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Hillary Clinton Wins New York Democratic Primary; Interview with Gov. Tom Wolf; Can Trump Reach 1,237 Before Convention? Aired 8- 8:30a ET
Aired April 20, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am really concerned 3 million New Yorkers were unable to vote.
GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some politicians say that America is losing on everything. What are you kidding me?
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: America has been best when she is lying down with her map on the mat.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is about lifting each other up, not tearing each other down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 Wednesday, April 20th, 8:00 in the east. Alisyn is off. Brooke is here.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
CUOMO: With me and Michaela. And boy, do we have news for you. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump trouncing their competition in the New York primary. Clinton now on the brink of clinching her party's nomination. Trump certainly cementing his path, still has a little bit of a battle to reach the party's delegate threshold.
BALDWIN: All eyes now looking ahead to next week, super Tuesday. Five northeast states in play. Could it spell the end for the campaigns of Bernie Sanders, John Kasich, Ted Cruz, or will they battle on? We have the race covered the only way CNN can. Let's begin with John Berman here to break down the numbers and the delegate scorecard. John Berman, good morning.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Brooke Baldwin, the empire state, the empire strikes back for the home-towners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Look at this, Donald Trump, his high water mark in this campaign, 60 percent of the vote here, John Kasich in second, Ted Cruz all the way in third place at 14 percent.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton ended Bernie Sanders' winning streak. She was at 57 percent, Bernie Sanders at 42 percent, a 15 point margin, more than the Clinton campaign hoped, more than the Sanders campaign feared.
What does that mean for delegates right now? Hillary Clinton picked up 139. Bernie Sanders picked up 108. She increased her delegate lead. On the Republican side, a much, much bigger spread. Donald Trump, he got 89 delegates at least. John Kasich picked up three. Ted Cruz with a grand total of zero, zero, in a state where he did campaign. This leaves Donald Trump in a stronger position to get to that magic number of 1,237 votes. He will have to use discipline, though, in the coming contest to get there or get close. Is close good enough? That is something that will be discussed.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, she is now less than 500 delegate as way from the magic number. She holds a lead in the pledged delegates and the super delegates, and at this point what you're beginning to hear from the Bernie Sanders campaign, an acknowledgment that they will have to flip super delegates over the next several months to have any chance of winning the nomination. Michaela?
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, an excellent breakdown for us, John. So Hillary Clinton has got to be feeling pretty good after yesterday. She is now pivoting to the general election after stopping Bernie Sanders winning streak. His focus shifting to next week's northeast primaries. Can he get so more wins? Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar here with us now. That's the big question, can he?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the question. I think the Clinton campaign would say yes, he might be able to pick up a couple, but they think they are going to be doing a better job next week. We will stay tuned and see. This was a big night last night for Hillary Clinton. She continues to try to pivot to the general election. Victory is in sight is the word. Those are the words we heard from her. Those are the words we're hearing from her top aides, but not if Bernie Sanders has anything to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In this campaign, we've won in every region of the country. But this one is personal.
(APPLAUSE)
KEILAR: Hillary Clinton with a big win in her adopted home state, addressing Senator Bernie Sanders' supporters with her sights set on the white hoe.
CLINTON: It's humbling that you trust me with the awesome responsibilities that await our next president. And to all the people who supported Senator Sanders, I believe there is much more that unites us than divides us.
(APPLAUSE)
KEILAR: Clinton ending Sanders winning streak where he took eight of the last nine contests. BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, we took Secretary
Clinton on in her own state of New York, and we lost. I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victory. There are five primaries next week. We think we're going to do well.
KEILAR: In New York, 3 million independents across the state did not vote in the state's closed primary. Sanders also railing against voter irregularities at the polls, with some 100,000 Democrats unable to vote because they were purged from voter registration lists in Brooklyn.
SANDERS: I am really concerned about the conduct of the voting process in New York state, and I hope that that process will change in the future.
KEILAR: Time running out for Sanders to catch up to Clinton's delegate lead.
CARLSON: The race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and victory is in sight.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[08:05:00] KEILAR: Listen for a refrain here in the coming days from the Clinton campaign, from Clinton backers as they call on Bernie Sanders to try to dial it down a little bit. He recently said that she -- questioned her qualifications. They're hoping that he is going to dial that back.
But we also heard some pretty sharp words last night from Hillary Clinton's communications director, who said that some of what of Sanders and his campaign has said is destructive. She called them "false character attacks." That was from Hillary Clinton's communications director Jen Palmieri.
BALDWIN: Even as she offers an olive branch.
CUOMO: As we all know -- but if she thinks Sanders is being tough on her, she ain't seen nothing yet. That's for sure, especially if Trump gets the nomination.
Speaking of the man known as the Donald, he is back today, fresh off his landslide victory in the New York GOP primary. Trump certainly moving a lot closer to clenching the party's nomination, and, just as importantly, a different feel from him on the stump last night. CNN's Jason Carroll joining us now. It was more about what he didn't say, how he wasn't in his presentation than usual.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You're absolutely right, Chris. We didn't hear a lot of that name-calling. But what we did hear was a very enthusiastic Donald Trump saying last night in his victor speech that he is rocking it, predicting he will be heading into the convention as the winner, but he also cautioned those within the GOP establishment not to try to stop him by taking delegates. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't be caught, it's impossible to catch us.
CARROLL: Donald Trump giving a rousing victory speech befitting his New York blowout win and signaling a new phase in his campaign.
TRUMP: We don't have much of a race anymore. Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated.
(APPLAUSE)
CARROLL: The billionaire frontrunner dropping most of the insults and sounding more presidential.
TRUMP: Nobody should be given delegates, which is a ticket to victory.
CARROLL: Trump sharpening his focus on Ted Cruz, continuing to criticize his courting of delegates and the possibility of a contested convention.
TRUMP: It's a system that is rigged, and we're going to go back to the old way. It's called you vote and you win.
CARROLL: With a shutout in New York, Cruz defending his delegate strategy.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I cannot help the Donald Trump campaign does not seem capable of running a lemonade stand. If you lose, don't cry about it. Go back and learn how to win an election.
CARROLL: Cruz trying to look past his big defeat, debuting a new stump in Philadelphia.
CRUZ: This is the year of the outsider.
CARROLL: The self-proclaimed outsider calling for unity within the Republican Party.
CRUZ: We must unite the Republican Party because doing so is the first step in uniting all Americans.
CARROLL: Runner up John Kasich ready for a fight in Maryland, continuing to argue he is the strongest candidate to take on Hillary Clinton in November.
GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you have these sky high negatives, nobody is voting for you. The delegates will look at that, and, you know, I think they're, going to make the pick my way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: So looking ahead, Trump has the momentum and he says Cruz cannot overtake him, but there's still that possibility Cruz can pull in enough delegates away from Trump to prevent him from reaching the nomination. Trump saying last night, he is heading to Indiana and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania another state where Trump is polling very well. Brooke?
BALDWIN: Indiana, we're hearing a lot from Indiana from team Trump and team Cruz. We'll talk about that later. Jason Carroll, thank you very much.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump owning their home state of New York, but it may not be all smooth sailing for the two frontrunners. CNN's Christine Romans has a look now at some signs of trouble in the exit polling.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Resounding victories in New York for the frontrunners. To keep it that way they have to shore up a few cracks. Let's start with Donald Trump, his well-documented trouble winning over the establishment. At play in New York, only 35 percent of primary voters say they would be excited if Trump is elected president compared with 22 percent who say they would be scared.
Trump struggles with voters who say their most important candidate quality is someone who shares their values. Kasich wins overwhelmingly this category. Cruz follows with 27 percent. Donald Trump, just 24 percent breaking on the values front.
We also asked what if Trump wins the GOP nomination. Just over half the Republican voters say they would definitely vote for him, 24 percent said they would not vote for Donald Trump.
Turning to Hillary Clinton, a challenge has been with voters who find her untrustworthy. In New York, 60 percent of Democrats think she is honest and trustworthy. That's higher than the past primary states. But Bernie Sanders earned even better marks. An astonishing 81 percent think that Bernie Sanders is honest and trustworthy.
We asked voters who is running the more unfair campaign. And 34 percent think that that is Hillary Clinton -- 46 percent, rather, say it is Hillary Clinton, 34 percent say it is Bernie Sanders on that one.
[08:10:02] Clinton has work do with independents as well. Those voters prefer Sanders, 72 percent. We have seen that again and again to Hillary Clinton's 28 percent. To be clear, guys, we asked a lot of questions in these exit polls. These are just the rare weaknesses in what was otherwise, frankly, dominating wins by those frontrunners, Chris.
CUOMO: No question about it, Christine. Thank you very much.
Hillary Clinton now on the brink of clinching the Democratic nomination. What does that mean for Senator Sanders? Let's discuss with Clinton supporter, Governor great state of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf. Governor, thank you for joining us this morning. You are next up. The spotlight will be bright and shiny on your state. What do you believe last night means for Tuesday's prime in your state?
GOV. TOM WOLF, (D) PENNSYLVANIA: Well, I'm not sure much has changed. I think Hillary Clinton was always going to do well in Pennsylvania, and I think she'll do very well. I still believe she'll do well here in Pennsylvania.
CUOMO: Do you think it will -- the polling there, she is doing well, but not like she won last night. What do you think about the state of play between she and Senator Sanders?
WOLF: Well, I think Hillary is going to do very well here. New York, after all, is her home state, but she was -- she has strong family roots here in Pennsylvania, the commonwealth, not the state of Pennsylvania. And she will do very well here. And I think we'll know for sure next Tuesday, but the polling looks good. And I think people are coming around to the idea that she is going to be the nominee. And I think as she said last night, it's time for the party to pull together and gather round and make sure we go into November united.
CUOMO: What do you think Senator Sanders should do?
WOLF: I think he has added a lot to this race and has brought a lot of fresh ideas and a lot of fresh, new people back into our democracy. And I think we ought to build on that, the Democratic Party. And I think he and Hillary ought to work together and make sure that moving forward we have a great Democratic Party that is united around great ideas, and active enthusiastic supporters.
CUOMO: Do you agree with the Clinton campaign's suggestion that the senator is taking this campaign in the wrong way and making it too personal?
WOLF: I think when you get into campaigning, that is part of the program. But I think at this point -- when you're in the middle of the campaign, but right now, at this point, I think I'm confident Hillary will win in Pennsylvania, I'm confident she'll be the nominee. And I think it's time we all gathered together, again, as she said last night, and remember all the things that bring us together, that unite us, rather than the things that -- the few things that divide us.
CUOMO: What are you getting a feel for in your state? Donald Trump doing very well there in addition to Clinton doing well, as we saw in New York last night. Turnout is a big part of this story. Democrats, a flat to negative versus 2008, and I know it was a different race, but still, the GOP side, up at least 33 percent in voting in New York. Do you expect the same in Pennsylvania? Do you think you're going to get a GOP pop there?
WOLF: We might. I think there is still some enthusiasm on the Democratic side. The Democratic registration edge is pretty substantial here. The numbers last night, both Hillary and Bernie I think out-polled Donald Trump in terms of the number of votes. So I think turnout is going to have to be a really, really high on the Republican side to make any real difference in Pennsylvania. There is a Democratic edge, and I think a lot of Democrats are interested in the race and will come out to vote.
CUOMO: Both states share similar registration dynamics, though it is kind of apples and oranges. You have so many more Democrats there that getting more raw votes doesn't always tell the story. Even though he had two other people slicing into his pie, Donald Trump got a bigger percentage than Hillary Clinton did. Does that suggest a relative show of strength?
WOLF: Well, as I said, I appreciate the -- your comments. But percentages don't tell the whole story. The numbers, I think, do. And, as I said, if you take, assume that there is some fallout on the Bernie Sanders' side in the general election and deduct that from his primary victory, Hillary still scored over 1 million votes if the rest of Bernie's votes go to Hillary in the general election. It's a big increase over the combined total of all the Republican candidates in New York. So the percentages are great. That's fine. I understand that. But when it comes to the vote and who gets the electoral votes in November, it's going to be the one person who gets more votes.
[08:15:00] CUOMO: Tell us about the registration dynamic in Pennsylvania. What's the deal with independents? What's the deal with when you have to register, can you do same day registration? Are the rules different in a meaningful way?
There's a lot of criticism, especially from the Sanders side coming out of the New York primary that it worked against independent voters. It worked against late deciding voters.
WOLF: Yes, and that's an issue in a lot of states. Pennsylvania is one, we have a closed primary here, we don't have same day voter registration.
I've tried to make it easier to register, because I think the senator is right. We need to encourage people to participate in the democracy. Voting is the basic responsibility of citizenship.
So, I've established online voter registration. I have a Republican Senate and the House, and I have not been able to move changes in voter registration. Other than that, because that's my interpretation of the statute, we've had hundreds of thousands of people register to vote that way. I think making it easier is a first step.
But I think the senator is right. We need to open up our electoral process and do a better job of encouraging people to register and to vote.
CUOMO: Well, April 26th, we'll be featuring five states, but Pennsylvania is the big ticket. So, all eyes will be on the commonwealth.
Governor, thank you for joining us on NEW DAY.
WOLF: Thank you for having me.
CUOMO: Mick? PEREIRA: All right. So, House Speaker Paul Ryan has been tirelessly denying rumors that he wants in to the presidential race. Well, last night, his presidential dreams were put to the test. How about some late night laugh?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: Yes or no, would you he accept the nomination?
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No, Stephen, I have said I do not want, nor would I accept the Republican nomination.
COLBERT: Got it. So you're considering the nomination?
RYAN: No, I'm not.
COLBERT: OK, I'll give you sometime to mull this one over. How about now?
RYAN: Still no.
COLBERT: So, that's a maybe?
RYAN: No. It's a no.
COLBERT: Like a no, no? Or one of those no, I don't want to be speaker of the House, but I'll accept it if you just give it to me noes?
RYAN: It's a no-no.
COLBERT: And to two no-noes make a yes?
RYAN: No, they make a firmer no, period.
COLBERT: OK. Period, but if I add two more periods, it becomes an ellipsis. So, possibly?
RYAN: The nomination should go to someone who actually campaigned for it. For me, that door is closed.
COLBERT: Got it. But is the door locked?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
PEREIRA: Do you sometimes feel we kind of go there, sometimes?
CUOMO: I wish. I wish I could go there. He is so quick. He is so smart.
PEREIRA: He really is.
(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: That could be an ellipsis.
CUOMO: Two noes make -- I mean, look, he's brilliant. I say it all the time, think he has created a great space there.
Ryan has two problems. One is there was a little bit of this intrigue surrounding this speaker thing.
BADLWIN: Totally, totally.
CUOMO: And the -- I keep thinking of Tim Russert, may he rest in peace. I don't have any plans right now or I think -- he'd be like, so you're considering. So you won't say there is no chance. He was brilliant at that. There is a little bit of that here as well.
But it's nice to be wanted. This is a win/win for Paul Ryan.
BALDWIN: So, I don't think he wants to be president, are we clear on that?
CUOMO: For now.
BALDWIN: At least for now. For now.
Meantime, Donald Trump would like to be president, and by the way, he won the landslide victory in New York from the primary. And his speech, by the way, ripped into the election system again, said rival Ted Cruz is mathematically eliminated. What is the truth to that? Find out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:22:27] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to be so strong again, we are going to be -- really, I mean, legitimately, so great again. And I just can't wait.
So, we don't have much of a race anymore, based on what I'm seeing on television. Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Donald Trump, celebrating his landslide New York victory and telling the world: do the math. Ted Cruz is done.
Trump taking a big step toward clinching the nomination, but Cruz and John Kasich, they are not giving up the fight.
Let's discuss with national spokesman for Ted Cruz, Ron Nehring, and New York City councilman, Joe Borelli. He's co-chair for Donald Trump's New York campaign.
Gentlemen, good morning.
Joe, to you first. RON NEHRING, NATIONAL SPOKESMAN FOR TED CRUZ: Good morning.
JOE BORELLI, NEW YORK CITY COUNCILMAN: Good morning.
BALDWIN: Congratulations.
BORELLI: Thank you.
BALDWIN: So Trump snagged almost all delegates. He got 89, which means --
BORELLI: At least.
BALDWIN: At least, right. I know it's early still. Which means, you know, mathematically, Cruz cannot get to that magic number of 1,237. I know you would like to and avoid this whole contested convention chaos altogether.
What's the plan? How do you do it?
BORELLI: Look, right, the chief take away from last night is Ted Cruz is now mathematically unable to come up with 1,237 delegates. From what we've been seeing over the past couple of weeks, I don't think the Cruz team's message ought to be the voters beware. It doesn't matter. We're still going to compete. We're still going to try to siphon off votes in the convention.
The big takeaway also from last night is that Donald Trump won in almost demographic and geographic category of the region, and we're well-poised to take on the mini Super Tuesday in the Northeast next week.
BALDWIN: OK. So, Ron, to you, is it possible to clinch for your candidate ahead of Cleveland? You want the contested convention, you really wanted the second ballot.
To get here, what's your strategy? It's all about the delegates and math, especially from what I'm hearing from your campaign, Indiana. Talk to me about your plan.
NEHRING: Yes, well, just to start with, we won the last five states in a row, Donald Trump, you know, won last night. Winning clearly is better. No doubt about that.
But Donald Trump is not going to get to 1,237 delegates, because he can't consolidate the Republican Party behind him. Donald Trump is trapped in his own brand, where he has a minority of the Republican Party that's very strongly for him, but most Republicans do not want to see Donald Trump as a Republican nominee.
As we go forward, he is not going to be able to get to that point. Then, it will wind up being up to the delegates, who are the representatives of the Republican Party, and it will -- we'll see which candidate is able to put together the majority of the candidates.
[08:25:06] But that will not be Donald Trump. I think that's a certainty going forward.
BALDWIN: Well, you do say that you say Trump has the minority of Republicans in favor of him. How many Republican senators are endorsing your candidate?
NEHRING: Well, I don't think it's a matter of Republican senators in endorsements was the determining factor in this race, Marco Rubio would be the Republican nominee.
Clearly, you know, winning in the endorsement of people inside of the 202 area code isn't the key to victory.
You know, I will point to, for example, we're out in California last week, two sold out rallies, in Irvine and San Diego, 50 local Republican elected officials and state Republican elected officials who have come on board, you know, the campaign, and that's really where this campaign is going to be fought, down in the congressional level district, in the states voting on the 26th of April and then on to May. And then wrapping up in June.
You know, our campaign is well organized for that. The Donald Trump campaign on the other hand seems to have one hot mess after another that it's dealing with, in terms of -- here we are seven weeks from the end of the primary contest, and they've got people who are, you know, quitting, they're being fired, moving in and out. They're going to be working on how to get their e-mail on their phone while we're continuing to open field offices in the states that are coming up to vote.
So, you know, the Trump campaign seems to be operating with the same efficiency as, you know, Trump University and Trump steaks and Trump magazine and so on and so forth. But we are well organized to move forward.
BALDWIN: OK. Joe, I know you want to jump in and respond to that, a calling of bits there. First, respond to him calling the campaign one hot mess.
BORELLI: Well, we had some Trump champagne, and it was very good. So, I'll address that.
But to what he was saying, so Indiana, Donald Trump won all the surrounding states, save Ohio. So, I don't think there is any indication that Indiana might not go for Donald Trump in any way.
But, look, we were told that win in the South, he did. We were told he can't win with predominantly Hispanic voters, he did. We were told that Donald Trump can't compete in closed primary states.
So, everything Mr. Nehring is saying, you know, it might be true in his mind, but it will not translate to actual victories on the 26th when we're leading in every state.
BALDWIN: What about his point about, you know, he said firing and shake-ups, we'll call it a resignation from the field, the guy running the ground game, Mr. Jolly, is out. And we have, obviously, Paul Manafort talking to Gabe Sherman with the "New York Magazine", had reports from five different sources saying it is Manafort running the whole thing, even though the campaign manager would disagree.
All of it, though, every different tone from Mr. Trump last night, referred to Cruz as senator and not Lyin' Ted, you know, talk about really working for your vote, pivoting on the economy and jobs. Will we see more of that version of Donald Trump as we look down ahead to the remaining primaries.
BORELLI: Right. Well, as far as staffing. So, every camp needs to grow when they're positioning themselves or ought to be on the 26th.
You know, that said, the Donald Trump you saw last night and the Donald Trump you've seen over the past couple of weeks in terms of speeches and public appearances is this new, more presidential Donald Trump that the public has been asking for. And that's the Donald Trump that is best positioned to take on Hillary Clinton in November.
And I think we have a winning package with this version of Trump. And you know, I just don't see Ted Cruz having the ability to gain any momentum until maybe Nebraska, and that's not even certain.
BALDWIN: We'll see. They may (INAUDIBLE) delegates, this thing could get contested in Cleveland. For now, Ron and Joe, thank you both very much. I appreciate it.
Chris?
CUOMO: Interesting.
So, New York in the rearview mirror. Now, the candidates are looking to the five states up for grab next week and beyond. Does Trump continue the march toward the magic number? Bernie Sanders, harder question for him. Where is the space to excel? We'll break it down for you, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
