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Growing War Of Words In Democratic Race; Clinton Says Sanders Is Better Than Trump; Sanders Questions Clinton's Qualifications; Sanders Gears Up For New York Showdown; New Video Of Brussels Airport Attacker; Sanders' Campaign Defends Attack On Clinton's Qualification; Democrats Battle over New York; Republicans Battle over New York. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 7, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll see how this plays out. Laura Coates, Tom Fuentes, thank you very much for that.

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

BROWN: And thank you for watching. Wolf starts now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in New York, 7:00 p.m. in Brussels, Belgium, 8:00 p.m. in Erbil, Iraq. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We start with the Democratic race for president of the United States. And a strategy difference today emerging. Hillary Clinton took to the streets of New York City. She's in the Bronx, talking with voters, riding the subway, as she prepares for the April 19th primary here in New York state.

Bernie Sanders, he's in Pennsylvania. He's talking with labor leaders of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania primary is April 26th, one week after New York. But Sanders changed the narrative of the campaigns today with attacks against Hillary Clinton last night. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She has been saying lately that she thinks that I am, quote, unquote, "not qualified to be president." I don't think that you are qualified if you get $15 million from Wall Street through your Super Pac. I don't think you are qualified if you have voted for the disastrous war in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand Bernie Sanders thinks you're not qualified?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it's kind of a silly thing to say but I'm going to trust the voters of New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The more contentious tone was also evident in this Twitter battle over guns. Sanders said only one Democrat candidate takes gun lobby money to fund her campaign. Clinton fired back tweeting only one Democratic candidate has voted for the NRA's most important piece of legislation in 20 years, you.

So, why is it getting so nasty? It may be because Sanders has won seven of the last eight contests and has tightened the delegate gap among pledged delegates. And here is what's left. Sixteen hundred sixty-one pledged delegates still out there, more than 200 of them will be up for grabs in the New York state primary. That's coming up.

The bitter back and forth has certainly escalated quickly in the wake of Bernie Sanders' double digit win, 13-point win, in Wisconsin this week. He was asked about his qualifications comments during a campaign stop in Philadelphia earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: This is not the type of politics that I want to get. And I know it's what the media loves. It is not the type of politics that I want to get in. But let me also be very clear. If Secretary Clinton thinks that I just come from a small state of Vermont, we're not used to this, well, we'll get used to it fast. I'm not going to get beaten up. I'm not going to get lied about. We will fight back. I would hope we can get away from this. I do have respect for Secretary Clinton. I don't know who in her campaign comes up with these brilliant ideas.

But all that I'm saying is, I am not going to go into New York -- you know, I know that they are getting nervous. They've lost seven out of the last eight caucuses and primaries and I know every day, they develop a new approach to their campaign. I gather their approach is -- again, this is a quote from CNN. Quote, "disqualifying him, defeat him and unify the party later." That sounds to me like they're ready to run a very negative campaign.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right, joining us now is Brian Fallon. He's the press secretary for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Brian, thanks very much for coming in. Is this campaign about to get a whole lot more negative?

BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: I hope not, Wolf. You know, we're running the same type of campaign we have from the very beginning. What we've seen in the last few days is the Sanders' campaign has gone on the attack, and they're using completely false premises to do so. Senator Sanders, you just heard in that clip there, is trying to play the victim.

He's introduced new lines of attack against Hillary Clinton in the last couple days that are based on completely false premises. First, he said that Hillary Clinton said he wasn't qualified to be president. She absolutely did not say that. She gave an interview yesterday, where despite three follow-up questions, she deliberately avoided saying that. BLITZER: But she also didn't say -- in that interview with Joe

Scarborough on "MORNING JOE," she also didn't say he was qualified. She didn't say he wasn't qualified but she didn't say he was qualified.

FALLON: So, this morning, she said, absolutely, Senator Sanders, I'll take him any day over Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. And Joe Scarborough, this morning, said, I tried my best to get her to say he was unqualified and I couldn't succeed.

But "Washington Post" fact checker today gave Bernie Sanders three Pinocchios over the fact that she did not call him unqualified. And yet, last night, that's what he did to her.

Secondly, he has suggested that she's tried to make politics out of the attack at Sandy Hook, suggesting that it was she that called on him to apologize for his vote in favor of gun manufacturer liability. The reality is, he made his comments doubling down to the "New York Daily News" last week in support of that vote that he took.

And it was the loved ones of the victims at Sandy Hook that spoke out and said that they wanted an apology from Senator Sanders, because they are trying to bring a lawsuit and he's opposing them getting their day in court. That wasn't Hillary Clinton that called him out on that. That was the victims of Sandy Hook.

[13:05:01] BLITZER: He says she's not qualified to be president of the United States, because she voted for the Iraq War, because she takes all this money from Wall Street, and that's -- and that she supports all these trade agreements that have cost a lot of jobs in the United States. And I want you to respond directly, because he says she should apologize for all of that.

FALLON: By those metrics, by those standards, President Barack Obama is unqualified to hold the office that he now sits in. John Kerry, the Democratic Party nominee in 2004, would be unqualified by that standard. This is an absurd line of attack. And it's probably the lowest we've sunk here, in terms of the rhetoric on the Democratic side. Obviously, to date, you've seen us keep it on the level, policy oriented, especially compared to the Republicans.

Senator Sanders, though, in the last few days has really stepped away from that. You've seen harsh rhetoric, not just from the candidate himself, but his campaign manager going around, suggesting this morning that Hillary Clinton has made a deal with the devil. There's been a coarsening of rhetoric here from the Sanders' campaign that is only going to impair our ability to unify the party in the weeks ahead.

BLITZER: Does she take money from the NRA lobby, the National Rifle Association?

FALLON: That's --

BLITZER: That's what he's saying. FALLON: -- another ridiculous attack. There is no question where Hillary Clinton stands when it comes to gun safety issues. She has opposed the NRA at every turn. It's Senator Sanders that voted consistently with the NRA, five times against the Brady Bill. He voted in favor of the -- of giving immunity to gun manufacturers which the gun lobby called the most important vote for them in decades. He voted alongside their interest in that case. That is why the victims of Sandy Hook have called for an apology.

This is just another one of those false attacks, similar to when he accused her of taking money from oil and gas companies which was another thing that was fact-checked by multiple independent authorities. The Sanders' campaign is getting increasingly desperate here. They are flailing because in spite of the recent victories that they've had, the delegate math remains quite daunting for them.

And they should be focused on trying to win support here in New York because New York is a must-win for them. It's do or die for the Sanders' campaign in New York.

BLITZER: Why do you say do or die in New York? Because he has won the last seven of the eight last contests, one of those contests being the American abroad --

FALLON: He has.

BLITZER: -- contest.

FALLON: The size of our delegate lead right now is well above 200. And in order to erode that delegate lead, he needs to win and win big in the four biggest contests that are left. And the first of those is New York. Some 200-plus delegates at stake in New York. That is one of the best -- last best opportunities for him to eat into the delegate lead that we have. If he can't do it New York, there's no basis to think he can do in California.

We'll know by the end of April if Senators Sanders has run out of scenarios, in terms of getting to the nomination. We think it'll be clear, Hillary Clinton is going to be the nominee by the end of the month, based on New York and Pennsylvania on the 26th. Senator Sanders should be working on trying to win support here in New York. If he tries to go on the attack against Hillary Clinton here in New York, I think it'll backfire on him.

BLITZER: All right, we shall see. That's coming up pretty soon. We got a debate coming up a week from today as well --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in Brooklyn. Thanks very much, Brian Fallon, for joining us.

Coming up, we're going to hear from the Bernie Sanders' campaign and get a very different perspective. How they're defending his comment that Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president of the United States and their strategy for New York when she's ahead here in the polls.

Plus, the brand-new video of one of the suspected airport bombers in Brussels, making his get-away, what it reveals and the piece of evidence police say is still out there.

[13:08:27]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The race for Democratic -- the Democratic presidential nomination has reached a new pitch, some would say a fever pitch. Senator Bernie Sanders, today, strongly defended his criticism that Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president of the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: So, when you have headlines from "The Washington Post," quote, "Clinton questions whether Sanders is qualified to be president," my response is, well, you know, if you want to question my qualifications, let me suggest this. That maybe the American people might wonder about your qualifications, Madam Secretary, when you voted for the war in Iraq, the most disastrous foreign policy blunder in the modern history of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Jeff Weaver is Bernie Sanders' campaign manager. He's joining us now live from Burlington, Vermont. Jeff, thanks very much for joining us. So, does he really believe that Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president of the United States?

JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, BERNIE SANDERS' CAMPAIGN: Look, Wolf, there are very big policy differences between Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton. He articulated some of them right there. There are certainly many, many more. The Clinton campaign, we've -- obviously having a little trouble now. They've lost seven of the last eight contests.

But we're coming into New York. They obviously think it's a more rough and tumble environment there. And so, they begin to launch these attacks against Bernie Sanders' qualifications. And let me say this. Bernie Sanders has run an issue-oriented campaign from the beginning, but he's not going to be a punching bag for the Clinton campaign's negative attacks, that's for sure.

BLITZER: But -- so, does -- all right, let me repeat the question. Does he believe that she is --

WEAVER: Sure, sure.

BLITZER: -- qualified to be president of the United States?

WEAVER: Well, certainly, the issues that he raises suggest that maybe he is more qualified to be president of the United States. Let's put it that way.

BLITZER: Because he's -- he opposed going to war in Iraq and she supported that legislation, is that the reason you're suggesting?

WEAVER: He opposed the war in Iraq. He opposed all the disastrous trade deals which have gutted manufacturing in America. He doesn't go to Wall Street and raise millions and millions and millions of dollars for his campaign, or the pharmaceutical industry, or the gun lobby, or the private prison industry or any of these other industries.

Bernie Sanders is funding his campaign with millions of contributions from small donors across the country. Those are some of the reasons why he's a much better qualified to be president of the United States. He'll be independent and speaking for people not special interests.

BLITZER: But you heard what Brian Fallon said that she never insisted that he was not qualified to be president of the United States. That he, in effect, Bernie Sanders, is lying when he says she started it.

WEAVER: Well, that's -- you know, listen, I was on the set of CNN election night with you the other night. And Jeff Zeleny reported that the Clinton campaign had a new strategy called, disqualify him, defeat him and unite the party later. "The Washington Post" reported on the secretary's strategy which was calling into question Bernie Sanders' qualifications. So, listen, if it's a question of voracity between Jeff Zeleny and the Clinton campaign, I'll pick Jeff Zeleny, frankly.

[13:15:09] BLITZER: At a campaign stop in the Bronx today, Hillary Clinton took a swipe at Bernie Sanders' interview earlier this week in "The New York Daily News" - a lot of people talking about that - when he was asked how he would break up the big banks. That's certainly a cornerstone of his campaign. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But I think it is important to tell people what you're going to do for them and how you can get it done. How you can produce results that will make a positive difference in people's lives. Don't make promises you can't keep. Know what you want to achieve and then bring everybody together to get the results. And that's what I'm going to do in New York, across the country, and, if I'm so fortunate, as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so she's positioned herself as a candidate who could actually get stuff done. Suggesting Bernie Sanders, he may have great ideas, but he doesn't know how to do it. Your response?

WEAVER: Well, look, Wolf. Bernie Sanders does have a bold vision for America. Just like other great Democratic presidents of the past, like FDR, who accomplished only some of what he set out to do but he got us Social Security, unemployment insurance and a whole host of other benefits that we still enjoy to this day.

Bernie Sanders does have a bold agenda. That's absolutely true. If Bernie Sanders gets one-eighth of what he proposes to get done as president of the United States, that is more than Clinton has proposed in her entirety. The secretary's vision is an incrementalist, a small ball - seeing we're in the baseball season - small ball approach to politics. That's just not going to get it done any more, Wolf. The problems of the country are too great. We need bold leadership right now that's going to fight for what we really need.

BLITZER: As you know, the daughter of the principal killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is calling on Senator Sanders to apologize. She's referring to his comment that the Sandy Hook survivors shouldn't be allowed to sue gun manufacturers. She tweeted this. I'll put it up on the screen. "Shame on you, Bernie Sanders. Try living one hour of our lives. Love, the Sandy Hook principal's daughter." I want you to respond to this because guns, obviously, it's a big issue coming up in New York state.

WEAVER: Yes. Look, absolute tragedy. You know, I have kids. I mean, I just can't imagine what people go through who have to endure this kind of pain. I'm sure it lasts their entire, entire life.

I think if you read that transcript of that interview with "The New York Daily News," you will see that Bernie Sanders, in fact, said in a quite lengthy segment of the transcript, that he does support making changes to that law to make sure that bad actors are held responsible for their bad behavior. So I think that, in fact, they're really on the same page on this issue. Bernie Sanders wants to make sure that big manufacturers and big dealers who are inappropriately selling weapons in this country should be held responsible for the behavior, even when they know or should know -

BLITZER: Because she thinks - she - I was going to say, she keeps going after him for voting in favor of legislation that the NRA, the National Rifle Association, regarded as one of the most important pieces of legislation from their perspective.

WEAVER: When you say "she," you mean the secretary?

BLITZER: Yes. She's accusing him of voting for that legislation and saying that the NRA was really happy with his vote. Your response?

WEAVER: Well, look, the secretary has been all over the planet on guns. When she was in New York state originally, she wanted to license all handgun owners. Then when she ran against President Obama, she attacked him quite vocally for being too tough on gun safety, sent out very nasty mailers against him, to the point where he called her Annie Oakley. Now we're in this campaign and now suddenly she's on the side of gun safety again. As I mentioned before, she's taken money from gun lobbyists. I just don't think that she has a terrible amount of credibility on this issue. I think it's all the politics of expediency, really.

BLITZER: When you say gun lobbyists, do you have names, do you have specifics? Because that's something that she's -

WEAVER: I can get you - I can -

BLITZER: She's walking back from. WEAVER: Well, I'll tell you, "The Huffington Post" reported it. They

had the names of the lobbyists right there. Gun lobbyists who maxed out to her campaign. And, in fact, she had a gun lobbyist hold a fundraiser for her in D.C. with a bunch of other lobbyists just last month. So that's just the facts as reported. They don't like those facts, but those are the facts.

But that's no different, Wolf, really - she says she's going to clamp down on the gun lobby, but she takes gun lobby money. Claims she's going to clamp down on Wall Street, takes Wall Street money. Claims she's going to clamp down on fossil fuel people, but Greenpeace documented that her campaign and affiliated super PACs have received $4.5 million from lobbyists and others related to the fossil fuel industry. It's the same old game, Wolf. You can't fix a corrupt campaign finance system by taking its money.

BLITZER: Jeff Weaver, thanks very much for joining us.

WEAVER: Thanks very much.

BLITZER: Jeff Weaver, the campaign manager for Senator Bernie Sanders.

And one week from tonight, I'll be moderating the next CNN Democratic presidential debate in Brooklyn. You're going to see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they will face off. Remember, that's next Thursday night, April 14th, 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Only five days before the New York primary.

[13:19:52] Coming up, Ted Cruz's comments about New York values, coming back to haunt him here in New York state. The cool reception he's getting in the state and how Donald Trump is using that to his advantage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Republican Governor John Kasich, he's campaigning here in the battleground state of New York right now. Kasich visited a deli in the Bronx last hour. He's set to hold a town hall in Brooklyn later tonight. His goal, nab as many delegates as possible. Maybe not defeating Donald Trump, but certainly trying to narrow his path to the nomination at the Republican Convention in Cleveland in July.

The significance of New York also explains why the Trump and Cruz campaigns, they're focusing their attention right now on New York. Trump kicked off his return to his home state with a rally before about 10,000 supporters. It was his first campaign appearance since losing to Senator Ted Cruz in Wisconsin. Cruz also campaigned in New York, spending time in the Bronx. The New York primary is less than two weeks away.

[13:25:14] Joining us now is the Arizona state treasurer, Jeff DeWit. He's a Trump campaign surrogate. Also with us is Ron Nehring. He's a national spokesman for the senator - for Senator Ted Cruz's campaign.

Gentlemen, thanks to both of you for joining us.

Ron, Trump wasted little time bringing up the senator's earlier remarks about so-called New York values. Listen to what Trump said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've got this guy standing over there, looking at me, talking about New York values with scorn on his face, with hatred - with hatred of New York. So, folks, I think you can forget about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Does Senator Cruz regret making those comments?

RON NEHRING, TED CRUZ NATIONAL SPOKESMAN: Well, you know, Donald Trump gets really defensive whenever Senator Cruz challenges New York liberalism and New York liberals because Donald Trump has been funding and bank rolling so many New York liberal Democratic politicians and the New York Democratic Party for so long.

Look, Wolf, everybody knows that Senator Cruz, what he was referring to with that, and that he's challenging the liberal status quo in New York City and New York state that has produced some of the highest taxes in the country. So many people who were forced to leave New York state because of those high taxes and the economic opportunities that are cut off as a result of it.

I'm born and raised in New York. I went to school in New York. That's where I was born. That's where my parents emigrated to from Germany. Everybody in New York knows what Senator Cruz was referring to, and that's that liberal, you know, politics and, you know, near socialist politics of New York City, you know, that has had such a negative impact under the current mayor in terms of reversing a lot of the, you know, quality of life improvements that we saw, you know, under previous mayors.

BLITZER: All right, let me let Jeff respond. But I want you to listen, Jeff. Here's how Senator Cruz himself explained his comment about, quote, "New York values." Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's be clear. The people of New York know exactly what those values are. They're the values of liberal Democratic politicians, like Andrew Cuomo, like Anthony Weiner, like Eliot Spitzer, like Charlie Rangel. All of whom Donald Trump has supported, given tens of thousands of dollars throughout the years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Jeff, I'll let you respond.

JEFF DEWIT, ARIZONA STATE TREASURER: Well, obviously, Senator Cruz was pandering with the earlier comments. He's trying to spin it now, but earlier he classified all New Yorkers and basically said that there's no way Donald Trump can be a good guy because he's from New York. And so he insulted the entire state of New York. And he didn't seem to care back when he was pandering just trying to get votes in other places. Now that he's here, that's coming home to roost. And he's cruising for a bruising in the New York primary. They're going to take it to him here, as they should. He insulted the entire state.

BLITZER: Well, let me let - let me let Ron respond to that. Go ahead, Ron.

NEHRING: Well, like I said earlier, Donald Trump is very protective of the liberal Democrat politicians he's been bank rolling for years. You know, he's made sizeable investments, huge contributions to the New York state Democratic Party, for example, and as well as, you know, New York City politicians and the liberal Democratic governor of the state. So, of course, he's going to be defensive and, of course, he's going to use that because he wants to do anything he can to take the subject away from the fact that he just got trounced in the state of Wisconsin. He said he was going to win there. And except - what - what - and I think it's important to see what happened in Wisconsin, because exactly what we said would happen has happened in that, as the number of Republican candidates has been reduced from 17 down to effect (ph) a two-person race, our numbers have gone up and we're seeing that consolidation of the Republican, the conservative base behind Senator Cruz. Of course Donald Trump doesn't want to talk about that, but that's the reality. That's what he's really facing as this race goes forward.

BLITZER: Jeff, Trump has to do well. New York is his home state, just like Cruz won his home state of Texas.

DEWIT: Right.

BLITZER: It's a given, don't you believe, that Trump should win his home state, win it decisively?

DEWIT: He will and he will win decisively. And I think it's kind of hilarious when you hear the Cruz campaign call it a two-man race when Senator Cruz is going to come in a distant third in New York and some other states in the Northeast. So, obviously, it's not a two-man race, even though it should be. I don't know why Kasich is still in the race. However, Senator Cruz is going to come in third.

BLITZER: Well, let me - there was a Monmouth University poll, as you know, Ron, that did have Senator Cruz in third in New York. You saw that poll that came out yesterday. What do your numbers show? What does your internal polling show? Is he going to spend a lot of time in New York or is he going to move on and devote his energies elsewhere?

NEHRING: Well, Senator Cruz will be in New York campaigning, just like he is today. You know, many, many times between now and the New York primary. What's really interesting to see is that Donald Trump very suddenly cancelled his appearances, both in California, where he was supposed to be tomorrow, as well as in Colorado over the weekend in order to devote more time to campaigning in New York. That doesn't look like a candidate who's particularly confident in his performance in his own state to me.

[13:29:57] But - now why would he sudden - you know, he made commitments. He made commitments. Like he's cancelled on previous commitments in the past, like at CPAC. He made a commitment to be in Colorado. He cancelled that. We had information, and it was already public, that he was going to hold a news conference at his location of Rancho Palos Verdes in California tomorrow. That was --