that's a rounding area in washington d.c. when we spend some $600 billion a year on defense alone, and i can tell you that certainly i'm a fiscal conservative. i want to make sure we're making the best financial decisions, but as we start to look at this, you know, what he didn't mention is that out of the people that have been released, we know that one is now an al qaeda leader in yemen and was actually in detention at gitmo. we need to close it, but we need to close it by bringing them to justice and having them go before a military tribunal. we've been sending millions of dollars on attorneys to defend them, and yet, here we are trying to make a political statement instead of really addressing the concern for all of this as americans. it is bipartisan. we do want to make sure that our homeland is secure. but i can tell you having been down there, we don't even let the military men and women who guard them have their real names on their fatigues for the potential of retribution from these hardened terrorists that are there

sanders said his strong showing should make people believe that they could send a message to washington. >> it is asking working people and middle class people to stand up and fight for their rights, help us take on a class that who's agreed is doing so much damage to our economy. and 80% of young people didn't vote last election. i'm very proud that we're bringing young people into the process and ree vitalizing american democracy and iffer wire going to change america that is what we got to do. >> more on the sanders campaign. good morning. >> good morning, carol. bernie sanders did get started quite early today here in new hampshire as well. with that stop in beau, new hampshire around 3:00 eastern time. here in keen she's expected to see supporters. this is very much seen as bernie sanders country. in part because of geographically he's from vermont which is a neighboring state. also politically because the state has such a large number of independent voters who are really expected to buy into his arguments of economic inequality, as well as campaign finance reform. my colleague chr

stay active with boost®. >>> live now to the washington hilton in washington d.c. this is the national prayer breakfast. aroma downy and mark burnett are speaking. producers of the tv mini series the bible. you hear them talking riebt now. when they are done president obama will come to the podium and we expect him to talk. the clock is ticking and the insults flying for republicans trying to seize momentum in next week's republican primaries. chris christie is holding a town hall in keane right now. doubling down after the dismal finish in iowa. look for christie to again take swipes at marco rubio who enjoyed a surge in iowa. in the meantime the biggest brawlers are the two front runners with donald trump accusing trump-cruz of stealing votes in iowa and demanding a do over. >> oh that voter fraud. you know, these politicians are brutal. they are brutal. they are brutal. they are a bunch of dishonest cookies. i want to tell you. >> i wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing donald has tweeted. because he's losing it. >> cnn's dana bash live in mchsz new ha

and it's not coming right down from washington. i see people lessening up on social issues and other issues as well as immigration. i think it will be interesting to see how young republicans kind of work with this and become the new party. >> the new party. let's pull out how the iowa republican party is trying to cater to you guys. take a look at this. this comes from the website. sort of the front page there. focusing on young voters, young republicans. what do you say to those who argue that focusing on young voters is a wasted effort? they say, look, you guys don't get out to caucus as much. right now you're in college in session. so you're going to caucus in more contained areas rather than all over the state where your homes are. what do you say to them? >> i don't really believe that at all. i think young voters are incredibly important, especially with student loan issues, student debt. there's a ton of issues that pertain to students. the security of the nation and our economy. i think there are going to be a ton at stude

they expected a different kind of senator when he got to washington. and when he came in as a key member of the gang of eight, reforming the immigration program in the united states, a lot of those people who supported him when he ran for the senate and made him a star felt betrayed. >> so where do you think he'll land on immigration when all is said and done? >> it's clear he wants to do something about immigration. it's a personal issue for him because he is not only from florida but he is from a family of imgramigrantimmigrants. i would expect him to talk a lot about securing border but also talk about improving the system for entry and exit with visas so that it's a more orderly system. the real pressure on him will be whether he will take a hard stand on a path to citizenship for the 11 million or 12 million people in the country undocumented. that is the tough question for him to answer, and it's the one that he eventually will be forced to answer. >> i'm sure you're right about that. manual, thank you so much for joining me this morning. >> stil

essentially, if anybody in washington, any top official in washington, if you look at their private e-mail, you're going to find sensitive and classified information. there were two e-mails that have now been flagged as being classified for colin powell. they were more than a dozen years ago. in rice, ten e-mails sent to her aids. she has issued a statement from her office at stanford and she points out that she never used e-mail at all while she was secretary of state, and that these ten e-mails, she says, did not contain any intelligence information. it's important to point out that in the case of hillary clinton as opposed to the other two, she set up her own private server to handle all her government work while she was secretary of state. and there's still an fbi investigation that is now hanging over her campaign. >> all right. evan perez reporting live for us this morning. thank you. some other top stories this morning. >>> a six-day three-state crime spree over as one suspect is killed and another in custody after a big gunfight. the suspects, a couple from missouri had been nickna

dana bash has the story from washington. >> reporter: good morning carol and george w. bush spoke his strict presidents shouldn't play politics rule to help. but today jeb bush is back out on the trail in south carolina solo hoping the energy from last night's rally carries over. george w. bush drew a large crowd and a deep distinction between his brother and donald trump. >> strength is not empty rhetoric. it is not bluster. it is not theatrics. real strength, strength of purpose comes from integrity and character. and in my experience, the strongest person usually isn't the loudest one in the room. >> the 43rd president never uttered trump's name but he didn't have. >> we do not need someone in the oval office who mirrors and inflames our anger and our frustration. >> he spoke only a few hours after trump doubled down on criticizing him for 9/11. >> i've heard years he kept the country safe after -- what does that mean after? what about during t eleven? i was there. >> recounted what it was like for him that morning and then segued to jeb. >> he's got the backbone to

the whole washington establishment can't just say part the waters, marco's coming. the debate on saturday proved why that is important that all of us get challenged. >> i'm saying did i hear that five times now? and it was obviously a sound byte that he likes. you can use a sound byte once but not five times. >> i think the race changed because you know there was a march among some to anoint senator rubio. i think after last night that is over. the fact is that senator is unprepared to be president of the united states. >> chris christie, also yesterday told reporters that he wanted to quote the great political philosopher saying everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. the big issue, marco rubio came in with momentum. his town halls were packed while people were willing to acknowledge. the support doesn't look like it is. as we move in, the polling in the state, up to 30% of likely republican voters remain undecided and that doesn't bring into play the independents who choose to vote when they go to the polls. there is a lot of ground that can be ma

he spent a lot of time in washington. he's an establishment guy. but john kasich doesn't have the organization moving forward. he's limping out of here on fumes. he'll get a little bit of money, maybe, but you can't take on the juggernaut which is jeb bush. >> he doesn't have to win south carolina or even have a good showing because he may not do -- he's got to get to super tuesday, right? he's got to wait for the midwestern states which he'll probably do well in. >> john kasich gets to say to people, even those mad at him for spending medicaid, for sometimes a scolding the rest of the republican party for not being as compassionate as he is, head and heart is his big thing. he gets to say, look, you don't win ohio, you don't win the presidency, republican party. an ironic thing has happened. the establishment is in a car pile-up now and conservatives are trying to show they are not the wing of the party anymore. they are the base of the party. trump, cruz, outsiders placing -- cruz wins iowa, comes in second in new hampshire. it's an establishment

started out in washington d.c. today meeting with some civil rights leaders including al sharpton and the head of the national urban league. sanders is headed onto las vegas later today. he's expected too much town hall there as well as a rally. and he will be facing off in that town hall with hillary clinton. back to you, carol. >> reporting live for us this morning, thank you joe. >>> good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. we're just two days away from the republican primary in south carolina. and the candidates are scrambling to lock down votes. in the first round of town halls, the candidates sold themselves, jabbed each other and talked about a strong military in south carolina. a state steeped in military tradition. the elephant in the room? whether opening combat roles to women will weaken the u.s. military. here's senator rubio's take. >> i don't believe the military is a place where we should lower standards to meet another goal. i believe that -- i'm open to people in both gen

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.

and does represent washington. as you said right to rise has spent $60 million, you know, an ungodly amount of one and it's gotten jeb bush into fourth place in new hampshire and sixth place in iowa. i guess this is kind of what they are down to. and maybe it will work but it just doesn't seem it has the right tone of what the republican primary electorate is looking for this year. >> and we're watching another ad by right to rise and everybody is familiar with that one with the boots and marco rubio. i want to move on to one for bernie sanders because he's fighting for the minority vote. they just released an ad featuring the daughter of eric garner who died after police put him in a choeld choke hold in new york. >> i believe sbernds a protester. >> when a police officer breaks the law. that officer must be held accountable. >> he's not scared to go up against the criminal justice system. >> you get the gist. if you watch the whole ad it actually gives you goose bumps. it is very much moving. so will an ad like t

this is significant because anything this goes through washington has to go through congress. and if democrats are able to take back senate and republican is elected then that republican is going to control the congress. rand spaul one of the key building blocks for republicans to maintain control of the senate. so yes the likes of mitch mcconnell who is the senate republican leader i'm sure is breathing a sigh of relief that rand paul has decided to run again in kentucky. >> when rand paul entered the race a lot of people were excited. he brought this libertarian message. he thought twauld translate to his campaign but it never did. >> right carol. and i think part is the donald trump effect. it's been very hard for anyone to get attention. and when you look at these libertarian folks, especially in a place like new hampshire, these are the kinds of people who could also be attracted to donald trump's message. but i think the prodder thing here is the only thing harder than running one campaign is running two at the same time. and that is essentially what rand paul was trying

the washington post said he was moral poison. it's over the top commentary about him and i think it's kind of antithetical to what their purpose is. this feeds into his narrative that everybody is against him and he can play with that in these kind of strong stringent statements against him being made by editorial boards. >> maybe you're on to something there, bill. because trump supporters and i'll pose this question to you, john. they hate the media. you only have to look at what happened to katy tur from net net news. quote trump trashes press, crowd jeers, guy by press pen looks at us and screams you're a -- it rhymes with witch. other gentleman gives camera the double bird. so, are they making trump ever more popular? >> you may be confusing correlation with causation. i think that donald trump recognizes that there is relatively low popularity for the media. so, if you're bashing the media, you're not making a lot of in y inomies, right? it's an easy target. i see a lot of people looking at the things that he says and findi

a washington post op ed echoed that team. looping sanders in with the republican candidate donald trump calling both men dangerously wrong in their diagnoses and predictions. sanders has not leveled with americans about the true cost of single payer healthcare. joined by gary jaffe, the author of why bernie sanders matters. welcome sir. >> happy to be with you. >> first off are you surprised that sanders is resonating? >> actually -- actually i am. because i think that everybody expected him to be a flash in the pan. but then having written a book about him, that is the way politicians saw him way back in 1980 when he ran for mayor of burlington. people thought well he's going to go away. he didn't. >> he didn't and he's still here. is he a pure idea log? >> well he certainly has a certain set of beliefs that he's not going to move from. and that is part of his secret sauce. let's face it. we haven't seen somebody like this in american politics for a long time. he believes in what he says. he's been saying it for 40 years. an

we are having a discussion between moscow and washington about how peace can be inside syria. in that discussion you don't have main actors on the ground or their often distant political representatives who talk about peace on their behalf. that is a key problem and gives you a shock as to what kind of cold war discussion this has become. many think they might have traction because the americans influence many rebels and moscow is the key backers of damascus, syrian regime. fighters are involved in this behind the weekend's attack. al qaeda branch in syria not meant to be a part of cessation of hostilities at all. they may disrupt slow down in violence and the death toll higher than it has ever been inside syria, a time when we are according to the state department maybe edging towards peace. >> nick paton walsh reporting live this morning. >>> still to come, think south carolina's battle over the confederate flag ended when it was removed from the state house? think again. how the issue has found its way into the 2016 presidential cam pain. absolutely ageless® night cream av

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

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

joe johns reporting live from washington this morning. thank you. >>> still to come in the "newsroom," the ceremony for justice scalia to begin soon. you're looking at the funeral home in fairfax, virginia. that's where the body of justice scalia is right now. soon, a hearse will leave those doors and begin the journey to the u.s. supreme court, to the great hall where the public at 10:30 eastern time will be able to pay their respects to the late justice. we'll be right back. we won here. and here. and here. here. and here. uh, here. also in here. back there. behind here. even next to these guys, here. in the nation's largest, independent study, rootmetrics just named verizon number one network for the fifth time in a row, here. so when the other guys claim they're the best, remember: there's only one, number one. and now we'll pay up to $650 to switch to the best network. this one right here. (vofights mess right.ghtweight 4-in-1 attacks three strong litter box odors, plus locks clumps tight. ... and now it's light. every home, every ca

his sudden death has ignited a political battle in washington that is spilling over to the campaign trail. joe johns live at the supreme court with more for you this morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. justice scalia had such an enormous outsized voice on all issues that mattered most to conservatives in the legal world and now his death coming at a time in the midst of a huge election battle in the united states has got people in this building and across the country wondering what is going to happen next. the body of justice antonin scalia returning home to virginia this morning. the 79 year old died here in his sleep at a texas resort over the weekend. funeral plans for the supreme court's conservative voice are underway and so is the epic political battle for his replacement. >> president obama in my view should make that nomination. i hope he does it as soon as possible. >> there is no way the senate should confirm anyone that barack obama tries to appoint in his last year in office to a lifetime appointment. >> reporter: the republicans fear another liberal nominee would tip t