it's thursday, april 7. right now on "first look," qualified to serve. bernie sanders says hillary clinton is not qualified and the firestorm that followed. meanwhile, mounted police kept the peace between pro and anti-donald trump supporters as ted cruz invades new york. and the lapd launches a felony threat case into charlie sheen and his ex. and excitement ahead of today's masters teeoff and the outpouring for country music legend merle haggard, it continues. "first look" starts right now. good morning, thanks for

joining us today. i'm betty nguyen. the hangover are hitting hard, a new war over who's qualified to be president is escalating at a rally in philadelphia over 10,000 supporters were feeling the bern as he made this startling complain. >> she thinks that i'm quote/unquote not qualified to be president. [ audience boos ] i don't think that you are qualified if you get $15 million from wall street through your super pac. i don't think you are qualified if you have voted for the disastrous war in iraq. >> now the remarks came after sanders struggled to explain his plan to break up large banks to the editorial board of "the new york daily news" which clinton was asked about wednesday on msnbc's "morning joe."

>> in light of the questions he had problems with, do you believe this morning that bernie sanders is qualified and ready to be president of the united states? >> well, i think the interview raised a lot of really serious questions. and i look at it this way. the core of his campaign has been break up the banks and it didn't seem in reading his answers that he understood exactly how that would work under dodd-frank. >> clinton's press secretary said clinton did not say he is not qualified but he said it about her. this is a new low. the two will hold dueling press conferences this morning. on the republican side, both donald trump and ted cruz are taking a bruising trump's path to the nomination is harder though not impossible, as he tries to regain his footing with voters in friendlier territory. there was a protest but only two

arrests. cruz meanwhile trying to feel the voters feeling spurned by the new york values remark. a debate moment trump is using against his rival. >> i've got this guy standing over there looking at me and talking about new york values, with scorn on his face, with hatred, with hatred of new york. so folks, i think you can forgot about him. >> and in the bronx cruz defended his comments. >> the people of new york know exactly what those values are. they're the values of liberal democratic politicians, like andrew cuomo, like anthony weiner, like eliot spitzer, like charlie rangel, all of whom trump has supported, given tens of thousands of dollars throughout the years.

>> trump however maintains a steady home field advantage. showing over 50% support in a new monmouth university poll less than two weeks from the april 19th primary. to the ongoing fallout from panama papers. "usa today" is reporting that hundreds of americans are listed in those documents. so far, most of the americans identified appear to be retirees who bought real estate in costa rica and panama. however, some have faced charges for serious financial crimes including fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. this comes as the u.s. government is getting set to propose new requirements mandates banks identify the owners behind shell companies for the first time ever. the mandate is a response to the papers and is meant to close a major loophole that allows the types of secretive financial moves uncovered in the documents. banks in america only have to know who opens stateside accounts. panama's president says he will

establish an international committee to find ways of improving transparency in the offshore financial industry. a 17-year-old texas girl has died from exploding air bag made by takata corporation. she was driving a 2002 honda civic. her identity has not again made public. honda says several recall notice were sent to the owners but no repairers with made. this is the tenth known death related to the malfunctioning inflaters. they do cause the bags to explode and send shrapnel at drivers and passengers. 14 automakers have recalled 24 million autos in the u.s. alone. the recalls could be expanded. charlie sheen, he's back in the spotlight. once again not for his acting. the los angeles police department has launched a felony threat investigation against the actor, triggered by his ex-fiancee scottine ross. an attorney for her said she

sought a protective order against sheen after excerpts were published of an audio tape where sheen threatens to kill ross and also admits to lying about his hiv status. ross a retired adult film star who performed under the name brett rossi has previously accused sheen of assault, battery and other charges. their engagement ended in 2014. sheen's manager tells nbc news, quote, scotty ross slept with charlie for $3,000 and told him what he wanted to hear and quote, she started a lawsuit because sheen doesn't want to marry her. all right. we'll move on to this. while parts of the country waiting for a spring thaw, at least four states are now dealing with wildfires, exploding through areas already devastated by years of drought. nbc's miguel almaguer has more in freedom, oklahoma. >> reporter: across oklahoma in kansas, wind is driving wildfires. fuelling flames in this region, dry and ready to burn. more than 55,000 acres already

torched. hundreds forced to evacuate. many volunteering to help. >> well, i don't want it to keep burning and burning and burning. >> reporter: it's still not known how many homes have been lost. >> my friend lives around the corner. we're not allowed to go in there because we don't even know if they have a home anymore. >> reporter: fanned by 50 mile an hour winds in woodward county, oklahoma, the blaze exploded. >> come on, guy, get out! >> reporter: two storm chasers rescued a tractor driver who was stuck with no time to spare. >> come on! >> reporter: a narrow and harrowing escape. >> oh, my gosh. >> thank you, guys. >> reporter: in kansas, a red flag warning. the governor declaring a disaster. flames threatening entire neighborhoods, destroying this school. in new mexico, the wind generating this tumbleweed tornado and increasing the fire danger. back east, another extreme. a bitter blast dropping trees

and temperatures. record lows in at least seven cities. some temperatures -- 20 degrees below average. >> that was nbc's miguel almaguer reporting. meanwhile a new fire brushing on the arizona-california border has grown to 1400 acres and prompted a mandatory evacuation. now to the migrant crisis in europe and a horrific moment. shocking video shows a plan holding up a baby and threatening to throw her at police officers. another man later took the child and handed her safely back to her mother's arms. greek authorities had been trying to persuade more than 4,700 migrants to move to organized camps. eight minutes past the hour. just ahead the former energy ceo headed for prison. and newt gingrich's clever yet back handed compliment of ted cruz. you're watching "first look."

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montgomery county, alabama,

last night, serious thunderstorm roll through with the potential tornado. a huge tre came down. numerous homes with significant damage. no reports of any injuries or fatalities. but when the sun comes up we'll give you more images of that. so those storms have raced through atlanta with large hail last night. augusta and the masters got a good dose last night. but the storms have cleared that area. they'll be dry the rest of the day today. strong thunderstorms over i-95 through south carolina. now, as we go throughout the day, this line is moving to the east coast. we're not having severe weather, but soaking rain. the heaviest rainfall is over washington, d.c., at 12 noon. by the time we get to the evening ride home all the heavy rain shifts to new england. so heavy rain ahead of it and then cold air behind it, this arctic blast that's on the way this weekend means business. temperatures today really dipping in chicago and

cleveland. then by the time we get to saturday, that cold air will be from buffalo and syracuse and down through new york city. unfortunately, it looks cold enough for snow. our forecast models are saying the possibility of one to three inches over much of pennsylvania, southern new york once again. ugly saturday. >> we are done with all of this. can you just make it go away? >> after this one. >> yeah. i have heard that before. thank you. maybe this time it will stick. don blankenship, former ceo of massey energy was sentenced to year in federal prison and fined $250,000. safety lapses at the west virginia coal mine led to the explosion that killed 29 miners. a federal jury convicted him of violating safety standards. one year is the maximum prison sentence for a misdemeanor charge. 40% of americans who owe a combined $200 billion in federal

student loans are not making payments. the figures come after a decade of accelerated borrowing when college enrollments surged. the world health organization is reporting the number of adults with diabetes worldwide has quadrupled in four decades. just so -- how much exercise do you need to burn off the snacks? well two slices of pizza will cost you almost an hour and a half of walking, 45 minutes of running. new calls for exercise labels on food are gaining traction. a soda will take a 26-minute walk to burn off our 13-minute run. a more extensive list can be found at today.com. ♪ ♪ i'm proud to be an okie from muskogee ♪ ♪ a place where you can have a ball ♪ >> country music legend merle haggard passed away yesterday on his 79th birthday. he recorded dozens of hits over

his long career. tributes flooded in, including this one from sheryl crow. he was a voice of reason and a true american artist. from luke bryan, thank you for your contribution not only to country music but all music. merle haggard, dead at the age of 79. 15 minutes past the hour. now to preview of the masters. a par 3 tournament ahead of today's official start. incredible warm-up and family day at augusta that had a number of holes in one. justin thomas hits this par 3, perfect 130 yards that lands and rolls right into the cup for the ace. and that was immediately followed by rickie fowler who matched thomas' hole in one. there must be a trick there somewhere. two in a row? really? well, we are not done yet, folks. 80-year-old golf legend and three-time master champion gary player teed off at the 7th hole. all right, wait for it.

>> and that's -- there's a lot of really good players who haven't played in 35 majors. >> gary player. >> how about this? >> yes! >> look at that. he celebrated with his grandson along with jack nicklaus. well done, mr. player. the day had plenty of nostalgia with tom watson playing in the final masters. the golden bear teeing off and a much more family friendly atmosphere including the celebration of the son of danish golfer. the masters tees off later today in augusta. what a cute kid there. all right, so sir charles barkley stands for justice. plus, john kerry's 96 days on a plane? "scrambled politics" is next. with the tiger image, the saliva coming off and you got this turning. that's why i need this kind of resolution and computing power. being able to use a pen like this

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i feed yoshi dog chow natural because there's no artificial colors, preservatives and it's made with real chicken. he's got so much energy. his coat is so shiny. and he just seems over all happier. i'm so proud to make dog chow natural in davenport, iowa. 19 minutes past the hour. here's your thursday dish of "scrambled politics." secretary john kerry is now the most traveled secretary of state in u.s. history. he pushed past 1,60,000 miles when he landed in bahrain last night. narrowly beating condoleezza rice. he could very well pad his new record with hundreds of thousands of additional miles. it will be a hard record to beat. he's spent over 2,300 hours in the air, the equivalent of 96 days. and a sign of how divided the gop is over this year's

primary, former house speaker and 2012 presidential candidate newt gingrich weighed in on the race with a sort of compliment to ted cruz speaking to politico. he said quote, trump in a funny way has normalized ted cruz because without trump, the establishment would be totally opposed to cruz. yikes. and from the looks of today's "new york daily news" cover, the texan certainly is not feeling a lot of love in the big apple. well, the fallout from north carolina's religious freedom law criticized by many as anti-lgbt is getting worse. basketball great charles barkley is asking the nba to join the protests. >> i'm against any form of discrimination, against whites, hispanics, gays, lesbians, how ever you want to phrase it. so i think the nba should move the all-star game from charlo e charlotte. we can figure out -- i know atlanta wants to host it. but they should move it out of

charlotte. >> barkley said his platform as a sportscaster gives him the responsibility to stand up to discrimination. over on "the tonight show," jimmy fallon has a take on how bernie sanders' wisconsin victory might have gone. >> the wisconsin primary which happened yesterday and bernie sanders won on the democratic side. sanders was -- wisconsin's support is celebrated by drinking old milwaukee or as bernie calls it young milwaukee. his win marked his sixth straight victory against hillary clinton. and when bernie received a concession call from hillary, his assistant said, bernie, the call is coming from inside the house. and that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." 21 minutes past the hour. let's go to washington now and i'm joined by roll call columnist and hrc co-author

jonathan allen. let's talk about bernie sanders. he really fired back, listing reasons that hillary clinton is unqualified as he put it, to be president. was that an unprovoked attack? because the clinton camp said she never called him unqualified. >> on "morning joe" yesterday she was asked if he was qualified and she dodged the question. she did not say he was not qualified. bernie sanders said she said quote/unquote not qualified about him. then went on to trash her. i think this is a moment that his campaign will come to regret a little bit. and whether or not he apologizes i think, you know, he put himself in a bad position by suggesting something that the vast majority of the democratic electorate doesn't believe which is that hillary clinton is not qualified. i think it would be hard to find 10% of new yorkers who think that. >> there's interesting. i want to get to what you're talking about, the dueling press conference, both at 9:00 a.m. both hillary clinton and bernie sanders. do you expect to see sanders double down on his comments or maybe just back track a little

bit? because i doubt he would come out and apologize. do you? >> he doesn't seem like the type to apologize. it's possible he will try to reframe it. this is a moment for him where he's being tested for the first time. the underlying issue here for him is that hillary clinton has basically come out with both fists flying, since the wisconsin primary and even a little bit before that. he's being tested and the question is being does he have a glass jaw, will it shatter or will he withstand the heat? i think it's something that the voters will look to. >> you know, clinton is being test as well because some of -- some are wondering if sanders is more on her mind than donald trump since he's logged pretty big wins. >> i suspect as her head hits the pillows she hears that brooklyn accent. >> it's huge. >> exactly. i mean, he's certainly become more than an annoyance to her.

and somebody at the very least making her look bad down the stretch here. >> all right. we'll see what they have to say today. i'm excited to see these press conferences both at the same time. very interesting. jonathan, thank you so much. coming up on 24 minutes after the hour. ellen weighs in on the religious freedom law. and potter fans get ready for a whole new wizarding world. caring for someone with alzheimer's means i am a lot of things. i am her best friend. i am her ally.

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>> check this out before hand. >> it caused some controversy on social media as you can imagine. george mason university has changed it to the antonin scalia law school. no acronym. well, get excited, potter fans. the w"the wizarding world of harry potter" is opening this morning, and they had the l.a. philharmonic and several stars from the series. in today's episode of ellen, she address the mississippi bill. and that states that the government will not punish individuals, religious organizations and certain businesses for refusing services to the lgbt community. >> when i see something wrong, i have to talk about it. it's the same thing that i do when i see men wearing spandex in line at starbucks. it's wrong, i need to discuss it. sometimes i think it's easier if you explain things if you break it down. two cupcakes walk into the flower shop and they want to buy a dozen roses.

but the florist doesn't believe in selling flowers to cupcakes because they don't have any money. but gay people do, so sell them the damn flowers. i'm betty nguyen. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" starts right now. we have updated math to make the equations more about stuff modern kids can relate to in a segment called popular mathematics. here you go. ♪ if you take bernie sanders plus the spice girls it equals old spice. if you take donald trump plus ted cruz plus john kasich it equals president hillary clinton. there you go. >> the battle for new york begins in earnest as supporters and protesters welcome donald trump home and ted cruz tried to explain his past insult about quote new york values. plus, the race for the democratic nomination heats up as both bernie sanders and hillary clinton unleash a flurry

of new attacks. why he says the former senator and secretary of state is not qualified to be president. and this -- ♪ ♪ it's a big job getting by at >> willie nelson called him a brother, toby keith said he was the greatest singer and songwriter of his lifetime and this morning we remember the legendary merle haggard. 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." hey, there. good morning. it's thursday, april 7th. i'm alex witt. the gloves are off in the race for the democratic nomination and it all got started yesterday on "morning joe" when hillary clinton was asked in light of bernie sanders' latest interview with "the new york dailys"