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At This Hour
Official: Prince Had Opioids on Hi When He Died; Ted Cruz Press Conference; Comedian Larry Wilmore Hosting Correspondents Dinner. Aired 11:30-12p ET
Aired April 28, 2016 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:30:00] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Again, no one is suggesting that's specifically what happened here, but, John, one of the statistics that always drives me a little in the United States we consume 80 percent of the world's pain pills. We're 5 percent of the world's population. We take 80 percent of the world's pain pills in the United States, and we pay the price. Every 19 minutes or so, someone dies of an accidental overdose.
So it's a real concern. Again, there are plenty of people who have pain, take these very appropriately, and have no problems with it. But when you hear statistics like that, it's pretty mind-boggling.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's an amazing statistic. You have done interviews about it. I spoke to the surgeon general about this issue as well. It's really amazing that statistic you throw out there.
Sanjay, great to see you. Thank you so much.
GUPTA: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: Again, we await the results coming from the medical examiner, the toxicology report, still a couple weeks away.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're also waiting for a Ted Cruz news conference. What will he say about what John Boehner has been saying about him? We're looking at live pictures.
And beyond that, taking his comedy and satire from late night to the White House. Larry Wilmore, the big host of the big White House Correspondents Dinner. I had a chance to sit down with him, and he told me every joke he plans on telling.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:35:32] BOLDUAN: We want to take you straight to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina are speaking right now. Let's listen in.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- a conservative campaign based on solid policy solutions to the real problems facing this country, based on bringing jobs back to America, bringing manufacturing jobs back to Indiana, raising wages for the working men and women of this country. Yesterday, we made a major announcement that if I am the Republican
nominee, my vice presidential nominee will be Carly Fiorina. The reaction has been tremendously positive to that announcement. Carly is a remarkable leader, an incredibly successful business leader, who started as a secretary and climbed the corporate ladder to become the CEO of the largest technology company in the world, the first female CEO of a Fortune 20 company in history. Carly has spent her whole life shattering glass ceilings.
And in naming a vice presidential nominee that may well be the most solemn and serious decision any presidential candidate has. You look for someone who is prepared to do the job from day one. The most important job of a vice president is if the president is incapacitated, to be prepared to step in and lead the country, to be prepared to deal with the challenges facing America, the economic challenges, bringing jobs back to America. You want to nominate someone who has the knowledge both of our domestic economy and of the world to do the job, someone who has the judgment, someone who is measured and careful, not hot headed, not rash, not popping off at whatever the latest Twitter storm is, but instead, a serious leader we can trust to be commander-in-chief and keep this country safe. And you want someone with character. You want someone who is honest and trustworthy, who can be counted on to fulfill the promises made to the American people.
All of us are furious with politicians who say anything, who play a role, who play a part, who pretend on the campaign trail and then go to Washington and they become part of that same corrupt Washington system that enriches big business, enriches wall street, and leaves the working men and women of Indiana out in the cold. Enough of that already. We need, instead, leaders who will fight for the hard- working men and women of this country.
And I will tell you, you could not ask for a clearer contrast than the contrast between Carly and me on the one side as conservative-tested, trusted leaders that you can count on to fight for you versus on the other side Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Donald and Hillary are flip sides of the same coin. Hillary has made millions selling power and influence in Washington, and Donald has made billions buying politicians like Hillary Clinton. Hillary and Donald are the system. If you're fed up with the corruption of Washington, that's what so many Hoosiers, that's why so many Republicans, that's why so many Americans are uniting behind our campaign, because we want, instead, real solutions to the problems facing this country.
Carly?
CARLY FIORINA, (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER CEO, HEWLETT-PACKARD: Well, it's fantastic to be here in Indiana. Obviously, I was very humbled and honored to accept the Senator's offer to be his running mate yesterday. And it's very exciting as we barnstorm the state in the bus, back in the bus with the girls.
But I think, you know, he talked about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump being two sides of the same coin, part of the system. Boy, is that ever true. Boy, is that ever true. And all you got to do is look at the amount of money Donald Trump has given, whether it's to the DCCC or the John Boehner super PAC. He's bought off politicians all his life, and that system, that corrupt system of insiders and dealing and crony capitalism is why the people of America, the vast majority of the American people, 80 percent of us, have now concluded the federal government is incompetent and corrupt. It is. And that we have an insider system that works for some. It works for people like Donald Trump. He's big and powerful and wealthy and well connected, but it doesn't work for most of us.
[11:40:11] And so what you have here is a fearless fighter, who, as a conservative, understands that the thing that ails us is too much money and too much power concentrated in the hands of too few, and we need to put money and power back where it belongs, in citizens' hands, in communities' hands, and in the states.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Senator, number one, how do you and Ms. Fiorina combat the criticism you're hearing that this move is an act of desperation, and then part two, can you answer that after --
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: No.
(CROSSTALK))
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Part two is John Boehner is referring to you in the most miserable SOB he ever worked with, that you're Lucifer in the flesh. How do you square that with the necessity to pull together some of those establishment Republicans?
CRUZ: Let's start with the first point. It surprises precisely nobody that Donald Trump's response to my announcing Carly was to engage in insults. Listen, Donald, one of four things, he yells, screams, curses or insults. I suppose you could start a drinking game on which of the four Donald is going to start given to any stimulus. But the one he does most frequently, he insults anybody and everybody he encounters, so of course, he would scream desperate. That is Donald Trump. It's the only way he knows how to operate.
Yesterday, when we made the announcement, I gave the reasons why we made the announcement early. It's certainly unusual to make an early before the convention, but this is if anything an unusual presidential cycle.
And as I explained yesterday, the reason for making the announcement was several-fold. Number one, to unite the party. Our party is fractured right now. If we remain fractured, we will lose. Donald Trump keeps trying to divide the party, to tear us into bits. If we are fractured, we lose. If we unite we're going to win the nomination and more importantly we're going to win the general election and beat Hillary Clinton. I think Carly is a powerful leader to help unite this party and bring us all together.
But secondly, I think it's important for the people of Indiana, for the American people to know exactly what you're clear voice. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are virtually indistinguishable on policy issues across the field.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both have come out in support of raising taxes. I think the people of Indiana pay too much in taxes already. As president, I'm going to cut your taxes. We're going to adopt a simple flat tax and abolish the IRS. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both support the individual mandate in Obamacare. I think Obamacare is the biggest job killer in America and as president I'm going to repeal every word of Obamacare. And by the way, if you're concerned about jobs and economic growth, raising taxes individual mandate will kill small businesses and drive jobs overseas. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both support allowing illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. Donald would fly them home to their home countries first, then let them come back as U.S. citizens. As president, I will stop amnesty and secure the borders and end sanctuary cities. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on foreign policy both think we should be neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. As president, we will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both think we should keep this Iranian nuclear deal. Donald gave a speech yesterday saying we have to keep the deal, we have to keep our word. Well, that's what Hillary Clinton says, too. That's what big government liberals say. That's what people who do not understand the nature of Ayatollah Khomeini and Islamic terrorism say. I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal.
And if the Republican Party allows the choice in November to be a choice between two New York big government liberals, we will have failed the American people. We will have failed the American people badly because both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are Washington insiders. Indeed, Donald Trump's entire campaign like Hillary Clinton's run by Washington lobbyists. Donald's lobbyist campaign manager just last week told the top officials at the RNC that Donald was simply, quote, "that he doesn't mean anything that he's saying," that this is all fake, that he's a phony. We know Hillary Clinton is a phony. I suppose I'll give Donald's lobbyist campaign manager credit for candor. Normally people don't admit they're a phony until after the election. Donald is telling us he's lying to us.
[11:45:09] And so this announcement gives a clear contrast. You couldn't ask for a clearer contrast than the contrast between Carly and me on one side and Donald and Hillary on the other. And I think the people of Indiana want a positive, optimistic, conservative message going forward, a clear contrast. Donald and Hillary believe in more government is the solution to every problem. I think government is the problem, and, as president, I'm going to get the federal government off of your backs, off of small businesses' backs. We're going to bring back jobs, raise wages, expand opportunity, and we do that by getting government off of our backs.
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: No. Donald's attack is false. I know that's a shocking statement but, look, Donald -- there's a reason Donald wants everyone to think this race is over. You know, Donald strutted out to stage after the last election and declared himself the presumptive nominee. I know that act of humility was an astonishing thing from Donald. Donald wants this race to be a majority of the delegates who have been elected by the people. Donald had a good week. He had a good week in the northeast where he lives, and Donald is very worried because this race has shifted to much more favorable terrain. I think Indiana will be an entire country, and so Donald, sadly aided and abetted by media network executives who are all liberal Democrats, who are all rooting for Hillary, are quick to say that the race is over.
It's the same reason Donald won't debate, because he cannot defend his left-wing policy that is he agrees with Hillary Clinton on. Indeed, at the last debate we had, I asked Donald, name one instance in which you have ever stood up to Washington, ever in your life. Ever. You're nearly 70 years old. Point, one time, when you stood up to Washington. Donald could not point to a single instance in his life that he had ever stood up to Washington because Donald Trump is a Washington insider.
Washington is corrupt. Donald Trump is corrupt. Hillary Clinton is corrupt. They're all part of the same corrupt system of buying power and influence to get rich at your expense. It's the working men and women who get left out in the cold. Why do you think so many working men and women are seeing their wages held down? Because Washington is corrupt, and politicians like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sell us down the river. It's why people are angry.
Now, your second question was about John Boehner. John Boehner had some interesting comments last night. He actually didn't abbreviate what he said. He was a little bit more --
FIORINA: Paraphased.
CRUZ: -- expressive. He allowed his inner Trump to come out. I will say this, if you're wondering who actually has stood up to Washington, I think John Boehner has made it crystal clear. John Boehner, in his remarks, described Donald Trump as his texting and golfing buddy. So if you want someone that's a texting and golfing buddy, if with John Boehner, speaker of the House, and you want a president like John Boehner, Donald Trump is your man.
And by the way, Donald Trump gave John Boehner's super PAC $100,000 just a few years ago. Donald Trump has been funding John Boehner, and he's also been funding Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. If you like what John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid have done, Donald Trump is your guy.
But let me reveal a little bit about how Washington operates. You know, Boehner's comments, he said something like he's the worst SOB I have ever worked with, something like that.
FIORINA: Lucifer in the flesh.
CRUZ: Well, there was that, too.
But the interesting thing is he said that I've ever worked with him. I have never worked with John Boehner. Truth of the matter is, I don't know the man. I have met John Boehner two or three times in my life. If I have said 50 words in my life to John Boehner, I'd be surprised, and every one of them has consisted of pleasantries, good to see you, Mr. Speaker. I have never had a substantive conversation with John Boehner in any respect. And, indeed, this is something that's not publicly known, during the government shutdown, I reached out to John Boehner, and offered for Mike Lee and me to come over and work with the speaker. Can we resolve this and actually get something meaningful done to stop the disaster that is Obamacare? John Boehner's response was, I have no interest in talking to you. What possibly could be accomplished by having a conversation? No, I will not meet. So when he says that I'm the worst guy he's ever worked with, he's never worked with me.
[11:50:13] The thing to understand about Washington -- actually, Boehner's reveal everything that's wrong with Washington, everything you are angry with. When John Boehner calls me Lucifer, he's not directing that at me. He's directing that at you. What Boehner is angry with me for is not anything I said to him. I haven't said much of anything. What Boehner is angry with me for is standing with the American people, is energizing and encouraging House conservatives to stand with the American people and actually honor the commitments we have made. What Boehner is angry with is that conservatives said if we promise to repeal Obamacare, let's actually stand up and fight Obamacare. What Boehner is angry with is we said if we promise to stop amnesty, let's actually honor our promises and stop amnesty. What Boehner is angry with we said if we promise to stop --
BOLDUAN: Right there you are hearing Ted Cruz respond, shall we say, to what we heard from John Boehner coming out this morning. Ted Cruz saying, if you want a president like John Boehner, Donald Trump is your man.
BERMAN: He is not calling you Lucifer, he said, he is calling you, the voters, all Lucifer.
Interesting.
BOLDUAN: Ted Cruz embracing the comments, it seems, and trying to get them to work in his favor as he rushes towards this crucial primary in Indiana. So he campaigns against Washington.
Here is another thing about Washington that we know. We are just two days away from the White House Correspondents Dinner, one of Washington's most fabulous events, filled with self-proclaimed fabulous people from the world of politics, journalism and entertainment.
BERMAN: Kate will be there and I will not.
I did, however, sit down with one of the most important players of the evening, Larry Wilmore, host of the nightly show and who will be the host of this big event. He confessed to me to being nervous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY WILMORE, COMEDIAN: This is true. They were facing Andrew Jackson who was a notoriously pro-slavery president as well as most blood thirsty racist in the Jackson Five. (LAUGHTER)
BERMAN (voice-over): Larry Wilmore knows it is easier to win the nightly show crowd than woo what could be the fiercest, most fickle audience in showbiz/Washington.
WILMORE: It is the most narcissistic room, journalists, politicians and Hollywood, and the president. There you go. That room could explode just on alone.
(CHEERING)
BERMAN: When it comes to the White House correspondence dinner, the explosion is worth the risk.
WILMORE: Something that I really wanted to do, and if I did it, I really did want to do it for this president. And I thought the time might have expired for that. So to sneak in there at the end was very cool.
What's happening, everybody?
BERMAN: The last such dinner for the first black president starring an African-American comic.
WILMORE: Let's be clear about what black face actually is.
BERMAN: Wilmore knows it is historic.
(on camera): You say you like the president but you say you didn't support him because of his policies.
WILMORE: Correct.
BERMAN: You supported him because he was black.
WILMORE: Because of the policy that he is black.
BERMAN: How has he delivered it?
WILMORE: I think he has been excellent at it. I think he has actually increased the policy of blackness over the past year and a half. He has released the black in him.
BERMAN (voice-over): A classic answer from the 54-year-old comic, both deliberately funny and deadly serious.
WILMORE: If it feels like "The Nightly Show" is getting repetitive I agree. My writing staff just has to fill in the names.
(LAUGHTER)
They barely show up to work anymore.
BERMAN: 15 months after taking over the time slot on Comedy Central vacated by Stephen Colbert -- WILMORE: How are you doing?
(CHEERING)
BERMAN: -- "The New York Times" says Wilmore is less preoccupied with humor than anyone else.
WILMORE: Sometimes I'm not afraid to have to provide some goodness in a moment and to tell a story and to find humanity in a story and get comedy out of that.
It appears that officers began the cover up of the death.
When you are covering a story about a man getting shot in the back by a cop, there is nothing funny in that. How do you cover something like that?
How many murders aren't caught on camera?
People got their panties in a bunch.
BERMAN: He applies that "sometimes frank, sometimes funny" take to his views about the election, which are admittedly liberal.
(on camera): Would you say trends left, trends more pro Democratic policies?
WILMORE: I would say probably, especially with the issues that we tend to take on, because a lot of them are cultural issues and that sort of thing.
BERMAN: I won't to throw out a candidate's name. I want to know if you have a first impression or a word that you associate.
WILMORE: OK.
BERMAN: I say Bernie Sanders. You say?
WILMORE: I say scrappy.
BERMAN: I say Ted Cruz. You say?
WILMORE: I say creepy.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: I say Hillary Clinton.
[11:55:11] WILMORE: Hillary Clinton? I say trying to find it.
BERMAN: John Kasich?
WILMORE: John Kasich, I'd say -- Oh, man.
BERMAN: This is the problem with John Kasich right now. People are struggling. WILMORE: That is the problem.
BERMAN: Donald Trump?
WILMORE: Donald Trump, unbelievable. In every way.
Black people supporting Trump?
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN (voice-over): When it comes to correspondence dinner he is promising all jokes delivered with the skill and experience of more than 20 years acting, writing and producing on shows ranging from "In Living Color" to "The Bernie Mack Show" --
WILMORE: I have a job.
BERMAN: -- to starring as senior black correspondent on "The Daily Show."
JON STEWART, FORMER HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Larry, what do you say to those people?
WILMORE: I don't know, John. I would say they should probably go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) themselves
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: And this weekend, all targets are fair game.
WILMORE: Take a look at the whole Obama/Saudi Arabia thing.
BERMAN: Including or especially the president.
(on camera): No free pass because it's his last dinner.
WILMORE: I have to keep it. This is the last dinner. What are they going to do? Not enough time to sick the IRS after me. Maybe I shouldn't say that on TV.
But that is part of the fun. It is all good natured fun.
BERMAN (voice-over): The hardest part, he says, having to follow the president on stage, a president now experienced at telling jokes.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And Donald Trump is here. Still.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN (on camera): Do you think you will laugh at him or try not to laugh?
WILMORE: I will completely laugh. No, no, no. I will be a big great audience. It will help me to not be so nervous. You get rid of that air. (LAUGHTER)
That's funny, Mr. President.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Join me on Saturday night for CNN's live coverage of the White House Correspondents Dinner. It begins at 7:00 p.m. I will be here with my mom. Seriously.
BOLDUAN: Seriously.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, A.C. 360: And this is what he looked like when you first went in?
GLORIA VANDERBILT, MOTHER OF ANDERSON COOPER: Well, it's a terrible photograph of him. But he was 63 when I first met him and married him.
COOPER: And was there something, as soon as you saw him, and thought --
VANDERBILT: Instant.
COOPER: Really?
VANDERBILT: I knew him for a week and we married three weeks later.
COOPER: Really?
VANDERBILT: Yes.
COOPER: I didn't know that.
VANDERBILT: Yes.
COOPER: How old were you?
VANDERBILT: 20.
COOPER: You were 20?
VANDERBILT: Yeah.
COOPER: And he was 63?
VANDERBILT: Yeah.
COOPER: Wow.
Did any of your friends think it was weird?
VANDERBILT: I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
VANDERBILT: Didn't matter to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Exactly right. That was Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, talking about her second husband, the conductor, Leopold Stokowski.
BERMAN: This is just one of the many fascinating revelations unearthed by Anderson in his new book and his new documentary, "Nothing Left Unsaid."
Anderson is with us right now.
Thanks for coming in.
COOPER: Yeah, thanks for having me.
BERMAN: Obviously, you have known your mother literally longer than anyone else.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: That's true.
BERMAN: Sitting down to do this, was there anything you learned that surprised you?
COOPER: There was a lot I didn't know about her life. My mom never talked much about her life. She experienced a lot of tragedies. A lot of this was uncovering her past. I hope it encourage people to do the same with their parents before it's too late.
BOLDUAN: But sitting down, I mean, it's a daunting task to take on. You sit down for the first interview with your mom and you have this kind of awkward like, what do we do. How do you start that conversation?
COOPER: You start off gently and listen a lot. My mom is very open. She is the most open, honest person I know. She is 92. She's the most youthful, optimistic person I know. That, I think, comes out in the film.
BERMAN: Awkward at all?
COOPER: No. Some things you -- like, my mom dated Marlon Brando and Howard Hughes and Frank Sinatra and stuff, so some of that is weird to hear.
BERMAN: It's impressive.
BOLDUAN: Right.
COOPER: But it's weird to hear about your mom's dating life, to learn it is more interesting than your own.
(LAUGHTER)
But she is very honest. When you're going to do a film like this, you want it to be honest. And that's the way we did it.
BOLDUAN: If anyone -- working with you, everyone knows, you're a very private person.
COOPER: Yeah.
