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Trump, Clinton Win Big on Super Tuesday; Plane Part Washes Up on Mozambique; 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Off Coast of Indonesia; Syrian Peace Talks Delayed. Aired 11:00a-12:00p ET
Aired March 02, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:11] ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Big wins on Super Tuesday put Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton even closer to clinching their party's
nomination for president, but an internal battle is threatening to erupt among Republicans because of Donald
Trump's meteoric rise.
Also ahead, dramatic raids against ISIS in Jordan. The government says the security sweep foiled plots to attack both civilians and military targets.
Also, a picture perfect landing after a long mission in space. Astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russians cosmonauts are now back on solid ground.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is Connect the World.
ASHER: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are in a stronger position than ever after Super Tuesday. The two candidates racked
up wins across the United States, cementing their status as front runners.
Trump picked up seven states and did especially well in the south. In the meantime, rival Ted Cruz grabbed his home state of Texas, which was to be
expected as well as Oklahoma and Alaska.
Marco Rubio eked out his very first win of the primary season and that was in
Minnesota.
In the meantime on the Democratic side, Clinton swept the south grabbing seven states altogether, her rival Bernie Sanders won his home state of
Vermont and three other states.
But we want to get back to the Republican side because the party establishment is now waking up to a new reality.
With all those wins after Super Tuesday, Donald Trump could now be pretty hard to stop.
Here's our Jim Acosta with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have expanded the Republican Party.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a big night for Donald Trump. The clear front-runner now well on his way to
clinching the Republican nomination.
TRUMP: The Republicans have tremendous energy. The Democrats don't. They don't have any energy. Their numbers are down. Our numbers are through the
roof.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The billionaire businessman racked up seven state wins, including delegate-rich Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee.
TRUMP: I think we're going to be more inclusive. I think we're going to be more unified and I think we're going to win in November.
ACOSTA (voice-over): After days of controversy over support from white supremacists, Trump tried to strike a more diplomatic tone, claiming he can
unify the country.
TRUMP: I'm a unifier. I know people are going to find that a little bit hard to believe but, believe me, I am a unifier.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: The path to beating him is for us to unify.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Ted Cruz also called for unity, asking the other three non-Trump candidates to drop out after he won his home state of Texas,
neighboring Oklahoma and Alaska.
CRUZ: Listen, if we remain divided, then in all likelihood Donald Trump becomes the nominee. That result was made clear tonight. But I think Donald
has a hard ceiling of 35-40 percent.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Cruz is making the case that he's the GOP's only hope to win the White House.
CRUZ: For those who have supported other candidates, we welcome you on our team, standing united as one.
ACOSTA: But Trump said GOP leaders should get behind him -- or else.
TRUMP: I'm going to get along great with Congress. OK? Paul Ryan, I don't know him well but I'm sure I'm going to get along great with him.
And if I don't, he's going to have to pay a big price. OK?
ACOSTA (voice-over): And even on night of victories, Trump continued the war of insults with Marco Rubio.
TRUMP: I know it was a very tough night for Marco Rubio. He had a tough night. But he worked hard. He spent a lot of money. He is a lightweight.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But Rubio did pull off his first win in Minnesota and vowed to fight on.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There will never come a time in this race where our supporters are asking us to get out and rally
around Donald Trump. What people are saying fight is, fight as hard as you can to save the party of Lincoln and Reagan from a con artist who refuses
to criticize the KKK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: OK. I want to dig a little deeper now and Super Tuesday's results.
CNN senior political reporter Stephen Collison joins me live now from Washington.
So, Steven we knew that Donald Trump was going to do pretty well on Super Tuesday. But is it fair to say that this race is no longer about Trump
versus Cruz or Trump versus Rubio, but actually Trump versus the Republican Party?
STEPHEN COLLISON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's very true. The Republican Party has woken up I think ever since the South Carolina primary to the
fact that Donald Trump is probably going to end up being their nominee and that's starting
to tear the party apart in some ways.
It was a very good night for Donald Trump in a number of ways, not just because he won seven states. The fact that he lost Texas to Ted Cruz
paradoxically was a good result because that means Ted Cruz has some incentive and a rationale to
stay in the race.
Marco Rubio, as you said Zain, finally got his first win in Minnesota, that means he's going to stay in the race to his home state of Florida on March
15.
So, it means the opposition to Donald Trump remains divided. And that makes it very difficult to see how the establishment which, as you said,
are starting to get very concerned can stop him at this late stage in the race.
ASHER: Yeah, the more people in the race, as you say, the more that helps Donald Trump.
But I want to show our viewers the maths of all this. Because when you look at the delegate count, if you can pull that up, you need a total of
about 1,237 delegates to become the nominee. You see there Donald Trump is at 315. Ted Cruz is 205. Explain why the 100 difference between Trump and
Cruz actually makes all the difference here?
COLLISON: Well, first of all, once you get behind in one of these nominating races, it's very difficult to catch up. So far in the
Republican race, all eight primaries and caucuses the delegates have been proportioned corresponding on how much the vote each candidate got. As
long as they reach a certain threshold usually around 15 or 20 percent.
So if you get behind, it's very difficult.
Now the only way that somebody like Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz or John Kasich, the Ohio governor, can stop Donald Trump is when the contests start being
winner take all contests. In Ohio and Florida, for example, on March 15, that's going to happen. The person that wins those two states gets all the
delegates.
So it's conceivable, theoretically, that you could come from behind if you're
Marco Rubio and win Florida and then run the table on later states and get enough delegates either to get enough delegates to win the nomination or to
stop Donald Trump getting enough delegates to do the same thing and then go to the convention and try and sort of organize a victory that way.
So it is possible for him to come pack. But once you're behind, it's very, very difficult to do so. And that's the dynamic of the race, which is
making it look like Donald Trump if not inevitable, he's clearly cemented his dominance on this race, Zain.
[11:06:38] ASHER: Is Ted Cruz the man who could feasibly now take on Donald Trump, do you think?
COLLISON: Well, he says he is. He says after winning four contests that he's the only candidate that has shown he can beat Donald Trump, especially
in Republican areas. Marco Rubio's win in Minnesota was a fairly liberal state.
The problem for Ted Cruz is that he is not as popular as some other Republican candidates, for example, in the northeast in the industrial
Midwest which are going to have big primaries. His whole rationale for his campaign was running the table in the south. Although he did get some wins
on Super Tuesday, he didn't do that. And that's made it much more difficult for him to build a national campaign.
There are real questions, really, whether because the fact that he's such an arch-conservative, because of the fact he's so unpopular with party
elites and establishment figures, whether he can actually build a campaign that could deliver him sufficient delegates to win the nomination.
ASHER: Well, we are at a crucial juncture in this race. But of course as you mentioned, it really is about March 15. That's when we'll see those
winner take all states.
OK, Stephen Collison, live for us there, thank you so much. Always a pleasure.
Still to come, a very tenuous truce in Syria could pave the way for peace talks to resume next week. But thousands of civilians are still waiting
desperately for humanitarian aid.
Also ahead, a potentially significant capture by the U.S. special forces in Iraq. We'll explain coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:10:21] ASHER: You're watching CNN and this is Connect the World. I'm Zain Asher. Welcome back.
Authorities in Jordan say they have foiled an ISIS terror-linked plot. Security forces arrested 13 suspects in raids near the Syrian border, and
seven alleged attackers were also killed as well.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has been following the story from the capital, Amman.
So, Jomana, what more are we learning about this raid?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zain, just a short time ago we returned from the sea of Irbid (ph), that's about 70
kilometers north of the capital of Amman. It's Jordan's second largest city and that was the scene of this major security operation that began in
the city yesterday afternoon and it went on for hours and went through until the early hours of this morning.
Now what Jordanian authorities are saying is that for some time now they have had an intelligence-led operation that has led them to foil a terror
plot by an ISIS-linked group. They say over time -- they don't specify a timeframe
here, but they say recently they managed to capture 13 members of this group, people
who were involved in the plot. And as a part of that, there was a raid that was carried out by various members of the security forces, different
agencies, elite forces involved yesterday in Irbid (ph).
They went to this neighborhood to try and arrest others who are part of this group. But a standoff ensued.
What happened was the attackers they say that members of the group refused to hand themselves into authorities and opened fire on the security forces
who showed up on the scene and this went on for hours.
According to Jordanian officials, seven of these militants they say linked to ISIS were killed in this attack. They say they were wearing suicide
vests. One member of the security forces was killed, five others were wounded and two civilian bystanders also.
Now Zain, we were not able to film the scene. It was a really heavy security
presence, something that you rarely see in Jordan, but we managed to get past the police cordon and to see for ourselves this building and apartment
building where the militants were holed up for hours. That was the main standoff point. And it looked like a the battle zone there.
The front of the building charred. You had glass and bullet casings all across the floor there. But we were told by police that they have sealed
off this area and they're keeping it sealed. When we left a couple of hours ago, it was still closed off to the public because they said clearing
operations are underway. They were sweeping the area for explosives.
A major operation, Zain, taking place here in Jordan. This country is in a very turbulent neighborhood. But this is not something usual, something --
Jordanians are not used to. People we spoke to there in the area in absolute shock, people who were yesterday stuck in their shops, in their
houses nearby and had to be evacuated by the police forces to get out of the area.
The last time this country was hit by a terrorist attack was more than ten years ago. So a lot of relief here that the security forces may have
foiled what could have been a major attack that Jordanian officials are saying was targeting
civilian and military targets.
But of course, raising a lot of concerns that this country that has been at the forefront of the fight against ISIS, Zain, is always a target for these
militant groups.
ASHER: Yeah, fortunately that attack was prevented, as you mentioned.
OK, Jomana Karadsheh, live for us there, thank you so much.
And CNN has learned the U.S. special forces have captured their first suspected ISIS fighter in northern Iraq. I want to go straight now to
CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She joins us live now from Washington.
So Barbara, what more do we know about this particular detainee and how they were captured?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, officially the Pentagon is
not saying anything, but we have talked to a number of sources who have confirmed some basic details to CNN. This man was captured in an operation
led by U.S. special forces. This is part of a new highly specialized targeting force the U.S. has assembled to go after key operatives starting
in Iraq. They hope eventually to move on into Syria, but not yet.
So, they are in the initial phases of conducting these operations by these U.S. special forces. They were able at some point in recent days to
capture this man. They believe he is a significant operative in ISIS. And he's undergoing interrogation by U.S. officials in Iraq.
The northern town of Irbil where U.S. officials are based is the place where he is sent by officials to being held and questioned.
Now it becomes very interesting because the U.S. has not routinely captured detainees in some years now. There have been individual cases, but this is
the new strategy to try to put some special forces on the ground and get firsthand
to these people and interrogate them for what they know.
The U.S. says they are not going to start a new detainee operation. Nobody is going to Gantanamo Bay, but they will try and turn these people over to
the Iraqis or to their home countries if that's possible.
Right now interrogating this man for what he knows and what information he has about what ISIS might be up to -- Zain.
[11:15:50] ASHER: Yeah, hopefully we'll learn soon if this person is actually cooperating with authorities there. Barbara Starr, live for us
there. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.
The United Sations says that peace talks for Syria will resume next Wednesday, two days later than actually planned, to allow a fragile truce
more time to take hold. The United States says the cease-fire is largely working, but it is accusing the Syrian government of obstructing aid groups
that are waiting to deliver life saving supplies.
I want to bring in CNN contributor Michael Weiss. He's the co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror."
So, Michael you just heard there that these peace talks have been delayed just by two days, but how much can two days really make a difference do you
think in all this?
MICHAEL WEISS, AUTHOR: Well, I think actually giving more time before the talks commence will only lead to the further deterioration of -- it's not
really a cease-fire as its called, its the cessation of hostilities.
You know, the whole problem with this protocol is that there are several -- but the primary one is that it purposefully excluded the two UN proscribed
terrorist organizations, Jabhat al-Nusra, which is the al Qaeda franchise in Syria, and ISIS, from it any cessation of hostilities.
In other words, a collective group of jihadists, which -- depending on which analyst you ask, could comprise as much as 45,000 to 50,000 fighters
on the ground scattered throughout Syria are allowed to conduct suicide operations, car
bombings, the rest of it, and do everything they can to provoke other actors on the field to violating the truce. Added to which the Russian air
force has continued its sorties and bombardment raids. I've just seen reports today, in fact, that they are mounting a concerted campaign
alongside the Assad regime in Latakia Province where ISIS does not have a presence, but Turkish-backed rebel forces do.
So, the more time that goes by, the more I think you're going to see essentially a creeping out of even a pretense of cessation of hostilities.
It is true that people in Aleppo and Idlib provinces for the first ime are seeing relatively clear skies, the result of which is that they are
protesting against the regime in a manner that hasn't been seen since 2011 and 2012.
But make no mistake, I mean, Russia's policy with respect to this ceasefire was twofold. Number one, get the United states on board the Russian, the
Iranian and Syrian regime position, which is to say do not underwrite any kind of proxy campaign to deter or beat back Assad's loyalist forces. At
the same time, Russia under the banner of counterterrorism can go after whomever and anyone it likes.
And this is I think what's going to play out while people meet in Geneva to try and negotiate a diplomatic settlement that frankly I think is a utopian
vision for the future of Syria.
ASHER: So, Michael, you mentioned that pushing back these peace talks is only going to give an opportunity for more violations to happen. What do
you think about how the violations are being investigated or being monitored at this point?
WEISS: Well, this is another sort of flaw in the system. And I'm amazed that Washington has agreed to it.
Essentially there's a whole mechanism by which violations of the cease-fire over the cessation of hostilities are to be reported. So, the United
States has to -- the reports go to the United States or to one of the several actors involved. The United States has to get the approval of the
Russian foreign ministry. So, Russia has to -- if Russia violates the truce by bombing Syrian rebels,
Russia then has to acknowledge that it has violated the truce. I mean, you can
see the absurdity built into this.
And what has happened, again, the United States has moved into the pro- Assad camp, objectively speaking if not subjectively so.
That has been the goal all along, you know, under the threat of a transnational terror organization known as ISIS, The United States has
abandoned all pretenses of trying to get rid of Assad or negotiate him out of power.
You have seen this since 2011, the summer of 2011 when President Obama said it's time for Assad to step aside. This is no longer a precondition. You
know, that pony has left the stable.
So, essentially Russia and Assad and Iran are getting exactly what they want out of this.
ASHER: But I want do what...
WEISS: They can do anything that they like.
ASHER: Right, but I do emphasize, though, that Staffan de Mistura has said that he's going to use these peace talks to bring up elections happening
there potentially in Syria.
But there is something else that I do want to ask you about, Michael, and that is the Gulf Cooperation Council has now designated Hezbollah a
terrorist organization officially, this is changing topic. But what are the practial implications of that, do you think?
[11:20:12] WEISS: Well, I don't think there are very many practical implications. I mean, it's not as if Saudi Arabia woke up this and said,
gee, we think Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.
What they're doing is I think flailing about. They have withdrawn a lot of money, including funding the Lebanese armed forces, from Lebanon, which is
a country that, you know, you remember Cedar revolution in the mid-aughts. I mean, this was a pro-Saudi, pro-American protest movement led by the so-
called March 14 Coalition. That is now in tatters. And what has results is the so-called deep state that Hezbollah, which is an Iranian subsidiary,
has constructed in the country is now really the dominant force. I mean it is uncontested power inside Lebanon.
And I think the Saudis are washing their hands and saying, look, we've given up. We're giving money to the ALF, the Lebanese military, which is
infiltrated by Hezbollah operatives. So, we're essentially financing an organization and a series of interests that are retrograde to our own.
But all of this has to be taken within the broader geopolitical context. I mean, and it comes back to Syria, it comes back, Frankly, to just America's
role in the Middle East.
The GCC countries led by Saudi Arabia, but also we're talking Qatar, you know, the UAE, they are chewing the carpet in frustration at what they see
happening. To them, this is not about fighting ISIS, this is about the takeover of
the hegemony of Iran's revolution throughout the region. What they refer to as the Shia crescent. And to their frustration, the United States,
which has been committed for 30 plus years to containing that Hegemony, now seems to be accommodating it.
And you see this across the board. The Iran nuclear deal that was struck by the P5+1, the failure to intervene in Syria and now the essentailly
objective propping up of Bashar al Assad, or giving him a new lease on life to what's happened in Iraq, which is Iran's takeover of the vast majority
of the security apparatus over there.
So, this is just it's rhetorical and it's feckless and it's sort of the best thing the Saudis can throw at what they see is a creeping disaster in
their neighborhood. It's not going to make the least bit of difference.
ASHER: You're saying it's just a label, no practical implications whatsoever.
WEISS: Yeah.
ASHER: Michael Weiss, thank you.
WEISS: Does anyone believe that the Saudis don't think Hezbollah is a terror group? Of course they do.
ASHER: But some might say it could have an implication in terms of putting more pressure on President Assad, because he is supported by Hezbollah.
WEISS: Well, how? I mean, the Saudis are already backing proxies and assets in Syria to overthrow Assad militarily while Assad is relynig
increasingly so on Hezbollah and IRGC ground forces. They are the ones leading the campaign in Aleppo even more than the Syrian Arab Army.
So again, I mean, this is sort of casting about in the diplomatic ora to do what is really being done at a military level on the ground in Syria and
elsewhere in the region.
ASHER: Mike Weiss, we'll have to leave it there thank you so much. Always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you.
WEISS: Sure. My pleasure.
ASHER: In the past hour the United Nations security council adopted new sanctions against North Korea and they are being described as
unprecedented.
Joining me now with details, CNN senior UN correspondent Richard Roth is joining me live now.
So, Richard, just walk us through what these sanctions are going to include and how long until they go into effect?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there will be some bureaucracy to get them in effect throughout the world, but basically these sanctions are
designed to really get tough despite at least several resolutions already designed to be tough on North Korea. All of this following the nuclear and
missile test. Basically the resolution is designed to cut out shipments of iron ore, titanium, rare earth minerals, inspect completely all cargo going
in and out of North Korea. Those are some of the highlights. Cutting off aviation fuel that might be used for the nuclear missile program.
U.S. ambassador Samantha Power made it personal with the council ambassadors after the unanimous vote approving this resolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: With each nuclear test and launch using ballistic missile technology the DPRK improves its
capability to carry out a nuclear missile attack not only in the region, but also a continent away. That means having the ability to strike most of
the countries sitting on this council. Think about that.
North Korea is the only country in the entire world that has conducted a nuclear test in the 21st Century. In fact, it has conducted not one
nuclear test, but four.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: This resolution was worked out after seven weeks of negotiations between the United States and China.
But critics will say that it is still going to be interesting how China carries out all of the elements in this resolution. It is North Korea's
major trading partner, 800-mile border between the two countries, North Korean workers working in North Korea and a lot of North Korean workers
sending back millions of dollars to Pyongyang, working in Africa and elsewhere that may end up in Kim Jong-un's coffers -- Zain.
[11:25:04] ASHER: Yeah, and the UN worked really hard in terms of diplomatic negotiations to get China on board.
OK, Richard Roth live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.
And coming up next, racial tensions rise on Super Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN JONES: What difference does it make if you call them leftists? They kill people. They don't play games with that.
LORD: You're right. You don't hide and say that's not part of the base of the Democratic Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Boy, it got heated. We'll tell you what sparked an emotional debate over Donald Trump's campaign tactics. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMIR DAFTARI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a city of 20 million people, food is big business, especially street food in Cairo. But you saw
an opportunity. What made you think you could take on these street vendors?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, we saw an opportunity, but we don't see ourselves as taking on the street vendors. We actually view ourselves as
complimenting this greater Egyptian street food culture.
DAFTARI: Chris Khalifa (ph) isn't your typical CEO.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to revolutionize it.
DAFTARI: Take a look at his business. His chain of Zooba restaurants combine Egyptian street food with a modern twist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The taste is mild, but you get the beet nutrients in. Here it's spinach as well.
DAFTARI: He's opened a total of six so far all across Cairo and in just four years. Not bad going for an entrepreneur with no food and beverage
experience.
So, what's the secret to his start up success?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, I we create a very unique concept to start with. And the concept had a great response both from customer
perspective, from investor perspective, and people were excited about the idea. Our brand has kept people's excitement about this even when we're
going through tough times.
So, I think that element in having a unique proposition from the start definitely helps a lot.
DAFTARI: What has been the biggest challenge? If there was just one thing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me it's all the different parts connecting. There's some -- because the thing with being in the restaurant business is
everything needs to connect directly for that right customer experience. So, there's no -- nothing can (inaudible), you know that you can't lose any
element of it.
DAFTARI: And what's the best part of owning your own business?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a constant -- you're constantly -- it's a roller coaster that's constantly fulfilling.
DAFTARI: Before his life became a roller coaster, Chris (ph) took me to where he used to work.
At which point did you decide I quit this place I want to start my own business?
UNIDENITIFIED MALE: The time I decided it's really time to go is when I actually looked in and found the location.
DAFTARI: So you find this location. Obviously you need some money. Did these guys help you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not really what they do. I got the initial capital through a small amount of savings that I had plus some family and
friends support.
DAFTARI: And how much was taht?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE; We started Zooba with a total capital of about $280,000.
DAFTARI: From the first start to future plans. Chris now has his sights set beyond Cairo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE; A presence in the region will be very exciting and we're
working on that over the next couple years. The ambition after that, or the milestone after that would be to have a presence either in the U.S. or
in Europe. That should keep us busy for five to 15 years.
DAFTARI: Egyptian street food to the cities of the world. This entrepreneur has both the ambition and the appetite to do just that.
Amir Daftari, CNN, Cairo.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[11:33:49] ASHER: Democrat Hillary Clinton is now way -- is now way ahead in the delegate race. She easily beat Bernie Sanders in the south and
narrowly defeated him in Massachusetts, which he, by the way, was hoping to win.
Clinton now has 1,055 delegates to Sanders's 418.
Here's our Jeff Zeleny with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORERSPONDENT: Hillary Cinton coming out of Super Tuesday with more delegates and more states, but this primary fight with Bernie
Sanders still goes on. In fact, this week could be one of the most pivotal of this campaign.
Now, there are caucuses on Saturday, which Bernie Sanders is favored to win. But that Michigan primary next Tuesday could be one of the turning
points.
Now, so much is happening between now and then. There's a debate on Sunday. There's a debate next Wednesday. These could be two final
opportunities for Bernie Sanders to make a run at Hillary Clinton.
Now, in her victory remarks on Tuesday night in Miami, Hillary Clinton spent very little time at all talking about Bernie Sanders. You could tell
she's already focusing on the Republicans.
CLINTON: It's clear tonight that the stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been
lower. Trying to divide America between us and them is wrong and we're not going to let it work.
[11:35:10] ZELENY: But Clinton advisers tell me that one lesson learned from 2008, Hillary Clinton is taking nothing for granted. She's fighting
in every state. She knows this race will not be over until the delegates are fully won. That could be several more weeks to come.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Race became a central theme in the Republican Donald Trump's campaign for the presidential nomination this week. Republican House
Speaker Paul Ryan and others have lashed out at Trump for refusing to unequivocally condemn the
Ku Klux Klan, the KKK, after he was endorsed by his former leader David Duke.
Tensions over the issue rose to the surface during CNN's coverage of Super Tuesday. We're going to watch this fiery exchange between Democrat Van
Jones and Jeffrey Lord, who is a Trump supporter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: He is whipping up and tapping into and pushing buttons that are very, very frightening to me and frightening to a lot of people. Number
one, when he is playing funny with the Klan, that is not cool.
LORD: He didn't play funny with the Klan.
JONES: Hold on a second. I know this man when he gets passionate about terrorism. I know how he talks about terrorism. The Klan is a terrorist
organization that has killed...
LORD: A leftist terrorist organization.
JONES: You can put whatever label you want, that's your game to play.
LORD: No, it's important to history.
JONES: We're not going to play that game.
LORD: We're going to understand history.
JONES: No, you need to take a serious look at the fact that this man has been playing fast and loose and footsie -- when you talk about terrorism,
he gets passionate. He says no, this is wrong. But when you talk about the Klan, oh, I don't know, I don't know. That's wrong.
And then you came on the air and you said, well this is just like when Reverend Wright was speaking. Reverend Wright never lynched anybody,
Reverend Wright never killed anybody.
LORD: Reverend Wright is an anti-Semite.
JONES: Reverend Wright never put anybody on a post. And you guys play these word games and it's wrong to do in America. It is wrong to do.
LORD: It is wrong to understand that these are not leftists. They were...
JONES: What difference does it make if you call them leftists? They're not chipmunks. They kill people. They don't play games with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Boy did it get heated.
I want to talk about the intersection of politics and race. CNN Political commentator Mark Lamont Hill joins us now live.
So, explain to our viewers why are people still making excuses for Donald Trump's stumble over the KKK?
MARK LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, some people want to give him plausible deniability. He says my ear piece didn't work. I didn't
fully understand the question. Many people find that doubtful because he understood the rest of the questions that were asked. It doesn't seem
plausible that he didn't hear the question.
What's more likely in many people's minds is that Donald Trump didn't want to lose the vote that he gets from people who are aligned with the Ku Klux
Klan.
20 percent of Donald Trump supporters, according to one poll, said that they didn't think slavery should end after the civil war in the United
States. That's a big chunk of your voting base. That's it the voting base that likely agrees with the Ku Klux Klan, that is a voting base that likely
has racist ideals.
He doesn't want to abandon them.
ASHER: I do want to sort of play devil's advocate, and I do want to mention that he did disavow them a few days earlier before Sunday when he
was on with Jake Tapper. A few days before that he did disavow them, but you're saying...
HILL: absolutely true. That was -- as in many moments disavowed him. In fact, decades before he said he hated David Duke, because David Duke was an
awful person.
But that's, again, what made it so implausible that he could say he didn't know who David Duke was.
Whatever his calculus was it seemed largely inconsistent. and it seems to be that he's making
a voting decision rather than a moral decision. He's making a Plolitical move rather than a moral...
ASHER: And I do want to make sure our viewers know that David Duke is the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a racial hate group in the United
States.
So, does it surprise you that the country's first black president could end up being supported by a person like David Duke? Excuse the, the country's
first black persident could end up being replaced by somebody who has support by David Duke
HILL: Not at all.
You know, one of the interesting things after 2008 when Barack Obama was elected was that we saw a rise in hate groups, a rise in white nationalist
groups.
There was a sentiment among those pockets of people that we're losing our country, that suddenly black people and brown people are taking over the
United States and as a result we need to organize to get our country back.
For some people, Donald Trump's make America great again slogan is really make America white again. It's kind of a racial subtext to it -- anti-
immigration, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, all these things. It's really a proxy for saying we don't want more people who are not white in this country.
So the rise of a person supported by those hate groups is not unsurprising.
Again, Donald Trump may or may not believe in the ideals of the Ku Klux Klan. I actually don't think that he does. The Ku Klux Klan is largely
anti-Semetic. He has Jewish family, children in fact. I don't believe that Donald Trump shares the ideals of the Ku Klux Klan, but I think he's
making an ethical and moral decision to say you know what, that's less important to me than winning this election and I need that coalition.
ASHER: You know, what's interesting is that when you go to these Trump rallies, you do see a handful of African-American supporters who are in the
crowd who are cheering for Donald Trump. Does that surprise you?
[11:40:08] HILL: Not at all. Thoughout history there have always been black people who have joined every political party. Every movement. There
were black slave catchers, for god sake. I mean, there's never been a shortage of black people willing to participate in things that operate
against their own interests.
The question is does that represent the bulk of black people, of course, not. You see black churches which are all -- which have some leaders who
are in Donald Trump's coalition. Donald Trump has connected with them very closely. We saw that on George Bush with faith-based initiatives.
It's not uncommon for the church to go in that direction. Certain pockets are...it's not uncommon for a few black Republicans to go in that
direction, but most black -- conservatives, even, aren't aligning themselves with Donald Trump. They're going with Ted Cruz, they're going
with Marco Rubio. They're going with John Kasich, they're going -- they were going with Jeb Bush prior to him leaving. So it's unusual to see
black people in the coalition.
It's interesting, because a lot of the supporters or protesters, rather, at these Trump rallies are shouting Black Lives Matter. You see a lot of
Black Live Matter protesters at Trump's rallies. But then Trump will get on stage and say All Lives Matter.
Just explain to our international audience why that might be controversial given the climate in America.
HILL: I'm glad you said given the climate in America because that's what this is about. It's about context. The phrase All Lives Matter is not in
and of itself troublesome to anybody, including people in the Black Lives Matter movement. I have been there since the beginning watching them.
The issue is that all lives matter wasn't a rallying cry to speak to everyone's humanity, all lives matter was a response to people saying Black
Lives Matter. In other words, when Rodney Kng was killed or Oscar Grant was killed or Mike Brown was killed here in the United States by law
enforcement, people said, no, we have to stop the killing -- all lives matter. Or we have to fix these broken schools because all lives matter.
We have to stop lynching because all lives matter. No one would have been upset about that.
But people only began to say all lives matter...
ASHER: They are not saying black lives matter over white lives is the point.
HILL: No. They are saying black lives matter too, they're saying that because of the things that are happening against black bodies, we must
assert in a very public and specific fashion that black lives matter.
And then people are saying to dismiss that claim that all lives matter which ignores the need for targeted policy, for targeted activism and for
targeted conversations around race in America. Because race has been hidden and muted in America for so long, all lives matter becomes another
way to be color blind when in fact we need to be very articulate about race.
ASHER: Yeah, one thing that's important is that you can never look at these things in isolation. Historical context absolutely matters in all
this. Mark Lamont Hill, thank you so much. Appreciate that. Fascinating discussion.
Malaysia Airlines says it's too soon to comment on the discovery of wreckage that could belong to missing flight 370. A piece of debris
thought to be from a Boeing 777 had been found off the coast of Mozambique. A source tells CNN that MH370 is the only Boeing 777 that has ever lost a piece like that.
CNN's aviation correspondent Richard Quest, and author of the new book The Vanishing of Flight MH370 is joining us live now from New York.
So, Richard just walk us through what this part actually is.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't -- well, it's not confirmed, but it looks like it's part of what's known as the horizontal
stabilizer. That's the bit o a -- it look like the wing, but it's at the tail of the aircraft, it comes out on either side.
And they know that because it says, no step, which of course is an instruction to mechanics and engineers who may be fixing the aircraft not
to step on that part of the plane.
If so, the issue will obviously be what can we learn from this. And I'm guessing, since we have already had the flaperon, which is part of the wing
found last year. And from that we learned very little. We certainly got some vague idea it had come from the same part of the ocean, but the
barnacles and the crustaceans and even the dents and the compressions on that piece were not able to give us much more guidance about how the plane
had come out of the air or indeed a narrower definition of where in the search they believe it is.
ASHER: So, in terms of this part, what happens now in terms of the investigation. Where does this part go?
QUEST: The first thing that has to happen, of course, is there needs to be confirmation. Now, with the piece that was found on the Reunion Island,
that was sent to Paris, because Reunion is part of France. Here it'll be the Mozambiquean authorities that will look at this and they may delegate
it to the Malaysians, which is the -- which of course is the country of aircraft origin.
And they may indeed delegate it the Australians, which is the country of incidence, or occurrence, as its known.
But, somebody, somewhere is going to get ahold of that piece and definitively check it with the
records from Malaysia Airlines and say yay or nay, it is or it isn't. And what we have to hope here is that they do a better job than they did with
the flaperon. Where there was days of confusion where some people wereon holiday and weren't able to get details and then the Malaysian prime
minister said it was confirmed, but the VEA of France said it was highly unlikely.
So this time let's hope they get it clear, precise, confirmed, definitive one way or the other.
[11:45:06] ASHER: But Richard, even if they continue to find one part every single year, one part washes up on some shore somewhere, without the
black boxes, can these parts tell us anything about what happened to that plane?
QUEST: No. No, they can't its the truth of the subject. Because we know the plane didn't blow up in the sky. So the chances of residue or some
form of explosive residue, even at this length of time is just about impossible.
Watch this graphic of how -- look how -- here you get the turn. This turn happens at 1:21. The plane then spends 40 odd minutes to an hour flying
over Malaysia before going up the Straits of Malaka, making this turn around the tip of Indonesia and then flies for six hours all the way off
the coast of Australia.
Now because it flew for so long, until you find the black boxes the flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, to know what happened at that
moment of turn -- and that's really the key point, 1:19 to 1:21 on the 8th of March, 2014, that's the key moment and
only the black boxes will tell us what happened there.
ASHER: And so what is the latest on the search for those black boxes.
QUEST: Glad you asked. I got the email this morning from the ATSB, the Australians who are conducting the search. The weather is looking a bit
better. It's atrocious. It has been absolutely appalling. But there are still three ships plowing up and down that ocean area searching for it.
They are undergoing more bathometric (ph) studies to find out the ocean bed because they have just had a
very bad damage because one of the search vehicles got snagged on a mud volcano way underwater.
But they are three quarters a way through the search on the most prominent area, 120,000 square kilometers. If nothing is found in that 120k, then
they will have to stop searching, because if for no other reason, for no other reason, Zain, there's simply no other better direction upon which to
search.
ASHER: All right, Richard Quest, live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.
This is Connect the World. Coming up, another attack targeting an Indian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. We'll have the latest on the deadly
incident coming up after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: You're watching CNN. And this is Connect the World. I'm Zain Asher. Welcome back.
At least three people have been killed and 19 injured in an attack near the Indian consulate in eastern Afghanistan. Local officials say a suicide
bomber detonated explosives near the diplomatic building killing a policeman as well as a woman and child. Four other attackers were killed
by police. There has been so far no claim of responsibility.
And U.S. intelligence officials have released personal documents written by Osama bin Laden. They were seized during the 2011 raid that killed him.
The former al Qaeda leader was shot by U.S. special forces in his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
Among the documents retrieved was bin Laden's will written in the 1990s. It mentions a fortune of $29 million that he had in Sudan, which he wanted
to be used for Jihad. It's not clear where that money is right now. The will was among 100 papers that were made public on Tuesday. It's the
second batch released by the U.S. intelligence.
And police officers in riot gear are standing guard as workers in France continue raising a sprawling migrant camp. Protesters attempted to stop
the demolitions in Calais by climbing on top of tents for the third day of evictions went ahead. Thousands of migrants and refugees have taken
shelter in the camp hoping to eventually make it to Britain.
And France says it will demolish the southern half of the camp and relocate the migrants to a
location with more sanitary conditions. But as Kellie Morgan reports, the operation hasn't exactly gone as planned.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLIE MORGAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The demolition at the migrant camp dubbed The Jungle was meant to be peaceful. French
authorities pledged no bulldozers. Migrants, they said, would not be removed from their makeshift homes by force.
Aid organization helped refugees which filmed this footage says it shows what happened early Tuesday to a Kurdish couple from Iran who didn't want
to leave their home. They say the woman is pregnant.
CNN cannot independently verify that claim, but what is clear the dismantling of the jungle
has led to violence. Calais officials say the trouble has been stirred by pro-migrant activists and
that police officers responded with tear gas after 11officers were hit and injured by projectiles.
The French government says it will push on with relocating migrants into converted shipping
containers that have heating and electricity. But there will be a shortfall of more than 2,000 beds.
Each demolition leaving more people without shelter.
Conditions have also become more wretched on Greece's border with Macedonia. 8,500 people are now stuck here. Local aid agencies have
enough resources to help a quarter of that number.
Only Iraqis and Syrians are permitted to cross and only100 or 200 a day.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling on the rest of Europe to help Greece as a matter of
urgency.
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): The situation is not yet so we can be content. Every day we see the pictures from Greece.
We have to get back to the Schengen system.
MORGAN: Meaning open borders or face what the United Nations has described as a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis.
Kellie Morgan, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: This is Connect the World. Coming up, a breathtaking moment after nearly one year in space. NAS's Scott Kelly takes a breath of fresh air
back on Earth. That's coming up.
MORGAN: You're watching CNN. And this is Connect the World. I'm Zain Asher. Welcome back.
A spine chilling moment in the middle of a highway is caught on dash cam in China. A two year old child falls out the back of a mini van on to a busy
road. Every single parent's worst nightmare.
Here's what happened. The toddler was actually riding in his grandfather's car and apparently wandered from the passenger seat into the back. State
media is reporting the car's tailgate lock was broken in a wreck a few days earlier so when the car accelerated at an intersection, the boy hit the
broken lock and tumbled out of the door. Those who filmed the incident managed to get the boy to
safety. so, that's good news. This video has gone viral online and many are actually criticizing the grandfather for not using a child car seat.
And before we leave you, one of NASA's top astronauts has just finished up what can only be
described as a space odyssey. After almost a yearlong mission on the international space station, Scott Kelly, there he is, is now back on
Earth. This is the moment he came out of the spacecraft that brought him and two Russians Cosmonauts back despite being away for 340 days,
longer than any other American. Kelly was upbeat saying, quote, I could go for another 100 days or even 100 years.
Let's take a look at by the numbers, Scott Kelly's year in space. 383, that's the number of experiments he carried out to help NASA learn how the
human body changes in space. More than 5,400 is the number of times Kelly actually orbited the Earth, that number is making me dizzy. And 143
million, that's the number of miles Kelly traveled during his time in space. Interesting numbers there.
OK, everyone. I am Zain Asher, and that was Connect the World. Thank you so much for watching. Have a great evening wherever you are.
END
