That recordbreaking Powerball Lottery . They have not even gone to officials yet because they want to make their announcement right here in studio 1a today, friday, january 15th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a friday morning. Im Savannah Guthrie alongside carson who is in for matt. Fair to say theres a little buzz in the studio this morning . Take a shot at that ticket again. That could be one of the three Winning Tickets right there. Unbelievable. Those are the numbers, and they are here. Thats the ticket, says john and Lisa Robinson. They are from mumford, tennessee. They have not even gone to the lottery officials yet. They plan to do that. They say they bought this on wednesday night. Were going to talk to them. They have told just a few members of their family. Lisa called her office manager, i have a big favor to ask. I need you to watch the today show, and i wont be in today. Just watch the today show, please. I know, but i wont make it in today. Ill call you and ill probably be in monday. If you let me. Okay. Thank you. Bye. Might go into work on monday. I can hear squealing through the money. Well talk to john and lisa in a moment. Lets get to the Republican Debate. Its politics, republican candidates for president clashing in their first debate of the new year, a night dominated by the growing rivalry between donald trump and ted cruz, the two frontrunners. Weve got complete coverage, and well start with nbc National Correspondent peter alexander. Peter, good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning. Immediately after the debate donald trump himself may have put it best saying the bromance with the days ticking down to iowa, no more mr. Nice between between trump and cruz, the two guys engaging in a fierce back and forth. The clash in carolina. So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And why are you saying this now . Why now, why are you raising this issue now . Because now hes doing a little bit better. No, i didnt care before. Its true. Reporter dominated by a pair of bitter exchanges between donald trump and ted cruz, one over canada, the other about new york. First on cruzs eligibility to be president. My friend donald said that he had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was nothing to this issue. There was nothing to do this birther issue. Now [ laughter ] since september, the constitution hasnt changed. [ laughter ] but the poll numbers have. Defense of what cruz criticized is his new york values. Not a lot of conservatives come out of manhattan. Im just saying. When the World Trade Center came down, i saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than new york, and i have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that ted made. Cruz also fended off questions about the New York Times reporting that he failed to properly disclose a loan from Goldman Sachs in 2012. If thats the best hit that the New York Times has got, they better go back to the well. Reporter cruz and marco rubio collided over immigration. You used to support people here legally and now you are saying youre against it. I appreciate you dumping your Research Folder on the debate stage but at least half of the things marco said are flat out false. Rubio and Chris Christie butting heads, both men trying to consolidate establishment support. You had your chance, marco. You blew it. Here in South Carolina trump nikki haley who days ago urged gop voters not to be tempted by the angriest voices. Im very angry because our country is being run horribly, and i will gladly accept the mantle of anger. But once again the nights biggest target, barack obama and the democrats trying to succeed him. On tuesday night i watched story time with barack obama, and ive got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know. If she gets elected her first 100 days instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the white house and the courthouse. Were going to win every state if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. With just two and a half weeks till iowa the trailing candidates desperate to be heard. Well, im very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when the time came. Reporter main debate stage is now whittled down to seven candidates, but in that undercard debate Carly Fiorina came out swinging. In her Opening Statement with a personal swipe at hillary take a listen. The truth is ive had and been blessed with a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life, and unlike another woman in this race, i actually love spending time with my husband. Reporter just one more Republican Debate before the first nominating contest in iowa. Savannah and carson. All right. Peter, thank you so much. Chuck todd, nbcs political director and moderator of meet the press is up here, up late and early with us. Thats what we all do now. This seems like more and more a trump and cruz race. It is, and i thought last night what was interesting, ill throw rubio in there. I feel like those three they had e debate, and jeb bush and christie tried to get involved, but you can really feel the top tier there, because if you look at it, the three of them all had all had some moments. I thought cruz did really well in the first part, rubio really well in the last part of the debate but trump, not many people came after him other than his best debate performance to date. I dont think you could say he won, but i might argue that because he was touched the least that hes overall going to get the most. He did get booed a couple of times. He did at first, its interesting. If it wasnt for the crowd, i dont know if ted cruz would be seen to have done as well. They were for cruz. That was very pro cruz. That helped him early. He sort of fed off of it a little bit. Trump i thought it rattled him early and then he sort of got comfortable, okay, this crowd is not for me. Cruz brings up the new york issue. Papers are all over him today that. Must have been a blow to him from trump. Know. Look, it may not hurt him in iowa. My late father, he grew up in iowa and he who say oh, those new yorkers, he would say thats better than us. That can actually help cruz in a place like iowa, but i think having this intensity, and the have to say that was one of those, like this is a guy who is growing as a candidate. That answer on 9 11, and he did it without sort of an in your face aspect. Taking the high road when given the opportunity to counterpunch on nikki haley. What about the eligibility for cruz . Did cruz end it . Is it still out there or is this going to float out there and be an issue for trump . Theres reports that somebody actually filed the first lawsuit. It has unnerved cruz. You saw him. What got him to attack trump, he avoided it for six months. This has now rattled him. Were now on day seven where every day hes had to answer questions about this, so, no, i dont think its going away. Chuck todd, thank you very much. All right. Now to the frenzy over the three Winning Tickets sold in wednesdays recordshattering powerball jackpot. As we said, we have in our studio a couple who claims to hold one of those Winning Tickets from tennessee. Were going to talk to them in just a few minutes but first nbcs Miguel Almaguer has more on the search for the other two winners. Good morning. Heres what we know is fact. The 7eleven behind me is three stores that sold perfect lottery tickets, the other one in florida and tennessee and so far this morning theres no official winner. Just as fast as the frenzy, there was the farce. As soon as crowds rushed the store that sold the winning ticket, stories surfaced from those who claim they hit it big. Im excited for them, and i dont even know who it is. Reporter in florida, reporters chasing rumors. One woman from her home forced to release a statement. I am not the powerball winner. On instagram, this ticket of a man with the winning numbers, dismissed as a phony, all photoshopped. Reporter and then overnight just miles from the store where someones dream did come true. Helicopter in the air and news crews on the ground at this nursing home, headlines claimed a mother of seven in her 60s working the night shift won it all. What we want. Reporter the story read like a novel, a son calling his mom who said she had won when like everyone else she had just lost. Shes like the sweetest person, and i dont know that would really be a terrible joke. Reporter a joke for some but not all. 73 tickets nearly hit the jackpot, good for 1 million in cash. One shared by a group of kentucky teachers, a lesson in economics, a dose of good faith. This was actually the very first time ive ever bought a ticket. Reporter but this morning there is still that Million Dollar question. Who won that billion dollar jackpot . Lotto Officials Say they dont know who hit the jackpot, if they are couples or if they were part of pools. They say they are checking surveillance tapes at stores like this one to try to confirm but only way they will have an official answer is when folks walk through their doors with an authorized ticket. Savannah and carson, back to you guys. That brings us to the lucky couple who say they are holding the ticket one held in munford, tennessee. They are here with their daughter tiffany and their attorney and his daughter. Good morning, guys. Can we see that ticket . You keeping it nice and close to your heart. Its not going very far. Sleeping with it under your pillow. No, no, no, i didnt go that far. From the outset, guys, you havent gone to the lottery officials yet in tennessee. No. So theres no way for us to officially verify that you are the winners. We have done a lot of work to verify your employment, where you live. You live right next to the Grocery Store, weve done a lot and talked to lawyer and thats why were bringing you guys are claiming to be the winners. Its official yet so i just wanted to get that out. Why though did you decide not to go to the lottery officials yet and come to us first . Well, actually it was his idea. Your lawyers idea. Worried about going public right away. Right, right. And what was your thought, joe. The American Public wants to hear from them are and even though they want to be private after this is over they want to, you know, let the public know that they are the winners. Okay. And so well get back to the story because its kind of interesting how you found us. We didnt find you. You found us, but, first, lets just talk about wednesday night, powerball fever. Okay. Its almost 7 00. The deadline is in two hours. You decide to go to the Grocery Store. What happened . Actually i was on my way home from work. Okay. And she had called me and she said are you going to stop and get a couple lottery tickets . I said i really didnt feel like stopping that night. I was like, yeah, ill stop and get them. So when i stopped and i buy my lottery tickets, i always buy four at a time because theres four members of my family and i always do a quick pick single ticket. Okay. So i went and got my lottery tickets at the Grocery Store and came home and i wasnt feeling her. I said im going to go lay down. Take us from there, lisa. Youre watching the powerball and the numbers are coming out, youre holding your ticket and walk us through that. I wrote them down because i had other tickets his other three to look at, so i was like, im going to write them down. I wrote the numbers down and i got to looking and i saw it and i was i looked again. Theres the same, and the third time i went running down the hallway, john, john, youve got to check these numbers and i startled him because he was asleep on the couch. What did you think when you first woke up. Did you believe it. She said check these numbers and i said okay i looked at them and i said, yeah, they look like they are the numbers so i checked them actually four times and i said ill believe it when the news comes on in the morning and, hey, theres a winner in mumford. Well, we were up all night. We didnt get any sleep. He didnt feel too good anyway. That story is verified. Sure enough. We dont leave our house. Well, we started seeing the news the local News Networks there hanging out in mumford. They already knew that it was in mumford. And the media was at every store but the store. Where i bought the ticket. What have the last 48 hours been like for you and your family . I mean, are you sitting there dreaming about what were going to do . Are you excited . Are you scared . Are you elated . Are you nervous . How do you feel . Actually a little scared because i didnt know exactly what to do. I knew that i wanted to get an accountant. I knew that i wanted to get a lawyer and and try to follow the the procedures. You know, that they tell you to follow. My eyes cant go off your right hand, john. Youre holding a ticket that could be worth north of 500 million in your front pocket. Youre Walking Around new york im nervous for you. Now ill be nervous because everybody knows. When will you go to the lottery officials . Were leaving straight from here. Lisa, have you let yourself dream about what this means for you and your life . A couple of things. Sallie mae paid off. Goodbye, no more loans for you, tiffany. Other than that we really havent had time i do plan on hoping to work you said youd be back to work. You must love your job. Actually i do. Its so funny. We heard one end of that conversation where you just called and your Office Administrator and said im not going to be in today. Shes like what did you say . Shes watching right now. I hope she is. Well, your story is extraordinary, and i want to say that Something Else really remarkable happened which was you were brought into touch with joe, your lawyer who then said, you know, it would make sense to because then that way you have control over the story. That was your thinking, right, joe . You called your daughter eileen who happens to be a reporter in memphis and tell us now, eileen, how you got in touch with us, because its a story, too. Well, i goggled how do you call nbc, and i called and got passed up the line and eventually talked to a producer and they were rightly had a little bit suspicious and we talked through it it, and decided to make it happen. Wow. You called our switchboard. Were giving a raise to everybody who answers the phones at nbc. Who in your world knows . Just our immediate family. Everybody now knows. Just your immediate family knew up until a few minutes ago. Well, when we verified it that morning at 4 30, i tried to get her over to the house. I tried to tell her, hey, i need there was some advil or i need you to bring them over shes lives down the road from us, and i says i need you to bring them to the house. Well, she didnt bring them to the house. She got somebody else to bring them to the house, so i had to stop what i was doing and i had to go over to her house, and me listen, weve got to talk to you. Tiffany, what did you think when you heard this . I was excited and they are at the same time. Did you google how much are private jets. No, no. I didnt i didnt actually know anything really at that point. I went into work so i worked all day. Must be hard to be munford is not a huge town. I hope not to move. Weve been there forever. Have you had friends say going on, i wonder who won the lottery. We had to ignore a lot of calls and we didnt want to have to a lot of texts. Yeah. Extraordinary story. Well, i have to tell you i do have some family in tennessee. So its possible were fourth or fifth cousins. Then. John and lisa, congratulations to you. Joe and eileen, thank you for bringing us the story. Keep us posted and well try to get you out of here. Thanks for having us. Thank you so much. Get a check of the weather now with al. Mom, dad google adopt a weather man. Anyway, congratulations, guys. Good for you. Thank you. Well, weve been talking about this cold air coming. Remember a couple years ago when the polar vortex got in. Well, this is the difference between whats happened then and whats happening now. Stronger vortex, compact, its always up there. The cold air is contained. Two years ago it all shifted down and thats why we got such brutally cold air. Weve got a weak polar vortex right now so its a little more of cold air break off and thats what were going to be seeing over this weekend and here comes the cold air. Look at the next three days. Minneapolis, youre 1 above and dropped down to 7 below on sunday. New york city, 48 tomorrow. By monday its 30. 14 in cleveland and monday 13 in indianapolis. Gets all the way down south. Look at raleigh. 58 tomorrow. 37 on monday, and knoxville, 45 saturday and monday 32 degrees. That cold air really sets in for at least the next several days. Were going to get to your local 30 seconds. Thats what you heard is lisas phone blowing up. Thank you, al. Still coming up, a call to boycott the oscars. Theres a growing backlash against the allwhite acting nominations for a second straight year. Plus, an nbc news exclusive. Amal clooney, a rising star in the legal world, and, yes, wife of George Clooney, opening up about her career, her celebrity this is today on nbc. Just ahead, youre going to like this, the taco cleanse, tacos for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I agree. You were talking about it. I like. Well tell you the citi double cash card comes in very handy with cash back twice on purchases. Earn once when you buy, and again as you pay. Thats cash back now, and cash back again later. Its cash back d\j vu. The citi double cash card. The only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1 when you buy and 1 as you pay. 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