17th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody, welcome on a wednesday morning. We have willie in for matt. A lot to talk about today. Well talk to trump tth in a few minute. Hes taking fire in this campaign a sitting president. And his rivals. Lots to talk about in politics, fresh polls as well. Top story, the major showdown between the federal government and applpl this after apple declined to give access to encrypted consent on San Bernardino shooter syed farooks iphone. Now, a federal judge has ruled the tech giant must help the fbi. Fbi recover that potentially dangerous data. Federal officialsls say the what the suspects were doing during kushl moments at the time of the shooting. Despite having the phone for months, they say they need the key to the phone in order to make progress. Reporter a federal judge tuesday ordered tech giant apple to help the fbi unlock the iphone of San Bernardino mass shooter syed faroro. The judge ruled apple must provide reasonable Technical Assistance to authorities in accessing the data on farooks iphone. Authorities are still trying to fill in the 18 missing minutes of the killers actions after the shooting. That 18 minutes is critical. Reporter the fbi wants to know if anything on the phone can fill in that gap and if there are any other clues to o e plot that left 14 people dead and 22 wounded. Just last week fbi director james comey told the senate panel getting into farooks phone is key. We still have one of the killers phones weve not been able to open, and its been over two months now. Were still working on it. Tim cook said its cooperating the fbi but well fight the order. Saying, quote, the United States government has demanded that apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose the order which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand. Cook has been an adamant opponent of opening phones to the government, telling 60 minutes it would make us all vulnerable. On your smartphone today o your iphone, theres likelyy health information. Theres financial information. And you should have the ability to protect it. And the only way we know how to do that is to encrypt it. Why is that . Its because if theres a way to get in, then somebody will find a way in. So, i want to be clear about this. What the government is actuauay worrrrd about is this builtin Security Software that could auto delete all the data on the phone when they try to crack it. Like when you get locked out, if you put in the incorrect about it like this. If you compare the iphone to your house, the feds arent asking apple to unlock the door. Just to turn off the security alarm. Savannah and willie . A lot of complicated questions here. Steve patterson, thank you. Lets turn to ari. There are technical questions, legal questions. Whereehe federal governmenen gets a aarrant and says, turn over this data or turn over this phone. The judge is basically telling apple, come up with a way to unlock this information. To get this data. This is huge story this morning. As you say, what the judge is asking for is not only to get the material, which apple says it doesnt have because its so well encryptete but, rather,o help the feds get in and decrypt or depassword the whole thing to get in. Develop the expertise. Yeah. Theyre asking for h hp for conduct, not just content. What apple ceo tim cook said, if we do this once, we put at risk the securityof all our customers. Is that true, if you go after one isolated phone, everybody else is at risk . Its true to the extent this becomes the method, the socalled back door. So, what apple has always said is, look, were not holding back anything we have. Wewe built a really good security products, which people love for a wide variety of reasons. One of them is, they know their stuff is safe and secure and private. We dont want to get into the business of creating a key anyoyo can use, a hacker, criminal, terrorist. Ive talked to Law Enforcement authorities about this for years, its been a priority, to the top of the fbi. This morning were seeing the highest escalation of it because now you have a court order in a case no one denies is important, the San Bernardino terrorist, and apple saying, even if this case, theyre not backing down. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here. They can figig the ruling, it sounds like apple is. They say theyre going to fight this all the way. This could well to the high courts. House as president ial candidates fight for votes in South Carolina ahead of saturdays primary. Well hear from the frontrunner donald trump, but we begin with nbc National Correspondent peter alexander. Reporter good morning to you from beaufort, South Carolina. Donald trump has proven himself immune from attacks but this morning president obama is singling out the party frontrunner saying he believes the American People are sensible and making the point that being president is a serious job. He has done such a lousy job as president. Reporter donald trump pouncing on president obama in the frontrunners now famous fashion. Youre lucky i didnt run last time when romney ran because you would be a oneterm president. Reporter dismissing the former apprente hosts chances. I continue to belieie mr. Trtrp will not be president. A reality show. Its not promotion. Its not marketing. Its hard. Reporter here in South Carolina, the campaigns devolved into a bible belt brawl to prove whos most conservative. Ted holds up the bible and then he lies about so many things. Reporter trump fighting back after ted cruz released a video warning voters, trump is playing games with the issue of abortion. A candidate that cant be trusted to protect the right to life,ant be trusted to protect any of our other godgiven rights either. Reporter jeb bush, now polling in fourth s relying on a third place finish ahead of rubio and john kasich to propel him forward. The obituaries have been written about me once a week. Were in it for the long haul. Reporter in our exclusive ininrview, bush, who just replaced his glasses with contacts for the first time, believes americans need to take a closer look at trumps hes got a failed business record. Four bankruptcies. He talks abobo how great he is in business when, in fact, he ripped off shareholders. Reporter teeing off on trumps debate tactics, comparing him to a barking dog. Its not what he says, its just that he says it louder a a louder and you have to keep talking through it. Its not a skill session i ever envisioned to be necessary to aspire to be president of the United States, but ie gotten better at it. Reporter he former Florida Governor adding new ammunition to the trail, tweeting a picture of a handgun engraved with his name captioned america. That shot spawning around momoing parodies online. E. South carolina has a strong history of getting it right, correctly picking the future republican nominee all but once since 1980. This morning donald trump you see in the latest poll now up 38 points, trailing behind with ted cruz at 22, marco rubio in third. What was notable in that pole is points of support from before last weekends debate to after it. Savannah . Peter alexander, thank you. Lets turn now to republican president ial candidate donald trump is on the phone this morning. Good morning. Good to talk to you. Good morning. I dont know if its a distinction, but have you the sitting president , a democrat, and former republican bush both kind of going after you this weekend. Let me reiterate president obama says. Hes says this is not a talk show, reality, not marketing and pandering, getting yourself on the news, this is serious. Do you think this is a hurdle for you, a liability, the fact you were a reality show host . Do you think have you to prove youre truly serious . I mean, unlike jeb bush, whos really look at just what this guy its a sad thing how hes done, but i dont like what he said. I built an incredible business. Dollars. I won virtually every battle ive been in in business. You know, the reality show, that was one thing i did, which became one of asou know because it was on nbc, became one of the most successful shows on television. Do you think it undercuts your credibility . And i could have continued doing it. Nbc was begging me to continue to do it, but this is something much more important to me. Frankly, you know, my record in business is phenomenal. I built a great company. Ive had tremendous success in what im doing right now, we have the biggest crowds, bigger than Bernie Sanders, by the way. He has second. But bigger than Bernie Sanders. We have a message. The message is basically that we have the worst president in the history of the United States. Hes done a terrible job and we have a mess in our country. Between 19 trillion in debt and all of the other problems. We cant beat isis. We have a border thats like swiss cheese, as ive said before. You know, were a terribly run country and we have a president that doesnt know what hes doing. So, he can make the statement and, of course, you know, im obviously his Worst Nightmare if but h hcan make t t statement, but people are tired and theyre angry and fed up. Donald, its willie, good morning. Good morning. As i watched you in that debate saturday night, and a lot of people who watched you, f ft at sometimes they were watching a democratic debate because of some of the positions you took on criticizing george bush on iraq war, even praise for planned parenthood. There have been conservatives suspicious of you all along that you are progressive in many ways and held those positions in the past. Did you give them more reason to be suspicious with what you said on saturday . No, i think i did very well. Every poll s sd i won the debate, if you know. If you look at grudge and time magazine, they did polls and said i won the debate. Im prolife. I have a great record of being a conservative, but im also a common sense conservative, willie, as we discussed before. We have to do things with common sense. Certainly, im the most conservative person there is on the border and on security, on the military o taking care of care of horribly. Im the most conservative person there is. Were going to end obamacare, which is a disaster, by the way. Total and complete disaster. Were going to replace it with something much better and far less expensive. Common core is an example. Education through washington is horrible. Were going to local education. I mean, i think i said most of these things, and, frankly, most people said i won the debate. Donald, thats fair enough but your positions on george w. Obama administrationonou would agree, are minorityy positions inside the Republican Party . Well, im look, we should not have gone into the you know, iraq. He was the president. He took us into iraq. When you look at the migration, all the problems in the middle east, it all started by going into iraq. Im honest. Whether its republican or not republican. I say common sense, but im honest. We made a horrible decision when we went into iraq. I mean, its as simple as that. Mr. Trump, can i ask you one question about ted cruz. Youve been saying for ahile now that you actually have a eligible under the constitution to run for president because of his birth in canada. You talk about a lawsuit. I guess my question to you, is an old expression, why not put your money where your mouthth is . If you thinkheres an issss there, why not go ahead and sue if you think this is an important issue that needs to be clarified. Well, i may do that. He was born in canada. He lived there for three or four years. He was there for a long time. Until 15 months ago he was a citizen of canada. But you say you wouldnt sue if he apologizes for attack ads. I say i may very well do it. I may do him a big favor. Frankly, democrats will sue on that issue. Many lawyers say you have to be born on our soil. Have you had your lawyers research it, draw up the paperwork and take those steps forward . Were going to take a look at it. Were looking at it. Ted cruz plays with the truth. He holds up the bible and then he lies. Hes lied about a lot of things. Hes lied aboute having to do im the strongest person on the stage on the second amendment. He said donald trump doesnt like the second amendment. Im the strongest person on the stage on many things. He says donald trump is not prolife. Now, he did the same thing with ben carson. He said, ben carson is out of the race in iowa he said, ben carson is out of the race. Hes left the race. Vote for ted cruz. Had he not done that, i probably would have won, number one. More importantly, ben carson was treated horribly by what this guy did. Then after the election ended, he called up ben carson to apologize. What good does that do . I dont think ben carson accepted the apology, and he shouldnt. Ted cruz is a very dishonene guy. Tom colburn, senator, said ted cruz is one of the most dishonest men hes seen or dealt with, and yet he talks about evangelicals. Thats why im leading the evangelical vote. They see hes a very dhonest person. Lot to say. We appreciate your time. Unfortunately, were out of time. We appreciate you being here. Thank you, donald. By the way, mr. Trump will hold a town hall in charleston. You can watch it on msnbc at 8 00 p. M. On the democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders targeting minority voters critical in nevada and South Carolina. Nbc News White House correspondent Kristin Welker in chicago, where secretary clinton ll host a rally latetetoday. Gogo morning. Reporter willie, good morning to you. Thats right, secretary clinton will hold a get out the vote rally on the south side of chicago later today after delivering a major address on race tuesday. She and senator sanders locked in a fierce fight for africanamerican support. With an eye on south carona, secretary clinton went to hararm tuesday, making her strongest pitch yet to africanamerican voters. These are not only problems of economic inequality, these are problems of racia reporter despite a nagging cough too much to say. Reporter clinton energized the crow proposing new funds for Public Education and taking a not so subtle swipe at senator sanders, suggesting hes late to the conversation. You cant just show up at election time and say the right things and think thats enough. Reporter and, again, casting him as a a singleissue candidate. We arent a singleissue country. We face a complex set of economic, social and political challenges. Reporter at a rally in atlanta, that drew close to 5,000, sanders didnt engage clinton. Instead, sticking to his script. Proposing changes to the speaking out about the deaths off unarmed black men. We are gogog to end the horrors that we have seen of unarmed africanamericans being shot and killed by police officers. Reporter a new poll shows clinton with a convincing lead in South Carolina. Fueled in large part by minority support. Sanders has acknowledged d s working to broaden his appeal. And earlier tuesday, campaigned with erica garner, whose father died after a new York City Police officer put him in a chokehold. And sanders brushed aside bill clintons recent xhenlts, suggesting his supporters are similar to tea partyers. Thats going on now in our party. I think some of the things that president clinton has been saying are unfortunate. We should not be making silly remarks. Reporter now, a new poll just out this morning shows there is a virtual dead heat in nevada. Secretary clinton gets 48 , senator sanders gets 47 . Its difficult to get accurate polling in nevada, but political analysts are in broad agreement, it is a close race there withh just thrhr days before the caucuses. Willie, savannah. Things tightening up, thanks. Now to the heated debate over replacing Supreme Court president obama now waging into the Republican Opposition against him, naming scalias successor. Andrea mitchell with the latest on that. Good morning. Good morning. President obama is forcefully rejecting region calls to let the next president nominate Justice Scalias replacement, even as a handful of republican senators are breaking with their leaderer and saying the obama nominee should at least get a fair hearing. The constitution is pretty clear about what is supposed to happen now. Reporter in california tuesday, president obama arguing he will nominate someone for the high court. Despite calls by Republican Leaders that the pick be left to his successor. Historically, this has not been viewed as a question. Theres no unwritten law that says that it can only be done on off years. Thats not in the cocotitutional text. Reporter and even some appear to be a rush to the political barricade so soon after Justice Scalias death. This was amisstep, a political misstep. First off, that is not the first thing you say within hours of the passing of someone like justice scalia. Reporter the president vowed to pick someone qualified, but with battle lines drawn, will that nominee even get a hearing . The republican senator in charge of any confirmation hearing, chuck grassley, appeared to open the door, telling iowa radio i would wait until the nominee is made before i would make any decisions. Reporter but later senator grassley seemed to backtrack, telling nbc news he is not open to a confirmation. This week, remembrances for justice scalia. His seat draped with a black friday. Friday the jususces will return, lying in repose in the great hall with the funeral set for meanwhile with conspiracy theories taking off over scalias sudden death, owners of the texas ranch where he died are completely ruling out foul play. Saying the pillow was above his head. The scalia vacancy is already a big issue with the candidates, with each side seeing an historic opportunity, depending on who is going to gain the majority in those closely decided 54 cisions. Andrea mitchell,hank you so much. Me