Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Can Clinton Get Sanders to Back Her Ahead Of The Convention?; Voters Cast Democratic Ballots Today; Paul Ryan Disavows Trump's Judge Comments As Racist; Friend of Judge Curiel Weighs in on Accusations Of Bias; Chris Christie Votes for Trump Today in New Jersey. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 07, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:50]

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He put out a statement, I want to read it to you here. He said, "It is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention." Now Bernie Sanders has said for the last few days, he's going to take his campaign all the way to the convention and it will be a contested convention.

But the fact remains, now that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive nominee and after tonight, she'll likely have a majority of pledged delegates. And she'll likely have more of the popular vote. That's going to be very tough for him. So it's probably not surprising that when he was asked yesterday whether he would endorse Hillary Clinton, it softened his tone a bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's assess where we are after tomorrow before we make statements based on speculation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: No Hillary Clinton would love to see Bernie Sanders and his supporters get behind her as fast as possible. She would need the young voter, she needs the more progressive voters who are more popular with Bernie Sanders, to get behind her bid to take on Donald Trump. Here's what she had to say yesterday about Party unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to do everything I can to unify the Democratic Party. And I certainly am going to be reaching out to Senator Sanders and hope he will join me in that. Because we've got to be unified going into the convention and coming out of the convention, to take on Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now she's going to get some help from President Obama as early as tomorrow. He's expected to endorse her. And Democrats would love to see President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders all on stage sometime before the convention, to get behind Hillary Clinton in her bid against Donald Trump. But that is -- remains to be seen. We need folks to go to the polls today, Carol. In fact, if there's any champagne at the Hillary Clinton campaign, I'm sure it's still on ice, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm sure, too, Chris Frates, thanks so much. Let's head on up to San Francisco, shall we? That's where Dan Simon is, he's covering people casting ballots there. Good morning, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We are in San Francisco's marina district. The poll just opened so things a bit slow at the moment. But this being San Francisco, you are talking about a very large chunk of Democratic voters. Less than 8 percent of the electorate in the city is Republican. And with the Bay Area being famously liberal, Northern California could be the decisive factor when it comes to this primary election. Independents also expected to play a big role.

We should point out that if you are an Independent, you can pick up a Democratic ballot. You can not pick up a Republican ballot. That's based upon the rules set up by each Party. Mail-in ballots also going to be very important. We're talking about roughly 50 percent of the electorate in the state cast their ballots by mail. In terms of the foot traffic here, what we see could ultimately be a barometer for the rest of the day. And we'll keep you posted on how things shape up. Carol, we'll send back to you.

COSTELLO: So Dan, I hear an extraordinary number of independent voters signed up to vote. Tell us about that.

SIMON: Well here in San Francisco, you've got 30 percent of the voting block is Independent. And of course Bernie Sanders says the Independent vote favors him. And so how they vote, if they come out, based upon the fact that the election has essentially been called for Hillary Clinton -- she's now the presumptive nominee -- there is concern that some of those Independents may stay home. So of course Bernie Sanders is concerned about that. And how those independents vote is going to be crucial, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right Dan Simon, live in San Francisco. Let's head to New Jersey, shall we? Because people of New Jersey are casting ballots, too. Jessica Schneider is there. Good morning, Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well with those nominations effectively sealed the campaigns do worry about the voter turnout. But right here in Bloomfield, New Jersey, the polling officials here tell me that they have seen a steady stream of people although it's been very spread out. So you're not seeing any long lines behind me. I've talked to several people though who said they deem it necessary to be out here even though those nominees have effectively already been selected.

Now just to give you a glimpse of some statistics out here, there are actually 600,000 more registered voters in New Jersey for this primary than there were back in 2008. So they're expecting a big turnout. We're out here in Bloomfield, about 30,000 registered voters throughout the state, 5.5 million registered voters. The polls here opened at 6:00 a.m., they close at 8:00 p.m. and the poll workers here say that they are in fact, like here and all around the state, expecting a high voter turnout. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Jessica Schneider reporting live from New Jersey. Thanks so much. Joining me now, Hillary Clinton supporter and Mayor of West Hollywood, Lindsey Horvath. I'm also joined by Washington Bureau Chief of the Daily Beast, Jackie Kucinich. Welcome to both of you.

LINDSEY HORVATH, MAYOR, WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA: Thanks Carol, thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Lindsey I'll start with you because there is some thought that Bernie Sanders could take California. But now that it's come out that Hillary Clinton has the -- clinched the nomination because she has more superdelegates than Bernie Sanders, do you think that will hold true?

HORVATH: I think Hillary has set forward an agenda that speaks directly to California's values and to the demographics of our state. I think California's going to deliver a win for Hillary Clinton and she is going to march forward to the November election as the Democratic candidate.

We're very excited to be supporting her. All of my colleagues on the West Hollywood City Council have endorsed Secretary Clinton. And that's because we believe she's the candidate who is representing what America really looks like. She's celebrating diversity, she's bringing people together.

She's building bridges. She's uniting this country in a way no other candidate is. And it's very exciting to see, and on this historic election day, I couldn't be more excited to be casting my ballot for her.

COSTELLO: Well Jackie, here's the thing. So Hillary Clinton is the first woman to clinch nomination for President of a major political party. And it's sort of like, well she did it by superdelegates and she's going to wait to celebrate. And it's sort of like anticlimactic, isn't it?

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Yes it was sort of the quietest shattering of a glass ceiling ever, last night. Because I think there was a lot of anticipation that could happen today rather than yesterday. But the Clinton campaign is telling people they want to win with pledged delegates as well as superdelegates. Which is why you see both campaigns saying, "OK great, that's a great report, however everybody still needs to go vote."

So that's why you keep hearing that. But it was interesting last night when this news went out, both candidates immediately sent out fundraising appeals. Which to me means that Bernie Sanders isn't necessarily ready to back down just yet. He's still hoping to win California. Whether or not that means -- either way he's going to have a lot of pressure to drop out. But it didn't seem like they were ready to give up the ghost last night, certainly, or maybe even today.

[10:36:50]

COSTELLO: No and in fact Lindsey, Bernie Sanders' camp said it was a rush to judgment. That Hillary Clinton shouldn't be so confident that she'll win the nomination because he can sway these superdelegates to change their vote.

HORVATH: Look I've been a Hillary Clinton supporter for as long as I can remember. And I know how difficult it was for me in 2008 to accept the reality that Barack Obama was going to move forward as the Democratic nominee. Even Senator Sanders, just shortly after Barack Obama secured the number of pledged delegates and superdelegates to secure the nomination, endorsed Obama before Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race, before it went to convention. So he has a history of chiming in prior to the convention as well. But that's a difficult decision for him to make. I know how hard it was for me to make that shift moving in -- moving forward into the general election in 2008. But I know as Democrats we will come together because the opponent that we have on the other side, that's our true opponent. We're not here to fight each other, we're here to create America that we can all be proud of, and represents every single one of us in this country. And it looks like a diverse America.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about, let's talk about Hillary Clinton's likely opponent in a general election, Donald Trump. Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, just came out in an extraordinary news conference and called Donald Trump's comments about Judge Curiel racist. I just want to replay that for our viewers because it was so very extraordinary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN, UNITED STATES SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I disavow these comments. I regret those comments that he made. I don't think -- claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed, it's absolutely unacceptable.

But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not. Do I believe that Hillary Clinton is going to be the answer to solving these problems? I do not. I believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day, and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her.

But I do absolutely disavow those comments. I think they're wrong. I don't think they're right-headed. And the thinking behind it is something I don't even personally relate to. But at the end of the day, this is about ideas. This is about moving our agenda forward and that's why we're moving the way we're moving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So Jackie, despite what he said about Hillary Clinton, within the Hillary Clinton camp, aren't they sort of saying, "yay, Paul Ryan?"

KUCINICH: Well I think they're saying, "yay Republican in-fighting." Donald Trump won and so the time for Republican in-fighting should, in theory, in most campaigns, would be past. But because of his criticism of this judge, and because of the -- he's continued -- he's doubling down on it again and again, it's putting these leaders that have endorsed him in a really bad position.

And Paul Ryan, you also talk about ideas, but the reality is, if Donald Trump keeps up the way he's keeping up, he's going to be talking a lot about the standard bearer of the Republican Party, who is Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: So Lindsey, I'm just curious because Latinos now outnumber whites in the state of California. How are Donald Trump's comments about Judge Curiel playing in your state?

HORVATH: Well they, I think they've been characterized by the leader of the GOP as exactly what they are -- racist. You know, these are not comments that reflect the values of my community, certainly. And I think there are many communities up and down this state that are comprised of people who really are seeing those comments for what they are.

It's racism and that's exactly the kind of campaign Donald Trump has been running all along. A divisive campaign that is fueled with hateful rhetoric, that encourages violence, and tears people apart. And quite frankly, that's not the America that I want to live in. And I know that that's not the America my generation and my community want to live in either.

[10:40:45]

COSTELLO: Mayor Lindsey Horvath, Jackie Kucinich, thanks to both of you. Coming up in the Newsroom, he is the man at the center of Donald Trump's latest attack. So who is Judge Gonzalo Curiel? I'll ask someone who knows him, actually he's known him for decades. We'll ask him about the Judge, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:30]

COSTELLO: Donald Trump's attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel are rocking the Republican Party. Just a few minutes ago the House Speaker, Paul Ryan, calling those comments racist. With me now, Jeremy Warren. He's a Criminal Defense Attorney in San Diego. He has known Judge Curiel for 20 years. Welcome, sir.

JEREMY WARREN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, WARREN AND BURSTEIN: Morning.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here. Why isn't Judge Curiel answering Mister Trump's charges?

WARREN: I'm sorry, could you repeat that? COSTELLO: Why isn't Judge Curiel answering Mister Trump's charges?

WARREN: Oh, well, he cannot. Under the rules of judicial ethics, a sitting judge cannot comment on a case that's pending before him. So in other words, he's incapable of answering the charges. He can't do it.

COSTELLO: He can't do it. So Mister Trump says he just wants a fair shake in court from this judge. The judge has already delayed the trial. But he did order the Trump University Playbooks to be released. Was that fair?

WARREN: Well sure. I mean, Donald Trump has attacked Judge Curiel for being unfair and biased towards him. But I think you hit the nail on the head with regard to the setting of the trial date. If Judge Curiel had any bias and wanted to hurt Donald Trump during this election season, he easily could have granted the request of the Plaintiffs and set the trial date in July or August. He chose not to do that.

COSTELLO: The Trump campaign is also claiming that the law firm -- he says, appointed by Judge Curiel -- has paid big money to both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton for speeches. And that is true. But isn't it ludicrous to say that the lawyers or the law firm appointed Judge Curiel?

WARREN: Absolutely, it's ludicrous. It's nonsense, it's ridiculous, it's laughable. The law firm had nothing to do with the appointment of Judge Curiel.

COSTELLO: Well tell us how that works.

WARREN: How the appointment process works? Well ...

COSTELLO: Yeah, like how did does a judge get assigned a case?

WARREN: Well first of all, how does a judge become a judge. And I think that's a critical question in this particular case, given the nature of the allegations that judge -- that Donald Trump has made against Judge Curiel. You have to look at Gonzalo Curiel's background. He was a career prosecutor, 20 years in San Diego. He was the Chief of the Narcotics Enforcement Division.

He was -- and there's been a lot of press about this -- he, I knew him at the time when he was under a direct threat of death from the Tijuana Cartel. He had to be -- have 24-hour, 7 day a week protection from the United States Marshall Service. He didn't back down, he continued to do his job.

He then went up to Los Angeles where he continued to be a Federal Prosecutor. And then Governor Schwarzenegger was a Republican governor, appointed Judge Curiel to the Superior Court. Then when the President of the United States nominated him to be a Federal District Court Judge, the Senate confirmed him unanimously.

So he's hardly a controversial pick in any stretch of the imagination. With regard to the case itself, it's simple. Cases are assigned randomly. They're done -- used to be done by literally a -- little balls in a machine that would pop out a judge's name and then it -- the case would be assigned to them. Now of course it's done by computer. So these allegations are just absurd.

COSTELLO: OK, and you know, I hear what you're saying about Judge Curiel's days as a Federal Prosecutor. And there is something that Donald Trump ought to like about Judge Curiel. Because as a Federal Prosecutor, this judge of Mexican descent, pushed to extradite Mexican defendants into the United States so they could be tried in U.S. courts. If he wanted Mexican criminals to get off easy, why would he do that?

WARREN: Well again, and I hate to keep beating a dead horse here, but these allegations are so absurd on so many levels. It's nonsense and sitting here to -- it's a relief I should say, to see that the Republican Party is now disavowing these comments. They must be totally outrageous comments. I think if you go back and take a step and look at Gonzalo Curiel, the Gonzalo Curiel that I and others in San Diego have known over the last 20 plus years, you see a tremendous contrast between the type of person that Gonzalo Curiel is, and the type of person Donald Trump is.

For example, Gonzalo Curiel was born into a working-class family, was an immigrant family, he's an American. Worked his way up, pulled himself up by his bootstraps to become quite a success. Going from the Prosecutor to the District Court Bench. Donald Trump is someone who was born into wealth. He's someone who's pursued wealth his whole life. Whereas Gonzalo Curiel has been all about pursuing the public interest.

And while Donald Trump has talked the talk about protecting the United States from drug trafficking from Mexico and whatnot, Gonzalo Curiel walked the walk. And as I mentioned a moment ago, he put his life literally on the line. He was subject to credible verified threats of assassination. And so I agree with the -- the question that you're asking which is, shouldn't Donald Trump salute someone like Judge Curiel who's spent his whole career not only in public service, but trying to protect the United States from drug trafficking.

COSTELLO: And my last question for you. What worries you most about what Donald Trump said about your friend Judge Curiel?

WARREN: Well I have to say that in San Diego, people are really scratching their heads about the comments about Judge Curiel. First of all, you couldn't find anyone who has a better judicial temperament. He's calm, he's even-keel. A very San Diego, laid back, very thoughtful, considerate, patient. I don't know anyone who's ever seen him fly off the handle. He's not brasch.

He's really got perfect judicial temperament. And for a Presidential candidate to attack him on his heritage -- which has absolutely nothing to do with the controversy that's pending before his court -- is beyond laughable. It's outrageous and it's offensive. And finally, look, all litigants get frustrated. They all feel that -- many of them feel that a judge may be biased against them. What separates Donald Trump is that he's the Presidential candidate.

He is supposed to understand that there's a constitutional force at work here. And that their separation of powers is critical. And to attack a judge -- to throw a tantrum, basically, on the national stage against a sitting District Court Judge, is dumb. Because it's going to be -- it's not productive in terms of that particular court. And it's also outrageous and offensive. And one more finally, which is that he's got very fine attorneys working for him.

There's a provision under Federal law to file a motion to recuse a judge, and I think it speaks volumes that the -- his high-powered attorneys have not, and in my estimation, will never file a motion to recuse the judge. There's no reason, no basis for it.

[10:52:35]

COSTELLO: OK. Jeremy Warren. Thanks so much for your insight. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right I want to take you out live to Cincinnati because that gorilla exhibit is back open. Brynn Gingras is there. Hi Brynn.

All right, we're going to -- obviously we're having a little technical problem, so I want to go to New Jersey now, Chris Christie was just voting there. We assume he voted for Donald Trump since he is a Donald Trump supporter. Jessica Schneider is in New Jersey with more on this.

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: ... and what matters here is winning and losing, first and foremost. And what matters here is where the country's direction will be after whoever wins this election. That's what I'm focused on, that's my job for donald, is to focus on setting up the government once he's elected in November. And that's what my focus is for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Do you think a jury ...

CHRISTIE: Micromanaging, it's not micromanaging the campaign. If we've got questions other than the judge kerfuffle, I'm happy to answer them, otherwise I'm moving on.

(CROSSTALK)

CHRISTIE: My approval, my approval rating goes up and down in this state. I've said this before, said when I was at 75 percent I didn't believe it, and when I'm at 26 percent I don't believe it. And the fact is that I don't govern -- I've never governed based upon my approval rating. You guys are much more concerned with my approval rating than I am. I'm never a candidate for office again in this state. So quite frankly my approval rating doesn't mean a lick to me.

It didn't mean all that much to me when it was high and it doesn't mean that much to me when I'm low. The fact is that I've got a job to do and I have a tough job to do. And when you have to make difficult decisions, that's what happens. I've always said that you gather political capital in order to spend it. I've spent it on things that I've thought were important. Now it's my opportunity over the next 18 months to build it back up. So, not at all concerned about that. And more quite frankly if I was, is there anything you can do about it today or tomorrow?

Approval ratings go up and down over a long course of time. And if they've done it here -- and quite frankly the fact that I'm a two-term governor, and I've had the approval ratings I've had in a state that's one of the bluest states in the country is a very good testimony to the success of our policies, and to the popularity of the way we've gone about them. So it goes up and down, I'm not worried about it.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: ... in the legislature. For the first time you ...

CHRISTIE: It doesn't matter if I won points or something which is statistically insignificant. I mean, you guys can have as much fun with it as you want. You may not believe this, I don't care. If I were --

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That's coming from ...

CHRISTIE: ... excuse me -- no, it's not coming from my constituents. The fact of the matter is that a pollster polls 400 people out of 8.9 million people. The same way that I said to all of you, I've been consistent about this -- when my poll ratings were up at 75 percent I said to you, "I don't believe them and it doesn't matter to me."

If you say that at 75, you're consistent when you say it at 26. Doesn't really matter to me, and it's not, by the way, consistent with the, with the interaction that I have with my constituents around the state.

So I have to make tough decisions in this job. I'm under unrelenting attack mostly from Democrats, some from members of the media as well. To the extent that people read or care about this stuff, that affects it too.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Does it matter how many votes, does it matter how many votes Donald Trump gets in New Jersey today?

CHRISTIE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It doesn't matter.

CHRISTIE: I thought it was going to, but he's clinched the nomination now so it really doesn't matter at all what happens today. As long as our delegates say he gets elected, which I'm confident that it will, none of the rest of it really matters.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Does some part of you wish that today this would have been you that had been at the top of ...

CHRISTIE: Every part of me wishes that. Not some part of me, Anthony. Every part of me wishes it was me. But it's not. And that's the way elections go. So I don't have any doubt, quite frankly, I don't have any doubt about the fact that I ran as good a race as I could run. And I feel the 17 people -- Donald's won. And so every part of me wishes it were me today. But it's not. So I'm voting for the person that I think is the best person to beat Hillary Clinton in November, and I just voted for Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: ... avenue to our Vice President?

CHRISTIE: You don't, you don't get to, you don't get to make those determinations.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Have you had any conversations with him about that?

CHRISTIE: No, I've said that before, I've had no conversations ...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: ... tonight?

CHRISTIE: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Governor, is there anything Mister Trump can learn for you -- from you about your ability to speak your opinions without offending people?

CHRISTIE: You know it's fascinating that I'm now the person who can speak my mind without offending anybody. You know 12 months ago, all of you were asking me was I going to change my manner in order to not offend people. Now all of a sudden I'm the person that doesn't offend anyone. Listen, Donald Trump is my friend, and to the extent that I -- and I've made this statement many times before -- to the extent that I can help him be a better candidate and ultimately be a better President, I'm happy to help him in that regard. Because he's my friend and now he's the nominee of my Party.

So I'm happy to help him. But whether he can learn anything or not, that only time will tell about that. And I'm certainly not -- I'm certainly not conceited enough to think that the guy who beat me in the race, I'm going to teach anything to. We're friends, we talk all the time, and anything that I can do to help I'm happy to do so.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: What do you think ... should look at as the potential VP nominee?

[11:00:15]