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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump: It's "Over" If He Wins Indiana; All Candidates Focus On Indiana; Obama Gets Last Laugh; Puerto Rico Will Default $422 Million Debt Today; May Day Protest Turns Violent In Seattle; Prince's Family Heads To Court. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 02, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, EARLY START continues right now.

(HEADLINES)

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I hope you had a good weekend. I'm Alison Kosik. It's Monday, May 2nd. It's 5 a.m. in the east.

Donald Trump says the race for the Republican nomination is over if he wins Indiana's crucial primary election tomorrow.

A brand new poll shows Trump with a double digit lead in Indiana. A state many see as a must win for Ted Cruz. Both men have events scheduled across the state today. CNN's Jessica Schneider is with the Trump campaign and she has more.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Alison, an hour-long rally here in Fort Wayne where Donald Trump promised to bring jobs back to the state where he also used very harsh words against China saying it had raped the U.S. economy.

Donald Trump also returning to his usual rhetoric about Lying Ted Cruz. Donald Trump slammed the alliance between John Kasich and Ted Cruz calling it just all part of this rigged political system.

Donald Trump also seized on Heidi Cruz's words that her husband is an immigrant. Of course, even though Donald Trump conceded that Heidi Cruz was likely just referring to the senator's Cuban roots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Heidi Cruz, nice woman, said my husband -- you heard about this, right -- my husband's an immigrant, right, is an immigrant. That's what I've been saying except a lot of people -- I think she was trying to say -- she was trying to put a little bit of a Latin turn on it.

He was born in Canada. One thing I tell you, number one, he can't win. He has no path to win. If he had a path to win, which he doesn't, he has very few votes and delegates.

I have been saying, he wasn't born in this country. The first thing the Democrats would do, assuming he won, which he won't. I'm not playing that card is they will bring a lawsuit against him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Now Trump did pull back a bit on his harsh tone saying that he does want the party to come together and saying that in the general election, he will be raising money for the Republican Party as well as congressional candidates and he urged this crowd please let's focus on Hillary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know the Republican Party has to come together, folks. If it doesn't come together, it's going to be hard. I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this. They said if it doesn't come together, does that mean you can't win? No, I think I can win.

Do you think it helps Jeb Bush? What is that? Two votes? Jeb and his wife. Seriously. I don't think it matters. It would be nice to have the Republican Party come together.

With that being said, I think I'll win anyway. I think I'll win New York State. I think I'll win Michigan. I think I'll win states that nobody ever won before as a Republican for many years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Donald Trump has declared this race over. He says there is no road to victory for either Ted Cruz or John Kasich. Of course, Donald Trump touting that 15-point lead that he has in the polls going into Tuesday's primary -- John and Alison.

BERMAN: All right, Jessica, thanks so much. Let's talk about Indiana because this could be everything. CNN's Politics managing editor, Zach Wolf joins us right now.

Zach, good morning. There is this new poll which sent shockwaves throughout the political world this weekend from the "Wall Street Journal"/Marist and NBC News. It's showing Trump with a 15-point lead over Ted Cruz in Indiana just days before the Indiana primary. A state that Ted Cruz all along has said he pretty much needs to win.

ZACHARY WOLF, CNN POLITICS MANAGING EDITOR: That's right. You know, polls pretty recently has shown a much tighter race. So this would suggests, this poll suggests, some change in the landscape there. That would not be a good thing for Ted Cruz.

He's really tried to change this narrative for Trump who won five or six straight contests and is now looking to sort of put it away in Indiana. There's not that many left, you know, just ten races left.

Cruz has already mathematically eliminated from clinching the nomination. So he is just looking to get to a contested convention and deny Trump the ability to get majority of delegates before that.

So this would not help if he is unable to perform in Indiana tomorrow. It could be a horrible thing for him.

KOSIK: Zach, a win would certainly bring new life to Ted Cruz's campaign, but what would Ted Cruz's next step be if he loses Indiana?

[05:05:04]WOLF: He is already looking essentially for a moon shot. I mean, he needs to get to the contested convention. He needs to make sure that he can get there and fight this out on the convention floor.

If Trump wins in Indiana, builds on his delegate lead, it becomes that much harder for Cruz and to some extent John Kasich to argue in favor of a contested convention. It seems like -- it will seem if they win, if Trump wins, like the Republican electorate is breaking towards him essentially.

BERMAN: Let's remember, I mean, Ted Cruz struck a deal with John Kasich in Indiana. Ted Cruz picked a running mate in Indiana, which is virtually unprecedented. Ted Cruz picked up the endorsement from Indiana's governor. So he had everything going, tried everything.

If he doesn't win there, it will still be, you know, embarrassing for the campaign after everything they've done. Let's turn to the Democrats right now. Bernie Sanders talking about how he will go forward in the race no matter what happens.

The race in Indiana very, very tight. For the first time in a long time, we heard Bernie Sanders talking about delegates again and how he feels that he should get the superdelegates from the states he's won. He sees a path still, although a narrow path. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For us to win the majority of pledged delegates, we need to win 710 out of the remaining 1,083. That is 65 percent of the remaining pledged delegates. That is admittedly, I do not deny it for a second, a tough road to climb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: But he says he is going to try to climb it, which is interesting, Zach, over the last week after the loss of the five states in the mid-Atlantic. He sort of started talking issues. Stopped talking so much about winning. Is this a shift back toward the idea that he will challenge Clinton all the way to the convention?

WOLF: Well, I mean, you know, he still wants to do well in primaries. It's hard to get out voters if you're not talking about voting anymore so he probably has an eye there. It is really interesting.

You know, Democrats have started -- Hillary Clinton certainly has started looking a little bit more towards the general election. She has a strong delegate lead herself if you count unpledged delegates.

The super delegates for Democrats, these are the party grandees and members of Congress and people like that, who can vote essentially however they want to. She has a very strong lead.

It's much smaller if you don't count those people, but a lot of them have publicly supported her. He's saying, well, if I won a state by a lot, I should automatically get the superdelegates. Unfortunately, for him, that's not the way the Democratic rules work right now.

KOSIK: OK, Zach, we would be remiss if we don't mention the White House Correspondents' Dinner. President Obama doing his best comedian-in-chief. Let's go to some of his jokes first and then we'll come back to you at the end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You have to admit it though, Hillary trying to appeal to young voters is a little bit like your relative who just signed up for Facebook. You know? Dear America, did you get my poke? Is it appearing on your wall? I'm not sure I'm using this right. Love Aunt Hillary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: He was really good. He was really funny and he was an equal opportunity jokester because obviously he had a joke for Hillary and a joke or two for Trump. But Hillary kind of taking it on the chin. She tweeted later she was good with it. Nice job last night. Aunt Hillary approves. How effective is President Obama in doing this to help Hillary's cause?

WOLF: I don't think he was really trying to help anybody at the correspondents' dinner. Nobody was spared. He obviously had harsher words for Trump and Cruz. That is the time where people take the night off from the real politicking.

But, you know, I don't know if anybody can help Hillary Clinton right now with young voters. They will continue to try to do that. It is been a consistent problem with her.

Let's not forget the guy who is older than her and is from Vermont is doing better with younger voters. And this is kind of the enigma of the thing for Hillary Clinton world.

BERMAN: All right, Zach Wolf, a kind spooky foggy Washington, D.C. for us this morning. Thanks so much, Zach. We'll talk to you in a little bit.

Donald Trump will be live on CNN this morning on "NEW DAY" during the 7:00 hour. You don't want to miss that.

KOSIK: Time for an EARLY START on your money. Asian markets closed mostly lower. European markets following their lead. Here in the U.S., we are seeing futures slightly higher. Hoping to turn around from Friday's losses when stocks suffered their worst week since February's freak out.

The Dow fell 56 points Friday. That added to Thursday's triple digit fall. What happened here? Investors took in a mixed bag of earnings reports from companies, Apple, Microsoft and Google's parent, Alphabet, and Chevron.

[05:10:04]Happening today, Puerto Rico will default on $422 million of debt. It's another alarm bell of how bad the situation is getting on the island. Today's payment is to the economic development arm of Puerto Rico.

The big fear is that Puerto Rico will default on its July payment, which would rattle the bond markets. Congress is in the midst of finalizing an aid package for Puerto Rico, but Puerto Rico certainly in a lot of trouble at this point.

ROMANS: Indeed. All right, Mayday marches turned violent in Seattle. Officers injured. Protesters arrested. We have dramatic new video coming in overnight. We will show it to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Breaking overnight. What began as a peaceful demonstration for immigration and workers' rightescalated into a violent Mayday protest on the streets of Seattle. Fireworks were setoff and windows smashed.

Police made at least nine arrests, but not before using tear gas to control the crowd. Five officers were injured by hurled rocks, cans of spray paint and even Molotov cocktails.

[05:15:04]This man that you are about to see was among the many in the crowd seeking medical attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My throat hurts. I need a doctor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: The mayor and the police chief visited the injured officers at the hospital last night and condemned the violence.

BERMAN: The family of Prince heading to court this morning in Minnesota. A probate hearing will determine what becomes to the late singer's estate. It's a estate that reportedly includes a vault filled with unreleased songs. A source with firsthand knowledge tells CNN that initial discussions between the entertainer's siblings have been contentious. Let's get more now from CNN's Sara Sidner.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Alison, we talked to Alfred Jackson, who is Prince's older half-brother. They share the same mother. He talked a lot about his relationship with Prince, but also talked about how he found out he died. He learned that from watching the news and shocked and hurt. He talked how he was able to look inside Paisley Park after Prince's death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Jackson and I had a special supervised two- hour tour of Paisley Park. It allowed Mr. Jackson to personally grieve and personally feel the warmth of Prince's spirit, the doves and everything.

SIDNER: What was it like taking a tour of Paisley Park after your brother died?

ALFRED JACKSON, PRINCE'S HALF BROTHER: We look at the whole premises inside Paisley Park. We have seen the vault door, but we never entered.

SIDNER: What was the experience like?

JACKSON: He is just a genius the way he had that. He really is.

SIDNER: When you looked around, it looked like the work of a genius?

JACKSON: Yes.

SIDNER: What were you feeling at the time as you walk through?

JACKSON: I felt really great. I was hoping that he was still living.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: We now know that rumored vault does indeed exists. A source familiar with the discussions going on over the estate says that vault has not yet been opened. The family is expected to be in court later this morning to hash out some of the details of how to deal with Prince's estate -- John, Alison.

KOSIK: All right, Sara, thanks very much for that. A tragic fire destroyed a 160-year-old New York City church. Almost 200 firefighters responded to the call last night at the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava. It took three hours to beat back the flames. The historic building was gutted. Nobody was hurt. Officials at this point don't know how the fire started.

BERMAN: Such a loss. Beautiful church. More than 40 Detroit public schools will be closed today as teachers in the city participate in a union sickout. The director from the union encouraged teachers to call in sick. It comes a day after the school district informed the union it will be unable to pay its employees after June 30th. It seems that they've been complaining for years about the dilapidated condition of many schools.

KOSIK: In a few hours, some 700 travelers will cruise into history. The Carnival cruise ship "Adonia" becomes the first U.S. ship to dock in Cuba in decades. The visit happens about a year and a half after the U.S. announced that diplomatic relations would be restored between the two countries.

The first person off the ship will Arnie Perez, Carnival's chief legal officer. He is among a handful of travelers on the "Adonia" who were born in Cuba. It's a nice trip.

BERMAN: All right, the Golden State Warriors taking on the Portland Trailblazer. Round two now of the NBA playoffs. The Warriors still without Steph Curry. How did they do without him? Coy Wire with the morning's "Bleacher Report" next.

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[05:23:12]

BERMAN: The Warriors' Steph Curry is still out. He sat out game one of their playoff series against the Portland Trailblazers.

KOSIK: Coy Wire has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Good morning.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and John. Steph Curry still sidelined with that sprained right knee in game one of their series against Portland. His fellow splash brother, Klay Thompson was on fire scoring 18 points in the first quarter.

The Blazers entire team had 17 points in the first quarter. Tempers in the third. Check out the sweep leg. Both men fall to the floor and go chest to chest. They were given technicals and thrown out of the game later for continuing to talk trash.

Warriors would eventually gets the game one win easily, 118-106. How about the Pacers and Raptors game seven in Toronto? Demar Derosen in the third, now don't blink or you'll miss it, Ellis on spin cycle. Get some Dramamine. Raptors win 89-84. The first best-of-seven series win in franchise history.

The other game seven on Sunday, Hornets and Heat. Dwyane Wade getting emotional. Michael Jordan in the Hornets owners box. The only smiles for Hornets fans. The Heat dominating from start to finish and winning 106-73. Up next for Miami, the Toronto Raptors.

Two more games on TNT tonight, Hawks and Cavaliers starts their series at 7:00 p.m. Eastern followed by the Thunder and Spurs. That's game two.

To NASCAR at Talladega Superspeedway. I was actually at this race and it was a crazy one, guys.

[05:25:02]Lap 96, Chris Buscher (ph) in the 34 car gets airborne. Ferrell (ph) rolls down the straight away then check out Dale Earnhardt Jr. Lap 102, his steering wheel comes off so he grabbed (inaudible), 195 miles an hour, can you believe it?

Eight laps to go, Danica Patrick, Matt Kenseth, Kenseth goes airborne upside down flying through the air at 190 miles an hour. Skidding across the track. He's OK. Brad Keselowski gets his fourth career win at Talladega.

I talked to NASCAR legend, Jeff Gordon, before the race and I said, do you missed it? He said, you know what, I especially don't miss tracks like this. It used to scare the hell out of me. You can see, 35 of the 40 cars in that race were involved in some sort of accident on that day, madness.

KOSIK: I don't know how they do it. How do you think calmly under pressure like that?

BERMAN: It's also a mess. That race was a mess. All right, thanks so much. You also buried the Red Sox sweeping the Yankees. We'll let you get away with it this time.

WIRE: I'll get you next time.

BERMAN: All right, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, can they lockdown their nominations with big wins in Indiana tomorrow? Can Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders do anything at this point to stop them? That's next.

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