hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in damascus, syria. 1:30 in pyongyang, north korea. wherever you watch around the world, thank you for joining us. west virginia and nebraska, primary day. voters get a chance to make a choice in the election. republicans in the two states have one active candidate. that would be donald trump but two of his former primary opponents are back in the spotlight today.

senator marco rubio is speaking right now about the situation in the middle east. we're monitoring that. also, senator ted cruz. he's returning to his job back at the united states senate today. we're monitoring that as well. a reminder. trump still needs to capture the 1,237 delegates to secure the republican nomination. democrats are only battling for delegates in west virginia today. it may be a very close race between hillary clinton and bernie sanders there. clinton is holding an event in lexington, kentucky, by the way, right now. kentucky votes in their primary a week from today and senator sanders preparing to take the stage in stockton, california. the california primary is june 7th but there are 29 delegates at stake for the democrats in west virginia. here's how they stand right now. hillary clinton has a 301 pledge delegate lead. now let's take a closer look at how hillary clinton and donald trump match up in some key swing states. the new quinnipiac university

poll showing clinton holding a 1 point lead in florida and pennsylvania over trump while trump beats hillary clinton in ohio by 4 points. the polls also show, by the way, that bernie sanders, he beats donald trump in all three states. here with us right now, the trump national campaign co-chairman, i should say, thank you very much for coming in. any fireworks from marco rubio? he's been talking about the situation in the middle east. you expect the formal endorsement or anything along those lines? >> i thought we were listening to marco together here and i thought he was articulate and he talked about mr. trump's concerns that he's raised about the middle east and said those are legitimate concerns and need to be discussed. i think what was interesting here is a calm discussion that marco was having at the hudson institute. it was really interesting to get some of his insights talking about the fact there's no culture over there in the middle east for a particular type of government that we would be

recognizing or comfortable with and i think that that really speaks to the whole issue of a jen rati generational issue and the sectarian aspects and he's probably on point. >> back on work in the u.s. senate, ted cruz is holding on to his delegates he's accumulated so far, not releasing them going into the convention. he did a radio interview earlier today. listen to this portion of the interview. >> if there is a path to victory, we launched this campaign intending to win. the reason we suspended the race last week is in indiana's loss, i didn't see a viable path to victory. if that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly. >> that was pretty interesting in the interview with glenn beck in which he is not necessarily ruling out jumping back into the race if there's an opportunity. although, he later said that was unlikely. >> i think it is unlikely because the math is against him. i think this really comes down

to the fact that we'll capture the delegates going into the convention. 1237 puts us over the top. we win the nomination and the rest becomes moot. >> you think there's a chance he could still decide between now and the convention to throw his hat back into the ring? ted cruz? >> i think it's highly unlikely and if ted has a future in republican politics, i think he'll hawant to preserve that a suspending his campaign and trying to jump back in i think damages his brand. >> look at the new quinnipiac university poll. donald trump basically in a dead heat within the margin and in all three of these critical battleground states but a big percentage of undecided voters in all three of that states. is that a source of concern? >> no, i think it's actually a favorable indicator to us because i think one of the things we'd have to look at is with undecided voters, typically with these kinds of candidates, we're going to see some crystallization of supporters as we go forward.

you and i were talking off air with two conventions to go, six months until the campaign, three presidential debates and we start to see those undecided numbers dwindle. >> here's some bad numbers for donald trump in all three states. women voters in pennsylvania. hillary clinton is up 51%, 32% in pennsylvania and got to do a lot more work to convince women voters out there. not just republican women voters or independent, potentially democratic women voters that he's good for women in america. >> i think this is a key point and this is one. i am glad you asked the question because one of the factors that goes into this is making sure that you have a message to give people a reason to vote for you and that message is very strong. if you take a look at the internals, well, in those polls, you'll see that the economy is the number one factor and donald trump has a resounding lead in all aspects of the economy. i think when people, particularly women, who are strong in america, strong in the

households, they start to see that the security of their lives, the security of their families, the security of their livelihoods and their futures are going to be better guaranteed, better secured by donald trump than those numbers will show. >> you surprised that bernie sanders actually does better than hillary clinton in these head to head match-ups against donald trump in the three battleground states? >> we don't know much about the sampling but we've seen so many things in the polls and, you know, it's interesting. i think the numbers are close. we're inside the margin of error on all of these and i think we have to wait and see. >> you were national co-chair. you assume it's going to be hillary clinton, right? >> i assume it will be hillary but we have a long way to go and we'll have to see what happens with the e-mail issues and with the fbi. and bernie is not done. i think bernie may have a good showing today in west virginia. >> sam clovis joining us from the trump campaign. not everyone is down on the ideas for dealing with the

nation's debt. rick perry said it's time to consider new approaches. perry ran against trump for the republican presidential nomination but now supporting him. here's what he said on cnn's "new day" about the debt proposal. >> having a conversation about a lot of different alternatives out there about how you deal with the debt and so, you know, having a conversation and then moving it through washington and getting that to be reality are two different things. throwing out a lot of different ideas, i mean, chunk it at the wall and see what sticks. i don't have a problem with that. i think what people hear very often from donald trump is that, number one, washington has full-ti fouled this up beyond recognition. they have really messed up our economy. let's bring in country swomeone

who has a record as a business individual. >> i want to bring in mark pr s presston. this is the first major address for marco rubio at a think tank in washington but earlier said this. i want to play this clip talking about the campaign. >> it's a lot easier to say, let's not, why do we give all this money to nato and other people we're protecting do not? it's easier to say than to explain what would happen if you didn't. and so that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. i just think it takes time and quite frankly, to be fair, today's press that covers this process is not interested in covering any of that. >> a little swipe at the news media which seems a lot of candidates are saying that nowadays the news media not necessarily doing a good job.

>> i was talking to a senior official from the cruz campaign about what's their explanation for why cruz couldn't actually win in the end and his number one reason was donald trump's ability to completely dominate the conversation and he was generous, he wasn't criticizing us in the press but implicit in that we pay too much attention to trump and that when he's getting 50% to 60% coverage, the other candidates never had a choice. now, i think we would say, hey, the invitation for some of the candidates was always open to come on our air and our magazines and trump was willing to do it and they weren't. i think rubio does have a point that trump's ability to dominate the conversation is significant and hillary clinton is going to have to get used to that. >> but to that point, they were offered day in and day out to come on to talk about their message, to talk about what their vision is for america. in many ways, they chose not to take on donald trump. ted cruz went on donald trump too late. he could have and he chose not

to and this is where he is now. >> rubio said, why didn't you cover what i want you to cover? the news media covers it as it presents itself to us. >> as it unfolds. >> we got into substantive policy issues, agreements, disagreements, where the candidates stand, and you're right, we invited all the candidates to come on frequently and donald trump always used to say yes. still yes very often and the others were reluctant to do so for whatever reason. you can testify for that. >> it wasn't just debates. it was our day-to-day coverage. it was the town halls. we came up with town halls that gave them extended time to talk about whatever policy issues were important and were pushing through the campaign. listen, what you have now are candidates who are looking in the rearview mirror and saying, what happened? why am i not the nominee and in many ways, they have to blame somebody. it's easy to blame us. >> what do you think of trump seemingly back and forth on various sensitive issues when

they suggest something, the next day, moving away from that whether it is the debt, the minimum wage, whether it's taxes, he's increasingly in the last few days, he needs to clarify his stance. >> yes. so my view, on debt, i think he made a mistake because it's a sensitive issue to economists. >> to simply print more money and as a result, doesn't worry about a default. >> he doesn't seem to take seriously the idea of default and the entire world has depended on them. when you can't invest in any, it would be that. >> it would be massive inflation. >> i think he tried to clean it up and i don't think he accomplished that. i think on taxes and the minimum wage, he does what a lot have been saying for a long time now. if you want to attract, if you want a new middle class economic agenda as a republican candidate, do something on wages and maybe look at the minimum wage increasing it and don't be so wedded to upper income tax cuts. the problem is he doesn't have the conservative base locked down. so to move to the middle or to

the left on those two crucial issues, very hard for him because already, conservatives don't trust him. >> on the minimum wage, he made it clear to me last week, he's made it clear since then, he doesn't think they can live on $7.27 an hour. that's knnot livable but saying he's open to increasing minimum wage but let the states do it because there are different costs of livings in new york versus some of the smaller states. >> and into the populist message whereas sanders is a liberal populist. their two flavors taste the same and they don't but have overlapping issues. >> democratic strategists would say something like this recently. if, you know, the way to beat a democrat for the white house is to have more of an economically populist agenda as a republican. i think his instincts are right in terms of strategy to find those spots but if you don't have a united party, you can't do it. >> look at how close it is.

this quinnipiac poll. florida, ohio, pennsylvania. in terms of the electoral college, those are key states. in florida, she beats him by 43% to 42% and in ohio, beats her and in pennsylvania, 43% to 42%. within the margin of era in ae a lot closer than people anticipated in these three states. >> and we certainly didn't think he would be the person to be the nominee at this stage in the game, if the nominee at all, but one thing though. we talk about populism. populism plays well in the three states who have been hard hit by the economy. florida, devastated. housing market, devastated. he talks about bringing jobs back to ohio and same thing in pennsylvania. that's going to play well. the problem for donald trump is sometimes he goes too far and he says things that could be off putting to some folks but if he's able to stay on message, talk about bringing jobs back,

maybe raising the minimum wage in a way that the business community can accept, he's going to be formidable. >> you've got to be worried if you're the clinton campaign. >> these are the first piece of evidence that the argument that the trump campaign makes that they could win the industrial midwest is real. now, we have to wait. we look at polling trends between now and the election. every single national poll with a few exceptions, she has been clobbering him. this is the first red light on the dashboard of the hillary clinton campaign. >> national polls are very important and polls in these battleground states when you work to try to get 270 electoral college votes that are much more important. >> i think we'll be hearing about these quinnipiac polls for donald trump frequently. >> thank you very much. senator rubio, by the way, sitting down with our own jake tapper later this afternoon. this will be the first national avenue since leaving the white house. 4:00 p.m. eastern on the lead right here on cnn. coming up, london's first muslim

mayor rejecting a travel offer from donald trump. we have details. plus, heading to the polls in west virginia. hillary clinton won the state by a landslide back in 2008. tonight, bernie sanders may be able to pull off an upset. looking at live pictures coming in from west virginia right now. what has changed? if anything, we'll discuss. stay with us. ifor all the wrong reasons.gical you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin®. because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. try zyrtec®. muddle no more®. parts a and b

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it's primary day in west virginia and nebraska. donald trump now the lone candidate for the republicans and hillary clinton still battling bernie sanders but clinton now has a more clear battle line drawn with trump over the economy. trump saying this week he has an agenda of tax cuts on top of his plan to eliminate the u.s. debt. joining us is gene sperling. economic advisor to obama and clinton. thanks very much, gene, for joining us. what's wrong with reducing taxes, which is what trump says he wants to do as opposed to raising taxes because i think hillary clinton's position is in certain key areas for the wealthy to increase taxes. >> well, donald trump has a plan, no doubt. it is by far the most risky, reckless, and unfair t

proposal we probably have ever seen and wolf, i'll give you a couple of facts. the independent tax policy center estimates and this is hard to get your arms around, your mind around, that his plan would increase the debt by $45 trillion. not billion, trillion, over 20 years and he would give more in his tax cuts to the top 1,000s of americans making over $5 million. he would give more to the top 1 tenth than to the bottom 60% of all americans put together. that is just extraordinary. and he would have the very top hedge fund managers, the top lawyers, the top real estate deal makers like himself paying a rate of only 15%. they would be paying lower taxes under his plan than middle class

people pay today, than many would pay under his plan. nobody needs to write about he's changing positions or flip-flopping. he's sometimes misleading and deceptive but his plan stayed steadfast in being an incredibly regressive plan that benefits the most well off millionaires in our countries at the expense of middle class and hard working families who are looking for a more fair economy, more shared prosperity. >> his plan would reduce the tax rates for virtually everyone going down from 39% to 25%. middle class tax rates would go down. business tax rates would go down. that would stimulate the economy, there would be job growth. more revenue comes in to the government. that's his argument. take a look at this. there's the quinnipiac poll. who's better at handling the

economy and three thrkey states trump is better 54% and hillary clinton, 40%. in ohio, 52% for trump and 40% for hillary clinton, in pennsylvania, 51% say trump is better at handling the economy than hillary clinton. she's down at 42%. if it's the economy, stupid as you guys suggested back in '92 when bill clinton was running for president, she's got a problem in those three states. >> you know, wolf, with all respect, you're making a big deal out of one poll that's out today and i'll tell you what we'll be talking about this campaign. you'll have barack obama and bill clinton out there reminding people that under democratic administration, you had the strongest job growth. you've had deficits going down, not up, and i think the more people understand donald trump's plans, the recklessness you've seen on him flirting with default, just this weekend, his cluelessness as to why that could lead to a global meltdown but then when they see the

contrast, hillary clinton today in kentucky talking about child care, kitchen table economic issues that affect whether working families can get ahead and whether women have a chance to both increase their participation in the workforce, versus donald trump who's out there talking about a tax plan that would lower tax rates for billionaires from 39.6% to 15%. the most dramatic and aggressive. >> 25%. >> no, wolf, let's make this clear. if you get business income or partnership income, most of the well off people. >> we're talking about basic income. >> no, wolf. no, wolf. no, wolf. for people who make the most money, corporate lawyers, hedge funds, they get partnership and escort income and that would go to 15%. so if you want to accurately report what he is offering to

the most well off americans like himself, it is lowering the tax rate all the way to 15%. >> so bottom line, why is he doing better according to this quinnipiac university poll than hillary clinton is on the economy? >> you know, wolf, i'm a policy guy, not a pollster but i saw a poll at 12% . as people understand her plan, they're going to realize she is the one who champions middle class family every day. child care, talking about lowering college costs, paid family leave, a jobs plan that focuses on infrastructure, manufacturing, modernizing and renovating energy efficiency in our country versus donald trump who has blusered around and shifts position but when you look on the black and white, they are offering $3 trillion to people who make over $1 million. one last fact, wolf.

the amount of money that donald trump gives in his tax plan to people who make over a million dollars would be enough to make medicare and social security solvent for the next 75 years. that's quite a value choice he's making in terms of the most well off, the most fortunate, the mo most well connected and struggling even in a stronger economy for years and years to see the type of shared prosperity and wage gains since the year 2000 that they deserve and need. >> an economic advisor to hillary clinton, former economic advisor to both presidents, clinton and obama. gene, thanks for coming? >> thank you very much, wolf. appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, bernie sanders holding a rally right now in california. all while voters in west virginia could give him a potential boost tonight. why isn't he there? we'll talk to his campaign manager, jeff weaver, standing by live. and i said "come to class, let's start walking together"

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take a look at these live pictures of the bernie sanders campaign stop in stockton, california. right now, the battle today between bernie sanders and hillary clinton is taking place in west virginia which is holding its primary. a new poll taken among voters in three key swing states shows sanders edging out donald trump in a head to head match-up in all three states. clinton only beats trump in two of those three states. i want to bring in jeff weaver, the bernie sanders campaign manager. thank you so much for joining us. obviously, all within the margin of error but can you parlay sanders lead in those three

polls in these three key battleground states? we're talking about pennsylvania, ohio, and florida. he does better against trump than hillary clinton does. can you convince super delegates in the democratic party to switch and go with him as opposed to her? >> that's the point we've been making, wolf. the polls have been consistent for months as well as state level polls that bernie sanders does better against donald trump than secretary clinton. i think these three polls today are extremely troubling. you have the secretary losing in ohio. up by 1 in florida and pennsylvania. trump is w he's winning all three against trump and neither one is going to the convention with enough pledge delegates. super delegates decide who the winner is and i think this is compelling evidence why bernie sanders would- be a much better

candidate. >> we'll see if they're consistent with the quinnipiac university poll but let's talk a bit about taxes for a moment. donald trump, he says he wants to reduce taxes for everybody. the highest wage earner is going down from 39.6% to 25%. how high does bernie sanders want that highest wage earner to be taxed? >> his highest rate is 52%. that's for people over $10 million a year in earnings. that's a small group of people who would be paying that highest rate. but look, the truth is that almost all new wealth and income is going top 1% in the country and those people should be paying their fair share of taxes. we've seen stories where you have wealthy investors and others paying lower than secretaries. it's not right. it's not sustainable. and you can't run a country like that. >> what about people making more than $250,000 a year? would their income go up from

39.6%? >> it's graduated. it's a progressive system. but above 250, it goes up a couple of points and then would lift the cap on income above 250 so that we not only save social security for the long term but also expand benefits for people at the bottom who are making very, very little right now. a lot of seniors are trying to get by at $11,000, $12,000 an income a year, wolf, and you just can't do it. the cost of the kind of goods and services that they buy, largely health care, keep going up much faster than the cost of everything else. the coalers aren't keeping up and they fall further and further behind. >> he's campaigning, as we mentioned, in california today. june 7th is the primary there. you made it clear he's staying in this race until at least the convention, right? >> absolutely. we anticipate it will be beyond the convention, wolf. there's a general election in november. but yes, he's been campaigning all over the country. he's going to campaign for every

vote, for every delegate. he's going to go to the convention, hopefully with a pledge delegate lead but certainly having had closed the gap substantially with the secretary. and then i think he's going to have to make the case which he will make. the quinnipiac polls today are, again, a good justification for why super delegates, you know, many of whom, wolf, announce to the secretary before there was even the campaign going on. so, you know, they really haven't had a chance to look at this race and to really judge the candidate side by side who can best lead the democrats in the fall. keep the white house and expand democratic numbers in the house and senate. >> jeff weaver is the bernie sanders campaign manager. thank you for coming in. >> my pleasure as always, wolf. it's a major issue out there on the campaign trail now. tomorrow night, anderson cooper and dr. sanjay gupta will hold a special town hall on prescription drug abuse in america. that's a special on cnn. ted cruz, he's back up on

capitol hill today. the texas senator suspended his campaign for the white house but still plans to play a big role in the republican convention. we're going to tell you what he's saying today when we come back. cancer...

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senator marco rubio has been speaking at the think tank here and he was commenting on donald trump's campaign. >> my policy differences are well established and said them often and those remain. i hope they'll be addressed, but those remain. that said, i don't view myself as a guy to sit here for the next 7 months taking shots at him. people know where i stand and

our differences are. he's the nominee of the republican party, via the voters. i respect that and accept it. but that's not going to change the reservations i have about his campaign or about some of the policies that he's established. but i'm not insisting he change anything. he needs to be true to who he is and that's what he believes in and maybe he'll have a chance to make that argument to the american people. >> congress, meanwhile, back at work here in washington and up on capitol hill but the talk in the halls isn't necessarily about legislation. a lot of that talk involves donald trump and how republicans in congress are reacting to him being the presumptive presidential nominee. manu raju is our senior political reporter joining us live from capitol hill. what are you hearing up there, manu? is anybody coming out to support donald trump? >> reporter: not quite at this point, wolf. people say, i guess he's the nominee.

i guess we'll support him. they caught up quickly with rand paul, the kentucky senator saying, i'll support donald trump because i pledge to support the republican nominee. others wouldn't take questions about him. mark kirk of illinois in a very difficult senate race said i'm not taking questions about donald trump today and some said they want trump to do more outreach. in maine, asked about whether she'll support donald trump and she said that trump needs to change his rhetoric and incendiary rhetoric and to give a clearer vision where he wants to take the country. so that's really just showing the hurdle that donald trump has in getting sort of the party establishment to line up behind him because right now, it's looking like a difficult sell on capitol hill, wolf. >> senator ted cruz suspended his campaign last month an sad d he'll hold on to texas, oklahoma delegates. why is that? >> it looks like there's a lot

of ill will still from this very bitter contentious campaign. in that interview with glenn beck earlier today, he really criticized donald trump. he did not put out an olive branch at all towards trump, actually suggested, didn't even suggest or get back in the race if there was a viable path for him to take the nomination. here's a little bit more, wolf, of what he had to say. >> the voters in the primary have seem to have made a choice and we'll see what happens as the months go forward, but i think we need to watch and see what the candidates say and do. >> reporter: it will be interesting, wolf, how much is actually positioning to 2020 if donald trump does not win in 2016 because we'll know that 2020 race begin and see ted cruz and marco rubio back on the stump. wolf? >> i see trump just tweeted an hour ago, he said i look very much forward to meeting with paul ryan and the gop party leaders on thursday in dc. together, we will beat the dems

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donald trump's proposal to ban temporarily ban muslims from entering the united states now soured relations with one of the most senior muslim politicians in europe. sadiq khan is the first muslim mayor of london. today, he condemned donald trump for the suggestion the mayor could be an exception to the u.s. muslim ban he put on the table. our international correspondent joining us live now from london. the potential relationship already off to a relatively bad start. what else has khan said about donald trump and the overall situation? >> reporter: wolf, sadiq khan isn't interested in being donald trump's exception. he says the issue is not whether he can visit the united states but the fact that under donald

trump's proposed policy that no muslim will be able to visit the united states. so it's not about sadiq khan and his family, his friends, indeed, muslim community. but he said it's the policy. and he wants donald trump to rethink it. this was sadiq khan in london earlier today. >> i think donald trump has ignorant views about islam. not just about me but said i'm the exception to his rule but if you're a muslim from any part of the world, you can't go to the usa. my point is this. there are many muslims that want to go to america to disneyland or business people or want to be students in america. >> reporter: ignorant views about islam. pretty strong stuff, really, but more than that, sadiq khan believes that donald trump through this policy is making both the united states and the united kingdom less safe because

he is alienating mainstream muslims and therefore, playing in to the extremist narrative in that way. but sadiq khan is simply the latest high profile british politician to criticize this whole deal. remember, in parliament, at the time that donald trump was first suggesting this, the british prime minister, david cameron described this policy as divisive, stupid, and wrong and he stands by those remarks, wolf. >> phil black in london for us, thank you very much. coming up, we're going to bring you, take you inside syria right now to witness the growing presence of russian military forces. we're going to live to damascus as a cnn crew inside north korea's secretive congress. we go to pyongyang, north korea, as well.

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ceasefire in effect in the syrian city of aleppo after

extended a second time. both the u.s. and russia instrument nal trying to secure these truces but questions remain about russia's political motivation. in march, the russian president vladimir putin called for the majority of forces in syria to return home to russia but as senior international correspondent fred pleitgen found out the presence of russian forces is bigger than you might think. >> reporter: this is the russian intervention the world has come to know. but rush why's footprint in syria seems to be far bigger than just combat jets. there are thousands of troops stationed at its main air base disciplined and highly motivated. we caught up with this first lieutenant during his boxing practice. i'm glad to serve my country here he says and i'm not afraid. what is there to be afraid of in syria? the west said the air strikes target mostly moderate

anti-assad rebels. the russians claiming they bomb only isis and other terror groups. but while moscow says it's withdrawn most forces from syria, we saw what appeared several bases in western and central syria with a variety of attack helicopters. also, a brand-new base for its demining crews with dozens of fighting vehicles and even anti-aircraft missile systems. on top of its own assets, the military spokesman said the forces closely cooperate with assad's troops. we receive a great deal of information from the syrian general staff, he says. they're on the ground and close to the rebels. as for the military technical cooperation, of course, we help them, as well. none of this seems to indicate a full russian withdrawal from syria any time soon and for many in damascus, that's just fine. the people here in the

government-held part of damascus seem to be very well aware to the extent of the russian military helping the assad forces and say there's going to be a solution to the syrian crisis, it has to come from syrians themselves and not from outside powers. violence still rages in most of the country. conciliation seems nowhere in sight and neither is an end of rush why's involvement in the conflict. >> fred is joining us live now from damascus. fred, russians say they're the guests. do they follow the lead of government forces, or do these russian troops act on their own authority? >> reporter: they absolutely act on their own authority, wolf. a thing that struck us when we were going around syria, they're with the russians is ease with which they move there and don't ask the syrians for permission to go anywhere. they might tell them they're going somewhere and they fly wherever they want, drive wherever they want and they have access to any sort of area that

is controlled by the syrian government at this point in time. and, you know, one of the big questions asking is why they have so many ground forces around the country. and some of it could be for force protection but, of course, one of the reasons nor that is that they have such a big footprint now. that new base is pretty big, it's state of the art, very well maintained and needs a substantial force to be able to protect it, as well. a lot more hardware there on the ground and the russians and one thing we didn't see, wolf, an army that seems to be ready to leave very soon. in fact, the opposite seems to be the case. >> do they release numbers? how many russian troops are still on the ground? >> reporter: it's impossible to tell at this point. there's no real numbers out there. there are some people saying they believe it's between 6,000 and 8,000 at this point in time and difficult to tell. the u.s., for instance, believes that the russians might be moving artillery in the aleppo area. they haven't confirmed that so

it's difficult to tell but i would say from what we saw it's at least several thousands on the ground there for the russians, wolf. >> all right. thank you. in north korea today hundreds of thousands flocked to the main square in pyongyang for a parade for the end of the worker's party congress, the first in decades. during the historic meeting the leader got a new title and a tighter grip on power. cnn's will ripley is inside north korea. he was at the congress for us. will? >> reporter: wolf, a dramatic finish to the first worker's party's congress in 36 years. two huge celebrations in the square. one in fact morning attended by this country's supreme leader kim jong-un and waving from the stands to hundreds of thousands of north koreans who have been practicing for months to make sure every move is perfect. in the evening, the teenagers did the same thing, except they were holding up torches, dancing

and there was a huge fireworks display all of this to celebrate what happened over the weekend at the seventh congress of the worker's party of congress and very little trance pay sy in the government aside from updates on state television. we came here to cover it, pushing for access and final day of the congress, a handful of us told to board a bus, put on suits and bring our passports but we didn't know where we were going. we passed the security check and rows of bodyguards and then we entered the venue where the congress was being held. we balked in and homes later, the leader and his highest level party officials took the stage and when it was announced he has this brand-new title, created for him to give him even more authority and hard to imagine him getting more power in a country where he already has absolute power. the vote as you might expect was yunanimous as the votes always are here in north korea and the citizens that had no direct role

in the process, the 5,000 delegates in attendance, everybody else to watch, listen and accept what the government was telling them and nonetheless people on the streets were saying they're happy that their leader has a new position and they say they agree with his strategy to try to grow in nation's impoverished economy and invest billions on developing and even bigger and stronger nuclear arsenal even meaning heightened international sanctions and hardship for the people saying they support him and here in north korea what else would they say? wolf? >> thanks very much. that's it for me. the news continues next on cnn. wolf blitzer, thank you so much. i'm brooke baldwin. you're warming cnnon this tuesday. we begin with a surprise twist in the race for president, a republican source