. >> to catch roseann lewandowski in the act, she puts a hidden camera on the kitchen shelf.h small children in the room, 59-year-old roseann lewandowski reaches for a bank bag on the kitchen table and grabs the money. the former school board president shoves the bills into her bra. moments later, after checking to see if the coast is clear, lewandowski is at it again, stealing funds meant for local little league baseball teams. for the second time, she hides the cash underneath her blouse. >> to have her arrested was the hardest thing i've ever done in my life. >> she faces charges of misdemeanor theft. according to the complaint, lewandowski stole $60 from the wallet of her friend, $50 more on another occasion and $880 from the franklin little league. lewandowski admits she stole, but under a plea agreement, the charges are dropped after she returns all the money, immediately restoring the funds, but not her reputation. a happy ending for small town little leaguers. but sometimes, hidden cameras capture much more violent behavior. in our next video, a parent's worst nightma

accusing cory lewandowski of leveling threats at kelly with a call to a fox news executive. said megyn had a rough couple of days of the last debate and he would hate to have her go back to that again. fox said we can't give in to terror iizations toward any of our employees. fox says they promise to treat him fair if he does attend. here's the lineup. and back on the stage rand paul. >>> good morning, john and christina. the big news was supposed to be his pair of high-profile endorsements. arizona sheriff joe arpaio and jerry falwell jr. but even fox said he's skipping the debate. >> i told fox to give the money to wounded warriors. i'm not fan of megyn kelly. i think she's a third rate reporter. i think, frankly, she's not good what she does and they can do a lot better than megyn kelly. i will be making a decision. i see they picked me as number one. not only number one but number one by far, but probably i won't be doing a debate. i'll be doing something else in iowa. i'll be doing something for the veterans and wounded warriors but most likely i'm not going to do the d

fox accusing campaign manager cory lewandowski with threats against megyn kelly. she had a rough couple of days after the debate and would hate for her to go through that again. fox news said we can't give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees. they promise to treat trump fairly if he does decide to show up. here's the lineup as it looks right now. ted cruz, marco rubio, ben carson, chris christie, jeb bush, john kasich, and back on the main stage, rand paul. cnn's sara murray has more from iowa. sara? >> good morning, boris and christine. donald trump managed to trump himself on the campaign trail in iowa last night. the big news was supposed to be his pair of high-profile endorsements. arizona sheriff joe ai arpaio and evangelical leader jerry falwell jr. instead donald trump is skipping the debate. >> i'm not a fan of megyn kelly. i think she's a third rate reporter. i think she, frankly, is not good at what she does. i think they could do a lot better than megyn kelly. and so i'm going to be making a decision with fox, but i probably won't bother do

sot, lewandowski: "it's not appropriate to have someone like that on the debate stage," trump reigniting the feud he had with fox news anchor megyn kelly after the first gop debate. in true trump fashion?he posted this message on social media. nats-trump gyn kelly is really biased against me, she knows that i know that everybody knows that do you really think she can be fair at a debate? but he seemed caught off-guard by fox news sarcastic response, which said in part ? "we learned from a secret back channel that the ayatollah and putin both intend to treat donald trump unfairly" sot trump: . i didn't like the fact they sent out press releases toying, talking about putin and playing games. i don't know what games roger ailes is playing, on the democratic side..... a new abc news washington post poll shows hillary clinton leading bernie sanders nationally 55 to 36 percent sanders though has cut her lead to the smallest it's been in an abc poll. sot/sanders in st. paul my god, what a turnout! overnight, 15,000 people showed up to see the senator in st. paul, minnesota. sot/sanders in dulut

. >> let's talk to trump's campaign manager, corey lewandowski. you heard it right there, corey. mr. trump is still welcome at the debate. any chance he'll show? >> well, george, it's great -- thanks for having me on. so. look, here's where we are, megyn kelly is totally obsessed with mr. trump. she's done multiple shows on why he shouldn't be even involved in the race on television. she's completely obsessed with him. it's impossible to have a fair and honest debate. >> you know -- >> hold on, donald trump is the best debater on that stage. he's participated in six debates. he's won every singlgle one by every poll. he's not afraid to debate anybody. he does more television and radio interviews than all other candidates combined and answered your questions including yours multiple times. you know that. this is not that issue. the issue is an issue of fairness. >> let me press you on that, corey. >> mocking a front-runner, that's not appropriate to have someone like that on the debate stage. >> that's a separate issue from megyn kelly because, you know, you say that megyn kelly a

it will never solve the problem. >> corey lewandowski. bernie sanders leading in iowa. bernie sanders is getting ready to meet the president. hillary clinton leading by 19 points. let's go to jon karl in des moines. >> reporter: good morning. amy. bernie sanders is catching up to hillary clinton nationally and while the race is really close here in iowa, sanders clearly has momentum. closing in on hillary clinton in iowa, bernie sanders confidently took a detour to neighboring minnesota. >> what a turnout. >> reporter: overnight 15,000 people turned out in st. paul after 6,000 flocked to see bernie sanders in duluth. >> as we're seeing here today that has the energy that has the enthusiasm, that has the momentum to take us all the way to the white house. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: today sanders visits the white house for a obama who just this week rejected comparisons between his historic 2008 campaign and what sanders is doing now. >> our children's future is shaped both by the values of their parents and the policies of their nation. >> reporter: in a new tv

>> apparently, corey lewandowski says mr. trump will not be participating in the fox debate. it is not under negotiating. he's not going to be doing it. he'll be raising money for wound. >> he also said a man's word is his bond. it looks like he's not going to show. katy tur and robert costa. thank you. the very close between the democrats. hillary clinton looks like she's finding her footing in iowa. frantic hour on both sides. attacks getting tougher. tonight, an influential lawmaker from south carolina who just switched his support. he's an african-american state rep who switched from clinton to sanders. plus, chris christy jersey attitude got him in trouble again. he told off a woman, rather than helping with flooding in the jersey shore. he said he didn't want to carry a mop or something. the grand jury in texas investigating the videos of planned parenthood. they did nothing wrong, but indicted the activists who made the videos. what a turn around. six days to go. hardball round table, something i ought to know tonight. this is hardball, a place for politics. >> latest

lewandowski: it' s not appropriate to have someone like that on the debate stage. it' s impossible to have a fair and honest debate. stephanie: trump reigniting the feud he had with fox news anchor megyn kelly after the first gop debate. in true trump fashion, he posted this message on social media. mr. trump: megyn kelly is really biased against me. she knows that. i know that. stephanie: but he seemed caught off-guard by fox news sarcastic response, which said in part -- "we learned from a secret back channel that the ayatollah and donald trump unfairly." mr. trump: i do not know what games roger ailes is playing. stephanie: on the democratic side, a new abc news washington post poll shows hillary clinton leading bernie sanders nationally 55% to 36%. to the smallest it' abc poll. sen. sanders: my god, what a turnout. stephanie: overnight, 15,000 people showed up to see the sen. sanders as we' here today that has the energy, that has the enthusiasm, that has the momentum to take us all stephanie: bernie sanders will get a little taste of the white house today. he'

sot, lewandowski: "it's not appropriate to have someone like that on the debate stage," // "it's impossible to have a fair and honest debate." trump reigniting the feud he had with fox news anchor megyn kelly after the first gop debate. in true trump fashion?he posted this message on social media. nats-trump megyn kelly is really biased against me, she knows that i know that everybody knows that do you really think she can be fair at a debate? but he seemed caught off-guard by fox news sarcastic response, which said in part ? "we learned from a secret back channel that the ayatollah and putin both intend to treat donald trump unfairly" sot trump: . i didn't like the fact they sent out press releases toying, talking about putin and playing games. i don't know what games roger ailes is playing, on the democratic side..... a new abc news washington post poll shows hillary clinton leading bernie sanders nationally 55 to 36 percent sanders though has cut her lead to the smallest it's been in an abc poll. sot/sanders in st. paul my god, what a turnout! showed up to see the senator in st. paul, mi

, is there any chance that donald trump could do both of these events, his event and the debate lewandowski said no. invitations are going out to trump supporter so it's a lot to unravel if donald trump is going to change his mind and do this debate tomorrow night. >> again, donald trump, part of his genius, it seems like everybody has an opinion about this decision he's made. you've been talking to people in south carolina. how are the people you're talking to reacting? >> as a matter of fact, and perhaps it's not too surprising, because we're at a donald trump rally, many of the people here support donald trump's decision. here's a bit of what they had to say. >> kind of reminds me of tiger woods skipping a pga event and he realizes that he can even cause more attraction to himself by this move, and probably lengthen his lead. >> i don't like the idea of kelly trying to give him these types of questions but i really think he should go to the debate. >> you do. >> yeah. >> you think it might hurt him? >> it won't hurt him with me. but it might hurt him with someone. >> i think it's okay if

asked to explain the misleading footage trump campaign manager cory lewandowski gave a statement to nbc news reading "no bleep it's not the mexican border but that's what our country's going to look like. this was 1,000% on purpose." the campaign stood by that claim in a more measured statement later in the day. today also brought a slew of new ads from trump's rivals and their backers most of them negative as the candidates began attacking each other in earnest in an attempt to diminish their competitors in a still very crowded field. >> i know i have a debate but i've got to get this fantasy football thing right. okay. >> chris christie. high taxes. weak economy. scandals. not what we need in the white house. >> ted cruz is wonderful at reading children's fairy tales on the senate floor. >> sam i am. >> that last spot attacking cruz comes from rick santorum, who declared victory in the iowa caucuses four years ago and finished second to mitt romney for the gop nomination but who has yet to gain significant traction in the 2016 race. santorum a staunch social conservative is competing

after trump said he probably most likely wouldn't go, you spoke to trump's campaign manager, corey lewandowski, who said even more, yes? >> reporter: that's right. that probably most likely seemed to solidify into a hard no. his campaign manager told us that trump definitely would not participate in the debate and he said, in fact, they would hold their own event in iowa. they would do something to raise money for wounded warriors and maybe even partner with another network in order to do that, job. >> the rnc, what do they say about this so far? >> reporter: we've reached out to the rnc for comment. we have not heard anything back. when i was talking to the trump campaign manager earlier, he said that as far as he knew, trump had had no conversations ahead of this with reince priebus and now, of course, as you said, ted cruz is challenging donald trump to a one-on-one debate, threatening to move this to a different format as well. so this is certainly something that the rnc is going to have to work out and can't imagine they'll be very happy to see their number-one candidate not on the stage

in fact, according to the campaign manager, lewandowski for trump, said it is not about megyn kelly. argue fox news does symbolize something in the gop. >> right. >> is he trying to protect that? and megyn kelly is going to be fine. do you think that is really the battle line? >> it could be. look, they have treated donald fairly. they haven't gone overboard. i was one of his closest personal friends. they criticize said me. and they supported me back and forth. maybe donald is expecting too much from fox. >> does he win just by this conversation? nobody is talking about cruz. >> this may be what you and i have missed. from the beginning it is when is donald going to fall apart. but we're talking about donald. we're not talking about cruz. we're not talking about rubio. we're not talking about bush. they're out of the game. it is roger, kelly. where are the other candidates? >> full disclosure, you have always been a very good mentor to me. when you were walking out about one of the appearances you gave me a pat, good analysis. not about trump. it is true. he does not have to play by

here's what trump campaign manager cory lewandowski hold the crowd on "morning joe" today. >> any chancee will do this debate in any way, shape or form, any way to turn this around? >> i just don't think so. i mean, what you have with mr. trump is you have a clear leader, a person who he said best, is not going to be toyed with. >> for reports on the sudden upheaval in the republican race for president, we begin with nbc's peter alexander in des moines, iowa. our "first read" team putting it out there, calling this a big gamble on the part of

here's what trump campaign manager cory lewandowski hold the crowd on "morning joe" today. >> any chance that he will do this debate in any way, shape or form, any way to turn this around? >> i just don't think so. i mean, what you have with mr. trump is you have a clear leader, a person who he said best, is not going to be toyed with. >> for reports on the sudden upheaval in the republican race for president, we begin with nbc's peter alexander in des moines, iowa. our "first read" team putting it out there, calling this a big gamble on the part of donald trump. we also know he can be seen as the strong and bold, also weak and fearful here. explain what's going on. >> reporter: well, i think donald trump's the only one that can tell us exactly what's going on here, but it's clear that this is a gamble in many ways. we're in a state that's known, you know, for farming, and this was, in effect, him playing a game of chicken with both fox news and ted cruz. donald trump, though, by making this statement, effectively freezes the race, if he doesn't show up for this debate, freezes the race

here's what corey lewandowski told msnbc. >> unlike the very stupid and highly incompetent people that run our country, mr. trump knows when to walk away from a bad deal. mr. trump doesn't play games. you geese know that. he's been to six debates. he stood on the stage with megyn kelly. he answered every question from every debate moderator who's posed a question to him. he's won every single debate. this isn't about megyn kelly at all. this is about hearing from the candidates directly in a fair manner. >> of course, the campaign says this is not about megyn kelly. donald trump called her a light weight reporter. the reason this is a gamble of course, with so little time left there's the potential there's an empty podium. it demonstrates trump were the alpha male as it were in the campaign cycle. it also opens him up to the potential opportunity for some of his opponents to attack him. for now we wait and see exactly what the campaign does in the final hours. >> steve, this may also be good for trump because it kind of cements what people think of him before this debate and if he is l

lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats against megyn kelly of fox news.o so. we can't give in to terrorist nations towards any employees says fox news. scott walker senior advisor. >> this is typical trump. if you look at the race and what is happening in iowa, the race is very tight. if you look at the internal numbers, internal numbers, use down is supposed to have for the assumption would be. he is now coming under scrutiny in a way he hasn't. there is media from the other campaigns, other groups going after him and the only way he can respond is to grab the earned media and take it off in a direction that gets it from scrutiny. i think he was afraid to go to the debate. i think he was afraid he would have to answer some of these questions being raised by the groups. trent dude you don't think this is about megyn kelly at all? >> not at all. this is typical trump. it's somewhat plays against the narrative he has built up there, which is he is tough, he'll stand up to anyone and that is backing away from this. i think it goes back to he doesn't want to