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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Faces Chilly Reception on Capitol Hill; Voters Hitting the Polls in West Virginia and Nebraska; Clinton Battles Sanders for West Virginia. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 10, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:02]CUOMO: And some insight here. You know where Justin was headed? Well, put it this way, it helped give him some reason to want to help someone stay alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just thought he's a good friend of mine. One, here from Lakeview and I'm on his way to his funeral.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh.

CUOMO: He's on the way to the funeral to his friend.

BERMAN: Oh my.

CUOMO: Stopped on the way to save a life.

CAMEROTA: Thank goodness for that guy. What a great "Good Stuff." Thank you, Chris.

Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Pamela Brown, in for Carol Costello.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you to the three of you. Have a great day. I'll take it from here.

And NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, voters in two states head to the polls as Donald Trump gets ready to head to Washington. Can he smooth things over with party leaders?

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton dodging GOP the frontrunner's attacks.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running my campaign. I'm not running against him. He's doing a fine job of doing that himself.

BROWN: And she still has one battle to win before turning her focus to Trump.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to get into plan B. Plan A is winning California, is winning West Virginia and Kentucky, and the remaining states.

BROWN: Plus, large violent tornados ripping through Oklahoma and the plains. Now another threat moves in today.

Let's talk in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, good morning to you, I'm Pamela Brown, in for Carol Costello. Thanks for being with us today.

And right now, polls are opening across Nebraska, one of Donald Trump's stepping stones to the Republican nomination. There are 36 delegates at stake there and another 34 delegates up for grabs in West Virginia. But even a clean sweep for Trump, the last Republican standing, will leave him about 100 short for clinching the number he needs. And Hillary Clinton could face a loss in West Virginia, a state that overwhelmingly supported her eight years ago. Bernie Sanders is hoping a big win will show that his message still resonates.

But the big drama looms ahead. Donald Trump sitting down with the Republican leaders that he has criticized and threatened. And to diffuse the tensions, one of Trump's vanquished rivals is reaching out before Thursday's meeting.

Our correspondents and guests are covering both parties and all the angles. And let's begin with the Republicans.

CNN's Phil Mattingly in New York with a closer look -- Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela. Well, for the first Tuesday in a number of months, the question is not who is going to win in these primary states, but instead, Pamela, what happens next. And what happens next is all about those meetings in Washington between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan, Donald Trump and Senate Republicans on Thursday.

Now the tension between these two sides of the Republican Party, ratcheted up throughout the weekend, so much so that Sarah Palin appeared to be threatening Paul Ryan's House seat, or at least her willingness to help unseat Paul Ryan. Another top Trump surrogate, Ben Carson, now trying to ratchet things back. Going the complete other direction in an interview with Erin Barnett on CNN last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: You heard today Paul Ryan say, look, if Donald Trump doesn't want me to host his convention chair, I won't -- I'll step aside. Should Paul Ryan step aside? BEN CARSON (R), TRUMP SURROGATE: Well, first of all, Donald Trump is

very much looking forward to their meeting on Thursday. And I think you're going to find probably a lot more harmony than you think. A lot of the things that have been said and that have been magnified are not actually the positions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And Pamela, as Erin alluded to, Paul Ryan backing off a little bit as well, saying that hey, this is Donald Trump, he is the presumptive nominee, if he want me to step aside as chairman of the Republican National Convention, I'm willing to do it. But still all eyes on that meeting but also all eyes on the next steps for Donald Trump going forward in his campaign related to the vice presidential search. A number of Republicans have already pulled themselves out of consideration. Another one did so yesterday.

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, former top opponent of Donald Trump, issuing a statement saying he is not sought and will not seek and would not accept the vice presidential nomination from Donald Trump, saying that he still has reservations not only about Donald Trump ran his campaign, but also concerns about policies as well.

And Pamela, obviously all we've been talking about the last couple of weeks has been delegate, delegate math, delegate everything. Well, for the most part, Donald Trump put that to bed last week in Indiana. But still, Ted Cruz has decided to hang on to his delegates. Now the big question is why. He's got more than 500. Why would you do something like this?

Well, those 500 plus delegates can be helpful when he gets to Cleveland in July, and that's all about shaping the party platform. Cruz and his ardent supporters always very concerned about where Donald Trump will head with policy in the Republican Party. They will now have votes on how the Republican Party decides the platform.

That, Pamela, is why Ted Cruz is hanging on to his delegates.

BROWN: And he is not the only candidate no longer in the race that's doing that. Marco Rubio as well, correct?

MATTINGLY: That's correct.

BROWN: All right, Phil Mattingly, thanks so much for that.

And right now, by the way, voters are hitting the polls in West Virginia. Jean Casarez is right outside a polling place in Charleston.

So, Jean, how's the turnout so far?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The turnout is constant. I mean the polls opened at 6:30 this morning.

[09:05:03] We constantly have been seeing people streaming in voters to cast their vote. And state officials say it could be a record turnout and we do have some indicators of that because there's been record setting early voting numbers.

We want to show everybody. 2016, which is the current year, almost 101,000 early votes have been cast. Now you compare that with 2012, over 57,000 votes, and in 2008, almost 69,000 votes. So you can see, far more this year. The number one issue on the minds of everybody, you probably know, is the economy. But it's the coal industry. This is coal country. It always has been.

And joining us right now is a native West Virginian, Tom Susman, who just voted.

Thank you so much for joining us. Coal industry so important to this state. But you say the answer at this point is diversification of industry.

TOM SUSMAN, WEST VIRGINIA VOTER: Coal is in competitive nature with natural gas and other energy forms. We've got to diversify our economy in West Virginia if there's any hope for us to survive and move forward. Coal will always take a major place in our economy in West Virginia, but we need to attract other industries to our state to be able to survive.

CASAREZ: Now we're hearing diversification from Hillary Clinton and also from Bernie Sanders. Who do you think can help effectuate and bring that to reality in West Virginia?

SUSMAN: My vote is Bernie Sanders. I mean, he has passion, he has desire. Hillary seems more like a packaged candidate, and establishment. And I think that Bernie Sanders offers for people in West Virginia and across the country an energy that is not there in the Clinton campaign.

CASAREZ: When Hillary Clinton made that comment at the CNN town hall in March, which she took back, but she said that she would make sure that coal mines were shut down and coal workers would lose their job, did that affect people here?

SUSMAN: It cut right to the quick. I mean, this had always been Clinton country, and it's amazing the change in the people's outlook towards Senator Clinton or Secretary Clinton once that remark came out.

CASAREZ: All right, Tom Susman, thank you so much.

I also want to tell you that we've spoken to voters today that say they know Donald Trump is the only Republican candidate left, but they cast their vote today because they want to show in record numbers his support and allegiance to the coal industry.

And Pam, I want to tell you about, this is a closed primary. In other words, if you are Democratic, you vote for the Democratic ticket, if you're Republican, you vote for the Republican. But if you're independent in West Virginia, you actually can walk inside and select, if you want to vote Democratic or if you want to vote Republican. So the influence of the independents today may actually amount to who will win the primary, especially on the side of the Democrats -- Pam. BROWN: We'll be keeping a close eye on that.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

And on Capitol Hill, Congress returns to work, and Republican lawmakers return to a new reality. Donald Trump appears certain to be their party's nominee. Trump will meet with GOP leaders on Thursday, and while that support has been largely tepid, the reception from many lawmakers may be downright chilly.

With me now Kayleigh McEnany, she is a Donald Trump supporter and conservative columnist and Errol Louis, CNN political commentator and political anchor for New York 1 News.

Thank you both for coming on.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Hi, Pamela.

BROWN: A lot to discuss this morning. Kayleigh, just looking ahead to this meeting on Thursday, does Trump need a charm offensive to win over these lawmakers or do you think the shunning by the establishment is even more charming to his supporters?

MCENANY: Look, there's no doubt about it that Donald Trump's run as an outsider is endearing to his supporters. Many of his supporters like that. Many of his supporters feel betrayed by Republican leaders. But that being said, I do think it's important that both sides of this come into this meeting with conciliatory approaches, deferential approaches, saying to one another, our goal is to get to the middle. That doesn't mean sacrificing values, that doesn't mean Donald Trump changing his position, it doesn't mean Paul Ryan, you know, moving, I guess, farther and farther in.

But it does mean an open mindedness that we are both here to beat Hillary Clinton. We might disagree on policy, but we're here to beat Hillary Clinton. So I think if they come with that approach, and it seems that they are, this will all be a nonstory as of Friday and Paul Ryan will endorse about Donald Trump, I hope.

BROWN: But what about some of the sticking points for Paul Ryan who has come out strongly against some of Donald Trump's policy proposals, such as, you know, banning on Muslims coming into the U.S.? Do you think that Donald Trump will be flexible as he has been with some other of his policy proposals?

MCENANY: Look, reasonable minds differ. And Donald Trump's policies, I think it would be a mistake for him to really change his policies because people look at him and think he is authentic because he hasn't changed his policy. This isn't a Mitt Romney election where there's an Etch-a-Sketch and he changes it all up. But, you know, that being said I think it's important for voters and Republican leaders to do what McCain has done and say it would be foolish for us not to listen to our voters. So I think in many ways the onus is kind of on Paul Ryan to say, look, I might not agree with you on everything, but, you know, that being said, you are a better choice than Hillary Clinton.

BROWN: And Errol, to you now, in some cases, Republican lawmakers back on the Hill are saying they're going to skip the convention, they're dodging questions about Trump. In fact, one Republican lawmaker even ran into the elevator to avoid taking questions about Trump.

[09:10:05] How important is it that Trump tamps down some of that squeamishness and generate more excitement from the Republican lawmakers, Errol?

LOUIS: Well, I mean, look, this is more the problem of those lawmakers than it is for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is fine running as an antiestablishment candidate. He is fine annoying people on Capitol Hill in order to get more support from his base. What's not so fine is, for example, the 40 odd lawmakers in the House of Representative who have districts with at least 20 percent Latino voters. If the numbers hold and he, Donald Trump, is as unpopular with Latino voters in November as he is now, that's a problem for each of those members.

And they have to figure out, they have to get out, I think into their district, take the temperature, try and figure out whether or not they can run with Donald Trump or won't run apart from him, and in a few cases, run against him. I mean, that's something you can never ask a politician to do what's not in their best interest. They've got to figure out what that's going to be. And in this very turbulent campaign season, it can be a little bit difficult to figure that out.

So I suspect a lot of these members are going to want to get home, try and figure out what's going on in their district and then you may see a change in their attitude toward Donald Trump.

BROWN: And meantime, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Kayleigh, is now saying that he won't chair the Republican convention if Trump doesn't want him. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: He is the nominee. I'll do whatever he wants with respect to the convention. The point is, we just need to get to know each other, and my goal is to help put together a unified party that -- that sticks to our principles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you think, Kayleigh? If he does not end up throwing his support behind Donald Trump between now and then, should he not chair the convention?

MCENANY: You know, I really think that that's up to Donald Trump and Donald Trump said yesterday, you know, it's basically an open question at this point. We don't know, you know, what's going to happen at this meeting. But you know, I think it's important for the chair of the convention to support the nominee and I think that Paul Ryan is going to get to that place. I think that was an olive branch on the part of Paul Ryan, showing some deference to the nominee. And I have to believe that leaders like John McCain and Rick Perry and Mitch McConnell coming out and sporting Trump has probably put a question mark in Paul Ryan's mind to some extend that maybe it's time for him to do the same.

BROWN: But, Errol, is this an olive branch or is this a calculated move by Ryan to distance himself, because he wants to take the pressure off of himself from being too close to Trump by being chair of the convention?

LOUIS: Well, that's right. There is that calculation again. There is a 30-seat majority that the Republicans have in the House of Representatives. That 30-seat majority is exactly why Paul Ryan is the speaker of the House. And he won't be speaker if they lose that margin. So he's got to try and figure out just like all of his members do how he stays in the majority. And again, I think when you've got this very delicate balancing act going on where he's got to try and figure out, look, if we lose 30 seats and I'm no longer speaker, that's the end for me.

And if I can preserve that majority and maybe distance myself a little bit from Donald Trump, if that's politically in my best interest, I might have to do that, too. So yes, very much a calculation. He is looking for some wiggle room.

BROWN: Certainly a delicate dance.

Kayleigh McEnany and Errol Louis, thank you so much.

LOUIS: Thank you.

MCENANY: Thank you, Pamela.

BROWN: And today, by the way, on "THE LEAD," CNN's Jake Tapper will have an exclusive interview with Marco Rubio. This will be Rubio's first interview since dropping out of the Republican presidential race. That's at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

And President Obama will soon go where no sitting U.S. president has ever been. This month Mr. Obama will make a historic visit to Hiroshima. According to the White House, he'll visit a site dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing. Hiroshima will be a last stop during his 10th trip to Asia .

And the president will also visit Vietnam and participate in his final G-7 Summit in Japan.

Well, still ahead on the NEWSROOM, West Virginia becomes the latest battle ground for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Why Sanders says he is in it until the last vote is cast?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:18] BROWN: Well, Hillary Clinton may be looking ahead to the general election, but Bernie Sanders is digging in for a Democratic battle. Today, the rivals face off in West Virginia, where Clinton wrapped up a 41 point victory against Barack Obama in the 2008 primary.

But eight years later, it is a much different story. At a rally in New Jersey, Sanders urged his supporters to fight until the very end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't let anybody tell you this campaign is over. We're going to fight for the last vote we can find in New Jersey and California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, is in Washington.

Joe, our Jean Casarez talked to a voter there on the ground in West Virginia, who said it used to be Clinton country. Not so much any more.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's for sure.

And I think part of the problem as Jean pointed out is that Hillary Clinton back in March made some statements about coal that don't take so kindly in the mountain state. But we'll see what happens in the voting.

The Clinton campaign also is taking a two-pronged approach to the attacks of Donald Trump, essentially trying to turn the discord in the Republican Party into a weapon against the presumptive nominee, putting out a long list in an e-mail of the Republicans and conservatives who are blasting Trump.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton herself has been working to try to stay on message, at least for now, steering clear of Trump's repeated attempts to bring her husband's past indiscretions into the spotlight. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm answering him on what I I'm answering him on the differences between our records, our experience. What we want to do for our country. How important it is to try to unify the country.

[09:20:03] And I have been very clear that a lot of his -- a lot of his rhetoric is not only reckless, it's dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now, neither of the Democrats is campaigning in West Virginia today, though Hillary Clinton is in nearby Kentucky, which votes next week. Bernie Sanders is campaigning out on the West Coast -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Joe Johns -- thanks so much for that.

While Clinton won't respond to the personal jabs, she is reminding voters that this comments overall are in her word "reckless". That sentiment is being echoed by a pro-Clinton super PAC which released this new ad using Trump's remarks about women against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CORRECT THE RECORD)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because nobody respects women more than Donald Trump.

She came to my wedding. She ate like a pig, and seriously, the wedding cake was like missing in action.

INTERVIEWER: So you treat women with respect?

TRUMP: I can't say that, either.

INTERVIEWER: All right, good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining me now, Jason Johnson, political editor for TheRroot.com and professor of political science.

Jason, good morning to you.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR THEROOT.COM: Good morning, Pamela.

BROWN: So you saw that attack ad there. Some have said that Clinton is walking into a trap by taking on Trump's women's card attack, basically arguing it opens her up to scrutiny or Trump will turn her into the women a he is candidate and she'll lose. After all, we saw Trump wipe out 16 other GOP candidates, some of whom vide to take him on in a similar way. Your thoughts?

JOHNSON: Yes, he wiped out 15 men and a woman who had no chance and a terrible resume. This is a completely different game that Donald Trump is playing now. He is not beating on a bunch of Republican who didn't have much of a chance, who are running against the ghost of Barack Obama. He is running against a seasoned political candidate.

And let's be clear, in America -- you can make fun of black people, Hispanics, Asians, gay people, candidates have gotten successful by beating on lots of groups. No one has ever won by beating up on white women. That's what Donald Trump is doing right now. A lot of his comments, and it will not help him.

Hillary Clinton is doing the right thing right now.

BROWN: So, you really don't think it's going to help him, because all along, we've been saying, oh, this is going to be the end of him, this isn't going to work. And then lo and behold, he pulls in millions and millions of voters.

JOHNSON: Now, see, that's the thing. I've never been that person. Right here in northeast Ohio, you may tons of people who love Donald Trump. The people who find Donald Trump surprising are trapped in Washington, D.C. or trapped in New York who don't hear how his voice really resonates in certain parts of America. That kind of boisterousness, that sort of obnoxious behavior, that

sort of reality TV, he is basically like an imaginary person of what a rich guy would act like. And that's successful with some people.

So, he is going to do better than many people expect, but those comments kill you in the suburbs, the suburbs of Philadelphia, in the suburbs of Cleveland, the suburbs of L.A., that's where Trump is going to lose. That's where Hillary is going to run up the score.

BROWN: And, of course, as we know, the general election is a different game than the primaries.

JOHNSON: Yes.

BROWN: Trump has also been attacking Hillary for enabling her husband he says. She just largely stayed away from that. Instead, she says she is going to focus on the issues she thinks voters care about.

But what about young people who don't know her background and who aren't enthusiastic about her candidacy? Is allowing him to call her an enabler without a response a mistake in your view?

JOHNSON: Not really and here is why. You talk to people under 25, like Monica Lewinsky is a trivial pursuit question. She's like a Halloween masks, OK?

All the comments about Bill Clinton's past behavior, they don't really affect young voters, because they didn't want watch it and they didn't experience it. So, Hillary Clinton is making a smart move. You attack Donald Trump on the fact that he may be dangerous, you attack him on the fact he is not substantive, you attack him on the fact that he's sexist.

Bill Clinton can defend himself. He'll go out, he'll give speeches. People will laugh at him one way or another. They'll enjoy him. But Hillary Clinton is on the right target right now. She's got to be more concerned about Bernie Sanders than anything Donald Trump is saying about her now.

BROWN: Yes, Bernie Sanders says he is staying in this race until the end.

Jason Johnson, thank you so much.

And still ahead, right here in the NEWSROOM: a tornado outbreak killing two people and the threat isn't over yet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:32] BROWN: Well, tornados tear through five states. Look at this video, the worst hitting Oklahoma, where at least two people were killed. The tornadoes also brought high winds and grapefruit sized hail. Homes were destroyed with roofs and walls torn down and trees splintered. And the storm threat continues today.

Meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now -- Chad. CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Pamela, yes. I mean, we had 21

tornados yesterday. I don't think we have that number for a threat today, but certainly, the channels of hail and of chance of a higher populated area getting hit. The Ohio Valley, Paducah, Evansville, Louisville, Cincinnati, maybe Lexington, I'll get to that in a second.

But yesterday, the storms were out in the plains, out back toward Lincoln, Nebraska down through Kansas, all the way down to north Texas.

Today, that weather moves farther to the east. It's now moving through Memphis, into Nashville, and then eventually, through Cincinnati, maybe into Columbus, maybe eventually after dark, to Pittsburgh. That's our zone right there that we're worried about the most.

Yes, there will be storms around Dallas again for tonight, but this is the area, anywhere from east of St. Louis here, that would be Evansville, Louisville, all the way back up even into the Alabama, even toward Marietta, into Ohio, that's the area with the potential for severe weather.

Now, for tomorrow, that goes out to sea, gone. Another area develops from the west and into the plains. Pamela, that's exactly what we would expect. One area of severe weather after another, because it's springtime. This is not all that unusual. I think what we're seeing here is this love of going storm chasing.