we want our patients to survive their cancer but we also want them to maintain independence and quality of life is so important. >> this is "eyewitness news upclose." >> we won the evangelicals. we won with young. we won with old. we won with highly educated. we won with poorly educated. i love the poorly educated. >> no question donald trump is on a political roll, winning three straight states in this primary season. now the so-called republican establishment frantically rushing to try to slow the trump momentum, some of them now supporting senator marco rubio of florida. this morning, we talk to one congressman who did just that, long island's peter king. but is it too late? is trump heading to the nomination, or are republicans in for a divided and brokered convention? [ whistle blares ]

kids on the rise dramatically. one mom says she'll never let her son play tackle football. making this mother different? she's a pediatrician here in new york city. this morning, we talk to both mom and son. and good morning, everyone. i'm bill ritter. welcome to "upclose." as donald trump would say himself, his victories have been "huge." new jersey governor chris christie on friday endorsing mr. trump, but many of the republicans are now trying to stop them. among them, congressman peter king, who is endorsing marco rubio, as we said. i asked congressman king about why he waited until now to back senator rubio. >> well, basically, as i see it, this has become a two-man race between donald trump and marco rubio. coming in really, i think, the last -- you know, in the next two or three weeks, we're gonna know who the nominee is, and i strongly support marco rubio's national security positions, his homeland security positions. he really has an overall coherent foreign policy view of the world. donald trump. so that, to me, is the main difference as far as their

going toward the general election, i think marco rubio would be the strongest candidate that we could put up against hillary clinton. >> congressman, did you just get this revelation, or had you felt that for a while? and if you did, why didn't you endorse him before? >> yeah, actually, i had been talking to marco rubio probably going back now two or three months. and, to be honest, i had told jeb bush that so long as he was in the race, i would not make an endorsement. i was -- quite frankly, i thought jeb bush had the most qualifications, and i had told him back in last july or august that even though i was not gonna make an endorsement then that i would not endorse somebody else as long as he was in the race. i told that to marco back in january, and we had a number of conversations between then and now, including the night of the state of the union speech. and then on saturday night, once jeb bush dropped out, marco's people reached out to me. i contacted him, and i endorsed him.

a lot of people feel that it is, in fact, donald trump's race to the finish, that it almost seems to be pretty certain, anyway. he beat -- in nevada, he beat cruz and rubio more than -- you know, he had more than them combined. and the latest quinnipiac poll shows that a march 15th florida primary election, trump is up 16 points over rubio, and that's his home state. that's what he's representing as senator. >> yeah, no, there's no doubt that right now donald trump is the front runner. there's no doubt the odds favor donald trump. but it's not over yet. and again, it's basically, as i see it, a two-man race, and i feel strongly that the issues of national security and homeland security are the dominant issues. and on those issues, my views are virtually identical to marco rubio's, and they are significantly different from donald trump's. >> you are a new york moderate, i guess, a northeast moderate in terms of many people in your party, and yet a lot of people would say that you are part of the "republican establishment."

worried, freaked out, whatever, you know, adjective you want to describe about donald trump? >> well, if there is an establishment, i don't think they consider me to be part of it, but having said that -- no, there are people down here in washington and i guess throughout the country who you call part of an establishment who are concerned that they think donald trump is going to lead the party to a major defeat in november. i don't consider myself part of right. maybe in washington i'd be considered some kind of a moderate, but in new york, i've always been considered basically a hard right conservative. so, again, you know, the sands have shifted. but having said that, i consider myself a conservative republican. i consider marco rubio is really the first major tea party candidate elected to washington back in 2010 when he scored a major upset in florida running as a very conservative candidate. so, i don't see this being conservative versus liberal. in fact, if anything, i'd say donald trump would be much more

mandate in obamacare, his criticism of president bush. we can go back over many issues. his almost friendship he seems to have with vladimir putin, i mean, these are not, in any way, conservative stands that he's taken. so, if anything, between the two of them, marco would be more conservative. >> right, and, in fact, i was gonna say that it's a rare occasion when you support someone from the tea party in general, right? >> yeah, i am not considered a tea party republican, but marco rubio has been, and he is. and yet at the same time, he's managed to work to develop a broad consensus. his views are, i believe, in what i would say the mainstream of republican foreign policy and homeland security. he believes the strong american role in the world. he's not talking about retreating from the world. and so, again, i just find him extremely -- except for the one

for the most part, he is extremely articulate in laying out his positions and why he believes what he does, and we need more of that rather than just say -- having one-word answers or two-word put-downs of people. >> and one final note on this, if donald trump gets the republican nomination for president, what will you do? >> yeah, again, i will support the nominee of the party. i'd be more enthusiastic supporting marco rubio, but if donald trump is the nominee of the party, you know, that's the choice. >> let's move on to the apple controversy. this last thursday, the fbi director talking with the house intelligence committee asking them, saying that a federal judge has asked apple to do this, to get into that san bernardino terrorist killer's iphone and see exactly what was in there. a lot of controversy around this around the country. people are arguing different positions that might surprise a lot of us. what's your position on it, and

think? >> yeah, i support the fbi on this, particularly on this case, because, to me, no one's privacy is being violated. the person who had the phone is dead. the phone was owned by san bernardino. they have authorized its contents be divulged. and the fbi will actually turn over custody of the phone to apple. and all they're asking apple to do is to take down the system which would prevent the fbi from trying to break into it. they're not even -- and this would be a one-only. whatever code or whatever process apple is gonna use would only apply to this phone and would be kept entirely within the custody of apple. so, to me, you know, this is an active investigation. there are very real reasons why the fbi wants to go into that phone. and if we're talking about, you know, lives being lost because of this issue, i just don't understand it. i don't understand, certainly in this particular case, i do not understand apple's position. >> apple does say, though, that

opening the safe for further, you know, what they would call violations of privacy. >> well, again, if you're going to court, i mean, as far as privacy, the constitution protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures. and if you go to court and the court gives an order saying that there is a legitimate reason to make the information available, that's not a violation of privacy. now, if apple is talking about somehow these codes being hijacked or being hacked by enemies or by other people, the fact is, apple, until two years ago, wasn't able to encrypt any of these messages. it's all kept within apple's custody, and they would know, as far as i know, there were no break-ins to apple's computer system. but, again, that is -- there's really a larger debate, bill, we have to have here is that if terrorists around the world or drug pushers or child pornographers, if they can just get an app which prevents law

they're doing, we are going to be so vulnerable to attacks and to crimes being carried out in the future. so we have to find a way to protect privacy and also, though, even most importantly, protect us from another terrorist attack. i go back to the example if on september 10, 2001, we knew there was a phone and that phone had within it the contents of when the attack was gonna be or where the attack was gonna be the next day, i would hope we would have found a way to get into that phone. >> we certainly would feel that we could have, i think, a lot of people on september 12th. things have changed, i think, about the americans' position in privacy versus national security. if you had to guess, congressman, if you had to look ahead -- 'cause there's valid arguments on both sides i think you'll argue and you understand, and the question is how do you compromise this. looking into a crystal ball, where does this end? >> i think the fbi is gonna win this particular case with apple. going forward, it's gonna get more complex, and i would hope that congress would get involved and, you know, show some

involve bringing in the, again, the i.t. community, the law enforcement community, intelligence community, and try to work out ways to get it done. i would hope that the i.t. community, you know, the information community is serious about trying to find a way out of this rather than just trying to sell equipment that's gonna protect everyone, including criminals, from having their phone messages made known to law enforcement. so, again, i hope they're not just doing it for the sake of privacy -- for the sake of privacy. privacy is important, but so is keeping people alive. >> before i let you go, i want to talk about another contentious issue in washington, and it involves the senate, but a lot of congresspeople like yourself are weighing in on this. what happens and what should be done about president obama's decision to submit or try to submit a name in nomination to replace the late justice scalia?

should not be ratifying any appointee or any nominee this year. again, going back, joe biden said in, i guess, it was 1991 that there should be no appointee of president bush to be nominated or approved. historically, we have not, in the final year of a president's term, had a supreme court nominee confirmed. so, listen, to me, if they want to have a hearing on it and then have an up-or-down vote, that is a legitimate way, but i think the american people, again, with a four-four split on the court, it should be left to the american people, and they do that by electing a president. >> isn't this just a political argument, though? i mean, it's not really a constitutional question to be sure. in fact, the constitution says the president has the right to nominate someone and the senate has to advise and consent. you mentioned joe biden was against it at one time in 1991. senator schumer, your colleague from new york, against it in the

administration. and now the republicans are saying, "no, we don't want a democrat to do it." if ever they were a little more less vitriolic there, wouldn't this be different? isn't it really political here? >> again, the supreme court really going back to the, i guess, the nomination, president bush's -- president reagan's nomination of robert bork back in 1987. since then, and with clarence thomas and others, the supreme court has become much more politicized than it ever was before. that's the reality we live in. and therefore i think it is a legitimate issue to be raised during the presidential year. if the president wants to nominate someone, then that can be debated, you know, during the campaign. as in politics, you have politics -- you know, politics is democracy, and democracy -- the ultimate form of democracy is electing a president. >> new york congressman long island. we thank him for joining us. a little later, we're gonna talk to political consultant hank sheinkopf about governor christie's endorsement of mr. trump. but coming up next, a dilemma

do you let your kids play contact sports like football though the increasing worries anyway? coming up next, a pediatrician from new york taking a stand because this doctor is also a mom, a mom with a 12-year-old. and she is refusing to let her son play tackle football. we talk to both mother and child next. all across america families are coming back to time warner cable for a whole new experience. that's because we've been working hard to give you better service, and it shows. we came back for internet speeds so fast even the kids are impressed. oh she's impressed. we're catching up on movies and shows on demand just as fast as we can watch them. for $89.99 a month you'll get 100 meg ultra-fast internet, popular hd channels

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so many tough decisions facing kids. one of the toughest and most controversial -- do you let your kid play tackle football? an estimated 300,000 high school athletes every year suffer concussions, and nearly half of them are suffered by high school football players. you're about to meet one of them who didn't have a concussion because his mom won't let him play football, a 12-year-old boy from manhattan. he wants to play tackle, but his mom says no. it's increasingly a typical family divide, but this mom also happens to be a pediatrician, and she has seen far too many head injuries in children. the mother is dr. dyan hes. she is here with her 12-year-old son dean zilbeman, right? is that how to pronounce it? >> yeah. >> very good. well, welcome to both of you. thanks for doing this. >> thanks for having us. >> was this a hard decision? >> it wasn't a hard decision for me, but he is very persistent. so the daily fighting and argument over and over, for a while, it was hard. but i didn't even think twice about it. i was just like, "you're not playing tackle football." >> that was it. you were hardlined.

tell, but how did you feel when she said no, it's not gonna happen? >> i felt like, well, that i was gonna be kind of jealous that the other kids in my grade were allowed to play in the league, but now slowly their parents are kind of, like, kind of asking them to quit, and they kind of also -- they also want to. my friends are playing in, like, the less rough positions, like in the back of the field, so now i feel like -- i feel like i'm fine. >> you're okay with it? >> yeah. >> did she convince you, or you just sort of realized you were gonna lose the battle here? >> yeah, i kind of realized i was gonna lose the battle. >> you gave up and said, "i'm gonna do something else." what was your argument to him? >> well, i just said, you know, your mom. to be honest, are you gonna go on to play in the nfl? probably not." and i say that to all my patients. i have kids who come in and want to be baseball players, and i would say, "what's your backup plan?" so i said to dean, "do you understand that if you get repeated head injuries, you

you can't even become what you brain injury." it interferes with your learning, with your development. you know, we have seen multiple athletes go on hockey players, football players have dementia, psychosis, drug problems. you know, so, yes, maybe he wouldn't have 12 concussions, but maybe he'd have two, and i think that's two too many if i could have prevented it. >> hard for a 12-year-old to understand what it might mean later in life, right? it's hard for you to say, "gosh, what's gonna happen when i'm 30?" when you're 12, 'cause that's ancient -- 30, right? >> yeah. >> yeah, so it's hard to get that. but you've seen this a lot in your practice. that's where it came from. >> yes, and i've seen -- i worked in the e.r. for 10 years. i've seen many concussions. and i see -- it's not just a concussion that you see in the e.r. it's what you see afterwards. you see kids who struggle to go back to school. they can't keep up because they can't -- after a concussion, you're not really supposed to read books, you're not supposed to play electronics, you're not supposed to watch tv. >> well, he doesn't play sure. >> he's like madden -- he's like know, with all that. >> but you can get concussions, and you've heard this criticism,

you could get concussions doing a lot of things. do you ski? >> yeah. >> okay, you can certainly get a concussion skiing. do you play soccer? >> yeah, with my friends sometimes. >> okay. do you play baseball? >> not so often. >> the point is, you can get hurt doing a lot of things. you've seen it in your practice. >> but the thing is, is that in tackle football, you are put at much more risk 'cause your head is down and there is, like, constant impact. and the goal is to defeat the other team, and you ram your bodies into other bodies. >> do you think being a pediatrician made your argument stronger and you are able to take a different stance if you hadn't been just -- and i mean this with no derogatory -- just a mom without being a doctor? >> yes, because i also used to work in a department of neurology. i see autopsy results. you see biopsies of brains we know that people have had cte -- the chronic traumatic encephalopathy -- have this buildup of this tau protein in their brain, and it might even be after one concussion. so why would i ever agree -- you know, i always say this to my patients, 'cause it's about everything. if 11-year-olds were always

and the parents wouldn't be in charge. same with 12-year-olds. so it goes to the same for nutrition. you know, they would want to eat junk food all the time or, you know, not wearing a coat out in the winter. >> didn't your parents say that to you? "if 11-year-olds were right all the time"? >> yeah. >> 90% -- is that right? 90% of players, football players, former pro football players, who have died and been tested have this cte, right? >> yes. >> and explain what it is exactly, cte. >> so, what it is, is that this -- we don't know how it happens -- well, i don't know 'cause i'm not a neurologist, but what i understand is that they get this buildup of this protein in their brain, deposits after the head trauma, and that these are causing, you know, interference with their synapses and their brain is not functioning properly. so for some, it might be anger issues and some it might be delusions or hallucinations or -- for most players, it's just really severe headaches, you know. they have debilitating headaches where they can't function sometimes. >> before i let you go, i'll tell you a quick story. my father wouldn't let me play two things -- football, tackle football, and he wouldn't let me

so when my son wanted to play football, it was his form of rebellion, and he did. he played high school football here in new york city. and i held my breath on every play. and every game, some player on one of those teams got injured. there was an ambulance there waiting. i held my breath on every play. and looking back, i wish he hadn't done it, and he's lucky he didn't get hurt. but it did build team spirit. it built cooperation, and his grades were very good because of it. >> i want him to play flag football, and i wish it would be able to be extended past middle school, because they enjoy it a lot, all the boys do. and all the mothers said, "if there was a flag football league that went on to high school, we would let our kids play that. we would so much prefer it." >> all right, dr. dyan hes. you know, you're taking this personal voyage and making it public for a reason. a lot of teams, a lot of high schools across the country, and certainly the northeast, are showing that they have fewer people going out for the teams. it's because of moms speaking out like you, i think. all right, dean, good luck with your other sports. i'm sure you'll do fine. >> thanks. >> your mom probably saved you some injury, and you'll thank

that's what she tells you. thank you both very much. when we come back, some republicans now embracing the "anybody but trump" approach to the race for president, but is it too late? is the new york real estate developer on his way to, as he likes to say, running the board? we talk to our political analyst hank sheinkopf next. in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in buffalo, where the largest solar gigafactory in the

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>> welcome back to "upclose." a major development friday in the race for president -- new jersey governor chris christie endorsing donald trump for president. >> donald and i, along with melania and mary pat, have been friends for over a decade. he has been a good and loyal friend to our family, as we have been to he and his family. and over the years, we've had a lot of wonderful times together, done a lot of good together for not only the people of the state of new jersey but for many charities that we've worked with and on together. and i absolutely appreciate him as a person and as a friend. >> sounds very different than the chris christie we saw debating donald trump in the debates, doesn't it?

republican front runner, be stopped? political analyst hank sheinkopf is here. you know, what would you have said if someone told you a year ago that donald trump, after the first three primaries and caucuses, would look -- four of them -- would look like no one can stop him? >> well, if someone had said that to me, i probably would have recommended they see a good psychiatrist and got lots of drugs. >> 'cause you said something like that. you were asked that in the summer, and you said, "it's not gonna happen. he won't last the summer." >> we were all wrong. most of us, the pundit corr-- i corrected myself six months ago as the mayor called. and it's quite surprising, but not based upon the present politics we have. the real angry populace with the electorate, bernie sanders reflects it on one side, other. >> let's talk about christie and then we'll talk about the debate the other night, which was an amazing display of -- i don't know -- the political reality, seventh grade behavior, everything. >> yes. >> maybe the reality you're talking about. you know, did you see that coming? did anyone see that coming? he wants to be involved in

he's going to be term-limited out next year. >> yep. two more years. go. >> yeah. >> where do you go? you go to -- >> washington, yeah, and that's what he wants, right? >> probably. >> this is not a vice presidential thing? that would make no sense, right? >> makes no sense. he brings nothing to the ticket. nothing to the ticket. donald trump needs someone probably who is maybe latino possibly or from the midwest to make sure he can get those votes. or, you know, probably midwest. midwest catholic, latino, someone like that who fits any of those components would be fine. >> until the debate the other night, a lot of people said that would have been marco rubio, but, boy, it was certainly vitriolic, to say the least between all those guys. >> well, they're really in extremis. they know they're going to lose. they're fighting their last breath. and when someone's fighting last breath and they're in combat, they're gonna do whatever they can to protect themselves. >> and so the strategy here -- there's two strategies. first for mr. rubio. if he thinks he's gonna lose and he might be a vice presidential candidate under a trump nomination, would that mean that they just kiss and make up like

and trump just did? >> well, they will, and there will be some public discussion about that, but so what? people won't remember. they'll kiss and make up. but the behavior overall in that debate was quite extraordinary. it's not the kind of politics we're used to, but it's more of the politics we're going to see. >> let's talk before we get to the debate and mr. trump specifically. >> sure. >> let's look about the "anybody but trump" movement. pete king earlier in the show said he endorsed marco rubio. i asked him, you know, "it's kind of unusual for you, a moderate northeastern republican, to be endorsing a tea party guy who came up," mr. rubio did. the so-called establishment republicans trying to get somebody, anybody but trump, going with mr. rubio right now. >> they want to get anybody but trump because they feel more comfortable with anybody but trump and they probably believe that anybody but trump can beat secretary clinton come the fall. well, that's all not necessarily accurate. they were also going through a real serious change within the demographics of that party. it's been younger, not older. their leadership is younger. there's a larger hispanic contingent than before.

adjust to what the changes are around, and that's one of the reasons they have a donald trump. >> donald trump versus hillary clinton. the polls have shown sort of close, but clinton always felt trump. you are not so sure. >> i never was, and we've said that, i think, on this program. why? there is something different going on that we haven't seen. my betting is you'll see local polling data, if it hasn't already been released, that shows even in new york state or even in parts of new york state that trump and hillary are very, very close. >> donald trump as a president of the united states. people would not have thought it would be possible. >> they also never thought probably that warren harding would be there or -- >> or ronald reagan. >> or ronald reagan or that george murphy, the song and dance man, would go to the senate from california. >> and yet in the debate, when they pushed him, marco rubio and cruz pushed him to be specific about some of his plans, and he clearly avoided being specific on his plans. it doesn't hurt him. >> doesn't hurt him because he is doing something that people want right now. you know, candidates are only successful if they fit the moment in time in which they're operating. this moment in time people want a donald trump, and the

saying is, "look, we don't care. the rest of it's not working. the anger and upset and apps of frustration that people on both sides of the aisle have is pretty overwhelming. >> just 15 seconds left. i want to talk about the democrats quickly. bernie sanders peaked early. not gonna see him making a challenge at hillary clinton like this again? >> african-american voters are critical. they're a staple to clinton electorate, and they're gonna be voting on super tuesday, and that may be the end of bernie sanders. >> okay. hank sheinkopf, as always, great insight. we'll see you soon again, i'm sure. and that'll do it for this edition of "upclose." if, by chance, you missed any of today's programs, not to worry. you can catch it again on our website, abc7ny. and that's it for us. thank you all for watching. i'm bill ritter, and for all of us at channel 7, enjoy the rest

>> buenos d^as y bienvenidos. good morning and welcome once again to "tiempo." i'm joe torres. tonight are the academy awards right here on channel 7. by now, you've certainly heard of the controversy, with many latinos and blacks outraged at the lack of diversity among the top nominees. well, this morning, we talked to a pair of latina broadway stars. you will hear their thoughts about the controversy and how this season has been one of the most diverse on broadway in years. that's coming up later in the show. right now, though, we are talking about the latino vote in this 2016 presidential election year. this year, according to one