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Trump Blasts Cruz's Colorado Win, Retools Campaign; Sanders Questions Clinton's Judgment; Obama: Clinton's Emails Did Not Endanger National Security; Brussels Bombers Aimed to Hit Paris Finance Hub; Suspect Charged in Shooting Death of Former NFL Starr. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 11, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I say this to the RNC. You're going to have a big problem, folks.

[05:59:10] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're not really held to any standard of reality. It's an alternative universe that they inhabit.

TRUMP: We've got a corrupt system, and we've got to do something about it.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This race has gotten really ugly and really personal.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are getting attacked. I want them to know, we're going to respond.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bond set at $1 million for the 30-year-old suspect who allegedly shot and killed former New Orleans Saints football star Will Smith.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will prosecute Cardell Hayes to the fullest extent of the law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The family is devastated and shocked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Major developments here in Belgium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The terrorists behind the deadly plot planned more attacks in France. Two specific targets were mentioned. They were the intended target of yet another plot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, April 11, 6 a.m. in the East. And up first, Donald Trump returns to the trail after four days huddling with aides to retool the campaign. He's back in full force, blasting Colorado's process for selecting delegates as totally unfair, his new convention manager accusing Ted Cruz of Gestapo tactics to win delegates there. While Cruz's campaign is dismissing Trump as after having sour grapes after he swept all of Colorado's delegates this weekend.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All this as Bernie Sanders ratchets up the war of words against Hillary Clinton, saying that, quote, "something is clearly lacking," unquote, in her judgment. The Democratic rivals set to face off in a CNN debate on Thursday. Can Sanders pull off an upset in New York?

We have the race covered the way only CNN can, so let's begin with Phil Mattingly. Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, god morning, Alisyn.

Donald Trump launching a new attack. His target: the delegate system. And if you want to know why, just look to Colorado, where once again, Ted Cruz's campaign out-organized, outmaneuvered and flat-out outplayed Donald Trump's campaign over the weekend. That has Donald Trump and his top aides crying foul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We've got a corrupt system. It's not right. We're supposed to be a democracy.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump back on the campaign trail in New York after spending four days laying low.

TRUMP: We've got to have a system where voting means something. Doesn't it have to mean something?

MATTINGLY: Criticizing the delegate system after a string of losses and state battles dominated by Ted Cruz's campaign organization and issuing a warning to the Republican National Committee.

TRUMP: You're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people that don't like what's going on.

MATTINGLY: Trump's top adviser, Paul Manafort, echoing his boss's concerns, alleging that the Cruz campaign is threatening Trump's delegates.

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CONVENTION MANAGER: You go to these kind of conventions, and you see the tactic, Gestapo tactics. We're going to be filing several protests, because the reality is, they are not playing by the rules.

MATTINGLY: The Cruz campaign calls it sour grapes, writing in a statement, quote, "It's no surprise that Trump's team will lash out with falsehoods when facing a loss to distract from their failure."

Trump taking to social media to express his frustration with the delegate fight, tweeting, "The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!" This back and forth coming just a day after Cruz went after Trump over

electability while courting top donors in Las Vegas.

CRUZ: If Donald is the nominee, poll after poll after poll shows him losing by double digits. We're looking at a bloodbath of Walter Mondale proportions.

MATTINGLY: These attacks coming as Trump tries out a new strategy: playing it safe. The Republican front-runner was absent from the Sunday talk shows yesterday for the first time in four months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Now, I spoke with a senior Trump campaign official who acknowledged rather candidly that they were woefully undermanned when it came to Colorado and that it's going to take at least a couple weeks to try and ramp up to get to the point where they can match what Ted Cruz has been putting on the ground in state and county convention after state and county convention.

Still, their top-line point remains the same. Their goal: get to that 1,237, the magic delegate number, before the convention. Then they don't have to worry about any of this -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Phil.

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is no longer questioning whether Hillary Clinton has the experience to be president. As Aly just mentioned, now he's questioning her judgment. The tone of the Democratic race sharpening just three days before the big CNN debate in Brooklyn.

Senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is live in Washington with more on that for us. Good morning.

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

The two Democrats in the race fanning the flames of issues that erupted late last week. Bernie Sanders tweaking his language in the face-off over who's qualified for the presidency, after opening up a new line of attack against Hillary Clinton last week, suggesting she may not be qualified.

Sanders was using different words. Hillary Clinton, for her part, appearing to try to continue to take the high road on the issue. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: She may have the experience to be president of the United States. No one can argue that. But in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking.

CLINTON: Well, look, I've said repeatedly that I'd take him over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz any day. I think people know that I will be a president who will follow through on what I've said. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Meanwhile, on Sunday, Secretary Clinton appearing at a church headed up by a former Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus, also revisiting another dust-up from last week when her husband, the former president, traded words with protesters over the signing of the 1994 Crime Bill.

Hillary Clinton addressing how she said the criminal justice system has made people, quote, "heartsick."

Hillary Clinton today in Port Washington, New York; Bernie Sanders expected to appear at an event in Birmington [SIC], New York.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe. Thanks so much for all that.

[06:05:06] Well, President Obama stopping short of an endorsement, but he was quick to defend Hillary Clinton, suggesting her e-mail practices did not jeopardize national security. In a revealing interview, the president also said there has been no political influence in the Justice Department investigation of her private e- mail server.

CNN's Athena Jones is live at the White House with more. What have we learned, Athena?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. This interview was interesting on several fronts. So of course, this Clinton e-mail issue doesn't come up a lot on the Democratic side of this fight. But certainly, Republicans are bringing it up and will continue to do so. So we heard the president defend her while also acknowledging a bit of carelessness on her part when it came to how she managed those e-mails. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America's national security. Now, what I've also said is that, and she's acknowledged, that there's -- there's a carelessness in terms of managing e-mails that she has owned and she recognizes.

But I also think it is important to keep this in perspective. This is somebody who served her country for four years as secretary of state and did an outstanding job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So stopping short of a full-throated endorsement there. But also suggesting that he doesn't see this e-mail issue as in any way disqualifying. It was also interesting to hear the president echo some of what we've heard from the Clinton team about classification, the classification process, saying that sometimes information labeled "top secret" is super sensitive, other times not as much. We also heard the president talk about his hopes for his Supreme Court

pick, his pick to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, who is facing a wall of opposition from Republicans in the Senate. He said, look, at the beginning, many Republicans said they wouldn't even sit down with Judge Garland.

Now some senators are sitting down with him. He hopes that Judge Garland can still get a fair hearing.

And then when asked about his biggest mistake as president, President Obama talked about foreign policy. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So a revealing moment there. The president talking about his biggest mistake in the area of foreign policy. Of course, the White House has come under a lot of fire for its handling of Libya and its aftermath. That country has become basically a haven for ISIS -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Appreciate the reporting here. An interesting interview, to be sure.

Other big news this morning: the new details emerging in the investigation into the Brussels bombing. A Belgian prosecutor says the terrorist initially planned to attack France again just months after carrying out the massacre in Paris. We have CNN's Kelly Morgan live in Brussels on what has changed the plans.

What do we know, Kelly?

KELLY MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, they believe the police were closing in on them after the arrest on Paris terror suspect Saleh Abdeslam.

And then, of course, just four days later, after that arrest here in Brussels, the men bombed the airport and the metro station. The details about the Paris plot come from a computer owned by airport suicide bomber Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. Now, on that file, on that computer, which was recovered just outside the Skarvik (ph) apartment, which the attackers in Brussels used to make their bombs. On that computer, there was data, and two targets were listed. The Le Defense business district and Catholic Association in Paris.

Now, interesting that this information comes on it just days after the most wanted man in Europe, Mohamed Abrini, was arrested here on the streets on Friday, pounced on by police as he walked down the street.

Now Abrini has been wanted since the attacks in Paris in November. Finally arrested here. So interesting that we would actually -- that we'd start to hear about this Paris plot just days after he was arrested. We do know that he has been talking to police, because as you say, he has confessed to being the third airport bomber. It's another thing completely whether or not police believe him -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Kelly Morgan, thank you for that. More details we're learning there.

CIA Director John Brennan making it clear that waterboarding is no longer a part of his agency's interrogation practices. In an interview with NBC, Brennan says he's speaking out, because tactics and techniques once utilized by his agency are turning into catchphrases on the campaign trail. He says he would not carry out instructions to waterboard if ordered by a future president.

President Obama banned the practice shortly after taking office in 2009.

CAMEROTA: John Kerry making history this morning by becoming the first U.S. secretary of state to ever visit Hiroshima. Kerry is in Japan for a two-day summit with G-7 leaders. He laid a wreath this morning at a ceremony at the Hiroshima memorial but did not apologize for the U.S. dropping an atomic bomb on the city at the end of World War II, an act that claimed more than 140,000 lives.

CUOMO: Bond is set at $1 million for the suspect who allegedly shot and killed former New Orleans Saints football player Will Smith. Cardell Hayes charged Sunday with second-degree murder.

Coy Wire has the latest for us, live from CNN Center in Atlanta. Just a terrible, terrible story. Well beyond sports. What's the latest?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Indeed, Chris. I've reached out and spoken to several of Will Smith's former teammates. One told me that Will was just getting excited about his life after football. He was completing an executive MBA degree, was scheduled to walk in his graduation in less than a month. Another told me that, as big of a difference maker as Smith was on the field, he had an even greater impact in the New Orleans community.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One life is over, and another life is ruined.

WIRE (voice-over): New details are emerging over the apparent road rage killing of beloved New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith. Police say this man, 30-year-old Cardell Hayes, quote, "exchanged words" with Smith after rear-ending the former NFL player's car at a rural New Orleans intersection later Saturday night.

Soon after, Hayes, now charged with second-degree murder, pulled out a handgun, gunning down the 2010 Super Bowl champion and shooting his wife in the leg.

Just hours earlier, the couple posting this selfie together, Smith writing, "Having a blast." UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Raquel is at the hospital recovering, and she's

surrounded by her family, and for just praying that she has the strength to get through this.

WIRE: Police are now investigating whether the relationship between Smith and a former police officer, Billy Ceravolo, who posted this photo on Facebook, dining with Smith an hour before his murder had anything to do with the shooting. The reason: the former officer was involved in the 2005 killing of the gunman's father.

In a decade-old federal lawsuit filed by the gunman, Hayes claimed Ceravolo and five other officers used excessive force when they shot and killed his father after he allegedly lunged at them with a small pocketknife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not have any information to suggest that they knew one other or that this was anything other than an accident that turned into a dispute.

WIRE: Over the weekend, an outpouring of grief over the loss of one of the New Orleans Saints' most famous players flooded social media. Smith's former teammate, Reggie Bush, writing, "You were a great man and did so much good for so many people in New Orleans. You will be greatly missed."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: As a former player, I remember getting emotional just when a teammate was cut from the team. One player to whom I spoke with getting choked up on the phone. I spoke to him last night. Another one of Will Smith's teammates told me that he's not yet emotional. It's still surreal. He said, "I have a knot in my stomach, because that could have been me in the car with him." I can't imagine how his wife and kids are feeling -- Chris.

CUOMO: And Coy, as you're hearing and passing along, this is not only a man great on the field. He meant just as much and more off it. So thanks for keeping us up to date on this one.

Now, in the 7 a.m. hour, we're going to talk with Ken Trahan. He's the head of the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame. He's going to talk about the widespread reaction to the death of Will Smith. A dominant defense president was supposed to be added to the hall this fall. That's still going to happen with a posthumous election.

PEREIRA: All right. We turn back to politics and lighten things up a bit with late-night laughs. "SNL" kicking off Saturday's show poking a little bit of fun at Hillary Clinton's losing streak. Kate McKinnon took swipes at Clinton's subway swipe fail. Oh, you've got to see it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE MCKINNON, CAST MEMBER, NBC'S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": I better put on my favorite hat that I've worn so many times over the years. Here we go. That will keep me warm while I eat my favorite dinner, a classic New York City street hot dog. You know what my favorite part about New York is? The subway. I love to ride it, and I am comfortable riding it. In fact, here's me using it earlier today.

The New York City subway is the best way to get around. It's been a while. It isn't working now. I'll just go in the old-fashioned way. I'll take a cab. The cab is the best way to get around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: It is so insulting when it happens when you are trying to swipe and go.

CAMEROTA: When there are tons of cameras around. But I also liked she doesn't know how to wear the baseball cap.

CUOMO: Or that it was brand-new. That is not a fair test, though, the turnstile thing.

PEREIRA: No.

CUOMO: I have bashed into that many times.

I thought that was my chance to make it after our interview. I thought that the laugh and all the hoopla around it, I thought that was going to be my...

CAMEROTA: No. Essentially, they're avoiding you.

[06:15:04] All right. Eight days until the critical New York primary. The candidates sharpening their attacks. Will Bernie Sanders upset Hillary Clinton here? Can Ted Cruz derail Donald Trump? The fight for the Empire State next on NEW DAY.

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CAMEROTA: Eight days until the New York primary and the Trump campaign directing some of his harshest rhetoric yet at rival Ted Cruz over the fight for delegates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANAFORT: He's threatening -- you go to these county conventions, and you see the tactic -- Gestapo tactics, the scorched-earth tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gestapo tactics? That's a strong word.

MANAFORT: Well, you look at -- we're going to be filing several protests, because reality is, you know, they're not playing by the rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. That's Trump's new convention manager, Paul Manafort. And he is talking about after Cruz had picked up all 34 pledged delegates in Colorado this weekend.

Joining us now to talk about all of this is Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor of "The Atlantic"; and Jackie Kucinich, senior politics editor for "The Daily Beast. Great to see both of you guys. Happy Monday.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Jackie, let's talk about this. So Trump had this four-day conspicuous absence from the campaign trail. He came roaring back last night on Twitter to talk about how he thinks what's happening in Colorado and elsewhere is unfair and basically a perversion of the one person, one vote democracy that we all think of. Here's what he said on Twitter. He said, "The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed."

What's he talking about, Jackie?

JACKIE KUCINICH, SENIOR POLITICS EDITOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": I just don't think the Trump campaign knew the rules of the game they were going into. This whole time, Ted Cruz has been playing chess, it seems like the Trump campaign has been playing checkers. What happened in Colorado this weekend, it was the culmination of a year- long selection process by the Cruz campaign. Colorado has a several- month-long delegate selection process. And the Cruz campaign was ready for it, as opposed to the Trump campaign, which misprinted two sets of ballots that didn't have the necessary information for their delegates to actually be selected correctly.

So while they are complaining, it seems like every time Ted Cruz wins, he's cheating, and every time Donald Trump wins, it's a straight deal.

CUOMO: Well, right, but that's all about how to deal with the aftermath. A big concern would be, Ron, is this a metaphor for what is to come in the Trump campaign as this game gets a lot more tactical.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think so. I mean, look, they basically have been counting on the big event and the big win in the big primary states to carry them over the top. And that may still be enough to get them there, but what's increasingly clear, Chris, is that if he does not get to that first-ballot majority at the convention, it's going to get a lot tougher for him. Because many of the people who are pledged to him on the first ballot may be of uncertain loyalty.

And he can make all of this moot by winning -- you know, winning out and doing well enough in the final stages of this campaign to get over the top. But it's clear that in the non-primary contest, the caucuses and the conventions where those have been utilized, the lack of organization has really come back to haunt Donald Trump.

CAMEROTA: I mean, Jackie, you say these are the rules. And they are the rules. But they are wildly convoluted. Listen to this.

This is how Maeve Reston has explained what happened in Colorado. Just get a load of this. OK? "In the final rounds of a messy and chaotic process, candidates vying to be one of Colorado's delegates lined up along the walls of a ballroom at a Doubletree hotel waiting their turn to deliver campaign speeches. 'You have 10 seconds. Go!' A party official barked as the first candidate stepped to the microphone. Amid all the jostling, shouting and chaos throughout the day Friday, delegates aligned with Cruz won again and again."

You know, that is really what most Americans think of when they think that their vote is going to count if they turn out to a primary.

KUCINICH: Well, absolutely. But that's what Colorado chose to depends, and it what state you're in.

Yes, exactly. Back in August this is what they chose. They could have been a traditional caucus. They could have done a primary. But they didn't. This is what they chose to do.

So while that is super-chaotic, you know, frankly, I don't think many of us would select that way to elect a delegate or to choose a president, for that matter. It is a state-by-state process.

CUOMO: Also, it's like, you know...

BROWNSTEIN: Alisyn, can I get in here real quick?

CUOMO: Yes. Go ahead, Ron.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, I -- to your point, Alisyn, I think that, you know, although that was a process and those are the rules, and Ted Cruz, you know, played by the rules, it is true that I think the level of radical transparency we're living in and also this fundamental change in the primary process where we are seeing every state contested and every delegate matter, which may be a lasting change, given the changes in media and money, I'm not sure these non-primary processes can really survive this level of scrutiny.

If you look at the caucuses and the conventions, the way they are run are simply not up to the standards of the states that are involved, and I do think it is an open question why a state as important as Colorado has 5,000 people picking its delegates instead of several hundred thousand in a primary.

CUOMO: Right. Look, Ron's been saying this for a while, and in truth, it's been echoed for years and years. But you know what? If you're going to change anything, you know, come election day when people walk in and you see all the confusion with the names. They don't know how to use the machines. And older people asking for help. And other older people saying they can't help them. The chaos is on many different levels.

Let's pivot to the other side of the race, though. Jackie, do you believe that what's going on with Sanders right now is new? Right? Those are all the headlines that "I question her judgment." But his point seems to be exactly the same just put into different context. What's your take?

KUCINICH: I think you're right. Bernie Sanders has been saying this in a different way every time. Right? I mean, but he has been saying basically the same thing. He questions Clinton's judgment. I think he got a little bit away from it when he questioned her experience, and that seemed to backfire on him. So he's back to what he's been saying before. Now there is more scrutiny, because New York is so important to both

candidates. For Hillary Clinton, it's a state that she's won twice, as you all know. And it's also -- there is an emotional component here, and there is a wish to sort of put Sanders away here and win big. In the Sanders campaign, they need to -- if they manage to pull off an upset in New York, that's going to do wonders in their campaign going forward.

[06:25:17] CAMEROTA: Ron, let's look at the latest Democratic polls in New York, where Hillary Clinton at the moment -- this is a FOX News poll just out -- she has 53 percent given to Clinton and 37 percent to Sanders. Is there any way there's an upset?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. It's tough. I mean, it's the ingredients that had been the toughest for Bernie Sanders. It's a closed primary in a diverse state. Those have been very difficult for him.

I believe all the primaries that he has won have been in open states where independents are allowed to vote.

The Sanders campaign has a coherent, if challenging, vision of how they might overtake Hillary Clinton. It is to dominate the final stages of the race, particularly as you get to that calendar in May, and then convince super delegates. Again, the problem they've got is that you've first got this kind of gauntlet of states in the northeast that fit this description. New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania are all states that are closed. The first two are very diverse. Pennsylvania is significantly diverse. And until he shows he can crash that combination, he still faces a very uphill climb, even if a May calendar looks better and California may be an upset for him at the very end.

CAMEROTA: All right. Jackie, Ron, thank you.

KUCINICH: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: A big week of politics on CNN, beginning with a new twist on the presidential town hall. This is a three-night CNN town hall event. It features the Republican candidates and their families, on stage answering voter questions. Tonight at 9 Eastern, Ohio Governor John Kasich will be joined by his wife and daughters. On Tuesday, it's Donald Trump and family. And on Wednesday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz will be joined by his wife.

Anderson Cooper moderates these town halls, so join us tonight, 9 p.m. Eastern, for the very first one.

CUOMO: Anderson Cooper doing yeoman's work for you here at CNN.

The Democratic rivals are going to have their turn on Thursday night at the CNN debate in Brooklyn. Bernie Sanders, face-to-face for the first time in more than five weeks. And more importantly, maybe, the last time they will be head to head before the all-important New York primary. When? That's Thursday, 9 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN -- Mick. PEREIRA: Meanwhile, new details about the Brussels bombings. Police

say the terrorists who attacked the city's airport and metro system initially had a different target. Why did they change their plans? We'll take a look at that.

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