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Violence Breaks Out at another Trump Rally; Interview with Arizona Trump Campaign Chairman Jeff DeWit; President Obama's Historic Trip To Cuba. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 21, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: -- the ground in Cuba. That has not happened since the revolution. Yes, you'll hear 88 years. Yes, you'll hear Calvin Coolidge, 1928. But this has never happened since the revolution. So being in Cuba is not enough. It's even bigger than that.

And today a big moment. President Obama sits down with the Cuban leader Raul Castro. What will be said? What will not be said? We have a lot more on what's going on here, but there's big news this morning, so let's get to Alisyn and Michaela in New York.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There sure is, Chris. We'll check back with you momentarily. But we want to tell you about chaos at Donald Trump's rallies. A new round of violence between protesters and supporters as stop Trump movement intensifies, this plus all five presidential hopefuls make their final pitch to voters out west ahead of tomorrow's votes. So let's talk more about all of this with our CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. She is live in Washington for us. Hi, Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn. The Republicans are heading into a big Election Day tomorrow with key contests in Arizona and in Utah. But for Donald Trump, a lot of the focus right now for him is having to explain this violence that continues to break out at his rallies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Again, I say it for everybody, especially for the media, we don't condone violence.

SERFATY: Donald Trump once again on the defensive.

TRUMP: How come we're the bad people all the time?

SERFATY: As raucous clashes continue to overshadow the frontrunner's campaign events.

TRUMP: The one is dragging a flag and has no respect for the flag whatsoever. And his partner, whoever that may be, has a Ku Klux Klan hat on. And you had an African-American man got incensed and he started hitting the people.

SERFATY: And at a dinner Sunday, the Republican frontrunner trying to explain chaos at his rally on Saturday night. TRUMP: Get them out of here.

SERFATY: While being escorted out, this protester caught on camera getting sucker punched, then tackled and repeatedly punched and kicked by a Trump supporter who was arrested and charged with assault.

BRYAN SANDERS, PUNCHED AT TRUMP'S ARIZONA RALLY: What just happened to me inside this place is a direct result of Trump's methods, his lies, and angry rhetoric and violent rhetoric that he's displaying at his campaign.

SERFATY: A woman behind him also being escorted out wearing a KKK hoodie, but unlike in Trump's version of events, the two don't know each other. And Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a verbal confrontation with another protester seen in this CNN video yanking the man's shirt collar as a member of Trump's security detail grabs him from behind.

TRUMP: I give him credit for having spirit. He wanted them to take down those horrible profanity-laced signs.

SERFATY: Trump's competition seizing on the continued violence and his statement last week that his supporters might riot if he's denied the nomination in a contested convention.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump continues that path of spreading hatred, spreading division. And it's fundamentally wrong.

GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think that kind of language is appropriate to talk about violence and rioting. And if you go to a convention and you lose, be a big enough person to say I gave it my best and I didn't win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And today Donald Trump will be in Washington, D.C. He is set to hold a big meeting with top Republican lawmakers, trying to smooth over relations a bit. And he will speak tonight at the pro- Iranian AIPAC conference. This is already lining up to be a very controversial event for him. A group of rabbis are planning to boycott his speech, Alisyn. They're planning to walk out in protest.

CAMEROTA: It will be very interesting to see what happens at both of those events today, Sunlen. Thank you for that.

You don't often hear Arizona as being described as a key battleground state but this year it is because it could push the frontrunner Trump and Hillary Clinton that much closer to sewing up their nominations. Joining us this morning is Jeff DeWit, the state treasurer and campaign manager for Trump in Arizona where voters head to the polls tomorrow. Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF DEWIT, ARIZONA CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN FOR DONALD TRUMP: Good morning, Alisyn. Thank you very much. CAMEROTA: Jeff, great to have you here. I want to start with what we

just saw in Sunlen's piece. It seemed to be the most violent confrontation to date. It was in Tucson. And you saw that protester there being punched and falling to the ground and being kicked. This is your state. Donald Trump is your candidate. Are you comfortable with what's happening at his rallies?

DEWIT: Well, I was at that rally. Before the rally started there was a PA announcement made saying we don't want any violence and anybody attending is not to engage with protester protesters. We did everything we could to keep that from happening. But keep in mind that that particular gentleman was standing right next to somebody who was wearing a KKK hoodie. He himself was holding some sort of a picture of a confederate flag and saying something to an African- American male. And quite frankly, if you do that, you run the risk of obviously inciting somebody to do something against you. And it's not condoning anything at all.

[08:05:01] CAMEROTA: But is it justifying --

DEWIT: But this guy did everything he could to provoke violence.

CAMEROTA: OK, and that's what I'm wondering about. So the Trump campaign has said we don't condone violence, and what you're describing is repugnant. Those are repugnant messages. And so does it justify violence?

DEWIT: Well, violence is never justified. However, when you're going to do that to a random person, again, the person that struck the man has nothing to do with the campaign. We don't know the gentleman at all. But he is an African-American male who had somebody in his face holding a confederate flag standing next to somebody in a hoodie.

These protesters are coming in and they are absolutely vile in trying to incite violence. There was another group of protesters which the 25 people that came up there were saying the most horrible, horrible things. Quite frankly, we let them go on for about 15 minutes before we did something, hoping they would just wear themselves out. And you know what happens when you let them go? What we found out is they started turning on the crowd. They started pushing people and hitting people. I saw a violent woman protester who was in the face of a mom and a young child doing middle fingers and yelling the f-word, and it was just horrible stuff. So these protesters come in and they're trying to incite violence. They want the press. They want to get on. And what do you do as a campaign? What can we honestly do? We did everything we can, and, quite frankly, we got those people out without an incident. That doesn't even get reported.

CAMEROTA: Let me ask you about that, about whether or not the campaign is doing everything it possibly can. Donald Trump has said I don't condone violence. And you said there was an announcement over the loudspeaker beforehand advising people not to engage in violence. Is it time for Donald Trump to say more clearly, do not punch anyone, do not hit anyone, the opposite of things he said, which is "I would like to punch that guy in the face"?

DEWIT: Again, that was said at the beginning of the rally.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but not by Donald Trump. Should Donald Trump say that?

DEWIT: He has. Expand the speech. He will say nobody touch him. Nobody touch him. Get him out. Everybody be nice. Nobody touch him. He says that over and over again. He's doing everything he can to prevent violence. And that's what we're doing as a campaign.

But, again, these people are coming in wanting violence. That's how they're making their statement. You should have seen what was going on outside of the event. It was hard for people to even get inside that event because there was a group of violent protesters that were hitting and pushing and throwing things at people. These protesters are doing awful things.

And if you could hear the language and the awful things that they will say to moms and young children, it's just awful that that stuff goes on. So I'm actually very, very impressed with how all of the attendees to the event -- there was one person that hit him. If you saw the amount of abuse that the supporters took from protesters at that event, I think we did a very, very good job of keeping the violence to a minimum.

CAMEROTA: There's another moment where Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for Donald Trump, is actually in the crowd. And you see him reach out and grab one of the protesters by the collar and pull him back. It's hard to know what precipitated that and hard to know what happened afterwards, but that's Corey Lewandowski engaging in a physical moment with a protester. Is that the job of the campaign manager? Should Corey Lewandowski be down there in the crowd?

DEWIT: Well, I was in the crowd about 10 feet behind him when that happened. So, yes, at the time the police had told us that they weren't going to go and do anything about it. And we had let that crowd of people go on for about 15 minutes. And those people were pushing people. I saw a female protester punch a gentleman three times, she punched him three times. And then she started yelling "he hit me, he hit me, he hit me!" They were trying to start a fight. They were trying to start a riot.

At some point we have got to do something to get them out. And we got 25 of those protesters out where the worst thing you saw was a gentleman may have been grabbed by the collar, but if you look he was grabbed mainly by the person to his left. If you look, there's no way that Corey's two fingers on a collar, if that even is his hand, could have turned the guy around that fast. You see Corey with almost no exertion on his part. So it's very clear that it was the gentleman to Corey's left and the guy turns around. But I was right there.

That guy you are looking at was saying the most horrific things to children and to women. He was a terrible guy saying f-bombs and using his middle finger everywhere. It was that guy who needed to go. He had to go. And unfortunately the police didn't take him out, so at some point we have to get on. This is a private event. We rented the facility for a private rally, and everybody is there to hear our candidate. They're not there to hear that guy's vile statements.

CAMEROTA: Jeff DeWit, we appreciate your perspective. Thank you for being on NEW DAY. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn, on the Democratic side, meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders making big campaign pushes ahead of what's being called "western Tuesday."

[08:10:06] Clinton herself is preparing for a big speech today in front of a pro-Israel gathering. CNN's Brianna Keilar is there in Washington with more on what we can expect to hear from her.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Michaela. Hillary Clinton will address AIPAC, this pro-Israel lobby. As you can see a huge conference here in Washington, D.C. behind me. Also, all of the Republican candidates for president will be addressing this crowd as well. Hillary Clinton, we understand from a campaign official, is going to attempt a takedown of Donald Trump when it comes to foreign policy and specifically when it comes to Israel/U.S. policy. We expect that she's going to say the next commander in chief needs to have a steady hand and cannot be unpredictable.

And this barb really aimed right at Trump. We're expecting her to say the U.S. must never be neutral in defending Iranian or consider the relationship and the U.S. and Iranian negotiable. This is her targeting something that Trump said recently at an event where he seemed to indicate that he might be neutral when it comes to Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

Hillary Clinton will today here coming up in the next hour, she'll be speaking in the 9:00 eastern hour, really attempt to make Donald Trump look squishy on foreign policy in general and also unfit in temperament overall. It's also important to note Bernie Sanders will not be here. Utah, Arizona, Idaho having contests tomorrow. He's going to be staying out west giving a foreign policy speech in Utah today in lieu of being here addressing this crowd as the other candidates are.

PEREIRA: All right, Brianna, thanks for watching all of that for us. On the eve of tomorrow's western Tuesday contest, all five presidential hopefuls will sit down with CNN's Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer. You can catch that starting tonight 8:00 eastern right here on CNN.

CUOMO: All right, so President Obama is going to have a very big day today. Back to the news, back to the news. President Obama is going to meet with Cuban leader Raul Castro today. The president is in Cuba bringing a message of peace and unity. But his visit is of course not without controversy. A lot of people don't think he should have come. They think it's rewarding an oppressive regime. Dozens of dissidents were arrested at a heated protest just hours before the president touched down here.

Even so, the president's presence is a sign of hope and that change can be a good thing. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Many here in Cuba thought they would never see this -- Air Force One touching down at Havana's airport on Sunday. President Barack Obama becoming the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on Cuban soil since the revolution. His historic visit rich with symbolism and filled with high expectations.

(APPLAUSE)

CUOMO: The president meeting with staff members of the recently reopened U.S. embassy at a nearby hotel.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is wonderful to be here. Back in 1928, President Coolidge came on a battleship. It took him three days to get here. It only took me three hours.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: The president talking about accelerating the engagement between both nations after decades of hostility.

OBAMA: Everything we've accomplished so far -- more Americans coming to Cuba, more engagement with the Cuban people, civil society, faith groups, entrepreneurs, students, young people, more opportunities for the Cuban people to improve their lives, it's all happening because of you.

CUOMO: Just hours before President Obama arrived in Cuba, government authorities here arrested dozens of dissidents protesting for improved human rights. Members of the group known as the Ladies in White were quickly rounded up and taken away. They demonstrate every Sunday against the Castro regime and its atrocious human rights record.

The rain did not stop the first family from touring the city's historic district. Cubans gathering on dampened streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: All right, just making sure the tent stays up. The wind of change is blowing, but really it's just the wind. It really is blowing through here. There's a front that is coming through. And there's some obvious questions, Michaela and Alisyn, that people are going to want to see after this. This big gesture by President Obama, it is historical. It's symbolic. But what does he get in return? What is done for the Cuban people here? That's the big question.

CAMEROTA: Chris, we can't help but notice your culturally appropriate garb that you're wearing. Tell us the history of your shirt?

CUOMO: Yes, yes, you have a very keen eye.

PEREIRA: We do for most of your clothing.

(LAUGHTER) [08:15:00] CUOMO: I wear this for a reason. This shirt belonged to my father. It was given to him by Fidel Castro as a gift that -- it didn't mean something to him because it came from Fidel Castro necessarily, but because it marked conversations going on decades ago that were the same as those today.

The concern was the freedom of the people. What is the point of this communist regime if it's not to truly make everyone equal not at the lowest level, not by demoralizing everyone but lifting everyone up.

My father, generations of politicians have been fighting this so I wear this shirt as a reminder of that and of my pop.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: You look good in your pop shirt. You look fantastic.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's great, Chris. I mean, so much history from the clothing to the land. Thanks so much, Chris, for telling us that story.

CUOMO: My mother was joking with me. I'll never fill my father's shoes, but I can fill out his shirt pretty well. What we'll do when we come back, we'll talk to the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and understand exactly what the White House believes the trade is here in Havana. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Back in 1928, President Coolidge came on a battleship. It took him three days to get here. It only took me three hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: President Obama making a joke, but also telling the truth. Not since 1928 have you had a U.S. president here and even more relevant is you never had a president here since the revolution.

[08:20:09]Remember, Cuba before the revolution and after totally different existences. Let's talk about why now and what does this mean and the controversy? We have White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. Good to see you.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Nice to see you.

CUOMO: Big news. Starwood, the big hotel in the United States taking up management of the Saratoga, one of the big Havana hotels. Google supposedly close to a deal to put in Wi-Fi and manage it here in Cuba. True on both fronts?

EARNEST: They are making a lot of progress. There are a bunch of business executives from the United States who traveled down with our delegation to be here to be art of the entrepreneurship summit being hosted in conjunction with the president's visit. It's indicative of the stronger economic ties that are being built between our two countries.

CUOMO: Do you think -- the Starwood thing we hear that's a done deal (inaudible) at this point.

EARNEST: They are in final negotiations and they are making progress in trying to get this done. They're not the only technology company interested in investing in Cuba. They recognize that there is a tremendous opportunity here.

The other thing to recognize is that there's a lot of hunger on the part of the Cuban people to have access to information and the kind of modern communications that we take for granted back in the United States. It has potential to really transform not just the economy here but daily life here.

CUOMO: I mean, for us in the states, your internet, Wi-Fi, service, that's about convenience. Here it's about freedom. It's about being able to express themselves and what they take in and put out. You made history for them here.

You gave them something that generations thought would never happen. What do we get back from the United States perspective for people here that are starving not just for food but for freedom?

EARNEST: Look, the president made this policy change back in December of 2014 because he recognized that the way that the United States could accomplish our policy goals was by better engaging with the Cuban people.

For more than five decades, the U.S. policy has been to isolate Cuba and see if that will encourage the government to do a better job of respecting the basic human rights of the Cuban people. That didn't work.

The president decided let's do a better of actually engaging with the Cuban government and the Cuban people and better make our case that way. So by deepening our economic ties we can actually create opportunities for the Cuban people to thrive, but that's also good for businesses back in the United States.

It's not too often that you have the American Farm Bureau and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce aggressively endorsing a policy of the Obama administration, but yet that's exactly what they've done when it comes to our policy tour in Cuba.

CUOMO: So to avoid the perception if not reality that you're making money on the back of oppression, there needs to be changes in terms of what we see here with human rights. I know that you know that.

I know it's one of the talking points that come out of the White House. But Raul Castro doesn't go to meet the plane. They arrest the women in white right before you get here. They seem to be acts of control from the regime to show this is who we are and what we are, but that's unacceptable.

EARNEST: Well, there is certainly more progress that needs to be made. When you consider the reaction among the Cuban people from the policy announcement, the polls show that overwhelmingly the Cuban people support this change in the U.S. policy.

CUOMO: People aren't the problem, though. It's the regime.

EARNEST: Our goal here is to engage the Cuban people and empower them so that they can have a government that actually reflects their will and their ambition. That is our goal. That's why it's important that you have the president greeted with chants of USA.

That's why it's important that polls show that more than 90 percent of the Cuban people actually support this policy change and that by better interacting with the Cuban people having American visitors travel to Cuba and spending more time and money here.

Giving American businesses the opportunity to get access to the Cuban market and do business with the Cuban people, we can actually open up the world and give the Cuban people more access to the broader world and the United States.

That will empower them and that will give them more of an opportunity to create a country and a government that better reflects their ideas.

CUOMO: Do you ask for specific moves actions, by the regime in return for providing commercial opportunities and other benefits?

EARNEST: But we have seen some progress in terms of releasing some political prisoners that were previously detained. There's always going to be this back and forth. We wouldn't the expect changes that we would like to see in Cuba occur overnight.

After all the previous policy was in place for more than 50 years and didn't bring about any changes. This policy has been in place for a little over a year. So we're going to continue pushing.

I think a lot of the economic freedom that you do see here where we made some progress is important and is an indication of things to come. Greater access to the internet. Greater access to information.

The ability of more U.S. businesses to do businesses here in Cuba. We are actually seeing a thriving entrepreneurial class here in Cuba. You saw that last night, the president and first lady actually went to a privately owned and privately operated restaurant.

[08:25:07]CUOMO: Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican, joining the delegation forgetting about the partisanship of it, an important sign for him he says because change here for the people matters more than the politics back home.

EARNEST: Look, I think the other part about this policy that's important for people to understand is what better way for the United States to better advocate for our values than to have the leader of the free world, the president of the United States come to the island and meet with the head of the Cuban government, President Castro, and urge him and advocate for better protection of universal human rights. What better way for us to advocate for freedoms that we hold dear in our country than for the president of the United States to give a nationally televised address in Cuba advocating for those freedoms.

And what better way to demonstrate our commitment to human rights than have president of the United States spend an hour of his time meeting in private with political opponents of the Cuban government. This is what engagement is about and the most effective way for us to advance our interests here in Cuba.

CUOMO: How do you deal with the fact that it's done by executive action right now. The embargo is an animal of Congress so if they don't change it, it technically can't go away. President Obama has some time left but not that much. Castro has some time left but not that much although his influence will extend probably in a more definite way than President Obama. So what do you do?

EARNEST: Look, I think it's going to be really hard for the next president if he or she chooses to do so to roll back the progress that we've made over the course of the last year. You just mentioned the Starwood deal and the technology investments we're seeing here.

The strong bipartisan support that exists in Washington, D.C. for this policy change. We're also seeing a significant increase in the number of Americans able to travel to Cuba.

We are reestablishing direct flights between the U.S. mainland and Cuba that will begin again this year. All of that is toothpaste that's going to be very hard to get back in the tube.

CUOMO: You have a lot of Cuban-American business people who came down with you. We were meeting with some of them last night. They say Congress has to remove the embargo for this to be permanent, but the most important piece of paper is not a law for us. It's going to be a contract.

When we have businesses down here and we're tied and people know that and they're getting jobs from it and they're being able to be benefitting from it, which is obviously most important, that will be just as strong. Is that the hope that this will be dollar bill diplomacy?

EARNEST: Well, I think part of the challenge of doing business here is that the business climate is really uncertain. I think that has given some pause to U.S. businesses that are interested in capitalizing opportunities here.

That is going to put pressure on the Cuban government. They recognize that there are U.S. companies that do want to invest here that's going to be good for the economy and good for the people here so they're going to have to make some changes to make this a more attractive business climate.

That puts some pressure on them and that gives them incentive to start doing more of the right things. Things that reflect the interest of the United States and our economy but also things that reflect the interest of the Cuban people.

CUOMO: Josh Earnest, thank you for being with us. I love how you let yourself go a little bit.

EARNEST: I didn't get the wardrobe memo today.

CUOMO: It's a personal touch.

EARNEST: I like it very much. You wear it very well. Your dad would be proud.

CUOMO: Thank you for being with us on NEW DAY. Appreciate it. We'll be staying with you at CNN here and show you everything that happens today.

Again, as Josh Earnest was saying, big meeting with the Cuban leader and President Obama. There's going to be some exchange of questions and answers with media here and of course a buildup to the big baseball game going on and rolling stones on Friday. A lot of amazing stuff. Coverage all day.

CAMEROTA: Chris, great to have you reporting from there. We will see you tomorrow. Thanks so much for all of that.

All right, coming up, alarming information to share with you coming out following the arrest of the escaped Paris terror suspect. What he claims he had in store next. There's a live report from Belgium for you.

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