plus -- >> it's rubio! >> donald is not going to make america great. he's going to make america orange. >> and going south, senator marco rubio spends the weekend in the mud with donald trump. and it's not pretty. plus, hillary clinton's smashing victory against bernie sanders in south carolina. the big question now is where does bernie sanders go from here. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 here on the west coast. this is "way too early."

good morning, it's monday february 29th, happy leap day. i'm louis burgdorf reporting from los angeles this morning after an incredible night at the academy awards. last night we saw "spotlight" take home the best picture raising the profile of investigative journalism but the other big story of the night, leonardo dicaprio finally taking home best actor. we'll have full coverage of that and more from chris rock's monologue in just a moment. but first, capping off a week of major victories in south carolina, and nevada, as well as his first major endorsements from the establishment figures in the republican party, donald trump plunged back in to controversy yesterday for his refusal to disavow former ku klux klan grand wizard david duke who is encouraging his supporters to volunteer in trump's campaign. >> will you unequivocally condemn david duke and say that you don't want his vote or that

of other white supremacists in this election? >> well, just so you understand, i don't know anything about david duke, okay? i don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. so i don't know. i mean, i don't know, did he endorse me? or what's going on. because, you know, i know nothing about david duke. i know nothing about white supremacists. and so you're asking me a question that i'm supposed to be talking about people that i know nothing about. >> but, i guess the question from the anti-defamation league is, even if you don't know about their endorsement, there are these groups and individuals endorsing you, would you just say unequivocally you condemn them and you don't want their support? >> well, i have to look at the group. i mean, i don't know what group you're talking about. you wouldn't want me to condemn a group that i know nothing about. i have to look. if you would send me a list of the groups i will do research on them, and certainly i would disavow if i thought there was something wrong. >> the ku klux klan? >> you have groups in there that are totally fine and would be

very unfair. give me a list of the groups and i'll let you know. >> i'm just talking about david duke and the ku klux klan here. >> honestly, i don't know david duke. i don't believe i've ever met him. i'm pretty sure i didn't meet him and i just don't know anything about him. >> the backlash was swift and bipartisan. senator ted cruz tweeted, really sad donald trump, you're better than this. we should all agree racism is wrong. kkk is abhorrent. john kasich posted hate groups have no place in america. we are stronger together, end of story. now senator bernie sanders tweeted america's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hate mongerer who refuses to condemn the kkk. which his democratic rival hillary clinton retweeted. now that's the first time her account has ever done that. and marco rubio said the comments disqualify trump from leading their party. >> we cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists, and the ku klux klan. we cannot be a party that does that.

not only is that wrong. it makes him unelectable. how are we going to grow our party with a nominee that refuses to condemn the ku klux klan? don't tell me he doesn't know who the ku klux klan is. >> now trying to stem the damage, trump tweeted with a video, as i stated at the press conference on friday regarding david duke, i disavow. >> i didn't even know he endorsed me. david duke endorsed me? okay, all right. i disavow, okay? >> donald trump also racked up several endorsements this weekend starting with a surprise appearance of his former rival chris christie. now the governor's public schedule listed him as being in new jersey. until he walked out to audible gasps in fort worth, texas, on friday, to announce his support. now, christie's endorsement as trump's first from a sitting governor and was followed by endorsements from maine governor paul lepage and former arizona governor jan brewer. and then yesterday in alabama, before a raucous crowd that officials estimated at 15,000,

and trump placed at around 32,000, senator jeff sessions took the stage and made his first endorsement in a competitive primary during his 17 years in office. >> i told donald trump this isn't a campaign, this is a movement. you have asked, for 30 years, and politicians have promised for 30 years to fix illegal immigration. have they done it? >> no. >> donald trump will do it. >> yes. >> at this time in american's history, we need to make america great again. >> and if donald trump wasn't a huge target before last week's debate, he certainly is now. take a look at how quickly things went south this weekend. >> there've been multiple media reports about donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been

reported. >> you all have friends that are thinking about voting for donald trump. friends do not let friends vote for con artists. what does donald trump do when things go wrong? he takes to twitter. i have him right here. let's read some. you'll have fun. lightweight marco rubio was working hard last night. this is true. the problem is, he is a chocker. and once a chocker, always a choker i guess that's what he meant to say. >> i will address, you know, little rubio. this guy has a fresh mouth, he's a very nasty guy. >> he's always calling me little marco. and i'll admit he's taller than me. he's like 6'2", which is why i don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2". have you seen his hands? they're like this. and you know what they say about men with small hands. you can't trust them. you can't trust them.

>> it's rubio! >> he says that i'm sweating all the time. it's hot in here. am i sweating now? no. all right. he doesn't sweat, he doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan that he uses. >> it is getting rough out there. let's turn to the democratic side. after a blowout win in south carolina on saturday, hillary clinton is now looking ahead to super tuesday, and beyond. in a speech yesterday in tennessee, one of the eleven states that will hold a democratic primary tomorrow, a shift in strategy was on full display. clinton didn't mention or even refer to her primary opponent once during her remarks. instead she directed her jabs at the front-runner on the republican side. >> ultimately we are all in this together. no matter what some people running for president might say, as they insult one group of us,

or another group of us, we are all in this together. and that is our great promise. i believe that america is great right now. what we need is to be whole. we need to be whole. where all of us have a place, where everybody feels like we're all in this together. >> and even with 200 paid sanders staffers on the ground and nearly $2 million in ad spending clinton won by nearly 50 points in south carolina on saturday. she also won nearly 90% of the black vote, even more than barack obama netted back in 2008. by the way, tonight is the deadline for the final batch of clinton e-mails to be released. hundreds of pages were cleared on friday. now bernie sanders meanwhile didn't try and spin his loss in south carolina, saying he got decimated after spending

saturday in texas, senator sanders traveled to colorado yesterday, where he held a rally in front of about 6,000 people at colorado state university. there he vowed to fight on and debuted a new analogy for his campaign. >> i have been criticized for thinking too big. i believe that if you start your campaign, and you run on a platform calling for a full loaf, at worst you're going to get a half a loaf. if you start your campaign talking about the need for a half a loaf, you're going to get crumbs. and the american people today do not want, do not need crumbs, they need to the whole loaf.

>> this morning, five members of the ku klux klan have been released from jail by the anaheim police department after a violent brawl this weekend. twelve people were arrested on saturday after a fight broke out between several kkk members and protesters. protesters. it happened during a planned ku klux klan demonstration. according to police three anti-kkk protesters were stabbed during the brawl. in one incident police say a klansman stabbed a protester in the chest with an eagle figure at the end of a flag pole. anaheim police said the five kkk members were released from jail because evidence points to their actions as self-defense. let's turn overseas now where the fragile cease-fire in syria is still in effect this morning despite reported russian air strikes yesterday. according to the syrian observatory for human rights the air raids hit several parts of northern syria. it was not immediately clear if the strikes hit areas controlled

by the nusra front, al qaeda's branch in syria. now the cease-fire brokered by the u.s. and russia went into effect at midnight on friday. so far the cease-fire has been holding despite accusations of violations from both sides. and this also new overnight an american student who's been detained in north korea for almost two months appeared on state television this morning. in front of the media 21-year-old university of virginia student appeared to read from a statement as he apologized and claimed to have tried to steal a political banner. >> i understand the severity of my crime, and i have no idea what sort of penalty i may face. but i am begging to the korean people and government for my forgiveness. >> it's not clear if his confession was coerced. but the ap points out that previous detainees held in north korea have often recanted their confessions once released. all right. still ahead on "way too early,"

much more for from here in los angeles where chris rock and leonardo dicaprio own the night. we'll be right back. whatcha doin?

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the united mileageplus explorer card. imagine where it will take you. welcome back to "way too early." let's turn now to business, where wall street is set to open to losses this morning following a dip in the asian markets. cnbc's louisa bojesen joins us live from london. what's the catalyst for this? >> yeah, just glancing at the markets now, because the chinese central bank, the pboc they've cut their reserve requirement ratio by half a percent which was not expected that they would do this. this coming after the asian markets closed their session out and many of these markets did close in negative territory. the schengen composite, the shanghai index closing lower, the nikkei off quite substantially. for the month of february the japanese market is down by some 8.5%. pretty big move there. we're also glancing at what came out of the g-20 sum 34i9 over

the weekend. not a lot. no coordinated action as some people said they might give us more room to feed on that. that didn't happen. the u.s. data on friday was interesting because it was stronger across the board. the consumer spending, the underlying inflation picking up, fourth quarter gdp being revised higher as well. that means we're now looking towards a fed rate hike being brought forward, so we've become a lot more bullish on the u.s. economy. starbucks, this is an interesting separate story to the markets, but they're coming to italy and they're coming to italy very, very carefully. you may have seen this already. they're opening their first store in 2017. they have some very, very strong convictions in italy about their coffee. some people say almost even religious convictions. it doesn't work if i go to italy and you ask for a frapho, you know, cappo massive huge bucket of coffee. they like their little espressos, they drink it with culture and style. the ceo and chairman of starbucks who obviously knows this, he has said we're going to try with great humility and

respect to share what we've been doing and what we've learned. and he does also go on to say that they've designed the first store with painstaking detail, and with great respect for the italian people. so, if nothing else the tourists might be lured in with the free wi-fi offer, louis. >> that's right louisa bojesen live from london. thanks so much. starbucks in italy. i look forward to drinking one there. time now for sports. we begin with the nba's hottest team as the sports world is still buzzing about the defending champion warriors and the reigning league mvp steph curry's record night against the thunder on saturday. curry first entered the history books in familiar fashion breaking the nba single season mark for three pointers with this 288th of the year. curry now has the three highest single season totals in league history. and with a tie game and the clock winding down in overtime, he also got a chance to play hero. >> they do have a time-out. decide not to use it. curry on top, bang, bang!

oh, what a shot from curry. with 0.6 of a second remaining. >> the deciding three pointer is curry's 12th of the game. matching the nba mark for most in a single contest. the warriors now 55-5. have clinched a playoff berth with 24 games still to play in the season. absolutely unbelievable. now, on the college court the seton hall pirates are all but clinched the ncaa tournament berth for the first time in a decade after upsetting fifth ranked xavier 81-90 yesterday. a national ranking could follow today as the team eyes a big east title. nascar, and their race for the sprint cup jimmie johnson takes the checkered flag at atlanta motor speedway in his 76th career series win now the sixth time the sprint cup champion ties dale earnhardt for seventh on sports' all-time victories list. and finally let's go to the links at the pga's honda classic. how do you keep white pants

stain free while playing out of a muddy water hazard? well, gary woodland's answer to the question on the par four 6th hole, take them off. woodland stripped down to his briefs to hit the ball out of the spot of shallow water yesterday. the golfer actually pars the hole. but ends the final round in a tie for 61st police overall. but at least he kept those white plants clean. all right let's now get a check on your weather. we'll get -- >> you look good, right? what's the big deal? >> he looked good. you know, you got to keep the white pants -- you got to look good. not only do you have to play good. >> i'm sure he knew he looked good before he took them off, too. he had no problems with that. we've got super tuesday coming up, we do have a storm system at the same time going through some of the states voting on super tuesday. everyone in the northeast, quick burst of rain this morning as we go through the morning hours by noon it will be clearing out even in boston. right now that's going across pennsylvania and west virginia. for today, still very warm across the country. it was a very enjoyable weekend.

the cold stuff starting to bleed in. minneapolis only 33. i know duluth a high of 14. that cold shower will move across the country the rest of the week. now let's talk about the concern for severe weather for super tuesday. this is late tonight in oklahoma. oklahoma is going to be fine for voting. so is texas. as we go through super tuesday. but you could get some storms tonight. large hail will be your biggest threat. i don't think we're going to deal much in the way with any tornadoes. then as we go into super tuesday, slight risk, this yellow area here does include 23 million people in the slight risk, including areas that are going to be votes like arkansas, tennessee, as we go through alabama, and also they're in georgia. and we could see an isolated tornado. not a tornado outbreak, wind damage will be the most common and the biggest threat as we go throughout the day. so here's the timing off it on our future cast. this is tonight, storms break out in oklahoma, and then tomorrow, louis, arkansas will clear out early for most of the people voting in the afternoon, evening, we'll watch tennessee, alabama, and georgia. >> well, at least it's going to be 70 and sunny out here on the

west coast. >> yes. >> as you're sleeping your day away? >> that's right, that's right. thanks, bill. still ahead, chris rock takes on hollywood diversity issue in only way that chris rock could. plus last night we walked the red carpet with some of hollywood's biggest stars. highlights from the academy awards next on "way too early." 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. hey, mr. hamilton. vo: know that together you can establish a meaningful legacy. with the guidance and support of your dedicated pnc wealth management team. make you feel like an svp doeinstead of a vp? a new desk then you might be gearcentric. right now, save up to 40% on desks and filing cabinets!

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well, i'm here at the academy awards.

otherwise known as the white people's choice awards. you realize, if they nominated hosts, i wouldn't even get this job. you'd all be watching neil patrick harris right now. >> that was chris rock and his much-anticipated opening monologue during last night's academy awards. many were wondering how he would acknowledge the controversy surrounding the lack of diversity. he launched right in to it and didn't let up. >> is hollywood racist? you're damn right hollywood's racist. but it ain't racism that you've grown accustomed to. hollywood is sorority racist. it's like, we like you, rhonda, but you're not a kappa. you're not allowed -- somebody told me this, you're not allowed to ask women what they're wearing anymore. it's a whole thing, you know, ask her more. you have to ask her more. hey, everything's not sexism. everything's not racism.

they ask the men more because the men are all wearing the same outfit, okay? every guy there is wearing the exact same thing. you know, if george clooney showed up with a lime green tux on, and a swan coming out his ass, somebody would go, what you wearing, george? >> one of the other big stories of the night, six-time oscar nominee leonardo dicaprio finally took home a golden statue for his performance in "the revenant." he used his speech to bring attention to climate change. >> making "the revenant" was about man's relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. climate change is real. it is happening right now. it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species. >> now chris rock also had another mission last night and

it had nothing to do with passing out awards. >> i want you to reach into your millionaire pockets, and i want you to buy some of my daughter's girl scout cookies. look at my babies up there. are you going to deny my princesses some cookies? all right! >> raising money for the girl scouts there and the celebrities weren't the only ones buying up the cookies. chris rock posted this video on his instagram page showing vice president biden giving him a $20 bill. now we didn't see the veep actually get the cookies. but the vice president's a nice guy so maybe he just wanted to help out. now the academy awards has always existed at the skrosroads of politics and entertainment and last night i threw some tough questions at the biggest names in hollywood while they were on the red carpet. if you were running for office, if you basically are, right? >> am i? >> what would be your campaign slogan, larry? >> oh, you really put me on the spot. this is why i don't like to do

interviews. >> why? >> why do i want to be put on the spot, i have to come up with something real fast, really witty right away. i'm not that quick. >> you can't do that? >> no, no. eat fish. >> smells bad, tastes good. >> come on, yeah. >> there you have it. that does it for me and "way too early." but coming up next on "morning joe" another wild weekend in the race for the republican presidential nomination. as marco rubio gets down and dirty with donald trump. former presidential candidate mike huckabee will weigh in. and hillary clinton pivots to super tuesday in the general election, after trouncing bernie sanders in south carolina's primary. that and much more coming up next on "morning joe." hi i'm kristie. and i'm jess. and we are the bug chicks. we're a nano-business. windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. "hey cortana, find my katydid video." oh! this is so good. if you're trying to teach a kid about a proboscis.

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