Clinton and sanders could be responding to all of this in just a few minutes. We are keeping close tabs on them, we will bring you everything they say as soon as they say it. Also, on our agenda this morning, donald trump back home, back on the attack. The republican front runner in desperate need right now of a big bounce back victory in his home state. He held a ruckus real in new york and turned one of ted cruzs most memorable lines against them. Ive got this guy standing over there looking at me talking about new york values with scorn on his face, with hatred. And rounding out this mornings agenda, its an x factor that doesnt exist in any other state. The new york tabloid press. How the candidates have to handle the toughest most in your face media market in america. We are going to get to all of that and a lot more in the next hour, but we begin this morning with the war of words thats exploding right now on the democratic side. The issue of what it means to be qualified to be president of the United States. Now, where did this whole dispute come from . Bernie sanders seemingly responding last night to comments that were made by Hillary Clinton on this network, on morning joe yesterday, when clinton was asked if sanders was ready to be president. So the question and im serious, if you werent running today and you looked at Bernie Sanders would you say this guy is ready to be president of the United States . Well, i think he hadnt done his homework and he had been talking for more than a year about doing things that he obviously hadnt really studied or understood, and that does raise a lot of questions. Really what it goes to is for voters to ask themselves can he deliver what hes talking about . So that was Hillary Clinton yesterday morning, then at his rally last night sanders went through a litany of reasons why he said Hillary Clinton isnt qualified. Let me just say in response to secretary clinton, i dont believe that she is qualified if she is if she is through her super pac taking tens of millions of dollars in special interest loans, i dont think you are qualified if you have voted for the disastrous war in iraq. I dont think you are qualified if you have supported virtually every disastrous trade agreement which has cost us millions of decent paying jobs. Bernie sanders last night, that was in philadelphia, then after he said that the Clinton Campaign fired back, this is her press secretary, brian fallen on twitter saying, Hillary Clinton did not say that Bernie Sanders was not qualified, but he has now absurdly said it about her. This is a new low. Clinton and sanders as we say they are both expected to address this issue on the campaign trail, maybe in a few minutes, in fact. Kasie hunt is where sanders is going to be speaking in philadelphia, Kristen Welker is here in new york with me on the clinton beat. Kasie hunt, lets start with you and lets just try to understand where this all came from because we play that clip from Bernie Sanders and the setup for what hes saying there is he says, look, she called me unqualified now im going to tell you why shes unqualified, but in the clip we played for her as brian fallen points out doesnt sound like she actually said that. Steve, good morning, you just played exactly what she said and what set this all off and as you note she suggested that he hadnt actually done his homework, that he didnt have the background that was necessary to do this, but she never used the quote, unquote, not qualified as Bernie Sanders said on the stage at a i have to say massive rally here in philadelphia last night, a line that wound around for blocks. I would point you to a Washington Post headline that included part of Joe Scarboroughs request he in the head line essentially saying or suggesting that Hillary Clinton didnt believe Bernie Sanders was qualified to be president. We are told that that head line played a role in how sanders decided to approach this from the podium. I have to tell you, steve, if you pull the lens back just a little bit and look at how this campaign between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton has evolved, Bernie Sanders has really shifted over time his approach to Hillary Clinton. When we first started out he would often include the fact that he wasnt going to go after her as part of his stump speech, it was what he was selling to voters. If his crowds ever booed Hillary Clinton he would urge them to back off, he would wave them off and say, no, no, no, thats not the kind of campaign that were running. As this race has gotten tighter in and in some ways nastier and as the Clinton Campaign has turned its fire more aggressively at Bernie Sanders because they have had to to kind of keep sustaining all the way along, sanders has gone farther in his attacks on clinton and now he uses contrasts with her as a central part of his stump speech. Now, its usually policy oriented and you heard some of it in this new version of this rift. He said shes not qualified to be president because of all these trade deals, because of the iraq war. Thats a variation on what hes been saying all the way along, hes been hitting her for her nor of nafta and that iraq war note. Taking it to a more personal level, if you will. I have to say knowing Bernie Sanders himself there has been all this reporting over the course of the last couple of months essentially saying that Bernie Sanders has been urged to go negative on Hillary Clinton, he refused to do t maybe if he had maybe he would have won iowa, maybe he would have done better and been so far behind in the delegates but its been Bernie Sanders himself saying i dont want to go there, thats not part of my political brand. So what you can take away from that is that this switch in his stump speech very much driven by the candidate himself. This is a clear indication of his personal frustration with how the Clinton Campaign is framing this and the fact that he is clearly ready to go there. I think youre seeing as were ramping up to new york and, boy, it did not take very long to ramp up to this New York Primary that things are going to get much nastier and i think youre seeing the Clinton Campaign really pull out the stops, whether its referring to that New York Daily News interview, making sure every reporter who covers politics, covers this race is a you that interview. She clearly is demonstrating she knows how to us auto the new york media apparatus in a way that reflects somebody who has campaigned in new york for a long time. Bernie sanders clearly ready to step up and take that head i dont know. Thats right. Thats something we will be talking about a little later in this hour, too. When things happen in new york, in the New York Primary, because of the media, because of the tabloid press its magnified that much more and of course all this comes with that next debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders now just a few days away. Obviously this is going to be a big part of that. Kasie hunt in philadelphia stand by for a minute if you would. I want to bring in Kristen Welker who is with me in the studio in new york. You are on the Hillary Clinton beat. We saw the Clinton Campaign seems they seem to see an advantage in this, they were trying to raise money off of sanders comments overnight. If Hillary Clinton address it is today any idea where shes going to go on this . Ive been told by a Campaign Official and i think we are going to hear secretary clinton her campaign stress three points, one, you were just discussing with kasie the fact that she never said that senator sanders was unqualified. He is essentially putting words in her mouth and, in fact, she was very careful to sidestep that question. Number two and i think this gets more damaging for senator sanders, shes going to make the point, hey, you could make this argument about president obama and john kerry if thats your status for who was qualified, particularly when youre talking about trade deals, accepting money when youre running for president. And this gives her yet another opening to embrace president obama and to sort of cast senator sanders aside and say, look, he is not a part of this Democratic Party in the same way that i am. Weve heard her increasingly try to make that argument. Right. And then third i think youre going to hear the campaign hit him on this key point which is ultimately this helps the gop. You can see the ad coming together. Theyre going to replay senator sanders words over and over again, even her own opponent saying she is not qualified to be president. He went to a place where they didnt even go back in 2008 when things got very ugly in 2008. I think there is a challenge for secretary clinton as well. She has to walk a fine line in her response. You had some democrats expressing concern that she was insulting senator sanders supporters and that that could make it more difficult for her if she does in fact win the nomination to bring in those supporters, to get them on her side, to campaign for her, to support her. So shes got to be very careful in her response if in fact we do hear from her today or in the coming days. We are waiting to see if Bernie Sanders addresses any more of this. Right. What youre saying is a really interesting point, too, because there was a moment not long ago in one of these debates where both candidates were asked how can you unify after this primary. Bernie sanders said on our worst day our disagreements are nothing compared to to our disagreements with republicans. Now hes saying shes unqualified. In terms of the personal tone of this campaign how personal its gotten you are out there on the trail, have you seen this kind of break down over the last few weeks . Absolutely and its just stunning and i think kasie pointed to this, that this campaign started out as the cordial campaign, especially when you matched it against republicans and we havent seen quite the same level of personal attacks that weve seen on the republican side going after each others spouses, for example, but this has gotten incredibly personal. To say that someone is not qualified to be president really does mark a new level i think in this heated exchange, you sense that out on the campaign trail, you sense that in their public comments. Remember, from the perspective of the Clinton Campaign one of the reasons why were seeing her ramp up her rhetoric, she had expected to have this race locked up by the end of march. That didnt happen. And now shes in this increasingly competitive race, shes eager to pivot to the general election as weve seen with some of her comments directed towards donald trump and she cant do that yet. As of right now her focus is on new york but also turning the page on those six consecutive losses that she has had. Kasie, out in philadelphia, you are around sanders so much. You have a good read i guess we dont have kasie hunt anymore. Sorry about that. Kristen welker thank you for joining us. Indeed. Thank you. Kasie hunt is following sanders in pennsylvania. We are going to be keeping a close eye on that sanders event in philadelphia if he addresses the qualified remarks he made last night. We will see what he has to say. Still ahead this hour on this show, Sanders Campaign manager is going to join me live. We are going to ask him about what Bernie Sanders said last night, we will ask him exactly what the senator meant last night, if hes standing by it this morning. Plus donald trump returning to his home turf here in new york hoping that his new york values will help him bounce back after that big wisconsin loss. Jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive uh oh. Oh. Henry oh my. Good, youre good. Back,ack, back. vo according to kelley blue book, subaru has the highest resale value of any brand. Again. You might find that comforting. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Whyto learn, right . E . So you can get a good job and youre not working for peanuts. Well what if i told you that peanuts can work for you . While you guys are busy napping, peanuts are delivering 7 grams of protein and 6 essential nutrients right to your mouth. You ever see a peanut take a day off . No. Peanuts dont even get casual khaki fridays. Cause peanuts take their job seriously. 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If he says anything more about the comments he made last night about Hillary Clinton we will let you know and bring it to you as it happens. Again, Bernie Sanders in philadelphia, one of the many things we are keeping an eye on on this very busy morning in politics. Turning now, though, to the republican side and a moment of truth for donald trump, he is back in his home state, back in new york and back on offense. Embracing new york and slamming ted cruz who had a less than spectacular welcome to the empire state. First of all, its great to be home. This is home. Its great to be home. We love new york. Trump obviously is in desperate need of a big bounce back win in his home state after that double digit loss he suffered in wisconsin earlier this week. The good news for him he may get one. Look at this. The latest poll from mon moth university it shows trump with a massive lead here in new york, he has got 52 of the vote. If that holds it would be the first time he crosses the 50 mark in any state primary. Thats also more than triple ted cruzs total here in new york. Actually, cruz is in third place, hes currently running behind john kasich in new york. So what does all of that mean in it means that trump could walk away from new york with nearly all of the states 95 delegates. In fact, he has a chance of taking all 95 delegates and that could have huge implications for his path to 1,237. Remember, thats the magic number in all of this and his dream of avoiding a contested convention. We will lay out that path, show you the matt and look at the map a little later this hour. First we will check in with jacob rascon, he is at trump tower in new york city. Donald trump goes from that big loss in wisconsin to a big home state welcome here in new york. Were you seeing a different candidate there last night . Reporter oh, yeah, this is the shot of energy that he was wanting. We talk about wisconsin and sometimes we dont really mention how cold of a reception he got there. Even though he got thousands of supporters throughout all of his visits, that was the coldest reception i have ever seen for trump. He didnt fill a lot of the venues, he chose smaller venues, it was very odd compared to the other states where weve seen such big crowds and such high energy. So last night was a shot of energy that he needed. He really went after ted cruz of course, he talked a lot about 9 11, he brought of course ted cruzs comments about new york values and here is what he said. You know, lyin ted cruz came today, he couldnt draw 100 people. 100 people. We have 15,000 people, we have another 5,000 outside, theyre never going to show it. Id love to do it like the other guys, nobody covers them, they can just go over and over and boring but nobody shows up. Reporter in fact, the fire marshal said just over 10,000 people fit inside there, but 10,000 people compared to the numbers that ted cruz got and again that mon moth poll, incredible numbers for him. In fact, in long island the support was up to 58 , trump also has announced his Party Leadership in the state from all 27 congressional districts and he has Just Announced that he is canceling those trips that he had planned this week to california and colorado, hes saying hes going to stay in the state, in new york, until the primary in two weeks to make sure that he can win here. He knows hes going to win here or he is very confident, but also remember that he has said before that he thinks that he can win new york in a general. Hes spending a lot of time here, i wouldnt be surprised if that is part of the Campaign Strategy as well. Steve. All right. Jacob rascon outside trump tower he