>> oh, wow. preparing for a nightmare, donald trump warns what could happen if he loses the nomination at a contested convention in cleveland. and he has the money, but does he have the reasonable path to the democratic nomination? this morning, we try to figure out how bernie sanders could still find a way to win. and a supreme court nominee they can't refuse or can they? president obama tries to make it hard for senate republicans to shun his pick for the high court. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." ♪ good morning, everyone. it is thursday, march 17th. happy st. patrick's day, i'm alex witt. reaction is pouring in from both sides of the aisle following president obama's nomination of judge merrick garland to the

supreme court. the president announced garland as his pick to replace the late conservative justice antonin scalia yesterday. even as the president warned against politicizing the process, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell wasted no time in responding. >> the decision the senate announced weeks ago remains about a principle and not a person. it's about a principle, and not a person. it seems clear that president obama made this nomination not with the intent of seeing the nominee confirmed, but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election. >> like many republicans, senator blunt is refusing to meet with garland saying quote, i can barely schedule a time with my son's math teacher so probably no. he was confirmed 76-23 with 32

republican votes. and his current supreme court nomination is a whole different story with many republicans -- they said they're open to considering or meeting with garland. >> i would not feel comfortable refusing to meet with the president's nominee to the highest court of the land. >> i do meet with him, it wouldn't be a good use of his time. i won't change my position because it's made on the principle of this nominee having a possibility of reshaping the court for generations. >> out of courtesy and respect i will be meeting with him if he wants to meet with me. but i will clearly explain to him as well that i believe that the people should be weighing in on the november elections before a confirmation process goes forward. in the presidential election, no donald trump, no debate. next week's republican debate in

utah was officially called off yesterday after two of the three remaining candidates said they wouldn't be there. fox news confirmed the cancellation in a statement writing in part, quote, obviously there needs to be more than one participant so the salt lake city salt lake city debate is cancelled. trump will be giving a speech before the pro israel group the same day. kasich said that without trump the ohio governor wouldn't be there either. senator ted cruz used the opportunity to attack donald trump calling him ducking donald on twitter. and cruz challenged trump to meet him in washington. >> his excuse is silliness, it reflects his assumption that he thinks the voters are -- can't figure it that he's not telling them the truth. listen, apec would have allowed him to speak at any time. he chose to speak right in the middle of the debate because he's scared to debate. you know, he just -- he looks

down on the voters. he thinks they're gullible and will believe whatever he's say, so i'm going to be in d.c. there for there as well. i'm happy to debate him in washington. >> donald trump emerged with a clear lead in the delegates and while it's more possible he can secure the nomination before the convention he warned yesterday of bad things happening if he is not nominated. >> up i think we'll -- i think we'll win before getting to the convention but i tell you, if we didn't and we're 20 votes short or if we're, you know, a hundred short, and we're at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400 because we're way ahead of everybody, i don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically. i think it would be -- i think you'd have riots. i think bad things would happen, i really do. i wouldn't lead it, but i think bad things would happen. >> yesterday, trump picked up the endorsement of governor rick scott who wrote on facebook in part, if we spend another four months tearing each other apart

we won't win in november. time to end the republican on republican violence and time for us to begin coming together. this while nikki haley who had endorsed marco rubio is now backing ted cruz. and another rubio supporter, senator imhoff of nebraska endorsed john kasich yesterday. former house speaker john boehner has clarified a comment he made yesterday taken as an endorsement of paul ryan. he said in a conference in florida if the party does not have a nominee who can win on the first ballot at the convention, he's for paul ryan to be president. a spokesman for boehner then released a statement reminding everyone that the former speaker has already endorsed john kasich and that his off the cuff comments were about a hypothetical scenario in which none of the current candidates are able to secure the nomination at the convention. speaker ryan's office also released a statement saying he isn't interested and he won't accept a nomination.

meanwhile, donald trump is once again training his attacks on hillary clinton suggesting she's not tough enough to face vladimir putin. he made it plain in a new video posted to instagram with the caption, is this what we want for a president? ♪ [ barking ] [ laughter ] >> you're going to go scorched earth on hillary clinton, going to get into the personal stuff with her and her husband, the scandal, going to do all that? >> well, i think i'd rather not say now. it's a little early, i want to get it first. you know, we had little run-in about two months ago and i helped bernie a lot because frankly her numbers came down very big after that. that was my only real confrontation with her. we'll see what happens, but whatever it is it is i'll do what i have to do. >> trump was also asked whether

bill clinton was a good president on policy outside of his personal issues. >> i'm not sure that you can separate the policy and the personal. i will say this. nafta is a disaster. and the more you see with nafta, that was his baby more than anybody else. and the more you see of nafta, what they have done with -- what it's done to this country and it was belated because people thought it was a good thing, but nafta has stripped the country of everything. 's take son many company -- it's taken so many companies and jobs out of the system. you know, when you add nafta to the legacy of bill clinton it really hurts her. >> this as the updated global risk assessment from the global forecasting service rates a donald trump presidency as a top ten risk event that could disrupt the world economy. their analysis concludes while trump's policy details are few and prone to revision, his hostile attitude to free trade

and alienation of china and mexico can cause a trade war. and advocating the killing of those to wipe out isis to acquire the oil saying his militaristic tendencies including a ban on all muslim travel to the u.s. would be a potent recruitment tool for jihadi groups. they rank the high impact scenario a 12 on a scale of 1 to 25. the same risk intensity number that it assigned to the possibility that terrorism would destabilize the global economy. bernie sanders is vowing to stay in the race for the democratic nomination, despite hillary clinton's clean sweep on tuesday. sanders' top strategist believe they can make up the delegate gap and pointed to upcoming contests where they believe they can start do so. meanwhile, campaign manager weaver said that a sanders exit could hurt hillary clinton. he said if sanders were to drop

out, clinton could expect months and months of immediate and vicious and personal attacks from the trump people so i don't know that's healthy for her. looking ahead, there are democratic contests in arizona, idaho and utah next tuesday. four days after that, there are caucuses in hawaii and washington state. let's look abroad now and the obama administration is demanding the release of an american college student sentenced to 15 years of hard labor by north korea. 21-year-old otto warmbier looked disoriented as he was hauled into pyongyang's top court. the virginia student was found guilty of subversion, but his crime, a human rights group, was more like a college prank allegedly stealing a propaganda flag from his hotel. >> i'm only human. how i have made the worst mistake of my life. >> former new mexico governor bill richardson who has negotiated with north korea in the past said he's working to get the student released on

humanitarian grounds. well, four people have been arrested in the paris region over terror suspicions. according to the interior minister, the police had information to suggest that one of the people arrested was believed to have been actively plotting some kind of attack. the arrests come on the heels of a raid in belgium linked to the paris terror attacks. one suspect was killed in the raid and two others are on the run. at least three officers were wounded during the operation. still ahead here on "way too early," the final ncaa bracket of the obama presidency. plus, the latest on the d.c. metro system and that unprecedented 29-hour shutdown. has the problem been fixed? those stories and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back.

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bill self owes me. coach, i'm just teasing, i'm not

putting pressure you know, but i think the jayhawks in a squeaker get past unc. >> yeah. no pressure there. president obama picking kansas to win it all. pegging the number one overall jayhawks as ncaa champions in espn's final installment of bracketing to. the field of 64 is set. and michigan punches their ticket after a win over tulsa last night. and holy cross gets by southern university, 59-55. in the first tournament victory for the team since 1953. the first games in the round of 64 tip off today at 12:15 eastern. those teams who did not make it to the big dance are battling out in the n.i.t. conference. this is a tiebreaking basket that sent gw into the second

round. they'll face top seeded monmouth on monday. turning to major league baseball, white sox first baseman adam laroche left fans scratching their heads with the surprise announcement he'd be retiring due to the undisclosed personal issue. we know why the 12 year veteran is walking away from baseball and the $13 million left on the contract. he made the decision after being told by team management to reduce his 14-year-old's son presence in the clubhouse. ken williams who made the request spoke to reporters about the details of the situation. >> it's not because the young man was a distraction and not because he wasn't well received and well liked by players and management. in order to -- to have an answer for the next person that comes along, that wants to have his child on the field 100% of the

time that's kind of where we are, it was a lot of time. and so yeah, i asked -- i asked him initially to dial it back, you know? i was a little surprised at the stance that he took. >> that's a loyal dad for you. finally on the nba court, the golden state warriors extend their home winning streak to 50 games after a 121-85 victory over the knicks last night. curry led in 28 minutes of action knocking down eight three-pointers in the game. interesting statistical note here, curry's record 326 three-pointers so far is more than magic johnson made in his entire career. wow. i mean, that's incredible. bill karins. >> too bad we don't get to see him more often. >> so true. take it away with weather. >> you don't want to talk about your final four picks or? >> no. no. okay -- >> move on, just go. >> yeah.

yeah. so the tournament does start today. beautiful weather across the country. st. paddy's day going on. we have snow in the northern portions of the great lakes and yesterday they got hammered. we have one thunderstorm on the entire map and now it happens to be going right between ft. worth and the dallas area here. it's been extended it will pass to the south of downtown dallas here. right along interstate 20. this is going to wake people up. you can see the lightning flashes here. you can see decent sized hail with it as it moves out of downtown ft. worth and heading down to arlington. so here's your st. patrick's day forecast for a lot of parades. new york city, 54 degree, no problems. 59 in boston. very warm for your parade. savannah, another parade, that's a great time, 69 degrees, north

wind at 7. mobile, a few storms to deal with. hopefully they'll be okay. hopefully they'll hold off until after the parade is over with. in chicago, your parade, 54 degrees, no issues whatsoever. just a little bit windy still out there. no problems in the west. we'll see intermountain snow, but mostly in the northern rockies. speaking of snow, we kick in about 10:30 p.m. east coast time, that's when we start spring officially. unfortunately looks like we'll have a coastal storm to deal with. sunday night into monday. now, 3 1/2 days out, there's still a little disagreement. this map -- i don't want to give snow amounts yesterday, it's way too early. this shows the possibility of heavier snows interior new england and this means snow is possible. even as far south as d.c. and northern virginia up through the i-95 corridor. monday night would be the peak timing of this and that's when people are returning to work and school. teachers and students are saying, yay, but parents are giving the thumbs down to this.

but the american forecast isn't as robust, it takes it further off the coast. it only brings significant snows into eastern new england and maine. very little anything for new york city southward. 3 1/2 days out, alex, this forecast will be changing in the days ahead. but sunday night into monday morning, a possibility of a spring snowstorm in areas that have been 70 and 80s. >> it seems like it's been doing that the last few years. the sad news from the world of entertainment. frank sinatra jr. has died. the son of the legendary crooner and nancy sinatra, he followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a musical director for his dad. his life was rocked by violence as a young man. at the age of 19 he was kidnapped at gunpoint only to be returned two days later when his family paid nearly a quarter

million dollars for his release. sinatra died of cardiac arrest in florida. find out how broadway's alexander hamilton may have helped the one on the $10 bill save face. "way too early" is back in a moment. oh, look... ...another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works... ...in one week. with the... fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and...

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of course republicans don't like calling it a brokered convention. they have a much nicer name. >> from the rnc perspective

we'll prepare for all contingencies including an open convention. >> we could have an open convention. >> i'm sorry, not brokered, open. just like, honey, we don't have a broken marriage we have an open marriage. i know we never discussed it, but it will spice things up, you know, to bring in an outsider. and i think we'll end up trusting each other even more. >> oh, yes. that's one way to look at i. so we have the proof, everyone, we'll take you live to washington, d.c. it's back. the metro system resumed service at 5:00 a.m. this morning after an emergency one-day shutdown for safety inspections. a top official tells "the washington post" that the shutdown was necessary and that three of the problems discovered during the course of the day were showstoppers that required immediate repair. no subway meant d.c. area highways were clogged with slow moving traffic during rush hour yesterday as hundreds of thousands of commuters, visitor, residents were forced to search for alternate means of

transportation. the winner yesterday was ride hailing app uber. they offered a $25 credit to users during their first ride and capped surge pricing at 3.9 times the normal fare. still a lot though. let's get a check on the morning's other headlines and for that we head to the newsroom, mr. louis burgdorf. >> good morning. yesterday, we told you a bit about the first lady's keynote address at the south by the southwest festival in austin to promote her global women's education initiatives. now, in her keynote we asked -- when asked if she would run for president, she said that she would not, citing the pressures that her daughters had as being the children of the president. the panel was missy elliott, sophia bush, diane warren and queen latifah. they spoke about the important of diversity in the workforce. i'll have more coming up next on "morning joe" with interviews from festival founder louis black and oscar nominated

director richard link later. and hillary clinton made a cameo on "broad city" last night where she showed off her comedy chops. >> i still want to get the word out, so i vow to tweet once a week, vote for hillary, yes yes yes. >> that would be great. we need to drum up some excitement for the campaign. do everything that we possibly can. you know what i'll do? >> yes. >> look at that. i thought this would be really good for office morale. isn't she great? >> of course. we assumed it was a he. >> oh, no no no. it's a she. >> all right. let's go to a local story here. ohio police have cracked the case where an 85-year-old man's home was repeatedly egged over the course of a year. things were about to get sticky for 30-year-old jason kozan, the

man being charged with vandalism. he's accused of egging his former neighbor's home more that than a hundred time from may of 2014 to june of 2015. now, the euclid, ohio, police department conducted lengthy investigations over the course of that year. including undercover stakeouts and neighborhood canvassing. eggshells were even sent to a crime lab for testing. a motive for the egging has not been identified but i'm sure that neighbor is very happy. okay, finally the morning, did hamilton just help hamilton keep his face on the $10 bill? we know that the treasury department has plans to revamp the bill to include the face of a woman in american history. many thought that that meant the founding father and the first treasury secretary alexander hamilton would get the boot. now, miranda, the creator and star of the hit musical "hamilton" hinted something else may be in the works on monday. he said the treasury secretary jack lew said you'll be very

happy. we're not sure exactly what that means, maybe he'll get rid of andrew jackson on the 20 instead. whatever you do, don't touch the benjamin. >> i'm going to "hamilton" saturday night and i'm taking my son. so excited. have you seen it? >> i can't get tickets. >> well, i have been waiting a long time. so anyway, it's been a while coming. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe," the next republican presidential debate has been cancelled but ted cruz says he's willing to go wherever, whenever to get trump one-on-one. and plus, president obama tries to make it hard for republicans to ignore his nominee. and dennis mcdonough about the plans to get merrick garland confirmed. that and much more. ♪ i'd like to take this time to introduce a friend of mine ♪

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it was an kprieting night by the donald followed by an early morning phone call about foreign policy to the gang of "morning joe." >> since we have dire foreign policy issues percolating around the world right now, who are you consulting with csi