a general. >> you recognize he's a serious candidate. he could be the nominee. he's not a serious man. he's a bully. what is a bully? a walking menagerie of insecurities. you either punch him in the nose or mock him. that's what bush did. >> i have to make that the last word. thank you. we'll be back tomorrow with more mtp daily. right now, mistrial, breaking developments out of abandonment over the trial of the first of six officers charged in the freddie gray case ends in a hung jury. revealing secrets. the ted cruz campaign now fighting back after the chair of the senate intelligence committee questions whether cruz

revealed classified information on the debate stage. thanks for joining us. we do begin with this breaking news out of baltimore where judge declared a mistrial in the case of officer william porter. porter is the first police officer of the six officers charged in connection of the death with freddie gray to go to trial. you're looking at a live picture now. some folks outside. there had been much made and said about the possibility for any sort of demonstration. we have not seen much of that at all since we learned of the mistrial. a handful of people gathered on the street there not far from the courthouse. right now, in just the last hour tonight, gray's -- in just the last hour we're hearing from gray's stepfather who thanked the jury for their work and urged the public to remain calm about the outcome. >> we're not at all upset with them and neither should the public be upset. they did the best that they could. we are hopeful that miss mosely

will retry officer porter as soon as possible. we are calm. you should be calm too. >> the jury deadlocked on all four counts. porter pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. gray died in police custody in april after suffering a spinal injury. the case led todays of protests and riots in baltimore. adam is live there tonight with the latest on the ground. good evening. >> good evening. a group of about 30 protesters as you just mentioned circling the courthouse for the past couple hours calling for justice for freddie gray. this was real blow to the prosecution this afternoon. this was the case of the six officers that they were supposed to win. this was the easiest case. they had an interview officer porter did with detectives. that was a voluntary interview. they thought they could blowholes through the interview and get a guilty verdict and use

him as a witness against the officers. it was not to be. the judge later this afternoon ordered a new conference hearing for tomorrow. he'll set a new trial date. about an hour ago the mayor and the police commissioner came out and called for calm. >> we cannot befined by the unrest of last spring. we are stronger. we are united to be better. >> we respect the right of americans to protest. protesters who are lawfully assembled have a friend in the baltimore police department. >> reporter: they say this is a bufferin in the road. they say we're calm, so you stay calm. >> adam reese for us tonight in abandonment. thank you. i want to bring in now msnbc

contributor james peterson of lehigh university. and chief legal correspondent. gentlemen, good to have all of you with us. we've heard so much as adam joijust pointed out. yesterday we heard from representative elijah cummings. we have not seen anything as of late. are folks too quick to judge what the behavior and reaction could be in the city of baltimore. >> yes, they are. no disrespect but i met with activists in baltimore on monday when we thought there might be a decision coming out on monday. there's two things that are antagonizing to the organizers. the repeated calls for calm when in the reality when you think

about the situation, the structural poverty, the issues with police department, the issues with municipal representation. there's been overwhelming calm amongst the citizens and a tremendous amount of patience over the long haul when you think about the issues. they're frustrated with the fact that media zooms in to baltimore around the sort of issues that can be national news. a trial strerverdict or the murf freddie gray. it can't take the drive by media attention or public attention in

order to get the sustained effort we need. >> when you look at what's happening there and the different calls we have seen, how do you balance the protection and the preparation with prejudgment in this case? >> it is follow the paint by numbers situation when you have to be prepared for whatever response is necessary based on the activity on the street. it's important for people to understand that much of the protests and the previous protests surrounding the death of freddie gray and protests across the nation by whole set of different movements including the black lives movement was more about the calls and demands that the systems that government pay attention and respond to these pleas and incidents where individuals have been in the eyes of the protesters unjustifiably killed. when you have the system that is responsive, and i think the

actions of mosley has been very important. there's certain amount of confidence that the citizens have in the systems which is what the protest was for. >> this is criticism that they were overcharging. based on what happened, this case coming out was not the most difficult one to prove as they stand. these were not the most serious charges. how does this impact the five other cases? >> we don't know what the impact will be because a mistrial is a draw. you get a do over. every trial is a story. there was a story told by the prosecution of what they said was a willful attempt to injure this man who is dead. there was a counter story from the defense that officer porter,

whatever mistakes he made clueing some misstatements. that's on the record. their story was he did what's normally done. he didn't do anything out of ordinary. this was a tragedy but not deliberate. those are the conflicting stories. the defense story resonated with the jury. the wider story is what happens in a community where someone is picked up on a very minor charge, this illegal switchblade charge which some say was not even valid and is put in the back of a van and thrown around in way over the course of several stops without a seat belt when in custody, denied medical care that results in a death. that's a story. that's a story where everyone says something is wrong here because this person is dead and didn't need to be. to the larger question here that i think people grapple with whether it's a question of law or policy or politics because that's where laws come from is,

is there consequence for this? the question overcharging, which i haven't answered your question but i'm answering a different piece because i think it's important to land on your question. manslaughter and second-degree murder are very serious charges for an incident like this which legally doesn't involve a direct interaction or firing of a gun, that kind of thing. this jury wasn't convinced about reckless endangerment. that charge is saying did the conduct endanger someone for an injury. there's more than an injury. there's a death. there's a rule about using seat belts that wasn't followed. the guy died and these are the people involved in that. if the jury couldn't be convinced of that, it's understandable that people will ask do you need to change some of the rules and laws if you think there should have been consequence or are you comfortable with this. we'll see that. i think it's not about protests as much as the hunting of will there be a riot. it's about what is the window we're seeing of how the system

works. if it's not working, what do people want to do? >> the fact that they could not decide on all four counts. >> any of the four. >> when we heard, the defense really made the case that yes, he was not strapped in, but in many way it was standard operating procedure. when you hear something like that, what is your reaction that this is the way things were done? >> this is fascinating. they have to overcome the benefit of the doubt that's given automatically to police officers even when police officers will operate outside of their very own regulations and even if that conduct may infringe upon the constitutional

protections of individuals. even if that violation of regulation may be judged or deemed on culpabilities. you say what's happened is that we're given the benefit of the doubt. that allows us to lower our level of standards and people will give us the benefit of the doubt and excuse much more of police officer than they would a regular civilian. that's just the facts. >> officers deserve that benefit of the law.

it's secured to them as matter of law and as matter of what juries think when they look at this. we need to give them some room to maneuver. >> i disagree with that. >> let me finish my point. that is now someone sitting at home says yes, you get some deference. does that mean if you violate the law there should be no consequences? the statistics show that there's over 500 deaths and there are five charges and there's only zero or one that leads to guilty verdicts. statistically that's a problem and goes beyond deserved deference and no interest in ever enforcing the law. >> there are a couple things. the medical examiner in this

case ruled this case a homicide which means there are individuals or circumstances that are responsible for the death of freddie gray. that's official. that's on the books. there's too many pieces that are difficult to prosecute in a courtroom. all the different policies in place that dehumanize certainly pop y populations. what about the rumors in the ways some law enforcement officers that are bad actors will drive potential criminals around just as a form of sort of aggravating their sort of situation. there are a lot of stories that can't be prosecuted here in the court of law but the community of baltimore is fully aware of it. part of the reasons why maybe we're not seeing people going crazy at a mistrial verdict is because people don't have faith in this system. people don't have faith in the

idea that this system will bring justice to this community. there's a lot of things less tangible in the concrete law and order. people are frustrated about out raged about hold w they are bei covered. >> we are going to have to lever it there for tonight. we can all rest assure this is a conversation we'll continue here. appreciate y'all joining us tonight. just ahead, the latest from the gop campaign trail today. the day after the gop debate. donald trump claiming victory. ted cruz is facing some new scrutiny about what he said on the debate stage last night. the democrats, perhaps no surprise here, hitting back. what bernie sanders and hillary clinton are saying in response to some of those gop attacks. the first reviews of star wars are in. no spoilers.

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turning to politics. the republican candidates, today the candidates fanning out across the country to tout their performances in last night's debate and go of their favorite rivals. for jeb bush that meant attacking donald trump. >> i did think the debate was great. we got to talk about substantive issues and how we can keep our country safe and secure. it was a kplandser in chief debate in many ways. i don't know if the front running candidate fared that well in that kind of context. you need a leader that can listen to people and draw people together to be able to create a

strategy to keep us safe. his policies just won't do it. >> trump hit back at rally this afternoon in arizona. >> last night, i had jeb come at me, you know low energy. i'm standing there and all of a sudden i hear this donald trump. it's just like. he said it just the way his pollster told him to say it. >> all this coming after last night's most heated exchange between the two in case you missed it. here's a look. >> he's a chaos candidate. >> he doesn't believe i'm unhinged. >> you're real tough. >> i'm at 42. you're at 3. so far i'm doing better. >> doesn't matter. >> jeb does have a lot of ground to make it.

trump has a commanding lead, 23 points ahead of senator ted cruz, his closest rival. >> reporter: if you're back on a the campaign trail, you're back hitting your favorite targets. jeb bush is favorite target of donald trump. he said he doesn't really care if jeb bush endorses him saying the endorsement could be a negative thing. something that donald trump has done is calling him low energy saying he's controlled by pollsters. trump has been effective in that. someone else in the polls that you mentioned, ted cruz. we expected to see some

fireworks between him and donald trump last night especially after a shift in rhetoric from donald trump last week regarding ted cruz. what we got was a bit of back slapping, literally. let's take a look. >> if i'm elected president, we will secure the border. we will build a wall that works. i'll get donald trump to pay for it. >> i'll build it. >> i've gotten to know him over the last three or four days. he has a wonderful temperament. he's just fine. don't worry about it. >> reporter: that's a departure we heard from trump last week who spent time in iowa and chose to hit ted cruz about his stances on renewable energy. >> see the change a little bit. another thing that came up, both in the debate and again today was this notion of whether or

not donald trump would run as an independent. he really doubled down saying he would only run as a republican. >> he said he wracked up such a lead and sure i would run as an independent. seems like he's really closing the door. >> thank you. i'd like to bring in dana millbank, political analyst at the washington post. nice to have you with us tonight. >> good to be with you. >> it wasn't just about trump last night. there was interesting moments from the other candidates that we don't hear as much from on a regular basis. let's listen to this moment. >> would you be prepared to shoot down the russian plane and risk war? >> not only are we prepared to

do it, i would do it. we would shoot it down if they were stupid enough to think if this president was the same feckless weakling that we have in the office now. >> how did last night help christi or not? >> well, i think a lot of people would argue that christi is beyond help given where he is. he still hasn't had that moment like so many others have where he's had his surge, haven a brief one in the polls. what he really needs to do now is light his hair on fire and get some attention. in the unlikely event he were to be the nominee, that kind of language would hurt him. calling the president names will

not hurt him. again, being a hot head and calling names not so much of a detriment in the current environment. >> i was watching last night with my husband and donald trump was talking about the country, things he would do. there was an exchange with him and carly fiorina. let's listen to that. >> we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people. i wish it were spent liergt in the united states on schools, hospitals, roads and everything else all falling apart. >> that is exactly what president obama said. >> i'm amazing to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. >> a an interesting take. what did you make of that moment? >> we have to remember that

donald trump of today is not always what donald trump was when he was had a rather more liberal position thing health care and race relations. yes, he was opposed to the iraq war. will it help carly fiorina to say donald trump is saying the same thing as barack obama? probably not. nobody had found donald trump's cryptonite so far. >> there's not a unified front in what they are going after. it was more about him talking of putting money to infrastructure, for example, which is not something we hear. could this change that

conversation in the campaign trail there's a huge amount of support for this in the final stages of having massive infrastructure spending making its way through congress. that's an area that has widespread support from the chamber of commerce to liberal democrat. >> coming in third on that list marco rubio. how is he playing that today. >> i think it was difficult night for him. what's going on is you basically have this which was just pointed out between ted cruz and donald trump both being kind of weary

there. everybody wants to knock down the next guy in line. that is poor marco rubio at the moment. >> nice to have you with us. >> thank you. the federal reserve raises rates for the first time in nearly a decade. what does it mean for you? that's next. handful of lucky people have seen the newest star wars. what's the word today? is it a must see or are expectations too high? ♪

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the federal reserve today making a long expected move by raising its benchmark interest rate after a quarter of a point. stock finished higher across the board today following the announce mgt at a news conference. janet yellen said it was time for a lift off. >> this action marks the end of an extraordinary seven-year period during which the federal funds rate was held near zero to

support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial crisis in recession since the great depression. >> for a closer look at today's decision we're joined by cnbc correspondent. nice to see you tonight. give us a sense, why now? >> as you heard, it's been seven years of near zero interest r t rates. it was really time to get back to what's considered a more normal monetary policy. the fed has a dual mandate that it has to pay attention. we know the unemployment rate has been steadying and improving over the last seven years or so. inflation is actually been a bit below target. the key target is about 2%. with both of those items in check, the fed can say, yes, that is supportive enough of a strong economy. we should consider raising rates. then it takes into consideration other factors.

things like the strength of the manufacturing environment in the country. it looks a little bit at the financial markets and stocks but really not so much. it just wants something steady and growing. it was very widely expected by investors. really it was possibly the most perfect interest rate hike. even the language that she spoke was exactly what the market expected. >> we talk a lot about how this will affect people with mortgages but perhaps more important is the impact on their credit cards. >> the interest rate that the fed raised is called a federal funds rate. that's the rate that banks charge each other. it's not the rate that we pay on a credit card. why it's important is because it will eventually impact the rate that we pay on something like credit card debt because that rate is a variable adjustable rate. it starts with the federal funds

rate and adds on the fees that the credit card companies make on what you purchase. as we see interest rates rise you'll see the adjustable loan rates rise as well. it should be very steady. it shouldn't be too much of a shock. >> keep it an your radar. nice to have you with us tonight. coming up, looking ahead to 2016 as we close out 2015 already. which candidate is running away with the race on other side. what do other candidates need to do to close the margin? we'll take a look at that. star wars open natis nation. could it be the best star wars film every? that's ahead. this holiday i can count on someone's kid mistaking me for santa. i'm so sorry. come on sweetie. it's okay. and knowing right when my packages arrive. introducing real-time delivery notifications.

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gop debate. republicans taking direct aim at hillary clinton last night. today she went after their policies and rhetoric. >> i disagree fundamentally with lead republican candidate. i think america is great. it's up to us to make sure we make it greater. i think it's important you listen to the republicans because they are giving you a road map about what they intend to do. don't be surprised. they are attacking human rights, civil right, women right, gay rights, workers right, you list it, they're attacking it. >> it wasn't just clinton. bernie sanders spoke with andrea mitchell talking about the flaws he sees in the republicans foreign policy. he called out donald trump by name. >> i do not want to see the frustration and the despair that so many people feel being picked apart by pick like donald trump

preyed upon. a few months ago we were supposed to hate the mexicans and now we're supposed to hate the muslims. that's not what this country is supposed to be about. >> joining me now for a closer look. good to have both you have with us. when we look at what happened last night, 538 crunched the numbers and found the most negative comments were centered on president obama and hillary clinton. which is a more effective target for the candidates when they're going after gop voters? >> i think most effective target for gop voters will be hillary clinton. she is the more likely than bernie sanders to become democratic nominee. there's that. they can also point to her track record on foreign policy. we saw them do that a whole lot when they criticize her record

whether or not it's merited. they are going after both her and president obama and signaling that she would be a third term for president obama. that is a very effective line with the republican base. >> bernie sanders wasn't even mentioned last night. is it better to be disliked and be the target or be ignored? >> i think bernie sanders would have liked to be targeted by the other side. he gained the most twitter followers during the republican debate. he made a habit out of getting on twitter and giving his live commentary as the debates are going on. bernie sanders doesn't factor

in. >> he does have quite a following especially among younger voters. how spornts is thimportant is t media aspect? >> it's an important part of reaching voters, reaching potential voters. the question that matters for bernie sanders is, is he only sort of the energizing and riling up and reaching people who already support him, who already like what he has to say or is he changing people's minds and reaching undecided voters or changing the minds of hillary clinton voters? his polls don't suggest he's changing people's minds. >> there's a new poll that looks at clinton match ups with various candidates. if we could walk through some of these. looking at the republican candidates, it's the latest nbc

wall street journal poll. if you're in charge of the democratic party, what's your best case scenario for how this race could shake out? is it donald trump winning the nomination? >> well, i think it could play out two ways. i think if you're the democratic party, what you might want is donald trump not winning the nomination but then running as an independent and having your nominee walk right into the white house. i think that would probably be the number one choice. it keeps donald trump in the race which democrats really want. i believe him for about ten minutes he's never going to change his mind. he could. maybe this is a time he sticks

to his word. i think he's an ideal opponent for democrats. that's why they keep invoking his name so frequently in their campaigns. >> andy, quickly, who do democrats not want to see as the republican nominee? >> i think marco rubio is the first name that comes to mind. he's someone the clinton campaign and surrogates have said worries them. he has many attributes that would make him a formidable opponent in the general election. whether he could actually get through the primary remains to be seen. for a time jeb bush was considered a formidable opponent, but he's struggled as well. we have a primary field, a primary contest that has to be

passed through first before any of the folks face the democratic nominee. >> that's our next big count down kicking things off. appreciate your insight tonight. thank you both. >> thank you. coming up, the force awake wakens. the new star wars film is the talk of the town in political circles. just what would a presidential contest between donald trump and darth vadar look like. the race heads into 2016. the next debate not until the new year. what would some of the candidates do in the remaining weeks of 2016 to boost their chances? that's ahead. if you have high blood pressure like i do, many cold medicines may raise your blood pressure. that's why there's coricidin® hbp.

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this just coming in. the u.s. and cuba paving the way to allow commercial flights to take off and land on the island. reporting today's agreement allows u.s. airlines to begin negotiating with the cuban government. those negotiations could take months but still important note. the reviews are in. first reactions suggest star wa wars, the force awakens is force to be reckoned with. it premiered in l.a. on monday night. here in new york last night. an embargo had been put in place to keep the big spoilers under wraps. it was lifted this morning. we now know what critics have to

say. seems like they are fairly happen. it turned my inner fan boy into my outer fan boy. another for the independent argues this is the film fans were hoping for. it's an indisputable improvement. star wars is a topic in the political world. a new online poll conducted by the research firm shows millennials would rather elect darth vadar to the white house then donald trump. >> if only you could be so bold. >> how dare the press would not believe me i went after my mother with a hammer. he said he went after his mother with hammer. he wanted to hit her in the

head. >> i don't know what you're talking. >> that i tried to stab a friend of mine but now it's changed. >> well now from a galaxy far, far away, there's data indicating the rise of the robots may be happening sooner. one in ten u.s. households will own a robot by 2020. the sprinkler system. figure is up from 1 in 25 this year. that's good news for the robotics industry which could be worth some $153 billion over the next five years. still to come, 47 days until iowa caucuses. just what could happen between now and then? we're getting out the krystal ball. that's ahead. sure, tv has evolved over the years.

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go home. while donald trump holds the lead in the latest national poll, senator ted cruz has the lead in iowa. for the rest of the field the next 47 days all about trying to slow the front runners while jump starting their own campaigns. joining me now from washington lynn sweet and jonathan altar. nice to have you with us. i kind of want you both to get out your crystal balls. it says reply hazy, try again later for some of these candidates. the candidate who is are very low in polls, i'm thinking of jeb bush, chris christie or rand paul, is there anything they can do between now and iowa that will make a significant difference? >> of the three you mentioned, chris christie is in the best place to do better than expected. his state is new hampshire.

he's doing fairly well there. i think you'll see him in new hampshire almost continuely kind of writing off iowa. that's okay. that's another way to go. the voters of new hampshire expect to see you. the old joke about them is they say i'm not decided yet. i haven't met all the the candidates personally. if you're a marco rubio and you haven't spent much time up there, that will be a bit of a disadvantage and a bit of a problem for donald trump who hasn't been in that state as much as he needs to be. he's likely going to lose iowa. does he deflate like a balloon or does it not matter much. >> how do you think he plays that? >> i think he has to do infrastructure building in all these states to make sure he's

on balance and in the position to survive. chris christie is in a good position in new hampshire but not well positioned in the south carolina primary and some of the other states that come up in march because he's been focusing so much in new hampshire. the question with trump is how well i'm doing in the polls. what will he say when he's not. >> that's a question that many people have. >> how will he deal with the fact he's not a winner? >> that's the big question in 47 days. he's very likely to lose the iowa caucuses. a lot of his supporters aren't even regular voters. the iowa caucus is you have to spend two hours there. that is a state that respects organization. it's ted cruz right now unless something changes in the next

month and a half who has the momentum going into the iowa caucuses. there's a whole history of candidates winning the iowa caucuses like rick santorum and mike huckabee and doing horribly in new hampshire. new hampshire tends to be more of a spring board. if chris christie was able to do better than expected in new hampshire, even if he didn't finish first but beat the expectation spread, he could then build something for the later states. before that happens, you're going to see donald trump going after christie again on bridge gate and the other vulnerables he has. >> does this make south carolina more important in 2016 than we've seen historically? >> it is because it's likely to be a split decision coming out of iowa and new hampshire. bill clinton lost to iowa and

new hampshire. he was treated as a winner. he was able to leverage that. i think for candidates like jeb bush who are struggling now, their way out is to remain in there. they have the ability to stay in there get some breaks, do well, watch other stumbles is what those other early states are about. south carolina is enormously important. it's hard to see how trump will play well there especially if he has not been devoting time there. >> the longer the establishment candidate stay in, the better it is for trump and for ted cruz. they have to get behind one

establishment. >> the next time we talk do you, swrooel to tackle the democrats. their final debate coming up on saturday night. that's all the time we have tonight. appreciate your both joining us. thanks to all you have at home for watching nbc live. we'll see you back here tomorrow night at 6:00 eastern. hardball starts right now. can republicans handle the truth? let's play hardball. good evening. we can see what's happening in the republican fight for president right now. the outsiders led by donald trump are winning voter support. they include ted cruz and to a declining degree, ben carson. all the outsiders are going great. the outliers are getting the