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Trump To Take Stage In Rhode Island; Kasich And Cruz Team Up; Trump Rallying Rhode Island Voters Ahead Of Primary; Agitator At Trump Rally; Donald Trump Speaks Live. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Damascus, Syria, 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning in Pyongyang, North Korea. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Any moment now, we're going to be hearing from the Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump. The Republican candidate making his first on-camera comments since his two opponents said they're teaming up to try to defeat his candidacy. We'll take you live there as soon as that rally in Rhode Island gets underway.

The Cruz and Kasich campaigns announced a partnership, of sorts, over the weekend to try to deny Trump the needed number of delegates in an effort to make sure he can't secure the nomination before the Republican presidential convention in Cleveland in July.

It means Kasich will step away from Indiana ahead of the May 3rd primary there, so he won't take support from Senator Cruz. And Cruz will do the same in Oregon and New Mexico, hoping Kasich can win those states and stop Trump. We heard from Cruz and Kasich just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't see this as any big deal other than the fact that I'm not going to spend resources in Indiana. He's not going to spend them in other places. So what? What's the big deal?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, who should supporters vote for in Indiana?

KASICH: Well, they -- I've never told them not to vote for me. They ought to vote for me.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Both campaigns agreed to focus our energies. We're focus our energies on the state of Indiana and Governor Kasich is focusing his energies elsewhere. I think that is a decision, an allocation of resources, that makes a lot of sense and it's devoted to the principle of beating Hillary Clinton in November and turning this country around.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: All of this comes with yet another super Tuesday just a day away. Donald Trump could very well run the table tomorrow, winning all five northeastern states by a healthy margin, just like he did in New York state last week.

Again, we're going to have live coverage of Trump's rally. His public remarks in Warwick, Rhode Island as soon as he takes the stage there. Stand by for that.

But Trump already weighed in on the new Cruz-Kasich partnership strategy tweeting this. Wow, just announced that lying Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. Desperation. That was from Donald Trump's tweet.

Our Phil Mattingly is in Warwick, Rhode Island right now. He's joining us live. Phil, should we expect more of the same when Trump hits the stage there any moment now?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of how long he's willing to let this rally go before hitting this and hitting it hard. This fits very nicely into the Trump campaign's narrative of the last couple of weeks. The process is rigged. The establishment is working against him. Now, he has a prime example of this in what John Kasich and Ted Cruz decided to do last night.

Trump's advisors feel very good about taking this message on the road. Donald Trump with three events today. Obviously, looking towards tomorrow. And you can bet, Wolf, that he will be mentioning this over and over and over again, not just in these rallies but on Twitter and every opportunity he can get. They think this fits very nicely with the point Donald Trump's been trying to make the last couple of weeks.

BLITZER: What are the expectations from the Trump campaign, Phil, as far as tomorrow is concerned?

MATTINGLY: Well, they're very high, Wolf. You'll have 172 delegates at stake. Five states. And these are five states that look very good polling-wise for Donald Trump. And Trump's campaign advisors also pointing out, hey, it's a nice announcement by the Cruz and Kasich campaign to take away the focus on what is expected to be a very good night for Donald Trump.

Now, they're not tossing out delegate estimates like they were willing to do in New York last week. But it's very clear they expect a big night tomorrow night, a night that keeps him on the track to get to the 1,237 number before the convention in Cleveland. That's all they care about right now, just as Cruz and Kasich are trying to do anything to strip delegates away.

For Donald Trump's team, especially in some of these states where delegates are allocated by congressional district, their goal is to pick up as many delegates as possible. Keep them on track heading into that enormous primary in Indiana in May -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll hear -- we'll stand by to hear what Trump has to say momentarily. Phil Mattingly in Warwick, Rhode Island for us.

In the meantime, let's talk a little bit more about this new Cruz- Kasich strategy to stop Donald Trump. Here's how the campaign laid it out. The Cruz campaign says, and I'm quoting now, "Our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and, in turn, clear the path for Governor Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico.

While the Kasich team says this, quote, "We will shift our campaign's resources west and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana."

[13:05:00] Joining us now from Dallas, Katrina Pierson. She's national spokesperson for the Trump campaign. Here in Washington, Judson Phillips is the founder and president of Tea Party Nation. He's a Ted Cruz campaign supporter. And Trent Duffy, National Communications Advisor for the Kasich campaign.

To all of you, thanks very much for joining us, as we await Donald Trump. Hudson, we heard about this sort of cooperation between the Cruz campaign and the Kasich campaign a couple of weeks ago. But at the time, the Cruz campaign rejected this idea floated by the Kasich campaign. Why have you accepted it now?

JUDSON PHILLIPS, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, TEA PARTY NATION: Well, I've got to give you the disclaimer. I'm not involved in the inner leadership workings so I can't tell you what the discussions were.

But I can tell you, it's a really good idea because both campaigns have a common goal. If you don't stop Donald Trump, guess what? Neither campaign ends up as a winner. And for me, I'm part of the group that says, never Trump, because I don't want a liberal Democrat becoming the Republican nominee for president.

BLITZER: The argument is that this is a win for the Cruz campaign more than it is for the Kasich campaign, Trent, because Cruz has a lot more delegates already than Kasich does.

TRENT DUFFY, NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR, KASICH CAMPAIGN: Well, this is a win for the 63 percent of Republican voters who have not voted for Donald Trump and not -- and are not going to vote for Donald Trump.

And it's also a win for the Republican Party because Donald Trump cannot win the general election. 67 percent of voters nationwide, Wolf, as you know, know that he is negative. They have a negative view of him. That's radioactive.

We haven't seen those high -- sky-high negatives since David Duke in 1992. And so, that's why the campaigns are banding together to represent the majority of Republicans that do not want Donald Trump in Cleveland.

BLITZER: Let's let Katrina respond to that. Go ahead Katrina.

KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Look, Wolf, this is two desperate campaigns who cannot win on their own. They are two institutionalized candidates who have never had a clear message and the voters are rejecting them. So, at this point, they're no longer running against Donald Trump's campaign. They're running against the will of the Republican voter and that's what's happening here. They are rejected.

Donald Trump beat Cruz 2.5 million votes, 5.5 million for John Kasich. So, their bright idea is to join together to try to stop the momentum of the Trump campaign when the people are overwhelmingly supporting him? It doesn't make any sense at all whatsoever. But you know what? We'll take it because Donald Trump is going to get to 1,237 before the convention. He will be the GOP nominee, and he will beat Hillary in November.

BLITZER: You've heard, Judson, that the description of this is, act of desperation by your campaign, the Cruz campaign, that you support and the Kasich campaign. Is it an act of desperation sort of? But it could be too little, too late.

PHILLIPS: No, it's a shrewd political move. And the problem is that liberal Donald Trump is throwing a fit because everybody is just not bowing down and giving him the coronation that he seems to think he has. You know, the Trump campaign is probably the only planet where two -- when two-thirds of the people vote against you, it's an overwhelming majority supporting you. I mean, that absolutely makes no --

BLITZER: But he has millions more votes than Cruz does. A lot more, obviously, than Kasich does as well. Almost 300 more delegates, at this point, at the same time.

PHILLIPS: Well, the delegate issue is a little bit fuzzy, depending on which delegates are bound, unbound.

BLITZER: But we're talking about the pledge delegates.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

BLITZER: He has almost 300 more among the pledge. Forget about the unbound.

PHILLIPS: But he does have an advantage right now. It's not a majority. And if you look at the best-case scenario, there's just no way he gets to 1,237. So, this is a smart move by both campaigns.

BLITZER: If he does get the Republican nomination --

PIERSON: If the -- but if there was no way --

BLITZER: Hold -- Katrina, hold on one second. I just want to get Trent on the record. If Trump does get the nomination, will Kasich, your man, and the rest of the Republican Party, rally around him in order to prevent a Democrat from being the next president of the United States?

DUFFY: Well, Governor Kasich has spoken clearly on that, especially after some of the implosions that Donald Trump has had on the campaign trail, that he has to really think that through. He hasn't made up his mind yet. But --

BLITZER: What about you, personally? Could you support Trump if he's the nominee?

DUFFY: I work for John Kasich, and so I represent what Governor Kasich is going to do. I think a lot of the delegates who gather in Cleveland are going to have really, really deep problems. Because not only is Donald Trump going to lose in November, he's really not a true Republican, in terms of some of the principles that our party has fought for over the years.

BLITZER: Katrina, he does have very high negatives, the man you want to be the next president of the United States. They clearly are worried that if he's a Republican nominee, let's say Hillary Clinton's the Democratic nominee, she'll beat him.

PIERSON: Look, this is the same establishment, through their magic crystal ball, told us for two cycles in a row that John McCain could win and then Mitt Romney can win. And guess what? They were wrong. Mr. Trump is going to be able to bring those negatives down, just like he did at the beginning of the Republican primary, close the gap in three months.

But if either of these campaigns truly believed that Donald Trump wouldn't get the nomination or get the delegates before the convention, they wouldn't be joining forces right now. This is just spin. It's a hail Mary to try to stop Mr. Trump from winning the nomination --

BLITZER: All right, I want everybody to stand by.

PIERSON: -- because manipulation and the voters are going to reject it.

BLITZER: Donald Trump has started speaking. You know what? Everyone stand by. I'm going to get all of your reaction. I want to listen to Trump right now.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (live): All right. Thank you very much.

[13:10:00] You know, this started, like, 12 hours ago. We said, I have to do this because we're going over. We're doing great in Pennsylvania. We're doing great in Maryland. I was in Maryland yesterday. We had 17,000 people, a massive crowd. And they were great. What a rally. In fact, I heard somebody today say nobody -- oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Aw, that's very nice. Get him out. Get him out of here. Get him out. Oh these people, where do they come from? Where do they come from? Get him out of here, please. Right there.

All right, thank you. So, this started -- this started -- yes, don't hurt him. Don't hurt him. We have to be very gentle. Got to be very gentle. All right. Where do these people come from? You know, in New York, we had some protesters and they're all paid for. But we had some protesters. And we had these people. They're nice people. They had a couple of hundred. And the press, the media, the most dishonest people in the world, the most. These are the most -- these people are probably more dishonest than lying Ted Cruz. That's a lot. That's a lot.

But, you know, the press went up to them and they said to one woman, young woman, why are you here? Do you like Donald Trump? Actually, I do. She's holding a sign. It was manufactured, made in China. And she's holding a sign. Do you like Donald Trump? Why are you here? And they go -- thank you. And they go, no, I do like him quite a bit. Well, why are you? Oh, I don't know.

Then, they went to another one. What do you think of Donald Trump? I love him. And she's holding a sign. Trump equals hate. I'm not equal hate. I equal love. Believe me, we are going to change things around. And that's going to be good for everybody. That's going to be good for everybody.

So, what happened is we're in Maryland and in Pennsylvania. We went to Delaware. We're all over. And I said, what about Rhode Island? This was yesterday. What about Rhode Island? And these professionals, who get paid a lot of money, they said, oh, no, that's OK. You're so popular up in Rhode Island. That's OK.

Yes, get him out. These are just professional agitators, folks. They're put in -- it's the first time we've had it in many, many sessions. But they're put in there. They're just nothing but trouble. They're nothing but trouble. I actually -- I actually believe that they do not love our country. I'll be honest with you. I really believe that. They don't love our country.

So, we said, what about Rhode Island? Oh, that's OK, Mr. Trump. You're doing so well in Rhode Island, you don't have to bother. I said, I'm bothering. Set it up. Set it up. And that was yesterday morning. And I'll tell you what. My team in Rhode Island has been so amazing. And I just want to thank everybody. The team -- the team has been -- the team has been so great and I want to thank them.

CROWD: Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall.

TRUMP: Folks, folks, don't even think about it. It will be built. Don't even think about it. Don't waste your breath. It will be built, believe me. Believe me, it will be built. And it'll go up fast and it'll be big and it'll be high and strong.

[13:15:00] And it's going to help stop the drugs from pouring into Rhode Island where you have a big problem and everywhere else, including New Hampshire which was my first big victory.

And one woman came up to me and said, Mr. Trump, we have a terrible, terrible heroin problem in New Hampshire. And I look and I see the -- it's like this, I look, I see the beautiful trees, the beautiful roadways, the beautiful everything, the lakes. I say, what do you mean heroin? They said, it's our single biggest problem.

And then I realized it was as I got to know New Hampshire. And I said, if I win, we're going to stop this problem from poisoning our youth fast. And it's all coming from the same place, folks, OK. We're going to get it stopped. We're going to get it stopped.

So I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things, and I do this and you know it's almost like I just -- we just won New York, big, big, big league. Oh, did you see the news today. Did you see where they band together, where they collude? You know it's collusion. You know, if you collude in business, if you collude in business or if you collude in the stock market, they put you in jail. But in politics, because it's a rigged system, because it's a corrupt enterprise, in politics, you're allowed to collude. So they colluded and actually I was happy because it shows how weak they are. It shows how pathetic they are.

You know, I tweeted today @realdonaldtrump, my tweet, that's -- you know it's (INAUDIBLE). Don't worry, I'll give it up after I'm president. We won't tweet anymore, I don't think. Not presidential.

But let me tell you, and I said, it takes two long time politicians, right? Two long -- to beat -- except they're way behind. If you add up the both votes and if you add up the both delegates, they're way behind me. So it doesn't matter. But it takes two guys, long time politicians, to try and get together to try and beat Trump, and yet they're way behind. And I said to myself, that's pretty bad. That's pretty bad. And here's the key. I've only been doing this for ten months. I haven't even been doing it very long.

But so I wanted to talk to you about one thing and then we'll get back to the other and we'll get back to it. But I loved it, when I heard it. I heard it last night at 11:30. I was called and they said, sir, Kasich, we call him one for 41. I thought it was 38. He's won one race in 41 states. One! OK, states and island. So I call him that. I have a new nickname for him, one for 41. Very soon it's going to be one for 46 or 47. So he's going nowhere. And he keeps talking about how he does with Hillary Clinton. He hasn't had one negative ad yet. When they put in the first negative ad about him, he's going to collapse like a rock. You -- wait until you see this, boom. Boom. You'll see. You will see.

I will beat Hillary Clinton, crooked Hillary. I will beat her so badly, so badly. And lyin' Ted Cruz cannot beat her. He has -- he can't beat her. Hey, look, he got like no votes in New York. If you can't get any votes in New York, it's over, folks. He can't beat her. You look at his numbers in New Jersey. You look at his numbers all over the country. Lyin' Ted Cruz will lose so badly to crooked Hillary. It will be one of the great defeats ever. And Kasich will also as soon as they start putting up the negative ads.

All right, get him out. Get him out. Get him out.

Is there any more -- hey, folks, folks, is there any better place to be than a Trump rally? Right? Do we love it? I love it. Are you glad I came up to Rhode Island? Yeah. And by the way, I just saw coming up, a new poll came. We're actually

over 60. And I just found out, listen to this, listen. If we get 68, which was never meant to get because, you know, the whole system is so crazy, but if we get 68, we win everything. We win all the delegates. There's no shenanigans. And normally you wouldn't mention it, but we're so close. So if you can, you've got to get out tomorrow to vote, all right?

[13:20:09] I will not let you down, believe me. I'm self-funding my campaign. These guys are all taking their money from special interests. Let me tell you. The politicians will never do the job because they're bought and paid for, folks. Just remember it. Just remember it. They're never going to do the job. They're never going to do the job.

In many cases, they're incompetent. In some cases, they're outright stupid. And in many, many cases, they're controlled. They're competent, but they're controlled by the people that give them campaign financing and probably lots of other things, OK?

So -- so we are going to do the job. We're going to bring jobs back to Rhode Island. You look at what's happened. Look, and I'll be honest, now I've been doing this for eight or nine days where I'm going around New York state. I talk to Albany, Syracuse, Poughkeepsie, Bethpage (ph). I've been all over the place. And all over it was -- I could use the same stats. The jobs have been ripped out of our country, folks. And if you look at a guy like Cruz, who wants TPP, Trans Pacific Partnership, that's going to be -- that is going to be worse. You watch. Worse than NAFTA.

Now you look at Kasich, I don't think he knows what -- you know, did you see him. He has a news conference all the time when he's eating. I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion. I'm always telling my young son Barron, I'm saying -- and always with my kids, all of them, I'd say, children, small, little bites. Small. This guy takes a pancake and he's shoving it in his mouth. He's -- it's disgusting. Do you want that for your president? I don't think so. I don't think so. It's -- honestly, it's disgusting.

And then one of the things he said, you know, they make a deal. Politicians, they're no good for deals. So they make a deal at 11, 11:30 last night. The deal is done. And this morning they talk to Kasich and he goes, you know, I'm going to Indiana, we're leading in Indiana, we have tremendous support in Indiana, it's a great place. Same thing happened, by the way, jobs are being sucked out of there by Mexico and they're all moving to Mexico and other places. China is taking our business.

But, you know, I look at it and I see Kasich. You know what he approved? NAFTA. He was one of the big pushers of NAFTA, which destroyed New England, destroyed Rhode Island, and destroyed big sections of our country because NAFTA was a disaster. Now he wants Trans Pacific Partnership, which is a group of countries that's going to do a number on our country like you've never seen before. You can't let it happen. Now, Cruz -- Cruz doesn't want to stop China from devaluing its

currency and monetary manipulation. The single greatest tool that various countries are using to hurt the United States and our companies, OK? And if you want to let people go ahead and devalue and if you want to let people get away with that, and Cruz is the leader of the pack, he is bad for this country and he's bad for jobs and business, all right? Bad.

Now, it's sort of funny. I watched Cruz this morning and he's all mixed up because he's losing so badly. And when he's under pressure, he's like a basket case. So he's stuttering and he's stammering. And I watched him. And he's saying, I want jobs and I want the economy and I want this and I want that. All stuff that I've been saying for years. And he just started saying it. He doesn't know anything about the economy. He doesn't know anything about jobs. He was a failed senator. He couldn't get anything passed. Nothing. Look at his legislation. He got nothing passed. And now he wants to be -- all he is, is a guy that will go down and stand and filibuster for a day or two and the other senators all look, when's he getting off the floor, Jim? The guy's a pain in the ass. When's he getting off the floor?

You know, the senator that he most respects in the world is Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. A great senator. And look at his early speeches. Everything was Jeff Sessions said and Jeff Sessions. Only one problem, Jeff Sessions, Senator Jeff Sessions, came out just recently and he endorsed Donald Trump, OK? A little interesting (ph).

So I think the fact that they colluded, I think the fact they got together, the two of these guys, number one, it shows that they are just getting killed. You know, I laugh, especially with Cruz, because, look, Kasich is going nowhere. Again, remember Kasich. You know, I have a new nickname for him, one for 41. One -- it was one for 38, but then they actually said, no, it's actually 41 states.

[13:25:07] And I would have won Ohio if I had two more days to campaign there. I came very close. Would have won Ohio, but I had to stay in Florida and I won Florida in a big, big landslide. But, you know the story. We were given a dirty poll. And I was leading Florida by a lot. And then all of the sudden, two days, I was going up to Ohio, I was going all over Ohio. Then I got a dirty poll I believe from NBC. OK, I wouldn't say that. And they were partners with "The Wall Street Journal." So who knows if it was dirty or not, but it was all -- all of a sudden I dropped from leading like 16 or 17. I went down to six. I said -- in Florida. I said, I have to stay here. I can't take a chance. This is bad.

Then, we had the election. I won in a landslide. I wish I could have gone two days up to Ohio. We would of won and he would be 0-44. And what is he doing? What is he doing, really? He's just a stubborn guy. That's all he is, he's a suborn guy. He's like if you have a child who just says, I want it, mommy. I don't care, mommy! I want it, daddy. I don't care. I want it. That's all he is. Because, let me tell you something, Chris Christie -- Chris Christie, who endorsed me, was doing much better than Kasich. Think of this. Ben Carson, Dr. Ben Carson, a tremendous guy who endorsed me, was doing much better than Kasich. Marco Rubio, a very good guy, I have to tell you, he, Marco Rubio, who is -- has many more delegates right now than Kasich and he's been running a much -- he did much better than Kasich. And you had numerous other people that were doing better than Kasich or would have if they said, I'm not getting out. I don't care. I don't care.

You ever see it? He's eating today stuffing it -- I never saw bites this big. He's pushing it in with his -- I never saw a guy eat like this. I told my son, he was watching, he said, daddy, look! I said, don't watch. Little bites. Little bites.

And he's up there and, honestly, it showed such total weakness and it's pathetic. When two long time insider politicians, establishment guys whether you like it or not, have to collude, have to get together to try and beat a guy that really speaks what the people want. We want our jobs back. We want our military strong. We want our borders because otherwise we don't have a country. And we're going to have the wall. But we want our borders back. We want to end Common Core. We're going to end it and bring education locally. We're going to repeal and replace the horrible Obamacare, which is a disaster. We're going to save our Second Amendment, which is under siege -- under siege.

And that's all we want, folks. You know, no great secrets. We want to make great trade deals. We can't have trade deals with China this year has a trade -- you look at the imbalance between China, Japan, Mexico, and us. It's like we're a bunch of babies. Like we're a bunch of stupid, stupid babies. But we're not the babies. Our leadership has no clue. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know what they're doing.

And it can be ended so easily. It can be ended so easily. We have trade deficit -- a trade deficit with China, $505 billion. This has been going on for years. With Mexico, $58 billion. That's why they pay for the wall. Number one, they used to say, oh, they won't build a wall. Even the guys on stage when I debated -- by the way, I've been center stage for every single debate. I've beat everybody according to the polls. According to the debate polls, I beat every single person in the debate every single debate, according to Drudge, who's a phenomenal guy, by the way, according to Drudge, according to "Time" magazine, according to Slate, according to everyone. They have like six, seven of them. Every time there's a debate. You know I think because of me, now they have a poll for everything. You know, I'm poll oriented, OK. But every single debate.

Then I heard this guy, Cruz. You know, he's getting killed. He's getting killed. I mean he got so badly beaten last week and he's getting killed generally. In fact, I have to tell you, I don't think he's going to come in second anywhere. He's now in third place. But I heard Cruz say this, I want to debate Donald Trump. Donald Trump is afraid to debate me. He is afraid. You know, with the hands -- ay-yi- yi. So dramatic. So dramatic.

[13:30:03] You know the truth? I heard he was a good debater in college. And, you know what, he might be. But in college they don't interrupt you every 15 words, like I do with him, OK?