Clooney On Fundraiser: "Obscene Amount Of Money"
PAUL: You hear it there "we're in the money." They are making it happen along the route as Bernie Sanders' supporters shower the Hillary Clinton motorcade with $1 bills, 1,000 of them, to be exact. She was on her way to a fundraiser George Clooney (inaudible) last night. A Bernie supporter hosted his own fundraiser in the same neighborhood handing a thousand $1 bill to protest what he called the absurdity around campaign finance laws.</s>BLACKWELL: A thousand bucks wouldn't get you close to getting you inside that George Clooney fundraiser. Single tickets cost $33,400. To sit at the big table with the Clooneys and Secretary Clinton, $353,400 per couple. If you think those prices are ridiculous, you're not alone. Here is the dinner's host.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me start with dinner you co-hosted on Friday night. Big fund-raiser you had planned for later tonight. Do you look at how much is being raised? I think the $353,000 a couple to be a co-chair. Do you look at it yourself and think that's an obscene amount of money?</s>GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR, DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISER: Yes. I think it's an obscene amount of money. I think -- we had some protesters last night when we pulled up in San Francisco. They're right to protest. They're absolutely right. It is an obscene amount of money. The Sanders campaign, when they talk about it, is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree.</s>BLACKWELL: All right, joining me to talk about this, Nomiki Konst, Democratic strategist and Bernie Sanders supporter, and Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Hillary Clinton supporter. Good to have both of you with us this morning. Philip -- I'm sorry, Mayor Levine, I want to start with you. When you have on this weekend the release of the Sanders tax returns from 2014 showing that the Clintons made more than 100 times what the Sanders made in 2014. And this $353,000 per couple fundraiser, does it help to have George Clooney pointing out how ridiculous these numbers are?</s>MAYOR PHILIP LEVINE, MIAMI BEACH: I think George Clooney is being nothing but honest and I applaud him. Secretary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both agree that we need to repeal Citizens United. We think there's too much money in politics. But make no mistake, that was an extensive fundraiser at George Clooney's home. Secretary Clinton has many low donor, $25, $50 per person as little as possible all cross the country. We'll be having them in Miami coming up. I agree with George Clooney. I would say Secretary Clinton agrees with George Clooney. I know Senator Sanders I'm sure agrees with George Clooney. But the key is we need a Supreme Court nominee that will repeal Citizens United and take as much money out of politics as possible. So you won't see any argument here.</s>BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the numbers and I'm going to use the number that many who have follow this race are familiar with, 27, $27, the average amount donated to the Sanders campaign, as the candidate has said many times. He has a new ad out, $27 is the name of it. Let's watch a bit of it.</s>BLACKWELL: Nomiki, obviously calling this $27 to point out the disparity between the amounts given to the Sanders campaign, no super PAC, and those given to Clinton and this fundraiser this weekend. The timing is clear. But there have been criticisms about Senator Sanders in not fundraising for Democrats to push through this political revolution he's calling for. This fundraiser this weekend was not just for Hillary Clinton. It was for Democrats. Does he not need to do more to get the members of Congress elected to push through this agenda that he's proposing?</s>NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Let's dispel the myth right away that Bernie Sanders is not raising money for Democrats. He's spent 30 years raising money for Democrats. He has gone around with Chuck Schumer, raising money for Democrats. Chuck Schumer has gone and campaigned for him. He is raising money for congressional candidates right now, more progressive congressional candidates. They're not endorsed by the</s>DNC. BLACKWELL: This is essentially emails that allows donors to split their money between him and three people.</s>KONST: No, not exactly. He has a separate fund. To get back to that point, the Democratic Party 35 years ago changed its model. It used to be the people's party. It's become the rich people's party, unfortunately. What is happened is the Democratic Party has prioritized candidates that can raise money. They want to be in this arms race for GOP. The problem is that we're not winning. If we were winning, if we were electing leaders instead of fundraisers into Congress, maybe we would find ways to compromise, like Bernie Sanders does. He's compromised with Republicans more than any other Democrat in Congress, passed more legislation than any other Democrat with Republicans in Congress. He's the amendment king. Instead we've been electing these fundraisers who lack the leaderships to get those things done like over turning Citizens United. So the model is changing right now. Bernie Sanders is just proving that you don't need to have these obscene fundraisers to prove that you have a people's party campaign. I think that this is going to cry out the next 10, 15 years. We don't need to be the Republicans and play it that way.</s>BLACKWELL: I want to know from the two of you, how deep is this divide? We saw a quite contentious debate on Thursday night here on CNN. Ruth (inaudible) "Washington Post" this weekend asking if what we're watching in the Clinton/Sanders race is more like the Clinton/Obama 2008 race, where many Clinton supporters said they would not support Obama if he won the nomination but eventually did. Or if this is the 1980 race between Senator Kennedy and President Carter in which the primary went all the way to the convention and eventually President Carter lost. She puts I think we have the quote we can put up and one person says here, a former Carter aide said, "I think it's more like Kennedy/Carter. Bernie's message is really resonating with the Democratic base. He has a huge following. If he stays in the race past the time he's the inevitable nominee, it can hurt her in the same way Kennedy hurt Carter." Mayor Levine, your thoughts?</s>LEVINE: You know, my feeling is this. I believe Senator Sanders, assuming that Secretary Clinton, which I believe will get the nomination. I believe he will bring his people to Secretary Clinton's platform and support her. It's good for the nation, the Democratic Party. The math is the math. As far as the rules go, which are established many, many years ago, Secretary Clinton is way ahead. I think On Tuesday, we're going to find that she's going to clinch, to a large extent, this nomination. I really believe and have faith in Senator Sanders.</s>BLACKWELL: All right, Nomiki, you got 15, 20 seconds to wrap it up.</s>KONST: So the funny thing is after that election that's when we changed the world. The country was more conservative in the '80s. We created superdelegates staffed primaries after the Hunt Commission. Now the country is much more progressive. The party is 70 percent more progressive, which is why Sanders is the best candidate beating Trump by 20 percent, which is why we need those working class voters that Clinton won't be able to get because Trump will take them. He is the best general election candidate. We need to change the rules and bring it back to the people's party.</s>LEVINE: People want to change the rules when you're losing the game.</s>KONST: No, we're not. You guys haven't gone over 250 pledged delegates. You're not going to hit the magic number.</s>BLACKWELL: Thank you both. Bernie Sanders will speak for himself. He is live guest on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning at 9 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Love these conversations -- Christi.</s>PAUL: Yes, Victor, I want to alert you all to some news coming out of North Korea this morning. We're getting word now from an official there regarding what he thinks about Donald Trump's comments on arming Japan and South Korea with nuclear weapons. This is a CNN exclusive. We'll have that for you coming up. Also new this morning, an Alabama police officer has been shot. We have details on that story next. Stay close.