>> will you just consider -- i want you to consider, think about it, say look, i might come back. >> even though you and i had an agreement, i will therefore forget that you asked me that. >> o'reilly also tried to play the religion part, but trump wouldn't have any of it. >> in your christian faith, there is a very significant tenet. that's the tenet of forgiveness. i think you should forgive. isn't that the right thing to do? >> it probably is, but, you know, it's called an eye for an eye. you can look at it that way.

>> no, no. no, no. you're the christian, the eye for the eye rule goes out. here's what it is. turning the other cheek. >> let me tell you -- >> you take it much more seriously than i am. i'm going to have a wonderful time tomorrow night at drake university. >> so tonight, it's the donald going up against the rest of the field. ted cruz is doubling down on a mano a mano debate with trump, asking them to link to a petition to the cruz campaign web page which includes an image of donald trump's head superimposed on scrooge mcduck who is known for being rich and greedy. super pacs are offering a donation of $1.5 million to charities committed to helping veterans. trump appears to have responded to cruz's challenge while

getting in a jab. ted wants to debate me again, can we do it in canada? katy tur has the latest on the folks who matter most -- iowa voters. >> reporter: trump is betting a no show will trump a bad performance. ted cruz is not so suddenly tweeting that trump is a coward. the drama making national headlines, but not here in iowa. where locals want to get oifrt with. -- get it over with. >> i wouldn't vote for him if he was the only one running. >> reporter: even mike beecher said he's heard enough. wouldn't you want to see another debate -- >> i don't need it. i don't need it at this point. >> if trump is running any risk, some voters will say this is

immature. i think that risk is relatively small. particularly for the people who are supporting trump who will look at this not as a petulant move, but a move of strength. >> reporter: though the polls suggest the bigger the turnout, there's still little sign that the campaign has followed through on the get out the vote effort. turning now to the democrats and the increasingly close race between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. yesterday, the vermont senator took time off the campaign trail to have a private meeting with president obama. afterwards sanders spoke with nbc's lester holt. >> it was a private conversation so i won't get into it. but i think if there's anybody in the world who understands what campaigning in iowa and new hampshire is about and putting together just an extraordinary grass roots movement that took them to victory, that's barack obama. >> sanders went on to add his bar for success in iowa is quote winning and he will do that if there's large voter turnout.

meanwhile, "the new hampshire union leader" is holding a nonsanctioned debate next week on msnbc. bernie sanders said he's not ready to commit to debate yet on n msnbc's "hardball with chris matthews" hillary clinton said she's in. >> i hope senator sanders will join us and i think dnc and the campaign should be able to work this out. i have said for a long time that i'd be happy to have more debates, and i hope we can get this done. >> turning now to the latest in the occupation of that oregon wildlife refuge this morning a few anti-government activists remain at the refuge. the fbi in oregon -- and oregon state police have sealed off the facility with a series of check points. ammon bundy sent this message through his attorney. >> to those remaining at the refuge, i love you. let us take this fight from here.

please stand down. >> nbc's joe fryer has more. >> reporter: authorities are tightening their grip around the malheur national wildlife ref e refuge, blocking roads. some anti-government militants remain, not gave giving up on their armed occupation. >> peaceful resolution is what you're hearing and what we expect. >> reporter: but many are occupying a jail cell. some were stopped by the fbi and state police. the senior law enforcement official tells nbc news one vehicle drove off and hit a snow bank, then lavoy finicum emerged brandishing a firearm. he was shot and killed. another militant ryan bundy was shot in the arm but survived. seven suspects including the bundy brothers are facing felony charges. another occupier john ritzheimer was arrested in arizona.

he had just returned home to see his family. 3 1/2 weeks have passed since the armed group took control of the refuge. now the fbi says those remaining need to pack up and go and won't be arrested. >> if the people on the refuge want to leave, they're free to do so. >> that was nbc's joe fryer reporting. in florida, former deputy sheriff jesse terrell was indicted by a federal grand jury on excessive force charges. caught on surveillance video in 2014, derek price was arrested in marion county on a drug warrant. he appears to surrender, at no point resisting the arrest. however, five deputies are seen kicking and punching the man repeatedly. former deputy terrell was fired. he faces civil rights violations, up to ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted. the four other deputies resigned. by the end of today, walmart will have shut down almost all of the 154 stores that it's

targeted for closure around the nation. most all in small towns. gabe gutierrez takes us to one community who struggles to find fresh food after walmart leaves. >> reporter: in oriental, population 900, everything changed when the giant came to town. >> it was bad. it immediately affected us. >> reporter: for 44 years, the smith's family ran a grocery store and then a walmart express came along. 17 months later, she closed her doors. >> i feel it was very malicious of them to leave this town in the shape it's in. >> reporter: now walmart's closing more than 150 stores in the u.s. turning oriental into a food desert without a single grocery store. >> anybody here that wants to buy an onion now has to drive about a 40 mile round trip. >> reporter: walmart's ceo points out they plan to open 300

locations around the world. closing stores is never an easy decision, he says but necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future. >> they weren't really in the right location, and the product mix just wasn't right. >> reporter: rebecca anderson was laid off when walmart opened near the mom and pop store where she worked. >> we just are all about the people and they were all about us. when walmart came, it was no more. >> reporter: she and so many others are wondering what will fill the void? now that the giant is leaving town. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, california. all right. let's get down to business now with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, landon. >> hi, shannon, good morning to you. its back to the future for this automaker, delorean has plans to build replicas of the famed cars from the michael j. fox movie.

the replicas will cost $100,000 when they go on sale next year. meanwhile, shares of facebook soared 12% in late trading wednesday. the company beat earnings forecast on continued growth in mobile ads. facebook is exploring a site just for watching videos online and is adding six new emoticons. and new yorkers can no longer take their hoverboards on the subway. city officials are banning the motorized scooters from subways, trains and buses. they say that they're concerned about fire hazards and safety risks to passengers and employees. shannon, back over to you. >> all right, thank you. let's check sports now. serena williams finds herself pursuing her seventh australian open title after easily winning. 6-0, 6-4. she'll face kerver. a vicious hit, dennis

wiedman cross checked linesman don henderson into the boards. players on both teams appeared shocked. henderson gets up and skates away looking dazed. no penalties were called and wiedman said that the hit was unintentional and that he had apologized to henderson. see what happens once the nhl rules on the seemingly dirty maneuver. number five texas a&m loses to arkansas in fayetteville. quite a year in men's basketball thus far. still more to go. just ahead, why the snow from last weekend's blizzard wasn't the only misery that drivers had to face. plus, gas for 39 cents a gallon. find out where it exists, next. the microsoft cloud allows us to

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e*trade is all about seizing opportunity. so i'm going to take this opportunity to go off script. so if i wanna go to jersey and check out shotsy tuccerelli's portfolio, what's it to you? or i'm a scottish mason whose assets are made of stone like me heart. papa! you're no son of mine! or perhaps it's time to seize the day. don't just see opportunity, seize it! (applause)

that's why i switched from u-verse to xfinity. now i can download my dvr recordings and take them anywhere. ready or not, here i come! (whispers) now hide-and-seek time can also be catch-up-on-my-shows time. here i come! can't find you anywhere! don't settle for u-verse. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. check out this story from nbc washington, d.c. issues million dollars worth of parking tickets after the blizzard. since the snowstorm started the

district issued $65,000 in fines and towed 656 cars. any vehicle parked on the snow emergency routed needed to be removed. many drivers said this was not possible because their cars were iced in a snow bank. >> talk about insult to injury. >> i know. a little cruel, right? also yesterday, we had a couple strong storms in florida. even a few tornadoes. one of those was in broward county. only 35 yards wide but it did flip some cars, lift them off the ground. this was considered an ef-1 tornado. winds are right around 100 miles per hour. there was one injury. let's take a look at florida this morning. because once again we're dealing with strong storms down here in south florida. a soaking rain in ft. meyers over to west palm beach. we'll watch the storms to see how they hold together, but they should head to miami throughout the morning and this afternoon. a marginal risk of severe weather. that's the low ends of the rains and we were on the low end of

the range yesterday from the damage from the tornadoes. we'll watch you in ft. lauderdale. cold front comes down. heavy rain along the front. and by 1:00, by the time we get to this afternoon, west palm beach, ft. lauderdale and even into miami. mild thaw, san antonio to new orleans. and even tomorrow into friday, there's no signs of any arctic air whatsoever. it's a slow, steady snow melt. even washington, d.c., by sunday and monday of next week, 50s. >> a little meltage. >> quick meltage in the 50s. >> that could be bad. five people were arrested yesterday who are believed to have helped three dangerous criminals escape from the southern california jail last friday. more arrests are expected today. >> we are continuing to focus on a vietnamese gang that is active in westminster and garden grove. >> around 250 law enforcement

officers are searching for the three vie went inmates one of them, nayeri, who has been called hannibal lecter from "silence of the lambs" because he is accused of cutting a victim with a blow torch. in texas, one generous gas station showed appreciation to its customers. in case you're wondering we haven't seen prices that low since 1969. must be nice. as congress prepares to hold hearings on the water crisis in flint, michigan, governor rick snyder told nbc's stephanie gosk that replacing the pipes is not on his short term agenda. residents however are desperate for help to fix the corroded toxic system. last night, msnbc's rachel maddow talked to those locally about the impact and the state's responsibility to the city. but first she spoke to the master plumber about the impact. >> part of fixing this system is

replacing the service line. how big of a job is that? >> for something like this, probably 3 to 5 grand to get the new line in there. without an upstairs, roughly $4,000, just for inside the house. another $1,000 for the water heater. you're over $10,000. the plumbing going to cost more than you can sell your house for. >> a pediatrician who helped to expose the elevated blood lead levels -- [ applause ] you can hear the way she is viewed in this town. spontaneous -- >> if we don't ability with these kids now, we'll see the consequences in 10, 15, 20 years. >> democracy needs to be restored in flint. that's how we got here. when you're elected even an emergency manager, you're supposed to speak out on behalf of the people who got you. >> we'll do everything humanly possible federally to help. however, it does not take the

place of the state. the state has a surplus and a rainy day fund. they caused it. they have to step up and fix this. >> democratic senators in congress say they plan to add an amendment addressing the crisis to an energy bill currently being considered. why jeb is betting a 20 spot on the donald. "scrambled politics" is next. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time. and 2% back at the grocery store. even before she got 3% back on gas, all with no hoops to jump through. katie used her bankamericard cash rewards credit card to stay warm and toasty during the heat of competition. that's the comfort of rewarding connections. apply online or at a bank of america near you. different things his new smart phone does... ...it reminded him of his magic eraser. it's not just for marks on walls...

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all right. at least one candidate thinks donald trump will show up to tonight's gop debate, and he's putting his money where his mouth is. jeb bush said he has a $20 bet that trump shows up because quote, it's in his interests. trump could do something unprecedented with less than two weeks to go until the new hampshire primary, trump has no endorsements from members of congress and he would be the first candidate in the modern era to win a state primary with no congressional endorsements. abc news has released their criteria for the gop new hampshire primary debate and there's no stipulation for an undercard debate, meaning if you don't make the main stage you're out. one candidate is on the cusp. that's mike huckabee who has been focusing more on iowa and is making the last ditch effort to grab some attention with a music video. ♪ hello from the caucus now if bernie wins i'm gonna die ♪

♪ this crazy circus it's gone cuckoo ka choo ♪ >> sometimes there are no words. that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." i'm joined now by political reporter erin mcpike from washington. good morning. >> good morning. >> interesting little take on adele's song there. not expecting that one this morning. >> me neither. >> right. let's talk a little bit about the debate tonight. despite bill o'reilly's best efforts, trump maintains he won't take part in the gop debate. let's play the game of who are the real winners and losers heem? >> i think it's still donald trump. you have o'reilly begging him to show up and also, donald trump is not taking the calls of roger ailes, the chairman of the fox network. so it's clear that fox does want him to show up. which is making donald trump's point that he is great for ratings. he's still going to be dominating all of the media going into the weekend and at this point, i think plenty of

voters are already with him. they think there are plenty of debates. this have been plenty of debates and you know, he's done all he's needed to do. i think at this point, donald trump has no fear of losing anything. maybe it gives ted cruz and marco rubio a chance to shine on that debate stage tonight. but at this point he still has all the attention. >> donald trump wins the debate without even participating. it is interesting. of course we're hearing far left about the democrats before iowa it seems. bernie sanders did meet with president obama though. what do you make of the timing of that meeting and him talking about it? >> well, both the sanders campaign and the white house have maintained that this meeting has been on the books for a while. but what it does is put bernie sanders on even footing with hillary clinton going into iowa. because the president wants to look like he's not endorsing clinton just yet. though he of course may in the coming month or two. but at this point, the white house does want to look really careful here because so many of president obama's supporters do support senator sanders and it's important for the base to keep it together before the first

votes are cast. >> we shall see where that goes. finally, hillary clinton's camp wants more debates and they want sanders to agree to the one in new hampshire next week. he says he'll come it if she agrees to more and also if they're coordinated by the dnc. why such little fanfare around the democratic debates given the hubbub over the gop ones? >> >> i think there's been a big hubbub about the democratic debates because they have been over the weekend or on holidays when nobody is watching them and part of the sanders stipulation here is that the more debates he's calling for would be on nights like wednesday or thursday when people would watch them as opposed to a saturday night. so there's a little bit of hubbub, but it's not as big of a deal as donald trump right now. >> that's for sure. thank you, erin mcpike. i'm shannon mulaire. have a great day.

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despite trump bowing out, fox news is still trying to get people excited about the debate. >> thursday night with the fox news republican debate, sure donald trump won't be there, but that doesn't mean this debate won't blow your mind! we have bush that won't be tamed. >> we balanced every budget. >> wake up mother truckers because ben carson is 'to open your head and drop a sponge in it. >> the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity. >> plus, the triple decker disaster. cruz, kasich, christie! >> and rand paul. >> the fox news republican debate.

we are totally not freaking out right now! >> debate night in des moines. it looks like the show will go on without the front-runner as ted cruz doubles down on his challenge to debate donald trump one-on-one. >> saturday night in sioux city, we already have it reserved. 8:00 saturday night, two hour, one-on-one debate. plus, hillary clinton pushes hard for one more debate ahead of the first in the nation primary. and bernie sanders thinks he knows why. and later, more arrests connected to that armed standoff in oregon as the leader of the group appears in court and urges his followers to go home. it's 5:30 on the east coast. 2:30 out west. this is "way too early."