it's friday, february 19th and right now on "first look" -- it's trump versus pope francis as the pontiff criticized those who build walls instead of bridges. the donald shot back. >> for a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. and the democrats got specific ahead of nevada. clinton promises immigration reform in the first 100 days while sanders confirms he's a strong civil libertarian and feminist. >> and in fact, gloria steinem, everyone knows that gloria is one of the leading feminists in america made me a honorary woman many, many years ago. the jaw dropping moment a

helicopter crash lands with five passengers. the incredible details just ahead. "first look" starts right now. good to be with you on a friday. i'm frances rivera. just when you have seen it all in the 2016 race, something new. critical comments from pope francis on trump's border wall proposal drew swift ire from the candidate, proving there's nothing that the donald won't take on. nbc's katy tur has a report. >> mr. trump, the pope made a statement about you. >> reporter: donald trump proving there's no thing and no one too sacred for his political ire. >> he actually said that maybe i'm not a good christian or something. it's unbelievable. >> reporter: the lapsed presbyterian lashed out at the head of the catholic church. a person who only thinks about building walls wherever they may be and not building bridges is not a christian, he told reporters.

just hours earlier the pontiff was praying along the mexican side of that very border. but while the pope wouldn't say who catholics should vote for, donald trump should hope the holiness should hope it is him. >> when the vatican is attacked by isis which is isis' ultimate trophy i can promise you that pope would have only wished and prayed that donald trump would have been president. >> reporter: another day, another controversy. but still no clear break in his support. >> i think he has to respond. the pope's coming at him. >> donald trump is a good christian as is the pope. >> reporter: south carolina is known for its religious voting bloc but only 13% in 2012 were catholic. nationally it jumps to 25%. swing voters who supported the last three presidents. >> that was katy tur reporting. later, donald trump softened his tome, turning to a favorite target -- the media.

>> oh, the pope is a wonderful guy and the pope made the statement. i think he was probably a little bit nicer statement than it was reported by you folks in the media. because after i read it, it was a little bit softer. >> and john kasich had a touching moment with an emotional is emotion supporter. he said he found hope in friends and then his candidacy, but he had one request of the governor. >> i would appreciate one of the hugs you have been talking about. >> nevada voters got to see the democratic candidates up close and personal last night on msnbc. chuck todd and jose diaz-balart hosted a town hall to allow bernie sanders and hillary clinton to interact with voters before tomorrow's caucuses. top issue is immigration and the candidates were questioned on their positions and how quickly they could implement their proposals. >> i'm not a dictator here. it has to do with a little bit

of cooperation from the congress, but it is a major priority when you have 11 million people living in the shadows. i think we owe it to them to move as expeditiously as we k. >> we're going to introduce legislation, jose. we're going to introduce legislation. i'm going to call everybody on the committee, democrats and republicans alike here. >> within a hundred days? >> yeah. i'm going to introduce my priority legislation and this is at the top of that list. we both had a chance to vote on comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. the bill that senator ted kennedy championed. i voted for it, senator sanders voted against it. so i know how important it is to put together a coalition. >> i voted for immigration reform in 2013 because it was a much better piece of legislation. you know, it's not a question of being perfect. nothing is perfect. that was -- that had particular egregious provisions in it. >> as in the last debate, sanders responds to the issue

drew strong reaction from the audience. >> senator sanders has also president obama. he's called him weak and disappointing. maybe senator sanders wasn't a democrat until he decided to run for president. he doesn't even know what the last two democratic presidents did. you know what? well, it's true. i look at our last two democratic presidents. were they perfect, no. no person is. but i'll tell you what, i would take the two of them over any republican any time, anywhere. >> there is one of the two democratic candidates here who actually ran against barack obama. it wasn't me. all right. second of all, you know, i have worked very closely with president obama over the last seven years. he is a friend of mine. overall, i think the president has done an outstanding job and the idea that there can be a primary where different ideas get floated and debated i don't think that's terrible.

>> the two remain in a dead heat going into tomorrow's showdown. don't miss our coverage of the nevada caucus and south carolina primary with rachel maddow, brian williams and chris matthews. it begins tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. just a jaw dropping moment caught on camera in hawaii. a tour helicopter plunged into pearl harbor with five people on board. it was then as nbc's miguel almaguer explains nearby onlookers sprang into action. >> reporter: witnesses could tell something was wrong. the tail of the sightseeing helicopter was smoking as it quickly descended to the rocky shoreline. then the moment of impact. with the chopper sinking several good samaritans plunged into the water to rescue the trapped passengers. >> i had seen the helicopter started sputtering about 500 feet and the pilot did what i would say is an amazing job. >> reporter: five people were aboard and pulled to shore.

at least one suffering critical injuries. all rushed to hospitals by ambulance. the navy says the helicopter is owned by genesis aviation. the same chopper seen here before the crash. offering aerial tours of the arizona memorial since 1999. the investigation into what went wrong is under way. witnesses say it's a miracle everyone survived. miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> really remarkable video there. today the body of justice antonin scalia will lie in repose in the supreme court's great hall ahead of his funeral tomorrow. senator ted cruz's campaign said he'll attend after he said he planned to skip it. he blasted president obama for not attending. and meanwhile, jeb bush broke with those who said that president obama should nominate

a supreme court justice. >> i'm an article 2 guy, i think the presidency should be -- we should be respectful of the constitution, but whatever powers are afforded the presidency the president ought to use them. >> last night, joe biden sat down with rachel maddow for an exclusive interview and asked if president obama nominated him, would he say yes? >> you never say to a president for certain you wouldn't do anything, but i have no -- look at me now, i have no desire to sit on the supreme court. none. it would a great honor for anyone but i have no desire any more than george mitchell did. >> who do you think the president should pick? >> well, look, i haven't had a chance to sit down with him yet to talk about the potential candidates. what we do is in the past lay out all the people. go out and survey a little bit and see who we think -- who meets those criteria and we think could have a chance of being confirmed.

>> vice president biden will be attending justice scalia's funeral tomorrow. you can watch special coverage with brian williams beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time here on msnbc. some surprising comments from pope francis on the issue of birth control. on his return flight from mexico, the pope said artificial contraceptives could be used to prevent the sexual transmission of zika, that is linked to babies born with unusually small heads. well, this despite the long standing ban on most forms of birth control by the catholic church. time now to get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. happy friday. >> hey, there, happy friday to you as well. amazon buys the rights to woody allen's next film. it plans a nationwide release for the untitled romantic comedy that stars kristen stewart. it will be available on amazon prime. this is their second feature film. spike lee's "chi-raq" opened in

december. the lexus es 300 sedan is the biggest ticket magnet with 33% reporting speeding and other tickets. the traffic violations is surveyed from 300 models and also in top five, the nissan 350 z. dodge charger se. volkswagen and chevy monte carlo. over to you. nascar's new racing season kicks off this sunday with the daytona 500 but scary moments last night during the daytona duels race. this is what happened here, johnson's 48 car went bouncing off kurt busch's and others in a fiery seven-car wreck. all seven are okay, despite what this looks like. but three of the cars, nope, done. to college hoops and number six maryland taking on the lowly

minnesota gophers who 0-13 in the big ten but no longer. >> suleiman and that'll do it. a stunning upset? maryland goes down! >> the terps went down 68-63 and this despite the golden gophers shooting only 33%. and finally to a dream and sport of a very different kind. a 14-year-old from a small town, he's training a donkey right there to jump hurdles. the young man named ahmad works with his donkey, rihanna. yes, he is recording artist rihanna fan. he's going to name his donkey rihanna. the candidates weighed in on the apple privacy dilemma and fbi agents raided the home of a san bernardino shooter. you're watching "first look" here on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look" on msnbc. firefighters in missouri captured video of this fire there it is on the right side of your screen. this was a 1,300 acre grass fire, very windy in missouri. there were a couple of blazes in oklahoma also. this one was actually started by a prison lawn mower. well, check this out in massachusetts, dramatic video, how would you like to be training on this coast guard cutter? this is about 12 to 15 foot waves. the crew had strayed into them and it was a bumpy ride. look at the boat just getting tossed. brave men and women out there. they practiced that to rescue other ships in case they get caught in seas similar. let's talk about this weekend forecast. this is great, i mean, this is april, remember that big shot of arctic air last week, it's long gone. today, 70s into the middle of the country. st. louis, 71. near record highs and by saturday we bring into rain in

the forecast in the middle of the country, but still 81 in oklahoma city. some of that warmth makes it to the east coast. 63 in d.c. will feel warm. 56 in new york. now on sunday, a stretch of rain from dallas, little rock, also possibly towards atlanta. late in the day d.c., new york city it looks like maybe overnight into monday morning. but the warmth is coast to coast. even minneapolis is 38 degrees on sunday which for them is like a balmy warm day. >> i love it. i'll take it. i was looking ahead with those kind of temperature, and wondering when is daylight savings? it's coming up. >> don't jump. >> we have these kind of temperatures, you kind of have to. the fbi searched the california home of a relative of the san bernardino shooter farook yesterday. that relative has not been charged with a crime. if fbi has been trying to piece together what happened after the shooting that killed 14 people in december.

on tuesday, a judge ordered apple to help the fbi hack into farook's iphone. apple's ceo tim cook is fighting back citing customer privacy concerns. during last night's msnbc town hall, bernie sanders and hillary clinton spoke about the issue. >> of course law enforcement has every reason to want to get information off of a killer's cell phone. apple understandably is worried about opening the door, creating what they call a back door into encryption that would not just have to field requests from the united states government, but from the chinese, russian, iranian government. >> but count me in as somebody who is a very strong libertarian who believes we can fight terrorism without undermining our constitutional rights. ethan couch is set to appear in court over whether his case should be transferred to adult court. a ruling keeping him in the juvenile system could trigger

hearings in which couch could be sent to prison for up to ten years when he turns 19 or be set free. virgin galactic debuts the new space ship 2 today, replacing the one destroyed in 2014. this ship will make flights into space and so far, angelina jolie, brad pitt, paris hilton are rumored have bought a $250,000 flight. a cheering crowd in mobile, alabama, welcomed the first passenger trains since hurricane katrina damaged the tracks in 2005. it travelled to new orleans making 14 stops along the way. all right. this question for you. has hillary clinton ever lied to the american people? find out what she said when she was asked that very direct question, next. vo: know you 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 as strong as your values. al, how you doing.

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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. from the bark heard around the world, to jeb bush's family affair here's a look back on the week's in politics. >> arf, arf, you know? >> it was like a demolition derby but my xar going around the circuit. >> i need your votes, y'all. >> you know, i just called to say i love you. ♪ i just called to say i care >> ted cruz who i think is unfit to be president, but these are minor details -- >> when both marco rubio and trump scream liar liar liar it makes you wonder how they'd deal

with handling putin. >> we'll bring a lawsuit if he doesn't straighten his act out. he's a lying guy. s he a plain out liar. >> i believe that mr. trump will not be president. it's not hosting a talk show or a reality show. >> this man has done such a bad job, he's set us back so far. and for him to say that actually is a great compliment if you want to know the truth. >> i'm not an expert in a lot of things but i'm pretty knowledgeable about what it takes to be president. and it's -- yeah. yeah. >> he's back, folks. still fighting that war on grammar, but he's back. >> building a hotel overseas is not foreign policy experience. >> i was standing next to rubio and i thought he just got out of a swimming pool. >> what is goal on with the republicans? i watch these debates, trump attacks cruz, rubio goes after bush, bush gets into a fight with trump. remember the good old days when republicans were united against the poor and the minorities?

what happened? what happened there? >> let's wrap up the week and talk about the big day ahead in south carolina with kevin robillard there in washington. good morning to you. let's get started with the day after here, we're talking about swirling politics with religion, trump versus the pope and even this cover from "the new york daily news." kind of pretty much says it all. how does this play into the bulletproofness and the unsinkableness of trump, there the daily news calls him the antichrist. >> trump has taken on everyone during this campaign. the pope gets added to the list of targets here. the one thing that trump could say in this case the pope kind of started it in this fight. but, you know, particularly in south carolina, which is coming up, this isn't going to hurt him. even, you know, a huge percentage of voters in south carolina are evangelicals. evangelicals tend to view

catholicism in general with a lot of skepticism. so the fact he's in a fight with the pope isn't going to hurt him there. could it hurt him, you know, in states with larger catholic populations as things go down the line say louisiana or a lot of states in the northeast, yeah, it could hurt him there. but right now this isn't a concern. >> 25% of the voters catholic nationally. let's move on to this. interesting when you watch hillary clinton on cbs, was asked a very, very direct question. either yes or no, let's play a little bit of that and talk about it on the other side. >> you know in '76 jimmy carter famously said i will not lie to you. >> well, i have to tell you, i have tried in every way i know how, literally from my years a young lawyer all the way through to secretary of state to level with the american people. >> you talk about leveling with the american people. have you always told the truth? >> i have always tried to. always. always. >> some people are going to call

that wiggle room. always tried to. jimmy carter said i'll never lie to you. >> you're asking me to say have i ever, i don't believe i ever have. i don't believe i ever will. i'm going to do the best i can to level with the american people. >> kevin, is she could have would have should have after that, after those responses? >> probably that's a very clintonian answer. sort of goes back to the '90s and depends on what the definition of is is. it's a very lawyerly answer. i always try to tell the truth, but maybe sometimes i fall short. it's just the type of answer that's, you know, going to get her in trouble. over the long term. >> it's tough especially with the problems she's had with trustworthiness and i wish we could delve into it, but we're out of time. don't forget to like us on facebook. "way too early" is coming up next. sudden loss of pasture became a serious problem for a family business.

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♪ i come to this beautiful place and i'm looking and i'm looking at everything so beautiful. the people are beautiful. everything is nice. i get hit -- the pope made a statement. oh, good, did he say good things? no. i don't think you're going to like it so much. >> donald trump wastes no time hitting back at the pope for criticizing his immigration policy in the unfolding holy war. and hillary clinton wants you know to know that bernie sanders wasn't a democrat until he began running for president and when hillary clinton said she'll release her paid speech transcripts, oh, that clock is

ticking. and justice antonin scalia makes one last visit to the supreme court today where he'll lie in repose before being laid to rest tomorrow. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, it is "way too early." hey, there. good morning. it's friday, february 19th. i'm alex witt. we are just one day to the south carolina primaries and a record turnout at least for the republicans is expected. we're just minutes away now from the release of new poll numbers in south carolina. as donald trump maintains a strong lead in the final hours before voting. the latest american research group tracking poll gives trump a 12 point edge to marco rubio's 22. with john kasich still in third