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Don Lemon Tonight

Sanders Digs In, Blasts Nevada Democratic Party; Clinton Wins Kentucky, Sanders Wins Oregon; Trump-Gingrich Ticket? Aired 1-2a ET

Aired May 18, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. It's 1:00 a.m. on the east coast. This is a special CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.

Our breaking news, a race with victory for Hillary Clinton in Kentucky and in Oregon, a big win for Bernie Sanders. Meanwhile, Sanders doubles down defending his supporters after this ugly scene in Nevada over the weekend amid fears of Democratic convention chaos in Philadelphia.

I want to begin with that. Joining me now is Roberta Lang. She is the chairwoman of the Nevada State Democratic Party and she says her experience with a group of Sanders' supporters this weekend was vile. Hello to you. Thanks for joining us.

ROBERTA LANGE, CHAIRWOMAN, NEVADA STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Hello. Great. Good evening, how are you?

LEMON: I'm great. So you chaired the state convention this weekend and it turned chaotic. What was the atmosphere like? Why do you think it got so out of control?

LANGE: Well, I think it began before the convention on Thursday the Sanders campaign had a rally. One of their high level campaign staff people was getting the crowd up and talking about let's get rid of the party, let's stop the convention. Let's take everything over.

So people were already in that mode before they got to the convention. Then when they got to the convention, you know, we -- one of the first things we did was the rules. They didn't like the outcome. They stormed the stage, basically. It was pretty much downhill from there.

LEMON: Chairwoman Lange, you got a lot of threats from Sanders supporters. I want to play one of the phone calls you received. Let's listen to this.

LANGE: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Hi, Roberta. I'm pretty sure you're probably not going to get back to me because you don't care about the American people, but what you did today was corrupt and wrong and the founding fathers would be ashamed of you. You deserve to be in prison, not the chairman for the Democratic Party. Rot in hell.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: That was pretty terrible. We probably just guaranteed fires in Philadelphia. I'm not a psycho Bernie supporter, but there are some out there and you may have made a bad decision by completely ignoring the democratic process tonight. Thanks, bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I know you received threats to your life. Are you concerned for your safety and the safety of your family?

LANGE: Well, I think we are and those -- what you played is pretty mild from the threats that I've received and my family received and the -- look, I do my job as chair --

LEMON: What are the other threats saying?

LANGE: We want you hung. We know where you live. We know where your grandson goes to school. We know where you work and we're going to get you. That's pretty huge threat.

LEMON: Do we have another one we can play? Yes. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Hi, Roberta Lange, this is a citizen of the United States of America and I just wanted to let you know people like you should be hung in a public execution to show this world that we won't stand for this sort of corruption.

I don't know what kind of money they are paying you, but I don't know how you sleep at night. You're a sick twisted piece of (inaudible) and I hope you burn for this cowardless, (inaudible) running off the stage. I hope people find you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Wow, so my question again, your safety and your family.

LANGE: Yes. I heard that for the first time this morning. My staff has pretty much insulated me from the calls and the e-mails. I see the texts. I see what's on Facebook and Twitter.

Look, I mean, we have notified the authorities. They're investigating. There are some serious threats out there. I think you know the threats are a huge part. I think we have to go back to the convention and realize what exactly happened.

What happened on that day is that the Clinton people turned out 98 percent of their delegates. The Sanders people turned out 77 percent or 78 percent of their delegates.

So they had about 500 -- up to 500 delegates that didn't show up for the convention. That's why Secretary Clinton won that day because she out organized the Sanders campaign. LEMON: Today, Bernie Sanders issued a statement and I want to read it to you part of it. It says within the last few days, there had been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization. Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claimed that the Sanders campaign has a penchant for violence. That is nonsense."

And it goes on to say, our campaign, of course, believes in non- violence change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence including the personal harassment of individuals." What is your reaction to that?

[01:05:06]LANGE: My reaction to that is that, look, when you have a senior staffer stand up and tell people we need to shut down the convention, we need to take down the state party, those kinds of things are things that incite people to have violence.

I mean, you saw at the convention, at the end of the day, at the end of the day when we had to shut down the convention, I was told by Metro, look, you have 5 minutes to shut down this convention or we're going to do it because we can no longer guarantee the safety of the people in that room.

So at that moment, my major objective was to guarantee the safety of the people in that room. I had two pieces of business to do. One involved the presidential campaigns which they both signed off on. The other is something I had to do for our state party.

I went out. I took motions from the floor. We passed those business. We voted and I turned the convention for the safety of everyone in that room.

LEMON: What do you want to hear from Bernie Sanders?

LANGE: Well, frankly, I think at some point, he owes me an apology for what happened because it was one of his staff people that incited this from the very beginning. I think they are not -- I mean, look, I was the one that was threatened.

I was the one on the podium. I was the one that is getting all these threats. There were five other people on the podium that were very affected by this at a deep level. There were people out in the crowd that heard people calling for my death. That saw the chair thrown to the stage. That saw people being shoved and pushed.

You know, that isn't the kind of examples that I'm looking for. We are moving to the Democratic convention in a few months where we as Democrats have to come together and put a Democrat in the White House.

So it's time we start talking about how we're going to bring everyone together instead of how we're going to tear everyone apart.

LEMON: Who are you supporting, Chairwoman?

LANGE: I am an unpledged delegate at this moment.

LEMON: OK, thank you, Chairwoman Roberta Lange. LANGE: You bet.

LEMON: Chairwoman for the Nevada State Democratic Party. Appreciate you joining us. My political dream team is here, Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany, Sanders' supporter, Bill Press, Matt Lowes, senior contributor to the "Daily Caller," CNN contributor, Bakari Sellers, CNN Politics executive editor, Mark Preston and Amanda Carpenter, former communications director for Ted Cruz.

That last threat, I mean, that was pretty harsh, don't you think? You can't deny that.

BILL PRESS, BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER: They were all disgusting. Absolutely no place in any aspect of life, certainly no place in American politics. By the way, I received -- I don't think I'm the only one on the e-mail list. An immediate response from Bernie Sanders condemning the violence in Nevada.

And he said it again tonight and over the weekend I saw Jeff Weaver and Michael Briggs come out and condemn the violence. I don't believe it was a Bernie campaign staffer who did this.

These people in Nevada, they should not have done what they did. But there was -- there was a legitimate complaint on the part of the Sanders people.

Sixty four of their delegates were challenged and only six of them ended up being seated and only eight of all people Hillary Clinton put forward were challenged. If you are Bernie Sanders -- I also believe I have read that she was a Clinton supporter.

MATT LOWES, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, "DAILY CALLER": We saw it happen tonight.

PRESS: She says she's unpledged.

LOWES: She said that. Even tonight in Kentucky, Alison Grimes, a huge Hillary supporter, declares Hillary the winner of the unofficial winner. That's not a normal thing to happen. It looks heavy handed.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I get your point. The facts of the matter are in Nevada when we had an election and caucuses, Hillary Clinton won that race. Tonight, she's winning the race.

(CROSSTALK)

LOWES: Why not let the --

SELLERS: I get your concern. We're spinning this -- we're spinning ourselves into circles when the fact of the matter is simply that the facts that we have -- you can say it could have been, should have been, but the facts --

PRESS: You are wrong. I will tell you why you are wrong. She won Nevada by 700 points. It was hardly a landslide, right. They were very close then they went to Clark County in between. They had a readjustment and the Sanders --

SELLERS: She was still --

PRESS: -- fighting for delegates and Sanders people won the delegates. The next step is the state convention where now the Clinton people move in and squash the Bernie thing. The Sanders people had some legitimate complaints and in the middle of it she shuts the damn thing down.

SELLERS: But also --

PRESS: She shuts it down.

SELLERS: But also what you also know and what the chairwoman said, what we know from reports from Nevada -- one of my good friends, Senator Nina Turner was out there as well. We know Hillary Clinton had more delegates on the floor. She had more delegates at the state convention.

[01:10:01]At the county convention level, they were out organize -- the Clinton campaign was out organized by the Bernie Sanders campaign. However, at the state level, it was different.

It kind of -- it peeves me a tad when we're talking about the will of the voters and then we get to this sub level and to this tertiary level.

And the fact of the matter is when we had a race, Hillary Clinton won by five points --

PRESS: They disqualified the Sanders voters.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESS: I think there's --

LEMON: Excuse me.

PRESS: Just call me dude.

LEMON: Go ahead.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: I think there are two discussion points here. There's the violence we all know that shouldn't happen. It's ridiculous. The phone calls that she received, I've been on the receiving end of those. I have received them from both sides, both Democrats, Republicans. Don't get any ideas out there.

But having said that, there is this feeling among Sanders supporters that they have been wronged by the Democratic establishment from day one. This has been said.

LOWES: They are creating an impression that this is heavy handed. I think with Allison Lundergen (ph) Grimes today -- I thought it was weird -- PRESTON: It's not even Hillary Clinton. It's the establishment as a

whole. They don't even point -- when you talk to the Sanders campaign, they don't even point and say this is the Hillary Clinton campaign from -- this is the Democratic National Committee's problem and the fact that they have been entirely behind Hillary Clinton's candidacy and did not want us to get in.

LEMON: Didn't we hear this on the Republican side?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's why I empathize so strongly with the Sanders supporters. This is exactly what the Republican establishment attempted to do to Donald Trump supporters. I understand how they feel.

They say from beginning to end, what happened in Nevada was wrong. There was a voice vote to put in place temporary rules to nullify the second tier that Sanders won. The voice vote was not a majority. They refused to even acknowledge that.

All the way to the end when they wanted to recount the delegates. There was a second on the motion to recount the delegates. They quashed it. They ended the convention. You have to ensure fairness at every level.

I know this is nuance, technical, but to people, to voters, this is real. This is their voice. It's their chance to pick their nominee. It has to be acknowledged and they have to be enfranchised rather than --

LEMON: So what happened to the rules?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. The rules are the rules, but the processes can be messy at times and hard to follow and understand. When tensions are running hot and you have candidates on both sides, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump saying this is corrupt, the system is rigged.

They are being unfair to you and telling people who are invested in this process, I think misleading them, getting them too hot. You get violence. You do get nasty phone calls. People are getting spun up.

Let me finish this thought. These leaders have an obligation to lead people in the right direction and quell them and unify them in a positive way. I don't think these leaders are doing that.

LEMON: So Bernie Sanders says that the Democratic Party has an obligation to open up and let his supporters have their say as well. He said as much tonight. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The other option for the Democratic Party, which I see as a very sad and tragic option, is to -- is to choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy. And a party which incredibly is allowing a right wing extremist Republican Party to capture the votes of a majority of working people in this country. Now, I come from the working class of this country.

And I will be damned -- I will be damned if we will allow the Republican Party to win the votes of working class Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Mr. Preston, take it away?

PRESTON: Look, what he said there kind of didn't make sense. He said the Democratic Party is being controlled by wealthy people, but yet you need that money to try to win elections at the say the time you need that money to try to help the working class.

So while he says that he will be damned to let it happen, in many ways for the Democratic Party to survive and to go against the Republican Party, you kind of need that money.

LEMON: Mr. Press, no time on the end.

PRESS: I have to say, I'm a yellow dog Democrat. I want to be buried in Chicago so I can continue to vote as a Democrat. But I have to tell you. I think he is right. The Democratic Party has lost its way. It no longer is a party of the people. It no longer represents working class people. It represents Wall Street and the big corporations almost as much as Republicans.

[01:15:04]LEMON: You sound like Donald Trump.

PRESS: And I sound like Bernie Sanders I hope. I think they have to get back to their roots. The roots are working class Americans, union members.

SELLERS: That's an unfortunate sentiment.

PRESS: It's not unfortunate at all. It's what Democrats are.

SELLERS: We have had a president for the last 7-1/2 years who has had to go through more obstruction than anybody can possibly imagine with Mitch McConnell, with Paul Ryan, with Boehner. This president has worked his ass off to make sure that Democrats up and down the ballot had done extremely well. He's led this country well and for to you be disappointed -- he did not let all progressives down.

PRESS: Can we get facts down?

LEMON: Real quick. I have to get to the break. I will let you get it on other side of the break. I have to pay the bills. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hillary Clinton beating Bernie Sanders tonight in the Kentucky Democratic primary, but Sanders wins Oregon. Back with me now my dream team. I don't have to introduce. I just know that I cut Bill Press off at a critical point and he's not very happy with me right now.

PRESS: I love you. I just want to make a quick point in just numbers, OK? When President Obama took office, there were about 179, 180 some Democrats in the House. Now there are 180 Republicans in the House.

[01:20:02]There were 54 Democrats in the Senator and now there are 54 Republicans in the Senate. There are like 29 or 30 Democratic governors. Now there are 17. There are 900 fewer Democratic legislators at the state level than there were when Barack Obama took office.

So I'm not blaming that on him. My point is anybody that thinks the Democratic Party is strong today is kidding themselves.

PRESTON: Now isn't that because gerrymandering and just to boil it down, the idea that --

PRESS: No, no, no.

PRESTON: Congress, Congress partly is, yes.

PRESS: Right. That we --

PRESTON: The polarization right now in the United States that doesn't allow a consecutive Democrat to serve anymore. So that's why you have liberals who get elected over and over again and represent urban areas and conservatives.

PRESS: That's true. That's true. That's true of the House.

SELLERS: Run down a litany of successes, as well. You can talk about the unemployment rate. You can talk about job growth and percentage of those uninsured. There are a lot of Democrats that say those are things that we actually appreciate and he did those things in the face of obstruction that we haven't seen before. So you were talking about progressive goals that this president has obtained if I'm not mistaken.

PRESS: I'm sorry, you started talking about President Obama. I wasn't talking about President Obama.

SELLERS: No, you --

PRESS: But if I can finish.

SELLERS: OK, go ahead.

PRESS: I was talking about was in terms of the -- not policies, the Democratic Party having Democrats in office and Mark, to your point, certainly it explains to a large part what happened in the House and why you can't get some of those seats. You'll never get back. Quickly, doesn't understand -- doesn't explain governors or senators of state legislators. LEMON: Isn't this Donald Trump's message on the other side?

MCENANY: You have the Republican Party here and the Democrat party and middle class and working class who have worked their tails off to try to get ahead in life and what do they get? They get stagnant wages.

They get a Republican Party that's focusing on one end of the spectrum and a Democrat Party focusing on social programs and the middle class is pinched with high health care cost because of Obamacare, with low wages. They are pinched.

This is why Bernie Sanders issued the warning, Democrat Party listen to my message because you were going to lose the working class. The same was true of the Republican Party but thank goodness Donald Trump is our nominee because he speaks to those voters.

LEMON: I have to say this, why do people say the Democrat Party? It's dramatically incorrect --

LEMON: It's weird people came on the show and said the Republic Party. Why are you saying the Republic Party?

PRESS: Newt Gingrich started it because he thought it was a cute way of undermining the Democratic Party --

LEMON: But it's grammatically incorrect.

PRESS: It is grammatically incorrect and I think they sound dumb when they say it.

LEMON: He's not saying you're dumb.

MCENANY: When you are talking fast sometimes you make a mistake here --

LEMON: I always wanted that. It's not the first time I posed the question. I did it back in 2008 and 2012 as well and people would say the same thing.

LOWES: Kayleigh makes an interesting point and I think that in a sense you're right. I mean, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have both exposed people aren't really happy right with either parties. But both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are delegitimizing the system and both as we've seen violence erupting around their campaigns.

I think some of it is positive, but I think that there is a negative trend. Amanda was saying earlier I think it speaks to a problem in our democracy right now that we're going to have to work through. It's a big deal.

LEMON: Go ahead, Amanda.

CARPENTER: The question about loss of trust and big institutions, RNC, DNC, Congress, it's a bigger trend that's happening that happens to coincide with this election. So people are looking for more, I think, individual leaders who aren't as tied to political parties, have obligations Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders. People like that who aren't obligated and people feel that are authentic, they can trust and speak in a way that is, you know, true to themselves.

PRESTON: There is a reality check on all this. We all understand this that unless you align yourself with the masses nothing will ever get done in Washington and in many ways, that's unfortunate.

But the fact is Bernie Sanders alone has an independent who aligns himself with the Democratic Party, Democratic Party for you, Kayleigh, nothing gets done. He can't get anything done.

Donald Trump if he gets elected and becomes the president, you know, you will hope he becomes the deal maker he is so that he can work --

LEMON: Say it again.

CARPENTER: You can stop things, as I saw with Ted Cruz with that model if you have a lot of people on the grass roots supporting you if you don't have relationships inside the Senate, somehow you have a populace backing where you can maybe stop things.

Can you turn that around to the other side into pushing legislation forward? I think Barack Obama did a good job trying to plant the seeds for that with keeping OFA offices open around the country and pushing issues, the LGBT stuff.

[01:25:06]Things that, you know, we as Republicans would see coming out of the left field, but everyone on the ground knew this was coming.

LEMON: Stand by. Before you say -- he's like --

Stay with me. Up next, Donald Trump makes peace with Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly sitting down with her for a one on one interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hillary Clinton wins a Kentucky Democrat primary --

PRESTON: In honor --

MCENANY: Thank you.

LEMON: -- the Democratic primary. Bernie Sanders wins Oregon meanwhile Donald Trump, the GOP's presumptive nominee sits down with a one on one with Megyn Kelly, the Fox News anchor he's been harshly criticizing since last summer.

Back with me the dream team. So my question is to you, Kayleigh, he sat down and they declared a truce of sorts. Let's listen to part of it and then you and I will discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:30:10]MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Most kids between the ages of 6 and 16 have been bullied at some point in their lives. Were you ever bullied?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I wasn't, but I've seen bullying and bullying doesn't just have to be as a child. I know people bullied when they are 55 years old.

KELLY: It can happen when you're 45.

TRUMP: You got to get over it. Fight back, do whatever you have to do.

KELLY: Let me ask you about that because most American parents try to raise their kids to not bully, to not name call, not tease, not taunt, how can they effectively bring that message when the frontrunner for the Republican nomination does all of those things?

TRUMP: Well, I do it really, you know, I've been saying during this whole campaign I'm a counter puncher. You understand that. I'm responding. Now I then respond times maybe ten, I don't know. I respond pretty strongly, but in just about all cases, I've been responding to what they did to me. So it's not a one-way street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So Kayleigh, Trump always says that he is counter punching. You haven't always been on board with some of the things that he's done.

MCENANY: Yes, especially early statements on women from the 1990s on the Howard Stern show for instance. But tonight was a big night for him because Megyn Kelly is a figure who is very well-liked and respected among women.

And to see them sit and have a civil conversation about really tough things, she had some pretty hard questions and to see Donald Trump not be combative about it, but show some humility, it was fantastic.

Earlier in the interview, she listed many of the things that people had problems with that Donald Trump had done and said yes, maybe I would have done things differently. I don't like to look back and regret, maybe I would have done it differently.

I saw a humble side to him. I saw a soft interview between two people who are rivals during this campaign. It was a great night for both of them.

KINKADE: So Matt, then they got down to the issues between them. Let's listen and then we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY: Let's talk about us.

TRUMP: OK.

KELLY: We were always friendly.

TRUMP: Right, good relationship.

KELLY: And then came the August 6th, 2015 debate and I asked you a tough question about women using only the words that you had used. I thought it was a fair question. Why didn't you?

TRUMP: I thought it was unfair. I thought -- first of all, I didn't think it was really a question. I thought it was more of a statement. That's the first question that I've ever been asked during a debate and I've never debated before.

My whole life is a debate, but I've never actually debated before. I'm saying to myself, man, what a question and then you have Brett doing his thing.

So I'm saying to myself, I have two areas of this. I don't really blame you because you're doing your thing but from my standpoint, I don't have to like it.

KELLY: Afterward you said you didn't feel that the moderators had been nice or do you think it's the journalist role to be nice to presidential candidates at a debate?

TRUMP: Fair. I don't care if they are nice.

KELLY: You used the word nice.

TRUMP: OK, no, I don't think so. I wouldn't say they aren't nice, but that doesn't mean they don't have to be nice.

KELLY: You know, it's not a cocktail party.

TRUMP: In a certain way what you did might have been a favor because I felt so good having gotten through -- I said if I can get through this debate with those questions, you can get through anything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Do you think it's a truce and do you think it will last?

LOWES: I think it will last now. It suits him now.

LEMON: Let me ask the question I want to ask. Did you believe either of them? Did you believe it?

LOWES: This was a sweet, nice, I think he was humble. I think you're right. Look, I want to go back to what she said earlier --

LEMON: Let me ask it right, did you guys believe it?

CARPENTER: I'm uncomfortable with the fact that Megyn Kelly had to sit down and interview this guy who pushed the idea that she's a bimbo because he's the presumptive Republican nominee. I mean, I find that very uncomfortable to watch.

LOWES: Why did she have to do so -- CARPENTER: Because he's the presumptive Republican nominee. It's a

big interview. If you want to play in the big leagues, you have to interview that guy. She had to make nice with this guy that treated her with dirt. I just as a woman I'm uncomfortable with that.

LEMON: I defended Megyn a lot on this show. Megyn and I are friends, but there was something about the interview and I don't -- listen, I don't know. I just thought there was something a little odd about it.

SELLERS: I think people realize one thing about Donald Trump is that there a really no there there and I think every time that Donald Trump begins to speak, I think people had this expectation or this want that there is going to be more policy.

There is going to be more meat and in the clip, they spent a good amount of time defining what the word nice means. Is nice nice or how do you use nice or when should you use nice?

LOWES: I don't know --

LEMON: I'm cutting that off.

LOWES: I don't know people want policy. Talk about bullying. That's now a feature not a buy. Donald Trump, it's possible he will destroy Hillary Clinton. There will be a moment in the debate, and if I were Hillary Clinton, what I would -- I think the way you beat Donald Trump is mockery.

She needs to hire the best comedians, writers, whatever and every day go out and make the timely, find a way to mock him. She has to do it. I think that she may not be taking him seriously enough.

[01:35:11]LEMON: Go ahead.

PRESS: I got to say, I think maybe an overriding point here is that I'm looking at Donald Trump's master of the media and this showed that the primaries are over, but he's shifting into another mood and will continue to dominate the free media all the way through --

LEMON: You're sort of reading what I was thinking. Megyn is a great interviewer. She got out of him what she got, but how much of it was Donald Trump taking advantage of the situation that he had created himself?

PRESS: I think a large part of it was that and the fact he called the newsroom here tonight, he was in the middle of coverage. Our coverage where there is nothing to talk about. He comes out with a big announcement. So we're talking about him again.

LOWES: Almost like a used wife syndrome. He beats her up and comes back and nice and everybody is like he's really a nice guy.

CARPENTER: That's the part uncomfortable about that. I have to think hard about that analogy.

LEMON: Is it something you can't quite put my finger on. Go ahead, Mark.

PRESTON: Look, Megyn Kelly was in an interesting situation. She's a major journalist at Fox. She doesn't have a relationship or at least to not have an interview with Donald Trump, sometimes when you're a journalist, you have to build that bridge back to the person that you had battled with and I think that's what we saw tonight.

Was it uncomfortable interview? It was kind of a strange interview, but I got to tell you I don't know how many interviews with Donald Trump haven't been strange.

LEMON: They talked about this tonight for her to pick up the phone and call him. He said I would never do that. That takes a big person to do that and walk into Trump Tower.

PRESS: That takes a big person.

CARPENTER: It's a strong woman. He should be able to envision himself doing that.

SELLERS: At what point is the bar so low for Donald Trump that we're talking about the fact that oh my God, he's humble? Like, I mean, where are we now that we have set the level of expectation --

LOWES: It's a psychological --

LEMON: He's right in the sense that if you're running for the leader of the free world, if you are, one should always take the high road. That's what the job requires.

SELLERS: Now we're giving him credit for attributes that should be held by the person whose running to be the president of the --

CARPENTER: The Megyn Kelly show.

LOWES: Authoritarians use all the time. Mean to everybody and nice to you, he likes me.

SELLERS: So we know who you're comparing him to.

LOWES: There is demagoguery.

MCENANY: Look in the mirror if you want to talk about humility, your own candidate has huge problems with humility, honesty, her server issue to have the presumption to create your own server, something never done in history. If you want to talk about virtues, there are a lot that your candidate has got to answer for.

SELLERS: Every time there we have a discussion about Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump. The first thing that happens is that Donald Trump begins to deflect. Donald Trump surrogates begin to deflect. But let's talk about the issues. Let's talk about the fact that there is no economic policy outside --

MCENANY: That's the irony.

SELLERS: We had this discussion.

MCENANY: No we haven't --

SELLERS: You want to know --

MCENANY: Tell me the date, time and place --

SELLERS: It was in front of Benghazi study committee where Trey Gowdy and everyone else interrogated her for 11 hours and she brushed her shoulders off and she kept going and she came out there looking like a champion --

CARPENTER: This is what she has to do with Donald Trump is stand there and take it for hours just like she did with the Republicans --

LEMON: Stay with me everybody. When we come right back, more on the Kentucky-Oregon primary and what it all means.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:40:50]

ERROL BARNETT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hey, there, everyone. I'm Errol Barnett. This is "CNN NEWS NOW." David Cameron says if Britain decides to leave the European Union, it would please the leaders of Russia and of ISIS. The prime minister's comments about Britain's upcoming referendum came during a speech to business leaders in London. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is worth asking the question which, you know, who would be happy if we left? Putin might be happy? I suspect al-Baghdadi might be happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Mr. Cameron's remarks come as the queen prepares to open parliament for the year ahead in a few hours from now in fact. Britain votes on the referendum June 23rd.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill allowing 9/11 survivors and victims' families to sue Saudi Arabia for its alleged involvement in the terror attacks. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists were Saudi citizens. Saudi Arabia has long denied any involvement in the attack. U.S. President Barack Obama has said he would veto this bill.

Venezuela's national assembly has rejected a state of emergency declared by President Nicholas Maduro. The assembly says the decree goes against the constitution. Maduro says he took action to deal with what he calls external aggressions against his country. Meanwhile, opposition protesters marched in the capital over the weekend calling for new elections and demanding Maduro's resignation.

Leicester City are celebrating their English premiere league championship in Thailand. The Foxes arrived in Bangkok Tuesday, why? A Thai businessman bought the team back in 2010 and immensely popular there. About 250,000 fans turned out for a parade in Leicester, England on Monday.

I'm Errol Barnett. That's it for me. Those are your headlines. I'll see you tomorrow. Now back to our continuing special coverage of the U.S. primaries.

LEMON: The Clinton Sanders battle getting most of the attention tonight but Donald Trump, the Republican's last man standing making some news himself.

And back with me now my political dream team. Kayleigh, to you first, Donald Trump released a new document today. He said that his revenue increased $190 million. Was this in response do you think he was trying to quiet the whole tax debate down?

MCENANY: Maybe. I mean, look, he's been criticized so why not put out a document with some information? I think that's a smart move, but with regards to taxes, I encouraged him to never release his taxes because we saw what happened to Mitt Romney.

He was quoted by Democrats into releasing his taxes. He did that. Taxes were fine. They found out about his Swiss bank account. Beat him over the head with it and Mr. 1 percent was created. That was the beginning of the end for Mitt Romney.

Why in the world would you take advice from liberals who are prodding you to release you taxes. Keep them quiet to yourself even if there is nothing wrong they will find a way to malign you with them.

LEMON: Yes, but he said -- he did tell Mitt Romney to release it. Mitt Romney did not run on his money. Donald Trump is running on his money and he has promised to release them. Do you want him to break his promise?

MCENANY: If he wants to release them, release them. He's promised to release them. I fully believe he will after the audit. I however am on the outside saying I don't think he should.

PRESTON: You know what I think is crazy, he said he's worth more than $10 billion at a time he announces that they've created a joint fundraiser committee with the Republican National Committee and he's going to ask people for donations. He says he's worth more than $10 billion.

SELLERS: The crazy part is people actually believe it.

LEMON: And to his point, tonight he and the RNC, they've released this joint statement saying they've entered into a joint fundraising agreement. They got a long way to go to come up with the money especially when it comes to matching --

PRESS: This is news. This is suddenly news the nominee of the Republican Party will help raise money for the RNC and for other candidates. Duh, that's his job. LEMON: Why is it not news when he had the fight with them, that he was saying the system is corrupt, that he is not your normal sort of Republican candidate, when the speaker of the House says I'm not sure I'm supporting you right now, of course it's news. They are coming together. Why wouldn't it be news, Bill Press, Dude? I take it as a badge of honor.

[01:45:06]PRESS: Every nominee has to do -- that's what they have to do. He's the leader of the party right now.

LOWES: He is.

PRESS: So no option.

LOWES: He is the leader. The Democrats are leaderless. Donald Trump is --

SELLERS: Democrats are not leaderless. In fact, the leader is 1600 Pennsylvania --

(CROSSTALK)

LOWES: The Republicans have settled on a nominee. The Democrats are fighting.

SELLERS: To Bill Press's point here, the irony is democrats have done this. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both signed this joint fundraising agreements back in the fall. I mean, right now the fact of the matter is we saw an article where Sheldon Adelson (ph) wants to give $100 million and they don't know who to give it to.

CARPENTER: It's an interesting question of how do you even monetize Donald Trump under this sort of agreement? There is a lot of Republicans that don't want to be seen with Donald Trump. Traditionally you would go there, you'd have a dinner, he'd speak, and donors would come. There may only be Republicans in very red states and districts that want him there.

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: I think that Donald Trump is very toxic to, you know, the sitting senators from Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania all the way down to John McCain in Arizona and I think this joint fundraising agreement, I'm happy for him, but the fact of the matter is Democrats already have ads up in Virginia, Ohio, Florida --

LEMON: OK. All right. We got you. Let's move on. I want to talk about Newt Gingrich who is rumored to be on the short list for Trump's VP candidates. He tweeted this out tonight. He said, "I have a day trip to Atlanta," maybe I should put my glasses on, "Atlanta tomorrow and just received Delta warning TSA could take two to three hours. Sanders socialist bureaucracy fails again.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESS: First of all I think the idea of considering Newt Gingrich as the vice presidential candidate is ludicrous. Look, he was a failure as a speaker.

LOWES: But wait he got -- he became -- the fact he became the speaker is historic and a huge deal.

PRESS: And fell on his face not one plank of the contract of America ever became the law of the land. He was a failure, miserable failure as a presidential candidate. He won South Carolina, but that's about it. Now you're going to make him the vice presidential --

LOWES: The man --

PRESS: Come on.

LOWES: He's brilliant.

SELLERS: But he also takes away the Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump take away one of the legitimate arguments we've been making for a long period of time. Donald Trump/Newt Gingrich ticket versus Hillary Clinton. You can no longer make the care targets.

LEMON: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:51:44]

LEMON: All right, back with me now, my political dream team. Both of them have unfavorable high ratings, Clinton and Trump. Low voter turnout, Mark, because of that in November?

PRESTON: Look, I think this panel right now has probably low approval ratings right now after this discussion tonight.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: No, this would -- this is a prediction. I do think we'll have very high turnout in November because there is going to be high interest in the selection whether you like Donald Trump or whether you like Hillary Clinton, whether you hate Donald Trump, whether you hate Hillary Clinton. I do think we'll have very high voter turnout.

LEMON: You say -- Amanda, you say the GOP commission will be unlike anything we've seen. Do you think we'll see violence at either or both of those conventions this summer?

CARPENTER: Gosh, I hope not. What will be interesting about the GOP convention by default, Donald Trump is the nominee. So there will be entirely new power coalitions that we have not seen working together to advance his platform.

Really we do not know what a Donald Trump administration would do. We don't know what his true priorities are. So there is going to be lots of new players in the mix. New people vying for different slots.

So there will be all kinds of jockeying among players that we haven't recognized before and it's going to be a new Republican Party and we'll see the beginning of that at that convention.

LEMON: I want to ask -- go ahead.

PRESS: What I find really interesting is just a few weeks ago, we were talking about the contested Republican convention and looks like the contested convention will be the Democratic convention, not maybe a challenge for the nomination.

LEMON: OK.

PRESS: But for the platform, for the rules and that stuff and I got to tell you, I'm really looking forward to that because too many conventions are cut for TV --

CARPENTER: I wish I was --

LEMON: Would it made a difference if the president or first lady had jumped out already? When will we see the president and first lady jump in?

LOWES: Jump in and endorse?

LEMON: Yes, or jump in and support someone and start campaigning for them?

LOWES: I don't think they will do it any time soon. I'd go to Bill, but I don't see it happening.

PRESS: The president already has four of his cabinet members have endorsed Hillary Clinton. The president has said she's the best prepared to pick up his legacy and carry it on and all but name President Obama has endorsed Hillary Clinton.

LEMON: Kayleigh, Donald Trump ended his interview with Megyn Kelly tonight by saying this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will say this, if I don't go all the way and if I don't win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He's an all or nothing guy.

MCENANY: He's all or nothing and respects the will of the people. If he doesn't win, they rejected him and I guess he goes away. I don't know what happens from there, but I think he's someone that listens to the voters and if he sees it as rejection, it's not going to be easy, but he's going to respect it.

LEMON: If he doesn't, I only have 15 seconds left, if he doesn't win, how influential is he?

SELLERS: I think if Donald Trump doesn't win this race, then the Republican Party will go back and I think they'll find themselves doing some introspection finding someone like Amanda's candidate where they will go back to the strict conservative principles and try to rebrand themselves on the truest sense of conservatism because now what they have is a Donald Trump and he has no policy and he has no morals and no principles.

[01:55:09]LOWES: And no successors.

PRESS: (Inaudible) is going to run or something or Ann Coulter -- 2020 anyone?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: And with that, we'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back now with final thoughts, what happens to your candidate at the convention?

CARPENTER: He has a lot of delegates that are so loyal to him but regardless what happens at the convention, Ted Cruz will be a very influential candidate. He's been very effective so far. For further ambitions, he really has to see what happens to Donald Trump and the worse Trump does, the better for Cruz in the long run.

LEMON: You said contested convention there, some people said it won't be a contested convention. But what happens at this convention especially for Bernie Sanders?

PRESS: He'll give a great speech and if he's the nominee, Bernie Sanders is going to lead the revolution. He's got the people, energy, the list. He's got the money. In the meantime, California, here we come.

LEMON: Yes. You're not giving up hope yet. Thank you, you guys were great. You, too. What are you guys going to do after now?

PRESTON: Go to church.

LEMON: Right across the street. Right across the street. Thank you very much, everyone. See you soon. Our coverage now continues with John Vause and Isha Sesay in Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Don, thank you very much. We'll let you guys go off to church.

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, indeed. Thank you, Don --