Cruz and Kasich Team Up to Stop Trump
CUOMO: What is talking about? She was their server. She heard what they were talking about. Understood where they were coming from. So she picked up the bill and left a note, saying, I can't imagine the day you've all had, let alone what you go through every day.</s>PEREIRA: Way to go.</s>CAMEROTA: That's wonderful.</s>PEREIRA: You're stellar.</s>COOPER: That's great. All right. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello. Hi, Carol.</s>CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. Have a --</s>PEREIRA: Good morning.</s>COSTELLO: Good morning. Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.</s>COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, divide and conquer. Cruz and Kasich's new plan, team up to stop Trump.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 65 percent to 70 percent of Republicans nationwide recognize that Donald Trump is not the best candidate to go head to head with Hillary Clinton.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm winning by millions and millions of votes. I'm winning by 300 -- almost 300 delegates.</s>COSTELLO: And is he about to rack up even more? Five states voting Tuesday. And Hillary Clinton looking ahead to November.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you hear what Trump and Cruz say, it's not only offensive. It's dangerous.</s>COSTELLO: But Bernie Sanders says she's got to get past him first.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to fight for every last vote until the -- until California and the D.C. primary.</s>COSTELLO: Plus --</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have approved the deployment of up to 250 additional U.S. personnel in Syria, including special forces to keep up this momentum.</s>COSTELLO: More American troops. But they won't lead the fight. Will they? Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.</s>COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. A major twist in a political season that has already tossed aside the normal playbook. Donald Trump's Republican challengers are now joining forces for a single goal, to keep the nomination out of Mr. Trump's hands. The historic move explained by Cruz's campaign manager, quote, "Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for the Republicans." And adding, "Having him as our nominee would set the party back a generation." CNN's Chris Frates live in Philadelphia at a Kasich event next hour. Chris, tell us more.</s>CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. This really is an extraordinary deal between John Kasich and Ted Cruz. It's essentially a nonaggression pact with a divide and conquer strategy against Donald Trump. Here's how it would work. John Kasich is ceding Indiana to Ted Cruz. And if you look at the polling there, you can you start to understand why. Donald Trump is leading both Cruz and Kasich in that state by double-digits in a three-way race. But if Cruz were not to compete there and Ted Cruz can go head-to-head against Donald Trump, it becomes a statistical dead heat. And that gives Cruz the opportunity to try to pick up all 57 of those delegates at stake. It's a winner- take-all opportunity, and that could help keep Donald Trump from getting that magic number of 1237 that he needs to clinch the nomination. Now similarly in New Mexico and Oregon, Ted Cruz saying he's not going to compete against John Kasich there so Kasich has an opportunity to pick up more delegates against Donald Trump. And that's because it's almost mathematically impossible for Ted Cruz or John Kasich to get to that magic number of 1237. So they want to be able to stop Donald Trump from getting there so they can go to Cleveland and come out of that contested convention. They both believe if it goes to a contested convention, they have a shot at that nomination. Now of course Donald Trump not too happy about this news. In fact he was tweeting just this morning, and I want to read you this tweet, Carol. He said, quote, "Shows how weak and desperate Lyin' Ted is, when he has to team with a guy who openly can't stand him and has only one win and 38 losses." And, Carol, it also gives more ammunition to Donald Trump's complaint over the last few days that this system is rigged. In fact he's now saying that Cruz and Kasich are colluding. Here's what he said on the campaign trail just yesterday.</s>TRUMP: Cruz is going, and he's wining and dining and dinner in hotels and all this stuff. He's bribing people, essentially, to vote. Now he can't do it in the first ballot because they're locked into me in the first ballot. I just read an article that Cruz is working really hard to -- I don't want to use the word bribe, but to bribe the delegates from all over the place.</s>FRATES: Now the only thing that remains to be seen here, Carol, is whether or not Kasich and Cruz supporters will follow their lead. Will Kasich supporters in Indiana vote for Cruz? Will Cruz supporters in New Mexico and Oregon go for Kasich? That remains to be seen and something that we'll be watching very, very closely, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Chris Frates live in Philadelphia this morning. Extraordinary, right? I mean, it's downright strange. Kasich and Cruz are asking voters to cast a ballot not for them necessarily but to deny Trump the nomination. With me now, CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord. I'm also joined by Robert McFarlane, he's a surrogate for John Kasich and a former national security adviser for President Reagan. Welcome to both of you.</s>JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello.</s>ROBERT MCFARLANE, JOHN KASICH SURROGATE: Good morning.</s>LORD: Happy Monday, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Good morning. Happy Monday. So, Jeffrey, I guess I'll start with you. Mr. Trump is accusing Ted Cruz and John Kasich of collusion. Why is he using that word?</s>LORD: Well, that's what they're doing. I have to say, Carol, I am astounded at this. Between them, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have gotten 60 percent to 80 percent of the vote from Republicans who have had it with the Republican establishment, and Ted Cruz, who has been remarkably good on this, up until now, talking about the Washington cartel and all of that kind of thing, all of a sudden switches sides. I mean, he's basically has sold out here in some sort of Republican Party Munich. I am really, really astounded at this. I think this is frankly going to backfire. I mean, it's just such a bad mistake on his part and it's going to hurt.</s>COSTELLO: Well, Robert, just -- it is just so strange. It's like this -- it's a divide and conquer strategy, right? It is odd. Kasich and Cruz have been bashing one another as recently as yesterday. Listen.</s>GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A vote for Cruz or Trump, frankly, is a vote for Hillary Clinton. At the end of it all, I think when we're at the convention, the delegates are going to want to know who can beat Hillary. And these guys don't have enough time to turn around super high negatives.</s>CRUZ: As we stand here today, there are two people, and only two people, that have any plausible path whatsoever to winning the Republican nomination. Me and Donald Trump. As I said, plausible path.</s>COSTELLO: OK. So bashing each other, you know, like yesterday. Now they form a partnership. Kasich by the way canceled all of his events in Indiana to pave the way for Ted Cruz but the Indiana primary, Robert, is a week from tomorrow. Isn't it a little late?</s>MCFARLANE: Well, no. Popular misunderstanding is that the delegates at the convention are going to be pledged forever and ever. As you know, nobody will arrive there with a first ballot nomination number of delegates. And after that, it really depends on the work you have done beforehand. Right now and for the past eight months in the actual delegate selection process, Governor Kasich is confident his position in Indiana, in the actual delegates that he has engaged, is going to be very much in his favor at the convention on the second ballot and beyond if necessary. So there's nothing about collusion. It's about doing your homework before you get to the convention. It's going to be contested. I've been to four conventions, one of them contested. So this is a very much ground game that's played before you ever arrive at the convention and selection of delegates that are going to be with you on the second ballot and beyond.</s>COSTELLO: Interesting. So let me get this straight. So John Kasich is asking the voters of Indiana to vote for Ted Cruz to keep Donald Trump out. And once those delegates from Indiana get to the convention in Cleveland, they're still going to throw their support behind John Kasich. Is that right, Robert?</s>MCFARLANE: Well, delegates are allocated in the states, in the primary, based upon who wins the votes in the primary process. But if that vote on the first ballot doesn't yield a majority for any candidate, then the state pledge originally made no longer governs the outcome. And people can be nominated. A second ballot made, a third, a fourth if necessary. And at that point, it is the judgment of individual delegates from each state that's going to determine the outcome. And that's why it's so important for a sensible candidate to have done the homework and hard work before you get there, making sure that delegates are selected who agree with your point of view. That's why Governor Kasich is in a very good position.</s>COSTELLO: OK. So --</s>LORD: Carol?</s>COSTELLO: Yes?</s>LORD: I'm talking to you from Pennsylvania where we'll have our primary tomorrow. And interestingly, the Trump delegates and the Cruz delegates are well out there, under their own names, campaigning for Trump and Cruz. I got three phone calls into this house from people identifying delegates only by name. And saying vote for these delegates and we are unaffiliated with anyone. They gave the name of the committee, however, which I looked up and lo and behold, they're for John Kasich. So in other words, they're playing a little cute here. They're trying to get you to vote for delegates without saying who they're supporting. When, in fact, if you do the homework they are supporting John Kasich.</s>COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, Jeffrey, I wanted to ask you about something else. And it's -- it involves one of the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers are big money men for Republicans.</s>MCFARLANE: Right.</s>COSTELLO: Well, Charles Koch intimated over the weekend that Hillary Clinton might be a better president than any of the Republican nominees. Listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So is it possible another Clinton could be better than another Republican next time around?</s>CHARLES KOCH, CEO, KOCH INDUSTRIES: It's possible. It's possible.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You couldn't see yourself supporting Hillary Clinton, could you?</s>KOCH: Well, her -- we would have to believe her actions would be quite different than her rhetoric. Let me put it that way. On some of the Republican candidates we would have to believe their actions would be quite different than the rhetoric we've heard so far.</s>COSTELLO: So, Jeffrey, I nearly fell off my chair.</s>LORD: Me, too, Carol. I can't wait until Harry Reid hears this. I would love to see Harry Reid explain why he is on the same side of things with the Koch brothers.</s>COSTELLO: Well -- but if Donald --</s>COSTELLO: Isn't -- in listening to Mr. Koch, right, is it possible that Donald Trump could ever bring the Republican Party together? If you have a hardcore Republican like Charles Koch intimating he might support Hillary Clinton for president.</s>LORD: Yes. What Donald Trump is doing is the old Reagan formula of bringing in Democrats, independents and Republicans, who are conservatives. Donald Trump was here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Thursday night at the Farm Show Arena. He had 10,000 people. And because I'm on your show among others a lot of these people came up and spoke to me, and explained exactly how they got there, why they're for Donald Trump, et cetera. He really is bringing in new people. So yes, I do think he can win.</s>COSTELLO: But, Robert, Mr. Trump may be bringing in new people but he's not bringing in enough women, he's not bringing in minority voters at all. So can Jeffrey really say that?</s>MCFARLANE: Well, Carol, if you look at the polling for the past eight months, every time and every poll, the winner always comes out in a head-to-head race between Clinton and Kasich, with Kasich winning, and Cruz and Trump both losing significantly. And so when they get to the convention sensible delegates on the second ballots are going to make their choices on who is it that can win as demonstrated in polls for eight months now. So there's no real choice to be made except who is it that can win. And of course Governor Kasich has the record and the experience, the knowledge to govern sensibly. And so it's going to be an interesting convention. But the polls all tell you that second ballot and beyond, John Kasich is in very good position.</s>COSTELLO: I do think it will be an interesting convention. And I have to leave it there.</s>LORD: The only state he's won, Carol, was Ohio.</s>COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Jeffrey Lord, Robert McFarlane, thanks to both of you. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a major candidate for president says his party isn't being fair to him. And it's not Donald Trump. It's Bernie Sanders.