we'll see. again, thanks for watching us tonight. ms. megyn is next. please remember, the spin stops right here, because we're definitely looking out for you. breaking tonight. with just five days to go before super tuesday ii, the stakes could not be higher, as new polling suggests anything could happen. welcome to "the kelly file." i'm megyn kelly. nearly half of the delegates up for grabs on tuesday come from two states alone. and they happen to be states that two of trump's competitors represent. florida and ohio. let's start tonight with ohio. recent polling suggests this is now a two-man race in that state. the new quinnipiac poll shows governor kasich trailing donald trump 38% to 32%. but a fox news poll shows the

governor in the lead 34% to 29%. down in florida, senator marco rubio trails trump significantly, according to the fox news polling released just yesterday. down by 23 points. but another pair of polls released just today shows a much tighter race, but still shows trump in the lead. enjoying a seven-point lead over rubio and the suffolk poll has trump up nine. carl cameron reports tonight from coral gables, florida. carl? >> reporter: thanks, megyn. you know, that washington post univision poll shows that it's basically a tie now between donald trump and marco rubio. trump's ahead 38-31, but well within the margin of error. it means that rubio's very much alive in florida, even though a lot of the other polls suggest that trump has the lead. as for mr. trump, he's been

campaigning aggressively around the country, racking up wins, and it looks like he may be getting an endorsement. today, trump and dr. ben carson had a meeting and ben carson said he's leaning towards endorsing donald trump. in the meantime, ted cruz, who hasn't had a lot of endorsements and has had no endorsements from the u.s. senate, has now gotten one, in mike lee, the senator from utah, who is in the same senate class as marco rubio but came here today to florida to endorse ted cruz. and doing so in florida, geographically speaking is a bit of a shot at marco rubio. and then there's john kasich. john kasich is not particularly aggressively campaigning here in florida. he's focused on ohio and said if he doesn't win ohio, he'll drop out of the race. except that his aides are already talking about the ways

in which a contested convention might play out and how john kasich would fit into it, and it's worth remembering, the republican national convention that will happen in ohio needs a lot of planning to put together a contested convention, which they anticipate, and those efforts are beginning to get under way. there's a whole bunch of very, very complicated politics in that. most of the delegates are bound on the first vote to the candidate who won those states. but after that, many of them are not. and there's a quirky part of the rules here. delegates cannot be replaced. there are alternates from each state. but if they just didn't show up, no-shows get no votes. so some could companily, with their absenteeism, deny trump their delegate votes. >> fascinating. carl, thank you. joining us now, charlie hert for "the washington times." guy benson, political editor,

and katie pavlik. great to see you all. i didn't realize that, that you cannot show and deny the perp who has the most delegates their delegates, but that's all way down the line. let's talk about that john kasich in ohio. >> we have super delegates and now we have phantom delegates. >> i don't know what to say about that. what about what we're hearing now in ohio about john kasich saying if he doesn't win ohio, he's out. i don't think we can say the same about ted cruz. so do you believe after super tuesday two, if everything grows trump's way, he wins ohio and florida, it will be a two-man race or is cruz done, as well? >> well, i think cruz will be done in terms of there will be no real path for him to win the nomination. but i think he will continue this sort of kamikaze mission that he's been on, where he can't win but he can deny donald

trump the 1237 that he needs to win it outright, because they want it to go to a contested convention, and a contested convention will turn into a brokered convention, and the republican party, as big a mess as they're in right now, they will be in a bigger mess coming out of that, if they do wind up denying the person who goes into the convention with the most delegates, even though they don't have a majority. >> guy, i saw senator cruz this week at the town hall. he was focused on north carolina. he's fighting in florida. i don't know that the cruz camp reasonably believes they're going to have victory in ohio or florida, but they are focused on north carolina. i don't get the impression that this man is getting out of this race. >> no. he's within a bunch of states. it would be crazy for him to get out. he is perhaps the last man standing. here's the thing, megyn. all the scenario planning is fascinating at this stage, because if you're ted cruz, really in your heart of hearts,

you need donald trump to lose in ohio. the only way he can lose in ohio is to john kasich. it would be helpful to deny 99 delegates here in florida to donald trump, the only candidate who has a chance of doing that here is marco rubio. on the other hand, cruz wants to get both of those guys out of the race to get a clean shot at trump one on one. a lot of polling shows that he can beat trump one on one. but if trump has his run of the field on tuesday night, and racks up all these delegates, it could be too late any way for ted cruz. so it's fascinating. i would love to know what the cruz campaign is hoping to see happen here on tuesday night. >> what do you make of the ben carson news that he may be getting ready to endorse donald trump? i know it comes on a day where there's been some negative publicity for the trump camp in terms of disturbing videos from trump supporters punching an

african-american protester, and now that protester is going -- and now the puncher, the person engaging in the assault who said he might kill him the next time, is facing charges. >> uh-huh. let's not forget the allegations against trump's campaign manager for allegedly ripping down a female reporter and bruising her arm, which now the trump campaign said happened and they said it didn't happen, then attacked the reporter on the internet. so that's another part of this. but in terms of the ben carson endorsement, i find it interesting, considering donald trump compared ben carson to a pedophile. it's clear that ben carson is still bitter about iowa, even though the cruz campaign apologized. but it's interesting to see him endorse trump after what has been said about him. >> we'll get to that story about the campaign manager later in the show. charlie, ted cruz said something today about those backing donald

trump that became a controversy, suggesting they're low information voters, just for those that don't pay attention, rush limbaugh uses that term a lot, usually talks about democrats that way. here is a little of what ted cruz said. listen. >> listen, donald does well with voters who have relatively low information, who are not that engaged and who are angry and they see him as an angry voice. where we are beating him is when voters get more engaged and they get more informed. when they inform themselves, they realize his record. he's what they're angry at. he is the corruption. >> your thoughts on that, charlie? >> comments like that are why so many in the republican party and ted cruz himself have so much trouble reaching out to these voters that he's talking about. they say condescending things like this. they think they're stupid.

they think donald trump is stupid, and all the insults and attacks that they leveled at donald trump have sort of been kind of directed at his supporters as well. and it's why ted cruz, the only contest that he seems to be able to win are these closed contests where they close the doors and don't let anybody but registered card carrying republicans into the tent and why donald trump is doing very well in these contest where is he opens the doors wide open. he can win when anybody can -- is allowed to participate. and i think it's a perfect microcosm of the real problem that the republican party is having and donald trump has exploited it. >> that's what is so interesting. what charlie said is right, cruz tends to win in the closed primaries and trump wins where moderates and independents can win. trump's argument is, that's why

i'm the more electable candidate. when you look at the head-to-head matchups we see in the polls, cruz versus clinton, rubio, kasich, so on, all those guys beat hillary clinton. but trump struggles to beat hillary clinton in most of those polls. >> yeah, struggle is putting it lightly. the last two polls show him to losing to hillary clinton by 13 and 9 points respectively. some people say it's way too early to look at head-to-head polls. keep in mind, everyone in america knows who hillary clinton is and who donald trump is. people are aware of these folks, and have feelings about them already. so there might be some utility to the head-to-head polls in this context, more so than usual. but beyond that, megyn, if you look at the fundamental numbers, in "the washington post," abc news poll, donald trump has a disapproval rating of 67% of

voters in the general electorate. he is 40 plus points under water on experience, empathy, honesty. these are numbers that could be catastrophic in a general election. he's trailing even hillary clinton on honesty. think about that. >> the good news is, the voters don't seem to mind that. katie, let's talk about marco rubio before we go. he denied that he's getting out of this race before florida, and he said i'm in it through florida. he said if i lose florida, we're talking about a different story. do you believe these reports that there's a possibility of a unity ticket between rubio and cruz before super tuesday two? >> i believe it was rubio who told this network that he wasn't interested in a unity ticket. that is just something the media likes to play up. i don't think marco rubio would drop out before super tuesday. i think polling shows he might have a chance in florida against

donald trump. we're a couple days away here. there's still time for movement here. in terms of the long-term game, marco rubio doesn't have much of a path to victory. he doesn't even get close to the number of delegates donald trump has. he doesn't even get close to what ted cruz has. so he'll stick it out through florida, but after that, there's got to be a realization of where he is in this campaign and he really can't move forward and to a victory. >> ted cruz got his first endorsement from a fellow u.s. senator mike lee who is, i guess that's his bff in the senate. so that was good for ted cruz. we'll continue to follow the ben carson situation. panel, thank you all. >> thanks, megyn. we have breaking news on the unfolding story that you heardt reporter who says donald trump's campaign manager physically

assaulted her, throwing her to the ground and causing bruises on her arm. there's new evidence that may support her story, although he denies the whole thing. we'll bring you the story just ahead. plus, trump talks about his republican rivals and who may get the vp slot if he becomes the nominee, and indeed the president. he sat down with howie kurtz. we'll have that for you after the break. >> you're calling him corrupt. are you now thinking i may need to mend fences with this guy? staying in rhythm... it's how i try to live... how i stay active. so i need nutrition... that won't weigh me down. for the nutrition you want without the calories you don't... try boost® 100 calories. each delicious snack size drink gives you... 25 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. so it's big in nutrition and small in calories. i'm not about to swim in the slow lane. stay strong. stay active with boost®.

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fox news alert for you. we are getting confirmation from multiple sources that ben carson is set to endorse donald trump, and that the endorsement will be announced at a press conference tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. at trump's resort in florida. this will be a significant event for trump's campaign, given the animosity there was at some point in the campaign between donald trump and ben carson and given the love that the gop side has had for dr. carson. and we'll see whether this endorsement will help donald trump. we'll continue to watch it and see how the polls go up or down

depending on what we see tomorrow morning at 9:00. also breaking tonight, poised for some big wins next week in the super tuesday two contest. new york businessman donald trump sat down with our own howie kurtz to talk about his campaign. one of the big questions was, who would trump choose as vp? >> really gotten into it with marco rubio, a lot of personal attacks. you're running an ad now that says little marco is corrupt, dishonest, you talk about cheating on his republican party republican parties. but you said you would consider him as vp. >> i didn't say that. he hurt himself badly. when he tried to be don rickles, it hurt him. he shouldn't have done that. he was doing nicely, he was talking policy. he could be very sharp on occasion. he got hurt by chris christie. >> you're calling him corrupt. are you thinking you may need to mend fences with this guy? >> i don't really want to

discuss it. honestly, the reason i don't is because we'll see what happens. but i will say this, he was better off before he attacked. >> howie kurtz joins me now, he's the most of "media buzz." good to see you. the bottom line is we don't know, but we speculate, did christie cut a deal, did carson cut a deal, could rubio be trying to cut a deal? >> first, it was a hardship assignment for me to go down to florida, but i was willing to take it on. it was striking to me that donald trump is run thing ad accusing marco rubio of being corrupt, but he went out of his way to say nice things about him. look, when politicians endorse other politicians who might occupy the white house, there is a bit of an expectation that it might result in some kind of prominent job down the line. >> that is what they do. in fairness to these guys, we see this every campaign season. they are brutal to each other in

the primaries, but then they turn around and say, don't forget to vote for my friend, mitt romney. so they all have very short memories when it comes to that criticism. a lot of them are self-serving. they want a job in what they think is the next administration, and i'm sure chris christie doesn't want to sit around trenton very long. when it comes to his relatively recent support for hillary clinton, i know you've got a sound bite along those lines. do you want to set it up? >> sure. for one thing, he went out of his way not to attack ted cruz. donald trump told me that he expected not that the tone of tonight's debate would not be as harsh as in the last two, including the fox news debate that you co-moderated in detroit. he thinks perhaps because that wasn't working for marco rubio doing the don rickles thing. and i asked him about hillary

clinton, and nice things he's said about her in the past. i knew what he was going to say about a businessman trying to get along. you'll see more of this on sunday. let's take a look at his response. >> in 2012, you told fox she was a terrific woman doing a good job at the state department. is that b.s. in >> i'm a businessman. i have to go to the state department to get approval on projects and they have to give me a letter of recommendation, why should i say that? >> it makes you sound like a politician. >> no, no. i never knew i was going to be doing this. >> the interesting thing about that, howie, you know, he had been in the game for so long greasing the politicians, what would lead folks to believe when he's on the opposite end he won't continue to play the game? he played the game for so long,

you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours, that kind of thing. >> he was very candid about the fact that he didn't think he would be running for office and now he's in a position where he has to attack the woman who he would be running against. trump says, i know how it works. i know the system is rigged. i know people like me who gave a lot of money got favors. >> but he cannot win the presidency based on his own money. it will cost $1 billion. he's going to have to take money if he becomes the nominee. this is one of the things that people complain about with the system, it takes $1 billion to win the presidency. that requires a lot of favors, no matter who you are. >> he says he knows how the favor game is played, and therefore he can handle it differently when he's president. it'sen argument that's seemed to

work so far. >> when i owe somebody a favor and i don't want to repay it, i just don't make eye contact. speaking of which, goodbye. >> bye. >> just kidding. also tonight, breaking news on stories from some recent trump rallies. first, new evidence surfaced in an alleged assault of a breitbart reporter by trump's campaign manager. the campaign manager is denying this. fox news obtained audiotape of the encounter. we'll report, you decide, coming up. a new twist in the case of the trump supporter arrested for punching a protester at a trump event. ben shapiro is here. fair and balanced, next. >> so he deserved it? >> yes, he deserved it. the next time we see him, we might have to kill him. it's a. kind of like grandkids equals free tech support.

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growing controversy today over claims of an assault at a donald trump event earlier this week. while we've been hearing stories of protesters clashing at trump rallies for months, things are taking a different return as a reporter from breitbart.com, an openly pro trump blog, alleges

she was roughed up and the person that left these bruises on her arm was trump's own campaign manager, corey lewandowski. a fact that lewandowski and the trump campaign deny. the reporter, michelle fields, who may be familiar to fox viewers, claims following a news conference tuesday night, she tried to ask mr. trump a question about affirmative action. she alleges that "before he could answer, i would jolted backwards, someone yanked me down. i almost fell to the ground but was able to maintain my balance." and had the following message for mr. trump on abc news this evening. >> it's been really hurtful, because obviously no one wants to be touched and violated like that. >> if you had a chance to talk to donald trump right now, what would you say to him? >> i would ask him to put himself in my shoes and imagine

if i was his daughter. >> washington post reporter ben terist said he witnessed this incident and claims it was corey lewandowski that assaulted ms. fields. lewandowski again strongly strongly denies the charge and has attacked michelle fields as an attention seeker. the trump campaign has issued a statement denying the incident took place, staying the campaign staff would never do anything to harm another individual, adding not a single camera or reporter of more than 100 in attendance, captured the alleged incident. but ben terist says he witnessed it and wrote about it. and now politico released what it says is an audio recording that it says captures the exchange between ms. fields and washington post reporter ben terist in the wake of the alleged assault. listen here.

>> joining me now, ben shapiro, editor and chief at dailywire.com and editor at large for breitbart news. thank you very much for being here. ben, you find yourself in an interesting position, because breitbart, one of their employios and reporters started attacking michelle fields' story almost as soon as it became public. he's now been suspended by breitbart, but breitbart has been all over the map whether to defend its reporter or mr. trump. in the end, you tell me where they stand tonight, and i know you don't speak for them. >> yeah, i'm not going to speak for management.

my understanding is the statement released by larry s t should apologized. i personally feel corey lewandowski should be fired. it's ridiculous. >> so what do you make of the pushback that the trump campaign has done against michelle? because corey lewandowski is going after her, and hard, suggesting she's an attention seeker, that she was assaulted at the nypd -- by the nypd during the occupy protests. he asks professional reporter or attention seeker and listed examples of her reporting suggesting what she really wants is attention. >> corey lewandowski is a thug, and donald trump is a thug for backing him. anybody who engages in this sort of activity and justifies it by attacking somebody who by the way, this has been a verified account. there's a report in the daily

beast this morning that corey lewandowski went to matt boyle and said to him, if he had known it was a breitbart reporter that he wouldn't have done it, as though that's justification. the whole thing is absurd. the fact that the trump campaign continues to play this game where they put out not just violent rhetoric but in this case a campaign manager engaging in violent action and they won't step down to apologize is beyond disgusting, it really is. it's gross. >> david, what do you make of this? in light of the audio that politico is reporting, and that the pictures and her testimon l testimonials, as a lawyer, how do you see it? >> megyn, i have to say this whole thing from beginning doesn't look good to me. the reality is, there were dozens of people around. no one saw it other than this one washington post reporter. there were 100 cameras, none of them caught anything. i've had cases like this in the past. they really trouble me.

rather than making a formal report to the trump campaign or filing a police report, what do it that do? they put lewandowski and by association donald trump on trial in the court of social media. where there is no burden of proof. so you can get on there, go on twitter. at the end of that tape, if you listen closely, the reporter said i'm going to make a story out of this tomorrow morning and that's what he did. this is a reporter that has an ax to grind with donald trump. he wrote a story that was very dismissive and very demeaning. so i have a big problem with this. it's a he said/she said. there's nothing much more to it, when you consider it's the credibility of one witness. >> let me follow up with you on that. under that theory of this matter, were they acting wen they had that exchange on tape? they had -- do you think that's not genuine when he was saying wow, are you okay? >> i think michelle fields

clearly did not see who grabbed her, if anyone did grab her. she then referred to -- she deferred to her friend, the washington post reporter, who said yes, it was lewandowski. donald trump is under attack on multiple levels. on political, economic, social, on a personal level. and this is a way to get at him, that reporter knew that, and the reality is, if it was a real legitimate assault or battery, you file a police report. you don't tweet it out and then 36 hours later tweet out pictures of bruises that lewandowski caused. i'm not buying it. >> your thoughts? >> disgusting. how repulsive are you people? i had a conversation with her for an hour last night. today you'll have to ask her why she didn't go to the police, but i strongly urged her to file a police report and i still think

she should. there's no statute of limitations of filing a police report within 24 hours. but she went silent on social media for almost 24 hours. have you ever seen breitbart news? >> i'm not suggesting it. >> bernie sanders came out tonight and said mr. trump should take responsibility for the actions of his people and condemning what he sees as violent rhetoric at earlier trump events, and we have seen some violent incidents at trump events, including one today where a trump supporter punched a black man who was there in protest. and then after the fact came out and said he should have killed him. here is the incident caught on tape. the protester has been arrested. the police did nothing to the man doing the punching him. they put the african-american

gentleman on the floor and they caught up with the alleged assaulter here, and this is what he had to say about the moment later. >> what did you like about it? >> knocking the hell out of that big mouth. we don't know who he is, but he's not acting like an american. >> so he deserved it? >> every bit of it. >> what was that? >> yes, he deserved it. the next time we see him, we might have to kill him. >> you know, megyn, trump isn't responsible for violent lunatics among the crowds that he draws, anymore than when i go to my dodger games, the dodgers are responsible for the occasional fight that breaks out and somebody gets injured. >> let me ask about that, because what his critics say is he has engaged in rhetoric that could gin up that kind of anger, and this was circulated a great deal today. here is mr. trump in recent weeks.

>> if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? seriously. i promise you, i will pay for the legal fees, i promise. i promise. there won't be so much, because the courts agree with us. i love the old days. you know what they did in the old days to guys like that? they would be carried out on a stretcher. the guards are very gentle with him. i would like to punch him in the face, i tell you. >> go ahead, david. >> you know, what he's saying essentially is if you see somebody preparing to assault me with a tomato, knock the crap out of them. that might be a little harsh for some, but in essence, he's saying you know what? protect me, we're unified, we're a people together. and if someone is going to assault me, then take him out. it's harsh, but people appreciate it and people love

him for it. that's the reality. >> i've got to leave it there, guys. thank you. >> thank you, megyn. also tonight, with hillary clinton and bernie sanders getting ready to battle it out in five states, ed henry is here with how this could go. president obama used a joint press conference to attack the republican presidential field. you don't want to miss what he had to say, next. my office needs new laptops at a great price.

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dad, yoh no, i'll take you up to me off rthe front of the school. that's where your friends are. seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no.. this about a boy? dad! stop, please. oh, there's tracy. what! [ horn honking ] [ forward collision warning ] [ car braking ] bye dad! it brakes when you don't. forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. available on the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. well, there were some charged moments at last night's democratic debate as bernie sanders and hillary clinton are getting ready to face off in five states over five days. the latest polls show the former secretary of state winning handily in florida. that's the big prize on tuesday. but after bernie sanders upset hillary in michigan, he continues to fight. ed henry, our chief white house correspondent, has the latest. hi, ed. >> reporter: megyn, good to see

you. i'm at a bernie sanders' rally right now that just wrapped up. there were over 9,000 people here, because he's trying to make up ground here in florida. he's behind in the polls, hoping to catch up here, but he also wants to build on that momentum in the midwest. beyond michigan, you have ohio and illinois. they say his message about the middle class is going to resonate. it's going to have to. before this rally, sanders agreed to an interview with fox. he said he's going all the way to the democratic convention in july. listen. this race has been dragging on for months. >> we are in, like i said in the beginning, we are going to take this to the convention. we have real momentum behind us, and last i heard, there are 50 states in the united states of america. and we're going to compete in every one of them. >> reporter: but she's got the super delegates. >> in our view, i'm not going to

tell you it's easy, but we have a path towards victory. some of the states coming up, california, new york, west coast we're strong, oregon, washington state, hawaii, we think we have a path toward victory. >> reporter: he's talking about california on june 7, hundreds of degrees. he thinks he might win there. there are democratic party officials skeptical of this talk about a 50-state strategy. they say they've been trying to get bernie sanders to help them raise money, but he's only focused on his campaign, not the party. and that bernie sanders is behind hillary clinton on the math, so he will have to come up with some wins next tuesday. president obama today made headlines when he referenced a republican party crackup. the president told the press that his policies are not to blame for the gop candidate's swift rise in the polls and in particular, for the rise of donald trump to front-runner status. watch.

>> what i'm not going to do is to validate some notion that the republican crackup that's been taking place is a consequence of actions that i have taken. i think it is very important for them to reflect on what it is about the politics that they've engaged in, that allows the circus we've been seeing to transpire. >> joining me now, kirsten powers, fox news contributor, and rich lowery, editor at national review, also a fox news contributor. rich, let me start with you. is obama to blame for whatever you want to call it, in the gop crackup, who is to blame for

that? >> no one is forcing anyone to vote for donald trump, but of course, trump is in part a reaction to barack obama. even david axelrod has pointed this out. when you have a president that's been in office for two terms, an open primary, very often the party out of power looks for someone that's the complete opposite. you had george w. bush, you had this image of the cowboy, so you get barack obama, this seemingly thoughtful law lecturer, and now you have donald trump, who is the opposite of that. i think a lot of republicans looked at president obama's lawless executive orders on immigration and said, you know what? we need someone who is going to govern in exactly the same way, but just do it to the other side. >> fascinating. kirsten, your thoughts? >> well, i actually think that this is more of a reaction to

the gop establishment. david axelrod's argument would work better in a general election. but in a primary, you have a choice of plenty of people who would be different than the president who are republicans. so why are they choosing donald trump over the alternatives? and i think it's because they feel that the republican establishment let them down. that is a core of donald trump's message, and frankly the other person who is doing well is ted cruz and that's much of his message, as well. which is that you can't trust the establishment that they're not going to do what they said they would do, that i'm going to do things differently. that's part of why he's resonating so much among the gop primary voters. >> rich, we've heard honest republicans lamenting the fact that there's this swath of the republican party working class that seems to have been forgotten. no one was advocating, but not a lot got done for them. >> there's a lot of disgust and anger among average republicans with their own party and a lot of blue collar voters who feel

they have been neglected for decades and donald trump has become their champion. i wish other republicans would try to speak to these voters more compelling. if i was president obama, i wouldn't be so smug. if you look at the democratic side, you have a socialist giving hillary clinton a heck of a run for her money. if you plot out trump and sanders' policy positions, there's much more overlap. there's anti-establishment, anti-financial elite, they're anti-trade, and that's because they're both tapping into this polist sentiment. >> this is something that trump supporters love about him, that he, in their view, never backs down. even if he's wrong, he doesn't back down. and they -- that has been very refreshing to those who love him. >> yeah. and this that way, i think some

of them would say they consider president obama weak and so therefore trump is this great alternative. but i would go back to what i said before, i don't think very many of these people would be voting outside of the gop primary. so they were going to vote -- they're anti-obama and they're going to vote for somebody who is a d i think as much as they would say that obama is weak, they would say that the gop establishment is weak, that the gop doesn't stand up for them and the values that they say that they, you know, are supposed to be there to represent. and so i think that they are looking for somebody who, yeah, isn't going to back down, isn't going to be cowed by the media or by being politically correct. >> hence the crackup. great to see you both. >> thanks, megyn. the obama administration taking yet another bold stance when it comes to climate change, suggesting yesterday they have considered legal action against those who say they deny the science. james rosen is next on that.

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washington. james? >> megyn, good evening. it was in testimony before the senate judiciary committee that attorney general loretta lynch described yesterday how leading members of big oil and other so-called climate change deniers have come under the scrutiny of the fbi. >> under president obama, the department of justice has done nothing so far about the climate denial scheme. >> we have received information about it and have referred it to the fbi to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for what we could take action on. i'm not aware of a civil referral at this time. >> democratic congressman ted lu of california asked the justice department to investigate last year specifically whether exxonmobil misled the public regarding the role of fossil fuels and climate change. lu and other activists want the obama administration to launch a civil racketeering prosecution against big oil companies and allies such the tobacco companies faced under president

clinton, cigarette makers came under fire for issuing studies denying harmful effects from snoek i smoking. exxonmobil denied the allegations. to some analysts, however, the attorney general's testimony was troubling because it raised the project of the federal government to use its power to silence the white house on one of its signature domestic policy issues. lynch's language, her statement the probe was initiated with the intention of seeing whether action could be taken against the groups also raised concern. >> the attorney general's use of the word "could" is very telling because it's not as if they're going to analyze these issues on the merits and say would we or should we do it? they're looking for a pretax could we go after them? >> we asked doj how long this probe would take. officials told us there is no timeframe as to when a decision will be made. megyn? >> james, thank you. we'll be right back. don't go away. relieve both your itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. complete allergy relief or incomplete.

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debate for complete wrap-up and analysis. the last debate before super tuesday 2, folks. how'd they do? senator ted cruz fresh off the debate stage. frank luntz. stirewalt, baer, charlotte hurt, dana loesch. see you at 11:00. welcome to the special edition of "hannity road to the white house." we've been traveling all around the country to meet up with the gop 2016 presidential candidates as they've been hitting the campaign trail to talk directly to the voters. tonight, for the hour, highlights from our recent interviews with republican contenders donald trump, senator ted cruz, governor john kasich, plus show you part of my speech from cpac 2016. first, yesterday we caught up with donald trump in north carolina before he addressed a rally of supporters. in case you didn't get a chance to see it, here are some highlights. >> government spending is out of control. how do we stop the growth of government? s