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Clinton Closes in on Historic Nomination; GOP Leaders Disavow Trump's Attacks on Judge; Interview with Carl Paladino; Charges Possible Today Against Boy's Parents; Interview with Simone Sanders. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired June 06, 2016 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:01] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If anyone can, LeBron can.
Coy Wire, many thanks.
The next hours of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Clinton wins Puerto Rico, now just 29 delegates shy, something Bill Clinton told Bernie Sanders' supporters in no uncertain terms.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because if you figure this out, they're toast for election day.
COSTELLO: And top Republicans rejecting Trump's attacks against a judge.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's proud of his heritage, OK? I'm building a wall.
COSTELLO: Did Trump go too far?
Plus, celebrating Muhammad Ali. His daughter on his life, his passions and his last moments.
Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Hillary Clinton on the verge of history after a big win in Puerto Rico. Clinton now just 29 delegates away from the magic number to clinch her party's nomination. And while Bernie Sanders may be down, he says he's not out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is extremely unlikely that Secretary Clinton will have the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim victory on Tuesday night. The Democratic national convention will be a contested convention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Both candidates facing off for the final Super Tuesday tomorrow. All eyes, of course, on crown jewel California. Nearly 500 delegates up for grabs. Clinton already banking on becoming the first female presidential nominee with a new push for party unity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: After Tuesday I'm going to do everything I can to reach out to try to unify the Democratic Party, and I expect Senator Sanders to do the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Chris Frates is live with more. Good morning.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. I can tell you that Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, they have vastly different ideas about what will happen after the votes are counted on Tuesday. Clinton's already talking about unifying the party behind her, but Sanders, he's vowing to fight until the convention. But even he's conceding that that will be an uphill fight after Tuesday, and that's largely because numbers don't lie.
Let's break it down. Clinton has about 500 more superdelegates than Sanders, but Sanders says about 400 of those delegates got behind Clinton before he even got into the race, so no matter what happens Tuesday, win or lose, Sanders wants a chance to make his case to those superdelegates before they vote at the convention in July.
Now he's going to argue that he's a better general election candidate against Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton is, but, look, if Clinton wins big tomorrow, and that's a very good possibility, Sanders' argument gets a lot harder to make. He'll likely be in this awkward position of asking superdelegates to overturn the will of the voters, and that's going to be a really tough sell. In fact, here is how Clinton put it when she talked to our own Jake Tapper yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: On Tuesday I will have decisively won the popular vote, and I will have decisively won the pledged delegate majority. You can't get much more than that out of a primary season.
We will come together and be prepared to go to the convention in a unified way to make our case, to leave the convention, to go into the general election to defeat Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Now, but Sanders doesn't sound like a candidate ready to unify just yet. This weekend he told reporters that Clinton has to earn the backing of his supporters and that's something he insists won't happen until after the convention, but things can change really quickly after a big election, as you know, Carol. So we'll have to see -- where things settle out on Wednesday morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And we'll all be here to show our viewers what exactly did go down.
Chris Frates reporting live for us this morning.
GOP insiders have a message for Donald Trump. Stop alienating Latinos. Now Trump is hitting back against his critics including Newt Gingrich who says his attacks against the Mexican American judge goes way too far. Trump selling FOX News this, quote, "I saw Newt. I was surprised at Newt. I thought it was inappropriate what he said."
During a sit-down interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Trump again defended his remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: If you are saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?
TRUMP: He's proud of his heritage, OK? I'm building a wall. He's a Mexican.
TAPPER: You're invoking his race when talking about whether or not he can do his job.
TRUMP: Here's what I'm saying. Listen, Jake, I'm building a wall. OK. I'm building a wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Now Trump says it's, quote, "possible," that a Muslim judge would also be biased against him.
Let's get more now from CNN's Phil Mattingly. He's live outside of Trump Tower this morning. Hi, Phil.
[10:05:03] PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Well, anybody who's been watching the Trump campaign over the course of the last 10 or 11 months wouldn't be surprised at this fact. Donald Trump is not backing down. In fact, he's doubling down, escalating a little bit when you saw his remarks about a potential Muslim judge being biased as well.
The issue here, Carol, is not necessarily that Donald Trump hasn't said inflammatory things in the past or isn't backing down currently. It's that Republican officials looking at the electoral landscape this year but also for the future of their party are growing increasingly concerned, and that's why you have seen some of the latest condemnations.
Take a listen to what we heard just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made and I think it's inexcusable. He has every right to criticize a judge and he has every right to say certain decisions aren't right, and his attorneys can file to move the venue from the judge. But first of all, this judge was born in Indiana. He is an American, period.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: I couldn't disagree more with a statement like that.
CHUCK TODD, HOST, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": Is it a racist statement?
MCCONNELL: I couldn't disagree more with what he had to say.
TODD: OK. But -- do you think it's a racist statement to say?
MCCONNELL: I don't agree with what he had to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: And, Carol, Newt Gingrich, Mitch McConnell, two Republicans who have backed Donald Trump. Gingrich even considered in the running for his vice presidential slot. Now one individual who has not gotten behind Donald Trump yet is former presidential candidate John Kasich.
Now Kasich is the governor of Ohio. Obviously a crucial swing state for Donald Trump in the fall. Kasich taking to Twitter saying that Trump should apologize to the judge for what he said. His comments are, quote, "flat out wrong." So obviously Kasich still deciding whether or not to back Donald Trump. These comments obviously not lending it to people thinking that Kasich will get behind Trump.
Carol, what you're seeing here is a major issue inside the Republican Party. Donors, operatives, congressional aides telling CNN over the last 24 hours that the issue here is not just that these are inflammatory comments but also what it means going forward. For Paul Ryan's house Republican agenda, every time he wants to talk about that, he's going to be asked about Donald Trump. For candidates that are up for re-election or seeking election in November, every time they want to talk about their items, their states, their districts, they're answering questions about Donald Trump. So this has a wide- ranging impact.
And, Carol, Donald Trump has made clear, he's not backing off anytime soon.
COSTELLO: Phil Mattingly reporting live outside of Trump Tower this morning.
And more Republican lawmakers are voicing their concerns about Trump's remarks. Among them Arizona Senator Jeff Flake who said this today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: He's the nominee and we'll have to deal with that. I hope that he changes. It's uncomfortable not having endorsed the Republican nominee, I have to say. I don't think that there's time for a third party candidate at this point. I think we're -- you know, we have what we have and we're not in a good situation. I mean, let's face it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: With me now, Carl Paladino, a former New York gubernatorial candidate and a Donald Trump supporter.
Welcome, Carl.
CARL PALADINO, HONORARY CO-CHAIR, DONALD TRUMP NY STATE CAMPAIGN: Hi, Carol. How are you?
COSTELLO: Hi. I'm good. I'm just wondering why does Mr. Trump keep doubling down on Judge Curiel? What's the purpose?
PALADINO: Well, answer the question for me as to why the press keeps doubling down on this Judge Curiel thing? The press has created this issue. Donald Trump obviously wasn't --
COSTELLO: Because it sounds racist, that's why.
PALADINO: Well, it sounds racist because in your vernacular, OK, that is -- that's what you're trying to prove right now. One of your reporters kept pushing Newt Gingrich to call it a racist statement instead of an inflammatory statement. Yes, it is inflammatory.
COSTELLO: Newt Gingrich said it was the biggest mistakes that Mr. Trump has made and Newt Gingrich is a supporter of Donald Trump. Why would he say it's the worst mistake he's made --
PALADINO: That's right. That's right.
COSTELLO: -- if it isn't racist?
PALADINO: What is the -- what is the press interested in doing right now? They've got their jockey shorts all bunched up. They're all excited over having an issue that they can pick apart in its most minute sense. They are wrong here. Eric Schneiderman went after Donald Trump, OK? Why did he do it? Because habitually Eric Schneiderman has this thing about taking on the big banks. He knows the banks can't put up with lawsuits so he extorts money out of them.
COSTELLO: Well --
PALADINO: Same thing here. He's trying to extort money out of Donald Trump.
COSTELLO: Well, let me throw this at you, Carl.
PALADINO: Donald Trump doesn't like the issue.
COSTELLO: Let me throw this at you, Carl, because you're accusing the A.G. of, like, taking a case forward because of political reasons, but there are four judges in New York --
PALADINO: Obviously.
COSTELLO: -- who says the A.G. has enough evidence to take the case against Trump U to trial, and these judges names are Angela Mazzarelli, Diane Renwick, David Saxe, Karla Moskowitz. So why isn't Trump maligning those judges as well, and only the A.G.?
PALADINO: You know as a member of the press you can always get somebody to say, as you have done here, in going out and finding Mr. Flake and others.
[10:10:07] You can always get somebody to say what you want them to say, OK? That's always going to be there, and Mr. Trump has that right, that First Amendment right, to say how he feels about a certain issue. He doesn't feel good about this issue.
COSTELLO: Sure does.
PALADINO: He doesn't like the idea. He's got a battery of lawyers and a bunch of letters from very happy people who used that Trump University.
COSTELLO: So Carl --
PALADINO: And now for you to come out and challenge that is all a matter of -- I'm sorry.
COSTELLO: It's my job to challenge things, and Erick Erickson, he's a conservative blogger, he's an anti-Trump conservative, he does not like the media either. But he wrote this, this morning, of Donald Trump and his continued attacks on Judge Curiel. Quote, "So the party of Lincoln will entertain a racist as its leader in the name of winning? What good does it profit a party to win the White House and lose its soul? Because the odds are the party will not win the White House and will forfeit future victories as it sees Hispanic voters, black voters and a solid number of evangelicals flee the party of racists."
What would you say to Erick Erickson?
PALADINO: Erick Erickson just likes to use the term racist. He's not a racist. By far he's not a racist. This is incredible that you want to pull this word out and use it because it always pushes back on the white guy. That's not fair. And it's not -- it's not a fair description of Donald Trump. Donald Trump might have some anxiety about this particular judge because he lives in the same real world that I do where this type of thing does go on. Where the ethnicity means something, OK?
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Why does Judge Curiel's ethnicity mean something and these four judges in New York -- why don't their ethnicities mean something? Why doesn't Angela Mazarelli's Italian heritage mean anything?
PALADINO: Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does in this world that we're in out here. COSTELLO: Oh, Carl.
PALADINO: Yes, I mean, the press comes in with all this holy grail stuff. OK. That's not -- it doesn't work that way. This is the real world and in the real world you have considerations like that when you're looking at, why am I getting sued? Why all of a sudden did Eric Schneiderman pick me out?
COSTELLO: So Judge Curiel -- Judge Curiel, who was born in Indiana, mind you, he was born in Indiana, he fought drug cartels in California as a federal prosecutor. If he's making his decision to go ahead and try this case against Trump U based on his Mexican heritage, he could be disbarred. So Judge Curiel, in your mind, is willing to go down that road?
PALADINO: No, I'm not -- I'm not judging Judge Curiel. I'm describing what I believe is the state of mind of Donald Trump, OK? And the state of mind of Donald Trump is that he is being persecuted here by a New York state attorney general unfairly, and, yes, he's looking at all four corners of the case to try to find -- OK, and make a judgment as to what he should do in the future on this case.
COSTELLO: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
PALADINO: And -- he perfectly --
COSTELLO: Let me ask you the question this way.
PALADINO: He has every right to do that.
COSTELLO: There was a terrible jobs report on Friday. It was really awful. Donald Trump had every opportunity to concentrate on that, but he continued his attacks on Judge Curiel instead.
PALADINO: You want to -- you want to dictate what the news of the day is.
COSTELLO: Donald Trump tweeted one tweet. I'm just saying did Donald Trump miss an opportunity there? Because what people really care about in this country --
PALADINO: That's the problem here.
COSTELLO: And every poll shows it's the economy.
PALADINO: The press constantly wants to identify -- but the press constantly wants to identify what the issues of the day are. You don't have that right. He's the one that has to define what the issues of the day are, not the press. You don't have a right to do that. But you've been doing it for so long.
COSTELLO: Well, Donald Trump is tweeting about the economy right now.
PALADINO: You think it's OK to do it. COSTELLO: So apparently he thinks today is the day.
PALADINO: That's his entitlement. He can pick and choose when he wants to talk about an issue.
COSTELLO: All right. Carl Paladino, thanks for stopping by.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, will the parents of a 3-year-old boy who fell into a gorilla exhibit have to face charges? That question will be answered today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:18:18] COSTELLO: Charges could be announced today against the parents of the 3-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo. Zoo workers shot and killed Harambe, the gorilla, to save the child, but his death sparked major backlash against the zoo and especially against the boy's parents. The prosecutor will hold a news conference later this afternoon. In the meantime, that gorilla exhibit is set to reopen tomorrow. And it sports a brand new fence.
Brynn Gingras is live in Cincinnati with more. Good morning, Brynn.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. And we know how much emotion, how much opinion this story has brought out across the country, across the world. But we also know that the final decision lies in the hands of Hamilton County prosecutor Joseph Dieters. And he had this case last week. So he's had an entire investigation to sort of mull over before he made the decision that we will hear about later this afternoon.
And that investigation has included looking at a video of the incident when it happened, looking at the family, their testimony toward the prosecutor. Also witness accounts of exactly what happened when that 3-year-old climbed under the fence and into the gorilla exhibit.
And it's possible when he was looking at all of this, the question he was asking himself is, was the family criminally negligent? Did they fail, the mother, any other family member that was there at the time, did they fail to care for or supervise that kid when he went under that fence? So that is something that he is certainly probably considering before he made his decision . At 1:00 today we will hear what that decision is.
We're also learning that the family is expected to release a statement right after the prosecutor makes his announcement about the charges.
Now, Carol, about that zoo, like you said, it's going to open tomorrow. We're going to get a peek inside at exactly what the new exhibit is going to look like which includes some new safeguards, including a higher fence.
[10:20:05] It's raised by six inches to 42 inches high. Also there's going to be some knotted netting underneath so certainly this tragic incident doesn't happen again -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Brynn Gingras reporting live from Cincinnati this morning. Thank you.
And this just in to CNN, another officer charged in the Freddie Gray case is asking for a bench trial. Officer Caesar Goodson, Jr. faces seven charges including second-degree depraved heart murder and manslaughter. His decision to ask for a bench trial means Judge Barry Williams will decide the verdict, not a jury.
Goodson was driving the police transport van when Gray suffered fatal injuries in 2015. Six officers in all charged. Edward Nero was found not guilty in his trial. His trial was decided by a judge, not a jury. And the case against William Porter ended in a mistrial.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Hillary Clinton says she expects Bernie Sanders to call for unity after tomorrow's big California primary. Why Sanders says party unity isn't just his job.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:25:33] COSTELLO: Storm warnings are in effect along the Atlantic coast from Florida up through South Carolina. Tropical storm Colin is threatening to make landfall today along the Gulf. It's expected to bring heavy rain, fierce wind, and flooding.
These are live pictures from Bradenton Beach in Florida southwest of Tampa were residents are bracing for the storm.
Chad Myers is tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center. Hi, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Back to you.
COSTELLO: All right. Chad Myers, thanks so much.
All evacuation orders have been lifted as firefighters gain ground against a wildfire in Los Angeles that forced 5,000 people from their homes. The fire started Saturday afternoon when a truck hit a power pole in Calabasas. It's already scorched 500 acres. By Sunday night, though, the fire was 80 percent contained.
And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
Hillary Clinton wins Puerto Rico handily. That puts her just 29 delegates shy of the Democratic nomination. But Bernie Sanders isn't buying it. He still sees a path to victory and a contested convention despite the math. Bill Clinton is not happy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
B. CLINTON: I don't want to pick a fight, but if I was him I'd be screaming, too, because if you figures this out, they're toast for election day. So have a good time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: With me now, Simone Sanders, who is Bernie Sanders' national press secretary.
Good morning, Simone.
SIMONE SANDERS, BERNIE SANDERS' NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning, Carol. How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm good. Thanks for being here. First, I want to take a look at the math. Even if Bernie Sanders wins all five states on Tuesday plus D.C. next Tuesday, he still would need 108 delegates more to beat Clinton.
Let me put it another way, Sander needs more delegates to clinch the nomination, 822, than are available in the remaining contests, 714. Yet Senator Sanders insists it's still possible. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I don't want to speculate about who will end up having more pledged delegates. She is ahead of us right now, no question, but California is coming up. They've got 475 pledged delegates here. You don't know what the world is going to be like four weeks from now, five weeks. Let's not forget, Democratic convention is the end of July. That's a long time from today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: How can he say that, Simone, when you take a look at the math?
S. SANDERS: Well, Carol, first off, you just noted in the lead in that Secretary Clinton needed 29 additional delegates to clinch the nomination, and that's just not true. That delegate count includes superdelegates, and as Senator Sanders has alluded to, superdelegates do not cast their vote until convention in July. So you can't count them in the total. So there is a path to the nomination for us.
Now the path is more narrow today than it was probably two weeks ago or even a month ago, but there is still a path.
COSTELLO: So --
S. SANDERS: So Senator Sanders is competing tomorrow in not only the California primary but all of the other primaries --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: No, I understand. I want to go back to ask you something about the superdelegates, right? Because Bernie Sanders would have to convince them to change their vote, and all along Bernie Sanders has been saying the system was rigged.
