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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Knocks Cruz Out of GOP Race; Bernie Sanders Wins Indiana; U.S. Forces Targeting ISIS in Iraq. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 04, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:24] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump knocks Ted Cruz out of the race for president. Donald Trump wins Indiana and now is the presumptive Republican nominee.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bernie Sanders, he scores a victory in Indiana, but is it enough to me a difference in the Democratic race?

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

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.

Our breaking news this morning, political news -- Donald Trump knocking Ted Cruz out of the race, winning the Indiana primary. And now, according to the chair of the Republican Party, he will be the presumptive Republican nominee. Trump beat Cruz by 16 points, more than 180,000 votes, picking up at least 51 delegates.

Cruz delivered the hard news to his crushed supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), SUSPENDING PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: So, with a heavy heart, but with boundless optimism for the long-term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Late last night, Donald Trump praised Cruz, calling his withdrawal a brave thing to do.

CNN's Jim Acosta is with the Trump campaign. He gives us the latest.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Donald Trump and his entire family were caught completely by surprise by Ted Cruz's announcement that he was dropping out of the GOP race. Trump trounced Cruz in the Indiana primary, a contest that the Texas senator had basically described as a must win.

Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., told CNN that his father and the entire family were shocked as they watched Cruz make his announcement, and Trump sounded very gracious as he praised Cruz for getting out of the race. A big contrast compared to what he was saying about Cruz earlier in the day.

Here's what he had to say.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ted Cruz, I don't know if he likes me or he doesn't like me, but he's one hell of a competitor. He's a tough, smart guy.

(APPLAUSE)

And he has got an amazing future. He's got an amazing future. So I want to congratulate Ted.

ACOSTA: Trump also made the pivot to the general election campaign, saying he was ready to take on Hillary Clinton, and he even reached out to African-American and Hispanic voters in his remarks. But Trump still plans to keep on campaigning, saying he will continue on with stops in West Virginia and Nebraska set for later this week -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Jim Acosta, thanks so much.

Let us discuss the historic developments in Indiana.

Joining us, CNN senior reporter for media and politics, Dylan Byers, senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES", and political economist Greg Valliere. He is the chief strategist at Horizon Investments.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Dylan, Donald Trump will be the first nonpolitician to be a nominee since Dwight Eisenhower, the first businessman to be a nominee since Wendell Willkie. This morning, we will give you the, oh, my God, holy blank moment of this. This is historic.

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: Yes, it's absolutely historic. I mean, this is really -- you talk about being witness to history, this is really one of those moments. You look at what the Republican Party has done ever single presidential cycle going back.

The Republicans rallied behind Bush, the first Bush. They rallied behind Dole. Then they rallied behind Bush. Then they rallied behind McCain. Then they rallied behind Romney.

They've always coalesced around the heir apparent to the nomination, the establishment favorite. Now, in 2016, after so much frustration with the way that the country has gone and with the way that the party has gone, Republicans have sort of embraced a shake-up.

[04:35:02] They don't want the status quo. And it's a rebuke, you know, not just to the nominees who are running, not just to the Jeb Bushes and Marco Rubios, it's a rebuke to the entire Republican Party. And you can't fault the Republican Party for being nervous right now.

I mean, really, what we could be looking at, and I don't want to be too hyperbolic, but we could truly be looking at a sort of shake-up of what the Republican Party is, how it defines itself, and possibly a third party, depending on how this whole election shakes out.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This is how parties die. This is how parties are reborn. This is how parties are remade.

You say a shake-up, I say they've embraced a showman as well. You can think about this as a Trump show for nearly a year, and yet, now, the prize of the end of the Trump show, to put in the terms of "The Apprentice", Donald Trump's old reality, the prize is leader of the free world.

I think there are so few people back last June, the day Donald Trump came down that escalator, I think you were in the air, John, when it happened, so few people who were seriously predicting we would be at this point in May. And yet, he led the polls in July. He led the polls in August, in September, in October, in November. Donald Trump led the entire time.

There were predictions he would collapse. There were predictions he would doom himself, he would screw it up, lose it. And yet, here he is on the verge of being the nominee.

You know, a couple weeks ago, we were talking about a contested convention and what would happen in terms of taking this away from Donald Trump. Now there's not that talk anymore. A lot can happen between now and July, but at the moment, there's not that talk at all.

ROMANS: I think the hardest job in the Republican Party is Reince Priebus, who has the distinct honor of having to herd cats here and get Republicans behind who he says is now the nominee. This is what he tweeted last night, "Trump will be presumptive GOP nominee. We all need to unite and focus on defeating Hillary Clinton #NeverClinton."

Greg Valliere, can they do that? Can they now -- will they know focus on the general and put these divisions behind them? Can Donald Trump really unify his party?

GREG VALLIERE, POLITICAL ECONOMIST: Well, obviously opposition to Hillary is going to be a unifying factor for the Republican Party. Look, there are going to be lots of Republicans, Bill Kristol and the Bush family who were never going to embrace Donald Trump. I understand that.

I think in my world, which is the financial world, people are too confident that Hillary will win and win easily. In D.C., inside the beltway, I think there's a feeling she's a shoo-in.

I would just note that Donald Trump has consistently been underestimated. He's broken all the rules. I think as we enter the fall, Hillary may look like a fairly flawed candidate. BYERS: Christine, if I could --

ROMANS: Sure, Dylan.

BYERS: If I could -- I would just disagree. One thing Brian wrote up, which is a salient point, the polls always told us Donald Trump was going to win. It was only the sort of media's disbelief and the Republican establishment's disbelief that stood in the way of that.

But look at what the polls are telling us now. The polls are telling us Donald Trump has record high negatives among key contingents that he would need in order to win the general election. So, you know, I don't -- I don't see a general, including Republicans, including female Republicans, Hispanic Republicans, I don't see that group necessarily forgiving Donald Trump for the last nine or ten months of what he said.

I don't -- I really don't think that revulsion to Hillary Clinton is going to be a unifying factor. I do think it will build support, but I think there are a lot of Republicans who are going to sit this one out.

ROMANS: But he has tapped into something new. There's something new here. Well, something old he's tapped into. That's this anxiety about jobs, about middle-class jobs being outsourced.

I want you to listen to a little piece of sound from February from Indiana. It's a plant manager basically telling these guys their jobs are going overseas. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best way to stay competitive and protect the business for long term is to move production from our facility in Indianapolis to Monterrey, Mexico.

(BOOS)

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Greg Valliere, that little piece of sound, I think, is so important and instructive. When I keep hearing that Donald Trump can't win with women or Donald Trump can't win with people who make a lot of money or have college degrees, he's tapped into this vein right now that will be very powerful.

Is that -- is that enough to win a general?

VALLIERE: Well, I mean, Hillary is the favorite based on the Electoral College map. I would have to concede that.

However, if you look at first quarter GDP, as you guys know, just up by 0.5 percent, most people think the first quarter was a fluke, but what if it wasn't? What if we see the economy stagnant for the rest of the year? That plus all this angst you talk about is a really important factor for Trump.

[04:40:02] BERMAN: All right, guys. A lot more to discuss, including the future of the Never Trump movement. But the Democrats, also a big story here.

ROMANS: That's true. Can Bernie Sanders pull off one of the biggest political upsets in history? Why he thinks he'll beat Hillary Clinton to the Democratic nomination. That's next.

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BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, Bernie Sanders, he beat Hillary Clinton in Indiana, winning the Democratic primary by five points.

Now, Democrats, they allocate their delegates proportionally, which means Bernie Sanders did not pick up much ground here. He won 43 delegates, she won 38. That's a net gain of five, just five delegates. I think he still trails her by more than 300.

Now, the win, though, it's still a win.

[04:45:00] A win is a win, and it will give Bernie Sanders a morale boost. It might give him a fundraising boost as well. It could increase leverage leading up to the Democratic convention. Bernie Sanders says that will be good for the party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Any concern that by extending the Democratic primary that it's going to set Democrats at a disadvantage in July?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not at all, not at all. I have no doubt, zero doubt that what we have done in this campaign, what we're doing now, and what we will do in the next six weeks is good for the Democratic Party, and it will result in a higher voter turnout.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Helping us sort through all of this, the Democratic primary in Indiana -- Dylan Byers, Greg Valliere and Brian Stelter.

So, Brian, it is a win that doesn't close the delegate deficit for Bernie Sanders and is more of a moral win than a math win.

STELTER: Yes, you say it's a win. I say, is it, though? Is it a win if he's not narrowing are the pledge delegate gap? And that's where he stands right now.

The fact the Republican race was called right at the minute the polls closed with Trump winning by a big amount. Then, of course, this race wasn't called for hours because it was so close. It goes to show that every single time here, even as Bernie Sanders keeps on Hillary Clinton's tail, he is not able to get ahead, he's not able to really extend his lead in a way that would benefit him in the delegate race. It really isn't much of a race, even though his supporters want to believe it is.

BERMAN: No, Hillary Clinton campaigned one day in Indiana in the last week. Bernie Sanders spent more than a million dollars in television ads --

STELTER: Yes, Clinton didn't even do an event last night, didn't even give a speech.

BERMAN: And Hillary Clinton didn't advertise at all.

Yet and but, Greg, had Hillary Clinton won Indiana, we would all be saying, you know, Bernie Sanders has to drop out now immediately. You know, this does give him juice to keep in the race and create problems for Hillary Clinton.

VALLIERE: I agree. I mean, this antipathy toward her by many of his supporters is not going away. So, the ultimate issue is, does Bernie Sanders endorse Hillary enthusiastically or tepidly? If it's the latter, she's got real problems.

So, I think in the next week, the focus will be on what does Bernie Sanders want? What can she do to calm things down? Can she offer assurances on breaking up the banks, on he should appoint as treasury secretary? Her people have to reach out to his people and find out just what he wants.

ROMANS: You know, let me ask you, Dylan, what does he -- how does he change what the Democratic convention looks like? What can he extract from her over the next six weeks?

BYERS: Well, look, I think Greg is absolutely right. He's going to ask for certain guarantees. He's going to -- look, the entire story of the Democratic primary has been one of Hillary Clinton constantly having to tack more and more towards Bernie Sanders instead of pivoting to the general election because he has been such an effective thorn in her side, because he's created a movement that I don't even think he and his campaign expected him to create nine or ten months ago.

So what he has done by winning as many states as he has, by winning as many delegates as he has, by even going so far as to win Indiana last night, is he's effectively guaranteed that his message survives beyond the primary into the general election. She's going to have to be not only a candidate of a Clinton -- Hillary Clinton brand of the Democratic Party but a Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders brand of the Democratic Party.

I mean, at the end of the day, when the history books are written, he has won. He's won. He's carried his message farther than he ever thought he would. He will be able to imprint his own brand on Hillary Clinton's general election campaign.

BERMAN: Well, history also written, you know, if he doesn't get the nomination, they'll say he won influence. But they'll say Hillary Clinton won the nomination, however, put back up the calendar for a second to show the schedule in which states vote. Look at that right there. On May 10th, West Virginia. That's a state

where Hillary Clinton is trailing. She has big problems there because of the statement she's made on coal, likewise in Kentucky. Oregon is a state in the northwest that Bernie Sanders killed in Washington.

So, Brian Stelter, you know, Hillary Clinton is in for a world of hurt, perhaps, in May. Not enough to take the nomination from her, but enough to distract from the campaign at a time when they want to be focused on Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has cleared the field now. He's going to be focused exclusively on her. And Hillary Clinton can't just focus on Donald Trump.

STELTER: Yes, what has Trump said in recent weeks, I haven't even gotten started on Clinton, has been his line. That's not really true because he has been criticizing her quite a bit all along. But he's had to focus on those 16 other GOP candidates he was able to knock out of the race. John Kasich remaining in, but only so far behind in the delegate math it doesn't count for much at this point.

The fact that Clinton has not been able to pivot entirely to the general election is a topic of increasing frustration among her aides. They can't say that publicly, but they sure do say it privately.

[04:50:02] ROMANS: And, Greg, I think what you're going to start to see is you're going to start to hear from Donald Trump talking about the Obama economy that is a Clinton economy. And I think you're going to start to hear more and more about how Hillary Clinton, from the Republican perspective, is going to be a continuation of Obama policies that will not be good for the middle class.

So, she's got that pressure on one side. On the other side, she's got the pressure from Bernie Sanders to break up the banks, and she has support from Wall Street.

VALLIERE: And to my utter astonishment, Christine, a prescription to jump start the economy. She's got to do that, because if we just continue the Obama policies, that's not a strong enough argument for her to make.

ROMANS: Interesting. We saw GDP very, very weak in the first quarter. Although, it has bounced back in the summers the past few years. We're closely watching to see what happens.

BERMAN: And I will note that President Obama's approval ratings are higher than they have been. They're higher than Ronald Reagan's were at this stage of the term. It may be Obama is an asset, not a detriment. It could be a big asset in a general election as well.

Guys, stick around. A lot more to discuss coming up.

ROMANS: Let's take a look at those jobs and your money this morning.

Four influential state governors say they know what's keeping Americans out of good paying jobs -- their skill set. And that opinion crosses party lines.

Look at this. At a finance conference yesterday, Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida were joined by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. All of them say there are open jobs in their states that their employers can't fill because they can't find skilled workers. Their solution, a mix of job training, apprenticeships, and changes in schools, public schools, all of which they say are needed to combat this jobs skills gap.

Right now, there are 5.4 million jobs open in the United States, a record -- near a record high. Now, it's a sign that employers want to hire, but it also indicates that employers can't find people with the right skills. That's a really interesting position of those four governors at a time when we're talking in the campaign trail about how these jobs disappeared. Do the jobs disappear or the skills not keeping? That's interesting.

BERMAN: All right. An American death near the front lines in the battle against ISIS. New information about the Navy SEAL killed in combat in Iraq. That's next.

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[04:56:23] BERMAN: All right. U.S. forces moving dangerously close to the front lines in the battle against ISIS in Iraq. More than 4,000 U.S. troops in the region right now, some of them supporting the Iraqi army as it prepares to retake Mosul. That's what the Iraqi army claims it is trying to do.

The U.S. suffered its third combat death in Iraq directly linked to ISIS. U.S. Navy SEAL Charlie Keating IV was killed in a firefight with ISIS forces earlier this week.

I want to get the latest from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. She joins us now from Jordan this morning.

Charlie Keating, fourth generation military and Navy SEAL, killed in a coordinated attack by ISIS. Jomana, what do you know?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, what we're hearing from U.S. officials was that this was a coordinated and complex attack by ISIS militants using suicide car bombers and bulldozers to attack a Peshmerga front line, about 20 miles north of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, that is under the control of ISIS as you know.

Early Tuesday morning, roughly about a hundred ISIS militants launched this attack on this area. They managed to breakthrough the Kurdish Peshmerga defense lines. The Navy SEALs were at a Peshmerga base that's a bit back from the front lines by about two to three miles. They were visiting there temporarily, providing assistance to the Peshmerga forces.

And as ISIS militants broke through the front lines, a firefight broke out, and that is how Charlie Keating IV was killed tragically in this attack. We're also hearing from the Kurdish Peshmerga that there were some casualties on their side, no specific numbers yet.

Now, the U.S. responded with an F-15 and drones, dropping more than 20 bombs on the ISIS fighting positions. According to Peshmerga commanders, they say this was not the only attack, that ISIS launched similar attacks, what sounds like a major offensive, a major assault, coordinated attacks on several other Peshmerga lines in Iraq early on Tuesday.

They say with the support of the coalition and U.S. air power, they managed to push them back, but this really highlighting that the group that may have suffered some losses recently in Iraq and Syria still has the ability to carry out such complex and deadly attacks, John.

BERMAN: And it highlights the danger the U.S. forces are n even if they're not directly engaged in combat operations.

Jomana Karadsheh, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. President Obama heading to Flint, Michigan, today for a first-hand look at the city's water contamination crisis. The president is meeting with Governor Rick Snyder during his visit. He will also spend time with the mayor of Flint. He plans to hold a round table to hear directly from Flint residents.

The president will also visit a 9-year-old Flint girl who wrote him a letter, asking him to visit her home.

BERMAN: Public school teachers in Detroit are being encouraged by union leaders to return to their classrooms this morning. This after two days of sick-outs that nearly shut down the entire district. Teachers are now being assured by state appointed emergency manager that they will be paid for the school year.

ROMANS: Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has vetoed a controversial deal that would have allowed college students to carry concealed weapons on campus. He's siding with the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech officials saying the campus carried measure would make it harder for campus police to protect teachers and students.

EARLY START continues right now.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: We gave it everything we've got, but the voters chose another path.

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