Trump and Cruz unleash personal war of words on Indiana primary day

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• HARI SREENIVASAN:

  There's a lot riding on the results from Indiana's presidential primary tonight, and the tension is higher than ever. The top two Republican candidates unloaded on each other today, taking the vitriol to new levels.

  John Yang reports.

  SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), Republican Presidential Candidate: This man is a pathological liar.

• JOHN YANG:

  Ted Cruz in Indiana this morning unleashing a blistering attack on Donald Trump. The Republican front-runner cited an unsubstantiated National Enquirer report that linked Cruz's father, Rafael, to the man who killed President John F. Kennedy.

  DONALD TRUMP (R), Republican Presidential Candidate: His father with was Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being, you know, shot. And nobody even brings it up. I mean, they don't even talk about that.

• JOHN YANG:

  Trump also chided Cruz over a confrontation with the New York businessman's supporters.

• DONALD TRUMP:

  Well, they know he's lying. They have been watching him lie. That's what he does. That's why we call him lyin' Ted.

• JOHN YANG:

  Hours later, Cruz branded Trump utterly amoral and compared likened him to a character in the "Back to the Future" movies.

• SEN. TED CRUZ:

  A caricature of a braggadocios, arrogant buffoon who builds giant casinos with giant pictures of him everywhere he looks. We are looking, potentially, at the Biff Tannen presidency.

• JOHN YANG:

  This very personal war of words went white-hot even as Indiana voters were going to the polls. And while Trump was trading barbs with Cruz, he was taking fire on another front, from Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. She was interviewed on MSNBC.

  HILLARY CLINTON (D), Democratic Presidential Candidate: He has given no indication that he understands the gravity of the responsibilities that go with being commander in chief, and that will be a big part of my campaign.

• JOHN YANG:

  Clinton spent the day in West Virginia and Ohio. But Democratic rival Bernie Sanders made a last-ditch push in Indiana.

  SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (VT-I), Democratic Presidential Candidate: These trade agreements, whether it's NAFTA or permanent normal trade relations with China, were a disaster for American workers. I understood that. I fought them. I was out on picket lines with workers in opposition to NAFTA. Secretary Clinton, as you know, has supported every one of these disastrous trade agreements.

• JOHN YANG:

  After today, the primary season moves into the home stretch, heading toward the final big day on June 7 and the biggest delegate prize, California.

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

• HARI SREENIVASAN:

  We will have a report from on the ground in Indiana after the news summary.