brian. >> kelly o'donnell, thanks. let's go over to andrea mitchell. to quote the journey song playing in the background while kelly was speaking, don't stop believing. that is what the dreamers and the true believers on this team will be saying. under the surface, won't some democrats be saying to the republicans, if we succeed, if we get a democratic president, you'll be longing for the days when merrick garland was our pick for the court because he is such a moderate. now we're going to put up a liberal, say. >> i think the best argument is that some of those republicans may be facing, the political arguments might be just think of what president trump or president cruz would nominate, whom they would nominate. we're going to take a break, i think. mitch mcconnell has taken the floor, but we'll complete that thought on the other side. >> republicans in the senate, mitch mcconnell. >> so of course, of course, the american people should have a say in the court's direction. it is a president's constitutional right to nominate a supreme court justice, an

kelly o'donnell rejoins me this morning. you said that before we went to that radio interview, that you believed it was going to be ted cruz. how -- what kind of an impact is the governor's endorsement of ted cruz, do you think, likely to play in the state? his positives are under 40%. >> well, in a typical year, an endorsement of the sitting governor would carry a lot of weight. this has not been the typical year. so it will be a question about what this does for voters who are trying to consider. what they will do, if there are enough undecided voters or leaning voters who can be persuaded by scott walker. what he can do is be a forceful advocate, surrogate in the language of campaigns, for ted cruz. sort of doubling his sort of reach, if ted cruz is doing events here in wisconsin, scott walker can be a voice somewhere else. he will always attract media attention as the sitting governor. and now as a new factor in the race, being a person endorsing him today, that gives some attention, some buzz. we'll have to see how dona

i want to go to kelly o'donnell who is at the white house. y. >> and house speaker ryan says that ronald reagan could not have accomplished everything he did without his first lady, nancy. she showed us the meaning of devotion as she cared for president reagan throughout his long good bye. she loved her husband and her country. this was her service. it was her way of giving back. all of us are very grateful. on behalf of the house i wish to extend our condolences to the reagan family and offer prayers on the passing of a great american, nancy reagan from house speaker paul ryan. as we have been looking through statements from many members of congress, governors who have come forward, many republicans but democrats, as well. it is the personal connection that everyone in american like but certainly those who enter the world of politics feel to especially former first ladies. presidents have sometimes controversial tenure in the white house and sometimes after they leave the white house. there is a special american appreciation and respect for f

nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us now from the vigil being held near the airport. ening. >> reporter: good evening, chris. we are walking a rather long route with several hundred employees who work in all different kinds of jobs here at the brussels airport. we've seen people who are part of the flight attendant crews, people who work on the tarmac, some of the different outfits are even familiar to you with the glow in the dark vests that personnel who are near the aircraft would wear. and they have been walking for about a half hour now on a road that rings around the airport. many have flowers or candles. i spoke to some of them in the crowd. they didn't want to talk on television now. these are people who were at the airport when the blast happened. this is more than fresh in their minds, and they wanted to come together and honor what happened here, those who were lost, and to be a community. they work together day to day in different jobs for different employers at the airport, so this together. to be able to take this trip from a far-off parking location wher

we were there with kelly o'donnell. we confirmed that the kasich campaign are going to stop running radio ads in certain congressional districts in favor of running the ads in other congressional districts in wisconsin. this is from a guy named chris shrimp. wisconsin is a competitive state and in certain congressional districts, governor kasich is best positioned to finish ahead of donald trump. so again, kasich is pulling ads in certain parts of wisconsin. some developing news there. we'll talk about what that means and what it does not mean later in the broadcast. don't miss the presidential front-runners right here on wednesday night. donald trump will join chris matthews at 8:00 p.m. eastern followed by hillary clinton on a special edition of the rachel maddow show. >>> the person in the white coat was captured on airport surveillance in brussels this afternoon. a panic plea from belgian police for information about whomever that is. >>> also, a day after with the victims of the belgian attacks. mourners gather in

. >>> let's go now to kelly o'donnell who is at the white house. kelly, i know you covered the reagan years and all sorts of facets relative to ronald and nancy reagan. your thoughts when you heard the news about nancy reagan's passing this morning? >> well, alex, let me first begin at the white house to say at this point, we understand the president is out of the white house. he is on a golf trip. we have not heard from him yet on the passing of mrs. reagan. and the vice president traveled last night to the middle east to the united arab emirates. we have not yet heard from the obama administration specifically on the passing of mrs. reagan. there are other leaders from the political world and capitol hill who are coming up with statements and sharing their remembrances. also, the former first lady laura bush has put a statement out that says, nancy reagan was totally devoted to president reagan and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more. george and i, meaning former president george w. bush, send our prayers and condolences to her fa

>> kelly o'donnell in washington. thanks so much. let's go to capitol hill now. the congressional reaction to president obama's supreme court pi pi pick. what are you hearing in reaction to everything kelly just set up? >> reporter: well, kate, they are moving forward with the strategy. a lot that's coming from the white house which is reminding the american public that this is unprecedented obstruction when it comes to a supreme court nominee. while mcconnell said shortly after the death of antonin scalia the senate would not consider, certainly the senate is right. in modern history, every single nominee the president has put forward that's really in actuality has gotten a senate judiciary hearing at least, we go back to robert. he was voted down on the floor. the one we often hear regarding controversy. harry reid though. the senate minority leader. he's retiring at the end of the year and trying to keep it real, so to say. not holding anything back. no love lost between him and mitch mcconnell. let's hear the latest about him to stop the nominee. >> all we're

>> kelly o'donnell out on the campaign trail for us. thank you so much. >>> now if there is a confirmation process, it happens in the is notate judiciary committee. joining me is a member of that committee, democratic senator from connecticut, richard blumenthal. thank you for joining us. if you heard kelly o'donnell, then you heard what john kasich had to say. it is something shared by a lot of people. that is whether or not this process looks like it can be fair to the nominee. i know you support mr. garland's nomination. but do you see a scenario where there could be a confirmation hearing before the election? >> i not only see a scenario but an obligation on the part of the republican party. and eventually this position of staunch absolute resistance, even to meet with a mnominee, where a vote is unstable and untenable, this voice and phase, will i think be extraordinarily persuasive to the american people and prompt the outrage and outcry that should give the republicanes a reason to go forward despite the majority leaders position

joining me now is another veteran covering the supreme court, nbc's kelly o'donnell. kelly, this is fraught with so much effort at finding precedent. first of all, there's the biden rule. the first time the republicans have ever taken joe biden's voice as the rule of the day, but they certainly have here. i think we lost -- i guess we lost kelly. this is going to be tough tonight, or today, actually. and so we have a situation here, politico -- now kelly o'donnell rejoins us with greatness. thank you, kelly. >> reporter: so i just learned -- >> go ahead, i'm sorry. >> reporter: i've just learned that mitch mcconnell spoke by telephone to merrick garland to talk about what you and pete were just discussing, the impasse between republicans and the white house and senate democrats over his nomination to the supreme court. i'm told that majority leader mcconnell explained to judge garland that he would not be getting a hearing and that they would not move forward with his nomination and confirmation process and that mitch mcconnell would also decline to meet him personally

kelly o'donnell live outside the airport in brussels.et's turn now to cal perry who's at the growing memorial here at the plaza de la bourse. cal? >> reporter: hi, ayman. as you mentioned, continues to grow. we're seeing a few hundred people here now. it's been consistently sort of buzzing in the past 12 to 24 hours. interestingly enough, and i think for our viewers back home in the u.s., there's a lot of kinsmanship here with syria and with the splins. behind me, you'll see flags from syria and the palestinian flag. it's an important issue here in belgium, and i think people want to make sure -- there you go. this is what's going on here. people are showing their unity. thank you very much. people are showing their unity, showing their love, lighting candles. i think that hug probably said it all. i'll toss it back to you. >> all right, cal perry, an very emotional scene there, as you were talking about that, we could definitely see people behind you, laying flowers, lighting up candles. we've seen people laying notes, as well. and flag

nbc's kelly o'donnell and mark murray are following for us this morning.good morning to both of you. mark, let me start with you. bernie sanders in his exclusive interview with msnbc's rachel maddow, take a listen. >> we think if we come into the convention in july in philadelphia having won a whole lot of delegates, having a whole lot of momeantm behind us, and most importantly, perhaps, being the candidate who is most likely to defeat donald trump, we think that some of these super delegates who have now supported hillary clinton can come over to us. >> so we're talking that bernie sanders wouldn't necessarily reject a contested democratic convention? how realistic is that? >> yeah, jose, i wouldn't use the word contested democratic convention. i do think you end up getting from bernie sanders' comments is he's campaigning on he's not quitting his contest even after getting swept in tuesday's democratic primaries. here's the delegate math right now on the democratic contest. hillary clinton has a 300-delegate lead over bernie sanders when it comes to ple

kelly o'donnell is there monitoring from the white house. i understand the president has issued a statement. >> from president obama and mrs. obama and it reads like this. nancy reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the white house. she was right, of course. we had a head start because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example. our former first lady redefined the role in her time here and in her long good bye with president reagan she became a voice on behalf of families going through the reality of alzheimer's and took on a new role as advocate on behalf of treatments that held potential and promise. we offer our sincere condolences to their children, patty, ron, michael and to grandchildren and we remain grateful for nancy reagan's life, thankful for her guidance and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again. that is a statement from president obama on the passing of nancy reagan. regardless of party and generation when people occupy the white house they are in a very rare club of incr

and joining me for insight and animalis are david brooks, kelly o'donnell, mary madeline and steven henderson well can to sunday, it's "meet the press."di >>> good sunday morning. if the dump trump movement needs a candidate to rally around, his name just might be ted cruz. cruz and donald trump each won two contests yesterday, but it was ted cruz who emerged with the most delegates and perhaps some renewed momentum. cruz easily won the kansas caucuses beating trump by a better than two to one margin. cruz also took the main caucuses with 46% of the vote.auc 13 points ahead of trump, another double-digit win there for cruz. but trump also took two states last night winning the only primary in louisiana, but he won that by a much smaller margin than polls had indicated. and trump won the newly created kentucky caucuses, but again, it was by just a four-point margin over cruz.ht smaller than what many had predicted. overall cruz won 70 delegates last night to trump's 61. so cruz won the night on delegates. although overall trump still holds the leads in the delegate count. but as important as d

>> kelly o'donnell there in simi valley, california as we prepare to watch the body of former first ladyom that hearse there. as kelly just mentioned there, the funeral itself is set for 2:00 p.m. on friday. roughly a thousand people expected to attend. president bush will be there, a number of first ladies as well, current presidential candidate hillary clinton as we watch this ceremony unfold. we will take a quick break here. we are going to stay with this. okay, excuse me, kelly; sorry about that. kelly, 2:00 on friday, you mentioned some of the guests who will be there. do we know a little bit more about how nancy reagan is going to be remembered at that funeral? >> we have not yet received the program for the services itself. we do expect to get that today. but here i believe this may be the vicar of the washington national cathedral and also there is a minister who personally ministered to the reagans who will take part here shortly as they take their positions to prepare to open the hearse and to receive the casket of mrs. reagan who passed away at 94. believed it was congestive h

joining me now is nbc's kelly o'donnell. lly, sanders has been attacking clinton on trade in the rust belt states. i want to play what he said last night at a rally. take a look. >> secretary clinton, when she was first lady or a senator, supported almost all of these disastrous trade agreements. all of these trade agreements together have cost us millions of decent paying jobs. led to the deindustrialization of america and the decline of the american middle class. >> seems like we're hearing this from both sides from the clinton and sanders camp, because clinton gave a message yesterday, kelly, in detroit about jobs and economic opportunity in this country. but how is that message resonating with voters, particularly with the white working class in the rust belt? >> reporter: well, it's so interesting, thomas. because sanders is in cleveland, ohio, today, as you mentioned, my hometown. so i know from a historical perspective personal as well. and we have seen a change in time with jobs departing the northeast, the rust belt,

correspondent kelly o'donnell has made her way there and is standing by live for us. kelly? are here, i'm stepping away from this scene from the edge of these candles here where we've watched hundreds, maybe more than a thousand, employees, some work for the airlines, some work with a number of them. many did not want to talk to us on cram because they're really. there have also been a couple different times, brian, when we've heard a very enthusiastic, spontaneous applause, almost a sign of resilience among these employees who have come here on a chilly evening, walked about a half mile around the edge, the perimeter of the airport. we also saw overhead a couple of commercial airline planes actually took off empty to reposition at other airports to begin trying to make up for the slowdown of this airport. but the emotion has been real. you see in front of us the candles, the flowers. you also see the scarves that are part of the uniform for flight attendants. we've seen some of the badges that personnel wear when they're on duty left here at the site. many of them lived thr

nbc's kelly o'donnell is here in brussels. kelly, i know you spent a good part of the day over at one of the hospitals. you have been talking to people who were victims of this attack. what can you tell us? >> well chris we did spend part of our day at a trauma center where they can really care for some of the most severely injured. they continues to have four patient that one hospital in critical condition. what we also saw today is some of those who have been badly injured but more superficial injuries that will take some time to heal but to allow them to be up and mobile. a couple of patients we saw released today. we met a man named pierre who was at the metro station when the blast went off. he suffered a great deal but is anxious to go home. >> i was in the metro. and then the bomb. i didn't remember a lot. but i'm going home now to see my kids. >> obviously he is in some pain. it is going to take some time to get better. we can also tell that you pod doctors were finding that there were people who had gotten through the

. >>> kelly o'donnell and hallie jackson are joining me. is this meeting, kelly, too little too late? >> certainly time is precious for those people trying to stop trump but this does give conservatives who have been very active, a chance to sort of brainstorm and try to come up with some ideas. the hard part is the facts are really difficult. and one of the things that comes up, we've got different groups playing the anti-trump. we're talking about advertising campaigns that have brought some resource together, some traditional republicans. then you have these active conservatives who have a different point of view who are really about the ideology and believing that donald trump is not a true conservative and does not believe in the same values that they believe in. timing is tough. if this all began a couple months ago, perhaps it would have had a different outcome. right now they are looking for sort of trapped doors. where can they find a break in the rules? where can they find a way to galvanize voters? where can they find some sort of

kelly o'donnell in wisconsin covering the kasich campaign and beginning, kelly, on "meet the press" to hint, possibly, at not supporting trump, if he is the nominee. >> reporter: one of the issues through this season is going up against tradition. it was never a doubt in past cycles that of course, republican rivals would ultimately support the nominee and the pledge they take and the efforts toward that are meant to unify the party eventually to remind people that all of the jousting that goes on, primary by primary will all fall to the wayside. but this has been like no other year, of course. john kasich, like some of the others signed the pledge, raised his hands saying he would support the nominee. but now, sort of tapping the brakes a little bit. we're here at a west salem location where he's going to be. this is a steel company. he'll be doing a town hall meeting in a little bit. if you hear the counting behind me, that's the team setting up his own audio system for this. when i say tapping the brakes, andrea, what i'm talking about is john kasich really boinltpoiboinlpointing ou

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at one of the local hospitals. i know that kelly, you've been talking to people as they leave. there are a lot of heartbreaking stories. what are you hearing from the folks you've been talking? >> reporter: ayman, we've had a couple of opportunities to see people who survived the blast with injuries and being released today. they've been hospitalized for two days at the end of the business day here in brussels and this is one of the main trauma hospitals and they received patients from the metro which is just two miles away about. so this was a close high level care facility for those victims. in this case, there are not americans who were hospitalized here but even through the issues of language and so forth, it is unmistakable they've been a traumatic and difficult event. moments ago spoke to a man from brazil, to portuguese is his native language and spoke to us in french but filled with tears with an injury to his leg and just met him moments ago and earlier, we met a man who told us his name was pierre and he w

. >>> and joining me now correspondent kelly o'donnell in the "washington post" senior editor, mark fisherthey both covered the simpson trial more than 20 years ago. kelly, you're probably having flashbacks. i think all of america is seeing this news. what is your take on this? do you think this is a red herring discovered here, we've learned something new and valuable today? >> it's been such an open question for all these years, what was the murder weapon, where is it. when i first heard it, it really seemed like a tantalizing possibility. now as we hear, some of the characteristics don't match what the forensics showed with the two victims, it certainly would seem like an unlikely possibility. but it does reawaken the mystery surrounding this case. i went back to look at my files, steve, and i was drawn back to some of the old newspaper clippings from the time that i kept. i've got the transcript of his first interview with police. a lot of things that took me back to that time. it is so captivated the nation on so many levels, that to have some new tidbit, some possibility, was really

kelly o'donnell out near the international airport. kelly, thanks. incongruity in this country of the current debate, especially on the republican side of the presidential race, with all this seriousness and sadness going on overseas, we also televised, at the top of the last hour, the speech at stanford by former secretary of state, hillary clinton, on foreign affairs. kristen welker traveling with the clinton campaign was there. and kristen, clearly trying to draw some lines if clearly trying to map out a position of seriousness, name checking. cruz once, trump once, but a lot of phraseology in this, to draw the comparison. >> reporter: absolutely, brian. this speech was as much about politics as it was policy. secretary clinton using that word steady. she's trying to paint herself as the leader who would rule with a steady hand. very quickly, to the policy. she reiterated her multi-pronged approach to fighting isis. she didn't really roll out any new proposals. but she said if she were elected, she would fight isis from the ground, from the air, a

kelly o'donnell joins us now from the conference in washington, d.c.will be on hillary clinton. but she's experienced. she's a former secretary of state. this speech for donald trump and that crowd including the threat of some rabbis walking out, that could be the headline today, kelly. >> well, one of the interesting things will be how visible that will be, because of the setting here at the verizon center. an arena where basketball and other sports are normally pl played. so the crowd is in mostly darkness. so if people do choose to walk out with donald trump, it may be a little harder to detect. we'll certainly keep an eye out for that. and for hillary clinton, her really stinging criticism of donald trump, it's important to know, never saying his name, but she could speak in code that this audience definitely understood. they have broken up now and are going off to various meetings on their schedule. so there really isn't a huge crowd behind us now, but she took donald trump to task for a number of things. he has used the word neutral with respect

nbc's kelly o'donnell in green bay. and kelly, let's start with you.y what the critics have been hitting donald trump on, that you never know where he stands on any issue. >> reporter: and, jose, part of that is a product of being a first-time candidate. although he's been in the national and even international sort of conversation for decades, been the subject of a lot of media scrutiny, but not in this way as a candidate, and typically candidates learn a degree of discipline and preparation that helps them to defend against these sort of situations. thinking outloud as presidential candidate can be fraught with peril and what donald trump is experiencing here. you almost saw the position evolve in the moment with each question and follow-up of chris matthews and then that sort of confirmed by the fact that his campaign had to try to fix it by putting out a written statement. never as powerful as the words of the candidate himself. but part of what they tried to say, jose, was that the issue is unclear and should be put back in the states for determin

thank you very much, kelly o'donnell. with me now, kate anderson brower author of the residence.pert on what goes on in the mansion, in the executive mansion, the white house. >> yeah, i thought it was really interesting how the resident staff spoke about nancy reagan. one usher told me that he would wander up at the end of the day and he would find president reagan and nancy reagan sitting there watching who's the boss on tv with the tv cranked up because the president wasn't able to hear so well and having dinner on trays and holding hands. and it's moments like that, nobody would ever see that, it wasn't public. and the president would talk about how when he was sitting in the oval office, he would scooch down in his chair so that he could sit in his window seeing the first lady sitting and looking at him. so their relationship was very close, it was not put on at all. and i think something else that anita mcbride mentioned is the sisterhood of first ladies. someone like hillary clinton felt it was unfair for nancy reagan was criticized for spending close to $200,000 on a new

>> kelly o'donnell, thank you so much for that update. obviously going to continue to follow that as well. there was a doctor at a military hospital who described some of the wounds that he was seeing are like war wounds with the shrapnels and the burns. we'll keep you posted. >>> in the meantime, stories of heroism are starting to emerge and one particularly unique in that it proved critical to the investigation. i want to bring in christopher dickey. this is a great story that you wrote, christopher. it's about a cab driver. we always hear, if you see something, say something. this turned out to be pivotal. >> exactly. there was a driver who had a sedan and he picked up the suicide bombers, as it turned out. they couldn't fit all of their bags in the car. they ordered a van to begin with. he took them to the airport. when he heard what had happened, he immediately contacted the police and took them back to the apartment where he picked them up and that's where they found the bomb-making factory. that's where they found 15 kilos of tatp

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the latest from brussels. kelly?> reporter: good to be with you, crisp tonight, we can tell you that 12 americans are among the injured and there are questions about some of the others who have not been fully accounted for. here at the stock exchange, where we have of course the candles and the messages and people have been coming here all day, there's also kind of an ad hoc choir, a group that sings together regularly, inviting others to come forward and join them. at the same time, a little tension with some others shouting at them. we see kurdish, iraqi, turkish flags. the mood and sometimes shift here. getting back to those injured, we can tell you karen northshield, united states citizen, who lives in belgium, is among those injured, and her family came here with her father working for the american military at nato and continued to live here. she is injured. we have not had an update on the schultz company, they've been in a lot of our cov coverage, still no word about them. today at state department, spokesman

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell at that event joins me now. hn kasich continues to be very proud of being a really nice guy, kelly. >> reporter: very much so, craig. he is enjoying this. not always do we see candidates have fun at their events. it is a grind, it is hard work. coming off of his ohio victory, he seems to be having a terrific time today taking questions. we know the math. it really is a hard path. john kasich would need there to be an open fight in cleveland for the gop convention in order to get the nomination just by available delegates left. but he's still in this. that quote you played is becoming almost his bumper sticker of not taking the low road to the highest office. and talking about trying to inspire people and to be more of a sunny character in a presidential season that has had lots of elbows being thrown and verbal sparring as well. now, john kasich, the governor of ohio, said he loves protests, loves them, so long as they aren't violent. he is giving a nod to the fact there's some anger in the electorate but he is a

let's turn now to our own msnbc news correspondent kelly o'donnell, covering things from our d.c. bureau there. kelly, what have you learned about the conversations behind the closed doors? >> reporter: part of what is so interesting, kate, is talking about a ticket raises the question of who would be on the ticket. marco rubio returning to his office on capitol hill after being on the campaign trail and ending his own bid said he has no interest of being anyone's vice president. often people who ultimately become vp nominee demure at first. but you could also argue that rubio did not show the kind of electoral strength to make him a close that a ted cruz might reach out to. we will have to see. and those decisions belong to candidates going forward. but who is on that unity ticket? paul ryan also today telling my colleague luke russert that he spoke to former speaker john boehner and said stop talking about me as a potential candidate to come into the convention. paul ryan has the unique role having been on the ticket last time with mitt romney and now as speaker of the house he i

we start with kelly o'donnell who is live in wisconsin following the trump campaign. lly, let's start with the video we just showed our viewers. what, if anything, is the trump team saying about that? >> reporter: well, we have had no comments specifically on that incident. typically what they have said when there have been scuffles or protest clashes or things like that, they talk about the fact that their campaign runs private events and that things that happen outside are not their direct responsibility. that is typically what they have said in past instances. nothing specific on this yet. today, here in this theater, where they're just doing some of the tear down of the event that donald trump just held, prior to the trump coming into the room, there was an announcement explaining to all those in attendance, again, he pays for this event. it's private. and anyone who wants to protest should do so at a designated area outside. trying to sort of set the ground rules before things get started. this was a very calm, very respectful crowd. it is on the campus of st. nor

kelly o'donnell joins us live from washington. >> thanks for being here once again. both romney and trump, former allies but now they are not mincing words in their attacks against each other today. what's the buzz on capitol hill where you are about this back and forth between these two guys? >> reporter: well, jim, these are complicated relationships because you also have chris christie who you were talking about who says he is very close to mitt romney, which is simply disagrees with governor romney on his assessment of the republican field. certainly far apart when it comes to donald trump. and here on capitol hill we're hearing a mix of things, there are members of the republican party here who are very worried about the impact of a trump candidacy and perhaps even a presidency, on what their party would be able to do, and would there be a negative effect on other republican races like house seats and senate seats and so forth. and then there are also those who are saying this is dangerous for the party establishment to be telling voters how they should think or

our reporters are on the ground this morning, kelly o'donnell is on the campaign trail in wisconsin and hallie jackson in los angeles. kelly, let's start with you. we have that new poll in wisconsin yesterday, even before the comments from donald trump, he was in a world of trouble in wisconsin. look at that, down ten points. is that what you're feeling on the ground there? >> reporter: wisconsin is so important, steve, because this is a state that matters in the primaries and always matters in the general election. you have layers here, almost like a wisconsin cheese plate of issues, you've got the question of does donald trump fully understand the issues, that's one piece of this. is what he said about abortion and walking it back going to upset the way voters look at him? there are the fierce trump supporters who seem to give him a pass or get in a new sense of energy every time he's down. then you have the issue of the republican establishment here. you've got governor walker who wants to have a long future and remains popular among his base. you've got the senator ron johnson in a

kelly o'donnell in the room where donald trump has -- is speaking. just heard part of what he's saying. he is not letting this go. kelly. >> reporter: no, andrea, he is not. as your program began, that was the first we heard from donald trump today at this event about his campaign manager. there seemed to be one variation where, as you played on this program, he talked about a circumstance under which he would fire a campaign manager and employee, sort of restating the events, different scenario under which he might have taken different action, but again emphasizing this notion of loyalty and then extrapolating that to what he would do in the white house if elected by sort of expanding on this notion of being a fighter and being loyal. i just heard from the republican party the national committee about the loyalty pledge, which mr. trump has backed away from, we've seen governor kasich back away from it and as well as senator ted cruz. the pledge is simple, each candidate agreed to run as a republican and support the nominee. we are confident that re

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell covering the trump campaign for us this morning live in green bay, wisconsin, where trump made the remarks last night ahead of the state's critical primary next tuesday. kelly, it is interesting we have to note donald trump's activities on twitter, but we know now that's a favorite form of communication. since the interview with chris matthews aired, there's been nothing posted to donald trump's twitter account referencing the interview, not even clarification from his campaign and he's off the campaign trail today. >> reporter: well, perhaps he'll us the that he misplaced his phone. we'll have to see because you're right. he's so prolific on twitter. in many ways, tamron, this is a day for him to try to perhaps look for a new topic and he will do that in the sense that there is a big nuclear summit going on in washington, d.c. we have learned through the campaign he'll meet with some of his foreign policy advisers there. so not an interact with voters kind of campaign day but important on that subject matter. but when it comes to this mess and politically it

we have kelly o'donnell with donald trump. he's going to have an event at 11:00. that's where corey was charged yesterday. halli je jackson. kelly, let's start with you. donald trump signed it last september. he said, i can't imagine anything that would make me tear it up. now he's tearing it up. it's not just donald trump either, kelly, it sounds like. >>. >> reporter: that's right. the other candidates who have watched him become the front-runner and criticism and attention and difficult things that he has said that pose problems for the republican party, people peeling away. we know the premise would ensure that there would ultimately be party unity but also to try to blund a blunt any attempt for donald trump. that tends not to favor republicans and would have likely broken them up by splitting it. republicans wanted to prevent that. there was a lot of pressure put on trump to sign that pledge. now we go past months of campaigning. we've seen the ups and downs and seen donald trump defend his campaign manager. others saying he should be suspended, fired. also t

let me beginning with kelly o'donnell. you are back from covering john kasich but you have been out on the campaign trail with a lot of different candidates. from the people you're talking to do the republicans seem to, a, have a heart for a contested convention and, b, if they did would they really have leverage to keep john kasich out of it? >> well, good morning, chris. this whole political season for republicans seems to be a journey of acceptance and that is really focused on a couple of different things, you have some who are now believing that trump is the most likely nominee and they're trying to get used to that, others are looking at john kasich and saying he is really the last man standing in the so-called establishment lane that we've talked so much about this year. he as ohio governor believes that he has the best chance in a general election and that's the argument he's making even though the math isn't adding up, but there's this ongoing frustration that is kind of in the way of acceptance because conservati

. >>> and joining me for insight and analysis are, david brooks of the "new york times," kelly o'donnell of nbc news, republican strategist mary matalin, and stephen henderson of the detroit free press. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >>> from nbc news in washington, >>> good sunday morning. if the dump trump movement needs a candidate to rally around, his name just might be ted cruz. cruz and donald trump each won two contests yesterday, but it was ted cruz who emerged with the most delegates and perhaps some renewed momentum. cruz easily won the kansas caucuses beating trump by a better than two to one margin. cruz also took the main caucuses with 46% of the vote. 13 points ahead of trump, for cruz. but trump also took two states last night winning the only primary in louisiana, but he won that by a much smaller margin than polls had indicated. and trump won the newly created kentucky caucuses, but again, it over cruz. predicted. overall cruz won 70 degals last night to trump's 61. so cruz won the night on delegates. count. but as important as delegates are, cruz won some mom

kelly o'donnell at the white house across town. know the obamas have put out a statement that reads at least very heart felt. >> reporter: what is striking about it is that you get the connection of one first family to another where they talk about how mrs. reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the white house and she was right, of course. they talk about this connection that they have to her and of course they offer their condolences. they talk about the role that she took on as an advocate on behalf of treatments and potentially the promise to improve and save lives when it comes to alzheimer's. the obamas certainly wanted to extend on behalf of the american people directly to the reagan family and sort of to the whole american experience of when you lose someone who has been a part of our history as well as our popular culture in some of the ways that your conversation with andrea which was so rich in details and bringing back dimensions to nancy reagan in her prime that are so appropriate today. i belie

this for you this morning, keir simmons and eamon mud even have the latest on the terror ties, kelly o'donnell is focused on the impacts. we begin with keir simmons who has the latest for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. as you can see behind me the flowers and candles that people who are caught up in this bombing continue to grow. there is a sense of mourning here, a silence has descended over this area. there was quite a lot of noise and ruckusness last night. that's so not the case now, it is very respectful. meanwhile we are hearing that salah abdeslam as you mentioned is now saying that he would like to return to go back to france of course the last time he was there he was accused of being involved in the paris bombings. he was -- he would like to go back to france to face a court there, his lawyer is saying that since the attacks here he has stopped talking to the police but that he wants to go to france to explain himself, if you like. a european news organization is reporting that one of the senior police leaders in europe is saying that they now believe that the isis netw

joining me now, nbc's kelly o'donnell, with the kasich campaign. kelly, before we get to the trail, i know the ohio governor actually weighed in briefly on the cory lewandowski charge. what did he have to say? >> reporter: we talked to the governor after his town hall here. and, of course, it was the first question i had for him. what should donald trump do? and as an ohio governor, of course, he has many employees, he's been in these kinds of situations, where there is some sort of an issue with an employee. so in this case, unlike some of the other examples where kasich is havasked to comment about tr, there was a way for john kasich to talk about executive decision making. here's how the governor responded. >> i don't know this guy. i don't know exactly what happened. my understanding is that the report is that he grabbed somebody. and that's frankly, totally and completely inappropriate. it could have been one of my daughters, for that matter. look, i think i've said what i have to say, which is, if it was me, if i was in this circumstance, i wo

let's start with kelly o'donnell in wisconsin. with donald trump. kelly, good morning.th in september about that trump signing the pledge and all that. he eventually did, so why is he changing his mind now? >> if you remember, jose, there was all that attention, and trump had to even sign a second version because he inadvertently had the date wrong. there was so much pressure, especially sort of galvanizing the rnc and reince priebus, the chairman, wanting to be sure that trump wouldn't veer off and take his new voters in the electorate with him in some kind of an independent bid. that seems like a kinder, simpler time when you compare to where we are right now. we're inside a college in the theater here, and there will be a town hall event for donald trump coming up soon. and he has suggested that he would not hold to the loyalty pledge for a series of reasons. he is concerned about in his view, whether the party has treated him fairly. a lot of discussion about how the delegates are allotted. and it seems at times some confusion on the trump campaign's part on what th

let's turn now to nbc's kelly o'donnell. vering the trial of o.j. simpson. tell me, based on what you remember, we're all having flashbacks today. what happened during the trial? remind us, was a weapon ever found at that time? >> i feel like i've been in a time machine today, kate, going back to my days with the l.a. bureau. i'll answer that but i've sort of dusted off old files. i have court documents of the people of california versus orenthal j. simpson. this was a clipping at bundy where nicole brown simpson was living at the time. that was the murder scene. just pieces of what that trial was in my old reporting history. to answer your question, there was never a murder weapon presented at trial. that was a complicating factor for the prosecution team. because it was trying to piece together evidence to make the case against simpson, and they had a lot of blood evidence which the jury had to evaluate, but they did not have a murder weapon. there have been other times when there have been suspicions of a possible knife po