tv   The Place for Politics 2016  MSNBC  February 26, 2016 6:00am-2:01pm PST

and good morning. i'm steve kornacki live in atlanta, georgia. we are at more house college today, home of the fighting maroon tigers. we will be talking to the school president, we will be talking to students, potential first time voters at this famous historically blaj college in this critical super tuesday state and super tuesday of course now just four days away, butç this morning we are goingo start we are where all eyes are and that is on the republicans and last night's show down in houston. what a showdown it was, marco rubio finally taking off the gloves and going after donald trump, something his supporters had been urging him to do for months now, both he and ted cruz

spent almost the entire debate going after the front runner and for the first time the donald actually seemed a little ratt d rattled, but is it going to be too little too late? >> you have many different plans, you will have competition, you will have so many different plans. >> now he's repeating himself. >> no, i'm not repeating. no. no. no. repeating. i watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago. >> i saw you repeat yourself five times five seconds ago. >> first of all u this guy is a choke artist and it guy is a liar. >> falsely accusing someone of lying is a lie. >> the wall just got ten feet taller. >> if he p builds the wall the way he built trump towers he will beç using illegal immigra labor to do it. >> such a cute sound bite. >> this is another area on which donald agrees with hillary clinton. >> if he inherited $200 million

donald trump would be selling watches in manhattan. >> i am the only one on the stage that has hired people. you haven't hired anybody. >> everyone is dumb, he's going to make america great again, we're going to win, win, win, he's leading in the polls. every night. >> and mark murray is nbc's senior political editor, nbc's jacob rascon is live in fort worth, texas, that's where donald trump will be holding a rally a few hours from now. mark, i guess we could say the rubio campaign executed a head fake yesterday, we woke up to stories that marco rubio was going to lay off donald trump, focus on ted cruz, then that debate started and rubio was relentlessly trained on donald trump, i guess he's keeping it up this morning, too. >> he's absolutely keeping it up this morning. he went on all the morning shows, including the "today" show, referred to donald trump as aç con artist, marco rubio' super pac is out with two very tough ads hitting donald trump

in the super tuesday states. so you can end up saying that the whole kitchen sink is now being thrown at donald trump and you even look at last night's debate and with both marco rubio and ted cruz going after trump, it almost looks like a school yard game of king of the hill where they were trying to take down the republican front runner. i think as you alluded to is it too little too late with super tuesday coming up. if donald trump is able to emerge in -- as the victor in all of these states minus maybe ted cruz's texas people will end up saying last night didn't matter at all that much. one other dak away, steve, is that you end up looking in that man damage played it perfectly, marco rubio did everything that was asked of him. he stood out, he mocked donald trump, he got under donald trump's skin, but the totality of last night's debate was it looked like a dumpster fire where everyone was going after everyo everyone. almost a scene out of anchor man in which all the news anchors are killing and destroying each

other. the question is when you decide to go afterç donald trump you have to go down to his level, does that end up making you look presidential and i think that's going to be a question we will be looking at in the days ahead. >> mark, just to try to set the expectations for rubio now on super tuesday, a lot has been made of the fact his team not really pointing to any of those 11 states that they think they're actually going to win. coming off a performance like this, looking at the wins donald trump has put on the board, what the polls are saying he's poised to put on the boards on tuesday, what do you think marco rubio is going to need to do on super tuesday to say i showed in that debate that i'm turning this thing around and now i showed on super tuesday that i'm back in it? what do you think he needs to do realistically? >> i think he needs a significant win. even if a state like virginia and i know that yesterday there was a poll that came out by mon moth university that showed trump with a very sizable lead in virginia, but virginia is a state in which marco rubio should do pretty well, a sizable block of military voters, a lot of suburban voters, upscale republican voters.

all things considered, you know, given that no one has the territorial advantage this should be a place where marco rubio does well, but he does need a win. he was a standç out at last night's debate but one of the problems he has going forward is he is somebody who doesn't have a victory under his belt. ted cruz won iowa, donald trump has gone the last three contests decisively and marco rubio at least for perception sake he is going to wrack up a lot of delegates given the proportional nature of things but needs to be able to have a win to be able to tell republican voters i can go toe to toe with him not only in a debate but at the ballot box. >> all right. mark murray in washington. now we will go to jacob rascon who is down in fort worth, that's where donald trump will be speaking a few hours from now. jacob, obviously a lot of attacks on donald trump last night, more attacks than we've seen coming at him in a debate before. he got a few lines off as well, you know, when he looked at marco rubio and he said, hey, you have never created any jobs as rubio was going after him for using illegal immigrants for labor on a project.

what are we hearing from donald trump in the aftermath of this debate? >> so this morning as mark murray talked about the donald trump still out, talking already about marco rubio, we know his plan. in a tweet this morning he called marco rubio mr. melt down. that'sç going to be his strate we believe going forward. we're just outside the convention center in fort worth where donald trump will,' said hold that rally. just around the corner there are dozens of supporters who have already shown up, some of them from as far away as austin and as early they got here as 4:00 a.m. they say all of them i talked to watched the debate and they agree that marco rubio landed some punches and they are excited about texas. they think that texas will be a big deal in this primary and election season because they know that if donald trump can pete ted cruz here that says a lot and donald trump we know really wants to win texas, but he's also in a good position as his supporters know because ted

cruz is expected to win texas. if ted cruz wins and donald trump comes in second not that huge of a deal for his supporters, they still believe that he's going to go all the way, but they're all talking in line about that debate and about marco rubio being called mr. melt down and whether or not that will stick. as mark murray pointed out whether or not it wasç too lite too late. donald trump is on a roll, some of them talking about a trump train, you have to get out of the way, there's really nothing to do, he's going to go and steam roll through all of it and we'll see what happens. they are all excited for this rally. they say that they've been told the first 10,000 people will be allowed in, standing room only, it's an exhibition area, no seats. they are coming in already by the dozens. steve. >> all right. jacob rascon in fort worth, texas. home of the tcu horned frogs. thank you for that one. back here in atlanta at morehouse college we have msnbc political analyst elise jordan,

she was part of rand paul's campaign before he dropped out and here at morehouse we have doug richards, a long time reporter for wxia the atlanta nbc station down here. alias, i want to play one of these exchanges from last night. this is one that i think a lot of the rubio people are pointing to and saying this is where marco rubio drew blood last night. this was an exchange over the issue of healthcare between rubio and trump.ç take a listen. >> we have to get rid of the lines around the states so that there's serious, serious competition. >> i understand the lines around the state whatever that means. this is not a game where you draw maps -- >> and you don't know what it means. that's the reason we have no competition is because we have lines around the state. >> so that's the only part of the plan, just the lines? >> there is going to be competition among all of the states and the insurance companies. they're going to have many, many different plans. >> is there anything else you would like to add to that? >> no. there's nothing to add. what's to add? what is to add? >> so alias, i guess this gets

to the central question about whether this debate will dent trump's lead. on the one hand he didn't have much to say there beyond state lines for purchasing of health insurance plans. so the trump critic might say he was exposed as being shallow on the issue, he will pay a choice for it. on the other hand people would say that's kind of already priced in with donald trump, he has not been that specific and yet he has been leading the whole time. do you think there was any damage done to him last night? >> i think rubio did do some damage to trump, though i don't think that that particularç exchange was his most effective. 2016 is not an election about policy. that is where i think rubio actually was more effective last night hitting trump on things that were completely not policy related. hitting trump on his record as a successful -- as a purportedly successful businessman. that's where rubio really went in for the kill. saying, you know, you inherited $200 million from your dad. if it had been invested at the same rate the s & p was going up

you would be even more wealthy than you are now. giving the kind of attacks, laying out the case that trump is not the self-made man he claims to be. also the trump university hit i thought was particularly effective and something that needs to be hit up more because this is a scam university that trump is tied up in court about, it's going to stay in the -- it's something an issue that's not going away for trump and it's an example of, you know, he made $5 million off of basically a scam. >> now that war of words between trump and rubio after the debate you have trump out there calling rubio a choke artist, you have rubio responding that trump is a con artist making reference to that trump university thing you're talking about right ç there. >> doug, let me ask you, georgia, this is one of the biggest prizing on the board next tuesday. we've been looking at polls that show donald trump ahead, rubio is up a few points from where he was but still 10 points behind donald trump. do you think there could be a shake up, is there time for a shake up in a state like georgia

between now and next tuesday? >> i think so. unlike the previous primary and caucus states that are driven by ground games this is going to be a media driven primary. the debate last night will have a heightened impact, i think, on georgia and the other sec primary states just based on the fact that they haven't seen the candidates, the voters haven't seen the candidates face-to-face for the most part. we have hillary clinton who is going to be here today and a donald trump rally here last weekend, but folks here are making decisions based largely on media impressions, social media and of course the ground games that the candidates have to the extent that they have phone banks and another, you know, traditional ways of contacting voters. >> so much attention in morning certainly in our intro we'reç looking at rubio, he maybe landed more punches on trump last night but ted cruz was going after him just as hard. that whole dynamic of rubio and cruz battling each other to try to be the one that gets the clear shot at donald trump. when you look at the lay of the

land in georgia do you look at rubio, look at cruz, do you see that one has the inside track to getting that one-on-one battle with donald trump? >> well, you know, it's funny. a lot of the establishment republicans in georgia would love nothing more than for rubio to emerge as an alternative to trump, but the reality is here that cruz has enormous support here in georgia and trump has enormous support in georgia and rubio -- rubio has a solid core of support but i'm not sure it's going to be enough to topple those two guys. >> elise one of the other things i wonder i was thinking back last night watching that to the democratic debate in new hampshire way back eight years ago it was barack obama, hillary clinton and there was a third candidate, john edwards. there was in dynamic where it looked like obama and edwards were teaming up on hillary clinton. this was right after she had come inç third place in iowa, r campaign seemed to be on the ropes and it looked like they both had the same instinct they could finish her off in new

hampshire. what it ended up looking like they were ganging up on her, being unfair and there were some people i think emerged with admiration for hillary clinton for standing this there with them on that debate stage. when you look at that scene last night with rubio on one side, cruz on the other side, both come in with their best lines of attack against donald trump, do you think any of that same dynamic i'm describing might apply where donald trump standing in there for two hours, two and a half hours, felt like five hours last night that he gets any points for that? >> i don't think so because i think it's a different dynamic. hillary clinton -- republicans might have many critiques against her but she is not a bully, donald trump is a bully. i don't think rubio and cruz will be judged for going hard at someone who is very much a bully. what was interesting about last night to me and the attacks and though they executed them was how rubio went in immediately. cruz was pretty hesitant, actually. he had a softball question about would you be concerned if donald trump appointed,)you know, appointing someone to the

supreme court and he didn't hit that -- he really avoided attacking trump and trump actually came back and attacked cruz for his previous support of john roberts. so it was interesting to me that cruz took a little while to get his groove when it came to attacking trump. >> elise, 11 states on the board next week, ted cruz is making a real big deal obviously about texas, his home state, that's the one state where he is leading donald trump in the polls. from the standpoint, though, of marco rubio, this idea of getting the one-on-one shot with donald trump a little bit of what we saw last night, does he need ted cruz next tuesday to lose in texas to get him out of the race right now to get a one on one with donald trump? >> i think cruz being out of the race certainly would help rubio, it wouldn't hurt him but really john kasich dropping out of the race would help marco rubio more. last night i saw no indications

that john kasich was a man who is going to drop anytime soon. certainly he will stay in the game throughç michigan at the very least. i think rubio could use a kasich supporters more than cruz but it will be interesting to see who mansion to hang in for the long haul. >> in our msnbc postgame show last night there was an interview with john kasich and he turned and looked right into the camera he was talking to chris matthews and said, chris, mark my words, i am going to be the republican nominee. it certainly doesn't sound like john kasich is getting out anytime soon. elise jordan and mark richards thanks for joining us. gun violence has been a hot topic on the trial. four people were killed, 14 injured last night in kansas. victims family members identified the shooter at cedric larry ford, he was killed by police after going on a shooting spree in two towns ending at the lawn care company where he worked. nbc's blake mccoy is highway in hesen, kansas. he has the latest details about the victims and shooters.

blake, this was a major story that broke last night during this dbachlt what do we know about the shooter? >> reporter: good morning. you can see this workplace that inside of late last night around 5:00 as people were preparing to leave work. let's walk you through what happened. it was around 5:00 yesterday that in the nearby town of newton, kansas, this gunman apparently started firing at cars randomly, injuring several people, then stealing a car and driving here to his workplace. it's here where he shot someone in the parking lot before going inside and spraying a hail of gunfire on his coworkers. this morning the sheriff is crediting a police officer, a hero officer with saving many lives. take a listen. >> i can't say enough for the officer. there was a lot of people in here, 200 to 300 other people. in my mind that officer saved a whole lot of lives because this

shooter wasn't done. >> do you think he would have kept going until when? >> until he was out of ammo. >> reporter: that officer went inside this building even amidst that hail of gunfire and took down the gunman who we can identify as 38-year-old cedric ford this morning. this is someone with a criminal history. he has lived here in kansas?x#o five years, before that he lived in broward county, florida. the sheriff also revealing this morning a potential motive. we know the shooting began around 5:00 yesterday. the sheriff says that ford was issued a protection order against him at 3:30 in the afternoon here at his workplace from his girlfriend. it was the second time that she had issued one of these protection orders against ford and the sheriff believes that may be what set him off. steve. >> all right. blake mccoy in hess ton, kansas. thank you for that. meanwhile, the only presidential candidate to make any sort of mention of this tragedy was ohio governor john kasich.

he tweeted shocked by this ens isless act of violence in kansas earlier this morning. prayers for strength for all the victims and families affected. still to come this morning just four days away from super tuesday. ted cruz stepping up his attacks on donald trump as he tries to stay alive in the republican race. >> in 2013 when i was leading the fight against the gang of eight amnesty bill where was donald? he was firingç dennis rod man celebrity apprentice. >> so where does the cruz campaign stand this morning the morning after the big debate? we will talk to one of his key supporters here in georgia, a former congressman, former libertarian presidential candidate bob bar, he will join us after this. ow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in buffalo,

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how do we nominate a candidate who has said hillary clinton was the best secretary of state of modern times, who agreed with her on foreign policy, who agrees with bernie sanders on healthcare, who agreed with barack obama on the wall street bailout? if we've got to win this election and we can't do it with a candidate who agrees with hillary clinton and can't take it to her and beat her on the debate stage and at the polls. >> hey, if i can't beat her you're really going to get killed, aren't you? >> marco rubio not the only one going after donald trump at last night's debate. ted cruz also taking some very sharp jabs at the front runner as the candidates are eager to leave their mark before super tuesday. former georgia congressman bob bar is the national chair of the liberty leaders for cruz coalition and joins me at morehouse college. i'm just curious, what did you make of that whole scene last night. this was two and a half hours, it descended into absoluteç chs with four different people

talking over each other, rubio taking his best shots at donald trump, truz taking his best shots. >> i think what will emerge from this debate is this is a three-person race, kasich and dr. carson were on the fringes on the stage and politically as well. this is a three-person race. what i think people saw last night were two very qualified candidates, marco rubio and ted cruz, taking on the bully, the school yard bully. i think people appreciate that. i know i think that ted cruz did a very good job last night in taking trump on. >> is donald trump going to take a hit in the polls because of this do you think? >> i think he will on tuesday. i'm not so much worried about the polls today or sunday or monday. i think that the voters on tuesday will hand trump some come up ens to be honest with you. >> from the cruz standpoint i'm curious about it because a lot of people look at south carolina and said if ted cruz can't win

in south carolina, a big southern state, heavy evangelical population, he loses by tenç points there, if he couldn't win there how could he win in georgia, how could he win in alabama, how could he win in this sec primary? >> he can win in states certainly like texas. unlike what trump said last night ted cruz is whipping doctor your honor in texas by 15 points, i think, 38 to 23. ted cruz is doing very well here in georgia. georgia is not south carolina. >> can he win georgia? >> absolutely. georgia is not south carolina. it's much larger, much more at stake here, we have much broader ground game in georgia as well. i think ted cruz is going to do very well next tuesday. >> i want to ask you about this criticism that's been made of ted cruz. donald trump said it in the debate last night, he went around him and turned to him and said, look, no republican in the senate likes is you is what he said. while this debate was going on there was a press club dinner in

washington and lindsey graham was the speaker at the press club dinner and he took a very harsh shot at ted cruz along those same lines. this was lindsey graham last night. >> if you kill ted cruz on the floor of the senate and theç trial was in the senate, nobody could convict you. >> now, i know they are trying to be funny at those dinners, but even by the standards of sharp-edged political humor that's a pretty harsh thing to say. >> well, it is and it says a lot more about lindsey graham and his very poor and ill timed sense of humor to talk about killing somebody on the floor of the senate than it does about ted cruz. the fact of the matter is the establishment in washington of which lindsey graham is a card carrying member does not like ted cruz, they do like donald trump. i mean, as senator cruz pointed out very accurately in the debate last night, donald trump has a lot of friends in washington. harry reid, hillary clinton --

>> do you think they are his friends? he's going after hillary clinton's marriage, going after her husband. he said some pretty harsh things about hillary clinton. do you think she likes him? >> donald trump says a lot of things in the campaign that aren't true. he says he's in favor of second amendment yet he has a history of supporting gun control. he says he's this, that and the other thing. the fact of the matter isç despite what donald trump says during this campaign, which is a bunch of what he accuses others of doing, out and out lies, he has a lot of democratic friends in washington, hes has given them money for heavens sake. follow the money. donald trump supports harry reid, supports hillary clinton, supports others, mike bloomberg for heavens sake. >> will ted cruz win a state besides texas next tuesday? >> i think so. i think he's positioned very well in georgia and expect him to win. >> bob bar, thank you for joining us. appreciate it. coming up next, we will check in with chris jansing, she

is now on day three of that seven dates? seven days super tuesday road trip. she has hit oklahoma and texas, she's headed towards birmingham and athens and ending up in virginia today. she is in the heart of clinton down tree, little rock, arc, she will join me live in a few minutes. we sent two women into a real guys night out to see if they could find the guy who uses just for men. it's me. >>no way. just for men gives you a natural gray-free look. just lather in. in just five minutes.

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and welcome back to morehouse college in atlanta, georgia. we are now going to head about 500 miles due west of here, that's where msnbc's super tuesday seven states in seven days rope trip is continuing this morning. our reporters are hitting a bunch of battle grounds in the run up to that big vote on tuesday. we will hit the road with chris jansing and cal çperry. both of them are in the natural state, arkansas. chris, you are in little rock. that is bill clinton country,

hillary clinton country. they ran that state for more than a decade and now it's one of the primary states this coming tuesday. it would seem to be an uphill battle for bernie sanders to overcome that clinton shadow there. what can you tell us about what's going on there in arkansas? >> well, they do have an office for bernie sanders here, they have a state director here which does seem kind of crazy, right, given the fact that hillary clinton did serve as first lady here for 12 years and in addition to that everywhere you turn pretty much, steve, you see the clinton name, on the airport, roads, library, elementary school. to say that this is clinton country may even be an understatement. having said that, when you talk to the bernie sanders folks they think they have a path not to win this state, this is not what they're going for, but this is a proportional state, they think there is a chance they could win some delegates and the state director says that they have been getting people who are volunteering who are making those phone calls who are answering questions for voters

and they actually say that at one point theyç ran out of bumr stickers. they've got the lawn signs, bumper stickers, they have an online presence here and where are they targeting? well, where bernie sanders has been very strong everywhere he has run and is running and that is with millennials. people who live in arkansas who may see the clinton name but don't relate to this. weren't here when hillary clinton was here. they think they can make inroads here. arkansas is also interesting because it's getting a lot of attention this time. one of these states that didn't used to be part of super tuesday, they've moved it up so it's getting a lot more attention and that's why over the next several days before super tuesday we have four candidates who are coming here. marco rubio, ted cruz, donald trump all the big three on the republican side will be here in the coming days. in fact, marco rubio was here in little rock last weekend and drew about 2,000 people to a rally. in addition to this hillary clinton will be stopping by as well. so no sign of bernie sanders but his supporters are out there in

force, steve. >> all right. chris jansing in little rock. now we will go a little bit east of little rock to cal perry. cal, one of my favorite things about thisç segment you guys a doing this week i am learning how to pronounce names i have seen on the map. you are in lonoke, arkansas. you are east of little rock and you are out there, talking to people in the town about what's actually on their mind, stuff we don't pick up in polls. what are you hearing? >> reporter: you nailed it. you have to add a w, i'm not sure why. it was really interesting the drive from texas here to arkansas as we've been talking about, we've been tweeting and talking to our viewers and one of them asked us to stop at a cafeteria right in techs can in a, texas. this was before the debate when we talked to this person who helps run the cafeteria, he talked about the rhetoric people are using in in campaign. >> what worries me is that it seems to be acceptable to say a

lot of things that just seem barbaric to me. >> like what? >> well, expelling 12 million people who are here working and law -- yes, they may have come here illegally, but they're here now. it's not only impractical but i think it's çunamerican to roun them up and throw them up. >> do people believe that in arkansas? >> that's a good question. i don't know. i don't know what they really believe. i also think that it's unamerican to talk about banning a religion. i can't fathom that. >> reporter: here in loanoke the story is the economy. you can see a lot of for sale signs, a lot of businesses that have gone out of business, i will borrow a phrase, it's the economy, stupid. that's what the story is here. i spoke to the chambers of commerce and what they told me is, listen, we are near thriving

nor dying, we are barely surviving. what we want to hear from candidates is a real plan for the economy, one that's not just local, one that's around the country so they can get these storefronts back open. steve. >> all right. cal perry in loanoke, arkansas. i looked at the map for years and always said it's loanoke. now i know jeuter. don't miss chris' interviews today with donald trump's new senior adviser sara huckabee sanders. that's the daughter of former republican presidential candidate mike huckabee and republican governor ace is a hutchinson also sitting down at 1:00 p.m. today. also more ahead from the beautiful campus of morehouse college in atlanta. we will talk to faculty and students about what it will take to win their votes on super tuesday. this in a state where the african-american vote could be key to success. stay with us. dad, you can just drop me off right here.

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we are back here live at morehouse college in atlanta this morning. this is a private all male historically black college located in the heart of atlanta. its alumni include martin luther king, jr., spike lee, homeland security secretary jeh johnson. the school has been getting attention from some of the presidential candidates this time around with bernie sanders drawing a massive crowd of 5,000 people when he spoke here a week ago. joining me now we have the president of morehouse college, john wilson, also the chairman of the morehouse college republicans, dee yan day and george wanse.ç thank you for the who is at this at that time here. let me ask you, mr. president, do you have political fever on this campus right now. >> >> political fever is on this

campus, our students are very active and very engaged and, you know, this is a great place. we are very much engaged in the political conversation, obviously with graduates like martin luther king jr. we tear about what goes on in the country and morehouse men have always been engaged. i will say to you that spike lee and jeh johnson are classmates of mine from morehouse college. >> what was spike lee like in college? >> he was great. he was determined to be a filmmaker since he was a sore more. >> he has gotten involved in this campaign in the last couple days, he cut a radio ad for bernie sanders in south carolina, may be down here as well. >> we will start with the democrat, george. we see this across the country, college campuses they like bernie. >> they certainly do. >> are they feeling the bern here? >> i definitely think so. as the bernie sanders event is evidence çof. there's really a ground swell of

support for bernie sanders among college aged students. i feel he epitomizes the millennial notions of responsible government, caring for others and also empowering college-aged students, whether that be through easier access to college or whether it be a medicare system that really cares and accounts for millions of people who aren't covered right now. >> are you supporting one of the candidates? are you with bernie sanders? >> at this point i'm undecided, i believe both candidates are really qualified and really seek to usher in a new era of change and progress for the american people. i think at morehouse a lot of the students, democrats and republicans like what obama did with his term and want to see in essence a successor who can sort of be a harold for change like obama was. >> diego we were talking about this with cal perry, what i like about that segment is we tend to look at voters and think of categories and think of the black vote and think it's

overwhelmingly democratic, here you are with the college republicans, what is that experience çlike, being a colle republican? >> i think it's been challenging at first, being in a highly democratic campus, a lot of people don't try to swing towards your side of the part, side of the aisle, and it's been challenging but also rewarding. you learn more about your issues, you embrace the party more and i think it's opening eyes for people when they start to challenge their views and the notions that go on in washington, d.c. more people are to the democratic side and then when they see a republican or conservative candidate they start to -- student they start to see maybe i should start questioning my views and look towards that side. >> what do the morehouse republicans think of donald trump? >> we think -- we don't support anyone right now but we think it's healthy. the fact that someone is out there challenging the establishment and really questioning the things that are going on in d.c., but, you know, there are certain things we may not see eye to eye on, but anyway we still support that

he's out there and -- >> is one of the candidates if you did a straw poll would one of them be the favorite do you think on the republican side? >> on our side? >> yeah. >> we don't support anyone right now, but, you know,ç we'll see who the nominee is and whoever the nominee is we will support that person. >> you guys are already talking about politicians, you're training them well here. john, let me ask you we've been talking about the black vote. the hillary clinton campaign has been identifying for months the black voters, their term fire wall, she could lose iowa, she could lose new hampshire, survive, nevada. when you got to states with large black populations that is what she is counting on. that relationship between the clintons and the black community i'm curious your thoughts on it. >> well, i think it's just a matter of hillary clinton is more familiar in the south and to many african-americans than is bernie sanders. and i think that's her advantage. the familiarity.

she was treated and counted as a friend as a first lady, spoke to many. issues and i think she's been doing that as a candidate. of course, we're neutral here at morehouse college. and morehouse is very capable on both sides of the arena. we can produce a man likeç marn luther king jr. but we can also produce a man like herman cain. now, that's a broad spectrum of men, a lot of people in between and we have two sharp students here who illustrate that you can come from different perspective and be intelligent in every day way. >> you guys have been great hosts to us. i'm going to stick up for my alma mater. you guys gave armin luther king his undergraduate degree he got his divinity degree from boston college. i are appreciate you. thanks for joining us. >> you look great in that sweatshi

sweatshirt. >> i'm taking this back to floork with me. up next a big prize for the democrats at at the same time tomorrow as hillary clinton and bernie sanders prepare for his next big test, south carolina. saturday night. sanders is going on the attack but is it going to help him pick off votes from clinton? he needs them now. stay with us.

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enjoy the relief. all right. the next big test on the democratic side now less than 24 hours away. tomorrow's south carolina democratic primary. hillary clinton and bernie sanders now furiously trading jabs over wall street with sanders offering some of his sharpest attacks yet at a rally in chicago last night. we will be hearing from sanders in the super tuesday state of minnesota. then headsç to south carolina d faces a big uphill battle there. hillary clinton is starting her day here in georgia in the peach state before she crosses the

border and returns to south carolina where she will have three different campaign events today. nbc's kristen welker joins us from south carolina state university. that's in orangeburg and msnbc's alex seitz-wald is in charleston down by the coast. kristen, hillary clinton heading back to south carolina today, the polls looking good for her, that issue of wall street, though, those paid wall street speeches it's still out there nd a understand she addressed it this morning. >> reporter: she did, look, this issue continues to cast a cloud over her campaign. she continues to insist that she will release her wall street speeches whenever one else does. of course, senator sanders has says i haven't given any wall street speeches so you can have all the transcripts you want. it speaks to this issue of trust and now today "the new york times" editorial board also calling on secretary clinton to release those transcripts from her paid speeches arguing that the stonewalling only fuels speculation. she addressed it earlier today with mika and joe.ç take a listen. >> can you assure the american

people that you didn't say anything in those speeches that would undermine your promise to be tough on wall street and the big banks? >> absolutely. absolutely. besides, i'm on the public record. every' told them what i'm going to do. i've said go after big banks that pose a systemic risk. i want you to hold me accountable for that because i will do that exactly. >> senator sanders has been sharpening his attacks on the issue including at a rally last night. i'll let alex talk about that. the two candidates will be here campaigning later today in south carolina. polls show secretary clinton has a huge lead, about 20 points, fueled in large part by strong support among african-americans. both she and senator sanders have been heavily courting african-americans as they look ahead to super tuesday and beyond. >> all right, kristen welker. at south carolina state university, home of the bulldogs. thanks for that report. and let's bring in msnbc's alex seitz-wald, following the

sanders campaign. so alex, last night while this debate was going on, we were all talking about the attacksç fro rubio and cruz on donald trump. but while that was happening, bernie sanders, maybe his fiercest attack yet on hillary clinton. >> right, steve. really ticking through the list of issues that he has used against her before, but petting them all together in one of his sharpest single attacks on her from everything from the iraq war to campaign finance reform to trade, across the board. and you know, the sanders campaign will say this is because the clinton campaign has stepped up their attacks but i think it's fair to say he realizes the trajectory he's on now doesn't necessarily lead him to the democratic nomination. he was on hardball last night. >> i have talked about the fact that hillary clinton has received many millions of dollars from wall street.

for her campaign and for her super pac. she's received very large speakers fees from goldman sachs. i think those are important issues. and by the way, i agree with the niemgz editorial, i don't know if anyone sawç it where they urged secretary clinton to release the transcripts of the speeches she gave behind closed doors to wall street. >> clearly a message that's going to excite his voters, his supporters and i think you'll continue hearing it. >> all right, alex seitz-wald in charlest charleston, south carolina. big south carolina primary less than a day away. we'll have more of that exclusive interview with hillary clinton that joe and mika conducted in the next hour. then, after their contest in south carolina tomorrow, sanders and clinton will be fully focusing on super tuesday. 13 states with nearly 900 delegates up for grabs in the democratic side. they will be at the polls on tuesday, the biggest single prize on the board is texas. that's where congressman joaquin

castro is from. he's a supporter of hillary clinton. he joins me now from the capitol in the united states capitol, not the capitol in austin. you're in the u.s. capitol. let me ask you about that issue of the paid speeches. bernie sanders bringing up, calling on hillary clinton to release the transcripts. she's been saying she's not going to do that right now. why is it anç unreasonable thi to ask of a presidential candidate who has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars to give speeches to wall street firms, why is it unreasonable to ask what she said? >> well, i think, steve, the point she's making is that if she's going to be asked to do that, then the other candidates who are running for president should also be required to do that. and they haven't been. >> but congressman. >> let me make this point. it should also be speeches to donors and other groups. >> i want to clarify, her one opponent right now is bernie sanders. and bernie sanders says, look, i have released all my transcripts to my speeches on wall street

because i didn't give any. she only has one opponent right now. her opponent didn't give the speeches. she's the only one on the democratic side who did. why is it unreasonable to say we want to see the speeches? >> sure, steve, but the republicans have not been asked for any of that. donald trump hasn't been asked for it. jeb bush wasn't asked for it. no one else was asked for it. this is indicative of what has happened to hillary clinton throughout her career. a dibble standard, one for her and one for everybodyç else. >> but again, you're talking about republican candidates. she's not currently running against. she has a democratic opponent. her only opponent right now is saying, release the transcripts. i never gave speeches. she gave speeches on wall street. she took hundreds of thousands of dollars. why should it apply to the republican party when she's only running on the democratic side? >> because they're all running for president. and also, because she has described what she spoke about. a few things. first, it's not clear that there are transcripts from those

speeches. we don't know, well, we may know how many, but i doubt everybody has a transcript out there. she's also been forthright about what she discussed. >> all right, let me ask you about super tuesday because, again, we're seeing in your straight, a new poll with hillary clinton up significantly there. south carolina voting tomorrow. she has a significant lead there, according to the polls. where do you think this democratsic race is going to stand next wednesday morning when all these states have voted? are you thinking in terms of wrapping this thing up? >> i don't think it will be wrapped up, but hillary clinton will have a stronger lead than shmç has now. i think she'll win the overwhelming majority of super tuesday states. people are supporting her. she's the front-runner for the democratic nomination because the american people believe she's the best qualified person, man or woman, democrat or republican, to do two things, create opportunity and keep americans safe here and abroad. >> all right, congressman cway

keen castro joining us from the castro. a reminder, you can catch our special coverage of the south carolina democratic primary tomorrow night, starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. i'll be back in new york for that. i hope you'll tune in. it will be an exciting night. th, burning, pins-and-needles of diabetic nerve pain, these feet served my country, carried the weight of a family, and lked a daughter down the aisle. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. nerve damage from diabetes causes diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is fda approved to treat this pain. from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica.

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this hour of msnbc's special coverage live from morehouse college in atlanta. i'm steve kornacki. and thomas roberts is coming up next. the front of the school. that's where your friends are. seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no.. oh, there's tracy. what! [ horn honking ] [ forward collision warning ] bye dad! it brakes when you don't. the newly redesigned volkswagen passat. right now you can get a $1,000 presidents' day bonus on new 2015 or 2016

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we have five seconds of permission to make some noise. let's hear it. this is where they study. yes. good work, gang. morehouse being historic hbcu campus around this country. it's a beautiful space, a beautiful day here in atlanta. and guess what. it's a new day in the race for the republican nomination after a really raucous debate performance last night by all of the five candidates left. it lived up to the hype. it was the senators against the gop goliath. ted cruz and marco rubio throwing everything they had at donald trump. the question thisç morning, wi any of it stick? >> this guy is a choke artist and this guy is a liar. >> if he builds a wall the way he build trump towers, he'll use illegal immigrant work to do it. >> when i was leading the fight against the amnesty bill, where was donald? firing people on celebrity apprentice. >> if he hadn't inherited

$200,000, you know where he would be? >> relax. >> you relax. you're the basket case. >> a meltdown on the stage. >> he says five things, everyone is dumb, we're going to win, win, win. winning in the polls. >> how do we nominate a candidate who has said hillary clinton was the best secretary of state of modern times. >> if i can't beat her, you're really going to get killed. >> i know you're berased, but you're going to get killed. >> jacob, mark murray back in washington, d.c., and here with meç in atlanta is political columnist for the daily beast, patricia murphy. you have special permission to speak as loud as you want, even though this is a quiet space. rubio came out last night swinging, also this morning. want to show everybody what he had to say on the "today" show.

>> this is unreal. again, this guy is a con artist. always making things up and no one holds him accountable. he's treated with kid gloves by many in the mead dwrau in the hopes he's the nominee. some are biased. they would love to see a liberal like donald trump take over the republican party, and others know he's easy to beat once he gets there. >> mark, rubio went rounds this morning using the phrase, con artist. virtually by all of the anallicize, he was able to land some punches, but is it time to make a difference before tuesday? >> i think we'll have our answer four days from now, but there's no doit marco rubio and his allies have been unloading on donald trump. you heard that con artist statement from this morning on all the morning shows, including the "today" show. marco rubio's super pac is out with two new tv ads hitting donald trump. then of çcourse, there was las night's debate, which really almost seemed like a school yard king of the hill type of moment where donald trump is the person on top, and ted cruz and marco rubio were trying to tear him

down. and it is important to know that going into last night's debate, donald trump has been leading in almost every super tuesday poll outside of ted cruz's state of texas, and more importantly, donald trump is leading in florida. 16 points, according to a quinnipiac poll. another poll had it a little lower, but every poll has shown that donald trump is ahead in florida, and if that holds true over the next two weeks, thomas, that would be unsustainable for marco rubio. marco rubio has to at the least win in his home of florida. if donald trump ends up winning there, and he has a lead, if he ends up winning there, that could end up clinching the nomination for him. >> the numbers really tell the tale. we'll see how it all pans out. new polling after the debate, but jacob, let me go to you. we have seen donald trump taking to twitter, one of his favorite pastimes, going back to calling marco rubio a choker, also nicknaming him mr. meltdown. this is obviously aç position

the event starts in a few hours. behind me, you have, for example, a family of six chinch with their signs. as we swoop over here, you have people including sharon, who is, she says, usually votes democrat, but she's swiwilling change her mind. she's showing up to get a sense of trump. down the line, a pretty diverse group, including a few latino men who are very loud, saying we're latino, we're here to support trump, and this is normal. of course, you saw with marco rubio, the trump team trying to spin this, saying he is mr mr. meltdown.

take a listen. >> he has no chose. he's losingç badly. he's losing badly in every single level. he's getting creamed. and he hasn't won anything yet. he's talking a good game, but he hasn't won anything yet. and i think it was a great evening. i think we had a great evening. >> so let's go to a couple of the polls. the first is a bloomberg poll taking an average of seven southern states that will be voting next tuesday. that one, trump is ahead by double digits at 37. then marco rubio and ted cruz way behind, tied at 20. the next one is a highly respected poll talking about texas only. and ted cruz there is ahead, well ahead, of donald trump and marco rubio. it is worth noting there are other polls out of texas, including some local polls that have donald trump doing much better, even tying ted cruz. the campaign hoping, though, they really want to win texas. >> all right, so patricia, let

me ask you about this. we had lindsey graham last night, who is a former candidate, using pretty colorful language to roast the current state of the gop. i want to show everybody. >> my partyç is going [ bleep crazy. i'm the dr. kevorkian. of the republican primary. tonig tonight. i endorse donald trump and hope the magic still exists. >> so the hat's a little big. looks like a train conductor. lindsey graham has been funny. he was the opening act for jeb bush on the campaign trail. drew a lot of laughs. he's there riffing off the cuff about the current state of the gop. so we have got former

candidates, current candidates, elder statesmen talking about the state of the gop. is this the argument, though, that people have been waiting to see? people taking it to donald trump, and saying, you know what, let's take him down. he's not a serious candidate. let's show everybody? >> absolutely. i think what marco rubio in particular did last night, heç sort of pulled a chris christy on donald trump. he waz like, you keep repeating yourself, keep repeating yourself. you are a con artist, now marco rubio is saying to donald trump, what every establishment republican has been thinking about donald trump for months and months and months. and saying why aren't these candidates going after him? i think to lindsey graham's point, there's a larger story line going on here. what is going on with the republican party? i thought the debate last night was great theater, great tv. a little uncomfortable add times. but for the party itself, you're just seeing this incredible clash almost of civilizations between the establishment and donald trump and it's very hard

to see where the party goes from here. if donald trump is the nominee. what do all of these other guys who have all these horrible things to say about them, how do they fall in line and get this to be a party that is respectable, that does not turn off voter in the process. >> mark, let's talk, though, about the big money in all of this, because donald trump saying he can't release his tax returns because of audits. we areç hearing about the irs,r now from the irs. what are you hearing? >> yeah, thomas, nbc news received a statement from the internal revenue service saying nothing prohibits private individuals like donald trump from releasing their information on their own, including an audit. so essentially, according to the internal revenue service, donald trump is wrong on this. an oaudit, even if he's audited it doesn't stop him from releasing his tax returns. >> mark murray, thank you.

jacob rascon on the trail with the trump campaign. patricia murphy making noise with me in douglas hall, thanks to all three of thou. >> we want to turn to capitol hill where we're joined by republican congresswoman from tennessee, marsha blackburn. standing by. congresswoman, you're currently neutral as far as i know up to this minute. no endorsement yet, correct? >> you're correct. >> no endorsement. so after watching last night, are you ready to endorse anybody yet before tennessee votes in the s.e.c. primary tuesday? >> i think it isç fantastic th we have the candidates paying so much attention to tennessee this year. i'll be heading home today. my home county, williamson county, tennessee, has a dinner tonight. i'm going to mc that dinner. ben carson is going to be there. you'll have representatives from the other campaigns that are going to be there. what is so fantastic about this is record crowds at events, record turnout, record interest.

i have talked to so many people who feel like this is such a great political year because the american people are sending a message to the establishment, to washington, d.c., to elected officials. that they're sick of the talk and they want to see some action. i think it's fantastic. >> so when we think about that electricity and how it's channeling itself forward, what do you make of senator lindsay graham and the language he was using last night? that was basically parallel to the gop debate that was happening. do you agree with the characterization that he feels it's gone crazy? >> you know what. we are a big tent party. for some individuals and maybe senator graham is gnd, this may be the first time they've seen feistiness within the republican ranks. for me, i led a four-year fight in my state against imposition of a state income tax and won that fight, and the establishment gop fought me on it every step of the way.

our state is better for it. our republican party is stronger for it. and our state senate, of which i was a member then, and our state house, have gone on to get super majorities. so it's good. it's healthy. i welcome it. >> all right, so i want to ask you, representative, about the poll out this morning by bloomberg. it puts together the seven southern super tuesday states, including tennessee, your home state, says 12% of republicans think donald trump is a committed christian. so if we take those numbers with actual voting results that we are seen and the fact that he's been able to carry the evangelical voting block, why do you think it is that basing the support a candidate that is admittedly not guided by faith during the campaign? >> i would challenge you a livt would be considered committed. and guided. i think there would be a difference in how people would perceive that, thomas.

you'll probably hear some about that in atlanta. but what people want to have an emphasis on is three nithings. national security, jobs and economic security, and retirement security. they want someone who's going to shake up washington and make washington do its job. getting it out of the way of the states and local communities. get the federal government out of their businesses. get the epa off their back. get the irs out of their wallet. that's what they're looking for. and they're willing to take a chance on an outsider candidate. and that is why you have seen the outsiders run so strong this year. this is an outsider year. >> representative marsha blackburn from tennessee, thanks for your time. >> absolutely. good to be with you. >> thanks again. we want to turn to some developing news that we have for you right now because it was moments ago, we got new information aboutç cedric larr ford, that is the man police say

shot at and is responsible for killing three people and injured 14 in kansas. >> cedric was armed with an assault rifle, an automatic pistol. mr. ford, who is residing in newton, kansas, had been served a pfa, that's a protection order. at 3:30 that afternoon. 3:30, he gets served. 5:00, we have the first shooting. >> so blake mccoy is in heston, kansas for us. fill us in on what we know more about the background of ford and whether or not they actually had him on their radar as someone of interest. >> yeah, thomas, we do know that ford did have a criminal history, and his previous hometown of broward county, florida. nothing that would have indicated he was going to go on a rampage like this. let's walk you through what happened because it was about ten miles from here in newton,

kansas, that this all began. hç began firing randomly at cars, according to authorities, injuring one person, then going to another location a few miles away, shooting someone else, stealing a car, and driving here to his place of employment, excel industries. they make lawn mower equipment here in heston, kansas. when he got here, police say he fired at someone, shot them in the parking lot. and then entered the building, opening a hail of gunfire on his coworkers. right now, the motive does appear to be the protection order that was filed. it was served to him around 3:30, an hour and a half before the shooting by his girlfriend. the sheriff believes that's what set him off. what then led him to come here and open randomly open fire on all of his coworkers is an open question. and one we may never have answered since the gunman is dead. ford, as i mentioned, does have a criminal history in florida, so authorities want to know how he got these weapons.

it was a rifle and semiautomatic pistol and that's something the atf is investigating. thomas. >> blake mccoy reporting for us in oansas, thank you. appreciate it. >> we're going to turn our attention back to the race and a lot of activity happening on this busy friday. we're live in morehouse college's douglas hall. this is the home of the maroon tigers, right? yeah, the maroon tigers. this is a key battleground state, coming up on super tuesday. especially for the gop, as well as the democrats. and we're watching what's taking place on the left today. hillary clinton and bernie sanders, they're focusing attention in south carolina. this is with less than a day to go for the first in the south primary for the democrats. we'll have more on the fight there for south carolina and the 59 delegates at stake. and you can watch the results unfold with our special coverage tomorrow, right here on msnbc, all starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪

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welcome back, everybody. want to show you this, a scene right now taking place in dallas. marco rubio is about to hold a campaign rally there in cliborn park. this is fresh off last night's feisty debate, and a lot of people coming up to see what he has to say this morning. a lot of headlines, very positive about the performance that he turned in last night. so we've got today being one of theç final days of campaigningn south carolina, ahead of the all-important primary there between hillary clinton and bernie sanders, and time is of the essence, before stumping in south carolina, bernie sanders is going to be holding a rally next hour in the super tuesday state of minnesota. hillary clinton is going to be starting not too far away from us right here in georgia, also a super tuesday state. then she'll move on to attending three campaign events in neighboring south carolina.

so let's talk about some of issues that popped up last night on the debate stage with cecile richards, the president of planned parenthood as well as a hillary clinton supporter. she joins us from back in new york. nice to see you. >> good to see you, thomas. >> let's start off with the issue of hillary clinton and the questions about these wall street speeches. because bernie sanders continues to hit her pretty hard on that, and last night, he appears on hardball with chris matthews talking about it. take a listen. >> hillary clinton has received many millions of dollars from wall street for her campaign and for her super pac. she's received very large speakers fees fromç goldman sachs. i think those are important issues. by the way, i agree with the "new york times" editorial, i don't know if anyone saw it, where they urged secretary clinton to release the transcripts of the speeches she gave behind closed doors. >> bernie sanders says he's not given any speeches like that. if he did, he would release the

transcripts of it. hillary clinton has said she'll do it if everybody does it, which means the republicans. from a perspective of hillary clinton, why not get out from the onus of it, get ahead of it, just release the transcripts. >> she said to be an equal playing field for everyone. as long as everyone does that -- look, the truth is, i have been out there on the campaign trail, and this is not what any voter is talking about. what they're talking about are things like access to health care, access to equal pay, and i think there are much more concerns about things we saw last night in the republican debate where we have every single republican running for president declaring that they're going to end access to health care for millions of women in america. that's what i hear people talking about. >> well, let me talk about what's taking çplace. your home state is texas. we know your mom famously serving as governor there in the 1990s. as we look at the latest polling, it shows hillary clinton has a pretty commanding lead there. 34 points over bernie sanders.

what do you think she needs to do to maintain that lead and carry the lone star state come november? >> well, it's great to see she's got that support. i'm not surprised. she and president clinton have spent a lot of time in texas over their lifetime. i think it's a state where as we know, particularly from the point of view of planned parenthood and all of the patients that we serve, it's a state that is really abandoning women in a number of ways. one of the most restrictive states now in terms of accessing basic health care for women. that's what's animating a lot of our folks in texas. i can imagine, not really doesn't even matter who the republican nominee, every single one, donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio, all of them have pledged to basically replicate what the state of texas has done in terms of ending access to basic health care for women. i think it could be a very animating issue next november. >> all right, so let's talk about what you mentioned with theç debate last night in the republican race. planned parenthood coming up in the debate. let's take a listen to how some of the candidates talked about

that issue. >> in fact, very recently, he was still defending planned parenthood. >> you can say whatever you want. but they have millions of women going through planned parenthood that are helped greatly. and i wouldn't fund it, i would defund it because of the abortion factor, which they say is 3%. i don't know what percentage it is. they say it's 3%, but i would defund it because i'm pro-life. >> so cecile, i want to get your reaction to that. i saw you with my colleague andrea mitchell and you said here's one place where you agree with donald trump for the support for the good work planned parenthood does outside of the choice conversation. what do you think would be the benefit of having a donald trump as the gop nominee or potentially the next president, and his words to planned parenthood? >> there would absolutely be no benefit to having donald trump as president of the united states for women. he on the one hand praises the work we do and says we want to cut every person off health care we serve.

you can't have it both ways. i thinkç it's incredible every single republican running for president says that their health care plan is to end access for women, and not only to planned parenthood but to birth control all across the country and to safe and legal abortion. it's extraordinary that this is the position of the republican leadership, because it's not the position of republicans across the country. we have republican patients that come to planned parenthood every sickle day. they're in total disbelief this is where the republican party is going. >> don't you think that there is an uncommon ally with the praise that donald trump does give to planned parenthood for the majority of the work that it does? typically, you would not get that from any gop candidate. >> we have in the past. i think it's important, i would point out, you can't on the one hand say you praise planned parenthood for all the care that we provide, 1 in 5 women in america come to planned parenthood for health care, and on the other hand say, but we're not going to let people go there

anymore for health care. i don't think you can have it both ways, and i do think the danger of a donald trump presidency is he would actually end access to health care for millions of country, and particularly low-income women, thomas. i think that's what's really troubling about this. many folks who come to planned parenthood, we are their only doctor, their only health care provider. >> cecile richards, hillary clinton supporter, president of planned parenthood, nice to see you. >> good to see you, thomas. coming up, we have 11 states up for grabs between the republicans and the democrats, trying to scoop up delegates on super tuesday. we have four days to go, and georgia is among one of the bigger prizes for that day. the chairman of georgia's democratic party is going to join me at morehouse college coming up next on msnbc. stick around. it takes a lot of work... to run this business. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost® to get the nutrition that i'm missing.

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stakes heading into next week's super tuesday contest. in terms of the delegates, democrats have more at stake. more than 800 pledged delegates up for grabs as hillary clinton and bernie sanders square off in 11 states. that's nearly 300 more delegates than the republicans would be fighting for. georgia is among the bigger prizes in the bunch. i'm joined by the chairman of georgia's democratic party, deboz porter, who is also a supporter of hillary clinton. good to have you with me. when we talk about what georgia is going to do, let's talk specifically in a larger  tuesday, do you think hillary clinton is going to be able to carry the day or bernie sanders is going to make definite inroads in the delegate count? >> in georgia, hillary is going to do extremely well. what's exciting is the position that georgia finds itself in this early in the campaign. certainly going to have tomorrow and what happens in south carolina. then on super tuesday, we are the big prize. texas is kind of over here. but the big prize is georgia.

what that will mean is how significant georgia will then be in november. as a battleground state. in the southeast. and that's what we're excited about as well. >> one thing that continues to come up for hillary clinton is maybe a trust factor. and trying to dispel any myth about transparency, and this morning, she actually appeared in an interview with joe and mika on "morning joe." i want to play a portion of that clip. take a look. >> what is painful, it's hurtful to have people say, oh, i don't trust her. i don't know why she's doing it. and it suddenly struck me, maybe there is this underlying question, like is she doing it for herself? or is she really in it forç us? >> i know you were shaking your head as i was pitching to that sound bite. why do you think that exists? >> i think a lot of money has been spent trying to give her that image. i mean, i think she is resilient. i mean, people talk about her trust factor. she has been steady in the

trenches for over 25 years. and she has a great history here in georgia. we have known her for back when bill clinton carried georgia in '92. so the history that we have and the trust and confidence in working side-by-side with her for a long time, just gives a lot of confidence. i don't see that as an issue here in georgia. >> there remains this controversy over whether or not the transcripts of wall street speeches will be released. we have the "new york times" doing an editorial calling for that to be released and criticizing the rationale, saying everybody does it is an excuse expected from a mischievous child. she plays into the hands of those who say she's not trustworthy and makes her own rules. is it a double-edged sword? if she releases them, she give into the pressure as if the trust narrative is true. on theç other side, it plays u the fact she's not going to do it and it looks like stonewalling. >> i think you need to get past that to the real issues in the race. where i think in the debate she

has tried to keep it. whether it's the -- the long series of allegations on benghazi, those are about worn out. i guess now this is the next round to try to undercut that trust factor. people know her. they know her resilience. they know her record, and i think that's what more people will vote on, especially in tuesday as we head into november. >> four days to go. super tuesday in georgia. thank you, sir. >> exciting about georgia making a difference. >> you're going to be hearing coming up from hillary clinton herself about the speeches to wall street. the question remains, is she going to be releasing those transcripts. as it stands right now, most likely isn't going to happen. more of that conversation straight ahead. to folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain... shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered

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interview mika and joe had today with hillary clinton, and joe and mika sat down with her and asked her about the lingering questions about her private paid speeches on wall street for more in depth look, take a listen. >> you expressed concern about being held to a different standard, as it pertains to the wall street speeches, and you said you would release the transcripts when theç republics do. isn't it more important, perhaps, to be transparent to democratic voters about what you said to big banks behind closed doors? >> well, i think i have been transparent. i have a record. i'm not coming to this for the first time. people can go back, they can look at what i said and what i did when i was a senator. i'm the one who called out wall street. i actually went to wall street in '07. i said you guys are going to wreck the economy. and i went after hedge fund loopholes. >> where did you say that? >> back in december of 2007. you know, i even ran an ad in the '08 campaign that was in '07, warning about the mortgage

crash. and so i'm on record. i have gone after these guys. i have been pointing fingers at them. i have been introducing legislation. so people who want to know about my public record, it's there to see. people who want to know what i will do as president, everybody says who looked at it says i have the best plan to rein in wall street. and i want to move toward a level playing field. as i have said, happy to do it when everybodyç including the republicans does it. >> if reporters are looking for -- don't you want to get ahead of it before somebody gets their hands on these transcripts? >> no, i really don't. i want people -- i want people to look at my record. people are treating me sometimes as though i just decided to run for president. i have been on the record on a lot of these issues for a really long time. the real question underneath this is, okay, if you take money from wall street, can you regulate wall street? >> right. >> barack obama took more money from wall street than any

candidate who has frb run for president. turned around, passed and signed the dodd/frank bill. so i think you should be judged on what you have done. >> and the thing is -- >> i'm more than happy to put my record against bernie sanders. if you look at what caused the great recession, a bill he voted for in 2000 had a greater impact than most of the talk that we're now doing. let's get everybody out on the same field. i feel like, you know, i don't mind being responsive. i don't mind answering questions, but at some point, i want everybody to have to answer. >> i respect tatç call. can you assure the american people you didn't say anything in the speeches that would undermine your promise to be tough on wall street? >> absolutely. absolutely. and besides, i'm on the public record. i have told them what i'm going to do. i said i'm going to go after big banks that pose a systemic risk. i want you to hold me account nl for that because i will do that exactly. >> let's talk about, one of the chief complaints that a lot of people have is after the bailout, the banks that were too

big to fail got even bigger. haven't they gotten even bigger? >> i think they have. >> whether it's bank of america or jp morgan, but any of these big banks. >> joe, i think -- >> if they went down tomorrow, we'd all be on the line again for that, right? >> no, because now we're not going to bail them out. they have gotten bigger, but they have also been under much closer scrutiny. >> if bank of america came to you, and i'm going to get in big trouble with friends at bacnk o america, but let's say any bank, we found out what happened to lehman brothers is going to happen to bank of america your third week in office. they say, this is simple. you let us go down, çatm machis across america are going to shut down and people can't get their money. you have to save us or the economy collapses. what do you say? >> under dodd/frank, we have an orderly unwinding of your bank because you're now posing a systemic risk. >> but madam president, the markets will collapse. look how badly they collapsed after lehman brothers.

we need you to step in now or you're going to be responsible for a global depression. >> we're going to do it in an orderly way so there will not be any surprises. the reason we passed dodd/frank was to make it clear no bank is too big to fail. no executive too powerful to skral. we've got to keep faith with the american people. i'm sorry that you made bad decisions, but we're going to have to unwind you and yes, break you up. and parts of you will be very successful going forward, and other parts won't. if there is any accountability that needs to be imposed on individual decisions, we'll also follow through on that. >> you can make the guarantee today that if you're president of the united states under no circumstances will there be a taxpayerç funded bailout of the big banks. >> if they pose a systemic risk, we've got the process under dodd/frank now. the tools have been provided. and we have to follow through on that. and the banks have to know that

we will follow through. >> that's a guarantee of no taxpayer bailout. >> no, because that's what we tried to fix in dodd/frank. >> right. okay. >> and my point, too, though, joe, is this. i want to go further because if you really look at what happened in '07-'08 and you mentioned lehman brothers. it was investment banks like lehman brothers, big insurance companies like aig, mortgage companies like countrywide. so the only culprits were not just the banks. there were others as well. i'm the only one with a plan who says, hey, guys, dodd/frank is great. it gives us the foundation. it doesn't go far enough. we need to look at these other entities that pose risks as well. >> a champion on these issues is elizabeth warren. do you see a role for her in the campaign or the white house? >> look, i have the highest regard for her. i think she's doing an amazing job. and she signed a letter two yearsç ago urging me to run fo president, and we consult regularly. my staffs consult regularly with

her staff. i am very -- very much interested in what she's doing and what she thinks we should be doing. >> let me ask mika's follow-up question. will you consider her as vice president? >> well, i can't get prezumptious. right now, i have to win a nomination and then take a deep breath and maybe get a good night's sleep and then start thinking about that important decision. >> i wasn't going to ask that, but okay. >> all right, so there, hillary clinton sitting down with joe and mika today. we remain live broadcasting from the historic college of morehouse, and coming up, this is the home of the maroon tigers, good looking crowd. this is supposed to be a quiet hall, but we're getting noisy. we're going to find out from the voters of georgia what's porngt to them. i'm going to talk to students from the young republicans and young democrats of moreilohoused spelman college after this. before earning 1% cash back

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all right, so we remain live on the road, broadcasting today at morehouse college. we're in the heart of atlanta right now. beautiful campus founded in 1867. it's a private all-male historically black cheej and morehouse also has several famous alumnay including martin luther king?xjr., spike lee, an jeh johnson. they're also getting attention from the presidential candidates. bernie sanders drew a crowd of 5,000 people when he held a rally a week ago. georgia is key. it's part of the super tuesday collection from the s.e.c. primary, and the black vote is going to be especially pivotal in the democratic primary, not just four day uz way. let's find out what's on the minds of young voters. we have two students, the vice president of the young democratic, hold on, simien, the young democrats, yeah, can't leave my paper, from the young democrats party.

right? >> young democrats of morehouse college. >> and then from spelman college, senior and member of the morehouse college republicans. j joy hamer. i had to get my paper because you wanted arniece in there, and i didn't want to mess up your middle name. you have not chosen a candidate yet. why not? >> so, as you know, as of today in the race, you know, part of the gop party, we have donald trump leading the race. fighting forç second, ted cruz marco rubio, and then bringing in the rear, we have ben carson and john kasich. having said that, as of today, i have not endorsed a candidate. >> even after watching last night, you don't feel comfortable going on a limb? >> even after watching last night, i believe donald trump said they were having a lot of fun. however, i think as we are getting closer to the election season, it's time to get a bit more serious. i do not see myself under any

circumstance supporting the current front-runner, that's how i feel. >> you're waiting for a winn winnowing crowd. >> i mentioned bernie sanders. he drew a massive crowd on the campus. you support hillary clinton. why? >> first, bernie sanders, who is a great candidate, he does a great job of talking the talk. he did a great job when he came to morehouse. unlike bernie, hillary clinton, she wauxs the walk as well. she stood with african-americans. she stood with people of all races, of all genders, regardless, and talked about the issues. she's worked with the issues, whether it's her time as secretary of state, whether it's her time as united states senator. she's always been with making equalityç at the forefront of l of her issues, and that's why i stand with hillary clinton. >> we're surrounded by all of these iconic images of living legends and those who have passed, but bernie sanders would probably push back and say he's been a part of the civil rights movement, passionately, just as much committed as hillary clinton. but that message from him

doesn't work for you? >> well, you know, i'm glad he did. he was a part of it in the 1960s, but hillary clinton not only was she involved back in her teenage years, and back in her time in college, but currently now. what are we seeing from bernie recently that showed he's standing with african-americans besides his recent talking about some of the issues. hillary has been about the issues from day one. that's why i stand with her. she's a very progressive woman about making change for american citizens, all citizens, regardless of your race, your gender, or your creed. >> let's talk about the electricity donald trump has created for what's taking place in the primary process, and we have candidates that are hitting him on the fact he hasn't released his taxes yet. trump says he can't because he's beingç audited. the irs saying there's nothing that prevents an individual from sharing their own tax information. what do you make of mitt romney getting in the fray and trying to challenge the donald to get his taxes out because that was a stumbling block for mitt romney

in 2012? >> i believe the media is a heavy focus on what's going on with donald trump and relation to his business and his finances. and mitt romney wanting to get in, talking back about 2012 elections. however, i think it's very important to focus, as simien said, on the current issues that are pressing, that are pressing our generation currently, as a young student, you know, the increasing cost of education. the high cost of living are pressing issues. socially, you know, as a woman, gender equality issues are important. also, as a young african-american, racial equality issues are now important. and the height of this black lives matter movement, we see that we now need to demilleterize çpolice. and in the last three or four years throughout my matriculation at spelman college, the lack of indictment

of police officers has been frightening. i would like to see a political change to make sure the political officials are really reflective and representative of the people that they govern. >> real quickly, hillary clinton in atlanta today. are you going to go? >> yes. >> you're going to be there. all right, simien, thank you, sir. really appreciate it. joy, thank you very much. this was a great conversation. we're back with much more live on the campus of morehouse college after this. go, go, go, go, go, go... touchdown! ♪ choir and harp music. this place, it's the best-kept secret in football since... hey, how did he get in here?! and with toe nail fungus! fight it! with jublia. jublia is a prescription medicine used to treat toenail fungus. use jublia as instructed by your doctor. now that's prime time. most common side effects include ingrown toenail, application site redness, itching, swelling, burning or stinging, blisters, and pain. you ready to fight it? ask your doctor if jublia is right for you. visit our website for savings on larger size. chuck, i know i have a 798 fico score, thanks to experian.com. kaboom...

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all right, so that's going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live from morehouse college in atlanta where all i got so far is a bracelet. i have to work on a sweatshirt. i'll see you back later. up next. bye, guys.

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good morning, everyone.

i'm tamron hall. are you feeling the gop debate hangover? we're coming live from the city of austin where that debate is the talk of the country, even making international headlines, and texas is the biggest state up for grabs next tuesday. this morning, the republican candidates are all back for the most part on the trail, facing off after last night's rough and tumble debate right here in texas. not very far from where we are. marco rubio and ted cruz essentially threw the kitchen sink at their party's front-runner, donald trump, and he did not take it lying down. with the debate at times turning into an all-out shouting match. >> you haveç many different plans. you'll have competition. you'll have so many different plans. >> now he's repeating himself. >> no, no. no, no. i watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago. >> i saw you repeat yourself five times four seconds ago. >> donald, relax. >> i'm relaxed.

you're the basket case. go ahead. don't get nervous. go ahead. >> my name -- >> nothing about you that makes anyone nervous. >> people are actually watching this debate. >> i'm going to ask that my time not be deducted. >> the latest debate -- gentlemen, please. i want to move on. >> what i have seen up here. first, this guy is a choke artist and this guy is a liar. you have a combination of factors. >> now, offstage, senator cruz continued to go after trump moments after the debate ending. cruz hammering trump's surprising claim that he's not released his tax returns because he's beingç audited. >> it was rather astonishing that donald still refuses to hand over his tax returns. it raises a real question what's in there. in his defense, it was bizarre. i'm being audited so i can't

make them public. if his audits reveal he committed tax fraud, republican primary voters deserve to know that now and not in the general election. >> and this morning, the man donald trump called the, quote, choke artist, is not letting up. here's what senator rubio had to say about donald trump just a few hours ago on the "today" show. >> we are not going to turn over the conservative movement to a conartist who is telling people one thing and has spent 40 years sticking it to working americans and now claims to be their champion. >> you heard it there. rubio's new line this morning is trump is a con artist. trump has fired back at both cruz and rubio today, tweeting out just a short time ago, quote, lying ted cruz and lightweight choker marco rubio teamed up last night in a last-ditch effort to stop ourç great movement. they failed. well, the newest poll out of southern states voting on tuesday's so-called s.e.c.

primary still shows trump with a sizable lead. again, this is before last night's debate. down to four days before super tuesday, both republican and democratic candidates, as i mentioned, blitzing across the country, holding campaign stops in states casting baltsz. we have not forgotten about the democr democrats. clinton and sanders are also weaving in events in south carolina ahead of tomorrow's big primary there. on the trail, senator sanders is continuing to hit secretary clinton over her paid speeches to wall street. and she's now responded this morning. let's start with our nbc news correspondents following the candidates, as they make their last-ditch pitch and respond to accusations from their rivals. gabe gutierrez is covering the rubio campaign. let's start with you. as we know, this morning, senator rubio now with this line that if he's the choke artist, donald trump is the con artist. >> yeah, tamron, good morning. that's exactly what the rubio campaign is trying to labelç

donald trump, repeating that con artist line in several interviews this morning as well as several tweets by aides. this is something that the rubio campaign feels can really stick. now, they hammered him yesterday as you mentioned on everything from immigration to his highering practices to his inheritance to his repetition of campaign slogans. the question is will it make a difference now come super tuesday? donald trump, of course, polling way ahead in many states, but the rubio campaign feels it can make some headway by labeling him a con artist. today, the rubio campaign, rubio is about to take the stage in dallas for a rally there. then he's set to come here to oklahoma city, and then he will have a rally here as well. a fund-raiser later today, before heading on to georgia. a busy weekend for rubio, as he campaigns throughout the south. also, expngtded to campaign in virginia on sunday. now, the question is for the rubio campaign, why didn't they go after donald trump sooner? when asked that question, they said it's because jeb bush was still in the race, they were

being attacked by his super pac and they feel now the moment is appropriate to really go after trump. again, did it come too late? two superç pacs, a super pac supporting rubio, rather, has also released two ads attacking donald trump, and expect this line of attack to continue. also, rubio attacking trump for not releasing his tax returns. now, the campaign is saying that rubio himself is expected to release his tax returns tomorrow. tamron. >> all right, thank you very much, gabe. senator cruz saying the same thing, he expects to release his tax information. let's go to katy tur, live in ft. worth, where donald trump is holding a news conference and a rally just over an hour from now. donald trump pointing to his being audited and saying it's perhaps last night he said being a christian is why he may have been audited this many times. is that the case? is what he's saying? >> well, he is saying that he's not going to release his tax records, or tax returns until that audit is cleared.

he said he's been audited every year because of the enormity of his business and the complications of his business. we checked with the irs today to find out if you can release your tax returns despite being aud audited or in the middle of the odd lt, andç they said, yes, y k unless for some reason the person didn't want to release them. so certainly, a lot of questions surrounding why he's using the audit excuse as a reason not to release his tax returns. he got hammered last night by marco rubio specifically. a little bit by ted cruz, but marco rubio was just trying to land blow after blow on donald trump. hammering him on all sorts of things. after the debate, the campaign telling me that they guarantee that they're going to win florida. donald trump meanwhile responding that only a fool guarantees anything. that campaign, the trump campaign, feeling confident despite that debate. they say they are doing well in all of the super tuesday states. they point out that new quinnipiac poll in florida, which shows donald trump ahead by double digits. so they're not feeling any

backlash at least internally from the debate. they expect him to come out on stage and continue to attack marco rubio. also, they're talking about their supporters. their supporters decided months ago. they don't believe their supporters are as invested in the news cycle as many of the media might be. when the controversies come down, when these questions arise, when these te allegations arise, they believe that it only helps their message that donald trump is an outsider, not part of the establishment, tamron. >> and the direct quote from donald trump when asked about the audit, he said to cnn, quote, i'm too christian for the irs. and that's why i'm always audited, he said, by the irs. that was the quote last night to chris cuomo. let me take you back to the campaign rally. senator marco rubio is holding a rally in dallas. i understand he has a sizable crowd. let's listen in. >> but this guy, donald trump, has a lawsuit against him for

fraud. you don't hear anything. it's crickets. because they know once -- first of all, they know if this guy is the nominee, we're going to have someone as the republican nominee that defends planned parenthood, as someone who defends single payer for health care, as someone who won't take sides on israel against the palestinians. this is a dream for them. number two, because they know the minute he gets the nomination, they will shred him to pieces. so they're looking for this. they are encouraging this to happen. we cannot nominate someone that is goingç to get shredded to pieces. because the consequences are, bernie sanders, a socialist, or hillary clinton. someone who is unqualified to be commander in chief, who put classified information on her e-mail server. someone who lied to the families of the victims of benghazi, and anyone who lies, anyone who lies to the family of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country can never be the commander in chief of the united states of america.

we cannot lose this election. you nomnot me, we will not lose this election. you nominate me, not only will you have a real conservative. you will have a conservative that unites the republican party and brings us together after the circus act we had to live with for nine months, and you will have someone that will grow this party, not by changing our principles. we are going to take our principles to people who are living today the way that i grew up. people who have lived paycheck to paycheck, like i have lived. people that have had to borrow money to go to school, real ç schools, not fake universities. people who are trying to raise their families in the 21st century. and how hard it's become to do that, to instill in your children the right values, the values they teach in our churches instead of the values they ram down our throats in popular culture. we're going to unite the conservative movement and grow it and win the election when we

do. and then we have a lot of work to do because we have a lot of damage to undo. first of all, you elect me president, for the fifrsz time in eight years, you will have a president that protects and defends and follows the constitution of the united states of america. on my first day in office, as soon as i walk into the oval office, i will repeal every single one of barack obama's unconstitutional executive orders. you will have a president that defends your first amendment right to live out the teachings of your faith, not just to believe whatever you want, but to live out those teachingsç i every aspect of your life. and you will have a president that defends your second amendment right to protect yourself and your family. you will have a president once

again that believes that the federal government is supposed to be a limited one. that most of the answers in our society don't belong to government. they belong in our lives and our homes and our families. the most important job i will ever have, the most important job you will have ever as of the husband and a wife, father and a mother. that's where the real difference is made in america. if government has a role, it's probably at the state level. not at the federal level. you will have a president that follows and honors and believes in the tenth amendment which means power belongs to the people through the states, not at the federal government. you will have a president that believes that the constitution is not a living and breathing document, designed to mean whatever you want it to mean. >> we're listening in to senatoç marco rubio. he's at a rally in dallas, texas, but already, again, picking up where he left off last night. what we heard from him this

morning on the "today" show, calling donald trump a con job, saying the charade is up. let me bring in our panel that we have assembled to digest what we watched last night and what rubio certainly sees as a possible opening. sam hosts the majority report, and msnbc contributor michael steele, msnbc political analyst, and michael. thank you gentlemen, for following. i have been following a lot of what you have been saying before the debate. strategy wise, both michaels, you have said that marco rubio had to do exactly what he did last night. the question this morning, michael, is it too late? >> no, it's not too late. we've got months and months, and there are a very small number of delegates who have actually been chosen. one of the things that i think is worth noting is that there's been a lot of talk that we have to have people drop out of the race so we consolidate behind one anti-trump candi"te.

i don't believe that's true. i think the best thing that can happen for the republican party is ted cruz is going to win texas on tuesday, and i think that's a good thing. he had a very strong debate performance last night. marco rubio is going to win florida coming up on march 15th. that's a very good thing. and john kasich is going to win in ohio. and that's a very good thing. all three of these candidates -- >> michael, rubio is behind double digits in florida. what is your indication he can win florida? are you basing it on the debate performance? >> i am, and also upon the fact that marco rubio remains very popular in his home state, and now that jeb bush is out of the race, and it will clearly be in florida a race between rubio and trump. i think that that is a very, very easy choice for floridians to make. and look, trump had, i think last night, his emperor's new clothes moment. there's just no there there. this is not a guy who is about conservative reform.

which is what the voters in republican primaries really do want. >> but michael steele, when you look at the best hits from rubio last night, itç had nothing really to do with conservative ideals. it had to do essentially with a vetting of donald trump, which perhaps is the mistake that the establishment of your party has been making. looking at ideology, looking at three marriages, looking at some of these traditional things and not pointing out that people from trump university allegedly took a picture of a cardboard photo of donald trump as part of their graduation ceremony. let me play a little biof what senator rubio said last night about trump university. >> i don't -- >> one at a time. >> first of all -- >> fake university. there are people who borrow $36,000 to go to trump university and they're suing him now. $36,000 to go to a university that's a fake school. >> by the way -- >> you know what they got? they got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of donald

trump. >> so michael steele, ten debates later and this is the vetting. >> it's a lot of noise about nothing at this point. the university's story has been in the either for two years. "new york times" has been following andñi reporting on th since 2013. you know, and it goes to the broader point that there was so much there that we saw last night that coulda, shoulda been done earlier in the process. jeb bush opened the door from the very beginning. rubio and others tried to be cute and coy about that and stayed out of the fight, away from the fight. they allowed donald trump to build and solidify momentum among not just those who are ardently supporting him, but also those who are on the sidelines looking in and trying to assess who is the stronger candidate. who is the one who is going to go into the arena and fight? donald trump showed that in spades last night as much as rubio showed his ability to fight. he showed he can handle both of them at the same time.

weak moment, strong moments for both. i don't know if it changes anything. i really appreciate what mike just said because he's absolutely right. in terms of how this thing plays out. i'm a little curious about the florida piece, though, because if marco rubio is that popular, he certainly would be polling a lot higher than he is at this point, but we'll see. there's still a lot of work and a lot of opportunity, but this still is donald trump'sç campan right through march 15th. >> sam, let me bring you in. another point of contention last night, mrk bringing up of all things where trump's clothing line, his ties were manufactured, asking how can you say let's make america great again. you have employed people who were working illegally on some of your projects. let's play this moment and get your thoughts, sam. >> i also think that if you're going to claim you're the only one who lifted this into the campaign, you acknowledge that for example you're the only person on the stage who has been fined for hiring people to work

on your projects illegally. >> i'm the only one on the stage who has hired people. you haven't hired anybody. >> in fact, some of the people -- hold on. >> by the way, i hired tens of thousands of people over my job. you have hired nobody. >> hired 1,000 people from another country. >> so sam, let me bring you in. i know michael steele said a lot of this has been in the ether and the in "new york times." i'm from a tiny town not far from here, and a news flash, not errand gets their newsç from t "new york times." but they have been watching these debates. when you lay out these details information, a lot of people were asking, yeah, marco rubio may not win florida, but is this an opening for bernie sanders, is this an opening for hillary clinton, when your front-runner can't explain why he was using illegal immigrants, why after should have been prepared for this irs question, said he's being audited perhaps because he's too christian. are we seeing some openings here? >> we're definitely seeing

openings. there was a great piece by sam stein in the "huffington post" which talked about the republican candidates' failure to dig up all of this information, to do genuine opo research on donald trump because they didn't take him seriously. there's all of this. there are democrats who have been doing this research for longer than the republicans have. they have a treasure-trove of stuff that they're going to use on donald trump once he gets to the general. i mean, i agree that rubio did a little better job last night, but i think it's too little late, and what is shocking here is that this is like peering into a junior high school playground. and atç one point, somebody is going to come out of this junior high school playground and they're actually going to be debating adult, and they're going to have a big problem. i mean, to the extent that rubio and cruz did anything last night, it had nothing to do with conservative values or principles or policies. it was all just them trying to get an insult in against the big

bully on the playground. and in some instances, the two of them ganged up on trump, but in some ways, that makes trump look stronger. why do they need the both of them to do it? >> if i can jump in -- go ahead, michael. >> yeah, i don't think that's fair. because the most telling moment in the debate was when marco rubio held trump's feet to the fire about the fact that he talks about he's opposed to obamacare, but he doesn't want people dying on the street. and this is only said about his medical care plan. and rubio pushed and pushed and said what are you talking about? talking about drawing lines and erasing lines around states. >> i have that clip. >> michael, you make a great point there. you make aç great point. >> hang on for a second. >> sorry. >> i'm going to take control of my show, thank you. and i'm going to play this moment so that we can remind the audience and have not what happened last night where you're talking over me. we're going to play the sound.

let's play it. >> the biggest thing we've got and the reason we have no competition is because we have lines around the state. and you have -- >> we mentioned that as part of my plan. i know what that is. what else is part of your plan? so that's the only part of the plan? just the lines. the interstate competition? >> you have many different plans. you'll have competition. you'll have so many different plans. >> now he's repeating himself. >> i'm not repeating. no, no, no. [ cheers and applause ] no, no. i don't repeat myself. i don't repeat myself. >> you don't repeat yourself? >> here's the guy who repeats himself. >> you repeat yourself every day. >> talking about repeating, i watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago. >> i watched you repeat yourself fiveç times five seconds ago. >> all right, gentlemen, that's the moment.

sam, go ahead. >> first off, the idea that you can see all the cheers came from the fact that they were mocking each other about repeating themselves. the bottom line, the best part of that exchange is when you had two republicans ganging up on donald trump for saying he's not going to allow anybody to die in the streets. i mean, the idea that the republicans would go into a general election arguing that we should be allowing people to die in the streets is hilarious. i mean, honestly. the idea that this was about policy is a joke. marco rubio's plan to save health care is just as empty as donald trump's. they always throw this thing out, this idea of dropping regulations from state to state. it's been tried. it has failed. the insurance companies are not interested. they don't know how to deal with risk pools that are outside of the markets they have been dealing in. this is all paper thin stuff, but it looks real because literally we're just watching junior high school students

debate otherç junior high scho students. and i think, you know, this -- the big winners last night were whoever comes out of the democratic primary. i mean, that's the bottom line. >> and the former chairman of the rnc, michael, what do you say to that? >> i find myself agreeing with sam. i have to tell you quite honestly, as a republican, as a former head of the party, i was very disappointed last night. there was nothing presidential about that debate. i thought ameriauought american kids on a school playground. kasich was the closest one to really try to level it to a presidential level, to get above the din. i appreciate the attacks. you want to draw the comparisons, and the contrasts, but there's a way to do it without trying to be cute and trying to be snippy and trying to zing somebody. there's a way you can take

donald trump on and break down his lack of policy substance without having to go where we saw last night. i thought americans wereç ill-served by the debate. i know i'll hear crap from conservatives and republican out here, but that's how we step into the november election. we need to show we can govern the country, we can lead. this is not about uniting the republican party. this is uniting the american people around your leadership, and last night, we failed to do that in my estimation across the board, so i'm hoping as we get ready to go into next week and beyond that these gentlemen step up their game, stop acting like they're on a playground, and show the american people they're ready to lead us through very tough times ahead. >> michael steele, i feel that -- >> i do think, frankly, tamron, thank you very much. i think yes, absolutely, that is going to have to be the approach in the general election. but right now, and i think that cruz and rubio were very, very good to focus on this.

the question is who is going to represent the republican party? who is going to represent the conservative movement? and donald trump has been running a con. and the con is, and this is why this issue of his tax returns are so important. his con is, i'm for the little guy. i'm for theytuk who's frustrated by the gridlock in washington. and the truth of the matter is that what i believe the tax returns will show is that he benefitted from a lot of special tax breaks that are available to billionaires. and that do need to be taken out of the tax code, and that frankly, a lot of those special breaks come from the fact that donald trump has been very involved in precisely this system that everybody right now is decrying. where you spend a lot of money sending money to politicians. and the fact that donald trump has participated in that i think is very useful and important that that came out in this debate before we have a republican candidate for president of the united states. >> we'll see what impact any of it has or as michael steele

pointed out, a lot of noise. thank you, gentlemen. and developing now, the train keeps going. senator bernie sanders is on the campaign trail. in fact, he's in minnesota right now after leveling more contrasts between he and hillary clinton. and pointing out now, siding with the "new york times" that hillary clinton should release transcripts from her wall street speeches. a"n] response from secretary clinton. >> and marco rubio is speaking live in dallas. we're monitoring his comments as he continues to attack donald trump, calling him a con artist and more. we're covering all of this live from austin, texas, this morning on msnbc, the place for politics. you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family. and when it's time to plan for your family's future, we're here for you.

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developing now, senator bernie sanders holding a campaign rally in minnesota. we'll listen in in a second. let's go right now while we have her on the line, texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee, an early supporter of former secretary of state hillary clinton. you have votes, and we want to get you on here. the latest that we're hearing now, bernie sanders siding with the "new york times," calling on secretary clinton to release the transcripts from speeches she gave to wall street. let me quickly play what she said to the "morning joe" hosts and get your thoughts here. let's play it. >> you know, it is painful. it's hurtful to have people say, oh, i don't trust her. i don't know why she's doing it. and it suddenly struck me, well, you know, maybe there is this underlying question, like is she doing it for herself, or is she really in it for us. i think i'm just going to keep reaching out, talking about what

i have done, what iç will do. and making the case that people can count on me, because they always have in the past. >> so she's talking about trust here. saying also that when others released their transcripts, she will. bernie sanders has not given wall street speeches, he says. is this enough to beat back the trust issue some say exists here, congresswoman? >> tamron, let me say that as we get in the midst of the battle, we can certainly be glad that we didn't have the debacle of the republican debate, and i think all democrats want to defeat republicans in november. but as it relates to this campaign between mr. sanders and former secretary clinton, now's the time where people are grabbing at straws. secretary clinton is talking about issues. she's talking about what she's doing for preventing the terrible surge of mass incarceration, talking about debt-free tuition. that's what senator sanders should be talking about. frankly, i think the speeches

are a nonissue. financial records will show what she was paid. and i would imagine that senator sanders has done a lot of speeches inç places where peop might be interested in what he had to say. and so if this is really an issue, then let us have him present all of his speeches. i don't think it's an issue. i think the question of trust is for those of us who know secretary clinton to affirm her heart. those of us who have traveled with her and seen her, we know the in depth sincerity of caring about children, championing the boys in south carolina when they were held in an adult jail. the fight against segregated schooled for our children in alabama, and being the hero around children's health insurance program way before the affordable care act, she fought for universal access to health care, and every child was able to get health insurance back in the 1990s. every candidate has issues that they want to make the issue of the day.

and that's great. and at some point, i'm sure as she reflects, she will have an answer, but trust is something that i am very, how should i say it, agitated about the suggestion that secretary clinton cannot(q trusted. she can. her heart is invested in children, it's invested in the economic development of all people. she works with people from all backgrounds. and i have seen her do it. and let me just say, the first african-american bust, the first statue of an african-american woman, was brought to the united states capital through the legislation of secretary clinton and myself. so a real symbol of freedom and rights of women. so you know, these are issues in the campaign, but i don't think these are issues that are going to impact secretary clinton's campaign. or secretary clinton's fight. her message is she's fighting for us, for you, and that's really what we should be debating about.

the good news is we are not the circus that was exhibited last night in the republican debate and the american people can see if you want to elect an adult to be president of the united states, then my candidate, of course, is secretary clinton. certainly, the democrats, both of them, have kept the standards of debate at a level where the american people can see the distinction in theirç issues. >> but you just said, congresswoman, that bernie sanders has kept the standard of the debate higher than what we saw last night with the republic republicans, you believe, and keeping it to the issue. he maintains that one of the issues is transparency and wall street reform. why not release the transcripts and get this off the table if she's to become the nominee and potentially donald trump is the nominee, and if he continues to self-fund, as he says his campaign, and says he's not in the pockets of wall street or anyone else, this diffuses a potential attack line from the republican party, and one from bernie sanders right now.

why not release the transcripts? >> tamron, you raise a very good point, and the secretary and all of her supporters are strong advocates of transparency. and i maintain that the two democratic candidates have been focused on issues. in this instance, this is a make-up issue. this is suggesting that this has anything to do with transparency. many people make speeches. this was in her private life. and i can't say today thatç ultimately, those speeches will not be released. i have not heard her say anything about not releasing them. but today, i can't represent what the campaign will ultimately do. but it is a nonissue as it relates to the lives of men and women in this country. i just got through talking to workers in the united states capitol. these women want to know about quality of life issues, about raising the minimum wage, pay equity, how their children will get to college, what kind of quality of education their

children will have, how we'll prevent mass incarceration? these are issues i hear from people not only as i trafl around but right here in my work place. get on with the debate about the issues that the american people are concerned about. i think secretary clinton has been transparent. her whole life has been an open book. she's been an open book almost since she graduated college. but definitely as first lady of arkansas, and then first lady of the united states, and then secretary of new york, new york voted for her, and then on to secretary of state. this is a nonissue. it will be resolved, but wree need to stick to the issues of what can youdo to help the american people better their lives. the adult is in the room. that's secretary clinton, who can in fact lift the lives of all americans. and i mean the republicans, independents, and democrats. i think that's what people are looking for. >> congresswoman sheila jackson lee of the great state of texas. thank you so much for joining us. you have to get back in for

votes. >> thank you for having me. >> of course. we want to point out that we're keeping an eye on senator sanders. he has this event in minnesota. right now, that state is a caucus so there's no reliable polling, but there are indications he may be closing in. he's at hibben high school there. we'll continue to watch the developments out of minnesota. more on what bernie sanders says is his push to distinguish his record from hillary clinton, and we'll talk much more about it after a quick break, live from austin, texas. red lobster's lobsterfest is back. so come try the largest variety of lobster dishes of the year, like lobster lover's dream or new dueling lobster tails. it's a party on every plate, and you're invited. so come in while it lasts.

welcome back. i want to send you to minnesota right now, senator bernie sanders discussing minimum wage and unemployment. let's listen to the rally taking place in minnesota. let's listen. >> latino unemployment, 36%. african-american unemployment, 51%. native american youth unemployment probably higher

than that. okay, now if anybody thinks in this room that there's not a correlation between high youth unemployment and the fact that we have more people in jail thaç any other country on earth, you would be mistaken. now, think about this. in america, this is the richest country in the history of the world. we have 2.2 million people in jail. largely african-american, latino, and native americans. we spend $80 billion a year locking up fellow americans. that's right. so you want a radical idea? here's a radical idea. that we're going to invest in jobs and education for those kids on the reservations, those kids in the ghettos. we're going to invest in jobs and education, not jails and

incarceration. now, i am told this morning -- >> bernie sanders holding another rally in minnesota. we'll keep listening in to senator sanders and get you updated on everything that's happening on theç campaign tra right now. "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪

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i thought they really took some solid hits at him. i don't know that it's going to hurt him in the republican primary, tamron, because very little has. nothing has so far. but i think they got in what's going to be a theme for democrats, which is he claims he's a successful businessman, but he's a businessman who has been sued a lot of times, that trump university thing is a big deal, there have been several allegations of fraud. he has been fined for his hiring practices. there's lots more where that came from. i don't know how much that will matter in the republican primary, but it's something we will see a lot of in november if he is the nominee. i thought it was a good night for democrats. i can't say it was a great night for the gop. >> some might say that was a softball because we pretty much predicted what you would sayç there. so now to the tough stuff here. i'm reading some of my twitter feeds here. i cannot even repeat some of the toxic language being directed the minute you bring up whether or not hillary clinton should

release her transcripts. now, people can say it's the media who is pushing this, but you have senator bernie sanders, who is asking that she release this information. clinton supporters on social media, this 30, 40 minutes we have been on air, have been absolutely incredible in their reaction. is this a fair question? is this smoke and mirrors? what do you say about the wall street transcripts? >> you know, i have said that i wished she had never made the speeches in the first place. i thought that was a bad decision. at this point, i understand both sides. i know, you're not going to let me off the hook, but i understand, i believe in transparency. at the same time, this is a brand-new demand that no one has ever had to face before in a presidential campaign. we have a custom of,ious,ç plee release your tax returns. ee have release your health records. again, i understand why she's saying okay, if this is what we do now, everybody release their

transcripts and that includes on the gop side. otherwise, it's an unfair situation. do we know anything bernie sanders has said for money or not for money in any private room? no, we don't. i do feel like it's a one-sided call, i do, tamron. take the the way you want to. >> it's not -- i'm not leaving it up to interpretation. i'm asking just because you have, again, this instant accusation that the media is schilling, i think was the word yesterday, for bernie sanders. >> no, i don't think the media is schilling. i don't think that's fair. you have one major candidate, very serious candidate making a demand, making a charge. we cover it. it's got to be covered. i think you're asking about both sides. so no, that's my perspective. >> how does clinton -- jeb bush cent stumbling -- >> i think she is going to have to2stick to her answer. i don't see her changing her mind on this.

i could be wrong. you know what i love about being in south carolina? we're going to have voters actually vote tomorrow and see, and then we're going to talk next week and look at the exit polls and see, is that mattering? then we're going to go to super tuesday and have 11 states where voters get to say, you know what, i really don't like that about her. it makes me trust her less, or i don't really care. so you know, that's what's great about voting. >> you make an excellent point. that's a great point. thephorics in south carolina will speak over the weekend and we'll hear from them in the exit polling and what they see as an important topic and maybe or maybe not this issue will pop up. we'll see. thank you, joan. always great perspective. we'll be right back live from austin, texas, and you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. hey! this is lloyd. to prove to you that the better choice for him is aleve. he's agreed to give it up. ok, but i have 30 acres to cover by sundown. we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. yeah, i was ok, but after lunch my knee started hurting again so... more pills.

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so the question is has rubio hit a nerve? take a look at the tweet just sent out by donald trump. it doesn't say a lot but it is a glimpse in his mind right now. lightweight marco rubio was hard hitting -- was working hard last night. the problem is, he's a choker. once a choker, always a choker. mr. meltdown. there you have it. the labels, the taunts from donald trump, but still, noç information or update on his taxes. it's not the first time trump has tweeted this choker line to marco rubio, but rubio's still saying he's a con man and when is he going to release his taxes? coming up, much more live from austin and get you updated on what's happening on the campaign trail. chris jansing still on the road with cal perry hitting the super tuesday states including arkansas. we'll be right back. ut there whe diabetic nerve pain... shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you.

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my friends, is a con artist. >> southern appeal. a day before the south carolina primary, the democratic candidates try to lock up the critical african-american vote there.ç >> americans have to think about what the daily experience is for african-americans, and i'm hoping that that's a conversation that more and more people will be willing to have. >> and calling out crazy. former presidential candidate lindsey graham takes the stage at a d.c. roast and goes off on his own party. >> my party has gone bat [ bleep ] crazy. tonight. [ applause ]

i hope the graham magic still exists. thank you for having me. hi, everyone. i'm kate snow in for andrea today. we are live in austin, texas. we are tracking the new nasty battle between donaldç trump a marco rubio that began thursday night at the debate. it hit another level just moments ago when rubio jumped all over trump. rubio's been calling trump a con artist today and trump all morning has been tweeting that rubio is a choker, sometimes spelling it choker on twitter. here's what the florida senator said at a rally in dallas just now. >> here's the first one. lightweight marco rubio was working hard last night. this is true. the problem is, he is a chokker. and once a chokker, always -- on choker i guess is what he meant

to say. he spelled it c-h-o-k-e-r. he called me mr. meltdown. let me tl you something. last night during one of the breaks, two of the breaks, he went backstage, he was having a meltdown. then he asked for a full length mirror. i don't know why because the podium goes up to here. maybe to make sure his pants weren't wet. i don't know. then last one. wow, every poll said i won tze debate last night. now, this was him about himself, okay? great honer. i think he meant to say great honor. i don't know how he got that wrong because the e and the o are nowhere near each other on the keyboard. >> let's bring in our team. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in oklahoma city where marco rubio has a rally this evening. nbc's katy tur is in ft. worth, where donald trump will hold a press conference this hour. nbc's hallie jackson is in

nashville covering the cruz campaign. i think we are a little mixed up there. we have three of them out there, anyway. let's start off with gabe. gabe, this really escalated quickly. rubio was slamming trump in dallas, trump tweeted this about rubio just to let people know what all this is about. he wrote lightweight choker, marco rubio looks like a little boy onstage, not presidential material. this is an all-out political war taking place now, gabe. what's the rubio camp strategy? >> reporter: good afternoon.ç you are absolutely right. this is marco rubio unleashed. we should point out in the last few minutes donald trump or his staff has gone ahead and corrected some of the misspelling on those tweets but you are exactly right. marco rubio really let loose this morning in dallas after that debate last night, where marco rubio went after donald trump from everything from immigration to his hiring practices to his inheritance to his repetition of campaign slogans, even ripping on trump

for repeating things. of course it was marco rubio that caught a lot of flak for repeating himself during the new hampshire debate. he has not let up all day. he did interviews on the morning shows where he repeated that line calling donald trump a con artist. of course, that's a rebuke to what trump called him last night, a choke artist. his campaign really sees an opening here. after weeks where there have been mounting frustrations among the republican establishment that marco rubio wasn't doing enough to go after donald trump, and instead was going after ted cruz, last night rubio went straight atç trump. i asked the rubio campaign what was the strategy behind that and what they say is that before there had been too many people in the race. once jeb bush dropped out of the race, and the super pac, jeb bush's super pac supporting jeb bush, once they stopped running ads against marco rubio, then they felt that this was the time for them to go after donald trump. of course, it may have a lot to do with the fact that marco

rubio is pulling way behind donald trump in many of the super tuesday states and that they feel that time is running out. so the question will be will these attacks really make a difference, will they make any impact going into super tuesday, and more importantly for the rubio campaign, will it make any difference in a few weeks in that crucial florida primary. florida of course rubio's home state and his campaign is guaranteeing victory in florida. kate? >> that's the big question. gabe gutierrez following the rubio campaign. thanks so much. let's switch over to katy tur. now we have all three on the map. katy is in ft. worth, texas. let's talk about donald trump. i want to play a little more of the debate from lastç night fo people who missed it to give them a sense of the back-and-forth between rubio and trump. >> you lied about the polish workers. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. 38 years ago. >> lied 38 years ago.

i guess there's a statute of limitations on wall. if he builds the wall the way he built trump towers he will be using illegal immigrant labor to do it. that's the only part of the plan? >> the nice part about the plan, you have many different plans. you will have competition. you will have so many different plans. >>repeating himself. >> talk about repeating. i watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago. >> i saw you repeat yourself five times four seconds ago. >> nobody has ever hit donald trump that hard on a stage before. is the trump campaign happy about this, they are able to kind of go back and forth and what do you think we will hear from donald trump? we are getting ready for a press conference from him this hour. >> the trump campaign is putting up a confident front about this. i asked donald trump about this battle with marco rubio last night. rubio really going on the attack. he said it didn't bother him but we have seen him tweeting this morning calling him a choker and

chokker. he will be here in ft. worth, texas today, having a press conference. the campaign says there will be a big announcement. not clear on what that is. he will also be on stage here and if past is prologue, it's pretty clear he's going to go after marco rubio. he has always said he is a counter puncher. but those attacks by rubio last night were just brutal. what's interesting is that all of that information about donald trump has been out there for some time. this is nothing new. i was speaking to one gop leader about this and they described it as interesting, it's like being in the ninth inning being 20 runs down and suddenly trying to figure out how they win. that's what marco rubio and ted cruz are doing right now. it's unclear if that will work. donald trump has so much momentum going into super tuesday and he's in the lead in so many of these states, including the lead in marco rubio's ownç state of florida. he's up by double digits in that state. that of course votes on march

15th. but that again is a lifetime away. anything can happen. certainly marco rubio and ted cruz are hoping this debate last night will have taken him down at least a notch. >> yeah. couple weeks feels like a lifetime. katy tur, thanks so much. as soon as we see donald trump, we will bring that to you live. let's head over to nashville, tennessee. is that a selfie stick have you got there, hallie? >> reporter: it's just my arm. we literally landed in nashville on our way from the debate this morning where we were obviously there all night long. we are at the baggage claim. apologies. we couldn't get to cruz's event quite yet. a really dramatic night last night. the headline this morning is marco rubio versus donald trump, but you saw rubio get a little bit of that cruz treatment, what trump has been sort of instigating with cruz over the last few weeks, he's been calling cruz a liar. you heard him push that attack line against marco rubio. ted cruz, meanwhile, is looking at the policy distinction so for

example, weç spoke in the spin room last night, he was able to come over and chat with us on msnbc and he talked about donald trump's tax returns and said why isn't he releasing them, i'm paraphrasing but he says what does he have to hide essentially. cruz today planning to release his tax returns. we are watching for that. we expect to see continued fireworks as he looks to try to hold off donald trump in some of the really crucial super tuesday states. i'm told by the campaign to keep an eye on arkansas, obviously texas is going to be very important to ted cruz. that's really a must-win for him in his home state. right now he's up dibbouble dig over donald trump. let's see how that translates to voters over the next four days here. >> hallie jackson clearly on the road in the baggage claim area. thanks so much for taking time to talk to us. appreciate it. mixed in with all the policy and politics at thursday's debates were moments between the candidates when things frankly got out of hand. >> look --

>> donald, relax. >> i'm relaxed. you're the basket case. go ahead. go ahead. don'(o get nervous. go ahead. >> i promise you, donald, there's nothing about you that makes anyone nervous. >> you are losing so badly -- you don't know what's happening. >> we are not going to let them die in the streets. >> who pays for it? >> gentlemen, gentlemen, please. >> i want to clarify something. >> gentlemen, please. i want to move on. i want to talk about the economy. >> people die in the streets -- >> gentlemen. gentlemen. >> former texas senator kay bailey hutchison joins me now. i have to ask you, you listened to that clip, you watched the debate, i'm sure. are you embarrassed about the state of your party? >> well, i think that because we have had so many candidates and people have gotten used to the sort of raucus kind of give-and-take we are seeing now, that it's becoming more

entertainment than the opportunity to talk about differences in issues which of course is very important. so they are definitely taking the gloves off. i expect that to continue not only in our party but when we get into the general election.ç >> senator, rubio and cruz obviously came out swinging last night. they really went after donald trump. do you think it's too little, too late? >> well, certainly donald trump has a momentum. no doubt about that. but cruz, rubio, kasich and carson are all hanging in there trying to show that for a president, for the long term, the differences in issues and the importance of experience is something that we hope the voters will look at because experience will make a difference as we are getting into foreign policy, national security and most certainly the

economic doldrums our country is in right now because of the overregulation and the oppressive nature of the obama economic policies. >> you were a jeb bush supporter. did you hear anything last night that made you think okay, now i could maybe endorse marco rubio or anyone else on that stage? >> actually, i have neverç endorsed anyone. i wanted to try to stay out of the presidential race because i am working with cnbc and msnbc and i think there are certainly candidates that are still in the running that are very strong, and all of these policy issues, i think the beginning to draw the differences between what the obama administration has done and what a republican-led administration would do to get our economy going again and restore america's place in the world will begin to be the focus and i think several of our candidates have that kind of

experience, and the right policies to put forward. >> let me play one more clip, if i can, from last night. this is ted cruz, who replaced you in the senate, and here's donald trump's line of attack on cruz last night. >> you get along with nobody. you don't have one republican, you don't have one republican senator and you work with them every day of your life although you skipped a lot of time, these are minor details, but youç dot have one republican senator backing you, not one. you don't have the endorsement of one republican senator and you work with these people. you should be ashamed of yourself. >> senator, you have some perspective on this as a former senator yourself. does his inability to build relationships as it would seem with his republican colleagues, does that hurt him in this race or do you think ted cruz still keeps going and do you think he wins texas? >> i think he will win texas. i think the question is whether he will get more than 50% and i would think that both he and

marco rubio should carry their own home states by 50% or more. i think that will be important. certainly senator cruz wears it as a badge of honor that he don't get along in the senate because he is anti-washington, and i think as we are moving toward electing a president, that has to be a factor that people look at and showing that you can actually put forward your policy views and also work with whoever is elected by the people in ourç country to move those policies forward, such as ronald reagan certainly did. >> former senator kay bailey hutchison, always nice to see you. >> good to see you, kate. coming up, super tuesday battlegrounds. donald trump's rivals look for the opening to put a stop to the front-runner's momentum. which state gives them the best chance? we're live in austin, texas.

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marco rubio's camp is guaranteeing they're going to win florida. what's your response? >> only a fool guarantees. only a fool. >> donald trump in the spin room after last night's republican debate. can rubio or cruz slow trump down with super tuesday just four days away, many are saying it's now or never. joining me now, nbc's chris jansing, live in little rock, arkansas on the third leg of a seven-day, seven-state super tuesday road trip. thomas roberts is over in atlanta, georgia, being another key super tuesday state. i will start with you, chris. first of all, hope you're doing well. hope you'veç got plenty of sle

on that long road trip. tell me about arkansas. what's at stake there and what are you hearing about the sort of state of play there? >> reporter: well, look, you have a state that has not been really seriously in play in the past but it's another one that's been added to the super tuesday lineup so suddenly they are in the thick of things. to know just how much of the thick of things, all you have to look at is the most precious commodity any campaign has and that is the candidate's time. over the weekend, we are coming right up to super tuesday, four candidates will have events here in arkansas. the top three republicans, trump, rubio, cruz, and hillary clinton is going to come here as well on sunday. several of them have already been here. donald trump attracting somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 people, 2,000 for marco rubio when he was here just last weekend. so that's very important. and marco rubio got a boost with the endorsement of asa hutchinson, the popular governor

here. he's running an ad for him. it's one of the first state-specific kind ofç ads we have seen. that is blanketing local air waves in little rock and throughout the state. >> sara huckabee, is that a big deal, she was campaign manager for her dad, mike huckabee, and switching over to donald trump. how is that being read? >> reporter: he hasn't endorsed anyone yet and that may have to do with negotiations he has going for some contracts, things that he wants to do. but sara huckabee, an experienced political operative and now getting on board with donald trump. obviously another big name in this state. people recognize her, people pay attention to her and so she's one of the people we will be talking to in the next hour. >> all right. excellent. we will watch for that. chris jansing, thanks so much. let's switch over now -- let's first say what chris is going to be doing in the next couple days. she's going to be on the road, there's her schedule.

she goes from arkansas on to tennessee, alabama, georgia ending up in richmond, virginia. as she said, she's going to be backç live from little rock ne hour. that's the third stop on this seven-state trip for her. now let's head to thomas roberts in atlanta, who can tell us about the latest in that super tuesday battleground. >> reporter: good afternoon. i get tired just looking at chris' map thinking about everywhere she has to bounce around. we are going to have an appearance by hillary clinton later this hour, coming up here in atlanta, georgia. she will be appearing at atlanta city hall. bernie sanders famously came to where i am today, morehouse college, an historically black college. just over a week ago he had a packed house at the forbes arena here, about 5,000 people. interesting, he is spending his time today campaigning in minneapolis, minnesota. hillary clinton is spending more time dedicated here in the

south. georgia is an s.e.c. primary state. it's delegate rich for the democrats on tuesday with 116 at play. hillary clinton talked to our colleagues on "morning joe" about why being a politician might not be suited to her naturally.ç >> i am not a natural politician like barack obama and bill clinton so for me, it really came through the root of service. it really came from my deep conviction that we had to make sure that this country we all love kept producing opportunities for everybody and i see that narrowing and i see people being left out. it upsets me. >> reporter: there we have hillary clinton talking about candidly what it means for her to be a politician, that this is work for her but she feels dedicated to her service. again, she will be appearing at atlanta city hall 12:45, then is holding an lgbt rally. i'm with her campaign stop at a local cantina this afternoon.

also important to point out, we have senator ted cruz and marco rubio campaigning through the state of georgia tomorrow. donald trump will be in valdosta monday at 6:00. everybody feels very -- feels that it's very important to come through georgia and spend a lot of time. it's delegate rich not only for the democrats but 76 delegates at stake for the republicans.ç >> all right, thomas. before ted cruz gets to you over in georgia, he's in nashville, tennessee this hour. we want to go ahead and listen in to ted cruz speaking to a crowd there in nashville. >> to what extent do you think, because really, if it is coming down to you and him as the only two winning states after super tuesday, that tells me that there's palpable anger. where is that anger coming from? i feel it myself. >> we understand this. people are furious because we keep having politicians, they make promises to us and then they go to washington and they

break their word. they promptly cut deals with the democrats. they don't do what they said. none of this is complicated. what i have tried to do in the senate has been two things, tell the truth and do what i said i would do. >> you know, it is interesting to watch how your fellow senators respond to you. i don't know if you all remember john mccain referred to senator cruz as a whacko-bird. lindsey graham was joking about killing youç yesterday. i'm sure you have heard about it. is it because you kept your promises -- >> ted cruz speaking in nashville, tennessee. the stakes could not be higher for the home state senator here in texas, where we are, and joining me now is wayne slater, former senior political writer for the "dallas morning news." great to see you. we go back to days of george w. bush, hanging out in crawford, texas, right? >> absolutely. >> let's talk about ted cruz. you just saw him briefly in nashville.

this state is the crown jewel really for everybody on super tuesday. it's such a large state. but what is the fight looking like for ted cruz right now? >> ted cruz has to win it. he doesn't win his on state, obviously he has real, real problems. he's ahead. the polls indicate he's ahead. it's the perfect state for him. not only do people know who he is, he also has the social conservative support, lot of social conservatives. it's a question of whether they will back trump like they did in south carolina or stay with ted cruz and also, there's a strong anti-washington, anti-establishment streak here. there's not much establishment ted cruz really went after donald trump. so did marco rubio. >> i think it did. i think it helped ted cruz in a place like texas, maybe arkansas, we'll see what happens on super tuesday. i'm not sure it helped a whole lot, because some of these people might be going for marco rubio. rubio, interestingly, is on television here in texas.

i see it in a big way right now. they want to make a bid here. i don't quite see what the path is for him, but he clearly wants to if not come in second in texas, at least be close to ted cruz. >> have a strong showing. if nobody gets more than 50% of the vote in texas they split the delegates, right? so marco rubio could be in it for that, too. >> absolutely. those three will probably come out with some delegates. the only question is who wins because that's the thing you hold up, the crown you put on your head and ted cruz needs that. >> great to see you. thanks so much for coming in. up next, bill clinton is back on the campaign trail in south carolina today. how is the potential first gentleman's presence impacting the race?

when "new york times" just yesterday in an editorial said know what, might be a good idea

to release the transcript of what you said toç wall street, you know, because maybe what you said behind closed doors is a little bit different than what you're saying to the american people. >> senator bernie sanders moments ago in minnesota. sanders will return to south carolina tonight for two rallies there, but hillary clinton is expected to win tomorrow's first in the south primary. she has a double digit lead in the polls in south carolina so clinton pushing on today to georgia with an atlanta rally that you heard thomas mention earlier. it starts moments from now. her campaigner in chief, bill clinton, remains in the palmetto state pitching for votes down to the wire. joining me also in south carolina, msnbc's joy reid with a scienense of what to expect. great to see you. let me ask about african-american voters. there's an interesting piece in the a.p. today quoting a lot of voters saying they don't know bernie sanders. if you look at our polling, 60% of the democratic primary voters in south carolina are

african-americans and then if you look at bernie sanders, he's only been able to reach about 21% of those voters according to our most recent poll numbers. are you hearingç that kind of sentiment from a lot of voters, joy? >> well, i can tell thyou that you go around south carolina, i have been driving up and down the state, you do hear that dichotomy. the voters that bernie sanders and his surrogates are able to get to are quite actually convinced. we went to a barbershop a little while ago where killer mike was one of the surrogates for bernie sanders, came in, talked to undecided voters, particularly younger voters, voters under 50, very open to his message but hillary clinton has the bigger bulk of voters. they are in the churches. this is a heavily religious community among african-americans and heavily military. they have more familiarity with hillary clinton. they have known the clintons for better or worse for 30 years. i think hillary clinton's base starts out larger and is remaining larger because sanders, while he's on the college campuses, while he's

talking to younger voters and is in the barbershops, he's just not penetrating as much with the older voters. i think that's the big deficit he faces. >> joy reid in south carolina, thanks so much. up next in the lone star state, the story of one woman determined to vote and the law that she says isç making it difficult just four days until super tuesday. we are live in austin, texas. ♪ in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in buffalo, where the largest solar gigafactory in the western hemisphere will soon energize the world. and in syracuse, where imagination is in production. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count.

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someone's hacked all our technology... say, have you seen all the amazing technology in geico's mobile app? mobile app? look. electronic id cards, emergency roadside service, i can even submit a claim. wow... yep, geico's mobile app works like a charm. geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. back here in austin, texas, there is a new law hereç in tes that's worth talking about as we approach super tuesday. a republican-led legislature here passed a new voter i.d. law five years ago and after a big battle through the courts, the law does still stand. it requires all voters to have a photo i.d. in order to vote and only certain forms of photo i.d. are acceptable. the democratic party here has been worried about what those requirements might mean for turnout on tuesday, but they

then put us in touch with cassandra brown, who has been trying to get a new i.d. for her mother, who recently had a stroke and can no longer drive. she doesn't have a driver's license. >> your mother, 86 years old, right? >> has voted ever since i can remember. >> and needs a voter i.d. card because she doesn't have a driver's license. >> correct. >> when you tried to look for where to go and how to do that, walk me through how that process went. >> i initially began with the texas department of health services and i spoke with several people on many occasions, the person with whom i was speaking didn't know what to tell me. >> they didn't know where you should go toç get the i.d.? >> and they didn't know what was involved in getting the i.d. when it came to what she needed. >> miss thomas, how much do you want to vote in this election? >> i don't want to break my record of voting every year for president. >> how important is it to you to

vote? >> i think it's important to me. everybody should vote. >> how many times have you voted? >> every time they had election. >> if you don't get the chance to vote on tuesday because you don't have the right paperwork -- >> i would be very angry. because i think it's not fair to the elderly people. you know, we were here before you were born. >> by the way, they both support hillary clinton. joining me now to talk more about this, msnbc contributor victoria difrancesco, political analyst and professor at the university of texas. she is here with me in austin. mimi schwartz is executive editor at texas monthly. good to have both of you with us. victoria, let me start with you on this texas voter i.d. law.ç republicans argued when they passed this thing that it would reduce fraud. democrats say there isn't any fraud like that, people aren't pretending to be other people to

go and vote. >> yes. so the claim is this was a solution in search of a problem. on the face of it, the law doesn't seem very problematic. they say hey, if you don't have a driver's license, you can go and get a voter i.d. card. okay, that sounds reasonable enough. but the thing is, you need certain documents to get that and -- >> she doesn't even have the birth certificate from her mom, who is 86. it was i long time ago. >> the birth certificates are not free. so a birth certificate here in texas, if she were to go get that birth certificate, it would be $22. so in order to vote, if you backtrack it, you are going to need to pay $22 to get that birth certificate, to get that voter i.d. card. that's essentially a poll tax. >> people have made that argument that it was a poll tax and then last summer, the circuit court of appeals here upheld this law. are you hearing a lot of stories like the one we just heard?ç

did we lose you? >> i'm sorry. i couldn't hear you. did you direct that to me? >> no problem. i was wondering whether you heard other stories like the one we just heard from miss thomas about this voter i.d. law? are you hearing it as an issue that people are having trouble finding the right i.d. to be able to vote tuesday? >> yeah, of course they are. i think again, this was a trumped-up idea by our legislators to keep people from getting to the polls and it's working really well. and it's deeply distressing. i think, i hope that people will still make the effort and come out but i think it's really of a concern. >> victoria, let me ask you about last night, that debate. there were a lot of questions about the latino vote here and not just here, but nationwide, but so much focus here in texas on that constituency.

did anything move the needle, do you think, last night? >> what i found very interesting was i saw even aç tad bit of softening of the rhetoric of donald trump. we remember he came out and made his announcement that he was running for president calling mexicans rapists and illegals and a whole slew of negative things and over the course of the last couple months, even last night, i saw him softening his tone because donald trump is anything if not smart. he knows that eventually for the general election he's going to need at least 30% of the latino vote. he doesn't need a clearly majority but he knows that. so does marco rubio and ted cruz. they are battling it out in sight with the general election. >> they both mentioned their cuban american roots a couple different times last night. >> i think we might see more spanish speaking. we saw that in the last debate. they are tying to highlight that ethnicity that for so long they were trying to hide. >> vicky, mimi, thanks so much for being with us. appreciate it. mimi will be back.

we want to take a closer look at the issue of donald trump's taxes. trump blamed irs audits last night as the reason he's waiting to release the returns. this was during last night's debate. this morning, irs officials released a statement saying in part quote, federalç privacy rules prohibit the irs from discussing individual tax matters. nothing prevents individuals from sharing their own tax information. the irs stresses that audits of tax returns are based on the information contained on the taxpayer's return and the underlying tax law, nothing else. but the discussion, there is discussion in legal circles as to whether trump might have an argument here. let's go to msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber, who joins me now. ari, this is interesting, because trump is basically saying at the debate last night i can't possibly give you all my tax returns because i'm being audited. so where's the legal ground here? >> the legal ground is under federal law as you just noted, he can release or he cannot release. there is no federal law that's going to dictate what he does.

what he is saying is hey, because i have an open federal audit it's not prudent for me to release during this time period. i spoke with several tax lawyers today and their view was that this is prudent, that it would be smart legally for him not to release while there's an audit. why? well, among other things an audit can result in changes to one year ofyour numbers, which then if you have complex financials like he does, might change other years of your numbers. so you might end up with an inaccurate release now instead of a more fully accurate release later. i would put it as a bottom line, donald trump makes many statements, some of them are factually and legally exaggerated. this particular claim that he thinks that it's legally prudent for him not to release during an audit is one that at least several federal tax lawyers say is prudent legal advice. the larger political debate of course remains do you want more transparency than the minimum law may require. >> ari melber, thanks for that.

we are awaiting that press conference with republican candidate donald trump. you see it in the lower part of the screen. we will bring that to you live as soon as it happens. we will see if the nominee has any more comments about the 2012 standard bearer as the war of words continues. know your financial plan won't keep you up at night. know you have insights from professional investment strategists to help set your mind at ease. know that planning for retirement can be the least of your worries. with the guidance of a pnc investments financial advisor, know you can get help staying on track for the future you've always wanted.

mitt romney went on offense on the subject of donald trump's taxes during last night's debate, tweeting quote, no legit reason donald trump can't release returns while being audited but if scared, release earlier returns, no longer under audit. joining me for our daily fix, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and founder of the "washington post" fix blog and mimi schwartz is back with us as well in texas. chris, let me start with you.

this tax issue bubbling up just like it did for mitt romney back in 2012. will it actually hurt donald trump with his base? do those voters care? wait. i'm sorry. chris, stand by with that thought. i think we have to go to donald trump now. he's about to hold that press conference. let's listen in. >> every single online poll had us winning and winning big. i'm very honored about that. it was a very interesting experience. actually, to me it was somewhat fun. it got a little bit testy but i think that's probably good for television. i'm sure the ratings were very good. i'm sure cnn was very happy. but really, it had a lot of very constructive moments. we were very, very happy with the way it came out and we were very happy with the reviews. it's my honor this morning, we have a tremendous crowd of people outside, but before we do that, it's my honor this morning to introduce somebody who is a real standout. he's been my friend for many years, he's been a spectacular

governor, he's been just a wonderful person and a wonderftd job, totally destroyed marco rubio the other day. i have never quite seen that. i was standing next to marco rubio and he melted. i said are you all right, marco? i really give chris credit for that. he's a real talent and i would like to introduce him because he's going to say something that i think you will find very, very interesting. thank you. >> good morning, everybody. thank you for being here. i am proud to be here to endorse donald trump for president of the united states. i'm doing this for a number of reasons. first is that donald and i along with melania and mary pat have been friends for over a decade. he has been a good and loyal friend to our family, as we have been to he and his family, and over the years we have had a lot of wonderful times together. done a lot of good together for not only the people of the state of new jersey but for many

charity weies we have worked wi and on together. i absolutely appreciate him as a person and as a friend. secondly, i have been on that stage. i have gotten to know all the people on that stage. there is no oneç who is better prepared to provide america with the strong leadership that it needs both at home and around the world than donald trump. he is looking at the five people on that stage last night, the clear standout and the person who will do exactly what needs to be done to make america a leader around the world again. he will provide strong unequivocal leadership. he will do what needs to be done to protect the american people first and foremost, both in the homeland and in creating jobs for this country, and he will make sure that people around the world know that america keeps its word again. donald trump is someone who when he makes a promise, he keeps it. i have experienced that over my long friendship with him and what the american people and our allies around the world are

going to understand is that donald trump is someone who keeps his word and that means america will keep its word again. third, there is no doubt in my mind and i have been saying this right from the time i entered the campaign that the single most important thing for the republican party is to nominate the person who gives us the best chance to beat hillary clinton. i can guarantee you that the one person that hillary and bill ceinton do not want to see on that stage come next september is donald trump. they know how to run the standard political playbook against junior senators and run them around the block. they do not know the playbook with donald trump because he is rewriting the playbook. he is rewriting the playbook of american politics because he's providing strong leadership that's not dependent upon the status quo. so the best person to beat hillary clinton in november on that stage last night is undoubtedly donald trump. and so i am thrilled to be here this morning to lend my support. i will lend my support between

now and november in every way that i can for donald, to help to make this campaign an even better campaign than it's already been, then to help him do whatever he needs to do to help make the country everything that we want it to be for our children and grandchildren. he's a good friend. he's a strong and resolute leader. and he is someone who is going to lead the republican party to victory in november over hillary clinton which is the single most important thing we can do. so i thank him for his friendship. i thank him for all the "f)r'dnesses that we have share with each other over the years but more importantly than that, i thank him for leaving the private sector, for seeing that there was a need for strong leadership in this country and for being willing to step out of the private sector and come offer himself for public service and for leadership in this country at a time when our party and our nation so desperately needs it. so i'm happy to be on the trump team and i look forward to working with him. thank you, sir. >> thank you. thank you very much, chris. great honor. mark?

>> senator rubio, [ inaudible ] i want to ask governor christie what he thinks of senator rubio [ inaudible ]? >> is that what called me? >> he called you a lot of things. >> he's a pretty desperate guy. he's down about 22 points in florida. >> i wonder what you think the chances are. >> that's not happening. go ahead, chris. >> the fact is that desperate people do desperate things. i have seen it throughout politics and so have you. so the idea that marco rubio can get inside donald trump's head is anç interesting proposition but one that's really for the parlor game. donald trump is about the people of this country. you heard, i heard some of senator rubio's comments this morning. none of them were about the people of this country. when are we going to start talking about them? the fact that middle class folks in this country are suffering. the fact that people who want jobs can't get them because they have been taken away. the fact that we can't any

longer as a country stand up and defend ourselves around the world because we have a leader who wrings his hands. i didn't hear any of that this morning from senator rubio. desperate people in campaigns do desperate things, flailing punches in the last days of a losing campaign. fact of the matter is, no one's going to get inside this guy's head. he has lived a lot of life. he's had lots of fights and battles. i have watched him do it. there is no better fighter than donald trump. he's going to fight for the american people. you didn't hear senator rubio talk about any of that this morning. >> mr. trump -- >> john. >> two things. first, this is a big endorsement. >> i agree. to me it's a very bigg endorsement. >> you saidç endorsements don' matter much. >> generally speaking, i'm not big on endorsements. i could have had many endorsements. i have quite a few good ones. i could have had many, many. but i didn't want to take the time and the two hours and the dinners. it wasn't worth it. this is an endorsement that really meant a lot.

chris is an outstanding man with an outstanding family, he's done a great job and i think that this is the one endorsement that i felt very strongly about i wanted to get. >> marco rubio actually suggested you were sweating backstage. >> i will tell you about backstage if you like. i walked back there and he's with a pile of makeup putting it on his face. i said marco, easy with the makeup, you don't need that much. you know the story with marco. i watched him against this man where marco, he was right over here and i actually looked at him, i said are you okay? he looked like he just came out of a swimming pool. he was a mess. so we will see what happens. we will see what happens. i heard he had some very nasty personal comments but i saw him backstage and he was putting on it with a trowel. yes. >> çforeshadowing a vice presidential position? >> we have never even had that discussion. chris called, we have this great

relationship and i just said wow, that is really great. that is really great. to me, this is something that means -- outstanding person. amazing person. >> you said that hillary clinton [ inaudible ]. >> excuse me. that's a civil case. i have won much of it. excuse me. excuse me. i have won much of it. it's a peanut case. a very small case. we will end up winning it. i could have settled many times. i decided not to. i could settle it now. i don't want to settle it. excuse me. i go through court. i go through court often. i win the cases. i have a very good record. i don't like -- this is people wanting to get their money back. most of these people signed report cards, it's called a report card where they said how great it was, then they sue you years later to see if they can get their mon baey back. we will win the case. much of the case has already been won. go ahead. >> you had a decision to make

between a lot of candidates. what did it come down to? >> first of all, let me respond to that because i'm a former federal prosecutor. to try to compare a civil lawsuit to the mishandling, to the mishandling of classified information, much of which i can tell you we used to have to go to specialized rooms that were sealed from any type of intrusion to look at, and those were sitting on a private e-mail server on -- in mrs. clinton's basement, to try to compare that to a civil lawsuit where someone's suing for money is a complete misunderstanding, complete misunderstanding. excuse me. listen, no, listen. it's a complete -- you are setting up a question, you are trying to -- no, no, no. let me finish. you are trying to equate a civil lawsuit against him with the mishandling of classified information that could put

american national security at risk. it's ridiculous. now, on your question, here's my process. here's my process on how i went through this. fact is after theç campaign wa over, mary pat and i went home and we took a deep breath. i got back to preparing my budget for the state of new jersey which ied in d ini neede wook after the new hampshire primary and present that to the new hampshire primary. then we sat down as a family and talked about do we want to play any role in this campaign or not. i concluded along with mary pat and the children support it, that we wanted to be with the person who we thought could provide the strongest leadership for america and the person who could best make sure that hillary clinton never gets within ten miles of the white house. once we made that decision, it was clear the only choice was donald trump. the best choice was donald trump. the last thing is, our family is one that prides loyalty. the fact is that we have been good friends with donald and his

family for many years, and there was no choice in my mind. when did i make the final decision? yesterday morning, i met with donald, we sat and talked, and he said how about coming out on the road to texas with me. i said happy to do it, whenever you're ready, sir. so we did it. that's how the process went.ç >> governor christie, during the campaign you said [ inaudible ]. on beoth of those counts, trump has been found unprepared. marco rubio said he's horribly unprepared. [ inaudible ]. >> i find this fascinating that someone who barely shows up for work in the six years he's a united states senator will talk about somebody else being

unprepared. the fact of the matter is senator rubio has shown himself over the course of time to be wholly unprepared to be president of the united states. i said that at the time i was in the race. nothing has changed my mind now. fact is this is the only guy on that stage other than governor kasich who has made executive decisio decisions, who has had to make executive decisions throughout his life, understands how to put together budgets, make sure money is spent efficiently and effectively in order to create profit and to make sure the country moving forward as president would get back on that kind of track. this guy knows how to do that better than anybody on that stage. so this campaign has a long way to go, has a long way to go, and there's going to be lots of conversations still to have, but the confidence i have is that he is strong enough to take on the d.c. establishment, which is what's represented by senator rubio, it's the d.c. establishment against the guy who will come in there and fight the establishment to turn around what's been happening in this country. the failure of both parties to be able to do anything that's worthwhile. i continue, donald and i continue to have great

conversations about the campaign going forward. i intend to be a resource in any way that i possibly can before him, and i have absolute confidence in his ability to be able to get in there and fix the problems that plague america. >> can you give us a time line on [ inaudible ]? >> i think i told you about 12 times yesterday, my taxes for many years have been under audit and for some reason, i have a lot of rich friends, they have never been audited. i'm audited every year i think for like 12 years. many of those audits have been finished but we have some left, and until such time as the audit is finished byç the irs which a routine audit, i think, but until such time as it's finished i won't be going and releasing because obviously, that wouldn't be a very good thing to do. yes, go ahead. >> how do you feel about the recent endorsement from david duke? >> i didn't even know he endorsed me. david duke endorsed me? okay. all right. i disavow. okay? yes. go ahead.

>> so the former president of mexico says they will not pay for the wall. what's your response to that? >> my response is the wall just got ten feet higher. i gave it to you yesterday. tell you what. he used foul language and if i used that language, chris can tell you, can you imagine if i used that language? >> terrible. >> if i used that language, it would be a major scandal and as many people as we have today, you would have five times more. it was disgraceful the way he went about saying it. it will be very easy, mexico will pay for the wall. number one, the wall will be built which the other people will never get done. mexico will pay for the wall. the reason is very simple. 58, we have right now $58 billion in trade deficits. the wall is a fraction of that.ç so we will get the wall done and mexico will pay for it. yes, go ahead. okay. don't get nervous. don't get nervous. don't worry about it. not a big deal. [ inaudible question ]

>> i think a lot. good question. i like it. thank you. i think a lot. people are angry. people are upset. they are upset by what's going on with the economy, they are upset by trade, they are upset by virtually everything. nothing good happens with us. we don't win anymore. nothing good happens. so there's a very angry group of people out there and they're not angry people, but they are angry at what's happening to our country. yes, go ahead. [ inaudible question ] >> stay with me. we will get you jobs. the biggest problem i have, i go and meet college students, they get out, they work hard, they put debt up to their neck, then they can't get a job when they graduate because the jobs we have are all bad jobs. we are not creating good jobs. the good jobs are going away, going off the country. they are going out of our country. pfizer is leaving and moving to ireland. it's disgraceful. we will get them jobs. yes, go ahead.ç >> governor christie, i listened

to you for months say be [ inaudible ] we need somebody that won't burn washington down but knows how to rebuild it. what changed? >> how did you know i was talking about mr. trump? by the way, listen, i think you watched the act senator rubio has been putting on the last few weeks, he's obviously gone now, and part of his talking points are to try to be entertaining and smile a lot. it's one act after another. we don't need any more washington, d.c. acts. the acts i wanted to get rid of are washington, d.c. we don't need somebody from washington, d.c. what i was most consistent about is the problem was washington, d.c. and we don't need washington politicians to come in and fix it. so when you look at who's remaining on that stage, there is no question that this is the person who will go to washington, d.c. and be able to absolutely turn the place around. we don't need any more washington politicians, especially some who have only been there for one term and never really shown up for work to tell us how to run the united states government.ç

i absolutely believe that donald trump is the best person on that stage to be president of the united states. one last thing, by the way, there was a period of time i was running against him. he knew when i was running against him i wanted to beat him. he wanted to beat me. we had open conversations about that. but that part of this is over. then you have to say to yourself as a good, loyal american who is the best person to stop hillary clinton from ever getting inside the white house again. this is the best person to do that. turn away from the amateur acts from washington, d.c. and turn to a professional strong leader. that's who this man is. >> you did say, you asked him how is he going to do this. >> governor christie, the former chairman of the republican governors association, you are firmly imbedded in the establishment of the party and its fund-raising efforts. [ inaudible ] still not sold on mr. trump. >> what my intent for being here today is to say to anyone who is

willing to listen, not just members of the rga or donors but to the american people, you need a çstrong, tough leader to restore america's greatness. and this is the best person to do that. so whatever message anybody else wants to take from that, they can take whatever message they like. most of the time you know that people do best with me if they don't try to figure out what the message is, they just listen. they listen to what i say. i don't send smoke signals. what i'm doing today is i'm endorsing the person i believe is the best person to defeat hillary clinton and restore american jobs, restore american prestige around the world and restore the faith and confidence of the american people again in the fact that we are an exceptional and great nation. [ inaudible question ] >> mitt romney to donald trump? they are very different fellows. >> texas is the grand prize. polls are all over the place. what does a win look like for

you? >> i think we have a great shot. i think people are liking me a lot. i know a lot about texas. i have many friends in texas. many, many friends. i'm here a lot. i think we have a really good chance. if you look at south carolina, that was supposed to be cruz's stronghold. that2was a stronghold. he was going to win that easily. and i won by is it 22 points? i won in a landslide. i won evangelicals, i won military, i won the vets, i won everything. i won men, i won women, i won hispanics, i won every single category. same thing in nevada. we came in, we won every category, including by the way hispanics. you know, it was supposed to be a stronghold. he was supposed to do great there. he lost by a lot. i think that i should have a really good chance of texas. i see the bloomberg poll came out and it's massive leads in every state. we are doing very well in texas. the emerson poll came out where i guess tied or effectively tied. i'm going to be here. i'm here now. i would love to get texas

because of my relationship to texas, so many friends. mark? [ inaudible question ] >> well, he's desperate. i watched part of his little act. he's a desperate guy. i have been watching him over the last number of weeks. he's not presidential material. that i can tell you.?h@&h(lc% doesn't have the demeanor. he is a nervous nelly. i watch him backstage. he's a mess. the guy's a total mess. i joked recently, can you imagine putin sitting there waiting for a meeting and rubio walks in and he's totally drenched. i don't know what it is. i have never seen a human being sweat like this man sweats. so i don't think he's presidential. i don't think he's of presidential caliber. i don't think he has the demeanor. i don't think he's going to do very well. and he's a mess because in florida, which he abandoned, by the way, i love florida. i have invested hundreds of

millions of dollars. i own doral, including mar-a-lago. lot of real estate along the shore in miami, that worked out well. so i am a major investor in miami, one of the biggest. frankly, the people in florida like me. but for me to go into florida and have like a 20 point lead over the sitting senator, but remember, the sitting senatorç abandoned florida. he left florida. he was supposed to be -- he really defrauded, if you think of it, florida. the people of florida. because they elected him as a young senator. he goes there and before he sits down he starts running for president. so he's not the right guy, in my opinion. i think he's got very bad temperament. i think he has the absolute wrong temperament to be president. >> a few days ago [ inaudible ].

>> no, no. they did speculate that he was going to be my vice presidential pick. honestly, i will be honest with you, now it's obvious that he's not going to be. i never even had it in mind. i don't think he has the right temperament. i have watched -- i watched chris do a number on him. i have almost never seen a mltdown like that in my life. it's interesting about people who choke. i have watched people choke over the years and once a choker, always a choker. it never, ever changes. the guy that misses the kick, misses the kick. when he misses the first one, you got to get rid of him because it doesn't work. once a cho)c), always a choker. that was one of the epic meltdowns. he didn't know where he was. i thought he was going to die. good going, chris. >> mr. trump, mr. trump. mr. trump. >> i don't want to discuss that but he's certainly got the talent. we didn't talk about it. we actually did not even talk about it.

but he certainly has a lot of talent. >> the irs has said that there's nothing precluding you in its rules from releasing your taxes, tax returns. you don't want to. >> let me tell you something. we talk about establishment and all. i think it's very unfair that for many, many years, i have been audited. i have many, many friends that are very rich people and they never -- they have never been audited. i was with somebody the other day, very rich guy, i said how often are you audited. he said audited? he didn't know what i was talking about. i have many, many rich friends, almost all of them, and they are never audited. why am i audited every single year? so i'm just going to put you people to rest. until my audit is finished, very simple, you are not going to see anything. when it's finished you will see it.

>> marco rubio was going right at you [ inaudible ]. >> which is totally wrong. totally wrong. he also said i got $200 million from my father. i wish. i wish. i got a very, very small loan from my father many years ago. i built that into a massive empire. i paid my father back that loan. by the way, i was telling chris, actually chris was telling me because he understands it,báñ father left me some money, nothing like the numbers you heard, but by that time it was many, many years later when my father passed away.

my father more than anything else i learned a lot from my father, but for this guy, this lightweight, i call him a lightweight because he is a lightweight to get up and say $200 million, in fact the first call i got last night was from my stirs, then i got a call from my brother and they said wow, how does he say that, that's not true. they understand. we have five in the family. and they said so in other words, anything also would be split up. but she called, she said boy, was that untrue. and it's really a shame. i'll tell you where they got it. the "new york times" wrote i call it the failing "new york times" because it is a totally failing paper with some really inaccurate reporting and purposely inaccurate. they go out of their way and if you try and make a correction prior to the story, they don't want to do it. they made a statement about it. i don't know where they got it. but i would just tell you the number is wrong by a factor of hundreds, i mooean, by a fortun. i got a small loan, started a

businessç and it's now worth billions and billions and billions of dollars. if i ever wanted to sell the assets i have, trump tower, the bank of america building in san francisco, big chunk, 1290 avenue of the americas, some of the best land in the country, doral country club. turnbury in scotland, home of the british championship, my property would sell for numbers like nobody would even believe. i have among the best properties anywhere in the world. i just think it's really unfair when a guy says my father gave me $200 million. if you knew brooklyn, okay, in the 19 -- early 1980s and you understand this, chris, if you knew brooklyn in the early 1980s and the 1970s, there wasn't $200 million, that i can tell you. i do have brothers and sisters. the first call i got was from my sister. then i got a call from my brother late at night. all he wanted to do is say why are they allowed to say that.

because he's a liar. this guy's a liar. now, i used to call ted cruz a liar. but now i will also call marco rubio. he actually mentioned some companies and some of those companies areç very successful companies. he said they closed. i sold some. like for instance, i sold miss universe for a lot of money. got a lot of money for it. i sold others. the water company he mentions, he mentions the wine company. i have the biggest vineyard on the east coast. that's having to do with -- i make vodka all for my clubs because i have many clubs. we make vodka for the clubs. he said it was closed. it's not closed. go ahead. go ahead. >> if you were to become the nominee [ inaudible ]? >> i would certainly think about it. if for some reason it didn't work out for me, i'm going back into what i do. i don't need to do this. this is something i'm doing because we are going to make

america great again. politicians are not going to do that. these politicians, i know the people on the stage, they are not going to do it. marco rubio is a lightweight. he doesn't have the talent or the temperament. he can never make us great. >> a question for governor christie. >> do you know if you can write off the money that you are using for your t(s(aign? do you know if you can write that off? >> governor christie, can i ask you a question. as you have said, you are a former federal prosecutor. is there a position in the cabinet that you would be interested in, attorney general, something like that? would you like to be his running mate? >> i am the governor of the state of new jersey until january 19th of 2018. i have every expectation that i will fulfill the end of my trm and go into private life and make money like trump. that's what i intend to do. >> if you are offered a position, would you take it? >> i haven't been offered any position. i don't speculate on those kind of things. i have a term of office until

january 19th, 2018 and i intend to fulfill my term. then like i said, go off into the private sector and finally beat my wife one year in our marriage, we have been married 30 years in march, like one time before i die i would like to make more money in a year than she did. that's going to be my goal. >> thank you, everybody. we have -- i have to go. we have thousands and thousands of people outside. you will be very çimpressed. thank you all. thank you very much, everybody. >> call it stunning, call it unexpected. this is big news for sure. new jersey governor chris christie has endorsed donald trump, a man he once mocked for calling in to do interviews in his pajamas. a man who may get the job he wanted, president. this caps arguably the most intense period yet in this republican presidential primary. make no mistake, whatever happens at the convention in

cleveland, whoever is the nominee, this 24 hours will be a seminal time in this campaign. by almost all accounts, marco rubio had bettered trump last night in the debate, a fight that continued into the night and the morning. just when it looked like rubio had trump back on his heels, this announcement and the question is will it blunt what seemed to be at least briefly rubio's momentum? i'm chris jansing live in little rock, arkansas, a place that knows well the rough and tumble world of presidential politics. someone else who knows it well is hallie jackson, who has covered the trump, rubio and cruz campaign. let me get your take on what we just saw.ç >> reporter: this is a wow moment. there's a lot of threads to explore here. first of all, you have chris christie coming out and endorsing donald trump in this kind of jaw-dropping moment. it was tough to rip your eyes away from what was happening. this could potentially have an impact on the rest of the race. it's already having an impact in what are you seeing in the

establishment lane with for example, john kasich's camp. you heard chris christie there and donald trump both turning their guns basically double barrels on marco rubio so he, his campaign one must think needs to be ready for a barrage coming from these two. the other part of this, ted kcrz sitting back watching this happen, watching what should have been potentially rubio's day after last night's debate actually exploded by the sort of grenade moment that was chris christie and donald trump together. there's some interesting things to talk about with this endorsement. trump and christie did go after each other a bit, you saw, on the campaign trail before christie dropped out of this race. you heard christie talk about the two of them having been friendly, having known each other for awhile. but remember what one of the attack lines against christie was, that he was too liberalç be running for the conservative nomination. that's a similar attack line you have seen rolled out against donald trump. that said, the fact that chris christie is coming out, this guy who was the telling it like it is tour, right, that was

christie's whole slogan, christie was essentially getting out-trumped by trump, christie would stand up there and speak plain english and rail against being politically correct, now he and trump together may end up being a force for voters out on the campaign trail. we will see how much christie actually gets out there and puts boots on the ground with donald trump but it is clear that he is going to be an attack dog for trump. as we watch this unfold. back to you. >> it never occurred to me that donald trump needed an attack dog. another aspect of this crazy year of his presidential campaign. hallie, thank you. katy tur has been on the campaign trail with donald trump from the beginning and she joins us on the phone now. when i saw crihris christie wal out, i thought is this something that's been planned for awhile or is this a reaction to last night? what do you know? >> i don't really çknow. they said they were talking

about this last night and that's when chris christie decided to join him on the campaign trail today. i can tell you i got a call from a source just a few minutes before this happened confirming that this was going to be a chris christie endorsement and it was almost unbelievable at the moment, because chris christie had gone after donald trump so hard on the campaign trail and in previous debates saying that he want wasn't ready for the white house, they didn't need an entertainer in chief. he spoke about that today, addressed that concern, those attacks that he made. he said listen, i was running against donald trump for president. of course i was going to be hard. he knew what i was doing and i knew what he was doing. but i do think this is going to be a major endorsement for donald trump, a major endorsement. i don't think there's any way to underscore it more than that. major endorsement. chris christie speaks the language of politics, he speaks the language of governing, these things donald trump does not have in his back pocket. i have covered chris christie for years in local news in new york and he is very much an

attack dog. he can stand up to reporters. he can stand up to constituents. he has been accused of being a bully for çyears. he was certainly accused of being a bully a couple times in the campaign trail already this year. so if donald trump needed some extra muscle in his campaign he certainly got it. unclear that he did, as you just said, but when it comes to marco rubio, deflating his tires, taking the wind out of his sails, whatever metaphor you want to use, this certainly did that. marco rubio came out of the debate last night riding high, landing a number of attacks on donald trump. he was supposed to dominate the news cycle today. instead donald trump came out with chris christie at his side and will be dominating the headlines, the news that marco rubio was able to land some punches, was able to fight back finally, will likely get buried with the news of this endorsement. >> thank you so much. it is good to hear from you. i know you have to be on your way. let me bring in -- >> chris, i'm sorry.

>> that's okay. she can't see me. that's fine. sara huckabee sanders just signed on as senior advisor to the trump campaign. she is the daughter of former presidential candidate and governor mike huckabee and is with us now exclusively. tor it, it's kind of noisy in here, this absolutely took the wind out of the sails of marco rubio who had a great night last night. my question for you is, was this preplanned or was this a strategic move knowing that he had a bad night versus marco rubio last night? >> i can't speak to whether or not it was a strategic move but i want to back up and say i don't think donald trump had a bad night last night. i think marco rubio had a good night but he needed an exceptional night. that's not something he had last night. he needed a knockout blow and he didn't get it. frankly, you know, i think that this is a huge moment for donald trump to pick up chris christie. he's an incredible guy and i think he sees what the rest of america is seeing is that

they're looking for an outsider, looking for somebody that's not a wholly owned subsidiary of the washington wall street axis of power and that's exactly what donald trump represents. i don't think that was lost last night. i think if you look at a lot of the polls after this debate, americans overwhelmingly said that donald trump won. what's wrong is we have the media andç politicians controlling the tv air waves and saying that marco rubio won. >> the complaints we have heard from the trump campaign is about the media. isn't it the media that helped fuel his campaign? how can you complain about a media if he's in first place? >> i think donald trump helped fuel his own campaign. certainly the media has given him plenty of coverage but that's because he's giving them something to cover. i think that's because the american people are dying to hear what he has to say. that's what's driving this campaign, a message that americans are hungry for. they are tired of listening to rehearsed speeches from politicians and it's certainly

not what you will get from donald trump, a rehearsed speech that's in a script. i think that's really what's made him different and made him stand out and helped him fuel the last three big wins in the first four states. >> one of the big questions that's being raised now as a result of last night's debate, we just heard it now in this q & a after this announcement, is about him releasing his taxes. let me play some sound for you. >> taxes for many years have been under audit and for some reason, i haveç a lot of rich friends, they have never been audited. i'm audited every year for like 12 years. many of those audits have been finished but we have some left and until such time as the audit is finished by the irs which is a routine audit, i think, but until such time as it's finished i wouldn't be going and releasing because obviously, that wouldn't be a very good thing to do. >> yet the irs released a statement saying quote, nothing prevents individuals from sharing their own tax information. in the interest of openness and

supporting what he has said that he has nothing to hide, why not release it? >> i think he's made it clear as soon as the audit is finished he will release his taxes. what's the bigger issue isn't whether or not donald trump releases his taxes. what most americans are concerned about is their on taxes. they are tired of government placing regulation after regulation on them, increasing their taxes, taking more out of their hard-earned paychecks and that's why people are voting for donald trump. it's not because they want to see what's in his taxes. it's because they care about their own. they care about their own families and he's one of the few people that's standing up and fighting for them. i think that's what -- >> he's talking aboutç honesty and integrity. why not release it and say here's the open and true support, backup for what i have been telling you, that there's nothing here to hide? >> i think he absolutely will. i think he's going to do that on his own timetable. i think one thing that we have all learned about donald trump is he doesn't play by the same set of rules as everybody else and frankly, i think that's what's so refreshing about him.

he lives and plays by his own rules, particularly in the political process, and i think he will release the tax returns but it's going to be on his timetable, as he said, when the audit's finished. >> we know asa hutchinson, the sitting governor, has endorsed marco rubio. we will see him in a short time. will we get an endorsement from your dad? >> right now i think he's planning to remain neutral. that's a question you will have to ask him. i can only speak for myself. >> thank you so much. new to the trump campaign. wasn't hard for you to move over? >> obviously, i was incredibly dedicated to my dad's campaign. once he was out i wanted to look for somebody who also had executive experience and was it goincç to be controlled by the washington or wall street power and i think donald trump's the only person left in the race that can do that. >> thank you so much. big news -- >> thank you. welcome to arkansas. >> thank you. love being in arkansas. the food is delicious and big like they play their politics.

boy, talk about big political news. the endorsement for donald trump by chris christie. we have much more on this huge story coming up. (man) hmm. what do you think? ♪ (stranger) good mornin'! ♪ (store p.a.) attention shoppers, there's a lost couple in the men's department. (vo) there's a great big un-khaki world out there. explore it in a subaru crosstrek. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. (is committed to truth on thee plabel.d when we say real meat is the first ingredient, it is number one. and we leave out corn, wheat and soy.

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make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you. havei have been on that sta. i got to know all the people on that stage. there is no one better prepared to provide america with the strong leadership that it needs both at home and around the world than donald trump. >> fascinating and consequential development here in the race for president on the republican side. chris christie who for a long time looked like he was going to be the outsider, looked like he was going to be the tough guy to come into this race and was basically just blown out of the water by donald trump now endorsing him. we have an all-star panel of

insiders from here in arkansas to talk about this. drew petrimow, political reporter for little rock's nbc affiliate and hosts capital view on sunday mornings. joyce elliott, state senator and vice chair of the state we just saw that his daughter is on board. let me get your reaction. >> well, this republican race gets more amazing by the day. it seems like new developments every hour. obviously we're sitting here in arkansas and when mike huckabee was in the race we didn't think we would see any other candidates. we will see the top three all this weekend. every state certainly matters at this point. >> without a doubt. drew, is this a game changer? there were people saying last night with cruz and especially rubio going so hard against donald trump that that was going to be a turning point.

maybe they finally had something to go at trump with, maybe he was going -- it was going to cut into his lead which is really across most of the super tuesday states. what do you make of this endorsement? >> chris christie is someone that's familiar, not just through the national campaign for president. he came here in 2014, campaigned for now governor hutchinson. he is somebody familiar to us. alsoç in the state, donald tru suffers at kind of an endorsement deficit. both rubio and cruz have racked up endorsements from state legislators. donald trump has none. it will be interesting to see with this endorsement if that leads to others in the state legislature, other political and former leaders in arkansas maybe join in the train of endorsements. >> i'm curious what you think about the timing of this. i wasn't able to get a good answer either from our reporter on the scene or from sara hutchison but suddenly after he has what by most accounts was

not the best night of his debate career, he makes this announcement. was it something they did and if they did, is it just another sign that donald trump with no political experience has killer political instincts? >> i thought it was a great p.r. move because that's what a salesperson does. you think ahead, what can i do, because i watched the debate last night and i thought oh, tomorrow the news is going to be all about rubio and cruz. and what does donald trump do? once again, he trumps the whole taing by getting this endorsement so now we are talking about donald trump. i thought it was a brilliant move. i think sometimes in politics we are so scripted that we don't think about things in an organic fashion. i think it's a demonstration of his ability to be very organic and not let somebody else get the upper hand when he has a way to do that. >> as a democrat, does it give you pause, especially since one of the hits on hillary clinton has been that she's not very nimble? >> one of the things it does do,

it doesn't give me pause but it's constant information and a constant way to think about strategy if indeed donald trump is the nominee because we know it's not going to be politics as usual. so whoever is our candidate cannot assume they can do politics as usual if donald trump is the nominee. what it says to me is stay on your toes. >> rex, what does this mean if you are inside marco rubio's campaign? you were high-fiving last night, maybe pouring beer or champagne, getting up this morning thinking this is the first day of the rest of the campaign whach. what do you do now- >> donald trump may be a first time presidential candidate but he's been promoting himself for decades. he's the master at self-promotion. this timing today with the christie endorsement again, as you just said, is another example of that. the guy does have good instincts. he's an incredible self-promoter and that was more of that we saw down in texas just a few minutes

ago. >> so we have some new reaction from the rubio campaign. gabe gutierrez is with them. he's on the phone for us. what did you find out? >> reporter: hey, chris. well, the rally for senator rubio is about to start here in oklahoma city. the campaign, they were in the air when this news first came out. they were heading from dallas to oklahoma city. we are just now hearing from a senior advisor, todd harris, and he's saying that he's not surprised trump had to bring in christie, because he's quote, articulate and trump is not. harris says that trump can't put together a coherent noun and verb to explain policy, so he had to bring in christie. this wasç a day that was suppod to belong to marco rubio. he had all the headlines coming off of that strong debate performance last night. donald trump as you have been mentioning, he knows how to win a news cycle.

brought in christie at an opportune time. and the thing with chris christie, it harkins back to that disappointing kdebate performance rubio had several weeks ago. not only was it an endorsement on a day when rubio had a string of headlines going his way, it also reminds everyone of that disappointing time in the rubio campaign that he had been trying to bounce back from. certainly a devastating year for the rubio campaign. we are expecting him to speak to reporters in the next hour or so. we will see exactly what he says. but he had been hitting trump very hard throughout the morning. we will see how he responds here to this stunning news. >> thank you so much. chris christie went straight from that announcement to this big rally for donald trump. let's listen.

>> here's what we don't need. we don't need another washington politician in the white house, do we? do we need a first term united states senator in the white house? do we need a united states senator from florida who doesn't show up for work? let me tell something to marco rubio. president of the united states is not a no-show job like you treated the united states senate. simple fact is this. america wants strong, tough leadership. america's tired of being walked on. america is tired of being treated second class around the world. we need a first class president and we are going to have it in donald trump. and all the political pundits and all the chattering class in washington, d.c. want to tell you you're wrong, the american people, we the people are right and we the people are supporting donald j. trump.ç

now listen. texas has a big role to play on tuesday. is texas going to be trump country? are you going to send a message to the washington, d.c. establishment that you are tired of their failing the american people? i'll be right clear with you. i joined this campaign because i care deeply about our country. i love our children and i want the best for your children as well. and we need to have a leader who will once again stand up for the american people first, not the rest of the world first. america first. donald trump is that man. last night, last night you just saw one strong man on that stage and that was donald trump. so texas, you got a big job to do. you have a really big job to do. i am proud and happy to be part of this team.

i want texas to be trump country on tuesday. so ladies and gentlemen, it is myç honor and my privilege to introduce the next president of the united states, donald trump. ♪ >> wow! wow. we love you folks. we love you.

we love you. it's a movement. it's a movement. it's really a movement.ç [ crowd chanting ] well, i want to thank everybody. first i have to start by thanking governor chris christie. because i was telling the press a little while ago, everybody was really surprised, it was sort of a shocker. we kept it secret. chris and i met the other day and he said this whole thing, he called it the same thing. he said i have never seen anything like it, it's a movement. i have never seen anything like it. we shook hands and i said let's keep it as a secret for the people in texas. let's do it. and when we walked into that

press room, they went whoa! then we walk in and you people went whoa! so it's really good. with all the people, we have a lot of endorsements happening. it's amazing when you are in the number one place for a long period of time the endorsements are coming in but the one i was really happy with was this one right here. chris, thank you. we love you, man.ç so we had a debate last night. i have to say because i don't hear it from pundits as much. some of the pundits are honest and they say trump won the debate and did well but some of these people are so dishonest. i mean, it's incredible. but on the online polls where they have hundreds of thousands of people voting, we won every single online poll. we won drudge who by the way is a fantastic guy. we won the online polls that mean so much to me. somebody says what does that mean. when you have hundreds of thousands of people calling in,

believe me, i can't have my secretary sitting there calling in to get a couple of extra. so that was an honor. it's been an honor. we have been winning those polls literally from the first debate. obviously, something is going very good in the debates because the big poll is really the polls that are coming out. in texas they just came out with a poll that we are effectively tied, the emerson poll. and i have so many friends in texas.ç we are loaded up with friends in texas. and i think we are going to surprise a lot of people, i'll tell you. we are going to surprise a lot of people. and it's going to be great. so i'll talk a little bit about the competition. then we will talk about our borders which we will build the wall and it will be a great

wall. and can you only imagine your ex-president of mexico, vicente fox, you see, that's the way other countries are used to talking to the united states. no more. no more. he couldn't believe that somebody would say mexico has to do something and by the way, it's that way with japan, it's that way with india, it's that way with china, it's that way with via951ñ a new one coming along. they want to be treated with tremendous respect even though they don't treat us with respect. it's going to change, folks. it's going to change. not going to be this way anymore. so he dropped the "f" bomb and i said to myself can you imagine

if i said that? and nobody mentioned it. not a big deal. not a big deal. for him, it's okay. i wouldn't use that. i would not go there, by the way. but when he did it, it was absolutely fine, because that's the way it is. double standards. but here's the story. we're being ripped on trade by every nation that we do business with in the world. we are going to become so good. we are going to negotiate so strong and so tough, we are not going to have a $58 billion trade deficit with mexico. we are not going to have a $500 billion trade deficit with china. $500 billion. not going to happen.ç we are not going to be billions of dollars behind with japan and we are going to talk about all that in a second but let's talk about our lightweight senator from florida who is losing big in the polls.

so i heard he was on television saying negative things. i see him, it all started about three or four weeks ago in new hampshire which i won. i love the people of new hampshire. we won it big. we won it big. and we won south carolina. big, big, big. in all fairness, that was going to be your senator's place. he was going to win it. he said he's going to win south carolina and i won women, men, evangelicals, military, vets. i won everything. we won every category. and we won with hispanics. i love the hispanics. because people that are in our country legally, they don't want our jobs taken away and they don't want their jobs taken away, and i'm going to bring2a lot of jobs back to this country. remember that. but i saw with rubio, i saw and

he's a nervous wreck because here's a guy, no, he's a nervous basket case. here's a guy, you had to see him backstage. he was putting on makeup with a trowel. no. i don't want to say that. i will not say that he was trying to cover up his ears. i will not say that. no. he was just trying to cover up -- he was just trying to cover up the sweat that's -- i never saw -- did you ever see a guy sweat like this? so a number of weeks ago, we were in new hampshire and i got to tell you, chris was so wild, what he did. that was one of the great prosecutions i have ever seen. and i'm standing in the middle, which by the way, i have been for every single debate, the middle.ç

and i said to cnn, i'm in the middle all the time and i say to these networks but cnn in this case, i'm in the middle because i'm number one. are you going to announce me as number one? oh, no, sir, you're just going to walk on. who knows you're in the middle, big deal, right? but i watched chris take a man apart and i looked at him and honestly, i thought he was going to die, rubio. he was so scared, like a little frightened puppy. and he kept saying the obama phrase over and over. so then i heard it once and i said that's fine. big deal. i'm standing here. he's right here. chris is over here. and chris was sort of cool because he's like this. i couldn't do that. i want to stand up sort of like straight, i don't know. but this looked like perry mason. that's what it was. and chris started going into him

so he said the obama phrase once. thatç was fine. twice. i said he just said that. that was strange but that's okay. right, twice? then a third time and i said it was like a robot. then a fourth time and fifth time and i said this guy's cracking up on us. and he was sweating so badly, i have never seen anything like it. it looked like he just jumped into a swimming pool with his clothing on. and i said to myself, we have tough people to negotiate with. we have putin. we have the chinese. we have wars that we're in that we are by the way, we are going to build up our military, we are going to knock out isis. we are going to knock out isis fast. remember the great days, general george patton, general douglas

macarthur. do you think that they would even be thinking about isis by the time they pick up the telephone, it's over. what is wrong -- you know, we don't win anymore and we areç getting to that but i have to finish with this clown over here. into that, but i have to finish with this clown over here. so i watched this and i thought something bad was going to happen to him. and he got through it but barely. i tell you what, barely. i was almost going to go over and hold him up. now, think of this. think of this. so we have putin, and putin is going to meet our president, and let's assume it's marco -- [ booing ] >> i agree with you, we don't want him. boo, boo. and putin is sitting there waiting for a kill. and he knows all about marco because when they put marco on to refute president obama's

speech -- do you remember that catastrophe? and he's like this, "and we will -- help me, i need water. help". and this is on live television. this total joke artist isç refuting. and you know about sports. do i love sports. we love sports. we're athletes. [ cheers and applause ] >> you notice in sports, almost always true. when you're a choke artist, you're always a choke artist. it doesn't really change. sadly, the guy that misses the kick and the coach says, i'm going to give him another chance. unfortunately, the following year he misses the kick again. choke artists, they choke, they choke. what's going to happen is we look at this, and he goes in to see putin, and he walks in and he's soaking wet. and putin looks at him and goes, what's wrong with this guy? this is going to be easy

pickins. and believe me, it will be. we'll go to something more interesting, but just remember this. really, really weak on illegal immigration; marco. really weak. totally in favor of amnesty. totally. totally in favor of amnesty. totally in favor.ç so he's getting the thing, and he's doing his speech, and live television, you just don't see it. nikki haley did it last time, and she was good. at least she wasn't sweating like that. she was fine. she did say we're angry people. and when i was at the debate, they asked me about it. are you and your people angry? no, i was supposed to say, no, we're not angry, we're thrilled with the iran deal. we're thrilled with all of the problems. we're thrilled with our education that's terrible, with obamacare which is terrible. we're not angry at all. but they asked me the question,

and i said, yeah, we're really angry. we are. and we're not angry people. we're not angry people. but we're angry at incompetence. so i said, what's wrong with him? and out of nowhere, he goes -- on live television! here's his response! he choked. just like he did with chsys. he's a choker. he choked with chris. i watched it both times. the one time i'm right next to him, and i looked at the pulddl on the ground and i said, what is that? i wanted to know, what is that? this time this wise guy, this lightweight, is going over, and all of a sudden he's being drained and he goes like this, remember? i said, where is he? then he comes back with water. honestly, water is fine, but it should be in the glass. he's got the label of the

company here, and he's drinking -- honestly, i've never seen anything like it. i've never seen anything like it. so we are going to beat guys like that. see, it's guys like that -- and he's a nasty guy. i called him a nasty little guy, but i wouldn't say that because he's a nasty guy. and we don't need nasty. we don't need nasty. honestly, there is no place for it. there's no place. he said specifics on obamacare. let me tell you something, we're going to knock out ?xt(sp(p)e. [ cheers and applause ] >> and remember this. when we get the insurance companies who are taking care of all these people, i'm self-funding my campaign. i'm putting up my own money. [ cheers and applause ] >> so when the insurance companies come to me because they want to keep it the way it is, because, by the way, they're making a fortune, because there's like a monopoly in every state. i was watching in texas, there

is a practical monopoly because companies aren't allowed to come in very easily. they practically can't come in. they said, be more specific. i don't have to be specific. you're going to get open bidding by creating borders around each state and the restrictive lines around each state. you're going to have so much competition, you're going to have so much bidding that you can't really say it's one plan. you're going to have hundreds of different options, you're going to have hundreds of different plans. it's going to be so beautiful, and you're going to pay far less money. [ cheers and applause ] >> far less money. so i want to just mention just a couple words about senator cruz, who actually was, i thought -- i thought he was better. you know, last night i thought the deal of the night was when i looked over to rubio and i said,

you remember, you're a choker, and we don't want chokers in our administration. you're a choker and a liar. i've had a lot of difficulties with ted. guys like ted are like a baby. actually he's smarter. ted is smarter. but i deal with people. it was mentioned my father gave me $200 million. oh, i wish, i wish. i'd be right now worth $500 trillion if that were the case. you know, first thing i did, i get back and get a call from my sister, who is a fantastic person, then i get a call from my brother, who is a fantastic person. they said, hey, donald, that's not true. why did they say that? and, you know, you have the

failing "new york times." it's a failing newspaper, i hate to tell you, like seriously failing. and they wrote an article and they put something in about $200 million. believe me, i got very, very little and i built it into many, many, many billions of dollars, and i'm very proud of it. [ cheers and applause ] >> i just think we have to correct -- we just have to correct the record. [ chanting of "trump" ] >> thank you. i love you! it's rubio!ç

but we like to correct the record. i spent a lot of time in laredo, texas, right on the bordered. and i was invited by the border guards. by the way, i got endorsed -- talk about chris -- by sheriff joe arpaiao. [ cheers and applause ] >> and the one thing you know about sheriff joe, he's the toughest guy on the border, there's no games to be played with sheriff joe who puts pink you-know-what on his people that are there illegally. sheriff joe does not play games. everybody wanted his endorsement, but the toughest one on the border was endorsed by sheriff joe. i think it's incredible. i was called by our border patrol. unbelievable people. i got to know them well. they said, mr. trump, i was

running, i was doing well -- since i started this whole ç thing, i've been practically number one for the whole trip. practically number one. [ cheers and applause ] >> and now we have big leagues. please, texas, let's win texas. i want to win texas! [ cheers and applause ] >> but i was called by the border patrol, and these people are incredible. and they want to do their job. they really want to do their job. that's why they call me. and they said would it be possible for you to come to texas, to laredo? and i said, well, i think so, yeah. i said, fine, i'll do it. i went to laredo and i went to some of the top border patrol folks. they are just incredible, smart, tough, great people. and by the way, you know who else are great people? our police are great people! [ cheers and applause ] >> they're being abused. our police are being abused!

our police are incredible people! in fact, i just took pictures backstage. what a group of people you have. they're incredible people. iç just want to -- we have to t out the plug every once in a while, because one bad incident, whether it's a mistake or somebody was just a bad apple, and it's played for weeks and weeks on the news, and the thousands and tens of thousands of great jobs that they do, they don't get appreciated. so let's hear it for the police! [ cheers and applause ] >> i'm in laredo and they tell me they want to stop it. there's drugs and they want it

stopped. no action, never gets done. by the way, when i said self-funding before, the beauty of that, the beauty of self-funding is that the insurance companies, the drug companies, the lumber companies, all the companies, they're not going to take advantage of trump because they never gave me anything, okay?ç big difference. [ cheers and applause ] >> and i don't know that i get the credit for that. you know, i said to somebody the other day, jeb bush had $150 million. what a waste of money. i would imagine at some point between him and romney, they'll be supporting rubio, do you think? i would imagine. romney -- how about this beauty -- runs one of the worst campaigns in the history of politics. he should have beaten obama easily, and for two months he disappeared. nobody knows where he was, and say what you want, obama was on jaylen leno, david letterman,

was on every show. and romney was like a lost soul. i don't know what happened to this guy. then he comes out and tells me about my taxes. if you know the real story, harry reid shamed him and made him look like a baby, and harry reid pushed him and pushed him and made him look so stupid and weak. and when did romney file his return, right? what's today's date? today is what? come on,ç tell me. right? okay. so you know when romney filed his return? september 21st. that's a long time from now. this guy, what a terrible -- i endorsed him, and about two weeks later i said, he's never going to win. number one, when you walk onto a stage, you cannot walk like a penguin. he walked like a penguin. i said, this is a problem. somebody tell him, take some steps. anyway, romney turned out to be a disaster. but i know he'll support rubio.

he probably has no choice. honestly, if he wanted to support me, i would not accept his support. i really admit it. because we have to be honest, right? we have to be honest. and i will say this. just to show you great loyalty. i supported john mccain and we lost. i supported mitt romney and we lost. this time i said, i'm going to do it myself, okay? big difference.ç so the border patrol is incredible and they're told to stand back, let the people come in, let them go where they're going to go. we don't have a border, and if we don't have a border, you don't have a country, folks. so we're going to have borders. they're going to be serious

borders and they'll be very powerful borders. in the case of our southern border, we're going to have a wall and it's going to stop. and by the way, we are going to have people come into our country, but they're coming into our country legally! legally. [ cheers and applause ] >> we want people to come in. we want people to come. we want people to come in. but they have to be the right people. we don't want people that have been here. look at kate, beautiful kate in san francisco. illegal immigrant five times came across the border and shot kate. jameel. his father became a friend of mine. he's an incredible çfather, incredible guy. his son was an unbelievable young boy. good student, was going to go to college on a football scholarship, maybe stanford, and he was shot in the face three times by a guy that did it because he was just told to shoot somebody. that's the only reason he did it. just got out of jail.

and you have the female veteran, 65 years old, recently in los angeles, raped, sodomized and killed by an illegal immigrant. we're going to be different, folks. we're going to be strong, we're going to be smart, we're going to be tough. we're not going to play games anymore. [ cheers and applause ] >> we're not going to play games anymore. not going to happen. not going to happen. so we're going to be the strongest on borders, and we're going to set the example for other parts of the world. and we're not taking in syrians that we have no idea who they are, where they come from. [ cheers and applause ]ç >> and we've already taken in thousands. thousands. and we don't even know where they are. but you have no idea -- i spoke to the top law enforcement people, and they said, mr.

trump, they don't have papers, they have absolutely no identification. did you ever notice the migration? and i want to help people. i say you build a safe zone and i'll get other people to pay for it, because i don't want to pay for it. we owe $19 trillion. we're not paying for it, but we'll get the gulf states to pay. they have more money than anybody, and they're not spending their money. we've got to loosen up their wallets, folks, and i'm very good at getting people to do that, believe me. because i like the idea of a safe zone. but have you ever noticed the migration comes across, and you look and there's so many young men, right? i say, where are the women? where are the children? now, they're there, but not like they should be. so law enforcement is telling mm me -- is that a protester? oh, good! turn the cameras.ç good!

i love protesters. look at this! look at this! we have 10,000 people here today. look at this. is that a protester? please be a protester. the only way we can get the cameras turned, the only reason they turn the cameras is if there's a protester, because that's a bad thing, right? i'm going to develop my own protesters. it can't be a protester, because those cameras won't turn, they won't turn. i tell you what, i think the media is among the most dishonest groups of people i've ever met. [ cheers and applause ]

>> the "new york times," whi is lose ag fing a fortune, whic not going to be around much longer, although someone will probably buy it, i think it's the worst media i've ever seen in my entire life. the worst. they have the worst agenda. you would not believe. and they're totally incompetent. he bought the "washington post" to have political influence -- we have a different country than we used to have. we have a different -- he owns amazon. he wants political influence so that amazon will benefit from it. that's not right. and believe me, if i become president, oh, do they have problems. they're going to have such problems. [ cheers and applause ] >> and one of the things i'm going to do, and this is only

going to make it tougher for me, and i've never said this before, but one of the things i'm going to do if i win, and i hope i do, and we're certainlyç getting there, i'm going to open up the labor laws so when they write horrible and negative and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. we're going to open up those labor laws. so that when the "new york times" writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace, or when the "washington post," which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected. you see? with me they're not protected, because i'm not like other people, but i'm not taking money. i'm not taking their money. so we can put up those libel laws and we'll have people sue you like you never got sued

before. we have many things to do. we have many, many things to do. when i came down on the escalator with my wife melania, it was june 16th. and i said, look, let me tell you, it's not easy running for ç president. you get lowlifes like a guy like rubio saying horrible things, horrible things. who needs it? this is a lowlife. cruz lies, but at least it's reasonable lies. this other guy says terrible things. i will tell you, when you do this, and when i agreed to do it, it takes guts to do it. it takes guts. especially if you're not a politician. i'm not a politician, thank goodness. i guess now i am, but i'm not. i don't want to be a politician. and when i came down the

escalat escalator, there were cameras -- look at all those cameras back there. hi, folks. how you doing, you son of a guns? but we had cameras like the academy awards. it looked like it was the academy awards. and i said to my wife, i looked at the iran deal, which is one of the great insults in the history of dealmaking. we give them $150 billion, we get absolutely nothing. we get nothing. then they attack, they take as hostage our 10 sailors, and the only reason we got them back -- why did they get them back? the persians paid. if trump was paying them, they wouldn't be keeping them. if i was president, the hostages would have been released four years ago, because i wouldn't have negotiated until they released the hostages, and if they didn't release them, i

would have increased the sanctions, and we would have had those hostages within 24 hours years ago. [ cheers and applause ] >> i want to tell you one other thing. your second amendment is under siege. guns, guns, guns. any time you have a mentally disturbed person like you had last night and like you will have, they immediately look to the guns, like the guns pull the trigger. well, the guns do not pull the trigger. t- are going to protect your [ cheers and applause ] >> 100%. if you look at what happened in california with the 14 people killed by two people that were radicalized, she probably radicalized him, how about this

country? we can't even get the cell number. we can't open the cell. i like safety, i want security. when it comes to terrorists, we have to knock them out and knock them out big league. big, big, big league. but when you look at what happened in california with the 14 people and many people in a hospital that are in very bad shape, and these were people that gave the two radicalized couple, so-called couple -- i don't even like to call them a couple, you know what i'd like to call them -- it gave this couple anniversary parties and baby parties and showers. these were people that knew them who were friends, and they just went in there and blew them away. and then you look at paris where you have ç130 people that were killed, many people in hospitals gravely injured. these animals just walked in, took their guns and said, bing, bing, bing, you get over here.

bing. if we would have had guns where bullets flowed in the other direction, you wouldn't have had that big a problem. it would have been much smaller. [ cheers and applause ] >> so we're going to protect our second amendment, and it is so true. take paris, take california. like you, you're a tough cookie. this guy here looks like an ex-vet. if a couple -- you with that big, beautiful beard. i have to pick a woman. that's right, you, raising your hand. she's going crazy, she wants to carry a gun. but if we had a few people, right? if we had a few people with a gun on their side or a gun around their ankle so when these animals start shooting, the bullets start going the other way, you know paris is probably the toughest place in the world to have a gun except if you're a bad guy, then there'sç no problem, you just have a gun. so if we had people, or if we

had people in los angeles, it would have been a whole different story, folks. it would have been a whole different story. just remember, your second amendment with me is protected. your borders are protected. common core -- common core is out. it's out. [ cheers and applause ] >> in the top 30 nations, with 30 being by far the worst, in the world of education, we're number 30, but we're number 1 by a factor of there is no second, okay? we're number 1. we're number 1 in cost, we're number 30 -- you have norway, sweden, denmark, china -- you have some countries you never even heard of -- are ahead of the usa. not going to happen anymore, folks.

we're going to get up that list. we're going to start climbing up that lks(9ñ you know, the american dream is dead, but we're going to make it bigger and stronger and better than ever before, remember that. but -- but -- it's very hard for a person to live the american dream without good education. so we're going to work very, very hard on that. so common core is out, it's dead. common core is dead. we're going to bring it locally. and i've seen the local. it's unbelievable with the parents and the teachers and everybody just loving the room, and it's a beautiful thing to watch. it's a beautiful thing to watch. another thing we have to talk about, i've had tremendous support from the evangelicals and from christians. i've had tremendous support. and, in fact, pastor jeffers is here right now. pastor jeffers, where are you?

come here, come here. i saw him. get him over here. he has been so supportive. i didn't meet him, i've seen him on television for years, i always liked him a lot. and one day i'm listening to him,ç and he said, donald trum may not be perfect, but he's the best leader, he's the strongest guy. he's going to knock out isis, he's going to do great for our economy. he may not be perfect -- i didn't like that, but that's okay -- but he's going to be our best president. will you come up? i love this guy. i'm just watching him, and highly, highly respected. and also, jerry falwell jr. was so incredible. and since i get -- and many others. the reverend paul white, so many others. we have such support. we have unbelievable support from sarah palin. she is incredible. she's a great person. come on up here, reverend. pastor jeffers, and is it true?

i didn't know him and i love him. say a few words. >> let me just say briefly, i know three things about donald trump. number one, he sincerely loves this country. he has 10 billion reasons heç doesn't have to do this, but he does it because he wants to make america great again. [ cheers and applause ] >> the second thing i know about donald trump is that he is truly pro life. i have talked to him in trump towers. he believes in protecting the unborn. that is an issue we as christians care about, and i'll tell you what, some of you who say, well, i don't know if his pro life conversion was real, let me tell you something, hillary clinton doesn't claim any pro life conversion. if you go for hillary clinton or bernie sanders, there is no doubt you're going to have the most pro abortion president in

history. but here is what i finally know about donald trump. donald trump cares about and loves evangelical christians. [ cheers and applause ] >> you know, one time when ronald reagan was running for president of the united states the first time, he met with a group of evangelical leaders, and he said, although you can't endorse çme, i want you to knoi endorse you. and i have met -- i have met with mr. trump on several occasions, and i can tell you from personal experience, if donald trump is elected president of the united states, we who are evangelical christians are going to have a true friend in the white house. god bless donald trump! [ cheers and applause ]

>> wow. how about that? how about that? i'm telling you, i saw the pastor on television like a year ago, and he was saying all these good things. and i never met him but i had been watching him. he was saying all these incredible things and i said, we have to meet this man. i just have incredible respect for him. thank you very much. that's really amazing. really amazing. and i'm going to give the pastor a little bit of a present, because what i say i mean, and i think it's very important for the christians inç the room. christianity is under siege. every year it gets weaker and weaker and weaker. and i had a meeting with various ministers and pastors about two months ago, and i'm pretty good at figuring things out. and i sat with them. and some of them said, we love

you. we want to endorse you so badly, but we're afraid we're going to lose, if we do that, our tax-exempt status. and i said, what's this all about? that takes you and it makes you less powerful than a man or woman walking up and down the street. you actually have less power. and yet, if you look at it, i was talking to someone -- we probably have 250 million, maybe even more, in terms of people. so we have more christians -- think of this -- than we have men or women in our country, and we don't have a lobby. because they're afraid to have a lobby because they don't want to lose their tax status. so i am going to work like hell to get ridç of that prohibitio and we're going to have the strongest christian lobby, and it's going to happen, and it's going to happen. [ cheers and applause ] >> this took place during the

presidency of lyndon johnson, and it has had a terrible, chilling effect. when i said that there has to be a temporary ban on certain people coming into this country, we have no choice. there's something wrong. there's something really wrong. and when i said muslim, i was met with furor. if i would have said christian, people would have been, oh, we can't do anything about it. that's going to end, folks. we're going to say merry christmas now on christmas. [ cheers and applause ] >> we're going to start going to department stores and stores, and you're going to see big, beautiful signsç that's going say "merry christmas and happy

holid holiday," and we're going to have a big, big, big lot of fun. we're going to get rid of that. we're going to work very hard. that's one of the first things i want to do, i want to get rid of that. politically if we use that power, we're going to start going up, up, up because we are being decimated. just remember i said it. pastor, it starts here. do you like that, what i just said? he's happy. that's the biggest smile i've ever seen on his face. i'll do it. and you can hold me to it, pastor. you're responsible. so, again, we're going to have a great country again. we're going to have a smart country again. we're going to have tremendous borders and tremendous strength, and people are coming in but we're going to have real borders. we're going to have unbelievable trade deals. i have some of the best businesspeople in the world. we have right now political hacks negotiating these massive, massive trade deals, the biggest deals in the world.

we have people who don't have the slightest clue. we're going to get ridç of obamacare, we're going to make something great. we're going to get rid of common core. we're going to have local education. we're going to protect our second amendment. we're going to protect christianity. we're going to be back. and folks, i'll tell you, and it's very simple, my whole theme, and your whole theme because we're all together, i'm just the messenger -- my whole theme is make america great again. we're going to win, folks. we're going to win all the time. thanks very much. i love texas! i love texas! get out there and vote! get out there and vote! thank you. thank you. >> hello, everyone, i'm kate snow. we're in austin, texas today. you've been watching donald trump for a lengthy rally there just finishing up in ft. worth,

texas. after revealing the big news of the day, his endorsement from new jersey governor chris christie. >> and then you have to say to yourself as a good, loyal american, who is theç best pern to stop hillary clinton from ever getting inside the white house again? this is the best person to do that. turn away from the amateur acts from washington, d.c. and turn to a professional, strong leader. that's who this man is. >> that was the voice of chris christie from just earlier, endorsing donald trump. the two candidates known for telling it like it is, standing side by side on this one. it is the beginning, or could it be the beginning of a wave of republicans coalescing around the frontrunner? could this put chris christie in line for a cabinet spot? an interesting thought brought up by newt gingrich just a little while ago on twitter. this chris christie endorsement he wrote of trump is a real signal to gop establishment that they had better begin thinking about trump as the future. we've got all this covered for

you with our team. hallie jackson is out there, katy tur is out there as well. hallie jackson following the cruz campaign but also following the whole republican field. what we just witnessed, hallie, is a real moment in theç campaign. we're talking about the 2016 former candidate to come out and back donald trump. >> reporter: it's funny you say that, kate, we were listening to the speech here in nashville where ted cruz is campaigning, and i turned to my producer and said, this is a moment in time in this campaign. you heard donald trump give that speech where we heard him talk about things other than chris christie, like opening up libel laws, for example. the crowd absolutely eating it up in texas. the two people that were out there, donald trump, chris christie, throwing, really, red meat to them.

this is interest in that it is trump doing exactly what trump does, right? he's holding court. he's holding this rally that is just mobilizing people and getting people behind him. the question is, will this christie endorsement mobilize voters out to the polls? and that is something that we will find out about on super tuesday. now, this was a move that comes just after that debate last night in which marco rubio landed punches against chris christie. marco rubio was aggressive against him, and donald trumpç was on defense on a lot of topics, including, by the way, kate, releasing his tax returns. his competitors have promised to do so today and tomorrow, putting instant pressure on trump, but trump not talking about his tax returns today. he's talking about chris christie and so are the other campaigns. some reaction here, for example, from the cruz campaign, a campaign aide telling me these are new jersey values joining up with new york values, adding this is big government anti second amendment, pro choice. more importantly, this is terrible for rubio, this aide continued, saying he cannot line

up the establishment. that's the same argument we heard from john kasich's spokesperson who essentially called this a nightmare for marco rubio. so the question now is what this does to that establishment vote. you talked about the newt gingrich tweet. rubio's campaign is responding as well. rubio himself we expect to hear from in a little bit, but his top strategist said it's no surprise chris christie would endorse him because trump simply can't put together an articulate sentence, so that's what the role of chris christie will be. the other role, kate, anç atta dog. we heard him go after marco rubio very intensively at that endorsement. this echoes what happened at that debate right before chris christie dropped out, where he had marco rubio on the ropes. there is that sort of moment where rubio repeated himself a few times, that line that got a lot of play. christie continuing that line of attack against marco rubio, continuing to play that role for him. i tell you, kate, it's been a wild couple of hours right now in the 2016 republican field. a lot of reaction still pouring

in. i'm curious to get your take on how you see this playing out. >> it's a good question. i think you've hit a lot of points that i would make, too. this upends things in a certain way. that it opens up the gate for other establishments to jump on trump's bandwagon. i'm sitting here in texas and we'll talk to experts on the texas voter. it's hard to say whether it resonates here in texas or whether ted cruz continues to dominate here, you know? >> reporter: you know what this reminds me of a little bit,ç kate. it's back when we were talking about ted cruz ahead of iowa and there were questions whether that would be an effective line of attack in iowa just because of the cultural differences the campaigns would talk about between the east coast and the central part of the country. now we're just four days away from those super tuesday states in texas where you are all throughout the south. you have to wonder what kind of impact it will have that chris

christie is out there campaigning for trump and putting his backing behind trump. now, remember, though, we do have super tuesday states like vermont that are going to be impactful and christie may help trump there, although trump had already been leading in those polls. i'm very curious to get a sense of voter reaction on the ground. we'll head up to the cruz event in just a little bit and try to get some for you. >> excellent, hallie jackson. thanks so much. let me turn to katy tur and jacob who were there in texas at that endorsement. that was off the charts for him, even trump style, it seemed like. this is a major day for him. this is something he's ready toç celebrate. what are you hearing? >> here now keeping up on marco rubio -- [ inaudible ] >> jacob, i'm so sorry. i'm going to jump back in.

we're having a lot of trouble getting audio and video out of ft. worth, texas today. hard to hear jacob with the music behind him. why don't we turn now to the two gentlemen who have been patiently waiting here with me, sitting with me here in austin, texas. nice to see you again. we're talking to ross, and we're talking to -- i'm trying to get to my page -- we're talking to -- >> jonathan. >> thank you, jonathan. thank you. this is what happens when we're on live television and can't quite get to the right page. let me properly introduce you guys. and i'm still not on the right page. jonathan tyler is chief political writer for the austin american statesman. and ross ramsey, who i sort of introduced, is executive editor of the texas tribune. forgive me for not having everything in order here. before we get to, by the way, marco rubio who is expected to talk in the next 10 or 15ç minutes, your take on whether this does so much good for

donald trump that it affects the race here in texas. >> you kind of have a squeeze play. marco rubio had a good night last night. donald trump is obviously having a great day right now. you hardly hear cruz's name in there, do you? he's been a lead in the texas polls. cruz has never been a texas politician in the sense he was in a texas office working on texas state stuff, he's the guy on tv just like donald trump, just like marco rubio. at the moment he's getting crowded out. 24 hours ago he was hot. he might be hot 24 hours from now, but it's donald trump's day and marco rubio is second. >> jonathan, as you sat there there -- >> i think this works to cruz's benefit at least here in texas. he was going to win here. trump was kind of surging. rubio drew some blood, stopped the surge, and now christie comes in and just slaps rubio back down. i think that was kind of brilliantly played by the trump campaign. >> you see that helping cruz? >> i think the status quo is cruz is going to win. i think even though he's not in

the news cycle, i think that keeps that status quoç intact, because it keeps trump from rising, and it keeps rubio from rising. they essentially knock each other out, in a way. what rubio did to trump is what christie did to rubio. it hurt rubio, but it didn't help christie, and this may not help rubio nearly as much as it kind of cut into trump. >> that's interesting, for texas. how about nationally? ross, when you look at this nationally speaking. is it a big deal? we talk about chris christie. could he be the first of others to step in and say, donald trump is going to be our guy, we might as well own it, we might as well back him. >> you're in a funnel and you're eventually going to get down to two. the race now in some ways is between cruz and rubio. which one of you is going to be the non-trump candidate? at the moment it looks like rubio. he's doing better in more of the states -- >> based on last night. >> well, based on last night and

he seems to be doing better in most of the states on march 1st. today is the last day of the voting here in texas. he might change some minds. >> he's got lots of voters in texas who are lining up today and havaç been the last couple weeks. >> the last day of early voting is always the biggest day of early voting. that's today. they vote until 7:00 our time. it might influence that, it might influence going into tuesday. it's a momentum thing and that's with trump. >> there's another thing because it's swallowed up in all the attention given to chris christie and donald trump the last few hours. phil graham, the long-time senator from the great state of texas, has endorsed marco rubio, jonathan, not ted cruz, marco rubio. does that matter to texas voters? >> no, i don't think it matters. it matters to ted cruz, and i think ted cruz was citing graham favorably on his first rally back here in texas, and i don't know whether he didn't realize this was in the works or whatever --

>> it's kind of a surprise, though, to texas observers, though, right? >> he had said things -- before he had said he thinks trump is going to win before rubio. the fact he didn't mention cruz is maybe he likes a lot of other people, he's just not a big ted cruz fan. >> he was the conservative end of the texas republican spectrum before the tea party. so a lot of the s]ablishment and the most conservative part of the establishment, if you can imagine that little sliver, listens to phil graham. he's still a lead level. >> and if trump wins here on tuesday but rubio and cruz -- let me say it this way. if cruz wins here but if trump and rubio come in second and third and get a lot of the delegates, texas is a place where they can split things up. >> they can split things up, but coming in first means something. it's very possible if cruz comes out of here, like, with a

hundred delegates, at the end of super tuesday, even if he doesn't do great in the rest of the country, he'll still have a stack of delegates and rubio will be way down here. i think coming out of this, cruz is still in pretty good shape, and now he's the least offensive liar in the estimation of trump. trump's fire is now all on rubio. and that's kind of a blessing for cruz. >> jonathan tyler, ross ramsey, thank you both for waiting patiently and being with us. iç appreciate it. >> thanks. we're awaiting marco rubio's public reaction to chris christie's endorsement of donald trump. we're also waiting for more on the harsh words the two have had for each other today. msnbc's gabe gutierrez is in oklahoma city following all that for us. gabe? >> reporter: as you mentioned, quite a day so far. the day started outgoing very well for marco rubio. he was on all the morning shows labeling donald trump as a con

artist. this after a very strong debate performance where he hit the republican front like immigration to higs hiring policies, to a whole host of things including his hiring practices in florida as well as repeating the same things on the campaign trail. but right now we are awaiting marco rubio's first comments since this chris christie endorsement of donald trump. his staff just learned of this endorsement as they were landing here in oklahoma city for this rally. now, we have gotten some reaction from one of rubio's top advisers, todd harris. "f$e said he's not surprised he had to bring in christie, because christie is articulate and trump is not. trump cannot put a coherent noun and verb together to explain failing policies and failing businesses, so he had positive bring in christie. that's according to one of his senior advisers. and harris categorically denies

that rubio is a lightweight chalker. that was donald trump's tweets where he misspelled snulinsults rubio. many people are saying this being donald trump's first establishment endorsement, that this really shifts the momentum, ask again, donald trump is a master at this. he knows television, he knows reality tv. he had to know that the headlines were going rubio's way today and he comes back with this bombshell. now, we're awaiting marco rubio any moment now in the next few minutes before this rally to give his first public reaction to this. we expected it to happen at 1:30 local time. it has been delayed,ç so we're still awaiting that. we'll bring it to you, kate, as soon as we have it. kate? >> gabe gutierrez, we'll wait along with you, and when he shows up for that media ability, we'll take it live.

let's go back now. we tried for a few minutes to check in with katy tur and jacob. they're in ft. worth, texas. i think you guys can hear me now, right? >> we can hear you. can you hear us? >> okay, excellent. i was saying before that that was quite a performance by donald trump. we took all of it live here on msnbc. we've seen him before, we've seen him make some of those points, but when he was doing the water bottle pantomime about marco rubio, it all seemed to cross into new territory. he is enormously confident today. jacob? >> this will be remembered as a giant day for the trump campaign, of course. this is on a day when the rubio campaign was hoping to do a victory lap after landing some punches, but now here comes donald trump to steal the headline, now joined by chris christie so double-team rubio. they spent aç lot of the first0 or 15 minutes going after rubio,

how much he sweat, how much they thought he was a lightweight and a baby and not able to take on hillary clinton. is that what you saw? >> that's what i saw. i think what's really interesting here is tag teaming rubio. he did not have a good debate against marco rubio last night. he even used a line rubio used in the trump debate, saying rubio repeeats himself. so chris christie riding that wave of good publicity today. trump comes out and brings out marco rubio's number one bully in this campaign, and that is chris christie, and they just went on stage and tried to completely decimate marco rubio, tried to take away all of his momentum, once again bringing the idea that marco rubio is sweaty into the conversation. remember way back when donald trump actually sent marco rubio a number of his water bottles because he said he sweat too much and trump towels.

so this campaign and this race once again getting extremely personal.ç apparently this guy vapes and votes. i don't know what that means. this campaign getting extremely personal between the candidates. ted cruz has been personal, donald trump has been slowly personal against ted cruz and marco rubio. chris christie has come out and talked about donald trump the entertainer in chief in the past, so to suddenly come out for donald trump raises a few eyebrows, but the two certainly do have a lot in common when it comes to style. chris christie is accused of being a bully in new jersey, and with the new york press he's been forceful when he's gone after voters, and they disagreed with other reporters, and certainly donald trump has a very interesting reputation. >> to see them together, donald trump would look back at chris christie for approval on something he would say, and

chris christie would smile and laugh, and they would go after it together, double teaming. it was interesting to see two men from the northeast, new york and new jersey, coming to work this texas crowd.ç initially, when chris christie stepped on the stage, the crowd seemed stunned. some of them were booing, most of them were cheering, but of course when chris christie said i'm here to support donald trump, the crowd went wild, and they went wild many times hereafter. >> a lot of forceful rhetoric as well. >> kate? >> i know it's loud in there, but if you can answer on the taxes question. i heard katy ask donald trump -- katy, i heard you ask donald trump about his taxes. will we see his tax returns? >> not going to see his tax returns until after that audit is finished. i pointed out that there is nothing in the irs rules that preclude somebody from releasing or showing their tax returns even while they're under an audit. of course, we talked to a number of tax experts who say there is

good reason for people not to want to do that, so we followed up with the question, me and another reporter asked him if he would release past tax returns. he repeatedly dodged that question, so it doesn't sound like we'll see those tax returns any time soon. unclear how long this audit will take. you saw him tweet that photo of himselfç with his tax return, d it was that high, so i'm not entirely sure how long it would take for an audit like that to go through. >> reporter: the other moment, i think, of that press conference we're talking about is he was asked multiple times, chris christie, about his interest in a position of possible vice president or cabinet and how he kind of shrugged it off and said, we haven't talked about that. but donald trump followed it up by saying, but he has incredible talent. everybody would sort of laugh and chris christie would smile, and they were back and forth. it was very interesting. >> a lot of questions about whether or not chris christie would be a good choice on a

ticket. maybe a new york-new jersey ticket wouldn't run that well. plus they are very similar personalities. he might need someone softer to bring into the fold. not sure chris christie would be that candidate, but an attorney general position is one that's interesting. >> jakeç abresco and katy tur thanks, guys. now we're turning to new jersey. i know you're a democrat and you've gone up against chris christie in the past. what do you make of this afternoon and chris christie endorsing donald trump? >> this is just christie and trump, two empty suits, hanging out together. i can't believe it. we have all these pressing issues in new jersey.

the governor closes his failed campaign for president and now he's flying off again instead of coming to new jersey to tend to his needs. the governor submitted an application for relief for our state, which hud just told me was not accepted because the application was done improperly and couldn't compete with new york city. so we lost hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds for relief for new jersey, so we're still not in their homes and still have all these potential problems from sandy becauseç t governor can't even fill out an application. so, you know, if you want a failed governor endorsing another empty suit for president, then you got it. but i wish the governor would come back to new jersey instead of flying to texas. >> there's the candidate for the

democratic candidate of new jersey. let me consider trump considering christie as a secretary or in the cabinet. he asked him if he would accept a position, and he said, no, once i end my term as governor, i'm going to go into private industry. but do you see chris christie in a trump administration? >> this is clearly what chris christie is all b. it's his political career. he doesn't care about new jersey. he's looking to be vice president now or some cabinet position, you know, to continue his political career. but, you know, he doesn't do anything for the state where we have all these unmet needs. sure, of course he's upç to trying to move up the ladder or do something else than being governor of our state. >> congressman frank willone, nice having your perspective.

thanks for being with us. >> thank you. up next, our coverage live from texas begins here. our breaking news of the day, governor chris christie endorsing donald trump for president. our poll question of the day, did christie's endorsement of trump take away rubio's momentum? you can tell us what you think. we'll be right back. this is sheldon whose long day setting up the news starts with minor arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day.

back to the news. frodoers don't stop. wake up, every day is a chance to do something great. and for the ones they love, they'd do anything. sears optical has glasses made for doing. right now, buy one pair and get another free. quality eyewear for doers.

and then you have to say to yourself as a good, loyal american, who is the best person to keep hillary clinton from getting in the white house again? this is the best person to do that. turn away from the amateur acts in washington, d.c. and turn to a professional leader. that's who this man is. >> we're back live in austin, texas, about three hours from ft. worth where donald trump just made one of the biggest headlines of the day, maybe of this political cycle since entering the race last june. the endorsement of new jersey governor and, until about two

weeks ago, fellow republican presidential candidate chris christie is what we're talking about. joining me now, msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber who has followed chris christie, knows the governor well, and also has been following the tax issue inç terms of donald trums tax returns. let's start with the endorsement. as an observer, as you listened to everything happening in the last couple hours, your observation? >> my observation is this is a pretty significant day. the donald trump campaign, the donald trump experience, if you will, has a lot of hype and a lot of exaggeration. there is no hype here. this is a sitting governor, a speaker, past republican at national conventions, a man thought to be part of this conservative political establishment. the only thing left, kate, in the donald trump campaign, which there was no question, what does it look like if he is the frontrunner? what does it look like if he's the nominee, do people fall in

line? chris christie has said negative things about donald trump, but that's a good thing for the trump argument. the argument is, yes, this is what success looks like. this is what it looks like when a former bush governor comes to me, and we'll put the past sniping behind us. i think it's a significant thing for the trump campaign because it is the one thing they were missing. lord knows they have the attention, they have the money, andç he's the one candidate th doesn't have to worry about fundraising. the only thing they might not have had is what happens to the establishment. david plough talked about the candidate for other reasons. the donald trump establishment just got a big check here for the kind of people he'll need to bring along here if he becomes the gop nominee. >> let me ask you the tax question because that came up in the trump conference as well. donald trump saying he's under audit right now and he doesn't want to release any of his tax

returns while he's under audit. the irs said he could if he wanted to. so where do we stand on that? do we just have to wait for donald trump to be out of audit before we see any of his tax returns? >> as a legal matter, we have to wait because the federal law does not require him to release, nor does it require him not to release. so the irs put out the statement that you reported on today and that katy tur asked about saying, look, you're not under any obligation just because there's an audit to hold back. that is the state of the law. but theç second question is, i he spinning and being sort of coy here about the situation? i spoke to several tax experts today who said as a legal matter, they would advise their client the same thing. if you have an open audit, you don't want to put everything out there. one of the significance of the tax log is you might have to change the numbers so the numbers you release today might be different at the end of an audit. those are altogether legal

reasons why you might get the advice not to put it out. again, he's not your normal tax law client. it's certainly fair on the political side, not the legal side, for voters or journalists or others in transparency to say, yes, we understand you've met the minimum legal requirement, we want to see more. i'll close with this example, kate. there is no requirement to put your medical federmaterial out . if anything, the law gives you great privacy around your medical history. but a lot of people running for president do put things out about their medical history because it's relevant and vaeots feel they have a right to know. trump hasn't done that, but wilç he face pressure to do it. >> his voters seem to be the kind of people who won't demand that he release his tax returns. >> bingo. you're talking the leverage, right? is this the kind of issue that is going to make or break donald trump's candidacy, at least in the republican primary? politically, it doesn't seem

likely. looking at this objectively, politically, to say the only reason his opponents want this is to try to mess with him for it. it's not something that seems overwhelmingly important. he put out the medical analogy, you put out the statement from his doctor. there have been calls for more. if a pro terrible candidate has a degenerative disease or some other issue, we want to know that before they become candidate in chief. he at least has an open argument that he doesn't need to. he's very far in the lead in the polls on this super tuesday, but bringing former opponents and former criticsç into his fold. >> ari melber watching all of it for us -- i think you're in south carolina, aren't you? >> i am. south carolina. it's hot. >> yes. columbia, south carolina.

excellent. we got people all over the map today. that's going to do it this hour. i'm kate snow coming to you live from texas, in austin. thomas roberts, he's going to pick up our coverage from atlanta, georgia after the break. one day a rider made a decision. the decision to ride on and save money. he decided to save money by switching his motorcycle insurance to geico. there's no shame in saving money. ride on, ride proud. geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. (is committed to truth on thee plabel.d when we say real meat is the first ingredient, it is number one. and we leave out corn, wheat and soy. learn more at beyondpetfood.com

i'm thomas roberts. and we're here with marco rubio talking. let's listen in. >> donald trump proved last night he has no plan for health care, no idea how to balance the

budget. i wish wolf and the moderators would have pushed him more on ç that. the guy doesn't know what the nuclear triad is, has no idea about south korea. he wants to have the power of the states and send our men and women off to war. >> what about florida, senator? how much money do you need to slow donald trump? >> he's the frontrunner, no doubt about it. the republican party and the conservative movement could fall into the hands of somebody who has basically conned a significant number of americans into something they don't want. it's a party built on optimism and limited government. last night you had the frontrunner and the republican debate defending planned parenthood. you had the frontrunner in the debate saying he'll take sides against the palpalestinians.

>> your party is guaranteed to win florida. >> we're going to do it. often. >> senator, your campaign has guaranteed you will win florida. what happens if you don't? >> we'll win florida. >>are you comfortable with the phrase "anti-trump" as the anti-trump candidate? >> he's the frontrunner, and i think the only way he'll be stopped is if voters stop him. a significant number of republicans don't want donald trump. right now they're divided up among all these other people that are running. i think it's important to stop him, but someone who can unite the party and grow it. that's the argument i'm make that makeing that that's me. [ inaudible ] >> donald trump is the frontrunner. he's won all three states. he likes to remind us every day. the time is now. a sense of urgency is not about

winning or losing. it's about the idea that the conservative movement can fall sb into the hands of someone who is a can mon man. he claims to stand for the working class, and he's been sticking it to working class americans. he uses the illegal immigrants to build trump towers and has imported foreign workers toç te away jobs for americans in my home state. this is a guy who portrays himself as a tough guy. he's not a tough guy. this is a guy who inherited $200 million. if not for that, he'd be selling watches in times square. my point to you is we're not going to let someone like that take over the conservative movement after everything this party has gone through and this country has gone through. the last thing we need is a con man as president. i'm sorry, i have to get out there. >> what is your plan of attack?

why should oklahoma vote for you? >> wathe way to grow our econom is to make this a growing business or an existing one. right now we're not because we have the highest tax rate in the world. i plan to lower that. we need to roll back and cap the growth of regulations. i have a plan to do that through our regulatory budget. we need to deal with social security and medicare so we can save those programs and bring our debt under control. we have outlined a plan to do that. we needç to fully utilize our medical resources. we need to repeal and replace obamacare, and that includes a lot more than trump's plan to build a line around the united states. we need all americans to have access to health care in a way for them to make the choices, not the government. >> thomas, this is gabe

gutierrez right here. i think you missed the top of that news conference. we asked senator marco rubio about what his reaction, how stunned he was by this chris christie endorsement. he said he wasn't stunned at all and that he's piled up his own endorsements. and then he echoed what his advisers said earlier about donald trump having to bring in someone that was articulate to get his message across. so marco rubio really downplaying this chris christie endorsement still. it's a very difficult time for him. he was an establishment endorsement, chris christie endorsing donald trump. it was on a day when marco rubio was really riding high. he was bashing donald trump earlier in the daylç really hitting him on a variety of things. marco rubio really trying to downplay this endorsement. he's about to go to this rally right now in new york city before heading to georgia later tonight. thomas? >> so, gabe, i know you had an opportunity to throw some questions out there, but one of the more interesting things marco rubio said is donald trump

is the frontrunner and the time is now to try to stop that. also hearing those same lines of attack, the phrase con artist being used again. it seems rubio has definitely seized on that narrative, trying to paint donald trump as the wrong choice for the nominee. >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right. and in the debate last night, donald trump tried to label marco rubio as a choke artist. rubio really hit back hard this morning on these morning show interviews as well as a rally in dallas, talking about donald trump, talking about him being a con artist and also mocking him for a series of misspelled tweets that trump had put out through the morning. he later corrected some of those. marco rubio's campaign is really trying to downplay theç chris christie endorsement. chris christie really pummelled rubio in that debate a few weeks ago.

the campaign tried to bounce back from that. it looked like they had done that after that debate performance last night. but rubio comes back trying to downplay that endorsement today. thomas? >> gabe gutierrez on the trail there in oklahoma city with marco rubio. and it has been a wild afternoon in politics, and we are expecting to get reaction shortly from senator ted cruz. he had a pretty good debate last night in houston. and nbc's hallie jackson is following the cruz campaign. he has moved on to nashville. hallie, what have we heard, if anything, from the cruz camp yet, his reaction of chris christie endorsing donald trump? >> reporter: well, we already have a response, thomas. a campaign aide telling me after the announcement was announced, this was essentially, in the aide's words, new jersey values meeting new york values, adding that it's terrible for marco rubio given it appears the establishment is not coalescing around him. the aide feels this isç essentially a net positive for

cruz's campaign. and it's interesting when you look at sort of the dynamic here. one big question mark as we talk about what this endorsement may mean moving into super tuesday is whether chris christie's support can actually help broaden the base, broaden the support for donald trump. he's been polling at maybe 35 to 44 or 45% range, so let's see on super tuesday if it turns out that christie has helped expand his support for the republican electorate. you talk about reaction from other campaigns. john kasich's campaign echoing what we heard from cruz's, echoing this is a, quote, unquote, miracle. we'll hear how the christie endorsement reverberates around the trump field. cruz is heading to arkansas, including georgia, trying to make plays. for him, though, it really is texas that is the must win. he's trying to make sure he beats donald trump there, and if

he can, according to sources, keep marco rubio below the threshold viability when it comes to delegates, çthomas. i tell you, today this big story is just this donald trump- >> chrichris christie attack on marco rubio, the attacks on the fact that christie has now come out in support of donald trump, even after saying things, for example, everyone is kind of obsessed with him. i don't quite get it. this is just last month in january in new hampshire when christie was campaigning. he was still in the race, essentially, talking about donald trump. he says, when you are considering donald trump or ted cruz or marco rubio, he asks, you're going to turn over to someone who has never run a government? so chris christie with sort of a different tune out today as he talks about and touts donald trump's executive experience, in his words, thomas. >> reporter: it . >> it is a wild twist on the ever turning roller coaster that is the gop primary. hallie jackson, thank you.

steve kornacki, you thought you made it away safely out of atlanta to get back home, and now we're dragging you back in to talk about this, because it's a tectonic shift having chris christie come out and endorse donald trump. is this really a net gain for trump or more of a netç gain f chris christie? >> reporter: oh, it's for trump, absolutely. the one effect is the news coverage. the story this morning when i was down there in atlanta with you was donald trump getting beat up a little bit in that debate last night. and then the talk of, you know, whether there be a fallout for donald trump from this? is marco rubio now on the rise? now the big story, chris christie endorsing donald trump. it's a completely different kind of story for trump. it also signals something that a lot of the sort of political science types who watch these campaig campaigns, the ones most skeptical of donald trump, he's been missing endorsements from

the top political parties. chris christie comes out today giving a major endorsement, a former presidential candidate. there was also this week after nevada two other congressional endorsements for trump. you're starting to see, maybe, significant players within the republican party, elected officials, start to say that they think donald trump is going to be the nominee, and they think it's time to start getting

and i think he really feels that the attacks that came against him when he started to move up õrom rubio supporters are the thing that stalled that momentum. and i think you saw that in that debate when he singled out marco rubio, when he just relentlessly went after marco rubio and probably cost him a lot of momentum there in new hampshire. i think you're probably still seeing our republicans leaders, conservative leaders sending signals frantically trying to

get him on board. >> i was able to ring nicole wallace and get her on the campaign having worked both for john mccain's campaign as well as jeb bush. nicole, what did you think when you heard chris christie came out and endorsed donald trump? was this a wild turn or an expected one? >> you know, folks very close to governor christie thinking on the race have told me in recent days that he viewed the race as settled, sort of a decisive victory inç nevada. the background noise is me on the mean streets of new york city with a four-year-old who is known to blurt out "donald trump" at times, so consider yourself warned. chris christie has known donald trump for at least 15 years. he believes some of the more outlandish things he has said, like george w. bush being blamed

for 9/11 are things he didn't really mean but said for effect or drama. he seems to be sort of a trump whisperer, if you will, and i think donald trump gaining chris christie as a defender and prosecutor of the other republicans in the field is a seismic shift in the dynamic of this race in the next phase that it's in. i think that to say that it simply quiets or sort of stalls the rubio coalescing is giving short threads to the significance of this news. it also bolsters trump's ability, he's almost on a three-dimensional front now.ç chris christie is shutting down rubio very, very well, prosecuted attacks on trump's business dealings, but shut it down. this is a civil matter. for a lot of people who are on the fence but see trump as sort of having so many of the building blocks towards the nomt

natio -- the nomination, they will be kmfr discomforted by someone like christie saying, oh, that's not anything to worry about. i think this is a monumental gain tore trump in terms of having a defender and having someone prosecute the case against his opponents. >> what do you think, though, about the fact that marco rubio bought the christie campaign donor contact information and then comes out for trump? a lot of people, nicolle, thought that was a silent endorsement for rubio. did rubio just get punked? >> all is fair in love, war and primary politics. i think that if you had any doubts about chris christie's real questionsç about rubio as someone ready not just for the presidency but to take on hillary clinton, he let it all

show when he prosecuted rubio in the new hampshire debate. i thought rubio tried to do to donald trump what christie did to rubio in that debate. and i think the notion that christie's support was automatically going to flow to rubio, anyone who thought that would have been wrong. i think christie, and again from folks close to christie, christie has long held out about whether rubio was the best suited to take on trump or hillary clinton, for that matter. >> this is one heck of a team that they've debuted on a friday afternoon. nicolle wallace, get back to your son. thank you for making time for us. i want to go to katy tur. she joins us from ft. worth. she was there when the announcement came with chris christie throwing his support at donald trump. katy, i know you've had a few questions as well trying to figure out what thisç means an whether christie is vying to be

on the ticket or the cabinet. >> reporter: that's right, why would chris christie endorse donald trump at this moment. some of it has to be his anger at marco rubio and the negative ads, but i want to know is there something coming along the pipeline down the future? is he ang ling to be his running mate? is he angling to be an attorney general position. trump said he would be a terrific running mate but they haven't had those conversations. chris christie has said repeatedly he plans on staying in office in new jersey as governor for the rest of his term, which is a few more years. so certainly not giving away anything, but i wouldn't be surprised if there is something coming, a competition to be had later on down the line if donald trump does actually win the presidency, some sort of cabinet position that could potentially be on the table for chris christie. they've got a lot of similarities, these two men, a

lot of similar personality styles. they'reç both very bottmbastic they've been accused of being bullies. they're not ones to change course. they're two very strongly opinionated men, and men who don't take kindly to being intimidated. but in terms of policy, there are a few similarities. both wanted to fund planned parenthood. both have described themselves as pragmatic. both want to repeal common core. chris christie was originally for common core, but he said that's one of the things he regrets signing into law in new jersey. both want to stop the path for undocumented workers. christie thinks climate change is a reality. christie does not support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. of course, donald trump does

support that. christie wants to cut social security, donald trump doesn't want to touch social security. the one thing they have in common right now is they're both aiming theirç fire at marco rubio. it was a brilliant tag team in this convention hall here today, the crowd going wild every time donald trump or chris christie went after marco rubio. and a lot of personal attacks as well, and those certainly have been a signature of both men's campaigns. chris christie, as we've been talking about, really went after marco rubio forcefully in the new hampshire debate, ruined his chances, according to what people saw, in that state, saying he was a robot, saying he was repeating himself. marco rubio tried to use that same line of attack against donald trump last night, saying that he just repeats himself. but today this news that chris christie is endorsing donald trump has certainly got to cut like a knife in the marco rubio

campaign. they wanted to own the news s l cycle today with that strong debate performance, and what is occurring is trump has stolen all the oxygen in the room once again with the endorsement of chris christie. >> they have definitely taken the headlines. katy, if you can hear me, you asked about the taxes, if someone under audit could still release them. how did donald trump respond toç that? >> so i asked them, there is nothing in the irs rules that preclude someone from releasing their taxes if they're under an audit at that moment. he said unequivocally he will not release his taxes until that audit is done because he doesn't want to face any complications. that is according to tax experts and tax lawyers we've spoken to, a pretty common feeling. not something people should necessarily take as donald trump trying to avoid releasing his tax returns. but we did try to ask him, me and another reporter, tried repeatedly to ask him if he would release past tax returns and he repeatedly avoided that

question. >> katy tur reporting for us there in ft. worth, texas. katy, good to see you. thanks so much. we have a lot more coming up. that breaking news of the endorsement shaking the race with chris christie backing donald trump. we're also watching the stage in new york city. that is where marco rubio is about to speak to his supporters there. we have more from atlanta as we have taken the show on the road here at moorehouse college. back after this.

hi, everybody. we are back at moorhouse college reporting live in atlanta and following some major developments in the republican

presidential primary race. just four daysç before super tuesday, georgia being one in the race, and we have chris christie announcing his support for donald trump. >> what i said most consistently during that campaign was the problem is washington, d.c. and we don't need washington politicians to come in and fix it. when you look at who is remaining on that stage, there is no question that this is the person who will go to washington, d.c. and be able to absolutely turn the place around. >> so your enemy's enemy is my friend. look at that pairing of donald trump and chris christie. i want to bring in our roundtable for reaction to this. we have jack kingston, who is a cruz supporter, republican strategist kristin solstice anderson. it's great to have all of you with me and we have some wild ripples to cover this afternoon. congressman, let me start with you about ted cruz. your support for him and do you think this kind of rubio-trump distraction going back and forth

is an opportunity for cruz to soar through the middle? >> i think it's very helpful. trump is not a consistent conservative, and the more people who shed light on that the better for ted cruz, because the trump voters tend toç affiliate with cruz. they do want to have a disruptive candidate, if you will, somebody who will change things dramatically in washington, and ted cruz is the guy who can do that. the difference between him and trump is he's been consistent in his conservative philosophy, where trump seems to come up with it in the poll numbers through the last couple years. i don't know where he's come up with some of his ideas before then. >> we have senator marco rubio speak to go his supporters in kansas city. let's listen to that. we'll talk about it on the other side. >> i've never met her, but i paid sally may a lot of money.