OUTFRONT-01
Campaign Rips General Electric in New Attack; Interview with
Congressman Peter King of New York; Trump Cancels Events to Focus on
New York Vote; Reports: Rudy Giuliani Says He's Voting For Trump; One-
on-One Interview With Ted Cruz. Aired 7-8p ET - Part 2>
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[19:31:08] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news: Bernie Sanders not backing down from his accusation that Clinton is unqualified for the presidency, but tonight admits to CBS News he may have gone too far.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're right. We should not get into this tit for tat. We should be debating the issues facing the American people.
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BURNETT: Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT.
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HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz any time.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton taking the high road today. For a moment, at least, as the Democratic race devolves into a war of words.
CLINTON: Let's keep our eye on what is really at stake in this election.
ZELENY: At stake is the New York primary, which Bernie Sanders is fighting hard to win, firing off some of the most personal attacks yet of the campaign over who is qualified to be president.
SANDERS: The American people might wonder about your qualifications, Madam Secretary, when you voted for the war in Iraq. ZELENY: In Philadelphia today, Sanders unleashed a laundry list of grievances.
SANDERS: Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?
ZELENY: Sanders said Clinton started by diminishing his qualifications. She said he did.
It's a rough and tumble New York primary, raising questions about unifying the Democratic Party.
SANDERS: I ran a very contested campaign against then-Senator Obama, and it went all the way to the end. We worked really hard. He got more delegates. And so I endorsed him.
ZELENY: This map on the wall at Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn is a daily reminder of their lead in delegates.
Sanders is vowing to take the fight to the convention, a move that doesn't sit well with Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.
ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The stakes are so high. Nobody wants -- nobody in our party wants to see Donald Trump or Ted Cruz become president. I think people will very quickly unify behind our nominee.
ZELENY (on camera): But it is different. I mean, she was a Democrat her entire life, and he's not been a Democrat. What incentive does he have to help unify this party?
MOOK: Well, that's up to Senator Sanders. He is going to have to make a decision about the role he wants to play.
ZELENY: Would it be a mistake for the party to keep litigating this into July into Philadelphia?
MOOK: Well, I think at the point it's obvious a candidate has a majority of delegates and will win the nomination at the convention. I do think it will be time to come together. But we're not there yet.
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ZELENY: So, Erin, after a very aggressive day on the campaign trail, back and forth, this war of words, things are calming down at least a little bit. Bernie Sanders just a short time ago told CBS News that he should not be engaging in a tit for tat. He should be focusing on the issues of importance to the American people.
So, both sides are sort of cooling their jets a bit tonight, Erin. But it all starts again tomorrow, another day on the campaign trail here in New York. We'll see how this unity goes with 12 days left before that New York primary.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff, thank you very much. And, of course, you know, saying he doesn't want to engage in tit for tat is not the same thing as saying I didn't mean it. I take it back.
Joining me now, Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz, Jr., who supports Hillary Clinton. In fact, he accompanied her on campaign stop in the Bronx this morning. And Nomiki Konst, Democratic strategist and Bernie Sanders supporter.
So, Nomi, let me start with you. Senator Sanders now saying, OK, I want to focus on other things, not a tit for tat. But he is standing by what he is saying. He didn't take it back. He has now said twice that Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president.
His campaign manager said she is not qualified because of her foreign policy. He is actually specifically saying it led to the rise of ISIS.
Has the campaign gone too far?
NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Absolutely not. This has been a campaign about issues from day one. And if Hillary Clinton is fear that this is a campaign that has gone too far, she should be concerned if she is the nominee going up against Donald Trump who talks about hand sizes on stage.
I mean, Bernie Sanders has a core set of values. He has talked about them every single moment he can. He is on message.
Now, that's not personal. That means when he talks about her record, he is talk about her record, because voters need to know. They're not going to trust the person who is propagating this information out of their campaign to give them that information.
[19:35:05] They need to see the difference between the two candidates.
Now, Bernie Sanders talks about income inequality. He talks -- you know, one of the things that Hillary Clinton came out today is she attacked him on guns again, right? Well, nobody talks about how in 2000 Hillary Clinton didn't want universal background checks. Nobody talks about the fact that Hillary Clinton's gun record was so conservative in 2008 that Barack Obama called her Annie Oakley and she called him out of touch.
Nobody discusses these things. They talk about one vote by Bernie Sanders.
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BURNETT: Ruben?
RUBEN DIAZ, JR., HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: The reality is that it was Bernie Sanders who said that he was going to keep this campaign clean, and he has gone against that promise. And what he says today and what he said yesterday about Hillary not being qualified is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, Nomi, (INAUDIBLE) no one who is a Bernie Sanders supporter can truly believe that Hillary is not the best qualified candidate when she has been first lady. She has been there for us in New York as a U.S. senator. She's been there as a leader in terms of health care and immigration reform.
And the reality is, is that Bernie Sanders is the one who has not voted and has a sketchy record when it comes to gun control.
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BURNETT: Guns are separate.
But this issue of right now the conversation and who is qualified, right?
KONST: Right.
BURNETT: He specifically said he is unqualified. She has not used that word but she essentially said --
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DIAZ: She never said that she was unqualified.
BURNETT: Let me play the exchange on MSNBC of exactly what she said so people can hear for themselves. Here she is.
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CLINTON: I think the interview raised a lot of really serious questions. And I look at it this way. The core of this campaign has been break up the banks. And it didn't seem in reading his answers that he understood exactly how that would work under Dodd/Frank, exactly who would be responsible, what the criteria were. And, you know, that means you can't really help people if you don't know how to do what you are campaigning on saying you want to do.
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BURNETT: Ruben, she didn't use the word "unqualified." But isn't she making the same point?
DIAZ: No. She is talking about the fact that Bernie Sanders, whether as a presidential candidate or as a U.S. senator for the last 20 years has been talking about regulating banks and dealing with Wall Street. And then when he is asked on an editorial board, how would you solve this?
So, it's one thing to talk, talk, talk and make promises that you can't commit to or that you don't know how to solve the problem. And then when they ask you, how would you resolve this?
Hillary Clinton for so many years has been someone who's identified the problem and who has come up with solutions. And the same way that people in the Bronx said they felt her, know her, understand that because we've come so long, it's because she has helped identify those solutions.
Bernie Sanders should have had the response in the editorial board and that's what she was speaking to.
KONST: That's actually not true. You know, this is a meeting that was 45 minutes long. It was so detailed so, much so that "The New York Times" came out with a fact check the next day saying that there were quotes taken out of context --
BURNETT: This is "The Daily News" report that you're referring to.
KONST: Exactly.
BURNETT: That Bernie Sanders has been widely criticized for.
KONST: Widely criticized for it, but the reality is most of the media, most of the people out there have not read it and don't understand economics policy. You know, he said that he has left to it the authority of legislators to legislate Dodd/Frank. You can't go into detail in legislation that hasn't been debated and hasn't been debated in 50 years.
You know, she is the one who was against -- she was against Glass- Steagall. She was for repealing Glass-Steagall. And that's what led to the collapse of our economy.
So, the record does not match the rhetoric for Hillary Clinton. That's the problem.
DIAZ: She never said he is unqualified, that he is unqualified. He is dividing the Democratic party. We have to keep our eyes on the prize and make sure that we're united as a party and beat the Republican in November.
KONST: One quick note of that. Brian Fallon was the one who issued the press release saying that we plan to disqualify him, defeat him and unite the party. So, they have started with that comment. It wasn't a press release to just their campaign, it was press release to the world.
DIAZ: We look forward to winning and uniting the party.
BURNETT: Like Clinton and Sanders, no one wants to give the other the last word. Thank you both.
Clinton and Sanders will face off in New York a week from tonight right here on CNN.
And next, GE CEO slamming Bernie Sanders, charging that he makes hollow campaign promises. But just moments ago, Sanders fires back. You're not going to believe what he just said.
And Ted Cruz saying the Republican Party is uniting around his candidacy. Is it? I'll ask my next guest, a leading Republican who says he just can't stand that guy.
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BURNETT: Breaking news: Bernie Sanders versus General Electric. Sanders just unleashing a sharp new attack on GE after the company's CEO Jeffrey Immelt released a scathing and frankly unprecedented op-ed today. The CEO of GE Jeff Immelt wrote this, "It's easy to make hollow campaign promises and take cheap shots in speeches and during editorial board sessions. But American companies have to deliver for their employees, customers and shareholders ever day." It continued.
And in a statement that we have just obtained here at CNN, the Sanders campaign is firing back, upping the ante, saying that GE is slashing jobs, stashing profits overseas, tossing Americans out into the street and saying that the CEO Jeff Immelt needs to look no further than in the mirror if he wants to know what's wrong.
The back and forth started when Sanders came out strong against GE during an interview with "The Daily News".
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SANDERS: General Electric doing a very good job of avoiding taxes. In fact, in a given a year, they pay nothing in taxes. That's greed. That is greed and that's selfishness. That is lack of respect to people of this country.
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BURNETT: Joe Johns is with the Sanders campaign tonight. He is OUTFRONT in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Joe, it was an unprecedented op-ed. You now have what seems to be an unprecedented statement from the Sanders campaign. What are they now saying?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think that's true, Erin. This is a statement from Warren Gunnels, policy director for the Sanders campaign.
It says in part, "If the CEO of General Electric wants to know how his company is destroying the fabric of America, he should take a good look in the mirror. He has a retirement package worth an estimated $58 million. Meanwhile, he is one of the leaders of a business group lobbying Congress to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."
[19:45:03] So, this goes way back. They also sent me what was essentially a sound bite of Sanders on the Senate floor, all the way back in 2010 where he was railing against Immelt, GE and its tax avoidance policies among other things.
So, clearly, Bernie Sanders is just keeping that team up tonight.
BURNETT: I mean, it's not just a one line. It's as you say detailed. And it does, as you just read there, go after the CEO of General Electric, Jeff Immelt, personally, for his retirement package, saying he needs to look into the mirror. This is not just GE, though, in terms of Sanders. He has, of course, been going after the big banks, other major corporations. He has done so again and again, Joe.
Given what, this back and forth, though, is this likely to help or hurt Bernie Sanders?
JOHNS: I got to be honest with you, Erin. Going around the country, talking to people who support Bernie Sanders, a lot of people are attracted to him because of his anti-corporate, anti-big bang, anti- Wall Street stances.
So, as far as a lot of voters, Bernie Sanders is concerned, they say he is doing exactly what he is doing and what he should be doing when he is standing up to corporate interests and CEOs like Jeffrey Immelt.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Joe Johns.
And OUTFRONT next, one prominent New York Republican said he would jump off a bridge before he would support Ted Cruz. So if it comes down to Cruz or Clinton, who will we vote for? He is my guest, next.
And Jeanne Moos hanging out with New York subway riders today.
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[19:50:33] BURNETT: Tonight, Ted Cruz under pressure fighting to beat Donald Trump in the crucial New York primary. Cruz also, though, under attack from some influential Republican congressmen.
Peter King specifically is upset about his criticism of New York values. King says any New Yorker considering Cruz should have their head examined. Cruz, though, not backing down.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everyone in New York and outside of New York knows exactly what I meant by that. And it is the liberal values of Democratic politicians who have been hammering the people of New York for decades. They suffered under these liberal values. It's been politicians like Governor Andrew Cuomo, like Hillary Clinton, like Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Republican congressman from New York, former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Peter King.
Congressman, a pleasure to have you on. Let's get straight to it.
You say you will never vote for Ted Cruz. Why not?
REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I think he's a phony, he's a fraud. Since he's come to the Senate, his only achievement if you want to call it that, is being responsible for shutting down the Senate floor and going on the floor and reading Dr. Seuss and giving a speech about Dr. Seuss and God knows what else for 23 hours on the Senate floor. Since then, this whole remark about New York values.
What he said shows how disingenuous that he was talking about liberal Democrats. He didn't say that. He said New York values.
I've seen some of these guys like him. They play this regional game. They attack the North, they attack the Northeast, they attack New York. He knew what he was doing.
When I think of New York values, I think of the cops and firefighters at 9/11. I think of the National Guard and reserve units in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think of Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg who turned this city around. That is New York.
And also, by the way, we do have -- we have liberals, we have conservatives. New York state was also the home of the conservative party. We were one of the first states to elect a conservative senator, Jim Buckley. Ronald Reagan carried New York twice.
So, it is a diverse state. It goes Democrat. It goes Republican. Conservative liberal. We can fight. We can stand together.
But when the crunch time is there, New Yorkers rise to the occasion, and we have our values.
BURNETT: So, Congressman, though, when you refer to Ted Cruz as a phony and a fraud. Look, you're not the only person who said nasty things about him who he's worked with. But some people who said those sorts of things have changed their minds. One of them, Lindsey Graham. Here he is then and now.
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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you nominate Trump and Cruz, I think you get the same outcome. Whether it's death by being shot or poisoning, does it really matter?
Ted and I have a lot of differences.
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GRAHAM: What can I say? One, he's not completely crazy.
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BURNETT: Could you come around like Senator Graham? Could you ever vote for Ted Cruz if it's Cruz versus Clinton?
KING: Cruz versus Clinton, I'd vote for the nominee in my party. That I will do.
But in the primary, no, I never could. Listen, I'd have differences with Donald Trump but when you have someone like John Kasich, who's a solid person, Donald Trump who at least achieved something.
Unlike Ted Cruz, again, the way he attacked New York, the smart attitude he has, I could not find myself ever voting for him in the Republican Party. If he's the nominee of the party, obviously, I'll vote for him. It's not a lot of enthusiasm, but I'll vote for him.
BURNETT: All right. So, in the primary, you're saying you won't vote for Ted Cruz but you'd vote for him in the general election versus Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump, will you vote for Donald Trump on April 19th?
KING: Right now, I haven't decided between Donald Trump and John Kasich. You know, I'd have differences with Donald Trump, specifically some of the allegations he's made against John McCain, President Bush, some of the positive things he said about Vladimir Putin, which I thought were just wrong. And John Kasich is a friend.
But I really have not decided. But I do have issues with Donald Trump, and I think he has to resolve them.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman King. Pleasure to talk to you tonight.
KING: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, Jeanne Moos on why New Yorkers went crazy when Hillary took a swipe at the subway today.
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[19:57:46] BURNETT: Hillary Clinton skipped a fancy car and driver, opting to commute the same way millions of New Yorkers do. Here's Jeanne Moos.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Imagine you're sitting in a subway car just want to be left alone on your way to work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's back up. Let's back up.
CLINTON: How are you?
CUOMO: Hey, she's just like us, riding the subway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next president of the United States. Say hello to the next president.
CLINTON: Hillary went for a subway joy ride carried live.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I just want to explain what our viewers are looking at.
MOOS: That's a dank, dark, New York City subway corridor. I mess up press hustled and squeezed to follow Hillary who played traffic cop.
CLINTON: You've got to move a little bit, Dan, so I could get more people in. Some people need to get off?
MOOS: Hillary rode two stops in the Bronx, got off and got kissed by a stranger. She posed for selfies. But it was the woman of the people photo op that the campaign was after.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going to make this shot work for everyone.
MOOS: Hillary's live ride ended up side by side with Ted Cruz getting slammed by "The Daily News" headline "Take the FU train, Ted."
The new sanbagged Bernie Sanders with a token subway question. How do you get on the subway today? You get a token and get in. Wrong.
Hillary knows tokens gave way to metro cards more than a decade ago. But uh-oh. When she tried to swipe her card, it didn't work once, twice, three times, four times. The fifth time was the charm.
Conservative websites pounced on Hillary's struggle. Shocking new video, out of touch, Hillary Clinton.
Out of touch? The touch is the problem. This happens all the time. Even to seasoned subway riders like myself.
And Hillary, it could have been worse. A failed swipe can lead to a whack in the groin.
Hillary laughed off her swiping snafu. The campaign maybe getting testy, but please no hitting below the belt.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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BURNETT: Thank you so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts right now.
(Byline: Erin Burnett, Sara Murray, Dana Bash, Jeff Zeleny, Joe Johns, Jeanne Moos)
(Guest: Steve Lonegan, Renee Ellmers, Nomiki Konst, Ruben Diaz, Peter King)
(High: OUTFRONT next, Donald Trump expanding his campaign stuff cancelling events in California and Colorado. He is going all in on must-win New York. Also today, New York's most prominent Republican, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani telling two New York newspapers he is voting for Donald Trump, but he is not calling it an endorsement. A bit strange there. Ted Cruz in the meantime intent on posing a challenge to Trump on Trump's home turf saying, he think he can do it in New York. Just moments ago, our chief political correspondent Dana Bash sat down with Ted Cruz right here in New York for a one-on-one interview. Bernie Sanders not backing down from his accusation that Clinton is unqualified for the presidency, but tonight admits to CBS News he may have gone too far. GE CEO slamming Bernie Sanders, charging that he makes hollow campaign promises, but Sanders fires back. Interview with Congressman Peter King of New York.)
(Spec: Politics; Elections; Policies; New York; Republicans; Media; Ted Cruz; Bernie Sanders; Hillary Clinton; Elections; Government; General Electric; Business)