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Trump Says There Will be a Riot if He's Not the Nominee; Bernie Sanders Marches on to Contests out West; Obama Nominates Merrick Garland to Supreme Court. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 17, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): I think we'll win. If we didn't, I think you'd have riots.

[05:58:26] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the people would, quite rightly, revolt.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's no question there would be a lot of turmoil.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This may be one of the most consequential campaigns of our lifetime.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am nominating Chief Judge Merrick Brian Garland to join the Supreme Court.

JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: This is the greatest honor of my life.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The dangerous drive to Aleppo. Four airstrikes have hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are saying the plane is in the sky. We can hear it. Everybody out. Let's go, let's go!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There you go.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR (HANDING A PIECE OF GREEN PAPER TO ALISYN): Hold this in front of you real quick.

CAMEROTA: I have my shoes that are green.

CUOMO: Oh, are they? All right.

CAMEROTA: A little nod to green. CUOMO: Guess what we're talking about? Good morning. Welcome to

your NEW DAY. Happy St. Patrick's Day. It's Thursday, March 17, 6 a.m. in the East.

Donald Trump making headlines in a way that he's not going to be comfortable with this morning, under fire for things he said right here on NEW DAY, when he offered that there could be riots if the GOP denies him the nomination this summer.

CAMEROTA: So Trump's latest firestorm relates to the possibility, the real possibility, of a contested convention. Trump also sharpening his attacks on Hillary Clinton, releasing a new video that shows her barking like a dog.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Phil Mattingly. He's live in Philadelphia. Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, Tuesday's GOP primary results reiterated in a big way that Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner. He's using that status to set the terms of the debate schedule, but it's his tone, once again, that has the Republican Party riled and concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP (via phone): I think you would have problems like you've never seen before.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump warning his supporters could riot if he's denied the Republican nomination, in a live interview on NEW DAY Wednesday.

TRUMP: We're way ahead of everybody. I don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically. I think it would be -- I think you'd have riots.

MATTINGLY: The GOP facing the very real possibility of a contested convention if no candidate meets the delegate threshold for the nomination.

CRUZ: That would be an absolute disaster. I think the people would quite rightly revolt.

MATTINGLY: Former presidential candidate Ben Carson, who's endorsed Trump, reiterating that sentiment.

CARSON: There's no question that there would be a lot of turmoil if the establishment tries to thwart the will of the people.

MATTINGLY: But party leaders are downplaying that possibility.

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: All of these stories are going to continue, and everyone's going to have opinions, and they're going to get people stirred up, but those delegates will vote on the first ballot as they are bound to vote under the law. MATTINGLY: And dismissing Trump's warning if his supporters are

ignored.

SEAN SPICER, RNC CHIEF STRATEGIST & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I assume he's speaking figuratively. I think, if we go into a convention, whoever gets 1,237 delegates becomes the nominee. It's plain and simple.

MATTINGLY: With the Republican field winnowing, Trump now attempting to look more like a general election candidate, dropping his first attack ad aimed at the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, painting her as too week to go up against opponents of the U.S.

Trump foreshadowing his plans to go after Secretary Clinton earlier this month during FOX's last GOP debate.

TRUMP: I have not started on Hillary yet. Believe me, I will start soon.

MATTINGLY: This week, he's pledging to skip their next debate, forcing FOX to pull the plug.

TRUMP (via phone): How many times can the same people ask you the same question? I won't be there, no.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Ohio Governor John Kasich quickly following suit and saying he would not participate in the debate, a Trump-less debate, as well, therefore forcing that cancellation. Ted Cruz trying to use this as an opportunity to once again go after Trump, just as he did in Iowa, for ducking that debate, and there's a good reason: Ted Cruz wants that one-on-one onstage match-up. For John Kasich, he needs Trump to be there to try and show that contrast that is valuable to him. Neither of those candidates will be getting that, at least next week -- Alisyn and Chris.

CAMEROTA: OK, Phil. Thanks so much for all of that background.

So here to discuss everything is our senior politics editor at "The Daily Beast" Jackie Kucinich; former "Meet the Press" moderator David Gregory; and CNN political commentator and political anchor at Time Warner Cable News Errol Louis. Great to have all of you here on the panel.

Let's start with what Donald Trump, Errol, said to Chris yesterday here on NEW DAY about what happens if he isn't sort of coroneted at the convention. You know, we just heard Sean Spicer in Phil's piece say it's very simple. You just have to get to 1,237. Donald Trump does not think it's so simple. Listen to what he said yesterday about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (via phone): I think we'll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn't and if we're 20 votes short or if we're -- if we're, you know, 100 short, and we're at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we're way ahead of everybody, I don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically. I think it would be -- I think you'd have riots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. So let's challenge just his premise there. If he's at 1,100, not 1,237, should he get the -- is that how it works, that he, he's leader and he gets the nomination?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, no, it's actually not how he works. It's a pretty straightforward rules-based system, which is that you've got to get past the post. You've got to get to 1,237. If you don't get to 1,237, you are not the nominee, and then certain things follow from there.

If -- if Donald Trump thinks that he's supposed to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, in which, as you get closer and closer, people kind of drop away, everybody coalesces around a nominee, well, yes, that's what other candidates do. But other candidates also don't, you know, sort of act like a schoolchild and don't insult other candidates and don't do the different things that Donald Trump has done.

So he's got to live with the fact that he wanted to be an unusual candidate? Fine, he doesn't necessarily get the usual treatment of the party sort of coming together and deciding to coalesce around a candidate. I mean, he could and even now probably could go to other candidates, try to win over their delegates, stop with the insults, stop with the foolishness, and then maybe he will have a chance of doing it, if that scenario does unfold.

Or he could do what I think he suggested on the show yesterday, which is, you know, start a negotiation and start from a position, you know, in typical Trump fashion of, you know, there will be chaos; it will be destruction if I don't get what I want. It's a pretty good opening bid if you're going to have a negotiation, but this isn't necessarily going to be a negotiation.

CUOMO: Look, hyperbole aside, it is safe to assume that his supporters are not going to be happy if he gets boxed out of a convention. You can say it any way you want. Maybe it was a little inartful or dangerous the way he said it, but David, when you look at the eventualities, OK, if he gets in there with a huge lead, OK, so that's his scenario: "I have 1,100, I don't have 1,237. But you only have 800, and I don't get it," that would be an unusual turn at an election. That would be something that would be unusually disruptive, would it not?

[06:05:15] DAVID GREGORY, FORMER MODERATOR, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": I agree. The reality is Donald Trump is in control of this race, but he's really not in complete control of his party. And that's why the rules are what they are and why it's possible that he gets there without getting the necessary number at 1,237.

Look, he'd have to win about 60 percent of the remaining delegates. That's certainly possible if you look at how he puts things together, and a lot more probable than even Ted Cruz, who'd have to win, I think, in the high 80s as a percentage of the remaining delegates. So it's a much steeper climb and not even possible for John Kasich to get to that 1,237 number.

The reality is, Republican officials that I've talked to say, "Look, you've got the first ballot. If he doesn't go over the top, the question is, what happens is, if I pledge a delegate -- if I'm pledged to Donald Trump and I vote with him on the first ballot, what if when there's a second ballot I want to then switch my allegiance? What are the ramifications of that? Republican officials tell me that hasn't really been tested. And that's what you're going to see at -- it's not about boxing him out. It's about what happens if you're short. What kinds of negotiations happen? What kinds of grassroots do you have at -- support do you have at the convention that could yield a different result? I think this is still a pretty unlikely scenario with someone who is in this kind of control of the race.

CUOMO: Well, luckily, we know how it's going to play out. It happened on "House of Cards."

CAMEROTA: Oh, yes.

CUOMO: They had an open convention, and then what happens is at some point you're going to have to have the president or somebody use a letter opener and hold it to somebody's neck, but then he's just joking.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I like that. But unfortunately, truth is stranger than fiction in this current election.

But Jackie, what he said yesterday about there will be riots, should we see that as a prediction or a threat?

JACKIE KUCINICH, SENIOR POLITICS EDITOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": Probably a little bit of both. If the establishment goes into a room and comes out with Marco Rubio as the nominee, basically saying to the base, "Listen, this has been great, but you're too drunk to drive to the White House. We're going to take the keys, and we're going to put in someone that we think is going to get there a little safer," the base is going to be angry. And I'm not saying that, you know, the violence would be justified, but to think that -- that you know, you come out with someone who isn't even on the board, or you know, with somebody like Kasich who has something like, you know, 100 delegates, that's not going to play well. And it is going to look like the quote, unquote, "establishment" just got their way at the end. And that's not where that party is right now.

CUOMO: Sixty-eight, we had ugliness. It was a different time with Humphrey and how he came in. There was a different social dynamic. But I will tell you, team Trump is -- they're flummoxed in this case, Errol. They're like, "I don't understand why this is being taken as a threat. You know, he was just saying it as a suggestion."

LOUIS: Oh, he's amazed.

CUOMO: He wouldn't lead such things. Is he getting unfair scrutiny for this little bit of hyperbole?

LOUIS: Look, coming out of anybody else's mouth, right, if any other candidates said there might be riots, we would know that they meant a big angry sort of fight, political fight, peaceful fight. But with Donald Trump, especially after the last weekend, we've seen -- and we've all seen this montage of him sort of, you know, openly calling for people to be beaten, or saying, you know, it's not so bad and "I'd like to punch him in the face." He's walked that line, and so you have to take this stuff kind of seriously when he talks that way.

GREGORY: I think it's interesting -- look, there's no question that when you are in a position like he is to be, in fact, the head of the Republican Party as he gets closer to the nomination, you do have to not just think about the words that you say but how your words land on people out there.

I mean, I think back to 2000 and the election that was decided in the Supreme Court and how much anger there was in the country. And Al Gore went out of his way to very gracefully concede the point even though, you know, there was certainly a lot of hard feelings, politically, personally and otherwise, in that regard.

So it would be interesting to see how Trump handles himself now. I think, for all the talk of unity and unifying the party, he's now trying to really back that up. And he will be giving policy speeches. He's not going to debate. I think he's going to play a little rope-a- dope here and not get involved in debates, and we'll see how he might try to temporize his language to try to bring people together a little bit and get people in the party a little more comfortable with the idea of him being the nominee.

CAMEROTA: Hey, David, I want to stick with you for a second, because we want to talk about the Supreme Court nominee that President Obama has named, Judge Garland, and you have a personal connection to him. So tell us about that.

GREGORY: I do. I do. Well, Merrick Garland is very close to my wife and me. My wife Beth, who I think you'll be talking to later this morning, Beth Wilkinson, prosecuted the Oklahoma City bombers and worked for Merrick Garland at the Justice Department. And in fact, Merrick, Judge Garland married us. He officiated at our wedding back in 2000.

So I have absolutely no objectivity about Merrick Garland. I know the politics are tough, but he's just a prince of a man. He's a wonderful human being, and he's brilliant. And so, yes, that's how I feel about him.

CUOMO: Is it true that Judge Garland asked your then-fiance three times if she was sure about her decision?

GREGORY: He -- no, he officiated beautifully. And yes, knew her well. He's a great mentor and friend to us, and a great friend who has a very difficult political environment, as I think we all know.

CAMEROTA: He also forced her to take a sobriety test. Unconventional, but...

CUOMO: Have you seen the man dance?

CAMEROTA: I have. I have.

GREGORY: He has. He has.

CAMEROTA: Panel, thank you very much. Great to have you here.

CUOMO: Swivel hips.

PEREIRA: Brother Gregory has moves. Let it be known.

All right. Let's move on to the Democratic side. Underdog Bernie Sanders marching on to the next contest out west, his aides insisting he can still win. But the Clinton campaign says it's mathematically impossible for Sanders to catch up.

He's actually helping Clinton by not calling it quits. Our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, is live in Phoenix this morning with more.

Hey, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

The Sanders campaign has said that, in the event Hillary Clinton does make it into the general election campaign, she's very likely to face much tougher attacks from Republicans, especially Donald Trump, than anything they've seen in the primaries, so this could be considered, at the very least, a warmup act.

And fund-raising e-mails going out from the Clinton campaign last night, among other things, they suggested Donald Trump would be a dangerous president, sort of stepping up the language there. And the Hillary Clinton campaign has put out three new television ads this morning, including one featuring former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, also a shooting victim, talking about gun control. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABBY GIFFORDS, FORMER ARIZONA CONGRESSWOMAN: We have a gun violence problem, so I'm voting for Hillary Clinton. She's tough. She will stand up to the gun lobby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Bernie Sanders's fund-raising e-mail also going out just last night suggests Hillary Clinton's campaign has reached the high watermark and from here the electoral map shifts in the favor of the Sanders campaign. That would include here in Arizona, as well as Idaho and Utah.

Back to you, Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Thanks so much, Joe. Leaders on both sides of the aisle locked in a heated battle over the

president's pick for the Supreme Court. The Republican lawmakers doubling down on promises to not hold hearings for Merrick Garner's nomination as he heads to Capitol Hill today to meet with Democratic lawmakers.

Our senior political reporter, Manu Raju, is live in Washington with more. Hey, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Michaela, good morning. The Supreme Court fight comes right in the thick of the campaign season and has huge implications for control of the United States Senate where Republicans are battling to hang onto the thin majority.

But right now, Republicans are betting their base will reward them in November for standing firm against the president's nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy.

RAJU (voice-over): Senate Republicans declaring President Obama's choice for Supreme Court dead on arrival.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Widely recognized not only as one of America's sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, evenhandedness and excellence.

RAJU: The president touting 63-year-old Merrick Garland as a consensus nominee, with more federal judicial experience than any other nominee in history, who worked on high-profile cases like the Oklahoma City bombing and the Unabomber as a longtime Justice Department lawyer and federal prosecutor.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Put this off until after the next president is elected.

RAJU: But Republicans argue it's about principle, saying American voters should first elect a new president before confirming a nominee.

HATCH: It seems clear that President Obama made this nomination not -- not with the intent of seeing the nominee confirmed but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election.

RAJU: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even calling Garland to say that he will not meet with him or get a confirmation hearing.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: That principle has no history, no precedent, and is virtually impossible to defend.

RAJU: Senate Democrats urging their counterparts to do their job, warning more obstructionism could flip control of the GOP-led chamber in November. SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Give President Obama's

nominee a meeting, a hearing and a vote.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We hope the saner heads in the Republican Party will prevail.

RAJU: But several in tough re-election races standing firm with the Republican leadership.

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R), OHIO: If I do meet with him, it may not be a good use of his time, because I'm not going to change my position.

RAJU: For his part, Garland got emotional at yesterday's announcement, having been passed over twice for a seat on the high court.

JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: This is the greatest honor of my life, other than Lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now only two Senate Republicans have broken ranks with leadership's opposition to confirmation hearings, and that's Maine moderate Susan Collins and Illinois Senator Mark Kirk, who has perhaps the toughest reelection bid in the country. Democrats believe their best shot at getting Garland confirmed is to force more vulnerable Senate Republicans to defect, but they privately acknowledge their pressure campaign needs to show results by July when both parties head to their party conventions and it will get harder to see action on Capitol Hill -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: What a touching moment, Manu, there at the White House yesterday. That was really sweet. We'll talk more about this, obviously, in the program. Thank you for that.

Up next, will Senate Republicans in tight re-election campaigns this November be the key to getting Obama's pick up or down vote -- and up or down vote on that? We'll discuss it next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:06] GARLAND: As my parents taught me by both words and deeds, a life of public service is as much a gift to the person who serves as it is to those he is serving, and for me there could be no higher public service than serving as a member of the United States Supreme Court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Judge Merrick Garland moved by even the suggestion that he could become a Supreme Court justice. The question is, will it move any farther along than this part of the process? An uphill climb, to be sure. It is all about politics of the ugly variety. Before us to discuss, Democratic senator from Delaware Chris Coons.

He sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has come out in favor of Hillary Clinton, but that's not really relevant for this discussion. So what do you say? Let's do this point for point. I will adopt the side of the opposition, and you make the case for why there should be a hearing on this. Please, you go first.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: Well, Chris, first the Senate Judiciary Committee on which I serve has given a hearing to every single nominee for the Supreme Court, with only the two exceptions of candidates who withdrew before they could have their hearing.

I think this is a new level of Republican obstruction to refuse to even meet with Judge Garland. My first job as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is to dig into his nearly 20-year record of writing of opinions on the D.C. Circuit Court and to meet with him in person, a courtesy which I hope and expect all of my colleagues will extend to him in the interest of the institution.

Whether he gets an up or down vote, whether he's ultimately confirmed, I think we first have an obligation to meet with him, to review his record and to give him a hearing. Advice and consent, our constitutional duty, means no less. And we in the Senate should do our job.

CUOMO: Well, the way we're hearing it from the Republican -- their side are saying, "Look, we're sure he's a very nice guy. Some of us know him and we can confirm that. He's very competent. Don't want to waste his time, because we're not having a hearing.

To support your side of this, Senator, polling suggests 58 percent of Americans say President Obama should nominate someone to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. They do not say there should be a hearing. And when you break it down by party, you've got Democrats at 82 percent, independents at 59, Republicans at 29. And really, it's that 29 that they're playing to in the GOP right now.

When you do ask them the poll of the Senate hearing, should Senate Republicans hold hearings on Obama's nominee, you get 66-32. But again, it's all about that party. It's about the Republicans not wanting this, and their main line of rebuttal, as you know, Senator, is this.

Don't pretend that you're aggrieved. You did the same thing. Schumer said the exact same thing back in 2007. Joe Biden suggested the exact same thing when you were the out party: "We're not going to give you a hearing on a vacancy so close to when you may lose the White House."

COONS: That's not accurate. Election years, hearings were given to important nominees, even in hotly-contested election years for circuit judgeships, for Supreme Court judgeships...

CUOMO: Not the same. Not the Supreme Court. Not the Supreme Court. Supreme Court is the big ticket. The big ticket, Senator.

COONS: The idea, Chris, that we wouldn't even meet with him, wouldn't even conduct a hearing, I think, is literally unprecedented.

There was a confirmed Supreme Court justice in the election year of 1988. And when -- when Joe Biden was the very able chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will agree with you, the Supreme Court is higher and more important, but he always gave hearings even late in an election year.

Look, how do they say -- how do they argue that this will turn out differently? Either Hillary Clinton is president of the United States and then they take a chance that she will nominate someone significantly younger and more openly activist or liberal than Judge Garland, who has a long record as a moderate consensus judge, or Donald Trump will be the next president, and honestly, what can any of us tell about who Donald Trump might nominate for the Supreme Court of the United States?

In the interest of the institution of the Senate, in the interest of our constitutional role, I frankly think it is in everyone's best interests that we proceed with a hearing in order to maintain the traditions, the decorum and the constitutional role of the Senate.

CUOMO: The response to that is "Why would we fake it? That's what you Democrats like to do? We like to play it straight. We're the play-it-straight party, and we're not going to allow this hearing. We have the power with votes to keep you from a confirmation. We're not going to give you a confirmation. Why fake it?"

COONS: Why fake it? Because, frankly, from my perspective, when the American people get to hear Judge Garland -- you just played a brief clip from his remarkable, his moving speech at the Rose Garden yesterday, I had the chance to be there.

And I've seen a lot in my life, but honestly, I got choked up listening to Judge Garland describe his family, describe his values, describe the very difficult prosecution he undertook of Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City, describe his service to the public and his choice to give up being a partner at Arnold and Porter to be a line prosecutor in a small windowless cigar-smelling room in the Department of Justice headquarters.

This is a man who comes across as truly decent and as deeply committed to the rule of law. I think if we, as you say, just go through the motions and allow him a hearing, the average American will realize that this is not a partisan pick; that this is a consensus pick, at 63 one of the oldest nominees to serve on the Supreme Court.

So I'm pleased that President Obama played this straight. He didn't nominate somebody designed to stir up our base, someone designed to achieve some activist end. He nominated a consensus candidate who has previously won a bipartisan confirmation by the Senate to the D.C. Circuit, viewed as the second highest court in the land, and someone who I think deserves a hearing, in the interest of the respect of the Supreme Court, which bluntly, in my role on the Foreign Relations Committee, I am often in the position of lecturing heads of state in other parts of the world about the importance of an independent judiciary and the importance of a nonpolitical judiciary that can preside over its important constitutional role. Many, many countries around the world, Chris, have copied our Constitution and copied our design.

And when they see us over-politicize something as important as the Supreme Court pick, it has an unfortunate secondary consequence for our standing in the world; and for folks looking at whether or not our constitutional order can actually function even in an election year.

CUOMO: All right. And it should be mentioned that Judge Garland was not only passed in that vote, but it was, like, 76-23, so it was by a healthy margin. He wasn't seen as a controversial candidate then.

Senator Coons, thank you for making the case. I took it easy on you, because it's St. Patrick's Day. You can thank him for it.

COONS: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: Good to have you with us.

At the top of the hour, we're going to hear from the White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough on the political fight to confirm Barack Obama -- President Obama's pick -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Donald Trump and the media, it is a complicated co-dependent relationship. Coming up, a closer look at how the GOP front-runner uses the press and vice versa.

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