angeles, as firefighters work to contain the blaze. why the weather is working against them. our top story here. 5:30 a.m. eastern time in new york city. we begin in boston, where the investigation into the marathon bombings continues to spread. now, sweeping up three other young men with their alleged connections to the attack. two conspiring. while the third was accused of making false statements. all friends of dzhokhar tsaranev. pete williams, with the details. >> reporter: the fbi says three days after the devastating bombing at the boston marathon, three college friends of the surviving bombing suspect, dzhokhar tsaranev, fearing he might have been one of the bombers, went to his college dormroom and found a black backpack containing empty fireworks tubes. they decided to throw it away. after searching the landfill,

agents found the backpack, containing the empty fireworks tubes that alarmed tsaranev's friends. bomb technicians say they believe that the bombs were made using explosive powder from the fireworks. the three appeared briefly in federal court in boston to face charges of obstructing justice. the three became concerned the night the fbi released pictures of the bombing suspects. >> somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers, or family members of the suspects. >> reporter: but investigators say instead of calling the fbi, with their suspicions, they did something entirely different. court documents say they texted to his friend, tsaranev, that he looked like one of the suspects. and that tsaranev responded, lol. then, texted, quote, come to my room and take whatever you want. barely an hour after the fbi released the suspect photos,

investigators say the three friends did go to his college dormroom. court documents say they decided to take the backpack with the tubes in order to help his friend, tsaranev, avoid trouble. and knew when he saw the empty fireworks, that tsaranev was involved in the bombing. the next morning, the fbi says, at the apartment of the two students from kazakhstan, the three men saw news reports, identifying their friend as one of the bombing suspects. they decided to throw the backpack away, court documents say, quote, because they did not want tsaranev to get into trouble. but a lawyer says his client was not trying to hide anything from the fbi. >> he did not know that those items were involved in a bombing or of any interest in a bombing or any evidential value. >> reporter: the fbi says earlier this year, they set off fireworks along the banks of boston's charles river. the two students told the fbi,

that a month before the bombing, tsaranev told them he knew how to make a bomb. >> pete williams reporting. joining us now, michael, it's hard to imagine there won't be anymore. but immediate additional charges for the three friends of dzhokhar tsaranev? >> no additional charges. we're going to get a probably cause hearing from one of them on monday. one piece of information that did develop since that -- since the complaint was released, if you read the compliant closely, they didn't just take the backpack from the room when they went to tsaranev's room. they also took a laptop computer. and then, the complaint is absent on what happened to that laptop computer. if you think about it from the fbi's perspective, that's probably the most crucial piece of evidence of all. they want to know, did tsaranev have contacts with others? who was he e-mailing, communicating with, in the days before the bombing?

well, we did ask the lawyer for the suspect here, and he told us that the laptop was turned over and turned over voluntarily when the fbi approached -- confronted them, after the bombing. and i think that's significant because it's hard to square turning over the laptop with part of this being part of a broader conspiracy plot to conceal evidence in this case because, as i said, it would have been among the most crucial evidence the fbi would have wanted. so, clearly, the behavior here of these kids was stupid and if as outlined in the fbi complaint, stupid and hard to defend. but it's hard to square the facts as we know them now, with this being part of a broader conspiracy and plot in which they were accomplices in the marathon bombing. >> it seems like we lifted the

stone and we're about to see if there's anything underneath it. many lawmakers see the marathon bombing is a factor in the debate over immigration. the public isn't quite as convinced. nearly six in ten say the boston attack and the immigration debate are mostly separate issues. 36% say the attack should be an important factor in the discussion. senator john mccain, a leading voice of reforming the system, says the arrest of the three more suspects in boston speaks to a larger issue at play. >> maybe it's part of immigration, overall immigration reform, we should look at the process of who is allowed in this country, under what circumstances. what is their situation and background? particularly from countries that have histories, such as dagestan and chechnya and others where there's been significant influence of radical islamic extremi

extremists. it seems to me, if these people are able to come and go, and as freely as sercertainly one of t brothers was, we have a system that needs some repair. >> the poll shows most americans aren't up to speed about the immigration bill. 38% say they don't know what they think of it. the events in boston raise important questions about civil liberties and how much ground americans are willing to give the government in the fight against terror. new numbers from cnn, "time," and opinion research, show 49% are not willing to give up liberties to curb terrorism. 40% say they're willing to give up some personal freedoms. a large majority, 81%, favor camera surveillance in public. that's up 11 points since 2006. but fewer, just 38%, are in favor of expanded government monitoring of our cell phones and e-mail. the percentage of people who oppose those pressures has jumped 13 points over the last

few years. the fallout refuses to go away from the benghazi consulate attacks. the fbi releasing photos of three men who may have been involved. the identities of the men, from the grainy surveillance photos are unknown. and the bureau is asking for the public's help in identifying them. they may have information on the raid. and some foe cos, the men appear to be carrying weapons. the fbi has not said if the men are suspects in the attacks that left four american personnel dead. secretary of state john kerry said the fbi is building cases on a number of persons of interest. u.s. officials believe at the time, this man was not a principal plotter. it's not clear what role, if any, he played. last week, house republicans issued a report saying the white house has been, quote, deliberately misleading, in its response to what happened that night. with new efforts to save gun

reform in congress, one of the original bill's authors is speak about the political climate that killed the background checks. pat toomey said many of his republican colleagues voted no, because they didn't want to give the president a political victory. >> i thought that we had settled on a really common sense approach. to achieve a consensus. i don't think we did because our politics have become so polarized. there's people on my side who didn't want to be perceived to be helping something that the president wants to accomplish simply because it's the president who wants to accomplish it. >> toomey later tried to walk back parts of his comments, saying it wasn't just senators, but republicans across the country, who has misgivings about the bill. now, there are suggestions immigration reform, also backed by the president, could face an equally bumpy road.

congressman jack kingston told "the new york times," there was a lot of washington talk about the gun bill's possibilities. but i never saw that reflected in the people at home. now, there's buzz about immigration reform. and that's not reflected, either. the department of justice will try to keep young teens from having access to over-the-counter plan b morning-after pills. in a move roundly criticized by women's health advocates, the obama administration is appealing a judge's order that lifts age limits on plan-b without a prescription. the current limit is 17. health and human services, katheri katherine over ruled. the judge ruled the move was political and ordered the drug be made widely available. now, to business. wall street looks to rebound after a triple-digit loss to start the month of may.

the major indices has dropped, as new economic data disappointed investors. how are we doing in london? >> we're looking for a little bounce on the u.s. markets this morning. this is after weak data that sent the markets south. we have the adp. the report on private sector jobs. this has been a strength in the u.s. economy. and we saw the numbers disappointing. 119,000 jobs created in april. that's fewer than the 150,000 the market had expected. it sets it up for disappointment tomorrow on the payroll number. in terms of the manufacturing sector, this was weak, as well. another fact foyer gauge slipping in march. the only upshot was in terms of auto sales. we saw a winning streak, from ford, chrysler and gm, posting some double-digit growth. this as people responded to extra promotions out there and low interest rates. the fed giving clarity to

investors, as well. it may em -- it may retract some of the stimulus. a lot of question marks out there. >> to put it kindly, jcpenney is a hot mess. now, they're apologizing. they've been switching people in charge. what's the latest with the retailer? >> well, the company is attempting to reengage with customers with an advertisement that's gone out on social media and will also get to national televisions. apologizing to customers. they have changed the ceo. they had an experiment for 17 months. this didn't work. it led to a move of introducing hipper, younger brands. and introducing lower prices across the board. it seems like this is going to be unwound. some of the older brands might come back. this is a question mark as to whether people will respond to the changes and whether the traditional audience will reengage. >> three months before back-to-school shopping. have a wonderful day. and finally, some sad news.

chris kelly, a member of the backwards pant wearing youth rap duo, kris krs has died. they became icons for 'jump." they sold millions of albums and touring with michael jackson. they were never able to replicate their early success. police suspect that kelly's death could be the result of a possible drug overdose. he was 34 years old. let us know why you're awake. we'll read the best responses a little later in the show. still ahead, what happens when you mix korean pop star psy and 85-year-old baseball legend tommy lasorda. all of the news from capitol hill that's fit to broadcast.

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have you seen these pictures yet? the wildfires from california. they burned through the night. hundreds of acres of wine country. they're going to continue the fire threat, today and through the upcoming weekend. it's only 35% contained. and in the west, all areas of the west, unusually dry for this time of year. looks like it's going to be a long wildfire season ahead.

typically the wildfires don't begin until june. the forecast, of course. the cold and the may snow, grabbing the headlines in the middle of the country. happy news out of minneapolis. you avoided the snow for the most part. it's snowing now, in portions of oklahoma, kansas, nebraska, iowa, minnesota and wisconsin. it's snowing in eight different states, the second day of may. and the worst of it is just to the east side of omaha. we have some areas that are going to pick up three or four inches of snow. north of des moines, around ames. the blue is the heavy snow just to the east of town. be careful, driving on interstate 94. the forecast goes, not expecting a lot of additional snow during the daylight hours. the worst of it is happening now. what a contrast it is. beautiful. we're talking 71, d.c. today. 74, new york city. while it's going to be 39 in kansas city today. and the windchill is 15 in denver. the midwest, going to have to

wait your turn. the east coast's turn for beautiful weather. now, to sports. and the nba playoffs, where things got interesting last night. knicks at home, trying to close out their series against the celtics. but boston had other ideas. jeff green scored 18. paul pierce and kevin garnett hooking up there, each adding 16. celtics silenced the new york crowd. huge road win. they forced game six in boston on friday. i wonder if this is a good time to remind knicks fans that haven't won a playoff series in 13 years. jordan crawford said something to carmelo anthony. and there's been bad blood between these two teams. anthony and garnett got into it. over to oklahoma city. kevin durant and the thunder, minus star point guard russell westbrook, trying to finish off the rockets. james harden lacked the energy

to make it through the morning shootaround. it didn't stop him. he scored 31 points. seven three pointers. houston, with a surprising win in oklahoma city. 107-100. now, it goes back to houston. they force a game six themselves. let's go to baseball highlights. the nats trying to avoid a tenth loss on the road against the braves. washington, ian desmond. two-run homer in the fourth. nice night for jordan zimmerman. in a 2-0 victory against the braves. it wasn't all good news for the nationals. you see it right there. all-star outfielder, bryce harper, something in the rib cage. he was taken out after this at-bat. and didn't return. hope they figure out what's wrong. need a little rest on the d.l. we'll find out later about the official word of the injury. and south korean pop star, psy, performed between innings at dodgers stadium monday night.

former dodgers manager, tommy lasorda, was sitting to the left of the screen. what's he looking at? not looking all that amused. by the dance routine. if he had a barnacle next to him, it would have been perfect. coming up at the top of the hour, the expanding criminal case in the boston bombings raises new questions about civil liberties and the immigration policy. the crew cuts through the developments, next. first, we've been waiting for this all morning. the politico wake-up call. what's driving the day. when "way too early" comes right back. ♪

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time for the politico wake-up call. joining us in the studio. good morning, gentlemen. what's the topic today? what's starting our day? >> obama. chicago comes to d.c. some of the best-known obama --

jenny le comp and are starting a firm in d.c. this is one of several firms, you can buy the obama secret sauce. corporations. other people who want to know how obama did what he did in his campaign, it's now available. >> obama being institutionalized in d.c. we think the commerce secretary could be named, penny pritser, who ran the fund-raising arm for the obama campaign in 2008. she famously complained last time around she hasn't been on air force one. >> and got results. >> and two weeks later, where was she? >> air force one. >> the gun bill failed. what worries democrats the most right now about the president's agenda? immigration? >> i think the thing that worries them most is something that happened many years ago, the health care bill. when you talk to democrats, they're extremely nervous about the ramifications of the health

care bill. >> the opt in/opt out things. >> a new poll out this week shows that 35% of americans support the new law. and people find it complex. and you have democrats -- >> some people. it is complex. >> and you find democrats going into the white house to complain about it. >> it's not called state care. it's obama care. that's whey we saw the president, saying they were trying to simplify the forms and cut the size. there's going to be bumps on the road ahead. the implementation is something that's going to be a worry. >> let's turn to the republicans. what's their worries now? what's on their agenda? >> they don't want immigration to come apart. and it looked like it was in a good place. >> you're saying for democrats, what if immigration falls apart for democrats? is it good for bad for them? or neutral? >> it would hurt republicans. republicans need that to deal with their demographic realities. that's why republicans say, we'll still probably come together. but there's some worries this

addition of a gay rights provision. marco rubio said that could undermind it. on sunday and monday, the heritage foundation is going to talk about the costs. they're going to push back on methodology. but republicans say they're going to try to fix this by making the metrics tougher, border security tougher. they have to do things to reassure conservatives. >> republicans got their clocks cleaned because they can't win the hispanic vote. they're really worried that once this bill gets to the house, they cannot pass it. you have jo have jack kingston in the capaps this morning. it's going to be a tougher sell than people think. >> they don't get points for trying. they need to deliver on this one. >> we'll see what comes next here. appreciate it so much. and still ahead, coming up on "morning joe," we're going to have a lot more information on

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why are you awake? john tower, answers, please. >> alex here. drive from new york city to niagara falls for uncle's new y falls. waking up early from my trip this morning. >> you can't say band camp any more. if you go to niagara falls do the foot bridge. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> welcome to "morning joe." it's 6:00 on the east coast. a live look at beautiful new york city. the sun coming up. time to wake up. good morning, thursday, may 2nd. with us on the set we have