>> michael: coming up, edward snowden embarks on a global tour of our cold war frnemies and all the u.s. government can do is step on a bunch of rigs. i'm michael shure. you are in "the war room." [♪ theme music ♪] >> michael: edward snowden is now missing after he failed to show up for his scheduled flight for moscow to cuba this morning and now the hunt is on for the nsa leaker. the reporter who broke the story

called it a global white bronco moment. but the president the government is on his trail. >> obama: we'll following all of the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure rule of law is observed. >> michael: snowden is thought to still be in moscow after leaving hong kong on sunday. he decided to flee that country, after meeting with his lawyers. his attorney said snowden was upset to learn if he stayed in hong kong he could spend years in prison with no access to his computer. that's what upset him. before he missed his flight this morning, he was thought be headed tohead headed to ecuador.

he wrote them a letter saying quote . . . today ecuador's foreign ministered expressed some sympathy for his cause. >> if the principles of the universal declaration of human rights will go above any other interest that may be discussed or any other pressure that may be subjected to. >> michael: even countries like ecuador would take him in the u.s. hopes to pressure russia to hand him over he gets that far. >> we hope that the russians

will recognize the request of the united states, particularly given that over the last two years we have sent seven prisoners back that they requested from the united states, so we need to cooperate on this, because it's important to upholding rule of law. >> michael: vladimir putin's press secretary denied knowing where snowden is. that is straining the relationship between the two countries. and our relationship with china is also strained. >> i think it is fair to say this is a setback in the effort by the chai >> stephanie: to help develop mutual trust. we don't buy suggestions that the chinese, you know, weren't a part -- that this is a logistical or technical issue in hong kong alone, so we believe it is a setback.

>> michael: and snowden seemed intent on twisting the knife. he told the south china morning post that he sought his position with booz allen to get information to leak to the media. and that statement is why he'll probably have trouble getting the support of the majority of americans. joining me now, current's own bill press, my colleague and host of "full court press." bill thanks as always for coming back into "the war room." >> good to be with you again. >> michael: this is an odd day to say the least. is snowden losing sympathy among americans now? >> mike, i think edward snowden -- my advice to him would be shut up. >> michael: that's exactly what i thought. >> you have done this job.

i think he did a public service, frankly, but telling us what the nsa is up to and i have seen this happen with other people they get all of this media attention and they get full of themselves and they can't stop talking. the best thing he can do for himself is to shut up and get to someplace where he might be safe away from the long arm of the united states justice system. here is my fear though michael, i'm afraid that the focus on where snowden is, and what is going to happen to him will get the focus away from what we ought to be talking about, is what the nsa is doing and whether we as americans are going to tolerate what i think is a massive invasion of our privacy. >> michael: i think that ship has almost sailed at this point, a lot of people are saying to me, stop talking about snowden, and where he is. let's talk about what he is

doing. he is not the story. of course, snowden has made himself the story, and i think we're human beings so we far nated with what he is doing. but we can't let it obscure what we actually showed the world. >> yeah and don't get me wrong. i love an international spy thriller as much as anybody. the idea that those 20 journalists booked tickets on this flight, and got on board the plane. they were there with 12:17 with no alcohol on that flight the worst possible punishment, and no edward snowden. so he has made monkeys out of the justice department the media, the state department you have got to admire his moxie whatever you think of him. >> michael: yeah, he is one of

the great fugitives for the moment. we have zero sympathy with the people that are chasing them, but that story about being on that plane without alcohol, that should be the focus of what we're talking about. >> it's one of the greatest fakes of -- of all times. >> michael: it is. although there were rumors that he was actually stowed away on the flight and he was there somewhere. if that happened then it's even better. >> i believe it. >> michael: yeah, i do too. let's get away with snowden the person we're doing right now. a lot has come out about whether he took the job for real purposes, whether he lied about his college degree, et cetera. does it matter how good of moral source -- or a moral person of source is, if they are giving you information that is so

enlightening? >> well, there is an effort to discredit him. i was at the briefing and jay carney made the point clearly if he is associating with china, and russia and cuba, and ecuador, then he can't be a good guy. and if he took this job at booze allen, which of course raises the question why does somebody who has only been there for three months have access to all of this information. look, i really believe him when he said his motive was to make americans aware of what our country is doing. michael i'll never forget the very first video, the closing lines. he said this is what is happening. this is the truth. it's up to you to decide whether we should be doing this. >> michael: yes, and the

president reminded us that that is where the debate is supposed to begin. this will -- i feel this way, this guy broke the law, but at least we can have a debate now. we're still waiting for president obama to lead a debate on this subject and that hasn't happened. >> and you can't have a debate when one side says that's classified. we can't tell you how long we keep this records. we can't tell you what we do with all of this information. hell, if all of that is classified, we'll never have the debate. and as a society we do this all the time something goes wrong, and we said somebody's head has got to roll. too many people are saying if we nab snowden, and throw him in jail for the rest of his life then the problem is solve.

no, it is not. >> michael: that's exactly right, i think the remote control changed that. we can push a button move on to the next thing, and make it go away, and people are always calling for heads, and i think you have hit on something that is really important in that. this has of course sparked a major debate in the media. david regularry said to the extent you have aided and abetted snowden even in his current movements, why should you mr. greenwald not be charged with a crime. greenwald said it's pretty extraordinary that somebody who could call themselves a journalist would publicly muse who should be charged. was that a bad comment or did it spark a good conversation. >> the word shocking we don't use much anymore.

but i was shocked by that question of david gregory, particularly -- peter king who is a hot head said this before that glen greenwald should be arrested. but for david to use the phrase aided and abetted, that's cold war communist stuff. and glen greenwald was doing his job. he broke this story. it reminds me of the fbi calling james rosen a criminal coconspirator. i'm disappointed that david gregory hasn't come out and said that was wrong. i apologize. >> michael: and i'm surprised too i guess in the totality of it all, that very few journalist have come to the defense of

glenn greenwald. whether you like him or not, he did good reporting here, and journalists should be backing somebody like that. are you surprised by that? >> i'm disappointed and i agree with you. i think glen greenwald made us all proud. they were digging, digging -- no matter who is in the white house, it is our job to keep probing to get to the truth, and you cannot truth any house, any government to just tell you the truth. they keep too damn many seekcretsecrets. they spin everything their way. and the american people wouldn't know that if we didn't do our job. >> michael: and we have never come in contact with such a secretive white house, certainly not in our lifetime. chuck schumer had some very

harsh words for vut tin this weekend. >> it seems to me that mr. putin is almost eager to stick a finger in the eye of the united states, and i think this -- this action putin allowing snowden to land in russia and then go somewhere else is going to have serious consequences for u.s./russia relationship. >> michael: i think they are overstating the international damage, what do you think of that? >> i do too. and look i think our -- our dealing with russia on what happens in syria is a lot more important than what happens to edward snowden. let's keep things in perspective. also want to point out something else, michael. at the briefing today, jay carney was asked whether president obama has called president putin to ask him to expel snowden, which is what he

was saying. and carney said -- he wouldn't tell us whether or not he made that call, but he said this case did not merit a call from the president of the united states to the president of russia. so if it's so important, why wouldn't obama call putin? >> michael: that's a great point. i'm so glad you reminded us of that, and so much today. bill press is the host of current tv's "full court press" every morning. thanks so much for being in "the war room" with us. coming up on the show it's stanley cup's finals time and the supreme court made like a hockey player and said yet the puck out of her on affirmative action. and then to florida, the next chapter in the trayvon martin saga commences.

later we love texas, we really really, really do, and we love the people of texas, we just think the state's republican-lead legislature has lost all contact with reality. it's "the war room" on a monday. we l be right back.

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>> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> michael: the supreme court made a decision not to make any big decisions today. in a 7-1 ruling the punted the affirmative action case back to the fifth circuit court of appeals. it they ruled the lower court did not review the affirmative action program clearly enough. abigail fisher claims she was rejected by the university of texas back in 2008 because she was white. here she is after the decision today. >> it has been a great privilege to see how our legal system works. the most important lesson i have learned is to stick by your

ideals even if it means personal sacrifice. >> michael: anthony kennedy wrote . . . ruth bader ginsberger said quote . . . >> michael: yeah, it was a bit confusing but that is always how i feel after these rulings come down. the court also agreed to decide whether the president violated the constitution when he bypassed the senate and made three appointments to the national labor relations board. they did not make a ruling on doma or same-sex marriage issue.

we're joining by "the huffington post" supreme court correspondent, mike sachs. thanks as always, mike, for joining us in "the war room." i love the matthew iglasias tweet, because that's what it is all about. guess what mike you are the lawyer we are asking today. can you explain fisher versus ut. >> yeah, the supreme court said the lower court did not review closely enough the affirmative action policy. they said they are using strict scrutiny. that means they were checking whether or not the affirmative action program was narrowly nay -- tailored opinion.

justice kennedy said it's not strict scrutiny and you know it. he became a imagine -- majority. and now it goes back to the fifth circuit, and the senior judge there was up for the seat that clarence thomas has back in 1981. on the 8-7 review he sides with the majority saying that the program passes muster under gruder. now he might say i don't like this affirmative action program, it's instruct down. >> michael: that's really, really interesting stuff. stuff you don't know if you don't have mike sacks on the

program. tell me, mike why was this such a strong ruling though. why did sotomayer and breyer join with kennedy? >> because i think if any affirmative action ruling comes back to the supreme court, what scrutiny means is it in the eye of the beholder. conservatives really just rejecting every affirmative action program as not meeting their narrow tailoring strict scrutiny review. regardless of the standard that is articulated, you'll see liberal divides over how one sees affirmative action. >> michael: yeah, that is interesting. the supreme court didn't have a sweeping ruling today, but does

this say something -- what we learned today say something about how the group is thinking now? >> yeah, perhaps. the other cases that were handed down today were 5-4 decisions, and they were pro-business cases, but they happen to fall under the radar when the case is handing down massive social issue decisions. so we might find similar squishy decisions, but i think we're more likely to see a sharper divide. with the voting right's case, they might say well congress you need to update your policies, your procedures your formula for finding out who is cleared. so congress it is back to you. which we know ultimately means

they instruct down the voting rights case. >> michael: yeah, because congress won't do a think about it. we went into this week thinking -- or i did -- i shouldn't bring you into the conversation -- but i went in thinking this could be a really historic american week in the courts. but is it possible that this is going to be schematic this week? >> it could be a bit of a fizzle out. >> michael: yeah. >> but ultimately what we're going to see is even at the most narrow, even if the court says they should never have taken a prop 8 case or they had no standing to appeal the decision that was against the state in the district court, then ultimately you'll still have prop 8 following in california. the bipartisan legal advisory

group out of the congress has no standing to appeal or sue on behalf of the president, you will sill have edie windsor's victory. >> michael: yeah, that's interesting. another way of sort of bringing down the lights a bit. the decision by the u.s. court of appeals upset decades of understanding about the power of the president. tell us about this case. >> the district courts or the circuit courts are split over what rationale to use on this and the d.c. circuit meant maximalist, interping the word the to mean recess appointments can only occur during access recession sessions only when it occurs during those recesses.

so that is a big reading of the. >> michael: yeah. >> and the other judge said let's not go that brood. instead let's say you can only have recess appointments between sessions, but the vacancies can occur in any which time and the court is going to sfig your out what to do with the word the and what the founders meant. >> michael: yeah, and it could be a real set back for the work of richard chordray. i want to quickly before you leave talk about some of the undercard today as it were. the supreme court decision which instruct a blow against women and minorities in the workplace. the court made it harder to sue employees under title 7 of the civil rights act. and then there was a little victory for environmentalists today. can you tell us quickly about those.

>> yeah, the first case say my colleague is harassing me. my colleague doesn't have power to hire and fire me only arleeonthat huffington can. that's where justice ruth bader-ginsberg in her defense, and the three so-called liberals on the court said congress it is in your court now, like we did with lilly ledbetter act. the court has extremely narrowly read title seven and we want to update it to make sure it is in effect. and it is up to congress update. well, as we know congress doesn't do anything. >> michael: all right. mike sacks you are like the

cliff notes of the supreme court. really appreciate. up next, immigration seems to be getting a little lost in "the war room" this week. wayne slater joins us with the latest right after this. >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> michael: has immigration reform inches along, the fight is getting louder. just minutes ago, the senate ended the debate on the border surge amendment. it would require 350 more miles of border fencing, 20,000 more

border agents and $4.5 billion versus of surveillance technology positioned all across the border. ofrjs the floor of the senate today, corker said this amendment should apiece everyone. >> i hope that people will look at this amendment for what it is. it's an opportunity for both sides of the aisle. for both sides of the aisle to succeed. for republicans to have those tough border-control measures that peopling want. on the other side of the aisle what people have pushed for is a clear path. they want to know, no we're not going to wait ten years and move the goal post let's have tangible goals that people can see. >> michael: he is from tennessee, not north dakota in case you are confused. this time pushback came from his own side of the aisle texas

senator john cornen who's own amendment was voted down last week. in a statement the sore loser said . . . it's not just the amendments contents that has some content riled up but jeff sessions proposed everyone slow down skip their 4th of july break and work on the bill. here is senator sessions. >> why is there such urgency to pass legislation of this importance by friday? i'm not aware that we have any big business after the july 4th recess. we could stay here through the july 4th recess for that matter. >> michael: you do have been in the senate long enough to know

that will never happen. joining us to break down today's developments is wayne slater thank you for coming on as always. >> great to be with you. >> michael: do they really need more time or are they just trying to stop the bill? >> they are just trying to stop the bill. when you know you have the merits and arguments on your side, you say let's argue the arguments and put it to a vote. when you know you don't have the arguments and votes on your ride -- side you say let's just wait. the senate as you said voted today on a crucial amendment, which essentially moves this thing forward. you'll see the full senate vote later this week, and then it's

up to the house. >> michael: yeah, the fact that then it goes to the house is a whole other conversation that we can have. but i believe it's going to get out of the senate and then john boehner will have his hands full once again. let's listen to the president. >> obama: you have a brood consensus all throughout the country, not just business leaders represented here today many of whom are immigrants themselves, many of whom have started businesses and now creating opportunity all across the country, but we're also seeing labor leaders, clergy people from all different walks of life saying now is the time to get this done. >> michael: if business and clergy are for the bill is the republican objection only that the president is for the bill as well? >> clearly that's been the

indication on almost everything so far. it is ironic to look and see -- republicans in the senate vote against something that would -- today's vote that would beef up the number of boots on the ground and add more fencing along the border and speak against business interest including the chamber of commerce that wants this bill. i think it's clearly what obama wants, and whatever the president wants we don't want. it's a strong appeal to the tea party faction in the end. it's likely to be doomed here in the senate as i said earlier. >> michael: as we said before too, though, this is a republican's job bill in essence, and you would think they would get behind that. you think it's essentially doomed in the senate, i don't think so -- >> i mean the bill will pass in the senate.

the effort to kill the bill is doomed. >> michael: i think they are going to get out of the senate. i think the effort is doomed. you have people who will vote against it who don't think what the country think. i don't blame them in a sense, that's what a house member does. if i were there, i would think i would do better than that but what is the strategy to get those votes in the house? >> well, you heard part of the rhetorical strategy today with ted cruz senator sessions and others who offered some sort of cover. this bill is too long. this bill is too complicated. there may be sneaky stuff in this, and most importantly it does not do an adequate job to secure the border.

that's catnip to tea party and very conservative voters saying this is just not good enough in terms of securing the border and if many of these people from down south are going to be coming across our borders despite this bill. and i have real questions about whether this is going to pass the house. look at what they did to the farm bill. so it's going to be a much tougher sell among those people who's districts are often white, conservative, tea party-minded directed, where they can wrap up enough votes i think in the house possibly to kill this thing by july 4th. >> michael: it sounds as many that's right. and the farm bill's failure, i think was a devastating sort of indication of the way that this

house will vote and what they will do to buck their leadership. >> and one of the extraordinary things about this you saw for a moment today in the senate a rare occurrence bipartisanship. a relative handful of opposition voters in order to get [ inaudible ]. i think once we get to the house, you are going to see more of the polarized partisan debate. >> michael: yeah, i don't think we have seen that since bill clinton was president. i can't think of that one time except honoring somebody in the senate. you brought up ted cruz. let's talk about the texas republican. he summed up his thoughts by writing, quote . . .

how does the cruz camp spend today's developments. he has already put chuck schumer's name in there. >> yeah, right. no, i mean they are saying -- sure -- we're still going to try to stop the thing later in the senate which is not likely to happen. we stood up to the good fight, and may have to rely on the more tea party-minded folks to stop this thing. look, he lost this think. but you get the sense as you listen to the debate certainly today and the week coming to today, that there wasn't anything reasonable that had the chance of passing both chambers that this minority of mostly republican senator were not going to vote for. they weren't going to vote for anything. they wanted to go home and talk to their constituents about how they were tough, tough, tough on

immigration come collection time. >> michael: that's a great point, waip -- wayne. i want to turn to governor rick perry might sign a bill banning abortions after the 20th week and limiting the types of doctors that could perform them. and would this eliminate perry from any kind of national consideration at this point? >> well the latest is i just left the senate, a couple of blocks from here. the latest is the democrats in a remarkable week have done everything they can as a minority party and with hundreds of pro choice people showing up to fill the capitol at an earlier hearing, and today at a house vote to slow the process down. the house finally voted for it today, the senate is having terrible trouble now. they are going to come back

later tonight when i don't think they have the votes. tomorrow is the last day of the special session to consider this bill. there's all indications that the democrats may be successful in slowing and ultimately killing this bill. but the remarkable story here is how many people showed up -- hundreds of people showing up in austin at the capitol, supporters sending pizza for all-night hearings and the house debated the abortion bill until 4:00 in the morning. it was sort of state sin's -- citizen's filibuster. and we don't know how it is going to turn out. the question is will this make him a reelectable candidate and

candidate for presidency >> michael: yeah. senior political reporter for the dallas morning news wayne slater, we appreciate your time. the killing of trayvon martin gripped the nation, and by the looks of it the trial of the accused killer do the same.

>> michael: the trayvon martin trial began today with some pretty audi house words from both sides. take a listen. [ censor bleep ] punks, they always get away. those were the words in that man's chest when he got out of his car, armed with a fully loaded semiautomatic pistol and

two flashlights to follow-on foot trayvon martin who was walking home from a 7-eleven armed with 23 ounce of arizona tea brand fruit juice and a package of skittles. >> michael: the 29-year-old zimmerman followed martin, confronted him and after an alleged alteration zimmerman shot him. despite the serious, serious nature of the charges against zimmerman, his defense opened the trial today in a not so funny way. >> i would like to tell you a little joke. i know how that may sound a bit weird. here is how it goes. knock knock? who is there?

george zimmerman. george zimmerman who? all right. good, you are on the jury. >> michael: the joke was followed by an awkward silence in the courtroom, apparently no one thought it was funny. but don west was making the point that he selected a jury which hadn't been influenced by the intense media coverage of this case. not funny or appropriate, but i guess the point is taken. joining me today to discuss both sides is paul henderson. welcome into "the war room." >> thank you. it's a pleasure to be back. >> michael: based on first impressions from today, which side, paul is going to have a harder time in the weeks to come? >> oh, i think for sure the defense is going to have a harder time if today was any

indication. you saw that joke coming out and falling flat. but if you are looking out into the audience and you see what is going on in that courtroom we're talking about a young black man that is dead. so people in the audience were crying and somber. and this is what the jury is sitting in the middle of and experiencing, so i can understand why the defense attorney may have tried to elevate the mood or change the perspective, but doing it with a joke like that diminished what everyone is there to do and the subject matter it just went horribly wrong and for that to be your very first impression of the context of the case and the evidence that is going to come out, it does not set a positive tone and makes the jury look at that individual differently. >> michael: yeah, that seems to me -- i mean basic malpractice is what i'm going to say.

zimmerman's defense, paul excused a couple of black women. now the jury is mostly white and all female. one juror called the moves asking for an arrest actually riots. >> i think this jury in particular might be inclined to be more sympathetic because it is a jury pool made up of women. when you look at women versus men, one of the things you have to ask yourself is what is their approach what is their perspective going to be, so i would think it would be natural to presume the women would be more sympathetic with the victim in this case. and i say that because i think women would feel more sympathy for a young dead teen versus a pool of individuals that would sympathize with behavior like

zimmerman's in this case. because this case is going to focus on what was zimmerman's behavior? so having a pool of women is going to work in favor of the prosecution, i think. >> michael: let's talk about that jury. a lot of information is being excluded from each side. including trayvon's facebook posts, and expert analysis of phone calls. was the judge correct in disallowing all of that? >> i think he was, and i'll tell you why. he is looking at what is going to be probative versus prejudicial. it was irrelevant given the circumstances of this case so this is a self-defense case. the only thing that matters in

this case is what zimmerman knew at the time of the confrontation, not may have been true or may have been difficult for him to deal with because this is a young black man. none of that is relevant only what he knew at the time of this incident. so that's why the judge is keeping out a lot of that information because it just is not relevant and the jury shouldn't be considering it, and zimmerman should not be considering it when they had the confrontation on that night. >> michael: right. let's talk about what will be considered, the rashcial aspect of it. >> it sets the frame for everything that is important in this trial in particular and while the judge says that you

can't use those two terms together, i think race is going to be an underlining context of everything that goes on in this case, and you see the prosecutor is allowed to talk about profiling, he just can't call it racial profiling and he is allowed to talk about what happened with zimmerman when he first initially contacted trayvon martin in the first place. all of these things buy into the whole discussion about race and these stereo types, which i think as the weeks and days go on, we're going to hear more and more evidence and testimony talking about these things just to prove the context that what zimmerman was doing on that night to see if his behavior was justified. >> michael: all right. paul henderson thank you so much. up next on "the war room," a quick break, and then brett ehrlich will track down the latest embarrassing social media

moments for your congressmen.

>> michael: folks it's time once again for some political trivia. earlier we discussed the amendment to the immigration bill. but who is this john hoeven guy other than looking like he could have been in a '70's band both americans have never heard of him before. he is dartmouth grad who followed his father to banking. he played on the ivy school golf team. he was elected to the senate in 2010, and was governor for ten years. and as a soon of how small the world of pal ticks is he defeated heidi heitkamp back in 2007. our politicians aren't early adopters of much but when it comes to social media, brett found that the saying better

late than never does not apply to them. maybe the saying should be never calm down. brett brett is talking now. >> handful of congress people have put on their blinkers and attempted to merge on to the information superhighway. let's see how they are doing. representative jeff duncan weighed in on kim and kanye's baby. tweeting . . . pretty funny, both the nsa and the empire have put him on a watch list. a handful of politicians have tweeted six-second videos on twitter's vine app. representative swawell became the first to post an actual

vote. wow. but my favorite web politician is darrell issa. check out his instagram profile. here he is either supporting child literacy or at some really kinky [ inaudible ] convention. and here he is with mohammed ali, look at how happy he is to punch a disabled man in the face. but he hasn't age addai since this photo was taken in the '80s. the coolest instagram profile on capitol hill though it is slightliless cool than if it was labeled issa issa, baby. i'm done talking now. >> michael: thanks brett.

"the young turks"s are next. now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> cenk: waz up, welcome to "the young turks" where anything could happen. is edward snowden in hong kong russia havana, ecuador don't now. neither does anybody else. fascinateing. abc report, go. >> snowden was booked for the 11-point an hour trip to havana. but as the plane pulled away from the gate, this is a picture of