hello, everyone. i'm yasmin vossoughian. president trump calling the russia story a fake as sources tell msnbc will not get immunity in exchange for his testimony. we're live at the white house. plus, this -- >> i will never, ever support a single-payer health care system. ever. >> more members of congress holding town halls and getting an earful.

but first, nancy pelosi has tough words questioning the ability to lead the questioning into russian meddling during the 2016 election. take a listen. >> does he have credibility? >> no. he not only has lost all credit bui credibility, he's brought discredit to something that is a very, very serious position in the congress. >> tarnished the office he holds. nunes responding to those criticisms with our nbc affiliate. >> he's just too close to give a fair investigation when that investigation might involve the white house. do understand those criticisms? >> yeah, i do. but it always goes back to, then who else is going to do it? because there's only so many -- at the end of the day, someone has to do it. i'm sure that all of the

republicans in congress voted for president trump. all the democrats voted for hillary clinton. that's just how it is. at the end of the day, we're accountable to our voters. and like i said, this whole issue that we briefed the president on, that i briefed the president on, had nothing to do with russia. >> that briefing of the president and the three white house officials reportedly helped nunes view classified information related to surveillance is also under intense scrutiny. white house press secretary sean spicer defending the action by nunes. >> what he did, who he saw and met with was 100% proper. >> we're going to talk about that with kelly o'donnell joining me from the white house. the president is still very much focused on the russia investigation. what's he saying, kelly? >> reporter: one of the great challenges for the white house is when there is controversy brewing. you have someone like mike pence trying to talk about the other

parts of the agenda that they want to focus on. sort of a parallel track for the vice president. president trump today remaining here at the white house. aides say he is working the phones and having some meetings but we've had no public appearances from him except for the twitter feed, where the president laid out a few different tweets today on topics from health care to the russian investigation to surveillance. the president clearly is agitated by the strength of this russia story, which as we always say, is a number of things. it has to do with russian interference back in the 2016 cycle and also had to do with the fbi and the intelligence committees on capitol hill looking at possible connections between associates of donald trump and russian operatives and also had to do with what could happen down the line with continued russian interference. for the president, he calls it fake news, says that's not the

story and instead is trying to shine a light on what he claims is incidental surveillance that affected trump officials. there's no proof. there's been reports and claims that there were names associated with trump that were picked up as the u.s. intelligence normal business listens in on foreign dignitaries or foreign ambassadors for when there's a new president elected would be talking about an administration and associates of the president coming in and wanting to get to know them. there's no sense that there's surveillance that targeted the president in particular. still waiting to see if anything is produced along those lines. president trump clearly wants to refocus attention and is obviously bothered by the nature of his tweets with a discussion of the russian investigation, which is not only happening on capitol hill but with the fbi. yasmin? >> let's talk about this.

kelly o'donnell, thank you for joining us. the president, again, blames the media for pushing a phony russia story. sean spicer has struck a slightly different tone saying the administration is doing everything they can to support a full investigation into russia's activities. >> we're going to the point where we've actually encouraged people to go talk to the house and senate intelligence committee and the appropriate investigators so they can get to the bottom of this. that's quite the opposite of what you would normally think that somebody who was not trying to get to the bottom was doing. >> so are they actually trying to get to the bottom of this? joining me now is time magazine contributor and political reporter for npr. we're hearing two very different messages. the tweet from mr. president and then sean spicer saying we want to get to the bottom of this and then trump saying it's fake news, there's nothing there. what's your take? >> i think president trump is trying to go back into campaign

mode but the problem is he's no longer running against barack obama or hillary clinton. i thought it was really striking that you saw hillary clinton out giving -- out giving a speech at georgetown and she smartly did not weigh in on any of these things. they are looking for a bad guy and a straw man to blame and the people they are grappling with are people in the republican party and people investigating them are their own members of their own party, the senate and house intelligence committees. so that makes this whole situation incredibly awkward when you are sort of -- have sean spicer saying we want to investigate this and get to the bottom of it but trump trying to make it political and say, no, this is a witch hunt, they are after me, this is political. but it's awkwardly political when it's your own party doing it. >> why is it that sean spicer has to continually redefine what the white house is saying, in this instance, the russian investigation? >> i think it's because we've

seen official sources, james comey, the fbi director come out and say there is an investigation into possible ties between the trump campaign associates. this is not fake news. this is one of the highest officials in government saying this. sean spicer knows he cannot go out into the briefing room and deny this is going on and he has to see we are cooperating. going to the white house and trying to prop up trump and where you have the democrat and north carolina senator richard burr, a republican, who is the chair who was a trump supporter, they've come out and struck a different tone with their hearing and saying there is evidence to this effect.

>> let's listen to this. >> you understand we're not going to get into sources and methods. if not, who is ever going to come to our committee? but i can tell you that those reports are mostly wrong. >> mostly wrong? >> has he lost credibility, jay? >> it's clear that it's difficult for nunes to conduct this investigation. adam schiff, the top democratic on that committee saying it's really impossible for them to continue this hearing, this investigation on the house side. it has, in fact, strengthened calls from some members on both sides of the aisle for an independent group to investigate this because it's clear that congress is having a lot of problems doing it. that said, there is still a lot of confidence in the senate process. you have richard burr and mark warner, republican and democrat, working together quite

functionally which is very rare for these times and seem to be doing a good job of investigating on the senate side but the house process seems to be dead at this point. >> jessica, i want to stick with the russia investigation. nbc has learned that the senate intelligence committee has denied mike flynn's immunity in exchange for testimony. no word on what the house committee will do. flynn's lawyer saying he has a story to tell. are we going to hear that story? >> i think at some point we probably will but what circumstances it's under, it's unclear, and just the way that the statement has come out and the fact that he's asking for immunity, you only have to go back to flynn's words where he was a high-profile surrogate, led chants saying "lock her up" for hillary clinton and said at one point, if you're asking for immunity, as many clinton aides were and were granted immunity, there's something wrong there. so it's his own words at this point that are coming back to

bite him. >> now they are saying they won't get give him immunity but further down the road if his testimony was important, they may grant him immunity. we'll have to see. thank you both. still ahead, president trump apparently not backing down on his threats against conservatives if they don't get on board with his agenda. also, a new threat came out from the trump team. i'll talk about whether that tactic will work. plus, chilling new revelations about what terrorists may be doing to sneak bombs on planes. what intelligence officials have found in just a few minutes and ivanka trump's new role in her father's administration. does it bring a new round of ethics questions to the white house? that's coming up. only invisalign® clear aligners are made with smarttrack® material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. see how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50% faster today at invisalign.com

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welcome back. get behind the president or get out of congress. that's the message that the white house is sending to fellow republicans. dan scavino calls justin amash to defeat him in the primary and justin tweeted, "same old agenda. attack conservatives, libertarians and independent thinkers." it's the latest battle between trump and freedom caucus members like amash. on thursday, the same day "the washington post" reported that the president could actively campaign against republicans who did not back him with one white house official saying, "our view is, there's nothing as clarifying as the smell of air force one jet fuel. so if he needs to bring in the plane and do a rally, he's going to think about that." congressman, thank you for joining me. >> happy saturday.

>> good to see you. you supported the health care bill. you should be safe from an air force one visit. what about some of your colleagues? should they be worried. >> well, president trump ran on an agenda that connected with the american people and he's intent on fulfilling those commitments. so he will go into the districts, i'm sure, to convey what he believes is important to get this agenda through and i think that cooler heads will prevail at the end and we'll be able to get this done. >> but as a public servant, congressman, should one worry that much about their seat or about the stance that they have and what they are standing for? >> we all stand on principle. ronald reagan stood on principle. he knew there was a time to say, hey, do i go and jump off a cliff or as he would say, take half a loaf and come back for the second half the next time. there's a time that we come together. ronald reagan was able to find a path with tip o'neil, newt

gingrich, bill clinton. there's a time that we come together. we can't look at life from our just own vantage point and prism. when we sit at the table, people have vastly different needs in their own diss. they represent people, maybe more seniors or poverty areas or urban or rural. i hope that we all recognize the way that other people represent their districts. >> but would you say that to president trump, to speaker as ryan, that it's time to come together from their perspective as well along with freedom caucus members? >> i do think they are trying very hard to kol togethecome to. we had multitude meetings where people had the ability to express their opinions and ideas and four separate committees who addressed this bill. so there was a very open forum for this dialogue.

it wasn't slam dunk like it was with nancy pelosi when she passed the bill. so i think it has been opened. we just have to realize -- and i hope that some people will and apparently a number of the folks from the freedom caucus are saying it's time that we come together. so i hope that more will. >> so according to gallup polls, president trump's approval rating is below 40%, congressman. he's facing growing scrutiny from members of his own party. does he have the political capital right now to pressure fellow republicans? >> sure he does. he does. we're in a 24-hour news cycle and someone's looking for some way to distract and get it off course. the irassues facing this countr are serious. we have an economy that is so weak, growing 1.5%. we have a health care system that's failing. we have trade policies that are not working.

so we need to get on track, doing the things that the american people asked us to do. and yes, these other issues need to get off the table and they need to get resolved. >> i want to switch gears to your home state's bathroom bill. north carolina replacing the controversial bathroom bill. what are your thoughts on this law, congressman? a lot of lgbtq members think this didn't go far enough. >> well, i understand. i respect everyone. everyone deserves respect, consideration. oddly enough, this never was even a factor prior to the time that the city council took the initiative. and, you know, we didn't have any complaints filed at the courthouse or people not being able to utilize a certain bathroom. so it was an issue that grew out of nowhere and the legislature responded. so now they've come together, they've found their way to a compromise and a compromise doesn't make everybody happy.

that's part of compromise. it provides a path forward that democrats and republicans, the democratic governor and republican legislature agreed to it. so it's time to put this behind us and move on for the good people of north carolina. >> congressman, thank you for joining us. up next, terrorists may have found a way to bring bombs onto airplanes without detection. our national security expert is joining us with details. plus this -- i would never, ever support a single-payer health care plan for america. ever.

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downstream. the country's president has declared a state of emergency and warned the death toll is likely to rise. all right. for a week now, you haven't been able to carry your laptop on planes from the middle east. terrorists appear to have found a way to sneak explosives into those electronic devices. i'm joined now by national security reporter ken delanian. how did officials come to this conclusion? >> yasmin, their conclusion is based in part on a sophisticated new intelligence analysis ta relied on reverse intelligence by the fbi. they looked at a 2016 bombing of a plane in somalia that blew a hole in the plane with a laptop bomb. we knew the threat was based on a fear of bombs in laptops and specifically in the battery

compartment. what's new from pete williams right now is that it looks like terrorists have found to place a bomb that allows a device to be powered on for a time. and that could fool screeners at the checkpoint. now, when the device is actually placed in the cargo hold, it goes through a different machine that provides a more thorough screening and takes care of that problem. the other thing we've learning, terrorists may have gotten their hands on screening devices and they are using that to practice and test various types of explosives. >> if people have brought laptops through tsa checkpoints, you usually have to power it on to ensure that your laptop works. that's why that's so scary, what you just brought up. if they could smuggle explosives onto laptops, why are the devices still allowed in checked baggages and allowed on domestic

flights? >> the checked baggage part is because when you check your devices, it goes through a different kind of machine, we're told, that has a more sophisticated type of screening, can take more time and detect explosives. the issue with domestic versus these inbound flights from the middle east, what is also a factor is the level of screening at those foreign airports. there's concern by the tsa and others that they are more vulnerable by other parts in the world and they are particularly targeting those, yasmin. >> ken, thank you. all right. still ahead, president trump stripping away former president obama's actions aimed at curbing global warming. joini plus, the fight over the supreme court nomination over neil gorsuch wraps up on monday. will republicans have to go nuclear to get him confirmed? stay with us.

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welcome back. voters are speaking out in states that supported president

donald trump during the election. they are making their voices heard about his performance so far as commander in chief. >> as far as russia, i want to know what is going on. i want to know about the contacts. >> speaker ryan made a major mistake. health care is something that is very important, very personal, very complex. >> it certainly is personal. lindsey graham wrapped up a town hall recently. vaughn is joining me. what are you hearing, vaughn? >> reporter: there awere mostly democrats. a handful of republicans who expressed ire and lindsey graham, particularly over the supreme court. lindsey graham said that he's willing to use a nuclear option which would not require 60-vote filibuster in order to move the

confirmation process of neil gorsuch ahead for the confirmation to the u.s. supreme court. another issue that was heard was the affordable care act which, in talking to the democrats in the crowd, gave a head nod to lindsey graham when he believed the only path forward would be working for democrats. another issue in which he crossed donald trump was other on syria. he said that he does not believe that the new stance from the trump administration echoed by rex tillerson and nikki haley this week, there would be focusing on not pushing assad out of the government and instead pushing the military effort on isis. he said he pushed it back and assad needs to be removed. but on the issue of russia, if we could use more hunky dory. ever since the election of donald trump in saying that there needs to be a full-scale

investigation into the campaign of trump with russian associates over a year ago. and he said that here today that he's skeptical of what the house investigative committee is doing. nunes, the house, he said they are off in a ditch. the senate side, he has hope that mark warner and richard burr will actually be able to do a full-scale investigation into the potential connections. if not, he said it would call for an independent connection. lindsey graham said as we go through the michael flynn story, i think we have a sound bite that says it's getting weirder by the day and this is what he also said. >> as for flynn, i really didn't see this one coming. you know, flynn himself said if you want immunity, you must be guilty. i've been a lawyer for a long time and, actually, you can gain immunity and not be guilty but in his case, he's requested

immunity and i don't know if anybody will take him up on it. >> reporter: lindsey graham said he will follow this through until all of the questions are answered. >> interesting to see senator lindsey graham there speaking so frankly at the town hall, i will say. vaughn hilliard, thank you for joining us. activists are promising to fight president trump's latest action on climate change rescinding a ban on coal mining on federal lands and calling for a review to obama's signature initiative, the clean power plant. he says this is another campaign promise to revitalize the coal industry and promote job growth in the energy sector. listen. >> my administration is putting an end to the war on coal. going to have clean coal. really clean coal. with today's executive action, i'm taking historic steps to

lift the restrictions on energy and to cancel job-killing regulations. >> cancel job-killing regulations. let's talk all about this. i'm joined by senior fellow at the atlantic council. heather served as president obama's advisory on climate change. welcome. he says it will reinvigorate the coal industry and create more jobs. your thoughts on this? >> well, i think what president trump has actually done in signing this very far-reaching executive order that unwinds many, many public health and environmental protections is set up a false choice between economic prosperity and a sfrtrg and healthy environment. and that's wrong. you had the longest trajectory of job growth and greenhouse gas

emissions are at the lowest in decades. we've been able to prove in america that we're able to have strong environmental protections and to grow the dmeconomy at th same time. unfortunately, donald trump seems to be bent on destroying both of those, on the economy and the environment. >> so how specifically do you believe this executive order is going to affect the very policy that you helped shape under the obama administration? >> well, you know, look, on the best-case scenario is to say, all right, there are over 370,000 jobs today in the solar sector alone. those jobs are not going away. they are creating energy that is clean and domestic. but the bad side of the story here is that the president has really raised major questions internationally about what the united states' commitment is to try to work towards a cleaner economy and he's created a lot of questions on the regulatory

front. what most people in the business community are looking for today is regulatory certainty and predictability. this executive order comes in and blows up a half dozen rules and regulations. but it's not like they are going to go away overnight. you're going to see a lot of lawsuits. we expect congress is going to have something to say about this executive order and the direction that the agencies go. at the end of the day, remember, most people in america actually want to see, you know, better air quality, better water quality and this doesn't breakdown as a red state versus blue state issue. this is something that all supporters believe. >> it's still a polarizing issue, the environment, to say the least. you talk about the international fallout, dealing with a global effort to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. could this change considering the new stance? >> as the white house reported just days ago, they are still

reviewing whether or not we're going to engage in paris. and, you know, live up to the international communities that over 130 other countries are going to be living up to. you're certainly -- it's been called into question and i think the message not only did this executive order send to america, which is, you know, we don't really taken environmental protection all that seriously anymore as a trump administration. it also sends a message to the international community that, you know, we're -- i find it difficult to believe that president trump will be able to go to the international community and say, yes, we want to stay in paris but we're not going to do anything at home to make a meaningful contribution to reduce carbon pollution. >> from what i understand, the international community is saying we're going to stay the course no matter what. still ahead, an unpaid special assistant to the president. how much influence will ivanka

trump have over her father? and at the top of the hour, richard lui will look at whether ivanka could be part of a big leadership shake-up in the west wing. shoulders don't just carry pads.

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we aim to cheese! kraft natural cheese: we make cheese for how you love cheese. he is also the best negotiator i have ever met. countless times i have stood by his side and watch him make deals that seemed impossible to get done. he has the discernment to understand what the other party needs and then to get exactly what he wants. >> all right. you just heard her there, ivanka trump was at her father's side when he first announced the run for the white house. now her role is official. she was named special assistant to the president this week. she will not take a salary but she, like her husband, jared kushner, will comply with federal regulation.

for more on this, i'm joined by executive director of the watch dog group. now that it's official, does that eliminate any concerns over this? >> she became an actual government employee and now has to abide by the ethics rules and that means that the office of et knicks wi thin thicks will be able to look at her obligations and she's still going to hold a significant ownership interest in her businesses. she's got an ownership interest in her father's hotel in washington and that creates tremendous possibility for conflicts of interest. >> what about the fact that she's not getting paid? >> well, the fact that she's not getting paid probably -- my sense is that they're looking at

that as their way of getting around nepotism problems as well as sort of problems with public perception in terms of the family sort of enriching themselves. but for ethics purposes, it doesn't really make a difference. she is a government employee, doing the work of a government employee, she is influencing policy and you can't have her working in a way where she could be enriching herself in terms of her business interests. and the fact that she's not getting paid doesn't really change that. >> we've actually seen other family members work in previous administrations. this is not the first time, hillary clinton during her husband's presidency. the kennedys worked side by side. how is this really any different? >> well, it's different in the sense that she's going to be a full-time presidential adviser with vast responsibilities across an array of issues and so

in some ways it probably is similar to the robert kennedy example. robert kennedy was attorney general for his brother and it was soon after that that congress actually put the nepotism law in place saying that you couldn't put relatives into a position working for you if you're in government. the -- this administration is taking the position that that doesn't apply to the white house. they've gotten some sign out from the department of justice. i'm not sure if that's the right view but that's what they're saying and that's what they've got an opinion to back. it creates the same problem that you want the best people in a position who are going to bring a diversity of backgrounds and not giving people the power to essentially surround themselves with their family and make their family more powerful. >> i feel like if it was up to both presidents, they would

choose to surround themselves by their family because they'd be completely encircled and safe and eyes and ears everywhere. obviously, you can't do that. ivanka trump has sort of been seen as the voice of reason by many, especially during the election cycle. do you think this could help temper president trump? >> you know, there are ways in which perhaps it could. to the extent that we've seen her views on issues, they've been more moderate than those of some of his other advisers but there's a problem, which is that one of the things that we're really concerned about with donald trump is that he could be influenced by his business interests. he could be making decisions because they help his businesses, they help his bottom line rather than because they are in the interests of the american people and the country. when he surrounds himself with family members who have essentially the same business interests, financial interests, that magnifies the danger that he's going to make decisions because they help his hotel, because they help his foreign

businesses, his tenants in trump tower. and when you have somebody else in a senior position or, in this case, a couple of people, ivanka trump and jared kushner, who have many of the same interests and could enrich themselves in the same ways, there's even more room for that to cloud their judgment. >> and it's also interesting to see some of the financial disclosures that were released earlier today. noah, thank you for your insight. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. on monday, there will be a vote on neil gorsuch. that vote is expected to advance along party lines. a number of democrats are looking to put up a fight. right now, 36 have said they will vote no on gorsuch and support a filibuster. the latest lawmaker is claire mccaskill. if democrats can secure five more votes, they could successfully filibuster that nomination. however, their challenge will likely be countered by republicans who have threatened

to use the nuclear option. so will they? that is the big question. joining me is susan. welcome to you both. >> great to be here. >> senatrepublicans have hoped claire mccaskill would vote in favor of gorsuch. what does her "no" mean for republicans here? >> well, it means that she's more concerned about her left flank in a potential primary than she is about probably winning her state in re-election. right now, that's the most immediate concern. i really hope that the democrats do not filibuster. while it looks like they may, the 60-rule vote is very important and just when you have a nominee that is qualified, you may not like it, but the fact is that donald trump won. and when a president puts up a qualified candidate for the

supreme court, they really are -- when you know that he's going to be endorsed one way or the other, it's a shame that they go that route. and for full disclosure, i believe justice garland should have had a vote for his place on the supreme court. >> why fight this fight? this is a scalia seat. this was a conservative seat. >> sure. >> what about when there's a liberal seat? >> sure. >> that's up for grabs? >> let's remember, the 60-vote threshold is designed so we can get consensus, at least get towards consensus on both the left and the right. you shouldn't have a nominee who is unable to actually secure support from anyone who is right of center. you should be able to find someone, someone on the other side of the aisle to say this justice is someone we can see on the court. what gorsuch has shown us, unlike the trump rhetoric, looking out for the forgotten man, the working man, the people washington hasn't been paying attention to, this is a judge who has shown that he always sides with the corporate tr

interests. it doesn't make sense by trump's message for who he's looking out for and the ability to generate a consensus in the senate. what winds up happening in cases like this, if you can't get the 60 votes, you don't change the rules. you change the nominee. find a judge -- nominate a judge that can get support. >> wouldn't it be great if we live in that time? >> not too long ago, many republicans had big problems with president obama's choice. they understood it's the president's choice. we don't live in that world right now. the fact is, this country is so divided and politics are so isolated, it's going to be so hard to get to a 60-count vote on any issue and this, if any, should be the one when you have a qualified person. just because you don't like his politics doesn't mean his qualifications aren't there and there's been no one to say that judge gorsuch does not have the qualifications and shouldn't be a member. >> but you say change the

nominee. what about the argument out there, heidi heitkamp, joe manchin, for example, you change this nominee, we may get a more conservative nominee behind gorsuch. >> you won't get the votes, then. at the end of the day, gorsuch has had committee votes, he's had hearings, he got to testify. that never happened with merrick garland. merrick garland never got so much as an opportunity to sit before a bunch of senators in front of the american public. he was a consensus candidate. he was someone chosen largely because of his record in securing republican votes for his lower court appointments. so the notion that sort of democrats by holding a standard, the 60-vote standard, allowing -- he's had his hearing. he's going to have a cloture vote and it's designed to determine wll thehether there id base support for this nominee. if you cannot get those 60 votes, then find a nominee who can build consensus.

>> well, donald trump is never going to put a justice up that will get consensus from the left. that will be nearly impossible. there's no question about that. and while, yes, judge garland should have should have had certainly at least very much a hearing, the democrats shouldn't make the same mistakes that the republicans did. now, what concerns me is that the republicans before, you know, this last go-around where we have all the seats, the senate, the house, the president, we're in fact the party of no and the democrats are trying to follow that lead. it wasn't good government. it's still not good government. >> is this about the seat or about merrick garland, you think? >> oh, i think it's more about left -- challenges on the left. >> i think it's about both. i think it's about both. >> thank you to you both. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> still ahead, the calendar says april, but there's still some march madness to be played on the basketball courts. look at the underdogs making it to the men's final four in arizona. and even bigger story from the

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william on the drive. pull-up! she got it! she got it! >> you see it right there, march madness is living up to its name. last night mississippi state women's basketball team knocking off uconn in their final four game ending the huskies 111, yes, i said 111-game winning streak. no, this is not an april fools joke. the lady bulldogs pulled off the historic upset in overtime with historic 15-foot jumper leading them to a 56-54 victory. mississippi state moving onto face south carolina in the women's championship game. but tonight the madness is not over yet. it is the men's turn. the final four teams will faceoff in arizona in just a couple of hours. that's where we find nbc's ron

mott who's out in glendale. ron, what can we expect tonight? >> reporter: hey there, yasmin. sad for the uconn fans, but that was one incredible shot and one incredible streak. we're at the men's final four in glendale. this event has become so big they don't bother with quote/unquote basketball arenas anymore. they're playing at the home of the arizona cardinals. 76,000 fans expected today. you can see some of them waiting around for gates to open. some getting ready for the game by going to parties over here. you can see through the trees some of the smoke blowing from the barbecue grills and whatnot. a lot of music and festivities. and they've all come to see these four teams. gonzaga, north carolina, oregon and south carolina. and we should point out that south carolina has two teams, men's and women's in the final four this year. there's some interesting story lines here too. let's run through them. oregon is a cinderella here. this is by all accounts their first final four appearance,

even though they were in the first ncaa tournament way back in 1939. it's been almost 80 years for them. for south carolina their first ncaa final four appearance. then you've got gonzaga, although this is their first final four appearance, they're really not a cinderella because they've been very competitive in this tournament over the past 15 or 16 years and then the perennial powerhouse looking to avenge their final last year against villanova. here's a sampling of what fans are having to say. >> got a great defense. offense is playing good right now. nothing can stop us. we got it. >> it's confidence. >> that's confidence. >> it's not cocky. it's confidence. the gamecocks are cocky. we're confident. >> one of the intriguing matchups a lot of folks are talking about already, north carolina-south carolina possibly for the championship game on monday night. good luck to all four teams. yasmin, back to you. >> certainly good luck to all

four teams. i'm going to bet there's a lot of beer over where that smoke is by the way, ron mott. so don't walk yourself over there. you stay right where you are. ron mott for nbc, thank you. >> i will. >> that's all for me. i'll see you back here at 5:00 p.m. eastern. my colleague richard lui picks things up next. here? our insurance company may not have a name your price tool [ shouting ] but we got disses for days! your mother is so lame, she never put any notes in your lunch bag. sandwiches o-o-only. lou lu wi richard lui. s name yor price tool, maybe you could use the savings to buy a decent suit. i got this jaime. ♪ you could throw shade all day ♪ ♪ but it'll never land ♪ 'cause we got the name your price tool ♪ in the palm of our h-a-a-and ♪ mic drop. mime: ouch. what? it was a sweet burn. progressive's name your price tool. word to your wallet. getting heartburn doesn't mean i means i take rolaids®. rolaids® goes to work instantly neutralizing 44% more acid than tums® for fast, powerful relief of your worst heartburn. i trust my rolaids®. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief.

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