Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Gets Back to Attack Mode on the Trail; Cruz Calls for Another GOP Debate; Clinton Talks Dem Unity After Tough Primary; Courting the Millennial Vote. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:01] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Fresh off his landslide win in New York, Trump is back on the attack, but he says voters should expect a more -- this is what he says, a more presidential tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's easier for me to be presidential than for me to be doing what I've been doing for the last really nine months. But at the right time, I will be so presidential, you will be so bored. You will say, can't he -- can't he have a little bit more energy. But I know when to be presidential. We have two more left. They are really -- they have absolutely no path to victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Trump campaign is expecting a big victory. An internal memo predicting the GOP frontrunner will have more delegate support than he actually needs. He'll have 1400 before the convention. All of this as Trump sends his top aides to court, you know, to romance, if you will, RNC insiders.

Let's get right to Jason Carroll. He has more on that. Good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but we'll see if he gets to that 1400. That's for sure. But in terms of being more presidential, Trump will give a foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., on April 27th. That has been confirmed by our own CNN Jim Acosta. It's clear that the Trump campaign is evolving in some ways, but he is still taking aim at Ted Cruz. Back to calling him lying Ted Cruz several times at speeches yesterday in Indiana and Maryland and calling out Senator Cruz and John Kasich for staying in a race he says they simply cannot win.

This morning Trump tweeting, "Senator Ted Cruz has been mathematically eliminated from race. He said Kasich should get out for same reason. I think both should get out." And, of course, Cruz also responding this morning saying, "Donald, you will be mathematically eliminated on June 7th. Should everyone drop out and forfeit to Hillary, #letsdebate." June 7th of course being the California primary day.

Of course also this morning Trump talked about name-calling saying he's just been defending himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've been hit by 55,000 ads -- I saw it on a new show. 55,000 negative ads. And nobody else has. You know, you look at a guy like Kasich, he's never been hit by an ad because nobody cares, frankly. And -- no, it's true. No, it's so true, and Cruz isn't hit with negative ads, but you know, they went after me both sides. My side, the other side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Cruz says at this point the GOP is heading for a contested convention saying none of the GOP candidates will have the magic number of 1237 needed for the for the nomination. Kasich spinning as well saying that the end goal is to nominate someone who can just beat Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, at the end they want to make sure they pick somebody who can win in the fall and somebody who can be president. And so I appeal to them on both grounds. I think the party has to have a positive message of hope and inspiration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: One thing you can count on looking ahead is for Trump to be Trump, meaning expect more of his plainspoken language. That's what appeals to the people who support him. Case in point this morning, Trump said the decision to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill was another example of political correctness.

COSTELLO: So he's against Harriet Tubman being on the face of the bill?

CARROLL: Don't know what that's going to do to help with trying to court minority --

COSTELLO: African-American --

CARROLL: Voters and African-American voters but again, this is a man who says he speaks from his heart and his supporters seem to respond to that.

COSTELLO: Jason Carroll, many thanks.

As Trump rips into his rivals, Ted Cruz is hoping for a boost. This hour Senator Cruz will hold a rally in Maryland and as Jason just mentioned, he's calling for another GOP debate before next's week's primary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald concluded the people of New York didn't deserve a debate. Well, you know what, I think the people of Pennsylvania deserve a debate. I think there ought to be a debate before the vote next Tuesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now, CNN political commentators Tara Setmayer, she'll be seated in just a moment, Jeffrey Lord is also with me. Jeffrey is a Trump supporter. Also joining us, Ron Nehring, he's Senator Cruz's national spokesman.

Welcome to you -- Tara, you are seated.

TARA SETMAYER, FORMER CAPITOL HILL GOP COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I'm here.

COSTELLO: I just glanced up at the monitor and saw you. I'm so glad.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Don't leave Tara out.

COSTELLO: Thank goodness. Welcome to all of you.

So, Jeffrey, I'll start with you. Why wouldn't Mr. Trump want another debate with Senator Cruz?

LORD: Why doesn't he want one? Well, frankly, there's not much time left. As a matter of fact, this very night I will be going to a Donald Trump rally right here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is held at the largest arena here in Harrisburg called the Barn Show where every year we have a barn show as noted, which draws huge crowds and I expect it to be packed. So with only a few days left, there's no time.

We've had plenty of debates. More than plenty of debates. And there wasn't a debate in New York. Well, gosh, the people of New York gave 60.5 percent of their vote to Donald Trump and 14.5 percent to Senator Cruz. And, you know, to be perfectly honest, as I have often said, I really am a fan of Senator Cruz, but you've got to be able to win the northeastern United States, and if you can only get 14.5 percent of the vote in New York, that's not a good thing.

[10:05:08] COSTELLO: Well, Ron, some Republicans here, and they have told me this, that that New York values thing that Senator Cruz said really turned them off. He doesn't have that problem in Pennsylvania, but he's very conservative, and a lot of Pennsylvania isn't as conservative as Senator Cruz. Will that be a problem for him?

RON NEHRING, TED CRUZ NATIONAL SPOKESMAN: Well, I think the bigger problem here is let's take a look at why Donald Trump doesn't want to have a debate or a discussion where these issues would be exposed, and that's because Donald Trump barely knows anything about the important issues that are facing the country. I mean, this is someone who has had four different positions on abortion in the same day, who doesn't know the difference between what a judge does and what a prosecutor does, who really doesn't have any concept of how we keep America safe, how we wind up defeating ISIS and the like.

And it's just been factually incorrect on so many different issues. And if we have a one-on-one debate or even allow John Kasich to be in it for good measure, and you'll notice that in the last debate when there were the fewest number of candidates and the greatest amount of time for the candidates to respond, Donald Trump barely went above 30 seconds in terms of his responses, and then he lapsed into what he does when he doesn't know anything about the subject and he just keeps on repeating himself. And that's why he doesn't want to have a debate going forward.

I think it's valuable. Why is it that only the voters who got to vote in the early part of this process got to have a debate either in their state or one that they could watch on television, et cetera, and the voters in the later states like my state of California which votes last, you know, Donald Trump doesn't want to have a debate because he's hiding behind the fact he's unprepared for his office --

COSTELLO: But, Ron, haven't -- haven't there been a gazillion debates? I mean, there have been -- plenty of town halls and then there's debates. And I'm sure the people of California were paying attention.

NEHRING: There have been debates but first thing is let's take a look at how many candidates were there. We don't have the same field that we had anymore. We should have a debate format where candidates can question one another, where we can really get into lengthier answers. Not many people were satisfied with 15-second responses and, you know, 30-second responses at the most, which is what the format demands when you have so many different candidates up there.

Well, those candidates aren't running anymore. Now it's effectively a two-person race between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and Donald Trump is hiding because he doesn't want people to know that so much of what he winds up saying simply isn't accurate. He's unprepared for the office, badly unprepared for the office, and at the same time his campaign is a hot mess.

COSTELLO: OK. OK. You got that all in there.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: So Tara --

NEHRING: I could go on.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I know. Wouldn't it --

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: We're just having fun with you, Ron. We really are.

Tara, well, question to you because a debate would be interesting if it were just between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. I would be interested. I would watch that. So why not have one?

SETMAYER: Yes, Ron is exactly right. Donald Trump is avoiding this because when you're on the debate stage, you're exposed. So if you don't know -- if you're unprepared for the policy questions, if you don't really have in-depth knowledge about the specific questions, then you can be made to look like a fool which he's been made to look like many times on the debate stage because he doesn't want to put the work in to actually understand and know the policies. He'd rather go out and give rallies and have empty slogans that gin people up but then he has no substance behind them.

So when you're on the debate stage against someone like Ted Cruz or even John Kasich, who actually do know the issues, who have worked in policy areas, that understand what it takes to run the country and understands constitution and its limit, that understands federalism, it's difficult for Donald Trump to compete.

Now, you know, he would have to be asked direct questions. He would have to be -- he'd have to answer, Mr. Trump, you talk about how you say you want one man, one vote, but yet you're a beneficiary of this so-called rigged system because you -- let's say in South Carolina, you got 33 percent of the vote. You got 100 percent of the delegates.

Well, Mr. Trump, you complain about people being disenfranchised in Colorado and other places because they're caucus states, but you didn't complain about that when you won caucus states like Kentucky.

You know, Mr. Trump, you complain also that voters don't get a say, but yet you didn't vote for six -- the last six primary cycles. But you didn't vote for, but now --

COSTELLO: OK. So Jeffrey --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: Those are the kinds of questions that he wants to avoid.

COSTELLO: I understand.

SETMAYER: Where are your tax returns? You know, that's why --

COSTELLO: Jeffrey, I feel -- I feel you -- in fairness you must respond.

LORD: The prosecution has now rested so let the defense speak.

SETMAYER: There's so much more.

LORD: I know there is. I would just respectfully say that all of this has been hashed out over and over and over and over again. The reason Donald Trump is winning is because he strikes a chord with the American people. As much as I love Tara and I don't really know Ron but I listened to them, what they're giving us here are insiders' arguments about this. Those arguments have been duly presented to the American people, to the voting base of the Republican Party, and they are being rejected over and over and again.

[10:10:05] They were rejected just now in New York. They are about to be rejected here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So we've been here before. The arguments have not caught on. I would suggest they move on.

COSTELLO: But, Jeffrey, I want to ask you about this because Donald Trump is giving some major policy speeches in the next weeks. He's going to use a teleprompter.

LORD: Yes.

COSTELLO: He's going to use a speechwriter which is different for Donald Trump. Does that mean he really doesn't want to sit down and face these tough questions? He'd really rather lay out his policy in prepared speeches in front of a teleprompter because then he won't misspeak?

LORD: Well, I don't know. I mean, where have these questions been for President Obama for the last eight years?

COSTELLO: Well, people have --

SETMAYER: He's not running.

COSTELLO: He's not running, that's true, Tara, and people have complained about President Obama using a teleprompter.

LORD: Well, all I would suggest is one of the criticisms of Donald Trump which I felt was unfair in the sense that it would be resolved in time was that he hadn't laid out very specific policy proposals, that he hadn't given these kind of speeches. So now he is and now, you know, we're headed off into a direction of well, gee, how can he do this, he shouldn't be using a teleprompter, he shouldn't do this, that and the other thing? Now is the time.

This is what presidential campaigns evolve in terms of staff, policy, and presentation. That's the way they all work. You start with your band of loyalists and you expand. The Trump campaign is expanding and these speeches are going to be given and it's a good thing.

COSTELLO: So, Ron, is Senator Cruz -- Ron, is Senator Cruz going to expand into a teleprompter and speech writers?

NEHRING: You know, I don't think the teleprompter is the issue. The Trump campaign is expanding all right. It's hiring lobbyists left, right, and center. I mean, read some of the articles in the press today. I wonder how, you know, that's going to wind up squaring off.

Look, you know, the Donald Trump campaign is becoming the full employment center for Washington, D.C., lobbyists. That's a fact. You know, Donald Trump likes to pride himself on how so-called flexible he is and yet he's going around, you know, bragging about, you know, how he'll, you know -- who he's ultimately hiring. You know, these are really serious questions. Take a look at the long list of lobbyists who have come on board the campaign. Now that's what's happening at his central office. Meanwhile, out in places like California the Donald Trump campaign is a total organizational basket case.

And we've been organizing out there since August of last year. This is the biggest state in the country, 172 delegates that are up for grabs and Donald Trump can't figure out one end of the state or -- from the other. In fact he's -- the only event that he's held in the state of California had been cancelled. You know, this is the type of organizational mess that we see in one failed Donald Trump business venture after another, whether it's Trump Mortgage or Trump magazine or Trump this or, you know, Trump University.

COSTELLO: Right.

NEHRING: This guy is an organizational mess --

COSTELLO: OK. I have to end it there. Thanks to all of you.

NEHRING: I could go on further but that's the reality of what Donald Trump is.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I got to end it there, guys. Thank you very much. Tara Setmayer, Jeffrey Lord, Ron Nehring, thanks as always.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Bernie Sanders back on the campaign trail as Hillary Clinton offers him some tough love on uniting the party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:16:55] COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders take their fight for the Democratic nomination to the northeast today. Clinton wooing voters in Connecticut after a big win in New York while Sanders makes multiple stops in Pennsylvania. Sanders says he will fight on even as some Democrats worry his attacks on Clinton could damage her as the eventual nominee and widen the divide between the two rival rivals' supporters.

This morning Clinton seemed to offer a blueprint to Sanders on how to bring the party together after a bruising primary fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I withdrew in June of 2008, polls were showing that at least 40 percent of my supporters said they weren't going to support Senator Obama. So I had to get to work, and I had to make the case. I nominated him at the convention. I went from group to group, even as late as the convention, convincing people who were my delegates to come together to unify.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Hartford, Connecticut. Good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. Well, it's clear that she wants to get to that point where they're unifying the party but that's not going to happen just quite yet, and she realizes that. And that's one of the reasons why that she's really hitting him hard on what they see as a contrast between her gun policy and Bernie Sanders' gun policy.

Later today what we're going to see here at this YMCA is the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre talking to her, a very intimate and emotional conversation about what it is like, the tragedy that happened with their families and with their community.

And in a sense she feels that this is really kind of successfully as she did in New York she can do in Connecticut, which is draw the contrasts between her policies and the gun policies of Bernie Sanders. So she is not letting that go, despite the fact that she's calling for this kind of kumbaya moment. Having said that, she also said this morning, we heard her on "GMA" talking about this attack that Bernie Sanders will use later on today talking about the ties that she has with Wall Street and these paid speeches.

Now she did not commit to releasing the transcripts as has been called by Bernie Sanders, but she did in a different kind of way pull back the curtain and try to take a little bit of the sting out of that accusation that she's told -- that she's tied with Wall Street because of these speeches. I want you to listen to how she responded this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: When you leave the secretary of state office, people from all kinds of perspectives want to know what do you think is going on in the world? I think that's actually a useful conversation. So like all my predecessors, I gave speeches to a wide variety of groups, and it was, you know, predominantly about what's going on in the world. I probably was asked -- the most common question I was asked was to talk about the raid that went after Osama bin Laden.

I mean, people are really interested in what you see and what you understand about the world when you come out of that position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:20:03] MALVEAUX: So, Carol, this is something we haven't heard before. This is really kind of a broader explanation, something that seems a little bit more reasonable than, no, I'm not going to hand over those transcripts, and try and again take a little bit of the sting and the mystery out of all of that.

We have also heard from Bernie Sanders' camp -- last night in "ERIN BURNETT," that we heard from Jeff Weaver and the question keeps coming up at this point is like, if the math doesn't add up, how do you get to the finish line? Why are you still there? And it is very clear that with all the money they have, all the momentum and all the enthusiasm that, yes, they are going to continue until the very end, until the convention, and this is why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT: It's not clear that she will be ahead in pledged delegates and, look, if Senator Sanders has strong run of wins at the end of this process, if we substantially close the gap in pledged delegates or even overtake the secretary, I think then superdelegates really have to look at the general election polling, which is pretty much unanimous now for months that Bernie Sanders is a much stronger candidate in the general election than is Secretary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Carol, there's going to be three stops in Pennsylvania. We are told by Bernie Sanders' aides that, no, he is not going to be holding back. That he's going to be full force, all the fire that he has, the momentum, and the people behind him to really fight for this nomination, Carol.

COSTELLO: Suzanne Malveaux reporting live from Hartford, Connecticut. Thank you.

Should Hillary Clinton be the Democratic nominee she will need to convince Democrats who are feeling the Bern to be with her. Among them, young people, who as you may have heard are flocking to Bernie Sanders in droves. Clinton making an appeal to them during a town hall this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I'm glad so many young people are supporting Senator Sanders. They are involved. That has to be good news for the Democratic Party, good news for our country, and I have said to groups of Sanders' supporters that they may not support me now. I totally understand that, but I support them. I will always work in a way that keeps their futures in mind because that's what I think you're supposed to do when you have responsibilities of public office, particularly being president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let talk about that with Ellen Eickenhorst, she's a millennial who backs Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Lucy, a volunteer for Hillary for America.

Thanks to both of you for being with me this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks. Ellen, some of your fellow Sanders' supporters say they would never vote for Hillary Clinton in any circumstance. Why is that?

Ellen, can you hear me? I don't think Ellen can hear me. Elizabeth, can you hear me?

ELIZABETH LUCY, VOLUNTEER, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Yes, I can hear you.

COSTELLO: OK, Elizabeth. So we'll fix Ellen's -- we call them IFB. We'll fix that problem for her and get her back on in just a minute. But -- so a question to you, Elizabeth. A few weeks ago Hillary Clinton said that -- these are her words. She felt sorry for young people who believed Sanders' claims. She said young people don't do their research.

In retrospect, was that a mistake?

LUCY: I don't want to call it a mistake, but I wouldn't agree with her. I do think that young people use social media a lot to get their news, and I think that a lot of Hillary supporters get their news from a wide variety of sources, not just from what's fed to us on our Facebooks and instagrams and Snapchats, so it's somewhat true I'd say, but people that are serious about this election will get their news from a lot of different places.

COSTELLO: So what is it in your mind that a lot of young -- what is it in your mind that turns off a lot of young people when it concerns Hillary Clinton?

LUCY: I think it's -- a big part, the media. It's really trendy right now to support Bernie, and it's really trendy right now to hate on Hillary, and I think that is a lot of why you don't see young supporters outwardly showing their admiration for her on social media and that's something that I'm trying to change.

COSTELLO: OK. So we have Ellen back so I can ask you that question. I don't know if you heard what Elizabeth said, but she said many Bernie supporters who are young support Sanders because it's trendy right now. What would be your response to that?

ELLEN EICKENHORST, MILLENNIAL, BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER: I do believe that Bernie has brought a large number of millennials to political action, and I do believe that Bernie Sanders is trendy, but it's not just because it's a millennial fad. I do believe that it's because it's truly based in the idea that, one, millennials can have an impact on the future of our country and more importantly our future.

And I also believe that millennials who are involved do come from a place of knowing that change has to happen, and the only way it can happen is by a lot of people getting together and talking about that change that has to happen and doing something about it.

[10:25:09] COSTELLO: So, Ellen, would you ever at any time in your political life be open to voting for Hillary Clinton?

EICKENHORST: I would. I think that it's important to support the Democratic ideals that our country is founded upon, which is that everyone has a civic duty to vote. I do believe that many people either will vote for Bernie or not at all, and that is a personal choice that they can make. I don't --

COSTELLO: So, Ellen, let me --

EICKENHORST: And I support --

COSTELLO: Let me ask a specific question, Ellen. I'm sorry to interrupt. I just want to ask you that specific question. A lot of young Bernie Sanders' supporters say they would never vote for Hillary Clinton under any circumstances. Why?

EICKENHORST: I mean, I can't speak for them. I can't speak for why they might say that. I do believe that they believe that if they want Bernie Sanders to be in office, there should be a way for him to be there because they believe that their vote matters and who they believe in matters. And there's a lot of controversy over how people's votes are being cast currently in this country with voter suppression and if -- really if superdelegates are the way that political nominees should be brought into the White House, and so I think that a lot of it is a really strong frustration with how the political nominees are brought to, like I said, to the White House and I think that's where some of that belief comes from.

COSTELLO: All right. Yes. How they get to be the nominee.

So, Elizabeth, what would you say to Hillary Clinton if you were giving her direct advice on how to attract more young people to her side? What should -- what are the things she should be saying?

LUCY: I think she's doing everything the best she can, and what needs to change is young supporters need to start -- for Hillary need to start supporting her outwardly and openly and then positively. I don't think we should be using our energy saying bad things about Bernie or any of the other candidates because the way you win a race is being the best you can be and that's how I see her getting young voters is just continuing to be positive and, you know, sharing what she can do and what she can get done. That is how she will get elected with honesty and sincerity.

COSTELLO: OK. Ellen Eickenhorst, Elizabeth Lucy, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's another busy day on the campaign trail. You're looking at live pictures from a Ted Cruz rally that's about to begin in Fredric, Maryland.

Also, Hillary Clinton may not have sewn up the Democratic nomination for president but that has not stopped her from thinking about who she would pick to be vice president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)