sanders. it's going to be so good. we'll get all the sleep we need next year. i swear. you can bank it like that. we should not sleep at all in 2016.year. you can bank it like that. not sleep at all in 2016. "first look" is up next. it's thursday, february 18th. right now on "first look" -- developing overnight, president obama is about to do something no sitting president has done since 1928. he's going to cuba, but not everyone is happy about it. to politics where ted cruz leads republicans and a revealing moment for donald trump. >> he's drawing thousands of people at his rallies and bringing in a lot of new voters to the political process and he's not beholden to any super pac. who am i describing? >> or any special interest or any donors? you're describing donald trump. >> actually, i was describing bernie sanders. >> well, that's good. >> alarming reports of

radioactive material stolen in iraq raising security fears. plus, nike drops manny pacquiao over anti-gay comments they call abhorrent. and look who's back on "late night." >> what is going on with the republicans? trump attacks cruz, bush gets into a fight with trump. remember the good old days when republicans were united against the poor and the minorities? what happened? >> "first look" starts right now. good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. for the first time in 88 years, a sitting american president will visit cuba. a senior white house official told nbc news that president obama will visit cuba in march as part of a latin american tour. not since calvin coolidge back in january of 1928 has a sitting u.s. president been to havana. mr. obama and raul castro met

last year in panama. and in december, president obama said that he was very much interested in visiting cuba before his presidency ends. but only if there was evidence of significant improvements in civil liberties. diplomatic relations between the two countries were frozen beyond the end of the cold war before moving toward normalization last year. since then, national embassies have reopened in havana. scheduled airline service has been restored between the two nations and republican presidential candidates ted cruz and marco rubio both of cuban descent vocalized their opposition, vowing never to visit the island. well, this morning a big shakeup in the republican field after months atop the national polls donald trump has slipped to second place nationally behind ted cruz. that's according to a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll

just out. the news coming just two days ahead of the south carolina primary. and cruz talked to hallie jackson about the new found lead. >> it's tremendously encouraging to be leading the field nationally. that was always the plan. look that's how you win. you have to get to first place to win. >> earlier in the day cruz took donald trump on directly attacking trump as pro-choice. >> would president trump ban partial birth abortions? >> look, i'm very pro-choice. >> but you would not ban it? >> no. >> donald trump's lawyer sent us a cease and desist letter. challenging this ad, claiming it's defamation, file the lawsuit. >> at a town hall last night, though not backing down, trump seemed less forceful about pursuing the case. >> i don't know we'll have a lawsuit, but we certainly want to keep somebody honest. when you make statements as an example i'm pro-life and he said

i'm not pro-life you can't say that. >> and marco rubio picked up a key endorsement going into saturday's primary. south carolina governor nikki haley. >> we say that every day is a great day in south carolina. ladies and gentlemen, if we elect marco rubio every day will be a great day in america. >> well, that endorsement was a big blow to jeb bush who earlier in the day told nbc that not getting her endorsement would mean he would have to work a lot harder. >> you know, she's a very good governor and if i win the nomination, there will be a role for her in the cabinet. i'm disappointed she didn't endorse me. >> yeah, bush's brother and father both popular in the state had reached out the haley on jeb's behalf. polling has trump ahead of the

pack with bush trailing rubio. to the democrats and a nevada race getting more exciting by the moment. with the state's opaque polling showing a dead heat there. voters are scrambling to pull in votes before the caucus. hillary clinton held an event continuing with her message as a successor to president obama's legacy, contrasting with vermont senator bernie sanders' previous statements on the president. >> my opponent has been quite critical of the president. you know, he's called him weak, called him disappointing. i'm unapologetic. i will build on the progress that president obama has made. i will take it further! >> she was introduced by the mother of sandra bland who died in police custody after a traffic stop. >> horrifying loss of those you love, to something so senseless. we owe it to them to reform police practices. to make sure that no other young

woman like sandra bland is ever pulled out of a car for no good reason and thrown into a jail where she is found dead. >> sanders has held events in south carolina and at morehouse college and said there's a quack in clinton's firewall. and he made a response to killer mike. >> michael, a uterus doesn't qualify you to be the president of the united states. you have to be -- you have to have policy that's reflective of social justice. >> and a campaign official said senator sanders says gender shouldn't be a reason to vote for or against anyone. that's the point that mike was

making. hillary clinton is putting some distance between herself and sanders in the caucuses over 48 hours away. tonight, rachel maddow will have an exclusive interview with joe biden. it's ahead of the telemundo town hall with hillary clinton and bernie sanders. that starts at 9:00 here on msnbc. manny pacquiao received a punishing blow by one of the biggest sponsors -- nike they just announced that they're cutting ties with pacquiao. after he called people in homosexual relationships, quote, worse than animals. pacquiao made the controversial comments on a local filipino television station saying man is worse than animals because animals know how to distinguish male from female. well, he's currently a member of the philippines house of representatives and is running for the country's senate. nike said in part, we find pacquiao's comments abhorrent and nike strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and stands up for the rights of the lgbt community. he actually tweeted an apology tuesday saying he was sorry for

hurting people. apple is defending the decision to not help the fbi hack into an iphone belonging to one of the san bernardino shooters saying it would create a back door, compromising the privacy of millions. it sets up a legal showdown between the company and the government. and a series of tweets said that forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users' privacy. nsa whistle-blower snowden said, the fbi is creating a world where citizens rely on apple to defend their rights rather than the other way around. according to "usa today" experts it was -- it would take this afternoon for apple to create the software to break into its iphones. retired sandra day o'connor said that president obama has the responsibility to name a replacement for antonin scalia. she tells a phoenix tv station, quote, i think we need somebody this to do the job now. and let's get on with it.

speaking at yale university, justice stephen breyer wouldn't comment, but instead, remembered scalia as a decent man. >> i'd like to have maybe 15 seconds of silence for justice scalia who was a good friend and really a life force of the court and it's going to be a grayer place without him. >> meanwhile the white house has announced that president obama will not attend the funeral for supreme court justice antonin scalia on saturday. instead, the president will pay his respects tomorrow when the late justice lies in repose in the court's great hall. vice president joe biden however is scheduled to attend scalia's funeral. 36 days after they won part of the powerball jackpot, in florida, the winners have come forward. that's maureen smith and david couchsmith. they're claiming a third of the winnings equaling almost $529 million and just until yesterday, the couple didn't tell anyone they won except for relatives and their financial advisers.

>> first day i arrived late to work, they all suspected i won. [ laughter ] so i had to say i didn't purchase a ticket. so i didn't lie. >> and with that lucky ticket they decided on a lump sum payment of $327 million. time now to get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning. >> hi, good morning to you as well. can't afford a tesla model "s," how about a miniature version. radio flyer is stepping up from the little red wagons to little red cars. the company is coming out with a tesla model "s" for kids that can ride at a whopping 6 miles per hour. it features forward and reverse controls, working head lights and a sound system. meanwhile, a new study finds testosterone can help older men improve their mood, reduce symptoms of depression and walk better. the research published in the "new england journal of medicine" could provide a lift

for the nearly $5 billion testosterone supplement industry. and a small company from india has just launched what it claims is the world's cheapest smartphone. the freedom 251 cost $4 and it has eight gigabytes of memory and a four inch high-def touch screen. >> thank you very much. a verdict in the gwyneth paltrow stalking trial. that's coming up.

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i'm meteorologist bill karins. weatherwise we're looking nice. only problems on the west coast, a lot of rain pushing into california and arizona. snow at the high elevations. and there's a lot of warm air out ahead of this. this is an el nino type of weather pattern that's a reward for everybody east of the rockies in the days ahead. but that's one potentially dangerous aspect of this today. we have red flag warnings that cover the central plains. wind gusts up to 50 miles per

hour and this is like a high fire danger. especially in oklahoma. and the warm air will spread east eventually as we go throughout the next three days. the jet stream far to north, so no signs of arctic air. today's high temperatures 86 in amarillo. oklahoma city, should be near 80 three days in a row. minneapolis near 50, friday, saturday and sunday. that warmth does spread to the mid-atlantic by the time we get to the weekend so everybody gets a taste of spring. d.c. should be 63 on saturday. >> nice. >> that's nice. >> a little reminder of what's around the corner. get the cherry blossoms -- that's when we need the reminder. >> we do. pope francis he wrapped up his six-day tour of mexico last night. the pontiff visited 700 inmates at a prison in juarez. he prayed for migrants at the u.s./mexican border and he said mass with over 200,000 pilgrims. 3,000 people celebrated via

simulcast in el paso. a grand jury has indicted darren wint on the d.c. deaths. he allegedly kidnapped them, extorted $40,000, killed them and set their $3 million house on fire. an l.a. jury has acquitted a man accused of stalking gwyneth paltrow. he had been convicted of stalking her once before back in 2000. in court he testified his recent letters to paltrow were to ask for forgiveness. and look at this, a walgreens customer took down 26-year-old anthony nemeth who threatened pharmacy workers. he had a gun. >> when he started to reach into his pants like he had a weapon, that's when i did something. you know, just to protect my girlfriend. >> david west who was a trained fighter pinned down the suspect until the police arrived.

and final now to turn to sports. college basketball's mighty fall again, texas tech major upset over number three oklahoma as the red raiders faithful of course they stormed the court. it's tech's third straight win over a ranked team. and unlike penn state, managed to knock out fourth ranked iowa. 79-75 was the score. on to chapel hill, two of the most storied coaches in hoops. number 20 versus number 5. >> buried. and duke is going to win the game! >> still to come, republican senator calls for hearings on the next supreme court nominee and hillary clinton's new nevada strategy. we have "scrambled politics." that's next. ou have a dedicated advisor and team who understand where you come from. we didn't really have anything, you know. but, we made do. vo: know you can craft an investment plan

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up in a vote. with that the plot thickens. a new hillary clinton political ad shows her comforting a young girl who is undocumented. >> i feel really strongly and you're being brave and you have to be brave for them too. because they want you to be happy. they want you to be successful. they don't want you to worry too much. let me do the worrying. i'll do all the worrying, is that a deal? and jimmy fallon had his own take on clinton's coughing fit at a recent rally. >> during a speech, hillary clinton had a coughing fit that lasted for four minutes. some people said her cough was kind of distracting. i don't know. you be the judge. >> arf, arf, arf. >> i thought that was unusual. and the crowd chanted her name as she opened a cough drop. she got applause for choking or as jeb put it must be nice. that's right. >> oh, jimmy fallon.

that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." you know, it's a coughing fit, we all have them. joining us right now is jane tim, political reporter. good morning. we have the new nbc news/"wall street journal" and frontrunner no more nationally we are seeing trump drop down there. when he's starting to drop that much in the national poll is this the start of the threads n unraveling? >> we have seen this with carson going up and then dropping down. i think trump is still strong. but hasn't had the cemented long-term lead that donald trump has and donald trump proved in iowa he can lose the primary and still be the winner. >> i don't know if you call this a gaffe, we were watching this last night at the msnbc town hall, mika brzezinski ran down the --

>> he said it was donald trump. >> when he thinks it's him, you have 2016 for you. this is the im -- this perfectly encapsulates how weird this race is, but it will hurt donald trump. >> so funny when she came back, no, bernie sanders. he was at a loss there, didn't know what to say. >> oops. >> so speaking of big endorsement, big day for marco rubio especially with nikki haley coming out with the endorsement. interesting how you can see this coming into play. how much will this help him moving the needle and the jeb bush factor who is really counting on that, bringing in his brother, his dad. saying come on, nikki haley, we need that. >> i think it would have been more influential for jeb bush and might give him some momentum. but what this says for marco rubio he has a check in the box, he has general election viability. that's what his supporters like. they say, i think he can actually win the general election and nikki haley's support shows he can bring the

establishment and maybe the outside group together. >> we saw that ad from hillary clinton that's coming out on immigration. saying to the little girl, let me do all the worrying when it comes to immigration. very quickly two days before nevada and south carolina here, what do they need to do, sanders and clinton? >> you know, this is working with minorities is clinton's key, you know, ability to win over bernie sanders. if she can pull this off. it's his liability, he struggles with minorities and she has strong support with them. i think she's really pushing it to get that minority vote. >> african-american votes all crucial. thank you, jane tim. >> good to be here. still ahead, the hunt is on for stolen radioactive material in iran. plus, details on a growing nuisance taking over one australian town. we'll show you what that is. you're watching "first look." n . or becoming the next highly-unlikely dotcom superstar. and us, we'll be right there with you, helping with the questions you need answered to get your brand new business started.

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iraq is actively searching for highly dangerous radioactive material stolen last year. according to reuters, material known as irrid yum 192 went missing from bass what. they feel if it falls into the hands of isis its could be used as a deadly chemical weapon. look at this here. a fast growing tumbleweed. it's known as hairy panic. it's taken over this neighborhood in rural australia. it's covered properties. that's an entire structure, and gardens and garages. people believe it's coming from a nearby field that a farmer has failed to maintain. but look at how huge this is. it's swallowing up that huge house and backyard. >> never saw that.

what is fast growing tumbleweed, how does it grow? >> i'm more fascinated with the hairy panic. >> you like the name, right? >> hairy panic. i'm frances rivera. don't forget to like us on facebook. "way too early" starts right now. you have all of these countries, whether it's -- >> bless you. >> i thought she sneezed. >> it wasn't a protester. >> you're so used to protesters. somebody sneezes, you're ready to throw them out. >> the camera will show what a big crowd we've got. the only way they'll show a big crowd. she's a healthy person. >> from political rivals to the most recent republican debate, we have the highlights from msnbc's exclusive town hall with donald trump. plus, after threats of a lawsuit, ted cruz has a message for trump -- bring it on. and the thaw with havana reaches historic levels. nbc news reports that president

obama is expected to become the first commander in chief to set foot in cuba since the ball point pen hit the market. it is 5:30 here on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, everyone. it is thursday, february 18th. i'm alex witt. we start with a potential moment of history in the making. a senior administration official tells nbc news president obama will visit cuba in the coming weeks, as tensions ease and trade reopens. he would become the first sitting president to visit the island nation 90 miles off of florida's south coast since calv calvin coolidge in 1928. the president raul cast