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CNN NEWSROOM

Soon: Trump to Rally Supporters in Missouri; Protester Charged After Rushing Trump Stage. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 12, 2016 - 19:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:28] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Seven p.m. Eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow live for you in New York.

Tonight, right now, we are standing by waiting for the Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump to speak live in Kansas City, Missouri, to what looks like a very large group of supporters. One of the state's voting of course is Missouri in the critical third Super Tuesday contest just three days from now.

Security is tight after an incident at the Trump event in Ohio earlier today and after those clashes broke out last night in Chicago.

Here's a look, though, at what happened today when a man rushed the stage in Ohio. The Secret Service jumped in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I guess I have to do it myself --

(INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That 32-year-old man now charged with disorderly conduct and inducing panic. This happening less than a day after Trump cancelled his rally in Chicago last night after those fist fights broke out. Donald Trump is now pointing the finger at those who support Senator Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Look, it's a Bernie person. Hello, Bernie. Hey, Bernie. Get your people in line, Bernie. Get your people in line.

Can you imagine Bernie saying that Trump should get his people under control, and they put in these people?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Sanders' camp responded in a statement today writing, "As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people that he is a pathological liar. Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump's rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests."

We are covering this story this hour from all angles. Jim Acosta and Ryan Young are at the site of Trump's event tonight in Kansas City, Missouri. Also with us, CNN political commentators Jeffrey Lord and Ben Ferguson. Jeffrey is a Trump supporter.

All right. Let me begin with Jim Acosta.

Jim, you're inside. And I just want you to sort of set the scene and let me know what we know from the Trump camp at this point in terms of what he will talk about especially, in the wake of what happened in Chicago.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can show you, Poppy, what's happening inside the theater right now. I can show you something we don't typically see at Trump rallies, and that is a pretty visible security presence around the stage.

Yes, there's always security around Donald Trump. He has Secret Service protection. But as we're zooming in and looking at what's happening on stage, you can see a good number of Secret Service officers and private security officials around the stage, around both sides of the stage here in this theater. We don't always see that at Donald Trump rallies.

And so, it does seem like as you said there is tighter security. Obviously in light of what happened earlier today in Ohio and, of course, what happened last night in Chicago.

Now, what we can tell you in terms of the makeup of this audience, not really seeing anything like what we saw in Chicago last night. I was inside that theater when that chaos erupted, but, Poppy, you know, hours before all of that unfolded you almost could have predicted what was going to take place. There were hundreds if not thousands of protesters who were lining up and taking seats inside the theater, inside that arena on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

That is not taking place as far as we can tell. Just about everybody inside this theater in Kansas City appears to be a Trump supporter. There is nobody here who has a t-shirt on criticizing Donald Trump or has a sign that is criticizing Donald Trump. We were seeing those things in Chicago yesterday. It's not like these folks were invisible. Their intent was pretty well known and right there on the surface.

And so, I think we're in for probably a quieter evening this evening. But, you know, we're going to have to wait and see. As you heard from Donald Trump earlier today, he is blaming everybody else but himself at this point for what unfolded in Chicago last night. And I thought it was interesting to see -- you don't see this happen very often during a political campaign, you not only had Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders blaming Donald Trump and calling him to account for what happened last night in Chicago, you had just about everybody other Republican candidate out there, non-Trump Republican candidate, condemning what happened and basically blaming Donald Trump.

So, maybe we'll hear more from Donald Trump about this. He tweeted just a little while ago, in the last several minutes, about the person who rushed that stage in Ohio making an allegation that we really can't get into at this point because it hasn't really been vetted at this point. But Donald Trump is not backing down. He is blaming everybody else but himself for what happened in Chicago last night.

HARLOW: Jim Acosta live for us inside.

[19:05:00] Jim, we'll come back to you as soon as Trump starts speaking. We let our viewers hear that live.

I want to go outside where you are, Jim, to our Ryan Young. He's at the Trump event.

But with the lines, one side of the block there are the lines, Ryan, and the other the side are the protesters and certainly a lot of law enforcement officials, right?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely on both sides of the line and in terms of law enforcement. One thing I want to clarify, though, because Jim hasn't seen it. He was talking about he hasn't seen the signs coming in. I can promise him they're on their way in. They just haven't made it in just yet.

We've seen several people to counter-protest make their way into this line and they'll go inside. They plan to disrupt this evening. Now, if you look at this line here, how far this stretches back.

This goes around the block. People have been lining up here since 8:00. Mostly, they've been standing here quietly but a few times they've engaged protesters on the other side. We've seen more than 3,000 stand in line this afternoon and a lot of people getting nervous they won't get in.

Now, Poppy, walk this direction with us because I want to show you something. They are separating the people with the barricades. You see this barricade right here, this is the barricade that separates the two factions. And if you look here between the two you can see all the officers lining that way and the counterprotesters. You can see all the signs they have.

They have been screaming constantly for the last few hours. Now, of course, some people have come across the barricade and actually engaged in conversation. In fact, you can hear this man screaming right now.

And then you have people like this who have decided to get right in front of the Trump folks with these signs. You can hear people screaming definitely, love is the key.

So, you've seen a lot of people come together, Poppy, so they can have this conversation and it's happened here live and in living color because people have wanted to have their voices heard out there this evening. HARLOW: As they have the absolute right to do that. It's just don't want it to break into violence. Glad it's peaceful and everyone is engaging in the conversation.

Ryan Young, thank you, live for us there in Kansas City, Missouri. Again, we will bring you Trump's remarks as soon as he starts speaking live.

The uptick in violence, though, at some of the Trump rallies like last night in Chicago which Trump canceled, well, it has some Republican candidates talking about it, making comments on it, pointing their finger at their competitor, Donald Trump, heading into Super Tuesday 3, if you will. A lot of voters go to the polls in five states on Tuesday.

Here's what Trump's rivals have said about the chaos that broke out last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think a campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment when the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face. The predictable consequence is that it escalates.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has created a toxic environment and the toxic environment has allowed his supporters and those who sometimes seek confrontation to come together in violence.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Forget about the election for a moment, there's a broader issue in our political culture in this country and this is what happens when a leading presidential candidate goes around feeding into a narrative of anger and bitterness and frustration. And I think we all need to take a step back and ask ourselves, are we contributing to this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So, let's talk about it. Who is contributing to it? Who's to blame?

Let's bring in our panel again, Jeffrey Lord, Ben Ferguson back with me. We just got something I want you both to hear. It is from a Trump campaign announcer talking about how to deal with protesters. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: We have provided a safe protest area outside the venue for all protesters. If a protester starts demonstrating in the area around you, please do not touch him or her and do not harm the protester. This is a peaceful rally.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: So, Ben Ferguson, to you first, what to you make of that? I mean, those criticizing Trump saying this is his fault, his camp has just come out and said what we just heard.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I wish Donald Trump would have said that the last six months instead of saying people need to be punched in the face when they were protesting at his rallies.

This is a classic example of the campaign being smarter than the man who is in charge, Donald Trump. They should have been doing this for a long time.

But he loves the back and forth. He loves the trash talking. He loves talking about people leaving on stretchers and punching people in the face, and, hey, if you hit him, I'll pay for your legal defense team. He even said that from the podium up one day.

So, these protesters, a lot of them are coming out and acting in a thuggish way, I think that's very clear from what we saw last night, they are there to get into a fight. But let's be clear, there are also Donald Trump supporters, including that older man who sucker punched individuals that are showing up and excited to be in the middle of this.

[19:10:05] They want to get into a fight. You could see that last night. And Donald Trump has ratcheted this rhetoric up to a point where it's now boiling over. And as a leader, when you're the president of the United States of America, or trying to become the president, you cannot be a part of this and taken seriously.

This is where I look at Donald Trump and I say, what are we doing? Why is this individual this close to the White House when he's been advocating for violence and now somehow claims that he's not responsible for this?

HARLOW: At the same time, Jeffrey Lord, I want you to weigh in. Ben, I think some of the pushback would be as David Gergen said earlier on the program, you know, could the other candidates go further? Donald Trump is pointing his finger at Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders came out and said, it wasn't my campaign that organized these protests, et cetera.

But, Jeffrey Lord, should a Bernie Sanders, for example, step up and say to anyone who supports me, even if this has nothing to do with our campaign, do not do this in our name if, indeed, it was them?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure. Candor, Bernie Sanders, whatever Bernie Sanders says, I mean, his supporters are going to do what they're going to do and they are individually accountable for their actions.

I listen to my friend Ben, whom I respect enormously. I just have to say when we talk about this subject, we have got to hold the people who do these acts responsible.

And as I said earlier in the day, you know, this is what goes on with the American life. Hubert Humphrey for heaven's sakes was pushing the politics of joy and they did exactly the same thing to him, exactly the same thing. Rallies like this caused all kinds of havoc, got tossed out by the Secret Service. I mean, if there was anyone at least deserving of that kind of thing, it would be Hubert Humphrey, who was a wonderfully genial man. This is a pattern. This is what they do.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: But Donald Trump has not been like that.

HARLOW: Ben --

FERGUSON: Here's the thing, Jeffrey, Donald Trump has not been like he was. Donald Trump has not been a statesman when it comes to this.

He is the guy that is -- I mean, I remember back when Donald Trump was involved in wrestling, in WWE. That's how he's been on the stage. He's been the same exact guy, advocating for you have to punch him in the face, I'll pay for your legal defense. We ought to have guys back in the old days where they left on a stretcher.

That is what your candidate has been saying. You cannot overlook that.

You know, you understand Reagan. You've got a picture of Ronald Reagan behind you right now. Ronald Reagan would have never said anything close to that when he was running for president or the president and he dealt with protesters -- hell, he dealt with someone that tried to kill and he had more class after someone tried to kill him than Donald Trump has on stage right now.

HARLOW: Jeffrey, to that point.

LORD: Yes, Ben, maybe you didn't hear me, but in 1969 Governor Reagan said of the leftist protesters -- they took over the private property of the University of California at Berkeley and declared it a people's park. Governor Reagan called them communists and sexual deviants and sent in the troops to clear them out. One person was killed.

So, to say -- I mean, with all due respect, Ronald Reagan at that point was accused of exactly the same kind of thing, inciting these people to riot. He was accused of this all the time. So, I'm just trying to say --

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: But Jeff, Ronald Reagan when he was running for president -- when he was running for president tell me one instance where Ronald Reagan was on stage dealing with a protester and said, I wish we could have him leave on a stretcher or if you punch him, I'll pay for your legal defense. Tell me at time when Ronald Reagan did it -- it doesn't exist.

LORD: Ben, Ben, Ben, you want politically correct free speech. That's what you're advocating here. FERGUSON: That's not what I want. There's a difference between -- I

am not saying we should -- no, no. Jeffrey, you know, let's be intellectually honest here. I have no problem supporting free speech. There is a difference between --

LORD: You are right now.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: OK. Listen to what I'm saying with my freedom of speech, then. There is a difference. When you are a leader and you're in a position of leadership, Ronald Reagan who you worked for was in a position of leadership and he was one that was advocating for free speech around the world.

But when he said tear down this wall, he didn't say, I wish someone would sucker punch Gorbachev. He didn't go into rallies and say we ought to beat the hell out of communists. That's not what he said, because when you are a leader of a nation or trying to become a leader of a nation, you have to elevate the rhetoric to a point where you are an individual that others aspire to be like. You don't drop to the lowest form of politics --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Counterargument to that, Ben, would be -- and let me just ask this, those Trump supporters would say, who are you to tell me how the person we want to lead this country should talk?

FERGUSON: Look, it's obvious Donald Trump supporters love this rhetoric. That's why there are so many people showing up to his rally.

But there is a bigger issue moving forward. And that is when you have a president that is inciting this type of behavior from their own side -- why do you think this 78-year-old man felt comfortable enough to sucker punch someone leaving a Trump rally? Because he knew that no one there was going to criticize him. He would be high fived and be a hero.

Donald Trump was advocating for that guy to do that. He had been doing it at rallies day after day, week after week. We should not be shocked that --

HARLOW: Thank you, Ben.

FERGUSON: We shouldn't be shocked by it.

HARLOW: Thank you, Ben. Thank you, Jeffrey. Clearly we have a lot more to talk about. You'll both be back. Thank you very much. I've got to get a break in.

I do want to point you all to tomorrow morning. You this want to wake up early and tune in with Jake, "STATE OF THE UNION," look at the lineup -- John Kasich, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, all join Jake tomorrow morning 9:00 a.m. Eastern, only right here on CNN. Coming up, we are standing by for that Trump rally. He should take the podium any moment in Kansas City, Missouri. We'll bring you that when it happens.

Also, what happened to him at a rally earlier today when a man rushed the stage? We will show you that, ahead. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: All right. You are talking a look at live pictures of the podium where Donald Trump will take the stage in Kansas City, Missouri. This will be the final of three rallies he's held just today alone. Obviously, in the rally in Ohio, got a lot of attention, a man rushed in the stage.

What will Trump say today, especially following the rally in Chicago that he had to cancel last night after violence broke out ahead of it? We'll bring you this as soon as it happens.

Meantime, Donald Trump's rivals on both sides of the aisle are not mincing words. They're blaming the Republican front-runner for rhetoric that they say helped create tension and violence at some of his rallies. They're holding him personally responsible for this chaotic scene in Chicago last night, and it includes Senator Marco Rubio who is trying to woo voters in his home state of Florida.

Let's talk about all of this with Jason Roe. He's the senior adviser to Senator Marco Rubio.

Thank you for being with me.

JASON ROE, SENIOR ADVISER TO SEN. MARCO RUBIO: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Let's take a listen for our viewer -- let's take a moment for our viewers to listen to some of what your candidate said today, sort of talking about what happened at the Trump event last night in Chicago and using this backlash to make his pitch to voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[19:20:01] RUBIO: For too long, those comments were ignored, some people thought they're cute, and he's gotten extraordinary amount of coverage for all the stuff he says that's outrageous. Every time Donald Trump offends someone, said something ridiculous, said something offensive, it's wall-to-wall coverage. And it's only elevated him even more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The thing is, Jason, your candidate, Rubio, has spent two weeks, the past two weeks until he just admitted a few days ago his strategy was wrong and he didn't want to go into the, quote, "gutter" again, spent two weeks attacking Donald Trump.

Did he contribute to the tone we're talking about? ROE: Poppy, there is one person to blame for the environment that we are in right now and that is Donald Trump. He's been doing this nine, ten months now at this point.

I think Senator Rubio has a point. You know, it's unfortunate that what the media has focused on is not the substance of what the candidates have to talk about nor has there been a thorough vetting particularly of Trump. I do believe part of the media's responsibility and the process of nominating candidates is to vet these candidates so that everybody knows things about them.

And from the point in the debate a few weeks ago Marco brought up Trump University and the illegal immigrants Trump employed, that had not been part of the conversation.

HARLOW: Why do you say --

ROE: Sure, some media outlets had done a story but they didn't focus on it the way it deserved to be focus on.

HARLOW: Let's break down. First of all, it's wrong. Our Drew Griffin has reported on that extensively before. But just backing up here, what is it specifically you believe the media has not properly vetted about Donald Trump?

ROE: Well, I mean, it's fine if outlets did a story about these things --

HARLOW: No, we've done dozens of stories. I'm asking specifically, sir --

ROE: I'm telling you specifically.

HARLOW: OK.

ROE: The illegal immigrants and the Trump University class action lawsuits, 5,000 people that are suing Trump were not part of the --

HARLOW: Which we've extensively reported on.

ROE: Poppy, they were not part of the conversation of this entire campaign until Marco brought them up at the debate. We spent some time talking about that, and it kind of got focused on the attacks back and forth.

But going back to your original question on, you know -- Marco got more attention for going after Trump. Every time, I went on CNN or any other channel for the days leading up to that debate, I was repeatedly asked, when are you guys going to go after Trump? Then after Marco went after Trump, for the next two days I got questions, why did you go after Trump?

And there is a reality that Marco got more coverage from going after Trump than he did in talking about substantive issues that he wanted his campaign to be about. HARLOW: Don't you think that has to do with the fact Marco Rubio did

get more coverage because he was going after the Republican front- runner who Republican voters have loudly and clearly stated they are backing?

ROE: Well, 36 percent of the voters so far have said that, so I wouldn't say that's clear. He is leading in a multicandidate field. As the field winnows, his ability to get beyond that 36 percent I think will be diminished and we will start to see, you know, this shape up.

But the way it's going right now, we'd probably go to convention. He's not even at 50 percent of the necessary delegates and in order to actually get that, he'd have to win 69 percent of what's left. So, I don't think he's going to get a majority of votes that he need to do this.

HARLOW: Can you walk me through the thinking here? Rubio came out in the past few days and said, quote, "I'll never go back into that gutter again," talking about his personal attacks on Trump. He said, "I regret doing that very much."

I think to a lot of people, it was a stunning admission and turn in strategy. Why did he decide to do that? What told him it wasn't working? Was it the losses in terms of the voters? What made him feel like he had gone the wrong way there?

ROE: Well, I think he felt uncomfortable with it. I think what he's talking about specifically is not what happened at the debate because that was largely focused on substantive issues, but when he was at the rallies and the day after -- and I think what he was doing was having fun at Donald Trump's expense, trying to get the crowd fired up, and so he made some jokes that, you know, probably are not consistent with Marco, who he is, and certainly not what he wanted to present himself.

HARLOW: He looked for comfortable making -- he looked very comfortable making those statements on stage.

ROE: Because I think --

HARLOW: Was it that it didn't work, that it didn't net-net worked in terms of voters?

ROE: Well, I would argue it worked because for days after all we talked about was Marco Rubio and Donald Trump. You know, I think that was kind of what it was designed to do that.

HARLOW: Yes, but he didn't win at the polls.

ROE: I understand that, but we are still in a multicandidate field. However we did after that, I would argue maybe we would have done worse had that not hatched because everything has been focused on Trump as opposed to the other candidates.

With Trump, you saw in the debate the other night and the debate last week, when he is asked a policy question, he dodges the question. He does not have a policy prescription for foreign policy, for domestic policy. I think he reveals that he doesn't even understand these policies. I don't think he understands what governing really looks like.

[19:25:01] He just throws up slogans and never seems to be challenged and forced to get beyond that.

A few weeks ago, we were talking about the fact he hadn't released his taxes. I believe that no one should be elected president of the United States without releasing their taxes.

HARLOW: So, why do you --

ROE: I believe the media should every day be asking Donald Trump, when are you going to show us our taxes? And that's not happening.

HARLOW: We have been asking, multiple times, every news outlet has been asking Donald Trump when he's going to release them.

I want your take on this, Jason, when we look ahead to the voters, right? This is all about the voters, the voice of the voter matters. What voter does at the polls is what matters. And Ted Cruz came out this week and he said Donald Trump does, quote, "very well with voters who have relatively low information, who are not that engaged and who are angry." He accused Trump of taking advantage of these voters.

Some people saw that it's him calling those Trump supporters dumb. What do you make of that?

ROE: Well, I let Senator Cruz speak for himself.

I do believe that some of the people who Trump has drawn to the process, and we've seen people that historically haven't been active voters now voting. And I think those people if they haven't been voting in the past were not as civically engaged as kind of your typical Republican electorate. So, I think Trump and bringing kind of the celebrity status of being a reality TV person and being the outlandish personality has drawn people to this process that normally are not engaged in this process.

HARLOW: Isn't that what you want? Don't you want the most -- the highest percent of the electorate engaged?

ROE: You know, I would like the highest percentage of folks that are paying attention and are understanding what is going on and the issues.

I think what's happening and I think to what Cruz is saying is I think he's manipulating them by telling them exactly what they want to hear but not even giving you an idea of how he would accomplish any of these things. I mean, just saying you're going to make America great and you're going to build a wall is not a policy prescription.

You know, how do we balance the budget? How do we rescue Social Security? Let's get into how we're actually going to do these rather than just saying I'm going to do them. That's what he's been doing. HARLOW: Jason Roe, thank you very much for coming on the program.

ROE: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up next, the leading Democratic candidate for president has a word for the melee that broke out in Chicago last night. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you play with matches, you could start a fire. You can't control. That is not leadership. That is political arson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Who is to blame for the breakdown in decorum, shall we say? We will hear from the Democrats running for president on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:11] HARLOW: All right. You are looking at live pictures tonight from Kansas City, Missouri - Donald Trump set to take the stage there at the final rally of what had been quite a busy day for the Republican frontrunner. We will bring you his remarks from Kansas City as soon as they begin.

The democratic candidates are saying that Donald Trump ought to blame himself for the chaos that broke out last night at his planned rally in Chicago. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders say Trump's rhetoric encourages fighting. Our Jeff Zeleny has more from Chicago tonight.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, those protests in Chicago are front and center on the democratic side of the campaign trail today as well. Bernie Sanders was campaigning here in Chicago and later in Champaign, Illinois, and Hillary Clinton was in Missouri. She took a very forceful tone against what happened in Chicago against Donald Trump's rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you play with matches, you can start a fire you can't control. That is not leadership. It is political arson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now political arson, those her words here but it could be a preview of what's to come for the general election. If Donald Trump should become the Republican nominee and if she becomes the democratic nominee.

This could be sort of the framework of their argument going forward but Donald Trump accused Bernie Sanders supporters of sort of instigating the protests in Chicago. Now I was at the rally last night outside the rally and saw several people holding Bernie Sanders signs. But Bernie Sanders issued a statement late today saying his campaign in no way organized this at all. He said some of his supporters were simply standing up to the divisive rhetoric from the Trump campaign that they didn't like.

Bernie Sanders says he is not responsible for organizing these counter protests. But Poppy, certainly another day of Donald Trump dominating the conversation on both sides of the aisle. The democratic candidates speaking pretty harshly against him. Poppy?

HARLOW: No question. Jeff Zeleny, for us in Chicago tonight. Thank you so much.

I just got this statement in from the head of RNC, Reince Preibus. Let me read you part of what he said following that violence that broke out last night in Chicago at the Trump rally. "Violence is never the answer. Violence only begets more violence. As we go further along in this election cycle, I ask those on my side of the political spectrum and those on the left to engage actively in the political process in a manner that continues to make our democracy the envy of the world."

Meantime, supporters and protesters are waiting for Donald Trump to take the stage right here in Missouri. You see the podium on one side of your screen, the long line of people waiting outside, they've been waiting for hours and hours to get inside. Donald Trump expecting to speak at any moment. We'll take you there live , next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:35]

HARLOW: Donald Trump has just taken the stage in Kansas City, Missouri. His final rally of the day. Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... just a little while ago and the whole thing, it's been so unbelievable. It's been so unbelievable that the kind of crowds we've had have been - you know, they're record setting. Wow, look at all these people. Look at all that press. Look at that. Look at that.

We love you. We love you. We love you, Missouri. We love you, Missouri. We love you. I could do it as though I came here but then I wouldn't be legit because I know it is Missouri and we like it. Thank you all for being here.

So we have a big, big day coming up on Tuesday and I think that it's going to be hopefully record setting. All over the world they're talking about what's happening, all over. All over the world they're talking about it. It has been such an honor, but they're talking about it as a movement. We're going to take our country back. We're going to make America great again.

Oh yes. And we're going to beat Hillary Clinton. I assume it's going to be her. We're going to beat her very badly. And we haven't even started on that one yet, but we're going to beat her very badly. We've got to do it. Otherwise, we're all wasting time, folks. OK? And we don't want to waste time. We don't want to waste time. I want to say look, I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money.

These other guys, they're all subject to whatever the people that put up the money, whether it's a Pac, they're subject to these people. They put up the money. Believe me, that's the people they listen to. I call them the bosses. They are the bosses. So with me, you're the boss, and that's the way we're going to have it.

So we made some stops and made some speeches today. We had incredible crowd. We had incredible crowds. We went to Cleveland. We had 27,000 people in Cleveland and we went to Dayton, we had 20,000. We had it in a hangar. I didn't have to get out too much. I walked out the plane, it was unbelievable, massive hangar. Packed. The people came forward and something interesting happened. Did you hear about what happened?

Not so good. Not so good. He just said, what happened here? Who knows. You have to be careful. We need strong courts. We need strong laws. You know, we're not playing on the same field. So should I talk about that or not? Do you want me to talk about what happened? See, that's the nice thing about not using teleprompters and not reading speeches, which would be so much easier. It would be so much easier.

Boy, would that be nice. You get up, you read a speech, you read a speech, you leave 25 minutes later. Next. No good, right? That's no good. By doing it the way I do it, number one, there's a lot more enthusiasm, there's a lot more energy, to quote Jeb Bush, but a lot - a lot more energy, and you can talk about things that happened 25 minutes ago. You know, when you're writing up speeches you can't do that.

[19:40:17]

Someday I'll read speeches, but I really don't like doing it as much. But I do have something I'm going to read which I think you're going to find interesting.

So I was in Dayton. It was an amazing experience. We had great crowds. We had a great group of people. It sounds like you have a couple of protesters back there. To hell with them.

Is there? I don't know. Either they're protesters or they're great fans. Right? But - but in Dayton - so everything's going well. The crowd was really well behaved because as you know in Chicago we had a real problem. Get them out of here. Get them out. Get them out. I think they're Bernie supporters. I think they're Bernie supporters.

And a little bit less Hillary. Hillary was saying Donald Trump has to stop the rhetoric, he has to stop it. And my people are great. It's these people that are the problem.

So they're Bernie supporters. I'll tell you what, though, the police are so great. Thank you, police. Police. We love our police. They do such a great job. They do such a great job. So anyway, so yesterday in Chicago we - hello, darling. Go home to mom. Go home to mommy. Go home to mommy. Look at those cameras the way they bend around. They'll do anything for a shot. That's why I love the protesters. The only way we find out how many people are in these places is through the protesters. So I love our protesters. And we don't want to hurt the protesters, please. We don't want to hurt the protesters. So here's the story.

In Chicago, in Chicago, we had an interesting day. We had 25,000 people replying. They all wanted to be there. Fortunately, we could call them, we could get them. What happened is we had very professional - very professionally organized - the signs were made - quiet. The signs - the signs were professionally made. Bernie, you'll have to check. It's probably the same location.

Get 'em out. Get 'em out. Get 'em out.

Go, go, go, go, go, go!

Thank you. You know it's really amazing. You know, when you think about it, you see this, just disrupter, bad people, so bad for our country. So bad for our country. People have no idea what's going on. So, so bad. So bad. Trump rallies? Does this happen with anyone else? Man! Unbelievable.

Here's another one. Here's another beauty. Get him out -- oh, Bernie. Bernie. It's another Bernie sign. Get out of here, Bernie. Get out of here, Bernie. It's another Bernie sign. Get her out of here. That's a Bernie supporter, folks. Got the Bernie sign. Were you put in here by Bernie? Get out. Out!

[19:45:15]

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Get her out. Get her out. Where are these people coming from? Unbelievable. Where are they coming from? Unbelievable. All right. Thank you. Any other protesters in the room? Any other? They'll wear out. They get tired after a while. They get tired. That was a Bernie - she had a Bernie sign, a big professionally made Bernie sign. You know. Bernie, Bernie, our communist friend who's running. What a horrible thing.

So those are Bernie signs right off the printing press, and they put them in. He's not doing so well anyway. I guess it's going to be her. But we'll see. You go ahead. Take care of them. Get out of here. You know, if we do that to one of their rallies, you know what happens? Front page how bad we are, OK? Front page. We do that to one of their rallies, to Bernie or to Hillary, and they would say isn't that terrible, the press, the dishonest press. They're the most dishonest people in the world. They would say isn't that terrible?

Isn't that terrible? Get her out of here. Get her out. You notice they're all singles? They're all singles. One here, one there. All right. Unbelievable. Exciting, though, right? Isn't it exciting? I mean, supposing this didn't happen, it really wouldn't be the same thing. Don't we agree? Wouldn't be quite the same. OK. Let's go. Come on.

Look, everyone's so excited. You want to sit down? I love you people. All right. OK. Are they out? Are they gone? Watch. After a few minutes at another one will pop up. It will be a Bernie person. Oh, would I love to run against Bernie. Do you remember - hey, wait. Do you remember when the two young women came up and took away his microphone and he went to the back like a little - oh, they took away my - that doesn't happen to us, folks. That doesn't happen to us.

So we were in Chicago yesterday and it was amazing. We had 25,000 people coming, and we had disruption. They're disrupters. That's all they are, disrupters. Not a lot of people that you'd like, but you know what, I sort of want to like everybody. But these were absolute disrupters.

[19:50:02]

And rather than go through the whole process, I didn't want to see anybody get hurt. I got plenty of time. Anybody in a rush? We're in no rush. We're in no rush. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Oh, look at those cameras. $ they're shooting. Isn't that nice? Get him out. Thank you.

OK. Anybody else want to stand up? All right. Get him out of here. Get him out. Get him out. Boy, this place is packed. You know, we have thousands of people outside trying to get in. And these people are taking their place. It's not worth it. We have thousands trying to get in. Get him out. Anybody else? That's a lot of people up there. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable what we have to put up with, what we have to put up with, you and me and all of us. And we're trying to make this country great again. And it's really hard with people like this, I tell you. You know, when you think about it, we want a strong military, we want protection. We want to take care of our vets. Think of it. We want a good home. We want a great family. We want education. We want great healthcare. We want all things. What's to argue with, right? We're looking for the same thing, as them as anybody else. What's the point in doing what they do? They're disrupters.

Let me tell you, the reason they're doing it is because there's never been anything like this that's happened before. Because you know what, folks? We're going to take our country back from these people. We're going to take it back. These are bad, bad people. And we're going to take our country back from these people.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

TRUMP: We are going to take our back from those people, those people. They do nothing. They do nothing. We're going to bring it back. And we're going to make America great again, folks. We're going to make it great again. And you know, they're treated very gently, very, very intelligently. I told the police I knew there was going to be problems here. They said why don't you cancel? I said, no, we're not cancelling this time. Not going to cancel this time. And I told the police, you have weak people, and they're going to protest and they're going stand up as individuals, because they don't have enough to do it as a group. And they're going to stand up. Be very gentle when you take them out, very, very gentle, all right? So the police are doing that.

Are they all out so far? Any new ones want to stand up? Anybody else who want to stand up? I tell you what, there is nothing so interesting as a Trump rally, right? We are going to have and I'll stand up all night and we'll do this all night. You know what? It's interesting, because we have thousands of people outside that want to come in. I know you probably have a few more they'll stand up in the middle of a point. They always pick the right time. It's a good point he wants to make, boom. They stand up almost (INAUDIBLE) we don't say anything because you hear that little weak voice up there, that's a protestor.

[19:55:01]

That's a protester. It's actually when all of the room goes there they are, there they are. So now I have to stop. Whereas that voice, you can't even hear it. It's pathetic.

But yesterday in Chicago, 25,000 people coming, we were going to have 15,000 outside. We had speakers set up. 10,000 inside. And we had disrupters. I call them not protesters. I call them disrupters. They had all professionally made signs. They're holding them up. It says Bernie on them, good old Bernie. He was a lousy senator. All of a sudden he runs. He didn't do a damn thing in the Senate.

And you have Hillary. You have some Hillary signs up. And Hillary, frankly, let's face it. You look at what's going on in the primaries. They're down 35 percent. There's no excitement whatsoever. The Republicans, you know what, we are so far millions and millions of people are showing up at the polls to vote. Thank you. And it's for me.

It's not for - I tell you what. It's not for little Marco. And it's not for lyin' Ted. OK. This is the biggest liar I've ever seen in my life. It's not for Marco and it's not for Ted. It is a great honor. I want to tell you. It is a great, great honor what's going on. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. These people.

And then you know what? And then the audience gets rough with them and the press says, how dare they, how dare they. Try not to get too involved up there. Don't hurt the person. Don't hurt the person. See, I'm a non-violent person. Did you know that about me? Non- violent. Try not to hurt the person. Thank you. Thank you, police. The police do a good job.

Look at this. What they - look at the abuse our police are taking from this person. No. Look at the abuse they take. Boy, oh boy, we're going to have to go back about 15 or 20 years, I think, folks. What we're doing in this country now, it's not working. It is not working. Just organized nonsense. It's just nonsense. You know, we have a first amendment right. We have a freedom of speech and we're not allowed to do that because of this garbage right over here. We're not allowed to do that.

But we'll do it because we all have a long time together. That's OK. We'll do it. OK. I'm going to defend you, believe me. We're going to defend you. And I'll tell you if somebody like Hillary gets in, you're not going to be defended. It's going to get worse and worse and worse. They're going to end up with four more Supreme Court judges and you'll never recover as a country in a million years. We have something happening with us now. Millions and millions of people are going to the polls that have never gone. They're going out and voting on the Republican side. By the way, as I said, Democrats down 35 percent. Bernie doesn't inspire. It's a little group that want a free lunch. That's all it is. That's all it is.

And Hillary has zero inspirational quality. Let's face it. So they're down - just listen to this. From four years ago they're down 35 percent. We're up. I mean we have states 102 percent up, 75 percent up, 60 percent up. Millions of people are going and voting, ideally for me because I've won so much. But they're voting. They're voting and some never voted before.

Many are Democrats. They came over. Many are independents and many, many, many are people that never voted before. When I sign and I'll do that in a little while -

HARLOW: What a night in Kansas City, Missouri. Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, speaking in front of a large crowd there. The past 20 minutes of his speech at this rally have basically been addressing multiple groups of protesters. He came out and said, we love you, Missouri. And then the protesters stood up in waves. He said, get them out of here. He said I think they're Bernie supporters. He said these are bad people, and we're going to take our country back from these people. He called the protest "garbage."

You see Donald Trump still speaking on one side of your screen. You see protesters outside of that rally in Missouri on the other. We will stay on top of this, of course.

Coming up next, though, on CNN, our new original series "Race for the White House." A look back at the most dramatic presidential elections in U.S. History. Relive the drama of the Nixon, Kennedy face-off.

Thank you so much for being with us tonight. I'll see you here tomorrow.