received huge sums of money by giving speaking engagements? >> wait a minute, wait a minute. i have stood on the debate stage -- with senator sanders eight prior times. i have said the exact same thing. >> senator, please -- >> if with -- seattle, let's do it. i put it out -- >> the statement -- excuse me. i think i'm responding now. >> please, go ahead. >> i love being in brooklyn, this is great. >> hello brooklyn. sparks fly as hillary clinton and bernie sanders battle in the borough that's not big enough for the both of them. plus, trump's campaign manager cleared. we'll tell you why florida officials decided not to move forward with that battery charge against him. plus, ted cruz and john kasich do their best dance around discussions that have tripped up republicans in the past. we're talking about social issues. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early."

hey, there. good morning. i'm alex witt. it was a giant day of events with the 2016 field and we have it all covered for you. let's start with the democrats and just days ahead of the new york primary, hillary clinton and bernie sanders faced off in a fiery debate last night in brooklyn. just miles away from the center of the financial universe, the issue of wall street took center stage. things got heated early when senator sanders was asked to make a decision that secretary clinton made as senate that showed she favored banks because of the money she received from them and clinton was asked why she wouldn't release the transcripts and put the issue to rest. >> look, there are certain -- there are certain expectations when you run for president. this is a new one.

and i have said if everybody agrees to do it, because there are speeches for money on the other side, i know that. but i will tell you this. there is -- there is a long standing expectation that everybody running release their tax returns and you can go -- you can go to my website and see eight years of tax returns and i have released 30 years of tax returns. i think every candidate including senator sanders and donald trump should do the same. >> you're running now for the democratic nomination. >> right. >> and it is your democratic opponent and many democratic voters who want to see those transcripts. it's not about the republicans at this point. >> and -- you know, let's set the same standard for everybody. when everybody does it, okay. i will do it. but let's expect the same standard on tax returns. everybody does it. and then we move forward.

>> and after a week in which senator sanders raised questions about clinton's judgment and credibility he was asked flat out, does he believe that clinton has the judgment to be president? >> does secretary clinton have the experience and judgment to be president, of course she does. but i do question -- but i do question her judgment. i question a judgment which voted for the war in iraq. the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country. voted for virtually every disastrous trade agreement which cost us millions of decent paying jobs and i question her judgment about running super pacs which are collecting tens of millions of dollars from special interests including $15 million from wall street. i don't believe that that is the kind of judgment we need to be the kind of president we need.

>> now that the spotlight is pretty bright here in new york, some things very -- have been said and senator sanders did call me unqualified. i have been called a lot of things in my life. that was a first. and then he did say that he had to question my judgment. well, the people of new york voted for me twice to be their senator from new york. and -- and president obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of state for the united states. >> the issue of gun control also came front and center last night. the back and forth began when clinton was challenged on her assertion this week that the highest per capita number of guns that end up committing crimes in new york come from vermont. >> are you seriously blaming vermont and impolicety -- implicitly senator sanders for new york's gun violence? >> of course not.

this is a serious difference between us. and what i want to start by saying, if not a -- it's not a laughing matter. 90 people on average a day are killed or commit suicide or die in accidents from guns. 33,000 people a year. i take it really seriously because i have spent more time than i care to remember being with people who have lost their loved ones. so yes, we have a problem in america. we need a president who stand up against the gun lobby. we hear a lot from senator sanders about the greed and recklessness of wall street. and i agree. we have to hold wall street accountable. well, what about the greed and recklessness of the gun manufacturers and dealers in america? >> okay, the only problem is, folks, she didn't answer your question. you asked her whether she

thought that vermont was responsible a -- for a lot of the gun violence, a statement refuted by the governor of vermont. oh, yeah, in campaigns people tend to xaj rate. >> senator sanders was also asked in light of his recent statement if he owes the families of the sandy hook shooting victims an apology. >> no, i don't think i owe them an apology. they're in court today and actually they won a preliminary decision today. they have the right to sue. and i support them and anyone else who wants the right to sue. >> well, i believe that the law that senator sanders voted for, that i voted against, giving this special protection to gun manufacturers and to dealers is an absolute abdication of responsibility on the part of those who voted for it.

>> this morning bernie sanders is heading to the vatican. though it's unclear whether he'll have an audience with the pope. hillary clinton heads in the opposite direction, bound for california. donald trump is still republican's favorite candidate for the nomination. only they're less confident he'll get it. a new fox news national poll of republican voters find trump at 45%. up four points since last month and ted cruz has fallen 11 points to 27%. barely ahead of john kasich at 25%. a cbs news poll shows trump 13 points ahead of cruz, 42 to 29% and kasich back at 18%. and if the republican field were winnowed down to just two trump would still lead 48-38 over cruz. yet republicans are less confident in trump winning the nomination. down 17 points from last month to 60%. cruz meanwhile is up 12. a florida prosecutor's office has decided not to pursue a case against donald trump's campaign manager, corey lewandowski.

while lewandowski grabbed the reporter michelle fields, the evidence was not strong enough to support a criminal prosecution. they also say that she entered a protective bubble near the candidate. >> the press was directed towards the back, there's a bubble. she makes her way beyond the press area and gets right next to mr. trump and actually makes slight contact with mr. trump. you can see that he sort of recoils. >> if her left hand that we were able to capture, that touches him, when she touches him, you see him recoil his right arm like this away. and based on the position where mr. lewandowski was standing, his vantage point would have been such that he could see that. so in his mind, it's reasonable to believe that he had just witnessed, observed, a touching or her trying to grab on to mr. trump in some respect. and he then reaches in and he pulls her away. from an area in which she was not supposed to be in to begin with.

>> the trump campaign released a statement saying the matter is concluded with the candidate saying he is proud of lewandowski. lewandowski says he regrets the distraction but used the occasion to contrast trump's handling of it to others. >> first, let my say how much i'm thankful for trump and his loyalty in this difficult time. many other candidates, all of the other candidates in the race asked for me to be fired and said i should have my chance or my day in court and what we saw today was that they looked at the evidence and decided there's no way they could prosecute this case around move forward. so first and foremost, i want to thank mr. trump. new york is donald trump's kind of town. "the new york post" endorses him ahead of the primary as a political rookie who has slammed the system for being rigged. last night, he addressed the republican gala in a hotel he built 40 years ago. while using prepared notes, trump spoke about new york values. >> you say what are new york

values? number one, honesty and straight talking. it's a work ethic. hard working people. it's about family. new york believe it is about family. so important. it's the energy to get things done. big energy. if jeb bush came here, i'm telling you he'd have much more energy than he has right now. i'm telling you. >> well, ted cruz sat down for a town hall with "meet the press" moderator chuck todd last night in buffalo, new york. the two discussed everything from the national debt to borse. >> where are you on personhood? are you going to pursue this as an item or supporting the idea? do you know what i mean by the difference? >> different people mean different things by labels. what i will say we should protect life, but i'm not interested in anything that restricts birth control or in vitro fertilization. parents struggling to create life, that's a wonderful thing.

>> and many senators are finding it tough to support cruz in large part because of something he said on the senate floor. >> you called the senate majority leader a liar. do you regret calling him a liar on the senate floor? >> washington is a wonderful place. when somebody points out he lied to you -- >> he lied to you? >> every word i said is true and accurate. nobody refeuded a word i said. the reaction is how dare you say that out loud. they're not upset that somebody lied to them. >> meanwhile, john kasich picked up an endorsement from george pataki. he dropped out of the presidential race in december and had previously endorsed marco rubio for president. kasich sat down for a town hall event last night with msnbc's chris matthews. at one point, kasich was repeatedly asked about same-sex marriage. >> do you tolerate same-sex marriage? >> yeah, i mean, i'm not -- yes.

>> you tolerate it? >> i went to one. >> i know you did. i don't think it's right and the wedding that i went to, they know that i don't agree with it. >> what should gay people do who love each other. >> what should they do? >> they should love one another. >> not get married? >> i have given you the answer. i believe in traditional marriage. >> so wait, here's the thing. there could be an effort to pass a constitutional amendment. i'm not for doing it. i'm for moving on. down in the polls, kasich was asked about whether he should get out of the presidential race and here's how he justified continuing on. >> it is important for people to hear a different message than a message of negativity. i want to give them a message of hope. you know what? we're in new york. and there was this guy, he once said one time it ain't over till it's over. his name happened to be yogi berra. up next, another tech company goes head to head with the federal government. plus, the nationals' bryce

harper makes it 100. and bill karins has a check on the weather when we come back. some say "free the whales." for them, nothing else is acceptable. but nothing could be worse for the whales. most of the orcas at seaworld were born here. sending them into the wild wouldn't be noble. it could be fatal. when they freed keiko, the killer whale of movie fame, the effort was a failure and he perished.

but we also understand that times have changed. today, people are concerned about the world's largest animals like never before. so we too must change. that's why the orcas in our care will be the last generation at seaworld. there will be no more breeding. we're also phasing out orca theatrical shows. they'll continue to receive the highest standard of care available anywhere. and guests can come to see them simply being their majestic selves. inspiring the next generation of people to love them as you do. it's my decision to make beauty last. fix. roc retinol started visibly reducing my fine lines and wrinkles in one week. and the longer i use it the better it works. retinol correxion from roc. methods, not miracles. which allergyeees. bees? eese. trees? eese. xerox helps hospitals use electronic health records

so doctors provide more personalized care. cheese? cheese! patient care can work better. with xerox. that's it. how was your commute? good. yours? good. xerox real time analytics make transit systems run more smoothly... and morning chitchat... less interesting. transportation can work better. with xerox.

time now for business where yesterday microsoft sued the justice department over alleged violations of a 1986 privacy law. cnbc's geoff cutmore has more from london. this comes on the heels of the big fbi fight with apple. so what exactly is microsoft claiming in this case? >> yeah, absolutely. the real question here is, what price privacy? and microsoft are making the case that the federal government's ability to get your data from its cloud system or devices should be revealed to the users whose data the government is going after. and this is why they filed the suit, because they say not

informing the users that the fbi or other federal agencies are looking at microsoft users' information would be a dereliction of their duty. so again, it is this privacy issue that is seeing these technology juggernauts butting heads with the justice department. so we'll watch and wait for an outcome. i want to touch on the markets briefly before i get back to you. the markets as you know are at new highs since december. the s&p and the dow in particular seem to be cheerleading some better economic numbers and we have had three strong days for the dollar here. but keep your eyes on the middle east. that's where investors will focus on next. we have a weekend meeting in doha with opec and non-opec members. when they'll talk about an oil output freeze. i guess monday's trade will

depend on that. >> thank you so much, geoff. let's go to sports. we begin with a blockbuster trade in the nfl that's landed the l.a. rams the first overall pick in this year's draft which is two weeks away. they'll likely be eyeing a franchise quarterback. the rams gave up six draft picks over the next two seasons including a first round pick this year. the titans are also throwing in their fourth round pick and sixth round pick this year. the rams will play the first game in los angeles since 1984 when they host seattle. and let's turn to nhl and the first round openers in the stanley cup playoffs. j joe pavelski slips in the goal. and in dallas, the western conference's top seeded stars rout the wild in a 4-0 shutout to open the series. in sunrise, florida, the

islanders steal home ice advantage. then in washington, d.c. the capitals blanked the flyers 2-0 and the bases are loaded. >> and five rbis on the year. there it goes, see you later! number 100. >> bye-bye. nats slugger bryce harper hits his 100th home run. the 23-year-old is the eighth youngest one to reach 100 homers. the nats win it 6-2. finally in college hoops the national champion uconn women continue to make history. this time the reach extends to the wnba court after stewart, jefferson and tuck account for the top three picks in this year's draft. the first time in history that three players from the same college were drafted, one, two, three. that is so huge. >> i mean, that explains why

they won every game by 40 points. i mean, they literally had the three best women in the whole country on their team. >> right. amazing. so what's up with the weather? >> a lot of changes. denver is going to be in for an interesting weekend. denver today is 58 degrees, no showers. no problems whatsoever. could see thunderstorms. cold morning in the east but the afternoon will be gorgeous once again. we'll see some isolated severe storms that includes areas just to the east of denver. maybe an isolated tornado or two. amarillo, liberal garden city, a lot of rural areas. then the changes come. as this storm slowly walks out into the plains and i mean walk, it will be crawling, we are going to see a snowstorm developing. you say, wow, it's snowing in the middle of april. colorado is famous for these big april snowstorms and they even get blizzards in april. the areas of pink in here, this is over a foot. the mountains are expecting 24 to 48 inches. so for the skiers there from steam boat to aspen, i mean, this is gold this weekend. 8 to 14 inches of snow in the

foothills so denver has a chance of getting a foot of snow on saturday. all-out snowstorm. on sunday, beautiful weather from the great lakes, ohio valley, the northeast will be beautiful too. the southeast is warming up. a lot of heavy rain is developing down in texas and oklahoma and even up to nebraska. watch out for some flooding possibilities on sunday. a little bit of everything this weekend. a snowstorm, we have a possibility of some flooding and some -- probably the best weekend that you'll have all year long in the great lakes to the northeast. >> and skiing in shorts in colorado. that is -- >> not this weekend, but after this once it warms up definitely. still ahead, a man who walks on water, plus town halls, debates and late night, all a day on the trail. >> oh, i'm the bigger man. with the bigger hands. [ laughter and applause ] and the bigger --

[ laughter ] you can't see me but i'm pointing at my trump tower. >> i'm really glad not to be on face time right now. ♪ ♪ (laughing) there's nothing like making their day. except making sure their tomorrow is taken care of too. financial guidance while you're mastering life. from chase. so you can.

there's more to share, let's go to control room, louis burgdorf, take it away. >> happy friday, alex. a man is traveling to haiti,

bermuda and puerto rico. the man is raising money for children in need. equipped with only a life jacket, gps and got to have that shark repellent, he attempted a similar feat back in 2014. but his bubble literally burst. at least metaphorically. when the coast guard forced him to turn around. meanwhile, a lot happening in late night. last night after the town hall, republican presidential candidate john kasich stayed one seth meyer to talk policy, soft drink choices and his blue collar upbringing. >> i'm a blue collar guy. i'm like a person that is frustrated about things in life. i mean, my father carried mail on his back. his father was a coal miner. my mother -- >> was he a mail man? it's illegal if you take

somebody else's mail. >> yeah. that's a good point. i never asked him if he actually did that. >> that's a felony. >> i believe that the trump voters -- well, they do like me. it's just they went for the bombast, but over time, that's going to change. and finally, presidential candidate ted cruz sat down with jimmy fallon and was immediately confronted with his past. luckily for the texas senator it was all quite clean. >> look at this guys, you won't believe this. this is in your year book. did you write this or they wrote this about you? >> sadly, that was me. >> you wrote this. i mean, really, this is fascinating. ted hopes to attend princeton university, check. wants to attend law school. possibly harvard, check. achieve a successful law practice, check. pursue his real goal of a career in politics. check. run for and win the president of the united states. that's unbelievable. that's unbelievable. >> i was kind of a driven kid. i wish i had said go on to be

the starting point guard for the lakers. but that -- but that wasn't meant to be. no. other than not having height or speed or talent other than that i had that -- it was completely there. >> a lot of big goals that have mostly come true. >> i can't believe that. that's actually pretty impressive for a high school senior. i had no idea what i would do, but i ended up here with you. new polling shows the republican mass i be losing confidence in donald trump's ability to clinch the nomination. plus, the battle in brooklyn. hillary clinton, bernie sanders clash ahead of tuesday's crucial new york primary. we have got the best moments and analysis because "morning joe" is just moments away. 98,352 what's that? the number of units we'll make next month to maximize earnings. that's a projection. no, it's a fact. based on hundreds of proprietary and open data sets folded into a real-time, actionable analytics model.

nine. eight. three. five. two. you're not gonna round that up? you don't round up facts. powerful analytics driving decisions for the world's most valuable brands. ♪ ♪ eye of the tiger ime. tv anncr: good afternoon everyone. morning rituals are special. when you share what you love... ...with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes. they're grrreat! from bank of america to buy a new gym bag. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time and 2% back at the grocery store. kenny used his bankamericard cash rewards credit card to join the wednesday night league. because he loves to play hoops. not jump through them. that's the excitement of rewarding connections. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

♪ i could get used to this. now you can, with the luxuriously transformed 2016 lexus es and es hybrid. ♪ britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. e*trade is all about seizing opportunity. so i'm going to take this opportunity to go off script. so if i wanna go to jersey and check out shotsy tuccerelli's portfolio, what's it to you? or i'm a scottish mason whose assets are made of stone like me heart. papa! you're no son of mine!

or perhaps it's time to seize the day. don't just see opportunity, seize it! (applause) ♪ no sleep to brooklyn >> it's true that now that the spotlight is pretty bright here in new york some things have been said. >> can you name one decision she made as senator that shows she favored banks because of the money she