marco because they love the cubans. now it's a race. now everyone votes for a donald stump, but there's no donald stump, boom, all of the delegates go to rubio. >> there's not enough delegates left for him to win the nomination. >> which is why in june, marco tricks ted cruz into trading his delegates for a treasure map because ted cruz is dumb enough to do that. now, cruz is off digging up a beach in bermuda, stump is tanking and marco takes the lead just in time to click those heels all the way to the convention, baby. >> the math is not on marco rubio's side, but that's not stopping big money republicans from dumping millions into his home state to stop donald trump. and what will mitt romney say? four years after receiving trump's endorsement, the one-time republican nominee is expected to speak today to do the exact opposite for this year's front-runner. and he pleaded the fifth

when called to testify before congress. but now the former clinton staffer who installed her private e-mail server is reportedly talking. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning. it's thursday, march 3. i'm jonathan capehart. a staffer who set up hillary clinton's server has been granted immunity. brian pagliano's cooperation was secured as part of an ongoing investigation. he helped to set up the server in 2009 at the home -- at the family home in chappaqua and he was paid as a consultant. the justice department declined comment as did pagliano's

attorney. as for the clinton campaign, a spokesman said they urged him to give evidence in 2013, instead, he invoked his fifth amendment rights. top senate committee chairman also offered him immunity to testify at the time. since the discovery t server has been at the center of headlines. a federal investigation and a political tug of war between both parties. new york times reports that the fbi could seek to question the former secretary of state and top aides and that the investigation could be wrapped up by may. the campaign told the paper they have been cooperating and offered in august to meet with justice department if needed. earlier this week, the state department released the last trove of the more than 50,000 pages of clinton's personal e-mails. more than 2,000 were marked classified retroactively. 22 were the highest level of sensitivity, top secret. clinton and the state department have said that none of the material was marked classified

at the time it was sent. the republicans will meet for the 11th debate tonight as donald trump is pulling away from the field on his way to the republican nomination winning ten of the first 15 contests. and now, multiple new efforts are under way to stop the billionaire outsider. the prevailing strategy centers on denying trump enough delegates to have majority going into the convention this july rather than defeating him outright in the primary. several major gop donors behind an anti-trump super pac are recruiting former jeb bush donors as the delegate stakes get higher with winner take all primaries beginning march 15th. the pac plans to spend millions in florida, missouri and illinois, and that's just the beginning. this as the conservative club for growth announced it's putting $1.5 million behind this ad in florida. >> but who has trump ever actually taken on? he hides behind bankruptcy laws to duck paying his bills and kill american jobs.

he even tried to kick an elderly widow out of her home through eminent domain. real tough guy. >> this comes as more top republicans come out in opposition to trump. according to "the new york times," "the weekly standard's" bill kristol floated ben sasse of nebraska's name as a possible option for an independent republican ticket. meanwhile, former new hampshire governor john sununu endorsed the anyone but trump effort yesterday saying the goal is this. let's get to the convention in cleveland and figure it out there. and massachusetts governor charlie baker who endorsed chris christie before the new hampshire primary broke his months long silence about whether he would vote for trump in the fall. >> i have said that i wasn't going to vote for donald trump yesterday and i didn't. and i don't plan to vote for anymore november but i'm not willing to concede with 35 states to go that he's going to be the republican nominee. you know, i don't know how bernie sanders and his

supporters feel today when people run around and say that the democratic nomination is over. i don't think the republican one is over either but i said i wasn't going to vote for trump yesterday and i'm not going to vote for him in november. >> the former standard-bearer of the republican party, mitt romney, is about to address the state of the republican race. making a formal speech in utah this morning, romney is not expected to be announcing an endorsement or his candidacy, but instead he'll describe the choices facing the gop and likely take on donald trump. but donald trump is not waiting for the barbs to come, tweeting late last night, quote, looks like two time failed candidate mitt romney going to be telling republicans how to get elected. not a good messenger. all this comes as trump's operation recently reached out to romney's 2012 running mate house speaker, paul ryan. the trump campaign contacted his staff on monday and the speaker's office says it plans to engage all of the candidates. trump has been critical of congressional republicans for the recent budget deal, but

yesterday, he put out a video about negotiating and working with congress adding i would love to see the republican party and everyone get together and unify when we unify, there's nobody who's going to beat us. with pressure mounting both ted cruz and marco rubio are calling on voters and their opponents to unify against front-runner donald trump. >> donald trump's the front-runner. and there are more delegates against him than fore him. he's the weakest front-runner in the history of the republican party. usually when you have somebody in the position he's in now, you have everyone begging to coalesce around the front-runner and now you have everyone going against the front-runner. how does he seal the nomination? i don't think he ever gets the delegates. >> head to head with hillary clinton donald trump in all likelihood loses and it's a disaster for republicans. in all likelihood we lose the senate, we lose races up and down the ballot. it's a disaster for conservatives. it's a disaster for the country. >> but at this point, if you don't want to see donald trump as the nominee, there's only one

campaign in a position to beat him. if you have been supporting another candidate, we welcome you on our team. if you have been supporting ben carson or john kasich or marco rubio, all good, honorable men, we welcome you on our team. if you have been supporting donald trump, we really welcome you on our team. >> just hours after vowing to stay in the race, ben carson has all but ended his bid for the republican nomination. writing in a statement he sees no political path forward after super tuesday, the retired neurosurgeon said he will not attend tonight's debate in his hometown of detroit. carson's statement comes after earning just eight delegates and zero wins from the 15 republican contests so far.

he stopped short of suspending his campaign and said he'd discuss his plans during his speech at cpac tomorrow. hillary clinton celebrated her success with a victory lap through new york city. after winning seven states and taking a commanding delegate lead over bernie sanders, clinton travelled to manhattan where she spoke to a crowd of more than 5,000 people before headlining a fund-raiser in front of about 6,000 donors packed into the sold-out radio city music hall. that audience came to see clinton but also celebrities like jamie foxx and jamie ann moore and performances from elton john and katy perry. during both events yesterday, the democratic front-runner continued to sound like a candidate, gearing up for the general. >> make no mistake about it. the other side has a very different vision about what our country should look like, how we should treat each other. there's a lot of finger pointing and insulting going on over in their primary.

now, maybe some people think that's entertaining but i'll tell you, this is serious business. it really matters when you're running for president what you say. and boy, does it matter when you are the president about what you say and how the rest of the world hears you. meanwhile, day after super tuesday, the clinton campaign released the fund-raising totals for the month of february. they reported raising more than $30 million last month. $12 million shy of the sanders campaign. senator sanders campaign in maine yesterday, ahead of the state's democratic caucuses on saturday and in his first speech following super tuesday, the senator went right after hillary clinton on everything from super pac money to her iraq war vote to her support of the 1996 defense of marriage act. once again, he called on clinton to release the transcripts of her paid speeches on wall street. >> it seems to me if you're going to get paid $225,000 for a speech, it must be a pretty good speech.

and if it is such a very good speech, clearly, you want to share wit the american people. so we urge secretary clinton to share that extraordinary speech with the american people. tell us what you said behind closed doors to goldman sachs. >> now, after leaving maine, sanders travelled to east lansing, michigan, where he spoke to about 10,000 people last night. voters in that delegate rich state go to the polls next tuesday. the supreme court has taken up one of the most important abortion rights cases in decades. clinics and doctors are challenging a texas law that they say has forced the number of state abortion facilities to fall from 42 to 19. and they warn it could drop to ten. hundreds of people gathered outside of the supreme court as activists held up signs and

chanted yesterday. the court's decision is expected to affect similar laws in 12 other states. since the passing of justice antonin scalia, the court is now split, raising the prospect of a tie. the decision may come down to justice kennedy who questioned whether the law might impose too much of a burden on a woman's right to a abortion. a decision is expected by the end of june. still ahead on "way too early," a former energy company ceo and nba team owner dies in a car crash one day after being indicted. the question is whether it was more than an accident. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. up

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hotel room. new allegations that a witness in the case was seen in public watching the video with friends. nbc news morgan radford has more. >> reporter: erin andrews arriving in the courthouse with her parents for day six of testimony. but there would be a delay. and a bombshell. >> do you have any comment? >> neal peskind is an executive with west end hotel partners which owned the hotel where erin andrews was secretly filmed by stalker michael barrett. peskind had testified on monday. >> so the owner, westin hotel partners llc -- >> correct. >> peskind and two friends were at a restaurant where erin andre andre andrews' naked viral video was openly played and peskind and his friends were making fun of her body. also tweeting he said if it was going to cost him millions he was going to watch it and show everyone. >> can you tell us what happened? we heard a statement. >> reporter: in a statement, peskind said his friends started to view the video.

i asked them to stop, while they did so, it was not as quickly as i had hoped. i would never disrespect ms. andrews. i sincerely apologize for my participation in what happened. exposure like this is what andrews has emotionally emphasized all week. >> this will always be on the internet. this will always be there, there will always be a reminder every single day. >> reporter: her worst nightmare roaring back to life. >> that was morgan radford reporting. we turn now to the shocking news out of oklahoma where former chesapeake energy chief executive aubrey mcclendon died in a single car crash yesterday. it came less than 24 hours after he was charged with conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural gas leases and he disputed the charges. authorities say the 56-year-old energy tycoon was driving alone at a high rate of speed without a seat belt when his car crashed into the embankment. the vehicle was immediately engulfed in flames.

he built chesapeake which he cofounded in 1989 into the nation's second largest producer of natural gas. today, only exxon mobil produces more. he was forced to step down from the company in 2013 after a shareholder revolt. he was part opener of the oklahoma city thunder which plays its home games at the chesapeake energy arena. for more on how the business community is reacting, we turn to cnbc's steve sedgwick from london. what are you hearing? >> well, he was a very big oil man, as you mentioned there, jonathan, a controversial figure as well. but he was almost a mythical figure. you mentioned the basketball team, he had a winery in france. he talked about his $12 million antique map collection. one of the key rivals but another legendary oilman t. boone pick uppens he said he wa charismatic. this is man who basically would use hydraulic fracking techniques to unlock vast

quantities of natural gas in texas, oklahoma, ohio. and pennsylvania. some are saying it was he and his like who are responsible for the u.s. energy revolution which meant of course less dependent on imported oil and gas. but aubrey mcclendon, a controversial but larger than life figure, jonathan. back to you. >> steve sedgwick, thank you. last night the oklahoma city thunder took the court under the cloud of aubrey mcclendon's death. the thunder led a 22-point lead -- let a 22 point lead slip away on the road, ending the game on the losing end of a run. okc's westbrook had a chance to even things up with his team down by three in the game's final seconds. >> pull-up jumper. out of time-outs. now obviously they need a three. west book puts it up. the thunder unable to come

down down the stretch and the clippers wrap up the victory. in san antonio the spurs clinch a 19th straight playoff berth after a 97-81 win over the pistons last night. how did they do it? we looked to the spurs coach gregg popovich during another classic interview. >> you held them to 14 points in the period. how were you able to do that? >> we played good "d." >> what was it about your defense that was good? >> the aggressiveness. >> coach popovich, a man of few words. the kobe bryant farewell tour stopped off in denver last night where the lakers took a 117-107 loss against the nuggets. while l.a. fans didn't get to witness a laker victory, one went home with something even better. kobe autographed the game worn sneakers right off of his feet and handed them to a young fan in the crowd. turning now to the nation's

capital where members of the alabama crimson tide were honored at the white house yesterday in recognition of their college football championship victory over clemson back in january. alabama's fourth national title in seven years. >> this is the fourth time i have hosted alabama here at the white house. [ applause ] so clearly i brought you some good luck. in fact, you can call me obama. you like that? >> that was a good line. >> yeah. it was a good line. hey, bill, let's get a check of the weather. >> you have some snow coming your way in d.c. >> what? >> yeah. the white stuff, you have to brush it off the car. >> go ahead. >> let me show you what's going on, 23 right now is the windchill in d.c. it's very cold in new england. cold from the mid-atlantic to the northeast and the storm location is located over

arkansas, spreading light snow in illinois and indiana. not a lot of accumulation, but it will make it a little slippery, especially in northern indiana and into portions of ohio. later tonight the storm reenjerizes it's like a good up sized nor'easter, it will spread snow in virginia. you'll have a couple of inches of snow out of this, roanoke and north of raleigh too. in the chesapeake that's where we're seeing the accumulating snow. philadelphia and new york, maybe less than an inch. boston doesn't get much out of this either. richmond, two to four inches of snow. wintry mess turning to all snow tonight. same for you d.c. it will be a slippery morning drive. here's the good news, as we go through this week, all the warmth heads to the east. it will be 60 and 70 in many areas of the east next week.

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there's no question it's been a bruising campaign season so far. and at times, it's been hard to keep our sense of humor, but the folks at bad lip reading are back this time with an ad unlike any other. for ted cruz.

>> i'd like to stick garden hose in this building. >> i guess you would. >> oh, hi, i'll find you soon. not soon you'll be remembered. you're the devil. a little boy is like a thousand freckles and every one is like oh, there's goobers on his bod. i'm done listening. >> you know, ted's always kind of freaky. he eats hair. human hair. he's the first one to say let's go out and eat hair. >> it's wonderful now and again. >> see? >> hair, yum. i went down the summer camp and took a can of gasoline. >> don't light the cabins on fire. >> i wish i couldn't but it's too late. >> oh, doesn't that mean you go to jail? >> no, because i ran away. you know what? i just love to twerk. holla, holla. you know, originally heidi

wanted to marry a different fellow. she wanted herbert spineti. >> yeah, he was into football. he was just always very open and sensuous with me. you know? like on the weekend he'd bring fruit and lay by the fire with me and tell me i looked like a french model. >> what? why did you even tell him that? >> he's still a really close friend. >> i didn't know that. >> mm-hmm. he's in the kitchen right now. >> wait, he's here? >> yeah. >> is he? >> mm-hmm. >> that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe" -- donald trump joins the conversation to weigh in on the all-out effort to stop him from getting the republican nomination. and as hillary clinton marches toward the democratic nomination, here comes another reminder of the legal hurdle that could cause her to stumble. new details on the e-mail controversy and more coming up next on "morning joe."

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. good morning, it's thursday, march 3, welcome to "morning joe." we have a lot to get to this morning. some breaking news developing late last night. with us we have veteran columnist in and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. president and ceo of politico jim vandehei. pulitzer prize winning historian jon meacham. >> you won a pew litzer? >> he loves everyone knowing about that. he took a picture. and in washington, michael steele. managing editor of bloomberg politics mark halperin also with us. mike, you obtained a copy of the speech that mitt romney is going to be giving later today. he is going to be slamming donald trump, calling him -- and i got this, willie, mark got a little bit of exactly what he's going to say. calling him -- let me see if this is seringly clear enough. calling him a phony, a fraud and playing the american people for suckers. so i guess he's not