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Clinton, Sanders battle each other while both aiming at Trump; House Speaker Paul Ryan talks Party unity and upcoming Trump meeting; Will Ryan finally offer endorsement to Trump?; Former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager facing additional federal charges in murder of Walter Scott; CNN Town Hall to be held regarding America's opioid addiction. Aired 10:30-11a

Aired May 11, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:20] CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And convincing the Party's superdelegates that he has the best chance of defeating Donald Trump in the Fall. That's how Sanders thinks he can go forward and win this nomination. And in fact, a recent poll shows Sanders fares better than Clinton in the general election match-up against Trump, in three different battleground states.

But Republicans, they're continuing to gleefully use Sanders wins to bash Clinton. Last night, for instance, Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus, took a page out of Trump's Twitter playbook, tweeting, "It is nothing short of embarrassing that Hillary Clinton has now been defeated 20 times by a 74-year old Socialist from Vermont." Now for the record, Sanders has won 19, not 20 contests. And Clinton plays the campaign hard against Sanders in upcoming contests. She's going to focus on New Jersey and California, in particular.

But she's also going to continue looking toward that November match-up with Donald Trump. And continue taking on Trump. And Sanders also hit Trump in his victory speech last night. So even as you continue to see both Clinton, and Sanders run against each other, they're increasingly targeting Trump, as well, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris Frates reporting live for us from Washington, thank you.

We're going to keep an eye on that press conference going on right now in Washington. We expect questions to post some -- we expect reporters to post some questions to the House Speaker, Paul Ryan. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, back to Capitol Hill, Paul Ryan now taking questions from reporters and talking about Republican unity.

REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: ... election at half strength. That means we need a real unification of our Party. Which, look, after a tough primary, that's going to take some effort. We are committed to putting that effort in. I want to be a part of that unifying process so that we're at full strength this Fall, so that we can win this election.

We cannot afford to lose this election to Hillary Clinton, to (pack) the Supreme Court, to keep the liberal Obama agenda going. We have to be at full strength so that we can win this election. And that is why we have to go through the actual effort and process of unifying.

QUESTION: Mr. Speaker? (Are you telling them what I) -- you've been very vocal in your differences on policy with Donald Trump. So what is it that you need to hear from him, at some point, to fully endorse him? And is there a situation in which you won't?

RYAN: Look, I think these are conversations we're going to have. I don't really know him. I met him once in person in 2012. We had a very good conversation in March on the phone. We just need to get to know each other. And we, as a leadership team, are enjoying the fact that we have a chance to meet with him. So I'd rather have a conversation in person than through the media, no offense.

QUESTION: Does the policy (inaudible)?

RYAN: Look, this is a big tent Party. There is plenty of room for different policy disputes in this party. We come from different wings of the Party. The goal here is to unify the various wings of the Party around common principles, so that we can go forward, unified. (Warren)?

QUESTION: You spoke with Ben Carson, a (proud) Trump supporter, last night. What was Mister Carson's message to you ahead of this meeting with Donald Trump?

RYAN: First of all, Ben Carson's a great guy. And Ben Carson is just trying to provide a constructive role to help -- he wants to be a force to help all the various wings of the Republican Party and the Conservative movement to come together. And he's trying to play (the) constructive role.

QUESTION: At the meeting tomorrow, can there be both messages, or can there be -- do you see a possibility of two separate messages? (Personal) GOP message, and the nominee's message?

RYAN: Look, we've got a process we're just getting started. So the last thing I'm going to do is say exactly what the end of this process is going to be when we're just beginning this process. The point I'll just make, one more time, is I really believe that if we're going to be successful this Fall, we have to unify our Party. We have to go forward with a positive message that Americans see that we have solutions to their problems.

When 7 out of 10 Americans don't like the path that this country is on, and Hillary Clinton is basically promising to keep going down the same path, we have an obligation to merge and to unify around our common principles to offer this country a choice, a better way forward. And that's going to take some Party unification to do that. We just finished probably one of the most grueling Primaries in modern history. It's going to take some work, and that's the kind of work we're dedicated to doing. Thank you. COSTELLO: All right, so you heard the House Speaker, Paul Ryan talking about his upcoming meeting with Donald Trump, that will happen tomorrow morning. I want to bring in Michael Medved. He's a nationally syndicated radio talk show Host, The Michael Medved Show. And he's also a best-selling author. Welcome Michael.

[10:36:30]

MICHAEL MEDVED, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED RADIO TALK SHOW HOST, THE MICHAEL MEDVED SHOW: Thank you very much, Carol. Great to talk to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you for being here. I know that you sat down with Paul Ryan yesterday and interviewed him on your show. Did he say anything dramatically different in this news conference this morning?

MEDVED: No it was very similar. What he was emphasizing was, unity is not just a show, it's not just a fake, it's not just putting a gloss over a difficult situation. It's actually coming together with common goals. And my real hope is that one of the results of this meeting is they may come out and say look, these are the goals that we agree on. This is the direction where we want to lead America together.

But Paul Ryan, I think rightly, is focused on what he's supposed to be focused on. Which is defending the House majority. And right now, I think there needs to be a much bigger coming together than just two personalities. Because this is not about personality. It's about principle.

COSTELLO: So if it is about principles, what bothers Paul Ryan about Mister Trump? What is the one policy that Speaker Ryan just can't live with?

MEDVED: I can't speak for the Speaker on this. But I can speak for millions of us, and there really are millions who are mainstream Conservative Republicans, who are concerned about the unpredictability of Donald Trump. Is he in favor of higher taxes, or is he in favor of lower taxes, or at least simplified taxes and sweeping tax reform?

It changes day to day. Is he in favor of default, or can we just print more money to cover default? Is he in favor of a ban on all Muslims, or just Muslims he doesn't like? I -- I mean, basically what there needs to be, is a very clear enunciation of, "here I stand. This is what I will do." Because frankly, if people are just trying to select someone based upon personality, and the cult of the personality -- "Oh, he's built a great company. He's going to make America great again. He's going to do great deals." -- there needs to be more specificity.

Do we want a trade war with China ...

COSTELLO: But see ...

MEDVED: ... and the rest of the world? COSTELLO: But Michael, voters don't want more specifi -- what did you

say, that word? They don't want specifics. They don't want the specifics. They like the cult of personality. They like what Donald Trump says. They don't mind it if he changes his policies ...

MEDVED: In the Primary ... In the Primary. But look, let me call people's attention to the overwhelming fact -- the elephant in the room. Both of the major candidates are very, very unpopular. If you take a look at the whole history of presidential polling, no politician who has ever won a Party's nomination has had higher disapproval than Donald Trump. The only one who comes close is Hillary Clinton.

So there clearly needs to be some kind of change, some kind of alteration, to bring that disapproval rating down. Otherwise we're going to lose this election, and we're going to deserve to lose. And my hope very much, is that Republicans will come together in a constructive way, talking about a positive vision for America. And not continuing this backbiting which is serving no one.

COSTELLO: Well you know, I asked Katrina Pearson, who's part of Donald Trump's campaign, if you know ...

MEDVED: M-hm.

COSTELLO: The bottom line, does Donald Trump really care about Party unity? And she insists that he does. But I'll ask you that same question. Bottom line, if Donald Trump doesn't agree with Paul Ryan, and isn't interested in compromise, I mean, bottom line, does he really need Party unity at this point?

MEDVED: Of course. And again, let me just call attention to the very obvious fact. Republicans are not a majority in this country. Democrats are not a majority in this country. This is a divided country. There are a lot of people who are Independents who are in the middle. But this is very, very clear. You cannot win these tightly contested states in a hotly divided country, if a third or more of your own Party is not going to be voting for you. You've got to solidify the base, then you can move forward and begin to try to persuade other people.

But look, people want a President who's going to unify America. And the first step in unifying America -- it's kind of obvious -- is unifying your Republican Party, and your Republican base. And my hope is that this will be an important step in that process. That Speaker Ryan -- who I think is just an outstanding leader -- will begin tomorrow with our nominee, who is going to be Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: OK, so I'm going to ask your prediction. Will anything of substance happen after that meeting with Mister Trump and Paul Ryan tomorrow? (To have helps with any pro option).

[10:41:10]

MEDVED: Again, my prediction ... No, no my prediction is yes. There will be a common agreement. It may not, it may not end with an agreement where Paul Ryan says yes, now I'm getting on board the Trump train, and let's go, we're all gung ho. But I think what there could be is, we come out of this and we agree on these three principles. And what kind of principles.

Number one, that we absolutely need to do something about shrinking the deficit further. And beginning to address this problem of national debt. Number two, that that is going to have to involve some kind of addressing of some of the prices with entitlements. And Trump has basically said he won't touch that. He's going to have to bend on that issue. And then third, the -- yes, we are in favor of strong border security, and protecting America against terrorist threats. Something as general as that. But if there is an agreement on principle, then you can go ahead and refine the policies.

One of the things that's been encouraging about Mister Trump, (as) he says, he's a deal maker. He wants to negotiate. Begin the negotiation here, because there is so much broad agreement among Conservatives and among Republicans, about the direction we need to lead this country. And that's not Hillary Clinton's direction.

Final point, I think we can take some inspiration from Bernie Sanders, of all people. His speech last night in Oregon, showed what a conviction politician looks like. And Americans want a conviction politician. What he was talking about is, look, this is where I stand, this is where I want to go, this is where I want to take the country. We need that. More inspiration, fewer insults, and it will only help and strengthen the Donald Trump campaign, if that's the result of the meeting tomorrow.

COSTELLO: Well Michael, I think that you should have reached out to Paul Ryan, and you should be the mediator in that meeting tomorrow. Because you're so eloquent and well-spoken. And thank you for being with me ...

MEDVED: Thank you.

COSTELLO: ... this morning. All right, I want to get back to ...

MEDVED: I appreciate it.

COSTELLO: ... you're welcome. I want to head back up to Washington and bring in CNN Correspondent, Manu Raju. He was in that news conference that the Republican leadership just held. We missed the beginning of Paul Ryan's remarks, what did he say?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well I asked him specifically, what will -- you know about concerns that actually I am hearing from House and Senate Republicans that Paul Ryan's decision not to endorse Donald Trump, is actually making it harder for the Party to unite. I spent this morning talking to a lot of House Republicans. And that is really the prevailing feeling among a lot of members.

So I asked Speaker Ryan about that, I mean, Ryan himself is calling for unity, but aren't -- isn't he concerned about the fact that he's withholding this endorsement? Won't that make it harder for the Party to get behind Donald Trump? He said, "the Party needs to get to real unification." That was his words. He said that, not fake unification, we need to actually come to terms that this is a Party that is united behind a common, shared principles. We need to make sure that we are united as one Party, headed into the Fall, so Hillary Clinton cannot win. And she cannot pack the Supreme Court.

So it sounds like eventually, Paul Ryan will get to supporting Donald Trump. He was asked also, about his policy differences with Trump. He said that, that's really not the issue here. We have a lot of differences in policy, but we have -- I, he said I really just want to get to know the man. He doesn't really know him, either. So Ryan is sort of -- he's definitely trying to tamp down any sort of dissention within the ranks, for his really surprising decision not to endorse Donald Trump. Very clearly, he's basing a lot of pressure to offer that endorsement, but he thinks that things will go -- things will go pretty well tomorrow.

One other thing, Carol, I should add, he had a phone call with Ben Carson yesterday -- of course a Trump (surrogate), former presidential candidate. Said that went well, that was part of an effort to bring the different wings of the Party together. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live from Washington, thank you. I'll be right back.

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[10:48:40]

COSTELLO: All right, some breaking news to tell you about right now. South Carolina police officer, Michael Slager has been indicted on federal civil rights charges. He's the officer accused of gunning down Walter Scott during a traffic stop last year in South Carolina. Let's get right to CNN's Martin Savidge, he has more on this. Hello, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. Yes, the former North Charleston police officer is already in custody and he's been held on state charges of murder. But now these are federal charges to come down. And I should stress to you, this is extremely rare, that law enforcement officers are charged federally. But that is the case here because it is considered so horrific, how Walter Scott died.

So the first charge is essentially deprivation of rights. That's to say that as a law enforcement officer, the use of extreme force was clear here. Five shots in the back as Walter Scott ran away. Another charge, federally, is the use of a gun during the commission of a crime. And lastly then, the third, obstruction of justice. This goes to Michael Slager. He told investigators, allegedly, that Walter Scott was attacking him with the police officer's taser.

That's why Slager says he had to fire on him. But the video that came to light showed a very different story. It was Walter Scott who was running away. He was shot five times in the back. This all was back in April of last year. It happened after a traffic stop. The officer pulled over Walter Scott because he had a broken taillight. And now a federal case on top of the state. Carol?

[10:50:10]

COSTELLO: All right, Martin Savidge reporting live for us this morning. Still to come in the Newsroom, Doctor Sanjay Gupta will join us to talk about tonight's CNN town hall special on America's addiction to painkillers.

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COSTELLO: Moments ago we heard House Speaker Paul Ryan talking about the epidemic of opioid addiction in the United States and how Congress hopes to tackle it. Tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN, CNN will hold a timely and important town hall -- it will be a special -- on America's addiction to widely prescribed drugs like Percocet and Hydrocodone. It will be hosted by Anderson Cooper and CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Doctor Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay joins me now. This is just so important.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know it's the number one cause of preventable death in America? People don't realize this. More so than car accidents. People are dying accidentally. And this is entirely manufactured. And it's almost uniquely American. Nobody -- no other country has the perverse amount of consumption of things like we do in the United States. And nowhere do we pay the price as dearly as with these opioid medications.

COSTELLO: So why is that?

GUPTA: Well you know, I think for a long time, culturally, the tendency was, in the medical establishment -- because I do think the American doctors shoulder much of the blame here -- the tendency was, these pills are fine. Take as much as you need, you're not going to get addicted, you're not going to have an overdose, there's no problems with these medications. And what we now know -- and this is 30, 40 years in the making -- we now know that the initial studies that those claims were based on, were -- first of all very small study, one study was just 38 patients.

It -- they just didn't hold any scientific merit. So we sort of went in this direction of, let's make sure we treat pain, let's make sure we give enough narcotics that nobody has any pain whatsoever, and there's not going to be any problems. And it took us decades to figure out that not only are there problems, but people are dying in extraordinary numbers. I mean number one cause of preventable death.

COSTELLO: So what's this town hall going to be like? Will it have family members, doctors?

GUPTA: There's going to be experts there, there's going to be family members there. And I will say that we don't know what killed Prince, obviously, yet. But whenever something like this happens, there is an interest all of a sudden, in this topic. I mean, we've been reporting on this for years, as you well know. But something like this happens and all of a sudden people say, "well wait a second, how dangerous are these pills? How easily can they become addicted?" So we want to capitalize on that quest for knowledge.

But I think what I've come to the conclusion about, Carol, is that because this is a manmade epidemic, it's also a fixable epidemic. So he vast majority of our time is going to be focused on solutions, what can be done about it. And again, I think part of this is a rallying cry to my fellow doctors out there. Patients -- everyone holds some responsibility, but we've given out more prescriptions in this country by -- exponentially more than any other country. And that's on us, that's on American doctors.

COSTELLO: Well picture that the Republicans hold a news conference. They're going to introduce 18 bills to try to do something about this problem. Can Congress do something that would be effective?

GUPTA: I think there are some truly legislative answers here. Just in terms of making it more difficult to get pills, having some real penalties for people who are over prescribing these pills. I think that can make a difference. But culturally, doctors still -- you know, they get -- first of all you got to understand a little bit of pain is probably OK. We got to set realistic expectations for people. We can't medicate everything away. And I think some of that's going to be on the American medical system.

COSTELLO: Doctor Sanjay Gupta, thanks for stopping by. "Prescription Addiction: Made in the USA," A live CNN town hall, airs tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Thanks so much for joining me today, I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan, after a break.

[10:57:50]

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