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Obama to Send More Special Ops Forces to Syria; Cruz & Kasich Team Up to Stop Trump; Clinton Aims for Clean Sweep in Northeast. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And this brings me back to where I began. The world depends upon a democratic Europe that upholds the principles of pluralism, and diversity and freedom that are our common creed.

[06:00:11] As free peoples, we cannot allow the forces that I've describe -- fears about security or economic anxieties -- to undermine our commitment to the universal values that are the source of our strength.

Democracy, I understand, can be messy. It can be slow. It can be frustrating. I know that. I have to deal with a Congress. We have to constantly work to make sure government is not a collection of distant detached institutions but is connected and responsive to the everyday concerns of our people.

There's no doubt that how a united Europe works together can be improved. But look around the world at authoritarian governments and theocracies that ruled by fear and oppression. And there is no doubt that democracy is still the most just and effective form of government ever created.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We do have breaking news. President Obama announcing moments ago he is sending 250 additional Special Operations forces to Syria to join the fight against ISIS.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is live in Germany with all the breaking details. What did he say, Michelle?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

Yes. And now we know 250 additional special operators to Syria. So that would mean a total of 300 in country by the time this is done. We expect them to be there over the next couple of weeks. They could deploy in phases.

But that would mean that there are six times the number of special operators in the end than there are now. A significant increase.

We heard the president talk about why now: to build the momentum, to keep things going, as ISIS continues to lose territory. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I've approved the deployment of up to 250 additional U.S. personnel in Syria, including Special Forces, to keep up this momentum. They're not going to be leading the fight on the ground, but they will be essential in providing the training and assisting local forces. They continue to drive ISIL back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: And so even though the White House keeps emphasizing that this is not a combat role, obviously, these Special Forces are going to be working with fighters that are already there. So they're not going to be on the front lines, but they're going to be there advising and assisting.

This is a significant increase, and earlier in the year we also saw a few other additional troops going to Iraq. So the total number that we're seeing now of U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria is around 4,000.

And you know, so we're seeing a boost trying to keep up the momentum, as the president said. But the White House insists that these are mostly going to be there to train, to help provide arms to these forces and try to recruit more Sunni Arabs in the fight, because up until now, most of the fighting has been done by Kurds -- Chris and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Michelle. Thanks so much. We'll talk more what that means through the show

But we have another breaking story. A political bombshell for you. Ted Cruz and John Kasich announcing that they will team up to try to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination. The Trump campaign firing back, calling this, quote, "a horrible act of desperation."

All this as voters in five northeast states head to the polls tomorrow. And we have the 2016 race covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Phil Mattingly. Tell us about this unusual arrangement, Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really was unexpected. Sources say it started with a couple of phone calls between advisors last week. It progressed into a secret meeting between the top two officials of both campaigns.

And then last night a jarring dual statement released. John Kasich/Ted Cruz are now working together with the same strategy: stop Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to ask each and every one of you to come out and vote for me ten times.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Ted Cruz betting big on Indiana, announcing he's joining forces with John Kasich in an unprecedented last-ditch effort to stop Donald Trump.

The divide-and-conquer agreement: Cruz's campaign will, quote, "focus its time and resources in Indian, will clear the path for Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico."

Kasich confirming the campaign collusion in a statement, writing that, quote, "Keeping Trump from a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him from the nomination."

[06:05:10] Recent polling shows Cruz trailing Trump by single digits in the Hoosier State. The strategy shift coming despite the fact that Kasich and Cruz continue to attack each other on the campaign trail.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A vote for Cruz or Trump, frankly, is a vote for Hillary Clinton.

CRUZ: John Kasich has no path whatsoever to the nomination.

MATTINGLY: Trump lashing out on Twitter and issuing a lengthy statement, writing, "Collusion is often illegal in many other industries, and yet these two Washington insiders have had to revert to collusion in order to stay alive. They're mathematically dead. This act only shows, as puppets of donors and special interests, how truly weak and their campaigns are."

The latest GOP bombshell coming ahead of Tuesday's primaries in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, states where Trump appears poised to perform well. The Republican front- runner continuing his own attack-dog strategy on the trail this weekend...

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Cruz is working really hard to -- I don't want to use the word "bribe" -- but to bribe the delegates.

MATTINGLY: ... accusing Cruz of illegal activity and rejecting calls to appear more presidential.

TRUMP: It's so much easier to be presidential, because I don't have to use any energy. You know, I can just walk out -- so much easier. You think this is easy? Ranting and raving? I've got to entertain 18,000, whatever the hell number of people we have here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Now guys, no shortage of questions about what this will mean going forward, but as I was going back and forth at the campaign last night, one of the advisers said there is only one clear overarching goal here. In a three-word text, the adviser said to me, "Get to Cleveland." It's all about the contested convention, guys.

CUOMO: All right. So we're quiet, because, wow. All right, so...

CAMEROTA: Marinating on everything you just said.

CUOMO: Phil, this is a good introduction for you. This is when we're actually impressed with what you're reporting. There is no quick response.

All right. So let's talk about how this happened and what it will mean and how long it will last. We have Juana Sam [SIC] -- Summers, our brand-new CNN politics editor.

Juana, great to have you. Welcome.

JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS EDITOR: Thanks for having me.

CUOMO: And David Gregory, our CNN political analyst and the host of the David Gregory podcast.

OK. Collusion. Put up the statement from Donald Trump. Let's just say that this is what he's calling it. Collusion. This is his tweet. He's very angry. He's tweeting a lot. He's calling it desperation. Whenever it's in caps you know he means it.

And the question is, is it collusion? David Gregory, collusion would be doing something that's secretive for dishonest or illegal purposes. This is not that. However, it is unprecedented and a huge turn of play, especially for Cruz. What's your take?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, Donald Trump is right. I mean, these are two relatively weak campaigns relative to his campaign that are joining forces to stop him, because they know the real game for them is to stop Trump to win on the first ballot in Cleveland. If he gets it on the first ballot, it's over. They know that if they can stop a first-ballot victory for Trump they have a shot. Maybe the two of them join forces. Maybe it's Marco Rubio. Maybe it's somebody from the outside. I think that's unlikely.

I think a lot of this is really about Indiana. The three of them in the race, you have an advantage to Trump. If you take Kasich out of it, because he had some appeal there, as a Midwestern Republican governor in a conservative state, if you take him out of the equation, Cruz and Trump get much closer.

I think their view is, if Trump were to win in Indiana, it really does kind of slam the door shut after perhaps he'll have a pretty good run here tomorrow.

CAMEROTA: So Juana, let's talk about this chess game and how they divvied up the pieces.

So Cruz is going to get Indiana, and Kasich's going to get Oregon and New Mexico. And I guess -- I mean, the big question is, can this work?

SUMMERS: That's a great question. You also have to keep in mind the five states that will vote tomorrow on Tuesday are all states, as Phil noted, that tend to lean towards Donald Trump. He could perform quite well and amass another lead. The door and the window to stopping Donald Trump from getting the nomination is getting much, much slimmer. And that's why we're seeing this unprecedented move of the campaigns

working together, deciding to cede ground, effectively, to one another. Whether it will work, though, and whether it will be enough, though, is really an open question.

CUOMO: Right. Because that's the thing. We're using the phrase, Phil, "You get this; you get that." Neither gets any of these. Right? The chance that Kasich wins those southwestern states, northwestern, southwestern -- no. Not going to win them, but he'll be competitive. Indiana, will Cruz -- maybe, maybe not. But what do you think the real strategy is here? This is all about convention?

MATTINGLY: It's all about convention. And this is why. These states aren't winner-take-all. It's all about pealing delegates state by state. So while Donald Trump may win Indiana, Ted Cruz going into congressional districts and taking delegates away, not unlike what John Kasich did in New York.

[06:10:04] Donald Trump had a crushing victory in New York, but John Kasich was able to peel away five delegates. That's what they want to do state by state here.

And if you look at these two respective campaigns, what this allows them both to do is save resources. Obviously, John Kasich really low on money right now. This allows him to kind of narrow his campaign, focus on specific areas, particularly Oregon. And his campaign really likes New Mexico, where they think they can play well, peel off delegates.

This gives Ted Cruz, really, an unabated shot at Indiana. His campaign has made very clear: Indiana is make or break for him. Now they take away one of the competitors. All in on Indiana for Ted Cruz.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: David, one of the interesting things about this is that Ted Cruz in particular had been on the record that he was not interested in any sort of arrangement like this.

GREGORY: Right.

CAMEROTA: When there were whispers about this a couple of weeks ago, I mean, he shot it down. He just basically said he didn't need John Kasich, who he considered a spoiler.

CUOMO: And staunchly anti-convention. Remember, all the stuff he said? I think it was to you. He said, "No, no, no. There's no convention. You know, this is all about who wins right now. I'm the only one who can beat this guy."

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. So what changed?

GREGORY: Well, the reality. Remember, a couple of weeks ago, Cruz won Wisconsin. The "never Trump" forces seemed to be alive again. Trump -- rather, Cruz in Wisconsin did something he hadn't done before. He expanded his base of support beyond Christian conservatives. He was showing some signs of perhaps he could expand that support, and then he got crushed. He gets a bagel in New York. And now he has to look ahead and see the prospects.

And now they're finally picking up what was the prescription from Mitt Romney, the former standard bearer in 2012. He said a month ago that this ought to be the playbook here, for these two candidates to try to get it to an open convention, because -- and he told me on my podcast last week, if both Kasich and Cruz coming out of New York were going at each other in all these states through California, they're just going to divide too much of the vote.

And Indiana tells the tale, because as Phil just said, Cruz has got to win in Indiana. A conservative state. And if there's three people on the race and he's trailing, he's got to get Kasich out of the equation. Doesn't mean he can necessarily do it. Doesn't mean that everybody stays home, but it's a way for the campaigns to say, "Look, we've got a strategy here. We've got to work together here in order to try to deny Trump."

CUOMO: But there's a kink in it, right? One is that Indiana, as Phil pointed out, proportional. The southwest, northwest states, those, too, proportional. But most of these are now winner-take-all. Big difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.

So does this really help them? And some context for whether or not they're all in on this strategy, which is a nice way of saying they're not. Here's what they've been saying about each other.

CAMEROTA: Just hours beforehand.

CUOMO: Yes. Do we have Cruz and Kasich about Cruz and Kasich?

CAMEROTA: Yes. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASICH: A vote for Cruz or Trump, frankly, is a vote for Hillary Clinton.

At the end of it all, I think when we're at the convention, the delegates are going to want to know who can beat Hillary? And these guys don't have enough time to turn around super-high negatives.

CRUZ: As we stand here today, there are two people and only two people that have any plausible path whatsoever to winning the Republican nomination. Me and Donald Trump. As I said, plausible path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: An hour beforehand.

CUOMO: This is the frenemies strategy. That's what this is.

CAMEROTA: Right. Exactly. SUMMERS: Definitively some going along to get along here, and he

hopes that this magic strategy will work out.

But John Kasich and Ted Cruz represent two very different sections of the Republican Party. Very different appeals to one another. It's not clear whether this will work. And if it does have any chance of working, all the dice will have to fall exactly right for them.

And then you still have the open question, OK, so you deprive Donald Trump of the delegates ahead of the convention. Then there's a big question looming over the so-called "stop Trump" movement from the beginning. Then what -- who is the person the Republicans can put up who can in fact -- in fact defeat the eventual Democratic nominee, whether that is a Hillary Clinton or perhaps in a long shot, a chance of Bernie Sanders.

CAMEROTA: So Phil, Indiana is May 3. Is that now the make-or-break state on the Republican side?

MATTINGLY: No question about it. For Ted Cruz, they've made that very clear over the last week. One of the most interesting -- here's a great back story to what you just showed.

The top advisers, Jeff Roe, the campaign manager for Ted Cruz, and John Weaver, the chief strategist for John Kasich, were meeting and had a secret meeting in Florida this past week.

While Ted Cruz was in Florida -- this was during that RNC meeting -- he called John Kasich a spoiler, said he didn't belong in the race. So while Ted Cruz was still saying this, their top advisers were meeting behind the scenes to make this happen.

And the reality of it is, while both candidates blessed this deal, neither of them spoke to one another. There are still some difficulties between the two of them. But the reality, there's a recognition from both campaigns right now, as painful as it may be from the candidates themselves, that this is it. It might even be too late, but Indiana is it for Ted Cruz. And for John Kasich, it's never been about winning states; it's all about getting to Cleveland. And this is just an opportunity to make a deal, save some resources and perhaps get himself to Cleveland with Donald Trump in a weakened state.

CUOMO: One little problem, one big problem. The little problem is this is consistent for Kasich. He's always been saying it's about the convention. You know, the last month or so. For Cruz, this is a big change, and he's going to explain that.

And then the big problem is tomorrow. A ton of delegates are going to come down tomorrow, and a lot of them are winner-take-all in that. Some of them are uncommitted at the convention. But it's a big deal.

So we'll see how they feel about this with the big numbers piling in tomorrow night.

[06:15:17] All right. We're going to keep talking about this. Thank you very much to this panel. In our 8 a.m. hour, we're going to hear from the players in the campaigns. We've got Sam Clovis with the Trump campaign and Ron Nehring with Ted Cruz's campaign. Let's see what they have to say about this. Very different stories, I promise you that -- Mick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's take a look at what the Democrats have to say. Hillary Clinton is posed for a big day tomorrow as five northeast states head to the polls. Bernie Sanders fighting to stay alive.

Clinton is setting her sights now on the general election. Our national correspondent, Jason Carroll, is in Hagerstown, Maryland with more.

Good morning. Happy Monday.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Happy Monday to you, and you know, as you know, Sanders has already acknowledged over the weekend that his path to the nomination looking more and more narrow. All this as Hillary Clinton is already setting her sights on who might be the Republican nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello, Bridgeport!

CARROLL (voice-over): Hillary Clinton is gearing up for a five-state primary battle with Bernie Sanders, but it doesn't sound that way on the stump.

CLINTON: What Trump and Cruz say, it's not only offensive, it's dangerous.

CARROLL: The Democratic front-runner's weekend speeches were saturated with attacks against her presumed general election rival, Donald Trump.

CLINTON: Donald Trump actually says wages are too high in America. Trump says things like, "Bar all Muslims from coming into the country."

CARROLL: Ted Cruz wasn't spared from Clinton's blistering criticism either.

CLINTON: When Ted Cruz says, "Hey, let's round up all of the Muslim- Americans by making sure that we have police watching all of them."

The commissioner of the NYPD really summed it up. When he was asked, he said, "Ted Cruz doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."

CARROLL: With a close lead across the polls in all five states, Clinton is clearly focusing on moving past Sanders, but the Vermont senator is not budging, continuing to draw a stark contrast between them.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This campaign, unlike Secretary Clinton's, has not raised $15 million from Wall Street. As secretary of state, she pushed the fracking technology.

CARROLL: With nearly 400 delegates on the line this Tuesday, Sanders vows to keep fighting for each vote.

SANDERS: This campaign is doing well and will win.

CARROLL: Sanders promising to wage war against Clinton all the way until June.

SANDERS: We do have a path to victory. I think we have come a very, very long way in the last year, and we're going to fight for every last vote until the -- until California and the D.C. primary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And looking ahead to California, the Clinton camp also asking the Sanders camp to tone down the rhetoric. This after a Sanders supporter, actress Rosario Dawson, mentioned Monica Lewinsky during a speech over the weekend -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We are going to be talking about that with our panel, coming up shortly. David, thanks so much for that.

So Bernie Sanders says he's staying in the race. What is his strategy? What does he say about what happens if Hillary becomes the nominee? We'll tell you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:22:32] SANDERS: Obviously or goal now is, while we have a narrow path to victory, we're going to fight for that -- through that path. We hope to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. That was Senator Bernie Sanders admitting Bernie only a narrow path to victory, but not giving up in the fight against Hillary Clinton and promising to stay in until the final primary contest.

Let's talk about it. We're joined again by Juana Summers and David Gregory. Great to have you guys back with us.

So not only did he admit, Juana, that he had this narrow path to victory only, but also, then he was asked yesterday on the Sunday shows, "So do you have a responsibility to get your supporters to then support Hillary Clinton if she's the nominee?"

So listen to what he said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I will do everything that I can to make certain that Donald Trump is not elected president, but the -- if that scenario plays out, the major responsibility will be on Secretary Clinton to convince all people, not just my supporters, that she is the kind of president this country needs to represent working people in this country.

She's going to have to be very explicit about supporting a program which stands up for the needs of the middle class and working families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So Juana, that -- that was an interesting line of questioning and response. What did you make of it?

SUMMERS: It was really fascinating listening to Bernie Sanders kind of thread the needle. He didn't outright say, "Yes, I'm going to go out and full-throatedly support her and stump for her," but he also seemed to leave the door open to be a bit conciliatory. Sort of a different tone than we've heard Bernie Sanders when he talks about Hillary Clinton.

I think that's for a number of reasons. As he noted, the path for -- to the nomination for him is quite narrow, especially given the states that we'll see vote Tuesday, all of which tend to favor Hillary Clinton.

And also just the moment that we are in the race. There are very few good states left for Bernie Sanders as he's facing a number of closed primaries, not a whole lot of caucus states left. This is a slim path for him. And I think that he's starting to come around to the realization, it seems at least from most comments, that there might not be a path to victory for him, and he has to decide what role he wants to play moving forward, if in fact, Donald Trump is the Republican nominee.

CUOMO: Much more advantageous system on the Democratic side, though, than GOP side. Almost all the states -- they are all proportional from this point out, so he can't get blown out of the water. And super delegates, he can hold out that he can make a different case to him. Who knows? Not as likely.

CAMEROTA: Right. That sounds like his plan. To stay until -- until it's all over.

CUOMO: The system is more advantageous.

So a big thing that we saw last week, that was supposed to play into this week, David Gregory, was all right. Let's -- let's keep it above board now. Let's try and stop with the personal attacks. Let's be better than the other side. This is what the Democrats are saying.

[06:25:05] And then Rosario Dawson gets up -- yes, an actress, not a pundit, not a sophisticated player within this game -- but none the yet -- nonetheless, getting headlines. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSARIO DAWSON, ACTRESS/SANDERS SUPPORTER: We are literally under attack for not just supporting the other candidate. Now, I'm with Monica Lewinsky with this. Bullying is bad. She's actually dedicated her life now to talking about that, and now as a campaign strategy we are being bullied.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes or no, should your surrogates be talking about Monica Lewinsky?

SANDERS: I have no idea in what context Rosario was talking about her. I would hope that all of our people focus on the real issues facing working people: the massive level of income and wealth inequality that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: David, in no way am I suggesting that Bernie Sanders is architecting this type of strategy, but how much weight to you put on what Rosario Dawson said?

GREGORY: Well, there's passive aggressive, and then there's just aggressive. And that was just aggressive.

It's very easy to dismiss, you know, surrogates as saying things and the campaign can't control it. But this is now a couple of times in a couple of weeks when the Sanders campaign has had to be in a very uncomfortable position because of what a surrogate says.

So it's a little cute on the part of Senator Sanders to say, "Oh, I have no idea what my surrogates are saying." He was clearly informed of when it had done it.

And this is where you have this annoyance, the frustration, anger on the part of the campaign that may be coming to the surface again. Relatively mild, compared to what we've seen on the Republican side, but it's still there.

But Bernie Sanders is in a position where he's not about to come around just yet on Hillary Clinton. He's got a big base of supporters and a lot of money, and he's got something of a movement behind him. He's different than somebody else in a race. I don't think he's going to run for president again. He's got a power base that he'd like to keep going. Maybe it's an outside group. He's got some kind of constituency. So it's a little early for him to start talking about falling in line for the good of the party...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GREGORY: ... even though he's certainly signaling that's what he's going to do.

CAMEROTA: Juana, let's dive a little deeper into what -- what Rosario Dawson said. Because the name Monica Lewinsky, she evoked it, and that was sort of so distracting. But what was she talking about further? I mean, she was saying, "We're being bullied." Who's bullying her? I mean, she sort of didn't even explain beyond Monica Lewinsky what she means and who is giving Sanders supporters grief? SUMMERS: You know, I don't certainly what to overstate what she said

here or mischaracterize her remarks. But there have been a lot of Clinton supporters who have suggested that it's time for both Bernie Sanders and his supporters, who we can note have had some outside views -- they've been characterized as "Bernie bros" in some reports and have had some very, very antagonistic things to say about Secretary Clinton as well as her supporters -- that they that fall in line. That he has little or no path to get to the Democratic nomination and that it's time for them to come around and support Hillary Clinton as Hillary Clinton did in 2008, running against then- Senator Barack Obama. That's what they want to see.

And there's been this back and forth between the campaigns over rhetoric, over what's appropriate and what's not. And it seems to me, as David noted, that raising Lewinsky and what may perhaps have been a fair -- a fair critique of what's going on, is a bit of an unforced error, perhaps; it's a distraction from what Bernie Sanders needs to be talking about and needs to be doing if he does, in fact, hope to close that gap in the narrow path to victory that still lies there for him.

CAMEROTA: Juana, David, thank you. Great to get your insights -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: A crazy story out of Ohio, a manhunt there following the execution-style murders of eight family members. Now authorities have a chilling warning for the rest of the family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)