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Former California Governor Endorses Cruz; Clinton, Trump Pivot to General Election; Rust Belt Voters Split on Who Should be President; Indiana Primary Could Decide GOP Nominee; Trump Likely Correspondents' Dinner's Easiest Target; Kenya Sends Message to Poachers. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 30, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:17] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Pamela Brown in for Poppy Harlow on this Saturday. Great to have you along with us.

Well, two endorsements from two governors in just two days. Ted Cruz is drumming up support both California and Indiana. Ahead of those two crucial primaries, just last hour, former California Governor Pete Wilson, surprised supporters at the California state Republican convention with a Cruz endorsement. And then on Friday, Indiana Governor Mike Pence announced his support, and now that Donald Trump has breached 1,000 delegates, Cruz needs a win more than ever before.

CNN's Jason Carroll joins us now from the convention. So, Jason, what was Cruz's message today?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, part of that message was not to go down the path as he called it of yelling and screaming. He was telling those who came out here to the state convention that he is the candidate that can unite the people and move forward. Being started off as you said with the former Governor Pete Wilson coming to the stage of making the introduction giving his endorsement for Ted Cruz. Then much of what we've heard in his speech here was much of what you would here on a typical Cruz stump speech, quite frankly.

But then he went on to say that California, that California voters would be the one who would eventually choose the nominee that California at this point is in a crossroads. He also talked about why he decided to choose his running mate, Carly Fiorina, so early as you know. Donald Trump made light of the situation saying he's a man who does not have the path to the nomination and yet he is already going out choosing a running mate, well, he spoke about why he did just that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the contrast could not be clearer between Carly and me on the one side, a positive optimistic, forward looking, conservative campaign based on real policy solutions to the challenges facing this country versus on the other side, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are flip sides of the same coin. Both of them support the same policy issues. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald support massive tax increases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Now, as you know, many of these candidates know that this is basically an election about being anti-establishment. Cruz calling both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Washington insiders, but as you know, you can't have it both ways. You can't talk about the endorsements of people like a former governor of California, the governor of Indiana, the governor of Wisconsin, all of them arguably insiders, and then talk about people being outside of Washington cannot have it both ways. What Cruz has to do at the end of the day is reach those Trump supporters. He was able to, you know, continue to get support from those who support him here to the end of the speech, Pamela, many of those who spoke to said, look, we thought he did what he needed to do here, but in terms of reaching those Trump supporters, he's got a ways to go -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right. We'll going to leave it there. Jason Carroll, thank you very much for that.

In the frontrunners, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, are pivoting toward the November general election. It seems even though neither one of them has locked down the party's nomination just yet. Trump is tossing out sharp digs of Clinton accusing her of playing the woman card and calling her crooked Hillary, Clinton says, she had plenty of experience with men who go at the reservation like Trump and she could care less about the name calling.

Let's talk it over with CNN politics reporter MJ Lee. New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow.

Charles, you wrote that basically if Clinton lacks enthusiasm among her fans, that lack is likely to be more than made up for right voters enthusiasm for anyone but the real estate developer. So, Charles, is this a race to see who can be the least unpopular candidate at this point?

CHARLES BLOW, OPINION COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, they do have, they both have very high unfavorable ratings, no doubt, but Trump is a bit higher than hers, and when -- in every poll that produces a head- to-head matchup with her or even for that Bernie Sanders, with that him or even for that matter Bernie Sanders, Trump loses. He, you know, his negatives are horrible in the worst sorts of ways because horrible among women who make up a majority of the electorate, they're horrible among minorities who are crucial in swing states, and it's really hard to see how he wins even with Hillary Clinton who has these really high unfavorable numbers.

What you have to remember is in the swing states, there were 12 of them in 2012, maybe there will be more or depending on, you know, if any are thrown into play, but the math has pretty much says, so you have those 12 states, and of that state, you really have about four or five that are truly, truly, truly up for grabs, and you only have the swing by five, you know, already had to win by one vote. But you know, three to five percentage points is what they end up swinging by, and if you lose, you know, three to five percent of women or enough of the minority vote that was in that Republican camp to begin with, you already lost.

[17:05:28] BROWN: Well, there's been so much focus on that, particularly in the wake of these comments, that Donald Trump made this weekend, Jay, about Hillary Clinton playing the woman card. It is really in a sense leaving him a target of many Clinton supporters, but I'm just curious, from your reporting talking to voters, does Trump history of promoting women and business particularly his daughter's primary role as a businesswoman counter balance this among female voters, counter balance this rhetoric that some women find offensive?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, look, there's no question that Donald Trump has a problem with women and now he's perceived by women, and I don't think it's helped the way that he have conducted himself throughout this presidential campaign whether it's going after Carly Fiorina or making questionable comments about Megyn Kelly. But, look, there's also when you look at his supporters, these are also voters who are very devoted to him and very loyal to him. And I think when he goes out there like he did this week and says, look, there's Hillary Clinton playing the woman card.

All she has going for her is that she's a woman, she's only, you know, so high up in the polls because she's a woman. I think we have to watch and see how that actually played and how would actually that play out in a general election. It's also clear that for Hillary Clinton, her goal, you know, looking ahead in November is to make sure she's portraying him as someone who is not afraid to make sexist comments, as someone who, you know, doesn't mind saying inflammatory things about our racial minority groups.

BROWN: And Donald Trump, it seems, Charles, maybe ready to lift a few moves from Clinton's rival, Senator Bernie Sanders. Listen to what he told MSNBC. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bernie Sanders has a message that's interesting. I'm going to be taking a lot of the things that Bernie said and using them, I can reread some of his speeches. I can get some very good material.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, Charles, what does Clinton need or want from Bernie Sanders right now to help her unify Democrats for a general election race?

BLOW: Well, he first has to stop running. I mean, and he has shown no signs if he wants to do that, even though it looks like that she will end up locking down the nomination, but until he stops running, which would be the best thing for her, you know, she has to take it one step at a time. There's one statistic I show in a Pew Research report that shows just how damaging this race has been for the Democrats. It shows that the Democrats' confidence in the primary system was down 22 percent from 2008, and that was a very contentious election, but people still believed in the process. I think that a lot of those voters are basically turned off, and they

made, in fact, stay home even if they are kind of offended by Donald Trump, and that is the biggest thing that Hillary Clinton needs from Bernie Sanders is to figure out how they can repair the damage that has been done to the Democratic apparatus itself, and that people will invest in the system and not believe that the entire system is corrupt and is not therefore deserving of their time, energy, and effort to go out and vote, and if they can't turn that round, then I think Trump has a bit more of a chance.

BROWN: And I just want to look ahead MJ to you, to the Indiana primary because Ted Cruz himself has said, look, this could be make or break for me. If I win, this could pave the path forward to a contested convention, if I lose, this could be it. What does this mean for Trump?

LEE: Yes. There's so much riding on the Indiana race, even more so because of how well Donald Trump performed on Tuesday. I think we all expected him to do quite well in all the five contests, but the fact that he overwhelmingly won in those states was bad news for Cruz and Kasich, and you're right, Cruz and his campaign are making it clear that Indiana really is, you know, make or break for Ted Cruz because he needs to peel away as many delegates as he can from Donald Trump. And, look, the race likely is going to go all the way to California, but, you know, how well Cruz is able to do in Indiana will determine just how good a chance Donald Trump has when he gets to California in actually reaching that magic number of 1237 delegates, and really clinching the Republican nomination before the summer convention.

BROWN: And it was really interesting very quickly that when you look at the last primaries, it seemed as though Trump was sort of expanding his base among voters. What's behind that, MJ? What have you found?

LEE: Look, some of that might be that a lot of people see that he clearly is the Republican frontrunner as he continues to a massive delegates, I think a lot of people who have sort of been sitting on the sidelines now consider him to be someone who can win. As you know very well from the beginning when Donald Trump got into this race, there were a lot of skeptics, including folks in the media, folks in the Republican Party, and now that, you know, we are back to go into the month of May and he is really the only one with the possibility of even getting the nomination. I think all of that has caught a lot of people by surprise, and when I've gone out and talked to people and voters and his supporters, there's a lot of enthusiasm right now at just the fact he really could become the Republican nominee in a matter of a few months.

BROWN: All right. MJ Lee, Charles Blow, stay right where you are. Much more to discuss. And we have a programming note, Ted Cruz is Jay Tapper's guest on State of the Union and he's also going to have an exclusive interview with Hillary Clinton. We'll look for that tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And just ahead this hour, it could all come down to this, why Indiana could either hand the nomination to Donald Trump or send the Republican race to a contested convention. Plus, who exactly are the Trump voters? We'll going to head to the

red and the blue Rust Belt where voters in this part of the country are shaking up the 2016 race.

Plus, comedian-in-chief, President Obama polishes his jokes for his final White House Correspondents dinner. Will he get the last laugh on Donald Trump?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. See what we got up there.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:10:06] BROWN: Well, CNN politics spent time in the economically downtrodden Rust Belt states of New York City, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and we interviewed more than 30 voters who say they want to give the political system a jolt this year.

MJ Lee gives us an overview of what they found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: What started out in bustling New York, and then we drove West Erie, Pennsylvania, and then we stopped Youngstown, Ohio. We wanted to see different part the of the Rust Belt areas that once needs to be manufacturing hubs. We wanted to find out how the people are bearing and also how they are thinking about the upcoming presidential election. I think a lot of people, when they think about the Rust Belt, they think about buildings like this. Abandoned factories, steel mills that has been closed for decades, people who have been here since the manufacturing boom, they seen their cities change and adapt to the fact that manufacturing really has taken a decline.

I think it's very important to talk to people in the Rust Belt, people who have been through hard times, but there are also people who are really, really hopeful, and I think we've heard those perspectives. There are people all across the Rust Belt who only have voted for Democratic candidates in the past and now they are feeling and pleased by Donald Trump, for example. They don't really feel like they are beholden to a certain party. When they look forward to the 2016 general election, if they were Obama supporters, for example, 2008 and 2012, they might change their minds now about the Democratic Party.

There are a lot of undecided voters here. I think any politician that is coming through any of the Rust Belt cities, the important thing for them to keep in mind is that these people, what they care about the most is whether they can put food on the table and whether their children are able to go to college and have a good education. They are looking for a hopeful but also realistic message from the candidates that they are potentially going to help elect to be the next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And back with me now, MJ Lee in Washington and Charles Blow in New York, great report there, MJ, such an important perspective to understand sort of what's behind these voters' thinking. What's the most common that you interview them, this Rust Belt voters who are so critical in many ways?

LEE: Well, I think going to cities in the Rust Belt was especially enlightening in terms of understanding this phenomenon of Donald Trump and this phenomena of Bernie Sanders. As we were talking about a few moments ago, someone like Donald Trump, I think a lot of us were caught by surprise at how well he has been doing, the fact that he has become the Republican nominee rather, and the same with Bernie Sanders, is just how much of a real competition he has been able to give Hillary Clinton, both of them are anti-establishment candidates. Both are candidates that I think in the beginning were very much underestimated, but you talk to these people, especially in areas that are economically sort of suffering in places where people feel a little hopeless and feel like the federal government is not giving them a lot of help. And I think they look at candidates like Trump and like Sanders, and they hear what they are saying, they hear their lofty rhetoric, and they want to feel hopeful. They want to feel like, maybe if I vote for these candidates, I can feel a bit of a change in my life for the better.

BROWN: And let's take a listen to what some of these voters told you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When it comes to politics, the discussion ultimately gets about around Donald Trump and across the board people are saying, he's got it right, I'm voting for him. And that's what scares them because he's not a political guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just hope that whoever gets in is pro-growth and creates jobs. People are concerned about jobs. You know, GE announced a big layoff here, you heard 1500 people, so that's very, very -- it's not the unemployment as much as the underemployment.

LEE: You don't think anyone can help you, any president can help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to help myself. They ain't going to give me no job, they're not going to feed, they're not going to clothe me. They will not going to do anything for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So Charles, I want to go to you, because when you look at the landscape from these past primaries, Trump won Pennsylvania, Kasich won Ohio. Right now, obviously we are awaiting for the Indiana primary, but Cruz is ahead in some polls. Does this mean that there is no sort of golden ticket to winning the Rust Belt? What does that say to you?

BLOW: Well, maybe not a golden ticket to winning the Rust Belt, but I think that there is a particular phenomenon that is happening in those particular parts of America where people feel completely skipped over by, you know, the progress in the United States to kind of bounce back from the great recession. One thing that, you know, that was curious to me, that I looked at the three cities that MJ visited, and they are -- one of them is actually in Appalachia, two counties that border Appalachia. Obama's performance in Appalachia was abysmal. He won I think, like 44 percent of all of the states, counties in Appalachia, he was less than any than two prior Democratic candidates had ever won.

[17:20:34] So, that landscape is already difficult for Democrats, and you add on top of that the pain that people are feeling, having not rebounded from the great depression in the same way that other parts of the country have, and I think that landscape becomes a very tricky, troubling area for Democrats to hold. And I think that they are -- or any kind of establishment candidate because I think that people are kind of generally upset with government and with the establishment and whether or not it is working for them, and so into that you can sweep a candidate like a Donald Trump or even a candidate like Bernie Sanders, someone who speaks to a different reality that we can have if you just follow me and trust me. And I think that is what is happening in those areas.

BROWN: Very interesting. MJ Lee, Charles Blow, thank you so much for that. And if you want to see more of MJ's interview. Let's go to CNN.com and click on Politics. Thank you, both.

Meantime, Donald Trump is eating up votes, crossing the 1,000 delegate mark this week. But if you look at the popular vote numbers, he still has some work to do. The latest count shows Clinton with more than 12 million total primary and caucus votes and Trump with over two million. We'll dive deeper up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:31] BROWN: Well, Donald Trump says he'll break the record for the most primary votes of any GOP candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to hopefully close this thing out fairly soon. I think that, you know, now that we've cracked the 1,000 number, this coming week, we break the all-time record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But the numbers also show where his campaign needs some work if he wants to make it in the general election.

Our Tom Foreman has more.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Trump could prove to be a record- breaker in this GOP primary season. He already has roughly 10.1 million votes cast for him in all the primaries and caucuses, and they are only about 80 percent done. That compares very favorably to the total primary caucus vote for some other recent contenders. Mitt Romney for example had 10.1 million votes. John McCain 9.9 million votes, and George W. Bush, 12.6 million votes. That's more, yes. But by the time the season is done, Trump very well could hit that number.

Granted, everyone here had a lot of people running against them when they started their campaign campaigns, but in the case of these three, the most robust competition dropped off earlier than it has against Donald Trump. So, you can argue that he's actually won these votes, while fighting longer and harder to -- pack of contenders. He does however have to bring over a lot more support if he's going to go in the general election if he becomes the nominee.

Look at this, yes, he has 10 million or so votes out there so far, but Ted Cruz has almost seven million. John Kasich more than 3.5 million, and all the others combined, almost five million. Wrap that all together, and what you have is more than 15 million people who have voted in the Republican primary caucus process who do not support Donald Trump. If he really wants to become the nominee and wants to make history, he's going to have an awful lot of those people up into his camp.

BROWN: Well, 1237 is the magic number the Republicans are laser focused on. So, will Indiana, a state that is rarely has so much influence play the largest role yet in determining the GOP nominee? We'll break it down up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:55] BROWN: America's choice 2016, and we're counting down to Tuesday's big presidential primary in Indiana. Senator Ted Cruz hoping to lock down the state and keep fuelling his campaign, but he hinted in a FOX News town hall that Indiana will call the nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R)-TX, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It gives me great comfort that --

(APPLAUSE)

CRUZ: -- that this primary is going to be decided by the Midwestern common sense of the Hoosier state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Here now, Michael Toner, in Washington, CNN delegate analyst and former council for the Republican National Committee.

Michael, thanks for coming on.

We heard Cruz say Indiana is make it-or-break it for him, in particular. Can he do it?

MICHAEL TONER, CNN DELEGATE ANALYST: Well, Indiana is critical. I think there's two states as we look in the next 10 days that are pivotal for Senator Cruz. One Indiana because 30 delegates are awarded to the statewide winner in Indiana. So that's a pot of delegates there that Cruz could pick up. Then the following Tuesday, Nebraska, 36 delegates, again, winner-take-all fashion. That's 66 delegates combined that are out there for Cruz or Trump to win. You know, Donald Trump gained about 100 delegates on Ted Cruz Tuesday night, so in the next 10 days, we'll see if Cruz can essentially close the gap by about two-thirds in the two states.

BROWN: But what if he loses? Hypothetically, if he loses, if Cruz can't win Indiana, does he go to the convention hoping it's a contested convention? At this point, that's really, as he admitted, his only hope of preventing Trump from getting to that 1,237.

TONER: This is a two-dimensional chess board. You have the political side of things and the mathematical side of things. Mathematically, it goes to California. There's 117 delegates that will be awarded in California. Nobody can go over the top -- Donald Trump can't go over the top, the magic number, until California.

But there's also no question, politically, it would be very, very difficult for Senator Cruz, if he's not able to win Indiana and Nebraska, because that gives him the chance here in the next 10 days to really start cutting down that deficit delegate that he's facing right now.

BROWN: And we know that Cruz picked up an endorsement from the Indiana governor and also the former governor of California, Pete Wilson. How much do these endorsements help him, particularly in light of the fact that Cruz is trying to say, look, I'm anti-establishment.

TONER: Well, we've seen some endorsements not have that much impact in the election season so far, particularly the Republican side, but sometimes they do. I think it was interesting Mike Pence saying not necessarily on endorsement but indicating I'm going to vote for Senator Cruz, somewhere in the middle there. And Pete Wilson, of course, he's out of office in California for a long time, but hard sometimes to gauge the impact of that endorsement, ultimately. But I think we're going to know a lot more about where this race is in the next 10 days between Indiana and Nebraska because that'll really set the stage. Because there's really two scenarios here for Trump. Either he has to do OK in California, but he doesn't have to have a phenomenal night, or he really does have to have a tremendous night in California. And I think the next 10 days are going to make the difference there.

BROWN: All right, Michael Toner, thank you very much for coming on.

TONER: Thank you so much for having me.

BROWN: Well, it's President Obama's last go around at the White House Correspondents' Dinner tonight, and everyone wants to know, will he roast Donald Trump like he did a few years ago?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breath of experience --

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:34:23] BROWN: Up next, why the Republican front runner is likely to be the night's easiest target.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome back to NEWSROOM. You're looking live right now at the Red carpet at the White House Correspondent's Dinner in Washington, the night commonly referred to as the Nerd Prom. It's a mash-up of journalists, celebrities and Washington elite. And there's no telling what jokes President Obama has up his sleeve for his last year. But some topics are funny year after year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

OBAMA: How do you like my new entrance music?

(MUSIC)

OBAMA: I am Barack Obama. Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Tonight, for the first time, I'm releasing my official birth video.

(LAUGHTER)

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: I want to make clear to the FOX News table that was a joke.

(LAUGHTER)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You might be interested to know a film crew has been following me around the White House documenting my remaining time there.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wish I could be there more, but I really think Bill has everything under control.

CLINTON: Wait, wait, wait, wait!

(LAUGHTER)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nuclear proliferation. Nuckyer liberation (sic)?

(LAUGHTER)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE COLBERT REPORT: I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, but he stands on things. Things like air craft carriers and rubble and recently flood city squares.

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: Do you remember when the country rallied around you for hopes of a better tomorrow? That was hilarious.

[17:40:01] OBAMA: These days, the House Republicans actually give John Boehner a harder time than they give me, which means orange really is the new black.

After all, we have a lot in common. He is a person of color, although, not a color that appears in the natural world.

(LAUGHTER)

Thanks to Obamacare, you no longer have to worry about losing your insurance if you lose your job. You're welcome, Senate Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People think bin Laden is hiding in the Hindu Kush, but did you know every day, from 4:00 to 5:00, he hosts a show on C-SPAN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: C-SPAN is like one of those paranormal activity movies, just grainy shots of empty rooms, interrupted by images of people you're pretty sure died a few years ago.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To those watching at home on C-SPAN, hello, but to most watching at home on C-SPAN, meow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canada, it's not a party, but it's the apartment above the party, you know what I'm saying?

(LAUGHTER)

We're like, oh, come to the party, Canada. They're, like, we're not invited. We're like, Mexico wasn't invited, they came. Come to the party.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Between Rob Ford, Justin Bieber and Ted Cruz, you just want to tell Canada, hey, hey, relax, we already have a Florida.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Since this is President Obama's last Correspondents' Dinner, and it comes during a wild presidential campaign, you can bet one- liners will be coming from left and right, no pun intended there.

Joining me now, Patrick Gavin, filmmaker and director of "Nerd Prom: Inside Washington's Wildest Week," a documentary explaining why the Correspondents' Dinner is a hot ticket.

Thank you, Patrick. Appreciate it.

PATRICK GAVIN, FILMMAKER & DIRECTOR: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: This is Obama's last hoorah. Comedian Larry Wilmore, will be host and emcee. What do you expect tonight? What do you anticipate?

GAVIN: A couple of interesting things from Larry Wilmore and the president. I think, as you alluded to earlier, it's hard to avoid Trump jokes not only because of his status on the national stage, but also probably because he's not going to be there. It's harder to make fun of people when you have to look at then. But he's skipping this year's dinner, unlike in year's past. He's easily going to be comedian target number one. Larry Wilmore, known for blending comedy and race, so you'll hear jokes along those lines from him as well.

BROWN: Looking at live pictures now from the red carpet. You mentioned that it'll be no surprise if Donald Trump is a main target tonight, but what are other big targets tonight? Dennis Hastert, the Clintons, Jeb Bush? What do you think?

GAVIN: Yeah. I mean, obviously, anyone running for president. Dennis Hastert, as you mentioned, former speaker of the House, now disgraced, that's tricky one, because while politicians in disgrace is always funny, the way that Dennis has fallen from grace is really not funny. I imagine you'll hear probably a joke or two, but it's going to be really careful how they dance and walk that line.

You know, I also think that the president is known -- you know, some of the president's funnier jokes are when he makes fun of himself. You'll see a lot of that. There's that five basic topics, like Obamacare with a couple jokes. Expect to see some about the Supreme Court nomination battle. Senate Democrats get poked fun of a lot, and C-SPAN. And the reporters are target number one. So those are kind of the topics that will get touched on a lot tonight I think.

BROWN: From what you've learned, how much a role does the president play in writing these jokes?

GAVIN: Not a huge one. He certainly sets the tone and certainly vetoes jokes he doesn't want to talk about or are inappropriate or he doesn't think funny. He has not only a large speech writing staff in the White House, but in recent years, White Houses reached out beyond Pennsylvania Avenue to "Daily Show" writers, Comedy Central writers, writers in general. These jokes are e-mailed from comedians around the country, sometimes hundreds of them. They have a very big pool to draw from. It stopped becoming an Oval Office operation and now a nationwide operation.

BROWN: And as you point out, there are some touchy subjects, perhaps. How much guidance is given to, say, the moderator like Larry in terms of, you know, what's off limits, what's not? Is there that kind of guidance?

GAVIN: You know, depends what year you ask. Some are asked by C- SPAN, for instance, to give them the jokes ahead of time, not to veto them, know who to pan to, but most tell you there is almost no interference from the White House, and they feel very uncomfortable about doing that, running jokes by the White House first. But occasionally there is a little bit of co-mingling between the comedians and the president, only so that they make sure they are not hitting on the same topics or having the same jokes. I know when Seth Meyers, who did not run his jokes by the White House first, did his routine, you know, he said he was just throwing out index cards as the president of going first, because the president would take all the best jokes. Sometimes it works in your favor to discuss ahead of time, but as a matter of pride and not wanting to feel censored, comedians don't share their jokes ahead of time.

[17:45:29] BROWN: Right. A lot of anticipation for tonight.

Patrick Gavin, thank you so much.

GAVIN: Thanks a lot

BROWN: CNN will have complete coverage of tonight's White House Correspondents' Dinner at 7:00 p.m. eastern.

Now this week's "CNN Hero." One-third of all children in the United States grow up without a steady father figure, and in the African- American community, it's nearly half. Sheldon Smith was one of them, but now he's a role model helping other dads like himself in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHELDON SMITH, CNN HERO: I grew up broken. I was hurt. I was able to overcome all of those things. What I want for the young men is to be involved and engaged in their children's lives to give their children what I missed as a boy, which was a great father, someone who would be there for me and give me the advice that I need to be a successful young man today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And you can watch Sheldon's story at CNNheroes.com, and while there, nominate someone you think should be a 2016 "CNN Hero."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:22] BROWN: A somber moment in Africa today as Kenya's president set fire to 12 enormous piles of confiscated elephant tusks and rhino horns. Take a look at this video here. Over $172 million of elicit wildlife goods went up in flames. It is the most significant demonstration against poaching in the region and the largest burn of illegal wildlife products in history.

Our Robyn Kriel has more from Nairobi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fire is crackling loudly, you can feel the warmth from far away, and the smoke is quickly filling the air. In some parts of the world, this would be considered ludicrous. There's been a lot of controversy surrounding this burn. 105 tons of ivory, 1.35 tons of rhino horn going up in smoke, an estimated black market value of $172 million. Now, no more.

Kenya's message to the world, this ivory is worthless. It has no value unless on a live animal.

Kenya first began burning ivory in 1989 and initially saw good results. Experts attribute the scourge in poaching to Asia's voraciously growing appetite for Ivory, particularly in China.

This is the biggest ivory burn in history. It's left 12 piles of contraband, like these, blackened with smoke, in a fire due to last for more than a week. The Kenyans hope this will change perceptions forever.

Robyn Kriel, CNN, Nairobi National Park, Kenya.

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BROWN: Incredible to see that.

Straight ahead on this Saturday, changing the image of the tech world to court young women.

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SUSAN WOJCICKI, CEO, YOUTUBE: I think computer has this different image of it being really geeky and you're alone and it's all numbers and statistics, and that's not what it is. It's fun. It's creative. It's social. It's engaging. And most importantly, it's a way to change the world.

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BROWN: How the female CEO of YouTube is working to solve text's gender gap. But first, today's "Fit Nation." For many of us, the tallest

skyscrapers in the world are stunning marvels of skyscrapers. But for others, every big building is just another opportunity to race.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tower running, it's a growing sport where people race up staircases of the world's tallest buildings.

LISA ZEIGEL, TOWER RUNNER: You have to train to the pint of pain. You're going to feel a lot of pain in a race.

GUPTA: Lisa Zeigel ran her first race 15 years ago, days after September 11th. ZEIGEL: We felt that it was important to show that we weren't afraid.

I could only think of the people going downstairs and the horror of it. But when we get to the top, it was like no other feeling I've ever experienced.

GUPTA: She was hooked. Now at age 57, she's ranked seventh in the United States and 21st in the world.

(SHOUTING)

ZEIGEL: The Empire State Building is the ultimate race. You get up into the stairs and you try not to look at the floors. It's just a feeling of accomplishment. Just self-affirmation.

I would like to keep doing this into my 80s, 90s. I just want to go all over the world and keep doing this.

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[17:57:39] BROWN: In this week's "American Opportunity," she was the 16th employee at Google and helped craft the tech giant's maternity policy while pregnant with her first child. Now, she's the mother of five and CEO of the largest online video company, YouTube.

CNN's Brian Stelter joined her on Google campus to talk about the issue of gender equality and what she's doing to try and attract more women to the tech industry.

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BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: We're on the campus of Google, one of most the most powerful tech executes in the business and one of most powerful in media, who is a woman.

Since you've been outspoken about gender equal in the industry, is it getting better, are you seeing an improvement?

WOJCICKI: I wish I could say yes. I think there's a lot of awareness about that issue now, which is great, but first step, acknowledging the issue and acknowledging that we need to get better. But the challenges, we still see the number of women graduating with technical degrees to be, you know, under 20 percent. So even though everybody's trying, the numbers still aren't moving dramatically the right way. But I am seeing there's more support. There's more awareness of the issue. And I'm doing everything I can to try to support more women to come into the technology field.

STELTER: The problem for pervasive in the media of business, where Hollywood dominated by male executives, or is it worse in the tech business?

WOJCICKI: I find it's not great in either.

STELTER: In either?

WOJCICKI: In either. We all have work to do to make it better. And so, you know, my goal has been to try to figure out how can I help the next generation of women leaders, how can I show that this is the -- that tech is a great career for women. I think one thing that I saw that I don't think a lot of women see is I saw it as really creative. I saw it as this ability to make something, to connect with people all over the world and I don't think a lot of women see that. I think that tech computer has this different image of it being really geeky and you're alone and it's all numbers and statistics. And that's just not what it is. It's fun, it's creative, it's social, it's engaging. And most importantly, it's a way to change the world because our world is being changed now by digital. And if we don't have women part of that, then that's a problem. That means that we're missing a whole set of people who have interesting ideas about how to change the world.

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[18:00:00] BROWN: Talk a look right here, live pictures from the red carpet of tonight's White House Correspondents' Dinner. Don't miss CNN's coverage, 7:00 p.m. eastern.

I'm Pamela Brown.

"SMERCONISH" starts right now.