that's it for us. thanks for watching. "early start" begins now. donald trump's new controversy saying if abortion becomes illegal, women who get them should be punished. later recan'ting the statement. in fact, three positions on abortion in 12 hours, but this morning, taking condemnation from both sides of the aisle. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm boris sanchez. >> facing another day of putting out fires. he took three different positions on abortion in the space of a single day. first on msnbc, he said if

abortion were made legal, women who get abortions should be punished. then he walked out a statement saying it is unclear. then the person who performed the abortion should be punished. not the women. we have jim acosta with details. >> reporter: donald trump carved out a hard line to walk it back hours later. his comments came on msnbc. he said women should be punished if the procedure were made illegal. >> should abortion be punished? >> people in certain parts of the republican party and conservatives, yes. >> what about you? >> i say it is a serious problem. a problem we have to decide on. are you going to say put them in

jail? the answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? ten states? ten years? >> i don't know. >> why not? >> you take positions on everything else. >> i take positions on everything else. it is a complicated position. >> reporter: then he did a 180. saying it would be doctors. not women. if congress passed legislation and the federal courts upheld or any state permitted to ban abortion under federal or state law or any person performing the illegal act, they would be held legally responsible, not the woman. my position has not changed. like ronald reagan, i are am pro-life, with exceptions. you don't punish women who go through the procedure. he outlined the position

something you hardly ever see in politics. boris and christine. >> trump's republican rivals had a field day with this. denouncing the idea of punishing women who have an abortion and slamming the front runner for the about face on the issue. >> that comment was wrong. it really is the latest demonstration of how little donald has thought of the serious issues facing this country. i am pro life. being pro life means standing and defending the unborn, but it means defending moms and women and incredible gift women have to bring life into the world. dona donald's comments were unfortunate and wrong. >> of course, women should not be punished. i think donald trump will figure out a way to say he didn't say it or misquoted. >> in the meantime, blasting

trump's comments, bernie sanders calling trump's position shameful. hillary clinton tied his stance to the entire republican field. >> to punish a woman for having an abortion is beyond comprehension. you know, one would say what is in donald trump's mind except we're tired of saying that? i don't know what world this person lives in. >> the choice is clear. the republicans all line up together. maybe they aren't quite as open about it as donald trump was earlier today. but they all have the same position. if you make abortion a crime, you make it illegal. then you make women and doctors criminals. >> happening today, both hillary clinton and bernie sanders stage campaign events in new york. the state is one of two tough contests ahead for the

democrats. in wisconsin, clinton and sanders and neck and neck in the next battle next tuesday. sanders was born and raised in new york city. he is turning both states into tough battle grounds for clinton. the latest from jeff zeleny in new york. >> reporter: christine, the democratic race is focusing on wisconsin and new york. they have dualing campaigns in new york. so many delegates. 247 delegates are hang in the balance of 2.5 weeks time. there are other primaries before. wisconsin. even bernie sanders is coming off the trail to new york to start planting the flag here. hillary clinton was at the historic apollo theater in harlem. she will campaign here. >> new york is home to 20 million people.

we don't all look the same. we don't all sound the same or worship the same either, but we pull together. when a candidate for president says we can solve america's problems by building walls, discriminating against people based on religion and turning against each other. new yorkers know better. >> reporter: for his part, bernie sanders will create this online movement into votes and motivation. he has so much support in new york city and brooklyn with young voters. he will try to turn them out. the rules may be stacked against him in new york. it is a closed primary. you simply cannot walk in that day and decide to vote. you have to be a registered voter by march 25th. if you had to change parties, it had to be done by last year.

there's no question the next two and a half weeks here in new york are a tough race between the two. first that wisconsin primary next tuesday. we still have our eye on that. bernie sanders campaigning on friday. christine and boris. >> jeff zeleny, thank you. the food and drug administration relaxing the guidelines for women taking the abortion pill. the change allows the patients to use the drug later in pregnancies with fewer visits to the doctor. critics claim the white house is trying to win over female voters. the fda says this change was based on science. time for an early start on your money. asian markets mostly lower and so are europe markets. a great day for wall street yesterday. stocks added to tuesday's gains, dow added 83 points. nasdaq and s&p higher. the market started the year in

meltdown mode. the market tanked by february. what is behind the turnover? jenngenera janet yellen hinted of a rate hike. one thing that could slow down the rally, the jobs report comes out tomorrow. early indications, boris, you still have strong hiring in the u.s. fascinating. you have a strong job market, but high unfavorable ratings from the economy. >> two perspectives. an imminent terror attack and charges planned. how big could this terror network be? [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you.

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new information this morning about a high profile terror arrest in netherlands.

a 32-year-old french citizen taken into custody in rotterdam. linked to reda kriket. the suspect apprehended last week to allegedly plotting an attack on france. let's go to jim bittermann live. what can you tell us about this guy? >> reporter: the one arrested in rotterdam, had 100 pounds of bullets in his apartment. french police raided the apartment of reda kriket in the paris suburbs and found five kalashnikovs and false passports and bomb making materials. some tatp, the explosive used in the bombs in brussels and paris and quite an arsenal. the paris prosecutor said that the attack that they were

planning, whatever it was, they don't know what the specific target was, they were in a position to immediately attack something. they are taking this seriously. reda kriket had been charged with conspiracy. >> thank you, jim. the fbi agreed to help prosecutors in arkansas hack into an iphone and ipod that could yield crucial evidence in a murder trial. this is days after they successfully accessed the iphone from the san bernardino terrorist with the help of a third party. the mississippi state senate giving final approval to the religious freedom bill and sending it to the governor who indicated he will sign it. the bill would allow businesses

to refuse service not only to gay and transgender people, but anyone with who had extramarital sex based on the owner's believes. it is probably the worst religious freedom bill to date. and calling for north carolina to recall its transgend transgend transgender bathroom bill. a petition signed by more than 80 ceos and business leaders. it requires to use the bathroom based on the sex on your birth certificate. rebecca mason, the adviser to governor robert bentley resigned on allegations the two had an affair. it comes a week after the two had audio recordings surfaced.

mason was being paid from be bentley's campaign funds. in minneapolis, protests are loud, but peaceful in response to the decision not to charge two police officers who shot and killed a 24-year-old black man. jamar clarke. the officers acted in self defense after clarke got a hold of the officer's gun in a scuffle. demonstrators are angry. they say police have a history of dissorting the facts. the new york times reporting on a new study that says continued high emissions of heat trapping gasses to cause a disaster scenario to play out. climate researchers say the west arctic ice sheet to happen in decades. that could flood coastal cities by the end of the century. a powerful tornado rips

through tulsa, oklahoma. seven people hurt as the twister rolled through the city. one person in critical condition. at least 4,000 people were without power. in arkansas, rescue caught on video. first responders pulling a woman from rushing water in little rock. the area hit with severe floods. she was one of three people in a car that was stuck in raging water. we can tell you everyone is okay. dramatic video. the severe weather is set to continue with 4 million people in the threat area. here is meteorologist pedram javaheri with the latest. pedram. >> good morning, christine and boris. wild wednesday. another one here for thursday. 70 plus storm reports. five tornadoes. no fatalities. you zoom out and i'll show you what transpired. 60 tornadoes in the month of

march. this is the busiest in the month of march since 2012. here we go again. severe weather ingredients in place. moisture from the gulf. cool canadian air. drier air over texas. parts of alabama and mississippi with another round of rough weather here on thursday with the weather shifting off toward birmingham and out to atlanta at noon time before the storms quiet a bit. again, here are the areas of severe weather. 37 million people dealing with this. this is on a scale of one to five, a three from jackson to louisville and memphis in line for the weather this afternoon. notice a rainfall that accompanies this. in excess of 4 inches. flooding threat credit in the area. look at the temperatures across the northeast. 71 in new york city. could be about 30 degrees cooler come sunday into monday. enjoy. >> pedram, thank you.

in just hours, world leaders gather in washington trying to find a way to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. what we can expect from the critical meetings. that's next.

president obama hosts dozens of world leaders this morning at the fourth and final nuclear security summit in washington. this year, a special session focused on isis. the challenge how to keep nuclear weapons out of the terrorists hands. also, how to counter the growing nuclear threat posed by the north koreans. we get more from matt rivers.

he is live from beijing. >> reporter: good morning, christine. speaking on north korea for a moment, it will be one of the top issues discussed at the summit. given the testing of the nuclear device. the president of the united states set to meet in a trilateral meeting with the prime minister of japan and president of south korea to discuss next steps. he will have a bilateral meeting with president xi of china. most believe china is the country with the most ability to influence pyongyang's regime. the other topic as you mentioned is focusing on the securing of nuclear materials and specifically how it relates to terrorists groups like isis. the president will convene a special session looking how security within urban centers can be heightened as well as

ways to prevent chemical and radiological weapons. that is a top, top issue at this particular summit. it is something they will meet about specifically brought into focus after the paris terrorist attacks as well as recently in belgium. plenty to talk about for the dozens of world leaders set to convene for this summit. >> matt rivers in beijing, thank you. in the middle east, bashar al assad declaring he is willing to form a new unity government with the opposition. bashara telling the draft of the new constitution could be ready within weeks. united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon calling on member nations to he is settle half a million refugees. he is not getting many takers. only the united states, sweden have pledged to take part.

international aid groups have blasted the response by governments calling it a shocking lack of political and moral leadership. there's new trouble brewing for donald trump this morning for saying that women should be punished if it is outlawed. he recanted hours later, but it is not stopping the barrage of new attacks. "why are you checking your credit score?"

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outrage this morning. donald trump fumbling after saying if abortions are made illegal, women who get them should be punished. new opinions on both sides of the aisle. welcome back to "early start." i'm boris sanchez. >> i'm christine romans. donald trump is taking on another day of putting out fires after he took three positions on

abortions in the space of a single day. in a space of hours. first on msnbc, he said if abortion were made illegal, women who got abortions should be punished. then walked back and said it is unclear. then a second statement calling for the person performing the abortion punished, not the woman. now drawing fire from both sides of the aisle, fast and furious bipartisan rage. jim acosta with details. >> reporter: christine, donald trump carved out a hard line on abortion to walk it back hours later. his comments on msnbc earlier in the day. he said women who undergo abortions should be punished if it were made illegal. >> should abortion be punished? >> people in certain parts of the republican party and conservatives say yes. i would say it is a serious

problem. a problem we have to decide on. it's very -- wait. are you going to say put them in jail? the answer is that it has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? >> some form. >> ten states? ten years? >> i don't know. >> why not? >> i don't know. >> you take positions on everything else. >> reporter: then trump released a statement saying the doctors punished. not women. here is the statement. if congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld the legislation or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state or federal law, the doctor or person performing the illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. the woman is a victim in the case as is the life in her womb. my position has not changed. like ronald reagan, i am pro life with exceptions. the damage may be done.

you don't punish women who undergo a procedure. he reunited both sides on the hot button issue. boris and christine. >> thank you, jim. trump's republican rivals had a field day denouncing the punishment of a woman who had an abortion and slamming trump for the about face on the issue. >> that comment was wrong and it really is the latest demonstration of how little donald has thought about the serious issues facing this country. i am pro life. being pro life means standing and defending the unborn, but it means defending moms and defending women and incredible gift women have to bring life into the world and donald's comments were unfortunate and wrong. i strongly disagree. >> women shouldn't be punished. you know, i think probably donald trump will figure out a way to say he didn't say it or

misquoted. i don't think so. i don't think that's an appropriate response. >> the democratic candidates blasting trump's comments. bernie sanders professing astonishment. calling trump's position shameful. hillary clinton tied trump's abortion stance to the entire republican field. >> to punish for having an abortion is beyond comprehension. you know, one would say what is in donald trump's mind except we're tired of saying. that i don't know what world this person lives in. >> the choice is clear. the republicans all line up together. now maybe they aren't quite as open about it as donald trump was earlier today. they all have the same position and if you make abortion a crime, you make it illegal. then you make women and doctors criminals. >> there are two tough contests

ahead for the democrats. wisconsin where hillary clinton and bernie sanders are neck and neck in the latest polls. both candidates are campaigning in new york. which clinton represented in the senate. bernie sanders is turning both states into tough battle grounds. the latest from cnn's jeff zeleny in new york. >> reporter: christine and boris, the democratic race is focusing on new york today. hillary clinton and bernie sanders taking their campaign in new york. 247 delegates are hanging in the balance in some two and a half weeks time. there are other primaries before. first is wisconsin. sanders is coming to new york to plant the flag here. hillary clinton was campaigning at the apollo theater in harlem. she will campaign for president

here likes she did senator twice. >> new york is home to 20 million people. we don't all look the same, we don't all sound the same or worship the same either, but we pull together. when a candidate for president says we can solve problems by building walls and discriminate against people with religion and turn against each other, new yorkers know better. >> reporter: for his part, bernie sanders is going to try to create this online movement into votes and motivation. he has so much support in new york city and brooklyn with young voters. he will try to turn them out. the rules may be stacked against him in new york. a closed primary. that means you cannot walk in that day and decide to vote. you have to be already a registered voter by march 25th. if you wanted to change parties,

it had to be done at the end of last year. new york has a closed primary system that could benefit hillary clinton. the next two weeks will be a rough race. first that wisconsin primary next tuesday. we still have our eye on that. hillary clinton will make one more stop there before tuesday as well. christine and boris. jeff zeleny, thank you. >> a bit of medical news. the fda relaxing the guidelines for women taking the abortion pill. the change allows patients to use the drug later in the pregnancies and with fewer visits to the doctor. critics call the move politically motivated claiming the white house is trying to win over female voters. the fda says this change was based on science. time for an early start on your money. not a good start to the final trading day for stocks this year. look at asian markets. european markets down. it was a great day yesterday for

wall street. stocks added to tuesday's gain. dow with 83 points. the markets started the year in meltdown mode. now a comeback. remember the market tanked more than 10% by early february. is chipotle opening a burger restaurant? the company filed a trademark request for better burger. chipotle is invested in chop house which serves southeast asian food. the company interested in applying the restaurant model to other food. for now, its immediate focus is reviving the burrito chain. the stock is down 30% after the food safety scandals. new information on a foiled terrorist plot in paris. arsenal of weapons found in an apartment in europe. plagued of new attacks next.

new information this morning about a high profile terror arrest in the netherlands. 32-year-old french citizen taken into custody in rotterdam. he is linked to reda kriket for allegedly plotting an attacks against france. let's get the latest from correspondent jim bittermann. jim, what do we know about the french citizen arrested? >> reporter: boris, apparently when the dutch authorities moved in on his apartment, according to media reports, they found a cache of bullets. 7.62 bullets for kalashnikov rifles. 6,000 rounds according to media

reports. that was immediately linked to the suspect here and now charged in paris, reda kriket, who when they searched his apartment, found five kalashnikov machine guns and bomb making materials. the two men, apparently, according to police reports, spent some time in 2014 and 2015 in syria. they're both known as petty criminals before that. they went through a period of radicalization and in syria for some time together. in any case, the prosecutor here says that they were plotting some kind of attack. he doesn't know what the target was, but says it was imminent. the things they had, including the explosive tatp which was used in brussels attacks and the paris attacks. that explosive was found in the apartment as well. something that was in preparation. what it is is unknown. >> jim, i have to ask after the

brussels attacks, there are two unidentified suspects on the run. the so-called man in the white hat. are there any updates on the whereabouts of the suspects? >> reporter: no, not at all. police still searching for them everywhere. i think one of the brussels attacks which pointed to authorities is how elusive people can be. for instance, the case where salah abdeslam, he came back from turkey. authorities were alerted to the fact that he was on the way back and didn't take action. it's the thing that i think has authorities a little bit alarmed that people can slip around easily. they are doing more to prevent it. it is difficult to track these folks down. >> very difficult task. jim, thank you. the fbi agreed to help prosecutors in arkansas hack

into an iphone and ipod that could yield critical evidence in a murder trial. the decision days after the agency successfully accessed the iphone used by san bernardino terror suspect syed rizwan farook with the help of a third party. authorities in arkansas are hoping to find evidence on two devices owned by two of the four suspects in the murder of a little rock couple last july. mississippi senate giving final approval to the so-called religious freedom bill. the bill would allow businesses to refuse service not only to gay and transgender people, but also anyone who had extramarital sex that's based on the business owner's beliefs. the gay rights advocate calls it the worst bill to date. and the transgender bathroom bill is the worst in its state's

history. this letter is signed by 80 ceos. it requires people to use bathrooms and other facilities matching the sex on their birth certificate. rebecca mason, a senior adviser to the alabama governor robert bentley has resigned over the two having an affair. this comes after audio recordings surfaced. bentley denied the affair. he says he has no intention of resigning. mason was paid from his campaign funds and she plans now focus her attention on her family. the protest loud, but peaceful in the decision not to charge two police officers who shot and killed a 24-year-old black man jamar clark. the police officers acted in

self defense after a scuffle. demonstrators took to the streets and said police have a history of distorting the facts. scientists sounds the alarm of global warming. "new york times" says heat trapping gasses could cause a disaster scenario to play out sooner than predicted. climate researchers say the ice sheet could disintegrate within decades. wait until you see this pictures. powerful tornado through tulsa, oklahoma. at least seven people hurt. the twister roared through the city. one person in critical condition. roads and buildings were damaged. 4,000 people without power. watch this video out of arkansas. a rescue caught on camera. you can see first responders pulling this woman from rushing water in little rock. the area was hit with severe

floods. she was one of three people inside a car that got stuck in raging water. this severe weather will continue today with more than 7 million people in the highest threat area. let's bring in meteorologist pedram javaheri for the very latest. >> boris and christine, good morning. another day where we have the severe weather threat pretty high across the expansive area. 37.5 million people in the threat zone. 7.5 million of them in jackson and memphis and louisville where damaging winds and large hail. you cannot rule out tornadoes. we had severe weather northeast of tulsa. spawned four reports of tornadoes across that region. one across arkansas. 60 in total in march 2016. that is just below the climatological norm. parts of mississippi have seen flash flooding in the early

morning hours. parts of louisiana and tennessee. 3 inches hav come down. additional inches could come down over alabama and georgia throughout the morning hours. in total, 4 to 6 inches on the soil moisture that is saturated. 99% of normal across the south. we have the flood watch in place. 19.5 million people under the flood watch into the early morning hours. the temperatures very mild and widespread. 65 in chicago. 80s in little rock. we have major changes in the forecast from sunday into monday. april comes in on a frigid note. look at new york city. leave you with the forecast which takes from 73 to 42. >> i don't like what he has to deliver. >> dramatic drop. >> it is like covering the stock market. i don't like that. thanks. should john oliver be thanking donald trump? we get an early start on your money next.

president obama hosting dozens of world leaders this morning at the fourth and final nuclear security summit in washington. this special session has focused on isis. the challenge is how to keep nuclear weapons out of the terrorists hands and also how to counter the growing nuclear threat posed by north korea. we have more from matt rivers based in beijing. matt, good morning to you. at the top of the agenda is isis. no indication that they have accessed to nuclear material. we have seen them use crude chemical weapons before. how will world leaders stop them from getting the weapons needed to create nuclear weapons? >> reporter: that is the big question for the summit. to have those discussions,

boris, president obama holding a special session talking about securing nuclear material to make sure it does not end up in the hands of terrorist groups like isis. he will talk about increasing urban center security. and big cities increasing security in those cities. also how to make sure that a group like isis cannot obtain chemical and nuclear weapons. that came into the sharper focus last month when during the course of the investigation into the november terrorist attacks in paris. investigators discovered video footage of the top belgian official in the apartment of one of the suspected militants. you mentioned north korea. something that will be talked about when president obama meets with three separate leaders about that issue. he is set to meet with the japan prime minister and south korean president and one-on-one with

the chinese president, that is president xi jinping. that is china with the unique ability to influence pyongyang and the kim jong un leadership. >> matt rivers, thank you. bashar al assad declaring he is willing to form a new unity government which includes members of the opposition. assad telling a russian news agency a draft it could be ready within weeks. the u.s. says a plan for the syrian government with assad remaining in power is a non starter. secretary-general ban ki-moon is calling on nations to resettle the refugees. united states and italy and sweden have pledged to take part. the u.n. is hoping to settle 480,000 refugees by 2018. international aid groups are calling it a quote shocking lack

of political and moral leadership. time for an early start on your money. asian markets mixed. europe markets turned down a bit right now. yesterday's stocks added to tuesday's gain. the dow added 83 points. s&p 500 and nasdaq closing higher. the market started the year in meltdown mode. if you bought that meltdown, you have seen a comeback. what is behind the turn around? janet yellen hinted a rate hike is off the table. oil prices are rising. fears of a recession in china are overblown. the jobs report comes out tomorrow. looking for strong jobs growth there. americans are spending more, but earning less. that's according to a new study by the pew charitable trust. it is up 25% since 1996.

median household income is almost the same as 1996. income never recovered from the great recession. median family income is about the same. it is one of the reasons primary voters are angry. american voters are left behind by the status quo politicians and super rich. even john oliver is benefitting from the donald trump. the one-month old trump takedown is the most popular episode in the history of hbo. the donald drumpf episode has more than 23 million views on youtube. almost double oliver's second most viewed video. this is the most viewed piece of hbo content in history. this british comedian takedown. >> it is going viral. i was at a trump rally two weeks

ago. many had signs that said takedown donald drumpf. >> it's catching on. >> "early start" continues now. donald trump's newest controversy. saying if abortion is illegal, women who get them should be punished. he recanted, but this morning, he is taking heat from both sides of the aisle. welcome to "early start." i'm boris sanchez. >> i'm christine romans. last day of the month and quarter. donald trump's campaign facing fire for another issue. taking three positions on abortion in a single day. saying first on msnbc, if abortion were