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Prince Etate Worth Hundreds of Millions, But No Known Will Yet; Donald Trump Criticized Governor John Kasich's Eating Habits. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] MICHAELA ANGELA DAVIS, BOARD MEMBER, BLACK GIRLS ROCK: This is very similar, right, in that pop culture way and saw an artist explore and expand and explode our head. I haven't really had time to like drill down on what song that I like. You know? I like the scene with the corn rows.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Yes, yes. When can we, because it was only sort of like a 24 hours only HBO and it just title and then potentially iTunes is where we can see it? If people have a cup of lemonade, do we know?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can purchase the album on iTunes. You can stream the movie on title. And I believe you can still access it HBO.

DAVIS: The mothers of the movement moment, too, oh my God, you are going to cry, you are going to laugh, you are going to cuss, you are going to get wine and you are going to call your girlfriends.

BALDWIN: I was with family this weekend. I just read all about it. I'm dying to see it because I watch (INAUDIBLE) 18,000 times. But I have been saying you can teach like college courses just on that video alone.

(INAUDIBLE) and Michaela, thank you so much. As always.

DAVIS: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next, we have to talk Donald Trump calling his rivals weak and pathetic for teaming up to try to stop him from clinching the nomination. Can this alliance work? He speaks live to respond to the deal. We are moments away from that. Live pictures there.

Also ahead, Prince left behind an estate worth hundreds of millions but we still don't know if he left a will. Find out what could happen to his Minnesota compound as his incredible musical catalog, much of which the world has never even heard. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:53] BALDWIN: Just half bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Donald Trump in rare form today refusing to tone it down during a

rally in Rhode Island. (INAUDIBLE) Ted Cruz and John Kasich for teaming up against m in a deal to abandon certain states to allow the other to collect more delegates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wish I could have gone two days up to Ohio. We would be upon and he would be 0 for 44. And what is he doing? What is he doing, really? He is just a stubborn guy. That's all he is. He is a stubborn guy. He is like if you have a child, just says, I want it, mommy. I don't care, mommy. I want it, daddy. I don't care. I want it. That's all he is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Trump talking about Ohio governor John Kasich at the end there.

With me now CNN political contributor S.E. Cupp and secretary of state of Kansas Kris Kobach who is endorsing Donald Trump. Nice to have both of you on.

And S.E. to you first, I want you to react to Trump's reacting to this allegiance between, you know, Kasich and Cruz and even, you know, scrutinizing governor Kasich the way he ate his breakfast this morning in Pennsylvania.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. It was swift and startling and he did not mince words. I got the Donald Trump statement in my inbox this morning and I got to tell you, he slayed them. It was kind of impressive, frankly. And I think they opened themselves up to this kind of criticism and this kind of spin by sharing the playbook. Right? You know, there's a point to be made they had to be open about this because to convince the outside groups, you know, not to spend money in various states they had to because they can't talk to the PACs directly. But at the same time when you are about to blitz you don't announce you're about to blitz.

And then it doesn't also seem like they're on the same page, Kasich and Cruz. When Kasich was asked by his supporters in Indiana what they should do, he said, no, no, still vote for me. I'm just not going to campaign there. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

So I'm not surprised Donald Trump is making swift work of this and really sort of turning this to his advantage and using it to cement him or hone the message that these guys are desperate and it's really sort of the time for last options.

BALDWIN: You, I mean, listen, Kris. Trump is your guy. I imagine you agree in him in this sort of sense of desperation, the fact that now Cruz finally agreeing to pick up the phone and talk to the Kasich folks after what I understand they have been calling him for a while to do this. What do you think Trump's next move is going to be?

KRIS KOBACH, KANSAS SECRETARY OF STATE WHO SUPPORTS TRUMP: Well, obviously, he is going to try to use it to mobilize his support base and say, hey, look. It's an establishment plan and we are going - it is just proof what I'm saying all along (INAUDIBLE), you know.

But I think it also reflects on the Cruz campaign's thinking, there really -- they're making a sacrifice here by taking this allegiance with Kasich and the sacrifice is in the Cruz brand. Now, when's it been all along? It's been ideologically pure conservative and anti- establishment. So now he's linking arms with arguably the most moderate of the 17 candidates that started this race, Kasich. So that hurts his claim to ideological purity of the conservative nature and also it's an establishment kind of move to try to throw the race to the delegates in Cleveland. And so, it doesn't look like a move that a conservative anti-establishment would do. So I think the Cruz people know they're taking a real risk with the brand doing this.

BALDWIN: S.E., why were you shaking your head?

CUPP: Well, I don't know. I think that's a stretch. Don't oversell it, secretary. It's working for Donald Trump. I think that's a stretch.

Look. Donald Trump, linked arms with, you know, Governor Chris Christie. I think you would safely consider him establishment. None of that I think really matters. What Ted Cruz I think is conceding in this move is that he can't get to 1,237 and he is really out of options. And that's the fact, both Kasich and Ted Cruz are banking on that second ballot at a contested convention. If they can't get there, they can't get anywhere.

And Donald Trump is hoping to secure the nomination before that happens because Donald Trump knows if it goes to a second ballot, he is really in a bad spot and Ted Cruz completely outplays him.

So look. There's a lot of jockeying going on right now and a lot of stuff we have never seen before in politics. I can't think of another candidate who's made fun of the r& way another candidate has eaten before. That's -- you know, we're I --

[15:40:32] BALDWIN: Tiny bites, tiny bites. I know. I got to sort of look up and thought, wow. But at the same time, Kris, I need to push you on Donald Trump is Mr. "Art of the Deal." And here you have these two, you know, rivals forming this allegiance. Donald Trump is the guy saying everything is negotiable. Donald Trump is a brilliant businessman. Donald Trump is someone that produced a TV series all about alliance building. Can you see my point?

KOBACH: No. I absolutely can see your point. But, you know, there's a point at which when a president is negotiating with a foreign country then there may be some give and take and there may be some tactical maneuvering to get the other side to deal. But when you are advertising yourself to the electorate and saying this is what I stand for, I think it hurts someone like Cruz to then say, OK, I'm going to link arms with someone who is pro-amnesty even though Cruz has been claiming that he is anti-amnesty on the immigration issue.

So I do think it waters down his claim to be ideologically pure when now he is making an alliance of convenience that puts ideology second and putts the policy position second. But, no. I take your point, absolutely.

BALDWIN: Kris Kobach, S.E. Cupp, thank you so much.

We will watch to see. Donald Trump, by the way, expected to speak at a rally in mere minutes there from Pennsylvania. We'll take it live as soon as it begins in Westchester.

Plus, we are talking today about the sudden death of Prince and how it leaves all kinds of questions including what happens to his Paisley Park estate. The music, his catalog that he left behind. We will talk live to the lawyer who represented some of James Brown's relatives in that messy legal battle that followed his death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:01] BALDWIN: Prince may no longer be with us but his vast musical empire will certainly live on and will make even more money. Think Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Bob Marley. Prince's estate is worth about $300 million. That's according to at least one estimate we have seen and he owned it all. Sales of Prince's songs went up, up, up after his death. Tracking site business angle music reports $1 million worth sold in the 24 hours after he died. We don't know if Prince had a will so the fate of his empire is really just one big question mark.

So joining me now is state attorney Louis Levinson. He handled the planning for the family of the late James Brown.

Mr. Levinson, thank you so much for being with me. You know, and on the note of Prince's will, really only those in the inner, inner circle know whether or not he had one. For the sake of argument, let's say he did not. What happens? Because he had no kids. There is no widow. He had some full and some half siblings. Who controls what?

LOUIS LEVINSON, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR JAMES BROWN RELATIVES: Well, if someone dies without a will they're dying intestate which means their family essentially their next of kin inherits according to the priorities.

BALDWIN: How would you, with your experience with the James Brown estate, how would you compare that planning to what Prince's could potentially be?

LEVINSON: Well, I don't know -- no one knows whether Prince had a will or didn't have a will which would make the estate administration a lot easier. But there's really nothing very complicated about an estate administration either because he has from what I understand siblings and half siblings and they would inherit equally under Minnesota law.

BALDWIN: He has this estate, he has this studio, he has this vault full of music and who knows what else? Much of it this catalog that I have talked to folks and they say, you know, it's perhaps, you know, it is possible that 70 percent of it hasn't been heard by the world. Where do you start?

LEVINSON: Well, you start off with an inventory of the assets and the music and the catalog of music is extremely valuable. Probably more valuable after his before his death than before his death as was the case with Mr. James Brown.

BALDWIN: Talk to me about how challenging that process was.

LEVINSON: With the James Brown estate, very challenging. We're ten years into the litigation about James Brown's estate. Still going on.

BALDWIN: What was -- what has been the biggest challenge there? Perhaps could be the case here in Minnesota.

LEVINSON: Well, in fairness, it is not -- it's not entirely fair to compare the two. Mr. Brown had issues --

BALDWIN: A lot of family.

LEVINSON: A lot of issues with family and children that did not agree. Apparently Prince did not have a spouse, did not have any children that survived him. His parents are deceased. So as to who's entitled, it is pretty simple. Whether they agree with how the estate should be handled and whether they are going to get along, that remains to be seen.

BALDWIN: And if people want to continue, you know, visiting his Paisley Park compound, I heard someone that perhaps there is planned to make it into a museum. Who would decide that?

LEVINSON: Well, first thing that the family needs to do is get together and appoint someone to be the legal representative of the estate. A personal representative to handle essentially what the executor would be doing if there's a will and to make the decisions not in the air but on behalf of the beneficiaries or the heirs of the estate.

BALDWIN: I can only imagine, lots of fans would like to go to Paisley Park and, you know, pay their respects for years to come.

Louis Levinson, thank you so much. I appreciate it your expertise there.

Coming up next, Donald Trump, he isn't just hammering John Kasich for making a deal with Ted Cruz, he is going after the governor's eating habits calling him disgusting after a stop at a Philly Diner. So we are going to go to the source. We will talk live to the owner of that diner and another restaurant governor Kasich has visited. What is this all about? Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:54:16] BALDWIN: Here we go. Politics and food now. John Kasich's decision to team up with Ted Cruz to stop Donald Trump may have put governor Kasich in the firing line for Trump's unique style of ridicule. Trump is not targeting Kasich's policies, but his eating habits. Governor Kasich visited Penrose diner in Philadelphia today and really enjoyed his breakfast. The moment set the table for this reaction from Trump today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You look at Kasich, I don't think he knows what -- did you see him? He has a news conference all the time when he is eating. I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion. I'm always telling my young son, Baron, I'm saying - and I always with my kids, all of them, I would say, children, small little bites. This guy takes a pancake and he's shoving it in his mouth. It's disgusting. Do you want that for your president? I don't think so.

He's eating today stuffing it. I never saw -- bites this big. He's pushing it in with his -- I never saw a guy eat like this. I told my son, he was watching. He said, daddy, look. I said don't watch. Little bites, little bites.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is where we are in terms of this race for president. We're talking about these candidates' eating habits. So we are going to go there.

Joining me, I have David Greco, owner of Mike's Deli where governor Kasich visited just a little while ago here in New York, your food. I didn't eat lunch so I'm sort of like.

DAVID GRECO, OWNER, MIKE'S DELI: I'm hoping you're hungry.

BALDWIN: I brought my appetite.

Also we have Bill Dovas, the manager of Penrose diner in Philadelphia, managing diner where governor ate breakfast this morning.

So first to you, Bill, when you hear, you know, Donald Trump talking about the tiny bites and the pancake and the this and the that, what did governor Kasich eat, were you there?

BILL DOVAS, THE MANAGER OF PENROSE DINER (on the phone): Yes, I was here. Look, I will be honest with you. I don't discriminate how anybody eats but the governor seems to be a pretty thick guy. I would say his eating habits are just fine. In fact, I think he's got a great taste when it comes to choosing restaurants.

BALDWIN: I would imagine, not that you're biased whatsoever.

DOVAS: Not at all.

BALDWIN: Nor would you be, David Greco. Let me turn to you. So you are the location where governor Kasich visited. So you -- also Trump being a New Yorker.

GRECO: We have a Trump sandwich. We have a Hillary sandwich. We have, you know, things that happen in New York, we're on it. Kasich is pretty cool. They called. They said this is what he wanted to eat so we called it JK special.

BALDWIN: Wait. Did they say specifically?

GRECO: Yes. You know, I tease him Ohio-style salami, pepperoni, provolone and a pickle. You know, we don't really do that in New York unless it's an American sandwich. Then we put out our stuff and he went crazy. He ate the Yankee stadium big boy, the Michelangelo, a pole of pasta and then asked for pasta bajole. I think Donald, if he was in my place, he would eat like that also because when people in our place, they recognize quality.

BALDWIN: Of course, of course. How does work for people that there was much to do about when all of them sort of rolled through New York and the Jewish delis and coming to you. And you know, this out New Yorker-ing one another. Did they call you up and say we want to come to your deli? How does that work?

GRECO: They were going to Fordham and they had too many kids there, 5,000 kids that wanted to be at Fordham. Fordham kids called me actually. A huge group of Republican Party there, a kid named Sebastian said, Mr. Greco, please help us. You can handle this. And that's how it happened. We said OK, we'll take it on. We were waiting for Hillary or Trump to come. The week before Bill was supposed to come by and they came in and said it was too noisy in there.

BALDWIN: Well, you got a little, you know, sort of little like cameras in your place.

GRECO: I don't get irked but I don't like being pushing around, you know. The CNN camerawoman, she was the sweetest one.

BALDWIN: Excellent.

GRECO: The rest of them were pretty good to us, though.

BALDWIN: Good. We like to hear that.

Bill, what was it like this morning in there when Kasich was eating his eggs and schmoozing?

DOVAS: You know, I feel bad for the guy. It's got to be tough to eat with a hundred cameras in your face. But he seem to do well. And I think he took Donald's advice, he was taking small bites.

BALDWIN: Did the folks who were there eating breakfast, did they get the heads up or did all of a sudden this, you know, media circus and the governor of Ohio roll in?

DOVAS: You know, there was a bit of a heads up on social media last night. So I think some people knew it was coming, so we had some extras coming in, you know, just to see him, a lot of his supporters. So it was actually a pretty neat thing.

BALDWIN: If you had Donald Trump coming into your diner, what would you feed him? DOVAS: From what I understand, Donald wants his meatloaf. So I'm

putting it out there to him right now. I would love to have Donald here. We have a great meatloaf and I think it's something he would really enjoy.

BALDWIN: Hillary Clinton, what would you feed her?

DOVAS: Hillary Clinton, we haven't done the research on her favorite yet, but I would actually love to have her, Donald and Bernie all down here. We can have our own little debate and we can decide whether scrap roll or pork roll is going to be the best side.

BALDWIN: Bill, thank you so much.

Just finally, David, to you, looking back, because New York, the primary here played such a huge, huge role it hadn't in decades. Just as a New Yorker, what did you make of that and this whole race?

GRECO: I sensed that people were going to revolve around food, it always happens. Donald knocking the guy taking big portions, you do tell your children to eat small portions. When people (INAUDIBLE), they come to eat manja (ph). I think they came and I think Kasich did (INAUDIBLE). He tried to be a New Yorker with us. Hillary, I have never seen her really eat a lot.

BALDWIN: Can you imagine, though, the schedule they keep?

GRECO: Yes. You said it's hard to eat with people in your face like that.

BALDWIN: Yes. Good for them. Mike's Deli, thank you very much. Appreciate all of this. I see lots of people around here who will enjoy it.

And thank you for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

"The LEAD with Jake Tapper" starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Brooke.

Deal making (INAUDIBLE) to try to hurt the author of "the art of the deal."

"The LEAD" starts right now.