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Clinton Makes Push in New York; Interview with Sanders Campaign Senior Strategist Tad Devine; Candidates Preparing For New York Primary. Devastation After Earthquakes. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 18, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We start with the presidential race here in the United States and one of the biggest delegate prizes so far, tomorrow's New York primary. It's a battle with a lot of hometown favorites. Senator Bernie Sanders was born in New York. Hillary Clinton was a senator from New York. And Donald Trump is certainly an icon in the city of New York.

Here's what's at stake. For the Democrats, there are 247 delegates up for grabs, enough to have a very profound effect on the race. For the Republicans, there are 95 delegates up for grabs, one of the biggest halls in the Republican race for the White House.

It's a delegate race that Senator Ted Cruz has been winning lately, closing the gap between him and the front-runner, Donald Trump. But the Trump camp is hoping a little home cooking will help serve up a little humble pie for Senator Cruz. Cruz is actually running third right now in the latest New York polls. Trump leads in the latest NBC-"Wall Street Journal"-Marist poll; he's at 54 percent, with the Ohio governor, John Kasich, actually in second place.

For more on the Republican race, I want to bring in our CNN Political Reporter Sara Murray. She's over at Trump Tower in New York City. And our Sunlen Serfaty is following the Cruz campaign in Towson, Maryland right now.

Sara, let's start with you. What is Trump doing in these, the final hours, before voting starts in New York?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Wolf, the Trump campaign has made it clear they want to get a big win here in New York. They want to be able to walk away with all 95 delegates. And so, to do that, they've really been hunkering down doing a lot of campaigning. Today, he's actually meeting with a diversity coalition that's backing him.

It's not an official campaign event but it does give you a sense of how the campaign is trying to do things that are a little bit different from the big rallies. Now, of course, Donald Trump is never going to move away from the big ruckus rallies and he's going to be having another one later today in Buffalo -- Wolf. BLITZER: Trump also, he's has been on sort of a bad streak in the last week or two, losses in Colorado, in Wisconsin. A war of words with the Republican National Committee chairman. Does he hope a win in New York will carry over into next week's major contest in Pennsylvania, Maryland and other east coast state states?

MURRAY: Well, Wolf, the Trump campaign still struggles in these sort of behind-the-scenes delegate (INAUDIBLE) --

BLITZER: Actually, Sara, hold on for a moment. Sara, I just want to interrupt for a second because Donald Trump is speaking at this diversity -- national diversity coalition for Trump event at Trump Tower. I want to listen in briefly.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (live): We're going to be successful. We're going to make great trade deals. We're going to have strong borders. But people can come into our country but they're going to come in legally. That's what everybody wants. And we're going to create jobs. We're going to strengthen our military so nobody from the outside world is going to be able to mess with this country.

Right now, you see what's going on. There's so many problems. We're going to solve the problems. And we're going to solve problems of jobs and the economy because that is really a big issue.

I want to thank all of you for being here. I'll head up to Buffalo. I think it's going to be an incredible evening. And this has been an amazing campaign. I don't want to believe the polls but the polls are what they are. They were beyond anything that anybody has seen, really.

But, you know, we love this city. You look at the other folks that are running. They couldn't care less about New York. We do care about New York and we care about New York a lot. And we care about New York values. Remember that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.

TRUMP: So, I want to thank everybody for being here. We love you all. We'll see you later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I say Donald, you say Trump. Donald.

CROWD: Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald.

CROWD: Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I say Donald, you say Trump. Donald.

CROWD: Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald.

CROWD: Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, guys.

BLITZER: All right. So, there, you heard Donald Trump at this meeting of his national diversity coalition for Trump, making a few remarks heading off to campaign upstate New York. He's heading to Buffalo later today as well.

Meanwhile, let's get some reaction from representative supporters from all three Republican campaigns. Lou Gargiulo is joining us. He's with the Trump campaign. He's the co-chair in Rockingham County in New Hampshire. He's a Republican delegate. Steve Lonegan is the New Jersey state chairman for the Cruz campaign. Trent Duffy is the national communications director, spokesman for the Kasich campaign. Guys, thanks very much for joining us.

Lou, what's your expectation, realistically, for tomorrow?

LOU GARGIULO, CO-CHAIR, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: I think Mr. Trump is going to do outstanding in New York. My bet is he'll do better than the 50 percent, and I think he'll capture, if not all, a vast number of the delegates from the great state of New York.

[13:05:08] And I think from there, he's going to move on to Pennsylvania and the other states in the Northeast. And I think it's going to be a spectacular drive to Cleveland.

BLITZER: Trent, what's your expectation?

TRENT DUFFY, NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR, KASICH CAMPAIGN: Our expectation is that Governor Kasich is moving up. As you noted, he's running second in New York and he's going to do well in some of the key congressional districts where he's been campaigning.

And you see that he's gathered a number of endorsements from some of the state's newspapers because they realize that not only is he the best person to beat Hillary Clinton, but he's the best person to be the president of the United States and commander in chief.

And we're seeing that not only in New York but in those states that are coming up that you mentioned, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maryland. So, we're pleased with where we are and we think we're going to have a good day tomorrow.

BLITZER: Steve, looks like your candidate, Senator Cruz, not doing so well in New York. What happened?

STEVE LONEGAN, NEW JERSEY STATE DIRECTOR, CRUZ CAMPAIGN: Well, everybody expects Donald Trump to win New York. It's his home state. And he better win it and he better win it big.

But what's really happening, Wolf, is that for the past two weeks, Donald Trump has been losing, losing, losing. He lost Utah by amazing numbers, then he lost North Dakota, then he cried about losing Colorado, and then lost Wisconsin and this weekend, he got wiped out of Wyoming.

But at the same time, Wolf, what Republicans have been caucusing in firehouses and churches across the country, including over this weekend, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and they're backing Ted Cruz because Ted Cruz is the real conservative in the party. And he's got the message of jobs, freedom and security that Americans want to hear.

So, yes, Donald Trump will win New York. But if Donald Trump doesn't get all 95 delegates, and especially if he gets under 50 percent, that's going to be a big loss for Donald Trump, not a win.

BLITZER: Lou, do you want to react to that?

GARGIULO: Yes, I think that he will pick up the 50 -- beyond the 50 percent. I don't see any reality in that. I think that's going to happen. And I think he's very strong in the Northeast, and I think Senator Cruz is tanking in the Northeast. And I think we're going to ha a great run in Pennsylvania, a great run in New Jersey and on and on and on. And so, I'm very confident that he will do well.

(CROSSTALK)

LONEGAN: Well, again, Wolf, Ted Cruz has a real advantage going into these conventions. And maybe the -- maybe Trump will record an undo advantage. He's a Republican and he's been a Republican his whole career. And so, real Republicans in the Republican Party are galvanizing behind Ted Cruz.

BLITZER: Well, let me ask Trent about Governor Kasich. At what point does he have to start winning some states? So far, he's carried his home state of Ohio which is clearly a very important state. But at what point does he actually have to win a state?

DUFFY: Well, look, we know that we're going to have an open convention. That's what we've been talking about for the past several weeks. And once we get to a convention, the majority of the delegates are going to decide which candidate best represents the party, the values it represents and the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton in November.

We're having a very active and very promising delegate outreach process. We're going into states that we didn't know that we had delegates and walking away from those states with delegates. We just had a great showing in Indiana, for example, and we're going to continue to see that going forward.

So, this is going to be an open convention. It's about showing the American people and the Republicans who is best to carry on. There was a very in-depth analysis done recently that showed that John Kasich not only beats Hillary Clinton but he beats her in purple states and blue states. And the other two don't really change the map that much and the delegates are starting to pay attention to that.

BLITZER: Well do you want to react to that, Lou? GARGIULO: Yes, I chuckle. I mean, first, Governor Kasich is, again,

an insider. And I think Ted Cruz is, clearly, the inside outsider who portrays himself as an outsider but has been in government his entire life.

The people of America today are looking for outsiders. They are looking for people who haven't made their occupation being in government. And both Kasich and Cruz have been in government their entire lives.

So, I think that Mr. Trump's resume speaks for itself. He's built businesses. He's generated huge, huge opportunities for people, and I think he will be our next president.

BLITZER: All right, Steve, go ahead.

LONEGAN: Well, Wolf, I don't know how successful Donald Trump has been because today's tax day where everybody's going to file their tax return. There's only one candidate in the Democrat and Republican side that have not released their tax returns and that's Donald Trump. So, we all should be asking today, what is Donald Trump hiding? Everyone else has released their tax returns.

By the way, last week, the Democrats had a terrific debate in which Hillary Clinton stepped on the stage with Bernie Sanders and the Democrats across this country had an opportunity to see where their candidates stood on the issues.

Donald Trump refuses to debate Ted Cruz because he knows he cannot win on the issues. He cannot win on the issues of jobs, freedom and security. That is the message of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, over time, Republicans are going to wake up to this.

BLITZER: Let me let Lou respond to that. The issue of Donald Trump not releasing his tax returns. He says he's not doing that because he's still under audit but what about another debate? The other point that was just made.

[13:10:00] GARGIULO: I think that the people were tired of the debates. We've been debating now for months and months and months.

And when it comes to the tax returns, when you're talking about somebody who has a net worth of upwards of $10 billion, it takes a lot of time and effort. It's not like somebody on the W-2 who's making $250,000 who can do a tax return in a very simple manner. That's not the case with Mr. Trump. We're getting someone --

LONEGAN: That's nonsense. Hillary Clinton released her tax returns and made $28 million so that's completely nonsense. I want to know what he's hiding. I want to know what Donald Trump is hiding.

GARGIULO: There's a big difference between $28 million and a $10 billion net worth. So, please --

DUFFY: Yes, but Donald Trump is going to have to release his tax returns in the general election. I mean, that's almost a determination and he owes it to the Republican voters and the rest of the people who are looking at him to decide whether he's qualified not only to be the commander in chief, but to be the best nominee for the Republican Party. And the Republicans have a right to know what those numbers are. If he's got nothing to hide, he should release it and do it before the delegates gather in Cleveland.

BLITZER: Lou, the point that Donald Trump keeps making isn't that his tax returns are so complicated. They are extensive. Obviously, he makes a lot of money. But he doesn't want to do it while he's still being audited by the IRS. And once the audit is complete, he says he will release those tax returns.

DUFFY: That --

BLITZER: But you're saying it's more complicated, right, Lou?

GARGIULO: I'm saying --

LONEGAN: That's a bogus excuse. That is a bogus excuse.

GARGIULO: That's not a bogus excuse when somebody has the kind of --

LONEGAN: He can release his unaudited tax returns, come on.

DUFFY: The former IRS commissioner said that that was a ridiculous excuse. Mark --

LONEGAN: The Democrat -- we're talking about the Democrat IRS commissioner?

DUFFY: No, we're talking about the Republican IRS commissioner that served for George W. Bush. Mark Everson said the Mr. Trump excuse for not releasing his tax returns, because he was under audit, was ridiculous. Mark Everson, Republican.

LONEGAN: And Donald Trump does not want to release his tax returns because he doesn't want Republicans to see how much money he gave to Michael Bloomberg's anti-gun program or other left wing liberal programs he's been supporting while he's been giving thousands and millions of dollars to Democrat candidates.

BLITZER: All right, Lou, the last word -- I'll give you did last word because we've got to go.

GARGIULO: Yes, Mr. Trump has made no bones about who he's contributed to in prior elections. That's clear. It's in the public domain. And it's a bunch of hogwash.

BLITZER: All right, guys. Thank you very much. Lou, Steve and Trent, we'll continue this conversation down the road.

A reminder, tomorrow is the battle for New York in the race for the White House. We'll have all-day coverage right here on CNN.

And up next, Senator Bernie Sanders says Hillary Clinton needs to do more to get his supporters behind her if he wins the nomination. We'll talk to both campaigns.

And later, devastation as earthquakes and aftershocks cause massive damage in both Ecuador and Japan. We'll have a live report.

[13:12:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if you will stand up for me and vote tomorrow, the polls will be open until 9:00 p.m., I will stand up and fight for you through this campaign and into the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was Hillary Clinton making a last minute campaign stop in Yonkers, New York, just outside of New York City. She also has a get out to vote rally that gets underway in just under an hour from now. Her husband, the former president, Bill Clinton, also campaigning today. He's in upstate New York. He's in Buffalo just ahead of tomorrow's crucial primary. Hillary Clinton has said she needs a big win in her adopted home state. She has, right now, by our estimate, 1,791 delegates. That does include super delegates. Bernie Sanders is trailing with 1,115 total delegates. Among pledge delegates, though, if you don't include the super delegates, her lead is only 229 delegates.

With me now is the chief strategist for the Hillary Clinton campaign, Joel Benenson.

Joel, do you think you will have enough pledge delegates, forget about the super delegates, pledge delegates to guarantee a Hillary Clinton nomination on the first ballot?

JOEL BENENSON, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Well, I think what we're going to have is enough delegates on the first ballot and I think like President Obama before Hillary Clinton, you have a lead with pledge delegates and you count all the delegates. And we will have that majority on the first ballot. I believe that.

Look, we are winning with the popular vote by more than two million. You've said we have a lead of only 220 among pledge delegates. But that is bigger than President Obama's was at any time. And so we feel very good about the way we're going into this having won more states, more pledge delegates and more than 2.3 million votes than Senator Sanders through these primaries.

BLITZER: Yes, she has 487 super delegates to his 40 by our estimate right now. The issue that his campaign often makes, though, and you've heard it many times, Joel, is that those super delegates, they're not bound. They could change their mind the day of the roll call on the convention floor. They could go along with what they're saying now, but they're not pledged. So you can't really count them. You buy that argument? BENENSON: Well, I think it's tenuous at best and I think they know

that. They are not bound. They are free to move. But the numbers are kind of overwhelming. These folks who are super delegates, many of them are elected officials from all around the country, mayors, congressmen, state representatives, they certainly know Hillary Clinton. They may or may not know Senator Sanders as well, but they've made their decisions. Sure they can change, but I don't think they're going to change when the person who is amassing more pledged delegates and more of the popular votes and winning more of the states with the most diverse coalition in the race.

You know, we're leading with voters over 30. We're winning among women in the Democratic primaries by about 30 points. And voters of color, people of color, we're winning by almost 3-1. And they're not all in the deep south as Senator Sanders seems to suggest all the time. They're in states like Ohio and Missouri and Illinois and New York where we will win hopefully tomorrow.

[13:20:08] BLITZER: He was on -- Bernie Sanders was on CNN's "New Day" earlier today. He was saying his campaign will have a lasting effect whether he wins the nomination or loses the nomination. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a two-way street. I mean the Clinton people are also going to have to listen to what these people are fighting for. And the Clinton people are going to have to say, well, you know, maybe Bernie has a point, that we should not be the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people, or have paid family or medical leave. But the Clinton campaign is going to have to make the case to those young people that, in fact, they are prepared to stand up for some real fundamental changes in this country. And that's a case they have not yet been able to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you think, Joel, his campaign has made a difference, that Hillary Clinton is now more aware of the kind of changes he wants, especially very attractive changes for younger voters?

BENENSON: Hillary Clinton, with all due respect to Senator Sanders, was fighting for health care in this country before Americans, you know, got to know Bernie Sanders, in the 1990s. And when health care didn't pass, she took up and took on the insurance companies again and won health care for 8 million children. I don't -- I don't disagree with Senator Sanders, that Secretary Clinton will do everything she can to unify the party.

That's what she did in 2008 when she was the runner-up to Barack Obama. But, you know, to suggest somehow that Hillary Clinton has not been a progressive, fighting for causes of social justice, racial justice, fair pay and equal rights for women in the workplace and in other places, it's just unfair and it's really time, I think, for Senator Sanders to stop, you know, acting as if he owns the progressive territory in the Democratic Party. We are the party of people and the party of progressives who have been fighting for these causes for decades.

BLITZER: Joel Benenson with the Clinton campaign. Joel, thank you very much.

BENENSON: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Bernie Sanders meeting now with voters in the Bronx in New York City. Can he pull out a win in the crucial New York primary tomorrow? We're going to hear from his campaign. We'll get a sense of what they believe is at stake in tomorrow's race in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:42] BLITZER: Look at this. You're looking at live pictures. The Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, meeting with Latino community leaders in the Bronx right now. Sanders is making his last minute appeal through New York today ahead of tomorrow's very important primary. He's got a rally out on Long Island later this evening. Yesterday he pulled in thousands of people in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. A huge rally for him. Not far from the Flatbush neighborhood where he grew up.

Joining us now from New York is Tad Devine, senior media advisor for the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Tad, thanks very much for joining us.

Let's get to some of the important issues out there. Your candidate, Senator Sanders, he's been very critical of Hillary Clinton for getting all those paid speeches from Wall Street firms, other big interests, if you will. He really hasn't been able to come up with much in saying that they directly influenced, for example, any of her votes while she was a U.S. senator. Is there any evidence that those speeches influenced her voting record?

TAD DEVINE, SENIOR MEDIA ADVISER, SANDERS CAMPAIGN: Well, listen, Wolf, I think his argument is a very broad one. That if you're going to fund your campaign and take money directly yourself from powerful interests, like Wall Street banks, it's going to be hard to stand up against him. And I think, you know, I mean, for example, if you want a specific instance, I -- in terms of voting record, I think, you know, her -- her opposition to, you know, the bankruptcy bill while she was first lady that she went on and supported as a United States senator is a good example.

But I think the argument is much broader. Bernie wants to end a corrupt system of campaign finance right now. He understands that you can't do things like break up the big banks if you're taking so much money from them. He supports breaking up the big banks. She does not. So I think it's an argument that's resonating powerfully now with voters.

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton was campaigning out on Staten Island yesterday. She raised questions about Bernie Sanders when it comes to health care. Let me play a little bit of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I really tried hard and I got my head handed to me by the drug companies and the insurance companies. You know, I love it when all of the -- when all these other folks, including my opponent in the primary, talks about taking on the interests and -- well, where were you? I mean, really. We were fighting tooth and nail trying to get universal health care coverage passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, you want to respond to that?

DEVINE: Yes, where he was. We've got a great picture of her -- him standing behind her at a press conference when she was fighting for health care. We've got another great picture of the two of them together where she thanked him for all the help he was giving in the fight to bring health care.

I mean, listen, we're not going to have health care for all in this country until we take on the interests that are holding the current status quo in place. And those interests are powerful insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, the status quo interests that make money off the current system of health care. So that's why Bernie has decided to stand up and to say, I'm not going to be part of super PACs, I'm not going to be part of big money politics, I'm going to reject it because I believe every American should have health care as a right.

BLITZER: Senator Sanders and Hillary Clinton, they've also disagree, as you know, on the issue of guns. The New York senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, the junior senator from New York, she spoke about a woman in New York whose four-year-old was shot and killed in Brooklyn. And Gillibrand said this, and I'm quoting her now. "Sanders doesn't have the sensitivity he needs to horror that is happening in these families. I just don't think he's fully getting how horrible it is for these families." Has his record on guns hurt him with voters, you believe, in New York?

[13:30:01] DEVINE: No, Wolf. I -- listen, I understand the attacks. And to hear something like that, I mean, that's -- that's a pretty tough attack, you know, to level against Bernie Sanders. you know, he is someone who understands that gun violence is a terrible problem in this society.