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Clinton, Trump Win Big in Tuesday Primaries; One Suspect Killed as Manhunt Continues in Brussels; Bombings Leave Aleppo in Shreds; Doubts and Expectations about Trump in China. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired March 16, 2016 - 10:00:00   ET

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


[10:10:00]

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: You have been watching CNN's coverage of who will occupy that empty seat at the U.S. Supreme Court. A very important

decision for President Obama because it could change the ideological balance of the Supreme Court. We'll of course keep our eye on that story

and President Obama will officially make that announcement in about 50 minutes. And we'll bring that to you live.

In the meantime, let's move on to the race for the White House and the results from the latest contest. Front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald

Trump emerged the big winners Tuesday night. Hillary Clinton pulled further ahead of her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, while Trump edged

closer to his party's nomination, despite losing Ohio's high-stakes primary.

Trump won three, possibly four of the five states up for grabs. Missouri is still too close to call. CNN Politics reporter Sara Murray has

more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to win, win, win.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump celebrating another big primary night.

TRUMP: I'm having a very nice time. But you know what, I'm working very hard. And there is great anger, believe me. There is great anger.

MURRAY (voice-over): The Republican front-runner racking up victories in three more states, bringing his total now to 18. The race between Trump

and Ted Cruz so tight in Missouri that a winner hasn't yet been declared, now Cruz insisting the race is down to him and Trump.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Only two campaigns have a plausible path to the nomination.

MURRAY (voice-over): But Ohio governor John Kasich is still keeping hope alive, clinching his first win of the race in the winner-take-all

state of Ohio.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: I have to thank the people of the great state of Ohio. I love you. That's all I can say. I love you.

MURRAY (voice-over): And in Florida, Trump putting a nail in the coffin of establishment darling Senator Marco Rubio.

TRUMP: I want to congratulate Marco Rubio on having run a really tough campaign. He's tough, he's smart and he's got a great future.

MURRAY (voice-over): Rubio ending his presidential ambitions after a bruising double-digit loss to Trump in his home state.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: While it is not God's plan I be president in 2016 or maybe ever and while today my campaign

is suspended, the fact that I have even come this far is evidence of how special America truly is.

MURRAY (voice-over): Now down to a three-man race, Trump continues to call for unity.

TRUMP: We have to bring our party together. We have to bring it together.

MURRAY (voice-over): While Kasich and Cruz make a pitch to Rubio supporters, both pledging to take this fight all the way to the convention.

CRUZ: To those who supported Marco, who worked so hard, we welcome you with open arms.

KASICH: Thank you from the bottom of my heart but I want you to know something. We're going to go all the way to Cleveland and secure the

Republican nomination.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton trounced Bernie Sanders, winning four of five states. Missouri at this hour is also too

close to call.

Clinton's big night leaves her with about twice as many delegates as Sanders and has her looking ahead to the general election showdown in

November with the Republican nominee. CNN's John Berman breaks down things state by state, beginning with Missouri.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Show me a close race in the Show Me State. Donald Trump just 1,700 votes, 1,500 votes ahead right now of Ted Cruz.

They are going to count the absentees, the provisionals there. We're not ready to call it just yet. But you would rather be Donald Trump there.

Just as you would rather be Hillary Clinton in Missouri right now. She's ahead by 1,500 votes but again they are still going to count the

absentees and provisionals. We'll get back to you on Missouri.

Let's look at the Republican race as a whole. In Ohio John Kasich finally on the board. He wins his first state and 66 delegates in his home

state of Ohio. But the hometown discount did not work for Marco Rubio, not at all. He was crushed by Donald Trump in his home state of Florida.

I want to show you something here in Florida. If you can look over here, the only county Marco Rubio won, Dade County. That's where he lives.

If he didn't live there he didn't win it.

Let's look at the other Republican states right now, starting with North Carolina. Donald Trump won there; proportional delegate allocation

there; Illinois, Donald Trump edged out Ted Cruz there as well. He's going to win the lion's share of these delegates.

And in the delegate race, Donald Trump stretched his lead 640, 405 for Ted Cruz. You can see Marco Rubio and John Kasich behind there.

Let's look at the Democratic race right now. Huge wins for Hillary Clinton in Florida, huge moral victory --

[10:15:00]

BERMAN: -- for Hillary Clinton in Ohio. This one, the Bernie Sanders campaign thought it would be close in Illinois. Hillary Clinton wins there

as well. And in North Carolina a big win for Hillary Clinton there, too.

Let's look at the delegate math. This includes super delegates, 1,500 for Hillary Clinton, about 800 for Bernie Sanders. Without super

delegates, Hillary Clinton still leads by more than 300 and she did extend that lead last night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: John Berman breaking down very important numbers there.

With Hillary Clinton having such a commanding lead on the Democratic side, let's focus on the questions on all of the Republican side, where

it's not so clear-cut. CNN political commentator Matt Lewis joins us from Washington.

Hi, there, Matt. I want to talk about Donald Trump. Today on CNN, Mr. Trump said, based on his delegate numbers, there would be riots if he

didn't win the nomination at the Republican convention. Just take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If we're 100 short and we're at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400 because we're way ahead of everybody, I don't think you can say

that we don't get it automatically. I think there would be -- I think you would have riots. I think you'd have riots. We have -- I'm representing a

tremendous, many, many millions of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: So could he be right?

MATT LEWIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He actually could be right. First of all, Trump has sort of fostered this toxic environment in his rallies and

there have been some violence in his rallies. So it's interesting that he's using rhetoric that -- I don't know if it's a veiled threat or just

him being careless with his words but there's a real danger that Cleveland, the Republican convention this summer, could be a powder keg.

You could have demonstrations and protests and rioting outside the convention hall. And as Donald Trump implies, you could have it inside if

Donald Trump is denied the nomination because he doesn't have enough delegates.

CURNOW: Yes. It's certainly fascinating how this is also playing out on the streets, as you say. What is interesting about what's going on is

that Donald Trump, as he keeps on reminding everybody, is that he is bringing out the voters. Massive turnout. I want to bring up a graphic

for the Republicans.

Pretty depressed turnout for the Democrats in these primaries.

How will these numbers impact the direction of a general election when it comes down to it?

LEWIS: Well, I think that if Donald Trump is o the -- if he is the Republican nominee, he will drive turnout but I think he drives it for

Republicans. He will be bringing out a lot of working class white voters in places like Ohio that didn't vote for Mitt Romney.

But I think he also drives turnout for Hillary Clinton. In other words, I think that it's really hard to predict whether or not this would

be a net positive or a net negative for Republicans.

I think he does excite people and get them to vote. The problem is maybe half the people that he excites and gets to vote would be voting

against him.

CURNOW: Basically he will galvanize people in this anti-Trump movement as he has been doing at many levels.

Let's talk about some of the stuff he's been saying. A lot of it you actually can't unhear. It's not all bluster. Some of it is worrying.

Some of it is just amusing. But also some of it deeply concerning. What is interesting is that some exit polls show that his startling comments

about banning all Muslims from the U.S. actually has huge support from voters.

LEWIS: Yes, that's true. There's no doubt that Donald Trump's message has resonated. There are a lot of Americans who are afraid.

They're afraid for their economic future. They are afraid because of the rise of ISIS. They are very insecure right now. And there are a lot of

working class white Americans, like I say in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, but really all over the country.

Even in Florida we see this happening, who basically feel like the America that they grew up with is gone. The American dream is gone. And

they are looking for people to blame. So I think that it's a very nativist and populist message that Donald Trump is selling. In a better era,

Americans might reject it. But right now it's selling like hotcakes.

CURNOW: Talk about who to blame. Rubio, Marco Rubio's campaign is now being laid to rest. And "The Washington Post" says that's now the

almost complete evisceration of the Republican establishment.

Do you agree?

LEWIS: Yes, that's right. And it's interesting when we call Rubio the establishment because, just five years ago he was this Tea Party

conservative insurgent candidate. But that shows you how much things have changed, how vastly things have changed, that Marco Rubio is now the

establishment.

Rubio, after Republicans lost in 2012, they came up with this autopsy. And it was basically a plan for how Republicans can win the 21st century.

And it involved attracting more Hispanics and more Millennials and all sorts of things that Marco Rubio embodied.

And yet the party is obviously -- the base of the party has decided to go in the complete opposite direction.

[10:20:00]

LEWIS: Donald Trump could not be further from what the autopsy recommended than -- if they tried they couldn't find anybody more opposite

of that plan.

CURNOW: Matt Lewis, it's been fascinating talking to you, thanks so much.

LEWIS: Thank you.

CURNOW: Well, up next here at CNN, police in Brussels are in the midst of a manhunt that began with a shootout at this building. We'll tell

you what they found inside that may connect the suspects to ISIS. Stay with us.

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CURNOW: You're watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for joining me.

Police are combing through Brussels in their search for two suspects who may be connected to last year's terror attacks in Paris. And a Belgian

official says new evidence has turned up in this building, the site of a shootout on Tuesday. For details, we go to CNN's Nima Elbagir, live in

Brussels.

What did they find, Nima?

Hi, there.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. Well, officers are going house to house, asking for any details, any evidence that witnesses

possibly could have seen that will lead them to those two men at the heart of this manhunt.

They are showing pictures. They are trying to speak to neighbors. Anyone who could have seen anything. The sense that we get at the moment,

though, Robyn, is that almost they stumbled upon this. This was part of a broader operation that had been going on for some time.

Belgian police say they didn't expect to meet the resistance that they did. It was only when they approached this property behind me here and

were met with an exchange of fire that they then asked for a much more heavily armed backup.

Indeed, this continued for about three hours until after 6 o'clock in the evening when the Belgian special forces turned up. And one of the

snipers managed to kill one of the suspects, one of the attackers in this. Take a listen to what the prosecutor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One suspect was neutralized by sniper of the special forces when he tried to open fire towards the police from a window

of the flat, where he was hiding.

His body was found in the flat during subsequent house search. Next to the body was a Kalashnikov, as well as book on Salafism, also a flag of

ISIS -- daish -- was found in the flat as well as 11 loaders for Kalashnikovs and innumerable shell casings. No explosives were found.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELBAGIR: You'll notice there, Robyn, that they gave very specific details to this operation, to what unfolded here. But they are being cagey

about anything to do with the wider operations.

They are not identifying these men by name. They are not even saying whether or not this is a direct link to that so-called eighth attacker --

[10:25:00]

ELBAGIR: -- or any of the key suspects still at large in the Paris attacks investigation.

CURNOW: So no real detail as to who they are looking for.

What do we know about the man who there was neutralized?

ELBAGIR: This was, they are saying, an Algerian illegal immigrant and they're saying that he didn't really ping on the authorities' radar

although they acknowledge that a year ago that he was taken in with regards to some sort of petty crime. This is a man who was found with an ISIS flag

and what they're calling extremist literature, jihadi literature.

He has already been linked. He and the men in that house behind me have already been linked to several other properties through their DNA,

where other automatic weaponry was found. There is another location in another district that they are refusing to give any details regarding

whatsoever because they are so concerned, Robyn, given their experience in those first few days after Paris attacks, where they believe that those

men that they were hunting used the information that was in the public domain to evade them.

In this instance, they are so cagey that they're trying to keep any information to really the bare minimum.

CURNOW: OK. If you hear anything more, let us know. Nima, thank you much.

To North Korea now, an American student held there has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor; 21-year-old Otto Warmbier admitted last month

that he had tried to steal a political banner from a hotel. He said in a news conference that he had been lured by the U.S. government to commit a

crime in North Korea.

It's not clear if he made his admission under duress. Warmbier entered the country with a tour group. He was arrested as he tried to

board a plane out of Pyongyang in January.

An explosion on board a bus packed with government workers has killed at least 11 people in northwest Pakistan. Dozens of others were injured.

The blast occurred inside Peshawar's highly fortified army camp. A local official says explosives were planted inside the bus. Pakistan's prime

minister issued a statement condemning the attack.

A Norwegian mass murderer, Anders Breivik, testified in court on day two of his lawsuit against the government. He claimed Norway was trying to

kill him with years of solitary confinement. Breivik is suing over claims his treatment in isolation violates his human rights. He's currently

serving a maximum 21-year prison sentence for killing 77 people in July of 2011.

We'll have much more news here on the IDESK after this short break. Stay with us.

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CURNOW: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for joining me. Here's a check of the headlines.

[10:30:00]

(HEADLINES)

CURNOW: Turning to Syria now, when opposition forces took control of the provincial capital of Idlib, they saw it as a chance to show they can

rebuild their own state. And they believe that is exactly why Russia started targeting their civic institutions.

Russian planes are pulling out now but the air campaign has destroyed courthouses, schools and even an aid hospital. CNN's Clarissa Ward is

virtually the only Western journalist to report on the effects of President Putin's military intervention from inside rebel-held Syria. But we do have

to warn you: when you watch this piece, at times the scenes are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is an all-too- common sight in rebel-held parts of Syria, the moments after an airstrike. Dazed survivors stagger from the rubble; those still trapped call out for

help.

The target this time: the courthouse in Idlib, City, activists say the bombs were Russian. When rebels took the provincial capital of Idlib,

they saw it as a crucial opportunity to demonstrate that they could built their own state and they believe that's exactly why the Russians bombed

this courthouse, to undermine that effort.

Any civilian infrastructure is a potential target, including hospitals. Last month, four were hit in a single day; one in the city of

Marat al-Numan was supported by Doctors without Borders.

This is what remains of it now. At least 25 people were killed.

Doctor Mazen al-Sued (ph) was the general manager. He told us that Russian and regime forces target hospitals cynically and deliberately.

DR. MAZZEN AL-SUED (PH), FORMER GM (through translator): They want to kill the maximum number of people. Also they want to forbid the area from

having medical service.

If there's no doctor, no nurse, no hospital, then there is no health care for the people and people will flee.

WARD: Is it possible that they did not know that this was a hospital?

AL-SUED (PH) (through translator): Everyone knows this is a hospital. There was even a sign that said this is a hospital. But if they didn't

know, this is an even bigger disaster because if you were bombing a building like this without knowing it's a hospital, it means you are

hitting totally indiscriminately.

WARD (voice-over): Against the backdrop of this vicious war, Islamist factions have gained the upper hand here, among them Al Qaeda affiliate,

Jabhat al-Nusra. The landscape is peppered with signs, shunning Western democracy and urging all men to join the jihad.

One encourages women to cover up completely.

Dr. Faraz al-Jundi (ph) works at the only hospital still standing in Marat al-Numan. He's no militant but sees this conflict in black and

white.

DR. FARAZ AL-JUNDI (PH) (through translator): The whole of the Syrian people is against ISIS and against extremism but we see that the Russians

are bombing far from ISIS and they're focused on civilian areas.

WARD (voice-over): I asked him why he doesn't leave Syria.

AL-JUNDI (PH) (through translator): If I did that, I would abandon my conscience. This is our country, we can't desert it.

If we left, then we have sold our morals.

Who would treat the people?

I can very easily leave but we will remain steadfast.

[10:35:00]

AL-JUNDI (PH) (through translator): I am prepared to die rather than to leave and I will carry on no matter what.

WARD (voice-over): Carry on in the faint hope that, for the next generation of Syrians, it will be better -- Clarissa Ward, CNN, Marat al-

Numan, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Powerful piece.

Clarissa's next report gives us an exclusive look at the dangers aid workers face in war-torn Syria and the daily struggle to get much-needed

aid into cities like Aleppo. Don't miss Clarissa's reporting from Syria all of this week. It's all part of our exclusive coverage, "Inside Syria:

Behind Rebel Lines," only here on CNN.

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CURNOW: The CNN Freedom Project is shining a light on a region of India where poor girls are being lured from home with empty promises of a

better life. CNN special correspondent Muhammad Lila was there when police tracked down an alleged trafficker. Here's his report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sir, sir, we're with CNN.

Can we ask you a question?

LILA (voice-over): This is what happens when we confront the man they accuse.

LILA: Answer my question, sir.

Were you taking advantage of them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

LILA (voice-over): Police take him inside for questioning and charge him with bonded labor and cruelty to a child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: We spoke earlier to the journalist who brought us that report on the dark side of the tea industry. Muhammad Lila talked about the

mindset of the traffickers who are buying and selling girls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILA: The traffickers, they often don't see themselves as doing anything wrong. You could see the man in the clip. He showed no remorse;

to him it was just a job. He said, well, I don't understand. I got these girls from this village. I got some money. I paid the guy who gave me the

girls and now they are working.

In theory, that would all be fine if this was a regular job placement agency. But this we know that this is the exact opposite of a job

placement agency. These traffickers take these girls and they put them in situations where they are abused, they're raped, they're assaulted. Their

freedom is taken away and they can't escape. That is effectively modern- day slavery.

So a big part of this is getting these traffickers to understand that what they are doing is not only illegal, it's unethical, it's wrong and it

has no place in the modern world. So that's a big part of the problem.

And police can devote as many resources as they have. But when they are dealing with traffickers who are looking for money, are well known and,

quite frankly, in a lot of the cases, can skirt around the laws, it's a very difficult challenge for police to catch up with all this.

So a big part of this is sort of educating these traffickers and saying you know what, what you're doing is wrong. And you will eventually

be caught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW (voice-over): And you'll meet the traffickers in the tea industry and more on the CNN Freedom Project special series, "The Price Of

Tea," all this week, only on CNN.

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[10:40:00]

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CURNOW: As we have seen, Donald Trump has racked up some major gains this week in the race for the U.S. presidential nomination. And he's

scoring points with some voters by going tough on China. Trump says he wants to divert jobs from China to the U.S. and he wants Beijing to take on

North Korea.

So what do people in China think of that?

CNN's Matt Rivers takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in China, people are waking up this morning, watching the U.S. election results roll in, in what turned

out to be a very good night for Donald Trump. So we thought we would come to this alleyway and ask ordinary Chinese people what they think of the

Republican front-runner.

Even though we brought along a picture with us, most people had absolutely no idea who he was. But that doesn't mean that they didn't have

strong opinions on his policies.

RIVERS (voice-over): For example, Trump says China has stolen jobs from the U.S., hurting American businesses by keeping its currency too low.

We described that view to this woman. She did not agree.

"He's wrong," she said. "China just has cheaper labor than the U.S."

She says it's benefited both sides and that anyone who doesn't understand that might not make a good president.

This man says he's suspicious of Trump and wonders when he's going to face reality. He was referring to another talking point, where the front-

runner argues he'd solve the North Korean nuclear crisis by getting China to make leader Kim Jong-un, quote, "disappear one way or another."

"China just needs to enforce the newly adopted U.N. sanctions," he says.

And though nearly everyone we asked had never seen the real estate mogul before, one woman had.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's quite recognizable. You've seen his face. He is very.

RIVERS: You're one of the few people that we have talked to on the street that knows who he is.

RIVERS (voice-over): To her, Trump's rhetoric is just a way to get elected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of people in the U.S., they cannot get jobs so they need to hate Chinese people. That's why he said Chinese people is

cheating the U.S.

RIVERS (voice-over): China's state media also piled on Trump this week; an editorial in the "Global Times" disparaged Trump, reading, quote,

"At the beginning of the election, Trump, a rich narcissist and inflammatory candidate, was only treated as an underdog.

"His job was basically to act as a clown to attract more voters' attention to the GOP."

It went on to say that his front-runner status could harm U.S. standing in the world.

Compared to that editorial, the official position of the Chinese government is much more muted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I believe that in the end, whoever gets into the White House, the underlying trend of China-U.S. ties

will not change.

RIVERS (voice-over): Trump says he doesn't like China's policies. But as for its people.

TRUMP: I love China. I love the Chinese people."

RIVERS (voice-over): So far, though, the affection does not appear to be mutual -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Great perspective there. Well, that does it for us here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Thanks for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'll be

back in just about an hour with more on the next U.S. nomination to the Supreme Court. But for now, I'll turn you over to "WORLD SPORT."

END