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Donald Trump On His Super Tuesday Wins; What Is Trump's Path To The Nomination?; Clinton Wins 4 States, Slows Sander's Momentum; Cuomo Does Late Night With Seth Meyers; Obama to Name Supreme Court Nominee Today. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 16, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:34:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Donald Trump making his case moments ago here on NEW DAY to be the Republican nominee. He's got three more big wins and a significant loss in Ohio after last night, but where does the race go from here?

Let's bring back former moderator of "MEET THE PRESS", David Gregory. David, I want to start with something that Donald Trump said at the very end of the interview --

DAVID GREGORY, JOURNALIST, FORMER MODERATOR, MEET THE PRESS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- which is what if he doesn't win? We never talk about that because he's steamrolling his path to the nomination. If he doesn't win he says that I will just go off into the wild blue yonder happily and live my life happily. Is there any scenario under which the country would accept -- I mean, now that he's got all of these supporters and all this groundswell, it's hard to imagine that happening.

GREGORY: I don't see Donald Trump giving up the microphone. Let's put it that way. I think whether he wins or not he's done something quite remarkable here, and he's got a huge power base. He's got a real constituency and that's going to continue. A big theme of this morning, I think, has been this question of his ability to unify the party.

Just count me as skeptical, not just about Donald Trump. Look, we have lived through the presidency of George Bush and of Barack Obama, talking about bringing Washington together, bringing the country together. I'm just a bit skeptical about the ability of a leader to do that.

I think we're going to look at a general election campaign that's going to be about turnout models, it's going to be about constituencies coming out in big numbers, and comparing those will be about how one candidate versus the other consolidates a victory.

[07:35:00]

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, look, it's also because of how Trump has gotten to where he is. Certainly, many can envision him not winning this election. He's got a lot of work to do. He's got to win 60 percent of the delegates from here on out within his own party, and it's a big push-back on him. I asked him several times this morning -- giving him opportunities to say how he will change what he's doing to unify.

He says they'll be healing when you win. Well, he has been winning and it's getting worse, not better. Here's his dilemma. He doesn't want to change what he's doing because he feels it's making him successful. But, it's also galvanizing a base against him and making the country -- I mean, even my social media feed after interviewing the guy -- it is relentlessly negative from the supporters --

CAMEROTA: Wait -- social media is filled with vitriol?

GREGORY: Yes.

CUOMO: But look, more than ever --- more than ever. Hillary's people vicious about Trump. Trump's people vicious about everybody else. Something's got to change it. He doesn't seem to want to be the agent for that.

GREGORY: Look, I think a reality is that Trump is in control of this race. He is not yet in complete control of his party, and that's a reality. The party is not falling in line. He is consolidating the white working class, part of the Republican Party, and he's riding that to victory in all of these states. And he's doing more than that. He's winning geographically across the board, but he's not a majority candidate yet.

The thing that I think has potential for him is his reach to independent voters. A lot of his -- there's a lot of divisiveness. There's also some moderate positions on issues that could attract independent-minded voters and a desire to see someone come completely outside of the establishment and the system who could have some resonance, so I think that is the potential for him. And, he keeps defying all of our expectations, so we have to leave that possibility open.

CAMEROTA: But isn't that his biggest point, is that he -- before he was a politician he did unify people. He did make deals in New York City. He did have to bring lots of people to the table. He was a Democrat at one point.

GREGORY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He might be able to achieve that after all of the vitriol of this race.

GREGORY: Look, there's a lot that has been said and done that's going to be hard to undo and un-hear, but he's also going to face a formidable Democratic nominee who's going to be able to take him on substantively for a long period of time and give voters a real clear view of what he is and what he isn't.

CAMEROTA: You have an illustration for us at the magic wall.

GREGORY: I have more than that, friend. I have a protractor, a ruler, and a slide rule --

CAMEROTA: Let's see it.

CUOMO: Wow.

GREGORY: -- and I'm going to go over and do some math.

CAMEROTA: Wow, are you going to walk and talk at the same time?

GREGORY: I'm going to walk and talk because --

CUOMO: Stop checking out Gregory and get over to the board.

GREGORY: We have a cold front coming up from the south, but before we get to that I want to talk about the path to nomination here, if I might.

CAMEROTA: Please.

GREGORY: Yes. And, we're going to go first to where we stand on the delegates right now. So, Trump is at 640. He's at 43 percent of the way there. You see Cruz at 405, so not a huge difference but he's only 27 percent of the way there. Kasich at 138. He's got a long way to go before anything happens.

We talk about what they need going forward, and I think this is a big piece of it. If you're Trump, with the remaining delegates that are outstanding at about 1,000 -- remember, we need 1,237 to win -- he needs about 60 percent of what's left.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GREGORY: Cruz, much taller order. He needs 82 percent of what's left. Kasich cannot get there -- mathematically impossible. He needs a brokered convention.

CAMEROTA: OK, but the math, as you know, is a little fuzzy because if they all get a piece of the pie then you can argue for a contested convention.

GREGORY: Right. But, the question is how and where does that happen? Let's look at the map in terms of some of the states that are coming up. If we see an asterisk here -- a little star -- that means that it's winner-take-all, so you can get more of the delegates. You have 202 delegates, for instance, coming up in some of these contests between March 22nd and April 9th.

Arizona, Colorado, North Dakota, Utah -- these are states that if you're Ted Cruz you think yes, maybe I have a shot in the places. That could be good. Here's the problem for Cruz. He has lost in the south. That's one of the things that Trump said to Chris. He has not played as well as he could have among states that have a lot of evangelical voters. In non-evangelical states he has a hard time even getting to 30 percent among non-evangelical voters, so that becomes a problem. Wisconsin is a state that if you're John Kasich you think you can do

well in. And then you look at April 19th through the 26th -- New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island. These are states, in some cases, that could and should favor Trump. But, Kasich is making the argument that when you get to some of these states, like Pennsylvania that's close to Ohio, that he's got a real shot to consolidate some of the working class voters, but maybe some of the more highly-educated Republican voters that Trump is not getting at the moment.

CAMEROTA: I guess my question is if they peel off enough numbers from the 1,237 -- the magic number --

GREGORY: Right.

CAMEROTA: -- to get to secure the nomination, then is it anybody's game at the convention?

[07:40:00]

GREGORY: It's potentially anybody's game. But David Axelrod, who of course is a senior political contributor here, but also ran Obama's campaigns and was a counselor to him, has said look, if Donald Trump is in a position where he's got the most delegates and he has won all over the country, how do you deny him the nomination?

So, this math may be tough for him, winning 60 percent of what's left, but he's going to come awfully close, and in a brokered convention there will still be a big anti-Trump force that's out there. Will it be enough to effectively come together and anoint somebody else?

It's Ted Cruz who is certainly arguing that he is the only one who can really challenge Trump to get close enough. Kasich is viewed by many conservatives as somebody who's just a spoiler here and could keep Cruz from making an effective case.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of how the establishment views all of these guys, Donald Trump, last night, said that he's had very productive, excellent conversations with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.

GREGORY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Is there a sense that the Washington establishment is beginning to support Donald Trump?

GREGORY: Well, I still think that's very loose. I think that right now he's having some more constructive conversations. If you're a congressional leader you are worried about the fact the Trump, as the nominee, has a horrible influence on some of the down-ballot races if you lose control of Congress if Trump becomes the nominee or if he were to become president, even if he's on the ballot. So, that's the issue. Interesting, too, I think that Trump had nice things to say about Marco Rubio. Chris Christie, of course, being in that fold.

CAMEROTA: And that's because you think that he would pick them for a vice president? GREGORY: If you want to try to consolidate the establishment base of the party that's a good way to start.

CAMEROTA: With Marco Rubio.

GREGORY: Marco Rubio or with Chris Christie. Maybe less so with Christie. But, these are establishment guys.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, from here --

GREGORY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- what happens?

GREGORY: We're going to go on and we're going to look at some these other maps. And, again, you look at these delegate totals -- 202 there through April 9th. And then as you get deeper into April you have another 213 at stake. Remember, there's a combination as we look at the stars -- a combination of winner-take-all and proportional delegates, so you're really going to have to see Cruz. If it's a one- on-one race he's really got to start winning because Trump is very much in command, even if he may not be able to get over the top by the convention.

CAMEROTA: David Gregory, that was fabulous.

GREGORY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Thank you for walking and talking, and pointing and circling all at the same time.

GREGORY: Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: Well done.

GREGORY: I felt good about it.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: So many skills in one man. That's amazing. All right, we know it was a big night for Hillary Clinton. Does she have the Democratic nomination in the bag or does Bernie Sanders still have a chance? We'll look at the Democratic race next.

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[07:46:35]

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton breathing a huge sigh of relief this morning after her very strong showing in last night's primaries, winning at least four of these states. We are still waiting on Missouri at this hour. So what does her surge mean for the Bernie Sanders revolution?

Joining us now is CNN political commentators Van Jones and Bakari Sellers. Bakari is a Hillary Clinton supporter. Great to have both of you gentlemen with me.

Let's start with you, Bakari. Does this mean what happened last in Hillary Clinton's big wins -- has she, for all intents and purposes, secured the nomination, do you think?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think she's definitely on the path to secure the nomination. She has a much larger lead than Barack Obama had at any point in 2008 over Hillary Clinton. She's up 300 delegates over Bernie Sanders and mathematically it gets very difficult.

But, Bernie Sanders is by no means a loser in this race. He's added a lot to the discussion. I believe Bernie Sanders is and should stay in the race longer. I believe that he's bringing a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, especially among those in my generation.

And I appreciate the fact that we're having a robust discussion about the issues on our side. If Bernie Sanders goes away we no longer have that discussion and all we hear is the bluster of Donald Trump. So I think Bernie Sanders is necessary at this point.

CAMEROTA: Vann, how do you see it?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there was a great hope for the Sanders revolution -- the Sanders rebels in the Democratic Party -- that the Michigan miracle could be repeated. That the polls could be wrong again, and that Michigan would have been the first domino of many to show that Hillary Clinton just could not win in the Rust Belt. And that would give a huge argument to someone like Bernie Sanders that he should be able to go forward.

And just over the horizon you have California, you have the Pacific coast, and yet he could not get there. And so, mathematically, you're looking at the situation -- he would now have to get 55-60 percent of every remaining contest in order to win. It is almost impossible to imagine that happening.

And so, the Bernie Sanders revolution is now waking up this morning. They've got to look at themselves, dust themselves off. Great message candidate, incredibly useful to the progressive cause in the party, but the idea that he can now stop Hillary Clinton looks increasingly impossible.

CAMEROTA: All right, Bernie Sanders says not so fast. He says there's math, yes, as you have been talking about this morning, but there's also the map. And he says the map favors his campaign moving forward. He has high hopes for Wisconsin, California, Arizona, and New York.

And I'm interested, Bakari, in what you said about how he needs to stay in and that it makes her a stronger candidate. In other words, if he gets out doesn't the idea of facing Donald Trump also make her a strong candidate?

SELLERS: I think what Donald Trump is doing is actually helping us consolidate our base and consolidate our party much quicker, so thank you, Donald Trump. But just going back to Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton, there was this concept that all of a sudden Hillary Clinton, with all her qualifications and credentials, somehow became a regional candidate.

And Bernie Sanders and his supporters were saying that oh, my God, we're going to win in the Rust Belt, and that didn't happen. And now they're looking towards Pennsylvania and New York, and I'm assuming and pretty certain that Hillary Clinton is going to be very strong there.

But my only point in making sure that people understand that Bernie Sanders is necessary for this is so that Democrats can continue to have a conversation. The fact of the matter is if there's no Bernie Sanders in this race, CNN and everyone else are just going to have conversations with Donald Trump and Democratic voices are going to be hushed. So we need to make sure that we're staying on the forefront, that we're uplifting our party, and that we're having this substantive discussion.

[07:50:00]

CAMEROTA: Van, Bernie Sanders has been really to credit for the conversation about trade, about jobs, about disparity in wealth in this country, income and equality. But those things last night, in terms of the economy and jobs and trade, they went to Hillary. And that may have surprised Bernie Sanders since, again, in Michigan it was the other way.

JONES: Yes. The reality is that Bernie Sanders has made Hillary Clinton a better candidate. I think he's made the Democratic Party a better party. I'll tell you what. Had you not had a Bernie Sanders -- if you just had kind of a normal Democrat against Hillary Clinton, I think the Democrats might have missed this rebellion in the heartland of the country. That you have so much pain, and frustration, and disappoint -- really in both parties rising up -- Hillary Clinton might have missed that and really not been prepared to deal with Donald Trump.

Because you had such an unusual candidate who in our party was willing to raise his issues -- she actually was able to listen, which I think is a great credit to her, and begin to pick up some of those themes and own them in her own way.

And so that, I think -- frankly, she did a good enough job with that. She was able to take some of his stuff. A lot of Bernie Sanders people got mad at her. They said you're saying our guy's a single- issue guy because you're stealing all our issues. But that's politics and she did a great job with it.

CAMEROTA: Bakari, what about that? How did she recalibrate her message after Michigan?

SELLER: Well, I said a few nights ago that she needed to recalibrate her message and everyone jumped on me. But the week leading up to Michigan, all we were talking about was Hillary Clinton pivoting to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton pivoting to Donald Trump. And what we realized is that was about a week or two too early.

Hillary Clinton refocused on a message that dealt with the populous and progressive strands of the Democratic Party. She went into Iowa, she went into North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, and Missouri and she worked incredibly hard. Everyone deserves a lot of credit -- Robby Mook and Marlon Marshall. I like to call them the Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan of this process.

But, Hillary Clinton worked extremely, extremely hard and she deserves the kudos. And now she gets to go up against a candidate in Donald Trump, who can't bring anybody together because he's absent in moral clarity, and it's going to be an amazing campaign for the soul of this country.

CAMEROTA: Bakari, Van, we have to leave it there. Thank you both very much. Great to get your analysis -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Hey, can I talk to you real quick?

CAMEROTA: Go ahead.

PEREIRA: Did you know that this guy was doing other stuff without us last night on TV, and didn't let us know?

CAMEROTA: No. No, tell me about that.

PEREIRA: Oh, yes. No, just so that he could get on late night laughs. You'll see it when he goes toe-to-toe with Seth Meyers. How come we didn't know? Why? Really?

CAMEROTA: So, do you not have e-mail?

PEREIRA: Did you get an invite?

CAMEROTA: Are you off e-mail?

CUOMO: They said they wanted the pretty one.

PEREIRA: Oh, don't flatter yourself.

CUOMO: Don't flatter yourself.

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[07:56:19]

CUOMO: I like this. This is a segment with me talking about me.

CAMEROTA: It doesn't get any better for you.

CUOMO: NEW DAY meets -- and let me tell you, these two hate it. Last night I got to go in the hot seat on NBC's "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS." Seth wanted to know what it's like dealing with all this political coverage we're doing, sitting and trying to take on Donald Trump, and what we think about the deal in general, and try to make it funny which is not easy, but here's what we did. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Interviewing him is very difficult. He is very smart -- Mr. Trump -- about how to use the media. I would say it approaches genius. People can like or not like what he says, but his ability to control interviews through the use a telephone, his ability to repeat points, to ignore questions, and to understand what will trigger his supporters is very, very effective and you have to give him that.

SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": I agree with you 100 percent.

CUOMO: You don't.

MEYERS: I think his handling of this --

CUOMO: You don't. You do not agree with me.

MEYERS: No, I agree with him on policy -- only on policy -- no.

CUOMO: You harass me all the time and that's why I'm here, and why's my chair so low?

MEYERS: But this genius --

CUOMO: I need the chair high. Why do I feel like I need to ask you what I want for Christmas? Yes, that's much better.

MEYERS:I think everyone would agree that you're taller than me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: I love it.

CAMEROTA: That was good.

CUOMO: They edited my segment.

PEREIRA: Well, that's weird. Why would they do that?

CAMEROTA: That was good. You got good jokes in -- zingers.

PEREIRA: But, again, just really curious -- our invitations to sit in the audience -- did they get lost in the mail?

CUOMO: I tried. I tried. Sometimes you don't make the cut.

CAMEROTA: How did you try? We're just curious?

CUOMO: Well, here's what happened. They approached and they said listen, you know, late night TV -- all about lookism. All about lookism. And I didn't think it was going to be me. They insisted. They said we want the pretty one.

PEREIRA: Good for you. The pretty one.

CAMEROTA: Right, and that was obvious.

PEREIRA: Strongest, prettiest, and the nicest scented.

CUOMO: No, none of the other things were said.

CAMEROTA: No, those wouldn't be true.

CUOMO: But, thank you. It's my Royall Rugby cologne. I knew it would get to you eventually.

PEREIRA: Oh, man. It does permeate.

CUOMO: All right, there is a lot of news going on. We have news that's going to come out of the White House today about the Supreme Court nominee. Super Tuesday wound up delivering, and then some. So, let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our next president has to bring our country together.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory. A big victory in Florida.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is we have to bring our party together. We have to bring it together.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To those who supported Marco, we welcome you with open arms.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are too smart to fall for that.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Never underestimate our ability to change the world.

SANDERS: We have defied all expectations.

CRUZ: The choice is straightforward. Do you want a candidate who shares your values?

CLINTON: We can't lose what made America great in the first place.

TRUMP: This country is going to start winning again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: All right, good morning everyone. Welcome to you your new day. We will get to all of the Super Tuesday results in just a moment, but we begin with breaking news at this hour on the Supreme Court. President Obama will announce his pick to fill the vacant seat this morning, and that sets up a major showdown with senate Republicans who have vowed to deny a vote. CUOMO: Here's what we know so far. The president says he has chosen someone "eminently qualified" and is demanding an up or down vote. Obama's going to make the announcement at 11:00 today. We believe the president will be in the eastern room of the Rose Garden.

So, let's get to CNN's Athena Jones, live at the White House with the breaking details. What more do we know?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.