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tv   The Place for Politics 2016  MSNBC  April 11, 2016 8:00am-9:01am PDT

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good morning, everyone. i'm tamron hall coming to you live this morning from the brooklyn roasting company in the heart of brooklyn, new york. the state, of course, that holds the next major presidential contest, right now, here bernie sanders is continuing his rally in binghamton, new york, and bill clinton is speaking in the bronx. also today, hillary clinton, bernie sanders, donald trump, and john kasich are holding events from one end of the state
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to the other. while ted cruz campaigns in california, which doesn't hold its primary until june. but it could be crucial in deciding if we wind up with that contests convention. on the republican side, this morning, donald trump was still fuming after ted cruz won all 34 of colorado's gop delegates at a state party convention this weekend, which could be key in blocking trump from locking up the nomination. >> it's not a system, there was no voting. i didn't go out there to make a speech or anything. i'm coming in to do something positive. i'm an outside. the system is rigged. i see it, i see it now 100%. >> incidentally, yesterday was the first time since november that trump did not appear on at least one of the sunday morning shows. his newly hired delegate counter, however, did appear on "meet the press," where he had some harsh words about cruz's campaign tactics in securing delegates. >> you go to these county
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conventions and you see the gestapo tactics. >> gestapo tactics. that's a strong word. >> we're going to be filing several protests because the reality is they're not playing by the rules. >> the cruz campaign responded by saying the trump campaign is trying to, quote, distract from their failure. back to the democratic side. right now, senator bernie sanders is holding his first event of the day. it's a rally in upstate new york. he's coming off a win this weekend in wyoming's democratic caucuses. his eighth victory in the last nine contests against secretary clinton. while backing off his charge that hillary clinton is, quote, unqualified, he now accuses her of having a lack in judgment. >> she may have the experience to be president of the united states. no one can argue that. but in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking.
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>> i will be speaking with representatives from both democratic campaigns in just a few minutes. but we want to check in now with our correspondents who are covering the campaigns for us. let's start off with nbc's jacob rascon who is covering the trump campaign. he joins us live now from new york's state capital of albany, where trump will hold a rally tonight. many people have remarked on the fact that donald trump has become a regular on the sunday morning programs. he did not show up this sunday. that's the first time we have seen this since november. is this a campaign strategy to make the candidate, i guess, less of the attention at this point and more of the focus on this fight against cruz's delegate tactics? >> so we saw trump call in this morning to another morning show, though it was notable that for five months he's always called in or sat down with a sunday morning show. and didn't do that. a quick comment on this arena here. we just talked to secret service. and this arena holds 17,500
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people, and they expect that many people to show up. so in the past several minutes, we had police come and put light, we have various police, a command post off in the distance that's about to show up. they're trying to get ready for this massive presence here. this is donald trump's bread and butter, where he knows he has done well. in wisconsin, it was notable, tamron, that the venues were much smaller, that his crowds were not as big. in fact, in the very last event he had in wisconsin, he had a couple hundred seats that were open. this is his home turf, where he hopes to do big. you heard from paul manafort, his new convention manager talking on "meet the press" about how he plans to do some delegate arm twisting of his own. this while donald trump is complaining about the delegate system hurting him. here's what he said. >> you're allowed to offer trips and you can buy all these votes. what kind of a system is this? i'm an outsider and i came into the system. i'm winning the votes by
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millions of votes. but the system is rigged. it's crooked. when you look even at bernie, i'm not a fan of bernie, but every time i turn on the show, bernie wins. bernie wins. yet bernie is not winning. >> so we have to note that even in him complaining about the system and calling it corrupt, an nbc analysis shows the delegate system has favored him where he won 37% of the popular vote, but is ahead by 45% in the delegate count. tamron. >> and we'll dig into those numbers because his complaint at this point is not matching what's actually happening in the delegate count. so is he now setting the stage in the event that ted cruz somehow gets a delegate advantage, which he does not have, according to our reporting, right now? jacob, thank you so much. speaking of cruz's campaign, the cruz campaign is slamming paul manafort's accusation that they're using, quote, gestapo tactics. they responded in a statement reading in part, it's no surprise that trump's team will lash out with falsehoods when
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facing a loss to distract from their failure as they have the entire time. meanwhile, coming off his win in colorado, cruz is setting his sights further west, with still two months to go before california's primary, this afternoon, senator cruz is holding rallies in the republican-leaning orange county and in san diego. nbc's hallie jackson joins us. take us inside the campaign's strategy here that's taken the candidate out west. >> especially with the new york primary just eight days away. going out to california accomplished a couple things. number one, i can tell you senator cruz is expected to announce today the endorsements of several dozen california republican elected officials. the campaign arguing that is essentially proof to them that cruz is bringing together conservatives out west, a wider variety of conservatives, as he works to try to slow down donald trump's momentum. the other part of this i think we can hear today, cruz taking a very california centric message, but still continuing his pivot
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to jobs and the economy by talking about, number one, how his immigration policies would impact the local economies in southern california, and then number two, water issues, which as you know is a very big deal out west. the drought, water issues, water rights, all of it a major focus for people who live in that region. here's the thing, though. the cruz campaign, while they believe they could get, their data shows, 55% or more of the vote in california, right now, it is donald trump who has the lead in polling. campaign aide said to me earlier today that essentially, hey, right now, we're close to the margin of error. sure, trump may be leading, but they believe when cruz really starts to push his campaign and get out there and do more rallies, that could flip the script a little bit. keep in mind, though, if donald trump is able to take maybe 120 of the delegates that are out there of the 172 delegates at stake in california on june 7th, that could maybe, at least according to our modeling, put him over the edge for 1237. all of it is to say june 7th,
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very, very important day in the republican primary. it's when a lot of decisions will be made, and it's when we'll see sort of what direction this race will take, whether donald trump will be able to lock up the nomination, whether we'll be headed to a contested convention. a lot happens between now and then, though. >> it's interesting, this accusation again going back to what trump's campaign manager or his delegate count manager is saying, and trump even this morning about the system that, you know, delegates can be offeroffer ed certain things and enticed in different ways. what is the cruz campaign saying to these rules that are in place that people for the first time are hearing about but are within the boundaries, that they are within the lines of operation? >> two points to make as far as reaction from the cruz campaign. number one, when it comes to the allegation of goodies trump is talking about, the reaction from the cruz campaign is what is he talking about? what does he mean by that? number two, when it comes to the idea that the system it isself corruption, this is something donald trump has been talking about for a while. it has new urgency against the
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backdrop of cruz's delegate successes in places like colorado, iowa, and south carolina. the cruz campaign will say, hey, rules are rules. if donald trump does not like the system, he should not be a part of it. also pointing out that the people who created the system are the very republicans who are going to be a part of a contested convention if that convention happens. that's sort of their argument about all this. remember, as is said often, when you're talking about process, you're not talking about message. when you're talking about delegates and the count and rules, you're not getting out a message that the cruz campaign maybe will want to talk about, which is his new theme of jobs, freedom, and security. >> all right, thank you very much. and john kasich is keeping his focus on new york. he's set to speak to the press in the next hour at the new york state capital in albany, with polls showing he is inching past ted cruz in second place, but still well behind donald trump. he's spending the entire week in the state. appearing on cbs's "face the
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nation" he was pressled on his strategy going forward, especially after picking up zero delegates in the last contest. >> i think you're going to see a significant change in the delegate voting after the first ballot. and we have like the best people who can know how to manage a convention. the key for me there is going to make sure that i'm able to visit all these delegations. and as you know, the process of picking delegates now varies from state to state. so it's going to be very interesting, and we'll have a full-court press. we have the people that know how to do this. here's what's interesting. i'm the second choice of both the cruz people and also the trump people. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell is following the kasich campaign. she joins us now. so kelly, let's talk about this. over the last few days, we have seen the strategy to get delegates, if it goes to a contested convention from the trump side. he's got a big name person who
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has experience here. ted cruz clearly on his game. we see what happened over the weekend. in colorado. what about john kasich's plan has fallen into place? we know he doesn't have the math on his side. but what's his convention strategy? who has he hired? what are you hearing on the ground there? >> well, first of all, tamron, let's look at where we are. in a year that's been all about outsiders, we're in the most establishment kind of place. this is the state capital in new york, behind me is the state senate chamber. this all began in 1777 here in this state. so why would john kasich be in a place like this? well, the lawmakers in new york state are majority republican. he's meeting with senators who live and work in the communities that john kasich needs to do well in. so part one, it's getting to know people on the ground who can help give him insights, help his campaign, and give him ways to get into, you heard him describe himself as the
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second-place choice, to try to be that alternative. that's part of it. today, we'll talk to him a little later. he'll hold a news conference here. he's doing his town hall style, which really is the last one doing that in the full sense of taking lots of questions from voters who come and sometimes they challenge him. sometimes they say to him, don't get out of the race. now, in terms of staffing, one of the things we hear from john kasich all the time is that he was a part of the team back in 1976 when it was a gerald ford/ronald reagan contest to get the nomination. and one of his insiders who is going to help him in the race is a man named charlie black who goes back to the reagan era, worked on the mccain campaign. he's someone who understands the party, understands the rules. and can really help kasich in this way. so that's sort of his counterpart to the paul manafort we have been hearing about with the trump campaign. let's look at john kasich hiflself. he has been in public life for a long time, was a member of congress, a republican operative
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himself. this is a candidate unlike donald trump who has lived and breathed the rules of the party for a long time. so he's got sort of a public issue in terms of the vote count and the coming in third, but in terms of an operational side, advisers say they feel pretty confident they know how to play that game, and they just have to be patient. tamron. >> all right, kelly, thank you very much. now, despite bernie sanders and ted cruz's wins this weekend, hillary clinton and donald trump hold their delegate lead. now, looking ahead, the upcoming primaries heavily favor the democratic and gop front-runners. steve kornacki has the delegate breakdown for us this morning. >> all right, tamron. let's look at the delegate fight in both parties. let's start on the republican side. so here it is. this is the overall scoreboard right now. you see trump leading by just over 200 over ted cruz. now, there good news for cruz, the good news for the stop trump forces, that gap is narrowing.
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it's narrowing because of what's going on in colorado, a series of district conventions and then the state convention over the weekend, basically when it came to organizing, trump got his clock cleaned out there. 34 possible delegates so far have been given out, and ted cruz is sweeping donald trump. so it's getting closer because of that. down to about a 200-delegate lead for trump. however, this is the big test right now for trump, is can he do what he's supposed to do in his backyard? new york is coming up next. 95 delegates up for grabs there. if the polls are right, he's going to win the lion's share of those. then what comes after new york? a week later, you have pennsylvania, maryland, delaware, connecticut, rhode island, on paper, these all look like trump states. so if he does what he needs to do, the rest of this month, that 200-delegate lead he now has could be well over 400 again. that's the target for trump. think ahead to the end of the month. if he's sitting around 950, leading cruz by 400, he's gotten
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what he needs out of this month. that's the test ahead on the republican side. now, on the democratic side, the news over the weekend, bernie sanders continuing his winning streak. he says it gives him the momentum he needs to catch hillary clinton. now, it's complicated with the math on the democratic side. you have these two different types of delegates. superdelegates, party leaders, elected officials, they're automatically delegates at the convention. they're free agents, they can change their mind. what you have are people who say they're for hillary clinton, say they're for bernie sanders, but they're not locked in. the delegates who are locked in are in this category, the aligated delegates. these are the ones you actually win in primaries and caucuses. what the sanders campaign says, and this may or may not be accurate, but their case, their theory of the case is if they can catch hillary clinton in this category, during the primary season, then these delegates, the superdelegates, will be forced to change their mind and line up with bernie sanders. you see bernie sanders down by
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246 right now. here's the bad news for him. he won wyoming over the weekend. but what was the delegate breakdown? he won seven out of wyoming. hillary won seven out of wyoming. he didn't gain any ground in this category. still 246 down. he's going to make up a chunk of it when they get around to giving out the delegates from washington state. he won big out there. when they give out the delegates, the 246 will come down to 210. when you look at what's to come on the democratic side, new york next week, 247 delegates up for grabs in new york. bernie sanders is trying to make up 210. he is running from behind in new york. if he even comes close and loses, that's still not good enough for hem because he's lose ground there and a lot of other big states coming up where he's the underdog. pennsylvania, maryland, new jersey, at the very end of the process, you have california. if he's going to make up 210 the rest of the way and even have an argument to make to the superdelegates, he's got to win
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new york, win pennsylvania, win maryland, win all those states. he's got to run the table. a steep hill for him to climb. >> all right, steve, thank you very much. coming up, did bernie sanders mean what he said when he doubted hillary clinton's judgment? up next, i'll talk live with sanders campaign manager jeff weaver on the latest from the campaign. also, get his thoughts on the delegate math just broken down by steve kornacki as we continue to come from brooklyn, live for you this hour. we'll be right back.
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we are back live from the brooklyn roasting company in brooklyn, new york.
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despite winning their seventh of the last eight contests this past weekend, the sanders campaign is running from behind when it comes to delegates. we just saw steve kornacki break down some of the delegate math. the other headline is something that happened on "meet the press" when senator sanders dismissed suggestions by claire mccaskill his comments about hillary clinton not being qualified to be president were sexist. >> this business about attacking me in that regard is absurd. what the truth is is that secretary clinton has been going after us along with her surrogates very, very hard. in many respects, she may have the experience to be president of the united states, no one can argue that. but in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking. >> bernie sanders campaign manager jeff weaver joins me now. so a lot layered in that one
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answer. you know that people certainly can try to interpret it many ways. the first question i have is about the issue of questioning secretary clinton's judgment. what did senator sanders mean by that? >> well, i think if you look over the years, the secretary has exhibited bad judgment. in terms of the war in iraq, she heard the same evidence that senator sanders did in terms of from the bush administration about going to war in iraq. he voted against the war, she voted for it. that might be the largest foreign policy blunder in the modern history of america. clearly bad judgment. on the terrible trade deals over and over again. she supported them, nafta, most favorite nation status with china, she voted for these even though they have cost us millions of jobs. he voted against them. on issue after issue, she has exhibited poor judgment. not had the foresight that senator sanders has had. >> when someone like president obama said she's the most qualified person to run for president that's not a vice president, what's your reaction to that assertion? is that simply the president playing for the home team?
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do you believe what he says when he gives her that vote of confidence? >> well, look, she's clearly experienced, right. intelligent person, experienced person. but resume is not enough at the end of the day. right? you can look at someone's resume and they can be great, but when you do the interview, which is what this whole election process basically is, a job interview, you learn more than what's on the paper. on paper, of course she's experienced. >> her campaign is saying the same thing ability bernie sanders going back to last week and the question of whether or not he has a plan to break down the banks. her campaign also now pointing to his judgment as it relates to guns. and this nation's battle to find a commonsense balance, even though senator sanders points out that the nra has viewed him at the bottom of the list. they do support his decision, which he continues to back, on the idea of not allowing gun manufacturers to be sued in this country. >> well, actually, that's not quite the case. he is supporting legislation in the senate to amend that bill. if you look at the minterview h
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had, the editorial interview where this was discussed, he said there are circumstanced, clearly, if there are bad actors, they should be held accountable. >> was it always his stance? >> it was. he was concerned about at the time, he didn't want small stores in rural areas who support the hunting community to be put out of business. in terms of guns. it's secretary clinton whose campaign is accepting money from gun lobbyists. it's a pattern with the secretary. she's going to take on the big bankser but she takes big bank money. she is going to take on the oil company, but she takes oil money. she is going to take on the gun lobby, but she takes gun lobby money. what do the people know who are giving her money that the rest of us don't know. >> what do you believe that the rest of us, there voters don't know? i want to go past an implication here and flat out what are you saying? is she corrupt? >> not about being corrupt. but it's about a corrupt campaign finance system that supports establishment politicians, the secretary has voted for, you know, she voted
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for the wall street bailout. on guns, she's been all over the place. she used to be for gun registration in new york, then she attacks president obama in 2008 for being too tough on guns. now she's gone the other way. you don't know where she is. i don't know what her real position is. she's attacked all over the place. over time, she has supported corporate interests. she still supports fracking, right? not surprising that the oil industry would say her campaign and her super pacs have received $4.5 million from oil interests and oil lobbyists, that's because she supports fracking. on issue after issue, the chamber of commerce, she's gern against the transpacific partnership. >> i know senator sanders like secretary clinton have both now said they would support the other over ted cruz and donald trump. but when you lay out the laundry list of things you say are true about this candidate, they do not equal someone that bernie
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sanders then should support. if all of these things are true, then why would bernie sanders then get behind hillary clinton campaign if she goes on to be the nominee? >> he would because the alternative, the republicans are far, far worse. he's said he's going to support the nominee of the democratic party and she said it about him, too, either one of them is far better than any of the republicans. >> are you now playing niceties? in reality, following the compliment of support, lay out, and i know we can be very clear here, when you say that the system is krurpt, if she's benefitting from the system and she's part of the system, it is not hard to put the dots together on what you're saying. >> well, she does. she benefits from a corrupt campaign finance system. bernie sanders raises money in small contributions from people online. >> this is the same system that backed barack obama's candidacy. >> go ahead. >> no, please. >> it's the system in place, the very same system that supported
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barack obama's candidacy. this is the system that is in place right now. it's bernie sanders' choice not to be part of it, but that's how money is raised in politics. good or bad. >> it's not the way it has to be, obviously, because bernie sanders raised more money last month than did secretary clinton. 2008 was a different time period. technology was not the same. i'm not confident barack obama could have done it bernie's way because technology is so different now. >> barack obama gets a pass because of the technology? >> it's not about a pass. it's about you are where you are. in 2016, bernie sanders has demonstrated you can fund a competitive presidential race without relying on corporate money and wall street. secretary clinton has chosen to play the old game. bernie sanders has not. >> let's quickly talk about the delegate math. you have people waking up talking about the system being corrupt. they believe the numbers game is corrupt. when bernie sanders pulls a victory out of wyoming, you start talking about superdelegates, allocated
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delegates, and i think we can put some of this on the screen. as steve kornacki pointed out, he's 200-plus deficit in the allocated. if you get to new york, the numbers still not on your side. bottom line is your supporters believe how is it possible that he can keep winning but yet keep losing? >> well, as you pointed out, he's won, i think it's eight of the last nine if you include democrats abroad. we have whittled down secretary clinton' lead. she had way over a 300 delegates lead. now we're almost down to 200. as the process goes along, that's going to get lower and lower until he passes her on june 7th. >> is the -- is the feeling that your supporters have of this system is rigged against bernie, is that something you subscribe to when looking at the superdelegates and the math and the victory just recently out of wyoming? >> well, wyoming is a little bit of a pukuehlural situation because of the way the delegates are, without getting too much into the weeds, this is the way the delegate structure is set
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up. i'm not saying there's anything wrong with what happened in wyoming. it's just the way it falls. but by and large, you know, bernie sanders has benefitted from proportional system that the secretary has also benefitted from. that's what we do, we don't have winner take all. the superdelegates, i think at the end of the day, they want to win. bernie sanders is the candidate who can win in november, the polls show it now for months, like at first, it was people discounted it, it's a fluke. the polls are consistent. bernie sanders beat every republican by more than does secretary clinton. in fact, she loses to a bunch of republicans in the polls we have seen recently in some states and nationally. the superdelegates at the end of the day are going to take a look. bernie sanders is going to finish the race strong. no one is going to go to the convention with a majority of pledged delegates, and they're going to have to decide if they want to go with the candidate who can win in november. >> that's the candidate who doesn't have the relationship that the clintons have, hillary clinton has with them, when you look at the party leaders who the superdelegates are. >> right.
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>> what indication is there that bernie sanders has established a relationship with those people he'll need to support, beyond saying i can beat the republicans in a head-to-head matchup. hillary clinton does as well. >> well, not every case. she loses to ted cruz in some polls. she certainly loses to john kasich. >> in the vast majority of averages, though, she beats their front-runner. >> she definitely beats the front-runner. >> yes. >> and ted cruz. yes. >> in wisconsin, she was tied with ted cruz. a lot of battleground states where she doesn't do quite so well frb at the end of the day, superdelegates are people of congress. >> people who would logically line up with hillary clinton. >> absolutely. at the end of the day, they're going to say do we want more democratic senators, more democratic house members, or are we going to throw our lot in with hillary clinton? i think at the end of the day, the superdelegates are going to say let's go with the candidate who can bring in young people, who can bring in independent voters. hillary clinton does terrible with independent voters.
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only 25% of voters are democrats. in a general election,f you can't bring independents along with you, you can't win. >> have to ask about the comment about claire mccaskill, about sexist comments from bernie sanders. has the campaign had a discussion that there is a fine line as far as interpretation, and sometimes perception is reality, that things that senator sanders has said in his criticism can be perceived as sexist and things you have said, quite honestly. >> i have been criticized many times. let me say this. if that's sexist, what was it when the clinton campaign was saying barack obama was not qualified to be president, or even vice president back in 2008? bernie's comment is sexist? what's that comment? >> jeff weaver, thank you sdpr joining me. >> coming up, hillary clinton releases a new ad today in new york. and the person she's targeting pretty intriguing there, we'll tell you and show you. up next, i'll talk live with clinton's national press secretary, brian fallon. we'll get him to respond to some
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non-insulin victoza®. it's covered by most health plans. welcome back. hillary clinton is out with a new ad in new york attacking donald trump. the ad is the first from her campaign to mention trump by name. >> donald trump says we can solve america's problems by turning against each other. it's wrong, and it goes against everything new york and america stands for. >> with so much at stake, she's the one tough enough to stop trump. >> over the weekend, clinton responded to the way her husband, former president bill clinton, handled protesters who confronted him about his 1994 crime bill, and her use of the term superpredator. >> well, i think what bill said is that we should all be listening to each other.
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i certainly have been listening. the very first day of this campaign, i gave a speech about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. i have been consistently speaking out about what i would do as president. and i think it's important for people to recognize we have work to do. >> clinton campaign national press secretary brian fallon joins me now live. thank you for joining us. we'll get to the new ad, but i want to get to what bernie sanders said regarding this superpredator term. he said we all know what was meant by that. and has asked for president clinton to apologize and focus on the campaign here. so when he says we all know what was meant by that superpredator term, what's the campaign's response to that? >> this is a term that hillary clinton has already addressed having used. she expressed regret. she said that correctly, that she only used it one time. that it was an error to do so,
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and she's never used the term since. and would not. and i don't think president clinton in his comments the other day was attempted to defend the use of that term. when it comes to criminal justice reform, as you just heard in the clip you played, secretary clinton has put forward the boldest proposals affany candidate on either side of the aisle to reform the system, reduce the era of mass incarceration we're in, not just at the federal level, but also at the state level where the vast majority of those inmates are right now imprisoned. you have to judge the candidates on the policies they're putting forward. what gets overlooked here, senator sanders is trying to turn that comment from many years ago that hillary clinton has expressed regret for, into a campaign ixue. yet he refused to acknowledge he himself voted for that 1994 crime bill that both president clinton and secretary clinton has admitted went too far in many respects. senator sanders should be accountable for that vote and admit that that was an error to vote for it just as president
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clinton and secretary clinton has said it went too far. >> when senator sanders says we know who they were talking about, is he race-baiting? >> you would have to ask that of the sanders campaign. the reality is just as he also voted for the 1994 crime bill, senator sanders in the '90s also used terms i suspect strongly he would regret having to acknowledge using today. i think he referred to individuals in the '90s that the bill was trying to address as socio paths. i think all of this was a product of the time that they were in and looking back, many people have regrets about the terminology that was used. i think what we need to judge both candidates by right now is the strength of the proposals they're putting forward to deal with the mass incarceration problem. >> kristen welker is covering the campaign. she said behind the scenes there are now some questioning whether bill clinton helps or hurts the campaign after he created this controversy last week. is there concern within the campaign regarding bill clinton? >> absolutely not.
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from our vantage point, every day we can have president clinton on the trail, attesting to his wife, that's a good day for the campaign. even after the incident with the protesters, he was out this weekend campaigning, giving speeches, making some appearances in churches across new york city. he's an invaluable surrogate for us. >> jeff weaver was just on from the sanders campaign. we asked him about the recent comments that hillary clinton has a lack of judgment, a judgment issue. he cited the iraq war. he talked about money from wall street, and also money from the gun lobby. and said, and hopefully we can play this in his own words, she's all over the place, willing to follow the ball or follow the money in any way possible. >> right. so this is essentially the same attack he made last week. last week, he used the word unqualified. this week, it's judgment. it's fundamentally the same attack.
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he encountered so much blow back that they're trying to change the terminology, but it's still the fall attack that won't ring true to voters. by the same standards he's using, president obama wouldn't have good judgment to be president in terms of accepting contributions from the financial industry. >> which is what i asked. jeff said that was a different time. that technology is different. but let's play jeff weaver in his own words because i want you to be able to respond. let's play it. >> in terms of guns, it's secretary clinton whose campaign is accepting money from gun lobbyists. it's a pattern with the secretary. she's going to take on the big banks but she takes big bank money. going to take on the big oil, but she takes oil money. she's going to take on the gun lobby, but she takes gun lobby money. i don't know what her real position is. >> he doesn't know what her real position is? >> we're in the middle of the new york primary. the spotlight doesn't shine brighter than new york. senator sanders has come under
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scrutiny unlike any point previous in the campaign, especially as you saw in the daily news interview. last week, he whiffed on a philadelphia inquirer editorial board interview when he was asked about his trade policy. as some of the missing in action type proposals have been exposed, he's flailing and throwing all different kinds of attacks hillary clinton's way. it's absolutely false to suggest we don't know where hillary clinton stands on gun issues. she has been a consistent opponent of the nr ark. senator sanders, on the other hand, owes his election to congress in 1990 in part to the nra. he wrote that himself. >> can you take money from the gun lobby and fight against the gun lobby? >> judge her by her record. that's an exaggeration as well. the spirit of that criticism is the same spirit that underpinned their argument that she's taken money from oil and gas companies. and that was a widely debunked criticism two weeks ago, fact checkers from the "washington post," the "new york times," all looked at that. >> but the campaign is still
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saying that. >> that is just a testament to how desperate they have become and the types of attacks they're throwing hillary clinton's way. >> we showed this new ad in new york. it focuses in on donald trump and the assertion hillary clinton is the person who can defeat him. i'm sure you heard jeff weaver say in the end, they want the people who can win. he pointed to a laundry list of polls showing bernie sanders defeating ted cruz, john kasich. is that more about telling the superdelegates i can take on this guy, donald trump, and less about donald trump? you understand what i'm saying? here, superdelegates, i can take this guy on. >> it's a message to primary voters. we think hillary clinton is the best candidate to take on donald trump. she's the one with the toughness and tenacity to do it. she's been calling him out since he launched his campaign. with respect to superdelegates. number one, solong as hillary clinton has a lead in pledged
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delegates, the superdelegates have never in history gone against the choice of the people, as reflected by who's leading in the pledged delegates. we would expect the superdelegates to do the same things they have done, which is ratify the selection of those who have the most pledged degates. secondly, in terms of electability, all those polls are meaningless now. the only person who has been tested and come out on the other end of republican attacks is hillary clinton. if bernie sanders went through a general election, those numbers would change in a heart beat. number three, the superdelegates are concerns about who is going to have a down ballot effect? this has the potengs to be a real wave election for democrats, especially if someone like ted cruz or donald trump is at the top of the ticket. bernie sanders has shown no commitment to the down ballot races. hillary clinton is helping invest in races across the country. bernie sanders is raising money only for himself. >> that's a point rachel maddow has made on her show. you have been a trouper. i don't think i have ever done an interview with ground coffee
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in the background. not all of brooklyn is a roasting factory. they have beer gardens, too. thank you very much. coming up, we'll take you to other parts of new york city, outside of a roasting location, which is really good, too. to get a sense of what the voters are saying and thinking about in the days ticking up to the primary here, as we continue to come to you live from brooklyn, new york. (vo) on the trane test range, you learn what makes our heating and cooling systems so reliable. if there's a breaking point, we'll find it. it's hard to stop a trane. really hard.
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♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ up next, we go live to staten island, the new york borough that is predominantly white and home to the largest percentage of republican voters. donald trump is reportedly planning a visit there just two days before the new york primary. coming up, what staten island voters are saying this morning about the state of the gop race.
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and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a great taste. i don't plan on slowing down any time soon. stay strong. stay active with boost®. welcome back. we've got some new sound in from former president bill clinton who's on the campaign trail in the bronx again talking about the bill from 1994. there's been such a focus these past few days. let's listen in to what he said. >> people were screaming, and i forgot that you need miranda warnings in public. everybody was screaming. the only thing i said is, first of all, yes, there are too many people today. yes, a small percentage of them are in federal prison. and yet hillary was in this campaign saying we should reduce the prison population but we can't let people out without
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education, training, and guaranteed they won't be denied. i feel good about it. >> msnbc national correspondent joy reid is standing by. i have to be honest, i could not hear the sound. it was muffled. i'm sure you might have been able to hear better than i given the location but nevertheless, let's get the reaction from you based on the fact here we are starting a new week and bill clinton feeling the need to elaborate on what happened. >> reporter: yeah, and tamron, i think that you're starting to see the results of the campaign clearly having intervened to try to get back him on message to make sure when he comments about the crime bill or anything to do with the clinton era, he focuses on hillary but still slightly off message on what he did on stage.
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the rope line conversation he continued to defend the crime bill he signed giving the reasons for it. i think you see there's this dichotomy between the bill clinton who wants to fight for his legacy and the bill clinton trying to be a good surrogate for the hillary clinton campaign. we're still basically in the same place we were last week. >> so we just had ryan fallon on and dismissed the reports that there are some worried about bill clinton on the campaign trail whether he helps or hurts. what does that sound like, joy? 2008 when that same argument was made after south carolina and other uncomfortable moments for hillary clinton. if she's the nominee, i think we could safely say that this will be always that how much of a help is bill clinton? it will also be applied later to barack obama, again, whomever is the nominee. how much do these giants in their party help the nominee? >> reporter: yeah, and tamron, it's interesting i'm here in staten island which is, as you
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have been saying this morning and all morning, it's the most red borough in new york city but it's all relative. john mccain won this section of new york city in 2008 and barack obama narrowly won it in 2012 and 29% republican but in relative to other parts like brooklyn and manhattan and 70% to 80% democrats, this is a reagan democrat country. this is the kind of place where bill clinton should be helpful to bill clinton because these are mainf fuly registered democ open to conservative messages. we'll see if he gets sent to a place like this before it goes on. tamron? >> it's interesting to note that that's the part of new york that donald trump is focused on as well. let me go to cal perry. he's standing by in queens. cal, are you there? >> reporter: hey, tamron. this is an interesting neighborhood. i mean, a part of new york where you have more than 50% of an
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immigrant population. how the trump message is playing, people say it's brought up fear in to this community. why are we here? why do we keep coming to queens? the candidates keep coming here. we're standing by waiting and i can swing this camera around in about 30 seconds. tamron, if you bare with me. you'll see the arrival of yet another candidate. people have been coming here throughout the weekend. bill clinton was here yesterday and hillary clinton here as well at a church campaigning throughout the week and we expect to see more and more people arriving not only throughout the week but now you'll see the arrival of hillary clinton. this is an off the record event which is why we could not tell our viewers about it until just now until we actually see the campaign arriving, but she'll be here at jackson's diner, an indian establishment. on a surprise visit to visit people in the neighborhood to go over some of her more salient points of her campaign, certainly on a day where you
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have "the boston globe" putting out the cover with donald trump. madam secretary? >> hello, how are you? >> secret service, tamron, asked us to stand back here. that is the council member there from this area of queens and again, i want to make it clear, the secret service is keeping us back. there is a pool set up inside a variety of networks here to shoot the secretary to film her as she goes in. and enjoys lunch. this is, as i mentioned, one of her unscheduled stops. this is not something advertised to the media. there you see her assistant, well known assistant now following her in. she'll be spending lunch here, we understand, and then on to her next event, tamron. >> just again, quickly, cal, before we let you go in a second. this neighborhood is significant for many reasons. its diversity, what it represents. as far as new york voters, democratic voters especially.
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>> reporter: absolutely. and it's also important for the economy and for jobs. that's what people are talking about. they want more employment and they want wage rights. tamr tamron? >> thank you, great timing again, watching the arrival of hillary clinton on one of her campaign stops. that does it for this hour of "msnbc live." thank you for joining us from brooklyn, new york. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." hours and 2 minutes you are going to be 67. and on that day you will walk into a room where 15 people will be waiting... 12 behind the sofa, 2 behind the table and 1 and a half behind a curtain. family: surprise! but only one of them will make a life long dream come true. great things are ahead of you when your health is ready for them. at humana, we can help you with a personalized plan for your health for years to come. [alarm beeps] ♪
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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the delegate game. donald trump out flanked by ted cruz working the system. now claims the primary process is rigged. >> we've got a corrupt system. it's not right. >> we're going to have a ton of delegates. donald is going to have a ton of delegates. >> we're supposed to be a democracy. >> and it's a battle in cleveland. >> we're supposed to be, you vote, and the vote means something. >> i think we will go in with an overwhelming


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