news and nbcnews.com. just before the debate starts tune in a few minutes before 9:00, our i'll be there, lester and andrea, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." it's monday, january 18th, and right now on "first look" it was hillary clinton versus bernie sanders in the democrats final debate before iowa voters go to the polls two weeks from today. iran's move to release five americans leads to lifting of crippling economic sanctions and possibly lower oil prices and a new era of diplomacy. inside sean penn's secret meeting with el chapo, the actor speaks out. after successfully launching a satellite into orbit the spacex rocket exploded after a landing accident. the critics have spoken. find out who came out on top at the critics choice awards. and all tripped up, was this leg lift trip on purpose?

you decide. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody. thanks for being with us. three americans released from iran arrived safely in germany. the group including jayson rezaian first landed in geneva, switzerland, before departing for landstuhl, germany, where they're resting and recuperating at a military base. this picture was posted of rezaian after the trio lappeded in geneva. ali arouzi is live from tehran with the latest. good morning aly. >> reporter: good morning, shannon. that's right. the culmination of an important diplomatic process between the united states and iran that opened up a direct channel of communication with each other about two years ago over the nuclear deal. communications that had been severed since 1979 and if they hadn't started talking directly to each other i don't think we

would have seen the implementation of the nuclear deal and certainly the situation with the u.s. iranian prisoners could have been a lot worse. things have seemed to resolved themselves and a softening of the relationship between the united states and iran that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago but we have to be careful not to get ahead of themselves. america is still considered the great satan, iran's ideological enemy and the hard liners cling on to that and we see evidence of the animosity between these two, yesterday president obama imposed new sanctions on iran over its missile program and there was a lot of criticism in iran over that, saying that they were illegal sanctions. nonetheless, the two sides are talking with each other instead of fighting and that's resulted in a lot of diplomatic break-throughs over the last few days and weeks. shannon? >> at the least a happy moment for the released americans. ali arouzi, thank you.

the u.s. embassy in baghdad confirms three american civilians are missing in baghdad. al arabia says the americans are contractors or trainer answer taken by militants on friday. no word on their identities or that of the militants. iraqi security forces set up czech points in the capital. the state department released a statement saying "we are ware of reports that american citizens are missing in iraq." it goes on to say "we're working with the full cooperation of the iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals." two weeks from today voters in iowa head to the polls and last night they got their final look at the democratic presidential candidates squaring off head to head in south carolina. tracie potts is live in washington and good morning to you. what would you say was the takeaway from last night's debate? >> if you look at social media and internet searches and our own focus group of undecided democrats in south carolina, a

lot of it's pointing to bernie sanders. we learned last night if you like the way president obama's been running the country you're probably supporting hillary clinton. she's running on his record but if you are a democrat who thinks there's room for change in the party, the driver of that is sanders. >> we have a political revolution. >> president obama has led our country out of the great recession. >> reporter: clear differences between democrats on gun control. >> i have a d-minus voting record from the nra. >> he has voted with the nra with the gun lobby numerous times. >> reporter: on health care. >> i do not want to see the republicans repeal it and i don't want to see us start over again with a contentious debate. >> we are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. getting ripped off. >> reporter: on money. >> i do not want wall street's money. >> reporter: and yours. >> i'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said i will not raise taxes on the middle class.

>> reporter: bernie sanders and martin o'malley brought up hillary clinton's ties to the wall street. >> the truth of the matter is, secretary clinton, you did not go as far in trading on wall street as i would. >> reporter: on foreign affairs clinton calls russia'sed in fld a bully and says their relationship -- >> it's interesting. >> reporter: they agree on going after isis, going slow with iran and dealing with climate change but their differences are what seem to be driving the polls now just two weeks before iowa weighs in. >> and that was tracie potts from washington, thank you. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows donald trump in trouble in head-to-head matchups against the democrats. front-runner hillary clinton leads trump by 10%, while bernie sanders is up even more 15% over the donald. this as senator ted cruz is gaining ground in iowa and new hampshire. nbc's halle jackson brings us up to speed. >> reporter: against ted cruz, donald trump's done playing nice.

>> he's a nasty guy, nobody likes him, nobody in congress likes him, nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him. >> reporter: a new attack not on policy but personality. new york papers furious cruz hit trump's new york values. >> our friends in the media seems like they lit their hair on fire. they were very confused. what are these new york values of which you speak? i would say in the rest of america people know exactly what that means. >> reporter: cruz arguing he's just using trump's own words from more than 15 years ago discussing abortion and gay marriage. >> i lived in new york city and manhattan all my life okay so my view, a little bit different than if i lived in iowa perhaps. >> reporter: trump now fighting back against rivals who say he's too liberal. >> he's running for the conservative party's nomination. he should be a conservative and hasn't shown it. zblim econservative but when it comes to different elements of what i believe in that's what people understand i'm going to solve our trade problem. i'm going to solve our military

problem. i'm going to get rid of isis. >> reporter: the front-runners fighting for first in iowa, but as trump targets cruz trying to pull away, he could risk alienating some in the grassroots as he found out in south carolina, the reception from tea partiers there, nasty. >> say whatever you want. he didn't report bank loans. that's okay. >> that was halle jackson reporting. sean penn has broken his silence on the capture of el chapo guzman. during an interview on "60 minutes" last night the actor explains he was well aware of the risk he was taking for the "rolling stone" interview. >> i was baffled at his will to see it. my article should not have made this much noise. el chapo should not be this popular a figure to read about. i can't say for sure there was no risk. >> have you heard from anybody in the cartel? no. >> penn concluded the controversial interview was a

failure because it distracted attention from the war on drugs. penn gave guzman the right to edit the article stating it was the only way of obtaining a video and called the attitude of professional journalists incredible hypocrisy. el chapo is held in the same mexican jail he escaped from last year. the lead water crisis in flint, michigan, continues drawing more attention now on a national scale. during the democratic debate in charleston, south carolina, yesterday, hillary clinton became the first presidential candidate of either party to mention flint stating the people of the city have been victims of government screw-ups that led to poisoned drinking water and highlighted some of what her own campaign contributed in response to the crisis. yesterday president barack obama declared a federal emergency in flint freeing up to $5 million in federal aid to immediate lay cyst the area. the president denied governor snyder's request for a disaster declaration. celebrities are also taking the

time to respond, reverend jesse jackson led a rally for justice stating flint is a crime scene and called for governor snyder to take possibilities for his actions. cher sent almost 200,000 bottles of water to flint. in sports, the nfc and afc championship games are set. we begin in charlotte and first play from scrimmage. >> handoff is to jonathan stewart and a good start to his day! inside the 40. >> i say what a start for the home team panthers. moments later, jonathan stewart would score the first of his two rushing touchdowns, carolina was red hot scoring on a defensive pick and then on third and 14, cam newton throws a layser to greg olsen putting up 31 up answered first half points. it looked grim for seattle. seattle finally fights back, third quarter russell wilson strike to jermaine kearse, then

wilson connects for a 33-yarder to tyler lockett who manages to keep his feet inbounds. seattle gets as close as 31-24 with a minute left when an on side kick goes carolina's way as they hold on and advance to host the arizona cardinals next week. to denver now, where the steelers and broncos grinded out every yard and point. in the fourth pittsburgh up one, fitz toussaint coughs up the ball. peyton manning to ryan anderson who powers into the end zone. broncos up 20-13. two minutes to play, fourth and five, big ben scrambles and loses the ball. broncos win setting up the 17th edition of manning versus tom brady. next, a controversy on the hard court, oregon state versus utah, low are right-hand corner of your screen, after wrestling for the ball it appears the senior reed trips a ref who falls to the floor.

ref tommy nunez calls a technical and ejects reed with under three minutes in a tied game. oregon state lost this one 59-53 and as you guessed we likely have not heard the last of that situation. the big winners at krtices choice awards plus the one actor who stole everyone's heart. details on that. >> and the good and bad of spacex's latest launch. you're watching "first look."

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welcome back to "first look" up to four inches on the ground in eastern mass. snow squalls through connecticut this morning and a lot of snow near the great lakes. there's a coating in a lot of spots. be careful early today. it will get better this afternoon. the next big story, what will happen toward the end of this week with the potential for the first significant snowstorm for the east coast. right now the storm is well out here in the pacific so we have a long ways to watch it. the week ahead goes like this, a little bit of snow out there with the cold today, still frinl id in areas of the northern

plains. california is getting drenched today. some of that will turn to snow in the rockies. middle of the week a clipper storm comes down a warmup act, light snow. on thursday, the next storm will be developing over areas of texas. by friday it moves into the southeast, it should be enough cold air to the north of that for significant snow, it will pull a lot of moisture out of the gulf, so we have to watch this. friday into saturday it could turn into a possible nor'easter type storm, it's too earl will toy say who will get what snow. someone should get a lot. >> all right, we know to keep your eye on it, bill, thank you. the stars were out at last night's 21st annual critics choice awards. ♪ actor comedian t.j. miller on hosting duty, leonardo dicaprio won for best actor for "the revenant" continuing his leading streak leading to the oscars. "mad mux fury road" had the most wins eight in all. spotlight won for best picture

and acting ensemble. amy schumer received her mvp award and explained a key to her success. >> if you're an actress and you have this area right here you have to write your own stuff. if you want to get it made. >> that's where the jokes end. the star who stole everyone's heart was jacob recommend it play with, he won best young actor for starring in the critically acclaimed "room." >> i first want to say thank you to all the critics who voted to are me. it must be a super hard vote because of all the other great actors in this category. and i know where to put this, right on the shelf right beside my millennium falcon. >> love it, adorable. despite some foggy weather yesterday, nasa successfully launched a spacex rocket carrying an ocean monitoring satellite into orbit. however the landing wasn't quite as smooth when the rocket landed

onto a floating barge in the pacific. the rocket toppled over and exploded into flames. social media winner of last night's democratic debate, details on that next. when you get your business a refund, do you insist on being called the taxonator? then you might be gearcentric. right now, buy any tax software and get a $100 service bundle for free! office depot officemax. gear up for great ®.

they represent blood cells. and if you have afib-an irregular heartbeat that may put you at five times greater risk of stroke they can pool together in the heart, forming a clot that can break free and travel upstream to the brain, where it can block blood flow and cause a stroke. but if you have afib that's not caused by a heart valve problem, pradaxa can help stop clots from forming. pradaxa was even proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke, in a clinical trial without the need for regular blood tests. and, in the rare event of an emergency, pradaxa is the only oral blood thinner other than warfarin with a specific reversal treatment to help your body clot normally again. pradaxa is not for people who have had a heart valve replacement. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke or blood clots

ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before any planned medical or dental procedure. pradaxa can cause serious, and sometimes, fatal bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding. and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have kidney problems, stomach ulcers, a bleeding condition, or take certain medicines. side effects with pradaxa can include indigestion, stomach pain, upset or burning. don't just go with the flow. go with pradaxa, the only blood thinner that lowers your risk of stroke better than warfarin and has a specific reversal treatment. talk to your doctor about pradaxa today. your monday morning dish of "scrambled politics" with iowa only two weeks away, who won last night's democratic debate, judging by social media chatter,

bernie sanders takes the honors. he was the most discussed democratic candidate on twitter and gained the most followers among any candidate. on facebook sanders was the most talked about. his home state of vermont the most active. new hampshire second and iowa fourth. fee cuss group of undecided south carolina democrats found sanders dominated the debate over clinton by a 27-2 margin. his rivals on the other side of the aisle appeared to agree. after the debate the rnc put out a press release announcing bernie the "plow yoet" winner. a new poll taken before the debate shows clinton up 25% nationally over sanders which probably pleases no one more than this guy who has hillary's face tattooed on his leg. 33-year-old justin smith a campaign value tier for clinton tells "the washington post" he got the tat because clinton has been his hero since he was 10 and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." i'm not sure that needs much

more explanation. jonathan allen is political columnist with roll call and coauthor of hrc. any hillary tats on you? >> no hillary tats on me, shannon, any on you? >> no, none to speak of. all right, let's talk about the debate. another one in the books here. was there a clear winner of last night or a takeaway moment for you? >> well look, i thought bernie sanders had perhaps his most effective night of the campaign so far in terms of the debates. his energy was high. he was aggressive. the back and forth with hillary clinton turns out bernie sappeders pretty good at going negative when he chooses to, so i thought it was probably the winner on sort of a global level like how do awe cess the debates but i also think hillary clinton was trying to communicate on particular issues to particular constituencies especially in the african-american community in south carolina, that's her firewall state, huge percentage of the electorate in the democratic primary in south carolina is african-american. so i think each of them got to do something that they wanted

to. overall bernie sanders had the better night. >> we talk about social media and them being the ones to tell you bernie sanders won the debate, picked up the most followers on twitter, blah, blah, blah. how much of a function of him being more popular with younger voters ain the point. older people vote, too. >> some grandmas are on twitter but not as many grandmas are on twitter as kids. it is one measure of popularity, of interest in the candidate but it's certainly not the one only one. the one that matters who is goes out and votes and i think there's probably an overall presentation on social media compared to voters. >> sure. we haven't mentioned martin o'malley at this point. is it hurting sanders or clinton that he's still hanging in there? >> i think it's probably a problem for hillary clinton particularly in iowa, where in the caucuses you sort of have multiple rounds of voting, if you will, and martin o'malley has come out more adwresively against her. it will be interesting to see

what his voters do in the iowa caucuses and who they gravitate toward after the first round of voting there. >> we also heard the republicans declare that bernie was the clear winner here. who would they prefer at this point or is that obvious? >> when they put out a press release heralding the great job bernie sanders did it's a good indication they'd rather run against him than against hillary clinton. >> lastly before you go, why didn't hey hear more about isis and foreign policy? >> no ui'm not sure. part of that with the questions and the democratic constituency wants to talk about domestic issues right now. >> different priorities. jonathan allen joining us from d.c., thank you. >> take care. as the nation pauses to remember dr. martin luther king jr. we'll hear one of the civil rights leaders who was right there with him on the front lines. of america to help pay for her kids' ice time. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time. and 2% back at the grocery store.

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welcome back on this dr. martin luther king jr. holiday. john hardwood took a moment to sit back and sit down with one of the leaders on the front lines for civil rights. congressman john lewis was right there with dr. king, ralph abernathy and countless others standing together against unspeakable adversity in the quest for basic human rights. here is what he had to say about president obama. >> -- he's ohm got one year left. >> providing health care for hundreds, thousands and millions of people. >> you hear some republicans say this president promised to bring the country together but he's actually made it more divided. >> i don't think this president, i don't think he's solely

responsible for the country being so divided. we all are responsible for it. >> has he made it worse? >> i don't think he made it worse. i think there were people, because of his election, made a conscious decision and said that we will not give him a victory. obama been treated because of his race, i really believe that. you wouldn't hear a white democrat or white republican speak, hear someone holler "you lie" a member of the republican party from south carolina. >> you think that was race? >> i think part of that was race and you wouldn't have a governor putting her finger in the face of a white president. i think those are visible signs of disrespect for the man and i've always said if you don't respect a man, respect the position. so when the president said to me during the evening of the state of the union as we're walking down the aisle, john lewis? i love you. i said mr. president, i love you, too.

>> i'm shannon mulair with "first look" on msnbc. like us on facebook at first look msnbc. "way too early" starts right now. have a great day everyone. senator sanders called him weak, disappointing. he even in 2011 publicly sought someone to run in a primary against president obama. >> 2008 i did my best to see that he was electriced and in 2012 i worked as hard as i could to see that he was reelectriced. >> your feelings toward president obama uhm, are a little strange, given what you said about him in 2011. >> hillary clinton and bernie sanders bringing the heat to south carolina, trading blows on guns, health care, wall street, and the legacy of president obama. plus the latest on the five americans released in that prisoner swap with iran.

the president calls it a win for diplomacy but his critics say the u.s. got pay played again. another successful launch from spacex but the rocket's return was a little more than rocky, let's just say. 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." ♪ good morning, it's monday, january the 18th, dr. martin luther king jr. day. i'm louis bergdorf. it was a fast paced and historic weekend in relations between the united states and iran, as elements of the nuclear deal went into effect, new sarvegs s put into place and five americans freed from iranian activity. they wer