Hillary Clinton: Trump's 'stream of insults' are 'absurd' – as it happened

We’re shutting down this blog and will be back soon to live-blog the results in Arizona, Utah and Idaho. Here are some highlights from the day:

• Ted Cruz said the US should “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods”
• Pennsylvania congressman Lou Barletta endorsed Donald Trump
• Hillary Clinton slammed Trump’s “absurd” “stream of insults”
• An unusual Virgin Islands GOP conflict has emerged over local delegates

22 Mar 201618.18 EDT

Jason Wilson

Guardian reporter Jason Wilson is in Idaho where Democrats say they are anticipating a large turnout for the caucus:

Dean Ferguson, Idaho Democratic Party communications director, said he is expecting a record turnout for the state’s caucuses.

“It’s spooky, actually. We’ve got a reservation system. We’ve got 18,000 people reserved already. In 2008, which was a year where everyone was excited, we got 21,000 in total. It’s going to be more than 2008,” he said.

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In the Idaho Centre in downtown Boise, hundreds of volunteers - many of them young voters - are preparing for the imminent arrival of up to 10,000 Ada County caucusgoers.

Jill Kuraitis, a veteran of Idaho’s progressive movements, said she’s never seen a race energise this age group in this way.

“Look at the volunteers,” she said. “I’ve never seen so many millennials involved in caucuses.”

Kuraitis herself was torn on who to back, but she predicted that the night in Idaho will belong to Bernie Sanders.

The GOP in the Virgin Islands has taken the unusual step of disqualifying six elected delegates and replacing them with alternates – a move that gives Donald Trump and Ted Cruz new delegates.

John Canegata, chairman of the USVI GOP, said in a statement:

Rule 11 automatically disqualifies and strikes from the Virgin Islands delegation to the Republican National Convention anyone who fails to comply with party rules. The party rules commanded me to inform the Republican National Committee of this automatic action, which I did in a letter to chairman Reince Priebus.

John Yob, former advisor to Rand Paul, was one of the ejected delegates. Yob released a statement criticizing the chair:

The Chairman is not a dictator and can not unilaterally break the USVI GOP rules to hand select his preferred delegates. He has unfortunately decided once again to either not read the rules or not follow the rules ... We are confident we will be properly certified by the certification committee.”

The six disqualified delegates had not pledged primary support to a specific candidate. These kinds of disputes could become crucial during a contested Republican convention.

Donald Trump is back on CNN now promoting torture and Muslim surveillance on a phone call with Wolf Blitzer:

We can’t continue to be the stupid people. We can be nice about it, we can be politically correct about it. But we’re being fools. We’re being absolute fools ... We’re not going to have a country left.

We have to change our law on the waterboarding thing. We have to be able to fight on an almost equal basis ... It’s your minimal form of torture.

Asked if he would immediately torture a suspect, such as Salah Abdeslam, the suspect in the Paris attacks, Trump responded: “He may be talking, but he’ll talk a lot faster with the torture.”

Trump also said he agrees with Ted Cruz’s controversial call to secure and patrol “Muslim neighborhoods”, saying: “That’s a good idea. I would support that 100%. I bet you the local police know much more than what’s going on than anybody would understand.”

Like Cruz, Trump compared surveillance of Muslims to targeting gangs: “[Police] know the gang members. They know everything. And local police know plenty about the Muslims, too.”

Ted Cruz is defending his controversial statements on Muslims earlier in the day after facing backlash for saying “we need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized”.

In a CNN phone call, Cruz compared targeting Muslim neighborhoods to fighting gangs:

It’s doing what law enforcement does in any circumstance. If you have a neighborhood where there is a high level of gang activity, the way to prevent it is you increase the law enforcement presence there and you target the gang members to get them off the street ... I’m talking about any area where there’s a higher incidence of radical Islamic terrorism.

Cruz also compared his proposal to former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s highly controversial surveillance of Muslims via the New York police department:

Ohio governor John Kasich, meanwhile, cautioned against monitoring Muslim Americans, telling reporters in Minneapolis:

We are not at war with Islam; we’re at war with radical Islam ... In our country, we don’t want to create divisions where we say, ‘O.K., well your religion, you’re a Muslim, so therefore we’re going to keep an eye on you.’

Bernie Sanders made an unplanned stop at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff on Tuesday, catching up with students who were playing with puppies to destress during midterms:

22 Mar 201616.50 EDT

Sam Levin

In the lead up to the Utah caucus tonight, Bernie Sanders is highlighting polls showing that he could beat Donald Trump by wide margins in this state that has not gone blue for half a century.

The Guardian talked to some conservative Mormons voters who illustrated why Trump could actually lose to a progressive candidate in a state like Utah.

Cameron Moon, 26, said he plans to support Ted Cruz, but if it came down to Trump v Sanders in November, he would have to consider writing in another candidate – or possibly choosing the Democrat:

Here’s why I would vote for Bernie over Trump in a hypothetical situation. Bernie at least has respect for other human beings. I feel like if I voted for Bernie, it would be because I was relying on Congress to contain him and to do their duty and to prevent the kind of legislation from getting passed that he wants to get passed.

He at least wouldn’t embarrass us or damage our international relations. He would at least be a leader that other countries would respect. If Bernie ever were to get elected, Congress would become the most conservative, most Republican-controlled Congress in decades ... So maybe I would vote for Bernie, I don’t know.

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Jake Lee, a 25-year-old Ted Cruz supporter, said Trump v Sanders would be an impossible choice for him:

We have this very strong idea in the [Mormon] church that we’re all representing and supposed to exemplify Jesus Christ ... As missionaries, we have this super cookie-cutter suit and tie and the plaque that says ‘representative of the church of Jesus Christ.’ That’s kind of what I feel like I’m supposed to be doing on this earth ... and I don’t feel like God would be pleased with me if I supported somebody like Donald Trump.”

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Listen to Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Donald Trump respond to the deadly Brussels attacks on the day of key elections in Utah and Arizona.

22 Mar 201615.08 EDT

Sam Levin

“Mormons for Hillary” may not be a huge group in Utah, but some Democratic members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are ramping up support for the former secretary of state in advance of the Tuesday night caucus.

Miriam Hyde, a 61-year-old Mormon for Hillary Clinton in Salt Lake City, said “there’s not a lot of us”, but that there are more closet Democrats within the Mormon church than people may realize.

“People would quietly come up to me and say, ‘I can’t say this, but I’m a democrat, too,’” she said. “I’ve been able to kind of loosen them up and say okay, make sure you come to the caucus.” But she admitted that many in the church are still “scared of democrats” and “they think Hillary is really scary”.

Hyde said she tries to persuade her Mormon friends by pointing to Clinton’s experience and reminding them of the sexism the candidate has faced. “Her ideas are certainly progressive, but certainly nowhere near Bernie Sanders, but she knows how the government works. She’s been in it for years and years.”

“Most democrats here tend to be pretty moderate,” she added. “Hillary is strong enough to stand up and get these things done in a rational way.”

Hyde also reminds Mormon voters that Clinton is a religious woman with family values: “She believes in god. She prays. I say that she’s not a heathen ... And she stayed with her husband during the most trying of times. She kept the family together.”

This looks like... entertainment:

Here’s the top of the People story:

Move over, Judge Judy. There’s a new TV courtroom judge coming to town – and it’s none other than former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The onetime vice presidential candidate has been tapped to preside over a new reality court show that would premiere next year. She signed a deal in February with Montana-based production company Warm Springs, a source close to the process tells PEOPLE.

Read the full piece here.

Update: Sounds like it’s not necessarily coming to a screen near you... yet:

22 Mar 201614.32 EDT

Three Mormon missionaries among Brussels injured

Sam Levin

Three Utahns serving as missionaries for the Mormon church were injured in the attacks in the Brussels, Belgium airport, according to Utah Governor Gary Herbert.

“It is not uncommon for innocent victims to be targeted in these terrorist attacks, but seldom do we see people of faith who have forsaken everything—family, friends, school and careers—in order to share a message of hope and love with the world also fall victim,” Herbert said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Utahns injured are 66-year-old Richard Norby, 20-year-old Joseph Empey and 19-year-old Mason Wells, according to the Associated Press.

“To the Norby, Empey and Wells family, please know that the state of Utah is united in prayer at this time for the health and well being of your missionaries. As Utahns, we stand together with our fellow Americans and those around the world in our resolve to put an end to these acts of terror,” Herbert said.

Mormon voters reject Trump immigration, religious views

The attacks came just before the Tuesday GOP caucus in Utah where immigration has become a particularly hot-button issue. Many Republican Mormon voters, even those with very conservative views on immigration and counter-terrorism efforts, oppose Donald Trump in part due to his outlandish proposals like banning all Muslims.

Political experts say that Mormon voters value religious freedom, and the church last year even issued a statement indirectly condemning Trump’s proposed Muslim ban, citing a quote from Mormon founder Joseph Smith on respecting other religions.

Because so many Mormons serve as missionaries overseas or have family members abroad, they tend to be less inclined to support extreme anti-immigration policies.

This is one of the reasons why Mormon voters could turn Utah blue in November if Trump is the GOP nominee, as the Guardian reported in an an analysis of the Utah Republican caucus.

This content is cross-posted with our live blog coverage of the Brussels attacks

Barack Obama and family are in Havana at an exhibition baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team.

The president did the wave:

Let’s get awkward: how bad was Obama’s ‘handshake’ with Castro?

The moment where politicians risk a hand towards a mutual greeting will always be fraught. Each second is loaded with micro-decisions, like a high-stakes game of rock, paper, scissors. Who is going for what? With handshakes, there is always a winner.

Here are five of the most awkward greetings between leaders in the history of politics:

Hillary Clinton just popped up for an interview on CNN, to be asked about Donald Trump accusing her at a candidates’ forum last night of lacking the “stamina” and “strength” needed for the presidency.

Did she wish to reply?

“No, I really don’t,” Clinton said:

I don’t want to respond to his constant stream of insults. I find it really, at this point, absurd.

House Speaker Paul Ryan says he’s not worried that Donald Trump will cost Republicans control of the chamber in November’s election, the Associated Press reports:

With Trump leading the race for the GOP presidential nomination, some in the party worry that his unbridled comments about women, Hispanics and others will cost Republican candidates in swing House districts.

Ryan says he’s not concerned because House Republicans are crafting an agenda to put the country on the right track. The Wisconsin Republican said Tuesday “We are in control of our own actions.”

Ryan, who was Mitt Romney’s 2012 running mate, has shushed talk of his swooping in at the national convention to claim the Republican presidential nomination. But he just announced a speech on the “state of American politics”, open to media and interns only:

Pennsylvania congressman Lou Barletta, who as a city mayor spearheaded nationally controversial efforts targeting undocumented migrants, has endorsed Donald Trump for president.

“Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has proven that he is the leader our country needs to change the way Washington does business, and I am proud to give my full endorsement and support to his candidacy,” Barletta said in a statement.

As I have said before, I am discouraged that certain members of the Republican Party have spent more time trying to figure out how to stop Donald Trump than they have trying to understand why he is so popular in the first place. Voters are smart. We need to listen to the voters instead of elitists trying to tell us right from wrong. In state after state, voters have made it clear that they want change and are tired of the way things are being done in Washington. I think Donald Trump is the best person to bring the change that Americans are demanding.”

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(h/t: @bencjacobs)

22 Mar 201613.07 EDT

Sam Levin

Becca Schwartz, a self-described “Jewish ex-Mormon lesbian”, said that Utah’s LGBT voters and other progressives who have left the Mormon church are lining up behind Bernie Sanders, writes the Guardian’s Sam Levin in Salt Lake City:

“It comes down to equality in every realm – gender, color of your skin, sexual orientation, financial standing in life,” said Schwartz, who lives in Salt Lake City and has been rallying for Sanders with Autumn Hickman, her girlfriend of five years, in advance of the Tuesday caucuses.

“It’s time for every American to have a decent quality of life.”

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Schwartz, a 31-year-old health care manager, and Hickman, a 40-year-old airline supervisor, both were previously members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they eventually came out of the closet and left the Mormon faith.

In Schwartz’s family, five of seven children all eventually came out as queer – and all left the church, she said. They’re big Sanders fans now. “Bernie Sanders can beat Donald Trump here,” she added, citing a recent poll showing that highly conservative Utah could select a Democratin November if Trump is the GOP nominee.

“This could be a historic year for Utah,” Schwartz said.

Hickman said it’s not hard to support Sanders given the current pool of candidates: “He’s the only responsible adult in the room.”