>> hallie -- let me bring in hallie at that point. you're with this campaign every day. you've been leading questioning of cruz and his exact message about whether he could support donald trump has shifted. talk about what you've heard from michelle goldberg regarding the predicament as well as howard dean's point. >> i think overall when you look at something like this, it's a difficult position. obviously it's tough for ted cruz because he wanted to come out and his campaign wanted to put this to bed and say this is not true, this is not happening. the broader question is how you look at this republican race and ted cruz still not saying that he will not support donald trump as the nominee if he were to get the nomination. and this is after a week that we saw as was noted. trump attacking heidi cruz, ted cruz's wife. he's viscerally angry. you see it on his face, you see him emotional. you see him authentically upset about this and upset about this line of attack and furious at donald trump. so i want to talk about what's happened over the last 48 hours because there h

we've got more on all that with hallie jackson. hi, hallie. >> reporter: hi, lester. good evening. we've learned in the last 24 to 48 hours, the cruz campaign held three meetings across the country about how to get the most delegate support. john kasich brought on a top operative to focus on a contested convention. all of them looking ahead at what could happen next in the wild race. three candidates left. donald trump's lead almost three times bigger than it was, now three scenarios for the gop establishment. finally surrendered to the front-runner, fights furiously against him or find somebody else to take him on. surrendering to a trump ticket could happen -- >> this was an amazing evening. >> reporter: -- before new york's primary next month. >> you have people on the show all the time talking about stopping donald trump. who are calling me to work out a deal where they want to become involved. >> reporter: more influence for trump. the party canceling monday's debate after he said he wouldn't show. he still needs 55% of the remaining delegates, but that's better math than ted

hello, hallie. >> reporter: lester, good evening. racking up more delegates in a sign those establishment attacks aren't working, not yet at least. his rivals' best shot against trump happening in the next six days as we build towards showdowns in ohio and here in florida where 99 delegates are up for grabs, and tonight it's trump looking most likely to take them home. donald trump now ready for the final round to put this fight away. >> that's the ultimate way of doing it. you knock them out. if you knock them out, nothing can happen. >> reporter: you want to go for a knockout? >> i'd rather go for a knockout. >> reporter: trump in one corner and in the or the movement to try to stop him. after months of silence the hits now coming harder and faster. our nbc news analysis shows 8.35 million spent on ads against trump in florida alone. that's where the front-runner, after winning in michigan, mississippi and hawaii, celebrated his well-done election night with raw trump >> we have the water. you have the steaks. you have the airline

nbc's hallie jackson is at ted cruz's headquarters in stafford, texas. hello, hallie. >> hear behind me this crowd is ready for a celebration, and the cruz campaign feels they will get one, at least here in texas. a campaign aidesentially predicting a win, telling me within the last hour that they will win texas and, quote, come out of the night as h the sufficient foundation to destroy -- feeling good in texas, thinking that could be enough to move on,viously picking up a win in a place like arkansas or oklahoma is beneficial. nbc calling the oklahoma primary as you know, on the call, but ted cruz leading. >> hallie jackson, thanks very much. we're joined by nbcws political analyst nicole wallace. nicole, talk about the depth of the split right now in the republican party, especially watching those trump stack up tonight. >> it couldn't be more profound. i've been on these campaigns and when you utter the words too close to call, it breathes life into those campaigns for either a strong second place or an upset. that is the position that the kasich camp

nbc's hallie jackson has more of what we can expect. good morning, hallie. >> good morning, sheinelle. all indications that rally on. some folks started lining up at 1:00 in the morning. the first event since donald trump canceled the event in over security concerns. overnight, fights erupted in the chicago crowd packed with protesters, a boiling point after rising trump's campaign says it made the decision to call off the chicago p.d. saidle and had adequate security. one officer caught on camera injured and bl in the day, a rally in st. louis was interrupted by demonstrators. trump's supporters. >> these scenes are it is clear in chicago that protesters were organizing specifically to disrupt this rally, it is also cleaet at the top. this tone that is being set at the top of the trump campaign is not helpful to our party. it is not helpful to our reporter: five people were arrested in chicago, including a journalist. this morning, sheinelle, trump is tweeting about all in his words, this organized group of people, many of them, quote,

hi, hallie. >> reporter: hi, lester, good evening. we've learned that in the last 24 to 48 campaign held three meetings across the country about how to get the most delegate support. john kasich brought on a top operative to focus on a contestednvention and trump staffers met to game out how to pick up marco rubio's supporters. all of them looking ahead at what could happen next in this wild race. three candidates left. donald trump's lead almost three times bigger than it was, now three scenarios for the gop establishment. finally surrender to fight furiously against him or find somebody else to take him on. surrendering to a trump ticket could happen. >> this was an amazing evening. >> reporter: before new york's primary next month. the billionaire or "morning joe." >> you have people on the show all the time talking about stopping donald trump who with calling me to work out a deal where they want to become involved. >> reporter: more influence for trump, the party cancelling monday's debate after he said he wouldn't show. he still

hallie jackson, nbc news, miami. >> reporter: this is kristen welker. bernie sanders pulling off a stunning upset in michigan. >> we've got nine states. and a lot more are yet to come. >> reporter: today sanders telling andrea mitchell it's a sign he can go the distance. >> the polls always have it very, very far behind until election day. then we have won state after state with huge margins. >> reporter: it has been an unpredictable year for pollsters. in michigan, the high independents, and sanders was caught offguard. >> the political revolution that we are talking about is strong in every part of the country. >> reporter: despite the upset, clinton has a substantial lead in delegates. today the clinton campaign downplayed the loss, particularly after her big win in mississippi last night. looking ahead to next week's battleground primary. >> if you work for me, and vote for me, i will work my heart out for you. >> reporter: democratic officials expressing concern clinton was so focused on pivoting to the general election, her ground game faltered, a

nbc's hallie jackson is at ted cruz's headquarters in stafford, texas. hello, hallie. >> reporter: you can hear behind me this crowd is ready for a celebration, and the cruz campaign feels they will get one, at least here in texas. a campaign aide essentially predicting a win, telling me within the last hour that they will win texas and, quote, come out of the night as the only campaign with foundation to destroy -- feeling good in texas, thinking that could be enough to move on, obviously picking up a win in a place like arkansas or oklahoma is beneficial. nbc calling the oklahoma primary as you know, on the republican side, lester, too early to call, but ted cruz leading. >> hallie jackson, thanks very much. we're joined by nbc news political analyst nicole wallace. nicole, talk about the depth of the split right now in the republican party, especially watching those trump victories stack up tonight. >> it couldn't be more profound. i've been on these campaigns and when you utter the words too close to call, it breathes life into those campaigns hoping

>> our hallie jackson in washington, hallie, thank you. >>> she is six years old and for the past four years, had lived with a foster family in california. that is until early this week, when she was taken away from her family, all because of her native american heritage. now, as our steve patterson reports, her foster parents are fighting to get her back. >> reporter: the moment is tough to watch. a young girl sobbing. her foster parents pleading. >> it's gut wrenching. >> reporter: summer and rusty page knew the day might come, when they brought lexi into their lives four years ago. >> food isn't worth eating. sleep is overrated. it's all about what we can do to get lexi home. >> reporter: their adopted daughter is 1/64th choctaw indian. she falls under a federal law that keeps native american children with their ancestry. members of the choctaw nation have been advocating for lexi to live with her extended family in utah since 2011 and say these relatives have visited and called her during that time. the choctaw nation of oklahoma said, "we appreciate the concern for lexi and want t

hallie, we just had john kasich on. he's hopeful he can be the third man, the one who emerges, after multiple ballots up in cleveland. i guess that's what -- what is cruz -- how does he -- he wins wisconsin, i guess, isn't that the plan? and then moves on? >> that's the goal. that's exactly right. win wisconsin and move on. it's not just a strategy about delegates, because obviously the campaign wants to lock up the nomination before a contested convention. that does seem very difficult for them. if you look at the map, it's nearly impossible, or is impossible for john kasich to do. which is why he's looking for a contested convention. the team has strategies in place to do this, especially when it comes to delegates. you've seen what they've done in louisiana making sure their delegate slates are stacked, picking up the delegates from rubio, and doing the same thing in south carolina. look for them to do that in north dakota this weekend and colorado coming up. why does wisconsin matter? well, for ted cruz, it's an opp

nbc's hallie jackson is at cpac with more. hallie. >> reporter: good evening, lester. there's a lot of talk about that never trump movement but a better name for it for some may be never until november as all the anti-trump candidates pledged their loyalty to donald trump if he is the nominee. still, all three will fight ferociously over these next 11 days to try to prevent that from happening. ted cruz is looking at louisiana, maine. he's hoping for a strong showing in kansas, too. but so is marco rubio, with three stops in that state today alone. both of them plus john kasich hope michigan could be a state where they can try and topple trump. but the more important date, that's march 15th, the home state shoubd. showdown. rubio has to win flor. kasich has to win ohio. if they do and pick up valuable delegates then everybody stays in the race. since all three see narrow unlikely paths to victory between now and the summer, that's why you shouldn't expect to see them team up to try to take down trump tactically. but if trump wins both florida and ohio, it looks like a

let's start with hallie jackson and peter alexander.into this debate, there's another controversy surrounding trump and muslims. >> reporter: yeah, this is certainly not the first for donald trump. this came as a result of the conversation on cnn last night when asked specifically about islam and the war on isis. take a listen to the words that have donald trump back in the center of controversy. >> do you think islam is at war with the west? >> i think islam hates us. there's something -- there's something there -- there's a tremendous hatred there. there's a tremendous hatred. we have to get to the bottom of it. there's an unbelievable hatred of us. >> in islam itself? >> you're going to have to figure that out, okay? you'll get another pulitzer but you're going to have to figure that out. there's a tremendous hatred and we have to be very careful and can't allow people running into this country who have hatred of the united states. >> it's the kind of language that has resonated with donald trump and we've heard consistently from his

hallie jackson is covering the cruz campaign. tell us more about this, hallie. >> reporter: sure, lester. this move by mitt romney is like a bat signal to the rest of the establishment to get on board behind ted cruz who is campaigning along the border in arizona today, but in utah where romney's influence with the mormon community to make the most difference. they have modeled the path to the nomination not just on winning utah but winning big and cutting into donald trump's lead but don't call this an an endorsement. mitt romney isn't. instead, he said conservatives should unite behind cruz to force an open convention, and that tells us two things. first, that the necessarily hon who it is for though it knows who is against and, second, how serious party leaders are that a contested convention is the most plausible way to stop trump. >> listen, in my book when someone says i'm voting for you and i encourage everyone else to vote for you, that's pretty darn good, and i'll take that and take that happily. >> reporter: all of this

hallie, thank you so much. i want to get back to the other big, breaking story we've been following for you all afternoon. and that is the major development overseas in europe, where salah abdeslam, one of europe's most wanted suspected terrorists, connected to last fall's attacks in paris is now in custody in belgium. he's been on the run and in hiding for more than four months. nbc news has learned abdeslam was injured, shot in the leg during this raid and then captured. we've also obtained this video, apparently showing the moment of an arrest. now, it's not clear who was being arrested, whether it's abdeslam or another suspect that was captured in this raid. but it all started in the neighborhood of molenbeek, just outside of the city of brussels. roughly two hours ago, two loud explosions were heard near the house where the arrest s occurred. and this is video that captured one explosion during a reporter's live shot. take a look. [ speaking foreign language ] [ explosion ] >> you can see that flash, just

thank you so much. >>> coming up, eugene mccarthy -- hallie berry, eugene mccarthy. you are not anywhere like mccarthy. >>> after their feisty debate last night, hillary clinton's looking to put bernie sanders away. she's got her tactical skills in order right now. she's got the edge in both states tomorrow. that's mississippi and michigan. and sanders has to prove he can win beyond the campuses and caucuses. can he win in michigan tomorrow night? on the eve of michigan with eight days left until the contest in florida, ohio, and illinois, the "hardball" round table will be here to tell me something i don't know. also tonight, remembering nancy reagan. she fiercely protected her husband during his presidency and kept the reagan torch burning brightly. there she is, my friend. >>> downton abbey, it's over. that's a loss. >>> we've got new numbers on the primary race coming up in new york state, april 19th. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. on the republican side, donald trump is on top with 45%, marco rubio and kasich are tied with second at 18% apiece. on the de

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hallie jackson in oshkosh. >>> i want to turn to robert costa. robert, let me ask you what you make of that. we just played the exchange, druds has been out there saying, look, in the end i made a commitment i would support the republican nominee if the nominee is trump i'm still going to support him. that's been his line. you saw that exchange with hallie jackson yesterday, he wouldn't say that yesterday, wouldn't say he wouldn't support him. what do you make of that? >> cruz knows that he needs those trump voters should he win the nomination and he does not want to alienate the billionaire's base. so he's trying to walk a fine line, he's taking on trump, very frustrated with trump's attacks but at the same time as he has been doing for months he has been trying to reach out to those same working class conservative voters. >> we also have some news this morning out of wisconsin, scott walker the governor obviously he has not been necessarily too friendly toward donald trump in this campaign, a lot of speculation he will eventually endorse ted cr

hallie jackson, are you surprised that he moved on so quickly?r: ted cruz is not one, unless there's a reason to, speak at length unprompted about whatever news of the day is happening. sometimes he will incorporate that into his stump speech over time. i will note, yesterday, we heard something similar from senator cruz turning to his wife calling her his best friend and giving a public expression of affection and heidi cruz talks about husband and the romantic gestures he's done for her as well. the two have spoken about this, but cruz really wants to stay on message. particularly this next week and that message is you've heard him say in a shift in the stump speech, this idea it's about jobs, freedom, and security. laying out the three-pronged approach he will be taking over the next ten days or so until the wisconsin primary or the battlegrounds. he and trump polling neck and neck here. cruz trying to work the milwaukee suburbs or looks weak and john kasich now conceding in janesville. paul ryan's hometown. >> hallie jackson making a key poin

hallie jackson was speaking to ted cruz, and hallie joins me this morning.ay from what he had to say this morning? >> listen, here's the thing, jose. ted cruz has said all along that he would support the eventual republican nominee, and over the weekend, he reiterated that included donald trump even after what we have seen at trump rallies, the increasing level of violence and trump's reaction to the rallies. we pressed ted cruz on that a bit, as you heard live in the media availability. and cruz started to laugh it off. he said harx ithe only way i would not support trump if he shot a protester on fifth avenue. when pressed, cruz acknowledged he believes a trump presidency would be a disaster for the country, yet reiterated he would still support the republican nomnaen nomnene. cruz is running on the premise he keeps his promises. we're in front of where he holds his press availabilities. the word consistent is part of his brand. for ted cruz, he continues to double down and say, hey, i'm a man of my word. this is cruz's argument. i kept my word. i'm a man

good morning, hallie. >> good morning, craig. donald trump is on the ground in arizona where activists plan to protest at all his events today and all of it comes as trump again locks horns with mitt romney. in the battle ground state of utah, romney on thefr>> reporte bracing for more protests after a face-off in salt lake city. angry demonstrators clashing once again outside his rally. >> did any protesters sneak inside? >> reporter: none stopping his attacks. hitting ted cruz hard. >> he hasn't done anything. >> reporter: now a new reason to target mitt romney. now confirming he will vote for ted cruz on tuesday. >> are you sure he is a mormon? he choked. it was so sad. >> mr. trump is a con man. >> reporter: two weeks after the anti-endorsement of trump, a not quite endorsement of cruz. calling for people to unify behind cruz, but to force an open convention. >> why haven't mitt romney and others endorsed you? >> when they encourage you to is key to cruz's candidacy. but john kasich is not giving up. >> this is his view. you

good morning to you, hallie.est on this battle, we see donald trump doesn't want to let this go, this is not actually the cruz campaign that put this out originally, it is a cruz aligned super pac, those distinctions aren't always that absolute. >> i don't even know if i would call it a cruz aligned super pac, it is a super pac intended to stop trump. it is run by make america awesome that put this social media ad out aiming it at conservative women, mormon women in utah not even -- again, this isn't from keep the promise which is cruz's super pac, the cruz assigned super pac nor from the cruz campaign but trump insists that it is, he was on fox news late last night talk about this saying he believes that cruz has something to do with it. cruz has strongly denied that, he has called the ad appropriate but at the same time you're seeing cruz sort of talk to trump via twitter, there was a tweet out last night in which cruz said -- he said, donnelly, your wife is lovely, heidi cruz is the love of his life let's leav

katy tur has been on the road with the trump campaign, hallie jackson is in tucson arizona following the cruz campaign. katie, one of the things that's stood out in the last 24 hours or so donald trump has been really quiet on social media. what's going on there? >> i think the campaign took a couple days off after super tuesday. sturp tuesday part 2 we should say. they tried to relax and disconnect for a couple days. he was tweeting a little bit, insults against his opponents, ted cruz and megyn kelly but for the most part as you said he was pretty quiet. i think that's because they've been going nonstop for ten months. >> that is there been much rumbling about these growing anti-trump movement? >> from the trump campaign, no, and they've taken the same path they've been taking this entire time which is the more you hit us the stronger we get and that's what his supporters have said to us on the road as well. the more the establishment attacks him the more it makes donald trump look like somebody who is fighting for the little guy, fighting against the status quo. so the establishme

nbc's hallie jackson takes us inside the effort to derail trump. >> reporter: today two blocks from the white house, a secret huddle trump from moving in. a frustrated group led by eric erickson, emerging with a call for a unity ticket for the gop and looking ahead to a contested convention. the stop-trump movement regrouping to reassess how to slow him down. two road blocks slowing them down. first, trump could still lock up the nomination before the convention. ads against him not doing much, as he more than doubled his delegate lead this week, even after outside groups spent $13 million. >> now we're having conversations with donors, gauging the interest in moving ahead. >> reporter: anti-trump activists trying to convince delegates to be the convention. >> real people with lives and schedules and vacations and cell phones and twitter accounts all have to be found, cataloged, and wooed. >> reporter: the message to them, in the words of one activist, people who bultd this party have been here longer than the newcomers who are the whole thing down. >> those of us who are delegates in c