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Trump Meets with RNC about Party Unity & Delegates; Climate Activist Confronts Clinton about Fossil Fuel Donations; Clinton & Sanders Battle in New York. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 01, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump and the RNC in a secret meeting.

[05:58:41] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Actually a terrific meeting, I think. And it's really a unity meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump doing damage control.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald's comments, they were unfortunate. They were wrong.

TRUMP: This was a long discussion. And they just cut it out.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You don't get do-overs.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am so sick is of the Sanders campaign lying about me. I'm sick of it.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people.

CLINTON: We've got to unite.

SANDERS: We are going to make it to the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a honk, honk, honk, crash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just kind of grabbed onto the side of the ship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just slammed up against it. My head, my arms.

(SHIP HONKING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Friday, April 1. DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday! I'm so excited it's Friday.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Suddenly, he perked right up.

LEMON: I love you ladies, but it's Friday, and I'm very happy about it.

CAMEROTA: Be on the lookout, though, for any April Fool's jokes.

PEREIRA: Especially from this one.

CAMEROTA: True.

Up first for us, after a rough week on the campaign trail, Donald Trump meeting with the RNC. He says it was to discuss unifying the party. The surprise meeting in Washington comes after all the GOP candidates backed away from their loyalty pledge. Trump still explaining his controversial comments about abortion and nuclear weapons.

LEMON: The Republican front-runner says his meeting with the party leaders, he said it was terrific. But Trump's rivals are calling him unfit to lead. This as the latest polls show him trailing Ted Cruz by double digits in Wisconsin with that primary just four days away.

We have this race covered for you only the way that CNN can. So let's begin with CNN's Phil Mattingly, live in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where Ted Cruz and John Kasich are campaigning today.

Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don.

Donald Trump took a step back yesterday, heading down to Washington after what can only be called one of the more turbulent and potentially politically damaging weeks of his entire campaign. And he had a couple goals there. One was to beef up on foreign policy. But the primary one, an unannounced meeting with the RNC, the chairman, Reince Priebus. And that meeting was for a very particular reason: not only to figure out the delegate game going forward but also to try and mend ties not just with the RNC but with the Republican establishment in general, calling for unity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump now trying to make nice with party leaders amid fallout from yet another political firestorm. The Republican front-runner in Washington for a meeting with the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus. Behind closed doors, sources say discussion focused on delegate rules ahead of the convention.

Just days after Trump and the other GOP hopefuls backed out of their pledge to support the nominee. TRUMP (via phone): It was a very good meeting. We met with

Reince Priebus and the staff, and they're very good people, very -- actually, a terrific meeting, I think. And it's really a unity meeting.

MATTINGLY: Trump also huddling with foreign policy advisers at the site of his new hotel for a two-hour private meeting as his comments on nuclear proliferation continue to rile American allies.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But if you say to Japan, "Yes, it's fine you get nuclear weapons, South Korea, you as well," Saudi Arabia says, "We want them, too."

TRUMP: I'll be honest with you: It's going to happen anyway.

MATTINGLY: Trump's camp uncharacteristically quiet Thursday, one day after his abortion comments, the New York billionaire's campaign on the defensive.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: 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.

MATTINGLY: His rivals seizing on the controversy, claiming forcefully he's not qualified for the Oval Office.

KASICH: I have to tell you that, as commander in chief and leader of the free world, you don't get do-overs.

MATTINGLY: Ohio Governor John Kasich unleashing a pointed and specific attack on the front-runner.

KASICH: The abortion controversy, using nukes in the Middle East and in Europe, get rid of the Geneva Convention, getting rid of NATO and having a Supreme Court justice who's going to investigate Hillary's e-mails. I don't even know what he's talking about there.

MATTINGLY: Ted Cruz sending out his wife, Heidi, top surrogate former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, attempting to underscore Trump's continued difficulty with women voters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Now, those efforts by the Cruz campaign very specifically targeted and looking like they're having an effect. Ted Cruz in a second consecutive poll last night showing he's opening up almost a double-digit lead on Donald Trump in Wisconsin. Obviously, that primary just five days away. One of the primary drivers of that lead, Donald Trump's unfavorability with women. It obviously hasn't been helped by the events of

Guys, I am in Pennsylvania right now, one of the next big prizes for the Republican primary, where John Kasich's campaign says he will continue to go after Donald Trump. A big shift from the tone that John Kasich's had up to this point, and really underscoring, folks -- guys, as we have seen over the last couple of days the Republican Party at possibly its most fractured state. Even if Donald Trump calls for unity, nobody is really sure what the way forward actually is -- Alisyn and Don.

CAMEROTA: OK. Phil, thanks so much for all that background. Here to discuss it is our CNN political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable News, Errol Louis; and CNN political reporter Maeve Reston. Great to have both of you here.

Let's talk about this meeting, Errol, yesterday. So Donald Trump said it was a terrific meeting; it was about party unity. The RNC was a little bit more vague. They describe it as "The chairman and Mr. Trump had a productive conservation about the state of the race. The chairman is in constant communication with all of the candidates and their campaigns about the primaries and general election, and the convention. Meeting and phone conversations with candidates and their campaigns are common."

Should we be reading something into it?

LOUIS: Well, I think we know, despite the etiquette on both side, they're both very sort of reasonable about it. But this is -- this is still a hostile takeover that Donald Trump is attempting of the Republican Party. And that -- there's just really no getting around it.

That doesn't mean the rules are going to be changed for him. I imagine that Reince Priebus would at least stand his ground on that but really be neutral on almost everything else. I mean, if Donald Trump doesn't have the delegates that he needs to get the nomination flat out, then there's going to be turmoil at the convention. And, you know, Reince Priebus, I know, doesn't want it. I know Reince Priebus and the party would like to avoid it if possible, but I don't see any other way this is going to work out, depending on what voters do for the next round of primaries.

LEMON: Maeve, Errol is calling it a hostile takeover. Very interesting language when it comes to that. But here's what Donald Trump said: "Just had a very nice meeting with @ReincePriebus and the GOP. Looking forward to bringing the party together. And it will happen." And they're nice people. And they're nice people.

But certainly, this last week, or last at least 48 hours of controversy, not helping him, especially when you look at the polls in Wisconsin.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And you look at Ted Cruz pulling ahead in Wisconsin, pulling out a fairly substantive lead there.

And the fact that Donald Trump's abortion comments this week are -- very quickly end up in an ad that is used against him in the fall. This has been a very difficult two-week stretch for Donald Trump. And it makes you start to wonder whether he is reaching a tipping point, where you know, the comments on abortion and on nukes start to give people pause, particularly those people in the states, the primary states coming up that aren't necessarily with him now but were considering him.

You know, these other candidates are making a pretty strong argument that they would be a stronger candidate up against Hillary Clinton. And he's giving them a lot to chew over this week.

I do think the RNC meeting yesterday, it's important to understand, that the delegate rules are so complicated if this does go to a contested convention that it makes perfect sense that Donald Trump's lawyers and the RNC lawyers would be sitting down, talking through how the rules are different in each of the different states; when delegates become bound and unbound. It's literally like a delegate matrix. Incredibly complicated politics. And there's a lot for both sides to learn and go over.

CAMEROTA: Maeve, I want to stick with you for a second. Because you just completed an interesting exercise. You pored through thousands of pages of Donald Trump's magazine profiles, of speeches, of TV interviews to try and determine who is the real Donald Trump, basically. And you found some interesting passages.

I'll read one on Donald Trump on revenge. This is from his book, "How to Get Rich" in 2004: "When someone hurts you, just go after them as viciously and violently as you can." That's telling. I think we've seen that.

Donald Trump on shallowness. This is from his book "Think Like a Billionaire."

LEMON: That's my favorite quote, I think.

CAMEROTA: "Whenever I make a creative choice, I try to step back and remember my first shallow reaction. The day I realized it could be smart to be shallow was, for me, a deep experience."

That is fascinating, Maeve. What are some of the other themes you learned from this exercise?

RESTON: It was so interesting to read through all these books, which were kind of like a hodgepodge. He's written more than a dozen books on business tips and, you know, Trump trivia. But there is a lot in there that kind of gives you a much better sense of his philosophy on governance, his management style.

And of course we've seen him talk about all of this on the campaign trail. But he has a title in one of his books that is "Revenge," and it talks about, you know, if people screw you, screw them back in spades. You know, revenge. Paranoia is another theme he talks about a lot, saying that it's good to be paranoid. He has one subhead to a chapter that says, "Do not trust anyone."

And it kind of raises a lot of interesting questions about what kind of president he would be, what kind of circle he would be comfortable having around him, whether he would be kind of an insular decision maker or whether, you know, he could get past some of those issues.

Obviously, you know, his philosophy on life is different than a lot of the other presidential candidates that we've seen. And there's a lot there in his books that tells you about how he really feels. And we've seen a lot of that play out on the campaign trail.

LEMON: You're going to think this is a little nuts, but when he talks about being shallow and that it's actually a very rich experience, it's kind of a theme of Malcolm Gladwell's, "The Tipping Point." Your first reaction quite often is the best reaction and to not overthink it.

CAMEROTA: "Blink."

LEMON: The "Blink," rather. Yes, your first reaction is possibly the best reaction. And that's how he has done business here in New York City. From the very beginning, the people who did not underestimate Donald Trump have said he's used to the media waters in New York City. He's used to dealing with the big guys and negotiating deals here in New York, as Errol knows, as someone who has been following him. And that's sort of how he does it; he does everything off the cuff. That says a lot about him.

LOUIS: But some of this says, though, however -- Don, I've got to disagree a little bit. It's going to really work against him. I mean, because some of the theme of the last few days, not just the thuggishness, the rest of his campaign manager.

LEMON: It's what makes him tick.

LOUIS: But the -- the -- speaking off the cuff is how he got into this -- this abortion controversy. Speaking off the cuff, you know, about, "Hey, you know, nuclear weapons for Saudi Arabia, nuclear weapons for South Korea. This is the kind of stuff that his opponents are now seizing on. I think we saw John Kasich really jump in on that, that you don't -- shallow doesn't work in the Oval Office. Shallow doesn't work with the nuclear codes.

LEMON: It worked for him in the beginning. But then, when you get down to it, you need to have some sort of substance and depth. It's not working.

CAMEROTA: Down deep, we're shallow. That's what he's seeming to say.

Maeve, Errol, stick around. We want to talk to you about the Democratic side, as well. But let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. We will talk about the Democratic side and the battle for New York between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders getting intense. It's getting personal. Both have strong ties to the state. Clinton is a former Sanders. Sanders born in Brooklyn. All of this as voters in Wisconsin head to the polls on Tuesday with polls showing the neck-and-neck race.

CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns live in Washington with all this for us. Hey, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Tensions now running high on the Democratic side as the race drags on. Hillary Clinton calling out Bernie Sanders at an event at the State University of New York at Purchase. And in turn, she found herself confronted by a small group of protesters chanting, "If she wins, we lose." And the former secretary of state not backing down, asserting that it was Bernie people who came to say that.

But it didn't stop there. On the rope line after the event, a Greenpeace activist asking her about taking money from the fossil fuel industry and the pointed angry response from the candidate underscoring some of the frustrations her campaign has been expressing for some time now. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you protect -- with climate change, will you act on your word and reject fossil fuel money in the future in your campaign?

CLINTON: I do not, I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I am so sick, I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The Sanders campaign citing a Greenpeace article that said Mrs. Clinton has relied heavily on money from lobbyists from the oil and gas industry.

And what all this back and forth indicates is the stakes are so high in delegate-rich New York, where both candidates have strong ties, creating potential for a very raw and confrontational stretch in the campaign for the nomination. New York's the biggest state left on the electoral map, with the exception of California.

Adding to that, the tension -- the perception of what appears to be a big push in New York means that the Clinton campaign may have to deemphasize the Wisconsin primary, where Bernie Sanders appears to hold a narrow advantage.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: Interesting, Joe. Thanks so much.

Well, a terrible story to tell you about now. Shock and sorrow in Virginia this morning after a state trooper was killed in the line of duty. Trooper Chad Dermyer died last night after being shot multiple times during a training exercise at a bus terminal in Richmond. Authorities say Dermyer was talking to a man who suddenly pulled out a gun and opened fire. Other troopers returned fire, killing the gunman. Two bystanders also hit by gunfire now recovering. LEMON: New leadership taking over the Ferguson, Missouri, Police

Department. Miami Police Major Delrish Moss hired as police chief in the St. Louis suburb. The veteran officer planning to diversify the mostly white police force by hiring more minority and female officers. In 2014, as you probably remember, Ferguson was rocked by months of unrest after a grand jury declined to charge Officer Darren Wilson in the deadly shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

PEREIRA: Here's one that's kind of hard to believe. The CIA red-faced now after explosive material was accidentally left behind on a school bus following a K-9 training exercise in Virginia. "The Washington Post" reports that a putty-like substance was discovered under the hood during a maintenance check. That very same bus had been shuttling students in Loudon County for two days with that material on board. The CIA insists the passengers, a.k.a. the students, were not in any danger.

LEMON: Really?

CAMEROTA: Yikes!

PEREIRA: That's bad.

LEMON: Yes. I'll leave that alone.

CAMEROTA: OK. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton battling it out in the Big Apple. Can Sanders close the gap in New York? Is Clinton already giving up on Wisconsin.

LEMON: And a whale-watching boat slams into a California pier. Look at this. What happens next? Ahead on NEW DAY. Wow!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:24] LEMON: What do you say we talk about the Democrats right now?

CAMEROTA: Let's do that. We owe them one.

LEMON: The dueling Democrats stumping for votes in New York, with the primary just over two weeks ago. Polls show Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead over Bernie Sanders in the state.

So let's talk about the battle for New York and next week's tight race in Wisconsin, as well. Errol Louis and Maeve Reston both back with us.

So the candidates are looking ahead to this monster New York primary, because there's 247 delegates up for grabs in New York. This is a home state of sorts for both of the candidates. Clinton ahead in the poll as you can see there. It's a 12-point lead in the last Marquette University poll. But she's not taking any chances. She pulled out the big guns. Her husband, Bill Clinton, out stumping for her, the former president. She needs a really good showing here, Errol Louis. LOUIS: Absolutely she does. This is a place where Bernie

Sanders is, as a very practical matter, going to try and close the 200-delegate lead that Clinton has. If he's going to do it anyplace, New York would be the place for him to try and do it.

It's also, psychologically, it would be devastating for Hillary Clinton if she were to, say, lose or even have Sanders come so close that it casts doubt on whether or not she's got a solid lead.

CAMEROTA: But she's close.

LOUIS: You know what, 11 points is nice. But it was 48 points in a recent poll. It was 34 points on average over the past few months. So I think -- I mean, look, I've talked with the Clinton people. They knew that this was going to get tighter. They're fully aware that when Bernie Sanders comes into the state and he raised, you know, something like $40 million over the last couple of months, he's going to have a lot of resources. And he has all the motivation in the world to try and catch her.

[06:20:00] So they were sort of bracing for this. I think that's why you see Bill Clinton out on the stump. I think that's why you see Hillary Clinton doing events in Harlem and so forth. So they know this is going to be tight. But they can't let it get too tight. And I think that's what...

LEMON: To me that's still some time, two weeks. I mean, she leads in New York, as you see. But she's also behind in Wisconsin by four points, right, for Bernie Sanders? He is gaining momentum, because in February, he was clearly -- it was clearly a wider margin.

But the question is, is she -- is he getting under her skin? Because I want you to look at this exchange with a Greenpeace activist yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you protect -- with climate change, will you act on your word and reject fossil fuel money in the future in your campaign?

CLINTON: I do not, I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I am so sick, I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about that. I'm sick of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Wow. So she says that the Sanders campaign is lying. But I mean, the question is are we headed towards possibly a Michigan- like upset here, Maeve?

RESTON: Well, I think that, you know, things are looking really good in Wisconsin for Bernie Sanders. These are the kinds of states that he has done well in.

And, you know, the frustration that you see there in that exchange for Clinton is a product of the fact that her campaign expected to have this wrapped up in February. And then they expected to have it wrapped up in march. And now they are talking about, you know, wrapping it up in April.

Nobody expected Bernie Sanders to be able to pull off this kind of momentum in a string of states, even if the math looks very difficult for him. What his strategists are counting on is a big win in Wisconsin that could send him rolling into New York.

And you know, those poll numbers you're looking at in New York, yes, it's a double-digit lead that she has. But -- but you know, there's a lot of opportunity for him there to pick up delegates across the country going forward.

Even here in California we saw the polls recently where, you know, Sanders is looking pretty tight with Clinton. And so you do see a scenario where this could go on and on. And I think that that frustration that you saw from her on the campaign trail is a reflection of that, that he's been able to drive this narrative that she is the candidate of big interests and that he's out for the little people.

CAMEROTA: But Errol, I want to talk about the substance of what that Greenpeace activist confronted her about. She has taken lots of money, more than a million dollars, from people who are connected to the fossil fuel industries.

LOUIS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So not the fossil fuel industry, the corporations. But bundlers and other people.

LOUIS: Employees.

CAMEROTA: Employees.

LOUIS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Is there essentially a difference?

LOUIS: Well, look, Bernie Sanders has a whole different way of approaching a lot of these questions. And -- and I think what you saw with Hillary Clinton's frustration that she expressed is that what you've got is an effort to sort of say that, because she takes money from this industry, she changed her opinion or she was slow to sort of reach her position on fracking or that she somehow has been influenced by this.

And what Hillary Clinton has said -- and I think any of us in newsrooms would hear this from our editors -- is like, "Show me the smoking gun. Show me the meeting where, you know, I had one position and then I got the money and then I took another position. Or show me the e-mails, whatever the exchange was that sort of led to this reality."

The other thing that she's saying that I think we're going to hear a lot more of, she's saying, "I'm not raising money just for myself. I'm raising money because we've got a whole Democratic Party, a whole Democratic ticket up and down the line: senators, people running for governor, people running for the House of Representatives, who also are going to get some of this money" and that we've got to be realistic if we're serious as a party about really kind of making a change in this country.

CAMEROTA: And Maeve, it appears, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, that Bernie Sanders has also received something like $54,000 from people connected to the fossil fuel industry. Does that make this get the high ground if he's not taking as much as she is but still has some?

RESTON: I mean, I think it's certainly a point that they can debate on the campaign trail. You know, Hillary Clinton does have some difficulty with this issue in particular, because, you know, she was involved in the decision making on the Keystone Pipeline for some time, for example. There are a lot of activists out there who wish that she had been a more forceful activist for their -- their views.

But you know -- and I think this is the kind of debate that we'll see playing out between them over the next month or so. And Hillary Clinton is going to have to make a more forceful case that she really is not part of the establishment, that she can distance herself from the big money interests who have donated, you know, for many years to not just her campaign but to her husband's campaign.

And Bernie Sanders doesn't have that baggage. And that's certainly a challenge that Clinton has going forward as she tries to galvanize the base and unite the party behind her.

LEMON: I want to turn now -- I talked about the Clinton/Trump matchup, because in a match-up here in New York City, she would beat him by 20 points. His comments on abortion really not helping. Look at this anti-Trump super PAC ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAPHIC: When it comes to women, the Republican frontrunner is...

TRUMP: That would be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.

GRAPHIC: ... demeaning...

TRUMP: You wouldn't have your job if you weren't beautiful.

GRAPHIC: ... insulting...

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

TRUMP: There has to be some sort of punishment.

MATTHEWS: For the woman? TRUMP: Yes. There has to be some form of punishment.

GRAPHIC: ... and dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Love that music.

LEMON: Yes. It is -- it is a super PAC. I mean, that's a self- inflicted wound. Clearly a gift to the Clinton campaign from Donald Trump, Errol.

LOUIS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, look, in New York, as in most states, actually, there are more women than men who come out and vote when there's sort of a statewide election. So it's going to hurt him quite a bit.

He also is going to have a really hard time, if it comes to this, sort of beating Hillary Clinton in New York state, in part because, you know, he hasn't unified -- he's talking about unifying the national party. He hasn't unified the state Republican Party behind him. There's quite a fight going on. They certainly haven't lined up behind him the way virtually the entire establishment is behind Hillary Clinton. So he's got a little work to do there, as well.

CAMEROTA: Errol, Maeve, thank you. Have a great weekend.

LOUIS: You, too.

CAMEROTA: Let's get to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Devastation and despair in India. Two dozen dead, scores more missing after a highway overpass under construction collapses. Now murder charges have been filed. We'll take you live to the scene next.

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