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Frontrunners Dominate New York Primary; Clinton Takes New York, Says "Victory is in Sight". Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired April 20, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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COSTELLO: Have a great day, guys. NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, New York.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We love New York, we love New York.
COSTELLO: And New York loves the frontrunners. Now Clinton looking to lock up the Democratic nomination with five primaries next week.
But Sanders says this is still a race.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We believe we have the momentum and we believe we have a path toward victory.
COSTELLO: And Donald Trump takes on a more presidential tone.
TRUMP: Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated.
COSTELLO: Saying the deal is nearly sealed, but Cruz and Kasich fight on.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is nothing to do with the politician winning his home state.
COSTELLO: Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton dominate the Empire State today. Both frontrunners are celebrating big wins over their rivals in New York.
Here are the results. Trump capturing more than 60 percent of the vote, while Ted Cruz trails behind John Kasich. He finishes in third. That means Mr. Trump picks up at least 89 delegates. Mr. Cruz -- Senator Cruz walks away with zero.
And for the Democrats, a commanding win for Hillary Clinton. She beat Bernie Sanders by more than a dozen points. She now scoops up at least 139 delegates.
The candidates now trying to capitalize on a new surge of momentum heading into the next batch of primaries.
Let's begin, though, with the Republicans and what could be the new tone from the frontrunner. Let's get right to CNN's Jason Carroll.
Good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: New tone, we'll have to see. One thing is for sure, it was a huge win for Donald Trump last night. Trump saying in his victory speech that he is rocking it, predicting he will be heading into the convention as the winner. But he also cautioned those within the GOP establishment not to try to stop him by taking his delegates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: We can't be caught, it's impossible to catch us.
CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump giving a rousing victory speech, befitting his New York blowout win and signaling a new phase in his campaign.
TRUMP: We don't have much of a race anymore. Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated.
CARROLL: The billionaire frontrunner dropping most of the insults and sounding more presidential.
TRUMP: Nobody should be given delegates, which is a ticket to victory.
CARROLL: Trump sharpening his focus on Ted Cruz, continuing to criticize his courting of delegates and the possibility of a contested convention.
TRUMP: It's a system that's rigged and we're going to go back to the old way. It's called, you vote and you win.
CARROLL: With a shutout in New York, Cruz defending his delegate strategy.
CRUZ: I cannot help that the Donald Trump campaign does not seem capable of running a lemonade stand. If you lose, don't cry about it. Go back and learn how to win an election.
CARROLL: Cruz trying to look past his big defeat, debuting a new stump speech in Philadelphia.
CRUZ: This is the year of the outsider.
CARROLL: The self-proclaimed outsider calling for unity within the Republican Party.
CRUZ: We must unite the Republican Party because doing so is the first step towards uniting all Americans.
CARROLL: Runner-up John Kasich ready for a fight in Maryland, continuing to argue he's the strongest candidate to take on Hillary Clinton in November.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you have these sky-high negatives, nobody's voting for you. The delegates will look at that, and you know, I think they're going to make a pick my way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: A little bit more on Ted Cruz. Donald Trump tweeting just a few moments ago, "Mathematically, out of winning the race, now all he can do is be a spoiler. Never a nice thing to do. I will beat Hillary." There's the tweet right there. You know how Donald Trump likes to tweet.
You know, speaking more of Cruz, I was out in Staten Island yesterday all day long, out there speaking to voters all day long. And you know what was interesting, there were a number of people who were on the fence between Cruz and Trump. And I'll tell you what was the deciding factor. COSTELLO: I know what --
CARROLL: You know what I'm going to say.
COSTELLO: I know what you're going to say.
CARROLL: What am I going to say?
COSTELLO: New York values.
CARROLL: New York values.
COSTELLO: I would have said, because I've heard that from so many Republicans here.
CARROLL: It really, really hurt him here in the state of New York.
COSTELLO: And that was actually a nice simple tweet from Donald Trump, right?
CARROLL: I don't know if it was presidential, but it --
COSTELLO: Well, I mean, it was true.
CARROLL: It is true. It's true. At least according to Trump.
COSTELLO: All right. Jason Carroll, thanks so much.
CARROLL: You bet.
[09:05:01] COSTELLO: OK. So we've heard that new presidential tone thing before from Donald Trump, but this time, with the nomination in sight, Mr. Trump might just, you know, drop his more bombastic tone for good until of course he needs it because you know Cruz and Kasich are still in it.
And there is still hope among some that House speaker Paul Ryan will ride to the rescue, although Ryan says no. Here he is on the "Late Show With Stephen Colbert."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Yes or no, would you accept the nomination?
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: No, Stephen, I have said I do not want nor would I accept the Republican nomination.
COLBERT: Got it. So you're considering the nomination?
(LAUGHTER)
RYAN: No, no, I'm not. Let me say it in clear English. No.
COLBERT: OK, how about clear German?
RYAN: Nein.
COLBERT: Clear Russian?
RYAN: Net.
COLBERT: Wow, you seem to know a lot of foreign languages. That kind of international experience will really come in handy if you decided to accept the Republican nomination, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's so funny. With me now, Scottie Nell Hughes, he's a Trump surrogate and national political commentator for USA Radio Network, and Justin Phillips, he's a Cruz surrogate and founder and president of Tea Party Nation.
Welcome to both of you. All right.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Scottie, Mr. Trump did not say lying Ted or crooked Hillary once in his, like, victory speech last night. But how long can he resist?
SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, NATIONAL POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, USA RADIO NETWORKS: Well, he also resisted tweeting out to Rosie O'Donnell, who yesterday also to their 10-year battle that they've had and tweeted out some very harsh things against him.
I think you have to realize that Mr. Trump, it's like in business, you can't always have the same presentation. You can't always sit here and have the same wording. You actually have to look at the marketing of it. You keep the core foundation the same but you change your presentation, and that's what we're seeing in Mr. Trump. I mean, he had to take all of the attention away when we had 17 candidates, and now what we're seeing is a candidate getting ready possibly to go into a contested convention, but even that, he is looking at more of the general election. That's who we're seeing now.
COSTELLO: I have to ask you this, Judson, about Senator Cruz. Mathematically, it just doesn't add up for him any longer. In the state of New York, Donald Trump won every single congressional district except one, and that of course, the congressional district that included Trump Tower, oddly enough. But still, Ted Cruz won zero delegates here. Things don't look better for him moving forward. Why is Senator Cruz still in the race?
JUDSON PHILLIPS, CRUZ SURROGATE: Because Senator Cruz is going to win. You know, from the beginning --
COSTELLO: What?
PHILLIPS: He's had a strategy. Yes.
COSTELLO: He can't win. He can't win mathematically. PHILLIPS: Yes, he can. He most certainly can. All that has to
happen is Donald Trump doesn't win on the first ballot. And then Ted Cruz wins on the second ballot because Ted --
COSTELLO: Well, so you're talking about -- you're talking about a convention fight, not a win.
PHILLIPS: Look, if you win at the convention, you win. You become the Republican nominee. That's what this is all about. And that's the game Senator Cruz has been doing. You know, Mr. Trump has been mismanaging his campaign the whole way along, I mean, just today, we're hearing that the Trump airplane hasn't been properly registered with the FAA for five months now? So this is kind of stereotypical of the Trump campaign. It's stereotypical of what Donald Trump has been the whole way along.
You know, by the way, it's worth mentioning, Donald Trump didn't whine last -- once about the system being rigged when he got 60 percent of the votes and he's getting 90 percent of the delegates. And by the way, you didn't hear Senator Cruz whining last night either.
COSTELLO: Well, no, he gave a speech, Scottie, that actually sounded quite presidential. He invoked the name of JFK. He compared himself to Bernie Sanders as the ultimate outsider. It was very measured, speaking -- said that he could bring unity to the Republican Party. So he also gave a speech that sounded kind of presidential.
HUGHES: It did, but what we saw yesterday in New York was historical. You know, I looked back and I look in 2012. Did you know in 2012 for Mitt Romney, only 118,912 voters came out and gave Mitt Romney -- 63 percent of the votes. Now, yesterday, we saw 518,000 New Yorkers came out and voted for Mr. Trump alone. That is incredible numbers here in New York. And you're seeing this high turnout numbers, record turnouts, for Mr. Trump in the north, in the south, in the east, in the west. And this idea that Mr. Trump cannot unify is absolutely false because he is unifying. But you're hearing the talking points this morning from the critics.
COSTELLO: And Scottie, if you look at the exit polls, Mr. Trump isn't unifying the electorate he needs to because he won big among white voters but he did poorly among African-American voters and other minorities, right?
HUGHES: Definitely. And that's a problem that the Republican Party as a whole has to address. And that's why he as a candidate and the RNC are going to work to address those together. All of them have problems. That just is a Republican issue right now.
But you hear these talking points, we just heard Judson talk about going after his -- not necessarily Mr. Trump. Now they are attacking his campaign, which by the way is obviously winning because they're winning in delegate counts. They obviously have a strategy and they're doing growth and turn around and they're actually getting ready for what we consider to be a general election.
And right now I think Ted Cruz, he needs to take what he's been telling John Kasich. If you mathematically cannot win, then why are you in this race? Maybe he needs to --
[09:10:04] COSTELLO: OK. I was just going to ask Judson that very same because how can Senator Cruz, like, pin his hopes on a contested convention and then say John Kasich has to get out of the race when John Kasich is doing exactly the same thing?
PHILLIPS: It's very simple. Senator Cruz has been working since day one on delegates. And you know, this is the thing that people seem to miss here. We have a representative republic and the Republican Party picks representatives, we call them delegates. And the Republican Party has various ways of doing it, but we pick the delegates to go to Cleveland that pick the Republican nominee.
Senator Cruz has been lining up his delegates since day one. Somehow a couple, three weeks ago, the light simply went on with little Donny and he goes, I got to get delegates, so he hires Paul Manafort and some other people. But it's really late in the game to start figuring this out.
You know, in West Virginia, there's 34 delegates. Trump could only get 19 delegates on the slate. The rest were disqualified. So the rest of the delegates, no matter how the vote turns out, are going to be Cruz delegates.
And this has been typical of the Trump campaign all the way along. They didn't show up in Wyoming, they didn't show in North Dakota. They didn't show up in Nebraska. And guess what? When those delegations went for Cruz, Trump whined about it and cried foul. Well, guess what, if you don't show up in campaign, you're not going to win.
COSTELLO: All right, well, I have to leave it there. Scottie Nell Hughes, Judson Phillips, thanks to both of you.
PHILLIPS: Carol, thank you.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM -- you're welcome.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Bernie Sanders taking some downtime, but the Democratic candidate says he is far from out. More on that and Clinton's big win in New York, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:15:43] COSTELLO: Fresh off a resounding win in New York, Hillary Clinton took the stage at a post-primary victory rally and took the opportunity to say thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You proved once again there is no place like home.
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: And then she clicked her heels and, Brianna, she was off to where?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. She is looking ahead, right. We have a number of races that we're seeing here in the next week, in about a week, Pennsylvania, probably the biggest among them. But this last night, for Hillary Clinton, was a very big night. She is trying to pivot to the general election.
"Victory is in sight", that is the phrase we heard from Hillary Clinton. We keep hearing from her top aides, but not if Bernie Sanders has anything to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLINTON: In this campaign, we've won in every region of the country. But this one is personal.
(CHEERS)
KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton with a big win in her adopted home state, addressing Senator Bernie Sanders' supporters with her sights set on the White House.
CLINTON: It's humbling that you trust me with the awesome responsibilities that await our next president.
And to all the people who supported Senator Sanders -- I believe there is much more that unites us than divides us.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
KEILAR: Clinton ending Sanders winning streak, where he took eight of the last nine contests.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, we took Secretary Clinton on in her own state of New York, and we lost. I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victory. There are five primaries next week. We think we're going to do well.
KEILAR: In New York, 3 million independents across the state did not vote in the state's closed primary. Sanders also railing against voter irregularities in the polls, with some 100,000 Democrats unable to vote because they were purged from voter registration lists in Brooklyn.
SANDERS: I am really concerned about the conduct of the voting process in New York state. And I hope that that process will change in the future.
KEILAR: Time running out for Sanders to catch up to Clinton's delegate lead.
CLINTON: The race for the Democratic nomination is in the homestretch, and victory is in sight. (CHEERS)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: So you can see there, the Clinton campaign really painting this as Bernie Sanders is done. She is going to be the nominee. They're urging him to think about the long game. They want him to dial down the rhetoric. They're worried some of the things he said lately will be damaging to her, or damaging to the allure of the party to some of his younger supporters.
But he is not giving any indication that he is leaving, right? His campaign manager said he is in this to the convention, but he does have a top aide, Tad Devine, who said they may reassess after Tuesday, when would he see several more contests.
COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much.
So, Sanders lost New York by double digits. The path is steep from here. You heard what Brianna say. Is it time for Sanders to reassess? He's not on the campaign trail today, but he's back home in Vermont. He says to recharge.
Still, as Brianna said, Sanders is vowing to fight on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you planning to change anything about your campaign after tonight?
SANDERS: No, we think we have the message that is resonating throughout the country. We have come a long, long way. We have taken on the entire Democratic political establishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Here to talk about that, Brad Woodhouse, Hillary Clinton supporter, and president of Correct the Record, a pro-Clinton rapid response team, and Nomiki Konst, a Bernie Sanders supporter, and former DNC council at large member.
Nomiki, I want to start with you. Bernie Sanders has to be disappointed in the results in New York state. You heard some Democrats want him to dial down the rhetoric. Should he do that now?
NOMIKI KONST, BERNIE SANDERS SUPPOTER: Well, I think that Bernie Sanders has led a positive campaign. If anything, he has been talking about the differences between the two candidates records throughout the campaign. You can hear it throughout the rhetoric.
I mean, listen, if they want -- if they think that's it's been negative, clearly, they haven't been listening to the other side. That's the Hillary Clinton campaign. But the reality here is, we knew going in that this is the most closed primary state.
[09:20:03] We hear this over and over. You know, I'm from New York, I've seen the elections over the past 15,
20 years. We have not had much reform. The New York state legislature is controlled by Democratic. You would think they would want the reforms.
Unfortunately, the closed primary system is an incumbent protection program. So, you know, nationally, that will be more favorable to the name that has the endorsements of the Democratic establishment.
COSTELLO: Before we get into that, I want to go back to the negativity in the campaign. Because, Brad, just this week, the Sanders team accused the Clinton team of violating finance laws.
Actually, the camp wrote a letter to the DNC that reads in part, "It is of grave concern that the Clinton joint fundraising committee appears to be using funds raised by big dollar donors to fund activities that yield contributions and support that only provide benefit only to Hillary for America."
First of all, your thoughts on that, and whether that's right or wrong?
BRAD WOODHOUSE, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER/CORRECT THE RECORD: Well, first of all, it's wrong. I mean, it has been every neutral analyst, every legal analyst that does election law, has said it is absolutely wrong.
Let's remember, Senator Sanders signed the same agreement. He signed a joint fundraising agreement that he would do the same type of funds raising with the DNC. What Sanders decide was he doesn't care about supporting state parties or down ballot races. He only cares about -- he only cares about his presidential campaign. That's his right.
Now, Carol, it is true, that this --
KONST: It's not true. "Politico" fact checked that.
WOODHOUSE: Let me finish, let me finish. This New York primary --
(CROSSTALK)
KONST: I have to respond.
WOODHOUSE: Hold on.
KONST: You can't just lie.
COSTELLO: I want to concentrate whether Hillary Clinton is doing anything illegal. And Brianna just looked into this, I just talked to her about. It might appear unsavory to some, but it's totally, completely legal.
WOODHOUSE: It is completely legal, Carol. And senator Sanders signed --
(CROSSTALK) KONST: Correct the Record, by the way. your organization is funneling money back into the campaign.
COSTELLO: Wait. Let Brad finish and then we'll get to you, Nomiki.
WOODHOUSE: Senator Sanders signed the same agreement. He decided it is not important to him to support state parties, and that's unfortunate.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Well, besides that, Brad, and, Nomiki, I want to bring this up, because this is what has some Democratic leaders concerned. That if Bernie Sanders puts this stuff out there, and Donald Trump has this nickname for Hillary Clinton, "Crooked Hillary", that play news his narrative, and that will ultimately hurt the Democrats in the long run in a general election.
So, is it time that Sanders dialed down things?
KONST: Well, when they're going out of the way to circumnavigate the rules, you know --
WOODHOUSE: There's not true.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: No, we just said it was legal.
KONST: Well, it is legal, but what you're not checking is how they're funneling the money.
So, Hillary Victory Fund is buying ads on Facebook, trying to target donations that go back into the Hillary for America Fund.
Brad, you're part of Correct the Record. Correct the Record receives money from a super PAC. Correct the Record then gives money to the DNC. The DNC then gives money to the general fund.
We know how this works. It's called a flow of money. You have the best lawyers in the world. By the way, your lawyer -- Hillary for America's lawyers are the same lawyers for the DNC. That should be shady in itself.
You know, there's a lot of proof here that, yes, it might be legal. But Hillary has the best lawyers. Now, aside from that, aside from that --
WOODHOUSE: You know, we are a trying to win an election.
KONST: We are too.
WOODHOUSE: If we're going to beat the Republicans.
(CROSSTALK) KONST: You know what, it's not the -- this is a competitive primary. Hang on a second, brad. All you have to do on the Hillary side is reach the 2,383 number. That's what you have to do.
And right now, at this pace, with the margins, the difference of the margins of pledged delegates, Hillary Clinton at this rate will not reach that 2,383.
WOODHOUSE: That's blatantly untrue. Carol, can I get in here?
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Please let Brad respond. I want to concentrate on, it's going to be a steep hill for Bernie to win the nomination and win the number of delegates he needs, right? So, they're trying to convince super delegates and all this stuff. So, Democrats say it's time to ratchet things down, and maybe start -- you know, continue to talk about issues, but stop the attacks on one another, because it won't help in a general election.
WOODHOUSE: Carol, let's talk about that. I mean, Senator Sanders saying Clinton was unqualified to be president. That was disastrous charge that backfired on him. He ended the primary saying that she was engaged in some type of illegal fundraising activity, that is blatantly backfired.
KONST: Didn't say illegal.
WOODHOUSE: That absolutely backfired, him.
KONST: Brad, you're messaging machine. Write the message.
WOODHOUSE: Carol, can I finish?
COSTELLO: Just let Brad finish for a second. Nomiki, I promise --
WOODHOUSE: Going forward, he can return to what he pledged to do at the beginning of the campaign and have a positive issue-focused campaign that contrasts with Republicans, which is what Hillary is doing, or he can continue the innuendo, the character attacks, and feed the Karl Rove type attacks that will come at Hillary in the general election.
KONST: That is the language that Democrats don't like, that's what divides us.
COSTELLO: Nomiki, final word for you. Go ahead.
KONST: That is the language. When you start acting like the Democratic establishment is the cool kid's table and you ignore the fact that 80 percent of the Democrats voting in the election under the age of 50 are supporting the Bernie Sanders movement, the movement of movements, all the different collections of movements.
[09:25:10] Democrats need to bring them in. But the way that the party is playing politics right now is dirty. It might be legal. but it is dirty. It --
WOODHOUSE: There is nothing dirty about it. It is how you win elections, Nomiki. You want --
(CROSSTALK)
KONST: You have every single lawyer, the DNC and Hillary Clinton sharing a lawyer, you don't think that's dirty? You don't think that's dirty.
COSTELLO: I must end it there, because you guys could argue until like, you know, next Tuesday.
KONST: Well --
COSTELLO: But we get it. Thank you so much. Brad Woodhouse, Nomiki Konst, whoo, it's going to be an interesting going forward, right?
Still to come, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump seemingly race to November, there are speed bumps ahead. CNN's Christine Romans has a closer look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
