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Battle For New York Votes; Democratic Race; Ecuador Earthquake; Money Changes; Houston Flooding. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 18, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Daily News and "The New York Times" already made theirs. Both endorse Hillary Clinton for president. Clinton is --

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And fresh off a massive rally in his native Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders talked to CNN about what it will take to pull off an even bigger upset tomorrow.

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the turnout is high, we will win.

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": How high?

SANDERS: I -- very high. Now, one of the disadvantages we have, as you know, is under New York state law, independents cannot participate in the Democratic primary. We usually win the independent vote 2-1. So we're kind of spotting Secretary Clinton a whole lot in that regard. But if the voter turnout is high, if working people come out to vote, if young people come out to vote, we can win this thing.

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COSTELLO: CNN's Chris Frates joins us now with more on that.

Good morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol.

So Hillary Clinton is feeling good enough about her lead here in the empire state as she rolled to the left (ph) coast this weekend to raise money and some eyebrows, including from her host, George Clooney, who called the amount of money raised at his fundraiser "obscene." And Sanders returned from his visit with the pope to a huge rally in his native Brooklyn.

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FRATES (voice-over): Bernie Sanders has been hammering Hillary Clinton for her ties to Wall Street.

SANDERS: You cannot have a super PAC raise many millions of dollars from Wall Street or special interests and then tell the American people with a straight face that you're going to stand up to the big money interests. Not true.

FRATES: The Vermont senator's also ramping up his attacks on her campaign donations. Clinton spent some of the weekend in California, raising money for herself and other Democrats with two events hosted by George Clooney. VIP ticket prices hit over $353,000. A group of Sanders supporters were showering her motorcade with 1,000 $1 bills in Los Angeles on Saturday. Clooney admitting he understands the frustration.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: It is an obscene amount of money. The Sanders campaign, when they talk about it, is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics.

FRATES: Sanders praised Clooney's honesty, quipping the actor is backing the wrong horse.

SANDERS: You're not going to have a government that represents all of us so long as you have candidates like Secretary Clinton being dependent on big money interests.

FRATES: On the campaign trail, Bill Clinton, making several unscheduled stops around New York, was taking a swipe at Sanders.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I think it's fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent. And it sounds so good, just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine.

FRATES: And Hillary Clinton was talking up her experience to voters across the five Burroughs on Sunday.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's easy to diagnose the problem. You've got to be able to solve the problem.

FRATES: Even cutting loose to Latin music at a block party.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: Now, Clinton continues to lead Sanders by a wide margin in the polls, but both candidates, they're campaigning very hard today in New York City. Clinton will hold a get out the vote rally this afternoon in Manhattan. And, Sanders, he has a rally scheduled tonight in Long Island. But Sanders needs a big upset here tomorrow if he wants a shot at narrowing Hillary Clinton's lead here, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Frates, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.

FRATES: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Rosie O'Donnell has finally gone public, not on television, but on ABC Radio. She talked about Donald Trump offering no apologies for calling her a dog and offered her thoughts of his candidacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RITA COSBY, ABC RADIO (voice-over): You know, Donald Trump very well may be the GOP nominee. Of course, nothing's for sure, but he's leading now. What's your reaction to that?

ROSIE O'DONNELL, ACTRESS (voice-over): I think it's -- it's an epic battle worthy of a new "Star Wars" movie. You know, you have to decide, what -- what are you going to be with the force or are you going to be on the dark side? It's your choice. It's like "Harry Potter." He's like Lord Voldemort.

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COSTELLO: O'Donnell also talked about the Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders, and what she calls his pie in the sky politics.

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O'DONNELL: His idealism is wonderful, but the practical reality of how stuff gets done in Washington, D.C., is very different from the sort of dreamy election promises he's making. He reminds me of the kid in student council who would say, you know, I'm going to run for student council president. Free ice cream at lunch and no math and there will never be homework and everyone's like, yayyy!

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COSTELLO: But here's what Sanders told CNN about his naysayers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Change takes place when people stand up and fight for change. That is the kernel, the heart of what this campaign is about. And I believe everything that we're talking about. Nothing is radical. These ideas exist in other countries. They have existed in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so let's talk about that. Angela Rye, a CNN political commentator and former executive director for the Congressional Black Caucus, and Andy Smith is the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Welcome to both of you.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Angela, is Rosie O'Donnell right, because you hear Bernie Sanders talking of revolution, but you never hear him talking about reaching across the aisle and convincing Republican members of Congress to get his ideas through.

[09:35:08] RYE: Well, I think a couple of things, Carol. First of all, Bernie Sanders' campaign tag line is so similar to Barack Obama's from 2008 and 2012. His is a future to believe in. And, of course, Barack Obama's was change you can believe in. So he's one -- a couple of words short from what Barack Obama's statement was.

I think that our reality now is that Hillary Clinton, if there's a spectrum, is somewhere closer to -- a little more pragmatic than Barack Obama was and I think continues to be and Bernie Sanders is a whole lot more idealistic. Well, somewhere in the middle is where things get done in Washington. I think Barack Obama did have a few pie in the sky ideas. There was health care for all, vis-a-vis Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. And I think what Bernie Sanders is pushing, which is Medicare for all -- or Medicaid for all, would end up being a type of plan that would need to be supported by not just a Republican Senate, but by Democrats. And Barack Obama's plans that did not include a public option, because it could not pass when the Democrats were in control in the House and the Senate, I think is case in point for why his ideas are kind of too pie in the sky. So political revolution may be an option, but I don't think it's going to happen in four years.

COSTELLO: So -- so -- and, Andy, I want to ask you about that political revolution because Bernie Sanders seems to intimate that, you know, he'll become president and he'll have this great idea that a lot of people support and then he can somehow get his supporters to -- to what, stage a revolution in front of the White House? What does he mean by that?

ANDY SMITH, DIRECTOR, UNIV. OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: Well, I think the revolution that he's speaking of touches on some of the themes that Barack Obama touched on as well, in that it's a way of getting money out of politics, it's a way of getting the entrenched interests in Washington and the business community less involved in politics and focus more on the middle class, in blue collar workers. And if you think of the people that have been the strongest supporters of Sanders, it's been, while white middle class or white lower middle class workers, blue collar workers, as well as young people, both of which those groups have been left behind.

COSTELLO: Yes, I understand when he says that, Andy, but when --

SMITH: Yes.

COSTELLO: When he says -- when he becomes president, he talks about getting his ideas through the Congress or getting through some sort of political revolution. And I'm just trying to figure out what exactly that means.

SMITH: Well, I think it's political rhetoric, frankly. You know, it's very, very difficult to get anything through our government. It was designed to be slow and messy and force compromise. And any sort of revolutionary ideas really demand huge majorities by the president's party. And it doesn't look, in this election in the fall, like either party is really going to be able to move much, move the needle too much from where it is in the House and the Senate. So I don't -- I don't think the political revolution that he's talking about is really about passing legislation. It's more for consumption on the campaign trail.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Angela, let's talk about money because many voters feel there's too much money in politics. George Clooney charges $33,000 per ticket for a Clinton fund-raiser and then comes out and says, wow, that really was a lot of money. It's terrible. It's like, gee, thanks, George, from Hillary, right?

RYE: Well, I think that Hillary Clinton, if you were giving her the opportunity now to ask the same question, is there too much money in politics, she would agree. Then she would probably say, this is what you need to be competitive. It's the same thing that Barack Obama said and did, right? He had --

COSTELLO: But it isn't because Bernie Sanders doing it -- is doing it a completely different way. He's proved that that's -- you can do it another way.

RYE: You can do it another way, but I think that if we're honest, right, like it's probably not going to be successful for the long term. Barack Obama, like I was saying, not Bernie Sanders, did it the same way that Hillary Clinton is doing it now. The party apparatus, what you're talking about the DNC for the convention, does it the same way. DCCC does it the same way. The DSCC, the senatorial campaign committee, does it the same way. Does that mean it's the only way? No. But if you're speaking of political revolution, maybe this is one of the things that Bernie Sanders wants to take on.

Unfortunately, he needs the Supreme Court to also side with also, which, of course, means that there needs to be someone appointed who agrees with Bernie Sanders. And, again, that just demonstrates the issues. So in the long run, absolutely, it's something we need to look at. It's horrible. It's terrible. It's a way to disenfranchise voters and lower-income people, but it's one of the things that we have to do to be competitive.

COSTELLO: OK. OK. Last question to you, Andy, since you are a pollster. So only Democrats can vote in the primary here in New York City, right? Independents can't come in and vote for Bernie Sanders. And he worries about that. Real Clear Politics did a poll of polls kind of thing. Hillary Clinton's still ahead by 12 points in New York, but can Bernie Sanders, as he said on "New Day," pull it out?

SMITH: Well, it really depends, in my view, on how well his campaign was organized a month or two months ago, and that is in registering young voters in the state. The registration -- New York is notorious for actually keeping people out of polling places, both candidates have voters, but if the Sanders' campaign was able to register enough younger voters and turn them out like he's been able to do in other states, he can do OK.

[09:40:15] I think the bar really is 10 percent for two reasons. First, if he can keep it under 10 percent, he'll minimize the number of delegates that Clinton wins out of the state because of the proportional allocation of delegates. But more importantly, it will mean that he will have beaten expectations here. He's been doing his best to lower expectations. It's also important to remember that going ahead a week from now there's almost twice as many delegates at stake in the five or six contests on the 26th than there are in New York today. COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Angela Rye, Andy Smith,

thanks to both of you.

SMITH: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a desperate search for earthquake survivors in two countries 10,000 miles apart. The latest from Japan and Ecuador, next.

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[09:45:10] COSTELLO: Right now a state of emergency blankets much of Ecuador's coast and the death toll from Saturday's earthquake keeps climbing higher. Nearly 300 people are confirmed dead, more than 2,500 people are injured. As you can see -- and you'll see in a minute -- buildings have buckled under the force of the magnitude 7.8 quake. Rescue teams are digging through the rubble, trying to find survivors.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is on the road, he's heading to the hardest-hit area right along the coast. He joins us now by phone to tell us more.

Hi, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hey, good morning, Carol.

Yes, we're just leaving the city of Guayaquil now and we're headed to the epicenter in Manabi. The death toll, as you mentioned, nearly at 300. It's sitting at 272 right now with 2,500 people hurt. But those numbers are expected to change shortly. Part of the reason officials have had such a hard time figuring out the extent of the damage is because so many roads have been impacted by the earthquake. A lot of it has to do with the weather they've been seeing recently here in Ecuador. Over the past several weeks, there's been a lot of torrential rains caused by el Nino and they've weakened roads and this earthquake has essentially decimated them. As you mentioned, the hardest-hit areas are along the coast, and so it's hard for officials to get over there and try to, you know, rescue people that may be trapped under the rubble.

As you mentioned, a state of emergency's still in effect for six provinces. We actually got reports that people were sleeping outside because they -- they were afraid to go in their homes for fear that they might not be structurally sound. Now this weekend, the president of Ecuador was at the Vatican. He cut that trip short to come back home and take care of these grave problems here. There are about 10,000 soldiers that are on the streets helping people, 4,000 police officers.

And I should tell you, this is actually only the second deadliest earthquake to hit Ecuador. In 1987, a 7.2 earthquake killed about 1,000 people. This was a 7.8. So the hope is that when all is said and done, this is not going to reach that scope of devastation, Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's tragic enough, though. Boris Sanchez reporting live from Ecuador this morning. Frantic efforts to rescue survivors in Japan also underway. Crews

fighting aftershocks and the threat of landslides after major earthquakes hit the country back to back. At least 42 people are dead, more than 1,000 injured from the twin quakes. Thousands more lost water and power to their homes. One hundred and eighty thousand people now staying in emergency shelters.

Up next in the "Newsroom," you know the flooding is bad when drivers have to swim to dry land. How Houston is coping.

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[09:52:20] COSTELLO: Good news for Alexander Hamilton fans, he's likely staying put on the $10 bill thanks to Broadway, maybe kind of. CNN Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is expected to announce Hamilton's face will remain on the $10 bill. Oh, but who will replace his face? Christine Romans is here.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There was so much outrage when this discussion began about putting a woman on a U.S. bill of currency for the first time ever on currency and the $10 bill, a lot of people said do not mess with Alexander Hamilton. He's got all these fans. He's got this Broadway play idolizing him. Right now on the $10 bill there's Alexander Hamilton on the front --

COSTELLO: Look how handsome he is.

ROMANS: The Treasury building is on the back. The new $10, Hamilton stays, a scene of women's suffrage will be on the back, probably with Susan B. Anthony. That's what CNN is learning. So that's what the $10 will look like. So Alexander Hamilton fans, that's you Ben Bernanke, you can be -- rest assured he'll stay on there.

So the $20 will change. Andrew Jackson getting the boot. He is the seventh American president and, you know, this is one of the most widely circulated bills in the world. But Andrew Jackson, history not as kind to him. He was a slave owner. You've heard of the Trail of Tears. This is some of the legacy of Jackson. The new $20 will have a woman on the front. And that woman will be a figure in racial equality, the fight for racial equality in this country. So that will be the change there.

The $5 bill will keep Abraham Lincoln. Honest Ab stays on the front. The back, Carol, will be interesting. It's going to commemorate events that have happened at the Lincoln Memorial over history. There have been so many great ones, right? So that will be a mural on the back of that too.

When will this happen? Not very soon. Because what they have to do for anti-counterfeiting, it could take to the year 2030 to get this done.

COSTELLO: Oh, gosh.

ROMANS: And, you know, the Treasury secretary and others have said that they were surprised by how much input people had into changing their money, money, money, but you will have a woman on a bill. It will be the $20. It will be the year 2030.

COSTELLO: But we don't -- still don't know who, right?

ROMANS: We don't know who. I'm -- I -- my vote is Rosa Parks.

COSTELLO: Yes, we'll see. That's my vote too.

ROMANS: It's an everyday American woman who helped symbolize and change history.

COSTELLO: I don't know, you could say that of a lot of women, right?

ROMANS: I know, I know, I know.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, thanks so much.

Coming up next in the NEWSROOM, Houston, we have a problem. Just look at all of this water.

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[09:58:40] COSTELLO: A flash flood emergency is leading to dozens of water rescues in and around Houston. The heavy rain striking in the early morning hours. Ninety water rescues taking place in Harris County, Texas, alone. This driver forced to swim to safety. Oh, my goodness. Oh, look at -- oh, Chad Myers, it's terrible.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It sure is. Houston emergency managers saying please stay home. There's nothing that's important enough to risk your life to go out today. That's how bad it is there around Houston. This reporter ran out to save the man as he was trying to swim from the car in that flooded underpass.

COSTELLO: Oh.

MYERS: And that's what's been going on for most of the morning. Underpasses are under water. The bayous are completely full. There's no place for the water to go. It's going to stay up for the rest of the day and there's more rain coming. There could be another two to four inches of rain for Houston. On top of that right there, Carol, that is 14 to 20 inches of rain just in the past 24 hours. So flash flood warnings and emergencies everywhere right there along I-10 in Houston, all the way from Kady (ph) to the village and all the way to the northwest of there, significant flooding.

This creek went from 65 feet to 92 feet just in two hours. So that's how fast the water is coming up. Some of the bayous at completely full levels. From 8 feet there, Carol, up to 37 feet. Could you imagine the water, you're looking at it, and in two hours it can go up 30 feet.

[10:00:08] COSTELLO: Oh, so please be careful out there. Chad Myers, thank you so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.