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Trump & Clinton Win Big In Northeast Primaries; Trump Crushes Rivals Declaring "It's Over"; Clinton Wins Four States, Sanders Wins One; Trump: "I Consider Myself the Presumptive Nominee"; Is Indiana Do-Or-Die for Ted Cruz?; Sanders: Despite Losses, "We Are Going Forward". Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 27, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special post-Super Tuesday edition of your NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, April 27th, 5:30 in the East.

[05:30:00] Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton scoring major victories in the northeast. The front-runners closing in on their party's nominations. Trump declaring the race now "over" and calling himself the presumptive nominee. Donald Trump will join us live within the hour to talk about all of this.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton also winning big in all but one of the northeast states. Clinton is now 90 percent of the way to having the delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Bernie Sanders, though, is refusing to drop out. The senator appears to have a plan of his own for the convention and we're going to tell you about that because we have the 2016 race covered the way only CNN can.

Let's begin with John Berman breaking down the results and where the delegate race stands. J.B. --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Chris, what a night for the front-runners. Five for five -- it's great in baseball, maybe even better in politics. Donald Trump, he went five for five -- Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island -- hitting 60 percent in Rhode Island, also in Delaware. These are some of the biggest margins we have seen, to date, for Donald Trump.

As for Hillary Clinton, she went four for five -- Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania being the biggest prize with the most delegates. Running out of big states on the Democratic side. Bernie Sanders did pick up one win. He won the state of Rhode Island.

What does this mean for the delegates, but right now it is all about delegate math. On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton won 214, Bernie Sanders with 160. Crucially, Hillary Clinton nets 54 delegates. This is at a time when Bernie Sanders really needs to be closing that gap. As for the Republicans right now, Donald Trump -- he picked up 142 delegates. Look how far ahead he is of Ted Cruz and John Kasich. They have just five. This does include some of the Pennsylvania unbound delegates who say to CNN they are committed to voting for Donald Trump. He organized well in that state.

Overall, on the delegate math, let's take a look at where things stand for the Democrats, let's say. Hillary Clinton -- she, right now, is at 2,168 delegates. She's getting very, very close to where she needs to be to clinch the nomination. As Chris Cuomo said, 90 percent of where she needs to be. And if you look at where Donald Trump is now, all of a sudden he's very close to 1,000, about 250 delegates away from 1,237. Back on the path, perhaps, to getting there before the convention. Michaela --

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, John, thanks so much. So, Donald Trump is declaring it's over after sweeping all five northeast primaries last night. It is now mathematically impossible for any Republican contender, but him, to clinch the nomination before the convention.

Senior White House correspondence Jim Acosta is in Washington this morning. Good morning.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is getting closer to being over. Good morning, Michaela. On a roll, after going five for five last night, Donald Trump will try to show off his wonky side later today with a speech on foreign policy here in Washington. The address is designed to demonstrate Trump's grasp of world affairs while calming nervous Republicans who worry he can't move beyond insults and one-liners.

Now, Trump towered over his rivals in a primary night triumph across the northeast during his rollercoaster candidacy onto a steadier path to the GOP nomination. The Republican front-runner stayed on the attack, though, against his Republican rivals.

And he also tried to make an obvious pivot to the general election campaign with some very harsh comments about Hillary Clinton saying, flat out, she's only doing well because she's a woman. Here's more of what he had to say last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card, and the beautiful thing is women don't like her, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But Trump still has a few more battles ahead as Ted Cruz and John Kasich are testing out a shaky new alliance to show that the GOP front-runner's momentum can be slowed in the next big contest of Indiana, with Cruz staking the fate of his campaign on winning Indiana. Trump advisers are trying to apply maximum pressure on the Texas senator. Chris, they are making the case that if Cruz and Kasich and their plan fails in Indiana they are basicallyfinished. Chris --

CUOMO: Well, there's no question everybody has their eyes on the same state, Jim Acosta. Indiana is going to be big, but also, we've got to make sense of what last night means. Thanks to you, Jim. We'll be back to you in a little bit.

Hillary Clinton's four wins last night does her make her all but certainly the Democratic nominee. That "all but" part is going to be really important because Bernie Sanders still has plans, even with these nearly impossible odds.

So let's bring in CNN's Jeff Zeleny, live in Philadelphia. What is the state of play now?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. This is arguably the biggest election night yet in this long primary season for Hillary Clinton, winning big but winning decisively here in battleground Pennsylvania by 12 percentage points. Now, this was a symbolic victory as well. In three months' time she wants to be back here in Philadelphia to accept that Democratic nomination when Democrats gather here in July.

Of course, a long road between now and then. That all depends on what Sen. Sanders does. How he conducts himself. But last night at that primary victory rally Hillary Clinton extended her hand to Sen. Sanders and, more importantly, to his supporters.

[05:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I applaud Sen. Sanders and his millions of supporters for challenging us to get unaccountable money out of our politics and giving greater emphasis to closing the gap of inequality. And I know together we will get that done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And after she left the stage, just a short time after that, Donald Trump did make his comments about the fact that she's only getting support because she's a woman. The Clinton campaign pushed back very hard on that, Chris and Alisyn. They believe that that is something that if he continues that, which he probably will, that will help her unify the Democratic Party.

But we're watching Sen. Sanders today in Indiana. He'll be there as well. How he conducts himself, if he still goes aggressively after her or if he keeps it to issues, as he said he would. That is going to determine how this Democratic primary finally winds up. Chris and Alisyn --

CUOMO: Jeff Zeleny, key questions, finger on the pulse, appreciate it. Let's now discuss with our panel. CNN political commentator and

political anchor of "TIME WARNER CABLE NEWS", Errol Louis. That is now a description I say in my head at night while I'm dreaming, by the way. The Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast, Jackie Kucinich. And, CNN political analyst and host of "THE DAVID GREGORY SHOW" PODCAST, David Gregory.

Errol Louis, when you look at last night what do you think is the biggest headline for people this morning?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the biggest headline is Cruz and Kasich alliance really needs to get in gear. I think they knew they weren't going to fare so well yesterday. I don't know if they expected to get blown out as completely as they did.

They really underperformed, and really what it makes clear is that for anybody who's in this non-Trump, anti-Trump, never Trump movement, they've got to pull their own weight. They've got to really make a case for themselves or make an aggressive case against Donald Trump. They didn't do either of those things and we saw the results.

CAMEROTA: David, last night Trump said that he considers himself the presumptive nominee now, so let's listen to his case for that last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I consider myself the presumptive nominee, absolutely. Honestly, Sen. Cruz and Gov. Kasich should really get out of the race. They have no path to victory. They have no path to victory and, honestly, they should get out of the race. We should heal the Republican Party, bring the Republican Party together, and I'm a unifier. I unify people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, number one, he needs a better microphone.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: All you really needed to know is this. When he does this, he thinks he's a winner.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but is he right about that? He's got it in the bag?

GREGORY: He's getting a bit ahead of himself. I think that the headline is that the notion of a contested convention,I think, this morning is fading. I think he is certainly within striking distance of doing this on the first ballot.

CAMEROTA: Well then, he is the presumptive nominee.

GREGORY: Well, but not quite because there's still a big if there. He still has to get some key victories to get over the top. That's not going to be easy but he's the only one really in that game. The other two are only in the game insofar as they can stop him and get to a contested convention. CUOMO: Are you playing on the difference between presuming that he'll be the nominee and that a special term of art, presumptive nominee, meaning he hit the number already?

GREGORY: No, all I'm saying is he's the only guy in the game here who can get there and I think the point is that he's got a realistic path to get there. And there is something about momentum at this stage of the race. We see it at different times in the race. This is one. He's well over 50 percent, over 60 percent in a couple of these states. As he goes into New Jersey down the line, West Virginia, Indiana, some of this momentum could really help him.

CUOMO: Right, but I think the last two lines of what he said in his "this is over" statement is going to mean the most in terms of the next phase. Jackie Kucinich, he says I'm going to bring the party together, I'm going to unify people.

That's the last thread that Ted Cruz is holding onto, right? That he can't do that. That even though he is getting the numbers, that David just cited, you're only getting 25 percent turnout in these primaries. And when you look at the party overall, you have half the party saying he's not the guy. So is that the weak link?

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Absolutely. I can't tell you how many Republicans I've spoken to in personal conversations who, at this point, are saying my gosh, I can't vote for Donald Trump. And he has answered those questions about electability, about whether he can beat Hillary Clinton. And certainly attacking her as a woman, as he did last night, seems like an unlikely path for him.

So there are some uncertainties that he hasn't put to bed yet. It will be interesting to see what happens in Indiana where you do have that more constitutional conservative strain that favors Ted Cruz, coming up on May 3rd.

GREGORY: The problem is that Ted Cruz is also unpopular.

KUCINICH: Yes, true.

GREGORY: If you look at the 'Never Trump' numbers last night of who would support in the end if he were the nominee, the Cruz numbers were as bad, if not worse, than Donald Trump's in terms of would you ever vote for this person.

[05:40:00] CAMEROTA: All right, that's not how Ted Cruz sees it, obviously. Donald Trump may have the momentum but Ted Cruz argues now, and he did last night, that he has some map in his favor. So, listen to his rationale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is likely to win some states and the media is going to have heart palpitations this evening. They're going to be excited -- oh, so very excited at Donald Trump's victories. And the media's going to say the race is over. I've got good news for you. Tonight, this campaign moves back to more favorable terrain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Is that right, Errol?

LOUIS: Yes, North Dakota, Montana, Indiana itself where there are serious evangelical voters who take him at his word when he says this is about the soul of the party, this is about being a conservative, this is about the principles that made America great, not just a slogan.

CAMEROTA: So he can still turn it around in terms of stopping Trump.

LOUIS: Well, he's got favorable terrain. Whether or not he plays well on the favorable terrain -- look, he's short on money. He, himself, when they announced this little deal they said look, we've got to marshall our resources. We've got to husband our resources. We've got to be a little bit more careful about what we do with the money that we do have. And unlike Donald Trump, they can't just write a check day after day to keep this thing going.

GREGORY: Cruz went zero for the northeast, which is a problem. And by the way, so did Kasich, except for winning the four Republican votes in Manhattan. And the difficulty for Cruz is he's got to show what he showed in Wisconsin. That he can win outside of his core support. But in Indiana there are social conservatives there. That's the challenge for Trump but he's up there right now.

And Gov. Pence is going to be interesting. Mike Pence is the governor there. Will he endorse or will he stay on the sidelines? If he stays on the sidelines it's good for Trump. I'm starting to look like Trump with the --

CUOMO: Look, Cruz has a plus-minus here, Jackie, going into this next phase. The minus is he's been all over the place in terms of making his case. I'm going to win, no convention. Now we need a convention, now we're back on better terrain. He's been hopping around a little bit but that's just politics.

The plus for him is where he was giving that speech last night, Indiana. Jackie, what's the chance that whether it's the alliance, or just Cruz's appeal, or Pence, as David is suggesting, that Indiana goes Cruz's way.

Kucinich: Indiana is definitely more favorable terrain. But, to David's point, yes, it's favorable but we don't know if Trump can surmount there. There also is a populous strain in Indiana which Donald Trump has been able to tap into. Pennsylvania and Maryland should have been great terrain for John Kasich and he was blown out of the water.

So when you look at Indiana, sure, the demographics do look very good for Ted Cruz, but he needs to convince them that he could win. And that swath through the northeast and Florida, and all other parts of the country where Ted Cruz just hasn't really made any inroads.

CAMEROTA: OK, panel, we have a lot to talk about on the Democratic side as well, so stand by if you would.

CUOMO: And one place that Donald Trump is right is that he's got to start thinking more about this next phase if he does get to 1,237 or it does go his way at the convention. Is what got him to this point the same thing that will get him where he wants to be? He's coming on the show to make the case for himself to you in the 6:00 hour.

CAMEROTA: Also, we want to let you know that Wolf Blitzer will anchor CNN's live coverage of Donald Trump's foreign policy speech. That happens at noon today.

CUOMO: Also, not to be outdone, House Speaker Paul Ryan is going to join us live on NEW DAY in the 8:00 hour, so stay for that.

CAMEROTA: Also --

PEREIRA: And, you guys are awesome. Just wanted that to be said.

CUOMO: And she wins again.

PEREIRA: Hillary Clinton's delegate lead is all but insurmountable, so why does Bernie Sanders refuse to give in? What are they looking to accomplish in the Sanders campaign? We're going to take a look at that coming up next for you here on NEW DAY.

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[05:43:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: With your help we're going to come back to Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention with the most votes and the most pledged delegates. We will unify our party to win this election.

CAMEROTA: It was a big night for Hillary Clinton. She won four out of five states, as you can see there. Bernie Sanders, one, Rhode Island. I don't know if you have your glasses on but there you go. She extended her lead over Bernie Sanders, so has Clinton effectively now locked up the nomination?

Let's bring back our panel, Errol Louis, Jackie Kucinich, and David Gregory. Jackie, what's the answer to that? Is the nomination now hers?

KUCINICH: The math just doesn't work Bernie Sanders. Now, the question is is he going to get out and it certainly doesn't look like that at this point. He just keeps on saying he's going to go to the convention and there's nothing that he's done in the last 24 hours or so that seems to indicate he's not still planning to do that.

CUOMO: I like it succinct.

CAMEROTA: Let's listen to that. Bernie Sanders talked about what he thinks the path is forward for him. Oh, this is a full screen. Let me read it for you in that case. Here you go. A dramatic reading everyone, please.

CUOMO: In character, or no?

CAMEROTA: Only you can do the Bernie Sanders voice so well. "I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victories tonight, and I look forward to issue-oriented campaigns in the 14 contests to come. We are in this race until the last vote is cast. That is why this campaign is going to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform." David, what does that mean?

GREGORY: I think it means what it says. I take that to say this is not going to be a fully-engaged fight here until the convention. I think Sanders understands that Clinton basically has this nomination but that he's got an issue platform. We were just talking about he has a base of support and excitement in a party. He represents a voice in the Democratic Party that I think he believes, fervently, must be heard, must be part of the platform.

[05:50:00] If you look at what she said last night in her remarks it was as if she'd had a meeting with Bernie Sanders and said let's talk about what you really care about. I'm going to emphasize these things. Whether it was campaign finance reform, whether it was college education and paying for it, and so forth. She's going to really emphasize everything.

David Axelrod said, on our air last night, she's got to find a way to build a bridge to Sanders and his supporters to walk over, and that's really on her right now.

CUOMO: Well look, the plus for him in terms of why would you get out now, is he's got a tremendous amount of leverage, but I don't think he's going to lose that. I think the biggest reason, Errol, for him to stay in is so did she. She went through the same thing in 2008.

The same kind of thrall near the end where she started to pick up states and people were -- Istill have millions of dollars, I still have all these people coming out, all these people voting for me. She didn't get out and you could argue he has a lot more momentum than she.

LOUIS: He does. He has quite a lot of momentum. He's actually leading something of a movement in a way that Hillary Clinton wasn't in 2008. So there are issues and they're mobilizing on the ground in ways that are going to probably go beyond the convention and even beyond electoral politics.

So, he's got a lot of reasons to stick in until the end. He's certainly got the money and he's got people who wanted to cast a vote for him. That's not nothing. In California and some other places where he has asked people believe in him and to vote for him, he wants to make sure they get to cast that vote.

CUOMO: One other thing you hear from Democrats, also, is that if he were to get out of the race, her general election begins right then.

LOUIS: Right.

CUOMO: And she will start taking fire from Trump and everybody else.

CAMEROTA: That's already happened. She's already taking fire from Trump, you know?

CUOMO: But Jackie, right now -- Alisyn's right, but you are hearing more of them say Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders. They use him as an attack against her which is much better than being attacked on her own -- on the basis of just what she is.

KUCINICH: I think she's been playing a two-fronted game here. She's been still having to deal with Bernie Sanders, but also has been trying for several weeks now to pivot towards the general election. And I have to say the difference between Hillary Clinton wrapping up her campaign in 2008 and what Sanders presumably will do, is it sounds like he's going to try to get some of his positions into the platform.

Hillary Clinton didn't really ask for anything when she wrapped up her campaign. They're not going to get away with that this time. It sounds like they're going to really want part of their platform to become part of the Democratic platform at large.

CAMEROTA: So last night, David, to your point, her tone was definitely different towards Sanders. It did seem like hey, this is a big tent, we're all part of it, and she was completely extending an olive branch to his supporters. So listen to how she framed it last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: And I applaud Sen. Sanders and his millions of supporters for challenging us to get unaccountable money out of our politics and giving greater emphasis to closing the gap of inequality. And I know, together, we will get that done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Too soon?

GREGORY: No, I don't think too soon at all. I think it's the perfect time. This is the time. It's over. She's going to be the nominee but she needs to find a way to really absorb him, and his message, and his supporters into his campaign. She's been saying the past couple of days and here -- she was kind of modeling what she wants him to start saying once he gets out of the race. To say like we are going to do this together. And I think she's laying that foundation with those remarks.

CUOMO: And she's got to start being more about ideas. On the Republican side it's all about who can win. Right now, that's not enough on the Democratic side. It's got to be how and why, so she's making that shift.

CAMEROTA: Panel, don't go anywhere. We're going to need you throughout the morning. Thanks so much. Let's get to Michaela. PEREIRA: One last thing, guys. You're still awesome.

CUOMO: Oh, again, she wins.

PEREIRA: So, a clean sweep on Super Tuesday. Donald Trump declaring himself the presumptive nominee, telling his GOP rivals it's over. Trump talks to NEW DAY live in just a few moments. Get caffeinated, get comfy, it's about to happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I consider myself to be the presumptive nominee.

CRUZ: I've got incredible faith in the common sense of people in America.

CLINTON: Let's go forward. Let's win the nomination.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to fight this until the last vote is cast.

TRUMP: The only card she has is the woman's card. She's got nothing else.

CLINTON: If fighting for women's health care, and paid family leave, and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in.

TRUMP: I call her crooked Hillary. She'll be a horrible president.

CLINTON: There are a lot of negative voices out there but anger is not a plan.

TRUMP: As far as I'mconcerned it's over. These two guys cannot win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CUOMO: Good morning. It is Wednesday, April 27th. We want to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. This is NEW DAY.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump dominating the northeast primaries. The front-runners close to clinching their party nominations. Trump says he has the GOP race in the bag. He called himself the presumptive nominee. He's going to make the case to you in just minutes here on NEW DAY as to why his race is over.

CAMEROTA: As for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton winning four of five states. She is now 90 percent of the way to getting the Democratic nomination. Still, Bernie Sanders says he is going all the way to the convention.