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Erin Burnett Outfront
Countdown to Trump Family Town Hall; Paul Ryan Will Not Become GOP Nominee; Clinton Campaign Attacks Sanders on Superdelegates. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 12, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:20] ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Next, we'll count you down to the Trump family live here in New York for a special town hall event, Trump's wife, Melania, along with all of his children only here tonight, CNN.
And as we couldn't you down, why the Clinton White House was worried about Donald Trump 17 years ago and the Clinton campaign calling out Bernie Sanders charging he's the one trying to rig the system. Let's go "Outfront".
Good Evening. I'm Erin Burnett. "Outfront" tonight, we are counting down to the entire Trump family. He will be joined by his wife, Melania, his children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany and Barron. They are all going to be here answering audience questions in a special live CNN town hall event.
Here in New York, this comes as Donald Trump has a commanding 43 point lead in the latest poll. Trump is ahead 60 percent of likely GOP voters say they are cast their vote for him, John Kasich second with 17 percent, Ted Cruz third at 14.
More good news for the frontrunner tonight almost a full month after Missouri voters went to the polls. Trump declared the winner of the state, 12 remaining delegates in the race to 1,237, that's the magic number here as where we stand as of this hour, 758 for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz 538, John Kasich 145.
Trump's victory coming as he continues to hammer the Republican Party claiming the primary system is rigged and he talked about that in upstate New York today up in the ante.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've already been disenfranchised because you look at what's going on. Because if you think about it, the economy is rigged, the banking system is rigged, there's a lot of things that are rigged in this world of ours.
BURNETT: Sara Murray is traveling with the Trump campaign. She's Outfront. And, Sara, Donald Trump, the Republican Party, recently tried to mend fences but obviously it sounds like that is now in the rear view mirror. SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah. Erin, whatever truth they may have reached was clearly very brief. Donald Trump is making it clear, he is not happy with the way this process, this nominating process is going. He believes the odds are stacked against him and he's saying it as loud as he possibly can to rile up his supporters.
Tonight, Donald Trump is firing off his latest grievance.
TRUMP: A Republican system is absolutely rigged. It's a phony deal.
MURRAY: The billionaire businessman claiming the GOP primary process is fixed, after he came up short in Louisiana and Colorado.
TRUMP: The Republican National Committee, they should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen. They took the votes away from the people in Colorado.
MURRAY: As Trump grows exasperated over the complicated for delegates, Ted Cruz is growing tired of Trump's complaints.
SEN. TED CRUZ. (R-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because we know in the state of California wine is something best served with cheese.
MURRAY: Slamming Trump for complaining about the process.
CRUZ: Donald loves to call people a loser. Donald wakes up at night in cold sweats that people will call him a losing Donald. That's his ultimate fear.
MURRAY: And hitting the self-proclaimed management expert for it campaign shortcomings.
CRUZ: Donald's whole pitch is he's a great businessman yet his campaign right now, it appears he can't run lemonade stand.
MURRAY: Even RNC Chair Reince Priebus is weighing in on the process tweeting, "The rules were set last year, nothing mysterious, nothing new". Meanwhile, Trump is already eyeing the general election, tearing in to Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: Her whole life has been a big, fat, beautiful lie. It's been terrible, terrible lie. Everything about her is a lie.
MURRAY: And telling "USA TODAY", he's ready to forgive and forget, and may ask a political rival like John Kasich, Marco Rubio or Scott Walker to join the tickets, a suggestion Walker struggled to take seriously.
GOV. SCOTT WALKER, (R) WISCONSIN: I literally just heard it in the car and I said I laugh.
MURRAY: As for Kasich, he said he has no interest in a V.P. slot.
GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R-OH) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would be the worst vice president of the country ever saw. You know why, because I'm not like a vice president. I'm a president. MURRAY: Now, Errin, if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, he's going to have to learn how to play nice with the Republican Party. He's going to want their fundraising mechanism and he is going to want their field organization. But at least for now, it seems like Trump and his campaign are betting that it pays to bash the party at least for a while longer. Erin?
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Sara.
Also tonight, the man who plenty of Republicans thought could be their white knight nominee, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he will not under any circumstances be the party nominee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[19:05:02] REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), HOUSE SPEAKER: So let me speak directly to the delegates on this. If no candidate has a majority in the first ballot, I believe that you should only choose from a person who is actually participating in the primary. Count me out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Manu Raju is "OUTFRONT" in Washington. And Manufacturing, before Paul Ryan became speaker he said, "I will not run for the job. I don't want the job". So that's why people don't believe him this time, why is it different?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, he's saying that's as - they asked him specifically about that in his press conference. He said that those were apples and oranges comparison (ph). So during the speakership he said, "That was an effort to", you know, he wanted to unify his party, so that all facts as the Republican Party have to get the behind him, unite behind in order to run for speaker.
This time he said that, "Look, there's virtually no situation in which the Republican Party could be united behind a late entrant". He even said that the delegates should write a rule preventing anyone who has not run for president to be considered if this convention were deadlocked. But he also said, Erin, that doesn't mean that should - the only limited to those only three remaining candidates. Other candidates, potentially Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, they could be considered but not him and not anyone else was not running for president.
BURNETT: Well, it might be a problem if it's Jeb Bush because you're also hearing some top Republicans are skipping the convention and his on that list.
MURRAY: That's right. Jeb Bush actually told me today. I asked him, will you attend the Republican convention. He said, "No". And he's not the only one, other Republicans who are running for reelection including Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Richard Burr of North Carolina. It's going to be their time would be better served campaigning back home rather than dealing with a possible mess in Cleveland, Erin.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Manu.
And "OUTFRONT" now, Donald Trump campaign spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, Bill Kristol, Editor of the Weekly Standard, David Gergen who served as presidential advisor for four presidents including Reagan and Clinton Mark Preston, our Executive Editor for Politics here in CNN David, let me start with you.
Republican leaders skipping the convention, Jeb Bush saying that directly to Manu as he was just reporting, and they are afraid of a melee that want to be associated with it, who know what the final reasons are. Should they be going?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I understand why they don't want to be splattered with mud and the all the rest to discuss the fear for all. But on the other hand, they are top Republicans and I think they ought to be there to provide leadership for the party. You don't docket at a time for a crisis for the party. You step up to it and try to provide the best leadership you can.
BURNETT: Katrina, is it a direct slap to Donald Trump?
KATRINA PIERSON, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: Well, I think what this is showing is that, the projections of the complaining and the whining really is coming from those who are the whiners and complainers. You have an opportunity to come together behind the Republican frontrunner and they want to take their ball and go home because they're losing, Erin.
This is what the voters are looking at. This is what they are seeing in why so many people are excited about Donald Trump and his candidacy.
BURNETT: So, Bill, the issue is, Donald Trump of course is the frontrunner. But let's say it doesn't happen at the first ballot. Then all of a sudden, it's opened up. Paul Ryan says only someone who actually ran for president should be the nominee, is he right?
BILL KRISTOL, EDITOR OF THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Not absolutely. I mean, people who run for president should get first crack, obviously. If jump fall short, he'll make another run on the second ballot. There's hopefully some delegates that would have been releasing their pledge to Rubio or others, you know, make a run. Ted Cruz will make a run.
But if it's deadlocked after eight or ten ballots, practically reasonable, that's why we have the system we have. You know, we could setup a system, either party can setup a system with a direct primary, other countries have that. Everyone shows up on one day, you vote.
BURNETT: So you don't think it's undemocratic when these other people with that millions and millions of vote.
KRISTOL: Here's why some (inaudible). Trump has gotten 37 percent of the vote so far. He's running in about 47 percent of the delegates. If it's rigged, he's benefiting - no seriously, for a direct primary there would be a runoff, probably, between him and Cruz. And I'm not sure Trump would win that. He's benefitted from the fact that the system is somewhat tilted to winner-take-all, fine that's the system. He's entitled to come to New York and get 53 percent of the vote perhaps and get 85 percent of the delegates.
BURNETT: Katrina, what do you say to that, 37 percent of the vote, 47 percent of the delegates, it seems like it's rigged for him not again him?
PIERSON: Well, I think the point everyone is missing is that of course it was rigged for the establishment. Unfortunately it's backfired. They weren't prepared for a Donald Trump candidacy which is exactly why Colorado changed their rules back in August.
So this is what has happened. The rules can still change and people understand that, how can it not be rigged if the people who make the rules can change the rules in the middle of the game?
BURNETT: Well, that's a little bit strange. Mark Preston, why should they be able to change the rules?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF POLITICS: Well, we were talking apples and oranges right now. I think as soon as she talking about perhaps changing the rules, about how you become nominated when you get to the convention because those rules can be changed and often are changed.
We saw in 2012, they were changed because Romney had the ability to do so and was able to keep Ron Paul, you know, out of the ability, his ability to be nominated on the floor. But the rules to get to the convention are set. They have to be set. They have to be submitted to the Republican National Committee. It's not as if these rules were changed mid-game.
[19:09:58] BURNETT: So here's what Ted Cruz said today about Donald Trump because there's been a little shift here. And the shift is Ted Cruz is acting exactly like Donald Trump in one very specific way. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Donald loves to call people a loser. Donald wakes up at night in cold sweats that people will call him the losin' Donald. That is his ultimate fear and every time the voters reject him, and they've now done so in 11 elections. If Donald were an apprentice on his show, looking at their inability to show up and win elections, Donald would say to himself, "You're fired".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OK, losin' Donald, lying Ted. You drop the G, you put I apostrophe on, all right. He's playing Trump's game. Does that work?
GERGEN: I don't think he work in his mouth. I think you're either original or not and he shouldn't copy. He should have his own style, his own brand. And, you know, he's on the verge. He could potentially pull this off. I think the odds favor him right now to get the nomination, especially if just comes down to two people at the convention.
But, you know, it's quite interesting, he was right on the verge of breaking through as all about ten days ago, especially after Wisconsin. And it looks like Trump was going down. Now, Trump especially because he's come in to a favorable landscape like New York looks like he's coming back and Cruz looks like he's flagging a little bit. Do you think that?
KRISTOL: You know, I tend to agree, I mean, I think Cruz should make his case for why he should be president. He's got a strong subtenant case. This is a well-qualified guy, very impressive person, serious person, he too conservative for some people. But I think he could pull together the 60 percent of the Republican party that doesn't want Trump.
Instead, if he gets in the game of I have a clever - and that for you, that you have for me, I don't think he wins. And I think that's what - I think getting in this whole fight, I mean, Trump is very clever. You know, he lost Wisconsin and what he do? He started complaining about the rules.
Now, he got most of us talking about the rules (inaudible). In fact, it's ridiculous. What does that have to do with anything? Should the guy be the president of the United States? That's the issue the voters of New York, and Pennsylvania, and Indiana and California have to face and Trump got in for in some kind of complicated debate about whether something unfair happened with three delegates in Colorado.
(CROSSTALK)
KRISTOL: But Cruz should not engage on this to say, "Donald Trump should not be president for these following very easy to understand reasons".
BURNETT: Although, it does seem like he highlighted a system that has a lot of build up in its arteries. Thank you all very much. You're going to stay with us. Set at 9:00 the entire Trump family special live CNN town hall event, tomorrow the Cruzes.
"Outfront" next, Bernie Sanders about to hold in Poughkeepsie, the Clinton campaign now accusing Sanders of rigging the system. We're going to tell you exactly how and we're counting down to our town hall tonight. Donald Trump and his family, their first ever live interview this campaign season tonight, right here on CNN, and Donald Trump's obsession with the "D" word.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's disgusting, I don't want to talk about it. No. It's too disgusting. Don't say it. It's disgusting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:16:40] BURNETT: Tonight, the Clinton campaign accusing Bernie
Sanders of trying to rig the system, in their words. The senator under attack for trying to win over superdelegates, many of whom have already committed to Hillary Clinton, it's the only way for Sanders and not Clinton to become the nominee. But is Clinton's campaign attack fair. Joe Johns is "OUTFRONT".
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT : As the battle for New York intensified Bernie Sanders campaign is hoping to close the gap.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It looks to me like Syracuse is ready for a political revolution.
JOHNS: Today, the Clinton campaign turning to a new tactic accusing Sanders of trying make up ground by flipping superdelegates.
BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, HILLARY FOR AWARENESS: If anybody is trying rig the system right now to overturn the will of the people that's Senator Sanders.
JOHNS: With both candidates laying a home state claim on the big apple, enthusiasm is key.
SANDERS: Let us have the largest turn out in Democratic primary history here in New York State. Thank you all.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.
JOHNS: Sanders is holding three large rallies today while Clinton held a roundtable on equal pay for women.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If talking about equal pay and paid leave and more opportunities for women and girls is playing the gender card then deal me in because these are ...
JOHNS: Gender and politics also on the mind of President Obama today, though he did not mention Clinton by name at the dedication of a women's equality monument what he implied spoke volumes.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women were vastly outnumbered in the boardroom or in Congress. There was ever a time when a woman had never sat in the oval office.
JOHNS: With Clinton leading Sanders 13 points in a new poll, she's heading to Florida for three fundraising tonight leaving her husband to campaign across the state in her stead.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: We have got to have a big vote for Hillary in New York next week. And if we do, she will be your president and you'll be glad. Thank you. God bless you.
JOHNS: Hillary Clinton's campaign is celebrating the anniversary of its kick-off and also sparring today with Bernie Sanders over which candidate has the most credibility. And trading jabs over everything from firearms, oil and gas-drilling technique, immigration policy and, of course, Wall Street.
The Clinton campaign is banking on her strength with minority voters to help put her over to top while Sanders campaign looks to close the polling gap in the final days as it has in some other races with appeals to younger voters and working class Americans. Erin?
BURNETT: All right, Joe, thank you so.
And "OUTFRONT" now, the Washington the Director of moveon.org, Ben Wikler, he's a Bernie Sanders supporter, our political commentator Maria Cardona, Hillary Clinton supporter. Her firm currently does work for a pro-Clinton super PAC. She's also a superdelegate. David Gergen and Bill Kristol are back with me. So, Maria, let me start with you.
This basic issue of fairness, let's take Vermont. Bernie Sanders won 86 percent of the vote in some state, every single town, all 16 pledge to delegates. And yet, four of Vermont's ten superdelegates, 40 percent are currently supporting Hillary Clinton. Is that fair?
MARIA CARDONA, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, again, you look -- the question is what is fair. Those are the rules. I mean, these are the rules that we are playing with. And, you know, a lot of people bring that up. And here's what I say to those folks. Let's remember who the superdelegates are. Superdelegates are every single member of Congress on the House side and on the Senate, governors, former president and members of the DNC. That's how I'm a superdelegate.
[19:20:03] The superdelegates that you're talking about are members ever Congress. These are people that have been working with Bernie Sanders for more than 20 years. So it's not like they can say, "Oh, we don't know him and we're just blindly going with Hillary".
BURNETT: So the rules (inaudible) don't have to go with the will of the people, so that's - but those ...
CARDONA: Well, for superdelegates, you can choose whoever you want. Now, they can switch too, right? They are committed but they can switch. Their vote isn't binding until the moment they vote.
BEN WIKLER, WASHINGTON THE DIRECTOR OF MOVEON.ORG: Well, that's fair.
BURNETT: Was that fair in Vermont then?
WIKLER: Nationally, it's not fair and that's why I applaud Senator Leahy who said that although he endorses Hillary Clinton, he was supported whoever wins the primaries and caucuses. And that's the right thing to do. I don't think it's tenable for an elected official to they're to overturn a rows of people. I think mentioned that ultimately, the, you know, the fight over superdelegates is really a side show from the fight over the issues that are at the heart of this race, without Wall Street ...
CARDONA: I could not agree with you more with that and let's remember superdelegates have never overturned the will of the people. When Clinton started in 2008, she had the majority of superdelegates. BURNETT: And they switched to Barack Obama.
CARDONA: And they switched.
BURNETT: And so we're to ask, you've never given the candidate without the majority of ...
(CROSSTALK)
GERGEN: Couple of things. One, first of all, the fact that so many superdelegates have already come out in favor of Hillary Clinton has given her a big edge in this campaign. If it were even Steven ...
BURNETT: Right. Because every time you need to put the numbers up on the screen, it looks overwhelming and lopsided.
GERGEN: And so, this has already helped her. But I want to go to that point that (inaudible) making in the day that Bernie is doing this awful thing about flipping. People are going to change their mind. The very reason you said that shouldn't make up their minds until the end for the final thing. That's why they are there. And, you know, that Republicans must just be ...
BURNETT: They are wishing they had superdelegates.
KRISTOL: I didn't know Maria was a superdelegate. I'm just impressed to be sitting at the same table with superdelegate.
GERGEN: I was like, "Wow, superdelegate".
KRISTOL: Batman.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: You want my cape and everything?
KRISTOL: You know what, which campaigns are raising the rigging issue? Clinton and Trump, the frontrunners, why, they want to have endless discussion that no one is going to followup with silly charges back and forth about a process because they're scared of having a debate on the issues. I very much agree with Ben on this, we don't need to be in politics.
If Sanders needs to say, "Wait, all of this stuff is nonsense. Let's get back to the fundamental issue. Is Hillary Clinton a tool of Wall Street or not?" And put up a picture of the Clintons attending the Trump's wedding.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: OK. Maria, let me talk about this you are a superdelegate.
CARDONA: Of this issue of fairness, I actually think it's a fair question, right? You're doing work for pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC. My firm is ...
BURNETT: OK, you firm it.
CARDONA: Yes.
BURNETT: So would ben be wrong to say, "Well then, how can you be a superdelegate?", right? I mean ...
CARDONA: Because I'm a member of the DNC. I'm a member of the. And so, again ...
WIKLER: Those are the rules.
CARDONA: Those are the rules. That's right
WIKLER: And you're right to exercise your conscience within the rules. But I would urge you as a superdelegate as to say that once the people have made their voice firm, once they have selected a candidate based on a vision for the country, and what kinds of fight they want to have and the kind of direction they want to lead the country and you'll support that winner. And that's, you know, I vote for Bernie Sanders or whoever it is.
CARDONA: So when in this that happens, we can have that conversation. But let's also remember, to your points, David, the Clinton campaign never focuses on her being ahead by the superdelegation. Their focus is always she's ahead by pledge delegates, more than 200 and that the math becomes harder every time that there's a win for her and even for him because it's proportional.
GERGEN: The press has been playing this as she actually gets - she gets all these extra superdelegates.
I happen to think superdelegates are a good idea. They are like a checks and balances in the constitutional system. You say that to people have a voice? I think they are like the checks and balances in a constitutional system. And you set it up so the people have a voice but they're also checks and balances about that. And I think it makes sense.
You know, this is a peer review. There's no institution, major institution in the country that would choose its next CEO or next leader without peer review.
CARDONA: But her lead, again, her lead, the Clinton campaign always focuses on two critically important things, the lead in superdelegates and the lead in votes. She's ahead by 2.4 million votes.
(CROSSTALK)
WIKLER: That even narrowing. In the seven - in the last eight contest, Bernie has won ...
CARDONA: That's fine.
WIKLER: And then Sanders pulls out a Michigan, Wisconsin style win in California, in New York, in Pennsylvania, to me it just imminently clear that the superdelegates should come in line with the people of the country ...
CARDONA: We'll see what happens.
WIKLER: ... and before the candidate is ready to take on the billionaire ...
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Maybe Maria Cardona will sit here voting for Bernie Sanders.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: We are now become all that harder for Bernie to win.
(CROSSTALK)
KRISTOL: And the super PAC at once.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: All right, thanks to all. Clinton and Sanders facing off in the CNN debate in Brooklyn. That is Thursday night at 9:00 right here on CNN.
And next, we're counting down moments away from the entire Trump family live here on CNN, the family patriarch with some fatherly advice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you are going to be successful or if you are successful, you have to have a prenup.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And record spending on negative campaign adds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump refuses to denounce the KKK. Think about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:25:01] BURNETT: More than half of that money, targeting just one candidate, but is it working?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And tonight, we're counting you down a special CNN Republican town hall.
In just a few minutes, Donald Trump taking voters questions. He'll be joined by his wife, Melania, and all of his children, Donald Jr. Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany and Barron. This is a side of Donald Trump you never see and Anderson Cooper is going to be moderating tonight's town hall.
Anderson, Trump and his entire family, obviously, never seen this before, what can we expect tonight?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: The format is similar to what we had last night. Donald Trump will come out first and about 10 or so to ask him questions directly. And obviously, there's a lot like to hear about, you know, he's been having a lot of tough talk about the battle for delegates. There's a lot of news today, kind of issues to talk to him about.
Then we'll take a break. His family will come out after that, have a couple of questions for them. And then, it was really open to the voters who are in the room, Republicans who are trying to make up their minds.
[19:30:00] We have a lot of questions from a lot of diverse group of people. So, the rest of the hour is conversation with Donald Trump, with his wife and with all of his kids. So, it's going to be, you know, interesting night to actually see this family and -- there's something to see a candidate with his family. It gives it a different dynamic.
I think we saw that last night with Governor Kasich and I certainly look forward to seeing that with Donald Trump as well.
BURNETT: I think everybody does. As you say, a side of him we don't often see.
Thank you so much, Anderson.
And, you know, a side that doesn't fit with a lot of the public persona of Donald Trump. It's clear from listening to Trump over the past year though that he's incredibly proud of his family from his children to his wife Melania.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, when this began, Melania and I, and I said, I got to do it. She was very supportive.
You know Ivanka very well. She's a star.
Baron's terrific.
Tiffany is a terrific young woman. She just graduated from Penn and did mostly A's.
Eric and Don, they have been working so hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: My panel is back with me now, along with John Jay LaValle. He's the chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Committee in New York. He's a Donald Trump supporter.
Charlotte Triggs is also with me, senior editor for "People Magazine". She's interviewed the Trump family twice in their home.
So, this is just -- we've never seen Donald Trump like this, David, before, with the whole family, with his wife, all of his children, taking live questions. This is not pre-recorded. This is going to be live tonight.
How do you think this is going to play to people at home who always see the guy yelling, disgusting, or, you know, on one of his rants or beautiful whatever it might be on the podium.
GERGEN: I think it's an important moment in the campaign. This is a wonderful opportunity for him. It's a chance to warm himself up. Instead of the bluster and bluff and everything we get from him, showing more as a caring person, someone who does love his family. He's very proud much them.
I wouldn't be surprised if they bring in his grandchild. That would be a Trump's -- that would be a kind of play they'd make.
The other thing that's very important here, Erin, he's so far behind with women that if he can show respect for women and show that they feel he respects them, that can softens some of this opposition, because, you know, right now, he's unelectable given the disapproval of women. If the women were to come around --
BURNETT: He needs progress with that group.
GERGEN: Absolutely.
BURNETT: And tonight could go a long way to that.
Now, Charlotte you have sat down with the Trump family twice. You know, you did a cover story. You were there with Melania, with Donald Trump, with his youngest son Baron in one of the times.
What is the one thing you still want to know more about?
CHARLOTTE TRIGGS, SENIOR EDITOR, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: Well, you know, I think every single one much his kids and one thing that is -- you know, kind of, you know, the unforgettable detail is what they think about his politics. They are all very adept at evading that question. Ivanka and Eric actually neglected to register to vote in New York. So, when they're asked who they are going to vote for, they can just be like, oh, no, I'm not voting.
You know, they have been always been very supportive and maintained that he's a great father. They talk about him as a great businessman, a great employer of people. You don't really get specific on the politics.
Ivanka, for one, is married to a very famous Democrat. She was friends with Chelsea Clinton. And, you know, it would be very fascinating to see what her true opinions are.
BURNETT: I wonder whether we will be able to glean on that tonight. Tonight, Maria, Trump's daughter Ivanka just had a son three weeks
ago. And you know one thing that's amazing about Ivanka as an emissary for her father is she's going to look amazing tonight and most women, I can say this I recently had a child, do not -- do not have the ability to come three weeks after having child. And yet, she will do it and still be seen relatable. It's a real gift that she had.
Here's Donald Trump speaking about her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Ivanka just had a baby and Ivanka is going to start -- in another week or so, she's going to start campaigning.
Everybody knows Ivanka. She's very hard-working. Very smart. Very good person. She's doing a great job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: She's perhaps his most valuable asset.
CARDONA: I could not agree more. I think to David's point, she as well as Melania are his secret weapons in terms of softening his image among women. I completely agree. If the negative points that he has among women continue or even get worse, there's no way he's going to get to the White House with those kinds of numbers.
If we think that the gender gap was bad at 11 percent with Mitt Romney, between Mitt Romney and Obama, this is going to be the grand canyon of gender gaps. But the problem is, as wonderful and dynamic and beautiful and intelligent as Ivanka is and she's got great clothes and I have a lot of them, I don't know that's enough to close that gender gap. We'll see.
BURNETT: Right.
So, John, you know, I have met his children over to years, doing some "Apprentice" work with Don Jr. Look, they're hard-working and they're gracious people in any environment I have ever interacted with them. I had a chance recently to talk to Don Jr. and Eric and ask who takes after their father the most of all of the children. And here's how they answered it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Who is most like your dad?
DONALD TRUMP, JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: I'd say Ivanka is very much like him in many ways, in sort of meticulous nature of things.
[19:35:01] I mean, I sort of have a little bit of his sense of humor and the way I like to rib. I mean, Eric has got his natural sense of construction and special, you know, visualization.
(END VIDEO CLP) BURNETT: So, what does this say about Donald Trump?
JOHN LAVALLE, CHAIRMAN, SUFFOLK COUNTY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE: Well, I'm going to say, first, tonight, we'll definitely saw from his image. But what's more important, at a time when the American family is in crisis, Donald he's sending a message family is your team. This is my team in life, this is my team in business and this is my team in this campaign.
And that's what he's saying to Americans tonight. And I think that's great.
You know, they trust each other. They respect each other. They work together. They are building an empire together. They want to make America great again together.
I think that is important. It's a message that I think we're missing in America. The most important team you can have is your family. And that's the message that Trump family gives out.
They travel together. They campaign together.
BURNETT: They do do all those things together. Yet it's a far from normal family if you look at normal family dynamics.
Look no further than Melania. She's a super model, right? This is not a "normal family", quote/unquote, but it's a close family.
David, let me play for you Donald Trump when he gave his advice, something a lot of Americans don't need to do. But here's what he said you need to do when you get married.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: So have a prenup in every relationship.
TRUMP: Well, I think you have no -- now, if you're going be poor you don't have to have a prenup. I wouldn't bother, OK? If you want to be poor, if you don't think you'll never make money, you know, then don't even bother. It's not worth the effort.
But if you're going successful and people I speak in front of and the people that read my book are usually people that to be successful or are successful. If you're going be successful or if you are successful, you have to have a prenup.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Honest advice.
GERGEN: If you want to be poor? As if some people choose to be rich, but other people choose to be poor?
BURNETT: That was 11 years ago, a few years ago, right after he married Melania. GERGEN: But the other thing is, I agree. I think coming out with his
family is a very, very good thing. But on this team business, a lot of people are saying, wait a minute, he's changed teams fairly often here. There are different teams at different times.
BURNETT: Different teams at different times.
LAVALLE: His family is his team and I think that's an important message for America.
BURNETT: All right. I want to thank you all very much.
CARDONA: Just one very quick thing, I think this will also help him, because, you know, a lot of people say the apples don't fall far from the tree. If they see their kids and they are intelligent and articulate and well-mannered and all of that, then they can say, well, maybe he's not that bad.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much.
And to Charlotte, of course, also who did that interview for "People".
OUTFRONT next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: He says we should punish women who have abortions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: With $70 million in anti-Trump ads trumping every other dollar spent. But are they making a difference?
And why was a birthday letter from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump in 1996 never sent but saved? We got it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:50] BURNETT: Tonight, targeting Trump. It's been a record presidential primary for negative advertising, already a record. And a new report shows that more than half the money spent has been focused on one thing -- bringing down Donald Trump in ads like these.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: He says we should punish women who have abortions.
TRUMP: There has to be some form of punishment.
AD NARRATOR: That Mexicans who come to America are rapists.
TRUMP: They are rapists.
AD NARRATOR: And that we should ban Muslims from coming here at all.
TRUMP: Total and complete shutdown. AD NARRATOR: Trump refuses to denounce the KKK. Think about that. For president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Real quotes from Donald Trump about women.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It really doesn't matter what they write as long as you got a young and beautiful piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That must be a pretty picture dropping to your knees.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BURNETT: Tom Foreman is OUTRONT.
All right. How much money has gone towards these sorts of ads, towards taking Donald Trump?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Enough to get a billionaire's attention, Erin, which is one way of putting it.
The numbers from our analysis by the "New York Times", $132 million have been spent on various types of negative ads out there, and more than half of those have been aimed at Donald Trump. Some of them directly attributed to him others comparison ads. But nonetheless, negative ads targeting Trump which in a weird way any candidate might say is a bit of a compliment because it shows everyone is concerned about him.
Among those targeting him, GOP super PACs out there. These are people who are trying to get somebody else to grab the Republican nomination. They've spent $23.5 million trying to defeat Trump.
And as a simple matter the reason they are doing this is because negative ads as much as the public says they don't like them, they do seem to work and it's a way for these groups to try to push back against Trump as he so successfully seems to grab the limelight time and time again away from other candidates.
BURNETT: And he --
FOREMAN: It's not going to stop. I want to mention this.
BURNETT: Yes.
FOREMAN: Because the pro-Clinton super PAC out there, they're holding back $70 million to use after the Democratic convention to Election Day presumably if he becomes the nominee to go after Donald Trump, Erin.
BURNETT: Which is stunning. As you point out he does things differently and it isn't -- people watching might say, OK, he does things differently. He gets free media. But it's not just free media. He does do ads. He does it differently.
FOREMAN: He does. He does some official ads, like other people do. But he also is just a whole lot better than really anyone out there in grabbing headlines and using social media to spread his word. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUBTITLE: When it comes to facing our toughest opponents --
(MUSIC)
The democrats have the perfect answer.
(BARKING LIKE A DOG)
(LAUGHTER)
SUBTITLE: We don't need to be a punch line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Really, that's from Instagram and that's one of those captivating things that people will share over and over again.
Overall spending, though, look at this. This is really shock. Think about where he is in the delegate race and look at the money he's been spending compared to the other big candidates out there.
[19:45:01] Sanders $41 million. Clinton $31.6 million. Cruz $17.5 million. And Trump according to the FEC records, only $9.5 million spent so far on ads. That means a lot more money waiting out there to fight back when they come after him in the general election if he's the nominee.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman.
And next, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Why the White House was worried about Trump back in 1999. We found out some totally new things about that relationship. That's next.
And then, Jeanne Moos on Trump's use of one particular word.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It was disgusting. Disgusting. Really disgusting. The most disgusting thing. Disgusting. Disgusting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: We're counting down to a special CNN presidential town hall tonight. We're looking at live pictures. In just over an hour, Donald Trump and his family will be answering voter questions right here on CNN.
Now, Trump is already looking towards the general election repeatedly going after Hillary Clinton this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I sort of had my heart set on Hillary to be honest with you. I hit her and Bill so hard and when you look at the mistakes that Hillary has made. How about Libya? That was a Hillary Clinton disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: But tonight, we're learning new details about the decades- long relationship between the Clintons and Trump. The Clinton presidential library today released hundreds of pages on the GOP front-runner.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Political enemies prepping for their general election brawl.
Donald Trump hammering Hillary Clinton.
[19:50:01] TRUMP: Her whole life has been a big, fat, beautiful lie. It's been a terrible, terrible.
LAH: Clinton flinging fighting words right back.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His trafficking in prejudice and paranoia has no place in our political system.
LAH: Oh, how times change -- 464 pages of newly released documents from the Clinton Presidential Library reveal a decades-long complicated relationship between New York titans.
TRUMP: You're fired.
LAH: Trump helming "The Apprentice" craved a life beyond celebrity and the Clintons braced for it.
This White House memo cited a field poll in an open primary in 2000, Trump barely registering. In a 1999 briefing before a CBS interview, President Bill Clinton practiced a response to a possible Trump run for president. "The political process will sort out the wheat from the chaff, I'm not concerned about it."
But publicly they were friends, Trump calling Hillary Clinton one in 2008.
TRUMP: She's a very nice woman. People think tough, tough. And I guess she's tough, but she's a very nice woman. LAH: Inviting the nice woman and her powerful husband to his third
wedding to now-wife Melania. Trump golfed with President Clinton and donated to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign. Trump sent the Clintons six years of holiday cards, a card exchange not returned by the Clintons.
This e-mail between White House aides from 1996 asks, "What are your thoughts on sending a birthday letter to Donald Trump?" Reply, "cancel letter to Donald Trump."
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: There is a kind of warped celebrity cult aspect of this trove.
LAH: The documents dig deeper into the relationships of two families that strikes many as, in a word, weird, like the friendship between Ivanka and Trump and Chelsea Clinton.
But others saw similarities. In a 1993 letter from President Clinton from a radio talk show host saying the two men have much in common, age, broad vision for the future to make America bigger and better.
Donald Trump so chummy with White House staff, he autographed a copy of his book to a Clinton aide.
BRINKLEY: Politics is a blood sport. There's a lot of debris on the superhighway of political life. And their friendship has been thrown under the bus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: Now, these docs also reveal the savvy Clinton political radar. If you took Donald Trump seriously this presidential cycle, in the 1990s and 2000, even fewer thought of him as a possibility, yet the Clintons somehow thought it could happen -- Erin.
BURNETT: They did and ended up, of course, being rather prescient.
Thank you very much, Kyung Lah.
And our executive editor for CNN Politics, Mark Preston, back with me.
OK. So, back in 1999, Bill Clinton is worried Donald Trump is going to run for president and he's going to send him a birthday card and they cancelled the card?
PRESTON: Yes, you have to wonder for two gentlemen that are very competitive, was the birthday card canceled because Donald Trump lost to Bill Clinton in golf? I mean, who know? I mean, what a weird, weird relationship these two powerful families have had.
BURNETT: Yes, and certainly friendly. Not the daughters just friendly but Donald Trump and Bill Clinton friendly. You know, we were talking in the commercial break, I interviewed Clinton this fall and he was laughing and smiling at Donald Trump all the way saying, he did take him very seriously. He thought he could be the nominee. So, it wasn't as if he was laughing him off. PRESTON: Right. And he certainly saw something in Donald Trump the Republican party establishment did not, but it goes to show you just how much it is a blood sport right now where politics can trump, you know, close ties or friendships and can really deteriorate them. Look it, the Clintons went to his wedding -- went to the Trump wedding.
BURNETT: That's right.
PRESTON: So, I mean, you have to wonder what happened along the way. But maybe the easy answer is that Donald Trump really wants to be president. I mean, for what he said about Hillary Clinton how her life has one big awful lie -- well, he was part of her life in some way, shape and form.
BURNETT: That's right. As friendly, and then, of course, yes, saying how wonderful she was. I can remember then this fall when he said she's the worst secretary of state ever when he earlier said something very different.
All right. Thank you very much, Mark Preston.
And OUTFRONT next, Jeanne Moos on all the people and things that Donald Trump finds disgusting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Disgusting. Disgusting. Honestly, it was disgusting. Disgusting people. Disgusting. Disgusting windmills. Disgusting guy. Disgusting dirty system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:02] BURENTT: Now, Donald Trump finds a lot of things beautiful. But among he finds disgusting, the nomination system, reporters, and sometimes bathroom breaks, and that's not at all.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can tell how upset Donald Trump is by how many disgustings he uses per rally.
TRUMP: It's a rigged, disgusting, dirty system. It's disgusting. Really disgusting. Clean up this dirty, rotten, disgusting system.
MOOS: The fact that he was so disgusted at the electoral system got us wondering, what else disgusts the Donald?
Plenty. Starting with us.
TRUMP: Disgusting reporters. Horrible people. Sure. Some are nice.
MOOS: By now, we all know that Donald thinks -- TRUMP: Rosie O'Donnell's disgusting. She's disgusting.
MOOS: But Bette Midler also got the Rosie treatment, as did Barney Frank. Brace yourself, disgusting nipples protruding in his blue shirt.
When it was suggested Trump has cheated at golf, he told "People" magazine that's disgusting.
Disgust has been the subject of an academic study.
Disgust, sensitivity researchers call it, people with more conservative viewpoints were found to be more easily disgusted by things like touching toilet seats.
And the one thing the Donald really finds disgusting, bodily fluids. Remember when Hillary returned late from a debate break?
CLINTON: Sorry.
MOOS: The Donald went off.
TRUMP: I know where she went. It's disgusting. I don't want to talk about it.
MOOS: Then there was the attorney who got in a fight with Trump about taking a break from a deposition to breast pump.
ELIZABETH BECK, ATTORNEY: He shook his finger at me and he screamed, "You're disgusting, you're disgusting."
MOOS: And the Donald was always mocking Marco Rubio for sweating.
TRUMP: Honestly, it was disgusting. All right?
MOOS: And talk about tilting at windmills.
TRUMP: Disgusting windmills.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --
TRUMP: It's disgusting.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: All right. Thank you so much for joining us.
Anderson starts now.
