trump temper tantrum and sour grapes. They say they just have a better delegate operation than Donald Trump does.

And in fact, Donald Trump has been adjusting a little bit on his campaign team bringing in a delegate count here expert to try to, you know, catch up with Ted Cruz. And it's really going to come down, Pam, to New York and what he could do here. He's leading in the polls here. In fact, the FOX News poll out today showed 54 percent for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz just 15 percent, lagging even John Kasich in the state here.

So if Trump can win here in his home state, take those 95 delegates, that will go a long way to the 500 he needs to get to the magic number of 1237. But Ted Cruz really, really dogging him and playing the inside game that Donald Trump is promoting very, very hard right now, Pam.

BROWN: Yes. And he's not the only one. His expert, you mentioned, is as well. Thanks so much, Chris. And on that note his brand new convention manager is actually accusing

Ted Cruz of breaking the rules in his efforts to wrangle Republican delegates.

Paul Manafort compared the Cruz campaign tactics to those of the notorious Nazi Germany secret police forces Chris alluded to. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, MSNBC'S MEET THE PRESS MODERATOR: What is fair game to win a delegate? Is threatening a fair game? Is threat a fair game?

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN CONVENTION MANAGER: It's not my style. It's not Donald Trump's style.

TODD: What if --

MANAFORT: But it is --

(CROSSTALK)

MANAFORT: But it is Ted Cruz's style. And that's going to wear thin very fast.

TODD: You think he's threatening delegates?

MANAFORT: Well, he's threatening the -- you go to his county conventions and you see the tactic, Gestapo tactics.

TODD: Gestapo tactics. That's a strong word.

MANAFORT: Well, you look at -- we're going to be filing several protests because reality is they are not playing by the rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:05:05] BROWN: So Manafort is in charge of directing Trump's new delegate-focused strategy. And Trump himself tweeted about this.

"I win a state in votes and then get non-representative delegates because they are offered all sorts of goodies by the Cruz campaign. Bad system."

Cruz's campaign, as we heard Chris say, is dismissing those complaints calling them sour grapes.

So let's talk this over with politics reporter Jeremy Diamond and Chris Frates.

Jeremy, first to you. Did Manafort offer any specific incidence of this alleged rule breaking by the Cruz campaign?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: You know, he did not. And this is kind of interesting because Paul Manafort was supposed to come in and kind of be the adult in the room in this campaign and we see him now resorting to the similar tactics that the Trump campaign has used, you know, the kind of mudslinging that we've seen throughout this campaign, not just from the Trump campaign but from other sides as well.

But he did not offer any specific instances. And of course the Cruz campaign rejecting that out of hand saying that it's absolutely ridiculous for Manafort to be alleging that. But, you know, Paul Manafort is going to be coming in and working similarly to try and win over delegates in the coming states. You know, we have Pennsylvania coming up where you have the delegates, most of the delegates in that state are actually going to be completely unbound once they're elected.

They're unbound until the convention. So there's going to be a wooing process. And now Donald Trump's campaign is kind of playing catch-up, but they also have to play the game that the Cruz campaign has been playing now for weeks and perhaps even months where they've been focused on this potential of a brokered convention.

BROWN: Yes. The delegate fight is certainly heating up.

But, Chris, what are the rules when it comes to pulling in these unbound delegates? Can you give them money or gifts in exchange for their support?

FRATES: Well, generally, Pam, the rules are different state by state. But you can't buy a delegate. But you know, certainly you can fly them down to Mar-a-lago, for instance, and entertain them and make the pitch from Donald Trump about why he would be the guy. And this is what they're a little behind on. They haven't been playing to the inside process. They've been getting huge crowds. We saw a big crowd out here. I can tell you that the airport hangar we're in we're told gets about 6,000 people and it was pretty packed here.

So, you know, he draws thousands of people to his events. Now he's complaining that those votes might not count because they haven't done the backend of that and they haven't gone and played the inside baseball that really favors the establishment candidates who have connections with the delegates themselves. Delegates tend to be very involved Republicans. People who are involved at their local level, on the county, on the state level as well.

And they expect to be wooed a little bit. They expect to hear from these campaigns. They expect to be, you know, a little -- for lack of a better word -- wined and dined about why they should support Donald Trump over Ted Cruz.

BROWN: And be courted.

FRATES: They want to be courted. They want to feel like they're part of this process. And Cruz has been very smart because even when people are bound legally to Donald Trump on that first ballot, he's also cultivating people who would be open to voting for him on a second ballot if Donald Trump didn't get those 1237 votes.

I kind of call them double agents. They're folks who on the first ballot vote for Donald Trump, but would be open to Cruz if this thing goes contested. And that's the kind of smart political inside play that Ted Cruz understands as a U.S. senator and as a guy who's playing, you know, kind of the inside politics. Donald Trump is catching up right now and trying to get that game in gear.

And a lot of folks have looked at this for over a year and said, you know, he's not really running a traditional campaign. He's running more of a national speaking tour. And now we're starting to see where the nuts and bolts of a traditional political presidential campaign come into play. Because these are the rules. These are the party rules. There is no rigging. You know, Donald Trump already kind of starting to try to soften the argument that if he doesn't get to that 1237, well, he should get the nomination just because he has the most delegates.

Well, that's not how it works, Pam. You need all 1237. So we'll start to see how this plays out. This could get really inside baseball really quickly, Pam.

BROWN: Yes. And like you said every state has their own delegate rules.

Jeremy Diamond and Chris Frates, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your insight and perspective.

And don't forget, starting tomorrow CNN's Anderson Cooper will host town halls with all three Republican presidential candidates and their families. Tomorrow night he'll talk to Ohio Governor John Kasich and his family. Tuesday night Donald Trump, his wife Melania and his daughter Ivanka will join Anderson. And then on Wednesday night they'll feature Texas Senator Ted Cruz and his wife Heidi. That's this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

And coming up this hour of NEWSROOM, one of the terrorists arrested in connection to the Brussels attack tells investigators that their original target was another major city.

And "Saturday Night Live" is the latest New York institution to have a little fun with presidential candidates invading their city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:10:05] KATE MCKINNON, COMEDIAN: That will keep me warm while I eat my favorite dinner, a classic New York City street hot dog. A delicious real bite that was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We'll talk to a veteran New York journalist about it. And we'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The deadly Brussels terror attack was a last-minute change in plans. The Belgian prosecutors' office says the ISIS network cell responsible for the carnage at the Brussels airport and at a commuter train station was originally planning another attack in France.

CNN French affiliate BFM reports the targets were going to be high- profile locations in Paris. But as the police net closed in, the terrorists apparently got scared off.

This all comes after authorities identified this man, Mohamed Abrini, as the third Brussels attacker. He's seen in these surveillance tape at the airport right here, the so-called man in the hat Belgian authorities have been hunting for.

So let's get the very latest on the investigation. CNN senior producer Kellie Morgan joins me from Brussels.

So, Kellie, disturbing to learn about this that they were going to hit Paris again. What specifics do we know about this plan?

KELLIE MORGAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, this is coming from CNN French affiliate BFM who say that their sources, someone close to the investigation, and more specifically the computer that was recovered by police outside the Schaerbeek apartment that the attackers used to make their bombs.

Now on that computer they found a file, at least two targets, the Le Defense business district in France, and also a Catholic association in that city. There were also notes there saying that basically they were in a hurry. One specifically saying we need to protect ourselves from the police. And you're right, this is shocking particularly for the French people and French authorities to learn that they were actually the intended target of yet another attack.

[17:15:05] And it's worth reminding viewers that it was just a week after the Brussels blast here that French police foiled another plot they say was in the advanced stages in Paris. So you can expect that French authorities and the French people will be on high alert again, Pamela.

BROWN: So is there a sense that in light of the fact they have these other targets that they ended up choosing the Brussels airport and the metro station just because it was, you know, more convenient and that they sort of chose that on the fly after Salah Abdeslam was arrested?

MORGAN: Well, absolutely. We know that the border started to close down, the security was stepped up on one of the notes according to a source close to the investigation one of the notes said, I can't pick you up now. I don't know that we really want to read too much into that, but it does -- it could suggest they that were bringing more people in, that they were going to -- we know there was a lot of movement across the border between Belgium and France during the French attacks and also the Belgian attacks. So security was obviously closing in on them. And so this is why we saw what happened, these attacks in Brussels being carried out more than two and a half weeks ago now.

BROWN: I'm just curious because clearly they thought they could get back into France no problem even though Abrini was one of the most wanted men in Europe. Is there stepped up security at the border and in light of all these ISIS fighters and their ability to go from one country to the next?

MORGAN: Well, we've had stepped up security in the wake of what happened in November in Paris. Still obviously this attack was able to unfold in Brussels. We've had even more security stepped up at major transport hubs. There's still security, heavy security on the streets here in Brussels at major transport hubs certainly when you come into the airport. The airport itself very -- we were out there today and the security there is very tight. The perimeter has been brought out much further out from the terminal. So there is a lot more security around.

The question -- I think the important point to make here is that Abrini was hiding in plain sight. He was hiding in amongst -- in suburbia, in neighborhoods, normal residential streets. So they don't necessarily need to even move across borders. They're actually within the city itself.

BROWN: Yes, they have a whole support network there as we've seen.

Kellie Morgan, great reporting there from Brussels. We appreciate it.

And this morning on FOX President Obama defended his record on fighting terror. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There isn't a president who's taken more terrorists off the field than me over the last seven and a half 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.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: So why is it --

OBAMA: And we have been doing it effectively.

WALLACE: And so why do people sometimes think you're diffident?

OBAMA: Well, I think part of it is that in the wake of terrorist attacks it has been my view consistently that the job of the terrorists in their minds is to induce panic, induce fear, get societies to change who they are. And what I've tried to communicate is you can't change us. You can kill some of us, but we will hunt you down and we will get you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And one of the president's key strategies in defeating ISIS, Washington's relationship with the Iraqi government. Right now the U.S. is working closely with the Iraqi army to overtake ISIS strongholds and push the terror group out of the country.

CNN's Arwa Damon is in Iraq reporting from the front lines and the fight against ISIS -- Arwa. ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Secretary Kerry

was just in Baghdad re-pledging U.S. support for the Iraqi effort to clear ISIS out of its own country's lands. And also emphasizing that for the United States and for the Iraqi government as well liberating the country's second largest city of Mosul was a priority. But ISIS has had over two years to entrench itself there. And the Iraqi Security Forces are already facing many challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): The aim is to cut ISIS supply and escape routes as the Iraqi army attempts to advance. All along the terrain to the frontline, entirely flattened villages from battle past when the Kurdish Peshmerga moved to stop the ISIS onslaught after the Iraqi army fled. The 15th Division retrained and restructured is the first unit back since then.

[17:20:03] In this operation trying to move on a village just pass the Peshmerga's defensive berm. Coalition airstrikes an artillery pound ISIS targets relentlessly.

(On camera): We're still hearing the fighter jets overhead and a few hours ago, we were in the joined operation center watching the U.S. drone feed. There was a berm very similar to this one. The ISIS militants were lined up against it firing on the Iraqi army as they were attempting to advance. And then there was an airstrike. The entire room erupted in cheers and it was such testimony to just how vital coalition air support is when it comes to altering the dynamics of the battlefield.

(Voice-over) The Iraqis come up with a plan. The Americans offer advance and integrate their capabilities on which the Iraqis naturally want more.

COL. SCOTT NAUMANN, 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION: I think they are seeing success and the success breed success.

DAMON: Colonel Scott Naumann, who refers to ISIS by its Arabic acronym Da'esh, and his unit with 10th Mountain Division are partnered with the Iraqi Nineveh Command.

NAUMANN: And as we put more pressure on the enemy up here, the Da'esh fighters are starting to surge in this area in particular because they feel the pressure towards Mosul and they know that particularly in this area, if they lose this, it's only a matter of time because the momentum, really, is on the Iraqi Security Force's side.

DAMON: That momentum, albeit shaky, is driven and sustained by the power America brings. While not right in the frontlines, the U.S. presence has steadily been growing and invariably putting troops in the line of fire. A Marine was already killed on a newly established artillery base which we are not allowed to tell.

America and Iraq states are, too a certain degree, inextricably intertwined on this complex battlefield. But even with the current levels of U.S. support, success is neither quick nor guaranteed. And operations can still end in failure.

Hours after we were told that only remnants of the ISIS fighters remained in this village, the Iraqis partially retreated in a moment of battlefield confusion and are now holding defensive positions until more reinforcements can arrive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: And while no one really expected or thought that the push towards Mosul was going to be quick or easy what we are seeing in its initial phases is really underscoring the reality that it is going to be extremely difficult and possibly one of the biggest challenges that this country faces, Pamela.

BROWN: Arwa Damon, great reporting there in Iraq.

And coming up next, right here in the NEWSROOM, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton try to charm the New York media while still making time to criticize each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I appreciate Bill Clinton being my psychoanalyst. It's always nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE MCKINNON, ACTRESS, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": The New York City subway is the best way to get around. Try again. It's been a while. Is this a working metro card? Is this -- I'll just go in the old fashioned way. I'll take a cab. The cab is the best way to get around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So as I'm sure you probably figured out that was "SNL" ruthlessly mocking Clinton's now somewhat infamous subway snafu. Did you really think they'd pass it up? No.

It is New York. The media is tougher, grittier and meanier. And the candidates are just now getting their first real taste. Take Ted Cruz for example and the time he slammed New York values. Well, take a look here. This was the front cover of the "New York Daily News." Its message couldn't be clearer.

And this right here was the front page -- the paper's front page the day after Bernie Sanders sat down for an interview.

So why is New York such a different beast? And why does that beast seem so much larger this election season?

Errol Louis, CNN contributor and political anchor at New York One News joins me now for more.

So, Errol, is the media coverage different this time around than what we've seen in past presidential elections in New York?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It certainly is, Pam. I mean, the reality is we could spend decades since what happened here actually mattered to the outcome of either major party nomination process. So I will say my colleagues and I are gleefully leaping in. And just as candidates normally go to Iowa and talk about ethanol and go to any number of different state fairs and some of those early rural states, well, you come here, yes, we're going to throw some pizza at you, we're going to ask you to go down the subway, maybe roll a little motza, and when you screw up, and outsiders are inevitably well, we're going to make fun of you. Absolutely.

BROWN: Like eating pizza with a fork. Stuff like that, right?

LOUIS: Eating pizza any way other than the approved -- in the approved style which is to grab the darn thing and you fold it and you eat it. Exactly right.

BROWN: Well, but we've seen, you know, snafus, fumbles if you will, in the eyes of the New York media almost with all the candidates it seems. You've got these candidates, these three candidates with ties to New York running for president, Clinton riding the subway then yesterday Donald Trump visited the 9/11 memorial. Today Bernie Sanders went to Coney Island. Do you think, Errol, that New York voters see them as authentic New Yorkers, or trying too hard here?

LOUIS: Well, you know, we have very poorest definition of a New Yorker. If you show up on Monday and you decide you're going to stay on Wednesday, for the most part you're a New Yorker. So whether you're a new New Yorker like Hillary Clinton who came here as an adult and ran for office, or you're Bernie Sanders who left after he finished his teen years here and basically sought an entire life and career elsewhere, you're still basically at home.

You can still find people as we have who attended high school with him at James Madison High School, the same high school that Senator Chuck Schumer and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended. And they'll talk about what he was like, when he ran track back then.

[17:30:04] And with Hillary Clinton she's very much at home, too. I mean, she's of course a quick study and learned a lot about all of the nooks and crannies of every corner of this state.

So, you know, this is a state that had Robert F. Kennedy as our senator, although he of course grew up in Massachusetts really. We have a sort of welcoming -- look, let's put it this way, Pam. 40 percent of New York City was born outside of the United States, so we don't get real picky about where you came from. What makes you a New Yorker is that you decide to stay, if you decided to act like a New Yorker.

BROWN: All right. Well, we will continue to watch this play out as we lead into the New York primary in a few days.

Errol Louis, thank you so much for that. And Errol, by the way, will be part of the next CNN Democratic

presidential debate in Brooklyn coming up this Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. See Hillary Sanders face off just five days before that New York primary right here on CNN.

Well, Ted Cruz is not the most popular man among his co-workers. I'm talking about his fellow Republican senators. How Cruz got his difficult reputation in the GOP Senate and what he's doing to try to improve his work relationships.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:35:38] BROWN: Well, Ted Cruz just scooped up all 34 of Colorado's Republican delegates. Cruz is on a winning streak as he chases Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. Yet he's lacking support from many of his own co-workers. I'm talking about Cruz's fellow Republican senators.

Senior political reporter Manu Raju Has that story -- Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela. Ted Cruz has made his presidential campaign in large part about nasty infighting between him and his colleagues. And it turns out Senate Republicans have not forgotten.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to see the --

RAJU (voice-over): Ted Cruz says the GOP is rallying behind him.

CRUZ: You are looking at the entire spectrum of the Republican Party, the entire ideological spectrum coming together and uniting.

RAJU: But one influential group is still holding out. His fellow Republican senators.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: I think he's made it more difficult for many senators to be supportive of him. If we're going to save this country, it's going to be in the Senate. And I think most people would wish that he would take the Senate more seriously.

RAJU: Many GOP senators dislike Cruz after two years of bitter infighting. They say he's engaged in divisive tactics to bolster his profile. Most notably a 16-day government shutdown in 2013 after he demanded Republican support to defund Obamacare.

CRUZ: And the Republicans in this body, sadly, more than a few of them, say we will take lots and lots of symbolic votes against Obamacare. But there's nothing we can do.

RAJU: The tough talk has made Cruz beloved by conservative activists, frustrated with party leaders. But in the Capitol, it has come at a price as Cruz looks for unity against Donald Trump.

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: Well, I think he's made it a little more difficult for him to round up support.

RAJU: On the campaign trail, Cruz has called his colleagues part of a corrupt Washington cartel. And he took the unusual step last year of taking to the Senate floor and accusing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of being a liar.

CRUZ: I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie.

RAJU: Many still think he went too far.

SEN. JOHNNY ISAKSON (R), GEORGIA: I don't think it went over very well with McConnell.

RAJU: And some say it's time for Cruz to apologize.

HATCH: I stood up and said he should. Yes, I think that was the wrong thing to do.

RAJU: Yet Cruz quietly elicited former Senator Phil Gramm, a long time Washington insider to do some damage control. Gramm tells CNN that, "Ted called me and asked me to help him in building a working relationship with the leadership of the House and Senate."

Cruz may soon get another endorsement, freshman Dan Sullivan of Alaska.

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R), ALASKA: I get along very well with Senator Cruz.

RAJU: But Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime critic and now Cruz supporter, suggests that the Texas freshman needs to do more.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think Ted would be well served to reach out to his colleagues. The more support he gets from across the spectrum of the Republican Party, the more viable alternative it becomes to Trump.

RAJU: And a big question still remains, will his one-time rival, Senator Marco Rubio, support him?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: No, I haven't even thought about the presidential race at all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now some Rubio supporters and donors have urged him to keep his powder dry because they think he actually may face off again against Cruz possibly in 2020. But Cruz and Rubio have spoken as Cruz has started to reach out to some Senate Republicans. But he's actually made one thing very clear, Pamela, he will not apologize to Mitch McConnell telling CNN's Dana Bash it ain't going to happen.

And separately Phil Graham told me he has advised Cruz to avoid holding any sort of peacemaking meeting with his colleagues. So do not expect any major thawing any time soon, Pamela.

BROWN: Thank you to Manu Raju.

And by the way, don't forget starting tomorrow CNN's Anderson Cooper will host town halls with all three Republican presidential candidates and their families over the next three days. Tomorrow night he'll talk to Ohio Governor John Kasich and his family. And then on Tuesday night Donald Trump, his wife, daughter Ivanka and sons Don Jr. and Eric will all be there. And Wednesday night we'll feature Texas Senator Ted Cruz and his wife Heidi. That's this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

And coming up on this Sunday, a Navy officer charged with espionage, accused of spying on the U.S. for a foreign power. Details on that up next.

[17:40:05]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, CNN is getting some new details about a national security investigation within the U.S. Navy. According to heavily redacted documents just released to CNN -- we are learning about this U.S. Navy officer who's been arrested for espionage and was taken into custody eight months ago.

CNN's Nick Valencia has been digging into all of this for us. There are a number of charges here, Nick. What are they?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these are sweeping, wide ranging and very serious accusations. They were made public over the weekend. The suspect having his first court appearance on Friday. And here are some of the accusations -- some of the violations that he's accused of. Failure to safely store classified material. There's also material related to apparently communicated secretly and possibly advantageous information to a foreign nation.

He's also accused of trying to hide foreign travel, lying on an electronic document saying that he was somewhere else when he really wasn't. Failure to report foreign contacts and then these are additional charges here as well, Pamela. Bringing discredit upon armed forces by patronizing at least one prostitute as well as an adultery charge tied to an extramarital affair.

Now this is an investigation that have been conducted for months according to a U.S. official. They tell me that he was arrested sometime late last summer, beginning of fall, but this information first coming public over the weekend. He was arrested at an airport while trying to leave the country. And there are a few outstanding things that we do not know.

[17:45:01] We don't know how long he's been in the Navy or what foreign nation that he's accused of communicating with. We also don't know exactly what kind of information he had access to, and that is important because depending on the sensitivity of the information that he is accused of communicating, that punishment could be punishable by the death penalty. This case will now be referred to a convening authority and they'll

decide whether or not to bring the charges or refer to the charges to a court-martial, Pamela.

BROWN: Nick Valencia, thank you for the latest there. We appreciate it.

VALENCIA: You bet.

BROWN: And coming up right now on this Sunday, "THE WONDER LIST" takes you to a beautiful country high in the Himalayas, one built with a simple national goal, happiness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Chef Ryan Heidinger and his wife Jen dreamed of starting their own restaurant.

JEN HEIDINGER, THE GIVING KITCHEN: We were working our supper club out of our home for about four years. Until a very unexpected moment happened in our lives. He was diagnosed with stage 4 gallbladder cancer.

CUOMO: Their friends in the restaurant community came together to raise money for them.

J. HEIDINGER: And for Ryan and I to stand there as this couple that was benefitting from all of this, what community can be about literally impacted us.

CUOMO: Ryan and Jen started The Giving Kitchen.

RYAN HEIDINGER, THE GIVING KITCHEN: I was out of work for three months.

CUOMO: A nonprofit that helps Atlanta restaurant workers facing financial emergencies. The money comes from fundraisers and Ryan's restaurant, which finally became a reality in 2015 with an even greater purpose. 100 percent of the profits go back to The Giving Kitchen. Ryan passed away in 2014, but he lived long enough to set the table for what would become his legacy.

J. HEIDINGER: He would be the first to say I don't deserve it. But he did. Because he was just that good. And it's humbling to be able to stand at the restaurant that we dreamed of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:50] BROWN: In the next episode of "THE WONDER LIST," CNN's Bill Weir takes us to the country of Bhutan, in the Himalayas. Here the pursuit of happiness isn't just a slogan, it's actually a way of life there and the secret to finding joy might surprise you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BILL WEIR, CNN HOST: So on a scale of one to 10, how happy are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are happy. A 10.

WEIR: You're a 10? What about you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hundred.

WEIR: A hundred?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, I am happier than that. I could go to 12 or even go to 20.

WEIR: Amazing. I'm a 6 and a half on a good day. But everyone I meet is a 10. And they all give credit to their king.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has done so much for the country. Every smile on the face shows how much we love our king.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone loves him. We all love him. He's revered like a god here.

WEIR (voice-over): Now if this was, say, North Korea, such moon-eyed affection would be scary and creepy. But here instead of fear, you feel genuine affection.

(On camera): Which is pretty amazing. This guy took the crown, the raven crown and the golden throne at age 17. But in this version of "Game of Thrones," he turned out to be the wisest, kindest, most benevolent monarch anybody could ever wish for.

(Voice-over): When he was a newly crowned teen on a trip to the U.N., a journalist asked, so, you're the king of a whole country? What's your gross national product?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's supposed to have said that, I don't necessarily believe in gross national product.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Wow. On that note, Bill, incredible story. And, you know, what he's saying about the gross national product, Bhutan has a cabinet level minister of there is a gross national happiness.

WEIR: Exactly.

BROWN: Is that right? How do they measure that?

WEIR: Well, every few years they send out pollsters to talk to about 10,000 Bhutanese. This is a small country. Maybe 700,000 people. And they 125 questions. How well do you sleep? Do you like your job? How often do you go to church? Do you have to burn your garbage or do somebody pick it up for you? And they take all these data points and try to literally eliminate sadness and discontent from their society.

They've got a project now, they want to eliminate suicides. They have about 80 suicides a year there. They want to eliminate it entirely. And it's really a country as if Buddha built it. This is the last Buddhist kingdom on earth so the ideals of compassion and empathy and sanctity of all life, you know, they can't even conceive of cutting down a tree to sell it, so they say no to a lot of industries that they could exploit if they wanted to.

And it's really such an amazing sort of time-traveling experience. Imagine, a lot of people think the 1950s America was this golden era. Imagine if we froze that with legislation and said every -- all the men have to wear hats and the women have to wear poodle skirts, and our movies, we're only going to watch "I Love Lucy," that's what they are deliberately trying to do with this country, sort of freeze it in time with those robes you saw me wearing there.

BROWN: Yes.

WEIR: That's the national garb. That's the national dress code. During business hours jeans and T-shirts against the law. There's no smoking, there's no plastic bags in the whole country. So it's amazing sort of -- it made me reevaluate, we have pursuit of happiness written into the "Declaration of Independence" but they chase it in a completely different way than we do. And so I think a lot of people will be inspired a little bit and also appreciate what we have when it comes to certain freedoms, you know?

BROWN: Yes. And, Bill, what's interesting, though, as far as they go with trying to control the happiness and what they think lead to the happiness, you also when you were there saw signs of the outside world sort of closing in, right, with the arrival of tourism and television. What kind of an influence has that had on their pursuit of happiness?

WEIR: Well, this is a funny story. They just got television in 1999. They've had it less than 20 years. And it's a landlocked country in the middle of the Himalayans. They had never seen an ocean. They've never seen black people until 1999. And so within a matter of years now, American professional wrestling is the most popular show in Bhutan. And at first these Buddhists, they didn't realize what it was but I had a woman in this 200-year-old farmhouse with a satellite dish on top, asked me about Donald Trump, is this guy for real?

[17:55:07] She watches election news, you know, out of American and BBC. And so yes, that's the grand question. How can a hermitically sealed little magic kingdom where some people still belief in dragons, how does that change when they open themselves up to western tourists who are coming more and more, and television and the outside world influences and that's what I really wanted to go explore. It's fascinating.

BROWN: Yes. So really quickly, in a nutshell, what are the keys to happiness that you discovered there?

WEIR: Tight, tight social fabric, how many people do you hug in your life, how many people would you hand your kid to in an emergency, clean environment around you, a government you can trust and, you know, we think of things in terms of national, gross national happiness. All these things apply to little neighborhoods or little companies. You know, that makes sense on that level. And so Bhutan is just in that sweet spot where they have maximized, they figured it out.

BROWN: Wow. I'm ready to go to Bhutan now. Amazing.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Bill Weir, thank you so much, a country built on happiness.

Be sure to tune in to CNN's "THE WONDER LIST" as Bill Weir takes the trek to Bhutan tonight at 10:00 p.m. You won't want to miss it.

And coming up in the next hour, the return of Donald Trump to the campaign trail. We'll tell you something new that Trump is crying out at his rally in New York. That's next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)