World becomes the center of politics. And the democrats take off the gloves. I dont believe that she is qualified. Its kiechbd a silly thing to say. The mayor of new york city bill de blasio and Bernie SandersCampaign Manager weigh in. Plus the gop contest and the battle over new york values. The values of liberal democratic politicians like andrew cuomo, like anthony weiner, like eliot spitzer. A response to ted cruz from former congressman anthony weiner. And bending toward justice. A new series from politics nation. Making sure our criminal Justice System doesnt just function as a pipeline for underfunded schools to overcrowded jails. From Rockefeller Center in new york, this is politics nation with al sharpton. Good morning. Im al sharpton. For the first time in decades, new yorks president ial primaries could have a major impact for all the campaigns. We start with the democrats. Two candidates, both with new york connections, fighting for every vote. At stake, 291 delegates, and momentum. It might be the pressure of the moment that led to these attacks between clinton and sanders. Hes a relatively new democrat. And, in fact, im not even sure he is one. What he has been saying about the core issue in his whole campaign doesnt seem to be rooted in an understanding of either the law, or the practical ways you get something done. I dont think you are qualified if you have voted for the disastrous war in iraq. These are attacks we hadnt seen on the democratic side so far. Some in the party worried it could damage both candidates, and by the end of the week, the tone appeared to soften somewhat. Do you think hes qualified to be president. Well heres what i believe. I believe that voters will be looking at both of us. But i will take Bernie Sanders over donald trump or ted cruz any time. Heres the truth, ive known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I respect Hillary Clinton. We were colleagues in the that. And on her worst day she will be she would be an infinitely better president than either of the republican candidates. Shes qualified . Of course. The questions now, how much can sanders chip in to clintons double digit lead in new york . And did the punches thrown back and forth bruise either campaign . Joining me now is new york city mayor bill de blasio. Who has endorsed Hillary Clinton. Mayor, good morning. Good morning, rev, how you doing . Very well. Let me ask you, this week we saw back and forward with secretary clinton and Bernie Sanders over whos qualified to be president and all. Does this kind of back and forward, does this hurt if your candidate, mrs. Clinton, is successful, does this hurt her being able to bring some of the sanders voters in . We need unity to do that. We need respect for both candidates, and there are many, many supporters. I think theres plenty of examples here of the democrats rising above and getting back to the issues. What does mrs. Clinton have to say to those that are progressive, that are concerned about economic issues, to say im the person in the New York Primary you need to go to, rather than senator sanders, whos clearly led on this conversation . What does mrs. Clinton have to say before the 19th, to win those kinds of voters . Well, its going on now in this country is something much bigger than just this one election. And we progressives are going to have to sustain and build that energy to fight income inequality. When it cops to the april 19th primary, this is my message to my fellow progressives. Look at Hillary Clintons platform. The thing we should judge everyone by. Look at her platform. It includes raising taxes on the wealthy, it includes raising wages and benefits. It includes some of the things that would be most fundamental to families all over this country, like universal prek for all. She can get us the wall street reforms that we need. By the way, paul krugman has said her plan to rein in wall street excesses is stronger and more specific and more viable than sanders plan. So i would say to progressives, look at the platform, and then think about who could put the platform best into action. A lot to respect about Bernie Sanders. A lot i appreciate about him. But i think hillary is the person who can get that platform achieved. You also ran on bringing a change in Police Community relations. You kept a promise of bringing down stop and frisk down but at the same time crime going down. Both senator sanders secretary clinton are speaking that at National Action networks convention this week. What should they be saying to those that are concerned about criminal justice and Police Reform . You ran and won on that. They both supported the omnibus crime bill that many of us had a problem with in the 90s and even now they both have not been as clear on this. But mrs. Clinton has got the overwhelming majority of the black vote. What should they be saying to people that have concerns in this area. Look a lot of mistakes were made in the past. Theres no two ways about it we have to aggressively change our approach to criminal justice all over the country. We have to end the era of mass incarcerati incarceration. This is something where the black lives movement has been absolutely right. Stops were 700,000 in this city in 2011. 25,000 last year. Its changed so fundamentally but at the same time crime has gone down. The First Quarter of this year in new york city the fewest shootings and the fewest murders of the First Quarter of any year in history. So weve proven that you can improve the relationship between police and community, create that bond, and reduce crime. We have got to do that all over the country. Hillary clinton wants body cameras for all Police Forces in the country. She wants to move towards more use of alternatives to incarceration and diversion programs for lowlevel offenders, nonviolent offenders. She believes fundamentally in going to some of the root causes. One of the things thats happening is a Bigger Movement is taking hold in america. So again, i think its right to choose the right candidate. I believe thats Hillary Clinton. But all of us who believe in change have to keep building the movements to keep candidates focused on following through on those commitments. All right. Last question i have to ask you, what do you make of the rhetoric by ted cruz about, quote, new york values . I think it is cynical. Opportunistic. And it was divisive, and seethrough. Trump is one of the few moments, rev, ive actually felt some sympathy for trump. He responded very powerfully talking about 9 11, talking about what new york went through and our powerful resilience as a people here in new york. And ted cruz is going to ultimately pay for being disrespectful to the people of new york. Thank you, mr. Mayor, have a great sunday. Thank you, rev. Joining me now, jeff weaver, Campaign Manager for Bernie Sanders. Thank you for being here. Thank you. My pleasure. Now that the tones are settling down a little, how does senator sanders intent to try and close this over tenpoint gap between himself and senator or secretary clinton in new york . Well, its going to be like many other states. You know, we frequently go into states where we are substanti substantially behind. Michigan ten days out from the race we were more than 20 points from behind. And how we close that gap is we have senator sanders going around talking to voters, articulating his message of dealing with a rigged economy, and a corrupt Campaign Finance system, and that really moves lots of voters in the final days of election we find. Youve said that you expect that there would be a open convention on the democratic side. How are you proposing for that . Well, we have a team im quoting you correctly, right . You absolutely are. So youre on the record that you think it will be an open convention . I do. Because no ones going to arrive at the convention with the requisite number of pledged delegates in order to secure the nomination. Right. So the superdelegates dont vote until once the convention starts. We arrive at the convention, nobody will have the votes locked up to win. So one of the ways were preparing for that is i think articulating the reasons why senator sanders is a much stronger general election candidate than secretary clinton. In terms of the polls that we have seen. Consistently now for really a couple months. Showing him beating the republicans by much larger margins than she does. In fact she loses to some of is this an argument youre going to make to superdelegates . Absolutely. Absolutely its an argument were going to make to superdelegates. Hes very, very strong with independent voters which democrats need in order to put together the coalition that theyre going to need to win not just the presidency but up and down the ballot. You know, jeff, bill and Hillary Clinton both took heat for many activists about the omnibus crime bill in the early 90s. I opposed it then. Still have my im still against it. And, but senator sanders voted for it, as well. How do you deal with this issue, and how do the fact both of them voted for it, one doesnt cancel out the other but how do they deal with the problem of the criminal Justice Reform . And the senator making that appeal, particularly africanamerican voters . Hes speaking at our convention this week and other conventions coming forward. How does he make that appeal . Well lets talk about the crime bill for a second. 1994 crime bill, Bernie Sanders did vote for it, youre right. But he voted for it because it had the violence against women act in it and a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons, something that he had long but the results caused mass incarceration of blacks and had the Death Penalty in it. And he voted for six different amendments to take the Death Penalty out of that bill, frankly. But he voted for the bill. At the end of the day there was a bill and he had to vote for it or against it, right . But he spoke on the floor against it about this in fact he suppose against mass inkarlgs ration and the use of incarceration as a solution for economic and social ills of the country which is clearly what was going on at the time as you well as you well know. Which is why we opposed the bill. Many of us in the civil rights community. But go ahead. Throughout his career in the house, he had voted against mandatory minimums. And the Death Penalty repeatedly on various bills that went through the house. In terms of criminal justice, i think, you know lets be clear. So he was voting for the bill but speaking against the sort of onerous provisions that you and i agree should not be there. He was not running around articulating support for sort of racist pseudosocial science like super predators which was something that was circulating at the time. Which of course has been debunked. It is obviously it was debunked then. So he has never had, you know, held those kinds of views which we heard articulated just recently let me ask you this, because im running out of time. Sure. Were hearing hes going to make a visit to the papals conference in rome. Yes. What will his message be . Hes going to be speaking about a moral economy. How we create an economy that uplifts all people, all communities. As you know mott new wealth and income is going to the top in this country, wildly disparate levels of wealth and income inequality and i think the message hes going to deliver there, hes been delighted to deliver his message about how we as a country and a world, really, create a more equal and Fair Distribution of wealth and income. All right. Jeff weaver, thanks for your time. Thank you. Happy to be here. All right. Coming up, republicans take a bite out of the big apple. Did ted cruz bite off more than he can chew . Plus, republican hypocrisy at its finest. The latest wrinkle in the Supreme Court fight. Is this weeks gotcha. laughing theres nothing like making their day. Except making sure their tomorrow is taken care of too. Financial guidance while youre mastering life. From chase. So you can. While youre mastering life. Dont let dust and allergies get and lifes beautiful moments. With flonase allergy relief, they wont. Most allergy pills only control one inflammatory substance. 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Together, were building a better california. Everyone understands that the values in new york city are socially liberal, or proabortion, or progay marriage, focused around money and the media. That was ted cruz, criticizing socalled new york values. And he came to the state this week, trailing in the polls, ahead of next tuesdays critical primary. And still under fire for those comments. Cruz was even booed during an event in the bronx. The new york tabloids, never known for holding back, took him to task. Including the front page of the daily news. Well let you read it for yourself. At another event in the bronx, cruz tried to walk those comments back. The people of new york know exactly what those values are. Theyre the values of liberal democratic politicians, like andrew cuomo, like anthony weiner, like elliiot spitzer. Like charlie rangel. All of whom donald trump has supported, given tens of thousands of dollars throughout the years. Joining me now is one of the people you heard ted cruz mention, seventerm former new york congressman anthony weiner. He also served six years on the city council. Congressman, thanks for being here. My pleasure, thanks. How do you respond to mr. Cruzs comments of new york values . Well, new york has been a pejorative for the republicans for a long time. He said it out loud. But we would hear it whispered behind closed doors in congress all the time. Oh, you fancy new yorkers, new york this, new york that. There was always this dichotomy. They would love to come here to new york, raise money, they would always call us up and say hey, can you help us get tickets to broadway. Can you get us a reservation at this restaurant. And then they would go back to congress or their states and talk badly about new york. We have thick skin. It doesnt matter all that much. The fact of the matter is that the values of new york are not ted cruzs values. Hes not wrong about that. And that we are a different kind of place than hes used to representing. And this is a place, new york is the place on the campaign trail that most represents the United States of america, which is one of the reasons why cruz isnt going to do well here. Do republicans know new yorkers help to set a tone for National Election . Yeah, i mean, its a convenient thing. But we do the shorthand thing in politics all the time. We talk about the hollywood values. I make fun of texas from time to time. It doesnt matter all that much in the language. But the fact is that ted cruz has waged in his entire political career, triangulating against communities like new york. Communities of color. People of disparate incomes. People that have disabilities. Even veterans. The kind of communities that we have here in our diversity are the ones that have been targeted by ted cruz because hes seen political value in doing it. The question is can you run for president by triangulating against so many people. And i dont think you can. Congressman, youve said Trumps Campaign is doomed. Just based on his high negatives in polling. Tell me about that. Well, look, remember whos voting up to now. Its all we have to count. But its just the narrow right and the narrow left who participate in these primaries. The broad center of the country has not voted yet. I mean, if you add up all the actual human beings that have voted, its about 10 of the votingage population. Now, its all we have. And in the primary season its all we have to talk about. But when you look at the numbers of people you cannot antagonize 100 of hispanics and win in the United States of america. You cannot antagonize africanamericans by about 100 and hope to win. You cannot take women and say that 70 of them or more, i dont want your vote, and expect to win. However, it is enough in Todays Republican Party to win you the nomination. Thats the dichotomy we have. That this party, which is really a minority in the things it stands for, is about to nominate someone who does represent his party. You got to give him credit for that. Donald trump does represent the party. Hes mentioned you in an ad attacking Hillary Clinton. How do you respond to that . Well, Donald Trumps a phony. I mean, he was a donor to me and supported Single Payer Health care when it was convenient and i was talking about it. Now, he was a donor to you when you were a democratic congressman. Yeah. And he supported and he supported me when i ran for mayor. Hes a donor to me. Look, the funny thing about the trump