you and it gets underway right now. thank you for being with us today. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it is noon in milwaukee, 1:00 p.m. in washington, 7 p.m. brussels. wherever you are watching around the world, thank you for joining us. we begin with presidential politics in the united states. the candidates are fanning out across wisconsin in a scramble for votes, six days before the state's primary for the republicans 42 delegates are up for grabs next tuesday. donald trump is hoping to locking up the republican presidential nomination. senator cruz is battling to stop that from happening. both held dualing rallies at stops in wisconsin a little while ago.

>> what's the latest? >> wolf, this was a lower key event, mellow even at the university. small auditorium and crowd but the attacks on ted cruz continued, wolf. >> i wouldn't say that your governor loves me because, no, i knocked him out. he endorsed liein' ted cruz lying ted cruz. bible high, puts it down and then he lies. >> taking a swing at governor scott walker, the wisconsin governor as well who endorsed ted cruz a couple of days ago. donald trump continuing to underscore how important wisconsin is for the future of his campaign. as you noted, 42 delegates at stake. an opportunity for donald trump to put down ted cruz as a his

rise coincided with the establishment starting to can less around his campaign. >> what's the latest trump response to the legal trouble his campaign manager, corey lewandowski is facing? >> as low key as this event was, donald trump unsolicited went in to what happened with corey lewandowski with the misdemeanor, simple battery charges, asking the audience if they thought he had done something wrong and if they thought he should be charged with something to stand up. donald trump going at it head on. as has been the case with these situations over the course of his campaign. he's making clear that corey lewandowski will remain his campaign manager and he's more than happy to have this fight in the public forum for the days ahead. >> clearly loyal to corey lewandowski. stand by. cruz meanwhile is focusing on women's voters. tell us about his latest

campaign stop. >> cruz today called this a celebration of strong women. the cruz campaign is rolling out a coalition of women voters today. it was the way they rolled it out that i thought was most notable. the optics of it if you will. cruz appearing with his wife, heidi cruz, his mother, carly fiorina who endorsed him and his daughters were on stage for a time during his speech. cruz largely stood back and let them talk. largely letting the women in his life give testimonials on how he has treated them and how they think he will treat women as president. this event is notably coming one week after the fierce back and forth between donald trump and ted cruz over their spouses. i asked the cruz campaign about that and they said it draws a clear contrast with what ted cruz is focusing on and what donald trump would focus on as president. wolf?

>> thank you so muchlt phil, thanks to you, as well. all three of these candidates, including john kasich got a chance to speak to the wisconsin voters. the candidates apeered in a cnn town hall last night and tackled a wide range of issues, the personal fuel twooid tweed donald trump and ted cruz and the republican loyalty pledge as it is called. here's the 90-second recap. >> i think this is much better than a debate. >> if donald trump is the gop nominee, would you support him? >> donald is not going to be the gop nominee. we will beat him. >> i am not asking for their support. >> all of us shouldn't have answered that question but it was the first debate and what the heck. >> if he was your campaign manager would you ask him to resign? >> of course. it shouldn't be comply kate. members of the campaign staff should not be physically

assaulting the press. >> look at what she said, michelle feelsd and by the way she's not a baby. >> i haven't seen the video but they tell me the video is real. >> she was grabbing me. am i supposed to press charges. anderson, my arm is killing me, never been the same. >> failed immigration policies. >> do you trust muslims in america? >> many of them i do. many of them i do. and some i guess we don't. >> when you come in the country i say are you a muslim, come on, that's not going to work. >> i didn't start it. i didn't start it. >> with all due respect that's the argument of 5-year-old. >> i didn't start it. >> you don't know for a fact that donald trump planted that story? >> of course i do. >> how? >> so phony. >> if name calling, bringing in spouses and rip aring be each other below the belt and wrestling in the mud is the new politics we all need to stand against it. our children are watching. >> as you heard the candidates they are abandoning the pledge

to support whoever becomes the nominee. all of these guys say maybe we shouldn't have made that so-called loyalty pledge. >> it's clear to me that lots of them wouldn't vote for the other candidate. in fact, trump came out and said, i don't want cruz to vote for me. i don't need his support. this is a party divided in so many ways it's hard to count. the candidate -- it's hard to see, wolf, how you come up up with any unity ticket at a convention. people are talking about trump and cruz. i don't see a unity ticket if trump is at the top of it with anybody else who's been running because of what has occurred in the last few weeks, particularly regarding these questions of corey lewandowski and the heidi cruz melania stuff, which

actually goes to the question of the support of women voters. i think that's difficult to get around. >> it's been about 24 hours since the charge against corey lewandowski, the trump campaign manager has come forward. how is it playing out and how is it likely to play out between now an the crucial primary in wisconsin? >> that's the big question of the trump campaign so far. it is yet to be determined. with we will have to wait and see what happens with the returns in wisconsin. polls show a tight race. you can see a poll that shows cruz or trump ahead, ones that showcasic in second place. i think this issue of women voters is key. that's why we saw cruz with his wife and kids, a little obvious there. so far trump has led among women by 12 points. we will see if he can close the gap.

one of the most interesting things is a woman who said my 93-year-old father looks at you on television and says i wish trump could be like his sons. his sons are well mannered and calm. trump also talked about melania, wishing he could be more presidential. that's what these candidates are saying. this cloud of controversy really gets at whether or not a trump is presidential enough to be president. also, what would he be like, not only as the nominee but as the president. >> one wisconsin voter asked trump about the three most important roles of the government. he offered this answer. listen. i would say health care, education, many things. i would say the top three are security, security, security. we have to have security for our country. >> everybody agrees national security is the most important. keeping america safe is the most

important responsibility of the commander in chief. when he talked about health care and education, that raised eyebrows. >> it is not republican orthodoxy to say the government should be in charge of your health care, obamacare or in charge of your education, common core, which is what jeb bush promoted and lots of conservatives disagree. in fact, i would have to say for people like cruz, who have been complaining and jeb bush before him quite honestly, who have been complaining that donald trump isn't a true conservative, this provides you with a lot more fodder. it is anti-conservative. health care run by the government and education run by the federal government, i don't think so. >> it goes against trump who apparently wants to eliminate the department of education. >> and obamacare. >> and obamacare. said he wants to replace it with something beautiful, i'd imagine. i think this has been trump's signature move.

it is kind of a mish-mash of all of these different sort of liberalism, libertarianism. some he draws from conservative orthodoxy, as well. some has worked for him and cruz hasn't been able to make the point stick that she a fake conservative. >> what he says can be contradictory. you are against more nukes but you want japan and south korea . >> here's donald trump saying maybe it would be a good idea for japan and south korea to have nuclear cape nblt the face of the threat threat from north korea. >> at some point we have to say we are better off if japan protects itself against this maniac in north korea, better off if south korea is going to start to protect itself. >> problem with them having nuclear weapons? >> no, but they have to protect themselves or pay us. >> that raised eyebrows, as

well. >> everything he said has raised eyebrows what foreign policy experts are saying is you have to think down the road. each action has a consequence. he also called about removing our troops from asia. that has a consequence. allowing -- encouraging south korea to get a nuclear weapon, that has a consequence. we want to be the people who sort of control that. we want -- we don't want loose nukes running an. i think -- i think john kasich got it last night in calling trump's plan to stop funding nato as much as we do, he said it was ridiculous. i think the more the campaign goes on, the more trump will be questioned. however, i will also say, that's not why people are voting. >> we will get back to this. more coming up. also coming up up, the democrats make a play for new york state? how bernie sanders is up upping

the pressure on hbing hong kong to debate h -- hillary clinton and targeting of donald trump in a dpan ad. campaign ad.

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democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton had hoped to turn her focus to the general election but her democratic rival, senator bernie sanders is putting up a strong fight as evidenced by his recent wins in three states over the weekend. speaking in wisconsin he criticized hillary clinton and her fund-raising once again. >> the issue of where you get your money is extremely important. because it means who you are beholden to. i am proud to be beholden to people who send me a check for $27. i am proud not to be beholden to wall street or the drug companies or the fossil fuel

industry. >> all right. let's bring in our cnn political commentators donna brazile and anna navarro. she is in new york today but next tuesday stl is a contest in wisconsin. i will play this clip. >> some say we can solve america's problems by building walls, banning people based on their religion and turning against each other. >> it's about freedom. >> breaking down the barriers holding people back from sharing in he the promise of america. here's what i believe -- anyone running for president this year faces three big tests. first, can you deliver results that improve people's lives? second, can you keep us safe? third, can you bring our country

together again? >> earlier that was a little bit of the clip of the new ad she just released in new york state going after, of all people, donald trump. we will get to that in a moment. tell us why she decided to skip wisconsin for part of today and head to new york. >> wolf, she's life at the apollo. can you imagine any other historic place. >> the apollo theater in harlem. >> a wonderful theater. look, hillary clinton spent the beginning of the week in wisconsin. i'm sure she will be back by the end of the week. new york has 247 pledged delegates at stake on april 19th. the empire primary will be very important to her candidacy as well as senator sanders' candidacy. he's in wisconsin today. with over 85 delegates at stake next tuesday, that's an important place for both of them to be. right now she's in new york because she wants to remind

voters in new york, she was their senator and she has the values that will take the country. >> april 19th. critically important. next tuesday is wisconsin. you wanted to add something. >> let me translate in republican for you. the reason he's she's in new york and not wisconsin is because she doesn't think she will win wisconsin and she wants to down play the likelihood that bernie sanders will get a win in wisconsin and build on his three-state win from last week, his fourth win and the bottom line is she has a heck of a horse race on her hands. she wants to be on friendlier territory in new york where she was a senator and, you know, she's trying to shift the focus on to donald trump and portray herself as a general election candidate. she's got. >> is that true, she doesn't think she can win in wisconsin? >> i don't know. i haven't talked to her campaign. it will be tough. look at the terrain and the fact

it is an open primary. independents have been more favorable to bernie sanders. look at the kind of campaign he's running in wisconsin. he is spending three times the amount of money, three times the amount of time. he wants a big win in wisconsin because he wants to continue to erode her support among pledge delegates. so hillary clinton is doing what she has to do to win. the bulk of the delegates that will be available in april. we talk about march madness, but april is going to be very important. >> delegates are distributed proportionately. >> let me play the clip. the new ad released in new york state going after donald trump. >> when some say we can solve america's problems by building walls, banning people based on their religion and turning against each other, well, this is new york. and we know better. >> she may be going after new york but it is designed to help her, as well. >> they are both strategic.

i think bernie sanders is playing a strategic game in wisconsin and hillary clinton is playing a strategic game in new york. going after donald trump is a popular thing to do within the democratic base. these topics and themes she's hitting on, the discrimination, she is sounding like the you know fier, like the anti-trump. all of that helps her. >> look at the faces, a muslim woman or someone with a american flag, an african-american being punched, a family. going to what is happening on the republican side, it is an effective ad. >> why is she resisting his request for a debate in new york state before the april 19th primary? >> again i'm not a part of the negotiations. i like to spend my time with you

and ana. >> you are part of everything. don't pretend. >> it is early. all right. so look, here's what i'm thinking. she wanted to do it in philadelphia, pennsylvania. there was some -- >> a week after new york. >> week after. the sanders wanted to it in new york. i think they will come up up with another debate town hall forum. >> she's been good in every debate. she is good at debates and frankly where he is right now he deserves the dignity and respect of debating. >> you know what they are saying, they are saying he's not playing nice. you don't play nice after kindergarten in politics. >> look at the republican side and then we can talk about a playing nice. >> she some suggested she doesn't want to debate in new york because it is the home of wall street. what is bernie sanders talking about all the time, how she is beholden to wall street, investment companies, goldman sachs and she wants to get away

from that issue and give him that issue which he would play up. >> he will play it up regardless if it is new york or pennsylvania. that is part of bernie's message and appeal. i have given money to both candidates and bernie said i want $27 for you because hillary wants 27,000. he is cheaper. >> thank you very much. we will see if that debate takes place. >> i think you would be a great moderated, wolfer by the way. >> bipartisan endorsement here. chilling images targeted by the bombing in brussels. we will look at the destruction and plus, how a computer abandoned in a trash can could provide major clues where the terrorists were planning to strike next. stay with us.

investigators looking in to the terror attacks in brussels make a chilling discovery. a computer with photos and plans of belgian government buildings that may have been future targets. the news comes as we get a new look inside the brussels airport that was it. it shows how extensive the damage is. our correspondent alexandra field is live from brussels. tell us about the latest developments. >> reporter: well, wolf, the discovery of the laptop could be key to helping investigators understand what the cell was plotting or what members of the cell could be still plotting. they found the laptop outside of the apartment, where they believe the bombs which were used in the attacks at the metro station and airport were made. they have looked at what is inside the computer and found noe photos and plans of the

prime minister's office and other government buildings which investigators are trying to determine if other buildings could have been potential targets. these computers are important and cell phones. they have done their own analysis and are getting assistance from the fbi. the hardware has been sent to the u.s. where there will be further analysis and investigators will try to retrieve data that belgian authorities were not able to access. >> new pictures inside the belgian airport. when will the airplane reopen? >> that's a question on everyone's mind. 6 0,000 people a day use that airport and more than a week after these attacks they have not been able to set a date when you will have flights coming in and out 0 of the airport. the pictures show the level of destruction created by those merciless attacks. it could be months before the

airport is fully returned to regular service. at the same time, wolf, worth saying investors are searching for the third suspected bomber and a second possible bomber from the metro station. >> those two terror attacks, 35 confirmed dead and hundreds injured. thank you very much. coming up, we are just getting in new numbers on the race for the white house. new polling information from the critically important state of wisconsin on the democratic and republican presidential contests. we'll share those numbers with you when we come back.

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ago showed senator cruz with a ten-point lead over donald trump. the marquette law school poll shows cruz at 40%, trump 30% and kasich 21%. bernie sanders leads secretary hillary clinton 49-45 percent. six-point sampling error on the democratic side as well. pretty impressive despite the sampling error, impressive lead cruz has over trump in wisconsin. >> cruz is up 19 points and trump is unchanged and kasich is up up eight points in february. you have to ask yourself the question, what's effecting this on the republican side? i'm not sure. i'd like to see where the gender numbers are for donald trump in this poll to see whether that has affected his slide to a degree. obviously we haven seen the

establishment coalesce around cruz, although this poll was taken before the governor's endorsement of cruz. on this democratic side, the sanders people have always thought this was going to be a good state for sanders, although the margin is closer here because it is one of those states that has a large white population which sanders does well with. large university population in the state which sanders does well with. they will be happy with this, as well. >> does well with young people obviously as well. it is interesting, if you look at the republican side, cruz is at 40, up 19 since february, trump at 30 but that is unchanged. he plateaued for now at 30%. kasich is up 8 percentage points from february to 21%. >> the problem that donald trump has been having and we eel see whether he continue s to have it, usually at this point in an election if you are the favorite

and the front runner is donald trump, unquestionably is, it should be a time when your support starts to cocan le to c. claerly it is not happening in the state of wisconsin. not at this point. there's still time to go before the primary on april 5th. >> thank you very much. six days until wisconsin and then other big states coming up. >> you bet. coming up, the republican candidates get pressed on foreign policy issues at the town hall from trump calling nato obsolete. we will get the national security experts to weigh in.

last night's republican town hall, each candidate had a chance to talk about international and national security. donald trump stood by his opinion of nato becoming increasingly obsolete organization but he wasn't alone in calling for a change in u.s. strategy. >> i think it is largely

obsolete. it has to be changed. you don't talk about terror. our single biggest threat right now is terror are. that's an amorphous term but it is terror. our single biggest threat. >> you would like to sea the organization revamped, either nato. >> if you do that you will have to add different nations in because you have nations not in nato that are very much in the world of terror. >> we need to nato change nato not just from a military organization but an intelligence gathering and policing organization that works across boundaries. >> joining with us josh rogan, cnn political analyst and national security columnist for bloomberg. what do you think of this notion that nato increasingly is obsolete and time for the the u.s. to consider its involvem t involvement. >> it is not obsolete. it needs to transform but it has

transformed significantly from the days when it was an iron curtain organization. it went to the balkans and did a wonderful job. they have deployed to afghanistan on a combat mission. they are constantly transforming. are there problems, certainly. does it need to transform, yes. could there be better burden sharing, yes. >> european allies picking up their expenditures opposed toe united states which pays a bigger percentage of their gdp. >> always the argument it needs to be 2% or more. three countries exceed that. the united states, turkey and greece and obviously turkey and greece have other motivations for keeping it above 2%. >> the whole notion, the complaint that trump and others makes nato was a great organization during the cold war dealing with the then soviet union but in the war against terror, as an organization it has been invisible.

got involved in afghanistan as an organization but really plays no role in the war against isis right now. >> there's a couple of things. we are seeing a resurgent russia. i met with the polish president an hour ago and he is calling for more u.s. involvement in nato and said the u.s. has a unique role in the world and even though presidential candidates deal with u.s. interest, in the end, a safe and secure europe is in the u.s. interest. they want more american sport and help. they know they have to do more themselves but the idea that nato should be just about terrorism and not the other problems that face yaurp peen security is not shared by anyone in europe. >> the terror attack issue, especially in brussels the other day came up in the cnn town hall. listen to this. >> part of the problem is their governments over there. too much socialism, too much political correctness. that's why they didn't catch

this thing in brussels. >> a tragedy. the terror attacks in europe are a result of failed policies where they have allowed vast numbers of islamic tour ists to come in to europe. they are in no-go communities where law enforcement doesn't engage in those communities. >> you want to weigh in first? >> sure. two things cruz got wrong. the brussels and paris attackers weren't refugees. they were born and raised there. the point is radicalization from people is this issue. the other thing, there are no good zones. i was in brussels the day before the attack. police were all over. they were doing raids. that's part of the reason why they got the guy that did the paris attacks. the idea there are are these muslim go no -- >> in some way i agree.

there is little intelligence sharing. most of it stays within their sovereign boundaries. that's where nato can help. as governor kasich said, nato ought to be as much an intelligence gathering information and spell jens fusion organization. that's real key to attacking and defeating the terrorism problem inside of europe. >> least glad they are talking about these major national security issues. a lot more interesting than other stuff going on. thank you very much. up next, europe's spider web of terror cells. we'll look at how radicals are building an army ready to kill at a moment's notice. stay with us. this saturday isn't like last saturday. [ indistinct shouting ] bulk from boxed won't only save you money, it will save saturday. [ pop, screech, doorbell rings ] boxed -- bulk-size shopping delivered easy

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brussels certainly have highlighted the growing danger in europe posed by radicalization. the attacks there and in paris carried out by locals, many of whom travel to the war zone in syria. more than 900 of them have returned home to europe. could be seen as ticking time bombs ready to integrate back into their communities, but not as neighbors but as part of a sophisticated fighting terror force. our terrorism analyst takes us through the terror family tree. >> what is clear is that there is an isis terrorist network operating in europe, the logistic hump of the network is in brussels. the top leadership of isis, including al baghdadi green lighted a strategy of terrorist attacks against the west, notably in europe. the isis commander with overall responsibility for those attacks

is abu al adnany. within that external operations division, it is believed there are a number of french and belgian isis operatives. investigators believe that mohammed was the overall commander of both of the paris attacks and the brussels attacks. one of the people setting those plots in motion in 2014 and 2015 was al buud, the ring leader of the paris attacks. the suspected bombmaker remained in brussels in the paris attacked and coordinated the paris attacks from brussels, over the phone, over text messages, in touch with the three attack teams that night. there were ten isis operatives who were tasked with launching the paris attacks. nine of them were killed in the paris attacks. mohammed abreeny was the driver.

he is still on the run. salah abdeslam survived the suicide attacks when the suicide vest didn't work here he didn't carry out the attack. he returned back to brussels and connected with the overall chief of the cell. he had recruited others, was giving orders to other to plan a follow-on attack in brussels. when belgian police moved in to search an apartment in the district of brussels on the 15th of march, a property they believe was linked to the paris attacks, they were surprised to find multiple gunmen inside who opened fire. one of those gunman was be bellkide. he provided covering fire to pin back police as others inside that safe house escaped through the roofs, including salah abdeslam, who was later

arrested. he was then killed by belgian police sniper. when salah abdeslam's safe house was discovered by belgian security services earlier this month, they then accelerated the plan and launched an attack on the airport and metro. there are eight individuals that they are still looking for in connection with the paris and brussels attacks. including one of the three men who was seen on cc tv footage run away from the trolley with what they think he had a suitcase bomb inside. thursday, police thwarted a terrorist plot against france by an individual. that led to arrests on friday in

belgium. it also led to an arrest in rotterd rotterdam, and what is not clear at this point is how closely all these people were working together. but they all have the common denominator of al boud, the cell leader in paris on the night of the paris attacks. the operative with a talent for spotting europeans and setting them in motion to launch terrorist attacks in europe. >> we thank you paul for that excellent explanation. joining us now to talk from toronto, a former jihadist, f m former counterterrorism operative. you have also spoken about the so-called spider web of terror growing in europe. how far does this web stretch? >> well, you've heard in the last segment some of where that network is coming out of, and never mind where it goes into. belgium, fwrans, and again, the countries nearby, germany,

italy, and again, you know, the "new york times" ran an article about how these networks developed under quote/unquote europe's gaze. two years ago, i was online. other researchers were watching this happen in real time where they talked about it. they talked about we'll be sending people back, and this is what we're seeing on the manifestations of those earlier laid plans. >> that report you're referring to in the "new york times" spoke about recruitment, about operations of the isis-led attackers, would-be attackers. they also said they talk about how some operatives can be identified, recruited, trained, and send on their mission, basically within a week. within a week. does that sound right to you? >> you would need more than a week's worth of training to be doing that, but what's happened is these networks have been created and expanded for two years. so you have people who are already trained. and already indoctrinated

sufficiently to carry out these attacks. one week is now in terms of sending people in, those attacks could be done very easily. of course, there is a local network that needs to provide logistics and other support, and that's where interdiction and intervention can prevent these attacks. >> the process sounds relatively professional right now. some have said it's like building an actual army. many of these terrorists are giving tactical autonomy. tell us how that works. >> yeah, tactical autonomy. when you have, i mean, the general strategy is known. hit them, hit them hard and make them hurt. and any way you can do that, find the target yourselves, you don't need to relay this back to us. if it's a good target and a good hit and the media, you know, it's really carried out, it's a successful attack. and they'll take credit for it. you'll see a video, an article in one of their glossy magazines celebrating it. and the recent belgium attacks, they showed videos of them

handing out candies to children in celebration of these attacks. >> it's a serious issue. it isn't new, though. at least parts of it we have seen more recent attacks in paris and brussels, but just a culmination of a lot of testing, probing by operatives. this has been going on, clearly, for a long time. >> absolutely. and again, you have a pool of recruits to draw from. we hear a lot of peek talking about the socioeconomic disparities. we want to talk about ideology, but we don't know how to position it. ideology is a tool that's used. it drives people in some cases. in other cases, there's underlying criminality already and they can latch on to an extremist version to justify violence and being violent. the pool of recruits is high. a few operatives uz loan will be able -- how many attackers were there in paris? if we hear numbers like 400 have been sent back, and it's really impossible to know such numbers, but i have said this before.

forget 400. what about just ten? so these are things that concern intelligence agencies now. >> finally, this notion of high risk neighborhoods, so-called code of silence that develops over there, a code of silence. what can you tell us about that? >> yeah, recently, after the attacks, while police were investigating, they used sms texting to send out messages saying, hey, don't talk to the cops. fight them, and i mean, this is the level of their penetration. these are untraceable accounts. those are avenues of further interdiction and tracking them back to see who's behind all this. but this is what happens in under siege neighborhoods. this is why you don't engage in marginalization tactics. yu europe has tolerated this for too long. people have openly been calling for these things. now you're seeing the manifestations of this.

>> thank you very much for joining us, for your expertise. >> that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." for our international viewers, amanpour is next. for our viewers in north america, newsroom today with pam raw brown starts right now. hello. i'm pamela brown in today for brooke baldwin. great to have you along with us on this wednesday. let's get right to it. we're six days from the next big republican contest in wisconsin. and check out this new poll just coming in to us from marquette law school. as you can see right here, it shows cruz in the lead with 40% support from likely gop primary voters. he's up 19 points from last month, while donald trump is in second, followed by john kasich. and this also just in to cnn this afternoon. 16 conservative women who are a part of the news media are now calling on trump to fire his