might be worth it, actually. >> thank you, jamiel, robert, and eliana. we will be back tomorrow with more "mtp daily." and now erica hill picks up our coverage, next. breaking weather news across the country at this hour. as a brutal storm that has now claimed 43 lives barrels east. good evening. i'm erica hill. in the midwest tonight, towns are underwater. evacuations underway. and a 1.5 million people remain under flood warnings. the mississippi, missouri, and merrimack rivers all at or near flood stage, as forecasters warn the worst is still to come. missouri's governor taking to twitter this afternoon, before addressing the cameras for an update on the situation. >> it's very clear that missouri is in the midst of a very historic and dangerous flooding event. the amount of rain we received in some places in excess of a

foot, has caused river levels not only rise rapidly, but to go to places they've never seen before. now that the rain has moved out, the threat has changed, but it is not, by any means, over. the safety of our neighbors and protecting property wherever possible is what we are in the business of doing. >> so to give you a better sense of the scope of this flooding, check out this chart. so it predicts water levels in st. louis, as you can see, for the mississippi, and we've highlighted two areas here for you. peak flooding, which is expected on thursday, when the mississippi will be 15 feet above flood stage, and then also that second area on the bottom right, where you see it's marked january 11th. monday, january 11th is when water levels are expected to finally return to normal. turning now to developments today in the war on terror. this afternoon, a wake was held for staff sergeant joseph lem, one of the six u.s. troops killed by a suicide bomber near bagram airfield last week. the taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.

lem's remains were flown back to stewart air force base yesterday. a member of the air national guard and a 15-year nypd veteran, lem's funeral will take place tomorrow morning at new york st. patrick's cathedral. meanwhile, there is development to tell you about tonight in the fight against isis. the pentagon today confirming ten isis leaders have been killed in air strikes this month alone. and that includes one leader with direct ties to the man who's been called the mastermind of the paris attacks. colonel steve warren made the announcement in a briefing from baghdad this morning. >> shirrafi al mudane, a syrian isis leader. we killed him on december 24th in syria. he was actively planning additional attacks against the west. we will continue to hunt isil leaders who are working to recruit, plan, and inspire

attacks against the united states of america and our allies. >> and out of belgium tonight, federal prosecutors announcing they've arrested two people, suspected of plotting attacks on several prominent sites in brussels during the new year's celebrations. excuse me. officials say a series of raids in brussels that begun on sunday turned up isis propaganda material, but no weaponry. that investigation is not tied to the terror attacks in paris. joining me now, nbc news military analyst, retired u.s. general, barry mccaffrey. always good to have you with us. >> good to be with you, erica. >> when we look at what we learned today in terms of ten isis leaders killed, including one who we're told, and i'm quoting here, actively planning additional attacks, is there a chance that those attacks could still go through, or does taking out this particular person thwart them? >> well, i think we're getting incredibly clever, both the cia,

military intelligence, in cooperation with our arab allies in the region on intelligence. and the u.s. air force and naval air is using precision strikes, is really very effective now in culling out the leadership. i think it does throw off their planning considerably when we have a strike of this nature. so it's good news. but, remember, you know, there's 30 to 80,000 isis fighters and possibly 19,000 in iraq. so there's no lack of targets to confront in isis. >> no lack of targets in isis, but it's also, of course, not just isis. as we saw, the taliban immediately claiming responsibility for that suicide bombing attack that killed six airmen last week in afghanistan. there is this renewed focus, it seems, on both the taliban and al qaeda in afghanistan. and i'm sure you saw this today in "the new york times," but a report there said the -- and i'm quoting, the scope of al qaeda's resilience seems to have caught american and afghan officials off guard.

would you agree with that assessment? >> well, it was a very good report by "the new york times." you know, i think it did chart out that isis, which was down to -- or excuse me, al qaeda, which is down to a very minimal presence in afghanistan, is now coming back. some people argue it's the pakistani army pushing them out of the tribal areas, but, you know, erica, i would sort of -- i've been in and out of afghanistan for years now. if you're not the oldest son, you don't get land. you won't have money. you won't have a wife. so you look for a job, and the jobs are join the taliban, join the hakani network. join al qaeda, join isis. they'll give you $2 to $5 a day and a gun and food. and so i'm less concerned about the ideology than poverty, violence, and sanctuary in afghanistan for terrorist organizations. we've got to challenge, trying to hold together this country, which is in chaos.

>> is this challenge forcing the united states to have a larger footprint there? and is that the only answer? >> well, there's no question, we've got a larger footprint there. i mean, i think the poor president doesn't want to continue ground combat operations in the middle east or in afghanistan. he's being forced into keeping a significant nato presence. general campbell in afghanistan has probably got 14,000 nato forces, most of them u.s. that's the minimal presence, i think, that we can really maintain pressure and still advise and assist the afghan army. this thing is right on the edge of coming apart on us. >> which is a scary thought. and we can't ignore the fact, of course, that it isn't the only threat in the region. so when you have to keep on your radar an actively work on pursuing isis, al qaeda, and the taliban, how do you prioritize those different missions?

>> well, i think we've got one intelligence system, one air power system, one special forces system, and pretty well integrated. you know, we've got socom in florida trying to manage these global deployments of special ops forces. i think they're doing it pretty effecti effectively. secretary ash carter, a very capable man. i think they're going to have to play whack-a-mole with some of these operations here for the coming years. >> and as we've talked about in the past, part of this will, of course, mean better recruitment of support from neighbors in the region. are we making any inroads on that front? >> no, i think this so-called coalition of more than 60 nations, a lot of it tends to be completely phony operation. our arab allies focus more on yemen than they do on syria and iraq. we've had a strange situation develop, where u.s. operations

in the region tend to be supportive of iranian and hezbollah and shia operations with and have alienated the israels, the egyptian, the saudis, and others. so it's a very difficult political environment that secretary kerry is trying to navigate. >> that it is. general barry mccaffrey, always appreciate your insight, sir, appreciate it. >> good to be with you, erica. moving on now to politics, as we look at the race for 2016. the gop presidential field is out on the campaign trail in full force today. in the next half hour, new jersey governor chris christie will hold a town hall in iowa. donald trump is gearing up for his own rally in the hawkeye state later tonight. before he gets to that, the republican front-runner is skmuld to speak to the media shortly from his plane. nbc's jacob rascon is live with us from iowa. as we know, donald trump is all about fanfare. what do we know about this plane

event for the media? >> reporter: he's landing any moment now. this was spontaneous. nobody knew about it. but he asked that the media be able to come and see him onboard his plane. only a limited number, one per network, and we're having our embed go and be with him on that plane. it starts at about 5:30. and then he'll head here, and that's 5:30 local time. an hour later or so, he'll start his rally here in iowa. he knows that this is crunch time. you talk about fanfare, these five weeks leading up to the caucus, these are the most important. he knows that. many say that after the holidays, this is really when the iowa electorate wakes up. so trump has his rally today. you have marco rubio with a new endorsement from representative goudy, having three events today. chris christie, as you mentioned, having events today. they know that this is crunch time. trump knows that he is trailing in some of the most recent polls to cruz, who will be out here next week. it's go time in iowa. beginning now with a rally

tonight. yesterday, there were a bunch of events canceled because of the snow. so today, really the day, post-holiday, the candidates are really getting going. >> it is the full court press, jacob, as we like to say. all of this, too, for donald trump comes on the heels of this announcement that he made last night about a major tv ad blitz. was there any further clarification today about just what "major" means in his mind? whether it's a dollar figure or even the amount of advertising that we could see? >> reporter: there is some reporting that he is planning to spend $2 million per week, which would put him on par with bush and rubio. those are some of the answers we'll be looking for onboard his plane. we'll look for that in about 30 minutes, when we talk to him pre-rally. but that will be interesting, because trump has said, he didn't want to spend money on ads, because people would overdose on trump, because he knows that he has so much coverage in the media, he has chosen not to spend any money. he's at the very bottom there,

in terms of spending money for ads. but now he's saying he's ready to spend, in iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina. we'll get the specifics, we hope, during this pre-rally gaggle onboard his plane. >> we'll look for that shortly. nbc's jacob rascon tonight. thanks. still to come, the officer charged with murder in the death of a chicago teen caught on camera pleading not guilty today. so what happens next? and when could he go to trial? plus, the so-called affluenza teen in custody tonight, caught after fleeing to mexico. he managed to avoid jail time after killing four people in a drunk driving crash. can he escape, though, being sent to prison after this? and we are waiting, as jacob mentioned, for donald trump to hold a preference aboard his plane in nebraska. as soon as that happens, we'll take you there live. stay with us.

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cleveland's mayor addressed the media for the second time in 24 hours, speaking out in the wake of monday's news that a grand jury would not indict two officers involved in the fatal shooting to have 12-year-old tamir rice. rice was holding a toy gun when he was shot by officer tim lowman in 2014. >> we're not trying to support an interest, whether it's the police interest or an activist interest or whatever interest. we're really trying to do this in a due process way. so at the end of it, that we know, that we believe that we have been fair and we have been just in how we've handled these incidents. >> in chicago, police officer jason van dyke was in court today, pleading not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the death of 17-year-old laquan mcdonald. this comes a month after dash cam video was released, showing that officer shooting the teen 16 times. police say mcdonald had a knife. van dyke's attorney plans to

seek a change of venue. >> subsequent cases and similar cases and media attention are things that probably will never help my client. but at the end of the day, i don't know the facts, necessarily, of that shooting. they should not affect my client's case in any way, shape, or form. and that's why we're going to make sure that we're in a forum where we firmly believe we can get a fair trial. >> and the so-called affluenza teen, ethan couch, is in custody tonight, awaiting extradition back to texas. the 18-year-old and his mother disappeared earlier this month. on monday, they were detained outside the mexican resort town of puerto vallarta. earlier this month, a video surfaced, allegedly showing couch at a party with alcohol, in possible violation of his ten-year probation in a 2013 drunk driving case that left four people dead. his status as a juvenile was a major focus for officials today at a media briefing. >> it is an anomaly of texas law

that if we revoke his juvenile sentence, he would stay in a juvenile facility until his 19th birthday, which is april the 11th of next year. our request of the court is going to be to transfer his probation to the adult court and deal with him in the adult system. >> nbc's kerry sanders just arrived in puerto vallarta, mexico, and joins us now. kerry, i know you've learned some really interesting new details about the last couple of days. share some of those with us, if you would. >> first of all, if you take a look at the still image of ethan couch from the arrest, you can see that his hair color is extremely different. and that really was a tip-off to some of the people in the neighborhood, who thought his hair looked weird. we were just given this photograph by a neighbor, who snapped this picture as the police were taking him into custody, along with his mother. you can see the picture is a little rough, because the person took it from a distance, but you can see that he was brought down by, we're told, by witnesses,

eight police officers here in mexico. he was upstairs in an apartment, and if you take a look here, that picture is really quite surprising, when you see the video of the neighborhood of where he was holed up here in puerto vallarta, because affluenza suggests that they have a lot of money and that here he was, in a very inner city, somewhat dilapidated apartment, that rents for 1,000 pesos a month. in order, a really cheap fleabag place and he was holed up inside. interestingly, across the way is a butcher shop. and both ethan couch and his mother, tonya, according to the butchers, actually walked into that butcher shop in the last few days to buy provisions. so they noticed when he came in, because they didn't speak any english, and even though this is a tourist area, this is not the kind of thing that a tourist would do, walking into the butcher shop to get food, and they noticed his dark, kind of really dyed hair. now, the second butcher that we

spoke to said, not only did they pay cash, which was somewhat interesting to them, but also when ethan came in alone the following day, he appeared to be somewhat nervous. he was -- he didn't speak any spanish, but he said he appeared to be nervous, as if he was looking over his shoulder. and that's why it stood out to him. so, in this neighborhood, this is sort of kind of a surprise. they didn't know that somebody was hiding among them, and clearly, if the attempt was to blend in to a large crowd, of the neighborhoods chosen here in puerto vallarta, this was probably the wrong neighborhood to choose, because they stood out. erica? >> interesting, because you would imagine the thought process there was likely, if they stay away from the touristy areas, then maybe they could try to blend in. we weren't able to get that first picture that you referenced, kerry, but we did see, of course, the picture we've been seeing with that very dyed -- what appears to be, ethan couch's hair dyed very

dark. did any of the people in the neighborhood say more about possibly seeing his mother and maybe how she acted and maybe if they noticed anything about her appearance? >> the people in the apartment that are here say they only came in the last couple of days and they didn't really pay attention to them. it's really just the butcher across the street. when i asked about the mother, tonya, they said that she came into the butcher shop, seemed like a mother buying some food and leaving. again, the thing that stuck out to them was not people stopping into the butcher shop, but it's not the kind of thing that they would expect tourists here on vacation to do. that's what caught them by surprise. they said that normally people would just make their way to a restaurant and eat. and here they were, walking into the butcher shop and they saw them going across the way and up into that apartment complex. >> and real quickly, kerry, did they have any idea about the frenzy surrounding these two back in the u.s.? >> reporter: i don't think there's a single person -- as a matter of fact, they've been asking me for details, trying to find out, and understand why it took eight police officers to

come in here, move in rather quickly, and without incident, bring them down, put them in cars, and drive them away. now they have sort of an understanding of the picture of this case and it sort of fills in the gaps for them, wondering why there's been so much activity in this neighborhood. >> just a fascinating story. nbc's kerry sanders on the ground there for us in puerto vallarta. thank you. i want to bring in now paul henderson, who's a veteran prosecutor. paul, one of the things we heard earlier today at that preference was that there was going to be a move to transfer ethan couch's probation from juvenile court over to the adult system. how common is that and what do you think the chances may be of that request being granted? >> well, i think it's what everyone expected in a case like this. and what's really important to note is that the prosecutor actually holds all of the cards. so, for this fugitive murderer, what's going to happen is, even if he is not transferred and the case goes over to adult court, the reason that that's important is because, if he's in adult

court for the revocation, he can serve the remaining balance of his probation, and remember, it's a ten-year probation in this case, that was his lenient sentence, he can serve all of that time in custody. and so even if that's not granted, and he is held accountable and only has to serve accountability as a juvenile up to the age of 19, prosecutors can charge him for fleeing and evading his sentence that he had before, and he can still face up to ten years in custody as a class 3 felon, and so can his mother, if she's charged as well by the prosecutors. so, i think the only couch that he's going to see for a long time is going to be in custody. >> which is probably not going to be much of a couch. >> oh, no, not at all. this is a case that really highlights the injustices and the need for justice reform, i think. and it speaks so much -- and this is why we're talking about it so much in the nation. people are outraged and shocked that this is the kind of treatment that we're seeing in

our justice system. and the nervous to run from not having to serve custody after killing four people and putting someone, paralyzing someone, no custody at all, and that's the sentence that he ran from. that's what he was doing in puerto vallarta. it's just ridiculous. but i'm sure accountability is coming very soon. >> how much of that can be brought up and brought into play, if there are new charges filed? i would imagine those charges would be related to fleeing, but can you bring up these past events and this past probation and everything that went into it? >> well, all of that goes into the sentencing, but those are the arguments that prosecutors are going to be making to the court, while they're evaluating first whether to transfer this case and charge him as an adult or hold him accountable in adult court, where they'll be examining what his behavior has been, and having a party to leave the country and avoid his sentence of probation?

absolutely, you're going to hear those arguments about all of his behavior, including the heinous nature of the original incident, where four people were killed and his friend that was riding in the car with him was injured and paralyzed for life. and so, you're going to hear all of these arguments from prosecutors, as they try to persuade and influence the court, either to hold him accountable, as an adult, for this new offense, or to transfer the case and charge a new offense on top of the probation, and hold him accountable there. >> and real quickly, as you mentioned, there's all this talk about a party, and we heard a little bit about that today, yet the details are still a bit murky as to who knew what and when. but the words were used very clearly in this press briefing. this was called a premeditated escape. how does that language, potentially, impact any charges? >> it speaks to the forethought that this was not an action that was an accident or just bad

judgment. this is something that was planned, it was part of a conspiracy, and a process that he had engaged in with his mother, of all people, who was part of the defense in the first place, indicating that he wasn't held accountable, because of his privilege, that was conspiring with him, to get him to evade his sentence in the first place. absolutely relevant and absolutely why he'll be held accountable and be in custody for a very long time. >> paul henderson, thank you. >> sure. still to come, donald trump, we mentioned he is scheduled to hold a preference aboard his private plane in nebraska at any moment. these are live pictures from the airport and we'll take you there on the other side of this break. huh. introducing centrum vitamints. a brand new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint.

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as we just mentioned before the break, you're now looking at live pictures coming to us out of omaha, nebraska. that is donald trump's plane, which just touched down there, minutes ago in omaha. why are we looking at the plane? because donald trump has invited reporters, one for each network or news outlet, on to the plane. he's doing some sort of media briefing, he says. that will happen there on the ground. all of the reporters and folks are waiting at this point to get on to the plane and then, of course, give us the answer on what exactly this hoopla is all about. after that, trump will then fly, it's about a 15-minute flight, i understand it, over to iowa, and that is where he is going to be holding a rally tonight. so, again, sort of a two-step approach from donald trump tonight. a little bit of mystery

surrounding the first one. and we will keep you posted as this continues. stay with us. you're watching msnbc live. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here. lease the 2015 gs350 with complimentary navigation system for these terms. see your lexus dealer.

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comcast business. built for business. welcome back to msnbc live. we mentioned, we had shown you a picture earlier from the tarmac of donald trump's plane landing there in omaha, nebraska. as we mentioned, he's doing some sort of a media briefing onboard his plane. what you're looking at now is a picture of the bus that's holding some of the reporters, making their way out there to the plane. what is it all about? your guess is as good as ours at this point. we will find out more once those folks get on the plane and then get off and are able to share it all with us. and also, just a correction. i had say it was about a 15-minute flight from omaha over to where the event is happening in iowa. i'm told it's actually a 15-minute drive. my apologies for misunderstanding that. i want to bring in now james peterson of lehigh university and mckay coffin, the author of the new book about the gop race for the white house, "the

wilderness." gentleman, fis to ha gentleman, nice to have both of you with us. as we look at these live pictures of what looks to be a party bus than an airport bus, any idea on what donald trump could be planning? as we know nothing is conventional with his campaign. >> he could possibly be talking about the fact that he's allegedly going to begin to spend some of his own money on this campaign. if you follow him on social media, which i don't, but i have seen the news reporting on it, it seems pretty clear, from his perspective, he's under budget. he took a jab at jeb bush, saying that jeb bush has spent $59 million and is in last place. he's losing a bit in the polls right now in iowa, so, allegedly, he should be announcing he's going to put some of his own money up, to invest in his own campaign. but who knows, erica, with mr. trump. you know, he's much more interested in the antics and the optics, so the political theater of this is probably much more interest to him than any substance to come out of what he

will actually say today. >> and mckay, would you agree with that assessment? it's really much more about the political theater here? >> trump knows that any given moment, he can call a preference and it will be carried live on cable and it will be, you know, the subject of a thousand headlines, and it really doesn't matter what he ends up saying, that much. the point is that he gets the attention that he wants. >> which was his point for a long time, in terms of not buying advertising, as he put it. he said, look, i don't need to, i'm on all the time. he's not incorrect. it's interesting, you mentioned how we hear him going after jeb bush a lot. last night, he actually started going after chris christie. let's take a listen as these folks make their way up on to the plane. >> to the paris attacks, senators came together for a top-secret briefing on the terrorist threat. marco rubio was missing. fund-raising in california instead. two weeks later, terrorists struck again in san bernardino. and where was marco? fund-raising again in new

orleans. over the last three years -- >> sorry about that. that's an ad that was launched by a super pac backing jeb bush about marco rubio, which i was hoping to talk about a little bit later. but just in terms of donald trump talking about chris christie, he was criticizing him a little bit for being in new hampshire so much. we can see folks boarding the plane here now on this live picture, from the tarmac in omaha. and we will have a picture, as i understand it, inside, but will not have the ability to speak to our reporter who's there on the plane during the event. so we'll get more after that. but one of the things that came out with him attacking chris christie, is he was going after him about spending so much time in new hampshire and not being home in new hampshire. as we see him going after christie in new hampshire, is this a sign, mckay, that donald trump is starting to feel threatened? an ad buy in iowa, attacking christie, who's gaining in the polls in new hampshire? >> yeah, well, every time trump has singled out a candidate and gone after them, it's usually a sign that either, a, that candidate has insulted him, or somehow wounded his ego, or, b,

that he represents some sort of genuine threat. christie has gradually, but consistently been rising in the polls, gaining traction in new hampshire, and trump, i think, is becoming increasingly aware, at least his campaign is, that he stands a very good chance of losing iowa. we've seen ted cruz surge in iowa. and frankly, before that, ben carson was giving him a hard time. iowa has never been a perfect state for somebody like trump to win. it's heavily religious, heavily evangelical. those voters do not necessarily love trump. and so he's saying new hampshire as a state, in that scenario that he has to win if he loses iowa. and with christie steadily rising in the polls there, gaining traction there, winning the endorsement of the "new hampshire union leader," trump feels -- probably feels like he needs to start knocking him down a few pegs. and every time trump has gone after one of his opponents like this, it's tended to work. so the question is, how does christie respond?

>> it will be interesting to see. so we've now got some lights on donald trump onboard this plane and i'm told we will have a little bit of sound, so let's listen in as we should be hearing, i think, shortly, i think he was just checking -- there we go. we heard everybody ready. let's find out what it's all about. >> -- are your own personal indiscretions in fair game in this -- >> yes, they would be. and frankly hillary brought up the whole thing with sexist and all i did was reverse it on her, because she's got a major problem, happens to be right in her house. so if she wants to do that, we're going to go right after the president, the ex-president, and we'll see how it all comes out. and i feel very confident it will come out very well for us. i will say this. the last person that hillary wants to run against is me. and you saw the polls come out today where i'm beating her or tied with her at worst. and we're doing very well. we're doing very well in all of the polls. we're really doing very well in iowa. and you see that. in the cnn poll, i'm up by 13

points in iowa. we're at 33 versus 20, cruz being in second. and we're doing really well. and we're doing very well in the iowa polls. >> do you want to risk -- running a general campaign against hillary where not one votes have been cast in the primary yet? >> in the democratic debate, they mentioned my name nine times, they didn't mention anybody else. so i really felt i had to respond. they're mentioning my names during this debate and they're not mentioning anybody else. so all i did, really, was respond. >> you invited is [ inaudible ] discretions -- >> well, you know, it's very important to understand that one of the magazines recently said donald trump is a world-class businessman, and i am. i've made a tremendous amount of money. i've built a great, great company, and it's one of the reasons i'm doing this. because we need this kind of thinking when we have $19 trillion in debt and all of the problems that we have. but as a world-class businessman, and as, frankly, a businessman, you have to get along with everybody. you want democrats, you want liberals, you want republicans, you want conservatives. and i owed it to myself, i owed

it to my family, to my company, to my employees to get along with everybody. and i always have gotten along with everybody. [ inaudible question ] >> no, i think it's fine. i want to get along with everybody. as a businessman, i want to get along with everybody. as a politician, frankly, you know, in washington, we have gridlock. and it would be really nice if obama could get the republicans, the democrats together and get something done. it's total gridlock. they don't get along, they don't like each other, the whole thing is ridiculous. but as a businessman, especially as a really successful businessman, it was my obligation to really get along with people. that's democrats, republicans, everybody. and that's what i did. i'm a conservative republican, and in many ways, i'm very conservative, but i had an obligation to my company and to my employees, and to my family to get along. so i was able to get along with clinton, i was able to get along with virtually every politician you can imagine. and when i went to washington and when i needed something, i

got it. >> on that topic of iowa, [ inaudible ] -- santorum and huckabee [ inaudible ] this week said [ inaudible ]. what happens on february 2nd [ inaudible ]? >> well, first of all. i think we're doing really well as, you know, as a candidate, we're doing really, really well with vngevangelicals. and if you look at the numbers, i'm really close to the top or at the top with evangelicals. i've developed an amazing relationship. and you know, i'm a protestant, i'm a presbyterian to be exact. i've gone through the whole thing. my relationship right now with evangelicals, and always, has been outstanding. so i don't know who's leading with evangelicals. i just saw a poll coming out where i'm leading with evangelicals. i'm doing very well with the tea party. and i'm doing very well in iowa. if you look at iowa and look at

cnn, which is a recent poll and a very big one, i'm at 33 and cruz is at 20. so i don't know how i'm going to do, but i think i'm going to do very well in iowa. >> -- candidates in the republican field, should you take the nomination, do you see anyone among that field [ inaudible ]? >> it's possible. it's really possible. i mean, i've respected a number of them. i'm not going to say every one of them, and some more than others, but i have great respect for a number of the candidates that i'm running against. >> you have been in the entertainment world, you've been in the political world. how much entertainment is there in the political world? how much of it is the show? >> such an interesting question. i guess you heard that question. you've been in the entertainment world, and i've been in the business world, and i've been in this. it's -- a lot of it can be applied, whether it's business, entertainment, or politics. it's been an amazing period of time. i've really enjoyed this. we've had just incredible results. the relationships i've developed

in iowa have been incredible and new hampshire and south carolina and virginia and texas, all over. i'm leading in the florida polls against two people, one's a governor and one's a senator, a sitting senator, and i'm leading substantially in florida. i'm leading in ohio against a sitting governor. we've had, you know, an amazing period of time. now, we have -- we start the process. february 1st, a big date. and i think that we're going to do really, really well in iowa. >> can you talk a little bit about your campaign and how you're going to ensure that people who are supporting you at rallies will be out there on caucus day, on primary day? >> well, as you know, and even if you look tonight, despite the bad weather, the place is packed. we just had it on television, and they showed it's packed. we get by far the biggest crowds. now, the question is, will they show up for caucus? i think the answer is yes. as you know, we have sam clovis and chuck lautner and they have some incredible people under them. but, you know, we're going to see what happens on february 1st. people want to see our country

become great again. we are a country that is troubled. seriously troubled. and we have nothing but losses. we don't win with isis, we don't win with healthcare. obamacare is a disaster. the rates are going up 25, 35, 45%, virtually every year. it's a catastrophe. we don't win with anything. we don't win at the border where people are just flowing across into our country. and i really think those people -- i actually think all of those people or friends of those at the rallies and the speeches are going to come out and caucus and we're going to have a very good victory, but we have to see. >> how much are you going to spend on the campaign? it's been reported $2 million? >> so i'll be spending a minimum of $2 million a week and perhaps substantially more than that. >> where? >> jeb has spent $40 million -- >> no, he hasn't spent $40 million. he's wasted $40 million. there's a big difference. jeb has wasted $40 million.

>> every week in iowa, leading up to february 1st? >> so i'm going to be doing big ads in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, and they're going to be very substantial. and i think they're very well done. i've seen the first two or three of them. we're very proud of them. we're going to be talking about a lot of things, including the border, including trade, including isis and security for the country. we're going to be talking about a lot of things in these commercials. [ inaudible question ] >> well, i don't think i need to spend the money. if you look at the polls, as you probably saw, 20 minutes ago, reuters came out, and i'm close to 40, and second, i believe, is 13, which is a big gap. i don't think i need to spend anything and i'm very proud of the fact that i've spent the least and i have the best result. in other words, i spent here, if you look at a guy like bush, he actually spent $59 million and he's nowhere. and others, likewise, have spent $50 million and they're nowhere.

i'm proud of the fact -- that's the kind of attitude that the country need. spend the least and be the best. in education, we spend more than any other country in the world per pupil by a lot and we're 28th. that's the opposite of my campaign. so, you know, i'm very proud of the fact. but now i'm going to spend -- anyway, i don't know that i need to. when i see a 40 and i see a 12 or a 13 as second, there's no reason to spend, but i feel i should spend. and honestly, i don't want to take any chances. we're doing so well in iowa, we're doing so well in new hampshire, we're doing so well in south carolina, in nevada, the ball game today was beyond. it was 38 or 39 and everybody else is very low. but i feel an obligation even to myself and to the country to spend. and so we're going to be spending a minimum of $2 million for the first, and then we'll see what happens. and if anybody goes after me, i will spend a lot of money against the people that go after me. >> any attack ads? >> well, i'm just saying.

if somebody attack me, i will attack them very much and very hard, in terms of ads. you've got to understand, i'm $35 million under budget. i thought, as of january 1st, i would have spent $35 million on ads. i've spent nothing. so i'm $35 million under budget, which is a good feeling. i love to build -- when i build, i like to build underbudget. when we fix the infrastructure of our country, i want that to be under budget. and it's going to come in under budget, because we have people that don't know what they're doing. we have petitioliticians -- so going to fix the infrastructure, and it will be done at a reasonable cost, not a cost where they have 25 times overruns, which projects that start out at "x," some of them cost 20 and 25 times they're supposed to cost. that's gross incompetence or theft or dishonesty or something. but i look at some of these projects that start off as little projects and they end up being disasters. we're going to end all of that. >> you mentioned isis a minute ago.

the shooter in san bernardino was a radicalized american. >> correct. >> you've said momentarily keep the muslims from entering the united states. that said, would you spend any other constitutional rights for muslim americans, such as gun ownership, anything like that? >> i would look very seriously at the people that are here that are becoming radicalized. they're using our internet system better than we do, and we're the ones that invented it. and i would certainly get all of the geniuses from silicon valley together and we will put a stop to a lot of the things that are going on. where these young, impressionable people, in many cases, children, are becoming radicalized. as far as that couple, that horrible couple that killed 14 people with more to come, because you have some very seriously wounded, that may be won't make it, from what i understand, we have to have people turn them in. people knew they had pipe bombs all over their floor. they had like 20 pipe bombs all

over the apartment. people saw it. why didn't they turn them in? they should have turned them? there's something wrong. and something's going wrong big league. and we're going to get to the bottom of it. but people have to turn these people in. these are sick people. and they have to turn them in. and a lot of people knew what was going on with the man and wife, if i can even say that, because i think it's so horrible. i think they're such horrible people. they're scum, as far as i'm concerned. but people have to turn them in. people knew what was going on. they had all sorts of weapons, they had bombs all over the apartment, and nobody turned them in. they better start turning them in. >> well, the question -- >> mr. trump, bernie sanders said you've kind of taken the fear in america right now and turned it into fear against muslims and mexicans. is that true? >> no, it's not true. actually, it's the opposite. mine is a message of hope.

it's make america great again. we're going to make america great again. we're going to make it strong militarily. we'll make it strong economically. we're losing on trade so badly. we'll stop that immediately. we'll bring our jobs back. we'll make our country great again. and mine is really a message of hope, not a message of fear. >> but then, [ inaudible ] you're kind of the white knight, you've pushed muslims away. david buick is now saying you're more radical than him. how are people supposed to take away your message when republicans are pushing away -- how are they supposed to suggest that you are not that white knight for the white man? >> i'll tell you what. i'm somebody that's extremely inclusive. i want people to get along. we have a president that's dividing our country, terribly dividing our country, and i'm going to bring people together. and you'll see some wonderful things happening with our country. >> so is david duke wrong? >> well, david duke certainly

would be wrong about that. >> how about getting muslims to turn other people in? >> they're going to turn -- >> how do you make that happen? >> if you have a community and it's a muslim community, and you have somebody in there making bombs, and other people have seen the bombs, you've got to turn them in. sorry, folks. that's the way it goes. you've got to turn them in. we don't want to have another one where 16 or 20 people get killed. >> we don't want to have what happened in paris. we don't want to have what happened in california. we don't want to have another world trade center. and believe me, there's plenty out there that want to see that happen again with the world trade center. we have to find out who those people are. >> how do you do it? >> people have to turn them in. people have to turn them in. their own communities, frankly, have to turn them in. but people knew what was going on with those bombs and with those two people. and she came here, and she was already radicalized. and he was either radicalized by her or he was radicalized previously.

and frankly, it almost doesn't matter. he was bad news. and these two did tremendous destruction. to people that gave them wedding parties. these are people that knew them. they gave them a wedding party. and they killed them. so there's some bad stuff going on, and we'll get to the bottom of it. that's all, it's very simple. and peer that are smart and people with common sense understand that i'm right. >> bill kristol suggested this week that you potentially even knew the third party would run against -- >> bill kristol's a loser. he said i wouldn't run and if i ran, i would just have a lot of fun and i -- look, bill kristol is a major loser. he's lost all self-respect. he's very embarrassed to even walk down the street. people have told me that. and you know, he's desperate. he's a desperate man. his magazine is failing badly. he's going to be out of business probably very soon. but he's hurt his brand very badly, and, you know, he's as negative as you can, because he's a loser.

>> do you -- >> that's all. thank you, guys -- >> hold on, i'll just answer these couple of questions. i don't see a third party. i don't see that -- >> when you use language like that, calling people a loser -- >> i'm saying somebody says negative about me -- >> would you use that if you were a president? >> no, it would be a different tone. right now it's 17 people, now down to 14, another one's dropping out today, pataki, still a lot of people, i'm running against a lot of people and you got to win. i want to win for one reason. i don't want to win for myself, i want to win, i want to win to make our country great again. that's why i want to win. >> do you have kids who use your language as a way to talk other people? >> i have a great relationship with kids. really great. >> thank you so much. >> thank you all, very much. have a great time. >> so there you go. i guess the answer to our question as to what exactly was supposed to happen onboard that plane with donald trump is that he was simply taking questions from the media. and it did cover a wide range of

topics, at the end there, he had called bill kristol, of "the new york times," calling him a loser, which is a word we have heard donald trump use umpteen times. someone asked him about that language and whether or not his language would change if he were president. one of the reporters asking that, and he said, yes, he would change his tone. but at this point when he's running in such a crowded field, he started to say that he needs to use it because he's in a crowded field. didn't end up finishing that thought. but there were a number of questions asked. i want to bring in -- bring back, as it were, our guest, james peterson of lehigh university. mckay copins, and dnc chair, ed rendell. good to have all of you with us. we were talking, leading up to this event, about what it may end up being, james. and was there anything you learned in these last ten minutes or so that you hadn't heard before. he seemed the to be a little bit different donald trump in some ways, with those questions.

>> it's high comedy to me. some of the conversation is just completely fact free. but what's really interesting is that he's invested in exhorting people. so using term like "loser" or "we're going to be great" or "we're going to win," he takes a certain tone that is compelling to certain voters. and i think that if anything, he sort of really projected that really, really well here. as we were saying before we went to this, this wasn't about him saying much information. he did talk about the fact he will be using some of his own money. very, very little details on that. very, very little concrete information on that. what he's doing here, he created a stage. the media sort of flocked to him like the media normally does around these issues. and then he engages in the kind of theater that allows him to exhort voters. so that language that he's using, calling people losers, we're going to get our country back, we're going to get everything together. you know, the reporter was really trying to get him to say, how are you going to get people to talk about or tell on other people who are alleged terrorists in their communities.

he never answers those kinds of questions. he just say, we're going to get 'em. they're going to tell on each other. and that kind of exhortation is compelling to some kind of voters that feel disenchanted and it's working for trump. >> ed, let me get you to answer quickly. he was asked about preying on the fear of americans, and making americans afraid of boast mexiconess and muslims. and he said, no, mine is a message of hope. what's your reaction to that statement? >> well, it's a dual message. the message, make america great again, is a message of hope. for those people who think that the country has fallen behind and is lacking in some ways. so part of it's a message of hope, but part of it's a message of fear, a message of divisiveness. and most of all, i hold the media a little bit to blame for this trump phenomenon. for example, in this press conference, he said, there's waste in our infrastructure

program. sometimes programs cost 25 times what they started out to be on budget. did anybody say, well, can you give us a couple of examples of that -- >> fact free. >> because there are no -- it's fact free. other candidates are called on the slightest factual misstep that they make. he can make missteps like that and -- >> i disagree with that. i actually take issue with that. i know a number of the folks here at msnbc have challenged and asked. and to james' point, part of the issue is, donald trump does not give you a straight answer. >> but he should be asked specifically. mr. trump, can you give us one example of a infrastructure project that cost 25%, 25 times more than it originally budgeted for? >> one example. >> we'll leave it there for just a minute. we'll take a quick break before we get in trouble with the computers who might take us off the air and we'll be back to continue our discussion. stay with us. cool. the magic of the season is here

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and i'm jerry bell the third. i'm like a big bear and he's my little cub. this little guy is non-stop. he's always hanging out with his friends. you've got to be prepared to sit at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. there's no "deep couch sitting." it's definitely not good for my back. this is the part i really don't like right here. (doorbell) what's that? a package! it's a swiffer wetjet. it almost feels like it's moving itself. this is kind of fun. that comes from my floor? eww! this is deep couch sitting. deep couch sitting! don't let it conquer you.. with the capability and adaptability of lexus all-weather drive. this is the pursuit of perfection. we are back with our panel,

professor peterson, and ed rendell. mckay, to you on this one. one other thing that happened today that was very interesting and got a lot of attention is that the rnc now said donald trump will have access to its voter data. which shows, clearly, i would venture to say, he's being taken as a very serious candidate. but what else does that say to you, that he can access all of this information? >> well, i think, actually, what it is, it's the rnc and the gop establishment at large, paying a ransom from trump, saying that if from the beginning, if he is not treated well by the republican establishment or the republican party, he would run as a third party candidate, which would decimate the republican's chances of taking back the white house. the rnc wants trump to fade, but they don't want him to feel like he was ousted or pushed out of the party. and so they're making these concessions, to make him feel special, which is very important to trump. but not necessarily angry at the

gop, wile still hoping that he will fade away. you know, who knows if that will happen. somebody actually has to take the initiative and do it. but at least, i think that for now, the rnc is trying to play nice with trump. >> one of the other things that stood out, he was asked one of the first questions, because he has been going after bill clinton and his past, whether or not his own personal indiscretions were fair game. and ed rendell, he said yes. did that surprise you? >> no. i think donald trump, in terms of whatever indiscretions there are, he'll just laugh them off, and the people that are finding his approach attractive won't think anything of it. but i think he makes a mistake if he goes after bill clinton. bill clinton right now is, i think, the most popular american politician in the entire country. i think that would be a big mistake. and by the way, he loves bill clinton and hillary clinton. i was at ivanka trump, his

daughter's, wedding, and bill and hillary clinton were there and he acted as if they were his long-lost best friends. >> and as we saw in an interview that surfaced from 2008, he had lovely things to say about both of them back then. how good friends they were. james peterson, before we lose our satellite winds on everybody, where does this go from here? we know we're five weeks out to iowa, but realistically, what changes in the next five weeks for these candidates? >> i'm not seeing much change at all. i think trump will continue to be the front-runner. we'll continue to ask questions, why is he the front-runner? and it's pretty clear here, the republican party created this monster over the last several presidential elections, playing to the red meat base, racializing politics, us against them, let's take our country back. all of this stuff has culminated in donald trump's success. you'll see crews encroach a little bitn iowa. maybe a couple other people in new hampshire, but he's the front-runner to deal with right now. >> james peterson, mckay copins, ed rendell, appreciate all of you joining us tonight.

thanks again. and thanks to all of you watching msnbc live. i'm erica hill. see you back here tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. eastern. "hardball" starts right now. could hitting bill clinton knock out the donald? let's play "hardball"? . good evening i'm joy reid in for chris matthews. moments ago, donald trump completed a press conference aboard his plane and he's headed to a rally in council bluffs, iowa. the republican front-runner, meanwhile, continued his attacks on bill clinton today. yesterday, trump tweeted about bill clinton's, quote, terrible record of women abuse, his words. on the "today" show this morning he showed no signs of backing off. >> there was certainly a lot of abuse of women, and you look at whether it's monica lewinsky or

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