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Tuesday Primary Preview; Puerto Rico Polls Closing; Donald Trump Latest; Muhammad Ali Tributes. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 5, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:00] CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- from energy at the ballot box on Tuesday, but he says no matter what happens on Tuesday, he's staying into Philadelphia and this will be a contested convention. And if you take a look at the math, you can understand why even Bernie Sanders says that this is going to be an uphill climb for him as you pointed out. Hillary Clinton needs just about 60 more delegates to get to that magic number of 2383, and clinch that nomination. But Bernie Sanders is saying look, a number of those delegates, several hundred of those delegates are so-called super delegates. Those are the party bigwigs elected officials. Former elected officials and they don't vote till July on the floor of the convention. And Bernie Sander's wants time to convince those super delegates to come his way. In fact, he says a lot of those super delegates got behind Hillary Clinton before he was even in the race. So, he's fighting hard here in California, he wants to win this state, give him some momentum going into that super delegate fight that he promises to wage. In fact, he's still hitting Clinton very hard. Take a listen of what he told our own Jake Tapper just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDER, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do I have a problem when a sitting secretary of state and a foundation run by her husband collects many millions of dollars from far in governments? Governments which are dictatorships? You don't have a lot of civilities or democratic rights in Saudi Arabia. You don't have a lot of respect there, for -- divergent for opposition points of view for gay rights, for women's rights. Yeah, do I have a problem with that? Yeah, I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now that's not what Hillary Clinton's campaign or many democrats want to hear. They want to see Bernie Sanders start to get behind Hillary Clinton so she can take on Donald Trump. But Bernie Sanders is saying Hillary Clinton is going to have to earn the support of his supporters and he's going to take this as I said, all the way to Philadelphia. But of course, things could change as of this big election on Tuesday night, Fred. So, we'll have to see what happens on Tuesday whether that is on Wednesday, Bernie Sanders, position Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris Frates, appreciate that. From San Diego, so we're coming up on the final Super Tuesday, the big prize will be the California primary in CNN. We'll have full coverage as voters go to the polls. And we are just minutes away now from the polls closing in Puerto Rico. Sixty delegates are at stake for Clinton and Sanders. Stay with us. The next chapter of the news would start right now.

Hello again everyone and thank you so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We begin with breaking news, the poll's closing right now in Puerto Rico's presidential primary. Today's contest comes as Hillary Clinton moves closer to clinching the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic Party nomination. There are 60 delegates up for grabs for the Democrats in Puerto Rico, the exact number Clinton needs to become the presumptive nominee. Joining me right now on the phone form San Juan, CNN's Espanola correspondent, Dania Alexandrino. So, when do the results come in?

DANIA ALEXANDRINO, CORRESPONDENT AT CNN EN ESPANOL AND UNIVISION EAST COAST AFFILIATES: Good afternoon Fredricka. Well results are, preliminary results are expected around 5:00. Polls are actually closing in as we speak. We have to keep in mind that today is the first day that Puerto Rico has an electronic count of votes. We are also having local primaries. So it might take a little longer than they originally predict that they're going to have a preliminary result. So, we are expecting a preliminary result around 5:00. Polls have, like I say, they already said Fredricka, polls are just closing right now.

WHIT FIELD: Is there a way to gauge how it was turned out?

ALEXANDRINO: Well, it was a pretty surprising turn out. I have to tell you, I had to visit three different colleges today because of the -- as I said, we had local primaries. And I was really surprised at a number of people that actually were present to vote in the democratic primaries. I mean, some people waited in line up to an hour and a half to vote, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

ALEXANDRINO: So, it -- in comparison, I was able to cover primaries in 2012. I was able to cover primaries in 2008, and comparing it? So those other primaries, it was surprising to see the number of people. People of all ages, family, there was a lady there with her twin daughters who were actually casting their first vote, and the daughters actually were convincing mom to switch her vote.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness.

ALEXANDRINO: So, it was quite -- yeah, it was quite an impressive turnout today, I must say.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dania Alexandrino, thank you so much form San Juan. We'll check back with you when the results start to come in. All right, meantime it's an all out slug fest heading into the final primaries and caucuses this week. But right now, it would seem that Donald Trump's biggest wounds may be self-inflicted. This morning, a prominent Republican is calling his latest claim -- Donald Trump's claim about the so-called Mexican judge one of the worst mistakes. [15:05:04] Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is criticizing Trump's

refusal to back down from his claims and judge Gonzalo Curiel who is presiding over the Trump University fraud case has biased against Trump because "he's of Mexican heritage". To be clear, Judge Curiel is an American. He was born in Indiana. First you hear is Trump this morning on State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have had horrible rulings. I'd been treated very unfairly by this judge. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage, I'm building a wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And here's Newt Gingrich, Trump's supporter and potential vice presidential pick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: No, I just -- this is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. And I think it's inexcusable. He has every right to criticize a judge, and he has every right to say certain decisions are right. And his attorneys can file to move the venue from the judge. But, first of all, this judge was born in Indiana. He is an American, period. Trump has got to, I think move to a new level. This is no longer the primaries. He's no longer an interesting contender. He is now the potential leader of the United States, and he's got to move his game up to the level of being a potential leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, a lot of headlines this morning to discuss this hour, but first more Jake Tapper's interview with Donald Trump from State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CHIEF CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I want to ask you about the comments you made about the judge in the Trump University case. You said that you thought it was a conflict of interest that he was the judge, because he's of Mexican heritage even though he's from Indiana. Hillary Clinton said that that is a racist attack on a federal judge.

TRUMP: OK, she's so wonderful you know what I mean. Here's a woman that should be put in jail for what she did with her e-mails and she's commenting about this...

TAPPER: So what comments do you say ...

TRUMP: Let me just state it, it's very simple. I have a case where I have thousands of people have taken this course and thousands and thousands of people have said great reviews, great reviews. Fortunately, just about everybody that took the courses have signed a review and evaluation, they call it. And it's gotten tremendous marks. Thousands, I don't mean like two people, I mean thousands ...

TAPPER: Right.

TRUMP: Have looked at. I have a situation where the woman that brought the case brought the case. She's the plaintiff. She was opposed. She was found to be a disaster for them as a witness because she gave an evaluation that was like the best evaluation you've ever heard which is one second.

TAPPER: Okay.

TRUMP: And she did a tape like from neo camera, saying that this school was fantastic. It was fantastic. They went to the judge and they said "your honor, we don't want her anymore to be our plaintiff. So we said let's dismiss case, it's okay. Let's dismiss the case. And he said no, I won't dismiss the case and she doesn't have to be the ...

TAPPER: What does this have to do with his heritage?

TRUMP: I'll tell you what it has to do. I have had ruling after ruling after ruling that's been bad rulings OK? I've been treated very unfairly. Before him, we have another judge. If that judge was still there, this case would've been over two years go. Let me just tell you. I have had horrible rulings. I've been treated very unfairly by this judge. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage, I'm building a wall, OK. I'm building a wall. I am going to do very well with the Hispanics. The Mexicans have been there.

TAPPER: So no Mexican judge could ever be involved in a case that involves you?

TRUMP: Well, no he's a member of a society where, you know, very pro- Mexico and that's fine. It's all fine. But I think -- I think he should recuse himself.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Does he know the lawyer on the other side? I mean, does he know the lawyer of the -- you know, because a lot of people say yes, I don't know.

TAPPER: I'm talking about ...

TRUMP: No, that's another problem.

TAPPER: But you're invoking his race when talking about whether or not he can do his job.

TRUMP: Jake, I'm building a wall, OK. I'm building a wall. I'm trying to keep business out of Mexico. Mexico is fine, there's nothing, the Mexican--

TAPPER: But he's an American.

TRUMP: He's of Mexican heritage and he's very proud of it. I am, where I come from my parents.

TAPPER: But he's an American. You keep talking about ...

TRUMP: Jake, Jake.

TAPPER: It's a conflict of interest because he's Mexican.

TRUMP: Are you ready? I have a case that should've been dismissed already. I have thousands of people saying Trump University is fantastic, OK? I have a case that should have been dismissed. I have a judge that never ever gives a -- Now we lose the plaintiff. He lets the plaintiff of the case out. So why is he cancelling the case? So we thought we've won the case.

TAPPER: So you disagree with his rulings?

TRUMP: No. No ...

TAPPER: I totally understand that. But you're just ...

TRUMP: I've had lawyers come up to me say, you are being treated so unfairly. It's unbelievable. You know the plaintiffs in the case have all said wonderful things about this school and they suck. You know why they suck? Because they want to get their money back.

TAPPER: I don't really want to litigate the case ...

TRUMP: You have to.

TAPPER: ... of Trump University.

TRUMP: You have to, because if he was giving me fair rulings, I wouldn't say that.

TAPPER: My question is ...

TRUMP: But Jake, if you were giving me fair rulings. I wouldn't be talking to you this way. He's giving me horrible rulings ...

TAPPER: But I don't care if you criticize him. That's fine. You can criticize every decision. What I'm saying is if you invoke his race as a reason why he can't do his job.

TRUMP: I think that's why he's doing it.

TAPPER: But, I think ...

TRUMP: I think that's why he's doing it.

TAPPER: When Hillary Clintons says it's a racist attack.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a stiff. If Hillary Clinton becomes president ...

TAPPER: Paul Ryan today, Paul Ryan today said he didn't care for the way that you were attacking this judge. TRUMP: Look, I'm just telling -- Paul Ryan doesn't know the case. He's just doing--

TAPPER: Isn't it that ...

TRUMP: I should have won this case. On summary judgment. This is not a -- This is a case I should've won on summary judgment.

[15:10:03] Do you know the law firm paid Hillary Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars to make speeches? Do you know the law firm is ...

TAPPER: I do. And we've reported it on my show ...

TRUMP: OK, good. Well, I'm glad you're the only one. The law firm -- Wait a minute. The law firm paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton for speeches.

TAPPER: Before either of you ...

TRUMP: She wasn't worth it. Everybody fell asleep during the speech.

TAPPER: Before either of you are running for president, they did. But here's just the final ...

TRUMP: Do you know that they've contributed tremendous amounts of money to her campaign?

TAPPER: Yes.

TRUMP: Do you know they've contributed a lot of money to Eric Schneiderman, the New York Attorney General?

TAPPER: Here's my question.

TRUMP: No, no, do you know that?

TAPPER: I did not know that.

TRUMP: Do you know that these people went to every attorney general practically in the country that they could? And do you know this case was turned down by almost every attorney general from Texas to Florida to many of these states?

TAPPER: Is it not, when Hillary Clinton says, this is a racist attack and you reject that? If you are saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?

TRUMP: I don't think so at all.

TAPPER: No?

TRUMP: No, he's proud of his heritage. I respect him for that.

TAPPER: Are you saying he can't do his job because of it?

TRUMP: Look, he's proud of his heritage, OK? I'm building a wall. Now, I think I'm going to do very well ...

Male: He's a legal citizen.

TRUMP: Do you know why I'm going to do well with Hispanics? Because I'm going to bring back jobs and they're going to get jobs right now. They're going to get jobs.

I think I'm going to do very well with Hispanics, but we're building a wall. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico.

The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can't even believe. This case should have ended years ago on summary judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's talk more about this. Joining me right now is CNN Political Commentator Tara Setmayer, a Donald Trump supporter Scottie Nell Hughes and Pastor Darrell Scott, who is also a Donald Trump supporter. Good to see all of you.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Thanks for having us.

WHITFIELD: OK, welcome to the table, all right. So you've got, you know, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who says, Donald Trump has got to move his game up.

Tara, is this a significant setback for Donald Trump to defend his characterization of this judge and justifying it as biased because he wants to build this wall.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. I think this is one of the biggest gaps so far of this election for him.

If Newt Gingrich, who has been quite the supporter of Donald Trump, who have been vying for his vice president, has come out and said that this is inexcusable, then you know it's pretty bad. There's no excuse whatsoever for anyone running to be the president of the United States to cast aspersions on the integrity of a judge, a federal judge simply because his parents are from Mexico.

Where do you -- Where does that end? If we substituted that thinking with Black, Christian, Jewish, women, people would be up in arms. There's absolutely no excuse for that.

So does that mean, by Donald Trump's logic, then the percentage of, which is quite large, percentage of Mexican-American border patrol agents are incapable of performing their duties as law enforcement officers along the border because they're Mexican-American? I mean, this is ridiculous and it's so insulting, it is absolutely 100 percent racist. And this is not what this country stands for and it should not be tolerated.

WHITFIELD: So, pastor, how do you defend what we're hearing from Donald Trump right now? DARRELL SCOTT, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, I don't think that Donald Trump is even conveying racism in any way, form or fashion. He's searching for a motivation for why this judge is behaving the way he's behaving in this trial. I mean, this judge has unsealed documents ...

WHITFIELD: Then why does he have to go to his heritage? Because that is the question being asked of Donald Trump ...

SCOTT: Because in searching for a motivation or a reason why this judge is behaving as he does in this case. He -- The only conclusion he can come to is, it must be because the media has portrayed me or exaggerating me to be anti-Mexican. Because if you look at it, any other judge would have dismissed the case a long time ago.

SETMAYER: That's untrue.

SCOTT: There's overwhelming -- How do you know it's not true?

SETMAYER: Because I've reviewed the legal documents, pastor. And you can see if you knew anything about the rulings from this judge, you would see that he's actually ruled in favor of Donald Trump on a couple of takes.

WHITFIELD: Let's see -- Well Pastor, you kind of, you asked a question.

SETMAYER: That's how I know.

WHITFIELD: Let's hear Tara the answer to that.

SCOTT: I'm not used to being interrupted. I'm not used to being interrupted like that. I mean, if I come at you the way I want to come at you, you're going to call me misogynistic. So stop it, OK?

SETMAYER: Don't put words in my mouth. I'm sorry, sir, but this isn't your congregation and you don't get to preach at us.

SCOTT: I'm giving my opinion. I'm giving my opinion, OK? This is my opinion, not yours.

WHITFIELD: All right, continue, pastor.

SCOTT: You give yours all the time. I'm giving mine now.

WHITFIELD: All right, go ahead.

SCOTT: My opinion is ...

SETMAYER: You're filibustering now with nothing.

SCOTT: Donald Trump looks for a reason. Is he looks for a motivation for this judge's behavior in a case that should have been thrown out a long time ago. The judge unsealed documents and then tried to reseal documents. He's saying to himself that because of the media attention that's been given to me and the judge even said himself that he unsealed the records because at the end of the media attention, he's saying maybe the judge should recuse himself.

[15:15:06] Now, that's not unusual. It's not unusual for jurors to be excused from a case because of the high profile media attention that it attracts. So Donald Trump is saying, this guy must have an outside motivation for treating me the way he's doing. And it might be because he's Mexican.

SETMAYER: OK, so can I just set the record straight real quickly, please, on this, the facts here?

Number one, this case has been going on since 2010 and Judge Curiel has been involved with it on and off since then. That's number one. There was no objection before that.

Number two, if this judge was acting so improperly, then Trump's legal team could have moved to have him recused months ago.

Number three, this judge has ruled in favor of Donald Trump on a number of issues, including moving the case until after the election, because he felt as though that that, you know, it wasn't the timing of it and the middle of the election probably wasn't a good thing. So that was in favor of Donald Trump. They were granted that request.

Number three, when Donald Trump countersued the lead plaintiff, in this case, for defamation, because he was upset that she brought the fraud case, he countersued her for a million dollars and he lost -- he initially won that case and then lost it on appeal. And this judge reduced the penalties that Trump had to pay in that case.

So there is absolutely no basis -- Oh, and the reason why he unsealed those documents, was the Freedom of Information Act, a freedom of information request from the Washington Post. It wasn't unsolicited.

SCOTT: Then why did he reseal -- why did he seek -- why did he seek to reseal some of the documents?

SETMAYER: OK, all right, so because they didn't redact -- there was a clerical error and they didn't redact names. All right.

SCOTT: Now, it wasn't a clerical error, it's a judicial error and it showed the judge might be, he might be incompetent, I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So, Tara and the pastor, I wonder if this underscores, this becomes a distraction, does it not, from the issues that any voter would expect Donald Trump to be expounding on? Apparently, Donald Trump has said, tomorrow, Scottie, that he is going to have a rebuttal of sorts to Hillary Clinton's foreign policy speech. He's going to do that tomorrow. But what is further -- or later on this week. But what is instead

further being discussed is the word choice that he uses, the characterizations of the judge that he uses, you know, this is just -- does it not appear to be just more of the same of Donald Trump kind of just slinging some stuff out there but then he doesn't have to answer to specific issues?

HUGHES: Well, it's not Mr. Trump that's bringing this up. And to correct Tara on one point, Judge Curiel is not a fan or friend of Mr. Trump. I know you point those little things.

But let's state the record in 2014, he is the one who appointed these prosecutors, the same prosecutors that had taken more than 675 -- that had paid $675,000 to Bill and Hillary Clinton of various points.

So it is obvious that a lot of this is the timing of it as right now. And if he did unseal the documents, they were sealed, unsealed, they flip-flopped back and forth based on what rarely worked for the media and the news cycle.

So, to sit there and phrase that this is something that, you know, that Judge Curiel is a friend of Mr. Trump as completely false, but expected from someone that is against Mr. Trump.

But that's the -- but that was since 2014. It was obvious that the Clintons are not friends with Mr. Trump since that point, since Hillary has been Hillary. Hillary has been small -- minor. Hillary has been, you know, obviously running for president since 2008. But I think actually -- our host question, yes, you know, you look at that Mr. Trump tomorrow is going and it's interesting to call it a foreign policy speech because there was very little, if any, foreign policy that was introduced by Hillary Clinton's very well-delivered, well- written speech from a teleprompter. But there was little, if any, and actually no new foreign policy that was introduced as opposed to the foreign policy that Mr. Trump had laid out weeks before.

So tomorrow, I don't necessarily want to say he's rebutting her foreign policy speech. He's just basically playing defense off of what was basically a cowardly person hiding behind teleprompters just throwing her insults ...

WHITFIELD: OK, well, hold it right there. We're going to take a short break. Scottie, Tara and pastor, we're going to have you back. We're going to finish our conversation right after this.

Also, coming up, the Boston Globe reporting Donald Trump pays his female staffers one third less than men. We'll debate that potential impact on women voters next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:13] WHITFIELD: A new report from the Boston Globe finds a pay gap on Donald Trump's campaign. The paper's analysis of campaign payroll data reveals Trump has paid women staffers a third less than men.

The paper writes the women who worked for Trump who accounted for about 28 percent of his total staff made an average of about 4500 in April. And men, on the other hand, made about $6100 or about 35 percent more.

By comparison, the women working for Clinton, who accounted for 53 percent of her total staff, took home an average of $3710. The men made slightly more at $3760. Clinton staffers, men and women, made less than the women who worked for Trump. So what's this all mean?

Back with us, CNN Political Commentator Tara Setmayer, Donald Trump supporter Scottie Nell Hughes and Pastor Darrell Scott, who is also a Donald Trump supporter. So Scottie, how do you explain it? Are you a paid staffer, as a surrogate for Donald Trump's campaign?

HUGHES: I am not and never have been a paid staffer of any person that's been elected to office.

WHITFIELD: OK, so when you hear the Boston Globe is reporting here in the disparity of women being paid less than men on Donald Trump's campaign in comparison with Hillary Clinton's campaign, where men and women are making almost the same, what's your response to that?

HUGHES: Well, it sounds bad, exactly how you're just saying it. But when you actually get into the article, you'll realize that the article is very factually incorrect because it's comparing apples to oranges.

First of all, it's taking data that was collected back in April. Since then, Hillary Clinton has added 60 more jobs under her campaign staff, Mr. Trump maybe a handful more. And they're sitting there comparing people that are in communications office versus actual senior staff members or people that are state directors.

And so they're looking at -- the Hillary Clinton campaign, averaging out these numbers of 617 staff members compared to Mr. Trump, which was only about 113 at that time, I actually consider that to be efficiency.

When you're sitting there and ...

WHITFIELD: But if it's based on average, how is that unfair?

HUGHES: Well, you -- because it's not that it's not, you're sitting there and you're looking at the different roles that they're playing, you cannot sit there and compare someone who is -- the campaign director versus somebody that's a state director and say, oh, but look at the -- and quite the difference in pay.

WHITFIELD: Do you worry though ...

HUGHES: There's going to be a difference in pay.

WHITFIELD: Do you worry as a surrogate that you have to work harder about trying to convey a message when Donald Trump's message is, he wants to help bring about equal pay. He wants to make sure that women are taken care of. This kind of reporting or that kind of data is the antithesis of his message. Do you worry about now the, I guess, over -- the compensation you now have to make as his surrogate to try to convey his message? HUGHES: Absolutely not, because if you're sitting here and if you look at for what it is, the only reason why Hillary Clinton has done this with her campaign is because she got caught in both the Senate office when she was paying her male members more than her females.

[15:25:03] And now, the Clinton Foundation has just recently come out where the male staff members of the Clinton Foundation is actually making more. I think it's 218,000 to 153,000 for female staff members with the Clinton Foundation. The only reason why Hillary is doing this is because she's already been caught once and she's not going to be caught again with her hand in the cookie jar.

WHITFIELD: Tara, is it as simple as that?

SETMAYER: I -- you know, I tend to think that this is more of a non- story, because when you start talking about differences in pay, you have to factor in who'd doing what jobs and who gets paid what in those jobs and when its comparable jobs, and usually the pay gap narrows. So, I'm less upset about the story, than I think this is, you know. It doesn't bode well for him if you want -- if that's the single issue for you and you feel that that's something that you think is unfair.

If you're looking for Donald Trump to say, you know, he says that he treats women fairly and equally as everyone else, he doesn't pay them the same. OK fine, but I think that the bigger story is the fact that Donald Trump can't get pass people's ethnicities and he's impugning federal Judges, if you have a problem with him being liberal judge, then go after the rulings, don't go after his ethnicity. I think that opens the door into Pandora's Box, a very bigoted racist history in this country that we don't need in someone who's going to be a president in United States.

WHITFIELD: Pastor you're shaking your head?

SCOTT: Well because, once again and -- you know, unbelievably I agree with her as far as the non-issue of the employment is concerned. But, Tara acts as if she migrated to America and she's not aware of the racial climate of this country. Black people play the race card more than any other race and we actually probably are more racist than any other race because we blame the white men all the time for all of our iniquities in life.

We're still trying to be stuck on slavery, and we think we have a right to be racist and to express ourselves racially. Whenever there's a high profile case for the gravities (ph) just file -- with the decision in the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore, the black communities screamed racist until they say, well the judge is black and they say what if he's black? He must be an Uncle Tom or he was a plant by the white establishment ...

(CROSSTALK)

SCOTT: ... what it means is, that is the racial climate of this country that we are in. WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it right there. We're going to have you back, we'll have another conversation because this is off- topic, this is another conversation another day. Pastor Darrell Scott, Tara Setmayer, Scottie Nell Hughes, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, on the final Super Tuesday right around the corner, the big prize will be the California primary scene and we'll have full coverage as voters go to the polls. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, sixth state told (ph) Democratic primaries on Tuesday which the Clinton campaign believes will finally lock up her nomination. California has the lion share of delegates with 475, but even if Clinton looses to Sanders in California and New Jersey could still put her over the top. That state has 126 pledged delegates up for grabs, and also has 16 unpledged superdelegates. The math is daunting for Sanders but he is confident neither candidate will have enough pledged delegates to claim the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: At the end of the nominating process, no candidate will have enough pledged delegates to call the campaign a victory. They will be dependent upon superdelegates. In other words, the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now, my fellow Harvard University grad Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Good to see you. He's also endorsed Hillary Clinton as president. So, Mr. Mayor good to see you. So the polls closed in New Jersey hours before they close in California. If Hillary Clinton does not secured California, do you believe she can count on New Jersey?

RAS BARAKA, MAYOR, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: Well I think that at this point, Secretary Clinton is going to be the nominee -- the Democratic nominee for president. In our discussion should simply be squared around how do we defend the country against when I think is the most vile and backward part of the Republican Party at this point. Donald Trump has taken the leadership but the Republican Party, they doubled down to support him and it's time for us to unite and make sure that we secure this country for progressives and moderates alike.

WHITFIELD: So, let's talk about that issue of uniting because Hillary Clinton has certainly been speaking about uniting the party. She and Bernie Sanders coming together with this common goal even though when she said it this morning, with Jake Tapper, we may had different methods but we have -- we do share some common goals. However you hear Bernie Sanders and he says he's taking this fight all the way to the convention. He does not seem to be speaking of unification whereas Hillary Clinton is. Is that a big problem? BARAKA: Well I think it's unfortunate. I do believe that Senator Sanders has a right to go to the convention, but to say it's going to be contested convention, to kind of further divide the party is dangerous. It's dangerous because I think the other side has unified itself. Again, has doubled down around the leadership of Donald Trump, which I think is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen in the very long time.

It's also very dangerous for us to be fighting at this juncture in this race. At this point is it's time for us to understand that the Secretary is going to be the nominee, now we begin -- we have to begin unifying around that idea whether we agree with her totally or not. I don't agree with everything the Secretary says, I don't agree with everything President Obama says but, you know, ultimately these folks are better for us than the other candidate at this point.

WHITFIELD: Does Bernie Sanders make a good argument when he talks about superdelegates that too much, that Hillary Clinton is counting too much on superdelegates, that the system is rigged, unfair, that superdelegates would make promises of there potential pledges well before the convention?

[15:35:02] BARAKA: Well this is not a problem that just begun in this race, right? So the superdelegates is something that existed when Obama was the president, it existed before that and before -- this is decades and decades of what has been going on in Democratic Party while the Senator was in the Senate. This has been going on forever and forever.

So, to say now that this is a problem is a bit opportunistic at this point but I do think that there is a point in that. But to raise it and fight against that now, to me the timing and the condition of this is just not right.

WHITFIELD: All right, Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka, good to see you. Thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: We're less than two days away from California's highly anticipated contest. Hillary Clinton is 60 delegates away from clinching the nomination, and the delegate-rich state has 475 of them up to grabs. Both candidates are on the trail pushing ahead to Tuesday. CNN Correspondent Chris Frates is with the Sanders campaign, Chris.

FRATES: Hey, good afternoon Fredricka, you can see we're outside of Qualcomm Stadium here in San Diego. They're getting ready behind me for a Bernie Sanders rally. And by looks of it about, 5,000-6,000 people are going to come out today. And Sander is saying he's done more than 30 of these rallies over the last few weeks, gotten 250,000 people to come out and they're really hoping that that translates to votes on Tuesday.

But no matter what happens Bernie Sanders is defiant, saying that he's going to take this all the way to the convention in Philadelphia in July, although he's even acknowledging that that's a bit of an uphill climb for him. As you pointed out, Hillary Clinton needs just 60 delegates to clinch that nomination, but Sander is saying a lot of those delegates are so-called superdelegates, so the party bigwigs, elected officials, they get to vote in July. And because they haven't voted yet, Sanders wants a chance to change their mind.

He says, about 400 of them got behind Hillary Clinton before he was even in the race. And he wants momentum going into the sales job that he's good at to try to put on these superdelegates, and he wants to win here in California.

[15:40:08] In fact, he continues to attack Hillary Clinton. Here's what he told our Jake Tapper just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDER: Do I have a problem when a sitting secretary of state and a foundation run by her husband collects many millions of dollars from far in governments? Governments which are dictatorships? You don't have a lot of civil liberties, or democratic rights in Saudi Arabia. You don't have a lot of respect there of -- for opposition points, of view for gay rights, for women's rights. Yeah, do I have a problem with that yes I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now that certainly not what Hillary Clinton nor many Democrats want to hear. Clinton talking about how she wants to unify the party after Tuesday, but Bernie Sander say that he's going to continue to fight and that if Hillary Clinton wants to win his supporters, she's going to need to appeal to them. Of course, we'll see what happens after Tuesday. It could be a very different story on Wednesday morning Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much Chris Frates. I appreciate that.

All right, coming up, Donald Trump getting blasted on his tweet honoring Muhammad Ali. All because of this tweet he posted in the December, daring the President of the United States to name a Muslim sports hero.

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[15:45:00]

And welcome back, as the world mourns the lost of the greatest of all time Muhammad Ali, its Donald Trumps tweet paying his respects to Ali that has now sparked some outrage on twitter, with many calling the presumptive Republican nominee a hypocrite. Late Friday he twitted this, "Muhammad Ali is the dead at 74, a truly great champion and a wonderful guy. He will be missed by all."

Well, back in December, Trump twitted this. "Obama said in a speech that Muslims are our sport heroes. What sport is he talking about and who? Is Obama profiling?" Let's talk about this with our political panel, Brian Morgenstern, a Republican strategist in Dean Obeidallah, is a contributor to The Daily Beast and host of the Dean Obeidallah Show on SiriusXM. All right, good to see both of you.

So Dean, you wrote an article calling Ali the first Muslim hero. And then what's your response of this, you know, opposing tweets from Donald Trump?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, DEAN OBEIDALLAH SHOW HOST, SIRIUSXM: Donald Trump may never be commander in chief, but he's definitely hypocrite in chief. And this is just one more example of it. The idea of saying there's no Muslim sports figures, which of course he knew Muhammad Ali. His buddy Mike Tyson is Muslim. You've had people like Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal, Ahmad Rashad, the list goes on.

WHITFIELD: There is even a picture of Donald Trump with Muhammad Ali back in the day.

OBEIDALLAH: Yes. He knows Muhammad Ali, he knows there's Muslim sports heroes but when it serves his best interest in the GOP primary, to feed the beast of his 70 percent electorate who supports banning Muslims of Republicans, he'll say that. He'll tell them tales of General Pershing, which have been completed debunked, of dipping -- bullets and pigs' blood and saying Islam hates us. Within the same time I was like, Muhammad Ali is a great guy, and actually say good things about him being a Muslim and backpedalling. He is the hypocrite in chief and this just one more example of that.

WHITFIELD: So Brian, do you suppose this kind of erode some of the support? You know, that has built to get him to this point of being the presumptive Republican nominee, but then a moment like this with Muhammad Ali even his, you know, jargon that he's using about the American judge, calling him a Mexican judge because he's building a wall and that he's biased. Is this damaging?

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think those are two different issues Fred. And had been note, shrinking violent when it comes to calling out Trump when he's trolling people. But I think that there is something he's doing here that is sort of masterful which is trolling people on the left who will overplay their hand here. And the problem is crying wolf, when people are offended by everything all the time and when something truly objectionable comes along, they don't want to hear it.

And so, a tweet like this Muhammad Ali, it was a nice thing when somebody died saying he was a great champion. This is something that is getting an overreaction that I think is going to have a negative effect in terms of being able to call out actual discrimination when it appears.

WHITFIELD: Well what do you mean? I mean, that he would tweet, you know, Muhammad Ali has passed away and, you know, he will be missed. You don't think people will make the comparisons between what he his saying Friday night versus what he already was on record is saying in tweet in December?

MORGAN: Yeah. Well, first of all, Trump is very good at saying one thing and then the opposite five seconds later. There are two different scenarios and one was, you know, painting with a broad brush to appeal to, you know, people's sort of biases and instincts. Another is reacting to an event which was Muhammad Ali's death. So -- but I think in conflating the two and in, you know, really getting offended by this and saying look what a bad guy Trump is. I think this is the wrong moment to do that because I think its excess backlash that could actually work to his advantage.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Dean.

OBEIDALLAH: But no one is offended. I'm not offended by this. We're just calling out the hypocrisy. We're calling out and making it clear to people, Donald Trump stands for nothing folks. Zero, he has no core. We have no idea if he knows between a lie and the truth at this point. And I wrote about it for The Daily Beast earlier this week before Muhammad Ali that Donald Trump has been demonizing minorities for personal gain since 1993. When he did it with Native Americans saying they're going to bring casino's which are going to bring crime, and the same hearing, the same hearing ...

WHITFIELD: Does it kind of exemplify that he will say something that he thinks will serve him which is get into the fray. Everyone is reacting, someone has something meaningful to say about Muhammad Ali and I better do the same thing?

MORGENSTERN: It's all about grabbing attention for himself. But I would add that this is something that Hillary Clinton has made a career of in dividing people in a grievance culture, and that -- and this is something that people are reacting to and there's a backlash which is why some, not all people, are gravitating towards Trump because he's pointing this kind of -- this kind of devising politics out. He's playing it to his advantage which makes me mad because I always like to talk about how it's a bad thing to play this divisive political card.

[15:50:08] WHITFIELD: OK.

MORGENSTERN: But he's doing it just as well as Hillary Clinton never has.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it right there.

MORGENSTERN: All right.

WHITFIELD: Sorry, out of time.

OBEIDALLAH: OK.

WHITFIELD: Brian Morgenstern and Dean Obeidallah. We'll have you back though. We'll do it again.

OBEIDALLAH: Thank you.

MORGENSTERN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. All right, still ahead. Funeral plans are underway as the world mourns the loss of the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: After you get out of the ring with him and look at him, everybody falls in love with him. You can't help it. It was one lovable good-looking great guy. And you wanted to be around him. I was excited to meet him and happy to be his friend.

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WHITFIELD: As the world mourns the death of Muhammad Ali, he's hometown shares its grief. This is Louisville courier journal today. The newspaper's front page is completely dedicated to the boxing icon. Fans have also been showing up to pay tribute to the greatest at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville Kentucky, and that's where we find CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge, and also with his is Jason Carroll who is in Scottsdale, Arizona.

So Jason let me begin with you, family and friends. They have been sending their heartfelt condolences and what else has been happening there?

[15:55:00] JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and also the family Fredricka weighing in about the final moments with Muhammad Ali. Hana Ali, Muhammad Ali's daughter talking about what it was like being at his bedside. She said that she, like so many of those who we're there in the room whispered in his ear, told him, it was OK to let go, that they we're going to be OK, saying go ahead and go. Go to God, it's going to be OK.

She also talked about the final moments when his organs gave out by this heart just kept beating. I want you now to listen to it to her own words in terms of how she described those precious final moments with her father.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HANA ALI, MUHAMMAD ALI'S DAUGHTER: I'll be beautiful. He was at peace and, you know, we were all talking turns speaking with him and telling we love him and -- he was very peaceful and beautiful. He would have been proud.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CAROLL: She showed incredible strength in order to be able to share that with us. Also, a number of people, Fredricka, weighing in, Oprah Winfrey tweeting, "The world has lost a legend and a real champion." Michael J. Fox, the actor who was also diagnosed with Parkinson's saying this, "Ali the G-O-A-T, greatest of all time, a giant and inspiration, a man of peace, a warrior for the cure. Thank you." Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right Jason. And Marvin, plans are being made for the funeral. MARVIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have, yes. They've been planning this actually for years. That's why we know so much so quickly. It looks like it's really good to be divided into two sections, one of course for the family, very private. Friday though, that is going to be today that is for the public -- for the world, Louisville, invitation out to everyone. And it will begin with a motorcade, 9:00 in the morning, running through both highways and city streets, and also going through his own neighborhood to allow as many people as possible to say farewell.

Then there is going to be a public interface ceremony that will take place in a large arena, it's got about 20,000 seats, you can expect its going to be very crowded. Among those delivering eulogy will be Former President Bill Clinton. And that will be the time for everyone to say there final goodbye to a great life.

And I want to share with you one remarkable thing, this is outside the Muhammad Ali center here. This morning amazing, a swarm of bees showed up, and if you look at the video you will see that that swarm is located right next to his famous (inaudible). And so, many people would have to think, float like a butterflies, sting like a bee, and there are the bees.

So professional bee keeper was actually called in to take them away and that's what the boxes are there to collect them. It's quite amazing and we wanted to share that with you. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much. Marvin Savidge, Jason Caroll, thank you so much.

All right thank your for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Our especial coverage of the Puerto Rico primary begins right after this quick break.

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