Democratic Candidates War over Presidential Qualifications.
BOLDUAN: Back to breaking news out of Belgium. A federal prosecutor saying several arrests have now been made in connection with Brussels terrorist attack. Let's bring in Nic Robertson. He's in London. It seems there's a lot of information we don't know quite yet, Nic. We don't know the names, at least at this moment unless you have a breaking update on that. We also don't know how many. What is the significance that you're picking up of the several arrests made?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This diminishes the threat to European cities and to Belgium. By how much we don't know until we know the names and how many people have been picked up. We know that Belgian authorities have been on the lookout for anything more than eight or 10, up to 20 or more people. We know that as of last year European intelligence agencies knew that 60 operatives from is have been sent to target European cities. Anyone taken out of that mix, if these men are part of that ISIS terror threat, which is what the Belgian authorities are so on the alert more at the moment, is going to help them. It's not going to remove it all together. Until we know precisely who has been arrested, it's going to be hard to say. But it is interesting that these arrests, we don't know how many, came the day after Belgian authorities decided to put out more information about the man in the hat and the white coat, seen with the other two suicide bombers at the airport in Brussels minutes before the attack there. He went on the run. Belgian authorities released videos showing him as he moved away from the airport and towards a nearby town. Has this helped them develop more intelligence and more information? Who have they captured? How significant? We're waiting to find out.</s>BOLDUAN: And there's some indication we could get more information, the number of people, some of the names. Some of that could be coming. We're watching it closely. Nic is there for us and we'll bring you updates as we get them. Nic, thank you so much. Let's go back to politics here in the U.S. The war of words between the Democratic candidates reaching somewhat of a cease fire this morning. Give us a minute. It could change. After Sanders called Clinton unqualified, Clinton said Sanders didn't do his homework. They're both backing away from the attack lines and turning their focus toward the Republicans.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it's a silly statement, but he's free to say whatever he chooses.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is he qualified to be president?</s>CLINTON: Here's what I believe. I believe voters will be looking at both of us, but I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz any time.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I respect Hillary Clinton. We were colleagues in the Senate. And on her worst day she would be a better president than candidates.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She's qualified?</s>SANDERS: Of course.</s>BERMAN: Joining us right now, the campaign manager for Bernie Sanders, Jeff Weaver. Jeff, Bernie Sanders just said yes, she's qualified. Two days ago, he said these are the reasons she's not qualified. Which is it?</s>JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR BERNIE SANDERS: I think what he was pointing |t the other day is on a number of issues, the secretary as taken stances including supporting the war in Iraq, taking money from big companies that call into question if she should be the nominee.</s>BERMAN: He said she's not qualified to be president because. This morning he said, of course, she's qualified.</s>WEAVER: I think he said these more qualified than any of the Republicans. He has pledged to support the Democratic nominee. She has as well.</s>BOLDUAN: He said she's qualified. Please tell me you're not going to say he misspoke on that.</s>WEAVER: No, no. Clearly, her resume makes her qualified in that sense.</s>BERMAN: So she is qualified?</s>WEAVER: In that narrow sense, yes.</s>BERMAN: She is qualified?</s>WEAVER: In the narrow sense of the resume for the job, yes.</s>BERMAN: In the narrow sense of, yes or no, is she qualified, she's qualified?</s>WEAVER: There's more than a resume. There's things like judgment. Over the number of years, there's times when she exercised terrible judgment, the war in Iraq is one of the issues, supporting DOMA. If you look at her record, on issue after issue, she now apologizes for half her record, DOMA, the super predator comment, the war in Iraq. On and on it goes. She repudiates positions she took.</s>BOLDUAN: Jeff, when people watch this, they say this is part of the silly season no one likes. Bernie Sanders said it this morning, this is not the question that keeps Democratic voters up at night.</s>WEAVER: Oh, absolutely.</s>BOLDUAN: No kidding. But why then has it become a trip up? Why is he -- if this is not something keeping folks up at night, why has this become a thing of unqualified and not qualified? If she's better than any Republican out there, she's qualified.</s>WEAVER: Well, look, what we have said all along, and this goes back to -- there was a debate about who was a progressive a couple months ago.</s>BOLDUAN: Yes.</s>WEAVER: A similar kind of debate. What has been clear throughout the campaign is Bernie Sanders has set the agenda in terms of the message. The Clinton campaign set the tone. We came into New York after Wisconsin, after they lost seven of the last eight contests, some of them, by overwhelming margins, we came into New York, there was an attack on the Senator's qualifications. Jeff Zeleny reported about Clinton's strategy in New York was going to be disqualifying him, defeat him, and then reunify the party later. Let me tell you something. Bernie Sanders is a son of Brooklyn. He's going to campaign like a Brooklyn person. If they want to bring it, on that level, we'll bring it back.</s>BOLDUAN: Is it not over? Is it still being brought in?</s>WEAVER: Well --</s>BOLDUAN: What's happening here?</s>WEAVER: We'll see. If the Clinton people want to have a debate on the issues and the substantive issues, we're happy to do it.</s>BERMAN: Let's talk about substance.</s>WEAVER: Sure.</s>BERMAN: You're talking about Clinton's decisions on Iraq and said she's, in part, responsible for the rise of ISIS. And you say that the decisions she made while secretary of state helped create a vacuum in the Middle East.</s>WEAVER: It's not just me.</s>BERMAN: No, it's not just you. People like Marco Rubio have said that.</s>BERMAN: People like McCain have said that repeatedly. Are you saying the decisions --</s>BERMAN: -- of the Obama administration -- exactly, I talked to her about it --- to withdraw the troops from Iraq during Obama's term help create a vacuum in Iraq?</s>WEAVER: It wasn't a withdrawal of troops. It was going into Iraq in the first place. It was a mistake. Bernie Sanders was in the Congress at the time talking about exactly what would happen, which is --</s>WEAVER: -- a vacuum would be created and there would be a lot of instability and god knows what would come out of it. And that's what happened.</s>BERMAN: One of the vacuums -- a lot of people are using the vacuum comment for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, which certainly Bernie Sanders supported.</s>WEAVER: Absolutely.</s>BERMAN: Does he think that created a vacuum in Iraq?</s>WEAVER: No, the vacuum was created by engaging in an unnecessary war of regime change in the Middle East against what is admittedly a brutal dictator, but not one who was involved in 9/11.</s>BOLDUAN: So one vacuum, but not the other? You don't think it created a vacuum with troops being pulled out?</s>WEAVER: Well, should the United States troops have stayed there forever? That's the problem. That's the problem with the wars. We're not going to have U.S. troops occupying other countries for years and years. It's not feasible strategy. That's why we have to have a different foreign policy, not of a Bush, George W. Bush foreign policy or a Dick Cheney foreign policy.</s>BOLDUAN: You have been floating the possibility, actually, the likelihood of an open convention. Do you have a floor operation underway for that?</s>WEAVER: We're beginning to work on that. In all likelihood, there will be an open convention when we get to the Democratic convention.</s>BOLDUAN: Describe the operation for us.</s>WEAVER: Yeah. The operation or scenario?</s>BERMAN: The operation.</s>BOLDUAN: The operation. We get the scenario.</s>WEAVER: We are in constant contact with super delegates as we go towards the convention to convince them what is the fact, polls show Bernie Sanders beats the Republicans by better margins. And if Donald Trump isn't the nominee, the secretary loses to Kasich and sometimes to Cruz.</s>BERMAN: You talk about the idea of an open convention, fighting it out on the floor, we're trying to figure out if that's a threat or something you're actively planning for.</s>WEAVER: I was just at a meeting about it two days ago. Yes, it is something actively going on in the campaign. We have many people affiliated with the campaign with floor experience in the Democratic Party. We're looking at our options in terms of rules and delegates and what have you on the floor.</s>BERMAN: Who is your Paul Manafort? Who is going to run it?</s>WEAVER: We'll -- to be revealed.</s>BOLDUAN: Do you have one name, though?</s>WEAVER: No. I don't think we have one name. We have a team of people who are helping us.</s>BERMAN: Jeff Weaver, great to see you. Thank you so much.</s>WEAVER: Dream Weaver.</s>BERMAN: Dream Weaver here on the set with us.</s>WEAVER: Yeah, thank you.</s>BOLDUAN: Thank you.</s>BERMAN: Coming up next, the Clinton campaign will join us to respond and also talk about Bill Clinton's heated run in with Black Lives Matter protesters.</s>BOLDUAN: Plus, we'll have more on our breaking news. Authorities just captured one of the fugitives in the Brussels terror attacks. Major arrests have been made. New details about the identities and how many have been arrested. We'll be right back.