it would compare to apple's devices. other countries could follow the precedent. we have to balance the idea that the terrorists can use encryption outside of apple with the idea that we may be hurting american companies competing globally. are those the four things we're looking at? loretta lynch: the issue is about a criminal investigation into a criminal act and the need to obtain evidence. >> i thought it was that simple and i was with you until i started getting briefed by people in the intel community and i am a person who has been moved by the arguments of the precedent we set and the damage we may do to our own national security so i have moved to any member of the committee who feels passionate about this and

introduce some legislation requiring the technology companies to do what you want the judges to do. i would like to look at it. it's not enough to complain if you think these companies should be required to do this. --'s sit down and and you and introduce legislation but i doubt many people do that. thank you for your fine work on behalf of our country. a.g. lynch: thank you, sir. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you madam attorney general for the excellent work you have been doing and your dedicated and energetic work on behalf of law enforcement over many years. i want to ask about the freedom of access to clinic entrances, the so-called faith act which i was involved in enforcing when i was the attorney general of the state of connecticut. it was passed in 1994 after a particularly troubling time in our nation's history involving

threats and attacks on clinics. it continues to serve a vital role in our nation. recently, the decades long attack on the exercise of reproductive rights has taken the form of a series of highly edited, deceptive, and extremely inflammatory set of videos targeting planned parenthood. could you tell me whether the fbi has noticed an increase in the number of violent incidents targeting abortion providers since the release of those videos beginning in july of 2015? you certainly raise important issues and it's an important enforcement area for the department. believe i have the statistics on the increased number of violations since those videos have surfaced.

we are in connection with the colorado shooting, while the state investigation is proceeding, we are reviewing that as a possible faith act violation but that course -- that case is proceeding as a murder case. it is an active area of enforcement but i don't think i have the information on the data since that particular time period. >> could i ask you to provide any data that is available about the number of incidents and also prosecutions? a.g. lynch: certainly. >> i wonder if you could also tell the committee whether the department of justice is taking any increase enforcement activity with respect to incidents of violence or threatened violence to a clinic. a.g. lynch: with respect -- not limiting to the time since the video for introduced into the public domain but for the past, i would say, 5-6 years, the number of cases we have charged

has increased. we have charged a total of 12 cases criminally and nine cases civilly. that's over the entire course of this administration, not limited to just that time. we have seen that up take certainly over the last 5 or 6 years and we take those cases very seriously and pursue them criminally and civilly. >> thank you, the department of justice has been responsive to a number of requests i have made and i thank you for the responsiveness it has shown. for example, on the general motors investigation for deliberate concealment of the ignition switch defect where prosecution and airbags wereakata a understand there is an ongoing investigation into deliberate ,oncealment of test results

suggesting danger from those airbags, the trinity guardrail investigation for defective and terminals and faulty testing, volkswagen for the use of it device to evade emissions testing, recent indications of potential collusion by airlines on so-called capacity discipline and a number of others. agree that you would the public interest is well served by prompt inclusion of these investigations -- conclusion of these investigations and that where prosecutions, potentially, against individual corporate officers, there is a profoundly important deterrent effect as the deputy attorney general indicated in a memo september 9 of last year. prosecutions against

individuals, corporate officers, where there is evidence and where there is proof the on reasonable doubt, will encourage compliance with the law by corporations and those individuals and that will be to the good of not only the public in general but also the corporations, shareholders, and its employees. and lynch: we certainly do we feel the new individual accountability policy which essentially puts the onus on those corporations wanting to cooperate to also provide information about individual wrongdoing and also requires that we make sure that we are considering those issues in every corporate case. we think that's a very important part in the issues you raise. for corporate accountability as well as public knowledge. >> i have also asked for an investigation of eversource with

visasional misuse of h-1 and you could respond to that request perhaps it is possible to do so. a.g. lynch: certainly, sir. finally aboutsk the so-called charleston loophole. i know you are familiar with the situation that enabled dylan r oof to buy the firearm he used to massacre innocent people in the charleston church. the loophole enabled him to get after the expiration of 72 hours without the completion of a background check and even as we work toward a legislative fix which i have proposed whether the department has been able to take steps that may enable prompter completion of background checks. a.g. lynch: thank you for the

opportunity to comment in this area. as i recommended to the president and discussed in prior testimony, one thing the department is working on his improving the systems within our the mixed system, system. it's currently located in west virginia and staffed by dedicated employees, all of home were heartbroken at the issues that led to mr. roof being able to obtain that firearm. the current law is that if a background check is not concluded within that three-day the licensed firearm dealer is free to conclude the transaction. many do not. many do wait if they have not gotten a definitive answer. to gore lawfully allowed ahead and sell firearms and many do. in this case, that is what happened. the person submitted the information and because of issues of geography and relevant counties and the confusion caused therein, the information

did not receive the examiner in time to stop that purchase. we are undertaking a review of the computer systems of the facility and undertaking to higher almost double more those individuals, doubling the number, i should say, of examiner so we can comply within that three-day period. to extend that would require congressional action, of course. if congress would consider that, we would work with you to draft legislation.te we are looking to operate as efficiently as possible within the existing laws we have. that is our framework. our goal is to essentially strengthen and improve the system so it can be fully responsive when the allotted time -- within the allotted time. . >> on the topic of gun violence, introduced legislation that would in effect repeal the so-called protection of lawful commerce and arms act, also known as paca.

the department of justice has repeatedly defended the law against challenges to its constitutionality. as you well know, the department of justice also has a history of declining to defend laws it believes are unconstitutional, most recently with the defense of the marriage act. i believe the compelling arguments have been made against againstonstitutionality due process as well as the 10th amendment and the principal separation of powers. would you consider and look carefully at the possibility of declining to defend the constitutionality of paca? a.g. lynch: i have not been involved in the review on those gowns debt on those grounds so i am not familiar with the legal review. we may have opinions and have done that review so far. if there is more information you like to provide an more

analysis, we will consider that. at this point, i don't know the analysis we've done to date on that. >> thank you for your service. team and staff is telling me to go vote. i will do that and i know you wanted to ask more questions? now.u let me go will you let me go now? thank you. >> i would like to address something that was brought up in a little different way. about secretary clinton's e-mail arrangements. can i say something -- i have often been accused of asking about secretary clinton's e-mails since she is running for

president. to make the record clear, in june of 2013, i started asking questions about this as it related to one of her counselors and e-mail and conflict of interest and stuff like that. that's where this started a long time before she was running for president. recently, a senior unnamed law-enforcement official told the washington post about an immunity agreement with the state department staffer who maintained her e-mail server. general, haverney not answered this committee's question about the nature and status of that investigation. does the immunity agreement contain a provision requiring that staffer to cooperate with all government inquiries including committees as i have requested and if not, why not? would you provide a copy of that agreement to the committee? a.g. lynch: senator, i thank you

for your recent letter on this, also, on this topic. we are providing a response to your letter in writing. i don't want to get ahead of that as we review the issues you have raised their. i believe you asked for a copy of that document. provideally do not copies of documents as part of ongoing investigations but we are preparing our response to your letter on those issues. we don't go into the details of the agreements we have with any witness in any matter in ongoing investigations. mentioned, you had raised this issue in the context of reviewing another matter several years ago. you are following through now. samesponse to this is the as my response to other questions about ongoing matters, whether now or whether i was a line assistant or the attorney

and the way this -- the department handles the ongoing matters whether they involve someone with a famous last name or not is something we take very seriously. and so our desire not to discuss this matter in open hearings or the press is not out of a desire to evade your questions or this committee's oversight responsibilities but it is how we handle ongoing matters. i hope it is taken in that way. we treat them the same and that is how the public has confidence in the investigations we conduct. isif that latter comment about something i set of my opening statement, i said it was the appearance and no accusation. a.g. lynch: certainly. >> what you just told me about community -- i'm telling you what common sense tells me -- that if there is immunity in certain instances, the only simple question we are asking -- does that in unity carry over to correct -- two congressional

committees? we asked her that in council denied it and it seemed a pretty simple question. for a justiceim department matters, why wouldn't it cover him so he could testify before congress? you don't have to speak to that now but i hope the letter will address that. let me go to the fbi whistleblowers. put this one has the agenda for tomorrow and this is something ranking member leahy and i agree on to provide better protection for fbi whistleblowers. i hope we would be able to move forward earlier. it is bipartisan legislation that we need to take up. one problem the bill tackles is protection for fbi employees who report wrongdoing within their chain of command. director komi said in december

that he supports those protections. do you support legal protections for fbi employees who report wrongdoings to their supervisors? a.g. lynch: thank you, sir. certainly, i do support protection of whistleblowers in general. the situation you raise is also one that all of us in law enforcement have an obligation to support and protect as well. you are referring to the issues of the incidence of people who report through the chain of command. i understand our staff has been talking about the bill and we appreciate the opportunity to provide comments on it. i would say that as we work through this issue, please know that any concerns the department raises are not out of a disagreement with the point of view of the protection of whistleblowers but just making sure that the fbi's intelligence gathering functions are also protected at the same time. we appreciate the opportunity to work with your staff on these issues.

it's particularly important to all of us in law enforcement because whistleblowers bring us important information. we often are going to individual citizens and asking them to bring us information. we are going to people who are witnesses outside of government. we try and protect them as well. it's important that we also have strong protections for whistleblowers who are inside government. isyou use one word that central to my next issue. why would there be any reason for not providing these the fbi including people involved in the intelligence of the fbi, given that every other branch employee, including in the intelligence community, has that protection? in other words, what's special about the fbi? as much as we respect them. a.g. lynch: thank you for your statement of respect for the fbi and i appreciate that. on their behalf. i think the dialogue we were indicated,i

hopefully highlights that we certainly support the objective of protecting whistleblowers in every federal agency including the ei and we certainly support protecting those who report within their chain of command. as you yourself noted, within the intelligence community. make sure that we retain the consistencies of treatment on the intelligence community side for those issues also and i think you and your staff are working with us on those points. >> i thank you for working with us and let me bring up one of those issues that was brought up in these conversations. one of the issues your department has raised is allowing fbi employees to report wrongdoing to their chain of command could lead to too many complaints. what's wrong with too many complaints? you've got a department -- i don't know if you have 100,000 or 50,000 but you are the attorney general. you cannot know what's going on all over. it seems he would invite every

wrongdoing to be reported so we could get corrected because you cannot know about it. anyway, it should be seen as a good thing for fbi employees to report wrongdoing. the judiciary committee held a hearing last march where we look at the government accountability office report. ,hat found that in five years only three whistleblowers won their cases in those cases took between eight years and more than 10 years. certainly, something is wrong with that process. last year, the deputy attorney general's office told the government accountability office that it would give whistleblowers updates on their case status but then they told me in a letter that they were just too busy to do that. i will submit that letter for the record. theoes not seem to me that department has made improving fbi whistleblower protections a priority. almost two years ago, the department promised it would issue new regulations. two years later, we don't have the proposed regulation.

so question number 3 -- where are the changes at the justice department that they said they would make in april, 2014 question mark you are not attorney general then so i cannot blame you but that's where we are. a.g. lynch: certainly but regardless, we would endeavor to respond you on that point. as i said before, our concerns are always making sure we protect whistleblowers and also protect the fbi's law enforcement efforts and deal by athe issues raised member of the intelligence community. our staff are working well together to look at the specific language of the bill and i thank you again for that opportunity. i think is something that you should be able to give to us. one of the improvements that justice said it was making for fbi employees was better training rights and legal protection as whistleblowers. you had a training session on this and there was some sort of

video at that training session. we discovered that video really didn't say much about how whistleblowers are encouraged or protected and reap warding off the chain of command or stuff like that. i'm not sure i remember exactly. i requested a copy of that training almost a month ago and have not received it. i would like to have you get me a copy of the video, a simple thing, video. you should be able to supply that. ok, so not to harass you but he will come back and ask you questions and i will be done. recently, deputy attorney general sally yates issued a memo that the department will now focus on prosecuting individuals. ringing financial statements from corporations. as i said at the time, the departments settlement was --

was a missed opportunity to bring criminal charges in a long -- in a money-laundering case and this administration failed to prosecute any wall street bankers or criminal executives responsible for the financial meltdown. memo is a good h one. this is something you and i agree on. but president obama's former deputy attorney general, james cole, has said the yates memo is impractical, not based in reality. and will lead to very few actual cases against individuals. his former attorney general holders deputy correct that this new policy is not based on reality and how are you going to ensure that individuals are actually prosecuted? a.g. lynch: thank you, sir, i think the memo does reflect the view within the department of individuals have to

be held accountable for their actions particularly in the white collar area. i am not aware of the context of the former deputy ag. i don't know what was said about that. what i can teddy was that this memo and policy were the results intodesire to encapsulate a specific and clear policy guidance the view that many of us in the department have and have had for some time that we always have to look at individual accountability. in particular, as we do white-collar cases and interact with corporate counsel with the white collar bar, making sure they are aware that this is a focus of hours and as you may recall, one facet of the policy that i think is important is when we cooperate, when cooperate -- when corporations cooperate with the government and provide us information about wrongdoing within their ranks or their company that they've carried out, we will provide

credit for that should be reliable and accurate. but they will not receive any credit if they do not also provide information about individuals who are involved in wrongdoing. it is to incentivize them and put them on notice that our investigation will be looking at them also and our investigative officers will have their focus on those individuals as well. we think willing in fact generate results as we interact with corporations who want to work for the government. where we don't have cooperation, we will still continue to focus on individuals. together clearly put in a concise policy statement the directive to all the litigating components as well. lawyers at justice and in the field that when we are working on cases involving corporations, that we have to make sure we completely consider all of the relevant individuals. certainly, this is something

that many offices had been doing for some time. if you look at the records of individuals who have been under ourou did, financial fraud enforcement task force, over 500 individuals have been prosecuted for financial crimes relating to the housing market, the financial markets and the like. we wanted to make sure that it was clear and consistent and in one place and that we were focusing on not just the entity but the individuals. again, i'm not sure the racist assistancemer comments, we believe strongly in this policy and we believe it will provide results in our investigations and their cases. we think it's an important step and necessary step at making sure that not only are individuals with whom we interact on notice about we -- what we expect from them but public way, people are aware of how we conduct our investigations. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

all, attorney general lynch, thank you for waiting for me or i think the chairman, to. thank you for your service, basically and it's good to see you again. a.g. lynch: thank you, sir. there are not a lot of colleagues here for me to say this too but it's good that we are here doing our jobs. that we should continue doing our job when it comes to, when the president puts forth a nominee for the supreme court. we should examine that nominees qualifications and experience. thinkey general lynch, i you are probably aware that i have been a vocal opponent of certainconsolidation in industries, particularly in the cable and broadband market. stanceciate the tough

the department of justice took on the comcast proposed acquisition of time warner cable. theow you cannot discuss specifics of any deals currently being reviewed but i have a few questions about the way that doj analyzes mergers and acquisitions and how doj and forces conditions when , whenions have been mergers have been approved with conditions. conquest following the -- that comcast acquisition of nbc, these deals can be difficult to enforce. they are not always terribly reliable. also, sometimes, those conditions expire. in general, how can the department of justice ensure that merger conditions actually have an of teeth to protect consumers in the long run?

a.g. lynch: thank you, this is an important area of focus for the department of justice. as ae think of antitrust dry, arcane area of law and i have always found it to be one of the most vital areas of law because it deals directly with theumer protection issues, devices and products people use every day in their lives and have around them in their homes and businesses and we seek to make sure they are protected and there'd dealings as they make purchases and make those decisions with hard-earned dollars. when it comes to the enforcement of conditions in our merger agreements, the agreements may provide for certain types of conditions or reporting and we will conduct periodic reviews. they are situations have circumstances were individual, corporations are not meeting those conditions, we would not hesitate to take the appropriate steps and take action there. depending upon how far along the ornsaction was, take action

consult with the appropriate company and the appropriate board. i comes to more specifics, i am staff fromve the antitrust division provide a briefing to you on specifics we have done in those situations if that would be helpful. >> in some of the cases, in telecom -- [no audio] doj has the responsibility of enforcing conditions. somewhere, they have fallen through the cracks. i was wondering how -- a.g. lynch: maybe there's a middle place that neither entity is reviewing as closely as they should? >> it seems like fcc does not to enforcesources conditions. a.g. lynch: i am not able to

comment on their ability to resource. i am happy to set up a briefing for you. >> this is something that fcc and doj work together on whether to allow a merger to go on. very often, conditions are put on and as we saw there, conditions are not followed. let me ask about something amy brought up, my senior senator from minnesota, which is about combating terrorist recruitment about theta and program that was put in place where we were one of the three cities for combating -- it was called combating violent extremism. we prefer to call it strengthening community resilience.

in minnesota, we have a large somali population. at first, there were some young people who were recruited to abmalia to fight with shab which is an al qaeda affiliate. that happened after ethiopia had come into somalia. seen --re -- we have and it's not all that many but it's enough because -- to cause alarm and it's alarming within the community because of sons and daughters being used who are going to syria or iraq to fight with isis. brought up thear funding. i want to bring up the approach.

an easy needle and thread. we don't want the communities to feel that this is simply some kind of surveillance or trying -- on the other hand, you really want to gain the trust of the community. this something you have looked at a lot and you have incussed with annie lugar minnesota? make those do to communities feel like we are partnering with them in a good way and not simply using this as possiblemonitoring terrorists but actually building resilience within the community? a.g. lynch: i think you put your finger on the main issue.

, it hampers a lot of our as theyrts which is have been constructed in the past, they certainly have been taken more as surveillance efforts endeavored to help the community regardless of our intent. one of the best things that the twin cities pilot program did was change the name. as you mentioned, from countering violent extremism to strengthening communities and that was one of the number one feedbacks i received as ag and a former u.s. attorney in my interaction with the muslim community about the nature of the approach. castsitial description the program, at least in their eyes, as one more of surveillance in which muslims were targeted for whatever reason you even if it was positive. that targeting increased the distrust between them and the government. how we approach every distinct community in america is one that i think we have to be able to

think about and seek guidance from communities themselves. the twin cities have done a very good job of that. that can be imported to other communities. the other thing that has been happening in the twin cities for a long time is that we are trying to import this to other cities is the direct, very personal interaction between federal and local law enforcement and the distinct minority communities. the u.s. attorney's office there, andy lugar and his predecessor have made great personal contacts within the somali community. without that connection and trust, it's easy to misinterpret our actions and concerns. i think we also have to get out of government sometimes and realize that government is not always the best voice for conveying the appropriate messages. we are working with madison avenue as well as silicon valley in trying to come up with effective programs to counter violent extremism. >> how are you using silicon

valley? a.g. lynch: it's also very concerned. it is not their goal to be a platform for terrorism. they are concerned they are being used as recruitment tools and as repositories for material that is being absorbed by these vulnerable disaffected young people of varying backgrounds who are then taking it to a deadly extreme. ify are trying to figure out they can come up with programming on their own that would counter what is coming across the airwaves and the computer waves. their terms of service, as we mentioned, to take down some content that is there. contentthat all of the is not going to go away and that it will be replaced, what can they do to generate content that is supportive and different. >> that i think has a lot to do with interacting with the community. you say that changing the name

has been helpful. done on theave been front side of that by saying, how do you like this name? that seems like a pretty logical and easy thing to do. if you are talking about what you're goingnt through, silicon valley needs to talk to the community. i'm sure that's what you are doing. thee are going to counter propaganda that they are offering, i think there has to cultural understanding , a sensitivity but more than anything, i'm over my time but, i think, to tell you the truth, am closer to this, obviously, then you are. the feeling i get is that there

has been a frustration in the lack of resources, the feeling was there were more promises than deliveries. athink they would rather see , orer field, frankly someplace to have fun. a.g. lynch: or an afterschool venue? >> yeah, that's what we are talking about and that has little to do with isis propaganda. it has more to do with saying the people of the united states, are fightingnesota for us and we have some challenges and if our young do,le had better things to that might be helpful. and there was a promise of money and resources and instead of

necessarily doing surveillance on is, if you showed that you care about our kids and their well-being, that would go a long way. to winning over the community. thank you, mr. chairman. a.g. lynch: i agree with you. general land, the record will stay open for one week and you have been a good witness, thank you very much. , i correspondence we have would appreciate answers as quickly as you can get them to us. thank you very much, the meeting is adjourned. a.g. lynch: thank you, mr. chairman. host[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> we will have more from capitol hill this afternoon on c-span. agriculture secretary tom ville

his testifies about department's 2017 budget coming up at 2:00 p.m. eastern. on friday, the funeral of former isst lady nancy reagan taking place at the presidential library in simi valley, california. michelle obama will attend in our coverages friday at 2:00 p.m. on c-span. >> during campaign 2016, c-span takes you on the road to the white house. we follow the candidates on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. >> results from last night, hillary clinton won the mississippi primary bringing her delegate total to 1221, bernie sanders a one the michigan tomary, has 571 delegates the democratic national

forention, 2383 are needed the nomination. on the republican side, 1237 delegates are needed. donald trump one primers yesterday in michigan and mississippi as well as the caucuses in hawaii. delegates, ted cruz who won idaho, 359 delegates, marco rubio in third with 151 and john kasich, 54 delegates. last night, as the primary results were coming in, donald trump spoke at the golf club in jupiter, florida about the results, this is 40 minutes. [cheers and applause] mr. trump: well, thank you very much everyone. this was an amazing evening and i don't think i have ever had so many horrible, horrible things said about me in one week. [laughter] $38 million worth of horrible lies. but that's ok. it shows you how brilliant the public is because they knew they

were lies. and it was just amazing to watch. and to get these kind of numbers where they call them immediately is just something very special. so, i want to thank the public and the people of michigan. i want to thank the people of mississippi. and it is such a great honor. and, it is also really wonderful to have you at trump national golf club. jack nicholas did this. it is his signature course and it's a great result in place and we have a lot of our members here. [applause] mr. trump: we love our members. jack is a special man and he did a special job. and we love jack. we have another special member. paul o'neill of the yankees, can you stand up? [applause] paul. you originally come from ohio, right? wow. paul o'neill. of the yankees.

hey paul, he you come from ohio? you endorse me? i love you. that is a great endorsement from ohio. thank you. [cheers] mr. trump: thank you. oh, he is great. he looks like he could go out there right now. i just wanted to tell you that it was an interesting week and amazing week. i want to congratulate a lot of people including the candidates. this is not easy stuff when you are doing this. i must tell you it is very important as a republican that our senators and congressmen get reelected and we put a good group of people together, that we keep the people that are there. we have some terrific people. not all of them are on my side but we have some terrific people. it is very important. and if we are going to be effective, very important. one of the things i'm most happy about is the turnout has been massive for every week.

whether it is south carolina or any place, it started with new hampshire and it really -- iowa. no matter where you go, it is records. i think it is actually the single biggest story in politics today. it is what is happening at the booth. a tremendous amount of people are coming out to vote. some states are getting -- one has 102% increase over four years ago. it is amazing. 102%. [applause] on average you are talking about probably millions and millions of people, whereas the democrats are down 30-35% from what they were. they are down from what they were. we are up by 50% and even more than that. you are talking about millions of people. i actually think it is the biggest story and politics today. i hope the republicans will embrace it. we have democrats coming over. very important, we have

independents coming over. they haven't done that probably ever. with all of these people coming over we're going to have something special. if i win and i get to go against hillary, polls are showing that i beat her. when you take advantage, we will take many people away from the democrats and many people away that normally go democrat as independents. and we are seeing that. we are seeing that. we had people come over here who have never voted republican or thought about it and they came and voted republican. i will tell you another group of people i have seen. i will be signing autographs after his speech and we will be talking to people. i've had many people say -- it was a beautiful thing to hear, "mr. trump, i'm 67-years-old. i'm 67-years-old. i have never ever voted before. i've never come close to voting before. this is the first time i will ever vote."

and, that is so amazing. that is so amazing. [applause] mr. trump: they do it with such spirit. so, it is really great. i want to thank the special interests and lobbyists. [laughter] [applause] mr. trump: they obviously did something to drive these numbers. but i want to congratulate them because to raise that much money that quickly is a pretty good feat. many of them are my friends but they have to gamble. i want to thank paul ryan. he could not have been nicer. he called me a couple of days ago. he was very encouraging. i have great respect for paul ryan. great respect. [applause] mr. trump: ted cruz is interesting. he is always saying i am the only one that can beat donald trump. you have to vote for donald trump and going to be miserable.

you have to vote for me. but he says he is the only one that can beat donald trump. i've heard it so many times, but he never beats me. take a look. meaning he rarely beats me. the fact is that we are going to do well. ted cruz is going to have a hard time with certain states. one of the things we do is we get up new york. i'm going to do great. we get to new jersey, i'm going to do great. chris christie is here someplace. i watched what chris christie did to marco. great prosecutor. where is he? [applause] and really, when he came and called he said i have seen it, it is amazing thing. many people have called it a movement. 4 covers on time magazine. in the last 3.5 months. many people have called a movement and part of the movement is what i said before. the people want to be involved. when chris called and sarah palin called, and jerry falwell junior called, when joe arpaio

called, and you know when joe arpaio of arizona calls, the that donald trump is tough on the border. i don't want to be tough but we are going to be fair. we are going have borders again. people are going to come into the country. but they are coming in legally. they have to come in legally. [applause] mr. trump: mitt romney got up and made a speech the other day. no, that is ok. no. it's ok. i understand. he's a very nice man. [laughter] but i understand. it's hard. when you go through this and get to the final gate and you don't get over it it is a hard thing. so i understand. but, he did make some statements. i brought some things up because he said water company is gone. i said, it is? i didn't know that. i have successful companies.

i will do this in two seconds. i filed with the federal elections 100 pages. almost. that the press has gone down and seen. and they were all very impressed. i built a great company. i have low debt. i have assets like this. this is owned 100% by me with no debts. [applause] you've seen mira lago. that is 100% me, with no debt. i have trump international where you were last week. 100% by me no debt. you look at doral where we had the major championship. i have a lot of things in florida partners with related , jobs on the beach, gill and michael on the beach. massive buildings. no one ever talks about this stuff. one of the most successful projects ever built in real estate. the bank of america building, a big chunk of in san francisco. many things.

mitt got up and talked about the water company. well, there is the water company. i mean, we sell water. we have water and it is a little drive and water company. it supplies waters for all my places. and it is good, it is very good. we have trump steaks. he said the steak company. we have trump steaks. he said the steak company and we have trump steaks. by the way, if you want to take one, we will charge you $50 a steak. i'm only -- [laughter] trump magazine is out? let me see the magazine. this is called the jewel of palm he said trump magazine is out. beach. it is? it goes to all of my clubs. i have had it for many years.

they goes to all of my clubs. it is the magazine that is great. does anyone want one? take one. my club champion. the airline, i sold the airline. i actually made a great deal. he said trump airline. complicated and in terrible times. the economy was horrible. and, i made a phenomenal deal. i had the shuttle. and i sold it. so i'm hearing about all of these things. and by the way, trump university, we are holding it. when i win the lawsuit, they did and add the other day, two or three people were staying, it is so terrible. the reason i didn't settle, all of these people, we sent their letters out. their report cards. their report cards were all excellent. beautiful. we love it. you can't settle cases when the person suing you has given you letters and tape saying how great it is.

it was a very nice thing. we are putting it on hold. if i become president my family will start it up. and we have a lot of great people who want to get back into trump university. it's going to do well and continue to do well but we have a lawsuit where they are trying to get one of these class-action lawyer guys and it is ridiculous. but, we will win that lawsuit. i just want to explain. and, thete this. i do not settle lawsuits. very rare. once you settle lawsuits everybody sues you. when you settle lawsuits, sometimes it is cheaper to settle but once you settle, i had a friend who was sued very rarely and everybody else in the same business was sued all the time. he said i never settle. the lawyers learn, you do not settle, they do not sue. when i watch these banks settling lawsuits all the time, they settle lawsuits with governments and other people

giving billions and billions of dollars, i don't do it. when i saw the different things, and by the way, the winery. you mentioned trump wine. does he mention trump vodka? the largest winery in the east coast. you have to check the records. in fact, the press, i am asking you, please check. you can see if there is any debt. kluge was one of the greatest men in the united states'. he died. he built one of the great vineyards of all time. there is nothing like it. close to 2000 acres in charlottesville, virginia next to the thomas jefferson memorial. we are proud of it. they make as good wine as you can get in the world. the press is extremely honest. they can take a bottle home. the members have plenty. right? .right? the members have plenty.

we have one of the greatest. we have the largest winery on the east coast. so i just wanted to put that to rest. so, you have the water. you have the magazine. you have the airline, it you have the steaks. trump university, we are going to start it up. does that make sense? ok. i want to thank paul o'neill. that is a big deal. i had such respect when he was here, he just didn't make mistakes. he was tough and smart we could use him right now. i love that kind of a guy. [applause] mr. trump: i think what this shows is advertising is not as important. it isn't as important as competence. there has never been more money spent on hitting somebody than was spent on me. between that and people saying things.

lindsey graham, he is a nasty person. he is wrong on the military. i have been doing this for 15 years. we have been fighting a war for 15 years with this type of thinking. if your going to fight a war when the war and let's get back to building our country. he has been so nasty. [applause] i watch him and say does he hate donald trump? i watch him and say if you think about it every single person that has attacked me has gone down. i don't want to mention names. they are out. you can take a look at virtually every single person. we started with 17. we are down to 4. of the four they are pretty much all gone. pretty much. ok? they didn't do so well tonight. i'm not going to say anybody didn't do well. they didn't do well. only one person did well to night, donald trump. i will tell you. [applause]

mr. trump: it was actually amazing. i was impressed. even megyn kelly said donald trump did well tonight. thank you. thank you. that was an unusual -- [applause] i was shocked actually to hear that. but that was very nice. and charles. krautmamer said that. he was very nice. thank you. i have been waiting five years, charles. but, it is true. every single -- i have had such hostility like with lindsey graham. he was a seven, he attacked me. we took them down to zero. he leaves in disgrace. he goes to his own state. they do a poll in south carolina. he endorses somebody else and the poll has me at 47, him at 2 and he is a sitting senator. i don't like to bring it up but i tell you it is in now. it is enough. just relax, go home. everyone knows you take this big

defeat and the problem is the press never calls them out. they go to this horrible defeat and then they start immediately on the attack. it is like he never ran and made a fool out of himself. i call people out. it is true they have attacked me viciously. every single one who has attacked me is gone. i am very proud of that. because -- because -- that is [applause] what we should have for our country. isis should not be beating us. we don't win any more we don't win with our military. we don't win with anything. we don't win with health care. we should be in a position where -- we should not be in a position where isis is dictating terms. at one of the debates they asked , ted cruz -- lyin' ted. he goes home and put the bible down and then he lies. lyin' ted. he will say "i'm the only one that can beat donald trump." i beat him.

but he doesn't say the one 4 and i've one 12-13. he forgets the other part. when they say the evangelicals -- i was watching carl he said how great i did with the evangelicals. i'm a good christian. everyone was surprised. they are chipping away at christianity. we are not going to let that happen anymore, folks. [applause] a lot of times i will say it at the rallies, we are going to say merry christmas again. we are going to start saying it again. they don't say it anymore. they are chipping away at christianity and we can't do it. and i tell you, with the evangelicals, they get it. they get me. i will be the best thing that ever happened to them. i mean that 100%. they don't like the way ted talks and they do like the way that he truly does lie. he lies badly. and i was actually interested

when he -- little marco help me a lot. marco -- in one of the debates he screamed across me. i was always in the center will stop -- i was always in the center. never out of center. i always like an odd number. with an even number i hated it because we had four people so i'm not in the center. we should always keep it odd numbers. marco helped me a lot because he called ted cruz a liar. he said he is a liar. that's the first time. i know politicians better than anybody. they are liars. ok? they are serious liars. more importantly, they will never get you to the promised land. they will not do it. they are controlled by special interest in the people that put up all this money for them to run. do you know how much money was spent in the last week on me? you know how many times they were asking despite the fact that they are not supposed to be talking to their super pac's,

let me ask you a question, how many times do you think marco rubio and ted cruz and all of them were calling their super pac's? it is called life. that is the way life works. they talk to their super pac. they are not supposed to but that is the way life works. we are going to do something and clean the slate. i think we are going to do well in florida. it is my second home. i love florida. [applause] i love florida. a special place. i think we're going to do well. i think we're going to do really well in ohio. now that i have paul o'neill's endorsement i know i'm going to , win. i love ohio. i have so many friends. it is an amazing place. we are going to have a lot of fun. and then what we are going to do is we are going to beat hillary clinton. we are going to beat her badly. i think one of the things -- then we will take some

questions, but one of the things i add that is different -- we talk about the five and sometimes six, but the five states you have to get -- whether it is ohio or pennsylvania or florida. you know, if you don't get one -- because for the republicans, it is much tougher. it is much more tough for a republican to win the presidency. by a factor of but i have things five, others can't do. i have a chance of new york. the size of new york and all the delegates? upstate new york i poll higher , than anyone else. they are in trouble up there. they know i would have done things and they wouldn't be in trouble if they had taken my advice. they are really in trouble. i will get michigan. i am going to get michigan because we are going to bring the car industry back. we are going to bring the car industry back into michigan. i'm going to win michigan. it is not even the question. when the candidates talk about running it is never even a , question. michigan is not something they

even talk about. i will win new jersey, ohio. i will win florida. i will win virginia. i have great properties in virginia. charlottesville, we just talked about the winery in virginia. on the potomac river, we have one of the great places in the world. i have 600 acres on the potomac river. one of the great pieces of property in the world. very, very successful place. you know, a lot of employees in virginia. it seems when i have something in a location, like when i am in virginia, i have a lot of employees, i have great places, florida, last week with adam scott, two days ago, how good was that? he is a great young man and the way he won the tournament. the catholic world championship, but if your property in the state it means you love this , state. it means you have a lot of employees. you pay the employees. you take care of their health care, you take care of the education for their families. you take care of so many things.

and you just do well. i think i'm going to do great there. i think i will do great in ohio and i look forward to it. i'm going to be working hard between the two. in illinois i have one of the , greatest buildings in the world. in chicago, one of the greatest and rated the number one hotel in north america. i'm very proud of it. it is a great, great -- right on the river. and it is a great building. maybe that is where we will have our next news conference. maybe we will do it in chicago. let's see what the press has to ask and then we will go home and go celebrate a lot of victories. go ahead. cbs. [inaudible question] mr. trump: you have to win. i know how to win. i've won. these people will tell you. have i won many championships? stand up. stand up. stand up. have i won many club championships? does trump know how to close?

believe it or not, it is not so different. winning is winning. it is not easy to club championships. believe me. i'm not talking about with strokes but no strokes. i like to close things out. so, until the last person is gone. again we started with a field of , 17 and now we are down to four. i don't want to close things out. i have not even focused on hillary yet. hard they hit her very other night because what she said was wrong. in many cases. i have all night. you would have to go on for hours. hillary is going to be easy to beat. she is a very flawed candidate. it is going to be a very, very easy target. if she is allowed to run. because there is a real question as to whether or not she is even going to be allowed to run.

and, if the government is going to do its job properly she will not be allowed to run. [applause] mr. trump: go ahead, tom. >>[inaudible question] mr. trump: well, i have nothing to say to marco. it was a rough night. he will have to make his own decision. i have actually had a good relationship with marco rubio, but he became hostile a few weeks ago. it didn't work. hostility works for some people. it doesn't work for everyone. [laughter] mr. trump: he became very hostile. it doesn't work for him. he would have been better off had he kept the original pitter patter going. but this did not work. say it a little louder. >> [inaudible question] mr. trump: i have been outspent by everybody. part of the beauty, look, i have more money than all of them put together times 20.

i'm a businessman. i do not have to spend it. why should i spend the money? i have spent maybe $35 million. other people have spent $160 million. you have the numbers. in new hampshire, as an example i spent a million and a half , dollars. someone else spent $48 million. i was one in the other person was number five. wouldn't it be nice and we had a country that works that way? right? right? so, the cnn poll came out and i was 41. in fact, i was 49. second is 15 and 15. you know, i have spent less money than anybody else. now, the phony wall street journal poll came out. where i am still number one, but if you remember the poll from south carolina, the wall street journal and nbc poll was that most phony and most disgusting poll i've ever seen. i don't believe that poll. i don't know who is making of that poll. they should not pay that bill. i never pay bills when somebody does a bad job. that is true.

they did such a bad job during the south carolina run. they had me practically dying in south carolina. the day before. they did that with a viciousness and vindictiveness. it looks like i was in trouble. then i won in a landslide. the poll was wrong. and then the following day they came out with a national poll that was ridiculous. then they came out with another one. nbc jumped on it. what is wrong with them? that's not right. cnn came out with a pull. -- hold. 49, a couple of days ago. i am still in first place. i believe there poll is wrong. boy did they turn out to be , wrong in south carolina. ok? yeah, go ahead. out in the a new ad state of florida on super tuesday where they have nine examples [indiscernible]

is that presidential? they accused you of being nonpresidential. the a word. the f word. were you embarrassed? mr. trump: i was concerned with that until i saw it. i think it is better than any ad i have ever taken out or myself. [laughter] mr. trump do you know why? : i mean it. i heard about the ad. and i said, oh, i am not going to like this. but when i looked at it, i could be more presidential than anybody. i can be more presidential if i want to be. when i have 16 people coming at me with 16 different angles, you don't want to be so presidential. you have to win. you have to beat them back. i would say more presidential and i have said this a couple of times, but i could be more presidential that anybody other than the great abe lincoln. he was very presidential, right? i saw that ad. people are sick and tired of being politically correct. i actually think that ad is good for me. [applause]

mr. trump: because in some cases i was kidding and joking. , i have a big audience. and i was joking. and the words are not so bad. in other cases i was showing , anger and toughness that we need in our country. but, i watched that ad and i said, it shows a certain degree of anger and it shows a certain degree like we are not going to take it anymore. from all of the country's ripping us off, taking our money likely are a bunch of babies. very, very stupid babies. i don't think it is a bad ad for me. if i had my choice of saying i could have it down or let it run, let it run. [applause] >> [inaudible question] a lot of parents are trying to figure out how to explain some of the language -- mr. trump: you are so politically correct. you are so beautiful. look at you. he is so -- oh, i know. you have never heard a little off language or you are so perfect. aren't you just a perfect young man? hey, give me a break.

you know, it is stuff like that that people in this country are tired of. [applause] it is stuff like that. sarah? >> [inaudible question] mr. term: maybe it -- mr. trump: may be at some point they will. i have heard $39 million has been spent. i will be honest with you. i am very surprised. i am close to 50% with mississippi, that is not with two people, that is with four people. that is a lot. that is shocking. that is like record-setting. a big difference. if you are hillary running against one guy, bernie, you get a 50-52 -- i am running against three very competent people and i'm getting 50%. in michigan i'm close to 40%

, against a big group of people. i think that -- i will say this. i am a little bit surprised -- i was watching and i was watching adam scott hit that last great shot. i was watching the news. in one of the rooms. and every single advertisement was about me. and it was during my tournament. [laughter] mr. trump: i go from tournament to horrible man. the most vicious ads. i mean, one of the reasons i brought the wine out and the water out and the steak out, and more wine and more water and i told you about trump university -- we will win that case, an easy case to win -- one of the reasons is because of that. they hit me with this trump university. it is not even a big case. we're going to win the case. i could settle the case so easily. i don't want to settle it. it would be easier for me to settle it.

i would not have all you people writing about it, but i don't want to settle it. i could settle it so easy. the fact is, look, in life you have to do what is right. if you live by principal, i am a very highly principled person. if you live by principles you will do well. [applause] mr. trump: so -- just to finish. i must tell you i was surprised when i saw the viciousness of the ads, and viciousness of mitt romney. he was vicious. i mean, he gets up and he just -- i wish he used that same energy against obama. i think he would have won. no. [applause] mr. trump: if he used the same energy against obama he would have won. >> given your statement about hillary clinton do you agree you need to get mainstream american establishment republicans behind you. given soat do you say

many are trying to beat you? mr. trump: let's come together, folks. let's come together. not 100% but largely i would say yes. some people you are just not going to get along with. it is ok, but largely i would , like to do that. believe it or not i am a , unifier. you look at the things i've built. i am a unifier. i have great relations. i get along with people. i get along with you. right? [laughter] campaign carl. i get along with people. i really say this. i think it is time to unify. we have something special in the republican party. unfortunately, the people in the party called them the elites or whatever, those are the people that don't respect it yet. we have millions of people -- i discussed it before, we have millions and millions of people coming up and voting, largely for me. for other people also, in all

fairness. you know this. i have seen your report on this. it is a record. it is a record. it has never happened before. in 100 years what is happening now to the republican party has never happened before. and, the people of the party whether you call the , establishment or not, whether you call them the establishment or not, they should embrace it. the democrats would love to have what is happening. i have friends on the other side, they say, roy would we like that to happen. they are down 35%. there is no spirit there. we are way up with millions of people. what i say, embrace it. we will win the election easily. [applause] >> mitt romney, lindsey graham have been attacking you viciously. how can you win them back? and, do you think they are necessary? mr. trump: i don't think you

have to and everybody. >> you are saying this is something different that has not happened in 100 years. are you changing the republican party? are you reforming the party? mr. trump: let's talk about that because it is so interesting. i am not changing the republican party because i am actually a conservative. i am a commonsense conservative. nobody is more conservative than me on energy independence. i have been talking about it or years. nobody is more conservative than me on the military. nobody's more conservative than me on taking care of our great veterans, who are being absolutely maligned. [applause] mr. trump: nobody is more conservative than me on health care where we are going to repeal and replace on obamacare and on common core, , where we are getting rid of it. it is budgets, whether the pending deal, there are so many different things, but we will string out the budget. and the many deals. we owe $19 trillion. we're going to pay off debt. we have to start bringing it down to a level that is sustainable because we're going in the wrong direction, and

certainly, nobody is more conservative than me and the border. one thing i guess people could say, on trade, i am a free trader, believe it or not, but a smart trader. we cannot let china -- and i like china, they are wonderful, but their leaders are too smart for our leaders, i like china, i do great with china, the bank of america building, other buildings i have because of china -- but i will tell you, nobody is more conservative on trade. the problem i have is you have people that are in national review and they have no common sense whatsoever. it is not free trade when china charges tax to get our products in and they do not let our product in any way, yet, they take their product and send it to us like nothing. we have to trade deficit with china of $500 billion a year. we have a trade deficit with

japan over $100 billion a year. we have a trade deficit with mexico. that is why mexico was going to pay for the wall. $58 billion a year, 100%. up, again, they say, you are not going to get mexico to paper the wall. of course i am. -- we have58 billion a $58 billion trade deficit with them. that is an easy deal. [applause] mr. trump: i love the question, but the only thing i can say where some people would say that i am not conservative because i want to fair trade, but free-trade, you have to have smart people on both sides. we don't have smart people on both sides, so i want fair trade. or as you would say, fair and balance trade. jeremy, go ahead. >> i want to ask you about

trade. one of the key strengths of your campaign has been this idea. mexico, about china, but there are some benefits of free trade in the u.s. with cheaper goods for example. [indiscernible] mr. trump: nobody is listening to you, jeremy. nobody ever listens to you. [laughter] mr. trump: let me explain. tradeoblem we have with grand currency manipulation. they are manipulating the currency to such an extent that our companies cannot compete with other companies.

because of that, we are losing our jobs. china, as an example, is taken from us. they had taken thousands of jobs, factories, and it is the greatest that in the history of the world. they have taken out so much money. wish i leaders would do the same thing in reverse, but they don't. michigan and the steeple incredible people. you take a look at some of the factories that have been abandoned there, where they move in to mexico, take a look at the example in chicago where you big nabisco moving their plant -- they are closing their plant and moving to mexico. ford building a $2.5 billion factory in mexico. we cannot continue to do it.

two weeks ago, carrier announced they will close. 14 million people laid off and they will put air-conditioners out. [inaudible question] i will you what is going to happen. it, china thinks you mean they will stop manipulating the currency. you won't even have to do anything and you might have free trade. you did not hear me. when china thinks you mean it, when japan thinks you mean it that we will not let them sell the cars like that because they are killing us, you know what we sell to japan? practically nothing. they have cars coming in by the millions and they sell practically nothing. when japan thinks we mean it, they are almost as good as china. you look at what is happening with caterpillar, caterpillar is

being hurt badly by komatsu, not because their machines but because caterpillar makes a better machine, but because of the fact that they currency manipulator and we cannot have that. they're not supposed to do it, but they have no fear of our government. they are dealing with babies. they are grandmaster players and we have people that should not be negotiating for us. we should not. one more question. go ahead. [inaudible question] mr. trump: i will not finish because you never ask a decent question. >>[inaudible question] would you support an alternative candidate? mr. trump: i think lindsey graham is probably a nice guy and i was very tough on him because he was tough on me, but i think he probably a nice guy.

i think i could probably get along with lindsey graham. i could probably get along with mitt romney and i understand how he feels. he worked really hard, should have worked a little harder, but he worked really hard and he did not get there. i understand it. i could probably get along with mitt romney. i endorsed him, back to him, helped him, but i don't really know mitt romney. i could probably get along very well with lindsey graham and he gets on television and is nasty. you have to be nasty back. the bottom line is, we have something going that is so good. we should grab each other and unify the party, and nobody is going to beat us. thank you very much. i appreciate it. thank you very much. [applause]

>> donald trump in florida last night kind head of next tuesday's florida primary. he won the primaries in michigan, mississippi, hawaii caucus as well. needed for the nomination on the republican side. atald trump at 458, ted cruz

359, rubio at 151 and john kasich at 54. ted cruz won idaho's primary rate he came in second in michigan and mississippi. spoke to supporters last night from charlotte, north carolina. ♪ >> ♪ happiness ain't out of reach i've seen enough to know the stars in the skies ♪ [applause] >> [crowd chanting "cruz"] sen. cruz: god bless the great state of north carolina. [applause]

sen. cruz: what a blessing it is to be here with so many freedom-loving patriots. [applause] sen. cruz: what a blessing it is to be joined here today by dr. michael brown. thank you for your strong, powerful, courageous voice. [applause] sen. cruz: what a blessing to be joined by representative larry pittman. thank you for your leadership. [applause] sen. cruz: and how about the benham brothers? [applause] sen. cruz: all right, $1 to anyone who can tell which is which. [laughter] sen. cruz: i don't think they know. [laughter] sen. cruz: but what an

extraordinary voice for their christian faith. unapologetic and unafraid at a time of fear and timidity, they stand up and speak the truth with a smile that is so needed to be heard. [applause] sen. cruz: pastor mark harris, thank you for your incredible leadership. thank you for the voice you have in north carolina and beyond. thank you for speaking and preaching god's word. and thank you for calling this nation to revival. [applause] sen. cruz: today is election day, yet again. now right now, the votes are still being cast. we don't know the results of the elections today.

but what we do know is that something powerful is happening. [applause] sen. cruz: we do know we are coming into this election with incredible momentum. we know we are closing the gap in state after state after state. we noticed a few minutes ago, a new "wall street journal" poll came out that had us in a statistical tie for first place nationwide with donald trump. [cheers and applause] sen. cruz: you know, it is worth stepping back for a minute to reflect on the journey of how we

got here and where we are going from here. a year ago, we started with 17 republican candidates. it was a remarkable field, tremendous, diverse, talented, young. quite a contrast with the democrats. [laughter] [applause] sen. cruz: we were blessed with an abundance of talent. and over the course of the year, we have seen that field narrow. it has narrowed and narrowed. going into the first big election, the state of iowa, i remember watching the pundits the night before. every one of the pundits on said there was no way we could win. every one of them said donald trump was going to win iowa, he was unstoppable. nothing could get in his way.

he was on every station, on every tv. and yet, they forgot about something. they forgot about the people. on election day in the state of iowa, we saw the largest turnout in the history of the iowa caucuses -- and we won a landslide victory. [applause] sen. cruz: that was the beginning of a pattern we began to see. state after state, record turnouts for republicans. and dismal turnouts for democrats. and that suggest the winds of change be a coming. and then on super tuesday, a major inflection point in this campaign.

on super tuesday, once again turning on the tv, every pundit said donald trump will sweep super tuesday. he is unstoppable. he is unstoppable. we, the media, have decided the republican nominee. his name is donald j. trump. he is a liberal democrat from new york slated to lose to hillary clinton. but once again, they forgot something. the people. on super tuesday we saw, to the astonishment of the pundits, a tremendous victory in the state of oklahoma. [applause] a tremendous victory in the state of alaska. [applause]

sen. cruz: and then in my home state of texas, we saw a landslide victory in texas! [cheers and applause] sen. cruz: i have to tell you, that election was particularly meaningful to me. texas is my home. the men and women of texas are the men and women who five years ago i campaigned across the state making promises, looking in the eyes saying if you elect me, i will go to washington. i will fight with every breath in my body to stop obamacare, to stop amnesty, to stop the debt, to defend our religious liberty, to defend the bill of rights, to bring back jobs. [applause]

sen. cruz: like the gentleman pastor harris told you about in west texas who grabbed me by the shoulder and looked me in the eyes. those are the promises i made. those are the men and women who know me best, who know my heart, and we won that landslide victory because they said, ted, you have kept your word and done exactly what you said you would do. [applause] sen. cruz: and then we had super saturday. once again, the pundits also donald trump was going to win all four states. had a big lead. nothing to do about it. but it was interesting on election day. in kansas -- [applause] sen. cruz: donald and i were both in kansas. we were both in wichita. we were both at the same caucus site. we spoke back to back to the voters.

all the pundits said donald was going to win kansas. not only did he not win kansas, not only did we win kansas, but we won in a landslide with nearly 50% of the vote. [applause] sen. cruz: double what donald trump received in the state of kansas. [applause] sen. cruz: that same day in the great state of maine, all the pundits said trump was going to win maine. you know what happened? we won maine. they said a conservative cannot win in new england. the people of maine at something -- had something different to

say about it. and then the state of louisiana, where donald went in with a huge lead, and yet we ended up tying him in the delegates because on election day, we beat him on election day in the state of louisiana. [applause] sen. cruz: so where are we today? today, four states vote. today we've got mississippi, michigan, idaho, and hawaii voting right now. we are closing the gap in each of them. we have tremendous teams on the ground in each of them. in mississippi yesterday, i was proud to receive the endorsement of the governor, bill bryant, -- phil bryant, who stood with me.

[applause] sen. cruz: and here is the dynamic we are seeing play out. to the trump supporters -- audience member: boo. [laughter] sen. cruz: i will say i understand the people who are supporting donald trump. you are angry. you're angry at washington. you're angry at politicians who have lied to us, who make promises and go to washington and do exactly the opposite of what they said they would do. i understand being angry because i am angry, too. every one of us is angry at being lied to and what they are doing to the country when they are breaking their word. [applause] sen. cruz: and i understand if you are angry with washington that donald can seem appealing because he is a loud, angry,

often profane, and cursing voice that can be seen as a vessel for that anger. but here is the simple, undeniable truth. if you are frustrated with the corruption of washington, you don't solve that problem by voting for someone who has been enmeshed in the washington corruption for 40 years. [applause] sen. cruz: donald trump has supported liberal democrats, going back to supporting jimmy carter over ronald reagan. he supported joe biden, harry reid, chuck schumer. he supported john kerry over george w. bush. he contributed twice to hillary clinton's presidential campaign in 2008.

he helped fund harry reid and nancy pelosi taking over congress, which is what gave us obamacare. now if you are fed up with the corruption of washington, the answer is not supporting someone who has been funding and profiting off of that washington corruption for decades. [applause] sen. cruz: so we are seeing the voters recognize this guy is not what i thought. the media, all these anchors describe him as the insurgent. there ain't nothing insurgent about this guy.

when he has been lining the pockets of every d.c. politico , he is about yeah as insurgent as george soros. how is that for an insurgent? [applause] sen. cruz: do you know what insurgents do? they actually stand up to washington. they don't fund washington. they say no when washington is harming the people. [applause] sen. cruz: and the dynamic we are seeing, and the reason our campaign is surging, there are roughly 65% to 75% of republicans who recognize donald trump is not the best candidate to go head-to-head with hillary. and if we nominate donald trump, we lose. hillary beats trump and beats him badly, which means if we

nominate donald trump, we lose the supreme court for a generation. we lose the bill of rights for a generation. our children drown in debt. the 65% to 70% of republicans who recognize nominating donald trump is a disaster, here's what we are seeing happening. the states that are voting today and the states that are coming up, we are seeing those republicans unifying behind this campaign. [applause] sen. cruz: because here is what the elections have made indisputably clear. there is only one campaign that has beaten donald trump repeatedly and that can and will beat donald trump in this nomination. [applause]

sen. cruz: at this point, our campaign has beaten donald not once, not twice, not three times -- but seven different times in states all over this country. [applause] sen. cruz: today, it is our hope that those numbers will go up. we will find out late tonight. one week from today is yet another big, big election day. [applause] sen. cruz: one week from today, the people of north carolina get to speak. [applause]

sen. cruz: one week from today, we hear from florida and ohio and illinois and missouri. let me tell you, the combination today,y and a week from we are in the middle of march madness. [applause] sen. cruz: i am told folks in carolina know something about that. we are deciding the future of our kids and grandkids. north carolina, right now, is a battleground state in this primary. we are effectively tied with donald trump in north carolina.

[applause] sen. cruz: it is neck and neck. i want to take a minute to speak to people who may have been supporting somebody else. we started with 17 candidates. very, very fine candidates. i want to speak to folks at home. maybe you were supporting jeb bush or chris christie or mike huckabee or rand paul or rick santorum. maybe you are supporting dr. ben carson. maybe you were supporting carly fiorina. maybe you are, right now, supporting marco rubio or john kasich. every one of them good, honorable, decent people. every one of them i like and respect. yet, none of them has any viable path to beating donald trump and becoming the republican nominee.

[applause] sen. cruz: if you were supporting one of those other good, honorable people, let me tell you, we welcome you to our team. [applause] sen. cruz: our incredible victories in kansas and maine were driven by people from other campaigns coming in joining us. coming together in saying that the only way to beat donald trump is if we stand together. [applause] sen. cruz: what donald trump wants is he wants us divided. if we are divided, he wins the nomination. then hillary becomes the president.

if we unite, that ain't gonna happen. [applause] i invite you to come and stand and join together. this election will come down to three simple issues -- jobs, freedom, and security. let's talk jobs. all across this country, people are hurting. i want to talk for a minute to the single moms who are working two, three part-time jobs, who have had your hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week because obamacare kicks in at 30 hours per week. i want to talk to all of the truck drivers, the plumbers, and electricians and mechanics, the men and women with calluses on your hands.

seeing your wages not going up year after year after year. cost of living is going up, but somehow your wages don't seem to keep pace. i want to talk to the young people coming out of school to with student loans coming out of your eyeballs. scared, am i going to get a job? what does the future hold? will i be able to provide for my family? the media tells us this is as good as it gets. let me tell you, that is an absolute lie. [applause] sen. cruz: it is easy to talk about making america great. you can even print that on a baseball cap. [laughter]

the question is, do you understand the principles that made america great in the first place? [applause] sen. cruz: the heart of our economy isn't washington, d.c., or new york city. the heart of our economy is small businesses all across this great nation. [applause] sen. cruz: you want to kill the economy, you hammer small businesses like we have done the last seven years. you want to see unbelievable , take the boot of the federal government off necks of small businesses. [applause] sen. cruz: if i am elected president, we will repeal every word of obamacare. [applause]

cruz] chanting -- ted sen. cruz: we will pass commonsense health care reform that makes health insurance personal bowl -- personal, portable, and affordable, and keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. [applause] sen. cruz: we will pass a simple flat tax. [applause] sen. cruz: so every american can fill out his or her taxes on a postcard. when we do that, we should

abolish the irs. [applause] sen. cruz: we are going to rein in the epa and all the federal regulators that are hammering small businesses. and we will stop amnesty, secure the borders, and end sanctuary cities. [applause] sen. cruz: donald trump likes to talk about immigration. there is one minor problem -- donald has been funding open border democrats for 40 years.

the gang of eight amnesty battle , when marco rubio joining up with barack obama to push amnesty, donald trump funded the gang of eight. five of the eight members donald trump gave collectively over $50,000. well, i made a very different decision. i chose to honor the promises that i made to the men and women who elected me, and i led the fight against amnesty, and we defeated it in the u.s. congress. [applause] sen. cruz: did you notice at the last debate how many times donald said he was going to be flexible? let me tell you, flexible in d.c., that is a code word for

they are getting ready to stick it to you. because somehow flexibility in d.c. always means cutting a deal benefits wall street and the big corporate interests, and the working men and women get left in the cold. [applause] we are going to repeal obama care, abolish the irs, rein in the regulation, stop amnesty, secure the borders, and it will be millions of high-paying jobs. it will be wages going up for everybody. it will be young people coming 2, 3, 4, 5ol with job offers. it will be morning in america again. [applause]

sen. cruz: the second key issue in this election is freedom. amen. you know, just a few weeks ago, justice scalia's passing underscored for all of us the stakes of this election. it is not one branch, but two branches of government that hang , in the balance. we are one liberal justice away from a radical five justice left wing majority the likes of which this nation has never seen. we are one justice away from the supreme court stripping away religious liberty from every person in this country. we are one justice away from the supreme court effectively erasing the second amendment from the bill of rights. we one justice away from the supreme court holding us subject to the authority of the world

court and the united nations and the international law and giving up u.s. sovereignty. you know, two debates ago, hugh hewitt asked each of us a question about religious liberty and the supreme court. donald turned to me and said , ted, i've known a lot more politicians than you have. well, in that he is right. he has been supporting left-wing politicians practically longer than i've been alive. he said, ted, when it comes to the supreme court and when it comes to religious liberty, you have to be prepared to compromise. you have to learn to work a deal and negotiate with the democrats. let me be very clear to the men and women of north carolina -- i will not compromise away your religious liberty.

[applause] sen. cruz: i will not compromise away your second amendment right to keep and bear arms. [applause] sen. cruz: the third key issue in this election is security. for seven years, we've seen a president who abandons and alienates our friends and allies and who shows weakness and appeasement to our enemies.

debates ago, donald trump explained to all of us that if he is president he intends to be neutral between israel and the palestinians. let me be very clear, as president, i have no intention of being neutral. [applause] sen. cruz: america will stand unapologetically with the nation of israel. [applause] inael is our strongest ally the middle east, a liberal democracy that values human rights, a military ally that provides precious intelligence

and military support, keeping america safe. the palestinian government is part of a terrorist organization that murders women and children. anyone that does not understand the difference between terrorist murdering innocent civilians and one of america's most vital allies, that raises real questions about his fitness to be commander-in-chief. [applause] sen. cruz: over the last seven years, we have seen the condition of our military deteriorate dramatically. we have seen our readiness undermined, morale plummeting. with a commander-in-chief who does not believe in the mission and does not support the military. we have seen this before.

another left-wing democratic president who undermined the military -- demi -- jimmy carter. and in 1981, ronald reagan came into office. [applause] sen. cruz: what did reagan do? he cut taxes, lifted regulations, the economy exploded. it created millions of new jobs. it generated trillions in new government revenue. he used to that revenue to rebuild the military. we bankrupted the soviet union , and we won the cold war. [applause] sen. cruz: i intend to do the exact same thing with radical islamic terrorists. [applause] sen. cruz: we are going to repeal obama care, pass a flat

tax, lift regulations. the economy is going to explode. millions of new jobs, trillions in revenue, and we will rebuild those military -- >> we are taking you live now to see me valley california for the arrival of the casket of former first lady nancy reagan, who died over the weekend at the age of 94 -- we are taking you live to simi valley.

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