obligation, put checks in place to make it very difficult for iran to develop a nuclear weapon. so what does iran get from this deal? first of all, it gets access to international markets. it can bank. iranians can move money into and out of the country. iran can now sell oil legally. also it unfreezes tens of billions of dollars. effectively an economy of 80 million people is now being welcomed back into the international community. chuck? >> richard, thank you very much. let's get back to the presidential campaign. in a few minutes we'll get to my interviews with two men who hope to grab the establishment lane in the republican race, senator marco rubio and former florida governor jeb bush. but we start with the democrat and a hillary clinton/bernie sanders race that has turned out to be much closer than the experts thought, especially clinton campaign. in fact, we have brand new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll numbers out that has some good

nationally we still have her with a big lead over bernie sanders 59%-34% but in iowa the story is different. three polls out this week showing neck in neck race including our own nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist polls. quinnipiac found sanders up by 5% and the "des moines register" had clinton up by just 2%. bottom line, it's too close to call. a closer race it has become a more aggressive race against sanders so we begin with hillary clinton who joins us from charleston, south carolina. good morning, secretary clinton. >> good morning, chuck. >> let me start with the iran deal. yesterday in response to it you immediately said that iran is still violating u.n. security council resolutions with its ballistic missile program which should be met with new sanctions, designations and firm results. so my question is what do you tell the american public that says "you want new sanctions against iran, they're violating agreement bus what did we do? we handed them $100 billion and did a prisoner exchange."

considering your concerns about their missile program? >> absolutely. look i have said for a long time that i'm very proud of the role that i played in getting us to the point where we could negotiate the agreement that puts a lid on iran's nuclear weapons program but i've also said the way we'll hold them accountable is to have consequences when they do anything that might deviate from the agreement or continue to balk the kind of sanctions and mandates the u.n. security council has put on, including on missiles so i see this as mutually reinforcing, chuck. i was delighted that the that's a good sign. we still don't see bob levinson coming home, there's more work to be don there but if the implementation of the agreement which is being done today is to

expected we're going to watch iran like the proverbial hawk. when it comes to the missile program, they are under u.n. security council sanctions and if they are violating it -- which the evidence seems to suggest -- they should be held accountable. they need to knows that that this is a good step forward with respect to the nuclear weapons program but there are other areas of their behavior that we'll continue to be focused on. >> do you consider iran a national security threat to the united states? >> well, certainly we have lowered that threat because of the nuclear agreement but they continue to be destabilize governments in the middle east. they continue to support proxies and terrorist groups like hezbollah, they continue to threaten israel, there are a lot of concerns. but what i've said for some time now is i'd rather have the

one side and work to make sure they abide by the agreement and turn our attention to some of these other behaviors that are threatening. certainly in the region and therefore cause concern for us. >> let me move to the campaign. to try to figure out why this race has gotten closer in iowa, why your lead has shrunk in iowa, we spoke to a number of voters. i want to play three soundbites from iowa voters about potential pause they have regarding your candidacy. i'm going to play it and get you to respond on the other side. >> you get the impression from her that she believes maybe the rules don't apply to her. or the same rules don't apply to her that apply to everybody else. >> she's worked really hard and done some amazing things i just feel that bernie sanders is kind of -- has a little bit more fire lit up in people. >> well, i hear people talking about questioning her honesty. and i don't necessarily do that but i think that's one thing people are kind of not sure and

clinton, too. so i think some of that rubs off. >> madam secretary, how do you answer that pause. this is from democrats some pause that they have. >> well, first of all, chuck, i always thought this was going to be close and i can't speak for anybody else but i've worked as hard as i can to build an organization in iowa to be out there listening and talking with iowans as they move toward making the first in the nation decision in the caucus on february 1 and i've also been consistent over the course of my public life. if i tell you i'm going to fight for something, i will do my very best to get results. i think that's why i have such strong support and i feel very good about where we are but we'll keep working until the very last caucus is decided on february 1. >> another problem in iowa is you don't ideologically fit. this was in the "des moines register" poll this week. 43% of likely democratic caucus goers identify as socialist.

caucus goers identified themselves as a capitalist. you said you were a capitalist, bernie sanders calls himself a democratic socialist. if you don't win iowa, do you think that's the reason? >> oh, i don't know how people take all this information. but i support a free market economy. i support the competitiveness that has created the greatest economic engine in the history of the world. what i am worried about is that it's not continuing to do what it used to do which is to give the vast majority of a chance to get ahead and stay ahead. that's why i've got a very vigorous jobs agenda. that's why i put raising incomes at the center of my economic policy and i think what i know will work is to get back the good old-fashioned job opportunities that will help people get ahead through manufacturing, through infrastructure, through clean

plans that i've been putting out. look, when we have a democrat in the white house -- a democrat -- we do that better economically. we saw that when my husband was president, we saw president obama dig us out of the ditch republican policies put us into, so i'm very confident that i know what will work if we have a -- the right commitment as a nation and that's what i want to do as president. >> let me ask you about whether -- going in chicago, right now, mayor rahm emanuel has been under fire has been under fire for what he may have known about a shooting incident. do you think he still has the credibility to heal the wounds in chicago between the african-american community and law enforcement? >> look, like everybody else who watched that video on television i was just outraged by what happened to laquan mcdonald. i was one of the first to call for a complete department of justice information and, in fact, urged it include the

this is not a problem that is unique to chicago, unfortunately, and we've got to do more to deal with the systemic racism and the problems that policing has demonstrated. mayor emanuel has said he is completed to complete and total reform and i think he should held to that standard. >> but do you think he still has the credibility to do that? >> that's going to be up to him and up to the people of chicago to prove. >> very quickly, the movie "13 hours" about the incident in benghazi. i know there's a lot of chatter about the movie itself. let me ask you. the controversy involves whether or not everything was done that night to rescue ambassador stevens. looking back, do you believe everything was done that night that could have been done to save his life? >> based on everything i know and based on a republican-led intelligence committee investigation, is a

committee investigation, the answer to that is yes. that people were scrambling trying to figure out what could be done if anything and i can't speak to a movie but i know people have raised questions about some of the dramatization. i testified for more than 11 hours, as you know i answered every question i was asked. my real focus, chuck, is what do we do to make sure that we send americans into harm's way -- military or civilian, diplomats or soldiers -- we take every precaution to the best of our ability in what is an unpredictable and dangerous world to make sure they can discharge their duties and be safe while doing it. >> secretary clinton, i have to leave it there. we look forward to seeing you tonight on stage in charleston for the democratic debate here thank you. >> thanks a lot. >> you got it. just a few minutes ago i interviewed bernie sanders and i began by asking him about the issue of gun safety.

issues that's likely to come up tonight at the bedebate, that's the issue of gun safety. last night in what the clinton campaign is referring to as a debate-eve conversion you came out in favor of essentially repealing immunity for gun manufacturers when it comes to being held liable for gun deaths. that's a switch of your positions. what brought you to this conclusion? >> well, not really. you know, i understand that secretary clinton and her campaign understand that, you know, they're losing ground. we've started this campaign off 359% in the poll at 3% in the polls, we're closing in in iowa and we're ahead in new hampshire. so i sense in the next few weeks you'll see more -- >> but you did change your position on this. >> what i said several months ago, having a d-minus voting

ban assault weapons in 1988, yeah, that was a piece of legislation i wanted to relook at. but what that legislation had is a prohibition on armor-piercing bullets, it had language for a child lock safety for our kids, important provision. there were things i do not like and i was willing to rethink. we have rethought it. there's a bill apparently being introduced, i like that bill, it makes good changes and we will be supportive of it. >> another thing that will come up on the issue of sungun safety is the issue of a waiting period. the clinton campaign is hitting you on not being supportive of something longer like a five day or seven day window and the reason this is being brought up is if dylann roof, the man who killed those nine folks in charleston last year, if there had been a longer waiting period he might have been prevented from buying a gun. >> look, what we saw in

unspeakable dimensions. i did some pray a guy did prayer with people then takes out a gun and shoots nine people. i believe very strongly in instant background checks. i think we have to expand it and make sure 100% that we keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have that, people with criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. that has been my view from day one. but you know, chuck, i think the reason the clinton campaign is getting defense sieve they see that we have the momentum. tha( see the issues we are talking about, a disappearing middle-class and new income and wealth going to the top 1%, a corrupt campaign finance system where people like secretary clinton can raise millions of dollars through super pacs, those are the issues they don't bant to discuss so tonight we're going to be discussing a lot of issues and the main issues is why the rich get richer, almost everybody else gets poorer and the fact that we have got to

class and change those dynamics. >> so you're in in favor of a longer background check? a five, seven-day background check? >> we are willing to look at anything that mabs sense, that keeps guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. but i'm not going to be defensive on that issue. i lost an election in 1988, probably lost an election because i had the courage back then to say assault weapons should not be sold in america. >> let me ask you quickly about the iran deal. is iran still an enemy of the united states given what's going on? the improved diplomatic relations? >> it's funny. if you think back to 2007 during the campaign in which secretary clinton ran against barack obama she was critical of him, a question was asked to obama and said "would you sit down and talk to the iranians?" and he said "yeah, i would." point bag in you talk to your adversaries, you don't run away from that.

him naive. turns out that obama was right so clearly we have many, many issues and many concerns with iran but clearly also we want to improve our relationship with this very powerful country. i think the agreement to make certain iran does not get a nuclear weapon was a huge step forward. the fact we have the prisoner release was a good important step forward. so i hope we can continue to go forward to improve relations with iran. >> senator sanders, i'll leave it there. we'll look forward to seeing you, secretary clinton and martin o'malley on stage on nbc thank you, sir. it's going to be a humdinger of a debate. you heard senator sanders there mentioned hillary clinton in almost every single answer. back in a moment with the republicans -- trump and cruz are finally going at it and nobody may be happier about that development than my next two guests, marco rubio and jeb bush.

hey marc. how you feeling? don't ask. this is what it can be like to have shingles, a painful, blistering rash. i never thought this would happen to me. if you had chickenpox, the shingles virus is already inside you. 1 in 3 people will get shingles in their lifetime. i know he must feel uncomfortable with that rash around his eye. your immune system weakens as you get older, and it loses its ability to keep the shingles virus in check. i'm going to go back to the eye doctor tomorrow. it's pretty close to my eye. the shingles rash can last up to 30 days. i don't know how you do it. don't wait until you or someone you care about develops shingles. talk to your doctor or pharmacist today

we were born 100 years ago into a new american century. born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. and what an amazing time it's been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. so, we say thank you america for a century of trust, for the privilege of flying higher and higher, together. donald trump and ted cruz definitely ended their mutual non-aggression pact this weekend with a flurry of charges and countercharges and while trump and cruz fight it out at the top, many republicans are desperate for someone to emerge as the establishment candidate. now they're not the only ones beating each other up.

candidates vying far role, senator marco rubio of florida bush. let me begin with rubio. in thursday's republican debate he took on ted cruz directly, accusing him of serially changing his positions. >> ted cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards. now you say that you're against it. you used to support a 500% increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. you used to support legalizing people who were here illegally, now you say you're against it. favor of birth right against it. immigration. you used to support tpa, now you say you're against it. i saw you on the senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in iowa and last week we saw you flip your vote on reason. that's not consistent conservatism, that's political calculation. last night i began by asking rubio whether he wasn't also

miss times, particularly on immigration. >> if circumstances change or you learn something along the way, it's reason to believe say maybe a different approach will work better. so for example on immigration it's clear no comprehensive solution to immigration is going to pass but don't pretending you never do and don't go around telling everyone like ted cruz does that he is the only consistent conservative running for president. the fact of the matter is, that ted has shown a propensity throughout his career in the u.s. senate to take one position in front of one audienen and then change his position in front of another. so he raises money in new york and then criticizes new york values. on the policy issues, he used to be in favor of legalizing people who are here illegally and he said so in front of one audience but then he portray this is sort of notion that he's the harshest and hardest when it comes to that issue. that's not been his regard. and if you recall, that was response to an attack from him in the debate and i think it's important to point out that on

his record used to be something very different. >> let me ask you on the 11 million, are you still for finding a way for them to legally stay in the united states? >> if you're a criminal alien, no, you can't stay. if you're someone that hasn't been here for a very long time you can't stay. >> define "criminal alien." >> a felon. >> so not -- >> under immigration law. i've said that before, that's been -- a felon, someone who's committed a crime, a non-immigration related -- obviously -- and that's what i've talked about in the past. so i don't think you'll round up and de1230r9port 12 million people. it's clear now more than ever that we won't be able to do anything on people here illegally until we first prove to people that illegal immigration is under control and america is safe. and isis poses a very ique threat, unlike ananhing we have faced in the past. >> very quickly. you brought up ted cruz and his use of the phrase "new york values."

>> i've never used that phrase. i think we're all americans. i'm campaigning on behalf of american values and i don't seek other. that's the problem we have with the current president. the problem is ted has raised money in new york. raising money. he says that in one state and says something different in another and time and again he's proven the level of political calculation that voters are only starting to find out about now as the campaign gets deeper and more heated? >> last question, let me talk about the global news of the day having to do with iran. do you think these americans would be coming home if it wasn't for the iran nuclear deal? >> i don't think these americans should have ever been in prison. they didn't do anything wrong. they are hostages. and so now we have a president that has strayed hostages in exchange for prisoners who did commit a crimend were convicted after due process and a trial and everything of that sort and what the president is now doing, not just with this but what he did with the castro brothers and what he did with bergdahl is he's put a price on the head of every american abroad.

capture an american, you can get something meaningful in exchange for it. i'm glad they're coming home and the case of bob levinson remains unresolved. the iranians know where he is and they're not coopepeting. we need to continue to remember about him. that said it doesn't -- at the end of the day when i am presidentially repeal the deal with iran. lilt end when i am president. we'll reimpose sanctions and if iran tries to build a nuclear weapon program, we will stop. >> it under president rubio, you would not have negotiated any sort of prisoner exchange for those four american hostages? >> when i become president of the united states, our adversaries around the world will know that america is no longer under the command of someone weak like barack obama and it will be like ronald reagan where as soon as he took office the hostages were released from iran. we would impose additional sanctions, not just congressional sanctions now -- >> you wouldn't have given iran anything? you wouldn't have given iran everything -- >> we would have gotten them home. >> without giving them anything? >> well, we would have given

sanctions. in fact there never would have been a discussion on these deals until they were released. iran needs more from us than we need from them. we need to remind ourselves of that and at the end of the day, these are people that view these sorts of things as weakness. that's why this week they captured our sailors, tried to humiliate them on video, putting their hands behind their back and putting them on their knees and videotaping them apologizing. that doesn't happen when i'm president because they will know we have a strong president, unlike the weak one that we have now. >> senator marco rubio traveling in iowa, stay safe on the trail. thanks for coming on, sir. >> thank you. joining me now is the former governor of florida, jeb bush from the snowy state of new hampshire this weekend. governor welcome back to "meet the press." >> thanks, chuck. >> hey, i want to start with something you said to kathleen parker two days before thursday's debate. you said to her -- referring to donald trump -- "i'm going after him, the problem is there's too much low hanging fruit." then you tick off that you'll

bankruptcies, company's massive layoff, people "getting stiffed" including a widow by the name of vera coking whose house trump attempted to replace with a parking lot referring to eminent domain issue. it was detailed. governor, i don't remember that happening on thursday night. what happened? >> we talked about the 45% tariff he has been advocating that would create a global depression and lay people off and create hardship. retaliated by chinese, the chinese and making sure we couldn't sell our boeing planes that are being made a mile away from where the debate took place. i had my chance and i was the only person that goes after trump on these issues. he's not a conservative and should the opportunity come up in the next debate to talk about bankruptcies, i'll do it. four times he went bankrupt and he claims he was just using the law but a lot of people got wiped out because of that. and the imminent domain issue is conservatives believe we should

>> there's been an outside group that has been hammering donald trump on this on the airwaves in both iowa and new hampshire. none of this stuff sticks. how does this guy have teflon. you've gone after him hard. i could argue you've probably gone after him more than any other candidate on that stage. you're on the air with a tv ad hitting him. but he's got a teflon about him. what do you make about it? >> well, there's a lot of anxiety, people are so angry with washington and so frustrated about their own lives. i saw a survey that 63% of people can't afford a car repair of 500 bucks and more than half of americans have less than a thousand dollars in savings. and the big guy comes in and offers the moon and the stars and people are latched on but the reality is he's notffering anything to lift p pople up and i think thth cumulative effect of pointing that out -- respectfully, look, the guy is entertaining for sure but his ideas aren't going to help people and he doesn't have the skills to bring people together

skills in the public domain so my path is to say i do, i've got a proven record, i don't run away from the fire, i don't blame other people, i don't disparage people, i try to unite around a common purpose, i got to do that as governor and the ideas i'm laying out would help america and that's my path. >> right whenou announced in july you said the following, you argued that finding a way to reweave the web of stability before progress on substantive issues can be made. essentially you said that has to be first, second, third, fourth priority because after you get stability then you can deal with these other issues. obviously this is not a civil time in this republican primary debate and i guess i'm wondering, do you just have the wrong temperament for what republican primary voters are looking for in 2016? >> no, look, i'm talking about washington, d.c. the reason why people are angry in the republican primary is there's no stability in washington. the president's first impulse is to push someone away and down to make himself look bigger and higher.

>> about a month ago when it came to donald trump there was leaks from your campaign that you were looking for a way to say "you know what, i can't support him if he becomes thehe nominee." you've since backed off in some of your harsher criticism on him. is that a fair way to read this that you decided no, i can support him if he's the nominee, even if i'm not happy about it. >> look, the prospects of ss of hillary clinton or bernie sanders to be the president of the united states is chilling to me. i'm going to win the nomination, that's my focus, that's what i'm trying to do but anybody would be beteter than hillary clinton or bernie sanders. so i'm critical -- >> so you here in on trump if it's him? >> he's not going to win the nomination and i am going to continue to be critical of him when he doesn't advocate conservative principles. he's running if for conservative party's nomination, he should be a conservative and he hasn't shown it. >> is there a point where you

mainstream conservatives to unite around one candidate at some point to stop aed cruz or donald trump because you don't think they can win? >> the point is that we're running for presidency right now and new hampshire and iowa and south carolina and nevada will shape the election in march. we're on every ballot. we have the resources to go the distance and i'm going do it. >> we have a lot to chew over. when we come back, we deal just that. the new york state of mind for the front-runners on the republican side. ted cruz apologizes -- not really -- for his new york values comment and donald trump is hitting back and hitting back and hitting back. later human rights attorney amal clooney who happens to be george clooney's wife on the small island paradise that has back breeding ground for isis. >> if you're a woman lying on the beach in the maldives you might want to know a kilometer

flogged. you both have a perfect driving record. until one of you clips a food truck. then your rates go through the roof. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. look, the wolf was huffing and puffing. like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase

osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! (children giggle) symbicort. breathe better starting within 5 minutes. call or go online to learn more about a free trial offer. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. welcome back, you just heard hillary clinton and bernie sanders trying to framg ing toing to frame tonight's showdown at the debate in charleston south korea swrk the two front-runner -- and martin o'malley -- will go at it in just two weeks in iowa.

i'm jumping on a plane with lester holt and andrea mitchell to be part of the news team. just before the debate start, tune in on your local nbc

9:00 and we'll have the flu virus hits big. with aches, chills, and fever, there's no such thing as a little flu. and it needs a big solution: an antiviral. so when the flu hits, call your doctor right away and up the ante with antiviral tamiflu. prescription tamiflu is an antiviral that attacks the flu virus at its source and helps stop it from spreading in the dy. tamiflu is fda approved to treat the flu in people o weeks of age and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu, tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing, have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk

the most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. anti-flu? go antiviral with tamiflu. the future belongs to the fast. and to help you accelerate, we've created a new company... one totally focused on what's next for yoururusiness. the true partnershsh where people,technology and ideas push everyone forward. accelerating innovation. accelerating transformation. accelerating next.

well, you're right, donald trump, hillary clinton, bill de blasio have demanned an apology. i'm happy to apologize. i apologize to the millions of new yorkers who have been let down by liberal politicians in that state. >> a lot of people do not like ted, to put it mildly, i kept saying am i the only person who thinks he's a nice guy? as it turned out, he finally went off the wagon a little bit and went a little crazy. welcome back. the two front-runners, donald trump and ted cruz, are no longer playing nice. panelist steve schmidt republican strategist and former senior advisor to john mccain in '08. joy-ann reed, author of "fracture," stephanie cutter, deputy campaign manager for president obama in 2012, and hugh hewitt, host of the hugug hewitt s sw. let's start, trump versus cruz, hugh, is this the fight the establishment has been waiting for? >> well, it's rtainly got jeb bush's attention. i heard jeb tell you the big guy

the last time a big guy from new york took aim at a would-be president born outside the country was july 11, 1804 with aaron burr and alexander hamilton. it was not good for either man's career, and i don't know this fight is good for either man's career. >> steve? >ook, right now you look at trump's strength across the country in the national polls, all these establishment candidates -- kasich, rubio, bush, christie -- they need ted cruz to beat donald trump in iowa. if ted cruz doesn't win the state of iowa, donald trump is gone. he'll win new hampshire, he'll be very, very tough to catch as this race moves south and into the bigger states. >> i think the problem is for the establishment wing of the party is that the lane is closing quickly. i think even if you saw all of sort of consolidate around one person, our polling and other polling is showing that in a three-way race between trump, cruz, and fill in the

trump wins in a two-way a race, even rubio. >> let me put up the numbers. you're helping the producers, i love it. let me put the numbers up, the three-way race that those trump/cruz/rubio, then the two-way pairings. cruz versus trump, cruz wins. trump versus rubio, trump wins. what does s at tell you to me? establishment can't win? >> that's right. i don't think there's enough strength -- not being the "republican" at the table, there doesn't seem to be much more room in the lane for establishment candidates. i think cruz is as bad a scenario because he spent his entire career blowing up his home team's court. >> who do democrats want to run against, trump or cruz? >> there's pathways on both. leleme just say that. but back to the polling. i think it's interesting if you look at these polls, as many as half of both cruz and trump support say that they're open to persuasion to other candidates. it's sort of soft support these two have, so what they're doing to each other could provide an

i think the knife fight is bleeding them both. trump will win iowa, donald trump will win new hampshire but that allows consolidation to i think we're going to cleveland, we'll have an open convention because it's too much fun to stop. it really is. if donald trump wins iowa, couldn't he be the nominee before hillary clinton? >> i think he'll aolutely be the nominee before hillary clinton. look, winning early matters in these contests. this is a momentum business and past is prologue here. you win iowa, you win new hampshire, it puts you in good position going into south carolina, ultimately to florida, ultimately to the primary on march h so if donald trump wins in iowa, give me the scenario by which anyoneneatches him in new hampshire and south carolina and at the end of the day the person who gets the most vote, th win. i think the chances of an open convention, brokered convention, i think, are very, very minimal. >> i think when the son and

conceding you're the big man in the race, that's a concession you cannot walk back from. >> you brought it up. i have to say that was -- >> that was a big line. the take-away of the morning. >> it was a litttt surprisingly deferential. >> it's unconscious, in fact, , admission against interere that there's a big guy in the race that you can't big down. >> that's how he feels. and it's shining through everything he says and does. he feels like trump has taken all the oxygen, he's untouchable, and while jeb has good ideas and, you know, has been effective as a governor, he can't understand why trump is winning. >> steve, you were -- you cut your teeth being a guy that knew how to push a negative message, i say this as a compliment. you have rubio trying to paint cruz as a flip-flopper. isishat possible? ted cruz is a guy that i don't think if you watch -- nobody's going to -- are people going to think he's some sort of establishment finger in the wind politician? that will be tough to sell, isn't it? >> i think it's very tough to sell and it misses the point

you have an exasperated jeb bush wondering how is it that the big guy is ahead in the race? well, he's ahead because he sucked up the oxygyg. that's not the case. his base, non-college educated, blue-collar, no wage growth in 25 years, these people and republicans in general believe that barack obama has won, he has changed america, and that he did it over a complicit, feckless, corrupt republican congress. when donald trump says "make america great again," that's a powerful message for that republican electorate. >> i do think on cruz, however, these arguments that rubio is making, they happen to have the virtue of being true on ted cruz. i don't think it's going to hurt him in the primaries but if he becomes the general election candidate he will get decimated. >> and the flip-flopping has occurred in rubio's own career. i mean, marco rubio's raison

immigration reform done. he's been walking himself back and he's changing the reason why. >> team cruz is happy with what happened over the last 48 hours, they read this as consolidating iowa. i've never run a national campaign, i didn't stay at a holiday inn last night. team cruz is very happy so is team rubio. >> i'm going to play very quickly, i want to show you the cruz campaign pushing out this hit on donald trump. it's donald trump praising hillary clinton. i'll play a quick piece of it here. >> hillary clinton i think is a terrific woman. i'm a little be i've known her for years, i live in new york, she lives in new york. i know her very well and i know her husband veryryell. >> jeb bush tried this with donald trump six months ago and it didn't work. with ted cruz doing it can it work? >> yes. ted cruz is messaging into the iowa caucuses -- >> he can message this better? >> yes, i believe that. >> do you believe that? >> this is the time to be doing it. this is how you want to close the race. >> this isn't news to anybody. it allows donald trump to sell a virtue, which is honesty that,

i was in business i needed to be friends with everybody. it's what people tend to believe and he's not penalized for these relationships. he's credited with the honesty in describing the relationship. >> by the way, the people supporting donald trump are not conservatives. those people are with ted cruz. with them. >> some of them probably voted for bill clinton back in the '90s. some of these trump supporters. we'll take a pause. we have takes on the democratic race. but up next, something different. my sit-down with amal clooney, she's a human rights lawyer and has a famous last name because she's the wiwi of george clooney. we talked about her efforts to win freedom for a key polititil prisoner. right after this. and can you explain why you recommend synthetic over cedar? "super food?" is that a real thing? it's a great school, but is it the right one for her? is this really any better than the one you got last year? if we consolidate suppliers, what's the savings there? so should we go with the 467 horsepower? ...or is a 423 enough? good question. you ask a lot of good questions... i think we should move you into our new fund. sure... ok.

wealth management at charles schwab. u do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates... maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. your body was made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to a biologic, ask if xeljanz is right for you. xeljanz is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can reduce joint pain and swelling in as little as two weeks, and help stop further

xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma, and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common, and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. ljanz can reduce the symptoms of ra, even without methotrexate. ask your rheumatologist about xeljanz. welcome to the world 2116, you can fly across town in minutes or across the globe in under an hour. whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes

and if you thought that was amazing,

welcome back. amal clooney was a prominent international human rights lawyer long before she acquired a famous name from her husband, hollywood actor george clooney. this week, nbc news followed her in washington as she met with lawmakers to discussshe flilit of her client, mohammed nashid, he's the former democratically elected president of the maldives. the maldives are known as an idyllic vacation destination but they've become a top recruiting ground for isis. this former president was thrown into prison as what he described as simply a coup and he was sentenced to 13 years. suddenly the government announced it would allow nashid to travel to the united kingdom for back surgery but it's not clear that will happen now and

clooney's trip to washington. i sat down with her this week and began by asking what she was hoping to accomplish on this trip to washington. >> you have an increasing authoritarian regime where protesters are being rounded up and arrested. where lawyers are being attacked, tv stations are being closed down and every opposition leader in the country is now either behind bars or being persecute bid the government. so my client is one of them. he was subjected to a political show trial, as has been recognized by the u.n. and others. since i've been in washington, i've been meeting with members of the administration and members of congress to discuss the imposition of targeted sanctions against members of the regime. >> let me ask you a basic question that many in america when theyear stories like this it's tragic but they say "why is this america's problbl?" >> i understand the question. maldives is not usually top of

it may be on the short list of holiday deinations. there are two reasons, first of all, u.s. values are at stake. we just had the president's state of the union address and he said american leadership? the 21st century means rallying the world around causes that are right. and that -- and he gave an example of the u.s. supporting ukraine's fight for democracy and that's what we're a aking fofo, too, in this case. the people from maldives have a right to democracy and their democracy is under threat at the moment. there's another reason which is also not very well known. just last month, the european parliament issued a report saying that at the moment the maldives has the highest per capita rate of recruitment for isis in the world. and this is really shocking. so the figures that have been released by the state department say 200 fighters have gone from the maldives to iraq or syria. >> is this a country you feel is enabling isis and is serving as a breeding ground for isis? >> the president has made speeches saying there's only

and sharia punishment should be imposed. you've had fighters who've gone to isis come back to the country and not be prosecuted. also last year you had a rally on the streets of mali where people were waving isis flags and the police did not crack down on those, there were no arrests that took place so you certainly have a regime that could be doing a lot more to minimize the terrorist threat. >> because of your last name you were attacked by one of the -- at the time vice presidents that help end the coup. he chalked you up to being just part of the hollywood fictional world that is trying to make up things about the maldives. >> yes. >> and what happened to this gentleman? >> so his attack was that i didn't let facts get in the way when i was saying nasheed had been subjected to an unfair trial and there were political prisoners in the cocontry. what's happened since them is that he himself wasas arrested because the president is now increasingly paranoid, i think, and is going after members of

his t opposition in its entirety.$% he now sits in a jail cell and penned a very different op-ed and said "what are these lawyers talking about? "he now says -- and i believe this is a direct quote "i join the swelling ranks of political prisoners many the maldives, including president nasheed." and he also adds "any casual observer of the judicial system? the maldives knows it's impossible to get a fair trial here." >> is this a case whee your connectiti to celebrity, is it an asset or liability in something like this? >> i think it's easy to dismiss criticisms on thabasis. i think the kind of attacks i got from that vice president just smacked of desperation and was easy to blow off it so's not something worrying. on the other hand, if in representing this client and trying to secure his release and the release of other political prisoners, if people are made aware of the situation in the maldives that's a good thing because there are thousands of tourists going every year and i think if people know what's

don't want to support that regime, either. if you're a woman lying on a beach in the maldives you might want to know a kilometer away another woman is being flogged and you might want to find your own way to protest that. >> next time you're around, give us a call. amal clooney, thanks for coming. >> thank you. we should note, the maldives government still insists that mohammed nasheed return after his surgery in the united kingdom and that, as of now, he has not left the country. when we come back,our end gameme segment. how muchhhould hillary clinton be cononrned about the surging bernie sanders? coming up, "meet the press" end game brought to you - good journalism is about telling a story from more than one perspective. embracing diversity can enrich your story by allowing you to see things from more than just one point of view. that's a story worth telling.

end game time. the panel is here, we turn the democrat. stephanie cutter, there is a feeling of some democrats of deja vu all over again with hillary clinton and iowa. we spent the week talking to iowa voters about hesitance -- iowa democrats but the hesitance for clinton. here's a compilation. >> she comes from a wealthy, privileged family. so for me it's a bit -- do you understand really what individuals like us, we're underrepresented, may have come from low income families, are you going to understand our standpoint and defend us? >> her tie ins on wall street and connections there which are very goooo for running a government are -- may be exciting for people to view fwheet the negative. >> i don't want to harp on the e-mail thing but that's a barometer. first of all there's this kind of denial and oh, well, yeah, guy. it's not like you're gtting the whole story all the time up front right now.

that's what we found out. it's a little bit of something but they found something and they can't figure it out. >> we've always known this. this is -- there's not much about hillary clinton that people don't know. and people have very strong opinions. but let's not mistake this. she still has very strong support on the ground in iowa and even more important than that she has a terrific ground operation which, as you know, in a caucus atmosphere, is critical. >> she thought she had a good ground operation eight years ago. >> not as good as obama. >> joy, i had a flash back of the "new york times" does this what's wrong with the clinton campaign, here we go, the blind quotes are coming and all this stuff. the flashback i had was not to clinton '08, it was to al gore, 2000, to george w. bush '88 when you're running for the third term, you're passionately fighting for continuity. bernie uanders is passionately fighting for change. >> but at the same time there is a flash back to/08 that the clinton team has the talent for

they underestimate the threat, that i did so with barack obama and when they realized it belatedly they overerrrected and overattacked. and this defcon 1 response to everything in the clinton world is a bit of a throw back. >> steve, you absolutely captured this the other night during state of the union coverage. you said it's remarkable that she's made a 74-year-old former gadfly senator popular. >> absolutely. much of this is about hillary clinton as a candidate but it's also about the democratic party. and we've talked about on the republican side the rise of the tea party and the drift right. but remarkable polling numbers. 43% of iowa demomoats identify as socialists nott as capitalists so what hillary clinton -- what hillary clinton in this race has found herself in is an ideological fight with the challenger to the left. and i don't think anybody should

gotten into this race she would have been the likely democratic nominee for president. >> or deval patrick. >> so hillary clinton has a challenge from her ideological left and he has every capacity to win in iowa and new hampshire. >> iowa has always had -- whether they call themselves socialists or liberal democrats has always had this tremendously liberal strain in the democratic party. >> just like really conservative on the republican side. >> it was there in '08 and there in 2012 which is why, as an obama campaign official we never pushed too hard back on the socialist arguments that people in your party were making. >> because it helped in iowa. done everything right. she has run a good campaigngn she hasoutperformed in debates. she's raised money. she's got a great ground game. what she can't control is this string of anger that is connecting both parties right now.

and given raise to sanders. >> i agree with stephanie here. >> the republicans haven't figured out how to handle it. >> it has impacted the democrats. >> and that's the right of bernie sanders and it struck me when i was watching the two interviews that he's got this sense of anger and injustice about the econono and she's talking aboutdvanced manufacturing and there's a difference in that when you're two weeks out from an iowa -- >> her weakness -- her ten minutes with you, chuck, was her best and worst i've seen thus far. she was very good at the top on iran, she dodged the rahm emanuel question, she did not answer the 13 hours question, i hope tonight you follow up and ask if she's seen the movie and on groundhog day, the day after the night of the iowa caucuses she is going to have the bill murray experience of living the same thing that you did ght years ago. >> voters will vovo for her. >> that's all right. but a "groundhog day" reference, you wind the end game segment. [ laughter ] that's all for tonight. don't forget to tune in to

our coverage will begin at nbc news and nbcnews.com. - [voiceoverercoming up next on mydestination.tv. this frank lloyd wright-inspired chitectural gem remains the crown jewel of the desert. - [voiceover] frank lloyd wright was utilizing the textile block design in many of his buildings during that era and it's based on the trunk of a palm tree and there are actually 34 different designs throughout the properties. - [voiceover] also, for those in search of romance and relaxation, join us as we take you to the great outdoors at napa valley's calistoga ranch. - [v[vceover] at calistogaga ranch, you'll l perience the most upscale treehouse experience you've ever had.