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Kasich Speaks about Cruz Partnership; Obama Announces New Deployment to Syria; Cruz Speaks in Indiana; Wisconsin Teen Opens Fire on Prom-Goers. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:34:00]

CAROL COSTELLO, HOST: OK, hello, I'm Carol Costello. Back up to that Philadelphia diner, and John Kasich is now talking about his partnership with Ted Cruz, let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO GOVERNOR, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... And I think, and I think what Donald Trump needs to understand is that he cannot beat Hillary Clinton. In the latest, in the latest poll out of New Hampshire, he loses 50 to 31. Now, the fact is, we don't have all the resources in the world. But we're still going. And we have to husband (ph) our resources. I feel that it's very fair for me to be able to go to areas where I can spend my resources most effectively. And the same is true for Senator Cruz. What's the big deal? We're going to go to a convention, it's going to be an open convention. And then the delegates will pick that person who can do the best in the Fall.

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: ... I'm sorry, I'm not going to answer more than one. So we're going to get ...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: ... Desperation, Governor (ph).

KASICH: Me? No, I'm not desperate, are you? Are you, are you desperate, because I'm not.

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: ... People yelling at me, I'm not going to answer the question. Act -- have a little bit of civility when you do your job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor, what convinced you this was the right thing to do now?

KASICH: Well I'm -- my team met with the Cruz people, and then they made a recommendation to me. I said, "I think it's fair." Because you know, in some places we haven't spent a lot of resources. I didn't spend resources in the state of Wisconsin. Minor amount of spending. I don't, I don't have like, Daddy Warbucks behind me, giving me all this money. I have to, I have to be careful about my resources.

But furthermore, the reason why I'm in this race, is I'm the only one that beats Hillary Clinton. Now I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that we don't lose the United States Senate, the Supreme Court, the State, and the local courthouse.

I don't see this as any big deal. Other than the fact that I'm not going to spend resources in Indiana, he's not going to spend them in other places, so what? What's the big deal?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Who should your supporters vote for in Indiana?

KASICH: Well they -- I've never told them not to vote for me, they ought to vote for me. But I'm not over there campaigning and spending resources. We have limited resources. You know, you ought to feel good about it, mine's like the people's campaign. I have a campaign where we've been outspent basically 50 to 1. You folks have been counting me out before I even got to New Hampshire. And now we can't (ph) jam it all of you into this diner. I mean everybody chill out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody look out behind him.

KASICH: OK, what was it, Joe (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, sir, to people who are reformed, and who are tired of political gears (ph) as usual, doesn't this smack of the very same cynical political games (ph) (INAUDIBLE)?

KASICH: Sir, there hasn't been anybody that you've ever met in politics, who's led a more successful reform than John Kasich, nobody. I've balanced the budget, I've shrunk the government, I've taken on corporate welfare, I've reformed the Pentagon, I've changed the very state of Ohio. When you talk about reform, you ought to check my record. And you will see that I've been a reformer from the day I got into politics, and I will continue to be a reformer. And I think any way you characterize this as something other than it is, is just a mischaracterization. But I've come -- I've become very used to mischaracterization. I mean (ph) ...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor, what do you say to voters who might feel like this conference is unfair? There's got to be -- they can't -- they want to have a say in who's going to be President (ph) ...

KASICH: Well they have a total say. If you get a majority of the -- rich people -- my people don't feel that way. Who is it that feels -- all you gotta do is get the right number of delegates, and then you win. If you can't get the right number of delegates, you don't win. And then the delegates who are selected through a democratic process, get to choose. What's wrong with that? (INAUDIBLE) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Governor, doesn't it undercut your whole strategy if you're not asking your voters to vote for Cruz in Indiana? Isn't that, is all that part of it (ph)?

KASICH: I'm not campaigning in Indiana, and he's not campaigning in these other states. That's all. That's all it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, governor.

KASICH: It's not a big deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Enjoy the eggs (ph).

KASICH: Yep. But it's fun though, you're all still here. By the way, by the way, I'm having the time of my life. I met so many people here today. Wonderful people in Philadelphia. And by the way, I want you all to know -- what happened to Peter?

[10:39:00]

PETER: I'm here, I'm here, I'm here.

KASICH: I want you all to know we're really looking forward to tomorrow. We're going to have good results across these primaries. I'm very excited about what's going to happen tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you going to celebrate tomorrow night? Now -- because Indiana been canceled, so where do you go?

KASICH: I don't, I don't know, I haven't seen my schedule yet. But I just want you to know I'm looking forward to tomorrow. And tonight I'm going to my hometown of McKees Rocks. And it's going to be fun to be there celebrating my Uncle George has 39 years as a guidance counselor. So it's going to be a great time, and then I don't know where I'm going. But the staff, they'll tell me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to eat, we're going to eat right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor, there's some people here who are trying to convince you about the Philadelphia soda tax. Do you have any thoughts on that (ph)?

KASICH: I'm not for any soda tax. I'm not for taxes. Never been for a tax in my lifetime. Why would I start -- what is, what's the use here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's -- the Mayor wants to use the revenue to pay for a universal fielding program, programs to do (ph) with all the parks and rec centers. They've said it'll bring in $400 million.

KASICH: Well look, I think the -- it's designed to do what now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we increase (INAUDIBLE) on soda ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, we have our political guru here, Mark Preston. Also with me, Drew Weston. He's a professor of political psychology at Emory University, and author of The Political Brain.

So I'll start with you, Mark Preston. Just in listening to how John Kasich was answering reporters question, seemed a little defensive to me. How about you?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Oh very defensive. Listen, there are only 15 primaries left before we get to June 7th, OK? Five of them are over tomorrow night. There are only 10 more contests left, this is a desperation act on John Kasich, and Ted Cruz's part, having this unholy alliance to try and stop Donald Trump. And then take the fight into the convention floor.

COSTELLO: Well Drew, here's the thing I don't get. You heard John Kasich say, "I'm not asking people not to vote for me," right? "I'm just not going to spend any resources in Indiana. I'm going to put my time into states like Pennsylvania, where I do better." Does that make sense to voters?

DREW WESTON, AUTHOR, "THE POLITICAL BRAIN": Well I think if, I think if voters are interested enough to be following, yes. The one thing I'll say about Kasich -- the Kasich we just saw -- he did sound defensive, but it's the first time I think I've ever heard him sound like he had some energy in him. And he was moving, and he was talking, and he was kind of angry. I thought it was sort of a breath of fresh air.

COSTELLO: Really? Even when he's yelling at reporters like, "get out of my face, take your turn, quit yelling." That was a good thing?

WESTON: Well yes, this is a guy who's made the mistake of running a purely positive campaign. And it's one of the reasons why he's in -- at the bottom of the heap. It's because when the other guys are on the stage saying to you -- trading these ridiculous things about, how big are your hands, and lyin' Ted, and little Marco and stuff.

At some point he could've easily said, "hey look, can we act like grown-ups? Aren't we a bunch of men here, not a bunch of , not a bunch of kids on a schoolyard?" And that would have given him some authority. But instead he said, "well I don't want to really engage in those kinds of things." And it just seemed weak.

But no, I agree, it was clearly, it was clearly defensive. And I don't think his voters are going to get the idea that, "no, vote for Cruz, who you don't like, in Indiana." And Cruz's people are going to say, "OK, I'll vote for Kasich in Nebraska." It doesn't sound very likely.

COSTELLO: No, it doesn't, because they're very different candidates, John Kasich and Ted Cruz, right Mark? They're extremely different. I can't imagine someone who likes Ted Cruz voting for John Kasich, and vice versa.

PRESTON: Right, you know so, a couple things now. One is -- let me first say that if you are a politician, do not eat on camera, OK? That is the biggest faux pas. Could you imagine if something fell out of his mouth, right? That is -- listen, he shouldn't have done it, but he did it.

Second thing is though, as far as, as far as these candidates voting for one another. They put a statement out last night, but they haven't had any follow-up to it, OK? Even talking to Ashley Banfield about it -- a colleague of ours -- just a few minutes ago. They need to sell the idea, and they haven't been able to sell the idea.

Ted Cruz hasn't sold the idea effectively since the statement went out last night, nor has John Kasich. John Kasich right there saying, "look, I'm not telling people not to vote for me, people should vote for me in Indiana." Which goes against what they said last night in the statement. --

COSTELLO: Exactly, it's just so confusing. Now we're awaiting Ted Cruz, we're expecting him to talk in Borden, Indiana at any moment now. So Drew Weston, in order to make voters truly understand, what does Senator Cruz need to say?

WESTON: He needs to say, "vote for John Kasich. This is what we're doing, we're trying to stop Donald Trump." And I completely agree with Mark, that what Kasich did, didn't tell his voters what to do. And this strategy only works -- essentially this is like the World Wrestling Federation. You've got -- they're tag-teaming him now. And tag-teaming only works if you actually work as partners.

And so you've got, you've got, you've got the big mouth billionaire coming in, saying, "I'll take Lyin' Ted, and he'll be lyin' on the canvas." Then you got these other two guys who are saying, "well do you like, go in now, or do I go in now?" It does -- it just doesn't, it doesn't work unless they actually convince people to do it.

[10:44:14]

COSTELLO: Couldn't this backfire, Mark, and make Trump even stronger?

PRESTON: There's no doubt. I mean look at, Trump came out of here, out of New York, very strong last week, which led to this unholy alliance coming together, no doubt about that. Tomorrow night five states here, in what's known as the Acela Corridor, from the mid- Atlantic all the way up to the Northeast. Right now, Donald Trump is expected to do very well.

If John Kasich, and Ted Cruz want to try to effectively sell this message, then they need to try to sell the idea that Donald Trump is bad for the Republican Party, and bad for the nation. We haven't heard that, other than a statement that's released on a Sunday night, and they're mute after that.

So what I don't understand is how they think that this is effectively going to work. And to your point, it will embolden the Trump supporters to say, "you know what? Maybe we will leave the party." Which, I never really bought that idea, that they would leave en masse. But I've got to tell you what, something like this happening so late in the game is certainly dangerous.

COSTELLO: All right, both of you stick around, we're expecting Senator Cruz to start talking and answering questions at any moment now, from Borden, Indiana. I gotta take a break, we'll be back with much more in the Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:49:14]

COSTELLO: All right, you're looking live at a picture out of Borden, Indiana. At any moment now we're expecting Senator Ted Cruz to come out and possibly talk about this partnership that he has with John Kasich, so that they can beat Donald Trump. When Senator Cruz starts talking, I'll take you back to Indiana.

Have to tell you about this, though. Just hours ago, President Obama announced that he is sending hundreds of additional troops to Syria, in an effort to combat ISIS. The move will greatly increase US presence in that country. Michelle Kosinski joins us live, from Germany, with more on this. Hi, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Right, this is an additional, up to 250 US sport -- special forces on the ground, in Syria. And no, I mean granted we're not talking about thousands of additional US boots on the ground. But this is a significant step-up.

Especially when you consider that when all is said and done, and these troops do deploy in coming weeks, the total number of American forces in Syria is going to be six times what it is now. And the White House, of course, careful to point out that they don't have a combat role. Yes, they will be on the ground. Yes, the mission will still be dangerous. But the mission is, "advise and assist."

That's a phrase that we hear all the time from the White House. The goal is to train local forces that are there. To help them strategize, to help arm them. And in this case, to try to get more Sunni fighters into the game. The bulk of the work now is being done by Kurds, but Sunni Arab fighters would be best equipped to holds (ph) territory in Arab areas, that is taken from ISIS. With the focus being in and around Raka, which is still ISIS's stronghold there.

So, why now? President Obama says, "to keep the momentum up." But ISIS is losing some ground. The US of course, though, has been doing the bulk of the work, and President Obama took this opportunity here, to again urge other countries to put in more. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Europe, including NATO, can still do more. In Syria and Iraq, we need more nations contributing to their campaign. We need more nations contributing trainers to help build up local forces in Iraq. We need more nations to contribute economic assistance to Iraq, so it can stabilize liberated areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: So, total number of US forces in Iraq and Syria, when all is said and done, is going to be right around 4,000, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Michelle Kosinski, reporting live from Germany this morning. Thank you. Still to come in the Newsroom, we're still awaiting, Senator Ted Cruz is expected to speak at any moment at this campaign rally in Indiana.

Also we heard from John Kasich, clearing the way for this partnership. He's campaigning now in Philadelphia. But a look at the DOW before I take you to break. It's down 129 points, stocks slipping, following a dip in worldwide markets today. But even with that slip, they're on pace for an overall positive April performance. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:56:43]

COSTELLO: All right, we are still -- we are still awaiting Senator Ted Cruz to come out there in Borden, Indiana. There's a podium in there, the shot's on that sign, but Senator Ted Cruz is expected to come out at any time and talk about his partnership with John Kasich, to beat Ted Cruz.

Checking some other top stories for you at 56 minutes past. Authorities in Wisconsin are scrambling to find a motive after a teenager, suspected of opening fire on two students outside a high school prom, is gunned down and killed by police.

Police say 18-year old Jacob Wagner showed up at Antiago -- Antigo High School, armed with a rifle, and opened fire as students left the prom. Two students were wounded, both are expected to recover. Authorities say Wagner was a former student at the school.

Just last hour, a look into an extensive interview with one of the most secretive men in Washington. James Clapper, the Director of the National Intellig -- The National Intelligence Agency, appeared at the Monitor Breakfast in Washington; that's a tradition.

He was asked about some European allies, voicing concerns about the tough talk coming from some of the presidential candidates, especially Donald Trump. Here's how Clapper responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Once a president is inaugurated, and is in office, and has -- realizes the burden, and the responsibilities of the position, I think that has a tempering effect on anyone. And I think it will here, regardless of who's elected.

The only other comment I would make, I am struck with how simple things are on the campaign trail, and how those very same issues seem very -- are very hard in the confines of the Situation Room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, James Clapper there. Let's head back to Indiana. Senator Ted Cruz has taken the podium, let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're seeing Republicans uniting behind this campaign, coming together. Because the people of Indiana want a positive, optimistic, forward-looking campaign, based on positive, conservative solutions to the problems people are facing.

We recognize that the answer to the challenges in this country is not simply yelling and screaming, and cursing, and insulting everybody. But rather, real, concrete economic proposals to bring back jobs, to bring manufacturing jobs back to Indiana, to raise wages for working men and women, to expand opportunity for those who are struggling.

And the energy and momentum continues to grow. And I will also note that today marks 46 days since the last Republican debate, 46 days. A month-and-a-half. The Democrats have debated. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have showed the respect the voters are due, by subjecting themselves to the scrutiny of the voters. Indeed the Democrats are talking about scheduling a second debate. And yet, Donald Trump continues to cower in Trump Tower. To be afraid to defend his positions.

Once again, I invite Donald Trump, come to Indiana. Stand in front of the voters. Do a town hall with treal Hoosiers. Answer their questions, let's have a debate. A one-on-one debate, in front of the people of Indiana, a town hall, and answer the questions.

Donald is fond of telling everyone what a strong, tough man he is. Well he can demonstrate his strength.