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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Cruz & Sanders Win Wisconsin Primaries; Merrick Garland Meets With Republican Senator; Southern Religious Freedom Bills Draw Fire; Alabama Governor Facing Impeaching Over Sex Scandal; New Fallout From Panama Papers As Iceland Prime Minister Resigns; UConn Women Win 4th Straight NCAA Women's Title. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired April 06, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The Wisconsin primary election shaking up the race for president. Ted Cruz increasing the odds of a contested Republican convention while Bernie Sanders adds to his winning streak over Hillary Clinton.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. Nice to have you here this morning.
MARQUEZ: Thank you.
ROMANS: Big morning. It's 30 minutes past the hour and our breaking news this morning, crucial primary wins for Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders. Victories in Wisconsin that keep the two candidates viable and that are shaking up the race for president.
On the Republican side with 99 percent of the vote counted, Cruz soars 13 points past the national front-runner, Donald Trump, grabbing 48 percent of the vote. John Kasich a distant third. On the Democratic side Bernie Sanders walloped Hillary Clinton statewide, 56 percent of the vote to Clinton's 43 percent.
Cruz and Sanders celebrate their wins at raucous victory rallies claiming that even though they are underdogs they do have a path to the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As a result of the people of Wisconsin defying the media, defying the pundits, I am more and more convinced that our campaign is going to earn the 1,237 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland, together, we will win a majority of the delegates and, together, we will beat Hillary Clinton in November.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries, and we have won almost all of them with overwhelming landslide numbers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: And the Wisconsin result moved Ted Cruz closer to that magic number of delegates needed to win, 1,237, and they tipped the Republican Party much closer now to a convested -- a contested convention in Cleveland.
ROMANS: A conven -- a content --
MARQUEZ: A convested contested convention in Cleveland.
To help us game out all that and what might happen on the Republican side let's bring in this morning's class A panel. CNN's political analyst Josh Rogin. He's a columnist for Bloomberg View. Senior reporter for media and politics, Dylan Byers, and senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES". Good morning to you all.
Brian, very bad week for Donald Trump going into this thing. He got into it with the conservative talk show host in Wisconsin.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right.
MARQUEZ: Is this a speed bump for him or does this say something bigger about his camp?
STELTER: It very well could be more than a speed bump. In fact, I see some people asking this morning should we be calling Ted Cruz the front-runner at this point, not Donald Trump. If there's not an obvious confident path for Trump to reach that 1,237 number, then is he the front-runner, really, at all? I think there's going to be more conversation about that in the days to come. You mention conservative talk radio and that was really significant in Wisconsin.
MARQUEZ: Huge.
STELTER: There were people pointing to that in the days before voting. We heard Trump calling into these #NeverTrump radio shows. I think Trump deserves credit for calling in, for taking the questions, for being challenged.
But Charlie Sykes, one of the host in Wisconsin, said can a candidate win Wisconsin without talk radio? Maybe the answer is no. These were powerful shows that were aligned against Trump and those shows are particularly influential in some of the cities in Wisconsin.
ROMANS: Let's listen to what Donald Trump -- let's read what Donald Trump had to say about that race yesterday. "Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin' Ted Cruz had the governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him.
Not only was he propelled by the anti-Trump Super PACs spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PAC's, which is illegal, who totally control him. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet. He's a Trojan horse being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump."
Dylan Byers, when Donald Trump loses he slings the mug and he makes accusations that this is somehow being stolen from him -- this nomination.
DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: Yes, absolutely. Like we said, it's vintage Trump and every time we read this statement from Donald Trump I feel compelled to say that these accusations of illegal coordination with Super PACs are 100 percent absolutely baseless.
[05:35:00] But, of course, Donald Trump has a very fervent support base that will believe whatever he tells them. And, of course, by putting the onus on Ted Cruz to respond to this accusation he has riled up that support and he has of course, once again, changed the narrative.
For him, anytime he loses a state to Ted Cruz, it's always going to be much more effective to change the narrative than to come out and give some sort of concession speech, and that's what you saw him doing here tonight.
The question that I have, if you get beyond his core base of support, which is a limited group -- how often can he keep upping the level of insanity and inanity of what he's saying before people really get tired of it and really begin to go to Cruz, if only to block Trump's path towards the nomination?
MARQUEZ: Well, perhaps, that's what happened, Josh. He did win a few delegates in Wisconsin but I expected him to poll better in the north and the western part of the state. What happened here?
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What happened was that he lost 90 percent of the Wisconsin delegates and fell 30 delegates behind his previous plan to reach 1,237 before the convention. I think one of the big takeaways from tonight will end up being that all of this discussion about a unity candidate being dropped in at the convention will largely go away now that Ted Cruz is making the argument that he is that unity candidate.
If he can win states like this and if he can amass a comparable number of delegates, his argument going forward, and we saw him make this argument in his speech last night, is that when it comes to the convention he'll be able to get to that 1,237.
It may be in the first ballot, it may be in the second ballot. That will eliminate the need for somebody like Mitt Romney, or Paul Ryan, or General Mattis to come in and save the party. So if there's going to be unity, it could be Ted Cruz. Donald Trump's argument that he'll be able to prevent Ted Cruz from getting to a contested convention took a big hit.
STELTER: Hearing the words Ted Cruz and unity in the same sentence, though, is incredible, just to put it out there. It is amazing.
ROMANS: Well, let's listen to Ted Cruz in his own words at his victory rally last night talking about that fact.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: We're winning because we're uniting the Republican Party. Of the 17 candidates who started this race -- a terrific, talented, dynamic field -- five have now endorsed this campaign. We've got the full spectrum of the Republican Party coming together and uniting behind this campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Dylan, is the party uniting after shattering? Is it now uniting or is it all relative here?
MARQUEZ: Well, Humpty Dumpty.
BYERS: Look, I will say this. A significant chunk of the Republican Party is begrudgingly uniting. I just don't think this is what they thought unity looked like. Take for instance the right wing radio hosts. I'm not talking about the Limbaughs and the Sean Hannity's who have been more sympathetic to Donald Trump.
I'm talking about those local radio hosts in key states like Iowa, like Wisconsin, who really value and care about conservatism, constitutionalism, some of these key conservative ideas, partnering now or at least rallying behind the same candidate as some of these much more moderate establishment figures in Washington. Yes, he is -- you know, I'll say it. Ted Cruz is uniting everyone outside of Trump's core group. I think they're doing it because they have no other choice.
STELTER: And as we look at these numbers we should keep in mind one other point which is there was much higher turnout for the GOP last night than there was for the Democrats. Once again, another state where there's a lot more interest in going to the ballot box among Republicans and among Democrats. Maybe that's because some people wanted to go to the polls to stop Trump, but it's another sign the Democrats have some worries in the fall.
ROMANS: Let's talk about what some of those people said at the polls, guys. I want to real quickly go through these exit polls. Of those who decided late, they broke for Ted Cruz. Forty-three percent -- I think 43-44 percent voted for Ted Cruz. Those who the most important candidate quality is electability, decisively Ted Cruz. Shares my values, Ted Cruz.
Interesting, though, the lack of excitement. So feelings if Trump were elected president, concerned or scared. That's like 58 percent are concerned or scared if Donald Trump is elected, but not necessarily overly excited about Ted Cruz is he becomes president. Only 13 percent are excited. Ted Cruz, Josh Rogin, has a lot of work to do.
ROGIN: He does have a lot of work to do. But I think what these numbers show, especially the share our values number, is that for a lot of Republicans, both professionals and Republicans on the street, this is about more than even the 2016 election. This is about saving their party, about saving the conservative movement.
Nobody knows who's going to win the election in November but they would rather lose with Ted Cruz than lose with Donald Trump because then, at least, they know they would have run a conservative, they would have had conservative values at the forefront.
And this eroding trust in Donald Trump is leading toward this shaky consensus around Ted Cruz that he's the best one to represent the larger Republican and conservative ideals, not just in 2016 but even after the election. And so it's much about saving the party as anything else.
[05:40:00] MARQUEZ: I feel like the Republican race is finally starting.
BYERS: If I can, to Josh's point, I would just say Republican and primary voters don't often tend to care about electability quite as much as Democrats. There's been a deep divide in the party over whether or not you vote with someone who represents your values or someone who can actually get elected, and we're seeing some of that play out right here.
ROMANS: Interesting. All right, guys, thanks for that.
MARQUEZ: Thank you all. Bernie Sanders with another big win in Wisconsin, but does he have a path to the White House? Our panel will tell us all about that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: If you ignore what you hear on corporate media, the facts are pretty clear. We have a path toward victory, a path toward the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Bernie Sanders resounding win overnight in Wisconsin far surpasses his most optimistic polling numbers. He's now won seven of the last eight Democratic contests. Let's bring back our esteemed panel to break down the Democratic side of the race. Josh Rogin, corporate media says he can't, Bernie says he can. Can he?
ROGIN: Right. The answer is probably not. Listen, the Sanders people are convincing in one aspect, right? There's this condescension, both inside the Democratic establishment and sometimes in the media. When I talk to Democratic professionals about Bernie they say oh, bless his heart, or he's adorable, or that's really nice, so that's true.
Where the Sanders campaign loses me is when they compare his delegate drive to Barack Obama's delegate drive in 2008. In 2008, President Obama had this very sophisticated, very elaborate plan to peel off superdelegates and really caught Hillary Clinton by surprise. Bernie Sanders does not have that kind of an operation as far as anyone can tell, so his superdelegate strategy is more of a wish and a pipedream than a reality.
MARQUEZ: Brian, it comes down to New York. On the 19th the voters go to the polls. On the 14th, head-to-head debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. What's that going to look like?
STELTER: This is the debate Sanders very much wanted for a long time. It was finally confirmed a couple of days ago. I think we're going to see Clinton being much more aggressive in the days to come and it's previewed in an interview that just came out a few minutes ago with Glenn Thrush of POLITICO.
At one point in this interview Clinton says this about Sanders. He's a relatively new Democrat and, in fact, I'm not even sure he is one. And she also expresses her frustration with Sen. Sanders' young supporters who are being "fed this list of misrepresentation." So, I'm sure we'll hear more from Clinton about that in the days to come.
MARQUEZ: And Dylan, how well does Sanders have to perform in New York or, conversely, how much does Hillary have to beat him by in New York to put it to bed?
BYERS: Well, it's certainly Hillary Clinton's to lose and in that regard Sanders has some advantage insofar as he can claim that a narrower than expected loss is truly a victory for him and he can continue this narrative that he has the momentum. And then, of course, for Hillary Clinton, she absolutely has to win. That's her state even though Bernie Sanders was, of course, born in Brooklyn. That's her state. The expectations there for her are very high.
I think what Sanders needs to do right now is he needs to prepare for the New York City media market. He needs to prepare for the fact that he might hit a little bit harder than he's been hit in the past, and you saw that going back to that New York Daily news interview where he failed to answer some pretty fundamental, basic questions about his policy plans, including the central theme of his campaign which has been taking on Wall Street and breaking up the banks. I think he has a lot to prove and a lot to demonstrate if his campaign really believes that he can so far as a brokered convention.
STELTER: Giving credit where it's due here, this string of victories for Sanders and Wisconsin last night, I think it underscores that this country is more politically diverse than we sometimes think or take for granted. We talk about Clinton on one side and Cruz and Trump on the other.
But I think for the past months we've heard about Trump supporters going voiceless. That Trump is expressing their emotions. A lot of standard supporters have felt the same way for a very long time, particularly young people.
The fact that there is this candidate they can rally behind -- the fact that Wisconsin was a big, big win for Sanders should be acknowledged, I think, maybe even by Clinton's side. I know she's frustrated by young people that are supporting Sanders but she could be celebrating the fact that there are a lot of people who are interested in politics at this moment because of that.
MARQUEZ: She did congratulate him in a tweet. But Sanders, seeing that her Achilles' heel are the superdelegates that have been pledged there, said this about trying to prize away some of those superdelegates from her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I think that a lot of these superdelegates are going to be looking around them and that are going to be saying which candidate has the momentum? Which candidate is bringing out huge numbers of people and creating huge -- which candidate can bring out large numbers of people?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: I want to get all your take on this, Josh, starting with you.
[05:50:00] ROGIN: Sure. You have both the same narrative coming out of the Trump campaign and the Sanders campaign, but somehow the rules are unfair -- that the cards at stacked against them and this represents some sort of impropriety. The facts are that the rules are the rules and they're there for a reason. And this is the reason -- to keep insurgent candidates from taking over the party from the outside. That's what the whole system was designed to do.
So now that the Sanders campaign and Trump campaign are realizing that and starting to deal with that belatedly and realizing that they're at a disadvantage because of that, they're going to cry foul. But the rules are there for a reason and this is a party process. It's not one man, one vote.
MARQUEZ: Dylan, quickly, does that make sense to you? Will those claims work?
BYERS: Yes, what Josh says absolutely makes sense to me and I get where the Sanders campaign is coming from, which is it's the same thing when they talk about these mysterious superdelegates somehow coming over to Sanders or when they talk about going to a brokered convention.
They are trying to sustain hope. The number one thing that can hurt Bernie Sanders' momentum right now is this narrative that somehow he doesn't have a chance. As long as they can convince their supporters that he does have a chance, the more he'll be able to sustain his campaign and push, if not his own chances of becoming president -- push that Democratic socialist agenda that he has been so effective in pushing.
MARQUEZ: And the biggest media market coming up on the 19th. It's going to be a fascinating race. Thank you all for joining us this morning. Three states moving forward with religious freedom laws that critics
say legalize discrimination, but there are new consequences. We'll tell you what those are coming up
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:56:00] MARQUEZ: This morning, Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland returns to Capitol Hill for more meetings with lawmakers. His first sit-down with the Republican senator John Boozman of Arkansas went exactly as expected yesterday. Boozman told John (sic) Garland he will not get a confirmation hearing. This morning, the Supreme Court nominee meets with several Democratic senators.
New developments in three southern states that are moving forward with controversial religious freedom laws that LGBT advocates are calling discriminatory. In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill that allows people with religious objections to deny services to gay couples.
In Tennessee, lawmakers are moving ahead on a bill that would allow therapists and marriage counselors to turn away gay patients without risk of legal consequences. And PayPal is canceling plans to open a new global operation center in Charlotte because of North Carolina's controversial new transgender bathroom law. A move that will cost the state 400 jobs.
In just a matter of hours, Alabama's embattled Republican governor will be holding a news conference. Lawmakers in this stage are already moving forward with a measure to impeach Robert Bentley in the wake of a widening sex scandal. He is refusing to resign, denying he had a physical relationship with a former top female aide, but several prominent fellow Republicans in the state are now calling on Bentley to step down, citing a crisis of confidence.
In the first major causality of the Panama Papers is Iceland's embattled prime minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson. He resigned Tuesday in the face of mounting pressure and widening protests. Gunnlaugsson and his wealthy wife are accused of concealing millions of dollars in investments in offshore accounts.
And now comes word the Panamanian law firm where the Panama Papers originated from, Mossack Fonesca, is linked to more than 1,000 U.S. companies, many of them formed in Wyoming and Nevada in the last 15 years.
And, it's the dynasty nobody knows. The UConn women winning a record fourth straight NCAA basketball championship, routing Syracuse 82-51 in the title game. It caps another perfect season for the Lady Huskies at 38-0. The sixth time they've gone unbeaten, amazingly enough, and it runs up their winning streak to a remarkable 75 games. It's also the 11th national championship for head coach, Geno Auriemma.
The race for president shaken up with new wins for Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to your new day, and what a day it is this Wednesday, April 6th, now 6:00 in the east. Up first, Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders winning big in Wisconsin, resetting the 2016 race for president.
Both candidates dealing blows to their party's front-runners in last night's pivotal primaries. Cruz calls it a turning point in his battle with Donald Trump. Trump's path to the nomination now anything but certain. The delegate math just is not adding up.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And on the Democratic side Bernie Sanders is on a role, decisively winning six of the last seven states. But can he catch up to Hillary Clinton's seemingly insurmountable delegate lead? Both parties setting their sights on delegate-rich New York and the very real possibility that neither party will have a nominee going into their convention.
We have this election covered the way only CNN can, so let's begin with Christine Romans. She has a look at where the races stand now. Hi, Christine.
ROMANS: Hi, good morning you guys. Wisconsin was a must-win for Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders, and they both did just that. The state proving to be unfriendly territory for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Let's look at the numbers. Cruz's decisive victory in Wisconsin shaking up the Republican race now. He won with more than 48 percent of the vote.
