Big Victories For Trump and Clinton In New York; Bernie Sanders Flies Back To Vermont; Sanders Claims Voting Irregularities At New York Polls; New York Exit Polling.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Big victories for the front- runners tonight in New York state. The home state favorites, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, back in the win column, breaking their rivals' momentum, moving closer to their party's nomination. So, we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Election Center, with special coverage of the New York primary. For Trump, the win comes as he reboots his campaign for the final push toward the Republican Convention.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As you know, we have won millions of more votes than Senator Cruz, millions and millions of more votes than Governor Kasich. We have won, and now especially after tonight, close to 300 delegates more than Senator Cruz. We're really, really rocking.</s>BLITZER: For Hillary Clinton, the win is a big boost as she tries to finally leave a hard charging Bernie Sanders behind.</s>HILLLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's humbling that you trust me with the awesome responsibilities that await our next president, -- [Cheering]</s>CLINTON: -- and to all the people who supported Senator Sanders, I believe there is much more that unites us than divides us. [Cheering and Applause]</s>BLITZER: While the two front-runners celebrate at home, their rivals spent the day on the road in Pennsylvania and Maryland, which hold primaries next Tuesday along with Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Hundreds of delegates are at stake then. Let's go to out colleague Jake Tapper; Jake? JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Thanks, Wolf; let's check in with our campaign reporters, who are spread throughout the state of New York and, indeed, in some cases, around the country. Let's start with Jim Acosta who is with Donald Trump, the big winner in the republican side this evening. Jim, Donald Trump giving a speech this evening that was much more restrained, much more temperate, -- JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Right.</s>TAPPER: -- referring to Senator Ted Cruz, instead of calling him "Lyin' Ted" as he's been calling him for weeks, calling him Senator Cruz.</s>ACOSTA: That's right, Jake. I think even Donald Trump's toughest critics would say that he sounded downright presidential during these remarks that we heard here at Trump Tower this evening. He did not call Ted Cruz Lyin' Ted, and that may be the first time we haven't heard that phrase used in many weeks. He did call him Senator Cruz; referred to John Kasich as Governor Kasich, although he did still dish out some red meat regarding that RNC delegate allocation process, saying it's crooked and it's rigged. It's interesting to point out that Paul Manafort, the new convention manager for Donald Trump, came out and talked to reporters after Donald Trump gave that address to the country really, and Paul Manafort, you know, he pushed back on this notion that he and others in the campaign, the more seasoned operatives brought into the campaign, are tamping down on Trump's rhetoric, that they put a lid on what he is saying in the campaign. They say, and Paul Manafort told reporters that Donald Trump is setting the tone for this campaign. So this may be tone that we're going to hear over the next couple of months. We will wait and see on that. He also dismissed the idea that there's friction and turmoil inside the campaign. He said that he and campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, are working together just fine. Then finally, Jake, getting back to the delegate allocation process inside the RNC, the one that Donald Trump refers to as crooked and rigged and a sham, Paul Manafort told reporters that Donald Trump doesn't want to do away with that system this time around, obviously he can't do that; but would like to do that next time around. It was sort of a way to sort of extend an olive branch to the RNC. We'll have to wait and see how that develops. But, Jake, in the next coming day, Donald Trump has events in Indiana and Maryland and, really, even though he had a big night tonight, Jakes, there is really very little room for error for Donald Trump. He still has to rack up big wins in these upcoming contents if he wants to clinch that magic number of 1237. I talked to Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump, Jr., just after these remarks, earlier tonight. He feels like that his father believes that he will get to that magic number but he said that his dad is not taking anything for granted at this point. Jake?</s>TAPPER: All right; Jim Acosta with the Trump campaign at Trump Headquarters here in New York. The other big winner, on the democratic side, Hillary Clinton, who represented the state of New York for eight years in the U.S. Senate. Brianna Keilar is at Clinton headquarters. Brianna, a big, big victory for the former Secretary of State. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: A big victory here in her home state and she told this crowd here that this was personal. She thanked New Yorkers for having her back. She said, victory in sight, which is a refrain that we are hearing from top aides as well. I think we'll hear more of that in the coming days. Hillary Clinton saying the race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and then she made that overture to Bernie Sanders supporters that you just mentioned, there is more that unites us than divides us. Even as Hillary Clinton said that, some very sharp words coming from her Communications Director, Jennifer Palmieri as she briefed reporters after Hillary Clinton's speech. She said there's no question that some of the rhetoric that Bernie Sanders and his campaign have been putting out is destructive, that is the word she used "destructive". She said it wasn't productive for the country or the party. So even as Hillary Clinton is offering one of these olive branches, you are seeing some of her campaign aides with sharper words for Bernie Sanders, trying to case him as desperate and warning him, Jake, not to be a spoiler, not to hurt Hillary Clinton, as she does now appear certainly more poised to become the democratic nominee than Bernie Sanders.</s>TAPPER: All right, Brianna Keilar at Clinton Campaign Headquarters here in New York. Let's go to Jeff Zeleny who is traveling with the Sanders campaign and is in Pennsylvania, which will hold its primary in a week. Jeff, any response from the Sanders campaign to the strong words from the Clinton campaign Communications Director about what she says is Bernie Sanders and his campaign's destructive behavior? JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Well, Jake, the advisers to Senator Sanders simply are dismissing that. This is not the first time we've heard the word destructive. In fact, the Clinton Campaign Manager said that about 24 hours ago, saying Senator Sanders is on a path of destruction here. We did hear from Senator Sanders himself for the first time tonight. He flew back to Vermont to recharge his batteries. He was speaking as he stepped off his plane. He said he congratulates Secretary Clinton on her victory tonight, but he did point out in the next breath, Jake, that there was all types of voting irregularities at the polls in New York. But someone asked him then about his path forward; let's listen to what he said.</s>BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We lost tonight. There are five primaries next week. We think we're going to do well, and we have a path toward victory which we are going to fight to maintain. So thank you all very much for being here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you planning to change anything with your campaign after tonight?</s>SANDERS: No; we think we have the message that is resonating throughout this country. We have come a long, long way. We have taken on the entire Democratic political establishment. We have won many, many state primaries and caucuses and we think that the message that we're bringing forth, which is that we have got to change a corrupt campaign finance system in which billionaires are able to buy elections, we have to deal with a rigged economy, in which almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1-percent, and we have to deal with the broken criminal justice system.</s>UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Can you elaborate on your plan for the next states?</s>SANDERS: Well, what our plan is that I just came back from Pennsylvania. We had two great rallies. We have had previous rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and we think we have a very, very strong grass-roots movement that's going to be knocking on a lot of doors and making a lot of telephone calls. At the end of the day, I always believe that it's grass-roots activism that wins elections.</s>ZELENY: Now there's no question that Senator Sanders still has a lot of grass-roots support and activism out there. He had 6,000 people tonight at a rally here in State College, Pennsylvania, but it's clear this message has hit its ceiling. In New York, he was hoping to close the gap with Senator Clinton. No one expected a 15-point loss to her, Jake. So the reality here is, the math is not in Senator Sanders' favor. He realizes that. He is off the campaign trail tomorrow. He says, I need time to recharge but he is back in Pennsylvania on Thursday. He believes that's a good state for him. And, Jake, just a bit of perspective here. We see this back and forth between both campaigns. It was eight years ago today, here in Pennsylvania, before that Pennsylvania primary, when Hillary Clinton said that Barack Obama is not tough enough to be president. Of course, they got over that. She went on to win the Pennsylvania primary. He, of course, won the nomination. So we think in the moment, this heat can't dissipate. It probably will in this case, Jake. The one unifying factor for all of these Democrats could be Donald Trump. Jake?</s>TAPPER: That's right. She said that in Radnor, Pennsylvania, if memory serves. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much. Dana Bash, let me bring you in here.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (Inaudible) true Pennsylvanian.</s>TAPPER: Well, a Philly boy anyway. One of the things that we see going on right now is kind of questions about where the Sanders campaign goes from here. Jeff Weaver, the campaign manager for Sanders, on another network, being very aggressive, talking about how they will take this all the way to the convention. Bernie Sanders being very aggressive. Ted Divine, who is a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders, giving an interview saying, we're going to see what the next five or six primaries go and then we will reassess. Perhaps some disagreement internally.</s>BASH: It wouldn't be first time we've seen that in a presidential campaign, but it also sounds like maybe Ted Divine is being a little bit more realistic and Jeff Weaver is being a little bit more idealistic and optimistic about the campaign. Look, it's entirely possible, I would say maybe even probable that Bernie Sanders does technically take it all the way to the convention, to try to get some things out of the democratic party and its platform and its positions, things that he cares deeply about. Wouldn't surprise me at all. The question is though whether he is going to actually continue to compete hard, you know, through California if, in fact, as Sanders Aide Ted Divine said, or suggested, he doesn't do as well in the next several contests. There's no reason to think that he will do that well in the next several contests -</s>TAPPER: Yes.</s>BASH: -- given where the map is, given the fact that we are talking about the northeast and states that tend to have voters who, even when she was running against Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton did quite well.</s>TAPPER: Wolf Blitzer, back in Washington, as I recall, Walter Mondale hadn't even secured the magic number of delegates after the last contest in 1984. He was still 50 delegates short. So he still went on to get the nomination in any case.</s>BLITZER: I remember that as well. All right, stand by, guys. I want to go to John King at the Magic Wall. John, this is a contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders right now. She has 14 -- 1,413 delegates to his 1,145. These are strictly pledge delegates.</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pledged delegates, and those numbers will change. Those include the ones in New York we have been able to assign so far. Our teams are working on assigning the delegates, her lead likely to grow a bit by the time you wake up in the morning as we assign more of those delegates. What does that mean? It means a big win in New York for Hillary Clinton. She's at 57-percent of the vote now with 94-percent in. 42=percent for Senator Sanders. Then the question is, as our correspondents and Jake and Dana were just talking about, where do we go next? We stay in this area, and this is why the Clinton campaign is confident. Let me stretch this out for you a little bit. We have contests in Rhode Island and Connecticut next week. Rhode Island is open primary. Sanders best state, if you think about be the states, where Independents can come in and vote, but it's a relatively small basket of delegates. Connecticut is a state the Sanders campaign says it will compete in. The Clinton campaign thinks it will win. The biggest prizes though, Pennsylvania and Maryland. If you go back and we think about that contest in 2008, we come back to the Democratic primary. The interesting thing is this is Barack Obama winning African-American vote and winning out the Philadelphia suburbs and winning in Harrisburg and Lancaster. The darker blue is Hillary Clinton, who won the state. It will be interesting to see if we get a bit of a flip this side, that is Bernie Sanders tries to sell his economic, especially trade message in the more blue-collar areas. Hillary Clinton needs the African-American vote here. This is the key test for Senator Sanders. If he loses in Pennsylvania, with the blue- collar message, this is a decent fit for his message. If he can't win in Pennsylvania, you expect Hillary Clinton. Obama carried Maryland in 2008, you see it doesn't want to pop up for me there. Okay, there we go. Obama carried Maryland in 2008, quite handily. You would expect Secretary Clinton, based on what we've seen, African-American voters, Latino voters, to do well here. So, Pennsylvania the big test for Senator Sanders next week on the democratic side. Hillary Clinton believing, Wolf, that if she continues this trek up here in this part of the country, she believes the math is insurmountable now, and thinks it will be even more so next week. Then, just quickly, on the republican side, much like Secretary Clinton does, Donald Trump essentially has done very well in this area of the country. So Donald Trump thinks a big win tonight projects to him running the board and winning all five next week. The big challenge, Ted Cruz shut out tonight in New York. John Kasich getting only a few to a handful of delegates. Can they slow Trump down? Can Trump, like he did tonight, win 80-percent, 90-percent of the delegates in these states? If he does, he has a conceivable chance to get there, or get really close, by the convention.</s>BLITZER: He certainly does. We'll have, obviously, extensive coverage coming up a week from today. So can Donald Trump win enough delegates to avoid a contested convention in Cleveland? Can his rivals make the math work in their favor? Delegate experts are standing by to show us what could happen. We'll be right back.