All Eyes on Florida for GOP Meeting.
BANFIELD: All eyes are on Florida right now, and it's not for a vote. It's the Republican Party's most powerful and influential members who are getting together for this annual spring meeting. It's sort of a tri-annual thing. And it's kind of run-of-the-mill. It doesn't usually get a lot of attention. But a key part of the gathering is that the members of the RNC committee are going to consider whether to recommend changing some of those rules for the convention this summer. Oh, boy, can of worms, because those rules could impact how the nominee is actually selected. For his part, Paul Ryan, who will chair the conventions, speaker of the House, is taking on the claims by Donald Trump that this whole process is what Trump says, "rigged."</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I think the rules are the rules. And people know the rules going into it. We are going to follow the book by the rules, and that is exactly how this convention's going to be run. It's very important that it's done exactly that way.</s>MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you concerned in any way about how messy this could be in a second or third ballot? Even Donald Trump running</s>RYAN: I really don't spend my time thinking about this. I'm too - as you can tell, I'm a little busy with my day job. So this is something that's outside of our control. It very well may be that somebody gets 1,237 delegates before the convention and then this whole open convention question is closed. But maybe we'll have an open convention. If we do, we will deal with the situation as it arises.</s>BANFIELD: I want to spring in Sean Spicer, chief strategist and communications director for the RNC. Sean, thanks so much for being with me today and welcome from sunny Florida.</s>SEAN SPICER, RNC CHIEF STRATEGIST & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: You bet. It's beautiful to be here.</s>BANFIELD: My first question to you is - I'll bet it's nice outside. I want to get your feeling for what things are like as you go into those meetings because the behind the scenes reporting is that it is an all- out brouhaha between your members about whether you should keep the rules or stuff the rules for new ones. What's going on in there?</s>SPICER: So, generally speaking, what happens is every four years the RNC makes recommendations to the convention rules committee about changes that are suggested. And they truly are that, just suggestions and recommendations. Chairman Reince Priebus has suggested that the RNC forego that and leave all decisions to the elected delegates.</s>BANFIELD: I know that the technical reason for that, Sean, is that, you know, Reince Priebus is saying publically, look, this is such a keg of you know what that if we change anything at this point, all eyes are on us and it could really be problematic. So let's just keep it all in place. But there are others who say, keeping it all in place just keeps all the power with the big party brass to be able to wrangle things their way and even bring in what they call a white night at the end of the day in the - in the convention. So that's why I'm saying it is very clear to those watching this process there are two divergent sides within the RNC meeting. What's going to come out of it, a set of new rules for the rules committee or a blank piece of paper?</s>SPICER: Well, again, recommend - understand that nothing is going to come out except the potential of recommendations. And as I said, the chairman has been very clear that he believes all of the discussion should be left to the elected delegates. The idea that the RNC should get in the middle and create any sense that something's being done that might potentially, you know, support or oppose one particular campaign is not a good idea. We should leave all the decisions to the elected delegates who have been chosen by the Republican grassroots voters from coast to coast. So I think that there's going to be - there's a lot of attention here because I think that, frankly, there's nothing else to talk about. What you're going to see what comes out this week, which is going to be the RNC largely deferring to the delegates who have been elected and allowing that conversation to occur in Cleveland this summer.</s>BANFIELD: The strange thing is, is that everything seems very upside down, Sean, because when Reince Priebus says, look, leave it the way it is, let's not mess around, let's not get involved, it's exactly getting involved. You know, the charge from Donald Trump, that these existing rules make the process rigged. And he says it allows people like Ted Cruz, who are not winning in the numbers, to go and, say, offer free travel to the convention to get a delegate to be on his side, say a second ballot. And he says that's rigged and we need change. So is it possible -</s>SPICER: Look -</s>BANFIELD: That say this guy, I've read about him, he sounds fascinating, Solomon Yue, who is from Oregon I believe, who wants you to toss out the existing rules that mic the House and go with something called the Roberts Rules of Order. We're all getting great civics lessons. But Roberts Rules of Order, for his part, he says they're a lot more democratic and they take the power away from the big RNC bosses.</s>SPICER: Well, it's - a couple things. Number one, the rules in the process we're using is the same rules and process we've used since 1856. So not following this same procedure would actually be - would be changing the process. So I think that's one thing to keep in mind. Second, the current process does allow for the majority to have its will of delegates to win on everything. So whether it's the rules, the platform, whatever that is, all the issues that come up in Cleveland will all be decided by 1,237 delegates or a majority of those on the floor. So the majority of delegates, who have been elected by the Republican grassroots, are what's going to take - have their will in Cleveland this summer. The chairman's point in this is, nothing that's discussed here this week in Cleveland, as it pertains to the convention, will have an actual impact on what gets done in Cleveland. It would be merely recommendations. And then our job is to ensure that everyone sees that we are the fair arbiter of the process. So the less that we do to create confusion, the better. We need to make sure that everybody sees this process. Ashleigh, it hasn't happened since 1976. So for a lot of people, they're frankly unfamiliar with the process. We need to make sure that we do everything we can to educate people about what's going on and to do nothing to further cloud that process.</s>BANFIELD: OK, to educate them. So I'm going to just book you right here and now for when the Hollywood meeting is over and you can come out and talk to me about every single thing you guys talked about behind those closed doors. Is that OK, Sean?</s>SPICER: Absolutely. But, remember, they're not closed doors. CNN's got a camera inside.</s>BANFIELD: True.</s>SPICER: There's a CNN - or a bull (ph) camera. Nothing is happening in closed doors.</s>BANFIELD: But there are so many closed door sessions.</s>SPICER: No. But, look, I love the fact that we're out here discussing it.</s>BANFIELD: All right, Sean.</s>SPICER: It's a lot better to have a nice breeze.</s>BANFIELD: Yes.</s>SPICER: But there's no closed door meetings. Everything is open. Come on down!</s>BANFIELD: Oh, thank you for the invitation. I'd love to. Thank you, Sean Spicer. We'll talk to you in a few days, hopefully.</s>SPICER: You bet.</s>BANFIELD: OK, coming up next, after two years, after 100,000 people were first exposed to lead poisoned water in Flint, Michigan, there are several officials who are now facing criminal charges. The announcement from the prosecutors to come shortly.