>> what you said about donny, i'll continue on that theme. how graceful did martha say no? >> she's so out of your league. >> you can't blame a guy for trying to claw up. >> you should know when it's not worth trying. >> you know i love you. it's time for chuck todd on "the daily rundown." chuck? president obama says the acting irs commissioner is out. white house in damage control mode. what big steps might they take to do more than just stop the bleeding? devastation in texas. at least six people are dead. another dozen or so are still missing and many more injured after a tornado tore through the

area. in afghanistan, a suicide car bomber kills 16 people including six americans. it comes after months of relative quiet and it comes from a group that's not the taliban. good morning from new york. very busy thursday, may 16th, 2013. later this hour we'll talk to florida senator marco rubio about everything going on in washington. does it have an impact on immigration? we'll have details of a note that accused boston bomber left in that backyard boat about his motives. let's go to this live press conference that's happening in texas. take a listen. >> i don't really have next time to say that we'll get together and do a press conference but we've been asked about doing a tour out to the scene so we're going to have a bus available. i don't want all of the big trucks. we don't have time for dragging all that stuff and setting that up there because we have heavy equipment out there and lots of people and manpower so we just

want to get you in so you can see what you need to see and then get you back out. bring what you can carry. we'll take you out there. we'll leave from the parking lot at 10:30 and we'll head out there and let you get some video at that point in time and we'll bring you back out of there. it will be escorted in and escorted out. don't have anybody following up behind with big trucks. we don't got time for that. >> sheriff, can you talk about the damage and number of homes that have been damaged or destroyed and what are we going to see back in those neighborhoods? >> last night i put out there's approximately 110 homes out there. i have not got a total count yet. the main concern is life safety and finding any victims that still need our help. making sure that we tend to those victims and their pets. we've had issues with that. we have the humane society coming out this morning to deal with more of the pets that are loose and running out there.

i don't have an exact count on any of that stuff yet. it's still worrying about life safety. >> do you think people out there had adequate warning and if so, what was it? >> the information that i received and i worked closely with storm spotters erters las when the dispatch center notified me at 6:14 that we had storms coming in. we worked very closely with them. we had -- it was between 12 and 15 storm spotters on the ground very good trained people and coordination was good. radio communication was good. we were talking directly. i was talking directly to the national weather service. we gave them the information of what we saw. they confirmed it. they did recommend the warnings and they put it out. we put it out basically at the same time when they gave us the information that it was confirmed. we put it out. we used the code red emergency phone notification system here in the county. we did that and worked through local media to get information

out as quick as we could. got sirens set off. i think there was video put out through some of your organizations that you can see the tornado in the background and hear the sirens going off. we got information out there as fast as we could as soon as we realized it was getting bad. we did it as fast as we could. as fast as the information was coming out. as fast as we knew things weren't looking very good we got the information out for people to take shelter. >> would shows sirens have reached those subdivisions? >> yes. >> seven unaccounted for. do you believe there are still victims there or do you think perhaps they didn't check in with anybody? >> we had five that checked in that had left during the commotion. when they heard we were trying to account for everybody, they contacted us. i have a good feeling that will be the case. i hope. the first responders initially out there have done a great job.

the texas task force has got out there and went back through. it's been over and over and over again through the area out there. through the subdivision. i'm pretty confident we haven't left anybody behind but we're still checking. >> have all six people that are deceased been identified? >> no. >> were they all in the same place or spread out throughout the county? >> all in the same area of the subdivision where the ones lost their lives. >> the ones unaccounted for are from the same area as well? >> yes. >> is there any particular street that was waiped out? >> that whole subdivision was affected. all of the streets out there. >> can you tell me about the cleanup and search and rescue and talk about what that is going to entail.

>> we'll be able to get back more with you by the time we have you take the tour out there. at this point in time like i said life safety is the main thing and then we'll try and move forward with recovery and cleanup and so i don't have that information. >> when will people be back into their homes to salvage what they can? >> not until we have made sure that everybody is out of there and everybody is safe and it's a safe environment because we've had propane tanks leaking and things of that nature. not until we know it's a safe environment to allow people to go back in. >> two people were found outside of homes. the other four, were they in the same structure? >> they were different places. >> thanks, sheriff. >> i have a few updates for you. >> we want to go to one of the hardest hit towns. nbc's charles hadlock joins us from granbury, texas.

you have already taken a look at some of the damage. what's it like out there this morning now that daylight has hit? >> reporter: well, chuck, we haven't seen the damage yet. this has been pretty well locked down as the sheriff was saying. he's going to take the media on a tour. this is a very small subdivision. one road in and one road out and they locked down that road. there are only six streets in this subdivision. perhaps as many as 100 homes back there that have been damaged or destroyed. six people died in the storm last night as it came through just as darkness was falling over the area. that's what created such a chaos for the rescuers. they couldn't see anything. it was raining. it was very cold here. and they just decided to get everyone out of the neighborhood and then send in this elite rescue team to try to go through debris to see if they could find more victims and perhaps survivors. we heard the sheriff say he thinks they've gotten everyone out. they're going to search it one more time in the light of day.

>> all right. thanks very much. i want to bring in bill karins. how much warning did everybody have down there and what happened? what was the confluence of events that you were seeing and watching as you saw these tornadoes form? >> the sheriff led to it. you can see the storm formed right over the top of granbury where we saw the fatalities and worst of the damage was. from there the storm tracked toward cleburne. how much lead time did they have? 7:42 p.m. central time is when the tornado warning went off for the granbury area and when the sirens went off and tornado was coming down to the ground. all indications are that it came down over the top of granbury in the city limits there. it's a small town of 8,000 people. a beautiful lake that runs through it. that's when the tornado was reported.

they had about 12, maybe 14 minutes of lead time with a tornado sirens going off. most people got to their safety rooms or hopefully to their safe destinations or drove out of town as the storm was approach. that's why we only have six fatalities. the pictures of the devastation through the town you would expect more people to be dead. i think early warnings did help in this case. and then finally one mile wide tornado as it went through the cleburne area to the south of town. that's actually the storm picking up shingles or whatever is light enough to carry up into the sky and our radar shows that debris in the air. when that happens, we've had a bad situation. >> bill karins, amazing that just 14 minutes of warning was enough for everybody. >> probably saved dozens of lives. >> bill karins, thank you very much. as everybody knows, there's lots of developing news in washington this morning. we're going to be right back with the normal first reads of the morning in your political power hour. first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. we'll hear from the president at noon today.

that's a big part of the day. will drive much day politically in washington. joint press conference with the prime minister of turkey. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ur... blood type? a or b positive?? have you eaten today? i had some lebanese food for lunch. i love the lebanese. i... i'm not sure. enough of the formalities... lets get started shall we? jimmy how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? happier than dracula volunteering at a blood drive. we have cookies... get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. before the three- and four-star ratings... before local farmers and employees became secret ingredients... before rock star chefs were playing to packed houses every night...

two restaurateurs sat down with our banker and transformed some chicago neighborhoods into culinary meccas. that's the power of connecting a vision into a recipe for success. that's bank of america. bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button?

[hodoes your dog food have?s 30? 20? new purina one beyond has 9. the simplified purina one beyond. learn more about these wholesome ingredients at purinaone.com

welcome back. it's first read time. there's a pattern with the obama white house when it's under fire. they'll claim not to listen to the pounding and then they answer in a full-court press arguing it was the plan all along but allowing it to appear that official washington isn't pushing them to react. afraid of death by 1,000 scandal

cuts, the white house has gone aggressively into a damage control mode. yesterday was something else to watch trying to get their arms around three stories they fear that they were losing control over at various levels. releasing hundreds of pages of benghazi e-mails in a classic document dump and then announcing that they are planning to work with congress to revive a journalist shield law. so despite a slew of disclosures and actions, republicans are not satisfied. the president will have his next opportunity to respond to questions about each of these controversies at noon today when he holds a joint press conference in the rose garden with the turkish prime minister. the white house put the president out last night on the story they are most fearful of that could do the most political damage because of its ability to penetrate the irs scandal. in an event in the white house east room, president obama let visible anger show as he announced he demanded the resignation and accepted of acting irs commissioner steven

miller, a 25-year irs employee. >> the americans are right to be angry about it and 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 in all of our lives. >> white house also took the unusual step of releasing a letter from treasury secretary jack lew demanding miller's resignation. republican leaders suggest the irs targeting of conservative groups was more than bad governance and that it was criminal. >> 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 criminal. >> now, my question isn't about who is going to resign. my question is who is going to jail over this scandal?

>> many republicans weren't satisfied with the president's decision to fire miller. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said the action came two years after the action began writing if the president is concerned as he claims, he'll work openly and transparently with congress. and president obama continues to search for a scapegoat for his own administration's misdeeds. and allowing the acting head of the irs to resign is not enough. this is scapegoat that distracts from answering the core questions and preview a line of attack that we'll hear more of in the months ahead. >> you don't have to be a rocket scientists to figure out that these folks hated the tea party. the president called them teabaggers and said he wanted to punish his enemies. this is what he's all about.

>> and this resignation does nothing to change the culture of discrimination at the irs. republicans say they still expect miller to testify before camp's committee tomorrow when it holds the first of a slew of hearings to investigate the irs. on tuesday the senate democrats step up. finance committee chairman max baucus will hold the first hearing on the scandal and the following day louis learner, who heads the irs division on tax exempt organization and holds her job for now, a lot of way scratching their heads on that one, she'll testify before the house oversight and government reform committee. eric holder was on the hill yesterday testifying and said the fbi is looking into whether irs employees may have violated civil rights law. making false statements to investigators restricting federal employees from engaging in political activities. the real test for the white house is to followthrough and not allow the republican party to own the irs issue. more bipartisan the outrage is,

the more the white house believes it can isolate itself politically. if credibility can't be restored at the irs and hampers the ability to implement health care and it doesn't get republicans onboard with immigration reform. and the whole thing that the president and the white house is looking for is some sort of top cop. tough guy. perhaps a republican of some sort to run the irs. that vetting process is going to be very difficult. taxes can't have a single mistake. while the president was meeting with the treasury secretary about the irs scandal, his staff was huddling with reporters releasing 100 pages of benghazi e-mails to reporters and" what is a classic washington document dump. the released e-mails show how talking points requested originally by the house intelligence committee days after the attack were revised over two days in a fierce interagency process that removed any reference to al qaeda or cia warnings in the region. before being used by a u.n. ambassador, susan rice on five

sunday morning talk shows. the white house believes the e-mail trail clears up once and for all the idea that electoral politics motivated the changes. white house spokesman eric schultz points out in a statement that documents have been available to congressional committees for months and in recent days the e-mails have been inaccurately read to the media. do e-mails make it clear that another kind of politics was taki taking place? agency politics that happens in washington a lot. that's what was in play as the cia and state department engageded in a bureaucratic tug of war over what information to disclose. and they show a disagreement inside the cia been the guy in charge of the spy agency, david petraeus, and his chief deputy.

at 7:39 p.m., it was written why do we awant the hill to finger when we haven't done that ourselves? why do we want to feed that? concern. after the fbi offered only minor revisions to the draft. "these don't resolve all my issues or those of my building leadership. they are consulting wnnns. as e-mails continue to fly back and forth, the deputy cia director made the changes crossing out references to al qaeda, scrubbing and shortening the talking points. it's not until the end of the chain that then cia director petraeus is asked to weigh in. appears to object to the watered down version e-mailing this. "no mention of the cable to cairo either? frankly, i just as soon not use

this. but that's national security's call to be sure." this is not what the vice chairman was hoping to get for unclassified use. regardless, thanks for the great work. senior intelligence official maintains to nbc there was no pressure from the white house or state department that their analysis were satisfied in everything in the final talking points in these e-mails. a rare glimpse of how government is run. it's run by deputies and whether it's the cia or the pta, watered down to the lowest level denominator so no one is offended and everyone agrees sort of but the release hasn't satisfied republicans. >> you don't have to be sherlock holmes to figure this out. the story of benghazi if accurately reported would undercut the narrative that bin laden is dead and al qaeda is on the run. stop the stone walling.

give us the information so we can find out what happened and let the chips fall where they may. >> boehner spokesman said in a statement the seemingly political nature of the state department's concern raises questions about the motivations behind these changes and who at the state department was seeking them. one more thing, attorney general eric holder hinted on the hill yesterday that an announcement could be coming saying the justice department has taken action to bring people to justice who are responsible for the benghazi attack. one thing seems to be cleared up. campaign politics not evident in these release of e-mails. agency politics is where the questions are going to go. before 5:00 p.m. yesterday, the biggest story in washington was eric holder's hearing with house republicans. a few punches were pulled and personal frustrations surfaced as holder faced questions about the justice department's decision to secretly obtain journalists phone records and recuse himself from the probe into the leak and the refusal to turn over the private e-mails of

tom perez. it was all over the place. >> i'm sure there must have been a good reason why only the two and from parts were -- >> you didn't want us to see the details. mr. attorney general, in knowing the two and from -- >> i'm not going stop talking now. you characterized something as something -- >> mr. chairman, would you inform the witness as to the rules of this committee. >> it's too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of congress. it's unacceptable. it's shameful. >> this committee has oversight over your department, correct? >> i didn't show up here because i really wanted to. >> that's been painfully obvious in the way you answered questions. we had this discussion about your recusal and the answer to that is i don't think i put it in writing. i'm not sure. did you not think those questions would be asked of you today that when you recused yourself from this -- did you think they would not be asked today? >> i didn't think about whether

or not you would ask me that question one way or another. >> you're kidding me. you come to this committee today with these issues like they are right now -- >> let me finish. i don't think i have been treated with great deal of respect. it's not even a personal thing. if you don't like me that's one thing. i am the attorney general of the united states. >> recusal of course has to do with this investigation and leak investigation and the fact holder had nothing in writing on his recusal or could not say just seemed odd for america's top law enforcement official to admit. don't lawyers put everything in writing? by the way, holder said he was not only interviewed in the leak investigation but they also had to turn over records of his own phone calls. again, recusal not in writing. not clear when it was done and he could not say when he did it. much more to come here on "the daily rundown" including developing news on a note left by the surviving boston bomber. he wrote this note while in that boat. a live interview with florida senator marco rubio. first, today's trivia question.

name the most recent set of siblings to hold simultaneous committee chairmanships. the answer and more is coming up. we'll be right back. time for "your business" entrepreneur of the week. alex garza runs four pizza franchises targeting the booming hispanic market. he says latino customers are attracted by the friendly bilingual staff and product's unique flavors. watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. ♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪

♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. i'm also a survivor of ovarian a writand uterine cancers. i even wrote a play about that. my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. symptoms are not the same for everyone. i got sick...and then i got better. [ 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 ]

on our radar, sources confirm to nbc news that dzhokhar tsarnaev, the surviving boston bomber left a note inside of the boat where he hit from police for hours on that manhunt day. the note said the bombings were in retaliation for actions the u.s. has taken against muslims, particularly the wars in iraq and afghanistan. many things that tsarnaev wrote in the note he later did tell investigators. it was a deadly day in the capital of afghanistan where at least 15 people including six americans were killed by a suicide car bomb. two u.s. military members among the dead traveling in a convoy when the bomb went off in the

middle of the morning rush hour. doesn't happen as much in the capital these days. an insurgent group linked to the taliban has taken responsibility for the attack. president obama welcomes the turkey prime minister to the white house today. it comes days after two days went off in turkey killing dozens in one of the worst terrorist attacks there in years. turkish authorities blame syrian intelligence for those blasts. refugees are going across the border there. in political news, a new poll finds former democratic national committee chairman terry mccauliffe has taken a lead.

both have a long way to go for voters to get to know them. more to come on "the daily rundown." marco rubio and don't forget to check out our facebook page when "the daily rundown" conversation goes on all day and you guys can just scream and yell at me. be sure to put the caps on lock. we'll be right back. all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. score planner tool with these cool sliders. this one lets us know what happens if someone checks our credit.

oh. this one lets us know what happens if we pay off our loans. yeah. what's this one do? i dunno. ♪every rose has it's thorn ♪just like every night has it's dawn♪ score planner is free to everyone. free score applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com bret michaels slider still in beta. there was this and this.

she got a parking ticket... ♪ and she forgot to pay her credit card bill on time. good thing she's got the citi simplicity card. it doesn't charge late fees or a penalty rate. ever. as in never ever. now about that parking ticket. [ grunting ] [ male announcer ] the citi simplicity card is the only card that never has late fees, a penalty rate, or an annual fee, ever. go to citi.com/simplicity to apply. these are live pictures of a press conference -- it's more of a rally of sorts. it was first organized by michele bachmann but a bunch of senators showed up. rand paul, you see speaking now. mitch mcconnell spoke a few moments ago. they are talking all things irs and that focus on the tea party. white house is springing into action in full damage control

mode. president obama tried to stop the bleeding from trifecta of trouble making remarks from the east room on the irs. >> we're going to have to make sure the laws are clear so that we can have confidence that they are enforced in a fair and impartial way and that there's not too much ambiguity surrounding these laws. >> let's bring in joy, nick and arol. watching mitch mcconnell showing up there not a surprise. this irs scandal one of the side benefits for the republican party is that it gives them a chance to unite around something rather than focus on the division that was developing on immigration and budgets and frankly division on guns. less so there. this irs is a way for the entire party to rally itself.

>> it's almost cosmic. when you think about it. i can't think of a better scandal to erupt to motivate precisely the part of the party that was upset for a while. the tea party. the tax collectors versus the tea party. it's almost too perfect. it's as if someone in a control room is writing a script. >> absolutely. who is the woman that writes all of the scandal. this is exactly how she would have written the script because it seemed to ridiculous to be true. >> it's the irony of course that these tea party groups who are about a third of those who were inappropriately targeted by the irs were actually coming to the government for a special dispensation from the tax code and eventually they would get it. it was clearly a delay tactic. >> there were democratic groups that were told no by the irs. no tea party groups are told now. they were asking for a subsidy from the taxpayer to be under the 501c4.

opposite of going after someone to audit them as was done to naacp for two years under the bush administration, i am running to my congressman and it's a scandal. >> we focused on firing and resignation and he talked about clearing up ambiguity iy iy iy law.y in the law. >> with the naacp, they went out and were explicitly campaigning for an explicit ticket and the notion you could get any tax relief for contributing to something like that opposededd that seemed odd to me at the time. it didn't justify what happened to them.

this is the president being a constitutional law professor and this is not the kind of issue that people want to hear measured talk on. >> in 2000, the naacp, senior leadership criticized the decision and you had republican members of congress including a couple still there, writing to the irs commissioner who is a political appointee of george w. bush and demand they lose their 401c3. the chairman of naacp criticized the president. that's not the same. >> the issue here is the loopho loophole. political groups on left and right as we have evidence of have used this. the larger issue here and why the white house was so concerned, the president was put out on one of these topics. not on e-mails on benghazi and

not on snooping around in reporters' phone records. he was put on this because it's credibility of government. if he does not give at least middle of the road voters, maybe not the conservative base, the idea that the irs is credibly run, health care and immigration are in trouble. >> also you have to sympathize with these tea party groups. they were waiting for years and years for a tax determination that should have taken a few months or six months. it was crazy. the irs was wrong. it did not apply its own standards. one thing that comes to mind talking about the other groups that have been audited in the past, the problem here is that even the irs doesn't quite know what its own rules are. >> it's not sure what it can go after. >> if you look at the taxpayer report, it says that the people in cincinnati doing this work didn't actually really understand what c4s could do.

>> the only time capitol hill cares is when republicans didn't like politics or democrats didn't like politics. the only time they get oversight on this issue is a political issue so it throws politics into the irs. >> it's late to start complaining about politics at the irs. they are political appointees. you have people launching witch-hunts every few years. >> that's what the average joe and jane is. >> without any doubt, everyone dislikes the irs. the president and the congress are going to be struggling to see who can denounce them. >> can they confirm a new irs director in this congress? >> stick around. the gaggle will stick around. leaders of the tea party rally outside of the capitol. one of the tea party contenders from 2010, marco rubio. soup of the day, chipotle beef.

we'll be right back. from more. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. i remember thinking there's a lot i have to do... check my blood sugar, eat better. start insulin. today i learned there's something

i don't have to do anymore. my doctor said with levemir® flexpen... i don't have to use a syringe and a vial. levemir® flexpen comes prefilled with long-acting insulin taken once daily for type 2 diabetes to help control high blood sugar. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. no drawing from a vial. no refrigeration for up to 42 days. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection) is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. severe low blood sugar can be serious and life threatening. ask your health care provider about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. other possible side effects include injection site reactions. tell your health care provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions such as body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, or sweating. flexpen® is insulin delivery my way. covered by most insurance plans, including medicare. ask your health care provider about levemir® flexpen today.

[ female announcer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪

wireless is limitless. political scandal may be the talk of the town in washington but there is serious issues to be addressed in congress. with me now, florida republican senator marco rubio. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. >> let me start with the irs. the president's announcement yesterday the resignation. did you hear enough from the president? are actions that he announced satisfactory to you? >> first of all, i think the resignation is appropriate. i called for that on monday. it's just the beginning. it's not nearly enough. there should be prosecution of individuals responsible here in abusing their power. i also think it's important for the president to be honest about the culture of intimidation that his administration has created here. this president was in new york

city saying he knows there are republicans willing to work with them but afraid of their base but afraid of rush limbaugh describing ulterior motives to his opponents and questioning if there's an honest disagreement or not. there's no honest disagreement. it's created this culture of intimidati intimidation. i think all of this is a product of that. i really do. >> you don't think that -- i mean, both sides play politics. both sides like to try to figure out the motivations of the other side when they are talking to political supporters. this is not new to the american political system, senator. >> it goes well beyond that. it goes to the core of the following. you have campaign donors to mitt romney that are being attacked on obama's website and within a few weeks that individual is being audited not once but two irs audits. you have the evidence of the nlrb trying to muscle boeing because they decided to move their plant. this is not isolation. a string of events where you see

administration and federal government under this administration willing to use its power to muscle and to hard ball people who don't agree with them. it appears to include the associated press. there's a problem here. one thing is politics as outlined and other thing is full time 24/7, 365 day a year political effort where everything is about politics and destroying your opponent and dividing the american people for your electoral gain. >> your pac put out an e-mail raising money on the irs issue and doing a petition. that's campaigning. that's politics too. >> it is. here's the point. i'm trying to get a petition of american citizens and americans who support us in this endeavor to rally people. that's different to say i'll put on my website every donor to the obama campaign and attack that individual, a private citizen by name, and i'm going to try to create this culture where people feel intimidated and oppose me. that's two different things i'm

talking about. >> you are obviously working on this bipartisan proposal. one of the meetings the president had was a one-on-one with senator mccain, one of your partners in the gang of eight proposal on immigration. does this irs issue in particular but all of the cloud hanging over the obama white house hurt your efforts to get immigration reform passed? >> bottom line is i think we'll need to deal with immigration reform. it's a problem hurting the country. we need to get that solved. one of the impediments is a lack of trust in the federal government. we're hearing this from democrats. two democrats came forward yesterday and said they will not support the bill unless it has strong border measures to prevent another wave of illegal immigration. the fundamental problem we face is we say we don't trust the federal government. we don't think the plan the federal government will come up with will be good. it makes it harder to make that argument. we have that obstacle to ove overcome. immigration reform has to

happen. we have a serious problem with a broken immigration system and illegal immigration problem. >> what do you say to a wavering republican. you need at least half of your republican colleagues on board on the senate side. what's your case to them if they say this isn't going to be popular back home because of a distrust of government issue? >> the alternative is to do nothing. the only way i know to solve a problem is get involved. if you have distrust in government, get involved in passing laws and doing things in washington to increase that trust in government or to force government to do the things we believe government should be doing like securing the border. what's the alternative? the status quo? the status quo is to leave in place what everyone is complaining about. the status quo is amnesty and a broken immigration system and creating this distrust in government. we can't leave status quo. we have to do something. what is that something? i hope people will be engaged.

i hope they will offer their own ideas. to say that we're against anything is to say i'm in favor of the status quo and i reject that. >> a couple more issues. the e-mails the white house released on benghazi, are you satisfied that campaign politics didn't play a role even if potentially bureaucratic agency politics may be truly at the root cause of the back and forth here? >> if you recognized that from the state department there was references to how the leadership and the state department was uncomfortable with the direction of those e-mails, that should be explored further. my fundamental problem is always that there was a steady string of reporting that outlined how dangerous benghazi had become. that probably should have been closed. if they weren't going to close it, it should have had sufficient security. that did not happen. >> you think this was a cia problem more than a state problem since the more we learn this may have an a cia outpost? >> there are two different facilities there. let me just say this. as far as the consulate

situation is concerned and where the ambassador was, there was a steady string of reporting. this was a dangerous part of the country. benghazi was a particularly dangerous place. the british left because of it. if you were going leave that place open, you better have enough security there and security there was inadequate and ability to respond to the attack was inadequate and that falls on the state department and my biggest fears is the people that made that decision are still making those decisions now for our outposts around the nation. >> do you support the law by senator schumer? >> i haven't read it or understand the details of it. i'm concerned about what happened to the associated press and i'm concerned what i think was an abuse of power at the department of justice as well. i'll need to read that law before i can give you a hard opinion on it. >> all right. senator marco rubio, republican from the state of florida, senator rubio -- >> go heat. >> rare for you to say that, mr. gator. thank you very much, senator. >> thank you. we have much more on what's happening with immigration bill

plus potential for a new media shield law. trivia, name the most recent set of siblings to hold simultaneous committee chairmanships. you go congressman zan did he r levin and his yucker brother, carl levin. sander chaired it back in 1995. congratulations to today's winner, mitchell brevard. if you have a political question for us, e-mail us. hungry for the best?

it's eb. want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. want to give them more vitamins, omega 3s, and less saturated fat? it's eb. eggland's best eggs. eb's. the only eggs that make better taste and better nutrition... easy. eggland's best eggs. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. it's eb.

better eggs. i gotta go deposit a check, transfer some money. so it's your uncle's turn. what? wait, wait, wait... no, no, no, wait, wait. (baby crying) so you can deposit a check... with the touch of a finger. so you can arrange a transfer in the blink of an eye. so you can help make a bond... i got it. that lasts a lifetime. the chase mobile app. so you can.

want to save on electricity? don't use it. live like they did long ago. or just turn off the lights when you leave a room. you can conserve energy wisely. the more you know. developing now, the senate health education labor intentions committee. voted all along party lines. thomas perez as labor secretary, chastised republicans for asking to delay the vote twice calling

it a delay for delay's sake. the bill now moves to the senate as a whole, but it will have a hard time getting over a filibuster. arel, listening to marco rubio, other republicans may use irs to basically blow up the immigration. he seemed to be one of the -- you wonder if one of the efforts he wanted to make here quietly to say immigration is -- >> well, the role he's playing more in the party is to pull them back from overread. >> slightly on that with the em gragz, no, you have to go forward, you have to go forward. >> exactly right. he's trying to snatch them back from the brink. it's a hard road to go. you see elements of his own overreach talking about people are afraid of this culture. >> no, every party out of power believes the party in power is intimidating overreach.

but, in a weird way, if the irs scandal is used to unite the party on something, does it give room for immigration? >> i don't know. i mean, i don't know. i'm not sure where -- >> you saw senator rubio, right, taking the hard shots shots and pivot and say it's so important we work on this other issue. so it doesn't in a way give the rumor. if there's something they can take out the anger on which is legitimate, it gives room. >> but i think it totally hurts the budget chance. >> at the end of the day, if you're climbing that the president is a mafia boss running this culture of intimidate, which is ironic since we're going to have a gunned and armed protest in the capital and the tea party is known for being super friendly and not intimidating, if that is the tone you're setting, nothing is going to get done. and you're reinforcing that conservative base, they don't want to do immigration. >> shameless plug. >> on the home page, a great profile of selma golden. she's a curator of the terrific

african-american museum in harlem and a great person. read it. >> our front page today, a graceful pen analysis, peter baker on obama's challenge right now. >> nydailynews.com, a column i wrote about the many, many debates going on in the race for mayor. over 340 already. >> and wait until you have a new candidate. that is when everybody is going to start paying attention. >> tune in next week. >> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." we'll be back in washington tomorrow. coming up next, chris jansing. see you then. after yesterday's storms went through texas and all the damage they did, the question is will we have more today? we will see thunderstorms, but it doesn't look like we'll see

strong intense thunderstorms that could produce tornados. notice how many spots have a chance for storms throughout the day today. [ female announcer ] are you sensitive to dairy? then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love. for 25 years, hoo-hoo...hoo-hoo. hoo-hoo hoo.

sir... i'll get it together i promise... heeheehee. jimmy: ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? ronny:i'd say happier than the pillsbury doughboy on his way to a baking convention. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore. go talk to your doctor. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need.

siemens. answers. otherworldly things. but there are some things i've never seen before. this ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. suddenly, faraway places don't seem so...far away. ♪

good morning. i'm chris jansing. white house damage control, day two. we're a few hours away from a president obama news conference where he'll answer questions on the three controversy dogging his administration. that noon time q&a follow tess late day release of a hundred pages of e-mails related to benghazi yesterday. an hour later, the president announcing the ouster of the acting irs chief over the targeting of tea party groups. >> it's inexcusable and americans have a right to be angry about it and 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 in all of our lives. >> right now on capitol