Return to Transcripts main page
New Day Saturday
Trump, Ryan To Meet Over Growing GOP Divide; Clinton Woos Republicans Opposing Trump; Official: Wildfire Could Double In Size By Tonight; Justice Department Challenges Transgender Bathroom Law; Trump's VP Pick Sparks Guessing Game; Kim Jong Un Plots New Course for North Korea; 142nd Running of the Kentucky Derby Today. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired May 07, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- are getting more and more often.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: 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, which U.S. officials acknowledge are a lot harder to track. This is what the U.S. sub crews are training for now to keep that advantage. It's not guarantee -- Victor and Ana.
ANA CABRERA, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Jim Sciutto reporting. That would take a lot of an adventurous spirit to be one of those submariners.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, certainly.
CABRERA: A lot more this morning.
BLACKWELL: Let's get to it. Your NEW DAY continues right now.
(HEADLINES)
CABRERA: Get your hat ready, Coy. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good Saturday to you. Thanks for joining us. Let's start with Donald Trump. He is on the victory lap. The last man standing in the GOP race even as the primaries continue.
CABRERA: But instead of everyone uniting behind him, there's a split that's forming that seems to be widening within the party. You've heard Senator Lindsey Graham saying he can't bring himself to vote for Trump. Here's Trump's response to Graham at last night's rally in Eugene, Oregon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lindsey Graham knows less about the military than my 10-year-old son, Baron. Baron plays military soldiers. He knows more about the military. He said I have been fighting ISIS for many years. If you have him, you'll be fighting ISIS for many more years, believe me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right, members of the Republican Party are lining up behind and against Donald Trump. Many are looking to leaders like speaker of the House, Paul Ryan for guidance, but he told CNN this week that he is still making up his mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm not there right now and 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)
CABRERA: Joining us live from Washington, CNN Politics reporter, Eric Bradner. Eric, a lot of anticipation for this meeting that's now planned between these two, Ryan and Trump, later this week on Thursday. What are the expectations?
ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Right. So these two have become locked in the civil war of sorts, right? Paul Ryan is trying to defend an institution where he spent his entire advocating conservative policy ideas.
He's also trying to defend conservative House and Senate members from being damaged by Trump if Trump's unfavorable ratings don't improve. Right now, he's disliked by a big swaths of the general electorate especially women.
Nearly two-thirds of them view him unfavorably. So headed into the meeting Ryan is hoping to get Trump sort of on board with some of these conservative policy ideas.
Because they really don't disagree on issues like trade, taxes, minimum wage, et cetera. Trump has really broken from conservative orthodoxy. But Trump does not seem to have much interest in defending the institution.
He does not seem to really be interested in sort of playing the typical conservative frontrunner role. Listen to what Trump told ABC News about his expectations from the meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look at the Republican primary votes, millions and millions of people came in that nobody expected and they voted for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what are you going to tell him in that meeting?
TRUMP: Look, this is what the people want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: All right, Eric Bradner reporting. We really appreciate you bringing us that sound. It will be interesting to hear how each of these men frame the conversation after the meeting on Thursday. Eric, thanks.
BRADNER: Absolutely.
BLACKWELL: All right, let's talk more with Michael Smerconish. His show "SMERCONISH" starts at the top of the next hour. Michael, good morning to you.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, "SMERCONISH": How are you, Victor?
BLACKWELL: I'm doing well. I hope you are too. Let's talk about this meeting that's coming up on Thursday between Speaker Ryan and Donald Trump. What do we expect to come out of this?
[08:05:01]Because Donald Trump told the "Washington Post" that he thinks that it's a good idea that they meet before they go their separate ways.
SMERCONISH: You know, I think potentially Speaker Ryan is doing a favor for Donald Trump. I know that sounds a little counter intuitive because he is perceived as having just rebutte Trump.
But there are a lot of individuals who are in the exact same position as Paul Ryan. They are Republicans and they have not yet warmed to the prospect of Trump being the nominee.
To his credit he got 10.6 million votes thus far, but he's won 40 or so percent of the vote. There are a lot of Republicans who are still unsettled. So maybe vicariously through Paul Ryan they can resolve their issues with Donald Trump.
If he is perceived as having a meeting with Trump. They have policy differences. There are tone differences between the two of them.
But if Paul Ryan should come out of this and all of a sudden be on the Trump train or at least at some point in the future, maybe others will take their lead from him.
BLACKWELL: But if he does not come out of this meeting at least supporting Donald Trump's nomination, Donald Trump reportedly told "The Post" that it's politically good for him that Speaker Paul is reluctant at least at this point. Does the Trump campaign want to go into this general election and possibly an administration at odds with the speaker of the House of the same party?
SMERCONISH: I don't think so. I think that Donald Trump has benefitted from his attack on the establishment thus far, but he needs to grow the tent. You have seen and been referring to those national polls.
He is trailing Secretary Clinton by 13 or so points. He needs to first build the bridge to his own party and then expand the tent. And unless he begins doing that, he's going to lose badly in the general election.
BLACKWELL: All right, Michael Smerconish, thanks so much for coming up early for us.
SMERCONISH: Thanks.
BLACKWELL: Be sure to watch "SMERCONISH" coming up next hour at 9 a.m. Eastern and then later today at 6 p.m. Eastern.
CABRERA: Some Republicans saying they will not back Donald Trump, but the big question is will they then back Hillary Clinton instead assuming she gets the Democratic nomination? Clinton certainly hopes so. Her campaign is now trying to appeal to those Republicans who don't want to vote for Trump.
Meanwhile, her rival, Bernie Sanders, says he is not quitting the race. Don't count him out. He is also not ruling out the possibility of being Clinton's running mate. Take a listen to what he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right now, we are focused in the next five weeks of winning the Democratic nomination. If that does not happen, we are 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)
CABRERA: Let's bring in CNN political commentator and Hillary Clinton supporter, Maria Cardona. Maria, thanks for being here. Can you see a Clinton and Sanders ticket?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's way too early to really think about that possibility yet. Both Secretary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are focused still on the primary.
I happen to believe that it is mathematically impossible for Senator Sanders to win the nomination at this point, but I think he should absolutely stay in this race. He has been great for the Democratic Party.
It's been great for the country to see how a party can actually debate in a civilized manner versus the complete debacle that has happened on the Republican side. I think moving into the convention, he has brought up some very critical issues.
They are issues that Secretary Clinton agrees with. I think moving into the convention and then coming out of the convention, we will be a unified party.
We will be a party that is focused on what Americans actually care about, on what the majority of the Americans with all of the different demographics that make up the American electorate care about.
And that I think is the big contrast with the Republican Party that is so divided right now and so divisive within its own tent that it can't even really figure out what it's going to do come November.
So this is a great opportunity for Democrats to continue to focus on that unifying message.
CABRERA: And Hillary Clinton has tried to seize on the divisiveness within the Republican Party trying to win over some of those anti- Trump Republicans and convince them to vote for her. Could that strategy reaching out a little bit more to the right risk losing support of the progressive left of the Democratic Party?
CARDONA: No, I don't think so because her message is clearly and squarely where the majority of Americans are. You see this in poll after poll, but I think what she is doing is that she is focusing on those incredibly disaffected, disappointed and in some many cases disgusted Republicans at the prospect of who their standard bearer is in terms of the values that he represents.
[08:10:02]And she is saying look, come on board. I actually have values that are closer to where you are and where the Republican Party is because they're more main stream values than what Donald Trump represents to a lot of those disaffected Republicans right now.
CABRERA: Hillary Clinton is a polarizing person too we know for a lot of Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump has seized on this new nickname for Clinton calling her crooked Hillary. We have seen him do this before.
Lying Ted, for example, seemed to stick and worked. He is talking of about an issue that has come up Hillary Clinton about whether she is trustworthy. Should she be worried that he is really latching on to this line of attack?
CARDONA: No, I don't think so. I think what you'll see from her, which is what you did not see from the Republicans is her going after him and frankly, if you look back on it, she was the very first one back in June when he announced his candidacy calling Mexican immigrants rapist.
Who was the first one to call him out on it? It wasn't anybody from his party. It was Hillary Clinton. So I think what you're going to see is a fight of which Donald Trump has never been able or seen within his own party because they were so timid at first dismissing him and then being afraid to go up against him because of what he did to every one of his rivals.
I think what you are going to see in Hillary Clinton is somebody who fights back aggressively, but who fights back on the issues, and who fights back on behalf of the American people.
Because what we have seen from Donald Trump is that he is not just attacking Hillary Clinton, he is attacking 53 percent of the electorate which are women. He is attacking 18 percent of the population which are Hispanics.
I can go on and on representing every demographic and every group of people that Donald Trump has criticized and has attacked and that is who Hillary Clinton is going to be defending.
And that's who her voice is going to be representing and that means that she is going to be representing the majority of the American electorate.
CABRERA: All right, Maria Cardona, thanks for your time this morning.
CARDONA: Thanks so much, Ana.
BLACKWELL: Take a look at this. In Canada, families narrowly escape as a massive wildfire larger than the size of New York could double in size today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smoke filling the sky as a convoy of desperate residents flee the danger zone.
(on camera): What are these last few days been like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hell on earth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Plus a rare once in a generation congress in North Korea intended to cement the power of dictator, Kim Jong-Un.
BLACKWELL: And 20 top notch thoroughbred horses. Coy Wire is live at Churchill (inaudible).
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, 20 horses competing here (inaudible) Churchill today. About $2.4 million at stake. We will talk to the favorites and fashion coming up next on NEW DAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:16:11]
CABRERA: Hell on earth is how people in Canada are describing this massive wildfire. They are ripping through Fort McMurray and this fire could double in size by tonight.
Just to give you more of a perspective, the fire is already larger than New York City. It is showing no signs of slowing down. Nothing but rubble is what's left behind. Take a look at these pictures.
Flames wiping out some 1,600 homes and businesses. Displacing about 90,000 people. Another 7,500 people had to get rescued and there are still more waiting.
CNN correspondent, Paul Vercammen, joining me live from Edmonton. Paul, we had a chance to talk in the last hour where you said that at least the fire is not moving toward the population centers. A little bit of good news. What's on tap for today in this firefight?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, they're hoping that the temperatures stay down and the winds stay down as well chipping away a little process here and there. They went from 49 total fires to 40 total fires.
That allows them to go ahead and take those resources and funnel them to the specific hot spots. Here in Edmonton, this is where a lot of the evacuees are coming and they often are carrying just a bag full clothes and maybe a passport and their medicines. The stories 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 and his family fled their home in Fort McMurray. They are among thousands at the expo center in Edmonton.
MORGAN ELLIOT, WILDFIRE EVACUEE: It was like a scene out of a movie. It remind me of "Walking Dead," the TV show "Walking Dead" where you're going on the highway and abandoned vehicles everywhere.
VERCAMMEN: Fire officials are calling an extreme and rare event, they're focused on protecting communities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In terms of fighting the large landscape size 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, very strategic in those priorities 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 Mountain 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 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 just to update some numbers they were able to get 2,500 vehicles through that gauntlet, if you will, burned down Fort McMurray. Back to you now, Ana.
CABRERA: All right, Paul Vercammen staying on top of these Canadian wildfires, thank you.
BLACKWELL: Donald Trump weighs his options for potential running mates. We'll talk about who could be in and who already says they are out.
CABRERA: It's been a little while since we've seen a jackpot find this high. Powerball fever spreading this morning as that jackpot takes for a half a billion dollars.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:23:06]
(VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: That's music legend, Stevie Wonder, giving a touching tribute to another legend, late icon, Prince. He and other stars honored Prince's legacy in music and for philanthropy last night in Los Angeles.
Now, 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.
Now under Minnesota state law his $300 million estate would go to his sister and half siblings. That is unless it has proven that he has a child.
CABRERA: London making history in electing its first Muslim mayor. Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party, he will become the first Muslim mayor to lead a major western city. Khan's win comes after a bitter political race. In fact, during the campaign, Khan's rival tried to link him to radical Islam. Khan is the son of Pakistan immigrants and he says, quote, "He is humbled by the election results."
BLACKWELL: Concerns over the Zika virus has forced this year's Marlin-Parrot (ph) out of Puerto Rico. Players from each baseball team say that they will not play in San Juan later this month. A 70- year-old man died in Puerto Rico of complications from the virus. It's the first time that a Zika infection contributed to a death in a U.S. state or territory. Now the two game series has been moved to Marlins Park in Miami.
CABRERA: Lottery frenzy is back with a Powerball jackpot at nearly half a billion dollars. People are rushing to buy their tickets. The odds of winning is one and 292 million. Still, good luck.
The federal government now threatening to pull its aide from North Carolina if the state doesn't make changes to the controversial transgender bathroom law that bans people from using public bathrooms that don't correspond to their biological fact.
[08:25:10]BLACKWELL: The fed say that law violates civil rights. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The clock is ticking for the Tarheel state. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is giving North Carolina until the end of Monday to get the controversial transgender bathroom law also known as HB2 off the books.
The law requires transpeople use the restroom or changing facilities corresponding with the sex on their birth certificate and not how they identify. Candis Cox, a transgender woman in North Carolina calls that requirement a violation of her civil rights and so do the feds.
CANDIS COX, TRANSGENDER WOMAN: It is open discrimination. It's no different than the Jim Crow laws that we have here in the south.
SANDOVAL: At the heart of the DOJ's argument, HB2 violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX that's meant to prevent discrimination and education based on sex violating either one of those could result in civil action even the state losing significant federal funds.
Legal expert, Page Pate believes more than just the state's university system could be impacted.
PAGE PATE, LEGAL EXPERT: If any agency or school receives federal dollars then there's strings attached to that money and those strings are you have to abide by our civil rights legislation and not discriminate based upon gender identity.
SANDOVAL: The ball is in the court of state legislators and Governor Pat McCory (ph). In order to comply with the DOJ, HB2 has to be repealed or amended. While the bill was introduced and passed in a single day, House Speaker Tim Moore thinks revisiting it may not be a speedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will take no action by Monday. That deadline will come and go.
SANDOVAL: Moore and his fellow Republicans defend the law. They argue the privacy rights of their citizens are in jeopardy. Polo Sandoval, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right, so he's knocked out 16 competitors in the primaries and now everyone wants to know will one of them come back to be on the ticket with Donald Trump.
CABRERA: Up next, the Veep-stakes guessing game and how Trump's choice could impact the race.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:48] CABRERA: We're continuing to watch this huge wild fire in California that is raging this morning. It could -- excuse me. It's Canada. It could double in size by tonight. These flames have already wiped out 1,600 buildings near Fort McMurray and about 90,000 people have been displaced. Seventy-five hundred of them were escorted safely from the fire where they were trapped. They were able to get in some convoys yesterday.
BLACKWELL: All right. The guessing game has begun now. Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, the question on so many minds, who will he pick to be his potential vice president?
Well, this week, during a one-on-one interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Trump revealed what he is looking for in a potential candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would want somebody that's going to help me from a legislative standpoint and getting things past through the Senate and Congress. To me that's why I think probably in terms of the vice president, I'm going to go the political route. I don't need the business route. I've got that covered.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Somebody who's been a governor or a senator?
TRUMP: Somebody that -- somebody -- maybe even a senator. I mean, I like that they're doing -- look, we want to get legislation passed. We're a total grid lock in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Well, considering that and taking that into contest, consider the list of people who do not want the job. That name is getting long and longer than the list of those that do.
With me now political reporter for "The Washington Post", Philip Bump.
Philip, good morning.
PHILIP BUMP, POLITICAL REPORTER, WASHINTON POST: Good morning.
BLACKWELL: So, typically, a nominee chooses someone who brings an attribute that he or she does not have, maybe a state, maybe a region. Give me your list of maybe two or three who should be at the top of Trump's list.
BUMP: Sure. Well, I think that he's right. I mean, one of the things that you're seeing here is that usually, you have a presidential candidate who looks to someone that can balance them also, sort of personally, right?
So, you have Barack Obama who is very cool and collective, you pick a Joe Biden who's a little more effusive. I think what you're seeing here, we're seeing the president as the person who's got a lot of color, he's quite a character. I feel like Donald Trump is being honest when he says he's going to pick someone who can actually go down to Capitol Hill and do the nitty-gritty work there.
The question, though, I mean, your question about who's at the top of the list is a good one, and it could be anyone. This is Donald Trump we're talking about. So, yes, I think he is going to focus for someone that's going go look at Capitol Hill. But it could be literally anybody and it's very, very hard to game out.
BLACKWELL: So, we know that Trump and we talked about him this morning, these unfavorable numbers amongst women. We know that South Carolina and Nikki Haley, governor there, her name has been floated. She says she is not interested. Is there another potential pick who can help him with those numbers of female voters?
BUMP: Well, one of the things that's interesting is that the favorability is a critical consideration. We're seeing things like Paul Ryan who's reticent to come out and endorse Donald Trump.
And I think part of why some of these people are reticent to endorse him is because he is so unpopular. And there's a sense that the popularity maybe there to stay. If so, if you sign on to be the vice president, you become that unpopular as well, you're part of that package. And I think that's giving a lot of people pause.
I think Nikki Haley doesn't like Donald Trump. I don't think she would sign to be on his vice president. Some people have said Sarah Palin. Sara Palin came out and has endorsed Donald Trump and that doesn't help him on the legislative end. The number of women who have Capitol Hill experience who would sign on to a Donald Trump campaign is not a very big number. On the top of my head, I can't think of it.
BLACKWELL: All right. Let's turn to the Democrats for a moment. And yesterday, Sanders, Bernie Sanders left the door opened to potentially being a running mate with Secretary Clinton.
Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're focused on 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 an aggressive platform that the American people will support. After that, certainly, Secretary Clinton and I can sit down and talk and see where to go from there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: What's the likelihood of a Sanders ticket out of Philadelphia?
BUMP: I don't think that it's huge. I understand what the appeal is. Bernie Sanders has a very strong committed base of support.
[08:35:02] That is why Hillary Clinton has had such a tough time here.
But I think what Sanders wants to do is he wants to, exactly what you just said, he wants to shift the Democratic Party to the left, he wants to put into the party's platform the things that he cares about around campaign finance reform and around income equality. I don't know if he is terribly interested in being her vice presidential pick. She, too, she has a much broader range I think of the general consensus. She is more likely to win in November, that makes it much more appealing to be her vice president, and you know that you're going to get something out of the deal besides just having an unpopular running mate that you're running alongside of.
BLACKWELL: All right. Philip Bump, thanks so much.
BUMP: My pleasure.
BLACKWELL: Ana?
CABRERA: North Korea's first full congress in decades is being closely watched here at home. Kim Jong-un is expected to reassert his push for nuclear weapons. We sit down with the former ambassador of the United Nations on what this rare Congress means for the rest of the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Well, a once in a generation congress could pave the way for North Korea to develop nuclear weapons and secure more power for Kim Jong-un as the country's ruler. Now, this comes amid speculation he will soon conduct a fifth nuclear test.
CNN's Will Ripley is one of only 100 journalists from around the world invited to this congress and he has more on what we can expect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right now, we're walking through Pyongyang towards the April 25th House of the Culture. This is the venue for the seventh Workers Party Congress. It was also the venue for the previous congress back in 1980.
We saw a massive caravan of coaches that we believe are carrying the 3,000 members of North Korea's ruling elites, the Workers Party, who are here to unanimously show their support for the supreme leader Kim Jong-un.
[08:40:08] I say unanimously because here in North Korea, there is no political dissent. It's just not an option.
She says, "We all say the Koreans are so fortunate to have such great leaders, starting from the late president, right up to the marshal Kim Jong-un."
This is as close as we're allowed to get, more than 100 news organizations invited here and we can't go inside the congress. That speaks to the fact that the North Korean political system is quite nebulous. It is not transparent to say the least and they say this event here is to rally support and help him push forward his plan for North Korea, which is a two-prong approach of developing the country's nuclear program and also growing the North Korean economy.
Now, there are some on the outside that say cannot have your cake and eat it, too. You can't have a strong economy and also continue to develop nuclear weapons. But Kim Jong-un's government is intent on proving them wrong, and it's part of the reason why you see so much international press here.
One thing I've noticed in two years of coming here is how much activity there is, cars in the streets. People are more well-dressed. It seems as if the economy is growing. But you wonder how long it can last given this heightened sanctions and their trickle down effects in the coming months.
Are you worried how the sanctions are going to affect your life?
He says, "We have been under heavy sanctions since the end of the Korean War in the '50s. We're not afraid of stronger sanctions because we're used to them and we survived."
Now, as we monitor this once in a generation meeting in Workers Party congress, we wonder if what the leader is going to announce. Will there be a major shift in economic policy, will there be a fifth nuclear tests or news of improvements to the North Korean nuclear arsenal?
Many around the world oppose the rise of Kim Jong-un, but here in Pyongyang, you will hear a single person speak badly about the supreme leader. Why would they speak badly about them when he holds absolute power in this country, power that inside this building is only expected to increase perhaps dramatically in the coming days.
Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang, North Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: And after the break, we'll talk live with former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Governor Bill Richardson about this rare congress, and what it means for Kim Jong-un's nuclear agenda. Also, we'll talk about domestic politics.
CABRERA: Plus, let's take some live pictures now high above Churchill Down. The stakes are high. It's the 142nd Kentucky Derby today. People are starting to pile in there. Our Coy Wire is joining us live to run down the horses, the jockeys, the hats.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:46:15] BLACKWELL: Before the break, we talked about North Korea's rare congress and the power that it can give the ruler Kim Jong-un.
Let's talk now about this with former ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson. He's also involved with the negotiations to bring back the American being held in North Korea, of course, former New Mexico governor.
Good morning to you, sir.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Good morning, Victor. Nice to be with you.
BLACKWELL: Good to have you on the show this morning.
Governor, there's not been a meeting of this in decades. There was no convening of the congress during Kim's father's rule, Kim Jong-il. Why is this from your perspective happening now?
RICHARDSON: Well, it's happening now because Kim Jong-un is consolidating his power internally. He seems to be still afraid of his own shadow. But at the same time, he is sending a message that the party that he controls, is in control of North Korea, the Korean Workers Party.
And, secondly, he is probably sending a message to the military, to the elite, that he has unquestioned political power that nobody should mess with him and that he is going to continue the development of the nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles. I think they can already reach Japan and South Korea. I don't think that they can reach the continental ballistic missile, the United States, but he is sending a message that I'm not going to negotiate on our nuclear development.
At the same time, we're also going to try to develop the economy which is almost impossible to do both.
BLACKWELL: So, Kim Jong-un has been in power for five years since 2011, since the death of his father, but has not made a trip outside of the DPRK to meet other leader. Do you expect soon that he will have to, I mean, to at least get close to the leaders who are not handing down these sanctions to keep his friends even closer?
RICHARDSON: Well, he doesn't have to many friends either. Russia seems to be the country that warms up to North Korea with a number of commercial deals.
China is the wild card. China controls a lot of the North Korean economy. They give them food, energy assistance, they give them all kinds of humanitarian relief, but he has snubbed his nose, Kim Jong- un, at China several times, trying to show his independence, and I don't think China wants to put pressure on North Korea because they don't want to flood them going into China and they don't want to help the United States.
This is China with some kind of measure of control over North Korea. They want things a bit unstable. So, it serves everyone's interest not to do much.
So, again, I think what they're going to do in the days ahead is probably continue their policy of being isolated but being defiant.
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about the peninsula's role in domestic politics. That was a few weeks ago when the now presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said that he would consider allowing South Korea to develop their own nuclear weapons to protect themselves against North Korea.
Your response to that.
RICHARDSON: Well, it shows that Donald Trump does not know anything about foreign policy. I think that's the last thing that we want for the allies to have developed nuclear weapons. We have a treaty with North Korea. We would defend North Korea, a mutual defense treaty. We would come to their assistance.
What you don't want is in stability in the peninsula. That's the worst thing we could do. And I think Trump typically has backed off of that. That's why we need Hillary Clinton's very strong hand in foreign policy as our next president.
[08:50:05] But at the same time, China is making a lot of military moves in the region. And what they don't want I believe is for the United States and South Korea for there to be negotiations with North Korea that will stabilize things. I know that this is not expected by other experts, but I believe China likes the instability in the Korean peninsula.
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you, you said there or suggested that you're a Hillary Clinton supporter and you have come out publicly supporting her candidacy. We talked about there being a contested convention for the Republicans in Cleveland in July. But Bernie Sanders has said that he will continue to fight for the primaries and at the convention to sway the super delegates.
If he has a really good May and can pull out California in June, are you concern as a Clinton supporter that he will be able to sway those superdelegates there at the convention?
RICHARDSON: Well, you want to lock up the nomination and I am in California now, I see Hillary Clinton being very strong here with the Democratic voters.
At the same time, we need Bernie Sanders supporters. He is run as a very good race. He's tapped a lot of progressive issues that the Democrats need to embrace. So, you want to treat him with respect.
I think that he deserves to go all the way to the convention. He deserves to stay in the race. He deserves a major say in the platform and the future direction of the party. Maybe Bernie Sanders becomes very active and then becomes a titular head of the Democratic National Committee later in the Clinton administration. I don't know. That's her decision to make.
You have to give the man his credit, his due. He has raised a lot of important issues and the income inequality issue and I think that's the main issue in the campaign and that's going to be a main concern in Donald Trump and Hillary.
BLACKWELL: What's the concern that he is going to have the difficulty you in swaying and attracting the Sander supporters who are Bernie or burst at this point? RICHARDSON: Well, you know, she won't get all of them, were but I
think that a sizable majority is need. She has 3 million more votes than Sanders so far. She is up to 90 percent of the delegates, and a lot of those Bernie Sanders are going to say, do we go with Clinton that shares many of Bernie progressive values or Donald Trump whose now using bullying tactics that are not personal attacks and are not even I think should be considered in the White House?
What would Trump do with those comments on the Clinton's and with President Putin? Would they start to insult a foreign leader as the president if he does not get his way? This is not a reality show. This is a race for the presidency of the United States.
BLACKWELL: All right. Former Governor Bill Richardson, thanks so much for being with us on NEW DAY.
CABRERA: Still to come, CNN live at 142nd Kentucky Derby where Coy is track side.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESONDENT: I'm Coy Wire at Churchill Downs. It's a beautiful day, 160,000 people expected to show up. We're going talk fashion. We're going to talk the favorite and a mint julep that cost $2,500, coming up on NEW DAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)-
[08:57:04] CABRERA: Welcome back.
The 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby is today. But there's much more happening than just a horse race. The fashion, the food and the mint julep.
Coy Wire has it all covered and he's joining us live from Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Coy, you have been smiling ear to ear all morning long. Clearly, you're not having any fun.
WIRE: No, zero fun, Ana. This is my first Kentucky Derby, and I'm loving it.
Other people loving it and there's a horse here that's a heavy favorite, Nyquist, 2-1 odds. It can really fly, undefeated, a perfect 7-7 coming to the Kentucky. I spoke to Nyquist trainer Doug O'Neal just moments ago and he said that Nyquist has been eating all morning as much as he wants, resting, relaxing. In an hour, they will take it away eight hours before the race time, so he won't be too weigh down for the race.
Now, for Doug he say that is he's not been resting or relaxing at all. He's been awake since 3:00 a.m. Eastern. He probably won't take a nap and he won't eat much either. $1.6 million at stake here, that beautiful garland, 40 pounds worth of roses.
Ana, Victor, I think most trainers and jockeys are a bit nervous today. CABRERA: My hands starting to sweat when you were saying the horse is
undefeated. Talk about the pressure that he and his jockey must feel going into the race. It's a serious business for a lot of people there. On the flip side, it's a lot of fun.
You mentioned that there's a $2,500 mint julep. I want to know more about that.
WIRE: Ana, yes, don't we all?
They have a mint julep and it's $2,500, a gold plated cup with diamond, gold-plated straw, copper dusted pecan. Now, of course, there's good old Kentucky brown water bourbon and they're looking to raise a half a million dollars for charity. So, cool story there.
Another cool part of the derby, of course, is the fashion and the hats. We sought out one of the best hat makers here in Louisville on how it's done. They have made hats for Michelle Obama, Oprah. These hats can cost thousands of dollars.
Now, one cool thing we found. We found a Kentucky Derby named generator. Look this up, go to the Twitter account and found out what your name would be. Mine is Gin Boots, pretty cool. Check out Ana Cabrera, hers would be King Tiger, on the prowl, she might win it all.
Victor, I got to say, Notachance McFly.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: This is the worst name generator ever.
CABRERA: It's fitting though.
BLACKWELL: Notachance McFly? Yes, I'd probably lose the Kentucky Derby.
WIRE: That's what it says.
BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you, Coy.
Hey, that's it for us. We'll see back here at 10:00 Eastern for an hour of "NEWSROOM".
CABRERA: Don't go anywhere. "SMERCONISH" starts now.
