let me try! >> yeah, that's perfect. republican leaders still looking for way to stop donald trump. we'll tell you the plan hatched in another secret meeting. and the comeback plan. bernie sanders says it's not too late to win the democratic nomination, but president obama may disagree. trading blame, the governor of michigan and the head of the epa point fingers over the flint water crisis. then lawmakers let them have it. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, everyone. it is friday, march 18th. i'm alex witt. the republican national

convention opens in exactly four months from today as a band of party regulars remain determined to stop donald trump from gaining the nomination. in downtown washington yesterday, conservative activists met privately to devise a plan. they settled on calling for a unity ticket though who it would consist of remains unclear. leading options open to a former candidate or someone who didn't run. they encourage all to hold their delegates on the first ballot at the convention and they pledged to keep their options open as to other avenues which could include a write-in campaign in the fall. trump recently suggested there could be riots if he's not nominated. which one of the leaders of the group, erick erickson alluded to and drew a rebuke from paul ryan. >> in 1860, abraham lincoln it took him three times to get elected. >> nobody should say such things in my opinion to even -- because to even address or hint to violence is unacceptable.

>> mean while, politico reports that ryan met with mega donors in florida last night. while it's not intended to be about trump, among the two dozen attendants were paul singer and chicago cubs co-owner todd ricketts who are investing heavily in stop trump campaigns. a report says that south carolina governor nikki haley is set to address the group this morning. in the press conference yesterday, ryan said it's increasingly likely we're headed for a contested convention and maintained that he's still neutral in the presidential battle and will never be a candidate. >> in the event that no person running for the republican nominee right now gets enough on the first ballot that you will unequivocally not put yourself -- >> it's not me. look, i didn't think i made news. i thought i was pretty clear and candid with you. saw boehner last night. i said to knock it off. you know?

i used slightly different words, i used his own words that he used to use against us when he told us to knock things off. it's not going to be me. it should be somebody running for president. look i made a decision over a year ago not to run for president. i really believe if you want to be president, you should run for president. people are out there campaigning, they're canvassing, caucuses and primaries that's who we should select from among for our next president on what ever ballot we're talking about. my goal is to be dispassionate and to be switzerland, to be neutral and dispassionate and to make sure that the rule of law prevails and to make sure that the delegates make their decision how ever the rules require them to do that. >> it was a little more than three weeks ago that senator lindsey graham joked you could kill ted cruz on the senate floor and not be convicted, but now he's doing everything he can to help cruz wrestle the nomination from donald trump. >> i think he's the best alterative to donald trump. he's not my preference, but he's

a reliable republican conservative of which i have had many differences with. i doubt donald trump's conservatism. i'm trying to help raise money for senator cruz and the pro israeli community. >> while graham said he'd rather see kasich win the nomination, but he can't see the path to the nomination. and senator marco rubio is singing ted cruz's praises. in a conference call with minnesota supporters, he called cruz the only conservative left in the race according to audio obtained by the pioneer press. and back on capitol hill yesterday, rubio who is set to leave the senate at the end of the year ruled out a unity ticket with cruz or anyone else and reflected on the republican front-runner. >> i'm not going to be anybody's vice president. i'm -- i'm not interested in being vice president. i don't mean that in a disrespectful way.

i'm not running for governor of florida. i'm going to finish out my term in the senate over the next ten months, we'll work hard here and we have things to achieve and then be a private citizen in january. hopefully there's time to prevent a trump nomination which i think would fracture the party and be damaging to the conservative movement. >> at this point, it's like a daily occurrence. you know? of stuff that he says. there's not going to be any riots, but, you know, it's a very unusual political year. people are going to write books about this year. there will be a lot of political scholarship on what's happening but i don't think riots will be a part of it. well, the new york times is reporting on what the paper calls unusually candid remarks regarding the democratic primary race. the times writes, quote, president obama told a group of donors that senator bernie sanders is nearing the point where his campaign against hillary clinton will come to an end and that the party must soon come together to back her.

the president's comments were summarized for the times by three people. here's what josh earnest said yesterday. >> president obama made a case that would be familiar to all of you. which is that as democrats move through this competitive primary process we need to be mindful of the fact that our success in november in electing a democratic president will depend on the commitment and ability of a democratic party to come together behind our nominee. the president did not indicate or specify a preference in the race. >> well, i don't want to speculate on what he said or what he didn't say. in fact, i heard there's been

some push back from the white house kind of indicating that he didn't say that. but the bottom line is that when only half of the american people have participated in the political process, when some of the larger states in this country -- people in the states have not been able to voice their opinion on who should be the democratic nominee i think it's absurd for anybody to suggest that those people not have a right to cast a vote. >> senate democrats are putting the press shush on the republican counterparts when it comes to merrick garland. the president's nominee for supreme court. garland made his first visit to capitol hill yesterday, meeting with harry reid and senator leahy. democrats are highlighting the meetings as way to push the republicans into holding hearings. >> all we're asking is for the republicans to do their job. >> the american people

overwhelmingly believe republicans have the responsibility to do their job. because people get up and go to work every day and do theirs. >> according to politico, democrats are planning to take aim at republican senators up for re-election. top among them, judiciary chair chuck grassley. nbc news has confirmed at least eight republican senators have said they're open to at least meeting with garland, though some say that may not be productive. senator grassley was quoted yesterday as saying if i can meet with a dictator in uganda, i can meet with a decent person in america. but still, several republicans are holding steadfast. utah's orrin hatch who has praised garland in past yesterday said he still supports his party's blockade. >> we have taken the position that the correct thing to do, the right thing to do, it's a principled position, is to put this on the next president, whoever that may be. it may be hillary clinton.

so, you know, that's pretty reasonable approach. there was plenty of finger pointing into the water crisis in flint, michigan. governor snyder said that the water was safe, this while the head of the epa, gina mccarthy accused the state of providing unreliable information. but ultimately conceded that the agency did not respond quickly enough. both leaders took lashings from lawmakers. >> i see responsibility. i see people that are getting fired. i see changes. i see an admission that there was fundamental wrong that happened in the organization. but then when i turn to the epa, has anybody been fired? that's a question. >> no, sir. >> has anybody been dismissed? >> no, sir. you need to have the information to determine an -- >> why do we need an epa? if you can't do that -- >> i'm sorry. >> you were in the homes -- no, i'm asking the questions.

>> okay. >> yes, okay. in february is when you first arrived on the scene. it wasn't until january of the next year that you did something. that's the fundamental problem. don't look around like you're mystified that's what happened. you had the authority. you had the backing of the federal government. and you did not act when you had the chance and if you're going to do the courageous thing you too should step down. >> to put it in perspective, ranking member cummings, these are the kind of red flags i kick myself over. i wish you would -- i was getting advice -- >> no no no. i want you to finish the kicks. >> did that emergency management system fail under your leadership? in this instance. >> in this instance, it would be much to the case of that -- that i have, as you wish you would have asked more questions. they -- >> is that a yes or a no? >> in this particular case with respect to the water issue, that would be a fair conclusion. >> were you wrong to run that government like a business?

>> in terms of running it like a business, a government is not a business. >> it isn't. why would you say it should be run like one? >> in terms of accountability and delivering real results to people and not just flint, but the state of michigan, i'm proud of by medicaid -- >> you can talk about the things you want the talk about. i'll ask the questions i want to ask. >> you were not in a medically induced coma for a year and i have had enough of your false contrition and your phony apologies. you admit today after the whole world knew that flint was exposed to lead, you did not declare a state of emergency until january 2016. isn't that true? >> i took immediate action as soon as i learned there was a lead issue. we issued filters to people and did blood testing. >> plausible denight only works when it's plausible.

i'm not buying that you didn't know about this until october 2015. we'll have men that strike their wives, saying i'm sorry, dear, there were failures at all levels. people who put dollars over the fundamental safety of the people do not belong in government. and you need to resign too, governor snyder. >> like i said, lashings. about 8,000 children under the age of 6 were potentially exposed to lead and so far, elevated levels have been found in at least 221 children and more than a hundred adults in flint. an investigation from "usa today" recently found high levels of lead in 2,000 water systems spanning 50 states. it cites the tests performed over the past few years. we are learning more about the american isis fighter who surrendered this week. in an interview with kurdistan

24, 26-year-old virginia native khweis described how he travelled to iraq to join isis. he said he made a bad decision to follow a young iraqi woman to mosul and claims he left because he doesn't share the views of the terror organization. >> i decided i needed to escape. i wanted to go back to america. my message to the american people is the life in salmone a salmonella -- the life in mosul, it's really bad. >> u.s. officials are saying that they're eager to question khweis, saying he could be an intelligence gold mine. well, let's turn to business where stocks are hitting new highs for 2016. cnbc's louisa bojeson joins us from london. what is behind this sudden surge? >> it's the fed, the fed now scaling back expectations on how many times we think we'll see the fed rate hikes. previously they were indicating

four times, now they have scaled back the expectations. here the past week to two times and that's given a whole bunch of new life to the equity markets and some of the risk assets. so in asia overnight, we saw quite a bit of positivity as well. the index, japan, positive for the first time this year. here in europe this morning were flattish. we're mixed markets now, but again, also kind of ending out the week that's been very, very interesting on what all the central banks have been doing and setting ourselves up for next week, alex. >> okay. louisa bojeson, thank you. still ahead, march madness. the tournament's first upsets. plus, bill karins is tracking severe weather including the possible nor'easter. he'll bring us the worst case scenario and the best for that matter, when "way too early" comes right back. every day you read headlines about businesses

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if you have a chance to get into the hands -- you do. otherwise, you go hard. >> turnover! march magic for the yale bulldogs. >> two seconds left. [ buzzer ] >> look at that. that will do it. >> i'm sure somewhere. >> baker -- >> oh. that's a jam. >> and back, wide open bucket. >> disbelief for the trojans. >> hagans dribbling it out. he's setting it up. it's good! >> hagans does go to the basket. puts up the shot. he ties it again. double overtime coming up. >> oh, he missed it. edwards at the buzzer. no good! little rock is moving on! >> disbelief for the trojans. okay. day one of the ncaa tournament

tips off with a bunch of bracket busting upsets. you saw a number of the number 12 teams knocking off their fifth ranked opponents. the university of arkansas-little rock outlasted purdue for the 85-83 win and the ivy league outdoes the big 12 as yale notches the first ever tourney victory over the bulldogs. the first since 1962. prince had one explanation for the 79-75 loss. >> how does yale outrebound baylor? >> you go up and grab the ball off the rim when it comes off and then you grab it with two hands. and you come down with it. that's considered a rebound. so they got more of those than we did. >> yeah, yale outrebounded baylor in the game, 36-32. meanwhile, we also saw two 11 seeds beat six ranked teams. gonzaga pulled away for the 16 point win over seton hall and wichita state shocks kansas. that was a shocker in this round

one upset there. >> good writing -- >> arizona coach miller was really feeling the heat during the game. yeah, look at that. he was absolutely drenched in sweat. he had to change his shirt at the halftime of the team's upset loss. but kind of scary moment for uva head coach tony bennett who appeared to collapse on the sideline. this happened late in first half of virginia's 81-45 rout over hampton. bennett crouching on the floor, before being assisted off the court. however, he returned and he told the reporters he was just dehydrated. >> i had been under the weather the last couple of days and i think i was a bitt dehydrated. when you squat down and get up quick, i kind of blacked out quick. i had more powerade in my life than right now. i'm hopefully hydrated well. and finally on the nba court, the san antonio spurs

extend their home win streak to 34 games after a 118-110 victory over the trail blazers last night. the spurs who scored a winning record against everybody in the nba will be pushed to the test when they host the hot warriors tomorrow night. we go from that fun stuff to weather. >> do you know what i like about you? >> tell me. >> you're honestly truly upset that usc lost that game last night. >> oh, so bad. one point. start talking weather. >> the storm threat today in the south, we have a slight risk, 16 million people have a chance of storms. storms in north florida, they're dying out this morning. and the cluster out of mississippi is going to head to montgomery. let's move to sunday's forecast. this was yesterday afternoon, this was like the uh-oh, here we go. i'm thinking i'll be staying in a hotel room, but this comes out every 12 hours they'll update. we got the update last night at

3:00 a.m. it completely pushed the heavy snow further into eastern new england and out to sea. so it still looks like a possibility for significant snow in areas around boston to the cape and areas of eastern maine, but less of an event from new york city down to d.c. this time of the year it's hard to get the snow to accumulate on the roads anyway, so it's more of a nuisance thing. the only significant snow, in the cape and in maine. one to two inches is not much of a big impact come sunday night. we'll watch that throughout the weekend. the models have 60 hours to flip back the other way. but just watch it, it will be a close call. there's a chance for snow, but if you hear people talking about 6 to 12 inches, ignore it for now. as far as the forecast, a risk of storms in san antonio and new orleans area. that storm is in the southeast with a rainy, wet day there. then it will come up the coast. notice the temperatures, 39 in d.c. 35 in new york.

even if it does show and you see it falling the roads and travel shouldn't be an issue. >> what i like about you, you're always right. that's hard to do. >> not always. don't set the bar too high. >> i have to go to break. we will talk about this more. coming up, arnold schwarzenegger did it, so why can't he? we'll explain next. it took joel silverman years to become a master dog trainer. but only a few commands to master depositing checks at chase atms. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank.

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the office of former toronto mayor ford said he's back in hospital. he has been battling the aggressive form of soft tissue cancer for the last year and a half. the 46-year-old gained international notoriety after admitting to using drugs and drinking on the job while at the same time refusing to resign. we played sound bites from paul ryan defined about not running for president and if you want to ask questions in the house, you have to follow his rules. he enforced a strict st. patrick's day dress code. >> mr. speaker? >> wait, you're not wearing green. sorry, man. >> ryan did take his question, but he did make him wait. finally italian born fabio

known for his flowing blond hair and the inability not to believe it's not butter became a u.s. citizen yesterday and now he might consider a run for political office. he said i'm a people person, i love people. i would definitely go for the people. adding, you never know. fabio in 2020 i guess we'll see. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe," the stop trump movement keeps on trucking. is it going nowhere fast? plus, lindsey graham holds his nose and goes back to work for ted cruz. "morning joe" is just moments away. constipated? trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief designed for dependable relief.

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as it becomes more and more inevitable trump will be the republican nominee, people have been wondering who donald trump's foreign policy advisors are going to be. he finally told where you say he's getting his information from yesterday. take a look. >> who are you consulting with consistently so you're ready on day one? >> i'm speaking with myself, number one, because i have a ve g