[Don Lemon, Cnn:] This President's Day, the race for the White House is turning into a war. One that can tear the GOP apart. This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. With just two days to go until the GOP presidential town hall, the republicans are taking aim at each other. Trump versus Cruz, Bush versus Trump and Rubio versus Cruz. Meanwhile, all of Washington preparing to do battle over the Supreme Court. What will all of this mean in November? A whole heck of a lot. Who better to talk about politics and the Supreme Court than Hugh Hewitt, the host of the Hugh Hewitt show. He's taught constitutional law since 1995 and is a veteran of the White House Council, Counsel's Office who also served two attorneys general. My goodness! I've gotten that out. I'm also very jealous that you're in California this evening. So, Hugh, straight to it. Trump and Cruz, Cruz and Trump, Valentine's weekend is over. But there is no love lost between those two. Here's what happened on Saturday night. Look at this.
[Donald Trump,  Presidential Candidate:] This guy will say anything. Nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues.
[Sen. Ted Cruz,  Presidential Candidate:] All right, Don, can I get to respond?
[Unidentified Male:] Senator, stick from the buffet there.
[Trump:] He's a nasty guy.
[Cruz:] It is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called him pathological and compared him to a child molester. And Donald has this weird pattern. When you point to his own record he screams "liar, liar, liar."
[Lemon:] So, Hugh, I mean, was it me or do you think Saturday night was a I guess little nastier than before? Was it new high new low for the GOP, what do you think?
[Hugh Hewitt, Radio Hugh Hewitt Show:] New level of intensity. I will say this. Three polls came out today all allegedly taken on Sunday, which is a bad polling day, but nevertheless, the day after the debate. Donald Trump leads them all by double digits. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in the second and third place. John Kasich came in fourth. Now former President Bush appeared on behalf of his brother Jeb and gave a great well-received speech. I watched I live on CNN earlier today as I was doing my radio show. So, things can change dramatically in South Carolina quickly. But it appears for all of the pyrotechnics on Saturday night the race hasn't moved much in South Carolina. Donald Trump is still ahead.
[Lemon:] Well, let me ask you since you brought up Bush. Do you think having his brother out will change anything? And some people are saying if Nikki Haley endorses him, right, they're looking for that. That could actually really help Jeb Bush. What are your thoughts on that, Hugh Hewitt?
[Hewitt:] Well, I think George W. Bush motivates the base. And therefore, a lot of people who might have been thinking about seeing it out and watching what happened will come out and one more time will fall the old man whenever he wants to go. White Christmas kind of thing. But what's really interesting is the Supreme Court battle has energized the republicans. And I talked to Trey Gowdy, he's a Rubio endorser. On my radio show today, he expects record break out. Huge turnout on Saturday new South Carolina primary.
[Lemon:] You sound like Trump.
[Hewitt:] I think this and I've been saying that this animates or if not galvanizes republicans more than democrats. Am I wrong? No, you're absolutely right. Look, on the one hand you got Hillary Clinton who is the Willy Sutton of the class finding information running for the opportunity to appoint the next justice of the Supreme Court. So, a person who wants standard of law applied to her. Getting to nominate the decisive vote on the Supreme Court. That will motivate republicans. And in fact, you saw Mitch McConnell take the lead yesterday and say there won't be any hearings. There's not going to be a vote. And today, Rob Portman of Ohio slings state Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, swing state Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, swing state Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, swing state. Four senators all came out and agreed we're not going to confirm President Obama's nominee. Yes. He's absolutely right to nominate whomever he wants. But I tell you what, he could nominate me, Don, and I would say no hearings, no vote. He could nominate friend, John Eastman, one of the most distinguished...
[Lemon:] You just want the next president to get that, is that what you're saying?
[Hewitt:] That's it. I want the election to focus on the court.
[Lemon:] OK.
[Hewitt:] I'm tired of the court deciding this. I think it's a great opportunity for Americans to have a discussion about what the court means in their life.
[Lemon:] OK. Yes. Let's do this. Why play with photos, let's play this.
[Trump:] I'm going to bring a lawsuit because in my opinion, based on what I've learned over the last two or three days from very top lawyers, he doesn't have the right to serve as president or even run as president. He was born in Canada. So, I will bring that lawsuit if he doesn't apologize.
[Lemon:] All right. That's not what I want to talk about. But let's do talk about that. Because Trump is hitting Cruz now.
[Hewitt:] Sure.
[Lemon:] Now he's saying, you know, I think that they should intervene. That the Republican National Committee should intervene on this "birther" issue. Where is the RNC leadership right now? Should they be intervening on a lot of these issues?
[Hewitt:] No. The RNC leadership Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer, and I always say my son works at the RNC. I want to clear the conflict. But the RNC is doing actually the right thing, which is to keep its hands off of this. Donald Trump is one of the few people who actually does have standing to bring that lawsuit about Ted Cruz. A Secretary of State could keep Senator Cruz off the ballot. I think they're wrong. I think he's eligible to run for president. I've never wavered in that. But Donald Trump has the right to bring that lawsuit, if anybody does. Because he would be adversely impacted by having an ineligible candidate on the ballot. But if he does bring that lawsuit I think he'll lose. What I think he is doing there is shrewd politics. Donald Trump is a very smart campaigner. He's keeping the attention on himself. He knew he had to do something today with George W. Bush in the Palmetto State creating an enormous amount of buzz. And so he did. He had a rather boisterous press conference, but that's just good politics. Good theater. Donald Trump has proven to us again and again he knows this game as well as anyone, better than most, than he played it well another good hand today.
[Lemon:] Hugh, it is not just to Trump. By Ted Cruz is going after Marco Rubio. This is from today. Listen to this.
[Cruz:] If Marco wants to stand up and say in-state tuition for illegal aliens is a good idea. And that's why I and Marco Rubio support it. Great, we can have that debate. I expect to have that debate with Hillary in the fall or with Bernie. But it is not being honest or candid for either Marco Rubio or Donald Trump to pretend that their records are different than what they are.
[Lemon:] Hugh, is there an all-out war in the GOP right now?
[Hewitt:] No. I think it's a great primary battle. Here's an interesting thing. Ted Cruz got a lift by the focus switching to the Supreme Court, which is his strong suit. He has argued nine times before the justices. He clerked on the court. He's a brilliant lawyer. Alan Dershowitz said in the last segment he had between you and the previous hour, that Ted Cruz was his law student. He's previously said he's his best law student. Marco Rubio got a big lift at a Saturday night debate. And he's campaigning with Tim Scott and maybe the most popular politician in South Carolina and Trey Gowdy, both of them endorsed him. Jeb Bush got his brother. Donald Trump has this extraordinary appeal to crossover voters who may have registered late in the process. John Kasich gets to play above it all and say I'm the guy who is not down in the mud. Not wrestling. Come vote for me. I'm the nice happy Reagan. Dr. Ben Carson playing that same card. It's not a war. It's primary. And I like primaries. This is what it's all about. We will nominate the strongest candidate to, again, I came up with this earlier. I want to repeat. Hillary Clinton is the Willie Sutton of classified information. She is falling like a rock in Nevada. There's a Wall Street story today that Bernie Sanders catching her. She is falling apart across the United States. So, I think come the end of this primary season, we will nominate the toughest, strongest most strategically place republican and we're going to win and we're going to get the next Supreme Court justice. Maybe two or three.
[Lemon:] Well, let's talk about this. And what about what about September 11th? What is your reaction to Trump using it against Jeb and the former president. Because you mentioned that, you know, the former president was out there speaking today and gave a great speech, in your estimation. You were watching it during your radio show. What do you think of Trump using 911?
[Hewitt:] Well, I was taken aback on Saturday night. But he walked it back on Sunday. And I like to be fair to candidates. Sometimes in the heat of a debate they say something or in an interview they'll say some little thing that they didn't mean and then they clarify the next day. Jeb Bush on CNN with Dana Bash when I was on State of the Union said he didn't really care about it. It wasn't a big deal to him what McConnell did in the Senate. He clarified that and make it clear that he was speaking too quickly and that it does make a great deal to him. Donald Trump came back and said on Sunday he didn't really mean lies as like he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction there. So, let's be fair to everyone. They all sometimes use catch phrases, as I do, as you do, that are misunderstood. I like to consider them complete candidates. And Donald Trump clarified, Jeb Bush clarified. And I think the voters in South Carolina, these record numbers of voters are going to give us a lot to chew on. And then we're going to have a debate on CNN on February 25th. I'll be a panelist down in Houston. We're going to another debate on March 10th. This is going to go a long time. And, Don, write it down, open convention. No one is going to have 1,237 delegates come the opening of the convention in Cleveland. So, buckle up, it's going to be one heck of a ride.
[Lemon:] I think you've said that before.
[Hewitt:] I have.
[Lemon:] But more emphasize this time. This time you went like this. OK. Thank you, Hugh Hewitt. I appreciate it. When we come back counting down...
[Hewitt:] Thank you.
[Lemon:] ... see you later. We're counting down to a two-night republican town hall Wednesday and Thursday, followed by the GOP South Carolina primary. What do voters think of all-out war in the Republican Party?