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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
GOP Leaders Reluctantly Climbing Aboard; Former House Speaker John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz "Lucifer in The Flesh"; Some GOP Women Considering Voting for Clinton Over Trump; Indiana County Has A Knack Picking The President; Ex-Saints Player's Alleged Killer Indicted; U.S. Service Members Facing Punishment For Hospital Airstrike; Source: Painkillers Found On Prince; Hastert Could Be Removed From Wrestling Hall Of Fame; Hastert Gets 15-Months, Called "Serial Child Molester". Aired 8-9p ET
Aired April 28, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:14] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
That chugging sound that is beginning louder for months now. That is the Trump train. And tonight, some GOP leaders are reluctantly thinking they better climb aboard. A number of Republicans in the House and Senate say they are resigning themselves to the fact that Donald Trump will be the eventual nominee. They are not jumping for joy. One congressman from Kentucky says with Trump as likely nominee, many Republicans are going to need counseling and they should start signing up for it now. That's actually pretty tame when you consider the other commentary that is rolling around the presidential race right now about Trump's rival.
Former house speaker John Boehner said Senator Ted Cruz is quote "Lucifer in the flesh, and a miserable son of a B." Cruz has responded. We will have more on all of that in a moment.
But first, even if the GOP establishment is starting warmed to the inevitability of Trump, there are major hurdles that remain. Its unfavorability on women sky high, for instance, he is showing no sign of changing his tunes or his tones. Jason Carroll has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said I don't want to be presidential, I want to win. I got to win, OK?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the promise to keep being himself, Donald Trump assured voters in Indiana that they could be the ones to help him secure the nomination.
TRUMP: We don't have a long way if I can win in Indiana. If I win, it is over.
CARROLL: Trump holding a lead over Ted Cruz in Indiana who needs a win in the Hoosier state to help stop Trump's momentum. Trump hammered Cruz's choice of Carly Fiorina to be his running mate.
TRUMP: He now goes up and gets Carly who left the race because she had no votes. She had nothing. And that's OK, she's a nice woman, but it is not going to help. It is not going to help.
CARROLL: Cruz brushing off Trump's latest jab.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald doesn't get what he wants, he yells, he screams, he curses or insults. I suppose you could start a game on which one of the four Donald is going to respond to any given stimulus that might occur.
CARROLL: That is Cruz distances himself from the deal he and John Kasich struck to clear a path for him in Indiana.
CRUZ: There is no alliance. Kasich and I made a determination where to focus our energies, where to focus or assets.
CARROLL: Trump blasting the agreement as a slap in the face to Indiana voters.
TRUMP: So what happens is Cruz called or Kasich called to somebody calls. And because it's a rigged business and because it is a dishonest business, they say hey, listen, Trump is beating us badly. We got to do something. We got to do something. And let's start with the people of Indiana because they probably think you're stupid or foolish or something and boy do I know the opposite.
CARROLL: Trump is not limiting his fire to GOP rivals, Trump doubled down on criticism of Hillary Clinton who he has repeatedly accused of playing the woman card.
TRUMP: I would say the primary thing that she has going is that she's a woman and she's playing that card like I have never seen anybody play it before.
CARROLL: Despite polls showing Trump losing badly to Clinton among women in a head to head matchup, Trump is making the case that he is the better candidate for female voters.
TRUMP: Nobody cherishes, nobody respects women more than Donald Trump. That I can tell you. Nobody. I will be so much better to women than Hillary Clinton.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Jason Carroll joins me now. You are in coast at that Mesa, California, Jason. Trump is kicking off his California campaign. What's the mood there like ahead of his arrival?
CARROLL: Well, I can tell you that as you know Republicans outnumber Democrats here in coast at that mesa and Orange County. So even before things before they even got under way, we heard a number of people coming in here, Anderson, chanting build the wall, build the wall. As you know, he has very strong opinion stance on the issue of illegal immigration. I think there are going to be a number of people showing up here who are going to be supporting him when he talks about building that wall - Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jason, thanks very much.
Now to comments that former House speaker John Boehner made about Ted Cruz. Boehner He spoke at an event at Stanford University last night and wide ranging discussion on stage with a history professor, covered a lot of ground. The event was not on video. There is audio of it and one bit is particularly and actually getting a lot of attention. Boehner was asked his thoughts about Cruz. Here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BOEHNER (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Lucifer in the flesh. In Washington I have many Democratic friends as I have Republican friends, I get along with almost everybody. But I've never worked with a more miserable son of a (bleep) in my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Campaigning in Indiana today, Cruz said he only met Boehner two or three times, and never worked with him. And he says Boehner's anger is actually somehow directed at the public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: When John Boehner calls me Lucifer, he is not directing that at me, he's directing that at you. What Boehner is angry for is not anything I've ever said to him, I haven't said much of anything. What Boehner is angry with me for is standing with the American people, energizing and encouraging and honor the commitments we made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:23] COOPER: And Sunlen Serfaty joins me from South Ben (ph), Indiana.
So this war of words between Cruz and Boehner, any more has said?
SUNLEN SERFATY, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson. Clearly, Senator Cruz didn't shy away from going and jumping into this battle with John Boehner today. A numerous times during the day here in Indiana, he brought this up and responded to Boehner's comments saying that look, Boehner doesn't know me. I don't know Boehner, and really trying to tie John Boehner's comments to Donald Trump repeatedly, almost mocking John Boehner sake that Boehner today allowed his inner Trump to come out and saying to voters here if you want a president like John Boehner, then Donald Trump is your man. So Senator Cruz clearly relishing in this moment to kind of take on a familiar foe of his, biggest foe Washington D.C. writ large. We really saw him rail against the Washington establishment, doubling down on this today in his campaign this evening. A fundraising e-mail highlighting these words from John Boehner.
COOPER: And Fiorina was clearly out in the trail with Cruz again today. What does this campaign set about there path forward in Indiana? SERFATY: Well, they are very clear that this is a critical state, a
pivotal state, that's how they describe it. And it is interesting to see really everything that they are doing and saying really underscores that from rhetoric, kind of ramping up the stakes here in Indiana to the complete and total focus that they really have put on the state this week, dispatching Carly Fiorina today with senator Cruz, spending a lot of time between now and next Tuesday here.
All of this circling Tucson on the calendar, showing how important it is for their campaign. You know, Senator Cruz for the first time today really sent out a revealing fund-raising email to supporters, really ratcheting up the alarms of what could happen. He said point blank, if Donald Trump wins all the delegates in Indiana, his nomination could be all but deterrent. Those are very strong words coming from Senator Cruz tonight.
COOPER: Yes. All right. Sunlen, thanks.
A lot to talk about with our panel. We got "New York Times" national political correspondent Patrick Healy, chief political analyst Gloria Borger, our CNN political commentators Kayleigh McEnany who supports Trump, Senator Cruz's former communications director Amanda Carpenter, and Tara Setmayer.
Patrick, I never heard I don't think one former politician call it -- calling current politician Lucifer in the flesh.
PATRICK HEALY, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: Yes. Where does that word come from? It was a little - it was a bit of a reach. But you got the sense that John Boehner was finally saying something that he wanted to say for many months about Ted Cruz, you know. He doesn't necessarily love Donald Trump. He doesn't necessarily love John Kasich, but really dislikes Ted Cruz. And it is just, you feel like Ted Cruz is this kind of bloodied candidate now sort of walking through Indiana, people are sort of taking shots at the guy to see if they can lay him out Tuesday.
COOPER: Gloria, then Cruz tries to turn around and say, well, Boehner is calling you the people Lucifer, did that make sense to you?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, no. But it is good try for him because what he is trying to do is say John Boehner is establishment. The establishment hates me and therefore the establishment hates you because you don't like the establishment. I think - I was talking to a Republican pollster today about all of this and how Boehner might actually impact the state of Indiana. And what he said to me is look Boehner got all the conservatives in Indiana. What he doesn't have is those swing voters, those moderate --.
COOPER: You mean Cruz.
BORGER: I mean, sorry, Cruz. And that Boehner's words today could actually help Trump to a great degree because those moderates who may be deciding might not go for Cruz when they hear John Boehner calling names. AMANDA CARPENTER, FORMER CRUZ COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes. And if I
could just jump in. I kind of find it refreshing. I appreciate John Boehner's candor because it shows what we were up against, you know. I was working with Ted Cruz through the shutdown and it was so frustrating. I mean, when Ted Cruz was talking about the establishment is mad at you, what we were trying to do in the shutdown is send a message that people don't want Obamacare. It wasn't just Ted Cruz causing trouble and being opportunistic. The grassroots were screaming out for someone to do something. And you see this played out with Donald Trump's candidacy, people saying we want change so bad we are going with a total outsider. Ted Cruz was an earlier messenger of that. They didn't listen to the message. They demonized Cruz. John Boehner still hates Cruz, and now they have Trump. They created an a bigger monster, a bigger Lucifer, maybe.
COOPER: And I men, Kayleigh, you do now have, you know, more and more Congress people coming on board the Trump train.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, because they realize that "New York Post" has just reported that he may get the most votes of any GOP candidate in history. This is someone who is not just winning, he has created a movement. He won by 60 percent in many states last week. He was over the majority margin in these states. So I think Tuesday was a definitive turning point whereas the people on the hill stood up and said you know what, we need to get around this guy because we can't let Hillary Clinton win or we risk, you know, --.
[20:10:19] COOPER: They just seem to be, Tara, I mean, kind of holding, you know, their nose while doing it in many cases.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Of course, because they recognize how reckless Donald Trump has been as a candidate. He hasn't really shown anything other than his ability to sort of read a teleprompter yesterday. I mean, the bar was set rather low for expectations concerning him turning presidential. We have seen how that's gone.
So I think that people are they should be because Donald Trump has flip flopped on so many issues. And I think I find it funny that he continues to try to portray himself as an outsider when he cozied up to Washington insiders. He has been funding this alleged corrupt insider special interest system for years giving money to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton. He plays golf and texts John Boehner as John Boehner admitted to in that same speech. I mean, John Boehner is the consummate insider.
HEALY: Some of the Republicans are flip flopping themselves. And they have been criticizing and holding their noses at Donald Trump for so many months. And now he is starting to win majorities. We are all going to start saying kind of nice things. He is my texting buddy, John Boehner said. He didn't say this is the voice of conservatism. This is the great sort of policy thinker of our time. They're sort of trying to get there and sort of angle forward, you know, I guess in hopes to save the party. CARPENTER: Find a way to navigate if he does becomes the nominee,
navigate around Trump so that you can support Republicans but not Trump. People will say I am a Paul Ryan Republican. Maybe here's a cabinet secretary I can get behind. This is who I want for defense secretary. It is not going to be about Donald Trump. And I just don't think --.
BORGER: I mean, these are politicians, can we say that, and they all looked at the 59 or 60 percent margin on Tuesday. And you can't read it any other way than the fact that this guy is almost mathematically guaranteed to be the nominee, and they decided, they have woken up. And they decided, OK, what am I going to do? Am I going to fight the party's nominee the entire time or am I going to find a way to be with him? And that's why you saw more and more Republicans meet with Paul Manafort today on the hill.
COOPER: Right. But it was interesting because the hill was reporting in the past, there were a lot of empty seats in those meeting between Trump aides and Republicans in the house. Now according to hill, standing room only.
HEALY: It seems like what a lot of mainstream Republicans are now of kind of willing to take those seats, they aren't necessarily going out as surrogates or going to be campaigning for Donald Trump, but they are comfortable leaving it to Lindsey Graham to say things like, you know, you go with Trump, you're going down like the titanic. I mean, these sort of doom and gloom statements that -- it is just interesting, three months ago we were seeing the argument that the Republican Party was facing this giant split, you know, forever.
COOPER: I do want to play something that Governor Kasich said today in Portland, Oregon. Let's just listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I thought about should I keep going. Should I carry on? What is this all about? And I thought deeply about it. And I thought about all of that yesterday. And I made the determination that the people of this country deserve something. So I've decided to keep going. And there are going to be people who are going to criticize me for that. And it's not always an easy road. I'm going to do my very best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I mean, a reflective moment it seems from John Kasich.
BORGER: Look, what John Kasich is saying is that he is getting a lot of heat from Republicans so were saying to him why are you staying in the race, you effectively gave Donald Trump the nomination and you shouldn't be doing that. And the thing about Kasich is you always get the sense when he is in these town halls, it is kind of personal therapy for him and for the people who are there. And I think he's completely honest about his thought process.
HEALY: That's the thing, it is a lot of me, me, me, me, I am thinking about how I feel. It just reinforces that there's not a lot of voters saying we want John Kasich. This is it.
MCENANY: You know, to John Kasich's credit, he had a Bernie Sanders moment where any responsible candidate that wants betterment of their party. They want their party to succeed. They step back and they say is what I am doing this the best thing for my party. So I commend him for that.
COOPER: We got to take a break. Could the gender war that Donald Trump is waging backfire, wait until you hear what some Republican women in Indian told our Randi Kaye.
Plus new details about the death of Prince according to law enforcement source, the music icon had prescription painkillers with him when he died. The question now what role, if any, did they play in his death?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:18:38] COOPER: On Tuesday, Indiana is next up on the primary calendar. And in that Cruz-Kasich alliance that was supposed to be in play for this next crucial contest, as we reported, is not really happening. Today, Senator Cruz said there never was a deal to begin with. He is presumably hoping that naming Carly Fiorina as future running mate will win votes in the Hoosier state.
Meanwhile, frontrunner Donald Trump taken an opposite attack doubling down on his accusations that Hillary Clinton is playing the woman card. Some analysts think it is a risky bed. We asked Randi Kaye to see what Republican women will be voting Tuesday think about this gender war Trump is waging.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When I say Donald Trump, what's the first word that comes to mind?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Powerful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Surprising.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Divisive.
KAYE: Six Republican women from Indiana weighing in on Donald Trump's comments about women and his suggestion that Hillary Clinton is playing the woman's card.
TRUMP: Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she would get five percent of the vote. The only thing she has got going is the woman's card. MOLLY DEUBERY, WILL NOT SUPPORT TRUMP: That's insulting regardless of
how you feel about Hillary Clinton to imply that her background as a U.S. senator and secretary of state give her zero qualifications. And Trump's assertion that Hillary would only have support of five percent of the population is ridiculous. Who does he think the rest of her supporters would go for, him?
JANNA URBAHNS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't think these comments are helpful to him or to his campaign. However, I still believe he is still playing the theatrical card.
[20:20:09] ARIANNE SLASH, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I'm scared to death of a person setting that sort of a tone.
KAYE: Some of these women are willing to overlook Trump's comments because they think he is strong on the economy and jobs. Though, after calling Megyn Kelly crazy and making fun of Carly Fiorina's face, some here are surprised Trump is still on top.
JUDY SINGLETON, RELUCTANTLY SUPPORTING TRUMP: I thought when he made those derogatory remarks about Carly Fiorina's personal stature and her beauty, that would sink him.
KAYE: In fact, some in our group said they would still support Trump, even after comments he made to Howard Stern years ago. The men were talking about women in the beauty pageant Trump once owned.
TRUMP: First of all, she's unbelievably short and I'm a little bit surprised. I think that the boob job is terrible. You know, they look like two light posts coming out of a body.
SINGLETON: I call this cocktail talk. And he just doesn't know any better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So he is talking about contestants in the pageant. It is another way to get people to watch the pageant.
DEUBERY: Ladies, I can't believe you're excusing his behavior as the world of business or as good old boys network. I mean, those are the exact same justifications used for sexual harassment for years. To use the word boobs several times, that's not promoting the pageant.
KAYE: These comments would not prevent you from voting for Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they will not.
KAYE: Brenda Gerber vincen is disgusted by all his comments about women, but is still considering him for president.
Is there anything he could do to win your vote?
BRENADA GERBER VINCEN, REPUBLICAN VOTER: We're smart. I mean, we're really smart, we understand policy, we understand what's necessary for the country to move forward, we understand economic development. Start speaking to us as partners. TRUMP: Thank you, everybody.
KAYE: In the end, though, Trump may drive some of these Republican women to vote Democratic.
If Donald Trump is the nominee, would any of you consider voting for Hillary Clinton, voting democratic?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
KAYE: Molly says yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I am undecided what I will do in fall if Trump is the nominee.
KAYE: So you may actually vote for the other party?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I may.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Randi joins me now.
So in all, how many women in that Republican group said they wouldn't vote for Trump if he's the nominee?
KAYE: Anderson, a few of them hedged, but in all, two of them told me absolutely they will not vote for Donald Trump if he's the top of the Republican ticket. That doesn't mean they are going to stay home on Election Day. They said that they will likely, very likely vote for Hillary Clinton.
Now, I also asked them as Republican women would you vote for Hillary Clinton just to see a woman elected as the first president, they said absolutely not, they are not going to vote their gender. That this race is about policy and substance. They want a candidate who has the same values and the same hopes for this country that they do. Some of them may end up voting for Hillary Clinton, as they said, even if her values don't line up with theirs, but that's not their first choice, obviously.
I do, though, have to tell you that one woman, the strongest Trump supporter in the group told me that at her house she has a policy. It is called the ABC of politics, and that ABC stands for Anything But Clinton, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Randi, thanks.
Randi pointed out, her report is certainly not scientific but it is a sampling of what some Republican women in Indiana are saying.
Joining me, two more voices from the Hoosier State, Miriam Weaver and Amy Jo Clark, self-described conservatives who run the Web site "chicks on the right" and also host of a radio talk show by the same name.
Miriam, what do you make of what we saw in Randi's piece? Some Republican women considering voting for Secretary Clinton if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee. Is that something at all you're hearing from listeners in Indiana as well?
MIRIAM "MOCK" WEAVER, RADIO HOST, CHICKS ON THE RIGHT: We're hearing that a little on our Web site, not so much our listening audience. But we're kind of mortified by it because, you know, as troublesome as Trump is to both of us and to many women across our state. We still believe that he is a better alternative than Hillary, absolutely.
COOPER: And Amy Jo, I mean, what are women listeners there saying about Donald Trump's woman card comments, if they are saying anything at all?
AMY JO "DAISY" CLARK, RADIO HOST, CHICKS ON THE RIGHT: The woman card not so much. We don't hear that a lot. I think that we get more feedback about Hillary and women playing the woman card with Hillary, like I am going to vote for Hillary because she's a woman and voting because of lady parts and what not. We are troubled a little bit by comments that, you know, Trump, he does some stuff that's I guess disconcerting to women, like today, for instance, yesterday, I'm sorry, for instance, he made a commented that he was happy that he was supported by Mike Tyson. And those are comments that we feel like he didn't put research into doing that before he, you know, said that. And that women pay attention to those things.
WEAVER: It makes a difference.
CLARK: It makes a big difference, especially to people in this state and in the city of Indianapolis.
[20:25:00] COOPER: But not a difference enough for you two that you would consider not supporting him if he's the head of the ticket?
WEAVER: We have always, yes, we've always said, always maintained that no matter who the candidate is, no matter of the three, we will vote Republican.
CLARK: But not in the primary. So we are pretty anti-Trump when it comes to Indiana's primary because we have been honestly just mortified by his behavior.
WEAVER: But we've also said on the show a lot that he is going to, if it is Trump, if he is our guy, he is going to have a heck of a time in the general defending a lot of the comments that he has made over the past, you know, six, nine months, especially about women.
COOPER: Do you think as president he would have a different tone? Because, I mean, that's something he has talked about on the campaign trail and others asked him about.
WEAVER: You know, what we hope is that he will accomplish at least one or two things of things he is promising he wants to do, and if he can do that, that's a better alternative to us than all of the things we know Hillary will do.
CLARK: Without question. COOPER: So over the course of the last couple of months, I have
spoken to a lot of radio hosts in different states and there really have been able to kind of gauge the pulse of voters that they are talking to. Hearing from the people of Indiana, how, to the ones you are hearing from, how do they seem to feel about their choices next week?
CLARK: You know, people are just not very enthusiastic. And I think we are part of that group. The three people that we have, I know my horse is out of the race, her horse is out of the race, and the people that we have, we are just not very, very excited about it. And I don't think that's a change from some elections past, but, you know, we were excited to hear about Carly getting back in yesterday.
WEAVER: And our listeners were, too. I mean, we got a lot -- when we took calls on the show yesterday, the enthusiasm about Carly as a pick was very real.
CLARK: Especially to women. So that was kind of nice. But just the enthusiasm level, I think we are ready to be very excited about a candidate, and we haven't had that in a while.
COOPER: Listen, I appreciate you both being on with us. Amy Jo Clark and Miriam Weaver, thank you so much.
Up next, we are going to take you to a county in Indiana that's chosen the president all but twice in the last 128 years. Quite a record. We will hear what voters there are thinking.
And later, digging deeper to utter disgrace of former house speaker Dennis Hastert, now sentenced to prison in a case involving his molesting boys when he was a coach and teacher, lying about it for decades and getting with it. Drew Griffin is looking into the letters written on behalf of Hastert, some from former congressman, asking the court for leniency for this guy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:33] COOPER: Indiana both in the presidential primary just five days from now. It will be an important contest with 57 delegates at stake on the Republican side, and there's one county that seems to have something of a crystal ball, it's a county that picked the president in every election but two since the late 1800s. We thought it would be interesting to see what voters are thinking this time around.
Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When handicapping in the Republican presidential race, there is a reason to listen especially close to Indiana voters from Vigo County, about 80 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
MICHAEL EGY, VIGO COUNTY INDIANA VOTER: I'm voting for Trump. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like Kasich, because he's down to earth.
TUCHMAN: You voted early?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Who did you vote for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted Cruz.
TUCHMAN: Vigo is a small county with a big reputation when it comes to American politics, successfully picking 30 of the last 32 presidential elections dating back to 1888.
DANNY TANOOS, VIGO COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: The citizens of Vigo County are intelligent people and hometown people who have really core values and understand politics.
TUCHMAN: So what insight can these people with a voter's sixth sense give us. A luscious bridal store in the county seat of Terre Haute, Nelly Smith says she will vote for Donald Trump.
NELLY SMITH, VIGO COUNTY INDIANA VOTER: Well, I like a lot of his get go. Some of the things I don't like about him, but there's a lot I do. I think he's the best running candidate now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can now took care?
TUCHMAN: Inside the Top Guns gun shop, owner Steve Ellis says he's leaning towards Trump. But listen to this.
STEVE ELLIS, VIGO COUNTY INDIANA VOTER: I do not like him at all.
TUCHMAN: So why would you consider him?
ELLIS: Because he's better than the alternative unfortunately. I believed Cruz is not a person that I would trust, and I believed Kasich is not a person that can actually win the nomination.
TUCHMAN: John Harvey who said he likes Cruz has the opposite take.
Tell me why you like Cruz.
JOHN HARVEY, VIGO COUNTY INDIANA VOTER: Not so much I like Cruz, as I'm concerned about Trump.
TUCHMAN: And it's a theme we heard repeatedly in Vigo County. Republicans who are inspired enough to vote but not overly inspired by the choices. The president of one of a local bank says he will cast his ballot for Trump, but.
JIM WINNING, VIGO COUNTY INDIANA VOTER: I'm not real impressed with any of the policy, I'd rather off the bat. But, you know, I think that he is probably going to be most in position to help us create jobs, to help turn the economy around, which I think that's a big factor right now. DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, everybody.
TUCHMAN: As for predictions for the general election from these political suit sayers, we asked.
Who do you think will win the presidency in November?
WINNING: It will be Donald Trump.
TUCHMAN: And what does this Cruz supporter think?
HARVEY: Hillary.
TUCHMAN: But you're supporting Cruz?
HARVEY: I think Hillary is going to win, that doesn't mean I want Hillary to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Gary joins me now. Gary, what are the two elections that the county missed over the last 128 years?
TUCHMAN: In 1908, Anderson, William Howard Taft won the presidency, Vigo County and picked William Jennings Bryan in the battle of the Williams, they missed that one. 1952 was the last one missed 64 years ago, that was Dwight Eisenhower, his first victory in his two terms in the White House, he defeated the governor of cross the river Illinois Adlai Stevenson be go beat Adlai Stevenson but only by 35 votes, less than one-tenth of 1 percent. So they couldn't just this one.
Anderson before we go, we want to give a shout out to a historian -- election historian and this is county by county research, his name is Dave Lee. We used some of his research, so thank you very much Dave.
COOPER: Oh we appreciate that, Dave, thanks. And Gary, we appreciate you, thank you.
Well there's a lot more happening tonight, Amara Walker is got "360" news in business, pull it Amara.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, a grand jury has indicted the driver suspected of gunning a former New Orleans Saint player during a traffic dispute earlier this month.
[20:35:07] Cardell Hayes is accused of second degree murder and three other charges in the death of Will Smith an ex-defensive end says wife was also shot and survived.
The Pentagon will announce Friday that up to 16 members of the military will be disciplined for their role in the October air strike that killed of many as 42 people at a hospital in Afghanistan. No one is expected to face criminal charges.
Uber is expanding in Dubai, offering a party yacht, beginning Saturday, starting at $82, you get a four hour tour of the city's famed skyline along with music, food, cocktails.
And here at home, a frightening ride on a Texas roller coaster for a six-year-old boy and his father when the boy's seat belt came undone. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My seatbelt!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you. Its fine, you're fine, I promise, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you. Hey you're fine. There's no more big hills, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more big hill?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, there's no more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Wow, terrifying.
COOPER: Amara, thanks very much.
Just ahead, new details in the Prince's death investigation. A source telling CNN that prescription painkillers were found on the music icon at the death scene.
Plus, there's new information about that recent emergency landing his plane made in Illinois to take him to a hospital.
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[20:40:32] COOPER: New developments now about the death investigation of Prince, the 57-year-old music icon as you know was found unresponsive in his Minnesota home one week ago. Tonight, prescription painkillers been linked to the scene and the death and the DEA is now involved in the case. There's also new information about other calls that authorities received over the years from his estate.
Sara Sidner has the latest.
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SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prince's fiercely guarded private life and struggles are slowly coming to life after his death. The sheriff's office has now released incident call reports involving all calls in the last five years from Prince's Paisley Park estate to local law enforcement. There were 47 calls in all, some for suspicious activity, others for harassing phone calls. But for, were for medical issues, including the day Prince died. But there is no indication yet whether three other medical incidents involved Prince himself.
What a law enforcement source is telling CNN, when Prince was found dead in the elevator at Paisley Park, prescription opioid medication was found in his possession, the medication commonly used to treat severe pain was also found inside Prince's home, the source said.
And then there's this. Investigators telling us that they have been unable to find any evidence that Prince had a valid prescription for that medication.
We now know that Prince may have been struggling with severe pain and using the prescription painkillers six days before he was found dead. When his pilot called air traffic control to make an unscheduled landing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the nature of the emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An unresponsive passenger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it a male or female passenger?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a male passenger.
SIDNER: Prince was unconscious, he was rushed to the hospital in Moline, Illinois, where investigators say Prince was treated for a potential overdose of pain medication. His publicist at the time said he was suffering from the flu. But now the Drug Enforcement Administration has been called in to help investigate Prince's death. A former DEA agent says, the DEA's involvement may give us a clue the investigators may be looking into criminality involving the drugs.
MICHAEL LEVINE, FMR DEA AGENT: If I knew that you were drug dependent and I knew that you were in bad physical condition, that's not even necessary, but if I gave you the pills anyway and you subsequently die, well that's reckless in difference and reckless in difference to you safety and you life is homicide.
SIDNER: As his adoring fans continue to make tributes to the musical genius, investigators are awaiting the toxicology reports which with the already completed autopsy are expected to reveal the only concrete scientific proof of exactly what killed Prince.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Chanhassen, Minnesota.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The medical examiner says the autopsy results could take weeks, there's a lot to talk about, joining me is Dr. Drew Pinsky, addiction specialist, host of HLN's Dr. Drew, which has a new time slot airing at 7:00 p.m. eastern on HLN.
So, I mean is this adding up to you at all? And we talked a lot about, you know, opioid prescription medication, misuse of it.
DR. DREW PINSKY, ADDICTION MEDICINE SPECIALIST: Yeah, Anderson, as you know, we've been are chanting about this for years. Listen who said to this data. The medication percocet is a medicine that the opioid that the name which been toss around the people allegedly maybe have Prince have been involved with, 81 percent of the percocet prescriptions on this planet or in this country, nearly 100 percent the vicodin prescriptions on earth were administered to Americans. Nearly 90 percent of all opiate and opioid medications prescribed -- were prescribed in the United States of America.
COOPER: Why is that?
PINSKY: Well do we have more pain here? Are we more enlightened with our prescribing a pain? Now we have a system in place that has it that people can come in, and demand certain medication. It's a common treatment for chronic pain, yet there's no evidence that it has real utility. It's gotten out of hand.
Most doctors are becoming aware that there's a terrible problem with over prescribing today. The problem is people then cutting patients off and then they of course go to other things like heroin. This is a situation that is terribly common. I do not believe that Prince was an addict, I do not believe it Anderson. You don't hear a story of lifelong struggle with treatment, changing medications, friends and family being concerned about him. In fact you're quite the opposite. It's a relatively healthy man at least man who was fastidious about his health, who suddenly gets into a trouble with a medical misadventure, becomes potentially, theoretically, possibly dependent on opioid pain medication.
[20:45:00] What most patients aren't away is that the pain medicine can actually make pain worse over time. If you then add in, sorry to say, but Anderson, one of your favorites, medications an ambient or is hypnotic or been a medication when it goes too many ...
COOPER: In case you vet you're up there?
PINSKY: You know I give you grief about this all the time, but it is particularly this area that I don't want to -- feel laughing matter. If you add an opioid to a benzodiazepine or hypnotic, that is a lethal combination. Very few patients are aware of this and doctors unfortunately are awfully reckless with the prescribing.
COOPER: So, taking your saying ...
PINSKY: Business event.
COOPER: ... a percocet with a sleeping pill like an ambien.
PINSKY: Ye, well with the opiate, it becomes a dangerous combination. That DEA agent was way out of line, way out of line. These are common prescribing habits. All a doctor has to do is document what they're doing, if they met the patient face to face and using a standard of care. The problem is the culture in America where we are so grossly over prescribed, and we are so prone to seek of solutions to pain through a pill, it's us and it's on my profession for over prescribing and adding combinations together that commonly, listen Anderson my patients today when they die, they do not die of illicit medication, they do not die of heroin, cocaine anything else. They die of prescription with one of my peer's names on it often taken as prescribed. These are dangerous, dangerous substances.
COOPER: We've talked about celebrities able to get celebrity medicine get different treatment. Doctors seem less willing to kind of be tough with them.
PINSKY: The VIP status is a recipe for sub standard care. Listen, when a doctor is excited, or turned on or -- do using anything other than usual judgment, that's a recipe for trouble. And when a patient has an entourage, and seek offense around them they can get what here she wants, it is a problem.
COOPER: Right, Dr. Drew Pinski, always good to talk to you. Sorry is under these circumstances.
PINSKY: You bet.
COOPER: Coming up, House speaker Dennis Hastert facing 15 months in prison, just 15 months for a case involving his confession to abusing boys, after repeated denials, and lies, and hypocrisy for decade, and judge called him a serial child molester. Some of Hastert's former colleagues on Capitol Hill actually asked the judge for leniency today actually regretted now?
Some answers, next.
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[20:51:00] COOPER: Join the national Wrestling Hall of Fame is considering whether to remove Dennis Hastert from its list of honorees after the former House speaker won second in line to the presidency admitted in federal court yesterday to abusing boys after denying the allegations for months.
The judge did not hold back, calling Hastert a serial child molester. Now the abuse happened when Hastert was a wrestling coach at an Illinois high school in the 1970s, decades before he moved to Washington. Prosecutors detail allegations from four boys who are now adults.
Yesterday the judge sentenced Hastert to 15 months in prison not for the abuse itself, because he is protected by the statute of limitations, instead Hastert pleaded guilty to breaking banking laws to pay out more than a million dollars in hush money to one victim.
Now seriously the ugly truth in 1999, in 2007 United States had a child molester two heart beats away from running the country. A man that showed stunning arrogance, incredible hypocrisy, he actually often supported tough laws against molesters, releasing statements like this one in 2006 saying, "We've all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist." Three years earlier, he said, "It is equally important to stop those predators before they strike, to put repeat child molesters into jail for the rest of their lives.
Talking a different tune now. Tough talk from a molester who escaped the law. Several of his former colleagues have come to his defense and wrote letters asking the judge for leniency. The question tonight do they still regret that -- or did they regret that support? Joining me with that is senior investigator correspondent Drew Griffin.
Drew, given the now confessed allegations that he actually molested student athletes, boys, it is hard to believe he has any support in Congress at all.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATOR CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, the case is stunning. He not only molested boys while he was a coach, he was able to keep it secret for decades. And the only reason he got caught was lying to the FBI over secret payments he was making to one of the victims to keep that victim quiet. So this former speaker of the House truly was leading a dual life, and he may have fooled these five Congressmen who wrote letters of support. That's because the reputation Hastert had while in Congress literally one guy referring in his letter to a federal judge, calling Hastert Mr. Main Street America.
COOPER: But I mean, a lot of the secret life was known when these congressmen wrote these letters of support, right? So what did they actually say?
GRIFFIN: The five letters, all former congressmen, no current elected officials, were written in February, they were in a stack of the 60 letters sent to the judge on behalf of Hastert, they basically asked for leniency. But some passages really stand out. Porter Goss, former congressman, former director of the CIA, he's the one who said Hastert was known as Mr. Main Street America and that he was a rock solid guy with center of the country values. Goss even went on to lumen how much better things were with Hastert in Congress, sadly he wrote, "Without his good influence, today's House of Representatives appears diminished.
But perhaps the most stunning letter, Anderson, is from Tom Delay, the former Texas congressman who had his own issues in Congress. Delay never mentioned the victims, the lies, the secret payoffs. He wrote this. "He, Hastert, has never disappointed me in anyway. He is a man of strong faith that guides him and then adds this. We all have our flaws, but Dennis Hastert has very few. He doesn't deserve what he is going through."
COOPER: I mean, yeah. That boggles the mind, I mean that he's never disappointed Tom Delay in anyway? I mean he molested children. These letters were written in February. Now that Hastert has essentially confessed, do any of these former congressmen, you know, wish they perhaps had said something different, especially Tom Delay, saying Hastert doesn't deserve this?
GRIFFIN: Tom Delay wouldn't comment on the letter he wrote, so I guess he's sticking by it. But Anderson, we did heard from Porter Goss, he called me directly to say he is stunned by all of this. The former head of the CIA doesn't apologize for the letter he wrote in February, he said he thought it was important for the sentencing judge to weigh the good and the bad in Hastert's life, but concerning the details that have now come out, he said this. "I think everybody is recalculating their view of the speaker. He called Hastert's actions inexcusable, not acceptable to any of the parties involved."
[20:55:28] And I would say he is mostly shocked that none of this came out while Dennis Hastert was in office in such a powerful speaker's position, and therefore would have been such a huge target. Goss couldn't believe that secret could be kept secret that long.
COOPER: At least Goss stepped up and calls you back and answered, I mean good for him. But these other guys, it is incredible. Drew, thanks
GRIFFIN: Thank you.
COOPER: We'll be right back.
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COOPER: Before we go tonight the programming, note tomorrow night on CNN, I hope you watch Nothing Left Unsaid, a documentary I did with my mom Gloria Vanderbilt it's a powerful look at life, love and lost. I hope it inspires you to start a conversation with the love one in your life.
[21:00:04] "THE EIGHTIES" starts right now.
