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CNN NEWSROOM

Donald Trump Sums Up Foreign Policy to America First; Trump's Unfavorables with Republican Women At All-Time High; Sanders Sweeps 3 States, Eyes New York; Georgia Governor to Veto Religious Liberty Bill; Belgium Continues with Raids and Arrests; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 28, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:52] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Any minute now the Georgia Governor Nathan Deal set to hold a press conference amid controversy over the state's Religious Liberty Bill. Until now the governor has been tightlipped over whether or not he'll sign the measure into law. \

There's a lot of money hanging in the balance. Last year the state made almost $2 billion from the film industry. And now major corporations like Disney, Marvel and Netflix are threatening to pull their business out of Georgia if this bill becomes law.

As written, the measure allows faith-based groups to refuse service to same-sex couples or deny services to people who violate their, quote, "sincerely held religious beliefs." More than a dozen states debated similar laws over the past year.

We are continuing to monitor the governor's news conference. And of course when he takes his place behind the podium, we'll take you back live to Atlanta, Georgia.

Let's talk national politics now. America first. That's the brand of foreign policy Donald Trump says he'll bring to the White House, telling "The New York Times" he's not an isolationist, but he says, "We will not be ripped off anymore. We're going to be friendly with everybody," he says. "But we're not going to be taken advantage of by anybody."

And when Mr. Trump was asked if he thought Europe was safe for Americans right now in the wake of the deadly Brussels attacks, he said no, and he took it one step farther.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think America is a safe place for Americans if you want to know the truth. I don't -- I don't think that Europe is a safe place. No, I don't. I think there are a lot of problems in Europe that are very, very severe. But neither is the United States a safe place because we are allowing thousands of people to come in here. Nobody knows where they are from. Nobody knows who they are and they are coming in here by the thousands. And let me tell you something, we are going to have problems just as big or bigger than they've got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Phil Mattingly is in West Salem, Wisconsin, this morning, and, Phil, we could be talking about tabloid smears right now, but let's pause on that for a moment and talk about policy.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Carol, it's been really interesting over the last couple of days as we've really started to get a window into Donald Trump's foreign policy views. We've all heard about his talks about immigration, about trade, kind of top line issues that he doesn't delve that deeply into.

In foreign policy, between the last probably four or five days of television interviews and a 100-minute sit-down phone interview with the "New York Times," we've gotten in deep. But one of the more interesting elements has been his views on NATO. Views that Ted Cruz has taken no time to criticize. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think NATO is obsolete. NATO was done at a time you had the Soviet Union which was obviously larger -- much larger than Russia is today. I'm not saying Russia is not a threat. But we have other threats. We have the threat of terrorism. And NATO doesn't discuss terrorism. NATO is not meant for terrorism. NATO doesn't have the right countries suited for terrorism.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What Donald has done -- when he gets scared, listen, particularly on foreign policy, Donald is out of his depth. He doesn't know -- he doesn't understand these issues. If Donald were president and he actually did what he said he would do, withdraw from NATO, it would hand a massive victory to Putin. A massive victory to ISIS. ISIS would be dancing in the street at the weakness and isolationism of Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Carol, Donald Trump in the "New York Times" interview really calling into question some bedrock principles of U.S. policy on treaties, on alliances, including relationships with Saudi Arabia, with South Korea, with Japan, raising a lot of questions not just that he's breaking with Republican orthodox, that he's breaking with U.S. foreign policy in general.

Now one key point here, Carol, on NATO, some of his complaints have validity with the mainstream. Only five of NATO's 28 members are actually reaching the spending threshold that they're supposed to be getting, the 2 percent per GDP. There's a lot of complaints across the political spectrum about that. But pulling out entirely or even calling it obsolete, that is something we haven't seen before. And that's why you heard Ted Cruz criticized him. John Kasich, the Ohio governor, also criticizing him as well.

[10:05:02] Carol, it's been a very interesting week on foreign policy from Donald Trump. Something I think we're going to hear a lot about going forward -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, I think that's an understatement. Phil Mattingly, thanks a lot. Phil reporting live from Wisconsin this morning.

Mr. Trump's foreign policy has left many experts scratching their heads. But he's fighting for redemption on another front, too. Women. According to a CNN-ORC poll, 74 percent of Republican women have an unfavorable view of Mr. Trump, so his camp was doing a little damage control over the weekend. Donald Trump, Jr. tweeting this picture of Ivanka Trump's new baby. That makes Donald Trump, Sr. a grandfather eight times over.

But Senator Ted Cruz is not letting Trump off easy. He insists Trump is afraid of strong women and continues to bash Trump over his attacks on Heidi Cruz. Trump is not backing down either, saying Cruz hit first when a super PAC used a picture of Trump's wife in a Utah ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It was a re-tweet that somebody sent to me. And it was a re- tweet. Now look, what he did was far worse. I mean, he takes out a thing and sends it to Utah, to the voters of Utah, and it was a cover shoot, and it was, you know, by a big magazine. She was a very, very successful model. Big model. And did lots of shoots and lots of cover shoots. And to send that like it was some kind of a bad picture was disgusting to me. I thought it was disgusting. And they put -- you know, they make me like the bad guy here. I'm just responding to what he does. I respond. I counterpunch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So let's talk about this. I'm joined by CNN political commentator and former Capitol Hill communications director Tara Setmayer, along with national political commentator for USA Radio Networks and Donald Trump surrogate, Scottie Nell Hughes.

Welcome to both of you.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, NATIONAL POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, USA RADIO NETWORKS: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks to you both for being here.

Tara, I want to start with you because you wrote an op-ed on this very topic. Can Mr. Trump overcome this? Because, you know, this poll is damaging, right? 74 percent of Republican women hold an unfavorable view of him?

SETMAYER: Yes. That's a pretty astounding number. And it's been over 50 percent for a very long time as well. So it's not like this poll is an outlier. Donald Trump's negatives outweigh his positives across the board except in the Republican primary and even there, there are some questions about whether he can ever get above 40 percent because he has yet to reach the 50 threshold, unlike Ted Cruz who actually hit the over 50 percent threshold twice in two states.

But, you know, this is something that people are very familiar with Donald Trump. Right? He has 100 name I.D. He's been in the public eye for 30 years or so. It's very difficult to change people's minds this much. When you're looking at 74 percent of women in a general election, have an unfavorable view of you, what are you going to do?

All you have to do -- when he's up against Hillary Clinton, I can already see the Democratic ad guys looking at this and going, OK, we're going to pull out every single quote that Donald Trump has said about women, the fat pigs, you look like the face of a dog, a woman who was a lawyer who was asked for a break to breastfeed during a deposition, he called her disgusting. That's a professional woman because she was deposing him so he didn't like that. She's disgusting. Going after Heidi Cruz because of her past bout with depression which millions of women suffer from. It's a very real thing.

Using that as a political threat during a Twitter rant is despicable. These kinds of things, women see this, and they go, this is not a guy that I feel has my best interest in mind. He can use whatever slogans he wants.

COSTELLO: Scottie --

SETMAYER: And tell people he loves women, but his record, his own words, his own behavior does not show that.

COSTELLO: So, Scottie, no matter who was at fault, why doesn't Mr. Trump just take the high road?

HUGHES: I think he does a couple of times. Let me just point out, unfavorable does not mean not voting for, especially when you're going up against Hillary Clinton or whoever the Democrats decide to put forth. So just because it says it's unfavorable, sure, I might not agree 100 percent with what any politician says, in fact that's a good thing. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to go swing over and throw a temper tantrum.

COSTELLO: Scottie, are you --

HUGHES: And vote for the Democrats.

COSTELLO: Scottie, I don't know. Do you have a daughter or a little sister?

HUGHES: Absolutely. In fact I'm very --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: OK.

HUGHES: It's her 8th birthday.

COSTELLO: So are you -- HUGHES: And I'm taking her to Trump Towers to see Mr. Trump and to

see everything he's built because that's why people like him is because we have children and they can see what hard work does pay off. Whether you're a male or female. I'd show her who --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Wait a second. Stop for a second. So your 8-year-old niece, right? Is that what you said? 8-year-old niece?

HUGHES: Right.

COSTELLO: OK. So how do you explain to her these things that Donald Trump says about women?

HUGHES: Real simple, stick and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. You know what, I'm sorry, you're sitting here talking about words. I look at actions. I want my daughter to base her career on actions and the actions of Mr. Trump and how what he has done for women, how he promotes women within his own company.

[10:10:05] How he promotes his own daughter and the women within his own family and how protective he is of those women. That speaks a lot louder than any words that might be spoken. And I give women a lot more credit. They don't just go for, you know, talking points. They actually go for actually what they produce, and you look at the jobs Mr. Trump has produced. You look at how protective he is and what the things he has built. That right there I think will appeal to women. He might be unfavorable in opinion, but that doesn't mean when they go into the ballot box that they won't push the button for him.

COSTELLO: Do you agree with that, Tara?

SETMAYER: Can I address that? No. No, absolutely not. You know, in the bible it says the power of life and death is in your words. OK. Words matter. Out of the abundance of your heart, so shall the mouth speaks. OK. Words absolutely do matter. And to dismiss what someone has to say, I think is completely disingenuous. So you're going to teach your kids or your niece that material --

HUGHES: It's my daughter. It's my daughter.

SETMAYER: Your daughter.

COSTELLO: Your daughter. Sorry, Scottie.

SETMAYER: So material wealth supersedes someone's character, integrity, their own actions, but because they build tall towers and they've hired some people, their character and integrity doesn't matter. I think that's a wrongful message.

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: No, no, no. Words don't reflect character and integrity.

SETMAYER: No, it may -- yes, they do. HUGHES: Want to talk about character and integrity?

SETMAYER: What you speak --

HUGHES: Let's talk about character and integrity.

SETMAYER: What you say does reflect your character and integrity.

HUGHES: When you're not running for president.

SETMAYER: Yes, it does. Donald Trump has zero --

HUGHES: There is no man of stronger character and integrity as been proven by --

SETMAYER: Really? So the man who --

HUGHES: Than Mr. Trump right now.

SETMAYER: The man who's been married three times, who publicly shamed his wife when he was cheating on her with his mistress, that's a man of integrity for you?

HUGHES: The man --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: A man who reacts to --

HUGHES: A man who sat there and paid a woman's farm off after her husband committed suicide to get money.

SETMAYER: A measure of a man --

HUGHES: A man who was out there --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I'm going to stop it here.

SETMAYER: The measure of a man's integrity --

COSTELLO: We get the picture.

SETMAYER: -- is how he handles --

COSTELLO: We get the picture.

SETMAYER: How he handles adversity.

COSTELLO: OK.

SETMAYER: And the way he handles adversity is lashing out at women.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it here. I have to leave it here. Thanks to both of you. Tara Setmayer, Scottie Nell Hughes, thank you. Tomorrow night the three Republican candidates will take part in a CNN

town hall in Wisconsin coming just one week before the primary there. The GOP town hall tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

All right. Now to the Democrats. And a jubilant Bernie Sanders who was vowing to win the nomination and the election after a sweep of caucuses in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington over the weekend. Sanders said the victories may even encouraged one key group to feel the Bern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the momentum is with us. A lot of these super delegates may rethink their position with Secretary Clinton. A lot of them have not yet declared. Then you got super delegates who are in states where we win by 40 or 50 points. I think their own constituents are going to say to them, hey, why don't you support the people of our state, vote for Sanders?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Chris Frates joins me now with more on the Democrats. Good morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. So Washington, Hawaii, and Alaska really were must-wins for Bernie Sanders, and they give him enough momentum and delegates to keep him in the hunt. But remember those delegates are awarded proportionally. So despite losing, Hillary Clinton still put points on the board this weekend. So to figure out where things stand now, let's go to the numbers.

Going into Saturday's contests, Sanders trailed Clinton by about 300 pledged delegates. And even with his sweeping wins, Sanders still lags Clinton by about 240 delegates. So those big wins, they only cut Clinton's lead by about 60 delegates so far. And going forward, Sanders will need to continue to put up huge numbers. He has to win 75 percent of the delegates left to clinch the nomination. 75 percent. That's a really high bar.

Clinton for her part, she needs to win just 35 percent of the delegates remaining to become the nominee. And Clinton still holds a commanding lead among those so-called super delegates. Those are party big wigs who are free to choose whoever they like for the nomination.

Now Sanders' campaign argues that if they keep winning, those powerbrokers are sure to come around to their side. Clinton of course trying to win enough pledged delegates that they never even consider bolting. And Sanders is also looking to challenge Clinton on her adoptive home turf, calling on the Democratic frontrunner to debate him in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I would hope very much that as we go into New York state, Secretary Clinton's home state, that we will have a debate, New York City upstate, wherever, on the important issues facing New York and in fact the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried she won't debate you anymore?

SANDERS: Yes, I do have a little bit of concern about that. But I certainly would like to see a debate in New York state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now, for her part, Clinton has tried to focus her fire on Republicans. And today in Wisconsin she'll criticize the GOP for blocking President Obama's Supreme Court pick and argue that Americans should be concerned with the kind of nominee a President Trump would pick. But with an eye-popping 247 delegates at stake next month in New York, and Carol, that's second only in California in the number of delegates up for grabs there, Clinton may be forced to refocus on Sanders, and this race could quickly become the nastiest Democratic knife fight we've seen so far this election season -- Carol.

[10:15:11] COSTELLO: Chris Frates, reporting live from Washington, thank you.

All right. Breaking news out of Atlanta, Georgia. The governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, has vetoed Georgia's religious liberty law.

Nick Valencia is on the phone. He was covering the news conference.

Why did the governor decide to veto?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Good morning, Carol. He said it was based on sound judgment and solid reason. He called Georgia a welcoming state. As you know, the governor was under tremendous pressure by major blue chip companies all across the nation. The NFL saying it was going to put at risk Atlanta's bid for the 2019 Super Bowl, major movie industries, Hollywood also speaking out against it including CNN's parent company Turner who spoke out also against the legislation.

The governor took a few weeks to decide what he says was already in his convictions, but according to the governor just moments ago, he will veto House Bill 757, an act to so-called defend religious freedoms. It was based solely on faith-based institutions. It was amended from an initial bill that included businesses.

Of course advocates of the LGBT communities saw it as anti-LGBT legislation. They thought it was discrimination. Supporters of the bill said it was not further discrimination but rather protect their religious freedoms in this country. Christians Right is a huge supporter of this bill. Senator Mike Crane, one of the biggest advocates of the bill, said that this would protect the attacks of morals and values, the Christian morals and values that are under attack in this country.

The governor clearly did not agree and just a few moments ago says that he will veto House Bill 757, so-called Religious Liberty Bill, here in the state of Georgia -- Carol. COSTELLO: All right. Nick, just so people completely understand,

that bill would have allowed faith-based organizations to deny services to those who violated their sincerely held religious beliefs. It would also allow employers to fire people who did not hold those beliefs.

As you said, Nick, and as we've been reporting, Governor Deal decided to veto that bill. Let's listen to exactly why from his own lips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NATHAN DEAL (R), GEORGIA: As I stated before, I do not think that we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia of which I and my family have been a part of for all of our lives. Our actions on House Bill 757 are not just about protecting the faith based community or providing business friendly climate for job growth in Georgia. I believe it is about the character of our state and the character of our people.

Georgia is a welcoming state. It is full of loving, kind, and generous people. And that is what we should want. They choose to worship God in the way they see fit in a myriad of ways and a variety of different settings. I believe that that is our best side, and our people, every day, work side by side without regard to the color of their skin, of their fellow mate, or the religion that their co-worker might adhere to. They are simply trying to make life better for themselves, their families, and their communities.

That is the character of Georgia. I intent to do my part to keep it that way. For that reason I will veto House Bill 757. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. You heard Governor Deal saying -- explaining why he's going to veto that Religious Liberty Bill in Georgia.

Nick Valencia, thanks.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:23:23] COSTELLO: Right now authorities are combing through potential clues after releasing this new surveillance video from inside the Brussels airport. Watch carefully there. It shows a third suspect, the airport bomber just moments before those deadly blasts. It's the first time we've seen actual moving video of this man.

Officials are also searching for a suspect they say is tied to the subway bombing. Plus as Belgium files charges against three new terror suspects, the hunt is on for at least eight others with suspected ties to ISIS. All of this happening as a new wave of terror raids sweep across Europe.

Let's bring in CNN international correspondent Phil Black. He's live in Brussels this morning. Hi, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. We begin with some new information that came to us just moments ago pointing to what has to be considered a significant setback for the authorities' investigation into last week's attacks. They have just announced that really their key suspect to far, a man arrested and charged with very serious crimes, has just been released because they couldn't make those charges against him stack up.

Last week they arrested a man they identified only as Faisal C, as in the letter C. He was then charged with terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder. These are the most significant, the biggest charges we've seen laid against anyone in the last week since the attacks. Now today they are saying that despite the fact those charges suggested that he played a pretty direct role in what took place here last Tuesday, the clues that led to his arrest and those charges proved inconclusive. And so today he has been released.

[10:25:01] The investigation continues, however, in the last 24 hours. The police here say there have been as many as 12 raids in Brussels. A third -- a further third people have been charged with terrorist related offenses.

And on the human side, the cost of this attack has increased. We've learned today that the number of people killed in those suicide bombings at the airport and at the metro station has increased from 31 to 35. A further four people have died of their injuries in hospital since the attacks that took place here last Tuesday -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Black reporting live from Brussels this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a ladies' man, someone you could laugh with. Up next hear how friends of the two Paris attackers describe the men before they turn to terror.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)