Donald Trump feels the heat from protesters — and Elizabeth Warren

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And beyond the details of the report, there is, of course, the politics of Clinton's — of Secretary Clinton's e-mails. And while the issue has followed her throughout the campaign on the Republican side, new protests, some of them violent, have swarmed around the GOP's presumptive nominee.

  John Yang reports on the latest twists and turns on the campaign trail.

• JOHN YANG:

  At a rally in Anaheim, California, Donald Trump pounced on the State Department report on Hillary Clinton's e-mail practices.

  DONALD TRUMP (R), Republican Presidential Candidate: As I say, crooked Hillary crooked Hillary, she's as crooked as they come. She had a little bad news today, as you know, from — some reports came down that weren't so good. Not so good. The inspector general's report, not good. But I want to run against Hillary.

• JOHN YANG:

  A Clinton spokesman claimed the audit shows her e-mail use was consistent with past State Department practices.

  The candidate didn't mention the report in an appearance this afternoon, keeping her fire trained on Trump and remarks he made in 2007, at the beginning of the housing meltdown.

  HILLARY CLINTON (D), Democratic Presidential Candidate: Donald Trump actually rooted for the housing crash that cost five million families their homes. I'm not making this up. We called him out on it yesterday using his own words. And you know what he said in response? Well, he bragged about what he did. He said — and I'm quoting now — "That's the kind of thinking our country needs."

• JOHN YANG:

  Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, neutral in the battle between Clinton and Bernie Sanders, picked up the theme as she emerges as one of Trump's fiercest critics.

  SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), Massachusetts: But Donald Trump was drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown, because it meant he could buy up a bunch more property on the cheap. What kind of a man does that? A small, insecure money-grubber who doesn't care who gets hurt, so long as he makes a profit off it.

  (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

• JOHN YANG:

  At his own event last night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Trump laced into Clinton.

• DONALD TRUMP:

  I see this lowlife, she puts on an ad, did you know that Donald Trump was rooting against housing, because he wanted housing to go down, because he wanted to buy? And they have got some clip of me from many years ago where I'm saying, yes, if it goes down, I'm going to buy. I'm a businessman. That's what I'm supposed to do. That's what I'm supposed to do.

• JOHN YANG:

  But his rally's message was overshadowed by violent protests outside. Demonstrators threw burning Trump T-shirts, rocks and other objects at officers.

  Police say they responded with pepper spray and smoke bombs. They said several officers were hurt, and at least one person was arrested. Inside the hall, Trump faced near constant interruptions.

• DONALD TRUMP:

  You can get him out. Get him out.

• JOHN YANG:

  "NewsHour" special correspondent Kathleen McCleery was there.

• KATHLEEN MCCLEERY:

  That was a woman who was literally dragged down the stairs. There was a man who ripped his shirt off, and they dragged him away. And, of course, one that really got everybody's attention was a young boy. He didn't look like he was more than 10 or 12 years old, and he stood up and said something.

  I couldn't hear what he had to say, but, of course, I heard what Donald Trump said, and what he said was that that's the youngest protester he's had at any of his rallies.

• DONALD TRUMP:

  How old is this kid? How old is this? Get out of here. Get out of here. Still wearing diapers.

• JOHN YANG:

  And again today at Trump's event in Anaheim, police and protesters were out in force.

  The candidate also came under new scrutiny on a different front. In January, he skipped a Republican debate and held an event to raise money for veterans' groups.

• DONALD TRUMP:

  I didn't know we were going to raise $5 million. We actually raised closed to six, to be totally honest. Donald Trump gave $1 million, OK?

• JOHN YANG:

  It turns out Trump never actually made good on that donation, until now. The Washington Post reports that, earlier this week, the New York billionaire took steps to send $1 million to a foundation that aids families of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers.

  In the meantime, Trump added more delegates in Tuesday's Washington state primary. He's now just 41 short of clinching the Republican nomination.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  With more on this whirlwind day in politics, we turn to Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today, and Reid Wilson, chief political correspondent for The Morning Consult.

  And welcome back to both of you.

  So, let's start, Susan, with this State Department inspector general report on Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server. How much political damage is this likely to do?

• SUSAN PAGE, USA Today:

  You know, I don't think it's hugely explosive. People who like Hillary Clinton will still like her.

  But I don't think it's helpful, and it lays the groundwork for the bigger report to come, the FBI report. That investigation into her exclusive use of an e-mail server is still going on.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  How do you see this?

• REID WILSON, Morning Consult:

  There are two sides of the same coin here.

  On the one hand, it's a lot better for the Clinton campaign that this came out in May, rather than October. It is — on the other hand, though, it reinforces one of the sort of fundamental problems that Hillary Clinton faces and has faced in her — most of her political career, which is people don't believe that she is honest and trustworthy. People don't believe that she plays by the same rules.

  And that is a real problem when it come comes to swing voters. Are the Clintons throwing straight? They have just handed Republicans and Donald Trump all the ammunition they want to make that charge over and over.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And it looks like the Republicans are going to keep talking about it.

• SUSAN PAGE:

  Yes, I guarantee that they will, because this is an issue that goes to that fundamental issue of honesty and trustworthiness.

  It is going to be something we're going to hear about over and over again over the next six months.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  But let's talk about Donald Trump.

  Reid, as we were just reporting, this rally he had last night in Albuquerque, there were some protesters on the inside, but protesters on the outside were throwing — setting shirts on fire and throwing them, throwing bottles. We have now seen this at several Trump rallies.

  Is this the kind of thing that could hurt him, or do people just say, oh, that just comes with the territory?

• REID WILSON:

  I think it could certainly hurt him.

  And it's sort of ironic that Clinton is giving Trump and the Republicans all the ammunition they need, and Trump is giving Clinton and the Democrats all the ammunition that they need. We have heard Hillary Clinton call Trump dangerous and unprepared to be president, unfit for office.

  That's what these scenes of mayhem and violence look like. We heard from Trump's campaign manager a few — well, campaign chairman — a few weeks ago that he was going to act more presidential. I assumed that meant fewer of these big, boisterous, raucous rallies, where he's kicking protesters out. Apparently, that's not the case.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And I have heard some people say, Susan, though, that this kind of plays into the tough guy that Trump presents himself as, and really doesn't — his followers don't mind it.

• SUSAN PAGE:

  Yes, I don't think his core supporters are put off by this at all.

  In fact, I think there is some risk for Democrats if you have protests that turn violent against Trump. You know, you think about the anti-war rallies of the 1960s. Those often rebounded against anti-war candidates, anti-war presidential candidates like Hubert Humphrey.

  Americans have a big tolerance for protests that are peaceful. They have a low tolerance for protests that turn violent. Slight risk, I think, also for the Democrats here.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Well, let's talk about another other aspect about what's going on, on the Democratic side, and it involves Donald Trump.

  But, Reid, it's a new voice among the Democrats, and that's Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. She's been tweeting a lot about Donald Trump, but, yesterday, she was out making a public speech, and she was really tough on him.

  Could she become, you know, a — sort of an attack dog for Hillary Clinton?

• REID WILSON:

  Elizabeth Warren is a hugely important voice within the Democratic Party. There is probably one other person who speaks for liberals as loudly as Elizabeth Warren, and that's Bernie Sanders.

  So, if and when Warren is to come over to Hillary Clinton's side, her endorsement will mean a great deal in terms of healing the party. I think this is the — sort of the beginning steps of getting towards an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, the extremely likely eventual nominee.

  Going after Donald Trump Sets up a contrast. No matter what a liberal voter thinks about Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton's a lot better for that voter than Donald Trump would be.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  How do you see the role she plays?

• SUSAN PAGE:

  She's a great — this is an example of how Donald Trump can do what Hillary Clinton hasn't done so far, which is unite the Democratic Party. Elizabeth Warren has not yet endorsed Hillary Clinton.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  That's right.

• SUSAN PAGE:

  The two of them aren't really close. She's the only woman senator who has not endorsed Hillary Clinton yet. We assume she will eventually.

  But this is an example of how she can be a really effective advocate for Hillary Clinton without even mentioning Hillary Clinton's name, because Elizabeth Warren has figured out how to get under Donald Trump's skin. You can tell from his responses that he is disturbed by some of the criticism that she has made.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Yes, he came back and called her Pocahontas, making fun of the fact that, at one point, she talked about her distant and I guess tiny Native American heritage, Reid. But Trump doesn't — isn't one to let any criticism lie, is he?

• REID WILSON:

  Yes, although Susan brings up an important point here.

  There are a few things — sure, he will fire back at anybody over anything, but there are few things that really bug him. Elizabeth Warren's criticism is one. Questions about Trump University have been another. Questions about his net worth, especially, tend to get under his skin.

  I think Republicans never figured out how to effectively go after Trump and undercut him with his core supporters. You know, Democrats only get one shot. They don't get a whole bunch of primaries. They only get the one shot in November. So they need to sort of start experimenting, figuring out the right way to undercut his support among as many of his core voters as they can, raise his unfavorable ratings, make him unpalatable to swing voters, and finally to get under his skin and make him look unpresidential.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Well, let's talk, Susan, quickly the contest that is still out there for Hillary Clinton.

  And that is, Bernie Sanders still very much competing, the two of them spending a whole lot of time this week in California. They're going to be voting on June 7. What does California look like?

• SUSAN PAGE:

  Well, we think Hillary Clinton has a lead there, a significant lead, not an overwhelming one.

  It's her kind of state, in that it's racially a very diverse state. That's been good for her. We think she will win in California. In fact, she's almost guaranteed to go over the top, to just clinch, numerically clinch her nomination with the June 7 primary.

  The fact is, even if she loses in California, she will clinch her nomination in the California primary, given proportional allocation of delegates. But I think it looks like she's going to win. And that will be important kind of psychologically, to not have that last, biggest primary be one in which Bernie Sanders comes on strong and defeats her.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The optics could be bad for her if she were to lose. But it's your sense that it's looking pretty good for her?

• REID WILSON:

  That's what the public polling has shown. Bernie Sanders sort of needs an off-ramp. He needs a reason to get out of this race. And losing California is that off-ramp.

  It's going to be really tough for Bernie Sanders to say, all right, I'm quitting after he just won a bunch of states. There are four other states up. At least one of them, Montana, South Dakota, those are probably states that are going to be better for Sanders than they will be for Clinton.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  All right, watching it all, Reid Wilson, Susan Page, thank you.

• SUSAN PAGE:

  Thank you.

• REID WILSON:

  Yes.