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Voters Hit Polls in Five States; Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Pennsylvania Primary; U.S. Moves F-22s. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired April 26, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:34:07] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Hillary Clinton poised to win big today. And if she does, she will sharply refocus her campaign. Clinton will increasingly take on Donald Trump. And she gave us a hint of how she'll exactly do that by painting Trump as an out of touch rich guy.
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HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You don't just fly that big jet in and land it and go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of and then go back, get on that big jet and go back, you know, your country clubhouse in Florida or your penthouse in New York.
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COSTELLO: But Clinton's not exactly looking for loose change between the couch cushions. According to her tax return, she and Bill Clinton earned over $28 million in 2014. So is this the best way to take on the GOP frontrunner?
With me now is Connecticut senator and Hillary Clinton supporter, Richard Blumenthal.
Welcome, sir.
[09:35:01] SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. First of all, how do you think the state of Connecticut will go?
BLUMENTHAL: I think what Connecticut wants and what the country wants is somebody who gets results and achieves things and that's what Hillary Clinton will do. She knows what it takes to accomplish things, whether it's gun violence prevention or creating jobs and economic growth. So important to the country. And I think Bernie Sanders deserves a lot of credit for bringing into the electorate a lot of folks who otherwise might feel alienated and uninvolved. And I've stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the senate fighting for many of the causes he's espoused during this campaign, whether preserving Social Security or pay equity. But at the end of the day, and in Connecticut today, I think what will happen is a victory for Hillary Clinton because she is on the side of working men and women, ordinary families.
COSTELLO: OK. Along those lines, you heard the sound bite that I played of Hillary Clinton attacking Donald Trump and his big jet. The thing is, though, Trump is connecting with blue collar whites, much more so than Mrs. Clinton is. Is this really the best way to attack Trump?
BLUMENTHAL: As we come together, and I really believe we will come together after the primary season is over, because the supporters of Bernie Sanders really are committed to working families and ordinary men and women, more and more, they will see that Donald Trump really isn't on their side. He's not fighting for them. And Hillary Clinton is a change maker. She gets results. And on issues like creating jobs and accomplishing more to return manufacturing to the places where it has ceased to have been.
COSTELLO: But -- but Trump -- Trump supporters would say they like the fact that he is a successful businessman and that because he's a successful businessman, that will enable him to create jobs.
BLUMENTHAL: Not all business people are necessarily good governors. And what's needed now is someone who can get results in Washington, D.C., break the gridlock and the partisan paralysis, reach across the aisle to members of the other party, as I try to do every day. And we've tried to do, for example, to help our veterans, and hopefully have a new veteran's measure to increase their health benefits and other essential things that I believe Hillary Clinton is committed to do as well. And on issues like gun control --
COSTELLO: So -- so -- but let me ask -- let me ask you this, though, because Hillary Clinton is a polarizing figure, right, especially among Republicans. So do you really think she'll be able to reach across the aisle and get things done if she becomes president of the United States?
BLUMENTHAL: Very definitely. In fact, when she was in the Senate, that's exactly what she did. And members of the Senate on the Republican side --
COSTELLO: It was such a different time then. It's so much different and so much more partisan now than it was then.
BLUMENTHAL: I've been in state government, as state attorney general, fighting for the people of Connecticut, and I know what it takes is what Hillary Clinton has, which is the ability to focus on issues, on specific challenges, like creating jobs and gun violence prevention and campaign finance reform, tax reform, immigration reform. She's a change maker. And she knows how to get things done. Whether you agree or disagree with her, you can have an honest conversation. And I've known her since we were in law school together almost 40 years ago. We were in the same class, along with Bill Clinton. And she has always focused on results, getting things done. And that's where I think her strength is. That's why I think she'll prevail today and in the general election. COSTELLO: All right, Senator Richard Blumenthal, thanks for stopping
by. I appreciate it.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the polls in Pittsburgh now open. So exactly who are the rust belt voters backing? Jason Carroll's finding out.
Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, voters are weighing in on a number of issues, who's the best person to improve the economy and bring jobs back to the state of Pennsylvania? And do voters think of that deal between Kasich and Cruz? I'll have the details coming up.
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[09:43:32] COSTELLO: Pittsburgh, home of the terrible towel, the Roethlisberger (ph), not the quarterback, the sandwich, and a thriving tech industry, Pittsburgh has reinvented itself after the steel industry collapsed. But voters aren't forgetting how hard things were in those days. Could that play a big role in who they back today? CNN's Jason Carroll is in Pittsburgh with more.
Good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
How hard things were, and still are in some parts of the state. Right now we're in Mount Lebanon. It's an affluent suburb just about a few miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. It's an area that's traditionally Republican, but we're told a few democrats have moved into the area and it's starting to lean Democratic.
This man is not one of those people. This is John Day.
Good morning to you, John. You have decided to cast your vote for John Kasich. Tell me about the decision-making process behind that.
PAUL DAY, VOTER: Well, Mr. Kasich has done wonders in Ohio. He is a politician. He's worked with -- in Congress and in Washington. And it's really -- this vote is my conscience. I have to vote for him because I'm really kind of, first of all I don't --
CARROLL: You're making a face. Why -- why are you making -- why are you making that?
DAY: Well, I'm not sure the two other leading candidates can deliver on what they promise. And I don't want them to deliver on some of the things they promise. You have to compromise in Washington and --
CARROLL: Now you were also telling me that your -- you know, you're voting for Kasich but you don't believe he can go all the way.
[09:45:03] DAY: No, I don't, but this buys me my conscience sometime till November.
CARROLL: Now, tell me what do you think of this deal between Kasich and Cruz to stop Trump. What do you make of it?
DAY: It's interesting. If it works, if it works, I -- I'd be surprised if Trump will not get the nomination. And if he doesn't, he probably might just run as an independent write in and he'll pull votes.
CARROLL: Trump polling very well here in this state. Kasich, the hometown native son, not polling as well. Why do you think that is?
DAY: Oh, I think Trump and Cruz have had so much more coverage, and I'm sure they're better funded. But, you know, that's one of those things. I mean --
CARROLL: Gotcha.
DAY: The media is definitely following the show, and the show is Trump and Cruz on the Republican side, mostly.
CARROLL: All right, I want to thank you very much, Paul.
DAY: All right.
CARROLL: Thanks very much for joining us.
DAY: Yes.
CARROLL: Good luck to you. Thank you very much again.
Again, when it comes to the race in general, Clinton on the other side way ahead in the polls when it comes to that 189 delegates up for grabs on the Republican side. As you know, Carol, 71 delegates up for grabs, 54 of those are unbound, which basically means they can end up voting for whomever they want. The Trump campaign doing everything it can to improve its ground game here to make sure that those delegates are loyal to Trump.
Carol.
COSTELLO: Jason Carroll reporting live from Pittsburgh this morning. Thank you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, officially these F-22s on a training mission, but is it sending an unofficial message to Russia?
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[09:51:10] COSTELLO: For the first time, two $400 million American fighter jets land at a U.S. base in Romania. That's just a quick hop away from Russian territory. The F-22 deployment is officially part of a training exercise, but it also comes just two weeks after several Russian jets buzzed within feet of U.S. warships in the Baltic Sea. CNN's senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward live in Romania with more on this.
Hi, Clarissa.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, we are here on the Black Sea. This is an area that is becoming
one of the most heavily militarized and hotly contested since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. And with Russia planning to spend more than $2 billion on modernizing its Black Sea fleet before 2020, that's unlikely to change anytime soon. Take a look.
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WARD (voice-over): These Air Force pilots are preparing for a unique mission. They will be accompanying two U.S. fighter jets to Romania, a NATO ally on the Black Sea. It will be the first time America's fearsome F-22 raptor has landed there. An opportunity for the U.S. to show it is bolstering NATO defenses on Russia's doorstep. Flying one of the two is Squadron Commander Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lehosk. He explained what makes the F-22 special.
LT. COLONEL DANIEL LEHOSK, U.S. AIR FORCE: A combination of stealth, super cruise, increased situational awareness that the aircraft provides us, which all that adds up to a unique asymmetric advantage on the battlefield.
WARD (on camera): So basically you're saying this is the best fighter jet in the world?
LEHOSK: The aircraft is truly incredible and it is indeed the best fighter aircraft in the world.
WARD (voice-over): The technology is so advanced that Congress has banned their sale overseas. En route to Romania, the jets must regularly be refueled, a delicate balancing act we got to see close up. A nozzle, called a boom, is lowered from the tanker. The jet then moves into place directly below it and the gas starts pumping.
WARD (on camera): Officially, this is a training exercise to move U.S. fighter jets from a fixed space to a forwarding operating base, but it's the symbolism that is important here. This is intended as a show of force to an increasingly assertive Russia.
WARD (voice-over): Earlier this month, Russian jets repeatedly buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea, in maneuvers the U.S. called provocative and aggressive. Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has steadily built up its military footprint on the Black Sea, unnerving many NATO allies in the region. As Romanian Air Force Chief of Staff Laurian Anastasof told us.
LAURIAN ANASTASOF, ROMANIAN AIR FORCE CHIEF OF STAFF: Increasing the air activities, they're increasing their missions, they're increasing the training. These are the things that we are seeing every single day. So we need to get ready for what's going to be. That's my major concern, how it get ready for what's going to be next.
WARD: And like many here, he hopes that the U.S. will continue its commitment to its NATO allies whatever tomorrow may bring.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WARD: And, of course, the Russians see this very differently, carol. They see NATO as the aggressors pushing up against Russian borders. They have warned before that the situation here in the Black Sea is getting, quote, "very dangerous." So it will be interesting to see how Russia reacts to this latest move.
Carol.
COSTELLO: Clarissa Ward reporting live from Romania this morning. Thank you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, millions of Americans in the Midwest and in the south bracing for scenes like this one as severe weather threatens to spawn tornado and hail.
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[09:59:10] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories at 59 minutes past. Dangerous weather heading to the Midwest and southern United States and it could spawn strong tornadoes and baseball-sized hail in some areas. Millions of people could be affected with the threat beginning this afternoon and lasting well into the night.
A man who claims Dennis Hastert sexually abused him has filed a nearly $2 million lawsuit claiming the former House speaker promised him hush money but never paid up. Hastert has not been charged with sexual abuse, but he did plead guilty to structuring withdrawals for that hush money to avoid reporting it to the feds. Hastert is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lyin' Ted announced that he can't win by himself.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you don't want to see Donald Trump as the nominee, if you don't want to see Hillary Clinton as the next president, then I ask you to join us.
TRUMP: So he said, let me form a partnership.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now I don't tell voters what to do. It's up to them.
I'd like to see an open convention. Ted Cruz would like to see an open convention.
