candidate. i mean, i think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want world war iii we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends. >> to wage war we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over. now first-term senators who never made an executive decision in their life. >> can i tell you, if i'm elected president, we will secure the border. we will triple the border patrol. we will build a wall that works. and i'll get donald trump to pay for it. >> i'll build it. >> some of the best moments from last night's republican debate where the front-runners played nice. the senators clashed, and jeb bush showed that he can take on donald trump? and the candidates also spent plenty of time linking hillary clinton to president obama's foreign policy. but yesterday the democratic front-runner laid out her own plan to protect the homeland. all this as the nation's two largest school systems received terror threats.

but while los angeles canceled classes the new york police commissioner said the only thing he's concerned with is overreacting. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning, it's wednesday, december the 16th, i'm louis burgdorf. the fight against terror at home and abroad helped shape last night's debate as recent polling shows more americans are worried about a domestic terror attack since october of 2001. and with ted cruz rising in the polls as the main competitor against donald trump, the question was whether cruz would use the debate stage to finally engage trump the way other candidates have on his plan to prohibit muslims from entering the united states. >> senator cruz, you've said you

disagree with mr. trump's policy. will you spell that out with us? >> well, listen, hugh, everyone understands why donald has suggested what he has. president obama and hillary clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of syrian refugees to this country, when the head of the fbi has told congress they cannot vet those refugees. i understand why donald made that proposal. i introduced legislation in the senate that i believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical islamic terrorism. >> donald trump did not do a walk-through ahead of last night's debate. instead he met with a republican mega donor sheldon addleson and despite being the target of numerous attacks trump reaffirmed his loyalty to the republican party next fall. >> would you endorse and support whoever wins on your party's side? >> yeah, i would. >> you would? with enthusiasm? >> i would do that. with enthusiasm. i mean i've gotten to know most of them pretty well. i like a lot of them. i can't say i love everybody. but i like a lot of them.

and i respect quite a few of them. >> and the most frequent clashes came between senators ted cruz and marco rubio on how to combat terrorism. >> this is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. we are now at a time where we need more tools, not less tools and that cool we lost the metadata program was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. >> marco knows what he's saying isn't true. what he knows is that the old program covered 20% to 30% of phone numbers to search for terrorists. the new program covers nearly 100%. that gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism. >> there is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. this bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the national security agency and other -- and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. because i promise you, the next time there is an attack on this

country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it. >> and more division surfaced when rubio was pressed on whether he supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. now after being accused by one of the moderators of not answering the question. >> after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a work permit i personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. that may not be a majority position in my party. but that's down the road. >> there was a time for choosing, as reagan put it. where there was a battle over amnesty, and some chose, like senator rubio, to stand with barack obama and chuck schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. >> always puzzled by his attack on this issue. ted you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. ted cruz supported a 500% increase in the number of h1-v visas that guest workers allowed into this country and ted cruz supports doubling the number of green cards. >> i understand marco wants to raise confusion. it is not accurate what he just said that i supported

legalization. indeed i led the fight against his legalization and amnesty bill and you know, there was one commentator that put it this way, that for marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting the fireman and the arsonist have the same record because they're both at the scene of the fire. he was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border. i was fighting to secure the border. >> does ted cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country illegally now? >> senator cruz? >> i have never -- >> do you rule it out? >> i have never supported legalization and i do not intend to support legalization. >> he may be way down in the polls but jeb bush managed to get under donald trump's skin last night in a series of clashes. >> donald, you know, is great at -- at the one-liners. but he's a chaos candidate. and he'd be a chaos president. he would not be the commander in chief we need to keep our country safe. >> jeb doesn't really believe i'm unhinged. he said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign,

it's been a total disaster. nobody cares. >> donald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. that's not going to happen. and i do have the strength. i know what i don't know. i know what i don't know. i would seek out, as i have, the best advice that exists. i won't get my information from the shows. i don't know if that's saturday morning or sunday morning. i don't know which one. >> i think it's very sad that cnn leads jeb bush, governor bush, down a road by starting off virtually all of the questions, mr. trump this, mr. -- i think it's very sad. >> look the simple fact is if you think this is tough and you're not being treated fairly. >> this isn't tough. >> -- what it's going to be like dealing with president xi or dealing with the islamic terrorism that exists. >> oh, yeah. >> this is a tough business to run for president. >> you're a tough guy, jeb, i know. >> we need to have a leader -- >> real tough. >> you're never going to be president of the united states by insulting your way to the

presidency. >> i'm at 42 and you're at 3. >> doesn't matter. >> so far i'm doing better. >> doesn't matter. >> you know you started off over here jeb, you're moving over further and further. pretty soon you're going to be off the end. >> some fireworks there. meanwhile the evening's undercard debate produced memorable moments of its own. rick santorum declared we had entered world war iii and defended trump's travel ban to foreign muslims and here's senator lindsey graham of south carolina eviscerating much of the field on their approach to the islamic state. >> i've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. t to my good friend ted cruz please ask him the following question, you say you would keep assad in power. i will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an american leader's mouth. it would be disastrous. his favorite movie is apparently princess bride. ted, getting in bed with iran and russia to save assad is inconceivable.

>> senator santorum, let me ask you -- >> princess buttercup would not like this. i'd like to stop sending $350 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. wouldn't you? wouldn't you like to export natural gas to cut putin's legs out from under him? i'm not afraid of a guy riding around on a horse without his shirt. the guy's got a pair of 2s and we've got a full house and he's walking all over obama. mike, the surge worked. it worked. george w. bush made mistakes, but he did adjust. i blame obama for isil. not bush. i'm tired of beating on bush. i miss george w. bush. i wish you were president right now. we wouldn't be in this mess. >> senator lindsey graham there. while the republican candidates were fighting it out in las vegas, hillary clinton was detailing her own strategy for defeating terrorism and protecting the homeland. now clinton's speech in minneapolis was her third speech on combatting terrorism in less

than a month. and in it she outlined a plan that includes attacking online recruitment, tightening screening procedures at the border, and empowering muslim american communities to help prevent radicalization. >> we will defeat these new enemies, just as we have defeated those who've threatened us in the past. because it is not enough to contain isis, we must defeat isis. break its momentum, and then its back. waging and winning this fight will require serious leadership. but unfortunately, our political debate has been anything but serious. we can't afford another major ground war in the middle east. that's exactly what isis wants from us. shallow slogans don't add up to a strategy. promising to carpet bomb until the desert glows doesn't make

you sound strong, it makes you sound like you're in over your head. and i want to remind us, particularly our republican friends, that george w. bush was right. six days after 9/11 he went to a muslim community center and here's what he said, those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of america, they represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior. >> let's turn to a story that dominated headlines yesterday. schools in los angeles were reopened this morning following yesterday's sudden and unprecedented shutdown. 900 schools were closed and more than half a million students

were ordered to stay at home, after the school district received an e-mail threat they deemed credible. it mentioned explosive devices, and weapons. now a preliminary investigation suggests yesterday that the threat was a hoax, but officer patrols will be stepped up today, and law enforcement defended the decision against critics. >> i think when parents make their determination about the decisions that were made today, i would ask them to look at it this way. if you knew what the superintendent and the school board knew at 5:30 this morning when the decision had to be made, would you have sent your child to school? and every parent i've asked has said no, of course not. and i think that that should be the test of all of us, ask our school to pass. do you treat my kids like they're your own. >> authorities went on to say that the recent san bernardino attack was a factor in the decision to close schools. but officials in new york city said they received a nearly

identical threat against schools yesterday. mayor bill de blasio and police commissioner bill bratton held a news conference and quickly dismissed the threat. >> there was nothing credible about the threat. it was so generic, so outlandish, and posed to numerous school systems simultaneously. >> the language in the e-mail would lead us to believe that this is not a jihadist initiative. for example, that allah was not spelled with a capital "a." that would be incredible to think that any jihadist would not spell allah with a capital "a." i think the initiator or instigator of the threat may be a homeland fan basically watching homeland episodes that mirrors a lot of recent episodes on "homeland." let's turn to business where stocks jumped along with the price of crude oil which rallied for a second day as investors await the fed's decision on

interest rate hikes. cnbc's louisa bojesen joins us live from london with more. good morning, louisa. i'd like to know the general consensus on wall street. >> i can hardly contain myself. hardly contain myself this morning, louis. i've got some nine hours to know before we know what's going on with the fed. we've been waiting for this. this is probably the most important fomc meeting of the entire year because, of course, they flagged up that they could be moving away from this zero percent interest rate policy that they've had in line since for more than a decade now we've been seeing very, very low rates. but since 2008, really, that's when we've been dealing with these extremely low rates. borrowing could become more expensive and there are a number of factors that we're looking at in the uptick to this rate hike. "a," some wild cards out there, the global economy, if the global economy is faltering can the fed afford to hike? "b" the oil prices. we've been seeing the price of oil plummeting quite substantial little over the last couple of weeks and that's, of course, disinflationary for the fed. and on top of that also is

causing a whole bunch of things to happen, for example, the junk bond markets where you're seeing yields ballooning and that has a knock-on impact, too. how dovish is the statement going to be? if they choose to hike then you could be looking at a very dovish statement at the same time. lots to look at. we'll be gearing up for that so maybe a new era just around the corner, louis. >> a lot of anticipation. a very excited louisa bojesen this morning live from london. thank you so much. let's go now to capitol hill. new overnight congressional leaders have reached a deal on a spending deal that would fund federal agencies for most of 2016 and end the threat of a government shutdown. the $1.15 trillion spending billion was released early this morning. now government funding is set to expire at midnight tonight. speaker paul ryan said lawmakers will vote today on a short-term extension. which will give congress time to approve the long-term bill. included within the spending bill is the zadroga 9/11 health and compensation reauthorization act. the legislation would extend

health care for first responders who worked at ground zero following the september 11th attack. scary story out of tennessee at least eight passengers sustained minor injuries after their southwest airlines plane rolled off the runway at nashville international airport last night. federal authorities say the flight 31 from houston rolled off the runway and got stuck while taxiing to its gate around 5:30 local time. there were 138 passengers and crew members on board. passengers said it was surreal because they realized that the nose of the plane was actually in a ditch. but agreed it could have been much worse. now the faa is now investigating the incident. still ahead on "way too early," much more from last night's debate, and is donald trump's most coveted quarterback endorsement now in jeopardy? tom brady weighs in. those stories and a check on your weather with bill karins when "way too early" comes right back.

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time now for sports. we begin with a surprise announcement in college hoops. wisconsin basketball head coach bo ryan who wasn't expected to step down until the end of the season says he's retiring now. ryan broke the news after the badgers win last night. >> i felt it was time. but i couldn't make the decision. at that time. i don't know how many coaches ever had the opportunity to have an a.d. in administration that understands and respects that. extremely hard telling the players. as you can imagine. can't put that into words. >> ryan is the winningest coach in wisconsin history having guided the badgers to the ncaa tournament each of the 14-plus years of his tenure.

assistant coach greg guard will step in as interim head coach. >> back-to-back final fours, too. >> that's right. >> and he did it his way without one and done players he developed the players good for him. >> bill karins with a little -- >> bo ryan -- >> sports knowledge making us all smart this morning. tom brady was asked about his support for donald trump during a weekly radio interview yesterday. >> can i just stay out of this debate? donald, he's a good friend of mine. i've known him for a long time. i support all my friends. that's what i have to say. he's a good friend of mine. >> brady is sticking by his support for the gop front-runner. the patriots quarterback also said he still has one of trump's make america great again hats hanging in his locker with that i think we should play a game of who's colder, where is it colder with our very own bill karins. >> people have been demanding this game. boys and girls, who's colder. los angeles or new york city? >> i'm going to go with the west

coast, los angeles. >> you're going to go los angeles. and you are right. 43 this morning. in l.a. 48 in new york. let's see if we can go two for two. who is colder, boston or vegas? >> i would say las vegas. i see everybody there, you know, doing their live shots with big coats on. >> it is 31 this morning, colder and our final contestant. phoenix and washington, d.c. >> i'm just not going to buck the trend here. >> you're going to stick with the west. let's see 44 in washington, d.c., it's 33 in phoenix this morning. cold stuff. so we have snow in the northern plains driving up in north dakota, minnesota is the problem. and rain. only rain over the next couple days on the east coastarting louisiana, mississippi, alabama, as we go up the coast we will see the possibility of a few isolated strong storms in area especially near mobile up towards montgomery later today. louis the rain will be up here in the east starting tomorrow. if you have any travel plans at the airports, may be some

problems. good job -- >> i think this is going to be on ongoing -- i'm going to tell the control room to get some sound effects going. i want a prize. >> i want a gong. >> we'll get a gong. >> during the whole half hour. >> no, we're definitely not going to do that. still ahead on "way too early" president frank underwood interrupts last night's republican debate with a very important public service announcement. we'll have that when "way too early" comes right back. opportunity has no slow season. no off-days, or downtime. opportunity is everything you make of it. this winter, take advantage of our season's best offers on the latest generation of cadillacs. the 2016 cadillac ats. get this low-mileage lease from around $269 per month, or purchase with 0% apr financing. take the zantac it challenge! pill works fast? zantac works in as little as 30 minutes.

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what pulled me to you was your voter right act interview where you talked -- you talked about -- the restoration of the voter's right act and i remember thinking to myself who [ bleep ] this crazy white guy. like it didn't even make sense to me, because i -- i have lived in atlanta all my life and i virtually heard no black politicians angry about it. i virtually heard no black politicians outraged about it. >> let me tell you something. >> you were the only voice of outrage. >> this is true. i am a fierce believer in democracy. you know what? i love democracy. i love the fact that in this room somebody disagrees with me, they say bernie you're full of [ bleep ] i'm going to vote against you. i love it. i love people thinking. you know what kind of future they want. >> that was senator bernie sanders talking politics with killer mike in an atlanta barber shop. and a rapper and activist came out and endorsed sanders last month and then released a six-part interview with the democratic candidate yesterday. the two even shared a fist pump

at one point during their conversation. looks like killer mike is feeling the bern there. now, what's politics without house of cards. take a seat donald trump, frank underwood is hijacking your debate. the hit netflix series house of cards announced the march 4th debut of season four with a political ad during last night's gop debate and the upcoming season kevin spacey continues his portrayal of frank underwood who managed to bamboozle his way from house majority whip to president in less than two years. and this season, he's up for re-election. >> it's a new day in america. today, more people will go to work, return home to their families, and sleep more soundly than ever before. all because one man refuses to settle. putting people before politics. that man is frank underwood. >> america, i'm only getting started. >> that's like a super bowl

commercial there. there's also a poster of president underwood with the caption, we're only getting started. and the #fu2016. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up next on "morning joe" three of the people who took the stage in last night's republican presidential debate, jeb bush, carly fiorina, and lindsey graham. we also have party chairman reince priebus joining the discussions, react to trump's commitment to mount a third party challenge -- excuse me, not to mount a third party challenge. plus complete debate analysis from nicole heilemann and halperin is also here with his report card. we'll have that and much more coming up next on "morning joe." the great beauty of owning a property is that you can create wealth through capital appreciation, and this has been denied to many south africans for generations. this is an opportunity to right that wrong. the idea was to bring capital into the affordable housing space in south africa,

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