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Interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 6, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:38] WOLD BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer, wherever you are watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news from the campaign thrill here in the United States. Just moments ago, Hillary Clinton wrapped up a no- holds barred speech thrashing Donald Trump's business record. Speaking in Atlantic City in New Jersey, the site of a now shuttered Trump casino, Clinton attacked the business mogul and his multiple bankruptcies and she accused him of sparking, crushing job losses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Now, three weeks ago, he said, and I quote, I'm going to do for the country what I did for my business. Now, you know, when he says things like that, he's probably hoping nobody will check up on what he had said. Because what he did for his businesses and his workers is nothing to brag about. In fact, it's shameful. And every single voter in America needs to know about it. So we don't let him do to our country what he did to his businesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Katrina Pierson speaks for the Donald Trump campaign, as she's joining us now live.

Katrina, thanks very much for joining us. I wanted to get official reaction from the Trump campaign. You're the official reaction -- Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump calls himself the king of debt. Donald Trump did file four bankruptcies over the years in Atlantic City. I want to get your immediate reaction to this very blistering attack on his business record we just heard from Hillary Clinton.

KATRINA PIERSON, TEA PARTY ACTIVIST COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT AND DONALD TRUMP'S SPOKESWOMAN: Well, you know, Wolf, Mr. Trump had four bankruptcies on the business side, never a personal bankruptcy. And a lot of times, you have to use restructuring in order to preserve jobs. And Hillary Clinton specifically talks about Atlantic City, where Donald Trump got out. Because he saw the way that it was going in Atlantic City and you have to look at the politicians in place at the time. We have seen all the way to the federal level how burdensome regulations and politicians always hurt the business environment. And the reason why Mr. Trump is running is simply because things like

NAFTA, something that Hillary Clinton pushed, and is currently pushing for the transpacific partnership is what kills jobs. And that's why we don't make things in this country anymore. And Mr. Trump believes in putting your oxygen mask on first before helping others. And that's exactly what is happening. What Mr. Trump has done for his business creating a global empire, employing tens of thousands of jobs, is exactly what this country needs.

BLITZER: Well, she went through. You heard the speech, Katrina. She went through small business owners in Atlantic City who suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars work they did for Donald Trump. And he never reimbursed them, he never paid them. Some of them actually had to go out of business as a result of not getting paid by Donald Trump for various assignments, if you will, various contracts. Does he have a moral responsibility to repay these small business owners in Atlantic City? He says he's worth more than $10 billion.

PIERSON: Well, that's assuming, you know anything about the contractual of terms of the agreement. And that's something that Hillary Clinton didn't put out, nor have been public.

So yes, she can continue to make those claims at the same time. Look at the number of people in this country that lost their homes, why, because Hillary Clinton pushed for the banks to not be able to go into bankruptcy. Look at the number of people who are in generations of debt, of college tuition, because Hillary Clinton once again pushed to keep Wall Street, Wall Street.

We are talking about apples and oranges when it comes to what a Trump Administration would look like with the economy versus with Hillary Clinton, considering how Hillary Clinton has not created a single job in the private market.

BLITZER: Katrina, legally he probably doesn't owe these small business owners any money because he filed for bankruptcy under the bankruptcy laws. He doesn't have to pay them back. But morally -- and we heard from some of these individuals speaking before Hillary Clinton, recounting the stories of how they did work for him, they had a contract with him. He filed for bankruptcy. He never paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, forget about legally whether he has to reimburse them, but morally, would it be appropriate for him to say to these individuals, you know what, you lost a lot of money, here is the money.

PIERSON: Well, I think you're talking about the difference between running a private business and working in government, who just doles out checks without any repercussions or any accountability as we've seen recently with Hillary Clinton.

[13:05:09] No, when you have a contractual obligation, you either fulfill it or you don't. And those are the types of things that happens in businesses --.

BLITZER: But those small business owners did fulfill their contractual obligations. PIERSON: You don't know that.

BLITZER: They hire workers --

PIERSON: No, you don't know that.

BLITZER: They did the work, the glass work, the -- whatever work they had to do for the Trump casinos in Atlantic City. They did it but they didn't get paid back.

PIERSON: Wolf, have you seen the contractual obligations? You don't know that. You cannot say that you know that they fulfilled their contractual duties. You cannot say that. But let me say this. I will say this. Donald Trump has created tens of thousands of jobs in this country, and the fact that Hillary Clinton gave an entire speech slamming his business of which there isn't a person on the planet that doesn't know Donald Trump is an extremely successful businessman and has created tens of thousands of jobs all over the globe. It goes to show you how tone-deaf she is that she doesn't understand the basics of how business works.

BLITZER: Katrina, you speak for the Trump campaign. If these small business owners in Atlantic City can prove they did the work, they hired the contractors, they did the work for Donald Trump, but he never paid them for that work, if they can prove that, should he reimburse them?

PIERSON: Well I think that question is best suited for the spokesperson for the Trump organization, not the campaign. But what I will say is that you don't have the contractual obligations. You don't have the specifics of anything that Hillary Clinton talked about, because these are just simply her talking points. She is trying to paint Trump as a bad businessman, when in fact, everyone knows he's extremely successful and he has created tens of thousands of jobs.

BLITZERS: Well, there were individuals there who spoke about their business experiences with Donald Trump in Atlantic City. But let me get -- while I have you, and we don't have a lot of time. I want to get your reaction to why Donald Trump seemed to praise Saddam Hussein last night in a speech in North Carolina. He was especially pleased with the way Donald Trump -- especially pleased with the way Saddam Hussein dealt with terrorists. So why did he decide to bring this up?

PIERSON: Well, let me just say real quickly that there's a lot of people who've also done business with Mr. Trump that have been very successful. With regards to Saddam Hussein, there was no praise here. Mr. Trump was pointing out the facts that Saddam Hussein was a horrible, horrible person. But he also pointed out the fact that there are people doing things in the Middle East that are far worse. We have people being beheaded for crying out loud now. And the point to bring that up is to distinguish the difference between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton, when it comes to foreign policy.

Hillary supports going into sovereign nations, overthrowing government, and leaving vast vacuums for terrorism to thrive for 15 years. We've been told, we need allies in the Arab nations. We need to build coalitions. It's been 15 years and things have gotten worse. And Hillary Clinton wants to continue the same.

BLITZER: That -- I just want to be precise. Does Donald Trump believe the Middle East would be better off today if Saddam Hussein were still in power in Baghdad?

PIERSON: Donald Trump believes that any time you go in to a sovereign nation and overthrow their government, creating a vacuum for bad people, worst people to be in charge, it is a bad thing. Saddam Hussein did kill terrorists. And look at Libya and look at Egypt. Look at what's happening all over the Middle East because of Hillary Clinton's position on foreign policy.

BLITZER: So, let me repeat the question. Would the Middle East be better off if Saddam Hussein were today in power?

PIERSON: Well, you're asking me to predict the future. And that's something that I cannot do. But I will say that Saddam Hussein, although being a horrible man, a horrible dictator, he did kill terrorists, and we did not have ISIS at that point.

BLITZERS: All right, let's talk about the, there's some news coming out right now. I just want to be precise. Senator Corker, the chairman of the Center of foreign relations committee, apparently just told the Washington Post, he is taking himself out of consideration for the possibility of becoming Donald Trump's vice-presidential running mate. What can you tell us about this? Has Donald Trump been informed of this decision?

PIERSON: Well, I have not seen that article yet. And if that is the case, he has every right to do so.

BLITZERS: Would you be surprised?

PIERSON: No, not at all. There are a lot of individuals who love what they do and they want to continue doing that. There's a lot of opportunities with a Trump Administration to further the conservative cause, and this could be one of them.

BLITZERS: Because he was out of the campaign trail, Senator Corker with Donald Trump yesterday, in North Carolina. He was there speaking together with him. They were showing some video of it. Pretty effusive in his praise but then all of a sudden, he announces today, tells the Washington Post, you know what, I don't even want to be considered as Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate. So, this is news to you, is that what you're saying?

PIERSON: Well, yes. And I will say that I think the important part of this, what you have mentioned, the campaigning with Mr. Trump, is a simple fact that this does goes to show that Mr. Trump is bringing members of the party together.

[13:10:07] BLITZER: Bringing -- Because there's a lot of other candidates, apparently potential candidates who are saying they're not interested in being his vice presidential running mate. Just tell us, who is at the top of the list?

PIERSON: Well I think, historically, a lot the candidates say they're not interested or they don't want to be considered but at the end of the day, once they're asked, they usually accept.

Mr. Trump is keeping the top of that list very close to the vest. I wouldn't be able to give you the names. But I will say he's taking it very seriously. This is very personable. This has nothing to do with, you know, a gender -- a gender decision or even carrying a certain state. Mr. Trump wants to choose someone that's going to help him put forth his vision to make America great again.

BLITZER: All right, Katrina Pierson, from the Trump campaign. Katrina, thanks very much for joining us.

PIERSON: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, let's get some reaction, some analysis. Joining us now on our political panel here in Washington, CNN National Political Reporter Maeve Reston, our CNN political Commentator and Washington Correspondent for the New Yorker Magazine, Ryan Lizza, our CNN Political Director David Chalian and also joining us from New York CNNMoney's Cristina Alesci.

David, so this is pretty surprising. The day after Senator Corker appears with Donald Trump at this rally in North Carolina. All of a sudden he tells the Washington Post, "I'm not interested in being his vice presidential running mate."

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's right. Not just at the rally, but also spent time with Donald Trump and his family members in Trump Tower yesterday in New York before flying down to North Carolina. And spoke of that experience, what he tells the Washington Post is, that you come to realize there are things that you're good at and things that are not the best fit for you. And after discussions, that he said lengthy discussions over some period of time here, that he has come to the conclusion that this is not the right role for him.

It's going to raise a ton of questions of course about how serious in contention was he, was there something that came up in vetting that he thinks is not worth going through. Because as you know, this is a process, where you hand over every piece of paper you have, everything you've ever done in your life. So, whether there was something in that process that cause any concern, or whether we take him at face value on his words here at the Washington Post, I'm sure more will come out about this. But what Corker says is this is not the right fit for him. Whether or not as you just heard Katrina Pierson say, perhaps he sees himself better served if Donald Trump were to win in a role in the administration that's not the vice presidency.

BLITZER: And Maeve, what do you think? What's your reaction when you hear that? Because we know there are some other candidate, Newt Gingrich is going to be out with him in Ohio later today. He's apparently on that shortlist as well.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Right, and it seems like the list shift seems to get narrower and narrower. Usually, when you have these kinds of vetting processes, there's tons of candidates, you know, that are dying to be the vice president. That is not the case here. In this case of course, it may be a vetting issue of some kind, but there are just a lot of candidates who don't seem ready to stand with him.

BLITZER: Who do you see at the top of the short, shortlist?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT FOR THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: Oh, God. You know, we're always wrong about this. He picks the Washington Post as previously reported that Gingrich -- that Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House in the 90s, and Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey are at the top of that list. They've certainly been the two of the most pro-Trump Republicans out there. They come with a lot of negatives. They're -- Christie's approval rating in New Jersey is in the 20s. The last time Newt Gingrich was in the spotlight in 2012 when he ran for president, his approval rating was in the 20s.

So, if he's looking for someone to add a little bit of a more popular person, you know, those aren't the two that would jump to my mind. The Corker thing is very unusual. I don't -- I can't remember the last time someone at this -- who is being vetted, who is campaigning with the candidate, all of a sudden, went public with the fact that he didn't want the job. He said -- He told Robert Costa of the Washington Post that he's more of a policy person, not so much of a political person. But if you're willing to be vetted for VP, you know you're getting into this, a very political role.

RESTON: Knowing words in such an almost an emotional way, last night when he was out on the stage with Trump. It's just very, very interesting.

LIZZA: So it does make you wonder if something about their relationship didn't gel. He's the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They definitely have different views about foreign policy. And I wonder if that was it. If Corker just decided that they were too far apart on the big foreign policy questions.

CHALIAN: And Corker, over this process, has publicly scolded may be too harsh a word, but expressed his dissatisfaction with certain things that Trump has said he has not been a pure ra-ra cheerleader. In fact, you remember a few weeks back, he said, Donald Trump really has a few weeks to really turn this thing around. So, part of what he was doing last night I think was trying to address that issue and say, I am on board. But he was not sort of from the beginning just a loyal Trump partisan.

RESTON: And that is such an interesting thing that we're going to see when Trump is out there with Newt Gingrich. Because of course, over the last couple of days, Newt Gingrich had said all kinds of things about Donald Trump that Donald Trump probably didn't like to hear whether that's just a little game they're playing, not clear. But it'll be interesting to see how much of that Trump can take.

BLITZER: And one name I've heard recently, I don't know if it's serious or not, is

[13:15:00] Governor Scott Walker. Have you heard that name as a possibility?

CHALIAN: Did you see his endorsement today of Donald Trump. I would be very surprised.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It was not exactly glowing.

BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE) --

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: It may have been the most understated endorsement he's had to give out.

BLITZER: But there are some -- some -- some people are pushing -- some people are pushing.

CHALIAN: But, remember, he just had a very public meeting this past weekend with Mike Pence --

BLITZER: Yes.

CHALIAN: The governor of Indiana. And he was tweeting about that. So there clearly are some real contenders here. And we're probably not much more than a week or so away from hearing a decision.

BLITZER: And what Donald Trump wants is somebody who's loyal and is going to be with him 100 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

BLITZER: Yes. That -- that's (INAUDIBLE).

LIZZA: That would stow (ph) it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's narrowing it down.

LIZZA: That would make a -- that would make a case for Chris Christie, who has been loyal arguably to a fault.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE) make a case for Mike Pence too?

LIZZA: You know, Pence, he -- when -- in the Indiana primary, Pence was not exactly a Trump super fan. He sort of, you know, played --

CHALIAN: He said he was going to vote for Cruz. He actually was with -- right, that he --

LIZZA: Yes, it was just sort of -- it wasn't an overwhelming endorsement for Cruz.

CHALIAN: Right. LIZZA: He said a lot of nice things about Trump, but he did endorse Cruz in the end. But conservatives really like Pence. And if Trump felt that his number one problem was convincing conservatives that he's OK, Pence would be a good choice.

BLITZER: To get that base. All right, Cristina, I want to play for you one of the stronger remarks that Hillary Clinton made today. I want to get your reaction on the other side. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He doesn't default and go bankrupt as a last resort. He does it over and over again on purpose. Even though he knows he will leave others empty- handed, while he keeps the plane, the helicopter, the penthouse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Cristina, walk us through Trump's bankruptcy history, because you've done a lot of research on that.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Trump has filed for bankruptcy four times. I should say Trump's businesses have filed for bankruptcy four times in Atlantic City. Hillary really going after his defense of these bankruptcies because we have heard him say multiple times, I did this, and so do other successful businesses. Other successful businesses use bankruptcy. That may be true, but this shows a frequency of using the bankruptcy system and that is what Hillary is attacking here. He's using -- he's -- she's using the number of times that he has used bankruptcy in Atlantic City to show a pattern.

Not only that, but if you look a bit deeper and you look at the actual numbers, do successful businesses use bankruptcy? Yes, they do. But if you look over a 30 year period, only about 20 percent of publicly traded companies with assets over $1 billion have used bankruptcy protection. And I can tell you, Wolf, that I have interviewed numerous CEOs and none of them would be proud to go into bankruptcy proceedings. Why? Because they are messing. They cost millions of dollars in legal fees. Instead of investing that money in a business and growing it, and perhaps managing an orderly decline, what you're doing is sending a shockwave that actually costs massive layoffs, causes massive layoffs, and that is what she is going after. It's not just his use of the bankruptcy protection laws in this country, it's the frequency and it's the way that he used them, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Cristina, good work. Thanks very much, Cristina.

Everybody else, stand by.

We have more breaking news coming in here. Bernie Sanders, he's standing by to join us live. We're going to talk about why he's still in the race for president of the United States. What he thinks about the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail servers, and President Obama's troop commitment in Afghanistan. A whole lot more. Bernie Sanders will join me live right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:27] BLITZER: Republicans in Congress want to know more about the FBI's assessment that no charges are warranted in the Hillary Clinton e-mail case, so they've called on the FBI director, James Comey, to appear before the House Oversight Committee to take their questions. That would be tomorrow morning. We'll, of course, have live coverage here on CNN.

Joining us right now is the Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders. He's still a Democratic presidential candidate. Is that correct?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got 1,900 delegates. We're off to Philadelphia in a few weeks.

BLITZER: I want to get to that. I want to talk to that. But I want to get your immediate reaction. There's a story that just moved our CNN senior congressional producer, Deirdre Walsh, just reported it. I assume you know Deirdre. She's a very good producer.

I'll read you the line that jumped out at me. House Democrats roughed up Senator Bernie Sanders in a closed door session Wednesday after he deflected questions about when he would formally back Hillary Clinton for president with a group of members booing him at one point, according to three Democrats who attended the meeting.

SANDERS: Well, a bit of an exaggeration, but we have differences of opinion.

BLITZER: What happened there? What -- why did these Democrats start booing you?

SANDERS: Well, it doesn't matter. Because we look at the world a little bit differently. What I am trying to do and the reason I ran for president is to help transform this country. To deal with income and wealth inequality, a declining middle class, the fact that so many of our young people are leaving school deeply in debt. That's what I have focused on. And I'm very happy to tell you that today Secretary Clinton came out with a proposal on higher which combines what her campaign had talked about and what my campaign had talked about. And you know what it says, Wolf? It says that in America any family of $125,000 or less will be able to send their kids to college --

BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE) welcomed her proposal today?

SANDERS: Will be able to send their kids to college --

BLITZER: Is it enough?

SANDERS: Can I finish?

BLITZER: Yes.

SANDERS: Tuition free. Tuition free. Now, it's going to take four years get there. We started at 85 and you've got 125,000. That is a revolutionary breakthrough for the middle class and working class of this country. Every young person in this country will be able to go to a public college or university tuition free regardless of their income. I think that's pretty good.

BLITZER: Is that it? It -- you welcome that decision by the --

SANDERS: I sure do.

BLITZER: By the secretary? So is it enough for you to endorse her?

SANDERS: We are working on other issues. Look, at the end of the day, what I believe is that this country faces enormous problems. We need a president. We need a Congress who are prepared to address those problems. A Congress that is prepared to take on big money interests. And that is what I am fighting for and that's what I fought for from day one.

BLITZER: But are you fighting for the Democratic nominee to be elected president?

SANDERS: Am I fighting to make sure that a Democratic is elected president? You bet your bottom dollar on that.

[13:25:04] BLITZER: Because she -- she has won the nomination.

SANDERS: She is the presumptive candidate, absolutely.

BLITZER: If you take a look at all the numbers, and we did the research right now, she -- she won 3 million more popular votes than you did. She has 2,219 pledged delegates to your 1,832. Obviously a lot more super delegates, but you don't like --

SANDERS: A lot more super delegates.

BLITZER: She won 33 contests. You won 22 contests.

SANDERS: Right.

BLITZER: She won fair and square, right?

SANDERS: Yes.

BLITZER: So it's over?

SANDERS: Well, what's -- no. What's over is, you go into the Democratic Convention. But, you know, what is over is the fact that she has more delegate than I do. I'm not arguing with any of those (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: So she won the nomination?

BLITZER: What I am trying to do, but the nomination is not the only aspect of what politics is about. What politics is about is trying to do well by -- do well by the middle class and working families. That is what I'm struggling to do. And today, what we announced is, as a result of the work of the two campaigns, a major step forward that will revolutionize higher education in America. We are looking at some other ideas as well.

BLITZER: Because here's what a lot of Democrats are saying. Why can't -- you know, she -- she lost to Barack Obama eight years ago and almost immediately endorsed him, went out and campaigned with him, did everything she could to make sure he would be elected president of the United States. Why can't you do the same thing?

SANDERS: Because what I want to do is to make sure that, a, we have the strongest Democratic platform out there that represents working families. And we have made good progress on that. We have language in the Democratic platform up to now, which will break up the large financial institutions, re-establish Glass-Steagall. We're talking now in the platform of expanding Social Security.

BLITZER: But if you endorsed her, you couldn't get that kind of leverage? Is that what you're saying?

SANDERS: Well, this fight -- well, we're continuing the fight. We're going to Orlando next week. And I'll tell you one of the issues that concerns me --

BLITZER: That's where they're going to finalize the platform.

SANDERS: That's right. That's where the full platform committee meets. Is I want to see that the Trans Pacific Partnership, the TPP, which I believe is a disaster for the middle class and working families of this country, I don't want to see it get onto the floor of the United States Congress. And we'll have that debate. I hope we can win it.

BLITZER: Is that the biggest argument with her you still have?

SANDERS: It's not even with her, frankly.

BLITZER: Because she says she opposes the TPP right now.

SANDERS: That's right.

BLITZER: Even though when she was secretary of state she thought it was a good idea.

SANDERS: Right.

BLITZER: Now she says it's not a good idea. Isn't that good enough for you?

SANDERS: No, what's good enough for me is -- this is not a game, Jake (ph). This is whether or not we continue a disastrous trade agreement that has cost us millions of decent paying jobs. So what I want to see happen is the Democratic Party go on record as saying, the TPP should not get to the floor of the U.S. House or U.S. Senate.

BLITZER: So that's a -- the demand you want in the platform. If you don't get it, what happens?

SANDERS: It's not a demand. It's something that we are fighting for. And there are other things that we want. But the goal of this whole effort is, it's not a game. You know, it's not, you know, a silly business. This is to create public policy. And I know media is not always interested in public policy. But working families are. They want to know whether or not they're going to have access to health care. They want to know whether or not their kids are going to be able to afford to go to college. These are real issues that impact real people.

BLITZER: But explain to me why you can't pursue those kinds of real policy issues if you endorsed her and said -- and went out on the campaign trail with her. She needs your base. She needs all those millions of Americans who joined your campaign, who supported you. If she's going to beat Donald Trump, she needs them. Why aren't you telling them right now, I'm with Hillary Clinton?

SANDERS: Well, first of all, I am going to do everything that I can to defeat Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump would be a disaster for this country. I think it is inconceivable that we have -- would have a president who insults Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women, and African-Americans. And I'm going it do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump.

But what I am trying to do -- now, you mentioned the fact that we have -- well, we did, we got 13 million votes. I'm trying to represent those 13 million people. And what they have said to me is, Bernie, we want to have a government that represents all of us and not just wealthy campaign contributors. We want to deal with income and wealth inequality so that 58 percent of all new income does not continue going to the 1 percent. That's what I am fighting for. That's what my campaign is about.

BLITZER: You've heard the criticism, and maybe it came up with the House Democrats this morning in that closed-door meeting and some of them apparently booed you, what they say --

SANDERS: Well, let me just say, if I may.

BLITZER: Yes.

SANDERS: You know, by and large, the response was pretty good. There were some people who were not -- who were in disagreement.

BLITZER: Did you hear booing?

SANDERS: I don't know. There were a few people who were discontented. But most of the people were very friendly and I think very appreciative. And what the California people said, by the way, from a political perspective, is they were delighted that in California we'll end up with 46 percent of the vote, the turnout was so large, the Democrats won the first and second slot in the congressional primaries, meaning they don't have to worry about a Republican.

[13:29:59] BLITZER: Here's what they say, your critics, among the Democrats, that why you're not doing today what Hillary Clinton did vis-a-vis Barack Obama eight years ago, they say, you know why, because Bernie Sanders is not a Democratic.

SANDERS: Well, they can say whatever they want. You know, they can -- they had their --

BLITZER: Are you a Democrat?