Trump Rally Postponed as Protesters Clash Inside Event; Security Ramped Up For Trump Rally; Awaiting Trump Rally as Protesters Grow
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news out of Chicago right now. Major security concerns at this hour. Donald Trump is holding a campaign rally there. Donald Trump, we are waiting for him to take the stage. Scores of demonstrators filling the streets outside the University of Illinois protesting the GOP frontrunner. Our reporter inside, Jim Acosta, says that there is an area for protesters, saying that he feels a different tenor, feeling tonight inside. There's been booing going on, chanting going on, outside as you can see. People have been waiting since 3:00 a.m. to get into this rally. Trump supporters into this stadium, which can fit up to 10,000 people. We're awaiting Donald Trump tonight, a very, very important night for the Trump campaign. And it comes as Trump faces growing criticism for violence e erupting at his rallies. Boris Sanchez is OUTFRONT.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Get the hell out of here. I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you. Out, out, out, out.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the moments Donald Trump seems to relish.</s>TRUMP: Bye. Go home to mommy. Go home to mommy. Tell her to tuck you in bed.</s>SANCHEZ: Talking tough to protesters who are increasingly disrupting his rallies.</s>TRUMP: If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. I will pay for the legal fees, I promise.</s>SANCHEZ: But now, the billionaire businessman is having to answer for is fiery rhetoric. At Thursday night's GOP debate, Trump was asked about this incident when 78-year-old John McGraw sucker punched an African-American protesters in North Carolina, later telling cameras --</s>JOHN MCGRAW: The next time we see him, we might have to kill him.</s>SANCHEZ: The Republican frontrunner said he had not seen the incidents, but he truly hopes his tone hasn't encouraged the violence at his rallies.</s>TRUMP: When they see what's going on in this country, they have anger that's unbelievable. There's also great love for the country. It's a beautiful thing in many respects, but I certainly do not condone that at all.</s>SANCHEZ: As the number of violent incidents at Trump's events mount --</s>RALLIER: Light the</s>SANCHEZ: Trump continues to fan the flames.</s>TRUMP: I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks.</s>SANCHEZ: And while Trump says he does not condone violence, today, he did say sometimes protesters actions need to be met forcefully, describing this incident with the protester in Las Vegas last month.</s>TRUMP: He was swinging. He was hitting people and the audience hit back. That's what we need a little bit more of.</s>SANCHEZ: That 78-year-old man that punched the protester is now facing assault charges. We saw about 32 people get arrested today in St. Louis. And, Erin, as you mentioned earlier, we're waiting to see how these thousands of protesters will respond to Trump's message outside the University of Chicago, rather the University of Illinois in Chicago. About 300 faculty and staff pleaded with the university to cancel the event fearing violence. So, we'll just have to wait and see how this whole thing plays out.</s>BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Boris. As we said, we're awaiting Donald Trump. He is late. Usually, not always, more often than not he is on time. He is a half an hour late. We don't know if it is traffic, the crowds, as you can see, a lot of people there. Our Jim Acosta inside estimating about 8,500 people or so. The stadium fits up to 10,000. There are a lot of people there. There is an area just for protesters tonight for the first time. He was talking about how many of them are there as well. So, we're waiting Donald Trump. As we do that, I want to go straight to our senior political analyst, adviser to four presidents, including Reagan and Clinton, David Gergen, and our political analyst and editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast", John Avlon. David, this is a very important night for Donald Trump in terms of what he chooses to say and do with any protest incident that happens.</s>DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This is increasingly an incendiary situation, somebody is going to be badly hurt if not killed, unless he speaks out. It is the first principle of politics. A presidential candidate sets the tone for his rallies. And he's got to do that. He has not done it. He's encouraged these kinds of reaction by his rhetoric.</s>BURNETT: OK. I just want to interrupt you, only for just a moment, because they just made an announcement at this rally that we went to go to Jim Acosta. Jim, what did they just say?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Erin, the Trump campaign just made an announcement. They have postponed tonight's rally here in Chicago. As you can see here, there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of protesters on hand. They were here to show up obviously to disrupt this rally. They were not weeded out as they were coming into this building. They were allowed to come in. And now, you can see this place just erupt into cheers among the protesters, but also Donald Trump supporters are shouting right back "USA, USA". You can see there are people tearing up Donald Trump for president signs. I have never seen anything like this. You can see some of these protesters right in front of our camera right now, Erin. This place has just erupted into very loud cheers on both sides, supporters of Donald Trump who really just sort of look shocked and in disbelief right now and protesters who feel victorious over what's happened. I've never seen anything like it. It's amazing.</s>BURNETT: Just looking at what's going on right now. You're watching some protesters fighting, talking. I mean, John, as we're watching what's happening in front of us right now with these young women, this is unbelievable. An unprecedented moment just happening, that they have just postponed this rally because they were concerned that this would get out of control, that there would be violence.</s>JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, it is stunning. It is surprising. You have people ling up since 3:00 a.m. Donald Trump --</s>BURNETT: Just to be clear, those are Trump supporters who are waiting to see their candidate.</s>AVLON: That's right. And, of course, Trump's whole rhetoric is, you know, he doesn't stand down, he doesn't shy away from controversy. If there are real securities concerns, we may get information like that in the coming hours, but he was already a half an hour late. To cancel this big a rally this late in the game is a very significant move, and it's either motivated by security or something --</s>BURNETT: All right. I want to go back to Jim Acosta. Jim, what are we looking at right now? What are you seeing?</s>ACOSTA: Yes, Erin, I'm off-camera right now because I want to show you those -- we've turned the camera around, panning around to the back of the arena. This is becoming violent. There is pushing and shoving going on inside this arena. People are throwing objects. Police are escorting people out, just moments ago, a very large crowd of supporters, protesters, media, it was simply rocking back and forth. As my camera panned back over, you can see this large section of protesters I was referring to earlier. They're now shouting "Bernie, Bernie", obviously in support of Bernie Sanders. Erin, I've never seen anything like this. This place has just erupted. Now, you're hearing Donald Trump people on the other side of the arena yelling "Trump, Trump, Trump." The security does not have a handle on the situation here. It is total chaos.</s>BURNETT: This is a pretty terrifying thing, David. We're going to keep these pictures up. We're going to keep listening. Jim is going to come in every time something happens there. That they don't have this under control. They had the police department, the firefighter department, the Secret Service. This was cancelled at the last second. This is a pretty stunning statement about this situation that this is happening now.</s>GERGEN: This has become a real test of Donald Trump's leadership. Tonight brings it to a head. He must act now. He must take charge of his own rallies and make it clear they have to be peaceful. He doesn't want anybody slugging somebody else, sucker punching somebody else. If he has more rallies, you're going to see more of this. We saw this in the George Wallace campaign. This kind of fisticuffs occurred, violence occurred in the George Wallace campaign. He eventually wound out being shot. George Wallace got shot.</s>BURNETT: Can we just talk about that for just a moment, John Avlon, as to why they would cancel this so last minute? Is it because they are concerned about security? As Jim Acosta just reported, these protesters were able to just come in along with everyone else that was coming to support Donald Trump. When you have this many people there, I would imagine you do not know who is there and what they're planning to do?</s>AVLON: Apparently not, but if the goal is to try to minimize the chaos and the violence inside the room, cancelling the rally a half an hour after it is supposed to begin, when you have nearly 10,000 people in a tight arena only increases the likelihood of some sort of significant disruption, which we are watching right now. You've got protesters and supporters already amped up, agitated in an enclosed arena with an event being cancelled. And that may be better optics for Donald Trump, but it's not necessarily better for the folks in the room, and you're seeing these hyper partisan passions spilling into fights on the floor of this arena right now.</s>BURNETT: This is pretty scary to watch. I mean, I want to just emphasize to people again, this stadium fits up to 10,000 people. Jim Acosta, who's there, believes there were 8,500 or so. There are a lot of people in this arena. You can see these fights breaking out between Trump protesters and supporters. Some of these as our camera is showing you, you do not see any kind of security anywhere around. Jim Acosta, you're there.</s>ACOSTA: That's right.</s>BURNETT: How many of these fights are you seeing break out? How much security is there?</s>ACOSTA: Well, I want to say there was a decent amount of police officers here earlier on and private security people here earlier on. They were in a number that was able to keep the peace when it comes to a few protests here and there. There is not enough people in terms of security posture that can handle what we're seeing right now. You can see behind me, there are literally hundreds of protesters behind me. They're obviously very excited because this rally was just cancelled here. But at the same time, as David was just saying, as you guys were just talking about, these rallies have been building up to this point. We have seen rallies erupt into chaos on a very small scale, but we've not seen anything like this. What I'm seeing over my shoulder right now is now you see a large contingent of Chicago police officers coming down that staircase over there. Can you see it? There's a large contingent of Chicago police officers coming down the staircase. They're coming in sufficient numbers to take care of this situation, or at least we hope so, because earlier on there was not the number of law enforcement or security personnel in here to prevent something like this from happening. Down here, just down here on the floor, there's some more scuffling going on. There's a fight going on down here. Erin, I'm -- nobody delights in this. This is a very sad scene that we're seeing. This is supposed to be American democracy in action. Instead what we're seeing is just total chaos. We are seeing people just going at each other because of what has been happening at these rallies. You have such a charged atmosphere. The supporters are almost -- some of these supporters are almost looking for a fight and some of these protesters are almost looking for a fight. In small numbers, the police, the security, they can handle someone like that, but not like this. There is just too many people here looking to cause trouble. I think really you can say that it is happening on both sides, Erin.</s>AVLON: Jim just said this is a tragedy because this is supposed to be American democracy. The tragedy is that perhaps this is representing a significant segment of American democracy right now, where hyper partisan passions have been so inflamed for so long that when you get a candidate who's been demagoguing to a conservative populist base and a liberal populist base turns out to confront in protest, it is going to be a combustible combination. And that's what we're seeing right now in a city which has a history of violence and politics in conventions in 1968.</s>BURNETT: Which is an important point, David Gergen.</s>GERGEN: It is, it is. And this may have -- the silver lining maybe this needs to force everybody to stop and take a breath and figure out how to proceed. A candidate ought to be able to hold rallies. He may have to ticket his rallies, other people have done that before. You come through tickets. But he has to take responsibility if there's going to be threats of violence. He has to be the spokesperson for saying -- it happened in Sarah Palin campaign. There were a lot of racial things about Obama in the 2008 campaign and really nasty things. And we thought we were on the edge of violence here, and John McCain came out to his rally and said it is time to treat him with decency.</s>BURNETT: Jim Acosta, do you know -- they came out and said they were postponing it. Obviously, Donald Trump was a half hour behind. Is there any information as to why? Was there a specific threat? Is it just the overall environment? I would imagine he's nearby if not at the center right now.</s>ACOSTA: I would think so. No specific information as to why this event is cancelled, but you can tell as we were talking to you at the top of the hour there is a whole section of protesters here, hundreds of protesters. I think I was being conservative in that estimate. Right now inside this arena you probably have half protesters, half supporters. We're at the University of Illinois at Chicago near downtown Chicago, basically downtown Chicago. This is a very racially ethnically religiously diverse campus. There were announcements in the news media all day long today from Latino civil rights groups, from progressive groups, from Muslim American groups, that they were planning on disrupting this rally. The question, Erin, I think the other big question -- I've talked to my friends in the local press here in Chicago. There is a wealth of venues in in the Chicago area. You go all the way out to the conservative areas of Chicago, there are arenas and venues where you can stage a pro-Trump rally. Donald Trump for whatever reason decided to hold a rally almost in the lion's den. This is a very progressive city. Here we are seeing another scuffle break out. Erin, just the ingredients that are present here just did not make for the right mix in terms of what Donald Trump wanted to have in terms of a positive rally. There's too many volatile elements here.</s>BURNETT: It sounds like what you're saying -- we don't know exact numbers. You're ballparking an arena that fits up to 10,000 people. You're saying half and half of protesters and supporters. So, we're talking about thousands of protesters.</s>ACOSTA: That's right. I believe we're looking at thousands of protesters inside this arena right now. There's probably about 8500 people on hand. We're seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters in here. Gathered below me right now is a group of people who are pro-Trump protesters. They're saying we want Trump. We want Trump. We ought to show that as well. There are a lot of Trump supporters here as well. I have to tell you, Erin, to position this rally on a campus as ethnically and religiously as diverse as this one, I think this was inviting trouble to some extent because there were so many announcements during the day that there were plans of protests at this rally tonight and nobody was being turned away.</s>BURNETT: Yes, and no one is being turned away, which is a significant thing. I suppose in some ways a positive thing that everyone is allowed to come in. That is important to emphasize. We have a statement just coming in from the Trump campaign that I want to read as to why this has just happened. They cancelled this event. "Mr. Trump just arrived in Chicago." I'm reading it now. "After meeting with law enforcement has determined for the safety of all the tens of gathered in and around the arena, tonight's rally will be postponed to another date. Thank you very much for your attendance and please go in peace."</s>GERGEN: That's nice. He can make a stronger statement than that, but it's the right thing. It does suggest there were security concerns. There were security concerns.</s>BURNETT: The context Jim Acosta just gave us I think is crucial and rather game changing here. You're talking about -- they said 8,500 people, 4,000 protesters in that arena.</s>GERGEN: Ten thousand people signed a petition against him coming. There were 10,000 people out there waiting to stop this. There was a significant number inside the hall. I think he did the right thing calling it off. You know, it might have gotten much more serious than what we're seeing right now with him in the hall. Having said --</s>BURNETT: You just saw someone rush the stage. Something truly horrific could have happened. I think it's pretty clear it was right to do to cancel it.</s>GERGEN: I doubt they had security procedures in place for all the people to go in.</s>AVLON: We don't know the details on the security precautions put in place, but clearly this is a situation that was going to get out of hand, that is getting out of hand, even in the absence of Donald Trump. And a statement go in peace is better than nothing, but still too little too late. We're watching you reap what you sow. And if you run a campaign based on division and demagoguery and dividing Americans, us against them, and you try to hold a rally on a political campus on a campus in the heart of Chicago, you're going to get these kinds of outbursts. These don't happen at John Kasich rallies. They don't happen at Marco Rubio rallies. They happen at Donald Trump rallies for a reason.</s>BURNETT: And they don't happen at Ted Cruz rallies either. I want to bring in Neil Bush. Neil and I were going to be talking on this show about a lot of other things, but Neil is with me. I appreciate you coming on, Neil. Brother to George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, has endorsed Ted Cruz, joining his national finance team. So, Neil, let me ask you what's you what you're seeing here. A stadium of 10,000, 8,500 people, called off due to security concerns, 4,000-plus our reporter is saying of protesters, people breaking out and fighting all around this arena. What's your reaction, Neil?</s>NEIL BUSH, BROHTER OF JEB AND GEORGE W. BUSH: It's shocking to me, Erin. I appreciate your having me on. It kind of reminds me of the Democrat convention during the Vietnam War when people are out protesting. Chicago, I guess, has a history of that kind of thing. You know, look, Donald Trump has used tactics that have raised an arm of very ardent fans for sure, but he has locked in a lot of people who just don't like him. I'm not saying the people protesting there in Chicago are Republican voters by any means. But there is a growing coalition of anti-establishment/Tea Party/Ted Cruz-type people and establishment folks that are rallying behind the candidacy of Ted Cruz to unify our party before the national convention so that we can have a positive message. We don't need Donald Trump to be the head of the ticket for this great country of ours to be represented by a man with such a giant ego and with so few solutions to the problems would be tragic. And it is not in the nature of a Reagan or a Jack Kemp or George Bush Senior or George W. Bush to have someone who has this kind of behavioral challenge. So, I think it's tragic. I think he brought it on, you know, because of his tactics that he's used to show that he is the tough guy that's going to be able to keep us safe from these threats. We are still the greatest country on the face of the earth. He is not the right guy to lead us forward, period.</s>BURNETT: So, let me -- so as we look at these pictures, you're seeing inside on one side of your screen, outside the Trump rally. As you can see, hundreds if not thousands gathered there. David Gergen, what can Donald Trump do now to stop this? Can he step up and be statesman like and stop this? What does he do? They put out a statement. They said there were security concerns. They canceled this last minute. They said go in peace. Does he do now? You advised presidents. What would you tell him to do right now?</s>GERGEN: He has to go to the country. He has to sit down in a calm way, a calm place through television and talk to the country about what he expects going forward. What he wants. He's going to have issue a clear call, which he has not done so far about having peaceful rallies. He only wants people to come in peace as well as to leave in peace. And he has to be very strong or he will bear moral responsibility for the violence that may occur in the future. And we're heading in that direction, unless -- if he keeps holding rallies hike this and doesn't change the tone, we're going to have really, really tough situations.</s>BURNETT: Jim Acosta, I want to go back to you. It looks like we're seeing some people trying to clear out. A lot more police coming in.</s>ACOSTA: That's right, Erin. A few moments ago they announced over the public address system here that it is time to go. That the rally has been cancelled and it's time to go home. You can see there are dozens of Chicago police officers flooding the zone here. They're coming in here to remove these protesters. A lot of the Trump supporters are starting to file out of this arena. It is a lot more empty here than it was even five minutes ago. So, this may be wrapping up. The Chicago police appear to be getting control of the situation. But obviously, for a good, my goodness, 20 or 30 minutes, Erin, it was just absolute bedlam in here. Not enough security and law enforcement in here to get a handle on it.</s>BURNETT: At least 20, 25 minutes. Can I ask you a question, Jim? I don't know if you know the answer but we're trying to figure this out live as we go. Do you know whether the people who are waiting, what level of screening they went through? Were they screened? Were they going through metal detectors? Do you know?</s>ACOSTA: Yes. Everybody was screened in terms of weapons and those sorts of standards. Procedures were carried out at these rallies. After all, the Secret Service is here, they provide security for these events. But at the same time, what wasn't prevented here and maybe it should be prevented, is that you have people who are obviously going to disrupt this rally show up, in terms of hundreds, if not thousands of people. And that's exactly what happened tonight. These protesters stopped Donald Trump from holding a rally here in downtown Chicago. And like we were saying, we haven't seen anything like this during the course of this campaign. Yes, a scuffle here, a protest there. But not like this.</s>BURNETT: Not like this. Is this part of the democratic process? Someone should be able to have their rallies to do it. So, them stopping this is not a victory for the American process. It is an ugly thing.</s>GERGEN: It was terribly ugly. And I think we're on a dangerous precipice. The polarization we've seen in the country for so long has brought people increasingly to a point where they begin to hate each other and they demonize each other. And that's the unraveling of society when you get into that situation.</s>AVLON: Democracy depends on a assumption of goodwill among fellow citizens and that has been eroded, and the cancer of hyper partisanship is metastasizing in front of our eyes at rallies like this, and maybe Donald Trump can try to be presidential and walk it back. But as your viewers saw earlier tonight, he has a history of statements of incitement. That's why for successful presidential presidents, historically, to send a message like Neil Bush's brother, a uniter, not a divider. When you flip that equation, ugly things happen.</s>BURNETT: So, David Gergen, what does though? I mean, because he can't continue. Whether you like him or loathe him, that's not the point. You can't continue if you'll have rallies where half the people will be protesters and trying to knock you off the stage. So, what do you do to have him be able to go ahead with the political process and hold these rallies? You ticket people, is that enough?</s>GERGEN: He needs to address this immediately, like tomorrow in a very public way. There's going to be a lot of fallout. We're not sure where it will go but you'll see people divide up as they go to the polls. Some people will say, oh, my God, we can't elect this person. This is what Neil Bush and the kind of argument he makes. There are people will say it is ridiculous that they'll be able to shut down our candidate, we're going to go out in bigger droves. And it's only increase the polarization. He says he wants to be a unifier? This is the test of his leadership to show that he can unify.</s>BURNETT: And, Neil, if you're still with me work that be something that would sway someone like you? Because you wrote in your op-ed, when you talked about backing Ted Cruz, he was not your first choice, he was not even your second choice. I'm not saying you'll abandon Ted cr. I'm simply making the point, that could Donald Trump win someone like you be over if you were to step up and take a very leadership, statesman-like stance on this?</s>BUSH: No, no. Definitely not. Do you know what he will do tomorrow if he does it at all? And I hope he does address the issue. He's going to say, I'm a unifier. I'm the only guy that can bring everyone together. I'm the best. He makes these broad generalizations like he's running for eighth grade class president and he doesn't really say anything of substance. He is not a serious candidate, sadly, and I'm sorry to say that. He's confiscated the Republican process. There is still time though. There have been only 42 percent of the delegates allotted so far. Ted Cruz has received 29 percent of the popular vote compared to his 34 percent. So, who is bringing out these millions of voters? So we need to unify our party. And he is clearly not a unifier. No matter what he says.</s>BURNETT: All right. Neil, thank you. I want to go to Jake Carpenter. He is a photojournalist. He is outside this rally where now you're seeing thousands of people come from inside that arena outside. What is the tone like? The mood like? Are people calm now? Have you seen fights, Jake? What are you seeing?</s>JAKE CARPENTER, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST (via telephone): Yes, we're not seeing any fights or anything like that. The tone, I mean, it is a protest out here. Everybody is pretty serious. The crowd is quite significant. I can't see any size change over the last three, four hours that we've been out here. It's not growing. I mean, there are people -- I don't know if you're looking at my shot right now, but as far down the street, you're looking at here. That's the way it's been for hours. I haven't seen it at all.</s>BURNETT: Jake, what is the mix that you're seeing? We did see what you're seeing for the camera just a moment. Now, we're at an aerial shot. But we did. What is the mix in terms of protesters versus supporters that you've seen and you're seeing now? Are you able to give as you general sense?</s>CARPENTER: So, from my position. I'm about 30 feet from the line. I'm not seeing any supporters for Trump out here. These are all Bernie supporters and just supporters of people, for anyone against Trump. You know, they're just -- they're just supporting free speech, anti- hate, feel the Bern, using the messages, establish the</s>BURNETT: And totally peaceful but just to be clear, it sounds like you're in an area where it is all protesters. So, you're amongst people who are on the same side.</s>CARPENTER: Correct, yes. You know, when I got out here about 3:00, you can see on -- I don't know if it's my shot up right on the right side of the screen. You saw one side of the screen, they had the barricades for protesters. I know at some of these events, they like to have, you know, areas for the protesters, this is beyond that. This is higher</s>BURNETT: Jake, thank you very much. Just as everyone know, this went on, Donald Trump was half an hour late, and then the surprise cancellation of this rally. And then about 20 minutes where we saw scuffle, punching, fighting inside, some pretty, very scary moments. Not enough law enforcement to fully deal with it. But now, it looks like it is starting to dissipate. People are starting to leave. Calmer, we will see what happens and transpires over the next few minutes and as this night continues, a major night. Let's go now to Anderson Cooper.