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Hala Gorani Tonight
Clinton And Sanders Battle In Kentucky And Oregon; Clinton Fighting Two Fronts Against Sanders, Trump; Little To No Progress On Syria Peace In Vienna; Syrian Military Claims Some Rebels Laying Down Weapons; Sovereignty A Key Issue In Brexit Debate; ISIS Claims Responsibility for Baghdad Attack; Trump Wants to Sue New York Times; Hillary Clinton Says She Will Enlist Husband Bill to Work on Economy; South African Parliament Fights Over President Zuma; Triathlete's Painful Past; Twitter to Increase Number of Characters in Tweets. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired May 17, 2016 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:01:43] HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani. We are live at CNN London and this is THE WORLD RIGHT NOW.
Well, voters are right now casting ballots in two American states that don't usually have a big say in presidential primaries.
Donald Trump should close in on the nomination in Oregon, but all eyes are on the Democrats. They are voting in both Kentucky and Oregon where
delegates are divvied up proportionally.
So Bernie Sanders can't just win. He'd need a landslide to try and narrow Hillary Clinton's technically insurmountable delegate lead, but Clinton
hopes to shut him down anyway and focus on Trump. Brianna Keilar has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton is barnstorming through the blue grass courting Kentucky voters
before they go to the polls, mocking Donald Trump for not being specific about his policy proposals.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So let's suppose -- here's the question. So what is your plan to create jobs? His answer is, I'm
going to create them. They're going to be great.
I know how to do it. Maybe in the preliminaries like the Republican primary that's all they wanted to hear. But Americans take their vote for
president seriously.
And they're going to be looking at that TV screen and saying, he still doesn't have anything to tell us? Well, wait a minute.
KEILAR: Clinton is also promising to bring back the prosperity of the '90s with a little help from her husband.
CLINTON: My husband who I'm going to put in charge of revitalizing the economy because you know, he knows how to do it.
KEILAR: But that pledge has many questioning how involved Bill Clinton would be in his wife's administration. Clinton dismissed the suggestion he
might have a cabinet level role.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would he be in the cabinet?
KEILAR: A spokesman saying it would be getting ahead of ourselves to talk about any sort of formalized role for anyone in her administration. As
Clinton takes on Trump, she's still fending off Bernie Sanders who took the campaign trail to Puerto Rico.
BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (Inaudible).
KEILAR: Many of the final states are friendly territory for Sanders and despite a nearly insurmountable delegate lead, Clinton is trying to avoid a
string of embarrassing losses at the end of her primary battle as the Clinton campaign tries not to alienate Sanders supporters, emotions between
the two sides are raw.
Sanders backers got upset during the state convention in Nevada as more delegates were awarded, unfairly, they felt, to Clinton.
Donald Trump is reveling in the chaos tweeting, "Bernie Sanders is being treated very badly by the Dems. This system is rigged against him. He
should run as an independent. Run, Bernie, run."
On CNN, Senator Jeff Merkley, a Sanders supporter batted down that idea.
JEFF MERKLEY, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: He said there's no way I'm going to be Ralph Nader. We're not going to split the party. We are not going to
empower the Republicans. He understands the damage that Bush did to this nation and he is not going to allow Trump to follow on and do even more
damage.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right, well, CNN politics senior correspondent, Chris Moody joins me now live from Washington. Chris, let's talk a little bit about
how important Kentucky is for Hillary Clinton, even though technically it is practically impossible now for Bernie Sanders to catch up.
But still she's invested more money. She's held 11 campaign events in the last two weeks. She must be concerned at this stage that it is going to be
very close here.
CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You're right. I'd like to reiterate to the international audience that even on the Republican and the
Democratic side, the primaries are just about wrapped up.
But the reason that Hillary Clinton still has to focus on Kentucky here is because over the past several states, Bernie Sanders has not just been
nipping at her heels, but winning and she hasn't been able to put this thing to bed and focus on the general election.
A win here in Kentucky, especially a pretty significant one, will really help her to say, look, now let's focus on the general election. She
already has been talking far more about Donald Trump than she has been Bernie Sanders.
[15:05:07]But she needs to be able to now bring the Democratic Party together. One thing that also makes it very difficult is because of the
string of losses and because of the passion and support of the Bernie Sanders supporters, she's going in to this general election kind of looking
weaker than I think she'd like to.
If you had told a Hillary Clinton supporter a year ago that she'd be having to fight it out in Kentucky in May, they probably would have laughed.
GORANI: Let's talk a little bit about her announcement that was a surprise to some that Bill Clinton would be handling the economic policy if she were
to be elected come November.
Strategy wise, on the one hand people remember the Clinton administration, especially the second term, as one where the economy did quite well.
But on the other, you can't do more establishment than a two-term U.S. president in a very anti-establishment mood right now. Is it a risky bet
on her part?
MOODY: A lot of people saw that as kind of curious. They said, well, what does that mean? Is he going to be in the cabinet? She said, no. Well,
what? Kind of an informal role?
But it was an interesting move because the economy, when you look at the polls, the economy is at the forefront of most voters' minds, whether it is
male, female or across ethnic demographics. So why abdicate that to someone else?
But here's the thing about Hillary Clinton, she focuses on policy, she's really good at getting into the nitty-gritty of the wonky kind of stuff,
but she's not a sales woman. But you know who is one of the best salesmen is her husband, Bill Clinton.
I think that that's the role she sees is someone that can put a face on her policies and get out there and do a better job on the campaign trail than
she does selling those policies.
A lot of people have good feelings about the '90s, even Republicans. Bill Clinton left the presidency with high ratings. He still has those ratings.
He's still a pretty good brand. But of course, there are vulnerabilities to putting him out there in such a strong role.
GORANI: All right, thanks very much, Chris Moody in Washington.
Now how are the political-power moves playing out at the polls? Brynn Gingras is live at the polling station in Louisville, Kentucky and joins us
with more on the mood there. Hi, there, Brynn?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Hala. Yes, it is a closed Democratic primary here in Kentucky and usually that favors Hillary Clinton
as we've seen in this election. And that is going to be great news to her because she has been working hard in the state of Kentucky, stopping --
campaign stops 11 times.
Just within the last two weeks trying to sort of end Bernie Sanders' recent winning streak. Certainly we'll find that out when polls close 6:00
Eastern Time here in Kentucky.
We reached out to the secretary of state though earlier today and voter turnout expected to be somewhat low. That can also be something that's
indicative of how this election fares out later this evening -- Hala.
GORANI: In a state like Kentucky where Hillary Clinton made some comments that hurt her about coal industry in a state like Kentucky where
unemployment is much higher than the national average, clearly Hillary Clinton here has her work cut out for her. Is she being convincing? You
mentioned 11 campaign stops.
GINGRAS: Yes, exactly right. That's why she's been spending so much time in the bluegrass state, not only those 11 stops but also putting a lot of
money into her time here in the bluegrass state of Kentucky.
But historically we should mention that this state has been very favorable to the Clintons both Bill and Hillary in past election and past primaries.
So we'll see later tonight -- Hala.
GORANI: All right, Brynn Gingras, thanks very much in Louisville, Kentucky. We'll have more on the U.S. election a little bit later
including a new Hillary Clinton super PAC or an anti-Trump super PAC ad that is taking on Donald Trump. Some very important developments there in
the U.S. election. We will continue to discuss that in a few minutes.
But now on to Syria, they couldn't even agree when to meet again. That is the sad state of affairs in Geneva where peace talks on Syria's civil war
have ground basically to a halt without any kind of resolution.
The only minor progress, a vow to strengthen an all-but-broken cessation of hostilities. While American Secretary of State John Kerry said the
gathering was a step in the right direction, he suggested finding a way forward would be quite a challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: A variety of competing interests are going to have to be reconciled, and those involved in this conflict with
competing agendas are going to have to be willing to prioritize peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right, that's as far as they got. Peace certainly seems elusive on the outskirts of Damascus among other places in Syria. Rebels
now fear government assault could be imminent in Daraya since an aid convoy was turned away last week.
That from a report by the Reuters news agency. A spokesman for one rebel group says large convoys of government troops are moving from the airport
nearby.
The city had been under siege for years and one rebel official says civilians there are basically starving to death.
[15:10:11]In other areas around Damascus, the Syrian military says it is enticing some rebels, it says, to put down their weapons. But the U.S. and
its allies have serious doubts about the regime's claims. Frederik Pleitgen reports from inside Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like so many places in Syria, the Qadam (ph) neighborhood in Damascus is
scarred by five years of war. But now some civilians are returning.
"I was forced out of here three years ago. This is the first time I'm able to go back," this woman says. The Syrian army says a local reconciliation
project helped silence the guns here. Enticing some rebels, like this man, to lay down their arms.
"I think reconciliation like this is the only way forward," he says. "Even though it might take some time for many rebels to latch on to the idea."
The Syrian military claims between 150 and 200 rebels have defected in Qadam (ph), leading to a dramatic drop in violence.
(on camera): As you can see, there is widespread destruction here in this front line neighborhood. But believe it or not, the military commander for
this district says it could have been even worse if they wouldn't have had the reconciliation program and if the fighting would have gone on even
longer.
(voice-over): But the United States and the U.N. are skeptical of programs like this one. Instead of local projects, they want to strengthen a
nationwide ceasefire in Syria and jump-start the political reconciliation process for the whole country.
Any rebel factions also don't trust the Syrian government believing they'll be locked up or worse if they lay down their guns. But this member of the
Qadam Reconciliation Council shows me lists of names he claims proves that many rebels are taking up the government's offer.
"The names in green are the ones who have been accepted into national reconciliation," he says. So they are now free to go anywhere without
fearing punishment.
While this project may have yielded some results in this neighborhood of Syria's capital, the U.N. believes only nationwide reconciliation backed
and supervised by powerful nations like the U.S. and Russia can overcome the distrust of the warring factions and move the effort to end Syria's
civil war forward. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Damascus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Just like Syria and Iraq, ISIS also has a foothold in Libya. Our Nick Paton Walsh was just in Libya. We'll bring you his report from inside
the country. Here is a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Steady stream of casualties, quite unlike anything the city is used to. One witness said
they saw what looked like four armored SUVs containing western looking soldiers. You can't imagine how under resourced things are here. Perhaps
ISIS are using this passage of human life into Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: That exclusive report from Nick Paton Walsh debuts Wednesday right here on the program on CNN. A lot more to come this evening including
this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would be happy if we left? Putin might be happy. I suspect al-Baghdadi might be happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Strong words from David Cameron as he ramps up the rhetoric ahead of the Brexit referendum. We'll have the latest from the two campaigns.
Plus, a triple bombing in Baghdad with the spike in violence could indicate about ISIS' strategy. We'll be right back.
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[15:16:12]
GORANI: It's now just a little more than a month until Britain votes in a very important E.U. referendum and the rhetoric just keeps ramping up.
British Prime Minister David Cameron says that ISIS and Russia might be happy with the Brexit. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Who would be happy if we left? Putin might be happy. I suspect al-Baghdadi might be happy. But our
friends around the world are giving us a very clear message. They're saying it's all up to you, it is your sovereign choice.
But our friends in Australia and New Zealand and America and all around the world and all around Europe are saying it is all up to you, it is your
choice, but we'd like for you to stay. We think it is good for us and it's good for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Campaigners hoping to leave the European Union have accused the prime minister of basically being a scare mongerer during the debate. Now
Boris Johnson, the former London mayor, he just left, in fact, Sadiq Khan is now the mayor, but he's a big backer of the leave campaign.
He says it was, quote, "a bit much to suggest ISIS is an ally of the "leave" side." One of the big issues surrounding the Brexit debate is
sovereignty, whether some laws for British citizens should be created in Brussels or solely here in the United Kingdom.
Max Foster took a peek inside the act room, as it is called, in the Houses of Parliament where thousands of laws and bills are kept, including the one
that took Britain into the E.U. in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Often described as the most important room in Britain, the act room. High up in the Houses of
Parliament, it's home to 64,000 documents covering some of the most important moments in British history and embodies the legal and
constitutional basis of the U.K.
(on camera): On these shelves are stacked truly ancient documents. Here we have some that are 500 years old through the reign of Henry VII, no
less. Here we have the Weights and Measures Act of 1497.
(voice-over): But who currently creates new laws is at the center of the referendum over Britain's membership of the E.U. Some feel that
sovereignty, the right of a parliament to make any law it chooses is being eroded.
JOHN REDWOOD, BRITISH POLITICIAN: How much we raise in tax, what taxes we impose and how we spend that tax is no longer under the control of the
British parliament, in many respects it is under the control of the European Union.
FOSTER: While others see giving up aspects of control is just part of being in a globalized world.
VICKY PRYCE, ECONOMIST/FORMER U.K. GOVERNMENT ADVISER: We have decided to do things in a certain way so far which gives up some of our sovereignty
for particular reasons which are good for us and for Europe as a whole.
FOSTER: Remain campaigners are keen to cite that between 1993 and 2014, only 13 percent of British laws, such as the working time directive, came
from the European Union. However, if you add up all of the E.U. regulations, including the ones that don't need to go through parliament,
like mobile phone roaming charges, those championing a Brexit argue that 62 percent of British laws have E.U. origins. But only one law was needed to
make this possible.
(on camera): Well, here it is. This is the European Communities Act of 1972, and this is the piece of legislation that signed the U.K. up to what
was the European economic community and which we now know as the European Union. And this really paved the way for all of those regulations and
requirements that now apply in this country.
(voice-over): The U.K. does have an influence on those regulations. Equally so to the 27 other member states which means Britain doesn't always
get what it wants. If the country went it alone, it could set its own laws.
[15:20:06]But if it wanted to still be part of the single market, it would have to adhere to E.U. rules with no say on how they're set. Sovereignty
becomes a tradeoff between power and influence.
PRYCE: We have influence, very significantly what has been going on in Europe for a very long period of time and people haven't quite realized the
importance of having the U.K. in there in terms of shaping the future of Europe.
REDWOOD: We'll have more influence with America, China or India and the other great countries of the world if we're out of the European Union
because we regain our vote to now voice in all the international councils in the world.
FOSTER: These scrolls bear witness to changes in power and attitudes over hundreds of years. But who has precedence over these laws in the future
will be decided by the British people. Max Foster, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Tomorrow marks the state opening of parliament here in the U.K. Just five weeks until the country votes in that referendum. We'll be
bringing you a very special show tomorrow evening from a pretty amazing location.
We'll be live from the iconic white cliffs of Dover looking toward mainland Europe as the U.K. considers its future, we'll examine the arguments for
leaving and those for staying and hear from guests on both sides of this pretty fiery debate. Let's just hope it doesn't rain, although I hear it
probably will.
All right, now back to the Middle East and to Iraq now. At least 46 people killed after a series of attacks across Baghdad. More misery for the
capital city there. The deadliest came in Sadr City where a car bomb exploded Tuesday.
Now ISIS has claimed responsibility for one not for the other two. One of these attacks struck a market in Northern Baghdad, and that is the one ISIS
says it was behind. Could this spike in violence be a symptom of ISIS losses?
That's what some analysts are saying, making that argument. Coalition officials say since the battle against ISIS has begun the group has lost
nearly half of its territory in Iraq and 20 percent in Syria.
Two major Iraqi territories that fell to ISIS, Tikrit and Ramadi, have been reclaimed. Iraqi forces are planning a major offensive to recapture the
city of Mosul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT MCGURK, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR COALITION AGAINST ISIS: And now the caliphate, this perverse caliphate, is shrinking so they are very much on
the defensive. They have not retaken any territory really since their operations in Ramadi going all the way back to May.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Brett McGurk there. Experts add that even with ISIS on the defensive, the terror group is taking advantage of recent political turmoil
in Iraq to launch a new wave of suicide attacks. Just to put this in context, they've claimed more than 130 lives in just the past week alone.
Let's get more on what's going on, our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon is live in Istanbul with the very latest.
So what about this argument that ISIS is losing ground and so now it is switching tactics to striking soft targets like markets in Baghdad. I
mean, does this make sense?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, look, Hala, the U.S. military's analysis of this situation, the battle against ISIS, is
this. They believe that if they are able to recapture all of the territory that ISIS has under its control in Iraq, including Mosul, if ISIS can no
longer plant its flag in Mosul, the capital of its so-called caliphate, then ISIS will eventually end up be on the defeat.
This would be the beginning of its demise. But here's the problem with that argument, we have to look back at the history of ISIS and the fact
that it started off as jihad, then became al Qaeda in Iraq, then the Islamic State of Iraq.
All entities that at one point in time over the course of the ten-plus years, were declared defeated by the United States. And at every single
juncture, the group managed to morph and re-emerge as something more powerful and threatening than in the past.
So it's a bit tricky and misleading to try to define what is happening right now in terms of such stark term analogy such as winning, losing on
the defensive that it perhaps is feeling as if it is defeated.
On the other hand, is ISIS under pressure -- yes, of course, it is. It has been battling against the Iraqi Security Forces on multiple fronts in Iraq.
Security forces that are very heavily backed by coalition air strikes, and it is upping its attacks, especially against the civilian population.
Now this could also be an attempt to try to draw the Iraqi Security Forces away from other front lines and force them to focus their efforts on trying
to secure the capital.
The bottom line -- and many Iraqis will actually tell you this -- is that even if ISIS does lose all of the territory that it controls in Iraq, what
they are most afraid of is what the organization is going to morph into and come back as next -- Hala.
[15:25:15]GORANI: Right. And that's a very good point because even if you have this territory retaken by -- whether it's in Syria, by the way, or in
Iraq, you will still have the constant threat of these attacks, suicide attacks, car bombs, other types of sort of guerrilla warfare methods that
will be problems for years to come and how do you confront that?
DAMON: Well, that's the key question exactly especially when talking about Iraq because ISIS was able to emerge with such force, was to a very
significant degree a byproduct of the politics of Iraq, a byproduct of, at the time, Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's very sectarian attitude
towards the Sunni population, the oppression of the Sunni population.
Coupled with what many will call a premature withdrawal by the U.S. military that wrongly declared Iraqi security forces capable of handling
this situation. This then created a vacuum both in the security sense, but also a political vacuum that is, which at the time was just the Islamic
State in Iraq. They hadn't yet expanded into Syria.
This allowed them to capitalize on this existing vacuum on multiple fronts, and then grow in Iraq in strength to the point that they managed to expand
into Syria, capture territory there, and then move back into Iraq, capturing Mosul and declaring it the capital of their so-called caliphate.
So even if ISIS loses significant chunks of territory, they're still in both Iraq and Syria going to have a phenomenally messy political situation
that can potentially, if not properly handled, lend itself to the kind of situation where ISIS or its next incarnation could very easily reemerge,
recapture territory and once again threaten the entire civilian population.
GORANI: You need a longer term solution than a military offensive, that's for sure. We've been discussing this for years and sadly, I think we'll be
discussing it for many years to come. Thank you very much. Arwa Damon is in Istanbul.
Still ahead, Donald Trump is on the defensive again, this time it is over an article about his behavior around women. We'll take a look at this
latest controversy in a live report ahead.
And, a Manchester United fan traveled all the way from Sierra Leon to see his beloved team only to see the game postponed. There is a happy ending
though! Stay tuned.
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[15:31:29] GORANI: Welcome back. A look at our top stories this hour. Voters in another two U.S. states are picking their nominees for president.
Hillary Clinton is trying to halt a string of losses with a victory in Kentucky today. Her rival, Bernie Sanders, is heavily favored to win
Oregon.
Also among the top stories, ISIS is claiming responsibility for one of three attacks across Bagdad today. They mostly targeted very soft targets,
as they're called, markets and the like. At least 46 people were killed. ISIS carried out a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital last week. As it
goes after so-called, after these very easy soft targets.
Also among the top stories, the U.S. and Russia are vowing to strengthen the cessation of hostilities in Syria, but it's not looking good. Talks in
Vienna didn't do much to revitalize any of the peace process. Russia's foreign minister says Moscow is backing the Syrian army, not President
Assad in its war against terrorism, but they have not agreed - all the parties at the table - even on a date to reconvene.
As Donald Trump edges closer to officially winning the Republican nomination, he's the presumptive nominee right now, he needs his party to
stand with him and behind him. But some leaders are still refusing to get on board, and that could lead to a political crisis inside the Republican
Party. Phil Mattingly takes a closer look at that angle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump, changing his tone from bombastic .
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, BUSINESSMAN: I went to the Wharton School of Finance. I was a great student, I built a fortune.
MATTINGLY: To everyday American.
TRUMP: And I view myself as a person, and that, like everybody else is fighting for survival. That's all I view myself as, and I really view
myself now as somewhat of a messenger.
MATTINGLY: As the anti-Trump movement is struggling to find a figurehead, unable to entice a candidate to join the fray, with a third party run.
JOHN KASICH, GOVERNOR OF OHIO, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A third party candidacy would be viewed as kind of a silly thing. I don't think
it's appropriate. John Kasich, the Ohio governor and former presidential candidate, telling CNN he won't take the plunge.
KASICH: I gave it my best where I am, and I just think running third party doesn't feel right. I think it's
MATTINGLY: Billionaire Mark Cuban, also, contacted about a possible run, also in the "no" column.
MARK CUBAN: BILLIONAIRE, OWNER OF DALLAS MAVERICKS, STAR OF SHARK TANK ON TV: It's impossible for it to work. There not enough time to get on
ballots. The hurdles are just too great. It was a ridiculous effort, so I passed.
For conservatives, like Erick Erickson and Bill Kristol, a very real effort, with a very small window to get it off the ground. They need a
candidate, donor commitments and a legal pathway, one that includes tens of thousands of signatures just to qualify for ballot access. All those
deadlines loom, or in the case of Texas, have already passed.
Meanwhile, Trump is battling with the New York Times via Twitter over their front page article about his inappropriate behavior with women. Trump's
attorney leaving the door open to filing suit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: I think that is a distinct possibility.
MATTINGLY: The Times, standing by their story.
MICHAEL BARBARO: Our goal was to pull back and say, "How does he interact in the office, with someone who's he dating or trying to date, and that was
the purpose of our story."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, there you have it. Phil Mattingly reporting with that. Trump has called the New York Times's story totally dishonest and even
asked the newspaper to issue an apology. For more on the controversy, I am joined by Senior Politics Reporters, Dylan Byers, he's in Los Angeles.
Dylan, thanks for being with us. First of all, his attorneys, or even Trump's attorneys are even demanding a retraction from the New York Times.
Will they get it?
DYLAN BYERS, SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER, LOS ANGELES: No, I don't think - I don't think that they will, and the reason that they won't get it is
because, you know, for all of Donald Trump's bluster about how the story is a complete fraud and for the former girlfriend coming out and sort of
disputing how she was characterized in the piece, there's no factual argument here.
There's no one instance or one example or even one sentence that the Trump campaign has been able to point to and expose as being factually incorrect.
And when you can't do that, you don't get a correction. And I would also just say regarding this sort of - them leaving it open to a potential
lawsuit.
This is what the Trump - what Trump does - what Trump's people do. They love to threaten lawsuits. Whether or not we will actually see a lawsuit,
you know, it's hard to imagine that we will.
GORANI: And it was also quite remarkable, according to our Brian Stelter's reporting, that Donald Trump himself called CNN to draw attention to an
interview with one the ex-girlfriends quoted in that New York Times piece.
Eventually, she gave CNN an interview, as well, but I mean, he really gets involved at the micro-level here.
[15:35:14] BYERS: Yes, no question, and there's no question that this story, particularly, matters to him a lot. You know, the question about
how he deals with women, what his relationship with women is, and some of the remarks he's made about women, this is something that really gets under
his skin.
If you go back and look at the contentious relationship that he's had with FOX News Anchor, Megyn Kelly, for the past 10 months, that was sparked by
her asking him about some of the negative things that he's said about women.
That's an issue that gets under his skin, and it's one that he can't easily let go, and I think part of the reason for that is because the
fundamental suggestion there is -- that he has some sort of insecurity when it comes to women and, indeed, that New York Times report, if you look at
it as a whole, really shed light on some of the insecurities that he has in terms of his own relationship with women and surrounding himself with
beautiful women in order to sort of up his own status.
So yes, no, he took full sort of control of the PR pushback effort there.
GORANI: But I wonder if, I mean, the fact that his ex-girlfriend came out, one of the women, one of the 50 women quoted in the article and said, "This
was a misrepresentation of what I said." I mean, this could actually even help him, right, because he always says that the mainstream media is out to
get him, that he's being misrepresented, that essentially this was designed to attack him.
And so the fact that this woman came out and said, "You know, I really didn't say these things or, if I did, this isn't exactly what I meant,"
could actually help him.
BYERS: There's no question that it helps him a lot, certainly with his base, I mean, you know, when you have the lead figure in an article like
this sort of questioning the validity of the report, that's a big hit to the New York Times. There's no question about that. And I think Donald
Trump has shown that he's very capable of turning any negative press his way and turning back on the media, and that's a message that really
resonates with many of his supporters, who don't put much stock in the legitimacy of the American media anyway.
That said, as a whole, this narrative about his relationship with women, about how he treats women, that will survive this week, and going up
against Hillary Clinton in a general election, we're going to be revisiting this time and time again, over the course of the next several months.
And you know, I don't think it's one that he's going to get away with dismissing outright, but he certainly muddied the narrative.
GORANI: Well, and, by the way, the New York Times is saying this is their most read politics article of the year, so a lot of people interested in
this topic.
Thanks very much, Dylan Byers, for joining us on the program.
Now, to the Democrats and their primaries. Voting is underway right now. Kentucky has 55 pledged delegates up for grabs. Oregon has 61. The magic
number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination for the Democrats is 2,383.
According to CNN's latest estimates, Clinton has 2,243, and, as you can see there, Bernie Sanders is at 1,465.
CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein, is a senior editor at the Atlantic, and he joins us from Washington. Thanks, Ron, for being with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
First of all, we were talking about the New York Times piece on Trump and his relationship with women and all these women who were interviewed, well,
there is an anti-Trump Super PAC that came out with an ad that was quite clever, taking Trump's own words and putting them in the mouths of ordinary
voters.
I want our viewers to see this and then we can talk about it, Ron.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP VOICE OVER IN COMMERCIAL:
You know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her - wherever.
Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely.
You like girls that are 5 feet one inch, they come up to you know where.
If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps, I'd be dating her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So Ron, clearly, I mean, after this New York Times article, now the anti-Trump Super PACs are using this women's issue. They feel like
there's a vulnerability here, clearly.
RON BROWNSTEIN, SENIOR EDITOR FOR THE ATLANTIC: Right. And this is just not any anti-Trump PAC. This is Priorities USA, which is the core Super
PAC that will be supporting Hillary Clinton through the general election.
And the fact that they have two ads, their initial two ads, running in the swing states of Florida, Virginia, Ohio, among others, and Nevada, I guess
is the fourth one, and they're both aimed, primarily, at women, shows you how much Democrats are counting on the gender gap to be kind of a last line
of defense for Hillary Clinton in this campaign.
Donald Trump does face extraordinary high negatives with women voters coming out of the primary, and, clearly, you can see by the focus of these
ads, that is something that Democrats believe is going to be one of their principle assets in the general election.
[15:40:50] GORANI: But it hasn't hurt him in the primary process, but obviously we're going to be entering a general election period. Is this
something that could really be a problem for him and, if so, how will he - strategically - what are his options here?
BERNSTEIN: Yes, well, first of all, it is worth noting that Donald Trump's vote among women, even in the primaries, has run about eight to 10 points
behind his vote among men, so there has been a differential in the way he has been received.
Women are a majority of the vote in the United States; 53 percent of the vote in 2012 were women. In particular, women are a majority of white
voters and, you know, if you look at the troubles that Donald Trump faces with minority voters and, just the general difficulties the Republicans
face, he is probably going to need to win something in the order of 64 percent of white voters in order to win a national majority.
That - the difficulty he faces with white women makes that very challenging, even if he matches Ronald Reagan's vote among white men from
1984, which is the best Republicans have done in the modern era, he would still need to reach about 58 percent of the vote among white women to reach
a national majority.
It's something Hillary Clinton performs about average for Democrats among minorities. That is - you know - that is a serious hill to climb when you
are looking at the kind of negatives that he's facing today, and you can see in these ads, how important it is to Democrats to try to drive home
those unfavorable initial impressions that he's facing among women in America.
GORANI: But then you look at nationwide poll, there's an NBC News survey monkey poll that just came out, and you look at how close the two
candidates are nationwide and, despite some demographic weaknesses on both candidate sides, as you said, because Hillary Clinton has some issues with
younger voters, but you see Hillary Clinton at 48 percent; Donald Trump at 45 percent.
They are very, very close here.
BERNSTEIN: Yes, well, first of all, that is an online-only poll and the accuracy of online-only polls have yet to be demonstrated. Donald Trump
definitely does better in online-only polls than he does in traditional polling. There's going to be a lot of polling, right. It's going to take
a while to sort out what this race is really about.
But I think the fundamentals are what we have to keep our eye on, and the challenge for Donald Trump, as I said, is that he cannot - any Republican
nominee - cannot improve the Republican vote among non-white voters, who could cast as much as 30 percent of all the ballots in America this year.
They're going to have to get up in the range of about 64 percent among white voters. So really the key number to watch as all of this flood of
polling data washes over us really is Hillary Clinton's vote among white voters.
If it's anywhere around 40 percent, she still has the upper hand in this race.
GORANI: And let's talk about - I want to get your thoughts on the Bill Clinton job that she's promising America she will task her husband with,
the former president. But it's a little murky, though, we're not exactly sure what it would be, but he would be in charge of economic policy on some
level.
Let's just listen to what Bill Clinton, himself, had to say about this, and then we'll get back to you, Ron.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will do everything I can to help if she should be elected. I have asked, actually, to be -
given the job of trying to help every part of the United States that has been left out and left behind economically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So Ron, what does that - I mean - first of all, strategically speaking, there's a lot of anti-establishment, there's a very strong anti-
establishment mood in the United States, and you can't get more establishment than a two-term president. Why go in that direction?
BERNSTEIN: Yes, it's fascinating. Look, what she has said, you know, confined it. She said she's looking for him - she would look to him to
take a leadership role on economic policy for revitalizing the most - the areas that are struggling the most, with a particular eye toward
Appalachia, you know, those kind of rural blue collar whites who have been so resistant to her in this election, which really are the core
constituency for Donald Trump.
Bill Clinton was much more popular among those voters than she is. She's much more - he is much more popular, really, than any democrat has been
since. So I think it's kind of a fascinating attempt to kind of use him both economically, you know, it was a focus for him, as president, these
kind of enterprise zone initiatives.
I remember flying with him to North Dakota, towards the end of his presidency when he was announcing a kind of series of initiatives aimed at
places like this, but also politically, Hala, this was - these were the kind of voters that he had relatively more success than democrats have seen
in most of the last few decades.
So it's kind of fascinating to see her targeting him in that direction, with an eye toward the general election, perhaps, toward Southeast Ohio or
Southwest Pennsylvania, which are places that are going to matter a lot in this election of our next president.
GORANI: All right, Ron Brownstein, thanks very much, as always, great having you on the program, we really appreciate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And stay with CNN for the latest results from Kentucky and Oregon.
We'll bring you live coverage of today's primaries. That will be starting at 11 p.m. here in London, that's coverage you'll only see right here on
CNN.
[15:40:50] Now, politics can be a bruising business at times, and as we've seen all too often, in the American presidential race, with the elected law
makers of South Africa, took it a step further today when a full-blown brawl broke out in the country's parliamentary chamber.
Members of the opposition, and this is looking - this is intense - members of the opposition EFF Party, were trying to stop President Jacob Zuma from
speaking. They believe he is not fit to address lawmakers after recent corruption scandals, and the fight really heated up after the opposition
members refused to cooperate with the guard.
This is the WORLD RIGHT NOW. Coming up, running a triathlon is hard enough, but this woman did it on all seven continents. Now she's taking a
bigger challenge for a bigger cause. And Twitter users could soon see a change as the company looks to give them more flexibility. We'll bring you
all those details with Samuel Burke in New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Yesterday, we introduced you to a woman who broke the world record for a series of triathlons. Her aim is to empower others as she herself is
a human trafficking survivor. Now, her message to other survivors is to be relentless. Kyung Lah has a look at her journey in this CNN Freedom
Project Report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know what's going to make the final cuts here.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hollywood would have a tough time matching the drum of Norma Bastidas' life.
NORMA BASTIDAS, RECORD BREAKER FOR TRIATHLON, SEX TRAFFICKING SURVIVOR: We were trying to interweave the triathlon with what's happening in human
trafficking.
LAH: The first woman to run seven of the planet's most unforgiving ultra- marathons on all seven continents, received plenty of recognition for the accomplishment. But the world record holder didn't quite feel complete
until she came forward about her own violent past.
BASTIDAS: And I remember drugged and beat up and almost murdered when I was 24.
LAH: Bastidas was actually trafficked twice, once kidnapped and abused in Mexico City, and several years later, lured to Japan by a fake modeling
agency.
BASTIDAS: What I didn't know was just I was being sold to the highest bidder, and I got bought by a very prominent person. And I became his
property. It was hell. It was hell.
LAH: The abuses suffered in her younger years might have broken most people, but it lit a fire inside Bastidas, to do things others might think
impossible.
[15:45:30] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next thing I know, she's on the phone with me going, I want to do something big for human trafficking and to face
this in my own life and to make it an anthem for other survivors.
LAH: In 2014, Bastidas set out to break the Guinness record for world's longest triathlon, over the course of several months, she ran, biked and
swam more than 3,700 miles, traveling from Cancun, Mexico to Washington D.C., following a known route of human trafficking victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Norma is one of the fiercest women I've ever met.
LAH: Together with the anti-trafficking organization, I Empathize, Norma's story is now the subject of a documentary called, "Be Relentless."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After all of this from Cancun to Mexico City to D.C., she did her final leg all through the night, 24 hours straight, almost 100
miles. And I think what she was trying to tell everyone was, sometimes you just have to face new challenges even when you've conquered old ways.
BASTIDAS: Human trafficking is what happened to you; it's not who you are. Every single time we doubt that a victim has potential, we are saying,
because of what happened, it's your fault, and that's so wrong. We can prove that we can overcome anything. We're here, we're (INAUDIBLE).
LAH: And that, may be the greatest ending of all.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, stay with us. We'll be right back on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well, on Monday, we told you about a stadium evacuation at Old Trafford in Manchester after a fake bomb was mistakenly left after a
training exercise. Now, caused primarily game to be abandoned. As we speak, the two teams are trying again. Security is tight. Manchester
United is playing Bournemouth. The score is currently one-nil, two United at halftime.
While Sunday's abandoned game affected thousands, one fan was more upset than most. Moses Kamara (ph) traveled to Old Trafford for his first-ever
game, all the way - listen to this - all the way - from Sierra Leone. He had saved up $1,800 for the trip.
Now, of course, he didn't get to see the game. Luckily, Manchester United fans stepped in to save the day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOSES KAMARA, FAN FROM SIERRA LEONE, AT UNITED MANCHESTER GAME: I was heartbroken. I cried, and then the fans came around me, gave me hug,
saying, "Hey, don't worry, we'll take care of you," and they did what they said to me, they did it exactly, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did they say exactly?
KAMARA: I'm going to say (ph) we'll take care of you, change your ticket, and then we'll take you to - in (INAUDIBLE) for the final.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: That's just such a sweet story. Moses is at the game tonight, and as he said, he will also be going to the SA Cup Final this weekend, and
it's good to see a happy ending and, also, the kindness of strangers, making a real difference in someone's life. I hope he's enjoying the game
tonight. Thankfully, no evacuation at Old Trafford.
Now, it's that classic Twitter nightmare. Sharing a link to an interesting story or jazzing up a post with a colorful image only to find you've
exceeded the dreaded 140-character limit. It's happened to all of us, let's bring in our Samuel Burke in New York, who has details on a change
that is going to, perhaps, make our lives - our tweeting lives - a little bit easier. Tell us more, Samuel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[15:50:59] SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK: The long national nightmare is over, Hala. There's a report from Bloomberg that says that
now links, when you have a photo or a video, they won't count against those 140 characters.
So that means we can all rejoice because we will have 23 more characters, and while that may not seem like big news to some people, it's actually
very significant because Twitter is a social network that is struggling.
Let me just put up a picture that shows you how their stock has gone over the past year, and it ain't pretty, let me tell you. It's up around $69
bucks at one point, now it's trading all the way down around $14.39, so what we've heard from investors over and over again, is that this platform
has to do something to make it easier.
People go on and say, "I just don't understand it." My Mom says, "I tried, I just don't get it." So maybe if it's a little bit more like Facebook,
something that's been happening over and over again on this social network, it will make it more dynamic, easier for people to use.
You're seeing Jack Dorsey on your screen right there. He's told me he's willing to make some changes that before, in the past, he wasn't (ph) to
make. So maybe it can move their stock price up a little bit because it just seems like it can't go down much farther.
GORANI: But here's the issue, if you make something more like Facebook, why wouldn't you just stick with Facebook? The whole point of Twitter was
that it was a micro-blogging site. If you start not counting characters for lengths, not counting characters for pictures, and you start making
posts look like a Facebook update, you know, what happens to Twitter? Where is Twitter's identity? What is Twitter going to become?
BURKE: And that's what .
GORANI: That sounds like a very deep and important question.
BURKE: Well, to investors, it's really important because basic .
GORANI: Where are we all going?
BURKE: What will happen to us? Where will we post - but basically what's happened, there was a lot of opposition at a time inside Twitter because
they said, "We have to be - we don't want to be like Facebook, but as Facebook stock prices have gone through the roof. I mean, it started out
around $38, now it's up around $117.
As that's happened, people have said, "Well, we just have to adapt and change."
What we're seeing, though, over time, is that Facebook just keeps on growing. Let me just remind people where Facebook stands, how they got
this huge market evaluation. If you just look at the numbers.
To my left here, you see Facebook, almost 1.6 billion people (INAUDIBLE) owned by Facebook, one billion Instagram, 400 million people. And then
Twitter down below there, 320 million people. I think your point is very relevant and investors are saying to themselves, "We see Facebook doing
better and better," and people like you are posting more and more on Facebook and maybe less on Twitter, Hala.
GORANI: That's right. Maybe just a little bit. I wasn't going to tell our viewers they could find me on Twitter and Facebook, but I don't have
time, but somehow I just did. Samuel Burke, thanks very much.
I'm Hala Gorani.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS is up next.
END
