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Trump's Delegate Strategy; Anderson Cooper's Story; Firefighter Rescue Story. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 08, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:53] PAUL MANAFORT, DONALD TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The reality is, Ted Cruz has seen his best day. The reality is, this convention process will be over with sometime in June, probably June 7th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, that was Donald Trump's new convention manager, Paul Manafort, telling us he's certain that the frontrunner will have the nomination in the bag by June. So why then did Donald Trump cancel his trips to California and Colorado, hmm? Let's ask Jeffrey Lord, who joins us right now, Trump supporter.

Hey, Jeffrey.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Ali and Chris, how are you?

CAMEROTA: Doing well. First, let's talk about Paul Manafort. We just had this exclusive interview with him this morning and he's seen as an old political campaign hand and a bit of a mysterious shadowy figure. What do you think the significance is of his being added to the Trump campaign?

LORD: Well, I haven't seen Paul in years, but I do - I do know him a bit and he's terrific. He is exactly the kind of person that Donald Trump or, frankly, anybody would want to have in this role as convention manager. He knows Republican conventions like the back of his hand. He knows how to get delegates, how to secure delegates, how to keep them, what not to do to lose them. He knows the Washington end of things. He - he's - he is exactly the kind of person you have. So I think this was a great decision. Every campaign needs to have somebody like him.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Herse's what I don't get - here's what - here's what I don't get, Jeffrey.

LORD: Yes?

CUOMO: He's the convention manager. You're talking about the convention. One of the first things Manafort says when he's here is, we're going to win before the convention. We're going to get 1,237. I know what the votes are. I know that it's about almost 60 percent of the delegates but we're going to get - that's not a convention manager. That's just a regular manager.

LORD: No. No, no, no. No, no, no. I mean his focus is in the convention. I mean the delegates, after all, have to go to the convention. So that's what - that's what his task is. That is typically. That is - I can tell you. I hate to admit my age here, but the first convention I went to, I was a 17-year-old page in, well, whatever year that was.

CAMEROTA: Hmm.

LORD: So I've been to a lot of these. That is exactly what a convention manager does.

CAMEROTA: So, Jeffrey, why, then, did - if he has it all sewn up and if, in particular, New York, his own home town, it's going to be easy for him. He has more than 50 percent at the moment in polls. Why then did Donald Trump cancel his trip to California and Colorado?

[08:35:12] LORD: Well, you - you never take anything for granted, Ali, ever. And we're at a crucial point in the campaign. New York is where he should be spending his time and energy exactly. You know, candidates who have taken things for granted litter the ex- presidential candidate highway. So this is exactly the right thing to do.

CUOMO: Well, Ted Cruz is taking it seriously as well. He's here. He believes he's making a case to all those sets of ears that will respond to his understanding that New York needs this kind of change to get away from those New York values, which he says now means lefty Democrats who are hurting the state for people like the GOP, named Cuomo and otherwise.

LORD: Who's Cuomo?

CUOMO: Better - better - right, right. This one. He's talking about me. It's very offensive, Jeffrey.

LORD: Oh. Oh.

CUOMO: No, he's talking about the governor, obviously. And my submission is, that's good. That's better than what he said on the stage the night that your man Trump came after him. Do you believe that's how it's resonating on the ground?

LORD: Well, I would hope so, but I - you know, I have a column in "The American Spectator" this morning entitled "Cruz's Goldwater-esque mistake." Barry Goldwater famously said in the early 1960s that sometimes he wished you could just saw the east - the eastern seaboard of the United States off and let it float out to sea. Meaning, it was too liberal. That, of course, came back to haunt him when he was the Republican presidential nominee and LBJ repeatedly ran this commercial that saw - showed the East Coast of America being sawed off.

I would respectively point out to Senator Cruz, in the 1980s there were a lot of New Yorkers who voted for Governor Mario Cuomo and President Ronald Reagan. Governor Cuomo was, of course, elected governor. Ronald Reagan carried New York state twice. So there are a lot of Democrats in New York who voted for President Reagan, and Governor Cuomo, and I would suspect there are a lot of people in New York today who may have voted for Governor Andrew Cuomo, who would be capable of voting for a Republican nominee for president. So, you know, you don't want to throw these people out.

CAMEROTA: Huh. But, Jeffrey, let's talk about Ted Cruz's strategy here in New York, because he's soldiering on through New York -

LORD: Right.

CAMEROTA: Despite the chilly reception that he's getting many places that he's going.

LORD: Good for him.

CAMEROTA: But he's running third, I mean, behind Kasich and Trump.

LORD: Right.

CAMEROTA: Is his strategy now just to prevent Donald Trump from getting more than 50 percent of the vote here?

LORD: I'm sure it is. I mean Ted Cruz, obviously, wants to win. I mean if you're running for president, you want to do this to win. I'm sure his strategy is to win. He made a mistake. He's going to pay for it here in the state of New York, but he - I'm sure what at this point is a sort of defense mechanism. What he's trying to do is keep Donald Trump from just, you know, running away with it completely in New York state. Now, he's got half (ph). You'll see how that works.

CUOMO: It's also not that easy to get 50 percent. As you know, you know the system now and we're all learning as we're covering this, it's not just getting 50 percent overall. You guys have to win in each district. That's how your party's rules work there.

LORD: Right.

CUOMO: And that comes down to organization because a lot of these districts are going to have handfuls of GOP. The registration in New York is overwhelmingly Democrat.

LORD: Right.

CUOMO: So that comes under organization. That's a Cruz strength.

LORD: Yes. Yes, it is, but is it a strength in New York? I - frankly, Chris, I honestly don't know how well organized he is in New York state. You know, as - as I've said, most of my family is from New York and I haven't heard them say that Ted Cruz supporters have knocked on their door yet. So I'll let you know when that happens.

CAMEROTA: All right, there you go. Jeffrey, thanks so much. Have a nice weekend.

LORD: OK, guys. You, too. Bye-bye. CAMEROTA: OK, what is your take on all of this? You can tweet us

@newday or post your comment on facebook.com/newday.

Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, friends, we have a very special guest who is up bright and early this morning.

CUOMO: Who that?

PEREIRA: Guess who's here? Anderson Cooper.

CUOMO: Stop.

CAMEROTA: What?

PEREIRA: Yes, alive and in color.

CUOMO: He swore he'd never come back.

PEREIRA: Well, he's here. He's going to share stories of his childhood. He's going to share stories of his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, from his new memoir and documentary. He joins us live in just minutes. You could run now if you wanted to, Anderson.

All right, also this Sunday at 10:00 p.m. on CNN's "The Wonder List," Bill Weir treks into the Himalayas to Bhutan, capturing rare glimpses of a country rich in breathtaking views and overall happiness. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, "THE WONDER LIST" (voice over): This is a modern fairy tale, complete with kings and queens and dragons.

It takes place in a real-life Shangri-la, where wealth is not measured in gold but something called gross national happiness. Welcome to Bhutan, a land of 740,000 serene monks and upbeat farmers and dancing archers, living in pristine forests and valleys, hidden from the world for centuries by road blocks known as the Himalayas.

[08:40:10] But that was once upon a time. Today, the roads are opening. The world is coming. And all of this is at risk of massive change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I think my dad helped my mom learn what a parent was supposed to do and see what a relationship with the children could be like.

GLORIA VANDERBILT, ANDERSON COOPER'S MOTHER: When you were born, I was sure it was going to be a girl.

COOPER: You - you really wanted a girl?

VANDERBILT: Oh! I was meant to have daughters.

COOPER: I won't take it personally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: I'm going to get to the bottom of that one. That's in the HBO documentary, "Nothing Left Unsaid." It's a revealing look at the life of Gloria Vanderbilt and her son, our pal, Anderson Cooper. The film follows a year-long correspondence between the two. It is chronicled in Anderson's new memoir, "The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love and Loss."

[08:45:14] And Anderson joins us now.

Were you surprised to hear that she thought you -

COOPER: No, my mom's been telling me all of my life that he wanted to have girls.

CAMEROTA: That's nice.

COOPER: Yes. No, I know. As a kid it used to really bother me. I was like, yes, I'm in the room. I can hear this.

PEREIRA: I'm right here. I'm right here.

COOPER: I'm right here. But, yes.

PEREIRA: I have to tell you, you really, really, really, really open up in this book. And we know you as someone who's kind of quiet, keeps to yourself.

COOPER: Yes.

PEREIRA: Mr., kind of, zen, quiet guy.

CUOMO: Ha.

PEREIRA: Chris knows a different guy.

CUOMO: I don't know about that.

PEREIRA: Were you a little nervous about -

ANDERSON: Cuomo turned against me just now.

CAMEROTA: He has.

PEREIRA: He will the whole time.

COOPER: Because he - because I - I said he thinks (ph) too much.

PEREIRA: Were you worried about sort of laying your soul there?

COOPER: Not really. You know, what this - what this book really is, is, you know, my mom, when she turned 91, we decided to change the conversation between us. In the time that we have left, I wanted to - I didn't want there to be anything left unsaid between my mom and me. When my dad died, I used to image that he had - he died when I was 10 and I used to imagine that he had written me this letter that would show up when I turned 18, or when I turned 21, telling me all about himself and what I didn't know about him, what he wanted for my life, and I didn't want to have that same feeling with my mom. So, you know, there was a lot I just didn't know about her life and I never sat down. And I'm hoping that this book encourages other people, frankly, to, you know, even sit down with your aging parent or a parent with their adult child or anybody in your life.

PEREIRA: It's made me want to do that.

COOPER: Yes, and just, you know, get them on the record and just ask the questions you haven't asked and sort of put aside the old embarrassments and resentments and kind of learn about them in a new way.

CAMEROTA: And you did that, and you talked with your mom about her love life. She -

COOPER: Well, she talked about her love life. I didn't really bring it up, the love life, but it sort of - well, the conversation went there.

PEREIRA: It came up.

COOPER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Right. I mean and she famously had relationships with all sorts of famous and dashing -

COOPER: Yes, you're being kind by saying relationships. Some of them were very brief relationship. But, yes. Yes, I mean Howard Hughes, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando.

PEREIRA: Wow.

COOPER: Yes, I know. It's pretty crazy.

CAMEROTA: And what was that like to talk to your mom about her love life?

COOPER: Well, you know, what was interesting is - I mean, because, you know, she's not go into the gory details, but - thankfully. But, you know, this - this conversation was actually done over e-mail, which made it a lot easier to have in a way. It was like writing a message, putting it in a bottle and sending it out and you'd suddenly get a response. And so you - we were able to discuss stuff that we normally had never discussed before. And in the film it - which is going to be on HBO, you know it's really - it's kind of all of these things, which I didn't know about her coming forward.

CAMEROTA: There's even a moment where you ask her about her interest in possibly being lesbian. Let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: You said to me from time to time you wish you were a lesbian?

VANDERBILT: Oh, I would have made - no, I mean, I'm not kidding. I really would have made the - because all -

COOPER: What, you would have made a great lesbian?

VANDERBILT: Because all of my - first of all, I understand women. Men are still a kind of mystery to me. I respect women enormously. I have very close women friends, although we're not lovers.

COOPER: You just weren't attracted to women that way?

VANDERBILT: I just - no, (IINAUDIBLE).

COOPER: You didn't - you didn't have any luck you said?

VANDERBILT: I didn't have any luck. You know, I -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Interesting.

COOPER: And, yes, my mom was wearing a space suit. That's the kind of thing my mom would show up to report card day and - when I was in school wearing and I'd be like, oh, mom -

PEREIRA: Mom.

COOPER: I'd try to get her in and out before people like sort of saw her. I mean - you know.

CAMEROTA: I love it.

CUOMO: Now, as much as I would like to come after you -

COOPER: OK.

CUOMO: I would have had I not read some of the book.

PEREIRA: This should be interesting.

CUOMO: I'm not done with it yet. And the reason in part that I'm done with it is because I don't like you. The second reason is, my wife took it from me.

COOPER: Oh, yes.

CUOMO: Because she was reading it over my shoulder. It is so beautifully done.

PEREIRA: It is.

COOPER: Yes.

CUOMO: And I've had two of my three sisters say they want the book. And I think the reason why is, you said it earlier, you said, get to know my mother in a different way.

COOPER: Right. Yes.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: You are a good son. You love your mom very much. I know this. I don't know why you're trying to convince us otherwise because digging into her private life by that, and by e-mail because you're too much of a coward to do it in person.

COOPER: Well, that's true, too.

CUOMO: But you love your mother. You care about your mother. And I think that is tapping into something with people who, like, do I know enough about them?

COOPER: Right. Yes.

PEREIRA: Sure.

CUOMO: And are we on that level now -

COOPER: Right.

CUOMO: As opposed to when we were kids? Did you know that it would open up people to that suggestion?

COOPER: You know, I - you know, I - we - we didn't initially think this was going to be a book. I mean this was literally just something my mom and I were doing together before it was too late.

CAMEROTA: Oh, cool.

COOPER: And about four months into it I starting telling some friends of mine about it and all of them were saying, you know, I wish I had done that with my mom but, you know, she's no longer there, or, you know, I'm - that's a great idea. I'm going to try to do that. And so I think it - I realize, you know, we all have aging parents, and it's, you know, there's more and more of us that this is an issue for. You know, there's that issue of, what do you do with all their stuff?

PEREIRA: Yes.

COOPER: You know, my mom has boxes and boxes of stuff that I've been going through for 30 years trying to figure out. You know, my mom's never thrown anything away.

[08:50:05] PEREIRA: Well, and there's a lot of space suits, too.

COOPER: There's a lot of - there's a lot of cool space suits. PEREIRA: Let's be - let's be honest. I want to read - can I read one little bit -

COOPER: Sure.

PEREIRA: That I was really tickled by here. "When I was about five or six, my father showed me this statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt that stands outside Grand Central Station in New York City and it gave me the idea that all grandparents turned into statues when they die."

COOPER: It's a common thing that kids feel.

PEREIRA: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) -

COOPER: It's very relatable. I know.

PEREIRA: But this is the part that is a little different than some people.

COOPER: Just a little, yes.

PEREIRA: You have a - a little bit of the legacy thing.

COOPER: Yes.

PEREIRA: But also just talking through some of that. This must have been cathartic writing this book for you as well?

COOPER: Yes, I guess so. I mean it was just nice to be able to discuss stuff my mom - you know, my mom brought up that she'd had a drinking problem when I was a kid, for my entire life, and that was a huge issue for me as a child. And she stopped long ago. But she never - we never discussed it. And all of a sudden in this conversation we were having, she brought it up. And I was - I was so nervous. It made me nervous even responding to her talking about it. But, you know, that's the kind of thing that can come up in these sorts of conversations -

PEREIRA: Absolutely. Powerful.

COOPOER: When you put aside the past.

PEREIRA: It really is. Well, Anderson's book is called "The Rainbow Comes and Goes." Available now. This is my copy. Keep your hands off it, Chris. The HBO documentary, "Nothing Left Unsaid." What a great title. Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper. It premieres tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m., on HBO. You've got to see this.

COOPER: It's a really good documentary. I'm very proud of it.

CUOMO: Like everything Coop does, it's insightful but also a service.

CAMEROTA: That's right.

PEREIRA: Excellent. We love it.

CUOMO: What are you laughing at? COOPER: Well, that was -

PEREIRA: You can't even take a complement from (INAUDIBLE).

COOPER: That was said with such enthusiasm.

CAMEROTA: I know, right, because you don't know where he's going with that.

COOPER: Because I was waiting - I was waiting for the -

PEREIRA: It had a little edge on it.

CAMEROTA: I know.

CUOMO: I keep it professional when I'm doing the job.

PEREIRA: Do ya?

CUOMO: So, to make that point, I'm going to switching topics.

One woman in California helping needy children in a way you would never imagine. CNN Hero Shara Fisler is impacting their lives through the world of marine biology. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARA FISLER, CNN HERO: When they're in the third grade and they come on our field trip, they come over the hill on the bus, and they see the ocean, and they gasp, because it's literally the first time many of them have ever seen the ocean. It's a place of discovery to really explore their own potential in science all through studying the ocean.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Each year, Shara's group helps 6,000 kids -

PEREIRA: That's so cool.

CUOMO: Be explorers. What happens next? Find out. Watch her story at cnnheroescom. And while you're there, remember, nominate someone you think should be a 2016 CNN Hero

CAMEROTA: OK, up next, the heroic team of firefighters putting their lives on the line to save one of their own. We'll tell you how they went beyond the call of duty. Oooh.

CUOMO: See, that's the difference.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:27] CUOMO: A California woman set to spend nine years behind bars after pleading guilty to an arson fire that nearly killed one of the Fresno's bravest. That's what this story is about. Video of him plunging through a burning roof went viral. The footage also captured the heroic deeds of other firefighters who went beyond the call of duty. Here is CNN's Stephanie Elam with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This dramatic cell phone video captured it all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fireman on the ground! Firefighter down!

ELAM: A firefighter's worst nightmare.

ELAM (on camera): Is this the first time you've come back?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's just kind of - it's a little surreal right now.

ELAM (voice over): Corey Calinick (ph) doesn't think of himself as a hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just happened to be at the right spot at the right time.

ELAM: But what he and his fellow firefighters did to save the life of Fresno Fire Captain Pete Dern (ph) is nothing short of heroic. Watch Dern climb on to the roof of a garage, take a few steps and then plunge into the smoky structure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I had on as a tool was a pipe pole and I just started beating the heck out of the top of the garage door. And immediately when I started pulling, I looked over and there was four other guys that - that started pulling again.

ELAM: Calinick then grabbed a hose and headed inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing that I could recognize of - of him was the silhouette of the bottle that we carry on our back. Everything else was just charred and black.

ELAM: It took less than a minute and a half for Calinick and four our firefighters to rescue Dern. A quick response that was almost not quick enough. Dern's mask was seconds from failing.

CHIEF KERN DONIS, FRESNO FIRE DEPARTMENT: He would have then inhaled super-heated gases, and smoke and that could have zinged his lungs.

ELAM: Dern suffered third and fourth degree burns over 70 percent of his body. Unable to attend a ceremony honoring the men who saved his life, Dern's wife Kelly read a letter on his behalf.

KELLY DERN, CAPTAIN PETE DERN'S WIFE: You gave my wife back her husband. My daughter back letter dad. My mom back her son. And my sisters back their brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's even hard to - hard to hear, too, because I don't want my wife going through that either. Our goal every day is to go home safely and, unfortunately, Pete wasn't able to that day.

ELAM: But lucky for Captain Dern, his fellow firefighters were willing to go beyond the call of duty to save one of their own.

Stephanie Elam, CNN, Fresno, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:02] CAMEROTA: My goodness. What an emotional story.

PEREIRA: Powerful. Incredible.

CUOMO: And that's why we tell them to you.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

CUOMO: Well, from all of us, happy Friday. It is now time for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ah, the best day of the week.