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Super Tuesday: Biden and Trump Victorious; Nikki Haley Wins Vermont Primary; Trump's Victory Speech Criticizes Biden; Biden Campaign Targets Disaffected Republicans; International Aid Efforts in Haiti and Gaza; U.S. Diplomatic Push for Gaza Ceasefire; Ukrainian Forces Target Russian Fleet; ICC Issues Warrants for Russian Commanders; Wisconsin Voters Weigh in Ahead of April Primary; CNN Projects Trump Wins Texas Republican Primary. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired March 06, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN.
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VAUSE: Warning signs for both Joe Biden and Donald Trump as they rack up big wins on Super Tuesday, the biggest day of voting in the presidential primaries.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The hostage deal is in the hands of Hamas right now.
VAUSE: Which for now means no deal for now, with Hamas continuing to demand a permanent ceasefire before any hostages are released.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: We in Ukraine proved what we are capable of, what power we have.
VAUSE: The power capable of seeking another Russian warship sunk in the Black Sea after an attack by Ukrainian sea drones.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: As it turns out, Super Tuesday was super predictable, even super dull, with 15 states and one U.S. territory voting in the presidential primary. And the headline? The race for the White House is inching closer to a rematch between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump. Yes. Here are the latest states' reporting results. In delegate-rich California, CNN projects a win for Trump. There you go. So too for Biden.
But a small prize on a big night for Nikki Haley. Trump's only still standing challenger. CNN projects she will win Vermont's Republican primary, where 17 delegates were at stake. Despite that win, Trump is establishing a commanding lead in the delegate count over Haley. A short time ago, Trump delivered a confusing victory speech where he criticized President Biden and his immigration policies. He also lied about his own four years in office.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They call it Super Tuesday for a reason. This is a big one. And they tell me the pundits, and otherwise that there's never been one like this, there's never been anything so conclusive. This was an amazing, an amazing night, an amazing day. It's been an incredible period of time in our country's history. It's been sad in so many ways, but I think it's going to be inspiring because we're going to do something that, frankly, nobody's been able to do for a long time.
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VAUSE: CNN's Kristen Holmes has been following developments from Palm Beach in Florida.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I am told by Trump's senior advisors that they are now focusing solely on the general election. The next couple of weeks, you should expect them to expand out their campaign operations in places like Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, states that they believe are high- priority battleground states. Now, we've seen a lot of polling that shows Donald Trump ahead in some of these states, but they are not taking any of this for granted.
They do not believe that every single poll is completely accurate. They believe that every vote is going to count and that any kind of rematch with President Joe Biden is going to be incredibly close. So that's why you're seeing them start to build out this operation now. They also know that their candidate is incredibly polarizing, so that's something they have to work on. Now, one of the things that I've been told by a senior advisor they were willing to look into tonight is looking at some of the data sets and seeing how it could shape some of their strategy in these battleground states, particularly when you're looking at states like Virginia, not quite a battleground state that more leans blue, but states like North Carolina, which, again, leans a little bit red, but is still considered a purple or battleground state.
The other part of what you noticed tonight from Donald Trump was the fact that he stayed on message for Donald Trump. This is what his campaign advisors and what his allies want him to continue to do. Not mentioning Nikki Haley, not going off into any rabbit holes, but instead focusing on immigration, the economy, and the general election. He even talked about unifying the party. Now, of course, Donald Trump does not have a good track record when it comes to unifying the Republican Party. However, this is exactly what his campaign, his allies want him to continue to do as they head into November.
VAUSE: Joining me now from Washington, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, former U.S. House Republican Charlie Dent. Thank you for both staying up and being with us.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you, John. CHARLIE DENT, FORMER U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: It's good to see you both.
VAUSE: Okay, so a short time ago, -- good evening. We heard from Donald Trump in that victory speech, kind of, of sorts. You know, he focused on President Biden as well as some sort of delusional lies and bizarre statements about his time in office. Here's part of it.
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TRUMP: We had everything going so beautifully. When Joe Biden goes to the beach, because somebody on his staff thinks he looks very good in a bathing suit, until he can't get his feet out of the sand or lift the chair, which weighs about nine ounces. Joe Biden, if he would have just left everything alone, he could have gone to the beach. He would have had a tremendous success at the border and elsewhere. So we're going to take back our country.
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VAUSE: Yeah, it was what it was. He seemed a little low energy tonight. But Charlie, to you, this was a very big win for Donald Trump. Can't take that away from him. It was also a chance for him possibly to reach out and be gracious to Nikki Haley. He chose not to do so. Instead, did we get a kind of a preview of what the general election will look like?
DENT: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I'm not sure exactly what Donald Trump was trying to say there. Didn't make a whole lot of sense. But bottom line is, yeah, Trump obviously had a commanding win tonight. But I still think that shows the Republican Party is still divided. It's not evenly divided, clearly. But there's a segment of the Republican base that just simply does not want to vote for Donald Trump under any circumstances. And I think that's why Nikki Haley is hanging around until she thinks that maybe something will happen to Donald Trump, either a conviction or something that might prevent him from becoming the nominee.
But right now, she doesn't have much of a chance. But, you know, Trump is hoping for it to start this general election now. But, you know, let's see. It's you know, he's got -- he still has a little bit of a base problem. And of course, Biden's got a problem in that he's got a lack of enthusiasm among much of his party as well.
VAUSE: Yeah, well, Nikki Haley's campaign issued a statement much to that point about support and unity. It reads in part; unity is not achieved by simply claiming we're united today in state after state. There remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump. This is not the unity our party needs for success. So, what happens to those Haley voters between now and November? Can they be won over by the Biden campaign? Do they stay home? Where do they go?
CARDONA: I think that a good percentage of them can absolutely be won over by the Biden campaign. And I think actually a lot of them did vote for him in 2020. And so that's going to be something that the Biden campaign is certainly going to be focusing on as they start to put together their coalition.
I know that everyone is talking about the bad poll numbers for Joe Biden. But let's remember that all of the energy and all of the mobilization up until now has been on the Republican side because they're the ones who have had this crazy primary. Let's also remember that the polls aren't necessarily always right. At this moment in 2020, I just pulled up a New York Times headline that said Joe Biden supporters are not enthusiastic. He could very well lose in November in 2020.
And let's remember that the New York Times, also the same poll that is now showing Donald Trump ahead, was the one who was predicting this huge red wave in 2022. So, things change pretty quickly. A lot of times what people tell pollsters is not actually how they vote. I think what the biggest thing and indication of Democratic enthusiasm and how they actually see this election panning out in terms of the big stark contrast between somebody like Joe Biden and Donald Trump is the massive amount of money that the Joe Biden campaign has been able to pull in, $132 million, John.
That is a record amount of money for a president going into his re- election campaign at this moment in time, while the Donald Trump campaign and the Republicans are sucking wind. Then you have the special elections where Democrats have been massively overperforming. Those are two indications that are a lot more real and a lot more substantive than anonymous polls.
VAUSE: So, Charlie, just to that point, we've seen Donald Trump having to go to Elon Musk, apparently, asking for support, asking for a few dollars. What does that say about the Trump campaign? They've got about $30 million on hand. Biden campaign has, I think, $56 million on hand. Money talks.
DENT: Yeah, money does talk. And Trump is having a harder time with the Republican donor base. No question about it. In fact, there's a lot of unease and unhappiness with Donald Trump's campaign spending where so much, so many of the resources that have been provided to him have been used for his own legal defense. So, yes, Donald Trump does have a really big problem right now.
But I did want to point out one thing. You know, this is 2024 is not 2020. 2020 was truly a referendum on Donald Trump. And that played to Joe Biden's advantage. It was truly a binary choice. But it feels like in this election cycle, it's a bit more muddled as nearly two thirds of Americans think that one of the candidates is too old and the other is too dangerous. And it just seems that a lot of these small party and independent candidates are going to pick up a substantial share of the vote because of a general dissatisfaction with the choice.
I think that's a very real problem, just like it was in 2016, except this time in 2024, I think the problem is much more pronounced than it was then. So, I'm not in the business of making predictions anymore, because too many things can happen between now and the election. But just watch these small third-party candidates pick up a lot of votes as a matter of protest.
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VAUSE: I wonder if the Republicans would be much better off if their donors hadn't been tapped out for the last four years, giving money to Trump's legal defense fund. But we should move on. I want you to listen to President Joe Biden warning the United States about a possible return to a Trump presidency. Here he is.
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BIDEN: Take any alternative, folks. If we lose this election, you're going to be back with Donald Trump. What he talks about, the way he acted, the way he dealt with the African-American community, I think it's been shameful.
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CARDONA: Maria, it may have been shameful, but Trump is winning over support from black voters despite all of that. Well, he's winning over slivers of a little bit more of the support that he's gotten before, which is significant and something that the Biden campaign should certainly worry about. And they are. And they're focusing on trying to make sure that that doesn't happen, which is why you just heard President Biden saying, saying what he said. But, John, I think it's really important to point out that moving into this election, this is exactly what the contrast is going to be.
And I think one of the biggest points that the Biden campaign needs to continue to make is to make sure that the American electorate is not sleepwalking into this dictatorship, using Liz Cheney's famous words, because it is easy to forget what somebody did four years ago because people are so into their everyday lives, of course, as they should be. And so, this campaign, the Biden campaign, has got to be in the business of every day reminding voters what a Donald Trump presidency was and, importantly, John, what a Donald Trump presidency would be if he is allowed to get anywhere near the Oval Office again.
One of the gifts I think that Donald Trump has given us, the Democrats, is that he has not been shy about saying what he would do with another presidency. He would put together mass deportation camps, deport the 12 million undocumented immigrants. He's already said that he would let Putin do whatever he wanted to our NATO allies if, you know, dare they not pay what they need to pay into NATO.
This should bring shivers down the backs of all Americans and, frankly, everyone around the world. And that kind of contrast between somebody who has been steady, who has brought back the economy, who has been decent, who has focused on making sure that Americans have what they need not just to survive but to succeed versus somebody who is going to bring back chaos, criminality, confusion, cruelty. That's the contrast I think that's going to win Joe Biden the day in November.
VAUSE: Maria Cardona, thank you so much. I was going to give Charlie one more word, but he started, so we'll leave it at that. Charlie Dent there and Maria Cardona, thank you both.
CARDONA: Thank you.
DENT: Thank you.
VAUSE: Thank you for staying with us. It's appreciated. Have a great night. Still to come, Ukrainian forces may be struggling on the front lines, but Ukrainian sea drones have scored another major blow. There it is. Details in a moment. Also, with ground access restricted, more countries take to the skies to deliver food aid to the people of northern Gaza.
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VAUSE: Police stations in Haiti's capital are under attack from armed criminal gangs who've almost completely taken control of the city, according to one official there. The country's police academy, with hundreds of cadets there, is also under attack. Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, says it's increasing medical services after a massive prison breakout on Saturday led to widespread injuries in Port-au-Prince. The UN says Haiti desperately needs humanitarian assistance as well.
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STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: Five and a half million people, that's nearly half of Haiti's population, need humanitarian assistance. This year's $674 million humanitarian appeal for Haiti is just 2.5 percent funded. That means it has received only $17 million.
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VAUSE: Meanwhile, Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry landed in Puerto Rico on Tuesday after unsuccessfully trying to return to Haiti via the neighboring Dominican Republic. Henry was in Kenya last week where he secured an agreement for 1,000 Kenyan forces to be deployed to Haiti as part of a UN-backed mission to restore security.
At least three people have been killed in southern Lebanon as Israel and Hezbollah continue attacks on one another. According to state media, a couple and their son were killed when Israeli airstrikes hit their farm close to the border. Israel says it targeted Hezbollah launch sites after the militant group fired dozens of rockets on Tuesday, with about 10 of them intercepted.
More countries airdropped desperately needed food aid into northern Gaza Tuesday as only a limited amount of aid is being allowed in by Israel. The US and Jordan sent the equivalent of about 3,700 meals, while the UAE and Egypt delivered 42 tons of food and medical supplies. (technical difficulty) The World Health Organisation says malnutrition levels in Gaza's north are particularly extreme, roughly three times higher than in the south. Limited aid deliveries have resulted in severe food poverty and acute malnourishment. A UN panel of experts Tuesday accused Israel of, quote, intentionally starving the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official accuses Israel of stalling negotiations through a ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for more hostages. He says there can be no exchange of prisoners until there is a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. But, America's most senior diplomat says it's on Hamas now to accept an immediate truce, sentiment echoed by the US President Joe Biden.
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BIDEN: The hostage deal is in the hands of Hamas right now because they've been an offer, a rational offer. The Israelis have agreed to it and we'll see what Hamas does.
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VAUSE: Those comments from President Biden came as a UN diplomat tells CNN Washington has circulated a newly revised UN Security Council draft resolution to back an immediate six-week ceasefire in Gaza with the release of all Israeli hostages. A group of protestors gathered outside of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem and the U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv called on President Biden to help secure a deal that could see the release of hostages.
On top, U.S. officials have expressed their frustration over the situation in Gaza to Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz, who is in Washington this week. There was a push for Israel to open another crossing to deliver humanitarian assistance. Details now from CNN's Alex Marquardt.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz wrapped up a three-day trip to Washington on Tuesday, a trip that included meetings with the most senior members of the Biden administration, except for the president. On Tuesday, he met with the U.S. secretaries of defense and state. It was a controversial visit, because Gantz is a rival of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was reportedly enraged that Benny Gantz made this trip, and then forbade the Israeli embassy here in Washington for supporting the visit.
An Israeli official told CNN that Gantz was not here representing the Israeli government. But he is seen by U.S. officials as a potential future prime minister of Israel. And as a current member of the Israeli War Cabinet, U.S. administration officials defended their meetings with him in Washington. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, quote, the conversations were constructive and productive and hope that he goes home informed by them. End quote.
The Biden administration has been ratcheting up its criticism of Israel in recent days for not allowing more aid into Gaza. Both the president and vice president have said that there is no excuse and called on Israel to open more border crossings into the Gaza Strip. U.S. officials have said repeatedly there is more urgency to get aid into Gaza after more than 100 Palestinians were killed last week in a single incident after they rushed an aid convoy in northern Gaza. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: Another blow to Russia's naval fleet in the Black Sea. Ukraine's president says there's no longer any safe harbors for Russian ships there. According to Ukraine's military intelligence agency, this Russian patrol ship was sunk by a drone attack on Tuesday. Sergei Kotov has been targeted before, but a spokesperson for Ukraine's defense intelligence says this time the ship was, quote, destroyed for sure. Ukraine says it's now disabled a third of Russia's Black Sea fleet. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it's a sign of Ukrainian power.
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ZELENSKYY (through translator): Russian killers will be held accountable, and that's for sure. Today, I want to thank all of our soldiers, all the units that restore security and control both in the Ukrainian skies and in our Black Sea. We in Ukraine proved what we are capable of, what power we have.
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VAUSE: The International Criminal Court has issued a warrants for two of Russia's top military commanders. They're Sergei Kalby-Lush, who is a lieutenant general in the Russian armed forces, and Viktor Sokolov, an admiral in the Russian navy. The ICC says they are responsible for war crimes, such as direct attacks on Ukrainian civilians, causing excessive harm to civilians, and committing inhumane acts, which is a crime against humanity. The court's top prosecutor says it will pursue justice at all costs.
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KARIM KHAN, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL PROSECUTOR: The message is clear. We will continue to investigate. In Ukraine, go deeper, and we will not hesitate to bring further applications if and when the evidence requires us to do so.
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VAUSE: CNN's Nick Paton-Walsh explains why this is so important for Ukraine.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A profound development, really, in the war in Ukraine. Two key Russian military commanders, both functioning in the Black Sea area, issued arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court. Two of them both accused of being involved in attacks on civilian infrastructure, and essentially the damage that has caused to the civilian population, essentially killing innocent civilians here.
The warrant points to two individuals, Admiral Viktor Sokolov and another man, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobelyush, both of whom were key commanders in the Black Sea. The warrant suggests during the last couple of years, while much munitions fired against civilian areas were initially originating from the Black Sea, the warrants have been used to kill innocent civilians.
The Black Sea fleet itself, though, targeted by Ukraine over the past hours. The Ukrainian intelligence service suggested they managed to take out a patrol ship called the Sergei Kotov that cost $65 million, they said. Another example of how Ukraine has begun to project its force into areas that Moscow would normally have considered to be its safe territory.
These outlying suggestions of Ukrainian strategic success. It comes at a time of extraordinary trouble for Ukraine here near the Eastern Front where I'm standing. You can hear the distant rumble of explosions far away from me. Really, Ukraine is struggling to hold the defensive line. It said it would be able to maintain after it pulled out of the town of Avdiivka about two weekends ago. Avdiivka had been fought over for months, and Ukraine said that it had voluntarily pulled back. It gave up a number of villages in its retreat, and it said it would hold another three villages. Those villages themselves under significant Russian repeated persistent assault.
Russia was able to throw extraordinary resources at these particular objectives, and Ukraine, I think, on the best of days, struggling to suggest that it has that fight calmed entirely. It's significant because if we do see Russia continue to put pressure on Ukrainian front lines around me here, there are minimal signs that there is another back defensive line prepared for Ukraine to be able to hold. And so we are dealing with a very complex time for Ukraine at this moment. They're able to project success in the Black Sea, yes.
They even suggested in the recent days they hit a bridge 500 miles inside Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky said they took 15 fighter jets out of the sky in February alone. They are doing things that nobody felt they could do at the start of the war. But the one thing they're not able to do right now is hold key parts of the Donbass front line because they haven't got the munitions they need from the West. And that is because of the holdup in Republican-held Congress. No sign of that changing at all. And we hear from Ukrainian fighters here on the front line here that is simply a matter of life and death until that changes. And already the resurgence of Russia is changing the front line calculus daily. Nick Payton-Walsh, CNN, eastern Ukraine.
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VAUSE: A former U.S. Marine detained in Russia for more than five years says the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny is extremely worrying. Paul Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence on espionage charges, which he vehemently denies. The U.S. State Department says he has been wrongfully detained. Navalny, a longtime critic of the Russian president, died in prison last month. Dozens of countries, including the U.S., have blamed Vladimir Putin directly for Navalny's death. Paul Whelan spoke exclusively to CNN.
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PAUL WHELAN, FORMER U.S. MARINE DETAINED IN RUSSIA: I can't say too much for obvious reasons, but one thing I will say is that if they can get to him, they can get to me. And what that means is, if they are willing to face the repercussions from the world for doing in somebody like Navalny, they are not going to think twice about doing in someone like me and then blaming the United States for not bothering to get me back in five years.
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VAUSE: The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Navalny's death. We will take a short break. When we come back here on CNN, immigration and migrant crime. Now, the biggest single issue for voters in this coming White House election. But do voters have all the information? Do they know what they're actually complaining about? More on that in a moment.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN Newsroom. We're now on our lead story, a super predictable, super dull Super Tuesday in the United States.
The biggest day of voting during the U.S. presidential primaries. No surprise, U.S. President Joe Biden is projected to win every Democrat contest so far, except for one, American Samoa. A Biden campaign official brushed off the loss, calling it silly news.
Donald Trump also won bigly. As expected, he's projected to extend his lead over Republican rival Nikki Haley by more than 800 delegates, putting the United States even closer to a Biden-Trump rematch this coming November. Trump celebrated the Super Tuesday wins with a familiar message to his supporters.
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TRUMP: Our cities are choking to death. Our states are dying. And frankly, our country is dying. And we're going to make America great again, greater than ever before.
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VAUSE: Wisconsin did not hold a primary vote Tuesday. That happens the first week of April. Still, voters there have been following the results of Super Tuesday. So, let's go live now to CNN's Gary Tuchman, standing by with a focus group. Gary, what are they telling you? It's good to see you, by the way.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it's good to talk to you. And I can tell you that we are in an important state, Wisconsin, because this is a swing state for the general election. Joe Biden won in 2020. Donald Trump won here in 2016. What will happen in 2024? That's why we're here. We're between the biggest city of Milwaukee, just west of Milwaukee, and just east of the state capital of Madison.
And we're with 11 very active, politically active people who know what they're talking about. I want to ask you, all of you, this first question, basic question, so our viewers will know what you're looking for. How many of you would vote for Donald Trump if the election were today. Raise your hand high. One, two, three, four.
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How many of you would vote for Joe Biden today if the election were today? One, two, three, four. That leaves three of you who haven't said anything. You're one of them. Who would you vote for today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TUCHMAN: Nikki Haley, even though you don't think she has any shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TUCHMAN: What about the two of you? Who would you vote for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TUCHMAN: You'd still vote for Nikki Haley, even though it doesn't look like she has a shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not traditionally, no.
TUCHMAN: OK. So what advice would you give your candidate to run a better campaign? You're supporting who?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden.
TUCHMAN: Joe Biden, OK. So my question for you is, what advice would you give Joe Biden to run a better campaign?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, obviously, there's been a lot of age talk and talk about if he's still intact 100 percent in his mind. I think he needs to make sure that, when he's giving speeches, he needs to hit his points. He needs to make sure he's not stumbling and not giving the wrong names or information.
TUCHMAN: By the way, of you Biden supporter, are you supporting Biden because you really like Joe Biden, or you really dislike Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really dislike Donald Trump.
TUCHMAN: And what about you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I mean, honestly, I'm just really sad that these are the choices we've got. The two old men's egos are driving this whole --
TUCHMAN: What age is old to you, by the way?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say, for president, 70.
TUCHMAN: Well, do you know that Leonid Brezhnev, who was the chairman of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, everyone thought he was an old, doddering guy, and he was. He was 75 when he died. He was younger than both these candidates who are in the race right now. You thought he was 100; he was 75.
You're a Trump supporter. What advice would you give Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say, keep some of those thoughts to yourself and not verbalize them.
TUCHMAN: Do you think he talks too much?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Negatively.
TUCHMAN: And both of you, obviously, Nikki Haley looks like, if you had put odds on it in Las Vegas, 99.9 percent chance she's not going to be there in the general election against Joe Biden. Would you still vote for Haley as a protest vote?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I would. I mean, I wish we had, you know, reforms like final five voting that would allow multiple Republicans in there so we could vote our conscience. I want every American to be able to vote their conscience.
But, you know, right now, I don't like Trump's character. And I think she has a better shot in all the head-to-head polls to win.
TUCHMAN: You feel the same way?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Absolutely. I mean, she, I think, would do a better job at the border immigration, as well as representing American interests abroad much better than --
TUCHMAN: OK. So who thinks -- who thinks Donald Trump will win in November? Prediction can tell. You guys are attuned. You know, what's going on. One, two, three, four, five, six. So you're -- you are supporting Biden, but you think Trump's going to win?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, hopeful optimism is not my favorite strategy, so I don't really use that. I feel like lately incoming presidents aren't really favored. And I'm very clear --
TUCHMAN: Trump lost as incumbent, but Obama won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
TUCHMAN: Before him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a lot of it will hinge on who he picks for V.P. It'll be interesting to see.
TUCHMAN: Let me ask, how many of you think Biden will win? One, two, three, four. So we have the Biden supporters and the Republican who is not going to vote for Trump.
Well, thank you all for talking to us. We really appreciate meeting you and joining you in this town of Wales, Wisconsin.
John Vause, Wales, Wisconsin, by the way, is called Wales because it was founded by people from Wales in the mid-19th Century. But these folks have assured me -- or told me, not assured me, but they're pretty knowledgeable about their backgrounds. None of them are Welsh. Oh, well.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, no, it's perfect. Gary, thank you. Gary Tuchman there in Wales, Wisconsin. Good to see you. Thank you.
Well, immigration is now the No. 1 issue for American voters, according to polling data from Gallup. There was a surge in recent months driven always solely by Donald Trump, who for months has repeatedly made false claims about migrants and crime. Here's Trump speaking to FOX News Tuesday.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody has ever seen anything like this. They're coming in from jails and prisons and mental institutions, insane asylums. They're terrorists. I mean, you have terrorists pouring in at a level that we have not seen maybe ever. And what they're doing to our country is incredible. They're poisoning our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is a professor of political science at George Mason University. She specializes in border security, immigration policy, U.S.-Mexico relations.
Thank you for being with us. Thank you for staying up late.
GUADALUPE CORREA-CABRERA, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: Thank you for having me today. Thank you.
VAUSE: You're welcome. And it's good to see you. So now it's important to remember that Donald Trump has always had an uncomfortable relationship with the truth.
So that in mind, here he is speaking Tuesday night after big wins at Super Tuesday.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There are cities are being overrun with migrant crime. And that's Biden migrant crime. But it's a new category of crime, and it's violent, where they'll stand in the middle of the street and have fist fights with police officers. And if they did that in their countries from where they came, they'd be killed instantly. Instantly. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: None of that is true, but his supporters not only believe it, it seems to have no interest in actually finding out what the truth really is.
So is that at least part of the reason why immigration is now the biggest issue coming up for this November election? And is it -- partly explains why so many are willing to support a candidate who at times has sounded like Hitler when he talks about immigration and is proposing Nazi-like policies of mass deportation.
CORREA-CABRERA: Well, Donald Trump is, of course, not telling the truth. Fake news, and the thing is that he's benefiting from the politics of fear. And Republicans are repeating this narrative of the politics of fear. They're benefiting from that.
That has become very important, because it has been, you know, the -- the, the discourse has been amplified by a lot of protagonists (ph) that they all have made this conscious effort to present this situation. The politics of fear work in this country.
And Democrats will be in the defensive, not in the offense. And everybody is going to be targeted towards the same direction in the end, even though nobody is talking about the truth. Nobody is, you know, solving the situation in the United States, and nobody is going to solve this equation.
The immigration system in the United States is broken. The asylum system is broken. We're not dealing with the root causes of this problem. We're not fixing this problem.
But the politics of fear is what is driving right now the narrative, and it's a tragedy that the United States is not solving an important crisis that has to do with immigration and has to do with border security, as well.
VAUSE: There's no end to the studies which prove there's no link between undocumented immigrants and increased crime rates. In fact, the opposite is true.
One study from Stanford, which was updated in January, found immigrants are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than all U.S.-born men; 30 percent less likely to be incarcerated relative to white U.S.-born men.
Princeton a few years earlier: "We observed considerably lower felony arrest rates among undocumented immigrants compared to legal immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens and find no evidence that undocumented criminality has increased in recent years."
Utah State University concluded back in 2019, "a legalization program for undocumented immigrants reduces crime rates. A large-scale legalization program, which is not currently under serious consideration, has more potential to improve public safety and security than several other policies that have recently been proposed or implemented."
So in other words, everything Donald Trump is proposing to solve, what is for the most part, a non-existent problem, could actually potentially create that problem and make it a very real issue.
CORREA-CABRERA: With regards to security, it's again, the politics of fear. Immigrants don't bring crimes to the United States. It's just a spectacle. It's a border spectacle, an immigration spectacle, and it just, you know, appears in electoral times. It's just to win voters.
There are problems. To have a system that works for everyone -- for the United States, for immigrants -- there are jobs available in the United States. Somebody has to perform those jobs, and those jobs there are no legal pathways to -- for these migrants to occupy these jobs.
You're going to have a number of people with -- being in the United States irregularly, illegally. You're not going to have control. You're going to create problems. You're not going to solve the situation that will -- that helps the United States, which is fixing the immigration system that is broken, and the asylum system that's not working for those that really need to receive protection.
So generating other problems. But with regard to security, immigrants don't bring insecurity to the United States. It's -- it's a fact. Data show it. And it's just like fake news. It's pure spectacle at the border, and an immigration spectacle.
VAUSE: It reaffirms, you know, previous biases and racism, that kind of stuff. Because the research from Stanford found there's been no direct link in the United States between immigrants and rising crime rates for the last 140 years.
And that first-generation immigrants are faring better overall, not just with respect to incarceration rates, but they're doing better than U.S.-born men, especially those compared to without a high school diploma.
And that's mostly because white men in the United States, and compared to migrants, are likely to be unemployed, you know, unmarried, or poor health and, therefore, likely to commit crime as a result.
[00:40:03]
It seems no coincidence that is the demographic -- you know, the high school men who don't have a diploma -- which overwhelmingly supports Donald Trump. So there is a nexus here.
CORREA-CABRERA: There is a nexus with regards to racism and xenophobia. You can create a problem within your own society that is -- that part of your society is going to be against part of your society.
Immigrants are an opportunity to this country, are needed in this country. Jobs are available for them. This country needs immigrants. And everything that has to do with these lies and fake news that connect migrants to crime and ask for rejection of those who need you.
Everything that the discourse has been deviated, to things that no matter -- I mean, that do not reflect reality.
We need to start thinking in real terms on how to deal with this, how to make these regular, how to provide legal pathways to people that are performing the jobs that are needed, and they are performing the activities that this country needs to be great and to become great again.
VAUSE: Yes, it's a good point to finish on. The conversation is about the wrong topics at the moment. And we're not going to fix the problem if we don't talk about it.
Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.
CORREA-CABRERA: Thank you for having me today.
VAUSE: Next up here on CNN, an ambitious target for China. Beijing puts economic growth front and center as leaders gather for their key annual congress, CNPC.
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VAUSE: It's that rubber stamp time of year in Beijing, with China's political elite gathering for the annual National People's Congress.
Already. an economic growth target of around 5 percent has been set as Beijing tries to restore confidence in the world's second largest economy.
Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong with more details about this year's annual gathering. You know, they're crucial every year, but then they kind of like -- thes day to go through the mechanism, the motions. So I guess, you know, when we talk about that economic growth level of 5 percent, they make the announcement. Do they have a plan to get there?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: That is the key question, and that is what is weighing on the minds of investors and on the markets.
In fact, like the price of oil fell nearly 1 percent on Tuesday with China's very ambitious growth target top of mind. That's been weighing on sentiment. Given how China is the world's largest oil importer.
And yes, it set that ambitious growth target of around 5 percent as it seeks to transform its growth model. As we heard from the Chinese premier, the Chinese government said that it will stabilize and expand consumption. It will diffuse property risks. It will cut wasteful spending by local governments, et cetera.
But no major stimulus measures were announced. And analysts fear that China may have a plan, or rather, China may have a target, but doesn't have a plan here.
[00:45:06] In fact, this is one analyst that UBS says. I'll just bring it up for you. He says, quote, "The growth target is OK, but the missing part is how they want to achieve that. What sort of stimulus is unclear for now," unquote.
Now, we've learned that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, he just met with local officials from Jiangsu (ph) province, who are there for the National People's Congress in Beijing. And he reiterated China's plan to transform the economy.
But he also said this. Let's bring it up. This -- words from Xi Jinping that just came out in state media today. He said, "Developing new quality productive forces" -- that's a new buzzword -- "new quality productive forces does not mean neglecting or abandoning traditional industries. It is necessary to prevent a headlong rush into projects and the formation of industry bubbles," unquote.
Xi wants to avoid bubbles. You know, that would mean excess capacity. That would mean wasted investment. But investors, what they want is a clear economic roadmap from China.
China is, of course, the world's second largest economy. It is under immense pressure. There's the property crisis. There's weak consumer spending, deflation, high youth unemployment. The list goes on and on.
Now we may hear more details this afternoon, about 3 p.m. local time in Beijing at a press conference. Some senior officials are going to be there, including the central bank governor, along with China's commerce minister, finance minister, its top securities regulator.
And we're waiting to see if we're going to get any details from that event. Back to you.
VAUSE: So we've got economic growth set for around sort of squishy 5 percent. But one area which seems off limits to any kind of cuts is the military, the budget they're increasing by what, 7.2 percent?
So what do they say?
STOUT: That's right. That's right. China's 7.2 percent increase in military spending, that was announced on Monday -- I'm sorry, yesterday. That's in line with previous years.
But given the size and scale of China's economic slowdown, analysts say that that increase is really significant and perhaps unsustainable.
You know, for years now, the expansion of China's defense budget has been outpacing its economic growth targets. So it may not be to the point of overburdening the national budget right now. But observers are questioning just how sustainable this can be.
Back to you, John.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout, live for us in Hong Kong. Appreciate it. STOUT: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, more arrests have been made in India in the alleged gang rape of a foreign tourist and the assault of her husband.
Details now from CNN's Vedika Sud.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Five more arrests have been made in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a female biker --
SUD (voice-over): -- and a violent assault on her husband in India's Eastern state of Jharkhand.
That takes the total arrests to eight.
Addressing a press conference Tuesday, the police said they have confessions and forensic evidence and will push for a speedy trial and asked for the strictest punishment for the culprits.
The accused have been booked for gang-rape and robbery. It's unclear if the alleged attackers have lawyers.
So now for the announcement by the police the survivor put up a post on her Instagram page. She said, quote, "They have caught all the criminals. There were eight in all. Everything has gone very quickly. The police has been tremendously efficient."
She also asks for justice for women who have been subjected to sexual violence.
CNN is not naming the female victim in accordance with the Indian law that prevents the naming of victims of sexual violence.
The incident has led to outrage. More than 100 bikers converged in Jamshedpur (ph) in Eastern India, demanding justice for the survivor and capital punishment for the accused.
The incident came to light after the couple, both foreign nationals, posted a video over the weekend on their Instagram page, describing their ordeal. They had stopped for the night in Dumka district, when the alleged attack took place.
In one of the videos, the husband said a knife was held to their throats, and his wife was gang raped.
According to government data, more than 31,500 rape cases were recorded in the year 2022, an average of 86 cases per day. Break that down further, and that's a rape almost every 17 minutes in the country.
SUD: Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: To Germany after the break, where an investigation is underway into who leaked a phone call about military missiles. More on that in a moment.
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VAUSE: More now on our lead story. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are dominating Super Tuesday. Trump, the four times indicted, twice impeached former president, rode to victory in at least 12 of the Republican races, extending his lead over rival Nikki Haley by more than 800 delegates, putting the United States that much closer to a Biden-Trump rematch, come November.
Haley did prevent Trump from a clean sweep. She won Vermont with its 17 delegates, the first eight she's won in this primary season.
Meantime, President Joe Biden has won every Super Tuesday contest thus far, except for American Samoa. Vice President Kamala Harris says it's an energizing moment for their campaign.
Texas is home for the second highest number of delegates, and they're all going for Donald Trump. His firm grip on the state's Republican party shows just how much it has changed, as CNN's Ed Lavandera explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are 161 delegates up for grabs here in Texas.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): And it is the second largest number of delegates that could be won by political candidates on this Super Tuesday.
And CNN is projecting that Donald Trump has won the Texas Republican primary, and it is --
LAVANDERA: You know, what we heard over and over from voters at this polling location in El Paso, Texas, is immigration and the economy very much top of mind.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): But Trump's commanding performance on this election day really kind of speaks to just how much much of the Texas Republican Party has changed in recent years.
LAVANDERA: Of course, this was home to George Bush Sr. and Jr. They were the ones that kind of dominated the political landscape here in the state for so long.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): And Nikki Haley kind of represented that wing of the Republican Party here. But it is clearly a Republican Party that has changed dramatically.
Donald Trump really influencing much of what has happened here in the state with a dominating performance tonight --
LAVANDERA: -- with a victory over Nikki Haley.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is facing a dozen new criminal charges in alleged years-long bribery scheme. Prosecutors say the New Jersey Democrat and his wife received gold bars, cash, and other luxury gifts in exchange for favors from three businessmen, as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
The indictment accuses the couple of trying to cover up the scheme.
Menendez denies any wrongdoing and has accused prosecutors of targeting him.
Former Democratic, now independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema has decided not to run for reelection. Sinema, an influential and high-profile politician from Arizona, announced Tuesday she is retiring from the Senate at the end of her term this year.
CNN's Melanie Zanona has more now, reporting from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, this is a big development in the battle for the Senate, Arizona is a key battleground state. It went for Donald Trump in 2016, but then for Joe Biden in 2020. So both parties looking to flip this seat in November.
And now, instead of it being a three-way contest --
ZANONA (voice-over): -- involving Kyrsten Sinema running as an independent and running as an incumbent, it is going to come down to a two-way contest between --
ZANONA: -- a Republican and a Democrat, at least making things a little bit more cut and dry. And both parties believe this is going to be a boost for their own chances. Just take a listen to Steve Daines, the head of the Senate GOP's campaign arm.
SEN. STEVE DAINES (R-MT): I wasn't surprised by that announcement. And the polling shows that it actually gives somewhat of an advantage to Kari Lake, in all the polling we've done. So this gives us but another great opportunity, another open seat on the Senate map.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think that -- is the party all consolidating behind Kari Lake? There's a lot of concerns about her before.
DAINES: Yes. Look, the support she's getting across the board now amongst Republicans, she's bringing the party together, senators together, Arizona together here behind her candidacy. And I like her chances in Arizona. ZANONA: Now, the Senate GOP establishment has really lined up between
Kari Lake, someone who ran for governor in the last election cycle and lost. In fact, there will be a D.C. fundraiser on Wednesday night, in D.C., hosted for her by a number of Republicans.
[00:55:05]
ZANONA (voice-over): But Democrats really view her as a weaker general election candidate, in part because she is a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump and has peddled his false lies about the 2020 election.
And also because she has, at least in the past --
ZANONA: -- expressed support for bans on abortion, even though she has sought to moderate that issue in recent days.
But no doubt, this is going to be a marquee Senate race in the fall and one that could ultimately determine who controls the Senate next year.
Melanie Zanona, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: An investigation is underway in Germany into how the details of a phone call among four senior military officers about the effectiveness of the Taurus long-range missiles against Russian troops actually ended up on a Russian state media website.
Fred Pleitgen has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius says he does not believe that the communications of the German military are generally compromised after a conversation of senior German commanders was leaked, first to Russian state media, and then commented on by Russia state officials.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Now, Boris Pistorius, the German defense minister, he says that he believes that the fact that this call was compromised was due to a failure of one of the participants on the call.
It was a call between senior German commanders, including the commanding general of the German Air Force. And Pistorius said that one of the people who was on that call called in from Singapore --
PLEITGEN: -- using the Webex software but failed to adhere to the necessary security protocols.
In general, though, the German defense minister does say that he takes all of this very seriously. All this has caused a massive row between Germany and the Russians. PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Russians, for their part, are accusing the
Germans of planning to attack the Bridge of Courage, which is, of course, the bridge that links Russia to occupied Crimea, using the Taurus missile.
The Germans, for their part, say that the conversation did deal with Taurus missile, and then it dealt with the specs of the Taurus missile and how many of those missiles would be needed to destroy the Kerch Bridge. Obviously, the Germans saying that they did not plan to attack the Kerch Bridge.
All this, of course, comes as Germany has been talking about possibly giving these Taurus cruise missiles to the Ukrainians.
PLEITGEN: So far, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is saying that he is not willing to do that at this point in time.
One of the other things that the defense minister also said, is he said at this point in time, there are not going to be any consequences for any of those involved in that call that went bad.
However, he does say that an investigation has been launched.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. I'll be back after a very short break with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. See you in a minute.
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