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Donald Trump Won South Carolina Primary; Uber Driver Killing Six People in a Shooting Spree Overnight; Latino Vote Could Be A Deciding Factor; South Carolina Voters Knocked Jeb Bush Out of the Race for the White House; Sandy Hook Parents Taking the Gun Manufacturer to Court. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired February 21, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:20] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. So glad you're with us. It is 5:00 p.m. eastern.

And when you win it is beautiful. Those words from Donald Trump after he pulled off a towering victory in the South Carolina primary yesterday. Sweeping up all of the state's 50 delegates.

Right now Trump is in Atlanta holding a rally in front of enthusiastic supporters, Bernie Sanders also expected to speak this hour in South Carolina. We do begin, though, with Donald Trump, the front-runner, telling the crowd to get ready he says because he says it is crunch time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We had such an amazing victory yesterday, incredible. Incredible. Incredible. Or I'll tell what you, we are going one after another. Are we going to win Georgia? But it is crunch time. We have to go out and vote. We have to get out there. We have to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Many of the supporters at that Trump rally were carrying homemade signs that read Trump can go the distance. And that sentiment seemed to mirror the headlines across the country this morning.

The "New York Times" asking, is there any stopping Donald Trump. From "Politico," is Trump inevitable? NBC News headline with Donald Trump camp can't stop Donald Trump who can?

Jeremy Diamond standing by at that rally in Atlanta.

And Jeremy, my colleagues in Atlanta, telling me about the huge line in the rain today waiting just to get in there. I'm sure you saw it. Is anything different today that he is really officially the front- runner? Because I think before this win in South Carolina we were talking about Trump in many ways in hypotheticals. This is reality because every single GOP candidates who has won New Hampshire, who has won South Carolina, has become the nominee.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Poppy. Certainly the momentum is palpable in this room as it often is in Trump's large rallies like this. You know, we have got thousands of people packed into this rally here in Atlanta. Atlanta and Georgia, of course, which is one of the states that is going to vote in the Super Tuesday primary on March 1st. So certainly a lot of attention being devoted for Trump to go into the southern states where people will vote on March 1st. It is really a crucial time when a lot of delegates are going to be handed out and it is going to be a make or break time for some candidates. But certainly Donald Trump also turning towards the general election. Check out what he today say just moments ago about Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I beat her in recent polls, "USA today" and another one. We beat her in the Q poll, Quinnipiac. We beat here and we beat her very nicely. I love to win. Don't we love to win? Love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And there you can see Donald Trump also this morning talked about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in his interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. He talks about how he thinks that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee. He doesn't think Bernie Sanders has a chance any more, but certainly interesting as Donald Trump gains this momentum. He is looking to the southern states here, but he is also has an eye on the general election - Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. I think that's clear.

Thank you so much Jeremy Diamond live for us there in Atlanta where Trump is holding that rally. Appreciate it.

And as we said, no Republican ever in history has won both New Hampshire and South Carolina in the primary knocked on to get the nomination. It there any reason to believe that it will different this time? This is certainly been a unique election but shouldn't we learn something from history?

Let's debate it. Let's talk it over with Republican consultant Margaret Hoover, "Daily Beast" editor in-chief John Avlon. Thank you both for being here.

What an election, what a race. I want to read this quote from Larry Sabato of the center for politics. He says Trump amazingly, is in a commanding position to becoming Republican presidential nominee. The fact that he won about the same share of the votes in New Hampshire and South Carolina two wildly different states, shows the broad appeal of his campaign among significant portion of the Republican electorate.

John, to you first. Do you think Donald Trump -- is there any questioning history at this point? JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, we make history

every day in American politics. But we study history because it gives us a sense of the lay of the land and the fact that Donald Trump's two wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina. The fact it was broad- based. He won what is left of moderate Republicans as well as conservative Republicans. Not very conservative Republicans. He won across demographic groups. This is a populist protest candidacy rallying around a celebrity demagogue and tapping into deep issues and economic cultural resentment and anxiety and inflicting the Republican Party. And people are responding in way that the rest of the field which is admittedly somewhat fractured cannot compete with. And you look at the down-stream states we're facing here, Poppy, and Donald Trump has a commanding lead in all of them except Texas. So it would be foolish to say that Donald Trump is not in pole position right now for the Republican nomination. Is there time to stop and coalesce? Yes. But is he be considered the absolute front-runner? He has earned that right.

[17:05:28] HARLOW: Yes, no question about it.

Margaret, I thought it was interesting this morning hearing from him on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper, talking about when he said that my ears really perk up and said, I am going to win a lot of Democrats. I'm going to beat Hillary Clinton. There will be a record turnout. Here is how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As a candidate I will bring over many, many Dems. We are going to bring over a lot of Democrats. We are going to bring over a lot of independent independents. No one else will. In all fairness, the other candidates who will never bring over independents. They will never bring -- we are talking about the Reagan Democrats. We are going to bring over tremendous numbers. We are going to bring all the youth.

Bernie's not going to make it, in my opinion, and I never thought he would. Hillary Clinton won't make ti, you know. I mean, frankly, if she gets indicted, that's the only way she is going to get stopped. And I think it is going to be between Hillary and myself. They say that it will be the largest voter turnout in the history of United States elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What do you think, Margaret? I mean, possible to bring over a large number of Democrats as he says?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, and he said about a 100 things there in that small 20 seconds. The Republican in me has a hard time understanding how someone who has been a democrat their entire life is truly in route to get the Republican nomination for presidency. And the truth is because he had such varied positions over the course of his public life, especially in the last six months, you know, you could see him making an appeal in a general election that could be this, as John was saying, this populous economic appeal that could go for Reagan Democrats. I mean, that's not beyond the pale. He has had a wide spectrum of positions that you can see him attacking towards policies in the general election that go for some of those voters.

The challenge, Poppy, is that he has such high negatives with so many groups of people and he is doing very well with non-college educated Americans. In a general election you have got 36 non-college educated, 36 percent college educated Americans and 28 percent minority. So in minority, he is upside down, high 70 percent disapproval ratings if for African-Americans or Hispanic. So I mean, this is where he is going to have to make (INAUDIBLE) as well.

HARLOW: I think, John, that is an interesting point because, you know, a lot of folks, the folks who question him look at numbers and say he has x-amount, 30 percent of the vote now but you had six, you know, six candidates in the field. Now is it down to say perhaps three. Do those numbers still add up?

AVLON: Look. I think there's a lot of wishing and hoping about the rest of the field being coalescing behind one person in anti-Trump vote. We haven't seen that occur yet.

And again, you know, you have got Super Tuesday coming right up on March 1st. You know, unless you got the field windowing by March 15th, the math becomes more difficult. But what Donald Trump was talking about is fascinating because it is the world's - it is going to be a huge etches sketch right. He has already beginning to make a general election arguments saying that he will appeal to independents and Reagan Democrats which is a demographic by the way that probably literally doesn't exist in great numbers anymore. But he has done very well with blue collar workers. And if you look at states he does well, and they are not all in the Republican base.

But as Margaret said, his negatives are so high, among independents, among African-Americans, among Latinos, seeing how he expands the map beyond white blue collar workers which is going to be full firm (ph) is going to be fascinating and very difficult for him to do.

HARLOW: Yes. And we saw it play out negatively for Mitt Romney and the whole party pledging. We got to do better with minority this time around.

Hey guys, I want to talk about Rubio, right. Because the Rubio does - he just won himself in New Hampshire. Comes back. Turns it all around, comes in second in South Carolina. And he says that, you know, he didn't win it totally all out in South Carolina despite big endorsements from Tim Scott and Governor Nikki Haley because of this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: Who do Democrats fear most? Who do they not want to run against? I think everyone now acknowledges that that's me. That's why they spend so much time and money attacking me.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: You know, what I think it is interesting is the sort of he -- there is this question of how do you win if you never win? If you never take a state marker, right. And it sort of like always bridesmaid and not the bride. What do you think?

HOOVER: Well, yes. I mean, if Marco Rubio is going to consolidate support, he has got to consolidate support and start winning. I mean, you are not going to win by just accumulating delegates until March 14th and then not winning any of the winner takes all states by March 15th. I mean, if there is going to be a non-Trump winnowing, that is going to have to happen yesterday. I mean, tomorrow. I mean, there isn't a three-week stretch because inertia is taking over this campaign momentum. I mean, this is going big to all these states that you buy the amount of air time it is going to take turn this Trump momentum around.

So yes, I mean, this is an uphill battle for Macro Rubio for sure, let alone for the other candidates. I mean, it truly is hard to imagine what it would take to derail the energy that Trump has at this point.

[17:10:16] AVLON: Marco Rubio's team is going to have to answer the basic question is, what is the first state they can win? And until they can answer that question clearly and convincingly, they are going to have a hard time. And it is not enough to simply throw out the dog whistle the Democrats fear me the most. That's not a winning rational.

HOOVER: Can I take it further Poppy? Virginia, you got to look at Virginia because the one fault line in his support is college - educated voters. Marco does better with them than Trump. Trump was better with non-college voters in Virginia, has the highest support, almost 60 percent college-educated voters. He has to win Virginia.

HARLOW: Good point. Ted Cruz today, his team pointing to look who is only person to beat Donald Trump so far, it is our candidate Ted Cruz. We will have the surrogate from his camp on later, guys.

Stick around. You are with me again at the half hour. John Avlon, Margaret Hoover. Thank you.

It is the last Republican presidential debate before Super Tuesday. Join our Wolf Blitzer live from Texas this Thursday evening, February 25th. 8:30 p.m. eastern only right here on CNN.

Coming up, a chilling story out of Michigan. And Uber driver killing six people in a shooting spree overnight. Now, new details about what the suspect apparently did between the killings. We bring you the latest on that, next.

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[17:14:33] HARLOW: All right. We now have chilling information about a deadly shooting rampage. A 45-year-old Uber driver arrested after six people were killed during a murder spree in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This happened overnight. Police say it appears that he gunned down his victims at random. And a source now telling CNN he was even picking up passengers during his seven-hour killing spree.

Nick Valencia is live for us tonight in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Pretty unbelievable that anyone could carry this out. And then we are learning that he goes on and picks people up, Uber customers, in the middle of all this.

[17:15:10] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These are unsettling details that we are learning. I spoke to a source with knowledge of the investigation, Poppy, who tells me that this suspect was an Uber driver. And yes, in fact, was picking up fares between his shooting sprees. As a matter of fact, when he was captured at about 12:30 a.m. last night he was still actively working, still picking up fares when he was taken into custody. Police describe him as being even-tempered when he was eventually arrested.

I did learn just a short time ago that he has been interviewed and interrogated by police. But even still they don't have a motive. What really bothers authorities here locally is the sheer randomness of this all. The police chief was telling me for all intents and purposes the suspect is an average Joe. They didn't see the semiautomatic hand gun from this person when they arrested him. They also took a looked inside of his home and seized several other weapons, Poppy. They are trying to figure out of whether or not those weapons were used in the commission of the shooting spree.

HARLOW: I know in the last two hours, Nick, we have just been learning names of some of the victims. So I want to know what you can tell us about them and there is a child still fighting for her life?

VALENCIA: Yes. Six people killed by this suspect. He is expected to be arraigned sometime tomorrow on those murder charges. The victims age ranges between 14 years, 74 years old, two of them still wounded critically. One of them a mother of three children. 14-year-old that you mentioned had surgery earlier this morning. She is still in very, very critical condition according to police. They are really worried about her prognosis.

Another of the six victims was a father and son. They were at a car dealership looking for a car when they were shot and killed by this suspect. Four others were shot and killed cracker barrel and this community, a safe community, Poppy. Kalamazoo only had two homicides all of last year. That number has been eclipsed by this shooting spree carried out by this suspect who is in custody -- Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you so much.

Coming up next, we are back on the campaign trail where two of the Republican candidates are, as you know, of Cuban descent -- Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. But what does that mean for the Latino vote? It is certainly much more complex than that. We are going to break it all down. This is a group of voters that has nearly tripled in size since the '90s. When you look at the general election, their importance cannot be overstated. We will talk about it all ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:21:16] HARLOW: Fresh off his commanding win in South Carolina, Donald Trump should have formed his confidence that he will win over the crucial Latino vote in Nevada on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I love these counties. They were great. I have thousands and thousands of Hispanics. We are going to Nevada. I lead with the Hispanics. I'm leading in every poll with Hispanics. They love me. I love them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The Latino vote could be a deciding factor next week but it really will likely play an even larger role in the general election in November. Take a look at these numbers.

Recent study by city university of New York and CNN's Espanol found the national Latino vote has nearly tripled since 1992 from 3.9 percent. They project 10 percent in the general in November.

With me now to discuss, Tanzina Vega, CNN digital correspondent also covers the race very closely. And Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist. And just some background for our viewers especially on you, Jose. When you came to the United States, you were 12 years old and you didn't learn of your immigration status, that your green card wasn't actually legitimate until you went to apply for a driver's license.

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: When I was 16, yes.

HARLOW: You were 16. You know, you admitted. You came forward 2011 said I am an undocumented American. You have a film about that experience aired on CNN called "undocumented" and now you've started a campaign called emerge U.S. And I just want our viewers to take a quick look at what this campaign is.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: It is about how the American electorate is changing so much. As you sit and you look at immigration debate now in this election, what are your thoughts?

VARGAS: Well, I mean, I think what is astounding to me are just the lack of facts, right? I mean, I'm a reporter at heart. That's what emergingus.com is about. By the way, check it out, emerginus.com. And it is about trying to contextualize an issue that for many people, as a Latino brown Mexican issue. When really like the largest, and the fastest growing undocumented population in this country are actually Asian undocumented people, not Latinos.

No matter how many times Donald Trump or Marco Rubio, you know, talk about what is happening at the border, the number of illegal border crossings have actually gone down significantly, not increased. So what is the responsibility of us in the media, right, to actually call them out and fact check them. And that's really lacking. And I have to say it by the way, I'm watching the debates here on CNN

as well, right. What is the stake in this election is more than Republican or Democrat? What is at stake is American identity itself. And that's what emerging us is trying to figure out.

HARLOW: Tanzina, it is interesting, the study that I just mentioned, they also sort of mapped out, we can pull up the map here. They mapped out these nine states including Nevada where it looks like the yellow ones you see in your screen, the Latino vote could swing the vote for the White House and the general. Can we talk about just sort of how unique this election has been so far when it comes to the Latino vote? And what stands out to you?

TANZINA VEGA, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: I think one of the first things we need to acknowledge is that this is the first time we've had two Latino candidates at this level in the election. So these are emerging questions that are coming out. And I think Jose Antonio is absolutely right. There are lots of questions of identity. And one of the biggest questions for the Latino vote in particular is that we often prefer to it as a sleeping giant. It is not a monolithic sleeping giant. And when we refer to immigration, as you were saying earlier, immigration is not the only issue that Latino voters are concerned with. We are looking -- you could be a Latino voter and be an eighth generation Mexican-American. You could a first generation Dominican. You could be a Puerto Rican who is born in this country and is already eligible to vote as a United States citizen. So there are many different issues that are interesting to the Latino population.

[17:25:10] HARLOW: Do you think she makes a good point?

VARGAS: Absolutely.

HARLOW: It is like saying what do black voters care about or white women care about. As if there is one issue that we care about. Not that there are predominantly important things, but do you feel like --

VARGAS: Well, I mean, for a lot of Latinos and Asians, immigration is a personal issue. We are talking about a grandmother. You are talking about a mom. I have to say, by the way, having grown up in California. I grew during the Pete Wilson era. When Governor Pete Wilson, right, passed the most anti-immigrant bill in the country's history at that point. In many ways what Donald Trump is doing now he is waking up. You are going to see an historic amount of Latino voters turn out and Asia voters turn out because of Donald Trump.

HARLOW: In a good way or bad way?

VARGAS: I mean, in some ways I'm actually really excited about this conversation that we are having about American identity. Because I think Donald Trump doesn't speak for all of America. There's an emerging America, right, that Donald Trump does not speak to.

HARLOW: But there are a lot of voters he does speak for which is proven in New Hampshire, in South Carolina so far.

VARGAS: But Republican voters, right?

HARLOW: Good point. Let's talk more about this current president, this administration, right. Because when you look at, for example, the nation's largest Latino advocacy agency, right, they labelled this president, President Obama, the deporter in-chief, the words they used back in 2014. I mean, let's look at the numbers.

Since 2009, since he took office, this administration has deported more than 2.5 million people, undocumented people. That is up 23 percent from the presidency of George W. Bush. When you look that, Tanzina, do you think there is perhaps a misconception about that among many voters?

VEGA: I think that we need to look at what the universe of Latino voters is going to look like in 2016. We are looking at half - almost half of the Latino voters that are coming up are going to be millennials, first of all. So these are - a majority of these folks could be native born. These are naturalized citizens perhaps who are now registering to vote for the first time. So the electorate is going to shift.

What we are going to see is are these folks coming out and turning up at the polls? Latinos have had a spotty record depending on where you look at voter turnout. So the key here is getting Latinos registered to vote and then getting them out to the polls to actually cast that vote and that's where we have seen some traction depending on what states --

HARLOW: But I just wonder if you think that the Obama administration record on deportation hurts the Democrats at all?

VEGA: I think it potentially hurts them. I think where you really seeing the fight is between Hillary and Bernie right now. Because Bernie is getting slammed by a significant portion of voters who were saying, you know, you voted against a lot of the reforms that we're trying to be put into place to actually support immigration reform. So he has got to come up with a message that does speak to that issue a lot more clearly.

HARLOW: Before we go, I want you to tell us more about, it is emerge us not --.

VARGAS: Emerging us, yes.

HARLOW: So this hashtag emerging us.

VARGAS: Yes.

HARLOW: Why did you do this? Why did you launch this?

VARGAS: Because I have to say, Poppy, by the way, like you're an exception here. You just brought up Obama's deportation record, right, which is historic in this country, right. In terms of the number of people that have been deported. You listen to the Republican debate, it seems to say, have they forgotten that this president enforced immigration so much that deported so many people. The media doesn't talk about that.

I would argue that there is such a big gap between the reality that people live, right, and what is reported in the news. In California where I live, 51 percent of all Californians 25 and under is Latino, 51 percent. As Californian goes, so as the rest of the country. So there is a new emerging America that we need to better represent. And that's what we are trying to do.

HARLOW: And people can learn more, where do they go?

VARGAS: On emergingus.com.

HARLOW: All right. Thank you so much. Nice to be with both of you. Appreciate it.

Jose Antonio, Tanzina, thank you very much.

And you are launching a very cool new project soon to come to us here on this show. All about the diversity voters this election cycle. Thank you both.

VEGA: Thank you.

HARLOW: It is the Democrats turn to face South Carolina voters just days before their party primary. The candidate make their case. The CNN South Carolina Democratic presidential town hall moderated by our very own Chris Cuomo. It is Tuesday night at 8:00. Don't miss it only right here.

Coming up next, South Carolina voters knocked Jeb Bush out of the race for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So tonight I'm suspending my campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So now somebody will get the votes that people in other states may have been planning to cast for Jeb Bush. But the question is, who is that person going to be? They all want the votes. Who is going to get them? We'll talk about it next.

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[17:32:41] HARLOW: All right, you are look at live pictures on the left of your screen. Bernie Sanders speaking, stumping in Greeneville, South Carolina. And Donald Trump speaking live in Atlanta, Georgia off of his big win in South Carolina. Bernie Sanders making a case for the Democratic competition in South Carolina next weekend.

Ted Cruz once boosted that ultra conservative, ultra-religious southern states that vote on March 1st were his quote-unquote "firewall." But Donald Trump took a sledge hammer to that firewall in South Carolina. And although Jeb Bush has left the trail defeated, Cruz and his rival Marco Rubio are each saying they will be the candidate to end the Trump streak. We shall see about all of that. Look at those numbers. Trump, 33 percent among evangelicals.

Joining me now, live from a Cruz event in Nevada is our Sunlen Serfaty.

And Sunlen, in just minutes, you have Cruz who is going to take the stage there and he is going to make his case. This is his first event since placing third. What is the message going to be going forward as they battle it out for Nevada?

SUNLEN SERFATY, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the message, Poppy, coming from the Cruz campaign already is really onward. You know, they are charging ahead here on the ground here in Nevada. Cruz will have ten events over the next three days. So really trying to put the ground work here in final days.

But certainly, coming out of the South Carolina, that is not the best case scenario that they wanted. They certainly wanted to do better. So in midst of that disappointed, they are really trying to spin this almost as a glass half full strategy. Cruz's campaign manager telling us last night that they still think that they are well positioned in the Super Tuesday states making the argument that he is funded for the long haul. And also indicating in days and weeks ahead that Cruz might have some messaging edits, strategy edits, so we will see if he brings any of those changes here today, Poppy.

HARLOW: But it is interesting. I mean, look. This is someone who thought -- I think many people thought had a lock on the evangelical vote and yet Trump took evangelicals, 33 percent to Cruz's 27 percent. How do you change that for the rest of the south?

SERFATY: That's absolutely right. And this is a big problem for them. I think that they will have to address going forward. You know, that was always a core part of Senator Cruz's strategy, is to really have a lock on the evangelical vote. Similar to how he did in Iowa. But certainly, there are some signs of strain.

It'll be interesting going forward expect this battle between Senator Cruz and Marco Rubio really to be the marquee showdown here. We expect to see them laying into Rubio. Already casting Rubio's second place finish as a loss. HE says Rubio should have won with the full force of the establishment behind him there, of course, referencing those trio of endorsements he got on the ground in South Carolina. But check out what Ted Cruz said this morning to CNN's Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Number one, we continue to see conservatives uniting behind our campaign. But number two, Jake, it is now apparent that the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump and that has beaten Donald Trump is our campaign.

RUBIO: First of all, because of 30 percent of the vote coalesce around one percent, Donald trump, and then the 70 percent that is left over or 65 percent is divided up among five or six people. And you do the math fairly quickly. And you realize that if this was a more traditional or narrower race, results would be different.

We have to vote for someone who will unify our party, those who reach out to people that haven't voted for us and grow our party, and ultimately who can win. Who the Democrats fear most? Who do they not want to run against? I think everyone now acknowledges that that is me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So interesting arguments coming from both candidates. But in Ted Cruz's arguments to Jake Tapper this morning, interesting that he is leaning a bit, Poppy, on his, I will win. Saying look, I'm the only candidate that has a win against Donald Trump. Expect to hear that a lot on the campaign trail.

HARLOW: Absolutely. We'll be watching, Sunlen. Thank you very much.

Let's talk more about all of this, the South Carolina republican primary cause one GOP his dream of winning the White House. That is Jeb Bush who will not be going on to Nevada, at least as man who is running for president. Bush saw the writing on the wall when it became clear that his South Carolina finish would put him in a distant fourth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: But the people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken. And I really respect their decision. Tonight I am suspending my campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

BUSH: Yes, yes. Thank you. I firmly believe the American people must entrust this office to someone who understands that whoever holds it is a servant, not the master. Someone who will commit to that service with honor and decency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: South Carolina native Hogan Gidley is a veteran GOP operative in the state. He knows politics it like frankly few others do in that state. Thank you for being with me.

HOGAN GIDLEY, FORMER ADVISER TO CANDIDATES HUCKABEE AND SANTORUM: Thank you very much, Poppy. Great to be here.

HARLOW: What is it? What went wrong for Jeb Bush in a state so big for his father, so big for his brother? He brought his brother out on the trail again. He brought his mother out. What went so wrong?

GIDLEY: Look. Jeb Bush brought so much to this race. He elevated the discourse. He talked about real solutions. He has a real record to run on. What is interesting about this is so many voters want somebody, they are clamoring for somebody who has cut taxes, who has balanced budgets, who has protected life. All the governors in this race did that. Mike Huckabee had done that. Jeb Bush had done that. The record was clear they could do it and would do it again. And so many voters are going with people who have no record and no ability to accomplish any of those things. It's fascinating to see.

But in this state, it seems like anyone running a conventional campaign in unconventional election year, which this is, just couldn't catch fire. It seems like the ones who are full of rhetoric, about rage, and bombast, are the ones who got more votes, who got more attention. And it just could not catch fire for Jeb Bush. He got his footing late in the campaign. But it was just too late and too little.

HARLOW: All right. Stay with me. I want to bring in back CNN's Margaret Hoover and John Avlon to talk about this.

I mean, Margaret, it is interesting when you hear what Hogan said and then you read in the "Politico" piece this morning, talking about sort of the play book, that Jeb Bush camp created a $150 million machine that really wrote off Donald Trump until at least mid-August. What are the lessons from this?

HOOVER: I'm so glad you mentioned that, Poppy. Because first of all, for all of the nay Sayers who say this is citizens united as running our country and it was terrible decision, $150 million couldn't buy anybody a nomination. It couldn't buy any delegate votes for Jeb Bush.

But, you know, for the kind of candidate that has the ability to consolidate that mainstream Republican vote and actually challenge Donald Trump, nobody had more research than Jeb Bush, $150 million. And he says he attacked Trump. And sure, on the stump he did. But in terms of money spent, he spent seven times more money attacking Marco Rubio. Four times more money attacking John Kasich. And three times more money attacking Chris Christie than he did attacking Donald Trump.

And so, you know, if anything was going to go at this inertia and this momentum that Donald Trump has been building for some time, I think the establishment or whatever you want to call them, the mainstream Republicans have really been sitting back and not taking Trump seriously for too long. And now the goose is almost cooked.

[17:40:14] HARLOW: Where, John Avlon, do those votes go, the votes that were lined up for Jeb Bush. It is not like he got no votes. I mean, he got over seven percent. He was very close to Kasich and Carson. Where do the votes go?

AVLON: I mean, the most logical thing is to split between Kasich and Rubio. I mean, there is so much bad blood between Bush and his former mentor Marco Rubio, but a lot of overlap in their philosophies before they decide to run for president.

But Kasich, the point Hogan just made is important. You know, the governors in this race were set up to succeed. Traditionally we have elevated governors to the presidency because they have executive experience and all of the governors couldn't get arrested this time around despite their records. And so Kasich, one would hope, if you are making an argument based on executive experience and electability and ability to reach out beyond the base, Kasich would be the beneficiary. But this is such a topsy-turvy year and it is because (INAUDIBLE) has turned on its creator. From the fact that they didn't attack Trump. They thought he would be a curiosity who would inflame the base and flame out himself, well, that is clearly not the case. But it is a metaphor for what is going on the part writ-large.

HARLOW: Hogan to you. Look. You have predicted that the evangelical vote and the Christian vote, if you will, even broader than evangelical, would drift toward Trump in the south. And they did in South Carolina. You know, I think a lot of people look at numbers, scratch their head and they said, you know, we thought Cruz would have had evangelical vote locked in. He didn't. Does this translate across the south? Does this translate into Super Tuesday? And why do you think it is that Trump was able to win evangelicals.

GIDLEY: I really think it does. Look. I think this race so much was not about the rise of Rubio, but the collapse of Ted Cruz. This state is tailor made for an evangelical. Mike Huckabee won so many of those conservative counties like Greenville and (INAUDIBLE) back in 2008. Rick Santorum did that as well to some degree.

HARLOW: And Cruz didn't get a single one.

GIDLEY: Ted Cruz -- Ted Cruz did not win a single county in this state. And it is absolutely amazing when you consider the heavy evangelical base.

But listen, here is a problem with Ted Cruz that he just can't shake. I have talked to evangelical pastors, I talked to parishioners, they all say the same thing. They don't trust him. They understand that as a Christian and his basic campaign slogan is I'm as good as Ronald Reagan but I'm just a little bit better than Jesus Christ. And if you have that on the campaign trail, then you better be pretty air tight on things like tithing, on asking for forgiveness and not blaming CNN when you actually were the ones who wrecked Ben Carson's campaign in Iowa and lying and bearing false witness. Photo shopping a picture of Marco Rubio with Barack Obama. Those things are dirty and underhanded. And in this day and age of all the information and technology, we can find out who do the shadow campaigns. It falls right on Ted Cruz's shoulders. And it is tough for him because he is talking about being pure and the paragon of Christian virtue. And that's what hurt him most with evangelicals. And I think it is going to hurt him with the rest in the south as well.

HARLOW: We will see. I'm going to someone from his team on the show little later. And remember, he did take Iowa and he took Iowa with some of the similar tactics. So we will see how it plays out.

Guys, thank you. John Avlon, Margaret Hoover, Hogan Gidley, appreciate it.

Coming up next, AR-15 style rifles were used in seven mass shootings in this country since 2012 from San Bernardino to Sandy Hook. And now parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, they are taking the gun manufacturer to court. That case being heard tomorrow. You will hear Deb Feyerick's story about the parent's fight here.

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[17:42:30] HARLOW: Well, tomorrow could be a water shed moment for the question of whether gun manufacturers should be held liable for gun violence. The families of children who were murdered at Sandy Hook elementary, they believe those companies should be responsible.

Remington has filed a motion to have a case dismissed. And if they lose, the company will face trial for the death of those 26 individuals in Newtown. The hearing on that motion to dismiss is tomorrow.

But this is a bigger story consider all of these mass shootings - the Aurora Movie Theater shooting with 12 kills, Umpqua community college in Oregon, nine murdered. Obviously, also at the town center in Oregon, two killed. In San Bernardino, California, 14 murdered. And in Sandy Hook, at that elementary school 26 people murdered, including 20 first grade student.

In all of these massacres, AR-15 style weapons were used. This is a divisive issue on the campaign trail for both GOP candidates and Democrats. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders weigh in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer, and that murderer kills somebody with the gun, do you hold the gun manufacture responsible? Not any more than you hold a hammer company responsible if someone beat someone over the head with a hammer.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So far as I know, the gun industry and gun sellers are the only business in America that is totally free of liability for their behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We want you to hear from parents. Our Deb Feyerick reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It lasted less than five minutes. But when the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary finally stopped, 20 children and six educators lay dead. One was David Wheeler's 7-year-old son, Benny. His other son, who was nine, was also there.

DAVID WHEELER, SON DIED IN NEWTOWN SHOOTING: He spent that entire time hiding in a box of t-shirts in a supply closet. And he heard every round. And one of his first questions to me was, how many people were there, dad? How many were there? And I said there was one guy.

FEYERICK: One hundred and fifty four rounds fired from an AR-15 high powered semiautomatic assault rifle. A weapon originally created and designed by the U.S. military to be fully automatic and used in combat.

JACKIE BARDEN, SON DIED IN NEWTOWN SHOOTING: Each of the kids had three to eight bullets in them. Something like that. And you just think, there is something wrong.

[17:50:08] FEYERICK: Jackie Barden's 6-year-old son, Daniel, was also killed.

Both parents are part after potentially precedent setting lawsuit alleging Remington its distributors and sellers have a legal obligation to safely market such a dangerous product. Instead, the lawsuit says gun makers do the opposite. Use adrenaline fueled ads and target had product placement in video games like Call of Duty which the Sandy Hook gunman played repeatedly before the rampage.

WHEELER: I would like to see them stop looking at violence prone young men as their ideal customer.

BARDEN: Their target.

FEYERICK: The lawsuit focuses on a 2005 law passed by Congress that protects gun manufacturers from liability if essentially a firearm is misused in a crime to kill people. Remington declined CNN's request for comment citing pending litigation.

However in papers to dismiss the suit, their lawyers argue that 2005 law quote "provides complete immunity to the Remington defendant." Since 2012, the AR-15 has been used in seven of the America's deadly shootings which together claimed 79 lives. They include Aurora Movie Theater and most recently San Bernardino's ISIS-inspired rampage.

Do you think if the gunmen had used a different kind of firearm that maybe, just maybe, your children could have survived?

BARDEN: But he chose that because he wanted to.

WHEELER: Right. He had other firearms on his person and in his car and he doesn't use them. He didn't take them because he knew what he was doing? And he knew what he wanted to do.

FEYERICK: Remington is trying to have that case dismissed. If they fail, that gun manufacturer could face trial in connection with the deaths of 26 people murdered at Sandy Hook elementary school.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Deb, thank you very much. We will keep a close eye on that story for you.

We are going to take a quick break. We will be right back.

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[17:56:03] HARLOW: All right. You are looking at live pictures of two political events going on right now. You see on the left of your screen Bernie Sanders there speaking in Greeneville, South Carolina making his pitch to voters ahead of the Democratic primary there next weekend. And in little rock, Arkansas, Marco Rubio taking the stage in one of three states that he is visiting today alone. We will keep an eye in all of this for you and a battle of the White House throughout the hour.

Also, still ahead, Apple at war with the FBI. A judge ordering the tech giant to hack in to one the phones of the San Bernardino terrorist's shooter right there. The implications though, could affect almost every smart phone owner in this country. A huge fight. How high up will it go in the courts? We will look both sides, ahead.

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