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CNN NEWSROOM

Party Divides: Chaos Erupts In Democratic Contest; George Lopez On Trump And His Supporters; George Lopez Remembers His Friend, Prince. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 18, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


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BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me also say a word to the leadership of the Democratic Party and that is, that is that the Democratic Party is going to have to make a very, very profound and important decision. It can do the right thing and open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change!

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Fresh off his primary win in Oregon, Bernie Sanders defiant against his own party. CNN political commentator, Van Jones, is with me now. Mr. Jones, nice to see you, my friend.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello.

BALDWIN: So Bernie Sanders is on fire. The chair of the DNC is on fire. I see your eyebrow raise.

JONES: Yes.

BALDWIN: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, we were watching her last night. You did not like her comments in response to all of this.

JONES: I didn't. Look, I've got kids, and sometimes you let your kids get into fight and maybe one is more wrong than the other but both kids usually did something, and that's what happened in Nevada. You had the chair, who she wasn't doing the things that a chair should do to make everybody feel heard.

BALDWIN: You're referring to the chair in Nevada.

JONES: Yes, the chair in Nevada. She -- she did stuff that was -- listen, it was heavy-handed. Some of it didn't seem fair. Reality is it wouldn't have changed the outcome. Hillary Clinton was going to win, but she played it badly.

Then you had people who overreacted, and then you had a fringe element that really went wrong. If you're the chair, you've got to come out and say, listen, I don't like some of the things I heard about. I'm going to look into that, but you guys can't be acting in a terrible way. If you come out and smash on one side, you lose your ability to be the arbiter, and that's what happened last night, and I think there will be repercussions for that for the long term.

BALDWIN: So it's all the back and forth between the Sanders camp and let's say Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but it has larger implications, which is a significant potentially all the way through Philadelphia.

We just heard from Josh Earnest, press secretary of the White House, you know, essentially saying hang on a second. Let's all remember back to 2008 between then Senator Obama and Hillary Clinton. The tenor was similar. The tensions were similar. This will all get resolved in a couple of months.

[15:35:06]JONES: I hope he's right, but I don't think he's right.

BALDWIN: Why?

JONES: Because how different is Hillary Clinton from Bernie Sanders? That's how different the supporters of Hillary Clinton are from the supporters of Bernie Sanders. In 2008, the young rebels won and Obama got the nomination. In 2016, the young rebels may lose, and not just young, old --

BALDWIN: Sure, sure, sure.

JONES: But the rebels may lose. It's a different thing to tell a rebellion that's just been put down and maybe even have their nose rubbed in it by a Debbie to then turn around and join the party. I think that they are fundamentally misreading and misunderstanding what the Sanders movement is.

BALDWIN: Should we worry about Philadelphia or no?

JONES: I wouldn't -- listen, I don't -- I don't think you're going to have some violent conflict or whatever. I think that's -- there are going to be major protests outside of the DNC, but that happens every year. Progressives go, the DNC and the RNC and protest. That's not going to be new.

Internally I don't think there's a lot of disruption unless they keep rubbing people's nose in it. Secretary Clinton was the premiere diplomat for the whole world and did a great job, no matter what anybody did it.

The Republicans said she did a great job until she ran for president, but the diplomacy when it comes to Sanders has just been below sub- par. When you're a Hillary Clinton, you have the opportunity to tell your people, listen, I don't want us doing anything that might look unfair.

Let her say that. Bernie should say I don't want us doing anything that looks disruptive or disrespectful or threatening. Both leaders have a chance to stand up and now you've got a partnership. When she's silent in the face of repeated accusations that her people on the ground, who she may not even know, are doing bad things that makes it seem like she's in on the deal. She's not in on the deal, but it looks like it is.

So you have a situation now where I think you have a leadership failure possibly in both lanes of the party.

BALDWIN: You are the first person to say that in the last two hours.

JONES: You may have a leadership failure in both lanes of the party and Debbie who should be the umpire, who should be the marriage counselor is coming in harder for Hillary Clinton than she is for herself. That is malpractice.

I wish Reince Priebus was my party chair. He did a better job of handling the Trump situation than I've seen my party chair handle this situation. I'm ashamed to say that. Yes, I said it.

BALDWIN: Van Jones, I love that you speak your mind.

JONES: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

JONES: Good to be here.

BALDWIN: Thank you for that.

Coming up, comedian, George Lopez is here in New York. He'll join me live on set. We will talk politics. We will talk Donald Trump. We will talk the Hispanic vote, who he supports for president, and we'll talk about Prince. Stay here.

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[15:42:09]

BALDWIN: All right. So there's no question that a lot of comedians enjoy making fun of this political cycle and in particular the man here on your screen. One comedian mining the riches this election season is George Lopez.

One example, when the funny man and actor portrayed a presidential candidate in Mexico by the name of Donaldo Trumpes for the web site "Funny or Die."

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BALDWIN: I love that he's laughing at himself doing that. We're getting to him in a minute. It is brand new sitcom on TV land. George Lopez keeps pushing the envelope especially on the topic of race where he learns here he has to find his own celebrities for a celebrity golf tournament. Roll it.

(VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: George Lopez in the flesh, on the CNN set. Thank you.

GEORGE LOPEZ, COMEDIAN/ACTOR: I can't believe it. Brooke, if it wasn't for sunblock, we'd all be the same color and we'd all be happy.

BALDWIN: I believe when I saw that clip in your dig it political correctness, you know who you have something in common with?

LOPEZ: I don't know.

BALDWIN: There's a certain Donald Trump who says the exact same thing. Are you aware of this?

LOPEZ: Well, you know, people say that Donald Trump is good for comedians. The one thing I admire about Donald Trump is he does not apologize. He is politically incorrect. He goes after people. He attacks people.

He's not fodder for comedians, Brooke, he is a comedian, OK. He makes believe to be himself, his own publicist, I've done that. He's said of his prowess with women, I did that earlier. He said that the taco bowl at the Trump Tower is the best taco bowl in the world, comedy.

BALDWIN: Did you then never take him seriously?

LOPEZ: I've never taken him seriously. Absolutely not. I mean, listen, the one thing that he's done that Latinos have not been able to do is get us to unite against him and there are some Latinos that are for Trump.

There's Venezuelan and Colombian people who don't like Mexicans. You know, the Mexican is 52 percent of the vote coming up in this election so you have to be careful with us because everything that people touch we touch first and we cod destroy the food chain with just one call.

[15:45:05]BALDWIN: But this is incredibly serious though as far as the fact that, you know, a massive group in this country has coalesced behind this one particular presumptive nominee.

LOPEZ: Right, presumptive.

BALDWIN: Presumptive, and, so you know, I imagine with you and other Hispanics that when he launched and said what he did about Mexicans being rapists that that infuriated you, but is there anything more -- I mean, if you can, I mean, take him seriously. We are taking him seriously. This is somebody who could be elected as president. What other beef do you have with him?

LOPEZ: Well, you know, I believe that to make America great you need all people here. I don't believe that targeting Mexicans as criminals and rapists is the answer. I don't believe that building a wall is an answer.

I believe to reform immigration laws, which continue to get passed to administration to administration. That's why we've come to hey, let's build a wall. You can. There's tunnels underneath. I took one and ended up in New Jersey, got out and took the Uber here.

So yes, but you know what, the wall is very prehistoric. You know, we fly and we take cars, but a lot of us are here legally and we're citizens.

I'm a citizen. My citizenship is just as good as his and I may not look to him, but that guy can't tell me to go back to where I came from because I'm from here.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the taco bowl tweet. This is from Cinco de Mayo, it's a tweet shared all around and even Jeb Bush actually weighed in on this. I don't know if you heard about this yesterday. You're a CNN nerd.

LOPEZ: Yes, I am. I saw it.

BALDWIN: But the fact that Jeb Bush is saying this is the equivalent of Donald Trump eating watermelon and saying I love African-Americans, which is a pretty strong statement --

LOPEZ: Right. That's a tough one.

BALDWIN: When you saw this picture, did you -- do you follow Donald Trump on Twitter?

LOPEZ: I do follow Donald Trump on Twitter and I'm really hard on him. Trying to get him to block me. He will not block me and I will continue to go hard on him.

BALDWIN: When you saw this --

LOPEZ: You have to read what my answer was to this. I can't say it on CNN, but that thumb is absolutely in the right place, but you know, this is an important election because I'm not sure anybody really wants either of them.

So Bernie Sanders is still in the race and he will be until all the votes are counted. You can't have people on TV saying he should drop out. We'll let the voters decide whether he should drop out.

But he is incredibly behind, but he has a lot of energy, and listen, I'm 55. I can't get my 20-year-old daughter to do anything in the house. Here's a guy that's into 72 --

BALDWIN: Energizing all kinds of young people.

LOPEZ: Energizing young people. I saw it in 2008 from a much younger guy, but this is something to admire.

BALDWIN: I was sitting at dinner with a bunch of people last night and we are all sort of trying to figure out over the course of the last eight years, let's just consider within the Obama presidency, what has happened to create such frustration, to get groups together, whether you are supporting a Donald Trump or a Bernie Sanders --

LOPEZ: Yes. BALDWIN: -- meaning you go to those rallies. People are passionate. They feel it. So much of politics is feeling. You tour the country.

LOPEZ: Yes. Immigration is a huge problem, it is.

BALDWIN: But the frustration, George.

LOPEZ: But the frustration is that this administration did not do much in that regard, so it carries over to the next --

BALDWIN: But it's not just immigration. It can't be just immigration.

LOPEZ: No, it's not. It's the economy as well. It's the economy. It's immigration. It's safety. It's jobs, health care. It's all of the things that, listen, you didn't have unity across the aisles, and I think that fracture between the president and -- and the House cause a lot of these problems that are going on right now.

BALDWIN: (Inaudible) what's happening in Nevada with the convention chair being threatened.

LOPEZ: Yes.

BALDWIN: And what happened there and fears that that can continue and, you know, folks calling on Bernie Sanders to say more than just condemn that sort of violence.

LOPEZ: Right.

BALDWIN: I mean, do you think -- you're a Bernie supporter, am I wrong?

LOPEZ: I am a Bernie supporter, but you know, I believe that there are some things that are not favorable towards Bernie, but he can't control his supporters. No one can do that. They are off on their own.

BALDWIN: But as a leader he could speak up at all these rallies and say --

LOPEZ: He has said it's not right and also, you know, I think between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they could come to making peace with this, themselves, and say this isn't good. Let's go forward without that, without throwing chairs and without doing all that stuff.

BALDWIN: What's your biggest, before we take a break and then I want to ask you about Prince, just following --

LOPEZ: My biggest issue is that this country is made of all different kinds of people, immigration and people from other countries built this country. There's not one sold look that this country is made up of.

We're stronger when we're all together and there's a lot of dissension and hate even because of Twitter and social media and I believe that Donald Trump is at the forefront of dividing people.

BALDWIN: Do you think at all, do you worry at all as a Sanders supporter if and when he's out that these young Sanders folks will go Trump?

LOPEZ: I don't think they will go Trump, but also I said on the record that I would move back to Mexico if Donald Trump became president and they asked me where and I will not tell you just so real estate prices don't drive up. I found a nice place. I don't everybody to go there and start buying so I'm keeping that one under my hat.

[15:50:05]BALDWIN: I'm hearing laughter. Will you stick around? I'm not quite finished with you, George Lopez. We are going to talk about Prince when you had this incredible interview with Prince on your show a couple of years ago and what led you to help his family recently. I'm going to ask you about that.

LOPEZ: I almost wore that, too, that same --

BALDWIN: The crushed red velvet and purple shoes? We'll be right back.

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LOPEZ: I'm honored beyond how I could ever tell you. Now, let me ask you what all the other late-night talk shows are asking themselves. Why?

PRINCE: First, I'm on the Alma Awards, you showed me love there. I really appreciated it. And also, I find that this show represents all people and I see all kinds of guests on here.

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BALDWIN: Back with me, George Lopez.

LOPEZ: That's why it's not on anymore because it appealed to all people.

BALDWIN: We're going to get to your TV show on TV land, hang on a second.

LOPEZ: What was I thinking?

BALDWIN: But Prince became a friend?

LOPEZ: Yes. Prince was a hilarious guy. He was a loving guy. He almost had like his own Bat phone like even if you didn't see him, he would send messages to you.

BALDWIN: That's what I've heard like show up at the lobby at this place, we'll have a car here, go here, yes.

LOPEZ: The fact that you could wear those heels and do shows up until 5:00, 6:00 in the morning, it's unbelievable.

BALDWIN: Tell me a Prince story.

LOPEZ: He let me use his microphone when I introduces him at the forum and he had --

BALDWIN: Which is like never done, ever.

LOPEZ: He would also pop up on the stage like a minute after leaving the stage in a new outfit. Nobody knew that he was riding a bike under the stage to get back on with his platforms, high heels, riding a bike. No one knows that one. He had a bike, got up on stage, went back, got on the bike, went the other way, changed clothes, came back.

BALDWIN: Tell me about this donation that you made a couple of weeks ago to help his family.

LOPEZ: Yes, somebody in the family reached out to me and they were devastating, clearly, that they had lost their brother and they had no resources to get from the VA Hospital to Minneapolis to represent themselves in court.

And you know what, I did for Prince as a friend of his, as a lover of his music and the fact that when something sudden happens like that, people aren't prepared.

You know, not just Prince's family, but people are not prepared for something that devastated to happen. I helped them get a suit to go to the legal meeting to decide how the estate would be -- that's all.

And then I asked for, you know, a cane in return. No. They could pay me back. They couldn't pay me back. I don't care, Brooke. I love him so much. We have such an affinity for his music. I would have done it for anybody that I love. Even you, Jeffrey Lord, no, but you, yes.

BALDWIN: Well, I still have you for 30 more seconds. Tell me about your show on TV Land.

[15:55:01]LOPEZ: You know, this TV show is -- Keith said I want to see you that nobody else sees.

BALDWIN: It's a stretch. You're playing yourself.

LOPEZ: With real issues, issues with women. I call the police on my cell when I have a party that some people having too much fun.

BALDWIN: That never happens in real life?

LOPEZ: Absolutely. But this is the one closers to me than anything else and I look like El Chapo and Colonel Sanders had a baby but that's on purpose.

BALDWIN: But that's on purpose. I don't know --

LOPEZ: I said to Arsenio, I made it, Arsenio. WHITFIELD: Where are you, Arsenio? George Lopez, thank you so much.

LOPEZ: Brooke, I love you. Watch you every day.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Do not miss, new episode tonight on TV Land at 10:00.

Much more now on our breaking news ahead, Donald Trump releasing the names of his potential Supreme Court nominees. We'll break down who made the short list? Coming up next.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump releasing the short list for what could be the biggest hire of his life. THE LEAD starts right now. Breaking --