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New Day

Trump Aims to Sweep Northeast Primaries; Clinton Hoping for Big Day in Northeast; Interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 26, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tragic story took a very interesting twist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did find marijuana at the crime scene. It was a grower operation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's something you hear about in the movies. Not something that would ever happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

[07:00:25] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. it is Super Tuesday, take four. The polls are now open in all five states, with hundreds of delegates up for grabs today. Will the front-runners, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, sweep the northeast tonight? Donald Trump continuing to slam his opponents even over pancakes.

CUOMO: On the other side of the ball, Hillary Clinton hoping to shut the door somewhat on Bernie Sanders tonight. It's all proportional, of course. But if she gets a big chunk of these delegates, about 50 percent of them, she's going to get very close.

What does that mean for him? What is victory tonight? What is the path forward and why? We're going to ask all of these questions to Senator Bernie Sanders himself. Stay tuned for that in just a of couple minutes. Now, of course, we have this entire 2016 race covered the way only CNN can.

Let's begin with Jim Acosta live in Philly.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Donald Trump appears to be on the fast track to win these Amtrak primaries today. The GOP front-runner is heavily favored to pull off a big sweep of the states that are up for grabs, but an alliance between Ted Cruz and John Kasich has formed to slow the Trump train, as it's called, and it has caught Trump's attention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lyin' Ted. Not...

ACOSTA (voice-over): Sensing an opportunity in the new alliance between Ted Cruz and John Kasich, Donald Trump isn't just smelling blood. He's going in for the kill. A double-barreled attack on both Cruz.

TRUMP: You know, he's a joker. He cannot do it. So he said, "Let me form a partnership," which I call -- what do we call it? It's called collusion, folks.

ACOSTA: And Kasich.

TRUMP: He's like a spoiled guy, Kasich. "I'm not getting out, Mom. I'm not getting out."

ACOSTA: Trump even ridiculed Kasich's eating habits as unpresidential.

TRUMP: Then you see him eating in the morning. Did you ever see -- I have never seen. He's stuffing pancakes in his mouth like this.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has no answer. How do you bring jobs back to America, beyond just printing it on a baseball cap?

ACOSTA: With a few one-liners of his own, Cruz is arguing to his supporters the name of the game is denying Trump the magic number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, which is why Cruz is planning to focus on Indiana, where he's stronger, while yielding New Mexico and Oregon to the Ohio governor.

CRUZ: What that means is that Indiana gets a straight and direct choice between our campaign and Donald Trump.

ACOSTA: But by Monday afternoon, the Cruz/Kasich alliance was already showing signs of strain, with Kasich refusing to explicitly tell his Indiana supporters to vote for Cruz over him.

KASICH: I don't tell voters anything. I'm out there campaigning, and it speaks for itself.

ACOSTA: Stressing that he has his own strategy to see through, to stay alive until the party meets for its convention this summer.

KASICH: Look, I'd like to see an open convention. Ted Cruz would like to see an open convention, and I think Trump would not. Because he's afraid if he goes to an open convention, he's got no chance of winning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, John Kasich has now officially canceled a trip to Indiana today. He was scheduled to appear at a fund-raiser later on today in Indianapolis, and Donald Trump is seizing on all of this. He just put out a tweet in the last several minutes. We put it up onscreen, saying, quote, the Cruz/Kasich pact is under great strain. This joke of a deal is falling apart, not being honored and almost dead. Very dumb.

So a very Donald Trump tweet there on this Cruz/Kasich arrangement that we're seeing take place here. Now we should point out. I did talk to a Trump campaign advisor, who tells me, guys, that this Cruz- Kasich plan could actually have an impact on Indiana. But the Trump campaign is confident it won't slow the GOP frontrunner's march to the nomination later this summer.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jim. Thanks so much. We'll talk about this and more with our next guests: Jeffrey Lord, a Trump supporter and former Reagan White House political director. Hi, Jeffrey.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Aly.

CAMEROTA: And Tim Miller, former Jeb Bush spokesman and adviser to an anti-Trump super PAC. Hello, Tim.

TIM MILLER, ADVISOR TO ANTI-TRUMP SUPER PAC: Hey, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Tim, I want to start with you and about your anti-Trump efforts. When you look at the polls and you look at the predictions that today Donald Trump is going to sweep these five states, you, I believe, in your super PAC have spent $15.7 million trying to stop Donald Trump? Are you feeling discouraged today?

MILLER: No. Look, we expected Donald Trump to do well in the northeast throughout this primary. I mean, you guys in cable news need the story lines with the ups and lines, but a lot of this is driven by demographics, where Trump is doing better in some of these blue states in the northeast, and Cruz is doing better in the Midwest, and we haven't gone west yet. So we'll kind of see how that goes.

[07:05:06] So I expect that Cruz will do better once we get to Indiana next week and then Nebraska the following week. And then the most important thing here is that we stop Donald Trump from getting to 1,237 delegates, because he does not represent a majority of the party. That's why we put this system in place. We need somebody that can get to a majority of the delegates, and we're going to fight him to make sure he doesn't get there.

CAMEROTA: Tim, just to stick with you one more second.

If Donald Trump does sweep tonight, do you change your strategy or do you keep spending money and press on with what you've been doing?

MILLER: I would expect that he will probably win all five of the states. When we're looking at tonight as a delegate play, we're trying to beat him in a few districts in Maryland, a few districts in Pennsylvania, where we can keep delegates from him and then move onto Indiana and Nebraska, which I think is better turf for Ted Cruz.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jeffrey, on to you. Donald Trump continues to hit his rivals, as you've heard snippets of so far this morning, and we have a couple of choice morsels from yesterday to play for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Lyin' Ted announced that he can't win by himself. He cannot do it. You know, he's a choker. He cannot do it.

Now you look at Kasich. I don't think he knows -- did you see him? Has the news conference all the time while he's eating. I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion. This guy takes a pancake, and he's shoving it in his mouth. It's disgusting. Do you want that for your president? I don't think so.

Do I look like a president? How handsome am I? Right? How handsome?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, I know. I mean, I see you laughing. I hear the crowd laughing. Obviously, these are some entertaining moments, but is this really the substantive talk that we hear our voter panel say that they're now craving from the candidates?

LORD: Well, of course not. I mean, that's -- humor. I can tell you that he's delivering a foreign policy speech. As a matter of fact, I think it's tomorrow at the Washington Press Club and is going to be doing a series of these kind of speeches. I know some of the people involved working on the speeches with him. So I mean, these things are coming.

CAMEROTA: OK. So I'm going to stop you for a second. So in other words, if he sweeps today, or maybe regardless of what happens today, you think that we are going too soon, we'll see a new side of Donald Trump, which does dig in more and become more substantive?

LORD: Yes. Yes, I mean, I know this for a fact, so, yes.

MILLER: Can I just say, Alisyn, this is ridiculous. We're not going to see a new Donald Trump. This happens every three weeks. The story is he's going to be more presidential and yesterday was making fun of John Kasich for the way he eats, and he's sending out sexist tweets about Heidi Cruz?

This is Donald Trump. He's a crude man. He's not going to change.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, I mean, this has been a bit of a pattern. So what should make us think something different is going to happen?

LORD: Wait a minute. Let me just say here I don't think Tim understands here, but back -- I went and looked this morning. Back in 1960, there was a "stop Kennedy" movement on the part of Democrats who were desperate to stop JFK from being nominated. And my friend the presidential historian, Craig Shirley (ph), has pointed out that there was a "stop Nixon" movement in '68, a "stop Carter" movement.

CAMEROTA: Sure, but what about my question?

MILLER: Donald Trump is no John Kennedy, Jeffrey. Come on.

CAMEROTA: Hold on, Tim.

MILLER: Give me a break.

LORD: John Kennedy was no John Kennedy in 1960, Tim. My point is...

CAMEROTA: Hold on. But what about that question? Why should we believe that we will see a different style of Donald Trump moving forward?

LORD: Well, because he's running for president of the United States, for heaven's sakes. He's going to give policy speeches. There's nothing in the least unusual about this.

Something should tell him that he's running for president. His behavior over and over again has been far from what we would expect from a president. Imagine our children, your grandchildren, Jeffrey, watching the TV when he's cussing and he's making sexist comments?

This should have stopped months ago, and he refuses to stop. Refuses to change. This is his core as a man, and he's not going to change. And you guys can promise it all you want. But we're not going to see any different. You see what you get, and that's why he's so unpopular with the general electorate.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead.

LORD: All I can say is, Tim, I was at a rally here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the Farm Show Arena the other day. There were 10,000 people, and they beg to differ with you.

MILLER: He managed to not cuss at one rally. That's really presidential.

CAMEROTA: I mean, Jeffrey, you said that there's nothing unusual about this, but of course, everything about Donald Trump's campaign has been unusual, including his rhetoric. This is unusual that still, at this point in the race we're hearing him make fun of its rivals for eating and for being disgusting. These are words that...

LORD: Alisyn -- Alisyn, all due respect, I think we need to lighten up and have a sense of humor. The people, again, that I met at this rally loved him. They think he's got a great sense of humor. They have a sense of humor. I mean, this sort of effete liberalism that we're all supposed to be horrified, I mean, this is political correctness gone crazy.

MILLER: We can have -- Jeffrey, we can have a sense of humor. You can be non-PC and also offer serious proposals that we would expect from a presidential candidate, but we are one year -- it's been one year since he's been running. He has refused to do it. He has refused to take the time to learn about the issues, to learn about basic things, like the nuclear triad.

[07:10:17] Donald Trump has -- and you know, his top adviser, Roger Stone, said in a podcast till Monday that he doesn't even like to read these sort of briefings. So this is Donald. He's crass. He's not serious and I think we expect better, and you know, can be not -- but also be serious about the problems the country faces. CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, last word. Ten seconds. OK.

LORD: Tim was advising Governor Bush, and Governor Bush is out of the race. I might add, these criticisms were made of Ronald Reagan not only when he was a candidate but when he was president. So we've been here before. And it came from the same Bush headquarters.

MILLER: Donald Trump isn't a Ronald Reagan, even a John Kennedy.

CAMEROTA: Tim, Jeffrey...

MILLER: Sorry, Jeffrey.

CAMEROTA: ... thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. We'll talk again.

Let's get to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Well navigated, Alisyn.

All right. For Democrats, it's a pivotal day for both contenders. Hillary Clinton hoping to pull away in the delegate race with a northeast sweep. Bernie Sanders, though, it may be his last shot at staying alive.

CNN's Chris Frates is live in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with more for us this morning -- Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Mick. So welcome to Super Tuesday. The quatra, the fourth Super Tuesday of this campaign season, polls just opening here in Pennsylvania. Voters started to trickle in, and with 189 delegates at stake, it's the biggest prize of all five states voting today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have an enormously important Democratic primary.

FRATES (voice-over): Today's high-stakes primaries have Bernie Sanders calming for his supporters to turn out.

SANDERS: If you come out to vote, drag your friends, your aunts and your uncles, your co-workers, we're going to win here in Pennsylvania.

FRATES: With nearly 400 delegates up for grabs, Hillary Clinton could widen her delegate lead and help effectively close the door on Sanders.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You vote for me tomorrow, I will stand up and fight for you.

FRATES: On the stump, Clinton is already looking past her Democratic rival and focusing on potential general election opponents.

CLINTON: When I hear the kind of reckless rhetoric coming from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, it's deeply troubling, because it's not only offensive; it is dangerous.

FRATES: Leading in the polls, the former secretary of state is expected to win big. Her likely clean sweep is forcing Sanders to saturate his speeches with the contrasts between them.

SANDERS: The differences between Secretary Clinton and myself.

Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton.

FRATES: But Clinton is ready for Sanders to concede, much like she did in 2008.

CLINTON: I didn't say, "You know what? If Senator Obama does X, Y and Z, maybe I'll support him." I said, "I am supporting Senator Obama."

FRATES: Sanders argues that, while he'll do whatever he can to keep a Republican out of the White House, it is up to Clinton to sway his voters to her side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: Now, if you want a sense how Sanders and Clinton think they'll do today, take a look at where they're going tonight. Hillary Clinton will be just down the road here in Philadelphia, holding an election night event in a state where she's leading by double digits.

Bernie Sanders will have already moved on, holding an event in West Virginia. But Sanders says that he will fight until the very end, and, in fact, it looks like he'll have the money and the support to do just that. And, Chris, I'm interested to hear what he'll tell you in just a few minutes about his strategy today and going forward, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good. You're going to have a great seat for that interview, my friend. Let me know what you think of it.

Let's go from Mr. Frates to folks in Maryland. They're making their voices heard. The polls there opening just moments ago. We've got CNN's Brian Todd live at a polling place in Baltimore. Look, already people there, Brian. Good. What are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of voter enthusiasm here this morning, Chris. It is primary day, finally. We've heard the nicknames, you know, Super Tuesday 4.0, the Amtrak primaries. Those are all great, but this is where the fun really starts.

And here at the Mt. Washington lower school in the northern section of Baltimore. A lot of enthusiasm here. These lines were out the door just a moment ago when the polls opened. Now they've formed two lines.

What you do here is you come in. You're already registered. You cannot register same day here in Maryland. You're already registered for your party. You check in here, show I.D., your date of birth and your party affiliation. Then they hand you a paper ballot. That's what's new here this year. They're instituting a new system, because they want a paper trail for the voting. It used to be digital. Now they want a paper trail.

So you come in here. You check in here. This is what we love to show you on voting days. You know, the vote in real time as it happens. They're checking in here. They've got 14 polling stations here, Chris, where people are going to count. They're going to cast their paper ballots, and then they're going to enter them into the scanner right here where it's digitized and put in for the party later on to tabulate all the votes.

Crucial day for Hillary Clinton. This is one of her strongholds here in Baltimore. A lot of African-Americans in this area here. That's her stronghold. Also, P.G. County near Washington is a place where Hillary Clinton should do well. She's favored here.

Also Donald Trump favored here as well as some of the other northeastern states.

So we're going to see how it plays out here. We're going to be talking to a lot of voters as they leave here on what their feelings are about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and all the rest -- Chris.

CUOMO: OK. Appreciate it, Brian Todd. We'll check back with you in a little bit.

And of course, you should stay with CNN all day for coverage of today's Super Tuesday primaries. Voters heading to the polls. Remember, five states, a lot of delegates up for grabs. Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island and another.

CAMEROTA: You should also stay tuned for this: Bernie Sanders hoping that a huge turnout will lead to big surprises tonight. We'll speak with him live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: "Big turnout, I win." That's what Senator Bernie Sanders says about today's Super Tuesday primaries. Which states does he think is, are most likely for him? What if he doesn't win? What matters going forward? Let's discuss now with the man himself. Senator Bernie Sanders joining us from Philadelphia.

Senator, thank you for joining us this morning. Good luck in the primaries as we wish all the candidates. Do you see a state tonight that you can point out and say, "I think we can win there"?

[07:20:11] SANDERS: Well, I will give you the exact results at about 11 tonight, Chris. But I think we stand a very good chance to win some of the states today. I think we have a shot in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island. Maybe Delaware. I think Maryland is going to be tougher for us.

But I think our message that there is something wrong when the middle class continues to decline and almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent, that we have a corrupt campaign finance system in which super PACs and billionaires are buying elections, that is resonating all across this country. We have won 16 states so far, and I'm looking forward to winning a number more. I think we've got a path to victory and we're going to fight this until the last vote is cast.

CUOMO: If Clinton gets the 200 delegates that some are estimating she'll get out of the 385 tonight, do you still believe you have a path forward, to victory?

SANDERS: Yes. It's a narrow -- it's a narrow path, but we do have a path. And the idea that we should not contest in California or a larger state, let the people of California determine what the agenda of the Democratic Party is and who the candidate for president should be is pretty crazy. So we're in this to the end.

And I think that when you look at national polling, where in virtually every national poll and every state-wide poll, Bernie Sanders runs a lot better against Donald Trump and other Republican candidates than does Hillary Clinton, I think you've got super delegates there who say, "You know what? We need a strong candidate. We need a candidate who can beat Trump. Maybe Bernie Sanders is that candidate."

CUOMO: Well, it's not about what you do, I think so much people in your party are talking about, but how? You just said, "We need a strong candidate." At what point do you start saying that Hillary Clinton is a strong candidate? At what point do you start merging into a party-first mentality, or do you never do that?

SANDERS: Well, we're in this race to win, and we're in it by running an issue-oriented campaign, something that I've tried to do from day one. There are differences of opinion between Hillary Clinton and myself, and I think when you argue out those differences, I mean we should raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. She believes it should be $12 an hour.

I am against -- for a ban on national fracking. That's is not her position. I have opposed all of these disastrous trade agreements. She has supported most of them. I think, Chris, that debate is a good thing with democracy for the Democratic Party, gets more people into the process. It results in a higher voter turnout, and Democrats win when there is a high voter turnout. We lose when the turnout is low.

CUOMO: Understood. I want to ask you about who's been turning out and what it's meant to your candidacy in one second. But first, Secretary Clinton says, "Look, Sanders should run his race, stay in as long as he likes, but when I got out I did so without conditions. I told my people in 2008, 'You have to be for Barack Obama. We must be one.' There were no conditions."

Would you support Hillary Clinton as the nominee without conditions?

SANDERS: Well, I think what the democratic process is about, Chris, is going to the convention and arguing about what the platform should be. I happen to believe the United States should join the rest of the industrialized world, guarantee health care to all people as a right, if you need paid family and medical leave...

CUOMO: But if that's not where the party comes out, Senator, would you still -- would you still support...

SANDERS: Chris -- Chris, media spends too much time speculating. Let's see what happens.

CUOMO: But it's not a...

SANDERS: Chris, the way...

CUOMO: It's not a reach to say the party, that they won't come out to ban fracking across the board, that they won't come out to give free college across the board. That's why I'm asking.

SANDERS: Well, then, we'll see what happens. We are going to have -- if we don't win this thing we're going to have a lot of delegates in Philadelphia, fighting that fight. And I'm not convinced, and you don't know what the delegates there will do. If you do, please tell me, but you don't.

So we are going to go to the American people saying, "This is the agenda for the working people. Yes, the billionaire class has to pay more in taxes. Yes, we've got to do away with these corporate loopholes and multi-national corporations not to pay a nickel in federal taxes. And I think that we can win some of these platform fights.

The winner, whether it is Secretary Clinton or myself, our job is then to go out to the American people on a platform that makes sense to the working families of this country, and then we win with a large voter turnout.

CUOMO: And it will be something to behold to watch that -- that discussion, that argument, whatever you want to call it happen at the convention, and you're right to call for it. I understand that.

Now, earlier you had said, "Hey, we won a bunch of states, 16 states. And it's about who's voting and how many come out to vote." Sixteen out of 17 states that have the highest income inequality you haven't won.

And you said, "Well, that's because poor people don't vote." And that is true to a large extent in those states. That's what happens. However, there are a lot of people who do vote, who do well, who have money, who work hard for it, who may feel that they are targeted by some of your proposals.

[07:25:15] When you say, "I'm not for the billionaire class. I'm not for the banks," what do you say to voters who work in those banks, who believe in those systems? Do you want their votes? Do you represent them, as well?

SANDERS: Look, I -- there are decent people in every area of life. And I want every vote, but, Chris, I've been all over this country. I've been to Flint, Michigan. I've been to Detroit where the public school system is collapsing. Hartford, Connecticut, where half of the children in that city are living in poverty.

We have a grotesque level of income and wealth inequality, where the wealthiest 20 people now own more wealth than the bottom 150 million people. Where people, senior citizens of disabled vets are trying to get by on $10,000, $11,000 a year and Social Security.

I am doing my best to stand with those people. And for the billionaire class, they're doing just fine. Many of them can afford to pay more in taxes. Large, profitable corporations should not be stashing their profits in the Cayman Islands in a given year and not paying a nickel in taxes. So I want everybody's vote, but I will fight for social justice, for economic justice, for environmental justice, do everything that we can to combat the global crisis of climate change, to take on the fossil fuel industry. That's why I got into this race, and I'm going to continue to make that fight till the last vote is cast.

CUOMO: When I hear Sanders people debate Clinton people about which is the right nominee, it also -- often comes down to the ability to get it done. One of the proposals that was bubbling up, you said if I were president in my first year, I would let 500,000 people, I'd get them out of the jails. They don't belong there.

If you were to include all federal prisoners in that number, you'd still be hundreds of thousands short. Is that one of those -- is this an example of where what you want to do may sound great to Democratic voters, but your ability to get it done may fall short, either by compromise or by policy?

SANDERS: Look, every proposal that we have put forth, including what you have just talked about, whether it's making public colleges and universities tuition-free, we do that through a tax on Wall Street speculation.

Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 billion jobs, we do that by ending this loophole that allows corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands and in a given year not pay a nickel in taxes.

In terms of our prison population, we have 2.2 million people in jail, more than any other country on earth. Disproportionately African- American, Latino, Native Americans. It is an absolute disgrace.

And I'm going to invest in our kids, in jobs and education, not jails and incarceration. Now here's one area, amazingly enough, where conservatives agree with progressives. They understand that it makes more sense to send our kids to college than to send them to jail, because it's less expensive to do so.

So I believe not only in terms of federal prisons, but in terms of state prisons, we, l fact, can work together to make sure, A, that people do not go into jail, because they're going to be in school or in jobs; and, B, get those people who are in jail who can get out under strong release programs out of jail. And I think we can substantially reduce the prison populations. CUOMO: Senator Sanders, good luck in the northeast primaries today

and going forward. As always, thank you for talking about what matters on "NEW DAY."

SANDERS: Thank you very much, Chris.

CUOMO: Michaela.

CUOMO: All right. Stay with us, because we'll have more on today's big political matchups on both sides of the aisle. How will delegates shake out and affect the race to the nomination? We're going to map out the delegate race for you ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)