southern states. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning. it's wednesday, february 24th. i'm jonathan capehart. as the results continue to come in slowly from nevada, nbc news projects donald trump as the winner. his third early election victory in a row. he did it on the back of what the state party is calling a record turnout. at one high school in sparks, lines were two to three times what organizers had planned for. vote totals are still trickling in, but with more than 90% of the vote, 73,000 votes have already been tabulated. this morning, trump is easily beating ted cruz and marco rubio who are neck and neck and right now, it's too close to call second place. ben carson and john kasich are much further back. not getting more than single digits.

but trump gets 12 delegates while rubio and cruz each get five. the front-runner was ebullient last night, addressing supporters. >> we love nevada. we love nevada. thank you. of course if you listen to the pundits we weren't expected to win too much but we're winning the country. and soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning. we have had some great numbers coming out of texas. and amazing numbers coming out of tennessee and georgia. and arkansas. and then in a couple of weeks later, florida, we love florida. it's going to be an amazing two months. we might not even need the two months, to be honest. tomorrow you'll be hearing, you know, if they can take the other

candidates and add them up, and if you add them up, because you know the other candidates amount to 55%. so if they could just -- they keep forgetting that when people drop out, we're going to get a lot of votes. you know, they keep forgetting. they don't say it. so we won the vng vpgs. -- evangelicals. we won with old, with young. we won with highly educated. we won with poorly educated. i love the poorly educated. we're the smartest people with the most loyal people. and you know what i really am happy about because i have been saying it for a long time. 46% with the hispanics. 46%. number one with hispanics. >> donald trump knows who tow read an entrance poll. he finished well ahead of the rest of the field when it comes to those with college degrees and those. and he won among the moderates

like and 30% of the voters were still making up their minds in the last couple of days and many broke for trump as well. though marco rubio saw a surge in the closing days that's keeping him neck and neck for second place. trump won handley among white evangelicals, and he won with ease among hispanics. though they made up less than 10% of the electorate this year. earlier in the day, trump touted the depths of his supporters' commitment and trained attacks on ted cruz. >> 68% would not leave under any circumstances. i think that means murder. i think it means anything, okay? and the rest -- i think i got up to 92 which was line will probably never leave. you know? like these are incredible. over guys are 10%. if you sneeze they'll leave. they don't like the way you sneeze. i love you people. i love you. this guy ted cruz is the single

biggest liar i have ever dealt with in my life. i mean it. i have never seen -- he will lie about anything. and you -- now, i met much tougher people than ted cruz. he's like a baby i have to deal -- he's like a little baby. soft, weak, little baby by comparison. but for lying he's the best i have ever seen. he's the best. >> cruz responded by tweeting this clip from austin powers. >> he kind of looks like a baby. come here, i'm going to eat you. i'm bigger than you, i'm higher on the food chain. get in my belly. >> let me make you a deal, all right? you get to keep your money, i'll get your baby. >> right. >> i want my baby back baby back ribs. i want my baby back baby back ribs.

>> excuse me. >> texas senator also said pointedly he wouldn't trust trump as commander in chief. speaking to supports just hours ahead of the state's caucuses, cruz laid out his view of the states in the republican contest. >> listen, i understand it's been entertaining, it's been fun seeing the show. but the stakes are serious. i mean, we're talking about the future of our country. this is not a game. it's not a joke. you know, i share on the trail all the time why i'm doing this. i'm doing this because of our little girls. because of caroline, katherine. they're 7 and 5. frankly i'm not willing to gamble my daughters' future with donald trump. the truth of the matter is if donald became president nobody knows what the heck he would do. he doesn't know what he would do. >> cruz is now pinning his hopes on his home state of texas where voters head to the polls on super tuesday, but it will be an uphill battle from here as cruz

continues to face repeated accusations of unsavory campaign tactics by his rivals. though they insist the allegations are false they admit the attacks on his integrity have taken a toll and some are calling for a shakeup in strategy. senator marco rubio did not spend last night in nevada. instead, he took his campaign to minnesota and michigan. in grand rapids he saw a large and enthusiastic crowd. while there he unveiled a new line of attack against democrats. >> and for too long, people who are struggling financially have been told that the democratic party is the party of working people. the democratic party is not the party of working people. the democratic party is the party of big government. the democratic party is the party of the government programs that trap people in poverty. the government -- the democratic party is the party of weak national defense. the democratic party is the party that thinks they're smarter than you are. >> we have also learned that marco rubio plans to get

together with jeb bush in the near future. he told reporters yesterday that despite the competitive environment while campaigning he and jeb are still friends. even as new polling shows john kasich trailing donald trump by five points in his home state's primary, kasich insists he's not backing out. but at a town hall in kennesaw, georgia, yesterday, kasich said it may be out of his hands saying he's not sure if his purpose is to be president. >> john kasich, when are you going to live out your purpose, thursday night, what are you going to do to stick it to trump, stick it to rubio? hey, hey, live out your purpose? >> i know how a lot of people feel. first of all, i don't know if my purpose is to be president. my purpose is to be out here doing what i think i need to be doing and we'll see where it ends up. if it's not this crusade, it will be another one, maybe it will be a really small one somewhere in my kids' school, who knows?

it doesn't matter the size of the crusade, but the fact that you're in a crusade. >> meanwhile, his campaign is fighting back against rivals suggestions that he has no realistic way to win the nomination. speaking to reporters in atlanta, kasich said they ought to be clearing the decks instead for him. >> i would hope they'd be clearing the decks for me. i have spent the least amount of money and i'm rising in the polls. you know, i can win my home state and why would i be feeling pressure from them? they ought to be consolidating around me. >> in an announcement that's drawing strong reaction this morning, president obama is urging lawmakers to help him close the military detention center at guantanamo bay. the president made a 2008 campaign promise to shutter the facility and he's sent the long awaited plan to congress. >> for many years it's been clear that the detention facility at guantanamo bay does not advance our national security. it undermines it.

>> right now there are 91 prisoners at guantanamo bay including alleged september 11th mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed. the president's new plan would transfer 35 detainees abroad, but send as many as 60 to u.s. prisons. no hearing and no vote, that's the decision from the senate judiciary committee on whether to consider a nominee from president obama to fill the seat that for decades belonged to the late justice antonin scalia. majority leader mitch mcconnell defended the decision on the senate floor while using this statement from 1992 from then senator joe biden. >> it is my view that if a supreme court justice resigns tomorrow or within the next several weeks or resigns at the end of the summer, president bush should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not -- and

not name a nominee until after the november election is completed. >> he has every right to nominate someone. even if doing so will inevitably plunge our nation into another bitter and unavoidable struggle. whatever he decides his own vice president and others remind us of an essential point. presidents have a right to nominate just as the senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent. in this case, the senate will withhold it. >> now vice president biden said his comments from 1992 were taken out of context. pointing to what he said later in the speech that the parties needed to come together to put forward a compromise nominee. meanwhile, minority leader harry reid hit back at mcconnell, accusing him of taking marching orders from donald trump. >> senator mcconnell is leading a charge to cheapen the presidency at all costs regardless of the damage it does

to our democracy. but doesn't that sound familiar? it sounds like something donald trump would do. that's because it's exactly what donald trump urged senator mcconnell to do. and at a republican presidential debate in south carolina ten days ago, mr. trump said of the supreme court vacancy, i quote. i think it's up to mitch mcconnell and everybody else to stop the nomination. it's called delay, delay, delay. that's exactly what the republican leader is doing, delay, delay, delay. >> now to the democrats, where hillary clinton and bernie sanders are now just three days away from the south carolina primary and six away from super tuesday. we have a look at the candidates' ad spending ahead of the contests. clinton's campaign and super pac are spending more than $4 million in 11 super tuesday states. while the sanders' camp is spending $3.3 million targeting five states. colorado, massachusetts, minnesota, oklahoma and texas.

that comes as secretary clinton continues to canvass the state of south carolina ahead of saturday's primary. yesterday, she held a town hall at a baptist church where she was joined by a group of mothers who lost children to police and gun violence. >> no other candidate would listen to us, mrs. clinton did. nobody reached out to us. nobody listened to us. nobody said black lives matter until this brave and powerful woman stood up for us. >> we didn't have to go looking for her. she came to us. okay? not one of the presidential candidates even considered -- even considered us. >> you cannot fake compassion.

you cannot fake genuine. you cannot fake the fact that you care. i don't care if it's in a nine month span of an election, you can't fake that. >> i really hope that this is the beginning. that this is a movement that yes, it does result in change and it does bring more people as president obama said to consider guns and violence as a voting issue. something that will motivate you and those you know to turn out on saturday for the south carolina primary. to turn out in november and to work together to make the changes we deserve to see. >> bernie sanders will hold a press conference in south carolina later today to outline his agenda for lifting working families out of poverty. still ahead on "way too early" -- the most amazing shot on any basketball court probably ever.

plus, severe weather lights up the south and the threat is not over yet. more than two dozen tornadoes have already been reported. bill karins tells us what to expect next when "way too early" comes right back. thank you. imagine if the things you bought every day... ...earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, two united club passes, priority boarding, and 30,000 bonus miles.

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imagine life with a lower a1c. are you loving your numbers? there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name. time now for business. there were reports yesterday that bill gates had backed the fbi in the apple encryption case. and now he's clarifying. steve sell wick has more. what's the latest on the ongoing battle? >> the latest is that apparently the justice department isn't just asking to unlock one phone. according to a lawyer for apple, he says it's up to nine cases going on at the moment. where government forces have asked to -- the company to unlock phones as well. very interesting there. he's saying that apple has not

agreed to perform any services on the devices. very interesting because bill gates is saying if it's one off case, then he can see the point of this, but now gates is saying that doesn't reflect his whole view on this issue as well. he does believe that with the right safeguards there are cases where the government on the behalf of the citizens of america like stopping terrorism as well which can be a problem in the future that is valuable if the government has access to the phones. a lot more ambiguous comments from bill gates than was originally reported in "the financial times" as well. as far as the markets are concerned we're recording lower from yesterday. >> steve sedgwick from london, thank you. time now for sports. let's start with major league baseball. the rockies highest paid player won't be joining the team at spring training. the league has placed colorado shortstop jose reyes, that comes from rob manfred. he was arrested after allegedly assaulting his wife at a hotel

in hawaii on halloween. he pled not guilty to the charges. now according to manfred's announcement the results of the criminal case will determine whether the mlb will impose discipline. reyes who earns $22 million this season is due in court on april 4th, the same day as the rockies season opener. now, to a pair of mega highlights last night. boston college's garland owens with the huge put-back slam off the missed three at the halftime buzzer. look at that they can't carry that momentum in the second half though. virginia tech goes on to win it, 71-56. and that would have been the play of the night if not for what may have been the play of the year in gainesville, florida. grabbing the rebound off a blocked gator shot, vanderbilt's josh henderson fires a chest pass from 80 feet away into the basket at the halftime buzzer. vandy goes on to win it, 87-74. look at that. >> wow.

a line drive. >> yeah. wait, isn't that golf? >> that's baseball. all right. don't worry about it. >> we have some serious weather to talk about though, don't we? >> last night was a dangerous night. we have worries in the day, three fatalities, numerous injuries, a trailer park was hit. this is is the two waterspouts and turned into tornadoes as they moved over the land. a lot of clean-up to be done in louisiana and last night the strong storms pushed to pensacola and panama city. in all, 30 tornadoes were reported. we had 15 reports of large hail. 72 reports of wind damage. most of it was right on i-10 from new orleans back towards panama city. the concern right now, tornado watch goes until 10:00 north of tampa. up 75, northwards into southern

portions of georgia on 95. that's the line of strong storms right now. snowing by the way in st. louis. we're starting to get some winter weather too. so today's concern. 35 million people at risk of severe storms from tampa to orlando. and then this afternoon up here through the carolinas. the worst of it should be as we go through the middle of the afternoon. myrtle beach to wilmington, back up to the norfolk area and richmond. we have enhanced risk of severe weather. this little red area is where we have the best chance of tornados from a raleigh eastward. timing is 2:00 to 5:00 this afternoon. that's the target area for tornadoes. we have blizzard warnings south of lake michigan and indiana. chicago, detroit, also st. louis. all going to do shoveling later on today. >> wow. i hope everyone stays safe in the tornado zone there. thanks a lot, bill. still ahead, a lot of confusion as the home of the whopper tries something a bit different. we'll explain when "way too

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now let's get a check on the morning's other headlines and we head to the control loom and louis burgdorf. >> good morning, jonathan. it's safe to say that beyonce's video for her latest single "formation" is her most talked about to date having received both praise and ridicule for its black panther imagery. police unions across the country have made calls to boycott her

next concert tour. however, multiple police forces have voted against the boycott. citing the obligation of the police to protect the citizens. the arlington police station said we're working for the overall patrons and not the celebrity. the formation tour kicks off april 27th in miami. all right. let's go to a little late night news here. kevin spacey stopped by "the tonight show" for kids theater. the elementary school students were told to write lines for "house of cards." >> this is the garbage man. are you whizy? >> yeah, this is my house. what's up, tuna butt? >> i don't get me. >> you don't get me? [ laughter ] >> well -- well, let me -- let me just tell you you can get in line. >> you're living in the house of cards. is that what you wanted to hear? [ laughter ]

i'm so sorry. don't talk to me. >> are you -- are you crying? >> no, it's raining. >> well, i loved both you guysal you did amazing. but, kevin, you did better. >> that was brilliant. now finally forgot the results of the nevada caucuses. we can all agree this is the biggest story this morning. burger king has hamburger enthesiests scratching their heads, they added hot dogs to their menus. 7-eleven declared war on the king via twitter and the convenience chain announced a big gulp and hot dog combo for $2. the great hot dog war, there can

only be one weiner. jonathan, just weird for burger king to be selling hot dogs. doesn't make sense. >> it doesn't make sense. it's strange. but i'll take my weiners from shake shack. >> okay. >> thanks a lot. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe" on a roll. first new hampshire and now south carolina and now donald trump takes nevada. complete coverage of last night's caucus as the republican field now looks to super tuesday. "morning joe" is just moments away. know your financial plan won't keep you up at night. know you have insights from professional investment strategists to help set your mind at ease. know you have i sights from professional investment strategists to help set your mind at ease. for retirement can be the least of your worries. with the guidance of a pnc investments financial advisor, know you can get help staying on track for the future you've always wanted.

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[ crowd chanting "trump" ] >> of course, if you listen to the pundits, we weren't expected to win too much and now we're winning, winning, winning the country. [ cheers and applause ] and soon the country going to start winning, winning, winning. >> just calm down. >> phil, theres a tiger in the bathroom! >> what's going on? >> what the [ bleep ]