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CNN Projects Sanders Wins Idaho; Manhunt Underway after Deadly Blasts in Brussels; Aired 2:30-3a ET

Aired March 23, 2016 - 02:30   ET

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


[02:30]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: We'll get back to Brussels in just a moment but we have more breaking news in the U.S. presidential race. Western elections being held right now, primaries and caucuses. CNN now projects that Bernie Sanders will win the Democratic caucuses in the state of Idaho by a lot.

I understand he got more than 75 percent of the vote there. It could be his biggest win in any state to date other than his home state of Vermont. He will win the vast majority of delegates there.

He also won big in the state of Utah today, though Hillary Clinton won Arizona by a healthy margin. So in terms of the delegate race, it could essentially be a wash between those two candidates.

On the Republican side, CNN has called Arizona for Donald Trump. And Utah will be won by Ted Cruz but we are still waiting to find out the margin there.

I want to bring in CNN's Chris Moody, who joins me now, I believe, from Washington.

Chris, let's start with the race we just called. Bernie Sanders wins in Idaho and wins big.

But is it big enough?

All right. Chris Moody is having a hard time hearing me right now. So let's go to Boris Sanchez, who is in Boise, Idaho.

And, Boris, you saw long, long lines in Idaho. It's emptied out right now but there were a whole lot of people there before and a whole lot of enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. The line wrapped around several blocks, at least a mile long. Initially organizers told us they expected somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 voters. They got roughly over 9,000, about 9,100.

And as you said, Bernie Sanders really outdoing Hillary Clinton here in Idaho. The results from this race are very similar to what we saw in 2008, where Barack Obama took about 80 percent of the vote here.

Hillary Clinton didn't really have a presence here in Idaho. She didn't spend any money on advertising; whereas, Bernie Sanders had several visits to the state. He was here just yesterday, speaking to Boise State students, about 7,000 of them, challenging them to come out and represent and vote for him here in the caucuses.

He also spent about $100,000 on advertising. So clearly that effort worked out for him. The big question is whether or not this is going to be enough moving forward.

As you mentioned, a win for Hillary Clinton in Arizona with 75 delegates, winner take all, a big gain compared to a state like Idaho, where it's about 27 delegates and they're split proportionally.

So even though she lost, she'll still take home some delegates.

The question for Bernie Sanders is, what does he do moving forward?

He reached out to voters in California today, trying to appease them, trying to see if his campaign can reverse momentum and, hopefully, have a last stand for him that might challenge Hillary Clinton moving into the convention. But right now it does appear to be Hillary's race -- John.

BERMAN: You can see that right there, that margin, 78 percent of the vote in Idaho, 21 percent for Hillary Clinton. Again, Bernie Sanders' best state other than Vermont so far in this race; Utah, a somewhat similar number. The problem is there just aren't enough states like this in the race to give Bernie Sanders the numbers he needs to chip away at Hillary Clinton's delegate lead.

And she did win in Arizona today comfortably, which gives her a bit of a cushion when you look at Idaho and Utah as well.

Boris Sanchez in Idaho, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

SANCHEZ: Thank you.

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BERMAN: All right. Welcome back. We have breaking news in the U.S. presidential race. The Western primary, CNN has projected that Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic caucuses in the state of Idaho. Sanders also wins the caucuses in Utah.

However, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton won the state of Arizona. She won pretty big. We are still waiting for the final delegate numbers but it looks like a wash on the Democratic side.

For the Republicans, CNN projects that Ted Cruz will win the caucuses in the state of Utah. Donald Trump wins the primary in Arizona. We are still waiting to find out the margin for Ted Cruz in Utah. If he gets better than 50 percent, he wins all the delegates there.

Let's bring in CNN Politics senior digital correspondent Chris Moody. He joins us mow from Washington.

Chris, hopefully you can hear me right now. Let's talk about the Democrats first. Big wins for Bernie Sanders in Utah and Idaho by big margins, though a little bit offset by what Hillary Clinton did overnight in Arizona.

CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. Exceptionally big margins for Bernie Sanders in those states. Although the Clinton campaign, we were told, was really bracing for this to happen, expecting for it to happen.

CNN spoke with Bernie Sanders' campaign manager, asked him about a path forward and he said that it's still a narrow path forward but it still exists. But then again, they've always been facing long odds since the very beginning.

Now the question is, from here, Bernie Sanders has to keep winning but not just in these smaller states with sparse populations. He's got to win big. Now we saw --

[02:40]

MOODY: -- Bernie Sanders in California tonight. He'll be campaigning in California tomorrow. That is going to be a huge get for him if he can pull it off and he's really going to need to if he wants to edge out Clinton here before the convention.

BERMAN: Let's talk Republicans right now. Donald Trump with a convincing win in the state of Arizona by well over 100,000 votes. He got pretty close to 50 percent in Arizona, winner take all, 58 delegates.

But as we sit here at 2:40 am Eastern time, we're still waiting for a very important number. We have projected that Ted Cruz will win the caucuses in Utah but we don't know by how much just yet.

If Ted Cruz does better than 50 percent, he wins all the delegates there. You can see right now with 26 percent of precincts reporting, Ted Cruz is at 70 percent. It looks good for Ted Cruz right now to beat that 50 percent threshold and win all 40 delegates there, which would be an achievement.

MOODY: That's right. If you're a Ted Cruz supporter watching right now, you saw the announcement a minute ago and you said, well, hey, tell me something I don't know. They expected to win that state. Ted Cruz was doing very well with the Mormon population. Certainly Donald Trump was not.

Now if you are an avid Ted Cruz supporter, you're staying up much later because all that really matters here is that 50 percent threshold. He needs that desperately in order to really give a run to Trump in the delegate count. And we also had results from American Samoa. They will be sending

delegates to the convention that are not bound to any candidate, making them very vulnerable. Maybe people at the convention will be taking them out to some nice steak dinners to try to get their vote.

So it's still an open contest on the Republican. Obviously with the win in Arizona, Donald Trump got all of those delegates because it's a winner-take-all primary state. So he did very well. He's getting closer to that magic number.

But he's not there yet. Whether Ted Cruz gets to that 50 percent will be a real sign. It looks good for him now but it will be something that he really will need to get that bump going into the next few states.

BERMAN: Indeed. It looks like it will be a good night for Ted Cruz though Donald Trump will stretch his delegate lead no matter what because he has 58 delegates in Arizona.

And I like you pointing out American Samoa, nine unbound delegates headed to Cleveland. Nine future ambassadors --

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BERMAN: -- nine future ambassadors, perhaps, or people who will play a lot of golf at Mar-a-Lago. Chris Moody in Washington for us, thank you so much.

That's the latest on the elections. Let's go back to Brussels right now for continuing coverage of the breaking news there of the terror attacks. Max Foster is there -- Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Yes, John, coming up to 24 hours since that attack at the airport took place. Belgium in a three-day period of national mourning right now while authorities conduct a massive manhunt.

Here's a quick update of what we know at this point. At least 30 people were killed in the bombings at the Brussels airport and the metro station at Maelbeek. Another 230 people were wounded.

In the immediate aftermath, Brussels was effectively locked down. All flights were canceled and public transportation was halted. Residents were told to remain indoors.

Brian Todd is following the developments and reports that sources believe these attacks are connected to the same terror network that targeted Paris last year.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seconds after an explosion at Brussels International Airport, smoke, chaos and screams filled the terminal. A witness describes emerging from a bathroom at the airport after a second explosion and seeing carnage everywhere. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I go out, I see a lot of people with blood and I just go -- just run out of the airport. Yes, and all the building there is like -- it's like chaos there.

TODD (voice-over): The chaos captured inside in this amateur video.

About an hour later, another blast rips through the Maelbeek metro station.

In this video, a child can be heard screaming as passengers escape through a pitch-black, smoke-filled tunnel. A Brussels firefighter with 45 years' experience says he's never witnessed anything like the scene at the train station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't explain. It looked like war. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. It's really hard.

TODD (voice-over): ISIS quickly claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks. Belgian police have released this picture of a suspect pushing a luggage cart at the airport. They say they're actively looking for him. A Belgian prosecutor says he's one of three men seen together in surveillance footage.

The two others, he says, probably killed themselves in the explosions. Two senior U.S. officials tell CNN they believe the Brussels attacks are tied to the same terror network as the one which launched the Paris attacks in November.

U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials tell CNN the attacks in Brussels could well have been connected to Friday's capture of Salah Abdeslam, a chief suspect in the Paris attacks.

REP. PETER KING (R), N.Y.: Especially since the word is getting out that he is cooperating, that he is cooperating --

[02:45]

KING: -- with the authorities. So this attack could have well been on the shelf, this planned attack, to be done in the future. And now they have may have felt that since it's going to be become known, they should go with it right now.

TODD (voice-over): Analysts say Western capitals should brace for more attacks from ISIS as it loses ground on the battlefield.

MATTHEW LEVITT, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Because that is going to make them more violent, more ultra-violent at home to stay in power and even more inclined, though they certainly already were, to carry out terrorist attacks abroad.

That is their way, their only way, of being able to inflict pain upon us. They can't face us on the battlefield.

TODD (voice-over): In its claim of responsibility, ISIS said, quote, "What is to come will be more devastating than Brussels." TODD: Congressman Peter King says what's particularly disturbing

about the Brussels attacks was that Belgian counterterror forces had been on high alert already before this happened. They had been ready. They had been aggressively conducting raids and they still couldn't stop this -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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FOSTER: And we've just had an update coming in to us. We don't know whether this is related to this in any way but France's Toulouse Blagnac Airport is being evacuated. That's from the airport information services department speaking to CNN, the reason behind the evacuation not made public at this time. No other information is available to us at this time, either.

CNN producer Tim Lister joins us from London.

And it does sort of play into the sensitivities, not just in Belgium, Tim, but across Europe and the world.

TIM LISTER, CNN PRODUCER: Absolutely, Max, it does. And I think in Paris last year, after the first attack at "Charlie Hebdo," there was a mood of defiance, a real mood that this would not be allowed to stand.

After the second attack when we were there, it felt there was almost a sense of resignation. This was the new normal, this was the new reality about living in Europe, that these attacks would continue.

So I think the Belgians, the British, the Germans, the French, they are braced for more of this. And it's played into a very brittle political mood in Europe that is showing greater support against immigration, more xenophobic attitudes, the rise of Far Right parties. So it's a very fractious time, Max, in Europe, yes.

FOSTER: And this latest attack in Brussels really shows how quickly the security services have to respond certainly because one of the attackers got away from an area which is littered with CCTV cameras and is busy at the best of times. And they have to get onto this within minutes if they're going to keep up with the threat.

LISTER: That's true. But then there's a way-of-life question here.

Are you going to turn Europe into essentially a super police state, where there is massive security at every public place?

Or is that giving in to the sorts of things that ISIS wants?

ISIS has a strategy here. It's not just about sowing terror. There is the aim to create tension -- and more than tension in civilization, a war, if you like, between Europeans and the Muslim minority.

More than two years ago, one of ISIS' most senior leaders was saying, we want Europeans to walk down the street, looking left and right and fearing Muslims. This is part of the strategy. And they're able now to leverage, if you will, the massive influx of migrants coming into Europe to feed this paranoia.

So, in a way, Europe has this terrible choice.

Do we try to continue to live as we always have, to cherish the freedoms?

Or do we accept much more enhanced security because that is the price of stopping such attacks in the future -- Max.

Big questions being asked, Tim, thank you very much, in light of these attacks on Brussels. But the immediate concern is finding the man on the run.

And that's what the security services in Brussels are focused on right now, bringing you updates as soon as they come in to us.

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[02:50]

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FOSTER: This is CNN's special coverage of the terror attacks here in Brussels. We do want to bring you reports that we're getting about the airport in Toulouse, in France, being evacuated. We're not sure if it's due to the attacks here in the Belgian capital but certainly across Europe there's a heightened state of alert.

Belgian authorities have released this image only of the three suspects in Thursday's attack at the airport, which killed at least 10 people here in Brussels. We're following Toulouse for you.

But in the meanwhile, here, they are searching for the man in the light jacket and that hat. It's believed to the -- it's believed the other two were actually suicide bombers. One of the bombs went off outside the security checkpoints and, an hour later, terrorists exploded a bomb at a busy subway station, killing at least 20 people there. ISIS has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

A police car going past here. Let's pause for a moment.

The eyewitnesses' accounts of the Belgian terror attacks have been pouring in from people who saw what happened in the Brussels airport and the Maelbeek metro station. Here's a timeline for you of what happened, told in their own words.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): I heard an explosion. And all the ceilings is going down. And then the second explosion went and then everything is black.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I heard an explosion (INAUDIBLE). Then when we came out of the elevator, on that moment, the second bomb exploded and then we saw doors flying, glass, ceiling coming down.

JEFFREY EDISON, AIRPORT WITNESS (voice-over): Suddenly about 200 to 300 people went rushing away from the security checkpoint towards the gate. Obviously no one knew what was going on.

EVAN LAMOS, METRO STATION WITNESS (voice-over): I was on one of the trains in the metro system and --

[02:55]

LAMOS (voice-over): -- apparently the one that had the explosions was the one that left just before mine. And we felt a kind of small blast of air and we heard some thudding in the distance.

The metro immediately stopped. Power turned off. Lights turned off.

JEF VERSEIE, AIRPORT WITNESS (voice-over): In the first moment there was some panic here. The ceiling was coming down. People were on the floor. People were injured. It was quite a mess.

PIERRE MEYS, SPOKESMAN, FIRE BRIGADE: I can't explain. It looked like war. It's unbelievable.

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FOSTER: And we're coming up to 8:00 in the morning here in Brussels, which is the time yesterday when the attack on the airport took place. You're watching CNN's special coverage and we end this hour with a look at how cities around the world are showing solidarity with Brussels.

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