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Protests Erupt at Donald Trump Rally; Interview with Sam Clovis; Cosby to Stand Trial for Criminal Sex Assault; Sanders Wants Recanvass of Kentucky Results. Aired 8-8:29a ET

Aired May 25, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anti-Trump protesters have taken to the streets.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He actually said he was hoping it would crash.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am a businessman, that's what I'm supposed to.

CLINTON: We're not going to let him bankrupt America.

BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we get the nomination, Donald Trump is toast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The court found that there was sufficient evidence to require Mr. Cosby to stand trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no crime committed here. This case should end immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to seek the truth. We're here to serve justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Conflicting accounts of the plane's fate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was smoke in the lavatory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That throws the whole theory of terrorism into a big question mark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, May 26th, 8:00 in the east. And Ana Cabrera is here with us this morning. Great to have you onboard.

All right, there was an ugly scene we have to tell you about outside of a Donald Trump rally in New Mexico. Anti-Trump protesters were clashing with police. They were throwing rocks and bottles, some even breaking through police barriers to disrupt Trump's speech.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The mayhem comes as Trump inches closer to officially clinching the GOP nomination. The presumptive nominee easily won the Washington state primary. Trump now just eight delegates away from securing his spot on the November ballot.

In the Meantime, dominoes could be ready to fall on the Democratic side with the party's chair in jeopardy of losing her job over the turmoil with the Bernie Sanders campaign. We have the race covered the way only the way CNN can. Let's begin with Jason Carroll on this mayhem overnight. Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Last night, Donald Trump saying that one of the safest places to be in the country is at one of his rallies. It certainly did not look that way last night after once again, protests erupted in the streets. Trump for his part not just criticizing Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Senator Elizabeth Warren during his rally, he also took aim at New Mexico's Republican governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Overnight, police in riot gear, blasting pepper spray and using smoke grenades to disburse anti-Donald Trump protesters outside his rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico hours after the presumptive GOP nominee's speech.

Dozens of protesters stomping on police cars, throwing rocks and bottles at police, injuring several officers. Earlier during Trump's speech at the city's convention center, protesters breaking through the metal barrier surrounding the venue, some making their way inside only to be dragged out by security. Inside, Trump criticizing New Mexico's Republican governor, Susana Martinez, who is also Hispanic.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Since 2000, the number of people on food stamps in New Mexico has tripled. We have to get your governor to get going. She has to do a better job, OK. Hey, maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico. I'll get this place going.

CARROLL: But the bulk of Trump's personal attacks were set on targeting Hillary Clinton, Trump opting to make fun of her voice.

TRUMP: I will never say this, but she screams. It drives me crazy.

CARROLL: And using some of his harshest language yet against Clinton.

TRUMP: I see this lowlife she puts on an ad.

CARROLL: Trump angry Clinton is painting him as a greedy billionaire, this based on comments he made back in 2006 when he said he hoped to profit when the housing market collapsed.

TRUMP: They've got some clip of me from many years ago when I'm saying yes, if it goes down I'm going to buy. I am a businessman, that's what I'm supposed to.

CARROLL: Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren going after Trump for his past business practices.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (R) MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump was drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown because it meant he could buy up more property on the cheap. What kind of a man does that? It is a man who cares about no one but himself. A small, insecure money- grubber who doesn't care who gets hurt so long as he makes a profit off it.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Well, Trump called Senator Warren a "total failure" at that rally last night, also calling her Pocahontas, a reference to Trump's claim that Warren faked her Native American heritage, a claim she denies. Trump already looking ahead to his next stop today, Anaheim, California.

CUOMO: Good times, good times. Jason Carroll, thank you very much.

Joining us now is Sam Clovis, co-chairman and policy advisor for the Trump campaign. Sam, always good to see your smiling face. Good morning to you.

[08:00:01] SAM CLOVIS, CO-CHAIRMAN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: How you doing, Chris? Great to talk to you.

CUOMO: Let's title this segment "why." The first why question I have is, why go after the governor of New Mexico? She checks like so many boxes for Trump -- Republican, obviously, female, Latina, doing well in that state. Why go after her?

CLOVIS: Well, I think it was the -- perhaps there was a snub that Governor Martinez chose not to attend the rally, has chosen not to make the connection with the campaign. And I think -- I don't anything to do with her gender. I don't think it has anything to do with her ethnic heritage. I don't think it has to do with anything other than she is slow-walking her support of the presumptive candidate. And I think that's difficult. We see that across a lot of different areas, and this is, again, we're going to see more and more people coalesce behind Mr. Trump. And that will take time. And like most campaigns, elbows get up under the basket. We saw that last night.

CUOMO: Right.

CLOVIS: And so I think this is where we are.

CUOMO: It's not a gentle game, that is going to be stipulated by all who are in or around it. But Sam Clovis, one of the reasons that you are seen as a leader in your party is your temperament. You want to disagree with Sam, go right ahead. Expect counterarguments, expect a sharp tone. But you don't just start attacking reflexively the person that you're arguing with. How do you get your candidate to stop just going after anybody who does something he doesn't like, because you know as president, you can't do that day in and day out? CLOVIS: Well, we're still eight delegates short of securing the

nomination. I think that once that is done, I mean, this has been the kind of the approach that we've taken in all of these things. And I also think, Chris, you and I have talked about this many times, and very soberly and very professionally talked about it. The idea here is that Mr. Trump is not like any other candidate that has ever run for president, and this campaign is not like any other campaign. And I think we continue to try to push this campaign and Mr. Trump into a particular template that a lot of people, perhaps those of us who are tuned in and plugged into the political side of this, we have this mental image of what the campaign and individual out to look like and Mr. Trump is neither of those.

CUOMO: You could be an outsider. You could be unconventional. You could be someone who by nature, disposition, and behavior rejects the system. But temperament still matters. The stuff that, the big why for our discussion, why go back after the Clintons about the scandals and things of the '90s? You were quoted as saying "How can Hillary Clinton protect women when she couldn't protect the predation of women from happening in her own house?" Do you believe that that is a winning strategy, blaming the victim of infidelity?

CLOVIS: Well, I think -- I don't blame Hillary for infidelity. I think she -- the issue here is the hypocrisy that I think is manifested in this situation, Chris. And that is the notion that you cannot take on the cloak of a victim and you can't take on the fact that you're going to be the leading the charge against the Republican Party and saying that they have a war on women, when within your own household you have sexual predator living there. It just, there is a hypocrisy there that is questionable about the individual judgment. And you want to talk about temperament, that's probably a good question there.

CUOMO: The premise is questionable, though, Sam, when you say it. You say it as a conclusion. You have a sexual predator in your own house. There has never been any legal definition of Bill Clinton as that. You're basing that on allegations that were made, some of them proven false, some of them left as open questions. That is your basis, right?

CLOVIS: Well, I don't agree with that, Chris. I think that --

CUOMO: Tell me.

CLOVIS: The issue is, you know, I think that -- I don't agree with that at all. I think that, you know, respectfully, I just don't agree with that.

CUOMO: But tell me why, Sam.

CLOVIS: Well, I just think that there is far too much evidence and far too many coincidences, far too many occurrences, observations of his behavior, of President Clinton's behavior. And the issue comes back to the notion you cannot have an attack on the Republican Party on a war on women, when in fact, we have this issue with one of the leaders of the Democratic Party, has been the leader for now a generation and a half, and still we have this person who is out here, even though there are -- there have been clearly a person who has been involved in infidelity and other aspects of this and the allegations of assault.

We had CNN yesterday on your network, Chris, on every program I saw with 15 minutes talking about sexual predation of Bill Cosby. And it raised my eyebrows.

[08:10:08] CUOMO: He is on trial. There are 50 women who make the claims.

CLOVIS: We can't talk about Bill Clinton, but we can certainly talk about Bill Cosby.

CUOMO: He is on trial and he has 50 women who have come forward with stories of drug doping and sexual assault. That doesn't match Bill Clinton. You know whose record does match Bill Clinton's in a way that I'm wondering what your take on it is -- Donald Trump. The risk that you point one finger at Clinton and you have four pointing back at you. The Clintons have a very unusual defense. What Sam Clovis is saying has been said many times before, vetted by a special prosecutor, arguably two, Congressional committees, hearings from the Senate, and the media for a decade. There is a lot of stink on Donald Trump that has not been vetted that way at all. Why invite this march down memory lane of his marriages and allegations of assault there and of indiscretions and behavior that is arguably immoral if not criminal. Why invite that discussion? Is that what we want the election to be about?

CLOVIS: I think that, again, I respectfully, Chris, I think that Mr. Trump has been vetted for 40 years. He has been a personality in New York for 40 years. He's been part of the tabloids for 40 years. This is a person who lives large and is large and all of that. And so I think the notion of scrutiny has been pretty clear.

But what I do think is, you know, what we are really looking at here, you know the inside of politics better than anyone because of the long heritage of your family and the great heritage there. But the issue here is that why are these issues, it brings up doubt, it brings up questions, and negative campaigning has been part of our efforts here, and we see this on both sides. All parties intend to go to this.

And it is not to get people to switch their votes. It's actually the whole purpose of negative campaigning is to get people not to vote for that particular candidate. And it has -- that's really the issue. And so right now we're raising the specter, raising the issues, getting people to think about these things and putting these place cards out here that we'll be looking at as we get into the long, hot summer here as we rush into labor day and get serious about electioneering.

CUOMO: Sam Clovis, we end this conversation with the hope that at some point this campaign will turn back to what is going to make life better for the American people, just your baseball hats indicate, making America great again, because it is hard to see how this takes us down that road. But Sam Clovis, as always, thank you for making the case on NEW DAY, sir.

CLOVIS: All right, thanks, Chris. We'll talk soon.

CUOMO: Absolutely. Ana?

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: There is some moving and shaking on Democrats' side of the aisle as well. Bernie Sanders continuing to battle forever la every last delegate. And he is now asking for a re- canvassing of last week's Kentucky primary results. And his attacks on the Democratic Party chairwoman appear to be taking a toll this morning. CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is live with more on this. Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Ana, the head of the Democratic Party again coming into focus after Bernie Sanders went after her over the weekend in the middle of that campaign battle for California, the biggest prize of the primary season. No indication that any Democratic senators have launched a formal effort to get rid of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but the Sanders campaign can get claim credit this morning for starting a conversation about it.

On Capitol Hill Democratic senator are said to be discussing Debbie Wasserman Schultz, removing her as head of the party, the source telling CNN they fear she has become, quote, "too toxic" in that ongoing Democratic civil war. This feud, as you know, began and reach a fevered pitch after the chaos that erupted at the Nevada Democratic convention.

Meanwhile, the fight to gain traction in the Sanders campaign, calling into question the results of last week's Kentucky primary. In a statement the campaign said it, quote, "is requesting a full and complete re-canvas of every one of the voting machines and absentee ballots." Sanders lost the bluegrass state to Clinton by a razor thin margin of roughly 1,900 votes. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: We are going to be talking about all of this with the chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Joe, thank you very much for that reporting.

Bill Cosby facing a criminal trial for the first time. A judge ruling that there is enough evidence to go forward with the 2004 sexual assault case against Cosby. CNN's Jean Casarez is live in Norristown, Pennsylvania, with the very latest. Good Morning, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yesterday's hearing was extremely important because it was a pivotal ruling that this case is now bound for the trial.

[08:15:00] The defense however continues to say they are going to try to get these charges dismissed in criminal court for Bill Cosby.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ (voice-over): A judge ruling, there is enough evidence for Bill Cosby to stand trial for the alleged sexual assault of a former Temple University employee in 2004. KEVIN STEELE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We only have to

show that a crime is committed and the defendant is connected to the crime. It is a preliminary hearing. Hearsay is admissible and we're just over the next hurdle in this.

CASAREZ: A police detective reading for the first time statements the accuser, Andrea Constand, made to police in 2005. In them, she says Cosby encouraged her to drink wine and take blue pills at his Pennsylvania home. Shortly after, she said her vision blurred, her legs rubbery, and she felt dizzy, frozen, scared and unable to speak, but was aware of Cosby putting his hands on her breast and down her pants.

In Cosby's statement to police, he admits to touching and kissing her, and giving Constand Benadryl to help her relax, but maintains the encounter was consensual.

STEELE: The point of this is that it was intoxicating to her and that she was unable to consent.

CASAREZ: The defense attacking Constand's credibility, saying parts of her statement were crossed out, or redacted.

BRIAN MCMONAGLE, BILL COSBY'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They presented an 11- year-old statement that was riddled with corrections and inconsistencies.

CASAREZ: They point to one incident at a casino where Cosby was performing. He invited Constand back to his room. Constand initially says she laid down on the bed with Cosby, their legs touching. But she later crossed that out, saying the two were relaxed, close to one another.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: Bill Cosby has waived his formal arraignment set for July. Aggravated indecent assault carries a penalty per count maximum of ten years, but by law, the judge, if Bill Cosby would be convicted of all counts, can sentence concurrently, meaning, Chris, he would serve approximately ten years in prison.

CUOMO: Right. A lot of those sentences may wind up flowing together. We are a long way away from that point.

Jean Casarez, thank you for getting that started on that trial.

So, we told you Bernie Sanders wants a review of the vote, what they call a recanvassing from he Kentucky primary. It's not recounting every ballot, but it's looking at the totals, make sure they add up.

So, Hillary Clinton won by a tight margin. Do they care about this?

We'll hear from Team Clinton, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:21:09] CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton campaigning hard in California, hoping for a strong finish to take her into the general election. But Bernie Sanders still fighting for every delegate, and asking for a recanvassing of last week's Kentucky primary, where Clinton won by a razor thin margin.

Let's get reaction from the Clinton campaign. Chief strategist Joel Benenson joins us now.

Good morning, Joel.

JOEL BENENSON, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHIEF STRATEGIST: Good morning, Alisyn. How are you?

CAMEROTA: So -- I'm well, thank you.

Bernie Sanders wants the voting machines checked. He wants that absentee ballots checked in this recanvassing. Are you guys OK with that?

BENENSON: Yes, sure. We think -- you know, we've said from the beginning, a win is a win. We've had close races. Some he won by a razor thin margin, some we have. At the end of the day, he can recanvas all those votes. It's not going to change the delegate count. I think he knows that. So, I'm not sure --

CAMEROTA: But it might. I mean, look at this, there's only two -- there are less than 2,000 votes apart. If he gets those 2,000, it does change the delegate count, right?

BENENSON: By one or two. We're ahead by 270 pledged delegates, no matter what happens in that recount, on June 7th, when we compete in delegate rich New Jersey and California, we're going to have a majority of pledged delegates and we are going to be ahead by 3 million votes in the popular vote.

CAMEROTA: If it's just one --

BENENSON: These are thresholds, by the way, that Senator Sanders had said all along, majority of pledged delegates and we're going to end up there on June 7th.

CAMEROTA: If it's one pledged delegate at stake here --

BENENSON: A couple.

CAMEROTA: Oh, sure. Why is he doing it?

BENENSON: I have no idea. You would have to ask him that.

CAMEROTA: Bernie Sanders and other senators have begun talking replacing DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Bernie Sanders feels she has been on the side of Hillary Clinton and the deck is stack against him. What do you say?

BENENSON: Look, I think that what normally happens is when the nominee becomes the nominee officially with that clear, that person picks the chair of the Democratic National Committee. That's what happened in 2008, when President Obama became the chair. We'll see what happens then. I'm not involved in any of those talks.

I think for Sanders and his camps, issues, they've raised them before. I think every time something happens, they raise issues. But you know, we're at a point where we need to unify the party and I think both sides need to do it as quickly as possible.

CAMEROTA: But has Debbie Wasserman Schultz become too toxic? That's a word being used by some of the Democratic senators, an CNN's investigation, because of the strong words she and Bernie Sanders have now exchanged. There seems to be this rift.

BENENSON: Well, I think there has been strong words on both sides, and I think Democratic Party leaders, look, we're in a contest for the nominee of the Democratic Party. I think Democratic Party leaders will hash this out and make a decision about who the chair should be going forward once it's clear that Hillary Clinton is the nominee.

CAMEROTA: But you don't think that Debbie Wasserman Schultz is now ineffective or too toxic?

BENENSON: This is not up to me. It's not my role to decide whether Debbie Wasserman Schultz is or isn't effective or not. If they want to have that debate, in the Sanders campaign, they should have the debate with Democratic Party leaders.

CAMEROTA: Elizabeth Warren was at an event last night and she went after Donald Trump, and she used familiar line of attack. Let me play some of it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump was drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown, because it meant he could buy up more property on the cheap. What kind of a man does that?

I'll tell you exactly what kind of a man does that. It is a man who cares about no one but himself. What kind of a man does that? A man who will never be president of the United States.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so one of the things that's interesting about that, that's the very same line of attack that Hillary Clinton had used yesterday about Donald Trump finding the audio of Donald Trump seemingly rooting for a housing market crash, so that he could cash in.

So, is Elizabeth Warren now coordinating in a real way with the Clinton campaign?

BENENSON: Well, I don't think it is about coordination. He wasn't seemingly saying it. He not only said it, he doubled down on it last night. He said that's what I'm supposed to do.

Well, when you're president of the United States, no, you're not. It is a track record he has of putting himself first, enriching himself at the expense of others. You go look at his most colossal bankruptcies, which happened in a casino. He lost money on the casino where the odds are in the house's favor.

He got out of the deal fine, but the people who didn't were the small business contractors who were doing work on that casino, the workers who got a dollar on a penny. Donald Trump has always been in it for himself. His comments on the housing crisis are outrageous.

To think you're running for president and should be enriching yourself over average people who were losing their homes. It's frankly a complete disgrace.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of Elizabeth Warren, some people believe she could be one of the V.P. picks. Hillary Clinton yesterday talked about who her vice-presidential picks might be. Let me show the viewers this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLI)

ELLEN DEGENERES, TV HOST: Mark Cuban or Joe Biden.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, Joe.

DEGENERES: All right. You're picking Joe?

CLINTON: I got to go with Tony.

DEGENERES: Tony?

Jeff Probst.

CLINTON: Got to go with Tony.

DEGENERES: Bernie Sanders.

CLINTON: I go with Tony.

DEGENERES: Kanye.

CLINTON: I got to go with Tony. What can I say?

DEGENERES: George Clooney.

CLINTON: Oh, well, Tony could be the first term and George could be the second.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: There you go. That solves that problem.

So, is it going to be tony from "Scandal", or who, Elizabeth Warren or who? BENENSON: I think what Hillary Clinton has been saying is casting a pretty wide net now and that's how you start the process. That's the right thing to do, consider a lot of people, consider a range of people, narrow that down as you go along. She's got some time to make that decision. I'm sure she will do it the way she always does. Very carefully, very thoughtfully.

CAMEROTA: It seems like she's inclined toward handsome men.

Joel Benenson -- who could blame her? Joel Benenson, thanks so much for being here.

BENENSON: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's get over to Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: When Bill Cosby stands trial for criminal sexual assault, his own words could come back to haunt him. But the same could be said of his accuser. We'll breakdown both sides, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)