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Sanders Sweeps Three States, Eyes New York; Trump Outlines 'America First' Foreign Policy; Raids & Arrests Following Brussels Attacks; Taliban Splinter Group Behind Easter Bomb Attack; College Basketball's Final Four is Set. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 28, 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 don't think America is a safe place for Americans.

[05:59:12] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't become Europe.

TRUMP: There are things about Heidi that I don't want to talk about.

CRUZ: Attacking spouses and children is off limits.

TRUMP: I have a guy going around, trying to steal people's delegates.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are now winning in state after state. We think we do have a path toward victory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Multiple raids, arrests in five different European countries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The manhunt expanding for two Brussels bombing suspects.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundreds of men dressed in black with their faces covered, invaded the square.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did people with flares and missiles get into a (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The suicide bomber targeted a crowded Pakistani park.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A large explosion heard for kilometers away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many of the victims are women and children.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Pereira. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to

your NEW DAY. It is Monday, March 28th, 6 a.m. in the east. Chris is off today. Don Lemon joins us...

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, boy.

CAMEROTA: ... in the studio. Great to have you here/

LEMON: What time is it?

CAMEROTA: Early.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: It's early.

CAMEROTA: Early, but we're happy to have you.

Let's begin with the five presidential candidates swooping down on the next big battleground. That's the state of Wisconsin. Donald Trump also laying out some of his controversial foreign policy plan that he calls America First. And the ongoing war of wives with Republican rival Ted Cruz continues.

LEMON: Oh, boy. And there's a Democratic side, of course. A big weekend for Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator sweeping three contests with landslide victories in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington state. But can he hope to make a serious dent in Hillary Clinton's still-commanding delegate lead?

We've got the race for the White House covered by -- only the way CNN can cover it, starting with West Salem, Wisconsin. That's where we find our Phil Mattingly.

Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don.

The focus of the Republican Party should be shifting here, to Wisconsin: 42 delegates, one week from tomorrow, the next big primary contest. And I say "should," because there's a couple other things they are actually focused on right now. First and foremost, obviously, the tiff between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and their wives. It's only served to escalate over the last couple days, and on top of that, an in-depth foreign policy interview with Donald Trump, laying out a lot of things that concern a lot of people in the Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRAPHIC: "I don't think America is a safe place for Americans, you want to know the truth."

(AUDIO GAP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: (AUDIO GAP) PEREIRA: We'll pick up. Apparently, we're having some

technological issues there. We're going to move on to the Democratic race. We'll get back to Phil in a moment. Bernie Sanders vowing that his underdog campaign is gaining momentum fresh off a weekend sweep over rival Hillary Clinton. He's now gearing up for aggressive stumping on Clinton's adopted home turf, saying he's got a real shot to win the crucial New York primary.

Our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, is live in Washington, D.C. Happy Monday to you, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Happy Monday to you. Good morning, Michaela.

This was a very big weekend for Bernie Sanders, with these big, very lopsided wins in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington state, which was, of course, the big one. And now Bernie Sanders is saying that he wants Hillary Clinton to debate him in her adopted home state of New York, which is going to be having its primary here in a few weeks on April 19. He wants to challenge her there in a state that certainly the Clinton campaign is hoping will stay in their box and is expecting that it will.

But certainly that's something that he is trying to create some expectations for that perhaps he can challenge her there after these spate of wins. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Every vote is pivotal. We are now winning in state after state. The Latino vote, we're doing better now that we're out of the South with the African-American vote. We're doing extraordinarily well with young people. And we are -- we think we do have a path toward victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But take a look at the delegate count right now. Even just these pledged delegates that have been awarded in these early -- in these early contests. Hillary Clinton still with a tremendous lead there. So this would be a very difficult feat for Bernie Sanders to achieve. What we're going to see next, Alisyn and Don, is that all eyes will be turning to Wisconsin. It is having its primary next week.

And this is a state that could favor Bernie Sanders. You see a lot of college students there. This is more of a white state than some of these others that we've seen. And I'll tell you, talking to Clinton aides, they say, "You know what? Wisconsin probably favors Bernie Sanders." That's a big deal. And that sort of tells you that they're trying to avoid, perhaps, a Michigan-style upset, where there were these expectations that she was going to win, and then Bernie Sanders actually eked out the win.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for all that. We'll be talking about it throughout the show. We want to go back now to Phil Mattingly for a look at the GOP race. Stop pretending you can't hear us.

MATTINGLY: You can't get rid of me, even if it looks like I'm trying to ignore you at one point or another. No, what's really important in Wisconsin is that this is the next crucial state. And yet the Republican race is still roiled and, in some level riled by two other things that are actually going on right now: the continual fight between Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and their wives, and Donald Trump's in-depth look into foreign policy with "The New York Times."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP (via phone): I don't think America is a safe place for Americans, if you want to know the truth.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump claiming Americans are unsafe the day after laying out his controversial foreign policy world view in a lengthy interview with "The New York Times." He calls into question traditional U.S. alliances, including NATO, describing his approach as, quote, "not isolationist, but America first."

He says, if elected, he might stop buying Saudi oil unless they commit ground troops to fight ISIS and opening the door to the notion Japan and South Korea developing nuclear arms of their own.

TRUMP: He started it. I didn't start it.

CRUZ: Attacking spouses and children is off-limits. It has no place in politics.

MATTINGLY: This as he and rival Ted Cruz ramp up the war of words over their wives, Cruz slamming Trump for hitting below the belt.

CRUZ: He sends tweets attacking my wife, attacking Heidi. It is inappropriate; it is wrong. It is frankly disgusting.

MATTINGLY: The front-runner accusing Cruz of knowing about a super PAC ad targeting his wife, Melania, first.

TRUMP: Don't forget, I call him Lying Ted. I call him that, because nobody that I've known -- I've known a lot tougher people over the years in business, but I've never known anybody that lied like Ted Cruz.

MATTINGLY: Trump threatening on Twitter to, quote, "spill the beans" on Cruz's wife, Heidi, and again on Sunday.

TRUMP: There are things about Heidi that I don't want to talk about, but I'm not going to talk about them.

MATTINGLY: Cruz calling Trump's actions a deliberate distraction, coming down hard on a salacious story in the tabloid "National Enquirer," which earlier this month endorsed Trump.

CRUZ: He's pushing these attacks. And by the way, he's been pushing them for many, many months online. These are complete made-up lies. They're garbage.

MATTINGLY: Trump also blasting Cruz for courting additional delegates Louisiana's March 5 primary, issuing this threat on Twitter, quote, "just to show how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the state of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz. Lawsuit coming."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: That last tweet as some GOP operatives, most GOP operatives actually shaking their heads, scratching their heads, guys. While Donald Trump did win Louisiana -- he won it by about three points -- he and Ted Cruz actually split delegates, 18 apiece.

There were 10 that were going elsewhere: 5 to Marco Rubio, 5 unbound. What has actually happened, according to "The Wall Street Journal," Ted Cruz went in and more or less worked to get those 10. There's nothing illegal about that. Nobody is really sure what the basis for the lawsuit is. D Ted Cruz has seemed not hesitating afraid to throw a little jab here, his national spokesman saying, quote, "maybe your time is better spent reading rules than sending hate tweets."

CAMEROTA: OK, Phil. Thanks so much for all that material. You've set us perfectly up for our panel. So let's bring in newly- minted CNN political analyst David Gregory. You have arrived, my friend.

LEMON: Woo-hoo! How does it feel, Mr. Gregory?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me. Great team. I'm very happy to be part of it.

CAMEROTA: It's great to have you along with our other esteemed guest. We have CNN political commentator and senior contributor for "The Daily Caller," Matt Lewis; and senior politics editor for "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich. Great to see all of you this morning.

David, let's start with this stunning 100-minute-long interview that Donald Trump gave to "The New York Times" in which he basically spelled out his thoughts on foreign policy. I'll just read what seems to be the premise of his foreign policy.

And he says, "I'm not isolationist. But I am America first. I like the expression. We will not be ripped off anymore. We're going to be friendly with everybody. But we're not going to be taken advantage of by anybody."

David, how do you define the Trump doctrine?

GREGORY: Well, we've actually seen it before. It goes back to parts of the 19th Century and early 20th Century. It is an isolationist foreign policy, one in which he thinks that America is getting ripped off in the international order. He does not believe in the liberal world order that, frankly, was responsible for beating Nazi Germany and winning the Cold War. He thinks that he can create new deals that are more favorable to the United States economically. There's a lot in his world view that is not very well-defined, including how he would approach some of these very difficult decisions.

He's also been rather cozy in his respect for authoritarianism, whether it's in China or in other parts of the world, even in Russia. So there's a lot here that is actually recognizable. If you go back at some of the reading I've done on this, you look at his views about international trade, how he wants new deals in international trade that would better advantage the United States. This is something that Ross Perot said way back in 1992. So you can understand some of the appeal with a lot of his supporters around the country.

LEMON: He said it's not -- it's not isolationist. He just wants to protect America. He doesn't believe that our own interests are being protected. And when it comes to Saudi Arabia, I want to read this and then get your response to this.

He said, "We are not being reimbursed for our protection. You know, Saudi Arabia, the amount of money they have is phenomenal. But we protect countries and take tremendous monetary hits on protecting countries. And yet, without us, Saudi Arabia wouldn't exist for very long."

Saudi Arabia would not exist without America's protection?

[06:10:12] MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, maybe not. I mean, he actually might be right about that. We see how unstable things are in the Middle East and how, you know, some of these pro-American -- ostensibly pro-American regimes are very tenuous. I mean, it's hard to say what might happen without America as a force for good in the world.

Look, I want to go back to what you were saying and what David is saying. You know, he said he's not isolationist. He's embracing the term "America first," which harkens back to the isolationist, you know, Charles Lindbergh movement out before World War II. And that's really what this is. I mean, David is absolutely right. This is a return to a pre-World War II mentality. And even pre-Great Depression in terms of trade. You know, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.

This is a paleo-conservative world view that basically -- now, I think if you're a Trump supporter, you say, "Look, the world has changed. Why should we be operating under a paradigm that was created to, you know, contain the Soviet Union and before that to stop Nazi Germany?"

But I think if you're not a Trump supporter, you look at this and say, "Hey, you know what? History is repeating itself. We're going to make the same mistakes we made 50 or 60 years ago if we're not careful."

GREGORY: What's also important is that he doesn't believe in the indispensable role of the United States in influencing international events. He believes that the United States should be the most important in terms of getting the kinds of deals we want, deals very loosely defined. But not in using influence to affect world events.

CAMEROTA: Jackie...

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: And that's just it.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead.

KUCINICH: He seems to be...

CAMEROTA: Go ahead.

KUCINICH: He seems to be treating this whole thing as he would a real-estate deal.

But the bottom line is, if you walk away from some of these decades-old trade deals and, you know, various other pacts across -- across the world, you know, it's not the same as not getting the air rights that you want in Manhattan. The building doesn't get built. You know the -- people don't die. There aren't, you know, all of these other global repercussions because, you know, Donald Trump doesn't get to build a building that high.

He talks about walking away from some of these very carefully- crafted diplomatic pacts. It's just -- it's sort of -- it's puzzling, really. Because he seems to be applying standards that, you know, he did very well in real estate. But I don't know that that would work when it comes to diplomacy.

CAMEROTA: Matt, very quickly, I want to ask you about this war of the wives, where Donald Trump and Ted Cruz keep saying things about each other's wives. And Donald Trump has said, basically, that -- he's suggested there might be some story, some hidden story, some beans to be spilled about Heidi Cruz. What's he doing?

LEWIS: Well, I think this is what Donald Trump does. And, you know, T don't think that he was necessarily behind some of the more salacious rumors that we've seen. But clearly, he has said that he's going to spill the beans. And what does that mean? You know, does that mean talking about her time at Goldman Sachs? Well, people know that she's an executive at Goldman Sachs. You know, what does that mean?

But look, I think that this is what Donald Trump does. I don't think there's any "there" there. You know, Ted Cruz is a very unlikable person. But I don't think that there's all these skeletons in his closet. But I think this is what Trump does, is it's psychological warfare. He changes the subject. He doesn't want to talk about things that he's not comfortable with. He wants the race to be about this jump.

LEMON: "I'm not going to talk about it by talking about it" is basically what happened.

CAMEROTA: On some level. Panel, thank you very much. Great to see all of you. Tomorrow night, the three Republican candidates will take part in a CNN town hall in Wisconsin. This comes one week before the primary there. So the GOP town hall is Tuesday night, 8 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. The death toll rising in the Brussels terror attacks as authorities try to break down a complex web of terror activity across Europe following those attacks. Three people are now under arrest after more than a dozen raids over the weekend with two key terror suspects still on the loose.

Our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, has the very latest for us from Brussels today -- Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Michaela. It's been a very busy weekend for authorities here. Thirteen raids, nine people detained. Some of them have been released. But we're learning today that three people are being charged with -- let me get the exact charge for you. Participation in the activities of a terrorist group. Those are some pretty serious charges. We don't know yet if they are related specifically to the Paris or Brussels attack.

The main focus in the investigation appears to be a man that Belgian authorities are only identifying as Faisal C. He is being charged with terrorist murder, with participation in a terrorist activity and also with attempted terrorist murder, indicating that he likely has a very central role in these attacks, but we don't know specifically yet what that role was.

[06:15:06] Now, as you said, the death toll has now risen to 35. We know that there are four Americans among the dead, only two of whom have been identified. They are Justin and Stephanie Schults of Tennessee, who were at the airport, actually taking Stephanie's mother, Caroline, who was flying out of Belgium that day.

Meanwhile, here, Michaela, things are quite tense. You know, there was a big memorial going on behind me yesterday, which was marched upon by about 300 far-right-wing nationalists. Protesters were chanting anti-immigrant chants. It quickly became very tense. Police had to be brought in, riot police. Water cannons, even, were used a bit. And the police did manage to push them back slowly and methodically, but not before there were some scuffles in the group, some nasty slogans being chanted. The people here who had just been laying flowers and lighting candles feeling intimidated.

So I would say this is still a city on edge, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Clarissa, we know you witnessed all that yesterday, and we'll have many more questions for you, so stand by. We'll be back to you shortly.

Meanwhile, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban now claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 59 people, the group admitting it intentionally targeted Christians, many of them families celebrating Easter celebrating Easter at a crowded park in Lahore.

CNN's New Delhi bureau chief, Ravi Agrawal, tracking developments for us there, live from New Delhi -- Ravi.

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, there.

Yes, about 69 people confirmed dead so far, upwards of 300 people injured. The death toll might rise. And stories like this are difficult to digest at any time, but what possibly makes it even worse is that the suicide attack that took place on Sunday evening in Lahore, the -- in Pakistan. It also targeted children, because it took place near a playground and an amusement park. So we suspect that many of the people who were killed were actually young children and, of course, women.

The group that is responsible is a group that is called Jamat-ul- Ahrar. It is a splinter group from the Pakistani Taliban. They explicitly said they were targeting Christians, and they said it was a message to the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was from that city, Lahore. It's a message to him that they can attack anytime, anywhere, including his hometown -- his hometown.

And the prime minister came out with a strong statement just one hour ago. He said that "We must take this war to the doors of terrorist outfits. God willing, we will wipe them out." It's a strong statement back from the Pakistani government. The Pakistanis will be waiting and watching to see what happens next.

LEMON: All right, Ravi, thank you very much. Meantime, college basketball's Final Four is set. How are your brackets?

CAMEROTA: I don't know. How are they? I always ask Coy Wire.

LEMON: Coy, I think my brackets are pretty much done. What about yours? What about ours? What's going on? What day is it?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: I'm going to gloss right over the bracket standings, because I am way down at the bottom.

LEMON: Oh, come on.

WIRE: But March Madness, guys, lived up to the hype. And part of that was Syracuse. They're now the first ever 10-seed to ever make the Final Four. What a win over No. 1, Virginia.

They came out against Virginia and five three-pointers by London Perrantes in the first half. But UVA would be ahead by 16 points at one point in the second half. But Syracuse turns up the heat.

Defensively, they forced six turnovers in the second half. They go on a run to outscore Virginia 29-8 over the last 9 and a half minutes. It was Malachi Richardson leading the way with a career-high 23 for the Cavs. Down by three. Virginia has one chance to tie it with 12 seconds remaining. It wouldn't go. Syracuse wins 68-62 in a shocker.

They're going to take on North Carolina. They beat Notre Dame to remain the only No. 1 seed to make the Final Four. Neither team led by more than six in the first half. But UNC and Brice Johnson were too much. Johnson had a huge game: 25 points, 12 rebounds. Tar Heels win

88-74 and advance to the Final Four for an NCAA record 19th time. There it is, guys. It's all set. The Final Four Saturday night. All of it's going to be on our sister channel, TBS. The first game is going to be Villanova and Oklahoma, who are each two seeds, knocking off No. 1s in their regions to make it to the show.

Now an ACC clash, Syracuse versus North Carolina in the other game. They played twice this season already. UNC won both of those. We'll see how it turns out this time. The winners of each of these go on to the national championship, Monday night, April 4, on TBS -- guys.

LEMON: I'm glad you're the sports guy. Let's see, because Michaela is No. 3. In brackets, you're tied. Alisyn Camerota is No. 5.

CAMEROTA: I'm a sports savant.

LEMON: Yours truly is No. 9. And Coy Wire is, oh, 21.

[06:20:04] WIRE: I've got to go. I've got to go, guys. I've got to get out of here.

PEREIRA: Thanks so much.

WIRE: Thanks, guys.

PEREIRA: We're moving on to our top story now, the investigation into the Brussels terror attacks. Are authorities any closer to capturing the two suspects who escaped after last week's bombings? We have brand-new video. We're going to show you one of those suspected terrorists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We are getting our first look at some new video of the Brussels airport bombing suspect, the one who is on the run now for nearly a week.

Belgian federal police releasing this airport security video that we're about to show you here, the man in the light-colored jacket and the hat. This is the first time you've seen moving video of him.

Also, there were new raids and arrests across Europe over the weekend in connection to the Brussels and Paris attacks. Authorities searching for at least eight suspects they believe to have links to these ISIS attacks.

So let's bring back senior -- CNN senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, and bringing in Politico's senior E.U. correspondent, Ryan Heath. Great to have both of you here on NEW DAY.

[06:25:03] Clarissa, what have authorities released beyond that moving video of that suspect's identity? WARD: Well, so far we don't really know anything about his

identity. But there is certainly a lot of speculation that possibly this man whose image we're now very familiar with in that light jacket with the glasses, with the hat, the only one of the three airport bombers who did not detonate explosives. Some people are speculating that perhaps this could be a man who's only being named by authorities as Faisal C.

We know that Faisal C. was arrested outside the prosecutor's office on Thursday. And he is being charged with some pretty serious charges. Terrorist murder, attempted terrorist murder and participation in terrorist activities.

Now, I should say authorities have not confirmed in any way, shape, or form that Faisal C. is, in fact, the man in the light jacket. Others have speculated perhaps he could even be the second airport bomber. But this is -- the second metro bomber, I should say. This is certainly a common theme we're seeing here. Investigators, authorities keeping very tight-lipped as to the details of this investigation, because it is ongoing.

But so far the main suspect that people are talking about is the man Faisal C., who is facing those heavy charges, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Ryan, we've learned a lot over the last week about the problems that plague Brussels in terms of cultural issues and systemic issues that stymie investigators there. For instance, why would they wait almost a week to release this moving video? That could possibly help capture him.

RYAN HEATH, SENIOR E.U. CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: That's correct. But it's all a bit of a mystery how some of these Brussels authorities operate. These are the same authorities that didn't accede that there could be anything wrong with that drug cafe run by the Abdeslam brothers in Molenbeek. It turns out, actually, that some of the people recently arrested were at the very least socialized there. It would be highly unlikely if they weren't associated with other activities as a result of being in that space.

So at this point, all we can do is speculate about why there are these delays in releasing images like that. But what we do know is that the authorities are very overstretched. And we do know that these cells tend to operate quite closely. So the people who survived the Paris attacks who were involved, they went on to do other things. So these people, these images, if they're surviving that attack, it's very possible that they're going on to have other attacks in the future.

CAMEROTA: Clarissa, tell us about the protests or the march or whatever it was that you witnessed yesterday in the square there that seemed to get out of control?

WARD: It was so surprising, Alisyn. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It was a very subdued atmosphere behind me. People were laying flowers, lighting candles, remembering the dead. And suddenly, this mass of men clad in black, chanting anti-

immigrant, a lot of soccer chants, as well, appeared out of nowhere. They marched onto the square. We saw them doing Nazi salutes. Some of them began trampling on the flowers that have been laid out to commemorate the dead. And then very quickly, things became extremely tense. We saw some small scuffles between the people who are already here commemorating the dead and those ultra-right-wing men who marched on the square.

The police quickly formed a perimeter around the area and then actually started to push them back. At one stage, even using a water cannon to try to contain the situation, to prevent tensions from getting any higher.

But really, Alisyn, this is exactly what Belgian authorities had wanted to avoid. This is why they had asked people not to come out and march today. Not because there was any specific threat to the march, but because they don't want these vital police resources. You just heard Ryan saying how stretched thin they are. They don't want these police resources diverted having to man or police instances like yesterday when there is still this massive manhunt going.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. That's understandable. All right, Clarissa, Ryan, thanks so much for all of the information. We will be monitoring this situation and check back with you.

Also, this programming note: Our Chris Cuomo returns to Paris to investigate the terror that struck there five months ago. You can see his special report. It's Wednesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Don.

LEMON: Alisyn, thank you.

Two brothers linked to the Paris terror attacks partying and smoking pot months before carrying out their deadly plot. Now their friends are speaking out. A CNN exclusive you don't want to miss. That's next.

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