's dream or new dueling lobster tails. it's a party on every plate, and you're invited. so come in while it lasts. hi, everybody. good afternoon. i'm thomas roberts. we start the hour here on msnbc live with the latest development about the anti-donald trump movement happening in this country. getting one of the bigger endorsements it's seen yet. coming from the former standard-bearer of the party, mitt romney. moments ago, romney writing on facebook that he would be voting for ted cruz in the upcoming utah nominating caucus. and here's why. according to romney, trumpism

has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity, and most recently, threats and violence. "i am repulsed by each and every one of these." and again, this is just the latest in this movement of the gop establishment trying to coalesce around a senator ted cruz, who they think is an establishment figure that could go against donald trump in a one-on-one contest. now, let us remind you that three people remain in the gop nominating contest. governor john kasich of ohio, senator ted cruz of texas, and donald trump. the one with the best chance right now leading up to the july convention for the gop in cleveland is donald trump. the delegate math supporting the chances of donald trump getting to the needed number of 1,237. but, ted cruz would tell you that there is still an issue for donald trump, if he is able to achieve that number and get much closer to the delegates needed, john kasich has a bigger uphill

climb, getting there. and people have been discussing the possibility of an open convention come july. the possibility of a brokered convention, where if donald trump did not meet that benchmark of 1,237 delegates, those pledged delegates after the first ballot would be unleashed, unbound, and be able to vote for other candidates that are still in that contest. that being for ted cruz or john kasich. right now we have msnbc analyst and former communications director for the cruz campaign, rick tyler, joining me by telephone. >> rick, talk about this. because this is a big if, certainly for ted cruz, to get this from mitt romney, but it also makes ted cruz an insider. and he's been trying to run on the outsider message, just like donald trump. so if you're doing the net gain and negative here, how does this calculate for a ted cruz? >> well, what we've seen is the establishment is coming to ted

cruz, because they so fear a trump candidacy. and i also think and have seen the establishment's -- day begin to look at ted cruz's agenda. you know, what he's running on. and he's talked about balancing the budget, going to a 10% flat tax rate, having better relationships with israel, strengthening that relationship, rebuilding and building the military. and what the republicans need to ask themselves is what -- will they not work with ted cruz on? and the answer is really none of the above. and so the donald trump candidates presents such a unknown to them, so markets don't like unknowns. they like stability. political parties don't like unknowns either, because they don't know if a trump candidacy, if that's going to be -- establishment donors who normally fund the rnc, are they going to fund a trump rnc?

a trump candidacy is going to cost $1 billion to run against hillary clinton. who's going to pay for that? so they have decided. and i think it's emblematic that both lindsey graham and mitt romney have now decided that cruz is the answer. >> well, when we think about what this type of endorsement means for a ted cruz or the fact that mitt romney would state that he's voting for him, again, according to romney, he says trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity, and most recently threats and violence. i'm repulsed by each and every one of these. again, this is a calculation based on hatred for the campaign of donald trump, or not liking what it embodies in terms of being the gop standard-bearer. not so much that we've followaln love with what ted cruz stands for. there's a big distinction to be made for. >> and now this campaign is shaping into, are you for trump

or against him? he's a central figure in the campaign and has been since last july. and the never-trump movement has been gaining momentum. and the polls have continued to prove that there is a large anti-trump movement. and now that the race is really down to two people who can mathematically get the delegates before the convention, trump has the upper hand there, cruz more narrowly. but they're beginning to say, look, let's save the party and we can work with ted cruz. we can't work with donald trump. >> but do you think that ted cruz will respond to that, to say, yes, i'm somebody you can work with. because he hasn't given the most open-handed approach to wanting to work with what i think he refers to as the washington cartel. >> he has referred to the -- look, running against washington is a long, tried and true campaign idea. because people really do want to change washington. and i think that's why you have trump to begin with. but if -- what the establishment

and those in washington wlor elected do right away, immediately, if they really don't want a trump candidacy, is they could look at the cruz agenda and say, look, in the first 100 days, these are the things that we would pass and send to a president cruz. so they would give the country an idea of what a cruz presidency with a republican majority in the house and senate would look like. and if they could give people that vision, i think that would be a stronger message than what people trump is saying, which is essentially sort of saying, which is a vapid, you know, make america great again. >> rick, thank you so much for joining me. rick tyler, an msnbc analyst, former communications director for the cruz campaign. i want to go to our hallie jackson. hallie has been on the campaign trail, following the cruz campaign and joins us now. hallie, the other important thing to pass along, we just got this, the former u.s. senator phil gramm of texas is now endorsing ted cruz and graham saying he's going to be serving he'll be spearheading outreach

for members of congress. so talk about what you're seeing now from the campaign or at least what we're seeing now in washington, an embrace of a ted cruz candidacy. >> you got it, thomas. i mean, that seems to be -- it feels like that's what today is. this signal for mitt romney that he is now backing ted cruz, that he is supporting him. and just as significant, those comments about john kasich, calling him a good governor, but saying that a vote for kasich is essentially a vote for trumpism. this is, essentially, mitt romney on a bull horne, telling the rest of the party leaders, get behind ted cruz, pick a horse, and let's move on, and try to stop donald trump before we do get to a contested convention pinpoint to tell you why we're here, standing in what looks like a dude ranch. we're in douglas, arizona, on the mexican border. ted cruz right now is actually out in a truck. he's driving around, taking a border tour with some folks. he's set to come back here, i believe he's with governor rick perry and talk a little bit to members of the media. that's going to happen in about 90 minutes. we'll be there and asking him about this romney endorsement.

ted cruz tweeting in the meantime, thank you, governor, about all of this. but one of the interesting parts about this, thomas, even with what governor romney is saying, it's not a full-on endorsement. he never said those magic words, i endorse ted cruz. and that's actually what we've seen recently. nikki haley, lyindsaey graham, these were almost begrudging. it was more a sign of antagonism towards donald trump than it was a sign of support towards ted cruz, with the exception of senator mike lee, who came out and made a big show of endorsing cruz. it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days. what the campaign is telling us is that people are reaching out to them, but it's not necessarily with advanced notice. so for example, i had a campaign aide tell me that they hadn't heard that nikki haley would back them until it actually happened. they read about it like everyone else in the news. we'll be talking with cruz here in just a little bit. if you look over here, that's mexico, those mountains. we expect the senator to be driving back to this ranch, glenn ranch here in douglas, arizona, in just a little bit.

>> so i want to get this out there. donald trump tweeting 44 seconds ago, hallie, about utah. this is the site of the now canceled debate that was going to be happening, coming up, you know, the latest gop debate that was going to be happening. he says, going to salt lake city, utah, for a big rally. lying ted cruz should not be allowed to win there. mormons don't like liars. i beat hillary. as you point out, with this endorsement or at least the recognition of a vote from a mitt romney going toward ted cruz, mitt romney being registered in utah, also having huge sway within his own faith, of the mormon community -- >> exactly, yeah. >> is ted cruz well-liked within utah, or at least the latest polling showing what the numbers are? >> the campaign is feeling really confident there. and so two points to make on that 44-second-ago tweet from donald trump. one, i would say you talk about romney's influence in utah, and you're right, it is with the mormon community, and that could be very significant as we look ahead to tuesday's primary. two, the cruz campaign is

hitting utah hard, more so than here in arizona. why are they pressing so hard in utah? the campaign sees an advantage to putting in time and resources there. you're going to see cruz spending some time there over the weekend. and that is because of cruz, who's doing well in u.s., the campaign believes, can get above 50%, he will take all the delegates, and rob both john kasich and donald trump of any. that's actually why you're seeing kasich in utah, in salt lake city, trying to make sure cruz doesn't get above that 50% threshold. utah is shaping up to be a battleground on tuesday, thomas. and this endorsement or this backing from mitt romney will play into that. >> nbc's hallie jackson reporting there in douglas, arizona. hallie, thank you so much. i want to get back to the other big, breaking story we've been following for you all afternoon. and that is the major development overseas in europe, where salah abdeslam, one of europe's most wanted suspected terrorists, connected to last fall's attacks in paris is now in custody in belgium. he's been on the run and in hiding for more than four months. nbc news has learned abdeslam

was injured, shot in the leg during this raid and then captured. we've also obtained this video, apparently showing the moment of an arrest. now, it's not clear who was being arrested, whether it's abdeslam or another suspect that was captured in this raid. but it all started in the neighborhood of molenbeek, just outside of the city of brussels. roughly two hours ago, two loud explosions were heard near the house where the arrest s occurred. and this is video that captured one explosion during a reporter's live shot. take a look. [ speaking foreign language ] [ explosion ] >> you can see that flash, just over her shoulder. and obviously, it was something that startled her during her report, but she was able to continue with that live report. moments ago, we had the prime minister of belgium confirming three suspects were arrested, including abdeslam and called

this operation a success. >> translator: tonight is certainly a success in this battle against terrorism and against these an comable denial of human life. a few moments ago, we had an opportunity for francois hollande and myself had a chance to speak by phone to president obama. he said how encouraged he was, and how he hopes to continue the struggle with his country, too, for the battle of freedom against all forms of violence. >> so there we have the prime minister of belgium speaking. we want to get right now to nbc news foreign correspondent, richard engel. he's covered this story from the very beginning and has invaluable insight and context for what this arrest means going forward. we have the prime minister there, also conforming there had been more than 100 raids conducted in belgium since

november 13th. was it always the working theory that abdeslam safely escaped from paris to belgium and never left, or did authorities think that maybe he was able to flee somewhere else too? >> the working assumption was always that he -- that he survived the attacks. that he was seen leaving france, entering belgium. but frankly, after that, people didn't know what had happened to him. and i think it's quite interesting, the takeaway that i'm -- that i have from this event today, is that he returned home. he returned back to the neighborhood on the outskirts of belgium where he felt comfortable, where his family is, where his family business is. and i think it also shows he really didn't have anywhere else to go. he was the paris attacker who didn't kill himself in the attack. and if you work for isis and you are on a suicide mission, you are fully expected to die. so he couldn't go back to syria.

he couldn't rejoin the isis community of fighters, he had to go back to his friends and the people who would protect him. and he was found today and arrested and shot in the leg in the same neighborhood where he was -- where he grew up and where others were radicalized. >> richard, also, we have the belgian prime minister speaking, and he was sitting right next to french president francois hollande, who had this to say at the news conference. i just want to play it for everybody. >> i have thought for the victims, the attacks of the 13th of november, the attacks at saint denis, because salah abdeslam is ly linked in preparing, organizing, and unfortunately perpetrating these attacks. i also think of the families who were waiting for these arrests, as well as all of those who from near and from far were able to

participate in this horrendous attack. >> again, talking about the families that were waiting for this arrest, richard. 130 people were killed in the attacks that happened from the stadium, all the way to the bataclan and other cafes in and around paris. the president of france also said this was acts of war that happened on november the 13th. so how big of this -- how big is this of an advance in terms of the european intelligence community and its fight against isis? >> well, he was the most wanted fugitive, isis fugitive, in europe, there has been a massive manhunt across borders underway. the french and belgian intelligence agencies have been working hand-in-glove, doing dozens of raids, tradie inine i intelligence, the u.s. also providing intelligence. the france, according to president hollande, also is asking for him to be extradited

from belgium to france. and i expect that once he arrives in france and that request for extradition -- for his extradition in all likelihood will be granted, that this will be a very big case, emotionally and otherwise for the french people. because the 26-year-old abdeslam was believed to have driven some of the attackers to the stade de france, were involved in procuring some of the vehicles and safe houses that were used in the attacks, but then himself decided he didn't want to take part in it. left his suicide vest behind and was seen fleeing the country along with another suspect after the attacks took place. so, for the french people, if, in fact, the extradition request is granted, which i think it probably will, and there is a trial in france, potentially even in paris, it will be a great moment for them,

politically, emotionally, to recognize what happened and that they are -- that some justice has been done. >> nbc news foreign correspondent, richard engel. richard, thank you, sir. i want to bring into the conversation laura haim, the white house correspondent from canal plus. you heard our richard engel talking about the judicial cooperation that is expected to play out in front of us in the next couple of days. also francois hollande brought that up at the press conference, saying he expects that too for belgian authorities to work on that extradition, to see abdeslam come back to france. do you know how much has been in the works in terms of the synergy created by the joint efforts between belgian authorities and french authorities, to capture him? >> yeah, it has been for a long time since the attacks, but specifically, this week, there was a red area this week involving the french police and

also seven terrorists, one to belgium, and they were convinced that they were going to find abdeslam. according to our sources, on tuesday, during a raid, one man was killed and then there was the brother of abdeslam. his name was brahim abdeslam. and he was part of the terrorist attacks. behind him was one of the terrorist s who was firing on people inside a restaurant. it took a lot of time for the french authorities to issue -- to resolve legal issues, for the abdeslam family to bring back in belgium the body. and on tuesday, according to our sources, it was before the raids

today. because the policeman who were watching, they were able to identify a friend of abdeslam, they were able to call in sources to follow this friend. and that's how they found precisely the location of abdeslam, after investigating the people who were there. now, we don't know what happened, but it's really important, as you mentioned, for the french people to have back at abdeslam and to have an amount of extradition to make sure abdeslam is going to have a trial in france. >> laura haim, who is the white house correspondent from canal plus, thanks so much. i want to bring in tara palmieri, based in brussels and was in belgium following the raids we've been hearing about this week. also reporting on the attacks since november. and tara, the raid you were at on tuesday, and that was also something that laura is kind of giving us the timeline here. we have the raid on tuesday, dna

is found in this apartment, but not salah abdeslam. then the funeral of his brother just yesterday, which is amazing to think that took place in belgium, is there -- from what you're hearing, a discussion about, could he have been hiding in plain sight this whole time there in brussels? >> belgian authorities think that he did just stay in brussels. he needed a network to keep him safe. and that's where he's from, is brussels. and, honestly, what i'm hearing is that tuesday, the raid was a lucky break for the belgians. they expected it to be an empty home, where utilities hadn't been paid for months. and once they knocked on the door, shots were fired through the door at three officers. they had backup, special forces coming in from france. but they expected it to be an empty home, expected to collect some evidence. but what they found in there really was the evidence they needed. they found abdeslam's

fingerprints on a glass and they were able to get other evidence and find abdeslam days later. i was informed they were very close to getting him because of the evidence they found in forier. they thought they were getting to the outer circle. they didn't think they had penetrated by that regular, random raid. >> and knowing now this major development that he is an intelligence asset, that could potentially provide a lot of information about the planning that went into the november attacks and whether or not there is any information, he could help with any future attacks. tara, thanks so much. i want to go to nbc contributor, malcolm nance. he's the author of the book, defeating isis. good to have you with me. i know we talked a lot during that time period, which i was reporting from paris, about what this all meant and the ripple effects this was going to have for intelligence community and

security for france, security for belgium. this is a major development in the fight against isis. but from what you know, in the fight, and salah abdeslam being out there for the last four months, do you think that he was considered by isis to be a loose end and ostracized by them? or something else? >> because for him to stay within his own pond, his neighborhood where he grew up, and remain there in almost plain sight would be pretty amazing to some. >> you're absolutely right. this is going to end up to be a fascinating case. and i think once the french extradite him back to paris, they start the trial and start releasing information about just exactly what happened to him, you're going to come up with a very interesting story. from the intelligence perspective, we have to ask ourselves, this man left the scene of the attacks, he dumped his weapons system, he dumped his suicide vest, he rendered it safe. did he have a crisis of conscience? when he went back into the

belgian support system -- which, by the way, that attack in paris was -- if he would have blown himself up, 50% of the attackers would have been all from belgium. when he went back up into molenbeek, he probably had to convince the jihadi network up there that his weapons system didn't work. so he was holed up within a community, which was highly populated with people who were providing logistical support to members of isis. did he integrate back into that community? that remains to be seen. but french and belgian intelligence over the last four months have been doing these concentric rings of security, which have been leading them down to these safe houses and knocking them down one at a time, and essentially gumshoeing their way through to get good intelligence on where he was. but in doing that, they found an enormous amount of support for this operator. >> yeah, it seems as the if -- and hearing about these hundreds of raids that have been conducted, it's almost as if going through a sweep, grid by grid, being able to clear and maybe go back and re-check certain spots, again, as tara

palmieri was reporting, they did not anticipate to find the flat or home they raided on tuesday to be occupied and also to have such substantial evidence of any type of dna evidence that would prove salah abdeslam had recently been there. but when we think about the potential for information about embedded cells in other places or future attacks, do you think that salah abdeslam might have information like that, malcolm? >> well, i think he's going to have an enormous quantity of information. you have to remember, this was going to be one of the original attackers on that mission. he had a suicide bomb vest. so he knows all about the mission planning that took place prior to the paris raid. who brought them those bombs? who created those vests themselves, which were very sophisticated? the automatic weapons, where did they come from? what logistical net brought that? who were they in communication with? who handled primary communication? who handled secondary communication? abdeslam himself may have been

the person who was responsible to communicate back through brussels and then back on to syria. we don't know. however, we're going to find that out very soon and it's going to be a treasure-trove of information. >> malcolm nance, nice to have you on, sir. thanks for making time for me. >> it's my pleasure. we'll keep our eye on that story as it develops. when we come back, we'll turn to presidential politics and what's taking place across the country. and the breaking news we have now with mitt romney, saying he's going to be voting for ted cruz in utah as the republican party establishment scrambles to stop trump. and the words he uses against donald trump will also get your attention. back with more and that post in a moment. when you think about success, what does it look like? is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student? is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves? is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the natural world? whatever your definition of success is,

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welcome back, everybody. breaking news in the 2016 race for president. so the breaking news is, basically, we're looking at social media. anyway, mitt romney became the biggest name to join the cause. however, he is supporting ted cruz. and in his statement, he not

only explained why trump is wrong for america, he also explained why a vote for john kasich is, in essence, a vote for trump. quote, i like governor kasich, i have campaigned with him. he has a solid record as governor. i would have voted for him in ohio, but a vote for governor kasich in future contests makes it extremely likely that trumpism would prevail." so moments ago donald trump responded to romney's endorsement of cruz and of course he did it on twitter. katy tur following the trump campaign from the wild ride. now we're looking at tweets being deleted, but there are some remain. >> this is what's going on in the 2016 campaign season, breaking news is what the candidates and former candidates have been tweeting. anyway, back to what is going on. this is a bit of a fight between mitt romney and donald trump we've been seeing going on for quite some time now. romney, as you said, trying to get anyway to beat donald trump, telling people to vote for marco rubio in florida, that didn't work. telling people to vote for john

kasich in ohio, that did work. and now voting for ted cruz in utah, because ted cruz is the last best hope in that state to stop donald trump. basically, the thinking is that if mitt romney goes into utah -- not mitt romney. if john kasich goes into utah and takes votes away from ted cruz -- >> a spoiler. >> it's a spoiler. donald trump could go over the 50% threshold and then take all the delegates in that state. but let's get to what donald trump tweeted back to mitt romney just a moment ago. he basically said that he was a failed candidate and that he's mixed up, no matter why he lost. and that was the tweet that he deleted. the other one saying that he was a failed candidate again. john kasich and marco rubio, and now he's endorsing ted cruz. americans want to see a president who will fight for them, not a bunch of failed politicians fighting with each other about how to stop them. and i will say this. his supporters feel that way about donald trump. his detractors, of course, do not. but when you go into these rallies and you talk to these folks ask them about mitt romney, who they may have voted

for and they may have liked, they say that they don't think that he should be getting involved in this way. they believe that donald trump is the best answer to fix washington right now. they are so disillusioned with what's going on that they think somebody needs to come in from not just the outside, but the outfield, you know? way outside to come in and fix it. >> one of the other things he tweeted, he said, mitt romney choked, let us all down. now he's endorsing lying ted cruz. this is good for me. and we think about -- and i know you've been seeing it, too, as you're covering the trump campaign, you're also seeing the campaign of ted cruz. as we were seeing out in the field together, as he is now the outsider becoming the insider, ted cruz. so this is good for trump. >> it's fascinating, because mitt romney is the establishment. he is the consummate insider. and ted cruz has been the trying to push him away, his support away. he hasn't met publicly with him, he hasn't talked very much about him. he hasn't campaigned with him, as john kasich did. he hasn't embraced him the way marco rubio did.

because ted cruz has been campaigning like donald trump on this anti-establishment platform and he's said often, when he wins some delegates, he'll say, you hear those screams? those are the screams in washington, because he feels like he is the best one out there to represent change in washington. to come in from the outside. donald trump, of course, has completely railroaded this. has taken this over. so when mitt romney comes out to endorse ted cruz, i'm not entirely sure it's great for ted cruz, but it's certainly good for donald trump. >> he stays on brand. ted cruz is -- >> on message. >> he's kind of fluctuating a little bit, to become this establishment guy. >> it's their last best hope and they're trying to do anything they can to stop him. nothing, so far, has worked, at all. and now, i guess, the only area left to go to is ted cruz. we saw lindsey graham say that he would support ted cruz, which was shocking. >> well, we've heard other things lindsey graham has had to say about ted cruz. >> yeah. >> katy, great to see you.

nbc's mark murray is standing by. our senior political editor. mark, as we talk about this, and we've read some of the romney statements earlier about donald trump and trumpism, it's not a really strong, you know, indictment of either, when you think about what mitt romney is saying here, because he hates donald trump so much, he's willing to kind of bend to support ted cruz. i mean, it's the least of the evils? >> yeah, and thomas, you know, look, this ends up helping ted cruz in utah. and of course, it's possible that cruz doesn't even need this help, given the conservative nature of the electorate. but mitt romney is a beloved son of utah, such a big figure in the mormon church, and certainly mitt romney doing this and saying, hey, everybody, i'm going to vote for ted cruz, helps cruz be able to get maybe across that 50% threshold to win all of the delegates that are up for grabs in tuesday in utah. but i think, as you mentioned, it doesn't necessarily provide a lot of clarity on, if you really

want to stop trump, how, noerl, you end up doing it. because after all, mitt romney was someone who campaigned for john kasich, just a few days ago, in ohio. said to people, please vote for marco rubio in florida, and now says, i will vote for ted cruz in utah. and it's probably better for people to vote for ted cruz going forward. so this kind of singular, unified person that every anti-trump person can focus on, i don't think you still have a lot of clarity, but as romney does say in his statement on facebook, that he wants people voting for ted cruz going forward. the question is, does john kasich get that statement? and is john kasich maybe even a better candidate against donald trump in some of the remaining states, like wisconsin, new y k york, et cetera? >> so why do you think, mark -- and again, let's make this distinction really crystal clear for everybody. this is not an endorsement. this is a publication, voicing his vote. who he is going to vote for in utah. >> absolutely. >> why do you think there is

such importance on making sure there is this distinction? a lot of people would say, well, if you're telling us who you're voting for, isn't that who you want to win? so why wouldn't this be an endorsement? it's kind of confusing. >> yeah, thomas, i don't get why he hasn't just come out and given a full-fledged 100% endorsement here, pretty much because if we read between the lines, he is saying that. so i don't think it actually provides the clarity that if you really want to stop trump, hey, everyone, john kasich, drop out, be clear, say that, say that ted cruz is the person everyone should end up supporting. and he doesn't end up doing that, thomas. >> is this a way to have plausible deniability at the convention to come in and save the day somehow as the nominee? because i didn't endorse anybody? i mean, i voted. i didn't endorse anybody. and mitt romney could come into that convention and say, oh, yeah, okay, cani can take it. >> i wouldn't say it's plausible deniability, i would just say it's a lack of a cohesive

strategy, that in some way, everyone who's against donald trump, they're throwing things against the wall to have some kind of strategy to stop him. whether it's the form in tv ads -- >> isn't that the same old thing? republicans know what they're against, they don't know what they're for? >> correct. that absolutely nails it. and it's one of the reasons that even on tuesday if ted cruz is able to get all of the delegates in utah, he could still end up be shorting that entire day, because arizona is a winner-take-all contest and it offers more delegates, about 60 compared to about 40 for utah. and if donald trump wins arizona, he's going to be the delegate winner for that day. now, ted cruz doesn't get blown away. he's able to just limit donald trump's delegate haul in net gain to about 20. but make no mistake, if donald trump wins arizona, he's going to build his delegate lead no matter what ends up happening in utah. >> mark murray, nbc political editor, great to see you and happy friday. >> thanks, thomas. stay with msnbc, the place for politics. we'll talk about the democrats coming up when tad devine with

the sanders' camp joins me. and when we return, a breaking update on the number of people arrested in that daring belgium raid and the capture of the paris shooting suspect and fugitive, salah abdeslam. look like this. feel like this. look like this. feel like this. with dreamwalk insoles, turn shoes that can be a pain into comfortable ones. their soft cushioning support means you can look like this. and feel like this. dreamwalk. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪

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into comfortable ones. their soft cushioning support means you can look like this. and feel like this. dreamwalk. welcome back to msnbc, everybody. i'm thomas roberts at world headquarters in new york. we have more on today's major breaking news coming to us out of brussels. salah abdeslam, one of europe's most wanted suspected terrorists, connected to last fall's attacks in paris, now in custody. he's been on the run, in hiding for more than four months. nbc news has learned abdeslam was injured during this raid today, shot in the leg. we've also obtained this video, apparently showing one of the suspects that was captured and arrested. we now have this new number, a total of five suspects arrested during that raid. the prime minister of belgium posting this tote of him speaking to president obama about the raid. french president hollande, you can see in the picture there as well, and the french president speaking, saying that he will

request the quick extradition of abdeslam back to france. christopher dickey is a correspondent with the daily beast in paris and has been covering this story from the very beginning. so chris, let's talk about the investigation, first. then we can talk about the extradition back to france and how hollande wants that to be swift. but talk about the intensity of the joint investigation to track him down. >> reporter: well, it's been very intense for the last four months, but reached a crescendo this week. on tuesday, you had a shoot-out in brussels where a man with a kalashnikov was shot by a police sniper after opening fire on police investigators. there was also a man a shotgun who opened fire on them. and two people managed to flee that scene. we now think it's possible that at least one of those people was salah abdeslam, who was, of course -- who they caught up with today. >> so, when we think about where this investigation turns now,

talk about the confidence of a swift extradition, chris, and what motions or procedures are already in place, as the french president and other authorities, have been hopefully preparing for his capture and being brought back to france. >> well, they've been preparing for a long time. i'm sure that the belgiums are not going to hesitate a moment to get rid of him. i don't think they want him hanging around there. and the french want him very, very proudly. you know, french intelligence has been gathering a lot of material and knows a lot more than it knew four months ago, about these networks want these people and their connections. so when they set about interrogating him, and that will be very soon, they have a good baseline with which to go after him and find contradictions in his testimony and in whatever he says. so i think they're going to see him as a potential gold mine of information, not only about the november 13th attacks, but about what might be happening in the future. >> and doesn't that all depend

on whether or not isis and any affiliation he had to isis, thought that he was a loose end, based on the fact that he wasn't able to fulfill the mission in paris, what his part of that was, and if he has been ostracized in the past four months. >> even if he was ostracized in the past four months, he would have a good idea or could point in a good direction to figure out who the exact masterminds were, where the connections were. one of the things you have to understand about these european jihadi movements is, a lot of times when we talk about them, it sounds like they've just been dropping out of the sky. but, in fact, as you investigate them, you find again and again, that they're part of a handful of interlaced networks that have been around for quite a while. they'll be looking at those. >> christopher dickey, the daily beast's correspondent there in paris for us. christopher, great to have you with us. thank you, sir. coming up next, bernie sanders sharpening his attacks

on donald trump and hillary clinton. now, let me say a word or two about the rather unusual situation in the republican party. let me say a word or two about my good friend, donald trump. >> senator sanders' campaign adviser, tad devine, joins me coming up next. keep it locked in here to msnbc, the place for politics. i take pictures of sunrises. it's my job and it's also my passion. but with my back pain i couldn't sleep... so i couldn't get up in time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12-hour strength of aleve... for pain relief that can last into the morning. and now... i'm back.

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let me say a word or two about my good friend, donald tru trump. just kidding! he's not my good friend. in fact, i never even went to one of his weddings. i just never did. >> so there we have democratic presidential candidate, bernie sanders, in idaho falls, earlier today. the embattled candidate coming out swinging, taking on both donald trump and democratic front-runner hillary clinton in the gem state. sanders and his campaign advisers have been hinting that

they could take this election fight all the way to the democratic convention this summer, despite reports that president obama was quietly telling democratic donors to unite behind secretary clinton, story the white house has firmly denied. the campaign is counting on upcoming contests in idaho, utah, and arizona where the demographics are more favorable to the senator, to help close a 700-delegate gap between he and clinton. snarnds is campaigning in all three of those states today. joining me now is tad devine, democratic strategist at firm partner. good to have you with me. >> good to be you. >> so we had senator sanders joining rachel maddow last night and said this about the campaign strong going forward. take a look. >> we think if we come into the convention in july in philadelphia, having won a whole lot of delegates, having a whole lot of momentum behind us, and most importantly, perhaps, being

the candidate who is most likely to defeat donald trump, we think that some of these super delegates, who have now supported hillary clinton, can come over to us. >> sow we have the next caucus and primary states coming up. you feel this is better traerra for the senator, more favorable. you also say it's not a matter of delegate arithmetic. and you've kind of put it out there that you're wooing delegates that are already committed to secretary clinton to come to bernie sanders. is the campaign actively wooing pledged delegates from hillary clinton to bernie sanders? >> no, we're not, thomas. and what i said was, if you want to be the nominee of the party, you need to keep winning. and i think in the first nominating campaign i worked on in 1980, i worked for president carter. and we spent the spring and early summer of 1980 making sure the delegates elected for jimmy carter did not leave and support ted kennedy, because ted kennedy was so strong in the closing months of that nominating process. as a matter of fact, the carter campaign had to adopt a rule

saying every pledged delegate must vote for the candidate for whom they were elected or they would be physically removed from the floor. >> so what are you referring to, it's not a matter of delegate arithmetic. >> the clinton campaign was putting out, they're so far ahead, that we can't catch up. that's not the case. we can get ahead in the end. we're only at halftime. 49.7% of the pledged delegates have been selected. that means more than half are to be selected. she's got a big lead, a formidable lead, but we believe we can catch up, slowly but surely if we win in the weeks ahead and that's what we plan to do. >> so t"the new york times" say, the worst is over for bernie sanders. the primaries in the south are finished and now the democratic contests head north to bluer and for the most part, whiter states. so we've got this, tad, the most part, the amount of the senator's support coming from those whiter states, potentially. is that going to be enough to win the nomination? >> i think the states that lie

ahead are better for bernie. it's not just a matter of demographics. it's a matter that people that live in the west of this country, very progressive. the west coast, very progressive. i think people that live in the states that will vote next tuesday really respond to his message. the economy of this country is rigged. it's sending almost all new wealth to the economy. and that's held in place by a corrupt system of campaign finance. i think that's what people are responding to and will respond to in the weeks ahead and i think that's why we can win. >> senator warren was giving an interview on a morning show and she was asked if hillary clinton should release those transcripts and the speeches that she gave. this was the senator's response. take a look. >> i think that our candidates are out doing what they should do in a primary. they are debating the issues -- >> you're not answering my question, senator. >> what i'm doing is i'm telling you what i think should be going on right now in this election -- >> well, it's a yes or no question, should she release the transcripts or not? >> i think the primaries are doing exactly what they should be doing.

and the candidates are being tested. >> senator warren also said in this interview, she was proud of the campaigns of both sanders and clinton, but are you disappointed she doesn't feel the need for secretary clinton to be more transparent? should she have answered that question about the speeches? >> no. listen, i think senator warren's been a real leader on progressive issues, you know, before and after her election to the united states senate. i'll answer the question. yes, hillary clinton should release the transcripts, okay? i think we've been pretty clear on it. i think it's the right thing to do. i think if she did it now, it would probably be much better in terms of the long run. >> is elizabeth warren somebody you would tap for vice president? >> listen, thomas, we're nowhere near even thinking about that kind of choice. right now bernie's focused on being the nominee of the democratic party. we think he's got the right message, the most powerful message. we think we've a good campaign. she's ahead at halftime, but we think we're going to win. >> we still have a ways to go. tad devine, great to see you, tad. thank you. >> thank you, thomas. >> so mitt romney's announcement he's going to be voting for ted cruz in utah is giving new

ammunition to stop the trump movement or is it just helping donald trump? what happens if they succeeded and trump doesn't get the delegates needed for an outright look? ari melber joins us next. with dreamwalk insoles, turn shoes that can be a pain into comfortable ones. their soft cushioning support means you can look like this. and feel like this. dreamwalk. the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon... then quickly fell back to earth landing on the roof of a dutch colonial. luckily geico recently helped the residents with homeowners insurance. they were able to get the roof repaired like new. they later sold the cow because they had all become lactose intolerant. call geico and see how much you could save on homeowners insurance.

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more than a third of the gop insiders will get the first crack at setting the rules. ari, what did you find out about the convention? >> our legal unit reached about a third of the standing members in the rules committee for the rnc. they have a lot of control here. one thing we've heard about, the idea that maybe paul ryan or mitt romney could get in. they say, no way, that idea is dead on arrival. we'll show you, out of the 19 we talk to, only three were open to a new candidate. they're basically saying, you want to stop trump? you've got to do it with cruz or kasich. in 2012, there was a rules fight all about ron paul at the convention. not something people have fought much about it. but it illustrates a really important point, which is, these rules are up to the people at the convention and the chair. and any fight has to be settled between them. that's why some republicans are so nervous. so watch closely in this moment where then-chair boehner is trying to get a vote and he's saying he hears it being a yes vote when it's a voice vote and there's a lot of booing and concern from these angry members on the floor who don't think he

was being fair. >> without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the adoption of the resolution. all those in favor, signify by saying, aye. all those opposed, no. the aye have it. the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion is on the table. >> you hear the angry booing, because people thought maybe boehner was saying the aye have it automatically to support romney, and then there it is, this leaked out, in his teleprompter, it was from-written that the ayes have it. that the fix was in that the resolution was adopted. it was not, thomas, according to at least many republican delegates there and who we spoke to, it was not a real vote where he basically looked and listened. he already planned to accept the rules that romney wanted. and a lot of concern that on way bigger issues, a lot more writing on it this time, as we know, you could have more rules

chicane chicanery. >> that was not a scene from "house of cards," that was real. that's going to do it for me this hour. i'm thomas roberts, thanks for your time. chuck todd has national security adviser susan rice up next. "mtp daily" starts now. if it's friday, it's mitt romney, once again desperately trying to stop donald trump. now he says he'll vote for ted cruz in utah. but does that mean he's endorsing cruz for the white house? this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. >> good evening, everyone. and welcome to "mtp daily." we, obviously, have a lot to get to tonight on the republican party's latest twists and turns and the total lack of a unified strategy in the attempts by some to stop trump. plus, we're expecting to hear