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Bernie Sanders Believes He Can Win New York; A Couple Joined the Expensive Fundraising for Hillary Clinton. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 19, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] KEVIN SULLIVAN, NEW YORK VOTER, JOHN KASICH SUPPORTER: I think he is probably a better person to work with Democrats across the aisle. And I think we need somebody that can bring those types of, you know, skill sets and experience, you know, to the task. And I think he is the best qualified person to do that. And from what I can gather, you know, that the poll show that he is the only person on the Republican side of the fence, you know, who can defeat Hillary Clinton in November and that's the obvious goal.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: You disagree, Tom. Tell him why he is wrong. Tell him why Donald Trump (INAUDIBLE).

TOM MCGARLEY, NEW YORK VOTER, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes. I tend to disagree. I think Donald Trump has actually accomplished more in his career. I tend to favor a candidate who hasn't been on the political wheel for most of their career. Donald, if you look at what he's achieved, he's done more with less in terms of the amount of funding he needed to support --

BALDWIN: Scrappy.

MCGARLEY: Scrappy. Scrappy. And he has had better results than anyone else. I think he has presented himself with leadership skills. I mean, you could debate his tactics. But at the end of the day, I think he is the one who is going to, you know, get America to where we need to be.

BALDWIN: You believe him.

MCGARLEY: Hopefully make America great again.

BALDWIN: You believe what he's saying.

MCGARLEY: I believe what he's saying. I will say, you know, he says a lot of things and I think he makes a lot of good headlines. But I don't think that everything he says can be taken as literally as it maybe has been.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me come back to you.

SULLIVAN: Come back.

BALDWIN: On the Ohio governor, you know, he's -- barely talking about him. Seems to be a bit of a blip. I mean, he may do better than Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz is already up and gone to, you know, Maryland and on to Pennsylvania. But, you know, governor Romney was saying to David Gregory on his podcast, you know, it could be, if Kasich stays in, he may allow Trump if it goes to the contested convention to win on the first ballot because Cruz and Kasich will be battling it out, you know, between those delegates.

SULLIVAN: Right.

BALDWIN: He's been called a spoiler.

SULLIVAN: Yes.

BALDWIN: You obviously going to tell me you don't think he should get out.

SULLIVAN: No. I don't think he should get out. You know, he has been in the race from day one. I think he brings a lot of credibility to the process. So, you know, with the brokered convention issue, that's certainly a possibility. But I think he is actually, I think he is showing a lot of courage by staying in and working his strategy through and, you know, we will have to just see what happens over the next several months.

BALDWIN: What abo the New Yorker the whole Ted Cruz New York values comment? How did that sit with you?

MCGARLEY: That annoyed me.

BALDWIN: It annoyed you.

MCGARLEY: Yes.

BALDWIN: Why?

MCGARLEY: I mean, I grew up in Pittsburgh. I grew up in the Midwest, some would consider. But to hear that, you know, that's just uncalled for. That made my support of Donald Trump that much stronger to tell you the truth.

BALDWIN: And you, though, ultimately did I hear correctly you think Hillary Clinton wins the whole thing.

SULLIVAN: I do think so, yes.

BALDWIN: Are you OK with that?

SULLIVAN: Not really. Not sure what I'm going to do. But, you know, it won't be a tragedy obviously. But, you know, certainly would rather see a Republican in the White House. But if it's Hillary Clinton, it's Hillary Clinton.

BALDWIN: But in the end, ultimately, the nominee is Trump that's your man?

SULLIVAN: Yes. I will vote for the Republican nominee no matter who that is.

BALDWIN: OK. Kevin and Tom, safe travel to home. Thank you so much.

SULLIVAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Love talking to New York voters. Got to do it more often.

Coming up next, they broke bread with Hillary Clinton and George and Amal Clooney. How a couple from Pennsylvania got into the most exclusive political party in the country and quite expensive $33,000 a ticket for free. They will tell me what happened inside that tent.

Plus, moments ago, Melania Trump arriving to vote presumably for her husband in the New York primary.

Keep it here. You are watching CNN's special live coverage on this New York primary day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:29] BALDWIN: Senator Bernie Sanders says the key to winning the New York primary today boils down to high voter turnout. Voter turnout. That's what they want. He's moved on from New York to Pennsylvania kicking off a rally there in eerie just moments ago. But before he left, his home state of New York born in Brooklyn, the senator slammed the system on behalf of the millions of voters he says cannot cast a ballot because of the state's strict various voter registration rules.

For instance, did you know, independents who wants to vote for any of these candidates today cannot unless they registered as Democrats back in October. That rule has been in place for nearly 40 years. Still, senator Sanders tells CNN it's just not right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But today, three million people in the state of New York who are independents have lost their right to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary. That's wrong. You are paying for this election. It's administered by the state. You have a right to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's bring in Linda Sarsour. She is a Sanders supported and a senior strategist to take on hate, also a confounder of Muslim Democratic club of New York.

So Linda, nice to meet you. Nice to have you here.

LINDA SARSOUR, SANDERS SUPPORTER: Thanks for having me in.

BALDWIN: How do you think he'll do today?

SARSOUR: I think for me personally, I feel like I have already won. I'm watching inner group communities including the community I come from south Brooklyn so enthusiastic. I was up since 5:30 this morning. I was at the (INAUDIBLE) train station -- BALDWIN: With your kids.

SARSOUR: With my kids who woke up super early because they're so excited for Uncle Bernie to win today. So I think that the enthusiasm and the spirit just makes me feel really hopeful.

[15:40:03] BALDWIN: If he loses and if he loses in the double digits, do you still consider that a win?

SARSOUR: I think he is going to do really well in New York. I think we have seen him do very well in place where no one thought he would do well like Michigan where it's a large, high concentration of Arab Americans, Muslim Americans who have been discounted and not engaged in some of these larger presidential --

BALDWIN: When you say well, if it's not an upset, if he doesn't outright win, would well be losing in the single digits?

SARSOUR: I think for me, I'm going to be hopeful and say that we are going to win. But yes, for us, single digits and remembering that secretary of state Hillary Clinton was a U.S. senator in the state. This is kind her home turf. So, if we do single digit, that would be a huge political upset. I don't think any of the pollsters think that we are going to do well.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me ask you about we know that Hillary Clinton is saying today that, of course, she is not, you know, taking anything for granted. But that she is hoping to do really well tomorrow and ultimately hoping to wrap up the nomination. How would you respond to that as a Bernie supporter?

SARSOUR: I think it is a little condescending. We have, you know, Pennsylvania's coming up. We have states like New Jersey and California that has enormous amount of delegates. So to say that you are going to wrap it up I think disregards the many Bernie Sanders supporters but also people who still want to be engaged in the process. That is disregarding voters who still haven't voted in some of the primaries that are coming up. So I think that race is still competitive and Bernie Sanders and his supporters are going to the convention.

BALDWIN: Final question on the allegations from the Sanders camp about the misuse of funds between the Clinton camp and the DNC. And the DNC said, you know, listen, we made the same agreement with the Sanders camp. I talk to and I got a response of Joel Benenson who is an advisor with Hillary for America. And this is what he told me this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL BENENSON, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: This is a kind of desperate false attack they're making on the eve of an election that they know they are losing that they call the must win.

BALDWIN: You think it is different? BENENSON: This is the same agreement that senator Sanders himself

signed with the DNC. It is the same agreement that past nominees, Barack Obama, John Kerry, have signed and used. They are the same kind of agreements that senator Sanders benefited from when joint Democratic committees supported him in the elections for Senate even though he wasn't running on the Democratic line. He was supported by them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joel Benenson there. Your response?

SARSOUR: I mean, I'm not surprised that senator Sanders calls out this kind. He has been talking about money out of politics.

BALDWIN: They say desperate and false.

SARSOUR: Citizens United. I mean, millions of dollars going into campaign. The Hillary campaign also has the 501c4 with millions of dollars behind it. We don't know where it comes from. So to be shocked that senator Sanders would bring this up right now, I think it's important that money out of politics. This is about campaign finance reform. It is legal. It doesn't mean that it's moral and I think that this is part of his platform and I support his platform that we need campaign finance reform and we need money out of politics.

BALDWIN: Linda Sansour, thank you so much. Good luck today to you and the Sanders campaign.

Coming up next, we will talk to a lucky few paid tens of thousands of dollars to get into a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser hosted by George Clooney. My next guest got in for free. What happened behind closed doors at the swanky Los Angeles party?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:11] BALDWIN: Imagine winning a chance to wine and dine with your favorite candidate for president along with a host of a-list celebs, talking Clooney, (INAUDIBLE), Jane Fonda. Now yes, by the way, the party's at Clooney's house. That is exactly what happened to one Pennsylvania couple who travel all the way to southern California to hob knob with the rich and famous at a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser.

The stories of these contestants Rob and Alisa Bair first made headlines at people.com beating out thousands and thousands of entrants for the chance to rub elbows with democratic front-runner and a couple of others.

So joining me now, Alisa and Rob. Nice the meet you all.

ALISA BAIR, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CONTEST WINNER: Thank you.

ROB BAIR, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CONTEST WINNER: Nice to meet you, Brooke.

A. BAIR: Nice to meet you, yes. BALDWIN: OK. First of all explain how this even happened. I mean, I

understand there were 50,000 people who wanted to, you know, go to this mega party. How, Alyssa, did you win?

A. BAIR: I literally just clicked on an email saying do you want to win a chance to meet Hillary in person at the Clooney's house for dinner? And hey, why not? So I just literally just entered my email address and my phone number. As simple as that.

BALDWIN: As simple as that. Oh my goodness. OK. I want all of the stories. As I was talking to you in commercial break, I mean, Rob, tell me, where do you want to begin? Your new pal, Jane Fonda, Hillary Clinton, Amal Clooney. You pick. You tell me a story.

R. BAIR: Actually, I mean, going into the bubble of the celebrity rich and famous world was quite a transition for us. And when you're approaching going up the driveway and the security services there and you're being scanned before you're even entering the house, it can be somewhat intimidating. It was interesting how when we were led through the house, we were led through the house and then back to a deck around the pool area. We walked out into that area. There were at time for the cocktail hour 20, 25, 30 people, the first person who approached us came up and said to us came out and said to us, hi, I'm Jane Fonda. So that -- it really broke the ice for us because it was a type of thing that just really made us feel at home. Took all the intimidation away because she is a great person. And she warmly welcomed us. Kind of into the event. She very quickly followed that up with calling Ellen and Portia over.

SULLIVAN: I'm sorry. We're on a first-name basis now.

A. BAIR: (INAUDIBLE).

I did want to add that when we drove up into the area, there were a lot of Bernie protesters along the way, not -- they were being quiet, civil and that kind of stuff. But I wanted to say, hey, we're the 99 percent, too. (INAUDIBLE).

[15:50:12] BALDWIN: That's funny. That's funny. And so, as you're hanging out with Porsche and Ellen and Amal and George, before we get to Amal and George and of course the former secretary of state, I read that, you know, of course you're the winners and people are paying you so much money, you expected to be in like the nose bleed dinner seats. Instead, who were you seated with?

A. BAIR: George, Amal, Hillary, at their table. And I should say this. The other winner was and his guest seated at other table where Porsche, Ellen, and Jim Parsons were. And Hillary did switch tables at one point, I think after the salad, so they got her as well. But we were sort of stunned. What are we going to do here? Like sitting across from these people eating your salad. And they were engaged in a lot of conversation. So it wasn't that we were all talking back and forth.

BALDWIN: What were they talking about? What small talk over a salad and fancy tent in L.A. A. BAIR: Small talk at a big table. We had 11 in our table.

R. BAIR: Yes.

A. BAIR: 11 high-paying people.

BALDWIN: What were you talking about?

R. BAIR: We were tuning in to them, find out what their backgrounds are, what they actually do. And it was -- it was interesting. As far as the big money there, they were genuine people who have really good skill sets that for, you know, how they worked it through, money just came. And they -- they are really honestly looking for ways to use their finances positively for society.

BALDWIN: How was Secretary Clinton? We have to get there. I mean, I know, obviously, you're a Hillary supporter. Is it anything about her that, you know, meeting her in person surprise you?

A. BAIR: Well, we have to go back. We were talking about the actual dinner. But we were allowed 15 minutes, meet and greet with Hillary, and then Amal and George. And so the first thing that surprised me about Hillary was she looked -- after the week she's had, every week is like this, she looks completely beautiful. I mean, really chic and beautiful. And she was so warm and that edge that you see on the news, as she is fighting for territory and for votes and whatnot, it's just -- I just wish everyone could see that kind of relaxed, warmth.

BALDWIN: So, as she's looking chic and beautiful, Rob, most important question, how was George Clooney looking?

R. BAIR: Of course, what a genuine guy, fun loving, down to earth. Just makes you, just welcomes you, makes you feel really at home. And the same for Amal as well. And that is the thing for me. Stepping into this kind of environment, looking at how you get to greet people, face-to-face, and you get away from the filter that they come to you through, the media, all of that basically how we get to know them. But to shake hands, talk with them, chat with them, it was really refreshing. You get to see a din side.

BALDWIN: Changes the game. Changes the game, meeting these folks in person. For the most part, they are real people, and you have pictures to prove it.

Rob and Alisa Bair, thank you so much for sharing your stories.

R. BAIR: Thank you.

A. BAIR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next here, President Obama wheels up to Saudi Arabia now holding fast to his promise to veto a bill that would let 9/11 families sue the Arab nation. We will look at the complicated politics behind his decision.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:58:05] BALDWIN: President Obama in the air right now heading to Saudi Arabia, this is tensions between the U.S. and longtime ally they are building one massive issue bipartisan bill. It would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue foreign government including the Saudi government. White House spokesman Josh Earnest says it is unlikely the president would sign that if it ever reached his desk and the president explained why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we open up the possibility that individuals in the United States can routinely start suing other governments, then we are also opening up the United States to being continually sued by individuals in other countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Riyadh.

Nic, I have to imagine, this would be front and center when the president meets with government officials.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know Saudi reaction to this is they would potentially pull out hundreds of billions of dollars of funds from the United States is really symptomatic of the nature of the relationship between the Saudi leadership and President Obama. They really feel that during the course of President Obama's eight years in office, that he has really deserted his Gulf State allies, Saudi Arabia, among them. They built up defense forces and formed their own Sunni coalition. So when President Obama touches down here, what they want from him is going to be a missile defense field against any aggression they seek from Iran. Of course, we wants their help in defeating ISIS and bringing peace to Syria. But all of these, these 28 pages, the bill before Congress, all of this is going to weigh heavily on their meetings here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: We will turn to you for coverage to see what's discussed, how we move forward.

Nic Robertson, thank you so much in Saudi Arabia.

I'm Brooke Baldwin here. Thank you so much for being with me in New York. Jake Tapper continues our live special coverage of the New York primary. And that begins right now.