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Republicans Gear Up for Super Tuesday; Donald Trump Wins Nevada Republican Caucuses; Sanders and Clinton Talk Tough in CNN Town Hall; Apple versus the FBI; Has Trump Locked Up the Republican Nomination?; Latino Candidates Cruz and Rubio Fail to Win Latino Vote. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired February 24, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:00]

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ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Donald Trump wins big in Nevada and Hillary Clinton holds her own against Bernie Sanders at the town hall.

More of the latest news on the race to the White House ahead at the IDESK.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ASHER: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Zain Asher with another big win in his back pocket. U.S. Republican presidential contender Donald Trump is

now focused on the all-important Super Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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ASHER (voice-over): OK. That video was Donald Trump of course last night in Nevada after he left his nearest contender, Marco Rubio, pretty much in

the dust.

He told his supporters that he is quote, "winning, winning, winning," and Trump pulled way ahead of Rubio in the Nevada caucuses leaving around 20

points between them. Ted Cruz, you can see there, came in third, although he and Marco Rubio are pretty much neck and neck at this point.

Donald Trump is campaigning today in Virginia, which is actually one of the 13 states that will vote next Tuesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Now the questions now are, A, whether Donald Trump will keep on winning and, B, what happens to those he's leaving behind. Here's our Sara

Murray with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump emerging victorious for the third contest in a row.

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We love Nevada. We love Nevada.

MURRAY (voice-over): Dominating the Nevada caucuses and steamrolling his opponents.

TRUMP: Forty-six percent with the Hispanics, 46 percent. Number one with Hispanics. We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old.

We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated.

I love the poorly educated.

MURRAY (voice-over): For both Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, a disappointing loss.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I want to congratulate Donald Trump on a strong evening tonight.

MURRAY (voice-over): In his concession speech, Cruz pointing to his early Iowa caucus win and arguing he's the strongest alternative to Trump.

CRUZ: The first four states have shown is that the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump and the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump is

this campaign.

MURRAY (voice-over): While Cruz advisers tell CNN, the candidate has reached his boiling point with Trump and to expect a more aggressive Cruz

in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the pressure is mounting on Dr. Ben Carson and John Kasich to drop out after their dismal results.

Kasich's camp quick to rub salt in Rubio's wound in a biting press release, saying, "Senator Rubio just endured another disappointing performance

despite being the highest spending candidate in Nevada."

Last night, larger voter turnout caused some problems at the polls, like ballot shortages and incidents of volunteers checking in caucusgoers

without verifying ID. Voters even took to Twitter to complain of poll workers openly showing support for Trump.

Nevada GOP officials say there have been no official reports of voter irregularities or violations and it's not against the rules for volunteers

to wear candidate gear.

MURRAY: Now the pressure is on. These guys were vying for second place to prove that they can be the alternative to Donald Trump. For Ted Cruz, that

means he has to win Texas on March 1st and for Marco Rubio, a candidate who did not even speak in Nevada last night, who is shrugging off that loss, he

is now saying he can win in Florida.

But he's going to have to prove that he will be able to pick up delegates along the way and pose a real threat to Donald Trump -- Sara Murray, CNN,

Las Vegas, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: And political pundits may be surprised by Donald Trump's unstoppable winning streak but they are especially shocked by his home-run

performance among certain voting blocs. I want you to listen to what his campaign spokeswoman said when she talked to CNN's Alisyn Camerota. Take a

listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's look a Latinos. This is the demographic group that people predicted Trump would not be able to win

because he had alienated them. He got 45 percent over Rubio and Cruz, who are Hispanic.

Now it has been pointed out this is a small sample and, as goes Nevada may not go the rest of the country.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: Well, that is true but I'll also say that polling in that state has shown that Mr. Trump has been doing well with the

Latino voters there. And we have also heard that he won't do well with women and he won't do well with educated. And we have seen that just get

crushed across the board, whether it's in Nevada or South Carolina.

Mr. Trump is resonating and regardless on whether or not you like his personality, most Americans know that Donald Trump is the strongest on

border security, national security, the economy and jobs. And that's what's most important to people today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:05:00]

ASHER: And another thing people are talking about this primary season is about Donald Trump's relationship with the Republican establishment. CNN

asked the head of the Republican National Committee whether it's time for them to embrace Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, RNC: It's a big party. People are competing. And people are endorsing different candidates. I saw people going to John

Kasich. I saw people going to Marco Rubio. I saw Steve Wynn (ph) with Donald Trump.

So look, we're going to have a nominee and our party is going to join in with that nominee to win a general election against a candidate that just

yesterday is now seeing that her staff is going to be deposed under oath by the FBI.

So we're in great shape to win in November but, yes, we have drama. There's some intrigue going on in our party but there's intrigue going on

on the other side, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: For more on this, I want to bring in CNN's political John Avlon, who's joining me live now from New York.

So, John, is this it?

Is Donald Trump the inevitable nominee?

JOHN AVLON, CNN HOST: I hate to use the word "inevitable" but the math is lining up in Donald Trump's favor. There's no question. He's had three

consecutive big wins by margins that were big enough that he ends up sweeping across demographic groups and that matters.

The path for another candidate gets tighter and tighter. And there's a lot of magical thinking going on on the part of some candidates who are

arguing, well, still the majority of Republicans haven't backed Donald Trump. And that will magically coalesce around one of us if everybody else

gets out.

But guess what. That's not going to happen before next Tuesday Super Tuesday. And it probably won't happen even until March 15th. And in the

states that are coming up, Donald Trump holds a commanding lead in most -- not all but most. So that delegate math looks good for Donald Trump. It

looks bad for the other candidates.

And that creates -- should create a crisis of confidence in the Republican Party, whatever the leadership says.

This process has been hijacked by the party systemically getting rid of its center right and now elevating and fetishizing outsiders to the point that

experience is a net negative in the Republican Party.

This is a fascinating moment to watch in American politics because the GOP seems to be backing a candidate who's closer to Putin than the pope, for

example.

ASHER: So how long until the establishment -- we heard Reince Priebus speaking there.

How long until the establishment actually embrace him?

AVLON: I think you will start to see rationalization on the part of some Republican leaders, who say, Donald Trump is going to be our nominee, I'll

be a good party guy and other people will say I for one welcome our new Trumpian overlords and other people will try to figure out how make a buck

off the billionaire. That's the shtick in politics.

So you will start to sees that. But the establishment is an overused term. But the center right elected officials have been rallying around Marco

Rubio. The question is whether it's too little, too late. He still hasn't won a state outright and he can't really name the first state he will win.

That's not a position of strength.

So the Republican Party faces a nightmare scenario that Donald Trump could very well be their nominee. And many will rally around him and many will

try to rationalize it. But it's certainly not with GOP autopsy from two years ago would have imagined.

ASHER: It's interesting because Marco Rubio is basically from Nevada and if you can't win Nevada, where can he win?

And going on to Super Tuesday in about a week from now, Super Tuesday which states do you expect Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to do well in, to beat Donald

Trump?

AVLON: Well, Ted Cruz has already said that he needs to win Texas, his home state, and he has a lead in Texas. It's not monumental but it's

solid. Ted Cruz can't win Texas, then he's toast.

What I think is significant is that, for example, Donald Trump beat Ted Cruz among evangelicals in South Carolina and Nevada. If that's the core

base of your -- rationale of your candidacy and you can't convert that, that's a deeper problem.

Marco Rubio is not leading in any of the states facing in Super Tuesday. And while these are proportional contests, so he can hope to rack up some

delegates, don't be naive about the lead Donald Trump is compiling right now.

ASHER: So Ted Cruz, obviously his momentum seems to be slowing. He's had a couple of a third-place finishes. He been labeled as a liar by Donald

Trump and Marco Rubio. Trump recently described him as "sick."

Is that hurting him now?

Is that label starting to stick?

AVLON: He made a big show of firing his very loyal communications director, who had retweeted a false story and then took it down and

apologized. Presumably that was an attempt to convince people that he's going to take the high road.

But it's tough to take the high road when your campaign is associated with a series of low blows. I think that does hurt him among evangelicals.

[10:10:00]

AVLON: But it doesn't account for evangelical support for Donald Trump, who recently said he reads the Bible more than anyone else. I'm guessing

there's some members of the clergy who would contest that.

But a lot of Ted Cruz's wounds are self-inflicted. In his one term in the Senate, he has managed to alienate most of his colleagues. He thought he

could translate that into enthusiasm for an outsider, that people who are angry at Washington and angry at the Republican Party would rally around

him. But he has certainly so far failed to do it.

And when you fire members of your team, even under a cloud, it doesn't speak well to loyalty. And that matters a lot in politics as well. So a

very rough couple days for Ted Cruz.

ASHER: Yes. We'll see what happens, if he ends up losing Texas, will he end up dropping out then.

We can't forget, of course, there are two parties competing here, John. Do of course stay with us because when we come back, we're going to be talking

with you about the Democrats.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talked tough at a CNN town hall just days before the South Carolina primary.

Can close the gap in the polls?

That's coming up, next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When we began this campaign, essentially, it was almost believed by most that Secretary

Clinton was the inevitable candidate. She's not the inevitable candidate now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Bernie Sanders talking to supporters earlier in South Carolina three days before that state's Democratic presidential primary. Rival

Hillary Clinton holds a big lead in the polls there. Last night both candidates answered questions at a CNN town hall. Here's our Joe Johns

with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: After a loss in Nevada and trailing in the polls, ahead of the South Carolina primary, Bernie Sanders

ramping up his attacks on front-runner Hillary Clinton, repeating calls for her to release transcripts of paid speeches she made to Wall Street banks.

SANDERS: I'm very happy to release all of my paid speeches to Wall Street.

Here it is, Chris. There ain't none.

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: I don't do that.

JOHNS (voice-over): Clinton instead calling on the Vermont senator and their Republican rivals to do the same.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why is there one standard for me and not for everybody else?

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I have been up front and strong on this issue for a long time, as strong, I would argue, as my esteemed opponent. So you know what, if

people are going to ask for things, everybody should be on a level playing field.

JOHNS (voice-over): Clinton counterattacking, labeling Bernie Sanders "a single-issue candidate."

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SANDERS (voice-over): The disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street.

JOHNS (voice-over): But Sanders dismissed the one-note characterization.

SANDERS: What I am fighting for now is a political revolution in which government starts working for working people and for the middle class.

JOHNS (voice-over): One common theme between --

[10:15:00]

JOHNS (voice-over): -- the candidates courting South Carolina's African American voters, who strongly support the president.

SANDERS: On the day that Obama was inaugurated, Republicans came together and said, what are we going to do?

And what they concluded is we're going to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct.

What you're seeing today in this Supreme Court situation is nothing more than the continuous and unprecedented obstructionism that President Obama

has gone through.

JOHNS (voice-over): Even calling questions about the president's birth certificate racially motivated.

SANDERS: This birther issue which we heard from Donald Trump and others, a racist effort to try to delegitimize the President of the United States.

My dad, as I mentioned, came from Poland. I'm running for president. Guess what. Nobody has asked for my birth certificate. Maybe it's the

color of my skin. I don't know.

JOHNS (voice-over): Clinton's strategy, appealing to voters with a personal touch.

CLINTON: I think it's important for people and particularly for white people to be honest about those and to recognize that our experiences may

not equip us to understand what a lot of our African American fellow citizens go through every single day.

JOHNS (voice-over): But once again facing questions about her emails as a federal judge Tuesday paved the way for possible future subpoenas against

Clinton and her aides

CLINTON: Every single time somebody has hurled these charges against me, which they have done, it's proved to be nothing. And this is no different

than that. I have turned over 55,000 pages of emails. Nobody in any Cabinet position has ever been as transparent or open.

JOHNS (voice-over): Sanders also opening up in a reflective moment.

SANDERS: If I let those people down who have faith in me, that's a scary thing when so many people have faith in you and believe you can do

something.

So it scares me very much if I ever let those people down. It would be a terrible, terrible thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: That was our Joe Johns reporting there. And CNN political analyst John Avlon is back with me.

Let's talk about the Democratic side of things. So, John, you just saw there, Clinton basically trying really hard to create more emotional

connection with voters, particularly African American voters.

Did it work?

AVLON: I think she made some strides and it's been the core of her support and certainly in South Carolina. She's had an edge -- more than an edge, a

real lead with African American voters compared to Bernie Sanders, who has tried to make inroads but is certainly playing catch-up.

I think Hillary Clinton in the town hall last night did try to project a more empathetic persona. She didn't retreat to questions of policy. She

ruminated on personal thoughts. And I think that's important for her because Bernie Sanders' great edge in this campaign has been authenticity.

That you may not agree with his policies, you may not agree with his philosophy but you can't deny that he has been authentic and charming and

civil and that is a itself a revolution in our politics at times.

But Hillary Clinton is facing in the South Carolina primary this weekend an overwhelming lead, an overwhelming likelihood that she will win that and

then the math gets tougher and tougher and tougher for Bernie Sanders.

But there is, as you mentioned in the lead, a subpoena of some of Hillary Clinton's aides that has come down by a judge appointed by Bill Clinton,

that they will be giving depositions on the question of the email server. And that is that cloud of scandal that so frequently hangs over the

Clintons. And that's not good timing for the Clinton campaign, despite their lead in the polls.

ASHER: So you have that cloud over Clinton. But as you mentioned, Bernie Sanders' momentum does appear to be slowing down.

What can he do to rejuvenate his campaign at this point?

AVLON: Well, I think Bernie Sanders needs to make a real -- a reality- based argument about not only electability but an ability to govern. In Britain, we've seen Jeremy Corbyn take over the Labour Party. And while

the activist class celebrated, the inability in a democracy to reach out and broaden a base, to reach out and win the reasonable edge of the

opposition, that's the key to winning elections.

And at some point you need to make a case, if you're running for your party's leadership, that you cannot only appeal to the activists but that

you can govern and that you can win. And that requires reaching out and that's not what ideologues do. They glory in a vision of purity.

But that vision of purity doesn't translate to winning in politics or governing very often.

ASHER: He spoke yesterday about what it takes to be a really skilled leader. And a lot of people seem to be moved by that. He's very

passionate about what he believes in.

John Avlon, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.

AVLON: OK. Thank you.

ASHER: CNN's Wolf Blitzer will moderate a Republican debate in Texas on Thursday. It is the last chance for Republicans to face off on the issues

before the Super Tuesday contest next week. That airs at 1:30 in the morning on Friday. That's London time, by the way, right here on CNN.

You're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Still ahead, the former head of the CIA is jumping into the iPhone hack debate. Why --

[10:20:00]

ASHER: -- he says there's no clear answer to this controversy. That's coming up.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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ASHER: Thick fog has been making it difficult for searches of the site of a plane crash in Northern Nepal. At least 19 bodies have been found. It

is believed that all 23 people on board were killed when the plane went down. The plane lost contact eight minutes into what was supposed to be

only a short flight. We don't have any word on the cause of that crash.

China is upping its military presence in the South China Sea. A U.S. official tells CNN that China deployed fighter jets to Woody Island, it's

part of the disputed Paracel Island chain also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam as well.

This comes a week after Taiwan and U.S. officials said China moved surface- to-air missiles to the island. China has called its recent actions "appropriate and responsible."

In the meantime, in the U.S., scientists are investigating 14 new possible reports of sexual transmission of the Zika virus. The Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention says that several of these cases are among pregnant women.

If confirmed, this could have major implications for controlling the mosquito-borne virus which has been linked to birth defects. In the

meantime, the CDC continues to promote abstinence or condom use for women whose sexual partners have traveled to Zika-infected areas.

A former director of the CIA is weighing in on the legal battle between Apple and the U.S. government. The Justice Department is fighting to have

Apple unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.

Apple says unlocking the phone would require it to create software -- totally new software, by the way -- that could undermine customer security.

Former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden spoke to our Chris Cuomo earlier about the controversy. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN, FORMER DIR., CIA: It's an infinite gray area. This is not the forces of light and the forces of darkness. We're trying to

balance two things, both of which are virtues, our privacy and our safety. And, in this case, I think Apple is correct with their broad position,

which is they should not be directed to put back doors into their encryption system.

America is safer, more secure with unbreakable end-to-end encryption, even though I recognize from time to time that punishes American law enforcement

and even American intelligence.

But, Chris, I'm not sure what the FBI is asking for now, which is access to this phone -- is -- what it was I said I agree with Apple about.

I don't believe that this leads to that. And if it does, the burden of proof is on Tim Cook and Apple, to show if they did this, which I think is

acceptable, that it doesn't inevitably follow that we get that, which I strongly believe is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Former head of the CIA speaking there.

For a look at how Apple customers and investors are responding to this debate, I want to bring in CNNMoney correspondent Paul La Monica, who's

joining us live now from New York.

So, Paul, I want to start by talking about Apple's share price because it has been on this downward trajectory, about 10 percent down so far this

year, mostly because of sales.

But do we expect this battle with the FBI to have any sort of impact whatsoever?

PAUL LA MONICA, CNNMONEY DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm not really sure it will. I've spoken to some fund managers and analysts, who point out that

even if you are in the viewpoint that Apple is making a mistake and that it should cooperate --

[10:25:00]

LA MONICA: -- with the FBI, if you believe that and you want to boycott Apple like Donald Trump had proposed, what's your alternative.

Buy an Android phone?

The CEO of Google publicly tweeted his support for Tim Cook. So it's not as if you can make a statement by saying I'm not going to use my iPhone

anymore. You just basically don't use a smartphone, which isn't very practical in this day and age.

And if you are an Apple fan, I don't think this spurs you to buy even more Apple products.

ASHER: Right. So there's nowhere else customers can go.

So if you did a study recently saying that 51 percent of Americans, just a small majority, side with the FBI in this case, do you think that could

have any impact on Apple's brand in the long run?

LA MONICA: I don't think it really will. I think eventually people may flip a little bit and look more at how Apple is still trying to protect

privacy and that is something that I believe many consumers would support in the long run.

So I'm not really sure that the fact that a small majority seem to be in favor of Apple actually submitting to the FBI is going to be a problem for

them going forward.

ASHER: But in terms of the PR war, if you're Tim Cook, what is your strategy to minimize damage?

LA MONICA: I'm going to be perfectly blunt. If you're Tim Cook, which you have got to do is come out with an iPhone 7 later this year that people

really want to buy and show all those Android users that Apple has got all the mojo in consumer technology right now.

I think Apple just needs to do what it's been doing, continue to stress that it is trying to protect its consumers, that opening up a back door to

not just the FBI and law enforcement would be doing that to hackers as well and that's a negative for pretty much anyone with an iPhone.

ASHER: Yes. And other than Bill Gates, it seems as though most tech CEOs in Silicon Valley seem to side with Tim Cook on this one. OK.

LA MONICA: Yes. And even he hedged a little bit from the comments that he made in the "FT."

ASHER: Right. He walked them back a bit.

OK. Paul La Monica, live for us there, thank you so much.

LA MONICA: Thank you.

ASHER: A lawsuit against former "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson has now been settled. Clarkson was sued for punching a producer of the popular BBC

show. British media report the producer received $140,000 in a payout. BBC decided not to renew Clarkson's contract after the assault and has

since replaced him with Chris Evans.

All right, everyone. You're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. It's three in a row for Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential race. Will his victory in

Nevada carry over into the Super Tuesday contest next week?

That's coming up.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]

ASHER: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK.

(HEADLINES)

ASHER: Now some political pundits already think that Donald Trump has locked in the Republican presidential nomination. CNN commentator Mel

Robbins is one of them. She just wrote an article for cnn.com with the headline -- you can see it there. "It's over: Trump is going to be the

Republican nominee."

Mel Robbins joins me live now via Skype from Boston, Massachusetts.

So, Mel, just explain why you have absolutely no doubt in your mind that Donald Trump is the inevitable nominee at this point.

MEL ROBBINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a number of reasons and good morning from Boston, Zain.

First of all, he's building tremendous momentum. If you look at just the numbers so if you're the kind of person that loves statistics, every single

candidate that has won South Carolina in the primaries since 1980, except for one, Newt Gingrich, has gone on to become the nominee.

So not only is the math, the history and the statistics on my side but let's look at the other factors. The other factors are there's a

groundswell of support for Donald Trump for a number of reasons.

And one of them is I think that, in a lot of places in the world, the United States included, there is a large number of Americans that are tired

of politics as usual. They are tired of the establishment. They are feeling beaten down.

And so one of the biggest appeals of Donald Trump -- and it's been this way since July of last year. I mean, nothing's changed in this race as far as

I'm concerned. For eight months Donald Trump has been consistent. He has been the front-runner. He's not changed his tactics. He hasn't changed

his tone.

And what he appeals to is the fact that, first of all, he's an outsider. Secondly, he's disrupting the way that politics are done, which has a huge

appeal for a large number of Americans.

Third, many Americans hate what's going on in Washington. And so he has leveraged that hatred and turned into a political campaign. And fourth,

from a psychological perspective, nobody can control this guy. And so he plays to what markers call the curiosity gap, which is people keep tuning

in because they are curious to see what Donald is going to do.

They keep tuning in because they are curious to see what the next headline is going to be and they are tuning in because he's completely redefined the

way that things are being done. And so it makes it exciting to a lot of folks.

ASHER: And also he says what people are thinking. There's no reverence, no political correctness whatsoever but also I think it's interesting that

it's human nature to want to back a winner.

But if it's true what you're saying -- and this man is going to be the inevitable nominee -- then the establishment has a problem.

I know that you know Donald Trump personally.

Do you think that he's is someone the GOP can actually work with?

ROBBINS: You know, it's an interesting question the way that you phrased it because the presumption is that the GOP is somehow in power. The truth

is Donald has upended everything.

And so the question is will they and will they be able to work with him. I don't think they are going to have a choice, frankly. They are going to

have a revolt on their hands if they engineer something in back rooms that has a candidate that doesn't have the majority of delegates going into the

convention become the winner.

And so I think they don't have a choice but to work with him. And here's what's interesting about Donald Trump.

Will he work with them?

The guy holds the power right now. And so the thing that I also find interesting about Trump is, yes, he hasn't changed his tactics. He also

doesn't have any policy and he hasn't for eight months and nobody seems to care.

The other thing that's incredible about him, Zain, is that he attacks everybody, from the pope to the Republican Party to FOX News to women, to

Muslims, to refugees and --

[10:35:00]

ROBBINS: -- yet nobody can land a direct blow on this guy. So you --

Go ahead, sorry.

ASHER: No, I just wanted to ask you quickly because we are running out of time.

There's one thing in your article that really stood out to me that I think was quite interesting. You said that Donald Trump is the only conservative

who stands a real shot against Hillary Clinton.

Now anecdotally, many Republicans that I've spoken to say that they won't vote if Trump is the nominee and they think that Rubio is the best

candidate to beat Clinton.

You disagree, though, why?

ROBBINS: Well, I disagree because I think Republicans that are answering your question right now are still holding on to hope that Rubio could be

the nominee.

But any Republican walking into a booth to vote that's faced with a Clinton-Trump choice, you better believe they are going to vote for Trump

over Clinton.

ASHER: Right, right. So this is the inevitable nominee as you say. We shall see what happens after Super Tuesday. Mel Robbins, live for us

there, thank you so much.

ROBBINS: Great talking to you.

ASHER: Donald Trump clearly has momentum on his side. Even winning the coveted Latino vote in Nevada.

How did he do it?

We'll explain, coming up.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: A victory in Nevada doesn't mean that Donald Trump will necessarily win the presidency but he's planning ahead just in case.

Trump told ABC's "Good Morning, America" that building a border wall is one of the first things he's going to be doing when he gets into the Oval

Office. He told supporters the same thing last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to have our borders nice and strong. We're going to build the wall. You know that. We're going to build the wall. We're

going to have a lot of respect for Mexico and you just heard we won Hispanics but let me tell you, Mexico is going to pay for the wall. Right?

It's going to happen. It's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Trump won big among Latino voters in spite of his headline policies on immigration. Senior Latin American affairs editor Rafael Romo joins me

now.

So Rafael, I find this absolutely fascinating. Just walk us through the numbers.

How well is Donald Trump doing with Latino voters?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Well, depends on what part of the country you're talking about. But here in Nevada, the exit polls

showed that he got 45 percent of the Latino vote, 28 percent for Marco Rubio.

You would expect a Hispanic to do a little bit better. But the reality here is that, according to a blogger, that there's a margin of error of -

/+10 percentage points. The other point that is very interesting here is that, in Nevada, only 8 percent of the electorate of Republicans, on the

Republican side, are Hispanics.

And so the people who participated last night are not necessarily representative of Hispanics in the United States as a whole and may not

even be representative of Republican Hispanics in the state of Nevada. So for Trump to say that he's got solid support from Hispanics --

[10:40:00]

ROMO: -- is a little bit early to say something like that.

ASHER: And we have to tread carefully because, as you mentioned, most Latinos are actually Democrat.

I do want to talk about the profile, though, of a Trump Latino voter, the type of Latino voter who's going to vote for Donald Trump, because there

are two types in my mind, two types of Latino voters.

There are obviously the undocumented immigrants but there are also the Latinos who were born in America, who are American, who are U.S. citizens.

What is the profile of someone who is more likely to vote for Donald Trump?

ROMO: Well, the short answer to your questions is that the Hispanic electorate in the United States is not monolithic. And you mentioned two

categories but I would add to that Cuban Americans, who tend to be conservative and Republicans. Mexican Americans in the West, who tend to

be Democratic. You have recent arrivals, mainly Central American and Mexican immigrants, who necessarily don't care anything about voting or,

for that matter, registering to vote and may not participate in this election.

And you have well-established, older Hispanics, who tend to go with the Democrats but have gone in different ways in different elections. So it's

just very difficult to say who is the prototypical supporter of Trump or supporter of Hillary Clinton, for that matter.

ASHER: Right. I do want to talk about the fact that Rubio and Cruz, who are Latino themselves -- Cuban -- don't seem to be resonating as much as

you would expect with Latino voters.

Why is that?

ROMO: It's an excellent point. And I go back to my previous point. They are Cuban Americans. Most Hispanics in the United States are Mexican

American. Cuban Americans in Florida mainly tend to be conservative. The rest of Hispanics tend to be Democratic -- and we're talking about an

electorate that is 62 percent of Hispanics are Democratic, 36 percent are identified as Republican.

ASHER: But even among the Republican Latinos, Donald Trump is still doing very well. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are not.

And I'm -- I don't understand why.

ROMO: Yes, the second part of that answer is that Ted Cruz does not claim Hispanic heritage, even though his father is from Cuba.

Marco Rubio is a very proud Hispanic and speaks Spanish in a very fluent way, except that he may not be as relatable as you would expect to, say, a

Mexican immigrant, who arrived in the United States, say, 10 years ago; is still trying to learn English, maybe not have the socioeconomic status

Rubio has had.

And so that's where you go, as people say, the devil is in the details. And being Hispanic does not mean that you can group all of those people in

one single category.

(CROSSTALK)

ASHER: -- a certain way.

OK, Rafael Romo, that was fascinating. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right, everyone. That does it for this it edition of the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Zain Asher. I'll be back in just over an hour. "WORLD SPORT"

is coming up next. You're watching CNN.

END