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 national affairs editor for new

york magazine john heilemann. you want to watch your face? >> a company in boston called gillette. have you ever heard of them? >> come in here and it starts out of the chute. >> i think he is thigpen. >> you know what today is? happy birthday, mika! >> happy birthday, mika! >> yea, yea! >> it's a good day. >> i'm 46! >> 36. >> no, 46. >> 46. >> mika? >> 46. >> you're still getting carded. that is like when i was little that seemed to be really old but that is okay. it feels pretty good. looks pretty good too. mike barnicle is here as well. msnbc contributor. so, willie, doing okay? we got pat toomey saying of his

republican colleagues what i was afraid to say when this gun vote went down. i kind of felt it and i thought this is going to sound so partisan and so not vitamriolic but a little too adhering to my own world view. i think it was stunning to some in the party who let everybody down here. a cdc report is coming up and we will report on how much sugar we consume and how bad that is for you. it's just unbelievable when you think about how much sugar is put in the food that we eat that we don't even know has it in there. >> inappropriate because your book is coming out next week. >> book comes out next week looking at the science behind the addictive ingredients in most of the food we eat which would back up the claim that obesity is a science issue. three other young men swept

up for the surviving suspect in last month's terror attack. two of the individuals have been charged with conspiring to obstruct justice while the third was charged with making false statements. all three who are considered to be close friends of dzhokhar tsarnaev. nbc correspondent pete williams has 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 tsarnaev fearing he might be one of the bomb evers went to his college dorm room and found a black backpack and decided to throw it away. agents found the backpack containing the empty tubes. federal bomb tech nerks believe the marathon bombs were made using the explosive powder from fireworks. the three charged phillipos of came ridge and two men from

kyrgyzstan charged with obstructing justice and lying to investigators. the fbi said he the three became concerned when the fbi relieved pictures out there. >> somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, coworkers, 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 kadyrbayev said he looks like one of the suspects and dzhokhar said come to my room and take whatever you want. barely an hour after the suspect photos were relieved the three friends did go to his college dorm room. they said kadyrbayev decided to take the empty backpack to help his friend dzhokhar avoid

trouble. the nerc moaning the fbi says at the new bedford apartment of the two students from saks thkazakh they identified one of their friends. they decide to throw the backpack away because they didn't want tsarnaev to get in trouble. >> he did not know that those items were involved in a bombing or of any interest in a bombing or any other value. >> reporter: they say they set off fireworks along the banks of boston charles river and the two foreign students told the fbi a month before the bombing, tsarnaev told them he knew how to make a bomb. >> that was pete williams, nbc's pete williams reporting from washington. joining us from washington, nbc news national security analyst and former director of the national counterterrorism

center, michael leiter. in boston, nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isikoff. michael isikoff, start with you and what they got out of these persons of interests' homes and out that i have possession, including the computer which could be a treasure atroptrove information? >> right. that would have been all of the evidence in that dorm room of tsarnaev and probably be the one of most interest to the fbi because it would let agents trace who he has been in communication with, who he has been e-mailing with, what web sites he has been looking at before the bombing and would reveal the most information about whether they were accomplices. i think it's worth noting this affidavit is a little confusing in some respects because it details how these three men went

to the apartment that night. they took the backpack and they say they took the laptop computer and then it's silent about what happened to the laptop computer. it describes how the backpack was thrown away in the trash. and that the fbi later recovered it. i e-mailed last night with the lawyer for the first student, kadyrbayev and said what happened to the laptop. he said it was turned over and it was turned over voluntarily by kadyrbayev when he was confronted by the fbi. we don't have confirmation by the fbi on that. if that is true it undercuts the idea that this was part of some sinister blot in which these three individuals went there to conceal important evidence from investigators. clearly what they did, if as alleged in the complaint, is stupid and indefensible in light of the enormity of the crime if they had any reason to believe at all that tsarnaev, their

friend, was the bomber, no justification for what they did, but it's hard to square the facts as alleged here and particularly with this new information about the laptop with the idea that there was a large plot here and that they were acom polickoccomplices in >> we will let the investigation play out for itself. it's interesting that they removed things like a laptop. it seems like they couldn't have been doing these things in a vacuum with no knowledge of anything. i'm not sure stupid is enough of an explanation. >> as michael isikoff pointed out in that affidavit, they talk about some texts they received from tsarnaev said take what you want from my room sort of cryptically. michael leiter, what will the investigators -- they saw fireworks in a backpack, they recovered those and now the laptop. at what point do you think they made the conclusion these guys were working after the fact and they were not, in fact, working

on the planning of the bombing? that is the first thing you think when you see the report three more people have been arrested. oh, my goodness they had accomplices. how do you wade through all of those facts? >> as a former federal prosecutor, frankly, he take this set of facts pretty easily to a jury. you've got a group that knows that these guys are involved in the bombings. sees materials that really clearly stand out as potentially be being involved in the fireworks and so that after the fact, assistants to them i think you got a strong case for object instructioni -- obstruction of justice. it's a pretty strong case. i think if you're the fbi right now, they don't see any evidence which suggests there was before the fact assistance but exactly why they want to get through that computer. they want to look at those e-mails and they want to understand you have the statement that he had mentioned. he knew how to make a bomb before the attack. was he talking about other things and was he talking about

what happened in terms of his brother's travel to russia? those are all of the pieces you put together to build a direct or case that there was knowledge before the fact even if we don't see it yet. >> there is also -- this is a fairly predictable turn of events in the course of this investigation and in every investigation you find out what surrounds the principle act committed. you find out who these people were in contact with, the two brothers, who their friends were, what the contact was. and mike leiter, is it not the case in this case, as well as most cases, that the affidavit that has been read now, it's online, anyone can read it, is the thinnest of outlines that the fbi provides. there is no doubt much more information that they have not required to put in the affidavit during the course of this investigation that is ongoing. >> mike, you're exactly right. as a prosecutor, all you really generally want to put in these sorts of charging documents is

what you need, the bare elements of the case. and you don't want to put everything in there because you don't want to disclose that to the defense attorneys until you have to. so this is the beginning. that leads to the charging, that leads to the conversation with the defense attorney and that almost always in cases like this leads to the defendant saying, well, let me tell you everything else so i can get a better deal. so i expect over the coming days all of these individuals will be having very extensive conversations with investigators. >> michael isikoff, thank you. michael leiter, stay with us a bit if you can. >> of course. >> 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 some civil liberties to curb terrorism and 40% say they are willing to give up some personal freedoms. why are you laughing, heilemann?

>> if that is the way the question is phrased, it doesn't tell me anything. >> you don't like the poll? >> i don't like the question. give up some liberties or some? >> a large majority favored camera surveillance in public. does that help you? >> yes. >> it is up. he is more satisfied now. far fewer, just 38% favor expand monitoring of cell phone and e-mail. the percentage people who oppose those measures has jumped 13 points the last few years. it's a fine balance. there were certain opinions i had about wiretapping that i'm revisiting. >> like what? their civil liberties that we all deserve and expect and certain freedoms we expect and certain rights to privacy we expect in this country and then you think of might have been caught along the way and i bet if we found out what has been, we wouldn't perhaps have a

difference of opinion. look at our administration and the things they had committed to do and the things they aren't doing after getting all of the information that is highly classified. >> i find it it really heartening, this poll. a period of time after 9/11 where people were in a totally justified state of concern over the safety of the homeland. people were -- there were a lot of things done in the name of counterterrorism were violent of civil liberties. as the polls reflect, people are much more focused on the notion that there is a balance that needs to see it struck. not just willing to willy-nilly give up their civil liberties with the stake of homeland security. it's a good tension to have. and not a perfect trump card on either side. as we get further into the age of terror, people have a more

nuanced and careful and considered view about that and that is helping. >> i think views are evolving about guns as well. so let's get to that. although in washington i think behind the times. new efforts to save gun reform in congress. one of the original bills authors in the senate is speaking out about the plilt climate that killed the push for background checks. pat toomey said many of his represent 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 that ought to be able to achieve a consensus. i think in the end we didn't because our politics have become so polarized and there are 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 tried to later walk back part of the comment saying not just senators but people across the country had misgivings about the floor and senator jeff flake whose approval numbers dropped repeatedly in one recent poll reacted yesterday in an radio interview saying the wording of the poll was -- you may have a situation where you put a poll out or characterize legislation that makes you unpopular in the end. i think in the end people understand you're there and you read the lochings and you tried to make the situation better. >> call kelly ayotte up in new hampshire and ask her. >> 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 is all this buzz about the immigration reform and that it's not reflected either.

back on what pat toomey said, it was something i felt deeply when it happened. didn't really feel it was my place to say. more his place. david firestone wrote this blog in "the new york times." how do weaken a president and he writes in part this. republicans are clearly looking to do more than just deprive mr. obama of victories however, the ultimate goal is make him appear powerless and weak. a flailing figure who is unable to affect the midterm elections or give the next democratic nominee a boost. taking heat on a gun vote is worth it if it leads to a reporter asking the president whether he still has any juice left with congress. the president is representing the vast majority of people when

he advocates. when the republicans try to make him look bad he is not the only one being insulted and i'll stick specifically to guns on this, mike barnicle, because i don't know if you would gagree with the concept but what pat toomey certainly rings true to me. >> mika, two weeks ago and last week, we he talking about the gun bill that did not pass, the background checks bill that did not pass as a significant defeat for the president of the united states. no, it was a significant defeat for the american public. 90% of people in this country -- >> if you've got constituents -- >> spoke to it drives it. >> exactly. you would want to argue that that potentially couldn't be happening? and that potentially on issue is as important as this would not happen, that republicans wouldn't be so childish? but look at this evidence. a new poll by cbs news and "the

new york times" shows that 88% support a federal law requiring background checks on all potential gun buyers. among republicans, the results are not much difference. 86% of all republicans surveyed, support background check. i mean come on. what -- how? >> when congressman jack kingston said that bill was not reflective of what people wanted he was probably telling the truth about his district in georgia. he was representing the will of his people but there are senators and there are representatives who did not do that in that vote. in the senate you had people in states with 88% and 94% support of just this piece, just the background check and they voted against it so what is their explanation? >> in your study of this issue, john heilemann, is there a legitimate reason or response to the question why you voted no to anybody on capitol hill?

i haven't heard one. >> legitimate isn't -- >> jeff flake gave one on "meet the press" was completely nonsense cal. >> legitimate is in the eye of the beholder, i think. it's purely political throughout. pat toomey i thought spoke a lot of truth yesterday. it's not news that the strategy of congressional republicans since president obama came in has to be oppose him and try to defeat him and hand him political -- they advertised this is not a point of controversy. it has worked for them at the level of congressional elections. they took back control of the house of representatives and made gains in 2010 in the senate and not worked for them at the national level. this is goes feeds into this fundamental dynamic of the republican party right now. the thing they do to thwart the president every turn do not hurt them particularly at the level of congressional politics. they would hold on to the house of representatives in 2014 and

they continue to do themselves long-term damage at the level of a national party because of the fact that 88% of people are in favor of this bill. >> had this gone through, what would be happening in washington now in terms of other legislation that is important to the american people? >> well, i don't know that -- i think that certainly it would strengthen the president's hand to some extent. i think the dynamics of immigration or the next big thing on the docket those dynamics are complicated and been complicated a long time and we have struled to get immigration reform for more than a decade now. i don't think this would have altered the dynamics of that debate but certainly help the president and created momentum that would have made it easier to get it done. >> or? >> the identities of all six so far involved in the marathon bombing, involved at different levels, obviously, are going to further complicate the imgags. >> sure are.

>> we will talk about that coming up. also coming up, elijah cummings on the set and gillan tett and pete williams will join us in the boston bombing case and joe conason will also join us. bill karins, first w a check on the forecast. >> i want to always drop something off the ledge to you guys. i finally have a reason. happy birthday. >> this is that a corsage? >> is that a corsage? >> it is! >> happy birthday! >> it's nice. i'll wear it and put it in my hair. doshl. >> the question is what do you want in return for that? >> it's her birthday. be kind. i've been dating an older woman for a long time and leave it at that. >> weather, weather, weather. >> forecast? >> yeah.

go to rochester, minnesota, snowing hard overnight and i tell you what, this isn't just your regular snow. i mean, this is like the heavy wet stuff. the leaves are on the trees in many areas and could have power outage to deal with here. saw the snow yesterday in denver and snowing now in seven different states. not the snow but the cold this time of the year too. dallas 49 degrees. your temperatures will plummet and 15 windchill in denver. in minneapolis, it's 32. here is the snow. there is rochester on the bottom of your screen pv. minneapolis avoided most of the heavy snow and iowa, even areas in central kansas heavy snow and each our friends in kansas city are going to see a few snowflakes. unbelievable. so as far as the rain goes, soggy from orlando to miami and west palm. st. louis heavy rain tomorrow. i have my eyes on that kentucky derby on saturday. a close call. rain could be moving into the

louisville area as we go throughout the afternoon. i talk about the misery, but guess what? west coast, east coast, the midwest pain is your gain. what a beautiful day from the mid-atlantic all the way up through the northeast. enjoy it. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. we had never used a contractor before and didn't know where to start. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. from roofers to plumbers to dentists and more, angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey.

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>> ridiculous. "the new york times" school in flushing queens has become the first school in the nation to serve only vegetarian meals in its cafeteria. cooks at the active learn elementary school are swapping turkey and chicken for beans and toy food. 800 more valveed by the end of the year. that's amazing. >> attendance plunges at that school, tomorrow's headlines. >> you know what? he is trying to save our lives. >> overseas in the irish time. pope francis condemned the working conditions of benefitanh workers as slave labor. he made the remarks as the death toll rose to 410 workers from last week's factory collapse.

horrifying story. "usa today" according to new government data adults consumed about 13% of their daily calories from added sugars and things like junk food and soda. the cdc found men eat and drink more sugar than women and averaging 335 calories a day just from sugar. however, even more alarming is how much sugar is included in our children's diet. a similar study by the same group found as much as 16% of kids and teen diets consist of added sugars. overall sugar intake has declined the past decade but still higher than most recommendations. we will be talking a lot more about this next week. . new developments in the ben ghazi consulate attacks. three men arrested who maybe involved in the attacks. the men are unknown and the bureau is asking for the public's help in identifying them saying they may have

information on the deadly raid of september 11th of last year. in some photos the men appear to be carrying weapons. the attacks left four americans dead. fbi is building cases on a number of of different persons. in mid march libya arrested a man believed to be involved in the attacks. still not clear what role he played. a report has been issued the white house is deliberately misleading in its response to what happened that night. michael leiter is still bus. we saw how releasing photos worked in the boston bombing case. what do you and the strategy is here? >> more of the same but the results won't be as satisfying. the fact that the scenes in libya are going to be very different from what we had in

boston. you're just not going to get the same public response. that seems obvious but still a hope and puts more pressure on the libyan officials and that is a good thing. >> do you have any sense what is working behind the scenes and what work the obama administration have done to solve this case? obviously they are taking a lot of heat for not focusing enough on that investigation. >> it's really been jointly between the fbi and overseas intelligence organizations. the fbi at the core of the forensic investigation and the identifying of these individuals. the overseas intelligence community and department of defense have very much increased their efforts on identifying the organizations involved, previous plotting, and also worked very hard to try to enable the libyans to be more forceful against the group even if we don't know the individuals but the groups we suspect are behind this. >> let's hope the photos start

something on this. michael leiter, thanks for joining us. >> thanks. is the immigration plan running into trouble on capitol hill? mike allen and jim vandehei will join us next from the politico playbook. sorry. sore knee. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly! [ male announcer ] bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. [ male announcer ] bengay zero degrees. for sein a whole new way. for seeing what cash is coming in and going out... so you can understand every angle of your cash flow- last week, this month, and even next year. for seeing your business's cash flow like never before, introducing cash flow insight powered by pnc cfo.

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live look at the white house. what a beautiful shot in washington, d.c. this morning at 34 past the hour. joining us now with the politico playbook here in new york, politico's executive editor jim vandehei and chief correspondent for politico, mike allen. >> here is our birthday present to you, mika. >> thank you so much! more men here at the table! >> just what you want. >> what you always wanted. >> you guys are sweet! i like you all. >> what a birthday present. this new goatee or whatever that is. i don't know. >> we gave him a little break. >> like a couple of months. give him a little break. >> john is in time-out for a little bit. talk business. immigration real concerns apparently from republicans about the viability of the gang of eight's proposal. this is no sure thing before the end of the year, is it? >> it's not. just this morning we are seeing

conservatives pushing back on it. "national review," their cover calls this rubio's volley. that hurts because we are going to see that everywhere today. >> what is it they object to so much inside of this proposal, jim? >> in general, they are skeptical of any of these enforcement measures along the borders that would be required before you get a pathway to citizenship. i think what they are skeptical about is ultimately the pathway to citizenship. taking millions of people here illegal and making them legal citizens of the citizens of the united states or giving them legal status. we have heard from a lot of congressman. they are not hearing anything about do immigration reform. i think the assumption is this gets done this year. i think that assumption could be flawed once it gets to the house because house republicans are not anxious to do this. >> senator marco rubio is saying we have always said this is a work in progress and they said on the security measures, those triggers that would allow that

path to citizenship they will toughen them up. as he talks to conservatives, they don't trust the administration and specifically the homeland security department and secretary napolitano to do what is promised in the legislation. so as they work on it, they are going to add things to help conservatives over the weekend. going to see heritage come out with a report and talking about the costs of this, people are for immigration reform push back on the methodology but there is another rock in the backpack for the reformers. >> and constantly calling napolitano a big assist probably doesn't help. >> if conservatives are seen as squashing immigration reform this year or next year when it comes up, what does that mean politically? there has been a lot of talk about if you do that you lose 11 million. >> a lot of republicans think it

would be impossible for them to win a national election in 2016. last time around the republicans lose hispanics vote by 40%. they lost florida and they have to get beyond immigration reform to begin a conversation to be able to connect with that community. that is certainly the view of marco rubio, of karl rove and people in national elections for some time. and i think it could hurt them. >> probably why they find a way to crack this code. the problem with legacies and politico imperative is big. >> another thing you're looking at this morning is lobbying president obama vowed to change the lobbyist culture in washington if elected but some new hires are casting doubt on that. >> tom wheeler is nominated to be the new head of the fcc he used to be the head of the trade association that lobbies for these communications. >> but the white house say he was pushing for small businesses

so they are pushing back on that frame. >> it's the problem when you make these campaign promises where you say we are not going to have any lobbyists or big donors. turns out a lot of people who have expertise who want the job and could get vetted and might get into the role and do a decent job a lot of them tend to have been lobbyists or work the trade associations or given a lot of money to your campaign and it always creates this quandary and a problem of trying to be too pure on the campaign trail when you can't in reality. >> today, the president is going to nominate his big fund-raiser to be commerce secretary today. so this is another sign of chicago coming to d.c. as they build obama. >> explain that relationship. they go way back, right? >> that's right. she was part of what helped him to run for the very first time, very close. she was on the chicago school board, recently got off of it as part of her confirmation and less visible in the 2012 campaign. now going to be part of the cabinet. another part of chicago coming

to d.c. some of the most connected obama aides, stephanie cutter and teddy goth who ran the online part of it and jenny lucomp are starting precision today along with others. precision is a place you can go to get the top obama -- >> one of my favorite stories from last election with penny donors complaining they are not getting enough from president obama and she complained specifically she had not been on air force one. woola and guess what fine ride she was on two weeks later for $100? >> you know they have gum in little containers in the seats? >> i love this story. a fun story. you have up there about espn and the president. we know he likes a little "sportscenter." don't we all? now media strategists are finding this might be a way to reach the president.

>> yeah. the american petroleum group and a couple of others buying time in d.c. on espn and what anna palmer discovered is some media firms are specifically pushing to advertisers the idea this is a way to reach president obama. he doesn't listen to that cable channel chatter on the other channels but he is watching it here. so we saw march madness coverage on super bowl coverage on espn, trade soakers, big corporations reaching d.c. insiders. >> they are also trying to reach the drunk dude at home after work audience and i think they nailed it. >> watching a little soccer there perhaps on espn. before i glet you go. a poll out from quinnipiac about 2016 where hillary clinton stands. >> 65% of democrats say they want her to get the nomination, that they would vote for her and joe biden at 13 is second and what you call a landslide. i think it speaks to the reality

in politics right now. democrats think she would guide into the nomination that is held today. it isn't held today and she hasn't decided she will run but every indication thinks she wants to do it. >> if she not running, biden hat same sort of lead and the most surprising thing in this poll support for immigration reform across the party board is falling. it's now around half. it had been higher than that. 30% of people think that illegals should be deported and shows a long way to go to sell this to the broad electorate. >> the most important item in the political playbook this morning is, mike? >> we are big on birthdays and it's mika brzezinski's airport. >> oh, alley, thank you! >> i wouldn't be surprised if mike made that! >> i'm a big baker. >> look how productive he is! >> here i go again. >> you know how hard it was for

me to get that little pearl there? >> you didn't give me a fork. >> your forthcoming book "obsessed" i think it talks about eating birthday cakes. >> it does. >> that is sugar-free. >> calorie-free. >> oh, god. is that red velvet? >> for you. >> nothing but the finest. >> thank you so much! >> someone tweeted in where we announced it's your birthday. they said mika's birthday must be fun. kale and wind sprint. >> we will go to ping-pong table. >> that i can do. >> when we go to break ping-pong and push-ups because joe needs to as well. and sit-ups. >> joe, if you're watching at home, we need you, man. >> thank you so much. jim van dehei and mike allen. >> president obama departs to mexico today. we will have a leading expert on

u.s. and mexico relations, shaun nan o'neil. "morning joe" is coming right back. ♪

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let's get to work. ameriprise financial. more within reach. at 47 past of the hour. i like this song. today president obama begins a three-day trip through latin america with his first stop in mexico. joining us now is senior fellow of latin american studies on the council of frooreign relations, shannon o'neil. it's great to have you on the show. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> what are expectations to come

out of this meeting? >> a lot of issues on the agenda but the two really big ones are economics and security. so how can we deepen ties with mexico which are important for our companies, our workers and our economy but also can we it continue to work with them on the security side to make mexico safe and by extension the united states. >> different questions as to how we can work with them because they are a crucial business partner and i'd left field for you -- love for you to explain that but we have to be careful with security concerns and the moral part of it as well. >> it's interesting. of the last 20 years since and a half take was signed we have seen an explosion of trades. mexico is one of our important partners. half a trillion dollars of goods going bast ack and forth. when something is quote/unquote made in mexico on average 40% was made in the u.s. by u.s. workers so it's pieces and parts

moving across the border, not finished goods. >> a huge debate going on and huge part that have is about border security. how much is conversation about the joint efforts that mexico and the united states have had to in securing the border and how much of that is on the agenda when they talk? >> we will see a discussion about immigration down there as well as security. when you think about the border over the last ten years they have invested a huge amount of resources and doubled the border patrol. we think about trying to secure the border what we need to do is change the laws and incentives because today if you have a close relative and you're from mexican you'll wait years and decades to get here and if you don't have a close relative no line to get into if. >> how compatible are the views of the obama administration with that of leadership in mexico on the issue of immigration? in other words, they have two totally different eye ideas of

what that should look like or are they close? >> the mexican government would love to find a way for their citizens. 11 million citizens here and 6 million without papers and love to find a way for them to be here illegally and have rights in the united states. they are watching it carefully. >> the book is "two nations indiind indisibel. we will get a live report from the man who is following the case from day one next. nbc justice correspondent pete williams. more "morning joe" in a moment. . you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word... if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze...

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let's do some sports real quick. nba playoffs getting very interesting. knicks and celtics. knicks at home trying to close out their series against the celtics but boston looking good at the garden. jeff green had 18 points. paul pierce and kevin garnett each had 16. connecting right there. celtics with a huge road win to stave off elimination 92-86 and now down 3-2 and it's going back to boston. just after the game ended here as the teams were passing to go to the locker rooms a little pushing and shoving. looked like jordan crawford

celtics reserve mouthing off to carmelo and raymond felton steps in and pushing and shoving ensued. no punches. shouldn't be any suspensions or anything like that. should be noted the knicks have not won a single playoff series in 13 years. and before we move on, you mentioned hat trick last night celtics and red sox win and? >> bruins win. >> bruins win. >> playoff game. first playoff. >> good night in boston. in oklahoma city kevin durant and the thunder trying to finish off the rocket at home but james harden their former teammate, he had the flu all day and didn't make it to the shootaround but it didn't stop him him rockets win on the road 107-100 and oklahoma city leads the series 3-2 but now that one is going back to houston. a little baseball now. nats trying to avoid a tenth straight loss on the road against the braves. ian desmond a two-run home run in the fourth. 2-0 win against atlanta but a little bad news maybe some scary news right here.

bryce harper the phenom taking out of last night's game after this at-bat in the sixth inning. holds up on his swing and appeared to tweak something. maybe one of those oblique strain. we will see. no official word yet on that injury. you got to love this video. this is south korean pop star gnam. dodgers manager tommy lasorda sitting close by. look at him. no idea. who is this guy and why is girating in my grill? >> that is you. exactly how would you have reacted. >> strange movements. i don't get it. >> comes out between innings to dance. tommy lasorda having none of that noise. >> i wouldn't either. >> do you know who this guy is? >> the one who goes gnumdam

style. mika taking offer a book tour for her new book "obsessed." and she will be signing for free in philly. the book store in d.c. is at 4:00. a big week for mika next week. >> willie, thank you very much. >> which one of these two would be better at dancing? >> richard haass! >> come on! give it to us! come on, man! come on, boys! >> coming up next, would you be willing to give up some of your privacy? that is the topic of a new "time" poll and results may surprise you. managing editor rick stengel will be with us along with richard haass whose new book is

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♪ top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." john heilemann is still with us. joining on the set the president of the council on foreign relaegs, richard haass and au l author of the book " -- >> would you sign it for me? >> i bet that thing is flying off the shelves.

"time" magazine managing editor rick stengel. >> good morning. >> we are going to start in boston. the investigation into the marathon bombings has swept up three other young men for their connection to the surviving suspect in last month's terror attack. two of the individuals have been charged with conspiring to obstruct justice while the third was charged with making false statements. all three were considered close friends of dzhokhar tsarnaev. authorities say that the two young men from kazakhstan and another school mate removed a backpack from tsarnaev dorm room that contained fireworks. pete williams joins us live in a few minutes with complete details on this and certainly some questions about what removed from the possession of these men and what it might mean and what it also might reveal. the event in boston raise important questions about civil liberties and just how much

ground americans are willing to give the government in the fight against terror. it's the topic of this week's "time" magazine cover titled "homeland insecurity." new poll numbers show 49% are not willing to give up some civil liberties to curb terrorism. 40% say they are willing to give up some personal freedoms. a large majority, 81%, favored expanded camera surveillance in public so we are getting more specific in the questioning now. that is up 11 points since 2006. but far fewer, just 38% are in favor of expanded government monitoring of cell phones and e-mail. the percentage of people who oppose those measures has jumped 13 points over the last few years. rick stengel, i think that very timely cover, actually. >> yes. thank you. the poll results which you go over are actually quite interesting. this wide strong libertarian

streak in the american character. and the other thing that is count intuitive those numbers have gone up the last five years and people unwilling to give up some sense of privacy. it's really quite surprising. even in the wake of boston where everybody feels a little less secure. in fact, the cover of homeatlanta insecurity is about this very idea, could we have prevented boston and what happened, what can we do differently going on in the future? as you guys know and richard knows in particular, we did tighten up a lot of the rules in 2008 and 2011. we gave the fbi greater powers but then the obama administration in 2011 restricted some of those powers, particularly in the ability to go into houses of worship, mosques and wem had people had get permission. >> preventing it doesn't necessarily mean camera surveillance. when you get out in the street i think it's almost impossible. it can be done somehow. the issue is, you know, whether

it's e-mails, phone conversations, travel, and tracking people more specifically, even more than we do now and whether that infringes. >> right. social media is the new waterfront in terms of us patrolling. one of the interesting things is people seem more willing to have camera surveillance and not regard that as an invasion of privacy, whereas, looking at your e-mail, looking at your text messages and all of that is sort of the bridge too far. >> richard? >> really interesting to see whether and how this changes over time. for example, boston was one punctuation. if and when more such event, how this pendulum moves and whether gradually this country says i'm willing to give up a little bit more in order for collective security or the opposite. what you suggest, rick, the libertarian streak is so fundamental and some people are going to say i need to have greater distance from the

government to ensure my safeties. >> in some ways it's sort of a false question. you can have privacy and great security. the other thing is changing is people's perception of privacy. they are probably willing to give up things, for example, that we wouldn't be willing to. >> the term is necessarily vague because the fact people's vision of what privacy is and what they consider privacy is in constant flux. question like cameras, the notion that if you postulated that in london 30 years ago that everything happened on the street would be cover. a horrible invasion of privacy people would say but 30 years later after people accustomed to it and not making a tradeoff because someone got caught or didn't get caught but it's the fabric of life and people don't regard that as an invasion of the private but a part of the environmental. >> no one has a camera on you specifically. you're walking past the camera

and only if necessary to be investigated. it's not like we are all being investigated. >> i guess it can track behavior. cameras, searching bags, i mean, what are we going to do? search the bag of everybody who takes part of the boston marathon and their families? it's impossible and at that point it's reactionary. i think the bigger question is can we track radicalism and can we track, you know, the hatred and, obviously, the roots of something like this and prevent it? and that is -- >> right. >> -- is loaded. >> as michael said in our piece, it could have been prevented in some ways but it's also inevitable in others. one of the new kind of red lights and alarms that was in this case here was the older brother re volt against his mom in that mosque and finding things like that which, by the way, are perfectly acceptable

and tend to be a red alert for these are guys going off the reservation. >> what you were suggesting and rick was getting a is almost the idea of what is called layered defense. you try to work the preventive angle and get communities to be vigilant and if a community notices that a young man gets radicalized they might report that to the authorities. you won't get everybody so at the end of the chain you need some kinds of point defense and it may be metal detectors or searches and i think where we are heading. literally a series of layers in our society from fairly intrusive so more general and that is the way we are going to -- >> look at how young these men are. you're going to have to be able to identify radicalization in schools. >> but just to richard's point. we will have layered defense and there will still be terrorists. there is no perfect security and i think this points to your point, rick, about why -- why over ten years, why it is i

think the civil libertarian pulse continues to be there and people have become more this has become something that has become more of not accepted factor but people are getting in the same way as many other countries recognized that this is something we will have to live with. if you are have to live with it and no perfect security, at that point people say i should be able to maintain some degree of my personal privacy and liberties. even if i give them all up we still will not have perfect security so therefore i want to obtain? by its very nature in the american character and in our civilization. we want to have a more kol rant society and without making too much of an analogy our country was founded by radicals. they put in the idea that free speech has to be protected. the wildest and most extreme ideas have to be protected and that is the tension in our society. >> alex, you were pointing out another part of the poll 63% believe --

>> it's 66% believe terrorists will find a way to lounch a government attack no matter what the government does. >> no such thing as invulnerableability. you no matter what you do to attack disease or protect yourself. why one of the lessons of boston is resilience becomes important. these guys will succeed from time to time. what we need to think about as a society is our ability to recover and bounce back and at least as important as our ability to prevent. >> which, by the way, was very evident in boston. >> absolutely. >> richard haass, bringing it all back home. commentary in "time" magazine. funny. >> a full-page ad. >> for a book. >> it's a different piece that he has written. >> it is? >> anywhere else but i'll let richard haass discuss it. >> rick and i had a conversation and we were describing the book and he said why don't you write for us an article about why it is you, a member of the foreign

policy establishment wrote that the biggest foreign policy challenges are now at home and what the piece is about. >> that kind of sounds like your book! >> wildly different from the book! wildly different. way out on a limb! >> "foreign policy begins at home the case for putting america's house in order." that would be the title. looks like a great article. anything else in "time"? >> oh, boy, here we go. joe klein, political moderates have stayed quiet too long and time to speak up. an angry obama finally. >> he is saying that people on the extremes have been shouting for the longest time and people in the center, moderates need to do a little shouting now. >> get some work done in washington. the fall and rise of mark sanford. this is a great issue. >> that looks great. >> it's a very amusing piece. >> can a one time conservative hero climb back from disgrace? in south carolina anything is possible. that election is on tuesday

waenel be watchiand we will be watching that closely. in efforts to save gun reforms in congress one of the original bills authors in the is not is speaking out about the political climate that ultimately killed the push for expanded 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 that ought to be able to achieve a consensus. i think in the end we didn't because our politics have become so polarized and there are 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. >> gentlemen, toomey later tried to walk back part of the comments saying it wasn't just senators but people

across the country had misgivings about the floor and senator jeff flake whose approval numbers dropped repeatedly in one recent poll reacted yesterday in an radio interview saying the wording of the poll was flawed and added in part, quote. you may have a situation where you put a poll out or characterize legislation that make u.s. unpopular for a a while. i think in the end, people understand you're there and you read the legislation and you tried to make the situation better. i'm not sure what to say about that. on pat toomey statements, not that it helps him for me to agree with him, but i really felt that way about this vote and i felt like the country was taking a hit for what appeared to be really sort of elementary school behavior. and so instead of my words, i'm going to take this blog from "the new york times" by david firestone who wrote it a lot better. how to weaken a president.

republicans are clearly looking to do more than just deprive mr. obama of victories however, the ultimate goal is make him appear powerless and weak. a flailing figure who is unable to affect the midterm elections or give the next democratic nominee a boost. taking heat on a gun vote is worth it if it leads to a reporter asking the president whether he still has any juice left with congress. as one did yesterday. it leads to an even bigger payoff if the president stumbles if his response and forced to assert that rumors of his demise are premature. the president is representing the vast majority of the american people who he advocates for stronger gun laws or immigration reform or a wuting that includes tax hikes for the rich. when the republicans try to make him look bad he is not the only one that is being insulted. take the other issue out just to guns here because i think we could go in four different directions if we address all of those. i do feel there was a little bit of that at play in this vote

when you look at the polls out there, what people are saying, how people are feeling, and what happened in washington. richard? >> possibly. although on the gun issue you have such powerful forces through the nra and others that are -- >> right, exactly. >> i think more interesting test, you asked me to keep it on guns might be immigration. this is something that seems to have been teed up and tremendous momentum and suddenly the momentum is questioned and this my be a interesting test case of whether people are continuing to put politics and party before the country and if you will the collective good. and we may see it on the immigration vote. >> heilemann, do you agree? >> i think that we discussed this a little bit earlier. i think the -- immigration is a very tough issue. and a tough issue for a while. a reason we haven't been able to get to immigration after many years. it seems obvious to me there was a point where this was not going

to just march to successful passage. there was going to be a period where the forces of opposition on some on the left and some on the right were going to come up and create a moment like this where it looked like things were about to stal. i think the long-term political payoff, the dynamics and the motivation for both parties still align for the likelihood of thing to get passed and not that people are pulling together for the common good of the country but the republicans need this legislation to be successful. party going forward but i think it's going to be a lot -- some near death moments between here and there. >> rick, dig nothing the legislation and that includes some democrats that voted against it as well, the gun vote. is it oversimplifying to accuse people who voted no of just wanting the president to lose, or are there, i mean, usually every debate has a really good other point to it. all i see on the other side of this is the nra and money. >> unfortunately, these folks don't always vote on the merits

and in the world where all politics is local -- >> at least you can hide behind a good debate usually. tell me what it is. >> this seemed one of those situations where -- as pat toomey said and it's kind of interesting he is talking about that look. even a guy as where he is on the spectrum saying this is a willing vote and people on the right and left could have come together on this on a painless way and sad it didn't happen. i take the president at his word when he says this is the beginning of a battle not the end of it and i think gun legislation like immigration reform is a 10, 20-year process and i'm not saying it will take 10, 20 years from now, but we're at the end of the beginning not the beginning of the end. >> even though it's so clear and you have a situation like newtown and have you a situation where you know background checks right now the situation, the system we have in place archaic. it's a joke. >> not to excuse the vote on gun

control but it is -- it's not a totally painless vote. there are some number of republicans who would have been primaried by nra money who would have had a problem. i'm not excusing but this is how it's been for a long time. there are a certain number of democrats in red states and republicans who are concerned about the power that the nra has and the fact is that 88% or 90% of people who favor background checks most of them don't vote on the issue, whereas, the narrow minority that care about gun control and usually against it vote on it and vote on it in primaries. until there is a price to pay. >> i think there will be. >> until is there a price to pay not just in terms of polling but in terms of people have to lose. people have to lose elections and when they lose elections on this issue the dynamic will change but until then the dynamics will not change. >> the changing dynamics aren't from the -- i mean, the nra does not spend that much money on

elections as we realized last time and joe klein wrote in that recover how guns won last year. with people like bloomberg on the playing field and giving support to candidates who support reasonable gun control, financing candidates -- not financing candidates who are against it, i mean, that will change the dynamic. >> god i hope so. >> richard? >> we will have to see push back. you will have a public consensus and sooner later it ends up in votes like gay marriage. have you a public consensus in favor of background checks and still hasn't translated into the votes and where john's point comes in. the intensity is all on one side and until there is real countervailing political intensity things will not change. >> you brought up gay marriage and i think people will not agree with inevitabilities in our country as societies move forward and i'm counting this is one of them. rick stengel, thank you. the new cover of "time" is

homeland security changing." former federal prosecutor kendall coffey will join us as pete williams will also join the set. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. can acne cleansers be tough on breakouts and be good for your face? [ female announcer ] now there's new neutrogena® naturals acne cleanser. acne medicine from the wintergreen leaf treats breakouts. no parabens or harsh sulfates. for naturally clear skin. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® naturals. what if you could save over $500 bucks a year by changing one small thing? yeah, let's do it! let's do it. the average fast food breakfast can run you over $4 a meal per person. i know. walmart has a ton of breakfast options. a meal like this costs about $1.64 per serving. if you replace just one fast food breakfast each week

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live look at capitol hill in washington, d.c. on this second day of may. found out it's recogniick steng birthday too. why didn't he tell us? was i not supposed to say that is in the. >> you weren't. and i think he is a lot older than you. >> i am 46. what does that make him? not like i'm a spring chicken. >> i think he is older than me. >> i don't know.

>> that is sort of impossible. >> only if you do it by dog years. >> yes, barnicle, he is older than you. >> he is older than dirt, barnicle. >> ouch! >> all right. joining us now from washington, nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. you have the latest details on the boston bombing investigation. >> the three men in custody all 19 and all said to be friends of the younger surviving bomb suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev and court hearings later this month. federal officials say they have nothing to do with the bombing with planning or carrying it out. this is all about what happened afterward. >> reporter: the fbi says three days after the devastating bombing at the boston marathon, three college friends of the surviving bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev fearing he might be one of the bombers went to his college dorm room and found a black backpack containing empty fireworks

tubes. they decided to take it and throw it away. after searching a boston area lappedfill agents found the backpack containing the empty tubes that alarmed tsarnaev's friends. federal bomb technician believe the marathon bombs were made using the explosive powder from fireworks. the three charged phillipos of cambridge and two men here from kazakhstan here on visas tazhayakov and kadyrbayev charged with obstructing justice and lying to investigators. the fbi said he the three became concerned when the fbi relieved pictures out there. >> somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, coworkers, 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 kadyrbayev texted to his friend tsarnaev that he looked like one of the suspects. and that tsarnaev responded lol and texted, quote.

come to my room and take whatever you want. barely an hour after the fbi released the suspect's three photos the college friends did go to his college room. they decided to take the empty backpack to help their friend tsarnaev avoid trouble and knew when he saw the empty fireworks that tsarnaev was involved in the marathon bombing. the nerc moaning the fbi says at the new bedford apartment of the two students from kazakhstan the three men saw television news reports identifying their friend as one of the bombing suspects. >> known as suspect number one in the black hat. number two there in the white hat. >> reporter: they decided to throw the backpack away because they didn't want tsarnaev to get in trouble. but they said they were 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 other value. >> reporter: the fbi says

earlier this year they set off fireworks along the banks of boston charles river and the two foreign students told the fbi a month before the bombing, tsarnaev told them he knew how to make a bomb. the lawyer for all three of these young men say they did nothing illegal. one other note here to be clear. it's the two students from kazakhstan who are charged with obstructing justice and accused of being the ones that physically threw the backpack away. the american citizen, the other, is charged with lying to federal investigators. the fbi says all three went to the dorm room and were there when the backpack was taken. >> they told the fbi they took the laptop because they didn't want the actual roommate of dzhokhar tsarnaev to focus on the backpack so they took both of them and didn't although the laptop away. their lawyer says they gave it back to the fbi. >> nbc pete williams, thank you

very much. >> you bet. >> joining us from miami is former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst kendall coffey. sir, if you could go through the report we just heard in terms of what is now in fbi custody and what could be most revealing as we move forward with this investigation. >> well, they are going to be very focused on that computer laptop. that is, in many of these cases a gold mine. a lead of other evidence and sometimes direct evidence of activities leading up to the bombing. as we know, there's still a lot of questions about who, if anyone, who else might be involved and in many cases the laptop is the best evidence of that and that is why removing a laptop is a serious matter and why these three individuals are facing very serious federal charges. >> mike barnicle? >> mr. coffey, i'd ask you to put your federal prosecutor's

hat back on, if you could, and let's stick with the principal defendant who is still alive and charged in the bombing and not yet really specifically charged in the bombing. he is out at ft. devens in massachusetts. a death penalty case for dzhokhar tsarnaev. when would you expect that counsel for him goes to the u.s. attorney's office and begins some sort of negotiation to get this off the death penalty and when would you expect those negotiations to begin? >> well, they are going to begin pretty quickly because he doesn't want the death penalty charges to be formally filed in an indictment. that hasn't happened yet but in the meantime, one of the big challenges for defense counsel is get the whole truth from your own client. because what he ultimately has to do to get the death penalty out of this case is to get a lot of information, accurate information that the government wants, that the government needs and presumably that is going to be information about other

people, who they were in touch with and who from other countries may have been involved in training. unless they can create some valuable information to the government, it's got to be real information, the defendant here doesn't va whole lot to trade. the government has a very strong case and the defense lawyer has to be sure he has got everything there is that possibly trade to the government to seek the -- sparing his client's life. >> that is the age old traditional dance his lawyers say tell me everything you can, give me the whole truth, nothing but the truth, and then they go to the prosecution and say here is what we got to trade, take the denial penalty off the table and here it is? >> that's the goal and that has to be the realistic defense strategy to get the denial penalty out of this case. the first time a defense lawyer goes to a defendant they almost never get the whole truth. it takes a succession and building trust and why the defense lawyer has work to do

before he can go to the feds and say he has a story they might be independence in. >> kendall coffey, talk to you soon. coming up, she saved more than 100 children injured in war zones across the world. with no money and no experience. alyssa founder of the global medical relief fund will join us with her aspiring new memoir. more "morning joe" when we come back. we went out and asked people a simple question:

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a dry winter in california and shouldn't surprise anyone. fires are already broken out. yesterday with the santa ana winds cranking and temperatures warm the summit fire erupted. this moved quickly. it threatened a lot of homes and did destroy one but firefighters able to knock it down just enough to protect a couple of neighborhoods. they are still battling that blaze and only 35% contained at this moment and the forecast for l.a. not the best. still looks like it's going to be warm and windy the next couple of days. here is the forecast in l.a. 94 today. 93 on friday. so as far as the forecast goes, it doesn't look good for the firefighters. almost as good as those thrones. the midwest, the snow. rochester, minnesota, snow day for the kids on the 2nd day of

may. can you imagine that? unbelievable. snow continues through the central portions of iowa and through kansas. that a little better. we will continue to watch the snow falling throughout the day here. most of it should be ending during the morning hours in general. as far as the forecast for florida, if you have any plans from west palm beach, miami, orlando, tampa all the way through the southeast i have a soaker for you the next three or four days in a row. it doesn't look the best for a lot of beach weather in the sunshine state. the other area we are going to be watching is the middle of the country. you remember what is coming up on saturday? the kentucky derby. this forecast for rain is going to inch closer. looks like st. louis gets drenched tomorrow and then the rain on saturday spreads towards louisville and the derby track. we should be watching rain increasing. the derby doesn't go after 7:00 and good chance they will be doing it on a wet, maybe muddy track. coming up next on "morning joe," the financial times julian tech and ron fornier are here.

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♪ all right. a live shot out of boston here, a memorial remembering the bombings that took place now almost a month ago. joining us now, the national journal group ron fournier. with us is shift editor and columnist for "the financial times" gillian tett. thank god the financial times is older than me and celebrating a birthday week. this week celebrating 125th anniversary. wow. >> absolutely. i mean, we are very proud of that. a time of great change in the media world. >> and turbulence. >> we have absolutely. we are here, we are proud and thriving. >> holding strong as a business? >> both today's activity with me and also copy of our original

1988. >> i want to see that! can i? >> right. >> 1988? >> 1888! >> 25 years is older than you and older than rick stengel but a little bit younger than mike barnicle. >> it's one year older than "wall street journal." >> led me read the headlines. the crown prince what is to be the result of the very serious operation which has been performed on the throat of the crown prince of prussia. this is not a mere question of ordinary politics but one which vital affects the peace and prosperity of europe. >> looked like a blog. >> fascinating. >> the kay before kim kardashian! >> exactly! let's get to what is going on today. we start actually with ron. your piece in "the national journal" which is interesting and it pertains to some of the conversations we have had this morning and then get to the

physics of terror which is what you're looking at, gillian. ron, you say great presidents rise above circumstance not obama at least not yet. at a news conference tuesday, marking the 100th day of his second and final term, the president seemed unwilling or unable to overcome stubborn gop opposition. quote, you seem to suggest that somehow these folks over there had vno responsibilities and that my job is somehow get them to behave, obama told the reporter. that's their job. obama needs a coach to look him in the eye and say, mr. president i'm not excusing the other team, they suck, but you need to beat them, sir. that's your job. because if you can't stop them, we lose. and there is is no excuse to losing to such a lousy bleeping team. that is how it works in the sports pages. i just don't know, ron, if that is how it works in washington right now and i understand. i do understand that he's the president. and when this gun legislation didn't go through, i was as frustrated with him as i was with anybody else because why

didn't he break some arms or wring some necks to make that happen some having said that, there's a growing sense that republicans won't let anything go through. they just won't. because they don't want him to succeed. >> right. they don't. they are stubborn and object th of the matter if the president wants to have a legacy if people who support him want to get things done, he has to find a way to lead. he has to find a way to overcome this. i was struck on the way up here yesterday what led to that post was reading actually the sports pages and tom boswell of "the washington post" was talking about strasburg who is having troubles now with the washington nationals and used the old adage the great ones play above the bricks. in sports you don't whine about the umpires or the opposing team hitting your pitches and you don't whine about the bad media and you have to rise bof it.

wh -- above it. the prps are being . the president seems to be arguing why he is irrelevant and too early in his second term of doing it. >> certainly it's problematic. i think the place where -- i'm interested to hear what in a tangible way you would have him do. i know you're not in the business of giving political advice but you do this fact which is i completely agree. you need to have a strategy to win. you need to have a legislative strategy of obstacles you know are out there. on the other hand, they say, look, this isn't a fair fight. 60-vote super majority is a game where the rules are tilted against us. we are playing a is a team that has a structural advantage. what do you do about that? >> and a few others since they are not sitting here. the hyperpartisan districts.

you have a hyperpartisan media. and you just have the -- you could talk about this later. the public itself is -- he does have a lot of hurdles against him and put the question on you in the democratic party. what -- >> don't equate me with that, but go ahead. >> what is the answer. >> real quick. >> it has to be something other than we can't get done. >> the problem right now is that neither side feels that it actually has much incentive to compromise and both sides are groups on both sides which feel they have more to win by being a holdout. >> but that is just all politics and all about winning the next election and all about money, right? that's it. >> i think times when they have incentive but so far apart from each they don't realize it. on the bubt republicans have all kind of incentives to let a democratic president to incentive. he could get tax increases out

of the republicans if he would engage with them. >> gillian, i want to hear about the different factor playing into the time of terror. >> it's something which is quite controversial to talk about but i was chatting to some researchers at a research institute in boulder, colorado, recentli recently tracking the terror attacks the last 200 years and war and see a similarity between terror attacks and earthquakes and there is a pattern. it's unpleasant for any politician to admit this because if you say there appears to be some kind of human dynamic that produces terror attacks and wars at a regular rate no matter what politicians do it's tough to acknowledge but that appears to be quite a pattern. the key point when you start to look at what happened in boston in context of the past few

hundred years of wars or terror attacks not only do you see the attack was pretty small but you also see that under a number of statistical models the chance of another event like 9/11 happening the america the next 10 to 15 years is not that small either. >> gillian, if you could stick around, that would be great. i'm still reading this. >> it was only one penny in those days. >> i'm looking at everything. it's just fascinating. one penny? >> yeah. >> ron fournier, thank you very much. up next one woman's mission to help children in the most dangerous regions in the world and elissa montanti will join us with that. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. man: how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money.

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♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] 51 past the hour if you want to be inspired watch this segment. here with us now, the founder of the global medical relief fund. she's the author of the book "i'll stand by you. tell us what the global relief fund is and what it does.

>> it sounds really big but actually -- >> it's a house. >> it's a walk-in closet. that's how it started. 15 years ago i got involved in a very local fund-raiser on staten island to raise money for school supplies for the kids in bosnia. i asked how i could help and i met him at the united nations and he said thank you for your interest but we have stronger needs. more than pencil cases. he reached in his drawer and handed me a letter that this 11-year-old boy had written to him. he lost his two arms and leg to a land mine. i saw the picture and i read his letter and it was right then and there that i recruited airlines, hospitals, and prosthetic companies. >> i'm going to jump ahead. tell me what that moment has led

to today. you have right now a thriving home that cares for children from around the world that come from war zones. >> war zones and natural disasters. 15 years to fast forward we've helped over 160 children from 22 countries. we were on "60 minutes." they found out about the work. >> i saw the piece. it was fantastic. >> it was phenomenal. the bonuses are that two wonder people, miles o'dell, ceo -- >> we know miles. >> and tyler perry had seen the piece. they both not knowing one another bought a home for us called the dare to dream house. when the children come from all different parts of the world, that's where they stay and heal. >> and then when they get fixed here hopefully and then is your idea they get reintroduced and taken home and go back to their previous life? how does that work? >> the thing is even though we

helped about 160 children, there's been almost 1,000 follow-up visits because we follow-up with the children until they're 21. the shriner's children hospital are my lifeline because they provide all of the prosthetics, surgery, for these children. >> for example if someone came from syria now, you can't send them back given that there's a civil war. what would happen? >> i have a syrian boy here now actually. i went to turkey to get him which took me three months. he is here. i filed for humanitarian parole. didn't have a passport. he carried his brother across the border literally and now if he goes back to turkey, they'll deport him. so it's an issue as his brother is having multiple surgeries so we'll cross that bridge. >> these kids have these complex problems just getting them here and maybe getting them home and maybe not and that's just part

of the backdrop of the work that you do. >> i must say having quickly skimmed through the beginning of this book right now, one thing that's most inspiring and really touches us all is that your whole endeavor was born out of your own pain and tragedy and decided to channel it into something positive by helping others. it's back to that old adage when you throw yourself into helping others, you heal yourself. >> let's talk about what motivates the book. 15 years ago you were struggling with depression and panic attacks because you lost your mother, your grandmother and your high school sweetheart all within a short time. and you were grieving but probably also wondering what would drop next and it becomes post-traumatic stress when you have three or four extremely grievous losses in a row. >> absolutely. little did i know my prayers would be answered by an 11-year-old boy from halfway

across the world that wrote aler that happened to land in my lap. i learned from writing the book that when you help others, the gift is that you find that you're healing yourself as well. >> fabulous. it really shows what one person can do at a hands-on retail level. fantastic. >> full disclosure, my daughter and i are doing work with the kids there finding activities. i look forward to working with you and learning so much about what you can do with your life. thanks. find out how you can help the global medical relief fund. visit gmrfchildren.org. global medical relief fund. the conversation continues on how she continues to aid wounded children all over the world from a computer and a phone in her home office. visit afternoonmojoe.com.

everyone should look at the book, "i'll stand by you." >> you have that pr side of things. i'm trying to get her out there. >> foreign policy begins at home. >> begins with a good pr person. richard, thank you as well. you can get an exert of richard's new book on our website. definitely incredible timing for that book, richard. congratulations on -- how many years? 125. >> she looks good for 125. >> we turned the empire state building pink last night in celebration. >> i'm worried about the crown prince. >> financial times of new york. >> and his throat surgery. okay. the expanding criminal case in the boston bombings raises new questions about civil liberties and immigration policy. we'll discuss next on "morning joe."

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you see, we're doing some changing of our own. ah, we can talk about it later. we're putting the wonder back into air travel, one innovation at a time. the new american is arriving. good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. time to wake up. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast as you take a live look at new york city. back with us on set we have mike barnicle and john hellman.

we begin with news in boston where the investigation into the marathon bombings has swept up three other young men for their connection to the surviving suspect in last month's terror attack. two individuals have been charged with conspireing to obstruct justice and the third charged with making false statements. all three are close friends of dzhokhar tsarnaev. pete williams has details. >> reporter: the fbi says three days after the devastating bombing at the boston marathon, three college friends of the surviving bombing suspect, dzhokhar tsarnaev, fearing he might have been one of the bombers went to his college dorm room and went to his dorm room and found empty fireworks tubes. after searching the landfill, they found the back back containing those tubes. they believe the marathon bombs were likely made using explosive

powder from fireworks. the three charged, robel phillipos, appeared in federal court on charges of obstructing justice. the three became concerned the night the fbi released suspects of the bombing suspects. >> someone knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members of the suspects. >> but investigators say instead of calling the fbi with their suspici suspicions, they did something entirely different. court documents say kadyrbayev texted to tsarnaev that he looked like one of the suspects. and that tsarnaev responded lol and then texted "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 dorm room. court documents say that kadyrbayev decided to take the backpack with empty fireworks

tubes in order to help his friend avoid trouble and knew when he saw the empty fireworks that tsarnaev was involved in the marathon bombing. the next morning the fbi says at the new bedford apartment of the two students from kazakhstan, they saw news reports identifying their friend as one of the bombing suspects. >> known as suspect number one in the black hat and number two in the white hat. >> they decided to throw the backpack away because they didn't want tsarnaev to get in trouble. a lawyer for kadyrbayev said his client wasn't trying to hide anything from the fbi. >> he did not know those items were involved in a bombing or interest of a bombing or any evidentiary value. >> reporter: earlier this year tsarnaev set off fireworks along the river. a month before the bombing, tsarnaev said he knew how to make a bomb. >> that was pete williams, nbc's pete williams reporting from

washington. joining us from washington nbc news national security analyst and former director of the national counterterrorism center, michael leiter. let's start with what they got out of these persons of interest homes and out of their possession including the computer, which could be a treasure-trove of information. >> right. certainly that would be of all of the evidence that would have been in that dorm room of tsarnaev, that would be the one of most interest to the fbi because it would be able -- it would let agents trace who he's been in communication with and what websites he was looking at before the bombing and reveal information about whether there

was accomplices. this affidavit is confusing. in some respects. it details how these three men went to the apartment that night. they took the backpack and they say they took the laptop computer and then it is silent about what happened to the laptop computer. it describes how the backpack was thrown away in the trash and that the fbi later recovered it. i e-mailed last night with the lawyer for the first student and asked what happened to the laptop. he said it was turned over voluntarily by kadyrbayev when he was confronted by the fbi. we don't have confirmation from the fbi on that. if that's true, it does undercut the idea that this was part of some sinister plot in which these three individuals went there to conceal important evidence from investigators. clearly what they did as alleged in the complaint is stupid and

indefensible in light of the enormity of the crime if they had any reason to believe at all that tsarnaev, their friend, was the bomber, there's no justification for what they did but it's hard to square the facts as alleged here and particularly with this new information about the laptop with the idea that there was a large plot here and they were accomplices in it. >> while obviously you can't make any connections right now, we'll let the investigation play out for itself, it's interesting that they removed things like a laptop. it seems like they couldn't have been doing these things in a vacuum with absolutely no knowledge of anything. i'm not sure stupid is enough of an explanation. >> as michael isikoff pointed out in that affidavit, they point to texts where he says take what you want from my room cryptically. michael leiter, i go to you on this. what will investigators -- they saw fireworks in a backpack. they recovered those.

now the laptop. at what point do you think they made the conclusion that they were working after the fact and they were not in fact working on the planning of the bombing because that's the first thing you think when you see the report three more people have been arrested. my goodness. they had accomplices. how do you wade through all of those facts? >> right. as a former federal prosecutor, i frankly take this set of facts pretty easily to a jury. you've got a group that knows that these guys are involved in the bombings. sees materials that really clearly stand out as potentially being involved in the fireworks so that after the fact assistance to him you have a strong case for obstruction of justice and even if they held onto the laptop instead of throwing it out, it's still obstruction. i think if you're the fbi right now, they don't see any evidence which suggests there was before the fact assistance but that's why they want to get through that computer. they want to look at those e-mails and understand you

already have the statement that he mentioned. he knew how to make a bomb butterf before the attack. was he talking about what happened in terms of his brother's travel to russia. those are pieces that you put together to build either a direct case that there was knowledge before the fact even if we don't see it yet. >> this is a fairly predictable turn of events in the course of this investigation. in every investigation you find out what surrounds the principle act committed. you find out who these people were in contact with, the two brothers, who their friends were and what contact was. mike leiter, is it not the case as well as most cases, the affidavit that's been read now that's online, anyone can read it, is the thinnest of outlines that the fbi provides. there's no doubt much more information that they are not required to put in the affidavit during the course of this investigation that's ongoing. >> mike, you're exactly right.

as a prosecutor, all you really generally want to put in these sorts of charging documents is what you need, the bare elements of the case. you don't want to put everything in there because you don't want to disclose that to the defense attorneys until you have to. so this is the beginning. that leads to the charging. that leads to the conversation with the defense attorney and that almost always in cases like this leads to the defendant saying let me tell you everything else so i get a better deal. i expect over the coming days all of these individuals will be having very extensive conversations with investigators. >> michael isikoff, thank you. michael leiter, stay with us if you can. we talk about 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 civil

liberties to curb terrorism. 40% say they are willing to give up some personal freedom. >> if that's the way the question is phrased, that doesn't tell me anything. >> you don't like the poll? >> give up some civil liberties. which ones? >> here we go. a large majority, 81%, favored expanded camera surveillance in public. does that help you? >> yes. >> that's up 11 points since 2006. he's more satisfied now. far fewer, just 38%, are in favor of expanded government monitoring of cell phone and e-mail. the percentage of people who oppose those measures has jumped 13 points over the last few years. it's a fine balance. there were certain opinions i had about wiretapping that i'm revisiting. >> like what? >> i mean, you know, there are civil liberties that we all deserve and expect and certain freedoms we expect and certain rights to privacy we expect in this country.

and then you think of what might have been caught along the way and i bet if we found out what has been, we would perhaps have a difference of opinion. look at our administration and things they committed to do and things they aren't doing after getting all of the information that is highly classified. >> i find it really heartening this poll. there was a period of time after 9/11 where people were in a totally justified state of concern over the safety of the homeland. there were a lot of things done in the name of counterterrorism that were violated civil liberties and there are people that are back and more focused on notion there's a balance. they're not willing to give up all civil liberties for the sake of the claims of homeland security and that's a good tension to have. good debate to have and notion

there shouldn't be a perfect trump card on either side and the fact that as we get further and further into the age of terror, people have a more careful and considered view about that and that's healthy. >> views are evolving about guns as well. let's get to that. in washington i think they are behind the teams with no efforts to save gun reform in congress, one of the original bill's authors in the senate is speaking out about the political climate that ultimately killed the push for expanded background checks. pat toomey said many 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 that ought to be able to achieve a consensus. i think in the end we didn't because our politics have become so polarized. and there are people on my side who didn't want to be perceived

to be helping something that the president wants to accomplish because it's the president who wants to accomplish it. >> toomey later tried to walk back part of the comments saying it wasn't just senators but republicans across the country who had misgivings about the bill. senator jeff flake whose approval numbers dropped significantly in one recent poll reacted yesterday during a radio interview saying the wording of the poll was flawed. he said you may have a situation where you know people put a poll out or a characterized legislation in a way that makes you unpopular for a while but i think in the end people understand that you're there, you read the legislation, and you tried to make the situation better. i don't think -- okay. there are suggestions immigration reform also backed by the president could face equally bumpy road. congressman told "the new york times" there was a lot of

washington talk about gun bill possibilities but i never saw that reflected in the people at home and now there's buzz about immigration reform and it's not reflected either. back on what pat toomey said, it was something i felt deeply when it happened. didn't feel it was my place to say. it's more his place. david firestone wrote this blog in "the new york times." how to weaken a president. he writes in part this. republicans are clearly looking to do more than just deprive mr. obama of victories. however, the ultimate goal is to make him appear powerless and weak. a flailing figure unable to affect the midterm elections or give the next democratic nominee a boost. taking ee ining heat on a gun v worth if it leads to a reporter asking the president if he has any juice left with congress and the president is forced to

assert that rumors of his democrat ice are premature and when republicans try to make him look back by resisting these things he's not the only one who is being insulted. i'll stick specifically to guns on this. i don't know if you would agree with the concept but what pat toomey says certainly rings true to me. >> two weeks ago and last week we were talking about the gun bill that did not pass. background checks bill that did not pass as significant defeat for the president of the united states. it was a significant defeat for the american public. >> coming up on "morning joe," the new american dynasty from inspirational to powerful. "town & country" magazine breaks down the top american families. and up next, could there be new light at the end of the tunnel for struggling homeowners.

we'll talk to congressman elijah cummings here with a new housing report and joe joins the conversation but first bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> i don't know if we have seen an extreme day like this in may. 74 and sunny in new york. seattle in the 70s today. in the meantime, schools were canceled in southern minnesota this morning because of a snowstorm. the weather channel's mike seidel is right in the thick of it and, mike, you might as well be up in alaska right now. >> reporter: this is unbelievable, bill. we're setting records in rochester now. 8 inches of snow. previous all-time may record going back to 1893, 2 inches. we've wiped that one off the record books. now we're getting reports in the area of 12 to 14 inches of snow. if these are verified post-storm from the whether service, these would set all-time minnesota state may snowfall records. they have plowed.

the sun has been up an hour and a half. we'll get the added advantage of this very potent may sun angle. the roads should slush up later on this morning. just thinking about climbing over snow like this in may here in minnesota, it is rare even in minnesota. this is another concern. heavy, wet snow. in the evergreens they are weighed down by the snow. because we've had a long, cold march and april, the trees have no foliage on them. that's going to cutdown on powerapower outages. minneapolis is in good shape. they missed just about all of this. southeast suburbs have picked up an inch or two. it adds up an inch an hour right now. >> everyone is shaking their heads can't believe that's happening right now. it will melt in a hurry and thankfully not many power outages with no leaves on that trees. l.a., 94, sunny and windy today. they've been battling this summit fire. there's been numerous fires in southern california over the

last 24 hours. the winds were gusting yesterday. this one is only 35% contained. firefighters are trying to knock it back. they protected the neighborhoods. one home did get burned to the ground. they did not get enough wet weather over the winter and there will be more pictures like that out of california unfortunately as we go throughout the summer. look at the forecast in l.a. 94 today. 93 on friday. imagine fire lines with winds gusting and hot temperatures like that and bone dry. gets better in l.a. through the weekend hopefully to get those blazes under control. i mentioned it. middle of the country, your pain is the gain of both coasts. west coast looks sunny and perfect today. east coast, you're also looking very nice. the exception being down there in florida. umbrella weather for at least the next two days in a row. soaking rain from miami northward up through the southeast. you're watching "morning joe." we're brewed by starbucks.

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welcome back to "morning joe." 23 past the hour. more homeowners caught in the foreclosure crisis were promised relief from a massive mortgage abuse settlement with big banks. for families who endured years of anguish or lost their homes, critics say these payments are

cold comfort. the banks don't have to admit wrongdoing and even if there's evidence of illegal conduct, the government so far isn't providing that information to homeowners. nbc's senior investigative correspondent lisa myers has the details. >> reporter: karen was fighting to save her home from foreclosure for three years and recently received her compensation payment from the settlement. $300. >> it was more than pathetic. it was insulting. >> reporter: timothy, a trucker, says he's been fighting to save his home since his servicer made a mistake declaring his family behind on the mortgage when they were not. he received a postcard saying he'll get a check. he too expects $300. >> it's kind of like a slap in the face. we have been trying to work through this for three years now and we have lost lots. >> reporter: in all, 13 banks will pay $3.6 billion to

homeowners under the settlement. the five biggest banks alone earn more than $60 billion last year. the largest payouts, $125,000, go to more than 1,000 members of the military wrongly foreclosed on and to 53 homeowners foreclosed on even though they never missed a mortgage payment. most, almost 2 million homeowners, get checks of $300 to $600. >> families get pennies on the dollar in this settlement for having been the victims of illegal activities or mistakes in the banks' activities. >> the banks have misrepresented the facts. >> reporter: in the settlement, the banks promise to end abuses but he says his bank has not changed. >> there's been no improvement whatsoever. you can't even talk to them. >> that was nbc's lisa myers.

joining us now is congressman elijah cummings with good news as well. let's first talk about this. also with us the editor of national memo.com. can you imagine getting a check for 300 bucks after going through all that. you wonder why there's resentment on so many levels. >> banks got away with murder literally. crimes that were unimaginable. no one has been prosecuted. they took a lot of money. now this is the answer. >> i don't really understand what's been fixed. >> nothing has been fixed. that's the problem. the regulators in this case spent so much time trying to look out for the banks they forgot the constituents, my constituents, and people who are struggling. and when i watched that, i got to tell you, it makes me feel very emotional because i run into moment lipeople like that

where they are getting a $300 check and losses amount to $250,000. the banks are in control of this process. elizabeth warren and i have been looking into this for a while. we cannot get any kind of information, decent information, as to what went into this settlement. there was no random sample. basically what happened was the bank said this is what we're going to pay and you make it work and then they set up these categories. if you got modification and if you had been foreclosed upon and you got anywhere from $300 to $125,000 which were military folks, then the banks decided who fit into each category. the banks made that decision. and so the fed and the occ, i am very upset with them. elizabeth warren and i sat down with them iowa and said can you

tell us how many people were affected? how the decisions were made? the banks already admitted to wrongdoing and illegal activity. can you tell us exactly which bank did what and how it was done? they said no. because these are trade secrets. what they are saying is that criminal activity, illegal activity, that's already been admitted to by the banks. we cannot even get that information. so when the gentleman said the banks are doing the same things, i believe them. first of all, we're not getting enough information to even correct it. >> you have no way of knowing otherwise. >> by the way, that gentleman you just saw, he can't even appeal that decision. he can't appeal it. he may look at these categories and say i don't deserve a $300 check. i deserve a $100,000 check. there's no appeal. >> what is the solution,

congressman? let's say we could get whatever we needed to get out of congress and the administration. what would help homeowners? >> on this point here, we've got a monitoring bill where we go back and we'll look at this settlement and actually bring some transparency to figure out exactly what went wrong and try to hopefully bring some correction to that. these people have been damaged and so that's important. the other thing that leads to my next thing is we need to in fanny and freddy, we need principle reduction. a report just came out yesterday, it was my report, i asked the cbo, independent agency, to tell us exactly what effects principle reduction would have and they came back with a win, win, win. taxpayers would be better off. they said that the economy would be better off and homeowners

would be better off. and that it would reduce the deficit. dimarco who we talked about a few minutes ago said over and over again he refused to have principle reduction but based on the information that he has presented us, that is to the congress, his own research says there should be principle reduction. >> that's my question to you. we were talking off the air. the congressman has been nominated to succeed dimarco who has been in position presiding over fanny and freddy for several years. three or four years. it seems that both sides, both the financial institutions as well as the consumers when it comes to principle reduction, that seems to be one area they can agree on except this man ed dimarco refused to go along here. what's the possibility for breaking through the logjam here? >> i think it's going to be difficult.

i think that by having him appointed and letting him take an objective look at principle reduction, i think that breaks the logjam. i read senator corker's response. i say hold on. this man is a distinguished law school graduate. small businessman. financial services committee member and one of the most respected members of the congress. i'm hopeful this appointment will make a difference. >> don't you think that what's really happening in the senate is senators think their view of the crisis ought to be what prevails even with the president's own appointees. >> the congress has got to wake

up and start helping our constituents. that's what people are concerned about. the very thing you talked about. guns. same thing. people say wait a minute. what about us? what about the constituents? i think this is a perfect example. hopefully people will say he's a practical fellow who is brilliant and has a history of reaching across the aisle. not a bomb thrower and a man that comes up with practical solutions. >> i know you have known joe for a long time. i've known you for six years. your demeanor seems -- are you discouraged? >> i'm never discouraged. as long as there is breath in my body, i'm never discouraged. there has to be people like me and others and many democrats and others who come out and we have to pushback on some of this stuff. other than that, you get rolled over. period. as a society. somebody has to say this is wrong. somebody has to speak for the

people that i see in my neighborhood. i live in inner city of baltimore. i see the people that don't have jobs. i see the people losing their homes every day. someone has to speak for them. here i am. i volunteer. >> come back soon. >> i'm excited. >> bring it to the table. congressman elijah cummings, good to see you. coming up, new american dynasties. jeff fielden has the list of this generation's great american families. he joins us next. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it?

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36 past the hour. 37 past the hour. here with us now, editor of "town & country." jay fielden. you have the new issue. i don't know what to say. you will see why in just a moment. you are looking at political dynasties, hollywood clans, and other great families. what a fun idea. >> thank you. we thought it would be interesting to look at who really is the most influential in terms of families in america not so much based on power or celebrity or money alone but looking at the way they have passed down talent and values through the generations. >> you have a list.

most inspiring families. i will say i agree with this on so many levels. top of the list. >> the reeves. they are an amazing family. we know his story and how inspiring he was as a person who went through something very intense and set up an amazing charity giving away half a billion dollars to study spinal cord research. >> have you met my family? >> just you, my friend. >> the list is broken down into five component parks. >> we want to make this as complicated as possible. >> bush family one of the most powerful. dupont, enduring. bill gates, generous. inspiring, the inspiring list is really interesting. number 7, at number 7 on the inspirational list, the

brzezinski family. his son, mark is the country's ambassador to sweden and son, ian, was deputy secretary of defense for europe under george w. bush. daughter, mika, is a prominent political journalist and co-host of msnbc's "morning joe." she refused to read a 2007 story about paris hilton's release from jail. her co-host restrained her from setting the script on fire but she turner t tore it up on air. >> i don't mean to question the integrity of the magazine. all i can envision when i think of my family is my brothers, mark, mr. ambassador s, and ian

with donald rumsfeld beating the crap out of me on the front lawn threatening to kill my rabbits. >> i'm a brother too. i know what that's like. we grow up a bit. >> thank you. that's incredible. other families moving on. wow. barnicle. i have to say hold on. my mom made that bench. she's an artist. >> we didn't get to mention your mother. she's an artist. >> she's the hidden star of the family. she's the sculptor. she makes these beautiful pieces out of tree trunks. they are 2,000 pounds. i just installed one in my yard. that's my dad sitting on her bench in rural virginia area. >> we didn't get that one wrong. >> it's gorgeous. she's the story. i have to do a story on her. >> maybe we should. >> we're just following in her footsteps. >> how did you determine the most powerful? you have murdoch in here. i'm curious how that was

determined? >> we tried to be -- we tried to apply some kind of rigor to this instead of choosing all of our best friends like mika. we wanted to look at some criteria that would help us whittle this down. we want to know who is healthy and passed it down so to speak and that was the first criteria. that cuts it down quickly. in terms of power we looked at the category of what do they exercise in terms of influence that is a bit subjective. we also looked at what do they own and what is their contribution to things? what is their level of taste and in some ways the controversy that they stirred up and it's mentioned what happened with the scandals in britain and other things like that. we don't white wash these write

ups. people are imperfect. we think they are an inspires list because of what we do and how they do it, they're not perfect. >> mike? >> jeff bridges on the creative list. the bridges family. >> he's amazing. >> he really is. >> one of the greatest performances in the last 100 years. >> he deserves it. >> i was going to give you a line from the movie. >> i can quote all of those lines. we can do that in commercial. >> an amazing family. the brother is great actor and the father was. they are a subtle influential family in hollywood. they may not win all of the oscars but if you think of people who we all love to watch, he's one of them. >> that's just your opinion, man. >> the latest issue -- >> there's a lot of ins and outs to this, man. >> on newsstands now.

thank you so much for mentioning my family. my mother, by the way, she just started to twitter. check out her sculptures. i want to hear your responses. she's incredible. thank you so much. up next, today's business headlines with cnbc's brian sullivan. not part of the big family dynasty just big ears. be right back. ars e s evs erywhere these days.

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because we're similar, marilyn and i, because it is your birthday. why can't you be nice? >> why can't i be nice? >> sing it. do your marilyn. >> she was nice. >> that was me being nice. what did you want? >> sitting over here in a cheap suit in new jersey hoping to one day make it back on your guys' set. let me hit news here. we do have good news. i'll give you a good reason to end the day which is jobless claims. they fell to a five-year low last week. the lowest weekly initial jobless claims numbers since january of 2008. could mean less firing and perhaps more hiring. one week but it's a good number. meantime, our friends in europe who continue to struggle, they're federal reserve cutting interest rates because they're trying to do what our fed did years ago and stimulate the economy and ford is adding 2,000 jobs at a plant outside of kansas city, missouri, because they see big demand for f-series

pickup truck. unemployment claims down. europe may be getting its act together. more hiring at a ford plant in missouri. a triple dose of good news on your birthday. >> now you make me feel bad. okay. i'm sorry. >> hat trick of economic good news. >> i think one of the pickup trucks is a good birthday present for you. >> i can't see mika driving around -- >> whoa. >> would you tow the truck with the range rover? >> i have a 1994 ford f-150. it has a gun rack. it has a license sticker on the back that says my other car is a broom. and there's a broom in the gun rack. it's white. it has the double gas tank. plastic seats just a bench across and rollup windows. >> i take back everything i said about you. take me for a ride.

>> you should. you would only be so lucky. cnbc's brian sullivan. thank you. >> do you have astroturf in the back? >> don't even go there. >> we'll be right back. angie's list is essential. i automatically go there. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. if you want to save yourself time and avoid a hassle, go to angie's list. at angie's list, you'll find the right person to do the job you need.

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>> democrats are going to hate senator ted cruz as long as

ted's open parwn party has his . >> he's raising hackles among his own guard in his own party. when he questioned hagel's financial, mccain gave him a scolding. he called him a whacko byird. >> oh no you didn't. you don't call someone a whacko bird because that's a weird insult and nobody really knows what that means. >> okay, boys and girls. filling out your calendar for next week, mika is kicking off a book tour for "obsessed" on tuesday. joe will join mika for a book signing. stop by there if you're in the area. thursday of next week, they'll be at the politics and pros bookstore in washington, d.c. at 4:00 in the afternoon. >> can i point something out?

mika's book available today right now this moment on amazon.com. go there and push one click button for a small fee the book shows up. it's all good. >> i have already done it. >> makes a great holiday gift. >> up next -- goodness. what next? what did we learn today. i'm now at a loss for words. business travel forecast is filled with weather extremes on the second day of may. notice the temperature in dallas. 54 for a high today with some cold showers around. it's going to be 20 degrees warmer in new york city today than dallas. we still have snow issues out there. just to the east side of minneapolis. in the west we're also looking for a beautiful day. enjoy this today it's about as good as it gets in seattle. alec, for this mission i upgraded your smart phone.

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>> i get to celebrate my birthday with two cakes and a bunch of men. what did we learn today? >> a lot of people asked if mika would eat any cake on her birthday. people think you are a haven for food health. >> that's a great segue for next week. i have a book coming out on food obsession. trust me. those people are wrong. what did you learn? >> i learn that i am casting a weary eye with him holding the cake. >> this is good. red velvet. >> we love that you are more powerful than we ever thought. your family. >> i still can't believe that. it's crazy. please. he's so pretty. he thinks he's so good looking. all he does is look at the camera. >> mika, what did i learn that you want for your birthday today? what do you want for your birthday? >> show me what i want.

>> oh no. >> you know what i learned? >> mika turned 26 today. she's 26 and still giving her daughter teenage daughters a run for her money. roll the tape. ♪ ♪ >> that was nice of you. thank you for doing that. >> you did an incredible job. happy birthday. you owe me a new suit. >> i don't think that ever happened in our show's history.

have a great birthday, mika. thank you for holding this family together. time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. take it away. >> sorry, luke. >> behind bars. three friends. the surviving boston suspect now charged in connection with the marathon bombings. new details this morning as investigators continue to piece together what happened in the days after the attack. up in arms. the republican senator behind the bipartisan effort to expand background checks for gun sales blames his own party for the plan's failure. picking politics over policy. exactly what the president accused congress of earlier this week. also this morning, house divided. new signs today that immigration reform is possibly heading the way of gun control. good morning from washington. it's may 2nd, 2013. this is "the daily rundown." i'm luke russert in for chuck todd. we begin with thre