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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Projects Clinton And Cruz Win In Texas; Cruz Win Texas, First Win Of Night;; Trump Wins Five States, Cruz Wins Texas; Cruz Wins Oklahoma, Second Win Of Night; Clinton Wins Six States, Sanders Wins Two; Seven Races Still To Be Called; Trump Speaks With Reporters In Florida. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired March 01, 2016 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:02] HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rust Belt communities and small Appalachian towns that have been hollowed out by lost jobs and lost hope, families who for generations kept our lights on and our factories running. Together, we can break down barriers for our kids, so they get the education they need and deserve.
Every child in America should have a great school and a great teacher no matter what zip code they live in. Together, we can break down barriers for women and finally guarantee equal pay for equal work.
And we can -- we can break down barriers for families who've seen too many black children harassed, humiliated, and even killed. We can break down barriers for voters in North Carolina who've been systemically disenfranchised and disempowered.
We can break down barriers for hardworking immigrants everywhere who are too often exploited and intimidated. We have to defend all our rights, workers' rights and women's rights, civil rights and voting rights, LGBT rights and rights for people with disabilities.
And that starts by standing with President Obama when he nominates a strong, progressive justice to the Supreme Court. I know, I know too many Americans have lost faith in our future. We hear it in the voices of parents who don't know how they're going to give their kids the opportunities they deserve.
We see it in the eyes of working men and women who don't expect anything to come easy, but wonder why it has to be quite so hard. Like many of you, I find strength and purpose in the values, I learned from my family and my faith. They gave me simple words to live by, an old methodist saying, "Do all the good you can for all the people you can for as long as you can". And that is why -- that is why I believe deeply that if we resist the forces trying to drive us apart, we can come together to make this country work for everyone. The struggling, they strive again this successful.
If we all do our part, we can restore our common faith in our common future. That's the spirit powering this campaign. It comes from the young janitor in Arkansas who stopped buying junk food and put off getting a haircut so he could contribute to it. It comes from the disabled combat veteran from Nebraska who sent in $10. In 70 years of his life, he had never donated to a political campaign until now. You can join us, too. Please, go to hillaryclinton.com, make a donation. Text "join" to 47246 and let me leave you with a story that has inspired so many of us.
By now, we all know what happened in Flint, Michigan, don't we? How a city's children were poisoned by toxic water because their governor wanted to save a little money. But there's another story in Flint, it's a story of a community that's been knocked down but refused to be knocked out.
It is -- it is hundreds of union plumbers coming from across the country to help install new water fixtures. It's students raising funds for water deliveries and showing up to distribute supplies. It's the united autoworkers and general motors donating millions of dollars to help.
And when I visited Flint a few weeks ago, I went to the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church. The congregation locked arms and sang, "We've come too far from where we started from." they're not about to quit now. We know there are many other Flints out there, communities that are hurting and need help.
[21:05:06] But we've come too far in this country to let us turn back. We're going to build on the progress that we've made.
We saved the auto industry, thanks to President Obama, now we've got to create new jobs and industries of the future. We've now insured 90 percent of Americans thanks to President Obama, now we got to finish the job and get to 100 percent.
We have come too far to stop now. We've got to keep going. Keep working. Keep breaking down those barriers and imagine what we can build together when each and every American has the chance to live up to his or her own God-given potential.
Thank you, all, so very much. Thank you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN LEAD POLITICAL HOST: A very big night for Hillary Clinton that she's already won, we projected, six states. You saw it on the air as we were listening to Hillary Clinton. CNN projects in Texas, right now, Hillary Clinton will carry the State of Texas in the Democratic presidential primary.
Ted Cruz, the sitting Senator from Texas, he will win the republican primary in Texas. His first win of the night, Hillary Clinton wins in Texas. Ted Cruz wins in Texas.
Let's take a look at some of the votes actually coming in from Texas right now. On the Democratic side, 19 percent of the vote has been counted. She's got a sizable lead. Hillary Clinton with 66.6 percent, Bernie Sanders only 31.5 percent, we have projected Hillary Clinton wins Texas.
On the Republican side, a bit closer, but Ted Cruz is the winner. A third of the Republican vote is now in Ted Cruz with 39.2 percent, Donald Trump with 28.2 percent, and 19 percent for Marco Rubio.
We've got some more votes coming in right now. First on the Republican side, let's take a look at this. In Oklahoma right now, Ted Cruz slightly ahead of Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, 33.8 percent for Cruz, 30 percent for Donald Trump, 23.7 percent for Marco Rubio, very close, a third of the vote, 37 percent of the vote is in Oklahoma.
In Arkansas, only 12 percent of the vote is in, but Donald Trump has a slightly right now Donald Trump with 32.5 percent, Marco Rubio 29.5 percent, Ted Cruz slightly behind, 25.2 percent. That's in Arkansas right now.
Take a look at Vermont right now, he's Republican contest there, Donald Trump maintaining his lead but only a quarter of the voters in 33.2 percent for Trump, John Kasich with 30.5 percent, Marco Rubio 19 percent.
Let's take a look at the Democratic side right now the contest still outstanding. In Massachusetts, Hillary Clinton maintaining a slight lead with 20 percent of the vote and 50.7 percent for Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders 48 percent, that's in Massachusetts.
In Oklahoma, Bernie Sanders maintains his lead, 51.4 percent that's the Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton with 40.8 percent, 38 percent of the vote is now in.
Let's take a look at the states won right now on the Democratic and Republican side.
First the republican side, Donald Trump, he's got five big wins so far tonight. Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Virginia, five wins for Donald Trump. Six wins for Hillary Clinton so far tonight, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas. Ted Cruz carries his home state of Texas that was anticipated. Bernie Sanders carries his home state of Vermont, that was anticipated as well.
That -- those are the states that have been projected so far by CNN. We're watching -- we're waiting to hear from Donald Trump, by the way, he's getting ready, he's in Palm Beach, Florida, right now. He's going to be speaking shortly. Well, of course, we have live coverage of Donald Trump, he's won several of these states already, Jake?
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what's interesting, Wolf, I suspect with Ted Cruz having won or being projected to have won his home state of Texas which is a bigger win than Bernie Sanders winning Vermont, let's be honest, just because of the sheer number of delegates, I suspect what we're going to hear from Ted Cruz this evening will be a call for all the other candidates except for Donald Trump, of course, to drop out of the race so that Cruz can defeat Donald Trump.
I think that that is likely what you're going to hear, and there's going to be a big push from Cruz allies to the Washington establishment, OK, you don't get to pick Marco Rubio, you don't get to pick Scott Walker or Jeb Bush, it's come down to Ted Cruz or Donald Trump. You need to get in line if you want to defeat Donald Trump.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right and there's no question in talking to Rubio sources that you're going to hear pretty much the same kind of argument from Marco Rubio, but it will probably be harder for him to give that argument if he doesn't come in second.
[21:10:01] You know, numbers, put them aside, he doesn't come in second for the phycological boost in a lot of (inaudible) which Ted Cruz (inaudible). Right now Marco Rubio is under the 20 percent threshold, he needs to get any delegates and that's a big deal it's a very delegate rich day to 155 total delegates, don't you think?
TAPPER: As I said, he's not only running against Trump in Cruz his running, he's running against math. Let's go to Stamford, Texas, to a place called the Red Neck Country Club, that's the name of it. Don't get mad at me for saying that.
Sunlen Serfaty is there with the Cruz campaign. Sunlen, they've got to feeling pretty good there at the Cruz campaign projected to win his own of State of Texas.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and here's the Red Neck Country Club, Jake. It is quickly turned into a party- like atmosphere given that Ted Cruz will win his home State of Texas.
Cruz advisers are breathing a huge sigh of relief tonight. Of course, if he lost this state, the threat of losing the state would have been the final nail in his coffin. This will galvanize him going forward. We know that Senator Cruz has worked hard on his speech that he will deliver here shortly tonight. He has arrived.
And according to a Cruz campaign adviser, the main theme of this speech that he will deliver tonight will be a call for unity to stop Donald Trump. They expect him to hammer on that issue, not only here tonight with his speech in front of his home state crowd, but also going forward he will bring that message to Kansas tomorrow out on the campaign trail.
Also that message is also a specific message for Marco Rubio. For so long the Cruz campaign has been trying to turn this into a two-man race. They largely feel the fact that Marco Rubio has not delivered a state win tonight really can cut into that message, really can galvanize that message going forward. Jake?
TAPPER: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, in Stamford, Texas at Cruz campaign headquarters. And, Dana, Ted Cruz has been saying since New Hampshire that this is a two-man race. I don't know if establishment leaders are going to listen to it anymore today than they did a few weeks ago, but that is the argument he's going to make.
BASH: It is. And you know, if you look back to September when Scott Walker dropped out of the race. Remember Scott Walker?
TAPPER: Yes, governor of Wisconsin. BASH: Governor of Wisconsin. He called for other people to follow suit because I'm told by people close to him that he got the Trump ground swell. He got that the Grassroots were looking for somebody like Trump. And unless everybody just cleared out of the way that he wasn't going to be able to be stopped. So, you know, he did it and he was calling for other people do what you're Ted Cruz do tonight.
TAPPER: Let's talk about two races that we have not called this evening Arkansas and Oklahoma, where the votes are very, very close. There if you look, Ted Cruz slightly ahead over Donald Trump in Oklahoma. Marco Rubio in third place.
And, then in Arkansas, one would think that Ted Cruz would do better, but he's in third place there behind Donald Trump and Marco Rubio.
BASH: Yup.
TAPPER: Both of them places that any candidate could win at this point.
BASH: It is. And Arkansas is fascinating because as you said, it should be a place where Ted Cruz is doing well because he did spend so much time investing money, energy, Grassroots volunteers
TAPPER: At southern Firewall. Yes.
BASH: Southern Firewall.
TAPPER: Not so much.
BASH: But the fact that, again, going back to this New Yorker doing well in Arkansas among Republicans is pretty astonishing, but he also has a new member of his team, the daughter of the former governor. Mike Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee, who ran Mike Huckabee's campaign, has joined on as a senior adviser. She knows how to run campaigns in Arkansas. She's done it before. And there's no question in my mind she's helping him in Arkansas.
TAPPER: Mike Huckabee has not endorsed anybody, former governor, former presidential candidate. He has not endorsed anybody in this race although sometimes you might think that sentiments are with the front-runner, Donald Trump, based on things he says and things he does although he has not endorsed anybody.
BASH: That's right. I mean look he was a populist before being a populist it was cool, you know, following him around in 2008 in Iowa. And that was very much his message so in that way, he's in line with Donald Trump. But, historically, not so much on the social issues.
TAPPER: Yeah. Wolf?
BLITZER: We're going to be hearing soon from Donald Trump. And I want to go over to John King over at the magic wall. So far, five wins tonight for Donald Trump. Six wins for Hillary Clinton. Ted Cruz picks up his home State of Texas. Bernie Sanders picks up his home state of Vermont. Show us what the map shows right now. JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If you just look that the big picture, the Republican establishment may not like Donald Trump but Republican voters from northeast down the south and across do like Donald Trump, they said in a press and that so far.
Let's look at some of the places we're still waiting to see. Oklahoma, Ted Cruz in the lead right now. This would be very important to the Cruz campaign. Rivals will argue it borders Texas, no big deal. But for Cruz to get two wins tonight and one outside of his home state even though it's a neighbor would be a big deal.
About half of the vote counted. Cruz that stretched a little bit, the lead in recent moments. To fight three way fight Rubio's in third place here, but mostly Cruz filling in the rural areas, and he's getting the Tulsa suburbs right now. We'll watch how this one plays out, very important for Cruz if he could win two tonight, it would strengthen his message the other candidates should get out of the race.
We mentioned Arkansas, just a few minutes ago Trump running this one up pretty good at the moment. This could probably reasonably completive. But Trump filling in that we're seeing this in just about every state.
[21:15:08] Marco Rubio wins the suburbs around decent sized cities, Donald Trump winning out in the rural areas. The excerpts in other rural areas as well as we count the votes in Arkansas, if you move over again, this is a big Trump win here. In a number of states we're seeing this. This final number could matter. It's a number of states have 20 percent thresholds to get delegates and Marco Rubio just under it in Tennessee at the moment. He's also just under it up in Vermont.
One of the big dynamics Wolf, as we get later into the night, we can start a portion in the delegates is, we know Trump is going to come out the big winner.
It looks like he's going to come out with more delegates than Mitt Romney had at this point in 2012 and closing in on the number John McCain had at this point in 2008.
That will help this argument right there. And if we come down in Texas right now, you see was happening Cruz ahead by 39.5 percent there and Rubio at 19 percent. Again, under the 20 percent delegate rule.
So if part of Cruz's argument will be tonight I won my home state, maybe he wins Oklahoma. But if Rubio falls below the delegate threshold then in a number of these states Cruz will also be able to make the case mathematically even though Trump will have a big lead that he's in a solid second place after this.
BLITZER: Let's take a look at Oklahoma Democrats, still outstanding Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders. There's a close race tag going on right now. Almost half the vote is in.
KING: It's a close race and you wouldn't think so if you looked at the map, right? So what is happening here? All right, Hillary Clinton is winning in the Oklahoma City area and the suburbs around it and she's winning by quite a handy margin there. Not a ton of votes.
So we got a lot of votes out there, still. So she has the potential if she keeps that lead to get some more map here in a very close race.
Bernie Sanders is winning just about everywhere else. A couple of small counties over here. For Secretary Clinton, 66, two-thirds of the vote in here. Again, very small it's not a lot of votes to be counted still. Nearly 60 percent here. Much smaller county, that was relatively close.
But, this is one of these dynamics, you see sometimes, she's winning in the major population center and the suburbs around it, Bernie Sanders is running it up in the rest of the state small rural communities we're got the (inaudible).
BLITZER: Oklahoma City over there, that's a big county, there's a lot of big chunk of the population.
KING: It is a big chunk. Nearly 20 percent of the population which is why ...
BLITZER: Only 21 percent reporting so far.
KING: Which is why with a gap like that, there's a math for Secretary Clinton to be made up. So she's behind right now. She could make up signed ground here if that stands. There's no guarantee as they count more precincts that that gap stands as it is.
But there is a math to be made up here. If you come back our statewide, were nearly half percent of the vote.
Senator Sanders, beginning to pull away of that, why? Because he's just running it up. You get now into the smaller communities, they're tiny, but he's just running it up with 56 percent there, 63 percent there, 55 percent here, 55 here. So, it's just you're run it up in the smaller towns to upset her advantages in the population centers. And so we go ...
BLITZER: But let's take a look at Massachusetts at some of Democratic side.
KING: OK, right now it's shaded for Secretary Clinton but 51 percent to 47 percent. You see the decimals 47 percent of the vote counted, but let's see what we're missing.
Last time we check, nothing from Worcester around here in the central part of the states, still nothing, it's a little shy at 3 percent of the population. It's a gritty blue collar area. Both candidates fighting for this. Bill Clinton there just recently as yesterday.
Well, let's come into the Boston, let's see what we get in Boston proper. Only 18 percent of the vote in, it's 9 percent of the state population. Obviously a large Democratic population in the city. Again, Bill Clinton was at a voting place out of Westrock (ph) earlier today, too. Fifty-four percent to 44 percent. So Hillary Clinton is winning in the largest population center, the city of Boston right now.
But we're just shy of 20 percent of the vote. A lot more to come in. And you look down here, Bernie Sanders winning as you head down toward Cape Cod and New Bedford of blue collar area down here.
Let's bring that up and see where we are. Hillary Clinton with a healthy lead there. But we still have to wait. We've got a lot, Wolf, especially along the border here in New Hampshire and Vermont. This should be Sanders country just like we see in Oklahoma, if he can rack up big numbers in the smaller rural areas, maybe he can catch up to her lead in the urban area, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right John, thanks very much. We're watching all of these states, we're getting more results and we're getting ready right now to make another major projection.
And look at this. The second state for Bernie Sanders tonight, CNN projects Bernie Sanders will win the Oklahoma Democratic Presidential Primary. This is a big win for Bernie Sanders. He carried his home state of Vermont, but now he carries Oklahoma as well.
Let's take a look at the votes in Oklahoma right now with half of the vote already in. Bernie Sanders has a significant lead, 51.8 percent to 40.5 percent for Hillary Clinton. She's about almost 19,000 votes ahead.
Let's take a look at the states that have -- we have projected winners for so far. On the Democratic side, six states for Hillary Clinton, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas.
We now project that with Oklahoma. Bernie Sanders has carried Vermont, his home state, as well as Oklahoma. That's an important win for Bernie Sanders. His second win of the night.
On the Republican side, CNN has projected that Donald Trump will win Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Virginia. Five states for Donald Trump.
We've also projected that Ted Cruz will carry, will win his own state of Texas. You see that right now.
[21:20:01] We're standing by, by the way, for Donald Trump, he's at Palm Beach, Florida, right now. He's getting ready to speak.
We, of course, want to hear what he has to say about all of these wins for him tonight. Ted Cruz wins his home state of Texas. Several races are still outstanding. Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Wolf as we stand by for Donald Trump, we'll obviously break into that. Let's start with a Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord. How -- for your candidate, things are so looking very good, though Ted Cruz was able to bring his home state. JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: At least he won his home state, but he should win his home state. But it did, if he's winning Oklahoma, he'll be the only other person to say I've carried something outside my home ...
COOPER: Right.
LORD: ... state tonight. I think what we're seeing, if Ted Cruz is going to come out and say people should start to get out or whatever, this is our friend, Michael Smerconish's, principle as I call it, where they're all going to have this egotistical argument about, you know, no, no, no, I'm not getting out, you get out.
And I think this is just human nature. I don't think it's going to work. And the other thing is, of course, if Lindsey Graham I think famously said that the choice between Trump and Cruz was the choice between being shot or poisoned. You know, I just don't think that the establishment is ready to rally around Ted Cruz.
COOPER: But S.E., I mean the argument that Ted Cruz could make is that he won two states, Texas and Iowa. And has probably a better place finishes in some of these other states tonight than Marco Rubio.
SARAH ELIZABETH CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He can. This is the existential dilemma for Republicans. Marco Rubio is inarguably the most electable Republican candidate in a general. He cannot prove that to anyone yet because he's won nowhere. Ted Cruz, I would argue, is less electable ...
COOPER: It's a hard argument to make that you're the most electable ...
(CROSSTALK)
CUPP: Yes, can win favorables and matchups ...
COOPER: Right.
CUPP: ... you know, that ...
COOPER: I'm the best athlete I've ever seen except ...
CUPP: He's never won.
COOPER: ... I can't actually ...
CUPP: Prove it.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... lift anything or run.
CUPP: His Cruz. No, exactly right. Ted Cruz who has some primary wins, I would argue, is less electable than Donald Trump in a general election. So if you've been making the argument for anyone but Trump, the news that Ted Cruz finally might be, you know, honing in on Donald Trump is not great news.
COOPER: Right. Yeah, I got to say, you look thrilled tonight.
CUPP: I'm loving this. I've never been happier.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, on the Republican side, we spent the whole week talking about this incredible flurry of insults coming back from Marco Rubio.
COOPER: Right.
JONES: He won a bunch of news cycles. He apparently is not going to win a state.
We also talked about this unfortunate failure on Donald Trump's part to be as passionate, denouncing the KKK as a terrorist organization, as he usually is denouncing terrorist organizations. We spent a lot of time talking about that.
It seems to have had no effect. We talked earlier what is this magic that he has? Why are all the Republicans abandoning their opposed to be with him? There is some concern ...
CUPP: We're not all. We're not all.
JONES: So many of them.
CUPP: Yeah.
JONES: Abandoning their posts. At some point we should talk about this dark underside that he tends to raise. Maybe he'll do it after the speech. I want to talk about the other rebel. We've not talked about Sanders.
There is another rebel in the race. You could have switched speeches tonight, Hillary Clinton's speech and Bernie Sanders'. If you just switches, you would not have known the difference. That is the impact that Sanders has had on this race and on Hillary Clinton.
And in fact, you have people on Twitter now complaining saying that Hillary Clinton is stealing Bernie's speeches. And so, I think that -- it's an important thing I think to point out that he has had an impact beyond his electoral count.
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: He has. Bernie in his speech said this campaign is not just about electing a president. He wants to send a message and if Hillary is, in fact, hearing and reflecting that message it's a sign of leadership and unity. It's a good thing for Bernie, frankly and I think its good thing for Hillary, too.
COOPER: Well, as we're waiting for Donald Trump, I mean again, Michael, you want to say?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Yeah I want to say this. I think that right now Ted Cruz should be calling Marco Rubio ...
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
SMERCONISH: ... and thanking him for what he did in the last couple of days because as Rubio was diving into the gutter with Trump, I was at the mindset that someone who abandons Trump because of the strikes that Rubio was attempting to land isn't going to Rubio. They're going to Ted Cruz.
And I can see tonight several areas where Cruz has benefited in the last couple days. I can't find any where Marco Rubio has.
BORGER: Don't you think Cruz can make the argument now to the so- called the establishment, whatever that is, that he is the alternative ...
DAVID AXELROD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, no, I mean -- S.E. laid it out.
BORGER: ... to Donald Trump, not Marco Rubio?
AXELROD: You travel around Washington, and you talk to Republicans and by in large what they say is I'm more comfortable with Donald Trump than I am with Ted Cruz.
BORGER: Well, guess what ...
AXELROD: He spent the last so many years making himself as obnoxious to everyone in this town as he possibly could to try and signify that he was the outsider who was challenging the establishment and then a guy came along who took that all away from him and now he's sort of a no man's land.
BORGER: But guess what, I mean after tonight if he has a couple of big wins, he can say to the establishment, OK, Marco Rubio, really, where has he won ...
AXELROD: He can say that ...
(CROSSTALK)
[21:25:00] BORGER: And they won't I mean. And by the way ...
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's their strategy.
BORGER: By the way, they may still decide, OK, we're going to stick with Rubio or we're going to live with Trump, but I also think that there will some who will be taking another look at Ted Cruz.
AXELROD: I think fewer than we think.
BORGER: No matter how ...
AXELROD: Fewer than you think. HENDERSON: And it won't make sure we get Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are both 44. Maybe they're both 45 by now. They have 10, 15 years ahead of them. Maybe Marco Rubio if he doesn't pull off a miracle and come through, he can run for governor of Florida. There is a second place that's a real thing to have if you're running in a GOP presidential primary.
CUPP: And can we just acknowledge for a moment, yes, I may be weeping for the future of the conservative movement, that's true, but can we just acknowledge that this is democracy at work, right? I mean, unless ...
HENDERESON: Of course you are.
CUPP: ... has rigged this somehow, this is an amazing, I mean ...
BEGALA: Indictment of democracy.
CUPP: ... inexplicable. No. Believe me, believe me, I'm not thrilled with an -- with a Trump nominee. However, this, have you ever seen a clearer example of how unexpected democracy can deliver results? I mean, it's been an amazing election.
HENDERSON: And acknowledge Donald Trump's skill as a politician.
BORGER: Of course.
CUPP: Yeah.
SMERCONISH: I agree with that.
HENDERSON: There's a marker.
COOPER: Right.
SMERCONISH: I acknowledge, again, Jeffrey, ambassador, a big night for that. But I think the point needs to get made that he's doing so with a very small percentage of the voting age population of the areas that he's winning. In other words, passion ...
BORGER: But he's winning.
SMERCONISH: ... is ruling the roost. I mean, he's driving a very small but loyal ...
CUPP: Yeah.
SMERCONISH: ... constituency that doesn't represent mainstream America.
HENDERSON: But winning, he's still winning.
BEGALA: Yeah, Michael, but it is growing. You know, we've had this nomenclature. Last week the man talked about how dumb it was for us to, people like me, to characterize by lanes, this lane now and that's true. We also had the ceiling metaphor. Well, his ceiling is 25 in the Republican -- well, its 35, well, now it's 45, now it's 50 ...
COOPER: Right.
BEGALA: ... now it's 50 in our latest poll. Winning raises your ceiling. And, you know, that's what's happening. There is a confirming effect that people around the country look like and well, you know, what could go wrong? He carried the state next door to me, he carried ...
CUPP: Are you talking to Chris Christie? Because it sounds like you might be talking to Chris Christie.
BEGALA: You have to -- that's just how -- I'm not talking ...
CUPP: I can't explain it otherwise.
SMERCONISH: Vice President Christie. You still have a full -- look at that CNN poll from earlier this week which had Trump at 49 percent.
COOPER: At 49 percent, right.
SMERCONISH: Really stunning growth for Donald Trump. A full 35 percent of Republicans said, never him. And by the way, within the ...
COOPER: Yeah, but they're saying now, when it -- if it's a race between him and Hillary Clinton, that 35 percent of Republicans (inaudible).
SMERCONISH: Which within the Democratic internals. This is the oddity of this race, one among many. A full 20 percent of D's said, never her. The prospect for crossover voting in a general between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is really staggering.
AXELROD: Yeah, but I think Paul's point before is the right one which is I think the -- and the fact that Hillary's speech so reflected some of the themes that Bernie's been working really speaks to it. There's much more unity on the Democratic side. I mean, I said earlier I think she's going to have challenges because she comes in with high negatives.
Trump comes in with astronomical negatives. It portends a very tough race. But I think the Democratic Party right now is more coherent than the Republican Party.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: That there's -- is one thing that ...
COOPER: Sorry, I got to go to Wolf. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Anderson. We've got a major projection, a big one right now. Take a look at this. We'll watch together with all of our viewers. CNN projects Ted Cruz, the Texas Senator, will win the Oklahoma Republican presidential primary. It's his second win after Texas. That is an important win for Ted Cruz tonight, not just one state, Texas, but also neighboring Oklahoma as well. Ted Cruz wins.
Take a look at the actual vote that is coming so far, 65 percent of the vote is in. Relatively close, but Cruz is the winner, 34.7 percent, 29.5 percent for Trump, 24 percent for Marco Rubio, a very big win for Ted Cruz in Oklahoma so far.
And let's take a look at the states that have already been projected by CNN so far on the Republican side. Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, five states we projected will go to Donald Trump.
On the Republican side, Texas and Oklahoma, we have projected will go for Ted Cruz. Two states for Ted Cruz so far, five states for Donald Trump. And remember Ted Cruz also won Iowa, so that's a three states that he has won so far. He was hoping to win Texas and Oklahoma.
Jake and Dana, he did win Texas and Oklahoma. Impressive wins for him.
TAPPER: This is huge. This is huge. This Oklahoma win is Ted Cruz's third win on this contest. Donald Trump has eight, Ted Cruz has three, everyone else combined had zero.
BASH: That's right.
TAPPER: And this is going to by Christie's argument that it's time for everyone to consolidate around him, around Ted Cruz, so as to defeat Donald Trump.
[21:30:02] This is going to be a very forceful argument. And, look, Jeffrey Lord quoted Lindsey Graham speaking on behalf of the Republican establishment saying a choice between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz was a choice between something like shooting yourself ...
BASH: Right.
TAPPER: ... and poisoning yourself.
BASH: Right.
TAPPER: Well, guess what? That's the choice that the Republican establishment has. They're going to have to either shoot themselves or poison themselves. They have to get behind one of these guys. That's the argument because the math is just becoming impossible for any other candidate. Dana.
BASH: That's right. And you hit the nail on the head. It is about math, and, well, it's two things. It is about sort of the psychological impact of having two wins on a night where people were looking at Donald Trump to run the board.
Texas is one thing, Oklahoma is another, because it's not his home state. It's neighboring, but it's still a big deal. What the Rubio campaign is going to argue, and I'm waiting for a text to come on my phone, is that it's about the long game and that this is the end of the road for the Cruz campaign. That if you look forward in the calendar, that he doesn't have that many states in the next couple of weeks that he can do well in, but here's the big but.
Right now it is about momentum as much as math. Still, and Ted Cruz has had all things considered a pretty good night.
TAPPER: Right. Just to be clear. I was expressing what the Cruz argument will be...
BASH: Oh no, no. Of course. Of course.
TAPPER: ... that's not my argument. And obviously people who support Marco Rubio are going to say, wait a second, we still don't know what's going to happen tonight in Minnesota.
BASH: Right.
TAPPER: There are still these other races in Arkansas and Oklahoma. There's still a lot that might come in and there's still, perhaps, an argument to make.
BASH: That's right. And actually as we were talking I just got a text from a senior Cruz source who noted that this is the first state that was Republican only because a lot of the contests are open and other people, and independents and so forth I can vote.
That is the kind of electorate that tends to do better for Donald Trump. This is Republican only. And for republicans in Oklahoma, they went for Ted Cruz.
TAPPER: It's a big victory, Anderson, for Ted Cruz. Oklahoma, the third contest that his won.
COOPER: Yeah, no doubt about that, Gloria, David. I mean he can now argue. Look, won not just two states in Idaho, so won earlier in Iowa.
BORGER: That's right. And I just want to say, as Jake keeps saying, this is all about the math in the end. That as of right now Marco Rubio does not meet the 20 percent statewide threshold in Vermont, Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas.
But that doesn't mean he can't get any delegates there, but it limits him incredibly and that really does impact the math of this race tremendously.
AXELROD: Listen, the Rubio project is in disarray. Let's be frank about it.
COOPER: Yeah.
AXELROD: He had to show something somewhere tonight. He's struggling even to get to second in Massachusetts and Vermont.
COOPER: Right. AXELROD: Moderate states. It's hard to be the establishment candidate when nobody's, you know, when people aren't willing to support you.
COOPER: Is there any -- I mean this is probably the most ridiculous idea. But -- I mean Cruz is not going to drop out, Rubio seems unlikely to drop out. Is there any chance of them teaming up at this early stage? I mean, I know it would be unheard of ...
BORGER: Crubio?
COOPER: Yes.
HENDERSON: Gloria gotten. I guess I don't -- what does that look like? I mean, do they pretend ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I don't know.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... one of them has to clearly, you know, be president and vice president.
JONES: I have a great respect for Marco Rubio. And I think you guys know I've been probably the most impressed by him of all of them.
I think that if he loves the country the way that he says and he believes what he says about Donald Trump, I think he should get out. I think he should get out.
At this point, there is literally no way for him to win. He won every news cycle. He did everything you can humanly do, and he may not even get the silver in major places where he should be getting the gold.
BEGALA: What if his ...
COOPER: Let's hear the Republicans, S.E -- I mean ...
JONES: Literally you seem to have got in.
COOPER: S.E. you just seem to went to your like your special place in your head at the thought of that. What's goes through your mind?
CUPP: Look, Marco Rubio has been the future of the party for many of us.
BORGER: For decades.
CUPP: For some time. And I have watched him over the years get better and better and better at delivering a message, at coalescing, at -- like, mechanical politics.
And it just felt like, well, this is the time. We've got the right candidate, Hillary Clinton, to go after the right opponent, Marco Rubio. There's that great generational contrast. He's a new demographic for Republicans. And after 2012, it seemed like we had really rejiggered and figured out how to bring in more voters. And that's what he was out there talking about.
So, as disappointed as I am that Rubio's message has failed to cut through. Marco Rubio is, I know, deeply disappointed that he wasn't able to do what everyone thought he could do this year. It's really remarkable ...
AXELROD: S.E.?
CUPP: ... I thought he's young.
[21:35:06] AXELROD: S.E, one of the problems. I've said this before here. This is one of the problems that he played it too cute. He tried to be everyone's second choice.
HENDERSON: Right.
BEGALA: Right.
AXELROD: And, you know, he tried to be the evangelical candidate, he tried to be the Tea Party candidate.
He tried to be the establishment candidate. And they each chose someone who they thought was more authentically in their camp.
CUPP: No, I think Marco Rubio was like everyone else, completely confused by Donald Trump.
And look, give Marco Rubio, a credit, he's one of five guys still standing after a very long and trying contest that has spelled some pretty impressive powerful people.
So, he, I think, navigated case by case situation, how to figure Trump and Cruz and Jeb out and survive.
I think he did a pretty good job. I can't imagine you would say that Chris Christie came out of this unscathed or Jeb Bush came out of this unscathed.
LORD: I listen to S.E. and I'm reminded years ago of a Johnny Carson show where they cut to Ed McMahon who's doing a live dog food commercial.
And they put the dog through down there. And the dog would not eat the dog food. And he keeps encouraging him.
Finally, Johnny to save the whole thing goes in on his hands and knees starts eating the dog food.
CUPP: Am I the dog in this scenario?
LORD: No, no, no, no, no. No, Marco Rubio is the dog here, I mean, is the dog food.
The voters are not buying it, they are not buying it. And so, therefore, I mean, we talked to the ...
COOPER: And yet, there is a candidate on the Republican side who voters are buying and they're buying in droves.
CUPP: Oh it's amazing, this has been our problem. We have been waiting for the candidate to come around to win harness the enthusiasm of the Republican electorate, since Reagan. We got it. He's just going to destroy the party in the process.
COOPER: Let's go to Chris Christie.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: Tonight, Donald Trump is the clear winner on Super Tuesday.
But the win is important for our country. Tonight, Donald Trump has won Georgia and Massachusetts, Alabama and Virginia. And he's also won the great State of Tennessee.
Tonight is the beginning of Donald Trump bringing the Republican Party together for a big victory this November.
Tonight is the beginning of Donald Trump bringing the people of our nation together to help America win again.
And tonight in all those states who supported Mr. Trump today, all the ones who voted across this country, our message is to begin to get ready for the fight that is coming this fall.
The fight this fall is to make sure that a united Republican Party and united American people make sure that Hillary Rodham Clinton never gets back in the White House.
Since June 16th, when Mr. Trump declared his candidacy, he has shown himself to be tough and strong and bold.
He's shown himself to be a fighter, a leader who speaks plainly to the American people.
He has listened to the American people. The American people are listening to him. And he is bringing the country together.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is not a campaign, it's a movement.
America wants to come together. America wants to be strong and successful again, but they know that to do that, they need to have a strong, bold, tough, decisive leader back in the Oval Office, and they have that man after tonight.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the next president of the United States, Donald Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Chris, thank you very much. I appreciate it. This has been an amazing evening. Already we've won five major states and it looks like we could win six or seven or eight or nine. It's really been great. I want to congratulate Ted on the winning of Texas. He worked hard on it and he -- I know how hard he worked, actually.
So, I congratulate Ted Cruz on that win. That was an excellent win.
We're going to make America great again, folks. We're going to make it great again.
And, you know, I watched Hillary's speech and she's talking about wages have been poor and every thing's poor and every thing's doing badly, but we're going to make it -- she's been there for so long.
[21:40:07] I mean, if she hasn't straightened it out by now, she's not going to straighten it out in the next four years. It's just going to become worst and worst. She wants to make America whole again. And I'm trying to figure out what is that all about? Make America great again is going to be much better than making America whole again.
So, I just want to say that this was an exciting evening. It's so great to be in Florida. It's so great to be at Mar-a-Lago with friends and the press and the media and everybody.
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, as I've said many times before.
But, you know what, we're going to go to Florida, we're going to spend so much time in Florida. We've got about a 20 point lead. I know that a lot of groups, a lot of the special interests and a lot of the lobbyists and the people that want to have their little senator do exactly as they want. They're going to put 20 or $25 million into it over the next two weeks from what just came over the wires.
And, frankly, I think that's fine. As far as I'm concerned, that's fine. And if he wins, they'll have totally control -- total control. But, he's not going anywhere, anyway. We'll see what happens. But, we're going to spend a lot of time in Florida.
The Virginia win is just a great win, because it's a place that is just spectacular and a place that we have big investments in. As we have in Florida, remember, we have thousands of employees in Florida all along Miami, Doral, and Mar-a-Lago and so many other places and it's been an amazing place to invest, it's been amazing to have so many wonderful employees, some of whom are here tonight really urging us on.
And, you know, I have thousands of employees all over the country, actually all over the world. But, of purposes of tonight, we'll just say all over country. And it's just been just so beautiful to watch this company grow and to watch it grow so strongly.
Recent articles came out talking about how great a company we built. And now we want to put that same ability into doing something for our nation. I mean, our nation is in serious trouble. We're being killed on trade, absolutely destroyed. China is just taking advantage of us. I have nothing against China. I have great respect with China. But their leaders are too smart for our leaders. Our leaders don't have a clue. And the trade deficits at $400 billion and $500 billion are too much.
No country can sustain that kind of trade deficit. It won't be that way for long. We have the greatest business leaders in the world on my team already. And, believe me, we're going to redo those trade deals and it's going to be a thing of beauty.
You look at countries like Mexico where they're killing us on the border, absolutely destroying us on the border. They're destroying us in terms of economic development companies like carrier air conditioner just moving into Mexico. Ford moving into Mexico, Nabisco closing up shop in Chicago and moving into Mexico.
We have to stop it, folks. I know how to stop it. We're going to create jobs. We're going to create jobs like you've never seen. We're going to lower taxes. I have a plan that Larry Kudlow and so many others think is the best plan they've seen.
We're going to lower taxes substantially for the middle class. The middle class has been forgotten in our country. It really helped and really, probably, was the predominant factor in making our country into a country that we all love so much and we're all so proud of, but we've forgotten the middle class.
So, we're going to lower taxes. We're lowering taxes on business. You look at all the companies that are moving out.
When you see Pfizer moving to Ireland and you see so many other companies, constantly, now they are leaving. They used to move from New York to Florida, or they'd move from New Jersey to someplace else, Chris.
But, now, they're moving from here. Look at that many people are leaving in New Jersey. But, Chris understands the problem. Fully understands. Now they are leaving from places that they used to move to into other parts of the world. We can't let that happen.
We've lost our manufacturing jobs, we've lost our manufacturing. Millions and millions of jobs, thousands and thousands and thousands of plants, manufacturing plants, warehouses.
I mean, we are losing so much. We can't let it happen. I tell the story often about a friend of mine who is in the excavation business and he always orders Caterpillar and recently he ordered Kamatsu tractors from Japan because they've cut the Yen, they devalued the Yen to such an extent that it was virtually impossible for Caterpillar to compete.
And I don't want that to happen. That's not going to happen. They shouldn't be allowed to do it. We have tremendous power over everybody because we are really the source. We have great, great power. The problem is we have politicians that truly, truly, truly don't know what they're doing. [21:45:05] So, we're going to work very, very hard. I'm so honored by this evening. If you would have told me on June 16th, when I was with my wife, Melania, and we came down the escalator in Trump Tower and it looked literally, well, literary like this, you have a lot of cameras here tonight. It looked literally like the Academy Awards. I'd never saw so many cameras in my life and it takes courage to run.
I'll tell you what, it takes a lot of courage to run for president. I've never done this before. I've been a job producer. I've done a lot of things, but this is something I've never done. But I felt we had to do it.
When you look at the incompetence of the Iran deal where we give $150 billion, we get absolutely nothing. When you look at all of the problems our country has and you look at our military which is really being depleted rapidly depleted, we're going to make our military bigger and better and stronger than ever before and nobody, nobody, nobody's going mess with us, folks. Nobody.
So, it's just an amazing honor to have you with me tonight and if you want press, I think we told you before it would be OK if you want to ask a few questions. Yes? Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, you've said that your campaign is focused on uniting, not dividing. Your critics would suggest that you're dividing not just the country but your party.
There's been a lot of pressure recently to either support or reject you within the Republican Party, specifically. Some strongly word statements coming out in recent days including one from Senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse, who said, "If Donald Trump ends up as the Republican nominee, conservatives will need to find a third party option."
What do you say about the divisions within the party?
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: ... would just lose everything and that would be the work of a loser. But let me just explain something. If you've seen what's happened, whether you go to South Carolina, where I had a huge victory, where we had a tremendous victory in New Hampshire, tremendous in Nevada, you look at what's happened and tonight, of course, is the best of all.
I mean, right now they projected, I guess, six, but it could be seven, eight, nine and major states, its Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia. And, you know, these are amazing states so we're going to probably get a lot more. In fact, we're projected to have some pretty good additional numbers.
But I will say this, look, we have expanded the Republican Party. When you look at what's happened in South Carolina and you see the kind of numbers that we got in terms of extra people coming in, they came from the Democratic party or the Democrat Party and they're Democrats and they're longtime Democrats and they would never going to switch and they all switched, and they were Independents.
And we've actually expanded the party. Look at the number of votes we had in that area as an example. Four years ago, they had 390,000 or so votes. We doubled it. We're almost 800,000. Whereas the Democrats went down, is much less enthusiasm for the Democrats
So, look, 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. Once we get all of this finished, I'm going to go after one person, that's Hillary Clinton, on the assumption she's allowed to run which is a big assumption. I don't know that she's going to be allowed to run.
And I think that's frankly, going to be an easy race. You see the polls. I beat Hillary in many polls. I know one thing, I don't think Marco is going to be able to beat her. I don't think in all fairness, I think Ted's going to have a very hard time. But Ted at least has a shot because at least he's won a little bit.
So I just tell you this, we are going to be a much finer party, a much -- we're going to be a unified party. I mean, to be honest with you. And we are going to be a much bigger party and you can see that happening. We're going to have a much bigger party. Our party is expanding. And all you have to do is take a look at the primary states where I've won. And just look where we've gone from "X" number to a much lager number. That hasn't happened to the Republican Party in many, many decades.
So 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 be a much bigger party and I think we're going to win in November. OK. Yeah?
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Does it -- does it feel to you yet like you are the presumptive Republican nominee? And along those lines, you had some complimentary things to say about Planned Parenthood. You said you could be ...
TRUMP: Right.
MURRAY: ... flexible on immigration. Are you trying to adjust your tone to a more general election message?
TRUMP: I'm just doing what's right. Look, Planned Parenthood has done very good work for some -- for many, many, for millions of women. And I'll say it, and I know a lot of the so-called conservatives, they say that's really -- because I'm a conservative but I'm a common sense conservative.
But millions of women have been helped by Planned Parenthood. But we're not going to allow and we're not going to fund as long as you have the abortion going on at Planned Parenthood and we understand that and I've said it loud and clear.
[21:50:06] But, and we'll see what happens. But Planned Parenthood, millions of people, and I've had thousands of letters from women that it been helped and this wasn't a set up, this was people writing letters ... I'm going to be really good for women. I'm going to be good for women's health issues. It's very important to me. Very important to me. And maybe that's not a perfect conservative view but I can tell you one thing, I'm more conservative than anybody on the military, on taking care of our vets, on the border, on the wall, on getting rid of ObamaCare and coming up with something much, much better and certainly getting rid of Common Core and bringing education to a local levels, so that you're going to have good education for our children who are being absolutely starved for proper education.
So, Sara, I mean, you know, you can call it what you want, but I am a truth teller and I will tell the truth. OK. Yeah, go ahead, finish it.
MURRAY: Do you feel like the presumptive nominee at this point?
TRUMP: I feel awfully good. I mean, I'm watching your people. I'm watching your people on and I think going to be very nice. I'm going to be very nice. I'm watching your people on CNN and I'm watching the Fox people and I'm watching the MSNBC people too. OK. See, I'm becoming diplomatic.
And they are certainly being very nice to me tonight. I mean, you know, they're being very strong. And they are, they're declaring Marco Rubio the big loser of the night, which is true. He didn't win anything. He hasn't won anything, period.
And by the way and I have to tell you, and he was very, very nasty. I never heard a person get up and speak anything like this and be so nasty. But he has a right to be nasty. He hasn't won anything and he's not going to win very much.
But I do congratulate Ted, because I know how hard Ted worked in Texas. And that's a big get. Now I also did very well in Texas. I came in second.
And one of the things my son, Eric told me, which I didn't even realize, is that not only did I win most of the states and some are coming in and I'm expected to win them, but I came in second. I came in no worst than in second.
So it wasn't like I won and then I disappeared. The worst I had was the second. So I'm very, very honored by the turnout. OK. Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, in Washington today Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, and the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell felt it necessary to suggest that you had not been clear enough. You'd been equivocal about the role of hate groups or the KKK might play in relationship either to your movement or your overall orientation to politics.
Are they wrong? And when you say tonight ...
TRUMP: I disavowed, I disavowed -- in fact, Chris is my number one -- when Chris gave me the honor of joining the campaign, he called me, said, "Donald, what you've got is a movement.''
We spoke today in Kentucky. You've never seen a crowd like that. That had to be 20,000 people inside this massive convention center and it was incredible. And every place we're speaking, if we have 10,000 people, it's like a small group. We had 35,000 people the other day in Alabama. And when Chris called, he said, "This is a movement, this is something like I've never seen.'' And in all fairness to the press, a lot of the press have said the same thing. They've never seen what's happening right now. They've never seen anything like it. And I'm just honored by it.
Now, when Chris joined, we had a news conference and they asked me the exact same question. I said I disavow. Now, right after the program that we're talking about and I thought it was clear. But you know, we're talking about groups, groups, groups. I do have to know the name of the group because who knows. I mean, they have to give me the name of the group. But right after, when I reviewed it, I put out a tweet and I put out on Facebook that I totally disavow.
Now, everybody knew I did that but the press refused to look at that, that was right after. And I disavowed then, I disavowed today on ABC with George Stephanopoulos, I disavowed again.
I mean, how many times you supposed to disavow? But I disavow and hopefully it's the final time I have to do it. But if you look at Facebook and if you look at Twitter, right after the show, I put out a statement because I want everybody to be sure. Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Trump, you call yourself a negotiator, a deal maker. Is this campaign just the start of a negotiation for you, taking its reposition to (inaudible)?
TRUMP: No, it was not, but there is going to always be some negotiation and it's going to be a good negotiation, not a bad negotiation. It's going to be a negotiation. Well, we'll start at a certain levels and hopefully I will make a great deal and lots of great deals for the American people.
So, you know, look, you can't go around just signing our little notices that the president signs all the time, executive orders. He signed executive, executive order. It's almost like I don't even know, does he ever go and deal with Congress anymore? Does he ever speak to the Senate? Does he ever speak with congressmen and get them into a room and get things done?
You know, a good example of this in all fairness is something that I -- it's very, very important to me. Corporate inversion. Carl Icahn is a friend of mine who endorsed me, great businessman. It bothers him so much, he calls me about it all the time where we're losing companies. And we're losing for two reasons, we're losing for a lot of reasons but the taxes are too high.
[21:50:13] We have the highest -- with a highest taxed nation in the world and very importantly, they have trillions -- for companies -- trillions of dollars outside of this country. The Democrats agree, it should be brought back in. The Republicans agree it should be brought back in. Everybody agrees it should be brought back in.
I could sit in a room, or the Oval Office for a period of literally a half hour and I really believe I could get everybody -- every single -- but you know, here's one thing, they don't agree on healthcare or they don't agree on Common Core or they don't agree on other things and they'll fight.
Here's something every single -- I mean almost everybody agrees. These trillions and trillions of dollars should be brought into the country. The president can't make a deal. The reason is he doesn't know how to make a deal. Probably doesn't work at it, probably doesn't care but you're talking about tremendous numbers -- tremendous amounts of money.
So when you have something that everybody wants and you can't make a deal, there is something going on that's really wrong. And what it means is you have the wrong leader. Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Donald Trump, going along in your immigration, immigration negotiable?
TRUMP: Look, everything -- we are going to have a wall. I can tell you. We are going to have a wall. I watched the ex-president of Mexico, the arrogance of this man and I get along great with the Hispanics, you saw in Nevada. I won in the poll, the Hispanic vote. I have thousands of people that work for me right now that are Hispanic. I've had thousands and thousands over my lifetime. These are great people.
The Mexican leaders are too smart for our leaders. And you saw it. Vicente Fox, first of all he used the word that you should never have. If I ever used that word, you folks would have never ever, ever let me get away with it. Nobody even talked about the word he used. And this is the ultimate word, but he was angry at the concept of somebody saying that there were going to pay for the wall.
Mexico's going to pay for the wall. We have a trade deficit with Mexico, of $58 billion a year. $58 billion. The wall is going to cost $10 million. It's so easy.
I've had these guys that I'm on the stage with -- you don't really mean Mexico's going to pay for the wall. One I assure you as you're standing there, 100 percent, Mexico's going to pay it, 100 percent.
And the reason -- the reason is I'm a businessman. I know how to do this. Politicians are all talk, no action. It's not going to -- except for Chris Christie of course. It not -- look, it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen with these people.
So when you think of it -- and then they say, you'll never be able to build the wall. Well, it's 2,000 miles but we really need 1,000 mile.
The Great Wall of China built 2,000 years ago is 13,000 miles, folks. And they didn't have Caterpillar tractors because I only one use Caterpillar if you want to know the truth or John Deere, (inaudible) John Deere. I love John Deere too.
But they didn't have tractors, they didn't have cranes, they didn't have excavation equipment. The wall is 13,000 miles long. We need a thousand miles and we have all of the materials. We can do that so beautifully. And this is going to be a serious wall. This is going to be a high wall. There going to be a very serious wall.
We're going to stop drugs from coming into New Hampshire. You know, when I won New Hampshire, those people were so incredible to me. And when you go, you wouldn't believe it because it's so bucolic, so beautiful, you look at the fields and you look at everything, it's so beautiful. And yet you go to a meeting in New Hampshire, their number one problem, their number one problem is heroin. The heroin is pouring in. And they have so many of their young people and other people addicted. And I told them, "I'm going to stop it. I'm going to stop it. We're going to have a strong border and I mean strong.''
And by the way, speaking of people, people are going to come in and they're going to come in to this country, but they're going to come in legally. OK?
I have a lot of respect for Rick Scott. I don't know about his endorsement, but he's a friend of mine. I've a lot respect for Rick Scott.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to ask you about your plan -- here, on your plans to ban Muslims ...
TRUMP: What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... on your plans to temporarily ...
TRUMP: Got to find out what's going on. We got a big problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But this weekend Governor Christie said and in fact to backed away from that position ...
TRUMP: We have a big, big problem. I'll tell it like it is. We have a big, big problem. We got to figure it out. We're going to figure it out
Radical Islamic terrorism, big, big problem. Not only for us. You take a look at Germany, you take a look at Sweden, you take a look at Brussels, you look at some of these places, it's like a disaster.
And we're not going to allow people to come into our country who we have no idea who they are, we have no idea where they come from, they have no paperwork, they're young and they're strong.
[22:00:02] You look at that migration line, they're young, they're strong, they're powerful and you say, "Why aren't they back fighting for their country?"
Now, with all of that being said, I feel strong. I have a bigger heart than anybody. We're going to build a safe zone.
