kelly o'donnell is still here. kelly, you've covered this white house as well as everything else that you do. and took a shot not just at donald trump but ted cruz. that's part of the message, i'm sure, we're not just laying the groundwork but against ted cruz. >> and the president is reminding us all, he's not going to be a spectator on big news days like this that might not involve him directly showing us he can come to the briefing room and not just talk about important policy but must have known if any questions, there would be a question ready to go that would deal with politics and able to help shape part of the debate today. >> kristen welker and kelly o'donnell, thank you so much. we've had the president and bernie sanders and why not go to the press spokesman for hillary clinton. hillary clinton in new york today, not in wisconsin. she was on abc's "the view" and the perception of not being trustworthy and not being authentic. >> what is inauthentic? >> i don't understand that. i don't understand that. beca

>> kelly o'donnell here with us in new york. for those just joining us, a member of the still photography press is at the podium so everyone can focus up. their attention seems focused at the back of the rahm past our camera, because that is pointed out. this is still a building not part of the capitol hill, not part of the complex, so anything political must be done at the base. that includes fundraising, telephone kaushlgsz neshz. a political statement about the republican party. . support. if this speech works today and paul ryan takes his name off the board, say ryan comes down and he's not going to be a possibility. for those republicans unhappy with the choice, say, of trump or cruz or kasich, what does that leave them for an option which is basically saying, here's the leader of the ren leerpd. >> it isn't going to be me, stop looking at me, you've got. i know i plan on supporting one of these three. i think that could be the impact, i think it doesn't feel the impact. another thing that doesn't help paul ryan here. i you

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nbc's kelly o'donnell brings us up to speed. >> reporter: with delegate-rich primaries around the corner, this was nol ay of rest. >> we have taken on all of the establishment. >> let's do this together. thank you. >> reporter: hillary clinton and husband bill put their faith in african-american congregations, making visits to six churches in harlem and queens. >> she was your senator. she was a great secretary of state. herself with presi nt obama and implie berni sanders had not been as loyal. >> we havetsomeone who rejects the idea that president obama has made progress, doesn't give himcahe credit that i think he deserves. >> reporter: sanders made the rounds on four sunday talk shows and challenged clinton's suitabilityqualificatio-b. >> she may have experience to be president of the united states, no one can argue that, but in terms of a judgment, something is clearly lacking. >> reporter: although the senator does not raise it, he's talked about the e-mail server. he ooh's asked if he still thinks there was no compromise to national security after classified documents were found o

kelly o'donnell has our report on the democrats. >> reporter: with delegate-rich primaries around thener, this was no day of rest. >> we are taking on all of the establishment. >> let's do this together! thank you! >> reporter: hillary clinton and husband bill put their faith in african-american congregations, making visits to six churches in harlem and queens. >> she was your senator. she was a great secretary of state. >> reporter: clinton aligned herself with president obama and implied bernie sanders had not been as loyal. >> we have someone who rejects the idea that president obama has made progress. doesn't give him the credit that i think he deserves. >> reporter: today sanders made the rounds on four sunday talk shows. and challenged clinton's suitability to be president but not her qualifications. >> she may have the experience to be president of the united states, no one can argue that, but in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking. >> reporter: although sanders does not raise it, the issue of the use of a private e-mail server resurfaced in an interview with pr

kelly o'donnell, n b bc news, baltimore. >> in an nbc exclusive our chief correspondent richard engeled whether the agency would use harsh interrogation practices. president obama banned it in 2009, but donald trump and ted cruz have said they're open to it. director brennan said he would not authorize it, even if ordered by a future president. >> absolutely i would not. i would not agree to having any cia officer carrying out waterboarding. >> you can catch more of richard's exclusive interview with richard brennan tonight on nbc news. >>> bond has been set at $1 million for the man accused of killing former new orleans saint will smith. it accident and ended with smith's shocking death. >> reporter: the scene of the fatal shooting. saints fans paid their respects to one of the most beloved players in team history. >> a good guy. everybody loves him. and just an absolute shame. >> reporter: police say it was about 11:30 saturday night when smith's mercedes was hit by a hummer driven by hayes. they argued and hayes put out a gun and began to shut. >> we pulled him out of the vehicle w

nbc's kelly o'donnell brings us up to speed. >> reporter: with delegate-rich primaries around the cornerthis was no day of rest. >> we are taking on all of the establishment. >> let's do this together! thank you. >> reporter: hillary clinton and husband bill put their faith in african-american congregations. making visits to six churches in harlem and queens. >> she was your senator, she was a great secretary of state. >> reporter: clinton aligned herself with president obama and implied bernie sanders had not been as loyal. >> we have someone who rejects the idea that president obama has made progress. doesn't give him the credit that i think he deserves. >> reporter: sanders made the rounds on four sunday talk shows. and challenged clinton's suitability to be president, but not her qualifications. >> she may have the experience to be president of the united states, no one can argue that, but in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking. >> reporter: although senator does not raise it, the issue of the private e-mail server resurfaced in a new interview with president obama. h

kelly o'donnell, why is john kasich here in the badger state? >> reporter: he believes he can pick up delegates in madison but we just had a chance to talk to governor kasich. we asked him about all of these issues. he called senator ted cruz a smear artist for cruz's attempts to try to go after john kasich urging him to get out of the race and trump, saying he must be nervous and kind of raised the issue of why are they worried about me if i'm doing so poorly? he does talk about issues and try to have a sunnier disposition but in the q and a with reporters is more tactical going after his rivals and saying he intends to stay in. no plans to get out. he goes to the convention and believes he can have more delegates and perhaps sen joyis enjoying a bit of the rough and tumble where those ahead of him essentially are talking about him and able to push back against donald trump and push back against ted cruz. and in part, craig, he's talking about the fact that he understands and knows and grew up with the kinds of voters who like donald trump and

kelly o'donnell reporting for us in washington. kelly, thanks so much. >>> i want to go back to the campaign trail and talk about what's going on with ted cruz. hallie jackson is traveling in california to cover the cruz camp. we know he's been out to california and now back. it's a really interesting intersection to talk about what this potential meeting means . as i brought up with kelly o'donnell, one of the last tweets she sent was just the word "seriously" about that retweet of heidi cruz about melania trump, and now we have a retweet coming out about it being addressed on fox news last night. take a look. >> if there's one thing that's true about ted it's that he always tells the truth. >> you can just brush that stuff off. >> i think these attacks on character are a distraction. i think we have a pattern of behavior here that when donald trump is falling behind, you know, it's interesting the timing of that was right before ted's sweeping victory in utah. our campaign never will, never has engaged in the politics of personal

kelly o'donnell, hallie jackson, kristen welker, and kasie hunt. thanks to all. and we have breaking news now. >>> there have been several arrests in belgium today in connection with the attacks in brussels. nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin joins me now. what do we know about these arrests? is it the man in the white jacket? bring us up to date. >> reporter: a lot of questions, andrea. but the official confirmation we get from the federal prosecutor is that several arrests have been made in connection with the attack on march 22nd. a lot of questions as to who some of the individuals that were arrested might have been. what we do know from belgian media which nbc news has not independently verified is that the individual arrested in these raids was mohammed breeni. we'll explain his role. he was seen on cctv footage two days before the attacks with salah abdeslam. that individual, mohammed barini, would have been the last known that they were looking for. yesterday, the belgian police made a public appeal to try and identify the man in the white jacket.

>> thanks to kelly o'donnell and now to kasie hunt. he still keeps generating these crowds and at the apollo theater, taking a direct shot over the super predator comment back then from hillary clinton. but moving away from qualification to talk about judgment with hillary clinton. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. that judgment line, accusing hillary clinton of having bad judgment and why she shouldn't be president, that's something that bernie sanders has said for months now on the campaign trail usually in the context of the iraq war but it's pretty clear that his campaign decided his attack on her as unqualified just wasn't sustainable in the long term. the backlash was so swift and frankly, the candidate himself went a bit farther than some people around him thought that he might go. they'd been urging him to hit hillary clinton harder but that attack just wasn't one necessarily they felt like they could stick with, so he's going after bill clinton demanding an apology for the remarks and bill clinton defending himself on that is

i'm joined with kristen welker, kelly o'donnell, and halley jackson. let's talk about ted cruz with a terrible night in new york. >> reporter: not great at all in new york, andrea. not unexpected for the campaign but not going to be a good week moving forward either over the next seven days looking at donald trump polling. the question for cruz then becomes, what is his path forward? how does he see himself getting the republican nomination? i know this is a very empty room right now. they have sort of torn down the trappings of the rally but before they did, senator cruz was working the rope line shaking hands. we managed to get him a question about his path forward. listen to his response here. >> nobody's getting 1,237. donald knows that. we're headed to a contested convention. and at a contested convention, the only way you become the republican nominee is to earn the support of a majority of the delegates elected by the people. the reason donald is so terrified and the reason why he's got so many of his media surrogates repeating the mantra that t

nbc's kelly o'donnell is there. ying about what we just heard from donald trump? -p>> reporter: well, first of a, steve, they have not opened the doors here yet if you're wondering why there are empty chairs behind me. donald trump over the weekend was certainly dissing john kasich for the size of his clouds compared to some of the lengthy long waits we've seen for donald trump. no surprise the john kasich team is saying, donald trump, if you think it's such a great idea to drop out of the race that option is open to you as well. in every cycle there is always a candidate who irritates those who are perhaps doing better because there's always a argument that they take some of the votes, some of the delegates and attention away. for john kasich don't expect anything but a plan to get to cleveland. he says and we have had conversations with him that he has the fundraising to do that and it's about for him making the case bit by bit, introducing himself further to the public and that's a hard argument this deep into the

let's start with nbc's kelly o'donnell, covering the democrats. kelly where good morning. >> reporter: good morning, craig. bernie sanders had been expected to do well in the wyoming caucus, and he did, winning the wyoming caucus. that format and the state go along with sanders' strengths. sanders' wife stepped on stage to tell him that he had won wyoming. sanders has won eight out of nine contests. hillary clinton did not campaign in wyoming. she put out a statement congratulating bernie sanders but pointed out she has a delegate lead, a margin her campaign calls insurmountable. today hillary clinton will be campaigning in baltimore at the business behind me and will be holding a grassroots event, urging supporters to help her campaign in maryland, voting on april 26th. the next big contest is new york, a week from tuesday. and that is a must-win for clinton. of course there still has been tension between these two campaigns, with disputes over how much to raise the minimum wage, and sanders calling on bill clinton to apologize after he had a verb

nbc's kelly o'donnell is following the kasich campaign. t? >> well, to a degree. when he was asked about that, and we'll show you a clip of that in a moment. but if i could, i want to share with you a little bit about what was different about this town hall. i've been lots to them with john kasich. i was struck by a couple of things. first, the audience that was here just a short time ago began with a standing ovation. that typically does not happen. there was a voter who said, don't drop out. we see that more and more. and then there was a transgender woman who asked a question, of the many questions that were asked, about lbgt rights and what would his position be? and he went off on a long riff about a couple of things. first of all, we know in the news, there have been some states looking at issues like what bathrooms in public spaces can transgender people use? john kasich was saying, let's not have more laws. let's try to get along. let's not look at ways to divide people, and let people just live. kind of a libertarian streak. then h

let's start with kelly o'donnell covering the democrats. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. bernie sanders had expected to do well in the wyoming contest and he did winning the democratic caucus, that format. and the state's makeup of voters, mostly white, is a sanders strength. there were only 14 delegates at stake and hillary clinton got half. bernie sanders was campaigning on long island new york when his wife stepped on the stage to tell him he had won wyoming. he then turned to the crowd and said sanders has won eight out of nine contests. hillary clinton did not campaign in wyoming herself. she put out a statement congratulating sanders but also pointing out that she has a delegate lead of 220 and an advantage in the popular vote of 2.4 million. a margin her campaign calls insurmountable. today, hillary clinton will be campaigning here and she'll be holding a grassroots organizing event to encourage supporters to help her campaign in maryland. maryland is voting on april 26th. the next big contest is new york a week from tuesday. and that is must win for clinton. of co

>> kelly o'donnell for us this morning. kelly, thank you. >>> chuck todd is nbc's political direct and moderator of "meet the press." chuck, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, craig. >> i feel like every week we ask you variations of the same question. is this the week that the rhetoric catches up to donald trump? it was, of course, a no good, very bad week for him. but was this week any different than weeks past? >> well, we'll find out tuesday. that's always been the -- the pattern has been this, right, he has one of these weeks, says a lot of controversial things, people that are trying to stop him inside the republican party get excited, think they're going to be able to beat him at the ballot box and then voting happens and his voters show up and he wins. that's what could be different this time is on tuesday, in wisconsin, instead of the voters bailing him out of a bad week, and winning and him being able to say, see, none of this affects me, he could lose by ten points or more and then all of a sudden you got

kelly o'donnell joins us more from washington. kelly, i think he starts in a few minutes, right? he's set to take the stage for a town hall. what do we expect? >> reporter: he also had a chance to talk to reporters at an ice cream stop where he could order a little something and talk to voters and supporters. and there, kate, he was asked about the marco rubio comments you just discussed with hallie, and he, of course, sort of bristles at any suggestion that he is not conservative enough, and he talks about his budget history, trying to balance the budget in a lot of his positions, so he was certainly kind of pushing back on that. he was asked about paul ryan and his, again, trying to say don't draft me, don't try to encourage me to be a potential nominee if no one can find their way to the magic number of 1237. john kasich likes that number, as you would expect. he says he wants to work with paul ryan as speaker of the house when he becomes president. you pulled out the poll numbers, and being in second place is a step up for john kasich compared to many of the earlier states. s

>> kelly o'donnell for us this morning in maryland. thank you. >>> to the republicans now where ted cruz claims another victory, this time in colorado. we're in rochester new york with more on that and what this means for both cruz and donald trump. jacob, good morning. ted cruz may be a distant third here in new york. last night his experienced ground game proved its worth. it was a knockout for cruz in colorado sweeping all 34 delegates up for grabs there, plus some others from virginia to iowa. it has never been more clear that donald trump's ground team is right now not ready for a floor fight. this is john kasich hopes to be a spoiler in new york spending more time here than the other candidates with increasingly massive crowds. more than 3,000 people here in rochester at his latest rally. this is the frontrunner after a few days off the campaign trail left trump tower for a different kind of event. a private tour with his wife of the 9/11 memorial. later today, donald trump will be out here in rochester. his first rally since his

kelly o'donnell is traveling with the presidential candidate and she joins us on the phone from troy. kelly, good afternoon. not fully addressing some of the concerns there. >> reporter: well, erica, john kasich has been trying to not play statistician or operation in chief of his campaign. he honestly recognizes that in the season we're in how any campaign accumulates delegates, how working under state rules does matter. he defers to experts a lot, but remember john kasich has been in republican politics a long time, and has worked on the campaign long before he was a candidate himself. he understands what's at stake here. each day we talk to him, it's about a race for delegates. in the northeast, new york, pennsylvania, he is hoping that voters will see something that voters in some of the earlier states have not. that he is hanging in there, that he has a vision he would like to offer. and if people are burned out on trump or think cruz is too extreme that john kasich is an option. so we asked him about this yesterday at the media availability q and a at the state house, and he tal

i want to turn to nbc's kelly o'donnell, who is also in philadelphia, watching this battle unfold. , ted cruz has been focusing his attention to pennsylvania. he was in hershey earlier today. so he has a delegate strategy, especially for this state, because they are unbound, correct? >> reporter: that's right, thomas. and what you find with ted cruz is that he understands the math makes it very difficult for him, or donald trump, to get to the 1,237. that's the argument he's making. so if either of them can't get there, there has to be a convention strategy. so what ted cruz is talking about today, let's have another debate. the democrats have debated in subsequent contests as the attention moves to a new set of states. he wants to debate donald trump. trump has not been open to that idea. so ted cruz is being able to hit him for being afraid of the competition. at the same time, cruz is meeting in florida with the rnc, spring meeting, that's where important people in the party come together, trying to make his case, that when it goes to the convention, if there is no candidate at 1

nbc's kelly o'donnell is covering the candidate for us in fairfield, connecticut. kelly?porter: well, kate, there was a full-fledged event behind us, and boy, they took it apart very quickly. today was a day for john kasich to again make that argument to voters that it is important for him to be in this race because he can offer them an alternative to trump especially in the northeast with the type of republicans that tend to be involved in this part of the country that their message will appeal. and he made that very clear, taking questions from the audience. he did get a question about how the delegates would work, how the convention would work, and this will give you a sense of how kasich is trying to use his come-from-behind sort of position as a way to encourage voters to stick with him. here's what he had to say. >> when people go to a convention and they're going to pick a president, they go from somebody that might be saying something on monday where they don't understand it into a convention hall where all of a sudden, they feel a great sense of responsibility. a

nbc's kelly o'donnell continues to follow the kasich campaign for us. she's in the bronx. kelly. kelly, let's talk about what we just heard from the ohio governor there. his team saying that he thinks that they think he can pull this thing out in two weeks. >> reporter: well, i asked him about the results in wisconsin which were dismal for him, craig, and doesn't that undercut his argument about going forward? he said, no. they knew wisconsin would be tough for them. they pulled back resources to john kasich and devoted time in place like new york and pennsylvania where they think they could do better. this is a real new york reading because all the local media, the national media in this terrific place that has every kind of fabulous cheese and meat and fruit, the best of the best in new york at the bronx and had a little lunch and got the full squish of media, as did i. welcome back to new york. and he argues the case that he is still in this. even though in any other year, craig, being this far back, so few delegates comparatively, he would be out of it but he faced the

. >> nbc kelly o'donnell following the kasich campaign. olls. what is the game plan? >> reporter: well, i think part of it, kate, is for john kasich to pay his respects to this kind of new york values. coming to the bronx, eating th location, converting to delicat delicat delegat delegates, he would be doing better than he is right now. i asked him about it. he basically said some of the votes that were cast in wisconsin were more anti-trump than pro ted cruz. so as you saw in that ad clip you played, he is going to hit ted cruz hard on the issue of new york values, and john kasich is going to try to deal with that kind of a sensitivity that is here, and of course, kasich will be on the trail, and i'm going to throw it back to you, because i think programs the president is coming up. >>> all right, kelly o'donnell, having a little trouble with her shot there. beautiful market, though. a great place. we're going to go over to president obama now. he is speaking in chicago. earlier, i said alma mater, but it's the place he used to teach const

trying to get to the magic number or stop the other guy from getting to the magic number. >> kelly o'donnell. thank you. kasich's one shot of contested conventi convention. trump's new campaign advisor said the campaign will be wrapped up by then. >> i'm confident. we have several ways through june 7th to go over 1237. >> the former deputy campaign manager for carly fiorina for president. let's start there. is this thing going to be wrapped up by then? >> i don't think so. it doesn't look that way. donald trump's campaign has been in utter chaos for the last two weeks. he's been hurting himself and then his team has hurt him. i don't see him getting over the finish line at this point. >> there's problems trump had at the colorado republican convention on saturday. saying that trump backers passed out flyers at the convention site with the official campaign slate of 13 delegates and 13 alternates accompanied by their person on the ballot and seven of the names, however, directed people to the wrong number and one delegate's name was misspelled. first, how does that happen? >> reporter: this i

and our kelly o'donnell is joining me from bridgeport. with a good morning to you, how confident is the clinton campaign heading into tuesday's primaries? what's your sense of that? >> reporter: well, alex, i think there is an example of confidence that's coming through in some of what secretary clinton is talking about. but it's cautious confidence because she also understands this is a very important phase of the campaign season. bernie sanders has made it clear he wants to stay in the race. she wants to be certain to not alienate any of his voters. in the five states that come up on tuesday, she does have a commanding lead in most places. one state, rhode island, where independents are able to choose to vote in the democratic primary if they want to would be a place where perhaps she would be more vulnerable. and that's where we caught up with her yesterday. and we could see that she was very careful to refer to bernie sanders as her esteemed opponent. she saved most of her fire for donald trump. first, reacting to this change of tone

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the site of today's trump rally in warwick, rhode island. kelly, you have been working the phones, e-mailing up a storm on this one. so tell us, what are you learning about this deal, about what it's going to mean going forward? >> well, first of all, steve, to set the scene, the voters who are behind me three hours ahead of a trump event will be interested to see how this all plays out because it is an operation to try to unseat the man they're here to see today. so here's what i have been learning. over the weekend, this came together where you have these fierce rivals, these teams who each want to get to the end of the line, who now recognize what limited road there is left, trying to find a way together. how did it work? top operatives for each campaign, cruz and kasich, contacted each other. i'm told the cruz side approached the kasich side. conversations evolved over the weekend. i was told this was locked down on sunday. that neither candidate spoke to the other about this, so this was not at a candidate-to-candidate level. that's real

>> kelly o'donnell, force in hempstead, new york. kelly, thank you. without a doubt donald trump recovering from what was a bad week for his campaign from that stance, then reversal on punishing women abortions to his refusal over letting nukes be used in europe. donald trump taking the stage about six hours north in superior, wisconsin. let's listen in a bit. >> nobody does this. i guess the last might have been ross perot. i don't know anybody who does it. i have turned down tens of millions of dollars from special interests and, frankly, from friends of mine. they want to give me millions. one guy in palm beach recently said, donald, we'd like to give you $10 million. for me to turn it down is -- it's like against my grain. because my whole life i've been taking money. i take, take, take. that's what a businessman does, right, or a businesswoman. we take. we take. and, you know, they come up, i'd like to -- one guy in particular is a very rich guy, member of the marira lago club. he said, donald, i'd like to make a contribution to your pac. i don't

that's where we find nbc's kelly o'donnell with the clinton campaign in central falls, rhode island. it's a pretty small state in terms of delegates so what is happening for hillary clinton there and why do you think she's prioritizing it today? >> reporter: well, i think she wants to be in at least every state once to be able to touch down, talk to voters and check the box, so to speak. rhode island is different among the five states voting tuesday. all the others are closed primaries meaning only democrats can cast a ballot for clinton or sanders, and here in rhode island, where there is a greater proportion of unaffiliated or independent voters, more than half, this state allows on primary day for a voter to decide to affiliate in order to vote in one primary or the other. so there's an opportunity here for bernie sanders, who tends to draw more from the independent voters. that's been a good base for him. so hillary clinton doesn't want to leave this territory unsort of matched by being here in person and you described it as you introduced our segment as an organizing event. that

nbc's kelly o'donnell following the kasich campaign for us. how exactly does the governor plan to win the empire state? >> reporter: well, win is not the word he's using, craig. he's talking about trying to accumulate delegates and says the best stretch of the campaign season for him is beginning now, knowing that wisconsin was not really his territory, he said. and he thinks a lot of votes were more anti-trump than pro-ted cruz. the northeast is perhaps better for john kasich, the territory where his message can connect more. he's looking at new york, at pennsylvania, where he was born, also maryland, as places where he can collect delegates to get to the convention. today he was here talking to shoppers who were here at the arthur avenue market, also talking to some people who work here, noting the work ethic of some of the people behind the deli counter and the small businesses here, saying that's a part of the new york values that ted cruz was so willing to criticize back in iowa and to try to separate himself from some of the more liberal

and kelly o'donnell is in one of my favorite places in the world. hershey, pennsylvania, because the whole town smells of chocolate and you're there with john kasich today. >> reporter: we actually have news. we did a short q and a after john kasich completed his town hall this. the news is this. there's an outside super pac with the nickname given to senator ted cruz. lying ted. you've heard that. this uses that and the ad is called nose with a pinocchio effect and accusing ted cruz not being truthful and descriptive. governor kasich said he does not like the word lying. has told his own campaign which he has control over to not be using that and send a message that he doesn't like it. he likes them to take it down. he doesn't have control to do that because they're separate and that ad might be effective for him but he's trying to remain on the more constructive not name-calling side of this. at the same time, he's also a bit sharper today in his criticism of ted cruz saying he's not accomplished anything in washington except a government shutdown

hallie jackson and kelly o'donnell. kristen welker, first to you.clinton on offense today hitting sanders and some shots at donald trump. >> reporter: that's right. she is focused on this primary and also, the general election at the same time, andrea. she just wrapped up this event here which was focused on equal pay, as you just mapped out in your introduction joined by a number of people including the u.s. soccer league's megan rapini part of the lawsuit for equal pay. so they really focused on that this morning, but i can tell you that she has been aggressively going after senator sanders, essentially trying to paint him as not ready for the office of the presidency in part because of that interview that he gave to the daily news when he couldn't enumerate exactly how he would break up the big banks and i've been talking to her campaign officials who tell me her team is going to be ramping up its attacks in the coming days to really try to close out this race here in new york and the buzz word is going to be untested. they're going to argue he's

let's start with kelly o'donnell in rhode island covering the clinton campaign. welcome to you, clinton's stance on gun control has been something she's talked a lot about on the campaign trail. how is that push going to play out in states like pennsylvania and rhode island? >> well, it's one of the area's where hillary clinton thinks she can draw a sharper contrast with bernie sanders. of course, being in the same party they have many of the same views and positions on a lot of issues on the day. so she's looking for those ways she can distinguish herself. and she often points to a vote that they each took while senators that dealt with holding gun makers liable for acts of violence that occur with their products. sort of a product liability type instance. and that is something where she has been hitting bernie sanders hard. now, in a place like pennsylvania that is a state where she really made a different tone. she was making clear she was trying to walk softly. because in big urban areas like philadelphia or pittsburgh there might be a different view on guns t

one man that's hoping to be there is john kasich and nbc's kelly o'donnell is following that campaign joining me now from new york city and kelly, i understand you reached out to that campaign for their reaction to the ryan news. have you heard back? >> reporter: the event hasn't happened yet. candidates like to wait and hear what someone says before they react to it, but i can imagine this. john kasich himself spent 18 years in the congress. he could appreciate where paul ryan would be coming from if to remain speaker of the house and not take on the whim of trying to be a draft potential candidate. so i think john kasich would be pleased to know as the chairman of the convention, people realize there is someone who is the official chair, a being the speaker of the house, that plays a role and all those would play into what john kasich would like to see. we give you a behind the scenes here. this is this room he delivered an important speech and as his campaign life, they are resetting for a private event that will begin in an hour or so. if you see the chairs stacked behind me, ther

nbc's kelly o'donnell is covering the democratic field for us in indianapolis today. set the stage for us. what are the expectations out of both campaigns? what are you hearing? >> reporter: certainly on the clinton side they are seeking to expand a quiet inevitability for her to become the nominee. they want to be respectful of sanders and especially his voters believing he does not have the room left in the available states to mount a serious challenge to her likelihood of becoming the nominee. of course, bernie sanders and his very energized and devoted foll followers see this differently. sanders wants to play this out and give voters a chance to weigh in. we've seen how he has had stretches in this campaign season he has racked up win after win after win and he's brought some voters into the party who might not have otherwise been as engaged and interested this year. saying it's too soon to be co t counting the votes cast today or looking too far dn the line. as he points out, california is still to vote, the largest state with the most in play. it is this sort o

. >> kelly o'donnell is on the trail with the ohio governor, joins me from hershey, pennsylvania. y, so kasich has his target on cruz. but apparently so does this pro kasich path. tell us about that. >> craig, it's important for anybody allied with john case toik try to ke -- kasich to see what is going on with ted cruz, especially fli wisconsin. so they want to cut back on his ability to get votes so that kasich can get delegates and to try to slow down trump as well. so i'm noticing that john kasich is being somewhat sharper in his attack or criticism of ted cruz. we heard it just there. but there is also something new happening with an outside group that is supporting john kasich called new day for america pac. they are running ads in wisconsin, spending about a half million dollars. they grabbed on to something trump has been saying about ted cruz, using kind of unflattering nickname for cruz. that's part of an ad and then here's how the governor of ohio reacted to it. he doesn't like what he has seen. >> many just call him lying ted. lied about ben carson to steal a win in iow

nbc's kelly o'donnell is rhode island where trump had a rally today and national political reporter for the national post and nbc political analyst and the former chair of the committee and msnbc analyst. kelly, tell us about the rally today and how -- first of all, i got to go through this. cruz and kasich use similar language today explaining their plan to work together. here is how they are talking somewhat differently. let's watch. >> we had conversations and both campaigns agreed to focus on energies, we're focussing our energy on the state of indiana and governor kasich is focussing energies elsewhere. i think that is a decision, an allocation of resources that makes sense and devoted to the principle of beating hillary clinton in november and turning this country around. >> this is a matter of resources and, you know, we run in the national campaign and we want to apply our resources where we think they can be used most effectively and it's all designed to stop hillary clinton from becoming president. >> they got the talking point there at the end. trump responded to the news say

nbc's kelly o'donnell who is live in central falls, rhode island. what is the clinton campaign focusing on in the final days as "the new york times" is reporting she's cautiously optimistic, looking ahead to even possible vps? >> it's always prudent to do some planning, francis, for a vp choice. that takes some time. it would make sense for his campaign to begin thinking about it. he's trying to walk the delegate line of being respectful of senator sanders and his supporters because it will be critical for her to bring the democratic party together if she is, in fact, the nominee. this group of states coming up do lood gook for her in the places where public polling has been done. she is up on sanders in many cases by double digits. that's a strong potential for her. here in rhode island this may be the one state where sanders has a better shot, in part because of how rhode island handles its voting. it allows unaffiliated voters who have not chosen a party to do so on primary day. the majority of the voters in rhode island actually consider themsel

donald trump holding his first rally in naps where kelly o'donnell is standing by. cruz trying to stop trump and how is he trying to win over those hoosiers? >> reporter: one big way is bring the crowds out. there have been people lining up three hours to go before the rally. this line snaked all around the fairgrounds in indiana, just about 30 seconds ago they started to line up in the ticket windows to sart of get themselves in the chute for all the security that comes. we have seen big big crowds and this is a big time commitment for anybody coming to one of these events because of all the security and needing to be here early. the bigger picture part of what they're going to see is one of indiana's favorite figures, someone donald trump hinted he wanted to try to get on his team when i was covering one of his events on rooild, kihode island have basketball coach bobby knight. he will be here tonight. we think of political endorsement and trump unconventional in many ways, he is bringing out one of the most famous indiana figures and that is something that may pl

joining me from baltimore, maryland, is kelly o'donnell. give us a preview of what we can expect from hillary clinton in baltimore today. >> good to be with you, joy. this is what is known as a grassroots organizing event. this doesn't happen for a couple more hours but there's always a crowd assembled. team inside is getting everything set up. it's an opportunity for secretary clinton to talk about some of the issues that she wants to emphasize in this campaign. the campaign says that will include income for families, some of the things that have been holding families back in the terminology of the campaign. it's a way to begin to get people excited about maryland. and get her supporters willing to do the work necessary to drive voters to the polls on the big day. now, of course, we're looking ahead a bit. secretary clinton is doing two things today. some of her time in new york where they'll vote a week from tuesday, and when you consider baltimore and maryland, the voting here happens on april 26ths. part of a group of five northeastern

nbc's kelly o'donnell is there in hershey. good morning to you. >> good morning. john kasich is not here just yet. but the crowd certainly is. we're at the antique automobile museum. a place that if you visit hershey, p.a., you can enjoy the treats as well as some really terrific old automobiles and buses and all kinds of good things. and so i have done lots of campaign events. when you have something else that people can look at while they're waiting for the candidate to get here, that's a bonus. that's setting the scene for you. he's here in pennsylvania where he's doing this town hall and later tonight, both he and ted cruz will speak at a republican event, kiebtd of one of those precursors before the voting comes here to pennsylvania. for john kasich, the ohio governor, right next door, and a native of pennsylvania, born here. that is territory that is friendly, familiar. people here maybe have a better chance of knowing the john kasich story. and throughout those long, crowded, boisterous campaign season, he's often said people haven't gotten to know me yet.

jose. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell, thank you so very much. new numbers for you on the state of the race in new york. as well as where the candidates stand nationally. here to give us all the details, nbc news senior editor mark murray. good morning to you. let's start with the republican race here in new york. where do things stand? >> jose, in our nbc/"wall street journal"/marist poll, it shows donald trump is at 54%. that's an important number because if he's above 50% in all the congressional districts, he could walk away with all of new york's 95 delegates. you have john kasich in second place at 21%, and ted cruz, the winner of wisconsin a week ago in at third place at 18%. >> and is that 54% more or less than what other polls in the past have shown him to have here in new york? >> yeah, jose, the polling has been very consistent in new york. every single poll that i have sign over the past two weeks has shown donald trump above 50%. of course, how much he is above 50% is going to be key for him to get all of those delegates. but right n

. >> joining us now for more on this bc's kelly o'donnell.pendent analysis by "the washington post" that gave sanders campaign three pinocchios for his analysis. in other words, that he's overstating. how is the political fight playing out? >> well, chris, we're talking about some of the most lib call energized voters who have very strong feelings about the issue of fossil fuels and certainly have strong feelings about any candidate who can be purr received as tied to corporate interests. so when you look at it through that lens, this is a potent topic. and it certainly can be the buzz here in wisconsin for a couple of days. as you noted, it has ratcheted up a more personal tone coming from bernie sanders, a bit on the defensive there and at the same time going after the clinton campaign again. but when you look deeper into the numbers, it might be something that is an eye of the beholder moment. if you're talking about contributions from individuals who work for companies that are classified as oil and gas, that might suggest a different sor

kelly o'donnell is covering the trump campaign.so new information we're getting related to this cruz/kasich alliance and another change within the trump campaign. what are we learning about there? >> reporter: well, steve, this is one of those times in journalism where i haven't heard what you've been reporting so i'm running to the camera with my old-fashioned notebook. i've been talking to a lot of different contacts with different windows into this situation. let me start first with this new alliance. what i'm told by sources is this has been something that's been running under the surface between the campaigns and publicly the candidates have not wanted to openly embrace it. but this was, as i am told, the idea of the ted cruz world coming to john kasich's team over the weekend. first proposed on saturday, i am told. and then this sort of agreement was locked down on sunday. the candidates have not spoken to each other about this issue i'm told and there's no plan for them to do so. so, steve, think of this at the level of a ca

thank you very much, kelly o'donnell. appreciate that. , on the heels of kelly's report, let's bring in political journalist erin mcpike and steven shepard, campaigns and elections editor for politico. with a welcome to you both, steven, i'll start with you here, because you reported today that the trump campaign is scaling back corey lewandowski's role as he faces charges for allegedly grabbing a female reporter at a recent rally. how damaging could this be to donald trump, this kind of discord within the campaign? >> well, look, any time when campaigns get down to crunch time, and now we're at the stage with wisconsin and new york, two really big tests for the trump campaign and then later into april into some other northeastern and middle atlantic states where he needs to do well -- any time your campaign is unsettled, that can be troubling. donald trump's never run, though, a conventional campaign. he doesn't run conventional advertising. his campaign doesn't do the conventional kind of polling that other campaigns do and message testi

for more, i'm joined now by msnbc's kelly o'donnell. she's covering the kasich campaign for us. in theory, john kasich's ally. they say it's failing them, how so? >> reporter: well, one of the things you would expect is that many of the forces behind the stop-trump, never-trump, whatever their terminology might be, they tend to be traditional republican operatives. people who have seen the type of establishment figures go forward in the party in the past. that's really where they pulled their money, support, and talent from. that should match up pretty well with a john kasich, who is a sitting governor in ohio, has experience in congress, serving 18 years there. so the frustration for the kasich campaign is that stopping trump, in their view, is kind of a cloaked effort to help ted cruz. they think that that's counter productive, because they believe that ted cruz would not do as well in the fall against a presumed hillary clinton. if she becomes the democratic nominee. so, this is a tough terrain for anybody. and these campaigns throw plenty of elbows, if not a few fists now and