johnny ann thompson is here now with more on the campaign trail. >> yeah, well, trump's opponents are saying he's not a reliable conservative. meantime hillary clinton easy grip on the democratic nomination is starting to weaken. >> reporter: for donald trump, his biggest lead nationally. it comes with trump poised to win saturday in south carolina. >> i thought years ago -- or a year ago, it was a joke when he put in his hat to run, and now he might get my vote. >> with three days until the vote. >> let us come and have a good result in south carolina. >> you all have the chance to reset the race. >> reporter: trump's rifles are saying that's not conservative. >> i am pro dmois every respect. >> reporter: that was in 1999, part of a current ted cruz ad. he is warning that trump would not put a pro-life justice, pro gun justice on the supreme court. >> a vote for donald trump is a vote to erase the second amendment from the bill of rights. >> reporter: trump says he has changed and might sue cruz. >> i never dealt with anybody that lied so much. >> reporter: hoping to replace cruz as

anne thompson, nbc news, mexico. >>> 48 people had to be rescued from a frigid new england ski slope after their tram cars got stuck 40 feet above the ground. look at this. rescuers actually had to use rope to help stranded schoolers propel through a hatch in the bottom of the car to the ground about 40 feet from the mountain. thankfully nobody was injured. they say a breaking sis is to days to fix the problem. >>> marvel's latest movie "flick" has started. "dead pool" earn $135 million. "dead pool" had been the biggest. also for the biggest february weekend and biggest president's four-day weekend. meanwhile it debuted in third while ben stiller's much hyped "zoolander 2" took in a disappointed $16.7 million. >>> an accusation of a woman choking spitzer. >>> and get rt rd for a triple threat with three separate covers. you're watching "early today." ay." symptoms worsen because your heart isn't pumping well. (water filling room) (dog whimpering) within 5 years of getting diagnosed. but there's something you can do. talk to your doctor about heart failure treatment options. because t

anne thompson has the details. >> reporter: appearing >> are you listening? >> reporter: and often inattentive. >> reporter: former pharmaceutical ceo martin shkreli lived up to his bad-boy reputation appearing before congress. >> i intend to use the advice of my counsel, not yours. >> reporter: posing for pictures instead of listening. >> it's not funny, mr. shkreli, people are dying, and they're getting sicker and sicker. >> reporter: he declined to answer why he raised their life-saving drugs 5,000%. >> do you think you did anything wrong? >> on advice of fifth amendment privilege. >> reporter: the 32-year-old usually loves to talk. >> i'm from the streets. >> reporter: but today he let his attorney speak for him. >> what you saw was nervous energy by an individual who very much would like to explain what happened. >> reporter: leaving the other drug company executives to face furious questioners. >> i find it repulsive >> reporter: valiant under fire for jacking up prices on two heart well-established drugs. >> where we've made mistakes, we're listening,

this despite the catholic church's ban on contraceptives, we get more from nbc's anne thompson in rome. >> reporter: returning from mexico, pope francis surprised many by opening the door to the use of artificial contraception to prevent the sexual transmission of zika, the vi rugs rampant in his native latin america, linked to babies born with unusually small heads. it's similar, he said, granted to the nuns in the belgian congo when they were routinely raped in the 1960s. francis continues to shock, as he did in 2013 when he said the church has been historically too obsessed with things abortion and gay marriage. >> to say he's simply teaching is a misreading of what he's doing. this is a pastor, and people in their situation. >> reporter: it was revealed in letters this week, francis said a friendship with a woman is not a sin. the pope needs the input of women. he said a man who doesn't have a woman is missing something. as with donald trump and immigration, pope francis is proving once again that he is on controversial topics, trying to resolve issues of faith with real-world lest

nbc's anne thompson has the details. >> can't afford to let heartburn get in the way? >> reporter: stopping heartburn is big business. >> zero heartburn. >> reporter: sold as nexium, prilosc and prevacid more than 15 million americans shelled out more than $10 billion in 2013 for the prescription versions of these drugs cold proton pump inhibitors. now a new study from johns hopkins says the acid-reducing chronic kidney disease 20% to 50%. cleveland clinic kidney specialist is treating kim hinkel. >> kim had normal kidney nunks in march and bloodwork in august showed kidney function down to 30%. >> reporter: kim was taking one of the over-the-counter versions. on a hunch the doctor had kim stop, and her kidneys improved. >> i was lucky it was caught early, and that we can do something about it. >> reporter: for over-the-counter acid reducers the fda recommends they be used for 14 days and no more than three times a year. for the prescription versions, the package insert recommends for most conditions the pills be taken for up to eight weeks. >> pills are not the only a

ann thompson is pope and has the report. >> reporter: today, mexico city opened its arms to pope francis. the sight of the son of latin america beaming in the city square moved some to tears. >> i'm going to cry. that's for sure. >> reporter: others to hope. >> life changing pope. he is reforming the church. think he's wonderful. >> reporter: drawing the faithful from all over the americas. describing himself as missionary of mercy he challenged them to focus on the common good and eliminate economic inequality for corruption and drugs. mexico is the second largest catholic country in the world. 83% of the people here claim the faith. of the shrine, a must on francis' itinerary today. mexico is also a country bloodied by the violence of drug cartel cartels. speaking to the local bishop, he said the cancer, threatening society. more than 164,000 people murdered since 2007. including at least 36 priests killed in the last ten years. thousands more missing. 13 every day. this man's only son is one of 43 students kidnapped and believed dead. he says he wants to meet the pope because he belie

as nbc's anne thompson explains the pope is seizing this moment to make an emotional plea on the issue of immigration. >> reporter: a simple gesture and powerful message. at the u.s. border fence pope francis builds a symbolic bridge from mexico on immigration. francis himself the son of immigrants seeking to put a human face on the people fleeing what he calls grave injustices, among the hundreds of thousands here to see him, 21-year-old jasmine flores who crosses the border every day to go to school. >> for him just to cam to juarez, means everything to us. >> reporter: no longer the murder capital of the world juarez is still a dangerous place. father half jer kovalio runs a shelter for immigrants. he says he hopes francis can make americans see the people he helps every day should be treated with dignity. as he does on nearly every foreign trip, francis visited a prison. one of the inmate musicians overwhelmed. this evening's mass broadcast on both sides of the border. >> religion reaches over walls, over mountains. >> reporter: the joy on the pope's face marred only by a brief fla

nbc's anne thompson is in mexico city. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, craig. this city is buzzing from the rousing welcome given to pope francis last night. he arrived in darkness, but greeted with light as thousands held up the portable light sticks and chanted his name. children rushed the pontiff on the tarmac reaching out to welcome him to mexico. while dancers in traditional dress performed for the pontiff. well. one offered his sombrero and he put it on for a moment. earlier in the day on the flight from rome, this sombrero was offered to him. on the flight, he said he was excited to come to mexico. whether he is concerned about the zika virus that is so prevalent here in latin america. the pope told me no. earlier, he stopped over in havana for what turned out to be an historic meeting with the patriarch of the russian orthodox church. the first time the two leaders of those churches met. pope francis described it as a brothers. these institutions had been separated for centuries. the pope. he will meet with the president and give a speech to the diplom

nbc's anne thompson is at vatican city. >> reporter: good morning, sheinelle. the vatican is trying to tamp down the furor over the pope's comments. the spokesperson saying the pope's words were not a personal attack. now like popes before him, he is in the middle of the political debate. pope francis paid at the border as a pastor. but the words on the papal plane sounded political to many. saying a person who thinks only about building walls and not bridges is not christian. >> for a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. >> it wasn't pope francis's intention to get involved in that particular candidate. i think it was donald trump's reaction and other people's reaction is turn this into a political episode. >> reporter: they have a history of smiling, but clashing on policy. john paul ii took issue with clinton and bush for the pro abortion position and the republican for the second iraq war. benedict admonished president obama for supporting abortion and stem cell research. urged congress to take action on climate change. >> the envir

ann thamp e thompson is at vatican city with more. >> good morning. as we've seen with his comments on donald trump's border wall, pope francis can be blunt. even his closest observers were made yesterday to the church's opposition to artificial birth control. >> reporter: in pope francis' native latin america, the zika virus carried by mosquitos, is being linked to babies born with abnormally small heads. women are urged to avoid getting pregnant in the region of the catholic. the pope said contraception to prevent zika is the lesser of two evils compared to abortion. he said abortion is a crime, absolute evil, and likened it to what the mafia does. his decision is not the first in church history. in the '60s, the pope allowed nuns in danger of rape to use birth control. in that case as in the zika epidemic now, francis said it was a clear exception. that exception has some people in latin america hailing francis as a modern pope who finds solutions. change in church doctrine. >> this is not a blanket statement to apply to all forms of contraception