a critical primary election today in wisconsin. voters heading to the polls in hours in a state that can become ted cruz's key to stopping donald trump. new questions and investigations and outrage around the world leaked documents reveal a trove of documents and how the super wealthy are hiding their money.

and ryan arcidiacono. to jenkins for the championship. >> that was amazing. the greatest finish in the ncaa tournament has ever seen. a breathtaking buzzer beating shot for the win. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm cristina alesci. >> i'm sure you have been up all night. it is tuesday, april 5th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. in hours, voters in wisconsin head to the polls. today to be a day of reckoning for donald trump. he is trailing ted cruz by ten points in wisconsin. trump said he will pull off a surprise victory. >> everybody said that's the end of trump. it's over for trump. you know how many times i have been given the end? the last rites. how many times? ten? every week, it's the end of trump. they walk in, sir, i don't know what happened, but your poll numbers went through the roof.

>> we'll see what happens. we have sara murray with the trump campaign in wisconsin with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, john and cristina. trump held three campaign events yesterday. for trump, it was back to basics. coming off a rocky week, he decided to focus on the gop opponents. he hit ted cruz hard and went after john kasich calling him to step aside. >> he takes my votes away more than cruz. i don't like it. i don't think it's right. i don't think it's appropriate. you know what? if we have to live with him, we still beat him. >> reporter: he brought reinforcements on the campaign trail. he was joined by his wife melania trump. >> as you know by now, when you attack him, he will punch back

ten times harder. no matter who you are, a man or woman, he treats everyone equal. he's a fighter. and if you elect him to be your president, he will fight for you and for our country. >> reporter: back to you, john and cristina. ted cruzs also predicting victory today and he has the polls on his side. a cruz win in wisconsin would significantly increase the odds of a contested republican convention which cruz also said, of course, he would win. once more, cruz is giving a dire warning of a motion of a last-minute contender to the convention like paul ryan. ryan claims he doesn't want the job. cruz says any effort to crown an outsider would lead to voter revolt. >> i do believe people put my name in this thing. i say get my name out of it. if you want to be president, i

say you should go run for president. >> this pipe dream in washington that at the convention they will parachute in some white knight who will save the washington establishment. it ain't going to happen. if it did, the people would quite rightly revolt. >> cnn's sunlen serfaty is in wisconsin with the latest on the cruz campaign. >> reporter: good morning. senator cruz is setting expectations high predicting an outright win in wisconsin and projecting confidence of what that win would mean for the path forward and the broader implications on the state of the race. i caught up with the senator's toured the cheese shop. he said point blank that wisconsin will be a turning point. here's what he had to say. >> donald trump announced at a

rally, a big win in wisconsin. that may be true. but i think the people of wisconsin will decide that. i hope the people of wisconsin have a different result. i think if they do, it will make a powerful statement across the country. it will continue to add to our delegates. we are seeing state after state after state our delegates growing. it will have a powerful impact on the states coming up. >> reporter: you see senator cruz trying to craft the argument that a potential win here in wisconsin would give him a lot of momentum, but that would not be passing. he went on to say painting donald trump's candidacy as one on a downward slope. senator cruz has a steep climb himself on the path to 1,237. >> this morning, the republican in third place, john kasich, ohio governor, is digging in his heels. you heard trump and cruz

thinking kasich's presence in the race hurting them. they are both calling for kasich to drop out. the ohio governor is not going anywhere. >> i'm not getting out. why would i get out? particularly when trump is worried i would get his votes which i knew i could do. we are going to be fine. they spent, i don't know, million dollars including smearing me. senator ted the smear artist. they are attacking me in wisconsin. for a guy that's not doing very well, they sure are worried about me and spending a lot of money trying to knock me out. switching to the democratic side. after weeks of necessity negotiations, hillary clinton and bernie sanders will meet five days ahead of the new york primary for a debate sponsored by cnn and new york one. the democrats are facing off in

wisconsin where sanders leads in the polls and it is boosting his confidence. we have cnn's brianna keilar with more from milwaukee. >> reporter: good morning, john and cristina. here in wisconsin, sanders is hoping labor support and college students will help deliver a win in the wisconsin primary. he is talking a very big game in the badger state. >> we have won six of the last seven caucuses and primaries. and not only have we won them, we have won every one by landslide victories. and tomorrow, tomorrow if there is a good turnout here in wisconsin, if there is a

record-breaking turnout here in wisconsin, we are going to win here as well. >> reporter: the clinton campaign is sending out a fund raising letter to supporters asking for donations. she is behind in most polls in wisconsin and bernie sanders out-raised her in the last three months. they are concentrating on new york. you see hillary clinton very concerned that she holds on to the majority of the 247 delegates at stake on april 19th. she made a last-minute swing through wisconsin this weekend, but mostly spending her time in new york. john and cristina. >> thanks, brianna. the economy and jobs will likely be the to p issue for voters in wisconsin. the wisconsin unemployment rate is below the national of 4.6%. the average home price is

$146,000. median income is almost $53,000. very close to the nationwide average. pew research study found wisconsin has the fastest shrinking middle class since the year 2000. some of that due to a big drop in manufacturing jobs. the pride of wisconsin economy is dairy and cheese production. the state provides a quarter of the nation's cheese and more than any other state. the second largest dairy producer behind california. >> we thank them for that. it is being called one of the greatest games ever played. it was. the ncaa tournament men's final. look at what happened. the game tied with just a few seconds left. this dish. this shot. an unbelievable victory over north carolina. it was chris jenkins hitting the three with no time left on the clock. you see ethe red light on.

that shot a few seconds after north carolina, there is coach roy williams, the last second shot for villanova came a few seconds after north carolina hit a game tying three. this was sick. villanova rightfully going bonkers here on the court. they could be the first team in 30 years to not be a number one pick. >> you are bummed you missed that. >> i had to sleep. i woke up with 100 alerts on my phone. best game ever. up next, key world leaders linked to a secret offshore bank account in a bombshell document leak. investigations launched as protests erupt. we are live with new information next.

new fallout from the explosive panama papers. these are papers from a panamanian law firm how people

allegedly used offshore bank accounts. the former president of iceland is implicated in the documents. we have the latest from nina dos santos. this is serious tremors all around the world. >> reporter: john, we're talking about a leak that is about 2.6 terabytes of information. that is 1,500 times of information that was leaked by wikileaks. it is gargantuan in scale. it shines the light on the merky world of financial deals. many companies in question, 214 on the list of files from mossack fonseca. the panamanian law firm. it was set up to hide identities

of the large powerful political figures and other icons of the world of media and sport. now what we're talking about here is something that according to many analysts i have been speaking to is likely to radically alter the tax landscape worldwide. it is likely to prompt a number of investigations in a number of questions where senior political figures are being finding themselves implicated in the allegations. so far, we know the u.k., mexico, australia and other countries, france, will launch investigations. mossack fonseca, the co- founder of the law firm, said we have done nothing wrong. it is not illegal it set up companies, but it is illegal to not declare what you own in the bank accounts. >> it is not a surprise to people that rich, powerful people go to great ends to pay less in taxes than other people.

people try to hide some money. what is an extraordinary, the number of them, the size of the file and it names names. >> reporter: yeah. apologies, john. i can only hear half of what you are saying. if you are saying this is surprising the fact we are seeing is such a big leak, but not surprising the fact that we known people have had offshore tax havens for some time. there are legitimate reasons for people to have offshore accounts. for instance for companies that do business in tax jurisdiction, it doesn't make sense for them to pay taxes in one place and rebate in another place. it makes sense for them to operate in tax neutral environments. the same goes for rich families with different family members inherited different assets across different jurisdictions. as i said before, the key thing is you are not using that account to try to protect the

proceeds of crime and not using the money in that account to mask money that has come from international sanctions. subject to international sanctions. many allegations that political figures netted in the list may have been doing that as well. you also it is incumbent upon the person who owns the account to claim they are linked to the account. that again has been the response. either way, it is huge. it is many times the size of wikileaks. it has big implicationmplicatio. >> nina, thank you. back here in the u.s., the supreme court has rejected a challenge by conservatives in texas in a closely watched voting rights case. the justices voted to uphold the method to withdraw districts in all 50 states. this involves counting every resident and not just eligible voters. this is viewed as a victory for the obama administration which successfully argued that a win for the plaintiffs would have

shifted power from urban areas. chuck grassley agreed to meet with merrick garland. senator grassley, the chairman of the senate committee insists he will not hold a nomination hearing and the senator will explain to judge garland why the senate will not considering hearings. lawmakers in alabama are expected to introduce a resolution to impeach the state's embattled governor. governor bentley is refusing to resign. rebecca mason stepped down last week and she and the governor deny having an affair despite getting caught on tape engaging in steamy conversations. new information on the terror network behind the paris and brussels attacks. what the investigation is now

reveali revealing. that's next.

the number of u.s. special operation troops fighting isis in syria and iraq could increase in coming weeks. officials tell cnn that discussions are expected to start as early as today at the white house. the goal to lay the ground work to retake raqqah and mosul to deny isis a base of operations for planning external attacks. this is raising security

concerns throughout europe. a wide search is under way in europe for two dozen fugitives wanted in attacks. let's go to brussels and bring in alexandra field for the latest. >> reporter: john, authorities are trying to get their arms around how large this network could be. to break it down, we know that here ibrussels they are continuing to search for two bombers part of the brussels attacks. the third suspected airport bomber and second person potentially involved in the bombing at the metro station. in the days following the brussels attacks, memos shared by agencies identifying eight other people who authorities are searching behind the paris and brussels attacks. when you widen it out further and look at the network that authorities are trying to hunt down, we know there are more than a dozen jihadists they are looking for across europe.

these were people tried in cases in belgium last year, but they remain at large. what is not clear is how many of these suspects authorities could be looking for and if they are directly linked to the paris or brussels attacks, but pose security concerns for officials who are concerned about ability to plot or carry out other attacks. >> thank you, alex. presidential frontrunners be aware. a key primary election today could block the momentum for donald trump and hillary clinton. we are breaking down what to expect out of wisconsin next. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena

is today the day where everything changes? wisconsin votes and both frontrunners, donald trump and hillary clinton could be in trouble. denials and outraged after

linked documents link world leaders to secret bank accounts. villanova. ryan arcidiacono. three seconds. >> jenkins. >> for the championship! >> for the championship! yes, that really happened. a buzzer beater in one of the greatest college basketball games ever played. yes, we have a new champion. congratulations villanova. welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm cristina alesci. it is 31 minutes past the hour. voters in wisconsin head to the polls. today to be a true turning point for donald trump. he's trailing ted cruz by as much as ten points in polls. overnight, a defiant trump said he will pull off a surprise

victory. >> everybody said that's the end of trump. you know how many times i have been given the end? the last rites. it's the end of trump. sir, i don't know what happened, but your poll numbers went through the roof. >> cnn political reporter sara murray is with the trump campaign in wisconsin. she has the latest. >> reporter: good morning, john and cristina. donald trump spend his hours before the primary barnstorming the state. he had three events yesterday. for trump, it was back to basics. coming off a rocky week, he focused energy on the gop opponen opponents. he went after ted cruz and john kasich. calling for him to get out of the race. >> he takes my votes away more than ted cruz. i don't think it's right. i don't think it is appropriate. if we have to live with him, we

still beat him. >> reporter: he brought reinforcements on the campaign trail. he was joined by melania trump. >> as you may know by now when you attack him, he will punch back ten times harder. no matter who you are, a man or a woman, he treats everyone equal. he's a fighter and if you elect him to be your president, he will fight for you and for our country. >> reporter: back to you. >> thanks, sara. ted cruz is predicting victory in wisconsin. a cruz win in that state would significantly increase the odds of a contested republican convention in cleveland, which cruz said he would win. once more, ted cruz is giving a dire warning of bringing in a

last minute contender, someone like paul ryan. ted cruz says any effort to crown an outsider would lead to voter revolt. >> i do believe people put my name in this thing. i said get my name out of it. if you want to be president, you should go run for president. that's the way i see it. >> this fever pipe dream of washington that at the convention they will parachute in some white knight who will save the washington establishment. it is nothing less than a pipe dream. it ain't going to happen. if it did, the people would quite rightly revolt. >> cnn's sunlen serfaty is in wisconsin with the latest on the cruz campaign. >> reporter: good morning. senator cruz is setting expectations high for tonight. predicting an outright win in wisconsin and projecting confidence and what this potential win would mean for the path forward and broader

implications on the state of the race. i caught up with the senator as he toured the cheese shop. he sampled the wisconsin cheeses. he said point blank that wisconsin will be a turning point. here's what he had to say. >> donald trump announced at a rally, he predicted a big win in wisconsin. that may be true, but i do think the people of wisconsin will decide that. i hope the people of wisconsin have a different result. if they do, it will make a powerful statement across the country. number one, it will continue to add to our delegates. it will have a powerful impact on the states coming up. >> reporter: you see senator cruz already trying to craft the argument that a potential win here in wisconsin would give him a lot of momentum, but that would not be temporary or passing. he went on to say really trying to paint donald trump's candidacy as one on a downward

slope. we should point out that senator cruz as a steep climb on the path to 1,237. thank you, sunlen. the republican in third place, john kasich is digging in his heels. trump and cruz think kasich's presence in the race is hurting them. both have called for kasich to drop out. the ohio governor is pushing back harder than ever saying he's not going anywhere. >> i'm not getting out. why would i get out? particularly when trump is worried i would get his votes. we're not going anywhere. we're going to be fine. they spent i don't know millions, including smearing me. ted, senator ted the smear artist. they are attacking me in wisconsin. for a guy that's not doing very well, they sure are worried about me and spending a lot of money trying to knock me out. >> john kasich right there. on the democratic side after

weeks of negotiations, hillary clinton and bernie sanders agreed on a debate. in brooklyn on april 14th. five days ahead of the new york primary. this is the debate sponsored by cnn and new york one moderated by wolf blitzer. today, the democrats are facing off in wisconsin. bernie sanders leads in the polls there. we have cnn's brianna keilar with more from milwaukee. >> reporter: good morning, john and cristina. here in wisconsin, bernie sanders is hoping that labor support and college students will help deliver a win in the wisconsin primary. as he is talking a very big game in the badger state. >> we have won six out of the last seven caucuses and primaries. and not only have we won them, we won every one by landslide

victories. and tomorrow, tomorrow, if there is a good turnout here in wisconsin, if there is a record-breaking turnout here in wisconsin, we are going to win here as well. >> reporter: the clinton campaign is managing expectations sending out a letter to supporters asking for donations. saying she is behind in most polls in wisconsin and bernie sanders is out-raised her in the last three months. they are concentrating more on new york. hillary clinton is concerned she holds on to the majority of the 247 delegates at stake on april 19th. she made a last-minute swing through wisconsin this weekend, but mostly spending her time in new york. john and cristina.

hillary needs to up her money game. oil is back below $36 a barrel. markets in europe are down. shares in asia sinking overnight. on to apple. it's about to hit a major milestone. selling its 1 billionth iphone. by the end of 2015, apple had sold 896 million iphones. if forecasts are accurate, apple will sell the 1 billionth iphone in july. that could come sooner if the sales of the se are stronger than expected. apple has sold more iphones than ipads and ipods combined dating back to 1993. it brought in enough revenue last year to place fifth on the fortune 500 list. a very big success for the company. it is already called one of

the greatest games played in the history of men's college basketball. it was all tied up with a few seconds left. villanova has the ball. jenkins with that. a buzzer beating championship winning three-point shot. villanova beats north carolina by three. their second title ever. first win in 31 years. what was so amazing about this, you see roy williams, the coach of the tar heels there and coach jay wright of villanova. north carolina had just tied the game a few seconds before that three. they had their own three-pointer with 13 seconds left. this was a stunning finish. congratulations to them. i imagine they might being having a fun morning in villanova. >> awesome finish. up next, denials and outrage after a huge data leak reveals how world leaders and super

wealthy could be hiding billions. rough night?

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new fallout this morning from the explosive panama papers. there are more than 11 million leaked documents from a panamanian law firm exposing how some of the most powerful people allegedly used offshore accounts to dodge taxes and hide their wealth. the prime minister of iceland is one of 12 current or former political leaders implicated in the document dump so far. now he is facing mounting pressure to resign. let's get it latest from nina dos santos from london. >> reporter: worldwide, cristina. you mentioned the prime minister of iceland. interest were protests on the

streets. iceland is not a huge country. 330,0 330,000 people on the streets demanding this prime minister design. it seems he served as director on the board of the shell company set up in panama to house the assets, stakes in big icela icelandic banks. he did not declare the interests to the parliament. he is not the only leader facing tough times. vladimir putin is one of the biggest linked to the panamanian offshore accounts. he is not featured in too many of the paper work divulged. he managed to funnel up to $2 billion in shell companies fronted by friends of his. a family friend and also his

judo master. and xi jinping, the president of china. back in his country. red faces all around in china. cnn's feed is currently blocked in china because we are reporting this information. xi jinping, according to the panama papers, his brother-in-law, it seems, was one of eight officials to emerge to be a director of a shell company or linked to the shell company operating out of panama. cristina, being a director of one of the companies is not illegal. setting up a company is not illegal. it is what you do with the money inside that shell company whether you declare it to authorities or pay appropriate tax on it or what money you put in. from the proceeds of crime and undeclared money or money subject to international sanctions. that's when it crosses the

bord borderline. the authorities are taking a look at the panama papers. >> nina, i'm assuming the response from some of these political leaders has been defining. the kremlin came out with a statement? >> reporter: the kremlin came out and dismissed this with an angry response. quote allegations of fibs. basically lies. i might point out what is interesting about the kremlin's response is the personal spokesperson of vladimir putin himself is angry about this because it has emerged in the panama papers according to the financial times. his own wife. the wife of the spokesman of vladimir putin seems to be a director of one of the offshore entities. that in itself is illegal inside russia. the spouse of a director on one of the companies cannot sit on the board of one of these

companies. the president of argentina denied he owned a stake in a bahamian stake which he served on board of directors ten years ago. we are getting many, many different rebuttals and refusals and eyebrows raised. 11.5 million files to go through on nearly a quarter of a million companies. far more information to trickle through throughout the course of the week. >> big story for sure. thank you, nina. the u.s. supreme court rejected a challenge by conservatives in texas. the justices voted to uphold the districts in all 50 states which involves counting every resident and not just every voter. this is viewed as a victory for the obama administration. shifting power from urban areas

to rural. chuck grassley agreed to meet with the supreme court nominee merrick garland. grassley still insists he will not hold a nomination hearing. instead, grassley says he plans to explain to judge garland why the senate will not consider hearings until the next president takes office. later this morning, lawmakers in alabama are expected to introduce a resolution to impeach the governor. robert bentley is asking for god's forgiveness involving the scandal over the political adviser rebecca mason. she stepped down last week. she and the governor deny having an affair despite being caught on tape in steamy conversations. and in mississippi, the governor has four days to decide whether to sign a so-called religious freedom bill into law. critics say the measure would allow businesses and government agencies to deny services to gays and lesbians based on

religious beliefs. one state lawmaker calls it the most hateful bill he has seen in 33 years in legislature. several corporations are pressuring the governor to kill the bill. more issues in the train derailment in philadelphia. the source close to the cnn investigation, a strong evidence that two workers killed in the crash made a colossal mistake by being on the wrong train line. the train was traveling in a 110 mile per hour zone. 37 passengers were injured in the incident. one of the biggest corporate mergers in history could be at risk. that's thanks to new rules. we'll get an early start on your money next.

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the number of u.s. special operation troops fighting isis in syria and iraq could increase

in the coming weeks. according to two defense offici officials. a third is telling cnn they are expected to discuss this at the white house. the goal to retake raqqah and mosul to deny isis a base of operations for planning external attacks. chilling word this morning on the radical islamists linked to the paris and brussels attacks still on the loose. this is raising security concerns in europe. a dozen fugitives wanted in the attacks or tried in abstention. let's bring in cnn's alexandra field for the big search right now, alex. >> reporter: john, the number keeps getting bigger. authorities are looking for a dozen who are still at large who were tried in belgium in absentia. they are looking for links to

the paris or brussels cells. related to the paris and brussels attacks, authorities are looking for eight more people who they believe were closely tied to the attacks. seven of the eight people are believed to have direct connections to abdelhamid abaaoud. the ringleader of the attacks or salah abdeslam. he was the remaining suspected paris suspect found in belgium just last month hiding out in brussels. at the same time, we know that in brussels, this hunt continues for the two outstanding potential suspected bombers in the brussels attacks. the third person seen on airport security video. authorities have not tracked down that person. he's potentially believed to be the person involved in that attack. they are looking for a possible suspect involved at the metro. >> alexandra field. thank you. let's get an early start on your money.

global selloff is under way. dow futures are lower. oil prices weighing on stocks slipping be low $36 a barrel. shares in asia tanked overnight after japan's top banker said interest rates could go lower. to negative territory. another big money story. the treasury department could be derailing one of the biggest corporate mergers of all time. a major move to stop so-called corporate inversions unveiled yesterday. inversions are when a company moves headquarters overseas in many cases to avoid paying u.s. taxes. it put the $150 billion merger of pfizer and allergan up in the air. the goal is to limit inversions. plus, allow audits on certain financial transactions and

require new documentation for new debt. critics of inversion say they take jobs and tax dollars overseas. companies use them to increase profits and value for shareholders. that's the tension. shares of allergan are down 20% in pre-market trading. a big story on wall street. >> you hear something about inversion on the campaign trail. something voters don't understand. when they learn about it, they don't like it. >> furious. "early start" continues right now. >> could today be the day when everything changes? a critical primary in wisconsin. a primary that could spell trouble for the frontrunners hillary clinton and donald trump. investigation and outrage around the world. leaked documents revealing a trove of super wealthy hiding

their money. villanova trying to go length of the court. with ryan arcidiacono. three seconds mid court. jenkins. for the championship! >> money. money. right there. a last second shot. what did it do? it wins the championship for villanova in one of the greatest basketball games ever played. one of the greatest finishes you will ever see. all roy williams could do was shake his head. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm cristina alesci. it is tuesday, april 5th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. in just hours, voters in wisconsin head to the polls. today could truly be a turning point. a day of reckoning for donald trump. he's trailing ted cruz by as much as ten points in the polls. overnight, defiant trump said he will pull off a surprising victory. >> everybody said that's the end of trump. it's over for