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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Huge Wins in New York for Trump, Clinton; Obama in Saudi Arabia for Gulf Council Summit. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired April 20, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:31:44] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: New Yorkers, you've always -- you've always had my back.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can think of nowhere that I would rather have this victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Home.

Breaking news this morning: Big victories for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in their home state of New York, changing the trajectory of this race, shaking things up once again.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you all this morning. Thirty-two minutes past the hour.

The breaking news this morning, huge wins for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the New York primary. Both front runners take their home state.

For Trump, a landslide victory, beating John Kasich, his closest rival, by 35 points, Ted Cruz by 45 points. In the end, Trump may walk away with almost all of New York's 95 delegates, which significantly improves his chance of reaching the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination before the convention.

On the Democratic side, Clinton wins a decisive victory over Bernie Sanders, beating him by 15 points. She now leads Sanders by about 260 pledged delegates. And when you add in those super delegates, Clinton's total lead skyrockets to more than 700.

Last night, Clinton and Trump both held huge rallies celebrating their wins.

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TRUMP: We don't have much of a race anymore. Based on what I'm seeing on television, Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated. As you know, we have won millions of more votes than Senator Cruz, millions and millions of more votes than Governor Kasich. We've won and now especially after tonight, close to 300 delegates more than Senator Cruz. We're really, really rocking.

CLINTON: In this campaign, we've won in every region of the country.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

From the North to the South to the East to the West, but this one's personal.

(CHEERS)

The race for the Democratic nomination is the home stretch, and victory is in sight.

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BERMAN: Victory is in sight.

Hillary Clinton right there clearly indicating she hopes she thinks this race might be close to over.

Joining us now, CNN politics reporter Eric Bradner, and senior reporter for media and politics, Dylan Byers.

Good morning to both of you, gentlemen.

Dylan, let's start on the Republican side. Donald Trump hitting 60 percent. Yes, it's his home state, but that's a lot anywhere in this primary campaign so far, and he won the lion's share of delegates, 89 right now, maybe 90 or 91 by the time it's all over. That is a big, big margin at a big moment in this campaign.

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER, MEDIA & POLITICS: Yes, it's a really big margin. It's a significant margin for him. As much as Senator Ted Cruz would like to dismiss this as, you know, Donald Trump just winning his home state, obviously Ted Cruz didn't see it that way when he won Texas. This is a very big win.

And the 60 percent number, I think, is significant. The reason for that is we've always talked about Donald Trump as having this sort of ceiling. And, of course, he was always able to breakthrough that ceiling and establish a higher ceiling.

[04:35:03] But there's this feeling that Donald Trump could never quite win a majority of voters. He always won a plurality in many of these states but never a majority.

Sixty percent is extremely decisive. And what it does is it sets up a scenario where he might not just get to the convention with, you know, more delegates than anyone else, he might get to the convention with the 1,237 delegates he actually needs to win this thing.

At least that's the story he can tell going forward. And as we've seen him sort of reorganize his campaign and really focus on winning those delegates, that's the case he's going to be trying to voters through the final day of voting in California and elsewhere.

ROMANS: Yes, Eric, we've been saying for some time, he needs to win 62 percent of the delegates in the states ahead, in the primaries ahead to make sure he could clinch that nomination, the 1,237, before the convention. And he talked last night in his victory speech about the work he has to do ahead, about the states ahead.

Let's listen to what he said.

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TRUMP: I'm flying tomorrow morning to Indiana. I'm going to Pennsylvania. I will be all over. So we're going to celebrate for about two hours. Then early in the morning, I get up and we begin working again.

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ROMANS: So, how does he maintain this momentum in these other states going forward? New York is his home state. He has spent an awful lot of time here.

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, he seemed to be sort of reflecting, a candidate who has come to grips with the realities of this contest, that he is going to have to pay attention to the little details like the delegate selection process.

Often Trump has taken a day off after an election. He's going straight to Indiana today. That's interesting. That shows him competing hard in a state that Ted Cruz could possibly win, where Ted Cruz could slow some momentum that Trump is hoping to build on the East Coast. Not just yesterday but next week.

So, yes, this is Trump sort of embracing the details of the campaign, sort of buckling down, getting more serious in a way that we haven't seen up until this stage.

He was making the argument last night, instead of talking about Lyin' Ted and that sort of thing, he was talking about the democratic process, making the argument the only way he can be denied at this point is if the system is rigged against him.

And he's starting to put in the work that it'll take to sort of get at least really close to 1,237 if he doesn't get all the way over that hurdle.

BERMAN: Dylan Byers, the Democratic race, 15-point edge for Hillary Clinton here in New York, which was really beyond the ceiling that most Clinton supporters and strategists had set for Hillary. And actually, a worse night for Bernie Sanders than the low expectations- setting that some of the Sanders campaign were done.

So, in some ways, a 15-point margin is a surprising margin right here. And you heard Hillary Clinton say victory is within our sights. She didn't want to taunt Sanders' supporters and say it's over, but she clearly wants to send the message that it's heading that way. BYERS: Yes, and, you know, so much of this campaign what we've been

seen is we've been oscillating between two different polls. We have Hillary Clinton, like Donald Trump, on the Republican side winning these sort of big states -- clearly establishing themselves as the front runners of their respective campaigns.

And then we see the Ted Cruz's and Bernie Sanders come in and sort of win a number of small states and claim that they've got the momentum. But we always come back to this. We always come back to the big states, and Hillary Clinton wins those decisively.

And when she does, she takes Bernie Sanders down yet another peg and really does establish herself as a front runner.

You talk about New York specifically. What happened to Bernie Sanders in New York? It was a long process. It was a two-week process in which the candidates were in the national spotlight, in the heart of the New York City media market.

And time and time again, Bernie Sanders sort of got tripped up. There was a "New York Daily News" interview where he couldn't answer specific questions about his record. There was -- you know, he was on the cover of "The New York Daily News" being hit hard for his stance on guns. Guns was sort of a big issue for them. He had a speaker at one of his rallies sort of referred to corporate whores.

You know, he just sort of ran into controversy and problems and wasn't able to do -- to focus on doing the work that it would have taken to at least narrow the margin with Hillary Clinton. And that gives her, of course, all of the momentum heading of the Empire State.

ROMANS: Totally. And when you look at some of those exit polls, I mean, you can see this core long-term support for Hillary Clinton served her well in New York and may translate with some of the other states ahead. Top quality, has a right experience, Clinton wins 95 percent of that. Women voters, she did well with women voters, 61 percent.

[04:40:00] Black voters, 75 percent. Look at the margin of victory for her with African-Americans. Latino voters, 63 percent to Sanders 37 percent. This was a core that has helped her in some other states, that really helped her in New York.

Eric, does she take that with her to those contests next week?

BRADNER: There's no reason to believe she doesn't. For Bernie Sanders to have any sort of chance at this stage, she has to alter the fundamentals of this race. He has to start winning or doing a lot better with minority voters. He has to start winning loyal Democrats. And he has to chip into her margin with women.

And until we see those things happening, there's no real reason to believe he catch her in pledged delegates. These advantages are not unique to New York. Clintons had them all the way through the campaign, starting in Nevada, and in the South, and now, clearly, it's helped her win yet another big state. BYERS: And Christine, if I may, I would also point out that Hillary

Clinton made inroads with Bernie Sanders, with the white voters that Bernie Sanders usually does so well with. I think she's sort of split the state with him, roughly 50/50. I'm not sure what the latest numbers are.

But then if you look at the five boroughs, she even edge him out with white voters, I think 60 to 40. So, it's not just that Bernie Sanders has work to do in terms of making gains, he's also got to shore up the base of support that he's had so far.

ROMANS: Interesting, interesting, Dylan.

All right. Dylan and Eric, thanks so much for that. We'll talk to you again in just a minute.

Those big wins for Clinton and Trump, but their primary opponents are not giving up. We'll talk what's next in this race for president right after the break.

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[04:45:49] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm so excited to share with you what America has learned over the past few months, and it has nothing to do with a politician winning his home state tonight.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We lost tonight. There are five primaries next week. We think we're going to do well.

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BERMAN: Senators Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders, they are fighting on despite big losses in the New York primary last night to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

So, what do Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders have to do now?

Let's put those questions to Eric Bradner and Dylan Byers. They join us once again.

ROMANS: Hi, guys.

BERMAN: Let's talk about Ted Cruz, Dylan. He netted exactly zero delegates in the state of New York. Zero. That's despite having campaigned here, having, you know, put his think tank panel to finding delegates to steal or pluck in New York. He didn't get any.

And now, he goes to other northeast and mid-Atlantic states. It could be just as tough.

BYERS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's a big fat goose egg for him. You know, he should teach a course in how to spin a third place finish as a relative victory because he's done it time and time again. And I'm sort of impressed, if anything, with his ability to sort of spin this as a victory in the long term.

The truth is, is that New York was a major loss for him. He did make -- look, he was never doing to do wonderfully in New York, but he did make an effort to try and pick up some delegates. And that effort failed.

Like you said, we're staying in the Northeast. That's not necessarily friendly territory for Ted Cruz.

You look at the map going forward, the next big thing he has is Indiana. If I'm the Cruz campaign, I'm thinking about focusing big there. The game you're playing now is not a game of winning this contest. It's a game of keeping Donald Trump from going to the convention with those 1,237 delegates.

So, again, Cruz campaign probably thinking really seriously about Indiana. And they also have to think really seriously about where they can win in the state of California because obviously places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, those big markets aren't necessarily going to be friendly to the senator.

They can probably do better in rural areas, but again, there's going to be a lot of support for Trump there as well.

ROMANS: The hometown newspapers, "The New York Post" this morning calling him "King Don", Donald Trump clearly winning every paper, talking about the big win for Donald Trump.

And it's interesting, John Kasich with a tweet last night. You know, he came in second and did much better than Ted Cruz. He said, "Going forward, polls show John Kasich is consistently the best candidate to take on Trump. Second in Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey, and second tonight in New York."

Eric Bradner, John Kasich saying, you know, second is where he wants to be right now.

BRADNER: Right. So, now that Ted Cruz can't really get to 1,237, Kasich is making the argument that Cruz was making earlier in the campaign. That if he doesn't have a shot at clinching the nomination before the convention, there's no real reason for Cruz to be the leading Trump alternative at this point.

But Kasich, we've seen this time and time again -- states where he should theoretically do well, states with big suburban, highly educated, moderate populations. He does inch up into the 20 percent, 25 percent, 30 percent range, but he can't seem to get over the hurdle.

Next week will be key. We'll see if he can change things in Pennsylvania or Maryland or Connecticut or Delaware or Rhode Island.

But at this stage, Kasich needs to just get a little bit over the hurdle and start winning some congressional districts. That's how he can start to rack up delegates, even if he doesn't win any of these states. The map is good for him. He's looking at the Northeast next week followed by Indiana, which is a neighbor state with a former governor in Mitch Daniels who sort of likes Kasich. He should be able to compete there.

But he does need to start turning this into more than the three delegates we saw in New York so far.

[04:50:04] BERMAN: All right. Dylan Byers, Bernie Sanders right now off the campaign trail, back in Burlington, Vermont, recharging his batteries.

And the question he's going to face today from many establishment Democrats and party insiders is you need to stop going after Hillary Clinton, right? They're going to be saying this, you're beginning to hurt her in ways that could last into the general election. No, we're not saying drop out of the race, we're just saying tone it down.

That criticism already starting to come. How do you think the Sanders campaign will respond?

BYERS: Well, look, I don't think the Sanders campaign is going to respond to what the Democratic establishment tells them to do. In their view, they've galvanized an incredible movement. They have incredible turnout. They have incredible financial support. Sanders never misses an opportunity to remind us that he's getting all these $27 donations.

That is the mission that he's at the head of. He's very -- you know, there's a lot of bad blood that's developed between both Sanders and Clinton and between the two campaigns. So, I don't see him heeding the advice of the Democratic establishment at all.

I do wonder if he'll heed the advice of his own campaign if his campaign tries to tell him the same thing. It never looks really good to be too dismissive of your rival, especially at a time when the Democratic Party is trying to tell a story that they have a more civil primary race that they're running. I don't know if it necessarily behooves Senator Sanders to go so negative on Hillary Clinton. It certainly didn't work in New York. I'm not really sure why that would work in other parts of the Northeast or across the remaining states.

ROMANS: All right. A very good point. Dylan Byers, Eric Bradner, stick with us, folks.

The top issue in almost every primary state so far: the economy and jobs. New York no different.

Thirty-six percent of Republican voters say the economy and jobs are the top issue followed by government spending, terrorism, and immigration coming up there at nine points. Of that group, 54 percent broke for Donald Trump. John Kasich behind him at 32 percent.

Here's a stunning figure from the exit polls: 92 percent of Republican voters worried about the U.S. economy. Only 8 percent are not. Of those voters worried, Donald Trump scores an overwhelming win at 60 percent.

Turning to the Democrats' top issue there, for 38 percent of voters, the economy and jobs. Broken record. Income inequality is second for Dems. That was the only issue of these four that Bernie Sanders won, income inequality. Health care, then terrorism.

Of the voters who said the economy is their top issue, 61 percent broke for Hillary Clinton, Sanders with just 39 percent. You've seen it again and again, even as the economy has recovered over the past seven years, these primary season voters don't feel it, don't believe it. Even if their situation is OK, they say they're worried about their kids and the future.

BERMAN: What about the guy who's currently in the White House?

In just hours, President Obama, he will arrive in Saudi Arabia for intense and what could be uncomfortable meetings. That's ahead.

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[04:57:13] ROMANS: This morning, President Obama arrives in Saudi Arabia, trying to step up the fight against ISIS. The visit comes at a time when relations between the U.S. and Saudis is badly frayed. King Salman unhappy about the Iran nuclear deal and a bill in Congress that would allow 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia for damages.

I want to bring in CNN's Nic Robertson. He is live for us this morning from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Nic, I guess, in your words, characterize for me how frayed this relationship is.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's been getting worse during President Obama's presidency.

Really, one of the turning points began even before then when he gave a speech in Chicago, saying -- calling Saudi Arabia a so-called ally. So, when he came to office, the Saudis were very well disposed to him. Then, you have the Arab spring. The Saudis feel they let down their allies in the region.

And then you have the nuclear deal with Iran, that's another negative step for the Saudis and for their Gulf allies. They don't trust Iran. They see it as being a sponsor of terrorism and trouble in the region.

So, President Obama comes in here at a time when he needs and want Saudi and Gulf support to defeat ISIS, to defeat al Qaeda, to help bring peace to Syria. At the same time, what the Saudis and their Gulf allies here want is a ballistic missile defense shield to defend against any aggression in the region by Iran.

So, you know, both sides wanting something, but add on top of that those 28 pages, the 9/11 commission report, the bill before Congress, add in that, no surprise perhaps the Saudis' response has been visceral. We'll pull out hundreds of billions of dollars worth of funding in the United States. So, in that kind of tense relationship when President Obama meets with King Salman this afternoon, it's hard to see the pair of them really looking at each other and getting beyond this tension that has been building now for the past number of years.

But I think we can expect them to come out and at the end of this visit to have at least something positive to say. But behind the scenes, we do know it's going to be tense, and those 28 pages making it more so -- Christine.

ROMANS: Tense indeed.

All right. Nic Robertson for us this morning in Riyadh -- thanks, Nic.

BERMAN: The breaking news: the first criminal charges expected to be filed today in the Flint water contamination crisis. Local state and federal officials have been pointing fingers at each other since the discovery and a decision to switch the city's water supply. The Flint River caused contamination, including dangerous levels of lead.

ROMANS: A court victory for Sandy Hook families. A superior court judge allowing their lawsuit against gun maker Remington Arms to move forward. A trial set for 2018, families who lost loved ones in the small massacre can now begin depositions and get access to Remington's internal records. Remington manufactured the AR-15 used by the Sandy Hook gunman.

BERMAN: All right. Back to the breaking news this morning: big wins for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, really reshaping the race for president again.