on the court and the president being able to appoint a new justice, arizona made it very concrete last night. miles and miles and miles and hours and hours and hours of concrete. it's disgusting. "first look" is up next. >> it's thursday, march 24th. right now on "first look," more connections between the paris and brussels attacks as an international manhunt continues for the hat man in white. president obama is speaking out against isis as the presidential candidates attack the commander in chief for not doing enough. then politics takes an ugly turn as the spouses of donald trump and ted cruz are dragged into the mud slinging. winter is not done yet with over 10 million in the path of severe weather. great news on women's salaries and a rare tango with president obama. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us today. i'm betty nguyen. the intense manhunt in brussel continues to focus on the

missing suspect from tuesday's terror attacks seen here wearing a hat and light colored coat. he was originally thought to be najim laachraoui, a bomb maker, but laachraoui has now been confirmed as a man on the left in this picture. he's one of the suicide attackers at the airport. in the middle, ibrahim el bakraoui and his brother was the suicide attacker on the metro. now intelligence officials say that brussels is the work of the same cell involved in the paris attacks. for more, let's go to claudio lavagna. what are you hearing at this hour? >> reporter: yes, the investigators are convinced there's a direct link between the paris and the brussels attacks. the two brothers who carried out the attacks here in brussel on tuesday morning were in direct touch with salah abdeslam. they provided a safe house for them. abdeslam is the only known

survivor -- from the command of the attack in paris in november who was arrested just days ago, last friday. that's one of the reasons why investigators believe these terrorists carried out the attacks because they felt that trail could lead to them. they could be arrested as well. but questions are being raised about how speak once again the secret service and the officials in belgium are. turkish officials have arrested in june of 2015 one of the brothers, ibrahim el bakraoui at the border between turkey and syria and they interrogated him and said he could be a foreign fighter looking to fight in syria or returning from that. that's why they expelled him from turkey. they arrested him, sent him to the netherlands and they alerted the authorities in belgium about his presence there. but they have done nothing about it, saying oh, they -- all they knew he had criminal past and he was not linked to a terrorism. this is not the time for

criticism or recrimination, because there's a man on the loose. despite that, the threats of the new terror attack, well, brussels is just going back to some kind of resemblance of normality and the people here gathered in the square, right behind me to hold a vigil, yesterday, laying down flowers and writing with chalk on the pavement of defiance and solidarity. betty? >> all right, thank you so much for that report there. i want to bring in brian levin the director of the center for the study of hate and extremism at cal state university. good morning to you, brian. >> thank you for having me, betty. >> all right, i want to get to something that claudio talked about, the brothers. they were convicted criminals. belgium was warned about him, so how did they slip through the cra cracks? >> with intel it's the analysis of them and then the distribution of it and clearly there was a significant failure once that intel got to belgium.

now, of course belgium has the largest proportion per population of foreign fighters and indeed, they're overwhelmed. while they're putting more resources on it, they haven't put enough. >> so is that really the problem? belgium authorities are just overwhelmed by this because we are seeing belgium becoming a breeding ground you will for these extremists. >> you are right. they have had radical clerics like folks who are affiliated with shari'ah for belgium who have been fertile breeding grounds basically farm teams for isis. and the fact of the matter is, even if you are overwhelmed, you must prioritize. there was a failure of the intelligence network within belgium to once they have that information from turkey and perhaps from elsewhere to act upon it. the fact that abdeslam could

live in molenbeek for four months without being detected is very, very bad. and what they're going to have do is do a top to bottom review of how this information fell through the cracks when it was already in their possession. >> right. big lessons need to be learned in this. all right, thank you so much, we appreciate your time. >> thank you, betty. the belgian terror attacks have the presidential candidates say that the president is not doing enough, but mr. obama defended his strategy against isis during his trip to argentina. nbc's andrea mitchell reports. >> reporter: the president called isis vicious killers but not a threat to the u.s. >> they can't defeat us, they don't produce anything. they're not an existential threat to us. >> reporter: republicans immediately attacked. terrorism a leading campaign wedge issue. after paris, after san bernardino, a majority of republican voters citing terrorism as their number one concern. now after brussels donald trump

renewing his call to ban muslims and torture terror suspects. ted cruz calling for surveillance of muslim neighborhoods in the u.s. the president taking that on a day after leaving cuba. >> i just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance. which by the way the father of senator cruz escaped for america. >> reporter: cruz lashing back. >> we have seen president obama's weakness and appeasement give rise to radical islamic terrorism. >> reporter: hillary clinton trying to portray herself as the adult in the room. >> when ted cruz calls for them to be treated like criminals it is wrong, it's counterproductive and dangerous. >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. in this political season it seems nothing is off the table as barbs between the two top

republican rivals dived deeper into the personal and now it's focused on their wives. trump and cruz crying foul on the other. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: this raizy anti-trump ad meant to turn off utah mormons now turning attention to the tone of the gop race. meet melania trump it says, your next first lady or you could support ted cruz on tuesday. >> that ad was completely inappropriate. we had nothing to do it. >> reporter: the image was created by the outside stop trump group but that didn't stop trump himself from threatening cruz he'd quote, spill the beans about wife heidi. still not clear what trump's talking about. >> there are a lot of things that donald trump and his campaign say that have no basis in reality. >> reporter: cruz tweeting back with the #classless. so agitated he typed the message himself the campaign said. >> he's better off sticking with me because heidi is way out of

his lead. >> reporter: trump accusing cruz of lifting line. >> better stick with me because wade is way out of your lead. >> reporter: is anything off limits anymore? >> i think this year is extraordinarily nasty. >> reporter: liz mair created the digital ad. >> i think donald trump has obliterated all conceivable lines in the course of this campaign and i'm perfectly comfortable with what we have done. >> reporter: for cruz, there are some lines candidates shouldn't cross. >> we shouldn't attack each other's spouse or children. and that's gutter politics. >> reporter: hoping to set the rules in a race that doesn't seem to have any. hallie jackson, nbc news, new york. and then there's this. move over kim kardashian. president obama just broke the internet by dancing the tango during a state visit to argentina. you can see him twisting and twirling his dance partner who was shimmering in a golden dress and michelle obama was also

dancing. the president and first lady were guests of the argentine president and wife in buenos aires. a dramatic scene to show you out of florida where a car and septic tanker truck crashed into each other. >> can you hear me? >> deputies frantically tried to rescue a woman trapped in the burning car, pinned by the steering wheel and air bag. it took the deputies nearly three minutes to pull her from the inferno. yelling several times from the extreme heat and suffering minor burn, those deputies worked heroically pulling her to safety. her current status is unknown. let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning. >> hi, there. good morning to you. well, a new stur vai finds that 70% of americans binge watch tv. the report by deloitte says on average they watch five episodes per sitting. this is great news for streaming companies such as netflix and hulu. nearly half of the respondents

subscribe to one streaming service but millennials subscribe to three. if connecticut lawmakers have their way, the state will tax income from yale university's massive $25 billion endowment. the bill will only target college endowments larger than $10 billion. after yale, the school with the second largest amount in connecticut is wesleyan with $810 million. meanwhile, amazon says it pays female employees 99.9% what it pays men and this is a major improvement from the national statistics that say women are paid 17% less than men. >> that's a good stat there. in sports an exciting one in oakland. the clippers battled but they were not match as golden state completed the four-game season sweep of l.a. the warriors won the 51st consecutive home game. 114-98. to houston, where utah's hood's concentration was put t the test on the foul line.

he had some help from this green fellow. the jazz won it. let's look at him again. oops. next to cleveland check this out. >> to j.r. smith. to lebron james. that was a save. >> oh, that was beautiful. king james nails two of his 26 points on the night. the cavs took this one from the buc, 113-104. baseball's rodriguez tells espn he will call it a career after the 2017 season. a-rod's 687 home runs is just 75 shy of barry bonds' career record so we will shall see. alabama's governor under fire for a sexual relationship. he denies it but there's new audiotape. and things get hairy for passengers flying into oklahoma city. you're watching "first look." ♪

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what a wild day in colorado.

we are seeing some wild weather across the country, actually. especially in the middle of the nation. but a thousand flights were canceled, blizzard conditions. up to 60 mile per hour gusts, numerous accidents on i-70 and many drivers ended up being stranded all the way back to cheyenne, wyoming. some states picked up 18 inches of snow. this was northwest missouri, small pea sized hail. some of the same spots are going to expect snow during the day today. and then to the south, texas, it was rough last night. dallas at ft. worth, look at the large hail in the swimming pool. we did not see a lot of damage thankfully. we didn't have any tornadoes. now the storm, start with the cold side of i. still snowing hard in rochester, and thankfully from chicago to

detroit, you're on the warmer side of the storm. could get up to eight inches of snow in northern michigan. so it will slowly improve today. so here's the warm side strong thunderstorms are going through little rock, just went through shreveport. and as we go through the day, these will weaken, we'll warm it up in the south and then the cold front will push through the areas of the south. asheville, tupelo, mobile and jackson, about 10 million people included in the slight risk. isolated chance of a tornado, if we get them they'll be along the alabama/mississippi border. temperatures have dropped, chilly, rainy and in some areas in northern new england, a freezing sleet mix. >> what a mess through many parts of the country today. >> march. >> exactly. >> come on april. >> please, hurry. well, there were some tense moments and bumpy ride as a

united flight touched down in heavy cross winds. the plane seemed to hover as the winds shimmied it about. after some skillful piloting, they stuck the landing. authorities announced the discovery of a drug tunnel from a restaurant in mexico to a newly built home in california. officials say traffickers purchased the $240,000 plot and built a three bedroom home to conceal the 300 yard passageway. the feds raided the house. and near melbourne, florida, a tasty collision. a truck hauling beer crashed into a frito lay truck parked on the shoulder. this was no party. the beer truck driver was given a ticket. after denying a physical relationship, new possibly incriminating videotape of the alabama governor has surfaced. we'll play it for you next.

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a true partnership where people, technology and ideas push everyone forward. accelerating innovation. accelerating transformation. accelerating next. hewlett packard enterprise. 20 minutes past the hour. here's your thursday dish of "scrambled politics." robert bentley is under fire after admitting he made inappropriate sexual remarks to a staffer. however, bentley says he never had a physical relationship with the woman. >> today i want to apologize to the people of the state of alabama. once again, i want to apologize to my family. i want everyone to know though that i have never had a physical affair with mrs. mason.

>> but his remarks seem to contradict an audio recording released late last night by the birmingham news. it was reportedly recorded by a family member. >> i miss you. i mean -- you know what when i said that, and i put my arms around you. >> governor bentley's wife of 50 years recently filed for divorce, claiming irretrievable breakdown in the marriage. next to north carolina where governor mccory has signed a bill that is a blow to the lgbt movement. proponents say it's necessary to protect the safety of women and

the children. and when was the last time you heard this from a politician? >> i was just wrong. >> yes, that's speaker paul ryan saying he was wrong. this was during a speech he gave in front of a group of interns yesterday and it was in relation to how he came to view people who accept government benefits such as food stamps not just as takers and that he shouldn't chastise the large group of people. that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." time now to bring in roll call columnist jonathan allen. good morning. >> good morning. >> all right. let's get down to the mud slinging. has the gop race for president really reached a new low with donald trump and ted cruz going after each other by bringing in their wives into the fold? >> it's certainly not the first a wife has been raised in the political context or a husband. donald trump went after bill clinton earlier this cycle. i don't know if it's a new low. i do think that -- you know, we have seen a lot of things in a lot of levels of debate in this particular campaign season that are unusual. >> but jonathan, how can you

take the candidates seriously in the face of terrorism attack belgium when they're conducting a twitter war about their wives? >> you can take them seriously, meaning that one of the two men is likely to be the republican nominee. donald trump more likelier than ted cruz at this point and anyone who wins the nomination in this country has the chance to be the next president. i think we should take seriously anybody who might be president. >> but again, we're talking about two men, granted we know what they stand for, we know who they're running for, but to get into the twitter war that seems beneath a presidential candidate. doesn't it to you? >> one would hope this would be beneath a presidential candidate. >> it's that kind of a year. >> one candidate threatening another candidate's wife, threatening to veal some -- reveal some secret about her. >> spill the beans, it is getting nasty over there. >> i guess in one way, at least it's direct as compared to all the other outside money that comes in, and donald trump is at least owning his allegations or

at least his -- you know, the fact that he's the one pointing the finger. >> well, let's move on to this. with cruz calling for surveillance in muslim neighborhoods and trump banning muslims and supporting waterboarding, does this help hillary clinton or will benghazi overshadow her? >> they think this is an opportunity to contrast herself with donald trump and ted cruz on foreign policy. she turned around a day after brussels and gave a major counterterrorism address. she thinks she is the only one who can do it effectively. >> thank you, jonathan allen. saying good-bye to the white shadow. plus new bay watchers are shown how it's done. won't keep you up at night. know you have insights from professional investment strategists to help set your mind at ease.

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now to entertainment news. hollywood is mourning the loss of tim howard. he's perhaps best known for his role as coach reeves on "the white shadow" or hank hooper on "30 rock." he got two emmys and a tony award. david hasselhoff returned to the old stomping groups yesterday on "the baywatch" set. he met with dwayne "the rock" johnson and zac efron to show them how it's done. and jimmy fallon seemed intrigued by sarah palin's latest project. >> this is a pretty big deal. i saw that sarah palin just signed a deal to act as a judge on a new reality court tv show. sarah said she wants to get legal experience before trump nominates her to the supreme court.

>> all right. but we have to get back to david hasselhoff. >> the picture next to the rock was shocking. >> is he 63? >> first off, he's that large of man -- >> he's tall guy. >> he's bigger than the rock. >> staying in shape. i'm betty nguyen. this is "first look" on msnbc. the investigation into the brussels terror attack still evolving. this morning new information about the suspects, their connection to thattacks in paris and how one of them was caught and then let go. plus -- >> this is a difficult war. it's not because we don't have the best and the brightest working on it. it's not because we are not taking the threat seriously. it is because it's challenging to find, identify very small groups of people who are willing to die themselves and can walk into a crowd and detonate a bomb.

>> president obama in argentina where he called on the world to unite against terrorism. and then later in the day ends up doing a little tango at the state dinner. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, everyone. it's thursday, march 24. i'm alex witt. we start with the latest on the terror attacks in brussels where a massive manhunt is under way. much of what we thought we knew about the men in picture has changed yesterday. the man in the center is identified as ibrahim el