Trump from hitting the magic number and to throw this summers Republican Convention wide open, but does donald trump have a secret weapon . Im confident. We have several ways through june 7th to go over 1,237. And that is also on our agenda this morning, its the most important number of the day, its a number that hasnt really gotten much attention but were going to tell you what it is and why it could be the key to trump actually locking up the republican nomination without a convention fight. Thats still to come. And rounding out our agenda, another weekend, another Bernie Sanders win. Let me give you a news bulletin, we just won wyoming. That is seven out of the last eight now for Bernie Sanders. After that wyoming victory on saturday sanders says he has the momentum now to grab the nomination from Hillary Clinton, but new numbers show he is still a big underdog in the next big test right here in new york, this as a new Campaign Controversy breaks out over a law that the last president clinton signed two decades ago. We will dive into that. We will dive into a whole lot more, but we begin this hour with trumps lack of organization. The problem, the headache it is causing his campaign right now. Ted cruz as we just said going 34 for 34 so far in the hunt for delegates in colorado. Its a result that has left trump crying foul and signs elsewhere in the country now pointing to cruz picking off delegates in small but potentially crucial bunches. Trumps Convention ManagerPaul Manafort on nbcs meet the press accused cruz of calling what he called gestapo tactics. I acknowledge that we werent playing in colorado and they did, i acknowledge that theyve taken a pro etch to some of the county conventions where they have taken a scorched earth party and dont care about the party. If they dont get what they want they blow it up. Thats not going to work. Trump reacting on twitter last night, quote, the people of colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phoney politicians. Biggest story in politics, this will not be allowed. Hallie jackson covering the Cruz Campaign, shes here with me in new york city, jacob rascon is in albany in new york ahead of a trump rally today. So, hallie, lets start with you. Weve got the stop trump effort, the ted cruz effort, theyve merged for the moment at least. Colorado is a big thing for them. They take all the delegates, trump is crying foul, where else can they pull this off the rest of the way . Pennsylvania next, theyre also looking at indiana, a campaign aid telling me they are working to pull in more organization there and to make sure that theyre set up in that state and the other interesting part is whats happening in california. That is where senator cruz is today, out campaigning, holding a couple rallies in the southern part of the state. I am told that we will see later today several dozen endorsements rolled out from elected officials in the Republican Party in california, which is a way for cruz to be able to point to that slate and say not technically a slate of delegates but a slate of supporters and say look at the momentum i have, look at the people who are coming behind me who have been elected in california and can come out and act on my behalf. There was a gathering of some donors in las vegas and mixed signals from them about whether theyre going to rally around ted cruz to stop trump or if theyre still waiting, sitting on the sidelines. This could play out in a number of different ways. What were seeing from trump when he makes this argument that the system is corrupt, right, when Paul Manafort goes on meet the press and tells chuck that the Ted Cruz Team is using gestapo tactics which the Cruz Campaign has pushed back on, all that does is alienate the republicans who have built that em system. I got off the phone with a top adviser who said by insulting the system hes insulting the people who built it including those delegates who will be in cleveland if there is a contested convention. Lets bring in jacob rascon, he is up in albany. Jacob, we have a trump rally, i see theres a trump car behind you right now, thats an interesting piece of interesting souvenir there. But we also have donald trump, he was not on the sunday shows but he is speaking out this morni morning. Reporter yeah, he is, and hes going back to his argument about how in his words the system is corrupt. He has been outmaneuvered and even Paul Manafort is admitting that and talking about that on meet the press, but there is no doubt that donald trump is way ahead when were talking about the primary in new york and these east coast states and his play is to take 1,237 before the convention, probably going all the way down to california where ted cruz is today. But youre hearing pal manafort talking about hiring new people, that was part of the release from donald trump that came out last week, hiring seasoned operatives, they plan they say to steal their own delegates in the course of the next couple of weeks. They know they were out maneuvered again but watch closely this argument, in fact, even them mentioning Bernie Sanders, he has done that now three times in the past couple of days and even on fox and friends this morning, take a listen. What kind of a system is this . Im an out sierd and i came into the system and im winning the votes by millions of votes, but the system is rigged. Its crooked. When you look even at bernie, im not a fan of bernie, but every time i turn on your show bernie wins, bernie wins and yet bernie is not winning. So thats his argument. Over and over again. And well see if people will connect with that argument or not. It seems to go along with his entire message that he is this outsider going up against the establishment in this corrupt system. Its just an extension of what he has always argued for ten months. We will see if it works for him. It may. Steve. Jacob rascon in albany and Hallie Jackson back in the studio. If ted cruz the strategy obviously to win the nomination is to do what he did in colorado, if he can do it elsewhere, pick off delegates iowa, south carolina. Technically they could do that, but this argument that trump is hiring back with, this idea this is undemocratic, if trump comes in there with the most votes, the most delegates, the most states won, is the Cruz Campaign thinking at all about how that looks if thats how they win it. And the messaging on that because that is something that the Cruz Campaign is going to have to do is explain what is a complicated delegate system, they dont have the advantage of your big board to be able to break it down for people. When you ask them about the messaging the campaign will say and has to see me think of it kind of like a football game. Its this idea just because you made it to the red zone doesnt mean they should give you the touchdown. You have to make it over the goal line. The rules are the rules. Will that be an effective argument in a Campaign Season where the insurgent has captured so much of the momentum. That may be a tough sell. The strategy from the Cruz Campaign is to get out and drill down into delegates and get into the nittygritty, make sure they know every delegate, what they like and dont like and lock up those people. How will that resonate with voters, though. Its all theyve got right now when youre a couple hundred delegates behind. We will bring in now ben ginsburg, he was the rules maker of the 2012 Republican Convention, now he is an msnbc political analyst, also a partner at the jones day law firm. Thanks for taking a few minutes. Let me ask you about the question were talking about right here. Obviously ted cruz the stop trump forces they have the right under the rules of these state republican parties to do what they did in colorado and in other states to try to pick off as many delegates as they can, but what about that bigger question of how that looks, that argument that it opens up for donald trump to say, hey, this is undemocratic . Well, everyone gets a chance to make that argument. The more we discuss having to get to 1,237 to win the nomination, something echoed by Paul Manafort yesterday on meet the press, then that becomes the goal and that will be the focus of things as we get closer to cleveland. One thing thats also worth noting is that when youre in cleveland either campaign will be able to change the rules if they have support in the hall. A pretty democratic concept. But donald trump can maneuver those rules in cleveland to say you only need a plurality of votes to win. If he can get that vote and hes short of 1,237 hes going to win. If ted cruz says you need a majority of delegates to win and thats what the rules committee and the delegates choose, then thats where the convention will play out. Here is where it gets really dicey, this could get a little complicated, im going to try to phrase this the right way. Lets say theres this scenario where donald trump wins in these primaries and caucuses more than 1,237, he gets more than 1,237 pledged delegates, but when these states actually meet up to choose their delegation some of these delegates who are pledged to trump under the current rules dont actually support trump, they go to the convention under the current rules theyre supposed to vote for trump. There there is a majority of delegates who dont really want donald trump is there a scenario where they would change the rules even if he won more than 1,237 pledged delegates in the primary . Does that make any sense . It does make sense. The reality is that a convention can do whatever it wants. So that they could change that dynamic. For example, while you can make the rule of plurality winner, majority winner you can make the rule a super majority winner. So that would be a rules committee fight to say that in order to win the majority you need a super majority, 60 , 67 . There is some history back in the 1800s for that and the convention. That would be one way to look at it. That would be extraordinary. My guess is that if a candidate comes in the convention with 1,237 that that, in fact, will be the nominee of the party. Also we have this interview Paul Manafort gave to chuck todd yesterday, i want to play a little bit more. Hes talking about a strategy for his own campaign for chasing down these delegates and what is and isnt appropriate on that front. I guess what is fair game in getting a delegate . Is paying for their convention cost . Is it Golf Club Memberships . Whats fair and unfair in this . Whats ethical, whats unethical . Theres the law and ethics and getting the votes. Im not going to get into what tax tick are used, i think the best way to get delegates is to have donald trump expose the delegates. An interesting quote there, he said theres law and the ethics and getting votes. Im imagining a scenario we get to the end of the primary process could the Trump Campaign be inviting these unbound delegates to go to come down to maralago . The 40 days of wooing will be quite wonderful for any unbound delegates. The gerald ford 1976 brought people on air force one, had invitations to state dinners at the white house as james baker said over the weekend to delegates. As long as it is paid for with federally legal money, which can include Donald Trumps personal money, then i think you can take them dn to florida and give them rides on the plane. And also we were talking about this with Hallie Jackson a minute ago, too. Another bit of news in the republican side over the weekend a gathering in las vegas, the question here sheldon addel son is the biggest name but a number of donors and will they line up with ted cruz and try to stop donald trump. Still, though, here we are getting well into april still mixed signals from a lot in the partys donor class about exactly what they want to have happen here. With the lack of sort of unity here to stop trump that does seem to have an advantage for trump at this late date. No . I would agree with that. I think the a. M. By lens coming out of the Republican Jewish Committee meeting is the same for the rest of the people. People in the rgc care deeply about politics and who the president is. I think that was a transitory situation and my guess is they get more involved the closer they get to the convention, its just how they get involved thats the issue. All right. Ben ginsburg, thanks for the time this morning. I appreciate it. Coming up, while colorado looks to be ted cruzs secret weapon our most important number of the day is going to look at what may be Donald Trumps secret weapon. That number and why its so important coming up in just a few minutes. But first the race for the democratic nomination as Bernie Sanders turns up the heat on Hillary Clinton after another win out west this weekend. Sanders pushing hard to gain ground and pull off a big upset in clintons home state. What would it take for sanders to pull it out in new york . We will talk to someone who knows this States Democratic Party better than anyone. The one and only reverend al sharpton. He made an appearance on snl this weekend playing a political analyst against the other al sharpton. Take a look. The black vote is crucial in this election and youve created an al gore rhythm to show where our community is leaning. Thats right. My algorithm is called the black Approval Rating scale. Each candidate gets a number between one and ten based on their standing in the black community. And how about donald trump. Come on, now. Come on, now. Come on now. Come on now. Right now donald trump has a black Approval Rating of negative 1,048. Dve taken a left at the river. 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E trade is all about seizing opportunity. So im going to take this opportunity to go off script. So if i wanna go to jersey and check out shotsy tuccerellis portfolio, whats it to you . Or im a scottish mason whose assets are made of stone like me heart. Papa youre no son of mine or perhaps its time to seize the day. Dont just see opportunity, seize it applause do you have the courage to stay up all night . Because this is our time the greatest tv week of our lives ladies and gentlemen, in the business of bingewatching, sleep is for the week so i want you ready to order takeout, every single night now are you with me . To awesomeness to watchathon big is back. Xfinity watchathon week starts april 18. The greatest collection of shows free with xfinity on demand. Donald trump says we can solve americas problems by turning against each other. Its wrong and it goes against everything new york and america stand for. With so much at stake shes the one tough enough to stop trump. Values forged in new york, brooklyn born, native son, who knows what we know, were all in this together. Brand new ads there from the clinton and Sanders Campaign now running here in new york ahead of next weeks pivotal new york state democratic primary, Bernie Sanders touting his brooklyn roots, Hillary Clinton taking aim at donald trump and trying to position herself as the strongest candidate to take on the republican front runner. We also have new polling to share with you, this is a fox news poll that shows clinton opening up a 16 point lead in new york over Bernie Sanders, a 16 point lead with eight days to go until the primary. Now, this comes with sanders coming off another big weekend, another big win, this time it was out in wyoming, the caucuses there. His seventh victory out of the last eight state contests. What does that do to the all important question of delegates on the democratic side. Gets confusing on the democratic side you have the super delegates and pledged delegates. These are the ones that are given out in primaries and caucuses. The Sanders Campaign is saying, look, if we can catch her in this category these super delegates will have no choice but to flip their allegiance and go to Bernie Sanders. We are not sure if thats what will happen but lets take that argument right now and see the pledged delegate count right now you see Hillary Clinton has a lead of 246 over Bernie Sanders. This is the bad news for Bernie Sanders out of the weekend because they had 14 delegates up for grabs in wyoming, sanders won the state, but when it came to delegates Hillary Clinton got 7 and Bernie Sanders got 7. It was a tie. So the lead stays at 246. One thing to make