carolina, republican presidential candidate marco rubio received the endorsement of the state's governor nikki haley. they appeared together at a campaign rally. this is just over an hour. [applause] >> let's get a little chant going. >> marco! marco! marco! ♪ ["thunderstruck" plays] [thunderstruck plays] ♪ >> is it a great day in south carolina? you areo excited that here today and i want to share a personal story with you. you know i love the great state of south carolina. i always say i am the proud daughter of indian parents that reminded us every day how blessed we were to be in this country. what i always know is that i am always trying to take care of south carolina. faced a year where i try to hold onto the state as much as i could. for the first time, i felt vulnerable. the people of south carolina made us all strong. [applause] they made us strong and away that made us know we had grace >> is it a great day in south carolina? so when it was time to look at this presidential race, i thought from a different perspective. that this is serious. that this matters. i thought, fir

witha video of of rube rube. -- marco rubio. the audio us not clear but there are subtitles and they quote rubio has telling somebody he won't find any answers in the holy book. rubio aides said he actually said all the answerser in the bible. enough the cruz staffer is apologizing. >> i posted in haste. i should not have done it. it's apologized to marco rubio and the campaign, and posted that on my facebook and shared it on twitter and i'm saying it here. it was a mistake and i would not knowingly post something i knew to be false. >> but you can't put toothpaste back in tube. today marco rubio blast the cruz campaign and said he was actually praising the bike. >> talk about the va, where people who aren't doing their job need to be fired. who is going to be fired when ted cruz is president in this campaign now has repeatedly done things they have to apologize for. >> rubio is talking aboutkÑmo"p, and without jeb bush to beat up, donald trump is now targeting marco rubio. trump retweeted a supporter who questions rubio's citizenship, quoting, mark trumping are both cruz and rube y

cruz fires his campaign spokesman for spreading a false claim that marco rubio had bad mouthed the bible. as his two main rivals accuse each other of dirty dealing, donald trump looks to be holding all the aces heading into the nevada caucuses. >>> burned rate. trailing hillary clinton before the south carolina primary, bernie sanders goes on the offensive. but with super tuesday looming, is he spending his campaign money faster than it's coming up? >>> and un-willing. kim jong-un refuses to discuss his nuclear program as the north korean leader inspects his war machine. is there anything left to talk about? i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >>> on the eve of the nevada caucuses, donald trump may have a good reason to feel lucky. after another big win in south carolina, his stack of chips is growing while his rivals rip each other apart. ted cruz has just fired his campaign spokesman for spreading a false story about marco rubio supposedly disparaging the bible. rubio is emerging as the leading mainstream republican contender, inheriting some of jeb bush's big suppo

>>> this is the counting of republican ballots. it's going on live. let's listen in. >> marco rubio. rand paul. chris christie. donald trump. marco rubio. jeb bush. ted cruz. donald trump. ted cruz. ted cruz. marco rubio. donald trump. marco rubio. rand paul. donald trump. rand paul. donald trump. marco rubio. jeb bush. donald trump. john kasich. donald trump. rand paul. marco rubio. donald trump. marco rubio. marco rubio. rand paul. marco rubio. marco rubio. marco rubio. marco rubio. governor christie. jeb bush. marco rubio. rand paul. marco rubio. marco rubio. marco rubio. rubio. marco rubio. donald trump. chris christie. rand paul. rubio. >> we hesitate to jump in here like golf announcers. let's state the obvious. something as basic and organic as folded pieces of paper in an organic u.s. mail paper while everyone who has watched a device is watching it being tallied up. it's from here that the voters in iowa, those who cared enough to go out and caucus can send a message that's heard not just around the political country but around the world. let's given where we stand given th

thisse senator rubio at event. our live road to the white house coverage on c-span, the event should be getting started in just a few moments. >> wow. look at this crowd. a good friend of mine says it is a great day in south carolina. so good to see you turn out. chapin, we are proud of our students. i have to let you know in case you don't remember, the cheerleaders and the band are both state champions. they will come down to the statehouse here shortly. chance to introduce winners today. we will have a lot of winners on stage. the first i want to point out, you know the representative. we have served together for years. the next guy i want to bring up on stage is no stranger to anyone in south carolina. all he did was win at university. he was 27 and five as a starter, at home. 17-0 ladies and gentlemen, i introduce you to gamecocks winningest all-time quarterback in south carolina history, connor shaw. be here.wonderful to i usually don't do things like this, but such a great opportunity and it is a privilege and an honor to be here to support marco rubio and his family. f

precious may explain why. donald trump is on top with 36%, followed by ted cruz with 70%. marco rubio got a huge endorsement from governor nikki haley. he comes in third with 15%. jenna bush at 13%. john kasich and ben carson both in the single digits. no breaking news, but this is the context before south carolina republicans vote. in the center ring in this battle royal is donald trump and ted cruz. for days, trump has been calling curz a liar and threatening to file a lawsuit over his eligibility to run for president. that o, canada thing. he spoke to reporters in seneca, south carolina and offered his strongest counter blow yet. sen. cruz: i understand if a cousin has a record -- if a candidate has a record like canld trump, that anyone point to his record. if he files the lawsuit that he threatens in this letter, that will be frivolous and it will result in both donald trump and any lawyer that signs his name for filing frivolous litigation. donald happily sat on national tv repeating things that are simply made up. that have no basis in truth. that are complete fabrications. that is

rubio and ted cruz. rubio right now is in second place. look at this. it just changed. 22.2% for rubio. 20.6% for cruz. kasich, bush, carson, donald. but kasich now in fourth place, took over for jeb bush. jeb bush now in fifth place. dr. ben carson in sixth place. look at donald trump, a very, very impressive win for him right now in south carolina. let's go over to john king. john, these numbers are impressive. a fierce fight for number two, it's going back and forth between marco rubio and ted cruz. but you've got to give donald trump credit for a big win. >> we're going to spend a lot of time from now until the end of the night how it impacts the race going forward. let's make sure while we have the time to salute the winner. if you look at this and watch this and this dark red is donald trump. he's winning everywhere. he's winning here in the center of the state. main line establishment republican voters. he's winning along the coast. military bases, you have retirees, more moderate voters in charleston. at the moment, donald trump is not only winning, but winning impressive margi

seemed like just three men. senator marco rubio, donald trump, and ted cruz going at it, and how. the senators turning their attacks on the front runner, at times, the moderators seeming to lose control, and at times, resembling brawl with ugly insults flying. >> when you honor the promise made and say enough with the corruption, the cronyism let's stand for the working people. if you want to be liked in washington that is not a good attribute for a president. >> he said today, i'm quoting him, he said i'm in the going to pay for that quote effing wall. how are you going to make them pay for the wall? >> i will, and the wall just got ten feet taller, believe me. >> you tell me about this guy. this is what we're going to have to -- >> this is a guy inherited $200 million. if you hadn't, do you know where he'd be? selling watches. >> that is so wrong. >> i think that is the way the republican party thinks. we don't pick and choose winners and losers. we're compassionate. but real compassion is providing people with a ladder of opportunity to climb up from a state of dependence and becom

finished second, despite suggestions he had the evangelical vote. and marco rubio exceeding expectations and how with a very strong showing, finishing right on donald trump's heels. mike huckabee has officially called it a night. on the democratic side, third place finisher martin o'malley announced, like, huckabee, he's out. we'll wait to see whether bernie sanders or hillary clinton finishes first we have a very big show, charles krauthammer is here, we'll be joined by bill burton and some are saying that ted cruz scored big tonight by targeting evangelicals and libertarians from the start of the race. two of the most reliable iowa voting blocks here moments ago. >> god bless the great state of iowa. tonight is a victory for the grass roots. tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across iowa and this great nation. tonight the state of iowa has spoken. >> joining us now, alice stewart, a senior communications advisor for the cruz presidential campaign, alice, congratulations how are you feeling tonight? >> thank you, megyn. it's a tremendous night for conservativ

. and marco rubio exceeding expectations and how with a very strong showing, finishing right on donald trump's heels. mike huckabee has officially called it a night. on the democratic side, third place finisher martin o'malley announced, like, huckabee, he's out. we'll wait to see whether bernie sanders or hillary clinton finishes first we have a very big show, charles krauthammer is here, we'll be joined by bill burton and some are saying that targeting evangelicals and libertarians from the start of the race. two of the most reliable iowa voting blocks here moments ago. >> god bless the great state of iowa. tonight is a victory for the grass roots. tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across iowa and this great nation. tonight the state of iowa has spoken. >> joining us now, alice stewart, a senior communications advisor for the cruz presidential campaign, alice, congratulations how are you feeling tonight? >> thank you, megyn. it's a tremendous night for conservatives across iowa and the country. the cruz campaign did not leave anything on the tracks time and voters cam

contenders remaining in this race but tonight it seemed like just three men. senator marco rubio, donald trump, and ted cruz going at it, and how. the senators turning their attacks on the front runner, at times, the moderators seeming to lose control, and at times, resembling brawl with ugly insults flying. >> when you honor the promise made and say enough with the corruption, the cronyism let's stand for the working people. if you want to be liked in washington that is not a good attribute for a president. >> he said today, i'm quoting him, he said i'm in the going to pay for that quote effing wall. how are you going to make them pay for the wall? >> i will, and the wall just got ten feet taller, believe me. >> you tell me about this guy. this is what we're going to have to -- >> this is a guy inherited $200 million. if you hadn't, do you know where he'd be? selling watches. >> that is so wrong. >> i think that is the way the republican party thinks. we don't pick and choose winners and losers. we're compassionate. but real compassion is providing people with a ladder of opportunity to

see the numbers on the screen, 02-748-8920. rubio supporters. and for all others, even if you're not going to vote, 202-748-8921. performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp.2016] >> we'll show you the rolling average, at least of this afternoon from real clear politics, here's how things stand. they show donald trump with a 15.9% edge. there he is, 30.7% over marco rubio's 14.8%. this is a rolling average of polls from real clear politics. john kasich, 13%, ted cruz, 12.7%. jeb bush, 10.5%, chris christie, 5.3%. carly fiorina at 4.3% and ben carson at 2.8%. there are other polls coming out. we saw a few minutes ago another poll pop up and we'll get that on the screen. as we wait to hear from marco rubio in nashua, new hampshire. let's hear from rubio supporter mitch in paris, florida. good evening, mitch. mitch: yes, as far as rubio being scripted, as far as rubio repeating the same things over and over, that's what they all do. here's trump, i'm going to build a wall and mexico is go to pay for it. i'm going to build a wall, mexico

over donald trump and marco rubio with an impressive 30 and ben carson fourth with 10%. only 7% of the republican caucus sites. 25% of the caucus sites reporting and maintaining her lead. 53% to 47% for bernie sanders. not doing so well. uncommitted the same number. hillary clinton doing well so far. about a quarter of that vote now in on the democratic side. let's go back to jake and dana for more. >> thanks, wolf. >> in our own jeff, he is in des moines at sanders's campaign headquarters. we just spoke with him. what did he have to say? >> we just spoke with senator sanders and his wife surrounded by his family. we are here in des moines watching the results come in carefully. >> what do you think you accomplished here? we are only at the beginning of the race. >> what we have shown is that the american people are very dissatisfied with the situation with the middle class continuing to shrink. i think even more, regardless of people's persuasion, people are really angry about a campaign finance system. that's corrupt and allows billionaires to buy elections. >> of course senator

and romney, they'll be supporting rubio, do you think? runs one of the worst campaigns in the history of politics. he should have beaten obama easily. for two months, he disappeared. say what you want, obama was on jay leno, david letterman, he was on every show, and romney was like a lost soul. i don't know what happened to this guy. and then he comes out and tells me about my taxes, and actually if you know the real story, harry reid shamed him and made him look like a baby and harry reid pushed him and pushed him and really made him look so stupid and weak. and when did romney file his return? right? what's today's date? today is what? come on, tell me. what? okay. so you know when romney filed his return? september, september 21st. that's a long time from now. this guy, what a terrible -- i endorsed him. and about two weeks later, i said, he's never going to win. number one, when you walk on to a stage, you cannot walk like a penguin. said, this is a problem. somebody tell him, take some steppings. anyway, romney turned out to be a disaster. but i know he'll support rubio.

governor chris christie, a former rival is now in trump's corner. spelling it out. marco rubio scoffs at trump's misspelled insults, saying that like trump tower, he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets. no holds barred. mudslinging isn't enough. now trump and rubio have gone from hurling insults to throwing water. what's next? and how will all of this look to voters? and carolina clash. while all eyes are now on super tuesday, democrats are hours away from the south carolina primary. bernie sanders trails hillary clinton there and is ramping up his own rhetoric. is their race about to get nasty? i'm wolf blitzer and you're in the situation room. >>> breaking news. marco rubio and ted cruz, donald trump brought in some back-up today. just hours after cnn's rauks republican debate and days before the the super tuesday at that contest, chris christie showed up to show his support for trump. he called trump the best person to beat hillary clinton and said no one is better prepared to lead the country. the sparring continues today in hours long insults sessions. calling t

has won every single cat gegorc yes the 18-year-olds, marco rubio won them, but across the board evangelicals, across education and incomes, this is a really impressive win. the key here also and john king mentioned this earlier, that's increasing his vote share. that is really, really important. he's not in the 30s anymore. he's now at 44. >> that's another important point he made in this speech talking about the fact that making fun of the pundits who say the -- or even the establishment who says if we add up everybody who is not trump it could be the majority, except as people drop out votes tend go to him. he's not wrong about that. >> no and people do love a winner. that's one of the reason why some of these voters go to him. one of the reasons also david that he think he talks about is because he's very sensitive to what pundits say and a lot of pundits were saying it's just people with a high school education supporting him, he doesn't have wide support, he can't win evangelicals, he can't win latinos and other groups and he is proving them all wrong and he is dominating a

winning in the polls. >> senator rubio, please, please stop. >> every night. same thing. >> a debate like no other. rubio came out fighting fierce and ready to take on donald trump and the last throwdown before super tuesday, today, rubio back on the attack after unleashing round after round of stinging one-liners. >> we're on the verge of having someone take over the conservative movement in the republican party who's a con artist. out there telling people he's fighting -- his target audience is working americans who have struggled the last few years in this economy, but he's spent a career sticking it to working americans. >> big question now will rubio's new strategy slow trump's momentum or is it too late? sunlen, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. felt at times like we were watching a cage match there. donald trump really caught in the cross hairs taking fire from marco rubio and ted cruz. the big question, how will all of this fire impact the race just four days to super tuesday. an all-out war of insults and put dourn putdowns breaking out in the final debate befo

decisive lead, 45%, 19% of the vote in. marco rubio with 24.7% and ted cruz with 20%. again that's 19% of the vote in. we're live. our coverage continuing throughout this hour here on cnn. to donald trump's point again he is correct there is this assumption that many people have had that if only there was one other candidate all those votes would come together and it would be more than donald trump. >> not to make donald trump's head explode, but if you look at the national polls right now his average is 37%, so the non-trump vote is more than that. so obviously as he points out some of those votes, some percentage is going to go to trump rn trump, but it is true that the lack of consolidation in the anti-trump vote is putting him -- his only chance to beat him i think it's pretty safe to say is on a one-on-one race because the race has been trump against a bunch of people you have never heard of so he dom nats in a race like that. the only chance is trump with rubio or cruz and it's a big national story, they're debating, they're storming the states. >> in a general election against

fails. marco rubio was talking about taking it to the convention. it is like everyone keeps trying to extend their firewall more and more. no one can really believe that donald trump will be the nominee. they are all setting up scenarios where maybe i'll get it this way or that way. no one can come to terms with the fact that donald trump might roll through super tuesday. they all kind of have a strategy that they think is somewhat plausible. >> it is the second stage of grief. it's called denial. >> none of those strategies include actual wins. that's the problem. >> the problem is when you get into a room with donors, which is where this brokered convention idea was brought up, the first question out of their mouth is what is your path to victory? if you get to march 15th without a win in a single state, you have to come out of the box. you talked about cruz in texas and kasich in ohio, marco in florida. the timing is important. for cruz, it comes on tuesday. he will get a bump on that. kasich and marco have to wait another 15 days. >> if they win their home states, how does it f

tweets or targets. then something went very of ride. marco rubio taking all of those tweets and responding to them in real rapid-fire time. >> you want to have a little fun? what is donald trump doing when things go wrong? he takes to twitter. i have the right here. let's read some. we will have fun. number one here is the first one. light weight marco rubio was working hard last night. this is true. the problem is he's a talker. once the talker, always that choker. guess what that is what he meant to say. he spelled it choakechoaker. he called me mr. meltdown. he went backstage during one of the breaks and was having at melt down. he had this make a thing of lying to make up around his mustache. one of those wet mustachees. then he asked for a full length mirror. don't know why because the podium goes up to here but he wanted a full length mirror. maybe to make sure his pants weren't wet. i don't know. [cheers and applause] >> then i see him picking back and forth that he is of in that corner talking to someone waiting his arms up and down trying to calm down. i am a talker. ne

nuclear weapons, weapons which endanger us all and only enrich corporations? sen. rubio: well, we are going to modernize our nuclear arsenal when i'm president and we are going to modernize it because china is modernizing theirs and russia is modernizing theirs. because north korea now has nuclear weapons and iran will soon have them. because pakistan and india have nuclear weapons. and, the truth is that the reduction of our military capabilities is actually going to make us more dangerous. if a country ever thinks they can win a nuclear war, they may actually launch one. what kept the world from having a third world war, a nuclear exchange, is that the soviets didn't want to die and neither did we, and neither of us felt we could survive a nuclear war, so neither one of them undertook it. and so, the bottom line is we need to maintain that balance. if a leader or a country thinks they might be able to survive and win a nuclear exchange, it heightens the prospect. we are going to modernize our arsenal and the second thing we are going to deal with is proliferation. i told you this ea

rubio and ted cruz trading insults during cnn's republican debate in houston. while he, trump, john kasich and the clintons on the democratic side are stumping right now in advance of super tuesday and tomorrow's democratic primary in south carolina, the real story is not all that campaigning. instead it's how utterly different the tone of it is on the republican side. not just different from the democrats who, after all, have bitterly contentious campaigns of their own before but how dus tin distinct this is from anything we've seen in either party. last night the gloves came off between trump and rubio. to some extent the wheels came off as well. and today, which might otherwise have been dominated by the big endorsement trump picked up, it remained on the feud which got uglier. >>> also my interview which turned the fused between trump and mexico's former president thermonuclear. jim acosta starts us off from a super tuesday state, oklahoma. trump really going after rubio today. what's the latest tonight? >> that's right, anderson. it's going to get worse before it gets better. t

and marco rubio continue to call ted cruz a liar. >> i asked for rick tyler's resignation. >> one of his top aids fired after spreading misinformation about marco rubio. >> wasted no time jumping on cruz, tweet nothing dirty tricks. >> i can't take it anymore. basic manners are gone from politics, what is with it with these ding dongs? >> you're not sure that marco rubio is eligible for president? >> i don't know. i've never looked a it, george, honest will be we i've never looked at it. >> we're going to support whoever the nominee is. >> donald trump, yes, donald trump is now the clear front runner to win the republican nomination, can you believe that? >> you could say that trump is the candidate "fox & friends" admit it. >> it's just like when you have a bad dream, except this is real and will probably ruin your life. >> we have to vote for another president. >> no! >> what's the secret? >> she's going. >> just keep moving. >> we're glad to have you here. >>> today, one day before the republican caucus, ted cruz fired his communications director to prove what a clean and honorabl

go when it counts? >>> brokered convention? top rubio donors told in a closed door meeting that the florida senator is now preparing for a contested nominating process. and bracing for a messy and unpredictable battle to keep trump from becoming the nominee. are republicans facing civil war? >>> path to victory. trump has a huge lead in the delegate count. so super tuesday could make or break his remaining rivals and push trump closer still to the nomination. what we see here tonight could make all the difference. wolf blitzer is preparing for tonight's republican presidential debate, that means you've got me, chris cuomo, along with the man, anderson cooper. you are in "the situation room." >>> we are counting down to tonight's cnn republican presidential debate here in houston. this will be the last time the candidates face off before super tuesday. the biggest primary battle of the 2016 race for the white house. donald trump more than ever the man to beat tonight. coming off three consecutive primary and caucus victories, still far ahead of his rivals in the polls. tonight's cont

finishing second with 24%, marco rubio at 23%. ben carson at with 2 percent. with that ted cruz is declaring victory. >> iowa has sent notice that the republican nominee and the next president of the united states will not be chosen by the media. >> donald trump was touting high turnout at his political events. plenty of interest here. it is surprising someone like donald trump can finish second in a state like iowa. some what of a disappoint. he was atop many of the polls. still donald trump with a high lead maintains he will be the nominee. >> we will go on to get the republican nomination and we will go on to easily beat hillary or bernie or whoever the hell they throw up there. iowa, we love you, we thank you. i think i might come here and buy a farm. i love it, okay. >> the over performance of the evening going to florida senator marco rubio finishing right behind done fald trump. rubio was quick to note his strong performance. oo tonight here in iowa the people of this great state have sent a very clear message. after 7 years of barack obama we are not waiting any longer to t

directly from voters. marco rubio topping donald trump by two points. >> for the first time in many months, there's a new national frontrunner on the republican side. >> so far though that poll an outlier because also today a new poll showed trump with a big lead with rubio in second place at night and cruz in third with 18. the candidates taking the stage behind me in less than an hour here in greenville, south carolina. one of those candidates marco rubio, winning a major endorsement just moments ago from south carolina's wildly popular governor nikki haley. donald trump speaking live right now in south carolina. that is where we begin with sara murray, who is traveling with trump today in walter borough. it's reached a whole new level of negativity between these two. >> reporter: you're absolutely right. the campaign has taken on a different tenure. today, donald trump threatening not one, but two lawsuits. tonight, donald trump is raising the stakes in his battle against ted cruz. >> this is a guy who raises the bible and yet he tells fibs, he tells lies. >> reporter: threatenin

the vote with 99% of the precincts counted. it looks like marco rubio has a lead over ted cruz, and they are almost exactly, and there is a 0.2 percentage point between the two candidates. and before donald trump made the victory speech tonight, we had a chance to chat him up just right behind the stage, literally as he was about to take the stage and claim victory. it was very clear for him that it was a releaf and a major triumph. watch. >> well, south carolina, like new hampshire, and i mean, so amazing. the people are incredible. it was a great victory, and we won at so many levels, the evangelicals and the military are incredible. people want law and order and want borders and that is important especially nowadays with what is going on in the world. and we won at so many levels, and a great honor. and these are great people of the country. >> two things often said about south carolina, it elects the conservative to win, and two, it is time for that conservative to start acting like a president. and you have talked about how you can change if you need to. how do you as they say

remaining in this race but tonight it seemed like just three men. senator marco rubio, donald trump, and ted cruz going at it, and how. the senators turning their attacks on the front runner, at times, the moderators seeming to lose control, and at times, resembling brawl with ugly insults flying. >> when you honor the promise made and say enough with the corruption, the cronyism let's stand for the working people. if you want to be liked in washington that is not a good attribute for a president. >> he said today, i'm quoting him, he said i'm in the going to pay for that quote effing wall. how are you going to make them pay for the wall? >> i will, and the wall just got ten feet taller, believe me. >> you tell me about this guy. this is what we're going to have to -- >> this is a guy inherited $200 million. if you hadn't, do you know where he'd be? selling watches. >> that is so wrong. >> i think that is the way the republican party thinks. we don't pick and choose winners and losers. we're compassionate. but real compassion is providing people with a ladder of opportunity to climb up f

issue down. >>> turning to another contentious battle. tonight, ben carson, ted cruz and marco rubio will answer tough questions from south carolina voters at the first of two back-to-back cnn town hall events. we'll take you on the campaign trail before saturday's next big primary. i'm here to get the lady of the house back on her feet. and give her the strength and energy to stay healthy. who's with me?! yay! the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. ensure. take life in! whose long dayis sheldon setting up the news starts with minor arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. absolutely ageless® night cream aveeno® with active naturals® blackberry complex ... ... a whole new way to keep skin looking younger longer ... ... starting tonight. part of the new absolutely ageless collection from aveeno® after a dvt blood clot.mind when i got out of the hospital what about my family? my l

communications director rick tyler for spreading the false impression that marco rubio had disparaged the bible. he tweeted out at link to a video claiming senator rubio saying there are quote, not many answers in the bible. he really says is that it has, quote, all the answers. tyler deleted the tweet and this afternoon, the senator fired him. >> yesterday a staffer from our campaign sent out a tweet. that tweeted a news story that purported to indicate marco saying something negative about the bible. the news story was false. that staffer deleted the tweet, apologized, and pulled it down, although i spent this morning investigating what happened. and this morning, i asked for rick tyler's resignation. >> which as you might imagine was not enough. marco rubio repeatedly accused him of playing dirty tricks. they site the fact with rubio shaking hands, false rumor that ben carson was dropping out and more. we have all the reaction starting with our reporter from las vegas. sunlen. >> reporter: well, anderson, i think that cruz campaign is very aware and very sensitive to the this narrative that'

rubio battling it out for second place. he did not mention the candidate who bowed out of the race. >> right. >> just before donald trump declared victory. jeb bush. >> no love lost between those two. and, of course, jeb bush becomes the latest candidate to attack donald trump, whose candidacy ends up in the garbage pail, right? and i think what we saw from trump tonight is somebody who believes, no matter how he pronounces nevada, he will go on and win in those super tuesday states. and i actually think, given the shape of the electorate, and given what we saw tonight in south carolina, that he has a very good chance of doing what he says he's going to do, which is to lock it up. which is what he wants to. >> the winner of nevada and then it will be nevada -- what's going to happen. >> it's interesting, because i remember when michelle obama was just the wife of a senator, and she was campaigning in nevada, and she mispronounced it ne-voda, and the crowd corrected her. donald trump might be the only one who can go to nevada, mispronounced and the crowd says, oh, i like it that way

hampshire. trump is at 35%. marco rubio is way down at 14%, followed by cruz, john kasich, and by the way jeb bush are tied at 10% each. trump needs to win here in new hampshire and should. only one establishment candidate can by placing second here. four men, bush, kasich, and rubio are fighting to be second place in new hampshire. which of them will head to south carolina with the wind at his back? seven republicans debate for the final time before tuesday's primary. i'll have all the highlights at 10:30 eastern. who won, who lost, who landed the toughest blows and who is hurting after tonight? trump is making his return to the debate stage after sitting out that last round in iowa. trump, the runner-up, will be standing next to the man he says stole that election in iowa and committed fraud. that's trump's version. cruz has suggested on his part that donald trump is "losing it." in other words, he's going mad. then there's chris christie, who has taken to calling marco rubio my favorite of the year, the boy in the bubble. that's christie on rubio, the boy in the bubble. he also cal

polls that we have, donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio. they are the early leaders right now in south carolina in this republican presidential primary. the second tiered candidates based on the exit poll estimates that we have, jeb bush, ben carson, john kasich. but the early leaders clearly as anticipated the big three right now, donald trump, ted cruz and marco rubio. just want to let our viewers know, this is an early snapshot based on interviews with the sampling of voters as they left select polling sites. more details from our exit polls. they're coming in. we will share with them very, very, very shortly. but those are the early leaders and the second tier candidates. i want to go to trump headquarters right now. sara murray on the scene for us over there. one of the early -- three early leaders as we had anticipated. >> yeah, wolf. i think this is very much what we expected to see. we expected this to be the top tier here in south carolina. look, the trump campaign wants to be able to maintain a lead here, and they want to see a big turnout. they want to be able to say t

tonight. marco rubio, ted cruz right now still at this moment battling it out for second place. it is close, it is tight. we are watching this. the night, though, belonged to the republican billionaire from new york, donald trump. that is where we begin. sara murray is live inside trump headquarters in spartanburg, south carolina. sara, a very big night for donald trump. bh what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, kate, there was already a celebratory feel here before the numbers came in, and when cnn finally called this for trump, the crowd went wild. listen to what he had to say to his supporters tonight. >> i love you all. again, south carolina, we will never forget you. we will never forget you. we will never, ever forget south carolina. we will never forget our great volunteers. we love our volunteers. we'll never forget all of the people that have helped us so much, my family. and folks, let's go, let's have a big win in nevada. let's have a big win at the s.e.c. let's put this thing away. >> reporter: you heard trump forecasting the calendar ahead. one thing he did not do in

waiting. [indiscernible chatting] >> senator marco rubio, you mentioned being concerned about our future. >> can i get one more for my parents? thank you. sen. rubio: thank you guys for coming, i appreciate it. sen. rubio: thank you guys for coming, i appreciate it. thank you so much. >> thank you. sen. rubio: i think carolina is going to win. >> i'm trying to get into your super bowl party. sen. rubio: thank you so much. thank you, good to see you. what denomination are you? >> catholic. sen. rubio: thank you father, i appreciate it. >> nice to meet you. sen. rubio: likewise. thank you for being here. [indiscernible chatting] sen. rubio: good to see you, thanks for being here. thank you. it? >> my son and daughter gave their lives to this country. i'm supporting you. john stevens knows who i am. sen. rubio: thank you for being here. thank you for being here. >> that's a lot of notes. sen. rubio: thank you so much for being here. >> thank you so much. stay energized. sen. rubio: good to see you, nice to meet you. >> thank you, senator, good luck. >> he taught me everything i know and i'm

♪ ♪ senator marco rubio has insisted on the campaign trail that he dislakes the dodd frank law regulating the financial industry because it hurts small around medium banks and benefits wall street's biggest players, but if that is the case, why are some of the men associated with some of the big wall street firm embedded in the breu marco rubio campaign? what does money buy? it's the "inside story." welcome to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. it's right there in the first amendment to the accusation i constitution. when you are raising millions to pay for a presidential campaign, deep possibilities are only too happy to pay for a political campaign. when an industry is interested in the future of a particular law, how int plat can the relations of campaigns and candidates be and stay within the law? different campaigns have answered those questions in very different ways. here is hillary clinton who says her policies would be tougher on wall street than bernie sanders but she made millions in speaking fees not to mention donations from goldman sachs and other big wall street fir

tonight? anything about marco rubio? >> reporter: anderson, that's right, he's continuing his tough talk today after what was a more conciliatory night last night. he's already gone after ted cruz here at this veevent in new hampshire saying he was beholden to oil interesting. earlier he suggested ted cruz is running a dirty campaign because of some of the mailers he sent out in new hampshire. when it comes to marco rubio, dronald trump seems befuddled today, some reason the story is all about how well marco rubio did. we saw a little bit of a more into spective donald trump in this press conference today where he was sort of looking at how he did in iowa and saying, you know, maybe if he knew he had a shot at first place, he would have spent a little more time there, a little more money there, but that he is certainly not humiliated by that second-place finish. anderson? >> just before the rally, former senator scott brown endorsed trump, right? >> reporter: sorry, one more time? i couldn't quite hear you on that. >> scott brown endorsed trump? >> reporter: right. scott brown endor

. >>> happening now, scramble for third. our new poll shows donald trump and marco rubio running a clear 1, 2 in new hampshire but the battle is now on for the middle of the pack. ted cruz and john kasich, they are now tied for third. we'll hear from kasick this hour. >>> trump trapped. his rivals are campaigning in new hampshire and even jeb bush's mother is out on the trail. but after flying home in his private jet, the front-runner was grounded in new york. not mincing words, bernie sanders and hillary clinton, they throw the gloves off in a stormy debate and trailing badly in new hampshire, hillary clinton complains that she's being smeared by her rival. >>> plus, laptop bomb. investigators believe it was a computer packed with tnt that blew a hole in an airliner. the man blown out of the plane may have been the bomber. al qaeda's african affiliate growing more dangerous. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >>> the breaking news, with only four days to go until the nation's first primary, our brand new cnn/wmur poll just out shows donald trump holding on to his big lead

found in a big federal government -- >> day three of the new marco rubio. you've been watching the marco rubio rally in kennesaw, georgia. he's fired up. the crowd is fired up. the biggest line so far, talking about donald trump. saying mr. trump bankrupted a casino. how do you bankrupt a casino, the house always wins. went after trump about his spray tan, among other things. and you can just imagine what donald trump is going to have to say coming up in a couple minutes as we switch the picture and look from georgia over to bentonville, arkansas. looks like an air field there, where they are awaiting mr. trump on his airplane to come speak to a rather large crowd in bentonville. we'll, of course, bring some of mr. trump's remarks as they happen. good saturday to you. and what a saturday it is. south carolina primary today. 72 hours until super tuesday. and everything changed on thursday night. i'm leland vittert. welcome to america's news headquarters. >> you are right. this is a new senator marco rubio. we heard him throwing quite a few punches in his speech in kennesaw, georgia,

inaugurated in washington d. c. >> on the twitter trail, marco rubio says we're not going to turnover the conservative movement to a con artist. trump touting rubio in his home state in florida. still sending shockwaves through the state. donald trump, 44-28 over senator marco rubio. i'm joined by frank torres. frank, i appreciate your being here. does it surprise you that donald trump is that dominant? >> you know, that margin lead, he went over 14 points over marco rubio. that was the biggest showing by donald trump so far in florida. >> it's not just in florida, he is dominating in other areas. he has even said so. take a listen to this. >> we won the evangelicals. we won with young, old, with highly educated. we won with poorly-educated. i love the poorly-educated. >> that was one of the sound bytes that got a lot of attention. how do you explain the support for him from all the demographics. >> it's the outsiders take no holds barred. he doesn't care. he says whatever is on his mind which is something that's still refreshing to a lot of voters. you don't have somebody reciting lines

there, and are some campaigns that think it is true. it says that marco rubio has gotten over ted cruz. mark: or at least threatening him. john: this will not be a mortal blow by any means, but it would be a big deflation for ted cruz. people talk you might finish this primary. it would be a big blow, if he was third, below marco rubio. speaking of marco rubio, moving on. he is riding high since he was endorsed by nikki haley on wednesday. they were on the campaign trail today, and holding five rallies. this after scheduling challenges made him stand up to voters at the conservative review conference last night. there was an unforced error that drew fire. he rescheduled the event for tonight. there are a lot of eyes right now on young, marco rubio. so what constitutes meeting and beating expectations? mark: meeting is beating jeb bush. beating expectations is beating ted cruz, and, obviously the big casino, finishing first. i think -- marco rubio people , think that he was already riding high before the endorsement. reducing the image of trey gowdy, nikki haley, tim scott and marco rub

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

massachusetts. he has a 21-point lead ahead of marco rubio. donald trump at 35, marco rubio at 14, ted cruz 13, jeb bush, john kasich, 10, 10, chris christie at 4. bernie sanders now has a 14-point lead. bernie sanders at 55, hillary clinton at 41. joining us now from the site of tonight's debate is nbc's hallie jackson. there's been a lot of who's going after which candidate. i assume it's from which candidate can i steal the most votes. >> at this point it seems that it's going to be marco rubio who's at the center of that bull's-eye who will be the target tonight. let's talk quickly about what each. candidates need to do. you've got donald trump hoping to not drop the ball basically and underperform his number one poll position here. he's looking to keep the course steady as it goes and finish on top in tuesday's primary. you've got ted cruz who basically will need to stay out of the fray a little bit. if he can finish not being the center of attention, that would essentially bow a win for him. this is not the lane he's competing this, this establishment lane you're seeing the real compe

campaign but they pointed back to his direction. congressman trey gowdy endorsed marco rubio. a fake facebook page showed he switched his endorsement from marco rubio to ted cruz. that was fake but that's south carolina. there was this gem put together by the ted cruz campaign ahead of the south carolina primary. it proports to show the real marco rubio. it's fake marco rubio photo shopped making it look like he was grinning like a goon and shaking hands with president obama when he was not. after south carolina, there was this video. it was not created by the ted cruz campaign. it was created and up loaded by the student newspaper at the university of pennsylvania. the tape shows marco rubio having a chance encounter with ted cruz folks, including ted cruz dad. the paper indicated that when marco rubio saw this young man reading a bible, he pointed at the bible and said there are not many answers in it. now, that subtiting is not only weird but it was wrong. senator rubio said the opposite. apparently what he said is he complimented the young man on the fact he was reading the bible

. [applause] ♪ >> republican presidential candidate marco rubio held a town hall meeting over the weekend with voters in that for hampshire where he addressed health care, combating isis and military spending. he also criticized hillary clinton at the obama administration policies. [applause] >> let's go marco rubio. [applause] > >> we are endorsing senator marco rubio for president. we are day one supporters. and we have the t-shirts to prove it. our interest in marco rubio began in 2012 when he addressed the republican national convention. after hearing that inspiring speech, we were hoping he would make a decision to run in 2016 and he has not let us down. we identify with his background because we are also first-generation americans. [applause] my father narrowly escaped nazi occupied europe, my mother survived the holocaust and came from hungary. my wife's parents emigrated from the former soviet union. we are so grateful for the opportunities of the united states and we want to make sure that those same opportunities are there for our children and our children's children. [a

can't do that stuff. frankly -- but cruz is smarter than rubio. intellectually he's smarter than rubio. but both, they lie. you know, i deal in the real estate business, i deal in a lot of different businesses. i meet some bad people. i meet much tougher people than a rubio or a cruz. much tougher. but i've never met people that could lie like these guys. these guys are world class liars. it's unbelievable. i was helped in cruz's case because rubio looked at him and said you're a liar. and he was actually right, because he actually did lie about that particular point. but once he said he was a liar, i was able to say he's a liar. i know politicians very well. i dealt with them all my life. a lot of them are bad people. you have some good once but you have a lot of really seedy, horrible people. i've never -- i've seen some bad stuff. i've never seen a politician call another politician a liar. when he called him liar, i said great, now i can call him a liar. because there was so much lying. but rubio is probably a worse liar than cruz. i don't know who to pick. at the end of three, fou

. "risk and reward." charles: do or die for several republican candidates. marco rubio seems to be change his tactics. blasting out an email to reporters point out how donald trump has hired foreigners overwhelmingly over americans. is he going to go for the jugular of the gop frontrunner? >> the frontrunner in this race alluded to the fact he thinks parts of obamacare is pretty good. there is no honeymoon period in foreign policy. you can't say when i get there i'll hire the smartest people and they will tell me what to do. front runner in this case says he won't take sides on israel versus the palestinians. when i'm president we are going to take sides. we are going to be on israel's side. charles: joining me now, tammy bruce, crystal wright and fred barns. fred, it's interesting, there was an article rubio making a fatal mistake if he doesn't attack trump. i think he heard this over and over again and now he's on attack. >> a poll showed him 16 points behind trump in florida. the primary isn't until march 15. but rubio will have to win that. that's a big comeback for him to pull

between second and third has been going back and forth all night between rubio and cruz. jeb bush has left the race, suspended his campaign. kasich and carson continue. >> in terms of the news what has been made tonight, the winners are the big news. jeb bush suspending his campaign is the other big news. we have very interesting news in terms of turnout. on the democratic side, a third straight race in which the turnout is way down. preliminary numbers show turnout was down almost 50%. on the republican side, a third straight race in which the exact opposite happened, in which they appear to have record turnout. the previous record turnout in south carolina was 606,000 in 2012. right now 725,000 were 99% reporting thus far out of south carolina. so it's been a very big night for the republicans again. and again, turnout isn't everything. and a six-person race is different than a two-person race but this cannot be good news for the democratic party looking ahead to the general. >> before we go to steve kornacki, we also had widely anticipated a primary in south carolina with a lot of