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New Day Saturday
Republican Rift Over Trump Widens; Official: Canadian Wildfire Could Double in Size by Tonight; Obama Speaks Out on Presidential Elections; Maryland Shooting: Police Charge Suspect in Deadly Shooting Spree; Clinton, Trump Prepare for General Election Fight; 142nd Running of the Kentucky Derby Today; CNN Gets Rare Access to U.S. Nuclear Attack Sub. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired May 07, 2016 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[07:00:06] SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Good luck with Paul Ryan trying to find a conservative agenda with this guy. I don't think he has the temperament or judgment to be commander in chief.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you see there, Senator Lindsey Graham will not vote for him. Paul Ryan says he's not there yet. Donald Trump and the great GOP divide. Will this party unite or has the damage already been done?
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hell on earth. Like a scene from "The Walking Dead." This is how residents are describing the chaos in Alberta, Canada, where a monster wildfire is expected to double in size today. CNN is there live.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Coy Wire at Churchill Downs. Coming up, we'll talk about some of the favorites, the horses that will be dashing and the fashion that they're flashin' here at the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby.
CABRERA: Smooth, Coy. I like the rhyming this morning.
Good morning to you. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good Saturday morning to you. Always good to start the weekend with you.
Donald Trump tightening his grip on the GOP nomination, but there is no sign yet the entire party is uniting behind him.
CABRERA: As for the tone, sounding more presidential -- well, here's Trump at last night's rally in Eugene, Oregon, hitting back at criticism from Senator Lindsey Graham.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Lindsey Graham, he knows less about the military than my 10- year-old son, Barron. Barron plays military soldiers. He knows more about the military -- he said, I've been fighting ISIS for many years. How dare Donald Trump tell me what to do. The guy -- if you have him you'll be fighting ISIS for many more years, believe me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Well, Senator Graham is just one of the high-profile GOP leaders who will not support Donald Trump. We've got here two former presidents -- we've got George H.W. Bush, former President George W. Bush -- and former Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.
Now, in Trump's corner, you've got former Vice President Dick Cheney and two other former nominees, Bob Dole and John McCain.
CABRERA: Now somewhere in the middle still making up his mind, the highest ranking member of the party, House Speaker Paul Ryan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm not there right now. I hope to though, and I want to. But I think what is required is that we unify this party and I think the bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Well, there is a meeting planned for this week between Ryan and Trump. Now Trump says that this -- this is what he told ABC. This is what he plans to say to the speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You look at the Republican primary votes, millions and millions of people came in that nobody expected and they voted for me.
ABC NEWS INTERVIEWER: So, what are you going to tell him in that meeting?
TRUMP: I'm going to say, look, this is what the people want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Donald Trump says this is what the people want.
Joining me now to discuss: Jeffrey Lord, CNN political commentator, a former Reagan White House political director, also a Donald Trump supporter. And Evan Siegfried, Republican strategist and author of "GOP GPS", clearly not a Donald Trump supporter.
Gentlemen, good morning to you.
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Evan, I want to start with your op-ed in this opening line. Let's put it up for everyone at home. "Who would have thought that the Republican Party, the pro-life party of the United States, would so openly embrace assisted suicide?"
All right. Evan, let me start with you. And you say that you are going to vote for Hillary Clinton. Why?
EVAN SIEGFRIED, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, COMMENTATOR: I said I would vote for Hillary Clinton if no viable third party candidate comes out.
BLACKWELL: OK.
SIEGFRIED: To be honest with you, it comes down to a matter of judgment, temperament and record and Donald Trump lax all three to be commander in chief and president of the United States. He has shown that he has a remarkably thin skin which is very dangerous on the world stage when you are dealing with foreign affairs. You can get into entanglements that you don't want to as the result of a personal insult. He will have more than Twitter to be able to respond.
When it comes down to judgment, he's going out and he's pushing narratives from the "National Enquirer" about his rivals.
When Speaker Ryan said he wasn't ready to get behind him, quote, "right now," he went out and he basically had his chief spokeswoman attack him and say, if you can't do this, you are not prepared to be speaker of the house. Then in the interview you played just now, he's saying, well, the will of the people.
I've got news for him. Yes, he received a historic amount of votes, but for every two votes he got, three votes were cast against him. Sixty percent of the Republicans said we do not want Donald Trump as the Republican nominee.
BLACKWELL: We cannot so quickly rush by that historic number of votes in the GOP primary.
Jeffrey, I want to come to you with that one.
But before I go -- you said you'll be voting for Hillary Clinton if there isn't a credible third party conservative option. Do you expect there will be, quickly, Evan?
SIEGFRIED: I'm optimistic that Ben Sasse, Tom Coburn, even Mitt Romney will take a look long and hard and say, you know what, for the good of the country and keeping the Senate -- because that conservative candidate would be able to get out the conservatives who would otherwise stay home and help save Kelly Ayotte, Rob Portman, Ron Johnson, Mark Kirk, et cetera, and all those endangered Senate races.
[07:05:06] But without some conservative getting the conservatives out, Donald Trump doesn't save the Senate. He flips it to the Democrats.
BLACKWELL: All right. Jeffrey, how does Donald Trump prevent not just the exodus but potentially a mass exodus from the Republican Party? You see so many people who are in these different stages of acceptance and some people refuse to accept.
LORD: Well, he does it the same way Ronald Reagan did it when -- excuse me voice here, Victor -- when John Anderson who was one of Ronald Reagan's opponents in the Republican primary of 1980 abandoned the Republican Party, declared himself to be a third party candidate, insisted Ronald Reagan was too much of an extremist and so they left.
That's what Evan is talking about. It is the same thing. We've heard this before. You can go all the way back to the Goldwater campaign when Governor Romney's father refused to deliberately support the nominee, Barry Goldwater, and sabotaged him.
And there is Mitt Romney not long ago quoting Ronald Reagan in his "Time for Choosing" speech which was delivered in support of Barry Goldwater. This is what goes on with these people. I've seen it before. We're seeing it again. There's nothing new here.
SIEGFRIED: No, it's completely new when you have a candidate who is willing to cross lines and make personal insults.
LORD: Oh, please.
SIEGFRIED: He's going out and saying Ted Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination?
LORD: Oh, please.
SIEGFRIED: Did Reagan do that about these other candidates? Did Goldwater do that against other candidates? Jeffrey, you are going out and defending the lowest form of insults and that is absolutely despicable.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, go ahead.
LORD: I am defending the nominee of the Republican Party. Tens of millions of people voted for him to make him the nominee.
SIEGFRIED: Tens of millions of more voted against him.
BLACKWELL: Hold on, Evan. Let him finish here.
LORD: You had a fair shot electing someone else. You failed. You were overruled by the base of the Republican Party. Grow up.
BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, let me ask you this.
Donald Trump has said at different times that, yes, we need to unify the party. He's also said, I remember at the California convention, "Yes, unity would be nice but I don't really need it." I mean, is there someone who is a Trump supporter, who has accepted Trump with the nominee, with broad enough shoulders, enough gravitas in the party to facilitate this if Donald Trump can't do it himself? Does he have a surrogate, anyone who can make this happen? LORD: Well, let me just say this. It is -- Paul Ryan is right about
this, it is the nominee's responsibility. But it's also the responsibility of the leaders of the Republican Party. Hello, Paul Ryan is one of those.
I like Speaker Ryan. Both he and I worked for Jack Kemp at different stages of Jack's career. He is a terrific guy. But he is the speaker of the House.
The Republican base has spoken. They want to elect Donald Trump. Speaker Ryan needs to get onboard or in fact he shouldn't be speaker if he can't do this. Newt Gingrich would be perfectly acceptable as somebody who start helping here. Newt Gingrich said Paul Ryan made a mistake. He would know because he is a former speaker himself.
BLACKWELL: And are you saying and we heard Katrina Pierson say this as well, on behalf of the campaign, that one of the job requirements of being speaker of the House is to get the Republican Party to support the Republican presidential nominee? If he can't do that, he should give up the speakership?
LORD: If you can't do the most elementary task of party leadership, then you should resign your job.
SIEGFRIED: I'm sorry, Jeffrey. You are basically saying to all the conservatives who do not want Donald Trump that you should put aside your principles. Principles are only that if you stand by them when they're inconvenient.
LORD: So in other words --
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Finish it up, Evan. Last 15 seconds.
SIEGFRIED: I do not believe that Donald Trump is qualified. But I'm being told by a plurality of the voters who back Donald Trump that I have no choice but to fall in line because it is my duty. My duty is first to what I believe, not to some sort of demagogue.
BLACKWELL: Evan Siegfried, Jeffrey Lord, we've got to wrap it there.
Jeffrey, I know you'll be back. Get yourself some tea and prepare for the next hit. Thank you both.
CABRERA: Hell on earth. That is how people in Canada describe an already massive wildfire ripping through Fort McMurray and this fire could double in size by tonight.
Let's give you some perspective here. This fire is already larger than New York City and it is showing no signs of slowing down. Nothing but rubble is now what's left behind in many areas. The flames wiping out 1,600 homes and businesses, and displacing roughly 90,000 people. Another 7,500 people had to be rescued.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: What have these last few days been like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hell on earth. Just like hell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to see us rebuild, want to see us go back to what we had before, come back even stronger. And hope this never happens again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: When you look at those images of the flames and the ash and people trying to drive through, literally running for their lives.
CNN correspondent Paul Vercammen, you're there, you're joining me talking to some of these folks.
[07:10:01] You're live in Edmonton. What are you hearing from the firefighters? Are they making any progress?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just slight, Ana, because temperatures are a little cooler. And it is multiple fires. So, we went from 49 fires and seven out of control to now 40 fires and five out of control. And then if you look behind me, this is where many people are sheltering in cots overnight with next to nothing and their stories are just mind boggling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was something like Armageddon.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Evacuees describing the frightening experience of escaping the Alberta wildfire. Morgan Elliott (ph) and his family fled their home in Fort McMurray. They are among thousands at the expo center in Edmonton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a scene out of a movie. It reminds me of Walking Dead", the TV show "Walking Dead", where you are going down the highway and there's abandoned vehicles everywhere.
VERCAMMEN: Fire officials are calling it extreme and rare event, but focused on protecting communities.
CHAD MORRISON, SENIOR WILDFIRE MANAGER: In terms of fighting a large landscape sized fire out there, that's going to be the most difficult part. We can be very, very successful in the community areas and critical areas, we can be very strategic and that's really how we fight our fires is we're protecting those values, the community, critical infrastructures.
VERCAMMEN: And more help is on the way, to the approximately 90,000 displaced. The government is providing roughly 100 million Canadian dollars in emergency financial aid. Stranded residents north of Fort McMurray are slowly getting escorted away from the flames. The Royal Canadian mounted police organized an evacuation convoy to move approximately 1,500 vehicles along a potentially dangerous route south to safety. But the damage left behind by the wildfires is overwhelming,
destroying more than 1,600 structures, with some residents returning to nothing but rubble. Like Nathan Sheffield. He posted this video on Facebook of what used to be his home in Beacon Hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my house. This was my house. Nothing left. It's gone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERCAMMEN: And while the fire is growing, the good news is, right now it is burning away from population centers -- Ana.
CABRERA: That is the little silver lining there at the end. Thank you so much, Paul Vercammen, for bringing us up to speed on that devastating wildfire.
BLACKWELL: All right. Hillary Clinton suggesting that Bernie Sanders and the campaign need to give her a little elbow room in the Democrats' quest for the White House. But here is a question that popped up yesterday -- would Sanders consider the V.P. spot? Details on the likelihood of that happening.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We're in the midst of another steep ascent. You hear that alarm as we approach 20 degrees. We're going to get to a 25-degree angle. Keep in mind, I'm standing up straight now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: CNN dives down deep aboard a U.S. nuclear attack submarine for an exclusive look at military exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.
BLACKWELL: Also, there have been a large number of earthquakes in the last few weeks at Mt. St. Helens. Why expert are particularly interested in what's happening beneath the surface.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:16:24] CABRERA: In just a few hours, President Obama gives the final commencement address at Howard University. This will be his first commencement address of this year.
BLACKWELL: But yesterday, he took a few moments to talk about the presidential election, asking voters to look closely at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's record and take the contest seriously.
CNN's White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski has details this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor and Ana.
Right. So, the president comes out to the briefing room to tout these new jobs numbers. But, of course, the first question he gets is going to be about Donald Trump. He even got the question -- what do you think about Trump's taco bowl tweet? Kind of an unusual question for an impromptu press conference from.
But the president answered with not a little bit of announce saying, he has no thoughts on Trump's tweet. This one was, of course, referring to Trump tweeting out a picture of himself eating at taco bowl and saying that he loves Hispanics. And the president said as a general rule he doesn't pay attention to those tweets.
But I don't know how believable that is either. Because keep in mind, as Donald Trump has tweeted things out and then made global headlines, inevitably, the White House gets asked about them.
And over these months, they've had a change, too. They've ramped up their rhetoric as the Republican rhetoric has done the same. In the beginning, remember the White House would say we're not going to respond to everything a candidate says. But since then, they've criticized Donald Trump outright. The president took this opportunity to slam his reality show background. Listen.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a really serious job. This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States, and what that means is that every candidate, every nominee, needs to be subject to exacting standards and genuine scrutiny. It means that you got to make sure that their budgets add up.
KOSINSKI: So, what about the Democrats? The president still isn't publicly taking a position in the race, but he did say this --
OBAMA: I think everybody knows what that math is. I think Senator Sanders has done an extraordinary job raising a whole range of issues that are important to Democratic voters, as well as the American people generally.
And I know that at some point, there's going to be a conversation between Secretary Clinton and Bernie Sanders about how we move towards the convention.
KOSINSKI: It wasn't so long ago that President Obama, at a private event, was quoted as telling donors there that he thinks it is about time the Democratic Party united behind one candidate. But yesterday in the briefing room he said, sure, things get contentious during a campaign, this is no exception between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
But he said the good news is that he feels Democrats are united on the issues and these two agree on 95 percent of them -- Victor and Ana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Michelle Kosinski reporting from the White House, thanks so much.
Now, we just heard the president talk about the delegate map on the Democratic side. Well, it looks like the numbers really do back that up, that there's not a viable path forward for Sanders when it comes to pledged delegates. The bottom line: he just can't do it with pledged delegates alone, it would require superdelegates.
[07:20:03] BLACKWELL: And Sanders says he plans to keep fighting for those superdelegates until the Democratic convention and on the floor. Now on the other hand, he says he is not ruling out the possibility of being Hillary Clinton's running mate.
Watch what he said to CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, right now, we are focused on the next five weeks of winning the Democratic nomination. If that does not happen, we're going to fight as hard as we can on the floor of the Democratic convention to make sure that we have a progressive platform that the American people will support. And then, after that, certainly, Secretary Clinton and I can sit down and talk and see where we go from there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Until then, the campaigning continues. Sanders is holding a rally later today in New Jersey.
CABRERA: A deadly shooting spree in Maryland. And this morning we are learning more about the gunman and his ties to law enforcement and military.
BLACKWELL: And we've seen a couple of months go by since a huge, huge jackpot. Powerball fever spreading this morning as the jackpot ticks toward a half billion dollars.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Three shootings, three people killed, and also a bloody standoff. Police have now charged this man with first degree murder after a two-day rampage outside the nation's capital.
[07:25:00] CABRERA: This morning, new details about this suspect. We've learned he is actually a federal law enforcement officer.
Let's get right to CNN reporter Sherisse Pham. She's in Silver Springs, Maryland, where one of those shootings took place.
What more are we learning about the connection or possible connection between all of these shootings?
SHERISSE PHAM, CNN REPORTER: Well, the shooting rampage took place over a 24-hour period, started on Thursday. The shooter, Eulalio Tordil, followed his wife into a high school parking lot, confronted her in her car, shot and killed her. A man who was standing nearby tried to intervene and tried to help, he shot and injured that man as well.
The next day right here in this parking lot, again confronting a woman, shooting her, two men nearby also shot, and that man -- one of the men was killed from his injuries.
And nearby, a short time later, again confronting a woman in her car, in a parking lot, shooting and killing her.
Now, this all seems to stem from a domestic violence incident. His wife placed a restraining order on him last month and when that order was enforced, the Federal Protective Services placed him on administrative leave, took away his gun, his badge and his credentials.
Now the charges, he has first degree charges from murdering his wife on Thursday. Charges for what happened here at this parking lot are still pending. And he is expected in court on Monday -- Ana.
CABRERA: We'll learn more in the days to come.
Sherisse Pham, thank you.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
BLACKWELL: That's Stevie Wonder there, washed in purple light giving a touching tribute to another legend, late icon Prince. He and other stars honored Prince's legacy, music and philanthropy last night in Los Angeles, this as the investigation into his death continues. A probate court has authorized genetic testing on a sample of Prince's blood in case someone comes forward claiming to be a relative. Under Minnesota law, his $300 million estate would go to his sister and half siblings, unless it is proven that he has a child.
CABRERA: Lottery frenzy is back with the Powerball jackpot at nearly half a billion dollars. People are now rushing to buy their tickets. The odds aren't so good though, one in a little over 192 million. So, good luck.
If you have bought a ticket though, may the odds be ever in your favor. You can't win if you don't play, is what I'd say.
All right. Donald Trump, last man standing on the GOP side. But how will he fare against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton? Is she prepared to take on someone she's calling a loose cannon?
BLACKWELL: And the Democrats are firing back on social media, especially this senator, Senator Elizabeth Warren, firing at Donald Trump via Twitter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I just learned that crooked Hillary, along with her friend -- you know, she's got this goofy friend named Elizabeth Warren. She's on a Twitter rant. She's a goofus. She is a goofus.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:30:17] CABRERA: Hi there. Here's a look at this week's mortgage rate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: Bottom of the hour. A massive wildfire in Canada raging on this morning. It could double in size by tonight, according to firefighting officials. These flames have already wiped out 1,600 buildings near Fort McMurray. About 90,000 people have been displaced, 7,500 had to be escorted out to safety from this fire and in convoys.
(MUSIC)
BLACKWELL: Well, it is on. If you thought the primaries were tough, just wait until the general election.
CABRERA: As Clinton and Trump increasingly turn their sights on one another, we are getting a little peek of how ugly things could get.
Our chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper takes a look at what to expect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you so much!
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So, here are the cards the nation has dealt itself -- Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. A new CNN/ORC poll shows these two would be the least popular nominees in modern history. So, in a match-up between the nation's first female nominee and perhaps the most unpredictable candidate ever, the deck would be stacked with wild cards as well.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't even started on her yet.
TAPPER: Wild card number one -- Donald Trump has given fair warning that his attacks on Clinton will only intensify.
TRUMP: Crooked Hillary. And wonderful Donald.
TAPPER: After all, she's now his biggest competition. CNN's newest poll shows Trump lagging behind 41 percent to Clinton's 54 percent in a hypothetical match-up.
TRUMP: She's the worst secretary of state in the history of this country.
TAPPER: But will the kinds of attacks that have worked so effectively for Trump in the Republican primaries --
TRUMP: The only thing she's got going is the woman's card.
TAPPER: -- work in the general election?
TRUMP: She called me sexist and I hit her with the husband.
TAPPER: When Hillary Clinton called him sexist a few months ago, Donald Trump doubled down, calling out Bill Clinton's infidelity, and Hillary did not put up much of a fight.
What will her strategy be now?
CLINTON: I'm not going to deal with their temper tantrums or their bullying or their efforts to try to provoke me. He can say whatever he wants about me. I could really care less.
TAPPER: Wild card number two, Trump says he will redraw the electoral map by appealing to working class voters. Trump will likely try to outflank Clinton on the left, on trade.
Can industrial states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin turn the election? Romney lost those states in 2012, and so went the race.
Wild card number three -- Trump has made many comments that folks have found offensive, but the remarks that have offended women and Latinos might be the most consequential electorally.
Just to focus on Latinos, the question is will this gin up minority turnout in swing states such as Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Florida.
TRUMP: We're going to build a wall!
TAPPER: Then there is wild card number four, the Justice Department.
CLINTON: I never sent or received any material marked classified.
[07:35:02] TAPPER: What will the FBI investigation into Clinton's e- mail server turn up?
A former State Department staffer has been given immunity and is cooperating. And Clinton will soon be interviewed FBI. It's a question terrifying many Democrats.
Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right. Let's break down the latest in the Trump/Clinton feud. I'm joined now by CNN political commentator and Donald Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord, and former D.C. Democratic Party chair, A. Scott Bolden, a Hillary Clinton supporter.
Good to have both of you back.
A. SCOTT BOLDEN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Good morning.
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Victor. I've been drinking the tea. BLACKWELL: All right. Good. Put some lemon and honey in that for you as well.
All right. Last night, Donald Trump weighed in on this chatter surrounding Hillary Clinton's search for a running mate and the possibility that Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren could be on that short list.
Let's watch and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I just learned that crooked Hillary, along with her friend -- you know, she's got this goofy friend named Elizabeth Warren. She's on a Twitter rant. She is a goofus. She is a goofus.
So, Elizabeth -- you ever see her? I mean, this woman, she's a basket case. By the way, she's done nothing in the United States Senate. She's done nothing. I'd love to run against her, if I came from Massachusetts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, Reince Priebus on Friday said that there is a change in tone that needs to happen that is coming. It didn't come last night. When will that come? Is that coming as Donald Trump moves toward the general?
LORD: Well, I think, Victor, as you see speeches like he gave the other week on foreign policy and the one before that on AIPAC, those are different kinds of speeches, different kind of tone. But heavens, if you can't go out on the campaign trail and have a little fun, what's the point of life here?
He's got a good sense of humor. The American people love that sense of humor. So he lets it fly on occasion.
I don't really think that there is anything terrible about it. To be perfectly candid, as Thomas E. Dewey learned, if you act presidential when you're not president, you don't get to be president. Harry Truman was winning that nickname "Give 'em Hell, Harry" for a reason.
BLACKWELL: All right. So, Scott, let me come to you --
BOLDEN: Well, Victor --
BLACKWELL: But let me come to you with a response, because Senator Warren responded overnight on Twitter. Here's her response, "Goofy @realDonaldTrump. For a guy with the best words, that's a pretty lame nickname. Weak. @RealDonaldTrump is a bully has a single play in his playbook -- offensive lies thrown at anyone who calls him out."
So we can't just call out Donald Trump for playing this name game, name calling, because now Senator Warren has engaged in it as well.
BOLDEN: At risk of saying, well, he started it first, I certainly won't go down that road.
BLACKWELL: All right.
BOLDEN: Let me just say this. It is not fun to offend women. It is not fun to offend minorities. It is not fun to build a wall or to keep Muslims out of this country.
It would be one thing if he was making fun of this, being light- hearted with this following. But he isn't. He continues to drill down on this and, quite frankly, the Democrats and Hillary Clinton, by either not responding or having surrogates respond, continues to bring this out of him.
As he continues to do this, he's going to offend minorities, or continue to, and women, and many of those states that he needs to swing have large voting populations of women and minorities, and he's not going to grow beyond that 40 percent.
I mean, I'll be honest with you -- I'm not sure he wants to win the election because he keeps offending everybody and he can't grow beyond that 40 percent of white working Americans and he's going to need that in the general election. He needs to get smart about this or we're going to give him a big fat loss in November. It's coming.
BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, I know I have to be sensitive in asking but it is something I'm sure people who are hoping that Donald Trump wins in November are considering, he knows that he has these historic unfavorable numbers from women outside of the Republican Party, across the board. Is it smart strategy when you've locked up essentially the nomination to go after a female senator as the potential running mate?
LORD: Yes. Victor, here's the thing. This is political correctness. She's not a female senator. She's a United States senator.
Hillary Clinton is not a woman. She's the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee. Her gender should have nothing to do with it.
BLACKWELL: Well, he brought up that if she were a man -- she'd only have 5 percent of the vote.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: It is not as if Secretary Clinton introduced, he after winning New York said, if she were a man, she'd only have 5 percent.
BOLDEN: Absolutely.
LORD: Right, right. I mean, that's the point.
[07:40:00] Why are we judging her based on her -- I mean, where was all this respect for Sarah Palin? I mean, I've gone back and looked. They called her -- the liberals of the day called her a moron, an idiot, a joke, on and on and on went the list. Where were people jumping up on the Democratic side and saying, oh, we apologize, that's sexist. They weren't. They were doing it. The whole point here is that if you're a woman and you're African-
American or you're Hispanic and you're a conservative, they'll come after you, no holds barred. They'll be as sexist and as racist as they want to be, just ask Justice Thomas.
BLACKWELL: All right. We've got to wrap it there.
Jeffrey Lord, A. Scott Bolden, thanks so much for having the conversation this morning.
LORD: Thank you, Victor.
BOLDEN: Thank you.
LORD: Thank you for tea and honey recipe.
BLACKWELL: You're welcome.
(LAUGHTER)
CABRERA: All right. Something we can all smile about now.
Still to come -- 20 top-notch thoroughbred horses, elaborate hats, high stakes. This is the 142nd Kentucky Derby. Our Coy Wire is track side.
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BLACKWELL: Today is Kentucky Derby day, the day of the greatest two minutes in sports.
BLACKWELL: Coy Wire is live in Louisville. He's getting a preview for us.
Coy, we talked about Nyquist being the favorite to win. Who else should we be watching?
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Ana, there is a horse named Exaggerator. It's the biggest contender, taking on the favorite Nyquist today. Odds on Exaggerator are 5-1.
But it is the horse's team that has a lot of people talking here at derby. For only the third time in the derby's 142-year history we'll see a brother tandem competing for the roses. There no brothers have won it together though. So, a big opportunity for a trainer/jockey duo of Keith and Kent Desormeaux today.
[07:45:03] They grew up in a small quiet town in Louisiana called Maurice. Now, they come a long way. They're riding in the primetime, looking to make history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEITH DESORMEAUX, EXAGGERATOR TRAINER: It was a typical big brother/little brother dynamic.
KENT DESORMEAUX: Yes, like that, exactly.
KEITH DESORMEAUX: Get out of my face. Do you have to follow me around all the time?
KENT DESORMEAUX: Daddy said go take the trash out, right? When daddy told him to do it. That kind of big brother.
KEITH DESORMEAUX: Dad told us to do this. Yes, well I got to hear it from him, not you. You know how it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: So a fun story. Look out for Exaggerator and that Desormeaux team today. What about some long shots that have a chance of taking down the favorite, Nyquist? Everybody loves an underdog, how about Whitmore? Horse is solid, 33-1 odds.
But you pick this one because of the jockey. It is a name that may sound fame, Victor Espinoza. He's ridden the last two Kentucky Derby winners, including last year's elusive Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah. So, if Espinoza wins today, he'd become the first jockey to ever win three consecutive Kentucky derbies or go with my faint underdog, Lani, 28-1 odds, only the second time in history that a horse based out of Japan is running in the derby.
CABRERA: Lot of fun story lines to follow. Coy Wire, thanks to you.
And the Kentucky derby is about much more than the running of the ponies. It is also about mint juleps, about hats. For more information, you can go to our website, CNN.com. We have all sorts of fun stuff. How to make mint julep, drink of the Kentucky derby. And you can also see fashionable hats that aren't just for fashion. Apparently, there are good luck to certain hats. That's all at CNN.com.
BLACKWELL: And ahead on NEW DAY, more than 130 small earthquakes tremble under Mt. St. Helens. Is that normal? Our meteorologist joins us next with what could be going on underneath the surface.
CABRERA: And speaking of digging deep, CNN getting rare access to a nuclear attack submarine. I want to see this.
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CABRERA: A wave of small earthquakes shaking Mount St. Helens in recent days, and experts say more than 100 quakes have occurred underneath the Washington state volcano over the last several weeks.
So, what does this recharge mean?
Let's bring in meteorologist Allison Chinchar. She is in our CNN Atlanta weather center.
Allison, this seems a little bit fishy to say the least, a little nerve racking for folks on that zone. ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. when you say
hundreds of them, you think oh these must be big quakes. But that's just -- these have been incredibly small quakes. However, it's the frequency of them that have the scientists keeping a close eye on this.
This is the past area over the past seven days, these blue squares that you see, those are the monitoring sites. These are all of the earthquakes that have occurred in this region in the last seven days. Now, again I want to point out, none of these have been huge. In fact, most of them have been at a magnitude of 0.5 or less. You and I can't even detect that, they're so small.
Now, a maximum was around 1.3, again, very hard for humans to detect something of that small magnitude. Now, they were all shallow. Basically what this means is when you get these swarms, the repressurization of the magma that's in there, and it kind of seeps through some of the cracks that are there, and that's what causes a lot of these little mini earthquakes.
But you want to keep in mind, this process is going to continue for years without the eruption. That's what they're trying to make sure that you understand. They're not expecting an eruption by any means. So, again, it sounds cool, sounds interesting, but not really a big threat at this time.
CABRERA: Well, thank goodness. Although you wonder, why now, why are they happening now if it's not pointing to something more imminent?
CHINCHAR: Certainly.
CABRERA: Thank you, Allison.
BLACKWELL: Our next hour on NEW DAY: major GOP players line up to say whether they will or will not back Donald Trump's presidential candidacy. We'll look at the divide and the challenges to unite the party.
CABRERA: Plus, rare access aboard a nuclear submarine. It's a CNN exclusive, next.
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[07:56:16] BLACKWELL: All right. Glad you stayed with us for this, because CNN gets exclusive underwater access to a cutting edge nuclear attack submarine. The primary mission right now is to keep a close watch on Russia and other adversaries.
CABRERA: And as CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto explains, the Cold War might be over, but the tensions are still bubbling beneath the surface.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Ana, we have seen this confrontation between the U.S. and Russia play out in the air. You have these close flybys of U.S. and NATO aircraft by Russian planes, flybys of U.S. and NATO warships on the water, public disagreements over Ukraine and Russia.
What we have not seen is what's taking place underwater, a real arms race there you could say, and we got a rare you view inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's five and eight. You launched the open window two.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): The crew of the USS Missouri nuclear attack U.S. submarine is training for war.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Fire. Tube two.
SCIUTTO: They simulate firing torpedoes and cruise missiles from depth, towards targets on sea and land.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Torpedo course 3-3-7. Unit running, wire good.
SCIUTTO: And they're constantly testing the sub's enormous speed and maneuverability.
(on camera): So we're in the midst of another steep ascent. You're hearing that alarm as we approach 20 degrees. We're going to get to a 25 degree angle. Keep in mind, I'm standing up straight now, but as I'm leaning forward, that's keeping me vertical in relation to the ground as the angle ascend gets sharper.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): These are just exercises, but the Missouri -- the "Mighty Mo" to its crew -- has repeatedly come nose-to-nose with real-world threats.
When Russia annexed Crimea, and launched military action in Syria, the Missouri was deployed nearby. And when a Russian sub turned up off the coast of Florida in 2012, it was the USS Missouri called into action to track it.
SCIUTTO: That's just showing hey, showing where they can go?
(on camera): That's a showing, hey, showing where they can go.
COMMANDER FRASER HUDSON, USS MISSOURI: Honestly, I think it's operational experience. If anything were to ever happen, they have experience. They know those waters. I don't think it's a political statement on their part at all.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Russia is deploying attack submarines in numbers and with aggressiveness and advances in technologies not seen since the Cold War. And now, China, North Korea, Vietnam, India, and others are joining a new arms race under the sea.
Commodore Ollie Lewis command a squad of ten Atlantic base subs including the Missouri.
COMMODORE OLLIE LEWIS, COMMANDER, SUBMARINE SQUADRON 12: We were operating on places where we didn't have to rely on an adversary being there to challenge. That's changing. We're back to the point now where we have to consider that there's an adversary ready to challenge in the undersea domain and that undersea superiority is not guaranteed.
SCIUTTO: The Missouri's greatest asset may be its silence. Invisible to satellites, virtually inaudible to other ships and subs.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Dive, dive.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Giving the U.S. the element of surprise.
HUDSON: Whether there is a submarine there or not, they don't know. A potential adversary has to take that into their calculus when they make decisions to do bad things.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): And so, underwater is where these boats and their crews spend 90 percent of their time deployed.
SCIUTTO (on camera): So USS Missouri is coming into port now, Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, Florida. And that's not something -- if you're a submariner -- that you do very often. Their most recent deployment, they were out for 181 days, 163 days were at sea. That is the life of a submariner.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): And that is a call to action the U.S. Navy's 70 submarines are getting more and more often.
(on camera): U.S. commanders are confident that U.S. submarines maintain a technological advantage over Russian submarines, but not by much. There's a whole new class of Russian submarines.
