Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Voters Hitting the Polls in Indiana. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired May 03, 2016 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The entire country is depending on the state of Indiana.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we win Indiana, it's over. It's over. They're finished. They're gone.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I worry, we won't recognize our country if we don't do this.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When the voter turnout is high, when working people and middle class people and young people are prepared to come out and vote, we win elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
In Indiana voters are heading to the polls, and Ted Cruz still vying for their support. He is fighting for survival in Indiana. His campaign has gambled almost everything here. It needs to hold ground and deprive Donald Trump of enough delegates to clinch.
In the meantime, Trump and Hillary Clinton are seeking decisive victories that would knock their challengers down if not out. Both are already ramping up their attacks on one another.
And Democrat Bernie Sanders teeters on the brink of mathematical elimination. He needs a big showing. His fundraising has dropped off and his place at the convention potentially shrinking. He needs to prove his message is still resonating.
CNN is on the campaign trail this morning. Our correspondents are looking at all the angles as this dramatic day unfolds. Let's begin with CNN's Sara Murray who's following the Republican race.
Good morning, Sara.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Like you said, today could be a make or break moment for Ted Cruz. But Donald Trump and his team are feeling very confident about their odds here in the Hoosier state. Trump campaigned across Indiana yesterday. He said he's pretty much got this thing wrapped up if he wins here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The biggie is going to be Indiana because if we win in Indiana, it's over with, folks. It's over with. And then we focus on Hillary Clinton.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now, as for Ted Cruz, he's rolled out pretty much every big named surrogate he can for this last-minute push in the Hoosier state. He and his team held about 10 events across the state yesterday and they are hoping names like Carly Fiorina, names like Indiana Governor Mike Pence will help them eke out a last-minute victory here in Indiana.
Take a listen to part of Ted Cruz's closing argument yesterday as he slammed Donald Trump as a liar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: You want someone who has struggled, someone who has known loss. You want someone who is honest, who tells the truth and doesn't lie all the time. You want someone who stands by their principles. You want someone who has principles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: And you can see this is sort of the final pitch that Cruz is making saying, I am the tried and true conservative. Donald Trump doesn't stand by everything. We'll see if it's successful for him here in Indiana. If it's not, it's going to be a lot harder for Ted Cruz to make the argument to his supporters and especially to his donors that they should continue pumping money to his campaign to make it all the way to Cleveland -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Sara Murray reporting live for us this morning.
I want to check out this diner because Bernie Sanders is still on the trail. We believe he's sitting down with a union leader in the state of Indiana talking with him. He's been actually dining together with quite some time now. We're not sure what they're saying. But we suspect we might have an idea.
Let's go out live to a polling station now. CNN's Jason Carroll is in Terre Haute with voters. Good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Vigo County, an important county. I'm going to tell you the reason why in just a moment but first here at this polling spot here, it's been fairly active ever since this morning when things opened here just at about 6:00 a.m. Steady tick of people coming in and out here in Terre Haute. The reason why I mentioned Vigo County is for this reason. Bellwether county since 1888 -- want to make that sure. 1888 they have successfully picked nearly every winning presidential candidate with the exception of two times. Once in 1952, the other time in 1908.
As you know we've been speaking to a number of voters, coming in and out of this particular polling spot, asking them specifically about why they're choosing their candidate. Want you to listen, again, this is just anecdotal, sort of sound bites from people coming in and out, but interesting nonetheless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN THOMPSON, VOTER: I think Donald is going to take it. My reason is I was a vet, and I'm tired of all these career politicians saying what people want to hear and just, you know, all that line of stuff like that. I think Donald is the type that's going to take the bull by the horn and kind of stir it up a little bit and not be so defined as these career politicians are.
JOE MICHAELS, VOTER: In all sincerity I have listened to every station, CNN included, and there's lots of varying opinions out there and everything, but the only way that I see that it will be a straight out vote will go ahead and get Trump in the frontrunner and then there's no excuses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:05:07] CARROLL: So you heard from that man there. He actually, as you heard, wanted to vote for Cruz. That was the candidate that he had been supporting but didn't feel as though Cruz could take it all the way. That's why he switched at the last minute and went for Trump.
But having said that, Carol, also spoke to some other folks out there who said that they feel as though Cruz is the best candidate to uphold their Christian values. That's why they're supporting Cruz. One other person out here who said he wanted to give a shout out to Bernie Sanders. He feels as though Bernie Sanders at the end of the day is going to pull out an upset here in the state of Indiana, but we're going to be watching Vigo County very, very closely -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Jason Carroll, thanks so much.
Campaign events infiltrated by protesters not so unusual, but this year it's ubiquitous. Watch Senator Ted Cruz take on a group of Trump supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Sir, America is a better country --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Without you.
CRUZ: Thank you for those kind sentiments. Let me point out I have treated you respectfully the entire time, and a question that everyone here should ask --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you Canadian?
CRUZ: Do you want your kids --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you Canadian?
CRUZ: Do you want your kids repeating the words of Donald Trump?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Senator Cruz kept his cool and used the exchange to contrast his style to Donald Trump's, but it came on the heels of John Boehner's Lucifer comments and sinking poll numbers.
With me now to talk about this and more, Scottie Nell Hughes. She's a national political commentator for USA Radio Networks and a surrogate for the Trump campaign. I'm also joined by CNN political commentator Tara Setmayer.
Welcome to both of you.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.
SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, NATIONAL POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, USA RADIO NETWORKS: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, Tara, Senator Cruz said that exchange proved he had respect for others' opinions. Will it make a difference for voters in Indiana?
SETMAYER: Well, I don't think it's going to make a difference for Trump supporters. I think that anyone who saw that exchange in its entirety, I think it's important for people to watch that, which I did, it showed how irrational and just completely illogical a lot of these Trump supporters are. You know, Ted Cruz points it out very eloquently contrasts and hypocritical positions that Donald Trump has taken that people say that, well, I support him because of the wall. I support him because of illegal immigration. I support him for all these different things, and Donald Trump -- and Ted Cruz came back and explained, well, Donald Trump is the only person in this race who has been sued for a million dollars for hiring illegal aliens.
He's the one -- he's hiring illegal aliens over American citizens at his resort down in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. You know, he's a -- he claims that he's for this wall, he's going to build it but he tells "The New York Times" something different in an off-the-record thing. I mean, he went back and forth very methodically and just cast down all of the reasons these people claim they support Trump, but they don't hear anything. They just stop there and hurl insults and just say Trump, Trump, Trump like robots.
COSTELLO: OK. So Scottie along those lines --
SETMAYER: So this is something that --
COSTELLO: Scottie, along those lines --
SETMAYER: -- he kinds of come back. COSTELLO: Along those lines, Senator Cruz told voters the election in
Indiana is a choice between crudeness and decency, but Trump -- I don't know, I guess he might cite this example. Trump maligned Cruz's character after Carly Fiorina fell off a stage at a Cruz event and here is what Trump said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: By the way, she fell off the stage the other day. Did anybody see that? And Cruz didn't do anything. I was -- even I would have helped her, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So it was pretty obvious that Senator Cruz didn't see Carly Fiorina fall. So was that necessary, Scottie?
HUGHES: Well, I think anybody, first of all, talk about the clip, the original clip, I think anybody that watched that exchange between Senator Cruz and the protester that was outside, that Senator Cruz approached. The protesters did not go after Mr. Cruz. They stood across the street. Senator Cruz approached them with the media following and hoping to do exactly what he did.
Unfortunately for Senator Cruz, it did not turn out like he wanted. Unless you are already in the Cruz camp, you saw that as a career politician taking on a voter who today is going to the polls today and I guarantee Senator Cruz did not change his vote and all it did was emphasize that the points that Mr. Trump has been making, the wall, the birth right, things about the delegate count --
COSTELLO: Yes. But the birth right thing is simply not true. Tara is absolutely right about that.
HUGHES: I agree, but what I'm saying it showed that --
COSTELLO: Senator Cruz is an American citizen.
SETMAYER: That's right.
HUGHES: I agree but what it did was it showed the points that Mr. Trump has been making from the very beginning has resonated with the American people. That is what they have been able to grab on. And give them confidence and embolden them enough to go out against a career politician like Senator Cruz.
COSTELLO: So it doesn't matter --
HUGHES: Now as for yesterday --
COSTELLO: Here is something else, Scottie, that Mr. Cruz said -- or Mr. Trump said yesterday at his campaign rally. He said that Cruz's father had something to do with JFK's assassination. That's not true at all. He took that right out of the "National Enquirer." So why say that? He doesn't need to say that. [10:10:02] HUGHES: Well, but you look at what was said on the heels
on. This was after Rafael Cruz -- I have a lot of respect for -- went after Mr. Trump saying literally that he was basically Revelations. That if you are a Christian, that he was emboldening, he was empowering, he was imploring that you as a Christian you have to go vote for my son who stands on the word of Christ. That is your duty as a Christian. So it was just in response to the comments that Rafael Cruz is making.
COSTELLO: But that's -- yes, OK, so --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Let me play for our viewers that comment that Rafael Cruz said about his son and how voters should vote. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being, you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this? Right prior to his being shot and nobody even brings it up. I mean, they don't even talk about that. That was reported and nobody talks about it but I think it's horrible. I think it's absolutely horrible that a man can go and do that, what he's saying there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And there was a picture out there that reportedly shows Rafael Cruz standing with Lee Harvey Oswald --
TRUMP: I mean, what was he doing with --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if it's been verified.
TRUMP: What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
TRUMP: Before the shooting? It's horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So obviously that was not Rafael Cruz but that's what Mr. Trump said. I apologize for that. But, Tara, should Mr. Trump be saying those things because again he doesn't really need to do that because he's up in the polls.
SETMAYER: No, he shouldn't be saying this. And shame on FOX News for sitting there and actually engaging in that nonsense, this tabloid trash that is absolute, complete lies. I mean, so Donald Trump can run around and say anything. Is he going to start questioning the moon landing and aliens in Roswell next and everyone just goes, oh, well, that's because somebody said something else and that was his reaction?
It's this kind of making excuses for the ridiculous things and lies that Donald Trump says that has allowed him to get away with it. I mean, the fact that Scottie is going to sit here and say well, Rafael Cruz made a comment about Christianity and questioning whether people who are Christians should really rethink why they're voting Donald Trump -- you know, why they're voting Donald Trump. That warrants a response of Donald Trump coming back out with a lie from a tabloid?
This is insanity. So, you know what, the bible also says we should be careful about false prophets. So does that mean -- what now, does that mean that Donald Trump can go running around and asking questions about the moon landing? I mean, I don't -- this is the kind of stuff that concerns people like me about Donald Trump. He's not held to account to these things and Trump supporters --
HUGHES: He is.
SETMAYER: -- just excuse it away. He's not. You've never -- you're not condemning the fact that he implicated Rafael Cruz as being at the JFK assassination.
HUGHES: Tara, Tara.
SETMAYER: You made excuses for it. Scottie, this is insanity.
HUGHES: Tara, Tara, Tara, he is -- it's not -- he is actually being held accountable for it. It's being held accountable by the people.
SETMAYER: How so?
HUGHES: And the people overwhelmingly are resonating -- all of these things are just clutter around the actual sole message that the people of America are going with. They don't want the status quo, they don't want the politician, and they see Senator Cruz continuing to be basically like a televangelist, just standing up there saying one thing, and then you look at his actions and you actually look at his words and you just don't believe him. He doesn't have the credibility. He is not trusted by the American people.
SETMAYER: But Donald Trump does? Who would lie --
(CROSSTALK)
HUGHES: He does obviously. And the other thing is, Tara. Tara.
SETMAYER: A demagogue?
HUGHES: Tara, this is my -- this is my turn. My turn. OK. Tara, you have to also realize is that what Senator Cruz did, what he showed yesterday is he insults those voters behind senator -- behind Mr. Trump. He insults the more than 10 million people who have voted for Mr. Trump. And that's not how you're going to continue to grow in polls as we're seeing. I think that's why Senator Cruz --
COSTELLO: I don't think the insults --
SETMAYER: But it's OK for Donald Trump --
HUGHES: That's why you're -- (CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Tara Setmayer, Scottie Nell Hughes, thank you both.
SETMAYER: It's OK for Donald Trump to insult people, though?
COSTELLO: Still no come in the NEWSROOM, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are battling for Indiana voters so why does Donald Trump sound like he already knows who the winner is? I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:17:53] COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are locked in a tight race in Indiana where independents could be the deciding factor. Team Clinton is scaling back expectations for the state but Bernie Sanders is not only prepping for victory but touting his strength against the Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Every single national poll, every single poll in a battleground state like Indiana, you know what those polls show? They show that by far Bernie Sanders is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Chris Frates is tracking the action for us. He's in Indianapolis this morning. Hi, Chris.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. How are you? We are watching people come in the door here. About 1,000 people expected in this polling place. About 4500 people registered here. And I can tell you already this morning since 6:00 a.m., about 500 have come through the door, so lots of action here in this polling place. People telling me here it's above average for a primary, and while people come in to vote, the campaigns are really starting to try to manage expectations.
I have been talking to the Hillary Clinton campaign and they're making the case that they wouldn't be surprised if Bernie Sanders actually ends up winning here in Indiana. Remember, Hillary Clinton was ahead in the polls, and the Hillary Clinton people saying there's a couple of reasons for that. Number one, he spent big here. He spent $2 million on advertising. The Clinton folks didn't spend any money on advertising.
Also look at the demographics of Indiana, a predominantly white state. He does better among white voters than Hillary Clinton does. Thirdly an open primary. Independents can vote in that Democratic primary. That is a big deal for Bernie Sanders. Now the Hillary Clinton people say they're not worried about him winning even if he ekes out an upset here because he would need to win by really big margins in order to cut into her delegate lead.
They don't foresee that happening but when you talk to Bernie Sanders, he says they're feeling good. His campaign says, you know, they're looking forward to today. He's touting the union steel workers' endorsement. In fact he was out eating breakfast with the president of that union today showing that solidarity and that's big here in Indiana. It's a big manufacturing state, but Hillary Clinton is not here today. She's not on the campaign trail here in Indiana.
[10:20:03] In fact, she was in West Virginia yesterday where she apologized for something she said way back in March at a CNN town hall. She was making the point that in her administration coal workers and coal companies would lose jobs. She said that that remark was taken out of context.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: It was a misstatement because what I was saying is that the way things are going now, we will continue to lose jobs. That's what I meant to say, and I think that that seems to be supported by the facts. I didn't mean that we were going to do it. What I said was that is going to happen unless we take action to try to help and prevent it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: So a big mea culpa from Hillary Clinton. An explanation there in coal country and of course that's a big deal because the West Virginia primary is next week and that is in the heart of coal country. Those are Hillary Clinton's voters, blue-collar voters. She does well with those kind of voters. She needs to make sure she doesn't alienate them. And of course here in Indiana a very close race and we'll be watching it all day long -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Chris Frates reporting live from Indianapolis. Thank you.
And while the votes aren't in yet, Donald Trump is taking aim at the Democrat he thinks will be his opponent in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I saw the other night Hillary Clinton, she's got a teleprompter. I would say that she started screaming at the teleprompter, but I'm not allowed to say that. You know why. Now if she was a man, I could say it, but as a woman, ladies, I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to say it. She was screaming at the teleprompter, but I will not say it, OK?
You know, Libya, which is totally Hillary Clinton, that was her brilliant thing. I mean, this woman is a disaster, OK? She's a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Joining me now, John Zody, he's the chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party.
Good morning, sir.
JOHN ZODY, CHAIRMAN, INDIANA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Good morning, Carol. How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm good. So you just heard Donald Trump. Effective?
ZODY: No, I don't think it is effective. I think every time you deride someone else, you're taking away from what you should be saying yourself, and he's not talking about issues, he's just talking about other people.
COSTELLO: Yes, but it works for him. It's been very effective for Donald Trump to talk this way. So you're saying that Hillary Clinton shouldn't fight back in a similar fashion?
ZODY: Well, people can fight back but our candidates are fighting for Hoosiers. They're talking about issues, student debt, closing the wage gap, all the things that they're going to do for Americans if they're elected president, not what they're going to do to people and going after the personal traits of other candidates. At this point in the election, and really at any point in the election, it isn't the way to be going at all.
COSTELLO: But don't you think that perhaps Hillary Clinton if she is the nominee will have to fight back in a similar fashion against Donald Trump if he is, indeed, the nominee?
ZODY: Well, I think you certainly point out things people have said because things that people have said, including Mr. Trump, about women, about minorities, about Muslims, about immigration, whatever you want to call it, he certainly said some things that speak to what his narrative might be if he were elected president of the United States. That's why I think those things, those contrasts are certainly important, and I think Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders if they're the nominee will certainly point those things out.
But at the same time you've got to talk to people about your vision for the country. Donald Trump is not talking about a vision. He's talking about other people.
COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about the Democratic Party because we hear a lot about how it's splintered at the moment in part because many people accuse Bernie Sanders of doing that by continuing his attacks even though there's really no path to victory for him. What do you think?
ZODY: Well, I think, as you mentioned and Chris was covering, it could be a close race here in Indiana today. At the end of every contest we look at the number of pledged delegates, we look at the number of votes. Again, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have both been here over the last couple of weeks. We've had almost 300,000 people in the state of Indiana participate in the early voting process which is phenomenal.
Part of my job, part of the job of any election or campaign or political activist is to make sure people get out and vote and have the right information to do it. That has been happenings here in the state of Indiana, and it's great. So as we move toward the polls closing at 6:00 today, we'll see what happens but I know a lot of people have gotten involved. Clinton and Sanders are both bringing new people into the party, and that's something that speaks very well for our chances in November.
COSTELLO: I wanted to talk about the governor's race in Indiana for just a second because, as you know, Governor Pence threw his support behind Senator Ted Cruz.
ZODY: Sure.
COSTELLO: Do you think that will help Cruz? I know you're a Democrat, but do you think that will help Cruz? Will it play a factor in the race for governor in the state of Indiana?
ZODY: No -- well, first, I don't think it helps Senator Cruz at all. I don't think it will matter in the race for governor. Mike Pence all on his own is a sitting incumbent governor below 50 percent in the polls. He has put into practice a lot of the things we're hearing from the Republican candidates talking about nationally.
[10:25:04] He's put into practice division. He has governed by -- social, excuse me, ideology while in the governor's office. His numbers are not moving and we're going to have a competitive race for governor. Our candidate John Greg is out traveling the state talking about what he's going to do again for Hoosiers, not to them. And so I think we're going to have a very competitive race here for governor. And I think it's bolstered both by John Greg's vision and also by the fact that Mike Pence has shown that he will govern by ideology instead of what's best for the people of Indiana.
COSTELLO: All right. John Zody, thanks so much.
That shaky shot you're looking at on your right, Bernie Sanders is behind those doors. We expect him to make a statement at any time. I'm going to take a break, and maybe Bernie will be speaking when I come back. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
