Foot, has caused river levels not only rise rapidly, but to go to places theyve never seen before. Now that the rain has moved out, the threat has changed, but it is not, by any means, over. The safety of our neighbors and protecting property wherever possible is what we are in the business of doing. So to give you a better sense of the scope of this flooding, check out this chart. So it predicts water levels in st. Louis, as you can see, for the mississippi, and weve highlighted two areas here for you. Peak flooding, which is expected on thursday, when the mississippi will be 15 feet above flood stage, and then also that second area on the bottom right, where you see its marked january 11th. Monday, january 11th is when water levels are expected to finally return to normal. Turning now to developments today in the war on terror. This afternoon, a wake was held for Staff Sergeant joseph lem, one of the six u. S. Troops killed by a suicide bomber near Bagram Airfield last week. The taliban claimed responsibility for that attack. Lems remains were flown back to Stewart Air Force base yesterday. A member of the Air National Guard and a 15year nypd veteran, lems funeral will take place tomorrow morning at new york st. Patricks cathedral. Meanwhile, there is development to tell you about tonight in the fight against isis. The pentagon today confirming ten isis leaders have been killed in air strikes this month alone. And that includes one leader with direct ties to the man whos been called the mastermind of the paris attacks. Colonel steve warren made the announcement in a briefing from baghdad this morning. Shirrafi al mudane, a syrian isis leader. We killed him on december 24th in syria. He was actively planning additional attacks against the west. We will continue to hunt isil leaders who are working to recruit, plan, and inspire attacks against the United States of america and our allies. And out of belgium tonight, federal prosecutors announcing theyve arrested two people, suspected of plotting attacks on several prominent sites in brussels during the new years celebrations. Excuse me. Officials say a series of raids in brussels that begun on sunday turned up isis propaganda material, but no weaponry. That investigation is not tied to the terror attacks in paris. Joining me now, nbc news military analyst, retired u. S. General, barry mccaffrey. Always good to have you with us. Good to be with you, erica. When we look at what we learned today in terms of ten isis leaders killed, including one who were told, and im quoting here, actively planning additional attacks, is there a chance that those attacks could still go through, or does taking out this particular person thwart them . Well, i think were getting incredibly clever, both the cia, military intelligence, in cooperation with our arab allies in the region on intelligence. And the u. S. Air force and naval air is using precision strikes, is really very effective now in culling out the leadership. I think it does throw off their planning considerably when we have a strike of this nature. So its good news. But, remember, you know, theres 30 to 80,000 isis fighters and possibly 19,000 in iraq. So theres no lack of targets to confront in isis. No lack of targets in isis, but its also, of course, not just isis. As we saw, the taliban immediately claiming responsibility for that suicide bombing attack that killed six airmen last week in afghanistan. There is this renewed focus, it seems, on both the taliban and al qaeda in afghanistan. And im sure you saw this today in the new york times, but a report there said the and im quoting, the scope of al qaedas resilience seems to have caught american and afghan officials off guard. Would you agree with that assessment . Well, it was a very good report by the new york times. You know, i think it did chart out that isis, which was down to or excuse me, al qaeda, which is down to a very minimal presence in afghanistan, is now coming back. Some people argue its the Pakistani Army pushing them out of the tribal areas, but, you know, erica, i would sort of ive been in and out of afghanistan for years now. If youre not the oldest son, you dont get land. You wont have money. You wont have a wife. So you look for a job, and the jobs are join the taliban, join the hakani network. Join al qaeda, join isis. Theyll give you 2 to 5 a day and a gun and food. And so im less concerned about the ideology than poverty, violence, and sanctuary in afghanistan for terrorist organizations. Weve got to challenge, trying to hold together this country, which is in chaos. Is this challenge forcing the United States to have a larger footprint there . And is that the only answer . Well, theres no question, weve got a larger footprint there. I mean, i think the poor president doesnt want to continue Ground Combat operations in the middle east or in afghanistan. Hes being forced into keeping a significant nato presence. General campbell in afghanistan has probably got 14,000 nato forces, most of them u. S. Thats the minimal presence, i think, that we can really maintain pressure and still advise and assist the afghan army. This thing is right on the edge of coming apart on us. Which is a scary thought. And we cant ignore the fact, of course, that it isnt the only threat in the region. So when you have to keep on your radar an actively work on pursuing isis, al qaeda, and the taliban, how do you prioritize those Different Missions . Well, i think weve got one intelligence system, one air power system, one special forces system, and pretty well integrated. You know, weve got socom in florida trying to manage these global deployments of special ops forces. I think theyre doing it pretty effecti effectively. Secretary ash carter, a very capable man. I think theyre going to have to play whackamole with some of these operations here for the coming years. And as weve talked about in the past, part of this will, of course, mean better recruitment of support from neighbors in the region. Are we making any inroads on that front . No, i think this socalled coalition of more than 60 nations, a lot of it tends to be completely phony operation. Our arab allies focus more on yemen than they do on syria and iraq. Weve had a strange situation develop, where u. S. Operations in the region tend to be supportive of iranian and hezbollah and shia operations with and have alienated the israels, the egyptian, the saudis, and others. So its a very difficult political environment that secretary kerry is trying to navigate. That it is. General barry mccaffrey, always appreciate your insight, sir, appreciate it. Good to be with you, erica. Moving on now to politics, as we look at the race for 2016. The gop president ial field is out on the campaign trail in full force today. In the next half hour, new Jersey Governor Chris Christie will hold a town hall in iowa. Donald trump is gearing up for his own rally in the Hawkeye State later tonight. Before he gets to that, the republican frontrunner is skmuld to speak to the media shortly from his plane. Nbcs jacob rascon is live with us from iowa. As we know, donald trump is all about fanfare. What do we know about this plane event for the media . Reporter hes landing any moment now. This was spontaneous. Nobody knew about it. But he asked that the media be able to come and see him onboard his plane. Only a limited number, one per network, and were having our embed go and be with him on that plane. It starts at about 5 30. And then hell head here, and thats 5 30 local time. An hour later or so, hell start his rally here in iowa. He knows that this is crunch time. You talk about fanfare, these five weeks leading up to the caucus, these are the most important. He knows that. Many say that after the holidays, this is really when the iowa electorate wakes up. So trump has his rally today. You have marco rubio with a new endorsement from representative goudy, having three events today. Chris christie, as you mentioned, having events today. They know that this is crunch time. Trump knows that he is trailing in some of the most recent polls to cruz, who will be out here next week. Its go time in iowa. Beginning now with a rally tonight. Yesterday, there were a bunch of events canceled because of the snow. So today, really the day, postholiday, the candidates are really getting going. It is the full court press, jacob, as we like to say. All of this, too, for donald trump comes on the heels of this announcement that he made last night about a major tv ad blitz. Was there any further clarification today about just what major means in his mind . Whether its a dollar figure or even the amount of advertising that we could see . Reporter there is some reporting that he is planning to spend 2 million per week, which would put him on par with bush and rubio. Those are some of the answers well be looking for onboard his plane. Well look for that in about 30 minutes, when we talk to him prerally. But that will be interesting, because trump has said, he didnt want to spend money on ads, because people would overdose on trump, because he knows that he has so much coverage in the media, he has chosen not to spend any money. Hes at the very bottom there, in terms of spending money for ads. But now hes saying hes ready to spend, in iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Well get the specifics, we hope, during this prerally gaggle onboard his plane. Well look for that shortly. Nbcs jacob rascon tonight. Thanks. Still to come, the officer charged with murder in the death of a chicago teen caught on camera pleading not guilty today. So what happens next . And when could he go to trial . Plus, the socalled affluenza teen in custody tonight, caught after fleeing to mexico. He managed to avoid jail time after killing four people in a drunk driving crash. Can he escape, though, being sent to prison after this . And we are waiting, as jacob mentioned, for donald trump to hold a preference aboard his plane in nebraska. As soon as that happens, well take you there live. Stay with us. Were always looking for ways to speed up your Car Insurance search. Heres the latest. Problem is, we havent figured out how to reverse it. For now, just log on to compare. Com. Plug in some simple info and get up to 50 free quotes. Choose the lowest and hit purchase. Now. If youll excuse me, im late for an important function. Compare. Com. Saving humanity from high insurance rates. Stories on the legal front today. We begin in ohio, where clevelands mayor addressed the media for the second time in 24 hours, speaking out in the wake of mondays news that a grand jury would not indict two officers involved in the Fatal Shooting to have 12yearold tamir rice. Rice was holding a toy gun when he was shot by officer tim lowman in 2014. Were not trying to support an interest, whether its the Police Interest or an activist interest or whatever interest. Were really trying to do this in a due process way. So at the end of it, that we know, that we believe that we have been fair and we have been just in how weve handled these incidents. In chicago, Police OfficerJason Van Dyke was in court today, pleading not guilty to firstdegree murder charges in the death of 17yearold laquan mcdonald. This comes a month after dash cam video was released, showing that officer shooting the teen 16 times. Police say mcdonald had a knife. Van dykes attorney plans to seek a change of venue. Subsequent cases and similar cases and Media Attention are things that probably will never help my client. But at the end of the day, i dont know the facts, necessarily, of that shooting. They should not affect my clients case in any way, shape, or form. And thats why were going to make sure that were in a forum where we firmly believe we can get a fair trial. And the socalled affluenza teen, ethan couch, is in custody tonight, awaiting extradition back to texas. The 18yearold and his mother disappeared earlier this month. On monday, they were detained outside the mexican resort town of puerto vallarta. Earlier this month, a video surfaced, allegedly showing couch at a party with alcohol, in possible violation of his tenyear probation in a 2013 drunk driving case that left four people dead. His status as a juvenile was a major focus for officials today at a Media Briefing. It is an anomaly of texas law that if we revoke his juvenile sentence, he would stay in a juvenile facility until his 19th birthday, which is april the 11th of next year. Our request of the court is going to be to transfer his probation to the adult court and deal with him in the adult system. Nbcs Kerry Sanders just arrived in puerto vallarta, mexico, and joins us now. Kerry, i know youve learned some really interesting new details about the last couple of days. Share some of those with us, if you would. First of all, if you take a look at the still image of ethan couch from the arrest, you can see that his hair color is extremely different. And that really was a tipoff to some of the people in the neighborhood, who thought his hair looked weird. We were just given this photograph by a neighbor, who snapped this picture as the police were taking him into custody, along with his mother. You can see the picture is a little rough, because the person took it from a distance, but you can see that he was brought down by, were told, by witnesses, eight Police Officers here in mexico. He was upstairs in an apartment, and if you take a look here, that picture is really quite surprising, when you see the video of the neighborhood of where he was holed up here in puerto vallarta, because affluenza suggests that they have a lot of money and that here he was, in a very inner city, somewhat dilapidated apartment, that rents for 1,000 pesos a month. In order, a really cheap fleabag place and he was holed up inside. Interestingly, across the way is a butcher shop. And both ethan couch and his mother, tonya, according to the butchers, actually walked into that butcher shop in the last few days to buy provisions. So they noticed when he came in, because they didnt speak any english, and even though this is a tourist area, this is not the kind of thing that a tourist would do, walking into the butcher shop to get food, and they noticed his dark, kind of really dyed hair. Now, the second butcher that we spoke to said, not only did they pay cash, which was somewhat interesting to them, but also when ethan came in alone the following day, he appeared to be somewhat nervous. He was he didnt speak any spanish, but he said he appeared to be nervous, as if he was looking over his shoulder. And thats why it stood out to him. So, in this neighborhood, this is sort of kind of a surprise. They didnt know that somebody was hiding among them, and clearly, if the attempt was to blend in to a large crowd, of the neighborhoods chosen here in puerto vallarta, this was probably the wrong neighborhood to choose, because they stood out. Erica . Interesting, because you would imagine the thought process there was likely, if they stay away from the touristy areas, then maybe they could try to blend in. We werent able to get that first picture that you referenced, kerry, but we did see, of course, the picture weve been seeing with that very dyed what appears to be, ethan couchs hair dyed very dark. Did any of the people in the neighborhood say more about possibly seeing his mother and maybe how she acted and maybe if they noticed anything about her appearance . The people in the apartment that are here say they only came in the last couple of days and they didnt really Pay Attention to them. Its really just the butcher across the street. When i asked about the mother, tonya, they said that she came into the butcher shop, seemed like a mother buying some food and leaving. Again, the thing that stuck out to them was not people stopping into the butcher shop, but its not the kind of thing that they would expect tourists here on vacation to do. Thats what caught them by surprise. They said that normally people would just make their way to a restaurant and eat. And here they were, walking into the butcher shop and they saw them going across the way and up into that apartment complex. And real quickly, kerry, did they have any idea about the frenzy surrounding these two back in the u. S. . Reporter i dont think theres a Single Person as a matter of fact, theyve been asking me for details, trying to find out, and understand why it took eight Police Officers to come in here, move in rather quickly, and without incident, bring them down, put them in cars, and drive them away. Now they have sort of an understanding of the picture of this case and it sort of fills in the gaps for them, wondering why theres been so much activity in this neighborhood. Just a fascinating story. Nbcs Kerry Sanders on the ground there for us in puerto vallarta. Thank you. I want to bring in now paul henderson, whos a veteran prosecutor. Paul, one of the things we heard earlier today at that preference was that there was going to be a move to transfer ethan couchs probation from Juvenile Court over to the adult system. How common is that and what do you think the chances may be of that request being granted . Well, i think its what everyone expected in a case like this. And whats really important to note is that the prosecutor actually holds all of the cards. So, for this fugitive murderer, whats going to happen is, even if he is not transferred and the case goes over to adult court, the reason that thats important is because, if hes in adult court for the revocation, he can serve the remaining balance of his probation, and remember, its a tenyear probation in this case, that was his lenient sentence, he can serve all of that time in custody. And so even if thats not granted, and he is held accountable and only has to serve accountability as a juvenile up to the age of 19, prosecutors can charge him for fleeing and evading his sentence that he had before, and he can still face up to ten years in custody as a class 3 felon, and so can his mother, if shes charged as well by the prosecutors. So, i think the only couch that hes going to see for a long time is going to be in custody. Which is probably not going to be much of a couch. Oh, no, not at all. This is a case that really highlights the injustices and the need for justice reform, i think. And it speaks so much and this is why were talking about it so much in the nation. People are outraged and shocked that this is the kind of treatment that were seeing in our justice system. And the nervous to run from not having to serve custody after killing four people and putting someone, paralyzing someone, no custody at all, and thats the sentence that he ran from. Thats what he was doing in puerto vallarta. Its just ridiculous. But im sure accountability is coming very soon. How much of that can be brought up and brought into play, if there are new charges filed . I would imagine those charges would be related to fleeing, but can you bring up these past events and this past probation and everything that went into it . Well, all of that goes into the sentencing, but those are the arguments that prosecutors are going to be making to the court, while theyre evaluating first whether to transfer this case and charge him as an adult or hold him accountable in adult court, where theyll be examining what his behavior has been, and having a party to leave the country and avoid his sentence of probation . Absolutely, youre going to hear those arguments about all of his behavior, including the heinous nature of the original incident, where four people were killed and his friend that was riding in the car with him was injured and paralyzed for life. And so, youre going to hear all of these arguments from prosecutors, as they try to persuade and influence the court, either to hold him accountable, as an adult, for this new offense, or to transfer the case and charge a new offense on top of the probation, and hold him accountable there. And real quickly, as you mentioned, theres all this talk about a party, and we heard a little bit about that today, yet the details are still a bit murky as to who knew what and when. But the words were used very clearly in this press briefing. This was called a premeditated escape. How does that language, potentially, impact any charges . It speaks to the forethought that this was not an action that was an accident or just bad judgment. This is something that was planned, it was part of a conspiracy, and a process that he had engaged in with his mother, of all people, who was part of the defense in the first place, indicating that he wasnt held accountable, because of his privilege, that was conspiring with him, to get him to evade his sentence in the first place. Absolutely relevant and absolutely why hell be held accountable and be in custody for a very long time. Paul henderson, thank you. Sure. Still to come, donald trump, we mentioned he is scheduled to hold a preference aboard his private plane in nebraska at any moment. These are live pictures from the airport and well take you there on the other side of this break. Huh. Introducing centrum vitamints. A brand new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint. With a full spectrum of essential nutrients. Surprisingly smooth, refreshingly cool. I see you found the vitamints. New centrum vitamints. A delicious new way to get your multivitamins. As we just mentioned before the break, youre now looking at live pictures coming to us out of omaha, nebraska. That is Donald Trumps plane, which just touched down there, minutes ago in omaha. Why are we looking at the plane . Because donald trump has invited reporters, one for each network or news outlet, on to the plane. Hes doing some sort of Media Briefing, he says. That will happen there on the ground. All of the reporters and folks are waiting at this point to get on to the plane and then, of course, give us the answer on what exactly this hoopla is all about. After that, trump will then fly, its about a 15minute flight, i understand it, over to iowa, and that is where he is going to be holding a rally tonight. So, again, sort of a twostep approach from donald trump tonight. A little bit of mystery surrounding the first one. And we will keep you posted as this continues. Stay with us. Youre watching msnbc live. The lexus december to remember sales event is here. Lease the 2015 gs350 with complimentary Navigation System for these terms. See your lexus dealer. When youre on hold, your business is on hold. Thats why comcast business doesnt leave you there. When you call, a Small Business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. No annoying hold music. Just a real person, real fast. Whenever you need them. So your business can get back to business. Sounds like my rides ready. Dont get stuck on hold. Reach an expert fast. Comcast business. Built for business. Welcome back to msnbc live. We mentioned, we had shown you a picture earlier from the tarmac of Donald Trumps plane landing there in omaha, nebraska. As we mentioned, hes doing some sort of a Media Briefing onboard his plane. What youre looking at now is a picture of the bus thats holding some of the reporters, making their way out there to the plane. What is it all about . Your guess is as good as ours at this point. We will find out more once those folks get on the plane and then get off and are able to share it all with us. And also, just a correction. I had say it was about a 15minute flight from omaha over to where the event is happening in iowa. Im told its actually a 15minute drive. My apologies for misunderstanding that. I want to bring in now James Peterson of Lehigh University and mckay coffin, the author of the new book about the gop race for the white house, the wilderness. Gentleman, fis to ha gentleman, nice to have both of you with us. As we look at these live pictures of what looks to be a party bus than an airport bus, any idea on what donald trump could be planning . As we know nothing is conventional with his campaign. He could possibly be talking about the fact that hes allegedly going to begin to spend some of his own money on this campaign. If you follow him on social media, which i dont, but i have seen the news reporting on it, it seems pretty clear, from his perspective, hes under budget. He took a jab at jeb bush, saying that jeb bush has spent 59 million and is in last place. Hes losing a bit in the polls right now in iowa, so, allegedly, he should be announcing hes going to put some of his own money up, to invest in his own campaign. But who knows, erica, with mr. Trump. You know, hes much more interested in the antics and the optics, so the political theater of this is probably much more interest to him than any substance to come out of what he will actually say today. And mckay, would you agree with that assessment . Its really much more about the political theater here . Trump knows that any given moment, he can call a preference and it will be carried live on cable and it will be, you know, the subject of a thousand headlines, and it really doesnt matter what he ends up saying, that much. The point is that he gets the attention that he wants. Which was his point for a long time, in terms of not buying advertising, as he put it. He said, look, i dont need to, im on all the time. Hes not incorrect. Its interesting, you mentioned how we hear him going after jeb bush a lot. Last night, he actually started going after chris christie. Lets take a listen as these folks make their way up on to the plane. To the paris attacks, senators came together for a topsecret briefing on the terrorist threat. Marco rubio was missing. Fundraising in california instead. Two weeks later, terrorists struck again in San Bernardino. And where was marco . Fundraising again in new orleans. Over the last three years sorry about that. Thats an ad that was launched by a super pac backing jeb bush about marco rubio, which i was hoping to talk about a little bit later. But just in terms of donald trump talking about chris christie, he was criticizing him a little bit for being in New Hampshire so much. We can see folks boarding the plane here now on this live picture, from the tarmac in omaha. And we will have a picture, as i understand it, inside, but will not have the ability to speak to our reporter whos there on the plane during the event. So well get more after that. But one of the things that came out with him attacking chris christie, is he was going after him about spending so much time in New Hampshire and not being home in New Hampshire. As we see him going after christie in New Hampshire, is this a sign, mckay, that donald trump is starting to feel threatened . An ad buy in iowa, attacking christie, whos gaining in the polls in New Hampshire . Yeah, well, every time trump has singled out a candidate and gone after them, its usually a sign that either, a, that candidate has insulted him, or somehow wounded his ego, or, b, that he represents some sort of genuine threat. Christie has gradually, but consistently been rising in the polls, gaining traction in New Hampshire, and trump, i think, is becoming increasingly aware, at least his campaign is, that he stands a very good chance of losing iowa. Weve seen ted cruz surge in iowa. And frankly, before that, ben carson was giving him a hard time. Iowa has never been a perfect state for somebody like trump to win. Its heavily religious, heavily evangelical. Those voters do not necessarily love trump. And so hes saying New Hampshire as a state, in that scenario that he has to win if he loses iowa. And with christie steadily rising in the polls there, gaining traction there, winning the endorsement of the New Hampshire union leader, trump feels probably feels like he needs to start knocking him down a few pegs. And every time trump has gone after one of his opponents like this, its tended to work. So the question is, how does christie respond . It will be interesting to see. So weve now got some lights on donald trump onboard this plane and im told we will have a little bit of sound, so lets listen in as we should be hearing, i think, shortly, i think he was just checking there we go. We heard everybody ready. Lets find out what its all about. Are your own personal indiscretions in fair game in this yes, they would be. And frankly hillary brought up the whole thing with sexist and all i did was reverse it on her, because shes got a major problem, happens to be right in her house. So if she wants to do that, were going to go right after the president , the expresident , and well see how it all comes out. And i feel very confident it will come out very well for us. I will say this. The last person that hillary wants to run against is me. And you saw the polls come out today where im beating her or tied with her at worst. And were doing very well. Were doing very well in all of the polls. Were really doing very well in iowa. And you see that. In the cnn poll, im up by 13 points in iowa. Were at 33 versus 20, cruz being in second. And were doing really well. And were doing very well in the iowa polls. Do you want to risk running a general campaign against hillary where not one votes have been cast in the primary yet . In the democratic debate, they mentioned my name nine times, they didnt mention anybody else. So i really felt i had to respond. Theyre mentioning my names during this debate and theyre not mentioning anybody else. So all i did, really, was respond. You invited is [ inaudible ] discretions well, you know, its very important to understand that one of the magazines recently said donald trump is a worldclass businessman, and i am. Ive made a tremendous amount of money. Ive built a great, great company, and its one of the reasons im doing this. Because we need this kind of thinking when we have 19 trillion in debt and all of the problems that we have. But as a worldclass businessman, and as, frankly, a businessman, you have to get along with everybody. You want democrats, you want liberals, you want republicans, you want conservatives. And i owed it to myself, i owed it to my family, to my company, to my employees to get along with everybody. And i always have gotten along with everybody. [ inaudible question ] no, i think its fine. I want to get along with everybody. As a businessman, i want to get along with everybody. As a politician, frankly, you know, in washington, we have gridlock. And it would be really nice if obama could get the republicans, the democrats together and get something done. Its total gridlock. They dont get along, they dont like each other, the whole thing is ridiculous. But as a businessman, especially as a really successful businessman, it was my obligation to really get along with people. Thats democrats, republicans, everybody. And thats what i did. Im a conservative republican, and in many ways, im very conservative, but i had an obligation to my company and to my employees, and to my family to get along. So i was able to get along with clinton, i was able to get along with virtually every politician you can imagine. And when i went to washington and when i needed something, i got it. On that topic of iowa, [ inaudible ] santorum and huckabee [ inaudible ] this week said [ inaudible ]. What happens on february 2nd [ inaudible ] . Well, first of all. I think were doing really well as, you know, as a candidate, were doing really, really well with vngevangelicals. And if you look at the numbers, im really close to the top or at the top with evangelicals. Ive developed an amazing relationship. And you know, im a protestant, im a presbyterian to be exact. Ive gone through the whole thing. My relationship right now with evangelicals, and always, has been outstanding. So i dont know whos leading with evangelicals. I just saw a poll coming out where im leading with evangelicals. Im doing very well with the tea party. And im doing very well in iowa. If you look at iowa and look at cnn, which is a recent poll and a very big one, im at 33 and cruz is at 20. So i dont know how im going to do, but i think im going to do very well in iowa. Candidates in the republican field, should you take the nomination, do you see anyone among that field [ inaudible ] . Its possible. Its really possible. I mean, ive respected a number of them. Im not going to say every one of them, and some more than others, but i have Great Respect for a number of the candidates that im running against. You have been in the entertainment world, youve been in the political world. How much entertainment is there in the political world . How much of it is the show . Such an interesting question. I guess you heard that question. Youve been in the entertainment world, and ive been in the business world, and ive been in this. Its a lot of it can be applied, whether its business, entertainment, or politics. Its been an amazing period of time. Ive really enjoyed this. Weve had just incredible results. The relationships ive developed in iowa have been incredible and New Hampshire and South Carolina and virginia and texas, all over. Im leading in the florida polls against two people, ones a governor and ones a senator, a sitting senator, and im leading substantially in florida. Im leading in ohio against a sitting governor. Weve had, you know, an amazing period of time. Now, we have we start the process. February 1st, a big date. And i think that were going to do really, really well in iowa. Can you talk a little bit about your campaign and how youre going to ensure that people who are supporting you at rallies will be out there on caucus day, on primary day . Well, as you know, and even if you look tonight, despite the bad weather, the place is packed. We just had it on television, and they showed its packed. We get by far the biggest crowds. Now, the question is, will they show up for caucus . I think the answer is yes. As you know, we have sam clovis and Chuck Lautner and they have some incredible people under them. But, you know, were going to see what happens on february 1st. People want to see our country become great again. We are a country that is troubled. Seriously troubled. And we have nothing but losses. We dont win with isis, we dont win with healthcare. Obamacare is a disaster. The rates are going up 25, 35, 45 , virtually every year. Its a catastrophe. We dont win with anything. We dont win at the border where people are just flowing across into our country. And i really think those people i actually think all of those people or friends of those at the rallies and the speeches are going to come out and caucus and were going to have a very good victory, but we have to see. How much are you going to spend on the campaign . Its been reported 2 million . So ill be spending a minimum of 2 million a week and perhaps substantially more than that. Where . Jeb has spent 40 million no, he hasnt spent 40 million. Hes wasted 40 million. Theres a big difference. Jeb has wasted 40 million. Every week in iowa, leading up to february 1st . So im going to be doing big ads in iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and theyre going to be very substantial. And i think theyre very well done. Ive seen the first two or three of them. Were very proud of them. Were going to be talking about a lot of things, including the border, including trade, including isis and security for the country. Were going to be talking about a lot of things in these commercials. [ inaudible question ] well, i dont think i need to spend the money. If you look at the polls, as you probably saw, 20 minutes ago, reuters came out, and im close to 40, and second, i believe, is 13, which is a big gap. I dont think i need to spend anything and im very proud of the fact that ive spent the least and i have the best result. In other words, i spent here, if you look at a guy like bush, he actually spent 59 million and hes nowhere. And others, likewise, have spent 50 million and theyre nowhere. Im proud of the fact thats the kind of attitude that the country need. Spend the least and be the best. In education, we spend more than any other country in the world per pupil by a lot and were 28th. Thats the opposite of my campaign. So, you know, im very proud of the fact. But now im going to spend anyway, i dont know that i need to. When i see a 40 and i see a 12 or a 13 as second, theres no reason to spend, but i feel i should spend. And honestly, i dont want to take any chances. Were doing so well in iowa, were doing so well in New Hampshire, were doing so well in South Carolina, in nevada, the ball game today was beyond. It was 38 or 39 and everybody else is very low. But i feel an obligation even to myself and to the country to spend. And so were going to be spending a minimum of 2 million for the first, and then well see what happens. And if anybody goes after me, i will spend a lot of money against the people that go after me. Any attack ads . Well, im just saying. If somebody attack me, i will attack them very much and very hard, in terms of ads. Youve got to understand, im 35 million under budget. I thought, as of january 1st, i would have spent 35 million on ads. Ive spent nothing. So im 35 million under budget, which is a good feeling. I love to build when i build, i like to build underbudget. When we fix the infrastructure of our country, i want that to be under budget. And its going to come in under budget, because we have people that dont know what theyre doing. We have petitioliticians so going to fix the infrastructure, and it will be done at a reasonable cost, not a cost where they have 25 times overruns, which projects that start out at x, some of them cost 20 and 25 times theyre supposed to cost. Thats gross incompetence or theft or dishonesty or something. But i look at some of these projects that start off as little projects and they end up being disasters. Were going to end all of that. You mentioned isis a minute ago. The shooter in San Bernardino was a radicalized american. Correct. Youve said momentarily keep the muslims from entering the United States. That said, would you spend any other Constitutional Rights for muslim americans, such as gun ownership, anything like that . I would look very seriously at the people that are here that are becoming radicalized. Theyre using our internet system better than we do, and were the ones that invented it. And i would certainly get all of the geniuses from Silicon Valley together and we will put a stop to a lot of the things that are going on. Where these young, impressionable people, in many cases, children, are becoming radicalized. As far as that couple, that horrible couple that killed 14 people with more to come, because you have some very seriously wounded, that may be wont make it, from what i understand, we have to have people turn them in. People knew they had pipe bombs all over their floor. They had like 20 pipe bombs all over the apartment. People saw it. Why didnt they turn them in . They should have turned them . Theres something wrong. And somethings going wrong big league. And were going to get to the bottom of it. But people have to turn these people in. These are sick people. And they have to turn them in. And a lot of people knew what was going on with the man and wife, if i can even say that, because i think its so horrible. I think theyre such horrible people. Theyre scum, as far as im concerned. But people have to turn them in. People knew what was going on. They had all sorts of weapons, they had bombs all over the apartment, and nobody turned them in. They better start turning them in. Well, the question mr. Trump, Bernie Sanders said youve kind of taken the fear in america right now and turned it into fear against muslims and mexicans. Is that true . No, its not true. Actually, its the opposite. Mine is a message of hope. Its make America Great again. Were going to make America Great again. Were going to make it strong militarily. Well make it strong economically. Were losing on trade so badly. Well stop that immediately. Well bring our jobs back. Well make our country great again. And mine is really a message of hope, not a message of fear. But then, [ inaudible ] youre kind of the white knight, youve pushed muslims away. David buick is now saying youre more radical than him. How are people supposed to take away your message when republicans are pushing away how are they supposed to suggest that you are not that white knight for the white man . Ill tell you what. Im somebody thats extremely inclusive. I want people to get along. We have a president thats dividing our country, terribly dividing our country, and im going to bring people together. And youll see some wonderful things happening with our country. So is david duke wrong . Well, david duke certainly would be wrong about that. How about getting muslims to turn other people in . Theyre going to turn how do you make that happen . If you have a community and its a muslim community, and you have somebody in there making bombs, and other people have seen the bombs, youve got to turn them in. Sorry, folks. Thats the way it goes. Youve got to turn them in. We dont want to have another one where 16 or 20 people get killed. We dont want to have what happened in paris. We dont want to have what happened in california. We dont want to have another world trade center. And believe me, theres plenty out there that want to see that happen again with the world trade center. We have to find out who those people are. How do you do it . People have to turn them in. People have to turn them in. Their own communities, frankly, have to turn them in. But people knew what was going on with those bombs and with those two people. And she came here, and she was already radicalized. And he was either radicalized by her or he was radicalized previously. And frankly, it almost doesnt matter. He was bad news. And these two did tremendous destruction. To people that gave them wedding parties. These are people that knew them. They gave them a wedding party. And they killed them. So theres some bad stuff going on, and well get to the bottom of it. Thats all, its very simple. And peer that are smart and people with common sense understand that im right. Bill kristol suggested this week that you potentially even knew the third party would run against bill kristols a loser. He said i wouldnt run and if i ran, i would just have a lot of fun and i look, bill kristol is a major loser. Hes lost all selfrespect. Hes very embarrassed to even walk down the street. People have told me that. And you know, hes desperate. Hes a desperate man. His magazine is failing badly. Hes going to be out of business probably very soon. But hes hurt his brand very badly, and, you know, hes as negative as you can, because hes a loser. Do you thats all. Thank you, guys hold on, ill just answer these couple of questions. I dont see a third party. I dont see that when you use language like that, calling people a loser im saying somebody says negative about me would you use that if you were a president . No, it would be a different tone. Right now its 17 people, now down to 14, another ones dropping out today, pataki, still a lot of people, im running against a lot of people and you got to win. I want to win for one reason. I dont want to win for myself, i want to win, i want to win to make our country great again. Thats why i want to win. Do you have kids who use your language as a way to talk other people . I have a great relationship with kids. Really great. Thank you so much. Thank you all, very much. Have a great time. So there you go. I guess the answer to our question as to what exactly was supposed to happen onboard that plane with donald trump is that he was simply taking questions from the media. And it did cover a wide range of topics, at the end there, he had called bill kristol, of the new york times, calling him a loser, which is a word we have heard donald trump use umpteen times. Someone asked him about that language and whether or not his language would change if he were president. One of the reporters asking that, and he said, yes, he would change his tone. But at this point when hes running in such a crowded field, he started to say that he needs to use it because hes in a crowded field. Didnt end up finishing that thought. But there were a number of questions asked. I want to bring in bring back, as it were, our guest, James Peterson of Lehigh University. Mckay copins, and dnc chair, ed rendell. Good to have all of you with us. We were talking, leading up to this event, about what it may end up being, james. And was there anything you learned in these last ten minutes or so that you hadnt heard before. He seemed the to be a little bit different donald trump in some ways, with those questions. Its high comedy to me. Some of the conversation is just completely fact free. But whats really interesting is that hes invested in exhorting people. So using term like loser or were going to be great or were going to win, he takes a certain tone that is compelling to certain voters. And i think that if anything, he sort of really projected that really, really well here. As we were saying before we went to this, this wasnt about him saying much information. He did talk about the fact he will be using some of his own money. Very, very Little Details on that. Very, very little concrete information on that. What hes doing here, he created a stage. The media sort of flocked to him like the media normally does around these issues. And then he engages in the kind of theater that allows him to exhort voters. So that language that hes using, calling people losers, were going to get our country back, were going to get everything together. You know, the reporter was really trying to get him to say, how are you going to get people to talk about or tell on other people who are alleged terrorists in their communities. He never answers those kinds of questions. He just say, were going to get em. Theyre going to tell on each other. And that kind of exhortation is compelling to some kind of voters that feel disenchanted and its working for trump. Ed, let me get you to answer quickly. He was asked about preying on the fear of americans, and making americans afraid of boast mexiconess and muslims. And he said, no, mine is a message of hope. Whats your reaction to that statement . Well, its a dual message. The message, make America Great again, is a message of hope. For those people who think that the country has fallen behind and is lacking in some ways. So part of its a message of hope, but part of its a message of fear, a message of divisiveness. And most of all, i hold the media a little bit to blame for this trump phenomenon. For example, in this press conference, he said, theres waste in our infrastructure program. Sometimes programs cost 25 times what they started out to be on budget. Did anybody say, well, can you give us a couple of examples of that fact free. Because there are no its fact free. Other candidates are called on the slightest factual misstep that they make. He can make missteps like that and i disagree with that. I actually take issue with that. I know a number of the folks here at msnbc have challenged and asked. And to james point, part of the issue is, donald trump does not give you a straight answer. But he should be asked specifically. Mr. Trump, can you give us one example of a Infrastructure Project that cost 25 , 25 times more than it originally budgeted for . One example. Well leave it there for just a minute. Well take a quick break before we get in trouble with the computers who might take us off the air and well be back to continue our discussion. Stay with us. Cool. The magic of the season is here at the lexus december to remember sales event. This is the pursuit of perfection. The first gummy multivitamin. From centrum. 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Deep couch sitting dont let it conquer you. With the capability and adaptability of lexus allweather drive. This is the pursuit of perfection. We are back with our panel, professor peterson, and ed rendell. Mckay, to you on this one. One other thing that happened today that was very interesting and got a lot of attention is that the rnc now said donald trump will have access to its voter data. Which shows, clearly, i would venture to say, hes being taken as a very serious candidate. But what else does that say to you, that he can access all of this information . Well, i think, actually, what it is, its the rnc and the gop establishment at large, paying a ransom from trump, saying that if from the beginning, if he is not treated well by the republican establishment or the Republican Party, he would run as a third party candidate, which would decimate the republicans chances of taking back the white house. The rnc wants trump to fade, but they dont want him to feel like he was ousted or pushed out of the party. And so theyre making these concessions, to make him feel special, which is very important to trump. But not necessarily angry at the gop, wile still hoping that he will fade away. You know, who knows if that will happen. Somebody actually has to take the initiative and do it. But at least, i think that for now, the rnc is trying to play nice with trump. One of the other things that stood out, he was asked one of the first questions, because he has been going after bill clinton and his past, whether or not his own personal indiscretions were fair game. And ed rendell, he said yes. Did that surprise you . No. I think donald trump, in terms of whatever indiscretions there are, hell just laugh them off, and the people that are finding his approach attractive wont think anything of it. But i think he makes a mistake if he goes after bill clinton. Bill clinton right now is, i think, the most Popular American politician in the entire country. I think that would be a big mistake. And by the way, he loves bill clinton and Hillary Clinton. I was at ivanka trump, his daughters, wedding, and bill and Hillary Clinton were there and he acted as if they were his longlost best friends. And as we saw in an interview that surfaced from 2008, he had lovely things to say about both of them back then. How good friends they were. James peterson, before we lose our satellite winds on everybody, where does this go from here . We know were five weeks out to iowa, but realistically, what changes in the next five weeks for these candidates . Im not seeing much change at all. I think trump will continue to be the frontrunner. Well continue to ask questions, why is he the frontrunner . And its pretty clear here, the Republican Party created this monster over the last several president ial elections, playing to the red meat base, racializing politics, us against them, lets take our country back. All of this stuff has culminated in Donald Trumps success. Youll see crews encroach a little bitn iowa. Maybe a couple other people in New Hampshire, but hes the frontrunner to deal with right now. James peterson, mckay copins, ed rendell, appreciate all of you joining us tonight. Thanks again. And thanks to all of you watching msnbc live. Im erica hill. See you back here tomorrow night at 6 00 p. M. Eastern. Hardball starts right now. Could hitting bill clinton knock out the donald . Lets play hardball . Good evening im joy reid in for chris matthews. Moments ago, donald trump completed a press conference aboard his plane and hes headed to a rally in council bluffs, iowa. The republican frontrunner, meanwhile, continued his attacks on bill clinton today. Yesterday, trump tweeted about bill clintons, quote, terrible record of women abuse, his words. On the today show this morning he showed no signs of backing off. There was certainly a lot of abuse of women, and you look at whether its Monica Lewinsky or paula