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CNN Live Event/Special

Donald Trump Unleashing New Attacks on Hillary Clinton; Clinton Speaks to LA Crowd Ahead of California Primary; Voting By Mail About to End in Washington Primary; Dems Divided. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired May 24, 2016 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[22:00:00] DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for watching us. I'll see you back tomorrow night. But right now I want to turn over to my colleagues, Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, AMERICA'S CHOICE 2016. An election special. Take it away, guys.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail tonight unleashing new attacks on Hillary Clinton.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Trump is about to get a new show of support from his party as his fight with Clinton gets closer and uglier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Washington State, it's primary night for the republicans. But the party's all-but-certain nominee is fighting a bigger battle to be America's choice.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Crooked Hillary. She suffers from bad judgment.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is not qualified to be president of the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight on the republican side, Donald Trump taking another step toward officially claiming the nomination. Reaching out to the right, as he struggles to unite his party.

TRUMP: The only way to save our second amendment is to vote for a person that you all know named Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this democratic race tonight, Hillary Clinton trying to focus on Trump, distracted by an increasingly divisive primary that's dragging on.

CLINTON: We will have a big victory that will take us all the way to the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie Sanders, dismissing claims that he's giving supporters false hope, defying new pressure to rally behind the front- runner.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are in to the last ballot is cast. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, it's time for voters to have their say.

CLINTON: I believe Americans take their vote for president really seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rough and tumble primary fight is nearing the final round.

TRUMP: You better be careful what you wish for, because this is going to brutal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the general election race for the White House is heating up right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the CNN Election Center.

Even Donald Trump says he didn't expect the presidential race to look like this in late May with the democrats still sparring, while he's on the brink of becoming the republican nominee.

Trump gets closer to claiming that prize less than an hour from now. That's when voting by mail ends in Washington State's republican primary. Of course, Trump is confident of a win, as the only remaining GOP candidate.

Trump expects to get most of the 44 republican delegates on the line tonight, and there's a chance he could win them all.

Right now, Trump is just 48 delegates away from officially clinching the republican presidential nomination. He's likely to get very close to the magic number of 1,237 by the end of the night.

As for the democrats, Hillary Clinton now flatly is declaring that she will be the nominee, despite Bernie Sanders' claim he still has a chance. There's no denying the math.

But tonight, Clinton needs 82 more delegates to clinch, based on her total of pledged and super delegates. Sanders needs more delegates to win the nomination than are available in the remaining democratic contest in the next few weeks.

The candidates have been out on the campaign trail tonight, and the attacks, they have been flying.

Let's go to CNN's Jim Acosta, he's with Donald Trump in New Mexico. He's still speaking, I take it.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Donald Trump is still speaking right now. And as you just mentioned a few moments ago, it has gotten ugly early in this campaign, not even a general election campaign yet, but it certainly feels like one.

Just a few momentums ago, Donald Trump referred to crooked Hillary, the nickname that he's given to the democratic front-runner and also, in just the last few moments, called her a low-life for running an ad or a web video, recalling some of his comments on the housing crisis from several years ago.

Now, Wolf, we should mention, this comes after a warm-up speaker for Donald Trump earlier this hour, said about Hillary Clinton, why the voters should not choose Hillary Clinton. He said, quote, "Even Bill Clinton chose another woman."

That just goes to show you how dirty and nasty this campaign is getting at this early stage. Now, Donald Trump is also spending some time cleaning up after some damaging stories in recent days or at least stories he doesn't like, and talking about the story about how the money has been slow getting to veterans groups, those donations that he was raising earlier this campaign cycle.

Trump said just a few moments ago, well, even the vets have to be vetted. And we should also know very quickly, Wolf, there have been several demonstrations breaking out at tonight's rally, most of them from undocumented immigrants, people supporting undocumented immigrants. One woman had to be carried out of this rally by police. She did not go out on her own volition, Wolf.

BLITZER: Jim Acosta, stand by. Donald Trump is speaking right now about the New Mexico economy, how he says it's suffering because of Hillary Clinton. Let's listen in.

[22:05:04] TRUMP: We're having a good time. It's amazing that we can have a good time when the subject matter is so bad. OK? And then you hear a 5 percent unemployment rate, except that if you -- it's such a phony number.

That number was put in for presidents and for politicians so they look good to the people. Because you have millions and millions of people who have given up looking for jobs, and they are considered statistically employed. Which is crazy.

All right, now, look. And one thing I have to say. Hillary Clinton is so bad for African-American youth. She is not going to create jobs and she is going to be a disaster.

And you see numbers coming out, I'm doing great with African- Americans, I'm doing great with so many different groups, so many different groups. And I'm doing, and I'm starting to do great with Hispanics. Did you see...

(CROWD CHEERING)

A recent poll out, not that I want to use this as a standard, but I'm now one point higher than Romney in the election. One point higher with Hispanics.

Now, listen to this, so in Nevada, we have a very big Hispanic population, a really big Hispanic population. They did exit polls. I won easily when we had 12 candidates, I won easily with the Hispanics.

We're going to win with Hispanics. Because people, let me tell you.

(CROWD CHEERING)

People that have homes and have jobs, they're Hispanic, whether they're from Mexico or any place else, they're Hispanic. They don't want their homes taken away and they don't want their jobs taken away. And they don't want it. So we're going to have -- I think we're going to do fantastically.

I employed thousands of Hispanics. I've employed thousands of people from Mexico. They're incredible people. You look at Doral in Miami, I own Doral. You look at places that I own, thousands -- these are unbelievable people.

But you know what, we're going to protect their jobs we're going to protect their homes, and when they hear it right, and by the way, I settled with Univision. They paid me a lot of money, so now they're going to treat me good.

(CROWD CHEERING)

They're going to treat me good. Now Univision is nice. But they gave me money and everything and now we're all friends. I might even have to do a television interview with a certain anchor. Do we know who we're talking about? Should I do it? Should I do it?

So, taxpayers in New Mexico spend nearly $1 billion a year. Think of that. Taxpayers in New Mexico spend nearly $1 billion a year to support illegal (AUDIO GAP) residing in the state.

(CROWD BOOING)

This includes approximately, and this is a beauty, $12,000 a year, to educate the illegal immigrant students, OK? Now, here's a bad one. These are all right out of the book, folks, I have to say. Last year, the number of homicides in Albuquerque...

BLITZER: All right. We're going to continue to monitor Donald Trump inside, but I want to go outside, where he's speaking right now.

CNN's Dan Simon is outside the event. I understand, Dan, there was some activity going on. Describe what happened?

(CROWD BOOING)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Wolf. Things have suddenly became quiet chaotic and fragile outside. We have well over a thousand protesters outside the convention center.

And just a short time ago, we had a crowd that basically got through some barricades, got through the front door of the convention center and they try to get inside. They were met by police in riot gear, who kept them at bay, but it is a fragile situation out here and you can see the police behind me, you can see this crowd of protesters, this is the barricade they got over. And right now they're just shouting and yelling. They're yelling at

police. You can see this group of police trying to keep things under control. You can see the police on horseback, just a very spirited scene out here with protesters holding signs.

Yelling at some of the supporters who have gone inside. And we're just waiting to see what happens. Hopefully, things can remain peaceful. We haven't seen anybody hurt, but it is quite fragile, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Dan, we're going to stay in touch with you. Dan Simon in Albuquerque, he's outside the convention center.

I want to go over to Dana Bash and David Chalian over here. Trump is inside, peaceful, relatively speaking, although he was interrupted, Dana, several times by protesters. Outside, there's a big crowd that has developed there protesting his presence.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is. And look, the bottom line is that this is not new. This is standard fare to have Donald Trump received in a pretty intense way. This degree, if we're looking at the pictures right now, it doesn't usually get this bad, but especially in a place like New Mexico, where it's not necessarily fertile ground for Donald Trump in all places.

[22:10:07] DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Right.

BASH: It's not that unexpected. What do you think, David?

CHALIAN: I think also, Dana, you have to remember that these protests are happening in a new context for Donald Trump. Because we did see protests when we still had a nomination fight on his hand, but now he is the presumptive nominee. And this is happening in what has been the last several cycles a battleground state.

BASH: Right.

CHALIAN: And so, this is exactly the kind of scene that you would imagine that Hillary Clinton would see an opportunity to make hay with, as they begin to square off.

Now, New Mexico is a heavily Hispanic state.

BASH: Right.

CHALIAN: And would be a big climb for any republican at this point. Donald Trump may be even more so significantly. And I think you're seeing some of that play out in a very visual way tonight. The fact that this is not going to be the most hospitable turf for him this general election season.

BASH: That's true. But, again, sort of, as we're pictures, and we do see now, you know, it got pretty wild, that the police are having to put back up the barricades, even though, you know, they're clearly trying to have a perimeter of some sort.

It begs the question about Cleveland and about the convention. You know, everybody was kind of breathing a sigh of relief, David, when the -- I mean, in some ways, with the idea that there won't be a contested convention, perhaps sparing Cleveland and the place where the republican convention is going to be, from this kind of intensity.

But, you know, it follows Donald Trump, just like it follows, you know, other intense candidates and politicians, just like protesters follow Hillary Clinton.

CHALIAN: Right. And I think the only thing that the lack of a contested convention eased was a scene like that inside the convention hall, on the floor. I think there is still going to be, obviously, a robust presence of protesters. As we've seen in previous conventions.

But you're right, he tends, because of his heated persona, he tends to inflame the passions we've seen this campaign season, more than we traditionally see, especially from a presumptive nominee.

BASH: Absolutely. And look, the bottom line is that we've seen even over the past week or so, Donald Trump is he stirs passions on both sides. And you certainly have a lot of people who are incredibly enthusiastic for his nomination, which appears to be a certain thing soon.

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: Fervently so, absolutely.

BASH: But, you know, as it has become more real, for people who just can't even imagine the idea of a Trump presidency, that's the kind of thing that we're seeing more and more, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. We'll probably see more of it as we go along. And once again, inside, there were some protesters who were escorted outside, a much larger number have gathered. We'll stay on top of this part of the story. Trump is still speaking.

Coming up, by Donald Trump is escalating attacks on Bill Clinton's past. Will they be effective, will they backfire? Our political team is standing by with much more. We'll be right back.

[22:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back. I'm Jake Tapper.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just finished up speaking to a rapt audience in Los Angeles, California. California, obviously, will hold its important primary on June 7th.

Let's play for you a quick bite of remarks Clinton made to the crowds in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I will continue to stand up and speak out against what he says. The kind of positions and policies that he's putting forward. The way he treats people, how divisive he is. You know, we may have talked in the past about how we have a bully

pulpit in the White House, but that doesn't mean we want a bully in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: All right, Hillary Clinton speaking to a crowd in Los Angeles ahead of the California primary.

Let's bring in our super deluxe mega panel. Jeffrey Lord, as the lone Trump supporter at this table of partisans, let me start with you. Do you think that is, at all, an effective argument against Donald Trump? You're shaking your head no. And why not? Let me say why not?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Why not because you've got women out there that are accusing Hillary Clinton of being a bully.

But, you know, one of the problems they're starting to have is that every argument she makes, the housing crisis, it said, when she talked about that today, you've got people out there saying that the Clinton housing policy helped cause the housing crisis in the first place.

So, when they go back and they say these different things, there's always somebody who can come up and say, here's what you did on this, here's what you did on that, and there are people that counteract the argument right there. That's even before you get to Donald Trump.

TAPPER: Clinton supporter, former Philadelphia Mayor, Michael Nutter. You're looking at Jeffrey Lord quizzically.

LORD: Not for the first time.

MICHAEL NUTTER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. I mean, you may have missed this. That was 20-some years ago. I think the housing crisis was caused. I was mayor at the time. When the economic crisis took place, I think that was of more recent tenure.

LORD: It was set in motion in the 1990s.

NUTTER: Yes. And then we had banks and subprime mortgages, et cetera, et cetera. So, I mean, if the argument is going to be, every bad thing that ever happens in life is going to be the responsibility of Hillary Clinton, this is going to be very interesting.

LORD: Or Donald Trump?

NUTTER: Well, his language was, I hope the economic crisis happens. I make a lot of money when the markets are down. I mean, that's the thing.

LORD: And their policy -- and their policy was to force the government to give mortgages to people who couldn't afford to pay them back.

(CROSSTALK)

NUTTER: It was 20 years ago. Currently...

LORD: It caused the housing collapse.

NUTTER: At that time, George Bush was President of the United States of America when this was all going on.

LORD: Right. But the policy was set in motion in the 1990s.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, this is actually a substantive debate that I wouldn't mind having. The problem is, they're not actually having this debate.

NUTTER: The candidates.

CUPP: Right. They're talking more about, character and biography. The problem for Hillary is that, and I think like Jeffrey would agree, she can't really go after character. She can't really go after biography. She lies about her own biography.

[22:20:01] Where she should go...

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: What has she lied about her grandparents?

CUPP: Oh, that all of her grandparents were immigrants. Only one is. That she was under sniper fire in Bosnia. She wasn't. That she was named after Sir Rodman Hillary for climbing Mt. Everest what she did when she was six.

I mean, she's got a real history of sort of inventing -- inventing biographical embellishment for no reason. She's got a long resume.

The thing that she should go after Donald trump on is that he is wholly unprepared. She has answers. You might not like them but she has answers. He doesn't have answers. He can't tell you what he would do as president.

She is at least trying to offer up. And I disagree with her plan.

LORD: Right.

CUPP: But she has them. That's where I would go. Because he can't -- he can't counter that argument.

TAPPER: Mayor, I want to give you a chance to respond.

NUTTER: It's about policy. And so, whether housing or it's about how you rn your business or are you releasing your tax returns, these are all relevant issues.

And I think as S.E. said, this should be a campaign about issues. The only thing that Donald Trump can really talk about is personal attacks. And that's what it's just going to be. He has no idea.

(CROSSTALK) TAPPER: Let me ask for question. I want to bring you in, Bill. S.E.,

do you find the bully attack from Hillary Clinton that we just heard on Donald Trump effective at all?

CUPP: No.

TAPPER: You don't? You think she should be going after him for what you just said?

CUPP: Yes. I mean, like I said, the character stuff, the tone stuff. America -- and by America, I mean, people who are not going to vote for Hillary Clinton -- have already rendered their verdict on Donald Trump's tone and demeanor. They're cool with it. It's cool.

So, I wouldn't take that. We saw that fail with republican candidates and I don't think just because we have a wider audience that that stuff is going to stick. I really think you need to expose Donald Trump as an idealess, answerless sort of con artist.

TAPPER: Bill Press, Sanders supporter here one of the arguments Sanders is going to be taking to the convention in the beautiful city of Philadelphia is Bernie Sanders will do a better job against Donald Trump.

And he points to polls. You can debate the polls and whether Bernie Sanders has been put to the ring or that Hillary Clinton has been. But beyond that, what argument do you think Bernie Sanders would make against Donald Trump that would be effective? We have not seen much effective against Donald Trump.

BILL PRESS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that some of the same arguments that Hillary Clinton is using against Donald Trump as I see points is total of lack of qualifications for the office. I mean, he has zero experience, for zero idea, I think, or has given us any idea of where he would take the country and what he would do. Number one.

Number two, we don't really know where he stands on those issues. Look what he said about guns in the classroom. The other day, you know, I'm for them, except when I'm against them. And you don't know, so some teachers will have them, and some teachers -- some teachers won't.

So, I think that's the most effective line of attack. What scares me -- not scares me, but I find disgusting already is, this is May 24. We just heard from Donald Trump's speech and the person who introduced him, referred to Hillary Clinton as a low-life.

He calls her crooked Hillary. Donald Trump is already raising the issue of murder and rape. I mean, how much lower can we get? I think this will turn off the American people and Hillary sticks to the issues and she wins.

TAPPER: Jeffrey Lord, I want to give you one quick response and then we have to take a quick break.

LORD: The rape allegation is coming from a woman who charges Bill Clinton with this and Donald Trump has never been discredited. TAPPER: Hold on.

LORD: The murder question that you're referring to was brought up by The Washington Post.

TAPPER: All right.

LORD: That's called journalist bait.

TAPPER: OK. Vince Foster was brought up...

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: Yes. By The Washington Post.

TAPPER: Murder was brought up by Donald Trump. Just...

LORD: Well, considering the issue.

TAPPER: We're going to have plenty of time. We're going to come back.

NUTTER: Hillary Clinton got re-elected. Hillary Clinton was elected to the United States Senate twice. Was confirmed by 94 to 2 in the United States Senate.

LORD: Where was she in the -- in the 2000s in housing policy.

NUTTER: Jeffrey, all I'm saying is while she wasn't in office.

LORD: She was a United States senator.

TAPPER: All right. Quick break, still ahead, Bernie Sanders is...

(CROSSTALK)

NUTTER: Your argument was that it was from the Clinton administration in the 90s. Come on.

TAPPER: ... making his space that he can win California. All right. Settle. And he's warning that democratic convention -- Bernie Sanders is warning the democratic convention could get messy. We will hear from Bernie Sanders live after this quick break. Stay with us.

[22:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back. I'm Jake Tapper.

Let's play a little sound from one Mr. Senator Bernard Sanders, who is running against Hillary Clinton and had some pointed remarks about how far he is willing to take this race, all the way to Philadelphia, the convention, he says. Take a listen, this is courtesy of the Associated Press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I think if they make the right choice and open the doors to working class people and young people, create the kind of dynamism that the Democratic Party needs, it's going to be messy, you know? Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle. But that is where the Democratic Party should go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Very interesting. John King, CNN chief national correspondent and host of Inside Politics. Sanders has been attacked for this comment about messy. He said, his campaign says, we don't mean violence. We don't mean ugly, but democracy is messy and conventions are sometimes messy.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Conventions are sometimes messy. But there's sort of tension, internal tension even within the Sanders campaign here. If you look at the math, he's talk about, democracy is messy.

Well, if you take lower case "d" democracy, she's won more states, she has more delegates, she's on the path to be the nominee unless he pulls off a mathematical miracle. So, what is his argument?

Now if he can win New Jersey with 70 percent and win California with 70 percent, he can change the math. There aren't a lot of people who think he can do that. We'll see if he does. We have a couple of weeks before we get there.

But on the other hand, Senator Sanders has done incredibly remarkable. At the beginning of the campaign, he was a little P.T. Boat next to aircraft carrying Hillary Clinton. And he's waged to pretty effective campaign.

He's tugged her to the left on many issues. He has won 21 contests, she's won 27. I think I have the math right. And what is he supposed to say now? Yes, he has this small chance to pull off the math to win the nomination. But he also wants to change the party at the convention. He would like the party to say, you win, Bernie.

[22:29:59] That's not going to happen. Unless he pulls off this mathematical miracle. But he does want to get to the convention with as many delegates as possible.

And if he tells his supporters now it's over, well, then he's not going to get a lot of delegates out of California, is he? So, he's in the tough box right now. The Clinton people think he'll come around at the end. What they're worried about is this longer this goes is his supporters come around to it?

TAPPER: And Nia-Malika Henderson, a CNN senior political reporter, I have to get all the titles in here, when Hillary Clinton was in the same boat eight years ago, after the last contest, there was a lot of back and forth, but ultimately, she endorsed then Senator Obama.

What was it, unity, New Hampshire? What was the name of the town? Love, New Hampshire, or something. Unity, New Hampshire, they came together. But there wasn't like a convention fight. In fact, she placed Barack Obama's name into convention -- into the

consideration for the convention. I don't know that it's going to end the same way this time.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Right. And even before that happened, you did see Clinton making some of the similar arguments that the Sanders is making now. This idea that she would -- that Clinton would have been a better general election candidate, that Barack Obama might have had problems with certain voters, particularly a working class white voters.

I think Sanders is up to something very different than Hillary was up to back then. First of all, Hillary Clinton a tried and true democrat, Bernie Sanders is not a party person. He very much sees himself as indispensable to the party. He wants to move it to the left, and he's made some progress.

Not only in his campaign, but already with what the platform committee will look like. They're already making some concessions, and there's also talk about what happens with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who, of course, is the head of the DNC. And he's locked in a battle with her.

So, you know, he's come this far already with this kind of tactics. And so, there's nothing really in it for him at this point, to stop what he's doing, because he's been successful.

TAPPER: And Mark Preston, should Bernie Sanders not fight for at he believes in, all the way to the convention, to the last dog dies? I mean, why shouldn't he?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Right. And I'm of that mindset. It's interesting when we sit here and we talk on these panels about what Bernie Sanders should do. Bernie Sanders should decide what he should do himself, right?

I mean, and that's really what he is doing. And to Nia's point, just to add on to that. Hillary Clinton was at a different time in her career. She was going to run again. Barack Obama was going to win two terms in her mind. She was then going to follow him and become the nominee. And that is being scripted up.

Bernie Sanders is 74 years old. He has created a movement based upon people that are 19 years old, 20 years old, 21 years old. There's no reason for him to step aside.

Quite frankly, Bernie Sanders, there's been a lot of talk that he has not been effective in Congress or was never effective in Congress. I would argue that not very many people in Congress are very effective. There's a small handful of those who actually can get things done.

However, Bernie Sanders, at the end of this, if he is smart, can take this movement, this group, this energy, and he can use it to his own good and to push his agenda. He's got to be careful, but to John's point, as well, he needs to play it through California. Why would he stop now? TAPPER: And with just one quick fact check. In 2008, I think Hillary

Clinton thought what was going to happen is that Barack Obama was going to lose in November. And she was going to run in 2012.

Now, listen, that's what the Clinton people said. They insisted was going to happen. But she did clearly have a future in mind. What is the Sanders' end game here, Ryan?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, you say he wasn't influential in Congress and he wasn't, as you point out, a lot of senators aren't. He's obviously been one of the most influential politicians of the last half decade. Right?

He has -- there's a theory on the democratic left that the Clinton's response depression. That left to their own devices, the Clintons will sort of default back to the 90s century of the Bill Clinton administration.

But people like Senator Warren of Massachusetts and the sort of left contingent in Congress believe if you apply enough pressure, then the Clintons will bend. You know, you can bring them back.

And look what he's done in this campaign. He's basically got Hillary Clinton to overturn her positions on half of the Bill Clinton legacy of the '90s.

TAPPER: Trade deals.

LIZZA: On trade. On criminal justice reform.

TAPPER: Yes.

RIZZA: To a certain extent on welfare reform. And he's shown that there's a constituency in the Democratic Party for that and that the party wasn't as centrist as a lot of people believe. So, I think his path going forward is keep the pressure on Hillary Clinton, but unless that -- yes.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the question...

TAPPER: Let's go over here to the partisans of this table. Bill Press is the only Sanders supporter at this table. What does he want?

PPRESS: I want to tell you what Bernie wants. Please. There are three things that Bernie wants. First of all, he wants the nomination. It's very slim path but he still wants the nomination. He's going to go all the way...

(CROSSTALK)

LIZZA: He's not getting that, so what does he want.

TAPPER: But the record reflects, Ryan Lizza... PRESS: He wants -- he wants to shape the party platform. He's said

that. Political revolution to him means all three things. And thirdly, he wants to shake up the Democratic Party. And the more delegates he has, the more likely he is to do all three.

So, I want to come back to the messy convention. You know what messy means? It means for once, we're going to have some action at the convention, we'll have some debates, we'll have some decisions made. It won't be all scripted for television.

[22:35:01] LORD: Bring on Chicago.

PRESS: And I say halleluiah, not Chicago, but they're going to debate, for example, the issues like minimum wage, like the trade deals, what's in the party platform or on the rules, they're going to debate super delegates, they're going to debate closed primaries. Caucuses. All of that is up for grabs.

TAPPER: Mayor Nutter?

NUTTER: That's not going to happen at the convention.

PRESS: Yes, it is!

NUTTER: Come on, they're going to have right on the stage?

(CROSSTALK)TAPPER:

PRESS: Yes, it is.

NUTTER: They're going to have right on the debate, right on the stage they're going to have another debate?

PRESS: No.

NUTTER: You know how it works.

RESS: I know, absolutely -- then they vote and it comes to the floor of the convention and then they vote.

NUTTER: Yes. All wherever they are. That's not happening on the stage in Philadelphia. So, I would just ask the senator to be very careful with his coded language about message.

PRESS: What's the language?

NUTTER: The coded language is a messy convention. That's a disruptive convention.

PRESS: Messy does not mean violence. My kitchen is messy when I'm cooking a meal but I get a great meal out of it.

NUTTER: That's fantastic for your kitchen. We're talking about a convention. We see the things that are going on right now.

PRESS: What are you afraid of? NUTTER: I'm not afraid of anything. We're not going to have a whole

lot of nonsense.

PRESS: You are. This debating the minimum wage is not nonsense. Debating trade deals is not nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NUTTER: No. There's not going to be a debate between Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton. What are you talking about?

PRESS: What does the Democratic Party platform stand for? That's what the platform says.

NUTTER: Well, I know what stands for and you know what it stands for because we know that they are democrats for a long period of time. This week, Sanders has nothing. Nancy Pelosi...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: We've gotten a very good idea. Thank you, S.E., of what messy means.

PRESS: This is what messy means.

TAPPER: Coming up, with the democrats divided, can the DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz survive? New information when we come back.

[22:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're only about 19 minutes away from the top of the hour.

The polls will close in Washington State. Donald Trump, the only republican left standing. He's going to win the delegates there. We'll see how many of those delegates he needs.

He needs, obviously, 48 to get the nomination officially. He'll get those. Nobody else is running, but this is still important for him.

I want to go over to Dana and David right now. There are indications right now that the chair of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is getting a lot of grief from a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters right now for comments. What are you hearing?

BASH: That's right, a lot of grief and what we're hearing is some discussions going on Capitol Hill, particularly in the Senate, in the cloak rooms and the lunches that Senate democrats have on the Senate floor.

I'm told wherever senators gather, discussions about whether it is time for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the DNC, to step down and perhaps do so before the convention.

Now I will caution big-time here a couple of things. Number one, that's what senators do. They talk a lot and they have discussions a lot. And so, it is going on, but it's really unclear how serious this is. The bottom line is it's not just, look, the Senate is not a place where you have a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters, who've won actually.

And Jeff Merkley and these are people who support Hillary Clinton and the concern is that, what you just heard before the break, that they want to have a calm experience in Philadelphia. And they want to try to figure out the best way to control any particular chaos that might come up.

And so, that's what the discussions are. But the other thing that I don't know about you, because I know you've been doing some reporting, as well, that I'm told to use a lot of caution, because senators are not going to decide this.

CHALIAN: That's right.

BASH: It's going to be the presumptive nominee and presumably that will be by then be Hillary Clinton and the Clinton campaign will decide whether or not it's appropriate for Debbie Wasserman Schultz to stay in place.

CHALIAN As you said, Dana, it's one calculation from Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn is how do we make sure that we're not engulfed in some distracting drama about DNC leadership which is totally not the message they want to be on at all, right?

Versus now, though, this conversation taking place in a new context. This is not the first time that Debbie Wasserman Schultz's leadership has been part of the conversation. Whether or not that would continue.

But now it's in a new context, because what if it is something that can be discussed as a potential conversation between the Sanders and the Clinton camps. And a way to bridge the divide. He, you know, you've heard Senator Sanders himself say that if he were elected president, Debbie Wasserman Schultz would not be the chair of the party.

You heard him endorse her opponent, her congressional opponent in Florida. And, you know, that is giving his supporters some avenue to express frustration with the establishment, right?

BASH: Exactly.

CHALIAN: And so, if the Clinton camp sees some way, or if Chairman Wasserman Schultz herself sees some way, if her departure from the leadership would be easing those tensions, that would be one conversation.

But I am told that that is not how it's seen right now and certainly not prior to the convention. If there were ever going to be a leadership change, and we'll see if this holds, that, you know, her thinking on this is that it would have to become after Philadelphia, not before.

BASH: And, Wolf, I should also note that the democratic leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, her office sent me a statement, issuing support for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to stay in the job, to continue as DNC chair at the DNC, a spokesman said the real story is that you have notable senators and members of Congress on the record expressing support for her and just anonymous sources saying that they disagree.

So, you know, this is -- this is certainly going on, but she does have -- there are people who are not happy with her leadership, but there are also people who understand that it's been a very, very tough job that she's had to support her.

BLITZER: But led by Bernie Sanders at the top and his campaign, his supporters, they are very, very irritated with her -- that's one of the reasons why he went ahead and endorsed her challenger for the democratic nomination, to get that -- that she wants to get re-elected in her congressional district in south Florida.

[22:45:00] And what really irritated the Bernie Sanders camp is what she said to us, to me, in an interview a week ago, when she was describing what the Sanders' camp, the Sanders' supporters did at that Nevada democratic convention. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRWOMAN: The senator's response was anything but acceptable. It certainly did not condemn his supporters for acting violently or engaging in intimidation tactics and instead added more fuel to the fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And you know that they already had felt that she was siding with the Hillary Clinton campaign. The debate issue and other issues as well.

BASH: Right, the fuel to the fire, that statement, the irony is that she was talking about the Sanders campaign and the Sanders campaign thought that she was the one adding fuel to the fire.

It was that interview, in particular, that we're told that, you know, has got these conversations going even more than before. But, again, we should underscore that this is a lot of hand-wringing, trying to figure out how to calm things down in the party, and not necessarily a real discussion of pushing her out the door right now.

CHALIAN: One other just very quick note. Remember, this is Barack Obama's hand-picked chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. So, if there is going to be a leadership change, there's no doubt that the White House would be part of that conversation, as well.

BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by, because we have much more coming up. Getting closer and closer to the top of the hour. Voting ends soon in Washington State. We're standing by to see how much closer Donald Trump will get to officially, officially winning the republican nomination.

[22:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I want to go right to Albuquerque right now, outside the convention hall, where Donald Trump has been speaking. He's still inside. Dan Simon is on the scene for us. Dan, it looks like the disruptions are continuing. The protesters out there. What's the latest?

SIMON: Hi, Wolf. Things have gotten very chaotic outside. You can see this group of protesters right here, basically in a confrontation with police.

You have several protesters throw both rocks and bottles at police. At this time, police have basically shown a lot of restraint given the situation that is happening. You have some of the protesters who are wearing vests, who are trying to calm the crowd down, but things have definitely escalated.

The Trump rally, of course, has ended. Most of the people inside have left, but you still have hundreds of people outside who look like they're causing or trying to cause some problems out here, but you can see that police now are trying to get people to move away from the building, but still several people up here.

We're keeping a close eye on the situation, Wolf. You can see that there's some kind of an explosive device right in front of us. We're going to move -- we're moving back, Wolf.

You can see the smoke. I don't know if this is a flash grenade that police have just set off or if this is from the protesters, but you can see that things now are suddenly eroding.

We're going to move back a little bit, Wolf. You can see now the smoke. Now lots of protesters are throwing rocks at police. This has now descended into chaos, as we're moving back. It looks like it's tear gas?

BLITZER: It looks like it's tear gas? Is it tear gas over there, Dan?

SIMON: We're still watching the situation, Wolf. It is definitely not tear gas. Some type of smoke or flash grenade, not quite sure exactly what it was. We're OK. It's pretty tense out here but you get the sense that things could become even uglier as things continue to unfold.

Police, I would say, still showing some restraint. You can see them back there behind the barricades, not really engaging with these protesters right now. Now it looks like they've got some tear gas coming this way. But you see protesters continue to throw rocks.

BLITZER: Yes.

SIMON: They try to...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: They're clearly throwing rocks at the police over there. The police are trying to reestablish that barricade, Dan. It looks like -- these are anti-Trump protesters, right?

SIMON: These are anti-Trump protesters. They've been out here all afternoon. I would say for 95 percent of it, things have been peaceful. But just within the past hour, things really got out of control, as you can see, police with tear gas, firing at some of these protesters right now.

And I'm being told it's actually pepper spray. You can see police trying to bring things under control here, trying to get this crowd to sort of back off. They're putting barricades up right now. There are still several hundred protesters out here.

And you've got police helicopters monitoring things above. Things sort of calming down at the moment, I would say. But you've got the sense that things could erupt once again at any minute.

BLITZER: But you're right, the police aren't -- you're right, Dan, the police are showing lots of restraint over there. You can see they're behind the barricade and the protesters are in front. They were trying to grab those barricades and throw rocks at the same time. But hopefully it's going to calm down now. Is it looking a little bit easier?

SIMON: It's starting to calm down for sure. But we still have a lot of people here, a lot of adrenaline, for sure. And given what police have encountered, they certainly could have shown more force.

But, they decided to back off and try to diffuse the situation as best they can. And now it looks like the protesters are starting to back off a bit here.

BLITZER: And what are their demands? What are they talking about?

SIMON: You know, it's the thing that we've seen at all of the protests. They're talking about Trump's immigration proposals, talking about his comments about women.

[22:55:05] You know, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics in the country, so, not surprisingly, immigration is at the top of their minds. And you have a lot of Latino individuals here at the rally.

And again, they've been peaceful most of the day. But, you know, as we've been live on the air with you, Wolf, things just quickly turned into chaos.

BLITZER: Yes, well, we see the residue of the gas there and we see the protesters. Dan, be careful over there. We're going to get back to you. We're going to continue to cover what's going on in Albuquerque, outside the convention hall, where Donald Trump just wrapped up his speech.

We believe he's still inside. Still ahead here, we're going to monitor this tense situation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We're also standing by for the first results of the Washington State primary. We're going to hear from Bernie Sanders. He's unleashing new attacks on Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the CNN Election Center.

Voting by mail is about to end in Washington State's republican primary. We're standing by for the results. Donald Trump practically guaranteed to get yet another win. That takes him closer to officially becoming the republican presidential nominee.

[23:00:00] Trump is confident he'll win most of that 44 deletes at stake in Washington State. Right now, he needs 48 delegates. He's 48 delegates short of the 1237 he needs to officially win the nomination.