our senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny is following the democratic contest for us. what's the latest? >> reporter: wolf, hillary clinton is pushing hard for super tuesday tomorrow night. she hopes it will be the biggest collection of delegates yet. she wrapped up a campaign rally here in virginia a short time ago. she's decided to add minnesota on to her campaign schedule. she'll be going there tomorrow. that's a state bernie sanders has been planting his flag in. the sanders campaign is confident of win something states but a short time ago, he told reporters when asked if he could win any state but vermont, he said, i surely hope so. >> tomorrow is super tuesday. massachusetts is right in the middle of it. and i need your help. >> reporter: hillary clinton is riding a wave, hoping her south carolina landslide becomes an even bigger super tuesday victory lap. >> i will work as hard as i can every single day. i will get up and go to work for you and fight for you. >> reporter: the delegate fight with >> reporter: the delegate fight with bernie sanders will go on, bu

meantime, send you to washington. the lead with jake tapper starts now. >>> thanks, brooke. our long national nightmare is over. leo finally has his oscar. the lead starts now. >>> donald trump blaming his earpiece for refusal to condemn the klan, david duke, and white supremacist groups. they interrupt a trump rally. >>> the biggest day in the campaign, republican officials in washington in desperation mode trying to save the party as they know it. what will it mean to be a republican if super tuesday becomes trump tuesday? >>> plus. >> i made the worst mistake of my life. >> first on cnn, an american college student detained in north korea sobbing as he pleas for mercy. does he look like a spy working for the cia? pyongyang thinks so. >>> welcome to the lead. i am jake tapper. everything is on the line for republicans tomorrow, super tuesday. if the polls are to be believed, this time wednesday we will be talking about donald trump, the presumptive republican presidential nominee. instead of party leaders getting comfortable with the idea, they're in full panic mode becaus

i think there is a lot of hand ringing in washington. the reality is much of washington brought this on. people are very mad at the leadership. i think in both parties frankly. but trump has had the benefit of having such a crowded field, it's disburpersed a lot of the i think the angryist voices have gone towards him. as long as his field stays as large as it is, that i a benefit to trump. >> washington is a little irked some people aren't dropping to perhaps coalesce behind one. alex, to you, sir, great piece with maggie and jonathan in "the times." in your reporting, you mention senate majority leader mitch mcconnell laying out the plan that would have lawmakers break with trump in a general election? tell me about that. >> what they're envisioning now is a scenario where they're struck with trump and it becomes very clear maybe even before the convention in july that he's a nonstarter and he's going to lose badly. what that means is you have a number of vulnerable republican senators up for re-election who suddenly have to choose do

our senior washington correspondent joe johns is live in minneapolis where bernie sanders is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in a little more than one hour. they are also very, very enthusiastic, joe. >> i think so, very enthusiastic. and we're seeing people stream in right now. still got an hour and a half ago. a lot of these people sort of tipify the bernie sanders team across the country, younger, appearing to be students and what have you. but, look, hillary clinton is in some ways in the driver's seat right now and her campaign is trying to appear as if they're not confident, they're not overconfident. they're trying to be cautious and at the same time they're trying to pose themselves as the campaign that is going to win the nomination, the democratic nomination for president. hillary clinton is also talking more about donald trump. and that's a little bit of trying to appear like a general election nominee. but i have to tell you, bernie sanders has been talking about donald trump as well on the campaign trail of late. and it's not just a reflection of who thinks they're in t

the government, if it has power, it belongs at the state level, not at washington d.c. you will have a president that believes in free enterprise, not because i inherited money or i'm wealthy but because my dad was a bartender and my mother was a maid, and the reason why they had jobs is because free enterprise works. free enterprise is the only economic model in the history of the world where you're judged on your merit and work, not on your connections, not on your last name. it is the only economic model in the history of the world where you can make poor people richer and you don't have to make rich people poorer, where you can lift everybody up and not tear anyone down. and that's why as a candidate i have offered serious ideas and serious proposals. unlike donald trump, who won't tell you where he stands on the issues, because he doesn't care where he stands on the issues. to him, we'll figure it out when we get there. we can't elect the dog that caught the car. get it? think about it. the dog is always barking at the car. what are you going to do when you catch t

these are washington insiders. and i don't really hang around with them. they are not comfortable with me. people say there are a lot of voters that would vote for trump or for me. why is that? they know i don't take orders from the establishment. those people, the big lobbiests i beat them 25 years ago and they resent it. it's great. they can have their opinions. i'm not even aggravated by it, but it means nothing to me. they are not out here. they are not in the arena. take a deep breath. >> what are you expecting to happen tomorrow on super tuesday? >> i think trump will probably win everything. maybe cruz will win in texas and then has to figure out how to head north with his message. we'll do okay but not great. this was never our plan. we have a campaign plan and then we campaign our plan. our hope now is that our belief is that we go north and you will begin to see things change. >> governor john kasich, we appreciate you being on new day. thanks so much. >> thank you. >>> the good stuff. that's next. stick around. you premium like clockwork. month

little marco rubio is another washington politician that is all talk and no action. and the florida senator hit back making fun of trump's unusual tan and says what is trump's small hands. >> he doesn't sweat because his hands are clogged from the spray tan he uses. donald is not going to make america great. he's going to make america orange. he is always calling me little marco. he is 6'2", which is why i don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2". you know what they say about men with small hands. you can't trust them. you can't trust them. >> and new signs of republican panic in washington overnight. what might be called a disendorsement from senator ben sass. in a lengthy facebook post, he writes if trump wins the nomination, he will not vote for him. >> he is hugely popular. he campaigned all over iowa against trump. now he says he is in the never trump camp. he will not vote for trump if he is the nominee. interesting to see that. interesting to see how the party responds. >>> hillary clinton is campaigning fresh off her huge victory ove

kerrie washington just walked by looking amazing. can we talk about eddie. i thought he might show up in something a little more edgy. >> he usually wears wild clothes, he's a fashion guy. but he's wearing a beautiful standard classic alexander mcqueen tuxedo. because tonight is not the night for the gentleman to go crazy. you do that at the globes, you do it as other events, but tonight keep it classy. >> rooney mara, what did you think? >> rooney mara was stunning, wearing givenchy, a goth victoriana flair, keeping to her personality. very severe hair and makeup. it was so romantic. it reminded me a lot of the costumes in beyonce's videos. >> you have hot sauce in your purse? i now you were going to get beyonce into this. and last, but not least, brie larsen. nominated for "room." >> she's wearing custom gucci. heavy studded belt. a departure from what gucci has been doing, it's a little more off-the-wall. >> if i could pick a theme there isn't a theme for tonight. >> for tonight? >> yeah. >> absolutely not. it's all over the place. >> we've seen romantic.

people in washington are public servants. they serve you. we haven't had enough of that. donald trump, great to have you and one of the greatest cities in the whole world. the huntsville, madison area is fabulous. we have more ph.ds per capitia than any place per country. the best corporate leadership of all over the world and best here and hiring people here is what we need for all of america. i'm proud to have you with us. god bless. >> wow. so great. that is so great. you know, he's an incredible guy. thank you. get him out of here, will ya? thank you. get him out. all right. thank you. boy oh, boy. never fails. but you know, again, i say it all the time, now the cameras, they follow that, they know how many people, the all time record, look over there, hey, cameras, take a look eefr here. take a look. unbelievable. 32,000 people. this is amazing. and by the way, look over there. we can't get them in. they won't let them in. why can't they come in? fire department, let them in. let them in. we've got thousands of people over there. let them in, if you can. all right. s

i look at what goes on in washington. these guys could care less about me. we talk about young people having never participated in the political process. what our job is to revitalize american democracy. to have one of the highest voter turnouts on earth, rather than one of the lowest. >> brnz bernie sanders there saying that he is moving in to super tuesday with momentum, despite the fact that he lost. he was smashed by hillary clinton, his competitor in south carolina. you heard hillary clinton in her concession speech last night saying, kind of in response to donald trump as we have been talking about the whole back and forth involving the kkk saying america is great. what she wants to do is make america whole. governor john kasich almost repeating a similar refrain. now talking to supporters in massachusetts saying there is no time for hate. let's listen in. >> i guess every day i wake up there is another crazy thing happening in this campaign. apparently today, i don't understand it but donald trump refused to disaassociate himself and condemn white sup

republicans in washington, d.c. are starting to tell republican senators that they don't have to go to the convention if they are the nominee. they should think of running against you if you are the nominee. that combined with marco rubio doing the never trump hashtag. do you think republicans are violating the pledge? >> totally. if they want to play the game i can play it better than they k. and i have more people than they do. doing that is a total violation of the pledge, yes. >> how do you see this possible hypocrisy of the pledge? >> i think republicans are headed for a split whether trump is the nominee or not. this has gone so deep for so long. if trump is the nominee, there's no way on god's green earth that many rank and file republicans can vote for him or go to the convention or do the things they normally document if he's not the nominee, a lot of the voters will be so angry they will sit out the election. the republican party has a big, fat problem. >> already. brian, real quick. >> i was going to say,

well, washington, d.c., may start doing just that. after murders in the nation's capital went up 54% last year, the city council recently voted for a crime bill that includes a provision to give money to those who are most likely to commit acts of violence. >> all those in favor of the amendment in the nature of a substitute, say aye. >> 200 people per year could receive payments in conjunction with mentorship and therapy. criticism of the proposal has been witherring, as you might imagine, and the bill is not certain to go through, but here is a really crazy part. another city has run a similar program for several years paying out tens of thousands of dollars, and it appears to be working. in 2007 the bay area city of richmond, california, was the ninth most dangerous city in the united states. things were so bad, the city officials thought about asking the national guard to be sent in. instead, they created the office of neighborhood safety, a new department, separate from law enforcement, that would focus on reaching out to the com

they are fed up with washington. it is a change election. it is send a message to washington. we're sitting here with $19 trillion worth of debt. we haven't had a balanced budget in 15 years. we have people who are struggling, absolutely struggling -- >> would you like some water? >> she's preaching this sunday morning. >> i know! let me tell you, they're sick of the southern border not being secured. and they want to see some action. and so they're sending a message, and god bless the american people for standing up and saying, we're going to get this country back on the right track. >> here's the thing. you cannot beat donald trump playing defense. you can't say i'm here to defend. you have to play offense. you have to say i want to extend what the last president did. that's why bernie is actually drawing people to him and building a movement. your state's a great state. but you also know that no one else gets to camp out for a year in any state. what we're seeing right now in places like chicago, places like detroit, places like flint, we'll both be there next week, is ther

kathleen parker from "the washington post", jim warren from pointer, and molly hemingway, senior editor at the federalist. kathleen, is rubio trying to portray trump as a loser, something other candidates up until now have been maybe afraid to do? >> well, absolutely. and i'm delighted that e seems to have taken my advice because i wrote a column to that effect, but anyway, yes, basically what he's doing i think is going after trump. he's taunting him because the one thing a bully can't stand is to be taunted, and he's trying to get under trump's skin i think at a deeper level than anyone else has bothered to do previously and why not? trump has been throwing it at him pretty fiercely. he's returning the volley but he's also having a little bit of fun i think. it's a liberation moment for marco rubio who has been accused of being so robotic previously. it seems to be working too. trump cannot stand it and we'll see where it goes. we'll look forward to everyone getting back to being a little more presidential however. >> you think that will actually happen? >> will that actually happen?

the fascinating governor of maine was at the governors meeting here in washington earlier this month and he was very fired up about the fact that something must be done. we have to take on donald trump. this is going to be terrible for our party. well, he's a big chris christie guy. when christie got on board late last week, lepage followed suit. there's no more revealing in the party than those ten days where paul lepage goes from that. they have been sounding the alarm for months about this, who have been pleading. yeah, jeb bush. >> walker. >> pleading with folks to raise money to try to go after trump to create some kind of a sustained organized campaign against him. it fell on deaf ears time and time and time again. and now you've got the spector of the senate gop considering not just separating themselves from trump but actively running ads against him to provide space for their own candidates who are going to be on the ballot this fall. mitch mcconnell is a very wily old pro is apparently determined to do whatever it takes to hold the majority. and that includes possibly runni

and i understand the anger towards washington. but that anger should be directed at the obama administration. their willingness to ignore the law. to do whatever they want by fiat. that is really where this fight needs to go is against the obama dmings. and if we nominate donald trump we are effectively continuing the obama administration in the face of hillary clinton. >> victor, let me come back to you. and of course there's been this call for donald trump to release his taxes. e heard that from ted cruz. but we heard something else. let's play that sound bite from yesterday from ted cruz. >> you know in the civil war you couldn't fight for the south and the north at the same time. it didn't work that way. they didn't make a musket with a barrel on both ends. page side. >> so ted cruz invoking the imagery of the civil war right in the deep south. to make a political point of course that brings up a the meerd of the painful and associations for people. >> i don't think he was doing it in that context at all. i think he was just s

system move, not so much out of the gulf of alaska, but they're more aimed across british columbia, washington, and into oregon. less so if california where they have seen such extreme drought over the last few years. and temperatures in the central united states were exceptionally warm. we'll show you the record high temperatures. mostly in the 20s. there you see in aberdeen, south dakota, you go back to 1895. that was a record, back in 1895. the temperature for saturday afternoon was 20 degrees. there we see mid 20s, north platte, nebraska. these temperatures are good ten degrees or so above where they should be for this time of year. it isn't just the west coast of the united states that is feeling the impact of a strong storm system where snow levels are lowering and gusty winds and heavy rainfall. same can be said across the western and the north central mediterranean where you see the brighter colors. that's where the higher cloud tops are. that's where the heavier rain is going to be. and don't be surprised if you see a couple of thunderstorms just erupt across the west coast of italy,

, they don't like you in washington. and if you want to be liked in washington, that's not a good attribute for president. >> here's a man, robin hood over here. he talks about corruption. on his financial disclosure form, he didn't even put that he borrowed money from goldman sacks ande

maybe massachusetts, washington, oregon, where there's hotbeds of progressivism. she might start to point out that more. >> van, then we have to go. >> i just think there are areas, is he barack obama -- no. frankly, that's not the point. the point is that there are key differences and on the question of peace, on the question of war and peace, where he gets closer to the president and to the base than hillary clinton, he never made it an issue. >> you think bernie sanders is closer to barack obama than hillary clinton? >> on syria. on peace. >> in life. in the real world. >> on real soldiers dying? yes. on stupid wars? yes. >> on life. >> why is hillary clinton opposing our president? >> this is the game we're having. >> we'll get van a cool cloth for the break. standing by, polls are closing in south carolina. cnn could be on the verge of making a major projection right after this. nobody move! get on the floor! do something! oh i'm not a security guard, i'm a security monitor. i only notify people if there is a robbery. there's a robbery. why monitor a problem

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ryan, former senior communicationings to mike huckabee is hogan gidley and in washington commentator van jones. thank you all for being here. hogan, let me begin with you. i want to read you something from a "new york times" piece. talks about mitch mcconnell. it said while he's begun preparing senators for the possibility of a trump nomination if it threatened to harm them in the general election they could run negative ads about mr. trump. let's step back and think about that. that is you know, the highest ranking mitch mcconnell saying that his fellow senators can run negative ads against the party's nominee. >> right. also make the comment that we drop him like a hot rock, i think is what he said. i want to know who the we is. the establishment? they have already gut punched the american worker time and time again. they hurt the republican party time and time again, so i'm not exactly sure where he's going. i understand he is trying to protect the senate but that's what makes donald trump so popular is that he's going against what they stand for. >> hurts them more. >> absolutely

it is the election, the primary for the democrats, ryan is with me, cnn commentator and washington correspondent at the new yorker. it's interesting, joe johns told us from one of the polling sites that it looked like to him, this is anecdotal, that voter turnout is very light. >> yeah. >> who does that help, hurt? granted, we don't have the numbers. >> look, so the conventional wisdom which has been wrong in this campaign, but i think it's right in this case, is lower turnout hurts bernie sanders. so, in a lower turnout election you have this core of the democratic party. people that vote in every election, and those voters so far in the first three states have been hillary clinton supporters. in iowa, the sanders campaign predicted that they would lose the campaign under a low turnout scenario. they would tie it under a little higher. and they would win it higher than that. >> this was iowa. >> iowa. and it was obviously in the middle. it was tied of it they nailed that. their projections have been more voters better for sanders, his two core constituencies are young people, millennials, and i

and if it's even found in government, it's at the state level, not in washington, d.c. for the first time in eight years, you're going to have a president that follows the constitution. that means on my first day in office, in my first moments in office, i will cancel every sing. one of barack obama's unconstitutional executive orders. every one of them. when you make me president, when you make me president, we are going to have a president that embraces a free economy. free enterprise works, i know it, because my parents, we're not rich people. my father was a bartender and my mother was a maid. the reason they had a job is because free enterprise works. because someone who had access to money risked that money to open up a hotel and hire them. free enterprise works because it is the only economic model in the world where you can make poor people richer, and you don't have to make rich people poorer. we are going to save free enterprise. we're going to fix our tax code. i have a plan out there to do that we are going to roll back these crazy regulations that come out

and if it's even found in government, it's at the state level, not in washington, d.c. for the first time in eight years, you're going to have a president that follows the constitution. that means on my first day in office, in my first moments in office, i will cancel every sing. one of barack obama's unconstitutional executive orders. every one of them. when you make me president, when you make me president, we are going to have a president that embraces a free economy. free enterprise works, i know it, because my parents, we're not rich people. my f

, it welcome contributes to the narrative of rubio being a washington insider. but there is of a different m magnitu magnitude. when you're endorsed by someone that stood next you to at a debate podium and sparred with you, you got in disagreements with and was on the campaign trail, when you're endorsed by snaun is your equal and colleague and says, yes, i wasn't the guy but there is the guy. i do think that is meaningful. i don't think it's going to, you know, make him rise more necessarily. but i do think in the marginal situations when you have a voter of massachusetts where trump is leading by 20 points saying to himself, you know, i do go with rubio or trump? maybe you think of new jersey governor chris christie and maybe that makes a difference? >> and ron, you made reference to the "new york times" piece entitled "inside the republican party's desperate mission to stop donald trump" writing this "the endorsement by mr. christie landed friday with crippling force. it was by far the most important defection to mr. trump's insurgency. mr. christie guy miff

they want something different to happen in washington, d.c. they are tired of the same old business being led by the same old people. and bernie represents something new. he represents a revolution that's going to adjust how business is being done in washington, d.c. and you can see that revolution taking place even in some of the remarks that hillary clinton is talking about. now she's beginning to talk about those issues that bernie has been talking about everywhere. not only in a black state of south carolina, not in harlem, but bernie sanders has been talking about that in iowa, in new hampshire. so he's been talking about those issues that are relative to the african-american community from the very beginning. >> we'll see if the young voters show up at the polls today. maria, let me come to you. does this expectation that hillary clinton will win by a large margin hurt her potentially, maybe some of the voters who were -- might have been excite philadelphia this were a much tight erase might stay home and this margin will be narrower? >>

ted cruz said he would go to washington d.c. and challenge the leadership in both parties, particularly the republican party which he note in conflict after conflict with barack obama that republican leadership surrendered before breakfast and we've seen that to be true with republicans frustrated with the lack of republican agenda even though we won the house and won the senate. you know, ted cruz did not go to washington d.c. to change ideas and become somebody else and climb the latter. ted cruz insure rent conservative conservative and conservative leaders chat le ee the status quo and with republicans that want to challenge. >> three days until super tuesday. we'll see how he does in texas. ron and kaley, thank you both. >> thanks, victor. >> christi, back to you. >> thank you so much. great conversations there as we also have to talk about apple ratcheting up the fight with the fbi warning that compiling with the order to hack a phone could mean a government with quote limitless powers. >>> but first, a new california star

. >> nobody has gone to washington that we have elected and did what they said they were going to do. >> reporter: what makes you think he will? >> i look at his history. i see the company he has built. i have seen the empire he has built. >> i'm the only one on the stage that has hired people up. haven't hired anybody. >> reporter: randi kaye, cnn, dallas, texas. >>> ahead of south carolina's democratic primary and super tuesday next week, bernie sanders and hillary clinton are swinging through southern states to snag whatever votes they can. sanders kept up the wall street talk rhetoric and clinton is dealing with demands she release transcripts from her paid speeches. here's senior political correspondent brianna keilar with more. >> reporter: bachelor parties antti aren't your usual campaign events. >> this is exciting. >> reporter: but that's where hillary clinton unexpectedly found herself at a charleston bakery one day before the south carolina primary. trying to convince voters to walk down the aisle with her. >> i need your vote tomorrow. >> reporter: instead of bernie sander

i've done it in washington, i've done it in ohio. i hope you've noticed i do have the foreign policy experience, and working with some of the great minds to develop the confidence, the firmness and toughness and the ability to bring people together. i hop you all think about giving me your vote. i would appreciate it very much. i tell you, we won't have to spend time figuring what we're going to do. i will hit the ground running and we will get america moving again. thank you all very much. >> senator rubio. >> thank you for having us tonight. you know, this campaign has come a long way. it was just a few months ago there were 15 or 11 us on the stage and now the votes are starting to count. we incredible decision to make, not just about the direction of america but the identity of our party and conservative movement. the time for games is oaf. had you a lot of choices to make and i'm asking to get mind me, go on our web site and join you are effort, marcorubio.com so we can bring an end to this silliness and luniness. >> senator cru

donald trump represents strength and marco rubio represents washington, d.c. we don't need any more d.c. politicians. >> i want to talk about this nasty turn in the gop race with bob cussack, editor and chief of "the hill" and ari fleischer. ari, have you ever seen a day like today in politics before? these guys are trying to be president of the greatest country of the world. >> you really miss george w. bush now, don't you? i don't know whether to laugh or cry. the laugh part of me says look at the surge and turn out on the republican side in all four contests so far. >> there's a massive outpouring of people interested in this republican race maybe because they're not talking about political issues. the cry part is -- >> you said like normal -- i don't conduct myself. i don't know any of my co-workers conduct themselves at work. we thought we had seen it all in this campaign. everything sort of ramped up so much in this debate last night and then today. why is that, ari? >> don, here's the thing that you have to look at if you are a republican. there's a rea

in washington, d.c. on the campaign trail going into the final weekend before super tuesday. getting ready for round three. round one was the debate last night with rubio launching his first trump-style attack. today came a bunch of insults. >> a nervous basket case. here's a guy -- you ought to see him backstage. he was putting on makeup with a trowel. i don't want to say that. i will not say that he was trying to cover up his ears. >> what does donald do? he takes to twitter. i'll read some. you'll have fun. number one, here's the first one. lightweight marco rubio was working hard last night. this is true. the problem is, he is a "chocker." and once a "chocker" always a "choker" i guess is what he meant to spell. >> when they put marco on to refute president obama's speech, do you remember that catastrophe? and he's like this. and we will -- i need water. help me. >> next tweet, leet weight marco rubio looks like a little boy on stage. not presidential material. he meant to say lightweight but spelled it l-e-i-g-h-t. >> he's a choker and all of a sudden, he's being drained

>> i think it really comes down to the fact that washington has become so corrupt by the donor class and the special interest, and we need to fix it from the outside in instead of the inside. and donald trump is the only candidate in the race that isn't completely controlled by the washington to wall street axis of power. we need someone to go and shake things up and make significant changes. he's the only one that has the capability to do that. >> donald trump lives in a manhattan penthouse and doesn't like to spend the night outside of new york and he's not taking money from people outside of new york but he's as new york as it gets. ted cruz, of course, now famously said new york values to imp ply a lot of negative things about materialism and apply that to donald trump. you obviously don't think that is right. >> i don't. i think a lot of that is because he's been an executive. he's hired tens of thousands of american workers across the country. so he's been able to see how to create those jobs and the impact the decisions he makes has on their families. and the other guys on the

chris christie was frustrated at the republican establishment in washington, d.c. and the deep pocket of donors in new york who did not get behind him and went to marco rubio trying to, what he thought was gaming the same. chris christie joining trump right now is actually not too surprising. i also heard he is not that close to john kasich as much as we've been saying that. it made sense for him to go to donald trump. >> two sitting governors and christie decided to go with the billionaire businessman. ron, was today's endorsement just another hit for the republican establishment as it's called? at some point do they need to accept the idea of trump becoming the nominee? >> i think the republican establishment, they continue to be divided on this question. precisely on the point that chris christie raised. whether donald trump is their strongest candidate in november. donald trump embodies one-half of what's been a republican civil war about how you win back the white house after they've lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections. one school of though

"washington post," i have to tell you, i have respect for jeff bezos but he bought "the washington post" to have political influence and i got to tell you, we have a different country then we used to have. 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. 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 we do and we're certainly leading. i'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and mohorrib and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. we're going to open up those libel laws. so 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 prot

i will le illegal immigrants in washington, d.c. four bankruptciebankruptcies, a that sues everyone whenever they say something about him or point out his behavior, he will sue them. those are not attributes that ronald reagan ever had, and what they hear donald trump stands for in his own words and seeing it there, i don't know what took them so long. it should have been done six months ago. >> so jeffrey, how do you respond to that? because what tara said is true. there is a froaud case. he does have bankruptcies in his past. he did hire people from outside the country. >> over americans. >> look, they're part of the price of doing business. now has he made mistakes in his business career, sure. but how many businesses has rubio owned. how many people has he employed. when you're looking at marco rubio, he has never hired anybody for a job for an official public sector, the public trough if you will in his life. this is what he does. >> okay, so donald trump is a businessman, right? so how is he going to stop other businessmen fro

he is promising if he's elected, he will go and cut deals in washington. he's right. he has supported deals. he's given hundreds of thousands of dollars to democrats. anyone who really cared about illegal immigration wouldn't be hiring illegal immigrants. anybody who really cared about illegal immigration wouldn't be funding harry reid and nancy pelosi, wouldn't be funding the gang of eight. >> ted cruz, theory of the case last night was very clear. donald trump is not a conservative and if you put him into a general election, he makes this party vulnerable. did it stick? well, let's get some confirmation this morning from ted cruz's communications director alisilailson stoord se. >> you've got it right. >> whoo. >> he has a lifetime of donating to candidates. as ted cruz did last night, held him accountable. asked him the questions directly and he did as he always does, he calls him a liar, changes the jikt, attacks the merger, and i think it was quite effective. we did learn last night on several fronts, donald trump supports socialized medicine. he has always suppo

>> no, i'll be back in washington tomorrow. >> i know. like mules. >> it's our busy season. >> wolf blitzer, dana bash, thank you. back to you. >> thank you. coming up next, more conversations with more candidates and the reality check with one of the claims made on stage. we'll be right back. >>> we're back in the debate hall that looked more like a ballroom blitz. we are joined by donald trump. they really came after you. ted cruz and marco rubio. how did it feel? >> it felt fine. i expected it. i was told by watching you and everybody else, in particular, i was told it would happen. i expected it. based on every poll, i hear i did very well. i felt comfortable. >> how do you prepare? >> it's very interesting. i never debated before professionally. i'm against these politicians. they talk. they do a lot of talking. the first debate was good. i think we did very well in the debating. according to every single poll. the more important polls are the polls we have now. bloomberg came out with a poll a couple hours ago. double digit leads pr

i've done it in washington. i've done it in ohio, and i can go back to washington and do it again, but i also hope you notice tonight that i do have the foreign policy experience, not just a few years, but a lot of years, working with a lot of the great, great minds of this country to develop the firmness and the toughness to bring people together. i hope you would give me your vote. i would appreciate it very much, and we won't have to spend time figuring out what we will do. i will hit the ground moving and we will get america moving again. thank you all very much. [cheers and applause] >> senator rubio? >> thank you for having us tonight. you know, this campaign has come a long way. it was just a few months ago there were 15 or 11 of us on the stage, and it's narrowing. the time for games is over. i know you've had a lot of choices to make, but now it's time to narrow it down. and i'm asking you to get behind me. go on our website and join our effort, marco rubio.com so we can bring an end to the silliness, t

voters are rejecting washington and specifics. they want donald trump to capture their anger, speak to them, purvey strength. when he gets in the white house, you're going to see a very successful country. >> thanks very much. thanks very much for watching. i'm anderson cooper. you've been watching "the situation room." coverage continues right now with "erin burnett outfront." i'll see you back in an hour. >>> good evening. i'm erin burnett. welcome to a very special edition "outfront." we are live from houston, texas. the five republican candidates for president are about to take the stage behind me in a crucial faceoff. this is the final debate before super tuesday when 12 states will vote and everything is on the line to want. center stage the frontrunner, donald trump. he'll be standing there. he has won three states in a row. in the lead by 65 delegates. ready to take him on his left and his right, the men running out of time to stop him. ted cruz is the only man so far to beat trump, but he's 0 for 3 after his iowa win and

the voters are angry, they don't want a washington insider. they want somebody fighting for their jobs. they want somebody who's perhaps a little bit more protectionist and populist when it comes to trade. are you surprised or disappointed that senator cruz isn't adapting more to where the voters are? >> you know, he has a great message that i think now that the field has been winnow ed down will connect with people. let's talk about jobs and a lot of americans are concerned about jobs. ted cruz's message but also his solutions are far more effective because he understands that the biggest killer to jobs right now are all the heavy hand of regulation from the united states government. obamacare, the epa, dodd-frank, et cetera. ted cruz is the one who's able to bring all these things down very quickly once he's elected. that will stimulate gdp in the united states and get jobs growing again. >> white supremacist group is out with a robo call endorsing donald trump and telling voters, republican voters presumably that are being targeted not to v

also with us, todd gillman, the washington burreau chief for th dallas morning news. this back and forth over donald trump's taxes, where the main aggressor is one willard mitt romney, the 2012 republican nominee. i suppose there are two questions. you've been on the record with us saying you think at some point donald trump will be vetted more than he has in the past and this may be one of those areas that will take place in. be that as it may, is willard mitt romney the right messenger for this attack? >> it certainly does show he is the embodiment of the establishment. for him to compae out, i think it's unprecedented to come out like this. but where's his evidence? what does he know that we don't know? interesting to hear. >> impressive for the man who was the republican nominee. i should note that donald trump announced mitt romney four years ago and in case anyone forgets, mitt romney went hat in hand to trump towers to essentially beg for that endorsement. >> we will eventually see his tax return but we will not see him in march. >> all right, amanda carpenter,

in washington, d.c. 9:00 p.m. in baghdad, wherever you're watching from around the world. thanks for joining us. >>> up first, we're counting down to the last republican debate before super tuesday. it could also be the last chance for donald trump's rivals to try to slow his momentum towards the republican presidential nomination. the stage is set for this evening's showdown. you're looking right now at live pictures from inside the debate hall at the university of houston. donald trump will be front and center coming off three straight primary or caucus victories. he'll be flanked by senator marco rubio of florida, and senator ted cruz of this home state of texas. along with dr. ben carson and ohio governor, john kasich. on the campaign trail, rubio and cruz are already sharpening their attacks on the front runner. >> we can't be fooled by pt barnum. the time for the clowns and the acrobats and the dancing bears has passed. >> the front runner in this race, donald trump, is actually alluded to the fact he thinks parts of obamacare are pretty good. i can tell you, everybo

and then for yesterday, virginia all the way up almost to washington, d.c. it was very close, as storms were very close to your southern part of your viewing area, northern virginia. we get tornadoes all of the time. there is a tornado in america every month all of the time. in fact, we should have 29 in february on an average february. and it's not unusual to get big outbreaks, either. super tuesday, 2008, we had 86 tornadoes on the ground and 57 people died. that was in a february. how did it happen? you need a big jet stream and we had one. you need warm air heading up the east coast. we had that. and you had cold air coming back down, pushing that warm air aloft. it's like pushing a hot air balloon up into the sky. severe weather here on tuesday, severe weather here on wednesday, thursday finally moving offshore. this severe weather will be well out to sea today. we won't have to deal with it on land, but we will have to deal with much colder air. the wind is blowing everywhere. the airports are slow and it's cold outside when you walk out there. it feel

let's talk about that with a trump supporter and also with commentator for the washington examiner. thanks for being here, both of you. jason, why has mitt romney injected himself into this campaign? >> well, why not? he's concerned about his party, and the way that it's going. clearly not the direction that mitt romney wants this party to be going in. everything else has been tried against donald trump so far. why not come out and say that he should release his tax returns. maybe there is a bomb shell in there. he had the event in iowa. he skipped the debate and had an event in iowa. there's no evidence that he donated that money. why not try to get involved? >> we did talk to one very small veteran's group that did accept a donation from donald trump on that day. but they're smaller veterans groups across the country, not the big larger ones. i wanted to throw that out in fairness. why not just release -- why doesn't donald trump just release his tax returns and be done with it? if he has nothing to hide, what's the big deal? >> because donald trump is bucking the political rules.

i know folks on the republican side and non republicans are very frustrated with washington and they like in donald trump somebody that is willing to break some china. but i also think we have to maintain a certain level of decorum. and this is the leader of the free world. and someone we want our dhirn to grow up to emulate and i think that kind of attack, which you see very frequently doesn't happen the process. >> we'll be looking forward to watching the debate tonight. thanks so much. >> thanks a lot. >> unraveling one of the biggest scams in history. a cnn money investigation you need to hear about. that's next. .. (radio chatter continues in background) that's all there is. there's just one direction. forward. one time... now. and there's just one sound. you and us... together... with a mighty roar... that tells the world... we're coming for you. (vo) whewe ate anything.ake home until i decided we both needed to eat better. now jake gets purina cat chow naturals indoor a nutritious formula for indoor cats with no artificial flavors. it helps to control hairballs and maintain a

he has defined what he thinks is the wrong approach by washington and then he's offered what he believes is a rather simple remedies. that is something that's really resonating right now. >> but a lot of people in the beginning didn't believe that he could do it. >> that all of these people misjudged the pundits pm they misjudged the anger of the american people. >> they really shouldn't have because the three people who are the frontrunners right now, marco rubio in 2010, ted cruz in 2012 and donald trump in 2015. what do they have in common? they're the outsiders. and they have close to 60 and 70% in some places. and marco rubio now wears the establishment proudly. and the idea you can beat trump from the left, senator rubio himself was asked tell us which state you'll win and he said i'll win florida on march 15th. ladies and gentlemen, by march 15th, 50% of the delegates will have voted. he's skipping the first four contests 0-4, he's not going to win anything on super tuesday, according to mr. rub io himself and he may win florida. i think cruz has a much better chance of winning te

some tried and true jabs dealing with citizenship or dealing with whether or not people in texas or washington actually like ted cruz. did the same thing on twitter today. you'll note he'll go after ted cruz no matter what. the big question is not so much what donald trump does tomorrow night. it's what the other candidates do to him as you know quite well. the gop establishment is scrambling trying to figure out some way to stop this momentum that's gone forward. tonight will mark the first night and the last major opportunity on the public stage before super tuesday for those candidates to really go to work on trying to stop donald trump, anderson. >> phil mattingly, thanks. >>> now marco rubio out of state when the nevada results came in. pretty much went straight to bed as soon as the outcome was known. he held a campaign event here. jason carroll was there and joins us now. what's rubio's message after nevada because at some point if he wants to beat trump he actually has to beat trump. >> yeah. very true, anderson. his message post-nevada is the same message his campaign says before neva