After crucial saturday votes in this race for the white house, two candidates now in command. For the democrats, Hillary Clinton found her fire wall in nevada. The win out west, nearly six points over Bernie Sanders puts her back in control. She heads to South Carolina and super tuesday with big leads in the biggest states. And for the republicans, its all about donald trump. His doubledigit win over marco rubio and ted cruz in South Carolina, a possible delegate sweep, kills off the campaign of jeb bush. Puts him in a powerful position. No republican who has won both New Hampshire and South Carolina has ever lost the nomination. The big question for so many in the gop today, a question unimaginable one year ago. Can donald trump be stopped . He joins us live in a moment. First, jon karl brings us the results of the biggest day yet in this campaign. Reporter good morning, george. This is a remarkable moment in american politics. What once seemed utterly impossible has now moved one step closer to reality. Hillary clinton could be facing fall for the presidency of the United States. With his big win in South Carolina, donald trump took command. This is nothing easy about running for president. I can tell you. Its tough. Its nasty. Its mean. Its vicious. Its beautiful. [ laughter ] when you win, its beautiful. Reporter trumps backtoback victories in South Carolina and New Hampshire bode well for his chances on super tuesday. 11 states voting on march 1st. Lets put this thing away. And lets make America Great again. Reporter while trump celebrated, marco rubio narrowly edged out ted cruz for second place. Both seemed to declare victory. Ready to take on trump. After tonight, this has become a threeperson race. And we will win the nomination. We are the only campaign that has beaten and can beat donald trump. On a South Carolina comeback, jeb bushs distant fourth place finish ended his white house bid. The people of iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken. And i really respect their decision. So tonight, im suspending my campaign. Reporter the field wont narrow much. John kasich and ben carson are both staying in. Meanwhile in nevada, Hillary Clinton was finally able to slow the momentum of Bernie Sanders. Some may have doubted us. But we never doubted each other. Reporter while conceding a defeat, sanders touted how quickly his campaign has closed the gap. We have come a very long way in nine months. Its clear to me, and i think most observers, that the wind is at our backs. We have the momentum. [ cheers and applause ] reporter back in South Carolina, donald trump showed remarkable strength across the board. Even winning evangelicals over and so far, trump has won 44 of the states 50 delegates. The remaining six could still go his way. And the map, and the math, get even better for him as the race goes national. By march 15th, half of the delegates will have been awarded. Among the states voting on march 1st is ted cruzs home state of texas. If cruz is to have a prayer of winning the nomination, he has to win there. Two weeks later, its marco rubios home state of florida. If rubio is to have any chance at all, he absolutely must win that winnertakeall florida primary. No question about that. Thank you, jon. Lets bring it to matt dowd. Our political analyst. Youve been bullish on Donald Trumps chances for some time. What are the odds he gets the nomination . This summer, he had 16 opponents. He had the best odds. Now he has basically three opponents left. His odds have only improved. The problem for the other candidates is that donald trump has a clear path. A clearer path to the nomination while the other candidates dont. In that scenario, donald trump is the odds on. Theyve been willing to take each other on more willing than to take on donald trump. What has to happen . I think two things have to happen. The first, somebody else has to catch fire much better than in the past. Not like iowa or New Hampshire. Somebody has to catch fire. The other thing is donald trump is playing the version of political jenga. Hes been taking blocks out, taking plox out. And everybody thinks its going to fall. At some point, if he takes out too many blocks, hes going to fall. But both of those things have to happen. Thank you, matt dowd. Lets go to donald trump. Thank you for joining us this morning. Congratulations on your victory. You think you have the nomination in hand . No. No, not at all. I mean, look. Im dealing with very talented people. Very smart people. Great politicians. And ben carson still in, i understand. Hes a terrific guy and talented guy. So, you know, im dealing with smart people, talented people. I never take it for granted. You said last night, we go who is your toughest competition right now . Marco rubio or ted cruz . I think theyre both tough. I think theyre all tough. I mean, everybody in this is tough. Theyre all very accomplished people. I would say this. I was hit very, very hard yesterday by ted because he did two robocalls. One on the confederate flag, which was, you know, very tough and unfair. And one on i guess gay marriage. And they were one came on at 9 00 in the morning. In election day, this is something i didnt anticipate. One came on about 12 00 in the afternoon. During the election. I said to myself, wow this is a tough business. These people are worse than manhattan real estate developers. This is rough stuff, politics. I thought maybe they would have a bigger effect than they did. I didnt know i would win by that much. And we won by a lot. We won every congressional district. Got every single delegate. Stuff. They really hit me hard with negative ads. Youre hitting them hard, too. You actually sent out a retweet suggesting Marco Rubio Might be ineligible to be president as well. Both cruz and roub yo are ineligibility to be potus. Do you really believe that . I think the lawyers have to determine that. It was a retweet. Not so much with marco. Im not that familiar with marcos circumstances. But then why retweet it . I think because im not sure. Let people make their own determination. I know ted is being now i think ted is being sued by somebody, having nothing to do with me, by the way. Is being sued by somebody. Maybe its in new york. Having to do with eligibility. So hes going to have to work that out. Youre not sure that marco rubio is eligible to run for president . Youre really not sure . I dont know. I have never looked at it. I have never look at it. Somebody said hes not. I retweeted it. I have 14 Million People between twitter, facebook, instagram. I retweet things. Its very interesting. Maybe thats why i have 14 Million People. And other have 200 people. I dont know. Do you think as you get on the path for the nomination, youre the clear frontrunner right now . Youre in command of the race, youre going to have to be more careful about the kind of things you say and tweet . I didnt know i was going to win by so much yesterday. You didnt either. Nobody thought i would win by that much. That was bigger than the polls. The polls said three or four points. And i won by more than ten points. And that was a lot. They said i would get some of the congressional districts. But certainly not all of them. And i got all of them. I had no idea i would win by that much. Certainly after the robocalls i never thought so. Think the republican establishment might close ranks right now and really try to come down hard on you and block you from this nomination . And if they do, is it still possible you would run as an independent in the general election . I dont think that is much of a possibility. I dont think im being treated fairly by the rnc. Every time i walk into a debate. Im not getting money from the special interests, the big drug companies. Everybody else is. Everybody on both sides. But everybody else is. I walk in and they have all special interests, lobbyists, donors. Sitting in the room. I dont in any donors. I dont have any special interests. I dont have any lobbyists. I walk in, its dead silence except for my wife and kids. These guys walk in, they Say Something that is stupid or not even good and they get Standing Ovations every time they open their mouth. Its very unfair in terms of the debates, i think. I think i had my best debate last time. Some people dont. Some people think the new york values debate was better. But i thought i had my best debate. I was being hit from all sides. Its very unfair when a room is so stacked. So if you win, sit a hostile takeover of the gop . No. Not at all. I was a member of the establishment of the gop. I say proudly. I gave 350,000 to the association. Before the june 15th before i ran. And i gave tremendous amounts of money to people in the Republican Party. I gave to everybody. I was very establishment. And then once i ran, they said, wait a minute . Thats not supposed to happen. They like to control the people, the senators, the congressmen. Awards or pharmaceutical awards, they make sure they get it. The country. As a selffunder, im the only one. And as a selffunder, im going to do whats right. Its certainly different. That will be good for the party. Because were going to win the election. Two polls came out recently where i beat Hillary Clinton and i beat Bernie Sanders. I dont think Bernie Sanders will be the problem. I think hillary will be the one im competing against. Unless she has legal problems, which will be determined. You told me months ago you would release your tax returns. The wall street journal editorial page came out yesterday and said mr. Trump back at least a decade before super tuesday on march 1st so Republican Voters can know what theyre voting for. If his records are as very beautiful as he says, he should be eager to release them for public scrutiny. Will you release them by super tuesday . No, i wont. Were working on them. Theyre massive. Let me tell you about the wall street journal. I have no respect for them. I dont think thai they know what theyre doing. Theyve taken me on so much. Its so ridiculous. Every day, editorials. Bad editorials. They had a poll come out. Which was so wrong. I said they should fire the pollster and they should fire the editorial staff. I think these are people that dont know what theyre doing. I dont want to read it much anymore. If you look at their polls, one day and two day, two polls before the election. They turned out to be so wrong. That they should honestly, they should fire their pollster. So i dont care what the wall what they say doesnt in fact, if anything, i would do the opposite. That will turn out to be more correct. So no release before youre a nominee . At some point. Were going to talk about it. At some point. Well release. Why is there such a rush . I released my financial statements. Which are much more important. And everybody was amazed at how big and how great the company is. Much bigger than they thought. Its a great company. Very little debt. Tremendous cash flow. Some of the best assets in the world. I say that only because thats the kind of thinking the United States needs now. Because our country is in financial trouble and military trouble. Were in every kind of trouble you can have. Our country is a mess. Were going to strengthen the border. Do all of the things you and i have been talking about for a long time now, george. It will be great. Mr. Trump, thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you very much. And were joined now by the number two finisher in South Carolina. Senator marco rubio. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. We heard donald trump say your response . Well, this is look this is a pattern. This is a game he plays. He says something that is edgy and outrageous. The media flocks and covers it. And then no one else can get coverage on anything else. That worked when there were 15 people running for president. That doesnt work anymore. Im going to spend zero time on his thoughts on eligibility. Ill spend all my time talking about what this campaign should be about. This country faces a very significant and important choice in 2016. And it needs to be made in a serious way. The consequences are extraordinary if we get this election wrong. Republicans need to nominate someone who is going to unify the party, grow the party, and win this election. Thats why im asking people to vote for me. To on my website, marcorubio. Com and sign up to support the effort. One note that mitt romney may be set to endorse you . Is that true . Have you spoken to him . Do you expect it . I have spoken to him. If he were, we would not be announcing it on the huffington post. But hes not scheduled to endorse me. I would love to have his endorsement. Theres nothing forthcoming today or in the days to come, as far as i know. His top strategist, stuart stevens, is in the New York Times this morning taking a shot at your campaign. Hes saying its crazy that nobody else is trying to win but trump. Rubio is not going after the person who is winning. Ive never seen a campaign that seems as satisfied to not go after the leader. Is it time to take on mr. Trump directly . This is not an election like others up to this point. As i said, you know, seven, eight people dividing up 70 of the vote. So we had a very unusual circumstance. I had one superpac that spent 40 million going after me. You can only take on so many people at one time. This is not about going after donald trump. It isnt. People want to obsess about that. Best capable of uniting the Republican Party he is the frontrunner. Its about who is the most capable hes the frontrunner when you have seven people running. 70 of republicans nationally have basically said, were not voting for donald trump. When that vote is being divided up between several people, of course hes the frontrunner. Once the number narrows, well be closer. We have to nominate someone that can take our message to new people, and that can win. Someone that is going win in november. We cannot lose this election. I give our party the chance to nominate someone as conservative as anyone in the race. I am a conservative that can unite us. That can grow this party. And that can ultimately win in november. Thats the argument were going to be making. If there are differences between me and donald trump on policy, as im sure there are, well talk about those. What are the differences plain and simple. Bottom line, is he qualified, in your view, to be commander in chief . Can you support him if hes the nominee . The republican nominee because what the democrats are offering is so horrific. I will say this. I dont believe hes exhibited an understanding of Foreign Policy, which is the most important job of the commander in chief. To say im going to surround myself with smart people, thats not enough. Surrounding yourself with smart people alone is not enough. You, yourself, have to make judgments. You have to understand these things. And heres the deal. On the day he becomes president , or i become president , whoever becomes president , Vladimir Putin is not going to have a sixmonth honeymoon period. The world is not going to wait until you catch up before they start teing you. You better understand these from day one. Our next president has to be someone to bring this country together. Some level of unity. Not unanimity. But unity. Thats the kind of president ill be. Ill be a president for all americans. Even those who do not agree with me. I think that is very important given what we have faced in the divisive barack obama has been. Three big contests so far. Third, favorite, and now second in South Carolina. The big question for you is, where do you win . Well, when we get to the winnertakeall states we have to start winning. They award all the delegates to one person. If you look at what were doing now. Were going to be doing national campaign. Im in tennessee today. Then arkansas. We finish in nevada. Tomorrow more of the same. Were competing everywhere. The way this process works for people that are watching, these states are awarding delegates proportionately. Come march 15th, if you win a state, you get all of their delegates. Thats when its really going to start to matter. Well be in real good shape for that. And florida is must win . I think that is true for everyone in the race. Its always been true. We feel real good about florida. Especially now that the race is narrowed. I have a lot of admiration and respect for governor bush. Supporters. Now that hes suspended his campaign, i think that boosts us not just in florida, but ohio. And other key places. Senator rubio, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you. And were joined now by the man who came in third in South Carolina. Senator ted cruz joins us. Thank you for joining us this morning. You said you defied expectations last night. How is a third place finish defying expectations . Well, listen. We have been through the first three primary states. We won iowa with a big margin. Came in third in New Hampshire. In a state where they said a conservative could not do well in a moderate new england state. Last night, we effectively tied for second. That combination, what that has resulted in, there is now only one strong conservative remaining in this race that can win. Our game plan from day one was do well in the first four states. And consolidate conservatives to go forward into super tuesday. I think were positioned ideally your base. Trump won them over. How do you explain that . Doesnt it bode ill for you on super tuesday . Well, listen. Donald trump has proven to be a formidable candidate. One of the things the first three states have shown is there is only one campaign that has beaten or can beat donald