african-american man to be elected president was extraordinary in the face of real focused enslavement and then jim crowe and segregation and this kind of racism we've been struggling with since our founding. it has been millennia for women around the globe, not just in the united states, but the refusal to accept that a woman could be the leader in her community is much more broadly shared around the globe and the history of that is far longer. i think it makes a difference but still historic. >> i have to leave it there. thank you, terry o'neil. nice to have you and toss it over to my pal, wolf blitzer, who starts now. hello, i'm wolf blitzer.

1:00 p.m. in washington and 8:00 p.m. in crete, greece. wherever you're watching around the world, thank you very much for joining us. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> hillary clinton has broken through. it was eight years ago today that she dropped out of the 2008 presidential race. at the time, she applauded her supporters making what she called 18 million cracks in the ultimate glass ceiling and now she's smashed that barrier and became the first woman to be the presumptive presidential nominee for a major american political party. with the historic moment fresh many her minds, millions of americans get their chance to vote in this presidential election. looking at live pictures from new jersey to california, six states vote today with 694 democratic delegates at stake. while hillary clinton celebrates her historic first, senator bernie sanders said he'll keep on fighting but the outcome of the primaries today could say a lot about that fight and about how hard it will be to achieve

democratic party unity. meanwhile, on the republican side, donald trump is not backing down on this very controversial comments aimed at a federal judge's mexican heritage. an issue dividing the republican party. today, the house speaker, paul ryan, stood by trump as the party's candidate, but he totally disavowed the statements as a classic definition of textbook racism. >> i disavow these comments, regret those comments he made. i don't think, claiming a person can't do the job is like a textbook definition of the racist comment. it's absolutely unacceptable. but do i believe hillary clinton is the answer? no, i do not. do i believe that hillary clinton is going to be the answer to solving these problems, i do not. i believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day and we have more likelihood of getting policies enacted with him than we do with her. >> manu raju up on capitol hill

at that paul ryan news conference earlier this morning. manu, we just heard paul ryan clearly disavow donald trump's comments on the federal judge. he's also still standing by donald trump. but is he backing away from the support at all? >> reporter: no. a lot of republicans, most republicans on capitol hill that we have spoken with over the last day are still supporting donald trump even as they are very critical of his comments. one large reason, wolf, they really need donald trump supporters to come out in the fall, not just to take back the white house but keep control of congress and the last thing they need in their view is to be at war with their party's nominee. it's better to sort of rein donald trump in and get on the same page than undercut him and disavow him and his candidacy. one thing paul ryan did say at this press conference he's pushing forward on his own party's election year agenda. i asked him if he is concerned that donald trump's comments

will continue to undercut his party's election agenda and he made it clear that he is very, very worried. >> i do think these kind of comments undercut these things and not going to pretend to defend them. i'm going to defend our agenda and the likelihood of getting ideas into law are more likely if we're unified. i see it as my job to keep my party unified. if we go into the fall like that, we are due to lose. >> reporter: how donald trump is going to rectify these comments. he's saying he's going to double down, triple down. he thinks he's on the right side of the issue but if he does, more backlash from his party. right now, as we noted, the party is still backing him and hopes he cleans up his rhetoric going forward. >> a lot of criticism of donald trump for those comments. manu, thank you very much. what happens next for donald trump?

let's talk about this and more with katrina pierson, the national spokeswoman for the trump campaign. thank you very much for joining us. >> great to be here. >> you just heard the speaker of the house. the highest ranking republican in congress saying that what donald trump said about this federal judge, judge curiel is in his words, the textbook definition of a racist comment. your reaction. >> i think if you take just that one statement, then paul ryan is probably just addressing that without considering the judicial activism that is aligned with it. but i'll say this. when it comes to november, wolf, people are not going to be concerned with what the media is saying donald trump said or how he said it. they'll think about their futures. they'll think about jobs, the economy, are we safe? and do we have someone we can trust to put the best interests of the american people first and come november, that choice will be donald trump. >> has donald trump reached out to the speaker of the house since then and said, let's talk about this, i want to explain my

thinking. clearly, the speaker is very angry. >> i don't know if they've had a discussion at this point regarding that particular issue, but mr. trump and the speaker have been in communications for quite some time and i'm sure that's going to remain. >> this is what donald trump's own lawyer said about the federal judge curiel only last month when he was emerging from a procedure. listen to this. >> you know, the judge is doing his job and we're not seeking to recuse the judge. we're trying to assert our rights, and i think the court today did a job of trying to balance out the interests. >> he said the judge is doing his job and the judge in the court did a good job at trying to balance out the competing interest. here's the question, katrina. if donald trump's own legal team doesn't seem to have a problem with this federal judge, why is

donald trump continuing to push this issue? >> well, look, mr. trump can continue to have an opinion on this issue. and point out those specifics. these lawyers are the individuals that have to deal with the judge and this court on a daily basis. now, to their legal strategy, that i can't answer for you, wolf. >> clearly, donald trump, if he really had a problem with this federal judge, he could order his legal team to file a motion to have the judge removed from the case to recuse himself. that has not happened. >> well, again, i mean, this has to do with the legal strategy of the case. i wouldn't be able to answer legal questions for you. >> the criticism is also continuing from senator lindsey graham, as you know, he was a republican presidential candidate. he told the new york times, and i'm quoting now, this is the most un-american thing from a politician since joe mccarthy. if anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it. he clearly jumped to the

off-ramp after suggesting in recent days he was going to go along with the trump nomination. now he said, he's no longer able to. >> i think this is clear why lindsey graham didn't do well when he ran for president and why mr. trump is the nominee considering how most republicans do turn, tuck their tail at the first hint. the media and the left are obsessed with race. republicans are always attacked with race at the front of the issue and they always back down. donald trump is a fighter. he feels there is an injustice occurring here. he'll fight back and that's why he's the nominee and lindsey graham is not. >> it was donald trump who brought up the issue of the judge's mexican heritage. it wasn't the media that brought it up. he brought it up first. >> wolf, it's the media that was talking about trump university. it was the media pushing the alleged fraud in the case and mr. trump was stating a number of reasons why he feels like this case had not been thrown out as it should be,

particularly as the plaintiffs of the case have all been outed as happy with the courses they took and appreciative. complaints like we needed softer chairs or bring in sandwiches. that is hardly a case for fraud. >> i could understand if he felt there were problems with the way the judge was adjudicating those issues but he was the one who said he's a mexican. he's the one who raised that first. >> right, because the question is why do you think he's being unfair, and i think it is fair to say, considering how we do have a culture in this country that puts up people like black lives matter, who insist that ethnicity is important and the media that is saying 80% of hispanics don't like mr. trump and then decisions in this case have been changed actually hurting mr. trump's cases and the fact that this is tied to lawyer's associations, for example, the national lawyer's association that has been boycotting donald trump, not to mention the la ra sa lawyer's

association that has lawyers that go around training lawyers how to abjud kat the law with illegal aliens and mr. trump's case in the bias decision are not being discussed in this discussion with the judge. >> but you agree it was donald trump who brought up the whole issue of his mexican heritage. he was the one who brought it up first. >> well, he was asked the question. why does he think the judge is being unfair? and i think it is important to talk about the policies that mr. trump has in connection to the organizations that this judge is connecting to. i mean, look, in the tiller case, you had pro abortion people who wanted a judge to recuse himself because he had made statements he couldn't even remember about being pro-life. a judge is not even supposed to give the appearance of bias and in this case, it's all over the place. >> here's the question, katrina. it's a sensitive issue. he's a member of the national hispanic bar association, like

so many other lawyers out there. what's wrong with that? antonin scalia was a lifelong activist, italian american organizations. other federal judges are active in other organizations. there's no evidence he personally was involved in any boycott. this is the judge who was targeted by a mexican cartel, arnold schwarzenegger, when he was governor of california, no, ma'am naominated this judge and president obama nominated him for a federal judge and unanimously confirmed by all democrats and republicans in the senate. this is the judge with a sterling reputation. >> well, that doesn't change the fact that he is still associated with these organizations, one that did to boycott donald trump and that has been active against mr. trump and closely affiliated with another organization that plans protests against trump rallies. that is clear, obviously, could be a potential bias and that's

all mr. trump is saying. >> michael reagan is the son of late president ronald reagan and tweeted, and a pointed tweet, he tweeted that ronald reagan would not be voting for donald trump during california's republican primary and said he wouldn't be voting for donald trump in california's republican primary today and he also said his late father, the president, ronald reagan, probably wouldn't either. this is the son of ronald reagan. that must be a very particularly painful rebuke for donald trump given his admiration for ronald reagan. >> no, i don't think so at all. everyone can try to assume what somebody else would do, but you simply can't do that. i think it's unfortunate that he would go far to assume that because he doesn't know what ronald reagan would do because, in fact, i think ronald reagan would probably support mr. trump considering how he has been a republican who has been out there who has broadened the republican base and broadened

new voters and won in states that republicans don't usually win and doing very well. the people have spoken. mr. trump has broken the record in republican party turnout and i believe ronald reagan would support his nominee. >> you think that someone who never met ronald reagan, i assume you never met, you know better how he would think than his own son? >> no, what i'm saying, his own son wouldn't know what he would possibly do because we have a lot of individuals who we would assume wouldn't support mr. trump and who have, but i think it's safe to say you could assume either way. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, wolf. >> coming up, voters in six states including the delegate-rich california, they're heading to the polls right now. live pictures coming in from san francisco. the voting comes a day after hillary clinton has made history, shattering the political glass ceiling to become the first woman to effectively clinch a major party's nomination for president of the united states.

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had strong words about the republican party. he thinks the democrats will be able to unite after this primary process is over but the republicans, he said, they have some issues right now. let's listen to what the white house press secretary said. >> republicans on the other hand wrapped up their nomination process early. but apparently, it was early enough to allow the republican speaker of the house to basically call the republican presidential nominee a racist and have the republican governor of new jersey try to defend him. >> an historic day. for the first time ever, hillary clinton has effectively clinched the democratic nomination, an accomplishment she adds to lengthy resume as a former secretary of state, former u.s. senator, former first lady of the united states. let's talk about that with

christina shahkey with the hillary for america campaign. thank you very much for joining us. she was in a response last night when the projection came in that she got enough delegates to effectively capture the nomination, become the presumptive nominee. why not celebrate right away? >> obviously, it was very good news that we heard last night when some of these organizations started to already declare her the democratic nominee. but you know, it was really important to hillary to honor this primary process. six states are voting today including big important states like california, my home state, and new jersey and millions of people go to the polls and wanted to make sure their voices were heard in this process. she wanted to honor those votes and not to get ahead of that. >> a week from today, the sanders campaign keeps pointing out is the district of columbia, the last contest the democrats have a chance to vote for their nominee here in washington, dc.

they don't have a chance to vote for members of congress that can actually vote. will the secretary, will hillary clinton wait until after next tuesday when the washington, dc democrats have a chance to vote before declaring victory? >> you know, wolf, of course she's encouraging new people in the district of columbia to vote. but we expect tonight to be a very historic night and for hillary to go above the number of pledge delegates to become the democratic nominee. you know, wolf, i think you heard hillary talk about her mother so often during this race from the day she announced, she talked about the influence of dorothy on her life. and i think it's very meaningful her mom was born on june 4th, 1919, the day that the united states congress ratified the amendment that gave women the right to vote and here we are 97 years and 3 days later and her daughter is on the cusp of becoming the first woman ever to be nominated by a major party to be president of the united

states. that's a remarkable journey for this country and i think tonight will be a really important night. >> exactly eight years ago today she conceded to then senator barack obama and realized she didn't have enough pledge and super delegates to become the democratic nominee. timing fascinating. you heard donald trump's recent remarks about the federal judge involving trump university, the house speaker paul ryan spoke out rather bluntly about it claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. i think that should be absolutely disavowed. but then he went on to say this, and we'll put it up on the screen as well. he said, do i believe that hillary clinton is going to be the answer to solving these problems? i do not. i believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him,

meaning donald trump, than we do with her. so what's your reaction to what the speaker had to say? >> you know, i just think this speaks to the disarray on the republican side. they have chosen their nominee, but we've seen republican leader after republican leader just express a lot of frustration and disappointment with his words and his behavior. we saw, as you reported on the son of ronald reagan said he will not be voting for trump today in the california primary and if his father was alive, he didn't believe he would vote for him either. i think the republicans have a real problem on their hand with a very divisive, dangerous nominee that a lot of people feel uncomfortable with. newt gingrich, has spoken about as a vice president possibility for trump, and we saw him come out and say that what he said about the judge was absolutely wrong. so i think on the republican side, they have a real problem unifying their party. a lot of people feel very uncomfortable with trump as the nominee. i think in contrast, we're coming out of the democratic

nomination process really with an energized party and really have so much more that unites us than divides us. we're coming in energized to the general election. >> what's your message today to senator bernie sanders? >> you know, hillary has said this over and over. there's so much more that unites us than divides us as democrats and so much at stake in this election and she's going to work really hard to listen, to reach out of the and work to unify the party. no one understands better the position he's in than hillary. she ran a really spirited race in 2008 and came up short and it was a really hard process and, you know, bernie sanders has been an incredible candidate. he has run such a great campaign. he has got millions of people into this process. he's brought energy and she respects the race he's run and proud of what they've done

together on the democratic side. so she feels confident that democrats are going to come together because there's so much at stake and we have to do so much together to make sure trump never makes it into the oval office. >> we know the president had a phone conversation over the weekend. has the president had a phone conversation with hillary clinton in the last few days as well? >> no, no. not that i know of. she's been working her heart out doing all she can to earn every vote there and we don't know about the private conversation between him and senator sanders, but you know, we really feel very confident that we as a party will come together because we're running against a candidate who wants to deport 11 million hard working immigrants, who wants to criminalize women's health care choices. there's a lot at stake and we have to come together to protect president obama's legacy and build on the progress he's made for this country. >> kristina schake, thank you.

>> thank you, wolf. up next, to the polls. we take you live to polling stations in california and new jersey to see what voters are up to right now. and to hear what they're thinking on this. the final super tuesday of this presidential race. your heart loves omega-3s. but the omega-3s in fish oil differ from megared krill oil. unlike fish oil, megared is easily absorbed by your body. megared. the difference is easy to absorb. if yo...well do i haveen it all, a surprise for you. it's red lobster's new lobster and shrimp summerfest! with the lobster and shrimp... ...you love in so many new dishes, you're gonna wanna try... ...every last one. like the new coastal lobster & shrimp. with a wood-grilled lobster tail, ...wild-caught red shrimp crusted with panko, ...and shrimp fresh off the grill and brushed with... ...summer ale bbq sauce.

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millions of americans head to the polls right now. the final super tuesday in the six month primary season with six states holding their contest today that includes california. stephanie elam in los angeles for us. hillary clinton urged voters to still go to the polls today even though she's effectively

clinched the presidential nomination. are folks listening out there? >> reporter: yeah, they are. in fact, take a look behind me, wolf. we're at one of the 4500 polling places here in los angeles county and despite the fact it's middle of the day, people are still coming in here. we're in mid city los angeles where there's a densely populated area here and people are showing up to vote. what's interesting about here in california, according to the secretary of state, there are 17.9 million registered voters in california. that's 72% of the eligible population in the state that's also registered and we know there are 400,000 mail-in ballots. they sent out 407 and here in california, it's open on the democratic side. meaning, if you're not a registered democrat, you can still come in and vote for who you would like to be president. but on the republican side, it is closed. you have to be registered already here. so we are seeing people who are turning up here today and as you can see, folks taking care of

their civic duties here, wolf. >> that's what they do on an election day here in the united states. they go out and vote. thank you very much, stephanie, for that. up next, hillary clinton and history. i'll speak with one congresswoman what it means to her, what the results in her home state could mean to the democratic party. stay with us. e power to turn back time ♪ ♪ so let's restart the show that started at nine ♪ ♪ and while we're at it, let's give you back your 'do ♪ ♪ and give her back the guy she liked before you ♪ ♪ hey, that's the power to turn back time. ♪ (vo) get the ultimate all-included bundle. call 1-800-directv.

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effective at a cellular level. improve joint comfort. cosamin. for joint health, it's time to start believing again. right now, six states across the united states are voting in the last super tuesday contest. 694 democratic delegates are at stake today. the majority are clearly in california. live pictures from polling stations in san francisco. polls close tonight at 11 p.m. in california. 8:00 p.m. on the west coast.

let's talk a little bit more about what's going on in the california primary. the role it plays both in history being made by hillary clinton and the narrative of the democratic party. joining us from berkeley, california, democratic congresswoman, barb ara lee. thank you for joining us. >> i'm happy to be with you today. exciting day in california. >> i can only imagine. correct me if i'm wrong, largely neutral in this contest between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. i assume you voted today. can you tell us who you voted for? >> wolf, it's not important who i voted for. what's important, i think, is to make sure that we have party unity. i'm a member of the drafting committee for the platform and what i want to do and what i have maintained all along is that myself, as a member of congress, want to help unify the party, bring the party together to defeat donald trump because we know who he is, what he stands for, and how these views will be translathed into the

funding priorities of our country. that can't happen. very scary and we also want input into our platform. we have a web site. it's dem.convention/platform and it's going to be very important that the 15 of us writing that platform hear from the public because i am so excited about the momentum and numbers of people that have voted and we want to come out of that platform committee with a unified platform. >> as you know, the democratic leader in the house, your fellow california, nancy pelosi endorsed hillary clinton for the first time. she had stayed neutral. are you ready to do the same thing today, to say you're with hillary clinton right now. >> wolf, as i stated earlier, i am going to make sure that i am part of the team that's going to try to bring unity to the party and i really appreciate all the endorsements on both sides. but myself, as congresswoman

barbara lee, i intend to make no endorsement and continue to work to help unify my party. i have to have some credibility. i understand the issues on both sides. i know how we need to move the party forward and so proud of the young people, the progressives, people of color. all of our democrats who have voted. all of our independents who voted. it's so important that we move out of this convention, unified and as i say, a member of the drafting committee of the platform. it would not be appropriate for me to make an endorsement. >> have you accepted the fact that she is now the presumptive democratic presidential nominee? >> wolf, i think the facts speak for themselves. we know how to count. we know what the numbers are. but once again, my position and what i wanted to do personally is make sure we defeat donald trump and that means making sure that everyone comes together regardless of which side one is on to have a unified platform that's progressive and everyone can endorse and rally around.

>> you've got a big job, you and your 14 colleagues on the platform committee. thank you very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. still ahead, it's super tuesday. even before the ballots have been counted, hillary clinton has made history. donald trump, in the meantime, he's under fire. lots of fire from the republican establishment. lots of republican leaders over his very controversial comments about a federal judge. stay with us. we're watching. people vote out in california right now. much more coming up right after this. hmmmmm... hmmmmm... the turbocharged dream machine. the volkswagen golf gti. part of the award-winning golf family. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans.

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donald trump increasingly coming under fire from within his own party. the speaker of the house, paul ryan, calling the federal judge's mexican heritage, quote, textbook racism. senator lindsey graham also slamming donald trump. here's what lindsey graham just said to our own manu raju. >> i want mr. trump to be treated fairly in court. but the fact that the lawyers had not asked for the judge to recuse himself speaks volumes. and if they did ask him to step

down, simply because his parents were born in mexico, they would be subject to be sanctioned or disbarred. else there not a valid reason for the judge to recuse himself. the lawyers are probably good at what they do and i think what mr. trump is doing is not consistent with our at worst al process, trying to ruin this man's life and i'll have no part of that. >> do you think it's a racist comment? >> clearly. but it's funny. i don't believe donald trump, with the way he's lived his race, is a racist person but he's playing the race card. he's done that a lot. in the political process, he's throwing the race card on the table to try to undercut the

trump university lawsuit effect on his campaign. >> but it's un-american, in your view. >> i think it's un-american for a political leader to do this to question whether or not a person can be a judge based on their heritage. >> you think your colleagues should consider disavowing trump altogether and abandoning supporting him? >> i can understand why people can't support hillary clinton. i can understand wanting to support the nominee of the party. i just can't personally go there, but i would say that there's, i've been pleased to hear widespread condemnation by republicans that if mr. trump continues this, which is clearly over the top, you may not think it's racist, i do. you may not think it's un-american, i do. but if he continues this, i think they need to reconsider the future of the party whether they should support him. i'll leave that up to the

individuals. >> you think paul ryan should too? >> paul's a great guy. he's a stand-up guy and he's going to have to. if mr. trump continues to do this, then he's putting the future of the republican party in play. he's stepping on some pretty sa sackrisanct concepts. >> speaking with manu raju on spoil. more with david gregory, host of the david gregory show podcast and the washington bureau chief and jackie. are you surprised how this has taken off in the last few days when you have not just lindsey graham but the speaker of the house, the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, all these major republican leaders really condemning donald trump's words about this federal judge? >> it's surprising it's taken off just because this is what they bought.

this was the package that they bought. donald trump has a long history of using race and using gender and religion to malign people and the fact he's doing this again with this judge shouldn't be a surprise to any of these republicans who endorsed him. >> you think he's going to back off at all, donald trump, and do what some are asking him to do, formally apologize to this federal judge? >> there's no reason to believe that he will based on his prior behavior, wolf, but i think it is striking. not just a racist comment, an attack on the rule of law and the judiciary in this country, but it is striking that dan, his lawyer, and one of the leading lawyers in the country, has said that the judge is just doing his job. they have not tried to recuse the judge, which means they don't believe there's a basis to do that. if that's the case and donald trump is not listening to his very accomplished lawyers, again, voters looking at all of this, republican elders looking

at all of this saying, is this a president, president trump, who would discount or not listen to top advisors including a white house counsel if given legal advice for the country? i think that's why this is a clarifying moment. not just on the politics, but what does it say about what kind of president he would be? >> how awkward is it for paul ryan to say this is a textbook definition of racism but then still say he's going to vote for him. >> paul ryan, he only has himself to blame on this. he really had sort of struck a cord saying, until donald trump proves to me he's someone i can vote for, i'm not going to vote for him. and did this last week and every day, donald trump does something else to make paul ryan regret that. but this, he came out so forcefully, this afternoon against donald trump. really. >> what's striking is that republican leaders are in a very awkward position where they have to hedge because they don't know whether trump is the end of the

beginning or the beginning of the end. he could crash and burn and be done and rebuild the republican party or he is the republican party. in which case if speaker ryan wants to remain the speaker and wants republicans in control, he needs for trump supporters to support his candidates out there. that's the pretzel he's in. he's making a decision based on the future of the party and certainly congress. >> is it too late for a serious republican with name recognition, with money out there, with credibility to emerge as a third party candidate right now? >> it certainly seems like it at this point because not just put themselves out there, as you said, they would be defying the will of the republican voter. marco rubio said this just the other day. this is who the voters sent us. they've spoken. he blew away a competition of 17 people and this is what they're left with. and the republicans are grappling day by day to live

with this. >> i agree, it's too late, but it's not too late for the republicans to take a longer view and for >> hillary clinton's clearly now the presumptive democratic nominee. she's got the splenlg delegates, super delegates. it's going to be a nasty contest going towards early november. >> we are going to need a hazmat suit it will be so toxic because you have already sort of seen them start to go at each other and imagine it gets worse. >> i just think there's sharp differences here. trump is wasting an opportunity to expose her weaknesses. i think in the realm of political malpractice, that's what so many republicans are concerned with. >> he may be vulnerable on several issues but she is pretty vulnerable, too. >> this is a big target on both sides which i think to david's

point is confounding republicans because they want to be -- their primary is over. they have been wanting to just start training the fire on hillary clinton but donald trump fighting an odd two-fronts party against the party that nominated him and the democrats and got to be frustrating. >> thanks so much, jackie. david gregory, thanks to you, as well. u.s. aircraft carrier pounding isis from the mediterranean sea. we'll take you on board, we'll speak the troops carrying out the long, intensive bombing runs inside iraq and syria. your heart loves omega-3s. but the omega-3s in fish oil differ from megared krill oil. unlike fish oil, megared is easily absorbed

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♪ no, you're not ♪ yogonna watch it! ♪tch it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download on the goooooo! ♪ ♪ you'll just have to miss it! ♪ yeah, you'll just have to miss it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download... uh, no thanks. i have x1 from xfinity so... don't fall for directv. xfinity lets you download your shows from anywhere. i used to like that song. u.s. aircraft carrier moved to the mediterranean to be closer to isis targets in syria and iraq and already able to ramp up u.s.-led air strikes. our senior international

correspondent fred pleitgen is aboard the carrier. he shows us the activity in action. >> reporter: on the "uss harry truman." jets taking off every few minutes to hit isis. now from a better position than before. the "trueman" move from the persian gulf to the mediterranean sea, much closer to syria. we spoke to f-18 pilots. >> it was a close air support mission so we don't know the targets prior to taking off. it happened to be a few targets we struck those targets. >> reporter: the u.s. says the air strikes are having a major effect as allied forces on the ground continue to win back territory if the extremists in fallujah in iraq and northern syria. american jets not only hitting isis positions on the front lines, but also, supply lines

and cache warehouses. the u.s. stepped up the bombings of isis targets both in iraq and syria and the "harry truman" plays an important role in the stepped up campaign. now, this it's here in the tr d mediterranean, the jets are closer to the targets to hit. the increased operational tempo and the move to the mediterranean put a strain on the "trueman's" crew. the tour extended by a full month but the admiral says the men and women are still going strong. >> it's a graphic illustration of the flexibility inherent in the forces. we operate anywhere we want to in the world. it happens on this deployment, the priority is support of "operation inherent resolve" in iraq and syria. >> reporter: u.s. commanders believe the coming months are critical now that the group is losing the grip on some of its major strongholds, gains the "truman's" pilots helped pave the way for.

>> we have degraded them and we have destroyed them in many different places all throughout iraq and syria so i feel like we've made a large impact. >> reporter: isis may be weakened but some of the most intense fighting against the group probably still lies ahead and so do many more combat missions for this carrier's jets. >> and fred pleitgen joining us from greece. you are back on the ground, fred. you had a chance to speak with some of the pilots. do they have a sense of how long the whole operation might continue, might last? >> reporter: well, i think a lot of it depends on the ground forces but they say they believe that this something to take a little while longer and within of the reasons they say is because, wolf, trying to be careful with targets they hit and especially places like fallujah and the places in northern syria where the combat is really moving into an urban environment. that's where isis hides behind

the civilian population, use them as human shields. some places. so what the pilots are trying to do and the commanders to try to hit isis and same time rye to make sure they don't have civilian casualties so that means they'll hold back every once in a while and also means to use smaller munitions and 500-pound bombs instead of 1,000-pound bombs to limit the target area and that means they can't hit isis as forcefully as maybe they want to but the main priority is also protecting the civilian population, especially in places like fallujah where they suffered so much. >> going after isis inraqqah, i? >> reporter: yep. absolutely. the "uss harry truman" has 75 jets to go in combat and missions in northern syria and right now where anti-isis forces trying to cut off isis from

turkey, raqqah, mosul and fallujah, as well. some of these missions, wolf, last up to seven hours. >> reporter: fred write again in crete for us, after a xleept report. all right. thanks very much, fred, for that report. that's it for me. the news continues right now here on cnn. wolf, thank you so much. great to be with you all on this tuesday. i'm brooke baldwin. of course this is cnn and this is the final super tuesday of this election season. and now coin siding with a first in the 240 years that the united states has been a nation. hillary clinton is now the first woman to become the presumed presidential nominee of a major political party. cnn's latest count of delegates shows she has secured one