see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com. >> sean penn's secret interview with el chapo. good morning, everyone. i'm eamon moyeldin. sean penn interviewed one of the most notorious druglords while he was on the run. did the secret meeting help authorities capture el chapo? details in a little bit. also, three weeks before the voting starts, who wins iowa or new hampshire is anyone's guess. will it be trump or cruz in iowa? we'll look at the brand new

polling numbers that show how tight this contest is, with hillary clinton and bernie sanders neck and neck on the democratic side. many died flying for their country. why are the female pilots of world war ii banned from burial at arlington cemetery? that special interview is coming up. if tomorrow is the day you weren't going to show up for work because you thought you'd win the powerball jackpot? the good news is you have a chance at $1 billion on wednesday, but we begin this morning with brand new polling information from nbc news, the "wall street journal" and marrist. we're only three weeks away from the iowa caucuses on february 1st and in the hawk i would state, ted cruz is maintaining his lead at 28%, but that's only four points ahead of donald trump, marco rubio and ben carson, fighting to round out the top three. jeb bush is out of the top five with just 4%, trailing rand paul. lots of establishment republicans it seems are stuck in the single digits. but that's a poll of likely voters.

if you poll the potential republican electorate in iowa the numbers change a little bit and donald trump leads cruz with 26%, meaning if trump is able to mobilize new voters it could go a long way to helping him win in iowa. in new hampshire he's far ahead of his challenges, more than double marco rubio and chris christie battling for second place and jeb bush in the single digits in that state as well, tied with ohio's john kasich. donald trump telling nbc's chuck todd this week even if he loses iowa, he's "going all the way." take a listen. >> you know there's this running conventional wisdom about you, with some in the establishment that now say he's here to stay but if he doesn't win iowa he'll leave the race. >> no, i'm not leaving. you and i had this discussion about two months ago you said would you leave. i've been number one since just about i start toed running. june 16th.

we talked about maybe here, maybe there if this happened. there's no maybes. >> no maybes anymore. >> i'm not leaving. >> going straight to the convention. >> the numbers for the democratic side are just as interesting. we'll get to that later on in the show. we start with the republican side, joining us now is our panel for the show, npr contributor and host of "slate" podcast and base le michael jr. and anchor for the blaze, amy holmes. thanks for getting up this sunday morning for us. >> not rich yet. >> thursday morning we're going to check in with you, if you answer our calls thursday morning. let's start with donald trump and what he's been doing in particular in iowa against ted cruz, you know, really going after him about this birther issue and whether or not he's eligible to become president. i want to play you this sound bite and we'll get reaction. take a listen. >> because some people say i have to be born on the land. that's whey always thought before. you can't have a person running for office, even though ted is

very glib and he goes out and he says well i'm a natural born citizen. the point is, you're not. >> you're not. >> is this resonating with voters in iowa? >> i don't think it's resonating with voters but getting trdonal trump out front talking about him as usual. if anything ted cruz should feel flattered he's in donald trump's cross-hairs because it means interested cruz matters. donald trump fears him. >> donald trump is great at getting media attention. it drives daily consideration but the reality is even though he's doing well relative to the other candidates, i think in the intro, the key word is mobilize. i don't know if he can do that. most of donald trump supporters are people who don't vote regularly. for republicans iowa or new hampshire, ted cruz might be the compromise candidate. >> can we go back a second and say donald trump is wrong?

sometimes we don't think it's necessary to say that, he's totally wrong. george romney was born in mexico and john mccain born in the panama canal. it's always been fine before. there won't be an issue now. he's trying to appeal to the voters who might want to look at -- >> john mccain has been somebody questioned whether or not ted cruz is running. fair to say donald trump is saying something wrong with you doesn't seem everybody is convinced of the argument. >> in john mccain's case he has longstanding animosity toward ted cruz. >> it's politically motivated. >> yes. >> it's not legally based? >> no. >> the cruz candidate and the wisdom. >> if he wants to win new hampshire he has to beat chris christie. look at what he said about this quickly. >> you want someone on that stage against hillary clinton who has been through the wars,

not somebody who say first-term yunited states snapshot who has never had a tough race in his life. he's been spoon fed every victory he's ever had in his life. is that the kind of person we want to put on the stage against hillary clinton? i don't think so. she'll pat him on the head and cut his heart out. >> chris has a liberal record for a republican. he supported common core. he ran for office as a supporter of gun control. he personally gave a contribution to planned parenthood so i'm sure he doesn't want to have a conversation about the issues. >> so how do you see this playing out? it's getting nasty between these two so-called establishment candidates in new hampshire. everybody saying it's going to come down to the establishment candidates if they want to make a run. >> well it looks like it is getting nasty and chris christie is doing very well in new hampshire, and you could see he's attacking marco rubio over the issue of experience, and chris christie as an executive governor of new jersey that is the right ground for chris christie to be attacking marco rubio because marco rubio is right when it comes to chris christie's record for conservative voter answs and a f

conservative voter flinch when they see the picture of chris christie hugging barack obama. >> but of all the senators running, marco rubio sponsored more legislation with democrats and chris christie's executive experience but extremely unpopular. he's experienced but hasn't done well. these are great talking points but flaws in all of them. >> one of the things i thought that rubio could be the bill clinton of the republicans, bill clinton '92 of the republican party. bring more people in, inject a youth to the race. he hasn't done that. what's interesting is this is a race where governors aren't on the platform in an interesting way, voters are looking at legislators i guess because they think that through washington is where they're going to make their rules. >> i'm not sure being bill clinton in '92 say great idea considering he won because there was a third candidate in the race. >> you're with us all hour. we have more to talk about. we'll get to the democratic side and el chapo as well. before voters in new hampshire and iowa choose who they want to be next president

president obama will deliver his last state of the union, focusing on the legacy that his legislative agenda for the upcoming year that includes executive actions on gun control which he laid out only days ago. president obama planning to leave an empty seat in the house gallery to symbolize the victims of gun violence. joining us to discuss tuesday night's address is david kuznet, president clinton's chief speechwriter from 1992 until 1994 and now the podesta group and joining us this morning. sir, thank you for having us, for joining us with us, i apologize. how important is this state of the union anymore? do you think it's lost some of its relevancy? >> i think it's still very relevant. it gives the president their best opportunity to be presidential. the president is speaking in the nation's capitol before all three branches of government, both houses of congress, the members of the supreme court, the members of his cabinet, and most important, he's talking to

the country, and i think that's what president obama is going to do on tuesday night, speak directly to the american people. >> and when it's your final speech, your last year in office, a lot of sides are expecting you to say a lot of things. what are the democrats you think hoping to get out of president obama's speep for thch for that that could have an impact going forward? >> i think by telling his own story and the country's story, he also tells the story of what governance by his party has accomplished for this country. i think that the president may take a leave from president reagan. president reagan used to say after several years in office, that he had brought america back and i think president obama may also say that america has come back. i think he's going to begin by referring back to the condition of the country when he took office, the terrible economic crisis that we were in. i think he's going to talk about jobs created, about business starts, about the rescue of the auto industry, as he did in his

radio address yesterday, and then i think he's going to take the country forward both in the short term and the long-term. i think he's going to talk about his agenda for the year ahead, and then he's going to talk about america's agenda for the many years to come, and i think he's going to do what he does very well, which is situate the last seven years and the coming years in terms of america's journey towards an even better more inclusive society than we have been. >> do you envision that, because it's his last year, he's not running in any more races, you know it will be an uphill battle legislatively? do you think the gloves come off in the tone of the speech, maybe you hear something you haven't heard in the past seven years in terms of how aggressive he is on some issues? >> in a funny way the most effectively partisan a president can be is by being nonpart

stand. keeping in mind this is not just a speech but a visual event is say things that they know the american people agree with, and then the american people will see whether the members of the opposition party in congress stand up and cheer or whether they sit on their hands. the best thing he can do is not only speak to the country but for the country and implicitly challenge the members of both parties to agree with him. >> david kuznet, former chief writer for president clinton, thank you for joining us this morning. reminder you can watch tuesday night's state of the union address right here on msnbc, our special coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. turning now to the incredibly long odds of waking up an instant millionaire, unfortunately, amy did not do that. if you're nursing some disappointment about not winning the powerball this morning, at least you're not alone. there wasn't a single winning ticket which means that the jackpot rolls over to wednesday's drawing and it will be worth at least $1.3 billion, that number could go up between now and wednesday.

nbc's kerry sanders is live in hallandale florida, also one of the non-winner this is morning. right, kerry? >> reporter: we still got a chance, eamon? nobody won. look how much money we're talking about, it doesn't even fit on the billboard, you know, $1.3 billion. so it's been sort of an insane last couple of days of people buying tickets and i can't imagine where it's going to go. i mean, you can buy this ticket in 44 states. they've been breaking records by the number of tickets being sold every second. we're now into another day. the poll is not until wednesday evening at 10:59 eastern time. i was trying to do a calculation here, and so if you win this absurd amount of $1.3 billion and you're a sole winner, you get $806 million as a cash payout. if you decided hey, i'm going to take that in dollar bills and stuff it under my mattress, your

mattress would be 17,000 feet up in the air. that's how much money we're talking about. or to give you one more sort of calculation, if you said to your daughter or your son, and you said, i want to you start counting to $1.3 billion, one, two, three, and they counted each number for a second, it would take more than 41 years before they reached $1.3 billion. an insane amount of money, obviously it's a world record. nobody's ever seen anything like this before. >> i can't even imagine the frenzy that's going to grip this country for the next 72 hours or so. kerry sanders, make sure you get your numbers. i'm sure you'll be playing it. you do have to come back and report on it for us thursday morning. >> good deal. >> nbc's kerry sanders in florida for us, thank you very much. up next, what joaquin el chapo guzman told sean penn in an interview that caught everyone by surprise. stay with us. woah! father, why can't we have directv like the macgregors do? we're settlers, son. we settle for things.

like having cable instead of directv. hey, jebediah, how's it going? working the land. hoping for a fertile spring. all right. so we have to live with lower customer satisfaction? i'm afraid so. now go churn us some butter, boy, and then make your own clothes. yes, sir. (vo) don't be a settler. get rid of cable and upgrade to directv. call 1-800-directv. choose, choose, choose. but at bedtime? ...why settle for this? enter sleep number, and the lowest prices of the season. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. you like the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store... find the lowest prices of the season, going on now.

save $600 on the #1 rated i8 bed. know better sleep with sleep number. ♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. watching tvs get sharper, you've had it tough. bigger, smugger.

and you? rubbery buttons. enter the x1 voice remote. now when someone says... show me funny movies. watch discovery. record this. voila. remotes, come out from the cushions, you are back. the x1 voice remote is here. amerivest selects the funds and manages your portfolio. is it run by robots? no no, you can talk to a person anytime. 'cause i don't trust robots. right...well, if the portfolio you're invested in doesn't perform well for two consecutive quarters, amerivest will reimburse your advisory fees for those quarters. i wasn't born yesterday. well, actually it looks like you were born yesterday. happy belated birthday. thanks. for all the confidence you need td ameritrade. you got this.

just when you think the story of el chapo's recompany tour couldn't get any stranger it has. overnight the stunning news that the mexican druglord is speaking out in just a released "rolling stone" interview conducted by oscar winning actor sean penn. gabe gutierrez is live outside mexico city where el chapo is being held. gabe, thanks for joining us. >> good morning. you're exactly right. this is believed to be el chapo's first public interview in decades. sean penn claims he spoke with joaquin guzman several months ago. the stunning interview with the world's most wanted druglord posted online overnight by "rolling stone" magazine. joaquin "el chapo" guzman responding to questions submitted by sean penn and

mexican soap opera star kate dagostino. they followed his daring escape from a maximum security prison last july. guzman admitting that drugs destroy but saying that unfortunately where he grew up there was no other way to survive. asked if he's prone to violence, el chapo says all he does is defend himself, nothing more. the videos were taken by his associates after an hour's long face-to-face meeting with del castillo, atop a mountain at an undisclosed location in mexico. this foe cowas taken to awe then indicate the meeting. i supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than thibls in the world he's quoted as telling penn. trusted source tells nbc news authorities were aware penn and del castillo were in mexico. authorities were in the process of trying to locate and capture el chapo.

plan to arrest was delayed to ensure the two would not be harmed. when the october raid took place el chapo and his security team are believed to have been escaped having been alerted by local residents. authorities believe that delay may have cost them the element of surprise. we reached out to sean penn but he was unavailable for comment. it wasn't until friday morning that the mexican navy captured el chapo following a bloody shoot-out in his home state. this is the first look inside the cranage tunnel where guzman tried to make his last ditch effort to escape. next cab officials are moving to extradite him for the u.s. >> he's going to be fighting extradition with every resource that he possibly has. >> reporter: as for the "rolling stone" piece written by sean penn, it was agreed that it would be submitted to the pubt before publication for approval.

"rolling stone" says that the subject in this case el chapo made no changes. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez, fascinating report there. thank you for that. i want to discuss this with our panel. this is an incredible story. "rolling stone" said they'd publish the interview regarding whether or not el chapo was captured. it's coincidental he was captured the same week this article was coming out. what do you think the reaction would have been in the public had this interview come out and he was still on the run? >> it would have been how can sean penn get to el chapo and not the authorities? and i read the interview, i think sean penn captured his subject more than the mexicans did the first two times but there is still not only the construction of the interview, the actual way it's written is pretty risable. this is a terrible guy, although he's a byproduct of the war on drugs but there's remarkable everything about him and sean

penn was the guy to crack the case. i can't believe it. >> i don't know what good can be gleaned from this story. i love sean penn, "fast times at ridgemon high" great movie. i love sean penn. >> i think drugs were featured in that. >> but what he's done in haiti, what he's doing in new orleans i think that's great but i don't know why this particular interview needed to happen right then and there when you have the authorities bearing down. >> do you think it was el chapo's ego that led to his downfall? authorities say they were tracking him and that sean penn's movements and the suspicious activity around them led authorities to el chapo. >> it sure sounds like it, that for his 15 minutes of fame he's going to get a life in prison if he doesn't escape. i'm no fan of sean penn's politics. this is the same person who said that hugo chavez was a "model democrat" and that any journalist who called him a dictator should go to jail. so it's no surprise that sean penn didn't use journalistic ethics and standards when it came to interviewing el chapo.

i haven't read the interview. oftentimes softball interviews can glean a lot of new information, because that person feels so comfortable. i'm not sure if that was, you know, achieved in this case, but you know, to give sean penn a little bit of credit, let's face it, guys, it takes a lot of courage to go up into the mountains and sit across from a vicious drug dealer and conduct an interview. >> let's talk about that issue about the journalism aspect of this a little bit. >> sure. >> one is, do you think that journalistically speaking, i don't know if you had a chance to read the piece but journalistically speaking was there any journalistic value in that interview? >> yes. i disagree a little bit. i think that it shows moxie and most journalists would not break rules or ethics and i don't know that penn did it. to get the interview is a cous, it's a get. >> absolutely. >> just to hear el chapo talking about his life story is interesting. there's a value to that, and journalists needn't work with the authorities. doesn't matter who it is. journalists interviewed osama bin laden. so i think there is some value to it.

i think it's more mockable than anyone behaved unethically. i think the actual language that it's written is so overwrought, like a really bad screen play. that's the thing that made me laugh the most, not the facts of what he reported, but the fact that -- >> you're saying sean penn is a bad writer. >> sean penn is a bad writer but his dad was a great journalist and he has had in his blood. think about the roles he plays. he's attracted to complicated, interesting figures so there's a lot of, you can understand why he'd be compelled to do it. you could also understand why el chapo would talk back. >> at least reach out and try to bring him into mexico for that interview. stay with us. we have a lot more to discuss particularly in politics. still ahead, starving in searia, the assad regime using famine as a weapon of war against his own people. now relief is on the way for those suffering in at least one war-torn city. stay with us. ♪

♪ why fit in when you were born to stand out. the 2016 nissan altima has arrived. ♪ ♪ don't just eat. mangia! bertolli. and i'm still struggling with my diabetes. i do my best to manage.

but it's hard to keep up with it. your body and your diabetes change over time. your treatment plan may too. know your options. once-daily toujeo® is a long-acting insulin from the makers of lantus®. it releases slowly to provide consistent insulin levels for a full 24 hours. toujeo® also provides proven full 24-hour blood sugar control and significant a1c reduction. toujeo® is a long-acting, man-made insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. don't use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you're allergic to insulin. allergic reaction may occur and may be life threatening. don't reuse needles or share insulin pens, even if the needle has been changed. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be serious and life threatening. it may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. check your blood sugar levels daily while using toujeo®. injection site reactions may occur. don't change your dose or type

of insulin without talking to your doctor. tell your doctor if you take other medicines and about all your medical conditions. insulins, including toujeo, in combination with tzds (thiazolidinediones) may cause serious side effects like heart failure that can lead to death, even if you've never had heart failure before. don't dilute or mix toujeo® with other insulins or solutions as it may not work as intended and you may lose blood sugar control, which could be serious. pay no more than $15 per prescription for 12 months. eligibility restrictions apply. learn more at toujeo.com/info or call 800-580-3421. also, 9 out of 10 medicare part d patients can get toujeo® at the lowest branded copay. ask your doctor about the proven full 24-hour blood sugar control of toujeo®. this morning a human tarial aid convey is due to reach the

besieged syrian town of madaya. it is hoped it will provide some relief for tens of thousands of people, many of them children, who are literally starving to death. we warn you some of the images are difficult to watch. kelly cobiella has our story. >> reporter: in the town of madaya it's come to this, salt for a meal. boy begging for food. "i'm sorry to ask but i haven't eaten in three days." babies slow lly starving to dea. 7-month-old hara is living on salt and water with milk every ten days. these pictures and video taken by medical workers who live in the village. hundreds here are suffering from malnutrition, many are on death's door. >> we have seen 23 of our patients, children and adults, die of acute malnutrition. our doctors are feeding the children medical syrups, just desperate attempt to get some

sugar into them. >> reporter: madaya on the outskirts of damascus has been surrounded by government troops for months, no one getting out, no food getting in. in northern syria, opposition fighters are doing the same to two pro government villages. innocent civilians caught in the middle. human rights groups say a quarter of a million people have been killed in syria's five-year civil war, and now entire towns are being starved to death. >> it could be anything from 100,000, maybe up to 200,000 people across the country. >> reporter: some hope a final deal to allow aid convoys to madaya and the two towns in the north. are you confident you now have safe passage to go to madaya and these other towns? >> we're cautiously optimistic that we are expecting as early as monday to get into all of these besieged areas. >> reporter: but deals have been made and broken before. for some, it's already too late.

every day they say help is coming, this man says "and it never does." kelly cobiella, nbc news, london. we're joined by bill fralig, director at human rights watch, thank you for joining us this sunday morning. let's talk about the plight of these people. this story really exploded on the international stage within the last week or so, but how did the plight of these people escape the world's attention for so long? >> well, it's actually been known to the u.n. security council, there have been three different resolutions demanding that all parties to the conflict allow access of humanitarian aid and food to besieged areas. we've known for some time but there are 15 different locations with about 400,000 people that are trapped in them from either government and government allied forces or rebel armed groups. the problem is of course out of sight, out of mind. the fact these are besieged areas there's little access to them for journalists, or for

human rights organizations for that matter. we've been in touch with the residents of madaya and the other locations. we've been talking to them by telephone and heard graphic descriptions of trying to keep alive boiling leaves and eating dogs and cats, hearing about this for weeks, if not months. >> what did the united nations do about it in terms of those resolutions? did they demand they be allowed into those areas and now what sort of aid is the united nations hoping to get into madaya and some of the other besieged towns? >> demands have been made all along. how do you enforce the demands? that becomes the question so it's a matter of negotiation. this has been the problem area, how do you manage without military intervention bringing humanitarian aid to people in the conditions that you just s

witnessed. >> you talked about how when this story got the international attention it managed to put both parties in the syrian conflict to change that dynamic. how may it affect these images and how may they affect the perception of refugees around the world. texas and alabama sued the federal government over this settlement of syrian refugees. do you think these images might help americans understand the extent of the humanitarian crisis syria is suffering? >> certainly anyone looking at the images can see it's a dire humanitarian situation, as has been reported about a quarter of a million people killed in the conflict, 7 million people internally displaced within the country, 4 million that are refugees in the immediate region, and the amount of assistance, humanitarian assistance that's gone to people outside the country of people in lebanon, jordan, turkey, far, doesn't nearly meet the needs the human tear needs of the people which is one of the

reasons many have continued to move on to europe. the numbers that the president obama's talking about bringing to the united states, 10,000, is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of people that have been displaced by this conflict, and of course, the long vetting procedures that the u.s. undergoes for refugee admissions is completely different than the situation that's quite chaotic in the region itself. >> all right, bill, we have to leave it at that, director of the refugee program for human rights watch, sir, thank you for joining us with that insight. >> thank you very much. up next, back into the politics in the race for the democratic nomination, new polls from iowa, new hampshire, show just how close that race is, less than a month before voters there kick off the nominating process. stay with us. l? you ready? can you pick me up at 6:30? ah... (boy) i'm here! i'm here! (cop) too late. i was gone for five minutes! ugh!

move it. you're killing me. you know what, dad? i'm good. (dad) it may be quite a while before he's ready, but our subaru legacy will be waiting for him. (vo) the longest-lasting midsize sedan in its class. the twenty-sixteen subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. that reminds me... anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea... ...gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against occasional digestive issues. with three types of good bacteria. live the regular life. phillips'. it's gotten squarer. over the years. brighter. bigger. it's gotten thinner. even curvier.

but what's next? for all binge watchers. movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. ♪ light piano today i saw a giant. it had no arms, but it welcomed me. (crow cawing) it had no heart, but it was alive. (train wheels on tracks) it had no mouth, but it spoke to me. it said, "rocky mountaineer: all aboard amazing".

how much prot18%?does your dog food have? 20? nutrient-dense purina one true instinct with real salmon and tuna has 30% protein. support your active dog's whole body health with purina one. the market.redict but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. only three weeks before the first presidential nominating cop test. hillary clinton and bernie sanders are locked in a dead heat in iowa and new hampshire. that's according to new polling

released this hour by nbc news/the "wall street journal" and marist. the two democrats within the margin of error among likely voters. in iowa hillary clinton with a slight edge at 48%, sanders at 45, and in new hampshire, sanders leads with the support of half of democrats in that state, four points ahead of clinton. let's bring in our panel back again. does this surprise you to see this race between such a powerful candidate with the money and the funds and the resources she has, and bernie sanders, and seeing it so close, so late in the game? >> no. i'm not that surprised. i think she wins iowa. i like the fact that she's actually speaking about hillary specifically she's come up over the last few months in new hampshire, when a lot of folks ceded new hampshire to bernie sanders. the thing about new hampshire voters they'll make their decision within the last three days leading up to it, and so a lot will depend on the results in iowa, but new hampshire voters are some of the most astute in the country, and i think they are looking at the

democrats and saying we've got some great candidates relative to what's on a republican side, but you know, i think she's going to be competitive and still win. >> one of the arguments here candidates make against each other how they would fare nationally against the republicans. >> electability. >> on a national election, and when you look at bernie sanders, he actually is outperforming hillary clinton in every hypothetical matchup that nbc news has tested including in iowa, sanders ahead of trump by 13 points, clinton is up over trump by eight. sappeders tops cruz by five points, clinton trails cruz by four. new hampshire sand ersz has a 19-point lead over trump, clinton leads by just one. sanders beats rubio by nine, while clinton trails rubio by 12. does that surprise you? >> fascinating. in the words of donald trump, this is huge that bernie sanders is doing so well, and remember he's actually an independent who caucuses with democrats. he is a self-described socialist, and that he is doing so well in those national matchups i think is extraordinary. we know from reports that the

clinton camp is getting nervous, and what if he does pull it off, that he wins iowa and then new hampshire? of course the big question is could he win the south as a socialist from vermont, you would expect him to have that affinity with new hampshire, but the clintons of course do very well in the south, and i think that's what they're hoping on. >> i think the head-to-head matchups are ridiculous. quadruple hypothetical. if the vote were held today who would you vote for, four things that aren't real. maybe they're a little bit useful. i think actually a lot of the polling in fact claiming that iowa really matters especially for republicans, where there's no correlation for winning that state and going on to anything. >> i think only three candidates have won iowa. >> there's a negative correlation in a lot of ways. maybe for democrats is matters a little but you were saying, i think you complimented the new hampshire voter as being astute. new hampshire and iowa are particularly white, which is the real reason -- >> sure. but i think -- >> -- hillary will do well in

south carolina. >> i want to get to this. hillary's white, so why do you think -- >> black voters love hillary. >> why do you think then she's not connecting with iowa and new hampshire as well as bernie sanders? >> i'm saying that black voters will push hillary up, they love hillary clinton. >> sweeping the southern primaries. what does race have to say about iowa and new hampshire? nothing. >> sort of going to your question, iowa changed the narrative for barack obama in 2008. >> yes. >> so i think, you know -- >> but barack obama changed iowa because he got so many, and hillary and it was exciting, bring the people to the polls which is what trump and all these candidates argue, where this will be the first time that we energize all these people. i don't know if trump will be able to do it like obama did. >> bernie sanders and bernie sanders do in iowa what obama was able do. >> let's talk quickly about the iowa caucuses and remaining schedule. iowa february 1st, new hampshire the 9th, nevada the 20th, south carolina and march 1st a lot of big states. does that schedule favor hillary clinton or bernie sanders?

>> and march 15th on the republican side winner take all. back to the democratic side it favors hillary clinton. bernie sanders is doing well in the two early states and everywhere else hillary clinton is doing well. reality, i know we don't want to deal as much on horse race as politics. hillary clinton is a high 90% chance of getting the nomination. >> mike pesca, and amy holmes thanks for joining us. i appreciate all of your comments throughout the morning. up next, they risked their lives to fight for their country. why is their country telling them they can't be buried among the nation's military heroes? the story is straight ahead. ♪ ♪ why fit in when you were born to stand out. the 2016 nissan altima has arrived.

♪ try phillips' fiber good gummies plus energy support. it's a new fiber supplement that helps support regularity and includes b vitamins to help convert food to energy. mmmmm, these are good! nice work, phillips! the tasty side of fiber, from phillips'. aren't moving in the right direction,bers it can be a burden. but what if you could wake up to lower blood sugar? imagine loving your numbers. discover once-daily invokana®. with over 6 million prescriptions and counting, it's the #1 prescribed sglt2 inhibitor that works to lower a1c. invokana® is used along with diet and exercise to significantly lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. it's a once-daily pill that works around the clock. here's how: invokana® reduces the amount of sugar allowed back in to the body through the kidneys and sends some sugar out through the process of urination.

and while it's not for weight loss, it may help you lose weight. invokana® can cause important side effects, including dehydration, which may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, lightheaded, or weak, especially when you stand up. other side effects may include kidney problems, genital yeast infections, urinary tract infections, changes in urination, high potassium in the blood, increases in cholesterol, or risk of bone fracture. do not take invokana® if you have severe kidney problems or are on dialysis. stop taking and call your doctor right away if you experience symptoms such as rash, swelling, or difficulty breathing or swallowing. tell your doctor about any medical conditions, medications you are taking, and if you have kidney or liver problems. using invokana® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase risk of low blood sugar. imagine life with a lower a1c. are you loving your numbers?

there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name. meet march that mcsally. she was the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat and retired from the air force with the rank of colonel, and now that she's a member of congress, serving in the arizona seat once held by gabby giffords, mcsally introduced a new bill that would allow the remains of him who flew in the second world war,

pilots commonly resevered to as w.a.s.p.s to be buried at the arlington namm cemetery. >> the w.a.s.p.s. were forgotten for about 35 years which really bothered me. she needed some recognition i felt, and so that's why i like getting the word out, that these women exist and they did something great. >> 38 female pilots were killed in the second world war, even though the missions they flew were ostensibly noncombat ones and the army which runs arlington declared these pilots ineligible for bur yat at america's most famous and most revered cemetery. elaine harmon is no longer leading the fight to gain recognition for world war ii, she passed away in april at the age of 95 but her family continues the effort to right

that wrong and until they do, they are saving elaine's ashes for purial at arlington national sem thee. joining us is her granddaughter tiffany miller and bae miller, former world war ii pilot. thank you for your service. i see you're wearing your w.s.a.p. pilot uniform. talk about why this means so much to you. >> it means so much because so many people do not realize that women flew in world war ii. we were essential. we were needed. there was a shortage of pilots. we were formed to relieve men for active duty, and that's exactly what we did. we went through the same training as the male cadets. we proved and our records show we received when we were finally disbanded we received an

honorary discharge and we received the congressional gold medal in 2010, and we have been recognized all over. now suddenly arlington cemetery are saying we can no longer be buried there. it has gone to we couldn't, then we could, then we couldn't, and so here we are, fighting the battle to get our recognition once again. >> tiffany, talk a little bit about your grandmother elaine and the fight that she went through throughout her life for w.a.s.p. recognition. >> sure, thank you, eamon. before i get started i just wanted to take a moment to thank representative mcsally for champions this issue and for introducing legislation, hr bill 4336, the w.a.s.p. bill which will overturn the injustice and i thank my local congressman mark desaulnier for supporting this bill. my grandmother was the most

patriotic person that i have ever known and being part of the w.a.s.p.s was incredibly important to her. over the years, she fought many battles, trying to get recognition for the w.a.s.p. it's kind of ironic because at one point she was the head of the committee for veterans benefits for the w.a.s.p and she testified in front of congress requesting veterans benefits and clarification on veterans benefits. so to have us having to fight this battle after she has passed away is both ironic and disappointing. i know that she would be very disappointed that her country is not answering her request after she had no hesitation to answer the call when she was needed. >> bea, are you optimistic about the bill that was introduced in congress this week? why do you think it might be different? >> i'm very optimistic about it. you know, there are under 120 of us left, and out of that, most of us have made other arrangements. it boils down to the fact that there might be, say maybe 10.

there are already i believe about seven that have been admitted to the cemetery so i can't quite understand the thinking on this. >> tiffany you have a petition on change.org that received more than 35,000 signatures. talk a little bit about how this started in the public status and what's been the reception for the cause you are championing. are they rallying behind you or do you want to see more done from the public? >> of course, thank you. originally when my grandmother passed away, i was told by my mother we're going to request for her ashes to be placed in arlington. it's just going to take a few months and then we can have the service and the whole family can gather and lay her to rest for the final time. few months later, my mother came back and let us know that she had received a letter from arlington saying that our grandmother was ineligible to

have her ashes placed there, which was of course incredibly saddening for our family. so we struggled for a while, trying to figure out what to do. my mother had to submit a foyer request just to gain the memo from former secretary of the army, mchugh, which overturned the previous decision by the assistant secretary of the army to allow w.a.s.p.s to be placed in arlington. >> right. >> we tried to go through the official channels. we asked assistance from my mother's local senator ba bra mccalsky and they were unable to make headway. we talked about it within our family, let's start a petition, let's get the public interested and aware of this issue. so i posted the petition on change.org, it's change.org/wasp, and as you mentioned, we've already gained over 35,000 signatures. we've gotten excellent reception from the public, some really heartfelt comments on that website, as well as as you know obviously a lot of media

interest, and so the support from the public has been really overwhelming and really positive, and so that's why it's also a little bit hard to understand the army's decision.. i know they're concerned about space at arlington but this really isn't a space issue. >> we are going to have to leave it there. but we hope that the public has an ability to impant this change. tiffany miller, thank you for all that you are doing. b bea, thank you for your service. thank you very much both for being here. up next, the war of words heat up between saudi arabia and iran, the conflict threatening to further destabilize the u.s. and undermine u.s. efforts to stop isis. . seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no.. this about a boy? dad! stop, please. o, there's tracy. [ horn honks ] what! [ beeps, tires screech ]

bye dad! it brakes when you don't. forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. available on the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. it's easy to love your laxative when that lax loves your body back. only miralax hydrates, eases and softens to unblock naturally, so you have peace of mind from start to finish. love your laxative. miralax. choose, choose, choose. but at bedtime? ...why settle for this? enter sleep number, and the lowest prices of the season. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. you like the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store... find the lowest prices of the season, going on now. save $600 on the #1 rated i8 bed. know better sleep with sleep number.

they don't worry if something's possible. they just do it. at sears optical, we're committed to bringing them eyewear that works as hard as they do. right now, buy one pair and get another free. quality eyewear for doers. sears optical okay! fun's over. aw. aw. ♪ thirsty? they said it would make me cool. they don't sound cool to me. guess not. you got to stick up for yourself, like with the name your price tool. people tell us their budget, not the other way around. aren't you lactose intolerant? this isn't lactose. it's milk. ♪ this isn't lactose. it's milk. the drought is affecting at pg&e we've definitely put a focus on helping our agricultural customers through the drought. when they do an energy efficiency project and save that money they feel it right in their pocket book. it's exciting to help a customer with an energy efficiency project because not only are they saving energy

but they are saving water. we have a lot of projects at pg&e that can help them with that and that's extremely important while we're in a drought. it's a win for the customer and it's a win for california. together, we're building a better california. -- setting fire to the saudi embassy causing saudi officials to cut off all diplomatic ties with iran.

saudi arabia's foreign policy warning the kingdom take additional measures if they continue to escalate tensions in the region. what the ongoing feud means for the u.s., former white house middle east advisor, ambassador ginsburg, talk about what this means for the region in particular for u.s. efforts coordinate ig the u.s. response to try to take out isis. >> good morning. well, you have essentially the two sunni and shiite super powers, saudi arabia being the super sunni power, and iran being the super shiite power, fighting a variety of proxy wars against each other in the middle east, in yemen, in syria, in lebanon, in iraq. so you have essentially a wave of violence in militant islam on both sides of the ideological and sectarian divide struggling for region al superior or the i

the region. the united states for all intents and purposes is caught in a situation trying to resolve the situation in syria, trying to squash isis, and with both sides morals syria and iran -- saudi arabia around iran fighting each other, it makes it far more difficult to accomplish that goal. >> you talked about them trying to resolve the conflict in syria. one effort was to get everybody around the table to negotiate a settlement. the iranians are back being the assad regime. does this threaten u.s. petition efforts in syria? >> secretary kerry has been engaged in a very important effort to try to bring about that reconciliation in a syria peace conference in vienna now faces the prosect of iran on one side and saudi arabia on the other refusing to talk to each other as a result of the attack on its saudi's embassy

in iran and the two are basically on the college of confronting each other militarily. >> ambassador, do you see this as a long-term pivot for it the united states that u.s.-iranian interests will over the course of decades surpass u.s.-saudi interests? >> there is a real concern in saudi arabia that the united states more or less is abandoning its sunni allies and the iran nuclear agreement has solidified the view within riyadh, saudi arabia, among the monarchy and within the saudi royal family that the united states is no longer a trusted ally. and that this -- these proxy wars are really a duel to the death for the saudi royal family and for the legitimacy of the sunni control over the custodial places in mecca and medina that are so important to islam. so for all intents and purposes, as you and i know, this is a real problem for the united states. >> certainly one that does no the seem to be going away. ambassador mark ginsburg, thank

you very much for joining us this morning. thank you for getting up with us this sunday morning. i'm eamayman mohyeldin. melissa harris-perry is up next. can you pick me up at 6:30? ah... (boy) i'm here! i'm here! (cop) too late. i was gone for five minutes! ugh! move it. you're killing me. you know what, dad? i'm good. (dad) it may be quite a while before he's ready, but our subaru legacy will be waiting for him. (vo) the longest-lasting midsize sedan in its class. the twenty-sixteen subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. i have a massive heart attack oright in my driveway.d the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore.

ever since i had a pretty bad accident three years ago. the medical bills - the credit card debt all piled up. i knew i had to get serious my credit. so i signed up for experian. they have real, live credit experts i can talk to. they helped educate me on how debt affected my fico score. so i could finally start managing my credit. now my credit and i - are both healing nicely. get serious about your credit. get experian. go to experian.com and start your credit tracker trial membership today. to folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain... shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too!

i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you. this morning, my question -- what is the weirdest thing this year? so far. plus, the brown/black agenda 30 years later. and the republican response to poverty. but first, new poll numbers and what they really add up to. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry. last night, well, last night i did not win the powerball. but i did play and i am likely to play again this week. i know, i know