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Clinton, Sanders Competing for New York; Trump Looks to Regain Momentum with New York Win. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 19, 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: No New Yorker can vote for Ted Cruz.

[05:58:36] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nominating Donald Trump hands the election to Hillary Clinton.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can't really put me in a box. You don't really know what I'm going to say or what I'm going to do.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm hoping to wrap up the Democratic nomination.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie! Bernie!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie! Bernie!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie! Bernie!

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got bad news for them.

CRUZ: The candidates running this cycle are not typical.

SANDERS: Stand up for some real fundamental changes in this country.

CLINTON: They know I'm coming after them. They're already coming after me.

TRUMP: We're going to beat Crooked Hillary so badly that your heads will spin.

(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's Tuesday, April 19, 6 a.m. in the east. Alisyn is off. Brooke Baldwin here...

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. CUOMO: ... with Mick and me, and the polls are open, my friends, in the Excelsior State here in New York. We're going to see if the front-runners can make a show of strength or if this race takes yet another turn. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the Democrats, looking with hungry eyes at those 247 delegates up for grabs.

BALDWIN: Hungry eyes. Better start singing. You see where I'm going with that? You like that?

To the Republicans now. Donald Trump expected to do well, given his home field advantage. Could he sweep and get all 95 Republican delegates? This as news of another shake-up in the Trump campaign has many asking, what's really going on here?

We have the race covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Chris Frates, live in Brooklyn, on the Democratic race.

Frates, good morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Brooke.

So it's finally here. New York primary day, and the battle of Brooklyn comes down to this: Brooklyn native Bernie Sanders looking to upset Hillary Clinton and her Brooklyn Heights-based campaign, the two Democrats crisscrossing New York yesterday, Bernie Sanders spending five hours shaking hands, kissing babies and trying to remind voters what's at stake.

And in deed, a huge cache of delegates at stake here in New York: 250 delegates up for grabs. That's second only to California. But remember, no winner take all today in California. If Bernie Sanders wants to cut into Hillary Clinton's delegate lead, he needs to win here, and he needs to win big.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, feeling pretty good going into today, leading by double digits in the polls. And she's hoping that she can win big enough that she makes it almost mathematically impossible for Bernie Sanders to catch her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I am hoping to do really well tomorrow, hoping to wrap up the Democratic nomination, but -- but, I'm not taking anything for granted. I've got to quickly add that before anybody has the wrong impression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now, just to show you how much is riding on today's outcome, the Clinton and Sanders' camp continuing to trade headed accusations, the exchange heated accusation, the Sanders saying yesterday Hillary Clinton was end-running election laws, the Clinton campaign answering that it's another false attack and another character smear by a desperate Bernie Sanders campaign. But it just goes to show you how much is at stake here as voters go to the polls, Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris. I can hear the energy behind you. It's very exciting.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump counting on home-field advantage to give him his first major victory in weeks. Trump hoping to sweep the state's 95 GOP delegates, but news that a top Trump aide has resigned, loyal to his campaign manager, has many wondering who is steering this ship?

Jason Carroll live in State Island with more, so who is steering the ship?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very clear Donald Trump is steering the ship. Make no mistake about that. But as you've been seeing, the polls have just opened here, right here in Staten Island, here in Staten Island Academy. They're just putting the final touches on getting things together here and getting paperwork together.

Again, Donald Trump hoping for a big win tonight, trying to capture all those 95 delegates, up for grabs. A big win would help him reset the narrative of this campaign, which as you know, has been lately all about criticizing the system over warring delegates. The Trump team has been criticized for not getting out there, not having a strong ground game.

As a result, some are saying his national field director, Stewart Jolly (ph), has decided to step down. He announced his resignation yesterday, saying he was not forced out, saying that he's doing this voluntarily. No mention of that at a rally last night in Buffalo. All of Trump's words last night, though, were for criticizing Ted Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to show Ted Cruz, who hates New York -- hates New York -- when you look at that debate and you see the way he talked about us and New York values, no New Yorker can vote for Ted Cruz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: And Trump will be watching the results come in right here in New York City. He has no events on his schedule today. He is expected to make an announcement shortly after polls close at Trump Tower -- Brooke, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Jason, thank you very much. We'll check back with you when you get some action going on behind you. Let's discuss. Let's bring in Washington bureau chief, "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich; and CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein.

Brooke, you must suffer the same thing I say, every time we have any kind of an election going on, which is did you see those old machines? Can you believe how antiquated this process still is, and all the problems and all the controversy. That's become because of the system? Let's move on. What is winning today for Hillary Clinton today? What is winning for Bernie Sanders?

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE DAILY BEAST": I mean, winning for Bernie Sanders is getting close to Hillary Clinton.

CUOMO; How close?

KUCINICH: How close? I don't know. I think within a couple points. That he can get her out of double digits, that would be a really -- that would be a huge story.

However, it doesn't look like he's going to surpass her. Doesn't look like there's going to be an epic upset like something like Michigan. It looks like she's going to win tonight.

And the Clinton campaign has been sort of downplaying expectations. They've been saying, you know, she's not going to kind of blow him out of the water.

However, you know, she maintains that double-digit lead, that's a good night for Hillary Clinton.

BALDWIN: What about, Ron Brownstein, is we're talking about we keep hearing from Bernie Sanders. And you know, he was just sitting in the studio yesterday, talking about all of this different, you know, faithful "feel the Bern" followers. Thousands and thousands, 28,000 in Prospect Park over the weekend in Brooklyn. And he talks about turnout. Why is turnout so key specifically for him?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, Bernie Sanders has dominated among younger voters who tend to be more irregular voters, and the more -- as turnout expands, that is one of the groups that you expect to be part of the wider universe.

I mean, the bigger picture here is that, if you look at the national polling, Bernie Sanders has done something that almost no other candidate who is trailing in the delegate count has ever down at this point in a race, going all the way back through the modern primary season, he's essentially even with Hillary Clinton now in national polling, and that is giving him a stronger base of support as he goes forward from state to state.

The problem he's got is that, even with these gains, he remains weakest among two groups. Self-identified Democrats, as opposed to independents and African-Americans. And he's now facing a very tough run of states, not only in New York but in the five northeastern states that come next week in which you have closed primaries in almost all cases, open only to Democrats and large African-American populations. So his goal is just to survive April without everyone writing him off so he can get back to a calendar that is more favorable in May and try to upset her on that final day in both California and New Jersey and shake up the race.

CUOMO: So Jackie, yesterday, Bernie Sanders was here, makes a lot of news. But one of the things he does not mention is this suggestion/allegation that the fund-raising by the Clinton campaign is somehow wrong, because of its collusion with the national part of the DNC. What is the speculation here?

KUCINICH: Just a continuation of the Sanders campaign trying to tie the Clinton campaign with the DNC in sort of some collusion. Remember, earlier this cycle, they got in trouble for the Bernie Sanders campaign, accidentally getting a peak at Hillary Clinton's data that they both share, but there's a firewall. Got into the firewall. There is a huge thing, the DNC shut off their access to the firewall, and there is this whole fracas about the DNC being more in Hillary Clinton's camp, and that has been a continuation of that narrative.

BALDWIN: How serious is this, though, because Ron, correct me. No complaint has been filed at the FEC?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Right. You know, look, I agree with Jackie. What we're seeing on both sides is you have candidates, Donald Trump on the one hand, Bernie Sanders on the other, that is -- they both have cause, to some extent. They're also feeling advantageous to position themselves as running against the party that they are, you know, aspiring to lead and arguing the party establishment is biased and kind of tilted against them, and they have -- they have some reasons for complaints on the scheduling of the debates, and so forth, you know, they way -- the way this looked.

But I do think, you know, in the end, part of the problem Bernie Sanders has, as I just mentioned, is that he is struggling among voters who identify as Democrats. He's done much better against independents. I think every primary that he has won, as opposed to a caucus, has been open to independents, really, has not won one that is only to Democrats and running against the party is probably not the best way to deal with that kind of deficit.

CUOMO: And Ron, let's stay with you one second, because this is one of those, "and yets." And yet...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

CUOMO: ... this party is, by all indications, in as much of an existential crisis as you have on the GOP side. Bernie Sanders having reawakened the liberal branch of this -- you know, in this state here. You see the working family party doggedly pursuing his candidacy, and he's up against the person, Clinton, whose husband, Bill Clinton, moved the party originally. So how much is at stake here beyond the names and faces of the candidates?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. It's a good point. I wouldn't say it is an equal existential crisis in the sense that Trump fundamentally rejects so many cornerstones of Republican thinking for decades not only in foreign policy but also on the other side, opposing -- opposing changes in immigration. There's no question, though, that Sanders continues a process that's already been underway.

I mean, the Bill Clinton third way New Democrat agenda that I spent a lot of time covering was built for a different America, when, you know, white voters without a college education were half of all Democratic voters, tend to be more culturally concern. There are now only a quarter of the votes President Obama won. The party had already been moving to the left on cultural issues. Now I think a liberal cultural consensus in the Democratic Party. What Sanders is trying to do is move that consensus to the left also

on economic issues, and to a large extent, he is reflecting that generational change, I think, largely as millennials come into the electorate, the Democratic electorate -- blue-collar whites are being replaced by millennials and minority voters who tend to be more liberal. There's a new consensus, going as far as Bernie Sanders in all respects? No. But directionally, there's no question where the party is moving.

BALDWIN: Changes. Final question to you, Jackie. When we're sitting around the table tomorrow morning, sort of post-gaming what happened tonight, what do you think would surprise you the most?

KUCINICH: That's a really good question. I think if Bernie Sanders gets really close to Hillary Clinton.

BALDWIN: Single-digit close?

KUCINICH: Single-digit close. I think that -- that would be surprising and quite a night.

BALDWIN: OK. We'll chat. To be continued.

CUOMO: That is -- that would be a shocker. Right. Jackie Kucinich, Ron Brownstein, thank you very much. We have more to discuss. So stick around.

PEREIRA: First, we have some breaking news out of Afghanistan. The Taliban claiming responsibility for a coordinated suicide attack -- suicide attack on a government security agency in central Kabul during the morning rush. At least 28 people were killed, more than 300 others injured. That attack targeted the offices -- office of a security team that works to protect government VIPs. At least one armed assailant was killed by police. Authorities are searching for two more suspects.

CUOMO: Two hundred more American troops heading to Iraq, this is an effort to help the country combat ISIS. The U.S. is also going to be providing Apache attack helicopters. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says they're going to operate closer to front lines, but they're going to only be providing tactical guidance. Carter says the 4,000 troops are there to advise the Iraqi military as they try to retake the key city of Mosul from ISIS.

BALDWIN: Record-breaking rain leaving parts of Houston totally under water. This unprecedented storm blamed for at least five deaths. Victims found in their cars under the flood water. Emergency crews have performed more than 1,200 water rescues; and officials there say some areas of Houston got more than 16 inches of rainfall in 24 hours, flooding at least 1,000 homes and forcing hundreds to evacuate. The rain, by the way, is expected to continue through tonight.

PEREIRA: Sad news from the entertainment world. The death of Doris Roberts, veteran character actress, probably best known for playing Ray Romano's mother Marie on the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORIS ROBERTS, ACTRESS: You love him. You hate him. He disgusts you. Look how he eats. Keep your head down and you plow through.

PETER BOYLE, ACTOR: Amen!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That role earned her four Emmy awards and a Screen Actor's Guild award. Her son said she died peacefully in her sleep of natural causes. Doris Roberts was 90 years old. Broadway veteran. Do you remember "Remington Steele"?

CUOMO: Yes.

PEREIRA: And "St. Elsewhere" and "Angie," all of those shows of our childhood, and she was part of the L.A.'s Best program that I supported in L.A.

BALDWIN: That's wonderful.

PEREIRA: She was an advocate for children's causes. A really powerful and wonderful lady.

CUOMO: Good life, 90 years. Can't argue that. And a legacy. She'll be remembered.

PEREIRA: Absolutely. For makes us laugh.

CUOMO: All right. So -- we had Donald Trump's campaign manager. His title, anyway, is that Corey Lewandowski on the show, saying, "Hey, this is all about team. There's no real shake-up. Now you know what we're hearing? There's a real shake-up. What's going on with team Trump when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:44] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching NEW DAY on this New York primary day. The big question surrounding team Trump is, who's running the campaign? Trump's national field manager stepping down. There are also reports this morning that the role of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been dramatically reduced. So what the heck is going on?

Let's bring back our political gurus, Jackie Kucinich and Ron Brownstein. Ron Brownstein, what is going on? The guys who's been running the field operation who's loyal to Corey Lewandowski. He up and quit, and now suddenly, it seems like maybe the direction of the ship is changing. I don't know if it's a struggle, Paul Manafort versus Corey Lewandowski. What do you know?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, it's funny how you hear Corey Lewandowski talk about the campaign is about growth. All I hear in my head is Woody Allen saying a relationship is like a shark. You know, if it doesn't move forward, it's dying. Look, we have seen this sort of movie -- we have seen this sort of

movie before. But we've seen it before with dark-horse candidates who have gone from operating on a shoestring to suddenly being competitive in the race.

You know, when people like Jimmy Carter in 1976, or Gary Hart in 1984, often the loyalists who are there from the beginning when, you know, the campaign was operating out of a phone booth are layered by professionals who come in.

And I think you are seeing something like that here, and it's revealing, because I mean, it's unusual, because Donald Trump has been the front-runner. But he's been an unusual distinctive front-runner right from the beginning who really has never had time for kind of the details. Organization didn't seem it would matter, because he has going to steamroll the field. In fact, he has won, Brooke, 37.03 percent of the actual votes through Wisconsin, which has left him with a bigger piece of the party than anybody else, but not a majority.

And in that world, every delegate matters. He is in a door to door, house to house fight to get to 1,237. And I think in that role, he's realizing he needs to bring in a more professional, seasoned, political operation. Whether it's going to be too late to bring him here isn't clear, but I don't think -- I do think the direction of power in this institution, in this organization is pretty unmistakably flowing toward Paul Manafort.

CUOMO: All right. So we have a couple of ironies. As Ron just pointed out, he's got 37 percent of the popular vote. He's arguing about the system, saying it's rigged. He has 43 percent of the delegate count. So he's actually doing better within the system that he's attacking.

You have two narratives here. One is who's telling the truth about what's going on? We had Corey Lewandowski on here, campaign manager. He said, "I'm running it." This was just last Friday. We asked about these new hires, what they mean for who's the man? Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I work for Donald Trump and everyone knows that. And, look, a campaign is about growth. And we cannot be successful in this campaign if we don't grow. And Paul Manafort is a great well-respected operative who has a proven record of going out and delegate hunting and making sure we get the best political operation in place. That's Paul's role. And we need that role. We went out, and I've been working with Rick Wiley for weeks to bring him onboard the campaign. He's now on board the campaign. We're going to continue to make good, quality hires so that we are prepared not just for the rest of this primary season and looking for those 1,237 delegates, but votes beyond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And I felt at that time, and I still feel now that Corey gets an OK and a "Meh, who cares?" I bet he is still the manager. I bet you he is coordinating it, and this is about different divisions and different assets. Where he gets the "Meh," is who they brought on this team.

[06:20:05] Trump has said, what, "I'm going to get the best people. I can get the best people, and I will never be like this toxic system that's going on."

And then they bring on a hired gun, Paul Manafort, smart at hell, respected by a lot of people who know how to work the game, but that's what he does, is work the game, Jackie. He's not, you know, a populist kind of person.

BALDWIN: Right.

CUOMO: He does the things that Donald Trump says shouldn't be done.

KUCINICH: Well, I mean, we're talking -- clearly, Lewandowski talked about growth. It seemed like this campaign hasn't outgrown, according to Corey Lewandowski, this is not someone who has run a national campaign before, and it showed. They were not prepared for the kind of second phase of this campaign, which is where Paul Manafort comes in.

When you bring in a big gun like Paul Manafort, it's hard to believe that he's going to answer to anyone other than Donald Trump, which is what he said here.

CUOMO: He said right on NEW DAY, "I only work for Trump. I only answer for Trump. But it's what he's going to be doing for Trump that I think is just interesting as a shake-up.

KUCINICH: Absolutely. I agree. But you know, it's hard to -- it's hard to think that Corey Lewandowski would uphold it on -- held onto the kind of fiefdom that he had with someone like that brought into the campaign.

BALDWIN: To continue on the fiefdom line, I heard you laughing. Let me just talk about New York, and in case you haven't heard, you know, Ted Cruz hates New York, according to Donald Trump. Here he was last night in Buffalo.

CUOMO: And there goes your Twitter thread.

BALDWIN: There you go.

CUOMO: We'll just keep looking. It's going to come. Here.

BALDWIN: There we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Tomorrow I have to tell you, that's a big day, because tomorrow we're going to show Ted Cruz, who hates New York -- hates New York -- when you look at that debate, and you see the way he talked about us and New York values, here's a man that turned down Sandy money for this state. No New Yorker can vote for Ted Cruz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, Ron. So this is obviously something that, you know, Donald Trump is hoping will echo in the voters this morning as they head to the polls here in New York. Juxtapose then, though, with the fact that Ted Cruz is in Towson, Maryland, yesterday, not in New York on the eve of the New York primary.

How is that strategy going to work?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I think Ted Cruz may end up this month hating not only New York but pretty much the whole Atlantic seaboard.

Ted Cruz's problem from the beginning -- we've talked about this many times -- is that his campaign was based on the idea that he could unite religious conservatives and economic conservatives.

That simply has not happened in enough places. Wisconsin was the first of the 21 states with exit polls where he won voters who were not evangelical Christians.

And I think as you look tonight at the polling in New York and Maryland, these other northeastern states where there are very few evangelical Christians, his vote among those non-evangelicals is going back down into the 15, 20 percent range that he's seen in those earlier states, and that's just not enough to win. It leaves him operating on too narrow a playing field, where you can compete, some of those heartland states that are still coming up.

And just one other -- button up one other point. I agree with Jackie that the campaign has outgrown Corey Lewandowski. I think that's a great phrase. But it's wrong to pin this, really, on him.

Donald Trump who, from the start, was contemptuous of political professionals, that he didn't need a pollster, didn't need this operation. He thought maybe he could steam roll through this race. It turns out he did need attention to detail. And he was the one, I think, above all who chose not to really put the weight where it needed to be from the start.

CUOMO: Look, there's no question. Lewandowski's an over-performer. He's an overachiever on that campaign, given what he's been dealing with, all the negative fire, personally to him and to Trump. He's kept his head above water. You've got to give him that.

So when we look at what's going to happen today, Donald Trump, sure, he's supposed to win here. Ted Cruz, you hear how he's getting after him. But John Kasich is not being mentioned, and anecdotally on the ground, he's been doing well. And he also represents something in this race, vis-a-vis Donald Trump in terms of helping him or hurting him.

Let's listen to Mitt Romney. You know, his recent fold (ph) here, trying to stop Trump. Here's what he had to say to our man, David Gregory, about John Kasich's role and how important it is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If they're both going at it aggressively right until the very end, then I think it's very likely that Mr. Trump wins on the first ballot. And I say that, because I think Cruz and Kasich divide the vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: There it is. Mitt Romney on David Gregory's brand-new podcast you can get right now if you subscribe, saying, because of Kasich being in there, basically, Jackie, he's dividing the pie; and Trump will get it on the first vote. Never heard Romney say that before.

KUCINICH: Well, right. It's increasing pressure on John Kasich. If he can't win a state, what's he doing there? You've been hearing that...

CUOMO: Influencing the race pretty heavily.

KUCINICH: Yes -- well, exactly. And you've been hearing pressure from the GOP establishment for him to get out, basically saying, you know, get out basically the day after Ohio, when he showed that he couldn't -- there was nowhere else for him to go. So we'll see if goes to that, but he hasn't really seemed he's going to do that.

BALDWIN: Jackie and Ron, thank you very much.

PEREIRA: All right. Hillary Clinton is hoping New York voters put her over the top. Can she shake Bernie Sanders? We're going to ask one of her biggest backers, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, when he joins us live on NEW DAY ahead.

[06:25:12] Also, not just the live studio audience in the NEW DAY studios today. These are real New York voters. We're going to talk to them about how they're voting, and why.

CUOMO: Poised and confident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: The death toll from that powerful and violent quake that rocked Ecuador has now climbed past 400. Rescue crews and search dogs, though, are still finding survivors, pulling them out of the rubble an unbelievable 32 hours after the disaster. Our Boris Sanchez is live in Ecuador with the latest for us -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, there are tremendous, inspiring stories of rescues and survivors making it through the absolute worst, but also there's a tremendous growing sense of frustration, and I'll explain why.

We're here at a convention center that's been converted into essentially a recovery aid center. And there are hundreds of students, young people that have been here since Sunday working around the clock to pack care packages for those that are in the mostly affected areas.