cnn's sara murray inside the loud hall. sa sara. >> reporter: good morning, john. hours before the debate here in vegas, donald trump approached ted cruz with kid gloves. he could not help but mention a new monmouth university poll shows him leading 41% to ted cruz's 14%. >> i heard today when they announced the poll. 41 to 14. i like cruz. good guy. i heard here is how they announced. cruz surging. so what i heard, this was on television, cruz surging. i said i don't know. that sounds bad to me. coming up, cruz surging. then they say the monmouth poll was just done. cruz is surging. trump, 41. cruz, 14. >> reporter: although there have been sharper elbows with trump and cruz lately, you saw trump brought none of that to the stump last night. we will see if that carries over to the debate stage. donald trump was not sticking his head in the sand. he fully expects his competitors to come after him. >> we are watching television and hearing all of the announcers saying who will take on trump tonight? who will hit him hard. yeah, i would say bring them on. who cares.

sara murray reports. donald trump rounding out the year with a warning to his political rivals: 2016 is going to be a battle. presidential candidate i consider them enemies. we view this as war. on his last day of campaigning before the new year, trump is coming out swinging... presidential candidate hillary is a disaster doubling down on his jabs against the clintons. and dredging up bill's past indiscretions. presidential candidate we had to respond to hillary. she came out with that, remember she wrote, 'he's demonstrated a penchant, i demonstrated, a penchant for sexism. you believe it? me. i did have to mention her and that is now the biggest story on television. personal life, trump told reporters it would be fair for the media, or rivals, to investigate his background as well. nats trump is also boasting about the first ad blitz of his campaign, saying he will pay two million dollars a week in advertising in early voting states beginning next month. presidential candidate i'm going to be doing big

sara murray, cnn, hilton head, south carolina. jessica rae: and you can add google chrome to the list of trump's enemies. the web browswer has a new add-on that lets users block all images and references to the donald. the "trump filter" launched on a description of the app calls it part of the quote "antidote" for trump's "toxic candidacy." spectre says he built it to take the spotlight off and let people focus on other candidates and other issues. the app has three settings: "mild, aggressive, and vindictive." whole twitter page goes blank. the "vindictive" out entire websites... like c-n-n and google news. jessica rae: ted cruz's campaign expects his fourth quarter fundraising total to be nearly 20 million dollars. the big haul matches the g-o-p presidential poll numbers. cruz took second place in a recent c-n-n/o-r-c national poll with 18 percent republicans, behind donald trump's 39 percent. his 20 million is expected to be at or close to the top among his g- o-p rivals. but the exact amount will become public late next month

sara murray in the loud room. what does it all mean?oining me now to figure it out is mark preston. the executive editor for cnn polit politics. mark, i don't know if you got sleep last night. the abc poll shows donald trump out in front at 38%. ted cruz in second place 15%. another poll. monmouth and abc/"washington post" poll taken after donald trump announced a ban on muslims. >> john, no matter what he says that is controversial that people think is immoral, that it would kill any other candidate, donald trump capitalizes on it. one of the biggest things of donald trump, one of the strengths in the campaign is the fact he never has backed down. if you go back to the summer, john mccain, he said he not a hero because he is a p.o.w. he said strong words about megyn kelly. he continues to grow. he is talking about banning all u.s. non muslims from coming to the united states. where is he right now? >> it may be because of it. 61% of the abc/"washington post" poll support it. we heard in sara's piece he does not expect an evening of par

let's get the latest from sara murray on donald trump. >> reporter: primary voters are sharply divided on the call to ban muslims here in the u.s. his supporters here in new hampshire are sticking by him if they don't agree all of the details of his proposal. >> bring us your huddled masses and poor yearning to be free. it did not say bring in radical terrorists trying to kill us. we should close our borders until we figure that out. we need to do internal repairs. >> reporter: donald trump spoke here in portsmith, new hampshire. he got the police association endorseme endorsement. he is cast as the toughest republican in the field calling for a mandatory death penalty convicted of killing a police officer. >> anybody killing a police officer, death penalty. it's going to happen. we can't let this go. >> reporter: donald trump is back on the campaign trail today. he will hold an event in iowa. we are sure to get a better sense of that on how the ban of muslims will get a shake in other states. back to you. >>> thank you for that. there are new signs the republican party may be more wor

sara murray has more. >> reporter: good morning.ump is escalating attacks on hillary clinton. accusing her of playing the woman card and taking aim at her husband, bill clinton's past infidelities. we got a tamer donald trump on the campaign trail landfall niglast night. >> we haven't started on her yet. she said we would love to run against trump. it is her worst nightmare. tonight, somebody reported that they are absolutely going crazy and they are devastated over what trump is saying. >> reporter: for their part, the clinton camp said hillary clinton will not be bullied by trump's attacks. if trump went easy on the clintons, he went hard on chris christie. saying there is no way the new jersey governor was unaware of the bridgegate scandal. >> just put yourself in a common sense mode. you are with your cabinet. you are with them all the time. they are closing the biggest bridge in the united states. you are not telling the governor. and you are with him all the time. you are not saying, governor, by the way, sir, we are closing t

cnn's sara murray has more. >> reporter: good morning, alison. donald trump did damage control yesterday declaring the meeting with the african-american pastors a big success although several declined to support or endorse the gop frontrunner. he did pick up a number of endorsements. he said the pastors who attended appreciated his tone. >> we didn't think we would have a press conference. we thought it was a good meeting, we would do that. we have many endorsements that came from the meeting. >> reporter: later that evening, donald trump made his way to the heart of georgia where he got the crowd roaring with attacks on hillary clinton. he is expecting incoming fire from his own gop rivals. >> even i think cruz will have to hit me because he is a nice guy. he has been so supportive. everything i said, he supported. everything. he has been supportive. at some point he will have to hit me. it will be a sad day. we will hit back, i promise. >> reporter: donald trump is back on the campaign trail today in new hampshire. we will see if today is the d

sara murray begins live coverage in nashville where the trump rally is kicking off. sara, how do trump supporters feel about this fight? >> reporter: erin, a big cheer went up in the crowd just moments ago when one of the local officials was criticizing hillary clinton. so i think that gives you a sense that trump supporters don't have a lot of affection for hillary clinton but the bigger question is how does this line of attack play with independent voters and with women. just weeks before the iowa caucuses, it seems nothing is off limits. >> she's trying to bring out the women's card. >> reporter: upping the ante. >> with all of her past and her past dealings and, frankly, she's been involved in it with her husband as much as anybody, for her to be discussing that i think it's out of bounds and i've let them know that. >> reporter: trump is putting bill clinton's past infidelities and allegations of sexual harassment on the table. all of this after clinton accused trump of having a pension for sexism. >> i don't know that he has any boundaries at all and his bigotry

. >>> political correspondent sara murray has more on the numbers from portsmouth, new hampshire. >>r: donald trump still looming large over the gop field. >> i'm 20 points up. i'm way up on everybody. >> reporter: leading nationwide, even as republicans remain divided over trump's controversial plan to ban muslims from coming to the u.s. a new "wall street journal" nbc news poll shows 38% of primary voters approved the proposal, while 39% oppose it. among all americans, nearly 6 in 10 oppose the plan. the front-runner showing staying power as he faces a bipartisan backlash. >> the group that is not criticizing me is the public. the public agrees with what i said. >> reporter: his supporters, some of whom took part in a conversation with cnn, remain steadfast. >> so i could care less about a few muslims or a few people that are upset. i could care less about people saying that they don't like donald trump's tone, okay. we need a true leader in this country. and donald trump is that leader. >> reporter: but trump's rivals continue to line up in opposition. some subtle -- >> i'm going

cnn's sara murray has more. so what is he saying, sara? >> right, pam.ough so many republicans and even democrats have been outraged by trump's proposal, he does have his own trump card. and that's holding out this idea of a third-party bid. take a listen to what he had to say about that today. >> well, the republican party has been -- the people have been phenomenal. the party, i'll let you know about that. and if i don't get treated fairly i would certainly consider that. in fact, they did a poll in one of the -- i think it was "usa today" where they said 68% of the people that were republicans would follow trump if he went independent. >> right. >> now, that poll he was referring to is relatively small sample size, but it does give you an idea of the bind that the republican party is in. even though they really don't agree with trump's rhetoric on this specific issue of banning muslims, they definitely don't want to inspire him to mount a third-party challenge. when you talk to republicans, a lot of them feel like that would be a guarantee for hillary

let's get the latest from sara murray. >> reporter: good morning.ows primary voters are divided on the call to ban muslims here in the u.s., the supporters here in new hampshire are sticking by him if they don't agree with all of the details of his proposaproposal. >> the statue of liberty said bring us your huddled masses and poor. it did not say bring in terrorists. until we clear that up, we need to close the borders and have our country back. >> reporter: donald trump spoke here in portsmith, new hampshire. he got the endorsement of the police benevolent association. speaking here, he sought to be the toughest republican in the field calling for a mandatory death penalty on anyone found guilty of killing a police officer. >> anybody killing a police officer, anybody killing a police officer, death penalty. it's going to happen, okay? we can't let it go. >> reporter: trump is back on the campaign trail. he will hold an event in iowa. we will get a better sense on the proposal and how it is playing out in other early voting states. back to you, ch

sara murray is live at that rally. as we get ready for donald trump to take the stand and he may take questions, this could be a very, very interesting evening. is the campaign pushing this poll? >> reporter: i think it's certainly the reason that donald trump was saying this in the first place. the campaign is speaking to core conservatives concerned about muslims coming to the u.s. and concerned that the u.s. doesn't have the ability to weed out radical islamic terrorists. when you look at the broader public, the general public, only 5% think his plan is a good idea and we're seeing this play out at this event. on either side of the street, there are people who are completely on board with this and a large group of protester and they think it runs counter to anything that the country is founded on. >> how are they reacting? are they angry? are they turning away from him? are they standing by him on this news? >> reporter: you know, it's amazing. even the trump supporters i spoke to who didn't agree with him on every

let's now bring in cnn political reporter sara murray. is following donald trump in new hampshire today. sara, it looks like donald trump hoping to end 2015 on, shall we say a strong note? >> yeah, i think you're absolutely right, jim. he is doing that by going hard against hillary clinton. and he's really holding nothing back, even going after her husband, bill's infidelities. just weeks before the iowa caucuses it seems nothing is off limits. >> she was favored to win and she got schlonged. she lost. >> now trading charges of sexism. >> she's playing the woman's card and it's like give me a break. >> and trump is upping the ante, taking aim at bill clinton over his past infidelities and allegations of sexual harassment. >> i think he is fair game because his presidency was really considered to be very troubled, to put it mildly, because of all of the things she's talking to me about. she's mentioning sexism. >> reporter: today, trump tweeting if hillary thinks she can unleash her husband with his terrible record of women abuse while play

but i want to start with cnn sara murray, she's offstage behind me. that's been a busy location all afternoon now. >> reporter: you're right, jake. it has been a very busy location. continues to be busy. you see here dr. ben carson has taken to the stage, doing his walk-through. this is what we've been seeing from candidates all day, a better sense where they'll see timing lights, facebook questions, getting acquainted with the stage. there were a couple of candidates who opted not to go through this ritual, donald trump, jeb bush, rand paul. so it just depends on what kind of candidate you are. but like you were saying, this is going to be a very different kind of conversation today. it's going to be a conversation focused on national security. when we talk about ben carson, being here right on the stage right now, this is a big debate for him. a candidate who has seen his numbers slip in the wake of the paris terrorist attacks, in the wake of san bernardino and he has to be on the stage and prove to voters they can trust him as a commander in chief,

in the debate hall we have sara murray who is watching from the inside. and sara, what are you seeing and also the idea of the undercard debate that someone like governor pataki is a part of. and the question is how much longer are these going to be going on, and we have seen chris christie who is at one point bumped down to the kiddie table, and then able to get back on to the main stage, but is there a sense that anybody else can ascend in a way that chris christie is going to do? >> well, i think that lindsey graham would hope that he is one of the candidates, and anybody on the stage in the undercard debate would hope to have a moment to bring them up to the main stage, but i do think that at a certain point, you lose the value of the undercard debate. i don't know if it happens though before any state votes so that is why you will see george pataki, and other candidates who want to stay in the race through iowa and new hampshire, because they want to hear it from the voters, whether or not they can get enough people to support the candidacy, and they

cnn political reporter sara murray now on the state of the race. >> reporter: as 2015 comes to a closeral campaigns are ending it in disarray. >> everything's on the table. we're constantly looking at everything, looking to see if there are ways to improve things. you know, if there are personnel changes that need to be made, everything is on the table. every single thing is on the table. >> reporter: today, ben carson losing two of his top aides. his campaign manager and communications director resigning, wishing him the best of luck and saying we have enjoyed helping him go from far back in the field to top tier status. that top tier status now in jeopardy as carson's poll numbers slide. jeb bush is muddling through his own campaign shakeup, canceling pricey ad buys, moving staff to early states and insisting voters flirtation with donald trump will soon come to an end. >> we're living in this reality tv kind of political environment where he fills the space by saying outrageous things. i think the emotion of the here and now will subside. >> reporter: trump, the candidate known for

cnn political reporter sara murray is live in hilton head. mp trying to do some expectations management, sara? >> reporter: i think he is a little bit on both sides. today he bragged about his high poll numbers and how he's beating everyone, but in almost the same breath he warned voters that they better actually turn out when it comes election day. donald trump rounding out the year with a warning to his political rivals. 2016 is going to be a battle. >> i consider them enemies. we view this as war. >> reporter: on his last day of campaigning before the new year, trump is coming out swinging. >> hillary is a disaster. >> reporter: doubling down on his jabs against the clintons and dredging up bill's past indiscretions. >> we had to respond to hillary. she came out with that -- she came. remember, she wrote, she said he's got a -- he's demonstrated a penchant -- i demonstrated a penchant for sexism. can you believe it? me. i did have to mention her husband's situation, okay. and that is now the biggest story on television. >> reporter: voters

cnn political reporter sara murray covered many of trump's rallies, i think you even made it into a speech yourself. she also talked a lot about his controversies. tell us more, sara. >> that's right, brianna. donald trump ends 2015 as the undisputed republican front-runner in the six months since he got in the race he's incited controversy after controversy. none of those seem to be slowing his rise in the polls. >> i'm really rich. >> reporter: donald trump isn't talking like a traditional candidate. or drawing a typical campaign crowd. >> i am wearing trump. i have my trump purse. all about trump. >> reporter: from the moment he entered the presidential race it was clear the billionaire businessman was playing by his own rules. >> when mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. they're rapists. and some i assume are good people. >> reporter: trump hurdled through 2015 sparking controversy and rampant speculation that his presidential bid could end at any moment. he insulted party leaders, like former prisoner of war john mcca

reporter sara murray brings us the latest "donald trump still looming large over the gop field. pulling 35% support nationwide in a new cbs/new york times poll his closest competitor, texas senator ted uz, trailing with 16%. ( donald trump, (r) presidential candidate) "i'm 20 points up i'm way up on everybody." trump also leading in two new polls in south carolina. the frontrunner showing staying power as he faces a bipartisan backlash over his controversial l an to ban muslims from coming to the u-s. (donald trump,r) presidential group that is not criticizing me is the public. the public agrees with what i said." his supporters some of whom took part in a conversation with cnn remain steadfast. ( paul dibartolo, trump supporter) "i could care less about a few muslims or a few people that are upset. i could care less about people saying they don't like donald trump's tone, ok. we need a true leader in this country and donald trump is that leader." but trump's rivals continue to line-up in opposition some subtle. ( sen. marco rubio, (r) presidential candidate) "i am going to supp

let's turn to cnn political reporter sara murray. , are you expecting a bit of a fight-night style rumble here between donald trump and ted cruz? >> you know, that's the big question, right? because you see donald trump on the stump, on the campaign trail and he does not hold back when it comes to cruz or really at this point any of his republican contende contenders. he's gone after pretty much anyone. but we usually see a more reserved donald trump on the debate stage. you remember in past debates there would be long stretches where he would sort of fade into the background where he would let other republicans fight amongst themselves. and so i think the question is, sure, donald trump has a wide lead nationally, but will this tightening in iowa inspire him to go after ted cruz on a much bigger stage tomorrow night? >> and what about this letter, sara, that he released -- well, his doctor released. what did it say? >> so as you know it's of course tradition for republican -- for any presidential candidate to put out sort of a health

reporter sara murray has more. " (donald trump) "i saw love in that room. i see love everywhere i go." despite walking back what his campaign had originally promoted as an endorsement event with 100 black pastors, donald trump emerged from today's closed-door meeting calling it a success. (donald trump) "we actually didn't think we were going to be having a press conference. we all thought it was such a good meeting we would do that. and we have many, many endorsements that came out of the meeting." in the lead-up to today's get- together, several of the pastors invited said they had no intention of backing the gop frontrunner...or even attending the meet and greet. ( bishop morton) "if you talk down to women, if you talk down to documented immigrants, calling them rapists and then black lives - get 'em out of here - no, you can't represent me, so i don't even need to hear your platform." victor couzens said he came to talk with trump -- nothing more. (bishop victor couzens) "it's really encumbered upon me to take advantage of the opportunity to query him a

it wasn't that long ago that sara murray is a terrible journalist katy tur, you're -- >> sudden howie? >> i'm judd trying to be fair. >> you weren't fair there. you weren't good there. more importantly, about about you guys, i'm not treated well when they do a story and then i by -- or george will, steven hays, they mentioned trump, and he goes -- it's like he becomes like a shaking monster. i've never seen anything like it. the level of hatred is incredible. i'm pretty much on their side on most of the issues. >> bill o'reilly said you were petty and thin-skinned. i say you have every right to hit back when you're criticized, but you almost seem obsessive about it. my question is that you can't restrain yourself? or is it a strategy because a lot of your reporters despise the media? >> it's neither. i don't mind a bad story when i do something wrong. when i do something wrong, a bat story doesn't bother me. >> you said you're controversial. people think you're divisive. >> i don't like a bad or false story or a false critique when i do something good. they don't give me the credit i

cnn's sara murray is covering it for us live. sara, you're in macon where a large crowd is gathered this evening for another trump campaign event. take us there. tell us about it. >> that's right, don. there was quite a crowd here earlier. you can see there that has wrapped up. folks have left. look, trump got the crowd roaring, going after the folks you would expect, going after hillary clinton, going after jub besh. but he hinted he's expecting to see some attacks from people who have been pretty nice to him so far, including ted cruz. >> hey, there's only one way you get to the top and it's all through trump. let's face it. they have to. they have to. even, i think, cruz is going to have to hit me because, you know, he's a nice guy. he's been so supportive. everything i said, he supported. every single thing i said. and he's been so supportive, but at some point he's going to have to hit me, right? it's going to be a sad day, but we will hit back, i promise. >> and, don, of course, we're getting closer to the next debate, we're

sara murray reporting live. thank you. >>. >>> more breaking news.gators now say the ringleader of the paris attack traveled through the greek island of laros and back. paul cruickshank broke this news. tell us more. >> good morning, carol. a source investigator telling us french authorities now believe the paris attack ringleader abdelhamid abaaoud crossed through the greek island of liros on his way to france from syria to organize those paris attacks in november. they firmly believe this now. authorities had previously disclosed two of the stadium attackers they haven't yet identified transported through liros on october 3 and used fake syrian passports to process themselves as asylum seekers to get back to europe. what's not clear from french investigators is whether abdelhamid abaaoud also posed as a refugee to try and get back into europe, but they're investigating that possibility right now. not clear when he came back through the greek island, but in order for him to get back to europe, he presumably would have had to do that illegally in som

sara murray is "outfront." >> reporter: donald trump warning his political rivals, 2016 is going to be a battle. >> i consider them enemies. we view this as war. >> reporter: on his last day of campaigning before the new year, trump is coming out swinging. >> and hillary is a disaster. >> reporter: doubling down on his jabs against the clintons and dredging up bill's past indiscretions. >> we had to respond to hillary. she came out with that -- well, she came out -- remember, she wrote -- she said, he's got a -- he's demonstrated a pension. i demonstrated a pension for sexism. can you believe it? me. i did have to mention her husband's situation. and that is now the biggest story on television. >> reporter: when asked tuesday about his own personal life, trump told reporters it would be fair for the media or rivals to investigate his background as well. trump is also boasting about the first parts of his campaign, saying that he'll spend $2 million in advertising in early voting states next month. >> i'm going to be doing big ads in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and they are goin

cnn national political reporter sara murray is tracking trump in new hampshire today. eporter: that's right, jake. even amid this controversial proposal to ban muslims and backlash from the leaders of his own party, donald trump is still leading the field. and you are starting to see just how frustrated that is making some of his republican rivals. nothing can seem to knock him from the top spot. donald trump still looming large over the gop field pulling 35% support nationwide in a new cbs/"new york times" poll. his closest competitor, texas senator ted cruz trailing with 16%. >> i'm 20 points up. i'm way up on everybody. >> reporter: trump also leading in two new polls in south carolina. the front-runner showing staying power as he faces a bipartisan backlash over his controversial plan to ban muslims from coming to the u.s. >> the group that is not criticizing me is the public. the public agrees with what i said. >> reporter: his supporters, some of whom took part in a conversation with cnn, remain steadfast. >> so i could care less about a few muslims or a few peopl

cnn's sara murray is with me now. she is with the trump campaign here in vegas. as critical of a lot of things. he had great support from the crowd. what happened? >> look, i think what you saw here tonight was donald trump wanting to make sure that this crowd knows he's tough on national security issues, but what's notable is he didn't go after ted cruz. he called him a good guy. he talked a lot about the polls as we've come to expect, pointing to this monmouth poll saying he's far away from him. that said, you can see that trump is readying for this cnn debate tomorrow. we'll have to see if that, does, in fact, play out on the stage tomorrow. >> thank you very much. >> clayly, as you're looking, you see donald trump on the stage where sara is signing autographs, doing the meet and greet. the other candidates are not out and they're not speaking. good strategy for him? >> great strategy. that's what donald trump has done. he's been a man of the people. what's so interesting, really, if you juxtapose the twitter feeds of ben carson and donald trump, these are guys

we begin with coverage and sara murray in washington. >> reporter: alisyn, this is a good question.ng across the board negative, almost universally negative reaction from leaders of the republican party. in a rare move, the republican chairman in all three states, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, all condemning donald trump's remarks. >> we're out of control. we have no idea who's coming into our country. >> reporter: it may be the most controversial comment yet, blocking the muslims from coming into the united states. >> we have no idea if they love us, hate oregon want to bomb us. >> reporter: as a gop rival slams the plan as outrageous, divisive and offensive. trump touted it to a cheering crowd last night. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. >> reporter: trump warning without such measures, which even include blocking

let's get more on this with cnn political reporter sara murray. you have been following donald trump's campaign. what's the latest you're picking up on this one? >> kate, i think you're absolutely right. this has drawn more condemnation from more sides, across both sides of the aisle, more of the republican party than anything we've seen donald trump do to date. i think for the first time you're starting to see the republican party leaders coalesce. we saw the leaders in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, the first three voting states, all condemning donald trump's comments. for the first time, house speaker paul ryan weighed in on 2016. take a listen. >> normally, i do not comment on what's going on in the prnl election. i will take an exception today. this is not conserve tichl. what was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for and, more importantly, it's not what this country stands for. >> you can see there are party leaders, hesitant to criticize trump, believes this has gone too far. donald trump knows exactly what he's doing.

sara murray is "outfront." >> reporter: donald trump and ted cruz leading the field in iowa.undrum for establishment republicans. is the bigger threat the enemy you know? >> we need to take power out of washington and back to we the people. >> reporter: or the one you don't? >> i'm dealing with all of these blood-sucker politicians and they will make their deals and have all of their money guys around and in the back room making deals. but if i get the number of delegates, there's not a thing they can do. >> reporter: both candidates have made waves. cruz suggesting a religious test for syrian refugees. >> christians right now are facing persecution and potential genocide by isis. they are being beheaded, crucified. and we ought to be working to provide a safe haven to the christian refugees but shouldn't be bringing potential terrorists into america. >> wow. thank you. >> reporter: and trump, calling for blocking muslims altogether. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can fi

let's turn to cnn political reporter, sara murray. the other candidates are coming after him. this is the way he sets it up. he doesn't want to start it, but he'll finish it. >> reporter: yeah, it's really interesting, he did say that last night, it's like he's fully prepared for it. but you see a different donald trump on the debate stages than we do on the campaign trail. on the campaign trail he ripped into rivals. he goes after everyone. remember when you look at past debates, there were long stretches trump seemed to disappear, happy to let other candidates go after one another. trump is interesting he has a different day going on than other candidates. he decided to skip the walk-through that the other candidates are doing and for good reason. instead of doing that, he's meeting with sheldon adelson billionaire megagop donor, an interesting meeting for trump because he doesn't want think money, he doesn't want any big outside donors like this. trump also didn't have very far to travel. he tweeted earlier he's staying at his hotel, trump international. he's looking forwar

sara murray, cnn, macon, georgia. >>> clearly trump is no stranger to controversy. his campaign is dealing with plenty of it right now. including one having to do with some gestures trump made at a recent rally. many have said he was specifically mocking a disabled reporter. jake tapper spoke to a trump adviser to get his take on. >> trump cited this report in the "washington post" from serge cover s koval kova kovalski. >> written by a nice reporter. now the poor guy. you got to see this guy. i don't know what i said. i don't remember. he's going, i don't remember. maybe that's what i said. >> all right. now let's put up the still photo of donald trump from the event and a picture of mr. covkovalsk >> how many people do you think have covered donald trump in the past? >> with that disability, i would guess one. >> do you really think mr. trump remembers this specific reporter? >> he said -- >> mr. trump himself said he does not remember this reporter. >> fantastic memory. >> and he most certainly does. he sees thousands and thousands of reporters a year. >> but he

sara murray joins me now with the latest. sarah, listening to him tonight, what did he have to say on the two new battles he's waging? >> reporter: that's right. let's start with clinton because he was talking about her essentially saying there is no difference between hillary clinton and barack obama, and he kicked off his speech by saying he is hillary clinton's worst nightmare and claiming the clinton campaign is devastated by the things he's been saying but he did not dive directly into the accusations, into the criticisms he's been making about bill clinton's past infidelities. that's something he's been tweeting a storm about the last couple days but tonight he's not willing to go that far, at least on the stump in new hampshire, jim. >> on the second battle between the virginia gop and trump, this is essentially the establishment republican party versus donald trump. what is at the root of this battle? >> well, again, this was a tweet storm from donald trump going after the virginia republican party saying that they ar

sara murray is "outfront." >> and i saw love in that room. love everywhere i go. >> reporter: despite walking back what his campaign calling closed door meeting a success. >> we didn't think we would be having a press conference but we all thought it was such a good meeting we would do that and we have many, many endorsements that came out of the meeting. >> reporter: in a lead-up to today's get-together, several pastors invited said they have no intention of backing the gop front-runner or even attending the meet and greet. >> if you talk down to women, if you talk down to documented immigrants, calling them rapists and then black lives, get them out of here. no, you can't represent me. so i don't even need to hear your platform. >> reporter: victor cousins said he came to talk to trump, nothing more. >> it's incumbent upon me to take advantage of the opportunity to query him about the type of things we should expect from a potential trump administration. i'm here to have a dialogue. >> reporter: the pastor caution an out right criticism. >>

sara murray, cnn, portsmouth, new hampshire. >> our next guest is a columnist for "the new york times" and he's joining us now from new york state. look at these poll numbers. if you look at the numbers here, most persons oppose this proposed travel ban put out there by donald trump. democrats overwhelming oppose it, but the republicans are evenly split. is that how you expected the numbers to snal. >> in a sense, yes. one way to think about the trump phenomenon in an international context is to compare him to what we've seen happen in european politics over the last few years. trump is basically a version of the national front or any other right-we think splinter party in europe, except he's operating within the republican coalition in the u.s. the u.s. doesn't really do splinter parties, third parties, fourth parties that much. and so you have basically trump channelling a mix of nationalism, populism and anxiety about terrorism, and he's doing it within the republican party. and it's not surprising that there's a constituency for that. >> and within that party, trump is now leading

cnn's sara murray is there for us as trump is getting ready to take the stage., you're waiting for trump to speak now. what's the atmosphere? what are people telling you there? >> don, this is donald trump. he has a big event the night before. when i was talking to people in line waiting to get in, they said we were obviously for the rally, but tomorrow, we do not want to see trump go against ted cruz. there are a number of supporters who are split between those two candidates or even three or four candidates. look, they're saying, if people want to disagree about policy, that's fine, but they don't want to see these guys pitted against each other. if you're a person who has trump and cruz in your top two, you're worried they're going to go after each other and that that could be bad for the ticket. >> sara, donald trump's doctor today released a statement and said it sounds a lot like donald trump. he is hugely in space and awesome. we know he had a bout with larn gietis last week and before. what does the doctor say today, for real? >> it's not abnormal for ca

sara murray has details on the closed door meeting. >> i see love everywhere i go. >> reporter: despiteback, donald trump emerged calling the closed door meeting a success. >> we didn't think we were going to be having a press conference, but we thought it was such a good meeting we would do that. and we have many endorsements that came out of the meeting. >> reporter: in a leadup to today's get together, several pastors said they had no intention of backing the gop front running or attending the meet and greet. >> if you talk down to women. if you talk down to documented immigrants and calling tham rapists, you can't represent me. i don't even need to hear your platfo platform. >> victor cousin said he came to talk to trump, nothing more. >> it's up to me to take the opportunity to query him about the types of things we should expect from a potential trump administration. i'm here to have a dialogue. >> reporter: the pastor's caution comes as trump tweeted a racially charged message and suggesting a protester conserved to be roughed up. others at the meeting said they would attempt to

sara murray looks at what the accounts have in common. >> reporter: leading the field in iowa, a conundrumublicans. is the bigger threat the enemy you know? or the one you don't? >> i'm dealing with all these blootd blood sucker politicians. they'll make their deals and they'll be in the back room makes deals. if i get the number of delegates, there's not a thing they can do. >> reporter: they've both made waves. cruz, suggesting a religious test for religious refugees. christians are facing prosecution by isis. they're being beheaded and crucified. and we ought to be working to provide a safe haven to the chris man refugees, but we shouldn't be bringing potential terrorists into america. >> wow. thank you. >> reporter: and trump calling for blocking muslims altogether. >> donald trump is calling for a total and complete shut down of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. >> reporter: like trump -- >> when mexico sends it people, they're not sending their best. they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. >> repor

>> sara murray, nia-malika henderson, thank you. >>> give us a tweet, "new day." facebook, facebook.com/newday. >>> a church obliterated by a powerful ef-4 tornado. we'll talk to the pastor of the church who was inside the at time and survived. he'll join us live, next. my sister raves about her toothpaste and mouthwash all the time. i'm like, huh? aren't they all the same? you know, i had to see for myself. so i went pro. with crest pro-health advanced. advance to a healthier, stronger, cleaner mouth from day 1. this toothpaste... ...and mouthwash make my whole mouth feel amazing. and my teeth stronger. crest pro-health advanced is superior in these 5 areas dentists check. this is gonna go well, for sure. advance to a healthier stronger, cleaner mouth from day 1. great check up. my sister was right. whei just put in the namey, of my parents and my grandparents. and as soon as i did that, literally it was like you're getting 7, 9, 10, 15 leaves that are just popping up all over the place. yeah, it was amazing. just with a little bit of information, you can take le

let's begin with cnn political reporter sara murray in washington. sara? >> reporter: good morning, chris. donald trump is facing a wave of criticism in light of his latest proposal and in a rare move, the republican party leaders in the first three early voting states, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, are all condemning this plan. it gives you a hint of just how much damage party leaders worry. donald trump is doing to the republican party's brand. >> we're out of control. we have no idea who's coming into our country. >> it may be his most controversial proposal yet. donald trump calling for the u.s. to block all muslims from entering the united states. >> we have no idea if they love us or if they hate us. we have no idea if they want to bomb us. >> reporter: as his gop rival slams the plan as outrageous, divisive and offensive. trump touted it to a cheering crowd last night. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going

let's begin our coverage with cnn political reporter sara murray, live in washington. at have you got? >> good morning, chris. that's right. amid outrage on both sides of the aisle from donald trump's proposal and his threats to run as an independent, we're also getting another data point that shows you just how far you'd have to knock trump down. that's our cnn/wmur poll out of new hampshire. it shows trump with 32% support. his closest rival is marco rubio at 14% support. despite his wide lead, that's not stopping republican leaders who have stayed out of the race so far from criticizing trumple over the last couple days. >> reporter: even in the face of fierce condemnation from his party elders. >> this is not conservatism. >> reporter: gop presidential hopeful donald trump refusing to back down on his proposal, banning muslims from entering the u.s. >> what was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for. and more importantly, it's not what this country stands for. >> reporter: the chairman of the republican national committee joining the chorus, telling th

. >> let's bring in sara murray. you break the tie. what number pops out to you the most? >> if you look at trump's overall number, his support, there's another number we haven't mentioned yet. that's the 26% of republicans who will say they will never support trump. they say that in the quinnipiac poll. that's the challenge going forward. if you do see someone break out between cruz and rubio. trump needs to coalesce more support, break beyond 25%, 30%. it's still a question whether he can get enough republicans on board to really be the winner if it comes down between him and one other republican in the race. >> that's what alisyn wanted to talk about first, i'll steal her question and say -- >> i won. >> you won again. bush, is it another story that he's gaining or that he's low in the field, vis-a-vis everybody else at the top. look at him now. this is it in terms of his ability to catch on, this was supposed to be the new phase, wasn't it? >> yes. i think it's incredible to see bush's numbers this low, especially because look, we are now in crunch time as jeff zeleny

let's dig deeper with sara murray, brianna keilar and chief political analyst gloria borger.at trump is judged by a different standard because he's an entertainer. >> i don't think that's it. i think this is about republican primary voters. republican primary voters are mad at the so-called establishment which would be elected officials. republican elected officials. they are mad at the media. don't like the media. and so donald trump gets a bit of a pass where other entertainers or politicians would not. i think that's what we're seeing going on. if he attacks somebody, it's okay because he is different. he's not one of them. he's sort of the ultimate outsider. >> sara, you've been on the road covering trump now for a while. do voters seem to have any concerns about some of the assertions he's made? >> i think, if anything, when you present voters with any sign that donald trump might be telling the truth, they would rather blame the media than blame donald trump and i think a perfect example of this is in the 9/11 comments. voters will say, looking i saw someone here or we

joining me now is sara murray. you have been on the campaign trail with him. you know the controversies that follow him. you know how his supporters stand behind him. just like they did last night. >> yeah, i think what is amazing is that donald trump does really have this sort of sticky support among people who really do believe what he says. people who are fearful, mistrustful, don't understand the muslim community. so when he says things like this, trump knows exactly what he's doing, he's playing into the fears and that hatred. he's using it to appeal to a core base of conservatives and hopefully drive his numbers up even further in iowa. the amazing thing is that even when you talk to trump supporters who don't agree with everything that comes out of his mouth, they will still say that comments like this don't disqualify in their eyes. they are still willing to vote for him because his persona is so different from any other candidate running on the republican side. >> so you don't think this has turned any sort of large or meaningful percentage of his bas

let's go to our political reporter sara murray. pshire for us waiting for a trump rally to start. how are republicans responding, sara, to trump's comments? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. when you look at republican primary voters in this poll, it's a much more closely divided group. 38% of republican primary voters said they were in favor of donald trump's proposal. and 39% said they were opposed. so it's pretty tight there. but as you can tell by the protesters behind me as you can tell by the signs in this event saying being muslim isn't a crime. support our immigrants. this is obviously the kind of thing that is very controversial and very devisive when you look at a broader electorate. >> there's also been a development in donald trump's overseas trip scheduled for later this month. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu put out a statement yesterday and i'll read it to our view eshs, prime minister netanyahu rejects donald trump's recent remarks about muslims. the state of israel respects all religions and strictly guara

. >> all right, sara murray live for us in south carolina ahead of the rally in hilton head.'s talk more about trump and his daughter, ivanka. as trump grabs more headlines with his bold statement, it is his daughter who has emerged as a behind-the-scenes force in his campaign. she introduced her father when he launched his presidential bid in june. donald trump calls her one of his closest advisers and now a fascinating new "town & country" profiles her as the executive, as the mother, as the daughter and the influence that she has, writing in part, "even trump's critics can't help being charmed by his daughter." fox news chairman and ceoager a george ales says ivanka is the secret weapon of the entire trump organization. joining me now, the man who wrote the piece, also a senior editor for the daily beast. first, congratulations. >> thank you very much. thank you. >> it's a fascinating profile. i was struck when i interviewed her, as i know you were. let's roll part of what she told me specifically in october about her father and women after those controversial remarks. let

sara murray, cnn, las vegas, nevada. >> let's head back to isha in los angeles. debate coming up, interesting to see if that bromance which has been going on between donald trump and ted cruz, if that continues tomorrow night on the debate stage. >> indeed. we shall find out. and i'll be putting that to our studio guests who join us right now. we welcome back democratic strategist bill carrick and republican consultant john thomas. gentlemen, you just heard my coanchor john just saying that we've seen more of this bromance between donald trump and ted cruz are those days behind us? john? >> i think right now with ted cruz' number surges in iowa i don't think donald trump has any choice but he's not go whack ted cruz down. tomorrow trump is going to try to remain on top and he's going to try to dismiss all of his opponents and probably give a whack or two to ted cruz. >> bill anna navarro made a point that the best thing that could happen to ted cruz tomorrow night is for donald trump to whack down, so to speak, that elevates his status. how do you see it? >> i th

let's begin our coverage with cnn political reporter sara murray live in washington.ialing it back. >> reporter: maybe he's getting more comfortable in his front runner status. last night we saw a donald trump calling to unite the republican party. if you think that stopped him from taking swipes at his republican rivals, you better think again. a change in tone for donald trump. on jimmy kimball overnight, a bit of self-reflection. >> i would like to see the republican party come together and i've been a little bit divisive in the sense that i've been hitting people pretty hard. >> a little bit, yeah. >> reporter: it stopped when it came to debate rival jeb bush. >> do you think jeb bush is scared of you or just scared in general? >> i think he's scared. >> reporter: the front runner continuing to call bush low energy and too nice to be tough. >> do you think he wants to run for president? >> no. he was a happy warrior, but he's never been a happy warrior. >> do you think he would kill baby hitler? >> no. he's too nice. >> reporter: just hours earlier on the campaign

. >> sara: lewis melendez was arrested on friday for the stabbing death of sharise hill. hill was found lying around murray avenue earlier this month with several stab wounds and brutal attack was caught on surveillance video. >> gene: today marks the third anniversary of the sandy hook elementary school massacre. it actually falls on school day for the first time. adam lanza killed mother at their house and went to the school where he killed twenty-first graders and six adults before killing himself. the school was demolished and 2016 and they will hold a interfaith service to remember the victims. >>> gene: people in sandy hook will unveil a mill board. it overlooked. speaker of the house and boston's police commissioner will be on hand when the billboard is unveiled across from the hynes convention center. >> sara: the supreme judicial court set to decide if a local judge went too far when he ordered a landlord to take a course on islam. justices will take up the case of daisy obey next month. she was convicted of assault after pushing tenant down flight of stairs and claimed obey called derogatory rema