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WOLF

People Have Died And The Rain Continues; Presidential Candidates Fan Out Across Primary States; Cruz States Trump Can't Beat Hillary Clinton; Clinton And Sanders Battle For Votes In Northeast; Sandy Hook Victim's Daughter On Gun Control; Clinton Takes Part In Gun Violence Discussion; Jane Sanders Discusses Bernie's Campaign; New Poll Shows Clinton Leads In Maryland; Clinton On Winning Sanders' Voters; Music Legend Prince Dead at 57. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 21, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- given what's -- given what's coming your way. Thank you, Senator Turner.

(CROSSTALK)

SYLVESTER TURNER, MAYOR, HOUSTON, TEXAS: Well, let me just -- let me just -- let me just -- people from volunteers, non-profit faith-based communities, the county has done an excellent job, (INAUDIBLE) County, (INAUDIBLE), police and fire and others in the city of Houston have really stepped up. Organizations at --

BANFIELD: Yes.

TURNER: -- all different levels in (INAUDIBLE) community. The city (ph) will get through it. We'll get through it. We're dealing with it. But --

BANFIELD: Yes.

TURNER: -- thank goodness there are a number of resources that are being made available to us.

BANFIELD: Do appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm flat out of time. I do wish you well.

I want to thank our viewers for watching and to continue watching CNN. You can stay right here or go online to watch live at CNN.com. Please stay tuned for "WOLF." He starts right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: There is breaking news we're following. A death investigation going on right now at the singer Prince's estate in Minnesota. We don't have any information, at this point, who has died or any specifics about the investigation. But we're going to bring you more information as soon as it comes into CNN. But let's get to presidential politics here in the United States right now. In just five days, voters in five states head to the polls. The presidential candidates and their surrogates are fanning out across the next primary states. The three Republicans have stops in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders and Bill Clinton have stops in Pennsylvania, while Hillary Clinton is in Connecticut. For the Democrats, 384 delegates are up for grabs in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

For the Republicans, 172 delegates are up -- are at stake. Senator Ted Cruz concedes he won't get the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination but says Donald Trump won't get them either.

And at a rally earlier this morning, Senator Cruz told supporters Trump can't beat Hillary Clinton in a general election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As we stand here today, there are two, and only two, candidates who have any plausible path to winning the Republican nomination. Me and Donald Trump.

And what we're seeing in Maryland and across the country is 65 percent to 70 percent of Republicans understand that Donald Trump is not the best candidate to go head to head with Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Senator Sanders is brushing off calls to soften his attacks against Hillary Clinton. He's vowing to stay in the race for the Democratic nomination even if Hillary Clinton builds an insurmountable lead.

Our National Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is joining us now from Hartford, Connecticut, where Secretary Clinton just wrapped up a campaign event. Suzanne, Clintons have been focused in on gun violence. I know you're there. Tell us about it.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I'm going to speak in hush tones because this is an event that is ongoing, as we speak. And we're hearing from Hillary Clinton now. And what she's doing is she is addressing some of the questions from the audience. These are people who feel this very passionately and very deeply, Sandy Hook massacre at that elementary school happened three and a half years ago.

But for the people here in the audience, and particularly for people on that stage with her, it is just like it was yesterday. These people are talking about their family, their relatives and the friends who have been victims of gun violence.

One person, in particular, this was the daughter of the principal who was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, has become a very strong advocate of Hillary Clinton, feeling like that she is the only person who really is fighting for gun control.

There was just an ad that was released yesterday that she says that this the only candidate who is strong enough and that Hillary Clinton reminds her very much of the mother she lost. I want you to hear something that she said moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICA SMEGIELSKI: The reality is my mom was murdered and she is not coming back no matter how hard I fight and how much I put into, you know, activating, you know, local networks and how much I organize. There is nothing I can do to bring her back.

What I can do is stand up and use my voice and use my story to motivate other people to get up and use their voice and share their stories and come together around this issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, Wolf, the Clinton campaign feels that this is an issue that resonates in Connecticut as it did in New York, because of some of the differences, they believe, between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, namely legislation that would allow some of the families of these victims of gun violence to sue gun manufacturers.

Now, Bernie Sanders has said previously that he believes that he has a good record, a D minus by the NRA. That he does believe in supporting that ban against assault weapons and that this is something that he thinks is really kind of a false contrast, a false narrative.

[13:05:04] He is in Pennsylvania today, three stops where he is going to be addressing that as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux reporting from Hartford, Connecticut. Connecticut, the primary there coming up on Tuesday. Thank you.

Let's get some insight into Bernie Sanders' campaign strategy from someone who probably knows him better than anyone, namely his wife Jane Sanders. Jane Sanders is joining us now from Burlington, Vermont. Jane, thanks very much for joining us.

JANE SANDERS: Thanks for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, let me get your immediate reaction to what we just heard from Suzanne Malveaux. This is a gun control event in Connecticut, home of Newtown, as you know, that Hillary Clinton is doing, trying to promote her record. Clearly, her campaign believes that Senator Sanders is vulnerable in Connecticut and elsewhere given his record on gun control. I want you to -- I'll to give you a chance to respond to that.

JANE SANDERS: I guess I hate to see the tragedy, the families that have had such tragedy, being -- having it be very political. I mean, I think that Secretary Clinton has focused in on this one bill. But, as you know, Bernie, as Suzanne said, he has a D minus voting record. He has voted against the assault weapons ban. Since 1988, he has been opposed to it.

And, unfortunately, in 2013, it was defeated in the Senate. We need to ban the assault weapons which include the Bushmaster A.R. 15 that was used in this terrible, terrible massacre.

I think that I just don't like to see it be politicized. I think that Secretary Clinton's gun record is a lot more spotty than Bernie's. Bernie has been consistently supportive of instant background checks, opposed to assault weapons, the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, for closing the gun show loophole, for ending the strawman problem. And I think that's been since 1988.

When Secretary Clinton ran for the Senate in New York, she was very pro-gun control. When she ran for the presidency against Barack Obama, she was very anti-gun control in 2008. And now that she's running against Bernie, she's back to -- again -- you know, for gun control.

I just don't -- I think the problem is --

BLITZER: All right.

JANE SANDERS: -- that we all agree that this is a real issue and that we need to have common sense gun control legislation. The remedies are maybe where we disagree. I think that we need to ban the sale and manufacture of assault weapons. And that's what Bernie has voted for time and again. We need to get the Senate and the House to do that.

BLITZER: Let's move on and talk about what's going to happen, potentially, on Tuesday. A new poll just released today shows Secretary Clinton with a 25-point lead over Senator Sanders in Maryland, it gives it 57 to 32. This is the Monmouth University poll, 57-32. How concerned are you, given what happened in New York? Potentially, there could be a repetition in Maryland, Pennsylvania, maybe Connecticut, elsewhere.

JANE SANDERS: Well, I hope there isn't a repetition in a number of ways. First, of course, we'd like to win in five of the states or three of the states. But we also don't want to see repetition of the real voting irregularities that occurred in New York. I know the mayor has spoken out about it, the attorney general is looking into it. We're really concerned that that had happened. And the closed primary system.

I mean, we're doing everything we can to bring people into the Democratic Party. And what's happening at the primaries is the door is being shut on them.

So, people are excited about Bernie. They are -- they are ready to vote. And they say -- they are being told, in a number of states, that they can't. We hope that, nationwide, we can change this, in the long run. That there can be same day registration and open primaries so that as new people become interested in politics, they can participate. And as people who were really turned off by politics and have stayed out of the system and they're coming back in, that they are allowed to participate. I think -- I think he looks very good in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and we are looking at Connecticut. So, I think, as you've seen, Wolf, the polls leading up to the race have always been a lot wider, in terms of a difference between Secretary Clinton and Bernie. And, in a number of cases, he has really overtaken them, the Michigan miracle as they called it.

BLITZER: Yes.

JANE SANDERS: There have been a number of -- he's always gotten closer and closer and closer.

BLITZER: Correct. That didn't, from your perspective, happen in New York.

[13:10:05] But let's talk about something that the Clinton campaign is now suggesting. Senator Sanders' attacks on Secretary Clinton, in the words of the communications adviser, they're destructive, not productive for the Democratic Party. How do you respond to that?

JANE SANDERS: Well, I think all you have to do is look at the exit polls in New York and they -- the question was put to them as to how has this contested election played in the Democratic Party? Has it energized it or has it polarized it or does -- you know, had a problem? 60 percent say it energized. I don't think, first -- and that's just in the tail end.

But let me take issue with what you are saying, Wolf. Bernie has not run a negative campaign. He has run a very positive issue-oriented campaign. He talks about contrasts. The fact that Secretary Clinton supports fracking and Bernie does not. You know, I won't go into all the things that are the issues that divide them. But that's what he's focused on.

BLITZER: But he has suggested --

JANE SANDERS: Unfortunately, the Clinton campaign --

BLITZER: -- he has suggested -- excuse me for interrupting. He has suggested she doesn't necessarily have the judgment to be president of the United States, given her record on several issues, including her vote for the Iraq War.

JANE SANDERS: Well, that's an answer in response to the demeaning, really demeaning things that Secretary Clinton and her campaign consistently are saying about him. That he is not qualified. He hasn't studied up on the issues. All these different things that they have been saying and they're continuing to say. Last night, she says, or the night before, well, we need to bring the party together. But the comments from her surrogates about Bernie have been anything but positive. So, it's hard. It's hard for our supporters. We hear it all the time. OK, we'll -- you know, we want -- we agree with you. We want an issue-oriented campaign. Why are they attacking him, in terms of his credibility, in terms of his qualifications, over and over and over again? And then, you know, Wolf, politics 101. They do that and then they say the other candidate is doing it. I think if you look at it, you'll see we've been extremely positive.

BLITZER: All right.

JANE SANDERS: And it's been hard.

BLITZER: Let's talk about the path to the Democratic nomination that your campaign manager, other strategists say that Bernie Sanders still has -- mathematically, the assumption is, the working assumption, he can't get enough pledge delegates to get the nomination. The only way he could get the nomination is if he convinced a lot of those so- called super delegates, they're about 15 percent of all the delegates, more than 700 super delegates in total, to come around, to leave Hillary Clinton and join him. Is the working assumption, the path for the nomination, the only path you has -- you have, is if he convinces super delegates to join and support him?

JANE SANDERS: I think that, you know, time will tell. We have five states up, 300 and I think 84 delegates this Tuesday. We've got Oregon and California. Some of the -- before New York, he had won eight out of nine contests, and some of them by 82 percent, by 74 percent.

So, we can -- if we see those kinds of margins in places like Oregon and California, then we'll be doing quite well. The important thing is that we recognize it's not just math. Anything can happen in politics. It's also how -- what are we talking about? What are the issues that are important? We need to give every single person the opportunity to vote for Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. It's -- and we need to continue the discussion on the issues because there are very, very real differences between the two candidates.

We need to go into the convention with a clarity of Senator Sanders stands here, Secretary Sanders -- Secretary Clinton stands there on these issues. And then let people decide.

The other thing, Wolf, is that for the last two months, it's been consistent. Bernie is a better candidate against the Republicans, all of them. Secretary Clinton loses to Kasich, barely beats Cruz and beats Trump by eight points less than Bernie does. And Bernie wins all three by handy margins.

BLITZER: Jane Sanders --

JANE SANDERS: That's important.

BLITZER: -- is the wife of Senator Bernie Sanders. Jane, thank you so much for joining us.

JANE SANDERS: Thanks for having me, Wolf. Good to be here.

BLITZER: Thank you.

We're also following another story. There's breaking news of a death investigation at the singer Prince's recording studio in Minnesota. We're going to bring you the latest right after this.

[13:14:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:37] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: A quick update on a breaking news story we're following. There is a death investigation going on right now at the singer Prince's recording studio in Minnesota. We do not have any information at this point who has died or any specifics about the investigation. We will bring you more information as soon as we have it, but there is a death investigation underway right now.

Let's get back to the race for the white House. When it comes to young voters, Bernie Sanders has had a leg up on Hillary Clinton this primary season. Still, Hillary Clinton is expressing optimism that those supporters will eventually coalesce behind her campaign if she wins the democratic presidential nomination. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Sanders and I, we want to tackle inequality. We want to raise the minimum wage. We want to make sure that people who are putting our economy at risk are reigned in, regulated. No bank is too big to fail. No executive too powerful to jail. We share those views. So I believe that once the nominating process has concluded, there is a great reason to come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That call for unity comes just a couple of days after Hillary Clinton's communications director accused the Sanders campaign of destructive -- quote, "destructive behavior," and engaging in personal attacks.

Joining us now, Joel Benenson, the chief strategist for the Clinton campaign.

[13:20:01] Joel, thanks very much for joining us.

You want to take back the word "destructive behavior," or is it still applicable?

JOEL BENENSON, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Look, I was out saying that they -- the issue here was if the personal attacks would continue, it wouldn't be helpful and it would be destructive to the Democrats chances of winning in November, which is the most important thing here. And what we're trying to do is run a campaign on the issues. We had a very vigorous campaign in New York. We had a very vigorous debate, as you know, Wolf, you were hosting it with that crowd that night, and we came out winning by 57-42, building up a pledged delegate lead to just shy of 250 pledge delegates now and about 2.5 million more votes than Senator Sanders. We're going forward to next week campaigning on the issues. We're going to keep piling up a pledged delegate lead hopefully. And the real estate is just simply running out here and it's making -- for Senator Sanders and it's making our lead virtually insurmountable.

BLITZER: He does have a lot of money. Take a look at the fundraising numbers. His campaign versus your campaign.

BENENSON: Sure.

BLITZER: Your campaign was outraised once again last month by the Sanders campaign. That potentially is a sign that he's got the cash to continue and continue all the way, not just through California, but all the way to the convention if he wants, right?

BENENSON: Well, there's no doubt he's got some fundraising prowess and he's used it. He has outspent us on the air in virtually every state we've campaigned in. In the states with the highest turnout out of them, we've won 18 out of 23. And as I said, 2.5 million more votes. So I think the real enthusiasm here, right now we've got more than 10 million votes in Democratic primaries. The real enthusiasm here is for the people who have been turning out and voting for Secretary Clinton. And, yes, we're being outgunned on the air and being outspent and we've got to just keep working hard for every vote. That's what we're going to do next week on Tuesday where there were five states, including Maryland and Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, and we want to keep building that pledged delegate lead.

BLITZER: Here's what Senator Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said about your candidate's chances of clenching the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, it's not clear that she will be ahead in pledged delegates. And, look, Senator Sanders has a strong run of wins at the end of this process. If we substantially close the gap in pledged delegates or even overtake the secretary, I think then super delegates really have to look at all -- at the general election polling, which is pretty much unanimous now for months that Bernie Sanders is a much stronger candidate in a general election than is Secretary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, your reaction?

BENENSON: Well, I think -- I think that Jeff were to take a look at who his own voters thought in Wisconsin, the state that was one of their biggest wins in the exit polls, said would be a better candidate to run against Donald Trump, and by more than two to one, I think it was 56 to 23, they said it was, overall, the primary voters there said it was Hillary Clinton.

Look, I think there's a path here for Hillary Clinton to be the nominee. That path has been clear. When Jeff talks about super delegates, this is completely contradictory to both where the super delegates are and where they've been and what the Sanders campaign has said about them. So I don't know what the story is now, but what would be the possible rationale for super delegate shifting when Secretary Clinton will have won more primaries, more pledged delegates and the popular vote currently by 2.5 million more votes. I'm surprised to hear Jeff weaver saying that super delegates should overturn the will of the voters and the people in this Democratic primary. It's really kind of shocking.

BLITZER: I think what he's saying -- he's saying that if she -- if he winds up, after California, June 7th, if he winds up with more pledge delegates, he's suggesting that the 700 plus super delegates, many of them might leave Hillary Clinton, might go to his campaign, to Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign, especially if polls show that he potentially could be a stronger Democratic nominee against the Republican than Hillary Clinton.

BENENSON: So -- well, here's the problem with that, Wolf, it's reality. We've got five primaries on Tuesday that -- where I'm quite confident he will not make a significant dent, if any dent at all, in our pledged delegate lead. That means he's not going to have to just win states, he's going to have to win landslides where he wins 70 percent or more of the pledged delegates in all of the remaining states. He has barely done that in any of the states. I think in only one or two. So, you know, look, we are -- we're on a real playing field, we've got real track record over many, many primaries and they are, you know, projecting some scenario that they haven't been able to live up to until now. And I don't see that changing at all. I don't think they really do either. I think they're just trying to construct some rationale to keep going here a bit longer.

[13:25:00] BLITZER: But any -- but from your perspective, he is going to keep going. There's no -- you see no desire on his part to quit?

BENENSON: No, we -- we haven't -- you know, we've said all along, this decision is up to him. But the reality among the pledged delegates, the number of primaries won, the advantage of 2.5 million in popular votes aren't going to go away. And they're not going to go away through June 7th when California votes. We're going to be ahead in pledged delegates. We're going to be ahead in the popular vote. And that's why Hillary Clinton's going to be the nominee in this primary when it's over.

BLITZER: Joel Benenson, thank you very much for joining us.

BENENSON: Thank you, Wolf.

We're following the breaking news out of Minnesota. Disturbing information. There's a death investigation underway. We're going to give -- update you on that, what's going on. Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: CNN has now confirmed that the artist Prince is dead. We're just getting confirmation. Earlier, we knew there was a police investigation underway at his estate, the studio in Minnesota. Now official word, we're getting the word now, that Prince has died. CNN Miguel Marquez is following the story for us. What do we know so far, Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is certainly the sort of news that you don't want to believe is true, but Prince has died at the age of 57 years old according to a family member who does not want to be named. Several members of -- close to Prince have also reported to other news organizations that he has died.

Police in that area -- this is just west of Minneapolis -- have been investigating it since this morning. They were making next of kin notifications. Clearly, news like this is very, very difficult to keep close to the vest.

Last Thursday we know that he performed in Atlanta. His plane landed an emergency landing on his way back to Minneapolis. A spokesperson at the time said that he was recovering from a flu and was fine. He actually went on to perform a concert the next day after that. So it seemed like he was rebounding and doing fine.

Just looking at his Twitter feed earlier. He was saying he was rejuvenated and doing better. He was tweeting up until a couple of days ago.

I can tell you now that the news of his death is getting out there, the Internet has just exploded with shock and grief over the fact that this person, the number of songs, seven time Grammy winner, 30 nominations, the number of songs that have touched people's lives throughout his entire career. This is going to be very, very hard news to take.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Only 57 years old. Obviously a great artist, a great performer, a great singer. It is pretty shocking, especially since earlier in the week we had heard he was suffering from the flu, as you point out, Miguel, but a spokesperson said he was fine, doing just fine. All of a sudden now confirmation that he has died. We don't know the cause of death.

CNN's senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, is joining us from New York.

Brian, I want -- I want all of our viewers to listen to a little bit of Prince singing "Purple Rain" on "Arsenio Hall" years ago. Listen to this.

[13:28:40] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE, MUSICIAN (singing): I never meant to cause you any sorrow. I never meant to cause you any pain. I only wanted to one time see you laughing. I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain. Purple rain, purple rain. Purple rain, purple rain. Purple rain, purple rain. I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain.