Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

: Obama To Host Final Nuclear Security Summit; Trump Ignites Firestorm Over Abortion Comment; Planned Parenthood Responds To Trump's Comments; Stocks Set To End First Quarter With Gains; Backlash Over N.C.'s Anti-LGBT Law; Rubio Asks State Parties To Keep His Delegates; How A Contested Convention Works; Michaela's Special Surprise. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 31, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:00] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: President Barack Obama hosting his fourth and final nuclear security summit today. He is looking to advance nuclear disarmament and reduce the risk of nuclear terror. Leaders from more than 50 countries are converging on Washington for the 2-day summit, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending. His snub casting doubt the summit will lead to any breakthroughs.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Here is a crazy story, Don. Three first-graders accused of plotting to poison a classmate in their Anchorage, Alaska charter school. Several students spoke up. They foiled the plan. Police say the first-graders intended to use these silica gel packs from their lunchtime meals to kill their fellow student. The gel packs are not poisonous but the students apparently thought they were. No criminal charges filed, but the students face possible expulsion.

LEMON: First-graders?

CAMEROTA: It makes no sense.

LEMON: Yes, OK. Washington, D.C.'s metro system is in such bad shape some of its lines might be shut down for up to six months for maintenance. Can you imagine what commuters are going to do? The head of the system's transit board putting commuters on notice to prepare for extended shutdowns. He's also calling for more than $1 billion a year in additional funding, possibly from a new sales tax. The final decision on closure is expected in four to six weeks.

CAMEROTA: OK, back to our top story. Donald Trump igniting a firestorm Wednesday when he said that women who get abortions should be punished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Do you believe in punishment for abortion? Yes or no, as a principle.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.

MATTHEWS: For the woman?

TRUMP: Yes, there has to be some form.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, Trump backtracked twice within just a few hours, but not before hearing a heap of criticism.

Here to respond is Planned Parenthood's executive vice president, Dawn Laguens. Dawn, great to have you on NEW DAY this morning.

DAWN LAGUENS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Dawn, can you just take us inside Planned Parenthood and tell us what was happening inside the conference rooms there when you heard that Donald Trump had spoken about banning abortion and then criminalizing women who sought one.

LAGUENS: Well, let me say, Alisyn, that a plan to punish women who seek abortion in this country is not news, it's actually the Republican Party platform. Donald Trump just said more bluntly, as he is usual to do, that he supports the same dangerous and extreme agenda that Ted Cruz has voted on in the Senate and John Kasich has made the law of the land for Ohio.

CAMEROTA: But Dawn, hold on. I mean, John Kasich hasn't made it the law of the land to send women to jail, and Ted Cruz hasn't voted on that in the Senate.

LAGUENS: Well, Donald Trump said that he thought that women should be punished and, of course, he said he backtracked. I think we saw what was really in his heart in his first comment. But if you look at what's gone on in this country since 2010, led by John Kasich, Ted Cruz -- they have had an agenda to "punish women" to quote Trump, through making them drive 500 miles to get an abortion.

To come three times for an appointment to take two pills. To stand outside of health centers and yell obscenities at doctors and women who go there, and to stand up for that. So, I don't think saying that there's some difference between them when you look at their records -- Ohio is now considered second only to Texas in the number of anti- abortion laws that have been passed.

CAMEROTA: OK, but just to be -- I hear you, Dawn. But, just to be clear, you don't think there's a difference? You're not drawing any distinction between restricting access to abortion, as John Kasich has done in Ohio, and saying that women should be criminalized? I mean, he couldn't even answer the question if they should be fined or go to jail. He had to think about it. You don't think there's a distinction between those two?

LAGUENS: I believe that when you look, actually, at their record, that the things that have been passed -- the laws that have been passed that criminalize abortion activity that force clinics to close rather than to provide services that would then be outside of the law and risk being sent to jail for doctors or women.

There's no evidence of where these laws would stop or what these folks would do. And I think the only outrage on the side of Cruz and of Kasich and the pro-life or anti-abortion opponents is that they've been outed by Donald Trump being kind of the id of the Republican Party.

[07:35:00] CAMEROTA: What the pro-life groups and advocates say is that he is far beyond the mainstream and far beyond where they are in their position on abortion. Let me read you their comment. This is from March for Life. They say, "Being pro-life means wanting what is best for the mother and the baby. No pro-lifer would ever want to punish a woman who has chosen abortion. This is against the very nature of what we are about."

So clearly, they see a very big difference between what Donald Trump said yesterday about criminalizing women who get or seek an abortion, and where Ted Cruz and John Kasich have been on this.

LAGUENS: Again, I would just maintain, Alisyn, that they're horrified to have been outed for what they do every day, which is punish women who seek abortions. To back laws that tell doctors they must lie to women, to work to shut down clinics, to ban certain procedures that doctors say are important for women's safety and health. I mean, all of these things. That's what their agenda is day in and day out. They do punish women.

And so, they can be upset that Donald Trump is saying it out loud and proud, if you will, but I really don't draw a distinction between what the effect of their agenda is in their efforts to punish women every single day.

CAMEROTA: John Kasich, himself, does see a difference -- a big difference between where Donald Trump or where his initial statement was to Chris Matthews, and what John Kasich has done. So, let me just play that for you -- what Kasich said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But, I mean, I do have exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, but of course, women shouldn't be punished. I don't -- look, you know, I think probably Donald Trump will figure out a way to say that he didn't say it or he was misquoted or whatever, but I don't think so. I don't think that's an appropriate response and it's a difficult enough situation and to try to punish somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Kasich says it's a difficult enough situation rather than to try to punish someone. What's your response to that?

LAGUENS: For 18 bills in Ohio that John Kasich has backed that make getting an abortion safely and legally more difficult for the women of that state. He punished women every day that he was governor, and so trying to draw a distinction between what Donald Trump says and what John Kasich has actually done as governor of a major state -- it's now ranked as the second worst state, behind Texas, for women seeking reproductive health care and that's an agenda that he has been proudly in favor of.

And to say he has a few exceptions -- but, of course, the Senate -- Ted Cruz, no exceptions. The bills that have passed -- these are just real evidence of a party and candidates who are completely out of touch with women in this country. One in three women in America has had an abortion. Are they going to punish them all?

CAMEROTA: Dawn Laguens, we appreciate getting the position of Planned Parenthood. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

LAGUENS: Absolutely, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Over to Don.

LEMON: All right, Alisyn.

President Barack Obama hosting world leaders at today's nuclear summit. He wants to keep dangerous nukes out of terrorist's hands, but is it too late? Former head of the House Intelligence Committee weighs in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:00] LEMON: President Barack Obama preparing to host leaders from more than 50 nations at a nuclear security summit in Washington today. The focus, preventing terrorists from obtaining nuclear material. This session coming at a moment of global unease after the attacks in Brussels, of course.

CNN's national security commentator and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, joins us now.

So, Mike, the goal of this summit is to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear materials. And, good morning, by the way, I should say.

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning, Don.

LEMON: The White House has said that it is aware of 2,000 metric tons of material at risk around the world, so what needs to happen during this summit to keep this material from getting into the hands of the wrong people, and that's terrorists?

ROGERS: Yes. Well, there's a host of things that they can do. There are nations who are in possession of nuclear materials whose security standards are not what it really needs to be, given the threat. So, Pakistan comes to mind. They still have a long way to go to make sure that all of their nuclear materials are secure in a manner that would give us at least a Western-style comfort level with their protection efforts. Not having Russia here is a big problem. A lot of that loose nuke material, they would call it, came out of Russia in the years after the wall came down and the change in the posture with Russia. That's concerning as well. They can be a very important, and should be a very important player. It's unfortunate that they didn't show up here.

It has to be a global effort. Tracking loose nuke materials is a big deal. It's an intelligence-based effort and a law enforcement-based effort, and we're going to have to ramp it all up, including, by the way, Don, cybersecurity at these facilities. And that's where I think places like Belgium fell behind -- is on their cybersecurity protection of their facilities and their physical security of their nuclear facilities.

LEMON: On the sideline of this summit, President Barack Obama is going to be participating in a trilateral meeting with the Japanese prime minister and the South Korean president regarding North Korea's nuclear program, Mike. I want you to take a listen to what Donald Trump said about -- his remarks on nuclear proliferation during our town hall, and that was just on Tuesday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, MODERATOR, CNN TOWN HALL: You really think NATO is obsolete.

TRUMP: I think it's largely obsolete, yes. It's got to be changed. It's got to be -- you don't talk about terror. Our single biggest threat right now is terror, OK? I mean, I really do understand this stuff. NATO is obsolete. Now, that doesn't mean it can't be rejiggered and it can't be fixed and made good, or it's possible --

COOPER: And for you that's a financial component that when you talk about rejiggering --

TRUMP: We're paying too much. You have countries in NATO -- I think it's 28 countries.

COOPER: OK.

TRUMP: You have countries in NATO that are getting a free ride, and it's unfair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The White House press secretary has called this incredibly destabilizing. How are his comments going to play during these meetings that the president will be having?

ROGERS: Well, I hope they're not a part of the conversation the president's having with the prime minister of both Japan and South Korea.

LEMON: You don't think they're paying attention? ROGERS: Well, I'm sure they're paying attention but I hope the meeting is more substantive than what one candidate in an election -- we have a huge problem in North Korea's really aggressive activities, including talking about a first strike with a nuclear weapon, and they clearly have demonstrated that they have a nuclear weapon.

[07:45:00] Many analysts believe they have multiple nuclear weapons.Now, they don't know if they can put them on top of a missile and fire it, but you don't want to find that out. And so, I hope that meeting centers completely on what is the way forward to continue to push back on North Korea's effort to A, get attention, and B, continue to denuclearize in a way that is really destabilizing to the Korean Peninsula. It's bad for China, it's bad for Asia, it's clearly bad for Japan, as well. So I hope that's the focus of the meeting.

On a good day, Donald Trump's name wouldn't come up in that meeting because of the seriousness of the effort that we have when you're talking about trying to push back on North Korea's nuclear program.

LEMON: This is the president's fourth and final nuclear summit and it's coming off the attacks in Brussels and increased fear, really, of nuclear terrorism What does this say about -- what does this current state say about the president's, I guess, legacy, and how he's doing -- the progress he's making?

ROGERS: You know, I think this would go down as one of his successes on the loose nuke program, and that's really the way this started. How do you control the availability of nuclear materials floating around on the black market? And so drawing attention to this by the President of the United States is a good thing. It's a positive thing and can be a very, very important way to get the standards of security on nuclear materials up all around the world.

And I think as Belgium showed us -- as the Brussels case showed us -- the terrorists, although a little misguided -- the materials at that nuclear facility probably would not have been ideal or maybe even impactful to a radiological bomb. The fact that they were trying to get into that facility and showed an effort to put together a dirty bomb, or a radiological bomb, shows you the seriousness of this effort.

And so, again, I hope that something comes out of this more than just let's plan another one of these summits. If that happens, Don, I think that the president can say he's moved in a direction that is very important on securing loose nuclear materials. This is a big concern around the world, and one that now that you see so publicly ISIS's interest in getting these materials, why this issue is so important.

LEMON: We're going to be watching to see what comes out of the summit. Thank you very much, Mike Rogers.

ROGERS: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Alisyn -- CAMEROTA: OK, Don. All eyes on Wisconsin in the Republican primary race. The polls show Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump at the moment, so could Trump's path to victory encounter some bumps in the road?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:00] LEMON: You know why I'm excited? Because it's money time. CNN's money time now with our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans. Good morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Don Lemon, excited about money.

LEMON: I am.

ROMANS: Good morning. It's the last day of the first quarter and investors are excited because they're making money again. The market started the year in meltdown mode. The Dow plunged, you remember, 10 percent as oil prices crashed. Then the comeback. It's now up almost 2 percent for the year.

Eighty big businesses standing up against North Carolina's new law that bars cities and counties from expanding non-discrimination protections to include gay and transgender people. Connecticut's governor stepping in. He says it shows the state is close-minded about human rights. He sent a letter to North Carolina business leaders welcoming all them to move to his state -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Christine, thanks so much for that. There's a new poll out of Wisconsin to tell you about because it shows Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump by 10 points. How critical is Wisconsin?

Let's ask Peter Beinart. He's our CNN political commentator and a contributor at The Atlantic, and a professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York.You have a lot of credentials to answer this question. Let's talk about Wisconsin. So, there's 42 delegates, Peter. Tell us, is it winner-take-all? How does it break down?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's winner-take-most, which means that if you win a majority in an individual congressional district you get all of the delegates. And if you win a majority statewide you get an extra bunch of delegates. So, if you win you get most of the delegates.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's look at where the race for delegates is today. Donald Trump, out far ahead at 739. So, if Ted Cruz were to somehow win all or most of the delegates for Wisconsin he still has 86 percent of the future races, Wisconsin included, that he would have to win.

BEINART: Right. No way Ted Cruz can get to that 1,237 that he would need to win on the first ballot. He just wants to keep Donald Trump from getting there. And if he wins, this 55 percent number starts to go up into the high 50's, so it becomes harder for Donald Trump to get the magic numbers he needs. CAMEROTA: I want to talk about Marco Rubio because Mario Rubio got out of the race but he's holding onto his delegates. Here's why. This is his rationale. "It is my desire at this time that the delegates allocated to me by your rules remain bound to vote for me on at least the first nominating ballot." Here's what we're talking about. He has 173 delegates. Who decides what happens to these?

BEINART: The state parties in the states where we won delegates. Now, the reason this is interesting is Marco Rubio knows that if he doesn't retain those delegates they will be divided between the other candidates, which means a bunch of them will go to Donald Trump. That could be enough, potentially, to get him over the hump to this 1,237. He doesn't want them to go to Donald Trump. He wants to have them to stay with him on the first ballot so they can help to block Trump.

CAMEROTA: And is there precedent for that? Can he hang onto his delegates?

BEINART: No precedent whatsoever. This has not been tried, but a lot of -- remember, this is not state law. These are state party rules. There's a lot of ambiguity and there's a lot of politics.

CAMEROTA: So, when you say that it's up to the state party officials, he won Puerto Rico.

BEINART: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So, in Puerto Rico, they will decide who gets these 173?

BEINART: They will read the state party rules in Puerto Rico and they will decide whether Marco Rubio has the right to keep his delegates or not.

CAMEROTA: OK, if nobody reaches 1,237, here's what happens, I believe. There's a vote taken. Even if they do reach 1,237 there's still a first vote, right?

[07:55:00] BEINART: There's always going to be a vote, yes.

CAMEROTA: There's always a first vote.

BEINART: Right.

CAMEROTA: OK, and what happens at that vote?

BEINART: So, on the first vote 95 percent of the delegates have to vote for the person they are pledged to based on how their state voted, so Donald Trump needs to get very close to 1,237. He only has 5 percent of uncommitted delegates to try to lure on the first ballot, so he doesn't --

CAMEROTA: OK.

BEINART: Go ahead.

CAMEROTA: So if he doesn't hit -- the scenario the people are talking about now --

BEINART: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- the so-called contested convention. If he doesn't hit the 1,237 there's a vote and then after the first vote what happens?

BEINART: There is a second vote --

CAMEROTA: OK, let's watch that.

BEINART: -- and the big difference here is this number, 57 percent, which means that a lot of the delegates -- almost more than half of them are now unbound. They don't have to vote for the person they voted for in the first ballot. They could have voted for Donald Trump and then they could shift and vote for Ted Cruz or John Kasich, or anybody else, and that's when the chaos really begins.

CAMEROTA: Right, then it's a free-for-all. Then what's the magic number? If that all splinters and Kasich gets a third, and Cruz gets a third, and Trump gets a third, then what happens?

BEINART: Well, you still need to get to 1,237. If nobody gets to 1,237 on the second ballot you go to a third ballot.

CAMEROTA: I happen to have that right here. What is this 81 percent, then, of delegates? These are such random numbers, Peter. Fifty- seven, 81 --

BEINART: Right. What 81 percent means is that now more than four out of five of the delegates can vote for whoever they want to, pretty much, which is why the opportunities for horse-trading becomes extraordinary.

You could even have a scenario in which someone who wasn't running, like a Mitt Romney or a Paul Ryan, could start to lure those delegates. And what makes it even more interesting is that even if you are a Donald Trump delegate on the first ballot, it doesn't mean you have to be someone who likes Donald Trump. The state parties choose these people.

There are people they are starting to call double-agent delegates, which is they're bound to vote for Trump on the first ballot but they don't want Trump, and they will defect to Cruz or somebody else whenever they become unbound, whether that's the second or third ballot. They had 103 ballots in 1924, so we really could be, at that point, in totally unchartered waters.

CAMEROTA: Stop this wild ride and let me off. Peter, thank you very much --

BEINART: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: -- for explaining all of that.

BEINART: My pleasure.

CAMEROTA: Great to have you here. Let's get over to Don.

LEMON: I think Michaela got off the wild ride today -- just for today. And we have been teasing you saying oh, Michaela's on assignment. We've been saying this all morning. So, let's check in with her, Miss Michaela Pereira. What are you up to? What are you being so secretive about, Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Donald. Did you miss me, boo?

LEMON: I miss you, baby.

PEREIRA: I like secrets. I am a bit of a double-agent. I'm not going to lie to you. Look, I want to drag this out and build the intrigue. I know you and Aly really love that. I'm going to give you a couple of hints to see if you guys can figure out where I might be. The first one, I traveled by plane. Obviously, that means that I'm not in New York.

LEMON: OK.

CAMEROTA: OK.

PEREIRA: There's tremendous history here as you can see around me.

CAMEROTA: We can?

LEMON: OK.

CAMEROTA: I see paneling.

PEREIRA: I see a cultural exhibit. I'm going to keep you guessing. I'm going to keep you guessing.

LEMON: I think I know but I'm not going to say it.

PEREIRA: One of CNN's own is from here.

CAMEROTA: What?

LEMON: Oh, one of CNN's own is from there.

PEREIRA: OK.

CAMEROTA: One of CNN's own is from there, yes.

PEREIRA: And the last one I'm going to give you -- well, I'll give you two more. There is an accent.

LEMON: Michaela, those are really good clues.

PEREIRA: Is that helping you out at all?

LEMON: Listen, I actually don't know where you are but I think I have an idea because of the paneling. I'm not going to -- I'm not going to say, but --

PEREIRA: Wait for it.

LEMON: -- but I think I have an idea.

PEREIRA: OK.

LEMON: All right.

PEREIRA: Here's one last one.

LEMON: OK.

PEREIRA: This one's for you, Aly.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PEREIRA: When you arrive here you immediately feel like you're at home.

CAMEROTA: Did you park your car there?

PEREIRA: I don't know.

LEMON: Oh, got to go. Got to go. Got to go. Got to go. She said airplane.

CAMEROTA: I know, and she said I'd feel at home. OK, we'll check back with you momentarily.

LEMON: We are following a lot of news so let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion?

TRUMP: There has to be some form of punishment.

MATTHEWS: To the woman?

TRUMP: Yes.

CLINTON: That is absolutely unacceptable.

KASICH: Of course, women shouldn't be punished.

CRUZ: You have the latest demonstration of how little Donald has thought about any of the serious issues.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To punish a woman for having an abortion is beyond comprehension.

CAMEROTA: The president will host his final nuclear security summit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keeping nuclear material out of terrorist's hands topping the agenda.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The nuclear threat is growing at the very same time that these nuclear summits are ending.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This political correctness has gone amuck.

LEMON: Backlash over North Carolina's anti-LGBT law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The LGBT community is targeted

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have been left out of the democratic process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Political correctness in our nation has taken over common sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your new day. It is Thursday, March 31st, 8:00 in the east. Don Lemon is in for Chris Cuomo. We begin with Donald Trump under fire for his comments on abortion.