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Donald Trump's Comments on Abortion Examined; Interview with Trump Campaign Spokesperson Katrina Pierson; President to Attend World Nuclear Summit; Clinton & Sanders Running Neck-And-Neck in Wisconsin; Trump Ignites Firestorm Over Abortion Comment. Intelligence Gaps Hurting Efforts to Prevent More Terror. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 31, 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] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, March 31, 8:00 in the east. Don Lemon is in for Chris Cuomo. We begin with Donald Trump under fire for his comments on abortion. Over three hours Trump had three different stances on the issue. First he called for a ban on abortions, and to punish women who get them. Then he backtracked, saying the states should decide. And then in a third statement he did an about-face, declaring it's actually doctors who perform the procedure who should be punished, not women.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Trump's critics unloading including his 2016 challengers on both sides of the aisle. Planned Parenthood calls his comments "flat out dangerous." So will his controversial comments change the race? Our coverage begins with Phil Mattingly live in Milwaukee for us this morning. Hi, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Don. Throughout the course of Donald Trump's the presidential campaign he has walked himself right into no shortage of political controversies and somehow managed to walk himself back out unscathed or actually doing better in the race. None, however, have been more fraught with danger than what he walked himself into yesterday with his comments on abortion. And it is an issue he appears to have recognized, backtracking for one of the first times we've seen through the entire campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: This is not something you dodge.

MATTINGLY: Donald Trump smack in the center of another controversy, this time abortion. At a town hall MSNBC's Chris Matthews the frontrunner stating that women who get abortions should face, quote, "some sort of punishment" if the procedure would to be outlawed.

MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle?

TRUMP: The answer is there that some form of punishment.

MATTHEWS: For the woman?

TRUMP: Yes, there has to be some form. MATTHEWS: It is 10 years, what?

TRUMP: That I don't know. That I don't know.

MATTHEWS: Why not?

TRUMP: I don't know.

MATTINGLY: The backlash, fast, furious and bipartisan. Trump's rivals on both sides of the abortion issue quick to pounce and reject the notion.

GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course women shouldn't be punished. I don't think that is an appropriate response and it is a difficult enough situation then to try to punish somebody.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald's comments, they were unfortunate, they were wrong, and I strongly disagree with him.

MATTINGLY: Anti-abortionist groups and Democratic presidential candidates all lining up to criticize the comments.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When he was asked whether women should be punished he said yes. And that is absolutely unacceptable. It is outrageous.

BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To punish a woman for having an abortion is beyond comprehension.

MATTINGLY: Amid the firestorm, Trump's campaign uncharacteristically backtracking, quickly issuing this statement attempting to clarify his remarks. Quote, "This issue is unclear and should be put back into the states of determination. Like Ronald Reagan, I am prolife with exceptions." Within a few hours another statement, a complete reversal of the first, saying if abortion were made illegal, quote, "The doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb."

His son coming to his defense. Tweeting "Be fair. Was asked if it was illegal. Should there punishment? Shouldn't there be consequences for breaking laws?"

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: These comments obviously coming just a day after Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was charged with a misdemeanor for simple battery for grabbing a female reporter. You put all of this together and you have to look at the bigger picture. Here in Wisconsin, Donald Trump according to the latest poll from Marquette Law School, trailing Ted Cruz already by nine points before these abortion comments. And more broadly in the general electorate, female voters with a 70 percent plus disapproval rating for Donald Trump in a series of polls. So guys, Donald Trump facing a lot of real danger right to his campaign. No question still the frontrunner, but as he goes into Wisconsin five days from now when voters head to the polls, he has a lot of major issues to address, perhaps the most serious of his campaign up to this point, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Phil, thanks so much for all of that background. Here to respond now to the backlash, the Trump's campaign national

spokesperson Katrina Pierson. Katrina, thanks so much for being here this morning.

KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Good morning.

How did Donald Trump get this one so wrong? How did he make that initial comment that is so far outside of the mainstream in terms of criminalizing women who seek abortions?

PIERSON: Well, I think first I should probably clear up something that I heard you say earlier in that he never called for a ban on abortion. This was a discussion with Chris Matthews over a hypothetical ban. And in that discussion when talking about potential consequences about doing something illegal, in this case an abortion, he said yes there should be consequences. And when Chris Matthews said for women, he said yes. Just not distinguishing the difference here, which is exactly why he clarified, no it shouldn't be the woman, but the one actually performing the illegal act.

CAMEROTA: Just to clarify what you just told me. I have the transcript right in front of mehere. He did call for a man. Chris Matthews, "I'm asking you because you say you want to ban it." Donald Trump says --

[08:05:06] PIERSON: He asked him would you support it. He said yes, but he did not call for a ban.

CAMEROTA: He said "I would, I would ban it." I'm reading it to you.

PIERSON: He would support it. You can support a lot of things but don't call for it. This is absurd.

CAMEROTA: Katrina, you are mincing words here.

PIERSON: This is a misspeak. Alisyn. No, Alisyn, there was a misspeak here, and you have a presidential candidate that clarified the record not once, but twice. And we're sitting here talking about --

CAMEROTA: Well, his clarifications were also confusing, Katrina. First he said --

PIERSON: No they weren't confusing, because the first was about a ban, and that is correct. It should be down to the states because that is what the potential ban was talking about.

CAMEROTA: Here in the transcript that I'm reading that he would want to ban it. I'm reading it right here to you. "I would." He says "I'm against it, yes." Chris Matthews says "So you say you want to ban it." He says "I would." That is unequivocal. PIERSON: Yes, and the clarification was and it would be a state issue. I'm not so sure what's so hard to understand about that. You can support something and understand that it is a state's rights issue.

CAMEROTA: But he didn't say that initially. Initially he said that women --

PIERSON: But that is the point of a clarification.

CAMEROTA: But it is a window in how he felt. Katrina, here is the situation. Is he having any meetings with policy advisors? You are part of the campaign. Had he done his homework on this? Had he thought about this issue before this interview yesterday?

PIERSON: Well, of course he has, Alisyn. But again, when a presidential candidate says something and makes a clarification we don't see a 24 hour fallout of headlines after the clarification has been made. For example --

CAMEROTA: When it's something this inflammatory we do, Katrina.

PIERSON: For example --

CAMEROTA: If he had talked about it and had solidified his position, why did he say that women who seek it he thought he thought should be criminalized and punished?

PIERSON: Because like I said this was during a discussion with Chris Matthews and it was off the cuff, not scripted. And when he said should there be punishment he said yes. Chris Matthew said for women, he said yes. Again, not distinguishing the fact that it is the actual procedure that would be illegal. That's exactly why he issued the statement clarifying. Donald Trump is pro-life with exceptions. He does not support penalizing women for having abortions even when they are illegal.

CAMEROTA: Then why did he say that?

PIERSON: But my point -- because it was a misspeak. How many times do I have to say that? In 2008 when then Presidential candidate Barack Obama was talking about his Muslim faith, there was no 24 hour fallout about him reversing his religion. We didn't see that. What we saw is the media come back behind him and correct the record for the candidate.

CAMEROTA: I don't know about that. I remember there being lots of conversations about the president's faith. But back to Donald Trump. So in other words he made a mistake. That is not how he really feels.

PIERSON: Absolutely. This was a complete misspeak during a conversation over a hypothetical concept. And there was a clarification issued. Mr. Trump is pro-life with exceptions and does not support punishing women for having abortions even if they are illegal.

CAMEROTA: Does he think that abortion should be banned?

PIERSON: He does not support abortion.

CAMEROTA: Does he think Roe v. Wade should be overturned and abortion should be illegal.

PIERSON: Absolutely, because this is a state issue. That is the point here. These are states' issues, not a federal over reach making decisions for everybody in the whole country.

CAMEROTA: It is fair to ask a president how he feels and that is what Chris Matthews was asked to do. So if you follow your reasoning and Donald Trump's line of reasoning, if abortion is banned, if it becomes illegal, then what happens to the women who get them?

PIERSON: It would be the person performing the illegal procedure, which would be the physician, which is, again, in the statement. So, yes, it is fair to ask that question, Alisyn. But it should also be fair that when the candidate gives the response and clarifies that we should make this a 24 hour headline when we have things like terrorism going on in the world.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump has notably not tweeted this morning. He often is very active on Twitter, as you know. What's happening inside the campaign? Is there a feeling that he needs to come out and just be crystal clear since he's released three different statement, all of them a little bit different than each other? Today will we hear him trying to clarify once and for all where he is on abortion?

PIERSON: I think today what you are going to hear is him reiterating the statement because, like I said, again, the headlines are still "Donald Trump wants to punish women." And that is not the case. The clarification was issued immediately and that should be exactly what's reporting on and he's going to continue to reiterate that.

CAMEROTA: I want to talk about how Donald Trump is doing with women because this may have an impact. In the most recent poll he had a 73 percent unfavorable among all women. It was less, but still a significant amount among Republican women. Do you think going to impact him with women voters?

[08:10:13] PIERSON: No, I don't because I do think voters o on both sides of the aisle see through the media and their bias for the example I just gave. And they do know than there is a clarification on the statement. And just remember, it wasn't too long ago when Senator Ted Cruz was criticizing Donald Trump for supporting Planned Parenthood for crying out loud. So obviously there was a misspeak there and the media needs to recognize that, because the campaign and the candidate himself has clarified this issue. Mr. Trump is pro-life with exceptions and does not support punishing women for having abortions even if they are illegal.

CAMEROTA: And when he said that to Chris Matthews it was just that he misspoke, he lost his train of thought.

PIERSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. Conversational. CAMEROTA: How do you think this plays out in Wisconsin? At the

moment Ted Cruz is beating him in Wisconsin. Do you think that Donald Trump will lose Wisconsin?

PIERSON: At this point I don't. Because I do think that people are very aware of the real issues of the day, like the economy, like terrorism, like the border. We just received the very first ever endorsement from the National Border Security Union. And I think that is really important moving forward because we have major issues, and we know the problems happening in Europe are because of the open border system, because they are not communicating across borders when it comes to terrorism, because they have an immigration system that is broken as well. And those are the important issues of the day, and Donald Trump by far is the strongest on those issues.

CAMEROTA: Katrina Pierson, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

PIERSON: Thanks, Alisyn. Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get it over to Don.

LEMON: All right, Alisyn, thank you.

Happening today, President Barack Obama hosting his fourth and final nuclear security summit. He is hoping to make good on his vow to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and reduce the risk of nuclear terror. More than 50 world leaders in attendance, but one key leader is a no show. CNN's Athena Jones live at the White House with a preview for us this morning. Good morning, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don. That key leader, Russia's president Vladimir Putin, but it is going to be a busy day for the president and other world leaders who actually are in attendance today. Topping the agenda, keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorist groups like ISIS.

Let me read some of what the president wrote in an op-ed in "The Washington Post." He said "Given the continued threat posed by organizations such as the terrorist group we call ISIL or ISIS we'll also join allies and partners in reviewing our counterterrorism efforts to prevent the world's most dangerous networks from obtaining the world's most dangerous weapons."

So that is the top of the agenda for this two day summit. But ISIS and terror groups aren't the only items on the agenda. The president will have a trilateral meeting with Japan's prime minister and South Korea's president today to talk about North Korea's provocations and efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. He'll also meet with China's president Xi Jinping and with French President Francois Hollande. They will talk about progress in implementing the nuclear deal with Iran and also efforts to prevent another terrorist attack.

These are some of the issues topping the agenda. At the end of the day, all of world leader will be coming to the White House for a working dinner. One other leader who won't be here, Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff who withdrew. But that is what is on the agenda today for this very big meeting, a big part of the president's foreign policy agenda. Back to you guys,

CAMEROTA: OK, Athena, thanks so much for that.

Don, we want to bring people an update on the story that we promised we would update this breaking news right now. This is out of India. The death toll is rising to at least 15 people after that bridge that was under construction collapsed. Oh, my gosh, there it is collapsing right there, you can see during a busy traffic time. It was caught on video. This massive structure fell light on to drivers and people on the busy street. This happened in a commercial area. It was north of Kolkata in eastern India. At least 71 people are hurt. The rescues are ongoing. We have live pictures of all of the rescue crews still trying to dig people out of rubble there. It is just a terrible, terrible situation. Everyone has swung into action to see if there are survivors who are trapped in there.

LEMON: Unbelievable. And as you can see, 15 dead, again, and 70 or more injured. And they're still digging but the rubble. If we can put that video back up again, you can see that bridge collapsing, and that again just coming into CNN, the pictures are horrific here. And again, all of this unfolding right now. Of course we'll be following it for you here on CNN all day.

I want to turn now to politics, Alisyn, because Ted Cruz out of control joking with late night host Jimmy Kimmel. He might run the Donald over if the opportunity came up. In case you were sleeping, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

[08:15:04] JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: Who do you like better? Obama or Trump?

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I dislike Obama's policies more.

KIMMEL: I see.

CRUZ: But - but Donald, Donald is a unique individual. I will say I was watching the early part of the show, and if I were in my car and getting ready to reverse and saw Donald in the back up camera, I'm not confident which pedal I'd push.

KIMMEL: How many of the seven Star Wars movies have you seen?

CRUZ: All of them.

KIMMEL: Favorite cereal.

CRUZ: Serial killer or cereal? Actually Mueslix, I like...

KIMMEL: Mueslix?

CRUZ: Now that's surprising, you were expecting a Captain Crunch or...

KIMMEL: No, I was expecting Mueslix. It surprised me because it didn't surprise me.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

LEMON: He has a personality.

CAMEROTA: And a lot of jokes about homicide. There were two there.

LEMON: Serial killers.

CAMEROTA: Serial killing and vehicular manslaughter, but okay.

LEMON: Mueslix, Mueslix is a perfectly fine cereal. I like a little sugar in the morning. I like that sugar rush.

CAMEROTA: That's great. All right, back to politics. A new poll out shows Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are neck and neck in Wisconsin. If Sanders wins, will that put a dent in Clinton's momentum as the race heads to the all important New York? We have insight from a top Clinton supporter, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:12] LEMON: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both campaigning in New York today. A new CNN poll this morning shows Clinton's lead leading Sanders in that state out of three weeks just before the voters go to the polls. Okay, but both candidates also keeping a close eye on Wisconsin ahead of Tuesday's primary where new polls show that the Democratic rivals are really neck and neck. Sanders has a slight lead there.

Joining me is Virginia Senator Mark Warner. He is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and he supports Hillary Clinton. Before we get to these polls, can we talk about this abortion issue that happened with Donald Trump yesterday? Because your candidate called in to Anderson Cooper's show last night, AC360, and basically said that Donald Trump is really speaking for mostly how most Republicans feel about this. Does she actually believe that most republicans want to punish women, that women should be punished for getting abortions if it becomes illegal?

SEN. MARK WARNER, (D), VIRGINIA: We've seen both Trump, and to a lesser extent Cruz, play on anger, play on, I think, policies that would effect women's healthcare choices. I think last night was one more moment where I think the American people are going to sit up and say hey, can we actually entrust this guy with the nation and world's most important position? I think not, although candidly I think most of us in the political class have underestimated Trump throughout this whole process.

But I think whether it was this incident, whether it was the back and forth between Cruz and Trump over each other's wives, the kind of smack downs that they were going through, Trump's comments about NATO, this is not somebody prepared to be commander in chief. And quite honestly, many of his positions are also reflected by Mr. Cruz.

LEMON: So - just to - do you think it was because conservatives are saying listen, that's not our stance. We don't want to punish women, we believe in the right of the child's life, we also believe in right of the woman, both the women and the child are victims in this particular situation. We don't want to punish women. But yet still, Hillary Clinton is saying that's what they do. Do you think it was a bit of an overreach, or no?

WARNER: I think that I have three daughters who are in their early 20s. What they heard last night and what they've heard from Trump, what they've heard from Cruz is they think politicians ought to control (inaudible) health care choices, not (inaudible), not who they're going to vote for.

LEMON: All right, let's move on to talk about the upcoming contest. New polls show that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders neck and neck when it comes to Wisconsin. 49 percent to 45 percent. Are you concerned that Bernie Sanders could use Wisconsin as momentum going into New York and the rest of the northeastern states?

WARNER: I think Wisconsin is going to be close, but that's -- everybody's known that for the last few weeks. Bernie did very well in the west. He is touching particularly a lot of young people. But when this contest moves back to New York, New Jersey, Secretary Clinton is going to do very well.

LEMON: Wisconsin, like Michigan, made up of a lot of blue collar workers who tend to support Bernie Sanders. A loss in Wisconsin, how bad would that be for the Clinton campaign?

WARNER: Hillary Clinton's going to be the Democratic nominee and Hillary Clinton's going to be the next president of the United States.

LEMON: Okay, but how bad would it be for her campaign? You don't think it will have an impact?

WARNER: Listen, I don't want to -- Don, I don't want to take away your prognostication job.

LEMON: I'm just asking.

WARNER: I'm here recognizing Wisconsin is going to be close. Hillary is going to do very well in New York, in New Jersey and the remaining state, she's going to be the nominee.

LEMON: Hillary Clinton has been attacking Sanders' healthcare plan this week. She said it doesn't add up because states like Wisconsin won't get on board. She spoke with our Erin Burnett. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS, (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, what Secretary Clinton says is that Scott Walker may not go along with that. Well, you know what happens to the state of Wisconsin if he does that? California will, Vermont will, states all over this country, and young, bright people will be leaving Wisconsin. And I think the people of Wisconsin will tell Scott Walker, you know what, this will be a disaster for the future of our state. Because when kids leave, sometimes they don't come back.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

LEMON: And that was Bernie Sanders, I misspoke. But what do you think - what do you make of those comments?

WARNER: Well, listen. Virginia, we've got a Democratic governor but we're got a legislature that's not expanded Medicaid. That's unfortunate. We've left 400,000 Virginians without healthcare. Frankly it makes me mad that I'm paying taxes that are not coming back to my home state because of that recalcitrance. But I think setting up a plan the way Bernie has proposed, which would in effect leave out states that don't participate, is not the kind of equal access to healthcare that I think all Americans ought to have.

LEMON: You were in Europe for the recent attacks, correct? What do you think -- how do you bridge the gap with intelligence when it comes to British intelligence officials, because there - there was a breakdown somewhere obviously.

WARNER: We've seen this repeatedly, and what unfortunately is the case is clearly the British get it. Increasingly the French get it. But what scares me, Don, is the fact that do they have to have other 9/11 type events in each individual country before we have the kind of information sharing between the security agencies that quite honestly took 9/11 in America for us to get it and get that kind of coordination. And when you have the kind of open borders and someone can enter into the E.U. at one spot and travel from nation to nation, you have to have better coordination amongst the intelligence services.

[08:25:05] And you can't end up ghettoizing the huge Muslim populations that some of those European countries do. You know, the secret sauce in our national is that first generation you can come to this country and become an American. That's not the case in Europe.

LEMON: Thank you so much for joining us.

WARNER: Thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate it. Thank you.

Over to you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Okay, Don. Donald Trump taking three different stances on abortion in the span of just three hours. Could the issue be his political kryptonite? We discuss the uproar and the implications next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe in...

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, but... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe in punishment for abortion? Yes or no, as a principle?

TRUMP: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the woman?

TRUMP: Yes. There has to be some form.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump quickly back pedaling after that statement that he made that women should face, quote, "some sort of punishment," for getting an abortion. Trump gave three different positions in the span of three hours. So, what does this mean for his campaign? Let's ask CNN political commentator Ana Navarro and CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany.

Ladies, thanks so much for being here. Kayleigh, let me start with you. You're a Trump supporter, how do you explain him making a comment that is so far outside the mainstream how Americans feel?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, it's clearly a miss speak. I think most people care about what his actual policy is, which is what he came out with after. You know, if you go watch the entirety of the Chris Matthews interview, you see him asking the same question over and over. And this is what we see happen a lot with some hosts, some reporters.