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New Day

Primary Coverage. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 08, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00] JENNIFER GRANHOLM (D), FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: I know that there are a lot of candidates But the bottom line, it's her call, but I think she has opened that door wider and she has given us the opportunity to have, whether it's a many would, whether it is a person of color, you know, somebody with Hispanic roots -- you know, I mean, the sky is the limit, and she's going to build a ticket that looks like America, and that is a very -- that's very unusual. We haven't seen that either, and that's exciting.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Panel, we're out of time. Thanks so much for all of your perspective on this historic moment. Great to have you.

GRANHOLM: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump on the other side showing his presidential side last night. His tone was softer. His rhetoric more measured. Can we expect more of the same over the next five months? He is, though, revealing a new target on Hillary Clinton.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle, and I will never, ever let you down. Too much work, too many people, blood, sweat and tears, never going to let you down.

(APPLAUSE)

[06:35:03] I will make you proud of your party, and our movement, and that's what it is, it's a movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump saying he'll never let you down, after a lot of Republican leaders are saying he did exactly that, after days coming now of defiantly attacking a Mexican judge's heritage, although he was born in America in Indiana.

So did this help? And what about what he said about Clinton last night? Is he on the right track now?

John Phillips, talk radio host for KABC and columnist for the "OC Register". He is a Trump supporter. He's with us. Good to have you.

And Steve Lonegan, spokesman for Courageous Conservatives PAC and former New Jersey chairman for Ted Cruz campaign. He is not a Trump supporter.

However, Steve, after you heard him on the prompter saying, "I get it I get it, I'm carrying the mantle, I won't let you down," little different tone, dial back, until he went after Clinton, which all you guys like anyway, did that help you last night?

STEVE LONEGAN, SPOKESMAN, COURAGEOUS CONSERVATIVES PAC: Well, it hasn't helped yet but maybe it will. Maybe over the next five weeks we'll see a different Donald Trump. I woke up every morning since Ted Cruz dropped out of the race looking for reason to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming election.

Like many conservatives, I haven't found that yet and he's failed miserably. He was more busy yesterday trying to ask Bernie Sanders voters to join his campaign than to reach out to conservatives, and there's a lot of people like me in the party across the country who are not ready to support Donald Trump.

CUOMO: What's your other choice?

LONEGAN: The other choice is not to vote. You know, for many years as a member of the Republican Party, from '70s, as a Reagan supporter, I've told by the establishment Republicans, well, you have no choice but to support our guy, because what are you going to do? Vote for the Democrat?

I'm tired of being told to get in line. I want to see a true conservative in the White House and a true conservative being the Republican Party. That's the problem now. Donald Trump is not a conservative.

CUOMO: All right. So, now, something that happened last night. I want to play the sound first, John, and then we'll get your take on it. He did make a turn toward Hillary Clinton and a he had a whole new line of attack, at least in terms of his justification.

Let's play it and then we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves. They've made hundreds of millions are dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts, and I mean hundreds of millions of dollars. Secretary Clinton even did all of the work on a totally illegal, private server. Something that how she's get ago way with this, folks, nobody understands. Designed to keep her corrupt dealings out of the public record, putting the security of the entire country at risk, and a president in a corrupt system is totally protecting her. Not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CUOMO: John, you're going to have people from the left point by point tell you that everything he just said is unsubstantiated, but what do you see as the strength of the case?

JOHN PHILLIPS, TALK RADIO HOST, KABC: Well, look, the game for Donald Trump is very different than the game for Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton did very well in states where only Democrats could vote. Bernie Sanders did well among independents.

If Hillary Clinton is going to win this election, she's going to have to get those independents who voted for Bernie Sanders back in her corner. Donald Trump did very well in states where independents could vote and got creamed by people like Ted Cruz in states where only Republicans voted. He needs to bring those Ted Cruz people, people like Steve Lonegan, back into the mix.

And by going after Hillary Clinton the way that he did last night. He was more on-message. It wasn't the slam poetry we're used to from Donald Trump. I think it will be a very effective strategy in bringing those wayward Republicans back into the tent.

CUOMO: But, John, does it matter if it's true or not, to these people, to the Steve Lonegan? When he says, you know, they've made hundreds of millions from selling access -- where's the proof of that? Do you want the proof, Steve? Or just like that he's going after Hillary Clinton?

LONEGAN: It's ironic. I'm not looking for reasons to attack Donald Trump, a guy who admittedly said he spent hundreds of millions buying access, using government, buying access to the Democrat Party in particular, supporting Democrats to make hundreds of millions of dollars. That's rather ironic.

What you're not hearing from Donald Trump, we're hearing all of these attacks and a very nationalist approach, I'm not hearing about conservative principles for governing this country. I'm not hearing about cutting the size of government, cutting taxes, creating real economic growth, not by having a president who thinks he can levy punitive taxes on companies like Carrier who leave the country, but a president who believes in conservative principles. I haven't heard a single word about that.

CUOMO: John --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: If you could stomach a vote for John McCain, you could stomach a vote for Trump.

LONEGAN: You know, but I've been led down this pathway who many times. Again, I'm hearing a populist attack from Donald Trump. I'm getting to a point in my life I want to see us changing history for conservatism and not worry about electing Republicans hoping when they get to Washington they do the right thing.

[06:40:02] That's failed over and over again. CUOMO: But what do you think of the theory that if you don't vote for

Trump, you are essentially voting for Hillary Clinton?

LONEGAN: I am deeply concerned about what's going to happen down ballot because of Donald Trump. We have better keep control of the Senate and the House of Representative and elect conservatives in those bodies of government, if we're going to control Hillary Clinton should she win and if we're going to rein in Donald Trump and he win. That's where the problem is.

I can't do much what going to happen in the White House election. That's in the hands of Donald Trump. What about the rest of the Republican Party?

CUOMO: OK. So, let's talk about that for a quick second. For those who are following this a little bit more studiously, John, you had Rene Ellmers, North Carolina in a weird situation. Got into a weird district, she wind being incumbent on incumbent, but she lost, that was his first big endorsement of somebody running for Congress.

Is that a metaphor for concerns of the Republicans or do you think that was a one off?

PHILLIPS: I think it was a one off. Whenever you have a member versus member matchup, there are all kinds of local issues at play. I mean, I don't know the exact demographics of the district, how much of the old district was in the new district. But usually when you a situation like that, that means more than the national implications.

But to go back to the question you just asked Steve -- you're going to have a choice in November between Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. One of those two people will be the next president. It's a multiple choice exam. It's not an essay question.

If you're a conservative, if you're a Republican like Steve is, and you vote for anyone other than Donald Trump, then guess what? Hillary Clinton will be picking the next Supreme Court justices on the Supreme Court and they will define the country's politics for a generation.

LONEGAN: And who says we can trust Donald Trump to pick those candidates? Tell you what, the Republican Party still has time to fix things. It's a long time between here and the Republican convention in July. If Donald Trump doesn't straighten out and galvanize the Republican Party, Republican delegates have an obligation to nominate the very best candidate to beat Hillary Clinton.

CUOMO: Steve, John, thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. See you again soon. Alisyn?

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK. Chris, it was Hillary Clinton's big night, but there were other female politicians making news as well, including that GOP lawmaker who as we've been talking about may have been the first Trump casualty. We'll explain what happened there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:53] CAMEROTA: It was obviously a big night for presidential politics, but also several state races, including the defeat of Congresswoman Rene Ellmers in North Carolina. Was she a casualty of the so-called Trump effect?

Let's discuss it with CNN politics executive editor, Mark Preston.

Hi, Mark.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, Rene Ellmers, Congresswoman Renee Ellmers is the only person in Congress for whom Donald Trump endorsed. He recorded a phone call for her. Let me play a portion of that.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hello. This is Donald Trump, and I'm calling to personally invite you to vote for Renee Ellmers on Tuesday, June 7th. Rene was first congresswoman to endorse me and she really was terrific, and, boy, is she a fighter.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Mark, she lost. What do you think the result -- I mean, is there a connection between Donald Trump's endorsement and her loss?

PRESTON: Well, let me say this -- certainly that robocall did not help her win, although she was, she was involved in a very difficult re-election. Let's just lay it out for viewers here.

Why is Rene Ellmers interesting? Because she represented a district down in North Carolina right outside of Raleigh. She came into Congress as part of the Tea Party wave in 2010. Some viewers may remember Clay Aiken, the "American Idol" star ran against her back in 2014 as a Democrat and got crushed.

But in this election, she was facing another incumbent. It was the first incumbent upon incumbent race we've seen this year, had to do with redistricting. The district a little less than 20 percent of what she had originally had represented, and get this -- conservative groups thought she had lost her way.

So, as much as we talk about the infighting with Donald Trump, more than $1 million was spent against Rene Ellmers, once a Tea Party favorite, because groups thought she'd lost her way, but we just heard that call from Donald Trump. And clearly, that was not enough to help her win last night.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, it sounds like her situation was pretty unique. Any other lesson any other down ballot congressional candidates can draw from his? Would this give them pause, in other words to seek out Donald Trump's endorsement?

PRESTON: Well, certainly, in some respect, what you need as a congress' candidate, awe saw this over the last 24, 48 hours, is you are going need Trump supporters in the general election. You are going to need them by your said.

Having said that, Donald Trump has said some very incendiary things that have caused some to back away. We've seen that with Mark Kirk in Illinois, in many way as blue state. He's a Republican.

He has figured out in the last 24 hours that being connected to Donald Trump is not going to be good for him but he's got to be careful not to alienate those Trump supporters. The question is, can Donald Trump, though, help some Republicans, perhaps, in other parts of the country by doing robocalls or appearing at fund-raisers or campaigning by their side?

CAMEROTA: So, mark, this obviously is a historic moment. Hillary Clinton has become the first female nominee for a major party. But there are other historic things happening particularly. Tell us about this race in California for Barbara Boxer's seat.

PRESTON: Right. So we spent a lot of time, of course, talking about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton out in California, but there really is an interesting race between two women right now, two Democrats, who won the first two slots in the primary out there. The way the California primary set up, the two top vote getters move on to the general election.

What you have is two Democrats now facing off. You have an African- American state attorney general in Kamala Harris facing off against a Latino congresswoman in Loretta Sanchez. Now, a couple of things is, is that if Loretta Sanchez needs to cobble together a coalition to try to defeat Kamala Harris.

Kamala Harris has got the backing of the Democratic establishment. She is getting all of the Democratic money, but you may have some disaffected Republicans out there who will join Loretta Sanchez, but it is an uphill battle. One thing to note: if Kamala Harris does win in November, she'd be the second African-American woman to serve as a senator.

[06:50:08] And if Loretta Sanchez wins, she'd be the first Latino woman to serve as a senator.

CAMEROTA: Right, and both firsts for California. So, it's history in the making either way you slice it. Mark Preston, thank you very much.

Let's get to Chris.

PRESTON: Thanks.

CUOMO: All right. Hillary Clinton certainly made history, but Bernie Sanders is vowing to fight on to the convention in Philadelphia. Why won't Sanders step away? He says it's about the movement. We have his words and his thoughts, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: As Hillary Clinton savors her historic moment as the Democrats' presumptive nominee, rival Bernie Sanders says, "I am fighting on," but he was going to do so with a leaner staff. CNN learned as much as half of the campaign staff will soon be out of the job.

Sanders telling supporters he is looking ahead to next week's D.C. primary. Here's his message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Next Tuesday, we continue the fight in the last primary in Washington, D.C.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And then we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

I am pretty good in arithmetic, and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight, but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

Tonight, I had a very kind call from President Obama, and I look forward to working with him to make sure that we move this country forward.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And tonight, I had a very gracious call from Secretary Clinton, and congratulated her on her victories tonight.

(BOOS)

Our fight is to transform this country, and to understand -- and to understand that we are in this together.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

To understand that all of what we believe is what the majority of the American people believe.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And to understand that the struggle continues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton erasing any doubts she will be the first female presidential nominee. We will hear from Team Clinton, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)