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Deadly Earthquake Topples Buildings in Japan Ash Carter Visits Warship in Disputed South China Sea; Push to Oust Brazil's President Gains Steam; Op-Ed Blasts "Rigged" GOP Delegate System; Media Spotlight On the Democratic Debate. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 15, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: We have breaking news out of southern Japan. At least nine people have lost their lives, hundreds are injured following a very powerful earthquake. The magnitude 6.2 quake rattling the region late Thursday. Officials say aftershocks are expected and they're going to continue for at least a week.

(Video playing) You just saw one that was captured on video by a CNN iReport. That was the rest of the event. Rescue crews are out in force looking for victims. Many people are still believed to be trapped under rubble.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: This morning defense secretary Ash Carter is expected to land on the aircraft carrier USS Stennis on patrol in the South China Sea. The plan was announced in Manila Thursday in an effort to deepen U.S.-Philippine military ties, including joint patrols in those disputed waters. China, which claims 90 percent of the sea, pledged severe opposition to the move.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, vowing to fight to the bitter end as the push to impeach her gains momentum. She is accused of manipulating government accounts making the economy appear stronger than it was. Rousseff denies any wrongdoing and says the lawmakers accusing her are corrupt themselves.

CUOMO: An infamous member of the Charles Manson family could soon be set free. A California parole panel recommending Leslie Van Houten be released from prison. Officials say she's acted like a model prisoner and expressed remorse for the notorious killings of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary back in 1969. And now, 66-year-old Van Houten still needs the full parole board and California's governor to sign off on her release.

PEREIRA: So, Donald Trump claims the system is rigged against him. Now he's asking voters to answer one simple question. How will you answer it? That's coming up ahead on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:37:00] CUOMO: There is an op-ed in the "Wall Street Journal" this morning that has Donald Trump saying the rules for Colorado's primary were broken and he asked voters a provocative question. Is the election system working for you? What do you think? Is this just about Colorado or is there a larger message at play? Let's discuss. CNN political analyst and host of the David Gregory Show podcast, David Gregory. Washington Bureau Chief for the Daily Beast, Jackie Kucinich. And, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for The Atlantic, Ron Brownstein. What is your take on this, Mr. Podcast?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Can you focus group that, by the way?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HOST, THE DAVID GREGORY SHOW PODCAST: When he says it, it's like WrestleMania.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

GREGORY: It feels very big.

CUOMO: I'm trying to sell for you, my brother. I'm trying to sell.

GREGORY: I know, and I appreciate that. I know some people that subscribed to that who are doing me a favor. I think that Donald Trump is in the middle of almost two weeks now of an argument about a rigged political system that he hasn't caught up to because he wasn't quite prepared enough for the machinery of how to win delegates.

But I think that he's, as I've been saying all week, got and inside and an outside game. The outside game is to argue against the establishment and the system, which is to play to his brand, but the inside game is to start to work that system into his favor.

And if he wins here in New York -- if he should win convincingly, he gets into a stretch where I think he can put a lot of these concerns to bed and put himself in a pretty good position. He's still in command of this race and I think he puts himself in an even better position if he wins in New York.

CAMEROTA: Jackie, I want to ask you about something else that's happening in a newspaper this morning. The New York Post is endorsing Donald Trump, and let me read you a portion of that endorsement.

In it they say, "Should he win the nomination we expect Trump to pivot -- not just on the issues, but in his manner? The post-pivot Trump needs to be more presidential, better informed on policy, more self- disciplined and less thin-skinned." Is there any evidence that those things are just waiting to come out of Trump?

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: It's like they're endorsing a different candidate. We have high hopes for Trump so please change everything you're doing. He said that he's different in private. He said that he's going to be different after he knocks off the next two candidates, until he faces Hillary, and then he's going to go after her.

So, he has kind of signaled that he's going to shift. We just haven't really seen any evidence of it other than the fact he has brought on these Washington hands. He has -- I mean, this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. That's a much more serious tone than we've seen from Donald Trump in the past.

CUOMO: Can positive beat negative in this cycle?

BROWNSTEIN: I think it's tough. You've got 70 percent of the country, or 65 percent, saying we're on the wrong track. That is a big headwind in the face of a positive message. But I do think in the end that you are going to have to convince people, at least the majority of Americans, that you can make their lives better.

As David said -- just pointed out -- when Donald Trump -- it's fascinating because if you look at the outside game and the inside game they tend to conflict at some point because the insiders that you need -- if you fall short of the 1,237, he is going to need some unbound Republican delegates just to align with him to get him over the top. And if he is basically saying --

CUOMO: The same ones?

BROWNSTEIN: -- you are part -- he's saying you are part of a corrupt system. So I understand why he wants to rally his troops with his kind of us against them mentality. But look, I do think it is hard to make the positive message in an environment where people are frustrated with what the political system has and has not produced.

[05:40:00] The median income is lower today than it was 15 years ago. That's almost unprecedented in American history. But in the end, I don't think it's enough and I --

CUOMO: Reagan did it. Won New York. It was a negative time. He had a positive message and he wound up winning New York also.

KUCINICH: Well, it's interesting, Donald Trump supporters and Bernie Sanders supporters. Bernie Sanders supporters are purists. Donald Trump supporters aren't and they're willing to let him do what he needs to do to become their president.

CUOMO: Define pure because you're going to get some heat for this.

KUCINICH: Oh, God, I will.

CUOMO: Welcome to our world.

KUCINICH: So, no, but Bernie Sanders supporters are --

GREGORY: Ideological purists.

KUCINICH: Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Ideologically, they expect Bernie Sanders to be a progressive's progressive.

GREGORY: Right.

KUCINICH: On Donald Trump, not so much.

GREGORY: And I think that's a smart point because what we're learning about Trump is that there's something about all this that's a total come-on. In other words, his negativity, him bashing people -- he's deliberately outrageous and he'll look you in the eye and say OK, well I've got to take these people out then I'll get nicer. I'll be more presidential.

So it's cynical, but it's outrageous just to say that this whole process should be caricatured and he's doing it. I think where he gets into more trouble is on the substance. Areas of policy he has not thought through. But, as we all know, personal characteristics are more important than issues in a presidential race and that's where he's winning.

BROWNSTEIN: But look, I think there is an issue base in this. If you look at the 21 states where they've had exit polls there are only two states where a majority of Republicans have supported the idea of deporting 12 million people. But in all of those states, people who do support that idea are providing a majority of Trump's vote because he is getting such a disproportionate share of the minority that supports that idea.

He is speaking to something in the Republican Party. The changing nature of the Republican coalition is of growing importance of particularly blue-collar Republicans who are responding to his ideas on both immigration and trade.

And the challenge he faces is that no matter what kind of repositioning the New York Post wants -- as long as he has those positions he's going to face a lot of trouble with the growing groups that are at the core of the Democratic coalition when he gets to the general election.

CUOMO: Alisyn, you know what's really needed?

CAMEROTA: Tell me.

CUOMO: We need a forum where these more delicate, sensitive -- sometimes even we would use a word like abstruse issues. We need to be drilled down with someone who's knowledgeable about the system, yet provocative, and sports an interesting two-tone effect of eyebrows to hair.

CAMEROTA: Yes, yes. If only we could find somebody like that and if only they could have a podcast called The David Gregory Show. What can we expect on here in terms of abstruseness?

GREGORY: I'd say well, plenty of that. We're going to break down the derivation of that word. There I am doing some of my podcast.

CUOMO: Wow.

CAMEROTA: Woah, an action shot.

GREGORY: Wearing -- yes --

CUOMO: So casual.

GREGORY: Right. I wear a hoodie most of the time but this is different. You know, these are interviews. My first one is Andy Cohen from Bravo T.V., so we talk politics. But I talk to Mitt Romney, I talk to Arianna Huffington, I talk to religious folks as well. So I think this is about news and politics. It's also about pop culture.

Mostly, these are more intimate conversational discussions with people where my curiosity leads me -- I'm not always trying to make news. I'm trying to explore what makes people tick, what makes them who they are, what motivates them.

CUOMO: Do you feel a lot in this? Do you feel?

GREGORY: I feel a lot and I share about myself.

CUOMO: Now we're talking.

GREGORY: And there are areas of stuff that I share that you will make fun of.

CUOMO: No.

CAMEROTA: Impossible. For you, I'm going to learn how to download. Thank you guys. Great to talk to you. Thanks a lot, panel. Well, Donald Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, joins us live in our 7:00 hour. He has been in the center of a lot of headlines lately, so it will be very interesting to talk to him live -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Abstruse. A-B-S-T-R-U-S-E. In a sentence, Chris is abstruse. It means obscure. All right, things got a little rowdy at last night's Democratic debate. The candidates and the crowd ramping up the volume under the spotlight of the New York media. How did the press react to last night's Brooklyn brawl?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:00] CUOMO: Rowdy -- that's a word for it -- what happened in the New York debate in the media capital of the world last night. It was a different tone than we've seen in previous Democratic debates. No question about it just four days away from the New York primary. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is our ninth debate.

BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But you didn't answer the question.

CLINTON: I did. If that's the way we're --

SANDERS: No, you didn't.

CLINTON: Yes, I did.

SANDERS: Can I ask -- CLINTON: I did answer the question.

SANDERS: Can I please --

CLINTON: Well, don't put words into my mouth.

SANDERS: I think I have the right to -- just repeating it doesn't make it true.

CLINTON: Senator Sanders did call me unqualified. I've been called a lot of things in my life. That was a first.

SANDERS: Your answer has been the same year after year.

CLINTON: I love being in Brooklyn. This is great.

SANDERS: Welcome onboard. I'm glad you're here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So what was the plus-minus on last night? Let's bring in our media analysts, CNN senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES, Brian Stelter. And, CNN senior reporter for media and politics, Dylan Byers. Gentleman, good morning.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Good morning.

CUOMO: So, let's take a look at some of the headlines from the tabloids. Sometimes they can be very interesting. Can we put them up for people? We have the News, the Post, and Newsday. "Debate Night in NY", yawn. "Bern Belts Hill", that's a little something. "Brooklyn Brawlers" -- are we moved by any of this? Was there enough material in last night?

STELTER: I think there was an enormous amount of material even if people's minds weren't changed. There was a sense of finality to last night. Clinton entered this race a year ago. Sanders almost a year ago. As one of them mentioned, they had debated nine times. There's not a tenth debate on the calendar.

You know, these candidates have tentatively agreed to maybe meet up in May but the Clinton campaign would like for this to be over by then. So, as of now, this was the last debate and it kind of felt to me like the last debate. A summation of everything we've heard from these campaigns.

[05:50:00] CUOMO: Dylan Byers, it seemed last night to some that Bernie Sanders was offering himself as an alternative more than he ever had before. Not just an idealist, not just a critic. Your take?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: Yes, I think that's absolutely right and I would also just say to Brian's point, I think that the Democratic primary arrived in New York right on time. I don't know if it was coincidence. But the tone, the aggression, the sort of contempt that each of these candidates seem to have for each other is pitch-perfect for the New York City tabloid culture.

On the one hand, a lot of the talking points that we saw last night, a lot of the way that that these two candidates pitched themselves is not fundamentally different from what they've been doing over the past year and in the past eight debates.

What was different was the tone and their willingness to go after each other and really try and undermine one another and go to each other directly, rather than making separate pitches, and the debate really became uncivil in a way we hadn't seen yet. And again, I think that befits the New York City media culture.

STELTER: Maybe it was partly because of the audience -- partly because of the crowd. You and I were there, Chris, and I noticed beforehand the audience was asked to keep the debate on the stage, not in the audience. No booing. I didn't hear much booing, but I heard a lot of whooping and hollering and cheering, even some chanting, especially by Sanders supporters.

It seemed like there was a pretty even mix of Clinton and Sanders supporters in the room, but the Sanders supporters were very effective at making their voices heard, even putting their fists up in the air at various moments. So you had that kind of sports arena vibe, as the New York Times said this morning. And it almost felt more like a GOP debate than the Democratic debates we've seen before.

CUOMO: Maybe the best play to advantage last night from the crowd was right before the summations. Bernie did his. Hillary was about to do hers and the Bernie people started chanting Bernie, Bernie and it caused an interruption and waited. That, often, can be something that will sway media perception --

STELTER: Right.

CUOMO: -- of what happened. But, also, do you think that Bernie Sanders is a little bit at a rhetorical advantage because pushing flourishes. Pushing big ideas is often more sexy to cover than pragmatism.

STELTER: I think you're absolutely right about that. You think about the size of the rallies, the kind of visuals he tries to create. The images he creates with these big rallies like the one in Washington Square Park earlier this week. That is an advantage visually and rhetorically, as well, when he's talking about imagining bold changes.

It certainly warms the heartstrings and that's maybe why we're at this place that no one thought we would be at a year ago where there are supporters of Sanders that felt marginalized for a long time. Did not feel like the media represented them. They did not feel like any candidate represented them.

One of the takeaways after this ninth debate is that there is a candidate -- there is a person conveying their message. Even if as all the indications would be, Clinton's going to take this New York primary away, I think it's really important that there's been a candidate on the left that has embodied what a significant part of the country feels. They didn't feel they were being heard before, and it feels to me like two hours in the primetime debate summarized that position.

CUOMO: What was your moment of the night, Dylan?

BYERS: Well, look, my moment of the night was actually when the candidates weren't able to answer the questions. We can tell that the New York audience wasn't having it. And for Bernie Sanders, that's when he was unable to say exactly how Hillary Clinton had been influenced by her Wall Street speaking fees. And for Hillary Clinton, it's her unsatisfactory answer on why she wouldn't release her Wall Street transcripts.

And I would say to Brian's point, I think that Bernie Sanders has had the rhetorical advantage for a long time. As someone put it last night, he's a preacher and she's a teacher. He has this sort of lofty idealistic message that really benefits him when it comes to campaigning in poetry, where she campaigns in prose.

But I would say the scrutiny that's been cast on his policy proposals, specifically by the New York Daily News recently in an interview he gave where he was unable to answer fundamental questions about his policy -- I think that has sort of put him at something of a disadvantage and has cast more scrutiny on some of these rhetorical flourishes that he has.

CUOMO: Something that we had heard that we were going to hear and we didn't, last night, from Sanders was that he was going to go after that Daily News endorsement and say it was set up. That the editor of the paper has given money to Clinton and that that's what this is about. But we didn't hear it. Sometimes you don't get the opportunity.

STELTER: No, but Clinton brought up the interview right away --

CUOMO: Yes.

STELTER: -- and they sort of make that very clear. For her, that was a big win even though she wasn't in the room. The Daily News may be helping her. Editorial board interviews have turned out to be really important --

CUOMO: True.

STELTER: -- in this campaign. The Daily News and others.

CUOMO: Dylan Byers, Brian Stelter, thank you very much, as always.

STELTER: Thanks.

CUOMO: Alisyn --

CAMEROTA: Fireworks at the Democratic debate, as we've been talking about. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders getting testy. We have a full breakdown of the highs and lows next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:58:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Senators Sanders did call me unqualified. That was a first.

SANDERS: Will we really feel confident about a candidate so dependent on big money interests?

CLINTON: I stood up against the behaviors of the banks.

SANDERS: Secretary Clinton called them out. Oh, my goodness. They must have been really crushed by this.

TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God bless the great state of New York.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What are New York values? Honesty and straight-talking.

CRUZ: I haven't built any buildings, but I have spent my entire life fighting to defend the constitution.

JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We risk losing everything.

TRUMP: Isn't it amazing the way some names just stick to people?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your post-debate edition of NEW DAY. It is Friday, April 15th, 6:00 on the east. So, when you are on the docks in Brooklyn at night there may be a fight, and there was last night.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were just a couple of hey-ohs away from a huge brawl breaking out there at the CNN Democratic debate.