Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Clinton Makes History, Sanders Fights On; Trump Tries to Head Off Republican Revolt. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 08, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tonight's victory belongs to generations of women and men.

[07:00:38] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to take our fight to Philadelphia!

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To those who voted for someone else in either party, we welcome you with open arms.

CLINTON: Don't let anyone tell you that great things can't happen in America.

TRUMP: If I'm forced to fight for something, I will never, ever back down.

CLINTON: He's not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico. He's trying to wall off Americans from each other.

SANDERS: Our mission is more than just defeating Trump.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge fund.

CLINTON: My mother taught me never to back down from a bully.

SANDERS: The struggle continues!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. We do begin with breaking news.

Hillary Clinton with a commanding lead at this hour over Bernie Sanders in California. She has won that state. It was the nation's biggest delegate prize, and the presumptive Democratic nominee now embracing her place in history as the first woman to reach that milestone.

Bernie Sanders, though, vowing to fight on, as Clinton and Trump try to woo his supporters.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump was on best behavior last night. He gave a prepared speech. He was trying to calm the revolt in his party, with many leaders calling him a racist.

Now, he didn't apologize for attacking the judge and his heritage, but he says we misconstrued his comments.

Let's begin our election coverage with CNN's John Berman. He has a look at the results. What do you see, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Chris. Bernie Sanders made a big play for California. Looks like he suffered a big loss. We called the state for Hillary Clinton. Right now she leads by about 13 percent, and this number, 424,000, this has been growing over the night, so increasing her vote lead in this state.

It didn't really matter, though. We declared the presumptive nominee more than 24 hours ago. None of the states in that sense mattered that voted overnight. Hillary Clinton won four of them. California, New Mexico, South Dakota and New Jersey. A big win there.

Bernie Sanders won in Montana and caucuses in North Dakota.

What does this mean for the delegate math? Hillary Clinton over the top, the presumed nominee. She's got 2,740 now. That number keeps on growing as we add them throughout the night. Bernie Sanders at 1,824. Hillary Clinton needed 2,383. Well over that mark now if you include the super delegates, which we do.

What does that mean? For the raw vote total right now, if you look at both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, over the course of these six months of primaries, Hillary Clinton earned 15.2 million votes. Donald Trump, 13.9 million. Donald Trump will tell you, if he had not been running against 16 other people for a lot of that time, he might have more votes, but millions of voters supporting both candidates as they head to the general election, though Alisyn, they both need to expand that base, to be sure.

CAMEROTA: OK, John, thanks so much for giving us all of those numbers.

Hillary Clinton is the first woman in history, in the U.S., to be the presumptive nominee of a major party, but with rival Bernie Sanders refusing to drop out, will that put party unity in danger?

CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, joins us now with more.

Hi, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.

You can find the Democratic Party may look a little bit easier this morning. Bernie Sanders was counting on a California win to keep his fading hopes alive, but that didn't happen. The Clinton campaign is victorious, no matter how you slice it. He won a majority of the popular vote, a majority of pledged delegates, and a majority of delegates overall. That's why her smile was so wide last night and her victory was so sweet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice-over): Hillary Clinton's history-making moment.

CLINTON: The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.

ZELENY: Savoring a triumph in her long Democratic primary fight, exactly eight years after extinguishing her first trail-blazing campaign.

CLINTON: Tonight's victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible.

ZELENY: Extending her hand to Bernie Sanders after finishing strong in the final round of primaries, with wins in New Jersey and California.

CLINTON: And let there be no mistake: Senator Sanders, his campaign and the vigorous debate that we've had have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.

[07:05:10] ZELENY: Sanders losing the big prize of California after spending 18 straight days campaigning there, effectively ending his argument to fight on.

SANDERS: 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.

ZELENY: This as Sanders's campaign tells CNN they plan to cut half their staff.

SANDERS: The struggle continues!

ZELENY: After a bitter primary duel, early signs of peacemaking. CNN has learned campaign managers for Sanders and Clinton, Jeff Weaver and Robby Mook, are talking behind the scenes.

The beginning of the end could be near, with Sanders heading to the White House tomorrow to meet with President Obama in hopes of bringing the party together, which Clinton says she knows can be difficult.

CLINTON: Now, I know it never feels good to put your heart into a cause or a candidate you believe in and to come up short. I know that feeling well.

As we look ahead to the battle that awaits, let's remember all that unites us.

ZELENY: The biggest point of unity for Democrats may well be defeating Donald Trump.

CLINTON: We believe that we are stronger together. And the stakes in this election are high, and the choice is clear. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief.

ZELENY: She's making a full pivot to Trump, inviting voters who are skeptical of him to rally behind her.

CLINTON: We won't let this happen in America. And if you agree, whether you're a Democrat, Republican or independent, I hope you will join us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: And President Obama called both candidates last night to congratulate them on running what he called inspiring campaigns. He is poised to formally endorse Secretary Clinton very soon. He will be in New York today. There's little question Sanders will come around. He says his top goal is to keep Donald Trump from the White House. The question, Chris, is whether his supporters will follow.

CUOMO: All right, Jeff, thanks for teeing that up for us. Let's discuss. Deputy communications director for Hillary for America, Kristina Schake. So congratulations.

KRISTINA SCHAKE, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Thank you. Thank you.

CUOMO: Great night. It's great for you to make it in early this morning.

SCHAKE: Very tired this morning, but it's such a pleasure to be here. It's an extraordinary night for Hillary and for the millions of people who supported her.

CUOMO: So everything is about the next step.

SCHAKE: Yes.

CUOMO: So what do you want to relay about what we hear about Mook and Weaver talking, the campaign managers? Did the presumptive nominee reach out directly to Sanders last night personally?

SCHAKE: Yes. Hillary called Senator Sanders last night, was very happy to talk to him, congratulated him on running an extraordinary campaign and wanted to make that connection herself. And as you said, our campaign managers connected last night, and President Obama spoke to both Sanders and Hillary last night and congratulated them on their inspiring campaigns.

CUOMO: What was coming across the other side of that conversation with the secretary and the senator?

SCHAKE: You know, she is so proud of the race that we've run on the Democratic side, and really thinks that he has run just an incredible campaign. He brought up so many important issues. He energized and brought in so many young people into this process, brought millions of new voters in.

So she just wanted to convey how incredibly grateful she was, the race they're run together and really congratulated him on an incredible race.

CUOMO: Were you -- obviously, what you wanted to hear last night from him was "This is great. You know, this all matters, and congratulations to Clinton. She's going to be the nominee." He didn't say that. What's your take on his message?

SCHAKE: You know what? We understand. This is a hard process. As Hillary said, nobody understands that better than her, and she knows that he needs to take a few days to talk to his family and his supporters. And...

CUOMO: He's saying he's taking it through the convention.

SCHAKE: Yes. And you know what? We will see what happens over the course of the next few days.

CUOMO: So you have to plan for the convention. You still have some work to do.

SCHAKE: Yes.

CUOMO: What do you think matters most in terms of how to negotiate this while also starting to take on Trump, because he's bringing out bigger and bigger hammers against Clinton every day?

SCHAKE: Well, you know, she's been taking on Trump for quite some time, because the stakes of this election are just so high. And so she's been doing both for some time when it's been clear, because of her commanding wins and how far she was ahead in this race, that she needed to start to focus on Trump, and she's been doing that for a while.

CUOMO: All right, so the first wave was, Bill Clinton was dirty. She helped him. The Clinton campaign said, "We're not going to answer to this. We don't know."

The next wave is a little different, a little bit more complicated. It is a string of allegations about what the Clinton Global Initiative is really about. Trump made some very naked allegations last night that there were quid pro quos with big money deals, hundreds of millions of dollars, he said. He said that Hillary Clinton made the State Department her own hedge fund.

[07:10:09] Now, these are personal attacks, but they're also about the foundation. Will the Clinton campaign respond in substance?

SCHAKE: You know, she is really proud of the work of the foundation and the work that her husband has done for years there, fighting AIDS around the world, fighting childhood obesity here in the United States. She's proud of his work and proud of his record. And so if he wants to attack the Clinton Foundation, we're happy to talk about the work he's done. CUOMO: She will respond point for point? For instance, he'll say,

"Where's that money that went for the hospital in Haiti?" He says the foundation can't account for it. Will the campaign offer and accounting for the money? Offer substance?

SCHAKE: We are certainly very proud of the work of the foundation and happy to get the facts out there, but you know, as Hillary said, this is a candidate who just runs on insults and abusing people and demeaning people. That's not the campaign that she's running. She's running to be president of the United States, with real plans to make a difference in people's lives, and she's going to continue to focus on that.

CUOMO: Last night in her message, it seemed to be, obviously -- there's no reason to ignore the history of this -- but she wasn't playing that first. She was playing diversity as strength, inclusiveness versus exclusiveness -- exclusionary practices that she says Trump is responsible for.

Is that the main theme that she's going to have going forward?

SCHAKE: She absolutely believes that this country, we are stronger together. And as she said, she has been very humbled by becoming the first woman to become a nominee for president of a major party. But as much as she's going to take the next few days to kind of absorb the history of that. She cares a lot more about the next chapter of American history and thinks that the choice we have to make is so stark in this upcoming election, that she's really focused on what we're going to do together next.

You know, as you heard Hillary say last night, she really believes we are a big-hearted, fair-minded country, and, you know, Donald Trump wants to build a wall between Mexico and the United States.

But he's also trying to build a wall between Americans, and she believes that is wrong. And she's ready to get out there and campaign her heart out to talk about what we can be as a country when we're stronger together.

CUOMO: We know the campaign managers are talking. You told us that the secretary and the senator spoke last night. We've also been told very consistently that, when it comes to vice president, that's not where the campaign sees Senator Sanders's role going forward. Any more clarity on what you do see in terms of vice president? When will we get an announcement on that?

SCHAKE: You know, I have to say, for Hillary, she was so focused, certainly, on winning this nomination. As you saw, she spent days and days in California, crisscrossing the state there. She was doing everything to win the nomination. She hasn't been spending a lot of time thinking about the vice president.

CUOMO: Any shot at two women?

SCHAKE: You know, certainly. She has said that she's absolutely open to that. She's looking for the best qualified candidate, and that could very well be a woman.

CUOMO: Any other guidance on that as to when? Not to who?

SCHAKE: She'll be spending the next few weeks certainly taking a close look at that. And as she -- as she said, she's been really focused on just winning the nomination up to this point.

CUOMO: And about timing. What's your thinking about what the president is going to do? He's certainly had more of a more role in the last week or so. He's speaking about it more -- more directly, more to the process. Last night, as you said, he contacted both candidates. Are you expecting an endorsement soon?

SCHAKE: Well, you know, we really hope to get an endorsement soon. We understand that Senator Sanders has been meeting with the president this week, tomorrow, and we'll see what comes out of the meeting.

You know, an endorsement from President Obama would be very, very meaningful to Hillary, as she was so proud to serve in his administration, considers him a friend, and is really running for president to protect his legacy and build on the progress that he's made for this country.

CUOMO: Does the campaign anticipate the president being a full- fledged teammate in this campaign?

SCHAKE: We certainly hope so. I mean, he has been an extraordinary American president. He's been the leader of our party, and, you know, under his leadership, 18 million Americans now have health insurance. Fifteen million American jobs were created under his presidency. He has really been, Hillary believes, doesn't get the credit for what a leader he's been for this country. And she would be really honored to have him out there campaigning on her behalf.

CUOMO: The campaign in the general is going to be about the administration, one way or the other. It will be interesting to see how united the front is. Ms. Schake, congratulations.

SCHAKE: Thank you.

CUOMO: We'll see you again soon.

SCHAKE: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Donald Trump softening his tone during a scripted speech to supporters in New York last night. He's trying to stave off any possibility of a Republican revolt after his comments about a judge's Mexican heritage. CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is live in Trump Tower in New York with more.

What's the latest, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. I'm told it was a team effort that went into writing Donald Trump's speech last night. And in the words of one advisor, putting it candidly, this was very important after five bad days.

The trick for Donald Trump now is to get his campaign back on the rails in the middle of a Republican revolt. There were no apologies loaded into that teleprompter last night, but he did tone down his rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:15:03] TRUMP: To those who voted for someone else in either party, I will work hard to earn your support.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Donald Trump tried to change the subject and his delivery, using a teleprompter in his victory lap speech at the official end of the Republican primary season.

TRUMP: And if I'm forced to fight for something I really care about, I will never, ever back down, and our country will never, ever back down.

ACOSTA: The speech, with only a couple of Trump ad-libs, had some Republicans cheering, the chairman of the RNC tweeting, "Exactly the right approach and perfectly delivered."

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: If he can stay on this path, and stay this disciplined, he's going to be very formidable.

ACOSTA: Trump did respond to the growing outcry over his attacks on federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican-American heritage.

TRUMP: I will tell you, it's a little disappointing, some of the Republicans.

ACOSTA: He told his Republican critics to move on.

TRUMP: There's a lot of anger, I guess. Anger. They just can't come back; they can't get over it. So they have to get over it, ideally. As to whether or not they endorse me, it's OK if they don't. But they have to get over it. They shouldn't be so angry for so long.

ACOSTA: Too late, says Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk, who's in a tough re-election battle and rescinded his endorsement of Trump.

SEN. MARK KIRK (R), ILLINOIS: I cannot endorse him because of what he said about the judge. That was too racist and bigoted for me.

ACOSTA: That coming just hours after stinging comments from the nation's two top Republicans.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: It's time to quit

attacking various people that you competed with or various minority groups in the country.

ACOSTA: Trump attempted to put the controversy to rest with a statement that said his comments about Judge Curiel were misconstrued. He did have a few supporters coming to his defense.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I've known him for 14 years, and Donald Trump is not a racist.

ACOSTA: But Trump is hearing warnings from top Republicans, who are demanding their presumptive nominee start acting presidential before the GOP mutiny gets any worse.

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), ILLINOIS: He's got to demonstrate a different level of professionalism.

ACOSTA: The real-estate tycoon insists he got the message and is ready to turn his attention to Hillary Clinton.

TRUMP: The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, the next big speech for Donald Trump is planned for early next week on the Clintons' personal financial dealings. You heard Donald Trump just talking about it there, at the end of that piece.

And of course, Chris, we have heard talk before about Donald Trump making the pivot to the general election campaign, toning down his rhetoric, acting more presidential, but he can't take a teleprompter everywhere he goes, and all of that talk, of course, happened before this controversy on Judge Curiel -- Chris.

CUOMO: A tough spot approaching the bizarre, Jim. You have people saying what this man just said is racist, but I'm still for him as my party's nominee. Not an easy spot for the GOP leadership in this one.

ACOSTA: Unchartered waters indeed.

CUOMO: Unchartered indeed. All right, Jim. Thank you very much.

So we have heard one prominent lawmaker pull his endorsement of Trump, saying it was just too much; can't follow him. Will more do that or bank on a change from Trump? We're going to talk with a Trump surrogate, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:20:13] TRUMP: My goal is always, again, to bring people together. But if I'm forced to fight for something, I really care about, I will never, ever back down, and our country will never, ever back down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was Donald Trump. More scripted and vowing to unify jittery Republicans after days of backlash over comments he made about the Mexican heritage of a judge. Now one lawmaker is pulling his support for Trump. Could more do the same?

Here to discuss is Boris Epshteyn. He's a Trump campaign surrogate and a Republican strategist.

Boris, thanks so much for being here.

BORIS EPSHTEYN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Of course. Good morning.

CAMEROTA: OK. So let's talk about Donald Trump's effort to clean up the mess after his comments about up Judge Curiel where he talked about his Mexican heritage. Donald Trump put out a statement yesterday, in which he said that his comments were misconstrued. How were his comments misconstrued?

EPSHTEYN: Well, things, even things like Paul Ryan said, "textbook racism." Those were incorrect. Racism is when you say that one race, one ethnicity is better than another.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

EPSHTEYN: No one said that.

CAMEROTA: What about -- he did say that, because of the judge's heritage he would not be able to be fair. Isn't that connecting your ethnicity to you doing your job in the right way?

EPSHTEYN: What he said was, with this particular judge. Not all judges, not all people who but this specific judge...

CAMEROTA: Couldn't do his job because he was a Mexican?

EPSHTEYN: ... in his eyes, the La Raza organization, the La Raza Lawyers of San Diego and his ties to supporting illegal immigration, he could not be fair.

And by the way, Donald Trump has been saying this since way before he ran for president.

CAMEROTA: Right, but that doesn't make it better. I mean, he was basically saying that this judge -- I mean, he said it over and over. The problem is that he said it over and over. He said, "He's Mexican. I'm building a wall. He's Mexican. He can't be fair. He's Mexican."

EPSHTEYN: He believes -- Donald Trump believes this judge has been unfair to him and continues to be unfair because of Donald Trump's views. Even things like unsealing sealed documents in case, this was very unusual. To do that is something that is showing a judge is biased. And like Alberto Gonzalez says, everybody in America has a right to question the fairness of the judicial system. So it could be done on the liberal side. It should be done on the conservative side, as well.

CAMEROTA: He connected the judge being Mexican with whether or not he could do his job. Then he said the media, basically, was misconstruing that. He's the one who drew that connection.

EPSHTEYN: He drew the connection between the judge's heritage, the judge's positions, and him being unfair toward Donald Trump.

CAMEROTA: Yes. That -- isn't that saying that somebody's heritage makes them unqualified to do their job?

EPSHTEYN: That's saying that their positions and background make them unfair and act unfair toward this specific defendant. He's not saying Judge Curiel should not be a judge or somehow is not qualified to be a judge. He's saying in this specific case, a case where the lead plaintiff wanted to withdraw and did withdraw, but the judge appointed a different plaintiff, something that's unheard of in...

CAMEROTA: A class-action suit.

EPSHTEYN: I can tell you that, as an attorney, usually, a plaintiff withdraws, the case is out the window. That did not happen here, and this judge has been unfair to him.

[07:25:07] CAMEROTA: This judge's reputation is stellar. This judge went after Mexican drug cartels at his own risk of his own personal safety. And every law -- even Donald Trump's own attorney said, "We don't want this judge to be recused. This is a fine judge."

EPSHTEYN: Well, three weeks ago the attorney said that. Right? Attorneys have to practice in front of the judge; it's up to them. Interesting we're spending time talking about this. What we should be talking about is what Donald Trump is going to do for America, the speech he would leave last night. The polls that are showing up in Florida, we spent a lot of time in South Florida. We're not going to agree, right.

CAMEROTA: He is trying to pivot, it seems like, from his speech last night, but why didn't he just apologize?

EPSHTEYN: Why would he apologize? There's nothing to apologize for.

CAMEROTA: Why would he just say, "I said the judge is Mexican and therefore, I won't get a fair trial." Why doesn't he just say, "I shouldn't have said that"?

EPSHTEYN: Because that's not what he said.

CAMEROTA: He said it repeatedly.

EPSHTEYN: He said the judge was being unfair to him.

CAMEROTA: Because he's Mexican.

EPSHTEYN: The judge's background and views, his support for illegal immigration. That group, La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, gave a scholarship to an illegal immigrant. And he's friends with attorneys who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Clintons.

CAMEROTA: You're making -- you're eying -- you're saying all of these nuances. You're saying all of this background. Donald Trump very clearly said repeatedly, he's Mexican. I'm building a wall. Mexican, I'm building a wall.

EPSHTEYN: What if it were the other way around, and if it was a liberal who was on trial, had a case, and there was a conservative justice from this jury did not fit that person, there would be a huge outcry. So -- let's be fair.

CAMEROTA: Well, if you want to be fair, let's talk about how Republicans heard it. Many Republicans, including Paul Ryan, who he said it was racist, and Senator Mark Kirk, who had endorsed Donald Trump, put out this statement yesterday. He said, "I find Donald Trump's belief that an American-born judge of Mexican descent is incapable of fairly presiding over his case is not only dead wrong; it is un-American. I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for president, regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party."

Clearly, Mark Kirk heard it that way.

EPSHTEYN: It's very disappointing what Senator Kirk decided to do. It's up to him. We as Republicans needs to unite. There's all this talk about the Republicans and the conservatives uniting. Well, how can you unite when you're not supporting your candidate for presidency? We need to be united behind him.

And by the way, Paul Ryan did say he continues to support Donald Trump now. I do think he made a mistake. He was out there talking about the Republican agenda to combat poverty.

And then that got completely overrun.

CAMEROTA: Didn't he have to talk about Donald Trump? I mean, you don't think that he had to address the elephant in the room?

EPSHTEYN: He decided to do it. Absolutely not. Decided to do it. It's up to him.

Again, Speaker Ryan is one member of Congress. Congress has a 20 percent approval rating. The American people want something new. They want something fresh, and that's why they're going to elect Donald Trump president.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, let me just show you the other Republicans who have also spoken out against this. We have a graphic. There are lots and lots of names of people who have spoken out against what Donald Trump said. Do you fear there will be others who do what Mark Kirk did?

EPSHTEYN: I absolutely do not. And also, endorsements matter up to a degree. What really matters is the votes. Donald Trump will have more than million people voting for him in the primary, more than ever in the history of the Republican Party. He's going to be attracting a lot of independents, a lot of Sanders supporters you've been talking on this program.

And the Clinton campaign should be worried about that and a lot of those blue-dog Democrats. That's what we're focused on is getting into November 8 and having Donald Trump be president of the United States of America.

CAMEROTA: Boris Epshteyn, thanks so much for being here on NEW DAY.

EPSHTEYN: Thanks for having me.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. So the stage is set. Trump in one corner, Clinton in the other. We're going to break down the strengths and weaknesses each brings to the ring. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)