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Remembering Prince, Dead at 57; Trump to Adopt More Presidential Tone; Manafort: Trump Has a 'Different Persona' in Private. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 22, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRINCE, MUSICIAN: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together to get through this thing called life.

[05:58:09] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via phone): He was as famous as in capital letters.

STEVIE WONDER, MUSICIAN: To do what he did without fear was a Wonderful thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Music was just part of who he was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prince was such an undeniable force.

PRINCE: I want my music even now to speak loudest for me.

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "WHEN DOVES CRY")

(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 Friday, April 22, 6 a.m. in the east. Alisyn is off. John Berman is with Michaela and me here, and our lead is obvious. Prince is gone. The world over, there are headlines and heavy hearts at the sudden death of one of the greatest musical geniuses of our time.

Legend, icon, master, all befitting the man we knew as Prince. Tributes pouring in from around the world from his millions of fans and fellow entertainers. The world now bathed in purple as his reign was cut short.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Throughout the morning, we are going to pay tribute to his music and his legacy, and we're going to take a look at his final days. What were his health issues? Why did his life end at only 57 years old?

We begin our coverage right now with CNN's Stephanie Elam. She is live at Paisley Park, the estate of Prince outside Minneapolis, with the very latest.

I can imagine, no one has slept a wink there last night.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been really surreal, especially for the people of Minneapolis. Remember, this was a hometown hero in some ways, because he never left Minnesota. He always claimed this is home. This is where he was born. This is where he grew up.

Take a look behind me, and you can see all that is out there. People coming by to show their love for Prince.

But still, so many questions on why someone at only the age of 57 is gone so soon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): This morning, medical examiners working to determine the cause of death for music legend Prince, beginning with an autopsy to be performed later today.

PRINCE: I wanted my music, as even now, to speak loudest for me.

ELAM: Prince was found unresponsive inside an elevator at his Paisley Park estate Thursday morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Person down, not breathing.

ELAM: Medics dispatched to his home performed CPR but failed to revive him, pronouncing 57-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson dead at 10:07 a.m. As fans mourned his death, this rainbow appeared over the artist's home, perhaps a symbol of the purple rain that has now passed.

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "PURPLE RAIN")

ELAM: This video shows Prince performing one of his most famous songs just one week ago in Atlanta. His flight home forced to make an emergency landing in Illinois, where he was hospitalized briefly for what his publicist was flu-like symptoms and dehydration.

Prince was a musical genius. The Minneapolis native's signature sound catapulting him to international super stardom, earning him seven Grammys. And his flamboyant style defined a generation.

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "1999")

ELAM: A heartbroken Stevie Wonder remembering his friend in an interview with Anderson Cooper last night.

WONDER: I think I would probably break down if I do a song right now. I'm just glad that I was able to say to him "I love you" the last time I saw him.

ELAM: Celebrities around the world sharing their shock and memories. Whoopi Goldberg tweeting, "This is what it sounds like when doves cry."

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "WHEN DOVES CRY")

ELAM: Madonna writing, "He changed the world. A true visionary."

His death even garnering a statement from President Obama. "Prince did it all. Funk. R&B. Rock and roll. He was a virtuous instrumentalist, a brilliant band leader and an electrifying performer."

Fans gathering throughout the night to celebrate the singer's life and music. From his home in Minneapolis, to Brooklyn, where Spike Lee hosted a block party, calling all fans to join him in Bore (ph) Green.

SPIKE LEE, FILM DIRECTOR: We're all stunned by his sudden death, but he's still here in the spiritual form.

ELAM: Landmarks across the country going purple to honor the music legend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And I spent a good part of yesterday while I was making my way here to Minnesota communicating with friends who knew him better. I had a chance to meet Prince back when I still lived in New York, at Joe's Pub. And I have to tell you, watching him was really interesting, because he would sit back and watch people. And one of my friends I was talking to yesterday saying he didn't like to be watched unless he was performing onstage, but he did love to watch people and see how they interacted. Just really loved to study people and really conveyed how he felt through his music.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you for the reporting. Appreciate it. We'll check back with you as things develop throughout the morning.

Obviously, people still trying to get their hands around this situation, the fascination of his life, now confused by what happened that led to his death. So let's discuss with some people who know him better about his legacy and his life, especially in these last days.

We have Londell McMillan, Prince's friend and former attorney; and Chris Farley, of course, senior editor at the "Wall Street Journal." He's interviewed Prince, very familiar with the music and you, of course, intimate with the man. I'm sorry for your loss. We all are here. I'm assuming you don't know much about what took his life.

Otherwise, we would have known that from you already. What can you tell us about his state of health, his state of mind in this last part of his life?

LONDELL MCMILLAN, PRINCE'S FRIEND AND FORMER ATTORNEY: As you said, first it is an amazing loss for not just those of us who were friends and family, but for the world; and not just music lovers, but people who love art, love compassion, love courage.

What I know about his health is that he said that he was in perfect form. But we know that he was sick after the Atlanta show. And I spoke to him Sunday, and he said that everything was perfect. But apparently, he had some -- some problems that we now know that led to his passing.

PEREIRA: Well, and I wanted to ask you about that. Because no offense to all four of you men, sometimes you're not as forthcoming about your own health.

MCMILLAN: That's right.

PEREIRA: And the women around you love you for it, but it makes us a little bit crazy. Did you get a sense that something seemed off with him at all, or this was a regular conversation with your friend?

MCMILLAN: Well, I didn't get a sense, and I wasn't in a personal meeting. We weren't face to face. So, you know...

PEREIRA: Yes. You didn't lay eyes on him.

MCMILLAN: Right. I didn't lay eyes on him, and -- but, you know, I must say, you're right about men sometimes not being as forthcoming and transparent about their health. But sometimes women aren't either.

[06:05:12] PEREIRA: Fair point. Fair point. Something all of us need to recognize.

MCMILLAN: Take a look and make sure that people really make sure that they're healthy, and they're doing well.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we have this concert as Paisley Park. He invited people over to listen to him and see him in person Saturday night essentially to prove...

PEREIRA: Yes.

BERMAN: ... that he was OK, and he took the stage. He used to play "Chopsticks," it turned out, on the piano, apparently beautifully. Who would expect anything different?

And played a music video -- you know, Christopher Farley, "The New York Times" today said that Prince was a man bursting with music, such a lovely description, but he's also bursting with secrets and bursting with nuance, which you saw firsthand.

MCMILLAN: Yes. I think that's why people were so drawn to him. These days, in the age of social media, we find out everything about everybody at every point of the day.

He was a guy who was still wrapped in mystery until we were able to project ourselves onto him and say, "Hey, he represents me in certain ways. His music represents me." And that's why so many people are pouring out into the streets in places like Minneapolis to celebrate this guy, because there are still some mysteries left about him, mysteries we can put ourselves into and celebrate -- celebrate ourselves as we celebrate him.

CUOMO: Londell, I don't envy the position that you're in. So let's try and make it at least worth your while and talk about something that's not obvious. Everybody is going to talk about his music and his style and how he kind of confused a generation of young men about what it means to be masculine. I remember seeing him come out of that tub and I was like, "Boy, he's really attractive. Am I allowed to think that way?"

PEREIRA: So ahead of his time.

CUOMO: But in talking to someone on the very -- start to music, she said, "No, no, no. Don't forget the humanity." Prince distinguished himself with his love of humanity, his generosity. People will never know. She's a musician, but she wound up backing urban farming. You know what I'm talking about. And keep on backing urban farming, even more than he did of a musical career.

Talk about the man's humanity and the acts and the love in his heart that didn't come through in just his music?

MCMILLAN: Well, he was truly a creative -- spiritual force's nature, truly, so -- and that natural excellence. He had a heart. He had an amazing heart. He was filled with love. And he had an amazing work ethic. He wanted everybody around him to work to reach their goal of being their absolute best and to give and to love, and that's what he did, as well.

He gave so many people an opportunity. I was a 20-something-year-old lawyer, you know. He gave me, an African-American lawyer, an opportunity to represent an amazing artist, and we became -- we created...

CUOMO: You were an associate at the time at the firm and asked you to take on one of the most powerful businesses there was.

MCMILLAN: And because of it I went out, created my own firm, and he named an album after me called "Emancipation" after we were able to get off of Warner Brothers.

BERMAN: You were the emancipator in terms of, you know, freeing him from Warner Brothers.

MCMILLAN: He called me that. When you have a magnificent amount of talent. Extraordinary. I used to say this, and I represented Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, many, many, many artists. I would say this over and over. If you took all of the elements: the elements of performing, writing songs, singing, being a musician, no one has the aggregate mix of Prince, ever.

And I want to say that, without just seeming like I'm in mourning and just over-hyping it. Not even close. No one comes close to being able to dance, sing, produce, write -- play instruments, all of the instruments, and then at the same time want to run his business.

PEREIRA: Right.

MCMILLAN: And want to connect with people, and he was funny. He was engaging. My heart is going back and forth. I don't know if I want to scream and cry, or if I want to just smile and just be thankful for the time we had together.

BERMAN: And dance.

PEREIRA: I walked into the makeup room sort of having my own moment. As you were saying at the start, all of us, we're at that generation, too, that we grew up with this music. It impacted us personally. Each of us connected to his story in a different way. And you don't know what to do. They had music playing in there, and I just boogied, Chris. Because that's all you could do. It wasn't a shtick with him; it wasn't a brand. He transcend -- he defined cool. This was a truly organic expression of who he was.

CHRISTOPHER J. FARLEY, SENIOR EDITOR, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": And it's also important to talk about his curiosity. He wanted to know a few things. He was generally interested in talking to people and finding out where they were coming from.

I remember when I was at "TIME" magazine, I wrote a review of one of his albums that wasn't entirely positive, instead of cutting me off and not talking to me, he actually invited me to come in, find out more about where I was coming from and introduced me to his new music. And said, "Well, maybe you'll like this, too, or you'll like this more."

And so not a lot of artists are that big and that confident enough to say, "You didn't like that? Maybe you'll like this. I'm not going to cut you off. Let's see what you have to say now."

[06:10:10] MCMILLAN: I remember that, because you were working through me on that. I was the one who actually brought you in, because he was an intellectual. And he was also able to articulate and communicate, and he was a charmer and he had -- he had real dignity. It wasn't just gaming. Except when he was playing around. And he knew how to play basketball, bowl. You never wanted to go bowling with Prince. You were going to lose.

CUOMO: One of the things that wouldn't hop to mind in terms of his degree of excellence.

BERMAN: The boots make it hard. The boots make it hard.

CUOMO: The hair would make it hard.

PEREIRA: Ruffles would get in the way, too, let's be honest.

CUOMO: Thank you for bringing a smile to our faces about this. Chris, as always, helping us understand a little bit better why somebody mattered so much.

And of course, this is our theme for a lot of the morning. We're going to be talking about Prince and what he meant in ways that many of us never knew.

Now, the woman on your screen, Sheila Escovedo, Sheila E., she knew Prince in a very unique way as a collaborator and as a friend when they were both young and kind of grew together as excellent musicians and more. We'll be talking to her soon.

BERMAN: We're going to take a turn right now, because there's a lot else going on this morning. Get ready for the new and perhaps improved Donald Trump. The Republican front-runner's top advisors declare that their man has been playing a part, and he's now ready to embrace what they call a more presidential tone. This as Trump and his rival, Ted Cruz, are sparring over measures aimed at restricting which bathrooms transgender people can use.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is live in Hollywood, Florida, where the Republican National Committee holding its annual spring meeting filled with more importance, probably, than ever.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it, John. Donald Trump's advisers, they're trying to make up more than two weeks of Trump relentlessly attacking the Republican National Committee in the delegate system they oversee. In a private meeting yesterday, more than 100 RNC members listening to a presentation where those advisers calls to party unity and perhaps a very important shift in their candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP'S CONVENTION MANAGER: When he's sitting in a room, talking business, he's talking politics, in a private room, it's a different persona.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Audio emerging from the "Washington Post" of Donald Trump's top advisers making their pitch to the RNC top brass in a closed-door meeting in Florida.

MANAFORT: When he's out on the stage, when he's talking about the kinds of things he's talking the kinds of things he's talking on the stump, he's projecting an image that's for that purpose.

MATTINGLY: Insisting the Trump you see on TV isn't the Trump who will take on Hillary Clinton in November.

MANAFORT: That's what's important from our standpoint. For you to understand that he gets it. And that the part he's been playing is evolving, negatives come down, the image is going to change, but Clinton's still going to be "Crooked Hillary."

MATTINGLY: Ted Cruz wasting no time firing back.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): He's telling us he's lying to us. You look at what his campaign manager says, it is that this is just an act. This is just a show.

MATTINGLY: New battle lines drawn as Trump pushes to lock up the nomination, calling on Cruz and John Kasich to drop out of the race on Twitter, and, again, at a rally in Pennsylvania.

TRUMP: Cruz and Kasich have no path to victory. It's over.

If you're going to vote for anybody else, other than me do not go out to vote. OK? Don't go out and vote!

MATTINGLY: All as a North Carolina law dictating how transgender individuals use public bathrooms creates a schism on the stump. Trump saying the law went too far.

TRUMP: North Carolina did something that was very strong, and they're paying a big price. You leave it the way it is. There have been very few complaints the way it is.

MATTINGLY: Ted Cruz immediately attacking Trump's position.

CRUZ (on camera): Have we gone stark raving nuts? Here is basic common sense: grown adult men, strangers, should not be alone in a bathroom with little girls.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: I spoke with more than a dozen of the RNC members in this closed-door meeting with Trump's advisers. They had a couple of reviews. One, the room was too small. It was far too hot. And they were very skeptical of the presentation. This is not a crowd, obviously, based on the last couple of weeks that is very friendly to the message Trump's advisers were bringing.

That said, one thing the advisers did pledge is that Donald Trump was willing to open his checkbook and, quote, "spend whatever it takes" to win in the general election. That is something that did appeal to these members -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Phil Mattingly reporting for us. Thanks so much.

You just heard Phil tell us, we're about to see this transformation of Donald Trump. What exactly does it mean and how does it impact voters? We're going to break that down.

And also, all morning long, more of our coverage on the passing of the unforgettable music legend, Prince.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Donald Trump's senior campaign advisers said the front- runner's persona on the stump is a kind of act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANAFORT: When he's sitting in a room talking business and talking politics in a private room, it's a different persona. When he's on the stage, talking about the kinds of things he's talking about himself, he's projecting an image that's for that purpose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us to discuss both sides of the race, both sides of Donald Trump, CNN political analyst and host of "The David Gregory Show" podcast, David Gregory; and CNN senior political reporter, Nia- Malika Henderson. You know, David, my experience in covering campaigns is that what you see on the stump and what you hear on the stump day after day after day, you should take it at face value, and you should take it at its word. But what Paul Manafort is saying now is, "No, no, no, no, no. What you've seen for the last ten months, what he's telling the Republican leaders, is not actually the Donald Trump you will work with." Will they buy that case?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No, I don't think they're going to buy it. I mean, look, this only underscores a pretty remarkable thing to be talking about publicly, I think. It only points to the showmanship of Donald Trump that is deliberate. That there's a lot of what he does that is deliberately outrageous, that is a very cynical way to kind of poke fun or reveal the cynical nature of politics.

I don't think people are going to buy that. I don't think that they want a president who is one way in public and one way in private. It's why they call it a bully pulpit, which is how he operates on the public stage is important.

And I think underscoring the notion of conservatism, John, in this race, is in Donald Trump's case a lot more attitude than ideology, and I think this is another element of that, kind of admitting that, look, he's playing a role when he got out on the stump.

BERMAN: You know, he has -- the meetings themselves, Paul Manafort, Rick Wiley, going to Florida to meet face-to-face with the Republican leaders. Even if it may be a complicated message they're sending, the fact that they're doing this outreach is significant.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is, and you think about where Donald Trump has been in terms of going against the RNC, calling -- calling folks sort of insiders, part of a rigged system.

So this is significant that they're going down there. I think Paul Manafort obviously has long ties of going back to the '70s in terms of presidential politics. Rick Tyler, a much more familiar figure to this current sort of GOP insider track. I think that was a good move for Donald Trump to bring him onboard, but we'll see.

I mean, I think this is typically what you see happen with front- runners, this idea of sort of let's move to the general. The whole kind of Etch-a-Sketch moment that we saw Mitt Romney talk about, but again not -- not able to pull off in a general, and not be able to kind of wipe away some of the things that were so damaging for him, particularly among certain demographic roots.

BERMAN: Now, on the Democratic side, the big question of the race right now. Your former colleague, Dan Balz (ph), posted this in the "Washington Post." What does Bernie Sanders want? In other words, what is he willing to do at this point to be president, or does he just want to deliver some kind of a message?

Last night on the stump, it was really the same Bernie Sanders. The same arguments he's been making over the past several weeks. He talked about Wall Street. He talked about Hillary Clinton. No change from Bernie Sanders himself, and Jane Sanders, his wife, being pretty hard on Hillary Clinton on the issue of guns. Hillary Clinton had some gun events yesterday in Connecticut, not far from Sandy Hook, talking about survivors and gun control. This is what Mrs. Sanders said about Hillary Clinton and why she thinks the former secretary is having these events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE SANDERS, WIFE OF BERNIE SANDERS: I just don't like to see it be politicized. I think that Secretary Clinton's gun record is a lot more spotty than Bernie's. Bernie's been consistently supportive of instant background checks, opposed to assault weapons, the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, for closing the gun show loophole, for ending the strawman problem. And I think that's been since 1988.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Jane Sanders essentially saying what Hillary Clinton was doing in Connecticut was provocative in and of itself, but, David Gregory, Jane Sanders pulling no punches when it comes to Hillary Clinton.

GREGORY: No. Because I think she realizes this is obviously a strong-based issue in the Democratic Party, also an area that's unusual, ones we've been talking about, for Bernie Sanders, where he describes gun politics as kind of the art of the possible. He's not very idealistic about it. Hillary Clinton is more idealistic about it, despite the pragmatic difficulties of getting the kinds of gun safety, gun control measures through Congress, as we've seen over the last couple of years.

But I think this is an example of Sanders saying the cynicism of the Clinton campaign, in their eyes, trying to appeal to voters based on this issue, and maybe that argument will have some traction among his supporters.

BERMAN: Maybe a last offbeat question. There's so much obsession, the daily ins and outs of this race. Well, today the story isn't the election for the first time in a long time. It's Prince and the passing of Prince. Does this freeze the race a little bit and maybe benefit Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, who are coming off of big wins?

HENDERSON: You know, I don't know. I think everybody is mourning the loss of Prince. I'm wearing my purple today. I think John Kasich said that that's what people would be focusing on in these next days. So maybe so.

I mean, it's a rare moment, I think, what we've had with Prince, who was this figure, I think, a rare figure, where everybody liked him. Right? In terms of intergenerational. He crossed racial lines, as well. It was kind of a rare collective moment.

But in terms of, I think, the politics of the campaign, we'll have to see on Tuesday whether these trends we've seen so far hold up in these states on Tuesday.

BERMAN: Yes. They're still voting Tuesday. Still campaigning. Until then, Dave and Nia, thanks so much.

HENDERSON: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right. And you're touching on it there. Of course, it's going to be a big part of the conversation where you are and where we are, as well. The legacy of Prince. What mattered most? How did he touch different people through the years? His reach, in ways that you never even imagined, next.

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "WHEN DOVES CRY")

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:29:04] PEREIRA: Just a little of Prince's indelible sound. Truly one of a kind, right? Combining pop, rock, funk. His music defined an entire generation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "LITTLE RED CORVETTE")

PEREIRA (voice-over): Prince, the trailblazing super star singer, prolific songwriter and mystifying instrumentalist. Leaving an indelible imprint on the world of music. The pop and R&B virtuoso leaping onto the scene in the late 1970s with the hit "I Want to be Your Lover."

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "I WANT TO BE YOUR LOVER")

PEREIRA: His ascent to stardom cemented with his double album, "1999," which went platinum and featured six hit singles.

(MUSIC: PRINCE, "1999")

PEREIRA: Prince's unbridled creativity and signature flamboyant style unleashed "1984." The film "Purple Rain" and its Grammy and Academy- Award-winning soundtrack taking the world by storm, smashes like, "When Doves Cry."