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Donald Trump Cancels Rally in Chicago; Marco Rubio's Campaign Suggests his Supporters Vote for Kasich in Ohio; John Kasich Campaigns in Ohio; Democratic Candidates Speak about Violence Ahead of Trump Rally in Chicago; Donald Trump Holds Rally in Ohio. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired March 12, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:00] MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: We're about to find out as I hand off to Christi and to Victor. You're in good hands. Stick with CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. So glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. It's 10:00 here on the east coast. And Republican frontrunner Donald Trump will be holding a rally near Dayton, Ohio. This is the podium at this hangar in Vandalia, Ohio, just outside the city at the airport there. Thousands of people there waiting to see Mr. Trump for the first time since that rally last night was canceled in Chicago. Of course, we'll bring you the remarks as soon as everything here gets under way.

PAUL: Yes, but what a scene it is, Victor, from the crowds in Chicago last night. Look what was happening then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: You see protesters scuffling with Trump supporters. Fistfights broke out. Trump's campaign canceled the rally altogether. And this morning, Donald Trump responded on Twitter, calling the demonstrators, quote, "thugs who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago," quote. All of this, of course, as Illinois gets ready to hold its Republican primary on Tuesday, just as Ohio will.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we'll be covering this, of course, from all angles. CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston, CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany will help us break all this down. But we're starting with Phil Mattingly live at the Trump rally there in Vandalia.

PAUL: So, Phil, help us understand what the scene is like. We understand that -- is it true that they're at capacity there in the hangar? I don't know if Phil can hear us. BLACKWELL: It doesn't look like it. Phil, one more check, can you

hear us? All right, so, we don't have Phil there. But if we could take -- I know we have a couple of shots there. If we can take a shot of this hangar as we bring in Kayleigh McEnany. I think we have a larger, kind of wider shot where we can see the crowd there. Kayleigh is joining us. Kayleigh, are you on the phone with us?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, I am. Hi, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Hello to you, Kayleigh. First, I know that you, after, you know, the video that we saw from Chicago -- if we can put that up just to remind people, or for people who are waking up and seeing this for the first time -- the Trump campaign has said that Donald Trump does not encourage people to be violent. I know you don't want people to be violent. But to what degree do you believe Donald Trump owns some of the responsibility based on his rhetoric of what we saw in Chicago and at other rallies?

MCENANY: I think it's unfair to blame Trump for inciting the violence of 10,000 left-wing protesters last night. You know, that's exactly what they came to do. You can go look at video --

BLACKWELL: It was 10,000?

MCENANY: Yes, 10,000 showed up last night. And you can go on and see these protesters saying explicitly they are there, and they are not there to be peaceful. There is video of them blocking ambulances. They come from the absolute opposite ideology of Donald Trump and they showed up to commit violence last night. And the culpability falls on them. It has nothing to do with Trump. They were not from the same side of the aisle. It has nothing to do with his rhetoric. These are people who showed up to stifle First Amendment free speech and not allow Donald Trump supporters to peacefully congregate at a rally at university of Illinois, and that's where the buck stops, with the protesters.

BLACKWELL: Kayleigh, where did you get number, 10,000 protesters?

MCENANY: That's what's been reported widespread. I've heard the initial reports last night -- maybe it changed overnight, but the initial reports coming out last night were that 10,000 protesters showed up to stop this.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, let me ask you, you say that Donald Trump holds no responsibility. Guys, play the sound bite from Cedar Rapids on February 1st and let's talk after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. I will pay for the legal fees, I promise. Do you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks.

He's walking out with big high fives, smiling, laughing. I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.

In the old days, which isn't so long ago, when we were less than -- that kind of stuff wouldn't have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, let me ask you this one more time, quote, "knock the crap out of him," February 1st, February 22nd, "I'd like to punch him in the face." "In the old days, he'd leave on a stretcher." Is this not a candidate who is explicitly calling for his supporters to enact physical violence on these protesters?

MCENANY: I don't think he's calling for that, and he has said, you know, those were three sound bites, but he has said repeatedly -- in fact, last night during his interview with Don Lemon, he said at least four times there is no place for violence.

[10:05:00] I would refer everyone to a statement from Barack Obama in 2008 where he was at a rally and he said -- you can see this in "Politico" -- if they bring a knife to the fight, we're going to bring a gun, because, from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl. And we could blame Barack Obama any time a protester is roughed up for having made a statement like that. But I'm not going to do that, because people are responsible for their own actions. And that's what it comes down to. It's self-responsibility, and it was never Donald Trump intent to incite violence.

BLACKWELL: So, this morning, Donald Trump, his first tweet of the day -- and if we have it, let's put it up -- he tweeted, "The organized group of people, many of them thugs who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago, have totally energized America." And I notice that he uses this term "thugs." Jon McGraw, the 78-year-old who sucker- punched a protester in Fayetteville, would you count him as one of those thugs? He does face assault charges.

MCENANY: I would. Yes. If he was not punched first, I absolutely would count the 78-year-old man among the name of thugs. There's no doubt about it. Anyone who commits violence and it is not in the form of self-defense is a thug for sure, no matter what side of the aisle it comes on. But the responsibility lies solely with the 78-year-old man. It does not lie with the candidate.

BLACKWELL: North Carolina NAACP is calling for that attack by Mr. McGraw to be investigated as a hate crime. Thoughts on that?

MCENANY: It should be investigated, no doubt about it. Look, there's no place --

BLACKWELL: But as a hate crime?

MCENANY: Perhaps, if there was a hateful motive, then perhaps. I mean, we should always look into all acts of violence and consider all possibilities. But you know, I just want to repeat, Donald Trump has said, there is no place for violence. The only time he has ever condoned any sort of physical violence is if you are attacked, you may attack back. If you are attacked violently by a protester, you have a right to self-defense in this country, to defend yourself. It doesn't appear in that video that that man was attacked first. Maybe there's something that I haven't seen. The legal system will decide who is at fault there, but if he was attacked that man unprovoked, then absolutely he should suffer all the consequences of the law.

BLACKWELL: So, Kayleigh, what ends this? Because there is obviously a trend -- we have the video, we have the records much what's happened at these events. This is untenable, of course. What changes the trend, changes the tide at Trump rallies specifically where you have these continued clashes between protesters and supporters?

MCENANY: There has to be a mutual respect. You know, I watched the rally last Saturday in Florida that Donald Trump had, and 13 times during that rally protestors stood up screaming at the top of their lungs, and he had to stop all 13 times and patiently say, get them out, and stand there calmly and wait. And it's incredibly unfair. You know, everyone has a right to protest, but you can do so respectfully, and you can do so in a way that doesn't shut down an entire event in a way that stifles others' First Amendment rights. It's got to be a mutual respect from both sides. And last night we saw Donald Trump shut down the rally. He sent out a statement and at the very end he said "please go in peace." That is what he needed to do and he did it. And I would urge protesters to show the same respect to Donald Trump and his supporters.

BLACKWELL: Kayleigh McEnany, CNN political commentator and also a Trump supporter. I should say that we have asked for someone with the campaign, a spokesperson, one of the supporters who has been on this show and many CNN programs several times, but none was available to speak with us this morning. But we thank you, Kayleigh, for being with us.

PAUL: Let's bring in CNN politics editor Mark Preston and CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for being with us. I just want to ask you real quickly, tell me, when we talk about what's happening in Ohio, there's a lot of people saying, you know what, Mark, we're not seeing what we saw in Chicago at anybody else's rallies. No other candidate is seeing what they're seeing in terms of the violence, in terms of the clashes, that we've seen at the Donald Trump rallies. What does the campaign have to say to that?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EDITOR: Well, at this point now, you know the campaign has not taken responsibility for what is happening, and we've heard Donald Trump on our own air last night talk about that as well, putting really the blame squarely on the back of the protesters who are going into the rallies.

But let me tell you where we are at the moment as we wait for this rally to start right now. I just spoke to a law enforcement official who said that there is more than 5,000 people out of here. They have actually shut down the building behind me. Our photojournalist, Mark, is going to pan over just to give you an idea right now what the overflow crowd is doing outside here in Dayton. People are now stacked up, trying to look in to see Donald Trump land his plane as the rally begins. But the fire marshal has shut down this hangar. People are still streaming in right now. And as we've been talking about throughout the morning, Christi, the bottom line is there has been this incredible amount of violence that we have not seen at political rallies before, certainly not since I've been covering political campaigns.

[10:10:02] But we're also seeing a level of excitement in some ways in fervent support from Trump supporters that we're not seeing at these other rallies as well.

PAUL: That's a good point to make, and I want to ask you about that, because Mr. Trump did tweet earlier this morning that he believes what happened in Chicago actually energized people from his camp. What do you say to that?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: He didn't say people from his camp. He said America, which is kind of the core construct that he's been setting up from the beginning of his campaign, that he represents Americans and basically portraying all of these other groups as something less than Americans, whether it's American-Muslims or undocumented Mexicans, or, in subtle ways getting more explicit, the Black Lives Matter movement, using the language "thugs" here.

So, yes, he does inspire a passionate support. But he is at 35 percent of the total vote. And as I've talked about before, having won the states that he's won, in the past we have seen anyone who's done that move into the 40s, closer to 50, and see elected officials coalesce behind them, and that's not happening here.

And I've got to think that yesterday is a real moment of anxiety for all of the Republicans who are uneasy about Trump because it may be kind of, you know, the ghost of Christmas future, what they can expect in the coming months if he, in fact, rolls toward the nomination, which could be entirely possible on Tuesday. So, this is just an extraordinary moment for the party where Trump clearly has a devoted following, bigger than anybody else in the field, but clearly not a majority of the party. And yet he is on the brink of the nomination even as you have these clouds swirling around him.

PAUL: Right, but if he does -- if he does indeed get the nomination, if he wins Florida and he continues to go through Super Tuesday and he gets the nomination, how does the Republican Party reconcile Donald Trump as a Republican candidate?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, if you're asking me, I think this is an enormous challenge. On the one hand, as I've said, he has a bigger piece of the Republican coalition than anybody else in the field, and the idea that he is relying on courting voters from the outside is simply not supported by the evidence. I have a big piece out today pointing out that the share of Republican voters is basically unchanged in the primaries from four years ago even though turnout is up, and Trump is winning self-identifying Republicans in all of the states that he's winning.

So, he does have a piece of the Republican Party, but it's not a majority. And his ratings, his favorable-unfavorable ratings are, you know, horrific, really toxic among all of the groups that are growing in the electorate -- millenials, minorities, college-educated, white women, all at around 70 percent or above unfavorable. So, Trump will test this theory that many conservatives have proposed over the recent years that the way to win the White House is by maximizing the turnout and the vote share among culturally conservative, mostly working-class whites.

The problem, as we're seeing, I think, is that every action has an opposite reaction, and as you saw in kind of an, unfortunately, a violent way in Chicago, that the Trump message, agenda and approach is going to stir up a lot of passion on the other side that Republicans are going to have to deal with if he is the nominee.

PAUL: All right, Ron Brownstein, appreciate it. Mark Preston as well. Mark, who is there in Ohio, we'll continue to go to him as we wait for Mr. Trump to get closer and we get our first glimpse of him since the rally that was canceled last night.

BLACKWELL: Yes, this one scheduled to start 13 minutes ago, but Donald Trump has tweeted that he is on his way to this hangar in Vandalia right outside of Dayton.

Let's try Phil Mattingly one more time. I think we fixed his audio problem. He's there inside the hangar with the thousands of people. Phil, we know that many of these people have been waiting for hours now inside the hangar, hours more outside in line. What's the mood there as they wait for Mr. Trump's arrival?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's actually pretty jovial here, Victor. And I think one thing that you're recognizing is Trump supporters are just extraordinarily excited to see Donald Trump in person. That's why some of them have been in line or have been waiting for this event, Victor, for 10 hours. I do think, though, in the group that I've talked to, the number that I've talked to throughout the morning, there's a little bit of trepidation. Everybody was watching what happened last night. Everybody's keenly aware of their surroundings. But for the most part this is a crowd that is just looking forward to Donald Trump landing, obviously, in an airport hangar. He should be flying in here shortly and walking up behind me. This is an event a lot of them have been waiting for. They are big supporters of Donald Trump, and they are just excited to see him, Victor.

BLACKWELL: First event of the day. What else does Donald Trump have planned for this day?

MATTINGLY: Well, he's got a couple more events today, including one in Cleveland, which I think is going to be really interesting to see. Again, you look at what happened last night in Chicago, where the event was held, the venue, the location. Compare that to where we are this morning. And perhaps that has something to do with the change in tone or the shift in tone in the crowd here. It's a morning event. It's at an airport hangar far ay from a city center right now. Security has a really good handle on where they are and how to run an event like this out here. [10:15:08] Cleveland moving more towards the city is going to be

interesting to watch, and another event in Ohio tomorrow, Cincinnati. They already had to cancel a preplanned Cincinnati event yesterday because they couldn't get the security concerns resolved at the venue they had initially picked. The Trump campaign just about an hour ago announced that they had decided on a new venue. So those are the two events in Ohio to keep an eye on. But Victor, he'll also be hitting Florida and Illinois. Big Tuesday ahead for Donald Trump, and as usual, he's flying all over the country, trying to hit every possible primary he can before that day shows up.

BLACKWELL: Yes, just a few days left. Phil Mattingly there for us inside that hangar. Of course, we're expecting Donald Trump to speak pretty soon. He's en route to that podium there in Vandalia, Ohio, again, the first event since canceling a rally in Chicago last night.

Now, Governor John Kasich, governor of Ohio, talking to reporters just a few moments ago in Cincinnati, says that Trump allowed his supporters to -- and these are his words -- "come together in violence."

PAUL: The first we've heard from Kasich about it, but many of the other candidates are also weighing in this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The job of a leader is not to stoke that anger. The job of a leader is to address the causes of that anger and try to solve it, not try to stoke that anger so that they vote for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, 20 minutes after the hour now. And this morning we're getting new reaction from Republican presidential candidates over the really violent scenes at that canceled Donald Trump event in Chicago.

PAUL: Moments ago, Ohio Governor John Kasich spoke to the media in Cincinnati. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:20:02] GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has created a toxic environment. And the toxic environment has allowed his supporters and those who sometimes seek confrontation to come together in violence. There is no place for this. There is no place for a national leader to prey on the fears of people who live in our great country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: For more, let's bring in Trent Duffy. He's a national communication adviser and spokesman for the John Kasich campaign. I want to get to something else here, if I could, please, Mr. Duffy. This morning Donald Trump attacked John Kasich on Twitter. He said, quote, "Absentee governor Kasich voted for NAFTA, and NAFTA devastated Ohio, a disaster from which it never recovered. Kasich is good for Mexico." What's your response?

TRENT DUFFY, NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR, SPOKESMAN, KASICH FOR AMERICA: Well, it's not surprising that Donald Trump would do that. The fact of the matter is John Kasich was in Dayton, Ohio, yesterday, celebrating a brand-new factory opening up with 1,000 new U.S. jobs for Ohioans. He brought auto working jobs back from Mexico to the state of Ohio. He's got a great record to talk about. Of course, Donald Trump doesn't want to talk about that. But I think we do need to step back and look at what Governor Kasich said today, because enough is enough. We deserve better than this.

And fortunately, we have a candidate who can unite America and get us moving forward today in the future the way he has done in Ohio. We cannot have this divisive politics anymore. And, frankly, a Donald Trump or even a Hillary Clinton is not going to do anything to heal our country, but John Kasich can. And he has got the record to show that we can move forward together. And that's why you're seeing his poll numbers rising as it compares to Donald Trump.

PAUL: We see them rising, but we also see the crowds rising. On the right-hand side of our screen, we have thousands and thousands of people who showed up for Donald Trump. How does John Kasich, then, when you see the momentum and you hear everybody talking about how loyal the voters are who have chosen Trump, how does Kasich break that?

DUFFY: Well, I think you were talking to Ron Brownstein earlier, and he mentioned the fact that poll numbers are important. But the base of support for Donald Trump is not growing. That is, it's staying around 30, 35 percent. And in order for a candidate to prevail in a national election or even a primary election, those numbers need to start moving up.

The polls are important, but what's happening is the movement in the polls is even more important, and the movement is behind John Kasich because he has that record of uniting his state and producing real results for the men and women of America. So, that's what he's going to do. He's going to win Ohio, which is a bellwether state. We've got to remember, he won re-election in Ohio with 66 percent of the vote. He won 86 of 88 counties with huge majorities, and he's got a 79 percent approval rating amongst Republicans in his own state. That's because he is not a show horse. He is a workhorse. And that's the kind of leadership he wants to bring to the United States.

So it's time to put this divisive rhetoric and all these, frankly, saddening scenes that we're seeing this morning behind us. We don't need another summer of this. We need to turn the page and start a new day in America where we can work together, work across party lines. John Kasich has done that. He did that in the 1990s. He did that in the state of Ohio, and he's got a vision to move forward together.

PAUL: OK, so, Marco Rubio -- this was interesting, because it almost sounds like there's a new strategy that's being birthed here. Marco Rubio said yesterday, John Kasich has a better chance of winning Ohio than he does. So he's essentially telling his supporters, vote for John Kasich to block Trump. Should Kasich's supporters then -- obviously, he's hoping in Florida will return the favor and vote for Marco Rubio. Kasich said he is not on board with that, not going to let that happen, correct?

DUFFY: Well, look, we welcome Senator Rubio's support. We think a lot of Senator Rubio's supporters are going to eventually vote for John Kasich because John Kasich has that kind of record. But we're not so presumptuous to tell voters who they should vote for. They should vote for whomever they think is the best person for the job of president of the United States. We believe that John Kasich is the best person for that job given his record of service on the Armed Services Committee, the fact that Ronald Reagan's national security adviser is one of his top foreign policy advisers, and that's the right path forward.

PAUL: All righty, Trent Duffy, we appreciate you being here. Thank you.

DUFFY: Thank you, Christi.

PAUL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: You see the live picture there from Vandalia, Ohio, the signs there, thousands of people waiting for Donald Trump to step behind that podium. And we've got the map here. He's not the only candidate in Ohio, of course, ahead of the really important contest coming up on Tuesday. The state's getting a lot of attention. Governor John Kasich, of course, will be there, Hillary Clinton in the state, Bernie Sanders going to be in Illinois. Missouri also seeing some candidates today. Both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump will be holding rallies there. We know Trump will be in Kansas City. Marco Rubio is going to be all across his home statement of Florida, a winner-take- all state, a must-win for Rubio, winner take all also there in Ohio.

[10:25:07] We'll, of course, be watching for Donald Trump to step up to that podium. We'll keep an eye on all of the candidates moving around the states a couple of days before -- what is it, the third Super Tuesday we're coming up on?

PAUL: It is, it is. And a lot of people talking about Marco Rubio and the fact that he seems to have put all of his bets on Florida and Florida alone at this point.

BLACKWELL: Yes. A win in Florida, of course, is crucial for him. So, we'll talk to Rubio's senior adviser about strategy, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, just about an hour ago, Marco Rubio spoke in front of reporters, blasting Donald Trump for the divisiveness that has emerged at his rally and passionately denouncing the rhetoric and actions that we've all seen in Chicago last night. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Forget about the election for a moment. There's a broader issue in our political culture in this country. And this is what happens when a leading presidential candidate goes around feeding into a narrative of anger and bitterness and frustration.

And I think we all need to take a step back and ask ourselves, are we contributing to this? Because if this continues, I don't think this country will continue to be ripped apart at the seams, and we will be incapable of solving any of the major issues that we have.

The broader anger that now exists in the American political discourse is a direct result of the fact that words have consequences, that when you run for president of the United States, or if you are president of the United States, whichever one is endeavoring to be, you can't just take on the attitude that I'm going to say whatever I want. You can't say whatever you want. It has real-life consequences for people in this country and all over the world, and we're starting to see it bear out.

You saw those images last night of people getting in their face, often divided up along racial lines in many cases, the police officers bleeding from the head, reminiscent of images from the '60s. I mean, we're going backwards here. This is a frightening, grotesque and disturbing development in American politics.

[10:30:03] I'm upset because of what it's doing to our country. We are being ripped apart at the seams now. The divisions are coming along class and in some instances it appears race, and other elements, and it's disturbing. But I'm also, I'm sad. I'm sad for this country. This is supposed to be the example to the world of how a republic functions, and instead, people are watching third-world images last night coming out of Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Strong words there from Rubio, who just wrapped up a rally in Largo, Florida, just one of several events across the state. His campaign trying to regain some momentum in the next couple days before Super Tuesday.

BLACKWELL: The Rubio campaign, as we said, is making a big bet on Florida, hoping it can give Rubio reason to stay, a narrative to stay in the race, as Donald Trump continues to dominate the calendar, the delegate count, and the voters. I want to bring in senior adviser to Marco Rubio in the campaign, Jason Roe. Jason, good to have you.

JASON ROE, SENIOR ADVISER TO SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: I want to start with, you know, we're now post-debate, a very substantive debate on Thursday here on CNN. And the most recent numbers from the CNN poll have Donald Trump up 16 points. But after that debate and moving toward Tuesday, what's your gauge of Senator Rubio's chance of winning Florida on Tuesday?

ROE: Well, that debate was kind of refreshing, I thought. It would have been nice if all of the dozen debates were like that, substantive, focused on what the candidates' vision for the country is. But I think, you know, what we saw there is how well prepared Marco Rubio is to lead the country and how unprepared Donald Trump is.

And I think when we look at Florida, I think that folks are going to point to that debate as a moment when people realized that Marco was best prepared. The polls have obviously been very volatile, not just in Florida, but in all the states. So, there are polls that, you know, do show us, like you mentioned, a double-digit disadvantage. But there is three polls that came out this week that show Marco within single digits, one poll that showed Marco winning amongst those absentee voters that have already cast their ballot by about 25 percent over Donald Trump. So, we feel very good about the trajectory that we're on, and I think we're going to have a Victory in Florida that's going to reignite our campaign.

Volatile, of course, the polls have been, but there's one consistency looking at the polls over the last month or so, maybe even more, is that Donald Trump has been ahead, whether it's double digits or single digits, as you point out.

I wonder -- and I hope you take this question in the spirit in which I offer it -- if Marco Rubio does not win on Tuesday, he will be the first candidate in this cycle, maybe the only, depending upon how Kasich does in Ohio, to lose in his home state. Others have dropped out before the state. Others have just simply won their home state. What goes into the decision to stay in when Rubio's not on the ballot for his Senate seat and he could lose at home?

ROE: Well, I mean, it obviously is a real difficulty for our campaign if he doesn't win Florida, which is why we plan to win Florida, so that we don't have to wrestle with that problem.

And it's not just the fact that it is his home state. It goes down to delegate math. You know, if Donald Trump, you know, manipulates yet another electorate and gets the Florida count and possibly get Ohio, you know, he's going to get very far ahead of all the candidates. And so he's not even at 50 percent of the delegates needed to get the nomination at this point, so if we come out with picking up those 99 votes, I think, you know, that will help us in states to come after, and I think we will prevent Trump from getting that majority. And if we have to take this to convention, then that's what we'll do.

BLACKWELL: OK, take it to convention, if you have to. Let me come to you on something that Alex Conant said that I'm sure you've spoken with others about. The plan to have Rubio supporters in Ohio vote for Kasich and have Kasich supporters in Florida vote for Rubio, that from the spokesman for the Rubio campaign, Alex Conant, but here's what you said here on CNN two weeks ago about voting for John Kasich. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROE: I don't even know why he stays in the race other than to make a point, but talk about spending good money after bad. I think anybody that invested in John Kasich right now, you know, is investing in Enron after its collapse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Investing in Enron after the collapse, harsh words there. Would you like to take that back, change that, because now the campaign's calling for your supporters to vote for him?

ROE: Well, to give it some context, that was in response to a memo that the Kasich campaign put out, basically saying, making a similar critique of Marco Rubio. The reality is, Marco Rubio has actually won some states and territories at this point and John Kasich has yet to win any. Marco Rubio polls significantly better in the process nationally and in most states than John Kasich. And so, I think, you know, in context we're in a much better position than John Kasich is.

[10:35:07] You know, we're looking at Ohio. He is the sitting governor in that state. He has the best chance of blocking Donald Trump from securing those electoral delegates. And so, at the end of the day, what this is about is not just Marco Rubio, it's about our country. And we cannot allow Donald Trump to become the nominee of our party if we care about our country. And we cannot risk the chance that he could be elected president. He is temperamentally not suited. I would say in the debate the other night we saw very clearly that he is out of his depth when it comes to foreign policy, domestic policy, or even the process of governing. So, you know, this is about making sure that we elect a good conservative president and not somebody that, you know, I think has become just a caricature of a candidate.

BLACKWELL: We're just a couple days from finding out who the voters choose in Florida and Ohio and beyond. Jason Roe, senior adviser to Marco Rubio, thanks very much.

ROE: Thanks for having me.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

PAUL: Let's get back to Ohio. Some of these live pictures coming to us outside Vandalia, Ohio, just outside Dayton. Donald Trump will take to that very podium. As soon as he arrives, about 42 minutes ago, he tweeted "On my way to Dayton, Ohio, will be there soon." And when he does, it will be the first time that we have heard from him on camera, I suppose, at a rally since the rally in Chicago that he had to cancel because of violence that was sparked there. We'll be right back. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:14] BLACKWELL: All right, happening now, Republicans presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is en route to that podium outside of Dayton, Ohio, in the hangar there at the airport in Vandalia, the first event since his campaign canceled an event last night in Chicago, sparking some violent clashes between protesters and supporters. Trump will hold another event in Cleveland, and then he's going to wrap the day up in Kansas City, Missouri.

Let's talk about the Kasich campaign, since we're in Ohio there, bring in the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, Matt Borges. So, Matt, good to have you with us this morning. I want to talk about Governor Kasich's chances heading into Tuesday. And Governor Kasich touts the job growth since he's been governor, his high approval rating, the surplus in the budget. With all of those accomplishments, why is it even close in Ohio?

MATT BORGES, CHAIRMAN, OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, hi, Victor, good morning. It's good to see you. Beautiful day here in Ohio, and I think John Kasich's going to carry this state on Tuesday, so that really resets the race in a lot of different ways. It will be the same day that Marco Rubio fails to carry Florida when John Kasich carries Ohio. Then it's a two-person race at that point at that point in time.

BLACKWELL: I hate to jump in, but it's a maybe that he will carry Ohio, because the polls are not exactly clear that Kasich -- and yes, they have been volatile and have been wrong at times, admittedly. But if Kasich has accomplished all of this, why is it that maybe he can't even convince overwhelmingly the people that know him best?

BORGES: Well, I don't think it's a maybe. I think John Kasich is going to carry Ohio on Tuesday, and so that will reset the race and help move us in the right direction in terms of getting a candidate who really has been talking about a unifying message and the kind of thing that's going to take to carry Ohio in the fall. That's what this is really all about, who can beat Hillary Clinton in the matchup in the general election. And polls have consistently shown us that John Kasich does very, very well against her.

One poll last week had him beating her by 17 points, another one by 19 points in Ohio. And so, we know we've got to win Ohio, Virginia, Florida and the general election to get a Republican back in the White House. So John Kasich gives us the best chance to do that.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about this, for lack of a better term, I'm calling it a vote swap that was proposed by the Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Conant, saying Rubio supporters in Ohio should vote for John Kasich, Kasich supporters in Florida should vote for Marco Rubio. In addition to support of John Kasich, you're of course head of the party there. Are you comfortable with this type of vote swap? Ted Cruz calls it games, and he's not terribly comfortable with it.

BORGES: Well, we are very happy that one of our major county party chairmen in Montgomery County, who is also the county sheriff there, Phil Plummer, sent out a robo-call to known Rubio supporters, encouraging them to join him in supporting John Kasich on Tuesday. So every little bit helps. We'll continue to build the coalition of support for John Kasich for Tuesday. He'll win the state here, and, again, that will set the race on a completely different course as the map changes, as the calendar changes, and as we start to look at a narrower field where John Kasich can really stand out in contrast to what his message has been, not one that has led to the kind of problems that we saw, say, for example last night, one that has really been about unity and bringing this country together and working to make our government work again. That's what John Kasich has done in Washington when he's balanced the

federal budget. He's done it in Ohio in bringing 400,000 jobs back to the state. And when he carries the state on Tuesday, we're happy to have the support of the Rubio delegates and supporters here in Ohio, that they now realize that they should vote for John Kasich on Tuesday, and I hope that they will.

BLACKWELL: All right, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party Matt Borges, thanks for spending a couple of minutes with me.

BORGES: Phil Plummer You bet, Victor. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Enjoy what looks like great weather there in Ohio.

BORGES: Yes, here on my alma mater's campus. I might go over to Mama's Pasta and Brew here in a little while and get some lunch.

BLACKWELL: All right, hopefully, just the pasta, not the brews. It's little too early. Christi, let me toss it back over to you.

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PAUL: Yes, we'll see about that. All right, listen, there was some video that came out of Chicago last night that just has everybody with their eyes to the television as they watch this. Violence at a Trump rally. The rally was canceled, finally, but some fighting words this morning now from the Democratic candidates about this.

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[10:48:31] PAUL: Well, what all of these people have been waiting for is now happening. Do you see that in the background there? Behind the thousands of people that are holding up signs right now, Donald Trump has just landed his plane in Dayton, Ohio -- Vandalia, to be exact. This is the Wright Brothers arrow -- I guess it's in the hangar there at Dayton International Airport.

And Mr. Trump getting ready to head up to the podium there and speak. This will be the first time that he has addressed a large crowd in person since he had to cancel his rally yesterday in Chicago because of some clashes and violent protests that broke out, clashes between protesters and Donald Trump supporters, of course. Five people were arrested. A couple of police officers were injured. But again, we're waiting to see Donald Trump walk down the steps and walk up to the podium.

You have to believe that he is certainly going to address what happened yesterday in Chicago. And we're waiting to see if, perhaps, he will reschedule that event in Chicago. He has not mentioned anything about that. We know that he has a rally in Cincinnati tomorrow. We know he will be in Cleveland a little bit later today and then in St. Louis as well -- I'm sorry, in Kansas City, Missouri, a little bit later this afternoon as well. But again, they have been waiting for this, an overflow crowd there at Dayton international airport to see Donald Trump, and as soon as he steps up to the podium, certainly, we will bring it to you. [10:50:08] But what happened yesterday in Chicago has also really

seemed to bump up the rhetoric from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. They are speaking about the violence that they saw on television as well. Senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is following that story. Joe, what are you hearing today? I understand we are now getting something specific from Bernie Sanders?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as a matter of fact, we are. You know, both of the Democratic candidates on the campaign trail have talked again and again about Donald Trump. And Bernie Sanders did when he was here in Raleigh, North Carolina just yesterday, and just a few minutes ago in Illinois Sanders talked on camera to reporters about the situation in Chicago. Take a listen.

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BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- supporters are inciting. What our supporters are doing is responding to a candidate who in many respects has encouraged violence. When he talks about things like, I wish we were in the old days when you could punch somebody in the head. What do you think that says to his supporters? And what happened the other day when some young man was being escorted out and he was sucker punched? And we have seen other incidents. So, the issue now is that Donald Trump has got to be loud and clear and tell his supporters that violence at rallies is not what America is about and to end it.

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JOHNS: Hillary Clinton also weighing in on this issue. She is starting her day out in Missouri. She did put out a statement. It said in part, "The divisive rhetoric we're seeing should be of grave concern to all of us. We all have our differences and we know many people across the country feel angry. We need to address that anger together, all of us, no matter what party we belong to or what views we hold, should not only say loudly and clearly that violence has no place in our politics. We should use our words and deeds to bring Americans together." So, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both addressing the situation with Donald Trump in Chicago. It will be interesting to see what he has to say, Christi.

PAUL: All right, Joe Johns, thank you so much for the update. We appreciate it.

And, listen, as I said, we're waiting for Donald Trump now to step off that plane and step up to the podium. Thousands of people, overflow capacity there in Dayton, waiting to hear from him. And a lot of the conversation today has been, is he responsible for some of these people who get into clashes with protesters at his events? We're going to hear more from him hopefully in a moment. Stay close.

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[10:56:34] BLACKWELL: Donald Trump has arrived in Vandalia, Ohio, first news conference since the clash in Chicago last night. Let's listen. DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you all very much. I

want to thank you very much.

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TRUMP: What a good guy, Ohio. Oh, I love Ohio. I love Ohio.

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TRUMP: You know, I worked in Ohio for summers in Cincinnati, and I love Cincinnati.

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TRUMP: I had a great experience. It was early on and it was a job, and I bought it with my father. I bought it and it worked out really well. I stayed here, I ran the job myself. I was very, very young. And I bought it for this and I sold it for this and I looked good and I felt good. It's like sinking that first putt or getting a homerun your first time at bat. So, I always had a good feeling for Ohio, and the people are amazing people. Thank you. I love you.

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TRUMP: I don't know if the media's getting this. I mean, here we have a full hangar, and we thought, and this is a big, big hangar. This can take just about anything. And we figured the crowd would be OK, and we have so many thousands of people extra that we had to put them out in the runway, right?

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TRUMP: They never want to capture that, just so you understand, right? They'd never want to. So, it's really fantastic. Let's address -- thank you, darling. I love you, too, darling. Look at this.

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TRUMP: Amazing. This is amazing.

So, let's address yesterday, should we? Yes.

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TRUMP: So, look, we had a tremendous rally in Chicago planned. We were going to have over 25,000 people. The arena was seating about 11,000. We had registered much more than 25,000. So, what we did --

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TRUMP: That's all right. That's OK. I understand. You're loyal to other places, and that's OK. But what happened, it was very interesting. So, what happened -- and these were great people. These are people like yourselves. These were people that want to make America great again. That's all it is. It's very simple. (APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And they were pouring in to the arena, good arena, everything nice. And all of a sudden, a planned attack just came out of nowhere, printed by -- and it was printed by people that were professional people. If you look at t posters, they're all printed. They have a mark on them who made them, all done by a group, all very professionally done, a disgrace, if you want to know the truth.

And with these thousands of people -- and fortunately, we were able to let a lot of them know don't go, because we would have had a problem like you wouldn't have believed. Just like big Nick over here, he would have been in there and they would have wiped him out. That would not have been good.

And we made a decision. We said, and I hated to do this because, frankly, it would have been easier to go. But I didn't want to see anybody get hurt. You would have had a problem like they haven't seen in a long time, because we have people that are so amazing. And it's not necessarily loyal to me. It's loyal to the country. We want to see things happen.

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