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Trump Unleashes Tirade Against 'Sleazy' Media; Hillary Clinton Wins the Support of California's Governor; 'Mystery' Third-Party Candidate Revealed. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 01, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me tell you, these people are losers.

[05:58:36] You're a sleaze.

Excuse me. Excuse me. I've watched you on television. You're a real beauty.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): It took the reporters to shame him into actually giving the money to veterans.

TRUMP: I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're all in agreement on one issue: Trump would be a disaster.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors in New Jersey confirmed the birth of a baby girl who was suffering from microcephaly caused by the Zika virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't know exactly what the outcome will be for this family. The best that we have to go by are estimates.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wild animals are very unpredictable.

It's very hard to tell what he was going to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They had no other choice. I don't believe Harambe was going to give that little boy up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. it is Wednesday, June 1, 6 a.m. in the east. Ana Cabrera here once again to help us over the hump.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Good morning.

We begin with Donald Trump's epic tirade against the media, or the latest one, anyway. The presumptive GOP nominee doing what he does best: lashing out at reporters, calling one of them sleazy for asking an obvious question, calling all of us the worst human being he has ever met.

It was a bruising New York press conference and Trump angered by the media scrutiny in the aftermath of a veterans' fund-raiser he headline in Iowa last January.

This as there was some real cause for concern with the Trump ranks. A judge releasing the high-pressure playbooks used by the sales first [SIC] -- force at the now-defunct Trump University.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Also, a CNN poll of polls just released minutes ago shows Trump and Hillary Clinton locked in a dead heat in a head-to-head presidential matchup.

Clinton blasting Trump for the way he handled his veterans' fund- raiser. She says she's done more for veterans. Clinton also scoring a major endorsement ahead of next week's California primary.

So we have the 2016 election covered the way only CNN can, starting with Jason Carroll. He's live from Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Alisyn.

You know, we've heard Donald Trump go after the media many times before. I've heard it; you've heard it. We've heard it at many of his rallies. But yesterday here at Trump Tower, it went to a whole new level.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I think the political press is among the most dishonest people that I've ever met.

CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump going off the rails on the media again.

TRUMP: What I don't want is, when I raise millions of dollars, have people say, like this sleazy guy right over here from ABC. He's a sleaze, in my book.

TONY LLAMAS, ABC NEWS: Why am I a sleaze?

TRUMP: You're a sleaze, because you know the facts, and you know the facts well.

Excuse me. Excuse me. I've watched you on television. You're a real beauty.

Find out how much Hillary Clinton's given to the veterans. Nothing.

CARROLL: The rant during Trump's press conference announced he raised $5.6 million at a January event and distributed it to more than 40 veterans' charities.

TRUMP: I wasn't too involved in picking the organizations, other than I gave $1 million to the Marine, the Law Enforcement Marine...

CLINTON: Thank you, guys!

CARROLL: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump's likely opponent in the general election, responding to Trump's public media scolding.

CLINTON (via phone): He bragged for months about raising $6 million for veterans and donating $1 million himself, but it took a reporter to shame him into actually making his contribution and getting the money to veterans.

CARROLL: Her campaign pouncing, trying to draw a contrast on veterans' issues.

CLINTON: Much of the work that I've done has meant tens of millions of dollars in increased benefits to veterans and their families, as well as a personal commitment.

CARROLL: This as the public gets a glimpse into Trump's business tactics, outlined in the now-defunct Trump University so-called playbook; 400 pages of training material released as part of a class- action lawsuit reveals how team members were instructed to identify students with the most money and urged to, quote, "close the deal" on the most expensive package, the gold elite, costing nearly $35,000.

The lawsuit alleges students paid their money and never learned a thing. The newly-released documents cast light on how the university was marketed, but what they don't show is what happened in classes after the sale was made.

TRUMP: I have a judge who's very, very unfair. He knows he's unfair, and I'll win the Trump University case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And a little bit more about that poll that was released just a few moments ago, that Quinnipiac poll. In a general matchup between Clinton and Trump in the election, it shows Clinton at 45 percent, Trump at 41 percent. A margin of error of about 2.5 percent, which shows, come November, this could be a very, very tight race -- Chris, Alisyn.

CUOMO: All right, J.C., thank you very much.

Let's discuss all that happened yesterday and will happen today.

Let's bring in CNN Politics executive editor Mark Preston; CNN political analyst and host of "The David Gregory Show" podcast, David Gregory himself; senior politics editor of "The Daily Beast" and fellow at Georgetown's Institute of Politics and Public Service, Jackie Kucinich. Such an august title, Kucinich, I start with you.

What else do you need to see when measuring the temperament of a candidate than what we saw out of Trump yesterday? The question is, when is someone within his ranks going to tell him he has to change? Or is that something that only happens when the people start to punish him for it?

JACKIE KUCINICH, SENIOR POLITICS EDITOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, I mean, he said yesterday that he's not going to change, even if he is elected. That this is what a Trump presidency would look like, with him versus the press.

But, I mean, let's be honest. This isn't about us; this is about transparency. This is about the fact that he said he was going to give this money and didn't do it until, frankly, "The Washington Post" started looking into where this money was. A lot of those checks were dated the same day as that story came out.

CUOMO: Right, but, Jackie -- Jackie, I think that it is a little -- at this point, I think it's a little bit of an -- it's almost an unnecessary indulgence to judge the situation on the merits. Of course, it's not about us. Tom Llamas, who I know well, asked a very straight question. The money moved -- you know, it's not even an issue.

KUCINICH: Of course.

CUOMO: I'm saying it's not really about the media. It's about what happens when he's with Francois Hollande and he's like, "You're weak. You don't know how to deal with terrorism where you are. You're weak"?

KUCINICH: Right.

[06:05:07] CUOMO: And how do we know -- how is there any indication that that's not exactly how he'll be, because he's like that with everybody else?

KUCINICH: Well, because the one thing that I will say for Donald Trump is that behind closed doors -- and we've heard this many times from Republicans that he's met with. He actually is said to be a very reasonable person and talks like a normal human and doesn't yell and scream. So, you know, maybe he'll have a lot of secret meetings. I don't know.

CAMEROTA: Yes, well, there you go. I mean, and David, isn't the headline from yesterday to voters, "He gave $5.6 million to veterans"? Who cares about a squabble with the press?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It could have been the headline, had he not gone off the way he did. And by the way, this is probably the only area of agreement between Trump and Clinton. I don't think she put up much of a fight about disliking the press.

So they might, you know, have a moment of comity on that, C-O-M-I-T-Y. But I think that's right. Right? I mean, this is -- everybody's got to do their job. The press is going to do its job. He should do his job as the president. He was quite Nixonian, going after the press yesterday, and nobody's going to shed a tear. But to Chris's point, I think they are taking all this in and saying

-- making an assessment. What are we learning about Donald Trump in the face of scrutiny, about hl transparency? What are we learning about his temperament? What are we learning about his reactions to people who are not obedient and loyal to him, whether you're the press or whether you are a judge in the case, or whether you're Susana Martinez, who's the governor of New Mexico, who doesn't show up to an event?

What are we learning about how he handles the stress of a campaign? The -- this is what people do as voters. They take the measure of someone that they want to lead them. And I think, whether it's in diplomacy, or in negotiations with Congress, or the temperament that comes with the stress and the complexity of making a national security decision, Donald Trump is providing a glimpse into the kind of president that he would be, and voters are going to make a judgment about that.

CAMEROTA: Mark.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR : Listen, I think, you know, to David's point, this could have been a fantastic story for Donald Trump, and I think that Donald Trump mishandled this immensely from day one.

A couple things. One is, Donald Trump said that this was not political in any nature, that he wanted no accolades. Clearly, he wanted accolades. I was there that night in Iowa as that rally. I was outside, you know, talking to people in the line of that...

CAMEROTA: That night did he say he had raised $6 million?

PRESTON: Of course he did.

But the question is not that he said it. It's that he stood by a declarative question and was unable to take a step back and say, "You know what? We didn't quite get to $6 million. Or raising money is difficult."

CAMEROTA: More than that. I think that he also didn't like the five "W's," the press exercises. He didn't want to answer questions, when, how, who, where? That's what's we do. This is what we have: show us the money. Tell us where it went. These are not unfair questions. And he sort of thinks that when he says something, it should be taken as lawful (ph). That's how he operates in his own business dealings. And it works in a room mano-a-mano, but the press doesn't just take things on gospel.

PRESTON: Right. He doesn't like being challenged. That's Donald Trump's big problem. I don't know how many times he's actually been challenged in his lifetime where he hasn't won or, at least in his own mind, he thought he has won.

And I think this is a case where they had terrible bookkeeping. They weren't organized. And all he had to say from the get-go was, "Listen, we're trying to make this work. We're going to get the money." And this could have been a great story. Instead, he has turned it to try to take on the whole press corps.

CUOMO: Part of it is the tactic. It's the deflection. It's fine. He should actually get a pat on the back with it. He's found a way in an ugly business to be effective. So there's that.

But then there's what Jeff Bezos was talking about, which is that, what does this do to the media? If you bash the media all the time, are you setting up some type of abridgement of the First Amendment? And it is one of the most unique qualities of the democracy we have here. Here's Bezos in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF BEZOS, AMAZON.COM FOUNDER: One thing that I think is not appropriate, that -- that -- that Donald Trump is doing, working to freeze or chill the media that are examining him.

It's -- it's -- it's just a fact that we live in a world where half the population on this planet, if you criticize your leader, there's a good chance you'll go to jail or worse. And we live in this amazing democracy with amazing freedom of speech, and a presidential candidate should embrace that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: What do you think of that, Jackie? Would you be willing to put money right now that there's a zero percent chance that President Trump would ever take action against a reporter who he felt was really out of line?

KUCINICH: You know, he's actually said he wants to relax laws so it would be easier to sue news organizations.

[06:10:04] So it's clear that it takes the adversarial relationship to another level. He's banned news organizations. "Daily Beast" reporters have been banned from his events.

So, you know, it's clear he's taking this to another level, and doesn't really plan on changing, because it continues to happen.

CAMEROTA: But, David...

CUOMO: And work.

CAMEROTA: ... do you think -- does it work? Because do you think, David, that it has a chilling effect? It's not like "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" and CNN are pulling our stories on Trump because of any of his threats. Do you think that his tactics have a chilling effect on journalism?

GREGORY: No, not at all. And by the way, he can't get out of his own way in terms of how fast he wants to get to a camera or to a cell phone to call in to the media.

So I mean, you know, look, politicians do this. He is an unconventional candidate running a populist movement campaign. I mean, I'd be shocked if he weren't railing against the media all the time.

I mean -- and, again, there's not a big well-spring of support for the media out in America. So again, this is a free pass, in essence, that he gets. I think the bigger point is not about the press and the media at large.

It's about, in many ways what he is representing of himself. The idea that, when you start to embody the caricature of you, that's what's damaging. You see that with Clinton, as well and the e-mails. In this regard, there was a question of transparency, and he made a big deal about raising money which was terrific. So just show us where the money went. Show us that you actually gave all the -- what is he not doing?

He's not being transparent. He doesn't like to be questioned about his business background. He's not releasing his taxes. That's what we do. We want to find out what the truth is to all these things. And he considers that an affront.

Again, this is not about our judgement. We'll continue to do our job. He should do his job. And voters will make an assessment of all of this in real time, and that's what happening.

CUOMO: I'm saying it's worked, because he's amassed this big coalition of people who share the animosity that he projects. He vanquished the field. But now he's got -- he may have an opponent in the form of -- no, no, no, hasn't worked on us. David French.

And we're going to talk about it in the next block. I just want to tee it up for people. We now know -- we believe -- we believe that -- well, Preston needs time to get it straight. He's got a lot of ideas in this head. David French. So that's the guy who they say now Bill Kristol says may be able to take down Donald Trump. How realistic is this? We'll discuss it.

First, we have other news with Ana.

CABRERA: Let's not forget the Democrats. Neither candidates giving any ground, Bernie Sanders saying he is taking this fight all the way to the convention, even if Hillary Clinton wins in next week's primaries in both New Jersey and California. And by the way, Clinton is now picking up a big endorsement there in California.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns following the latest for the Democrats this morning -- Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana.

He is making the case that this nominating process is not over when the primaries end, but the big headline this morning, Jerry Brown of California is one of the country's progressive Democratic governors, but not a Bernie Sanders supporter, giving a big endorsement to Hillary Clinton, citing the fact that, mathematically, she's so close to sewing up the delegates needed to get the Democratic nomination, also citing his concern that the stakes are so high, because Donald Trump is the Republican standard bearer. The Democratic front-runner is on the East Coast right now, raising

money in New York and New Jersey, where her campaign thinks they have a good chance to win the primary. The issue of party unity continuing to cause concern among establishment Democrats.

Bernie Sanders has said that, after the primary was over, it would be up to Clinton to reach out to his supporters. She says she's already doing that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON (via phone): I will certainly do everything I can to unify the Democratic Party. Our campaign has been reaching out to one another. We will continue to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Sanders responded to the Jerry Brown endorsement by labeling Brown part of the Democratic establishment. He continues his focus in California. Hillary Clinton is headed out there tomorrow.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: Joe, thanks so much for that.

Well, new polls just out this morning reveal that Hillary Clinton is locked in a virtual dead heat with Donald Trump. We'll look inside the numbers to see what voters are saying about each of them. We'll also look at how a third-party candidate could play a role, and who that is, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:42] CAMEROTA: All right. Conservative Bill Kristol's mystery third-party challenger to Donald Trump has been revealed, we believe. It is "Weekly Standard" writer David French.

Let's look at just who he is, how much of an effect he could actually have on this election. Let's break it down with our panel, Mark Preston, David Gregory and Jackie Kucinich.

Again, Mark, David French. So he's an Iraq war vet, a Bronze Star recipient. What else do we know about him? He's not a household name, per se?

PRESTON: Not a household name. He's a constitutional writer, writes for "The National Review" online, and from what I've just seen literally, just in the last few minutes, that Erick Erickson, who is a leader in the conservative movement, has written this morning that he spoke to David French on Monday night.

It is his understanding that this rolled out quicker than David French had anticipated. He said that, actually, he could get behind a David French candidacy, which might give you some insight into the thinking of social conservatives, which Erick is a leader in, would they follow in behind? But Erick does right. That is what we think is really important, specifically as Republicans are looking for a horse to run against Donald Trump.

Erick writes, the more I wonder if it is not good for the conservative movement that we watch Trump fail on his own instead of providing him with a conservative scapegoat. Meaning, let Trump go out there by himself and, if he fails, he has no one else to blame but himself.

[06:20:04] CUOMO: Jackie Kucinich, what does he offer up, Mr. French, in terms of pluses and minuses for Republicans or all voters?

KUCINICH: You know, he's very conservative. He shares a lot of these social conservative values that Donald Trump hasn't really expressed or, you know -- hasn't satisfied a lot of conservative voters.

He doesn't have a lot of name recognition. It's not clear where his money would come from, because he would need money to run. And there would be a ballot access issue. And, you know, he'd be running against one of -- someone with -- two people with some of the highest name I.D. in the country or, you know, the world in a lot of cases. So to say this would be an uphill climb, I think is understating it, frankly.

CAMEROTA: David Gregory, let's look at some new polls that show the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They are neck and neck in the CNN poll of polls that just came out in the past hour.

But let's dive in and look at the Quinnipiac polls, because this shows how voters are feeling about them. No. 1, Clinton versus Trump. What are Clinton's strengths? OK? According to voters. They believe she is better prepared than Donald Trump, more intelligent than Donald Trump, and has higher moral standards, as you can see there, than Donald Trump.

Now, let's look at the flip side, how voters feel are about Trump's strengths? They feel that he is more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton, a stronger leader, and more inspiring. So what do you see there, David?

GREGORY: Well, I see a couple of things. One, there is -- the country settles in to a 50/50 proposition between Republican and Democrat. So we see a familiar pattern. It's an astonishing amount of consolidation among Republican voters, self-identified Republican voters who have fallen in line for Trump much more quickly than I think we would have seen.

I don't think it's as equal as it seems at this point, because she's still fighting Bernie Sanders. And I think once Hillary Clinton gets more consolidation on the Democratic side, she probably goes up.

But, again, this is where the idea of a third-party candidate can be important, because Donald Trump has to get into the game of addition. And he has to start building in areas where he's weak. Women, minorities, and self-identified conservatives, in important states. He's got regions of the country where he has to get involved, in addition.

And I think, whether it's a Libertarian candidate or a conservative candidate that draws against him, even if it's 1 or 2 percent or it's as high as 10 percent, he knows well that that's ultimately going to be throwing the race toward Hillary Clinton.

CUOMO: Who does David French, Mark, take from Trump? I'm trying to think. He's a really -- we're calling him conservative. He's a very hardline social issue guy. Trump is, really, not that close to him on that level. And I guess, as Jackie is saying, it's a little bit of a point of concern for certain types of conservatives, but who does he take from him that he needs to beat Hillary Clinton?

PRESTON: The base of the Republican party, which is, to David's point there, it's that Donald Trump is fighting -- is fighting this political war on multiple fronts instead of just focusing all of his attention on taking on Hillary Clinton. We saw him go after Susana Martinez. He's going against Republican women. What we've seen, whenever a conservative or a detractor in the Republican party doesn't get in line behind him...

CUOMO: You know, a vote for French is a vote for Clinton, and those types of people, you think that they would risk that?

GREGORY: You know, every four years we talk about how social conservatives might stay home, because their candidate didn't win the nomination, and that they're going to prove that Republican Party needs their votes. This could be one of those years.

But it's not only just David French, of course, the name in the last 24, 48 hours we're talking about. But you had Gary Johnson on here yesterday, Libertarian candidate, Republican, now a Libertarian. William Weld, Republican, now a Libertarian. He could actually take away some serious votes from Donald Trump. So I think Donald Trump...

CUOMO: Not from Clinton?

PRESTON: Well, no, I don't think so. I mean, yes, OK, perhaps a little bit, but a think he could be more dangerous to Donald Trump, because he might be the candidate that a lot of Republicans who don't want to support Donald Trump say, "You know what? I am going to cast my vote, because as an American, that's what I should do. But I can't do it for Donald Trump. I'm going to go for Gary Johnson."

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about Hillary Clinton. She secured a big endorsement from Governor Jerry Brown, a week before the California primary. Why is this significant?

KUCINICH: He's the governor of the state. So and with that comes a lot of his base, but Bernie Sanders isn't wrong that Jerry Brown is part of the California establishment.

So I don't know that it -- that it makes much of a difference in this race, frankly. Because we haven't seen a lot of endorsements really matter this cycle on either side of the coin. So it probably would have mattered more if he hadn't endorsed than, you know, because the question is, why wouldn't he endorse, than if he did.

CAMEROTA: Got it. Go ahead, quickly, David. GREGORY: I think it's significant that he endorsed, because clearly,

there was pressure to do so. I think Hillary Clinton is spending more time in California. She is feeling the heat from Bernie Sanders and worried about California, knowing what a blow that would represent if he were to prevail.

[06:25:11] CAMEROTA: OK, panel, thank very much. Great to get your perspective on this very busy day -- Ana.

CABRERA: And the global outrage over the killing of a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo continues to grow, and now police are focusing on the family of the little boy who fell into this animal's habitat. Could the child's mother face criminal charges? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: It's not just about Ohio. It's not just about America. It is now international, the outrage in response to the killing of a beloved gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Police now focusing an investigation into the situation and looking at the family of the little boy who somehow slipped into that gorilla's habitat. There's new information.

Let's get to CNN's Jessica Schneider live in Cincinnati. What do we know?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Chris, Cincinnati police say they're going to focus in on the minutes before that 3-year-old boy came face-to-face with that gorilla, and in particular, they will be

focusing in on the actions or potential inactions of the parents.

The mother, of course has come under intense Internet scrutiny in recent days, people posting online asking why she wasn't paying more attention to her 3-year-old boy.