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Don Lemon Tonight

Voters Head in Polls in Five States Soon; Trump Upset with Cruz-Kasich Alliance; Ted Cruz Vetting VP Candidates; Investigating the Death of Prince; Interview with Prince's Last Muse. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 22:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:00:00] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And that does it for us tonight. Thanks for watching. CNN TONIGHT with Don Lemon starts right now.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Two huge stories tonight. The investigation into the death of a legend and the battle for the White House on the eve of Super Tuesday.

This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

Voters in five states head to the polls in a matter of hours. And the GOP is in turmoil over a Cruz-Kasich deal straight out of "The Apprentice."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lying Ted announced that he can't win by himself. He cannot do it. You know, he's a joker. He cannot do it. So, he said let me form a partnership which I call, what do we call it? Go ahead. Go ahead. What do we call it? Let me form -- it's called collusion, folks.

GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R-OH) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't respond to Donald Trump. I mean, what are you kidding me?

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For those supporters of John Kasich either here or at home, there may be issues on which we disagree but more Unites us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Meanwhile, the gloves are off for Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Donald Trump and Ted Cruz say some of the things they say it's not only offensive, it can be dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Plus, the Prince investigation. What happened on his private

plane?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the nature of the emergency? What's the nature of the medical condition?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An unresponsive passenger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We have the latest details on that. Also, my exclusive interview with Prince's muse. She saw a different side of the music legend and she is speaking out right here tonight.

We have a lot to get to in this broadcast in the next two hours. But I want to begin right now with CNN's Sara Murray with the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania.

Good evening, Sara. You're at the Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre tonight in Pennsylvania where the republican front-runner just finished a day- long attack on the Cruz-Kasich alliance. What's the latest? What can you tell us?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. Donald Trump doesn't seem to be particularly threatened necessarily by this alliance. His campaign still feels like they're in a very strong position.

But you know what Donald Trump is like when he is attacked. And he spent to say just unloading on John Kasich and Ted Cruz. Take a listen to what he had to say tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So, we have some big news today. You had lying Ted announces that he can't win by himself. He can't do it. You know, he's a joker. he cannot do it. So, he said, let me form a partnership which I call -- what do we call it? Go ahead. Go ahead. What do we call him? Let me form -- it's called collusion, folks. It's called collusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: And, Don, this is what it has been like with Donald Trump all day. He has called them losers. He called them pathetic. He made fun of the way John Kasich is. And tonight at this event h works very, he even said that it's time for both of them to get out of the race because they have no path forward and it's time for the party to unite behind Trump.

LEMON: So, what did Ted Cruz and John Kasich really hope to get out of this, Sara?

MURRAY: Well, Ted Cruz is hoping for a win. He is hoping John Kasich getting out of the race means that he can actually notch a victory in Indiana. But for John Kasich, it's a little bit trickier. This is a campaign that strained on resources. So, it gives him a little bit of air cover, a little bit of time to maybe work on the delegates, on conference calls rather than to be out there and campaigning.

But it also keeps them in the narrative. It sends a signal to Kasich's supporters that I will be in the race in May, in June. And that's as important to them at this point than anything. Because what they really want is a contested convention and of course, above all, what both of these guys want is to keep Trump below 1237 delegates.

LEMON: So, I understand, Sara, that there is a reason that you're not inside that you're outside this arena. Why is that?

MURRAY: That we are outside this arena, one, because Donald Trump at least ended relatively early tonight because the circus is coming to town. So, you can't see it. But over my right shoulder right now is a tent full of cages and potentially animals that will be headed inside for the circus.

So unfortunately, we couldn't show you the beautiful campaign rally inside. You're just getting this beautiful parking lot instead.

LEMON: I'll keep my mouth closed on that one. Thank you very much, Sara Murray. I appreciate that in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Now I want to bring in CNN's chief correspondent, Dana Bash, and CNN politics executive editor, Mark Preston. Why were you smiling, Mark? We both were smiling, right? We're like, the circus has already come to town. Politics this season is crazy.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: It is crazy. No more elephants in the circus though.

LEMON: Yes. Dana, since you're out, there I want -- since you're on the campaign trail, I want to ask you this. This idea of teaming up to stop Trump, it's -- people find it a little odd.

A little more than a month ago, you told us that Kasich team is pushing for an alliance. They even got Mitt Romney, do you remember, to make a call. But then Cruz really didn't have any time for he couldn't be bothered. What changed since then?

[22:04:59] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Not just that he couldn't be bothered, Don, he more importantly, his campaign team thought it was a crazy idea because at the time what -- let's say, a week ago, they thought that -- and they actually rightfully did still have a mathematical path to the nomination before the convention.

That no longer exists. Thanks in large part to the fact that right where you are in New York; Ted Cruz got zero delegates last Tuesday. So, now it is time for Ted Cruz to try to be more strategic and that is why his campaign manager and the top aide to John Kasich, and that man's name is John Weaver, who had been as we reported achieved more than a month ago, trying desperately to get to Cruz camp to do this long ago.

He said, OK, now is the time. Primarily because of the fact that it's now all about trying to stop Donald Trump before the convention. But also, and the more immediate future, all about winning Indiana in the short term.

And that, of course, is a week from tomorrow. And because it's a delegate rich state and that it's a winner take all. And so, that is why the Cruz campaign really is focused in the short term there. The fact that they got the Kasich camp to not campaign actively there, they thought it was a pretty big win for them.

LEMON: So, Mark, what does this mean? I mean, you know strategy. Will this strategy work?

PRESTON: Listen, I think that it's probably a little bit too late right now. And I also think, Don, at this point, I think both candidates have failed to exert the urgency needed in order for this plan to come together.

We saw today John Kasich and Ted Cruz come out and they didn't give a full throated endorsement to this plan. We saw paper last night on a Sunday night, late on a Sunday night. And this morning you would have expected these two candidates to come out and say for the good of the party, for the good of the country, we need to get behind it.

We didn't see that today. There's only 15 contests left. Five of them are gone tomorrow night. Ten from there. As Dana was noting, Donald Trump did very well in New York. He's going to do very well tomorrow night. I wonder if it's too late.

LEMON: And you know, Donald Trump had a lot to say about it because he spent the day blasting his rivals as pathetic and desperate. Those are his words. John Kasich disagrees. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASICH; Look, the trump people are very desperate. They're very fearful that we're going to end up in an open convention. I've been saying it for two months, as you know. I've been on AC360, I've been saying all along, no one is going have enough delegates. We'll get to the convention and the delegates will look at who they would like to see as president.

Remember, of the 10 republican contested conventions, 7 times the person going in there didn't have the majority of the delegates. It's the way it works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Does John Kasich have a real chance at the convention, Mark?

PRESTON: I think that was a train wreck interview. I mean, I just didn't understand what John Kasich was trying to say there. I mean, he should have come on and she should have said, listen, let us take this fight to the convention and let the Republican Party decide who the nominee is going to be if there isn't 1237.

LEMON: A train wreck of an interview?

PRESTON: I didn't understand what John Kasich was trying to convey in that interview. I mean, if he's going -- if you're going to come out and do an interview like that, you want to try to build support for the plan that you're selling and he did not do that.

LEMON: And if you don't know someone who is really savvy when it comes to politics, what he's saying...

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: I don't know how savvy I am, but I mean, somebody who certainly follows at...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Dana, do you agree with that?

BASH: I mean, I'm -- who am there I to argue with my friend Mark Preston?

LEMON: But he said his message wasn't clear.

BASH: But -- no. In all seriousness -- in all seriousness, I do in that this deal was clearly and we know from our reporting was absolutely something that was pushed by not necessarily the candidate himself but his strategist.

Because you know, the candidate is off doing his retail thing and he's not, you know, kind of the tactical strategist that maybe a Ted Cruz is or other candidates. And that's, you know, John Kasich's charm. However...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: But Dana, let me ask you this. Let me ask you because as Donald Trump...

BASH: Quickly.

LEMON: Go ahead. Go ahead.

BASH: Just I'll just finish my thought in that I think to Mark's point, you know, even before this interview happened, John Kasich today on the campaign trail said, well, you know, it's not like I'm going to not ask people for votes in Indiana. So, it definitely was a bit of a mixed message based on the big splash that the campaigns hope to...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: yes. I didn't mean to cut you off there.

BASH: No, no, no. Go ahead.

LEMON: I want you to just sort capitalize on what you were saying at the moment.

BASH: Please, yes, go ahead. LEMON: Because Donald Trump is saying that this is collusion, right?

BASH: Yes.

LEMON: And that these -- it is OK for the camps to be working this closely together?

BASH: Yes. Sure, why not? Look, they're actually not colluding in that, they're not sharing resources to our knowledge. They're not sharing polling. They're not, you know, doing that.

[22:10:00] What they are doing is saying I'm going go this way. You're going to go that way because this is the best terrain for me and that's best terrain for you. And you have on that map up there which is important to note it's really at this point the deal is for three contests, May 3rd, May 17th, and June 7 in New Mexico.

An open question is what happens in California also on June 7th which is a very complicated, very diverse, very expensive state whether they are going to continue that, then in my sense in talking to sources involved in this, it's a lot depends on how successful this is for Ted Cruz in Indiana a week from Tuesday.

LEMON: Mark, I want to ask you with that said, according to this deal, Senator Cruz is going to go one-on-one with Trump in the Indiana primary on May 3rd. Mr. Trump leads now, you it up by eight points. So, what does it say if Ted Cruz does win Indiana? Is this a game changer if he does?

PRESTON: Well, it is amazing. Because at this point right now, I think it is Donald Trump's to lose if Ted Cruz is able to go into Indiana and he is able to win statewide which would allow him half of the delegates on the table 27 of those, and then he is able to then pick up because of those big wins. He would pick up on perhaps another 20, 18, or 20 delegates.

The discussion will be Donald Trump can be stopped. But right now it appears that Donald Trump has someone behind his back. And to Dana's point, we should note, the campaign strategists for both campaigns are both very smart gentlemen. They knew what they were doing. It just didn't seem like they had the candidates fully onboard for what they were trying to do.

And make no mistake about it. Had these two campaigns not decided to move forward and do something like this, the game was over for them. So, they had to do nothing. Just the question is was it too late?

BASH: Yes.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Mark. Dana, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

BASH: And Don, you can you interrupt me any time. You know that.

LEMON: No, no. I just wanted to -- because you were going there. I want to ask you about the collusion. Because he's been saying -- using that word all day saying, if you do it in business and, you know, you go to jail, but in politics, it's fine.

BASH: No, it's an -- yes, absolutely.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it. See you guys soon.

BASH: Good night.

LEMON: Make sure you stay with CNN all day for coverage of the crucial primaries in five states tomorrow. Voters going to the polls in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, and we're going to be covering all the angles for you, of course right here on CNN.

And when we come right back, can anything bring the GOP together after this campaign? Plus, why Donald Trump is very, very upset about John Kasich and pancakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Did you ever see a man eat like this? I'm always working with my son. Little tiny pieces, Barron. Little tiny pieces. This guy is shoving pancakes -- I never saw anything like it. It's pouring out of his mouth. And the cameras are on him. I don't know. Look, that's not presidential. I can tell you that. Not presidential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[22:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The only thing that could bring together Ted Cruz and John Kasich is Donald Trump. But voters will buy their strategy.

Here to discuss, Kayleigh McEnany, a CNN political commentator and a Trump supporter, and Kellyanne Conway, president of Keep the Promise One PAC, a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz, and CNN political commentator Margaret Hoover here as well.

OK. I got three smart ladies here. So, let's see if I can live up to this, your expectations of me in my questioning. So, I want to ask you about this alliance between you first, Kellyanne, between John Kasich and Ted Cruz this alliance, shall we say, that Donald Trump is calling collusion, is this fair a game?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Of course i's fair game.

LEMON: Are they playing by the rules here?

CONWAY: Absolutely. It's a completely transparent. Donald Trump tax returns are, I would like to those as feature as transparent and this was done in the light of day and basically it affects three states, Oregon and New Mexico.

That Mr. Kasich, Governor Kasich will now go I guess and campaign in and Indiana where Ted Cruz is far ahead of John Kasich in a three- race. LEMON: Yes.

CONWAY: And which is a very important state. It is winner take all by congressional districts.

LEMON: He is saying to unify the party, both of them should quit. That would be the unifying strategy. That's what Donald Trump said.

CONWAY: I'm sure he would like them to quit. Because he should have had this nomination wrapped at least up a month ago.

LEMON: Yes.

CONWAY: And I think instead of worrying about them and insulting them as lying Ted and John Kasich who eats like this slob and everything else that was said today which is very unpresidential, then I think he should ignore them. And if he wasn't worried about them why not just ignore these two people he thinks aren't actual competitors? I actually think they got under his skin today.

LEMON: Yes, is this collusion?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, of course this is not collusion.

LEMON: He said, in business if you did this, you would get, you would go to jail.

HOOVER: Well, if you take a collusion the word collusion there is this implication that there is fraudulent tempestuous that really under the table a legal activity happening here. And the whole point of the RNC is trying to make it's like, everything is open and transparent and people are adult, they can make their own decisions.

Look, Donald Trump is the art of the deal guy, right? His job as a frontrunner is to consolidate support. Go make your deals, Donald. And instead, you have Cruz and Kasich that are making the deals, not Trump.

LEMON: Does it sort of, I don't want to say weak, or smell of desperation a little bit?

HOOVER: Desperation? Like this is for the presidency.

LEMON: Yes.

HOOVER: They're running for the presidency, right?

LEMON: OK.

HOOVER: This is all fair game. And it's above board, it's nobody's buying those. I mean, this isn't like negative or illegal activity. It's like Donald Trump should be doing this...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I want to get Kayleigh. Go ahead just quickly, I want to Kellyanne.

CONWAY: May I just add, and you can get Kayleigh, may I just add that look what happened again this weekend. It's like the fourth consecutive weekend what did Cruz and his team do? They went into states where they were awarding delegates and grab the delegates.

So, if this were a last ditch desperate attempt, they wouldn't be spending their weekend trying to grab delegates. And this is by the way, I think it's been totally misrepresented as a last ditch effort to stop Trump. It's the continuation of trying to become the republican nominee.

LEMON: OK. So, then in that, though, it's interesting. Because only one of them can become the republican nominee but they are working together. So, what's really behind it? Kayleigh, is this Cruz-Kasich divide and conquer strategy going to work?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: No, it's not. And it definitely is a desperation move. Because last week, Senator Cruz said he wouldn't coordinate with Kasich, that's not on the table, this week he is. Well, what's changed between last week and this week?

Trump won New York by over 50 percent. He won New York. He's going to win tomorrow by over 20 percent. Ted Cruz just pulled out of the state because he is doing so poorly in the Northeast Corridor, perhaps because of the New York values comment.

So, this is desperation. But the problem is the voters aren't going to buy it. Because they realize that they're being used as pawns in the establishment chess game.

[22:19:59] Ted Cruz is now officially with the establishment, formally putting his foot down with John Kasich in a never Trump movement. He is part of the establishment. The voters don't like it. They don't like to be manipulated.

LEMON: Well, listen, I saw you guys laughing. But this been so much is -- this election is been so much about the not establishment -- non-establishment, right.

CONWAY: That's his own.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Don't you think this is just going to energize Trump voters? No?

CONWAY: It could. But there aren't 55 -- there aren't 50 percent plus one of them in Indiana, in New Mexico, in Oregon, even in California. That's the whole point here, Don.

That as I said many times on your show before, there is Trump and then there is non-Trump. And currently in most states, including the ones that we've mentioned, the non-Trump portion in the electorate is over 50 percent. If you can consolidate that into one person, then at least you have a binary choice.

MCENANY: Kellyanne, that's just a flawed argument.

CONWAY: Because?

MCENANY: That is such a flawed argument.

CONWAY: The first time he got 50 percent was last week.

MCENANY: OK. Well, by your logic, Kellyanne, then Ted Cruz winning 30 percent means hat there's a 70 percent never Cruz movement. That's completely absurd...

(CROSSTALK)

CONWAY: They don't seem well organized.

MCENANY: ... to say just because in a 17 person race he hasn't gotten over 50 percent in some states. The other 60 percent is somehow against him. By your own logic, 70 percent is against your candidate. So, there is a 70 percent never Cruz, really, there is a 90 percent never Kasich moment?

CONWAY: But Kayleigh, we're talking about moving forward. No.

MCENANY: No? That your argument...

(CROSSTALK)

CONWAY: There are no never Kasich movement.

MCENANY: I mean, I hear this argument over and over again but it's a logical fallacy.

CONWAY: OK. Well then why don't you have the nomination wrapped up yet? What happened? I mean, really, been the front-runner for a year -- not you, him.

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: He's going to have the nomination wrapped up. He's going to, he's on a 17-person race. By the way, he's won a greater percentage of the delegates and of the popular votes than Hillary Clinton has of all candidates in the 2016 field.

CONWAY: But he has a greater -- he has the smallest delegate of popular vote to delegate percentage. She has 38 -- about 37 percent of the popular vote and 42 percent of the delegates.

LEMON: Go ahead, Margaret.

HOOVER: Look, I mean, to Kayleigh's point, look, if the point is unifying, if the point is moving forward, Donald Trump could just get Kasich supporters. He'd have 140 plus so, he'd be over -- he'd be almost over 1,000. He'd be approaching the 1237 or the Rubio delegates, 171 of Rubio delegates.

I mean, the point is he needs to start unifying the party instead of accusing other people of collusion. And that's -- I mean, you know, he may have sort of this bully pulpit and he has this celebrity factor. But he has to prove that he can actually be unifier.

CONWAY: There is no interest in unifying the part when you are insulting Reince Priebus, the head of the RNC when you're saying the delegates can be drive and they are in a rigged game and corrupt system. And we're making fun of the way John Kasich eats. Is that unifying the party?

MCENANY: But you know what, to Donald Trump's credit, he called out Colorado for not having a vote.

CONWAY: He voted.

MCENANY: And what did we find last week which it wasn't reported anywhere? Last week, Colorado come out and says, OK, we're going to allow the people to vote next time. So, Donald Trump has a point when he fights for the people because he actually ends up empowering the people. And that's evidence by Colorado are now allowing the people to vote next time.

LEMON: All right.

CONWAY: Why didn't anybody show up of the delegate -- of convention on the weekend? Why, no one?

LEMON: All right. Stick up, everyone. When we come right back, why Ted Cruz may be considering one of his rivals as a running mate. We're going to tell who you it might be next.

[22:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Five states voting tomorrow's Super Tuesday primaries just hours away.

Back with me now, Kayleigh McEnany, Kellyanne Conway, and Margaret Hoover.

Kayleigh, you first. And then we'll move on form this alliance, so to speak. Donald Trump isn't happy about the Cruz-Kasich -- about Cruz and Kasich joining forces. And he went after the way Kasich eats today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If you look at Kasich, I don't think he knows what -- did you see him, he has a news conference all the time when he's eating. I have never seen a human being in eat in such a disgusting fashion.

I'm always telling my young son Barron, I'm saying, I always with my kids, all of them. I'd say, children, small, little bites, small. This guy takes a pancake and he's shoving it in his mouth. He's a -- it's disgusting.

Do you want that for your president? I don't think so. He's eating today, stuffing it. I'd never saw bites this big, he is pushing it in with this -- I never saw a guy eat like this. I told my son, he was watching. He said, "Daddy, look." I said don't watch. Little bites. Little bites.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, we're all laughing. Obviously, you wouldn't be happy. Is this the best way to attack Kasich?

MCENANY: Look, I think -- I don't think he's thinking that this is going to be, you know, the end of Kasich. I think it's just a fun antic. He does with his audience. You know, Cruz is the other week talked about running over Donald Trump if his car was in reverse on a late night comedy show and everyone laughed.

You know, people do funny things. I don't think he's really using this as a way to take down Kasich. It's just a fun thing with audience

LEMON: OK. I let -- go ahead.

HOOVER: It's like he's running to be entertainer in chief. I mean, the thing is even all of us here watching it, we're laughing.

LEMON: Yes.

HOOVER: And it's like OK. Great, we're laughing. But then you sort of stop in your tracks. And you think, wait, but we're not talking about anything serious. We're not talking about how are we going to defend foreign policy, how are we are going to defend our territories, how are we going to make...

(CROSSTALK)

COWAY: To tell he wins.

HOOVER: And that's the problem with the republican side right, it's completely vacuum.

LEMON: It's working for him, though, right?

CONWAY: Yes. Absolutely. He's going to keep it on that.

LEMON: All right. So, Kellyanne, let's look forward to tomorrow, the races. Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut. You're not looking forward? And Delaware. I mean, it looks like a pretty good night for Donald Trump. That's why you're not looking forward to tomorrow?

CONWAY: He does. Well, we've always have that baked in the cake. You know, the rose you have if you have to be realistic about where your best chances are. And I think the whole northeast is much more hospitable to a tone in here, if you will, and Mr. Trump and he did well in New York, he'll do well tomorrow.

John Kasich will pick up delegates. We'll pick up some delegates. And then we start going to these, like you said, winner take all in the congressional district, Indiana and then Nebraska.

You got some very different states in the out coming there. You got Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and then the big price in California. So, we still have about after tomorrow about, of 600 some delegates to be awarded. And that's why everyone is still in it.

HOOVER: I mean, that Kellyanne is saying...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I know. I'm looking at your face.

HOOVER: It's like Senator is my you're my friend Kellyanne.

LEMON: And here it comes. You know it's coming.

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: No, I'm not saying you should quit now, but what we know is, you know, look, this is increasingly impossible for Ted Cruz.

[22:30:05] LEMON: Right.

HOOVER: And it's a convention fight, it's about a convention fight. He can maybe do well. I mean, Indiana is really like the last best sort of hold for him to make a stand and to try to defeat Donald Trump maybe he can do it in Indiana then, you know your fingers are crossed that you can have a convention battle.

CONWAY: And if he can, then what?

HOOVER: And if he can, then you are still on track to have a convention fight. But that's what this is looking like.

LEMON: OK. Let's talk about Ted Cruz vetting potential V.P. candidates. Carly Fiorina is supposed to be at the top of the list.

HOOVER: Yes. You know, it's really interesting. It's hard to understand what Carly Fiorina brings to the table in this rational or this logic. You know, I'm sure she thinks most, she's a woman. She won. And you know, Mitt Romney lost the female vote by 12 percentage point. So, maybe he can make up some of the difference there.

But, you know, we know that voters, women voters, and we always say this all the time, as the republican women voters, just because there's a woman on the ticket doesn't mean women vote for them. Right?

I mean, heck millennial women if they're voting for Hillary Clinton. Heck no, by like 29 percent they're not. So, you know, gender doesn't sort of coalesce the specific gender block.

LEMON: Is this strictly a move, I want to ask you, looking forward to Indiana that he's trying to put some oxygen into the Indiana contest by saying, you know, I'm considering a woman?

CONWAY: Well, I think he's considering several people, actually. I would imagine, I can't talk about it because I'm on the super PAC. But I would imagivn they are vetting several different people. Look, who wouldn't want Carly Fiorina on their team? And Ted Cruz has her on her team. She's so active for him now. And let's give Carly Fiorina her due. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee, and talk about a rigged system, it looks like Bernie Sanders and all his efforts will be for not over there.

If she is -- and Hillary Clinton is the nominee, having a strong woman like Carly Fiorina who is willing to go after Hillary Clinton full square, I mean, that's a huge benefit. She is a successful businesswoman. But also I think there are other people.

Look, what it does is, I think what happened today is that Cruz and Kasich and really Cruz who got the better under the Cruz-Kasich deal let's face it. Plus, vetting V.P.

LEMON: Yes.

CONWAY: It was a position of strength. You can't really get a lot of news cycles back from Donald Trump and today was one of these days.

LEMON: OK. Listen, no one -- Carly Fiorina is just qualified as an expert. I mean, she's very qualified woman since she run for president and did OK. But isn't this sort of putting the cart before the horse? Because I mean, Kayleigh, what do you think? Because, you know, Ted Cruz is not doing well so, yet, he is vetting V.P., possible V.P. candidates, like what in the world is going on here?

MCENANY: Yes. I mean, he's trying to get back in the news, Don. You know, you saw last week where, you know, Donald Trump won New York. Tomorrow he's going to do well. The narrative is becoming Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee.

Ted Cruz is making you know, his best effort to get into the news either via this Kasich alliance or via name a V.P. candidate. But he is way ahead of himself. I mean, Donald Trump is going to wrap this up. I don't think that he's going to be ever in position to name a V.P.

But I will say that Carly Fiorina is an excellent pick if he was going to pick one. She is not a fan of my candidate. But I have to give her due. I mean, she's an outsider, she's the one who consistently and debates brought it back to Hillary Clinton who made this about the general election. So, she would be a great surrogate. She is a great surrogate for him, a great V.P. pick.

LEMON: So, Margaret, I want to ask you this, as we've all been talking about Governor Kasich. Well, he's out on the campaign trail back in his home state.

You know, this horrific execution style murder of eight members of the same family on Friday night, a marijuana grow operations were supposedly found there on some of the sites. It's unclear if it's related.

But the residents in that county are on edge. The county sheriff is cautioning surviving family members that they may still be in the cross hairs. So, do you think that he should have made more out of it, should have responded more out of this so we hear more from him on this particular subject?

HOOVER: On Kasich? Kasich should have gone home to deal with the crisis at home?

LEMON: Yes.

HOOVER: Look, I mean, he is a governor. He's the governor of the state and he has only won one of many, many contests, 44 contests now we got. But, look, I would imagine he will go home and do it. He has a major opportunity tomorrow to demonstrate that he can be more than just really the third wheel of a presidential campaign.

So, it's, you know, hard to -- he does have his very high favorabilities in the state. I don't think the state feels that he's actually left his state to go campaign for governor.

LEMON: He did say justice will be delivered.

HOOVER: Yes.

LEMON: He did make a comment justice will be delivered on this. Thank you.

CONWAY: Thank you.

LEMON: I appreciate it. Thank you, Kayleigh. Thank you. See you guys.

MCENANY: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Coming up, the last days of Prince. What investigators are learning about his final week as fans and friends of the superstar mourn his death.

[22:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Fans, family, and fans mourning the loss of Prince tonight. As investigators learn more about what happened during the final days of his life.

CNN's Kyung Lah is at Paisley Park. Kyung

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don the sheriff's department had promised that this investigation would be extensive. It would be far reaching, reaching beyond Minneapolis.

Looking at an emergency landing that Prince's private jet made in Moline, Illinois. It happened on April 15th. Prince was flying back here to Minneapolis. He was ill aboard the plane. That plane made a rapid descent, emergency landing dropping 45,000 feet in 17 minutes.

CNN obtained the 911 call shortly after the plane landed. The patient aboard described as, quote, "unresponsive."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the nature of the emergency? What is the nature of the medical emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And unresponsive passenger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, male, female, age? Anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know that. The West Air is getting some of that detail. He told me unresponsive passenger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: It was around this time that Prince was seen at an Atlanta concert walking with a cane. There are multiple reports that Prince needed hip surgery. Prince was a Jehovah Witness, those religious teachings forbid that Jehovah Witnesses receive blood transfusions. Members of Prince's congregation say that his faith had nothing to do with Prince's death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID OSBURN, PRINCE'S JEHOVAH'S WITNESS BROTHER: Nobody said that he couldn't get surgery. Absolutely not. I heard that rumor out there, too. We're not anti-medicine. In fact, we go out of our way to try to find the best medical care that we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: The autopsy is complete but the results are not expected for weeks. Don?

LEMON: Kyung, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I want to bring in now Van Jones. Van is good friend of Prince. And Van, it's good to you have here. How are you doing, are you doing OK? So, are you OK today?

[22:40:05] VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I've been up and down but more up today than down which is good.

LEMON: Yes. I was worried you about last week. A lot of people were. But I got a lot of praise for speaking out, saying what you said last week. So, thank you for that, for being so honest.

JONES: Thank you for the opportunity.

LEMON: So, there you are. I love seeing you laugh. There you are with Prince. I believe this was on The View, a couple years ago, and then you attended a private memorial service this weekend at Paisley Park. What can you tell us about it?

JONES: Well, I can just say that there were, you know, thousands of fans that were on the outside and they were incredibly respectful. Nobody was trying to rush in. The police were there to give direction than to maintain order. And that was really, really powerful for the family to see the love and the respect of the fans for, you know, their need to get together and to grieve. So, about, you know, 20 people, 20 of us who played different, very

close roles. I also want to say that is not the last time we're going to celebrate his life. His life is going to be celebrated.

The Jehovah's Witness are going to have an opportunity to do something more public. And then there will be at some point a much, much more public celebration. But this was just a very simple thing for family members and very, very close friends. And it was heartbreaking.

LEMON: The family -- the family honored may of the fans who were, you know, at this tribute to Prince outside Paisley Park by giving out purple boxes. Tell us about it.

JONES: Well, you know, they wanted to do something. And they had CDs. They had little gifts and stuff. And they came out and they physically passed out to the thousands of people who were out there.

You know, and on the inside, it was really the opposite. It was somber. It was sober. The lights were dim. You know, Paisley Park is a massive facility. And, you know, it's like two or three hair hangars big. And everything dim, quiet, total the opposite of what it usually is.

And playing a lot of music. But the one song that was not played was "Purple Rain." I think that song been played, I don't think -- people would still be there on the floor. I don't think anybody would have made it out. So, they literally played almost every Prince song but they did not play "Purple Rain."

LEMON: Let's talk about this investigation, Van. You heard from CNN's Kyung Lah reporting on some of the speculation about Prince's health before he died. His fans, of course, want to know happened. Everybody wants to know what happened to him. Is there anything that you can share with us?

JONES: Look, everything will come out in due course. I mean, one great thing about this is the level of professionalism from the police department, the sheriffs, the coroners; they want to get everything right. They want to put it together. I've been very satisfied and the family's been very satisfied, no leaks, no preliminary this.

It's all going to come out all at one time. And then everybody will have their questions answered. But in the meantime, we want to respect that process. Let for once in the history of Hollywood entertainment a professional, fair, no leaks process go forward. And everything will be revealed in time.

LEMON: So, you have said that you said it on this program last week. Like if you went around saying that you knew Prince, right, then you weren't going to know him for very long because he didn't like that.

JONES: That's right.

LEMON: So, we're seeing a lot of people -- well, I shouldn't say a lot of people, some people who hadn't been, you know, he hadn't work with for a long time or hadn't been in his life for a long time, and now they're coming forward. What can you tell us about that? We're hearing from them.

JONES: You know, the thing, I think what people want to remember, think about Prince as sort of like a seven-layer cake. You know? The different times there were different people, there were different sounds. There were different relationships. And everybody can speak authentically to their layer of their cake.

I was with him for 10 years. I can't speak about, you know, the 20 years ago and 30 years ago. So, it's very important to hear from those voices from the past. What's been noticeable is that the more recent set has been very, very quiet.