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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Candidates' Battle For Delegates; Trump Attacks GOP Delegate System; Sanders Escalates Attacks On Clinton; U.S. Stock Futures Are Higher; U.K.'s "Daily Mail" Wants Buy To Yahoo; Belgium Terrorists Had Planned To Hit France; Suspect In "White Coat" Apprehended; Spieth's Final Round Masters Collapse; NFL Mourns Death Of Former Saints Star Will Smith. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 11, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Donald Trump, that period of calm appears to be over after days of no public events and pretty tepid action on his Twitter act. Donald Trump back with some bluster aimed squarely at the Republican Party and the delegate system.

Trump trying to challenge the delegates haul that Ted Cruz won this weekend in Colorado. Overnight on Twitter, Donald Trump complained about the state Republican Party in Colorado picking his delegates at a convention instead of a primary or caucus.

This is what Donald Trump put up on Twitter. He said how is it possible that the people of the great state of Colorado never got to vote in a Republican primary? Great anger, totally unfair.

Trump's new convention manager, new delegate manager charges the Cruz campaign won delegates with Gestapo tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is threatening a fair game?

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN CONVENTION MANAGER: Not my style. Not Donald Trump's style.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can you?

MANAFORT: It is Ted Cruz's style.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think he is threatening delegates.

MANAFORT: You go to the conventions and you see the Gestapo tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gestapo tactics? That's a strong word.

MANAFORT: We are going to be filing several protests because reality is they are not playing by the rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The Cruz campaign is lashing back saying Cruz won Colorado by putting in the hard work to build a superior organization. Let's get the latest from CNN's Chris Frates with the Trump campaign in Rochester.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: John and Michelle, after a three-day break, Donald Trump back on the campaign trail in his home state of New York. New York is crucial to Donald Trump. A battle ground here April 19th with 95 delegates at stake.

Donald Trump has a shot at winner take all. That's crucial particularly as Ted Cruz has been on a bit of a winning streak. In fact, Donald Trump starting to call into question those delegate wins by Ted Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got a corrupt system. It's not right. We're supposed to be a democracy. We're supposed -- we're supposed to be -- you vote and the vote means something.

I want to tell you, it's a corrupt deal going on in this country. It's not good. It's not good. It's not fair and it's not fair to you people.

They're taking your vote away. They're disenfranchising people that want to see America be great again. Politicians will never do it. They don't want to do it.

They can't do it because their lobbyists in special interest are saying we are not going to let you do it. It's no good and we have to change the system. It's got to change fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Donald Trump doing very well here in New York, still leading in the polls. In fact, on Sunday, the new Fox poll came out at 54 percent support. Ted Cruz with 15 percent support. Cruz lagging even John Kasich here in the state.

Donald Trump using Ted Cruz's words against him. You may remember Ted Cruz criticizing New York values. Donald Trump jumping on that saying Ted Cruz was insulting New Yorkers.

Ted Cruz firing back saying he was insulting the liberal political New York class. Not New York voters. But if you look forward here, Ted Cruz is doing well in the delegates hunt.

In fact, four consecutive wins, big wins in Wisconsin and Colorado. New York is the next big battle ground. It could be a winner take all. We should continue to hear Donald Trump throughout this week here in New York -- John and Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Thanks, Chris. Joining us to break down that battle for delegates, CNN politics managing editor for content, Steven Sloan.

Good morning, Steve. I don't know where to begin. What do you think about the Trump allegations that the voting system is unfair? That the people out there, the millions of people didn't really get their voices heard. What do you make of that?

STEVEN SLOAN, CNN POLITICS MANAGING EDITOR FOR CONTENT: I think what you are seeing right now is a transition in the Trump campaign thinking for so long they have been relying on the big primary wins. Big primary nights we stay up late for and watch results come in.

That is how they racked up all these delegates, but you are seeing them realize that if they want to get to the 1,237 number before the convention, that's the number of delegates they need to win the nomination.

They have to go through these kind of more intricate processes in Colorado where there's this convention. It is something that seems like they were not necessarily prepared for at the beginning of this process.

BERMAN: It is clear they were not prepared. They are getting their clock cleaned state after state after state when it comes to that.

Let's switch to the Democrats, Steven, because there is a contentious race. The battle is all about New York right now. Eight days until the Democratic primary and Republican primary here in New York.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders going toe-to-toe for votes here. This state is crucial to both of them. Now Bernie Sanders is sort of shifted the focus.

For a while, he was saying, well, I don't know. He won't answer if Hillary Clinton was qualified. She was sort of doing the same. But now Bernie Sanders raising new questions. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She may have the experience to be president of the United States. No one can argue that, but in terms of the judgment, something is clearly lacking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:04]BERMAN: Steven, I have been surprised by both candidates. They've been letting this go on day after day after day and we have been asking them all on their campaign staffs.

Do you think that Hillary Clinton is qualified? Do you think Bernie Sanders is qualified? They just keep fanning the flames. And now Bernie Sanders questioning Secretary Clinton's judgment. What's going on here?

SLOAN: I think he created the firestorm last week by saying that she wasn't qualified. That dominated the news cycle for several days and it didn't necessarily work out to Sanders' favor.

So I think he is trying to keep this argument alive a little bit, but not necessarily talking about her qualifications but her judgment.

That is something that might resonate especially with his base. People who are worried about her vote on the Iraq war and use of private e-mail server when she was secretary of state.

So I think he is trying to get at that without raising the qualification issue that created such a controversy last week.

KOSINSKI: You know, for months, two months now, we have been hearing from each of the Democratic campaigns saying they are going to go harder against the opponent. Obviously, we are seeing that now. It has really become evident.

But do you see this revving up more? I mean, where is this going to go? Is this going to rival some of the Republicans in their rhetoric and their attacks on each other?

SLOAN: Well, I don't know it will go to that level, but it will intensify for sure. We have another week or so before the New York primary as you both know politics in New York are rough and tumble with the tabloid culture and we have our CNN debate on Thursday night where I don't think they will treat each other with kid gloves.

BERMAN: Well, you never know. Sometimes they go after each other hard for days and days and days and they get on the debate stage and they are friends. Another question we might see come up, I know we'll see it come up Thursday night is the question about Hillary Clinton's e-mails and server.

What is interesting is over the weekend, President Obama did an interview with Fox News. His first interview with Fox in a long time.

SLOAN: First of the administration, I believe.

BERMAN: He was asked what he thought the current state of the investigation is into the e-mails. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America's national security. Now what I've also said is that and she acknowledged that there's a carelessness in terms of managing e-mails that she has owned and she recognizes.

But I also think it is important to keep this in perspective. This is somebody who served her country for four years as secretary of state and did an outstanding job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Scale of 1 to 10, how full throated was that defense? It seemed about as far as a sitting president could go there, Steven?

SLOAN: I think it is as far as he could go especially when there is still not a Democratic nominee. There is this race going on right now that is so intense on the Democratic side and he can't quite take a side yet.

So he is really threading the needle and acknowledging that maybe it wasn't the best decision on her part, but she didn't break laws.

KOSINSKI: Steven, thank you so much.

SLOAN: It's good to see you.

BERMAN: Big week here at CNN and the political world. Three nights CNN town hall, it all begins tonight at 9:00 p.m. with a twist this time. The Republican presidential candidates and families answering voter questions.

Tonight, we have John Kasich and his wife, Karen and their twin daughters. I wonder which questions Anderson is going to have to his daughters there. Tomorrow night, Donald Trump and his family. Wednesday night is Ted and Heidi Cruz. That's at 9 p.m. each night only on CNN.

KOSINSKI: But then on Thursday night, the Democratic presidential debate live at 9:00 p.m. from Brooklyn. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face-to-face for the last time before the crucial New York primary, again, only on CNN.

BERMAN: Big week here. All right, let's take a look at your money right now. Alison Kosik is here with that.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I'm watching markets with a turnaround from earlier losses. Asian markets are mostly lower. European markets are higher. U.S. futures are following their lead.

On Friday, oil prices soared more than 6 percent. That wasn't enough for Wall Street. The Dow gained 35 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also closing slightly higher. All three ending the week down more than 1 percent.

So what do you think? Could a Yahoo!-"Daily Mail" merger be in the works? The company that owns the British tabloid is one of 40 parties interested in Yahoo! including Verizon and CBS, and any one of those groups could acquire all of Yahoo! or even parts of the company like the media and news properties of Yahoo!

The "Daily Mail" tells CNN Money that discussions right now are in the very, very early stages. Actually Verizon seems to be a top contender so far for Yahoo! because it's looking to kind of beef up its advertising and digital properties.

BERMAN: Verizon owns AOL already?

KOSIK: Yes.

BERMAN: Interesting to see.

KOSINSKI: I'll believe it when I see it.

BERMAN: Yahoo! has been talked about for so long.

[05:10:07]KOSIK: Yahoo! has been in a lot of trouble for a long time. It is been looking for a suitor.

BERMAN: All right, new information coming out of Brussels this morning. The terrorists behind the deadly plot planned more attacks in France. We will tell you what we are learning next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSINSKI: Dramatic new details this morning about the terrorists who attacked Brussels last month. New word that they initially planned to attack France again, but changed their minds when police started closing in.

This is according to authorities in Belgium who now confirmed the Brussels bombings and the Paris attacks were carried out by the same ISIS network.

This morning, we are learning more about Mohamed Abrini, who says he was the man in the white coat and floppy hat believed to be the third and only surviving suspect from the Brussels airport bombing.

He was taken into custody on Friday. Let's go live now to Brussels and bring in CNN's Kellie Morgan. Some of these remarkable new details, Kellie, that give us a fuller picture of this.

[05:15:10]KELLIE MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Michelle, the details of this French plot come from a source close to the investigation. That according to the CNN French affiliate, BFMTV. Specifically they came from a computer that was owned by airport suicide bomber, Ibrahim (inaudible).

That's the computer that police recovered from the Schaerbeek apartment that the attackers used to build their bombs. Now according to the data on that computer, there were two targets in Paris.

The (inaudible) business district and also a Catholic association in Paris. Now these details come just two days after the arrest of six suspects here in Belgium, chief among them Mohamed Abrini.

We know that he has been cooperating with police in terms of confessing to being the third airport bomber and talking about how he disposed of his items and clothing that is distinctive in the CCTV footage.

The question is he or some of these other five suspects who were arrested and also providing details helped police piece together what they found on that computer -- Michelle.

KOSINSKI: Kellie, thank you.

BERMAN: History unfolding this morning in Hiroshima with John Kerry becoming the first U.S. secretary of state ever visited that Japanese city. He is there for a two-day summit with G7 leaders. The White House says the secretary will not apologize for the U.S. dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end World War II. He will acknowledge the enormous loss of life after the U.S. became the first and only nation that ever used a nuclear weapon.

KOSINSKI: A U.S. Navy officer is in custody this morning awaiting trial for espionage. Officials say the unidentified officer was arrested eight months ago, but details kept under wraps for reasons of national security.

So all we're being told at this point is the officer is a lieutenant commander who is accused of illegally sharing secret information and wrongfully transporting classified material along with one count of paying for a prostitute and another for adultery.

BERMAN: CIA Director John Brennan says his agency will not engage in waterboarding or any other enhanced interrogation techniques even if the future president orders it. President Obama banned waterboarding in 2009.

Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, suggested they would end the ban if elected. Trump going even further saying that he would bring back waterboarding.

KOSINSKI: Some severe thunderstorms ahead today in the south. Meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, joins us now with the latest.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Michelle. Watching some severe weather around the south central states today around parts of Oklahoma and on into Arkansas. Severe weather threat around a three.

Shreveport in particular, watching it for this afternoon. Significant rainfall, 1 to 2 inches. Some areas could see 2 to 4 inches in Jackson and Birmingham over the next 24 to 36 hours.

As the storm system migrates to the east, gusty winds and southerly flow ahead of the temperatures. Temperatures soar into the 70s for Washington. Showers out of this by this afternoon. Notice what happens this weekend. Temperatures could be 10 to 20 degrees above average around 70 in New York City.

BERMAN: It's about freaking time. Pedram, thanks so much.

The only story that Michelle Kosinski is talking about this morning, the Golden State Warriors just one win away from the record books. They did something last night that no other NBA has been able to accomplish all season. Coy Wire with this morning's "Bleacher Report" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:09]

BERMAN: Jordan Spieth looking unbeatable all weekend long at the Masters, almost all weekend. KOSINSKI: So Coy Wire has more on what Berman over here assures me was Jordan Spieth's epic collapse in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michelle. John does not steer you wrong. Most thought Spieth had the Masters on lock. He had the lead. He birdied his last four holes on the front nine.

He's going to win this thing, becomes just the fourth golfer ever to win the Masters in back to back year, but then on the back nine, the wheels fell off. Spieth would bogey on the 10th, then bogeyed the 11th.

On the 12th, he hits the ball into the water. Not once, but twice. Then he would go on to hit the ball into a bunker. He finished with a quadruple bogey on that hole and his lead was long gone. Here's Spieth after the final round.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN SPIETH, HAD FIVE-SHOT LEAD WITH NINE HOLES LEFT: It's a tough one. Sure. You know, I knew the lead was five with nine holes to play. I knew the two bogeys weren't going to hurt me. I didn't take that extra deep breath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Gosh, you could see he was shaken. Spieth was slipping down the leader board, Danny Willett, making the climb of his life. He and his wife just had their first born child last week. He made the journey to the U.S. and got his first ever PGA Tour win. This was his second Masters.

Only seven players won it in the first or second appearance. The only other Englishman to do it, the legendary, Nick Valdo (ph). Congrats to you, Danny.

Now second-degree murder charges were filed against a 30-year-old suspect who allegedly shot and killed former New Orleans Saints star, Will Smith. Cardell Hayes was booked second degree murder charges on Sunday with bail set at a million dollars.

[05:25:02]New Orleans police say he and Smith exchanged words after their vehicles collided Saturday night. Shots were fired. Smith did not survive. His wife was shot as well and she is recovering after surgery.

The Golden State Warriors now just one victory from immortality. They beat the Spurs last night in San Antonio. The Spurs hadn't lost at home all season. Golden State, they hadn't won there in 19 years.

The Warriors get their 72nd win for the season tying the all-time single season record set by the Chicago Bulls in 1996. John and Michelle, the Warriors have one game left this season. It's at home against Memphis Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. I might stay up all night to say that I witnessed history in the making. BERMAN: All right, Coy, thanks so much. They have to play well. That's the important thing.

KOSINSKI: To beat the Bulls on that. Thanks, Coy.

Breaking news here, Donald Trump is angry. The billionaire scrambling to keep up with Ted Cruz. Calling the weekend contest in Colorado unfair. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)