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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump: It's 'Over' If He Wins Indiana; Obama Gets Last Laugh At WH Correspondents' Dinner; May Day Protest Turns Violent In Seattle; Prince's Family Heads To Court For Probate Hearing; Syria Ceasefire Collapsing As Deadly Hospital Bombing In Aleppo Kills 50. Aired 5:30- 6a ET
Aired May 02, 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] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump saying it's over if Ted Cruz loses tomorrow's critical primary election in Indiana. What new polls are revealing.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton tries to pivot toward the general election, but can Bernie Sanders take her on in Indiana? What he needs to do to stop her march.
KOSIK: May Day marches end in violence in Seattle. Protesters arrested, police injured. Dramatic new video ahead.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Nice to see you.
KOSIK: Good morning.
BERMAN: Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now. Donald Trump -- he says the race for the Republican nomination is over if he wins Indiana's crucial primary tomorrow. Brand new polls show Trump with a double-digit lead there, a state many see as a must-win for Ted Cruz. Both men have events scheduled across the state today.
CNN's Jessica Schneider with the Trump campaign. She has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Alison, an hour-long rally here in Fort Wayne, where Donald Trump promised to bring jobs back to this state. Where he also used very harsh words against China, saying it had raped the U.S. economy.
And Donald Trump also returning to his usual rhetoric about lyin' 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 the senator's Cuban roots.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Heidi Cruz, nice woman, said my husband -- you heard about this, right? Said it this morning. My husband's an immigrant, right? He's an immigrant, and 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, folks. He was born in Canada.
One thing I tell you. Number one, he's got -- he can't win. Got no path to win. And even if he had a path to win, which he doesn't, he has very few votes and he has very few delegates. But, I've been saying he wasn't born in this country.
And the first thing the Democrats would do, assuming he won, which he won't, so it doesn't matter -- I'm not even playing that card -- is they will bring a lawsuit against him.
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.
TRUMP: You know, the Republican Party has to come together, folks, and if doesn't come together it's going to be hard. But I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this. They said to me well, if it doesn't come together does that mean you can't win? No, I think I could win. What, do you think it helps to have Jeb Bush? What's that worth, like two votes? Jeb and his wife. Jeb and his wife, seriously.
I don't think I matters but 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.
SCHNEIDER: Donald Trump has declared this race over. He said there is no road to victory for either Ted Cruz or John Kasich. And, of course, Donald Trump touting that 15-point lead that he has in the polls going into Tuesday's primary. John and Alison --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Jessica, thanks for that.
Let's get some help in sorting out the fight for Indiana this morning with CNN politics digital managing editor, Zach Wolf. Good morning, Zach.
ZACH WOLF, CNN POLITICS DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR: Good morning.
KOSIK: So, let's talk about this new poll because it is stunning. Let's put up these numbers one more time and show this double-digit lead that Trump has over Ted Cruz, and all this talk that if the poll is right then that means the primary process is over. It's over for Cruz. Is this really true?
WOLF: Well, you know, we'll have to see. I think Cruz will probably want to continue on for a little while. His entire reason for being in this campaign at this point is to get to a contested convention. But he's thrown everything against the wall, in Indiana, trying to stop Donald Trump's momentum.
He got the governor's endorsement there. He announced his vice presidential pick. He's done just about everything he possibly could. If he does all that and he can't win and, in fact, loses, that's going to be really hard for him to make a similar pitch going into some of the other final races.
[05:35:00] So, it certainly has a feeling, if this poll is correct, and we'll just have to wait and see. But -- like the Republican electorate is starting to break a little bit if this is true.
BERMAN: You mentioned Ted Cruz throwing everything at the wall. He really did, including that deal with John Kasich, as well, which polls very badly in that Wall Street Journal poll. Voters did not like the idea that two candidates were reaching a deal.
Let's listen to what Ted Cruz has been saying on the stump because he's talking about a new endorsement from Mike Pence. He's talking about Carly Fiorina. He's also talking about Mike Tyson, who's supporting Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And this is a choice for the people of Indiana. Do we stand with Carly Fiorina and Gov. Mike Pence? Or, do we stand, instead, with a convicted rapist, Mike Tyson?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: That's some of the language you're hearing from Ted Cruz. Other language you heard for the first time over the weekend was he went from saying it was all about Indiana to now saying California -- it's all about California. It's going to come down to California which, of course, votes on June 7th. They had their convention this weekend, Zach.
WOLF: That's right, and they weren't awarding delegates. The candidates were putting forth slates of delegates. But that race, in particular -- Ted Cruz did pick Carly Fiorina. She used to live in California. She ran for Senate there. I guess the voters there know her. She did not win that race but she did win a tough primary so those are things to consider.
That's the largest delegate pot of the entire calendar and they save it for the very last day, so it's not likely that Trump can clinch the nomination until that California vote on June 7th.
KOSIK: You know, the delegates have really been all the talk this political season, something we really don't usually see kind of getting stuck in the mud with all the numbers. But, we still see Donald Trump harping on what he's calling a rigged system. We saw this yesterday during a rally in Indiana. Let's go to what he said and then we'll come back on the backside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: It's all a rigged system. For instance, I won in Arizona. I won everything, but these guys are trying to go in and get votes on the second ballot. Jan Brewer, the governor, a great woman -- she got thrown off. It's all rigged by the professionals. It's all rigged by the bosses, and it's a disgrace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: So this falls in line with his being the outsider, being not of the establishment, talking about the system. How much does this really continue to resonate with voters?
WOLF: I think it really does. I mean, Donald Trump, he's playing the game too. He has staffers in these states trying to get the same friendly delegates at the convention that Ted Cruz and John Kasich are, so he's playing the game but he's coming at it from a different spot. He's the outsider candidate.
And I think a lot of the people we've in polls and everywhere else that people are angry at the party, they're angry at Washington. And the idea that Donald Trump could win in Arizona but Ted Cruz has friendly delegates, it just doesn't sit well, I think, with the people that support him.
BERMAN: Let's talk about the Democratic race a little bit. Bernie Sanders has been out, Zach, talking about superdelegates again. He's been suggesting that superdelegates who come from states that he won should actually vote for him at the convention. Do you think that's persuasive at this point or is it a little bit too late for that argument?
WOLF: I think it's a little bit late. A lot of superdelegates have already publicly supported Hillary Clinton. She laid that groundwork for a really long time leading up to this election and most of the races have already occurred. They've already happened.
Sanders did rack up huge victories in some of these places so his argument that all superdelegates there, it might make some sense from a Democratic point of view but the rules are not democratic. They allow for these superdelegates to choose whoever they want and that's supposed to be, I think, sort of a cooling agent for some of the stuff that comes out of these caucuses -- primaries.
KOSIK: And speaking of Hillary Clinton, she was the butt of a very funny joke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got to admit it, though. Hillary trying to appeal to young voters is a little bit like your relative who just signed up for Facebook. (LAUGHTER) 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: All right, well that was really funny and we saw later that she tweeted something out basically saying "Nice job last night. Aunt Hillary approves." But the reality here is she doesn't really resonate with young voters. That's a huge issue.
WOLF: It is, and it's been a huge issue for her. Kind of the enigma of the cycle is that an older senator is actually doing better with younger voters. She's continued to have problems with this. If she's going to reestablish that Obama coalition that brought him into office in 2008 and again in 2012, she's going to have to find a way to ignite the excitement of these young voters.
[05:40:00] It's not going to happen while Bernie Sanders is doing well on college campuses and places like that. So, she's hoping to pivot someday soon. She needs to put it away so she can turn enticing them. And I will say to Barack Obama, I'm not sure the young kids are on Facebook anymore.
KOSIK: Oh, yes.
BERMAN: It always Snapchat stuff I hear, which I can't figure out anyway. All right, Zach, thanks so much.
KOSIK: Thanks, Zach. And, Donald Trump is going to be live this morning right here on CNN. He's going to be here during the 7:00 hour on "NEW DAY".
BERMAN: All right, May Day marches turned violent in Seattle. Officers injured, protestors arrested. We have some dramatic new video next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:00] KOSIK: Breaking overnight, what began as a peaceful demonstration for immigration and workers' rights escalates to a violent May Day protests on the streets of Seattle. Fireworks were set off 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, even Molotov cocktails.(Video playing) This man you're about to see was among the many in the crowd seeking medical attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My throat hurts, everything. I need a doctor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: The mayor and the police chief visiting the injured officers at the hospital last night and condemned the violence.
Prince's family is heading to court this morning in Minnesota. A probate hearing will determine what becomes of the late singer's estate, an estate that reportedly includes a vault filled with unreleased songs. And a source with firsthand knowledge tells CNN initial discussions between the entertainer's siblings have been contentious.
We get more now from CNN's Sara Sidner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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 he died. He learned that from watching the news and was shocked and hurt. And then he talked about the fact that he was able to take a look inside of Paisley Park after Prince's death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Jackson and I had a special supervised two- hour tour of Paisley Park and 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 looked at the whole premises inside Paisley Park. We seen the vault door but we never entered.
SIDNER: What was the experience like?
JACKSON: 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 walked through?
JACKSON: I felt real good. I was hoping that he was still living. I want him to still be with me.
SIDNER: So, we now know that rumored vault does indeed exist, but a source who was 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 --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right, Sara Sidner, thanks for that. A tragic fire destroys 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. (Video playing) It took three hours to beat back the flames you're seeing here. So devastating. The historic building was gutted. Luckily nobody was hurt. Officials not yet -- they don't know yet what started the fire. More than 40 Detroit public schools are closed today as teachers in the embattled city participate in a union sick-out. The directive from the union encouraging teachers to call in sick comes a day after the school district informed the union it will be unable to pay its employees after June 30th.
Teachers have also been complaining for years about the badly dilapidated condition of many schools. Detroit public school officials are calling on Michigan lawmakers to pass a $715 million education reform package or all summer programs will be suspended.
In just 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 to the once-forbidden island happens 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 be Arnie Perez. That's Carnival's chief legal officer. He's among a handful of travelers on the Adonia who were born in Cuba.
All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota joins us now. Good morning to you.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Good morning, Alison. Great to see you. So, we'll be talking about those May Day protests in Seattle that have turned violent. Protestors throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police. A number of police officers have been injured. We're live with the latest.
And just one day to go before the all-important primary in Indiana. Donald Trump says if he wins there the GOP race is over. The Republican front-runner joins us live at 7:30 eastern. Also, we'll have a panel of women voters on hand all morning. What did they think about the candidate's rhetoric about female voters? We will ask them, Alison, so we'll see you in about 11 minutes.
KOSIK: Some really good interesting stuff. I can't wait to hear the Trump interview, too. Always exciting stuff coming out of that.
CAMEROTA: Indeed, thanks.
[05:50:00] KOSIK: Thanks, Alisyn. So, does your Starbucks drink have too much ice and not enough drink? Why one Chicago customer is taking on the coffee giant. We'll get your early start on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:54:00] KOSIK: Happening now, world leaders gathering in Geneva hoping to resurrect a ceasefire that has all but collapsed in Syria. The U.N. warning the situation in Aleppo has turned catastrophic after a deadly airstrike killed 50 people at a pediatric hospital. At least six of the dead, doctors and nurses.
Secretary of State John Kerry blaming the bombing on the Syrian government, calling it a deliberate act.
Let's go live to Moscow and bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. So, you think back, Frederik, to a couple of months ago, the U.N. Security Council passing a U.N. resolution for a ceasefire. Clearly, that's not being abided by. What does John Kerry think he can do differently this time?
[05:55:00] FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he certainly, Alison, wants to try and revive the ceasefire and the main party that he's calling on to try and do that is the Russians because the Russians, of course, are the main backers of Bashar al- Assad.
And one of the things that John Kerry said when he landed in Geneva is he said he expects the Russians to be constructive in this process, and he also expects them to put pressure on the Assad government to stop those aerial bombardments that have been going on in Aleppo for the past couple of days.
The situation there is one that's devastating. Two hundred and fifty civilians have died over the past 10 days, not just from aerial bombardments from the Syrian Regime, but also from Rebels bombing government-held areas, as well, with surface-to-surface weapons.
So at this point in time the ceasefire there is in a lot of trouble and there's many who believe that if the ceasefire falls apart in Aleppo it might fall apart in the entire country and you could go back to full-scale war there.
The big question is what are the Russians going to do? Initially, the Russians have said that they didn't want to put any pressure on the Assad government. They say that the Assad government there is bombing Jabhat al-Nusra which is, of course, the offshoot of al Qaeda in Syria.
But now the Russians do say that they are in negotiations for a ceasefire to be reestablished in Aleppo. Have to wait and see that goes. Certainly a lot on the Secretary of State's plate as he tries to make sure that ceasefire doesn't completely fall apart, Alison.
KOSIK: All right, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. Thanks so much.
Let's get an EARLY START on your money. U.S. stocks hoping to make a turnaround from Friday's losses. Futures look like they're pointing slightly higher at the moment. Last week we saw stocks suffer their worst weeks since we saw February's freak-out. The Dow fell 56 points, adding to Thursday's triple-digit fall.
So, Wall Street is coping with the worst stretch for corporate profits since the financial crisis. Those dramatic falls in oil prices have hit oil companies really hard. You look at Exxon Mobil, saying its profit fell more than 60 percent for the first quarter. We're going to be hearing from more companies reporting their earnings this week. We're going to be hearing from Sprint, Tesla, and Kraft.
All right, after 17 drawings and no winner, the current jackpot for the national Powerball is $348 million bucks. That amount is only available if a winner chooses to take the money over 30 years. The more popular lump sum option has a cash value of just of $226 million. Not too shabby. The next drawing is Wednesday but your chances of winning not so great. Each ticket has a one in 292 million shot.
All right, one Starbucks customer in Chicago is so unhappy she's filing a lawsuit -- a $5 million lawsuit against the coffee chain, accusing it of using too much ice in its cold drinks. The suit claims that the number of ounces Starbucks advertises is only right once ice is added to the drink. For example, here, a venti drink is advertised as 24 ounces but the suit claims it only has 14 ounces of actual liquid. The rest is ice.
Starbucks said this, "Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any iced beverage." OK.
May Day marches turn violent in Seattle. "NEW DAY" starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: May Day marches turn violent in Seattle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unfortunate that this happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My throat hurts, everything. I need a doctor.
TRUMP: If we win Indiana it's over.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to do everything I can to get the nomination wrapped up.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is a tough road to climb but it is not an impossible road.
CRUZ: Behind the Donald Trump mask is Hillary Clinton.
CLINTON: This hateful talk -- enough, enough.
TRUMP: We win, then we can focus on crooked Hillary. Please, let's focus on Hillary.
OBAMA: The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. He had not looked at it through rose-colored glasses. We knew the risks involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Alrighty, good morning. Welcome to your new day. It is Monday, May 2nd, 6:00 in the east. J.B. joining us this morning, and we are just 24 all-important hours from voters heading to the polls in Indiana.
Now, this state could be do or die for several of the underdogs. You've got Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton continuing to spar over his controversial woman card attack. What will that mean in this primary? Coming up in our next hour Donald Trump will make the case for himself, live, right here.
CAMEROTA: And, we'll talk to a panel of Republican women about what they think of the candidate's words regarding female voters. Great to have you guys in the studio. Stand by.
We do begin with breaking news. Violent protests breaking out on the streets of Seattle overnight. What started as a peaceful demonstration for immigration and workers' rights quickly escalated to police in riot gear.
