chicane chicanery. >> that was not a scene from "house of cards," that was real. that's going to do it for me this hour. i'm thomas roberts, thanks for your time. chuck todd has national security adviser susan rice up next. "mtp daily" starts now. if it's friday, it's mitt romney, once again desperately trying to stop donald trump. now he says he'll vote for ted cruz in utah. but does that mean he's endorsing cruz for the white house? this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. >> good evening, everyone. and welcome to "mtp daily." we, obviously, have a lot to get to tonight on the republican party's latest twists and turns and the total lack of a unified strategy in the attempts by some to stop trump. plus, we're expecting to hear for the first time this hour

from ted cruz, about why he thinks, and what he thinks, of mitt romney saying that he'll be voting for him as a way to push towards a contested convention when the utah caucuses roll around on tuesday. but first, four months after the paris terrorist attack that killed 130 people, the only suspect believed to still be at large is no longer at large, but captured alive today. the intense manhunt for the suspected terrorist ended this afternoon, when belgian police raided a home in the brussels suburb of molenbeek. salah abdeslam was a friend of the suspected ringleader of the paris attacks. one of his brothers blew himself up that november night. abdeslam was shot in the leg today and detained along with four other people. back in november, on the mornings after the attack, abdeslam and two other men were stopped at the belgian border. he was questioned by police, but subsequently released. he's been a fugitive ever since. belgian prosecutors said today

that they had found abdeslam's fingerprints in an apartment raided earlier this week, and that's what they led them to him today. the investigation is ongoing, and the scene in molenbeek is still active. french president hollande congratulated belgian on the successful raid and he called for abdeslam's speedy extradition to france. >> translator: the final conclusion, there has already been arrests and there will be others in the future, because we know that the network was a very large network in belgian, in france, and in other european countries. >> our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, has been following this story since the november attacks and he's been following it all day today. he joins me now for a istanbul. richard, obviously, having him captured alive could help fill in some blanks about how this

cell or cells and these isis sympathizers have been funded, all of those things. but what else should we expect to learn out of this? what else do investigators hope? and how widespread is this conspiracy? >> reporter: french president hollande said that many more people were involved in the paris attacks than the french authorities the initially suspected. if you remember back in november, there was talk about eight attackers. then it became nine. and then there was the raid in saint denis and it became ten. since then, there have been about 100 different raids, all across europe, 11 extra people have been arrested. and then just today, in the raid in which abdeslam was captured, four others were taken into custody today. one of them, also, believed to have been connected to the paris attacks, and three people who were from the same family, who

were providing shelter to the fugitives. so, what we expect to see now and it does appear that this operation is winding down or perhaps might even be over, because some traffic is being allowed to return to that area in molenbeek is france, the french judicial system dealing with this now. there's a request to extradite abdeslam to france. he's still alive. one would assume that the -- that that request would be accepted by the belgian authorities, because the two countries have been working so closely together. so now france, perhaps publicly, will get to learn all the details about what happened in the attack, how many people were involved and are there still others out there that the french authorities still don't know about. >> richard, he seemed to be hiding in plain sight, since they ended up capturing him, really, not very far away from where they thought they were getting him before.

why was that? >> well, i think, of all the events that have happened today, i think that's the most striking detail. that he returned to his hometown. he returned to the neighborhood where he was born. the neighborhood where he first befriended abboud, the mastermind of this attack. and i think it shows that he didn't have have many other places to go. he was one of the attackers, according to french authorities, who was launched on this suicide operation back in november, but didn't carry it out. didn't explode his suicide vest. instead, left it, dumped it, got into a car, a escaped france, escaped into belgium. and if you are an isis suicide bomber or an isis suicide commando, like the others who were dispatched eto paris, the expectation is you will die carrying out your mission or die

trying. so he couldn't really go back to syria where the isis -- >> i understand what you're saying. >> -- stronghold where it would have been much harder for authorities to find him. he went back to the place where he was comfortable and where he had personal connections who were able to shelter him at least for the last several months. >> that's for sure. richard engel, i will let you know. i know you have "nightly news" to prepare for. i appreciate it. thanks very much. now i want to turn to susan rice, president obama's national security adviser. we were going to have you on to do a preview of cuba, we still want to talk about cuba, but i want to ask you about what we've seen unfold today in paris. and if you could start by first telling us what role did u.s. intelligence play in this raid and the capture? >> well, first of all, chuck, obviously, we had the opportunity with president obama to call and congratulate the prime minister of belgium and the president of france, who wanted to be together in

brussels as this was happening today. this is, first and foremost, a tribute to their strong cooperation and the good work of the law enforcement services of france and belgium, in particular. we've been closely cooperating with our french and belgium and other european partners, particularly in the wake of the paris attack, and we have stepped up our collaboration and intelligence sharing. but i'm not going to be in a position to get into detail about the nature of that cooperation. but the credit today really goes to the french and the belgians. >> can you say for certain now that this is a conspiracy that is contained within france and belgium? how closely are the ties to isis in syria and iraq? >> well, they seem, in this -- in the case of this attack, to have been quite close to syria, in any event. i don't think anybody can say with certainty, that there won't be follow-on attacks or subsequent threats that evolve

from the network that we have now seen largely taken down. we are very vigilant. and we know our european partners are doing their utmost every day to ensure that their territory remains safe, and we're doing everything we can, that's in the realm of the possible to help and step up our cooperation, both to help our european allies, and of course, to defend our own homeland. >> one more question on isis before i turn to cuba. obviously, earlier this week, russia announced that it was pulling its troops out, pulling its military, essentially its military intervention out of syria. was russia an asset in the fight against isis in syria or not? >> well, first of all, chuck, just so that your viewers are clear on the facts, the russians said they were going to draw down their forces in syria. and we've seen, in fact, a good share of their air assets begin to depart. and we've seen a shift in their military focus, to be almost

exclusively now against isil or daesh, and less against the opposition elements that they've deemed as threatening to the assad regime. and that change occurred when the cessation of hostilities went into effect. >> so they're actually cooperative? they're actually being cooperative now? >> what i said is that they are now fighting isil, much more intensively, and that has become the focus of their recent efforts. this is now, since, basically, earlier this month. in the past, we've been very concerned about their activities. they have targeted not just extremist opposition, but what we consider to be moderate opposition. legitimate opposition that have very deep and understandable grievances against the assad regime but really what we need from russia now is to continue to work with us and others to press the regime, to implement fully the cessation of hostilities. there's been a lot of progress. but we also need their role at

the negotiating table, so that both the opposition and the regime come and take the political process seriously. >> all right. i want to move to the president's trip to cuba this weekend, and coming up next week. why reward the castro regime with a presidential visit? and i say this because, they haven't done enough on human rights. they've done a lot on some other things, but on human rights, their political prisoners, some that they released, they put back in. why not stop short of a presidential visit? how is this not rewarding the castro brothers? >> chuck, a visit by the president, in the normalization process that we have begun, is not about rewarding the castro regime. our theory of the case is that 50 years of embargo and isolation have self-evidently failed to change the cuban government. and rather than continuing to do the same thing for another 50 years and expect a different

result, we have changed course and taken the view that by engaging with the cuban people, by having american businesses in cuba, by supporting entrepreneurs and talking so civil society and looking up the cuban people and the president of the united states will talk very directly to the people of cuba, that we can do far more to bring the freedom and long-term change to cuba that we all want to see. so we don't see this as a reward. quite the opposite. we see this as the most likely way, over time. it's not going to happen overnight, but over time, to change cuban society, by exposing them more to the rest of the world, and in particular, to the united states. and we're already seeing how popular this change is with the people of cuba, because they understand that even as isolated as they've been from the united states, their future lies in stronger ties to the u.s. >> how do you prevent -- i guess, is there any way you can extract an actual promise and

pledge from president castro, that he's not going to keep reimprisonening political dissidents? because he keeps doing it. >> yes, chuck, we have very serious and deep-felt concerns about the human rights situation in cuba. and we're going to speak to that very directly. in public, as well as in private. the president of the united states is going to have an unprecedented opportunity to meet with civil society leaders, dissidents, human rights activists, people that the united states, that the administration selected for him to meet. not hand-chosen by the cuban government. and the fact of the matter is, that through his speaking to the people, his -- our openness to entrepreneurs, to civil society, the long-term impact that american business will have, the new flow of american visitors that has already begun and will intensify, will be the most effective way to support the aspirations of the cuban people for freedom and for human

rights. the last 50 years have proved conclusively that isolation embargo no ties have manifestly failed. >> how quickly will the president call for some change in the immigration laws? we know there's already evidence that a lot of cubans want to come to the united states quickly. are they going to have the same protections that cubans used to get? you know, the special so-called wet foot, dry foot. how quickly does the president support changing these immigration laws that have favored cubans over everybody else in the caribbean? >> chuck, i have no predictions about any changes to u.s. immigration law. >> fair enough. is it something, though, that the president wants to see changed? >> chuck, i think this is a very complicated issue. we have, you know, taken for many years, an approach to the wet foot, dry foot policy that has served the cuban people well, and we believe served the

united states and that is the policy on the books today. >> and the last question i want to ask you, and it's not a political question, so don't take it that way, but just simply, someone is going to replace you as national security adviser for a new president. when they ask you, what are the three greatest challenges that they're going to face in your job, what will you tell them? >> chuck, first of all, i hope that briefing is a classified one. >> fair enough. >> and i will look forward to sharing with my successor in detail, not just the three things i worry about most, but in great depth, what i think any national security adviser and any new president needs to know to keep america safe and to maintain our strong leadership role in the world. >> so, is it china, middle east, or the all of it? >> it's all of the above. >> all right. i will leave it there. susan rice, national security adviser to the president, thanks very much. >> good to be with you. >> you got it. all right, this week, donald trump's newest wins mark the end

of the republican establishment as we know it. up next, we break down the republican grief cycle. denial, anger, bargaining, but how many have made it to acceptance? plus, ted cruz tours a border town in arizona. we'll hear from the candidate live later this hour. this is "mtp daily." we'll see you in a minute. create opportunity, and weave messages that lead to sales. these are the hands of pitney bowes, the craftsmen of commerce. these are the hands, the hands that drive commerce, that build business across borders. these are the hands of pitney bowes, the craftsmen of commerce. only glucerna has carbsteady, diabetes, steady is exciting. clinically proven to help minimize blood sugar spikes. so you stay steady ahead.

the u.s. senate is now in recess until april, but the fight over president obama's supreme court nominee is far from done. frankly, it's just beginning. republicans remain steadfast fa merrick garland's nomination isn't going anywhere, no hearings. but we've got brand-new numbers on what the country thinks. according to our new survey monkey online poll, 61% say congress should have a vote now on whether to conform garland. 36 say congress should delay voting until after a new president is sworn in. this sunday on "meet the press," i'll be speaking to both senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and senate minority leader harry reid about this supreme court

showdown. will it shut down the senate for good? and much more about "mtp daily" up ahead, about what the president is saying about garland being a punching bag for republicans for the next eight months. and that what goes down doesn't always come back up. ♪ [ toilet flushes ] ♪ so when you need a plumber, we can help you get the job done right, guaranteed. get started today at angie's list, because your home is where our heart is. [engines revving] you can't have a hero, if you don't have a villain. the world needs villains [tires screeching] and villains need cars. ♪

well, who could have predicted trump's rise? turns out that 16 years ago, almost to the day, one of america's greatest political prognosticators peered into the future and gave us this prediction. >> as you know, we've inherited quite a budget crunch from president trump. how bad is it, secretary van hallton? >> we're broke. >> the country is broke?! how could that be? >> zany antics, far-fetched story lines, cartoonish behavior, welcome to life imitating art imitating life in the wacky drama inside the republican party. look, there's no sugar coating it, it was a terrible week for the republican establishment. the stop-trump movement crumbled as trump dominated tuesday's contests and they still don't have a uniif i had strategy

moving forward. nearly two months ago to the day, we showed you the party's progression through the five stages of grief over trump's rise. today the party is so fractured, that they are experiencesing all the stages of grief now simultaneously. so let's run through them. first up is denial. we're still hearing that there's no way trump can win enough delegates to clinch the nomination. folks, he can. but here's how the cruz campaign is spinning that one. >> if donald continues -- continues getting delegates at the same rate he has so far, he won't get to 1,237 -- >> that's correct, but neither will you. >> for me to get to 1,237, it's true, i need to get 78% of the delegates. but here's the important thing towns. the way the delegate allocation math works, you don't have to get 78% of the vote to get 78% of the delegates. >> cruz actually needs 80% of the remaining delegates, not to nitpick. his chief strategist says, though, no big deal. we plan on getting there. folks, it would require a stunning set of dominant victories by cruz to make that happen. we're talking about winning all

but two or three of the remaining 22 states. and let's look at the map. new york, california, pennsylvania, connecticut, new jersey, um, not exactly cruz country. next up for the stages of grief, of course, is anger. there's plenty of that on the republican side right now when it comes to the blame game over trump's rise to dominance. we've heard it all. some are blaming us in the media for trump's rise. others are blaming the establishment for its inability to coalesce around an anti-trump strategy. others are still blaming the economy for sewing the seeds of a working class revolt against the party. some are saying it's president obama for creating the conditions that fueled trump. some say it's president bush. a big chunk of the party is in the bargaining stage of the bush process. if they can't beat trump on the trail, they say, well, they'll beat him at the convention. and there's a group of conservatives this week pushing for a unity ticket at the convention to circumvent trump altogether and try to purge him from the party. john kasich's entire campaign is now built on the idea of a

convention fight. >> it is unlikely that anybody is going to achieve enough delegates to avoid a convention. and for those who worry about a convention, it will be right in the open. i mean, there's no closed rooms, there's nothing but total transparency. >> then there's senator lindsey graham, who's backing his arch nemesis, ted cruz. it's one of the most bizarre 180s you will ever see. >> would ted cruz be a more acceptable nominee to you than donald trump? >> no. >> no? >> you're in trouble -- >> he's going to get killed. they'll tear him to shreds. >> in order to stop donald trump and and rally behind ted cruz? >> i can't believe i would say yes, but yes. >> i think the best alternative to donald trump, to stop him getting to 1,237 is ted cruz, and i'm going to help ted in every way i can. if i were in one of the states coming up, in terms of voting and i didn't like trump, i would vote for cruz. >> and late today, mitt romney announced that when he goes to the caucuses in utah on tuesday, he will be voting for ted cruz. he says it's the party's best hope to get a convention fight.

and that a vote for kasich is basically a vote for trump. by the way, in case you're wondering, mitt romney is no longer a registered voter in massachusetts. he is a registered voter in utah. that brings us to another stage of grief, depression. you don't have to look far for this one, folks. we saw it with marco rubio during his announcement tuesday that he was suspending his campaign. and again yesterday on the hill, when he said he would be leaving government service when his term expires. and today in "the new york times," conservative columnists, well, some people don't say he's a conservative columnist, center-right columnist, david brooks lamented that, quote, donald trump is epically unprepared to be president. he is a childish man running for a job that requires maturity. he is an insecure, boasting little boy. trump's supporters deserve respect. they are left out of this economy. but trump himself, no, not trump, not ever. and finally, yes, you know the last stage of grief, acceptance. this politico headline may say it all. "anti-trump forces contemplate

the end." and yesterday, we heard the republican speaker of the house, paul ryan, appear resigned to the will of all of those trump voters. >> this is a democratic process. the republican primary voter is going to make this decision on who our nominee is going to be. i'm going to respect that process. so it isn't my place to say who our nominee is or what. >> folks, we also saw republicans on this show, this week, struggle immensely with coming to terms with trump. here's just a taste. >> and i believe ted cruz will beat him. and will be the nominee of our party. so let's not jump ahead to november, quite so fast. >> i am going to be supporting the republican nominee. i think it's important to stop -- >> even if it's donald trump? >> even if it's donald trump. i hope it's not him. he's still not favorite. that doesn't mean i've changed my tune since september. i haven't woken up this morning and become a big fan of donald trump. >> i always have supported the republican nominee. this year is the most unusual

year that i have ever seen. >> are you committing to support the republican nominee? >> i want to wait and see how the process plays out. >> well, there you go. who needs therapy? just come on this show, right? after the break, we're going to talk to cruz and kasich supporters about this scatter-short effort to stop trump. we'll wrb. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and new infrastructure for a new generation attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in rochester, with world-class botox. and in buffalo, where medicine meets the future. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov

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there is this odd hesitance on fully rallying around an anti-trump strategy. do you have any suggests? >> well, my suggestion would be to continue that trend. it make s a lot of sense. you have ted cruz, who is certainly a republican, a proven conservative against donald trump, who is not a republican, at least by any traditional or historic measure. and who is very, very clearly dividing the party, very, very significantly. so to me, the choice is clearly, and mitt romney is absolutely right. the same as lindsey graham is. we may not agree, they say, with ted cruz on everything, but he is a conservative. he is a republican. and we should rally behind him. >> tom davis, i get the general election poll numbers. i've seen them too. there's no doubt of the three, kasich looks better in my matchup against hillary clinton than either cruz or trump. but right now, if you want to stop trump, isn't ted cruz the

most exneed i can't way to do that? >> chuck, a number of these states are still proportional states. so they don't really hurt each other. you get into some of these winner-take-all states, in those states, kasich is a much stronger candidate against cruz than -- excuse me, against donald trump than ted cruz. they really need to gang tackle him if they want to hold him below the 53% he needs of the remaining delegates he needs to win. >> it's funny you say that. if this truly is, congressman barr, shouldn't the two campaigns be figuring this out? for instance, kasich should get out of utah, let cruz get his 50% so cruz gets all the delegates. but tom davis brings up a good point. we know pennsylvania and connecticut. kasich's probably got the better shot. so why not sort of split the map up? >> listen, those kinds of things will happen anyway. what each campaign needs to do and what i can simply say from

the cruz campaign's standpoint. i'm certainly not familiar with kasich's campaign, but from the cruz standpoint, he's doing what a candidate should be doing. and that is focusing on his ground game, raising the money, getting the message out there. and the chips will fall where they may, but the mathematics of it all clearly favor ted cruz. there are, as tom says, a number of proportional states. there are also a number of states with closed primaries. and these are the states in which trump does not do well, because many republicans do not like him. independents might. but in closed primaries, ted cruz is done and will continue to do very well. >> congressman barr, it sounds like you do endorse the gang tackle strategy, then? >> i wouldn't call it a gang tackle, i would call it a strategy, in which each candidate gets out there and does their job. and if that -- if senator cruz,

as i'm sure he will, continues to do that, then i think that we will go into the final weeks before the convention, with ted cruz, the very, very clear alternative to donald trump, and of course, as we know, donald trump does not have near a majority. he is not running away with this thing, the way his supporters and many in the media claim. he's gotten only about 7 percentage points more of the votes that have been cast in these primaries than ted cruz has. >> tom davis, john kasich, wouldn't he be better off getting out of utah and just planting his flag in wisconsin? >> well, he's spending a lot of time in wisconsin. spenting a lot of time in pennsylvania. >> what's he doing in utah? >> well, it's a proportionate state. >> no, it's not. no if it's over -- not if ted cruz gets over 50. and then all of a sudden -- but if it's not, kasich's presence could give trump delegates.

>> well, i don't see him in arizona right now, which is also winner-take all. >> that's fully winner take all. right. >> so we know where we're focusing. nobody's giving up the campaign on a national basis, but i think everybody understands where they are strongest at this point. and let me just say, there's a huge disconnect between the delegates and who they are pledged for on the first ballot. we believe the second and third ballot, people are going to look at electable. they're going to look at keeping the senate. they're going to look at, do we control the supreme court for the next generation or give that over? that is really where we want the debate to be. but you have to get past the first ballot to do that. >> what do you guys want -- i'll start with you, congressman barr. there's a lot of anti-trump energy in the donor community, but they don't know what to do with their money. i think the ads that have attacked trump, some of them look like they could be effective if they would keep them up for more than a day. some are totally ineffective, because i think they don't understand who trump voter is. what do you want to see all this anti-trump energy be used for,

if they're not ready to back a specific candidate? congressman barr, i'll start with you and tom davis, i want to hear from you on this. >> the anti-trump vote out there is a combination of very traditional republican voters, libertarian-leaning republican voters, and independent conservative voters. and if, in fact, they want to have a candidate that is a conservative, that has a proven conservative record, then what they have to do is get behind ted cruz. ted cruz has been trying, since day one, to keep this camp focused, the campaign focused on substance. not focused on donald trump, but focused on substance. and that is really where we would like to see the message continue to be, and where the donors and the voters should continue to go. it's a very positive message of strong conservative values. >> tom davis, same question to you. how do you want this anti-trump money used and how can it be most effective? >> you've got to cut him off at his base.

you've got to put people on television who have lost their jobs, because trump has shipped jobs overseas. he's closed casinos. he's tried to take their land, so they could build parking lots. i think you have to focus on that. if you don't -- if you don't do that, i think he continues to win. on our party, i think we make the argument, number one, governor kasich has a record. he's done these things before, and he's the strongest candidate. >> bob barr, tom davis, i appreciate it. thanks for coming in. >> thanks, chuck. >> thank you. speaking of john kasich, guess who's playing hardball tonight? he joins chris matthews right here at 7:00 on msnbc. you don't want to miss his answer about running with donald trump. just trust me. still to come, president obama answers some tough questions about his nominee to the supreme court. but first, let's hear from hampton pearson with the cnbc market wrap. >> thanks, chuck. stocks ending the week higher. the dow jumping by 120 points, pushing further into positive territory for the year. the s&p adds 8, the nasdaq up by 20 points. shares of starwood rose more

than 5% today. the hotel giant has agreed to sell itself to a chinese insurer. maur yo marriott has five days to respond to that challenge. and shares of the high-end jeweler tiffany rose 3% after reported revenue and earnings that beat estimates. that's it from cnbc, first in business, worldwide. life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled,

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the battle for the open supreme court seat rages on. president obama is getting heat from senate republicans as well as some liberal groups for his pick. well, he sat down with npr for his first interview since nominating judge merrick garland. here's some of what he told npr's nina totenberg about texas senator john cornyn comparing the nominee to a pinata. >> did you talk to him about

being a pinata, as senator cornyn put it? >> we had a very candid conversation. we call folks like judge garland civilians and so, suddenly, being placed in a war zone like this is something that you want to make sure they're mindful of. >> and regarding that so-called biden rule, that republicans say they're sticking to, the president says he's following it, as well. >> he was saying, if, hypothetically, there were to be a supreme court opening, then his advice to a president in his last year would be to not make the nomination, unless he had consulted widely and arrived at a consensus candidate. well, you know what, that's exactly what i've done. >> i'm joined now by the woman who conducted that interview, npr's legal affairs correspondent, nina totenberg. nice to see you. >> nice to see you, chuck.

>> well, let me start with whether you believe the president believes he nominated somebody that he firmly thinks will actually get confirmed. because, you know, some of the speculation out there is, well, he nominated him because he knows that he can handle this for eight months, but he probably won't get confirmed. >> you know, i think he thinks he has a shot at getting confirmed. my deep suspicion is that he thinks he has a better shot at getting confirmed in a lame-duck session after an election, if the democrats win, but anybody who's a student of washington knows that nomination fights start out one way, can end up another. if you had told anybody early in the robert bork nomination fight that he was going to go down by a substantial vote, they would have told you, you were crazy. everybody thought he was going to be confirmed easily. >> you know, this lame-duck -- >> so the opposite can be true, too. >> this lame-duck strategy, i

believed it was the only way that you could see them acquiescing, particularly under the circumstances you just outlined. but right now mitch mcconnell and other senate republicans say they'll never go back on their word, and they fear that if they do, that there will be major consequences politically for them if they do. why are you convinced it can happen in a lame duck? >> well, because it would only be worse. if you had a president clinton or a president sanders, you would assume they would name somebody more liberal, and you can't keep blocking democratic appointments forever. so, at that point, the president, president obama, has picked somebody who is sort of a centrist liberal, who's widely, widely respected, and beloved, really, on his own court, with lots of republicans speaking up for him, in the legal community, and, you know, it would be, perhaps, the best of all options. the president is whether the president can turn up the heat

enough before the election. >> it's not every day that you see a democrat -- democratic president nominate somebody for the court and they say, hey, call ken starr, he will be somebody that can affirm what he thinks of merrick garland. let me ask you about this idea that -- about hillary clinton. does the president want hillary clinton to endorse the nomination and pledge to renominate him if she wins the presidency? or is it better for the president if she says, you know, i'm sure he's a qualified pick, but i may pick somebody else? >> you know, the inference i took in our interview, and just sitting next to him and looking at his face is, this is my nomination. this is who i want on the court. she'll get other chances, probably. and that's up to her. but this is my nomination and this is who i picked. i believe in him strongly. and, in fact, as somebody who covers the courts, i would have to say that merrick garland is

very much like obama, in the sense of where he is on the judicial scale, not the political scale. >> right. so you think there is zero chance that president obama would pull this nomination if hillary clinton wins the election in november? >> i think there's zero chance of that. and i think josh earnest said something like that at the white house today. i think there's zero chance of that. >> well, as you point out, these nomination fights -- >> now, i could look like an idiot in a couple of months. >> that's all right. just join everybody else when it comes to donald trump, right? >> right. >> there you go. >> we've all been so right this year. >> nina totenberg, always a pleasure. congrats on the interview. >> thanks. >> you got it. meanwhile, we've got some live pictures here. it's a press conference in douglas, arizona, at the u.s./mexico border. ted cruz is speaking now. we're going to take a quick listen. >> -- keep us safe. and we are so grateful for the law enforcement, especially the law enforcement, all along our

southern border that face the day-to-day threat of drug cartels coming across, of transnational criminal organizations that are terrorizing communities. speaker gowan, thank you for being here. thank you for your leadership. i know it is important and significant in arizona to have the first speaker of the house from southern arizona in decades, and thank you for giving a strong voice to the men and women here in the state legislature. ♪ ♪ for your retirement, you want to celebrate the little things, because they're big to you. and that is why you invest. the best returns aren't just measured in dollars. td ameritrade®.

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only a couple of states west of the mississippi have voted so far, but that all changes pretty soon. the entire presidential field is turning west this weekend. primaries in arizona, caucuses in utah, plus the idaho democratic caucuses on tuesday. and remember, on the republican side, arizona is winner take all. all was mostly quiet on the trail after separation tuesday, but the stump after a couple days off has gotten quite crowded today. and this hour, you've got cruz, you've got kasich, you've got sanders all holding events out west. in fact, we're still looking live at that ted cruz event. speaking at the border and still doing some thank yous. we'll keep an ear on it and be right back.

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w time. starting with the who. it's the next governor florida. who it won't be. senator marco rubio or state attorney general pam bondy, both say they won't run, potentially making former congressman adam putman a lock. still nelson's seat up in '18. the what, america's first combat, air force general lori robinson to the head of the u.s. northern command. to the where, maryland, confederate references removed from the official state song, as the "washington post" puts it, northerns scum, joining the confederacy and describes abraham lincoln as a tyrant. about the right time to filly do that. to the when.

earlier today. the eagle has landed. you get to watch it live at www.eagles.org. no battery throwing, please. now to the why. pennsylvania senator bob casey endorsing katie mcbeginty over congressman, joe pat toomey, the primary is april 26th, coincides with the democratic presidential primary. here is why it matters. sitting senators usually don't throw their weight around for the senate seat, but the democratic establishment is very apprehensive about a toomey face off. all the money people have rallied around mcginty. we'll be right back. ♪ [ whimpers ]

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suppose i have to push you, as you laugh. if trump is the nominee, would you accept a part of the ticket? would you go on the ticket with him? >> under no circumstances. zero. no chance. >> what would be worst, you with hillary or you with trump? what would you like least? >> i would have to reflect on that. >> well, that was pretty sher n shermanesq shermanesque. nbc news political editor and robert trainer, a vp at the

policy ten ter and aide to rick santorum. mark, start with you, shermanesque. he didn't ask it that way, but i think, i don't have to ask that question to kasich on sunday now. >> no. absolutely. his actions seem to be undermining ted cruz and campaigning so aggressively in utah. probably ted cruz is going to win all the delegates in utah's caucuses, particularly with mitt romney, if he get the 50% mark. by john kasich, everyday he stays in the race, makes it hard for ted cruz, and i think it helps donald trump. >> do you believe that? i mean, i -- until ted cruz can prove he can win in pennsylvania. >> right. >> and in maryland, his win map does not show evidence that he can beat trump outside of his region. >> mathematically it doesn't work for him, unless a contested convention and some social conservatives goes his way. i was talking to ruth about this in the green room. i think the delegates in

cleveland will be establishment delegates. they'll be -- >> establishment-e. >> so i think cruz may be banking on that. i would. so maybe after the first ballot, maybe they go to him. >> this is what i don't get. they're so adamant on getting kasich out. i think there is places kasich can help crews, he hurts in some places. i'm with robert. cruz's position to win a third or fourth ballot. >> tom davis, gang tackle. that's not a bad gang. kasich and cruz together. so the under no circumstances was pretty definitive. i wonder what he would have said to the question about being ted cruz's vice-president. >> if you're going to quote up quote take it away from trump, number two and three together better have more delegates than number one. part of me thinks that to me, what cruz and kasich need to hope for, because the only way to do this where it looks democratic, is if the two of

them team up and together have one. >> let's take a step back. these are both really bad options for the republican party. donald trump has already promised riots, or a tremendous amount of chaos. you go in with the strategy that mitt romney wants it, ted cruz hopes to get the nomination, you will a he see a republican party being torn in half in cleveland. >> the lesser of two evils. >> both of them are very bad options. some people -- >> what part of the republican party is not fractured. >> that's exactly the point. >> don't you just break it and rebuild it. >> it's torn. where is the seam is and how big the rip is, and kill it. it's a big fight that's coming, whether it's in cleveland or before cleveland or after cleveland. >> let me pause here. we finally got ted cruz, his reaction to mitt romney. i want to play it really quickly.

and turns out we didn't have it. any way, as soon as we get it, we wanted to bring it to folks. this combination, tell me, you know pennsylvania well. how does ted cruz win pennsylvania? >> the only way he can win pennsylvania is really driving up conservative votes in the t, which is pittsburgh, altoona. >> it's not a del great strategy. >> it's not. >> missouri shows the flaw in the cruz strategy. >> you're right. kasich country than cruz country. >> kasich can win more -- >> he is from pennsylvania, guys. >> even if cruz can win more vote. >> this is why maybe they're not talking to each other, but i assume the campaigns are talking to each other about some type of unity ticket going into cleveland. that's the only way it could work for both of them. >> the longer that cruz stays in and actually keeps the delegate margin close, all of a sudden, he is looking for one break, that somehow, some way, we haven't seen it yet, but donald trump gets taken down.

a bad news event and it opens up. >> that's been the last six months. >> he'll say something really outrageous. >> and trump's lead widens. >> lucy wouldn't pull it. >> hope you have great friday. "mtp daily" will be back on monday. i've got john kasich, harry reid and mitch mcconnell on sunday. i don't want to miss you then, but "with all due respect" starts right now. i'm al hunt. >> and i'm mark halperin, with all due respect to the pope, who is joining instagram tomorrow, maybe he'll read the comments. good evening, i'm here in salt lake city, where donald trump and john kasich holding campaign events today and the state caucuses take place on tuesday. ted cruz is spending the day in