trying to do a cover-up with it. >> what he said. >> out of a job. the head of the irs steps down as the fallout continues from the agency targeting conservative groups. the question, is will this be enough to quiet the critics and help the white house get back on track? up for grabs, nobody at the jackpot last night's $360 million powerball jackpot. so the question is how much money will i be winning on saturday night? it could be most surprising high priced auction ever. how much this painting of bea arthur sold for and why letterman said it's worth every single cent. it's thursday, may 16th and, yes, it's "way too early." i think the painting is a little for revealing than what we showed as well. good morning, everybody. you know, all week we've been

moving a little bit beyond why are you awake which we still want to know. but yesterday morning, joe, i have to admit, i regretted not getting a picture with jimmy connors. some people say he's not the most popular guy. he is a childhood hero of mine. we thought it would be fun to see what pictures you got with a celebrity, whether it's an a, b, c, or a d lister. so get up, hit your archives. send a good one along with the #waytoorandom. we'll show our favorite later on. first, we have news to get to and breaking news off the top here. after a giant set of twisters rips through north texas, six people were killed and 14 are still missing. by some estimates, 100 people are injured. the aftermath really tells the story. take a look at the images even though it's night time. piles of debris in places where homes once stood. one tornado hit the town of granbury, a suburb of ft. worth. about an hour later, a tornado

estimated at a mile wide hit nearby clebur next. weather spotters reported grapefruit sized hail. bill karins will have more on that in a few minutes. the head of the irs has been forced out as the fallout from the irs scandal continues to spread. acting commissioner stephen miller had been aware of the agency's effort to put greater scrutiny on conservative groups as early as 2012. he told staffers in an internal memo that he'll be departing in early june when his acting assignment ends. president obama announced miller's resignation and described his own outrage over the whole issue. >> the misconduct that had been covered is unexcusable. it's inexcusable and americans are right to be angry about it. i am angry about it. i will not tolerate this kind of

behavior in any agency but especially in the irs. given the power that it has and the reach that it has and all of our lives. and as i said earlier, it should not matter what political party you're from, the fact is that the irs has to operate with absolute integrity. >> the initial republican response to the move was positive. congressman darrell isa calling it a good first step. but with a full schedule of hearings looming, other republicans framed the scandal and stark criminal terms if the wrongdoing extended beyond the halls of the irs. >> these are the tactics of the third world. these are the tactics of places that don't have the freedoms and the independents that we have here in this country. and it is shocking to americans that this would come to light in the way that it has. >> but there was an effort to bring the power of the federal government to bear on those the administration disagreed with.

in the middle of a heated national election. it actually could be -- could be criminal. >> my question isn't about who's going to resign. my question is who's going to jail over this scandal? >> at a house judiciary hearing, attorney general eric holder says the justice department would look into whether any false statements made by irs officials broke the law and also whether the civil rights of conservative groups had been violated. let's bring in the executive editor. jim, good morning. >> good morning, brian. how are you? >> i'm really well. i feel like the single question this is all going to swing on today, is this enough? >> yeah. i mean, there's to way it's enough. it's no doubt it's a good start. he had to get out there. had to get in front of this story, had to take decisive action. i think getting rid of the acting head of the irs is as republicans said a good first step. there are going to be congressional hearings starting tomorrow. they're going to last many weeks

and in months. republicans feel there are a lot of other people that need to lose their jobs over this. and then what republican investigators are going to look at on capitol hill, is there any evidence at all that anyone in the white house or the political operation of the democratic party directed any of this? there's no evidence of that whatsoever so far. and that would be the thing that republicans want to look at. if it's just the end of the day isolated to the irs, it's a terrible scandal that i think other people will lose their jobs as a result of it. but it probably stops it becoming a huge problem for the president. >> you know, we always see the hearings, congressmen get to have the sound bite for the home district, home state. is there any chance of there being anything constructive out of these or just dog and pony show? >> it's hard to believe there is anything constructive other than putting an end to this practice. everybody has to deal with the irs at least one time a year. some of these groups had to deal with it in very uncomfortable and unprofitable ways. ate infected the business that they could do. it affected their ability to do what is legal under the law in terms of politics.

so people are outraged. the president said he is outraged. republicans are going to continue. this is the one issue of the big three that's going to last for a long, long time. these hearings will last month. >> it is not going away. all right, we appreciate the time this morning. >> take care, brian. things got heated on capitol hill yesterday as attorney general eric holder faced questions from the house judiciary committee. the hearing's primary folk us is the use of secret subpoenas to obtain phone records from associated press reporters as part of that doj investigation. however, when discussing an unrelated matter, holder lashed out at congressman darrell isa. >> i'm sure there must have been a good reason why only the to and from parts were given. >> yes, you didn't want us to seat details. mr. attorney general, in knowing the -- >> that's what you typically do. i'm not going to stop talking now. you characterize something as something -- >> mr. chairman, would you inform the witness as to the rules of this committee? >> it is too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of

congress. it's unacceptable and it's shameful. >> a sign of things to come in the coming weeks. >> the white house is looking to put to rest the issue they handled the attack on benghazi following months of criticism from the right. yesterday the obama administration released 100 pages of e-mails describing the interagency debate over how to describe last year's september 11th attack. the e-mails showed that cia deputy director was the individual who requested references to al qaeda and other extremist groups to be removed from the official talking points, not white house officials as some republicans have suggested. o.j. simpson spent the last four years -- hard to believe it's been four years he's been in prison -- for his role in kidnapping and armed robbery case. now he's back in court seeking freedom viary trial. he looks far different from how many of us remember him back in 1995. he gained a lot of weight, he

looks, as you might imagine, older. it's been 18 years. back then he was acquitted of the murders of nicole brown simpson and ron goldman. in the current case, simpson is seeking to overturn the convictions from when he broke into a las vegas hotel room and took sports memorabilia and photos he claims were rightfully his. >> do you think that you're acting legally? >> yes, i did. yes, i did. >> why is that? >> well, it was my stuff. i followed what i thought the law. my lawyer told me you can't break in a guy's room. i didn't break into anybody's room. i didn't beat up anybody. i didn't try to muscle the guys. i didn't. and the guys acknowledged it was my stuff. even though they claim they didn't steal it. >> simpson is currently serving out a 33-year sentence. here's a question for you this morning. what is the most profitable outfit in the country? i'm not talking clothes. i'm talking a department or a company. a new estimate says the

department of education is forecast to turn an almost $51 billion profit off student loans this year. by comparison, that makes the department more profitable than exxonmobil, apple, even chevron and the dow 30. that's just shy of jp morgan chase, bank of america, citigroup and wells fargo's profits combined. senate banking committee democrats like elizabeth warren criticized the margin saying in part the fact that the government is now expected to profit $51 billion off student loans this year, more than the annual profit of any fortune 500 company and five time the profit of google is just plain wrong. i paid 8.25% of my loans and then put them on 0% credit cards and kept rotating until i tad it off. yeah, i did go to school, barnicle. thanks very much. let's go to business. the banks will score a major

victory with trillions of dollars on the line. later this morning, federal regulators walk back the proposal to weaken the dominance of several banks in the derivative market. big banks control is seen as the largest contributing factors of the financial crisis and yet just five banks still krl more than 90% of the entire market. for more on this and the rest of the day' headlines, let's go to charn cho. this is like a $700 trillion deal here. give us some details. >> brian, good morning. yes, this is a very big market out there. the derivatives market. $633 trillion is one of the numbers bantyedded about. it is a clup that is dominated by the major banks. there was an ambitious proposal to force those who go out there and solicit prices for derivatives to go up to five different banks to try to get prices before they settled on a particular deal. but this has been largely objected to by the major banks. keep in mind about five bank

hold about 9 #0% of all derivatives contracts. this will be watered down and it will be two contracts initially. the deals have to solicit followed up by three and down the track. but the idea is to try to bring prices down but also open up this club to more competitors. but it seems the major banks have pushed back on this particular principle. there is also going to be a conversation about the minimum size of transaction that's can be playeded because regulators want to know what's going on in terms of the trades. also, there's one other rule that will be et voed on, how trades can occur on the derivatives marketplaces known as swap execution facilities. so the reality is that regulators want eyesight on the trades after the implications from the financial crisis. >> all right. karen, thank you very much on this thursday. if you didn't hit the powerball jackpot last night, you're not alone. nobody did. the $360 million jackpot rolls over to saturday and will be

worth at least $475 million. so if i win i can vacation next to donnie then in the hamptons. no tickets match the winning numbers of 2, 11, 26, 34, 41 and a powerball, you can't forget that, of 32. it was the third largest jackpot in powerball history and seventh largest of all time and we're going to have to circulate the hat to get some "way too early" staffers to get in a few sfikts here. as always, we want to include you guys, the viewers on the show. today we're asking for your best picture with a celebrity. post it with the hashta hashtag #waytoorandom. >> all right. this is me and bob barker. you're getting too much nileage out of my 1994 beer bloat. that is brutal. and my jeans and -- look at those sneakers. i look like a fat seinfeld. all right. still ahead on "way too early," kevin durant has a chance to play hero in oklahoma city. but maybe it wasn't enough for

the thunder to stave off elimination. you heard about a deer in headlights, parentally a bus rise causes the opposite. how the driver got the deer off the bus in time to make the transfer, of course, across town. >> jim hanson's death was not expected. he died of pneumonia after being admitted to a new york hospital with a massive bacterial infection. as doctors fought the infection for 15 hours, went into cardiac arrest several times and finally succumbed. [ snoring ]

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doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ 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 ] time for sports. bill karins? >> i predicted the bulls were dead yesterday? third quarter, i thought i was in a lot of trouble. they actually did pretty well. >> considering. well, the thunder on the break against the grizzlies. let's start there. game five. this comes down to the final

seconds. griz up two. kc's kevin durant with a chance to tie things up. off the back of the rim. he misses the jumper. memphis hangs on to beat the top-seeded thunder without russell westbrook. they advance to the first western conference finals in franchise history. watch out. it could be memphis verse heat. speaking of the heat and bulls, dwyane wade was questionable after doing the jumping jacks with his ailing knee and follow up jam. i wish i was questionable like. that. >> he was solid. >> dwyane wade scored 18 points on bebron. lebron finished with 23. they get a nice little rest before the next series. >> let's go to hockey. chicago has one team left, right? the blackhawks got four goals, including two in the third period. they trounced the red wings. now the bruins, this bruins-rangers series is going to be awesome. game one is tonight. >> that should be a lot to look forward to.

>> how much money would you return if you had a lot of money, like, if you found it? $4.5 million maybe? >> would i return it? i mean if i owed it to somebody. >> one person did. okay. this is san francisco giants pitcher jeremy efeld. he actually returned $500,000. in his book he said he agreed to a $4 million contract. similar to brian's. but after he signed the deal, he realized there was a typo making it worth $4.5 million. the pitcher wound up signing a new three-year deal for $18 million last winter. >> that is the right thing to do. i would do that. mine is a 50-year contract and -- >> barnicle already signed three of those. >> he is just riding the coattails. >> turning to the serious news. you know, this is a nice shot out here, you know, beautiful shot of nice sunrise in the east coast. while a lot of us were going to bed last night and sleeping, severe storms rolled through texas. it wasn't a lot of severe

storms. we had three tornadoes reported. it wasn't a big outbreak. it just goes to show you, it only takes one to be deadly. right now the totals up to six fatalities. it happened right at sunset. we don't know the worst of it. there are still a lot of people missing, 14 or so. so the number of fatalities could go up. this is granbury, texas. it's about an hour to the southwest of the dallas-ft. worth area. the big question now is how much warning did these people have? at 7:42 local time this is east coast time here, 7:42 local time the tornado warning went out. the first tornado was reported near a church in town right about at the top of the hour. they had about 15, 20 minutes of lead time there when the tornado was reported. and this tornado grew in size. it just went to the south-southwest of cleburne, i was one mile wide. we don't have any real severe weather in the forecast today. but this just goes to show you, you don't need an outbreak. you only need one. >> you don't mess with mother nature. thanks, bill.

we appreciate it. at the top of the hour, "morning joe." the head of the irs on his way out. will this stem the criticism from both sides of the aisle? the panel will break it down. when we come back here, we'll hang around the water cooler. how much would you pay for this kind of painting of tv legend bea arthur and why letterman says it's worth millions. we'll be right back.

time to huddle around the water cooler. of course, the shameless video that we have to show you because it's too good not to from johnstown, pennsylvania. a deer, full speed, into the windshield of a bus. now, of course, he struggles to get out, tries to escape through the smashed window. the driver just keeps driving. only one passenger on the bus. i mean this is -- i feel bad for the guy. it's like when the bird gets stuck in my garage. the deer finally escaped through the door. i don't know if we can get to that. there he goes. and as always, the case, the deer is like fine. i mean he just ran right away. okay, there we go. powerball on the minds of many of us this week. here's a good story for you. an illinois man kept old lottery tickets in the cookie jar. he thought he would bring them into the store, make sure he didn't miss any numbers. one of them was worth nearly $5

million. and he had it in his kitchen for three months. i think the statute of limitations is about a year, right? check your old tickets. what a wise man. bill hater spent eight years making us laugh on saturday night live and doing the final show this saturday. that character scares me a little bit. ben affleck host hater's last episode and also the season finale and here's how they're preparing. >> did you see argo? wow, man. where did you get the idea for that. >> that stuff really happened. >> you made up the country, right. >> iran is a real place. >> i think you mean iraq. >> no, those are two different places. >> beard? >> the beard is fake, yes. >> i knew it. man, hollywood. rumor has it you're a fellow impressions man. >> i dabble. >> can you do an imprecious of me. >> yeah, my name is bill hater and i like it funky and sweet. >> spot on. nice. and for all of our

enthusiasts out there, there was a notable purchase at a new york auction yesterday. this is a portion of the controversial 1991 work of bea arthur naked. as can you probably tell from the title, we're not showing ut whole picture. the topless portrayal the former golden girl star was sold to an anonymous bidder yesterday at a mork city auction for nearly $2 million. barnicle, did you put it down? you dated her in high school, right? >> no. no. >> she wouldn't date you. >> she was too young. >> all right. i want to know bea arthur never posed for the photo. it was painted from the artist's imagination. >> 1991 nude painting of bea arthur is up for auction. expected to bring $2 million. >> really? >> take a look right there. this is bea arthur naked. there she is. so that's -- no, that's not it. >> that's just the top. >> that's just part of it. >> that's all we're allowed to

show. but i have seen the rest of it and count me in. i'm ready to go. >> all right. still ahead on "way too early," yeah, we'll go to twitter. today we're asking for your best picture with a celebrity post with the hashtag #waytoorandom. , the wright brothers became the first in flight. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you hear me? and you hear your voice? oh, it's exciting! [ man ] touchdown confirmed. we're safe on mars. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ hi. [ baby fussing ] ♪

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too many good b list celebrities to choose from. all right. give it to us. >> yeah. we have great ones. i want to start with our favorites here. kelsey ray. my adopted dad. his words, not mine. bill cosby. matt murray, just hanging with ron swanson. >> nice. >> we have one of our own clayton collins, throwback from 2007. >> did she write a song about him when they broke up after that dance? >> yeah. don't you think it's a pretty good sophie? >> i'm not going to say that word. >> and then the last one, this is our favorite from debbie, me and tom brady.

i'm shah shothat short and he's tall, dark and handsome. >> you got my favorite? can we pop it up? >> nobody knows who that guy is right there. that is the captain of the cap olympic team which is the greatest sport team in history, excepting me with two hits in little league. time for "morning joe." yesterday press secretary jay carney like an intrepid weather channel anchor stood and let the wind and rain pummel him for our entertainment purposes. >> on the irs does the president believe they're being truthful and does he think the leadership there needs to change? >> we know part of it's fact. it is not in the if anymore. >> categorically -- >>ha