Musings of a loser as trump says. Just as Hillary Clinton looks to be putting away her president ial nomination race, what is that you hear . Is it the drip, drip, drip of her email server controversy . The aide that set up that serve are has just been granted immunity to cooperate with the fbi investigation. Plus pyongyang firing six shortrange projectiles off the north korean coast. Is kim jongun inching closer and closer to firing a Nuclear Device at another country . Mitt is tough, hes smart, hes sharp. Hes not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love. So governor romney, go out and get em. You can do it. It seems like a long time ago. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. That was a clip from 2012 when the Republican Party felt like it was in the middle of a divisive primary fight. It was not compared to 2016. The Republican Party seems to be in the middle of a civil war, so divisive it could fracture the gop forever. Hes playing the members of the American Public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the white house and all we get is a lousy hat. Mitt romney, the last republican president ial nominee, all but endorsed a contested Convention Today to stop donald trump. John mccain, the 2008 republican nominee, then endorsed everything mitt romney said. The big question, of course, will any of it matter to voters . Cnn chief political kosht da correspondent dana bash is where republican candidates will debate later tonight. Dana, what prompted this speech . Why . Why do it . Reporter well, my understanding is that he felt personally compelled to get out there and try to make a difference as much as he can. But the fact that he declined to endorse anyone and instead heaped some praise on Donald Trumps three opponents left some people wondering what exactly his goals were. But regardless, what romney did today was create a moment for the political history books. An unprecedented takedown of a republican frontrunner by a former republican standard bearer. Donald trump lacks the temperament to be president. Reporter the most important part of mitt romneys message, he wasnt just blasting donald trump as bad for the gop, he called it perilous for america. If we choose donald trump as president , the prospects for a safe and prosperous future is greatly diminished. But you say wait, wait, wait, isnt he a huge Business Success . Doesnt he know what hes talking about . No, he isnt. And no, he doesnt. Reporter romney effectively called trump a loser, an attempt to undermine trumps core rationale for his candidacy, that hes a winner. Whatever happened to Trump Airlines . How about Trump University . And then theres trump magazine. And trump vodka. And trump steaks. And Trump Mortgage. A business genius, he is not. Reporter but the 2012 gop nominee is an imperfect messenger, since he courted trumps endorsement just four years ago. Having his endorsement is a delight. Reporter then romney even praised the business acumen he criticized today. Donald trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works to create jobs for the american people. Reporter but the straightlaced romney is clearly disgusted with trumps demeanor as a president ial candidate now. Think of Donald Trumps personal qualities. The bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. Reporter romney even tried to preempt trumps response. Will he talk our policy differences . Or will he attack me with every imaginable low road insult. This may tell you what you need to know about his temperament, his stability and his suitability to be president. Mitt was a disaster as a candidate. Reporter trump responded, true to form. I backed mitt romney. I backed him. You can see how loyal he is. He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, mitt, drop to your knees. He would have dropped to his knees. Reporter trump claimed romney didnt run for president this time around because he feared the real reality star. Ill tell you the real reason he chickened out, it wasnt jeb, it was me. Reporter but it was clear it hit a nerve. The billionaire came armed with a list of accomplishments. They dont want to talk about 92story buildings all over the place. They dont want to talk about the bank of america building in san francisco, 1290 avenue of the americas. Frankly, its ridiculous. Reporter now, jake, mitt romney after his speech gave people the answer to what a lot of us were asking, which is why did you change your tune given four years ago he did seek Donald Trumps endorsement. He did it on twitter. Heres what mitt romney said. He said if donald trump had said four years ago the things he says today about the kkk, muslims, mexicans and the disabled, i would not have accepted his endorsement. Now, again interesting that he decided to wait until after his speech to make that clear. Jake. Some democrats noting that four years ago donald trump was openly questioning whether or born in the United States and wondering anyway, lets move on. Thanks so much, dana bash, appreciate it. Donald trump is quite fond of saying i am selffunding my campaign, the idea that he owes nothing to any big money donors so he can remain his own man. Its something voters find appealing. The question is how long will he continue to take the stance. Sara murray is also in detroit and has breaking news on this front. Sources are telling you about trumps plans for the general election should he met the nomination . Reporter thats right, jake. Like you said donald trump makes a big tedeal on the campaign trl that he is selffunding his campaign. But a source tells me that in private conversations, donald trump and his campaign are acknowledging that they will be fundraising for the general election. This is a reflection of their belief that they know they cannot run a shoe string campaign in a general election up against someone like Hillary Clinton, that they know not just donald trump but also the Republican Party needs to be well funded for a fight like that. Right now donald trump operates with just a handful of aides and sort of hopscotches them across the country. Going forward if he does win the nomination, he would work with the rnc, tap into their data operation, their Ground Troops and all of this is very expensive. Now, as you might imagine, the Trump Campaign was not super excited to discuss this with me. When i spoke to their campaign manager, corey lewandowski, he said donald trump is focused on the primary election, he is selffunding now and not even thinking about the general election. But thats not what were hearing is happening behind closed doors. Sara murray, thanks very much. Joining me senior advisor, sara huckabee. So mitt romney, im sure you heard his speech, he delivered a takedown of your candidate. Your response . Frankly, i think americans probably liked the 2012 version of mitt romney a lot better than the one that they saw today. The one that praised trump for being a great leader, great on the economy and great at creating jobs. I think thats one of the reasons that so Many Americans are rallying behind donald trump is for that very thing. I think its a sad thing for governor romney and frankly i think it helps donald trump. It further plays into the antiestablishment atmosphere out there and its just another reason that more and more americans are rallying around donald trump because theyre so tired of the washington establishment telling them who to vote for, why they should vote for them and how to vote for them. So i think actually this is a good thing for donald trump and another great day on the campaign. Lets get into some of the substance of some of the things mitt romney said. Lets play this one about Donald Trumps positions. Dishonesty is Donald Trumps hallmark. He claimed that he had spoken clearly and boldly against going into iraq. Wrong. He spoke in favor of invading iraq. He said he saw thousands of muslims in new jersey celebrating 9 11. Wrong. He saw no such thing. He imagined it. Hes not of the temperament of the kind of stable, thoughtful person we need as leader. His imagination must not be married to real power. Sarah, thats something that we have heard from others, including from former competitor now endorser chris christie, saying that donald trump doesnt have the temperament to be president. You know, i think that when you have people that are coming after you, i think you have to consider the source. Obviously a lot of the establishment doesnt like donald trump, they dont like what hes doing, hes growing the Republican Party and hes changing the die many naic of the Republican Party. Hes not just running a campaign but an actual movement. They dont control him, they dont have access to him and dont get to tell him what to do and i think theyre terrified of that. Of course they are going to come up with outlandish attacks, every day were seeing a new series of them rolling out. I think they lack a lot of credibility considering just a few short years ago they were standing on a stage praising the guy for what a great leader he was. I think its hard to make that kind of transition. You have to wonder and ask yourself were they lying then or are they lying now . I want to play this again for our viewers. Heres mitt romney talking about some of the Donald Trumps business record. His bankruptcies have crushed small businesses, and the men and women who work for them. He inherited his business, he didnt create it. And whatever happened to Trump Airlines . How about Trump University . And then theres trump magazine and trump vodka and trump steaks and Trump Mortgage. A business genius he is not. Your response, sarah . Obviously, i think donald trump has built tremendous amount of business all across the country and all across the globe. I think we go back to the same point. I hate to sound like a broken record but this is just one desperate attack after another and i think it helps donald trump when the establishment continues to pile on to him. Thats one of the reasons america loves him is because hes not the establishment and because he is a different and fresh face. And when it comes to business, i mean the guy is a billionaire, he cant be all that bad. I think its really hard to say that he is not a good businessman, even if he did have a small loan at one point from his father. He has grown that into a billiondollar industry. So to question that success just seems a little bit ridiculous. Are you preparing for a fight at the convention . I think we have to prepare for everything, but right now our main focus is on winning delegates so that we dont have to have that fight. I think were in a really good place and position to do just that. Sarah Huckabee Sanders from the Trump Campaign, thank you so much. Best of luck at the debate this evening. Thanks, jake. Mitt romney the ultimate member of the establishment said he would accept ted cruz rather than accepting donald trump so how can cruz continue to claim hell do things differently if he makes it to the white house . Well does the Cruz Campaign next, stay with us. Twell what if i told you that peanuts can work for you . Thats right. Im talking full time delivery of 7 grams of protein and 6 essential nutrients. Ever see a peanut take a day off . I dont think so. Harness the hardworking power of the peanut. Hi im kristie. And im jess. And we are the bug chicks. Were a nanobusiness. Windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. Kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. Hey cortana, find my katydid video. Oh this is so good. If youre trying to teach a kid about a proboscis. Just sketch it on the screen. I dont have a touch screen on my mac, im jealous of that. You put a big bug in a kids hands and change their world view. [ laugh ] hi im kristie. And im jess. And we are the bug chicks. Were a nanobusiness. Windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. Kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. Hey cortana, find my katydid video. Oh this is so good. If youre trying to teach a kid about a proboscis. Just sketch it on the screen. I dont have a touch screen on my mac, im jealous of that. You put a big bug in a kids hands and change their world view. [ laugh ] then your eyes may see it, differently. Ave allergies. Only flonase is approved to relieve both your itchy, watery eyes and congestion. No other nasal allergy spray can say that. Complete allergy relief or incomplete. Let your eyes decide. Flonase changes everything. In new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. All across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. Like in buffalo, where the largest solar gigafactory in the western hemisphere will soon energize the world. And in syracuse, where imagination is in production. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. Were going to stick with our politics lead now. Mitt romneys extraordinary speech today where he pleaded with Republican Voters to nominate anyone but donald trump mentioned three of the other candidates still standing, including senator ted cruz, who has spent much of his career alienating the republican establishment or fighting on behalf of the public. But this afternoon a suggestion that maybe some of the establishment is coming around to cruz. Joining me now from detroit is alice stewart, Communications Director for the Cruz Campaign. Alice, thanks so much for being here. Good to see you. Great to be here, thank you, jake. So eight former National FinanceCommittee Members of the jeb bush president ial campaign have joined your team with senator cruz. Why is the establishment coming around now and do you even want their support . Wont this become a talking point for donald trump . Look, we certainly welcome the support from anyone who wants to support ted cruz because were at a critical time in this country. What we heard from mitt romney today was reflective of what clearly 65 of the Republican Voters feel, that donald trump is not the person that should be the nomination for our Republican Party. Look, ted cruz has been saying this for months and months, and all donald trump does is return by saying that hes a liar. Look, the fact remains donald trump has spent a lifetime donating to Democratic Candidates and causes. He spent a lifetime sharing views similar to Hillary Clinton. He has donated significantly to causes that have been in contradiction to what republicans stand for. He supports issues that the Republican Party doesnt stand for. He has been pro choice, he is for gay marriage. I think even more troubling are the things we dont know. Hes refusing to release his tax plan. We dont know whats in his taxes. Also now he has come here saying that he is starting the conversation with regard to immigration, yet now we know there is a tape of him having a conversation with a New York Times reporter where he has acknowledged that everything hes saying on the campaign trail is nothing more than political talk and hes going to go back on it if he were to be the nominee. These are things that are a concern to ted cruz and many republicans. So romney proposed a strategy for all the remaining candidates to stay in the race and try to keep trump from getting enough delegates to secure the nomination. Take a listen. Given the current delegate selection process, that means that id vote for marco rubio in florida and for john kasich in ohio and for ted cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating mr. Trump in a given state. Is that the strategy now, the best way to keep trump from becoming the nominee, for cruise, rubio and kasich to compete only in the states where they have the best chance of beating trump and force a contested convention . We expect this to be decided before that point. Look, our strategy has been the same as its been all along, to do well in these early states and also have the money to continue to execute a multistate strategy. We announced that we raised 12 million in february. Thats the largest cash haul in any month of this campaign and were building our finance team so well have the resources to execute our game plan. The way the delegate counting sits now, donald has a little over 300, we have 225 and marco rubio is far behind. We have a plan in place to continue to acquire delegates that will get us to the magic number, 1237, in time to secure the nomination. That has been our plan and method all along and were on the path to do just that. Alice, donald trump, as he continues to win primary after primary, caucus after caucus is also, it seems, part of this huge recordbreaking turnout by Republican Voters. Is it not possible that he is doing what hes saying hes doing, increasing, expanding the Republican Party . Well, certainly without a doubt the Republican Voters this year are coming out in record numbers. Its because theyre frustrated with the obamaclinton policies that have turned this country into shambles over the past seven years and they want to see a change. Look, when it comes to this process, weve had ted cruz is the only one that has significantly beaten don