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Trump Targets Cruz in Indiana; Clinton & Sanders Locked in Tight Race in Indiana; U.S. Service Member Killed by Enemy Fire in Iraq. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 03, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was a misstatement. That is not what I intended at all.

[07:00:07] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By far, Bernie Sanders is the strongest candidate.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The ideology has not been extinguished. There is a mechanism to recruit volunteers located in the west. We've got to be vigilant. We've got to go after ISIL.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Pick the word for big, important, crucial, and that's what Indiana is, especially for Senator Ted Cruz. He's hoping that the primary in the Hoosier state that's just a few hours now into the voting -- you can see the clock right on the bottom of your screen -- that he is going to have a new momentum on a path to getting the nomination.

Remember, all of Indiana's 92 counties are open for voting right now. The results are happening as we're reporting.

Donald Trump claiming the race is over if he wins big tonight. So we're going to discuss that with Trump's campaign manager, Mr. Corey Lewandowski, in just a few minutes here on NEW DAY live.

CAMEROTA: Bernie Sanders' bid for the White House also hanging in the balance somewhat. Hillary Clinton hoping to deliver a knockout blow today. A disappointing finish in Indiana tonight for Sanders could seal his fate.

So we have the Indiana primary covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Sara Murray. She is live in Indianapolis.

Hi, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, it is going to be all but impossible to keep Donald Trump from clinching the 1,237 delegates he needs to become the nominee if Ted Cruz cannot defeat him today right here in Indiana. And that's why we have seen Cruz all over the state with his highest profile supporters, but Donald Trump sounds awfully confident going into today's primary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we win in Indiana, it's over with, folks. It's over with.

MURRAY (voice-over): For Donald Trump, today's primary is pivotal for knocking rival Ted Cruz out of the race.

TRUMP: If we win, it's over, and then I can focus -- then I don't have to worry about Lyin' Ted Cruz.

MURRAY: And redirecting his attacks on his potential general election opponent, Hillary Clinton.

TRUMP: E-mails, bad judgment. Iraq, voted yes, bad judgment. Libya, bad judgment.

MURRAY: On the trail Monday, Trump even sat down to lunch with the author of several highly critical and loosely sourced books about the Clintons.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The entire country is depending on the state of Indiana.

MURRAY: But Cruz is still racing to overtake the front-runner, knowing if Trump wins here, he's on track to clinch the nomination. Cruz, touting his newly-appointed running mate, Carly Fiorina.

CRUZ: Carly Fiorina is someone who stands up to bullies, whether they are Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

MURRAY: And putting her directly in Trump's line of fire.

The billionaire seizing on Fiorina's fall at a campaign event Sunday.

TRUMP: They just showed it to me, and I said, "Wow, that's really cruel." She went down right in front of him, and he kept talking. He kept talking. He didn't even look like -- that was a weird deal.

MURRAY: Cruz spent the day before this crucial contest zigzagging throughout the Hoosier State and even confronting Trump supporters face to face.

CRUZ: Most candidates would have just let the protestors go do their thing. I made a different decision. I walked across the street to engage with them.

Sir, America is a better country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without you.

CRUZ: The senator sparring with the fired-up crowd over five minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump, he's the only one that's going to put us where we need to be. What are you going to do about the Second Amendment?

CRUZ: This man is lying to you, and he's taking advantage of you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now, Ted Cruz is vowing to stay in the race until Cleveland, no matter what happens right here in Indiana, but that's going to be a tougher pitch to make not only to his supporters but also to his donors, if he does not come out with a victory here and if it looks like it's just not possible to keep Trump from getting to 1,237.

Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: Sara Murray, appreciate it. Let's slip over to the Democratic side. Bernie Sanders hoping to reverse his streak with a big win tonight in Indiana. It is the Hillary Clinton campaign prepared for an upset tonight?

CNN's Chris Frates live in Indianapolis with more. What are you hearing, my friend?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Chris.

Well, the voters behind me already starting to go to the polls. And in fact, the Hillary Clinton campaign is bracing for an upset tonight. I talked to a campaign official who said they wouldn't be surprised if Bernie Sanders wins here. And there's a few reasons for that.

No. 1, money. Bernie Sanders has spent about $2 million here in advertising in Indiana. Hillary Clinton spent virtually nothing.

Two, demographics. This is a majority white state. Bernie Sanders tends to over-perform among white voters compared to Hillary Clinton.

And, three, it's an open primary. That means independents can vote in the Democratic primary. That has helped Bernie Sanders in the past.

Now, the Clinton folks aren't too concerned, even if he were to win here, because he needs to win by really big margins in order to cut into her delegate lead. They don't see that happening.

Now, the Sanders folks tell me they're feeling good going into today. They have the endorsement of the steel workers. That's pretty big here in a manufacturing state. And Bernie Sanders having breakfast with the head of the local union at Carrier, which has made a lot of news for sending their jobs to Mexico.

[07:05:11] In fact, here was Bernie Sanders talking about that election just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: During the course of this campaign, we have won 17 primaries and caucuses -- and I have a feeling that tomorrow, with your help, we're going to make it No. 18.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now, Hillary Clinton has not been campaigning here in Indiana. In fact, she was in West Virginia yesterday, where she apologized for something she said at a CNN town hall back in March when she said she would put coal miners and coal companies out of business. She said that that remark was taken out of context. She's apologized.

But that's a really big admission in coal country there ahead of the West Virginia primary next week. So we'll continue to watch that, and we'll continue to watch as voters come in here in Indiana, whether Bernie Sanders can really pull off that upset.

Back to you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, thanks so much for all of that.

As Chris was saying, it's decision day in Indiana. Polls across the Hoosier State now open. CNN's national correspondent, Jason Carroll, is on the ground in Larry Bird country, Terre Haute, Indiana.

So Jason, the polls are open. How's the turnout so far there?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They call this, Alisyn, the crossroads of America. Here in Terre Haute in Vigo County, some of the voters already at the polls. Polls now open for just about an hour or so. Here's some of the things that you need to know. About 78,000 people, registered voters of that number, about 16 percent have voted early. Early voting starting on April 5.

Of those who came out to vote already, about twice as many Republicans versus Democrats have been out here to vote.

You hear so much about bellwether states. Bellwether counties. This is definitely one of them. Here's the reason why, Alisyn.

Since 1888, this county has accurately picked the winning presidential candidate nearly every single time, with the exception of two times. Once in 1952. The other time in 1908.

When I was talking to some of the election workers here, I said to these two young ladies sitting right over there, I said, why do you think that is? Why so accurate here?

You know what both of them told me? Common sense. That is what works here and that's why we're paying such close attention to this county -- Chris.

CUOMO: What's the one they botched, Jason? I think it was Stephenson over Eisenhower? You were saying it earlier. I wonder if they walk around, "Ah, Stephenson."

All right. Let's discuss the high stakes in this current GOP race in Indiana. We have national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, Ms. Katrina Pierson; and national spokesperson for the Cruz campaign, Mr. Ron Nehring.

Pierson, you are the frontrunner in Indiana. What does this state mean overall to the election? Do you think you will win? And then what?

KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESMAN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, good morning. And, yes. I do believe we are going to win Indiana, and I think the most important part about today's race is the concept that the American voters in the Republican Party want Donald Trump to be their nominee going into November.

And this is extremely important, because when this race began back in June, no one really thought it was possible. Those inside the establishment. Those inside Washington, D.C. But the voters have decided opposite.

And what we're seeing today play out over the last few weeks is that they want Donald Trump to be that leader of the Republican Party moving forward.

CUOMO: How do you rebut that, Mr. Nehring?

RON NEHRING, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, CRUZ CAMPAIGN: Well, as we go forward today, let's take a look at the numbers. Regardless of what happens in Indiana today, in order for Donald Trump to become the Republican nominee, he really has to do that on the first ballot. Just about everybody admits that Donald Trump would never get more votes on the second ballot than on the first. So he would have to win on the first.

So in order for him to get there from today, regardless of the outcome today, he would have to win the following states. He would have to win in Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, California; and he would have to win 90 percent of the delegates in West Virginia.

Now, the only people we know so far who win 90 percent of the delegates anywhere is some of Paul Manafort's clients around the world. But that is the pathway that Donald Trump would need in order to become the Republican nominee. That is his only pathway, and he has to win in all of those states in order to do that, because he can only do so on the first ballot. That's a pretty steep hill to climb.

And that's why, regardless of the outcome today, we're going all the way to California, we're going to go all the way to June 7, all the way to the convention.

PIERSON: That's simply not the case.

CUOMO: Do you accept Mr. Nehring's math, Katrina?

PIERSON: Not at all.

CUOMO: And what do you think of that smack to Paul Manafort that he just gave you?

PIERSON: Well, you see, once they Cruz campaign hired the big Common Core guy, this is the type of math that they're using.

Donald Trump needs less than 50 percent of the delegates moving forward to achieve that goal. There are also some unbound delegates that Mr. Trump will get prior to the convention going forward. We will get to 1,237 before the convention. And even if it does go past a first vote, Donald Trump will still be the nominee, because the delegates can do the math. Donald Trump is the leader.

[07:10:10] Donald Trump has the most votes. Millions more votes than any other candidate in this race. He will have hundreds more delegates, and even national polls now are showing he beats Hillary Clinton in a general election with cross-over appeal with Democrats and independents. The delegates know the math well.

CUOMO: All right. The pushback for each of you. I'll start with you, Katrina. The first one is, this idea of what happens if there's a second ballot, Donald Trump doesn't get to 1,237, how big of a concern is that for you, given what we just saw in Arizona where the Cruz campaign went in there and cleaned up delegates?

You can criticize the process all you like. It is the process. What do you think happens on a second vote?

PIERSON: Well, again, I'll say that I'm not concerned, simply because the delegates can also see the math. They can also see the pathway.

The Cruz campaign has been fundamentally rejected. In over the last few weeks you have seen such desperate tactics: making alliances, not making alliances, putting someone on the V.P. ticket 24 hours after Mr. Cruz was eliminated thematically and just calling voters evil. I mean, these are the types of things that are turning off voters as we speak.

We're going to win handily tonight in Indiana. We're going to continue to win moving forward. We're leading in all the polls. There's just no way Donald Trump does not win this nomination.

CUOMO: The pushback for you, Ron, is, most people will say that Donald Trump needs to win 47 percent of the remaining delegates. That's more than he's won to this point, but the momentum is in this favor, that way, and that with Ted Cruz, you've got to win more than the existing number of delegates out there. So why so confident there's a path?

NEHRING: Well, because Donald Trump can only win if there's a single ballot. Pretty much everybody acknowledges that. So the reality is.

PIERSON: Not everybody.

CUOMO: Not Katrina Pierson. She's giving you the stink eye and the head shake.

PIERSON: Even party leaders are saying that Donald Trump's going to win.

NEHRING: But -- OK. Let's hold on the interrupting there. Hold on a second.

So if you take a look at the delegates who have been elected and the delegates who are likely to be elected going forward and who these people are as the grassroots activists of the Republican Party and Donald Trump, most of the analysts, the independent analysts will say that he's never going to get more votes on the second ballot than he does on the first ballot, because after the first ballot most of the delegates are unbound. And after the second ballot, just about all the delegates are unbound. And at that point, they can exercise their best judgment.

And his high water mark is going to be on that first ballot, which is why he's so desperate to try to get anyone else out of the race and not go to the end. We're going to the end. We're competing from one end of California to the other. We're competing in all of the sites going forward. Donald Trump has to win seven states, including 90 percent of the delegates in West Virginia in order to win.

In order for our team to win on a second ballot, we have to win in South Dakota, in Montana and then in any one of the seven states that I outlined Donald Trump has to underperform. That's the math is -- that's what the reality. And that's what it takes for either candidate to win the nomination going forward, and that's what we're going to do.

CUOMO: What does your math say, Katrina?

PIERSON: Well, like I said. We don't need to win 70 percent of the delegates. It's like you said, 47 percent. And we are winning. We are ahead by a wide margin in many of these...

NEHRING: I didn't say 70 percent of the delegates.

PIERSON: Wide margins in many states moving forward. We have over 1,000 delegates, and I'm sorry, Ron. The delegates aren't going to get to the convention and decide that, "Oh, we should pick a candidate that's behind by 3 million-plus votes, that has hundreds less more delegates.

A candidate who can't even win in a state on the electoral map that can put a Republican over the top. Donald Trump has the momentum. He has the votes. He has the energy. He has the excitement. He's the only candidate that can take on the media as well as the Democrat machine.

Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee, and he will win in November.

CUOMO: A quick comment from each of you on this poll. Nothing about Indiana. We don't do same-day polls. Doesn't make any sense. They range too much.

But in terms of the state of the party, united, 7 percent. Divided but will unite, 41 percent. Divided and will not unite, 49 percent.

Now, that 49 sticks out, Katrina, because that is one of the theories about Trump's power, that the party -- he may get half of them -- but the party will remain split. And that will hobble him if he is the nominee going into the general election.

Your response, quickly?

PIERSON: Well, this is nothing new. The party's been divided since they've been slamming establishment candidates down our throats. And now we have a candidate being chosen by the people.

At the end of the day, if you're a Republican that wants Hillary Clinton to win, you're not a Republican.

CUOMO: If you go into a convention and somehow come out of it alive, Ron, would you have such a disabled party that you would be incapable of competing?

NEHRING: Well, the one person who has no ability to unite the Republican Party, much less anything is Donald Trump, because he turns everything into such a petty, you know, fight with, you know, his staying up late at night and hate tweeting and the like. I mean, this is not the type of person who has any capability to unite anything.

[07:15:06] By contrast, five former candidates who were running in this Republican primary united behind Senator Cruz. Governor Mike Pence has come onboard. Former California governor Pete Wilson has come onboard, people ranging from Mark Levin on the one side and Jeb Bush on the other side of the party. Those people have all come together behind Ted Cruz, and we've demonstrated the ability to do that. And when we're the Republican nominee if that's the outcome that comes out of Cleveland, where we have a clear path in order to get there, we will be able to put the Republican Party back together. But we will be able to unite the Republican Party back together and go on to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Any notion that Donald Trump can unite the Republican Party or unite anything is just ridiculous, because all you have to do is see the type of person who he's proven to be in this primary so far.

CUOMO: Which makes him the most popular person in the race so far.

PIERSON: Speaking of coalition building, Donald Trump has millions more across the board. That's your demonstration.

CUOMO: Pierson, Nehring, thank you very much for making the strong case on both fronts. Appreciate it.

PIERSON: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: We're going to have more players this morning for you. Donald Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. What does he think about the way forward? How does he make the case that Donald Trump is a uniter? You'll hear it for yourself and make your own judgments in just minutes -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris, we're following some breaking news. A U.S. service member killed by enemy fire in northern Iraq. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is live in Amman, Jordan, with all of the breaking details. What have you learned, Jomana? JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, the latest we're getting

is from U.S. speaking to Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, telling her that the American service member was killed about 20 miles north of Mosul, that he was an advisor to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces. And, as is standard practice, he was back a bit from the front lines.

But as the attackers managed to break through the Peshmerga line, he was killed in a firefight.

The U.S. responded with an F-15 and drones, dropping more than 50 bombs. At this point, no word on any Americans wounded. This news as we are hearing from Iraqi and Kurdish officials in northern Iraq, saying that early this morning ISIS launched a major attack, what seems to be coordinated major assault on various Peshmerga front lines in northern Iraq, really underscoring here that, while ISIS has lost some territory in recent months, that the group still has that ability to carry out deadly attacks and launch major offensives like this -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Jomana, thank you very much. Please, keep us updated on what is going on there.

We're going to take a break here, and when we come back, Hillary Clinton promising to continue President Obama's legacy, but that may be alienating her from a key group of voters, specifically the ones feeling the Bern. The independents. Will her allegiance to Obama hurt her?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:21:52] CLINTON: I don't know how to explain it, other than what I said was totally out of context from what I meant, because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time. And I did put out a plan last summer. And it was a misstatement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was Hillary Clinton, trying to clarify to coal country voters comments that she made as a CNN town hall in March about putting them out of business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Well, I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Let's discuss this and so much more with former DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse. He's president of Correct the Record and Americans United for Change. He's also a Hillary Clinton supporter. Good morning, Brad. BRAD WOODHOUSE, PRESIDENT, CORRECT THE RECORD: Good morning. How are

you?

CAMEROTA: Doing well. So how big of an issue is -- are the first comments that Hillary Clinton made back in March, or at least how they were perceived by coal miners?

WOODHOUSE: Well, look, what I think you see in West Virginia yesterday, I think the culmination of this, is actually a candidate that the American people will find refreshing compared to Donald Trump. I mean, someone who's willing to admit a misstatement, admit that something was said by her out of -- out of complete context. Somebody who is willing to apologize.

And what you're going to get on the other side is someone who never apologizes for anything.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

WOODHOUSE: Who's an insult machine. And, look, you know, no candidate is perfect. Hillary Clinton's willing to admit that. Donald Trump never will. I think that will be a significant contrast, you know, going forward.

CAMEROTA: Brad, you have fastened on the -- I mean, the heart of the matter here. You know, Donald Trump has been able to say controversial things and never have to clarify and never have to apologize. And by the way, voters say they like that. They see that as a lack of double speak.

Is there something to that that's appealing, that maybe Hillary Clinton should take a page from?

WOODHOUSE: I don't think so. Not with regards to Donald Trump. Voters -- when you say voters say they like that, it's voters that are supporting Donald Trump say that like that, which is -- which is a minority of the American voters. It's part of the Republican base. It's not even the complete Republican base.

So you know, I wouldn't go too far saying that voters like the way Donald Trump speaks, or whatever. What I would say is, is that I think what people will want is somebody who will level with them, will be honest with them, who will admit mistakes. You'll never get that -- you'll never get that from Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has a 7 percent approval rating, for example, with Latinos, and about a 25 percent approval rating with women. He got there because people can't trust what he says. Hillary Clinton has begun making another appeal against Donald Trump to voters. It's a new line, and basically what she's saying is that a vote for Donald Trump would undo the progress of President Obama for the past eight years. So listen to what she's just said. Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:25:04] CLINTON: We cannot let Barack Obama's legacy fall into Donald Trump's hands. We can't let all the hard work and progress we've achieved over the last 7 1/2 years be torn away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Brad in a year that voters are craving change and clearly want something different, they're saying that on both sides. Is bringing up the past 7 1/2 years the right sales pitch?

WOODHOUSE: Look, I actually think it's brilliant. I mean, look at Barack Obama today, Alisyn. The president actually joked about how high his approval ratings are at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. I mean, you know, compared to where Republicans were saddled with a very unpopular incumbent president in 2008, Democrats benefit from a president right now who's above 50 percent consistently in the polls.

He's as popular now, or his approval is as high now as it was when he was re-elected in 2012.

I think probably Senator Sanders would have done better in this primary to be more supportive of President Obama. And I do think it's the right approach. I mean, I think as people reflect on this presidency and they look -- they look at where we are in terms of unemployment, in terms of job growth, beginning to do a little bit more in terms of wages are ticking up just a little bit. They need to do more. But I think people are looking back on it and saying it's a lot better than what his opposition -- been a lot better than what his opposition would lead us to believe.

CAMEROTA: Well, Donald Trump is also doing something interesting. He is, for the first time, starting to mention these young, dissatisfied, unemployed struggling Bernie Sanders supporters.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (via phone): People look for a job, and they have to quit after four, five months. They stop looking for a job, and they're considered statistically employed and it's ridiculous.

No, I think a lot of these people are going to join my campaign. I think a lot of the Bernie Sanders's young people are going to join my campaign. And I see it all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Brad, does he stand a chance of winning over Bernie Sanders supporters?

WOODHOUSE: No, hell no. I mean, Alisyn, there's just no way. I mean, this is just a fantasy of Donald Trump. Remember, a lot of these people really are disaffected economically. And I think there are -- there are catch phrases that Donald Trump uses that may be attractive to them.

There are also people who are really supportive of progressive causes. Like LGBT rights. Like fighting this crazy transgender law that's going on in North Carolina, who are really in favor of a woman's right to choose and reproductive rights. Donald Trump said we should criminalize women, we should punish women who seek to get an abortion.

So I don't think there's any chance that those supporters are going to turn to Donald Trump. Not at all.

CAMEROTA: Brad Woodhouse, thank you.

WOODHOUSE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Let's bounce to the GOP side and take a look at what's going on inside Donald Trump's campaign. Does he need to close the door in Indiana? Does he have an easy path to 1,237? Or is it almost impossible as team Cruz suggests? Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, the man in the middle, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)