For president. We started off with 17 all smart and cunning. Now it is down to three if you want to say three. Trump told new day he thinks there could be riots in cleveland at the Republican Convention if he is somehow blocked from getting the nomination. The closest competitor, ted cruz, condemned donald trump for suggesting there may be violence. Now ben carson agrees with trump about potential riots. I wish we had a president ial candidate bringing us together. Theres no question there would be a lot of turmoil if the establishment tries to thwart the will of the people. Recognizing that millions of new voters have come into the republican fold. Largely as a result of donald trump. Its very unlikely those people would maintain their enthusiasm if some shenanigans resulted in some other nominee. And ted cruz mocked donald trump for pulling out the debate. The debate has now been canceled. Sunlen serfaty has the latest. Reporter good morning, john and christine. Donald trump is making it clear that he is looking ahead and he really wants this gop nominating process to come to a close. Trump says he will not show up for the next debate in salt lake city, utah. He will give a policy speech in washington, d. C. To the proisrael organization instead. After that, kasich said if trump is not debating, he will not either. All of this forced fox news to cancel it outright. The Cruz Campaign is hoping to compliment on this. Mr. Trump, if you wont debate in utah, well bring the debate to you. I guess he doesnt like when anyone challenges him. He said a week ago he was eager to get oneonone with me. Well, this debate, the field is narrowed more and he could have had a direct debate with me and yet, donald is ducking. Hes afraid of being challenged. The Cruz Campaign says that the Cruz Campaign will appear at the same speech where trump is speaking. He intendis to draw clear contrast. Thank you. The governor of ohio john kasich is dismissing claims he is playing a spoiler role. He insists he is trying to win. After a win in ohio, kasich drew a big crowd in philadelphia. He says he expects to be a viable candidate come convention time. It is unlikely that anybody will achieve enough delegates to avoid a convention. For you worried about a convention, it is in the open. It is total transparency. They will look at two or three things if that what happens. Politics is so crazy. You never know what will happen. They will look at somebody who can actually be president of the United States and has a record of accomplishments, not just talk. They will wonder about who can win a general election. Who can win ohio . They dont have the right tone or philosophy. Kasich picked up the endorsement of james imhoff last night. Haley now supports ted cruz. On the democratic side, Hillary Clintons campaign is trying to capitalize on the victories this past tuesday with a statement calling her lead over Bernie Sanders in pledged delegates now nearly insurmountable. Bernie sanders says that is not the case. They say the race is far from over. They are outlining a path of victory that moves through the west. He is holding a rally in flagstaff, arizona. We have joe jones with more from phoenix. Reporter john and christine, the Sanders Campaign was using sports analogies. They say this is halftime and they will win the game. They say that is because the electoral map extending to the west works in their favor in arizona, wisconsin and california. The sanders Campaign Says this is a race for delegates as Hillary Clintons campaign was enjoying victories in multiple states. The former secretary of state took wednesday off although her campaign did not. They issued three new Television Ads including one featuring former Arizona Congress member and shooting victim gabby giffords. We have a gun violence problem. So im voting for Hillary Clinton. Shes tough. She will stand up to the gun lobby. Reporter joe johns, cnn, phoenix, arizona. Thank you, joe. On top of the tv ads, Hillary Clinton with a cameo on a sitcom last night. Clinton has had trouble with young women in the campaign so far. We need to drum up excitement for the campaign. Do everything we can. You know what ill do . Look at that. I thought this would be really good for office morale. Isnt she great . Of course. We assumed it was a he. Oh, no, no. Its a she. Definitely a she. Hillary clinton has no public appearances on her schedule for the rest of the week. Hoping for more cameos just like this one. She will do a bunch of fundraisers. She will be in connecticut tomorrow for an event. Developments surrounding the Supreme CourtJustice NomineeMerrick Garland. He will meet with two Democratic Senators today. A handful of republicans have agreed to meet with garland eventually, but none on the schedule today. Lets get more now from michelle kosinski. Reporter john, you have the perfect day in the rose garden and this perfect political storm was getting bigger. We heard from Mitch Mcconnell and some republicans who supported Merrick Garland back when he was confirmed to the federal bench in d. C. Years ago. Saying this should not happen now. Mcconnell is saying it is not about the person, but the principle. The president should not put forward the nominee in this environment. Somebody who will shift the balance of the court before the nomination. Saying let the people decide. The white house wants to present garland as the perfect nominee. Someone so moderate with stellar credentials that republicans would look as bad as possible. The white house wants to apply re pressure coming from the outside and convince republicans to give him a chance. If they wont, the white house would love to see political damage coming out of this. The president was clear in the rose garden saying if republicans go down this road of obstruction, it would reduce confidence in the Supreme Court and judicial system as a whole that democracy in america would suffer from the fight. As the White House Press secretary put it, we are looking for a bit of fairness. Thank you, michelle. Attorneys for Sergeant Bowe bergdahl released statements over the publicity facing their client. Bergdahl has been diagnosed with a psychiatric doctor. Bergdahl claims he wandered from his post in 2009 to draw attention to what he called bad decisions. Bergdahl faces desertion charges and military trial this summer. Deadly flooding hits the south and governor of texas is warning this disaster could get worse. We have new developments next. Flooding a major problem in parts of louisiana and texas. More rain is on the way. Thousands of people forced from their homes. A family in orange, texas, surrounded by water is now living on the roof. Torrential rain turns interstate 10 into a river. Close addd at the louisiana and texas river. Governor abbott warned people the danger is far from over. Its important that i emphasize that listen that the rising waters are not over yet. People need to remember about the possibility that the water could continue to rise for another day or two. Abbott declared an emergency. He requested federal disaster aid. More rain for texas and louisiana today. Lets bring in meteorologist derek van dam. That is right. More rain for an already saturated environment. The ground is like a sponge thats reached full Water Capacity. It cannot hold anymore water content. More precipitation in the forecast tonight. We highlighted the shading of green and yellow. Especially near the border of texas and louisiana. In fact, thats the hot spot for the flooding. The sabine river. The area that separates texas and louisiana. Records have fell at the river gauges that stood over a century. In other weather news, a warm up along the east coast. Dont get used to that. The forecast in the weekend and next week calls for the potential of a noreaster. Some models indicating a few inches of snow for new york city as well as boston. Back to you. Thats no good. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is on the hot seat this morning. He testifies before the House Oversight committee over flint. Preparing to blame every level of government. Hillary clinton and others are calling for snyder to resign over the contamination crisis in flint. Schools in newark, new jersey will test 17,000 students for lead poisoning. Officials are looking to a report released today that found water samples that half of the city schools contained elevated lead levels for years. The washington, d. C. Subway system is set to reopen within the hour after a daylong shutdown for emergency inspection of the high voltage power system. Transit Officials Say the 26 defective cables were found. 18 have been repaired. Some of the 91 subway stations may remain closed if repairs are not completed by the scheduled reopening time which is 45 minutes from now. Five North Carolina sheriffs deputies are suspended for looking the other way at a trump rally. All five will spend the next year on probation. Video show the africanamerican man led away by deputies when he was attacked. The 78yearold white assailant was charged with disorderly conduct. The suspect in kalamazoo is suing uber for 10 million in a handwritten lawsuit blaming the Ride Sharing Service for ruining his life. He continued to make pick ups during the shooting spree. The company says he alone is responsible. And dow futures are higher. Oil is up after a big gain yesterday. Stock markets in europe are rising. Asian shares climbed overnight. The Federal Reserve has concerns about the global economy. Janet yellen keeping Interest Rates unchanged. That was expected after the twoday meeting. The fed is dimming the Economic Growth outlook. It forecasts that gdp will rise 2. 2 this year and compared with the 2. 4 outlook in december. Policymakers expect to raise rates two more times this year. The fed says it could return rates to szero in the event of shock. Investors like this because it shows fed is cautious. Pushing off more rate increases and stock investors think is good for them. Peace talks trying to end the crisis in syria. We are live next. Well, it was nice to see everyone. I just wish it had been for a better reason. Me, too, but the eulogy that franks daughter gave was beautiful. I just feel bad knowing they struggled to pay for the funeral, especially without Life Insurance. I wish they wouldve let us help. But, it did make me think, though. About what . Well, that i could leave you in the same situation. I dont have Life Insurance, either. If something were to happen to me tomorrow, how are you pay for my funeral . 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Special envoy is doing here and the other group is here, he invited other groups to come to hear other syrian voices. He met with a syrian womens group over weekend. This is a Strong Political group and there are figures in there. A former spokesperson at the Syrian Foreign Ministry went into exile three years ago. Representing the christian population who feel marginalized and not sure who to trust. They believe they have a voice. The u. N. Believes they have a voice that needs to be heard at negotiating table. It is clear they want to keep them on board and keep ideas on board and put forward a sevenpoint plan as we saw other groups put forward their plans and initiatives. We are at the beginning of the long process. The fact it is up and running, this is a good thing. The fact this group, moscow cairo group is in geneva is a positive thing. This is at the beginning and it is hard to know which way to go. One diplomat i talked to yesterday said we are not clear of russias intention is creating a better atmosphere. Thank you, nic. U. S. Sanctions over north korea. The freeze of north korean property in the United States. It expands black lists of anyone not dealing with north korea. So will violence erupt if donald trump doesnt win the republican nomination for president . A new reaction to the frontrunners warning next. New reaction this morning to a warning from donald trump that there could be violence at the Republican Convention if he is somehow blocked on his way to the nomination. In hours, president obama Supreme Court nominee heads to capitol hill, but does Merrick Garland has any chance . Deadly flooding in the south. Damage done and the forecast that doesnt look good. Welcome back to early start. Im john berman. Im christine romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. It is st. Patricks day. Donald trump is sure he will be the republican nominee for president. We started off with 17 all smart and tough. It is now down to three if you want to say three. Trump told new day he thinks there could be riots if he is blocked from getting the nomination. Last night, ted cruz condemned trump for suggesting there may be violence. Now ben carson agrees with trump about potential unrest. No one should be surprised that donald trump is trying to stir up riots. I wish we had a president ial candidate that was bringing us together instead of encouraging such things. No question there could be a lot of turmoil if the establishment tries to thwart the will of the people recognizing millions of voters have come into the republican fold largely as a result of donald trump. Its very unlikely that those people would maintain their enthusiasm if in fact some shenanigans resulted in someone else nominee. The debate next week is now cancelled. Sunlen serfaty has the latest. Reporter good morning, john and christine. Donald trump is making it clear he is looking ahead and he wants the gop nominating process to come to a close. Trump says he will not show up for the scheduled debate in salt lake city, utah. He will give a policy speech to the proisrael organization. If trump is not attending the debate, kasich said he would not attend every. Cruz is hoping to capitalize on this. Coming out with a statement, quote donald trump is scared to debate ted cruz next week. I guess he doesnt like when anyone challenges him. He was saying a week ago he was eager to get oneonone with me. The field is narrowed more. He could have had a direct debate with me. Donald, apparently is ducking. Hes afraid of being challenged. Reporter the Cruz Campaign says ted cruz will appear at the speech on monday where donald trump is speaking. He intends to draw contrast. Thank you. John kasich is dismissing claims he is playing a spoiler role as he runs for president. After the victory in ohio, kasich drew a big crowd near philadelphia. He says he expects to be a viable candidate come convention time. It is unlikely that anybody is going to achieve new delegates to avoid a convention. For those worried about the conventi convention, it is out in the open. It is not in closed rooms. It is total transparency. They will look at two or three things. It is likely. Politics is crazy. They will look at somebody who can actually be president of the United States and has a record of accomplishments. They will wonder who can win a general election. Who can win ohio . Those folks can. They cant. They dont have the right tone or philosophy. Governor kasich says it is unlikely to declare a first ballot victory. It is impossible for kasich to have enough delegates. He is required to have at least a convention fight. We showed james imhoff. He is now endorsing john kasich. He was supporting marco rubio. Interesting. On the democratic side, Hillary Clintons campaign capitalizing on super tuesday. The statement calls her leads over Bernie Sanders and pledged delegates now nearly insurmountable. Sanders Campaign Says the race is far from over and outlining a path to victory that winds through the west. Today, sanders headlines a rally in flagstaff, arizona. Joe johns has more from phoenix. Reporter john and christine, the Sanders Campaign on wednesday was using sports analogies. They say this is halftime and at the end they will win the game. That is because the electoral map as it expands to the west works in their favor in arizona, wisconsin, even california. The sanders Campaign Says this is still a race for delegates as Hillary Clintons campaign was enjoying enormous victories in multiple states. For her part, the former secretary of state took wednesday off although her campaign did not. They issued three new Television Ads including one featuring former Arizona Congresswoman and shooting victim gabby giffords. We have a gun violence problem. So im voting for Hillary Clinton. Shes tough. She will stand up to the gun lobby. Reporter joe johns, cnn, phoenix, arizona. Hillary clinton built on her super tuesday wins with a cameo on a sitcom last night. Broad city. The show is popular with young women. A demographic that Hillary Clinton has had trouble. We need to drum up excitement for the campaign. Do everything we possibly can. You know what ill do . Look at that. I thought this would be really good for office morale. Isnt she great . Of course. We assumed it was a he. Oh, no, no. Its a she. Definitely a she. You laughed. I guess i dont get all of it. I guess im like a 19yearold woman. It goes right to my demographic. Hillary clinton has no public appearances on her schedule for a few days. She will do fundraisers, including one in connecticut. The controversy surrounding the president obama pick for the Supreme Court justice. Merrick garland. The respected judge will meet on capitol hill today. A handful of republicans will meet with garland eventually. We have more from michelle kosinski. Reporter john and christine, you have the perfect spring day in the rose garden. Unexpectedly emotional. You knew just outside the perfect political storm was only getting bigger. We heard from republicans right away. Mitch mcconnell and others who supported Merrick Garland back when he was confirmed to the federal bench in d. C. Years ago. This should not happen now. Mcconnell is saying it is not about the person, but the principal. President obama should not put forward the nominee in the environment who will shift the balance of the court before the election. The white house wants to present garland as the perfect consensus nominee. Somebody so moderate with such stellar credentials that you would look as bad as possible to not consider him. The white house wants to apply pressure from the public to convince Senate Republicans at the very least give help a chance and if they wont, of course, the white house would love to see maximum political damage inflicted coming out of this. The president was clear. If republicans go down this road of obstruction, it would reduce confidence in the Supreme Court and judicial system as a whole that democracy in america would suffer from this fight. The White House Press secretary put it we are just looking for a little bit of fairness. John and christine. Michelle, thank you for that. Who is Merrick Garland and why did the president pick him for the most intention Supreme Court batt battle . Pam brown will be back with the answers in ten minutes. Attorneys for Bowe Bergdahl released documents to the public. They claim they did it to counteract the negative publ publici publicity. Bergdahl has been diagnosed by a psychiatric board. He wandered from his post in 2009 to draw attention to bad decisions made by his superiors. He faces trial this summer. Deadly flooding slams the south. Texas governor warning the disaster will get worse. We have that next. Flooding is a major problems in louisiana and texas this morning. More rain is on the way. Record high flood waters left neighborhoods submerged. A family in orange, texas surrounded by water. You can see right there. Now set up camp on the roof. Torrential rain turned i10 into a river and closed at the texas louisiana border. Governor greg abbott is seeking federal aid after a helicopter tour and warned people the danger is far from over. It is important i emphasize that listen the rising waters are not over yet. People need to remember about the possibility that the water could continue to rise for another day or two. More rain ahead for texas and louisiana. More rain. Lets bring in meteorologist derek van dam for the latest. That is right. More rain forecast, john and christine, for the saturated environment. Particularly louisiana and arkansas and border of texas. That is the potential of stronger storms developing later today. This area is almost like an extremely saturated sponge. It has no more Water Capacity to it. The water will eventually start to sink its own level. We have tributaries and streams and Rivers Feeding into one another. The sabine river near the border of louisiana and texas are shattering records for a century. Along the east coast, we have a nice day today. Look at the temperature trend. Really starting to go downhill. Some of the models picking up on the potential of a noreaster. Look at the forecast snowfall totals into next week. 4 to 8 inches in the big apple. Winter not done yet. What . I was not expecting that. Looking at the Cherry Blossoms in washington, d. C. Happy spring. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on the hot seat this morning when he testifies before the white House Oversight committee. He is expected to blame the failure of government at every level. Hillary clinton and others called for snyder to resign over his handling of the lead c contamination in flint. Schools in newark, new jersey will test 17,000 students for lead poisoning. A report willi be released toda which found elevated lead levels for years. 30 of the 67 schools have had Drinking Water shut off. The washington, d. C. Subway system is set to reopen within the hour after a daylong shutdown for emergency inspection of the high voltage power system. Transit Officials Say 26 defective cables have been found and 18 repaired. Some of the 91 subway stations may remain closed. And five North CarolinaSheriff Deputies facing suspensions for looking the other way when the man was attacked at a trump rally. The three deputies were demoted and suspended for five days. All five will spend the next year on probation. An africanamerican man led away by deputies when he was attacked. 78yearold white assailant charged with assault and disorderly conduct. The driver accused of fatally shooting six people in kalamazoo, michigan, is taking her former employer to court. He is suing uber for 10 million. He blames the Ride Sharing Service for ruining his life. He continued to make pick ups during the shooting spree. Time for your early start on money. European stock markets are higher. Solid gains in asian stocks. The worlds Top Oil Producers will meet and talk about the problems. Opec and others will gather in the middle east next month. The guest list is not set. Just talking about meeting helped oil surge 6 . Rising close to 40 a barrel. Crude is now up an amazing 34 in the past month. Investors have been anticipating a freeze. The glut of oil is a driver of lower prices. You have slowing demand in china. Supreme Court NomineeMerrick Garland picked to replace Antonin Scalia is the greatest honor of his lifetime. He knows he has to survive a fierce political fight. Is he ready for this . How did this Harvard Law School grad find himself within the highest court of the land . We have pamela brown with this report. Reporter good morning, john and christine. After much anticipation, Merrick Garland has been announced by the president as his pick to replace Antonin Scalia on the high court. Garland was well known to the white house. He has been on the short list before, but lost out to kagin and sotomayer. Hes a graduate of harvard and Harvard Law School. He worked as a shoe clerk and tutor through school. He worked as a federal prosecutor. He is 63 years old. On the older side for a nominee. That could be something that helps with the gop. This is seen as his last shot for the seat and the fact he has less to lose. Republican senators are coming out and vowing not to hold a hearing. Even senators who voted for him in 1997. They say they still like him, but staying true to the party line. Merrick garland will be on the hill soon meeting with senators lahey and reid. This will push. The white house is hoping that republicans will change course, change their mind and hold a hearing after public pressure. Thank you, pamela. A nerve wracking year for investors. A milestone that could lead to a better return for your 401 k . You can look again. Ill tell you how close it is next. Glimmer of hope in the peace talks in geneva. The leader of the Opposition Group made of syrian expats is praising the willingness to take part in the talks and meet the special envoy. We have diplomatic editor Nic Robertson tracking the developments. Reporter good morning, john. We had a meeting with the moscowcairo group. They are seen as a moderate opposition. They dont have rebel groups among them. They are at the talks in a advisory capacity. The u. N. Special envoy is dealing with two principle groups. Syrian government and main opposition made up of rebel groups, some hard liner islamist to the prime minister. These are the two groups. The special envoy is meeting with other groups. Womens groups met over weekend. The talks at the moment is reasonably positive. Western diplomats i was talking to last night still question russias motivation for the draw down. Is this significant . Will it last . Will it hold . The talks are beginning to get under way. Four days in. Beginning of a long process. That group last night, the moscow cairo group and two main groups, Syrian Government and delegation have put their points about what they like to achieve to the u. N. Special envoy. It is his job to bring those together. This is the process that everyones been waiting to see happen and get under way. Theres still a lot of questions and huge distance to go. The government delegation was kicking out the delegation. Nic, thank you. United states sanctions over north korean. Freezing north korean property in the United States and including to black list any americans dealing with the north. This comes after the nuclear test and satellite launch. Lets get an early start on your money. Stock futures are higher. Oil prices helping gains. Oil climbing and trading above 39 a barrel. Check the averages for 2016. Solid gains for stocks pushed the dow 99 points away from positive for the year. That rise came courtesy of the Federal Reserve. Holding Interest Rates steady right now. Lowering its Economic Growth target. How can that be a good thing . Investors like that move. It signals the low Interest Rate environment will continue. That will keep mortgages and credit cards and car loans cheaper. Time is running out for you to fill out your ncaa tournament bracket. You probably wont win your office pool. You will spend billions. 9. 2 billion into gambling around the ncaa tournament. Fans will fill out 70 million brackets with the average entry fee of 29. The top industry playing this year. More than onethird of Financial Industries will play. 26 of i. T. And transportation workers fill out brackets. If you want to stack your bracket up against john berman, go to cnn. Com. Im losing bad. You need to pay me the 29. Early start continues right now. Donald trump warned that there could be riots if he is somehow blocked to the republican nomination. And in hours, president obamas Supreme Court nominee heads to capitol hill. New developments on who will meet with him. Deadly flooding in the south. This morning, reports it will only get worse. Welcome to early start. Im john berman. Happy st. Patricks day. It is thursday, march 17th. Donald trump making it clear he will be the republican nominee for president. Started off with 17. All smart. All tough. All cunning. It is now down to three, if you want to say three. Trump says there could be riots at the convention in cleveland if he is blocked from getting the nomination. Trumps closest competitor condemned trump for implying violence. No one should be surprised that donald trump is trying to stir up riots. I wish we had candidates bringing us together. There is no question there would be a lot of turmoil if the establishment tries to thwart the will of the people. Recognizing millions of new vovot voters have come into the fold because of donald trump. It is unlikely they would maintain enthusiasm if shenanigans resulted in someone else be nominee. Cruz mocked trump for not attending the debate