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Trump: 'RNC Doesn't Want Me to Win'; Paul Ryan Nixes Presidential Bid; Sanders Attacks Clinton's 'Credibility Gap'. Aired 7-7:30a ET
Aired April 13, 2016 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: All right. Following a whole lot of news on this Wednesday, including Speaker Ryan making it clear he does not want to be the presidential nominee. So let's get to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[07:00:11] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was a dirty trick. These are dirty tricksters.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald loves to call people a loser.
TRUMP: Lyin' Ted.
CRUZ: Losin' Donald.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've stood on a stage and watched with amazement as candidates wallowed in the mud.
TRUMP: The Republican Party was 100 percent controlled by the RNC. They saw how I was doing, and they didn't like it.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do not want, nor will I accept the nomination for our party.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we need is leadership that has the courage to stand up, and we need them to stand up.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bernie Sanders has had trouble answering questions.
SANDERS: You can run and campaign and win without being dependent on Wall Street.
CLINTON: We're going to keep reaching out and helping people. That's who we are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira. CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. I
see you sneaking in from the other side of the studio. That doesn't trip me up.
Donald Trump's blistering attack on the GOP, the front-runner bashing the GOP for stacking the deck against him, accusing the party of conspiring to stop him from becoming the nominee. The party's chairman not having it, firing back after the CNN town hall.
CUOMO: Boy, oh, boy, for the Democrats the timing could not be better for the debate tomorrow night. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton talking a lot of smack. Money ties, confidence, integrity. It is personal and getting ugly. What happens today?
Lucky for you, we have the election covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Getting ugly? It's been ugly for quite a while.
CUOMO: I'm going to make it an active process.
KOSINSKI: I like that. I like that. It still has more to go.
CUOMO: That's right.
KOSINSKI: But I love this, because this is a town hall; yet, it's members of the candidate's family. They're thinking is this going to be exactly what you'd expect from family members or is it going to be kind of a bizarro world look at each candidate? And you get a little bit of both. I mean, here you have Donald Trump kicking things off, slamming the Republican Party.
Yes, he did utter both "make America great again" and "so presidential." But then you have a Donald Trump in this venue who is subdued, calm, letting others speak. And how often do you hear Donald Trump describe that -- and granted, this is Trump with his own kids -- selfless.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You don't think the RNC wants you to get the nomination?
TRUMP: No, I don't think so.
COOPER: Republican front-runner Donald Trump calling out the Republican National Committee during CNN's town hall Tuesday night, accusing them of conspiring to keep him from clinching the GOP nomination by denying him delegates.
TRUMP: I won Louisiana. I won it easily.
COOPER: Won the popular vote. You got more delegates.
TRUMP: The popular vote. Because of all the shenanigans that goes on. And...
COOPER: You call them shenanigans. These are the rules. Didn't you know the rules?
TRUMP: I know the rules very well. But I know that it's stacked against me by the establishment.
KOSINSKI (voice-over): Trump alleging the Republican Party is, quote, "100 percent controlled by the RNC" and that rules were changed to stop him.
TRUMP: They changed the rules a number of months ago. The people...
COOPER: About eight months ago.
TRUMP: Well, that's not very long ago.
COOPER: But you had a lot of time to prepare and get organization.
TRUMP: You know why they changed the rules? Because they saw how I was doing, and they didn't like it.
KOSINSKI: The Trump family later joining the candidate on stage. Trump's daughters taking on critics who say their father is disrespectful to women.
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: He always taught me that there wasn't anything that I couldn't do. And I don't think that's the message a father would relay to a daughter who he didn't believe had the potential to accomplish exactly what her brothers could.
KOSINSKI: Both pointing to their upbringing as evidence of an equal opportunity father and business mogul.
TIFFANY TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: My father, since I've been a little girl, has always inspired me and had so much faith in me to just be the best person I can be, the best woman I can be.
KOSINSKI: Trump admitting that, when it comes to debates, his family sometimes wishes he would lighten up.
D. TRUMP SR.: They're always saying, "Be nicer on the debates."
I said, "Wait a minute. They're coming at me from all these different angles. How can I be nice?"
But Melania in particular would say be nicer in the debates. I said, "I can't do that. I have to win first."
KOSINSKI: Donald Trump Jr. agrees.
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: Everyone talks about that at tone, but there also comes a time where you actually have to put the hammer down, right? There comes a time where, you know, being nice, trying to do all this stuff. When people are laughing in your face, you have to actually fight back. And that's what's so important about what he does.
KOSINSKI: Trump's wife Melania pushing her husband to act more presidential.
COOPER: How would you like him to be different?
MELANIA TRUMP, WIFE OF DONALD TRUMP: Just to use nice language sometimes.
COOPER: Better language?
M. TRUMP: Better language.
COOPER: I know you were...
M. TRUMP: Not all the time.
COOPER: You were upset when...
M. TRUMP: Sometimes I agree.
COOPER: Somebody yelled out something at one of his rallies...
M. TRUMP: And he repeated it.
COOPER: You were upset with that?
M. TRUMP: Yes, and I was thinking just don't repeat it. Because next day the press, all that they will talk about is the word, inappropriate word. And that was correct.
[07:05:05] KOSINSKI: And on changing his tone, Trump says he can switch it up any time.
D. TRUMP SR.: It's easy to do it. I mean, it's easier to do it than the way I behave right now. But...
COOPER: So why not?
D. TRUMP SR.: Because I have two -- I have two more people I have to take out.
KOSINSKI: But when it comes to the retweeting that sparked Trump's recent war of wives last month with Ted Cruz, Trump says, yes, it's the retweets that usually get him in hot water; and that it's all his own doing.
D. TRUMP SR.: During the evenings, after 7 p.m. or so, I will always do it by myself.
COOPER: Do you ever want to say to him, "Put the mobile device down? Like, it's 2 a.m., and you're still tweeting."
M. TRUMP: If he would only listen. I did many times. And I just say, "OK, do whatever you want." He's an adult. He knows the consequences. KOSINSKI: But it's the special bond they say they all have with their
father that trumps it all.
ERIC TRUMP, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: He's just always had so much love for us and his whole family. He's an amazing guy. One of my best friends in the entire world. Maybe my best friend in the entire world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSINSKI: Donald Trump's family pretty much laughed off some of his more controversial tweets, saying this is what makes Donald Trump, Trump. He's genuine. He has a lot of fashion. He's a fighter.
I thought it was interesting, too, how does Trump tweet? Well, in his words, he shouts it out to one of the young ladies in his office.
And there is, by the way, a tweet rebuttal this morning coming from the Republican Party. Reince Priebus tweeting, "The nomination process known for a year and beyond. It's the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break."
CAMEROTA: That's interesting. We didn't know there was a tweet catcher who has to, like, type it up as he's shouting it out.
CUOMO: What a horrible job.
PEREIRA: I was just going to suggest we need one of those on NEW DAY.
CAMEROTA: Kind of old school.
KOSINSKI: Exactly.
CUOMO: Just shout it out. "I don't like your face." "I don't like your..."
PEREIRA: All right, Michelle. Thanks very much for that.
In the meantime, House Speaker Paul Ryan is trying to end speculation that he has White House ambitions. Telling reporters, count me out of the 2016 race, saying he will not accept the Republican nomination in a contested convention.
Our senior political reporter, Manu Raju, is live in Washington with more. All right. Count them out, he says.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Michaela.
Now, Paul Ryan has said he won't run for president nearly two dozen times. But the chatter over what may happen at a deadlocked convention can become a major distraction from his two main jobs this year. For one, Ryan raising money to keep the House GOP majority. He begins
a fund-raising binge of nearly 20 events in the next eight weeks.
And two, as chairman of the convention, when he wants to be seen as a fair arbiter of any disputes. So yesterday, he wanted to make clear there's absolutely no circumstance in which he'd be the nominee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN: If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe that you should only choose from a person who has actually participated in the primary. Count me out. I simply believe that, if you want to be the nominee for our party to be the president, you should actually run for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now Ryan could have his hands full at a contested GOP convention. Already, a number of Republicans are telling me they will not attend, including senators in tough reelection races like Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Richard Burr of North Carolina.
Even Jeb Bush told me yesterday that he would skip the convention. But Ryan wants delegates to limit dissention by writing a rule saying only people who have run for president can be the nominee. So we'll see, Alisyn, if they do just that.
CAMEROTA: OK, Manu, thanks so much for all of that background.
Let's talk about something that Donald Trump has been saying a lot in the past week. Is the system rigged against him? Let's bring in co- chair of Donald Trump's New York campaign, New York City councilman Joseph Borelli.
Joe, thanks so much for being here.
JOSEPH BORELLI, NEW YORK CITY COUNCILMAN: Thanks for having me.
CAMEROTA: Is the system stacked against Donald Trump?
BORELLI: think Donald Trump tried to make a case that it was stacked last night. And the really important question is what is the RNC doing to dissuade people that it's not. You have Donald Trump consistently winning in vote counts and being denied delegates that are pledge to him.
CAMEROTA: Yet he's winning in the delegate counts. To your point, he's winning races. He's -- here. Let me show you the latest delegate count. Donald Trump has 758. Cruz has 538. Kasich has 145.
I can go one better. Let me show you the latest polls for what's happening with the New York primary. Donald Trump is so far out ahead in this latest New York One poll. Donald Trump has 60 percent. Look at that. Over his rivals. John Kasich, 17 percent. Ted Cruz 14 percent. It mirrors somewhat the Quinnipiac poll, 55 percent. How is this a system stacked against this guy? BORELLI: The system is essentially stacked against him if he's
winning with these great numbers and still being denied delegates in other states. In New York, I think you're going to see a huge win by Donald Trump, and he'll be able to pivot that to another win the following Tuesday, the way you have 172 delegates at stake in other states.
CAMEROTA: It sounds like you're talking about Colorado and what happened in Colorado. Colorado had a wacky system that everyone knew about. Even though it was different than a primary or traditional caucus, it was their system, and they had decided on it a long time ago.
Let's play for you what Donald Trump has said about that system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[07:10:15] D. TRUMP SR.: They changed the rules a number of months ago. The people...
COOPER: About eight months ago.
D. TRUMP SR.: Well, that's not very long ago.
COOPER: But you had a lot of time...
D. TRUMP SR.: You know why they changed the rules, because they saw how I was doing; and they didn't like it.
CAMEROTA: He said they changed the rules months ago, because he was winning. Reince Priebus, head of the RNC, says no. That is not the chronology of how things happened. Let me read to you his tweet from last night.
He said, "The nomination process known for a year and beyond is the responsibility of the campaign to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break."
So are we not to believe Reince Priebus?
BORELLI: I'm not saying, nor is Donald Trump saying that Ted Cruz did anything illegal, by sort of siphoning some of these delegates. What people are saying is that they have this assumption that they should be able to vote and that their vote actually should matter, whether it be in Colorado or elsewhere.
CAMEROTA: He's not saying somebody did something illegal, but he's close to it. He's saying that it's a trick. He's calling it a dirty trick. Let me play for you what Donald Trump -- how he defines it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This was a dirty trick. These are dirty tricksters. This is a dirty trick, and I'll tell you why. The RNC, the Republican National Committee, they should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen. I can tell you that. They should be ashamed of themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Dirty trick. Is this a dirty trick, anything that has happened so far in Colorado or beyond?
BORELLI: Look -- well, beyond. Look at South Carolina and some other states where Donald Trump won all the delegates. However, instead of having people that are going to go to convention that are wholeheartedly supporting Donald Trump, you have people that are going there almost disingenuinely [SIC], supporting other candidates.
CAMEROTA: But this is the system. You're allowed to support whoever you want. This is the system. Delegates can do -- you know, can be courted by other people.
BORELLI: This is the system. And I think the hiring of Paul Manafort is going to change the tone and some of the direction that the campaign is going in, and that's a great step. And that obviously makes up for some problems that the campaign may have had.
That said, it goes back to fundamentals. People believe that their vote actually should count for something. And that's the frustrating part. And that's why I think this is not necessarily helping Ted Cruz and some of the states he still has to compete in.
CAMEROTA: I'm going to get to Ted Cruz in a minute. But I just want to ask you, as a politician, you're on the New York City council. You understand how you have to sometimes curry favor with your own party.
Do you think that Donald Trump calling out the RNC like this, basically calling them dirty tricksters, do you think that that's a winning strategy?
BORELLI: I'll answer that with a question. Do you think it's a good strategy for the RNC to be sort of not dissuading people, but they're not trying to undermine the front-runner?
CAMEROTA: But what makes you think that they're doing that?
BORELLI: It seems to me, again, you see in state after state where Donald Trump has won delegates, he has seemed to not get the delegates that are wholeheartedly supporting him.
CAMEROTA: Because those are the rules.
BORELLI: Those are the rules. You know, I'll give you that. They're certainly the rules. I'm not saying he's anywhere doing anything illegal. But people have an expectation that, when they vote for someone, they're voting for a delegate that's pledged for that person.
CAMEROTA: Do you think Donald Trump can win, after everything we mentioned, having rejected the RNC, having called out and insulted the RNC?
BORELLI: Look, I think 52 percent of Republicans right now believe that if Donald Trump goes to the convention with the most delegates, he should be the nominee. And that's most likely the scenario that that would happen. What if he gets to that 1,237 number? What if he gets to 1,200? I mean, should he not be the nominee then? A lot of Republicans take the position that I do, that he ought to be.
CAMEROTA: OK. Ted Cruz has seemed to have taken a page from Trump, Donald Trump's playbook. As you know, Donald Trump has been calling Ted "Lyin' Cruz." And yesterday, on a radio program with Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz came up with his own term for Donald, where he called him "Losin' Donald." Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Donald is a very sore loser. He doesn't handle losing well. And he throws a fit. Donald is panicking. He is scared. You know, Donald loves to call people a loser. Donald wakes up at night in cold sweats that people will call him the "Losin' Donald."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: This back and forth, does this name calling help voters?
BORELLI: First of all, the way he sounded there was very creepy. Let's start there.
For -- the funny thing about nicknames is that they only stick if there's some truth to them. So what happens when he has this tremendous victory in New York, and then a week later he wins in four northeastern states by big margins, where 172 delegates at stake. Ted Cruz would look pretty foolish if he still tried to, you know, hashtag "Losin' Donald."
CAMEROTA: Joseph Borelli, thanks so much for coming on NEW DAY.
BORELLI: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Nice to talk to you.
All right. Tonight, Senator Ted Cruz and his wife Heidi will talk to Anderson Cooper. They will take questions from New York voters in a CNN town hall. Join us at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Chris.
CUOMO: All right. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the other side of the race, tearing each other down, as well, ahead of tomorrow night's critical CNN debate in Brooklyn. Sanders claiming Clinton has a, quote, "credibility gap," Clinton insisting the Vermont senator has, quote, "lost his compass."
CNN's Chris Frates counting down the hours before the big Brooklyn showdown. Hello, my man.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey. Good morning, Chris. Bernie Sanders's campaign continues to hammer away at Hillary Clinton, this time taking a hit at her credibility after one of her attacks on Sanders was rated mostly false by a fact checker. His latest swipe comes after Sanders has spent days questioning Clinton's judgment and qualifications. And just yesterday, Sanders criticized Clinton's vote for the Iraq War.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Secretary Clinton was then a United States senator from your state, from New York state. She heard -- she listened to the same arguments from Bush and Cheney. Her judgment was faulty. She voted for that disastrous war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Now, what's interesting is Clinton -- Clinton's camp tells me they're not concerned the attacks will hurt her with Democrats. The word that Sanders is manufacturing bullets that Republicans will fire at her in the fall. And the Republicans will likely attack her character.
But now they can do it using Sanders's own words. And it's another sign that Clinton believes Sanders by double digits in some New York polls, focusing on the general election.
She left the campaign trail yesterday to fund raise in Florida and is increasingly attacking Republicans. Then she returns to New York today with a fresh endorsement from "The New York Daily News." Sanders, meanwhile, will hold what's expected to be a massive rally in New York City's Washington Square park tonight -- Michaela.
PEREIRA: All right, Chris, great to have you here with us.
Look at some other headlines for you now. The FBI apparently paid a one-time fee to professional hackers to break into that iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists. That's according to a report in the "Washington Post".
Just last week, FBI Director James Comey said the government purchased a tool from an unnamed third party to unlock the device. It was widely reported the Israeli tech firm Cellbrite was that third party. CNN has, however, learned that Cellbrite was not involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Secretary Clinton was then a United States senator from your state, from New York state. She heard -- she listened to the same arguments from Bush and Cheney. Her judgment was faulty. She voted for that disastrous war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Overnight, organized crime prosecutors raiding the law firm at the center of the explosive Panama Papers leak. Police set up a perimeter outside of the global headquarters of the firm in Panama City as investigators entered the building, looking for evidence of money laundering and illegal tax statements. The firm insists it did nothing wrong, saying it only set up accounts and was not involved in how they were used.
CUOMO: Terrifying moments at a prep school in Mississippi caught on video. Take a look at this. A few men mopping up some minor flooding during heavy rains. The ceiling just gave way. Gallons of water rushing down, blasting out the doorway. No one hurt. That's the good news. That's why we're showing it to you. But the school is now dealing with major water damage to the gym, lobby, and basketball court.
PEREIRA: That is so scary when there is standing water like that, because it just -- it does just suddenly give way. I had that minor happen at my home out in California. Standing water gave way in the middle of the night and scared the life out of me. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as that. But it suddenly does just give way.
CAMEROTA: And it's so heavy.
PEREIRA: Yes.
CUOMO: That's like gallons of water. Thousands and thousands of gallons.
PEREIRA: Thank goodness nobody was hurt there.
All right. The Democratic presidential race taking on a tougher he tone as Bernie Sanders's momentum builds. Is an open convention in the cards for the Dems? And should Hillary Clinton be concerned? We will hear from team Clinton next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[07:22:38] SANDERS: The American people are catching on to the fact that you cannot take millions of dollars from the wealthiest and most powerful people in this country and then claim to be an agent of change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Sparks have long been flying on the Republican side of the campaign this year.
But now Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are slinging it pretty good, as well. What's triggered the personal attacks? Is this just about crunch time? Is this the new state of play?
Let's discuss the impact on the Hillary campaign from what you just heard there. Senior adviser for Hillary for America, Jeremy Bird. Good to have you here, Jeremy.
What goes through your mind when you hear Senator Sanders make that charge?
JEREMY BIRD, SENIOR ADVISOR, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: I think the biggest thing I think is -- and I do wish that he would go back to the pledge he made earlier in the campaign that he would run a campaign about issues and not a campaign of personal attacks. And I hope we'll see that for the rest of the primary back to a campaign around the issues.
CUOMO: Why isn't that an issue, whether or not you are compromised by your contacts, by the money that is driving your campaign? That's real.
BIRD: Well, what's real, and you'll see this tomorrow night, I think at the debate in Brooklyn. I think you'll see both candidates getting back to a real debate about the issues, about where we want to take this country, where our party is taking this country. And I think those are real -- the real conversations to have. Real conversation to have about our policy positions and the difference between the two candidates. I think you'll see that tomorrow night.
CUOMO: But look, I mean, you were known as the field general. You know what it's like out on the hustings, and what you have to do takes money. Where do you get that money becomes a big concern. Money in the game is a big concern. Everybody says it. Nobody wants to unilaterally disarm.
Clinton will be uniquely burdened on that issue now against Sanders. And in a general election, if she's the nominee. So it's not going to go away.
BIRD: Well, I think when you look at her campaign, especially when you look at her campaign in the general -- and she will be the Democratic nominee -- you will see a large, large contribution coming from the grassroots. And you've seen that throughout the campaign. I think you'll see that as it fuels her campaign in the general election as the party coalesces around her and as we go up against -- we'll see whether it's Trump or Cruz or someone from the other side. You'll see the grassroots really fueling her campaign, as it has been.
CUOMO: The simple argument is how do you make the case that you can be an agent of change, as Sanders says, so you can go against these interests when you've taken money from them? That's the paradox.
[07:25:06] BIRD: Yes, I mean, I think if you look at her policy positions, if you look at whether -- you look at her as first lady, you look at her record as senator here in New York, you look at her record as secretary of state. I think when you look at her record, she has fought for us. She has fought for working families.
When you -- when you look at the primary here in New York, and the economic development record that she had in the state as senator around communities like bull. That is a strong record. That's the kind of blueprint that she's going to take to the White House.
CUOMO: Rochester yesterday, Bernie Sanders is there, whipping up the crowd. They're booing when he's making references to Hillary Clinton. The concern is how do you get those millennials, how do you get the African-Americans, the Latino activated? How do you get these people back?
BIRD: Well, I don't think there -- it's a question of getting them back. If you look at...
CUOMO: The millennials. Let's take them one at a time.
BIRD: Sure. When you look at what's happened, you know, in the primary, you have a candidate who has 2 million more votes than Sanders has. Who has won important states like Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Virginia, North Carolina. I think you've seen her put together a coalition that, No. 1, a coalition that could win the Democratic primary and will win the Democratic primary. And then you'll see, I think, as the two come together, as the Sanders camp comes together, those those folks who have voted for him in these states come together and look at what the choice is in the general election. You've been talking a lot about, say, you know, the Republican side. That choice couldn't be more clear. That's how you will get people coming together.
CUOMO: Any chance at a unity ticket?
BIRD: I don't know about that.
CUOMO: Is it in the realm of possibility?
BIRD: I don't know about that.
I do know that, one, you'll see, you know, this might go until, you know, June after the California primary. But I think what you'll see is a coming together of the grassroots on both sides, coming together, and the candidates coming together as we unite against what could be, you know, a Trump or Cruz ticket.
CUOMO: What do you think we're going to see tomorrow night?
BIRD: I think you'll see a lively debate. And I hope -- again, I hope it will be on the policy issues and not in the sort of character attack.
CUOMO: But integrity matters. Money matters. It's not fiscal policy, true. But it's all about how you do the job. Right? I mean, these are real issues. They always are. Clinton will bring them up against whoever she's opposed to, as well.
BIRD: Yes. And I think you'll see a lot of -- I think you'll see that throughout the primary season. If you look back to all the different debates since this started and you compare them to the Republican side, I think you'll see lively debates on the Democratic side. I think you'll see that tomorrow in Brooklyn.
CUOMO: What is "lost his compass"? That's what Hillary Clinton said about Bernie Sanders. What does that mean?
BIRD: I think when you -- when you see some of what he's been leveling, especially, you know, on issues like the qualified, which is just not true. And if you look at her record as secretary of state, or senator, et cetera...
He said he was responding to you guys. The campaign came out saying Bernie Sanders isn't qualified. That's why he kept doing this. He was like, "If I'm not qualified, then she's not qualified," and here's why. Do you really think he started it?
BIRD: I don't know where he got that information. But what I think you'll see tomorrow is -- and you'll see continually throughout the rest of the primary is a spirited debate about what kind of party we're going to have going into the general election. That's good. That's good for the party.
CUOMO: Appreciate you making the case. I know we're all excited for tomorrow night. We'll see what happens.
BIRD: Yes, thanks for having me on.
CUOMO: Thanks for being on NEW DAY, making the case, always.
All right. We're just hours away from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders facing off in this big debate. And if it seems like I'm hyping it, it's because I am. They haven't been face-to-face in over a month.
New York matters in a way in this race that it has not in my lifetime. This is a big deal. They're going to be face-to-face tomorrow night. The race is at a new point. And we'll see how they deal on the same stage together, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: And we will be going to Brooklyn for that, Chris.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his family in the spotlight during last night's CNN town hall event. Could Trump's daughters and his wife help him win over the all-important female voters? We'll talk about what they said last night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
