Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Cruz & Kasich Team Up to Stop Trump; Clinton Aims for Clean Sweep in Northeast; Obama to Send More Special Ops Forces to Syria; Small Memorial Service Held for Prince; Interview with Sen. Jeff Merkley. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:02] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to fight for every last vote.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In Syria I've approved the deployment of up to 250 additional U.S. personnel, including Special Forces.

These terrorists will learn -- your hatred is no match for our nation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two years after the mass abduction of the Tibuk (ph) school girls, a Nigerian army's campaign to retake Boko Haram territory. In a city on edge, everywhere you look, scenes of devastation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: True. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY.

Up first, we have a political bombshell to tell you about. Republican rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich joining forces to stop Donald Trump. The duo teaming up in hopes of denying the front-runner the delegates he needs to clinch the party's nomination before the convention. Trump calling this a, quote, "horrible act of desperation."

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The front-runner there taking fire from all sides. Hillary Clinton has a new ad, using the Donald's own words against him.

All this unfolding as five northeast states with a bunch of delegates are up for grabs tomorrow.

We have the 2016 race covered the way only CNN can cover it, beginning with Phil Mattingly. Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

There is no love lost between the Ted Cruz campaign and the John Kasich campaign. The candidates attacking one another on the stump. Their aides relentlessly attacking one another on Twitter.

But behind the scenes something else was happening. Over the last couple of weeks, calls exchanged last week. Last week, a secret meeting between the campaigns' top two advisers. And late last night, dual statements with a jarring recognition. The two campaigns share one thing. They need to 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."

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. And 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, there are no shortage of questions about what this will actually mean to the race, not the least of which is, is it too late? But I walk talking to advisers from both campaigns last night, and I asked what is the overarching goal? One adviser e-mailed me back and said, "Get to Cleveland."

Alisyn, it is all about that open convention in Cleveland.

CAMEROTA: Phil, we do have a lot of questions, and luckily, we're getting some answers this morning. Thanks so much.

Let's talk more about this and about the Cruz/Kasich divide-and- conquer strategy with our fabulous panel. Joining us is Jeffrey Lord, Trump supporter and former Reagan White House political director; Ben Ferguson, Cruz supporter and CNN political commentator; and Ana Navarro, CNN political commentator. Great to have all of you here this morning.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Good morning.

Ana, someone has been reading your Twitter feed, because you saw this coming. In fact, you suggested it. Let me read what you put out on April 22. You tweeted, "Cruz should leave northeast states to Kasich, stronger there. Kasich should leave Indiana to Cruz. Coordinate, or Trump obliterates." Are you psychic, Ana?

[07:05:04] ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think it takes any ESP or any special powers to realize that they have limited resources, Cruz and Kasich. And they have one common goal: keeping Trump from reaching 1,237. If not, they don't get to the dance. That the only way they get to the dance.

They don't -- you know, listen, Trump reaches 1,237, they've got no chariot; they've got no golden slippers; they've got no chance whatsoever.

So, you know, I have been wondering for weeks now why this hasn't happened. I hope it's not too late. I am so glad it's happening. It is the only chance they have. I know they don't like each other. I know they don't trust each other, but they've got to work together. Sometimes you just have to do it.

CAMEROTA: Ben, Ana makes it sound like a no-brainer. But it certainly has not been that for Cruz. I mean, for weeks, he's been calling Kasich a spoiler, saying he should get out of the race.

FERGUSON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So Ben, why now are they doing this alliance?

FERGUSON: Well, I think they're looking at the map and they're realizing that this is a complicated map, if they continue to go against one another, and in certainly area. And the more candidates that have been in this race the more it has actually helped Donald Trump win. And the smaller the field gets, the tougher it's been for Donald Trump to get to that magic number.

Look, this is July madness, as I call it. Everybody wants to get to the big dance like they do at the basketball tournament in March Madness. You have the chance now, with this strategy, for both men to be able to do one thing, and that is stop Donald Trump, and also get a united ticket at the convention.

What you do see from both of these campaigns is they understand that they think Donald Trump is a disaster, especially when you look at the head-to-head polls against Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

There's one poll that's been consistent. Donald Trump has high unfavorables, and he is getting killed by either those candidates in a general head-to-head matchup.

And so what I think both men realize, and both campaigns realize was, we can fight this at a convention. May the best man win, but this is how we're going to get to the big dance. Because they both understand Donald Trump is a total failure head-to-head against Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, just hours before they issued these surprise statements that they were joining forces, neither candidate, Cruz nor Kasich, sounded like they would ever consider, you know, working with each other. So let me play for you how they sounded yesterday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASICH: 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: So Jeffrey, as a Trump supporter, what do you make of this?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I have to say, Aly, I really am astonished at this. I like Senator Cruz; he's said a lot of good things. Thought he should be on a Trump ticket.

But in essence, what's happened here, he has -- to use his phrase about the Washington cartel, he has sold out suddenly to the Washington cartel. I mean, this is the -- an equivalent of a Republican Munich in this kind of thing.

CAMEROTA: So why did he do it? LORD: He and Donald Trump have repeatedly gotten, you know, 60, 70,

80 percent of vote in this anti-establishment wave that's going on here, and suddenly Senator Cruz has signed up with the establishment. I mean, I am astonished. I mean, apparently, he's turning from being pro-Ted Cruz to, you know, pro-establishment. And this is baffling to me, but I think it's going to backfire and not a good thing for him to do.

FERGUSON: It shouldn't be -- Jeffrey...

CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Ben.

FERGUSON: It shouldn't be baffling -- just say...

NAVARRO: Let me just say, everybody...

CAMEROTA: Hold on, Ana. Why don't you think it should be baffling, Ben?

FERGUSON: It shouldn't be baffling. I mean, one of the things I think both of these candidates understood last week was Donald Trump showed his true colors specifically on one issue where, he said it was an incredibly liberal idea. The bathroom issue of allowing a grown man to go into a bathroom or a locker room with young girls.

And Donald Trump said, "Well, it's good for business to have this policy, and it's bad for business to fight for what you stand up and believe in, when it became a moral issue." You saw both campaigns really scratching their heads. They're going, "Are you kidding me?" Is Donald Trump, who's the front-runner on the Republican ticket...

CAMEROTA: OK.

FERGUSON: ... advocating for one of the most extreme liberal ideas?

LORD: He said...

FERGUSON: And that's one of the things that brought them together.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Hold on. Ana, go ahead.

NAVARRO: Alisyn, let me get in here.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

NAVARRO: It's 7:09 in the morning. I really can't believe we are talking about toilets, but I love Ben Ferguson; and he brought it up.

You know, I think that Ted Cruz has chosen this toilet issue, which frankly, folks, really? Are we going there? Are we, in the midst of, you know, having to combat ISIS, having to deal with the economy, going to fight over who uses what toilet?

I would be happy if we could pass a law to get men to put the top down. You know? I would be happy if we could pass a law...

[07:10:03] CAMEROTA: Ana just went there.

NAVARRO: ... that the lines in women's bathrooms are just as short as the lines in men's bathrooms.

How about we prioritize a little bit, like, you know, combating ISIS? But we're not going to talk about toilets.

I will tell you that I think last Tuesday was a wake-up call. Last Wednesday was a wake-up call for Ted Cruz, who woke up and had been decimated in New York. There was no point for him to continue doing that in the other northeastern states.

John Kasich's campaign had been reaching out to Cruz for weeks, for weeks, and been getting rebuffed. The wake-up call came Wednesday when the results from Tuesday night. And they finally realized that they had to put the suspicions about each other to rest and that they needed to coordinate and work together towards a common goal.

CAMEROTA: OK.

NAVARRO: It is what big boys, what adults have to do.

CAMEROTA: Not all Republicans agree that this is a good idea. Mike Huckabee has just tweeted: "Cruz/Kasich join forces" -- This was yesterday. Sorry -- "join forces to stop Trump. I wish they wanted to stop Hillary as much as they did the Republican who is beating both of them."

Jeffrey, last word.

LORD: Yes. That's exactly right. I mean, the real target here is Hillary. I mean, and Ted Cruz, respectfully, if he wins this nomination, he's only managed to get 14 percent of the Republican vote in New York. I'm here in Pennsylvania. He's going to -- he's about to get clobbered here in Pennsylvania. I mean, this is a real weakness as a candidate.

But again, I am just astonished at what he's done here. You know, "sell out" is not too strong of a word.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, Ben, we've got to leave it there. I'm sorry. I owe you one. We've got to leave it there. Ana, Jeffrey, Ben, great conversation. Great to talk to you guys. Thank you.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Coming up in our next hour we will hear from Sam Clovis at the Trump campaign and Ron Nehring with Ted Cruz's campaign. What do they say about how to explain aligning -- Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: To the Democrats now. Hillary Clinton focus -- shifting, rather, her focus to the general election ahead of the northeast primaries tomorrow, attacking Trump in a new campaign ad. But Bernie Sanders isn't putting his presidential hopes behind just

yet, saying he is in until California has its say. National correspondent Jason Carroll live in Hagerstown, Maryland, with more.

Hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Michaela.

And it's also Bernie Sanders supporters who are in for the long haul. The #BernieOrBust gaining momentum on Twitter. All this as Hillary Clinton is gearing up for a fight for whoever will end up being 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.

SANDERS: 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: So, Chris, Sanders is in it at least through California. He was asked, though, what it would take to get him to endorse Hillary Clinton at some point. He said three things. He said, first, she would have to stand up to the billionaire class. She would have to make health care more available for people, also make college education more affordable for young people.

But once again, he's not into endorsements. At least not yet for now, though he's going to stay the course, at least through California -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, J.C. Appreciate the reporting. We'll check back with you in a little bit.

We have another breaking story this morning out of Germany. President Obama just announced plans to ramp up U.S. efforts to topple ISIS in Syria. That means more troops, 250 additional Special Operators to Syria.

[07:15:02] CNN's Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon with breaking details. How do you make sense of this?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

This is a major new commitment by the Pentagon to the fight in Syria. Very tough business. Two hundred and fifty additional Special Operations forces on the ground. The question always is, is this now combat? The president says, no. Listen to how he laid it all out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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)

STARR: Where will this all be taking place, again, in Syria? The goal, the city of Raqqah. The U.S. wants to get more Sunni Arab fighters into the mix. Those are the fighters they think will go to Raqqah and try and get it back from ISIS. But ISIS is not about to give up Raqqah, its self-declared capital, very easily. This is something very symbolic, something ISIS very much wants to hold on to.

So this will not be easy going. These U.S. Special Operations Forces that will advise, assist and help train these Arab fighters, they will not be in combat. They will not be looking for combat, but they will are heavily armed, prepared to defend themselves in what is going to be a very tough neighborhood -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Barbara, thanks so much for fleshing out the breaking news from this morning.

More tributes to tell you about for the late music legend Prince. His remained cremated over the weekend in a small private ceremony as questions still swirl about his estate and what killed him.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live at Prince's estate outside of Minneapolis. Good morning, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Yes, we are in Chanhassen, Minnesota, where Prince had Paisley Park. Let me show you what it looks like today. The memorial that has become the fence here outside of Paisley Park. It's just continued to grow. It wraps around the front of the building continuing, as well. People coming here to remember Prince. Seeing people showing up throughout the weekend with tears in their eyes as they looked to find answers.

Of course, we're probably not going to get answers as to what led to the death of the artist, simply because it's going to take about four weeks or so before we get the results of that autopsy.

But we do know that he was cremated, and over the weekend there was a very small ceremony. CNN's Van Jones tells us about 20 people inside who remembered Prince: his friends, family and his musicians.

And then afterwards they came outside and handed out these purple boxes. And inside was memorabilia from the artist, those fans feeling very lucky to have been here to receive those.

But at this point, what's going to happen to his massive catalog of music and the reportedly thousands of songs that remain in a vault inside of Paisley Park. That still is a question we don't know the answer to, Michaela.

PEREIRA: I think it's such a nice touch that they did that for the fans that have been there struggling with his passing. What a beautiful moment for them.

Stephanie, thank you so much for that.

Other news now. The U.N. Security Council slamming North Korea over its latest missile test. Pyongyang hailing the successful launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine over the weekend. South Korea, though, says it malfunctioned and crashed into the sea after traveling some 19 miles. The U.N. is now threatening new measures just weeks after imposing tougher sanctions over the North's recent nuclear tests.

CUOMO: A Wisconsin teenager suspected of opening fire on two students outside a high school prom. He's then gunned down by police. Jacob Wagner is his name, showed up at Antigo High School, armed with a rifle, police say, and then opened fire as students left the prom. Two students were wounded. Both are expected to be OK. It's the only good news in this situation. Police say Wagner was a former student at the school. No known motive yet.

CAMEROTA: OK. Back to the world of entertainment. Beyonce doing it again, dropping a new album in an unexpected way, in the middle of her hour-long HBO special.

But what really has fans buzzing is "Lemonade," the name of the album, deeply personal lyrics referencing a cheating spouse.

CUOMO: Uh-oh.

CAMEROTA: "Lemonade" is her sixth album. Also touches on empowerment and the Black Lives Matter movement. The HBO special featuring touching appearances by the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Her husband also appears on it, Jay-Z, and her daughter, Blue Ivy, along with tennis superstar Serena Williams. They all make cameos.

So everyone is now parsing the lyrics of this.

PEREIRA: I have to go watch this entire thing on HBO and, so much to unpack in it. but that dress, walking down the street with her hair streaming behind her. Please.

CAMEROTA: Let's just start there.

PEREIRA: Slay.

CUOMO: All I heard in that was, empowerment, Black Lives Matter. Cheating spouse, that's what's going to get all the play today.

PEREIRA: Some of it is, but then some people are saying that it may have something to do with her father. I mean, there's a lot -- like I said, there's a lot in all of that. Who knows?

All right. Shall we turn back to politics as we do.

CAMEROTA: Let's.

CUOMO: Or as Alisyn said, back to entertainment.

PEREIRA: Here we go. Back to entertainment, exactly.

[07:20:00] Bernie Sanders, the Democratic underdog, vowing to fight on. Can he make a dent in Hillary Clinton's delegate lead in tomorrow's Super Tuesday contest? We are going to ask a Sanders supporter and fellow senator about his chances.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: For Bernie Sanders, the road to the Democratic nomination is very steep. The Vermont senator acknowledges that, but he says he's not dropping out, and he does have a path to victory. In fact, he believes there will be a resurgence tomorrow in these big states that are up in the primary for the northeast. So let's bring in Oregon senator Jeff Merkley who is a Bernie Sanders

supporter.

It is good to have you with us. Respond to this for me, if you would. David Plouffe tweets the following on April 20: "Sanders has run a stunningly strong campaign, fueled by passionate supporters, but raising money stating you have a path to the nomination is fraud." A nice tweet that wound up being not nice right in the last word. What is your response?

[07:25:06] SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: Well, certainly, there is a path. It is an uphill path. Bernie has acknowledged that, but we've seen in campaigns in the past, anything can happen. And Bernie is mobilizing tremendous energy within the Democratic Party; and that energy is very valuable and important. And we need to give everyone across America a chance to weigh in.

CUOMO: And the question that becomes how does Bernie Sanders' campaign from now until -- let's say -- the convention, and whatever happens there, do you believe that the Sanders' campaign is comporting itself in the positive way that Senator Sanders says it will?

MERKLEY: Well, just as Bernie reiterated yesterday, the focus needs to be on the issues, on the differences in how the candidates are taking on the biggest problems facing America. Certainly that's living wage jobs. That's the challenge of taking on global warming. That's our trade policy. That's our affordability of higher education.

And I think he keeps coming back to those core policy issues. You know, we have had a chance to have a wonderful battle here on the Democratic side. Two highly qualified candidates with good hearts and good minds and good principles. And it's really something to be proud of. I must say, it's a huge contrast to the Republican circus we're witnessing day by day.

CUOMO: So what do you make of these surrogates for Bernie Sanders? First it was Song, who used the ugly phrase during his remarks, which he then apologized for, says it wasn't about Secretary Clinton.

Now, you have Rosario Dawson bringing up Monica Lewinsky in a clumsy analogy about bullying. Is this something that the campaign would be behind?

MERKLEY: Those are complete distractions. They take away from the conversation about core policy issues.

In a campaign, you have many people who step forward on your behalf. They come out with some things that go off track. Hopefully, everything I say will be on track, because I do believe that this is a conversation about so many important issues.

We have an American citizenry that, for the last four decades, only one out of ten Americans has benefited from the increase in income in America. That means nine out of ten Americans have been left out in the cold. How are we going to change that? How are we going restore a program of construction of the infrastructure?

CUOMO: I get you, Senator. I get what the problem is, whether you're Republican or Democrat, the problems seem to be similar. But is it a coincidence that the surrogates wound up saying, Senator, that inflammatory a couple of weeks in a row, and that the campaign didn't have any control? Or is this the kind of good cop/bad cop situation coming out of the Sanders campaign?

MERKLEY: No. This is individuals going off track on their own. They don't -- that's not helpful to the campaign, and it's certainly not in keeping with what Bernie wants to see.

CUOMO: Senator, let's say you get to the convention, and let's say the senator has not been able to get the delegates that he needs. The super delegates won't be swayed. What obligation is there on Senator Sanders to help galvanize the party? He says it's not about him. He can't tell his supporters what to do. That's a little naive on his part. Don't you think?

MERKLEY: Well, I think that the point he was making, and he made it quite clearly, is that it's going to be very important for the winner of the Democratic primary to reach out with the principles that connect with all Americans. And that he can't -- if he is not the nominee, he can't do that on behalf of the nominee, and -- but I think you also have heard him say he'll do every possible thing to make sure that the Republican nominee does not win the presidency.

CUOMO: What kind of problems do you think there will be in bringing this party together? Someone like a Senator Merkley? There aren't many like you, right, lining up behind Sanders. But what do you think happens when it comes that time? Are you concerned about if you have to get behind a Secretary Clinton candidacy? Do you -- do you think it will be an easy transition if it happens?

MERKLEY: I'm absolutely persuaded that we're going to see folks from both camps linking arms, going forward together in united fashion in November.

What we saw eight years ago was a very contested primary, and then, in the middle of June, Hillary Clinton looked at the situation and said, "Now's the time to join arms," and she pivoted. Whoever is ahead at that point and is wrapping up the nomination, I think we're going to see them reach out and we're going to see the person who's behind reach out. And together they'll -- they'll link arms and go forward together.

CUOMO: But as Senator Sanders says time and again, it ain't time for that yet.

Senator Merkley, thank you very much for making the case for Bernie Sanders this morning.

MERKLEY: You're very welcome. Great to be with you, Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn. PEREIRA: I'll take it here, Chris. The desperate search continues

for hundreds of missing schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria two years ago. Up next, we have a CNN exclusive for you. We're going to take you to the front lines as military patrols scour hostile territory, looking for those missing girls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)