about, what does ted cruz think about immigration? or the larger issue, is ted cruz being honest? >> when you spend your time telling people you're a clear talker, you say what you mean, everyone else is a sell-out and you're the only purist, i think it's fair toes, hold on a second. here's where you've been in the past on some issues and here's where you are now. the truth is everyone running on the republican side supports strong conservative positions. we have differences and we should discuss those. national security, for example. when you run by telling everybody you're the only purist in the field, the only one who's a consistent conservative, then your record is going to have a light shone on it and in this case has proven well after the immigration debate ended he was still talking about how he was open to legalizing people and how important it was to bring people out of the shadows and so forth. >> how much of a national security issue do you think it is there is now an open conversation in the republican party about banning muslims from america and that a majority of the party agrees with that idea? right now do you think that's a national security problem? >> well, the statements that people have made, it's not a serious policy proposal.

so it was made for the purposes of recapturing the headlines. i meandonald trump had fallen out of the headlines, rightfully, we had the largest terrorist attack in american history since 9/11. he wanted to get back in the headlines and came up with something spectacular and outrageous so that people would respond to it and he could recapture the headlines. it's not a serious proposal. >> you in a rally in new hampshire said trump is a jerk, a chaos candidate, he's not serious and can't insult his way to the presidency. aren't those all insults? are you trying to insult your way to the presidency? >> no, i'm trying to point out he's not a serious candidate. his answer about the nuclear triad, for example, was mind-blowing. i mean, not having any knowledge about what the subject is, where you have this exclusive responsibility of the president of the united states as commander in chief of the armed forces to know when and how to use our nuclear deterrent. he has no knowledge about this stuff. he thought -- now he's come out saying putin is a strong man and a great guy, when he's trying to

destabilize our relationship with our allies. he's not a serious candidate. >> why is the nuclear triad so important, for people who don't understand what that is in a world where islamic jihad is something people are so concerned about? >> it's important because it's been part of the security arrangement that has kept us safe since the post-world war ii era. and we've seen a lack of investment in it and we need to refurbish it and strengthen it. the fact that he wouldn't know what it is, that's one of those questions i think you have to answer in a thoughtful way if you're running for president of the united states. it's not just that. he said isis is not a threat two months ago. he get gets his news from the shows. i know that warms your heart that he wakes up in the morning and gets his foreign policy and military advice from people that go on your show but that's not a serious man. and i don't take -- look. when he insults me personally, i don't take it personally. and he shouldn't take it personally either. but someone needs to call him out. >> the "cbs overnight news" will be right back.

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music starts and pgucci guiltyout the fragrances for him and for her. the term confidential informant can conjure up images out of a hollywood movie. a police officer going undercover to infiltrate the mob and bring killers to justice. but in reality, many confidential informants are just kids coaxed into working for the police after a minor drug bust. the work can be dangerous or even deadly. the report for "60 minutes." >> how's it going today? >> all right. >> it's your birthday today? >> yeah. >> not what you want to be doing on your birthday, huh. >> reporter: what you're looking at is police footage of the making of a confidential informant. narcotics officer jason webber is recruiting a college student caught making two small marijuana sales to become a ci. >> you expressed interest you'd want to help yourself out.

>> yeah. >> we're always trying to go up the chain. so what we want to go is have them buy from their supplier or suppliers. >> reporter: webber is the chief of a four-county drug task force in eastern north dakota and western minnesota. how important do you think confidential informants are to your task? >> confidential informants are really important to law enforcement across the country. they make our jobs easier because they are already the ones that know the drug dealers and rely on them. >> most of the kids that you're recruiting are caught for s? >> the big majority, yeah. >> reporter: webber's jurisdiction includes the campus of the north dakota state college of science with some 3,000 students. marijuana is now legal in four states and the district of columbia. but not in north dakota. where selling even a small amount on a campus is a class "a" felony with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison,

a fine of $20,000, or both. >> two felonies. >> reporter: this young man andrew saddic was caught on tape by another confidential informant making two sales for a total of $80. webber has called saddic in before charging him to present a choice. agree to work as a ci, wear a wire, and make undercover drug buys from three people, twice each. or be charged with two class "a" felonies. >> potentially the max is 40 years in prison, $40,000 fine. do you understand that? >> yeah. >> obviously you're probably not going to get 40 years. but there's a possibility you're going to get prison time. if you don't help yourself out, yeah, there is. okay? that's probably not the way to start off your young adult life and career, right? >> reporter: saddic took the deal. webber told us most students do. part of the agreement he signed, keep the whole thing strictly to himself. >> you can't tell anybody you're working for me.

for obvious reasons. >> reporter: an award-winning student of electrical technology, andrew saddic did as he was told. never told any of his close friends about being an informant. never called a lawyer. and didn't breathe a word to his parents, tammy and john saddic. the saddics are a ranching family, still struggling with the dead of their older son in a train accident years earlier, leaving andrew an only child. >> if andrew had told you that he was thinking of becoming a confidential informant what do you think your reaction would have been? >> oh -- well, we'd have gotten him a lawyer and told him no. >> we've never heard of such a thing. he's a college student. snitches, whatever you want to call them, stool pigeons, i don't know what you call them, you know. >> there's no parent i know of who would allow or want their child to serve as a confidential informant. >> to set up a drug deal. >> yeah. it's too dangerous. i wouldn't want my child to do

it. >> reporter: lance block is an attorney in tallahassee, florida, who opposes using young people caught for relatively minor offenses as confidential informants. >> these kids are being recruited to do the most dangerous type of police work, going undercover with no background, training, or experience. they haven't been to the police academy. >> they are basically doing the same work as a trained undercover cop? >> absolutely. >> reporter: block says he was unaware police were using young people as confidential informants until he was hired seven years ago by the family of rachel hoffman, a recent college graduate who was caught with a large stash of marijuana and a few valium and ecstasy pills. it was her second marijuana arrest. >> she was caught by a tallahassee police department and told that if she didn't become a confidential informant, she was looking at four years in prison.

>> reporter: she signed up. and a few weeks later was sent out to make her first undercover drug buy. it was to be one of the biggest in tallahassee's recent history. 15 hundred ecstasy pills, 1.5 ounces of cocaine, and a gun. >> had she ever dealt in any of those things? >> no. >> a gun? had she ever fired a gun? >> no. rachel was a pothead. and rachel sold marijuana to her friends out of her home. but rachel wasn't dealing in ecstasy or cocaine, much less of course not weapons. >> reporter: rachel drove her car alone to meet the dealers in this park with $13,000 cash from the police and a wire in her purse. she was to be monitored by some 20 officers. but then the dealers changed the location of the deal, so rachel drove away from the police staging area, and that's when things went terribly wrong.

>> the drug dealers have her out on this road. one drug dealer gets into the car with her. >> and the 20 cops who were nearby? >> they lost her. >> hoffman is 5'7", 135 pounds -- >> hoffman was seen near forest meadows park -- >> they shot her five times when they found the wire in her purse and dumped her body in a ditch 50 miles away. >> reporter: rachel hoffman's tragic death turned block into an advocate. he sued the city of tallahassee and won a $2.8 million settlement for rachel's parents. and he has argued for more openness and greater protection for confidential informants ever since. >> do you have any sense of how many confidential informants there are? >> law enforcement is loaded with statistics. but you cannot find out any information about the number of confidential informants that are being used across this country, much less the number of people who are being killed or injured --

>> no one's keeping statistics? >> no one. it's a shadowy underworld is what it is. >> we want to make more cases, we want to make better cases that can get prosecuted, informants can do that. >> reporter: brian solis is a longtime undercover narcotics officer who believes a shadowy underworld is exactly what working with cis should be shadowy to protect informants' identity, an underworld because that's where cops like him want informants to take them. >> who knows the most about the dope trade? us, working narcotics? no. who is it? the sellers. the dopers. >> reporter: solis says he's works with hundreds of informants and now trains police officers around the country on how best to use them. >> if you had not been able, personally, to use confidential informants, would you have been as effective? >> nowhere near as effective. >> you really feel you need to? >> i know i would not. i may have to watch a house for

days or weeks to establish probable cause. my informant goes and makes a buy out of it, i have my probable cause in five minutes. you can get into cases quicker, easier, some respects safer. >> i'm surprised you say safer. because we've heard about kids who have been killed doing these operations. >> it's a dangerous trade that they're involved in. >> yeah. >> they are in that drug trade, they've always been facing that potential danger. >> reporter: he estimates there could be as many as 100,000 confidential informants working with police across the country. he says with just a few tragic exceptions, it's a win-win. a win for society and a win for the ci. >> they have agreed to do what they are doing in exchange for something. that's the bottom line. when somebody comes to work for me as an informant, it's their decision. >> reporter: police tell us this is completely voluntary and they want to do this to get rid of the charges.

>> it's not something that college kids are standing up saying, i want to be a ci. it's not voluntary, they're being told they're looking at prison time unless they agree to do deals for the police department. >> reporter: and there are some important things they're not being told. >> what if you catch me selling $60 worth of marijuana? what do you say to me to become an informant? >> i'll say, this is the charge. this is a felony. do you want to help yourself out? >> do you tell me that i have a right to talk to a lawyer? >> no, i do not. i tell you you have a right to talk to a lawyer if i'm going to ask you incriminating questions. if we're talking about you becoming an informant, i don't have to tell you that you have the right to a lawyer. >> you can see lesley stahl's full report on our website cbsnews.com. looking for 24/7 digestive support?

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adele's new cd has only been out for a few weeks but it's already the biggest-selling album of 2015. and when she announced her first north american tour in five years, the tickets went like hotcakes. fans lined up outside ticket windows for hours. others sat by their computers trying to buy seats online. and most of them came away empty-handed. vinita nair has the story. >> tickets went on sale for 56 shows thursday, many in huge arenas that seat thousands of fans. adele's team went to great lengths to keep tickets out of the hands of so-called secondary sellers who buy at retail then

jack up prices. tickets are showing up on sites like stubhub for thousands of dollars. ♪ hello it's me >> reporter: adele is the reigning queen of heartbreak. now many fans feel her pain. after trying to buy tickets on the phone and online for hours thursday, some received this message instead. no seats available. ♪ hello from the other side i must have brought us down to size ♪ >> reporter: memes like this made the rounds on social media. hello from the ticket line. i've clicked refresh a thousand times. ♪ at least i can say that i've tried ♪ >> people were upset. they were weeping big adele tears while listening to adele music and trying to buy adele tickets. >> reporter: her new album "25" has sold more than 5 million copies and is the top seller of

2015. the tour sold out and almost immediately tickets were posted on sites like stubhub, premium seats almost $10,000 at madison square garden in new york city. ♪ i will wait for you >> reporter: a secondary ticket market now estimated to be worth a reported $8 billion a year. earlier this week the group mumford and sons posted on a blog saying, we want fans of the band to be able to get into our shows for the right price, to see that they've got value for money. adele's team says it worked hard to ensure her concert tickets went directly to her fans. she's one of many artists who work with songkick, the site works to weed out secondary sellers by managing ticket sales through an artist website or fan club. still -- >> virtually everything that has been created to try to shut out scalpers has been conquered by scalpers. >> reporter: adele's management team had no comment when we asked about fan disappointment over thursday's sales.

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captioning funded by cbs it's monday, december 21st, 2015. this is the "cbs morning news." panic on the strip. a driver runs down pedestrians in front of some of las vegas busiest casinoses injurie inini people and killing one. new poll. senator ted cruz is found to be leading in iowa but the presidential candidates from both parties are still taking swings at donald trump. and tierra turmoil. comedian