Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20160317 : vi

CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper March 17, 2016

Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. Desperate conservative leaders huddled together in a secret trying to figure out if there is any possible way to block donald trump from the republican president ial nomination and if not whether they will mount a third Party Challenge to trump this fall. Sunlen serfaty joins me live from houston, texas, where ted cruz has his campaign headquartered. Sunlen, who are these conservative leaders . Well, jake, theyre not the establishment types within the party. Sources tell cnn this meeting was of longtime diehards of the conservative movement. Coming out of that meeting today in washington, d. C. , they called for a unity ticket, potentially even if ted cruz and john kasich teaming up and possibly launching a Third Party Candidacy all in an effort to stop donald trump. Paul ryan today brushing off the idea that he could be drawn into the president ial race. Its not going to be me. It should be somebody running for president. People are out there campaigning. Reporter but the House Speaker is not stepping away from the prospect that his party might be heading towards a contested convention. Its more likely to become an open convention than we thought before. So were getting our minds around the idea that this could very well become a reality. Reporter this comes as conservatives belonging to the stop Trump Movement are huddling in washington today. Sources tell cnn there was absolute consensus in the closed door meeting on trying to stop trump from getting the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination. But that there was a real division about launching a thirdParty Challenge if trump ultimately becomes the nominee. Trumps team encouraging republicans opposed to trump to rethink their strategy. When we get to cleveland, hes going to be our nominee. And, you know, some of these guys are going to have to decide how much damage theyre willing to do to the party because they dont like that. Reporter a contested convention is pushing the gop candidates into effectively waging two campaigns side by side, still working to win outright. Look, if donald and i come in and were neck in neck and neither of us are at 1237, then its a battle for the remaining delegates. Reporter but also scrambling to prepare their backup plans if the nominating fight is still unsettled before republicans gather in cleveland this july. It is unlikely that anybody is going to achieve enough delegates to avoid a convention. Reporter the campaigns making their calibrationis from the sobering reality they come when it comes to the math. Candidates need to get to 1237 delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. Based on the current delegate counts, donald trump would need to win a little more than 50 of the remaining delegates to reach that mark. Ted cruz would need roughly 80 . And for john kasich, it would be mathematically impossible. He would need about 108 . South carolina senator Lindsey Graham today telling cnns dana bash that he sees cruz as the best hope for stopping trump. I think the best alternative to donald trump, to stop him from getting to 1237, is ted cruz. Im going to help ted in every way i can. Reporter senator graham will work to raise money for cruz as well. He is set to headline a fundraiser on monday in washington, d. C. That is the same day that all three candidates will speak in washington before the apec conference. Sunlen serfaty, thank you. After Donald Trumps overwhelming victory in florida, the sunshine states governor just became the newest trump backer and he wants the rest of his party to fall in line behind trump. Joining me now, Florida Governor rick scott. Governor, thanks so much for coming. Sounds like 2010 in my race. I was not the establishment candidate. I was a businessperson, never having run for office. All the republican establishment said, oh, get out of the race, weve got our candidate already. Youre going to hurt our ability to win. I waited and i listened to the voters. I worked hard. We won. Weve turned our state around. A million more jobs in five years. Paying down debt. Its the same thing. Donald trump is the will of the people. We need to listen to the people, back his candidacy and win in november. Governor scott, let me get your reaction to this meeting among conservative leaders to find anyone but trump. Youre urging the party to fall in line behind him. What are you saying to the republicans, including your home state senator, marco rubio, who think that trump is out there, unlike the way you are, trump is out there appealing to americans base or instincts and sullying the partys good name . Whats your response to them . That was not the charge made about you in 2010. Theres always going to be something. If youre not the establishment candidate, theyre going to attack you some ways. Ill never agree and none of us will ever agree with any candidate out there. But lets listen to the i would have always told people listen to the voters and lets think about where we want to be. In november we want to win so we can turn this economy around, have a person that believes in job growth. We cant have four more years of barack obama. Donald trump is either going to have the number of delegates that he needs or be very, very, very close. Lets listen to the will of the people. Obviously were not going to have four more years of barack obama. Thats Hillary Clinton. I want you to listen to mr. Trump talking to chris cuomo yesterday about the possibility of a contested convention. Take a listen. If were 20 votes short or if were, you know, 100 short and were at 1100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because were way ahead of everybody, i dont think you can say that we dont get it automatically. I think it would be i think youd have riots. House Speaker Paul Ryan today said in response, nobody should say such things in my opinion because to even address or hint to violence is unacceptable. What did you make of that comment . Im not going to agree with how everybody says anything but lets think about where we are this year. This year people dont trust Party Leaders. They dont trust the establishment right now. They dont trust our political leaders. So we are going to go to a convention where donald trump is going to be either have the delegates or be very close and then Party Leaders are going to choose somebody else . I think that would make sure we dont win in november. Weve got to win in november. Weve got to have a president thats going to win. Our nominee is going to win so we turn this economy around. I put out a request on social media for questions that people, that voters would like to ask you. I got a couple. Heres one from a constituent of yours who wanted to keep his or her name out of it. Quote, as a florida Muslim American republican who has supported you and many gop candidates, why havent you done more to condemn antimuslim statements by candidates you support at a time when antimuslim hate crimes in the state of florida have doubled . Words and statements have consequences, unquote. Governor, your response . Well, what ive tried to do is make our state a state where people are welcome. We had 105 million tourists last year, thr365,000 people moved h. Were at a four and a half year low in our crime rate. I try to make sure everybody that wants to be here feel comfortable living here. This is a wonderful state to live in. This is a republican who supports you or has in the past saying that my not condemning things that donald trump has said about muslims, you are basically being complicit in animosity towards muslims, including muslims who live in florida. Jake, people say a whole candidates say a whole bunch of things that i might disagree with. Im not going to agree with everybody. But if you listen to what i talk about, im trying to make this the state that people want to visit, they want to live here, they can get a job here, their kids can get a great education, they can live in safe communities. No one is going to agree on everything. Ive tried to make this the state, we have languages spoken here. People are welcome in our state. A man named dustin moody asked me to ask you what policy of trumps do you like the most . I think the thing that i like the most about it is hes got a business background, he understands how to get along with people. Hes very focused on how we grow our economy. If you want to build up our military, you cant do it without a good economy. In our state weve gone from a multi billion dollar deficit to multi billion dollar surplus because we focused on our economy. We have record funding for education. Were funding the environment. Were funding all sorts of agencies for people that have needs because we focused on our economy. Thats what donald trump will do. So no specific policy but just the fact that trump is promising to focus on the economy . Thats part of what you do. You focus on reducing taxes, reducing regulation, streamline the permitting process. One thing about bringing a businessperson in, they know the problems Business People have. Often government reduces your ability to bring in jobs and succeed. All right. Florida governor rick scott from the beautiful state beautiful sunshine state, thanks so much for taking our questions. We appreciate it. See you, jake. Have a great day. Bernie sanders says his revolution still has time, but Hillary Clintons Campaign Says he does not have a path to the nomination. Now president obama may, according to one report, be taking sides. Stay with us. burke at farmers, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. 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Staying with our politics lead, president obama is, according to one report, saying behind closed doors what Hillary Clinton shouted out loud, that democrats need to start focusing on donald trump now. The New York Times is reporting that the president told some of the democrats biggest money men and money women that his party needs to close ranks around Hillary Clinton to deny trump any opening to get a head start. Well, they are. The Democratic Campaign machine coined a brand new term for vulnerable republican senators who promised to support trump. Retrumplcans. Jeff zeleny is here with me. Could this potentially alienate sanders supporters . The white house is saying the president did not suggest sanders should get out of the race. One other person youre not going to hear that is Hillary Clinton. She will not call on him to get out. 6 million reasons why. Those are the number of voters who supported him in the primaries so far. That number is only growing as sanders is staying in. But democrats are growing increasingly eager to start taking on trump. Donald trump was one of the best democratic punch lines around. Hes making the most out of it. Im having a good time watching it. The Democratic Party is no longer laughing. Even as the primary fight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders goes on, the party is quickly turning its focus to trump. Our commander in chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it. Liberal groups are sounding the alarm. Suddenly taking trump seriously as a general election foe. Republicans, led by trump, have dramatically surpassed democrats in voter turnout this year. Some democrats worry trump is tapping into anger and discontent thats coursing through the democratic electorate too. From labor unions the democratic machine is spinning into action. Most of us cannot fathom how he rose so far and so, so fast. His vile rhetoric is embarrassing, his proposals are dangerous. Harry reid delivered a speech today focused solely on stopping trump. Republican leaders created the drought conditions. Donald trump has simply struck the match. Nearly two dozen progressive groups signed a letter this week saying its time to unite. Theyre calling this moment a fivealarm fire for our democracy. Sanders is trailing clinton significant low in delegates, but hes far from folding. Hes back on the campaign trail tonight in arizona, five days before the states primary. Hes launching a new wave of tv ads. Hes a change agent. Has been for 33 years. He represents a change and a message that many of us have been longing for. But clinton is airing new ads of her own today in arizona. Hillary knows our kids deserve better. Keeping one eye on sanders and another on trump. Ive gotten more votes than he has. I think he has if you really analyze it, a pretty narrow base. But well find out. If he gets nominated, were going to have a very vigorous general election if im the nominee. And that vigorous general election isnt here just yet but trump has his hands full with his own primary and looming convention fight. Democrats are beginning to invest time and money into defining trump early, something they believe republicans have failed to do starting last summer when trump jumped in. Jake, it is a tall order for them because donald trump so far has defied every single odd. Every rule. Every political rule has gone out the window. Jeff zeleny, thanks so much. Panicked conservatives gathered in washington trying to figure out how to stop trump if possible, maybe suggesting a thirdparty candidate at only way to do it. And seaworlds killer whales will soon be history. Why the park is making major changes three years after that damaging documentary, blackfish. Kelloggs® frosted miniwheats®. 8 layers of wheat. And one thats sweet. To satisfy the adult and kid in all of us. Nutritious wheat for the adult youve grown into and delicious sweet for the kid youll never outgrow. Feed your inner kidult with frosted miniwheats®. Try new kelloggs miniwheats harvest delights with Sweet Drizzle and bits made with real fruit. Welcome back to the lead. Were going to stay with our politics lead. For the First Time Since bowing out of the president ial race, senator marco rubio spoke publicly just over an hour ago on capitol hill. He said he is not interested in being anyones Vice President and he took this shot at the frontrunner, donald trump. Hopefully theres time to still prevent a trump nomination, which i think would fracture the party and be damaging to the conservative movement. Talk about this and Everything Else with former republican congressman vin weber who is supporting john kasich. Mary Katherine Hamm and Emily Sussman who is supporting Hillary Clinton. Congressman weber, let me start with you. If rubio really wanted to unite conservatives or republicans around the task of defeating donald trump, wouldnt it make sense to endorse either kasich or cruz to get some momentum . Yes, yes, or at least Campaign Around the country for both of them or something. Something other than vacating the field. Too many people including the candidates have vacated the field on this trump issue and now were on the eve of him maybe having a majority. I dont think hell get there. All of a sudden theyre saying oh, my god, the house is burning down. We should have done something before it got this far. Yeah, i would prefer to see them support governor kasich but if hes for cruz, he should be for cruz. I think people cant just sit on the sidelines and then complain the house burned down in july. Mary katherine, lets talk about this meeting of conservatives to come up with a way to stop trump from getting the nomination or have a third party. Erick ericsson said conservatives are about ideas, not necessarily parties. That sounds like theres a ground swell among some for a third party. Theres two things here. Its not just the establishment that does not like a donald trump nomination. It is these grassroots conservatives and activists who have been doing this for a long, long time. I do think there is an appetite for a third party. You see 38 to 40 of republicans saying yes, i would consider a third party. What i worry about and i do think thats a possibility here. What i worry about is a lot of these solutions as you were point out seem a little too clever by half sometimes. They require a lot of strategy and they require a lot of it coming together really fast. But the case has to be made, regardless of whether we defeat trump, start a third party or whatever, the case against him substantively hasnt been made because weve had so much focus on just the horse race. Trump is doing so well. Weve got to focus on why he is objectionable. I think

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