country. you cannot distill this stuff out of the republican party. this is the republican party. if you kicked them out of your bedroom, they would have no idea where else to go. that does it for us tonight. we will see you again on monday. "weekends with alex witt" starts now. new prospects of war. yet another move by north korea that could lead the region and the u.s. on the brink. a live report ahead. the harris controversy. is it much ado about nothing? and why did the president have to apologize? the controversial morning after pill. a new judge's ruling stirs more debate. it involves girls under 17 years old. the rutgers scandal grows. where will it end? and what new have we learned? we're going to talk to a former assistant basketball coach there. good morning, and welcome to "weekends with alex witt." let's get to what's happening right now out there as we have new developments to share this morning in north korea.

it is now issued a warning to foreign diplomats there. pyongyang now says diplomats need to have evacuation plans at the ready, saying they can't guarantee their safety past april 10th. now this comes as north korean state media released new video of kim jong-un inspecting military drills last month. earlier this week, south korean military sources say the north moved two rockets to its east coast, perhaps preparing for a launch. a firing possibly toward japan or guam, where the u.s. has troops, could come with little warning. missiles are not believed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. they may not be armed at all. speculation about a launch is focusing on mid-april. last april 11th kim jong-un came to power. on april 12th, secretary of state john kerry is expected to visit the south. and then april 15th is the 101st birthday of kim il-sung, north korea's founder and also ground father of kim jong-un. nbc's richard engel is in seoul. >> north korea could have a missile launch during the kerry

visit, on a key anniversary, and while everyone is watching. it's a bit of showmanship here. but what if the u.s. tries to shoot it down? and what if we miss? >> two u.s. guided missile destroyers are already in position to shoot down any ballistic missiles launched by north korea. on wednesday, the u.s. said it was speeding up deployment of an advanced missile defense system to guam in the next few weeks. nbc's jim mick mick from the pentagon. >> reporter: in the unlikely hood of all-out war, u.s. cruise missiles, american bombers, and south korean warplanes would launch air strikes. north korea's nuclear and ballistic missile facilities would be prime targets. any ground war would be devastating. 700,000 north korean soldiers are dug in along the demilitarized zone. manning thousands of rockets, and long-range artillery aimed at the south. 20 million south koreans in and around seoul are in the cross hairs, well within their range. >> and today more south koreans

left north korea, the factory park where they work, four days after the north closed to the border to people and goods. meanwhile, a new report there "the new york times" says the obama administration is pressuring china to crack down on north korea. increase an american military presence in the region. nbc's pete alexander is at the white house. pete a good saturday morning to you my friend. what is the white house's strategy here? >> well, it's a good question right now. the white house had a conversation with the former ambassador to the republican of korea yesterday and he said he's very satisfied from the outside about how the u.s. is handling this. and our conversations with administration officials right now, they say they are taking this very seriously. that they view this as a significant threat. but for "the new york times" report this morning that you just spoke about a second ago we are learning a little bit more about a recent phone call from president obama to the new chinese president, who has only been in power for a short period of time. the chinese, in the past, frustrated america consistently in terms of our relations over north korea. but this conversation apparently

was an effort to brief the chinese in some detail about american plans to upside missile defenses and some other steps that are now being taking place to try to deter the young man who is being viewed as increasingly belligerent in this whole equation, kim jong-un, the young 28-year-old leader of north korea. and one thing that's important to note is that so far there has been no public or private protesting from china about what's happening here. which a lot of individuals who are experts on this issue believe that that shows that beijing has its own frustrations with north korea right now, and recognizes the potential to strain its relationship with the u.s. if it doesn't somehow support america's effort during this time. peter, can i ask you quick about the march jobs numbers? because they were pretty dismal. so as we look ahead, what are the obama administration's plans to get americans back to work? given the ongoing effects of the sequester? >> yeah, that's right. the sequester is one of the

items that the administration, the obama administration, blames for some of these not so good jobs reports. you just showed that number. only 88,000 jobs added right now. this is the lowest number of individuals in the workforce since jimmy carter was president. the unemployment rate dropping to 7.6%. only because a lot of people are dropping out. the white house insists that there's more progress, obviously, that needs to be made. they have been focusing on infrastructural needs and other efforts to help try to rebuild this economy, specifically, focusing on the construction industry. remember it was about a week ago that the president went down to miami, the port of miami there, touting that as one of the places of progress, and saying there have to be similar sites like that around america to help us grow construction, though, alex was one of the positive points if there was any yesterday, about 18,000 construction jobs added in the month of march. it's really unclear if this is anomaly -- an anomaly the number that we saw yesterday or if it's a part of the bigger problem in terms of the economy slowing

down altogether. >> okay. peter alexander at the white house. thanks very much. we have some more politics now to share as new this morning after criticism from both sides. president obama is defending the budget. he plans to send to congress wednesday. in his weekly address the president says his plan calls for a balanced approach to deficit reduction. >> we'll make the tough reforms required to strengthen medicare for the future, without undermining the rock solid guarantee at its core. and we'll enact commonsense tax reform that includes closing wasteful tax loopholes for the wealthy and well-connected. >> the proposed budget aims to reduce the federal deficit by $1.8 trillion over a decade. here are some key points. smaller cost of living adjustments to social security. $400 billion in cuts to medicare by reducing payments to health care providers. a payroll tax hike on high income medicare beneficiaries. and a new tobacco tax to pay for a universal pre-k program. meantime, president obama's apologized to california

attorney general kamal la harris for calling here the quote best-looking attorney general in the country. he made the comment thursday at an off-camera fund-raiser near san francisco. the president praised harris as being brilliant and tough and then added the comment about her looks. so joining me now, social reporter for "the washington post" erin blake and staff writer for the hill, elise. good morning to both of you. elise, i'm going to go with you first here, because let's get with what white house press secretary jay carney said on the president's apology. here that is. >> he called her, to apologize, to the distraction created by his comments. and you know, they are old friends and good friends, and he did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general's professional accomplishments, and her capabilities. >> so, conventional wisdom here, elise, did the president really need to apologize? >> i think that's a good question. it's possible that obama was just uncomfortable with what he said himself.

we know that he tends to be very careful in making comments like that. but i actually read this morning that there's some speculation that kamala harris could eventually join the obama administration and could even potentially be a supreme court pick this term. which seems like a long shot but if that's true, it makes sense why he would want to sort of repair what happened, and just be extra careful about it. >> okay. and aaron, this was just off the cuff remark, right? this wasn't part of a prepared speech or anything like that, right? >> yeah. and if it was for some reason, if somebody actually wrote these remarks and wanted the president to say them, i think that they'd probably be looking for a job right now. or maybe that they should be. you know, i think that this is, you know, he needs to apologize insofar as this narrative that was already out there about the white house. and that narrative is that it's somewhat of a boy's club. you know, we've had anita dunn the former communications director from the white house who had some comments in a book a few years back that basically said that it was a hostile workplace, or something to that

effect. she disagreed with the way those were contextualized. but there is this perception out there that the white house is a very male-dominated place and when you make comments like this, it's just not helpful. so the best thing to do is apologize, get past it, and move on to other issues. >> okay. as are we going to do that right now as elise, we have the president's budget to talk about. he's getting plaqflak from his party for proposed changes to entitlement programs. here's democratic congressman bass of california. >> he is coming up with cults, he's coming up with changes that, again, the democrats are not excited about. but let's see what the overall package is. i happen to believe that there's ways that we can find savings, there's ways that we can strengthen programs that are very important, such as social security and medicare without cutting benefits. >> so what is the president's strategy here? >> i think he wants to make sure that the american people are hearing him as a balanced president. this is the phrase we've heard over and over. he wants entitlement reform accompanied by tax increases.

and he's trying to go straight to the people in order to avoid all of this sort of back and forth in washington that can get so confusing. so, i think that the president is also planning to meet with congressional republicans again at another dinner. that's another sign of outreach. so it's possible that, you know, this is his strategy and he's really sticking to it. >> do you think, aaron, politically speaking, this puts the president in a better position with republicans? because he can argue within that he's compromising. >> yeah. it's a really interesting strategy. because during his first term, this is kind of the president that we saw. he tried to be more middle of the road. he tried to reason with republicans. and then, you know, we had the fiscal cliff debate and he basically went more to the left and said, you know, meet me in the middle. in this case, he's again kind of trying to start out in the middle. the question is whether republicans believe that he's actually meeting them in the middle or whether they see this as kind of a starting point. i think it was chris van hollen, the house budget committee ranking member who said that,

you know, i think obama believes this is a compromise, but republicans are going to view this as a starting point and they're going to want obama to move even more towards them in this negotiation. so i think the strategy for the white house right now is to emphasize that this is a deal that is very similar to one that was very close to being agreed to when it came to the fiscal cliff. and that republicans should view it as such. >> yeah. let's get with the jobs numbers, elise, because only 88,000 were added last month, which is way below the estimates of 200,000. democrats are going to blame the sequester, for lack of job growth. republicans are going to blame the expiration of the bush tax cuts for higher income earners. where's the truth? >> it's a good question. i don't think there are any winners here, alex. the obama administration was definitely on the defensive yesterday when these numbers came out. nobody sees this as a positive report. and with congress coming back next week from easter recess, we're going to see tons and tons of rhetoric surrounding this jobs report, especially with the president's budget coming out. on the other hand, you know, it's possible that we're seeing something of a spring slump.

we hear that term thrown around a lot. so it's possible that we could see, you know, better numbers next month. but it's not going to be pretty in washington this week. >> do you think these numbers, aaron, give republicans more leverage in arguments against the president on the economy? >> i'm not so sure. i think that both sides have a compelling or at least justifiable case to make. republicans blame the tax cuts, democrats blame the sequester. i'm not sure this is going to affect the upcoming budget debates too much, because, you know, both sides obviously have their opinions about tax cuts, and about entitlement reforms, and i don't think those are going to change given one month bad job reports. we'll have to see how this pans out over the next series of months before people are going to draw some really concrete conclusions. >> okay. aaron blake, elise vieback, thanks guys, good to see you. so did the president go too far with his comments about kamala harris or are people overreacting? you can talk to me on twitter. now, to weather. today marks the beginning of peak bloom for washington, d.c. cherry blossom trees. that's later than expected because of the lingering cold.

nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer is joining me with more on what we kex expect across the country. good morning, dylan. >> good morning, alex. the weekend finally here. a lot of people waiting for a warm-up. and in the plains it will warm up pretty nicely. we're going to see that slowly spread eastward as we go into tomorrow, as well. 57 degrees to start off the day in kansas city. in the northeast it's pretty chilly. temperatures this morning only in the mid 30s. we even have some snow to talk about. it's isolated to extreme parts of northern minnesota and wisconsin. you can see it is moving to the north and east. but back towards fargo we do have more sleet and freezing rain type situation. that is going to develop into more snow for parts of central and northern minnesota. where we could end up with about 3 to 6 inches of snow in those areas. but that's really the only place we are going to see the snow. elsewhere, we could see some scattered showers and storms today in kwhaug. 64 degrees. we'll top out in the 40s and 50s in the northeast and up into new england. 55 today in washington, d.c. but mid70s in the plains.

then watch as tomorrow, it will start to spread eastward, we're looking at a high of about 67 degrees in washington, d.c. we should top out in mid 60s in new york city on sunday. some showers and storms with a frontal system that will move through the plains states. we'll keep an eye out for the severity of those storms on sunday. kansas city, tomorrow, should top out in the lower 70s. so the warm air is coming and it will continue to spread eastward as we get into the weekend, and early next week, too. >> can't wait for that, dylan, thank you. the impact on college basketball in the wake of the rutgers university scandal. tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier.

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let's go to our three big money headlines right now. and we're going to get right now to regina lewis who is going to join us from washington talking about flat-lining. less than zero, and bad hand. so joining me this morning with this consumer breakdown, regina. let's start with the first one

up here. dispiriting jobs report for the month of march. yikes these numbers weren't good. >> yeah, to say the least, alex. adding 88,000 jobs is way under what was expected. leading up to this, there was talk, will it be below or above 200,000. so to come in under 100,000, needless to say, to your point, was very disappointing. overall unemployment fell to 7.6%. the reason that happened is people taking themselves out of the job market. some of that is demographic. i move in with an elder child, we head to florida. some of it is, frankly, giving up. and that's not a great sign. so to put it in perspective right now, we're on pace to add 2 million jobs this year. this time last year the pace was 2.4 million. and of course, the biggest, most relative figure of all, we still have 3 million less jobs total than we did before the start of the recession. >> which of the sectors that gained jobs or lost jobs? >> well, this is very interesting. manufacturing was down. that's concerning because a lot of people were banking on a manufacturing renaissance.

that would have been very helpful for midtier jobs. remembering we tend to have high-skilled labor. lots of low-skilled labor. people are trying to manage that middle where manufacturing jobs can help with that. so that being down is concerning. also, government jobs down. now they were down steadily as they have been for awhile. so, keep in mind, when you look at these numbers, they may not have fully factored in the sequester yet. so we could be in for a worse month looking ahead. on the upside, construction is up. and keep in mind, jobs is a lagging economic indicator. so, housing starts, if they come back, it fuels retail. when is the last time you went out and bought garbage cans and refrigerators and flower boxes. it's probably when you moved or got a new home. so if housing comes back, retail may come back and there's a lot of jobs in retail. >> it is concerning because economists do expect the jobs after sequestration to be backloaded towards the end of the year. oh, well. let's talk about the hurricane sandy effect. dealing a really bad hand to the atlantic city casinos.

>> yeah, it really has. in fact, their profit is down 27%. a big number. and this just made a bad scenario, frankly, alex, worse. because atlantic city's profits have been down for seven straight years. ever since in maybing new york and pennsylvania, they opened the doors to casinos there. so they just didn't have scarcity on their side. then during hurricane sandy on average the casinos were closed for five to seven days each. you can imagine that takes a big chunk of your profits right out of that particular quarter. so it will be nice to see if it can be part of a resurgence of atlantic city, perhaps tie-ins with nearby beaches like wildwood crest for example. they can all come back together. >> let's see what happens over the summer. regina lewis, many thanks as always. in today's one-minute playback, making predictions for the final four in college basketball. jimmy fallon knows who's going to win because last night he turned to late night puppy predictors for the answer. he rounded up four puppies. each representing a team. the first pup to the kibble wins

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i have confidence knowing that if i take to ford it's going to be done correctly with the right parts and the right people. get a free brake inspection and brake pads installed for just 49.95 after rebates when you use the ford service credit card. did you tell him to say all of that? no, he's right though... a federal judge in new york has ruled that the emergency contraceptive pill, also known as plan-b, can now be sold over the counter without any age restrictions. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is joining us from washington with a breakdown. pete? >> alex, this legal dispute has been going on for eight years. and the judge finally said, enough. the morning after pill commonly known as plan-b originally came on the market in 1999, and was available then only by prescription. the fda eventually said it could be sold without a prescription to women 17 years and older, but only sold at a pharmacy, and not over the counter.

in 2011 the fda decided to lift all those restrictions, but kathleen sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, intervened and blocked the order saying it would be too risky to let girls as young as 17 buy the pills. now the federal judge, edward korman of brooklyn has ordered the fda to lift all the restrictions within 30 days. here's a quote from his order. this case is not about the potential misaccuse of plan-b by 11-year-olds. these emergency contraceptives would be among the safest drugs sold over the counter and the number of 11-year-olds using these drugs is likely to be, he said, minuscule. the judge said the obama administration was driven by election year politics, not by science, or the law. the justice department says it's considering its appeal options and will act, in its words, promptly. but if there is no appeal, then any store that wants to put plan-b out on the open shelves could do so. drugstore, convenience store, any store. the pills would no longer have to be sold behind the pharmacy

counter, and women's groups say that is the most important result of this ruling. making the pills available more widely and around the clock, at 24-hour stores. back to you. >> okay, pete, thank you so much from washington. well, the politics behind the fight over the budget. how will that play out? also, we want to hear more from you. please head over to facebook and search "weekends with alex witt" and like us, won't you? we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪

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and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. we've shared what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. bp's also committed to america. we support nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." rising tension along the border separating north and south korea amid new threats by the north. for more let's go to nbc's richard engel joining me live from seoul, south korea. richard, good evening your time. i know you've been right there on the dmz border separating north from the south. can you describe what you've been seeing and the mood there? >> the mood here in south korea is remarkably calm, even up in

the dmz, which amazing to think about. you have the north, which has thousands of artillery pieces pointing at south korea. it has an army of 700,000 strong. it has a leadership that is talking about using nuclear weapons to destroy not only the united states, but also any adversary of north korea. yet the people here, even the troops right up on the border, are remarkably calm. at the dmz we saw tourists who are still going there. not many tourists, but some who are going up to look over into north korea, take pictures at the dividing line, this no-man's-land between the two countries. i spoke with some people today who thought that it's really just too terrible of a prospect to want to consider. that people in this country, one, have heard threats like this in the past. but, two, the idea of what a conflict really would mean for south korea is so horrible that they prefer to just ignore it and go on with their daily

lives. so you're not seeing a lot of tension here in this country. >> something that's interesting from north korea, coming from there, telling various countries you need to start getting your diplomats out of the country, or at least have evacuation plans, because we cannot guarantee your security past this coming wednesday, april 10. what's behind all these warnings and the status of these embassies? >> there is some -- well so far there are no indications that any diplomats have left. that's according to the south korea news agency today. this is -- there is some showmanship here. and the -- the north when we talk about a missile launch, i don't think people -- i hope people don't think we're talking about launching of nuclear weapons or launching of some sort of massive assault. what the perception is is that this will be a show of force, that the north might launch one, maybe two missiles, splash them in the water around guam, or

japan, and get the world all riled up, and do it potentially while secretary of state kerry is in town. so launching one of these medium-range missiles over the american secretary's head certainly would get the u.s. attention. that's -- that's the assumption of the kind of thing they can do but you don't really know. and it is a country that has -- that has weapons. within this context of making all the threats, north korea said, we also want to let our foreign diplomats who are resident in pyongyang know that after the 10th, that's roughly the window when we think this test might be carried out, that we can't guarantee your safety. implying that there will be a response from the united states, or from other countries, and that pyongyang would be a victim, and that it's not responsible for what happens because the outside world, the outside aggressors, the hostile people who want to destroy north korea can't be trusted to

protect even diplomatic lives. that's the line that they're taking. >> it is an extraordinary time. we thank you very much for the live report, richard from seoul, south korea. let's go to washington now and this morning the president is defending his budget plan, which is already getting criticism from republicans and democrats alike. the president says he's trying to find middle ground. >> this is the compromise i offered the speaker of the house at the end of last year. well, it's not my ideal plan to further reduce the deficit, it's a compromise i'm willing to accept in order to move beyond the cycle of short-term, crisis-driven decision making. >> joining me now, john harwood, chief washington correspondent for cnbc, also political writer for "the new york times." good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> so, with the president putting social security and medicare cuts on the table, which some on the left are clearly not happy about, can you analyze the political calculation there? >> well, the white house is hoping that the complaints that they're hearing from the left, from liberals, about reduced

growth of social security payments, money coming out of medicare and there might be more to come, will convince republicans that the administration is, in fact, bargaining, is willing to challenge the interests of their party to try to get republicans to do the same thing on the issue of some additional tax increases, and we're going to have to see whether that can happen. i did have a conversation this week with eric cantor, the house majority leader, said, well if the president shows -- proves that he's serious about wanting to cut entitlements, what about taxes? he said, well then we'll see. now, in republican circles, that counts as a very bold statement, and he later backed away from it. but the point is, they're trying to initiate a conversation that would produce some version of that grand bargain that we've tried -- that washington has tried for the last couple of years, and failed to achieve. >> but how tough a spot do the republicans find themselves in, john? because if they recuse any new revenue that the president proposes, even as he's putting

social security and medicare cuts out there on the table, does that have the effect of making them look unreasonable? >> that's certainly the hope of the administration. and we know that if you look nationally at the images of the two parties, democrats get a lot more credit, and the president gets more credit for being willing to reach out to the other side and strike a deal. republicans are a little bit isolated in that way. and they're less -- their views on this issue are less popular with the american public. the american public says it wants a balanced plan, which is what the administration has called for. but, because of the way that house districts are drawn, many if not most house republicans don't face much electoral risk from going against what's the national public opinion, what counts is the opinion in their district. because republicans are going to likely be in power for the next four years in the house of representatives, president obama's not going anywhere, they do need to work together, because both of them have their reputations at stake. >> okay. john harwood, your reputation is stellar, as always. thank you very much for joining us.

>> you bet. >> in this week's office politics, author and co-creator of the daily show liz winstead as a comedic and creative force, liz works out of her home, where we spent some time with her this week. in this episode, we discuss her midwestern catholic roots and get her thoughts on the new pope, bringing america to the airways and what prompted her to create the phenomenally successful "daily show." >> i like to say the genesis of "the daily show" happened about four years before "the daily show" actually happened when the explosion of cable news happened, and you know, i kind of watched a war unfold with graphics and a theme song on another network and i thought, are they trying to sell me a war or putting on a war? which led me to be a skeptic about media, in my act, in my writing, in everything, in how i

took in information, how i responded to everything, and then cut to i was working on jon stewart had a syndicated talk show, and that got canceled. jon went off to do deal with david letterman's company and our bosses got the job at comedy central. and they call in nick berg and i and said we want to do a show that's on every day, do you guys want to do it? i was like oh, my god, i've never really done much tv but this is my dream show you're offering me as my first real show. yes yes, and oh, my god i have no idea what i'm doing. the one thing i said was we do a show to make it fresh, unlike weekend update or unlike laugh in or other shows that have done social commentary i wanted to show itself to be a character. i wanted to use the conventions. i wanted it to look like if you turned the sound down, you wouldn't know if it was -- >> could you have envisioned where it is today? i mean is this, is this what you saw as being being? >> i don't think you could ever

envision something becoming such a force. and i also couldn't envision a media on some levels becoming so derelict with which then a show could thrive. but knowing i had sort of laid this foundation, and knowing that when i left and jon officially jon stewart took over, i was like oh, ply god he is so talented and so amazing that he is going to take it to levels that are great and unknown, and he has. >> do you also cofounded air america? >> i did. >> why do you think it ultimately did not survive? was it timing? or what? >> it ultimately didn't survive because there was kind of creepy people that started it who didn't have the money they said they had. >> that's okay. >> he agrees. when you look at the network as a whole, the ratings were great. there was kind of a nuttiness that happened in there, when you

had the number one podcast amazing, rachel maddow and he had a show with public enemy, al franken at noon, gene garr aftero in the evening, we had a lineup of people who are very successful now. >> i know you're raised catholic, and you must have thoughts on the pope, and do you hope -- >> when you said that? much of your ears are going, i could have sworn she was a jew. so let's let that soak in for a minute. >> one moment. not a jew. >> interesting. okay. >> now go on to catholic girl. so the pope though, do you have a lot of hopes for him, or because you're a comedian and you can be cynical do you just kind of think it's going to be more of the same? >> yeah, i don't know. i mean, it's pretty awesome to see a pope, you know, washing the feet of prisoners, and women. i mean that's pretty -- any time there's a jesuit i have more hope than normal. i don't see the catholic church embracing my basically life philosophy on, you know, marriage equality, or you know,

reproductive rights. i -- i just don't see that, you know. every religion was founded basically by a man. so i'm not sure what they're looking out for the best interests. >> we're going to have more of our conversation today at 12:00 noon. we talk about the line one doesn't cross when writing satire and her obsession with twitter. this week former south carolina governor mark sanford was in her crosshairs. we're going to get her take on that at noon. as north korea threatens missile attacks a new gallup poll shows conditional american support for military action. 55% of americans say the u.s. should use military force if north korea attacks south korea. 34% say no. the u.s. should not take military action to defend the south. in a moment, what are the chances north korea's tough talk will lead to an attack? state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years,

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guarantee their safety past april 10th, telling them to make their evacuation plans now? at the same time, south korea's reporting that earlier this week the north moved two rockets to its east coast, potentially preparing for a launch. joining me now, former white house middle east adviser ambassador mark ginsberg and msnbc military analyst, retired army colonel and medal of honor recipient jack jacobs. good morning to both of you. you're exactly who i want to talk to about this, because ambassador ginsberg, this morning from north korea that foreign diplomats should prepare evacuation plans, what do you make of that? >> i think that in the end we have to take something seriously here, because i just spent two weeks in china, and talked a lot with the chinese, that i've met, and they hatched their own theories about what's going on. remember there's an important anniversary coming up on april 15th. it's not tax day in north korea. it's actually the 100th anniversary of the birth of kim jong-il, who is the found iing

father of kim jong-un. always on that date you can expect some sort of action, provocation, some type of demonstration of major military strength by the north koreans and the chinese believe that the main reason why they're ratcheting up the pressure, alex, is because the chinese vote in favor of a u.n. security council resolution supporting sanctions, more economic sanctions. and that sent shockwaves through north korea's ranks. and there's also likely a power struggle going on within north korea, because this untested leader is rocking the boat in ways that we may not quite understand yet. >> hmm. so, colonel, you hear the ambassador giving the reasons for why this could be imminent. something happening soon. what -- what conversation is going on insides military right how? what are the big concerns? >> well, at two levels. first, at the tactical level,

got to make sure that all the troops in the unlikely event that there is some sort of assault, they're prepared for chemical, biological and radiological attack. that they can make limited objective counterattacks, in case the north koreans come across the border. and they have to protect themselves and the koreans they're with. so that's at the tactical level. at the strategic level, just in case they have to respond on a strategic level, one of the targets they have to make sure that we know exactly what targets we're going after, command, control, communications, and at what point we're actually going to use military force. what do the north koreans have to do in order to engender our going after the north koreans, and they've established that. they keep talking about it and the line keeps shifting from time to time. >> first part of your answer, though, potential, chemical, biological, nuclear warfare. whether small or whatever calculating degree, does the u.s. military believe pyongyang has that capability? >> oh, they certainly have the

capability. the question is whether or not they're going to use it. we assume they're not going to use it. but if you assume they're not going to use it and you don't prepare for it if they do use it you're in big trouble. yes, they have the capability. it's unlikely that they're going to do anything like that. but against that possibility we have to be ready. >> ambassador, you did mention your recent trip to china after which you wrote having ratcheted up the tensions to such a degree the chinese believe kip jong-un will lose face with his generals and with the public unless he provokes some sort of localized, yet containable military action against a south korean target. i mean this almost makes a strike from north korea seem inevitable, no? >> we have to recall, alex, that there have been these types of attacks on south korea in the past. in the last several years they had actually hit a south korean naval vessel and killed over 45 south korean sailors. and then they also even a little bit period before that they actually come barded with artillery shells, and inhabited south korean island. so, we have seen that they've

actually taken military action against south korea, and the south koreans have not responded. so, i'm concerned that the current leader, kim jong-un has actually backed himself into such a corner that he's almost compelled to have to demonstrate some act to show his defiance of china, the united states, and south korea. >> where is the line at which the u.s. prompts military action? i mean, what we've seen before, these failed rocket launch attempts that don't really go anywhere but splsh down in the ocean, is that something because of jitters they could have finger on a button, they see the rocket go up, and we try to hit it? >> i don't think that's going to happen. even the kind of attack the ambassador just talked about, which the north koreans have already done, particularly attack at sea, for example, on south korean vessels, i don't think that's going to do it either. it will have to be attack across

the border, on the ground, population centers where civilians are killed. or if americans are attacked and killed. >> but what if, because guam is conceivably within the ranks of the missile that they have, correct? >> yes. >> we have u.s. troops there. what if they're going there? >> yeah, i think that the -- if they launch a missile in that direction, it will be only in that direction. it's unlikely to hit it at all. and if it does, it will be short, and i don't think there's going to be any damage. if it does -- if they do attack guam, very, very unlikely, expect an american response of some substance. >> okay. colonel jack jacobs, ambassador marc ginsberg, gentlemen, thank you both so much. who is supporting the fired rutgers basketball coach after this shocking video? a former rutgers coach weighs in. things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early,

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rutgers athletic director tim pernetti is the latest university official forced out, rocked by the scandal because of

this video which shows mike rice hurling gay slurs, btd to mention basketballs at players. joining us is kevin blackstone and former rutgers' assistant coach, jim with nbc college basketball analyses. good morning to you. you were an assistant basketball coach at rutgers. this is well before this video was taken. given me your reaction. >> i think when you look at this situation, it's an unfortunate situation. it's one where tim pernetti was honorable. he put this on his shoulder and he stuck up for his first tier, mike rice. unfortunately, what you saw in his resignation letter is what we've been hearing from the basketball community. he wanted mike rice to go back in the winter. could not get it done with the university officials. >> you bring this up. i want to bring the quote, specifically, here's what he writes in this letter, my first instincts when i saw the videotape of coach rice's

behavior was to fire him immediately, however rutgers decided to follow using university lawyers, human resources, professional and outside counsel. the consensus was that university policy would not justify dismissal. the word scapegoat comes to mind here. >> he was a scapegoat. not because he was not well liked. >> students are outraged. >> rutgers alumni, a lot of people are outraged there because of president barchi coming out yesterday and saying that it was not until tuesday night at 10 p.m. that he viewed this videotape. i don't think you'll see future heads roll the way people are speculating. he has a lot of support by state politics. governor christie came out and supported him. he's part of the big participate shinn between rutgers university and the medical schools throughout the state. i think the president is okay. >> he's only been there a few months. kevin, you're in atlanta, where the basketball world is

gathering for the ncaa finals. what's the general sentiment about this rutgers scandal there? >> well, i happened to run into a guy by the name of mark macon, start of temple university, in the nba. we were at the airport, chatting about it, and he was absolutely stunned. couldn't believe it happened. there's a great background that creates these scenarios in college sports. you touched on it earlier. it's about all money. this is an unholy marriage between for-profit billionaire corporation, ncaa, and what is a noble pursuit for higher education. you know be a lot of colleges are in a lot of trouble, which is why no one is without fault here. >> but can i ask, is there a consensus on where the line is? can coaches scream their heads off, you know, push players or

not? because what's interesting -- >> they can. >> they're saying, look -- >> that's the stockholm syndrome. an african-american man wrote the words to dixie. look, the problem is coaches can do this. they can get away with it. the reason they can do it and get away with it because college student athletes, as ncaa likes to call them, have absolutely no rights. they don't believe they have rights. they don't believe they can band together and bring about change. i went to northwestern university. in the early 1980s a number of football players got together, black football players, and went to the university about the treatment they were receiving they thought was unfair. the college responded at the end of the season and fired athletic director and coach. in 1979, san jose university, about ten of the basketball players there decided they weren't going to play for coach bill barry. at the end of the year he was

dismissed. >> yeah. >> but the problem is that these students don't realize the rights they have -- the power that they have in term of being a union. and they have absolutely no rights within the ncaa. >> you know what, guys, unfortunately, i have to make this the last word. thank you for your time. that's a wrap of this hour. straight up "up with chris hayes." we're all set to bundle your home and auto insurance together. i'll just press this, and you'll save on both. [bell dings] ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, llllet's get ready to bundlllllle...

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