Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Pushes Back On Tax Uproar; GOP Split On Eve Of Trump-Ryan Meeting; Trump Insists He Will Release Taxes After Audit Is Complete; Glenn Beck: Trump Will Be Next President; Can Sanders Pull It Off?; Sanders Winning Primaries, Clinton Winning Race; Sanders' Steep Slope; Investigators Looking Into Prince's Doctor, Inner Circle; Parties Brace For Clinton, Trump Showdown; Will Cruz Get Back In GOP Race?; Nearly 70 Pounds Of Opium Seized At O'Hare; Doctor Saw Prince Twice In Weeks Before He Died. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired May 11, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining us. A special night for us, a 360 town hall, and the problem that takes a life in this country every 19 minutes, yet is by and large hidden from view. Addiction to opioids, many of them prescribed by doctors, and the tens of thousands of deadly overdoses that follow every single year. You're going to meet families who've lost loved ones, recovering addicts, people on the front lines including doctors have a duty to relieve pain yet also preserve life. "Prescription Addiction: Made in the USA". That's the top of the next hour. We begin this hour, though, with Donald Trump, the possibility we might not see his taxes until after election day, or, if ever. As "The Washington Post" headline put it, Donald Trump is building a giant, beautiful wall between America and his tax returns. It touched off a political uproar, triggered some late day push back from Trump, and we should mention, he would not be breaking any laws if he never releases a single return, it's not mandatory. However, he clearly would be breaking with tradition that goes back decades. More on all of it from Sara Murray.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump bucking tradition once again, refusing to release the tax returns which he says are still under audit. Trump tells "The Associated Press", there's nothing to learn from them. And he took to Twitter to add, I told A.P. that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election. But Trump would be the first nominee since 1976 to keep his tax info under wraps. The returns shed light on a candidate's effective tax rate, charitable giving, and investment income, all issues that have tripped up politicians in the past. Earlier this year, Trump suggested it was only a matter of months before he would release his returns.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have one of the world's most complicated tax returns, it's a massive return. But I will get it done as soon as I can.
MURRAY: Now, the billionaire business man isn't budging, claiming he can't release them because they're under audit. TRUMP: I will absolutely give my returns, but I am being audited now
for two or three years, so I can't do it until the audit is finished, obviously.
While I'm under audit, I'm not going to release my tax returns. No lawyer would let you do that.
MURRAY: Some tax experts say, releasing the returns isn't likely to cause additional problems. Other experts said it may make sense as a legal strategy to keep his taxes under wraps. As for the IRS, it says individuals are free to release their own tax information. Richard Nixon did just that, releasing his returns while he was under audit in the 1970's. Now Hillary Clinton is seizing on Trump's reluctance to release his returns.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you run for president, especially when you become the nominee, that is kind of expected. My husband and I have released 33 years of tax returns. We got eight years on our website right now. So you've got to ask yourself, why doesn't he want to release them?
MURRAY: Trump's resistance is a sharp about face after he criticized 2012 GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, for failing to release his tax returns sooner.
TRUMP (via telephone): I think that Mitt was hurt really, very badly by this whole thing with the income tax returns. I believe that he should have either said, I'm giving them April 1, or I'm giving them soon --
MURRAY: This year, the tables have turned, and it's Romney questioning what Trump's hiding.
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I predict that there are more bombshells in his tax returns.
MURRAY: Even taking to Facebook today to write, it is disqualifying for a modern day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Sara Murray joins us now from outside Trump Tower here in New York. Hard to imagine that his tax return, this issue's going to go away any time soon.
MURRAY: I think you're absolutely right, Anderson. And Donald Trump was just addressing this in television interviews tonight saying the reason he isn't rereleasing back taxes is because the audit goes so far back that it would be relatively meaningless. But one of the things people take issue with is that he's essentially released no tax information, which means he hasn't even released a summary saying, here is my income, here is my effective tax rate, here's what I gave to charity for the last year or the last couple of years, and you could release that kind of summary without releasing your full tax return. With Donald Trump, we essentially have none of that information at this point and I don't think it is going away because you already see Hillary Clinton jumping on this issue saying look, we were able to release three decades of our tax returns, why can Donald Trump release nothing? So I think this issue will persist, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Sara Murray. Sara, thanks. The tax story overshadows our next story. Either one could add up to trouble for the presumptive nominee. That story's the rift between Trump and Republican establishment. Trump meets tomorrow with GOP leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, Washington's top ranking Republican, and someone who has very overtly kept his political distance from Trump. Joining us now with what sources are saying in the run up to tomorrow's face to face is Manu Raju. What are you learning, Manu?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Hey, Anderson. House Speaker Paul Ryan really wants to make clear to Donald Trump that there's one big political imperative here on Capitol Hill, and that is maintaining the House Republican majority. He really wants to be on the same page, presenting a united front against the Democrats, not having Donald Trump undermine the Republicans' carefully crafted election year agenda that they plan to unveil very soon, or not have Donald Trump say things that forces the Republicans down ticket to have to respond to or have to clean up themselves.
[20:05:11] They want to create sort of a dialogue, a continual dialogue where they can be on the same page going forward, maybe not a formal endorsement tomorrow, we're not expecting formal endorsement tomorrow, but probably a positive message coming from both sides saying that they're moving closer to uniting the party, Anderson.
COOPER: And Speaker Ryan today met with some members of congress who've endorsed Trump. Do we know more about that meeting?
RAJU: Yes. That meeting happened earlier today in the speaker's office. That was sort of part of that outreach effort. Not only did he meet with those Donald Trump supporters, but also, he took a call from Ben Carson, the leading Trump surrogate, as part of that effort to get on the same page. But I'm told after that meeting, a very positive reaction that this could lead to a move in a direction more positively, but I should add, Anderson, Paul Ryan is under a lot of pressure on Capitol Hill. A lot of Republicans were surprised by his decision to withhold his endorsement, and the longer that he holds out could be a problem for him politically from his own conference, folks who really want this primary season to be over and present that united front against Hillary Clinton.
COOPER: Yes. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Manu Raju, thanks. Between taxes and this Cold War of sorts with Paul Ryan, a lot to talk about, plenty of implications for the general election. Joining us, a Sanders surrogate and biographer, Jonathan Tasini, Clinton supporter and former New York City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, CNN political commentator and BET News Host, Marc Lamont Hill, also, Alex Burns, national political reporter for "The New York Times". CNN political commentator, Tara Setmayer, a conservative who opposes Donald Trump, and Trump New York campaign co-chair, Joseph Borelli. Joseph, why not have Donald Trump release tax returns? I know he says look, I am being audited, but isn't running for president more important than his business?
JOSEPH BORELLI, CO-CHAIR, TRUMP NEW YORK CAMPAIGN: Right. Running for the president is important and what he's doing is nothing illegal, as you pointed out. This is something that's optional. He has been pretty clear on the issue, actually, as the video showed. On February 26, he was already saying he had no plans on releasing his tax information --
COOPER: No, initially he said he just needed time to get it together and then he --
BORELLI: He said while he's under audit, he's not going to do it.
COOPER: Actually, no. Initially he didn't say anything about being audited. He just said, yes, I'm going to do it once I get the returns together. Maybe it will be April 1, maybe it's just a complex return. Then all of the sudden, the audit story.
BORELLI: I guess he spoke to his lawyers, I guess he spoke to someone who might have better information than him, that's fine. The American public, though, has the opportunity to go up and look at a 92 page financial disclosure that he filed with the FEC. I think most in the American public already know what's in the tax return, that he's wealthy, that he's --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't.
BORELLI: Well, you can look it up. A 92-page Federal Election Commission disclosure.
COOPER: But that's very different than a tax return. There's a lot that's not in that disclosure.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That has been a red herring --
BORELLI: It's unverified, but it's subject to law, so you can't exactly lie about it.
SETMAYER: But there's -- it's not audited, it's unverified, he can put basically whatever he wants in there in that disclosure form, so that's very different than a tax return. This is interesting. Not only did he say that he would -- oh, when he gets it together, I'll release my tax returns. He also said, well I'll release them when Hillary Clinton releases her transcripts for Goldman Sachs speeches. And then it was all the sudden, oh, I'm under audit. So the story has changed many times. And if he's been under audit, it goes back several years, he knew that. He didn't just find out he was under audit three months ago, he was well aware of that. So it's just Donald Trump continually changing his story. Now why doesn't he want to release tax returns? What's the problem? Because there could be a treasure trove of information in there that could be very damaging. Let's not forget that when he sued a "New York Times" reporter who questioned his net worth back in 2005, the reason he went after him was because Tim O'Brien questioned whether his net worth was even anywhere close to a billion dollars. During those proceedings, a New Jersey Superior Court judge said that Donald Trump was untrustworthy to give his financial information, and then an appellate court upheld that very same sentiment, that Donald Trump's information was untrustworthy. This has been an issue for him for years because he doesn't want people to know what's in there. Maybe he's not as wealthy as he says. Maybe he's not as charitable as he says. Maybe he's got money hidden in tax shelters overseas. There's all kinds of things could be in there.
JONATHAN TASINI, SURROGATE, BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT: If you Google Donald Trump, not telling the truth his net worth, there's more than that one instance. It comes up multiple times. He's been caught essentially, let's use the word lying about it. And I think that goes to the veracity of the candidate.
CHRISTINE QUINN, FORMER SPEAKER, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: Particularly when he has accused others that he's run against of being liars, being lying Ted, over and over. So here, I would say he's being dishonest in how he's moved the ball down the field, but if numbers in the returns are dishonest, that really blows up his rhetoric of lying Ted.
COOPER: The interesting thing to me is that he was critical of Mitt Romney for not doing this years ago when he wasn't running, and now seems to be walking that back.
[20:09:58] MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is not an uncommon practice, though. When people are outside the fray, they're able to critique those running. Four years later, suddenly he finds himself in the midst of a presidential race and he's like, hey wait a minute, if I release these returns, it's against my best interest. So I think he'd rather take the critique of being hypocritical than to release that stuff. I don't think it's about how much money he's worth, though. You can win an election even though you're lying about being a billionaire. I think it's the nature of his charitable giving, I think it's his effective tax rate, I think things like that may make him look odd and unlike --
SETMAYER: He is really, really big on proving how rich he is. That's all he talks about, that's why he tosses his name over things -- how much he's worth -- I'm worth $10 billion. He says that all the time. I think part of the narcissism that he exhibits all the time is based a lot in how much money he has. I'll give you another example. In his financial disclosure form, he listed a property here in New York worth $50 million, but in a lawsuit, in a legal document, he listed the same property worth $1.4 million. He's duplicitous all the time.
COOPER: This is kind of a bigger issue with Donald. It's always an issue for any candidate and to your point, it is not part of the law, but it is tradition that candidates do release those, however many years they release, but Donald Trump has made such an issue of how much money he has, how much he's worth, how much he's given to charities, and the little bit that's known about his charitable giving, a lot of it is sort of gifts from other people going to his foundation which he then disburses. That's what's publicly known. There's not a lot known about actual monetary amounts he gives out.
ALEX BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Sure. You have to look back pretty far to find a candidate who has so anchored the entirety of their message and their value proposition to the voters on simply the fact of their extreme wealth. I don't know that anybody's ever done it simply just on that, but even Perot had a story to tell about entrepreneurship and being an outsider that's similar but not identical to Trump's. And look, going into these meetings with Republican leaders in Washington tomorrow, what those folks want to see and hear from Trump is that he's prepared to run a disciplined, professional, and in a lot of ways, conventional campaign. This is a really basic standard that most presidential campaigns have to try to clear.
COOPER: Do you think this is something voters care about, or do you think it's just something -- ?
BORELLI: No, and that's the point I'm trying to make, is the American public has a pretty good idea of who Donald Trump is. He's someone who brags about being rich. He's someone who probably, like most red- blooded Americans, tries as hard as he can to pay as little taxes as possible. He's actually been the first one to say that. I'm surprised to hear conservative people being very critical of Donald Trump in this regard. I really think this is something that team Hillary is doing in an effort to kind of change the dialogue at a moment in time when --
COOPER: It seems team Mitt Romney is doing it.
BORELLI: Mitt Romney's doing it also.
SETMAYER: Why would you be surprised that conservatives would question someone based on their word, their character, their integrity? That's a hallmark of conservatism.
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: Because the entire Republican Party now congealing around their candidate, I just think it's a little odd that conservatives are still doing it.
SETMAYER: Because it's legitimate.
BORELLI: I think this is really driven by team Hillary who is trying to change the dialogue of the surge that Donald Trump has just seen in the polls. It's very suspect, and at the same time, you just see Donald Trump surging and starting to take the lead in some swing states --
COOPER: Do you think Mitt Romney is working with Hillary?
BORELLI: No, I'm not saying Mitt Romney -- actually, the one thing I'm saying about Mitt Romney is, the one thing that's been consistent about Mitt Romney in this election cycle is, not many people are taking what he says seriously.
HILL: I think it's something far more pragmatic. The convention hasn't happened. There has not been a nominee formally named. If there's something in those tax returns that can be so bad, so damning that it could undermine the Republican Party's ability to have even a plausible nominee going through the summer, they want to know now. I think it's reasonable to say, hey, before we make this guy the official nominee, we need to know what's in these tax returns.
BORELLI: So why is it not reasonable to say, we should let the investigation play out with Hillary Clinton, as "The Huffington Post" pointed out. Why shouldn't she concede the race to Bernie Sanders?
HILL: First of all, I love when conservatives appeal to "The Huffington Post". I think we should let things play out, but I think it's, again, reasonable for voters and people within the Republican Party, and for that matter, and any voter, to say hey, we want to know what's in this because you made so many specific claims about your giving, about your money, et cetera.
COOPER: We've got to take a quick break. We're going to focus on the Democratic side shortly. Next, is Donald Trump unstoppable in November? Does Glenn Beck, who worked hard to stop him in the primary, still think so? I'll ask him, he'll be on next. And later, there's breaking news as we set the stage for our town hall on opioid addiction. New developments in the Prince investigation. The focus on a doctor who saw Prince in the weeks before he died.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We've been talking, among other things, about the divide between Donald Trump, the Republican Party establishment, such as it is. We should point out that a gap has existed between the establishment and what you might call insurgent candidates, going back to Barry Goldwater in 1964, however, not since Goldwater has the intraparty division been so deep or so loud in the public. This time, even voices who would not consider themselves members of the establishment are lining up against Trump. (inaudible) founder, conservative radio personality, Glenn Beck is one such voice. Now, he's back in the news for saying, efforts to oppose Trump might not succeed.
Glenn, earlier today on your radio program, you said you believe Donald Trump is, in fact, going to be the next president of the United States. You've been saying for months Secretary Clinton, you thought, would beat Trump. What made you change your mind?
GLENN BECK, RADIO HOST: First of all, I think the country is not the country that I thought it was. We are an angry country that is looking for someone to put the establishment in their place, and I think that -- I saw some of the exit polls, and I know West Virginia is a unique place, but where you had 40 percent of Bernie Sanders people saying that they will vote for Donald Trump over Hillary, you have Democrats saying that they will cross the line. If you have that, I think he just might win. I'm not for that, but I think he just might win.
COOPER: Is it because you believe he is seen as sort of the ultimate outsider, even though obviously he had supported politicians of all stripes for many, many years and was friends with them? It's just he's seen as an outsider who's going to kind of blow up the whole apple cart?
BECK: Yes, I think that, and also I think there's a lot of people in America that just are now just voting for a celebrity. He's fun to watch and he's entertaining and Hillary is not. I talked to a lot of friends who are liberals and some that have been in the past, die-hard Hillary supporters, that say, I'm not excited about her.
[20:20:08] Now the ones I know are not excited about Donald Trump either, but I think you're going to have a good section of the country on both sides of the aisle stay home and just say -- especially because I think it's going to get really nasty and I think that people are just going to become -- I don't like either of them, I am not going to vote for either of them, and then --
COOPER: I do think they're going to be out to destroy each other, essentially. I think it's going to be sort of unlike anything -- I think it's like the opening scene of Terminator, I think it was Terminator 1 or 2, but where like machines against humans, just like scorched earth.
BECK: Yes. I think you're right, and I don't think that's good for anybody. I don't think that's good for anyone.
COOPER: As you said, you were a big Ted Cruz supporter, you were out there campaigning for him, first candidate I think you've endorsed in your career if I am not mistaken. Is there anything Trump could do between now and November to get you to support him, to get you in his corner?
BECK: Not that I can think of, but he doesn't want us, Anderson. The GOP has made it very, very clear that -- and Donald Trump, that they're not interested in the conservative. The conservatives don't really have a home right now, and it's a very interesting place to be. They're not courting us. Donald Trump has said he's not interested in a lot of the conservatives and he doesn't want all of the people to unite with him. He is really kind of leaning out and reaching out more to the Democrats than he is to the traditional conservative. And I'm fine with that. He doesn't want us, he doesn't need us, that's fine. We will find our own home and find our own way.
COOPER: On election day, what will you do personally?
BECK: I'll vote, but even if I write somebody in, but I will look at the down ticket which I think is going to be decimated, whether Donald Trump wins or loses, I think it will be decimated, especially if you look at what happened in Indiana. He is not pulling for Tea Party constitutionalists in the down vote. But next week, I've got all of the candidates from the Libertarian Party that are going to be on my show. We're going to talk to them, see if there's a home there. I don't know where there's a home, but I'm not going to pull a lever just because it is the lesser of two evils, because at some point, they're both just evil. No thanks.
COOPER: Are you saddened by what you've seen, by where we're at?
BECK: Yes. I mean, who wouldn't be? Look at what you just said. It's going to be Terminator. This is so far beneath us. I can't imagine what we look like on the -- across an ocean. If I were an ally, I would be freaking out. If I were somebody who held a lot of U.S. Treasury bonds overseas in a sovereign fund, I would be saying, wait a minute, did he just say they were going to inflate their way out of this debt? I think we are -- I said on the air -- and I want to make sure this is clear, I'm not saying that the end of America is here. There will always be America, and we'll continue on and everything else, but I think the America that I cherish, the one that actually, the founding of the country with the constitution and the idea of America that all men are created equal, I think that chapter or that book has now been closed and I think the America that Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson started, the America of Statism has finally really now turned the page and we are past the introduction and we are now into the chapters. I think it's a new America.
COOPER: Glenn Beck. Glenn, always good to have you on. Thanks.
BECK: Thank you.
COOPER: Just ahead tonight, call it the Democratic dilemma, Hillary Clinton practically cannot lose the nomination, yet lately she cannot seem to win a primary. We'll look at the fallout from that, as well as whether, as Glenn Beck suggested, she may have trouble winning Sanders supporters in November.
Also, can the Vermont senator find a way to win at the convention? What his very narrow, very steep path might look like by the numbers when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:28:10] COOPER: Welcome back. It could be as one of our political panel members said last night, the beginning of an awkward stretch for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Today began with Joe Biden telling "Good Morning America" that he would have been the best president if he had run. Last night ended with another primary loss to Bernie Sanders, and the next few weeks could be just as rough. Yet at the same time that she's trying hard to defeat him in the primaries yet to come, she also is making moves to try to help her win over his supporters in November. We have more on all of that tonight from our Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, New Jersey.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton is moonlighting, still campaigning for the Democratic primary.
CLINTON: If we do what we need to do in the next few weeks, we will have a big victory on June 7 that will take us all the way to the White House.
ZELENY: Even as she desperately tries concentrating on the battle ahead.
CLINTON: It's pretty clear at this point that we're going to have a real difference in the general election.
ZELENY: She's focusing more and more on Donald Trump. But Bernie Sanders remains a distraction. His West Virginia victory on Tuesday promises to keep the Democratic race alive. Today in New Jersey, it was all about the general election.
CLINTON: I have to tell you how concerned I am with what I hear Trump saying. I've said that he is a loose cannon.
ZELENY: From policy to personal attacks.
CLINTON: I am not going to respond to the insults and the attacks coming from Donald Trump in this campaign.
ZELENY: But her Democratic rival is still on stage. Campaigning in Montana today, he's talking Trump, too.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you look at virtually every poll taken over the last month or six weeks, national polls, state polls, Bernie Sanders is the strongest Democratic candidate to defeat Donald Trump.
[20:30:12] ZELENY: Sanders' big 15 points win in West Virginia earning him only seven more delegates in that state than Clinton. The commanding victory does little to change Clinton's muscular lead in delegates overall. But Clinton is steadily moving left, following what voters like about him.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.
ZELENY: The latest shift comes on healthcare. Saying this week, people over 50 should be able to buy in the Medicare plans.
CLINTON: I also am in favor what's called the public option so that people can buy into, you know, Medicare above a certain age.
ZELENY: From trade to immigration to the minim wage, Clinton is aligning with more liberal positions, setting up a political test for the fall election. Vice President Joe Biden who stayed out of the fray since deciding not to run last year offered his strongest endorsement of Clinton yet on ABC.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I feel confident that Hillary will be the nominee, and I feel confident she'll be the next president.
ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Rockwood, New Jersey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN AC360 ANCHOR: As Jeff mentions Senator Sanders maybe racking up wins as he did last night, but he is not and cannot overcome Secretary Clinton's that lead in pledge delegates which is not quite the same as saying he absolutely positively cannot become the Democratic nominee.
Want to break it down By The Numbers, chief national correspondent John King and Inside Politics anchor John King is here with us. So another big win obviously for Sanders in West Virginia. How much did it help his effort to catch up in the delegate chase?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not all that much Anderson and that is particularly frustrating for the Sanders campaign when you look at this. Every single county in West Virginia goes to Bernie Sanders. He wins the state as Jeff Zeleny just noted by 15 points. But is Jeff also noted the net gain of just seven, and that came of just seven in the all important delegate chase. So where is that leave us, the tale of the tape today in the Democratic race. Secretary Clinton has a lead Anderson of 294 pledge delegates. We've had 46 contests so far, states and territories. She's won 26, he's won 20.
So he's won two of the last three, but she still has a 26-20 lead overall. And here's the problem Anderson, time and the map is running out. Only 11 contests left, 8 states, plus Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and District of Columbia. So Sanders has to start winning big fast.
COOPER: And Sanders acknowledge it's a steep hill for him. How steep though?
KING: Well, let's look at that and this is where the math gets daunting. Yes, he can do it. Anything is mathematically possible right in this crazy year. But he needs to win 67 percent of remaining pledge delegates, there are 897 left. He has to win 67 percent of those pledge delegates, then he would beat Secretary Clinton by one, if he won 67 percent of the remaining pledge delegates.
That means, Anderson, more than 60 percent, 62 percent of those remaining delegates are just in the state of California. Can Bernie Sanders win California? Sure. Do you see Bernie Sanders winning California with 67 percent of the vote? Remember Democratic rules are proportional. Now Sanders -- Sanders could say, hey I won Washington state with 72 percent, right, I won over here in Idaho with 78 percent, so he has done it in a couple of states.
But more traditional are wins like this. Last week in Indiana, 52 percent, when he went early on in Michigan, he was below 50 percent. Even a big win in West Virginia last night Anderson is 15 points, but he was just over 51 percent. So can Sanders win most of the remaining contests with 67, 68, 70 percent of the vote? It's possible, but the track record of this map tells you, it's most unlikely.
COOPER: Well he is looking beyond just pledge delegates though, he made an appeal to superdelegates today essentially saying, look if I won your state in a landslide, you should be backing me. Any evidence they're going to listen?
KING: No. That Senator Sanders has been making that case, a lot of his supporters have been making a very aggressively online with phone calls into the congressional offices and the like. So far there's zero evidence.
Now, will it happen? We'll wait and see, but at the moment as we speak tonight Anderson 516 superdelegates elected appointed Democrats who get vote at the convention, 516 have pledge their loyalty to Secretary Clinton, only 41 to Senator Sanders, 155 left
Now, if Senator Sanders could win all the 11 remaining contests, would some of these people panic and switch side? Possibly. But what the Clinton campaign thinks is going to happen, is why she was in New Jersey today, she thinks she's going to win that. She's hoping to win California. She thinks they'll split the rest of the contest if they do that -- do that Anderson most of these people stay put, she pick up some more, they get across the finish line.
COOPER: All right, John King, John thanks so much. Back wit the panel, Jonathan -- I think it was today you had not been on cnn.com, you made the argument a lot of Sanders supporters like you do make which is that in a head to head match-up against Donald Trump, Senator Sanders does better than Hillary Clinton. Does the Clinton folks say will look, Senator Sanders hasn't been put under the microscope like Hillary Clinton has for years and years and years, they haven't been attack ads run against some about Republicans that it happens against Hillary s Clinton.
JONATHAN TASINI, BERNIE SANDERS SURROGATE: Well first of all 00 I just I love John King and his magic math. I want to correct the numbers, there Clinton is ahead by 280 pledge delegates. That doesn't change the steep hill by it's I want to be clear, it's 280, not I think he said 294. Small difference but it's important when you try to compete for a delegate after delegate.
[20:35:00] So Bernie Sanders actually has been vetted quite heavily, certainly and the during the campaign and then he's had a public record ...
COOPER: Not of course it's not like being vetted the question being attack.
TASINI: I'm so sorry scrutinized over the last 25 years, he's been scrutinized. He's also been scrutinized and attacked by the Clinton campaign from the beginning of the campaign over the healthcare plan, over whether it was a single issue candidate the whole series of things. I don't buy that.
Now, that said, there's no question that when he is the general election candidate, when he's the nominee, he will face attacks. The difference is what Bernie brings to the campaign and to the general election which Hillary Clinton doesn't, isn't authenticity and the believe it -- believability. When people listen to Bernie Sanders, they think he is saying exactly what he believes. And so he can respond to those attacks much more effectively than Hillary Clinton who most people feel is manufactured, who basically espouses things that she doesn't support and it has been proven by his campaign. Our Bernie Sanders has defined this campaign, and Hillary Clinton has moved ...
COOPER: Right.
TASINI: ... essentially to be a completely different candidate.
COOPER: By the way just as CNN's reporting has 294 on the numbers. And notice the discrepancy, there's argument about it, but -- we've got to take a quick break. I want to get Christine's response and our whole panel.
And later, breaking news, investigators looking into the relationship between Prince's doctor and his inner circle. What a newly release search warrant reveals when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:40:17] COOPER: Before the break we heard about Bernie Sanders's path to victory. A path that is difficult not impossible, what is more likely is that we'll see Hillary Clinton facing off against Donald Trump on a debate stage a few months from now and probably some pretty heated rhetoric between now and then.
Back with the panel. Alex, do you get the sense for your reporting that the Clinton campaign has their strategy for how to respond to Donald Trump? Because we heard her tonight saying, well I'm just not going to respond. There are lot of Republicans who tried that, that didn't work.
ALEX BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER NEW YORK TIMES: Right, and another path to the Republican nomination is just littered with bodies, so these people who thought they could rise above ...
COOPER: Right.
BURNS: ... Donald Trump's attack. I think the Clinton campaign knows in a big picture what they want the contrast with Trump to be about in terms of specific policies and who is helping who, and who is prepared for the presidency and who's responsible. I think day to day he poses just an incredible challenge, that she's never had people at his level, you know, the level of a presidential candidate or major figure in politics hurling the kinds of accusations at her that he is delivering. And as much as you may like to say this has no place on the political stage, or why is the media dignifying this, he is the presidential nominee and he has the microphone to deliver whatever time ...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, my concern is in a Republican primary to some extend they're both playing to the cheap seats, whether these people who do doing, when a people who try to fight back like Jeb Bush or is people who try to go toe to toe like Marco Rubio. It doesn't work. But now you're fighting for independence, now you're fighting for people who actually want to see dignity in the presidency, and I'm not sure that he's things are work against her. I think he might be want (inaudible).
COOPER: Christine, did it freak you out -- I mean Glenn Beck mentioned this, you know, that those exit polls last night showing 4 out of 10 Sanders supporters in West Virginia might go for Trump instead of Clinton. again, West Virginia is a particular state, Hillary Clinton, you know, talked about putting coal miners out of business though and she quickly turned around on that.
CHRISTINE QUINN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: So I think if you look eight years ago, there terrible -- huge numbers of Hillary supporters who said they would never vote for Barack Obama in states where the Democrat had never won. And then in those very same states Obama won. You saw of most the Hillary supporters who said they would never vote for him come and vote for him.
So look, we're in still in a heated Democratic primary. And I think supporters don't say the vote for the other person. It fills just oil it's not what you say. And I also just want to go back to what you said. You cannot in any way, shape or form compare the kind of -- I barely use the word scrutiny that Senator Sanders has gotten to the cottage industry of 30 years, attacking, dissecting, and re-dissecting the Clintons. It is not comparable. And you cannot say he would stand up under the blaring lights the way she has.
TASINI: I don't agree that but the point ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think ...
TASINI: But hold on.
(CROSSTALK)
TASINI: No my point was ...
QUINN: No but do you?
TASINI: Whether he can stand ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No but do you?
TASINI: ... whether he can stand up to the scrutiny I think he's quite capable to do there.
QUINN: But had she got ...
(CROSSTALK)
TASINI: The problem is there are some Sanders voters who feel, and they're part of this revolt against the party establishment and for the last quarter century, particularly people who was ...
QUINN: But who would they help being for Donald Trump and not her. How does that move progressivism isn't forward ...
TASINI: Christine, I'm not saying ...
QUINN: ... it doesn't and it won't have.
(CROSSTALK) TASINI: They're not -- hold on ...
QUINN: Trump president.
TASINI: ... he's not going to vote to vote for Trump, it's that they're going to stay home and here's why ...
QUINN: I don't believe that.
TASINI: Hillary Clinton has it -- had reflects establishment policies for the last quarter century, particularly NAFTA. And in those states in Ohio and Pennsylvania ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: OK, Tara, there are some stories that it seems like Ted Cruz maybe hasn't given up on the idea of somehow maybe coming, do you think that's just -- that's done?
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it is done. And I don't see where Ted Cruz it has support for that. I think what he is doing is it's really more about for his delegates because of the platform. Republican platform is very important and going to the convention and Donald Trump and some of his positions from the minimum wage, you know, protectionist is a problem for the platform.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Never Trump Movement is over, it was probably over before it started. Let's talk about here at now.
SETMAYER: No, it's not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So let's talk about here and now, now in terms of Hillary Clinton. So we have polls release this week in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
COOPER: That's Quinnipiac polls ...
(CROSSTALK)
SETMAYER: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So some of them say that Trump is within the margin of error, someone say he is winning. The real take away though is that he is beating her in terms of a lower unfavorable, his beating her in terms of the economy, his beating her in terms of ...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your right about ...
COOPER: We're going to leave it there.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: We're going to break. Much more ahead. We had breaking news in the investigation to Prince's death. What investigators and try to learn from a doctor went to Paisley Park on the day Prince died. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:48:52] COOPER: In just a few minutes, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and I are going to co-host a town hall on prescription addiction. It's an epidemic and in United States, we got extraordinary reach and of course devastating consequences. It is in headlines all the time. And as, you know, investigators are looking into what role of any painkillers played in the death of the artist Prince. More on that in a moment.
Often addiction stories we hear -- there suddenly similar. Someone gets a prescription for opioids after an injury or surgery, they become dependent, then they have to turn to heroin which in many cases cheaper and easier to get.
Just yesterday at officers O'Hare International Airport in Chicago seized nearly 70 pounds of opium from the luggage of three U.S. citizens traveling from Laos. 470 packets of powder concealed and bag of tea leaves. You know, yet whether it was a prescription drug problem that killed Prince, at the age of 57. The investigation on that really is just under way. And now includes the doctor who saw him twice in the weeks before his death and went to Paisley Park on the day Prince died. Kyung Lah reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Person down, not breathing.
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On April 21st, the day paramedics rushed to Prince's compound, new information from the search warrant now shows a local doctor was also at the estate. The warrant accidentally unsealed and obtained by the LA. Times states dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg had been treating Prince in the weeks before his death.
[20:50:13] Dr. Schulenberg seen here in an unrelated video is a Minneapolis area family doctor. The law enforcement official tells CNN that investigators want to know more about the relationship between the doctor, Prince, and Prince's inner circle as they look into how Prince obtained his medications.
According to the search warrant on April 7th, Dr. Schulenberg sees Prince. That same day, anxious fans in Atlanta with tickets to see Prince would learn two shows that night are postponed. According to Fox Theater, Prince is ill, battling the flu. One week later, April 14th, Prince takes the stage in Atlanta, the makeup concert. Two shows, 80 minute sets publicly no illness readily apparent. But privately issues continue with the singer's health. April 15th, as the pop star is flying home to Minneapolis, his private jet makes an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the nature of the emergency? What's the nature of the ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An unresponsive passenger. LAH: An ambulance rushes Prince to the hospital, he does not check in and continues his flight home. April 20th, the day before Prince's death, the search warrant says Dr. Schulenberg once again sees Prince, Dr. Schulenberg telling the police he performed tests on Prince and prescribed medications that were to be filled at a Walgreen.
The warrant doesn't describe what the doctor prescribed. That same day, Prince's representatives contact another doctor, California addiction specialist Dr. Howard Kornfeld. Dr. Kornfeld dispatching his son to Prince's estate in Minnesota.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Kornfeld felt that his mission was a life- saving mission. So in that sense, certainly he felt it to be urgent.
LAH: The next day, April 21st, Prince is found unresponsive in his elevator. Dr. Kornfeld's son who had just arrived calls 911. According to the warn Dr. Schulenberg also arrives to Prince's estate to deliver the test results from his two visits with the musician.
Authorities tell CNN pills were found in Prince's home when he died, but they've not turned up any valid prescriptions. The focus on the possibility that others obtained the medication for Prince. Police file the search warrant at the clinic where Dr. Schulenberg works to seize Prince's medical records.
State records show Dr. Schulenberg has no record of criminal convictions or disciplinary action and he is not been charged with wrongdoing on Prince's case. Dr. Schulenberg was an employee at North Memorial Clinic until yesterday. The hospital said that was Dr. Schulenberg's last day, but did not disclose why he left the facility. The doctor hasn't responded to CNN's multiple requests for comment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: While the criminal investigation continues, so, too, does the battle over Prince's estate between the siblings and now this man. 39-year-old Carling Q. Williams and budding wrapper and an inmate in federal prison, he claims Prince is his father, after his mother had sex with the musician in 1976. Williams is asking the court for DNA testing to back his claim. Anderson?
COOPER: Kyung thanks very much. Joining me now is CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. I mean Jeff obviously so a lot of investigators are going to determine or try to determine what if any role the doctor played here. What do you think they're looking for?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is a really complicated area to investigate because this is a very private thing for anyone. So investigators have to determine what Prince's medical problems really were. Who were the doctors who were treating him? When did they treat him? Did the doctors know about each other? And all of that is in the context of someone who was a private person and medical records are always private.
So just getting the facts is going to be difficult in that, but that's necessary before prosecutors can make any judgments at all. COOPER: And officials haven't commented on what killed Prince, attention does seem to focus on the possible involvement of opioid painkillers. Now even determine that the was over prescribed this pain killers, I mean how much responsibility does the doctor or doctors who others prescribed these drugs fair, because sometime doctors don't know what others who prescribed or how long someone has been using.
TOOBIN: That's right, and that's why the facts matter so much, because -- I mean you could have a Michael Jackson situation where a prosecutor and ultimately a jury found that the doctor behaved irresponsibly, but that's very rare. Usually you have a situation where -- when someone dies, it is not as a result of criminal misbehavior, it is simply, you know, just an unfortunate situation.
And again, what is going to be determining is what actually happened the facts of which doctors did what. And the doctors, have to -- you to determine whether there was more than one doctor involved and whether they knew what the others were doing, and whether Prince told all of this doctors the full story.
[20:55:15] COOPER: Yeah I mean and so the Michael Jackson case we learned during that one when it comes to wealth and celebrity, there are doctors who are willing to sort of, you know, cede to patients' demands.
TOOBIN: There certainly are and that is always a risk with wealthy or prominent patients. I think it is important to say at this point we have no evidence that that's the case in connection with Prince's death, but it's certainly something that investigators are going to be looking for. You know, doctors always want to please their patients and when you have a celebrity, that inclination is even greater. Whether any doctor, you know, violated his or her oath or the law in order to please Prince is far from clear at this point.
COOPER: All right, Jeff Toobin thanks very much, appreciate it. That does it for this hour, thanks for watching.
Our town hall, "Prescription Addiction Made in America", start in a moment. Stay with us
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
