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New Day

Trump and Cruz War; Best Friend Remembers Brussels Victim. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 28, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Special report airs Wednesday night, 9:00 Eastern.

Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, back to publics. Donald Trump's personal attacks against his Republican rivals so far not really hurting him. Is he going too far by going negative on Ted Cruz's wife? Will women make him pay at the polls? We'll discuss this and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): There are things about Heidi that I don't want to talk about, but I'm not going to talk about them. I mean, you know, you could look but I wouldn't talk about them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That was just the latest volley in the war of wives, as it's being called. That was Donald Trump talking about Ted Cruz's wife Heidi this weekend. So how are women responding to this fight and what about female voters? Let's ask CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany, and CNN political commentator and former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz Amanda Carpenter.

Ladies, great to have both of you with us.

Kayleigh, let me start with you. Is - do you think the Trump campaign is concerned that statements like that, they may have the effect of getting Ted Cruz back on his heels, but they may also have a larger ramification of turning off some female voters?

[08:35:05] KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think they should be concerned about that. You know, the Republican Party right now has devolved into this attack between two candidates over their wives. It's something - it's a narrative that I don't want to see my party engaging in. It's one that needs to be stopped and that's going to mean both candidates stopping talking about one another's wives. That includes my candidate, Mr. Trump. I do think it's important to point out, though, that he has won women

in 12 of the 16 states where CNN has conducted exit polls because I think women, at the end of the day, care about their kids being safe at school, they care about the economy. So I think that that is what's going to drive the female vote. But he should not be giving ammunition to those who want to paint him as anti-woman.

CAMEROTA: There are a couple of notable exceptions to the places where Donald Trump has won women. In Virginia, he won the state but he lost the female vote to Marco Rubio. In Missouri, Trump won the state but he lost the female vote to Cruz. But - but, Amanda, to Kayleigh's point, do you think that female voters care about these, you know, statements, some of them derogatory, that he has made towards women?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, absolutely. He has a long history of doing it. And, you know, we have to put to rest this idea that it's a war of wives. This begins and ends with Donald Trump. He's launching asymmetric warfare against Heidi Cruz. I mean this is really unprecedented. And him and his aides have stoked the idea that they're going to spill the beans on her. She has done nothing except have a great career. Donald Trump is attacking her for having a career, for standing on her own, for taking a risk, for being a strong woman. Other women notice this and it is shocking. It's causing people to withdraw support and really question things and I really want to commend Kayleigh -

CAMEROTA: But what's your (INAUDIBLE) of that?

CARPENTER: I really want to commend Kayleigh for being the rare Trump supporter for saying, I'm uncomfortable with this, because all women should stand up against it and say it's not OK, this is not what our party's about. So that's great to hear.

CAMEROTA: But, Amanda, just to stick with you for a second, what is your evidence that women are withdrawing their support?

CARPENTER: Well, I think - I mean just - I talk to a number of women who over the summer were saying, wow, this is really interesting what Donald Trump is doing. He's so brash. He's saying things that other people are thinking but don't gave the courage to say. But they see this pattern of him attacking women with Megyn Kelly, Rosie O'Donnell. I mean even in "The Washington Post" interview, he stopped an interview, if you read the transcript, or the reporter said later he, you know, he called me "beautiful." And it was so out of context in a professional setting, that he just can't help himself. He always looks at women as objects and people are starting to notice and the history of this. Go back and look at how he, you know, profited from parading half naked and naked women around in beauty pageants and strip clubs. That's something that hasn't even been touched by this but most certainly will be discussed if Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential candidate, is the nominee for the Democratic Party.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Kayleigh, let's look at the latest polls and see if - what we can glean from them. This was a CNN/ORC poll. It was just from basically last week. Among all women, 74 percent have an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump, 24 percent favorable. It's better among just Republican women when asked, can you see yourself supporting Donald Trump, 52 percent say yes, but 47 percent say no. What do you take away from these numbers?

MCENANY: You know, I think he has the ability to change unfavorables. He came into the race in June with historic unfavorables. Commentators were saying there's no way he can overcome this. It was double digit negatives, unfavorable ratings among Republican voters generally. He changed that to double digit positive favorables. So I think he has the ability to change those numbers, but that is going to mean pivoting away from attacking Heidi Cruz. It's going to mean emphasizing what voters like about him, which is his foreign policy, his non-interventionism, his economic platform. These are the reasons voters latched on to him in the beginning. So he's got to change. He's got to get away from the attacks and focus on what he did this week in the "New York Times" interview which I thought was a great interview, but it's up to him to make that choice to focus on those issues and release the personal attacks and get away from that. We're moving forward and I don't want to see Hillary Clinton in the White House.

CAMEROTA: Amanda, you brought up Fox's Megyn Kelly. He has said unkind things about her. He's said unkind things about Carly Fiorina. Do you think he's capable of doing what Kayleigh is suggesting?

CARPENTER: No.

CAMEROTA: Do you think that he's - he's capable of changing his tune about how he sees women?

CARPENTER: No, I think it's so ingrained in his personality to objectify women at every turn. He can't help it. I think sometimes he does try to be good, but he has a temper that's uncontrollable. I mean Donald Trump, as a figure, has a temperament issue. I mean certainly against women, but just - he has no boundaries. It's not that he's not politically correct. He's not civil. He is an indecent person in the public sphere and that's generated him a lot of publicity over the years, but it certainly doesn't make him presidential.

CAMEROTA: Kayleigh, Amanda, thanks for your candor this morning. Great to have you both on NEW DAY.

Let's get over to Don.

LEMON: Alisyn, thank you.

[08:39:56] The pain and sorrow felt by the loved ones of Brussels victims just beginning to set in. Next, the best friend of a woman killed in the airport bombing shares her memories of the Dutch woman who called New York home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Here we go with Monday's five things.

The presidential candidates Wisconsin bound. That's the next state up for grabs. Donald Trump threatening again to spill the beans on Ted Cruz's wife Heidi. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders looking past Wisconsin, aiming right for New

York. Fresh off his three state sweep over Hillary Clinton, he says he has what it takes to beat his rival on her adopted home turf in the upcoming New York primary.

Belgium authorities are releasing this new video of the Brussels airport bombing suspect who's believed to still be at large. Three people are under arrest in connection with the Brussels attacks after more than a dozen raids over the weekend.

Pakistan's military and intel agencies cracking down on terror, carrying out raids in three cities. That is after a Pakistani Taliban splinter group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Lahore that killed at least 69 people.

[08:45:07] The final four is set. Number two seeds Villanova and Oklahoma tangling in game one Saturday night. Then top seed North Carolina takes on 10 seed Syracuse. The winners, of course, play for the national championships. That is one week from tonight. Get the snacks ready.

For more on five things to know, be sure to visit newdayCNN.com for the latest.

All right. Time for CNNMoney Now. Guess who is here? Chief business correspondent Christine Romans nearby in the Money Center.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Michaela. Good morning. California could become the first state with a $15 minimum wage. A tentative deal hashed out this weekend would increase the state's lowest wage workers to $10.50 an hour at the start of next year. The wage would rise in steps, hitting $15 an hour by the year 2022. Now some state lawmakers are concerned it would hurt small businesses. Companies with 25 or fewer employees get an extra year to deal with each increase. Governor Jerry Brown is expected to officially announce this agreement later today, guys.

CAMEROTA: Okay, Christine. Thanks so much.

Well, the Brussels terror attacks leaving a hole in the hearts of those who lost loved ones. Next on NEW DAY, a friend remembers a victim killed with her brother as they headed home to New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:21] PEREIRA: Four Americans are now confirmed dead nearly a week after the terror attacks in Brussels. Killed in the attacks, two Dutch siblings who recently called New York home. Alexander and Sascha Pinczowski were in line to get their boarding passes. They were trying to board a flight headed to New York when those bombings occurred.

Joining us now is one of Sascha's best friends. We have Taylor Pontikos joining us. And I understand that you two were college roommates and best friends.

First of all, tell us how you found out that Sascha was at the airport.

TAYLOR PONTIKOS, FRIEND AND FORMER ROOMMATE OF SASCHA PINCZOWSKI: Well, I didn't know that Sascha had been traveling. Actually, my other best friend messaged me on Facebook while I was in Miami and she said Sascha -- she messaged me and said Sascha is -- she's dead. She was killed in the Brussels attack. And I looked it up online and it just -- you know -- my heart sunk.

It was like this is a girl that I roomed with. I lived with her. We did everything together my first semester of college. She is in every single one of my New York memories. And you know, it took four days for them to confirm that Sascha and Alex, her brother, were dead. And you know, you don't even think about it. You don't even think that someone this close to you could be killed in such a horrific accident.

PEREIRA: We understand Alex was heading here to New York to meet his fiance. And Sascha was going to hang out with friends for the weekend. And you talk about that, these regular occurrences. We all travel, we all go around the world and visit people. We go to airports -- very regular thing that we do in life. But to see something like this happen, I imagine it's been a real struggle for you to come to terms with this.

PONTIKOS: Oh, yeah. I mean -- this is someone -- this could have been me. I travel all the time. Sascha traveled all the time. She has a huge international network. And it just puts it in perspective for you. It's -- She represents every college girl out there who could have just been going on a study abroad or whatever, you know. It's still -- it's unbelievable. It's almost -- I almost can't believe it.

PEREIRA: Do you actually think it is going to affect how you see travel? Do you think it's going to make you more afraid? Has it changed that -- your perspective that way?

PONTIKOS: No. Honestly --

PEREIRA: Good for you.

PONTIKOS: I mean, I -- you can't live your life in fear. These terrorist attacks, that's exactly what ISIS wants. They want you to start living your life in fear. And I know Sascha. She was a free spirit. She would -- That is why she was traveling. She wasn't going to let anything like the fear of terrorism stop her from living her life. Nor can I or anyone else. That's the point. You know?

PEREIRA: It's interesting some of us older people in the crowd are amazed at the fact that your generation is having to deal with this in a more regular basis. It is becoming, as some people say, the new normal. Do you reject that notion?

PONTIKOS: Unfortunately, no. I don't. It's horrible. I mean, what is going on with this world and a shooting almost every week, you have acts of terrorism, you -- it's like -- It's a scary world to live in and it's unfortunate that all the negativity in this world overshadows the positivity. This world is such a wonderful place and just the fact that we have to grow up with this and these horrific events is just mind-blowing.

PEREIRA: You described Sascha as "the tiniest girl in the room with the biggest heels and the biggest heart."

PONTIKOS: Absolutely, yeah. She just had this spirit that made everyone gravitate towards her. It was like a contagious positivity. And absolutely she always wore her Steve Madden Mary Jane seven inch heels when we'd go out. I'm 5'9", she'd almost break 5'9".

PEREIRA: Taylor, we appreciate you joining us with joy, obviously, on your face as you remember your friend. I know that you will continue to feel the impact that she's had on your life. Thanks for joining us today on NEW DAY.

PONTIKOS: Thank you so much.

[08:54:48] PEREIRA: We've got "The Good Stuff" coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Time now for "The Good Stuff." And an update on that sad Papaw from Oklahoma. Or should we now call him popular Papaw?

PEREIRA: That's right.

CAMEROTA: Hundreds of people from across the globe came to visit Kenny Harmon. He went viral when his granddaughter tweeted this photo of him eating a burger alone after only one grand kid showed up for dinner.

PEREIRA: That he'd invited them to.

CAMEROTA: Yeah. It looks like he won't have problems sharing any meals now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The American thing --

(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Oopsie.

CAMEROTA: A lot of people want to have a meal with him --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: (Inaudible) I think the bottom line is.

LEMON: I'd like to have my burgers alone.

PEREIRA: You do?

LEMON: Yeah, because I don't want anyone asking me for it. CAMEROTA: But do you have sad face while you're eating your burger?

LEMON: Well, no.

PEREIRA: Look at all those people there.

CAMEROTA: Aw.

PEREIRA: We're having some technical glitches there.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNY HARMON, "SAD PAPAW": The theme that's coming to me from almost everybody is their grandparents, their great grandparents, what they want to do now or what they wish they had done before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Oh, I love that.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's all have a burger with him.

PEREIRA: We will. Congratulations, Papaw.

LEMON: Can we get a burger after this?

CAMEROTA: Let's do that.

PEREIRA: Can I show you somebody who deserves a burger? We have a bigger -- Our family is growing. Our technical director, Regina Soto (ph), gave birth to a little girl over the weekend and it's Lucy Margaret, born Saturday, a healthy 8 pounds 3 ounces, born on the 26th. Congratulations and welcome to the NEW DAY family.