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Commanding Wins for Trump and Sanders; Facebook Accused of Political Bias; Authorities Search Prince's Minnesota Home. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired May 11, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:21] ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay in Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm John Vause.

You're watching CNN's special live coverage of the U.S. presidential election. It's just gone 11:00 here on the West Coast.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are nearing the finish line in their race to clinch their parties' presidential nominations. That's despite the fact that Democrat Bernie Sanders has won net another primary, this one, West Virginia.

SESAY: Sanders with a divisive 51 percent of the vote. Clinton with 36 percent. Democratic delegates are awarded proportion alley in West Virginia. So even though Sanders wins more, Clinton still has a commanding lead.

VAUSE: Sanders has he's facing an uphill climb like Mt. Everest but staying optimistic and promising to stay in the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And let me be as clear as I can be. We are in this campaign to win the Democratic nomination.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And we are going to fight for every last vote in Oregon, Kentucky, California, the Dakotas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, a very good night for the only Republican left in the race, Donald Trump. He wins in West Virginia with 76 percent of the vote, Ted Cruz with 9 percent, John Kasich with 6 percent.

VAUSE: And in Nebraska, Trump the winner again, 61 percent, Cruz, 18 percent, Kasich with 11 percent. Trump adds to his delegate lead now with 1,119. He needs 1,237 to clinch his party's nomination outright.

SESAY: Well, one of the biggest challenges for Republicans now is unifying the party. It will be a big focus Thursday when Trump sits down with congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.

VAUSE: That includes House Speaker Paul Ryan, who last week told CNN he was not ready to endorse Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Number one, I have a lot of respect for Paul, and I think we're going to have a very good meeting, I hope. I think the big thing is in the history of the Republican Party, nobody has ever gotten more votes than I've gotten in the primaries. I mean I'm, you know, millions and millions of votes additional, and I guess by the time we finish, it's going to be many millions of votes ahead of anybody else, any other Republican in the primaries. So, that's a big thing.

Plus, a lot of people -- a lot more people came out to vote this year in the primaries than they did four years ago or at any other time. So I think that's a great sign. We're doing very well in the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Donald Trump there.

Let's bring in CNN politics reporter Tal Kopan. She joins us live from Washington.

Tal, this was a very decisive for Bernie Sanders. The Clinton campaign knew they weren't going to win. Do they expect to be done by that 15 points?

TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: If the margin was not going to be close, I think, even in their estimation. You saw in fact none of the candidates were in West Virginia last night -- tonight depending on where you are.

In fact, Hillary Clinton wrapped up long before results started to come in so she would not be seen onstage or in interviews or anything when those results started to come in. They expected this to be a bad night for her.

In fact, going forward through June, a lot of these contests that are coming up are not necessarily going to be favorable to her. Even so, the math indicates she will probably still lock up this nomination. But she's going to go in sort of limping and facing some losses and bad headlines instead of sort of sailing in.

So, it's not the narrative they want. But I think they were prepared for it in the Clinton camp tonight.

SESAY: Well, Tal, Bernie Sanders in his victory speech in Salem, Oregon, clearly triumphant, saying he's in it to win it.

But what wasn't the only notable part. What was also noteworthy was the fact that he's got his eye firmly on Donald Trump.

KOPAN: Yes, it's interesting. On the one hand, he can sort of claim that he too is pivoting towards the general election, and we've heard him say for weeks and possibly months now on that polls show him favorably against Donald Trump in head-to-head. It's become a talking point of his.

At the same time, I think there's a recognition that the Democratic party ultimately is going to have to go through Donald Trump regardless of who the nominee is, and he has said that at the end of the day, he will do whatever he can for his party and for the effort to stop Donald Trump. So it's probably a combination of both. It's going after the easiest boogeyman out there for Democrats, and it's also signaling that he too can play the sort of general election pivot game that Hillary Clinton has been playing.

VAUSE: Let's do the pivot. It's a new game. All the kids are doing it.

[02:05:00] Tal Kopan there in Washington, thank you.

SESAY: Always appreciate it. Thank you.

VAUSE: Let's bring in Dave Jacobson, a Democratic strategist and campaign consultant with Shallman Communications, and Republican consultant, John Thomas. John is president of Thomas Partners Strategy.

Let's do the pivot. Bernie is doing it in West Virginia.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Again, another huge campaign rally for Bernie Sanders going after Donald Trump. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Donald Trump is not going to become president for a number of reasons. And the major reason is that the American people understand that we cannot have a president who has insulted Latinos and Mexicans, who has insulted Muslims, who every day is insulting women in one way or another, who has insulted veterans like John McCain and others, who has insulted African-Americans in a very profound way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Dave, finish the sentence for me. Bernie Sanders is not in the race because he can win. He's in the race because he can -- what?

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, look, he's testing the waters to be a surrogate at this point for the Clinton campaign come the general election. Look, I think Bernie Sanders has two choices. He can either help Donald Trump become president by continuing to attack Hillary Clinton, or he can pivot, and he can help Hillary Clinton hurt Donald Trump by going on the attack.

We saw that pivot tonight. If you look at the math, there's no feasible pathway forward for Bernie Sanders to clinch the nomination. Hillary Clinton is just 150 delegates short of locking this thing up. So, I think he wants to go into the convention with a mandate to sort of glue his platform to the Democratic convention platform and be part of this general election campaign that takes on Donald Trump because I think his $ chief objective at the end of the day to make sure Donald Trump is not the next president.

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: I think the reality was Sanders had no option tonight but to make that general election case because as we move toward California where a lot of delegates are at stake, he has to convince Democratic voters that this contest isn't over. So he has to convince them that, hey, he's pivoting to the general too. Look, I'm winning. I'm at the big kids' table. He really had no choice tonight.

SESAY: One of the things everyone is trying to figure out is why was it such a blowout for Hillary Clinton in West Virginia? That's really the big question. And did it have to do with comments she made earlier in March about coal miners and the coal industry. Take a listen. Let's remind our viewers of what was said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right, Tim? And we're going to make it clear that we don't want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lights and power our factories.

Now, we've got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels. But I don't want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy that we relied on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Even when Hillary Clinton went to West Virginia, though, a protest like this one saying Hillary go home, because what people heard in that entire statement was just, we're going to get rid of coal jobs and we're going to close down coal mining for good. And I think we were actually talking the night that town hall happened, and when she said that, we talked about it. We said there's a campaign ad waiting to happen.

JACOBSON: Right, it's a 180 from what she said eight years ago. She ran a campaign on a platform of clean coal and now she does a complete 180. I think fundamentally, this narrative feeds into Bernie Sanders' message that he stands up for working class voters. That's one of her challenges.

The Bernie Sanders coalition is making of independents and of young people. That's been one of the biggest difficulties for her in this campaign is trying to figure out how she appeals to those voters whether it's trade or issues like the fumble with the coal comment. I think he's got to really figure out before we headed to general election.

SESAY: So, John, you're a strategist. How would you fix this problem?

VAUSE: He's a Republican, right.

SESAY: I know. But I want to see how good he is.

THOMAS: Before we fix the problem, let's talk about tonight is a huge night. In fact, tonight was the night we saw Hillary Clinton's Achilles' heel exposed. That is her weakness on the economy. If you ask general election poll respondents on almost every issue, Hillary beats Trump except on the economy. And we saw that exposed today.

How does she turn it around? It's really a hard argument. Look, we can put a pleasant spin on it, but the reality is Donald Trump's created jobs that Hillary hasn't. I don't think you can defend the indefensible in this case.

JACOBSON: I think it give, credence to adding some sort of Bernie Sanders like candidate to the ticket. At this point, she needs a candidate who can appeal to the working class, independent, young people base that Bernie Sanders has put together and consolidated for this election.

[02:10:00] VAUSE: Let's look at some of the exit polls here. Bernie Sanders in West Virginia, 23 percent ahead with men, and he was 21 percent ahead with white voters overall. Those numbers, just looking at West Virginia, does Hillary Clinton right now polls here. Bernie Sanders in West Virginia. 23 percent ahead with men, and he was 21 percent ahead with white voters overall.

So, if you look at those numbers, just looking at West Virginia, does Hillary Clinton right now have a white man problem?

THOMAS: Without a doubt, yes. Without a doubt she does. And on the flip side, Donald Trump has a surge of angry white men, and I think that's Donald Trump's argument of why he's going to beat Hillary Clinton because he's going to turn out white men regardless of their party affiliation.

VAUSE: How does she win the white man over?

JACOBSON: I think part of it has got to be this working class argument. She's got to find a way to cut into that electorate and appeal to them. One of the ways she can do that is say Donald Trump is a risky bet. He says he's anti-trade but then he capitalizes on free trade and exploits workers by shipping production jobs overseas for Trump clothing.

He says he's against raising the minimum wage. Then he says he's for it. He's anti-abortion. He's for abortion.

He's all over the map. The reality is you don't know where Donald Trump stands on any of these issues, and I think that's why he has challenges with people like Paul Ryan. SESAY: The fundamental issue of what you just said in terms of how Hillary takes on Trump is you're presupposing the fight will be based on policy and that kind of detail which Trump doesn't show any inclination for.

THOMAS: And he won't. That attack works on somebody like Carly Fiorina who no one knew and just knew about laying off jobs at H.P. It doesn't work for Donald Trump as a ubiquitously, known brand as a job creator and a successful businessman.

VAUSE: I think this campaign is like Bob Fischer versus Boris Spassky in 1972 world chess championship, because Bobby Fischer did everything out of the ordinary. Boris Spassky is the Russian who went by the book. I think Clinton is going by the book. I don't know how it's going to end, but Bobby Fischer won. I think that's going to be the big problem for Hillary Clinton.

THOMAS: It is. This is not a textbook campaign. In fact, anything we've learned so far is the regular rules haven't applied.

VAUSE: Again, let's turn to Donald Trump right now very quickly because this was the night when everyone said, OK, let's find out if there's a protest vote. Let's find out if the GOP will rally around Donald Trump, and they did.

So if we look at this issue of unity in the party, John, is it time now for the Paul Ryans and the Marco Rubios and the Ted Cruzs to, you know, put the nastiness behind and let's be all friends?

THOMAS: Yes, they've taken their time to sulk. Now they need to get on the Trump train. The problem Speaker Ryan is going to have is the Republican electorate is with Donald Trump now on an increasingly so. And Paul Ryan represents the Republican Party and party is with him. So Paul Ryan values his tenure as a speaker, he needs to get on, and I think he will.

SESAY: Interesting enough. Paul Manafort, Trump's aide, said earlier on today on another network that effectively Trump is the party chief now. He leads the party. First of all, how does that strike and is that a marker ahead of Thursday?

THOMAS: Well, I'm sure Reince Priebus and I'm sure Paul Ryan are not thrilled about it, but he is making a truthful statement that ticket, as far as the voters are concerned, that is titular head of the party.

JACOBSON: Well, I think it underscores the true disconnect between the grass tops and the grassroots. And the reality is Donald Trump hasn't really had to build up the sort of fund-raising apparatus that he needs to raise a billion dollars for the election, and the grass tops are the ones who are going to raise that dough against Hillary Clinton.

VAUSE: He can write a check.

JACOBSON: Sell a couple of buildings.

VAUSE: Exactly. Sell some ties.

This was the week when the Clinton campaign really started going after Donald Trump and his problem with women voters. It was a super PAC ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CORRECT THE RECORD)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because nobody respects women more than Donald Trump.

She came to my wedding. She ate like a pig and -- seriously, the wedding cake was -- it was like missing in action.

Obviously, it's great outer beauty. We could say politically correct that look doesn't matter, but the look obviously matters, like you wouldn't have your job if you weren't beautiful.

INTERVIEWER: So, you treat women with respect?

TRUMP: Uh, I can't say that either.

INTERVIEWER: All right. Good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Again, let's take a quick look at the exit polls from West Virginia and on the issue between men and women it breaks even for Donald Trump, 86 percent, 86 percent. If Donald Trump has a woman problem, he doesn't have a woman problem in West Virginia.

THOMAS: I think what we saw tonight is he does have a larger female problem, but for people who are concerned about the economy, it doesn't matter, male, female, they think Donald Trump is the right choice.

VAUSE: Very quick.

JACOBSON: Well, look, I think this is an outlier tonight. I think if you look at the national polls, he's got 75 percent of women have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. You can't win the White House without winning with women voters.

In 2012, 53 percent of voters who turned out were women. They hold the keys to whoever becomes the next president. I think he's got to figure out a way to lower that 75 percent unfavorable number or else he's going to lose it race.

SESAY: Gentlemen, always pleasure.

VAUSE: Thanks so much for coming in.

JACOBSON: Appreciate it.

VAUSE: Lots of fun.

A short break here. When we come back, they're not really best friends. Special election coverage. We'll have more on Donald Trump's meting this week with the House Speaker Paul Ryan.

SESAY: Plus, Marco Rubio sits down with CNN for his first interview since dropping out of the presidential race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: It does seem like you're kind of try to walk this ground --

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, it's a very unique situation and I understand --

TAPPER: Are you going to vote for him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:17:06] DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Don Riddell with your CNN World Sport Headlines.

It has been an emotional day in East London where West Ham played their last game at their home stadium. United were late to the ground causing a delay. An extraordinary scene has Manchester united; a bus was attacked with bottles.

It's a shame it happened for the Hams, because otherwise, it was a special might for the team that came from behind to win 3-2.

Now, there's no doubt Stephen Curry has been the best player in the NBA. Now, it's official he's the most valuable player for the second consecutive year. Just how good he is was reflected in the voting. It was unanimous. Of the 131 votes cast, every one went in Curry's favor. That has never happened before in the 61-year history of the award.

One of Brazil's most successful football players, the 2002 World Cup winner Rivaldo would prefer for you not to come to Rio for the Olympics this summer. Brazil is suffering from a number of ailments, economic collapse, government instability, the Zika virus.

Rivaldo is worried about violence. He posted a warning on his Instagram mentioning a 17-year-old girl killed over the weekend in a shoot out.

Those are your world sport headlines. I'm Don Riddell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, the right wing never gives up attacking me. Have you noticed that? Honest to goodness, I think -- I think they're really going to throw everything including the kitchen sink this time.

I have a little message for them. They've done it for 25 years, and I'm still standing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Hillary Clinton didn't win in West Virginia, but she's closer than ever to clinching the Democratic nomination for president.

VAUSE: Bernie Sanders came out on top in the mountain state, but since the Democrats there award the delegates proportionally, Clinton is now about 150 shy of majority of delegates to clinch the nomination.

SESAY: Meanwhile Donald Trump is the only Republican left standing, so he chalked up an easy victory in West Virginia, winning by nearly 70 percentage points.

VAUSE: Trump also scored big in winner take all Nebraska finishing ahead of Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

SESAY: Well, joining us here in L.A. is James Lacy, author of "Taxifornia", and a Trump supporter.

VAUSE: And in San Diego, Mike Slater, conservative radio talk show host, and I guess a Ted Cruz, still, maybe.

[02:20:00] SESAY: Welcome, gentlemen.

VAUSE: Thank you, guys, for being here.

MIKE SLATER, CONSERVATIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Coming to terms with it all.

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: You go through the steps, you'll be fine. -

We've got a big meeting coming up in Washington between Paul Ryan and Donald Trump, been a lot of back and forth between these two. Donald Trump now seems to be trying to make nice with the House Speaker Paul Ryan. This is what he said to "The Wall Street Journal."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have a lot of respect for Paul, and I think we're going to have a very good meeting. He's a very good man. He wants what's good for the party, and I think we're going to have positive results and I would love frankly for him to stay and be chairman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That was actually FOX News. Whatever.

OK. James, how crucial is this meeting, though, between, you know, Donald Trump and Paul Ryan? How much is riding on these two men sorting out this issue and sorting it out quickly?

JAMES LACY, AUTHOR, "TAXIFORNIA": Yes. I think that it's going to be sorted out, and I think it's important that they have this visual of getting together. But the Republican Party's coming together while the Democratic Party is falling apart.

You now have a situation where Hillary Clinton, who has lost 20 primary elections, is looking at losing again in Oregon, and now having to use resources to spend in Kentucky. We could have a situation where she comes to California, and she's looking at a very tight, perhaps 23rd state loss.

I'm reminded of what Hunter S. Thompson to paraphrase when he explained why the Democrats put George McGovern up against Richard Nixon and lost. He said, you don't send a three-toad sloth in to fight a wolverine. Donald Trump is our wolverine, and it looks Hillary Clinton is becoming the three-toed sloth.

SESAY: Now, James, that might sound to some as a diversionary tactic. The GOP has plenty of problems of its own before you go throwing stones.

Mike, to bring you in here, Paul Ryan as John just pointed out, all eyes on him. He's been speaking to "The Wall Street Journal," talking about the issue of unity, looking ahead to Thursday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: So, I think what we want to do is sit down together and talk about how we can unify the Republican Party so that we can be at full strength in the fall because if we just pretend we're unified without actually unifying then we'll be at half strength in the fall and that won't go well for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESEAY: Mike, let me ask you a question I've asked others. Who is the onus on to make nice come Thursday? Is it more on Paul Ryan or is it on Donald Trump?

SLATER: That's a really good question. I think Donald Trump has the upper hand. So any other candidate in any other election would want to make nice with the new speaker of the house, right? But we know that this is not like any other election, and Donald Trump's not like any other candidate.

I don't know what he gets out of making nice with Paul Ryan. First of all, I don't think Paul Ryan is, like, the soul of the Republican Party. I don't think people really look at him that way, and I don't know what Donald Trump gets out of it. Like I think the conflict is actually good for him. It solidifies his outsider status, and again Trump has the upper hand.

Remember in the Wisconsin primary, Trump won Paul Ryan's district. So Trump, in Paul Ryan's hometown, Trump is more liked than Paul Ryan. I think that's true nationwide too.

VAUSE: Right. James, for you though, does Donald Trump need the Republican Party because the question here is what about the donors? Are the donors sitting on the sidelines until this gets sorted out?

LACY: Well, Donald Trump reflects the voters, and so there's Paul Ryan. There's Donald Trump. And there are millions and millions of angry voters out there that have seen in Donald Trump's campaign a ray of hope from the problems of unemployment, from the lack of growth, from the grossly high taxation that the Obama administration -- you know, 39 percent marginal rate.

Here in California, when you add the 11 percent that the Democrats put on on the state, it's over 50 percent marginal taxes. Voters are angry. They want a change. And I think that Donald Trump is reflecting that, and I agree with my friend, Mike Slater. I've been on his radio show. Great guy. The reality here is that Donald Trump and the voters are what matters, and I think that Paul Ryan will understand that and that they'll work together.

VAUSE: I want you to both listen to a portion of this interview that Marco Rubio gave to our Jake Tapper, first national interview since dropping out of the race. He doesn't want to be Trump's V.P., and he can't really bring himself still to mention the name Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: There are a lot of questions about the Republican Party and where it goes from here. First and foremost, there's this claim from the Trump campaign that advisers of yours have been pitching you hard to the Trump campaign to be his running mate, that you really want the job according to these Trump campaign officials talking about these advisers. What's your position on this?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, that would be impossible because I don't really have very many advisers. Our campaign is no longer running and unless they've been talking to my wife, which is my critical advisers these days.

[02:25:02] TAPPER: Does she want you to be --

RUBIO: Like I said yesterday, I think Donald has won -- he's the presumptive nominee at this point. But he'd be best served by having someone not just by the way of vice presidential nominee but active surrogates who agree with him on his issues. My differences with Donald, both my reservations about his campaign and my policy differences with him are well documented and they remain. And I think he would be best served by having people close to him and his campaign that are enthusiastic about the things he stands for.

TAPPER: I interviewed Speaker Ryan Thursday as you probably saw. He said he couldn't endorse Donald Trump right now. Is that what you're saying or, no?

RUBIO: The difference between Speaker Ryan and myself is I ran for president. I signed a pledge, put my name on it, and I said I would support the Republican nominee, and that's what I intend to do. And I think the best thing I can do to do that, I think, is to support those who are out there running for the conservative cause, whether it's to keep a conservative majority in the Senate or in the house for that matter and across the country at different levels.

And what I don't want to do and what I'm not going to do is sit here for the next six months and, as I said, take shots at the Republican nominee. I ultimately believe he has earned and I respect the will of the voters and I believe he's earned the opportunity to go out and make his case to the American people in his own party taking shots at him every day.

TAPPER: I understand that, but it does seem like you're trying to walk this --

RUBIO: It's a very unique situation, and I understand --

TAPPER: Are you going to vote for him?

RUBIO: Well, as I said, I'm going to support the Republican nominee.

TAPPER: No, you're going to abide by your pledge, but when you go into the privacy of the voting booth --

RUBIO: I intend to support the Republican nominee and I think that, you know --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Including --

RUBIO: Oh, I'm not voting for Hillary Clinton.

TAPPER: OK.

RUBIO: I'm not throwing away my vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK. Marco Rubio speaking to Jake Tapper earlier.

So, Mike, the longer this division goes on, the longer these people hedge their bets and this disunity goes on, how much harder does it make for the Republicans and Donald Trump to win the election?

SLATER: Guys, this is really interesting. I wonder how much of this is fun to talk about but doesn't matter. I don't mean to be rude, but like I don't know any conservative Republicans who are on the edge of their seats waiting for Marco Rubio to give them permission to support Donald Trump.

Do you know what I mean? Like so we talk about unity of the party, but when it comes to Trump supporters, it's really about unity between me, a person, and Donald Trump, the candidate. That's the unity that matters, and no one doubts that that unity exists.

This like vague unity of like bringing Marco Rubio into it and the other 15 people who Trump obliterated during the last eight months, like I don't think Trump or supporters of Trump even care what those other 16 people want or will do.

So I don't know. I don't know if unity matters that much because there's unity between Trump supporters and Trump.

SESAY: All right. James, I want to ask you very quickly about this whole issue of the V.P. pick because Rubio did, you know, rule himself out, and he's in good company. A number of people have. Why are so many people running away from serving as Trump V.P., being on the ticket? What does that point to?

LACY: Well, maybe Marco Rubio is stepping back from it, but, you know, there's really no rush to do this. I mean, my God, Trump hasn't even won the California primary yet.

SESAY: He says he has a short list by the way.

LACY: Well, it's good that he has a short list, but where is the rush here? I think that the American people are tired of the politics as usual, the backrooms, the smoke-filled rooms. You know, Mitt Romney going into a room with Jeb Bush and deciding who's going to run for president in this election.

I think that Trump can take his time, and I think that taking his time is actually a good thing. I think the vetting process is a good one. He has Ben Carson involved in it. It's a process that I think will help to bring party unity because people will be coming to the Trump campaign to put their credentials forward.

But I think at the end of the day, with the, you know, Donald Trump's a smart man and he's got good advisers. I think he's going to end up with a really good nominee that will help unify the party as well.

VAUSE: And we'll leave it on that note. James Lacy there in the city of Los Angeles, Mike Slater, our good friend there in San Diego -- thank you so much.

SESAY: Thank you, guys.

SLATER: Thank you, guys. Thank you.

SESAY: Time for a quick break now. You're watching CNN's special election coverage.

When we return, they're both in striking distance of the nominations. How do Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump stack up in a head-to-head matchup in the most critical swing states?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:32:43] SANDERS: Last week, we won a really great victory in Indiana. And tonight, it appears that we've won a big, big victory in West Virginia. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Democrat Bernie Sanders scored a decisive win Tuesday night in West Virginia. He beat Hillary Clinton 51 percent to 36 percent.

VAUSE: But that victory does little help Sanders because both candidates add to their delegate totals. Clinton now 150 shy of clinching her party's nomination.

SESAY: And she's already looking ahead to the next big race after Tuesday's loss.

Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny is following the Clinton campaign in Kentucky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton losing the West Virginia primary to Bernie Sanders, it's a state she won eight years ago to Barack Obama by some 40 percentage points. Of course, so much has changed since then.

She's effectively running to be President Obama's extension, his third time. That was not viewed very favorably there by West Virginia voters, but she still has that big lead in pledged delegates and even bigger lead in super delegates. She is trying to look forward to the general election race with Donald Trump.

Bernie Sanders has a month more of contests. He's remaining in the race.

She must still compete with him because she has to keep winning delegates. But this race has shifted. You can feel it shift. It did not change tonight. She still leads big in delegates even with Bernie Sanders' win in West Virginia.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Republican Donald Trump scored commanding wins in both Republican contests Tuesday night. In West Virginia, Trump came away with 76 percent of the vote.

SESAY: And in Nebraska, Trump is the winner with 61 percent of the vote. Trump now has 1,119 delegates. He needs 1,237 to clinch the nomination.

VAUSE: Sara Murray is following the Trump campaign from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump picked up two more victories on Tuesday night in West Virginia and in Nebraska. Now, we shouldn't be stunned by this because every other Republican has dropped out of the race. But it does help Trump get even closer to getting that 1,237 delegates he needs to officially become the Republican nominee.

Now, of course, part of becoming the Republican nominee means rallying the Republican Party behind you.

[02:35:02] And Donald Trump has had some hiccups on that front. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he's not quite ready to endorse Trump.

But the two are slated to meet later this week in Washington, and on Tuesday night, Trump was sounding a more optimistic tone. His aides say they believe he and Paul Ryan can find some common ground on issues like cutting the debt, on issues like cutting taxes for middle class families, and Trump even says he wants to see Paul Ryan stay on as co-chair of the upcoming Republican convention in Cleveland.

Now, whether this means they will meet later this week and sweep their differences under the rug or whether there still could be fireworks ahead still remains to be seen.

Sara Murray, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, here with us now, radio talk show host Larry Elder, and former L.A. Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who is also a Hillary Clinton supporter.

OK. Let's talk about the general election campaign because there was that big news with the Quinnipiac poll which come out. It shows Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a virtual dead heat in three crucial swing states. Look at the numbers for Bernie Sanders. He does a little better against Trump, especially in Ohio.

Larry, to you Donald Trump is doing about as well as Mitt Romney at the same point in his campaign and he lost.

LARRY ELDER, HOST, "THE LARRY ELDER SHOW": And Mitt Romney did not have 16 people shooting at him and had millions of dollars of anti-ads dumped on him at this point.

The problem that the Democrats are going to have with Donald Trump is that he's not a fiscal conservative. He is a populist, and on a lot of issues, he and Hillary are similar. They both now want to raise the minimum wage. They both talk about preserving social security and the so-called social safety net.

Even on taxes, Donald Trump talks about a massive tax but he also says that rich people should be paying a little bit more money.

And on foreign policy, Donald Trump arguably is even more hostile to the Iraq war than Bernie Sanders was. He even called the Bush administration lying into the war.

So, if I'm trying to game Donald Trump, I can't pull out the same playbook that I would use against a fiscal and a social conservative.

VAUSE: Wendy, are you going to vote for Donald Trump? WENDY GREUEL, FORMER LOS ANGELES COUNCILWOMAN: No, and they're just

proved my point. Donald Trump is all over the map. And one day he says that he, you know, how can you live on $7.25 an hour, and the next day he says there should be no minimum wage in this country.

You know, Donald Trump's numbers improved after all of these candidates were no longer running against him. I think as well, Hillary Clinton's numbers in these two states are going to improve when she is the Democratic nominee. She's been true to who she is and what she's fighting for, and the barriers she's trying to break down for families in this country.

SESAY: To that point, take a listen to what she had to say while campaigning in Kentucky. She talks about the stark contrast between herself and the Republican presumptive nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: You could not imagine a more different vision for our country than the one between our side of Democrats for progress, for prosperity, for fairness and opportunity, than the presumptive nominee on the Republican side.

(BOOS)

And that's why it's important we have a big vote on next Tuesday because we've got to get ready to go all the won to November to win the general election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: She's talking about policy, sticking to the details against a candidate like Donald Trump, who doesn't use that playbook.

GREUEL: He does not, and I think that what she's been able to talk about policies on economy, our economy, talking about foreign policy. You know, she knows about what's important in this world, which is a crazy place right now.

Donald Trump knows nothing about foreign policy, and I think ultimately, the people are going to say, I want someone who's commander-in-chief who knows what she's doing.

SESAY: Larry?

ELDER: Regarding her positions, Hillary has hardly been consistent. At one time, she was in favor of traditional marriage. She now is in favor of same-sex marriage. She supported the Asian trade agreement. Now, she's opposed to it. She voted for the Iraq war. Now she's opposed to that. So, for somebody who has changed her position as many times as Hillary has, I'd be a little reluctant to accuse Donald Trump of shifting his positions.

VAUSE: One question we ask on that though -- are you likely to evolve your positions over a period of years or a period of hours? I mean, because Hillary Clinton evolved years. Donald Trump seems to evolve --

ELDER: I don't know about that either. Hillary during the campaign said she was a moderate and then she said she was a progressive and then she went back on being a moderate and back on a progressive. So, I think Hillary has a very long record. She's changed her position a number of times and I can imagine the hit ads about her positions being changed too.

SESAY: The question that many people have is whether Hillary should hit at Trump, whether she should go negative, whether she should take the fight to him, and where we've seen Elizabeth Warren take on Trump.

Let's read some of the tweets because she got into a kind of Twitter war with Donald Trump a couple of days ago. This all started after Trump locked up the nomination. Warren sent out a tweet saying effectively, his campaign was built on racism, sexism and xenophobia, which led to Trump saying this, "I hope corrupt Hillary Clinton chooses goofy Elizabeth Warren as her running mate.

[02:40:10] I will defeat them both."

Warren tweeted a flurry of responses, "Goofy, Donald Trump? For a guy with the best words, that's a pretty lame nickname. Weak."

And this, she added, "Donald Trump spews insults and lies because he can't have an honest conversation about his dangerous vision for America."

People asking is that the way the Democrats should take on Trump? Wendy?

GREUEL: Well, I think Hillary Clinton has proven in this last 24, 48 hours or for the many, you know, weeks that he has taken her on and had personal attacks, she's stayed above the fray. She's running for president of the United States. She is not going to get into the gutter with someone who is using the kind of language that he is.

However, I think there's going to be others out there who are going to call him on some of the things that he has said against Latinos and African-Americans and so many other groups and women.

You know, when you look at the fact that 70 percent of the women in the Democratic Party just don't like him and the kinds of comments he's made about women are offensive.

ELDER: And if I'm Donald Trump, I'm going to do something about the fact that many of these women do not like me by pointing out some of the things that Hillary has done and said about her husband's accusers. A lot of people are unaware that Hillary has been behind this strategy, the nuts or sluts strategy, maligning the women as either crazy or horny. And she's been behind that.

And a lot of young people are going to get an education about that from Donald Trump. It's a legitimate issue as far as I'm concerned.

SESAY: Wendy? VAUSE: Very quickly, last word.

GREUEL: I think that's outrageous.

ELDER: You would.

GREUEL: I think it is.

VAUSE: Well, yes, and Clinton supporters will find out and Trump supporters, that's what they're looking for.

ELDER: That's where we're going. That's where we're going.

(CROSSTALK)

GREUEL: I think we have to say this is about being the president of the United States and about issues that real people care about, and they don't care about that. They care about someone who is going to lead them and get them a job and protect us in this world.

VAUSE: I guess we'll find out how much people care about this come November.

Guys, thank you both for coming again.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Well, coming up, Facebook is being accused of offering a biased picture of the news. Now, U.S. lawmakers want answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:45] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Democrat Bernie Sanders is celebrating his win in the West Virginia primary, but he still has no mathematical chance of catching Hillary Clinton in the delegate race.

VAUSE: Sanders winning the Mountain State with 51 percent of the vote, Clinton, 36 percent.

SESAY: On the Republican side, Donald Trump running unopposed in West Virginia. He wins that state's primary by a huge margin.

VAUSE: Trump also on top in Nebraska, gets all 36 of the state's Republican delegates.

SESAY: Now, Barack Obama will make history later this month by becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima.

VAUSE: The Japanese city is the site of U.S. atomic bomb attack which killed tens of thousands of civilians, along with the U.S. nuclear attack at Nagasaki. It set the stage for Japan's surrender, ending World War II.

SESAY: Well, an adviser of President Obama said he'll speak against nuclear proliferation, not to make a formal apology. Now, U.S. lawmakers are demanding answers from Facebook over

allegations that the social media site has a liberal bias. The tech blog Gizmodo cited former contractors who said colleagues deliberately blocked conservative topics from Facebook's trending topics.

VAUSE: The Senate has opened an inquiry to how the site manages the higher profile section. Facebook denies the allegation.

SESAY: Well, for more in the allegations against Facebook, we're joined by Ross Gerber. He's the president and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management.

Ross, good to have you with us.

ROSS GERBER, CEO, GERGER KAWASAKI WEALTH AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: Thank you.

SESAY: Let me ask you a very simple question which I think people around the world are maybe pondering. Is this a big deal?

GERBER: No, it's not a big deal. Ho owns all media sources are usually g-time moguls who do have agendas of some sort. So, I do think that it's a little bit overblown when we look at things.

But I do think ultimately Facebook has to have a better process, and it should be very clear what their process is. They should have better control over who's making these decisions. I think the mistake is that some contractor who was doing this and maybe it should be a higher level employee.

VAUSE: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, talking about his liberal political leanings. This was him back in April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ZUCKERBERG, FACEBOOK CEO: I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as others, for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, reducing trade and in some cases around the world, even cutting access to the Internet. It takes courage to choose hope over fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You say it's not a big deal, but when you listen to conservative talk radio, all over the radio was, aha, gotcha, this confirmed everything we thought about Facebook. It has liberal bias to it.

GERBER: Yes, I think that's true. I think it does have liberal bias to it as the users have liberal bias. It skews that demographic. So it represents its users too.

So we can't change that maybe what is trending is a liberal bias. Now, you know, the bottom line is he's entitled to his opinion. Now, I'm a Facebook shareholder so I'm biased too, and I do think that he's entitled to his opinion just like Sheldon Adelson buys a newspaper to have his opinion or whatever.

Does that actually happen? I don't know. I think journalists do a phenomenal job, and you all work very, very hard to --

VAUSE: We do, very hard.

GERBER: To bring good stories out. So I think that they need to have a clear process and beyond that, who cares.

SESAY: And this question of, well, you know, the concern here is that it points to Silicon Valley's influence over the general public. I mean, with 1.6 billion users, people saying they have an outsize level of importance so when they skew, if you will, which is what the allegation --

(CROSSTALK)

GERBER: I think that's overly generous. I don't think they have that much of an influence. I think people make plenty of decisions. They've opened the door to people being influenced by so many things in so many places, and so many great sources. So actually I think what's happened is they've opened the door for people to find what they want to know and where they're going to get it from.

VAUSE: Thank you very much, Ross Gerber. Ross Gerber, thank you very much for coming in.

GERBER: My pleasure. Thank you.

VAUSE: Trending topics is what people are really looking at. Cat videos.

GERBER: Somebody's got to curate it, you know?

SESAY: Then, they might choose red cats.

GERBER: Exactly.

[02:50:00] SESAY: All right. Time for a quick break now.

Police go back to Paisley Park.

Still ahead, why they returned to Prince's home and who officials think may have some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN's special live coverage of the presidential primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska.

Even though she did not win in West Virginia, Hillary Clinton is still moving closer to the Democratic presidential nomination. SESAY: Bernie Sanders actually won in the mountain state. But

Clinton adds to her virtual insurmountable delegate lead.

VAUSE: Republican Donald Trump is closing in on his delegate target as well after a huge victory in West Virginia, Ted Cruz and John Kasich finishing in single digits.

SESAY: Trump is also the big winner in Nebraska. He takes all 36 Republican delegates there.

All right. Away from politics now, and there are new details emerging about the investigation in Prince's death.

VAUSE: Federal and local authorities were back at the music legend's Minnesota home on Tuesday.

Stephanie Elam has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Isha, late Tuesday afternoon, local sheriffs as well as officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration showed up here back at Paisley Park to further their investigation.

[02:55:09] This as "The Los Angeles Times" has gotten hold of some documents from a county -- not the same county where Prince lived but one county over that say the day that Prince died, that they interviewed the people who were here. One of those people was a local doctor who actually showed up at the scene with test results for Prince because he had seen Prince twice before in April, including the day before Prince died.

We have reached out to the place where this doctor is employed. They say that he is no longer employed there, but they are investigating this further. It's just a new wrinkle in the sad, sad story of how Prince passed away at just 57 years of age -- Isha and John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Stephanie Elam, thank you for that report.

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: Of course another story we'll be closely following here on CNN. But that is all we have time for this hour. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay. Much more on our U.S. election coverage is coming up next with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett. Stay with us.