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CNN NEWSROOM

Music Legend Prince Dead at 57; Trump Evolving to be More Presidential?; Hometown Pays Tribute to Prince. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 22, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Mystery surrounding the sudden death of music legend Prince. Today officials are expected to conduct an autopsy to try and determine how the 57-year-old died. In the meantime, fans and celebrities remember him, not just as a cultural icon, but as an electric performer and a champion of artist rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was incredible. He was very free. And to do what he did without fear was a wonderful thing.

VAN JONES, FRIEND OF PRINCE: The world needs to know that it wasn't just the music. The music was one way he tried to help the world. But he was helping every single day of his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is our royalty. He is Minneapolis. He crossed every boundary, every genre. He broke through barriers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was entertainment. In capital letters. You know, he loved what he did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a prophet. He was a pimp. He was purple. He was Midwest. He was magical. He was funny. He was so black. He walked through this world like he believed he was free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Just gives you chills, right? Overnight, all night Prince parties erupted like this one in Minneapolis and these are the images pouring in, cities lighting up in purple to honor a man known as music royalty, a tribute to a song that helped define his career, "Purple Rain." Even Broadway hits like "Hamilton" and the "Color Purple" pausing to remember Prince.

And like Prince once he sang, there's always a rainbow at the end of every rain. A rainbow painting the sky over Prince's estate just hours after his death.

So let's head to Stephanie Elam, she's live in Minnesota this morning outside of Prince's Paisley Park estate.

Good morning. STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Think about

the biggest superstar there is out there right now, chances are, they don't see themselves as a bigger talent than Prince.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): This morning, medical examiners working to determine the cause of death for music legend Prince, beginning with an autopsy to be performed later today.

PRINCE, MUSICIAN: I wanted my music, as even now, to speak loudest for me.

ELAM: Prince was found unresponsive inside an elevator at his Paisley Park estate Thursday morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Person down, not breathing.

ELAM: Medics dispatched to his home performed CPR but failed to revive him, pronouncing 57-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson dead at 10:07 a.m. As fans mourned his death, this rainbow appeared over the artist's home, perhaps a symbol of the purple rain that has now passed.

This video shows Prince performing one of his most famous songs just one week ago in Atlanta. His flight home forced to make an emergency landing in Illinois, where he was hospitalized briefly for what his publicist were flu-like symptoms and dehydration.

Prince was a musical genius. The Minneapolis native's signature sound catapulting him to international super stardom, earning him seven Grammys. And his flamboyant style defined a generation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And if you come back out here live with me here at Paisley Park, this is the compound that Prince kept, it's where he lived, this is where his concerts, where he would perform sometimes. He always stayed in Minnesota. And you can see here people coming out early this morning to pay their respects, still remember Prince, leave flowers, leave balloons, some people leaving artwork even, Carol.

But overall everyone around the world, in some way, tweeting, showing pictures of their first time going to a Prince concert. Showing something to connect themselves to this man who was so iconic for his music, for his style and for the way he decided to share himself with us through his talents.

COSTELLO: All right, Stephanie Elam, many thanks to you.

We have to talk about the investigation into Prince's death because it goes on. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me now.

Tell us what you know right now, I'm going to have to briefly cough here but you tell us what we know right now. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know

now is that there is an investigation underway in the state Minnesota.

[09:05:03] In many states around the country, if someone dies in a sort of unusual way or unexpected, oftentimes that triggers an autopsy. And that is what's going to happen here. So that's going to be happening, it's going to take some time to get the results back. It takes time obviously just to perform the autopsy, to take blood for toxicology testing, all these things, and then even after some of these results start to come back, they oftentimes have to confirm those tests again. So this isn't going to happen any time soon.

You see sort of a timeline there, Carol. It was two weeks ago from yesterday that he first canceled those concerts, and then last week where he did perform in those concerts. So, you know, it seems like he got sick for a period of time or wasn't feeling well, recovered, became sick again. All of that history is going to be part of what the investigators look at as well.

COSTELLO: And Sanjay, you know, there's so many rumors out there, but if he did have the flu, could it have turned into something like walking pneumonia and he could have been suffering from that?

GUPTA: Yes, well, right. So we don't know for sure, but what can happen sometimes if someone who has the flu, sometimes they can start to feel better. It's a viral infection. But then develop a bacterial infection on top of that which can be more serious, more severe. It is particularly bad in people who are elderly, people who are very young and also people who have some underlying medical illness or their immune system is not working well for some reason. Again we just don't know. We just don't know.

All we know is that history in trying to piece it together. But that -- again, that history is part of what the investigators are going to look at as well to see if it all makes sense.

COSTELLO: All right, Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thank you.

COSTELLO: In a rare television interview with Larry King, Prince talked about another musical legend, one he called his role model.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE: I use Stevie Wonder as an inspiration whom I look up to a great deal. Just for the way that he crafted music and his connection to the spirit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Stevie Wonder spoke to Anderson Cooper about his friend in an emotional tribute last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVIE WONDER, MUSICIAN: It's a heartbreak and I was shocked. I didn't believe it. As I find it so hard to believe, you know, in this journey of music, we as artists sort of create the reflection of society. And reflect really the people that really want to see a better world, a better people, a unity of people. All those things as did his music do. And will continue to do for those of us who will continue to listen to it. It's heartbreak to lose a member of that army of love.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: That army of love. How did Prince influence you? How does he inspire you?

WONDER: Well, he was a -- he was a great musician. He loved music. He loved playing his instrument and you know the times that we did jam together were amazing. Various people he would bring together. And most of all, he brought all the various cultures together. He could play classical music if he wanted to, he could play jazz if he wanted to, he could play country if he wanted to. He played rock, you know. He played blues. He played pop. Everything. He just a great musician. And very cognizant of what his responsibility was as a musician and a human being.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Stevie Wonder went on to say that he was glad he was able to tell Prince, I love you, the last time he saw him.

Prince first debuted on the music charts back in 1978 and for decades to come, he would not only influence the music industry but also use his platform for social activism.

Van Jones, a CNN political contributor, he was friends with Prince, he talked more about that little known side of the superstar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: He supported and helped to create something called "Yes, We Code." "Yes, We Code" has now 15 major technology companies working with kids in the hood, getting them ready to have jobs in Silicon Valley. That was Prince. He worked with something called Green for All. I was a public face of that, but he put the money in. There are people that have solar panels on their houses right now in Oakland, California, that they don't know Prince paid for them.

He was sending checks, he was making phone calls, but he did not want it to be known publicly. And he did not want us to say but I'm going to say it because the world needs to know that it wasn't just the music. The music was one way he tried to help the world. But he was helping every single day of his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: The brash and bold Donald Trump we think we know, it's all an act. At least that's what top Trump adviser Paul Manafort told a room full of GOP insiders on Thursday. Listen as Manafort describes Trump as, quote, "evolving," in a closed-door meeting with the Republican National Committee members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN CONVENTION MANAGER: Trump is an outsider and that's why many of you don't know him, but when he's sitting in a room, he's talking business, he's talking politics in a private room, it's a different persona.

[09:15:04] When he's out on the stage, when he's talking about the kinds of things when he's out on the stump, he's projecting an image that's for that purpose. The part that he's been playing is evolving into the part that now you've been expecting but he wasn't ready for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Phil Mattingly is live in Hollywood, Florida, for the final day of that RNC meeting.

Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol. This was not actually the crowd that Donald Trump usually goes for. These are kind of the epitome of the establishment Republicans. 168 members of the Republican National Committee, really kind of the hierarchy of the entire party.

The same exact people Donald Trump, Carol, has been trashing for the last couple of weeks. Not just the Republican National Committee, but the delegate system on the whole that it oversees. Now Trump's advisers coming down here with a very different message, in private meetings, one-on-one meetings, meetings by the pool, meetings by the beach, and eventually an hour long presentation.

Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, the top two advisers on the Trump campaign -- recently hired top two Trump advisers, trying to make the point, Carol, that their candidate is ready for the general election and is ready for a pivot. So one Donald Trump on the campaign trail has said he can do. He is just not sure if he is willing to, at least not yet.

Now one of the most interesting things, he's been talking to the RNC members over the last couple of days, Carol, many of whom had sat down in these one-on-one meetings. And obviously they're skeptical. A lot of them have been very stung by the comments that Donald Trump has made, but one takeaway, one key takeaway, from this private meeting that I heard from a number of members, Paul Manafort pledged that Donald Trump was willing not only to spend whatever it takes to win in a general election, but also to help raise money for Republicans up and down the ballot. That's the biggest concern when you talk to national Republicans, what Trump would mean for fundraising. Obviously Trump making a big play about self-funding his own campaign. So Paul Manafort pledging that but still, Carol, a lot of skepticism

here about a Trump candidacy including how Trump could win in a general election and whether or not he would hurt the entire party. Trump's advisers with a steep hill to climb while they were here. Clearly people heard their message. Whether or not it resonated and whether or not they're willing to take it and run with it, and support a Trump candidacy, that still remains an open question. At least with establishment Republicans, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Phil Mattingly reporting live from Florida this morning.

In the meantime, Ted Cruz pounced on some comments that Donald Trump made at a town hall on Thursday. Take a look at an attack ad from the Cruz camp just hours after Mr. Trump argued against North Carolina's so-called bathroom bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAPHICS: Should a grown man pretending to be a woman be allowed to use the women's bathroom? The same restroom used by your daughter? Your wife?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People go -- they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate.

GRAPHICS: Donald Trump thinks so. It's not appropriate. It's not safe. It's PC nonsense that's destroying America. Donald Trump won't take on the PC police. He's one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so interestingly enough, Mr. Trump has now backed away from his comments, saying, decisions about anti-discrimination laws should be left to state and local governments.

So let's talk about this and more with CNN political commentator Jeffrey Lord. Jeffrey is a Trump supporter. And Bob Barr, Bob is a Cruz supporter and former Georgia congressman.

Welcome to both of you.

BOB BARR, TED CRUZ SUPPORTER: Thank you.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Jeffrey, I want to start with you. So Donald Trump said that, Ted Cruz releases an ad, Donald Trump backtracks, is that what Manafort means by there are two Trumps?

LORD: No. First of all, a logic dictates, particularly if you're Republican, that states make these decisions. But if Senator Cruz is so concerned about this --

COSTELLO: But, Jeffrey, I just want to stop you there because politicians say that when they want to punt, oh, we'll leave it up to the states.

LORD: No, no, no. No.

COSTELLO: That way they don't have to take a stand.

LORD: Carol, Carol, Carol, the regulation of bathrooms is not a federal responsibility. I mean, no matter how you --

COSTELLO: I'm talking about anti-discrimination laws, not just about bathrooms. It's not just about bathrooms.

LORD: No, you are talking -- but let me just say, if Senator Cruz is concerned about this, the place for him to start is the state of Texas, which has exactly the same bathroom laws that the state of North Carolina had before they passed this law. I mean, where is he in Texas on this? I mean, he hasn't said a word.

COSTELLO: OK, so on the other hand, Bob, that bathroom ad, conservatives will love it, I am sure. But the issue itself is rather toxic in this modern climate. North Carolina is losing millions of dollars because of its bathroom law. Young Republicans are in favor of gay rights. So ultimately when Ted Cruz has to broaden his base, how is this helping him?

BARR: What's really toxic here is the bizarre world in which Mr. Trump and his new campaign adviser, Paul Manafort, a member of the establishment if there ever was one, mean absolutely nothing. You can't believe anything they say because everything is smoke and mirrors.

COSTELLO: Well, back to the bathroom bill -- back to the bathroom bill and the ad, Bob. I just wonder, because Ted Cruz does have to broaden his base, especially with the slate of states coming up in the northeast, right?

[09:20:03] I know he is working hard in Indiana, but he has to do well in the other states as well.

BARR: There is a difference between broadening one's base and shooting off one's mouth with no principles at all underlying what one is saying, which is what Donald Trump is doing. Ted Cruz is not going to deny or change the principles on which he is running and on which he has garnered so much support across the country simply to, quote, broaden his base. And that's a major difference between Senator Cruz and Mr. Trump. Senator Cruz is consistent. Mr. Trump is not consistent in anything whatsoever.

COSTELLO: Jeffrey, you could argue that Mr. Trump has not been consistent, right? And this is the most recent example.

LORD: I don't think so. You know, first of all, he is not a career politician, as is Ted Cruz. And I have to say, again, I really do like Ted Cruz. But you know, we're in a primary situation here. Yes, I do think Donald Trump is pretty consistent for somebody who's never played the game, if you will in this sense. He is your basic average American in that sense. Last night, I happened to go to my first Trump rally, which was right

here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The largest arena in Harrisburg, the Farm Show Arena, was practically filled. There were about I'd say 10,000 people there. I can tell you, people are very, very excited. I talked to a lot of them. They came up and talked to me. Recognizing me for being on your show and other places. And they are very excited. They really believe that Donald Trump understands their values and is representing them very well. So he really does have a connection with these folks.

COSTELLO: So, Bob, Senator Cruz has called Trump a Twitter-in-chief, once saying Trump could lose his temper and nuke Denmark. It's easy to attack that Donald Trump, right? But if Donald Trump does evolve and become more presidential and talk intelligently about policy, won't that make it more difficult for Senator Cruz to attack him?

BARR: No, it won't because there is absolutely no consistency in either what Mr. Trump says or how he behaves. You cannot become presidential by switching a light switch on and off. The fact of the matter is, being presidential means having a track record, a consistency and understanding of issues and an ability to articulate those principles and those issues intelligently and consistently.

And Donald Trump, while he may pretend to be or have his people say, oh, he's just an average American, he isn't. The average American actually has very firm beliefs and when they see a politician changing like the wind every single day and sometimes a matter of times within one day, I don't think that's going to resonate well in the general election, certainly, and it's certainly not going to produce a good president.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Jeffrey, quickly.

LORD: (INAUDIBLE) set of New Yorkers disagree with you, Congressman.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it there. Jeffrey Lord, Bob Barr, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a party fit for a Prince. Hundreds of people holding an all night dance party in tribute to Prince in his beloved hometown of Minneapolis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:56] COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Minneapolis loves Prince, just as much as Prince loved Minneapolis. It was his home. And as he told Larry King, he wouldn't have it any other way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: The videos you do, you do in your own studio in Minneapolis.

PRINCE: A good portion of it.

KING: So we don't think of L.A., Nashville, all these hot spot New York places? Minneapolis gets it done, too?

PRINCE: Minneapolis always been the bomb.

KING: Yes?

PRINCE: You don't have to go outside of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's awesome. Prince never went Hollywood. He was a son of the Midwest, and he preferred to stay that way. His fans there are legions and they are hurting. And what better way to assuage their grief than a dance party and what a dance party it was. Thousands wearing purple, packing into downtown Minneapolis nightclubs to celebrate Prince's life.

Look at the scene. It was incredible. It lasted until the wee hours of the morning. But as the "Star Tribune" put it, "When the sun came up today, it was a little less bright than the morning before."

With me now is Chris Riemenschneider with the "Minneapolis Star Tribune" and CNN Entertainment analyst Chris Witherspoon.

Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here.

Chris, I'm going to call you Witherspoon. I got two Chrises. And Chris, I'm going to call you Chris who's in Minneapolis.

First of all, I'd like to -- tell us about the dance party and what it was like.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE: It was, you know, I'm so freaking proud of our city right now. I mean, as heartbreaking as this all is, our city came together. They put this -- they put together this street party, blocked off the street in just a few hours' notice. You know, it was -- it all took place around First Avenue Nightclub, which is, you know, kind of ground zero, even more so than Paisley Park for local Prince fans. That's where "Purple Rain" was filmed and the musical part there, too. It was just, it was a beautiful scene. It was joyous and heartbreaking at the same time.

COSTELLO: So tell me what Prince meant to Minneapolis.

RIEMENSCHNEIDER: You know, he's -- you know, he had a complicated relationship with his hometown, as most people of public figures do. But more than anything, people understood that he put the city on the map.