>> reporter: -- neither will ever forget. miguel marquez, cnn, clinton township, michigan. >> so you want to be like your favorite firefighter right now? you can help the stones. go to the gofundme website and search troy and tyler fund. >> let's do it. >> that's beautiful. all right. great way to end the week. time now for "newsroom" with carol costello. happy friday. >> happy -- best day of the week. isn't it? have a great weekend. thank you. "newsroom," starts now. happening in the "newsroom," the clock is ticking. >> hopefully there's time to still prevent a trump nomination. >> anti-trump conservatives racing to take down the front-runner. but is it too late? also, it is official. hillary clinton sweeps super tuesday three, but think bernie sanders is bowing out? think again. and the korean peninsula already roiling with tension, and now a new display of

military might from north korea. let's talk. live in the "cnn newsroom." and good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. the republican race for president, the candidates return to the trail today hitting utah and arizona with a new sense of urgency. for john kasich and ted cruz, time is running out to derail trump's momentum after his big week of wracking up delegates. conservative leaders scrambling to "dump trump" and the campaign showing signs of concern as most states gear up to name the delegates, the trump camp is urging its loyalists to lobby for those positions in case of a contested convention. an e-mail, republicans hold county conventions tomorrow. it asks -- "do you want to serve as a delegate to the national convention and help us" it

explains how to become a trump delegate. this morning, the stop trump efforts denounced . >> if it was not so ridiculous it would be laughable, what's going on inside the -- i would consider this -- we have people who are elitists, who are part of the ruling class of this country, or pretenders to that throne, who think they're part of the ruling class, who are openly and willingly going out here and telling the american people who have voted for donald trump that they're stupid, and that they don't know any better. i want to tell you, if that's the path they want to go down, there will be consequences for that kind of thinking. >> hmm. there will be consequences. cnn's phil mattingly is with me with more on that. good morning. >> good morning, carol. for the trump campaign, this is extraordinarily important. this is a moment right now where they need to push bark, and that's why you see them engaging. the reality is, right now, republicans are trying to do anything they possibly can to stop donald trump.

>> i don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically. i think it, you'd have riots. >> reporter: the gop upping the pressure on donald trump. two days after the front-runner's interview on cnn's "new day" where he warned that riots could erupt if he is denied the republican nomination after securing the most delegates. >> nobody should say such things in my opinion, because to even address or, or hint to violence is unacceptable. >> reporter: top conservatives meeting privately in washington on thursday, plotting any way to block trump's path to the nomination, raising the possibility of a third-party option. >> it's not going to be me. it should be somebody running for president. >> reporter: house speaker paul ryan again rejecting talk that he could become the republican nominee flew a cthrough a conte convention. >> wow! >> reporter: trump hitting back his opponents in his own way taking to his free attack ad of choice, social media, with a series of posts aimed at ted cruz and hillary clinton, and trump's fiercest one-time rival,

marco rubio. >> hopefully there's time to still prevent a trump nomination. >> reporter: speaking out for the first time after his bruising loss in florida. >> i'm not going to be anybody's vice president. i'm just -- i'm not interested in being vice president. >> reporter: saying he's done with politics. >> i'm going to finish out my term in the senate and then i'll be a private citizen in january. >> reporter: and a surprise endorsement for ted cruz from south carolina senator lindsey graham, after months of colorful digs. >> if you're a republican and you're charged as donald trump and ted cruz in a general election is the difference between poisoned or shot, you're still bit. >> reporter: and now raising money for the cruz campaign. >> the best alternative to donald trump, to stop him from getting 1,237 is ted cruz and i'm going to help ted in every way i can. >> tough to overstate how much animosity truly existing between lindsey graham and ted cruz leading up to this point. donald trump in some way

bringing the republican party together. strange bedfellows for sure. underscoring desperation. every operative has the exact same question. is it too late? >> bill mattingly, thanks so much. a good question this morning, trying to answer, republican the aren't the only ones going after donald trump. the herc group amnonymous published donald trump's phone number. exports warn this could be the first phase of a bigger hack. bring in cnn's laurie segall. hi, laurie. >> reporter: it start add couple weeks ago, a video posted on line hackers going up against trump to take a stand. hackers are beginning to rewlees they say are trump's social security number, cell phone number, online for anyone to see and leaked phone numbers of his family and business, leaked his

home address along with business associates home address. i actually called one of those numbers and spoke to, and actually spoke to a family member of trump that said they'd been receiving calls from hackers all day. we're beginning to see, this is what is almost at the beginning of pan anonymous hack. carol, this is really -- when you look at an anonymous hack, it's a hacking group that isn't very sophisticated. they try to do what they call docs. put out personal information, try to scare you a little, take down your website by overloading it with traffic. we're beginning to see this could be the beginning of them doing this to donald trump. carol? >> all right. laur laurie segall reporting live. thank you. no so grand to be part of the grand old party.

disunity rules thanks to donald trump. mr. trump? lying down. in georgia, urging supporters to become delegates at the convention, and, yes, compleely instructions. there it is. to discuss, i'm joined by cnn political commentator and donald trump supporter kayleigh mcen y mcenany. >> thanks. >> thanks to you both for being here. sabrina, mr. trump's campaign manager lewo lewendowski signed. why fight you're a republican who does not like mr. trump? >> look, carol, there is not exactly a happily ever after story line that is going to unfold come this summer at the convention. i think one of the problems is that the republican party is going through growing pains, to say the least, and there is going to be people who are very unhappy, and i think the challenge now is going to be, you know, how can we both sort

of salvage the party and ensure that there's a lot of people who don't feel so disenfranchised. that's a challenge for whether trump is the nominee or whether someone else is able to sort of carry it out. there are going to be a lot of frustrated, angry and despondent voters out there. >> well, kayleigh, seems hysteria set in. some republicans are even talking about voting for hillary clinton. listen to what a republican told poppy harlow. >> i also think hillary's a great candidate on the democratic side. >> you're a republican saying hillary's a great candidate. >> isn't that shocking? i hope my dad's not watching. >> you're not buying the gop front-runner right now? donald trump? a businessman like you? >> some of his policies are very good. we need someone that will bring the country together. >> okay. so kayleigh, a fellow republican, a business leader. that should be trump's home turf. what happened? >> look, the narrative of, "i'll

never vote for trump" is perpetuated by the donor class, by the political class, by the establishment. it's not one that really rings true among the people. the fact is, we are having record turnout in the republican party. 60% up. meanwhile, the democrat turnout is down. look at ohio. astonishing to find that donald trump edged out hillary clinton in the number of voters by 50,000 people in a four-way race, in a race where he got second place. the fact is, donald trump is expanding the party, bringing new people in. the establishment, i agree with what was said yesterday by a trump supporter. it's insane to not embrace this movement and instead try to thwart t. still on the horizon according to a reuters ipso poll showing half of america's women have an unfavorable view of trump. mr. trump is trolling megyn kelly calling her crazy this time. so sabrina, are republicans who dislike trump right when they say that hillary clinton could beat donald trump? i. think that trump has a real

shot at beating hillary clinton, and while i find many of trump's comments towards women disgusting, i am the head of a women's organization, there are plenty of women out there who support him and support him strongly. we have to be careful sort of not to think because he's made some sort of crass comments that that is turning him off to women. one thing to keep in mind is that republicans are also thinking about those ballot races. there are a lot of senate races putting a lot of people in an awkward position. if you are an establishment candidate, somebody who considers themselves mainstream republican and your nominee is trump, it is going to require you answering all sorts of questions that a lot of senators and potential candidates are not really comfortable doing. so i think that's where some of this talk about a third-party candidate is coming from, because how can republicans ensure that they don't lose the senate? >> okay. along those lines, kayleigh, mr. trump has endorsements from ben carson, chris christie, sarah palin, joe arpaio, with the

exception of chris christie, mr. trump seems to be only appealing to one side of the republican base. is that a concern? >> no, it's not a concern to 345me, because we heard paul rhiyan sa i'm going to support the nominee. you'll see more of that, establishment folks coming out for donald trump. that's the only choice. be clear, the choice, support donald trump and i think he will beat hillary clinton, or go to a brokered convention, which will ensure that hillary clinton wins. we need to unify. donald trump extended his hand. put forth an overture to the other side and it's time for the establishment to take a step forward. >> i have to leave it there. >> trump supporters feel that way -- but in talking to lots and lots of people, that the uncertainty factor with trump is fluff to keep a lot of people home. that's something we have to talk about as conservatives. you know, is it better to know what you're getting and sort of maybe the evil one, some republicans would see hillary clinton, or better to support the sort of the great unknown, which you get with donald trump?

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we must take a stand against hate. that's the message from a group of rabbis and jewish leaders planning to boycott donald trump. the gop front-runner is scheduled to speak at apac, a pro--ifl lobbying group on monday but religious critics say many will be no-shows and if they do attend they're silently walk out when mr. trump arrives. the group says "this is not about policies or parties. this is about one particular person, donald trump, who has encouraged and incited violence at his campaign rallies. we are against hatred, incitement of hatred and the ugliness created this

presidential season." good morning. >> good morning, how are you? >> i'm well. how many will walk out as mr. trump takes the stage? >> it's difficult to know. right now 979 leaders of this movement. important to distinguish. 970 people signed on, on our facebook page to be a part of galvanizing the entire conference to participate. imagine 970 people going out handing out stickers, flyers, engaging and talking with people? we could have thousands participating with us and that's our goal. >> apac has a long standing policy to invite all candidates to its conferences during an election year, and apparently they just want to hear what all the candidates have to say. what's wrong with just listening to mr. trump's message? >> right. so we respect their policy, and there may be some who would take

issue with apec inviting mr. trump to speak. that's not the goal of this group. the goal of this group, just as mr. trump has a right to speak, we have a right to silence him, we have a right to not be a party to the ugly kniss and vitriol he's been spewing and made a cornerstone of his campaign. it's suggested we can't support apac, a sprong u.trong u.s.-isr the same time denouncing hate. we have to. that's our responsibility as americans and jews to hold what we hold dear, respect all people and celebrate diversity. in the words of the saj hillo, if not now, when? we have to stand up and say we respect our democratic friends, republican friends, independent friends. we are not about politics or policies but there is no place for hatred in the american political system in america and especially at apac.

>> what specifically bothers you most about donald trump? >> i think that we struggle with the bigotry, the racism, the xenophobia and for me personally, it's his seening disregard, lis willful disregard, for the safety of those people that are at his rallies. you know, i just got off the phone with someone who said, well, the cause of that violence we've been seeing is really the protestors. i said, there's a certain element of truth to that. but the other side is that mr. trump could be standing up at those rallies and saying, enough. no more violence. we're going to allow these people to pro test and we will, if we need to, escort them out safely and without violence and not enturging people to hit offering to pay their legal fees. we're not going to encourage people to rouse up militias to perhaps protect mr. trump and his fellow rallygoers. he has a responsibility as a leader of his party and as a potential leader of our nation

to do what's right, and we haven't seen that yet. >> may i ask you, rabbi, if you are a republican? >> i'm -- no one knows what i am, and it's not an issue in this particular rally. >> i understand. so -- i was just going to ask you, it appears that donald trump is going to get the nomination. and he may become president of the united states. so i guess i'll just ask you the question this way. what kind of president do you think donald trump will be? >> i have to tell you, carol, i'm far less concerned about mr. trump being president as i am about all of those people who his ugliness.pt up in his, in - mr. trump tends to forget we have a system of government where there are checks and balances. he may say he wants to do all of these things or act inappropriately but we have a congress and supreme court that can balance him. what concerns me most and really what this rally is about is this -- this ugliness that has just engulfed us, that somehow

it's okay for him and for other people to speak so terribly about the press, about people with disabilities, about jews, about women, about mexicans, about anyone who is "other" than mr. trump. and so my hope is that what this movement does, is that it shine as light on the darkness that he has played a prominent role in bringing to our country and to this election krooik cycle. >> rabbi paskin, thank you for joining me. you can't say obama didn't warn him, still to come, how the president prepped his supreme court pick for a war zone.

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u.s. supreme court nominee judge merrick garland will soon get his face-to-face meeting

with gop senators. the problem, he probably won't like what they have to say. here's judiciary chairman chuck grassley. >> if i can meet with a dictator in, in uganda, i can surely meet with a, a decent person in america. >> there you have it. grassley went on to say that during the meeting he will once again make it clear to garland that the senate will not take up the nomination until a new president is elected. live in d.c., we have more on this. good morning. >> republican senators head back home for a two-week recess mounting a two-front war on federal judge merrick garland. one front, repeating rhetoric no one should be confirmed this election year and don't want to discuss whether or not garland is qualified. outside groups on the gop side are planning to litigate garland's record including the gee additional crisis network planning an ad blitz to make the

point that gargened is out of the mainstream. now, the president is pushing back telling npr he is extremely qualified and ready for the public relations war ahead. here's what he had to say. >> he is prepared, i think, to take on whatever unfair or unjust or wildly exaggerated claims that may be made by those who are just opposed to any nominee that i might make. for those of us who are more often in -- you know, the scrum of politics, we call folks like judge garland civilians, and so suddenly being placed in a war zone like this is something that you want to make sure they're mindful of. >> now, this fight shifts over the next two weeks as senators

home states, activists on both sides plan to ratchet up the noise level. coordinating with the white house and with republican leadership targeting senators in tough re-election races hoping they will cave. carol that is something they have not done yet. >> all right. reporting live from washington this morning. thank you. >> thank you. and good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. president obama is not just focused on the supreme court fight but also the battle over who replaces him in the white house. in fact, the president plans to wade so deeply in the presidential campaign, the "washington post" says he will be the most active sitting president to do so in decades. cnn national correspondent suzanne malveaux is in washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. according to one person the president is dying to get out there back on the campaign trail. he just loves this. this is what he loves to do and understands that the democrats,

if they're going to win, he's got to get that broad coalition of voter that put him over the top, motivate them to come out and vote and can also, of course, play the heavy against trump or any other republican nominee, but is also going to be out there to save his legacy. we're talking about obama care, trade, nuclear deal with iran, cuba relations, immigration. all of that as you know issen 0 the line, carol. he'll be on the road from his historic visit to cuba. and hillary clinton is on the campaign trail defending and embracing obama's policies. not surprising, and also fund-raising. we saw her in georgia, and she called into a radio show, this is in phoenix, and raising eyebrows this morning making some news because of these comments -- >> i think we've done a really good job securing the border, and i think that those who say we haven't are not paying attention to everything that was

done for the last 15 years under both president bush and president obama. >> and, in fact, the immigration from mexico has dropped considerably. it's just not happening anymore. there has not been net migration over our border from mexico. >> so, carol, you can tell she's itching for a fight with republicans over immigration. she's coming off a five-state sweep from tuesday night. we're talking about 16, 28 delegates in her pocket. that is after yesterday, bernie sanders conceding missouri. so the next battleground that we are seeing here is the west. this is on tuesday. 131 delegates up for grabs in idaho, utah as well as arizona. and that is where we saw sanders last night at a rally in flagstaff. now, he argued with his 850 delegates that he still has a path towards victory. he believes this. and he believes that he's going to have a friendlier audience on tuesday and the months ahead.

we're talking about california, washington state and oregon, and he is focusing on what is most important in those states that he believes is immigration. so he began his speech going after somebody that you and i, carol, have both talked to numerous times. this is that immigration hard-liner sheriff joe arpaio who's made a name for himself arresting and deporting undocumented workers. >> maybe i just begin by saying to your sheriff here, mr. arpaio, why don't you pick on people who have the power to fight back? stop picking on children, like katherine and others. let me begin by saying, as i have said before, that if elected president, we are going to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and a path towards citizenship --

>> not surprising, arpaio endorsing trump, who's vowed to build a wall at the border keeping out all illegal immigrants in arizona. more than 30% of the top lation, you know, is latino. you can tell there's a fierce battle going on for their support. >> you got that right. suzanne malveaux reporting live for us this morning. thank you. sorry about that. i have a little cold this morning. the "new york times" reports that president obama recently told dnc donors it will soon be time to coalesce around hillary clinton. and stop a republican from taking the white house, but the president also told those donors about a challenge clinton faces from inside her own party. the "times" write it's, "mr. obama acknowledged that some democrats did not view clinton as authentic, but he play downed the importance of authenticity noting that president george w. bush whose record me ran aggressively against was once praised for his authenticity and of course you know what happened next." now the white house is pushing back on that "new york times" report and says the president

actually remains neutral. so let's talk about this. andy smith is the director of the university of new hampshire survey center and marc lamont hill a cnn political commentator. welcome to you both. >> good morning. >> good to be here. >> good morning. so, mark, the white house confirmed the comments, but says the president hasn't endorsed clinton. here's what press secretary josh earnest said about that. >> the president did not indicate or specify a preference in the race. >> so nothing's changed? he's still neutral, can't make up his mind? >> well, no. i -- i did not say he couldn't make up his mind. the president cast a ballot. the president has voted in the illinois democratic primary. >> who did he vote for? >> we have not indicated that preference. >> so, mark, what's the deal? >> well, first of all, no president publicly says who they

voted for prior -- at all, really. they make an endorsement at some point. i suspect i know who the president voted for, but that's neither here nor there. the key, until there is a clear-cut winner in the democratic primary, president obama is not going to a nounnoua preference. he wants the party to move behind hillary if she wins but doesn't want to alienate -- >> appears she is going to win. bernie sanders can't catch up, can he? mathematically? >> absolutely -- we can't invent new math but there is a chunk of bernie supporters who believe bern hey a message and a path. even though we disagree, the key is that you don't want that base to sit home. you don't want that base to feel disrespected. if they feel disrespected, they're not going trump but they will go home. if they go home that makes the road a lot tougher for the democratic party. >> andy, a poll out shows

president obama approval rating at 50%, high nest three years. gallup says due to increasing popularity with democrats. so the question is, will that roll over to hillary clinton just in case president obama decides to throw his support behind clinton? >> well, i agree with mark, first of all. presidents generally don't endorse their successors until pretty late in the primary campaign. for example, ronald reagan didn't formally endorse george bush until may of 1988. they do that for the reasons they don't want to antagonize the party, but obama's approval rating has been going up. but that doesn't mean that it's going up in the right places. for example, i just looked at the battleground states that are out there. and in all of those battleground states he's currently under water. take examples, ohio. 45% approved. 48% disapprove. florida, 45% approve, 49% disapprove. so it's those states that are going to make the difference, and those are the places that obama's going to have to work to

get his own approval rating, especially since clinton is running for essentially his third term. he's got to get his approval rating up among people within those states and work to make sure the coalitions that got limb elected in those states in 2008 come out to vote, as mark said, in 2016. >> so with that in mind, mark, is it, you know, will the candidates welcome obama's support? wholeheartedly? >> well, it will be a sharp contrast from 2008 when republicans were running from george w. bush at the very same time democrats were beating up on him. much different here. obama, even people that disagree with policy tend to like him. he won't be anathema on the campaign trail. you'll see him galvanizing southern voters and black voters, hey, it's a high-stakes election even when i'm not on the ballot. obviously concerns with white working class male voters who have not felt benefited from the obama administration in the same way and aren't necessarily going to vote inclined to follow obama

the lead on this. that's what bernie sanders, when he's more important. obama will be very important on the campaign trail to keep the energy up and defend his own legacy. at some point you need bernie sanders is places like michigan, illinois, places like ohio, where workers are going to say, hey, we want a fair shake and trump will have a populist economic message compelling and persuasi persuasive. unless bernie sanders is on the ear side screaming into the microphone, vote hillary, hillary will have a tough time. not saying bernie will do it, but that is an issue here. >> our time is running out, i'm curious. andy, what endorsement would be most important for hillary clinton to get? president obama, bernie sanders, or senator elizabeth warren's? >> i think elizabeth warren, actually. that would do more to nail down the more progressive wing of the democratic party, because historically the president always endorses the nominee of their party or the favored nominee, and usually there's a coming together, a meeting of the minds between the top two candidates to support one another.

that's expected. the warren endorsement is the one a little unexpected now and that would do a lot to solidify clinton among progressive democrats. >> have to leave it there. thank you both. >> thanks. all right. i do have breaking flus to impart right now. a counterterrorism official k m kerms to kkerm s to confirms to cnn one of the paris terror suspects found in a brussels apartment raided by police this week. it's believed he used the apartment after the attacks as a hideout. get right to cnn senior international correspondent in london. tell us more. >> reporter: hi, carol. this is the first new lead for quite some time in the case of salaam salaam, characterized at europe's most wanted man. we were with the sense that police almost stumbled on to this.

they openly admitted they weren't expecting the level of fire power they found at this premise. in fact, it went on for some three hours with two of the alleged militants holding off belgian police officers with automatic weapons, while two others disappeared out the back. it is unclear yet whether salaam salaam was amongst those two who managed to escape from the premise's that is at least what the belgian local media has said. we really haven't confirmed that. this is the latest proof of life for this investigation and that there is now an even more intensified manhunt through the streets of both the belgian capital and across the country, if not even beyond belgian's borders for this man. >> thank you. still to come in the "newsroom," tensions at a boils point on korean peninsula, and it looks like it just got worse. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers.

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north korea released a new video of a student committing crime against the regime. he was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for ripping down a political banner from a hotel. you see the video used as evidence in the 21-year-old's trial. cnn cannot verify the authenticity of the pictures but the state department says the punishment is unduly harsh and called for his release based on humanitarian grounds. meantime, the pentagon confirms north korea fired off two ballistic missiles. it happened earlier today off the west coastconsider -- consideren peninsula. they have a new round of sanctions and military exercises were committed in the region. barbara starr has more from the pentagon. >> reporter: good morning, carol. every day tensions rising with north korea. this launch of two missiles

especially interesting right now. these were two essentially medium-ranged missiles that fell into the sea of japan off north korea's eastern coast, but then there are lots of buts on this, this was a very interesting launch. the mitchells were launched off mobile launchers. essentially, huge trucks that can move around the north korean countryside. that means in times of war a country like north korea could shoot these missiles, move the launcher very quickly and u.s. satellites might not be able to track it as fast as they want. there could be launches the u.s. would only see at the very last minute. so when they test this kind of capability, as they did earlier today, it does cause a lot of concern. the big issue, of course, is, these were medium-range. what if north korea could eventually do this with a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead on top? that's the big "if." that's the capability the u.s.

does not want to see north korea get. ash carter raising the pressure on another key nation in the region to do something about pressing north korea. have a listen to what the secretary of defense had to say. >> by far and away the most, the country that has the most influence over north korea, because of approximaproximity a relation and also because of its interest, there it is right next to north korea, pursuing weapons programs, is china, and so china could do a lot more. >> reporter: very precise and blunt words from the u.s. defense secretary. china could do a lot more. china, very much not happy with the u.s. position about increasing unilateral snanction on north korea. the chinese also not able to really change north korea's mind

at this point, it appears. that's really the big question. nothing seems to be stopping kim jong-un's cycle of provocation. a lot is rhetoric. a lot of it is provocation. ultimately, if north korea can achieve its military goals that would really up-end security calculations in the pacific and really around the globe. carol? >> all right. barbara starr reporting live from the pentagon. thank you. checking other stop stories for you at 47 minutes past -- the former cia director david petraeus will be making a second appearance before the house select committee on again bage . a source telling cnn he'll face the committee tomorrow in a closed session. he led the cia when a terrorist attack killed four americans in libya in 2012. a construction worker is dead after plummeting 53 floors from an l.a. skyscraper. the man who was in his second day on the job hit a moving vehicle after he fell. the driver of that vehicle is in

the hospital. the company at the site says the man was not doing anything work-related at the time of the accident. and a player, a cornerback for the baltimore ravens in critical condition after a motorcycle crash. trey walker was not wearing a helmet when he collided with a forward escape. they do not suspect alcohol or drugs and noted that his bike did not have lights and he was wearing dark clothing. he was drafted in the 2015 nfl draft. still to come, march madness is back and last night's competition was hot. players and coaches sweating it out to score the first-round wins. hi i'm kristie and i'm jess and we are the bug chicks. we are a nano-business. windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. "hey cortana, find my katydid video". oh! this is so good. (laughs) if you're trying to teach a kid about a proboscis

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march madness tips off. if your bracket is already busted you're certainly not alone. although mine is not busted. yahoo! says 99.99% of brackets are already taken. andy shoals, your bracket is doing pretty good too! >> i'm not in bad shape, girl. >> you're in first! you're so modest! >> i'm not. i think john berman is because he wins everything. he actually tweeted earlier this morning, winning is so exhausting! but what a great first day of the tournament we had yesterday. just something about being a 12 seed that brings out the best in teams. we had two 12 seeds win on the very first day of the tournament and yale was one of them.

they have waited 54 years to get back to the big dance and made the best of it with mason's points. bears getting into it with the second half and two minutes left to go and the lay-in and put yale up by six and baylor had one last chaunce but fumbled it in and yale beats baylor 79-75. the other 12 seed upset came from little rock. they made a huge comeback against purdue the final 3:00 of their game and closing seconds, four seconds left, the three-pointer. it went into double overtime and little rock holds on to win 85-83 and their first tournament win in 30 years. one seed virginia had no problem with their opponent yet. a scary moment. coach tony bennett collapsed and turns out he was dehiydrateddeh.

during the game, tony bennett was trending on social media prompting the singer tony bennett to clear things up on twitter. i want to let my fans know i'm okay. glad to here that uva's coach tony bennett is okay after his team wins. trending last night was arizona wildcard head coach sean miller and i'm guessing you can tell why. his dress shirt completely drenched with sweat! this was in the first half of the game! at halftime, a team manager actually had to go back to the hotel to get him another shirt for the second half. that second shirt might actually be covered in tears know because arizona was upset by wichita state. the challenge bracket standings, john berman is in first place. as we said, he wins everything. carol, you're not doing too bad and in fourth place and i'm in middle of the pack. >> oh, baby!

>> i'm in eighth. we have 16 more games across our sister networks tnt and tbs and full day of action starts after noon eastern. best time in sports. you get to watch basketball for 12 hours a day. >> although i'd rather watch football. it is fun but i hope i win the big cnn cup. andy scholes, thanks so much. the next hour of cnn news room after a break. ♪ the intelligent, all-new audi a4 is here. ♪ ♪ ain't got time to make no apologies...♪

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happening now in the newsroom. the clock is ticking. >> hopefully, there is time to still prevent a trump nomination. >> anti-trump conservatives racing to take down the front-runner. but is it too late? also, it is official. hillary clinton sweeps super tuesday three. but think bernie sanders is

bowing out? think again. and the korean peninsula broiling with tension and now another mite from north korea. let's talk live in the "cnn newsroom." good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining me. the republican race for the white house, the clock ticks. the pressure builds, the candidates return to the trail today, hitting utah and arizona with a new sense of urgency. for john kasich and ted cruz, time is running out to derail trump's momentum. conservative leaders rallying to dump trump. here is an e-mail to a supporter in georgia where republicans will hold a convention tomorrow.

it asks, quote. do you want to serve as a delegates to the republican national committee? good morning. >> good morning. for the trump campaign this is a crucial moment and not justice baugh they need to push back on a regular basis publicly but because of what they need to do behind the scenes. grassroots is how you win a contested convention. you listen to anybody trying to stop donald trump, contested convention is pretty much the only place they can do it. but if that actually happens, top trump officials raising some serious concerns and making some personal threats of their own. take a listen to what donald trump's national co-chairman had to say. >> i will tell you this. if the republican party comes into that convention and jimmys with the rules and takes away the will of the people, the will of the republicans and the democrats and the independents who have voted for mr. trump, i will take off my credentials. i will leave the floor of that

convention and i will leave the republican party forever. >> making a little bit of a threat there. now you've seen some strange bedfellows on donald trump's side but the strange bedfellows you've seen inside the republican party trying to stop trump. lindsey graham saying yesterday he was fund-raise for ted cruz because he felt that was the best option to block donald trump. lindsey graham and ted cruz have been arch enemies the last century on capitol hill and for that to happen underscores what they are feeling inside the republican party. every single time i talk to a republican operative who is involved in the stop trump efforts, they all have one real serious question -- is it too late? >> bill mattingly reporting, thanks so much. as donald trump gets hammered by members of his own party he is also getting hit by hackers. anonymous says it published donald trump's personal cell phone number and social security

number. cnn has not been able to confirm this information. this could be the start of a hack. >> i've spoken to members of anonymous they say this is what they want to do and take down trump. let me read you exactly what one member told me. ed we do not believe we can stop him, but we will be doing a fair bit of hacking for lulz. lulz is a hacking term for hacking for fun. so the idea is they want to see if they can just mess with donald trump. now, this originated, actually a video came out online a couple of weeks ago where there was almost a call to harm for hackers to take down donald trump's website and mess with him and now they have started releasing personal information. they say they have released his cell phone number, his social security number. i've actually seen some of these leaks online. they are the phone numbers of family and business members and his home address and personal

information. this is almost the beginning phases of what anonymous does when they try to pull off an operation. they say on april 1st they will try to take down the website. a trump spokesperson says they are looking into this and saying officials are seeking the arrest of the people responsible for attempting to illegally hack mr. trump's account and telephone information. this is a loose collective of hackers and all doing different things at different times but oftentimes they come together for one cause and seems like this go-around their cause is donald trump. carol? >> absolutely. laurie, thank you. all-out panic over a trump presidency. even senator lindsey graham. you heard phil say lindsey graham, a ted cruz hater, is swallowing his pride to stop donald trump. listen to lindy graham's evolution on this. >> if you kill ted cruz on the floor of the senate, and the

trial was in the senate, nobody could convict you. if you nominate trump and cruz, i think you get the same outcome. you know? whether it's death by being shot or poisoning, does it really matter? i'm going to be doing a fund-raiser with and for senator cruz. i think he is the best alternative to donald trump. he is certainly not my preference, senator cruz is not, but he is a reliable republican conservative of which i've had many differences with. i doubt donald trump's conservatism and i think a disaster for the party so i'll try to help raise money for senator cruz and the cruz community. i'm joined by mary katherine ham, along with bill press. welcome to both of you. >> hey, carol. >> nice to have you here. marry katherine, south carolina's governor nikki haley is praising that ted cruz will win. >> right. >> despite it all, will mr. trump prevail? >> look. i think this is a tough, like, uphill battle for anybody who is in the never trump camp but

there are lots of people in that camp when you look at the exit polling from last week. 38% to 40% in many of those states said they would consider a third-party candidate over trump. this is not a normal candidate who has a pleurality of delegates. if he comes into the convention with pleurality of delegates it speaks to the fact a strong holdout vote here against this guy and what everybody is considering. cruz, i think, hat best ration national moving forward. certainly more delegates than kasich does and arizona and utah are more friendly to him than to kasich so we will see what happens coming up. time is getting short. >> yes, it is. so, bill, it appears mr. trump is a little bit worried because he is urging his supporters in georgia to become delegates to the republican convention. i mean, is, like, very detailed instructions there on how to do that. do you think his followers will do that? and will it matter? >> first of all, i got to say i believe that -- i'm no donald trump fan -- but if he wins

enough delegates or very close to enough delegates and gets to the convention, he deserves the nomination and these people trying to stop him, they missed the chance. you know, they should of realized his threat early on. they didn't. they underestimated him. they assumed he would flame out and he didn't. i think it would be a huge mistake and basically insure the election of a democrat if they try to wrestle the nomination from donald trump at the convention. but donald trump is taking this seriously. you know, he doesn't have a huge, big campaign operation. so they realize that if there is going to be more than one ballot, if there is going to be what we call an open or brokered convention, that is going to require a tremendous amount of organization to identify every single delegate and to make sure that those delegates commit ahead of time that they will remain in the trump camp, no matter what happens. that's what they are starting to do. to tell you the truth they probably should have started during the trump campaign a

earlier as well. >> mary, do you think this republican angst has the democrats salivating? >> i think much like the gop they didn't know what to spp with donald trump. if he ends up being the nominee it's not smart to write him off as we learned, right? i think a little bit of concern about exactly what they will be facing. look. i think to bill's point, what many who are in the never trump camp are seeing here is like, look. the crackup is already here. it's not going to be caused by a contested convention. we have these rules for a reason. republicans who are part of the apparatus and who have been doing this work and organizing behind the scenes to be delegates for many, many years, and know how this is done, have been doing that homework and preparing for this and could be in position for a contested convention. trump folks playing catch-up on this and pretty good at playing catch-up the entire time so see how it goes when it comes to the convention but the rules in place for a reason and i think when you run into trouble when you start change the rules after the fact but to this point they

have not been. >> i want to go back to the democrats a minute, bill. bernie sanders can't win yet still in the race and on the attack. "the new york times" is reporting even president obama thinks it's time to coalesce behind hillary clinton. should bernie sanders back off? >> absolutely not. >> as a bernie sanders supporter might say? >> no, exactly. i say that as a democrat, not just -- let me tell you quickly why. number one, you're right. look. i'm not going to spin this, right? it is a nearly -- the clinton campaign says nearly insurmountable lead. they don't say totally insurmountable dream so let the dreamers dream they can still win this with enough delegates. more importantly, what if hillary, if bernie goes away? are we going to pay any attention to the democratic primary? hell, no! it will be radio silence on the other side and the third point is, carol, half of the voters and democratic primaries haven't

voted yet. like hillary did in 2008 bernie should continue to give the voters in all of those states, washington state, my state of california, a chance to vote. don't disenfranchise half of the democrats in this country and then when all that is decided, let president obama jump in. in the meantime, he ought to stay out of it. >> he may jump in before. we will see. we have to leave it there. thank you both. still to come, cnn's exclusive coverage undercover in syria. the moment one volunteer aid worker had to run for his life after four air strikes. tylenol® cold helps relieve your worst cold & flu symptoms... you can give them everything you've got. tylenol® twell what if i told you that peanuts can work for you? that's right. i'm talking full time delivery of 7 grams of protein and 6 essential nutrients. ever see a peanut take a day off?

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subaru eyesight. an extra set of eyes, every time you drive. we continue to follow breaking news this morning. authorities may be one step closer to finding paris terror suspect ab dull salam.

we are joined by paul on the phone. what are you hearing? >> carol, there was this raid earlier this week in brussels, a seled shoot-out. delgian police raiding this residence in brussels because they believe it had a connection to the paris attacks that they weren't expecting for find anybody in the apartment, but when they went up there, there were three armed radicals in the apartment that opened fire on police and wounding some of the police. they managed to shoot one of the terrorists but two others got away and they now believe that it's possible that one of those people was salan abdeslam on the run attacker. they believe they found his fingerprints and dna in the apartment and they believe he was using it as a hiding place

after the paris attacks. there were ten individuals involved in those paris attacks on november 13th and all of them are dead, apart from salan abdeslam who was picked up by two friends and driven back to brussels and then he melded away in brussels during the weeks that followed. the trail went cold. when they went to this apartment they did not expect to find him or anybody there. instead they got into a firefight with three terrorists. the one they killed is now is confirmed to be an algerian isis recruit, somebody who was with the group in syria, so the worry now is that these two people on the run, one of who may be salan abdeslam are armed and dangerous and they may be desperate members and they want to go out in a blaze of glory on the streets of brussels.

>> oh, my. paul, keep us up-to-date. thanks so much. european union leaders battling with the biggest refuge crisis wince world war ii are planning a new plavn for turkey. for taking back refuges who reached the greek island off the coast. most of the migrants are from syria where the civil war has created more than 4 million refuges. turkey has taken in about 2.7 million refuges. also this morning, cnn's exclusive coverage continues. undercover in syria. introduces us to an ambulance driver in england. his sole mission was to help the refuges displaced by war but found himself in life or death chaos. clarissa ward went undercover in rebel territory and here to tell us more. >> this is the fourth and final

installment of this series. we wanted to work at the aids kris. we followed a british aide worker who moved to syria three years ago and watched him to deliver an ambulance to aleppo. take a look what happened. >> reporter: it's a tuesday in syria and british aid worker sharif is making a dangerous ride to aleppo. >> it's really important that we drive with the windows open, because any kind of explosions that land close to us, the last thing we want is shrapnel of glass and so on and so forth landing in our faces. >> reporter: he is traveling to the devastated city to deliver an ambulance but it isn't long before he is diverted. four air strikes have hit. sharif runs into the wreckage to see what is needed. >> this is a house. it's all houses. >> reporter: remarkably, no one has been injured or killed but the sound of another jet means

it's time to leave. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> everybody out. let's go, let's go! >> they are saying the plane is in the sky. we can hear it. they are saying tactic that they use, when with ambulances turn up, they will hit the same place again. so we just try to get to a safer place. >> reporter: sharif is one of a handful of western aid workers living in syria. >> one of the big aid organizations, they don't want to go into the line of fire, in a sense. this is something that we have to do. this is something that is human response. if we don't do it, then who will? >> reporter: in the relatively safety in an olive grove near the turkish border he told us that runningus conviction played a big part in his decision to come here three years ago. >> we need to look what the people want and if the people are muslims, it's not me saying it, if the people are muslims

and they want some form of islamic governance it's important we help them to establish that. >> reporter: is that what they want? >> in my opinion, that's what i believe. you can go and ask the people what do you want and i don't think the people will sell for anything less, especially after all of this bloodshed. the right to self-determination. >> reporter: for many of the 6.5 million displaced people in syria, there are, perhaps, more immediate concerns. most live in sprawling tent cities along the border. conditions in the camps are brutal. is there a lack of food and clean water. they become more crowded every day. >> we just recently done a survey of this camp, just this camp here alone, which is a conglomeration of 40 camps, is around 80,000 people. >> reporter: 80,000 people? >> one at this border and another one with maybe 65, 70 thousand people not too far from here. >> reporter: sharif's favorite

project is this smaller camp that houses ruffle 100 widows and their children. syria is now a country full of widows and orphans. some still too young tond what has happened to their country. others who have seen too much. all of them gedependent of the mercy of others. carol, it's become such a cliche of world, it's always the children who suffer. but really in this instance, the impact that the war is having on these children is unbelievable. 2.6 million children are no longer attending school. and 1 in 3 children in syria have been born in the last five years. that means all they have ever known, carol, is bloodshed and battles. >> that has to do something to them psychologically. i think a lot of people forget that. when you grow up with so much violence, it does something to you. >> it does a lot. the question of trauma but, beyond, that of course, the

susceptiblity to radicalication. the young men want to protect their mornthers and family membs and they don't have the tools and don't know how to do it. the extremist islamist factions are naturally able to attract those people because they are so celebrate. >> clarissa ward, thanks so much. for more of her exclusive coverage, visit cnn.com/syria and join the conversation on twitter #undercover in syria. still to come, the war of words between hillary clinton and donald trump escalates. see how one pro clinton super pac is taking aim at trump. [vet] two yearly physicals down.

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good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. president obama campaigner in chief? he is getting ready to wade into the 2016 presidential race in a big way. in fact, "the washington post" says he will hit the trail more than any sitting president in decades. cnn national correspondent suzanne malveaux is in washington with more on that. good morning. >> hey, good morning, carol. i've been talking to white house insiders this morning. according to one person, the president is just dying, carol, to get out there, back on the campaign trail. he loves this kind of stuff. he understands that if democrats are going to win he has got to get the broad coalition of voters that put him over the top, motivated to come out and vote. he can also play the heavy against trump offer some other republican nominee and he is also got to work to save his legacy. we are talking about obamacare, trade, the nuclear deal with

iran and cuba relations and immigration and all things on the line. he is on the road soon after returning from a historic visit to cuba to fight for all of these things. in the meantime, we are seeing hillary clinton on the campaign trail defending and embracing obama's policies, while fund-raising in tennessee and georgia. the democratic front-runner she called into a radio show in phoenix and she was raising some eyebrows making some news with this. >> i think we have done a really good job securing the border and i think that those who say we haven't are not paying attention to everything that was done for the last 15 years under both president bush and president obama. in fact, the immigration from mexico has dropped considerably. it's just not happening any more. there has not been net moigratin over our border from mexico. >> she is clearly setting the stage for a fight with

republicans over this hot issue. clinton is coming off a five-state sweep from tuesday night. we are talking about 1,268 delegates in her pocket. after yesterday, bernie sanders conceding missouri. the next battleground is the west, talking about tuesday. 131 delegates up for grabs in idaho, utah and arizona. this that is where sanders was last night. this was a rally in flagstaff. he is arguing now with his 850 delegates, he still believes he has a path toward victory. >> we think that the climate is a little bit friendlier for us. we think we have got a path toward victory. and if we can bring out large turnouts, we are going to win this thing. i'm proud that, up to now, we have won nine states.

we have almost 850 delegates. and with your help on tuesday, we are going to win here in arizona. >> he has a battle for those super delegates and sanders, he went after somebody that we both talked to numerous times, the immigration hardliner sheriff joe arpaio who has made a name for himself and deporting undocumented workers. in arizona, more than 30% of the population is latino. can you tell, carol, fierce battle is going on right now for their support. >> absolutely. suzanne malveaux reporting live for us this morning, thank you. the war between hillary clinton and donald trump has already begun, though. we are this ad that trump released with clointon barking

and vladimir putin laughing at her barking? today, a clinton super pac fired back. ♪ >> who are you consulting with consistently so you're ready on day one? >> i'm speaking with myself, number one. because i have a very good brain and i've said a lot of things. [ laughter ] >> all right. there you have that. foreign policy may prove to be clinton's strength but she does have a major league problem when it comes to a certain block of voters and that would be white working class men. exit polls show 89% of the white male vote in ohio went to bernie sanders. with me now is michael nutter, former mayor of philadelphia and a clinton supporter. welcome, sir. >> good morning, carol. >> good morning. there is an article in "the new york times" says while male voters think clinton doesn't care about them, that she only

cares about minorities and women. why do they feel that way? >> well, one, carol, nothing could be farther from the truth. the reality is that hillary clinton cares about all americans. she has campaigned that way and she has campaigned in every part of the country, and has talked about issues that all americans care about, but certainly if we are talking about white males or any other males or anybody else, issues of jobs and the economy, and how do we get even more americans back to work. notwithstanding some of the good news that comes out from time to time about jobs or the declining unemployment rate, but the fact of the matter is that more and more people still need to work, and this is not about trying to slice up the electorate into each of its individual components. what we have seen in this election is hillary clinton clearly demonstrating what it takes to be president the united states of america which -- >> i will say -- >> diverse coalition all across the country.

>> that is the key. she seems to be actively courting minorities and female vote but doesn't seem to be courting the while male vote. >> well, i don't know what makes it seem that way. i know it gets portrayed that way when election contests down south. from the media standpoint a whole lot more emphasis on minority population. when you listen to what she actually says and talks about, i've heard her many, many times in the north, in the south, in the east and everywhere else, the message is consistently the same. it's about children. it's about families. it's about jobs. it's about verying in our infrastructure and making sure that our kid can go to school in affordable way and not have enormous debt. i think that, you know, we all can do a better job as a candidate or having been a candidate and getting that message across is a challenge for secretary clinton and clearly she will do better. >> whatever she is saying to voters she is not capturing that segment of the population and

the exit polls prove that. according to philly.com you lot the largest percentage of white votes ever cast for an african-american in a philadelphia mayoral primary. some say because you were unafraid to criticize some within the black community. here is what is said mostly after african-americans were robbing a store. you said if you want to act like a butt-head, your butt is going to get locked up. i'm guessing most white men think hillary clinton would never say something like that even if it was just i have had. >> well, look. as an african-american, quite honestly, whether it's an election year or not, that was after the primary, as an african-american, certainly i can say some things that maybe others can't say in certain situations and that was very particular to philadelphia. the larger point here is hillary clinton is doing very, very well all across the united states of america and, again, any candidate can do a better job

with a particular segment of the population, but if you're running a broad-based campaign and if you're campaigning to be president of the united states of america, 320 million people, black, white, asian, latino, male, female, hispanic, you have a message and she will do i think a better job at communicating that message that maybe white males want to hear. if you look at the website and what she says, she talks about jobs jobs jobs. dealing with the economy and helping our young people get an education. look. we have a ways to go in this election cycle but she is doing very, very well so far. >> let me ask you one more question about -- president obama, everybody says at some point he is going to come out and actively support her. from the state of ohio, i grew up in the blue collar areas. white men did not particularly like president obama and thinking he did a terrible job. will president obama's support of hillary clinton hurt her even

of voters? that particular group >> no. and, secondly, you know, president obama, with his incredible work and legacy, folks will decide who they want to be for and if they like someone else that is the way it goes in electoral politics. secretary clinton has been supportive and faithful much to what president obama has done. think about where we were. he rescued the auto industry, brought us the affordable care act. he supported the improvements that we have seen in housing. the unemployment rate is below 5%. certainly much less than when he took the oath of office in january of 2009. any one of us can do better at communicating a message to a particular constituency but, again, hillary clinton, president barack obama, have an ability to communicate to the breadth and depth of the american public, which is not monolithic and people hear different things from different candidates based on what is on

their minds. >> absolutely. michael nutter, thank you for your insight. i appreciate it. >> thanks, carol. still to come in the newsroom, an alleged isis fighter says he is american. we are. milk has 8 grams to help give you energy to unleash your potential. start every day with milk's protein and milk life. igoing to clean betteran electthan a manual. was he said sure...but don't get just any one.

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what you love. from the #1 doctr recommended bran. ensure. always stay you. a gold mine for u.s. intelligence is what they are describing a isis fighter who captured by kurdish forces who says he is an american. he may be the first to defect from the group in the field. bryan todd has more for you. >> reporter: the moment of capture. interrogated by kurdish forces the man says he is american. that his father is palestinian. and his mother is from iraq.

>> where you from? >> the united states. >> kurdish officials say is he 26-year-old mohamed jamal khweis and they say they captured him trying to leave isis territory in iraq and flee home. kurdish tv aired an edited interview with him. he said he traveled through europe late last year for syria and then to mosul, iraq. he said he was put in a house just for foreign fighters and life was hard and the people who command isis aren't good muslims. >> i didn't really support their ideology. at that point, that's when i decided i needed to escape. >> reporter: an liveralysts say could be a gold mine for the u.s. intelligence on the inner workings of the terror group. >> what i think is most interesting this case is how he traveled and who routes did he take and give us insight how other americans are traveling to iraq. >> reporter: cnn went to see his

father but the man clearly seemed upset and later told reporters this. >> he is all cleanup. i cannot ask him where is he going forty-seven coming from. he's in iraq. he is not -- i know he -- he will never go there. >> reporter: khweis graduated from alexandria, virginia, in 2007. they say he was a normal teenager who made fun of people who were religious. what do you make of this news? >> it's upsetting. it really sucks. it's something you feel for his family. it's just not something that you would ever think would happen. he definitely wasn't the type of person. he wasn't an angry person. he wasn't, you know, an outcast by any means. he was just a normal guy. we did normal stuff in high school. >> reporter: another friend who didn't want to be on camera told cnn khweis was a friendly and goofy kid who often joked after.

if khweis was with isis and why would he abandon them on the balancing ground. >> they told him what it wasn't going to be. he saw the infighting and killing of other muslims. >> reporter: a primary task for u.s. law enforcement now might be to find out will mohamed ooked alone in moving toward isis and who might have roux created him. another question will be he charged with materiel support of terrorism? right now the fbi is not commenting on any of that. brian todd, cnn, alexandria, virginia. still to come in the newsroom, marco rubio out of the race but hasn't stopped trying to beat donald trump. how he is urging his supporters to block a trump win in arizona next week. and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. complete allergy relief or incomplete. let your eyes decide. flonase changes everything. think you know t-mobile's coverage? think again! in the last year we've doubled our lte coverage. our new extended-range lte now reaches twice as far...

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trump on his victory. >> reporter: out of race but not out of words. marco rubio urging his supporters to fight front-runner donald trump. >> hopefully, there is time to still, you know, prevent a trump nomination which i think would fracture the party. >> reporter: rubio supporters in arizona are listening. clutching her now by gone rubio bumper sticker, this lady is mobilizing for a new cause ahead of her state's primary just days away. are you telling them to go vote for ted cruz? >> at this point, i am. yeah, i think he is probably the best shot right now to take on donald trump. we think cruz has a really strong case to make here in the state. i think he definitely has a very good shot. >> my son grant was killed working an overnight shift at his job by an illegal immigrant that j . >> reporter: that good shot was this new ad in arizona featuring a father whose son was

reportedly killed by an undocumented immigrant. >> i trust ted cruz. >> reporter: cruz trailing trump at the polls now renewing a challenge of this gop winner take all state by hitting hard on immigration, the issue in this border state. six years ago, arizona passed the broadest and strictest immigration law in the state. making it a crime if immigrants didn't carry their papers. protesters called the law state sponsored racism. eventually the supreme court gut portions of arizona's law so trump's anti-immigration rally cry? >> i will build a great, great wall on our southern border and i will have mexico pay for that wall. >> reporter: is a second chance for arizona to see immigration reform, says joe arpaio. he is a vocal illegal immigration faux endorses trump

calling him a savior. >> and it was dying until trump brought it up. when he was here, he started talking about it again. >> reporter: do you think that is why he is resonating so much with people in arizona? >> they were waiting for somebody like him. >> reporter: there is not a lot of polling in arizona but of the polls that have been done the latest showed rubio hovering around 10%. if all of those supporters go to the cruz camp then ted cruz could be competitive in this state. something important to note. early absentee voting rates are quite high in arizona and it might be possible all of those rubio supporters mailed their ballots in before marco rubio dropped out of the race. kyung lah lah, cnn, arizona. john kasich doesn't have any publicly listed events in arizona for now but he'll be in utah this afternoon. still to come, does ted cruz have a heavy metal past?

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top stories at 56 minutes past. closing arguments under way in hulk hogan's invasion of privacy trial against gawker. in 2012 gawker published an excerpt of a sex tape. hoeingance says the hogan is seeking $100 million in damages. a construction worker is dead after plummeting 53 floors from an l.a. skyscraper. the man on his second day on the job hit a moving vehicle after he fell. the driver of the vehicle is now in the hospital. the company at the site said the man was not doing anything work-related at the time of the accident. former cia director david

petraeus will be making a second appearance before the house select committee on benghazi. a source telling cnn he'll face the panel tomorrow in a closed session. he first testified before the committee behind closed doors in january. he led the cia when a terrorist attack killed four americans in libya in 2012. you may not think heavy metal when you look at ted cruz but the internet does. >> reporter: they don't have much in common. the lead singer for a heavy metal band and ted cruz, or do they? >> i don't really see the resemblance. >> reporter: the internet sure does. michael swede trended the popular demand and tweeted the following. i guess i better cancel the striper tour so i can focus on my campaign. the photo cruz resembles is of mij when he was 22. the two do share the shame religion.

striper is a heavy christian metal heavy band and michael is joking about his cruz connection. >> that i really am ted cruz and i have very big hands! >> reporter: back in the '80s, people mistook him for boy george! and now they ask -- >> i'm billy ray cyrus. get that all the time. never ted cruz. >> reporter: he says he tends to vote republican but is still undecided. this is not the first time of cruz being joked of being a twin. she say he is the zodiac killer or even grandpa muenster. cruz knits he can't sing but calls history wife and sayerenas her any way ♪ i just called to say i love you ♪ >> reporter: for the debatable dopple gangers, we suggest. ♪ you and me together

>> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york! >> to hell with the devil, isn't that redundant? thanks for joining me today! i'm carol costello. at this hour, berman and baldwin start now. ♪ this is more likely to become an open convention. >> you would have problems like you've never seen before. >> this time is still, you know, prevent a trump nomination. >> his campaign is built on ska casino phobia. >> mr. trump will not be president. >> hello, everyone. i'm john berman. >> i'm kate bolduan. this morning either not too late to stop donald trump or way too late to try.