As bill clinton comes to his wifes defense. Hillarys opponent talked about how bad i have been. Were live with both races. And direct hit. A massive cyclone hitting the island of fiji today. The top winds hitting over 177 miles per hour. And girls with goals the u. S. Womens National Soccer team easily beating trinidad in tobago in the tournament. That means they have punched their ticket for rio. Today, saturday, february 20th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is today live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And welcome to today on im craig melvin. And im Sheinelle Jones alongside dylan dreyer. Erica has the day off. I spent the week crossing the state. We did columbia and lexington and low country in charleston. Few things clear. Few undecided votes left there. And people are sick of the campaign calls. And dylan and i were in las vegas. You cannot watch tv. I was gambling. You were watching television. I did tell her. You can chop it with a knife. You can feel it. Lets get to the top story. Two big votes in the race for president in the president ial primary. Polls in South Carolina are now open. Donald trump is expected to win easily there, but for the rest, theres a heated battle to finish in the top three. For democrats, it is nevada. Hillary clinton and Bernie Sanders are virtually in a dead heat there. That state caucuses later today. We have full coverage on both interview in the next hour with senator marco rubio. Lets start this morning with nbcs Hallie Jackson covering the race in South Carolina. Hallie, good morning. Reporter hey, craig. Good morning. We are heading into the final push for the first in the south primary where nearly every candidate has something to prove. This morning on this voting day, it is donald trump raising eyebrows with controversial comments. This morning as republicans blanket the state, the state of play looks like this. Donald trump on top, but raising eyebrows at a South Carolina rally last night. This time for telling a story about general John Pershing to kill a century ago. I dipped 50 bullets in pigs blood and they shot 49 of those people. The 50th person, he said you go back to your people and you tell reporter according to the rumor tracking web site snopes. Com, there is no evidence it ever happened. Trumps comments coming the same day over the remarks on iraq. I was against it. Reporter after highlighting his position on the iraq war, new interviews suggest something different. With howard stern before the war. Are you for invading iraq . I guess so. Reporter fox news confirming this interview took place after the start of the iraq war. Looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint standpoint. Reporter the Trump Campaign responded. Quote, mr. Trump did not say he supported the war. He commented on the execution of the invasion from a military standpoint one day after it began. Now with his comments on ted cruz. Cruz hitting back. Easy to say lets make you can even print that on a baseball cap. Reporter a super pac supporting cruz with robo calls about the confederate flag. Cruz campaigning with Phil Robertson. Imagine Phil Robertson as ambassador of the united nations. Reporter marco rubio joined by South Carolina governor nicki halley halleyilley haley. His Campaign Warning to watch for quote dirty tricks from cruz today. The two in a ferocious fight for second. Jeb bush not far behind. His mother by his side. Its amazing. 90 years old. Still going strong. Reporter in bush country, he is hoping South Carolina wont be his last stand. John kasich isnt even in South Carolina today. He is in new england looking ahead to the primaries there. Surprise folks in this state. It is still donald trump in the headlines and in the editorial pages this weekend. The wall street journal as trump to release the tax returns before super tuesday on march 1st. Thank you. And to the democrats in the virtual dead heat with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. State. What once looked to be an easy race for clinton is now a dog fight. We have Nbcs Kristen Welker with more. Reporter sheinelle, good morning. To put this in gambling terms, Hillary Clinton once had a straight flush here. Now the vermont senator will have a winning hand. These caucuses will have an effect for the rest of the country. It comes down to turn out. Hillary clinton and Bernie Sanders making closing arguments in nevada friday night. Were going to make history. Tomorrow were going to win here in nevada. We have a lot of work to do my friends. I think it is a privilege to do this work, but we have to do it together. Reporter with the race deadlocked, they spent the final few days chris crossing the state. Courting latinos and africanamericans. All critical to winning here. Guess what . Theres a caucus in nevada. So much at stake in the election. One of the more consequential decisions. Reporter and the campaign is heating up. Hillary clinton accusing sanders of not being a democrat. She loved the president. He loves her and all that stuff. We know what that is all about. That is trying to win support with the africanamerican community. Reporter former president bill clinton getting into the his aspects of his presidency. That campaign has been remarkably fact free. Reporter nevada was supposed to be an after thought for clinton. The double digit lead evaporated to 1 . And jeff rahlston telling andrea mitchell. It could go either way. That is why you see all this activity on the last day. Reporter clinton picked up endorsement from Congress Member james clyburne. It could help here in nevada. If clinton loses here, it would be a devastating loss coming on the heels of new hampshire. If sanders loses, it raises question about his ability to raise the electorate. Back to you. And elise jordan and harold ford are here now nbc contributor contributors. Thanks for being with us. Lets start with donald trump in South Carolina. Hallie mentioned he described the American General more than a century ago shooting a group of muslims. This is what he said. He took 50 bullets and he dipped them in pigs blood and he had his men load his rifles and he lined up the 50 people and they shot 49 of those people and the 50th person he said you go back to your people and you tell them what happened. And for 25 years there wasnt a problem. Again, donald trump talking about this American General. Over in the philippines. The trail. Now repeating online fables. This is consistent with his campaign. Celebrating on 9 11 were muslims. No one can point to facts to back this up. The question is how does he fare today . You want rubio to do well. You want kasich to do well. Someone to take cruz and trump on. What does it look like . It has to be a close third. Not a blowout third. If cruz and trump split 70 of the vote and the remaining with 20 . That is a problem for the establishment lane. Rubio is surging with haley. And what happens to Trumps Campaign if he comes in second or third . Considering he is all about winning . I think it is a really that happens. Who knows . South carolina polls unreliable. They are done with landlines and phones and half of the people in South Carolina are wireless households. Going forward, we have to see if cruz is who i actually am concerned with. If he doesnt do well in South Carolina, not necessarily number one, but strong second, he will have trouble in the s. E. C. States. The southern states. Lets talk about jeb bush for a second. We saw jeb bush trot out his brother in the low country. He had his mother comeampaigning yesterday. He pulled out all the stops in South Carolina where his father and brother won. If he does not finish well, what happens . He will have to think about getting out. And he needs to persuade his donors he should have a shot in otherwise, it is hard to imagine governor bush can convince his donors. South carolina is a great state for the bush family. He brought in his mom and brother. He was hoping he would get the haley endorsement. That increases the pressure. He said he was disappointed by it. He spent almost 100 million so far. He still has a lot of money left in that pac. He could sustain it longer. The question is will the establishment not wanting him to get out and open up a lane for someone else. And lets talk about the democrats. Nevada was considered the western firewall for Hillary Clinton, if you will. This morning, she is in a dead heat. We were talking behind the scenes this morning. You talk about sports analogies and momentum. How powerful that can be. Lets bring in Bernie Sanders here. He gets this and if this happens, does he have the momentum to take this through . It is horrible for hillary if that is panic for the clinton campaign. The campaign has been there longer. I think hillary ultimately will prevail there, but it will be close. Not a total win for hillary. Elise and harold, thank you. I need that barbers name in South Carolina. I will send it to you, my friend. Thank you, both. Family and friends say goodbye to the Late Supreme Court justice antonin scalia. His funeral will be held in a few hours after his service to this country was honored on friday. Nbcs Pete Williams is in washington with more. Pete, good morning. Good morning. Justice scalias fineuneral at the basilica of the National Shrine of the immaculate conception. The casket was carried past the former law clerks and into the great hall of the Supreme Court. More than 4,000 people filed goodbyes after waiting in long lines that wrapped around the building. So long, the court had to say open extra time. President obama and mrs. Obama passed by honoring the casket. And a prayer was said at the court friday morning for members of the family and remaining eight justices. He will celebrate the mass at the funeral and burial which is a private ceremony. The white house says president obama has been reaching out directly to Republican Leaders telling them he intends to move ahead with the nomination. The Senate Democratic leader says it could take a month to name that nominee. At the funeral today, all eight of the Supreme Court justices will attend along with two retired justices. John paul stevens and david sutter. Thank you, pete. Has been slammed by a major cyclone. Wind speeds are near 180 miles an hour with gusts of nearly 220. That is equal to a category five hurricane. The capital city is reporting the power is out. The government declared a state of emergency for the next 30 days as its 900,000 residents are facing quote an ordeal of the most grave kind. And affluenza teen ethan couch will face a adult court after the probation violation. He fled to mexico which is a violation of probation after he killed four people in a drunk driving crash four years ago. And joseph dylan french is this security video captures the 16yearold hitting the female officer over the head. He then grabbed her gun and tried to shoot her. She says that gun failed to fire. French has been in juvenile custody before. Lets talk about the weather now. Dylan is here with the check of the forecast. Can we talk about what happened with that wind in chicago . Yes. Its the windy city, but this took it to another level. 72mileanhour winds. Look at this woman. The poor thing cant stand in winds like that. Southwest douglas park with 72mileanhour winds. A category one hurricane has winds up to 74 miles per hour. You see glass breaking on the buildings. Trees toppled. Power was out in several areas. It was a windy day with the Wind Warnings in effect. Now we will start to see things ease a bit. Look at the jet stream. This is more like what you see in april or may. Allowing temperatures to warm up significantly. Almost the entire country will see temperatures above average today. In the areas in the plains and midwest, 20 to 30 degrees above average. Dallas should hit 80 today. Springfield, 78. Nashville, 67. That is 13 degrees above average. This spreads eastward. Washington, d. C. , 63 degrees today. We are close to 60 in new york city later this afternoon. We stay in the 50s through the midwest as we go through the new york drops back to the 40s and thats your latest forecast. Dylan, thank you. Now to the feud with apple and the federal government. The feds say the tech company is refusing the request because the company is worried about its bottom line. Nbcs Steve Paterson has more. Reporter the balance with security and privacy is at the core of the dispute with apple and the federal government. Friday before giving the opportunity to respond, federal prosecutors argued a judge should force the tech giant to create a program to crack Syed Rizwan Farooks iphone. Senior executives are calling the order a dangerous precedent. Likening any software to a nuclear bomb that in the wrong it is just one phone now, but if you build that pathway, others will come looking for it and you cannot control those people and when they use it for good purposes. Reporter but prosecutors call that an overstatement. Apple could maintain custody of the software and does not require a back door or hack its users. Saying the refusal is concerned for its Business Model and marketing strategy. Experts say the brand hinges on privacy and the Company Needs to fight the order to protect profits. All while billionaire candidate donald trump calls for a boycott. Let apple open up the phones so we find out where these threats are coming from. I said boycott apple until they do it. Boycott them. Who cares . Reporter the case already for today, steve patterson, nbc news, los angeles. Virgin has rolled out its new spacecraft with Sir Richard Branson leading the way. Spacecraft unity was unveiled. The craft is designed to take tourists to the edge of the space. The first spacecraft broke apart during a test flight in 2014. Branson hopes the new test flights can begin in a few months. The u. S. Womens soccer team is going to the rio olympics. The team clinched a spot last night at qualifying tournament. They won 50. They play for the tournament championship tomorrow. Both teams know they are headed to the summer games. I dont think anyone ever seriously doubted team usa. A look back at the weeks 18yearold arrested and accused of pretending to be a doctor. Plus, why some in miami are urging Police Officers to boycott beyonces upcoming concert. Nbc. Talking about being in South Carolina during the primaries. The weather is fantastic. It will stay fantastic. 60s and partly cloudy skies. No excuses. When the weather is a mess, it matters. Yes. Keeps folks at home. Still to come here on saturday morning on today, catching you up on the medical headlines from the latest news about zika virus to americas growing problem with it. Dr. Natalies in the house. What you need to cure aoutside. Meteorologist john wendel has your first warn forecast. We are starting this saturday off with mainly cloudy skies with temperatures mild and in the 40s. Today should be mainly cloudy with limited sunshine and afternoon temperatures in the low to mid 60s. There is only a 20 risk for a few light showers in the area this afternoon. Mperaturessundayi sobe mild wh uth primary. The polls just opened about 30 minutes ago. Its the first of two saturday primaries here in South Carolina. Todays primary is for the gop candidates. The democrats primary is next saturday. You can vote in either primary. But you can only pick one candidate. Heres a look at how the candidates fair coming into todays primary. Donald trump is losing ground over rivals ted cruz and marco rubio, but he is still in the lead. The difference between trump and cruz is the same as it was, right before cruz beat out trump in iowa. Rubio, polling a strong third, hoping to edge out john kasich and jeb bush. The Supreme Court says its not getting involved in the North Carolina redistricting ruling. The decision came late last night, to let a Lower Court Ruling stand. The lower court demanded a change in two districts, saying they were unconstitutiona l because they were drawn on racial lines. The General Assembly has approved new Congressional District maps. And the us house primary election in march was rescheduled for june. The today show is next then were back with another or you get eliminated now lets get in formation okay a little controversy over beyonces song formation. Why some Police Officers are calling for a boycott. We are back on this saturday morning, february 20th, 2016. Look at these folks. A great crowd on rockefeller plaza. We will head outside and say hi to them in a little bit. At least 20 degrees warmer than last weekend. I would say 60. A heat wave. It was 1 last weekend. It may as well be 90. Here is what is making headlines on this saturday morning. A busy day for republicans and democrats. Making their final pushes on the primary and caucus day. Republicans heading to the polls in