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Donald Trump Clinches GOP Nomination; Political Panel Discusses Donald Trump Clinching Nomination; Donald Trump Speaking Soon At Press Conference. Aired 1-1:30

Aired May 26, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for watching, everyone. Good to have you here at LEGAL VIEW. Stayed tune, "WOLF" starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We begin with breaking news.

We have a key race alert right now. Donald Trump now has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. We're waiting for a Donald Trump news conference scheduled to begin later this hour, at the bottom of the hour, we're told. And we'll bring that to you live.

CNN's delegate estimate now puts Donald Trump at 1,237 delegates. That's the exact number needed to secure the Republican presidential nomination. Trump was put over the top by unbound delegates who now tell CNN they plan to vote for him at the Republican convention in Cleveland. We will have full in-depth coverage and analysis throughout this hour.

We'll also bring you any reaction we're getting from the Democratic presidential frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, who's campaigning this hour in Los Vegas. You're looking at live pictures there.

Let's bring in our panel, first of all, to discuss what's going on. Donald Trump clinching, officially clinching from our estimate, the Republican presidential nomination. We have our CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash is with us. Our Senior Political Reporter Nia-Malika Henderson is here. Our CNN Political Director David Chalian and John King, our Chief National Correspondent and the Anchor of "INSIDE POLITICS."

All right, David, walk us through. It's now, from our vantage point, official, for all practical purposes. He has the nomination. He's got the majority of delegates he needs to win that nomination.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's right, 1,237 was that magic number we've been shooting for throughout this entire election season, which Republican was going to get there? That's 50 percent plus one of the delegates needed to secure the nomination.

And you were right to note that this is -- you know, how can this happen on a day without a primary or a caucus? It's because CNN has been reporting out how these unbound delegates who are not -- their vote on the convention floor is not related, necessarily, to a primary or caucus result. They are free agents, if you will.

We've been reporting out, talking to them, finding out where they've been. Some of them were previously just uncommitted. Some of them were committed to other candidates who have since dropped out but have now moved to Trump's column. With those reports coming back in, he crosses that magic number.

And he has all but secured the nomination. He won't officially become the nominee, Wolf, until the votes are cast on the convention floor in Cleveland in July. But he will keep that presumptive nominee title that he's been using for the last little bit. And he has clinched now.

This is -- I just think if we had said a year ago that Donald Trump would be clinching the Republican nomination before the Democratic race was over, everyone would think we were crazy.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, or clinching the nomination at all, right? I mean, it was a surprise that he got in. People didn't necessarily take him seriously. People didn't think he would go through all the necessary hurdles. People didn't think those crowds that he was getting in states all across the country would actually equal votes.

But here he has. He's done something remarkable. This means a lot. This is an historic day. I think you've just got to say, wow, wow, wow. He has done it. It means something significant for the Republican Party. They've been grappling for what it means for months now. But --

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: In July.

HENDERSON: Yes, in July. It will be for a while.

BLITZER: It's almost a year since he officially announced he's running for the Republican nomination. What, there were 17, maybe 18, Republicans running for that Republican presidential nomination. And now, he has secured the majority of delegates. As a result, he will be the nominee.

BASH: I remember June 15th of last year being in Florida for Jeb Bush's announcement which, at the time, everybody was so highly focused on, right?

HENDERSON: Yes.

BASH: Because he was the guy to beat. And everyone saying, wow. You know what? Actually, tomorrow in New York, Donald Trump, it looks like he's really going to do it. On June 16th, he's going to announce that he's running for president. And I remember all of the reporters around saying, no. You don't think he's really going to have that press conference, do you? And here we are.

BLITZER: It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year. He worked hard. He went and did a lot of rallies. He was Donald Trump. And that's what the Republicans wanted.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And this is a huge day for Donald Trump and it's also a big day to reflect on disruption that is ongoing in American politics. This is a man -- let's think about the Republican Party in the last few year, defined by the Tea Party, defined by voters who said, cut spending, shrink Washington, say no to Obamacare, say no to Obama, period. All right?

Now, they have picked as their nominee, two years and two mid-term elections in 2010 and 2014, defined by this ridged anti-Obama, anti- spending, anti-taxes, strict conservatism. They have picked as a nominee, a man who says the economy does better under Democrats, who has been, in the past, in favor of tax increases, who has been, in the past, in favor of single-payer healthcare.

He's changed his positions on those things now. But that Donald Trump is the nominee of the party of Lincoln and Reagan, especially after what we have seen at the grassroots level in the last five years, tells you there is something remarkable, different and big going on in American politics.

CHALIAN: And now comes the big test, right? Because throughout all of that time, this last decade of the Republican Party, I think it first started in the George W. Bush administration, what we saw, the party bucking the establishment on immigration, certainly on the TAARP bailout in the end of the George W. Bush administration.

[13:05:10] Then comes the Obama era and the Tea Party is, as you're saying, the defining thing happening inside the Republican Party, where all that energy is.

And the whole conversation inside the Republican Party is, well, how do we harness that energy but not be hurt by it electorally? And now comes the big test because this is the culmination of that decade, of this insurgency, if you will, inside the party.

And now, we will learn this November if it actually can produce an electoral victory. We had seen in some Congressional races, it wasn't able to produce, in the Obama era. Now, we may see that it will. I don't know.

HENDERSON: Yes, I mean, this idea of what the Republican coalition will look like in this period. There had been all sorts of talk, among the establishment Republicans, if they needed to reach out to different minority groups, African-Americans, the Latinos, women obviously, young people.

And, in some ways, Donald Trump has sort of buried that autopsy. He's, in many ways, disregarded it. We saw that yesterday in sort of slamming Susana Martinez. So, we'll see what this new party looks like, in terms of coalition.

BASH: But I think that these points about, you know, how things are different and the fact that number one quality that Donald Trump has as a disrupter is really, really important. Because, you know, for those of us covering Republican primary politics, whether it's on the Congressional level, the Senate level or even the presidential level, there always were just boxes that candidates and campaigns felt that they needed to check. Pro-life, check. You know, pro-low taxes, check. You know, and down the list.

He has completely blown that up. There is no purity test for somebody like Donald Trump who sort of exceeds and supersedes all of those questions. Because people, I mean, just going to the rallies, as I have, over the past almost a year now. People just are so over Washington and politicians and doing things the old way. And that's --

BLITZER: And that raises an important issue, --

BASH: -- why he is where he is.

BLITZER: -- John, because he managed to win the Republican presidential nomination just being himself, doing what he wanted to do. He's -- he continues to do that right now, even though there's pressure on him now that he is Republican nominee, for all practical purposes, to be, quote, "more presidential."

But if you go to his rallies, you watch his rallies over the past week or two, since all the other Republican candidates dropped out, he's continuing to do what brought him this far already.

KING: Trump is Trump. And Trump is going to be Trump. I think we've seen that. There's a war even within his own campaign team. Never mind within the Republican Party. You have the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, saying we might eventually get to unity but we're not going to pretend. We're going to keep talking. We're going to try to make some compromises, reach some agreements and get there.

Within his own campaign, Corey Lewandowski, who's been with him from the beginning, is now ascended again. Five days ago, we were talking about Paul Manafort, who's a veteran Republican, who was brought in then he was ascended. There is a tug of war, call it what you will. Some call it a circular firing squad within the Trump campaign.

At this key moment, he's -- think about that. Today, he is officially, as the math, to be the Republican nominee. It's not official-official until the convention. But he has the math. And in a moment of celebration, there's turmoil everywhere within his inner office, within the Republican Party and around the country.

But his approach is, this has worked. Every time they've tried to pull him back, don't do this. Don't chainsaw people. Don't go into New Mexico. When you have a problem with the Republican Party establishment, you have a problem with women, you have a problem with Latinos. So, go in and beat up the chairwoman of the Republican Governor's Association who happens to be a woman who happens to be Latino. Hello?

Any political consultant would say, stupid. Donald Trump says, bring it on. This is his style. This is what he's done. Don't expect it to change. And, at the moment, at the moment, we're in late May. So, don't put too much stock in polls to tell you what's going to happen in November. But at the moment, his position has improved. That doesn't mean he can win in November. It doesn't mean that he's in a dead hate -- dead heat with Hillary Clinton now.

It means it will stay that way if she can consolidate the Democratic Party because that fight still goes on. But his -- Donald Trump's position, now, is better than it was a month or six weeks ago. And if you're Donald Trump, you're fine with that.

BASH: And it's not just the -- sort of what he's doing to buck conventional wisdom politically externally. I mean, this is Anna Martinez example is the ultimate example, I think.

BLITZER: She's the governor of New Mexico.

BASH: But it's -- the governor of New Mexico who he went there this week and trashed her because he was upset that she snubbed him.

But aside from that, what he appears to be doing, internally, as he's trying to make this transition from primary candidate to general election candidate and to try to figure out how he, who is such an unconventional candidate, is going to build a national campaign, has been incredibly bumpy, as you said. They fired their national political director, Rick Wylie, yesterday. Trump fired him, had Paul Manafort do it, is my understanding.

BLITZER: Why?

BASH: And it's for several reasons. But, mostly, it's the turf war. It's the old guard that Donald Trump is incredibly loyal to, starting with Corey Lewandowski who is his campaign manager. And that's one reason.

[13:10:01] But it's also -- it's the tug of war, in terms of personality and loyalty. But it's also the tug of war of the best way to go about things.

For example, my understanding is that a big part of the fight, internally, was that as he -- as Rick Wylie was building state teams, which is what you do for a national campaign, in Florida, Trump wanted the person who helped him win Florida, and Rick Wylie didn't get along with her. Didn't think she was the right person to do it. So, there was a clash.

BLITZER: And very quickly, David. This puts enormous pressure, on other Republicans who have stayed out of it, haven't yet endorsed Donald Trump, to come on board.

CHALIAN: It certainly adds to pressure that they've been feeling. And that's a -- we were saying, wow, go back a year. We didn't think we'd get here. Just a few weeks ago, we didn't know that any candidate was going to get to 1,237. We thought he may fall just short of that. That was only a few weeks ago for us to remember that. And talking about a contested convention in Cleveland. So, he can -- the strength that he has shown all throughout has never going away. He was able to vanquish the final two opponents, in Ted Cruz and John Kasich, just a few weeks ago. And if that didn't bring the whole party together -- though as John notes, you do see, in polling, the Republican Party is consolidating around him. I do think now, the hold-outs in the establishment are going to feel even more pressure, between now and Cleveland, to really present a united party.

KING: Just quickly on that point. Republican voters out in the country, if you look at the polling, they say get over to establishment. Even the people who didn't vote for Donald Trump in the primaries are saying, he won fair and square, rally around him.

But our Capitol Hill team, I see an e-mail here from Ted Barrett and Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, asked about reports that Trump has secured the nomination instead of Ted Cruz, who thought this was going to be his nomination. Quote, "Call my press office." (INAUDIBLE.)

BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by. Everyone stand by. We're going to be getting reaction from the Bernie Sanders' campaign to the news that Donald Trump has now clinched the Republican presidential nomination. Bernie Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, you see him live. He's standing by. We'll discuss with him.

And, once again, we're awaiting Donald Trump. He's getting ready to answer reporters' questions at a news conference in North Dakota, now that he clinched the Republican presidential nomination. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it starts. Stay with us, lots of news.

[13:12:09]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:35] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

We're awaiting a news conference from Donald Trump, now that he has officially clinched, at least by our estimate, the Republican presidential nomination for president of the United States. It's set to start, the news conference, in just a few minutes in North Dakota. You're looking at live pictures. Once he gets to the microphone, he'll make a statement, presumably start answering questions' questions, as well. You'll see it live right here on CNN.

We're also waiting to hear - to get reaction from Hillary Clinton. She's getting ready to speak as well. She's getting ready to address a rally in Los Vegas, Nevada. We'll have coverage of that. We're monitoring both of those events. We'll bring them to you once they begin.

More now on the breaking news. Donald Trump gets enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. Let's get reaction right now from the Bernie Sanders campaign. His campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, is joining us now live from Burlington, Vermont.

Jeff, thanks very much for joining us. We all saw this coming, but now he has reached, by our estimate, 1,237

delegates. That's enough to get the majority. He will be the Republican nominee. What's the reaction from the Bernie Sanders campaign?

JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, the reaction is, is that Democrats, this fall, have got to do everything they can to defeat Donald Trump. He would be a disaster for the country. He wants more tax breaks for the rich. He thinks wages are too high in this country. He thinks that climate change is a hoax brought on by the Chinese. You know, he's - his views on choice are horrendous. Obviously his bigoted and derogatory comments about Latinos, women and virtually every other group is this country, you know, this is intolerable. This - this candidate's got to be defeated in the fall. And this is incumbent now on - you know, this gets back to the Democratic race on super delegates on the Democratic side, to take a hard look at the Sanders campaign, the Clinton campaign, and to make a judgment about who can best take on Trump in the fall.

BLITZER: What about the whole issue of a debate between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders? You saw what was said last night on the Jimmy Kimmel show here and Donald Trump was asked, would you debate Bernie Sanders? He said, yes, if the revenue went to clarity. Then quickly Bernie Sanders tweeted he's in. Where does that stand? Because a lot of people thought it was a joke.

WEAVER: Well, I didn't think it was a joke. I saw it. I thought it - I thought it was serious. And, you know, we are ready to debate Donald Trump. We hope that he will not chicken out. I think it would be great for America to see these two candidates and the different visions they have for America going forward. And we'll have to see, Wolf, is - does Donald Trump have the courage to get on the stage with Bernie Sanders? That remains to be seen.

BLITZER: Well, have there been conversations between your campaign and his campaign to try to work out the details?

WEAVER: Well, there has been - there have been a few discussions, yes. But I think, as was mentioned earlier on your show, there is a sort of division in his camp on a number of issues and this may be - this may be one of those. You know, he has - despite his unscripted appearance, he has a number of handlers and so we'll see which - which side wins out. But like I said, we hope Donald Trump has the courage to get on the stage now that he said he would.

BLITZER: Well, who is - you know, can you tell us where the conversation is taking place? Who's talking to whom?

WEAVER: Well, I prefer not to go there, Wolf, if I could, just because, you know, there are some preliminary discussions. But I do want - I do want to say that we view the offer as serious. We have accepted the offer. And we hope Donald Trump does not chicken out in this case. You know, he has - he has a lot of bluster and flimflam, but I think if he gets on the stage with Bernie Sanders, I think he'll be exposed on substance on a number of policies that would hurt working families in this country and I think it would be very valuable to the American public. And, frankly, I think it would have a viewership of 40 million or 50 million people. I think it would be a - the political event of the season. So if he really wants to be exposed to a lot of people and has the courage of his convictions, he'll work out the details with us and we'll get it done.

[13:20:21] BLITZER: Have you discussed with any television news organization who would host such a debate?

WEAVER: Well, all I can say, Wolf, is that we have heard from I think every network. So there's a tremendous amount of interest in this. I think it would have a large viewership. I think it would get a lot of publicity. And if Donald - like - as I said, if Donald Trump wants to defend his substantive issues on stage with an opponent who is - who has a very different view of where we should take the country, I think this is a great opportunity for him and I hope he takes it up.

BLITZER: Now, he said whatever revenue is generated he wants to go to charity. I don't know what charity he wants to give that money to, although he's been active in veteran's organizations over the years. What charity would Bernie Sanders want the revenue to go to if in fact this debate were to take place?

WEAVER: Well, we haven't really that. Although I would say that Senator Sanders has been a leading advocate for veterans in the Congress his entire career. I mean he was the chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee and he worked with John McCain in a bipartisan way to pass the most sweeping veterans' health care reform legislation in a generation when he was chairman of that committee. So the senator is obviously very fond of veterans. And I'm sure if the issue is which charity it goes to, we could figure that out.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff Weaver, we'll see if that debate takes place. We know that Bernie Sanders wants it to take place before the June 7th primary in California. Appreciate it very much, Jeff. Thanks very much for joining us.

WEAVER: Happy to be here.

BLITZER: Just the thought of a president Trump has many world leaders apparently nervous right now. They've gathered at the G-7 Summit in Japan. They're talking to President Obama about their concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're rattled by it. And for good reason. Because a lot of the proposals that he's made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude or an interest in getting tweets and headlines instead of actually thinking through what it is that is required to keep America safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, who's joining us live from London right now.

Clarissa, while Trump is still a presumptive Republican nominee until the delegates meet in Cleveland, officially cast their votes on the convention floor in July, this is a step in the - from Trump's standpoint, clearly in the right direction. He is, for all practical purposes, the Republican nominee. What's the reaction you're getting around the world?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I think it's no secret that Donald Trump has been ruffling quite a few feathers overseas with some of his more controversial policy ideas and certainly his meteoric assent has been a subject of fascination across the world, from jihadis in Syria, to politicians in Paris, everybody is always asking me on the road about Trump. But there is definitely widespread concern about his perceived ignorance when it comes to world affairs, especially here in the U.K. Earlier this year we heard the British prime minister, David Cameron, calling his comments about banning Muslims from traveling to the U.S., he called those comments, quote, "divisive, stupid and wrong."

Just today we heard from newly elected mayor of London, who is himself a Muslim, Sadiq Khan (ph). He called Trump's views on Islam, quote, "ignorant." And it's not just the U.K., Wolf. Saudi princes have called him a disgrace. Mexico's former president compared him to Hitler. And China's state run newspaper denounced him as, quote, "big mouthed and abusively forthright."

But I think what's interesting, Wolf, is that since Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, the rhetoric from overseas has definitely softened a lot and I think we're likely to see that continue as world leaders begin to grapple with the very real possibility that they are actually going to have to deal with a president Trump.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Is there anyone out there in the world stage, an important figure out there, who isn't nervous about a Trump presidency, shall we say?

WARD: Well, there's one very obvious one we all know and that's Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has called Trump, quote, "an outstanding and talented personality." And that's not exactly a surprise because if you look at some of Trump's more isolationist policies, they're very likely to appeal to countries like Russia and China, which see previous administrations as having tried to contain their rise.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Clarissa Ward in London for us, thank you very much.

Coming up, we're standing by, once again, for these two live events, Donald Trump about to hold a news conference in North Dakota after now clinching the Republican presidential nomination.

[13:25:05] Also, we're waiting to see if Hillary Clinton has any reaction to the Trump news when she takes the stage in Las Vegas. Stay right here. Live pictures coming in from Las Vegas. You see that right there. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Right now we're standing by to hear directly from Donald Trump after he has now clinched the number of delegates needed to reach the Republican presidential nomination. He'll hold a news conference before heading to a planned rally in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Jim Acosta is joining us now live. He's at that rally in Bismarck.

Jim, this was supposed to be just another campaign stop, but it's now become more now that he has clinched the nomination.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BLITZER: He's got that magic number of 1,237 all wrapped up. So what are we expecting to hear?

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, we're going to hear from Donald Trump twice here in North Dakota, Wolf. Originally we thought this was just going to be a policy speech on energy from Donald Trump. But, of course, as you can see behind me, I'm inside an arena in Bismarck, North Dakota, and this is set up as basically a rally. Although we should point out, the teleprompters are on stage behind me, so it does appear that the GOP nominee will be reading from prepared text.

[13:30:00] And I use the term GOP nominee instead of presumptive GOP nominee, Wolf, because, as we've been reporting this morning, and in the last hour, Donald Trump has now clinched the number of delegates to officially reach the Republican nomination. My understanding from talking to advisors earlier this --