WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign, with primaries in five states Tuesday and Republican front-runner Donald Trump trying to move closer to nailing down his party’s nomination:
10:20 a.m.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich says he’ll have plenty to say about one GOP candidate in particular — Donald Trump — after Tuesday’s critical primaries in five states.
Speaking to reporters in Genoa, Ohio, after voting for himself for president, Kasich said he’ll be “forced, going forward, to talk about some of the deep concerns” he has about Trump’s campaign. He said Trump’s combative comments at rallies and his comments about women are of particular concern.
Speaking out would not be “designed to be negative as much as it is to point out things that have been deeply disturbing.”
Kasich concluded that whatever happens in Tuesday’s contests, he appreciates the opportunity and the attention.
He added, “I just want to be a good guy, helping my country.”
___
9:44 a.m.
Donald Trump has posted a big win in the GOP caucus on the Northern Mariana Islands.
The party says the billionaire businessman won almost 73 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s caucus. He will get all nine delegates from the U.S. territory.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came in second with 24 percent of the vote, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio finished a distant third and fourth, respectively.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties hold nominating contests in U.S. territories. The residents, however, cannot vote in the general election. The party said a total of 471 people voted.
Trump leads the race for delegates with 469. Cruz has 370, Rubio has 163, and Kasich has 63.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination.
___
7:10 a.m.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is backing away from a suggestion that he might cover legal costs for a supporter who was involved in an altercation with another person at a rally last week in North Carolina.
In a telephone interview Tuesday with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Trump was asked about a series of violent incidents at his campaign events and repeated his statement that he doesn’t “condone violence.”
At the rally last week in Fayetteville, North Carolina, an older white Trump supporter was caught on video punching a younger African-American protester as police led the protester away. The supporter, 78-year-old John Franklin McGraw, was later charged with assault and disorderly conduct.
Trump suggested afterward that he might help the supporter, saying he’d asked his staff to look into it.
But he reversed field in Tuesday’s interview, saying, “I never said I was going to pay for fees.” Asked if it had appeared he was encouraging violence with his initial statement, Trump replied, “Well, maybe so. Maybe that’s why I wouldn’t do it.”
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
