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247 Democratic Delegates At Stake In New York; GOP Rivals Gear Up For New York Showdown; Over 200 More U.S. Troops Heading To Iraq; CNN Goes Aboard The U.S. Navy's Front Line. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 18, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:12] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ryan, last question to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just not true. It's not true. That's all. It's not true.

COSTELLO: I need a prediction, Ryan. What do you think will happen in the state of New York on primary day? Right now the polls show Hillary Clinton still head by about 12 points.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dangerous to make predictions in this campaign, as we've seen. But I think we all know and expect that Hillary Clinton is going to win her home state of New York.

You know what matters will be the margin. Can Bernie sanders keep it close? If he does win, it will be an earthquake that will completely reset the democratic race.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Bill Press, Ryan Lizza, Mayor Nutter, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the city Donald Trump calls home now rejecting him. But does Trump's popularity really matter ahead of tomorrow's showdown?

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[10:35:34] COSTELLO: We are hours away from voters hitting the polls in New York. 95 Republican delegates at stake, and while the numbers are showing Donald Trump with a strong lead in the state, the numbers are also showing something else, his unpopularity in the very city he calls home, New York City, many people in the big apple viewing his candidacy as distasteful and offensive, will that be a big problem for the billionaire?

With me now is Ed Cox, chairman of the Republican Party of the state of New York. Welcome, sir.

EDWARD COX, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN PARTY OF NEW YORK STATE: Good to be with you, Carol.

COSTELLO: So are people in New York City embarrassed by Mr. Trump? Because -- like the poll show he's going to win New York state by a huge margin. COX: He's going to do very well. New York City actually is probably his weakest place, and there Kasich and maybe Cruz could pick off a few delegates and then as you move up the Hudson Valley, Trump does very well there. But beyond that in North Country, Albany, North Country down through central New York, he's going to have some problems there. And I think that kasich could pick off some delegates there too.

COSTELLO: But Donald Trump is a son of New York City. So why wouldn't he win New York City big?

COX: Well, it's -- I think its part of the electorate in New York. But they don't -- it's not a Republican city necessarily, although out of five of the last six mayoral elections, the mayor was elected on the Republican ticket so they are willing to vote for Republicans in New York City.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. So why hasn't Ted Cruz resonated in New York City?

COX: Well, it may not quite be his place since he did contrast New York City with the rest of the country at one point. In fact, New York State generally, and, of course, he's explained that in terms of this is liberal Democrats been running the New York State for too long.

COSTELLO: So that was a big mistake, even in Republican circles in New York?

COX: Well, Republican voters are pretty discerning voters. But he could still do very well in some places in New York State.

COSTELLO: But still you think John Kasich might do better.

COX: That's what the polls show, and the district by district polls show that also.

But Donald Trump has to do very, very well. His own people say he needs at least 80 out of the 95 delegates in order to go forward to winning on first ballot.

COSTELLO: OK, so let's talk about Donald Trump's calling the system rigged and crooked. What do you say?

COX: Well, this seems, he's talking Colorado and Wyoming, and actually those are wake-up calls for him. Good wake-up calls. He needed to get an organization behind him, not just Donald Trump running the campaign.

And that's what he's doing now by bringing on Paul Manafort and actually Rick Wiley, who was a political director of the RNC and is close to Reince Priebus. So while he's being critical of Reince Priebus, at the time he's bringing in someone who is very close to the RNC. He's going to need to have the Republican National Committee in the 50 state parties in order to have a-- if he were to be the nominee to have a very successful general election campaign. COSTELLO: Going back to Colorado and Wyoming, should they change their systems? I mean should delegates pick the candidates or should it be a primary like New York State has?

COX: Well, this is the party of selecting a candidate who can win in the general election, and it's good to have popularity within the party, but you also need to be well organized, and the fact that in colorado you had to have a very good organization in order to win that convention, I think Donald Trump now understands he needs to get that kind of an organization in place. So it's a plus from that point of view.

COSTELLO: A plus from that point of view, but at the very core, you know, should the system there be changed in Colorado and Wyoming because a lot of people say people didn't cast a single vote. There's something wrong with that.

COX: Well, as a group they did. And it was a very large group. It was tens of thousands of Republicans, and this is the party in each state doing it according to the rules that have been set for a long period of time.

COSTELLO: Would that ever be done New York State?

COX: And here we are doing it the New York State Republican way, and that is the candidates have to campaign in every congressional district, and if they want to get three delegates, they have to get a majority. If they only get a plurality, then the person who comes in second gets one so it's worthwhile for that other person to campaign for that extra delegate.

This is our big New Hampshire moment here, and to have the candidates campaigning all around the state has been great for the Republican Party.

[10:40:03] COSTELLO: All right. Ed Cox, thanks so much for stopping by.

COX: Carol, it's a pleasure to be with you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, new information about American boots on the ground in Iraq as the defense secretary makes an unannounced trip to the war-torn country.

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COSTELLO: Breaking news now. New information about the future of American troops on the ground in Iraq. CNN's Chief National Security Correspondent, Jim Sciutto has more. Good morning.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Secretary Carter on an unannounced visit to Iraq announcing while he was there that the U.S. is sending 200 new troops to Iraq, to be exact 217 new troops. They will be advisers. They will also be security forces there and aviation forces, that final piece, because the U.S. is also sending apache attack helicopters in. This is something that the U.S. has actually been pushing the Iraqis for some time. Why these troops now?

[10:45:11] They're going to be involved in this push to retake that key northern city of Mosul. It's an ISIS stronghold. The Iraqi forces have been moving closer. This is a major prize in this effort to unseat ISIS from Iraq, and I would also add this, Carol. This is very key because it speaks to the danger that these U.S. troops will be facing.

They will be allowed to be at the brigade and battalion level as opposed to just higher up at the division level. What that means is they'll be a lot closer to the front lines, a lot closer to combat, and, therefore, in greater danger, and we've seen U.S. troops lost in some of the fighting just over the last several months.

Final note I would say is this is now pushes the number of U.S. troops in Iraq over 4,000. Nothing near the levels of 150,000 that we had several years ago, but it's been rising steadily over these last weeks and months. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Sciutto reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Saudi Arabia being blamed for a drop in world markets after they scuttled a meeting with the world's top oil producers in Doha. But so far the stock market here in the U.S. is making gains. The Dow is up 60 points. Oil prices are down. But the Doha talks were aimed at cutting back the supply of oil. That means the current glut can continue and continue driving prices down. I'll be right back.

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[10:50:34] COSTELLO: For the U.S. Navy, the fight against ISIS takes us to the Persian Gulf, on the front line, the U.S. Harry S. Truman.

CNN's Brooke Baldwin has been given rare, exclusive access, as his crew launches air strike against the terror group. Brooke is here with me now. Good morning.

BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me on your show. I mean I've been a journalist for 17 years.

COSTELLO: Amazing story.

BALDWIN: This is amazing. I'm still walking away thinking was I really in the Persian Gulf on this aircraft carrier going a 150 to 0 been caught on the wire in this C-2 COD ? Yes, the answer is yes. And thank you so much to the U.S. Navy for offering me this extraordinary exclusive rare look. It's essentially, it's the carrier strike group 8, 6,600 men and women, average age 27. And as when we talk so much about the election in our next commander-in-chief what about talking to the people who are fighting for us overseas?

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BALDWIN: This is the U.S. Navy's front line of the war on terror in the Persian Gulf.

Lieutenant Commander Kate Batten deployed two weeks after the Paris terror attacks and her resolve only deepened after the recent bloodshed in Brussels.

KATE BATTEN, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER, U.S. NAVY: That is exactly why we're out here. If anything, it gives us that much more purpose and resolve to ensure that we're doing things the right way and that we leave this region better than we found it.

BALDWIN: When you put on your flight gear, what does that feel like?

BATTEN: It's interesting because it's a routine now. It's something I do every day, so a lot of times I don't think about it, but when I sit back and think, you know, what does this really mean, it kind -- I still get goose bumps every time I take a catapult off.

BALDWIN: Operation inherent resolve is by no means a man's mission. Batten is the senior female aviator on this hulking aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman full of fighter jets ready to strike ISIS.

This right here is a bomb. It's not live. It goes just before this FAC takes off. And often times these pilots don't know what the specific ISIS target is until they're already in the air.

Batten flies an E-2, protecting those jets. Her aircraft, one of the most essential for carrier operations acting like air-traffic control in the skies above Iraq.

For those pilots who are getting the coordinates to drop the bomb, how serious do they take their job?

BATTEN: We do meticulous planning every day for whatever mission that we're performing, and I know they don't take the responsibility lightly.

BALDWIN: Orchestrated, coordinated terrorist attacks happening in the west.

BRET BATCHELDER, REAR ADMIRAL, U.S. NAVY: Right.

BALDWIN: Is that frustrating to you, discouraging given everything happening out here in the gulf?

BATCHELDER: Yeah, I would say it's disappointing. It's disappointing that we have human beings that would do that to other human beings.

On the other hand, it's motivating and is assuring that the mission that we're on is very righteous.

BALDWIN: What does ultimately success or victory look like?

BATCHELDER: Yeah, I think it looks like violent extremism being eradicated, and I don't know that we achieve that on this deployment.

BALDWIN: Here on the USS Harry S. Truman this is what's known as a Cat Shot. There are about 90 sorties of these F-18s per day and when you feel this after burn of these jets, let me tell you, it makes your teeth rattle.

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COSTELLO: I bet it makes everything rattle.

BALDWIN: Yeah, I can still feel the after burn in my chest. This was powerful, most violent. It's the most extraordinary noise and feelings seeing these F-18s. I mean from me to you, I was watching everybody on the deck when an aircraft carrier is color coded and the men and the women on the red shirts are the ones rolling, the organizes the bombs to the F-18s, strapping them on and up and away they go.

And, you know, we talk about here we are day before the New York primary, these candidates are talking about the war on terror, but to see it firsthand, it was extraordinary.

COSTELLO: How long do they stay on the aircraft carrier before they get to -- get a break?

BALDWIN: That's a great question. I think they would like the answer to that some of them. They're currently seven months into deployment. They all left Norfolk in November after Paris happened. That was untied. They were planning on deploying then.

[10:55:06] And, you know, like they sort of tell you unofficially the motto with the Navy Semper Gumby, you always have to be flexible. We can relate to that in a much different way. But, you know, many of them, and especially I wanted to talk about the women and later on my show at 2:00 eastern. I feature a number of women including a 22-year- old young woman from Massachusetts joined the Navy because she wanted to become a nurse. She is driving this 104,000 ton hunk of metal, this aircraft carrier in the middle of the Persian Gulf.

COSTELLO: I'm going to watch because I want to hear what they say about the people who think women can't serve and fight alongside men. Give me a break.

BALDWIN: They got that. Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Brooke Baldwin, thanks so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. At This Hour with Berman and Bolduan after a break.

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