[Rubio:] What we are dealing with here, my friends, is a con artist. He is a con artist. First of all, he runs on this idea he is fighting for the little guy. But he has spent his entire career sticking it to the little guy. His entire career. All right, every business that he has ever run that's gone bankrupt. This guy bankrupted a casino. How do you bankrupt a casino?
[Berman:] Moments ago, Senator Marco Rubio going after Donald Trump harder than he ever has. Eight months, barely mentioning his name, until the entire event which was mostly about Donald Trump. We should tell you, Donald Trump will respond with his own news conference. He says he has a big announcement to make. Joining us again, David Gregory, former host of "Meet the Press"; Kayleigh McEnany, a political analyst and a Donald Trump supporter; and Doug Heye, who has done many things in his life, and has many leather-bound books.
[David Gregory, Veteran Journalist & Former Moderator, Meet The Press:] Certainly late. We'll find out if it's too late. It's certainly overdue, as a political practice points. I actually want to underline something Amanda said a couple of segments ago that was really important. It is good political practice, as ridiculous as it is to read the tweets from Donald Trump start trolling him and good style and political practice for Rubio to say I'm going to meet him on his level, a taunt and fight with him and trade insults to show that I can stand up to this bully, and then pivot and make his case to voters. He has to try to reach Trump voters who might be sort in their allegiance and begin to show his own base of support where he wants to consolidate, Cruz, Kasich or just sitting out, that he has got the fight to take this to Trump to win it, kind of on the schoolyard level, but also to win it on substance.
[Bolduan:] You talk about, we saw that this morning and that all started last night. I want to play one exchange, and there were plenty, that having encapsulates this new fight, this new fire, coming at Donald Trump. That he is spending off. Listen to this.
[Rubio:] I also think that if you're going to claim that you're the only one that lifted this into the campaign that you acknowledge that, for example, you're the only person on the stage that's been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally.
[Donald Trump, , Presidential Candidate & Ceo, Trump Organization:] I'm the only one on the stage that has hired people. You haven't hired anybody.
[Bolduan:] Folks not named Trump folks, who are not for a man named Trump, they've been waiting for this fire to come at him, Kayleigh. As a Trump supporter, where do you see the fight going from here?
[Kayleigh Mcenany, Conservative Columnist & Commentator:] You know, he is going to be attacked, just what we saw last night, only the beginning. We saw Rubio attacking him on the campaign trail. That's going to continue and continue and continue. As long as Donald Trump is the front front-runner and he'll continue to be the front-runner. Nine of the 12 Super Tuesdays, ahead in Massachusetts, likewise, ahead in southern states, with different demographics. He'll be attacked. We know this about Donald Trump. Whenever he is attacked, he succeeds. When Jeb Bush attacked him in Las Vegas, everyone said Jeb Bush had the greatest night of his life. So if history is any indicator, attacking Donald Trump is just going to mean you falling in the polls and stifling and tripping up on the campaign trail.
[Berman:] What about that, Doug? We've learned in this campaign so far is that the debates have mattered. The debates have changed the trajectory of this race. I mean, mar after he had that issue in New Hampshire. Donald Trump had that dust up in South Carolina, and he still won South Carolina, but his lead was not by as much as it had been. So is there enough time for this to sink in before Tuesday and you know, will it have the effect that a lot of the pundits think it will have?
[Doug Heye, Cnn Contributor:] Obviously Donald Trump has been impervious to most political realities that we've known over the last millennia, but it may be late in the game but I don't think it's too late yet. Republicans have gone through three stages with Donald Trump. First was don't attack him, he is not serious. Don't attack him, he won't last too long. It won't work. And then the third was don't attack him, it's too late. It's not too late. What has to be done is exactly what Marco Rubio has been doing, but it can't be a one attack and move on. It has to be sustained, because we know whether it's at the upcoming press conference or something else later in the day, Donald Trump is going to create another outrage that's going to get us all talking about something that has nothing to do really with the problems that we're facing in this country or anything to do with substantially with this campaign. If you're Marco Rubio, you keep going on the attacks and you don't let up. It may work, it may not work. But it has to be sustained.
[Bolduan:] David, final word. Do you think this is now effectively after last night a two person race, but it being Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, even Ted Cruz would like to say it's a two person race and his name is in there?
[Gregory:] Yeah, I don't think we can say that yet. There is a lot of momentum within the party, within the party establishment, among donors, and Marco Rubio has helped, and even true in the media as well, pushing towards Rubio. But Super Tuesday will tell us a lot about particularly in Texas, whether Cruz still has some strengths moving forward. I also agree with Doug on this. This is not just about throwing the kitchen sink at him. It's about substantive attacks, electability, temperament, insults, where he is thin, Donald Trump is thin on policy prescriptions. On whether he is consistent on some of his views, policy in the Middle East more generally, that's how you get to the larger point he is not for real. He is a con artist. You have to deconstruct him in a way that would make him look less goods among his supporters. I think to the point that I made, a lot of work to be done to achieve that.
[Bolduan:] David Gregory, Kayleigh, Doug, great to see you guys. Thank you so much.
[Gregory:] Thank you.
[Mcenany:] Thank you.
[Heye:] Thank you.
[Bolduan:] And right now, on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is holding a live rally in Minnesota as he races to the finish trying to win over more supporters ahead of Super Tuesday, more specifically, ahead of South Carolina. The big primary there this Saturday. Get this. He is now getting some help from top Republican donors and hitting Hillary for her Wall Street speeches.
[Berman:] Plus, Mitt Romney now part of the 2016 race in his Twitter war with Donald Trump, before, during after the debate. He continues to say Trump has no good reason to keep his tax returns private. Trump says he can't do anything while the IRS is auditing him. What does the IRS say about this? New developments ahead.